text:
2 dead: Same gun used in Virginia Tech deaths
Update December 9: Police are saying the same handgun that killed a university police officer also was used on the second man found in a parking lot. The second person is believed to be the shooter and the weapon was found near his body.
Officer Deriek Crouse, 39, is the father of five.
Original post
A police officer making a routine traffic stop at Virginia Tech was shot and killed around noon today.
Witnesses reported the suspect fled on foot. At another parking lot called the Cage, a second person was found dead.
The university was under lockdown until around 4:30pm, according to the Collegiate Times. The suspect is described as a white male in gray sweatpants, gray hat with a neon green brim, a maroon hoodie and a backpack, WINA reports.
in 2007, 32 people were killed at the Blacksburg campus in what ranks as the deadliest shooting massacre in U.S. history.
51 comments
Listening now to the 4:30 press conference and it is very confusing. They are not saying if the second person shot is the gunman, but they are saying there is no longer a threat and students are free to move around at will. That being the case, it is fair to deduct, that the second body at the Cage parking lot was the gunman. A weapon was found in the vicinity of the second body.
My kids will NEVER attend that school. The campus is a freaking war zone.
The official at the press conference just confirmed, without confirming, that the second body is that of the killer of the police officer by saying. " you can read between the lines."
All the top brass of Va. Tech were in Washington at the time of the shooting.
" A precedent-setting hearing in Washington concluded early today in the case of Virginia Tech's appeal of federal fines levied against it in the wake of the April 16, 2007, shootings on campus."
Here are the most up to date details of this traumatic event.
Frank, this sort of thing could happen at any campus in the US, none are barbwired in and they don't check you at the gate. If it happened at UVA, guarantee the response would be even longer - and to expect UVA Police to respond well to anything - they can't even investigate a rape case correctly.
You can't stop a unbalanced person from doing anything - it could happen anywhere at anytime. To state your kids would never go to VT is an ignorant statement. No one could have predicted the 2007 incident, nor could they have stopped it. The first on the scene there saw what appeared to be a domestic/lovers issue gone bad. When they found out otherwise, they issued an alert. Could they have improved? They did. But I dare say if the same thing happened at UVA or any other campus the reaction would be as swift. Tech's technology is more advanced.
As a non US resident i am always impressed by the bravery of your citizens when faced with these incidents .
Why would someone who doesn't live in the US be commenting on a Charlottesville blog about an incident that didn't even happen here?
Um whynot? Everyone deserves a voice.
It was reported on CBS that the VA Tech police contacted the State police for assistance. your cover story today is something I have been following - HB 2490. Can the Hook find out how long it took before the campus police contacted the State Police for assistance? The point being, HB 2490 was to require campus police to call local police whenever a felony (murder & rape) occur on campus grounds. VA Tech fought HB 2490, sent a large presence to Richmond many times and argued over and over that they were the best trained campus police force in the US ---- they made sure they lobbied to prevent HB 2490 from being passed by the Crime Commission. Yet today, when a felony occurred on their campus they immediately called out for assistance (which was the right thing to do). SO, why all the hoopla to prevent a bill that would have benefitted every campus in Virginia? They owe Mrs Russell a huge apology!
Evidence confirms earlier unconfirmed report:
"Virginia State Police have confirmed that the second person found shot to death -- a man whose body was located in campus Parking Lot I, near the Duck Pond -- was visible in video footage taken from slain Virginia Tech patrol officer Deriek Crouse's car.
Also visible in the footage was the weapon that was recovered near the body found in Lot I. "
Whatever. Most other schools are not overrun with ill-tempered, gun-toting rednecks. Feel free to send your own kids down there if you like though.
Besides, my kids' grades are good enough that they won't have to go there.
I know all the arguments in favor of guns, but I still say, the prevalence of guns, no matter what state or what country, will increase the risk of violence in our society.
Frank Hardy,
Wake up call.....You said, "Besides, my kids' grades are good enough that they won't have to go there."
Virginia Tech is not a community college, their criteria for acceptance is very high and it will probably surprise you that your kid's "good enough" grades are not enough to get in to Virginia Tech. To get in to Virginia Tech you have to be so much more than a book worm.
Your kid's grades that are, "good enough," will rock your world when they don't get accepted to Virginia Tech. Sounds like your ego is being shoved onto your kids. I suggest a "B" plan for your kids. Community college is a great plan, from there, you can go anywhere!
Good Luck!
Here is what you said while talking down to us through your nose....
FrankHardy December 8th, 2011 | 10:38pm
Whatever. Most other schools are not overrun with ill-tempered, gun-toting rednecks. Feel free to send your own kids down there if you like though.
Besides, my kids' grades are good enough that they won't have to go there.
"Virginia Tech is not a community college, their criteria for acceptance is very high and it will probably surprise you that your kid's "good enough" grades are not enough to get in to Virginia Tech. To get in to Virginia Tech you have to be so much more than a book worm."
Compared to what?
Yes. Rather than a 'bookworm' one of the requirements seems to have been that one must learn how to eventually fight and abuse dogs, as well as serve prison time and expect the world to forgive.
@ Truth Hurts
I agree with all your points except this one: "No one could have predicted the 2007 incident, nor could they have stopped it."
Actually, that's not true. One of Seung Hui-Cho's professors complained about him on multiple occasions to administrators and knew there was an issue with him, but nobody listened. Forget her name, but she even wrote a book about it. You are kind of right in that nobody could have predicted that Cho's disturbed personality would result in the VT massacre, but I think it could have been prevented. There were signs. There were complaints, from both students and professors. But school administrators didn't act on those complaints. If they had, then maybe the outcome would have been very different, and 33 people would still be alive today.
No Name, don't sweat FrankHardy--VT doesn't need him, and clearly his kids don't plan on getting a seriously good degree in engineering. Liberal arts should work out fine for them.
No Name & Hoolarious,
Please. Where I come from (not so very long ago), Tech was EVERYONE'S "safety school". You applied there in case you did not get accepted elsewhere. It was as simple as that.
Now, they are a fallback option with the benefit of a good football team. So the kids who have to go there can puff out their chests a little more during the fall, but nothing really has changed.
Sorry if I hurt your feelings, No Name. But I am quite confident that with my kids' combination of extra-curriculars and academics, they will never have to take a whiff of Blacksburg (or attend community college…not that there is anything wrong with community college).
Hoolarious is correct though in the sense that VPI grinds out quite competent engineering graduates. The ones who work for me are thoroughly decent at their jobs.
Typical Hook readers commentary here...two people have lost their lives and it turns into a name calling pissing match about whether VT is a school worth attending. Idiots with guns are everywhere, whether it's a supermarket parking lot in Tucson, AZ or a college campus in VA. Take a look at the bigger picture people instead of grinding out your petty personal agendas. My prayers go out to the families affected by this tragedy.
Yep. VT was a safety school for my friends too. Really too bad about all the killings going on down there.
I just want to say that I am completely ashamed at some of the total jacka**es that we have in this town. I can't believe that they have no heart, no compassion whatsoever. I am so sorry for what has happened at VT and hope you can all just ignore these idiots. They don't speak for us.
What a senseless act that has destroyed so many lives. Five children will not grow up with their daddy's voice, guiding them. He was torn from them by an act of violence. Five children will never feel his hugs or know the security of him being there ever again. Emptiness, desolation and finally, grief.
And you guys are huffing and puffing about the school.
Relax duannah. The people posting here speak only for themselves - as do you. Besides, I seriously doubt the bereaved family is checking the out-of-town news blogs for messages of condolence.
For the record, I too am gad that my daughter does not go to Tech.
You know something, Relax? People from VT do read The Hook. It is not just the families. It is everyone there suffering because they knew these people or because they are just in shock that another tragedy has occurred on campus. It is relatives or friends right here in Charlottesville. The world is not as small as you think. Whether or not you want your kid to go there, they will probably go to school somewhere and this could happen ANYWHERE.
Why are you peple discussing Virginia Tech? I don't even consider this to be a "Virginia Tech" incident. It was simply some idiot walking by who decided to kill a cop. There's a lot of people out there who have the same thoughts from time to time. It could have happened at any intersection in the city. If it had taken place on West Main in front of Mincer's Pipe Shop, would it be called a massacre at UVA?
What is also disturbing to me is the fact that a high ranking government official like Governor McConnell would publicly announce that his daughter attends this college.
@ duannah "I just want to say that I am completely ashamed at some of the total jacka**es that we have in this town. I can't believe that they have no heart, no compassion whatsoever."
Yes, welcome to the Hook's comments section, where unfortunately most of the posters sound to me like they're guys, in their 30's - 60s who are very bitter and hateful towards the world. They all tend to sound the same when posting, the same short, brusque, cold statements with zero sense of a warm person going on underneath, and where for them, it's all about posturing their ego and showing off their supposed intellect, having to be right and get the last word in, and trying to outdo each other with the cold, brusque cut downs. Who knows who these "people" really are.
Maybe so. But if thoughtless comments posted to a news message board are likely to cause someone to become overwrought, they should probably avoid said message boards. Sounds like you should take that advice yourself.
And this didn't happen just anywhere. It happened at Virginia Tech. On campus. Again.
Deleted by moderator.
Now, now Truther. Sticks and stones...
From the looks of things, we're ALL lucky you don't run the world.
@Truth Hurts
"boooo! - a complaint of unusal behavior does what?"
It gets a person the help they need, and maybe helps prevent a tragedy down the line. From what the professor described in the book she wrote which I was perusing through, Cho was an extremely troubled person. And it wasn't just mildly troubled or a little unusual. The kid was apparently downright menacing in class, and clearly suffering from a psychological disturbance with a troubled homelife. Counseling may not have solved his problems, but maybe it would have at least prevented the shooting. In this case, since more than one person had complained about Cho then it seems VT could have done more to look into the situation.
@ Truth Hurts
Forgot to add in my previous post, while I get what you're saying about how hard it is to force somebody to get help, or take meds (or worse case scenario....start looking at the option of expulsion....) the fact is VT didn't even try. At least if they'd tried, but it didn't work, then they can say "Hey, we at least did something, so don't look at us." But they didn't. They did nothing. So, the public will never have the luxury of knowing what could have been had they at least tried.
Virginia Tech is a perfectly adequate school. Though hanging your hat solely on the engineering program is a bit misleading. Would anyone seriously consider the University of Maryland to be a better school simply because it has a higher ranked engineering program (which it does, according to US News)? Don't think so.
Even though I now live in Raleigh, I read articles on the Hook website daily and I like reading the comments (especially GSOE's comments). What happen on VT campus is a tragic and my heart goes out to the officer's family. Tragedies like this can happen on any school campus--high school or college. Hell, the same day that this officer's lost his life, an officer here in North Carolina, lost his life while trying to arrest someone one for back child support. A young lady was wounded while filling out a job application at Food Lion when a gunman came in to settle the score with his domestic partner. These days you just don't know what can make people SNAP.
"FrankHardy December 8th, 2011 | 10:38pm
Whatever. Most other schools are not overrun with ill-tempered, gun-toting rednecks. Feel free to send your own kids down there if you like though.
Besides, my kids' grades are good enough that they won't have to go there."
much safer here in cville where they cover up the rapes, bash the heads in, and leave the bodies in snowy fields, and still make time for foxfield in daddys range rover
Shootings on a college campus equate to terrorism. You don't know when and where they will occur, so you have to have the right response in place to resolve and diffuse the situation quickly. The response on Dec 8th at VT was well orchestrated and, in Larry Hincker's words, an "integrated effort" between campus and state police. VA Tech learned from the 2007 shootings but never took responsibility. Last week VA Tech went to Richmond and testified against HB 2490 to the VA Crime Commission. That bill required collaboration between campus and local police whenever a felony occurs on a college campus. They argued that campus police are better trained than local police and do not need assistance to investigate felonies. Yet their response yesterday was immediate contact/collaboration with the state police. Was it because one of their own was murdered? Or was it the right thing to do? I hope their response to that question is the latter - it was the right thing to do. The Crime Commission should have passed HB 2490 because, as was proven on Dec 8th, it is the right protocol when a murder occurs on a college campus.
@boooo - no it doesn't. You can't commit someone who hasn't done anything to themselves or others. Just like you can't get a restraining order on someone who hasn't done anything. I agree - there should be more out there to GET people help and avert things that have happened but that went out the window in the 1980s. Since then there have been more and more incidents where people who are a bit imbalanced do some insane things that hurt innocent people.
The issue is try to commit someone - see what you have to go through - and you better have insurance or it will be possibly a 72 hour hold. Then do this - try to get a court order to have an adult to take their meds and go to therapy - see how far you get and how much you have to spend - not just money but time.
I think Tech did more than UPenn! Hands down. We all can agree on that!
Wow, all the rage and ill temper here regarding UVA and Tech. Like UVA and the area surrounding it are so safe compared to VT? Ask rape victim Liz Seccuro and her parents. Or Morgan Harrington's parents. Or Yeardley Love's parents. No campus is safe, although I'd bet both Blacksburg and Charlottesville are safer than College Park, MD or Berkeley, CA. I have two kids who are UVA grads and another is a Tech grad. The only thing I can say for sure is that you need better grades/SATs for UVA than Tech. I can also say that UVA has more horse's you-know-whats who think their poop doesn't stink than Tech does. Grades aren't everything. You can have a degree from some State University (or community college followed by transfer to a 4 year college) and be a big success in life because you're smart, work hard and have a decent personality/work well with others. You can have a degree from an Ivy and be a miserable failure in life because you're lazy, look down your nose at everyone because you think you're better than them and just be a total all around misanthrope who thinks the world owes you something.
If you have a degree from some snotty, elitist university and figure you're something special because of it, I feel very sorry for you.
LOL! the comments have really degraded on this page. I have a degree from a "northern school" and yet, despite all odds, sent my kids to UVA and Tech. The problem with Virginians is that they don't so what's right to protect their kids. They are so worried about image, they forget what is right and proper. this week's cover is about rape at UVA and the lead story is about murder at Tech. That about sums it up.
I meant to type "they don't do what's right" - Yankees talk too fast and type too fast -- LOL!
Frank Hardy, my insulting you were in good fun and humor - at no time did I "physically threaten you". I didn't attend Tech FYI. I think you are taking things a bit too seriously. And it was you who first started the insults. If you you choose to dish it out - you better be able to take it. I'm just sayin'...
And for the record, http://www.biography.com/people/seung-hui-cho-235991 - Cho was hospitalized, court ordered to go to therapy and apparently went to one session. If you read further, there were signs and there was action (as much as they could do legally). As I stated before, there was a breakdown in the metal health care of this country in the 1980s and the results are we have thousands who should be in hospitals but are not.
It would be nice if one could say, this person is "mean" and acts like a "bully" and they would get mental help but it isn't that simple.
Many here are very correct - this could happen at any place and any time. We live in a very violent society and it started long before the current administration in charge and their predecessor too. (Before anyone here starts pulling politics into it all.)
Instead of looking down your nose at particular colleges, community college or other, you should educate your children to have common sense. Something truly lacking in today's society.
Clara - this area has been infused by non-natives and northerners. I'm a Virginian and I don't care what you think of what I do when it comes to raising my child to know right from wrong, have manners (in spite of rudeness) and do the right thing. I also have taught my children to have common sense.
That is something you don't learn from a college education.
@Truth Hurts - I didn't insult you nor comment on your ability to raise children. Direct your anger to those who insult you. Virginians may be more polite, but geesh,they sure as hell don't listen to the whole sentence.....
According to this analysis of FBI crime statistics gun crime is rising in Virginia.
"How bad is gun crime in the US? The latest data from the FBI's uniform crime reports is out and it provides a fascinating picture of the use of firearms in crimes across America.
At the beginning of the year the shooting spree in Tucson, Arizona, that targeted congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords left six dead, including a nine-year-old child. But since then, the issue has been given scant attention.
However, the figures themselves are astounding for Brits used to around 600 murders per year. In 2010 - the latest year for which detailed statistics are available - there were 12,996 murders in the US. Of those, 8,775 were caused by firearms.
While gun crime is down in the vast majority of states, it is up in New York, Virginia, New Jersey, Mississippi, Missouri, Arizona, Delaware, New Hampshire
Massachusetts, North Dakota, Connecticut and several of the smaller states. "
Oh I see. It's all in "good fun and humor" once you get called out on it. I didn't threaten you either - just said you could use a fat lip. Never said I'd be the one to deliver it. Based on what we have learned about you from your posts, I'm sure there is no shortage of people (who actually have the misfortune to know you) who be be happy to oblige.
And you need to go back and see who first insulted who. I made a comment about the violent climate at VPI, and you got your panties in a wad and started hurling insults. Get your facts straight and stop rewriting history.
Frank Hardy, et al Please, let's leave UVA out of this. We haven't had the problem of killings on campus, yet, and we should be thankful; but, comparing the two schools, or other schools, unnamed, is just bad form. There are guns everywhere. This past summer, I saw a man darting into a store at Rio Hill shopping center, he was wearing a ratty cowboy hat, his shirt open and flapping, blue jeans, cowboy boots, and a pistol worn openly on his belt. He was legal. He would have been identified as a 'redneck', and he was here in Charlottesville, in broad daylight. Guns are everywhere, but you usually don't see them, especially if the bearer has a concealed carry permit. ----This country, as a whole, has always had a gun culture; it has never served us well. That said, you can't put the genie back in the bottle; you take your chances. Everywhere.
Marcus and everybody else), this shooting has nothing to do with the Virginia Tech campus. It was just some nut who wanted to kill a cop. It happens everywhere. Here's another example of a cop who simply wanted to kill a police officer.....
At no point in ANY of my posts did I ever mention the University of Virginia. Interesting, huh?
"While gun crime is down in the vast majority of states, it is up in New York, Virginia, New Jersey, Mississippi, Missouri, Arizona, Delaware, New Hampshire
Massachusetts, North Dakota, Connecticut and several of the smaller states. "
I am all for stupid people not being able to purchase firearms. That means I would be the only one with one. Kneel before me surfs!
Does anything know the WHY of this? The newspapers so far have only been able to find his friends who didn't know anything about it...
@ discoduck: Because of your talking about "surfs" (sic), no guns for you! Are you a UVA grad, "surf"?
"@ discoduck: Because of your talking about "surfs" (sic), no guns for you! Are you a UVA grad, "surf"?"
Rule 1. Do not argue with the only person allowed to own guns.
Rule 2. 'Surfs' will be the new spelling.
No, just a smuck from nowhere.
charlie aka "discoduck" don't serf
Donkey's frolicking
Fast and Furious are they
Death becomes a game


