text:
Calls to ActionStop Sharia in America: Tell Leaders to Reintroduce H.R. 973
Tell Congress: End DHS Police State Measures
Tell Congress: No GPS Spying!
Tell Congress & Obama: No Small Arms Treaty
Cut Foreign Aid, Save Lives
Tell Congress: Honor and Uphold the Separated Powers of Government
Tell Congress: GAO must give a FULL accounting of the debt CHINA owes to AMERICA
Tell Congress: Support HR 3785
Tell Congress: Eric Holder Must Resign!
Tell Congress: Restore our Fourth Amendment protections!
Tell Fox News: Bring Back 'Freedom Watch'
Tell Congress: Open Offshore Drilling, Support the XL Pipeline
Tell Congress: Oppose the Cybersecurity Act of 2012, etc.
Tell Congress: Stop Obama from Hiking Vet Pay
Tell Congress: Pass H. Con. Res. 107, Bring Impeachment Charges Against Obama's Unauthorized Military Actions
Tell Congress: Bring Impeachment Charges Against the President for Unconstitutional Military Actions!
Tell Congress: Support S. 2122 to Defend Property Rights
Tell Congress: Stop Borrowing!
Tell Congress: No Energy Subsidies, No Picking Winners and Losers
Tell GOP: Host an OPEN Convention!
Tell Congress: No $7 Trillion Tax Hike
Tell Congress: Stop Police State Tyranny In America
Tell Congress: Eliminate Election Fraud
Tell Congress: Keep American Tax Dollars Within Our Borders!
RIGHTMARCH: Tell Congress to OVERTURN Obama's
RIGHTMARCH: Tell Congress to STOP Obama & Martial Law
Tell U.S. Senators: Stop CISPA!
Tell Congress: NO AGENDA 21!
Tell Congress: Demand Democrats Present a Budget!
RIGHTMARCH: Tell Congress to REJECT the 'Map 21' Bill
Tell Congress: End Electric Vehicle Subsidies
Tell Senators: Oppose the Reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank!
Tell Congress: Stop Wasteful Spending!
Send your Representative, Senators, and Obama the full US Constitution and the Bill of Rights!
Tell Congress: Stop the EPA's Trojan Horse Before It Destroys Us All!
Tell Congress: Vote Against Drone Surveillance, Abuses!
RIGHTMARCH: Tell Congress to Completely GUT Obamacare!
PIJN: Tell Congress to Stop U.S. State Dept. from Funding the Muslim Brotherhood
RIGHTMARCH: Stand with the Aurora, Colorado Shooting Victims and Their Families
RIGHTMARCH: Stand with the Aurora, Colorado Shooting Victims and Their Families & Contact Congress
Tell Congress: Audit the Federal Reserve!
Tell Obama: No Cybersecurity Executive Order!
Tell Congress: Audit the Pentagon!
Tell Fox News: Drop SPLC's Wayne Besen
RIGHTMARCH: Tell Congress to REJECT the United Nations treaty that STEALS American Sovereignty!
RIGHTMARCH: Tell Congress to STOP Funding Radical Islamist Nations!
Tell Congress: Re-Evaluate U.S. Foreign Aid
Tell Congress: Draft Legislation to Make States 'Pay Their Way' through Welfare Programs
Tell Congress: Support H.R. 973 and Refuse All Unconstitutional Foreign Laws
Tell Obama: We want the Truth"
Tell Congress: Investigate the Benghazi Attack!
Tell Fox News: Talk About the Benghazi Cover-up!
Tell CNN: Talk About the Benghazi Cover-up!
Tell MSNBC: Talk About the Benghazi Cover-up!
Tell CBS: Talk About the Benghazi Cover-up!
RIGHTMARCH: Tell Congress to REFUSE the U.N. Gun Treaty
"I Believe in the Right to Secede"
Tell Congress: No United Nations Internet Control!
Tell the U.S. Senate: Defend My Right to Trial, Amend the NDAA
RIGHTMARCH: Tell GOP "No Tax Hikes"
Tell Congress: Do Not Establish An Online Sales Tax!
RIGHTMARCH: Tell Congress to REPEAL the "Gun-Free School Zones" Act!
Tell Congress: Reject ALL Federal Gun-Control Legislation!
Tell Congress: You Are Responsible for the Outcome of Increased Gun Control!
Tell Congress: Keep Presidential Term Limits, Oppose H.J. Res. 15
Tell Congress: File Articles of Impeachment, Convict Obama for Unconstitutional Executive Actions!
RIGHTMARCH: Tell Congress to OVERTURN and DEFUND Obama's Executive Actions!
Revive America: "Impeach Obama"
RIGHTMARCH: Tell Congress to STOP Funding Abortion Providers
Tell Congress: Investigate and Defund West Point's Center for Combating Terrorism
RIGHTMARCH: Tell Congress to REFUSE Amnesty!
Tell Congress: Support S. 201 to STOP Military Aid to Egypt
RIGHTMARCH: Tell Congress to IMPEACH and REMOVE President Barack Hussein Obama from Office!
Tell Congress: Impeach Obama for Ignoring the 5th and 6th Amendments!
House Conservatives Must Vote Down Rules On All Government-Growing Legislation!
Tell Congress to PASS "The ObamaCare Repeal Act" to FULLY REPEAL Obama's federal healthcare law!
Tell Senators: Stand with Cruz, Lee, and Paul against Gun-Control!
Tell Congress: Stop "Free" Taxpayer Funded Cell Phones!
Tell Congress: Pass the AMMO Act, Stop DHS Stockpiling!
Tell Congress to Adopt the American Worker Financial Protection Act
Tell Congress: Secure the Borders First!
Tell Congress: Audit the IRS and Charge Members for their Crimes!
RIGHTMARCH: Tell Congress to make IRS targeting a CRIME!
Tell U.S. Representatives: No Biometric Database, No National ID!
RIGHTMARCH: Tell Congress to PROHIBIT the IRS from implementing or enforcing ANY provisions of Obamacare!
Tell Senators: Oppose the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty!
Tell Congress: Abolish the Internal Revenue Service!
RIGHTMARCH: Tell Congress NO MORE EXTRAVAGANT OBAMA VACATIONS!
Tell Congress: Defund All I.R.S. Bonuses!
Tell Congress: Secure the Borders First!
RIGHTMARCH: Tell Congress that NO SECURE BORDER Equals NO IMMIGRATION BILL!
Tell Congress: Publish Federal Credit Card Transactions Online!
Tell Congress: Support the "Egyptian Military Coup Act of 2013"
Tell Congress: STOP Obamacare!
Tell Senators: Keep Internet Access, Usage, and E-mail Tax-Free!
Tell U.S. Senators: Oppose the U.N. Disabilities Treaty!
Kentucky: Tell the Governor and State Lawmakers to Change Election Law, Let Rand Run!
RIGHTMARCH: Tell Congress to DEFUND Obamacare!
Tell Congress to Defund and Dismantle the Police State!
RIGHTMARCH: Tell Congress to IMPEACH Obama if he REFUSES to Obey the U.S. Constitution!
Tell the ACC to reign in solar subsidies, reform metering policies!
USAID continues despite "shutdown" tell Congress to start making cuts!
Tell Congress: No Debt Ceiling Hikes!
Tell Congress: Support a Twenty-Eighth Amendment!
Tell Congress: End Aid to Pakistan!
Tell Congress: Defend Privacy, Rein In NSA
Tell U.S. Senators to OPPOSE the confirmation of anti-gun Judge Robert Wilkins!
Tell Congress to investigate Obama's "Military Purge"
Tell Senators: Support the "Keep Your Health Plan Act"
Tell Congress: IMPEACH Eric Holder!
Tell Congress: "Thanks for doing less!"
Tell Congress: Abolish the EPA!
Tell Senators: OPPOSE the Murray-Ryan Budget
Tell Congress: Remove Reps. Grayson, Lee, and Schakowsky from Committees!
Tell Congress: Communist China is doing a better job slashing government spending than the United States!
Tell Barack Obama: Answer 10 Questions in your State of the Union Address
Tell Congress: IMPEACH Obama!
Tell Congress: Oppose Obama's "Executive Legislation"
Appoint a Special Prosecutor to Investigate IRS!
Tell Congress: Legalize Defense at USPS Locations
Tell Congress: Do not bail out the Ukraine!
Tell Congress: No Federal Minimum Wage Hikes!
Tell Congress: No Internet Sales Tax!
Tell Senators: Oppose the Anti-Gun Nominee for Surgeon General!
Tell Congress: No Government Monitors in News Rooms!
Tell Obama: Place Vivek Murthy on the Senate Calendar Now!
Tell Congress: IMPEACH Obama for FAILING to Enforce Immigration Laws
Tell the House: Defund the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty!
Tell Congress: ELIMINATE "Gun-Free Zones" at Military Bases
Tell Lawmakers: Legalize Cell Phone Jailbreaking
Tell Lawmakers: Take No Action In Syria!
Tell Congress: Adopt the Freedom from Drone Surveillance Act
Tell U.S. Senators: Oppose the Confirmation of Michelle Friedland to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals!
Tell Congress: INVESTIGATE the BLM and the Raid on Bundy Ranch!
Tell Congress: CUT Eric Holder's Salary
Tell Congress: PASS H.R. 4380 and DEFUND the Gun-Grabbers!
Tell Congress: DISARM Federal SWATS and Paramilitary Units
Tell Senators: Oppose First Circuit Nominee David Barron
Tell Senators: OPPOSE the National Women's History Museum!
Tell Congress: Oppose Common Core
Tell Congress: Free Tahmooressi!
Tell Congress: Investigate VA Hospitals!
Tell Congress: Fight Obama's EPA Emissions Rules
Tell Congress: End Taxpayer-Funded Obamacare Subsidies!
RIGHTMARCH: Tell Congress to SECURE OUR BORDER -- NO AMNESTY for Illegals!
Say 'NO!' to the FCC Internet Takeover
Say 'NO!' to the F.C.C. Internet Takeover
Tell Obama to IDENTIFY and CONDEMN Radical Islam
Tell Congress to STOP the FCC Internet Takeover
Tell Congress to STOP the FCC Internet Takeover
War with ISIS? Let CONGRESS decide.
Tell Congress to OPPOSE Obama's "Executive Legislation"
Tell Congress: Freeze the UN-US Refugee Relocation Plan
Tell Congress: Pass the Fair Tax Act of 2019!
Tell Senators: Oppose the Confirmation of Loretta Lynch as AG
Tell Congress: Free Our Marine!
Tell Congress: Investigate the IRS!
Tell Congress to Investigate the IRS!
Tell Congress: Repeal the PATRIOT Act!
Tell Congress: IMPEACH Hillary Clinton & Disqualify her from Holding Office
Stand with Paul Chabot & Tell Congress to Strengthen the Border!
Tell Congress: No Nuke Deal!
Defund Planned Parenthood
Tell Congress to pass 'Enforce the Law for Sanctuary Cities Act.
Tell Congress: End 'Gun-Free Zones' At Military Bases
Tell Congress: Defend the Benghazi Select Committee
Tell Congress: No Obamacare Bailouts!
Rally the Senate: Take a Supreme Stand - No Confirmation Vote on Supreme Court Justice in 2016!
Tell U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to PROSECUTE Hillary Clinton
SAVE THE INTERNET! Contact Congress.
Tell Congress: INVESTIGATE the Murder of Seth Rich!
Tell U.S. Senators to CONFIRM Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court
Tell Congress: Abolish the U.S. Department of Education
America First: Tell Congress to WITHDRAW the United States from the United Nations!
The Elbert Express: It's the Senate's Turn to Step Up This Summer!
Tell the Republican National Committee to SUPPORT the FairTax!
Tell Congress: Pass Healthcare Reform Now!
Tell AG Jeff Sessions: Organize a Special Counsel on Clinton, Comey & Russian Dossier
Urge Congress to Release the FISA Abuse Memo!
Tell Congress to pursue LATE IMPEACHMENT for Hillary Clinton & Barack Obama!
Urge Congress to REPEAL the "Gun-Free School Zones Act"
Urge Elizabeth "Pocahontas" Warren to take a DNA Test - Sign the Petition!
Stand with Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle PAC and urge the U.S. Senate to CONFIRM conservative judge BRETT KAVANAUGH to the U.S. Supreme Court before the 2018 Midterm Elections!
Gun Dynamics Action: Stop "Red Flag" Gun Laws -- Contact Congress & President Trump!
Eagle Action PAC: Petition Congress to FUND THE WALL and END THE SHUTDOWN!
Take Action: Stop the Feinstein Gun Ban (S. 66) - Contact Congress!
Gun Dynamics Action: Stop the Feinstein Gun Ban (S. 66) - Rally Congress!
Impeach Amy Berman-Jackson
Repeal the "Gun-Free School Zones Act"
Impeach Amy Berman-Jackson
Tell the White House to Stop Blacklisting of Conservatives
Demand Congress End Their Shameless, Weekly Attacks on William Barr and This Administration- TODAY!
Tell Nancy to Stop the Witch Hunt
Demand Congress Pass Emergency Border Funding, TODAY!
Demand Congress Vote for Emergency Border Funding, TODAY!
End the Mueller Circus NOW
End The Secret Hearings and End the Coup
Rep. Matt Gaetz (FL-1)
U.S. House of Representatives
|American Sovereignty Restoration Act
|Cosponsored January 10, 2017
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text:
Follow us at @WorldSportCNN and like us on Facebook
(CNN) -- All athletes have ups and downs in their career, but few have touched the troughs that Venus Williams has experienced.
Having topped the tennis rankings, winning Wimbledon five times and her home U.S. Open twice, she has had to rebuild her career after succumbing to injuries and a debilitating autoimmune disease.
But those rocky moments are providing a powerful motivation for the 33-year-old.
"I have to say I feel more confident on the court than I have in my life," Williams told CNN's Open Court ahead of the Miami Open which starts Wednesday.
"I think it's because I have really been to the bottom, so once you get that far down and you get back up, you realize you really have nothing to lose. "
Not since 2008, when she won her seventh grand slam on the grass courts of Wimbledon, has Williams tasted success at the sport's biggest events.
She has struggled since being diagnosed with Sjogren's Syndrome -- an autoimmune disorder which causes joint pain and can deplete energy levels -- which she revealed publicly when pulling out during the 2011 U.S. Open.
By the end of that year she had plummeted outside the top 100 in the world rankings and faded into the background as her sister Serena -- who had to recover from potentially fatal blood clots on the lungs -- strengthened her reputation as the leading force in women's tennis.
While Serena has now won 17 grand slam titles, Venus has fought a very difficult battle -- coming to terms with her new condition, while trying to compete at the highest levels of the sport.
Her hard work was last month rewarded in Dubai, where she collected the 45th WTA title of her career and helped to quash doubts over her ability to compete against the very best.
A new vegan diet and an inexhaustible determination to overcome the syndrome has breathed new life into her tennis.
Such is Williams' confidence that she has already set her sights on competing at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Now ranked 31st, she has a special relationship with the Summer Games, having won four gold medals including the singles title in 2000.
The other three came after teaming up with her sister at Sydney, Beijing and most recently, London two years ago.
And while the calling of the Copacabana may be some way down the line, Williams is adamant she'll be ready for Brazil.
"The Olympics have been the most special moment for me and Serena in our lives," she said.
"Playing doubles as well has been amazing. I get to play with my sister and we get along and support each other.
"So the Olympics is definitely on our radar. It's only a couple of years away -- we think we can get there."
Read: Venus ends title drought
Follow us at @WorldSportCNN and like us on Facebook

