text:
Stop The Chamber
The Chamber of Commerce, under the leadership of Tom Donohue, has gone from a well respected trade organization to an extremist political organization dedicated to corrupting American democracy by elevating the profits of big corporations over the well being of the citizens they serve. Recent examples of this corrupt behavior is the Chamber's spending of more than $100 million to defeat initiatives to protect the environment and provide affordable health care to everyone, and its massive attacks on democracy through the use of secret money in the 2010 election.
The Chamber is the biggest lobbying operation in the United States, spending billions of dollars on behalf of big business over the past decade to corrupt the political system. Polluters like Big Coal, Big Asbestos, and Big Oil only need call the Chamber to stop any accountability for their toxic destruction. Wall Street banks and CEOs need only make sure that they have paid their Chamber dues to ensure that they can continue to rip off the taxpayers. And killers like Big Tobacco need only form a partnership with the Chamber to ensure that they will be given immunity from lawsuits that seek accountability for the death and sickness of millions of Americans.
Tom Donohue has turned the once respected and even-handed Chamber into an extremist organization, bragging that the Chamber gutted the Clinton tobacco settlement, killed the Clinton health care plan, and scuttled previous oversight of Wall Street and the banking system. Now the Chamber is spending tens of millions on ads and lobbyists to repeal health care for all, protect polluters from accountability, and shield the financial industry from government regulation.
Sign on to Stop The Chamber
Sign On To This Campaign. Sign on to this campaign and your name will be added to the thousands who have complained about the conduct of the Chamber. We will send this letter letter to all the members of the Chamber board and others asking that they quit and condemn the Chamber.
Sign on to the campaign here
Chamber of Commerce's Kills For Profit
LONDON — When the Irish prime minister visited the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last year, he had a message to deliver. Ireland's economy was recovering and his country was still open for business. "Call me anytime," he told business leaders.
But Thomas J. Donohue, the chief executive of the chamber, had his own agenda. During the visit, he tried to persuade the prime minister to reject Irish antismoking legislation that would require tobacco companies to sell cigarettes in plain packages with images of diseased lungs or cancer patients.
AlterNet: 6 Filthy Facts About the Rich
The filthiest fact is that Congress wants to cut the food benefit to hungry Americans, almost half of them children, so that money can keep flowing to the top.
-By Paul Buchheit
August 25, 2013- First of all, who are they? Mostly the 1%. But the top 2-5% have also done quite well, increasing their inflation-adjusted wealth by 75 percent from 1983 to 2009 while average wealth went down for 80 percent of American households. The rest of the top 20% have been prosperous, realizing a 32 percent gain in inflation-adjusted wealth since 1983. The facts to follow are primarily about the richest 1%, with occasional dips into the groups scrambling to make it to the top.
1. Accumulating almost all the wealth
As evidence of the extremes between the very rich and the rest of us, the average household net worth for the top 1% in 2009 was almost $14 million, while the average household net worth for the bottom 47% was almost ZERO. For nearly half of America, average debt is about the same as average asset ownership.
AlterNet: We'd All Be Much Wealthier If We Acted Like a Society—Instead We Prop Up the Private Wealth of a Small Number of Elites
If we continue the present path, high-quality public goods will be available to fewer and fewer.
-By Robert Reich
August 23, 2013- Congress is in recess, but you'd hardly know it. This has been the most do-nothing, gridlocked Congress in decades. But the recess at least offers a pause in the ongoing partisan fighting that's sure to resume in a few weeks.
It also offers an opportunity to step back and ask ourselves what's really at stake.
A society -- any society --- is defined as a set of mutual benefits and duties embodied most visibly in public institutions: public schools, public libraries, public transportation, public hospitals, public parks, public museums, public recreation, public universities, and so on.
Public institutions are supported by all taxpayers, and are available to all. If the tax system is progressive, those who are better off (and who, presumably, have benefitted from many of these same public institutions) help pay for everyone else.
"Privatize" means "Pay for it yourself." The practical consequence of this in an economy whose wealth and income are now more concentrated than at any time in the past 90 years is to make high-quality public goods available to fewer and fewer.
Buzzflash: Elizabeth Warren Reads Riot Act to Holder for Not Prosecuting Big Bank Mortgage Fraud
-By Mark karlin
August 22, 2013- Okay, so Senator Warren actually wrote a polite, detailed letter to Attorney General Holder. There was no shouting or acrimony.
However, in Washington, for a freshman senator to imply in official correspondence made public that the Department of Justice is not doing its job in investigating, prosecuting and even fining banks and secondary lenders in regards to multiple counts of mortgage lending violations is akin to a freshman at high school accusing the principal of letting teachers steal milk money from the desks of students.
It may be professional in tone, but Warren's letter is a direct challenge to the criminal impunity provided to and limited fines assessed by the DOJ on Wall Street for their multiple schemes to defraud both mortgage borrowers and investors.
The Huffington Post featured the letter, which bluntly states:
Ring Of Fire: The Endless List of BP Crimes
Huffington Post: Lawmakers Backed By Chamber Of Commerce Spending Stall Business Lobby's Legislative Priorities
-By Paul Blumenthal & Sabrina Siddiqui
August 18, 2013- WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is a political powerhouse that tops spending on lobbying in Washington year after year. In the past two elections, the pro-business group doled out $69.5 million to send candidates to Congress.
The checks, however, have not always translated into legislative success.
Over the past 4 1/2 years, the Chamber of Commerce has lost most of its important legislative battles. Health care and Wall Street reform laws were enacted and face little threat of repeal. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finally has an appointed director and Democratic members of the National Labor Relations Board were approved by the Senate.
More significantly, the chamber's big spending in 2010 to elect a House GOP majority appears to have backfired. Many of the conservative lawmakers the chamber helped elect are now an impediment to the business lobby's legislative priorities, either by contributing to Congress' dysfunction or by actively opposing chamber-backed measures.
PR Watch: ALECexposed: List of Corporations and Special Interests that Underwrote ALEC's 40th Anniversary Meeting
-by Lisa Graves
August 15, 2013- This year's annual meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) had fewer corporations listed as sponsoring that meeting for a seemingly smaller total amount of revenue.
Based on the sponsorship rates ALEC promoted earlier this year, the organization took in approximately $910,000 from firms specifically designated as "President" to "Trustee" level sponsors for its 40th Anniversary meeting compared with estimated revenue of approximately $1.2 million for the same level of sponsorships at last year's meeting in Salt Lake City.
These totals reflect the highest profile sponsorship levels promoted at the meeting, but ALEC obtained an additional amount of revenue from other event sponsorship opportunities for corporations and special interest groups, in addition to registration fees, booth fees for its convention, and other income sources. So its total revenue from this year's meeting is certainly greater than $1 million, and it is not known if some corporations funded ALEC's meeting at various sponsorship levels but chose not to have their names listed as sponsors in ALEC's brochure, or not.
The Daily Banter: Americans Finally Saying No to God Awful 'McWages'
-By Ben Cohen
August 15, 2013- Although the rich, the political elite and most of the media are not concerned with the plight of America's working poor, there are now real signs that those at the bottom rung of the economic ladder are taking matters in to their own hands and fighting back. Having spent the past 30 years watching the rich accumulate astonishing levels of wealth and their wages stagnate to the point where they cannot feed and house themselves, low skilled workers in America are finally saying enough is enough.
Reports the Guardian:


text:
Certified NGC MS-69Are you looking for a high quality, well preserved coin with a low price? Well, now is the time to purchase a "nearly perfect" American Eagle Gold Coin at a spectacular price. These 2020 Gold American Eagles were carefully selected by our buyers, and the finest examples were chosen to be sent to NGC for grading.
Graded By America's Leading Grading Service
The Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC) is one of America's leading grading services, and those American Eagles that make it past their certified numismatic expert's high standards were certified as MS-69 "near perfect" quality. When grading coins, the official ANA grading scale ranges from 1 to 70, with 1 being the worst and 70 being the best. A coin grading of 1 is barely identifiable as a coin, while a coin grading 70 is perfect and very difficult to obtain. So, as you can see, an MS-69 gold coin is easily considered a premier grade coin.
MS-69 Gold Eagles - A Great Investment!
Think about how valuable old Pre-1933 Gold Coins grading MS-69 are these days. Coins that once sold for nothing years ago are selling for thousands of dollars now. This is why it is important to take the opportunity to buy and lock-away these nearly perfect MS-69 American Eagle Gold Coins. In the years to come, they could be much more desirable to own.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Last week I was able to present the lovely Jador spring fashions. In holding to what I try to do, I am now showing various new spring designs for men. Mimi's Choice for Men, is a wonderful place for gentlemen to find just the perfect suit, tux, shoes or shirt with jeans. There men will find such great creations by some of Second Life's finest, such as SF Designs, M.R.M, Sartoria and many more.
At Mimi's, men will find a relaxed shopping environment. There you will find the shop well laid out and the designer wear easy to locate. Most all clothing there is transferable, except for the colour change shoes. This makes it exceptionally nice for the women, shopping for their men. I was put in charge of buying men's tuxes for a wedding. It was so nice, to be able to go to Mimi's, find the tux that I referred and purchase all five and then be able to pass them out. Such a hassle reducer. Also for my sweethearts birthday, I was able to go shop and buy him a great outfit, wrap it and give it to him. I love it!
Alphamale Pinstripe Tux
Comes with several shirt, tie and jacket combinations
SF Design – Shearing Brown Leather Jacket with Pants


