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Continuing our feature on artist networks around the world, Idhar Resmadi writes about the emergence of Common Room Networks Foundation as a leading voice in Indonesia's emerging arts community.
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We've all heard the tragic stories: mom or dad forgets that a sleeping baby is in the back seat and they trudge off to work with baby in the car. They come back for lunch, or at the end of the day, and are faced with a dead child. It's heartbreaking, but it happens all too often, especially if there was a change in the daily routine. It's just the way our brains are wired. That's why they tell you to keep a stuffed animal in the carseat when it's empty, and to put it on the front seat when baby's back there. That way if you do forget, at least there's something tangible to remind you.
When you see news like this in the paper though, it makes you want to vomit. A woman left her five children, ages 10 months, 2, 6, 11, and 12 in the car with the windows cracked open while she gambled in the local casino. Security officers found the children in the car, alive, thank God, and attempted to page the mother. Attempted to page her for over an HOUR. While security footage shows she played SLOT MACHINES. By the way, it was 91 degrees outside that day.
What the f*ck?!
Who freakin knows how long those kids were in the car BEFORE security officers found the kids and started tracking down their neglectful mother. The oldest daughter had a cellphone and knew the number to reach her mother, but her mother didn't have a phone on her. Way to go, mom. She's been arraigned on five counts of endangering the welfare of a child and sent to county prison under $10,000 bail. I'd be willing to bet that her bail is far more than those slots were paying out.
"District Attorney John Morganelli.... has said his office will seek 'severe sanctions' for parents who leave their kids alone while gambling. He said none of those charged would be allowed to participate in a first-time offenders' program." Apparently this isn't the first case in my area of the world of parents leaving their kids in cars while at a casino. There have been ten other cases in the past two years in a nearby county. What is wrong with people?!
Views: 26

subset: commoncrawl


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Master of Science in Entrepreneurial Management (MSEM)
The Master of Science in Entrepreneurial Management (MSEM) is a lockstep program specifically designed to prepare individuals to assume leadership positions in the private and public sectors by offering comprehensive study and proficiency enhancement in decision making, human resource responsibilities, entrepreneurial and management skills.
The program is designed for individuals from diverse undergraduate backgrounds and will provide a high-level of interaction with international companies and students. The (MSEM) program consists of 30 credit hours of coursework.


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Woman identified in Exeter concrete plant fire; death ruled a homicideBy Jason Schreiber
Union Leader Correspondent
March 08. 2013 7:44PM
EXETER – The state attorney general's office has identified the body found in an abandoned concrete plant as a Hampton woman whose death has been ruled a homicide.
Authorities said Amanda "Amy" Warf, 36, was found dead inside the plant at 2 Hampton Road Thursday morning when firefighters arrived to put out a fire on the second floor.
Following an autopsy performed Friday, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas A. Andrew determined the manner of her death was homicide.
The cause of her death has not been released, pending further investigation.
A member of Warf's family said the family had no comment on the death when contacted by the New Hampshire Union Leader earlier Friday.
State and local investigators returned to the closed City Concrete facility Friday morning to continue their search for clues into the murder.
Authorities have not said how long the body is believed to have been inside the abandoned City Concrete plant or its condition when firefighters arrived.
Firefighters were unaware of the body when they were first called to the plant after a fire was reported. The case was quickly turned over to the state fire marshal and attorney general's offices after the body was found.
The attorney general's office, state police and Exeter police are being assisted by the Exeter Fire Department, the State Fire Marshal's Office, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Anyone with information pertaining to homicide is asked to call state police at 271-3636.


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Facebook photo-tagging trick used to lure emo kids to survey scam
Clickjack ruse targets melancholy Twihard teens
Facebook survey scammers, the hardest-working crooks in cybercrime, are exploiting Facebook's loosely-controlled photo-tagging technology to develop more attention-grabbing scam lures.
The starting point of the scam commonly appears with users finding themselves tagged in their online friends' photo albums.
Clicking to investigate further will lead to a link seemingly promoting a game based on the upcoming movie Twilight: Breaking Dawn. Other themes have also been seen, for example pictures of food sold at the Olive Garden restaurant chain, posted without permission of the eatery.
In reality, no Twilight game nor pictures are on offer. Would-be marks are simply encouraged to install a rogue application that earns scammers money by encouraging users to complete a worthless survey. Once granted permission, the rogue app messes around with a users' photo album and claims that the user "likes" the rogue app, among other things.
The rogue application uses clickjacking techniques to further its mischief, as explained in a blog post by Sophos here.
"Unfortunately, Facebook doesn't prevent third-party applications from tagging your friends' names onto photos on your wall – even if there are no people pictured in the photograph," explained a Sophos spokesman.
The attack follows an assault using an image of a Playboy-style bunny girl, again ultimately designed to promote a survey scam. ®


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Individual Right to Bear Arms
A victory for the Second Amendment today as the Supreme Court (5-4) confirms an individual right to bear arms for self-defense. The court struck down DC's complete handgun ban and DC's requirement that all other weapons remain disassembled. The court did not decide a particular standard of review for evaluating laws under this right, but did rule out rational basis review.
Opinion here
Continue Reading


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SHOCKING: Toddler Forcibly Tattooed [VIDEO][POLL]
This is causing all sorts of outrage on YouTube, it's a video of a 3-year-old being held down and being tattooed with "666" by force.
A Domincan Republic News Site claims that the mother is a member of the growing cult that calls themselves "Growing in Grace International Ministry". The site also claims that it is a tattoo of the numbers "666". The leader of the group claims that he is the second coming of Jesus, AND the anit-christ... but they say it's not a satanic thing (???).
(WARNING: Hearing this child cry out as he is held and inked is very disturbing.)
We think this is an obvious case of child abuse, but what do you think?


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"Organic Produce from Your Own Backyard"
Four Winds Farm is a 24 acre diversified organic farm located in Gardiner, in southern Ulster County, of which 4 acres are used to grow vegetables, primarily heirloom and open pollinated varieties for better flavor and for seed saving. The remainder is used to raise beef, which supplies us generously with natural fertilizer. Our farm-generated manure compost allows us to grow vegetables using a method that is very different from conventional farms. Our garden space is NEVER plowed or rototilled. We grow our vegetables in permanently formed beds, some of which have been in place for 18 years. We then spread compost on top of the beds, and plant seeds and transplants directly into the compost. The plant roots and compost nutrients move down into the soil where there is a healthy, thriving community of soil organisms. We find that this technique reduces overall weed pressure and gives us better-tasting vegetables that keep longer in the refrigerator. We also believe that our way of farming is better for the Earth because we are less dependent on energy- and capital-consuming tractors and equipment. Stop by and see us! Scenic views combined with a diversity of life make Four Winds Farm a great place to visit.


