text:
By Jerry Sullivan | The Buffalo News
NEW ORLEANS – About three years ago, Susan Taylor met Bob Becker for the first time. He was the CEO of New Orleans City Park, the sixth-largest urban park in the country. She had just taken over as director of the city's Museum of Art, located just inside the 1,300-acre park.
They chatted for a while and suddenly, something registered with Taylor. It was something in Becker's mannerisms, perhaps, or the inflection of his voice. Maybe it was a simple matter of intuition.
"You're from Buffalo, aren't you?" she said.
For the next few minutes, it was as if no one else in the room existed. It was one of those special Buffalo moments, a fond exchange of remembered places and connections, of shared childhood memories.
"I had no idea," Taylor said. "It was, 'Where did you go to high school? Where did you live?' It was great, a true coincidence."
That it was, and a happy coincidence that should make their hometown proud. Really, what are the odds that the people in charge of two of the fondest institutions in New Orleans, both of them located in that great urban park, would call Buffalo home?
Becker hails from the Delavan-Bailey section of Buffalo. He graduated from Kensington High and the University at Buffalo, then got a master's in city planning at the University of Iowa. Taylor grew up in Snyder and graduated from Mount St. Joseph Academy. She went off to Vassar College and, eventually, to Italy, where she mastered the field of fine arts and met a native Italian who would become her husband.
This evening, New Orleans will host Super Bowl XLVII in the shiny, refurbished Superdome, culminating a weeklong celebration of this great city's remarkable comeback from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina more than seven years ago.
New Orleans is not without its problems, but people are moving back and the economy is growing. The city population, which was cut by about half after the hurricane, has rallied to around 360,000. No city in America has grown faster since the 2010 census. An estimated 8.75 million tourists spent a record $5.5 billion here last year.
In recent days, the French Quarter and downtown have been a vibrant expression of the city's recovery. But a few miles to the North, walking through the vast green space of City Park, you get an even more profound sense of a city's destruction and rebirth.
Becker and Taylor live the renaissance every day in the park – Becker leading the rebuilding of the large natural expanse outside, Taylor guiding the museum to a more expansive cultural future, as a place where all the arts, including music, theater and film, converge.
There were skeptics who felt New Orleans wasn't worth saving, that it was a sinking, tragic bowl of a place that wasn't worthy of major investment. But Taylor saw it as a cultural treasure. She jumped at the chance to be part of New Orleans' rebirth.
"It was a huge part of the decision we made to come here," said Taylor, 54, who ran the Princeton University Art Museum for eight years. "I was intrigued by the sense of possibility that this city represented, the trajectory that the city was on.
"There are just so many components, plus this rich history, cultural history, with layers of tradition – the French, the Spanish, Creole, so many different histories that inform the complexity of the city."
The park was well into its recovery when Taylor took overNOMA in 2010. The museum suffered significant structural damage in the flood, but it was spared greater harm because it was built on the park's highest point of elevation. The paintings, which include works by Monet, Rodin, O'Keeffe, Picasso and Renoir, had been moved into storage as a precaution before the flood struck.
There was no way to protect the park itself. Becker, who became CEO in 2001 after stints as the zoo director and head of city planning, got his first look at the damage a week after Katrina hit on Aug. 29, 2005. Following a public order, he had evacuated to his daughter's home in Dallas. He'll never forget what awaited him in the park.
"When I got back in here, it was total devastation," said Becker, 65. "Total. It was unbelievable. In that moment, I thought, 'It'll be 25 years before we can bring this back.' We had no money. We had to lay off all but 23 out of a staff of 150.
"We had no equipment, nothing," he said. "Everything was destroyed. Every piece of lawnmowing equipment, every tractor, every backhoe. Rakes, chain saws – everything was gone. When we got back, we had to get past the National Guard and the 82nd Airborne. There was no electrical, no phone, no cell. We started working out of our cars. We slept in our cars."
The entire park was under water. Keep in mind, this is a huge park. City Park is nearly four times larger than Delaware Park, 50 percent larger than Central Park in New York. The water was 8 to 10 feet deep in spots. The amusement park was destroyed. The four golf courses and driving range and clubhouse were ruined. The botanical gardens, too.
It was close to a month before the Army Corps of Engineers pumped the water out. They had more pressing concerns, of course, like people's houses and neighborhoods. Human beings were dying. Trees were a less urgent concern. Thousands of trees died in the park.
The situation seemed hopeless at first. The park was self-sustaining, one of the few in the country that didn't get public funds. Their revenue-producing attractions were under water. Becker went to state and city officials and pleaded for help.
"We said, 'If you don't help us, we'll walk away from this 1,300 acres and leave it be a pus pit in the middle of the city, because we can't maintain it.' Fortunately, they understood and gave us $1 million that first year, which helped us hire staff, fix more things and get more things going."
It helped to be prepared. In early 2005, the park had completed a Master Plan for the future, with an eye toward the 300th anniversary of New Orleans' founding in 2018 (the city wants the Super Bowl back that year). So when he sought public assistance after Katrina, they already had a blueprint.
"That was very important to us, because when funders would come, we actually had a plan," Becker said. "We garnered a lot of funding that otherwise wouldn't have come to us. It worked out incredibly well for us. People said there was no way we could raise that kind of money. We used the plan to raise over $100 million."
Rebuilding the park was a grueling task, and it's not finished. But the park survived and thrived. The amusement park and botanical gardens were restored. They're building a 7,800-yard championship golf course, designed by Rees Jones. There's a new dog park, jogging and bike paths. The park's schedule is chock-full of events.
Becker said it was largely because of the volunteer spirit of New Orleans people. Once they began returning to the city, they gravitated back to City Park. In the midst of despair, it was a place people could congregate, where they could feel useful and connected.
"New Orleanians love this park," Becker said. "They have tremendous memories. So we'd see them coming into the park, carrying shovels and rakes and lawnmowers and stuff. We had regular volunteer events. People from less-devastated areas would adopt sections of the park. For almost three years, volunteers maintained big parts of this park.
"So it was a very difficult time," he said, "but it was very inspiring, too. We managed to pull together our annual Christmas display that first year. We found our stuff floating in neighborhoods and rounded it all up. We made about $250,000, which got us past Christmas."
Becker said he still gets emotional when he thinks about those days. He said it was like the Wild West in the park for a while, with no police presence and people camping out. But the essential character of the people won out, and it reminded him of a place he knew long ago.
"This city and Buffalo have a lot in common," Becker said. "In many ways, this is a blue-collar city. I don't know if we thought of New Orleans as having a tough character prior to Hurricane Katrina. It's more seen as a fun-loving place, Mardi Gras festivals. And it is that.
"But after Katrina, everyone here was forced into a survival mode. So if you couldn't cut it, you left. You got out. Those who stayed and fought are a tough group, a resilient group.
"That's what I remember about Buffalo," Becker said. "My aunts and uncles, people who worked in Bethlehem Steel. My dad worked at American Optical. I remember hard-working people. So the people here have balanced joie de vivre with a real resilience."
Ted George, a New Orleans attorney, can vouch for that. George is another Buffalo native. He grew up near Bidwell and Chapin parways, and graduated from Calasanctius School. His father, Ed Don George, wrestled for the U.S. in the Amsterdam Olympics in 1928 and became a pro wrestler and promoter.
George went to law school here at Tulane and never left. He served for three years on the City Park board after Katrina. His wife, Julie, is on the museum's board of trustees. He's had the "Buffalo moment," when he realized he shared the same roots as Becker and Taylor.
"It's funny, when you put two and two together," George said. "It's like the Albright-Knox and Delaware Park. I suppose it's the same kind of relationship. Bob has done an excellent job of bringing the park back. Hard-core management and persistence are his strengths.
"Susan replaced a 30-year director and has breathed a lot of new life into the museum, reaching out to different and younger audiences, rebuilding connections that were lost as people moved in and out."
Taylor is a strong proponent of art in education. She wants to have students of all ages visit the museum. She has even created programs for 3- and 4-year-olds.
"I enjoy introducing children to art," Taylor said. "Demystifying the museum experience, making children feel comfortable in museums and listening to what they have to say. They have the most original perspectives, unfiltered perspectives. It's very gratifying."
She can trace it back to those visits to the Albright-Knox in Buffalo when she was just 5 or 6 years old.
"Buffalo was a great place to grow up," she said. "I say that to everyone. I love the four seasons, the fall, the winters. I mean, I know how to deal with snow better than I know how to deal with hurricanes. I'm really comfortable with snowstorms."
Becker has fond memories, too. He remembers going to Bills and Sabres games as a kid. He was a big baseball fan and recalls seeing Luke Easter play for the Bisons in the mid-1950s. He was a Bills fan, of course, and carried his allegiance with him.
"I had this serving tray from their first year in the Super Bowl," he said. "It had Buffalo and the Giants on it. Every year, my friends here held a Super Bowl party, and every year I'd bring out this tray. And every year, people would say, 'Do you have to bring that Buffalo Bills tray?' Finally, the tray gave out."
Since arriving in New Orleans, Taylor has been talking about having a party with all the Buffalo people, featuring all the local favorites like chicken wings and beef on weck. Last year, she sent Becker sponge candy for Christmas.
Hey, next season the Bills play in New Orleans for the first time since 1997. Their game in 2005 was moved to San Antonio because of Katrina. Maybe they could have the Buffalo bash then.
Becker could even bring back the old Bills tray. He's salvaged bigger things, after all.
Click here to view the article on The Buffalo News' website.