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After being publicly blasted by President Trump and then having an "extensive discussion" with him, drug giant Pfizer announced Tuesday that it will roll back the price hikes that took effect July 1. The reversal will last until the president's new plan to lower drug prices is in place or until the end of the year, whichever comes first.
"Pfizer is rolling back price hikes, so American patients don't pay more," Trump tweeted Tuesday evening. "We applaud Pfizer for this decision and hope other companies do the same. Great news for the American people!"
The announcement "gives Trump, who made lowering prescription drug prices a top 2016 presidential campaign issue, a short-term victory he can point to in the run-up to the elections," Reuters' Yasmeen Abutaleb and Michael Erman noted.
But Axios' Sam Baker threw some cold water on the celebration: "Pfizer is only deferring those price hikes, not canceling them. And it's taking its products back to what they cost in June — a time when Trump was very much of the belief that the prices were too high."
Why it matters: "The president's pointed criticism of Pfizer, and the company's abrupt about-face, suggest there may be limits to how much latitude the industry has on pricing even with an administration considered generally supportive" despite Trump's complaints, The Wall Street Journal's Jonathan D. Rockoff writes, adding that the pricing pressure on the drug industry "may reward companies that have invested wisely in developing new drugs, especially those offering substantial improvements over current care that can command premium prices and quickly secure reimbursement."


