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I have recently been working on an application for a client that needs to read QR codes. This has lead to some interesting findings. There are a couple of approaches you can use. One is to take a picture and evaluate it for a code and the other is more like the Bing Vision feature. Both of them can be accomplished by leveraging theSilverlight ZXing library from Codeplex.
In order to have QR code images to test I would suggest going to QRStuff.com. It is a site where you can freely generate QR images that you can prove out your app against. This is how I generated the image at the top of this post. If your code is working at the end you should be able to easily get back to this site. Wink! Wink!
So how do we write this code? I am going to take a quick look at both approaches and we can see which one we prefer at the end. For full disclosure I actually borrowed the code for both from other sites, although I don't have references to them.
The first approach opens a camera object and then you press the shutter button in order to focus and capture an image of code. You will be asked to accept or retake the image. The main component of this code is a CameraCaptureTask instance which you will then need an even to show.
private CameraCaptureTask camera = new CameraCaptureTask();private void ScanButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e){ camera.Completed += new EventHandler<PhotoResult>(camera_Completed); camera.Show(); }
Your code then needs to capture the completed event for the CameraCaptureTask and then pass the image to code which will check it for a proper QR code.
void camera_Completed(object sender, PhotoResult e) { camera.Completed -= new EventHandler<PhotoResult>(camera_Completed); if (e.TaskResult == TaskResult.OK) { BitmapImage bmp = new BitmapImage(); bmp.CreateOptions = BitmapCreateOptions.None; bmp.SetSource(e.ChosenPhoto); textBlock1.Text = string.Empty; WriteableBitmap wbmp = new WriteableBitmap(bmp); string recognizedBarcode = string.Empty; if (BarcodeHelper.TryToRecognizeQRcode(wbmp, out recognizedBarcode)) textBlock1.Text = recognizedBarcode; else textBlock1.Text = "Unrecognizable barcode! " + recognizedBarcode; } }
Below is the code within the BarcodeHelper which actually processes the image.
public static bool TryToRecognizeQRcode(WriteableBitmap wb, out string qrCode) { var zxhints = new Dictionary<object, object>() { { DecodeHintType.TRY_HARDER, true }, }; // create reader instance var reader = new com.google.zxing.qrcode.QRCodeReader(); return TryToRecognize(wb, reader, null, out qrCode); }
My experience with this code is that it doesn't recognize the codes as often as it does. This give the illusion of being less accurate since each time you accept an image it lets you know if it recognized it or not.
The second approach involves using the preview buffer for the phone's camera. To start you need to create a PhoneApplicationPage and strip it down to bare bones (no titles) and add rectangle object to the main grid with a VideoBrush fill. It also needs a ListBox to display the results.
<Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="Transparent"> <Rectangle x:Name="_previewRect" Margin="0" Height="800" Width="600" HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center"> <Rectangle.Fill> <VideoBrush x:Name="_previewVideo"> <VideoBrush.RelativeTransform> <CompositeTransform x:Name="_previewTransform" CenterX=".5" CenterY=".5" /> </VideoBrush.RelativeTransform> </VideoBrush> </Rectangle.Fill> </Rectangle> <ListBox Margin="10" x:Name="foundList" FontSize="30" FontWeight="ExtraBold" SelectionChanged="foundList_SelectionChanged" /></Grid>
The page is then driven off of a PhotoCamera object and a DispatchTimer. Below is the initial setup within the page.
private readonly DispatcherTimer _timer;private readonly ObservableCollection<string> _matches;private PhotoLuminanceSource _luminance;private QRCodeReader _reader;private PhotoCamera _photoCamera;public ScanView(){ InitializeComponent(); _matches = new ObservableCollection<string>(); foundList.ItemsSource = _matches; _timer = new DispatcherTimer(); _timer.Interval = TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(250); _timer.Tick += (o, arg) => ScanPreviewBuffer();}protected override void OnNavigatedTo(NavigationEventArgs e){ App app = Application.Current as App; app.ScannedValue = string.Empty; _photoCamera = new PhotoCamera(); _photoCamera.Initialized += OnPhotoCameraInitialized; _previewVideo.SetSource(_photoCamera); CameraButtons.ShutterKeyHalfPressed += (o, arg) => _photoCamera.Focus(); base.OnNavigatedTo(e);}private void OnPhotoCameraInitialized(object sender, CameraOperationCompletedEventArgs e){ int width = Convert.ToInt32(_photoCamera.PreviewResolution.Width); int height = Convert.ToInt32(_photoCamera.PreviewResolution.Height); _luminance = new PhotoLuminanceSource(width, height); _reader = new QRCodeReader(); Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(() => { _previewTransform.Rotation = _photoCamera.Orientation; _timer.Start(); });}
Ultimately we get back down to the ZXing library again with a few improvements to the processing. The code for the decoding is actually a simple native call to a QRCodeReader's decode method and passing it the bitmap from the camera buffer.
private void ScanPreviewBuffer(){ try { _photoCamera.GetPreviewBufferY(_luminance.PreviewBufferY); var binarizer = new HybridBinarizer(_luminance); var binBitmap = new BinaryBitmap(binarizer); var result = _reader.decode(binBitmap); Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(() => DisplayResult(result.Text)); } catch { }}private void DisplayResult(string text){ if (!_matches.Contains(text)) _matches.Add(text);}
In the end approach #2 gives a better user experience and can handle more garbage cluttering the media that is displaying the QR code. When it comes down to it, both QR code interpretations could be used with either camera sampling. The ZXing code from approach #1 is probably more flexible in the long run if you have more dynamic conditions to read the images under, but it is going to take more work and greater understanding of the libraries. As usual pick the code sample that works best for your situation.
As more and more social media sites come online people are looking to see what kind of influence you have on the community. Some employers are even checking your Klout or PeerIndex scores before they go into an interview. My problem is that these sites don't even come close to telling the whole story of a person's influence in the community.
The first thing is that they can't measure things such as user group interaction. How many conferences do you attend or speak at? Are you responding to forums and emails asking for help. Granted, these are not part of the new social media environment, but people should be aware of this before putting to much emphasis on the importance of these ratings.
The other thing is that these sites are not consistent with what they measure. While PeerIndex allows you to register a blog via a URL Klout only understands popular blog hosting sites like WordPress. This leaves this blog and ones like it high and dry since it isn't counted at all. Similarly Klout follows sites like Flickr and Tumbler which aren't a main concern for PeerIndex. With these differences you can have a huge difference in your ranking between the sites.
The main thing you find out with these sites is how many people think enough about what you post in to tell their friends and associates about it. A lot of that is really how well you manage your connections and reciprocate as opposed to the quality of your content. My advice is to check your rankings, but don't dwell on them. Use them as advisory tools instead of the end goal and you can improve you impact in the community you target.
I was recently given an opportunity to review the TypeMock Isolator v7 framework. This is a very feature rich add-in for Visual Studio which simplifies unit testing by putting all the features you need right at your finger tips. Below is an abbreviated list of features found in the product.
The biggest productivity feature is the unit testing dashboard which drops down from the top of your Visual Studio code window. It provides helpful information about coverage and current state of tests that cover that portion of your code. You are able to drill down into the coverage for a particular method. This is especially benefitial if there are multiple tests that cover the method. It even give warnings that the test may be too long to be considered a unit test and should be broken down. From the dashboard you can even start debugging the unit test directly from the code window. Speed and efficiency were definitely the driving factors here.
AutoRunner give you the features of continuous integration on your desktop. After each build it runs any tests that cover code that was changed since the last build. Of course that means that the flashing lights are only ever going off at your desk, but on the plus side you are the only one see that you broke the build.
The Failed Test Analyzer is like having the system monitor each of your tests and record the actual error messages that caused you test to fail. This easily allows you to find where you may have left out fake code in your setup or identify actual bugs in your code. It isn't going to solve everything for you, but it will shorten the time it takes to look at your failed tests. Your will no longer have to step through the test code for each case.
While code coverage can be an over emphasized metric, it is a good feature for making you aware of where you may be missing tests. The nice thing about the Coverage feature in Isolator is that you can plug in your favorite coverage tool to be leveraged.
Test Auto-Complete goes beyond the usual IDE capability of creating a shell of test and give you intellisense juiced up on mountains of caffeine. If you a mock object the auto-complete will allow you to automatically generate statements that will fake many of the most common test conditions.
As I started investigating the tools I could see ways to do tests that involved difficult third party components and database calls that I had previously thought were nearly impossible. This mainly comes from the power of the Isolate class which manages the faking features of the framework. Being able to isolate a single condition in your code is always a challenge. Defining
A good place to start when investigating TypeMock Isolator is the string of webinars and YouTube videos that they have available. Roy Osherove of ISerializable fame presents several of them which I think gives them a lot of credibility. I would also suggest looking at the Mocking On Steroids link from the welcome page of the Developer's Guide.
The one thing I would like to see improved with Isolator is the documentation. It is note very verbose in it's explanations of the product features. This leaves you searching the we in many cases for answers. If you are going to create a great product it should come with great documentation.
Overall I believe that Isolator is a great tool to have. I could not justify the price for my personal projects that I don't get paid for, but I think an IT shop would get a return on its money very quickly with the savings in time and reduction in application maintenance cost. Be sure you take some time and check it out.
With Windows Phone 8 around the corner I figured I would get the wish list out. I am encouraged by what we have seen so far. This is a short list of the things that have bugged me over the last two years of using and developing for the platform. I realize that some of them are pure fantasy and will never happen, but we can dream. So here we go.
Please comment what you would add to the list.
Tim is a Solutions Architect for PSC Group, LLC. He has been an IT consultant since 1999 specializing in Microsoft technologies. Along with running the Chicago Information Technology Architects Group and speaking on Microsoft and architecture topics he was also contributing author on "The Definitive Guide to the Microsoft Enterprise Library".


