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Romance, schmomance!
Though Ryan Lochte has been in talks with reality-dating shows like "The Bachelor" and "Ready for Love," NBC confirms the next TV gig he's chosen has nothin' to do with love (in real life, anyway): The Olympic swimming superstar will be making an appearance on the final season of "30 Rock."
Is Ryan Lochte Getting His Own E! Reality Show?
U.S. & World
Oh, and you can totally thank E! for making this cameo happen. Because the ultra-busy Lochte is in New York this week covering Fashion Week for E! News (weeknights at 7 p.m.), so he was able to squeeze in the "30 Rock" gig. Lochte films his cameo Thursday. NBNo other details are available at this time.
Along with serving as special E! News fashion correspondent, and cozying up to Tina Fey, Lochte will be guest starring on the CW's "90210."
Up next, he will be starting up his own TV network called All Lochte All The Time. OK, not really. But clearly we haven't seen the last of him!
Tune into E! News at 7 pm all this week to see how Lochte's Speedo expertise serves him at New York Fashion Week.


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It got me to looking around online and it seems like a simple parsons table all in the same material is hard to find. If you want a steel base with a stone top thats no problem. Same for chrome and glass. But it doesn't seem like anyone is offering anything in all wood.
Room and Board has the Brooklyn console in lacquered steel, which isn't bad. I like steel, and I like the solid sides. I can't decide if I like the little rolled foot on the bottom. It reads vaguely asian so you'd think I would, but I'm just not sure. Happily there's plenty of time to look and think. Still, it looks like a good deal for $449.
I also liked Room and Board's Align console. Stained bamboo wouldn't be my first choice of material, but it's got great lines. That spot between the top and the drawers is just screaming for a couple stacks of big books.Crate and Barrel used to offer nearly this same thing, only without the drawers. I remember it along with a matching bench you could slide under, but they seem to be long gone.

subset: commoncrawl


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NH: Redhook Brewery Fined, Electrical PPE Issues
Portsmouth, NH — The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued citations to the owner of Redhook Ale Brewery in Portsmouth after a six-month investigation into the accidental death of an employee.
A 26-year-old brewery worker was fatally injured in April when a plastic beer keg he was cleaning with pressurized air exploded, striking him in the head and chest.
Craft Brew Alliance (CBA), the parent company of Redhook, now faces a combined $63,500 in fines from OSHA in connection with the accident, as well as workplace safety issues noted during subsequent inspections of Redhook's brewery at Pease Tradeport. OSHA investigators have concluded the brewery's keg washing equipment was operating at a pressure that exceeded the maximum threshold recommended by the manufacturer of the plastic keg when it exploded on the morning of April 24. CBA was issued three citations on Monday, following OSHA's lengthy probe into the industrial accident.
The first citation was issued in connection with the keg accident, and it includes a pair of "serious" violations. A serious violation is one that "could cause an accident or illness that would most likely result in death or serious physical harm, unless the employer did not know or could not have known of the violation," according to information available from OSHA. OSHA investigators allege Redhook employee Ben Harris, the Newington man killed in the accident, was exposed to hazards while he was "over pressurizing a plastic keg" with the keg washer. The violation carries a $7,000 penalty. The keg involved in the accident was not owned by Redhook or any other brewery under the CBA umbrella. It was delivered to Redhook in error as part of a delivery of empty keg returns. CBA has indicated that Harris was emptying the keg in order to stack it on a pallet, in a manner "substantially identical" to the process the brewery has used for years without incident. The manufacturer of the plastic keg that exploded is not identified in the OSHA citation, which indicates the keg had a maximum recommended pressure level of 60 pounds per square inch (psi). Redhook's keg washing equipment was exceeding that level, according to the citation. It was also exceeding the maximum recommended pressure of Franke steel kegs, the citation states. Steel kegs are commonly rated at a maximum working pressure of 60 psi as well, industry expert Jeff Gunn told Foster's last week during a discussion of keg design.
In a statement issued to Foster's Tuesday evening, Craft Brew Alliance noted that it did not willfully violate workplace safety standards, and said the issues raised in the citations have already been addressed.
"The Portsmouth brewery uses compressed air to push waste beer out of returned kegs prior to washing and filling," the statement reads. "The brewery believes it was operating safely because it has historically washed and filled only stainless steel beer kegs without incident. Redhook had never worked with plastic beer kegs at the time of the accident and has implemented policies to ensure that plastic kegs are not processed. Additionally, Redhook has installed pressure reducing and pressure relief devices to ensure that no incoming keg is exposed to pressure in excess of 60 psi."
On Sunday, Foster's reported that some microbrewery owners across the country are beginning to cast a wary eye toward plastic kegs in light of the tragedy at Redhook.
The Brewers Association, one of the largest trade groups representing microbrewers in the country, has also received numerous reports from members about failures of plastic kegs.
All of those reports involve products manufactured by a California company called Plastic Kegs America, Brewers Association director Paul Gatza said last week.
Since the accident at Redhook, Foster's has learned of at least four breweries around the country where plastic kegs have exploded while being cleaned in a pressurized keg washer. In each instance, the breweries were using products manufactured by Plastic Kegs America.
In each instance, the kegs separated at the center seam, where two pieces of plastic that form the keg come together.
CBA has indicated that the April 24 explosion that killed Harris split the keg around the middle seam where the two halves were joined.
In August, an unidentified brewery also submitted a report to the Consumer Product Safety Commission detailing explosions of two plastic kegs, with photographic evidence. Both were manufactured by PKA, according to the report.
OSHA has not released its full report on the circumstances behind the Redhook accident, and the manufacturer of the plastic keg that exploded has not been identified publicly.
An OSHA spokeswoman indicated Tuesday that the report will not become a public record until Craft Brew Alliance has been allowed to view it.
Plastic Kegs America has declined to answer questions regarding the accident at Redhook until after the OSHA report is made public.
Among microbrewers, the Redhook incident has also raised questions regarding what manufacturing standards apply to pressure vessels that hold beer. The Brewers Association is polling keg manufacturers to learn more about the domestic and international standards they utilize.
After concluding its investigation at Redhook, OSHA also cited CBA for a variety of other issues not related to the keg washing equipment.
In one case, OSHA assessed CBA a $6,000 penalty for storing oxygen and acetylene in proximity to each other.
A second citation lists 14 more "serious" workplace safety violations. In one example, Redhook allegedly failed to properly anchor a pedestal grinder in the maintenance shop to a fixed location, landing a $3,000 fine.
In another instance, employees were welding stainless steel containing chromium and the employer did not determine their potential exposure to chromium, according to the citation.
Six of the violations were corrected while federal inspectors were still visiting Redhook, the citation indicates. Another eight were awaiting corrective action when the citations were issued on Oct. 22. They have deadlines for action ranging from Oct. 23 to Dec. 5.
A third citation includes six low-level violations, classified as "other than serious." Infractions included in the category include things like, "Label on drum of iodine was not legible," and "blue rubber insulating gloves used during electrical testing/troubleshooting inside panel boards (up to 240 volts) were not tested." None carry a fine.


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"Haunting, lyrical, entirely absorbing, Sweeping Up Glass deserves a place on the shelf next to classics like True Grit and To Kill a Mockingbird."—O, The Oprah Magazine
"Carolyn D. Wall has created an engaging character in Olivia Harker and a complex and densely interconnected community in Aurora, Kentucky. Her evocative prose recalls the regional style of such authors as Flannery O'Connor, Harper Lee, and Eudora Welty."—Mystery Scene
"Wall gives her heroine a powerful voice in this haunting debut."—Kirkus Reviews
"A real stunner, with plot and characters the like of which you've never seen."—MLB News
"Highly recommended for all collections." —Library Journal, starred review
"This is a perfect little book, like a head-on collision between Flannery O'Connor and Harper Lee, with a bit of Faulkner on a mystery binge. I loved every page of it."—Joe R. Landsdale, Edgar-award winner
"A powerful novel…features unforgettable characters placed in a terrifying situation….this is a fine novel which deserves a wide audience."—Mystery News
"The strong, fresh narrative voice pulls the reader in and doesn't let go in Wall's stunning debut." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
"The suspense is gripping, the danger is very real, and the reader gets caught up in Wall's powerful, moving debut." —Library Journal, starred review
"This debut novel does so much more than traditional, tightly focused mysteries. It has a powerfully, sometimes uncomfortably, realized setting; characters who seem drawn from life; and a wide-ranging plot, bursting with complications…A gripping story and a truly original voice." —Booklist
"This extraordinary debut novel…is filled with arresting images, bitter humor, and characters with palpable physical presence. The fresh voice of that clear-eyed narrator reminded me of Scout in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. I literally could not put it down." —Boston Globe