text:
Monday, June 14, 2010
Try not to look so sad, chums
Ah, the salad days: Homers were bountiful, and pitching performances were surprisingly satisfying. Brett Cecil got the call, and quickly emerged as the future (if not present) ace of the staff. Travis Snider was out of the lineup, but we hardly seemed to notice, given the performances of Fred Lewis and José Bautista. We'd even managed to relax about the whole thing with The Manager, even stepping in occasionally to (quietly) defend one of his moves. We looked at the standings daily, and saw the Jays sitting above the Red Sox, and mere percentage points behind the Yankees.
These were good days, and times to savour. We could hardly have been happier. We relaxed, smiled, and put on five more pounds.
But on the tenth week, it suddenly went ugly. There were shit-kickings, painfully close games that got away or never seemed far from our grasp. But all of it added up to a week with only a single narrow escape of a win. (And that win only added to our general anxiety about Kevin Gregg as our closer, leading people to start talking wistfully about the days of the Beej and Billy Koch. Or maybe that was just us...)
We've all been conditioned at this point to keep our eyes open and to anticipate the moment in the season where it all goes wrong for the Jays, and where they slip off the pace and back into the mid-pack (or lower) of the American League for good, so a week like this is certainly going to resonate. And while we're generally committed to be the last dude handcuffed to the ship's rail when it hits the ocean floor, we'll confess that there was much about this past week that causes us concern.
(Like JoBau's inability to hit inside pitches. Or the Jays' inability to get guys on and move them along. Or the spectacular ratfuck that is the fifth spot in the rotation. Or the prospect of meeting up with the Padres and the Cardinals.)
But if we can offer any solace in this, we'd tell it you like Ray Charles' momma told him: There's gonna be hard times. This past week sucked, but you've got to just pick up your replica retro Jays cap, dust it off, slap it back on your mellon and hope for a better week ahead.
This team has surprised us already, so let's try to hang onto those happy thoughts, even as they drift into memory. Because the alternative is a long miserable summer.
9 comments:
- GCM1979 said...
some interesting numbers. Jays since playing Tampa at home have probably the toughest 37 game stretch in baseball. So far they're 4-8, and if they can go 14-11 to the all star break, that'll put them 18-19 in that stretch and 48-41 at the break. Follow that with 16 games against bottom feeders after the break, and this season isn't necessarily lost. Go 12-4 against those bottom feeders, and suddenly, the Jays are 60-45 heading into the Aug. 2, 2010 game against the Yankees. Season isn't lost just yet.
- June 14, 2010 at 2:17 PM
I like those numbers GCM. Your comment ensures I will only cut for attention, rather than doing anything that might actually prove fatal.
- June 14, 2010 at 2:31 PM
- Tao of Stieb said...
Good call on that, GCM. Still lots of room for the Jays to hang tough, and make hay against some weaker opponents.
Also, I've just realized a significant flaw with the blog lately: Too much big picture, not enough minutiae. Need to fix that shit.
- June 14, 2010 at 2:55 PM
Minutiae, then. Why are you so much higher on Cecil than Romero? Don't get me wrong, Cecil's been great, but Ricky's been (pretty much this whole season) in the top 10 of all starters in baseball in FIP, WAR and Swing-Str%, and has often been top 2 or 3. Ricky's having a monstrous season, and most other teams' blogs list him as our #1 (and Beyond the Boxscore, fwiw).
- June 14, 2010 at 3:13 PM
- Tao of Stieb said...
Cecil vs Romero! I have a post for tomorrow!
I really have to bring back the TweetBags. Because those were fun, informative, and was easier to write.
- June 14, 2010 at 3:57 PM
- Ty said...
Speaking of Cecil vs. Romero, am I the only one thinking that Ricky might be getting a raw deal pitching immediately behind Cecil in the rotation? They're an awesome 2-3 punch but they're also pretty similar pitchers these days; for hitters, seeing Romero the day after seeing Cecil is almost like getting a 4th or 5th look at (almost) the same guy in a 2-day period.
- June 14, 2010 at 4:20 PM
- Gil Fisher said...
Ty. You are not alone.
- June 14, 2010 at 4:34 PM
Nope, not alone at all.
- June 14, 2010 at 5:07 PM
- William J. Tasker said...
Great point, Ty. Really great point. But Romero should beat Correia anyway.
Don't see them going 14-11 there GCM. It would be fun if you were right though.
- June 16, 2010 at 5:57 AM


text:
NEW YORK, N.Y. – A new smartphone app will help you transition your old paper photos into the digital age. Called ShoeBox, the free app lets you use your iPhone's camera as a photo scanner.
The iPhone app launched last week. An Android version is coming soon. ShoeBox comes as social media giant Facebook is preparing to launch its new "timeline" feature.
Timeline essentially turns user profiles into an online scrapbook for the most important moments of their lives. As such, it encourages users to add photos from their lives before Facebook. ShoeBox creator Rudy Adler says that's where ShoeBox comes in.
The app lets users rotate, crop, date and tag photos and share them with friends and family either through Shoebox or Facebook. The photos are also stored on 1000memories.com, the website of the startup behind ShoeBox. The website is also where ShoeBox users can go to control their privacy settings if they don't want their old photos shared publicly.
On Wednesday, publicly shared photos on the ShoeBox app included a torn black-and-white mugshot of a young man with a moustache and a ruddy-cheeked little girl under a Christmas tree.
Online: http://1000memories.com


text:
Abraham Martin that is.
He was known as Abraham Martin dit l'Écossais.
He owned the plains of Abraham. Do you know someone who is related to him?
Well guess what?
I met one of his descendant in Ste-Anne cemetery.
Ron Depatie is a descendant of Madeleine Martin, one of Abraham's daughters. Madeleine married Nicolas Forget-Despatis.
Ron made the trip to Ste-Anne just to meet Paul Dauphin… and also to buy some strawberries.
He could not resist visiting the cemetery after we had supper.
You see, Ron knows his great-great-grandfather Jacques Bélisle was buried here in 1892, but there is no headstone to be found. Both Ron and I figured the plot was given to someone else since no one was left to pay for its maintenance.
So he looked for clues and I tagged along.
I told Ron that even though we could not find the grave, Jacques Bélisle was here allright and watching over our shoulders…


text:
Watch 50 people simultaneously rob a 7-Eleven in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Facebook claims that there are now only 4.74 degrees of separation. Or Kevin Bacon.
Future horror movie material? A German gynecologist is found with 35,000 pictures of his patients.
Future horror movie material? Newt Gingrich surges to the top spot in the latest GOP poll.
Groupon gone wrong; a London baker is forced to make 102,000 cupcakes.
Walking through doorways is found to cause memory lapses and forgetfulness, new studies find.
A Virginia woman could be imprisoned for up to 50 years after decapitating her boyfriend's piglet.
Former Denver Broncos QB Jake Plummer lashes out against Tim Tebow for his constant declarations of faith.
The Bernalillo High School principal pulls a questionable cartoon from the school newspaper.
A fake doctor put cement and sealant used to fix flat tires in a woman's behind because she wanted it bigger.
Don't you hate it when you're trying to sleep and a ghost is inappropriately groping you?
"I Have a Draem," and nine other hilarious typos.
Thanks to Emily Anderson for some of today's links.


text:
Ty Wishart
Draft Info
- WHL - East Second All-Star Team (Defenseman)
Wishart entered junior hockey after being selected in the second round, twenty-fourth overall, by the Prince George Cougars in the 2003 WHL Bantam Draft. Wishart did not appear for Prince George, however, until the 2004-2005 season where he had 1 goal and 8 points in 58 games to go with 41 penalty minutes. In 2005-2006, he posted 5 goals and 37 points in 70 games en route to being named the twenty-first best North American skater prospect for the 2006 NHL Entry Draft by NHL Central Scouting. Wishart was selected sixteenth overall in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft by the San Jose Sharks and returned to junior for the 2006-2007 season. That year he posted 11 goals and 49 points in 62 games for the Cougars. After growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of talent around him in Prince George, Wishart was traded midway through the 2007-2008 season to Moose Jaw. Between the Cougars and Warriors, Wishart put up 16 goals and 67 points in 72 games before going scoreless in 5 games for Worcester of the AHL at the end of the season. In the summer of 2008, Wishart was traded to Tampa Bay as a part of the deal that sent Dan Boyle to San Jose. He played in 61 games for the Lightning's AHL affiliate, the Norfolk Admirals, scoring a modest 1 goal and 7 points in 61 games. He also, however, posted the best plus/minus rating of any regular defenseman on the team with a +5 rating. He also made his NHL debut on January 22, 2009 against the Carolina Hurricanes and ended up with 1 assist in 5 games at the NHL level.
Scouting Report
"6'5" defender rarely makes mistakes in his own end." -Red Line Report
Athletically, Wishart is the prototypical NHL defenseman most teams are dying to add to their roster: big and very mobile with the agility to contain and shut down opposing forwards. He uses his reach to his advantage well and is a master of both using the poke check and getting his stick into passing lanes. Wishart is strong and poised and plays a solid positional game. He also makes an excellent first pass out of the zone and has a heavy shot from the point. In the past couple of seasons, he's grown more comfortable and confident jumping into the play at even strength and running the power play with the man advantage.
The biggest knock on Wishart going into his draft year was his reluctance to use his size and strength to cancel out opposing players, and that knock has never completely gone away. His offensive game has improved by leaps and bounds over the past two seasons but he still has room to grow in the offensive third of the ice.
Heading into the 2006 NHL Entry Draft most teams projected Wishart as a number three defenseman in the NHL capable of logging over 20 minutes a night. Since then, Wishart has shown marked improvement in his offensive game while still showing himself to be incredibly solid and reliable in his own end of the ice. That's why we project him as a potential top-pair shut-down defenseman who not only will match up against opposing team's best forwards, but also might be capable of putting up 30-40 points a season from the backline as well.
- 17856 reads
- Printer-friendly version


text:
Thanks for the Compliment.Originally Posted by WizBang
Problem here is that i only read 1K of the file at a time.. (what you see on the form is whats loaded into the byte array) in order to try and keep away from the 'Out of memory error' you picked up previously. Although that was mostly because of the memory used by the 1024 textbox'sOriginally Posted by WizBang
So i will need to read the next block (and maybe include the last 100 bytes of the previous block) and search again..
Or after you logout..Originally Posted by WizBang
The thing here again is the 1K block of loaded data.. File additions will be in steps of 1K (Or 512 bytes if used in narrow mode) Also setting a new EOF earlier in the file (Cutting a file shorter) cannot work with out using a new temp file... But i'm not to sure if i need to go in that direction ??
On my way there now...Originally Posted by WizBang
Thanks for your Valuable input Wizbang.. Your enthusiasm (<--- I know, my spelling is bad, But CG doen not have a 'F7' function,, Spellchecker ) with this little progect of mine has made it worth my while to write, when compleate I'm contemplating posting it on PSC.. So it can help 100's of others.. (Ahh CG users will have first option though)


