text:
Gian Gentile has not been silent in my absence, nor have his arguments progressed. In the July 2010 edition of Joint Force Quarterly, COL
From the viewpoint of someone who is on the ground and engaged in the counterinsurgency, and who has a fairly broad view of what is occurring, the current incarnation of the Gentile Argument remains short on a couple of points. COL Gentile asserts that the theories upon which the current COIN doctrine are based have not been successfully used elsewhere. Students of the doctrine can easily see where these principles are not new. Many were, in fact, drawn from successful practice by the British in Malaya. There are, on the other hand, no clear examples of where a different approach has been successful. Witness the Germans in the Balkans. The question then becomes, if not this, then what?
Andrew Bacevich claims that just leaving would be entirely acceptable. Of course, this ignores one of our chief impediments in Afghanistan; our own history. We are easily and believably depicted by our enemies as quitters. This is easily believed by significant segments of the population who, being wooed by both sides, must make a choice as to which direction their future lies. Pakistan, too, is being asked to make a choice based on who is going to be present and helpful over the long term. Our history, which Mr. Bacevich would now have us add to, says loudly that it will not be us.
COL Gentile, who finds himself lumped in with Mr. Bacevich in many examinations of the issue, announces the failure of the doctrine without first having empirical evidence that it has been even adequately applied. A good idea, implemented poorly, looks like a bad idea. COL Gentile himself states that his unit, 8-10 CAV, 4ID was doing COIN in Baghdad in 2006. He goes on to prove this by giving us a measure of performance rather than a measure of effectiveness in COIN.
My squadron, 8-10 Cavalry, Fourth Infantry Division, conducted close to 3,500 combat patrols and operations during our year in west Baghdad.
This is a common error amongst military officers who are ineffectually attempting COIN operations. His offering of a measure of output rather than any indication of what effect it actually had leads one to believe that the Colonel doesn't actually understand COIN well enough to argue effectively about whether it is effective or not. It certainly does not indicate a level of understanding sufficient to declare the doctrine useless or failed. Excellent COIN practitioners know that measures of effectiveness are not universal, but that they cannot be denoted by the number of patrols conducted, the amount of Humanitarian Assistance dispensed or the number of Medical Engagements conducted. One must seek the effect that this had on the population's perception of their own government as a result of these actions. This is particularly true when the population knows that the presence of the United States is transitory at best. We still see units on the ground in Afghanistan where commanders are struggling to arrive at measures of effectiveness rather than output.
To be sure, one must be able to measure one's activities, but those activities must be aimed at an effect that is oriented on establishing a relationship between the people and their own government. Granted, COL Gentile's quote was taken somewhat out of context, but it is consistent with lines of information briefed by units here in Afghanistan. One unit, conducting what amounts to a PR campaign to salvage its reputation after having been removed from its original operational area after failing to conduct effective COIN operations, literally produced a slick document in which it provided "proof" of its excellent COIN operations. The preponderance of information, provided in easy-to-read pie chart and bar chart format, was on how much money they spent. To a counterinsurgent, that could just as much be a damage estimate as a measure of effectiveness. We can do a lot of damage with our money. How did they spend that money? Did it help bring he people closer to their government? Did it add to a perception of GIRoA effectiveness? We don't know. I doubt that they do, either. IF it was what was important to them, they would have briefed that information. If COL Gentile had had measures of effectiveness to discuss in his articles, he would have used them.
The Colonel also describes COIN doctrine as "prescriptive." Again, this shows a lack of grasp of the doctrine, which is based on principles and methodologies that commanders then use to arrive at their own conclusions about how to conduct operations in their discrete areas. All politics is local, therefore all insurgency is local, therefore all counterinsurgency must be local. FM 3-24 recognizes this. In fact, it states it. In Armor terms, each area requires a tank-discrete CCF (Computer Correction Factor).* There is no fleet CCF for COIN. Just like the Tank Gunnery manual (doctrine), where there is a methodology for determining a discrete CCF for each tank when required. This is what FM 3-24 and FM 3-07 do for commanders. This is not prescriptive, it is a thought process laid out for a commander to use to adequately appreciate the area in which he is operating.
COL Gentile's latest article is a re-hash of his old argument. But, it is consistent. One of the greatest areas of consistency is that it fails to offer a viable alternative. The Colonel also has a tendency to insist that what was being done prior to the publication of FM 3-24 was basically working. He points to successes by officers such as COL (now BG) H.R. McMaster which preceded the surge. BG McMaster was using lessons he learned from reading works by such men as Galula and applying them in the absence of doctrine. We see the results of his COIN effects. We know that 8-10 CAV did 3,500 patrols. Do we know what that accomplished as far as COIN effect? No. Is that an indictment of 8-10 CAV's Soldiers or leadership? No more than when one Soldier is awarded a Silver Star and another a Bronze Star w/ "V" device. Which one sucked? Neither. One did his job very well and one did it extraordinarily well. We need to be able to divorce learning from blaming. This is not something that we are doing well.
Finally, before anyone argues that COIN has taken over the Army, it should at least be a true statement. COIN is just now making its way into the NCOES. A former instructor from the COIN Training Center – Afghanistan went straight to the Captain's Career Course and was confronted with truly terribly COIN training. The institution has not quite caught up with the training. It is moving that way, and there are a lot of people who are doing the best that they can. But it's not there yet. This is the war that we are in, and this is the one that we need to learn to win. It is possible that not a single soul who is currently in a uniform will still be wearing it when the next major peer-to-peer or near peer-to-peer conflict happens. Crying out about losing our warfighting edge is a bit premature at this point. Particularly when the only alternative being offered is to lose this one in favor of winning the one that may or may not happen in the unforeseeable future. For a pretty frank discussion of that side of the COIN (so to speak) see this post at Travels with Shiloh
* In the ballistic computer of an M1 tank, there is for each type of ammunition a mathematical CCF. This is the fleet CCF (the CCF for the fleet of vehicles). This tells the computer that, for instance, when HEAT is selected, the round will have certain characteristics in flight. This enables the computer to adjust for such variables as range, barometric pressure, crosswind and the temperature of the propellant before it is burned to adjust the position of the tank gun's barrel relative to the target. Each tank, when boresighted, fires a round of each type of ammunition at a target. For various reasons, every once in a while a tank cannot hit with a fleet CCF. There is a procedure detailed in the Tank Gunnery manual for determining a tank-discrete CCF for that type of ammunition, which is then recorded on the 2404-8 for use in the future with that same type of ammunition on that tank.
Read the post below first and then…
'Nuff said.
I've had a number of folks tossing me bones to chew on; and some choices to make. Should I gnaw more on the continuing saga of the victimization/demonization of combat veterans, or should I look once more towards the little country that could?
John of Argghhh! sent me a link with a simple note: "This looks like something you can sink your teeth into."
Indeed. It also leaves a better taste in my mouth than Michael Sweeney's ass. Go figure.
John tossed me a tidbit to gnosh on, a bit on National Review Online by Lisa Schiffren about winning hearts and minds in Afghanistan. While not offering specific solutions, Ms. Schiffren has a very good point; our history of delivering "recovery" in Afghanistan has been abysmal. I disagree with her, however, on a couple of things.
Ms. Schiffren's critiques of Karzai and our economic aid failures are a bit too shrill for me; I don't buy off on the criminal aspects of it. Karzai was elected by the majority of Afghans in their first election, so he's not an installed president; he is their president, just as much as Mr. Obama is our president, duly elected and sworn. Karzai was installed by the Bonn agreements, but gone are the days of the interim government in Kabul. To echo the Taliban meme that he is somehow illegitimate is to legitimize their cry, and I don't subscribe to that. As far as the economic mismanagement, if she is talking about throwing money over the compound walls to Afghan contractors who don't produce results proportionate to the money spent, then she has a good point. If she's on that tired "Haliburton" type kick, I'm deaf. We've been phoning in our economic aid, no doubt.
For an original idea on how to deploy economic aid that has a prayer of working, see Tim Lynch's latest over at Free Range International.
We've got to get out to get the job done. In counterinsurgency (COIN,) the safer you try to make yourself, the less secure you actually are. The Taliban are currently schooling us in insurgency. They are doing a pretty good job. More on that another time.
The real point of Ms. Schiffren's post was Senator Joe Lieberman's comments at the Brookings Institution, a transcript of which can be found here. It was a good speech. While I think he was a bit too kind to my Army, referring to us as the most capable counterinsurgent force that the world has ever seen, he does get to some very good points later on in the speech, when he discusses five points that he feels will pave the way there.
The problem in Afghanistan today is not only that we have devoted too few resources, but that the resources we have devoted are being applied incoherently. In contrast to Iraq, where General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker came together two years ago to develop a nationwide civil-military campaign plan to defeat the insurgency, there is still no such integrated nationwide counterinsurgency plan for Afghanistan. This is an unacceptable failure. ~ Sen. Joe Lieberman
I'd call that accurate. Heavy on the unacceptable failure. There is no excuse for this. While some may construe this statement as harshly focused on one person, it is no way intended that way. This unacceptable failure is more, in my mind, an institutional failure than it is the failure of one man or even a small group of men. Again, Mr. Lieberman was too kind to my Army. Our sacred trust with this nation is not to have such unacceptable failures, and this is bigger than one man or one small group of men. If most of us were getting this right, that man or small group of men would look like freaking geniuses; but we are not, so it may seem to some that the ones in charge downrange are failing.
Civilian capacity must also be ramped up outside our embassy—at the provincial, district, and village levels, embedding non-military experts among our troops as they move in. Provincial Reconstruction Teams need to be expanded in number, size, and sophistication, with seasoned experts pulled from across the U.S. government and the private sector. ~ Sen. Joe Lieberman
Bingo. That's similar to what I've been saying for awhile. The military's major malfunction is our difficulty with getting past our original raison d'etre (in our military minds;) to break things and kill bad guys, and to get on with the 90% non-kinetic work of counterinsurgency. The Army is not full of governmental mentors. We can teach others how to break things and kill bad guys very well. We can even do fairly well in teaching others how to be better police in a Wild West sort of country.
We simply aren't equipped for teaching a Wuliswahl how to make life better day by day for the people of his district. We aren't equipped for teaching others how to pry massive deposits of iron and copper out of the ground. We aren't equipped to teach others how to leverage the massive mineral wealth that comes with a still-growing mountain range pushing up the treasures of the earth from deep within. We have no idea how to manage a gem mining industry. We don't know how to show someone how to start and run a business in a developing country.
Afghanistan isn't even a pre-industrial country, and we don't know how to jump-start industries. We know how to destroy them. There are loads of civilians out there who do know how to do these things. We need, along with our NATO partners, to get on that. Afghanistan will not long survive without an economy, and an organization that primarily breaks things is not the organization that is needed to build a durable economy.
It has been pointed out many times that some of our NATO allies cannot fully participate militarily in Afghanistan. "Caveats," as they are called, prevent full participation in what we like to call, "full spectrum operations." As Senator Lieberman points out, there are other, crucial contributions that can be made. Perhaps it's time to renegotiate with some of our NATO partners to find a role for them in improving the economic and governmental life of Afghanistan.
…getting the appropriate civilian talent from a recalcitrant federal bureaucracy for an unconventional assignment is a difficult task. But it is absolutely critical to the success of any counterinsurgency campaign. ~ Sen. Joe Lieberman
That's putting it mildly.
We need to further expand the Afghan National Army, beyond the current goal of 134,000 troops, to at least 200,000 troops, while taking a fresh look at how our forces partner with the other, more neglected branches of the Afghan National Security Forces, in particular the police and the internal intelligence service.
We must also take tough action to combat the pervasive corruption that is destroying the legitimacy of the Afghan government and fueling the insurgency. This requires more than threatening specific leaders on an ad hoc basis. Because the problem is systemic, it requires a systemic response.
We must roll back corruption by strengthening Afghan governance and development comprehensively—both from top-down and bottom-up. The truth is, in the last seven years, we have only invested in one Afghan state institution in a patient, resource-intensive, and system-wide way: the Afghan army.
And the ANA, as a consequence, is emerging as a capable, courageous, professional, multi-ethnic force. If we want other Afghan institutions to operate this way, we need to make similarly focused, long-term investments in them. If we can build an army of 200,000 that works, we should be able to build a civil service of 20,000 that also works. ~ Sen. Joe Lieberman
My enthusiasm for Mr. Lieberman's speech is beginning to swell. I don't know about the beginning part, but I could have written this part of his speech myself. I think I have written very similar things on this very blog, among other places. The Afghans have no institutional memory of governance. It has been wiped out by thirty years of warfare. What makes us think that even a dedicated group can take over a nation of thirty million people and just make it work?
Here's a better question: What makes us think that we can expect that even the most committed people can take over a country of thirty million people five minutes out of the Stone Age and make it work? These people need help; we can give it to them, and it will make us a lot more secure to do so. Now all we have to do is believe that.
As Caspar Weinberger Jr., wrote in Human Events in June: "While wars of insurgency are what are happening now, it is correct to say that neither Iraq nor Afghanistan, regardless of these two wars' outcomes, will cause the downfall of America. However, a loss of any type of World War III most certainly would." Weinberger quotes George Friedman: "The United States can lose a dozen Vietnams or Iraqs and not have its (most important) interests harmed. But losing a war with a nation-state could be catastrophic."
America needs a large and powerful Army prepared to engage innovatively across the entire spectrum of conflict as part of the joint team. Hybrid conflicts that combine elements of low- and high-intensity war will be common in the 21st century (as they were in many wars of the past). The point is that excessive focus on one sort of operation — and particularly the type that every indicator suggests that the American people are loathe to repeat — as an organizing principle puts at risk the entire armed forces' ability to provide decision-makers with options that reflect the military's fullest potential. ~ MG Charles J. Dunlap, Jr
Oooops. Looks like we're still not "getting it." There are a lot of rice bowls that are perceived to be at risk when you start talking about COIN. Nobody wants their rice bowl to be broken. They are only moderately more pleased with the concept that it will be filled with dog feces instead of rice. There is a crowd who are building the excuse that it's really okay to lose in Afghanistan, because losing Viet Nam really didn't kill us.
Viet Nam's mantra wasn't "Death to America," either. Viet Nam never attacked us on our own soil; Jane Fonda notwithstanding. Viet Nam never vowed to do it again as soon as possible and even more horribly.
Sacred trust. Our nation doesn't ask us to fight the wars that we want sometimes. Sometimes it asks us to do the hard thing, the unpopular thing (either for them or for us,) and/or the unconventional (irregular) thing; they do not put a caveat in that sacred trust that says that we may determine that it really doesn't matter; to pre-excuse a failure.
The guys who are paid a lot more than most of us to predict that when we decapitate a country it doesn't grow a new, better head in a matter of seconds, and that the result will be chaos unless someone (I wonder who that might be) provides some order and structure until a new one does grow, didn't do their job when it came to Iraq. What makes any of us think that imagining WW-III around the next bend is an indication of some newly-developed prescience instead of an excuse for giving up on that sacred trust in an actual shooting war? Who, exactly, is going to instigate this next, nation-destroying cataclysm? Really?
So, we find ourselves in a very difficult, culture-challenging war (I mean military culture.) This is hard, hard stuff.
Hard is not hopeless. ~ GEN David Petraeus
There is hope.
Fifth and perhaps most importantly, success in Afghanistan requires a sustained, realistic political and public commitment to this mission here at home. ~ Sen Joe Lieberman
I think that perhaps he should have included military leadership in that statement.
Indeed, there are already voices on both the left and the right murmuring the word "quagmire."
They say Afghanistan is the graveyard of empires, that we should abandon any hope of nation-building there, and that President Obama should rethink his pledge to deploy additional forces.
Why, then, is this wrong? Why should we send tens of thousands of our loved ones to a remote country on the far side of the world?
The most direct answer is that Afghanistan is the frontline of the global ideological and military war we are waging with Islamist extremism. Afghanistan is where the attacks of 9/11 were plotted, where al Qaeda made its sanctuary under the Taliban, and where they will do so again if given the chance. ~ Sen. Joe Lieberman
The essence of the threat to our nation. There is another threat to the content of our character; not following through on our commitments. It is the the single greatest fear of most Afghans I met who were not Taliban supporters, and it's not like we haven't done it before.
We all agree, our foremost interest in Afghanistan is preventing that country from becoming a terrorist safe haven. But the only realistic way to prevent that from happening is through the emergence of a stable and legitimate political order in Afghanistan, backed by capable indigenous security forces—and neither of those realities is going to materialize without a significant and sustained American commitment. This will be difficult, but it is absolutely necessary. ~ Sen. Joe Lieberman
Well, as long as this type of stuff is still part of our national conversation, then all is not lost.
There is some other good stuff there that I will let you find for yourself. We can always discuss them in comments. I am personally thrilled to see someone other than this wee tiny blogauthor has taken up the call for a "civilian surge." Let's hope that somehow this discussion gains an audience.
>UPDATE< Bit of a discussion going on in Comments. I'm going to be out of the loop, over at Castle Argghhh! today for a bit, but I can shut off moderation and risk some porn spam comments for a bit so that lively conversation can continue.
In the last few posts I have reviewed a posting
These are not just my perceptions, but a thread that runs through the actions and decisions of hundreds, if not thousands, of soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan, especially leaders. These soldiers have an underlying sense of frustration that sometimes seethes to the surface. The feeling of struggling against the stream is at times intense. The author of "Afghanistan Shrugged" clearly brings this feeling forward in his post describing the events of a night when he was denied illumination and four Taliban rocketeers escaped to rocket another day.
We're not talking about a JDAM on a village here, folks, we're talking about mortar illumination rounds. The ANA Vampire 06 advises don't have NODS, and it was apparently one of those nights in Afghanistan that was darker than Osama's Soul.
I also reviewed Ghaith Abdul Ahad's article in The Guardian containing interviews with Taliban leaders in Wardak and Khost. A large part of the value of the article lay in these Talibs explaining their insurgency plan. They explained how they use the general inefficiency of and distrust in the ANP to their advantage, as well as the lack of faith with which the people regard the judicial system of the IRoA government. The Talibs explained the simple truth that the field in which they sought to compete with the government… and therefore destabilize it through de-legitimizing it… was in the provision of essential services to the people. One of the major services that they offer is a sure justice system.
These posts tie together to paint a picture of reality in Afghanistan, one that is felt if not completely articulated in the minds of most who serve outside the wire; a couple of sides of the Rubik's Cube that is the current state of affairs in Afghanistan. They also tie in to a story of intrigue that is still unfolding.
At at a FOB in Wardak, a small group of puzzlers whose job it was to move individual blocks around in the Rubik's Cube found themselves ensnared in the Afghan Conundrum. A spy had been identified; a small group of them, actually. They were undoubtedly providing information that was directly used by Qomendan Hemmet in his tactical and probably strategic operations against Afghan and Coalition forces in Wardak. American and Afghan lives were at risk, and the root cause of that risk was identified and in custody. Now the clock started ticking. Afghan law sets a time limit for action to be taken. Local nationals cannot be held indefinitely.
There are two paths to justice in Afghanistan with these types, and one of them is to turn the suspects over to the local judiciary.
Now, with the information provided by several sources, including the International Crisis Group, we have seen that the Afghan Judiciary is most likely to have these guys out and on the run in short order. No justice there; and the individual lives to harm another day. What's a young Company Commander to do? He may seek option number two; the American military-driven option. This interpreter-turned-spy deserved to spend some days at a nice detention center with American guards and daily interrogation, wouldn't you think?
BTW, if you're thinking of going all Abu Ghraib on me, I'll advise you to not even go there. The detainees at the American facility are very bad people who are treated very humanely and are in much nicer accommodations than any Afghan facility would provide. No, the interrogations do not include torture.
This young American officer then appeals to his commander for option number two and is met with… silence. His boss is leaving him out to dry. His distrust (along with the rest of Wardak's population) for the Afghan system complete, he takes action. Now he is facing Article 32 hearings (part of the Military Justice System's path to potential incarceration for crimes) at Khost for his actions.
I do not mean to excuse the men who participated in the interrogations that day in Wardak, but when an American reads an article about this officer and his First Sergeant and the trouble that they find themselves in, they do not see all that is behind it. While this is an extreme example, it is one that many of us who have operated outside the wire could easily imagine. My interpreter in Afghanistan was a stellar young man. Nearly every interpreter I ever met there was. I have also written about how Sam the Combat Terp and his family were threatened on more than one occasion, to the point that he moved his family twice within a few months. The pressure on these young men is intense. I don't know whether the interpreter in question was a plant or if he was pressured via threats or coercion to his life or his family's safety, but finding that your terp is a spy is every soldier's nightmare.
Only having a spy for a terp who is never discovered is a worse scenario.
I bring this situation into this thread of posts to illustrate that the situation in Afghanistan is indeed a Rubik's Cube, and we have a serious need to make a huge difference in reforming not only the ANP but the Afghan Judiciary. We also need to stress that highly trained leaders on the ground need to be trusted when they call for support from the little places in Afghanistan. Here we have two scenarios where the counterinsurgency was foiled by Battalion Commanders who made calls that negated their subordinates' positive actions (one had four rocket-firing insurgents trapped in the open and couldn't see them in the dark, the other had a known spy in custody who he feared… and rightly so… that this spy would go free if left to Afghan civilian justice) because they failed to back those subordinates. There is something intrinsically wrong with both of these scenarios. That young Company Commander and his First Sergeant would not be facing the ends of their careers and possibly incarceration if they had been treated with the respect that they were due. Four insurgent rocketeers would be either dead or in custody and unable to fire more rockets if the officers who asked for mortar illumination rounds had been given the respect that their judgment was due on that night near the Pakistani border.
Their commanders replied with, "I don't trust you to make a sound decision. I know that I will always know better than you what is best for your AO (Area of Operations.)"
I'll wager that if you asked the officers who are at the slimy end of that stick, "We are going to put you out in a very difficult and dangerous position downrange. We do not trust you and when you most sincerely need it we will not support you. Do you accept this mission?" the answer would be, "No. I hereby submit my resignation."
That Company Commander and his First Sergeant found themselves confronted by the nightmare scenario which was immediately followed by being left holding a bucket of steaming excrement. Judging their decisions from that point forward is not my job, but the job of the Article 32 Board. What I do know is that they should never have been left holding that bucket.
Yes, Afghanistan is a Rubik's Cube. Many people have solved Rubik's Cubes at some point in their lives; sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. The proof is in the pudding, as they say, and we are spinning the individual blocks around in a seemingly disjointed and random pattern instead of in a coordinated series of movements that see the whole cube. I, like CPT Hill, 1SG Scott, and Vampire 06, was working at moving one or two of the little blocks that make up the larger cube, and every once in a while the Big Hand reaches in gives the cube a couple of quick twists that undo considerable effort or short-circuit a favorable turn in battlefield fortunes. We in the Army have a polysyllabic yet simple word for this effect, but I'll give you a more generally acceptable and family-friendly word that starts with the same letter; counterproductive.
As the warnings of many experts and pundits ring, our window of opportunity in Afghanistan is growing smaller and smaller. It's time to reconsider… read unscrew… ourselves in how we are approaching this war. A symptom of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
Real insanity is the inability or unwillingness to perceive, understand, and abide in the truth. The truth is that what we are doing isn't working. Putting more effort into what isn't working isn't going to work much better. It's like trying to force a nut onto a bolt counterclockwise. Putting more umph into it isn't going to make the bolt thread the other way, but possibly just get the nut stuck in a supremely untightened position.
We are trying to go lefty-tighty. It just doesn't work that way. It doesn't even sound right.
Of course, there are other sides to the cube. "Free Range International" has an incredibly insightful post on some of the rest of the cube in his most recent post. This guy needs to be listened to.
Read that, "People who make big decisions should be paying attention to what this guy is saying."
It's time to figure out the Rubik's Cube, and it's time to do it quickly rather than slowly. Our window is closing, and there are those out there who are trying to close it faster.
I realize that all of the things that I linked to are a lot to read, but if you read all of them, or if you have read all of them, it will really help to paint a picture of what it's like in Afghanistan on a conceptual level on down to some of the dirt-level effects. This isn't the rantings of some FOBBIT about interpersonal relationships on a deployment, so it's a bit dry. There aren't any bullets flying around in these pieces, so it's not a mile-a-minute thriller; but if you want to get a feeling for some of the challenges and how it comes down to men on the ground making difficult decisions and having their very best efforts on behalf of this country sometimes come to naught, it will help with that. It's the stuff that is in the back of their heads when they are deciding where to go that they might get shot at or blown up. It's the stuff that underlies the next words they choose when they mentor their Afghan charges or brief the battlespace owner. It's the stuff that rattles around inside one's skull when trying to figure out just how much to trust an Afghan village elder who could seriously screw them over if he had such an inclination, which he will tell them himself is the farthest thing from his mind. It's the stuff that makes a young Specialist shake his head in disbelief and wonder if it's all worth it. Like a Rubik's Cube, it's all tied firmly together and when you move one piece the rest of it moves, too.
Here's the best part; it's Rubik's Cube by committee, really… but that's a bigger subject.