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COVER This American life: William Albert Allard's chromatic chronicles
When William Albert "Bill" Allard accepted his first photographic assignment for National Geographic in 1963, he'd just graduated from the University of Minnesota. But he was already married with four children. He'd driven cabs to support his family while earning his degree and shot most of his student photojournalism projects at night. Perhaps this familiarity with life's mundane demands enabled Allard to notice– and capture– the evanescent beauty of everyday moments.
Bob Gilka, the Geographic's legendary photo editor, hired Allard as an intern that summer and sent him off to Pennsylvania to cover the Amish. "What Bob Gilka didn't tell me," Allard recalls, "is they'd assigned this story to a staff photographer, and he came back with nothing." Allard came back with something.
The resulting story, featuring memorable pictures like a young girl profiled beneath the muzzles of giant workhorses, launched Allard's career and introduced a new style of shooting to the magazine. "It had an intimacy that people weren't used to seeing in the National Geographic," he explains.
It was also the first time Allard worked in color. "What an extraordinary opportunity I had to finger paint," he says, noting that at 69, "I'm one of the very few my age whose entire body of professional work is in color."
Although Allard has traveled the world, shooting for publications as diverse as Life and Fortune, the Nelson County resident is best known for his prismatic slices of American life published in National Geographic. His images of cowboys, collected in the book The Vanishing Breed, are practically iconic, but his favorite project was recording images for Geographic's "The Blues Highway."
"I had the experience of just photographing the music," he says. "That was as good or better than all the years I chased around cow camps in Nevada."
Currently wrapping up a Geographic story about hunting, Allard says he's honored to take part in the Festival of the Photograph, but he confesses it's been "a pressure" deciding what to include in his "Five Decades" retrospective at Les Yeux du Monde. Regarding his upcoming interview with Alex Chadwick, he wishes the NPR host would ask, "Do you have a life beyond photography?" because Allard could then discuss his passions for hunting, cooking, music, and writing.
What does Allard consider the key to his photographic success? "I have always, always been a great believer in serendipity," Allard says. "That's been my card. You go out looking for something, and you always find something better than what you were looking for."
William Albert Allard's retrospective exhibition, "Five Decades," will be on view June 1-30 at Les Yeux du Monde, 115 South St. 973-5566. Allard will discuss his work with Alex Chadwick on June 7, 7-9pm at the Paramount Theater. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, visit .festivalofthephotograph.org.
Benedetta Buccellato
Photo by William Albert Allard
2 comments
Another error, another mea culpa: The title of William Albert Allard's book about the west is VANISHING BREED, without the preceding "The" that appears in the published text above.
Met Bill at the Calgary Stampede a few years ago and a bunch of us photographers use to hang out in the media lounge. His images Excellent, I so enjoy looking and learning. But for me time is running out, I'm 6 years older than Bill lol

subset: commoncrawl


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Engineering and Codes » Home Inspector Licensure Tools
Licensees Disciplined by the Board within the past 3 years either by terms of Consent Agreement or as a result of a Disciplinary Hearing and Final Board Order are now noted through the licensee DIRECTORY, Discipline link. Persons interested in disciplinary actions against licensees predating those listed below may submit a Public Records request via email.
Attention Licensees: Top 10 Tips to Avoid Complaints with your Licensing Board


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Subscribe to the PLAID Crafts Newsletter, and we'll throw in $10 towards your next purchase.
Formulated specifically for the decorative painter and craft enthusiast, Delta Ceramcoat Select allows for painting on almost any surface: glass, ceramic, wood, tin, fabric, rigid plastic, and much more. This water-based, certified non-toxic craft paint dries to a beautiful satin finish and cleans up easily with soap and water!
Size: 2 oz.
Note: Swatches shown here are approximations of color value; actual color may vary slightly.
No projects found.


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Talk is cheap — and now unlimited. Verizon is hedging its future on the consumption of data because, let's face it, who uses their phone as just a phone these days?
Verizon's new Share Everything plan allows customers to pay for a certain amount of data and distribute that data among their devices. (You can register up to 10 devices to a single account.) Customers must both purchase a data package and pay for each registered device. As a result, the plan can be pretty steep — $40 per month for your iPhone, plus $10 for your iPad, plus $10 for that Kindle your parents got you for Christmas, plus the cost of data. However, Verizon says, there's an upside: the plan also offers unlimited calling and texting. But does anyone really need an endless fount of minutes?
As critics dissect the new scheme, one thing is clear: Verizon is capitalizing on the fact that we are no longer making phone calls. The money, Verizon has realized, is in the data — the videos we download, the websites we peruse, the e-mails we send. According to Nielsen, the amount of data consumed per month by the average smart-phone user grew 89% in 2011. And it's still growing.
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson predicted last week that cell-phone companies would enter the market with data-only plans in the next two years. Stephenson was probably thinking of an obvious solution to his company's own problems: AT&T has recently been recording a decline in the average number of minutes used on phone calls per month. Right now, phone companies still earn most of their money from calling and texting plans. So as the popularity of calling and texting falls off in favor of e-mail and BBMing, cell-phone companies are going to have to find ways to make up for their loss in profit. Charging more for data use is the obvious solution.
(LIST: 30 Best Apps for Apple's New iPad)
Of course, we shouldn't completely abandon the good old-fashioned phone call. Sensitive material and long conversations cannot always be condensed into a series of e-mails. And the breakup text is still so not classy. But we're using our phones so little for actual talking that Verizon's happy to offer its customers unlimited calls and texts for cheap.
So at what point do we stop calling our cell phones "phones"? Paradoxically, advances in our smart phones are making the phone itself obsolete. We use our cell phones to plan our lives, to gather and send information and to entertain ourselves. But we rarely use them to make phone calls. A character on the TV show The League griped about dropped calls on his smart phone in an episode in December: "The app I want for my phone is Phone." Similar jokes are popular among iPhone users. But dropped calls and mediocre service is of little concern to many smart-phone customers who prioritize the ability to track their route on the subway or check their e-mail on the go over actually making phone calls. I currently have around 90 apps on my phone, and I use most of those more than my phone's phone function.
So even though it's too early to officially mourn the death of phones, it may be time to stop referring to smart phones as smart phones.
MORE: Verizon's New 'Share Everything' Plans: Good Deal or Total Rip-Off?


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The New York Times will stop charging for access to parts of its Web site, effective at midnight tonight.
The move comes two years to the day after The Times began the subscription program, TimesSelect, which has charged $49.95 a year, or $7.95 a month, for online access to the work of its columnists and to the newspaper's archives. TimesSelect has been free to print subscribers to The Times and to some students and educators.
In addition to opening the entire site to all readers, The Times will also make available its archives from 1987 to the present without charge, as well as those from 1851 to 1922, which are in the public domain. There will be charges for some material from the period 1923 to 1986, and some will be free.
The Times said the project had met expectations, drawing 227,000 paying subscribers out of 787,000 over all and generating about $10 million a year in revenue.
"But our projections for growth on that paid subscriber base were low, compared to the growth of online advertising," said Vivian L. Schiller, senior vice president and general manager of the site, NYTimes.com.
What changed, The Times said, was that many more readers started coming to the site from search engines and links on other sites instead of coming directly to NYTimes.com. These indirect readers, unable to get access to articles behind the pay wall and less likely to pay subscription fees than the more loyal direct users, were seen as opportunities for more page views and increased advertising revenue.
"What wasn't anticipated was the explosion in how much of our traffic would be generated by Google, by Yahoo and some others," Ms. Schiller said.
The Times's site has about 13 million unique visitors each month, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, far more than any other newspaper site. Ms. Schiller would not say how much increased Web traffic the paper expects by eliminating the charges, or how much additional ad revenue the move was expected to generate.
Those who have paid in advance for access to TimesSelect will be reimbursed on a prorated basis.
Colby Atwood, president of Borrell Associates, a media research firm, said that there have always been reasons to question the pay model for news sites, and that doubts have grown along with Web traffic and online ad revenue.
"The business model for advertising revenue, versus subscriber revenue, is so much more attractive," he said. "The hybrid model has some potential, but in the long run, the advertising side will dominate."
In addition, he said, The Times has been especially effective at using information it collects about its online readers to aim ads specifically to them, increasing their value to advertisers.
Many readers lamented their loss of access to the work of the 23 news and opinion columnists of The Times as did some of the columnists themselves. Some of those writers have such ardent followings that even with access restricted, their work often appeared on the lists of the most e-mailed articles.
Experts say that opinion columns are unlikely to generate much ad revenue, but that they can drive a lot of reader traffic to other, more lucrative parts of The Times site, like topic pages devoted to health and technology.
The Wall Street Journal, published by Dow Jones & Company, is the only major newspaper in the country to charge for access to most of its Web site, which it began doing in 1996. The Journal has nearly one million paying online readers, generating about $65 million in revenue.
Dow Jones and the company that is about to take it over, the News Corporation, are discussing whether to continue that practice, according to people briefed on those talks. Rupert Murdoch, the News Corporation chairman, has talked of the possibility of making access to The Journal free online.
The Financial Times charges for access to selected material online, much as The New York Times has.
The Los Angeles Times tried that model in 2005, charging for access to its arts section, but quickly dropped it after experiencing a sharp decline in Web traffic.