text:
View gallery
10 Pictures
Tour Priztker Prize winner Toyo Ito's unusual buildings
This article was originally published in 2013.
Seoul-born, 71-year-old Japanese architect Toyo Ito is this year's recipient of the industry's most coveted prize.
On Monday, the architect was announced the 2013 Pritzker Architecture Prize winner, joining past Pritzker Laureates that include Frank Gehry, Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas.
"As I did not expect it, I felt really grateful and honored to be awarded the prize," Ito told CNN.
In addition to his abstract, beautiful buildings, the Tokyo-based architect is also known for his extensive work on communal centers as part of the reconstruction in Japan following the 2011 tsunami.
Ito, whose family ran a miso (bean paste) factory following his father's early death when Ito was 12, has said he wasn't interested in architecture as a youth. He began taking an interest while attending the University of Tokyo.
Throughout his career, Ito's designs have been unusual, vivid and minimalistic -- from the aluminum house he designed for his sister to the Sendai Mediatheque in Miyagi, Japan, which he describes as his professional highlight.
The Pritzker committee jury raved about his lifework of defying standard distinctions. It will officially bestow its award at a ceremony in Boston on May 29.
Together with the 40 employees of his namesake firm, Toyo Ito & Associates, the architect is currently working on projects in Taiwan, Singapore and Japan.
"I travel 50 to 60 times per year for work," says Ito. "I love any place where I work."
At Princeton in 2009, he lectured on the development of the grid system in architecture, pointing out that while the system allows for rapid construction, "it also made the world's cities homogenous" and that "it made the people living and working there homogenous, too."
His design aesthetic is "modifying the grid slightly" so buildings can have closer relationships to their environment.
"Not fixing my style, I keep extending the possibilities of architecture," he told CNN. "In other words, I would like to unbridle architecture from various restrictions and give it more freedom."
The photo gallery above illustrates how Ito is changing and influencing landscapes of cities around the world.
Where to see the buildings (numbered per the gallery above)
1. Sendai Mediatheque, 2-1 Kasugamachi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan; +82 22 713 3171; open daily 9 a.m.-10 p.m., closed every fourth Thursday; www.smt.jp
3. Matsumoto Performing Arts Centre, Fukashi, Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, Japan; +81 263 33 3800; www.mpac.jp
7. Tama Art University Library (Hachioji campus), 2-1723 Yarimizu,Hachioji,Tokyo; +81 42 676 8611; open daily 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; www.tamabi.ac.jp
8. Za-Koenji Public Theatre, 2-1-2 Koenji-Kita, Suginami-ku, Tokyo; +81 3 3223 7300; za-koenji.jp
9. Main Stadium for 2009 World Games, No. 100, Shìyùn Blvd, Zuoying District, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan;+886 7 582 9000; open daily 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m.; www.nssac.gov.tw
10. Toyo Ito Museum of Architecture, 2418 Urado, Omishima-machi, Imabari, Ehime, Japan; +81 897 74 7220; open Tuesday-Friday 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; www.tima-imabari.jp


text:
OTTAWA — Canada's Supreme Court will release a decision Thursday on whether evidence collected using a so-called Mr. Big police sting operation is admissible in court.
A Mr. Big sting is an investigative technique where undercover officers pretend to recruit a suspect to a fictitious criminal organization in order to obtain a confession about prior criminal acts.
The Supreme Court agreed in early 2013 to hear the case of a Newfoundland man sentenced to life in prison.
The Crown asked the justices to overturn an appeal court ruling that ordered a new trial for Nelson Hart, who was found guilty in 2007 of first-degree murder in the drowning deaths of his three-year-old daughters on Aug. 4, 2002 at Gander Lake.
The appeal judges were divided 2-1 on the key question of whether the confession obtained during the sting was the result of improper conduct that violated Hart's rights.
The Supreme Court generally hears cases of national importance or those that involve split decisions on key legal points.


text:
So Wednesday I had an interview with Kathryn Zox on VoiceAmerica and she asked me if I could think of a more positive word for "compromise." And to be honest — well, it was early in the morning — I could not.
Can you? Thing is, life is all about the trade-offs. But "compromise"? It's a dirty word.
We had been talking about the choices that women have to make when navigating the uncertain terrain that goes under the general heading of "you can have it all." Killer career. Great family life. Making it all work. And all at the same time. It goes to the heart of what makes decisions so difficult for women in this new reality: opportunity cost. If you are doing A, by definition you can't be doing B. Or at least, not well. And yet. We try. Because to be less than perfect at one or the other means we think we have failed.
Case in point: Kathryn spoke of taking the train up from New York one night not long ago, riding in business class, where though she tried to avoid listening, she was privy to a long cellphone conversation between a well-dressed business woman and her husband. And her little girl. And then her husband. And then her little girl. And on and on. The gist? Mommy was coming home from a business trip, but apparently felt obliged to be the one to put her little girl to bed. A bedtime story? Mommy loves you? Daddy, are you doing it right?
And there you have it. A good metaphor for trying to do it all, have it all. And all the pressure we put on ourselves, whether we have a family, whether we don't, or whether we ever will.
We don't like to talk about compromise because it implies that we have settled for something less than perfect. Or maybe, we're uncomfortable with the word because we still haven't figure out how to make our way through this uncharted territory. So maybe when we parse it all out, when we cast about for a more positive way to say "compromise," the operative word is choice.
Or maybe the term is letting go. As Lori, one of the women in our book, told us, "Maybe it's that society is telling us all that we have to be successful career women — but the world has forgotten to mention that if we want to do that, we can let go of worrying about our pound cake."
And is that so bad? I call it compromise. You call it trade-off. We all call it growing pains.


text:
Virtual psychology, therapy
to get own OLIVE world
Using the On-Line Interactive Virtual Environment (OLIVE™) virtual world platform from Forterra Systems, InWorld Solutions™, of Palo Alta, California, has developed a virtual world specifically designed for behavioral healthcare.
Created for use by clinical institutions and individual therapists, the online application, InWorld, has been designed to overcome emotional and cognitive barriers to therapy, counseling, and education by engaging clients and mobilising their active participation.
Like health and medical applications in Second Life, InWorld can also be used for therapist training and supervision. Although in a different virtual world it will join a number of pioneering medical training and health care applications being run in Second Life such as the SLENZ Project's midwifery education pilot program being run by Otago Polytechnic, Auckland University's Virtual Medical Centre, and a myriad of other universities and organisations around the world who are doing pioneering medical and healthcare work in MUVEs.
The InWorld application was scheduled to be unveiled in Toronto, Canada, today, Friday, at an American Psychological Association (APA) 117th Annual Convention plenary session entitled Next Stop: Virtual Psychology and Therapy.
"We founded InWorld Solutions to bring new technology to the field of behavioral healthcare," said InWorld Solutions co-founder and CEO Walter Greenleaf, a pioneer in medical virtual environments and a Stanford University-trained research scientist specialising in behavioral neuroscience and cognitive rehabilitation.
"I'm excited about the convergence of several technical and social trends that enable us to provide InWorld today: the advancement of virtual environment technology, the penetration of broadband Internet, the affordability of computing power, and the growing adoption of virtual worlds," he added.
Les Paschall, InWorld Solutions co-founder and CEO of CFG Health Systems, a 450-clinician behavioral healthcare provider in Marlton, New Jersey, said, "The potential demand for this kind of program is enormous. InWorld is designed to manage a wide range of disorders, and we're seeing unprecedented levels of engagement and participation in our first use with clients who suffer from oppositional defiance disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as patients dealing with issues of anger management and substance abuse."
The pair claimed that InWorld is the first and only product to offer therapists a complete solution by combining a virtual world with important clinical functions such as session notes, appointment calendar, clinical illustrations, a clinical manual, and the management of avatars, the personalized characters used by therapists and their clients.
Complements traditional therapy
Interactions use speech, so keyboard skills are not required. Sessions are recorded and can be saved for review and playback from different viewing perspectives.
It complements traditional talk therapy, helping the therapeutic process to go deeper and progress more rapidly for individual, family, and group therapy. In addition, InWorld can increase access to behavioral healthcare by allowing therapists and clients to meet in the same or different locations.
It was first used in residential care facilities for teens more than two years ago and was found to be a successful treatment option, making it possible to engage patients in the therapeutic process in ways that not only enable therapy, but facilitate faster progress.
In every setting where it has been used, clinicians and patients have reported, according to the company, that it is an important addition to the tools available for the management and treatment of behavioral health.
InWorld, which runs on the Windows operating system and requires broadband Internet access, will be available for download from the InWorld Solutions website in October 2009 at an introductory subscription-based pricing of US$95 per month per clinician.
See also: Use of Virtual Environments in Treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and here.
Filed under: Education, Education in virtual worlds, SL Medicine, Virtual Worlds | Tagged: American Psychological Association, APA, Auckland University, Behavioral healthcare, CFG Health Systems, Forterra, InWolrd Solutions, InWorld, Les Paschall, OLIVE, Otago Polytechnic, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Stanford University, Walter Greenleaf |