text:
The Flyers have shown interest in signing a goalie who helped the Ottawa Senators reach the Stanley Cup Finals in 2007, but has a history of off-ice problems.
Ray Emery, who put together a 12-3 record in the first three playoff rounds two years ago to steer the Senators into the Finals against Anaheim - and excelled in Russia this season - is on the Flyers' radar screen, general manager Paul Holmgren confirmed on Monday.
In 2006-07, Emery had a 33-16-6 record, a 2.47 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage, and he was 13-7 in the playoffs. The next year, he slumped to 12-13-4, 3.13 and .890.
Known for his flashy clothes, exotic cars and extravagant lifestyle, Emery conceded he was a heavy partier in a 2008 interview with USA Today. During his time with Ottawa, he was involved in some well-publicized confrontations with teammates, and there were rumors about Emery and drug use.
Emery, 26, nicknamed "Sugar Ray" and "Razor," could not be reached for comment early today, but in the USA Today interview last summer, when asked to describe his use of recreational drugs, he said: "I really don't want to go into details. I'm not a saint and I'm not in jail, either. I think I've learned a lot of lessons. I didn't feel comfortable. I got myself into some bad ways. It took some time to clear my head."
The Senators waived him and then bought out his contract after the 2007-08 season, and he subsequently signed a $2 million deal to play last season in Russia.
"I don't think anyone would disagree that Emery is a sound, competitive goalie that just two years ago won 13 playoff games in leading his team to the Stanley Cup Finals," said Holmgren, who admits to having a soft spot for players with a troubled past. "Before we look at signing any player, we do our homework on that player, especially with his off-ice lifestyle and work habits."
In Russia's Continental League, Emery posted a 22-8 record, 1.86 goals-against average and .926 save percentage this season.
The Flyers' two goalies, Marty Biron and Antero Niittymaki, are unrestricted free agents. Holmgren continues to have talks with Biron's agent.
Emery's career NHL numbers (2.71 GAA, .907 save percentage) are slightly below Biron's (2.59, .911).
* * * * * * *
Upgrading the defense should be the Flyers' off-season priority if they want to become a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.
The team's wish list should include signing free agent Mike Komisarek and dealing for Jay Bouwmeester _ and signing him before he becomes a free agent on July 1.
The economy is down and Komisarek is coming off a disappointing, injury-plagued season, so perhaps the Flyers can sign him to a backloaded deal that will only absorb, say, a $2.5-$3 million cap hit next season. We shall see.
I've outlined the moves I would make in Sunday's Inquirer. Click here to read the story.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Parent Directory | Revision Log
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Fix bug #451596 - Mark ext4 as recommended fs
Fix bug #334167 - Add in ext4 support, now for ppc/ppc64
Part of bug #437338 - Remove acronym YMMV and use a better known sentence (in this case, "your results may vary")
Enhancing information on downsides wrt multiple partitions. This hopefully also clears up some of the confusion that is surrounding separate /usr partitions. Yes, it now mentions that an initramfs might be needed in that case. And no, we do not "recommend" a separate /usr partition, nor do we "not recommend" it.
Update the PPC64 handbook for the autobuilds. Major version bump for this release. Fixes bug 260403, bug 292726, and bug 234310.
Engrish fixes, bug 253374
release time. note that since this is beta1, the release dir and stage/media names have been adjusted accordingly. also, the handbooks are marked with a disclaimer=draft, so once the final is out, that will be removed and the release names adjusted. in the mean time, these are live. the beta is officially released. no, it's not april fools, but it is april 1st. :)
added impo for reiserfs default block sizes and yaboot, bug 183239
fixing tree type confusion. spank whoever told me to add that ext3 stuff in the first place, and me for blindly adding it. all fixed now; also fixed reiserfs, since it's actually B+, not B*
fixed coding style, no revbump. thanks to cla for reporting. smack josejx.
2007.0 release is here; final changes and new docs
Removing -O dir_index was not clever. It'll have to be removed for 2007.0 though.
Reworded reiserfs and ext3 descriptions for bug 153518
2006.1 networked docs are in. portage handbook still untouched per separate bugs. thanks to all the hard work, guys. blame me if something is wrong (and please fix quickly) :)
#126333 Improvements for pSeries hardware
Handbook for 2006.0, "Chuck Norris can divide by zero"
Bind-mounting /dev is now part of the common instructions
Fixed wrapping. **No Content Change**. Thanks to grahl on IRC for reporting.
#103723 warning about mount -t ext3 not required anymore
#101034 - Adding "-O dir_index" information to the guide Leaving it out of the real example mke2fs command to "stage" it. When we know more about this b-tree stability and architectural support we can follow the SPARC handbook and use it by default.
#92450 - Add in information about the size of the Portage tree
#88894 - Updates to PPC64 wrt IBM systems
Adding information on ext3-mounting issue. I mistakenly took the issue for resolved for the network-based installation instructions, but that is not true for the mount-command on the installation cd, only for those in the installed environment
Updating docos to 2005.0
#82559 - People got confused about the sentence :/
#75093 - PPC64 Handbook updates including partitioning fix, kernel config fix and an example yaboot.conf
Separation of Gentoo Handbook into Current and 2004.3
Fixed typo
#71938 use /dev/sda and add subsection #filesystems
Converted dates to YYYY-MM-DD format
Moving 2004.3 documentation
Adding version/date information in pages
bug 69006
#63752 - Add "and SATA" to the 15-partition limit warning
#62186: Fixed language mistakes all over the place thanks to John Richards
#61651 - Tell the user that there is a 15-partition limit for SCSI
s/most performant/best performing/ as we've been told before
#59583 - Updates on PPC64 installation instructions
Forgot cvs adding for ppc64
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Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Call for papers
It's never too late to start thinking about the August submission cycle:
The University of Michigan Law School is proud to announce its newest
publication, the Michigan Journal of Private Equity and Venture
Capital Law.
The Journal is published semi-annually by the students of the
University of Michigan Law School in conjunction with the ABA
Committee on Private Equity and Venture Capital.
The Journal addresses the regulatory, securities, corporate, tax,
intellectual property, and any other legal issues involved with
private equity and venture capital, including with respect to both
investments by funds and the formation of funds.
The Journal is currently accepting scholarly papers and paper
proposals for publication in our first issue. We anticipate publishing
the issue in late fall 2011. Articles for this issue are generally
between 25 and 40 pages long.
Please send drafts, proposals, or inquiries to Jeffrey Koh, Executive
Article Editor, at firstname.lastname@example.com, or via ExpressO.


text:
Ham Materials
From FamiLAB Wiki
Several members of FAMiLab have expressed interest in obtaining their Amateur Radio License.
The Lake Monroe Amateur Radio Society has been kind enough to provide materials which they have produced to prepare students for the Technician Class exam.
Technician Licensing Class
- Getting your Technicians license
- Technician Practice Exam generator
(Warning: Links to a bunch of Powerpoint presentations)
General License Class
- Upgrading to a General License
Extra License Class
- Upgrading to an Extra license
Online Resources
- 147.120 The local 147.120MHz repeater (2-meter) band
- AMRAD.org - Amateur Radio experimenters specializing in telecommunications technology
- AMSAT-NA - The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation - Amateur radio satellites
- ARRL - American Radio Relay League
- CFgeeks -- the Central Florida geeks Ham Radio page
- CFLG - Central Florida Listeners Group
- FADCA - Florida Amateur Digital Communication Association
- FLWSS - Florida Weak Signal Society
- OARC - Orlando Amateur Radio Club
- LMARS - Lake Monroe Amateur Radio Society
- SVHFS - The Southeastern VHF Society
- TAPR - Tucson Amateur Packet Radio group
- UCF ARC at University of Central Florida
Revised: 15-February-2012