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My goodness, I love our show. I just…I do. I love it, plot holes, nit-picks, leaps of faith and all. It always entertains me. I don't want to say too much above the cut except…I really liked this one.
Before I get started, I just wanted to reiterate something I said in a few replies to last week's comments. I like the idea of Bobby as a ghost. Not in a warm-fuzzy, oh-yay-the-band's-back-together way, but in a this could really add layers and story potential way. I said in the Ramble for the episode where Bobby died that I wanted death to have dominion – I wanted his death to mean something. I wanted what was dead to stay dead this time. And I mean that.
That doesn't negate all that came before – Sam and Dean and Bobby have all died and come back. And I am good with how they've done things in the past; the story is what it is. But this time, I didn't want Bobby brought back from the dead or miraculously healed because I felt that would render his death meaningless in a way. I wanted his life to have the impact it was supposed to have and his death to have the import we all knew it would hold.
His being a ghost doesn't change any of that (for me). At first I wasn't sure – back with the whole disappearing beer and the paper appearing on the top of the stack. But I warmed to the idea and when we saw him last week, I thrilled at it simply because I love a good ghost story and having him around offered him and the boys (and us, in a way) a chance to complete things left undone, say things left unsaid, and then move on. Plus? It added a layer of angst-worthy complexity to the age-old question of "now what" that we didn't have before when Bobby was simply gone. And I adore Jim Beaver -- so getting to see more of him is always a bonus.
There's a lot that they could do with this in the next few episodes. SO. I'm not simply giddy with delight and squeeing at getting back one of my favorite characters in any way, shape, or form, but I am happy to have this added storytelling opportunity. I hope that makes sense.
And just so it's clear, it's totally fine if you don't agree – I enjoy the various opinions and ideas you all share with me in your comments. Okay! So, now that's out of the way…let's Ramble On.
The THEN refreshed our memories about Bobby's death, dodging the Reaper, the boys mourning, Sam telling Dean he'd tried to contact Bobby with no luck. NOW, the boys are sitting on the hood of this week's Random Stolen Car (I didn't even bother to figure out what kind it was…primer gray, boxy, looked like a Caddy or Lincoln of some kind…*MISSES THE IMPALA LIKE WHOA*), pulled off to an empty side road, eating take-out tacos that taste, according to Dean, the exact same from any drive-through in any town in the nation.
Of that, I have no doubt.
A cell phone rings and at first they're both patting their pockets before Dean pulls out his phone. There's this moment of a subtle pause where you can almost hear them thinking who could be calling us…everyone we know is dead.
Dean answers and says the name Annie with a certain warm familiarity that brings Sam's head around. Dean tells her it's a nice surprise and then Annie – a pretty, mid-30's red-head – tells Dean she heard about Bobby and is sorry. Dean has trouble replying to that. When the wound is still so raw, sometimes you think you've got it under control…and then someone offers you sympathy and it empties your lungs of air.
She tells him that she has some of Bobby's old books and figured they'd want them. Tells him she's in Bodega Bay at the Crows Nest Inn and asks if they're close. Dean says they're close enough and they decide to meet up the next day at the Pier Something restaurant for lunch. We then shift to an outside shot of this big, stately, and very much abandoned estate-slash-house.
Inside a teenaged couple is making out on a couch with candles lit all around. The fact that they weren't supposed to be there just heightens their excitement…until they hear a car pulling up and think it's the cops. It's actually Annie, but…close enough. The teens book it out of the room when they hear the car door slam, heading to another room. As soon as they get there, though, their flashlights freak out and they look up to see the ghost of a Very Large Man (like deep and wide, seriously) standing in the hallway.
The ghost bellows, "You shouldn't have come here!" Then rushes at them. Next thing we see is Annie heading inside, shining her flashlight around and the beam of light suddenly falls on the bodies of the two teens sprawled at her feet, both covered in blood. Just then the door slams behind her and she turns, gasping.
Next day, the boys are sitting at the Pier Something restaurant, Dean reading a paper, Sam a menu, waiting for Annie. Dean finds out that Dick Roman has funded another archeological dig.
Sam: Anything on what he's digging for?
Dean: Don't you think I would've led with that?
Sam's question sounds like me when I know something is important to a friend, but I don't really know about it…or really care about it, personally. I try to find a question to ask that's relevant because I know they want to talk about it, but I don't know enough details to make the question grab hold. It's not that I don't think Sam wants to end the Leviathans…I just don't think he holds close to the same obsession his brother has with ending Dick Roman.
They both agree that Annie's never late, and that her not showing up doesn't really feel right. Dean decides to call her again.
And if I might be allowed a shallow moment, can I just say: Dean's. Green. Eyes. Holy Luminescence those peepers are amazing. I paused a couple of times in this scene just to…stare. *ahem* Sorry. Where was I? Oh, right, Annie. (Though I'll be looking for screen caps for that scene….)
Sam: You know she and Bobby had a thing, right?
Dean (with a quick glance at Sam): Yeah. Yeah, I knew that. (pause, then another look) Really?!
Sam: Kind of a foxhole thing. Very Hemingway.
The way he put that just made it sound really appealing and romantic. More of a this might be our last night on earth romantic than Nicholas Sparks romantic, though. I dug it. Everyone should have at least one Hemingway moment. Which, as it turns out….
Dean (listening to the phone ring, nods in a well, what do you know manner, then says, grudgingly): She and I kinda went Hemingway this one time, too.
He gives Sam a tiny shrug, half looking at him. Sam looks slightly sheepish as he says, "All right, well. That happens." Then he does this grin that just cracked me right up. Totally a, Hee…whoops! HA!
Dean sets his phone on his shoulder and looks at his brother with a you've gotta be kidding me expression, saying, "Wait, you, too?!"
Sam (back peddling): It was awhile back! We ended up on the same case. She was stressed…I didn't…have a soul. (Vocal Shrug.)
Dean (turning back to his phone): That's a lot of foxholes.
You're telling me. When I was in high school, my mother – in an effort to scare me out of even thinking about having sex – told me that when you slept with someone, you slept with everyone they had ever slept with, too. I thought about that for a moment during the foxhole story. I'm just saying….
And aside – though I know they will return to Cas and deal with what he pulled from Sam, and I know that somehow angels and demons are going to come into play once more and drop the weight of the universe's fate on the shoulders of our favorite brothers – I have to say I really enjoyed the boys being brothers again in this episode. Just…getting along. Things felt really easy and right between them. It was nice.
Annie isn't answering her phone. Dean hangs up, then pulls out his (Bobby's) flask and spices up his coffee a smidge with a, "Here's to ghosts that aren't here," toast.
Sam: You sound kinda disappointed.
Dean: It's better this way. Even though I wish we could see him again, it doesn't mean we should.
So they drink their coffee and look at their menus. Then Dean exclaims, "Are we being stood up?"
Sam: Let's hope that's all this is.
The camera pulls focus to Dean's flask on the table next to him as it rocks ever-so-slightly. As they leave the restaurant, Dean's calling Annie again and getting no answer, saying it goes straight to voice mail. He pulls out his flask and sees that it's empty, saying he needs a refill. Yeah, don't want to go through withdraws in the middle of a hunt. Yikes.
Sam suggests that maybe he pack the flask away for awhile since it just reminds them of Bobby. Subtext (at least for me) was a bit of a, "Brother, you're a functioning alcoholic…maybe we should try to taper you down?" Dean says he's thought about putting it away, but…he can't. Not yet. As he walks around the Primer Gray Mobile to get in the driver's side, we see Bobby's ghost sitting in the back seat looking sad.
The boys head over to check out Annie's motel room. That was something I liked about this episode – how organic the hunt was. It wasn't one of those where they're just heading somewhere and a hunt kinda finds them, or where they're scouring the papers for something and head over to search up the supernatural baddie. They were just going to meet a friend to pick up some books – and it just so happened this friend was already on a job…then this friend became the job. I liked it.
Anyway, in the motel room they find a Wall of Weird (hunter-style) and files on unsolved disappearances going back years – all teenagers. The one thing these disappearances had in common was a place called the Van Hess House. While they're talking about the house – Sam sitting at a table, Dean moving from the bed to a kitchenette sink – we see Bobby sitting on the other chair. He makes the curtain next to Sam move, but Sam doesn't see.
Bobby (frustrated): Could you look in the right place at the right time?!
When the boys realize that the Van Hess house is on the most haunted house in America list, Bobby's like, "Let's get rolling," and Dean says to Sam, "Let's get rolling." Hee.
They head out – Sam grabbing his coat, Dean just leaving. For a moment, Bobby's left standing there in the empty motel room, but then Dean's hand snakes in and grabs his jacket from the chair where Bobby had been sitting (with the flask in his pocket) and Bobby blinks out (much to his relief).
The brothers enter the Van Hess House, flashlight beams skimming the surfaces around them, Dean muttering a sarcastic (but oddly appropriate), "Honey, I'm home."
Bobby follows them and for a moment looks afraid, and that's when we see what he's seeing. All over the room, in various manner and period of dress, are dozens and dozens of ghosts. Nicely creepy.
So this is one aspect of this episode that I really liked – the ghost-eye view. The idea that all those ghosts were around and that Dean and Sam were just…walking through them. That was chilling to me. I'm easily startled – ask anyone. I jump sky-high at the slightest unexpected glimpse of…anything. So anytime you have the screaming ghost launch itself at you or rush across the room ala Woman In Black (yes, that totally creeped me out) I'm gonna squeal and jump and grab my pillow as a protective shield.
But the idea that all those ghosts were around, unseen, and always present…now that's scary to me. You never know what they see, what they hear, where they are. It's one of the reasons I freak myself out when I wash my face…I'm always just a tiny bit convinced that when I wipe the soap from my eyes, for a split second I'll see a reflection in the mirror next to me.
Gah, it's way too late for me to be writing this! *thinks sunshine and flowers and happiness and rainbows*
But, that is one of the reasons I thought having Bobby as a ghost could offer such layered storytelling in a supernatural-themed show. With maybe one or two exceptions, ghosts have always the menace, the thing to kill or stop. This gives us something else to think about.
Bobby: Hi. I'm Bobby. I'm a ghost. (Half expected some of the ghosts to reply 'Hi, Bobby.') Gonna do a little…ghost orientation here? (He looks around then says 'my name is Bobby' in French)
Dean calls out for Annie. Sam has the EMF on and it's going nuts. Dean calls Annie's phone again and suddenly they hear it ringing in the back of the room (which was a little weird, I thought, since he'd said that it was going straight to voice mail just a bit ago *hand wave*).
Back in the main room, Bobby is still staring around at all the other ghosts who are just…wandering, aimlessly, staring at nothing. Looking up the stairway, he sees the big guy (Dexter) getting schooled by a man in a black suit. The man is saying that what Dexter did was forbidden in his house and if he did it again, there would be consequences. Duh duh duhhh.
The boys come back in the room and head up the stairs – right past the two men, presumably, though we can't see them anymore. Bobby watches them head up when suddenly he hears his name called. It's Annie. Ghost!Annie and Ghost! Bobby are both pale with bloodless lips, but other than that, they're not marked or marred at all, which is interesting because some of the ghosts wandering the Van Hess house were.
Bobby: We've been looking for you!
Annie: I can't believe you're here!
Bobby: Yeah. Than a doornail. Bad news. If you can see me…you are, too.
Annie: *gulp*
So, Annie and Bobby sit down to have themselves a little chat. Annie's trying to absorb the fact that she's dead. And a ghost. She says she feels like she was drugged. Bobby tells her it was a month before he even realized he was still here.
Bobby: Did you duck your Reaper, too?
Annie: What? No. I never saw one!
Then she realizes that Bobby purposely ran away from his Reaper and says he's crazy. They banter a bit about how he remembers a time she liked his brand of crazy, and they both agree they have unfinished business. Annie's is the teens whose bodies she found when she entered the house (said teens wander through the room, not engaging, no looking at anyone, holding on to each other).
Bobby tells Annie that he can't figure out this ghost thing. He's seen a poltergeist bench-press a piano, but he tried to help the boys by knocking a book off the table and blacked out for two weeks. Annie realizes that Sam and Dean don't know he's there, which she agrees totally sucks.
Meanwhile, the boys are searching the house, the EMF going nutty, and Dean's checking the VM on Annie's phone (must not have been password protected). He hears a weird message from a few weeks back with a woman's voice saying "Free me" and EMF running through it, the number on the caller ID nothing but a bunch of asterisks. He has Sam listen to it and they agree it's more than weird.
Back at the ghost reunion, Bobby and Annie sit forward as a man wearing an older-style suit walks through the wall, heads to the bar, and – with a book in one hand – moves a chair over to sit down and read.
Annie: All right, that's cool.
Bobby (to the man): 'Scuse me. Hey, Boss.
The dude ignores them.
Annie: Dick.
Bobby says that ghosts aren't sociable – as evidenced by the rest of the ghosts in the room who are simply standing and staring at…nothing. Bobby thinks that if the Suit can do it, so can he, and he tries to move the trunk in front of the couch they're sitting on, ending up falling through it and landing on all fours – making Annie laugh.
The Suit mutters that they're novices and they all make the same mistakes. Annie and Bobby make their way over and the Suit tells them he can do what he does because he's been at it for 80 years. Annie tells him she doesn't know what happened to her. Bobby says he was shot in his melon; didn't feel a thing (which is a relief, honestly). Suit man says he was stabbed, brutally, right there at that bar in April of 1932. Bobby wants to know who stabbed him and Suit looks like he's going to leave.
Annie turns on the charm and asks him his name: Haskell Craig.
Annie: Haskell, could you do me a solid and show me how to move that chair?
Haskell: Baby steps, gorgeous.
He tells them to try to move the candle first. When both of them try, but their hands go through it, he tells them that they're "angsting" at it. That they have to calm themselves and let go of all of "that" and tell the thing what to do. Either that or use explosive anger and red-hot rage.
Was anyone else flashing to Ghost and the Subway Ghost's advice to Sam Wheat? You gotta take all your emotions, all your anger, all your love, all your hate and push it way down here into the pit of your stomach, then let it explode like a reactor….
Maybe I saw Ghost one too many times in the '90s. *ahem*
Bobby: For the record, I hated that Swayze flick. Romantic bullcrap.
Whoops. Don't tell Bobby I can quote it, okay?
Bobby tries once more to move the candle when behind them there's a hair-raising scream. They turn and a freaky-assed, insane-looking woman rushes at them, then dissolves into smoke.
Bobby (to Haskell): What in cold Hell was that?
Haskell: You, one day. All of us. We deteriorate, some sooner, some later, eventually all…like that.
In what is the first of several reminders that Bobby choosing to be a ghost can only end in tears and is not the way things were supposed to happen, Haskell gestures to an old, scarred woman staring around vacantly before he moves away.
Bobby and Annie look at her with horror.
Bobby: Ghost Alzheimer's.
Annie: I'm liking this less.
Just then, the boys walk into the room and both Annie and Bobby light up a bit.
Dean: That's every inch of this place. No bodies. No pieces of body. No Annie. All sizzle, no steak.
Meanwhile, the EMF in Sam's hands it going batty.
Sam: Maybe no news is good news?
Dean: Meaning?
Sam: Maybe she's just not here. Maybe she's okay.
Aww, Sammy. You break my heart when you sound hopeful.
Dean: What does your gut say?
Sam's silence is his answer. They decide to leave to see if there's something else in her research. Annie calls out to them as they head out of the room.
Bobby: Honey, don't you think I've tried that? I've shouted myself hoarse.
Annie: But I'm right here!
Bobby: You just have to wait until they find you.
Annie: I don't know where I am and I've searched every room! No wonder they're walking away.
Bobby, though, has noticed that a dark-haired female ghost in a '20's or '30's style dress is staring at him.
Bobby: Is it me, or am I being checked out?
They move over to talk to her and she introduces herself as Victoria and says she knows what kind of work Annie did.
Annie: I'm still doing it. Other dimensionally speaking.
Bobby: Atta girl.
Annie pieces together that Victoria is the voice on her phone – spectral voice transference. Oookay, if that's what the kids are calling it these days. Victoria is the reason Annie's there in the first place. She asks Victoria what she meant by "Free me" but before Victoria can answer, Bobby flashes out because Dean (and the flask) got too far away.
In the car, Dean is drinking from the flask and despite Bobby saying that the party was back at the house, the decide to check out the Historical Society, which is where most of Annie's research came from. Once there, they get the lowdown on the Van Hess House from the Society…curator, or whatever he is. Bobby's off to the side trying to get zen and make a lantern move.
The curator guy tells them about Whittaker (I think?) Van Hess, the son of the man who built the house. The younger Van Hess was dogged by tragedy – he lost the family fortune, and the house. The house was turned into a brothel at one point (which earned a smirk from Dean) and Van Hess lived in isolation at the house until his death.
Bobby's like, he's still there.
They see a picture of Van Hess next to Dexter and the curator guy tells them that Dexter was a convict, very violent, but that Van Hess took pity on him and had him working as a grounds keeper. Dexter apparently killed Van Hess' fiance the day before their wedding.
Bobby's like, yeah, he's still there, too.
The curator tells the boys that Annie was there earlier and he'll tell them what he told her: stay away. The house is dangerous. They're basically like, yeah, thanks, we'll keep that in mind. Not.
Back at the motel, Bobby's trying to move a quarter and Sam's reading from a newspaper, his voice raised so that Dean can hear him. Dean is taking a shower – with the door to the bathroom open so he can still talk to Sam. Hee. Sam tells him that Dexter also killed some of the hookers from the brothel, but before they could hang him, he escaped and was found shot to death back at the house. Sam's like, why would he run back to the house?
Dean calls back, "Add that to the list of things I don't know."
Bobby's standing in front of the mirror giving himself an awesome psych-up speech: I can kill werewolves, fix a pinto, and bake cornbread. I will be damned if I can't get zen….
That's about when the story kinda telegraphed itself to me. You all probably got it long before I did, but when Sam talked about how Dexter died, I realized that Dexter wasn't the bad guy – and he wasn't killing the people he rushed toward in his ghost state, he was warning them. But…those thoughts were summarily banished in the next moment as Dean peeked out from behind the shower curtain and reached for a towel.
I cannot explain why the sight of his bare arm and shoulder did a number on me, but I bet you my No Chick Flicks Moment coffee mug that I wasn't the only one. The best part? The shallowness doesn't end there. Oh, no. There's more.
But first, we cut away to go back to the Van Hess House and two teenage boys making a vid about the last known place their friends (the two teens from the beginning of the episode) had been. I will call these two the Cheesy Twins because their running commentary on this home movie thingy was just…well, cheesy.
Back at the motel, Dean is out of the shower wearing a snug-fitting green T-shirt (holy crap) and rubbing his wet hair (Holy. Crap.). Seriously, folks, I can no more be objective and focus on the storyline with that on my screen than I can survive a week without water.
He glances up at the steam-covered mirror (while I try to focus on something other than how well that T-shirt fits him), then he does a double take, angling his body toward the doorway and calling for Sam. Dean doesn't take his eyes from the mirror, and when Sam appears in the doorway, he goes, "Tell me you wrote that."
We then get to see the mirror and written on it are the words Annie trapped in house.
Sam: No. No, I didn't.
Dean, looking angry, bellows, "Who's there?!"
They watch in part horror, part fascination as the hot water faucet turns on and steam rises, fogging up the mirror once more. Then, slowly, Bobby's name appears.
Dean (his voice breaking): Bobby?
Bobby (relieved): Yes.
Dean (in rapid speak, looking around the bathroom, at the mirror, over at Sam): This whole time…this whole time we were trying to talk ourselves out of it he's been…what's he doing here?
Sam is looking out into the motel room and suddenly picks up Bobby's flask, handing it to Dean with a, "Dude!"
Bobby's like, "We don't have time for this! Get back to the house!"
Dean: We gotta get back to that house, STAT.
That's the second time Dean's words have echoed Bobby's, even though he can't hear him. I liked that.
Unfortunately, they're already too late for the Cheesy Twins. Annie saw them, but couldn't do anything. Dexter's ghost rushed at them, telling them they shouldn't have come there. Van Hess' ghost stopped Dexter and the Cheesy Twins actually utter a terrified thanks…just before Van Hess shoves his ghost hands through their chests and kills them, then turns to Dexter, saying that he told him there would be consequences if he tried to warn anyone else away. Dexter is all, you have enough, they're just kids…y'know, the stuff good guys say. Van Hess is having none of it and shoves his hand into Dexter, turning him into a ball of light and…absorbing him. Or something.
After he's gone, Annie stands over the bodies of the dead boys, trying to figure out a way to get their camera. Victoria shows up, but says she can't help. She breaks it down for us – how Van Hess actually killed everyone in that house and uses them for his food or entertainment. That he "drained" Dexter and now Dexter is just…gone. She tells Annie that she was a "fancy lady" when this house was a brothel and Van Hess slit her throat (though her ghost!throat is unmarked).
Annie wants to know where he keeps the bodies, but Victoria doesn't know. Annie convinces her to grab the camera, but then Van Hess returns and they skedaddle out of there. Annie, ever the hunter, pauses to watch Van Hess drag the bodies away and we see him pull a candle holder down to reveal a secret panel behind a bookshelf where he drags the Cheesy Twins in what is, presumably, where all the bodies are hidden. Ewww. Smelly room.
The boys are outside the house in the Primer Gray Mobile, gearing up with rock salt shotguns.
Dean: We combed the crap out of this place. If Annie's in there and we didn't find her—
Sam: It's 'cause someone didn't want us to.
Dean: Awesome. Well, let's walk right into that.
The boys (and Bobby) head inside. Just inside the entrance, Bobby manages to sneak his flask from Dean's pocket and hide it in a nearby drawer, saying he's leaving the pack. Sam heads upstairs. Dean calls out to Annie and just as he does, the video camera slides across the floor to his feet.
Dean: That's not odd.
Dean calls Sam to come back downstairs.
Dean: Annie? (pause, quieter voice) Slimer?
They watch the video the Cheesy Twins made and see Annie's ghost image on it, determining she is in the house, just not in a good way. Dean calls out to Annie again and Bobby, standing off to the side with Annie and Victoria says, "Give 'em a minute. They've gotten slower since I left."
Annie convinces Victoria to show herself to the boys because they can help free her. She flashes visible and the boys are like Whoa! They bring their shotguns up to point at her and she raises her hands to stop them, telling them her name and says she was a "fancy lady" at the house. Takes Dean all of one heartbeat to realize she meant hooker and anther heartbeat to wipe the half-grin from his face.
She tells them that Annie is there, but they can't see her. They look down and Dean steps back.
Victoria: You're not standing on her.
Annie's like, tell them already, but Victoria, playing the Oda Mae Brown role in this scene, basically says she has to do it her own way. I couldn't help but whisper, Molly, you in danger, girl, to myself when Victoria says that Annie is in terrible danger from Van Hess. Hee.
Dean: He's dead, you're dead…define 'terrible danger'.
She tells the boys about Van Hess' power and that he was the real bad guy killing everyone, and that they can help free all the ghosts trapped there…but of course Van Hess has been listening (as have countless other ghosts roaming aimlessly around the house) and before Victoria is able to tell them how they can free them, she bursts into flames and disappears.
Dean: I'm gonna say she was telling the truth considering she just got ghost killed.
Van Hess is in the room – unseen by the boys – and slips a key into Sam's pocket as they leave to go salt and burn his bones. Bobby stays behind with Annie, thanks to the hidden flask, and they look on in despair as they watch Van Hess sitting in the back seat of the Primer Gray Mobile when the boys pull away.
Bobby's kicking himself, of course, because he thought that Van Hess couldn't leave the house either and now he's not with the boys, but Annie's like, well, the only thing we can do is our job, so let's finish this. Bobby's not happy, but goes along. They search the house, finally finding the Van Hess' room. Annie tells Bobby the house had also once been a Speak Easy in addition to a brothel, so they start looking for hidden panels. Bobby is able to get zen once more and pulls down the candlestick thingy, opening the panel behind the bookshelf and revealing the Room O' Corpses.
Annie comes face to face with her own dead body. Yikes.
Bobby: You and me burned our fair share of bones and sent a lot of ghosts packing.
Annie: It's a little different on the receiving end.
She tells him that she wants a hunters funeral. Says that it's better than this; she's ready for some peace. It's lonely, what they do. Bobby says that his life is the one he picked and Annie points out that he had the boys, she only had her work and that's done. Bobby argues that he's not done, but Annie is, and she wants him to do this for her (since he's figured out how to Swayze things now).
It's another part to the story where they drive home the point that Bobby making this choice can go one of two ways – a resolution of finished business and a peaceful goodbye, or continuing to hang on until he turns empty and insane and vengeful.
Meanwhile, in the car Sam does some google-fu on what looks like an iPad and finds out where the Van Hess mausoleum is.
Dean: Let's light up the bastard and finish him off.
Just then, the Primer Gray Mobile accelerates.
Sam: Take it easy; we'll get there.
Dean: Uh, that's not me.
Suddenly, Van Hess flashes visible between them and grabs the wheel, pressing down on the accelerator, sending the car careening out of control. Dean wrestles with it and him and finally manages to stop. The brothers bail out of either side of the car simultaneously trying to figure out how Van Hess is with them. Dean figures they must have something on them.
Just as Sam finds the key in his pocket, Van Hess grabs Sam – I think thrusting his hand into his back, but I couldn't really tell. Dean knocks the key from Sam's hand and shoots it, freeing Sam, but unfortunately snapping the ghost back to his favorite haunt.
Back at the house, Bobby and Annie are starting to burn the bodies, but Van Hess is heading their way with such angry determination I heard the Wicked Witch of the West theme in my head. They hear him just in time and managed to hide, almost getting away, before he finds them and traps them in the main entry way. He tries to ghost-kill Bobby like he did Dexter, but luckily the boys have found his grave and salt and burn his bones, turning his ghost to ashes and "saving" Bobby.
Bobby…passes out, if ghosts can do that. Annie's sitting next to him on the ground when he comes to, sitting up groggily. He says he feels okay – dead, sure, but okay. He's sitting on the ground when the boys walk into the house. He gives them a casual, "Hi, boys," fully expecting to be invisible to them, but when they stare at him with heart-stopping shock, he blinks at them.
Dean (barely audible): Bobby?
Bobby: Wait…you can see me?
I can't even imagine what the boys had to be feeling in that moment. It's one thing to get confirmation that the ghost of your mentor and father-figure is still around…but to see him? *rubs heart* Oh, boys.
Bobby stands up, looking back at the boys. "You're staring. Annie's here, too."
The boys look out and around, saying a small, "Hi, Annie."
Annie: Hi, guys.
Bobby (pointing to where she is): She says you both look uglier than she remembers.
Dean is looking totally shell-shocked at all of this; Sam manages a slight smile.
Sam: How'd you stay here?
Bobby goes to the desk and pulls out his flask, tossing it to Dean.
Bobby: Suck on that, Swayze.
Sam (his voice holding that youthful wonder that tugs at my heart): That's why you never answered me. I tried calling you. Talking board, the works. I was always alone. Dean always had that in his pocket. That's why the EMF only went off half the time. We thought we were going crazy.
Dean's still staring at his flask, his lips barely parted. He closes his eyes, lifting his head, then looks over at Bobby.
Dean (voice breathless, slightly shaking): So…so…what happened? Did you…get stuck? Or…what?
Bobby: I wanted to stay.
Dean (sad): Bobby…
Bobby: I need to help.
Sam: Not if it means you have to…be this.
Bobby: Life wasn't comfy, why should death be? C'mon. Annie and I found all the bodies. Let's put 'em to rest. And keep my flask away from the fire. Obviously.
And right then I had this feeling that sometime in the next four episodes, that's exactly what was going to happen. I hope it's after Bobby helps them finish this – finish the Leviathans and Dick Roman. I hope the writers allow that before his flask heads to the flames and his soul to peace.
Later, the boys are putting supplies back in the trunk of the Primer Gray Mobile, Bobby standing nearby.
Bobby: I'll miss her.
Boys: Me, too.
Bobby: You didn't know her like I did.
Boys (sharing a look): *awkward*
Dean (taking out his flask): Here's to Annie. She got the hunter's funeral she wanted.
Bobby's watching him and I couldn't quite figure out his expression. I wondered if he might say something about him drinking from the flask. But he didn't get a chance.
Dean (his voice going hard): Kinda like the one we thought we gave you.
Sam: Dean…
Dean (turning to Bobby, his back to Sam): What were you thinking, Bobby? You should be in Heaven right now, drinking beer at Harvelle's. Not stuck—
Bobby: Stuck here with you? We still have work to do. I just thought that was kind of important, Dean.
Dean's argument right then just had me hurting for him. He knew on so many levels why this was bad…just bad bad bad. And he wanted the reassurance that there was a chance of peace when he was done. That Bobby really was "in a better place." Not stuck observing a life of never-ending struggle and weariness.
Dean: It's not right; you know that.
Bobby (voice all pissy): Sorry. You're right. What was I thinking?
He blinks out and Dean puts the flask in the trunk. They get in the car and are driving down the road, at dark.
Sam: What do you think we should do?
Dean: We did what we should do. Now…I don't know.
I liked that he was open about his uncertainty. I like that he didn't have a black and white answer because this wasn't a black and white situation. This wasn't just any ghost. This was Bobby.
Sam: Think it's possible we could make it work somehow?
Aw, Sammy, there you go killing me with your hope again. *rubs heart* I so hope they give you something at the end of this story, kiddo. I hope they give you a reward for having hope.
Dean: I have no idea. Maybe. I've never heard of it. (glances askance at Sam) You know what I do know? It ain't the natural order of things. Everything is supposed to end. He was supposed— (his voice catches and he pauses before making himself go on) Now…what are the odds this ends well? What are the odds?
If anyone knows about the natural order of things, it's Dean. Not even taking into account the fact that he lost his dad to a crossroads deal to save his life, or the price he paid in Hell for making a deal for Sam's life…he had to spend a day as Death – again as part of a deal for Sam's life. But during that time, the fact that things end, that there's a natural order of things, was driven home in a very real, visceral way. A way that no one else could really understand because…well, they hadn't had to do that. They hadn't been through what he'd been through.
I heard in his words a need for death to have dominion once more – and through that, life to have more meaning. If there's no end, it's hard to take pleasure in the fleeting beauty of life. If you just go on, or are brought back time and again, then what does it all matter? If there's no peace at the end, no reward of an end to all of this fighting and pain and struggling and need and hope and fear, then why fight at all?
I think it's more than just Dean worrying about what are they going to do about Bobby being a ghost and can they make it work in a sort of a Being Human twist. I think it's more than fear that Bobby will turn vengeful. I think it's Dean getting something he thought he wanted – seeing Bobby again – and realizing that it wasn't really what he wanted after all. Sam had been right – he'd just really missed Bobby, which was real, and right, and natural. But now he sees that it's not over for Bobby and that's just another weight on Dean, added to the burden he already bears.
Bobby listens to their conversation from the backseat and just looks lost and lonely and heartbroken.
And I know that it's going to sound heartless of me, but I like the spot they're in because story-wise, they could go so many different directions from here and they've given our boys both a moral and emotional dilemma to deal with at a moment when they're finally back on a level playing ground (or as level as they can ever get) with Sam's soul no longer broken.
I think the next four episodes could be really good.
Speaking of, though, I have to forewarn you – I'm going to be late with next week's Ramble. The hubs and I are taking Mo Chuisle to Disneyworld and I won't be able to watch episode 7.20 until Wednesday, May 2nd. I'll still write up a Ramble for it, but since it will be basically two days before 7.21 airs, it'll probably be a shorter one.
I'd still love for you to come back and read and share your thoughts with me, though. Without saying too much, the previews make it look like we might be revving up for a show down.
Good news is that I will be on time for the final three of the season. So, Yay! Anyone hear if we've been renewed for a season 8 yet?
Thanks for reading!