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Today is Joe Dante's 60th birthday, strange as that may seem. It's hard to think of another filmmaker whose outlook has been, and remains, so perenially youthful; his protagonists are often children or child-like, and his projects have leaned toward stories of conflict between childlike idealism and the oppressive realities and counter-ideologies that would place barriers in the path of imagination in full flight.
Dante's films are often caricatured as being heavily adorned with pop cultural references and in-jokes, but to simply note this element is not to understand it. The proliferation of fish and water jokes in PIRANHA (1978), for example, or the "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf" clip in THE HOWLING (1980) are in place to acknowledge the difficulty of doing anything completely serious or original with such familiar material; it shows us how much cultural noise stands between us, as viewers, and fresh entertainment we should have every expectation of meeting head-on. And this brings us to the point where Dante's work becomes so much more than merely pop-referential and -reverential. In a sense, his films use this material like a matador uses his red cape: he flaunts our familiarity with the territory, only to peel it away like a layer of skin and leaving us disoriented and newly vulnerable to attack.
Beginning with HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD (1976) and continuing through the recent acclaimed MASTERS OF HORROR episode "Homecoming" (2005), the films of Joe Dante have always found ways to circumvent genre expectations, by daring to make us uncomfortable. The last reel of the comic HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD suddenly posits us in the midst of a gory slasher film; even earlier than that, a rape scene in a sexploitation flick being shot in the Phillippines is shown crossing the line between cinema and reality, to the surprise of the movie's star (Candice Rialson). Any director would play this joke just long enough to get the point across, but Dante holds the take until it scrapes our nerves and reminds the raincoat crowd of the violent crime that rape is. At the time of the film's release, these points were either forgiven, on account of being in part of an exceedingly cheap maiden effort, or criticized for their tastelessness, but time has shown these aspects of Dante's debut to be surprisingly consistent with the master plan (he said, tongue-in-cheek) of the work that followed.
Joe bumps into an old friend at Wonderfest in 2004.
In PIRANHA (1978), the genetically engineered "frankenfish" swimming upstream toward a children's summer camp actually succeed in reaching the place, placing dozens of gaily splashing kids in the midst of serious danger, with camp director (something of a double entendre, that) Paul Bartel suddenly transformed from a fatuous figure of fun to a palpably tragic character. The heroine of THE HOWLING (1980) is not only voluntarily assassinated on national television at the end of the movie, but her death is quickly glossed over with a vignette culminating in the product shot of a hamburger pattie being fried up on a grill. Even a hit film like GREMLINS (1984) has to undercut the joyous warmth of its old-fashioned Christmas setting with Phoebe Cates telling the story of how her father met his untimely end by disguising himself as Santa and attempting to descend with holiday gifts through the chimney of his home, getting stuck and not getting discovered till the smell gave his caper away. EXPLORERS (1985), a movie that deliberately romances the possibility that a group of kids could build a working spacecraft with help from friendly aliens, works toward the epochal moment of communication with extraterrestial lifeforms only to expose them as beings braindead from being inundated with all the garbage broadcast into space on our airwaves. The creepy people who move into the derelict house in Tom Hanks' suburban neighborhood in THE 'BURBS (1989) are imagined to be cannibals or worse, and just when we give them the benefit of the doubt... they turn out to be malevolent after all! The element of surprise has always been one of Dante's great strengths and he is especially adept at turning it against us, in the manner of a truly Swiftian satirist.
A number of the comic vignettes that Dante shot for the John Landis-produced omnibus AMAZON WOMEN ON THE MOON (1987) were omitted from the theatrical release "because John didn't think they were funny" (as Joe once told me) – a mind-boggling prospect when one sees the stuff that made the cut, including a deliberately agonizing two-part skit ("Critics' Corner" and "Roast Your Loved One") featuring Archie Hahn. He stars as a regular guy who suffers a fatal heart attack while seeing his personal life scathingly reviewed on television by a pair of Siskel & Ebert stand-ins, and whose funeral is subsequently turned into a proverbial celebrity roast featuring the likes of Henny Youngman and Slappy White. Looking back, seeing this diptych in a theater was one of the more surprisingly expansive incidents in my movie-going life, perhaps as close as any movie-goer of my generation could get to experiencing the fresh taste of the "sick humor" (that is to say, confrontational humor) launched in the 1950s by Lenny Bruce, a comedian directly referenced in MATINEE. (Another "sick comic," Brother Theodore, was prominently featured in THE 'BURBS.)
Both of these skits made me extremely uncomfortable on the first pass, and I could also sense the discomfort of others in the auditorium with me, given the sudden epidemic of coughing, candy box-rattling, and noisy leg-crossings that broke out. There was a hushed sense of "Thank God that's over" when the first part ended, and something just this side of an actual groan when we all realized we were only halfway done with this character. I can't speak for anyone else who was with me that day, but I was intrigued. I was interested enough in my own reaction, and solid enough in my trust of Joe's directorial instincts, to come back and see the film a second time; that second time, I could see this Mack Truck coming, knew what it was, and rolling with its punches instead of against them, I started laughing my ass off. I still do, when I see AMAZON WOMEN ON THE MOON today (though some of its deliberately funny material has lost some of its lustre over the years). In a sense, what Dante was doing here was Reichian comedy: pounding away at our emotional armor until our inner defense systems gave way, allowing us to experience at full strength the humor of our own worst fears – that the media might tap into our own worst secrets (the worst being our inconsequentiality in the great scheme of things), that we might be denied respect even in death, that our funerals might turn into a cheap burlesque where even our loved ones would laugh. "Reckless Youth," the bizarre Dante-directed coda that ends AMAZON WOMEN -- a parody of the baleful Dwain Esper "teen pregnancy" exploitation reels of the 1930s -- has a similarly confrontational edge in that it shows us, beneath the impeccable surface layer joke of its camera and acting technique (both inept), how uncomfortable Americans continue to be when it comes to the matters of our own bodies and sexual education.
Dante's "It's A Good Life" remake for TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE (1983) initiated a thematic thread that would blossom into fuller expression in his two GREMLINS films (the second being the wonderfully no-holds-barred GREMLINS 2: THE NEW BATCH, 1990), namely the idea later revisited by the Spider-Man films: that with great power comes great responsibility. Dante gets to the heart of "It's A Good Life" in a way the original TWILIGHT ZONE episode did not, showing that little Anthony (Jeremy Licht) is not inherently a monster but has become one because his family has allowed him to mature without the firm guiding hand that enters his life only with the accidental arrival of schoolteacher Helen Foley (Kathleen Quinlan). The Mogwai of the Gremlins films are analogous to Anthony's reality-bending powers in that their potential for hazard is entrusted to the hands of young people who learn what can happen if you're careless even once. Appropriately, when the Mogwai comes into contact with water, the resulting Gremlins are the very embodiment of antic, rampant Irresponsibility. And Joe Dante being Joe Dante, he couldn't have experienced the irony of seeing his murderous, anarchic Gremlins merchandised as toys for children without responding with the underrated SMALL SOLDIERS (1998), in which we see the consequences of G.I. Joe-type action figures being beefed-up with military technology... which, of course, takes us back to the fine, finny, science-bred war machines of PIRANHA.
Dante, of course, was a child of the Vietnam War era and his collective works reflect an uneasy regard for the military, for politicians, and for big business, in all of which he sees a soullessness equal to that of the pods in Don Siegel's INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1955). Indeed, the shadows of war and partisan contretemps send a chill through the majority of his collected works, whether it's overtly as in SMALL SOLDIERS, the military intentions behind the flesh-eating fish of PIRANHA, and the Cuban Missile Crisis backdrop of the magnificent MATINEE (1993, a classic killed at the boxoffice by a non-descript title), or more subtly, as in the microcosmic-cum-analogous war strategies THE 'BURBS (with its suburban sergeant Bruce Dern), and the personal-cum-national politics of his impressive made-for-cable feature THE SECOND CIVIL WAR (1997, which assembles one of the finest casts of its decade).
But for much of Dante's career, his own personal war has been with Hollywood – whose play-it-safe policies have been in increasing conflict with the kinds of movies he wants to make and stories he wants to tell. In the decade between 1993 and 2003, he directed only three theatrical features, working increasingly on cable and commercial television films and series (like EERIE, INDIANA), and devoting much of his time to projects that did not pan out (like the Charlie Haas script TERMITE TERRACE, a no-go that Joe has called the "heartbreaker" of his career), or did not pan out as planned (like the 1996 film of Lee Falk's comicstrip THE PHANTOM, which he ended up executive producing rather than directing). Joe's biggest opportunity of the past decade, LOONEY TUNES: BACK IN ACTION (2003), saw the either moribund or commercially sold-out cartoon characters of the Warner Bros. stable finally entrusted to the only director still living who understood them; unfortunately, with the film's immense budget came even more immense second-guessing from the front office ("Why does he have to say, 'What's Up, Doc?'"). Though Bugs, Daffy and their celluloid cohorts live and breathe here as they haven't done in decades, the end result is an amusing but overwritten conglomeration of the divine (the Louve sequence, for example), the magnificently apt, and the you've-got-to-be-kidding. BACK IN ACTION was Dante's DANGER: DIABOLIK – a good movie, but a disappointing personal and artistic misadventure that seems to have redirected him back to the spirit of independent American cinema, where creative freedom can still thrive.
Joe bumps into an even older friend at Wonderfest 2004: Me.
For the last couple of years, when not filming standout episodes for MASTERS OF HORROR, Joe has been travelling the globe in search of funding for THE MAN WITH KALEIDOSCOPE EYES, a comedy script written by this writer and Charlie Largent about Roger Corman's experiences prior to, during, and after his filming of his LSD epic THE TRIP (1967), and its role in the founding of the US independent film scene. In the time since Joe has optioned it, Charlie and I have done some rewrites, and there's been an intermediary rewrite by Michael Almereyda and James Robison, and our script, as it now stands, reads like a bonafide Joe Dante movie, and one we'd all dearly love to see – a fascinating experience for me, as a writer and as a fan.
But it's most of all as a friend that I want to wish Joe a happy birthday. We've known each other, though at a distance, for more than 25 years. I first got in touch with him back in 1980 to request an interview for a piece about contemporary horror trends I was preparing for HEAVY METAL magazine. I was nervous before calling him for the first time because I'd known his name since my boyhood, thanks to his bylines in CASTLE OF FRANKENSTEIN, and I was taken aback when he responded to my self-introduction with an undisguisedly familiar and impressed "Oh, HI!" (He knew me from my writings for CINEFANTASTIQUE.) I also spoke to David Cronenberg, George Romero, John Carpenter and Tom Savini for that article, but I felt the strongest personal affinity for Joe; by the end of that first call, we were finishing each other's sentences. A decade later, he became one of VIDEO WATCHDOG's first subscribers, and a letter written in his own hand appeared in the Letterbox of our first issue. We first met face-to-face in 1993, around the time of MATINEE's release. Later that year, he allowed me to co-host with him a 1993 Mario Bava retrospective at the American Cinematheque, where we talked, answered questions, and interviewed the likes of John Saxon and Harriet White Medin. (That night I also had the pleasure of speaking with Harriet's escort, actor Robert Cornthwaite, whom I congratulated on his "virtuoso… or skilled" performance in Joe's classic movie-within-a-movie, MANT.)
Some years ago, before he joined our pages with his "Fleapit Flashbacks" column, I told Joe that I had it in mind to devote an upcoming issue to his films. But, as fate would have it, when the time rolled around to begin that issue, I was well into my surprise obsession with Andy Milligan, which resulted not one... not two… but three feature articles. For some reason, Joe still talks to me, and I'm grateful. I still intend to do that Joe Dante issue, but I want to do it when I really feel it... and looking at the length of what I've written here, maybe that day was today! Anyway, until that mythic issue finally materializes, I hope this birthday blog will do – along with the other Blog-A-Thon offerings of the day.
Come to think of it, I have still more to say on this subject, so there just might be a Part 2, devoted to one of Joe's lesser-known projects, later in the week.
In the meantime... Have a great day, Joe!
Movie Morlocks.com: http://www.moviemorlocks.com/blog?action=detail&entry_id=8a25caad0f2cf4b9010f2d5f72c30002
Nadaland: http://nadalander.blogspot.com/2006/11/happy-birthday-joe-dante.html
The Exploding Kinetoscope: http://explodingkinetoscope.blogspot.com/
Joplin John: http://blog.myspace.com/joplinjohn
Film Ick: http://filmick.blogspot.com/2006/11/films-not-directed-by-joe-dante.html
KGB Films: http://kgbfilms.blogspot.com/
The Horror Blog: http://www.thehorrorblog.com/2006/11/28/half-dan-half-ante/
This Is Not A Dark Ride: http://e-ticket.livejournal.com/219658.html
Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule: http://sergioleoneifr.blogspot.com/2006/11/joe-dantes-birthday-party.html