text:
Learn how to protect yourself from Internet scams. Read our online fraud prevention tips
Sheriff Sales CLSLegal Notice Notices and Announcements Classified Ad
Sheriff Sales CLS
SHERIFF'S SALE SHERIFF'S FILE NO. 18005955 SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY, CHANCERY DIVISION, ESSEX COUNTY DOCKET NO. F03163313 U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION Plaintiff -vs- DAVID NICKERSON; ET AL Defendants Execution for Sale of Mortgaged Premises By virtue of the above stated Writ of Execution, to me directed, I shall expose for sale by Public Auction in SHERIFF'S OFFICE, Essex County Courts Building in Newark, on Tuesday, October 30, 2018, at one-thirty P.M. (prevailing time) Commonly known as: 322 SOUTH 19TH STREET NEWARK, NJ 07103 LOT: 44 BLOCK: 1793 APPROXIMATE DIMENSIONS: 25 X 100 NEAREST CROSS STREET: 12TH AVENUE A full legal description can be found in the office of the Register of Essex County. A DEPOSIT OF 20% OF THE BID PRICE IN CERTIFIED FUNDS IS REQUIRED AT THE TIME SALE. SURPLUS MONEY: IF AFTER THE SALE AND SATISFACTION OF THE MORTGAGE DEBT, INCLUDING COSTS AND EXPENSES, THERE REMAINS ANY SURPLUS MONEY, THE MONEY WILL BE DEPOSITED INTO THE SUPERIOR COURT TRUST FUND AND ANY PERSON CLAIMING THE SURPLUS, OR ANY PART THEREOF, MAY FILE A MOTION PURSUANT TO COURT RULES 4:64-3 AND 4:57-2 STATING THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF THAT PERSON'S CLAIM AND ASKING FOR AN ORDER DIRECTING PAYMENT OF THE SURPLUS MONEY. THE SHERIFF OR OTHER PERSON CONDUCTING THE SALE WILL HAVE INFORMATION REGARDING THE SURPLUS, IF ANY. The approximate amount of the Judgment to be satisfied by said sale is the sum of $296,321.86, together with the costs of this sale. The Sheriff reserves the right to adjourn the sale from time to time as provided by Law Newark, N.J. August 22, 2018 ARMANDO B. FONTOURA, Sheriff KML LAW GROUP PC, ATTORNEY(S) 10/3,10,17,24/18 $396.80
Related Categories: Notices and Announcements - Legal Notice
Published in The Star Ledger, Published Online 10/3. Updated 10/17.
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text:
Fundamental Algorithmic
and Statistical Tools Laboratory
School of Computational Science and Engineering,
Georgia Institute of Technology
The FASTlab performs research on practical yet theoretically rigorous tools for fundamental algorithmic and statistical problems arising in challenging applications. Our main focus is state-of-the-art
data analysis (machine learning/data mining/statistics) on massive datasets
-- we are the largest academic lab devoted to this topic.
Modern datasets are increasingly "massive" either in the number of objects (rows of a data table) or the number of dimensions/measurements describing each object (columns of a data table), and we are concerned with both. The research questions we pursue are motivated by collaborations with domain experts on high-impact science and engineering problems. Our goal is to develop practical high-accuracy
and fast
for them, then if possible generalize them with a
allowing many future practical methods and algorithms to be developed. We strive to ensure practicality by developing real
and co-publishing in the domain area -- thus our work cycle takes us from mathematics to code to scientific results to mathematics. To achieve our end goals we are
. Work on the computational foundations of machine learning is ultimately intertwined with the fundamental statistical issues of data analysis -- a long-term goal is to unify them theoretically. Our statistical work (as well as our algorithmic work) incorporates concepts from geometry/topology, which we believe represents a long-term bridge between statistics and computation. Within our computational work, we utilize the tools of both discrete computer science (yielding powerful strategies for efficiency and analysis) and continuous numerical analysis (yielding, for example, rigorous bounding of approximation errors), and rare confluences of both can be found in our work. Our work bleeds into general contributions to basic applied mathematics and scientific computing problems.
All Papers and Code
Our Team
Fast Algorithms for Large Datasets
Our goal: To make all textbook state-of-the-art machine learning methods computationally tractable on big datasets.
Of particular concern here are nonparametric methods, which are the most powerful but tend to result in the most expensive computations. Most existing approaches to analysis of massive datasets consist of either using simple methods, using a small subsample of the data, or using MapReduce/Hadoop, all of which result in significant limitations. Our strategy is to first design (or adopt) the fastest possible
for the key computational bottlenecks, then consider their extension to out-of-core and parallel settings. Decomposing our goal, five main types of computations can be identified: generalized N-body problems, matrix computations, optimizations, graphical model inferences, and integrations. (This landscape will be outlined in a forthcoming survey paper on large-scale machine learning.) Of these, graphical model inferences and integrations have received much attention in the machine learning literature and therefore have not been a major focus of ours so far. We have so far developed the overall-fastest-while-accurate practical algorithms for the following methods:
fast nearest-neighbors:
(1+epsilon) distance-approximate
nearest-neighbor classification
fast kernel estimators:
kernel density estimation
kernel regression
kernel conditional density estimation
mean-shift clustering
kernel discriminant analysis
bandwidth learning
fast spatial statistics:
n-point correlation functions
fast support vector machines:
online nonlinear SVMs
L_0 SVMs
L_q SVMs for 0 < q < 1
fast hierarchical clustering:
fast hidden Markov models:
approximate HMMs
fast principal component analysis:
approximate SVD
fast manifold learning:
maximum variance unfolding
software for scalable machine learning
also includes the best algorithms from the research literature for other methods.
Nearest-Neighbor and Computational Geometry
Many of these fastest algorithms are achieved using multidimensional trees, which are also key to basic problems beyond data analysis. These include kd-trees, ball/metric trees, and cover trees. We have: done
extensive experimentation with virtually all known data structures
of this kind; introduced new types of trees, including spill trees, subspace trees, and cosine trees; shown
how to use trees, our cosine trees, for linear algebra computations
; shown how to
formally analyze algorithms for pairwise problems
based on cover trees; and shown how to create
out-of-core versions of trees in relational databases
. We are currently working on more insightful data-dependent analyses of tree-based algorithms, as well as parallel trees and tree-based algorithms. Nearest-neighbor search is important in its own right, but also as a prototype problem for others that are well-treated with trees. We have: shown that
all-nearest-neighbors can be done more efficiently than by using repeated single-query algorithms, using a dual-tree traversal
; shown that
nearest-neighbor classification can be done more efficiently than by actually finding the nearest neighbors
; developed the
fastest/most accurate method for (1+epsilon) distance-approximate nearest-neighbor using our spill trees
; and introduced a more powerful and natural
paradigm of approximation which is more effective for high-dimensional nearest-neighbor search
than distance approximation.
Kernel Summations and Multipole Methods
Large summations over kernel functions such as Gaussians occur in the heart of kernel estimators, RKHS kernel machines, and manifold learning methods. While similar to some computational physics problems, statistical problems may be in arbitrary dimension and require a wider array of possible kernels. We have: shown how to develop
computational geometry (tree-based) methods for kernel summations which yield user-specifiable error guarantees
; shown
how to use multipole-like hierarchical series expansions with general multidimensional trees
, achieving the first true (hierarchical) multipole-like method for statistical problems; and shown how to achieve efficiency in
high-dimensional kernel summation
problems by using our subspace trees and incorporating Monte Carlo techniques.
Generalized N-Body Problems
Generalized N-body problems (GNPs), roughly speaking, are computations involving about comparisons between points (e.g. distances, dot products, and kernels), including all nearest-neighbor-like and kernel summation-like problems -- not surprisingly, many of the bottleneck computations in statistics are of this form. A common form of such problems involves comparisons between all pairs of points, a naively quadratic-time computation. We have:
formally (algebraically) defined
the class, which subsumes the map-reduce class, as well as
shown that a single abstract algebraic algorithm, a broad generalization of the famous Fast Multipole Method, solves all such pairwise problems
for the first time; shown for the first time that
such pairwise problems, including the original N-body problems of computational physics, are solvable in provably linear time
; shown for the first time that
the Euclidean minimum spanning tree (EMST) problem of computational geometry can be solved in O(NlogN) time
; shown that
higher-order (beyond pairs, to n-tuples) problems
such as
n-point correlations
more-than-pairwise kernels
can also be computed efficiently; and
created a programming model called THOR (Tree-based Higher-Order Reduce)
for GNPs.
Matrix Computations and Optimization
Matrix computations are the main bottleneck in several methods, both basic and state-of-the-art. The idea of approximate linear algebra is arguably more sensible in machine learning than in many other areas of scientific computing. A matrix structure which is somewhat unique to machine learning (though not completely) is the kernel matrix. We have: developed
a fast algorithm for SVD (full SVD, not just low-rank factorization) using Monte Carlo and a new kind of tree, cosine trees, which automatically determines the rank needed to achieve a specified approximation error
; and shown
how to use tree-based N-body solvers in kernel matrix problems
. We are working on fast, stable algorithms for Gaussian process regression and kernel PCA. Every statistical method results in an optimization, whether implicit or explicit. Recent methods have required increasingly difficult optimizations, and while generic off-the-shelf optimizers exist, custom algorithm designs are needed for scalability. We have: developed a
fast solver for the kinds of semidefinite programs that occur in manifold learning methods
; developed
the fastest online algorithm for nonlinear SVMs, based on the classic Frank-Wolfe approach
; and developed more efficient optimization formulations for
L_0 SVMs using perspective-cut mixed integer nonlinear programming
L_q SVMs for 0 < q < 1 using DC (difference of convex functions) programming
. We are working on online algorithms for all machine learning methods.
Truly Massive Data
Truly massive datasets may fit only on disk, rather than RAM, and may even fit only on multiple computers' disks. At this point it is difficult o separate the issues of efficient machine learning from those of data management. We have shown for the first time
how to use out-of-core versions of multidimensional trees within existing relational databases
, with a demonstration using Microsoft SQL Server; we are working on new ideas for large-scale data management, aka data warehousing, and also on the problem of efficient data transfer to allow large-scale machine learning via cloud computing. Our
THOR (Tree-Based Higher-Order Reduce)
programming model and system for generalized N-body problems can achieve certain kinds of parallelism for tree-based algorithms but in general we are working on efficient parallelizations of the fastest algorithms for all machine learning methods, for all types of modern hardware setups (clusters, multicore, GPUs).
Methods for High-Dimensional/Complex Data
Our goal: To efficiently estimate, compute, and derive insight in the presence of many variables with possibly complex interdependencies.
Of particular concern here are nonparametric methods, which are the most accurate but tend to have the most difficulties in high dimensionalities. In general, in pragmatically choosing between statistical methods, the tradeoff space is mostly defined by three axes: accuracy, scalability, and interpretability. We believe the accuracy/scalability tradeoff can be characterized mathematically, a long-term theoretical goal of ours, by utilizing tools from geometry/topology. One approach to achieving scalability is to consider new methods which result in easier computations yet hope to preserve most of the modeling power of more expensive methods, making the line between statistical method and computational method blurry -- our examples of this include
density estimation trees
Markov matrix factorization
, and
local kernel machines
. Interpretability, which can be captured by defining more interpretable objective functions (as in
density-preserving maps
) or by using more interpretable model classes (as in
density estimation trees
non-negative SVMs
), is more difficult to cast mathematically, though the number of variables in the final model might be a useful proxy. We have so far developed the following new statistical methods:
density estimation methods:
submanifold kernel density estimation
convex adaptive density estimation
hyperkernel density estimation
density estimation trees
classification/regression methods:
isometric separation maps
local kernel machines
non-negative kernel machines
generative mean map kernel
dimension reduction/clustering methods:
isometric non-negative matrix factorization
convex non-negative matrix factorization
affine non-negative matrix factorization
density-preserving maps
functional independent component analysis
machine learning software
includes these and other state-of-the-art machine learning methods.
Curses of Dimensionality and Geometry
There are various curses of dimensionality, which we believe can ultimately be related to each other. There are
curses of dimensionality, such as the exponential dependence of the estimation error of kernel estimators on the dimension of the data, and
curses of dimensionality, such as the exponential dependence of the runtime of nearest-neighbor algorithms on the dimension of the data. We have: shown that
kernel estimators are sensitive to the dimension of the data's submanifold, rather than the full dimension of their ambient space, thus showing that kernel estimation in high dimensionality is possible
; we have developed
more refined variants of the expansion constant, which can be regarded as a worst-case form of intrinsic dimension
in the context of some computational geometry computations; we are working on rigorous nonparametric estimators of the intrinsic dimension of datasets, and on distribution-dependent analyses of algorithms which apply the mathematical tools of statistics to algorithm analysis.
Dimension Reduction and Feature Selection
The identification of the fundamental axes of variation in data, in principle, has implications for all statistical tasks, and has undergone a revival with the introduction of geometry-inspired ideas in recent years. We are interested in bringing more powerful geometry/topology ideas to this area, in blending them with basic statistical principles of estimation, and in creating new methods using formulations made possible by modern optimization capabilities. We have: shown for the first time
how to perform non-negative matrix factorization in a convex fashion
; shown how to perform
non-negative matrix factorization with isometric (manifold learning-like) constraints, achieving a more compact spectrum
; shown a stable way to perform
manifold learning
distances, using only an ordering on the distances between points
; and demonstrated a
new paradigm for dimension reduction which preserves densities rather than distances
, which is shown to always be possible while distance preservation is well-known not to be always possible, and which is well-motivated by the most common use of high-dimensional visualization -- identification of clusters and outliers. See also our work on
isometric separation maps, which bridge manifold learning and SVMs
. The identification of
of the original features (rather than linear or nonlinear combinations of all of the features) which are relevant to a particular learning task has both interpretive and statistical value, and much recent attention has surrounded the issues of sparsity and regularization. We have: shown how to perform fast but provably nonparametric density estimation using
density estimation trees, the analog of classification and regression trees
, yielding the interpretable rules and automatic feature selection capabilities of decision trees. See also our work where we have shown how to achieve the expected aggressive feature selection capabilities of the relatively little-studied regularization norms below L_1, in particular
L_0 SVMs
using certain relaxations of the true combinatorial objective function and
L_q SVMs for 0 < q < 1
. We are working on new ways to perform feature selection in multi-class learning problems and in the future will enter causality inference. Dimension reduction and feature selection can often be seen as special cases of learning the metric, or similarity or kernel function, at the root of a statistical task -- rather than, for example, taking the Euclidean distance (and functions of it) as given. See our work on this
Kernel Machines and Estimators
Toward general methodology for complex data, we are working on extending the capabilities of the best nonparametric methods, which revolve around notions of similarities of kernels between data points. Support vector machines and their relatives are more or less the most accurate classifiers available, but require improvements in scalability and extensions for making them applicable to certain kinds of problems. We have: shown the utility of a
local kernel machines, which retain some of the advantage of SVMs while enjoying the greater scalability of other nonparametric methods
; shown how to create
non-negative SVMs
which only find models with non-negative coefficients; proven the empirical and theoretical advantages of
generative mean map kernels
, a new kind of kernel for probability distributions, allowing complex generative models to be used within SVMs with increased accuracy. Kernel estimators (or smoothers) constitute another powerful class of nonparametric methods. We are working on ways to perform
kernel estimation on data with measurement errors
. See also our work on
high-dimensional kernel estimation
. We are working on the fundamental relationships between kernel estimators and kernel machines. We explored various questions regarding learning the kernel or similarity measure between points -- we have: shown how to
learn the kernel in kernel density estimation via semidefinite programming, yielding behavior similar to variable-bandwidth methods but bypassing the idea of bandwidth selection
; shown how to
learn the metric for a max-margin-based nearest-neighbor classifier
; and developed a way to
learn the kernel in support vector machines such that linear separability in the kernel space is
rather than hoped for
Structured and Complex Data
Structured data are those for which there are known types of dependencies between the variables. Common types of structure include temporal and spatial dependence. We have: developed a form of
independent component analysis (ICA) for functional data (such as time series)
which accounts for the shape similarity between time series rather than requiring that they be aligned (as with the common use of iid ICA for time series); we have demonstrated a way to effectively learn fast
approximations of hidden Markov models which cast the problem as a certain matrix factorization, which we call Markov matrix factorization
; developed a way to
simultaneously learn transformations of each data point while estimating models, in the context of an affine non-negative matrix factorization for images such as faces
. See also our work on new
kernels for parametric models
, which can allow the use of structured (non-iid) data objects such as time series or images to be used within kernel machines. We are also working on ways to ensure generalization in dependent data.
High-Impact Applications and Software
Our goal: To make significant impact in today's outstanding, large-scale problems, while using their underlying issues to drive our long-term research questions.
When we can find the right collaborators, we try to focus on the problems which have the most long-term impact. This has often led us to long-standing fundamental science problems, but we have also begun to consider difficult problems occurring in industry. We believe that starting with problems in real-world domains, as opposed to academic ones, forces us to consider the truly hardest and most fundamental mathematical/computational problems, rather than simplify and abstract them. We embrace, rather than seek to avoid, the "non-ideal" aspects of real data analysis problems and regard them as opportunities for research. With each applied problem we tackle, we strive to develop not only an improved solution for it but also a general method (computational or statistical) which can be a used for a much larger class of problems. First-of-a-kind application results our tools have enabled include:
first large-scale evidence for dark energy
(article in
first large-scale verification of cosmic magnification
(article in
most accurate early detector of ovarian cancer to date
(article in
largest Axilrod-Teller molecular simulation to date
We are working on customized wrappers of our general software which are tailored to each of the user communities we work with.
Astroinformatics Tools
Though in fact arguably very old, astroinformatics is just beginning to congeal as a community, in the way that bioinformatics has. Among the sciences, astronomy/astrophysics is the poster child of massive datasets, with the coming generation of sky surveys generating billions of data points per month, and the successful history among the sciences of being able to manage such influxes of data. We have worked in this area since 1993, beginning with contributions to the SKICAT star-galaxy separation system for the DPOSS survey. More recently we have been working mainly in the area of observational cosmology, or large-scale structure, with the SDSS survey. We have enabled
the largest and most accurate quasar catalog to date
, consisting of nearly 1 million quasars having the largest redshift and luminosity range yet, using our large-scale algorithm for kernel discriminant analysis -- this has led to the
first large-scale verification of cosmic magnification
(article in
). Our algorithm for n-point correlation functions, the first efficient exact algorithm for this critical family of statistics, helped to enable the
first large-scale evidence for dark energy
using the WMAP data (article in
), the
most accurate 2-point function of AGNs
, and the
largest 3-point function ever computed
. We are still actively working on extensions to this algorithm. Our fast algorithm for kernel density estimation enabled an influential study of the
ecology of galaxies
. We are working on what we believe will be the most accurate redshift estimator to date using our fast algrorithms for kernel regression and kernel conditional density estimation, coupled with our work on
kernel estimation accounting for measurement errors
. We are also working on the problems of decomposing astrophysical spectra using our advanced methods of non-negative matrix factorization, cross-matching catalogs, deblending overlapped objects, and friends-of-friends clustering in astrophysical simulations.
Bioinformatics and Medical Tools
Bioinformatics remains the model success story among the sciences of the multidisciplinary union of a science domain with algorithmic and statistical methods. Our work on various bioinformatics problems goes back many years, and includes some of the early work on
microarray analysis
attempting to learn genetic circuits from microarray data, as well as a more recent foray into
integrating microarray data and gene ontologies
to identify cancer biomarkers. We have also worked on
segmentation of cell images
toward cancer detection. More recently we have focused on mass spectrometry for metabolomics, and have developed functional support vector machine (fSVM) models yielding the
most accurate early detector of ovarian cancer to date
(article in
). We are working on using our work on feature-selecting SVMs to identify a smaller set of biomarkers, and on the difficult calibration and noise removal issues with mass spectrometry data. We are also now working on identification of salient temporal patterns in EEG data for
brain-computer interfaces
for the disabled and for clinical diagnosis of sleep disorders. Molecular modeling encompasses fundamental capabilities for the design and discovery of new drugs and materials, including tertiary structure prediction by protein folding or molecular dynamics simulations. The energy function used in such simulations lies at the center these activities and is a source of constant experimentation and tuning, within the large space of possible approximations to the true (quantum mechanical) energy function. We have formalized the problem of
learning energy functions
via non-negative ranking SVMs, and shown the ability to automatically learn superior energy functions. It has been found that traditional pairwise interaction potentials are not able to capture all of the salient physics in molecules, which has opened up the area of empirical and multi-body (more than pairwise) potentials. Using our framework of generalized N-body methods, we have developed the
first fast algorithm for multi-body (general-order) potentials
, enabling the
largest-scale Axilrod-Teller molecular simulation to date
. The next higher level of simulation fidelity lies at the quantum level, but long-standing approaches such as Hartree-Fock simulation are prohibitive as they result in quartic runtime in the number of basis functions used -- however our generalized N-body framework points to a more efficient approach than has existed so far, and we are exploring this to see if quantum-level simulation can be done on much larger molecules than previously considered possible.
Industrial and Other Scientific Tools
Man-made data, such as internet data, has also become massive and lies at the heart of important societal problems. We have developed an initial system to
automatically flag emails as spam based on the sending patterns of their source, rather than their content
using a source of 300 million emails per day, and are working on a more advanced system using our fast online SVM and fast HMM algorithms. We are also working on a large system for classification and Netflix-like recommendation of documents. In high-energy physics, we have developed fast methods for
particle event triggering in the Large Hadron Collider
Software and Systems
We believe the ultimate incarnation of our research is robust software. There is a void in the space of today's machine learning software, which we are working to fill. It is either comprehensive (covering a large set of statistical methods) but non-scalable, such as Weka, R, or Matlab, or algorithmically sophisticated and tightly-coded but limited in scope, such as SVMlight. Our model is the world of linear algebra, in which LAPACK represents both comprehensiveness and state-of-the-art algorithms, within robust and widely usable software. Our attempt to create the analog for machine learning is called
, a collection of machine learning methods based on the
Fastlib C++ library
-- a pre-release is available for the curious, though a much-improved version 1.0 release is scheduled for June 2010. Longer-term, we are also working on a comprehensive system for data visualization and analysis, to make machine learning usable by non-experts.
Algorithm Derivation and Code Generation
Ultimately, we would like to be able to develop customized models for new domains/clients orders of magnitude more quickly than is currently possible. Perhaps our most ambitious project is to, over time, encode all the statistical and computational principles needed to develop the algorithms and code that an expert could develop if given enough time, so that a modeler can declaratively specify models and have state-of-the-art algorithms derived for them and highly efficient code generated for those algorithms, then have the models automatically tested and compared to each other. We have, based on our earlier involvement with the
AutoBayes system
, developed steps toward type-theoretic
formallization of optimization
formalization of probability and statistics
which will form a base for a new system we call Algorithmica.