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Wareham woman says fake cop pulled her over, hit her with flashlight
Wareham police search for assailant after man poses as officer
Police in Wareham are searching for a man who pretended to be a police officer when he pulled over a woman during the weekend.
The female driver was signaled to pull over on Main Street in West Wareham on Saturday at about 9 p.m.
The 29-year-old Wareham woman said she had been signaled to stop by the use of a blue light in the windshield of what was described as a dark colored, mid-size sport utility vehicle or pickup truck.
She pulled to the side of the road, and a man came to the driver side of the vehicle and told her that she had a defective tail light, asked for her driver's license and told her to step out from the vehicle.
She said that she felt that the man was not a police officer and began to drive away, at which time he struck her face with a flashlight, causing a minor injury, police said. The woman left the scene and called police.
The assailant was described as a white man, about 40 years old. Police said he was about 5 feet 8 inches tall and had dark hair and a very distinctive Adam's apple. He was wearing a dark-colored buttoned shirt under a fluorescent yellow jacket.


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Czechs elect president by direct vote for 1st time
A former leftist prime minister and the Czech Republic's conservative foreign minister will face each other in a presidential runoff later this month after finishing Saturday as the top two candidates in the ballot's first round.
Ex-Premier Milos Zeman and Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg will compete in the second round of voting for the largely ceremonial post on Jan. 25-26.
Czechs are electing the country's president in a direct popular vote for the first time, to replace euroskeptic President Vaclav Klaus, whose second and final term ends March 7.
Since Czechoslovakia officially split into Slovakia and the Czech Republic in 1993, the republic has had two presidents elected by Parliament: Vaclav Havel and Klaus. But bickering during those votes led the legislature to give that decision to the general public.
With the votes from all of the 15,000 polling stations counted on Saturday, Zeman was leading with 24.21 percent of the vote, followed by Schwarzenberg with 23.40 percent. Another former premier, Jan Fischer, was a distant third with 16.35 percent.
Zeman and Schwarzenberg will advance to the runoff, since no candidate achieved a majority. They were among nine candidates in the race.
"It will be a presidential race between a candidate for the left and a candidate for the right," Zeman said. "We'll start from scratch for the second round."
Zeman and Fischer were considered favorites, but Schwarzenberg finished his campaign in style, attracting an unusually big crowd of about 10,000 in a rally in the capital this week.
Schwarzenberg said he would do all he can for the Czech Republic to be "a successful country."
Zeman, 68, is attempting to stage a return to power after he retired following a failure in the 2003 presidential election.
A chain smoker with a soft spot for alcohol, Zeman made international headlines as prime minister with outspoken comments. For example, he compared late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to Adolf Hitler, drawing condemnations from the EU and the Arab League, and called the Austrians who opposed a Czech nuclear plant "idiots."
After the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S., Zeman and his interior minister said they believed that hijacker Mohamed Atta met with a senior Iraqi intelligence official in Prague in April 2001. That purported meeting was cited as evidence of a possible al-Qaida connection to Iraq. The 9/11 commission later said such a meeting never happened.
Schwarzenberg, 75, is chairman of the conservative TOP 09 party, a member of the center-right ruling coalition. He is a member of a European noble family, and lived in exile on his family's estates in Austria and Germany during communist rule. After the Velvet Revolution, he became chancellor to Vaclav Havel. He served as foreign minister from 2007-09 and again took the post after the 2010 general elections.
Zeman and Schwarzenberg were already looking ahead to the upcoming runoff, trading political barbs Saturday. Schwarzenberg said Zeman belongs to the past, and the ex-premier replied by saying Schwarzenberg should be held responsible for the austerity cuts pushed through by the current government that his opponent is a member.
Vladimir Franz, a renowned classical music composer and painter who has tattoos over most of his body, finished fifth with 6.84 percent. The professor at the prestigious Academy of Performing Arts in Prague with no experience in politics called it "a success."


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Ribalta: Neo-Neapolitan in Union Square
Pizza reviews in NYC.
48 East12th Street (b/n University Place & Broadway; map), New York, NY 10003; 212-777-7781; ribaltapizzarestaurant.com
Service: Friendly and Italian, in a good way
Setting: High-ceilinged airy space with red leather trim and some knick-nacks
Must-Haves: DOC pizza, Brussels sprouts, pizza in pala
Cost: Appetizers $7 to $14, pastas $14 to $20, pizza $9 to $23
Compare To: Motorino, Don Antonio, Keste
Recommendation: Good for the neighborhood. Simple pies are excellent, but not all toppings and sides deliver.
A couple of months ago, I received an e-mail from Rosario Procino, former partner of Neapolitan guru Roberto Caporosco. Rosario was the charming, always smiling business person, or what might be called the Bizzaiolo, at Keste.
Rosasio recently joined the team that runs Ribalta in Union Square with the goal of "leveraging the existing strengths but also elevating the overall experience. The idea," he said, with a paranthetical admission that it's a big one, "is to build a dream team of Neapolitan Pizza." To that end, he hired Pasquale Cozzolino to make the pies, drawing on his recent experience as chef at PizzArte and Dellarocco's. "This may be the only pizzeria in New York run (front and back of house) by Neapolitan-born and-raised individuals."
His goal is to balance tradition and creativity. Pizzas are leavened by a natural starter that Pasquale brought back from Italy—it's somewhere between 80 and 100 years old, and over the course of a five to seven day rise, it brings a noticeable lightness and cultured flavor to the dough. But unlike certain Neapolitan pizzerias that take a monastic approach to the One and Only pie, Ribalta plays around with tradition—just ask the hot dog and fries pizza or the limoncello-marinated chicken wings.
The result is part of the new wave of Neapolitan pizzerias we've seen in New York—those that embrace traditional techniques, but aren't constrained by them. Ribalta has been light on buzz, so we paid a visit to see if Rosario and Pasquale's pizza could match their story.
Ribalta is a vast space with white-tiled walls, red leather trim, and pizza-centric photos facing down at you from the ceiling. They have many ovens, including one that will be devoted exclusively to gluten-free pizza, but curiously none that are exclusively wood-burning.
The extensive menu includes many starters, pastas, and salads, but we focused on the equally extensive pizza menu, though not exclusively.
We ordered two starters, Brussels Sprouts ($8) studded with pancetta and Pecorino and crowded into an oblong terra cotta roasting pan, which were seriously delicious, a satisfying combination of thoroughly cooked but not mushy sprouts and crunchy pancetta cubes. We'd order it again today. There was also a straight-from-the-fridge watermelon, plum tomato, and burrata salad ($14), which we'd steer clear from forever unless they fixed the potato-like plum tomatoes (it's September in New York, one of the two great tomato months of the year) and cold-as-late-November cheese.
The DOC ($15), always a litmus test pie, was terrific: the Italian starter combined with 00 flour and New York water, cooked in a gas oven with wood accents, made for a yeasty, low-lipped pie that was simultaneously light and chewy, with a lovely crispy exterior and just the right hint of sourness. The low lip and the lack of excessive oil in the middle of pie made it post-Neapolitan, Neapolitan-inspired or -derived, rather than exactingly traditional.
Our white pie with sausage and broccoli rabe ($17) was not as successful: too much fior di latte and unseasoned sausage pellets that, at the very least, need salt and fennel seeds to come to life.
Ribalta's menu has a section for pizza in pala, twice-baked pizzas "for two" (or more), which explains the $28 price tag. They're the Italian designer version of a Sicilian pizza, but made with less oil in the crust and mercifully less cheese. The crust was lighter than it looks, with decent hole structure, and our server announced that these suckers were so big you could split your topping order, which we did. The Norma half featured eggplant, cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, and Parmesan, all well-cooked—this is the half I'd order again. Our other half featured pancetta and mushrooms; the once-cooked pork should have been cooked twice.
As for that hot dog and fries pizza? We've saved it for another visit.
For dessert, we had something that was a cross between bombolini, mini-crullers without the twist, and churros, doughnuts ($9) that were moistened and lightened by adding potato starch to the dough. They were topped with Nutella, which is what just about every Italian dessert in a pizzeria is topped with. Some people are Nutella lovers. I am not, though if Ribalta used one of the expensive chocolate hazelnut spreads made both in the U.S. and Naples, I would have been very happy. The doughnuts themselves, coated with just the right amount of sugar, were excellent.
Ribalta is a work in progress. Order the brussels sprouts, the DOC, and, if you have a large party or want to take a lot of pizza home, a pizza in pala, and the doughnuts for dessert—you will be very happy Neo-Neapolitan campers. The menu items that needed work seem eminently fixable, and we look forward to going back in a month or two to see if they will be.
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