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Deflation watch: Kabocha
The main story at the heart of Abenomics as far as the Japanese media is concerned is that Japanese exporters are making more money since the Liberal Democratic Party regained power. Secondarily, energy costs are rising thanks to a related increase in the dollar against the yen, not to mention imported wheat prices, which affect all sorts of processed foods in Japan. Many food-related manufacturers started raising prices on July 1 as a result.
So far, the price of imported fresh produce hasn't been affected that much. Last year we reported on the very low price of bananas due to specific circumstances, and since then the price has gone up quite a bit owing to a typhoon that destroyed much of the Philippines' crop. However, the prices of other fruits and vegetables that tend to be imported in large amounts haven't changed significantly. If anything, some local produce may have come down in price and thus become more competitive, notably kabocha, the Japanese style of pumpkin, often called buttercup squash in English.
Kabocha is grown in Japan but is mainly available in the fall and early winter. During the rest of the year it is imported mainly Mexico and New Zealand, but also from New Caledonia and South Korea. Demand is so strong that Japanese companies have been running farms in these countries for almost 20 years to grow kabocha exclusively. New Zealand first started exporting the vegetable to Japan in 1988. Actually, China, India and Russia produce much more pumpkin and other types of squash but the kind they grow is not necessarily popular here. (Also, there seems to be some issue with China's use of agrichemicals.) Japanese prefer a strain referred to as kuri-kabocha, which is drier.
Normally, the price of Japanese kabocha is two to three times that of the imported kind. In April at the Tokyo Central Produce Market, domestic kabocha was going for ¥356 per kg, while foreign kabocha was only about ¥97. However, lately the price of Japanese kabocha has come down to almost even with foreign kabocha, which is a remarkable drop. Last week at our local supermarket kabocha from Mexico was only a little less expensive than kabocha grown in Ibaraki Prefecture. It's not clear if this is due to higher import prices because of the rising dollar or just that the domestic product is suddenly cheaper. It's probably both, since Japanese farmers have to contend with Mexican kabocha almost year-round now that there are two growing seasons for kabocha in Mexico.
Also, kabocha, once a standard item in the Japanese diet, lost popularity some years ago and seems to be making a big comeback now among health-conscious families — kabocha contains more calcium than milk does — so farmers are producing as much as they can, thus bringing the price down.


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Black Milk - Give The Drummer Sum
Detroit's rising hip hop star Black Milk dropped his new album TRONIC on Fat Beats Records on October 28 with guests like Pharoahe Monch, Dwele, and DJ Premier.
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While many may view Instagram as simply a photo-sharing app (that is, after all, what it is), I love that I have actually made a handful of connections on there – whether it's finding a new person through comments or through something of theirs that someone else has shared – and I love it even more when that person happens to live in my town.
Rosaura Unangst, 26, lives in Midtown in Sacramento and runs Pigment and Parchment, her hand lettering and watercolor business. She designs for weddings, graduations, babies and more. She also sells prints and holds watercolor and lettering workshops in her studio in Midtown and around California. I am so happy to be sharing just a little bit of her story today.
What inspired you to start hand lettering, when did you first get into it? I've hand lettered since pre-school! I dabbled a bit in graffiti style in high school (mainly due to a big crush I had on a very talented artist named Vlad) but I think when I was 19 and a sign artist at Trader Joe's that's the first time I really started upping my game.
How do you best manage everything with your caretaking job and personal life? There's no perfect balance. That's a myth. It's all a work in progress and correcting when any one thing is taking over too much time. In the past year or so I've been a lot kinder to myself and allowed myself to accept I can't do it all and that's ok. Instead I focus on what I have accomplished and that leaves me feeling more empowered to haul ass again the next day!
What do you do if you need to unwind? I mindfully do dishes (warm water & I splurge on the good smelling soap from Method), errands (surprising but they get me out of the house and walking around while not completely taking a break from life- two birds one stone!), play board games & go watch art house films with my husband Nathan.
Who are your biggest inspirations? My contemporaries- Katie Daisy, Lisa Congdon, Emily McDowell, Anna Rifle Bond & Molly Jaques. Talk about a power house of kick ass women. Earlier Inspiration- Frida Kahlo, Judy Garland, Vincent Van Gogh, Mid Century Design, Old Musicals
Favorite books on creative lettering? The bible is Creative Lettering by Jenny Doh (which I'm contributing to the sequel!! EEK!) Modern Calligraphy is a good resource too. I've got a few others but honestly just absorbing lettering from back when all advertising was done without the use of computers is where a lot of inspiration of creative lettering comes from.
Best/scariest thing about running your own creative business? The best part is I know I'm doing the thing that I'm best at. I am contributing to culture. Art is connecting to humanity on a level that strips away all the bullshit. The scariest part used to be not being seen as having a real job by lots of people- but now that I've made my peace with that I'd say the scary part is probably dealing with all the businessy stuff. I am learning, I am figuring it out slowly but surely but it doesn't come naturally to me
Favorite thing about what you do? There is a certain pride and joy when you make something from nothing. To sum up & show off my musicals nerdiness- "The opposite of war isn't peace. It's creation." (Johnathan Larson- Rent) Art connects you to other humans on a level nothing else can reach.
What has been one of your favorite projects/commissions that you have worked on? Oh that's a tough one. A full room Peter Pan mural always had a special place in my heart. I've always encouraged people to never grow up.
Best business advice you've received? Be yourself. Be authentic. Cuss if you want to. (Thanks Carmen & Dena!)
What kind of projects do you hope to work on next? Custom wedding suites that really tell the story of the couple. I'd love to do some more murals- it's been a while but it's like riding a bike. I'm bringing back the funky portraits I used to do- some of those would be fun!
Dream place to host a workshop? India. I'd want to cohost and start with someone teaching us the process of learning about pigment and making dyes and paint, then end with using the paint and/or dyes we just made to create art! Essentially the 'farm to fork' version of a workshop.
What advice do you have for people who are just starting their creative businesses? Be careful with spending a lot of time looking at what other people are creating. Of course you have to a bit to get a feel for what people are buying, charging and what's already out there so you're not offering the exact same thing. BUT! If you feel yourself being too influenced by other people's styles or tastes and that starts to overpower your own aesthetic it's time to unplug the computer and get back to your roots and your own eye. You'll never please everyone. Own it. The people who like your style will like you that much more for not being the same as the mainstream offering.
You can find out more about Rosaura Unangst and Pigment and Parchment by visiting her website, where she has a schedule of her workshops, links to her social media accounts (like her super cool Instagram) and details on her design services and pricing. She has printables for sale in her Etsy shop and her next workshops are in Santa Cruz on the 26th. There will also be a hand lettering workshop in Sacramento on the 31st.


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If cupcakes purely had an aesthetic function and were not designed for eating, I'd perhaps have less of a problem with them. After all, they do look so pretty. All those lovely pinks and powdery blues, and twinkly sprinkles and pure indulgent frothiness. As the girl whose ex-colleague one day turned round out of the blue, after I'd come in wearing yet another floral frock, and said to me, 'If you were a shop, you'd be Cath Kidston' (I was mortified and kinda pleased in equal measure), it would be churlish not to confess to a certain affinity for all things comforting and nostalgic and lovely and girlie and escapist. After years in jeans, these days I only do dresses. I do spend an unhealthy amount of time fantasising about tea cups and teapots. Afternoon tea is my favourite meal of the day. And, yes, I count it as a meal. A day without tea and cake at some point in the day is a sad one indeed. I have watched the Great British Bake-Off unironically.
But tastewise I'm just not keen. For cupcakes patently taste awful. . They reek of awful cloying overwhelming sweetness, the kind that sets teeth on edge, with the icing-to-sponge ratio far too generous in the former and lacking in the latter. Give me a good old-fashioned fairy cake with a blob of icing and a decent buttery base any day of the week.
But more than the mere taste, it's what cupcakes have come to represent that I can't bear. Their representation of a certain kind of awful Sex and the City-spawned female indulgence. They are sickly in every sense of the word. I know I'm clearly not alone in this, as the anti-cupcake movement/cupcake backlash has been going for quite some time now.
It's also as if there's a truth universally acknowledged that every women's latent cupcake gene springs into action once she becomes a mother. That while you might have previously been the kind of woman who subsisted on KFC buckets and Gregg's sandwiches, or liked to read The Economist, and only had the vaguest acquaintance with lighting the oven, the minute you have a baby you'll find yourself flouncing into the kitchen in a floral pinnie to rustle up some some butter icing, clearing the cake decoration aisle in Waitrose and spending £300 on a KitchenAid (a contraption that basically does what people have been doing for centuries with a whisk, wooden spoon and a basin bowl, only without the ensuing tendonitis afterwards).
How many new mothers start doomed cupcake-making businesses? How many flyers for cake stalls, and children's birthday cake makers are there in your local coffee shop? How many times have you bought a cupcake (and some them cost £3.50-plus each), then felt distinctly queasy before you're halfway done?
I have a confession, however: though I hate cooking, I do like to make cakes. I like to make them, even though I'm totally rubbish at it. I like the fact that you have to follow a recipe to the letter, as I find going off piste from any recipe at all unnecessarily stressful and unsettling.
Even so, despite the following-to-a letter, my cakes still generally burn, collapse, crumble, are raw in the middle and singed at the edges, or have a distinct teeth-cracking, rock-like consistency. I never EVER remember what time I put them in the oven. If they're initially undercooked I inevitably put them back in and then end up leaving them too long so they burn anyway. They taste of disappointment. They are the embodiment of failed ambition, of slovenly domesic ungoddessness,
They never look remotely like the picture and often they're not taste sweet enough, because I'll get to the cupboard and realise that I don't have one of the ingredients and as I'm too lazy to go the supermarket, I'll substitute with the wrong kind of sugar (which might work with a curry, but not with a cake, which is all about the science of proportions or so I am led to believe).
I have woefully inaccurate scales and basically just none of the right equipment or Nigella-friendly accoutrements – Bundt tins, icing bags, spatulas, proper vanilla essence, those funny little gold and silver balls. I don't even have a cooling rack. And I can't decorate to save my life – I just find myself getting insanely bored and impatient while I'm doing it, making even basic icing sugar, which as we all know any 3-year-old can manage (my icing is always without fail way too runny and thin, like a very cheap paper glue, or mortar-like like an unpleasant yeast infection). I even manage to fuck up those supermarket fairy cake kits where all you need to do is chuck in an egg and stir, while you give your child the fleeting illusion that yes, mummy can cook actually. (A Halloween kit for bat-shaped biscuits by Dr Oetker last year moved both me and my son to tears as the pastry refused time and time again to stick together and roll out. God, I felt like a failure.)
Recently, I had a crazy thought. I saw an ad for a cupcaking decorating class. For a split second, I seriously considered going along, overcoming my phobia of using palette knives, and getting creative with some lovely pastel combinations of sprinkles and buttercream.
Then fortunately my sanity returned. I thought about the cupcakes stands you now get in corporate environments like Westfield Stratford. And I realised I'd rather stab myself in the eye with a silver-plated pastry fork. I'm afraid to say I still can't endorse cupcakes in any shape or form