text:
15 July 2016
on course website
Advanced course on using Mplus
If you already know how to analyze your data in Mplus, but want to learn more about what you are actually doing, or if you want to know more about complex analyses, this course is for you.
This is a five-day course on structural equation modeling (SEM) using Mplus for researchers in the social and behavioural sciences who are already experienced Mplus users. The course consists of in-depth lectures on topics such as the formulas behind SEM, calculating the number of parameters and degrees of freedom by hand; how to interpret the TECH1 output; when to worry about the default settings in Mplus; the parameterization of the model, model fit, missing data handling, power power analysis, and different estimations methods including one day on Bayesian analysis. In addition, more complex models are discussed such as multiple group CFA and (approximate) measurement invariance, advanced longitudinal models (e.g. recent development with respect to cross-lagged panel models, McArdle?s latent difference/change score models, state-trait models) and all kinds of mixture models (LGMM, LTA, pattern mixture models for missing data, Bayesian mixture modeling). Participants obtain hands-on experience with these topics and models during computer labs.
Note that we assume participants have Mplus experience, basic SEM knowledge (for example, you need to know how to run a default LGM model), and basic knowledge about Bayesian analyses (to prepare read this paper). A good preparation is our summer school course ?Introduction to Structural Equation Modelling using Mplus?, or any other one week introduction course about Mplus.
After registration we will ask you to briefly describe your SEM and Mplus experience as well as your expectations from this course, in order to see whether this is the right course for you.
Course leader
Dr. Rens van de Schoot
Target group
(Master) Students or (post-graduate) researchers who already use Mplus and followed a multiple-day introduction into Mplus, for example the course ?Introduction to Structural Equation Modeling using Mplus?. You do not need to know matrix algebra, calculus, or likelihood theory. Participants from a variety of fields, including sociology, psychology, education, human development, marketing, business, biology, medicine, political science, and communication sciences, will benefit from the course.
After registration we will ask you to briefly describe your SEM and Mplus experience as well as your expectations from this course, in order to see whether this is the right course for you.
A maximum of 80 participants will be allowed in this course.
Please note: there is always a one-day delay between the registration system and the information on the website about the availability of places.
Course aim
The main objective of the course is to acquire an expert understanding of how structural equation models as applied in the social and behavioural sciences are analyzed using the Mplus.
Fee info
EUR 800: Course + course materials + housing
EUR 600: Course + course materials
on course website