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Projects & references
With SITECO your project also shines in new splendour. Be inspired by already implemented projects.


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Charlotte Hale has lead an outwardly enormously successful life, building her own real-estate company in Asheville, North Carolina from scratch. Her rise from the poor daughter of a drunkard in the tiny mountain town of Trust to a wealthy mogul is the stuff of which American legends are made. Unfortunately, while the financial and business portions of her life have been rich, her personal life has suffered greatly. Her twenty-seven year old daughter, Taylor, cut her mother out of her life when she became pregnant at seventeen, and Charlotte has never met her granddaughter. Similarly, Charlotte has not spoken to her ex-husband, Ethan, since he left their marriage to support their daughter during that time.
Charlotte has never regretted her actions, moving ahead with confidence. Until the day that she is diagnosed with an acute form of leukemia, and realizes that life is too short and precious to waste on anger. She begins to focus on the important parts of life, and to attempt to rebuild many of the relationships she damaged, including those with her ex-husband and daughter. Along the way, she reaches out to a young, pregnant woman named Harmony, who is a complete stranger to her, but who desperately needs help. Since she refused to help Taylor so many years ago, opening her home to Harmony is a way of partially absolving her sins. But it doesn't help everything–Charlotte still knows that the greatest reconciliation, and the hardest, is with the blood kin whom she betrayed. Will Taylor ever be able to forgive her mother?
Part of the Goddesses Anonymous series from Harlequin, this thoughtful novel encourages the reader to reconsider what's most important in life before it's too late.
Check this title's availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.


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Though we will all most likely consume much of it today, I want to choose to focus
on the 'thankfulness' aspect of this holiday--and not just the *wonderful* food.
Thanking God today for every single one of my blessings, and even those things that may not seem like blessings right now!
Happy Thanksgiving to you!


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Everyone loves getting something for nothing, and that's exactly Comodo's distribution strategy with its personal firewall program. In the company's own words, 'It's Free. Forever. No Catch. No Kidding.'
Well, those are some big words and Comodo Firewall is generating some big buzz online. Can it get the job done?
In our tests, this firewall definitely held its ground. Our port scan returned pure stealth, as should be expected. When we tested for leaks, Comodo passed almost every test we threw at it, and performed just as well under our kill testing.
Not perfect, mind you, but well enough that it stood out in this crowd. Malicious code will have a tough time getting past this firewall. To its credit, the program's resource utilisation was also reasonable.
The weaknesses
If there's any weakness with Comodo, it's with respect to the program's interface. It's sure to appeal to the more technically inclined, but less-experienced users will have a tough time understanding what all the different features and settings are about.
Anyone looking to make configuration changes will need to read carefully and may well need to grab a technical dictionary to translate. This firewall was brought to market by techies, not usability-focused designers. We hope that someone will come up with a simplified, basic mode for the product. If they do, the competition should look out.
Outside of its main configuration window, Comodo also needs to think more closely about how it issues on-screen alerts and the program's log reader. The alerts can be confusing and the log reader doesn't sort by header. Small things, yes, but work remains if Comodo wants to reach home users in a big way. Dan DiNicolo


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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jurors adjourned for the weekend Friday without reaching a verdict in a trial to determine fault for the beating of a San Francisco Giants fan following a baseball game at Dodger Stadium three years ago.
The attack, after the Los Angeles Dodgers' home opener in 2011, left former paramedic Bryan Stow severely disabled. It also focused national attention on fan violence at sports venue.
Stow's family is seeking $37.5 million to cover the cost of lifetime medical care, plus double that amount for pain and suffering.
Jurors deliberated for about three hours Thursday and all day Friday. They are scheduled to meet again Monday.
A lawyer for Stow said in final arguments that the Dodgers and the team's former owner, Frank McCourt, were negligent in providing adequate security on opening day, a time when fan emotions run high.
"Dodger Stadium got to a place where it was a total mess," attorney Tom Girardi told jurors. "There was a culture of violence. Beer sales were off the charts."
Defense attorney Dana Fox said the true culprits were Louie Sanchez and Marvin Norwood, who pleaded guilty to attacking Stow and have been sentenced to prison. He also said Stow was partly to blame.
"There were three parties responsible — Sanchez, Norwood and, unfortunately, Stow himself," Fox said.
He cited testimony that Stow's blood-alcohol level was .18 percent — more than twice the legal limit for driving — and a witness account of Stow yelling in the parking lot with his arms up in the air.
"You don't get yourself this drunk and then say it's not your fault," he said.
Girardi noted Stow and his friends didn't drive to the game, but took a cab, and had planned to take one afterward before the father of two was attacked from behind, knocked to the ground and kicked in the head.
"The only thing Bryan Stow was doing was wearing a jersey that said 'Giants,'" his lawyer said.
Stow, 45, made a touching appearance at the trial earlier in the week, allowing jurors to see the ghastly scars on his head where his skull was temporarily removed during treatment.
"We would be heartless and inhuman not to feel sympathy for Mr. Stow," Fox told jurors.
However, he reminded them that they had promised not to let sympathy influence their verdict.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jurors adjourned for the weekend Friday without reaching a verdict in a trial to determine fault for the beating of a San Francisco Giants fan following a baseball game at Dodger Stadium three years ago.


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Ga. – After having their first game of the playoffs delayed due to
rain, Tri-State Arsenal Showcase I came out strong in their
continuation game against Kentucky Baseball Club 16u Goins on
has played solid baseball so far in the WWBA 16u National
Championship only losing one game during pool play, which was enough
to advance them to the playoffs.
much everyone is playing well," said head coach Jeff Mazzola. "We
only have 9-10 position players so all the boys have contributed. We
play as a team and we win as a team. Everyone has been doing their
job doing (and) their part and that's all I ask from them. We're
7-1 right now. But obviously, that doesn't matter until the next
game. You're only as good as your last game."
said John Aiello and Willie Burger are two names that stick out when
he thinks of team leaders; however, he believes "there's no one
kid in particular, (and) they've all been playing well and leading
by example."
is a 6-foot-2 195-pound shortstop from Lansdale, Pa. He has been
coming to the WWBA tournaments since 2010.
love it," added Aiello. "It's the best tournament. We always
play good competition and it's really fun to come down here and see
all the teams from around the country."
who is ranked No. 50 on Perfect Game's High School Class of 2015
National Rankings, has held a .500 batting average at the plate so
far this tournament.
don't really worry about the rankings," explained Aiello. "I
just try to play hard every game and help my team win. I'm just
trying to get balls over the plate, it doesn't matter what pitch. I
try to hit a line drive up the middle, (which is) usually my
approach. I've been getting good pitches luckily."
is a 2015 graduate at Germantown Academy. He has verbally committed
to play baseball at Wake Forrest after he graduates.
was looking at a bunch of schools (and) I wanted to go to a small
school with good academics," added Aiello. "I just love
everything about it. I love the campus, the coach is good, (and they
have) a sweet field. It was just the right fit for me."
goals mainly revolve around baseball, including furthering his career
after college; however, he is very excited to go to Wake Forrest to
play baseball while receiving a top-notch education.
want to play professional baseball (one day)," said Aiello. "I'm
just trying to do well every game. I'm really excited for college
ball, that was my goal to start."
has been trying to get his teammate, Burger, to go to Wake Forrest.
Burger is looking at a number of different schools, and is still
been talking to Duke a lot," explained Burger. "I really like
them a lot. Johnny's been riding me a lot to go to Wake Forrest
with him. I'm pretty open to it. I'm going to wait and see. Both
my parents are Duke grads so I've got a little pressure at home to
go to Duke but they're open to me finding the best fit for me."
along with Aiello has been coming to the WWBA National Championships
since 2010. He also attended the 2012 and 2013 Junior National
was awesome," said Burger about the 2013 Junior National Showcase.
"It was my second year at the Metrodome. It's awesome. I'm a
little bummed that they're tearing it down. It's just a great
experience to play with the best players in the country. I love it.
It's my favorite event to go to and I can't wait for the national
next year."
has been doing very well in the 2013 WWBA 16u National Championship.
Burger has been playing all over the field; at catcher, first base,
third base and pitcher. Although he claims he's "not much of a
pitcher," he has won two games on the mound while racking up 17
strikeouts over 12 innings.
thrown two great outings for us, 2 complete games," said Mazzola.
"We were 5-1 and we needed to win that last game so he got a
complete game giving up one run to get us unto the playoffs."
don't like to pitch, but whatever gets my team to win," added
Burger. "I throw hard (but) sometimes I struggle with control. I
haven't really pitched much in my life. I like playing third. I've
been playing behind the plate a lot lately. It's coming around
we'll just have to wait and see."
also has been a "big hitter" this tournament. In the first round
of playoffs he hit a clutch two-run homer that really busted open
Tri-State's offense.
had been getting a little long on my swing last week, and (I've)
just been trying to focus on staying short," added Burger. "Finally
I saw a ball well and stayed short and hit It pretty good."
Burger and Aiello really enjoy playing for the Tri-State team.
They've both been playing with Tri-State Arsenal since they began
coming to Perfect Game events in 2010.
got a lot of guys who have played on this team," said Burger. "We
got a lot of guys who just play the game the right way and it's fun
to play with them. We've been doing pretty well but we're not
done yet."
Tri State Arsenal program provides travel baseball and softball
programs for the Tri-State area (New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware).
The website says one of the goals of the
Arsenal program is to provide an environment to enhance and encourage
the development of skills and desires of players in respect to the
games of baseball and softball. Dynamic Los Angeles Angels outfielder
Mike Trout is their most recent, and notable, alumni of the program.
they repeatedly find themselves in the playoffs while playing at a
high level in numerous tournaments at all age levels, unfortunately
Tri-State Arsenal Showcase I saw their run in the 16u WWBA National
Championship come to an end after a tough 6-1 loss against Evoshield
Canes 16U on Thursday afternoon.