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When a film begins with Franco Nero as a blue-eyed Jesus telling a story to a bunch of bald children in white robes, it suggests two things: first, the director has an eye for startling imagery; and second, he's as loony as Ed Wood.
Nearly 35 years after Michael J. Paradise's film descended on the world, arousing a wave of incredulity, awe, laughter, and indifference, it returns to the Brattle Theatre — fully restored and with additional, even more inexplicable footage — to wow cult fans, connoisseurs of the absurd, and cinephiles intrigued by the evolution of the sci-fi and horror genres in the '70s and '80s.
However apt the comparison might be, Paradise does differ from Wood in a couple of significant ways. Like, casting – Wood might have bagged Bela Lugosi for "Plan 9 from Outer Space" (1959), but Paradise boasts enough faded Hollywood glory to fill every seat on "Hollywood Squares." The great auteur John Huston, for example, plays Jerzy Colsowicz, one of Jesus's homeys and a super-being of some kind on a mission to planet Earth to rid it of 8-year-old devil child Katy Collins (Paige Conner). As he arranges rows of lights for a landing strip on top of an Atlanta skyscraper (this will make no more sense in context) attended by a bunch of bald guys in track suits (baldness – a motif!), Huston's look of wry knowingness suggests he's thinking, "This check will help pay for 'Wise Blood' (1979)!"
Katy, however, is well connected. Her mother, Barbara (Joanne Nail), is cozy with Raymond Armstead (Lance Henriksen), the owner of a basketball team (allowing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to make a cameo) backed by a mysterious cabal of powerful men sitting around a conference table. For helping him buy up an all-star squad of players, they expect Armstead to impregnate Barbara with another devil child. Apparently one is not enough, probably because Katy spends her time talking trash, playing with her sinister pet raptor (the Maltese Falcon?), and practicing gymnastics. But then "accidents" happen, which attract the attention of Glenn Ford as a detective. Shelley Winters also drops by as a housekeeper and greets each weird development by singing an eerie rendition of "Shortnin' Bread." And I haven't even mentioned Sam Peckinpah's turn as Barbara's ex-husband, a bitter doctor working in an inner city clinic.
More to the point, Paradise differs from Wood in his lack of innocence; anyone who can pack this many movie allusions into 108 minutes is no babe in the woods. Indeed, he had a lot to draw on, because "The Visitor" arrived at the height of a sci-fi and horror film revival, when "serious" directors — ranging from Roman Polanski in 1968 with "Rosemary's Baby" to Steven Spielberg in 1977 with "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" — embraced genre conventions and made them their own.
Paradise stole from them all. But unlike these directors, his ambition was coupled with delusional ineptitude. Luckily for him and the film world, low-budget Italian producers were also thriving at this time, and one of them, Ovidio G. Assonitis of "Super Stooges vs. Wonder Woman" (1974) fame, put up the money for Paradise's vision.
Perhaps Assonitis, too, was unprepared for the director's moments of unlikely genius, such as the montage in which Katy vaults the parallel bars as her mother spins frantically in a wheelchair. That, and some mind-blowing, tacky images reminiscent of Alejandro Jodorowsky, make this a welcome, if wacko, "Visitor."
Peter Keough can be reached at email@example.com.


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Artificial Intelligence Insights
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What could your company achieve if every interaction with technology were intelligent?
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Break through the barriers to scaling AI and follow our roadmap to maximize the ROI of your AI projects.
A landmark study of C-suite leaders around the world outlines the three critical success factors for scaling AI.
The promise of AI is within reach. Read about the steps to achieve AI success and get the most out of your investments.
Explore the top tech trends that redefine the intersection between people and technology.
This guide aims to give you an understanding of AI's game-changing capabilities and economic impacts.
Learn about how you can get started with AI when determining future risks and returns is difficult.
Get up to speed with insights, reports and guides
AI is only as smart as the insights that fuel it. Learn about how to unlock powerful analytics insights by tapping into data you didn't even know you had.
A new family of Privacy Preserving Computation techniques allow data sharing with trust and security. Learn how this unlocks new opportunities.
New, external sources can improve the accuracy of AI and offer valuable insights. Learn more.
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Explore three ways AI is augmenting decision-making for CFOs and expanding their roles.
AI projects can create demand for expertise you might not expect or have available on hand. Learn how to plan for these potential skills shortfalls.
Many companies and their employees are reaping the benefits of intelligent automation (IA), a technology that processes large amounts of information to let people do higher-value work.
To build algorithms responsibly, we need to pay close attention to potential discrimination or unintended but harmful consequences.
Knowing A.I. can be both powerful and at times unpredictable, how do you responsibly govern A.I. without stifling innovation?
As AI expands into areas with large impact on people, such as health care, it will be critical to subject the technology to greater human scrutiny.


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I'm not sure what you'd call this series. The Powerpuff Women sounds...weird. But whatever they'd call it, if it were real, I'd watch it.
Artist Stanley Lau - who we've featured on Kotaku before for his Street Fighter work - calls them the Power Puffing Ladies. That could work.
The Powerpuffs?
Power Puffing Ladies [Stanley Lau, via ALBOTAS]