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Zinc Shows Promise Against Deadly Jellyfish Venom
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 12 (HealthDay News) -- A zinc compound could prove a lifesaver for people who suffer potentially deadly stings from the Australian box jellyfish, according to researchers who tried the treatment in mice.
The jellyfish are among the most venomous creatures in the world. Researchers have long tried to learn more about why the jellyfish's venom is so deadly and how to counter it.
In this study, researchers developed ways to extract venom from the jellyfish and tested it on human blood and on mice. They found that the venom rapidly punched holes in human red blood cells, making them leak large amounts of potassium. This leads to cardiac arrest and death.
Further research showed that a compound called zinc gluconate slowed the venom's ability to harm the red blood cells and increased survival time in mice exposed to the venom, according to the study, which was published December 12 in the journal PLoS One.
Scientists note, however, that research with animals often fails to provide similar results in humans.
"For over 60 years researchers have sought to understand the horrifying speed and potency of the venom of the Australian box jellyfish," study author Angel Yanagihara, of the University of Hawaii, said in a journal news release.
The new findings suggest that the venom's ability to boost potassium levels is what makes it so deadly, and that rapid treatment with zinc could save the lives of people stung by the jellyfish, said Yanagihara and colleagues.
More information
The CRC Reef Research Center in Australia has more about the Australian box jellyfish.


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Start Planning for Your Future Now!
Although retirement may not be in your near future, it is never too early to start planning and saving. Here are some steps to help guide the way to a financially stable:
The foundation of any financial plan depends on knowing what your income and expenses are and budgeting accordingly. Your income may be easy to figure out (look at your paycheck), but don't forget to add in other income such as interest income, and maybe earnings from a seasonal job. Most of your expenses will also be fixed, such as rent, utilities, and groceries, but don't forget about occasional expenses, such as clothes or car repairs.
If your income is greater than your expenses, you're in good shape, but if it's the other way around, you'll need to generate more income or cut expenses, or both. If cutting expenses, look at your wants first (e.g., travel); there's less flexibility when it comes to your needs (e.g., groceries)
Maybe you've got student loans, a car loan, and some credit card debt. Paying all your debts on time will help you establish and maintain a good credit history, so it's important to make debt repayment a priority expense in your budget. If you need to reduce your debt burden, perhaps you can consolidate your student loans to lower the monthly payment. As for credit card debt, resolve to pay it off in a systematic fashion: always pay more than the minimum payment due, and if you have more than one card, direct any extra money you have toward the card with the highest interest rate.
Health insurance: Hopefully, you'll have coverage through your employer. If not, as part of recent health-reform legislation, you may be able to remain on your parents' health insurance if you are under age 26.
Disability insurance: You're fine now, but that could change in a heartbeat if an injury or illness puts you out of commission. Disability insurance pays benefits that will help cover your living expenses if you can't work due to an injury or illness. It may be offered through your employer, or you can purchase it on your own.
Life insurance: If you're employed, you may receive life insurance as part of your employee benefits package. If not, you may want to purchase a small policy to cover any final expenses (e.g., funeral expenses) that might be incurred if you die. And if you're getting married or planning a family, you'll need life insurance to protect your loved ones
One "expense item" you should include in your budget is saving for your future. Although retirement seems far off, start saving as soon as possible. Due to compound interest, the sooner you start saving even a modest amount, the greater the amount you can potentially accumulate over time. For example, $50 per month saved at 6% compounded monthly for 30 years yields a total accumulation of over $50,000, even though you only deposited $18,000 of that ($50 x 12 months x 30 years). (This is a hypothetical example and is not intended to reflect the actual performance of any investment–results will vary.)
Save for your short-term needs, too. Try to sock away at least three to six months worth of expenses in a savings or money market account, so that you'll have funds you can access in an emergency.
Take advantage of any employer-sponsored retirement plans you're offered; your contributions come out of your salary on a pretax basis, and any investment earnings are tax deferred until withdrawn. These plans often include employer-matching contributions. You may also want to look into opening an individual retirement account (IRA)–IRAs also feature tax deferral of earnings.


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The REX – Free Flyer is a DLR R&D concept for a returnable and reusable orbital experiment facility. A sharp edged re-entry vehicle design based on flat panels offers certain economic advantages and substantial aerodynamic benefits in the hypersonic speed regime. The aerodynamic design of the REX – Free Flyer vehicle is based on the pre-design tool SOSE. This tool is developed by the DLR and uses the shock-expansion-method in order to calculate the pressure distribution on the vehicle shape. Thus all important coefficients and moments are known and an adequate configuration can be designed. For the design process there are different criteria which have to be fulfilled. The vehicle has to accommodate the payload (payload: 0.4x0.4x0.7 m³). The maximum volume of the launcher (e.g. Vega) may not be exceeded. The vehicle should be stable, trimmable, and of simple shape with a lift-to-drag ratio larger than 1.2. After the pre-design of the vehicle shape, the next task is to compute the aerothermodynamic loads acting on the vehicle by performing Navier-Stokes-Calculations.
Results of the pre-design study with SOSE: Lift/Drag-ratio and pitching moment coefficient


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Terrorism and the Ethics of Collective Punishment
Terrorism and the Ethics of Collective Punishment
by Sean Gabb
(23rd March 2017)
Outraged by yesterday's terrorist attack in London, one of my Facebook friends has posted this:
I've said it before and I'll say it again. The way to deal with Islamic terrorism is mercilessly. You must not be squeamish about liberal use of the death penalty for those who commit or attempt acts of terror, or their associates. You must not be squeamish about retaliatory acts against their friends and families. Every attendee at their mosque should be deported if a dual of foreign national, then no stone of the building should be left standing and the soil soaked in pigs blood.
If you don't do these things, or attack those who do, you are enabling terror. You yourself have some blood on your hands. This is not me being angry, for I am not angry at all. I've just read some history, and this is how it is. Not taking necessary dissuasive action is profoundly harmful. It is evil.
What I find interesting about the post is my friend's advocacy of collective punishment for individual crimes. He is advancing these propositions:
First, that the man who committed yesterday's attack is to be regarded both as an individual as a member of an alien group;
Second, that this alien group, or a section of it, is to be held partly responsible for the attacks;
Third, that punishment for the attacks is to involve loss of property and other rights for people who cannot be proven to have taken part in the attack, or to have known about it in advance, plus a deliberate religious desecration;
Fourth, that these punishments, taken together, are to mark out the attacker's group as both legally inferior and generally unwelcome in this country.
Taking into account what he has said, and what naturally follows from it, my friend's justification seems to be utilitarian. If a member of a relevant group has reasonable suspicion that someone he knows is contemplating a terrorist attack, he will have an incentive to tell the authorities about it. The leaders of this group will also have an incentive to take their own deterrent actions. This being so, there will be a diminution of terrorist violence from within that group.
To put it mildly, I find the post troubling. I find it troubling for two reasons.
First, we live in a civilisation that pays unusual attention to individual rights and individual responsibilities. We punish only those individuals who can be proven to have committed a crime. We also punish accomplices before and after the fact. We may also impute criminal liability in obvious cases of common purpose. But, unless they are accomplices of some kind, we do not punish the relatives and friends and neighbours of a criminal. This is an important limitation. It is central to our conception of civic order. So far as we depart from it, we become less English and less European and less Christian in our ways.
Second, collective punishment may be a recipe for civil war. If I cannot persuade the man down the road out of the crime that I reasonably believe he is contemplating, I may be tempted to inform on him. On the other hand, I may believe that my other neighbours will then murder me. This will be very likely if I belong to a group that has been officially told it is inferior and unwelcome. I may then connive at covering up the man's crime. Or I shall be inclined to join in rioting and other acts that may deter the authorities from imposing more than a token collective punishment.
I could end my response here, basking in my own liberalism. There is, however, a difficulty with my first point. The civic order that I mention emerged in its purest form in England and those other European nations that enjoyed a high degree of ethnic homogeneity. It seemed reasonable to treat each other as individuals, because we were all members of the same group – or members of groups closely-related and with fluid boundaries. Such an order has never emerged in territories populated by groups who define themselves as radically separate from each other. The custom here has been for members of each group to deal justly with their own as individuals, but to extend such dealing to others only as a matter of limited courtesy, or from a position of overwhelming strength. When there is a conflict, the custom has been to treat individuals from another group as a representative of the group, and to hold the group as a whole responsible for the acts of its individual members.
The civic order that I mention is not a universal fact, but a product of unusual circumstances. Indeed, it has not been an entirely settled fact even in England. Look at our treatment of the native Irish after each of their rebellions. Look at our treatment of the Scottish Highlanders whenever they actively sided with the exiled Stuarts. Look at how we treated the subject nationalities in our Empire.
We have, since the end of the Second World War, moved from unquestioned homogeneity to an increasing diversity. The civic order that emerged in one state of affairs may not be supportable in a different state of affairs. There are certain new groups among us who do not wish to assimilate – or perhaps cannot assimilate. So far as it fears loss of territory or demographic weight, the traditional majority shows a growing willingness to act like any other group in history. If someone in one of the minority groups robs a bank, or murders his wife for the insurance money, he will be punished as an individual in the usual way. If he preys on the women or children of the majority group, or commits acts of terrorist violence, he will increasingly be treated as a representative of his group, and his group will be held collectively responsible for his actions.
I will add that a culture of collective responsibility is as likely to result in a restored equilibrium as in unlimited conflict. That is a matter of circumstances. Undoubtedly, though, the achievement of equilibrium will only follow some degree of conflict, and a permanent breakdown of the old order of things.
What I wish to be the case is of no importance. We are where we are, and we are headed where we are headed. It is possible that the "community leaders" of the group from which yesterday's outrage came will also see where we are headed, and will take resolute and sufficient action. But this would be historically unusual. The usual dynamics of any conflict between groups is an escalation of mutual provocations, in which the moderates on both sides lose position to the hard-liners. It then becomes a question of which side has greater resources and the will to use them.
For the avoidance of doubt, I do not want my country to fall apart in civil war. I do not want the breakdown of our ancient civic order. But what my Facebook friend has said, I fear, is only what many others are thinking – and what many more who do not yet agree will soon be thinking.


