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Disability NEWS - January 30, 2012
- February 2012 Portland Commission on Disability meetings
- City Emergency Management seeks feedback on earthquake response
- Class Action Lawsuit seeks an end to segregated sheltered workshops
- New accessibility requirements for hotels go into effect March 15
- Community Budget Forum set February 9 to address TriMet budget shortfall
- Social Security requests public comment on homeless SSI recipients' needs
- Emergency preparedness includes being ready for weather events
- Visit the City's Disability Program Facebook page for current postings
Portland Commission on Disability
January 2012 Subcommittee Meetings
PCoD Executive Board Meeting
Wednesday, February 1, 6 to 8 p.m.
Rose Room, City Hall, 1221 SW 4th Avenue
PCoD Accessibility in the Built Environment Subcommittee
Monday, February 13, 10 am to 1 pm
1900 Building, 1900 SW Fourth Ave, Room 4A
PCoD Livability and Wellness Subcommittee
Tuesday, February 14, 3 to 5 pm
Pettygrove Room, City Hall, 1221 SW 4th Avenue
PCoD Public Outreach and Awareness Subcommittee
Wednesday,February 15, 3 to 5 p.m.
Disability Rights Oregon
620 SW Fifth Avenue, Suite 500
PCoD Employment Subcommittee
Friday, February 24, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Pettygrove Room, City Hall, 1221 SW 4th Avenue
City Emergency Management asks feedback on earthquake plan
The Portland Bureau of Emergency Management (PBEM) is soliciting public feedback on the City's Earthquake Response Appendix. The Appendix is a supplement to the City's Basic Emergency Operations Plan and a framework for its ever-evolving approach to earthquake response. The document will go to City Council for consideration and PBEM is asking for the public to review it and provide feedback.
It is especially important that people with disabilities and providers examine the appendix and take time to respond with their views. To learn more, click here for information and links to view the document and for submitting feedback.
For the record, the 312th anniversary on January 26 of a 9.0 magnitude earthquake was noted as being of the same magnitude as the recent quake off of Japan's eastern coastline. It has been observed by scientists that these strong earthquakes occur approximately every 300 to 600 years and it is a matter of when, not if, the next one will strike.
Class Action Lawsuit seeks end to segregated,
sub-minimum wage sheltered workshops
A class action lawsuit was filed January 25 in U.S. Circuit Court against the State of Oregon to end the practice of having people with disabilities work in sheltered workshops for sub-minimum wages. The state spends $30 million a year for these workshops, but could reduce the costs by funding programs that help provide jobs at minimum wage or better.
The United Cerebral Palsy Association of Oregon & Southwest Washington with eight individuals representing thousands of Oregonians with intellectual or physical disabilities filed the action against Gov. John Kitzhaber and top managers at the Department of Human Services. The hope is to set a national precedent and end the practice of using sheltered workshops where the workers complete repetitive or rote tasks for subminimum wage. Click here to read the news report posted online.
New hotel accessibility requirements go into effect March 15
Hotels and places of lodging need to be prepared for new accessibility requirements which take effect March 15 and to reference the new 2010 standards which mandate a higher level of accessibility than previous ones. In conjunction with the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Department of Justice is conducting the implementation of new regulations that impact the hospitality industry.
The Northwest ADA Center and Mid-Atlantic ADA center, with the their national network, have recently developed two online resources to promote accessibility and opportunity for people with disabilities within the hospitality industry. Visit www.adahospitality.org and www.blue-path.com for hospitality industry information. The Northwest ADA Center website offers information on ADA assistance, training, tools, facts and resources for consumers, business, government and architects/contractors at http://dbtacnorthwest.org/.
Community Budget Forum set February 9 about TriMet budget
TriMet is facing a $12 to $17 million budget shortfall in the next budget year because of lower-than-expected revenue from payroll taxes and anticipated cuts in federal funding. TriMet has partnered with the Immigrant & Refugee Organization (IRCO) for a Community Budget Forum on February 9 from 6 to 8 pm in IRCO's Community Room, 10301 NE Glisan St. It is requesting community participation at the forum in sharing feedback about the agency's budget proposal.