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It is more than a little odd to quote one's own comments, but please allow me to lead in with last month's closing paragraph: One of the many downsides of growing older is that you step on toes more. One of the few upsides is that it doesn't matter as much. They are not going to be mad at you ...Read More »
We Are All Addicted by Taiun Michael Elliston
Part One of a Series We are all addicted. That is, according to Buddhism, existence itself is fundamentally a form of addition. Ergo, all aspects of craving, the source of dukkha, or the existence of suffering, of both the natural and intentional sort, are kinds of addiction. Including the desires that come with the territory of being born to this ...Read More »
Community Culture
In Zen, community has special meaning. The Sanskrit word for the Buddhist community is sangha. It is characterized by harmony, the subject of last month's Dharma Byte. No harmony, no sangha. But also, of course—no cacophony, no harmony. No dissonance, no consonance. The two are mutually defining, like most concepts of the human race. But I digress. So we do ...Read More »
Harmony by Taiun Michael Elliston
I was recently honored by an invitation to participate in a panel presentation following a luncheon at a local church. It was in recognition of the United Nations resolution establishing World Interfaith Harmony Week, hosted by Faith Alliance of Metro Atlanta (FAMA), featuring a "distinguished panel…made up of Archbishop Wilton Gregory, Ambassador Andy Young, Rabbi Analia Bortz, Tayyibah Taylor, Brother ...Read More »
Tucson 2011 – Who Is To Blame? by Taiun Michael Elliston
The events that took place in Tucson last week are tragic, but not surprising. The usual frenzy of finger-pointing and media mania is likewise not a surprise, though it can be distressingly tiring. What to do in a case like this, an event more and more the predictable and depressingly normal outcome of the way we live? Who to blame, ...Read More »
Aspiration and Zazen – Roadmap to Enlightenment
In the last few months of 2010 we discussed the topic of anger and anxiety and their relation to zazen, subjects that comes up often in dokusan and discussion. This month let us take a look at aspiration, and its relationship to expectation in our practice of zazen, in the context of next year's program of daily practice, retreats and ...Read More »
On Anxiety and Zazen
Last month we discussed the topic of anger and zazen, a subject that comes up often in dokusan and discussion. This month let us take a look at anxiety, and the relationship of zazen to our present Age of Anxiety. From Soyu Matsuoka-roshi's collection of talks, The Kyosaku; Medical Aspects of Zen: "…I believe Zen can be of great benefit ...Read More »
On Anger & Zazen
The subject of anger has been coming up a lot lately in discussions of the Precepts, the Paramitas, and other topics not necessarily directly related to it. It seems obvious that when we are fed a steady diet of fear and anger via the public media, that some of it will rub off, if only so that we do not ...Read More »
THREATS (Personal, Potential, Intentional, Political) & FROGS
The Dharma talk given by Shokai Steven Hart this last Sunday stirred up some reactions of discomfort, as he strayed from the politically correct restrictions we usually impose upon ourselves to avoid controversial topics that recall public conflicts over such hot-button issues as climate change, and the inevitably divisive nature of how such concerns are treated in public. Those who ...Read More »
End Dependence Day
We Americans tend to associate the idea of independence with that of freedom. Freedom from taxation without representation; freedom to enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and to practice religion — or not — as we deem fit. These are freedoms, or rights, that we tend to take for granted, and yet some other earnest Americans are always ...Read More »
Perfecting the Paramitas
Let me introduce you to, or reacquaint you with, the Six Perfections of Zen, called Paramita in Sanskrit. Like most translations of Buddhist terms from Sanskrit, Chinese or Japanese, perfection is a poor rendition of the complex meaning ofparamita. We use the active form, perfecting instead, which implies a process, rather than a state of so-called perfection. Perfecting is better than perfection, in that the ...Read More »
Last month we took a look at the kind of crises that are often precipitated by sudden and unanticipated death. Anecdotally, it seems that people tend to seek out Zen during or just after such a crisis, even of a less traumatic nature, effects their life. Today, as in the past, there is not, apparently, a typical age range when ...Read More »
Death and Dying – Part 2
Read Death and Dying – Part 1 In last month's message I sought to place recent events of unexpected death in the context of Zen Buddhism, or at least my poor understanding of it, focusing primarily on the premature death of a beloved child, the worst-case scenario for parents. I closed the comment with a quote from a funeral for ...Read More »
Death and Dying – Part 1
Read Death and Dying – Part 2 The recent premature death of the daughter of one of the Sangha's members, and the recent shootings at the university in Huntsville, Alabama, triggered much anguish and suffering, and raised questions in the communities at ASZC and Green Mountain Zen Center. In officiating at the funeral, and in a conference with GMZC, I ...Read More »
Precepts as Prescription – Part 2 – by Taiun Michael Elliston
The great teachings of Buddhism fall into two main categories: description of reality and prescription for practice. In the last installment I reviewed the most familiar of Buddhist prescriptions, the Grave Precepts, specifically the first five given to Soto Zen Initiates in the Precepts ceremony (Jukai). In what follows I will comment briefly on the latter five of the Ten ...Read More »
Precepts as Prescription – Part 1
The great teachings of Buddhism fall into two main categories: description and prescription. Many of the ancient texts and utterances of the Ancestors are descriptions of reality, such as Suzuki Roshi's "Things as it is" or Matsuoka Roshi's "Round and rolling, slippery and slick." It is difficult to impossible to apply these directly to our practice, as they reflect a ...Read More »