text:
Highlights: Whitecaps FC 4 - 3 Revolution
VANCOUVER, BC – In an exciting, physical match in front of 20,116 fans, Vancouver Whitecaps FC (5W-5L-4D) defeated New England Revolution 4-3 (5W-5L-5D) at BC Place.
Canadian international Russell Teibert registered an assist in his third straight game and Kenny Miller had his first two-goal performance as a member of the 'Caps in Vancouver's highest scoring MLS match to date.
Head coach Martin Rennie made two changes from last week's starting lineup against Seattle Sounders FC, with Carlyle Mitchell drawing in for the injured Andy O'Brien at centre back and Daigo Kobayashi coming in for Jun Marques Davidson in midfield.
On eight minutes, the first opportunity for the 'Caps presented itself when Young-Pyo Lee fired a shot from the right side of the 18-yard box, but his shot narrowly missed the left side of the net.
Two minutes later, on 10 minutes, the visitors put a hush to the BC Place crowd. Left back Chris Tierney lofted a long ball upfield to Juan Agudelo, who then one-timed a shot just past Brad Knighton and into the net to give the Revs the early one-goal lead.
In the 19th minute, New England nearly netted another when Saer Sene found Kelyn Rowe in the centre of the box, but the midfielder fired the ball high. However, just a minute later, on 20 minutes, the Revs' capitalized as Sene connected with Diego Fagundez, who in turn found Rowe for a low finish and a 2-0 lead.
On 23 minutes, the tides turned as Andrew Farrell took down Miller in the box just after the Scottish striker picked up a pass from Teibert. The result was a red card to the Revs rookie and a penalty kick awarded to the 'Caps, who donned their arbutus brown kits for tonight's match. Camilo stepped up to the spot and converted, bringing the home side to their feet as Vancouver drew back within a goal.
With a man advantage, Vancouver found an equalizer on 39 minutes when Mitchell headed the ball forward to Miller. The Scotsman then flicked it over the head of Revs defender Stephen McCarthy, headed to himself, and slid a left-footer past Bobby Shuttleworth to make it 2-2.
Less than five minutes later the boys in Brown were in front. After a strong run from Nigel Reo-Coker, Teibert received the ball out right and crossed into Jordan Harvey who made no mistake from in close, scoring a third unanswered goal for the 'Caps as they went into the break up 3-2.
With the home side up a goal and a man, an interesting second 45 minutes awaited.
On 58 minutes, the Revs had a chance to equalize as Darius Barnes threw the ball in to McCarthy, who headed the ball on to Fagundez, who himself sent a header towards goal that was easily grabbed by Knighton.
10 minutes later Miller provided some comfort for 'Caps fans with another beauty. After collecting a long ball forward from Camilo, Miller let the ball take a bounce, then fired a looping shot outside the box over the head of Shuttleworth for a 4-2 lead.
The Revs' had a chance to get a goal back on 73 minutes, when Tierney broke in on the left flank and fired a laser then flew just wide of the near post.
However, on 84 minutes, the visitors again got within a goal as second half substitute Dimitry Imbongo was sent in by Barnes and fired a shot past Knighton from the middle of the box, giving the Revs' something to fight for in the final five minutes of the match.
With nerves high in stoppage time, Rowe had a great chance to level the match late as a free kick taken by Shuttleworth ended up in the box, where the ball bounced off of Knighton to Rowe, but with an open goal in front of him he couldn't keep it on frame and sent a shot high.
On 95 minutes, the Revs' had a final chance on a free kick taken by Lee Nguyen, but a sprawling Knighton saved the day with a terrific tip over the net to preserve the lead.
Despite a few tense moments, the 'Caps maintained their composure and rode out the storm to claim a 4-3 win and continue their seven-match unbeaten streak at home.
After the match, Rennie reflected on his team's performance.
"We must be the most entertaining team in MLS I think because the game never seems to be over when it feels like it should be," said Rennie. "We started the game slow and New England, I thought, were playing real well... We didn't defend well on the first two goals but the thing I liked was that we had a couple of leaders like Kenny and Nigel who kept going and who really showed grit, determination and fight and they know that if you keep going with the game that anything could happen."
Next up, Whitecaps FC host Western Conference side Chivas USA this coming Wednesday, June 19 at BC Place. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. PT.
Budweiser Man of the Match: Kenny Miller
Referee: Juan Guzman
Attendance: 20,116
Scoring Summary
10' - NE - Juan Agudelo (Chris Tierney)
20' - NE - Kelyn Rowe (Diego Fagundez, Saer Sene)
25' - VAN - Camilo (penalty kick)
39' - VAN - Kenny Miller (Carlyle Mitchell)
43' - VAN - Jordan Harvey (Russell Teibert, Nigel Reo-Coker)
68' - VAN - Kenny Miller (Camilo)
84' - NE - Dimitry Imbongo (Darius Barnes)
Match Stats
Shots: Vancouver 12 - New England 14
Shots on Goal: Vancouver 6 - New England 5
Saves: Vancouver 2 - New England 2
Fouls: Vancouver 14 - New England 13
Offsides: Vancouver 2 - New England 0
Corners: Vancouver 1 - New England 3
14' - NE - Scott Caldwell
31' - NE - Chris Tierney
61' - VAN - Russell Teibert
69' - VAN - Carlyle Mitchell
76' - VAN - Kekuta Manneh
93' - NE - Kelyn Rowe
23' - NE - Andrew Farrell
18.Brad Knighton; 12.Young-Pyo Lee, 24.Carlyle Mitchell, 16.Johnny Leveron, 2.Jordan Harvey; 14.Daigo Kobayashi, 13.Nigel Reo-Coker (27.Jun Marques Davidson 78'), 8.Matt Watson (23.Kekuta Manneh 66'); 31.Russell Teibert, 7.Camilo (19.Erik Hurtado 74'), 9.Kenny Miller
Subs not used:
1.Joe Cannon, 11.Darren Mattocks, 29.Tommy Heinemann, 33.Adam Clement
22.Bobby Shuttleworth; 2.Andrew Farrell, 15.Stephen McCarthy, 23.Jose Goncalves, 8.Chris Tierney; 14.Diego Fagundez (92.Dimitry Imbongo 69'), 11.Kelyn Rowe, 6.Scott Caldwell, 24.Lee Nguyen; 39.Saer Sene (25.Darrius Barnes 29'), 10.Juan Agudelo (13.Ryan Guy 74')
Subs not used:
1.Matt Reis, 5.A.J. Soares, 9.Chad Barrett, 12.Andy Dorman