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Second u-turn. Norway approves Clinton grant worth NOK 30 million
Norway has made its second u-turn regarding support to a Clinton Foundation energy project and now gives a go-ahead for the funding.
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During the weekly General Audience on Wednesday which was held at Paul VI Hall, Pope Benedict XVI continued his catechesis and reflections for the Year of Faith, focusing specifically on the way in which we are to speak about God to our contemporaries, communicating the Christian faith as a response to the deepest longings of the human heart. "The first step, he said, "is to listen to what God has told us." Speaking in English, Pope Benedict said that communicating the faith, "means bearing quiet and humble witness each day to the core of the Gospel message," the heart of which is the Good News of the God who is Love and who – in His Son – has drawn near to us, giving Himself for us on the Cross, bringing us in His resurrection the hope and promise of eternal life. He also spoke of the privileged role that families play, saying that in families, "The life of faith is lived daily in joy, dialogue, forgiveness and love. Family is first school of faith, spend time together, listen, understand & love each other. Be ready to answer kids' questions about God."
"God is everywhere, present in our daily lives, "if we pay attention, we can encounter him. God is not a hypothesis, a mathematical formula, abstract idea; he's real, he loves us, speaks with us. He is so great, he has the time to busy himself with our needs, worries." The Pope added: "Faith is not a burden, it is source of deep joy, it's seeing with God's eyes, recognizing the good amid suffering of world."
"Jesus," he said, "gave us an example: by his loving concern for people's questions, struggles and needs, he led them to the Father. The God of Jesus Christ has revealed our grandeur as persons redeemed by love and called, in the Church, to renew the city of man, so that it can become the city of God.
Pope Benedict XVI issued an appeal on Wednesday on behalf of efforts to combat HIV/AIDS. The call came at the end of his weekly General Audience in Paul VI Hall, and looked forward to the UN-sponsored World Day against AIDS, which will be marked this coming Saturday, December 1st. The Holy Father spoke of the millions of deaths and the tragic human suffering that the disease has caused. "Suffering," he said, "that is particularly great in the poorest regions of the world, where people have great difficulty in accessing effective drugs." Pope Benedict also noted the great number of children each year who contract the virus from their mothers, who do not have access to or knowledge of treatments capable of preventing mother-to-child transmission. Concluding his appeal, Pope Benedict offered his encouragement to the many initiatives that the Church, in Her missionary work, promotes and carries out in order to eradicate the disease.