subset: commoncrawl


text: 65mm (2.5") Cast Iron Downpipe Offset 225mm (9") Projection - Black Drainage365 Sale! £88.18Exc VAT £73.48 Inc VAT Qty. Add to Cart SKU: CI25OS225P This item is currently on backorder but you can still purchase it now and we'll ship as soon as more become available. DescriptionReviewsDelivery in 2-3 Working Days 2.5" Pre-Painted Black Tweet


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This blog is all about recipes that we can all cook for ourselves and enjoy. However, there are over 1 billion people hungry in the world that are hungry and do not even have the basics, let alone the luxury of being able to try out various recipes. I would like to focus this post on a wonderful campaign to help African small farmers.
Bill Gates recently challenged readers of his blog to develop tools to increase awareness of the importance of small farmers in addressing the problem of hunger. The Adventure Project (TAP) is responding with its One to 1000 initiative, and TPRF is one of its sponsors. This program will not only increase awareness of this important subject, but also help 1,000 small farmers in Africa through TAP's collaboration with Kickstart.
The idea is for at least 1,000 people to set up an about.me page that tells the small farmer story. Read all about it here, and then set up your own about.me profile!


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Santoor Vaadan
Shree Vidyaranya Yuvaka Sangha celebrated 46th Ganesha Festival, sponsored by Times of India – A leading newspaper. We had all kinds of entertainment programmes like drama, classical music, filmy music at APS college, Baswangudi, Bangalore. 5th September, 2008 we had Santoor Vaadan (play of a musical instrument named Santoor) by Pandit Shivkumar Sharma. Santoor and Pandit Shivkumar Sharma are synonymous. Why so? Watch this programme and find out.
The real programme is yet to be started. Meanwhile we had some devotional songs sung by singers from Art of Living organization.
"Vithal Vithal …" and "Narayan Narayan Jai Jai Govind Hare…"
Then all the dignitaries entered the dais, including founder of Art of Living Sri Sri Ravishankarji, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma and his son Rahul Shrma. So we had some formalities welcoming the guest and lectures meanwhile volunteers brought AARATI at our seat. Sri Ravishankarji started his speech with Prayer chanting to lord Ganesha. He continues in Kannda. Afterwards we had informative question answer sessions about Ganesha festival tradition with Him. The anchors formally introduced Pandit Shivakumar Sharma with all his biography details. Prayaag is scared place in India where three rivers meet. Ganga Yamuna and Sarswati. On that evening we had musical Prayaag with three instruments. Santoor, Hindustani beats of Tabala and Karantaki Ghatak all three on one stage.
Pandit Shivkumar Sharma reminded us that music is an integral part of Indian culture. Various musical instrumental associated with various Hindu Gods and Goddesses. For example, Ganesha plays Mrudangam, Sarswati plays Vina, Krishna plays flute and Shiva is origin of rhythm. He introduced Santoor – the musical instrument. It is an ancient instrument, came from Valley of Kashmir. Santoor means shata-tantri veena. A veena with 100 strings. Sufi music was used to play on Santoor. His father introduced classical music on Santoor. He has done many modifications to this instrument. Then he laid down the plan for that evening. First Tabala and Santoor. Then Santoor and Ghatak. Then all three. They will start with Rageshwari raga.
Our programme started with divine blessings from Sri Sri Ravishankarji. He talked about wisdom, knowledge and some less knows aspects of this festival. It ends with such a wonderful music by Pandit Shivkumar Sharma. Yes, you can enjoy the recap with these videos. However it was completely different experience to listen them live. JugalBandi of various instruments….It was like….like…like time had stopped. Nothing else except that music and rhythm. The entire audience just lost themselves in that music.
Pandit Shivkumar Sharma and his son Rahul, rarely performed together on same stage. It was really a feast for all music lovers. I made my friends to listen it live over phone. They appreciated it. Now I am sharing these videos with you all the readers of my blog. How is it? You liked it? Yes ? No?
Still few more video reports are in queue. They are about various events like other such entertaining programme during Ganesha festival, book release on Indian economy, Bollywood musical concert, poets meet etc. etc.. However next blog should not be about any video report. We need variety. What do you say?
So Stay tune and wait for my next interesting post and yes, do not forget to post your comments. Particularly, if you know Kannada then please contribute to this post by translating Sri Sri Ravishankarji's speech and question-answers.
P.S. Santoor performance by Shivkumar Sharma at will be at Dr. Ambedkar Bhavan on 25th Oct. Times Bangalore Festival 2008
Vijya Dashmi festival is associated with Ramayan epic and 'Ramlila' tradition.Ramlila is organized in a makeshift open-air theater at night. It is usually staged by amateur actors drawn from the same social grouping as the audience. The dialog is improvised, and often responsive to audience reactions. The atmosphere is usually festive and free, with the audience whistling and commenting as the story proceeds.
Sita prayed Ram to come fast to save her. Nice comparison of Ravan and Ram. Sita replied that we do not have enough vocabulary to describe all the good qualities of Ram. Ravan inquired, "where is Ram?" I liked Sita's detailed answer very much.
Ram is in my heart, in my heart beats, in my breath, in my hope, in my soul, in my life…Javed Akhtar added further that Ram is in peace, compassion, progress and unity. Just remove Ravan (devil element) and sinful thoughts from your inner being and Ram is there. Ram is there in my heart, Ram is there in your heart also. Ram is everywhere...The song has typical music to welcome Ram, that we generally found only at our rural
Yes this song belong to Swades movie – one of my favorite movie. And I am also fan of Javed Akhtar. It is movie about a successful Indian scientist returns to an Indian village to take his NANNY to
So let me recap. 'Man Se Ravan Ko Nikalo, Ram Tere Man Me Hai'. Yes, the ignorance (Ravan) is just an outer shield covering your pure true nature (Ram). So I gave title to this post : "Groundnut". :) Shanti Rastu, Tushti Rastu, Pushti Rastu … is how we greet each other on Vijaya Dashami. It means May you have Peace, Health and Prosperity! And yes, we all need to focus for progress, peace and unity. That is true VijayaDashmi.
Next post....May be a video report on a muscial event. Post on Diwali festival, my first poem, Google gadget are in queue. Just stay tune.:)
Next post....May be a video report on a muscial event. Post on Diwali festival, my first poem, Google gadget are in queue. Just stay tune.:)
First post
Nirvighnam Kurumedeva Shubha Karyeshu Sarvada.
We start all the good works with prayer to lord Ganesha. For our blog, out of many Ganehsa photo, I choose this one. Unique. Ganesha is sitting on computer mouse :)
Warm welcome to my blog. This blog will cover topics that each and everyone can relate to. Yes, so far I have written interesting e-mails and funny articles. Now, let me start periodic blogs.
Let this blog not limited to any particular topic. What do you say? Yes by and large it may include video reports of some events, Bangalore, India, softwares, Google gadgets, logic, algorithms, emotions, poems, telecom, wireless, wireline, language, movie, humor, fun, inspiration, romantic, spiritual, songs, festival, Gazals, news and ….Did I miss anything? :) Ultimately, you the reader will decide the content with your comments. Feel at home and consider it as your blog. Some of you can be guest authors for this blog.
Yes, I know, you may be curious about blog name "Express yourself !", website address "layers7" and the punch line: "Life is an exercise to express the InExpressible." This one is a bit heavy and difficult to understand? OK please suggest something else and we will replace it.
A separate entry will be there about this blog "Express Yourself". Also, one can read all the articles with "About" tag. I have addressed all the reader's comments as seperate articles under "AAP AUR HAM" series with "About" tag/label.
What should be next topic? (1) Navratri festival? Well, it will not be any boring essay about Navratri. It will be with full fun. (2) Dashera festival? OR should I write about (3) "Good Morning"?
I assure you to provide something different, unique, thoughts. So catch you soon here on this blog pages. See you.