text:
August 06. 2014 8:47AM
Kathy Sullivan: NH Republicans are taking cues from out-of-state right-wingers
A NUMBER of New Hampshire Republicans, including gubernatorial candidates Walter Havenstein and Andrew Hemingway, have signed a pledge issued by Americans for Prosperity's New Hampshire chapter, AFP-NH. In doing so, they adopted an agenda promulgated by an out-of-state organization that refuses to disclose its financial sources.
Ironically, many of these same candidates complain bitterly about what they say is an overreaching federal government, with Washington exercising too much control over state and local government. Yet these same candidates are willing to cede their political independence to an unelected, secretive group headquartered in a Washington suburb that seeks to control our state and local governments. That is just plain wrong, and New Hampshire voters should give a resounding "no" to this effort.
AFP-NH claims 42,000 members. That number, even if accurate, is not as large as it sounds. By comparison, another Granite State affiliate of a national organization, AARP-New Hampshire, has 228,000 members. AFP-NH also is a fraction of the overall electorate. As of Jan. 15, there were 870,629 registered Granite State voters; 261,846 were Republicans. That means that only 16 percent of the GOP's membership, and 4 percent of all voters, belong to AFP-NH, if its membership numbers are correct. Unlike political parties, the very political AFP does not have to be transparent about its actual membership.
So why are New Hampshire Republicans so eager to dance to the tune of a small, out-of-state-controlled organization? One could be the fear factor. In prior elections, Republicans who strayed from right-wing orthodoxy on marriage equality could face primaries from candidates backed by right-wing nonprofit organizations focused on social issues. These groups have faded, replaced by AFP and similar anti-government groups.
Republicans who supported bipartisan legislation to fix the state's infrastructure through a four-cent per gallon gas tax increase, or to help 50,000 Granite Staters obtain health care through Medicaid expansion, are targeted now by groups like AFP. Several state senators face primaries because they voted for what they thought was in the state's best interests, not what AFP and its friends wanted. Unfortunately, too many candidates lack the courage to stand up to AFP-NH and its far right ideology.
AFP has the money to follow through in expressing its anger. It has already spent millions of dollars in New Hampshire. It would be one thing if all that money came from people who cared about our state. Although campaign finance loopholes protect AFP's backers from disclosure, Forbes Magazine, among others, has written of multimillion dollar contributions to AFP from New York City billionaire David Koch and North Carolina businessman Art Pope. In taking the AFP pledge, Havenstein, Hemingway and other Republicans are acting at the behest of monied out-of-staters.
Doing so can put candidates in awkward positions. One of the pledge components is to oppose Obamacare in all forms in New Hampshire. Yet only three months ago, Havenstein told a New Hampshire newspaper that he favored improving Obamacare, not a repeal, and that the governor could improve the program by encouraging more companies to participate in the exchange. Now he is pledging to completely oppose Obamacare because an out-of-state group funded by out-of- state billionaires asked him to do so.
New Hampshire needs candidates who put the interests of our state first, not those willing to flipflop upon demand because a group out of Virginia demands it.
Kathy Sullivan is a Manchester attorney and member of the Democratic National Commmittee. She was chairman of the state Democratic Party from 1999-2007.


text:
Just the beginning
Eleven members of Warwick Troop 4 under the direction of Benjamin O'Donnell, who is working to earn his Eagle Badge, took on the task of clearing land, at the intersection of Narragansett Parkway and Parkside Drive, of undergrowth and fallen branches and trees Saturday morning. O'Donnell gained state approval to "adopt" the spot. After clearing it, he aims, with the help of donations, to spread mulch under bushes and seed open areas with grass. O'Donnell said he joined the troop in 2005 when it was known as Troop 4 of 4. The ranks have now grown to 24. The Pilgrim senior, seen here in front of his band of helpers, plans to join the Navy after graduating this year. Eventually, he would like to be a firefighter. The "adopt a spot" cleanup, which he pledges to do for the next two years, is his Eagle community service project.