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We stock an extensive range of jewellery including Hultquist, Taratata, Amanda Coleman, We Dream in Colour, Bianc, Pomegranate and many more jewellery brands.
Turkish Jewellery
We import this range exclusively for Quidditas in Australia which is a wonderful combination of traditional techniques and new designs.
Sophie Digard
Sophie Digard is a French textile artist who creates wondrously soft and luxurious scarves in a myriad of colours which are embellished with further layers of colour, three dimensional details, velvet and embroidery.
Most of our scarves are specially imported for Quidditas and are therefore unique to us.
We aim for a range of scarves that encompass great design and great fabric. We have scarves from various cultures and countries from around the world reflecting owner, Deborah Whitford's, passion for textiles and supporting local cultures.


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Florian Habicht first won attention for 2003's Woodenhead, a fairytale about a rubbish dump worker and a princess. By then Habicht had already made his first feature-length documentary. Many more docos have followed: films that celebrate his love for people, and sometimes drift into fantasy. In this collection, watch as the idiosyncratic director meets fishermen, Kaikohe demolition derby drivers (both watchable in full), legends of Kiwi theatre and British pop, and beautiful women carrying slices of cake through New York. Ian Pryor writes here about the joys of Florian Habicht.
Director Florian Habicht's follow-up to his offbeat fairytale Woodenhead is a documentary tribute to a community of characters, drawn together by a desire to jump in a car for the local demolition derby. Behind the bangs, prangs, and blow-ups, the heart and soul of a small Far North town — Kaikohe — is laid bare in this full-length film, thanks to a cast of fun-loving, salt of the earth locals. Kaikohe Demolition won rave reviews, and The Listener named it one of the ten best films of 2004. Filmmaker Costa Botes writes about the film's characters and qualities here.
In this 2011 Jam TV series, reporter Hadyn Jones motors around Aotearoa in a 1966 Ford Falcon and caravan to meet the locals. He starts his engine in Dargaville, where he meets mechanic Ken, who gets the 'blue beast' going; Ange, a mother of three who got a burnout car for her wedding anniversary; he chats with axe-man Jason Wynyard at the Arapohue A&P Show; plus a heap of Dalmatian Kiwis. Critic Karl du Fresne rated the series appointment viewing, with Jones possessing a "rare knack of being able to make them [interviewees] relax and reveal themselves on camera."
This classic video takes a band, then throws them in the back of a moving vehicle as they try to play their song without falling over. Greg Page, a music video veteran ('Verona', 'Stop the Music'), remembers that "the concept was enormous, but sadly unrealised. But what we ended up with was a piece of magic I've never quite been able to reproduce." He talks about making this and another D4 video in a single weekend, here.
Though most of his films have been documentaries, Florian Habicht's work has often blurred the boundaries between truth and fiction. His CV includes offbeat fairytale Woodenhead, two love letters to New Zealand's far north (Kaikohe Demolition, Land of the Long White Cloud), films on theatre legend Warwick Broadhead and Brit band Pulp, and his award-winning, genre-stretching romance Love Story.


text: High quality framed canvas print. Beautiful jackrabbit image in vibrant tones. The image is printed directly onto quality grade artist canvas, wrapped around wooden bars and framed in a 1.75 inch rustic bark effect frame. A beautiful piece of artwork that will look great in any home. Hanging hardware included.


text: The Future of Religious Freedom? John Mauck's Interview on Significant Insights with Jerry Rose Is religious freedom dying? What should we make of the recent advancements of the LGBT movement? Attorneys John Mauck of Mauck & Baker and Jocelyn Floyd of the Thomas More Society appeared on Significant Insights with Jerry Rose to give their assessments. Attachment Posted on Fri, January 22, 2016 by Mauck & Baker filed under Religious Freedom Same-Sex Marriage No comments (Add your own) Add a New Comment Your Name: Your Email/URL (Optional): Your Comment: Enter the code: Comment Guidelines: No HTML is allowed. Off-topic or inappropriate comments will be edited or deleted. Thanks.


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12 comments :
- linda.rose said...
omg!! do you know when these are coming out?
- January 19, 2010 at 2:08 PM
- bravegrrl said...
i was thinking the same thing when i first saw them!!!
love your blog!
- January 19, 2010 at 2:22 PM
- noura. said...
hot damnnn
- January 19, 2010 at 3:18 PM
- Isabel said...
Oh man, why wasn't I aware that there were epic mixed prints? I only saw the cat/bird ones, which kinda pale in comparison to these.
- January 19, 2010 at 4:09 PM
- Schizo Style said...
I can't wait either!!! Each design is like a little slice of heaven for the foot...especially the yummies (aka sparkly diamonds) on the one in the center. Love your blog :)
- January 19, 2010 at 8:25 PM
- ray said...
no shit. if they dumb those down they are f'n ritarded. were there any kitty ones??? :]
- January 19, 2010 at 9:04 PM
- gennie said...
i love miu miu shoes!!!
i feel like the shoe selection in the past two seasons have been so drab.. these are novel and they look super comfortable. extra brownie points!
- January 19, 2010 at 9:37 PM
- Amanda said...
holy crap, is that CATS i see on the far left one? My fave's the black and gold one on the right though. Amaaazing.
- January 20, 2010 at 6:07 PM
- Barbara Frankie said...
woah, the far left are freakin amazing!
- January 21, 2010 at 8:15 AM
- May Kasahara said...
ok. I love YOU for loving dwight howard.
I had him singing "we wish you a merry christmas" for my ringtone until about a week ago.
- January 21, 2010 at 12:50 PM
- Harrisburg accident attorneys said...
So wonderful!!!
- January 22, 2010 at 12:37 PM
- DinettesUSA.com said...
I love the Givenchy collection! The architectural structures are simply lovely. I especially love the luggage on Photo #5. I want one!
- February 4, 2010 at 1:40 AM


text: MS Office 15, so it's fitting that the Document Foundation has taken the wraps off the next major release of Office's open source competition, LibreOffice. Among the new features is a bundle of upgrades for its word processor, including a built-in grammar checker and a real-time word count window. Its PowerPoint equivalent, Impress, received the ability to embed multimedia and custom color palettes among others upgrades, while the spreadsheet software, Calc, now supports up to 10,000 sheets per workbook. Version 3.5 also reintroduces an online update checker to make it easy to keep LibreOffice up to date. All total, 30,000 code commits went into the improvements, so if you're on the open source office suite bandwagon, don't let that hard work go to waste -- check out the fruits of their labor at the source link below.