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Sunny shades of yellow and pink flowers create zest and set the mood for a joyful Easter day. The Easter Egg Tree is a centuries-old celebration of spring that immigrants brought to America from Switzerland, Germany, and the Ukraine.
Add pizzazz to your Easter table with sweet sugar baskets. Crafting with sugar can be easier than you think. By using regular granulated sugar you can create unique gifts. Just use a round cereal or dip bowl for the basket mold.
Here's What You Need:
*Round cereal bowl, 3 1/2-inch to 5-inch diameter are perfect sizes
* Recipe for Pressed Sugar
* Recipe for Royal Icing Glue
* Poster paper strips, 12-inches long by 1-inch wide for handles
* Ribbon, 1 1/2-inch wide, about 12-inches for a bow and 36-inches for the handle,
a total of 48-inches of ribbon per basket
* Silk flowers, optional
* Hot glue
* Corn Starch
* Stiff piece of cardboard, 6-inch square works well
Here's What To Do:
1. Make a recipe of pressed sugar. One recipe of sugar makes about four 3 1/2-inch bowls. Cover the sugar with a damp cloth as you work because it dries quickly. Rub the inside of the bowl with cornstarch and shake out any excess before adding the sugar.
2. Fill the bowl with the sugar mixture, rounding on top so you have enough sugar to press down. Place a piece of cardboard (6-inch square) over the top and press down to pack solidly. It is important to pack the sugar solidly. Holding the cardboard over the top, invert the mold onto a cookie sheet. Pull the cardboard out from under the mold very slowly.
3. Remove the bowl (mold) very carefully. Once the mold has been removed, do not touch the sugar. They are fragile and soft at this point, so be very careful. The drying time will vary due to the temperature and humidity. As the sugar dries, it will form a thin shell. This usually takes 6 to 8 hours (or overnight). I usually make mine one night and scrape them early the next morning.
4. When the outside shell has hardened to 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch thickness, it is time to scoop out the sugar in the center. Using a teaspoon, carefully scrape the excess sugar, leaving a hollow sugar shell. Place the sugar shell (hollow side up) on a cookie sheet and allow the inside to dry. After the shells have dried, use your fingers to rub out any excess or loose sugar. The sugar that is scooped out of the molds can be saved in a ziploc bag and reused. To reuse just add a little water (about 3 1/2 cups of sugar to 2 teaspoons of water).
5. Make the handle by taking one of the paper strips and wrapping with 36-inches of ribbon. Hot glue one end of the ribbon to one end of the paper strip. Then wrap the ribbon around the strip and glue again at the other end. Take the ribbon handle strip and bend up each end about 1/2-inch. Hot glue the bent up handle ends to the brim of the sugar bowl shell.
6. Make a recipe of Royal Icing Glue. One recipe of icing will decorate about six 3 1/2-inch bowls. Using 1 to 2 drops of food coloring you can make the icing a pale pink or lavender color. Let your color scheme determine the icing and ribbon color. A little food coloring goes a long way since the color dries a little darker.
7. Fill the decorator tool with icing and trim the rims of the baskets with the piped icing covering where the handles are attached. A scallop motif piped around the basket also looks nice.
8. Let the icing dry and then hot glue a bow to the handle and fill the basket with Easter grass and candy eggs.
* In a hurry and don't want to make the Royal Icing Glue? Then just make the sugar bowls, ribbon handles and hot glue silk flowers to the brim of the basket.
Recipe for Pressed Sugar
3 1/2 cups of granulated sugar (we love Domino's)
1 large egg white, room temperature
Mix the sugar and egg white in a bowl and whisk until the egg white is thoroughly incorporated into the sugar. The sugar will look damp.
Recipe for Royal Icing Glue
2 large egg whites, room temperature
1 16-ounce box powdered sugar
1 tablespoon water
Food coloring
Beat egg whites and water until foamy. Add sugar and beat until fluffy with soft peaks. This recipe makes about 2 1/2 cups of icing. If it is not stiff enough, just add a little more sugar. If it is too stiff, add a little water, 1 teaspoon at a time. It dries quickly, so keep the icing covered with a damp cloth while you are working, and do not make too far ahead.
images: tablescape by Phronsie's Tables


text:
Mikkel Vang
Ambrosia may sound exotic, but it's simply chilled fruit (typically oranges or bananas) tossed with coconut and sugar. In some homes, it is served as a salad as well as a dessert. Here, food editor Alexis Touchet put her own spin on this southern classic by bringing cake into the picture, and moving the oranges to the filling and pressing the coconut into the frosting.
- Yield
- Makes 10 to 12 servings
- Active Time
- 1 hr
- Total Time
- 2 hr
- For cake
- 2 3/4 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring)
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 4 large whole eggs, at room temperature for 30 minutes
- 1 tablespoon finely grated fresh orange zest
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup whole milk
- For orange filling
- 2 large whole eggs
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 3/4 cup water
- 1/2 cup fresh orange juice
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 teaspoons finely grated fresh orange zest
- For seven-minute frosting
- 1 (7-oz) bag sweetened flaked coconut (2 2/3 cups)
- 2 large egg whites
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 teaspoons light corn syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- Special Equipment
- 2 (9- by 2-inch) round cake pans
- Make cake:
- Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour cake pans, knocking out excess flour.
- Sift together flour (2 3/4 cups), baking powder, and salt into a bowl.
- Beat together butter and sugar with an electric mixer (fitted with paddle attachment if using a stand mixer) at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, then beat in zest and vanilla and continue beating 5 minutes more. Reduce speed to low, then add flour mixture and milk alternately in 4 batches, beginning with flour mixture and mixing until batter is just smooth. Divide between cake pans, spreading evenly.
- Bake cake layers until they begin to pull away from sides of pans and a wooden pick or skewer comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool 5 minutes in pans on racks, then invert cake layers onto racks and cool completely. (Leave oven on for toasting coconut.)
- Make filling while layers bake:
- Whisk together eggs in a heatproof bowl until combined well.
- With clean dry whisk, stir together sugar, cornstarch, and a pinch of salt in a 1 1/2- to 2-quart heavy saucepan, then whisk in water and juices until smooth. Bring to a boil over moderate heat, whisking, then reduce heat and cook at a bare simmer, whisking constantly, 2 minutes (mixture will be thick).
- Add half of hot juice mixture to eggs in a slow stream, whisking, then whisk egg mixture into juices in saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, whisking, just until it reaches a boil. Remove pan from heat, then add butter and zest, whisking until butter is melted. Chill filling, its surface covered with a buttered round of wax paper (buttered side down), until cold, about 30 minutes.
- Make frosting:
- Spread coconut in a shallow baking pan and toast in oven, stirring occasionally, until golden, 12 to 15 minutes.
- Beat together egg whites, sugar, water, corn syrup, and a pinch of salt in a large metal bowl with a handheld electric mixer (clean beaters if necessary) until combined. Set bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and beat mixture at high speed until it holds stiff, glossy peaks, 5 to 7 minutes. (Humid weather may necessitate additional beating time.) Remove bowl from heat, then add vanilla and lemon juice and continue beating until frosting is cooled and very thick, 6 to 10 minutes.
- Assemble cake:
- Halve each cake horizontally with a long serrated knife. Put 1 layer on a cake stand or large plate and spread with about 3/4 cup filling. Stack remaining cake layers using about 3/4 cup filling between each layer. Spread top and side of cake with frosting and coat cake with coconut, gently pressing to help it adhere.
Cooks' notes:
· Cake layers (not split horizontally) can be made 3 days ahead and chilled, wrapped individually in plastic wrap. · Filling can be chilled up to 8 hours. Stir before spreading. · Frosting can be made 4 hours ahead and chilled, covered. · Cake can be assembled and frosted 2 hours ahead.