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The psychology of server naming
One of the more hotly debated topics among sysadmins is what to name servers. Some people use this as an outlet for their creativity or pop culture references. Servers named after Lord of the Rings characters, super heros, greek mythology abound. There's a strong push from those of us who have moved past the 'clever' phase of our careers to name machines in logical consistent manners. web0X, db0Y, rackXpduY, all get bandied around and are debated with often the same fervor as Vim vs Emacs (vim for the record). The truth, sadly is that all the good names are taken ™©®. The grizzled veterans who've done time on a VAX will exclaim, "This naming scheme is crap, lets just use IPs, they are immutable." Well for one they are wrong, ips are not immutable. Take a look at EC2, have fun with that. Second humans are bad at remembering numbers, 10 digits is the longest number most people can retain (why phone numbers are that length) and usually not for very long.
Names also provide a very important psychological edge for our poor meat brains. Names allow us to recall information in a similar way that a key allows you to recall information from a database. A message from your alert system saying 'Alert gandalf.example.com is DOWN!' would (in theory) trigger something in your memory. Gandalf is a wizard, that's the master DNS server! This key isn't as good as a more meaningful name but it's a key none the less. I prefer names which are functional and overload information into the rest of the domain. proxy01.atl.example.com tells me very quickly this is a proxy server, it's one of a multinode cluster, likely load balanced, and is located in Atlanta. All of this allows me to asses the situation at hand faster. All of the pertinent details should be written down in a wiki, or some other document source, but the naming gives me a fast way to access that without having to go look it up. 126.96.36.199 is DOWN only tells me something is broken, not how important, how impacting or anything about it. Maybe that's a dev box or 1 node in a 40 node cluster, but I don't know that (unless I just memorize it which stresses the meat brain) until I look it up.
Consistency is the key, I don't in general like 'clever' names not because they are unprofessional or silly, but because they only mean something to the person who came up with it. I know why I named the database 'pearl' (bonus points to anyone that guesses), but my other team members might not and likely that someone coming behind me wouldn't either. I'm a huge fan of code names and clever names for software / service names / etc just not machine names. Here are some of the conventions I use.
Multinode clusters are numbered 2 digit starting at 01.
10 servers in a web cluster, web01 – web10. Using 2 digit precision gives you 99 machines before you end up changing field sizes.
Short hostnames are the most common functional purpose.
Sometimes it's ok to call it a server and put more information into the sub domain. 'Web' in general sucks, it's too generic and means very little, what does it 'do'.
If you think they'll be more than one, name it 01.
Don't use a sequential numbering system for unrelated things.
If you have two webservers that serve different content/services/etc don't name them web01 / web02. This creates a logical grouping of those two machines which are not actually tied together from a service standpoint. I've heard of shared filesystems being named fs01, fs02, fs03, fs04, etc. They aren't related other than that they are all shared filesystems, why are you grouping them into something that looks like a cluster. People assume that 1 is related to 2 to 3 to 4. Put some thought into it and give it a name based on what it does or what's important about it.
Use A / B notation for duality relationships.
I name my netapp filers: filer01a / filer01b. They are both addressable services but provide failover for each other. There will never be a 'c' since netapp doesn't support wheel based failover. They are a matched set, so they are named as such. A vs B gives less cardinality than 1 vs 2 and that's a good thing.
Use subdomains in a consistent manner to produce a lightweight hierarchy of information.
proxy01.www.internal.nyc.example.com lets me denote physical location, security context (internal), content type (www), and functional purpose (proxy) all in one name. Granted this assumes a high degree of machine / service separation and may not work for everything, but you can use that name to store quickly accessible information.
Order is important, remember that.
In english we read left to right. Information is ordered in that direction as well. Put the thing you care about most (or quickest) to the left and less immediate information flows to the right). database01.hr.alt tells me it's a database (important!), it's part of a cluster (less important than being a db but still relevant), HR database (eeek will I get paid?!), and finally location which may not matter (alt is a backup site, I can deal with that later). Order frames your response into the correct context. database.atl.hr.clusternode1 tells me this machine is a database (important), in Atlanta (wait that's the dr site I might not care right away), it's HR (wait we don't have a primary b/c it died last week), and that it's a clusternode. Is this better or worse? Depends on the context, order is important.
The crux of the whole point is that names are useful things, humans name things not because they want to be clever but because it's an effective way to partition information about something without having to memorize it all. It comes down to the difference between knowing something and memorizing it. You design a convention and stick to that convention until it doesn't work, then you redefine that convention. The convention saves you time but only if everyone 'gets' the convention or it can be easily explained. If your convention is a complicated scheme involving lollipop guild chairmen's you are requiring the audience to have immediate intrinsic knowledge of Mid 1930's Judy Garland films, which is the same as asking them to look it up.


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What can we conclude about our form of government now that Congress has passed Obamacare? We are no longer a republic since this legislation violates the 10th Amendment. Further, we are not a democracy since the vast majority of our citizens are opposed this socialization of our medicine.
So, what's left?
Sadly, that leaves tyranny. The ruling elite has forced its will upon us, now only subjects. Bribes and
corruption have overcome the oaths of office and our Constitution. It looks like Good-by America, the land of the free.
Lawrence Burke


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Final rankings of the regular season. Finally moved Auburn up to No. 1 after their savage beating of South Carolina in the SEC title game.
1. Auburn (2) – 13-0 in the SEC is good enough to get my vote.
2. Oregon (1) – Not No. 1, but still in the national title game. I think the Ducks are OK with that.
3. TCU (3) – One spot out of the big enchilada for the second straight year. Get a trip to Pasadena out of it though.
4. Wisconsin (4) – Badgers play TCU in Rose.
5. Stanford (5) – Will Jim Harbaugh stay? That's the big question after a great year and an Orange Bowl bid.
6. Ohio State (6) – Buckeyes make yet another BCS bowl, playing Arkansas in the Sugar.
7. Michigan State (7) – Shame that UConn gets to go to the BCS while Sparty doesn't.
8. Arkansas (8) – Razorbacks look to extend Ohio State misery against the SEC.
9. Oklahoma (11) – Sooners hop up after winning the Big 12 for fourth time in five years.
10. Boise State (9) – From BCS to Las Vegas in a span of 10 days. Stinks for the Broncos.
11. LSU (12) – Tigers rekindle rivalry with Texas A&M in Cotton Bowl.
12. Nevada (14) – Wolfpack beat La. Tech to win surprise WAC championship.
13. Missouri (13) – Tigers have intriguing matchup with Iowa in the Insight Bowl.
14. Virginia Tech (15) – From a loss to James Madison to an undefeated ACC title and an Orange Bowl matchup with Stanford. Not bad Hokies.
15. Nebraska (10) – Huskers fall from possible BCS game to underwhelming Holiday Bowl with Washington.
16. Oklahoma State (16) – Cowboys to play slumping Arizona in Alamo Bowl.
17. Alabama (17) – Have intriguing matchup with Michigan State in Capital One Bowl.
18. Texas A&M (18) – Aggies looking for first bowl win since 2001.
19. Utah (22) – Utes move up thanks to the losses of others and gets Boise State in an intriguing Las Vegas Bowl.
20. South Carolina (19) – Gamecocks get killed, but don't get moved too far down.
21. Mississippi State (23) – Bulldogs play rare New Year's Day Bowl, getting Michigan in the Gator.
22. West Virginia (24) – Mountaineers end season on roll, get N.C. State in Champ Sports Bowl.
23. Florida State (20) – Seminoles draw South Carolina in Chick-Fil-A Bowl a.k.a. the conference title-game runner-up bowl.
24. Hawaii (25) – Warriors host Tulsa in Hawaii Bowl after a banner 10-3 season.
25. Central Florida (NR) – Conference USA champs move into rankings and get Georgia in Liberty Bowl.
Under consideration: Maryland, Navy, Tulsa
Dropped out: No. 21 Northern Illinois


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Labor Day is always a weekend filled with parties as everyone sadly bids adieu to summertime. With parties come guests and tastes that span. It is easy to take care of most guests, beer, soda, a mixed drink, but on occasion like this, breaking out an entire bottle of wine seems a bit much. Stack Wines has made life easy for Labor Day or any other party with their single serving wines.
Wine does not need to be enjoyed only during dinner at a fine restaurant and that is what makes Stack Wines special. Labor Day weekend is perfect for the pool, beach or any type of party you might throw. Almost any party unless it is a little more on the formal side, the issue with wine bottles and wine glasses always has to be in your decision making when it comes to time decide what to serve. No one wants to have busted glass at a poolside event or who wants to take glassware to tailgate? The option to go with Stack Wines makes serving wine at any party or any function a great alternative. Not only do you not have to worry about the glass, but you also don't have to worry about uncorking an entire bottle of wine only to see it go to waste as only a glass or two is consumed. And don't forget if you head to the beach or a football game and you forget your corkscrew, with Stack Wines you just unzip the package and pop your wine glasses apart, simple and easy.
Stack Wines co-founder Jodi Wynn felt that one of the biggest issues with Stack Wines is that people will think that the quality of the wine will not be on par with bottled wine. While some might have that opinion, that will quickly change with one tasting. All four flavors; Charisma, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Grigio, and Chardonnay are outstanding. You would be happy to enjoy all four flavors in any setting and any type of pairing that similar bottled wine flavors could be consumed with. The best way to convince yourself is by purchasing a simple package of four Stack Wines and have your own wine tasting, you won't be disappointed. The Charisma is a great way to get introduced to Stack Wines, a bit more mild of a wine, you are hit with the blackberry and blackcurrant jam that are combined nicely with the cedar to give you a wide range of flavors.
Stack Wines is great to help celebrate Labor Day, but it truly is the year-round convenient wine of choice. Tailgating, pool parties, even just last minute events that you just need a single pour; Stack Wines will make sure that any wine connoisseur in the crowd is overjoyed!
For more information on Stack Wines, visit: www.drinkstack.com


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NEW DELHI: Haldia in West Bengal, India, is to begin receiving LED installations on a major highway in the heart of the city, as part of an innovative global LED pilot project which is already underway in Kolkata and Thane.
Haldia Development Authority (HDA) will begin the 290 LED street light installations on the busy HPL link road later this month, and complete installation of all luminaries is expected by November 2011.
This main road is crucial to the industrial city, with large companies like Indian Oil Corporation, Reliance Industries, Haldia Petrochemicals and more, located on either side of it.
The road infrastructure is currently being developed, and a separate tender has been floated by HDA for installation of streetlight poles.
The Climate Group assisted the HDA in preparing the technical specifications of the LED tender document and undertook a technical evaluation of the bids that were received.
Total investment for the project is to the tune of $220,000 which is fully being borne by HDA. The tender to match the technical and financial specifications of the project was floated by HDA in June, and Crompton Greaves was identified as the preferred bidder.
After installation of the luminaries, periodic monitoring of the LED lights' performance will also be undertaken by The Climate Group.
Haldia joins a select group of leading global cities including Adelaide, Guiyang, Hong Kong, New York, London, Shanghai, Sydney, Tianjin and Toronto in launching the pilot as part of The Climate Group's global LightSavers program, which is funded by the HSBC Climate Partnership.
Before Haldia and Thane, India's first LED pilot was launched in Kolkata to test the performance of 273 LED installations, most of which have been installed in various spots around the city. The responses to the installations have been extremely positive; we quoted Kolkata resident Ashok Chakraborty in our Kolkata LED pilot story in April, where he said: "These streetlamps have not just lightened up the surroundings, but also our lives."
Similarly supportive remarks will surely soon be made in Haldia too, once the LED lights are installed in the city this month.
News: Sparking success: Kolkata LED pilot brightens lives
News: Thane is third Indian city to join LED project
Program: LED