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If you have something to sell, chances are you've thought about selling it in China.
With a population of 1.35 billion, it's become an attractive market for U.S. companies pushing everything from athletic shoes to light trucks to Tide. Given the natural limits of their home market, you'd assume that American EMR firms would eventually size up China's nascent health IT scene.
And it's likely they have. In a report a few years ago, 100 percent of vendors surveyed told the consulting firm Accenture that they saw global markets as an opportunity in the long term.
But health IT doesn't export quite as easily as Pringles and KFC. I've seen China's healthcare system up close several times, and if you ask me, making headway in the world's most populous nation will be beyond difficult.
China, which is in the midst of its own health care reform, could certainly be tempting for companies such as Epic, McKesson and Cerner. As Benjamin Shobert wrote for Forbes, the country in 2009 extended basic health coverage to 97 percent of its citizens. It also promised to build 31,000 hospitals, upgrade 5,000 existing ones and train 150,000 new primary-care doctors.
McKinsey & Co. last year said health care spending in China would grow to $1 trillion in 2020 from $375 million in 2011.
Meanwhile, U.S. EMR companies are going to need new markets to conquer. Estimates of how much growth potential is left are many and varied. But no matter how you look at it, at some point every American healthcare organization of any size will have an EMR. Millennium Research Group last month predicted declining EMR-industry revenue from this year on because of "market saturation."
Of course, plenty of IT firms, including Oracle and IBM, have a major presence in China. But the China market won't happen in a significant way for U.S. health IT companies any time soon, and here's why:
- China's healthcare is different. The private physician's office that Americans are used to is more or less nonexistent. You go to a hospital-based clinic and see the doctor who's available. Patient privacy hasn't taken hold, so there could be other clinic-goers and family members milling about near — or in — your exam room. Chinese traditional medicine is practiced alongside the "Western" variety. Even with insurance, you typically pay up front and get reimbursed later. A U.S.-centric EMR would not map neatly onto China's workflows. There's an overview of China's system here. I've written about a Chinese dental clinic here.
- No one understands China's health IT. OK, I'm sure some people do, and I hope they comment. But it's a challenge. The health information firm KLAS Enterprises isn't even attempting to cover China. A KLAS executive vice president, Jared Peterson, told Modern Healthcare, "The Chinese market, that's a big mystery." Meanwhile, Accenture omitted China from its 2010 report "Overview of International EMR/EHR Markets" because of "conflicting opinions of overall EMR maturity."
- The language barrier will be formidable. Epic CEO Judith Faulkner told Modern Healthcare how her company had adapted its system for another language. "We've only done it once, for Dutch," she said in January 2012. "It's a lot of mapping. It's a task, but it hasn't been that bad of a task." But Dutch is not Chinese, and Chinese doesn't use the Roman alphabet. I'm betting that when you throw Chinese characters into the mix, the conversion will be "that bad of a task" and then some.
- Cloud-based systems could raise security issues. Some experts expect cloud-based services to play a significant role as health IT spreads to developing countries. But according to a U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission report, "Regulations requiring foreign firms to enter into joint cooperative arrangements with Chinese companies in order to offer cloud computing services may jeopardize the foreign firms' information security arrangements."
It's worth mentioning that three years ago, China was mentioned as Cerner announced plans to develop global markets. It wanted to get into emerging regions before its U.S.-based competitors did.
There's not much sign of life now in any China-related plans the company might have had, though. According to a message from Chad Haynes, managing director for Cerner Asia, on the firm's website: "We look forward to improving the health of communities in ASEAN, China, and beyond."
In the case of China, that could be a while.


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I haven't had much time to keep up with facePLANT, the Windows Live Writer plug-in for Facebook, so I decided I would post the source code on here so any developer can download and extend as they please.
This code is provided as is and there is no implied warranty. It is free to use in personal and commercial applications. Thanks and sorry for the lack of updates on this project.
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Office Wear Diamond Jewellery
Office Wear Diamond Jewellery
Style Your Office Wear with our Diamond Jewellery
Beautiful pendants, compact earring and precise rings are some of the formal jewellery pieces that augment the beauty of your office wear. Jewellery is one of the most essential parts of our dressing, and people from ancient times have been wearing extensive and lustrous jewelry pieces to showcase their power and wealth. However, this concept has completely changed nowadays, but still the trend of wearing jewellery is popular. Today, compact jewellery is considered as a symbol of elegance and grace for women. Keeping up with the notion, jewellery has gone immense change in the past few decades. Nowadays, women prefer small, intricate and compact jewellery to complement their office wear. Instead of going loud with their jewellery, they look forward to elegance and style that delicate diamond jewellery gives them.
We, at Malabar Gold and Diamonds offer an exhaustive range of office wear jewellery, and our diamond jewellery for office wear possesses an exclusive range of diamond pendants, rings and earrings. Our office wear diamond pendant range is encompassed by some of the most unique designs that represent the outstanding craftsmanship of our goldsmiths in an exclusive manner. Earlier pendants were only used for domestic wear by women, but now with an exquisite range with several attractive designs, our world of pendants has moved much beyond the four walls of the home. Pendants have always remained one of the favorite accessories of women, and right from ancient tribes to contemporary world, pendants have always stood as the symbols of classiness and elegance.
Glamorous yet Simple Diamond Jewellery
Apart from pendants, beautiful earrings are a must have office wear jewellery these days. With an increasing trend of light and elegant jewellery, small earrings with dazzling diamonds are becoming the hot favorites of every woman. Our office wear diamond earrings attract the women of all age groups. These earrings glamorize your personality and looks, while keeping it sophisticated and simple. These certainly enhance your persona while giving it a dazzling glow. Whether you are wearing formal attire or a kurti (which are increasingly becoming a popular office wear), Malabar Gold and Diamonds elegant and graceful earrings suit all the attires perfectly.
Apart from this, we also offer an exclusive range of formal rings which are the perfect companion of your formal pendants and earrings.The best part is that our office wear diamond rings do not look odd in the offices, rather give you a perfect professional look while adding an extra edge to your style. These help to upgrade the personal style statement of women in an outstanding manner, and beautifully match everyone's personality. Also, sparkling pendant sets with platinum chains are today a rage among office goers, as many of them have started ditching gold for platinum.


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ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia labor officials say the state's unemployment rate increased to 8.3 percent in May.
The Georgia Department of Labor announced the seasonally adjusted rate early Thursday, saying it was up one-tenth of a percentage point from 8.2 percent in April.
The rate increased because more job seekers entered the labor force looking for work, Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler said in a statement. He said there was also a slight increase in layoffs, many of which were temporary.
"Despite the slight increase in the unemployment rate, Georgia employers continued to create jobs for the fourth consecutive month, giving us the largest number of jobs we've had since December 2008," Butler said. "And, it's very encouraging that the number of construction jobs has increased for the third consecutive month."
The May jobless rate was down eight-tenths of a percentage point from 9.1 percent in May a year ago.
But the number of layoffs rose by 4,238 -- or 9.9 percent -- to 46,882 in May, officials said. The increases came mostly in temporary layoffs in manufacturing, accommodations and food services, educational services, and health care and social assistance.