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10 Best Luggage Scales for Travel in 2017
The rise of budget airlines has inevitably enticed and seized consumers away from their traditional counterparts. But that is not without a cost. While airfares have now significantly become cheaper, options like meal service and checked-in luggage have also been eliminated. Budget airlines are quick to charge passengers for their carry-ons as soon as they exceed their set constraints.
If you are a frequent flier, you surely wouldn't want to add to the company's increasing revenue with your excess baggage. If you intend to go on a shopping holiday, you usually have more to bring back than what you left with, so running the risk of going home with an overweight bag is nearly inevitable. Luggage scales have become increasingly important especially for people like you. So here is a list of 10 best luggage scales for travel that will help you avoid the headache of having to pay hefty excess baggage fees.
|Max Capacity kg/lb
|Precision accuracy kg/lb
|Scale weight (oz)
|Etekcity Digital Hanging Luggage Scale
|Camry Luggage Scale
|Tarriss Jetsetter
|Next Stop
|Accuoz Digital Luggage Scale
|iDOO Digital Hanging
Luggage Scale
|Dunheger Digital
Luggage Scale
|EatSmart Precision Voyager Digital Luggage Scale
|Swisste Travel Gear
Luggage Scale
|Travanovas Digital
Luggage Scale
1) Etekcity Digital Hanging Luggage Scale
- Capacity: 110lb/50kg, precision accuracy: 0.1lb/0.05kg
- Thermometer temperature sensor in both F° and C°
- Traveler Design: Durable and heavy duty
- Portable and easy to store
- Rubber Paint Technology
- Utilized textured hand-grip
- Digital LCD display
- Tare and auto-off functions
- Battery included
- One-year warranty
- Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 1.6 x 1.2 inches
Utilitarian and easy to use, the Etekcity luggage scale has a sturdy build with a no-slip grip and a large, easy-to-read display. It has two buttons to turn it on/off or switch to temp reading and to change the unit of measure. It measures in both lbs and kg. It comes with batteries so you don't have to scrounge around from one to start using it. It has a Tare function, which enables you to subtract the weight of the container from the total.
- User-friendly
- Compact
- Sturdy
- Large strong grip
- Easy to read display
- Measures in both lbs and kg
- Tare function feature
- Auto lock
- Easily wears off
- Tends to stop working after weighing a few pieces of luggage
2) Camry Luggage Scale
- Steel/Plastic
- Capacity: 110 LB/50 KG, Division: 01 LB/50 G, Unit: LB/KG
- 14 LCD display with room temperature
- Rubber paint handle
- Zero and tare function
- Low battery/overload indicator
- Lithium Cell CR2032 included
- 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
- One-year warranty
- Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 1.2 x 1.6 inches
Manufactured with the latest generation of sensor technology, the Camry Digital Luggage Scale features a 14″ LCD display that guarantees ultra precision to ensure accurate weighing. Its overload indicator helps you pack your stuff accordingly, which ultimately saves you from the embarrassment of having to dig through your underwear just to take the heavy stuff out of your suitcase right in the middle of a crowded airport. Its rubber paint handle allows for good grip while weighing an item.
- Affordable
- Reliable
- Easy to use
- Keeps the luggage stable while you read the scale
- Comfortable in the hand
- Needs patience and enough strength to lift the item when weighing it
3) Tarriss Jetsetter
- Easy-to-Read LCD display
- Lock Weight
- Auto shut-off feature
- Capacity overload indicator
- Low battery indicator
- Compact and lightweight
- FREE Ultimate Insider's Guide to Traveling through Airports
- Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 1.2 x 1.9 inches
Traveling may be fun, but it also can become expensive and stressful. The Tarriss Jetsetter is another great option that can save you from getting stung with excess baggage fees. It provides clear and accurate data and comes with a capacity over load indicator, helping you make the necessary preparations, so as not to exceed the allowed baggage weight. It is designed with a convenient auto shut-off feature and low battery indicator, so you can keep it up and running all the time.
- Sleek
- Ergonomic design
- Great quality, durability
- User-friendly features
- Affordable
- Easy-to-read LCD screen
- Locks the weight quickly
- Gripes on display longevity of the product
- No toll-free number indicated in the packaging
4) Next Stop
- Capacity: 110lb/50kg; Graduation: 0.1lb/50g
- Functions of auto-zero, auto-off, and unit exchange
- Belt Designed to hold and weigh luggage
- Lifetime Warranty
- ABS/PC material
- Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.1 x 1.6 inches
The Next Stop luggage scale is another option to avoid the dreaded hassles at the airport. Featuring a convenient auto-zero, auto-off, and unit exchange functions, it is highly suitable for the frugal traveler. You can easily bring this to any destination, with its compact design. Its belt is specially designed to assist you in weighing your luggage, sans the need of lifting it.
- User-friendly
- Accurate
- Affordable
- Great value
- Durable
- Battery life sometimes trickle down after just one use
- Weight unit display is actually KG, but written as gram instead
5) Accuoz Digital Luggage Scale
- Super heavy duty 110lb/50g capacity
- Durable ABS plastic exterior
- Nylon strap
- Auto lock technology
- Bright LCD display with backlight
- Overload indicator
- Thermometer (F, C) Sensor
- One lithium ion battery required
- Material Type ABS Plastic
- Product Dimensions 5.1 x 1.6 x 1.2 inches
You wouldn't want to make the same travel mistakes over and over. Quit using your bathroom scale to weigh your luggage–it's not going to help. Say goodbye to excess baggage fees that cost more than your ticket. This luggage scale is engineered with a reliable overload indicator and auto-lock technology, so you can travel more relaxed and stress-free.
- Reasonable price
- Built-in thermometer
- Useful auto-lock technology and overload indicator
- Can switch between metric and SAE for both weight and temperature readings
- Has accuracy and longevity issues
- Doesn't lock the weight if luggage weighs more than 40lbs
- Lack of feedback from manufacturer on inquiries about these concerns
6) iDOO Digital Hanging Luggage Scale
- Weighs up to 11lb (5kg); Division: 0.1oz/1g
- Strain gauge sensors system
- Low battery and overload indication
- Free switch within two different units: g/oz/lb/ml
- Powered by 2*3V lithium cells
- ON/TARE key: power on, power off and tare function
- UNIT Key: Unit exchange (g/oz/lb/ml)
- Product Dimensions: 1.8 x 6.5 x 0.9 inches
The iDOO Digital Hanging Postal Luggage Scale is another great pick for people, like you, who never want to go through the hassle of standing on your bathroom scale, holding your bag, and deducting your weight from the one you see on the display ever again. Its high-precision strain gauge sensors system are designed to make sure you travel sans any worry of needing to pay astronomical excess baggage fees. It is designed with low battery and overload indicators, and seamlessly converts within two different units of measurement for added convenience.
- Great functionalities
- Easy to carry and keep with its compact size
- Easy to use
- Can weigh in pounds, grams, liters and ounces
- Attractive design
- Had troubles in measuring ingredients for cooking
7) Dunheger Digital Luggage Scale
- Batteries included
- Auto-lock feature, Auto-shut off after 60sec
- TARE function
- 30-day money back guarantee
- Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 2 x 2.7 inches
As airline companies have become tougher on imposing weight regulations, you just cannot run the risk of bringing too much when you travel. What you saved up for your plane ticket you might just end up spending on your extra luggage. That's the last thing you want to happen. The Dunheger Digital Luggae Scale boasts a user-friendly interface, with a simple one-button operation. It is designed with a practical auto-shut off feature, which preserves your battery for when you need it. Not satisfied? It comes with a 30-day money back guarantee.
- Great design
- Clear bright blue display
- Locks weight so you can properly take note of the weight
- Auto-beep feature
- Comes with a nice soft carrying bag
- Some details in its manual are inaccurate
8) EatSmart Precision Voyager Digital Luggage Scale
- EatSmart SmartGrip two-handed design
- 110 lb / 50 kg capacity – Graduation of .1 lbs / .1 kgs
- Easy-to-read backlit LCD display
- Auto-calibrated; auto power-off
- One long-life lithium battery (included)
- 100% EatSmart Satisfaction Guarantee
- Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1 x 3.5 inches
Created with an easy-to-read back LCD display and auto-calibrated and auto-power off features, the EatSmart Precision Voyager digital luggage scale comes as a practical solution to airline luggage weight constraints. It boasts a proprietary two-handed SmartGrip, a cutting-edge design that allows for easier lifting even the heaviest of your luggage. Whether you are the casual vacationer or extensive traveler, this thing is for you.
- Reliable, accurate results
- Easy to use
- Convenient wide strap
- Soft-grip handles
- Bulky
- Doesn't come with a tare function
9) Swisste Travel Gear Luggage Scale
- 3 x 1.5 cm cool green backlit LCD display
- Red light alerts
- Built in 36 inch measuring tape
- Compact and easy to carry
- Low battery indicator
- Weight Lock, zero and tare functions.
- 110 lb. / 50 Kg Capacity
- 3-feet retractable measuring tape
- Batteries and manual
- Includes eReport "Ninja Travel Tips"
- Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1.8 x 1.4 inches
Worry no more about exorbitant excess baggage fees. Travel with peace of mind with the Swisste Travel Gear Luggage Scale. This 2-in-1 luggage scale with built in measuring tape saves you time, money, and anxiety struggling with airline restrictions. Also, it is convenient to keep during travels because of its compact built. This really speaks of a reliable and top-quality luggage scale.
- Accurate
- Durable
- Handy and lightweight
- Useful uto lock, auto shutoff and tare functions
- Green back-lit LCD display with large fonts
- Attractive with its stainless steel front
- Sturdy construction
- Internal measuring tape is smooth and well-placed
- Auto-off feature shuts its display off quite quickly
- Inaccurate instruction manual
10) Travanovas Digital Luggage Scale
- Digital LCD display
- Maximum Capacity: 110lb/50kg, Graduation: 0.1lb/50g, Unit: lb/kg/oz/g
- Metal hook and nylon strap
- Lock weight results
- Auto-off feature after inactivity for 60 seconds
- Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.5 x 3.5 inches
Designed with a lock-weight feature, the Travanovas luggage scale guarantees ultra precision readings for your luggage. It comes with a heavy-duty metal hook and sturdy nylon strap that securely holds your luggage for a reliable result. This product boasts an auto-off feature after a minute of inactivity, which preserves the battery and provides you with enough notice that ensure your scale is ready when you need to use it.
- Easy to slip into your bag or luggage
- Highly precised measuring system
- Easy to read
- Sturdy nylon strap and stainless hook
- Measures in kilograms, grams, pounds and ounces
- Weighing scale doesn't lock if luggage is over 40 lbs


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"This duo is rather astonishing — she's from Alaska and he's from England, and between them they play hammered dulcimer, fiddle, guitar, recorder and whistle, excellent percussion, sing, and have a wonderful stage presence.
"Their repertoire is vast, and includes things like sing-alongs in Russian. Credits include numerous UK and US tours and seven albums (including collaborations with Anne McCaffrey)..."
-Whidbey Island Folk Festival, Washington, USA
"Unquestionably the most talented duo we have ever had at this club... I've never seen so much variety in a single set."
-The Song Loft, Milton Keynes, England
NEW CD: String Theory - A compilation of new and previously released tracks, highlighting violin or fiddle.
"What's your favorite instrument?" people often ask. It's one of those "which is your favorite child?" questions. We have always enjoyed the diversity of sounds we could bring to one CD with the wide range of instrumentation we use, but we do get more requests for recordings of fiddle or violin music than any other. So for a change we're narrowing the focus to create a whole CD of music that is led, or in some cases driven, by the violin.
Listen to our guest appearance
(Requires the free RealPlayer)


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Private sector development: two simple guidelines
Private sector development - especially the creation of new business firms - is widely held to be a panacea for the ills of a cranky global economy. From creating jobs in debt-burdened Western economies to adapting to climate change in Africa, entrepreneurship is, in the words of The Economist, "an idea whose time has come".
Development Today is a subscription-based online journal. To subscribe click here.
If you are already a subscriber to Development Today please log in.
Would you like to know more about Development Today? Click here.