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This week the General Services Administration chief resigned after it was reported that her office spent exorbitant sums of money on taxpayer-bankrolled conferences. One of the most excessive expenses: $4-a-shrimp appetizers.
Bill O'Reilly was outraged by the lavish spending-sprees. On his Fox News program, O'Reilly said that, despite his own personal fortune, he would never shell out cash for such an expensive item.
"When I walk into a place and see an outrageous price tag, I walk away," he said. "I'm not going to pay $4 for a shrimp—ever."
U.S. & World
Famous last words? Think again.
On Thursday's edition of "The Daily Show," Jon Stewart—also indignant over GSA's decadence—challenged O'Reilly to a game: "Can You Make Bill O'Reilly Pay $4 For A Shrimp?" Despite Stewart's generally antagonistic relationship with the conservative pundit, O'Reilly gamely played along via satellite feed.
Stewart prompted O'Reilly with a series of hypothetical scenarios.
Sample scenario: "Would you pay $4 for a shrimp if it were wrapped in a $10 bill—netting you a profit of $6?"
O'Reilly's response: "I would steal the $4 shrimp, and then donate it to the Occupy Wall Street folks so they know what the one-percenters eat."
The epic game escalated to absurdist heights—Stewart involved Adolf Hitler in one shrimp scenario—but you can guess who won the final round.
Check out the full clip—including Stewart's riffs on the GSA scandal—via Comedy Central:


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Stevens Alumnus Aims to Improve New Jersey Cities through Transit-Oriented Development
The collective desire to lead healthier lifestyles, enjoy open space, be rid of long and stressful commutes and sustain the environment have sparked a movement toward walkable cities, where people live in close proximity to stores, schools, jobs, parks and public transportation.
Stevens alumnus Michael Manzella '09 hopes to improve New Jersey's urban areas by making mass transit more effective, convenient and available in downtowns state-wide.
"Technical expertise in the city planning field is rare," said Manzella, who earned his B.E. in Engineering Management from Stevens in 2009. "People with an engineering background can really make a difference in our built environment, making transportation systems more effective."
Manzella will earn his master's degree in City and Regional Planning from the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University in the spring of 2014, with a concentration in Transportation Planning and Policy – an area where he already has significant professional experience. Recently, he completed an internship at NJ TRANSIT, the state's major public transportation system which operates bus, light rail and commuter rail services.
"I helped the director of transit-oriented development with the creation of a regional, sustainable transportation plan for New Jersey," Manzella said.
Manzella's interest in urban planning began at Stevens when he took a course on the history of metropolitan development which looked closely at the issue of sprawl in post-World War II U.S. cities.
"It was fascinating to learn about how America's cities have been built and grown and all of the inefficiencies that have developed over the decades," he said.
An engineering management major with strong computer engineering skills and a knack for people and project management, Manzella took a few years to settle into his ideal career path – but it wasn't for lack of the opportunity.
Despite graduating at the peak of the recession, Manzella secured a job a full semester before commencement at Hamilton Sundstrand (now UTC Aerospace Systems), where he had worked during his undergraduate years as a member of the Stevens Cooperative Education program.
"The economy was doing really poorly but I had a job lined up in fall of 2008 because my supervisors at Hamilton liked what I did during my Co-op assignment," he said.
At the time, Manzella's resume already impressed.
Through Co-op, he had professional experience in email support at Lehman Brothers, industrial engineering and logistics at UPS, and advanced aerospace project management at Hamilton Sundstrand.
His leadership skills also were clearly evident (he was president of the Student Government Association), as was his academic success (he received several scholarships and was a member of top honors societies.
Even his senior design project, improving traffic safety in Hoboken, hinted at his future calling.
"Stevens is extremely valuable in helping you find what you want to do and giving you a head start in the work force and getting the jobs you really want," said Manzella.
Manzella worked as a project manager on space vehicle, submarine and commercial aircraft product development teams for three years at Hamilton Sundstrand before deciding to pursue his master's and take the first steps toward his new career.
He said his Stevens education will make the transition easy.
"More so than any other school, Stevens exposes you to the larger issues and teaches you how to solve all facets of different, complex problems," he said. "There is a lot of opportunity to get knowledge and experience about how things actually work outside of the classroom and in the real world."