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Farragut North
Beau Willimon's political drama involving a spin doctor for a presidential candidate who loses control on the campaign trail, presented by Hofstra University's Dept. of Drama and Dance, Thursday through Saturday,, Oct. 4-6, 8 p.m.; Sunday, Oct. 7, 2 p.m. $35. Hofstra University, Emily and Jerry Spiegel Theater, South Campus. Hempstead. 463-6644 or www.hofstra.edu/drama-dance.
Sweet Charity
The award-winning musical about a dancer-for-hire in Times Square, Thursday and Friday, Oct. 4-5, 8 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 6, 3 and 8 p.m.; Sunday, Oct. 7, 2 p.m.; Wednesday, Oct. 10, 8 p.m. $65. John W. Engeman Theater, 250 Main St., Northport. (631) 261-2900 or www.engemantheater.com.
A comic look at love and romance, Friday and Saturday, Oct. 5-6, 8 p.m.; Sunday, Oct. 7, 2:30 p.m. $20, $18 seniors and students, $14 youth. All tickets $25 day of show. BroadHollow Theatre, BayWay Arts Center, 265 E. Main St., East Islip. (631) 581-2700 or www.broadhollow.org.
The Irish band in concert, Friday, Oct. 5, 8 p.m. $69.50, $49.50 and $39.50, $29.50. NYCB Theatre at Westbury, 960 Brush Hollow Rd, Westbury. (800) 745-3000 or www.livenation.com.
The Musical Comedy Murders Of 1940
Ingenious comedy about showbiz folks who have been gathered at a mansion to flush out a serial killer, Friday and Saturday, Oct. 5-6, 8 p.m.; Sunday, Oct. 7, 3 p.m. $20, $17 students and seniors Friday and Sunday. Merrick Theatre & Center for the Arts, 2222 Hewlett Ave., Merrick. 868-6400.
Richard Lanham & the Tempo-Tones
Journey back to the jazzy sounds of the '50s and '60s, Saturday, Oct. 6, 2 p.m. Hear tunes by Nat King Cole, Ray Charles, The Drifters, and Harry Belaftone, and more. Elmont Memorial Library Theatre, 700 Hempstead Tpke., Elmont. 354-5280.
Famous Songs of Italy
Castorina and Rose present a musical tour of Italy, Sunday, Oct. 7, 2 p.m. Program includes "O Sole Mio," "That's Amore," "Come Back to Sorrento," and more. Elmont Memorial Library Theatre, 700 Hempstead Tpke., Elmont. 354-5280.
Shut Up, Sit Down and Eat!
A combination of stand-up comedy and the format of an innovative Off-Broadway play, involving a comic look at group therapy, Sunday, Oct. 7, 7 p.m. Written and performed by comedians Tina Giorgi, Joe Moffa, Chris Monty, and Eric Tartaglione. $25. BroadHollow Theatre, BayWay Arts Center, 265 E. Main St., East Islip. (631) 581-2700 or www.broadhollow.org.
La Cage Aux Folles
The award-winning musical comedy about two gay men whose lives are turned upside when the son of one of the men announces he is getting married, presented by Plaza Theatrical Productions, Wednesday, Oct. 10, 1:15 p.m., with lunch at noon. $44.50. Westbury Manor, 1100 Jericho Tpke., Westbury. 599-6870 or www.plazatheatrical.com.
Comedy about four middle aged singles seeking relationships, Saturday, Oct. 13, 8 p.m.; Sunday, Oct. 14, 2:30 p.m. $25, $23 seniors, $18 students, $14 youth 12 and under; $28 at door. BroadHollow Theatre, 700 Hempstead Tpke., Elmont. (631) 581-2700 or www.broadhollow.org.