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Plundered wonders: Rubbed-out Buddhist stone sculptures
I have a love/hate relationship with zoos. (Zoos? Isn't this an art column? Just stay with me.) On the one hand, I revel in the chance to see animals from foreign lands that I will probably never visit, and I appreciate zoos' role in preserving species at risk of extinction in the wild. Then again, it depresses me to see animals, forcibly removed from their natural habitats, living in alien environments, so viewers, like me, can gawk at them.
I have similar conflicted feelings (what you psych majors call "cognitive dissonance") about the University of Virginia Art Museum's spectacular new exhibition, "Treasures Rediscovered: Chinese Stone Sculpture from the Sackler Collections at Columbia University." The traveling exhibit comprises 20 Buddhist stone sculptures, donated to Columbia University by prolific collector Dr. Arthur M. Sackler. Ranging from small marble altarpieces to colossal heads to carved funerary monuments, the works date to the late sixth century, revealing aesthetic and devotional trends from the Han through the Tang Dynasties.
The show also includes numerous ink-on-paper rubbings that highlight the exquisitely detailed designs inscribed on tablets and monuments. Not just a contemporary means of studying carvings, ink rubbings were especially popular in China during the 17th and 18th centuries as a way to preserve stone texts. A short video demonstrates the technique.
When I visited the show, I wandered wide-eyed through the timeworn carvings and rubbings, admiring the craftsmanship and learning interesting facts from the exhibit's informative signage (e.g., during the Han Dynasty, underground tombs replicated the deceased's home). But a thought kept nagging at me: "These are not where they belong."
For instance, the serene limestone "Head of a Boddhisattva," from the Northern Qi Dynasty, is impressive sitting on a museum pedestal. But it's severed from its carved body, which remains in the Buddhist rock-cut caves of Xiangtangshan. In the bodhisattava's forehead, an empty pit marks where a jewel once sparkled.
Especially poignant is a Northern Wei Dynasty funerary stele that commemorates a family's young son. The limestone slab's elaborate carvings abound with acrobats and musicians, presumably entertaining the little boy in the afterlife. Although it's wonderful to see, when the exhibition ends, the stele will return to Columbia University not to the boy's grave.
The works in "Treasures Rediscovered" are glorious- beautiful, historical, and curious- but they have lost their functional meaning. No longer foci of religious devotion or in situ memorials to the dead, they have become exotic objects for gawking.
"Treasures Rediscovered: Chinese Stone Sculpture from the Sackler Collections at Columbia University" is on display at the University of Virginia Art Museum through March 14. 155 Rugby Road. 924-3592.


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How I Save Energy
Advice for stay-at-home parentsBy Stephanie Janard
No doubt about it, I'm blessed to have a career that allows me to stay home with my 4-year-old son, Sage. On the other hand, we have the energy bill to prove it. For years, I've gone about our daily domestic routines with little thought to how much energy I use in the process, compared to households where parents work outside the home and their children are in daycare.
But one day, on a whim, I looked up the national average for most residential energy usage — about 800 kilowatt-hours a month. Our own household? A whopping 1800 kwh! It was time to implement some meaningful changes in our home, starting with...
- Spending more time away. While my first instinct was to turn off the thermostat and the lights, on second thought, I really didn't want our son to remember a childhood spent huddling in a dark house with a miserly mother. There's a much better alternative: spend it at the library! You'll be surprised how quickly the time goes by reading through a satisfying stack of books with your child, playing games, or working out a puzzle together.
- Rotating play dates within a circle of friends can also get you and your child out of the house several days a week. On sunny days, meet up at a nearby playground; in summer, swim at a local pool if your town has one. Or just set up a wading pool in the backyard and have a potluck picnic.
- Getting off the computer. Let's face it, many of us stay-at-homes are on it more than we dare to admit. But not only is this machine a greedy energy user, it uses up attention better spent on our child. Same goes for the TV, so replace both with some good old-fashioned play. I've weaned my son (and myself) off of morning TV by organizing a little area I call his "art station." This gets us busy with play dough, crayons and just being a little more creative in the morning instead of zoning out in front of Sponge Bob or Dora.
- Getting out of the kitchen. The more I'm at home, the more I cook. And as the mother of a picky eater, I'm usually cooking for one. Yet my child is perfectly happy with daytime meals like cereal for breakfast, a sandwich at lunch and light snacks that don't require energy intensive stovetop use. These days, so am I.
- Making energy conservation fun. If you already keep a reward chart for your child with gold stars for making up his bed, setting the table and other chores, why not add "remembering to turn off lights" to the list?
Of course, your own reward for trying some of the above strategies won't just be a lower electric bill. As the quantity of energy you use shrinks, the quality of time you spend with your child is almost sure to increase.


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Were you one of the first to see the new trailer for "Skyfall," the next installment in the James Bond franchise when it debuted on line? Have you devoured every teaser for Ridley Scott's hotly-anticipated "Prometheus"? Did the leaked teaser for 2013's "Anchorman: The Legend Continues" have you yearning for another dose of Will Ferrell as Ron Burgundy?
If so, the people behind those 30-, 60- or 90-second enticements have achieved what they set out to do: create enough interest that you seek out the trailer, and then actually go to the cinema and see the movie.
Thursday, the usually unseen editors who create those trailers will be honored at the Golden Trailer Awards in Los Angeles. Now in its 13th year, the awards are the brainchild of two sisters who decided over a decade ago that it was time to elevate and recognize the promotion of movies for the art form that it is.
U.S. & World
"We discovered that these guys who create our favorite part of the movie were anonymous," said Evelyn Brady Walters, executive director of the Golden Trailers. "There was no recognition. So we spoke with Stephen Woolley – the producer of "The Crying Game," and we spoke with producer Harvey Weinstein and we told them what we were thinking and they came on board." That first year Quentin Tarantino joined Woolley on the judging panel, and the rest, as the cliche goes, is history.
The Golden Trailers is not the first of its kind – the Key Art Awards has been around for 40 years and also honors cinema advertising artwork and promotional materials. But where the two differ is tone with the Golden Trailers being more akin to the anything-goes atmosphere of the Golden Globes than the often self-reverential Academy Awards. The ceremony has a party-like atmosphere and this year is being held at a private mansion in the hills above Los Angeles. The 2012 judging panel includes "Iron Man" director Jon Favreau, "Ghostbusters" director Ivan Reitman and "Young Adult" actor Patton Oswalt.
Awards will be handed out across 62 categories including Best Comedy Theatrical Trailer, Most Original Trailer, Trashiest Trailer, Most Original Poster, Best Summer Blockbuster 2012 TV Spot and The Don LaFontaine Award for Best Voice Over (named for the man who recorded over 5,000 trailers and whose baritone was often identified with the phrase, "In a world…"). Nominees are equally diverse and range from mega-hits such as "The Hunger Games" and "Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol," to schlocky fare such as "The Human Centipede" and "Piranha 3DD."
According to Brady-Watters and her sister, Monica Brady, fun is integral to the awards because the watching of trailers should be just that. "Trailers are short and don't take up much time," says executive producer Brady. "Nobody really minds watching these type of advertisements because they're fun and you are entertained."
The sisters remember the early years of the awards when trailer houses sent nomination applications on VHS tape. Today it's done via the Internet, much like the way many modern trailers are consumed.
"Some of the biggest changes to the industry in the intervening years is how, and how often, people view trailers," says Roy McKinnon, a senior freelance trailer editor who currently works with Buddha Jones production house and whose trailer credits include "Night at the Museum" and "Gran Torino." "Audiences can now access them anytime they want instead of experiencing it just once in a theater."
That accessibility creates extra pressure according to McKinnon. "People can really tick over them now. Stop on frames and go through things step-by-step. It's a lot easier to critique now."
Monica Brady agrees, adding that the ability to share trailers on mobile devices has increased their desirability. "The sharing is a big part of it," Brady said. "It creates buzz and word of mouth. You see something and you remember that your friend likes that type of movie and you want to share it with them so that they are one of the first to know."
In 1999, Brady counted around a dozen houses producing theatrical movie trailers. Today she estimates there are more than 100 globally, with the awards receiving more than 1000 nomination submissions for 2012. The typical trailer budget for a big movie release can range anywhere from $50,000 to around $100,000.
So what makes a memorable trailer? "There are no hard and fast rules," says McKinnon. "It has to be very clear. If the audience understands what is going on, is engaged by it and has a reaction, that's ultimately what you want. The whole idea of trailers is to leave you wanting more."
Is there a recent trailer McKinnon believes warrants a mention? "The latest 'Dark Knight Rises' trailer was great. I think it was unique because it put these big and very dramatic images against almost no sound, which is pretty atypical for a big summer event movie. The traditional way would be the hard-hitting drums and overwhelming sound design."
Looking farther back, Brady-Watters recalls that the first year of the Golden Trailers coincided with the release of "The Matrix" and its groundbreaking visual imagery. "It was like the dawning of the golden age of trailers," she said. "'The Matrix' broke down barriers and people looked at that trailer as the bar. You watched that trailer and you had to find a way to see it again – it was that good."
A great trailer, though, does not necessarily reflect a movie of similar caliber. Enter the Golden Fleece category. "Essentially the Golden Fleece is the best trailer for what is not so great of a movie," explains Brady-Watters. "You manage to turn the proverbial sow's ear into a silk purse. It shows a sense of humor and a willingness on the part of the studios to participate in this category," she adds. "It's great. Everybody appreciates it and everyone has a laugh."
It's a category McKinnon is familiar with. His trailer for "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans" took home the prize in 2010. With a laugh he remembers creating the trailer "in a matter of three or four days. Usually you'd want at least a week – often you need two to come up with something from scratch." 2012's Golden Fleece nominees include "John Carter," "Larry Crowne," Madonna's "W./E." and "New Year's Eve."
"If you spend your $12 and are a little miffed after seeing a movie based on the trailer, well, you'll still go back to the movies," Brady said. "And sit through more trailers."
Her sister agrees, noting that, "In the cinema going experience, that's the one time that it's okay to talk to your neighbor – during the trailers. If you want to comment it is all right because we all do it. If you feel like it's a stinker you don't keep it to yourself, everybody's like, "Oh good Lord, not another one!" It's shared common ground and part of our pop culture experience."


text:
I am using SQL Server 2008 R2. I am trying to create a maintenance plan which backs up multiple databases into one single folder for a day.
For ex. I need to backup
db3 and dump all these 3
.bak files into a single folder with a date.
Is this possible?
Any help would be really help. Thanks in advance.