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As many of you may already know I have a close connection with the Rank4?team and have been testing their ranking tool and some of their new tools.
History of Rank4
Rank4 was originally meant to be a subscription based indexing and ranking tool based around many tried and tested practices of social bookmarking submission, directory submission, link baiting, search engine baiting and other proprietary techniques. While this aspect of the membership site is still intact it is changing its focus slightly away from simple indexing and ranking tool to a fully blown community site with many tools for generating and scraping content for a vareity of platforms.
Current status
It is currently treading water with the Rank4 tool making sure that all facets of it are working and stay current and expanding on the nature of the system by rotating through hundreds of accounts with hundreds of link baring websites.
The interesting part of the site is the new tools that will be available to members they are now going to be offering a content generation system for forums and blogs based around Yahoo Answers and article sites (such as ezinearticles and many more). They have a downloadable script in the works that is a PHP based server side script that mimmicks the features of PRStorm, the bonus of this is that many servers have very quick connections and it will search for sites to spam based on keywords you input rather than a standard list of overused URLs.
Another tool in its very early stages of development is the auto commenting script based around a common blog plugin that allows a very easy way to generate hundreds to thousands of instantly approved blog comments, again based around keywords that you a targeting rather than a static list of URLs.
While Rank4 has been disappointing with its constant delays and lack of any real press releases (other than the inside scoop by myself) it is showing some real promise, hopefully I can get my hands on the other tools (Yaho Answers content poster for forums is fully working and tested by myself) to test and will get back to you guys to let you know how it is all looking.
Until I have seen the whole package I will reserve total judgement as a lot can happen with the Rank4 tools techniques in a matter of weeks let alone months. If you want to be the first to know when Rank4 opens its doors go there and sign up now, it is free and they wont send any mail that isnt related to opening its doors.
If you want to know anything more about Rank4 leave a comment below and I will make sure that it is answered at some point by them, they do check here fairly regularly.


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Top Ten Things the Star Wars Prequels Did RightAguythatpeopleignores The prequels are not that good but they still had some Good aspects so I had to make a list
The Top Ten
The lightsaber fights were fantastic in the prequels. - Jackamalio
Amazing battle - PeeledBanana
Some people consider the 3rd episode the best movie because Anakin Becomes darth vader in in the 3rd movie - Aguythatpeopleignores
I thought maul was wasted in episode 1. Sure he looks cool, but like boba fett, he doesn't really say or do anything that important (hell I don't think he has any lines period) to the story. It could have been a lot better if they'd replaced Dooku with Maul and made him a recurring bad guy for Obi-wan and anakin to have a vengeance for. - Jackamalio
Darth Maul was so good he reappeared on Clone Wars - Aguythatpeopleignores
The action scenes makes the prequels worth visiting. - Aguythatpeopleignores
Qui Gon Jinn was awesome and he had a better performance compared to other prequel Actors - Aguythatpeopleignores
This was only praised because the rest of the scenes were so awful. What about Dinner of Vader? - iliekpiez
The Phantom Menace is the worst star wars movie but the Pod race is the best scene in the franchise - Aguythatpeopleignores
Best thing about the prequels. - iliekpiez
He is playing both sides and I thought that was a decent plot twist. - Aguythatpeopleignores
Awful actor, and disappointing character - iliekpiez
Easily the best character in the prequel trilogy was acted to perfection and was the one consistently good thing in all three movies. - Verderame
No, in AOTC it was so bad - iliekpiez
I always liked C-3PO and R2 They sometimes do stupid stuff that's actually amusing to watch - Aguythatpeopleignores
Because of no science existing - iliekpiez
The movie has that Star Wars Athmosphere I gotta give them that. - Aguythatpeopleignores
The Contenders
Remember the Cartoon that was aired on Cartoon Network? That Cartoon was awesome! - Aguythatpeopleignores
Kids would laugh at him, but he might annoy you when you grow up. Anyway didn't the originals have annoying characters?
Jar Jar is awesomne! He's a key! - darthvadern
God. Some people actually think Jar Jar wasn't a tragic mistake!? Mind blown! - LordDovahkiin
That scene was amazing! - Aguythatpeopleignores
No, he was not good in the prequels, such a one sided fight which was unrealistic considering what he did before. - iliekpiez
Although We only saw him in Clone Wars and Revenge of the Sith I believe (I don't remember) He was a badass. - Aguythatpeopleignores
In Fact the music in the prequals is better than the Orginals because of songs like Duel of the Fates and Battle of Heroes - christangrant
Boba Fett with a blue costume. - iliekpiez
That's it folks!
The jedi and sith legacies are explored more.
Related ListsTop 10 Things the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy Did Better Than the Original SW Trilogy Top 10 Things That Should've Happened In the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy Best Villains In the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy Best Star Wars Prequel Trilogy Soundtrack Songs Best Star Wars Lightsabers in the Prequel Trilogy
List Stats
3 years, 119 days old
Top Remixes (4)
2. Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi
3. Liam Neeson as Qui Gon Jinn
2. Anakin Vs Obi Van scene
3. Darth Maul
2. Anakin Vs Obi Van scene
3. Darth Maul
View All 4


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|Read All Over celebrates the bookworm in all of us, showcasing readers in Vancouver and the books they love most.
|I'm a Professor in the Creative Writing Program at UBC and write fiction and television. Sussex Drive (Random House Canada), just published this fall, explores what happens when a Canadian Prime Minister's wife and an African-born Governor General find they can no longer play "Follow the Conservative Leader."
My television writing credits include the Peabody Award-winning miniseries Human Cargo and Murder Unveiled, both with Brian McKeown (Howe Sound Films) and also Margaret Laurence's The Diviners and At the End of the Day: The Sue Rodriguez Story. Marine Life (HarperCollinsCanada), a linked fiction collection, has become a Vancouver classic, and the stories have been anthologized in Canadian anthologies as well as O. Henry Prize Stories. I've been the recipient of the Bunting Fellowship at Radcliffe, the Stegner Fellowship at Stanford, and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship. I feel very fortunate to teach in the UBC Creative Writing Program and love my students and their passion for craft and story.
What are you currently reading?
NW by Zadie Smith. I was a huge fan of White Teeth and I'm enjoying this very much. I'd had the impression she was tired of fiction but she's obviously not and she's back in fine form. I'm a literary tourist and find entering London from her characters' point of view really stimulating—in the same way that, oddly, one can find versions of Oslo in Jo Nesbo or Istanbul in Orhan Pamuk.
And the new fall issues of PRISM international and The Fiddlehead.
What book has changed your life?
We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families: Stories from Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch (Farrar Straus and Giroux, 1998) made a huge impact. I'd followed the Rwanda genocide in Canadian news coverage in 1994 and I'd also been researching immigration and refugee issues for a TV project. Gourevitch's account–of something so horrific–was beautifully written and felt politically accurate and very human. This book, and Senator Romeo Dallaire's experience, inspired my husband and I to move the world of our miniseries Human Cargo to Africa and explore Canada's involvement in the resource sector.
How do you like your books served up best?
I love bookstores and libraries. I think most writers do. I remember the days when packing to go away on a trip meant planning the reading list and whittling down a stack of twelve books to the final three or four choices and throwing out shoes, sweaters, hat, to shove them into the suitcase. Now I can take Wolf Hall on a Kobo, which I'm hinting at for a birthday (the Kobo).
Favourite stories set in Vancouver?
Alice Munro's story, "Fiction," is initially set up the coast and back in the sixties. The narrator's marriage breaks down when her husband takes on an odd female carpentry apprentice, an AA member raising a young daughter. A couple of decades later, the narrator ends up remarried and reinvented in North Vancouver. At a party she hosts for her new-ish husband, she meets a young writer, a UBC MFA grad, who turns out to be the daughter of her ex-husband's spouse. And the daughter's published a book…The story's brilliant, very West Coast, and the neurotic acrobatics of the protagonist are achingly telling. Also, Annabel Lyon wrote a short story about law students involved in the APEC riot–published in Vancouver Review (I think)–and that has stuck with me.
The one book you always recommend is?
13 Ways of Looking at the Novel by Jane Smiley. It's a master class in long-form and she's such a solid-prose-citizen companion. The last section is her response to one hundred classic novels. And: The Lost Journals of Mocha Chien Volume 8: Constantinople, 1912 by my colleague Peggy Thompson. She signed it, "Woof!"
What is the most cherished item in your library?
Lady Cook's Essays On Social and Other Topics Vol. I by Lady Cook (née Tennessee Claflin). My father gave me this book when I was in my twenties. It had belonged to his grandfather, Oscar Moore, who gave it to his eldest child, my grandmother, Alice Constance Moore. When she married, she left her artistic family in London and moved with my grandfather to Calgary around 1910. They divorced and she relocated to a homestead near Portland with her three sons and joined the Communist party—quite a gal! My father and grandmother had a strained relationship but he included a typed letter in the book, and in the text I sense a lot of pride.
What writer would you love to see read their work?
Oh, George Orwell, please! My respect for his writing has increased over the ages and whenever I think I've stumbled upon some new truth, whoops, Orwell and many others were there long before.
Your life story is published tomorrow. What's the title?
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text: Share: Comments Print May 23, 2014 at 6:03 AM Net neutrality: A market-driven idea to give discounts to users Posted by Letters Coordinator Columnist Brier Dudley wrote that continuing with Internet neutrality is like taking general traffic lanes away for buses, making traffic worse for everyone ["Net neutrality more myth than reality?" Business/Technology, May 19]. In the Internet world, his analogy goes, the traffic comes chiefly from the demand for high-quality video delivered over the Internet. This is not a fitting comparison. A bus rider is choosing to help make traffic more manageable for everyone, along with helping the environment, and that choice is open to everyone. This analogy does, however, lend itself to a solution that Dudley did not consider. Some electric utilities give discounts for customers who voluntarily install a device that reduces air conditioning usage during peak times, shifting their loads into non-peak times. Internet service providers could take this approach, and partner with content providers and consumers to reduce the image quality (resolution, frames-per-second) of the content they're viewing during peak times, offering a discount for this service. This could provide the free-market solution Dudley is looking for, and lessen the need for high capital investment in the ISPs. Skylar Thompson, Seattle Comments | More in Internet | Topics: Brier Dudley, FCC, Internet


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Jive User Training
Covers basic Jive usage and best practices such as how to edit user profiles, change avatars, create documents, discussions and blogs, connect and collaborate with people in your community, and how to set up collaborative places such as social groups and projects.
Jive Administrator Training
Covers more advanced Jive usage and an in-depth overview of the Admin Console. Topics covered include content moderation, setting up new users, community administration, permissions and advanced system settings.
Jive Developer Training
Provides an overview and deep dive of the Jive programmatic API and an introduction to key customization and integration points, including themes, widgets, plugins and web services through classroom instruction and labs. The objective of the course is to provide developers with an introductory knowledge of the various customization and integration points Jive provides, and to quickly ramp up developers that are new to Jive development.