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In This Issue
- Governing Agile Development Teams
- Hot Links
Governing Agile Development Teams
From some of the discussions in agile forums it seems sometimes that "governance" is a dirty word. I suspect that this is because many agile developers perceive IT governance as being ineffective if not downright harmful. This attitude should come as no surprise: The Dr. Dobb's November 2009 State of the IT Union survey found that only 11 percent of respondents worked in organizations where agile teams had benefitted from their IT governance efforts. Yikes. As I've argued before in previous newsletters, not only is it possible to govern agile project teams effectively it is also easier to do so because of the greater visibility and control provided to project stakeholders. The challenge, however, is for the stakeholders to recognize that they have such visibility and control and to take advantage of these new opportunities wisely. That's the topic of this article.
IT governance addresses the issues of accountability, responsibility, and tying IT activities into the overall activities and goals of an organization. IT governance is often organized into several sub-domains: Data governance, which focuses on the operations and evolution of your organization's data/information; Technology governance strategies, such as SOA governance or Cloud Computing governance, which focuses on operation and evolution of a specific category of technology within your organization; Development/delivery governance, which focuses on overseeing and guiding development/delivery projects; and operational governance which focuses on the operation and support of existing IT solutions. There are more aspects to IT governance than what I've listed, but these aspects are representative of the scope of the effort. It's my experience that your governance sub-domains strategies must reflect your overall IT governance strategy, and vice versa, in order to be successful -- the last thing you want is your data governance strategy to undermine your SOA governance strategy, for example.
There are several reasons why existing IT governance programs may not work well for agile software development projects:
- Paradigm mismatch. Many IT governance programs are based on a "command-and-control" strategy which often is reflects a lack of respect between stakeholders and IT teams. Agile software development is based on self-organization, collaboration, and trust-based relationships.
- Scope mismatch. Because IT is broad IT governance is also broad, addressing governance of solution delivery projects, operations and support of the solutions, and cross solution issues such as portfolio management, enterprise architecture, and strategic reuse (to name a few). This broadness may account for some of the impedance mismatch between typical IT governance efforts and the more narrowly focused view of agile software development teams.
- Vision mismatch. When there isn't a common understanding of the goals of IT governance, when there isn't an agreed to strategy, then disparate strategies are likely to be introduced in the governance sub-domains.
The list of challenges leads to interesting implications for succeeding at agile governance. For agile governance to be effective, the governance paradigm must reflect the agile development paradigm, agilists must recognize and appreciate the larger scale of the issues which IT governance must address, and your agile governance strategies must reflect the overall IT governance vision. So how do you go about doing these things?
Let's start with aligning the paradigms. For the most part, this is going to require management to rethink their approach and adopt more flexible and collaborative strategies. Here is a critical observation for IT governance: IT professionals are intellectual workers. As such they don't respond well to being told what to do, but they do respond well to motivation. The implication is that at a minimum IT governance must be based on motivating IT professionals to "do the right thing" instead of telling them to do the right thing. Better yet it should be on enabling them to do so by making it as easy as possible for people to exhibit the behavior desired by your organization instead of trying to "inspect/review" this behavior into the process. The desirable behaviors of IT professionals often includes working to a common technical infrastructure (thereby reducing cost), working towards a common business vision for your enterprise (hopefully leading to greater profits), and following common technical conventions (thereby increasing consistency and thus quality and maintainability).
Motivation and enablement isn't going to get the job done, senior management should monitor IT teams to ensure that their activities reflect the overall goals of your organization. This is important because senior management can guide the team through complex issues which are beyond the scope and ability of the team lead/ScrumMaster and Product Owner to address by themselves. Sadly, many IT professionals view IT managers as "pointy-haired" bosses that make poor if not down-right stupid decisions. My observation is that very often managers are in fact intelligent people who are making decisions based on the best information they have available to them at the time. With better information in their hands they are likely to make better decisions, which in turn should make life easier for the people in the trenches.
To address the scope and mismatch issues the required change is mostly on the agile side of the equation. Agile methods should strive to optimize the whole, not just sub-optimize on construction or delivery. To do this we need to recognize and appreciate the issues pertaining to IT, and even the business as a whole. We need to work closely with people who have a much wider view of the enterprise, particularly enterprise architects, portfolio managers, operations staff, and even data management professionals to ensure that what the agile team is doing truly reflects the overall priorities of the organization. Too many agile teams are building high-quality silo applications, which is better than building low-quality silo applications I suppose, but what they really need to be doing is building high-quality enterprise-class applications and the only way to do so is to take enterprise considerations into account throughout the delivery lifecycle.
The How Agile Are You? 2010 Survey, which I ran during the last week of July 2010 and the first week of August, explored many of the issues pertaining to agile solution delivery and governance. There were 293 respondents, 33 percent indicated that they were programmers or agile team members and 39 percent were managers or team lead/Scrum Masters. 64 percent had 10+ years in IT, 15 percent worked in organizations with 500 or more IT people, 39 percent lived in North America, 29 percent in Europe, and 12 percent in Asia-Pacific countries. A link to the survey was posted on my IT Surveys home page at www.ambysoft.com/surveys/, announced on my Twitter feed, my mailing list ([email protected]), the Agile Alliance discussion group on LinkedIn, and the Yahoo discussion groups for test driven development (TDD), agile modeling, and agile databases. As usual, this is an open survey in that you can download the source data, the original questions, and a summary slide deck free of charge from my IT Surveys home page at http://www.ambysoft.com/surveys/.
The good news is that agile development methods such as Extreme Programming (XP) and Scrum include some inherent governance strategies such as iteration demos (called sprint demos in Scrum) and daily stand-up meetings (called scrum meetings in Scrum). The demos are important to communicate how much progress the project team has made by showing key stakeholders what the team accomplished since the last demo, providing visibility into the project and enabling them to steer accordingly. The survey found that of the people claiming to be on an agile team, 79 percent indicated that they do a demo to stakeholders at the end of each iteration. The daily meetings are primarily for coordination within the team and 77 percent of respondents indicated they were in fact doing such meetings. The culture within the agile community is that anyone interested in team status, including senior managers, are welcome to attend and listen in. Sadly, this appears to be more rhetoric than reality because only 31 percent of respondents indicated that a senior manager attended their daily stand up meetings to get a status update at least once a week.
But what about other strategies to monitor the success of agile project teams? According to the survey, 42 percent indicated that they do "all hands" demos every so often to show a wider group of stakeholders what they've built to date. Such demos are a great way to let people know that your team is making progress and to validate that your product owner truly represents the full stakeholder community. Interestingly, 46 percent of people claiming to be on agile teams indicated that they produce a status report at least once an iteration for senior management and 39 percent indicated that they were using development tools such as Rational Team Concert (RTC) which are instrumented so as to populate a project reporting dashboard to automatically provide status information. Although many respondents indicated that they provided information to senior management in at least one of the aforementioned ways, only 40 percent of them felt that senior management used that status information to help their team succeed. The implication is that although many opportunities exist for senior management to monitor project teams, and apparently they do, that they aren't perceived as leveraging that information effectively.
This begs the question whether agile teams are leveraging the resources available to them. Of the respondents claiming to be on agile teams, 59 percent indicated that their organization has development standards (such as programming standards, data conventions, and user interface conventions) but only 82 percent (of the 59 percent) actually followed those development standards as appropriate. Similarly, 54 percent of agile respondents indicated that their organization has identified a common technical infrastructure and 74 percent (of the 54 percent) will leverage that common technical infrastructure. The implication is that if your organization puts development standards in place, or introduces common technical infrastructure to reuse then there's a good chance that agile teams will leverage these assets.
In the past I've written that it is not only possible to govern agile teams it is much easier to do so than traditional teams. The recent How Agile Are You? survey shows that some organizations are in fact governing their agile teams effectively but there is clearly room for improvement. My advice is for organizations to rework their approaches to IT governance to make them based on collaboration, motivation, and enablement instead of on command-and-control. Disciplined agile delivery teams are not just self organizing, then are self organizing within an appropriate governance framework.