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posted by Rahul on Sun 8th Feb 2009 04:45 UTC
Fedora 11 Alpha was released a couple of days back. Phoronix takes a quick look "While a few delays were experienced by the Red Hat engineers and community working on Fedora 11 (a.k.a. Leonidas), the first alpha release of this popular Linux distribution is now available. The 11th release of Fedora will bring a huge set of new features and updated packages, with much of the work already being visible in Fedora 11 Alpha." "Starting with the installation, Fedora 11 is now using the EXT4 file-system by default but there is support built into the Anaconda installer for Btrfs, which recently entered the mainline Linux kernel."


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+1 (760) 476-0197
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Our silky smooth solid milk chocolate will make your taste buds do a happy dance. Scrumptious as is, baked into cookies or even paired with craft beer.
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The book (foreworded by Gnome founder Miguel de Icaza) starts with the introduction of GLib and its importance as the underlying layer of GTK+ and as the vehicle for portability. The book continues with a comprehensive introduction of the GObject. The author makes it very clear that Gnome is as object oriented as any other modern GUI development framework, it's just that its object-oriented side exists in the API itself rather than the language. The rest 150 pages are completely devoted to GTK+: a "hello world" program (which seemed to me rather long and unnecessarily complex compared to an equivalent Qt, GTK# or BeAPI) and then introduction and sample code of the most-used widgets.
What follows is 50 pages of study about the Gnome libraries and the additional widgets that these libraries offer on top of GTK+ (Red Hat's Havoc Pennington said in an interview that portions of the Gnome libraries and GTK+ are bound to merge in the future). After you have mastered the core API itself, the author is presenting the developer tools, from Glade to the GNU auto* tools and internationalization. What follows is a very interesting chapter on GConf and how to properly set your application to use GConf keys rather than text files for saving preferences and other information and later you will find a chapter on GnomeVFS (synchronous access and asynchronous I/O, URIs, etc.).
The book was written around the time of Gnome 2.0-2.2 but was released recently in the English language, and so newer material like the new GTK+ file selector or Gstreamer are not discussed. Even back then though, Gnome was capable of games, OpenGL views (via GtkGLArea), generic music and video, which are also not discussed. Also, while there is a whole chapter on the auto* development tools, there is not a mention of how to properly debug a GTK+ application using existing tools, or how to use Alleyoop and Valgrind to trace memory leaks. And there are not any tips & tricks on how to profile or optimize your application.
The real problem with the book though is its format. There is way too much code to stomach per page and little explanation. The book feels a lot like the whole GTK+ and Gnome code was put under Doxygen and then it had the author going back to it and add tidbits of text. I must say that the Glib and GObject chapters are well written with lots of explanatory text, but as you enter the GTK+ chapter and beyond, it becomes a repetitive read of functions after functions with lots of sample code and minimum text without much personality put in it. Additionally, there are not as many pictures as there should have being for a toolkit/GUI book (compared to let's say, "Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X, Second Edition" and others).
Another problem is the fact that the "Index" at the end of the book is not precise. I don't know if this happened because the book is a translation of its German original, but the fact is, when you search for something through the Index you are more likely to find it 2-4 pages in front of what the Index suggests. For example, GdkPixBuf is suggested to be on page 132-139, but it is on page 130 in reality.
Overall, I would truly suggest this book to developers who have good experience with C and they don't mind diving into lots of code to figure some things out that the book didn't bother explaining to you. The rest, are still recommended to get the book, mostly because the online documentation/samples/tutorials/guides on Gnome and GTK+ are incomplete or not updated regularly, so every little bit more should help. But in any case, don't expect this book to be a "Bible" for existing Gnome programmers or for new programmers migrating to GTK+. It's a worthy addition though.
Overall: 7/10
Buy "The Official GNOME 2 Developer's Guide"
at Amazon.com