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As college undergrad Ravenna Tanglewood and her family come to accept the premature end of her life due to end stage brain cancer, antiquities dealer and immortal dragon Gabriel Blakemore finds her and makes her an offer she won't refuse. A curse, a quest, parallel realms, and unexpected betrayals are only a few of the challenges Raven and Gabriel must conquer together.
News & reviews for the fiction lover in us all!


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In advance of the 49ers' meeting with one of his former teams, the New England Patriots, 49ers wide receiver Randy Moss did something he's rarely done this season: Speak with the media.
After this afternoon's practice, Moss came off the field and told a group of reporters, "Make it quick." Five minutes and 21 seconds later, he was off the locker room with a "thanks" for reporters
Here's the full transcript:
Bill Belichick said you were the best deep-ball receiver and smartest wide receiver he ever coached. What did you get from Bill Belichick?
RM: Well, I've learned a lot from Bill Belichick. I've said time and time again, before I got to New England, I thought I knew a lot about football. But I think he taught me a lot from A to Z. I still carry it to this day. The compliments are good and I respect coach Belichick and that organization still to this day. Hopefully, we'll have a good game coming up Sunday night. I look forward to the game and hope the fans do, too.
Are there similarities to the Patriots and 49ers in how they are run? Discipline? Things like that.
RM: I don't really want to get into all that because whatever I say is going to be the wrong thing to say. So, basically, I'll leave it at, I've still got love and respect for the New England Patriots and everything that we did as a team up there. But now I'm a 49er so, like I said, hopefully we go up there Sunday night and we give it a good game.
That offense has been so pass-oriented. This one has been kind of run-based. What can you take from this offense?
RM: One thing we know is that it's going to be a hard-fought game coming from the offensive side because of their ability to put points up. So, hopefully, we can complement our defense. Not telling what's going to happen, but, like I said, we've got to play complementary football. I think if we do that and try not to let Tom and their offense run the score up on us, I think it will be a good game. Like I said, man, we're just coming in. We're working each and every day and I look forward to the matchup Sunday night.
It looks like you have a good rapport with Colin Kaepernick, on and off the field. What impresses you most about him?
RM: I think his ability to be able to come off the bench and lead a team. I think that's most important because, no disrespect to Alex (Smith), I think most backup quarterbacks as young as he is are waiting in the shadows just kind of like Aaron Rodgers was with Brett Favre. And I'm not comparing Alex and Brett, or Aaron Rodgers and Kap, but I think most second-year quarterbacks are just waiting in the shadow and just waiting to get their shot. I think Kap's been able to come in and just lead us as a whole unit. Anytime a guy can come in and lead like that, and I don't mean verbally, but leading by example is what we us as football players look for in a player. Especially in a quarterback. So I really just compliment his leadership and going out there and leading our offense up and down the field.
Can you do anything to help the defense prepare for the Patriots?
RM: I think that New England has, you know switching offensive coordinators, I don't know … everybody knows that Bill Belichick is a so-called genius. He changes it up every week so there's not really much input that I can give for the week. I just said, you know, have your head on swivel and be ready for anything because of the way they're playing, just coming off a Monday night game against the so-called best team in the league in the Houston Texans, They put 40-something points up and really embarrassed them, so I don't think we want to be that team and get embarrassed on national television. So, like I said, hopefully we come prepared and ready to play a good game.
What happened when you injured your finger (against the Bears)?
RM: Man, (Kaepernick) dislocated my finger. Really, the play was designed for the ball to be thrown in the first hole and I think I got to the second hole, or we call it windows as wide receivers. And when he found me in the second hold, it was really too late to throw it, but he threw it anyway, so he had to put one of those Randy Johnson fastballs on me and when it hit my finger, I felt my finger pop and I dislocated it. I had to come back to the sideline and the doctor had to pop it back in. It hurt for about a week and, like I said, throughout the game it hurts, but that's nothing to cry about over a sore finger. I could see if it was a knee or an ankle or shoulder or something like that, but a finger? Everybody's fingers hurt. This time of year everything hurts on everybody, so there's no need or no room to be crying. I think it's just time for us to just try to make this playoff push and it starts in Foxborough Sunday night.
Has that happened before?
RM: I try to take pride in taking care of my body and finessing the balls as the come to me, but Kap throws hard. He's very strong, he works out every day and I didn't really say anything to him besides just keep doing what he's doing. My finger will heal up. It hurt, it hurt, it really did. Tried not to show any tears, I don't know if they caught me crying or not, but it did hurt. Like I said, man, this is not the time of year to be crying because it's late in the season and, like I said, everybody's hurt, everybody's ailing, everybody's feeling a little bit of pain and some go home and some keep moving and we want to be the team that keeps moving.


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Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia vote today in the Chesapeake primaries. The Intrade market (www.intrade.com) is predicting that McCain and Obama will sweep today's election. According to Intrade, both McCain and Obama are most likely to receive the nomination from their parties.
With a substantial delegate lead, McCain has a 94% probability of getting the GOP nomination, a 7% increase since last week's Super Tuesday primaries.


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Please Login to Remove!
Standalone (Autonomous) GPS: The GPS receiver calculates a position without using any assistance data and without a connection to the wireless network.
MS-Based: The GPS receiver calculates the position using assistance data from a location server to increase cold-start sensitivity and reduce the start time for an initial position calculation.
MS-Assisted: The GPS receiver uses assistance data from a location server to make measurements related to its distance from the GPS satellites, then sends this information to the location server where the position is calculated. This mode also increases cold start sensitivity and reduces the start time for an initial position calculation.
MS-based position calculation is preferred
PDE-based fix/MS-assisted mode is done only if MS-based position calculation fix fails
Ephemeris download from PDE is preferred as compared with data demodulation
PDE-based position calculation/MS-assisted mode is a preferred option MS-based position calculation only if PDE-based fix failsEphemeris download from PDE is preferred as compared with data demodulation
Standalone mode is the preferred option and minimum PDE/network access is allowed
Data demodulation is preferred as compared with ephemeris download from PDE
MS-assisted position fix if MS-based position calculation fails to generate a fix
Data optimal mode disables SA download
Cellsite: Which is the least accurate but the fastest location mode, uses cellsite towers that attempt to provide triangulated GPS information.
Assisted: Which is more accurate than the Cellsite fix but not as fast, uses the network in an assisted search.
Autonomous (Standalone): Which yields the most accurate fix but provides the first fix the slowest, uses the on-board GPS chip.


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- Places To Visit
- Recreation / Outdoor
- Tourist Essentials
- Tours & Activities
- Shopping / Nightlife
- Eating
- Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
Sitapur, formerly spelled Citapore is a town and a municipal board in Sitapur district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is in the Lucknow Division.
The town is by the river Sarayan, half-way between Lucknow and Shahjahanpur on the Lucknow-Delhi National Highway No. 24 and on the Lucknow-Bareilly Railway, 89 km northwest from the state capital, Lucknow. The traditional origin for the name is said to be by the King Vikramāditya from Lord Ram's wife Sita.
The history of Sitapur is closely associated with that of the rest of Awadh. The district figured prominently in the Indian rebellion of 1857, when the native troops quartered in the cantonments fired on their officers, many of whom were killed, as were also several military and civil officers, with their families, in attempting to escape.
Sitapur as the name depicts, was established by the king Vikarmaditya after the name of Lord Ram's wife Sita. This place is concerned with ancient, medieval and modern history.
Major attractions:
Khairabad, Mishrikh, Namisharanya, Chakratirth, Lalita Devi Temple, Shyamnathan Mandir, Jangli Nath Baba etc.
Favorite photos
Here's the our members favorite photos of "Towns & Villages in Lucknow". Upload your photo of Sitapur!
Book a room
- Multi-day Tours
- Pilgrimage Tours
- City Tours
- Temple Tours
- Cultural Tours


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Certified Green Businesses
Local businesses and companies can become green certified with the assistance of EcoAction Partners staff who will provide informed, quality recommendations to help you choose the best improvements for your facility. In turn, you can showcase your sustainability efforts just like these businesses and companies.
Bootdoctors and Paragon Outdoors strives to be a sustainable business, which means making mindful decisions about the impacts of its business on the planet and people. Some of their decisions have included product sourcing, waste stream identification, plant management, employee engagement and community involvement.
Fairmont Heritage Place Franz Klammer Lodge
The Fairmont Heritage Place Franz Klammer Lodge is dedicated to sustainability in the region with the formation of a sustainability team, which meets monthly to discuss ways in which they can operate the lodge more efficiently. In addition, lodge owners, guests and colleagues participate in the Klammer's annual Community Connections Week. Lastly, the lodge participates in Earth Hour every year, a global climate event that is led by the World Wildlife Fund to raise awareness about climate change.
Madeline Hotel and Residences
Madeline Hotel and Residences is committed to promoting sustainable tourism throughout the southwest Colorado region through various socially responsible practices. Additionally, its dedication extends even further by educating guests and staff on eco-friendly practices to ultimately reduce their ecological footprint on the local environment. Their enrichment philosophy extends to the natural world, too, with explorations of the local flora and fauna, interaction with the hotel's partner farmers and ranchers, photography tours with local wildlife, and historical walking tours that highlight the local commitment to the regions rich heritage and history.
Inn at Lost Creek
At the Inn at Lost Creek, we are committed to sustaining our environment. Our Eco-Travel program has many facets: from the basic towel/linen saving program in our guest's rooms to the compost program at Siam's Talay Grille, we are focused on improving our footprint. We are also recipients of TripAdvisor's award "Green Leaders Gold Level."