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iOS vs ANDROID Usage Share Of Mobile Phones And Tablets In Europe
iOS vs Android based on web traffic infografic
This interactive presentation of Europe-wide mobile and tablet (iOS and Android) market share based on web traffic was created by 7AM Lab and presented on visua.ly.
The interactive infografic presentation of iOS and Android usage throughout Europe is zoomable and could draw a comparison between whole Europe versus a single country or country versus country. Also you can select the device, mobile phone or the tablet.
One thing I noticed was that Android usage is rising in the western Europe as far as the mobile phones and iOS is dropping at the same time. Tablet usage, iOS is strong throughout Europe. But Android is rising in that arena as well. Perhaps the iPhone 6 and iPad Air 2 might make a difference.
You can find the infografic at the 7am Lab.
Via visua.ly
Posted by ravenII at 10/31/2014 09:36:00 AM
Labels: iOS vs Android, iPad Air 2, iPhone 6, Mobile Market Share comments (0)


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WASHINGTON (AP) Mike Phillips scored a game-high 19 points and Calvin Thompson chipped in with 13 points as Howard rallied to beat Liberty 60-53 Saturday night.
Simuel Frazier added 12 points and six assists to help Howard (3-8) overcome a first-half deficit.
Trailing at halftime 32-25, Thompson's steal and fast-break layup to begin the second half sparked a 15-1 run, helping Howard take a 40-33 lead with 12:06 left to play. Thompson capped the run with a three-point play.
With 44 seconds left to play and down by three, Liberty's (1-9) John Caleb Sanders was fouled on a 3-point shot and converted just two of three free-throws to cut the deficit to one, 54-53.
Howard answered making 6 of 8 free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.
Liberty shot just 24.1 percent (7 for 29) in the second half.
Davon Marshall led the Flames with 13 points.


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23 Maret 2012
Two MultiRole Vessels (MRVs) along with three new helicopters will be ordered to the Navy. While PT PAL offers Strategic Sealift Vessel LPD for Philippines Navy (photo : Defense Studies)
MANILA — Philippine Navy (PN) flag-officer-in charge Vice Admiral Alexander Pama on Thursday expressed optimism that the contracts for the service's two multi-role vessels (MRVs) will be signed by July this year.
With the expected signing of this vital document, the contracting shipbuilder can proceed ahead with the construction of the above-mentioned ships as per design specification of the Philippine government.
The acquisition cost for the two MRVs is estimated to be worth P10 billion.
Pama said that the two vessels would greatly increase the PN's patrolling and disaster relief mission capabilities as the proposed ships are capable of cruising even at the heaviest seas,aside from being equipped with helicopters and and LCMs, allowing them easy access to calamity-stricken communities.
Aside from the MRVs contract, the PN chief stated that the contract for the three brand-new helicopters for the naval service will also be signed by the end of the year, giving the command's air arm new equipment to fulfill its mandate of patrolling and securing Philippine maritime sovereignty.


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Friday, December 11, 2009
Moving ... Backwards?
From reader CS:
Recently, I was coming home from the city on my usual Orange Line trip to Vienna. We were still underground, between stations, when the train came to a halt. Nothing unusual there, especially in the new era of manual control. We sat for a spell, then the operator released the brakes with their familiar "whoosh," and ...
...we started moving backwards!
Not the common coast-backwards-a-little-bit-on-a-hill-before-the-propulsion-kicks-in kind of backwards, but powered backward travel.
The operator quickly stopped the train (at least the brakes worked!) and tried again several times, all with the same result. Clearly unnerved, she came on the PA system and said something about "going backward!"
I suspect this was unintentional, and that she had keyed the mike while talking to central control about the problem.
As it happened, there was a Metro technician on board at the same time, and she called out to him over the PA, with some urgency, to quickly come to the operator's cab.
In fairly short order, the technician showed up, running down the aisle, and entered the cab. (I watched all this from my vantage point at the front of the first car.)
The technician and the operator engaged in some back-and-forth (couldn't make out what was said), with him evidently instructing her on some technique for dealing with the problem.
When he finished, the operator gave a loud and grateful, "Thanks!" (easily heard in the passenger compartment), and she was then able to get the train moving in the right direction again. We traveled without incident to Vienna.
But as was the operator, I was a bit unnerved, too:
-- Metro trains can go backwards without the train operator wanting them to?!
-- And if so, train operators themselves don't know the secret solution, without having to depend on a "fairy train-father" who just happened to be aboard at the time?
It's another example of why Metro isn't exactly inspiring confidence these days.
Also by CS:
Rules don't apply
Vienna's creepy tower
Doors Closing
Other items:
Mikulski tears Metro a new WMATAhole (Mikulski)
Management shake up in the works? (WaPo)
Federal oversight questioned (Examiner)
China has this, we have WMATA (BBC)
Photo: skewgee
13 comments:
- Anonymous said...
That is some scary sh*t.
- December 11, 2009 at 8:30 AM
- Anonymous said...
And instead of immediately taking this operator out of for remedial training, Metro allowed her to finish her shift and crash her train into another one in the yard.
- December 11, 2009 at 8:57 AM
- Anonymous said...
Chine has this, we have WMATA???
Yeah, sure! I bet in the Chinese system there are guards with batons and teasers to make sure no idiot sticks his foot in the way of closing doors to make sure the rest of his party makes the train.
I bet they also have the option of beating up any unruly kid who decides to make their system a playground.
Any homeless hanging around the stations peeing? No problem. Jail is just a phone call away.
The train is making too much noise around your neighborhood? Shut your trap, stupid. And don't bother me with all that environmental impact bull crap either.
- December 11, 2009 at 9:06 AM
- Ed said...
That's why I love being in the front car. You get to overhear lots of savoury things coming from the operator's cab. I had one such instance last year.
- December 11, 2009 at 9:10 AM
- Anonymous said...
Scary sh*t indeed. What if the fairy-train father wasn't around?
Anyone notice the new ads on Orange line trains telling you to join the group who believes in safety first? Has a pic of a lovely lady with a beautiful happy smile. It's an add for metro union jobs.
- December 11, 2009 at 10:16 AM
- TimK said...
Nothing scary about this at all.
First of all, can the train go backwards at all, ever? Yes, it's done by switching the propulsion from moving the train forward to moving it backward.
Can that switching mechanism ever malfunction? Of course it can; everything can malfunction.
This is a very unusual fault, and I would not expect WMATA to waste scarce training resources training operators on how to correct it. Had the technician not been on the train, the operator might have been able to get guidance from Control, or else she might have had to wait for a technician to arrive.
(I've been a subway train operator...not in DC, though.)
- December 11, 2009 at 12:14 PM
- Anonymous said...
@TimK: Thanks.
Seriously people, how the hell is this either surprising (that trains can go backwards... of course they can) or that something might malfunction? And what would the operator do if there were a problem and no "technician fairy"? Call the f-ing control room and figure out what to do! When something goes wrong at your job do you just sit there and wring your hands and have a hissy fit or do you call the IT guy?
- December 11, 2009 at 2:37 PM
- Anonymous said...
Awhile back, there was a malady afflicting Boeing 737s called "uncommanded hard-over," in which, without command, the plane basically rolled over on its back during flight and, typically, crashed. The key notion was "uncommanded." Can planes roll over? Yes. Is it a problem when they do it when you don't want them to? Certainly. So it is with the Metro trains. No surprise they can go backwards, but you'd rather not have them do it when you're not planning for it.
- December 11, 2009 at 2:55 PM
- Anonymous said...
"When something goes wrong at your job do you just sit there and wring your hands and have a hissy fit or do you call the IT guy?"
I call the IT guy, and he tells me to reboot the computer. Typically, that does not fix the problem or recover my lost data. Then I have a hissy fit. Sadly, this is an accepted user support model for IT "customers." It is not an acceptable model for the running of a train system that kills people when things go wrong. What is this year's death count so far?
- December 11, 2009 at 2:55 PM
- John Catoe said...
Note to self: include "unexpected reverse mode" chapter in next operator training course materials.
- December 11, 2009 at 3:04 PM
- Anonymous said...
Hey techie-aware former train drivers and sundry - that "scary sh*t" is not that the train can go backwards. What is scary is that the train was running backwards.. note not "coasting"... and the operator did not know what to do!
It is not the train able to go backwards that scares me. The cars alone show they can be driven from either end. It is the ignorance/lack of understanding of what the operator was doing.. with my LIFE hanging in the balance.
Is Santa reading this blog? Tell me Santa is reading this blog...
- December 11, 2009 at 4:01 PM
- Santa said...
This is Santa. I do read this blog, but mietro is so screwed up, not even me and all the reindeer can do anything about it. Catoe, the entire board and all those rude drivers/employees will be getting lumps of coal.
ho ho ho
- December 11, 2009 at 4:09 PM
- TimK said...
@Anonymous 12/11: Do you honestly think operators can be trained to deal with absolutely everything that can go wrong with a train? If so, then you obviously have no idea how complex a piece of machinery a train is and how many things can go wrong.
Any sensible transit agency/company makes reasonable choices as to what operators need to be trained to deal with. Typically these choices will involve consideration of how likely a fault is to occur and what the consequences would be if it did.
Having a train run backwards "uncommanded" (good word, although the comparison with the 737 is hardly apt for reasons that should not need belaboring) is a very rare fault. What are the consequences of this fault? The operator makes a couple of attempts to correct the problem, and when she finds she can't correct it, she gets help while the train stands still. Why, again, would WMATA waste scarce training resources on an unlikely problem like this when its consequences are so benign?
I'm still looking for the "OMG SCARY" part. (And I'll be looking for a while, because it ain't there.)
- December 16, 2009 at 8:55 PM