text:
Trying to complete the rank 8 4/4 achievement in Brawler's on a Hunter. I managed to kill both Disruptron and Zen'shar which are both pet friendly and doable, however it seems like hunters are absolutely useless on both Millhouse and Epicus Maximus.
On Millhouse, your pet doesn't get the stacks of the 500% damage debuff required to kill the boss, forcing you to play SV or MM on a single target fight, and even then you're still losing a good part of your damage. This fight has a very tight enrage (probably the worst) and trying to do the fight with your pet doing 30k DPS as BM isn't going to cut it
Epicus seems to require in excess of 100k DPS, which is doable on a hunter, however yet again pets are borderline retarded. For some reason the pets are valid targets for the beam (ticks for about 30k) as well as the shit on the floor (50k) which is literally everywhere, ferocity pets cannot stay on the boss during beam casts (half of the fight), so you have to pull them back which just isn't realistic if you want to meet the enrage (for which you need to play BM).
I guess it's no surprise really - Blizzard have only had 8 years to design pet friendly mechanics.
Has anyone found any valid strategies for either of these bosses?


text:
Cynk Technology shares were cut in half early Friday after they became free to trade for the first time in two weeks.
Given the stock's CYNK, +0.00% meteoric rise, prior to the 10-session halt by the Securities and Exchange Commission -- despite no reported sales or assets -- it's no surprise to see it get spanked at the open. The stock dropped 64% to $5, and was down as much as 86% at the intraday low of $2.01.
Technically speaking, there was some minor congestion in the shares' chart prior to the halt between $5 and $3, that could provide some support. And as technicians often say, the strongest support for any stock is at zero.
The SEC halted trading of the social network's stock as of July 11, because of "potentially manipulative transactions" and concerns regarding the "accuracy and adequacy of information in the marketplace." The stock, which traded over-the-counter, closed at $13.90 on July 10, after soaring about 23,000% since June 16.
Among some other hot OTC stocks that faced similar SEC scrutiny, GrowLife shares PHOT, +8.40% tumbled 58% when the halt was lifted on April 25 to 21 cents, and have since fallen another 57% to 9 cents early Friday. Prior to the halt, the stock had more than tripled year-to-date.
Shares of Advanced Cannabis Solutions CANN, +4.73% which had run up more than 9-fold year-to-date until it was halted as of March 27 at $29.99, opened with a 38% tumble on April 10 to $18.50. The stock has fallen another 75% since to $4.66.
More must reads from MarketWatch:
Why you should dump your Twitter shares now
These are the sex, drug and gambling capitals of America
Amazon reports another loss despite strong sales


text:
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text:
December 27, 1933 - August 27, 2013
Wurtsboro, NY
Fritzie Johanna Weinert, a 35 year resident of Wurtsboro, died suddenly on Tuesday, August 27th at Orange Regional Medical Center. She was 79.
The daughter of the late Magda and William Gerders, she was born on December 27, 1933 in the Bronx, NY. Fritzie worked as a Nurse Administrator for the Middletown Psychiatric Center. She was a member of the Mamakating Seniors and a parishioner at St. Joseph's R.C. Church in Wurtsboro.
She loved to travel with her Seniors group, enjoyed family functions and was an avid Yankee fan. Fritzie was an independent woman who was very proud of her role as a nurse. She was always happy to share her medical knowledge with others, especially when she visited physicians.
Fritzie is survived by her son, Frederick Weinert of Otisville; her daughters: Suzanne Weinert-Korycki and her husband, Ronald of New Hampton, and her daughter, Jeanette Weinert-Smith and her husband, David of San Jose, CA. She is also survived by her former husband and longtime friend, Alfred Weinert of Otisville, as well as many friends. She was predeceased by her stepfather, Karl Strobach.
Visitation hours are from 2 to 4 & 7 to 9 p.m., Tuesday, September 3rd at Applebee-McPhillips Funeral Home, Inc., 130 Highland Ave., Middletown, NY 10940. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11 a.m., Wednesday, September 4th at St. Joseph's R.C. Church, Sullivan St., Wurtsboro, NY 12790.
Cremation will be private.


text:
Here's a simple SQL Server stored procedure that you can call to process an OLAP cube using T-SQL. The parameters should be self-explanatory. To me, this is a little easier and more flexible than processing using DTS packages.
create procedure ProcessCube
@Database varchar(100),
@Cube varchar(100),
@Partition varchar(100) = null, -- If NULL, process the entire Cube
@Server varchar(100) = 'localhost'
Author: Jeff Smith
Version: 10/27/2008
/* variables used to store object handles */
declare @o_svr int, @o_db int, @o_cube int, @o_part int, @o_mds int
declare @hr int
/* different cube processing options. This SP uses "default" */
declare @PROCESS_DEFAULT int
declare @PROCESS_FULL int
declare @PROCESS_REFRESH_DATA...
posted @ Monday, October 27, 2008 3:26 PM | Feedback (12) |
Filed Under [
I apologize for not posting any new content in quite some time, but now I am back and will soon start posting on a (hopefully!) regular basis once again.
The reason for my hiatus was a pretty good one, though: I recently became a father with the birth of my son Benjamin on October 2, 2008! He is doing great and already knows that he should always do his formatting at the client and never within the database. He's a natural!
As if that wasn't enough, I also found out recently I have been named as a 2009 SQL Server MVP! Now...
posted @ Thursday, October 16, 2008 4:04 PM | Feedback (9) |
Filed Under [
Powered by:
Copyright © Jeff Smith