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What would happen at home?
February 19, 2012 in Uncategorized | Tags: %, 99.9, aa, access, afford, alcoholic, alcoholics, anger, anonymous, assessment, away, bed, bedroom, bedside, being, bigger, biggest, call, change, cheek, claimed, closer, computer, conclusion, contact, conversation, couch, counselor, course, crossed, crying, day, dealing, dealt, deck, definite, demons, depressed, door, doorway, drinking, drive, end, energy, entry, everything, exist, explain, face, family, financial, fix, friends, garage, go, God, golf, golf course, google, happen, happy, haunted, hearing, HELP, home, house, imagined, impress, information, insight, issues, kiss, last, lean, learned, lie, lifetime, loud, love, marriage, married, me, medical, mind, minutes, mom, morning, my, next, night, no, office, opinion, org, over, own, parents, people, perfect, person, pictures, planned, please, post, predicament, pretty, problem, question, reading, RECOGNIZE, Rob, sat, screen, sitting, situation, sleep, stand, staring, start, strength, talk, tell, think, thinking, thought, tough, website, worked, wow | Leave a comment
In my last post; you will recall the counselor told ROB that she was 99.9% sure that if an assessment were to be done, that it would come back and show that he was an alcoholic. 99.9% sure…WOW!!! That's pretty definite and for someone to say something like that must be a sign that finally someone saw what I was seeing, but the bigger question was, what was ROB gonna do about it if anything. WHAT WOULD HAPPEN AT HOME?
The drive home that day seemed like a drive that was never gonna end and all I kept hearing was 99.9% sure, 99.9% sure, 99.9% sure. Over and over and over. My drive time home was only about 15 minutes, but it seemed like a lifetime that day. Then I started thinking, WHAT WOULD HAPPEN AT HOME, would ROB take out his anger on me, would ROB go drinking, even come home or what? Should I call him and see? What would I say, how would I start a conversation with him? Should I call my parents and talk with them or better yet, call ROB's mom and see what she thought. NO, came back very loud in my mind, I can't call ROB's mom. She didn't even want to help me before I had a medical opinion, what makes me think she would want to help me now. If there was one thing I had learned since being married to ROB and dealing with his family, they never dealt with issues but turned the other cheek and just hoped the issue or problem would go away. Well, that's not how my family was. In my family, we talk about everything and lean on each other when times get tough. Boy was I in a bigger predicament than I could have ever imagined.
I remember pulling into the garage and just sitting in my car for about anther 30 minutes. Once I made it into the house, I went and sat on our deck that overlooked a golf course. Oh yes, our home was nice. ROB always tried to impress people with things he couldn't afford and his biggest lies were the ones he told himself. Lies about our financial situation, lies about how perfect our marriage was, lies about me, lies about his personal life and the demons that haunted him. If there was one thing I knew, was that I could not change a person or help them unless they wanted help. Most importantly, I needed to help myself now. What did I need? That was something I needed to figure out. I had started to lose so much of myself in this marriage and started to become someone I didn't even recognize. Oh sure, I could put on a happy face in front of our family & friends, but once I crossed over that doorway into our home, I became a depressed person. I remember not even wanting to get out of bed most days. Now, WHAT WOULD HAPPEN AT HOME?
ROB came home that night and started in on me. He claimed he didn't know how, but that I had gotten to the counselor and made her say those things and that he was not an alcoholic, he was not now or EVER going back to another counseling session and that he would fix what ever needed to be fixed on his own. ON HIS OWN…that was the last thing that was said about it that night as I remember getting up from the couch, going to our bedroom, closing the door and crying myself to sleep.
One thing ROB never knew, I had a two pictures of us in my night stand and almost every night I would pray to GOD for him to give me the strength to get through this and to give me double the strength to make it through another day to finding the person that I first had fallen in love with. Would that person ever be able to come back to me? Did that person even exist anymore.
The next morning, ROB got up, got ready to go to work and came to my bedside, gave me kiss and off he went. Little did he know what I had planned for my day. With what little energy I had, I got out of bed and went to my office. I decided I need to make a call to ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, I wasn't sure where they were, how I would explain my situation, use our real names or how all this worked. So I decided to GOOGLE it. WWW.GOOGLE.COM then to ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, there it was….WWW.AA.ORG. I think I just sat staring at that computer screen for the next 30 minutes. Then I did it, I made the call.
How could I have possibly known WHAT WOULD HAPPEN AT HOME, next.
If you are dealing with someone who you think maybe or is an alcoholic, please contact ALCOHOLIC ANONYMOUS and get help. You can access their website at www.aa.org to find out more information.
Look for my next entry as we come closer and closer to the conclusion to this marriage!
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Thank you God…someone who sees what I see…
February 12, 2012 in Uncategorized | Tags: %, 5, 7, 99.9, accept, advise, alcoholic, alone, analysis, anxious, ask, asleep, ass, astounded, bar, base, best, brain, building, calmly, can, chair, changed, chuckle, comfortable, communication, confident, corner, correct, correcting, counseling, couple, cozy, crazy, dash, days, daze, deflection, determined, dinner, disappeared, disgust, dream, drink, else, emphatic, entry, everything, eyes, face, fallen, familes, feeling, feelings, fidget, finances, foggy, forbid, forget, forward, friends, friendship, frustration, frustrations, fun, furture, gasket, gathered, God, goodbye, goodness, grough, gut, hallway, hands, happy, heard, hearing, heart, hell, HELP, himself, holy, home, horror, hurt, i love you, indication, initiate, input, intrigued, invest, inviting, issues, jobs, jotting, kicker, kidding, kiss, knew, learn, leave, lies, life, lifetime, look, lose, magazine, man, marriage, married, me, meaningless, mind, mirror, mouth, muster, neither, nervous, no, noise, notebook, notes, one, open, out, outside, over, parent, past, patiently, phone calls, plans, playing, please, polite, privacy, prove, question, read, red, relationship, reply, revealed, rogue, roll, roller, roommate, running, rut, salvation, saying, scribbling, sees, session, shit, shock, silence, sinking, sister, situation, smile, softly, SOMEONE, spilled, sprung, squirming, stating, table, talk, talking, tears, tests, thank you, things, trembled, true, truth, understood, up, us, voice, waiting, waiting room, wake, walked, wall, week, well, whoop, willing, work, writing, wrong, yourself | Leave a comment
When we last left our story, the counseling session had gone well and ROB was anxious to go back. Was I anxious to go back? Let's just say I think that I was anxious about it all, our life, our marriage, our relationship, our friendships, our families and mostly my heart and feelings. Could I continue with this? Would things really change this time or was this just another rogue and I would get hurt once again? It was soon to be my time to say, THANK YOU GOD…SOMEONE WHO SEES WHAT I SEE.
I decided to invest it all…put my full effort into it and move forward. I wanted my marriage, the man I married and most importantly…our happy life. Did ROB want the same? I guess I would learn over the next couple weeks. Our counselor told us that we had to start talking more with each other. Communication in a relationship was everything; without out it, the marriage was more or less a roommate situation. Each day, I tried to come up with things to talk about. Our plans, what was happening with our jobs, finances, families and most importantly what was happening with US. Each day ROB would get up and go to work, he would give me a kiss goodbye with a I LOVE YOU. We would talk a couple of times a day, usually about nothing and then when ROB would get home dinner would be on the table. Things went well for about the first 5 days, then as usual, back to the same old rut. Back to the ever so meaningless conversations, the phone calls of being on the way home and then not showing up and then the lies once again. How can no one SEE WHAT I SEE?
For the next 7 days all I could think about was that next counseling session. How was this to work when we were only going a couple of times and we couldn't keep it together or learn from the past and move forward to correcting the issues and finding the happiness we once had? How was I going to get across that I needed the man I married, the one who cared about me, our future and was willing to do anything to hold onto it? How was I going to get ROB to look in the mirror and wake up?
The day finally came; time to head back to the counselor. What would our conversation consist of? Would ROB & I have to initiate the conversation or would she start the conversation? Why was I so darn nervous? Was my gut trying to tell me something my brain was not willing to accept? I guess I would find out soon.
I walked into the waiting room and just as I thought the sinking feeling started. ROB was not there and I wasn't sure once again if he would even show up. I checked us in and sat in the chair that I thought would become my chair of choice while waiting to enter into our room I thought would be our salvation. As I sat looking at a magazine, in strolls ROB. All confident and sure of himself. I remember him coming over, sitting in the chair next to me, and leaning over to softly ask me if I thought these sessions were helping me? Helping me??? Weren't we there to help each other? Weren't we there to work on US? Why was ROB really there? Was I the one with all the issues? My mind couldn't even muster up a response to his crazy question. I just looked forward and the wall and my hands trembled as I tried to continue to hold the magazine.
As I sat waiting for what felt like a lifetime, I realized it had been less than 5 minutes and I heard our names being called. ROB so confidently sprung out of his chair and took off down the hallway. I followed but still in a very foggy daze after what I had just heard. It kept playing through my mind; Are these sessions helping you?
I made my way into the office and took my usual chair. ROB & I always sat facing each other and the counselor off to one side in a roller chair. The office was very cozy and inviting. Thank goodness for this as I was not ready for what our session today had in store for us.
As we all got comfortable, the counselor started; so both of you, how did these past couple weeks go? A silence fell over the room as she looked back and forth at ROB and I, and we stared at each other. ROB started saying something, I think it went well. We talked and followed your advise. Again, silence. Are you kidding me? Which house was ROB in and how can he seriously sit here and say this? THANK YOU GOD…SOMEONE WHO SEES WHAT I SEE…the counselor looked over to me and asked if this was correct? I remember looking at her and then back to ROB and saying, somewhat if it was only based on the first 5 days. A loud grough from across from me. I guess ROB didn't agree and that's when EVERYTHING changed. Oh if ROB had only known how that sound would open a can of whoop ass on himself like I've never seen before; and it wasn't going to be from me.
Our counselor looked at ROB and asked what the noise was for? He replied to her with, we talked, did more things together, went out, had fun and she says something like that? The counselors reply to that was, WELL ROB, WHY WOULD SHE SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT IF IT WASN'T TRUE? True? We were going to base this on the truth? ROB doesn't know what truth is anymore was all that was going through my mind, but I sat quiet waiting for a reply, just as she was patiently waiting. No reply. I started to fidget in the chair. ROB started to get red in the face. Oh, this was not going to be good. Then his reply, I DON'T KNOW WHY and all eyes were on me. HOLY SHIT!!! Tears started running down my face, what the hell was this? Why were there these tears, how was I to get through this. I remember wanting to just dash out of that office when my mouth opened and it all spilled out. Yes, we talked about certain things and when I tried to bring up anything serious or of matter, ROB would turn it all off and either walk away from me or get mad and just sit in silence. Then I started talking about how in the past couple weeks, there were at least 8 nights he didn't come home, but rather went out with friends or to a bar. I never quit understood that, how someone could just go sit at a bar by themself and drink, but my ROB sure could and by the time he left the whole bar knew him and had become his new best friends. And that's when my input in this session ended; and not because I was done, but because this was going to be a moment in time ROB would never forget.
The office we were all in became quiet for a moment. The counselor was jotting something down in her notebook. Man I wished I could get my hands on that notebook and see what she was writing and read what she was really thinking about us, our situation and how she thought she could help us. If I had only known what she was really writing in that notebook, I think I would have fallen over. She looked at ROB and started with the questions. Questions that intrigued me, but what astounded me were the responses.
It started off with family questions, why was ROB so upset with his parents, why was he taking is frustrations out on all his relationships, why didn't he have a better relationships with his sister, did he ever take responsibility for anything bad that happened in his life, why did he always have to drink, how many drinks a week did he have, how often did he drink at home, would he and is he comfortable drinking at home alone, how many times a week did this happen, and here was the kicker…DID HE THINK HE WAS AN ALCOHOLIC? I saw the frustration building in ROB as she continued question after question, his question of deflection of WHY ARE YOU ASKING ME ALL THESE QUESTIONS AND SHE IS JUST SITTING THERE…but when that last question hit, I thought he was going to lose his mind and a gasket in that room. With a chuckle, head roll and roll of his eyes, he gave an emphatic, NO! Again, more scribbling in that notebook! What was she writing?
As she calmly sat back, I couldn't believe what I was hearing…ROB, BY WHAT YOU HAVE TOLD ME AND OUR CONVERSATIONS, I BELIEVE I WOULD BE 99.9% CORRECT IN ME ANALYSIS OF YOU BEING AN ALCOHOLIC. What, did I hear that correctly? Had I fallen asleep and this whole thing was a dream? As I sat there and the conversation continued, I knew this was no dream. ROB, in a voice of disgust and horror replied with the most determined NO WAY IN HELL. You have no idea what you are talking about. I am not sure why, but that comment I remember brining a smile to my face, to this day I am not sure why, but I also remember thinking…THANK GOD…SOMEONE WHO SEES WHAT I SEE. The counselor continued stating; I am sure that if you were to take the tests, the results would come back with her assessment being correct. ROB continued to look her in the eye while squirming in the chair saying she had no idea what she was talking about. Her reply, if he was so certain, take the test and prove her wrong. That's when my last remaining hope disappeared. With that ROB said an other stern NO and got up and walked out. I sat there looking at the counselor. Neither one of us saying a thing and I wasn't sure if our session was over, should I also leave or would ROB come back? Who was I kidding, we both knew he wasn't coming back and that's when she said, I don't know if I will see you or both of you again, but if I don't, I wish you well and please look out for yourself. What has been revealed in just these couple of sessions to me, is a clear indication that this won't end well for you. I stood up in shock, gathered my things, said a polite thank you and made my way out of her office. I remember standing in the hallway to gather myself as I was very nervous as to what I was going to have to face once I turned that corner and ran into ROB, whether it be in the waiting room, the entry, outside this office or God forbid in the privacy of our home.
Look for my next entry as we come closer and closer to the conclusion to this marriage!
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I presented the workshop "Navigating Your Path When Designing Effective Learning Spaces" at the 2010 EDUCAUSE Midwest Regional Conference. The session looked at current trends worldwide regarding learning space design, but also core concepts such as learning space assessment, design consideration, learning commons, furniture, podium design, teaching and learning, sustainability, and Web 2.0 in the design.
Participants broke out in groups to discuss their specific opportunities and challenges in their own project design and implementation. General trends emerged from their individual projects that had universal implications to the group. Attendees came from throughout the Midwest, with one attendee from New Zealand.