Three other open houses on the budget are scheduled for February 13, 15 and 16. More information, including times and locations is available at http://trimet.org/meetings/budget-openhouses.htm. After Trimet reviews and considers the feedback received from riders and the public, it will release a more detailed budget action proposal for public review.
SSA requests public comment on homeless SSI recipients' needs
The Social Security Administration is requesting information from the public regarding the unique needs of homeless Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients, particularly those who live in public emergency shelters for the homeless, in an effort to better understand and address their needs. The SSI programs provide a minimum income level for aged, blind or people with disabilities who do not have income or resources specified in the Social Security Act.
The Oregon Opportunity Network has posted further information on the administration's request and a link to the full notice on its website. Public input is essential so the agency knows the needs of people experiencing homelessness, if there are differences in populations served by public and private shelters and whether SSI eligibility rules hinder the ability of people to access shelter.
Emergency preparedness includes preparing for weather events
Winter weather can quickly change with very serious, unexpected results. Severe ice and snow storms can cause people to be housebound and have to cope with power outages, food supply shortages and other weather-related problems. It is not just the headline-catching disasters that have experts warning that people with disabilities have an emergency preparedness plan in place before an emergency arises.
Emergency Preparedness Training is offered through a partnership with the ONI Disability Program and the Oregon Health Sciences Center. The training is for several hours and provides complete information on making a plan, things to consider, lists of supplies and materials to gather and other information to help participants deal with an unexpected emergency. Materials are provided for participants to take home for use. For information about workshops or to schedule one for a worksite or housing complex, contact Danielle Bailey by email at firstname.lastname@example.com or by phone at 503-494-4858.
Visit Disability Program Facebook page for news, event postings
The Office of Neighborhood Involvement Disability Program Facebook page features daily postings of news, videos, events and issues of interest to people with disabilities. Visit the program's Facebook page to read these postings and other information posted daily on disability issues, news and concerns.
Get more news/information at the Disability Program's website
You can access more information on resources, events and the Portland Commission on Disability at the program's website, http://www.portlandonline.com/oni/index.cfm?c=28994.
To update your contact information, if you know someone who would like to receive the newsletter or if you wish to submit information for the newsletter, please contact Patrick Philpott, ONI Disability Program administrative coordinator, at:
Phone: 503-823-3881 - TTY:503-823-6868
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Please note: This information may also provided in Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF formats. Please use the contact information above to make your request for an alternative format.
The Disability NEWS is distributed by the City of Portland Office of Neighborhood Involvement's Disability Program.


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The holiday slump in PC sales -- down 11% compared to 2011 -- means that PC makers must raise prices, not continue a race to the bottom, an analyst argued today.
Windows 8 failed to turn around slumping PC sales during the recently-concluded holidays, final data from U.S. retailers showed, confirming earlier estimates.
The answer, said Steven Baker of the NPD Group: Raise prices.
"This had to happen," Baker said in a Monday interview, referring to the unsustainable razor-thin margins and the continual rush to undercut competitors' pricing. "Even if Windows 8 had been a warmed-over Windows 7, [OEMs] would still have been beaten up," Baker said of a counter-factual where Microsoft just kept doing what it had been doing, and declined to turn Windows in a different direction.
According to NPD's numbers, PC sales during the 2012 holidays -- starting in late November and running through the end of December -- were down 11% compared to the year before. Earlier data from NPD, from just before the Oct. 26 launch of Windows 8 through the Black Friday weekend of Nov. 23-25, portrayed sales as off 21% from the same period in 2011.
2012's 11% holiday downturn was consistent with the year-long slump in PC sales, said Baker. "Despite the hype, and hope, around the launch of Windows 8, the new operating system did little to boost holiday sales or improve the year-long Windows notebook sales decline," he wrote in a Jan. 4 statement.