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Rania Matar currently works full-time as a photographer and teaches documentary photography at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Of her series, A Girl and Her Room, she writes:
'As a mother of a teenage daughter, I watch her passage from girlhood into adulthood, fascinated with the transformation taking place, the adult personality shaping up and a self-consciousness now replacing the carefree world she had known and lived in so far. I started photographing her and her girlfriends, and quickly realized that they were very aware of each other's presence, and that their being in a group affected very much whom they were portraying to the world. From there, emerged the idea of photographing each girl alone in her personal space.'


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All Emerald Metropolis Pet Rescue adopted pets come fully vetted until healthy, spayed or neutered, vaccinated, fecal clear, treated for any parasites, groomed, and microchipped. While ready to fulfill you, your new member of the family is getting all the care they want in one of our animal centres. Solely domesticated canine and cats could also be carried to or from international destinations. Magic potion pets are hatched from the same eggs as Era 1 pets (they cannot be hatched from quest eggs) utilizing magic hatching potions , and they'll eat any meals as if it was their most well-liked meals (maximum development).
The record of pet areas also contains an abbreviated list for these wishing to charm every animal with the least quantity of effort. Only misplaced or adoptable animals beneath the care of Albuquerque Animal Welfare Division are searchable on this web site. Dogs put the guilty look on almost before the owner is aware of it is time to get angry about something the dog has accomplished.
Please contact Reservations in advance so we are able to notify you of any necessities or travel adjustments that may affect you and your pet. From canine collars to water fountains to training crates to poop luggage to cat litter, our consultants have spent lots of of hours on analysis and testing to make suggestions for the furry members of your family. There are many websites that supply kittens for sale or dogs without cost , but shopping for a pet online may be risky and could imply you find yourself paying enormous veterinary payments.
Beneficial check-in time for guests travelling with a checked kennel is one hundred twenty minutes before domestic flight departures and one hundred fifty minutes (relying on your vacation spot) before worldwide flight departures. 1Two (2) pets of the same species (e.g. two cats or two canines) that reside in the same family will probably be permitted to journey in one kennel.
You cannot journey with a pet if the current or forecasted temperature is above eighty five levels Fahrenheit (29.4 levels C) at any location on the itinerary. At PetSmart, we by no means promote canine or cats. Pets are like family. Vitamin for pets is simply as necessary as it's for us people; their attitude and energy levels can drastically improve once they're getting the suitable vitamins, minerals, and proteins they need.


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by Sharyn Kopf
Martin and Lewis. Laurel and Hardy. Abbott and Costello. Hermiz and Martin. Sometimes it just works.
As a freshman math major at Cedarville, Dustin Martin '96 performed in two plays for the fun of it. Matt Hermiz '97 enrolled a year later with an undeclared major. "I didn't really know why I was at Cedarville," he said, "except that it was close to home and supported my values." Neither was destined for theatre. Then, on a lark — and with no theatrical background — Matt auditioned for the fall play, The Boys Next Door. So did Dustin, and both earned lead roles. Soon, a lifelong friendship and passion for the stage was born.
It meant a lot to Matt that Dustin was willing to connect with a freshman. They bonded over shakes at Mom and Dad's Dairy Bar and discovered they were like-minded in many areas. "Dissecting plays and characters with Matt helped solidify the passion I have for theatre today," Dustin said.
They didn't just work together onstage but backstage as well. When Dustin was stage manager for The Sound of Music during his sophomore year, he asked Matt to be his assistant. Before the year ended, Matt had declared a theatre major and Dustin had swapped his math major with his theatre minor.
Both asked Professor Gary Barker '86 to be their academic advisor. He had directed The Boys Next Door, which brought the two friends together in the first place. "In the story of my life," Matt said, "Gary looms large."
Dustin also acknowledged that Barker was an instrumental figure in their lives and said both still find themselves doing theatre the way Barker taught them — "finding" the character as an actor and structuring rehearsals as a director to get the most creativity from the actors. "Matt and I have both received compliments from actors we've directed regarding our process," said Dustin. "This is a direct result of Gary's teaching and mentoring."
While Dustin stayed steady — finishing his degree, then marrying his girlfriend, Eve Edsell '96 — Matt's path was more uncertain. He dropped out of Cedarville for a quarter, returned for a quarter, then dropped out again, this time for two years.
"I didn't have the money, and I was struggling with depression and an overall lack of direction at the time," Matt said.
Meanwhile, Dustin had moved back to his home state of Wisconsin to teach theatre and speech at the high school where he had graduated. He continued his acting and directing pursuits in community theatre. He and Matt made a concerted effort to keep their friendship strong. "We decided to talk every few weeks and try to get together once or twice a year," he said.
During his time away from Cedarville, Matt spent a year living in Virginia Beach, an experience that changed his life. He began asking himself what he really wanted to do and made a pro and con list for returning to the University. "The ambivalence faded," he said. "I decided I valued Cedarville, the education I'd already received, and I wanted to go back." Eventually he knew that was the right next step.
After officially graduating in 2000, Matt found a job in Columbus, Ohio. He rose through the corporate ranks and, before he knew it, eight years had passed. He had developed valuable skills and was good at his job, but it wasn't what he really wanted to do. And he wasn't involved in theatre. "Dustin was keeping the dream alive while I was becoming a company drone," Matt said. So he quit.
Since then, Matt has been on what he calls a "walkabout." He lost almost 100 pounds, spent a month as live-in nanny for Dustin's four daughters, and became even more involved in local theatre, directing Hedda Gabler and acting in numerous area productions. Currently, he is involved in starting a new outdoor Shakespeare company in Dublin, Ohio.
Dustin now works for a computer consulting firm. He is currently acting in a play, directed an adaptation of Pilgrim's Progress last fall, and recently flew to Columbus to see Matt perform in Talley's Folly. The two men still attend the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario, every two or three years, a tradition they started at Cedarville. It feeds a passion for the Bard that they've shared since college.
Their friendship remains as strong as ever, despite the distance. "Thanks to texting, emailing, etc., it's easier to keep in touch," Dustin said. "We can still work off each other, even at a distance."


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Simple Projects for Christmas Breakposted by Andrea | 12/26/2011
Yes, I know — you're not supposed to be "working" on Christmas Break. However, if you are anything like me, you LOVE to take advantage of any spare time you have and fit in a project or two!
So while I completely intend on relaxing and enjoying my Christmas Break, I'm also planning to tackle a few simple projects as well — especially since Dave has almost two weeks off from school and can help with Nora.
Here are some of the projects I'm doing over break:
1. Defrost the Freezer: we actually already did this and it only took a couple hours. It's an easy winter project for us because we just put everything outside for the afternoon and didn't' have to worry about anything melting or spoiling.
2. Laundry: I'm all caught up on our "regular" laundry, but it was time to wash the sheets, blankets, rugs, etc. again so I took a day to get all this finished before real life starts up again!
3. Freezer Cooking: defrosting the freezer was a great opportunity to take an inventory of everything we had in our freezer. I took several items out to eat during break or to bring to holiday parties, and then I made a list of a few things I wanted to make to stock it back up again. No, I'm not going crazy, just making a pot of soup, maybe a casserole or two, and some baked goods.
4. Rapid Purge: even though I'm always pretty diligent about purging anything we don't need, want, use or love; the holiday season always seems to add excess stuff to our home! So, I usually take a couple hours and simply walk through our home — opening every drawer, every cabinet, every closet and quickly pulling out anything I know we don't need, want, use or love.
I don't spend any time organizing, just purging — and it really does make a difference!
5. Photos: I get easily overwhelmed by photos… I don't know why, because I don't even have that many of them! However, now that we have Nora — I'm bound and determined to keep up with taking AND printing photos; as well as keep up with our digital photo albums.
6. New Year's Card/Baby Announcements: Yes, we ordered, stuffed, and addressed all our New Year's Cards/Baby Announcements during break {just one of the many advantages of sending a holiday card AFTER Christmas!}
I know this might seem like a lot to some of you, but remember, I'm still kind of on maternity leave so I don't have nearly as much on my plate right now. Plus, Dave is home from school and is basically on "baby duty" most of the time! Also, we have TONS of family members who are on break and just dying for a chance to watch Nora or help out in any way they can.
Oh, and we're definitely still finding plenty of time to relax. In fact, I think I've watched more movies and spent more time on our couch this past week than ever before in my life!
Do you have any projects you'd like to do over break?
Filed under: Life • Cleaning • Home Management
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4 comments
My hubby has this week off so we're tackling some closet and basement organization. We also just found out we're having a boy (yay) so we moved our 2 girls in a room together and now I'll start the task of creating a room for a boy!! First on the list is to paint the pink walls. 😉
Thrifty Mom in Boise12/26/2011
I'm doing the same types of things myself. Writing thank you cards and a few letters, purging and re-organizing the gift wrap tote, vacuuming and dusting plus catching up all the laundry before I head back to work. It feels good to have the extra time to work on these things and not be rushed.
We are also watching movies and playing games too. It has been a lot of fun family time.


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Optical correlation, or matched filtering, can now be applied more widely than before, because the light is now allowed to be totally incoherent, spatially and spectrally. Two such correlators were demonstrated recently. Their state of chromatic correction can be called achromatic, since the scaling error has two zero crossings within the visible range of wavelengths. We present a new apochromatic correlator, in which the scaling error has three zero crossings. The maximum error and the rms error are reduced by a factor of 5. Our apochromatic correlator is composed of two highly dispersive heavy flint lenses that are in contact with two diffractive lenses and two chromatic corrected refractive lenses. The uncommon combination of flint dispersion and diffractive dispersion enabled us to achieve apochromatic correction of the scaling factor of the correlator.
© 2000 Optical Society of AmericaFull Article | PDF Article
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Impregnating plastics with carbon dioxide
Everyone has heard that carbon dioxide is responsible for global warming. But the gas also has some positive characteristics.
Researchers are now impregnating plastics with compressed CO2 in a process that could lead to new applications ranging from colored contact lenses to bacteria-resistant door handles.