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The second generation Volkswagen Passat was launched in 1981 and in production until 1988. The platform, named B2, was once again based on the corresponding version of the Audi 80, which had been launched in 1978.
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In This Issue:
Feature Spotlight – Edit Recording Playback
Recording your webinar or online meeting is a great way to ensure that the information presented and discussed is available for all who were not able to attend due to prior engagements. You can even easily share your recording by posting a link to it on your web site, so everyone can enjoy it whenever they like.
However, did you know that AnyMeeting also lets you edit your recording? With AnyMeeting's Edit Recording Playback feature, you can trim the beginning and end of your recording. So, you can trim that awkward beginning when you are waiting for people to join and you're preparing to share your screen, and you can tighten up the end so the recording stops at an appropriate time. You can also add bookmarks or cue points within the recording that will take the viewer to specific sections of the presentation you feel are important to highlight.
Customer Case Study: NCCEP – Mexico, Alianzas Educativas
The Challenge
The Consejo Nacional de Alianzas Educativas (NCCEP – Mexico), an international non-profit organization that helps maximize resources of public schools, was starting a project that would help teachers in Mexico become more familiar with computers and integrate the technology into their classrooms. … Read More
Tips for Better Presentations
I'm So Tired of This Webinar Aren't You?
When you hear the word webinar, do you get excited? When the boss comes into your office and says "There's a webinar I want everyone to attend this week," do you look forward to it? In a recent national study, more people responded they would rather do their taxes, go to the dentist (Ouch!!!) or even come in to work on the weekend than attend the average webinar presentation.
So, what is the problem? Why are people zoning out or literally falling asleep during my webinar presentation, which took me so much time and effort to put together? Perhaps the answer lies in the presentation itself.
Often, we try to cram too much information into the presentation. The slides end up clunky and text heavy, without the possibility of visual stimulation or audience interaction. More often then not, there are too many slides, sometimes 20 or 30 slides when 8 or 10 at the most is best.
It can be difficult to cut out slides, but as you go through and refine your presentation, you'll find there are ways to bring your presentation down to size. Slides with bullet points work well and allow the presenter to address each point in his own unique words instead of reading a lengthy, snooze enducing paragraph directly from the slide that everyone could just as easily read themselves, and destroying any element of surprise for your audience.
Audience participation is also important to the success of your presentation. Now I'm not saying give them a test at the end of your presentation, but asking pointed questions during your presentation and, perhaps even throwing in a joke or two to keep the mood light, will help keep your audience alert and engaged. Images and short video clips that help illustrate your point can be helpful as well, especially if your subject matter is very visually oriented. Above all else though, don't forget to prepare and rehearse rehearse rehearse before giving your presentation. Nothing makes people tune out more than a presenter who is not tuned in. A great resource is Ken Molay's The Webinar Blog, which offers tips and advice for better presentations.
What is the Presenter Wearing?
So you're getting ready to host a video conference in about twenty minutes. You have your presentation set, all of your attendees have confirmed and the computer you will be broadcasting from is ready, with webcam and headset installed. The conference will last through lunch and you have a little time, so you fix yourself a quick bite to eat, even being careful to wear your napkin as a bib to keep from getting any food on yourself.
You finish eating and soon start the conference. Everything is going swimmingly and your presentation is about ten minutes in when you start getting chat messages from your attendees asking what you are wearing. Suddenly, you realize that you have been giving your entire presentation while still wearing the napkin you used as a bib during your pre-conference lunch.
Incidents like this happen more often than you might think, and sometimes they're even worse. I recently heard about someone who was giving a presentation from home and decided to take a quick dip in the pool before starting. Not long into his presentation, his attendees started asking if he was naked, as he had forgotten to put on a shirt after getting out of the pool to join the conference. Remember, before starting or joining any video conference, take a quick look in the mirror and ensure that you are "dressed for success."
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Herschel resolves the cosmic infrared fog
ESA's Herschel space telescope has discovered that previously unseen distant galaxies are responsible for a cosmic fog of infrared radiation. The galaxies are some of the faintest and furthest objects seen by Herschel, and open a new window on the birth of stars in the early Universe.
In the mid-1990s, astronomers discovered that a faint fog of infrared radiation bathes the Universe, and termed it the cosmic infrared background. Herschel is the first telescope to resolve most of the blur into individual celestial objects.
Herschel made its observations in October 2009 and January 2010. It targeted two regions of the sky, one known as GOODS-North, the other GOODS-South. The latter is the most sensitive far-infrared image yet taken by Herschel. The GOODS fields are designated for studying the distant Universe and have been extensively investigated by other observatories. Neither contains nearby celestial objects, allowing telescopes to see straight out into the deepest regions of space. Herschel resolved the cosmic infrared background into 300 previously unseen galaxies in GOODS-N, and 800 of them in GOODS-S. Together, these galaxies contribute more than half the power to the infrared background in these regions.
The galaxies are young, some of them seen at a time when the Universe was just 16% of its present age. They are forming young stars, in some case up to thousands every year. Our own Galaxy forms an average of just three per year.
"We can use these results to study what controls star formation in these distant galaxies, and how galaxies like our Milky Way formed," says Dieter Lutz of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, Germany, head of the PEP European collaboration that obtained the data.
Dieter Lutz
Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics
Tel: +49 89 30000 3614
Email: lutz @ mpe.mpg.de
Editors' Note
GOODS stands for Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey.


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When it comes to professional soccer, most Dynamo fans can only relate to what they've experienced at Robertson Stadium over the past six years. It was a good place to call home, but it will be incomparable to BBVA Compass Stadium. This brand new, downtown, state-of-the-art soccer-specific stadium will be among the top soccer venues in North America. Its detailed and tactful design gives the stadium an international flavor, making fans feel as though they are in a European setting. Here are some of the highlights:
Seat proximity – The seating areas at BBVA Compass Stadium are built close to the field. The first row will be approximately 18 inches above field level. This close proximity is common in most European stadiums.
Seating pitch – The pitch, or steepness, of the seating areas is very pronounced at BBVA Compass Stadium. Rather than building the seating areas "backward" the areas have been built "upward". This will position fans closer to the field and with an overlooking view of the action on the pitch. The steep seating pitch creates an "arena" feel at the outdoor stadium.
Acoustics – The crowd noise at the new stadium will be enhanced by the roof canopies which cover nearly 75 percent of the stadium circumference. The canopies will keep many fans out of the Houston sun and will help enhance the crowd noise of Dynamo supporters. Furthermore, the seating bowl at BBVA Compass Stadium is a complete enclosure, which will help contain crowd noise.
Luxury Suites – BBVA Compass Stadium will offer a world class suite experience. With 36 suites located less than 10 rows from the field, fans will have a suite view unparalleled in Houston sports. Further, amenities within the suites include granite countertops, multiple flat panel televisions, wood ceiling panels and an extensive suite menu from Levy Restaurants including BBQ, seafood, gourmet, and organic options.
Continuous concourse – Fans will find it easier and faster to move around the stadium with a concourse that encircles the entirety of the stadium.
More restrooms – BBVA Compass Stadium will have plentiful restroom facilities, including air conditioning, waterless urinals and baby changing stations. There will also be family restrooms.
More concessions – BBVA Compass Stadium will have over 100 concession points of sale (registers, kiosks, etc.), which should create shorter lines for fans.
Video Board – A stunning 25-foot x 40-foot LED high definition screen will offer fans a better look at game highlights, photos, game stats and more.
Playing surface – As the primary tenant of BBVA Compass Stadium, the Dynamo will control its playing surface. TifGrand Bermuda grass – a sod proven to handle the elements of Houston summers - will be the grass foundation of the new stadium.
Exterior skin – The unique silver exterior "skin" of the stadium will not only give BBVA Compass Stadium a unique look, but will help cool the interior of the arena. 94,000 square feet of aluminum panels will be halfway open to improve air flow and help calm the Houston heat. The stadium exterior promises to be one of the most unique in North American sporting venues.
Downtown location – BBVA Compass Stadium will be America's first soccer-specific stadium built in a downtown location. Fans will be able to walk to games as well as take public transportation. Existing parking areas will accommodate fans who drive to Dynamo games.
Easier stadium entrance and exit – With four entrances and a full-scale box office, BBVA Compass Stadium will offer Dynamo fans an easier time entering the stadium for games.
Sound System – A modern speaker and sound system will enhance the game day experience for fans and help make BBVA Compass Stadium a premier sports atmosphere in Texas.
Group Areas – Two party decks – one behind each goal – will host group outings at BBVA Compass Stadium. Both group areas offer a great view of the field some of the best values in group entertainment in Houston. The Budweiser Deck (north end) has capacity for 100 guests and the Heineken Terrace (south end) will accommodate 150 guests, making the downtown stadium a great venue for corporate outings.
Designated supporters section – The designated supporters section behind the south goal will have no seatbacks (at the supporters' request) and will consolidate some of the most vocal Dynamo fans to the same area, enhancing the stadium atmosphere.