text:
- Prayer and Worship
- Beliefs and Teachings
- Issues and Action
- Media
- Bible
- Catholic Giving
- About USCCB
WASHINGTON—The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on January 29 filed amicus briefs in the United States Supreme Court in support of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and California's Proposition 8, both of which confirm the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
DOMA was passed by Congress and signed by President Clinton in 1996 and defines marriage for federal and inter-state recognition purposes. Proposition 8 is a state constitutional amendment approved by the citizens of California in 2008. Both laws are challenged because they define marriage exclusively as the union of one man and one woman.
Urging the Court to uphold DOMA http://www.usccb.org/about/general-counsel/amicus-briefs/upload/united-states-v-windsor.pdf the USCCB brief in United States v. Windsor says that "there is no fundamental right to marry a person of the same sex." The brief also states that "as defined by courts 'sexual orientation' is not a classification that should trigger heightened scrutiny," such as race or ethnicity would.
It added that "civil recognition of same-sex relationships is not deeply rooted in the Nation's history and tradition—quite the opposite is true. Nor can the treatment of such relationships as marriages be said to be implicit in the concept of ordered liberty, such that neither liberty nor justice would exist if they were sacrificed."
USCCB argued that previous Supreme Court decisions "describing marriage as a fundamental right plainly contemplate the union of one man and one woman."
The USCCB also cautioned that a decision invalidating DOMA "would have adverse consequences in other areas of law."
In a separate brief filed in Hollingsworth v Perry urging the Court to uphold Proposition 8 http://www.usccb.org/about/general-counsel/amicus-briefs/upload/hollingsworth-v-perry.pdf, the USCCB states that there are many reasons why the state may reasonably support and encourage marriage, understood as the union of one man and one woman, as distinguished from other relationships. Government support for marriage, so understood, is "recognizing the unique capacity of opposite-sex couples to procreate" and "the unique value to children of being raised by their mother and father together."
The USCCB brief states that "[T]he People of California could reasonably conclude that a home with a mother and a father is the optimal environment for raising children, an ideal that Proposition 8 encourages and promotes. Given both the unique capacity for reproduction and unique value of homes with a mother and father, it is reasonable for a State to treat the union of one man and one woman as having a public value that is absent from other intimate interpersonal relationships."
The USCCB brief adds that "While this Court has held that laws forbidding private, consensual, homosexual conduct between adults lack a rational basis, it does not follow that the government has a constitutional duty to encourage or endorse such conduct. Thus, governments may legitimately decide to further the interests of opposite-sex unions only. Similarly, minimum standards of rationality under the Constitution do not require adopting the lower court's incoherent definition of 'marriage' as merely a 'committed lifelong relationship,' which is wildly over-inclusive, empties the term of its meaning, and leads to absurd results."
"Marriage, understood as the union of one man and one woman, is not an historical relic, but a vital and foundational institution of civil society today," the USCCB brief states. "The government interests in continuing to encourage and support it are not merely legitimate, but compelling. No other institution joins together persons with the natural ability to have children, to assure that those children are properly cared for. No other institution ensures that children will at least have the opportunity of being raised by their mother and father together. Societal ills that flow from the dissolution of marriage and family would not be addressed—indeed, they would only be aggravated—were the government to fail to reinforce the union of one man and one woman with the unique encouragement and support it deserves."
The USCCB brief also notes that "Proposition 8 is not rendered invalid because some of its supporters were informed by religious or moral considerations. Many, if not most, of the significant social and political movements in our Nation's history were based on precisely such considerations.Moreover, the argument to redefine marriage to include the union of persons of the same sex is similarly based on a combination of religious and moral considerations (albeit ones that are, in our view, flawed).As is well established in this Court's precedent, the coincidence of law and morality, or law and religious teaching, does not detract from the rationality of a law."
USCCB notes that a judicial decision invalidating Proposition 8's definition of marriage would have adverse consequences in other areas of law.
"[R]edefining marriage—particularly as a matter of constitutional law, rather than legislative process—not only threatens principles of federalism and separation of powers, but would have a widespread adverse impact on other constitutional rights, such as the freedoms of religion, conscience, speech, and association.Affirmance of the judgment below would create an engine of conflict in this area, embroiling this Court and lower courts in a series of otherwise avoidable disputes—pitting constitutional right squarely against constitutional right—for years to come."
Keywords: DOMA, Defense of Marriage Act, Proposition 8, Prop 8, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, USCCB, same-sex marriage, gay marriage, United States v. Windsor, Supreme Court, California
# # # # #
By accepting this message, you will be leaving the website of the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. This link is provided
solely for the user's convenience. By providing this link, the United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops assumes no responsibility for,
nor does it necessarily endorse, the website, its content, or
sponsoring organizations.


text:
Rick Ross & Suge Knight's Niece Spotted Together During After Party At Hollywood's Highland NightClub! (Best Friends)
"Rick Ross & Suge Knight's niece have been seen together all over Miami, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles" Hit the 2 min mark
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


text: Longtime readers will be familiar with Wired/Tired/Expired, our snarky cultural scorecard that began appearing in the magazine way back at the dawn of Wired. (Actually, it started as Wired/Tired, and Expired was added in 2002.) Not content to let a good idea sit on the shelf, we've asked product reviews editor Michael Calore, the office's most opinionated loudmouth, to weigh in on the topics most deserving of this year's honors. Actually, on second thought, maybe we should have let this sleeping dog lie. The Mobile Web WIRED Responsive Web Design The idea behind responsive web design is that no matter what kind of device I use to visit your website -- PC, tablet or phone -- you're serving me the exact same code. A responsive layout self-adjusts to suit the screen being used, and the text, images and navigation elements all rearrange themselves fluidly and cleanly. This not only guarantees that every visitor to your website has a great experience, but it's also less work for you in the end -- you don't have to redirect mobile users to a separate URL, and you only have to build one version of your website. Few sites are actually doing this. But the ones that are? Extra cool. Join the club at This is Responsive and Mediaqueri.es. TIRED Ignoring Mobile If you can't build a responsive website for some reason, at least build an adaptive one -- a destination with some flavor of mobile-friendly experience. Even if it means shunting phone or tablet readers to a different URL (like one with an "m" at the front), it's better than nothing. But too many sites do nothing, serving mobile visitors full-size web pages meant for desktop browsers. Treating mobile users as second-class web citizens is an insult, not to mention shortsighted and foolish, considering the explosive growth in mobile browsing. EXPIRED Download Our App! When I'm browsing on my phone and type in your URL or click on a link I see on Twitter, I expect to see the page I requested. Instead, I get this full-screen interstitial ad: Hey! You're on an iPhone! Check out our App! Did you know we have an App? We have an App! Click Here! And of course it takes me three taps to hit the tiny "No thanks" button. You know what? I don't want your goddamned app. I want the web page I asked for. If you had shown me that page -- and given me a clean, awesome layout that looked great on my phone -- you'd probably have earned a new fan. Which means repeat visits and more clicks and more sharing and all the best kinds of traffic. Maybe I would've even enjoyed your content so much, I'd actually want to download your app. Instead, you've just made me angry. Is that really why we're visiting your website? To get angry? Worse are the interstitials that break the back button (a cardinal sin) or lose track of where you were headed and send you to the site's homepage. Go ahead, kick me while I'm down. Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired The New Radio WIRED Streaming Music This is absolutely amazing. Think about it: whatever you want to hear, you just type it into the internet and it starts playing seconds later. That is so cool! Whether you're an Rdio girl, a Spotify guy, or a Rhapsody brosephina, this is the greatest thing to happen to music on the internet since Napster. Even if something isn't available on whatever service you subscribe to, you can probably find it on YouTube. These services cost $5 or $10 a month, but c'mon, that's peanuts. Is it worth it? Are you kidding me? This is exactly what we've been waiting for all these years. TIRED Cloud-based Storage Google Music, Amazon Cloud Player, iTunes Match -- all storage spaces owned by big corporations, all wanting to rent you a locker to stash your tunes. They're OK for pride-of-ownership types who lack sufficient storage on their mobiles, but none are smooth enough for the masses to grok. Maybe these will be awesome in a few years, but on-demand streaming is the better bargain for now -- it's not just everything you own, it's everything in the store. EXPIRED iTunes I actually got kind of excited when iTunes 11 arrived, because at the time, Apple's player was the worst-performing piece of software on my computer. Then iTunes 11 ended up being a steaming pile. Sure, it's faster, but the usability changes are disastrous. Search is now effectively broken, and all the metadata I used to be able to see at the end of every click is hidden behind a useless, gee-whiz grid of album art. I wish I could delete iTunes forever, but I need it to manage my iDevices. Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired Displays WIRED Retina The appearance of the Retina display in the iPhone challenged everyone to step up their game and make better displays. Then Apple put one in the iPad, then the MacBook Pro. We'll have Retina everything in our Apple devices soon, maybe even within a matter of months. This is one of the biggest leaps forward the computer industry has taken in years. A rising resolution sharpens all displays -- look at the Nexus 4 and Nexus 10, or HTC's One X. Everything we do is looking better. TIRED PenTile Samsung's display technology was heralded as a huge advancement when it first rolled out in 2010, but now PenTile is looking pretty sad. Its subpixel matrix scheme, which inserts an extra red pixel and/or an extra green pixel in every RGB array, is intended to more closely match the color sensitivities of the human eye. However, PenTile screens look blurry, text has easily discernible edges, and colors don't appear naturally. Yet some of this year's most popular phones -- including the Samsung Galaxy S III and the HTC One S -- use the outdated technology. EXPIRED qHD Why is it called qHD? Because the resolution measures 960 x 540 pixels, one quarter the resolution of a 1080 full-HD panel. So... why is HD in the name? Even though it's not HD? And why does it look like total ass? Oh, because it's not HD. Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired Digital Pugilism WIRED Twitter Fights The best thing about Twitter is the 140 character count limit. It forces us to self-edit and keep things crisp. It also makes us sound smarter than we are. So when it becomes necessary to deliver a few jabs across the Twitterstream, the terms of the duel default to the tiniest daggers -- painful little needles of acerbic smugness. Hashtags are suddenly tumescent with subtext. Single sentences unravel, revealing themselves as complex insults. Get two masters of the form arguing about something like kerning pairs or Wankees vs BoSox, and the results are positively Shakespearean. TIRED Blogfights Because nothing's more boring than an endless string of 1,400-word blog posts about why so-and-so is an asshole. EXPIRED Comment Flame Wars I think xkcd said it best. Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired Payments WIRED Venmo It's a simple tool for sending money to your friends. Venmo is mobile-centric, so it's built to work over SMS. There are also simple apps for iOS, Android, and the web. Best of all, if you tie it to your regular debit card, there are no fees involved. Once you establish a tit-for-tat friend relationship with somebody, you can send them money just by typing a quick text. Venmo is simple, elegant and awesome. This year, I used it to pay a $5 bar tab, split a $32 charge for a pizza delivery, and buy a $1,000 bass guitar from a friend. And did I mention there are no fees? TIRED PayPal PayPal is getting long in the tooth, and it needs to innovate. Better systems for mobile micro-payments between consenting adults have emerged. Also, NFC-based credit systems like Google Wallet and POS systems like Square are planting flags in PayPal's potential growth areas. It's still popular on Craigslist, eBay (duh) and other near-anonymous person-to-person markets, but PayPal needs to unlock the social component of swapping cash if it's going to avoid getting passed. EXPIRED Bitcoin At the height of its popularity, Bitcoin was trumpeted as a viable alternative currency for the internet age, a monetary system engineered to prevent theft, gaming, and criminalization. Then came the malware, the black market, the legal ambiguities and The Man. Today, you can't even use it to buy Facebook stock. Bitcoin image: Trader Tim/Flickr. Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired Photo-Sharing WIRED Snapchat Pure genius. You take a picture and send it to a friend. You set a timer indicating how long your friend is allowed to look at the picture before it disappears. If they take a screenshot, you get a notification. Earlier this month, Snapchat added the ability to share 10-second videos. No other app better satiates the modern mobile user's hunger for playful social snacking. Of course, the app is getting all the wrong kinds of attention because it sounds like something that's perfectly designed for sexting -- it bypasses MMS, so it's easier to hide your activity from nosy moms. But the truth is, over a billion Snapchats have been sent so far, and all the kids are on it. God only knows what they're doing. TIRED Instagram There was once a lot of love in the room for Instagram, but the company's recent shenanigans are chafing the faithful. First, they killed Gotham (WTF!). Then the Android version was released (Who let in the hoi polloi?). Then came the Facebook acquisition (Sellouts!). Then Instagram stopped implementing Twitter cards (Huh?) and kicked off a truly bizarre platform war. And the last straw: the TOS debacle. The backlash has begun, and the high and mighty are dusting off their Yahoo credentials and once again posting to Flickr, where you can choose one of several licensing options, including CC BY-NC 2.5. Better yet, Flickr just added photo filters to its new mobile apps, so you can continue to dress up your snaps from the #PDX #artisanal #dishsoaps #meetup to make them look like the summer of '82. EXPIRED Color When Color launched, I read every genuflecting article in the tech press, and I still couldn't figure out what I was supposed to do with it. Then I downloaded it and became even more confused. The company has since imploded. The app will stop working at the end of this month, and I still have no idea what it does. Photos: Wired Instagram Home Audio WIRED Bluetooth Streaming If you're investing in any sort of speaker to pair with your mobile, you really can't go wrong with Bluetooth. It's ubiquitous (show me a mobile handset worth buying that doesn't support Bluetooth) and recent updates, such as the addition of the apt-X codec, have the quality of the audio sounding better than ever. Plus, with a flood of winning audio products like the Big Jambox, the UE Mobile Boombox and NuForce's new S3-BT speakers, the hardware ecosystem is big enough to serve every need. TIRED AirPlay Like every other red-blooded Apple hardware owner, I'm rooting for it. But AirPlay is one of the most indefensible streaming options on the market. First, there's the $50 to $100 premium on AirPlay-enabled devices. Second, there are nagging DRM issues. And third, it suffers from stability problems galore. Like other streaming music options that piggyback on your existing Wi-Fi network, it's full of stutters, hiccups, dropouts and freezes -- a huge buzzkill when you just spent $300 on a premium speaker. Shouldn't we have all these problems ironed out by now? EXPIRED Docks Hey, nice! The wife bought me a Nexus 4 for Christmas! And the new Rdio app looks awesome on my iPad Mini! And my sister bought me... a sound dock with a 30-pin connector. This is only going to get worse. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired Personal Security WIRED Secure Authentication If you don't have 2-step authentication enabled on your Google account, do it now. Then do it for every other set of credentials where the service owner provides the option. 2012 is the year we learned all a hacker needs to ruin your life are your billing address, your e-mail address, and a telephone. As we become more dependent on the cloud services tied to our various devices, we'll need to better educate ourselves about how to lock them down. Paranoid is the new normal. TIRED Passwords For now, we're stuck with passwords. But passwords suck, so use a passphrase instead. Again, I point you to xkcd, who has an excellent formula. My favorite method: gently squeeze your cat, type out whatever she says, then throw in some punctuation. Mrowr!brrfftclaw Done. EXPIRED "password" You should really change it "1234" -- that's way harder to guess. Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired Data Entry WIRED Dictation Are you still typing text messages and manually entering calendar items? That's for squares. iPhone users have been able to dictate text messages ever since the arrival of Siri, so if you've got a 4S or a 5 and you aren't constantly pressing that little microphone button below the keyboard, you're totally missing out. Also, Android's dictation engine has gotten alarmingly good with the arrival of Jelly Bean. It even works offline. If you don't have one of these devices, you can still speak your sandwich order by downloading a good dictation app -- Voice Dictation is the best for iOS, and Text by Voice is a good one for Android. TIRED Thumb Typing Please tell me you're at least using Swype. EXPIRED Physical QWERTY Why do manufacturers continue to make smartphones with physical keyboards? I refuse to believe real people actually buy them. I bet it's all just fleet purchases by midwestern firms that do IT for dentists offices or something. The phones are ugly and laughably huge, the sliding mechanisms are cumbersome, and the typing experience is almost always slower than a touchscreen. QWERTYs are so dorky, each phone should come with a free belt-clip holster and a pair of pleated khakis. Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired Lulz WIRED Animated GIFs Back in the 1930s, at the dawn of the web, the GIF was invented as a way to present raster graphics alongside text. As a bonus, you could animate them and make a little Scotty dog run around under your AOL e-mail address, or you could utilize one of those triangular signs showing the hard-hat guy digging with a shovel to signify your Geocities page was "under construction." Animated GIFs were useful for helping humans communicate effectively, which was otherwise extremely difficult in those days before Facebook. Eventually, the GIF gave way to the JPEG and the PNG. Animation duties were assumed by Shockwave, which changed its name to Flash and enjoyed a good run but is now dead. Now, at long last, the animated GIF is back, and it's totally owning the market on fantastically funny short animations. It has assumed its new place atop the throne of web culture, where it has reclaimed the crown of Lulz. There's even an entire website called BuzzFeed dedicated to the artform. TIRED Emoji How am I supposed to figure out what you mean when you comment on my Instagram photo with: Clapping hands, sad cat, dancing girls, gun, atomic explosion, koala bear, koala bear, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, surfer, sunset, thumbs up? If you like my picture of my soy latte and my $7 donut, just fucking say so. EXPIRED LOLCATs OMG DEDZIES!!1!