text:
Cynthiana/Harrison County-Licking Valley BPW and Business and Professional Women/USA announces that the annual National Business Women's Week (NBWW) will be held the week of Oct. 22-27. NBWW offers communities, companies and organizations an opportunity to celebrate and acknowledge the contributions of working women. It also offers a chance for local B&PW organizations across the country to recognize companies and individuals that have made strides toward improving working women's lives in their communities.
If you currently subscribe or have subscribed in the past to the The Cynthiana Democrat, then simply find your account number on your mailing label and enter it below.
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text:
Members Present
Justice Daniel Crothers , Chair
Aaron Birst
Bill Brudvik
Judge Sonja Clapp
Referee John Grinsteiner
Jim Hill (until 11:15 a.m.)
Rep. Nancy Johnson
Courtney Koebele
Judge Steven Marquart
Deb Simenson
Members Absent
Judge Richard Hagar
Barb Hill
DeWayne Johnston
Sen. Karen Krebsbach
Chuck Peterson
Others Present
Capt. Michelle Hagel, JAG, Joint Force ND National Guard
Lonnie Wangen, Commissioner, ND Department of Veterans Affairs
Barney Tomanek, Director, DOCR Parole/Probation Division
Chair Crothers called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. and drew Committee members, attention to Attachment B (October 15, 2010) - minutes of the July 23, 2010, meeting. Rep. Johnson noted typographical errors on page 7, 3rd and 4th paragraphs.
It was moved by Jim Hill, seconded by Courtney Koebele, and carried that the minutes, with noted corrections, be approved.
Veterans Court Concept - Cont'd Discussion
Chair Crothers summarized the Committee's July 23 initial discussion regarding the possible establishment of a veterans court or some similar process. He said the Committee's tentative conclusion was to further review related activities by the Veterans Administration, the National Guard, and the state Department of Veterans Affairs to determine how best to proceed with the study.
Chair Crothers then welcomed Lonnie Wangen, Commissioner, ND Department of Veterans Affairs, for comments on the veterans court concept.
Mr. Wangen said the veterans court concept has been discussed at some length during meetings of the national association of state veterans department directors and there is general agreement that the concept is a good one and should be implemented if possible. He said veterans courts that have been established in other jurisdictions have proven to be fairly effective. He drew attention to a recent incident near Watford City involving a veteran and confrontations with law enforcement [discussed in newspaper articles included in Attachment C (October 15, 2010)]. He said a near tragic result was avoided through involvement of family members, the National Guard, the Governor's office, his department, and the local veterans services officer. He said the court was able to fashion a disposition that ensured the veteran was able to receive appropriate treatment services. He stressed the importance of court awareness of treatment alternatives and the kinds of services available to veterans who may become involved in the criminal justice system.
In response to a question from Justice Crothers with respect to the Watford City incident, Capt. Hagel said the veteran's sister had placed a call to the National Guard, which lead to involvement of the Military Service Center and a subsequent series of contacts.
Justice Crothers noted that docket entries concerning the case indicates that matters were addressed by the court at a bond hearing, with the veteran released on bond subject to conditions imposed by the court. The conditions, he said, appeared to be that the veteran seek treatment services from an appropriate provider. Capt. Hagel said the immediate concern before bond was set was the availability of a bed at a secure treatment facility.
Lonnie Wangen explained that the VA in Fargo has a secure facility but it is designed for short-term treatment options before transition to another facility. He said the objective in the Watford City incident was to ultimately place the veteran at the VA's St. Cloud, MN, facility, which would provide treatment for both post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol abuse. He said the facility is not a locked facility but authorities are notified if a patient leaves the premises.
In response to a question from Justice Crothers regarding veterans court approaches in other states, Mr. Wangen said it appears that in some areas general guidelines for identifying veterans and how cases might be handled have been established while in other areas full veterans courts, often referred to as mental health treatment or veterans treatment courts, have been established.
Justice Crothers noted the Committee's previous discussion of the availability of deferred prosecution under Rule 32.2 of the Rules of Criminal Procedure. He said there is also the option of deferred imposition of sentence after conviction which may result in the sealing of record information if the defendant complies with probation conditions. He said the Committee's general discussion suggests that North Dakota may be too large in area and too limited in resources to establish full veterans courts in very many locations. Some alternatives, he said, may be focusing on courts in certain areas, providing more thorough education and information for judges who would hear cases involving veterans, and developing particular protocols for judges to use in cases involving veterans.
Jim Hill said there is likely broad agreement that pursuing something like a veterans court process would be a worthwhile effort. The challenge, he said, is to determine what can be done within current system resources. He suggested appointing a taskforce or subcommittee with representatives from various groups to consider a continuum of actions that could be implemented to ensure the courts are able to respond effectively in cases involving veterans with PTSD or other trauma.
Bill Brudvik agreed the Committee should consider development of some sort of protocol or intermediate step short of establishing a veterans court.
In response to a question from Rep. Johnson, Justice Crothers said the court's information system does not collect information that would indicate whether a defendant has a military background.
Justice Crothers said that at a minimum the system should probably consider ways of developing more information about veterans and PTSD-related issues which can be made available to judges and lawyers.
Judge Clapp observed that judges generally have background information about defendants in felony cases, but similar information is not often available in misdemeanor cases or other kinds of cases in which similar issues might arise, such as domestic violence.
After further discussion, it was moved by Jim Hill, seconded by Referee Grinsteiner, and carried that the Chair appoint a subcommittee with representative membership to consider a range of possible actions that could be implemented to address cases involving veterans with PTSD or other service-related trauma.
Chair Crothers said membership for the subcommittee will be considered, with an expectation that the subcommittee present at least a preliminary report to the Committee in the spring.
HOPE Program
Chair Crothers next drew attention to Attachment D (October 15, 2010) - the Chief Justice's referral of review of Hawaii's Opportunity Probation with Enforcement Program, and related information. He said the Chief Justice's letter notes that District Judge Donovan Foughty in Devils Lake has indicated an interested in pursuing a pilot project based in part on components of the HOPE program. Staff noted the background information includes an article written by Hawaii Circuit Judge Steven Alms setting out benchmarks for the success of the program and an evaluation of the program included in a recent article in Governing magazine.
Chair Crothers then welcomed Barney Tomanek, Director, DOCR Parole/Probation Division, for comments regarding the HOPE program and a possible pilot project.
Rep. Johnson asked where opposition to such a program would most likely arise.
Mr. Tomanek said a program similar to the Hawaii program would likely require a unique area in which to work and would require that all personnel - judges, probation officers, law enforcement, prosecution, defense counsel, and treatment providers if any - work very closely together. One complication, he said, is that some jail facilities are already full and it would be difficult for jail administrators to find space for probationers in the program who may be brought back in for short-term incarceration as a result of a violation. He said DOCR is interested in considering the possibility of a pilot project but is cautious about the amount of resources and personnel it might require.
Judge Marquart said the background information indicates that probationers involved in the Hawaii program are felony high-risk offenders who are most often on supervised probation after release from prison. He wondered how a similar program could work in our system.
Justice Crothers noted that a significant difference is that probation in Hawaii is handled within the court system, while in North Dakota supervised probation is handled through DOCR. He wondered whether a HOPE-type program would increase the number of probation contacts. He said Judge Foughty has mentioned that there are too few probation officers in his area for the number of probationers and, as a result, it is difficult getting a probationer back into court for a violation. He said a HOPE-type program may require much more in the way of probation resources than it may require of in court resources.
Aaron Birst suggested that if Judge Foughty would like to implement a pilot program and can obtain the necessary level of commitment from others who be involved in the process, then he should consider moving forward.
Barney Tomanek said a much greater buy-in from the stakeholders in the Devils Lake area would be needed to move forward with a project. Nevertheless, he said, the concept of a pilot program could be considered further. He said the initial question is which offenders would be targeted. He said involving high-risk offenders in the program may not be workable in North Dakota. He said a HOPE-type program in the state may be better suited for offenders being placed directly on probation, while the DOCR transition program may be the better method of dealing with those released from the penitentiary. He said as a general matter the basic concerns include whether there are adequate resources, the number of probationers that may be involved, and the time commitment that may be required. He said if Judge Foughty is willing to attempt a HOPE-type program, the department would be willing to consider how the program could be implemented.
Judge Marquart noted Judge Foughty's concern that too many probationers are falling through the cracks and wondered whether that is a common experience across the state.
Mr. Tomanek said Judge Foughty requires that probation staff inform the court and state's attorneys whenever probationers fail to comply with probation conditions. Consequently, he said the practice is similar in a small way to the more intensive involvement that is part of the Hawaii program. Judge Marquart said courts in Fargo do not have the luxury of following a similar approach because of the high number of offenders that process through the courts and the probable impact on probation services.
Justice Crothers said an alternative might be for Judge Foughty to develop a program proposal to be implemented locally. He said a HOPE-type program may not be workable on a state-wide basis.
Aaron Birst noted that part of the HOPE program involves bringing the probationer back for a short period of incarceration following a violation. He said that will likely result in funding issues for counties because of the associated costs for the local jail.
Mr. Tomanek noted that Judge Foughty has obtained the cooperation of the local jail for the process he is implementing. However, he said, there may be additional transportation costs for sheriffs if they are required to transport a probationer to a jail facility.
Following further discussion, it was moved by Aaron Birst, seconded by Courtney Koebele, and carried that implementation of a HOPE-type program on a statewide basis is not considered feasible at this time, but a pilot project should be considered in the Devils Lake area if Judge Foughty is successful in obtaining the commitment and cooperation of various stakeholders and participants.
Administrative Rule 34 - Activities by Domestic Violence Advocates - Draft Amendments
Chair Crothers next drew attention to Attachment E (October 15, 2010) - draft amendments to Administrative Rule 34 governing the activities of domestic violence advocates. He noted the Committee's review at the July 23 meeting of draft amendments intended to allow advocates to provide assistance to anyone seeking a disorderly conduct restraining order. He said the Committee's discussion and comments from Janelle Moos, Executive Director, ND Council on Abused Women's Services, resulted in requested amendments that would permit assistance, but only in situations in which the alleged conduct involved a family or household member as defined under the protection order statute.
Staff explained that the new draft amendments were distributed for comment to the Council and domestic violence program directors. The comments submitted by Ms. Moos are included as Attachment F (October 15,. 2010). The comments, he said, conclude that the Committee should not recommend amendments to AR 34 because of the inherent differences between domestic violence and disorderly conduct, the potential for conflicts as a result of the expanded category of persons who could request program services, and the difficulty associated with the expectation that programs would provide services to anyone seeking a restraining order rather than a more narrowly-defined group.
Justice Crothers observed that amendments authorizing advocates to assist with restraining orders may encounter resistance because advocates would be involved in determining which process- protection order or restraining order - may be more appropriate depending on allegations contained in the petition. That, he said, may appear to be too close to the practice of law.
Following further discussion, it was moved by Bill Brudvik, seconded by Judge Clapp, and carried that the Committee not recommend amendments to Administrative Rule 34 to extend assistance in disorderly conduct restraining order situations.
Records Retention Issue - Criminal Records
Staff distributed a letter from Aaron Birst, Committee member and also Executive Director of the State's Attorneys Association, which relays concerns of the U.S. Attorney's office about the current record retention periods for certain criminal record files [copy attached as an Appendix]. He said Administrative Rul 19 governs the judicial system's records retention schedule. The schedule, he said, currently provides that misdemeanor files are generally retained for seven years after final disposition and felony files are retained for 21 years after final disposition. He said AR 19 requires that any suggested changes to the records retention schedule be submitted to the Committee for review and comment. He said the state court administrator promulgates a retention schedule that is filed with the clerk of the supreme court and the clerks of district court.
Mr. Birst he said the federal prosecutors' concern is that current retention values for criminal cases are insufficient to enable effective use of record information about state convictions for purposes of sentence enhancements in the federal court system. He said there is a particular issue with respect to criminal cases involving domestic violence since state conviction information can be used indefinitely in the federal system for purposes of prohibitions on firearm possession. He said while he is not necessarily advocating for the changes sought by the federal prosecutors, he agreed to relay the concerns.
In response to a question from Justice Crothers regarding the possible retention periods preferred by the federal prosecutors, Mr. Birst said misdemeanor conviction information can be used under federal law for ten years. He said record information concerning convictions in domestic violence-related cases likely should be retained permanently, but if that is not possible 15 to 20 years may be a workable alternative. He said retention of felony files for 30 years may be preferable to 21 years, but files retained for 21 years would likely cover the majority of cases that arise in federal court.
Following discussion, it was moved by Courtney Koebele, seconded by Aaron Birst, and seconded that the Committee recommend that misdemeanor records be retained for 10 years rather than 7 years; that felony records be retained for 30 years rather than 21 years; and that misdemeanor and felony records related to violating a protection order be retained permanently or a minimum of 15 years if permanent retention is not feasible.
Future Meetings
Chair Crothers said Committee members would be contacted about a 2011 meeting schedule. He said the subcommittee reviewing veterans court issues would likely meet after the first of the year with the objective of submitting a report at the Committee's next scheduled meeting.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 12:40 p.m.
Jim Ganje, Staff


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Divine Fits wrapped up their headlining tour in Hollywood at the Fonda Theater with a scintillating set that featured the chirping synthesizers of "The Salton Sea," the knife-sharp guitars of "Like Ice Cream," and the conflicted angst of "For Your Heart." Divine Fits will be back on the road later opening up for the Black Keys in case you missed them. Cold Cave crushed eardrums with their expanded live lineup that featured Hunter Burgan from AFI on bass and synthesizers along with Cody Votolato from Blood Brothers on guitars. Check out the photos above and the setlist below.
01 "Neopolitans"
02 "Baby Get Worse"
03 "The Salton Sea"
04 "Flaggin A Ride"
05 "What Gets You Alone"
06 "Civilian Stripes"
07 "Lost" (Frank Ocean)
08 "My Love Is Real"
09 "You Got Lucky" (Tom Petty)
10 "Like Ice Cream"
11 "Would That Not Be Nice"
12 "For Your Heart"
13 "Sway" (Rolling Stones)
14 "Shivers" (Rowland Howard)


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By Alan Grosbach, Manager of Communications and Sports Information
ROME, Ga. – The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) announced Friday that 259 football student-athletes have been named 2013 Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes. For the second-straight year, Cumberland (Tenn.) led all institutions with 16 individuals on the list.
In order to be nominated by an institution's head coach or sports information director, a student-athlete must maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale and must have achieved a junior academic status.
To learn more about the Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete award, click here.
2013 Daktronics-NAIA Football Scholar Athletes (PDF)


text: Isculpt 96 Report post Posted October 2, 2012 I usually work in terra cotta or other low fire clays. When there is a firing range given for a clay, I understand that the high end of the range will provide the most strength in the finished, fired piece (although I'm told that it won't become vitreous if it's lowfire clay), but what, specifically, is the lower number telling me? Will there be a significant difference in the strength of the piece if I fire it at the high end of the range or the low end? And is a low fire clay a poor choice for a necklace pendant? Will it be fragile no matter how high it's fired? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