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Picture 57 / 64
'The Pancake Batter Anomaly' - Season 1, Episode 11
When Sheldon catches the flu, Leonard flees the apartment to avoid having to care for a needy Sheldon. After Sheldon turns up at the Cheesecake Factory, Penny is left to care of him.
Air Date: March 31, 2008.


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Nancy Pelosi must be the most ineffective House Speaker of modern times. The Democrats have achieved virtually nothing since taking control of the House and Senate in 2006, and have consistently avoided the responsibility that goes with being the majority party. Which may explain why, until very recently, most Americans were unaware that the Democrats were actually in control of Congress.
Pelosi's ineffectiveness has been due, in part, to her unrelenting and strident partisanship, which brings us to today's vote on the bailout bill: suspicion is growing that Pelosi and the Democrats made no serious effort to pass the bill, and that it failed at least in part because Pelosi tried to misuse it for political advantage.
Everyone has heard about the weirdly partisan and inaccurate rant which Pelosi contributed to the debate on the bailout bill. But that speech did not take place in a vacuum. Public opinion is running strongly against the bill, and it required political courage to vote for it. If you look at the list of those who voted "No" in both parties, it is mostly members who are engaged in tough re-election campaigns. This is true on both sides of the aisle.
That being the case, and given the fact that the legislation was in fact a negotiated, bipartisan compromise, the first duty of the majority party is to line up its members to support the majority's bill. But evidence is growing that the Democrats did no such thing.
As of yesterday, the Democrats' House whip, Jim Clyburn said that he hadn't even begun "whipping" Democratic representatives, and wouldn't do so unless and until he got orders from Nancy Pelosi. Today, Democratic Congressman Peter DeFazio told NPR that he never was "whipped" on the bill. So Pelosi evidently left Democrats to vote their consciences–which is to say, vote against the bill if they thought it was politically necessary–while counting on Republicans to put the bill over the top.
This is a classic Charlie Brown and the football maneuver. Pelosi gives a speech that frames the issue, falsely, as the result of bad Republican policies, then allows her own threatened representatives to do the popular thing while expecting Republicans to take one for the team by casting an unpopular vote. Which, of course, their Democratic opponents would use against them, thereby increasing the Democratic majority in the House.
If this was Pelosi's plan it failed, in part, perhaps, because her over-the-top partisan diatribe tipped off Republicans as to what was afoot. If, as it now appears, it's true that the Democrats made no serious effort to pass the bailout bill, it is just one more example of the failure of leadership we have seen since they took control of Congress.
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In the face of the many challenges inherent in getting 15 countries—each with their own resources, priorities, and political complexities—to agree to anything, let alone a comprehensive regional energy policy, the Caribbean is now on the brink of taking a significant (and impressive) step forward. For the past half decade, a Draft Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Regional Energy Policy—designed to address critical issues like energy security, affordability, energy efficiency, and renewable energy—has been circulating among CARICOM's 15 member states, continually being revised to reflect the concerns of individual members, but never finalized.
Last week, a team from Worldwatch joined CARICOM Prime Ministers, Energy Ministers, government representatives, technical experts, and international organizations in Trinidad & Tobago for the Forty-First Special Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED). On March 1, after more than five years of lengthy deliberation, delegates at the event provisionally adopted both the Draft Energy Policy and Worldwatch's Sustainable Energy Targets for the region, marking an important step forward in the development of renewable energy and energy cooperation in the Caribbean.
Since September 2012, Worldwatch has been working with the support of both the CARICOM Secretariat and the Inter-American Development Bank on the first phase of developing a strategic framework to support the region's Energy Policy: the Caribbean Sustainable Energy Roadmap and Strategy (C-SERMS). Through an initial analysis of electricity sectors throughout the region, existing national renewable energy targets, and documented renewable energy potentials, Worldwatch designed a set of recommendations for sustainable energy targets in the region's power sector intended to provide a vision for the future that places renewable energy sources at the core.
Over the coming weeks, the targets will be refined and expanded to include energy efficiency measures and the potential impacts of both renewable energy and energy efficiency in the transportation sector, one of the region's largest energy consumers.
CARICOM is composed of 13 small island states arcing across the Greater and Lesser Antilles and three low-lying coastal states, representing a total population of more than 15 million people. In the context of climate change and its wide ranging impacts, such countries are frequently described as "vulnerable," in terms of both the specific threats posed to them by climate-related sea-level rise and other hazards, and the economic vulnerability that often limits the ability of these states to finance important adaptation and mitigation efforts. Although these vulnerabilities most certainly exist, and although certain leaders have managed to take advantage of the language of "vulnerability" to bring much-deserved global attention to their causes and concerns, the past few years have also seen the emergence of a different trend.
Increasingly, many CARICOM states have been working cooperatively to address the related challenges of climate change and energy insecurity—weaning themselves off imported fossil fuels and transitioning to energy systems that maximize their available domestic resources and move from a position of perceived vulnerability to one of energy security, socioeconomic advancement, and global leadership. Although these nations contribute only marginally to global greenhouse gas emissions, their leadership on climate change mitigation has begun to set a strong precedent for climate action.
The provisional adoption of CARICOM's energy policy and Worldwatch's targets, along with a number of new and exciting renewable energy developments in CARICOM member states, make clear that such places may in many ways be disproportionately vulnerable, but that they are also setting a strong example by demonstrating bold ambition and determination to transition to renewables.
From the development of biomass resources in Belize, to the expected soon-to-be-completed hydropower facility in Guyana, to the drilling of geothermal production wells in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a diverse array of renewable resources are being tapped in the CARICOM region. Even member states with domestic fossil fuel resources are increasingly turning toward renewables for greater price stability and enhanced energy security with the knowledge that their fossil fuel resources will someday run out. At the same time, the region—recognizing the diverse array of issues involved in a successful energy system—is exploring policy best practices and financing opportunities.
These exciting initiatives highlight the sense of optimism and support now surrounding the development of renewable technologies in states that recognize this moment as a pivotal opportunity not only to mitigate the effects of climate change, but also to lessen their vulnerability to price volatility, energy insecurity, and simultaneous dependence on imported fuels and foreign assistance.
Katie Auth is a Climate & Energy Research Associate at Worldwatch Institute. Evan Musolino is a Climate & Energy Research Associate at Worldwatch Institute.