text:
Digital Production
The Gnomon Workshop offers the most comprehensive set of Digital Production tutorials anywhere. The broad scope of the tutorials contained in this section range from foundational understanding of the software tools all the way to the professional application of these tools and concepts used by artists working in the film and game industries.
Entertainment Design
The Gnomon Workshop is widely regarded as the global leader in training tutorials for the designer working in the entertainment industry. With tutorials ranging from foundational drawing and design concepts to process tutorials from some of the top concept and character designers in the world, there is surely something here to inspire.
As the tattoo industry has seen an explosion in popularity over the last few years, the need training in this field has also grown. In these video tutorials, some of the top tattoo artists in the world share their techniques and their take on the art of tattoo. The tutorials range from absolute beginner level to advanced color and blending techniques used by some of the world's best.
The Gnomon Workshop offers professional training on most of the software applications used in today's digital pipelines. There are foundational titles to introduce users to the software and tools, as well as advanced production titles that discuss application tools and processes vital to the production of digital assets and media.
Professional Training for Artists
The Gnomon Workshop seeks out the most highly-regarded traditional and digital artists and technicians currently working in the entertainment and design industries. Our instructors have shared their practices working at such top studios as Pixar, ILM, Blizzard, and many more.Instructor GalleriesInstructor Interviews
Gennaro Esposito is a 3D Artist specializing in environment and hard surface modeling. With over eight years experience in VFX and Motion Graphics for film and television, Gennaro has worked for such studios as MPC London, Cum Creative Singapore and Gadget-Bot Los Angeles, recently completing work at MPC for "The Lion King." He is also a MODO certified trainer for the Foundry, instructor at Think Tank in Vancouver and CEO of the Digital Shark Academy in Italy.
I had to chance to work with Gennaro since the beginning of his career in 3D/VFX; at that time he had already a lot of experience in Motion Graphics. Since the beginning I noticed his potential and his great skills. I can honestly tell he improved himself so much in a so short amount of time that I was impressed; he was eager to learn like few people in the industry, always open to critics and suggestions, and always willing to do more and more going over his limits to improve his skillset in the more efficient way possible. His specialties is Hard-Surface modelling, but he's great also in the organic ones, everything topped with great eye for texturing and lookdev. He never give up, he's full of energy and proactive, so it's always good to have him on board on complex projects. Everything it's also topped by an amazing attitude, funny and always available to help his colleagues, that makes him a great team oriented professional. Can't wait to work with him again.
Gennaro was a vital team member on the Razer Mamba E3 2015 video. He has shown exceptional speed and good work ethics whilst using Modo. With good direction and decent references, he can produce great work with good quality and speed. He is also a pleasure to work with and gets the job done. I think he is a great team member to work with.
It was great to work with Gennaro closely on my short film. He has amazing work ethic and he has been a pleasure to work with. He has a great eye for detail and has been a big contributor in the 3D work for the films Vfx.
I had the pleasure to work with Gennaro these latest 9 months at MPC London, working closely at the environment department for Lion King (2019-Disney). He is an reliable artist with a spontaneous inclination for the team work, since he arrived his first goal has been to help the team, always pushing and learning , more than successfully, his abilities as modeller (already strong ) and as Generalist becoming an autonomous artist in the team!
Try a Class on Campus
Gnomon specializes in computer graphics education for careers in the entertainment industry.


text:
ARBURG Technology Days 2017 - Program
An industry highlight for guests from around the world
At the Technology Days to be held from 15 to 18 March 2017 in Lossburg (Germany), ARBURG will once again present more than 50 exhibits that demonstrate unique technology, offering an extensive overview of production efficiency in plastics processing.
- Technological highlights relating to processes, applications, machines and automation
- The largest injection moulding machine, the ALLROUNDER 1120 H, in a new design, featuring the pioneering GESTICA control system
- Efficiency arena with practical implementation of Industry 4.0, based on the example of an individualised "smart" luggage tag
- Expert presentations on topical subjects, such as industry 4.0, lightweight construction, turnkey and industrial additive manufacturing
- An extensive range of services and training offerings and factory tours
Our entire expert team will be on hand to personally answer individual questions. Our doors are open to you:
- Wednesday to Friday from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm
- Saturday from 8:30 am to 2:00 pm
You can already look forward to a truly top class event!
Please send us any enquiries you may have by e-mail.


text:
Uncle Sam Counts Noses (Jun, 1940)
Uncle Sam Counts Noses
LAST month the census taker came to call. He unfolded a big white sheet of paper and began firing questions. Name? Age? Birthplace? And so on until he knew all the answers, and departed with his pencil-checked list. All over the country, 120,000 fact finders were doing the same. So far as foresight in planning could provide, they overlooked no dwelling's occupants; they even visited auto trailers, marking them with stickers to avoid recounting!
What has happened to your census blank? The scene shifts to the spacious building of the Census Bureau at Washington, D. C, where registered mail has brought neatly packed wooden boxes containing the facts about 132,000,000 Americans. Now begins the stupendous task of refining this mountain of data, and totting up the figures in some forty closely printed volumes of significant findings. Clerks doing it by hand would scarcely finish the job by the time for a new census. But ultramodern machinery—applying the punched-card system devised by Herman Hollerith, a former census man—has streamlined the undertaking.
Look over the shoulder of this girl at a punching machine containing a blank card three and a half by seven and three eighths inches. Before her rests an edited, coded, census questionnaire—possibly your very own. Deftly her fingers play upon thirteen keys. The card emerges punched with holes which show, by their position alone, everything that Uncle Sam wants to know about you.
Through a marvel of automatons, the electric sorting machine, rush the punched cards at 400 a minute. Suppose they are being sorted for age. As they fly along a conveyor, brushes of fine wire complete an electrical circuit through the punched hole in the "age" column. Cams shunt the cards into different conveyor tracks—leading to the correct age group, say, "35-40."
Keeping up the 400-card-a-minute pace, an automatic tabulator subdivides and records the facts about each age group —how many are married, what their occupations are, and forty or fifty other facts about them. Totals registered on counters can be printed at any time. Only lightning-fast machines would serve, for the cards will be resorted and recounted many times.
Every ten years, under the Constitution, the census must be taken. The first census, a pen-and-ink tabulation made in 1790, merely counted the number of people—a few less than 4,000,-000. Since then, supplementary queries have given the census constantly growing value for a large number of governmental and private agencies.