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3D view of the Midnight Planétarium™ timepiece, Poetic Complications® collection
Van Cleef & Arpels turns its gaze to the heavens and gives pride of place to a captivating chapter in its watchmaking history: Poetic Astronomy®. In keeping with one of the Maison's cherished sources of inspiration, planets and constellations appear in enchanting guise to evoke voyages and dreams.
With the Midnight Planétarium™ Poetic Complication® timepiece, the Maison achieved its dream of reducing the scale of the heavens to the dimensions of a wristwatch. Six years after the launch of the Lady Arpels™ Day and Night model, it once again celebrates celestial orbits by drawing inspiration from the historic tradition of planetariums, much in vogue in the 18th century.
Midnight Planétarium Poetic Complication® timepiece
Time and the astral bodies:
This new Poetic Complication® timepiece provides a miniature representation of the movement of six planets around the sun and their position at any given time : Earth and Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn – all visible from Earth with the naked eye.
Telling the time is a simple question of observing the pink gold shooting star, a cherished lucky motif for the Maison. Located at the outer edge of the dial, it completes its circuit in 24 hours.
Using a rotating bezel, the watch's owner can choose the day of his choice as his lucky day by positioning a red triangle against a graduated calendar. On that date, the Earth will move to a position directly below the star engraved on the sapphire crystal, as a sign of good luck.
Aventurine dials showcasing six planets rotating around the sun
The Maison has applied its jewelry-making expertise to depicting the planets with a selection of hard stones: turquoise for the Earth, serpentine for Mercury, chloromelanite for Venus, red jasper for Mars, blue agate for Jupiter and sugilite for Saturn.
Intricately sculpted by hand into spheres of different dimensions and colors, they are positioned round a sun in pink gold. Each of these elements, along with the shooting star in pink gold, is fixed on its own aventurine disc.
Painstaking attention has been given to selecting the stones, then sculpting the discs and spheres in order to give form to this animated tableau, with its combination of jewelry and watchmaking savoir-faire.
Graduated calendar assembling / Casing movement with the oscillating weight
A complex movement:
Planets are set in motion thanks to a self-winding mechanical movement of great complexity: equipped with an exclusive module developed in partnership with the MaisonChristiaan van der Klaauw, it contains 396 separate parts.
The movement of each planet is true to its genuine length of orbit: it will take Saturn over 29 years to make a complete circuit of the dial, while Jupiter will take almost 12 years, Mars 687 days, Earth 365 days, Venus 224 days and Mercury 88 days.
On the back of the watch, the oscillating weight is engraved with a starry composition. The day, month and year can be set using two push buttons and viewed through two apertures on the dial.
Creation Highlights


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Chicken With Beans and Rice
Note: This recipe is especially for kids with lactose intolerance, who need to limit or avoid dairy products.
This meal is a good source of protein and fiber. It tastes even better the next day!
Prep time: 20 minutes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ cup onion, minced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ cup red pepper, chopped
- ½ teaspoon cumin powder
- 2 tablespoons canned chipotle peppers, minced
- 16 ounces cooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces
- 15-ounce can low-sodium black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup chopped tomatoes
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 2 cups cooked rice
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- Heat skillet and add olive oil.
- Add onion and cumin powder and saute until onion is softened.
- Add chicken breast and toss to coat in oil, sauté for 5 minutes.
- Add peppers and garlic and sauté for another 2 minutes.
- Add black beans, tomatoes, and chicken stock and bring to a boil.
- Cover and simmer on top of stove for 15 minutes.
- Serve over rice.
Serves: 4
Serving size: 4 ounces of chicken and 1-1/3 cups of beans and rice mixture
Nutritional analysis (per serving):
355 calories
2 g fat
1 g sat fat
36 g protein
46 g carbohydrate
9 g fiber
66 mg cholesterol
558 mg sodium
58 mg calcium
3.8 mg iron
Note: Nutritional analysis may vary depending on ingredient brands used.
Variations and suggestions:
This can be served with yellow or brown rice. Consider sprinkling soy cheddar cheese over the top of this dish. You can substitute fresh hot green chile peppers or canned hot chile peppers for chipotle peppers.


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Scale Modeling Sponsors
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Originally published on:Armorama
Started building planes when I was 12 or so, then moved into 1:35 scale armour and figures in my 20s. I also photograph my figures and vehicles in real world situations. These can be seen on my Facebook page Army Men Around the House.
Copyright ©2020 text by Gareth McGorman [ GARETHM ]. Images also by copyright holder unless otherwise noted. Opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of AeroScale. All rights reserved.


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Navigating the Legal Pitfalls of Augmented Reality
In the past year, augmented reality (AR) has moved beyond a sci-fi novelty to a credible marketing tool for brands and retailers. While part of a niche industry, AR applications are being championed by tech players like Google and Nokia, and a host of mobile app developers have launched AR apps for the growing number of smartphones and portable computing devices. Tech analyst firm Juniper Research estimates that AR apps will generate close to $300 million in global revenue next year.
The power of AR, particularly for marketers, is its ability to overlay highly relevant, timely and interactive data about specific products or services within a user's live physical environment. For example, companies are using AR to transform home or online shopping by bringing to life static, two-dimensional images ― see Ikea's 2013 catalog and Phillips TV Buying Guide mobile app ― or leveraging geolocational data to augment users' real-world retail experiences with instant data on pricing, reviews or special discounts (such as IBM's personal shopping assistant).
If you're considering whether to add an AR app to your marketing mix, be aware that traditional advertising law principles still apply, and that both federal and state regulators are keeping a watchful eye on AR's potential impact on consumer privacy.
Traditional Advertising and Disclosure Rules Apply
A unique aspect of AR is that it allows retailers to give online or mobile shoppers a realistic, up-close, three-dimensional or enhanced view of their products prior to purchase (think virtual dressing rooms). If your AR app is used to promote or drive sales for a particular product, be sure to avoid overstating or exaggerating the features, functions or appearances of the product, or leaving out material information that could sway the consumer's purchasing decision.
In September, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a marketing guide for mobile app developers. It clarifies that long standing truth-in-advertising standards apply in the virtual world to the same extent as in the real world.
The key takeaway: Disclosures must be clear and conspicuous. That is, you should look at your app from the perspective of the average user and ensure that disclosures are big and clear enough so that users actually notice them and understand what they say. Another rule of thumb is to keep your disclosures short and simple, and use consistent language and design features within your app. Before launching your app, carefully consider how best to make necessary disclosures visible and accessible in the AR context.
You can expect more guidance on disclosures in the near future when the FTC releases its updated Dot Com Disclosures Guide.
Take Consumer Privacy Seriously
To unlock AR's full potential, developers are integrating the visual elements of AR with users' personal information, including geolocational and financial data, facial recognition information and users' social media contacts.
Given the increased scrutiny over mobile app privacy practices (see here and here), the following four recommendations should serve as the starting point for your privacy compliance analysis as you develop your AR app.
Disclose your privacy practices. As with advertising disclosures, privacy-focused disclosures must be clear and conspicuous, and they must be available before users download your app. In October, as part of an ongoing effort to improve privacy protections on mobile apps, the California Attorney General notified a number of developers that their mobile apps did not comply with state privacy laws. These laws require online operators that collect personal information to post a conspicuous privacy policy that is reasonably accessible to users prior to download. The developers have 30 days to comply or risk penalties of up to $2,500 for each time the non-compliant mobile app is downloaded.
Obtain user consent before collecting location data. An increasing number of AR apps tap into geolocation data to provide the user with real-time information about their surrounding physical environment. The FTC's guidance on mobile apps cautions developers to avoid collecting sensitive consumer data, such as precise location information, without first obtaining users' affirmative consent.
Create a plan at the outset to limit potential privacy issues. Companies like Viewdle, which was recently acquired by Google, are using facial recognition technology to enhance AR features used in mobile gaming, social networking and social media. In October, the FTC issued a report on facial recognition technology that includes the following best practices when collecting users' personal data: (1) collect only the personal data that you need, and retain it for only as long as you need it; (2) securely store the data that you retain, limit third-party access to a need-to-know basis and safely dispose of the data; and (3) tell users when their data may be used to link them to third-party information or publicly available sources.
Be careful with children. AR apps can be highly persuasive marketing tools, particularly with children, who may be unable to distinguish between the real and virtual worlds. Earlier this year, an FTC report found that few mobile app targeted to kids included information on the apps' data collection practices. If you collect personal information from children under 13, you need to comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which requires companies to obtain verifiable consent from parents before they collect personal information from their children. Under an FTC proposal now in review, "personal information" would include (1) location data emitted by a child's mobile device; and (2) persistent identifiers such as cookies, IP addresses and any unique device identifiers, unless this data is used only to support the internal operations of the app.
Have you interacted with AR apps? Do you have concerns about the technology's privacy and disclosure practices? Share your take in the comments below.
Image courtesy of Flickr, jason.mcdermott.


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27 - 29 September 2018, Amsterdam
IB-approved workshop | Category 2 | Confirmed
Philpot Education welcomes teachers of IBDP Biology to Amsterdam-Zaandam from 27 - 29 September 2018 for a Category 2 workshop. This workshop is organized by Philpot Education in cooperation with the IB.
Event schedule
We will start on Thursday 27 September at 8:30 and finish on Saturday 29 September at 12:30. You can find the full agenda here.
Workshop leader
This workshop will be led by Joyce Mutie.
The registration fee is €925 (excluding VAT) and covers 15 hours of tuition, a workbook, two lunches, drinks and snacks. After attending all sessions you will receive your digital IB certificate. Please read our terms & conditions before registering.
Workshop venue & hotel
The workshop takes place at the Hotel Inntel Amsterdam Zaandam, which is easily accessible from Schiphol airport (20 mins by train) and downtown Amsterdam (10 mins by train). Booking instructions >
Workshop participants are responsible for their own accommodation arrangements and travel to and from the event. Don't forget to check the workshop status before making arrangements.
We look forward to seeing you in the Netherlands!
Also at this event
- ESS (Cat 2)
- Coordination (Cat 2)
- Physics (Cat 2)
- Spanish B (Cat 2)