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Police are searching for a suspect who attached sharp blades to a Donald Trump campaign sign that was posted on a North Texas college campus.
School officials say an election worker was at the Spring Creek Campus of Collin College in Plano early Tuesday morning when he noticed the Trump campaign sign blocking the official polling site sign.
The latest news from around North Texas.
The worker tried to re-position the sign to its correct location, but when he picked it up his hands were cut by box-cutter blades attached to the sign.
The cuts were minor, so he treated the wounds himself and did not seek medical attention.
"The safety of our campus is of the utmost importance, so the incident was reported to the campus police and the Texas Rangers for investigation," said Lisa Vasquez, public relations spokesperson for Collin College. "All campaign signs on the college's campuses are being inspected, and any sharps found on signage will be removed. The college will be working with local election officials and both political parties to ensure safety."


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Search results
2020 Gallia County Jr Fair Judging Results
2020 https://fairentry.com/Fair/Results/14082 Demonstrations, General Projects, Clothing Projects General Project Judging July ... Demonstration Judging July 2020 https://fairentry.com/Fair/Results/14082 Demonstrations 2020 Gallia County ... 2020 Gallia County Junior Fair Market Results 2020 Market Beef Sale 2020 Market Goat Sale 2020 ...
Tony Talks to Teachers: Rebecca Supinger
County Counterpart Rebecca Supinger about 4-H and the Fair. Rebecca Supinger joined OSU Extension in ...
Weed of the Week
What is the Weed of The Week? Each week Richard Purdin, Ag & Natural Resources Educator, will ...
ChopChop Kids Club Newsletter
Newsletter Archive ChopChop Kids Club offers a series of weekly newsletter, please see links ... safety, and health. The Chop Chop Family also offers a quarterly printed magazine, please reach out to ... it's hot. Volume 17: Frozen Treats This week we're celebrating the Fourth of July by making a Zesty ...
Seasoned Cooking Newsletter
Newsletter Archive From the ChopChop Family, Seasoned: Inspired Cooking Magazine for Adults is ... is offereing biweekly newsletters, please see links below to view a PDF of each topic We are huge ...
Updated Auction Exhibitor List
An Updated Fair Buyer Exhibitor List includes the Market Beef as well as any last minute additions ... for the 2020 Gallia County Junior Fair. Market Beef were accidentally not included on the original ... list. Updated Fair Buyer Exhibitor List as of August 2, 2020 ...
Virtual Project Judging- Flip Grid
submit it. Videos must be submitted no later than July 25th by 4:30PM. 4-H Dog Project Members Flipgrid ... social media platform is used by educators nationwide, allowing their students to share video clips, ... smartphone. It also allows for uploading of a digital video recorded with other methods, like iPhone video ...
Food Preservation
typically address: Basic food safety principles Water bath canner and pressure canner methods Principles ... COVID-19 pandemic our in person series of Home Food Preservation programs have been cancelled through July ... cancelled Tuesday, July 14- Water Bath Canning Workshop - cancelled Tuesday, August 18- Jams and Jellies ...
Non-livestock Virtual Completion Process
process to submit a video and a picture. This is due by 11:59 p.m. July 6. ... Non-livestock Virtual Completion Process With safety of youth, volunteers, judges, parents, and ...
Level I Food Safety Training
For registration information, click HERE The Level I Food Safety Training enhances employee ... understanding of major food safety principles, including time and temperature abuse, cross-contamination and ...


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For about 19 years Unilock® has been making paving stones with a very unique paver surfacing process. This very tested and true feature of our Select™ Series of paving stones has been in such projects as Mel Lastman Square (Toronto, Ontario). The pavers installed there look as new today as they did when they were first installed 19 years ago. This year, Unilock has changed the way we market this great feature to be more descriptive of its actual benefit to you. It's called EnduraColor™ and EnduraColor™ Plus.
Concrete Paving Stones have a very smooth and very thin paste on the top of the surface. This smooth surface like texture wears down with time exposing the whitish or greyish aggregates inside the concrete that help give the concrete strength and integrity, making the paving stone surface appear discolored or faded. EnduraColor and EnduraColor Plus paving stones by Unilock will not allow this natural property called "etching" to happen.
You see, first we start out by changing the concrete composition of the base of the stone in EnduraColor by adding larger aggregates. This gives us a stronger concrete formulation for the base of this paving stone. Then under several tons of vibrating pressure, we press in a high strength concrete mixture to the top 12% of the height of that stone, to give the best anti-wearing capabilities compared to any other concreted product. With EnduraColor Plus, we go a step further by adding or doing all sorts of beautiful things to our paving stones like:
- Brush Texturizing the surface as we do with Il Campo® (image below) – giving it a richer deeper look and feel.
- Adding specialized aggregates like Granite & Quartz chips as we do in Series 3000® (image below)- making the product glisten with the sun.
- We can also add highly specialized chemicals to the surface like we do in Umbriano® (image below).
Insist on EnduraColor and EnduraColor Plus products to maintain that fresh new look of your family's new gathering area.
Products with EnduraColor:
Products with Endura Color Plus:
Town Hall™
Series 3000®
Il Campo®


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Decision : CONF 002 X
SOC: Victoria Falls National Park (Zimbabwe/Zambia)
Victoria Falls National Park (Zimbabwe/Zambia)
IUCN reported about the proposed construction of a dam (Batoka Gorge Hydro Power Scheme), which would not affect the Falls but would have a serious impact on the lower gorges, changing the character of the site from a turbulent river to a hydroelectric reservoir. The Committee was informed about an environmental impact assessment to which the IUCN Office in Harare was contributing technical assistance. The Committee requested the Centre to invite the authorities of both Zimbabwe and Zambia to activate the joint Victoria Falls World Heritage Management Committee in order to promote a coordinated approach to manage this transfrontier site. The Committee also asked to be kept informed of the possible dam project.
Context of DecisionWHC-93/CONF.002/5
WHC-93/CONF.002/5 Add.
WHC-93/CONF.002/5 Add.1
1993 Mosi-oa-Tunya / Victoria Falls


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Local gang allegedly beats and humiliates Pakistani transgender woman
A Pakistani activist group has accused a local gang of kidnapping, beating, and shaving the head of a transgender woman after she wouldn't pay protection money.
Trans Action Pakistan claims Shakeela, a dancer from Mardan, Pakistan, was kidnapped last week, during the Islamic holiday Eid al-Fitr.
According to the U.K. Metro, the suspects demanded Shakeela hand over 1,000,000 rupees ($19,000). Refusing to pay, the gang allegedly beat Shakeela up and shaved her head as punishment.
This was not the first time local gangsters have targeted Shakeela.
Trans Action Pakistan's leader Farzana Jan, 64, told Metro, Shakeela had been extorted for $40,000 and $50,000 rupees (about $700 to $1000) on two previous occasions.
Jan said Shakeela paid the protection money so she could safely work as a dancer in the area.
"These organized criminal gangs are active all over the province," Jan told Metro. "We see a large number of people who either pay money or don't and they are killed or tortured."
"The violence is high on the ground but the prosecution and conviction rate is zero."
Jan told the publication despite the passing of legislation in 2018 securing basic rights for transgender people, the police rarely take action against people and groups who hurt.
Shakeela is speaking out hoping her story helps spur police action in the future, Jan added.