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7:01 pm - Pregame honks talking about T.O. talking about McNabb after all these years. What is up with that T.O.? Guys that are still talking about their old girlfriend they broke up with 3 years ago are losers. And you aren't even talking about an old girlfriend. You are talking about dudes. Dude.
7:05 - Keyshawn bangs on the desk and sings for the third time in this segment. I'm thinking I should concentrate on my meal and ask my wife how her day went. That ought to kill 25 minutes.
7:06 - Already regretting asking my wife how her day went. Ready for some more Keyshawn.
7:13 - Wife realizes I am only pretending to pay attention and goes upstairs, just in time for me to catch a shouting match between a stuttering Steve Young and a stammering Emmitt Smith. Wow, that is some great TV there.
7:13 - I decide to put these minutes to good use and finish the Misery Index so I can fully concentrate on the game.
7:36 - Got back in front of the TV just in time to hear Kornheiser's soliloquy of the week. Man does my timing ever suck. Maybe that Misery Index could use one more tweak.
7:41 - Coin toss. Good move for Dallas to defer with that rabid crowd in the house. Bad move to kick it out of bounds and give it to the Eagles on the 40.
7:43 - Ten yard first down run for Westbrook. Ho hum.
7:45 - Camera flashes to Zach Thomas just as he blows a snot rocket. Those TV directors have such good timing.
7:47 - Field goal Eagles. No trouble moving the ball down the field. Looks like it is going to be a good one.
7:55 - Barber gets stuffed for the second time in two carries. Ruh roh.
7:55 - Barber stuffed on an underhanded toss. Eagles D looking tough.
7:57 - Scratch that. Touchdown bomb to Owens. They might not need Barber tonight.
8:09 - Eagles end another long drive with a field goal. Hmm, I thought about betting the over on this game, maybe I should have after all.
8:13 - Kickoff returned for touchdown by Felix Jones. Dallas up 14-6. Definitely wishing I had played that over now. Not feeling so good about my Eagles D play in my fantasy league. Owens makes a point to hug Jones on the sidelines so he can get some camera.
8:16 - Near decapitation of Westbrook with no facemask call. Oh boy, here we go…
8:20 - Another missed facemask call on Romo interception return. Maybe if one of the Cowboys actually rips the head off an Eagle we can get a call here.
8:25 - Westbrook touchdown. Really starting to hate myself for not playing that over now. But hey, I do have my health.
8:29 - Romo fumbles in end-zone recovered by the Eagles for a touchdown. Man am I ever a genius for playing that Eagles D.
8:30 - I go to the bathroom and throw up over not playing the over. There, got that out of my system.
8:41 - Touchdown Owens. 21-20 Dallas. Okay, this is just getting ridiculous now.
8:45 - Back from commercial break, Owens is still barking on the sidelines as assistants rush to dab spit of the affected players faces.
8:46 - Kornheiser sensing all his prep work is going to waste in the face of this offensive onslaught desperately tries to work some material in.
8:47 - Desean Jackson shuts Kornheiser up with a touchdown catch. No, wait a minute, the dingleberry dropped the ball before he hit the stripe. Eagles ball on the two. Kornheiser suddenly doesn't seem like the dumbest guy in the stadium.
8:52 - Touchdown Westbrook. DeSean Jackson owners across the land fill their living rooms with words you can't say on television or in football columns.
8:53 - Westy is getting his back worked on the trainers table. Westy owners across the land fill their living rooms with words you can't say on television or in football columns.
8:56 - Jerry Jones got his popcorn ready, and the cameras show him eating it. Huh. How about that. Jerry Jones eats popcorn just like I do. We really probably aren't all that different. Well, except I can still close my eyes all the way. But other than that…
8:57 - First punt of the night for the Cowboys. Jones wasted his popcorn on that?
9:13 - Field goal Eagles. Field goal? I thought we were past all that nonsense. 30-21 Eagles.
9:16 - Jerry Jones makes an appearance on the sidelines to remind his players that he wants them to win this game. They kick a field goal and we go to half Eagles 30-24. I hope I was imagining this, but I could have swore I saw a hickey on Romo's neck. Oh please God tell me that is not a hickey. It is a good thing I threw up earlier.
9:17 - Halftime! I.V.s for everybody!!
9:33 - Cowboys come out running with Barber. Now he gashes them.
9:36 - Cowboys have to punt on 4th and 22. Oh wait a minute. Let me guess. Scoreless second half coming, right? Oh no, Kornheiser is getting his script back out.
9:43 - Eagles 3 and out. Wake me up when the game starts again.
9:45 - Kornheiser sounds like he is denouncing violence during a football game. Jaws reminds him that this is not tennis. Tony shuts up. Nice work Jaws.
9:52 - Touchdown Barber! Finally a score at 5:11 of the 3rd. Glad I didn't bet the over in the second half. Dallas 31 Eagles 30.
10:00 - Hank Baskett drops an easy pass. I guess that is why nobody picked him up on waivers last week.
10:01 - Baskett makes a catch! Kornheiser makes a "biscuit in the basket" reference. Now he thinks we are playing hockey.
10:03 - Great camera angle shows T.O. trying to stare holes in McNabb from sideline, right before Donovan eludes the pass rush, completes a ridiculous shovel pass Westbrook, who is then face masked by a gassed Dallas defender. T.O., I think your evil eye might be on the fritz. Much like everything else in that region of your body.
10:08 - Another Westy TD. Man is that guy gold or what? 37-31 Eagles. Let me off this ride, I'm getting dizzy.
10:15 - Kornheiser finds a minute to go off on a tangent about how the Cowboys are the biggest franchise in all of America, blah, blah, blah. Then camera flashes to Jerry Jones in his suite. Jones is nervously tapping his leg, while his crony appears to be looking to Jones for a reaction to the syrupy slop Kornheiser is dishing out. Probably an odd mixture of pride and disgust I would imagine.
10:20 - Field goal Dallas, they now trail by only 3. The punters for both teams get dressed and go home. Jones nervously pacing, wondering if he should go back down to the sideline to remind his team that he wants them to win this game.
10:27 - McNabb tries to get too cute on a handoff to Westbrook and fumbles. Owens is sure that it was his evil eye that did the trick.
10:29 - Kornheiser, sensing the building drama proclaims this, the second game of the season, a must-win game for the Cowboys. Jaws hits him in the nose with a rolled up newspaper and barely suppresses the urge to give him the atomic wedgy.
10:33 - Touchdown Barber. 41-37 Dallas. The collective sigh of the Dallas faithful causes several cases of hyperventilation in the stadium. Luckily God is looking through the hole in the top like always and makes sure nobody passes out.
10:41 - McNabb comes up small on a pass too high for Westy on a 3rd down. Eagles have to punt and hope they can stop the beast.
10:44 - Barber is bottled up on two carries, and Romo barely misses a kill shot pass to Barber open in the flat. Cowboys have to give the ball back.
10:49 - Facemask on Cowboys moves the ball to the Eagles 48 at the two minute warning. Jerry Jones better get down there and remind his guys that he wants them to win. They might have forgot.
10:50 - McNabb ignores a big open running lane for and easy 7-8 yards and passes incomplete.
10:53 - McNabb takes a bad sack. Owens evil eye really taking over the game now.
10:54 - Hook and Ladder fails. McNabb comes up small in the end. Game over. I'm looking for T.O. to seek out McNabb for a hug. Nope, looks like Owens is headed for the cameras. Romo beats him to it though. Romo getting interviewed. I'm checking for that hickey I thought I saw earlier……..nope, I must have imagined that. Thank God.
And thank you Cowboys and Eagles for yet another instant Monday Night Football classic! How 'bout them Cowboys!
10) Raiders: Yeah, I know. You won. Rob Ryan told the world his team would whip some ass last week and I'll be damned if they didn't. Okay. Fair enough. Now go beat a real team and we can discuss getting you out of here.
9) Dolphins: There was absolutely nothing in their week 2 performance that suggested a major change from last season. But then, the good people of Miami probably weren't expecting that old Tuna magic to start working just yet anyway. This list isn't just about losers. It is also about expectations. 0-2 for the Dolphins is childs play compared to some of the teams that beat them out this week.
8 ) Chargers: These guys are really good. Right up until the last play of the game. Then, not so good. What's worse is now they have to be Shanahan's bitch, at least until the rematch.
7) Seahawks: Okay, I let the loss to the Bills on the road slide, but now you lose at home. To the 49ers? You let J.T. O'Sullivan pile up three bills on you? At home? I don't care if you have Moe, Larry, and Curly lining up at wide receiver. You are supposed to whip that 49er ass at home. Let's try this. You take the 49ers place in the Misery Index for a week and see how you like that. Probably about as much as I like to be made to look like an ass for having the nerve to bench Bryant Johnson against you sieves in helmets.
6) Jaguars: The Jags were a chic pick during the preseason. Well, so far they have looked like a giant pile of chic. Okay Jags, it's been awhile since you have been here so let me tell you how this goes. You stop dropping those big brown eggs on Sundays and I'll let you the cluck out of here.
5) Browns: Well, well. The preseason darlings back here in the cesspool. Somebody forgot to tell the schedule makers that the Browns were suppose to go places this year. This year's list of opponents starts ugly, and it stays ugly. Last year's romp through the easy schedule is now a fading memory, much like what Romeo Crennell experiences during what is supposed to be a two minute drill.
4) Vikings: Well, well. The other preseason darlings back here in the cesspool. Look, I could poke fun at all the people that predicted a Vikings Superbowl right about now, but instead I am going to offer some hope for Vikings fans and idiots like me that took flyers on Berrian or Rice. The Vikings aren't going to let Tarvaris ruin their season. Either he will turn the ship quick, or the management will take action. I hear Jeff Garcia is available. That is exactly what they need. Zygi can you hear me? Can you feel me near you? Zygi can you feel me? Garcia will cheer you.
3) Chiefs: I don't know what to say. You had maybe two or three games you could have won this year. And you just got toasted in one of them. Let me be perfectly blunt. When you lose to a wacky Al Davis team. A completely dysfunctional train wreck of an organization. A pathetic example of a once great franchise in ruins. When you get jacked up that hard at home to a team that bad? Friends, that isn't a rebuilding project. That is a blighted housing project. A blighted housing project in between a rendering plant and a medical waste disposal facility.
2) Bengals: If the Chiefs are a blighted housing project, the Bengals would then be the maximum security prison across the street. Remember a couple of years ago when Carson Palmer was better than Kurt Warner and Eli Manning? Those were the days. Have you seen his stat-line for this season? 25/51/228 0tds 3 ints. Granted, he has faced two tough defenses, but that makes little difference to Carson Palmer owners who are about ready to arm themselves and climb that prison tower.
1) Rams: I have a real dilemma here. Any of these three teams at the bottom are worthy of the coveted number one spot. Just enormous piles of crap all three of them. But when I weigh all the pros and cons, (no wait a minute, that's the Bengals) I just think the Rams look more like a bigger, steamier, more nauseating pile than the other two. I guess what I am trying to say is that the Rams are the malfunctioning water waste treatment facility that completes the nasty neighborhood on the bad side of town.


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Everything that The Walking Dead touches seems to turn to gold. Well, or everthing bitten turns into, y'know, the undead. Skybound and Gamagio's latest iOS title, The Walking Dead: Assault, is a three-dimensional shoot 'em up meets slash 'em up, wrapped up into a tidy-looking XCom from days gone by-esque package.
The Walking Dead: Assault
- Format
- iPhone & iPad
- Price
- £1.99
- Where
- iTunes
The first thing that's striking about The Walking Dead: Assault is just how good it looks. It successfully adapts the comics' graphical style - black and white largely included - and mashes it up into a three-quarter top-down view that looks like a proper game. It's possible to scroll around, pinch in and out and even rotate the world for the best possible angle.
The gameplay premise is wonderfully simple too: "kill all zombies". There is a variety of levels with increasing difficulty and greater numbers of walkers where you'll need to use your selected character - all the classics, such as Shane, Rick, Glenn, et al, are here - to explore the dim-lit streets to track down all your undead foes.
You'll acquire weapons - ranging from quiet hand-held kit such as baseball bats and axes through to pistols and shotguns - to mow down the walkers, but caution as to how much noise you make otherwise you'll attract "the herd", a mass of zombies that pretty much spells game over.
Killing zombies often spills health and ammo power-ups on to the ground, which is integral to nab in order to keep up your chances of survival.
It's the "stealth" element that makes the game challenging. You'll need to use car alarms, set off fire hydrants and so on to keep zombies away from your immediate area, but not to the point where the noise attracts too many zombies.
At first there's just the one character to control, but this quickly progresses into selecting multiple characters for later levels. You'll need to think out whether they roam the streets as a group or individually. Different press and hold combinations on the iPhone screen will move one or all of your chosen characters, which you'll need to become quickly adept at as this is fast-paced, decision-making stuff.
If it all gets a bit much then there are special attacks that can help you out of a sticky spot, but that doesn't necessarily mean the game gets any easier. There'll be the occassional - if not frequent - failures of a level, but returning to the same level with fresh ideas in your head keeps things engaging.
The gameplay format is simple and fairly repetitive at its core, but the frantic nature of controlling multiple characters is what delivers a richer, more skill-based title.
It looks great, it plays great, it's uncomplicated and we already have a lot of unconditional love for The Walking Dead franchise as it stands. The Walking Dead: Assault might be yet another zombie game in an ever-growing list, but it's a class act that's worth every penny. As we allude to in our title-rip from the TV series, you'll be waving goodbye to hours if not days of time playing this little corker.