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Analyst: Why the Houston Astros would be 'absolutely bummed' if Nolan Ryan leaves the Rangers
ESPN analyst Buster Olney joined KESN-FM this week to talk about the Nolan Ryan situation. Here are some highlights:
On what makes Thad Levine so valuable that they'd risk losing Ryan:
I don't think that they necessarily intend it to be one or the other, but the most important thing is what does Nolan perceive? Now, I have heard from people with other teams that they've heard that during this off-season, there is some unrest. And I can't tell you exactly what it is that Nolan is not happy about with the way things have gone. I can't tell you if he didn't feel like he wasn't as in the middle of the conversation as he has been in the past. But there definitely have been ripples out there for a little while and this is a manifestation of it. But it's interesting about the fact of Nolan's stature and where people view him in the game. From the Rangers' perspective, he's such an important figure in terms of them getting the team. I don't think that Chuck Greenberg's group would've necessarily gotten the team if Nolan wasn't a part of it. … That said, he's such a big figure and carries so much weight within the game that I bet you No. 2 behind the Rangers in wanting to get this situation resolved would be the Houston Astros. Because if you are the new owner there, Jim Crane, and you're Jeffrey Luhnow, their GM, you don't want Nolan as a free agent. You want him to stay with the Rangers because they've got their situation in place. If you bring in a Nolan Ryan, he's not going to be someone who's just going to sit in a corner and accept a duty as a ceremonial figurehead. He's going to want to be involved. And I think that's what the Rangers are dealing with now and that what the Astros would have to deal with if he walked away from the Rangers.
On if the Astros would go after Nolan Ryan:
I want to make this clear: This is my speculation. But I think if you gave truth serum to Jim Crane and Jeff Luhnow, who heads up [Houston's] baseball operations department, they would be absolutely bummed if Nolan were out on the free agent market. They would not want to have that situation come up. Because, if you remember, when Nolan left the Astros to go to the Rangers, people in Houston were really upset about it. And I think there probably would be a level of expectation that the Astros go get him. Well, Jim Crane now has his group in place that he wants. Jeff Luhnow might be the most powerful general manager in baseball right now because he's basically been allowed to hire people and shape the organizational philosophy of his own. And if you bring in a Nolan Ryan, he's going to stick his elbows out because that's what he does. He's not going to sit there, and Jeff Luhnow's philosophy's in running a baseball team is completely different than what we know Nolan's philosophy is.


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Handling Specialty worked with an international aerospace company to engineer and manufacture an automatic guided vehicle (transporter) that would be used to transport aero engines in its facility. This equipment was designed with an air caster system to hold the load. The transporter is powered by an onboard battery system which is charged during non-working hours.
In addition, the transporter was designed such that regular positioning would be handled via the operator controls pendant but once at the pre-dress bay, the unit would be automatically guided for final positioning via a vision sensorreading a magnetic strip on the floor. A collision detection system can also be added if necessary.


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To better welcome disabled people, the Chamonix Tourist Office has adapted its equipment, trained its staff and created special brochures.
First alpine tourist office to obtain the official seal of approval for disabled tourism. This label covers motricity, visual, auditive and mental handicaps.
In accordance with our aim to constantly improve our services, the Chamonix Tourist Office offers several specially adapted facilities and documents :
o Main entrances are level with the street.
o A reserved parking spot closeby, next to the cinema.
o Low brochure racks and counters, wheelchair accessible.
o Improved washroom facilities, wheelchair accessible.
o A wheelchair available on-site for disabled, reduced mobility (or sick) people.
o Improved outdoor signage with deeper contrast and simplified pictograms.
o A magnifying lens is available at the welcome desk
o A braille printed booklet is available at the welcome desk.
o Extended use of pictograms inside the Tourist Office to indicate the main activities and attractions: hiking, museums, events... These signs are important for people who encounter difficulties in understanding written texts.
o A reception agent knows the French sign language
o Automatic doors showing bicolored signs at 70 and 170cm.
o Audio-T system : this system improves the quality and confidentiality of the exchanges between the information counsellor and guest. The information counsellor speaks into a microphone and his/her voice is transmitted directly to the hearing impaired person, either through a receiver-amplifier or by magnetic loop if the user has a compatible hearing aid.


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Talk has been out of control for some time and most of the regular helpful posters have left it. It is slowly getting worse and everyone is complaining about it. There are atleast 1 or 2 posts a week claiming an update is out and they run for a few hundred posts before the next OMG update post comes out. There are fake claim 19 page posts talking about porn. On top of personal insults, attacks, and flaming like I have never seen on Talk. I think most people will agree something needs to be done before talk is to far gone to save.
Talk needs more moderation that is all their is to it we need people who are willing to get on and delete or move messages. We need Global moderators to control other mods and to move stuff around globaly. I will post my idea from my blog as the first solution if you have a better idea please add it as a solution as well.


text: The pot feels wonderful in one's hands, gloss covering rocky earth. The feel of these works are not matched by the sheer exquisite look of the cracking glaze. The joints that connect the handle and spout of the pot are particularly wonderful as they exhibit a natural roughness and uncut beauty. The grey sandy clay found under and inside this pot is a perfect contrast and allows an unadulterated view at its earthy origins.


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[oh boy...I hope people have some sense of humour about this. Style via Gruber.]
A Translation From PR-Speak to English of Selected Portions of the Ministers' declaration on ICT Development
22 June, 2010, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) – Pacific Ministers for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have committed to further development of the region's ICT systems as a key tool for governance and sustainable livelihoods.
"We met and will definitely meet again in the future."
In a declaration made at the Pacific Regional Information & Communication Technology (ICT) Ministers' Meeting in Nuku'alofa, Tonga, they agreed to 'work together to support the advancement of Pacific countries through improved deployment and use of ICTs in our societies; and endorse the concept of 'many partners, one team' in progressing a more coordinated and coherent approach to ICT development'.
"There won't be much immediate change evident at all but we're all definitely keen."
Called the Tonga Declaration, the document notes ICT priority issues and development plans. The ministers also endorsed the Framework for Action on ICT for Development for the Pacific and requested SPC to coordinate the implementation of the framework in collaboration with USP, and other regional agencies and development partners.
"Collaboration is a good thing but we'll need to have a few more meetings and probably put out some expressions of interest first before anything is decided upon."
The ministers agreed that the new framework of action should be reviewed before mid-2013, with a Pacific ICT ministers' meeting to be convened after the review to consider the findings and provide direction to the implementation of the framework.
"The new framework won't be reviewed anytime soon."
Ministers also requested that the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) work with the University of the South Pacific, development partners and Pacific Island countries and territories to develop a three year rolling Strategic Action Plan that will be updated annually and to report back on targets set in the framework.
"Yadda yadda yadda..."
The ministers acknowledged the important role of ICT in meeting the Millennium Development Goals and recalled Resolution 64/187 of the UN General Assembly, which highlighted the importance of partnerships with stakeholders in enhancing access to ICT and its potential to provide new solutions to development challenges.
[impossible to translate]
They noted that the Pacific Plan provides a basis for regional cooperation and integration between Forum countries and considered the unique challenges faced by Pacific small island developing states and territories in establishing ICT systems
"We've got a pretty wide range of problems and ICT is one of them."


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Thor Motor Coach has reported record retail sales for units sold at the PRVCA Hershey RV Show in Hershey, Pa. that ran Sept. 19-23, 2012.
"The customer response for our motorhomes was amazing," says Joel Grimm, national sales manager for gas motorhomes at Thor Motor Coach. "We had people in the Thor Motor Coach display from the time the show opened until it closed."
According to Thor, its new HD-MAX exterior package was its most popular addition at the show. HD-MAX exteriors are available on Thor Motor Coach's A.C.E., Hurricane, & Windsport Class A motorhomes, Four Winds and Chateau Class C motorhomes, along with the Siesta and Citation Class B Plus motorhomes.


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MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) - The BCS National Championship game between the LSU Tigers and the Alabama Crimson Tide hasn't been played, but once it's over there are some politicians who will have to pay up for their friendly wagers.
Alabama Governor Robert Bentley already made a wager with Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal back in November when the Tide and Tigers play the first time. He lost the bet and said he would buy Jindal a hamburger from Rammer Jammer in Tuscaloosa when Jindal is in town. (It has 13 strips of bacon on it.)
During the rematch, Gov. Bentley tweeted Friday that he would wear a purple tie on Tuesday "IF" LSU wins. His tweet continued "WHEN" Alabama wins, Jindal will have to send over some Louisiana seafood.
Louisiana's Lt. Governor is offering golfers in Alabama a chance to win free rounds of golf if Bama pulls out a win. Read more on the wager HERE.
Alabama Representative Terri Sewell and her Republican counterpart in Louisiana are also getting in on the bi-partisanship. Congressman Cassidy will wear the trademark Bear Bryant houndstooth hat and say "Roll Tide" in his first day back on the floor of the US Congress.
Sewell, a Democrat representing Alabama's District 7, will put on the signature Les Miles with LSU hat and say "Geaux Tigers" in her first day back on the floor of the US Congress.
"This weekend my Crimson Tide heads to New Orleans for the BCS National Championship focused and ready to bring home the crystal trophy for the second time in three years," said Congresswoman Sewell. "I look forward to the moment Congressman Cassidy congratulates the Crimson Tide..."
"It is a compliment to both teams and to the superiority of the SEC that for the first time, two teams are in a rematch for the BCS Championship," Cassidy added.
The mayors of Tuscaloosa and Baton Rouge aren't to be left out. Tuscaloosa's Walter Maddox and Baton Rouge's "Kip" Holden made their challenges known.
Mayor Holden wagered three gallons of Raising Cane's famous "Cane's sauce" should LSU fall. Raising Cane's is a chicken restaurant started by an LSU alumnus.
Mayor Maddox, not to be outdone, sees Holden's Cane sause and raised him three gallons of Dreamland's barbeque sauce.
There's no word on where the food is going to come from to dip all that sauce.
HOW IS THIS LEGAL? Gambling is illegal in Alabama, but these "friendly wagers" do not include money and are of minimal to no monetary value.
Gambling in Louisiana is legal, and as that state's Lt. Gov. offers a chance to win free golf without any Ala. official's endorsement or participation, it does not violate Alabama's ban on gambling or ethics laws.
Copyright 2012 WSFA 12 News. All rights reserved.