text:
Beat the Streak Report: Aug. 27
Today's Recommended Picks
- .636 AVG (7-for-11) lifetime vs. Rockies starter Jorge De La Rosa
- .545 AVG (6-for-11) lifetime vs. Reds starter Micah Owings
- .500 AVG (6-for-12) lifetime vs. Reds starter Micah Owings
BTS all-time leader: Michael Karatzia, 49
MLB all-time leader: Joe DiMaggio, 56
Yesterday's results
For the first time all week, each BTS heavy hitter marched on towards the ultimate goal of 57 in a row. Overall leader jagzrule77 notched his 36th consecutive correct pick by choosing Carlos Lee, who responded with a 3-for-4 night.
Staying on his tail and in sole possession of second place was thatsawinner, who rode the hot bat of Miguel Cabrera (1-for-5) to a 35-game streak.
Remaining in a tie for third were cwahl and phadrus74, who went with Derek Jeter (1-for-4) and Joe Mauer (2-for-4), respectively, to extend their runs to 34 games each.
Yesterday's Top 5 most selected players
1. Ichiro Suzuki (SEA): 12.6%, 0-for-0
2. Derek Jeter (NYY): 10.3%, 1-for-4
3. Joe Mauer (MIN): 7.1%, 2-for-4
4. Dustin Pedroia (BOS): 6.6%, 1-for-4
5. Chone Figgins (LAA): 4.9%, 2-for-3
5 Comments
Glad to see the blog being used to give tips on players before the close of picks for the day.
A tip of my Cub hat to: pyanidis, ohwow, lcfrancisco and spudart for making selctions and posting them for all to see.
Some great picks that got hits: Andy Marte, Shin Soo Choo, Todd Helton and Schumaker of STL!
Boy Friday looks tough: I was looking at Jacoby Elsbury but as I was watching the WSOX v. RSOX at Fenway he slid into home and hit shin guard of AJ Pierczynski and left the game.
So – I'm going with Derek Jeter on Friday – Buerhle(L) of WSOX has struggled since his perfect game and Jeter hits well v. lefties. Game at NYY – Jeter had an o-fer on Thursday. Any better ideas would be appreciated.
Maybe – Joe Mauer(?)
Tomorrow I'm going with Helton vs. Lincecum – he's hit in 9 of last 10 games and historically has done well against Lincecum.
Tomorrow I'm going with Helton vs. Lincecum – he's hit in 9 of last 10 games and historically has done well against Lincecum.
Wanted to take Shin-Soo Choo tomorrow against a very hittable pitcher in Jason Berken, but the 70% chance of thunderstorms for the game doesn't work for me. There's a similar chance of rain in New York for those considering Jeter against Mark Buehrle.
Looks like I'm going to give Michael Young another try against lefty Brian Duensing. Young is on a 13 game hitting streak right now, so let's hope he doesn't break it against a lefthander who is not going to be confused with Steve Carlton or Ron Guidry.
I'm going with Jeter tonight. I like the lefty-righty matchup.


text:
Xclusive - DTF Radio Freestyle!
MoneyMark reports " Xclusive Showing Off Her Skills At DTF Radio Letting all these new female rappers that she got it and she will put any female out of commission (SET IT UP!!!) "
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


text:
After months of being the prohibitive favorite, with only time and Brad Pitt seemingly in his path, Daniel Craig has officially joined the American adaptation of the global best-seller "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo."
More or less the day Craig finishes shooting "Cowboys and Aliens" with Jon Favreau (first peek of him just dropped), he'll zoom off to Sweden to begin filming with director David Fincher, reported Deadline. Craig is perfect for the role, so it's good to see this finally get done.
There were of course some James Bond issues to deal with, but with MGM in a narcoleptic coma, waiting for that project to come together would be folly.
U.S. & World
And while the casting of Craig is great news, the big question remains, who will be the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo? Deadline says it's down to Ellen Page, Mia Wasikowska ("The Kids Are All Right"), Emily Browning ("Sucker Punch"), Sara Snook ("Sleeping Beauty"), Rooney Mara ("The Social Network") and Sophie Lowe ("Blame"); The Playlist has it narrowed down to Browning, Snook, Lowe, Mara and French actress Lea Seydoux ("Robin Hood").


text:
Top 10 Birds Photographs from Great British Life - Editor's Pick
PUBLISHED: 17:32 28 July 2011 | UPDATED: 22:02 21 February 2013
Each week, Mary Brooks, Editor and Publisher of Great British Life carefully selects her favourite photographs from Great British Life readers. View our 'Top 10 Birds Photographs'
Top 10 Birds Photographs
Each month,Mary Brooks, Editor and Publisher of Great British Lifecarefully selects her favourite photographsfrom Great British Life readers.
Mary chooses a new theme each month, and this month the theme is'Top 10 Birds Photographs'.
Scroll below to view the impressive chosen images. All 10 images have been uploaded by Great British Life readers.
Click hereto upload your photographs for the chance of them being featured on next months Top 10 photographs page.
Handy tip:Next monthss category will beTop 10 Insect Photographs
Don't forget:
There is an exciting photography competition running at the moment, offering 8 lucky people the chance to win a stunning CEWE PHOTOBOOKto keep your precious family memories in.Click here for more details.


text:
Rctimer FR2304-2300KV High Power FPV Racing Edition Motor
1. The magnet specification is 42 uh.
2. The bearing is NMB(Japan) , it can support a long life.
3. 0.20mm laminations, maximum efficiency and minimum Eddy Current losses.
4. Ultra-flexible motor leads with high-temp 220 °silicone rubber.
5. With rotor dynamic balance process.
6. 5.0mm outside shaft for prop.
7. 5.0mm Aluminum Flange Lock Nut
Stator Diameter: 23 mm
Stator Thickness: 4 mm
Number of Stator Slots: 12
Number of Magnet Poles: 14
Motor Kv Value: 2300 RPM
No Load Current (Io) 1.0 Amps @ 10 Volts: 0.6 Amps
Motor Resistance (Rm) per Phase: 0.15 Ohms
Motor Resistance (Rm) Phase to Phase: 0.1 Ohms
Maximum Continuous Current: 20 Amps
Max Continuous Power (3-cell Li-Po): 260 Watts
Max Continuous Power (4-cell Li-Po): 330 Watts
Motor Weight: 31 g
Outside Diameter: 28.5 mm
Motor Shaft Diameter: 3 mm
Prop Shaft Diameter: 5 mm
Motor Body Length: 20 mm
Overall Shaft Length: 33.5 mm
Motor Timing: 5-10 degrees
PWM Frequency: 8-20 KHzPackage included:
1 pcs FR2304 motor
2 pcs 5.0mm Aluminum Flange Lock Nut
4 pcs M3*6mm YFS screws
If you have any questions about this product, submit your questions!
Reviews(0 reviews)
If you have any comments on the product or experience, please share!


text:
Director Lynne Ramsay's return after a nine-year absence is officially a success, as the London Film Festival awarded its top prize to her latest effort.
"We Need to Talk About Kevin," starring Tilda Swinton as a mother trying to deal with a sociopathic son, was named Best Film at the 2011 LFF. The film, which co-stars John C. Reilly and Ezra Miller is coming stateside Jan. 27, 2012. The film is Ramsay's first since the haunting "Morvern Callar" in 2002.
Pablo Giogelli took home The Sutherland Trophy, which goes to "the director of the most original and imaginative feature debut in the Festival," for his film "Las Acacias." The Argentinian film was hailed as "a slow-burning, uplifting and enchanting story of a truck driver and his passengers."
U.S. & World
"Junkhearts" star Candese Reid was named Bets British Newcomer fo rher work in "a sophisticated, social drama about hope and the search for redemption."
Werner Herzog took home the Grierson Award for Best Documentary for "Into the Abyss," which looks at what compels people to commit murder and what makes the state think it's OK to kill them for it.
Finally, David Cronenberg and Ralph Fiennes were each presented with the British Film Institute Fellowships. Fiennes directorial debut, an adaptation of Shakespeare's Coriolanus," is due out Jan. 12, 2012, while Cronenberg's "A Dangerous Method," about the relationship between Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, opens Nov. 23.