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Milwaukee couple honored for community service
A husband and wife who have impacted lives in Milwaukee for more than a half century were recognized Wednesday morning.
"My, working here is all about love, and so I'd just like to say, 'I love you all,'" Reuben Harpole said.
Reuben and Mildred Harpole are this year's recipients of the Frank P. Zeidler Public Service Award, named after Milwaukee's former mayor and the couple's one-time neighbor.
The Harpoles are volunteers, educators and community advocates.
Mildred Harpole said she is humbled and grateful.
"But I'm also hopeful. That's the important thing. I feel that if everyone in this room would reach out and help some of the unfortunate people in our community, that we will truly be a great city," Mildred Harpole said.
Reuben Harpole's helped create and develop several institutions, including America's Black Holocaust Museum, Harambee Community School and the Sailing Center to allow central city kids to experience Lake Michigan.
Wednesday was also his 79th birthday.


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The World's End
Universal, $29.98; Blu-ray, $34.98
Available on VOD beginning Nov. 19
After giving zombie flicks and cop movies a British accent with the send-ups/homages "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz," director Edgar Wright and his co-screenwriter/star Simon Pegg wrap their "Blood & Ice Cream" trilogy with this brilliant blend of "The Big Chill" and "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." Pegg plays a deluded alcoholic in a state of arrested adolescence who rounds up all his old friends (Nick Frost, Eddie Marsan, Paddy Considine and Martin Freeman) for an epic pub crawl in their hometown, only to discover that there's something phony about the people and places they used to know. Hilarious, surprising and heartfelt, "The World's End" is a genre picture that uses its monsters and chase scenes as a metaphor for middle-aged regret. It's a new classic, of both comedy and science fiction. The DVD and Blu-ray add multiple commentary tracks and featurettes.
Music Box, $29.95
One of the best documentaries of the year, Jamie Meltzer's film digs into the strange case of Brandon Darby. The social justice activist fought to bring aid to Hurricane Katrina victims, then later worked with the FBI to imprison protesters planning to disrupt the Republican National Convention. Through interviews with Darby and his former allies, Meltzer questions whether Darby's political views evolved over time or whether he's an egomaniac with psychological problems. "Informant" also explores the grass-roots political movements that have arisen over the last decade, and how they can feed delusions in unstable people. The DVD adds bonus footage and interviews.
The To Do List
Sony, $30.99; Blu-ray, $35.99
Available on VOD beginning Nov. 19
Writer-director Maggie Carey's teen sex comedy is a gender-flipped riff on the virginity-themed coming-of-age story, with deadpan comic actress Aubrey Plaza playing a prissy high school brainiac who dedicates her last summer before college to researching and practicing sexual activity. Carey has a terrific cast at her disposal (including familiar TV stars Bill Hader, Scott Porter, Rachel Bilson, Andy Samberg, Alia Shawkat, Clark Gregg and Connie Britton), but the heroine is too much of a cliché — the naive nerd — and the jokes are too obvious. The DVD and Blu-ray include a Carey/Hader commentary track, deleted scenes and featurettes.
We're the Millers
New Line Cinema, $28.98; Blu-ray, $35.99
Available on VOD beginning Nov. 19
Former "Saturday Night Live" favorite Jason Sudeikis stars opposite Jennifer Aniston, playing a pot dealer forced by gangsters to smuggle drugs across the border with the help of Aniston's stripper, who poses as his wife, and two hapless teens who pretend to be their kids. Episodic to a fault, the film offers one raunchy, cartoonish set-piece after another, only a few of which are especially funny or clever. But it doesn't lack for incident — it has action and gags galore. The DVD and Blu-ray add more, via an extended cut, deleted scenes, outtakes and bloopers.
Crystal Fairy
IFC Films, $24.98 Blu-ray, $29.98
Walt Disney, $29.99; Blu-ray, $44.99/$49.99
Available on VOD beginning Nov. 19
2 Guns
Universal, $29.98; Blu-ray, $34.98
Available on VOD beginning Nov. 19
Violet & Daisy
New Group, $29.95; Blu-ray, $34.95
Available on VOD beginning Nov. 19


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- Home
- Puzzle Shoppe
- Jigsaw Puzzles
- Animals & Outdoor Puzzles
- Masterpieces Puzzle Co Ready for Work Jigsaw Puzzle
Please note: Due to the increase in order volume, you may experience longer-than-usual hold times when calling to place an order. Our current email response time is 24 business hours. We are working on processing and shipping all backorders as quickly as possible. UPS, USPS, and DHL are all experiencing delays in their shipping times and we thank you for your patience with them.
Please refer to our FAQ with any additional questions.


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Thank you again for everyone that joined our last challenge and sorry for the delayed start of this one.
So first things first the winner of last months challenge as picked at random is:
Please contact me at email@example.com to get your voucher code :D
And then these are our top 3 (don't forget to grab the badge to show off on your blog)
Now onto this months challenge. We want you to really have fun with this one and create something for children or young people. The prize is again a £10 voucher for the Crafty Purple frog shop.
This month we are joined by the brilliant Jarka Ef as GDT and this is her great creation....
Using Fab foil bright gold, Fab foil Purple, Fab foil Teal, Bonding powder, Make a wish clear stamp,Cutesy Anya stamp and antique linen distress ink pad.
Using Fab foil bright gold, Fab foil Purple, Fab foil Teal, Bonding powder, Make a wish clear stamp,Cutesy Anya stamp and antique linen distress ink pad.
Here is some more inspiration from the DT.....
I have done two cards this week both using the super cute unicorn from the greeting farm magical day set
I couloured them with spectrum noir pens then put them on foam pads so they stand out from the rest of the card. The cards are C6 size and the dotty papers and buttons are from the pinks goody bag, the neutrals goody bag and the teal goody bag. The green paper is from the bright spark set and the sentiment is from the sweet dixie it's all in the words set. They are all put together with collall glue.
For my card I have used the Dovecraft Back to Basics Goody Bag in Teal. I have used the card blank, 2 backing papers, gem and buttons. I have used a Elizabeth Bell stamp that I got free with a magazine last year. I have coloured the image in with my Spectrum Noir Illustrator pens. On a piece of decorative card I have used glue and Wow! Sparkles Santorini Preimum Glitter for a little bit of sparkle.
using Back to Basics Bright Spark design papers. I also had my first play with one of the Fab Foils, I had fun with the silver glitter. I thought I would pop a doily behind to add an extra feature along with the flourish die cut, well part of it anyhoos! I put it all together using Collall all purpose glue on a 5" square white card blank adding a sentiment from the Its All In The Words set by Sweet Dixie
I have created a 6 x 6" card for a young boy using papers from the Just For Men 6" x 6" Paper Pad - Brights Collection. I used them to cover the card base and also cut a star from another of the papers. The sentiment is from the Just For Men A6 Stamp Set - Rock Star stamped onto one of the papers. I attached the star and sentiment using foam pads. To complete my card I added a number four and some punched stars covered with Glossy Accents.
On my second card I used Dovecraft Bright Spark Paper, Distress Inks (stormy sky & tumbled glass) to make the sea background on the image, New Seahorse Glitter on the Die cuts and finished with Glossy accents on the bubbles and Foam pads under the middle of the sentiment.
for my card this month I used one of the card kits by Dovecraft in Teal one of my fav colour.
The card base I created a pocket out of the card blanks in the kit, the little buttons are so cute and also from the kit. I used my fav glue from collall to add the pattern papers this glue is fab as it wont make the papers warp. The 3 little teal bling gems I add to the left corner of the card are from the teal kit.
The pull out tab I added the teal pattern paper an a little sentiment, then a little flower from the kit with a button. I also used some of the flowers on the front of the card.
To finish I add a sentiment label there are loads to choose from in the kit.
the kits come in other colours to.