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On "Hung," HBO's sardonic sign-of-the-times sex farce of sorts, the pimping service aging former high school hero Ray Drecker works for is called "Happiness Consultants."
The name, meant to be euphemistic, is more of a misnomer: With the show set to begin its third season Sunday, it's clear that none of the characters – especially Ray – is particularly happy.
It's been a little over a year since the last episode of the serio-comic portrait of a man reduced to getting by on the attribute referred to in the show's title. But "Hung" still shapes up as perhaps TV's best measure of the states of the economy and the modern male-female dynamic.
On the surface, Ray (Thomas Jane) seems to be living a male fantasy: getting paid to sleep with (mostly) attractive women. But in reality, he's wallowing in the charred remnants of his American Dream.
Ray, who turned to prostitution to finance the rebuilding of his burned down lifelong family home, just lost his measly, if steady paycheck as a teacher and coach at his hometown high school in depressed Detroit. He has two women – both unlikely pimps – fighting over his employ. He's working hard to win back his shallow ex-wife who left him for the security offered by a dull dermatologist, and to keep his Goth aficionado teenage kids from falling into a nihilistic abyss.
But the show about a fortysomething male prostitute is as much – if not more – about the women vying to, in one way or another, run Ray's life. The sentimental Ray's loyalty is to Tanya (Jane Adams), a neurotic failed New Age-y poet whose best move may be seeking out an old-school pimp (Lennie James) as her mentor. She needs the tough tutelage to battle her slick rival, Lenore (Rebecca Creskoff), a vain and supremely confident paid friend to rich ladies who fights dirty.
The stakes in the duo's ongoing power struggle are raised this season as Ray faces competition from a stud half his age – enlisted by Lenore – bent on stealing his customers.
The show, while not a huge critical or ratings hit, is one of our favorites if only because it cleverly defies expectations at nearly every turn. The steamy bedroom scenes can play as decidedly unsexy given the underlying sense of desperation that permeates the action. That's a tribute to strong writing and fine actors who imbue what easily could become cartoonish characters with a very human sense of sadness, while extracting alternately irreverent and bittersweet humor from an offbeat premise.
The primary title of Sunday's opener is "Don't Give up on Detroit," which offers a rare glimmer of hope as Ray has to start wondering whether he's being hung out to dry.
Hester is founding director of the award-winning, multi-media NYCity News Service at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. He is the former City Editor of the New York Daily News, where he started as a reporter in 1992. Follow him on Twitter.


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This publication describes the history of central banking in the United States from 1791 to the 21st century.
Read the PDF version. (PDF, 780 KB, 13 pages)
The history of central banking in the United States begins almost with the founding of the country. Once America won its independence, Congress was faced with the task of paying off the new nation's war debts.
Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury, urged Congress to also assume the war debts of the individual states and then create a Bank of the United States to help refinance all these debts. The bank would be the only national bank, and it would hold the federal government's deposits and lend to the government and business.
Hamilton's proposal faced major opposition. Critics said that Hamilton's bank was unconstitutional, would be a monopoly, and would reduce the power of the states. Although Hamilton won, the bank's charter was limited to 20 years.
The first Bank of the United States, also called the First Bank, helped transform the country into a more unified national economy, but it was a private institution and foreigners owned 70 percent. That worried many Americans. When the bank's charter came up for renewal in 1811, it was rejected by a single vote in each house in Congress.
The First Bank was not a central bank in the modern sense, especially since the country had few banks. Nevertheless, with branches in eight port cities, its large size and broad geographic presence gave it influence over the economy, particularly as changes in its lending policies influenced state banks' lending practices.
Like other banks, the First Bank made business loans, accepted deposits, and issued notes that circulated as currency and were convertible into gold or silver. Unlike state banks' notes, however, First Bank notes were valid for payment of federal taxes.
The First Bank served as the federal government's fiscal agent, receiving its revenues, holding its deposits, and making its payments. Its stock was publicly traded and held by both foreign and domestic investors.
After the War of 1812, the state banking system was in turmoil. Congress tried to restore order and finance debts from the war by establishing a second Bank of the United States. Like the First Bank, it was given a 20-year charter.
Despite a rocky start, the Second Bank under Philadelphian Nicholas Biddle became quite effective in managing the nation's finances. But Biddle was a better banker than politician. He underestimated the opposition of state banks and frontiersmen, who said that the Second Bank helped only the East's commercial classes.
Opponents of the bank found a powerful ally when Andrew Jackson became President in 1829. Debate came to a head in the election of 1832 when Jackson vetoed a bill for an early re-charter of the bank that was supported by his opponent, Henry Clay. Jackson won the election and transferred the federal government's funds to state banks. After the Second Bank's charter ran out in 1836, central banking wasn't revived for more than 75 years.
The second Bank of the United States, like the First Bank, was not a central bank in the modern sense. It did not conduct monetary policy as we know it today, and it did not supervise or regulate other banks. However, because the bank was very large – it had 25 branches throughout the country by 1830 – changes in its lending policies influenced the lending practices of state banks.
The Second Bank's primary functions were the same as the First Bank's. It was the federal government's fiscal agent, receiving its revenues, holding its deposits, and making its payments. It made business loans, accepted deposits, and issued bank notes that circulated as currency and could be converted to gold or silver. However, the number of state banks was growing rapidly, and competition between state banks and the Second Bank contributed to its downfall.
The Federal Reserve System was not initially thought of as a central bank. Indeed, much of the legislative debate in 1913 about establishing the Fed was about whether the Federal Reserve would be a central bank or a collection of Reserve Banks. Initially, the Fed operated as a system of Reserve Banks, with a substantial amount of decentralized decision-making. In the 1920s, for instance, some Reserve Banks sold Treasury securities at times when other Reserve Banks were buying Treasury securities.
To improve the coordination of such open market purchases and sales of securities, the Reserve Banks eventually formed the Open Market Committee in the 1920s. This was the predecessor of the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee), which was established by congressional action in the Banking Act of 1933. The FOMC conducts monetary policy as we know it today. In 1935, Congress put all seven members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors on the FOMC and limited the Reserve Banks to only five voting members at any one time.
Unlike the First and Second Banks, the Federal Reserve was not designed to make business loans or accept deposits from the general public. Instead it is a "bankers' bank," holding deposits and making loans to depository financial institutions. Like the First and Second Banks, however, the Fed issues notes that circulate as currency. Also, just as its predecessors had branches, the Fed has 12 Reserve Banks plus branches throughout the country.
Like the nation's two previous central banks, the Fed is the federal government's fiscal agent, receiving its revenues, holding its deposits, and making its payments. Originally, the third central bank also had only a 20-year charter from Congress. But the McFadden Act of 1927 gave it permanence. So, unlike its predecessors, the Fed has lasted beyond its initial charter period. National banks and those state-chartered banks that choose to be members of the Federal Reserve System receive nontradable stock in their District Reserve Bank, in contrast to the publicly owned and traded stock of the First or Second Bank. By law, the stock earns a fixed 6 percent dividend. Stockholders elect six of the nine members of a Reserve Bank's board of directors, while the remaining three (including the chairman of each board) are appointed by the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors.
The stock market crashed in 1929. Over the next several years, thousands of banks and businesses failed. By 1933, one in four Americans was out of work. After Franklin Roosevelt's election in 1932, the federal government moved quickly to implement his "New Deal."
But the Federal Reserve's role during this time was neither well defined nor well executed. Despite numerous runs on banks that led President Franklin Roosevelt to declare a "bank holiday" in 1933, the Fed didn't act as lender of last resort to the banking system as originally envisioned in 1913. Also, despite the decade's high unemployment, the Fed did little to expand money or credit.
The market's crash and the financial system's prolonged crisis led Congress to pass several laws that substantially changed the financial system and the Federal Reserve.
For example, Congress passed the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, which separated banking and securities firms. Congress imposed further separation between banking and commerce by prohibiting banks from being owned by nonfinancial companies. Furthermore, the Fed was given authority to supervise multi-bank holding companies and to remove bank officers. The Fed also received authority to restrict interest payments on bank deposits.
Congress also passed the Banking Act of 1933, which established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to insure consumers' bank deposits. The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 created the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This law, together with the Securities Act of 1933, was designed to restore investor confidence in U.S. capital markets. Congress also gave the Federal Reserve Board more central authority in the Banking Act of 1935, which determined that the FOMC should include the seven-member Board of Governors as well as the Reserve Bank presidents.
After World War II, the Treasury wanted the Federal Reserve to continue its wartime practice of helping the Treasury issue large amounts of federal debt at low interest rates. The Fed went along for several more years by buying Treasury securities — an action that expands money and credit — whenever interest rates began to rise above very low levels. But this meant that monetary policy couldn't raise interest rates to combat inflationary pressures.
At the start of the 1950s, tension between the Fed and the Treasury increased over this issue. Fed policymakers and some congressional leaders took the position that monetary policy must be independent of the Treasury's financing plans. With war breaking out in Korea, Harry S. Truman's Treasury wanted interest rates to remain low.
The issue came to a head in early 1951, when the Federal Reserve acted independently of the Treasury's plan to issue debt. Ultimately, a statement was issued — called the Treasury-Fed Accord — that acknowledged the Fed's independence in conducting monetary policy.
Influenced by the Great Depression and changes in economic thinking about government's role, Congress passed the Employment Act of 1946, which defined the goals of economic policy: to "promote maximum employment, production, and purchasing power." These goals were meant to guide the fiscal policies of the President and Congress, as well as the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve. When the federal government debated changes in fiscal policy during the 1950s, such as spending on the new interstate highway system or new taxes, these policy goals were taken into consideration.
In the 1970s, a decade that experienced both high inflation and high unemployment, two legislators spearheaded a reconsideration of the nation's economic policy goals. Senator Hubert H. Humphrey and Congressman Augustus Hawkins believed the President's administration and the Federal Reserve should coordinate their plans for fiscal and monetary policies to bring the unemployment rate and inflation down to the low levels reached in earlier decades.
President Jimmy Carter signed the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act into law in 1978. Also known as the Humphrey-Hawkins Act, this legislation required the U.S. President to submit a report to Congress that explains the president's economic goals and when they will be achieved.
It also required the Federal Reserve to provide Congress with a semi-annual report on the Fed's objectives and plans for monetary policy. Twice each year, the Fed Chair's "Humphrey-Hawkins testimony" is closely watched for signals of changes in monetary policy.
Although Congress has since allowed many of the original act's provisions to lapse, the Fed Chair's semi-annual testimony was retained. It's still popularly known as the Humphrey-Hawkins testimony.
For most of its history, the Fed's involvement in the protection of consumers largely involved ensuring that banks were safe and sound. That changed in 1968 when Congress passed the Consumer Credit Protection Act. Under the act's "Truth in Lending" provisions, the Fed issued new regulations that require lenders to provide information about credit terms and to express the cost of credit as an annual percentage rate (APR).
In 1977, the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) encouraged banks to meet the credit needs of the entire communities in which they are located and required the Fed and other banking agencies to review banks' lending patterns. The Fed rates banks on their CRA performance, taking into account their lending to low- and moderate-income individuals and neighborhoods.
Since the 1980s, consumers have increasingly turned to debit cards, electronic fund transfers, and banking on home computers. Under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (1978), the Fed established new regulations that defined the rights and responsibilities of all parties involved in electronic funds transfer services and increased the level of consumer protection.
In July 2010, Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. This legislation significantly changed the Fed's role in consumer protection. The Dodd-Frank Act established the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is located within the Federal Reserve System but is completely independent of the Fed in carrying out its responsibilities. The bureau conducts examinations of all depository institutions with assets greater than $10 billion to ensure compliance with federal consumer protection laws. The bureau also examines certain nonbank providers of financial services, including payday lenders, private education loan providers, mortgage lenders and brokers, and providers of foreclosure relief services. The power to issue regulations for the vast array of consumer protection laws, which had been the responsibility of the Fed and other federal agencies, has been transferred to the bureau. The Fed continues to examine certain state-chartered banks with assets less than $10 billion for compliance and continues to issue regulations in the few instances where rulemaking power was not transferred to the bureau, such as for the CRA.
Since the 1970s, financial market innovations and competition have spurred state legislatures, Congress, and federal bank regulators to ease Depression-era restrictions on banks. Both banks and their holding companies were gradually allowed to increase their range of financial products, pay market interest rates on most deposits, and expand across state lines.
This trend toward deregulation culminated in 1999 when Congress reversed the Glass-Steagall Act separating banks from securities firms and insurance companies. Now banks can combine with these financial services firms in "financial holding companies."
Since the Federal Reserve is charged with implementing many of Congress's banking laws, financial deregulation has affected how the Fed oversees banks, bank holding companies, and financial holding companies.
Congress deregulated banking in three key ways:
In the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act, Congress also changed the way the Fed provides services. Instead of the Fed's providing discount window loans, check clearing, and other payment services only to its member banks, Congress required the Fed to offer these services, at a price, to all depository institutions. In turn, all depository institutions above a certain size are required to hold money in reserve accounts with the Fed.
The most striking change in American central banking over the past 200 years is the prominence to which it has risen. Unlike its predecessors, the Fed is acknowledged to be the nation's central bank. It is insulated from partisan political pressure, but it is clearly, accountable to Congress, which has defined the Fed's monetary policy goals: to promote price stability and maximum sustainable economic growth and employment.
The Fed's regional structure ensures that the views of a broad spectrum of people from across the nation are brought to bear on these important policy decisions.
In recent years, the Fed has also responded to the challenges presented by the many changes in the financial services industry, which had led the Federal Reserve Board to undergo a considerable number of adjustments as well.
For example, the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act, which was passed in 2003 and went into effect in 2004, promoted the greater use of electronic processing of check images, rather than the return of an actual check. This legislation led to a major reduction in the number of paper checks processed throughout the industry. As a result, the Federal Reserve started to shrink its check-processing footprint from 45 sites in 2003 to only two sites in 2010. In 2010, the Federal Reserve moved all remaining paper check processing to the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and all electronic check processing to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
The modern-day Fed reflects not only the lessons of history but also the demands of a rapidly changing economic and financial system. Thus, central banking in the United States has evolved and adapted over the last two centuries and has moved into the 21st century with a sense both of history and of the challenges that lie ahead.