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BBQ pulled pork sandwich
Slow cook pork shoulder for four hours in the oven to tenderise then finish on a BBQ. Serve with a thick, tangy sauce
Nutrition and extra info
- Freeze before finishing on the bbq
Nutrition: per serving
- kcal520
- fat29g
- saturates10g
- carbs15g
- sugars14g
- fibre1g
- protein49g
- salt1.1g
- 2 onions, sliced
Onions are endlessly versatile and an essential ingredient in countless recipes. Native to Asia…
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 tbsp each mustard powder and smoked paprika
- 1½ -2kg/3lb 5oz-4lb 8oz) pork shoulder, boned with rind attached and tied (ask your butcher to do this)
- 140g tomato ketchup
- 4 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 3 tbsp soft dark brown sugar
- 2 French stick, sliced into rolls, and coleslaw, to serve
Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Scatter the onions and bay leaves in the bottom of a large roasting tin. Mix the mustard powder, paprika and 1 tsp ground black pepper with a good pinch of salt. Rub this all over the pork, making sure you rub it into all the crevices. Place the pork, rind-side up, on top of the onions. Pour 200ml water into the bottom of the tin, wrap well with foil and bake for 4 hrs. This can be done up to 2 days ahead – simply cover the tray in foil and chill until ready to barbecue.
Light the barbecue. In a bowl, mix the ketchup, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and brown sugar. Remove the pork from the tin and pat dry. Place the roasting tin on the hob, pour in the ketchup mixture and bubble vigorously for 10-15 mins until thick and glossy. Remove the bay leaves and pour the sauce into a food processor; blitz until smooth. Smear half the sauce mixture over the meat.
Once the barbecue flames have died down, put on the pork, skin-side down. Cook for 15 mins until nicely charred, then flip over and cook for another 10 mins. The meat will be very tender, so be careful not to lose any between the bars. Alternatively, heat a combined oven-grill to high, place the pork on a baking tray and cook each side for 10-15 mins until nicely charred.
Lift the pork onto a large plate or tray. Remove string and peel off the skin. Using 2 forks, shred the meat into chunky pieces. Add 3-4 tbsp of the barbecue sauce to the meat and toss everything well to coat. Pile into rolls and serve with extra sauce and a little coleslaw.


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COLCHESTER — One race for Board of Selectmen in Colchester is facing a recount.
Republican Denise Mizla beat Colchester Independent Party candidate Tearice Peters, 1209-1207. An automatic recount is called for in a win that close.
Independent Party candidates picked up seats on the Board of Finance (James D. McNair III), Board of Education (Michael Voiland) and Board of Assessment Appeals (Torri Buchwald).


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Magic. The power of apparently influencing events using mysterious or supernatural forces. The hands-down single BEST thing about the fantasy fiction genre…and the subject of today's FANTASY FRIDAYS post.
For the last several weeks, I have been developing the "magic" system for my WIP epic fantasy series Graceborn. It's really got me thinking about the fascinating array of magic types and users in fantasy novels today, and I thought I'd share some of them with you. I could go on and on and on (and on and on and on) about all the systems I've encountered in all the novels I've read but, well, that would take forever. There are so many imaginative ideas out there!
But I've restrained myself. Barely. This discussion will be limited to magic in high fantasy—that is, fantasy set in an alternative, fictitious, "secondary" world—and magic-users that are human (or, at least, mostly human). The post itself will be released in two separate parts. Today, I will summarise the nature and types of magic / magic system in the selected fantasy series, and next week I will explore the magic-users themselves.
I hope you find the content as illuminating as I do, and please tell me all about your favourite magic system or the one in your WIP fantasy series!!
Graceborn by Rebecca Alasdair
Okay, yes, I had to start with an example from my WIP fantasy series. In Graceborn, the magic / magic system is known as Grace. I'm still fine-tuning its exact nature and definition, but Grace is essentially energy, left over from the Moment of Making in which the world was created. Grace can be physically manipulated by certain people in a process known as weaving, and can bestow upon others a variety of psionic abilities including (but not limited to!) Telepathy, Healing and Telling (the future).
The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan
In Robert Jordan's epic (epic epic epic epic) fantasy series The Wheel of Time, the main magical force is known as the One Power. The One Power emanates from the True Source, the driving force of creation which the Creator made to turn the Wheel of Time, and is made of two equal yet opposing parts: saidin, the male half (currently tainted by the Dark One), and saidar, the female half. It is essentially a source of energy capable of manipulating the universe. There is one other, equally important power in this series, but I'm not going to talk about that here because *spoilers*!
The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss
The "magic" system within Patrick Rothfuss' The Kingkiller Chronicle is unique due to the way it masquerades as a variety of scientific (or pseudoscientific) disciplines. Sympathy is a type of energy manipulation that requires the mental ability to hold a belief firming enough it affects reality (known as Alar). Sygaldry is the application of runes that permanently mimic the effects of sympathy, called Artificing when combined with standard engineering principles. And, perhaps most significantly, Naming is the art of perceiving the true name of a person, place or thing and thus gaining absolute control over it.
Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
There are three key magic systems in Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy. The most prominent of these is Allomancy, the ability to burn or flare ingested metals in order to fuel a variety of physical and mental enhancements. The second is Feruchemy, the ability to store, and later expend, their own power or energy within metal holding units known as metalminds. The third magic system is Hemalurgy, which involves transferring power between individuals by driving a metal spike into one person's heart, then removed and stabbed into the body of someone else.
A Land Fit For Heroes by Richard Morgan
It's a little trickier to describe the magic system within Richard Morgan's sword-and-planet-style dark fantasy trilogy A Land Fit For Heroes. Mainly because there isn't a formal or official system of magic recognised by the novels' society. What there is, is the ikinri'ska. The ikinri'ska is a set of otherworldly glyphs that, when traced upon the air or on an object, can have myriad effects. These include, but are not limited to, causing hallucinations, lighting fires, raising fog or calling down storms—the more complex the "spell", the higher to toll it exacts on the user.
The Licanius Trilogy by James Islington
The main type of magic in The Licanius Trilogy by James Islington is known as Essence. Essence, at its heart, is pure energy, the life force of all things. It can be drawn upon be individuals who have the Gift in finite amounts and manipulated into all manner of uses. Essence can also be stored in special devices called Vessels and used for various and particular purposes. There is another equally important type of magic called kan, whose exact nature and origin is currently unclear (at least it is at the point where I currently am in the series!).
The Books of Pellinor by Alison Croggon
Alison Croggon's Books of Pellinor also centre around a magical ability known as the Gift, which enables its user to command various aspects of nature to do their will. The Gift is usually wielded through the use of the Speech (or, occasionally, the Voice), a magical language that all life forms understand. Certain individuals may also have psychic-type specialities; for example, Truthtelling, an innate ability that can provoke revelations of truth from other people, regardless of their intent.
Grishaverse / Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse novels feature a "magic" system called the Small Science, which, at its most basic, is the art of manipulating matter. Practitioners of the Small Science refer to it just so, rather than as "magic", as it is seen as an extension of the natural world. On occasion, the limits of science may be pushed using merzost, the power of creation, or life over death, which requires the sacrifice of something essential by the person attempting it.
Tortall books by Tamora Pierce
In the extensive Tortall books by Tamora Pierce (5+ series!), the most common form of magic is known as the Gift. The Gift has been described as "all-purpose", since its users can apply it to a wide variety of spells and tasks. It manifests as a reserve of energy that is unique in both strength and colour in each person. The two less common forms of magic are the Sight, which enables certain individuals to "see" things invisible to the normal eye (e.g. lies, illness, magic and spells, poison in food), and wild magic, which connects its users to the natural world.
The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini
Finally, I draw your attention to Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle where magic, quite simply, is known as magic. Magic, or gramarye, is the manipulation of energy, and is generally controlled by speaking specific words or phrases in the Ancient Language. Using magic draws strength from the user, although it can also be drawn from their surroundings with the proper knowledge. Magic used with malevolent or ill intent is known as dark magic.
This is just a small taste of some of the more well-known magic systems used to enrich modern high fantasy novels. Next Friday, we'll take a look at the magic-users that correspond to these types of magic, so stay tuned in for Magic & magic-users in high fantasy – Part 2…
What's your favourite type of magic from a high fantasy novel? What are your thoughts on those described above? Tell me about the system you've developed for your own WIP!
Rebecca Alasdair


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Posted by Editor on 03/20/08
The UCI has moved to the next level in its ongoing dispute with WADA and the organization's former president Dick Pound. The UCI has issued a statement that they will be suing Canadian lawyer Dick Pound for "continual injurious and biased comments" against both the UCI and former UCI President Hein Verbruggen. Pound was until recently the President of the World AntiDoping Agency (WADA), and he and Verbruggen had a running war of words over Pound's comments about the efforts (or lack therof, according to Pound) of the UCI to combat doping.
The text of the UCI statement:
The UCI and Mr. Hein Verbruggen have sued Mr. Richard Pound ex-president of WADA before Swiss courts for what they perceive as being continual injurious and biased comments by Mr. Pound against UCI and Mr. Verbruggen in the context of the efforts made by them to eradicate doping from their sport. Indeed, on many occasions, Mr. Pound has publicly questioned the extent of the UCI's efforts in the fight against doping.
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