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Norway today
The Norwegian economy has long been based on the exploitation of natural resources, such as hydropower, minerals and fish. The 1960s saw the emergence of the Norwegian oil and gas industry. Today, Norway is the world's third largest exporter of gas. Norway is also among the world's leading producers and exporters of fish and seafood. The fishing industry is still important for many local communities. Norway has an open economy, based on extensive trade.
Norway has been a constitutional monarchy since it gained independence from Sweden in 1905, but as a nation its roots date back to the ninth century. The population today is just over five million.
The Sami are Norway's indigenous people, and Sami is one of the two official languages. Norway also has several national minorities, and as a result of globalisation it has become a more multicultural country. Today, around 13 % of the population are immigrants.
King Harald and Queen Sonja ascended to the throne in 1991. Crown Prince Haakon is heir to the throne. He married to Crown Princess Mette Marit.
The Storting – the Norwegian parliament – is made up of 169 representatives who are elected every four years. Since the Second World War, the average voter turnout in parliamentary elections has been around 80 %.
The Sámediggi (Sami parliament) is a representative body for the Sami in Norway. The Sámediggi seeks to strengthen the political position of the Sami and to promote their interests.
Equal rights and opportunities
Norway, like the other Nordic countries, has a large public sector. The level of taxation is relatively high by international standards, but on the other hand health services and education are publicly funded. Norway also has extensive welfare services that are publicly funded.
The modern welfare state is firmly based on values such as equality and equal rights. All citizens have the same rights, regardless of gender, sexual identity, ethnicity or functional ability. Norway ranks high internationally in terms of gender equality and living standards. Around 70 % of women participate in the workforce. A high degree of gender equality is one of the reasons for Norway's strong economic growth and the steady improvement in living standards since the 1960s.
The Norwegian authorities have managed the country's oil and gas revenues in a way that has created prosperity and benefitted society as a whole. Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the Government Pension Fund Global, was established for this purpose. When the oil runs out, the returns from the Fund will continue to provide substantial revenues that can then be used to benefit the population.
Global climate change is making it necessary for countries all over the world, including Norway, to adapt. Norway has signed and ratified the Paris Agreement, and we have committed ourselves to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 40 % by 2030.
Paternity leave
Norwegian parents are entitled to 12 months leave in connection with the birth of a child. Ten weeks of this leave are reserved for fathers, and nine in ten fathers take paternity leave.
40 % women on boards
Under Norwegian law, women are to make up at least 40 % of boards in publicly-owned enterprises and privately-owned public limited companies.
Government Pension Fund Global
The Government Pension Fund Global is one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds. It has invested in more than 9 000 companies in nearly 80 countries.


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Michael Vick makes his post-prison Bay Area debut Sunday, when the Raiders host the Philadelphia Eagles at the Oakland Coliseum. Vick might have even have ended up playing for the Raiders, if not for some advice from his mentor and spiritual adviser, former NFLcoach Tony Dungy.
After a reel of lowlights from Sunday's 44-7 Raiders loss, the NBC Football Night in America roundtable took aim at the state of the Raider organization. "I advised Michael Vick not to go there," Dungy said on the broadcast. "I said, 'Mike, you might be able to start there but that is not a good place for you."
Raiders fans, it's bad enough that the referees have it out for your team. But now the prison ministers, too?
To be fair, there's never been any proof that the Raiders were really considering bringing Vick in. There were only rumors they were considering it, plus strong Las Vegas odds that Vick would end up with Oakland.
Vick ended up signing with the Philadelphia Eagles on Aug. 14, just 10 days after Raiders coaches had a dogfight amongt themselves in the alleged Tom Cable assault incident.
Joe Kukura is a freelance writer who is having second thoughts about that tax-deductible charitable donation to Tony Dungy Prison Ministries.


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This flavorful pizza goes well with a crisp mixed green side salad topped with your favorite KRAFT Lite Dressing.
Sprinkle with 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro before serving.
* Nutrition information is estimated based on the ingredients and cooking instructions as described in each recipe and is intended to be used for informational purposes only. Please note that nutrition details may vary based on methods of preparation, origin and freshness of ingredients used.


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If you're a baby boomer, you may remember watching horror movies with "3D glasses." This novelty approach to creating a visual sensation of depth was one of the first movie forays into stereo viewing. Since then, with stereo goggles for computer gaming and — at the high-end of quality and expense — with supercomputing applications in science and engineering, the technology has improved. But you still can't go to the movies and see good 3D, say PSC scientists, who have come up with an approach that may fill the void in theaters, meeting rooms and at home.
The key is low cost and high performance, says Joel Stiles, a medical doctor, physiologist and neuroscientist, who along with colleague Stuart Pomerantz, a programming expert, created the new system, called the PSC Stereo Animation System (PSC-SAS). "If you make good stereo content and have a good display system," says Stiles, "stereo viewing works fabulously. But it's tremendously underutilized, because few people have put all the pieces together in an optimum way. Our system provides theater-quality stereo viewing of complex animations at extremely high performance-cost ratio."
With PSC-SAS, images display on a screen, as in normal movie viewing, and the viewer wears light, comfortable glasses, like polarized sunglasses, making the system easily adaptable to in-theater or home viewing. Many stereo-viewing systems, in contrast, rely on special goggles, connected to a computer that can be used by only one person at a time while looking at a computer monitor.
To date, PSC-SAS has been used mainly in scientific settings, for 3D display of dynamic data, compiled as movies, from computational simulations of biomolecules, cellular physiology and other applications, where being able to see depth enhances the ability to understand and analyze complex phenomena. The reaction among scientists, say Stiles and Pomerantz, has been remarkable.
"Many scientists and other professionals who have seen various types of stereo display," says Stiles, "are jaded. They think it sort of works, but it's basically a toy. When they see our system, they say 'wow' and they're reaching out to touch what they see."
All stereo-viewing systems achieve the effect of depth by displaying a slightly different image to each eye. PSC-SAS is distinctive in providing high-quality content in movie form with "passive" stereo display technology. Most scientific systems and computer games are "active" stereo, relying on goggles that are, in effect, shutter glasses, electronically switching between the right and left eye at a rate faster than the wearer perceives.
Active stereo can provide high-quality effects, but it has several disadvantages. Prominently, it may present a health and safety problem. In some people, the rapid on-off flashing seen by each eye may become uncomfortable, and flashing lights can sometimes trigger an epileptic reaction. Active stereo, furthermore, is prohibitive for theater viewing, because of the cost and inconvenience of providing computerized goggles to everyone in the theater. A more recent technology — "glasses-free" stereo on computer monitors — offers limited resolution and requires the viewer's head to remain in a particular location.
With PSC-SAS, dual projectors display a right and left-eye image on the screen simultaneously, overlaid on each other — based on the well understood phenomenon of polarized light — so that one image is polarized at a 90 degree angle to the other. Polarized glasses allow the left and right eye to perceive the two distinct images separately. With this approach, many viewers at one time can see stereo depth.
"One lens is polarized in one direction," says Pomerantz, "and the other in the opposite direction. As long as the filters on the projectors match the filters on the glasses, you can deliver one image to the right eye and another to the left. It's an old trick."
PSC-SAS implements the old trick with stereo-movie content created by software called DReAMM, developed by Stiles, coupled to playback software called PSC-MP, developed by Pomerantz. To accommodate the high resolution of scientific images, PSC-SAS relies on sophisticated compression techniques that reduce file size, but only to a degree that the eye can't detect. PSC-MP delivers the polarized images to the dual projectors in synchrony at high realism. It decodes and transmits data at 100 megabits per second, 20 times faster than DVD data rates, for high- definition quality at 30 frames per second.
The result — vivid color and sharp, unpixelated images without uncomfortable, unsafe goggles — also comes at reasonable cost. Stiles estimates a total expense of $12,000 for the hardware components of PSC- SAS, available off-the-shelf, easily within the range of today's home theater market. A non-depolarizing screen, two computer projectors, a dual-processor PC, and a pair of polarized glasses — bring your own popcorn. (MS)
PSC-SAS is available for licensing and commercialization through the Carnegie Mellon University Innovation Transfer Center.


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B: "What car? And for what? Dude, did you miss the COMSOL workshop in the Learning Studio classroom last month?"
A: "Doh!"
That's right. CIS brought the COMSOL workshop to our campus on Friday, January 28th. It attracted a large turnout: 28 participants from Harvey Mudd (22), CMC (2), Pomona (1), CGU (1) and Keck (2). We were especially excited to see the majority of the participants were from HMC.
The workshop was led by Dr. Mina Sierou from COMSOL, Inc.. During the first half of the workshop, she covered an overview of COMSOL Multiphysics Version 4.1 by creating a simple model to explain its capabilities, basic usages and new user interface. And for the rest of the workshop, participants tried the new COMSOL 4.1 on their own laptops and asked a lot of questions they had had for a COMSOL expert.
This event was successful not only in CIS' point of view but also in faculty participants' perspectives. "I thought the workshop was quite effective. … I would recommend it to students as an time-effective way to get up to speed on the basics of COMSOL." said Prof. David Harris from Engineering Department. We are working to offer another on-campus COMSOL workshop in Fall. So, Dude A, please stay tuned!
Visit http://www.comsol.com/events/ for more information on free/non-free COMSOL seminars and training sessions.