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Do you dream of a stylish brad pitt haircut? Before you grab the scissors, you should understand whether this image will suit you. Otherwise, you risk shedding tears in the next six months, each time approaching the mirror. We decided to go from the reverse and tell who brad pitt haircut are absolutely not suitable. Of course, you and only you will decide the fate of your hair. But it is better to first weigh the pros and cons.
How often do you need to do a brad pitt haircut
Hair should be cut as they lose their shape. When your brad pitt haircut begins to look different and stops lying well, then its time to cut your hair. And if you just have a great length and an even cut, then go to the stylist when your brad pitt haircut will no longer look well-groomed. Split ends, broken off strands, unobvious density of the cut – all this will be a signal to action.
Beautiful brad pitt haircut – a pledge of self-confidence, a way to attract the attention of other people, an attribute of grooming. But for this, a person just needs to follow the fashion trends that are offered annually by stylists, changing the format and vision of brad pitt haircut that have already been successful last season.


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Bachelor fans expecting Sean Lowe to be a quiet, simpleminded Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes will be pleasantly surprised when the 17th season premieres on Monday.
"[People who think,] 'Crap, he's like vanilla toast,' — well, he's not," host Chris Harrison tells TVGuide.com. "People will be surprised by his personality and charisma, and he's also got an edge to him. He's not afraid of confrontation or saying the wrong thing. "
Bachelor premiere by the numbers: 6 things to expect from Sean's season
Born and raised in Texas, Sean, 28, won fans over during his run on Emily Maynard's season of The Bachelorette. As the second runner-up, Sean left the show brokenhearted, but still hopeful that he'd find love. Producers of The Bachelor came knocking soon after and Sean jumped on the opportunity.
"My feelings for Emily were very real, and they were very authentic and genuine," Lowe previously told reporters. "[So] I wanted to know, could I find those feelings again? And because I had such a positive experience with Emily, I thought I owed it to myself to give it a try."
Viewers will see a side to Sean they might not have been expecting, particularly his hilarious sense of humor, right from the start. (Sean jokingly practices the "Will you accept this rose?" phrase many times.) "He was so overshadowed on Emily's season because there were so many big personalities," Harrison adds. "He was really played as the sweet, quiet, romantic Texan boy, but there's a lot more depth to him. Not to mention, he's so kind and nice and easy to get along with, and that really resonates with the producers. The [contestants] take their cue from the Bachelor and so do we. Is it going to be a battle every night before we shoot? Is it going to be like pulling teeth? But Sean just made everything so easy and, man, it [made] this season fun to work on."
While Harrison says Sean is very different from last season's Bachelor Ben Flajnik, he does have something in common with Season 15's not-so-fan-favorite Brad Womack.
"I haven't really counted yet, but he's got to be up there with Womack as far as the most shirtless Bachelor," Harrison says. "We had to establish the fact that after he got dumped by Emily, he didn't go on a two-month carb binger."
And, yes, we counted and Sean is shirtless five times — in the first minute and a half of the premiere.
Watch our exclusive clip from Monday's premiere and don't forget to check back after the episode for our Episode 1 Q&A with Harrison, as well as a video interview with Sean. Plus: Catch Chris Harrison hosting Miss America on Saturday, Jan. 12 at 9/8c on ABC.
The Bachelor premieres Monday at 8/7c on ABC.


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Ryan Smith placed 12th in the men's shot put on Friday, qualifying for the 2013 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
Liberty redshirt senior Ryan Smith earned his first trip to the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships with a 12th-place finish in the men's shot put, Friday at the NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round meet at Aggie Stadium. Smith put himself into a good position with a 59-4.75 throw during the second round. The Georgia native sat in ninth place entering the final three rounds of throws but had to endure some nervous moments. He dropped into 10th place after the fourth round and the 11th spot at the conclusion of the fifth round before ending up as the event's 12th and final qualifier to the NCAA national final. Smith, who had finished inside the top 18 at this meet for three straight years before Friday, broke through to become the first Liberty men's shot putter ever to qualify for the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships. He will compete on June 5 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. Josh MacDonald led during the early stages of his men's 3,000-meter steeplechase heat late Friday night but could not hang on. The IC4A steeplechase champion finished sixth in his heat and 23rd overall in the event, in a time of 9:02.56. Junior Jocelyn Williams competed in her second event in as many days Friday morning, but fouled all three of her attempts in the women's hammer. Liberty will have seven athletes in action on Saturday, beginning at 10 a.m. when Smith competes in the men's hammer.