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Max and David did a wonderful job of building a wooden vintage caravan from scratch. They started with an old caravan chasis and basically designed and built everything from the ground up.
I am pleased to say that it has proven to be very popular with campers and we hope it will continue to be a lovely asset to our site for many years to come. It has a full king size bed raised off the floor with another double futon mattress underneath, ideal for kids or even another couple. The price for Bluebell is £60.00 per night.
In recent years there has been a trend towards 'Glamping' sites and while we do offer some alternative accomodation on site, the overall experience we hope, still has a 'proper' camping feel.
We are not a glamping site, but a traditional campsite with some different options for you. After camping all our lives, we have tried to create the sort of campsite that we would like to camp on:- a relaxed, interesting and safe place for the family where, hopefully, you can get back to what matters in life.
We dont have many rules at Balloch O Dee. One of the things that used to drive me bonkers when we went camping was turning up on site and the first thing we were given would be a long list of things that we were not allowed to do, What a welcome!
All we ask is that you respect your fellow campers, the environment and our Camp Ethos. :-)
We dont have any set pitches for tents so you can pitch up wherever you like. We try and keep numbers to a sensible level so you dont feel crammed in. Obviously on Bank Holidays or some School Holidays we do get busy and again we just ask that you respect other campers and families in terms of space and noise.
We want you to enjoy yourself and we are a very family oriented site. There is nothing better than sitting round a camp fire with a guitar and good friends and family into the wee small hours putting the world to rights, we love it.
However, if you want to have your stereo blasting out all night then this is not the site for you. Fair play to you, enjoy, but just not here. :-)
All of our animals are free range so don't be surpised to be sharing your shower with a chicken or your tent with a Shetland on occasion.
Please note: We are a very dog friendly site (We have five dogs) and you are welcome to bring your dog to Balloch O Dee however if you have an aggressive dog or one that is not good with other animals or people then we please ask you to leave them at home - if you are in doubt then please call us first. :-)
We strive hard to recycle as much as possible at Balloch O Dee and whilst all the rubbish is collected together, it is all sorted and recycled.
We have always lived by the philosophy that wherever we are we should leave that place in a little better shape than how we found it - we hope you share that view :-)
We are looking for local traders to set up a stall at this year's music weekend 25th & 26th September 2020.
We have 10 Ponies at Balloch O Dee of all shapes and sizes and there is plenty of opportunities for campers to help out and to get involved with the ponies if they would like to. Our helpers will tell you, there is always mucking out to do as well as grooming and general horse pampering.
Working with the ponies is a great way for kids to get involved with the animals and get them away from their gadgets! Most days there is an opportunity for kids to groom and pamper some of the ponies around the arena and stables. If you would like to help out then just let us know when you arrive or at some point during your stay and we will do our best to accommodate you.
As well as all the fabulous things you can do in and around the site you'll find yourselves spoilt for things to do in Galloway.
Situated just 10 miles from Balloch O' Dee, Galloway Forest Park is Britain's largest forest park, managed by Forestry Commission Scotland, and offers spectacular views and a diversity of dramatic scenery. Three hundred square miles of wild beauty are waiting to be explored.
If hillwalking is your passion, you're spoilt for choice with the Galloway hills, which lie within the bounds of Galloway Forest Park, just minutes away from Balloch O' Dee.
Merrick (843m) is the highest mountain in the Southern Uplands and is part of the 'Range of the Awful Hand' which includes Benyellary (719m), Kirriereoch Hill (786m), Tarfessock (697m) and Shalloch on Minnoch (768m).
Cairnsmore of Fleet (711m) overlooks the Cree estuary and Wigtown Bay and offers views as far as the Isle of Man, Lake District and Snowdonia.
The Campsite is perfectly situated for access to the 7Stanes mountain bike trails, widely regarded as the best mountain bike trails in the country.
The 7stanes are seven mountain biking centres spanning the south of Scotland, from the heart of the Scottish Borders to Dumfries and Galloway. 'Stane' is the Scots word for stone, and at each of the 7stanes locations, you'll find a stone sculpture reflecting a local myth or legend.
The stanes are found out on the trails in the forests, in prominent locations near cycling and walking paths. They're accessible on foot or by horse as well as by bike, and range in size from one to three metres high and from two to six tons in weight.
If you're a lover of books and literature, you'll enjoy a visit to Wigtown, Scotland's National Book Town.
Wigtown was officially designated as Scotland's National Book Town in 1998 and as well as the many book shops and book related business is also host to Spring and Autumn book festivals which feature leading authors and speakers as well as local arts and crafts.
The campsite is just 7 miles from one of Scotland's most popular traditional music & dance festivals; Newton Stewart & Minnigaff Traditional Music & Dance Festival which takes place over the 2nd weekend in July and features some of the biggest names in traditional music.
The event includes concerts, workshops, pipers & band performances, Scottish Highland Dancing competitions and tune & song sessions throughout the weekend.
Balloch O' Dee is situated just north of the A75 Euroroute between Gretna Green to the East and Stranraer to the West.
Take the M77/A77 to AYR then Maybole then Girvan and onto Stranraer - join A75 East and head towards Newton Stewart go past Glenluce on A75 and about 5/6 miles past Glenuce you will see a brown tourist info sign directing you to the Three Lochs Caravan Park - take this left turn (Durnow Rd) go over two cattle grids and about a qtr of a mile past the second cattle grid you will see our sign for Balloch O' Dee on the right - go down the drive, enjoy :-)
Come up the M6 past Carlisle and where the M6 becomes the A74, exit onto the A75 to Stranraer/Dumfries this is a few hundred yards past the 'Welcome to Scotland' sign.
Continue on the A75 through Dumfries, past Castle Douglas and Gatehouse of Fleet to Newton Stewart. About 7 miles past Newton Stewart you will see the brown Tourist sign for the Three Lochs Caravan Park - take this right turn (Durnow Rd) - go over two cattle grids and about qtr of a mile past the second cattle grid you will see our sign on the right for Balloch O' Dee - go down the drive and relax :-)
Its up to you but sometimes SAT NAV can lead you on a merry little journey out these parts so trust it with caution!
GPS Coordinates: 54.952623, - 4.664287
Select from any of the categories below to view stunning photographs of Balloch O Dee.
If you wish to book a camping or HU pitch then the best way is to e-mail email@example.com with your requirements and we will get you booked in very quickly. If you wish to book any of our indoor accommodation then please just click on the diary below and follow the prompts. You can contact us on any of the following details if you need to get in touch with us for any reason or if you have any trouble booking on line.
Copyright © 2010-2020 Balloch O' Dee Campsite. All Rights Reserved.
nr Kirkcowan, Newton Stewart, Wigtownshire. Scotland. DG8 0ET
Telephone: 07551 070270 · Mobile: 01671 830708
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XMM-Newton operations
ESA's XMM-Newton space observatory is the flagship of European X-ray astronomy. It is the most powerful X-ray telescope ever placed in orbit and is observing the 'hot' X-ray universe including objects like neutron stars, black holes and active galaxies. Over 300 scientific papers are published annually using data provided by XMM-Newton.
The satellite is detecting more X-ray sources than any previous satellite and is helping solve cosmic mysteries, from what happens in and around black holes to the formation of galaxies in our early Universe. XMM-Newton's high-tech design uses over 170 wafer-thin cylindrical mirrors spread over three telescopes.
For science colleagues and professional friends of the mission: Your invitation to 20 years of XMM-Newton
The mission
Its 48-hour orbit takes it almost a third of the way to the Moon enabling astronomers to obtain long, uninterrupted views of celestial objects. At perigee (closest approach), it passes 20 000 km to above Earth at a speed of 24 000 km/hr. XMM-Newton's highly eccentric operational orbit has been chosen so that its instruments can work outside the radiation belts surrounding the Earth.
The XMM Mission Operations Centre (MOC) is located at ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany.
|X-ray space observatory
|10 Dec 1999
|Ariane/Kourou, French Guiana
|3800 kg
|~100 000 km apogee/~20 000 km perigee - 48 hr elliptical
|Two years - extended to 2020
|++ Europe's largest-ever science satellite ++
The Flight Control Team
The Flight Control Team at ESOC operates from a Dedicated Control Room co-located with ESAs Gaia and Integral missions. The Spacecraft Operations Manager, Dr Marcus Kirsch, leads a team of flight control engineers, analysts and spacecraft controllers working full-time on the mission.
"The mission was originally designed for a 10-year life, however, since the satellite and instruments are operating admirably without major degradation, we hope to operate the observatory into the next decade, our only limitation being the hydrazine fuel supply. Our 'baby' has been out there for a long time now and is still providing X-ray astronomers with exiting new science results daily. Having worked previously as an astrophysicist for some time on the science side of XMM, I am now putting my energy into ensuring the safe and efficient continuation of mission operations," says Marcus.
Flawless mission operations is a key element in achieving a high scientific output. The mission provides the operations team with ongoing demands; XMM-Newton, for example, has no on-board storage so all vital science data must be downloaded via a ground station as soon as it is collected.
Other ESOC teams provide specialised support to XMM-Newton in several areas, including Flight Dynamics, Ground Facilities and Software Support.
Mission operations overview
XMM was launched on Ariane Flight V 119, on board the first Ariane-5 commercial flight (504) on 10 December 1999.
The mission is now in its 'extended routine phase', and continues to address new questions for classical X-ray astronomy, from the field of black holes, to neutron stars and active galactic nuclei, as well as contributing to new hot science topics such as dark matter, dark energy and gravitational waves. Technically, the observatory currently has enough resources to operate until 2031, providing the European X-ray community with high quality, state-of-the-art data until the launch of it successor mission, Athena. XMM-Newton might even fly in parallel with Athena for some time to generate a smooth calibration handover.
ESOC controls the mission 24/7, 365 days per year through a live ground station connection, since the spacecraft has only a limited amount of automation. However, over the years a lot of ground automation has been developed to operate it in a safe and efficient manner and to generate the highest possible science output.
In 2013, the flight control team together with industry re-programmed the on-board 'Attitude and Orbit Control System' in order to also use the back up reaction wheel. This new mode is called "4 wheel drive mode", and since 2013 has saved more than half of the fuel needed to control the spacecraft through day-to-day operations.
The on-board software has also been updated several times to improve and streamline mission operations. This has extended the remaining lifetime by a factor of two, currently giving the potential to operate the observatory until at least 2031.
The ground stations - Santiago de Chile, Kourou
Contact for continuous real-time interaction with the spacecraft over almost the entire orbit is provided by the ESA ground station at Kourou and via the SSC station at Santiago de Chile.
XMM-Newton's operational orbit is highly eccentric and has been chosen for two reasons. First, the XMM-Newton instruments need to work outside the radiation belts surrounding the Earth. Second, a highly eccentric orbit offers the longest possible observation periods - less interrupted by the frequent passages in the Earth's shadow that occur in a low orbit.
In addition, the orbital period of XMM-Newton is exactly two times the Earth rotation period to maintain optimal contact between XMM-Newton and the ground stations tracking the satellite. This allows XMM-Newton data to be received in real-time and for it to be fed to the Mission Control Centres.
XMM-Newton has no inboard data storage capacity, so all data is immediately downloaded to the ground in real time.
Ground segment & mission control system
The XMM-Newton ground segment uses the SCOS-2000 mission control system.
Since 2018, XMM-Newton has been operated, together with Gaia and INTEGRAL, with a joint controller team using new monitoring technologies for multi mission purposes.
The XMM-Newton SOC at ESAC manages science operations in continuous round-the-clock interaction with the MOC. The SOC is responsible for all science aspects of the mission, including relations with the science community, science observation planning, observation monitoring, quick-look analysis, instrument calibration, archiving, pipeline processing of all XMM science data and distribution.
The platform and payload
XMM-Newton carries three very advanced X-ray telescopes. They each contain 58 high-precision concentric mirrors, delicately nested to offer the largest collecting area possible to catch the elusive X-rays. These Mirror Modules allow XMM-Newton to detect millions of sources, far more than any previous X-ray mission.
The telescopes work in conjunction with cameras, a spectrometer and an optical/ultraviolet monitor.
European Photon Imaging Cameras (EPIC)
The main mirror modules sends the image beam along the telescope tube to five cameras at the extremity of the spacecraft. At the prime focus of each of the telescopes, behind six-position filters, are three European Photon Imaging Cameras (EPIC). With silicon chips that can register extremely weak X-ray radiation, these advanced charge-coupled device (CCD) cameras are capable of detecting rapid variations in intensity, down to a thousandth of a second and less.
Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS)
For a complementary analysis of the spectrum, a grating structure on two mirror modules reflects about half of the incoming rays to a secondary focus, with its own CCD camera. This Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS) "fans out" the various wavelengths, thus indicating, in more detail than EPIC, the exact condition of individual elements, such as oxygen and iron.
Optical/UV Monitor (OM)
The third instrument aboard XMM-Newton is a conventional but very sensitive Optical/UV Monitor (OM), which can observe simultaneously the same regions as the X-ray telescopes, but in the ultraviolet and visible wavelengths. This gives astronomers complementary data about the X-ray sources. In orbit, this 30-cm telescope is as sensitive as a 4-metre instrument on the Earth's surface.
For more on XMM-Newton's instruments, follow the links above at right.