text:
The voyage of building an outrigger canoe: The cordage that connects it all
Part 1: Introduction and author bio
Part 2: Harvesting a canoe log . . . or plywood
Part 3: Roughing out the hull
Part 4: Making tools without metal, and, on some islands, without rock
Part 5: Stitch and glue
Part 6: Sanding and gluing
Part 7: Outrigger and booms
An added beauty of this design is that it all fits on top of my small car. This means you need to lash it together when you arrive at the water, and unlash it to pack it when you leave. And that takes rope.
Lifeline—that's a good way to think about cordage generally. Cordage is so fundamental to human activities, it's hard to imagine a world without it. And for the voyaging canoe—both building it and sailing it—rope was absolutely critical. The survival of Polynesians traveling across the Pacific owes as much to rope as to anything else.
Traditional rope of any sort is made of strands of natural fiber, usually plant fiber. Ropes made of animal products are subject to rot, shrinkage in the rain, and other problems. And in Hawai`i there were no large animals anyway besides humans—ew! Plant fibers are of finite length, so the art of rope-making involves binding these fibers together in an overlapping fashion to produce a single strand of the necessary length that will hold together.
Step one is to identify appropriate plant fibers. You want fibers that are strong, pliable, and durable (that won't rot easily). The number-one fiber for canoe-lashing throughout the Pacific is coconut fiber. That's right, coconuts. Now if you're a temperate-climate reader, a coconut to you is a small, hard, brown ball that you see in the grocery store. Crack it open and the inside is lined with beautiful white flesh. Well, that's a husked coconut. The outside has already been removed. But it's this husk that is our focus here.
The coconut husk is made up of fibers that run its length. Pacific Islanders, of course, have identified which varieties of coconut are better for rope-making (longer ones, generally), which ones for drinking, and so forth. But in any case, the fibers are not going to be more than a foot long. And they're caked with pithy stuff.
So it's not intuitively obvious that this is good rope-making material. Pacific Islanders learned that if you soak the fibers in fresh or salt water for several weeks, the pithy stuff comes off easily, leaving clean, strong fibers. Now here's the neat part: These fibers bind very easily to each other, with a little help. All you have to do is roll them together on your thigh, and you get a strand. Keep adding lengths of fiber as you go, and the strand gets longer and longer.
Once you have enough strands, they can be braided or twisted together to make a rope. And those ropes can be braided or twisted together to make an even larger rope. And so forth and so on. The result is known as coconut sennit or coir, and the best of it is stronger than manila rope. Early Western ships arriving in the Hawaiian Islands would trade for coconut sennit for their ships' riggings. One of its great advantages is its ability to hold up in salt water, so it's great for seagoing vessels.
Top: Refaluwasch men demonstrate twisting yarns into rope at a festival in Palau. Above: Navigator Pedro Yamalmai teachesrope-making to students of Outer Islands High School using exactly the same process. Ulithi, Micronesia; 1972. University of Hawaii at Manoa Library, Trust Territory Photo Archives (N-2703.13).
How does coconut sennit compare to the natural fiber ropes we use today? Its lightness is an advantage for canoe lashing, as is its durability in water. And it floats!. Most coconut coir rope available today comes from Sri Lanka and is very rough. I bought some on eBay, where it seems to be always available and not expensive, but very poor quality compared to the Pacific Islander samples I have.
According to Marques Hanalei Marzan at the Bishop Museum, twisted rope wasn't used as often as braided for lashing Hawaiian canoes. And not thin, three-ply sennit as shown in the photos here, but five-, seven-, or nine-ply braid. It would be almost a half an inch in thickness, and flat. And in this case, he says, it was not woven by braiding pre-made strands, but by twisting and braiding the fibers together at the same time.
Once the rope was made, you'd have to clean it up. There would be all those ends of individual fibers poking out. So before you were finished with the process of rope-making, you would have to trim your rope and make it look good. Without scissors.
This kind of braided rope was stronger than twisted rope, and a lot thicker. And the flatter surface wouldn't be as bulky. The spaces between the rounds of lashing would fit more tightly, whereas a round, twisted rope would leave a lot of space in between the cordage.
Two types of Hawaiian braided rope in the collection of the Peabody Museum at Harvard: five-ply in the foreground, three-ply in the background. Photo by RDK Herman, courtesy of the Peabody Museum at Harvard.
I'm told that there are more than 300 known uses for different parts of the coconut plant, and cordage is certainly a major one. Because coconut palms were so important to Pacific Island cultures, they were pretty widely cultivated and available. But there were other fibers that could be used when coconut was not at hand, or not the best choice, or if you were in a pinch and needed something right then. One of these is the bark of the hau tree—the same tree that Hawaiians used for making the boom—'iako—of their canoes. Peel the bark from the tree, strip the outer bark (which can also be used, in a pinch) from your peelings, rip the inner bark into strips, twist or braid them together, and away you go.
To me a less probable source is the native plant ukiuki. The fibrous leaves are maybe 18 inches long. But tough, apparently! You use the entire leaf. It was especially good for house-building.
The real king of Hawaiian fibers is olonā. Olonā is the strongest plant fiber known to humankind and just happens to be a native Hawaiian plant. Olonā cordage is especially good for making fishing lines and nets, for binding two-piece fishhooks, and for making the netting for the great feather cloaks (ahuula) of the Hawaiian chiefs. But since it is not involved in canoe-building, I won't elaborate on it here.
You know how in all those cowboy movies, when someone is tied up, the rescuer goes and simply cuts the rope off? Well, even in 19th-century America, making rope was a time-consuming process. My research suggests that while a machine for twisting yarns into ropes was invented in 1780, machines for twisting fibers into yarns didn't come about until 1850. So I figure rope was not exactly cheap, and cowboys probably took care of what they had. They would have bothered to untie the man's hands and save the rope, not cut it off!
Rope is simply too valuable, and too useful, to waste. And for lashing together a voyaging canoe, you needed an enormous quantity of it, as we will see in the next installment.
Next: Lashing the booms to the hull
—Douglas Herman, NMAI
Doug Herman, senior geographer at the National Museum of the American Indian and a specialist on the cultural knowledge of Hawai'i and the Pacific Islands, is also blogging about the round-the-world voyage of the Holule'a for the Smithsonian.
All photos by RDK Herman, Pacific Worlds, unless otherwise credited.


text:
(Reuters) – Argentina's Congress approved early on Thursday a agreement with Iran to investigate the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish community center that Argentine courts have long accused Tehran of sponsoring.
Jewish leaders say the pact to set up a "truth commission" risks undermining the ongoing judicial investigation into the attack, which killed 85 people, but President Cristina Fernandez says it could shed new light on the case after years of deadlock.
The leftist president has close ties with other Latin American leaders who are on good terms with Tehran, such as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, and her supporters hailed the memorandum of understanding as an historic opportunity.
"This memorandum represents a bold decision, a brave decision that opens a possible path toward the truth," said ruling party lawmaker Mara Brawer during a heated 12-hour debate as Jewish community groups protested outside Congress.
Fernandez controls both houses of Congress, meaning final ratification of the accord was expected, but opposition lawmakers questioned the government's motives, some saying commercial interests of oil and grain sales lay behind it.
The measure passed narrowly with 131 votes in favor and 113 against.
"This is the chronicle of a failure foretold," said opposition lawmaker Eduardo Amadeo, an ex-ambassador to Washington, accusing the government of putting commerce before justice and criticizing Iran's record on human rights.
"We're going to sell out the victims for a barrel of oil."
Others cited Iran's growing imports of farm goods from the South American nation, one of the world's top grains suppliers, and said they feared the commission would undermine the evidence gathered by Argentine prosecutors so far.
"They're asking us to … create a commission that will act like an audit of the Argentine judicial system," said Ricardo Alfonsin of the centrist Radical party.
In a sign of how close the vote was, the ruling party took the unusual step of summoning two lawmakers on leave. They had to quit local government posts to be able to attend the session.
Center-left lawmaker Elisa Carrio said the deal would further damage the G20 country's international reputation, which has been tarnished over the last year by messy legal wrangles with bondholders, trade disputes and criticism of its inflation data by the International Monetary Fund.
"Argentina is going to be much weaker in the eyes of the global community as a result of this accord," she said.
The accord will establish a five-member commission made up of foreign legal experts and outlines plans for Argentine judicial officials to travel to Tehran to question those people for whom Interpol has issued arrest warrants.
Iran, which remains locked in a stand-off with world powers over its disputed nuclear program, denies links to the attack.
In 2007, Argentine authorities secured Interpol arrest warrants for five Iranians and a Lebanese over the attack in which an explosives-laden truck detonated outside the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) building.
Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi is among the Iranian officials sought by Argentina, which is home to Latin America's largest Jewish community.
Western and Israeli sources have voiced concerns that Argentina may have lost its interest in pursuing investigations of the 1994 attack, as well as the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires that killed 29 people two years earlier.
The Islamic Jihad Organization, believed to be linked to Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, claimed responsibility for the 1992 bombing.
Argentine, Israeli and U.S. officials have long blamed the AMIA attack on Hezbollah guerrillas backed by Iran.
By Reuters
The Iran Project is not responsible for the content of quoted articles.


text:
You have no items in your shopping cart.
Regular Price:
Special Price
Availability: In stock
* Required Fields
Please ensure that someone is available at your delivery address to accept the goods as a signature is required. If you are not present when the delivery is attempted, you will be left a card informing you what to do next.
Click and Collect
Order online and pick up from our West Malling shop. From placing your order items will be ready for collection the next working day, if you require items before this please notify us. You can select Click and Collect as your delivery option at checkout - 13 Swan Street, West Malling, Kent, Me19 6JU.
Web Exclusive Products
When ordering a Web Exclusive product, Next Working Day Delivery is not available. Your product will be dispatched 1 -2 days after ordering and will be delivered for FREE using a Royal Mail 2nd Class service.
Weekends and Public Holidays
Orders received at the weekend or public holidays, will be sent the next working day.
Next Working Day & Saturday Delivery
Next working day delivery is available to UK Mainland customers at £7.00 for order placed before 3.30pm. Saturday delivery is available at £10 for order placed by 3.30pm.


text:
The latest is that my ISP seems to relay a very few messages internally such that my ISP's ip address is the most recent in the e-mail header. This has caused a few non-spam messages to be trapped by the ip address filter when they were not actually spam.
Since my position is that false positives should not be tolerated, not even one, and it has happened at least twice, I am disabling the ip address filter. Ip address filtering might still work for you but my ISP has recently changed something that makes it unreliable for me.
I recently implemented a new filter for specific subject text. I did this to trap the high number of e-mails with pdf attachments, usually stock tips. The file extension filter didn't seem to be able to stop them. Filtering using a text file containing text from subject lines has work well, at least for now (until they read this).
In the last four days the subject filter has trapped 46 e-mails out of 422 (all spam) while the spam address filter only caught 17. The SpamEntire filter caught 157 so losing the ip address filter will not result in too many additional messages getting through. A little more diligence with the other filters will probably make up the difference.


text:
Book Direct with the Owner at Winkleigh Australia with Accommodation Sunshine Coast Agent Winkleigh, for all your adventures and things to do.
Address: Main Road, Exeter TAS 7275
Address: 124 Main Road, Exeter TAS 7275
Address: 150 Hjorts Road Loira, Loira TAS 7275
Address: Foreshore Drive, Deviot TAS 7275
Address: 81 Main Road, Exeter TAS 7275
copyright © 2020 Accommodation Sunshine Coast. All rights reserved.