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The last JRPG I finished and enjoyed was 2000's Skies of Arcadia for the Dreamcast. But as a kid, I played pretty much every JRPG I could get my hands on. Final Fantasy, Earthbound, Dragon Warrior, Chrono Trigger, Grandia, Suikoden, Sword of Vermilion, Xenogears, and Phantasy Star all consumed the bulk of my free time. Sometime after I started college, that all changed, and between around 2000 and the present, every attempt at playing a JRPG failed. Then Persona 4 Golden came along.
As an "adult," the bulk of my time with RPGs has been with western-style games like Dark Souls, Skyrim, Mass Effect, and Fallout. Yet I've attempted—and failed—to get into all kinds of more modern JRPGs over the years. Off the top of my head, these include: The World Ends With You, Ni no Kuni, Radiant Historia, Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (which I did adore, but it was for the writing more than the game), Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy XIII, Folklore, and Eternal Sonata.
Which is all to say: this is a once-beloved genre that's gotten away from me over the years.
But something about Persona 4 kept calling me. When I picked up a cheap Vita, Persona 4 Golden was one of the first titles I picked up, and to my surprise, I fell for it.
Let's lay down the facts first. Persona 4 is a Japanese role-playing game that's equal parts murder mystery, dungeon crawler, and high school simulator.
You play a high school student who's new in town, and soon after you arrive people start dying. That murder mystery unravels to reveal a supernatural side where an urban legend about the Midnight Channel, a television program that shows people's secret dark side, is true. You and your friends fall into this television world, learn that you can summon powerful allies called "Personas," and decide to figure out what's going on.
Figuring out what's going on comes in the form of two parts: high school simulator and dungeon crawler. In any given simulated day, you'll go to school, take an exam, try to hang out with some cute girls, find an important clue about a murder, and do some dungeon crawling to find more information.
The game plays out over the course of a year and in most respects, you'll do an equal amount of life simulation and battle.
The simulation part is what sets it apart from other games in the genre. You go to school, meet friends, and can pick and choose what you do otherwise. You can hang out with certain people to increase link between them (and provide a boost in battle), you can spend your time studying, you can work to improve basic skills, and attempt to date one of a handful of different girls. The characters at your side include a boy struggling with his sexuality, a pop star hiding out in the small town after deciding to leave show business, a tomboyish girl who love kung-fu movies, and more.
I think context is important to point out here. Persona 4's a universally well-loved game, but it stuck with me because I played it at the right time. I'd just moved to a new state where I didn't know anyone. I was trying to make new friends (and failing). I was also trying to figure out what to do with an absurd amount of free time.
Persona 4 offered a curious kind of escape. I could solve many of my own problems in its world. Making friends was as easy as talking to someone at the right time. Nobody says no to you. Nobody judges you for talking to them too often. My character was charming, suave, and well-loved, but didn't have to try to be any of those things.
The combat system is turn-based, with the primary system based on summoning different personas to fight different enemies. It has depth without being overly-complicated, and the Persona system strikes a balance where you can basically ignore the complicated bits like fusions (combining multiple Personas together) or dig in deep to optimize it.
What's especially nice about the combat system is the amount of room it gives lazy, anxious players like me. By default, the computer controls most of your party. You can set tactics for them, and they do what they think is best. This means you're only managing yourself in combat, which makes battles quick. You can take over control at any time, but I only bothered during the harder boss battles. There's also an option to hit a button and set your whole party to spam basic attacks against enemies, which is particularly helpful when you're grinding away in a dungeon but also watching a TV show on the couch.
Also helpful to someone like me: I can hit the power button on the Vita and take a break from the game. No hunting for save points for twenty minutes. No stressing about getting through a dungeon before dinner's ready. No worrying that I won't have time to do anything in the game. It solves one of the big problems with JRPGs: I rarely have the time or patience to play them. With Persona 4 on the Vita, it's just as easy to play for 20 minutes as it is for two hours. If anything, it showcases that portable systems are better suited for dense JRPGs better than a console.
It's also well written, packed with weird characters, and has enough surprises to make the 70 or so hours you'll spend with not feel like a slog. It has the right amount of goofy. Where games like Final Fantasy tend to rely on melodrama these days, Persona sticks closer to the type of drama you'd call a guilty-pleasure. It's aware that it's pretty over-the-top, and that self awareness keeps it from teetering over the edge.
Persona 4 sparked an interest in JRPGs enough that I picked up a copy of Bravely Default to fill the void after I'd finished it. Even more curiously, I didn't care for Bravely Default at all, and found it excruciatingly boring to play. Which makes the special charm of the Persona series all the more interesting to me. For now, I've started playing Persona 3: Portable, so we'll see if it's a one off, contextual trick that got me to enjoy Persona 4 as much as I did, or if there's something in that series as a whole for me.


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Berkeley High School's Response to Firearms
School officials are taking several steps to address two separate incidents Tuesday involving firearms on the Berkeley High School campus.
Two students were arrested Tuesday morning after a gun they brought to the school went off in a bathroom, and a third was arrested a short time later for having an unloaded handgun, school officials said.
In a letter sent to parents and the community later that day, Berkeley Unified School District Superintendent William Huyett outlined the district's plans in response to the incidents.
A special school board meeting is being held March 30 at 7:30 p.m. to discuss student safety, and a parent forum is being held Monday at 6:30 p.m. at the school's Little Theater.
Berkeley High School principal Pasquale Scuderi is also holding a school-wide faculty meeting this week to discuss the incident and review school safety procedures.
Administrators and other school staff will be meeting with students on campus this week to talk about the consequences and dangers of weapons on campus, and discuss why students are bringing firearms to school.
An anonymous tip line to report weapons on campus has been set up at (866) SPEAK UP, and a text message option will be added soon.
Two additional safety officers will be working at the school until spring break starts April 2, and they may remain on the campus after the break if warranted.
As required by state law, the three students, ages 16 and 17, who were arrested will face mandatory expulsion, school officials said.
No one was injured in either incident.
In the first case, the gun went off in a bathroom near some portable classrooms on the southeast side of the campus. The bullet went through the wall out toward the street, away from the direction of the classrooms.
A custodian heard the gunshot and saw the students leaving the bathroom. They were apprehended after a brief search, during which the campus was locked down, school officials said.
During the lockdown, authorities received an anonymous tip that another student on campus might have a handgun.
Two safety officers escorted the student from class, and found an unloaded handgun when they searched him, officials said.
The incidents marked the third time in three months that police have responded to guns on the Berkeley High School campus.
In an e-mail to parents, Scuderi said Tuesday that "the anxiety this brings to you all is certainly not lost on me and we are more than aware that a third incident of this type warrants a deeper and more comprehensive response to these types of issues and a wider community discussion."


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When you gotta go, you gotta go — but, of course, most restaurants only want paying customers to use their restrooms. One restaurant in Tennessee opted to take this issue to a whole new level by charging fees for non-paying potty use.
Patricia Barnes recently rushed into a restaurant called The Flood Zone in Erin, Tenn., and asked a woman behind the counter if she could use the bathroom. She got permission and quietly did her business.
A few days later, she received a handwritten note from the restaurant in the mail. Barnes was stunned.
"I don't feel it was a crime," she said. "I've been into plenty of restaurants here in this town and other towns, and, you know, other states."
The note mentioned a sign that specifically states the restaurant would charge a $5 fee to anyone who isn't a customer. Barnes said she didn't see the note until an employee approached her after she left the restroom.
Courtesy Patricia Barnes
This is the letter Patricia Barnes says she received from the restaurant.
"It was a little index card at the very bottom of the mirror. I didn't look in the mirror at all that day," Barnes said.
The restaurant's owner tracked Barnes down by writing down her vehicle license plate and having the sheriff trace it to its owner. (The bill was addressed to "Mrs. Edwards;" Barnes' husband's name is Randy Edwards.)
"I just thought it was unbelievable," she said. "I'm like, what type of people are these?"
Barnes went back to the restaurant and offered to pay the $5, but the owners refused. She then mailed them a certified money order, but that came back. The owner apparently changed her mind about the bill, saying she only wanted to make a point.
Thursday on TODAY, celebrity chef and restaurant owner Bobby Flay called the incident "totally ridiculous."
Having members of the public come into your establishment only to use the restroom is "just part of doing business," he said. It also shows good will on the part of the owner.
"There's plenty of people that come to the restaurant, use the bathroom and leave, and that's the way it goes," Flay said.
Al Roker said he thought involving the sheriff was "crazy," not to mention an invasion of privacy.
Natalie Morales called it a "waste of resources for that town."
TODAY readers apparently agree with the assessment, with 70 percent in a poll feeling that it shouldn't be a big deal for non-patrons to use a restaurant bathroom.
- Some NYC restaurants restrict patrons' photographs of food
- Restaurant's 'well-behaved kids' discount goes viral
- Restaurant bans kids: Is it fair?
This story was originally published on Wed Feb 27, 2013 7:43 PM EST


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Institute of Teachers Training and the National Council on Climate Change of the Dominican Republic Graduate 400 Teachers on Climate Change Programme
The National Council for Climate Change and the Clean Development Mechanism (CNCCMD) and the National Institute of Education and Training of Teachers (INAFOCAM) invested on 1 November more than 400 teachers who completed the Programme of Education on Climate Change for Sustainable Development, designed by UNESCO, in the Jaragua Hotel.
The graduation ceremony was hosted by CNCCMD Executive Vice President, Mr. Omar Ramirez Tejada as well as the Director of INAFOCAM, Ms. Denia Burgos and the Country Focal Point of UNESCO, Ms. Julissa Ureña. Mr. Frank Ortiz, from the UNESCO Office in Havana, Cuba, also attended as a special guest.
Mr. Ramirez Tejada, addressing the graduates, said "as many of you are showing in the classrooms, it is undeniable that education has to play a crucial role. Being consistent with this, this initiative has focused on the professional development of teachers, in recognition of the transformative role that teachers and teacher educators must play in reorienting education to help achieve a sustainable future."
Mr. Ramirez Tejada also reported that this experience will be presented at the Conference of the Parties on Climate Change to be held in Warsaw, Poland, in mid-November. Two technicians and two facilitators who have been trained in this program will be member of the official Dominican Delegation to the event. He added that UNESCO has requested that the country be included in a global publication of case studies for tackling climate change through education.
Ms. Bernarda Firpo, Education Coordinator of Sur Futuro Foundation; Ms. Yoselin Trinidad, Facilitator of the Barahona Regional District and Mr. Virgilio Miniño, from the Risk Management Division of the Ministry of Education also took part in the graduation ceremony.
The Training Programme for Capacity Building of Teachers on Climate Change was implemented to promote greater capabilities on the subject of climate change and contribute to sustainable development of communities. This initiative is part of the project One UN Training Service Platform on Climate Change (UN CC: Learn).
Initially, this 50 hours training was directed to prepare a group of 50 trainers who were responsible for educating on climate change. 400 teachers of secondary and basic levels of the Dominican education system in the areas of natural and social sciences as well as curriculum technicians, risk management specialists, regional technicians and NGO facilitators with expertise in the subject were then trained.
About UN CC:Learn
UN CC:Learn is a partnership of 33 multilateral organizations which supports Member States in designing and implementing results-oriented and sustainable learning to address climate change. The Secretariat for UN CC:Learn is provided by UNITAR. An important aspect of UN CC:Learn is to support countries develop a National Strategy to Strengthen Human Resources and Skills to Advance Green, Low Emission and Climate Resilient Development through a multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder process. During the course of 2012-2013, Benin, the Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Malawi, and Uganda are participating as UN CC:Learn pilot countries. Core funding for the 2011-2013 implementation phase of UN CC:Learn is provided by the Swiss Government.