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The Fourth Annual Philosophy Workshop, Aquinas on
God, was held at Mount Saint Mary College on June 5-8,
Is it possible to speak philosophically about God, and if so,
how? How does Thomist philosophy address the metaphysics of
creation and divine providence? How does metaphysical knowledge of
God relate to philosophical ethics?
The first day of the conference was devoted especially to
graduate students, either in philosophy or adjacent
The second and third days of the event combined presentations by
philosophers with times of discussion and debate.
Mass and Eucharistic Adoration, as well as opportunities for
informal recreation, were offered each day.
Required texts for this event:
James Brent, OP, The Catholic University of America
William E. Carroll, Oxford University
Michael Dodds, OP, Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology,
Berkeley, CA
Edward Feser, Pasadena College
Fred Freddoso, University of Notre Dame
Reinhard Huetter, Duke Divinity School
Candace Vogler, University of Chicago
Thomas Joseph White, OP, Dominican House of Studies, Washington,
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|"Uwe Schindler (JIRA)" <j...@apache.org>
|[jira] Commented: (LUCENE-2455) Some house cleaning in addIndexes*
|Thu, 27 May 2010 08:33:37 GMT
[ https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/LUCENE-2455?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel&focusedCommentId=12872140#action_12872140 ] Uwe Schindler commented on LUCENE-2455: --------------------------------------- Should we not add a 3.1 index (created with HEAD 3.x branch) to the TestBackwardsCompatibility? So we can verify that preflex indexes with new CFS header also work? > Some house cleaning in addIndexes* > ---------------------------------- > > Key: LUCENE-2455 > URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/LUCENE-2455 > Project: Lucene - Java > Issue Type: Improvement > Components: Index > Reporter: Shai Erera > Assignee: Shai Erera > Priority: Trivial > Fix For: 3.1, 4.0 > > Attachments: LUCENE-2455_3x.patch, LUCENE-2455_3x.patch, LUCENE-2455_3x.patch, LUCENE-2455_3x.patch, LUCENE-2455_3x.patch, LUCENE-2455_trunk.patch > > > Today, the use of addIndexes and addIndexesNoOptimize is confusing - > especially on when to invoke each. Also, addIndexes calls optimize() in > the beginning, but only on the target index. It also includes the > following jdoc statement, which from how I understand the code, is > wrong: _After this completes, the index is optimized._ -- optimize() is > called in the beginning and not in the end. > On the other hand, addIndexesNoOptimize does not call optimize(), and > relies on the MergeScheduler and MergePolicy to handle the merges. > After a short discussion about that on the list (Thanks Mike for the > clarifications!) I understand that there are really two core differences > between the two: > * addIndexes supports IndexReader extensions > * addIndexesNoOptimize performs better > This issue proposes the following: > # Clear up the documentation of each, spelling out the pros/cons of > calling them clearly in the javadocs. > # Rename addIndexesNoOptimize to addIndexes > # Remove optimize() call from addIndexes(IndexReader...) > # Document that clearly in both, w/ a recommendation to call optimize() > before on any of the Directories/Indexes if it's a concern. > That way, we maintain all the flexibility in the API - > addIndexes(IndexReader...) allows for using IR extensions, > addIndexes(Directory...) is considered more efficient, by allowing the > merges to happen concurrently (depending on MS) and also factors in the > MP. So unless you have an IR extension, addDirectories is really the one > you should be using. And you have the freedom to call optimize() before > each if you care about it, or don't if you don't care. Either way, > incurring the cost of optimize() is entirely in the user's hands. > BTW, addIndexes(IndexReader...) does not use neither the MergeScheduler > nor MergePolicy, but rather call SegmentMerger directly. This might be > another place for improvement. I'll look into it, and if it's not too > complicated, I may cover it by this issue as well. If you have any hints > that can give me a good head start on that, please don't be shy :). -- This message is automatically generated by JIRA. - You can reply to this email to add a comment to the issue online. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: email@example.com For additional commands, e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
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An already large 2013 recruiting class for the UE women's basketball program grew again over the weekend.
Paris McLeod, a senior point guard from Inkster High School in Detroit, verbally committed to UE on Saturday morning before the Aces knocked off Indiana State 55-54 for their third straight victory.
"They have a great school — players are nice, coaches are nice," the 5-foot-5 McLeod said. "I really like it."
McLeod averages about 20 points and eight assists, she said, and earlier this season delivered a triple-double performance — 24 points, 11 steals and 10 assists — in a win that kept her high school team unbeaten.
"They want someone who can handle the ball — a good point guard who can deliver and make plays," McLeod said. "They thought I was a good match.
"I just like to attack and deliver. Everybody needs to have their hands ready."
Though McLeod said UE coaches saw her play last year on the AAU circuit, Inkster coach Dwayne Scott only recently got her back in contact with the Aces' staff. A decision soon followed as McLeod, a two-star prospect at ESPN.com, committed to Evansville over Delaware, Canisius and Oakland University in Michigan.
McLeod plans to sign a letter of intent in April, making her pledge official along with Hamilton Heights (Ind.) High School guard Dakota Weatherford, who also committed to Evansville within the last week. The backcourt duo joins a class that already includes four others who signed in November.
At six players now, Evansville coach Oties Epps' 2013 class appears to be nearing its limit. The Aces graduate four seniors after this season, leaving them with eight players on the roster. Division I women's programs are allowed 15 scholarships.