text:
The Fort Worth police department thanked the public for praying for two officers wounded while responding to a suicide call on Friday night.
Rookie Officer Ray Azucena suffered a minor injury when he was shot in his bullet-prood vest. He was treated and released. He just graduated from the Fort Worth Police Academy in July.
Officer Xavier Serrano, an eight-year veteran of the force, is in stable condition at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth pending further surgery for his gunshot wounds to his upper torso, arms and shoulder.
U.S. & World
The day's top national and international news.
Officer Serrano has his family and fellow officers by his side at JPS hospital, while investigators are untangling a tragic family drama that left two officers injured and a father and son dead.
It doesn't take long for a quiet neighborhood to turn to a crime scene.
"It was really scary the whole time," said Meaghan Helms.
She and her family saw it happen Friday night, when their neighbor's home was suddenly surrounded.
"There were dozens of police officers in the front yard and around there," said Meaghan's husband Jason Helms.
Fort Worth Police originally responded to a call that someone was suicidal at Wharton and Woodway Drive. When they got there, an elderly man was shot dead in a bedroom.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office identified the man as 81-year-old Carl Fleece asn said he was shot in the head and the manner of death was homicide.
Another person in the home told police there was a "potential witness" in a shed out back. But when officers opened the shed doors, the man inside started firing.
"Officers did return fire, however two of our officers were hit," said Fort Worth Police Spokesman Sgt. Mark Povero.
Officer Azucena was shot once in his bullet-proof vest. He was treated and released from the hospital. Officer Xavier Serrano was shot multiple times but is now stable.
"I'm thankful that they're safe and alive," said Mr. Helms.
The SWAT team arrived to first try negotiating when the shooter in the shed. When he didn't respond, they tried releasing tear gas, before eventually going in to find the man was dead, police spokesman Officer Daniel Segura said.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's office identified the man as Fleece's son 55-year-old Martin Fleece and said he died of a gunshot wound to the head, the manner of death was ruled a suicide.
It's all hard for neighbors to take in. They describe the elderly couple who lived there as the kindest on the block.
"Everyone just has so many nice things to say about them. They would get our garbage cans from the street if we left them out too long," said Mrs. Helms. "Every week," added Mr. Helms. "If we made it past about 4:00 PM on Friday they'd bring them in for us. They were very nice people."
But they had a troubled adult son living with them.
"It was clear that the son was having some troubles. I wasn't sure what those were," said Mr. Helms.
Now as they wait for more answers, neighbors stand ready to support the family, especially the elderly woman who just lost her husband and son.
"Our prayers go out to her," said Mr. Helms. "Hopefully we'll be able to welcome her back into the neighborhood again at some point and she'll be making pies again at some point and we'll be having her over. But that's, I think, a little ways away."
Officer Segura said there had been at least two calls for disturbances involving a father and son at the address over the past two years, as well as one in 2012.
Neighbors showed NBC5 the father's Facebook page. It lists him as a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force, and says he also worked as an Associate Director of Operations for DFW Airport from 1974 to 1989.
His adult son has a lengthy criminal history and, according to neighbors, a history of drug abuse.
On Saturday afternoon, Mayor Betsy Price released the following statement to NBCDFW:
"As mentioned last evening, we are grateful for the incredible men and women on our police force that continually serve to protect the City of Fort Worth. After a long night, we are pleased that Officer Ray Azucena was released early this morning after being treated for wounds inflicted on him and Officer Xavier Serrano after responding to a suicide call from Wharton Drive. Officer Serrano is now in stable condition after receiving excellent top tier trauma care from the medical professionals at JPS hospital.
"We are incredibly thankful for the strong community support for our police officers and their families. As a compassionate and strong community, we will continue to equip our officers so they can provide the best protection in the country as we pursue excellence in community policing. Genuine thanks are extended to all who reach out in times when our officers need them the most."
Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald released the following statement:
"Last night, our Fort Worth police officers faced the nightmare that each of us dreads, yet they responded with honor and courage to resolve a very dangerous situation. In doing so, Officers Serrano and Azucena were injured, but their prognosis is very good and they are both expected to make a full recovery from their wounds and a return to their job of protecting and serving our citizens. Officer Azucena was released from the hospital this morning and is currently recovering alongside his family.
"Officer Serrano has a longer road to recovery and remains at JPS Hospital where he is undergoing additional treatment and testing. He is lucid, and has immediate (and police) family by his bedside. The incident on Wharton is yet another reminder of the danger that police officers face daily.
"Although our duties have become more difficult over the last year, we continue to serve our communities with the pride and professionalism that you have come to expect in Fort Worth. It is important to reinforce that, in these trying times, both officers are especially thankful for the massive outpouring of support and the remainder of our department cherishes it more than we could ever express. The colleagues who extricated both injured officers while being fired upon, members of tactical teams, negotiators, and incident command staff who resolved this very dangerous situation, also deserve our thanks."
"Their courage under very stressful conditions demonstrated our commitment to the people we serve, and it is a privilege to serve alongside them."
If you would like to donate to a fund for the officers medical issues, click on this sentence for a link to the Assist The Officer Foundation Fort Worth organization.


text:
Gayle King says there is no truth to the rumors she and Oprah are more than just best friends.
At Monday night's Glamour Women of the Year Awards in New York City, Gayle told Access Hollywood she hadn't heard Rosie O'Donnell's recent comments on radio that Oprah and Gayle are the "emotional equivalent" of a gay couple, but she was happy to shoot them down anyway.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Oprah Winfrey
"The thing [is], if we were gay, we would tell you," Gayle said. "We would so tell you. We wouldn't try to keep that a secret because there's nothing wrong with being gay. So if we were, we would tell you. The truth of the matter is we're not. It's hard enough for me to get a date on a Saturday night as it is. This isn't a rumor I'm trying to continue to explore, but no there's nothing, there's nothing wrong with it."
As previously reported on AccessHollywood.com, Rosie made an appearance on Howard Stern's Sirius XM Show late last month, and when asked about why she thought there are rumors that Oprah and Gayle are in a lesbian relationship, Rosie said it was because they are close.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: The Latest Star Sightings
"I don't know. I think [Oprah's] never been married and she's exceptionally close to Gayle," Rosie said. "I don't know that she and Gayle are necessarily doing each other but I think they are the emotional equivalent of…"
"A gay couple," Howard chimed in.
"When they did that road trip, that's as gay as it gets," Rosie said. "And I don't mean it to be an insult either. I'm just saying, listen, if you ask me, that's the couple."
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Gay & Lesbian Hollywood
But Gayle said she really doesn't mind that there is a discussion about her relationship with Ms. O.
"I love that question," Gayle told Access. "That never bothers me because it's so silly."
Related Content from AccessHollywood.com:
PLAY IT NOW: Gayle King: Oprah & I Are Not Gay!
PLAY IT NOW: Gayle King Talks 2009 Inauguration Plans
MORE ACCESS ON THESE TOPICS: Gayle King - Oprah Winfrey - LGBT - Rumors - TV


text:
Goodness gracious: What would Maggie Smith's Lady Violet say about this?
Stephen Colbert was mighty miffed that Michelle Obama pulled some first lady-esque strings and was able to score an advance copy of Downton Abbey's third season, which is still set to air stateside on Jan. 6.
So the satirist, who has yet to watch the new season himself, did the next best thing: He decided to send up the series with his own version!
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
But, true to form, the wry funnyman put his own spin on the spoof, mashing up the hit period drama with Breaking Bad to create--drumroll, please--Breaking Abbey!
Michelle Obama scores a Downton Abbey perk: an advance copy of season three
In a coup of sorts, he was even able to nail down plum appearances by a trio of Downton dudes: Hugh Bonneville, Jim Carter and Rob James-Collier.
We won't spoil anything for you, but this much we can say: Who knew that blue-blooded "meth" production (by way of "the black chamomile crank," no less) could be so...genteel.
Here's hoping that President Barack Obama scores an advance copy of Homeland--this way, Colbert &Co. can bring us the inevitable mashup: Modern Homeland! Can't wait to see Sofia Vergara take on Claire Danes!
Downton Abbey is a Golden Globe contender! Check out 2013's notable nominees


text:
Ok, I have a problem where: given two dates and a frequency, a list of dates are returned in that range based on that frequency.
The dates are formatted mm/dd/yyyy where leading zeros are not included.
The frequency is formatted in one of 3 ways:
1) Daily - Occurs every day of week
2) X... - Occurs every day of week except the dates after the X
3) ... - Occurs only on the days indicated
The days in the frequency are determined by a number, ranging 1 to 7 where 1 is Monday and 7 is Sunday. So, the frequency X6 would say: "Every day except Saturday" and the frequency 126 would say: "Only on Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday".
Now, to accomplish this task, I have a method that returns a List<Date>. Inside that method, I have a boolean array of 7 where each index is a day of the week (where Monday is index 0). I then set the booleans true/false based on the frequencies. After that, I compute each day in the range and check its Day Of Week to see if it is in the frequency. If it is, I add it to my List<Date>, if not, I exclude it. Here is my code for that method:
public List<Date> getDates(String star,String end,String frequency) { //Where frequencies[0] == Monday boolean[] frequencies = new boolean[7]; if(frequency.equalsIgnoreCase("Daily")) { for(int i=0;i<frequencies.length;i++) { frequencies[i]=true; } } else if(frequency.contains("X") || frequency.contains("x")) { for(int i=0;i<frequencies.length;i++) { frequencies[i] = true; } String n = frequency.substring(1); for(int i=0;i<n.length();i++) { int v = Integer.parseInt(n.substring(i,i+1)); frequencies[v-1] = false; } } else { for(int i=0;i<frequency.length();i++) { int v = Integer.parseInt(frequency.substring(i,i+1)); frequencies[v-1] = true; } } String[] eSplit = star.split("/"); String[] dSplit = end.split("/"); Date d1 = new Date(Integer.parseInt(eSplit[2]),Integer.parseInt(eSplit[0])-1,Integer.parseInt(eSplit[1])); Date d2 = new Date(Integer.parseInt(dSplit[2]),Integer.parseInt(dSplit[0])-1,Integer.parseInt(dSplit[1])); List<Date> dates = new ArrayList<Date>(); long interval = 1000 * 60 * 60 * 24; long endTime = d2.getTime(); long curTime = d1.getTime(); while (curTime <= endTime) { Date temp = new Date(curTime); Calendar check = new GregorianCalendar(temp.getYear(), temp.getMonth(), temp.getDate()); check.setFirstDayOfWeek(Calendar.MONDAY); int dayOfWeek = check.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_WEEK); if(frequencies[dayOfWeek-1]) dates.add(new Date(curTime)); curTime += interval; } return dates; }
The problem I am having is that the dates it returns are incorrect. Specifically, it would seem it is 1 day early and for some it doesn't even find dates. For example, for in restriction of:
1/4/2011 to 2/16/2011 for 6:
it returns:
while it should return:
Another example is that for the restriction of:
12/21/2010 to 1/3/2011 for 6:
it returns:
while it should return:
Any clues as to what is happening? I need to figure this out fairly quickly.