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Just what is a "Yule log" anyway? I recently wondered aloud to a group of friends. "I think it's like a cheese ball," one friend said. "No, it's a branch off the Christmas tree," suggested another.
It turns out that neither guess is correct. A Yule log, as I found out later, is an old Scandinavian tradition that, like many others, evolved over the centuries to become the custom it is today.
Many of our modern Christmas traditions — the things we eat, the songs we sing, the rituals we perform — have resulted from the convergence of customs and observances from
around the world. In fact, some — Santa Claus, for instance — were invented to purposely change the way people observed the season.
Though I grew up celebrating Christmas with my Italian Catholic family, some things still puzzled me. Was Santa really a saint? What, exactly, are the twelve days of Christmas? And why are the animals said to talk at midnight on Christmas Eve?
So, I scoured the Internet and flipped through a handful of books on the subject, and while there undoubtedly is more to these customs than space here allows, I offer some brief descriptions of some of the customs that mark our celebration of the season of Jesus' birth.
Happy New Year: Advent is the beginning of the Church year and is the time Catholics use to prepare for Jesus' birth and his Second Coming. We do this by prayer and penance, but also by cleaning our homes, baking and cooking, and marking the days with Advent candles that are lit each Sunday of Advent, or a calendar with little windows that are opened each day to reveal a picture underneath. These are all ways to help us wait for Christmas with what the Church calls "joyful expectation."
In 2006, Advent lasts from December 3 to December 24. The Advent wreath, writes Meredith Gould in The Catholic Home, is made of fresh evergreens encircling four equidistant candles. Three violet candles represent penitence and one pink candle symbolizes the anticipated joy of Christ's birth.
Twelve Days of Christmas: Though many families in our culture begin to put their decorations away after Christmas Day, the Church calendar marks the 25th as just the beginning of the Christmas season. The traditional Twelve Days of Christmas ends with Epiphany (this year on January 7), when the three Magi visited the baby Jesus and his divinity was revealed. Some families exchange a small gift on each of the days, or observe Three Kings Day on the Epiphany.
The Christmas Tree: In the Middle Ages, mystery plays were held on Christmas Eve. The plays featured a "paradise tree" representing the tree of knowledge and the tree of life from the Garden of Eden, decorated with colorful apples and candies. Today, Christmas trees are decorated with ornaments and chrismons — monograms of Christ and other Christian symbols (crosses, a lamb, fish, anchor, etc.). The tree may be decorated in advance and a nice tradition is to wait until sunset on Christmas Eve to turn on the lights for the first time.
St. Nicholas: Nicholas, an actual person, was born in what's now known as Turkey around 260 A.D. He devoted his life to God and became a bishop, renowned for his generosity to the poor. One legend tells of a family with three daughters who were destined to be sold into slavery unless their father could provide dowries. Nicholas is said to have secretly tossed bags of gold (or golden balls) into their window. The gold landed in the daughters' shoes and stockings, which had been set by the fire to dry. Some families celebrate St. Nicholas Day on December 6, his feast day (marking the day of his death), by filling children's shoes with trinkets and candy.
Santa Claus: The evolution from the bishop St. Nicholas to the red-suited Santa Claus had many causes, which combined in the mid-1800s to give us the department- store Santa we know today. It likely began with the Protestant Reformation in the 17th century and subsequent colonialization of New England by Puritan settlers. Christmas, at that time, was outlawed in parts of Europe and the New World because the holiday had become raucous and unruly, and focused more on celebrating the excesses of the end of the harvest season and less on Jesus.
"It was a horrible holiday," Ace Collins, author of Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas, told PBS in 2003. "Women and children couldn't go in the streets. The New York City police department in the 1800s had to add extra people to their police force just to combat the looting and violence on Christmas."
One theory, according to Stephen Nissenbaum, author of The Battle for Christmas, is that in the early 1800s, the upper-class British New Yorkers consciously invented Santa Claus, based on an old Dutch gift-giving tradition, in response to the nation's newfound democracy, which they saw as an attempt to put the poor and middle class on the same plane as the rich. At least the gentry of New York, according to Washington Irving's 1809 political satire, Knickerbocker's History of New York, which mentions St. Nicholas some 25 times, were pious and circumspect, still holding on to quaint Dutch traditions.
It was Irving's widely read book that described St. Nicholas much as we know Santa Claus today, an image that was cemented when, a few years later, Clement Moore's A Visit From St. Nicholas described him as a gift-giver who came as a passenger aboard a sleigh pulled by miniature reindeer. Moore's poem, for the first time to a wide audience, cites Christmas Eve as the day of giving. Both Irving and Moore consciously were promoting Santa Claus to upper-class readers who previously had been compelled to give to the poor, but now began to give to their children. St. Nicholas the generous bishop (Sankt Niklaus to the Germans, and Sinterklaas to the Dutch) became Santa Claus, the fictitious toymaker.
Fasting: Christmas Eve was once a day of fasting and abstinence, and though the Church has eliminated this fast altogether, traditional Catholics still keep it in spirit, eating seafood and pasta for the Christmas Eve supper, after the Christmas Eve Mass.
The crèche: St. Francis of Assisi is credited with creating the first nativity scenes in the 13th century, though these used live animals and people. In the days leading up to December 25, families may display a crèche, placing Mary and Joseph a good distance away. As the days pass, children may move Mary and Joseph closer to the stable. In some Nativity scenes,the baby Jesus is laid in his crib and the Christmas tree is lit after dark on Christmas Eve.
Talking animals and other blessings: At midnight on Christmas, it was thought that a mysterious universal celebration took place in nature, that a spirit of peace and adoration prevailed over the whole world, writes Francis X. Weiser in The Christmas Book.
Animals fell to their knees and spoke in Latin, praising the Christ child. Also, church bells could be heard ringing from the bottom of the sea, and the honeybees awakened to sing the 99th Psalm. The Earth's rivers were turned to wine, trees blossomed, and the gems of the earth fell at the feet of those who were pure of heart. Babies born on Christmas are considered especially blessed and able to see spirits, and those who die at midnight are said to enter straight into heaven.
Midnight Mass: Christmas is a holy day of obligation and may be fulfilled by attending Mass at midnight Christmas Eve, on Christmas morning, or during Christmas Day. But many Catholic families make it a tradition to attend the Midnight Mass together.
And lastly, the Yule log: No, it's not a cheese ball, but rather a tradition that stems from the belief in Scandinavian countries in a "world tree," with one root in heaven and another in hell. A large tree-trunk-sized piece of wood was picked out the previous year to be lit at sundown on Christmas Eve, using a piece of last year's Yule log (which has been stored under the bed of the lady of the house). The celebrations would continue as long as the log was burning. Traditions — the way they are celebrated and even the way they came about — are telling of the people and cultures that practiced them. They help us to know "who we are, where we came from, who has gone before, and where we are going," write Shiela Kielly and Sheila Geraghty in their book, Advent & Lent Activities for Children (Twenty-Third Publications).
But more, writes Gould in The Catholic Home, traditions are a way of reflecting the awe, delight, and gratitude of living in and for Christ at home.
At an address before a crowd of 15,000 during last year's Christmas season, Pope Benedict XVI had a request: "Let us hold on to the value of the Christmas traditions, which are part of our faith and our culture, and pass them on to a new generation." CD


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Though it might be growing in popularity in the USA, the game of soccer is still something of a mystery to the stars of the country's leading sports, with one notable exception: basketball.
The NBA is home to more than 70 foreign players, with many a football fan among them, not least the European and South American contingent. And in the case of Phoenix Suns' Slovenian point guard Goran Dragic and San Antonio Spurs' French guard Nando De Colo, football was their first love.
"I've been a football fan ever since I was a young boy," the Blues international told FIFA.com. "I played the game from when I was nine to 11 and in every position, even goalkeeper. I'm a Lens fan and the year we won the title I went to every game at the [Stade Felix] Bollaert with my father."
"I played football until I was 11, but had to give it up because of an injury," said Dragic, who describes himself as a passionate AC Milan supporter. "My father played in the Slovenian first division, so I've lived and breathed the game and have always followed it."
One of six NBA stars we polled for their favourites for the FIFA Ballon d'Or, De Colo was the only one who didn't go for either Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi.
"I'd vote for Iker Casillas," he explained. "Spain won EURO 2012, and in my book that means a Spanish player should get it. Real Madrid won the league too and did pretty well in the Champions League, even if they didn't go all the way. Casillas deserves it for everything he's done in his career. He's been so consistent. Even so, my favourite player is Andres Iniesta. He's got the lot going forward and he always scores decisive goals."
Brazil backs Messi
As far as the other five respondents are concerned, the title is a straight fight between Messi and Ronaldo.
One man giving his vote to the Argentinian ace is Oklahama City guard/forward Thabo Sefolosha. A member of the side that reached last season's NBA Finals and the best basketball player Switzerland has ever produced, Sefolosha said of Messi: "He's just an absolutely amazing player and I love Barcelona too."
[Iker] Casillas deserves it for everything he's done in his career.
Another member of the Messi fan club is Brazilian pivot Anderson Varejao, who plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
"Even though he's already won it three times, he's still the big favourite to my mind," he said, explaining why the diminutive Barça wizard should get the nod. "I'd give Iniesta second as reward for Spain winning EURO 2012 and also because he's the perfect all-round player and almost as important to Barcelona as Messi. My choice for third would be Neymar. He's dominated the Brazilian championship and reached such a high level that he's now regarded as one of the best players in the world."
Cristiano gets the Balkan vote
In contrast, our other three NBA football fans, all from former Yugoslavia, are giving their backing to Cristiano Ronaldo.
"The Ballon d'Or is a straight fight between Ronaldo and Messi," said Dragic, expressing his considered opinion. "I'm going to go against most observers and give my vote to Ronaldo. I prefer the way Real play, they've had a great season and he's been phenomenal."
Bosnian Mirza Teletovic is like-minded. "If you ask me, Cristiano Ronaldo deserves it. He's the complete package and can score from any position. He's a fantastic player and a unique athlete," said the Brooklyn Nets forward. "I think Cristiano is amazing. He's the prototype of the modern player and he's had a great season too, winning the Spanish league and reaching the semis of EURO 2012, where he had a very good tournament."
Teletovic also had praise for Zlatan Ibrahimovic: "My second choice would be Zlatan. He's a world-class player and a leader who can help Paris Saint-Germain reach the very highest level."
Last but not least comes, Montenegrin centre Nikola Vucevic, who cannot see beyond the Real Madrid star. "He scored more than 50 goals last season and had a superb EURO 2012 with Portugal," commented the Orlando Magic man, who grew up in Belgium. "He carried Real to the title and halted Barça's domination of La Liga. He can do everything too, and he's probably the most complete player in the world."
When it comes to soccer, there is no question that this NBA sextet know what they are talking about. The question is, which of them, if any, will be proved right come January's gala?


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