Experts have struggled to explain the slow start for Windows 8, which according to some metrics lags behind the uptake of 2007's Windows Vista, a perceived flop. They have cited a sweeping set of reasons, including a weak economy, Windows 8's confusing dual interfaces, enterprise upgrade fatigue after migrating to Windows 7, and competition from tablets -- nearly all of which run a rival's operating system -- for technology dollars.
Baker pinned Windows 8's inability to invigorate PC sales not so much on Microsoft, but on its OEM (original equipment manufacturer) partners who design, make and sell Windows PCs. Essentially, OEMs failed to convince enough buyers that notebooks with touch-sensitive screens -- hardware able to strut the new operating system's biggest innovation -- were worth their higher prices.
Baker traced that failure in part to years of habitual price cuts by computer makers that intensified between 2008 and 2010, when netbooks -- smaller, less-capable, and above all else, cheaper portables -- were the rage, accounting for upwards of 20% of mobile PC sales.
On Saturday, long-time Windows watcher and blogger Paul Thurrott cited NPD's data to make a case that netbooks poisoned the well. Baker seemed to agree.
"If you use the netbook analogy, OEMs 'trained' customers to devalue their products," said Baker. "They told customers then that what they had been paying $800 for before was really worth only $300. That dragged down pricing across the board."
Netbooks, in fact, created the sub-$500 Windows notebook market, Baker said more than two years ago in an interview with Computerworld. That fueled sales, but at the same time depressed revenue for OEMs.
Over the holidays, said NPD, the average sales price (ASP) of a PC notebook sat at $420.
Those low, low prices now haunt computer makers: A sub-$500 laptop simply can't show off Windows 8 and touch. And because consumers have been trained to expect cheap PCs, they were unwilling in 2012 to spend enough to justify a move to the new OS.
Additional NPD data showed that was what happened. During the holiday season, sales of sub-$500 PC laptops dropped 15.5% from 2011's number. But sales of notebooks in the $500-and-up category increased by 3.5%.
"Windows 8 and touch is the right product," Baker asserted. "But Windows and touch at $349 is not. It just is not a good enough platform for Windows 8. And it's trying to compete with tablets."
And failing.
"A tablet does everything that a low-end PC is expected to do, and it has touch," said Baker. "Those tablets can sell for $200 to $250, because their makers don't expect to make money from the hardware."
But while Thurrott contended that the PC industry had to solve the poor sales problem by lowering prices, Baker said just the opposite.
"That's just not a winning battle," he said. "Does touch have to average $700 to $900 [for a notebook]? No. But it has to average $500 to $700. Cheap PCs just cannot compete with tablets."
In other words, OEMs must stop racing to the bottom of the price barrel, and instead take on the much tougher task of raising prices and convincing consumers that it's smart to pay more to get more.
If that sounds familiar, it's Apple's personal computer business model in a nutshell.
"It won't be easy, but it's doable," Baker said of computer makers' need to talk customers into paying more for a credible Windows 8 laptop. "There's evidence that it can be done. Before 2009, people willingly paid $600 to $700 for computers, and that was with a crappy operating system, Vista. But you need the right product."
As an example, Baker gave a nod to Lenovo's IdeaPad Yoga 11, a $799 hybrid that runs Microsoft's Windows RT, the tablet-oriented spinoff of Windows 8.
Baker was optimistic that the computer industry would take note of 2012's data, and learn the lesson that they must persuade consumers to spend more.
"They see it in the sale numbers, customers are telling them that," Baker said. "I think they'll recognize where prices have to be. But more than ever, PC makers have to make the argument that the Swiss Army knife of the PC has value, that it can handle productivity and entertainment that tablets can't quite match yet."
During the holidays, NPD's tracking showed that sales of touchscreen-equipped notebooks broke into four almost-equal parts, with a quarter of sales in the under $500 range, a fourth in the $500 to $700 category, 25% in $700 to $900, and the final quarter priced above $900.
"They're the kings of adaptability," Baker noted of OEMs. "The real issue is going to be patience. Moving into higher prices is something very different from what they've been doing. The business got stagnant, and they were using a big price crutch to sell PCs."
Baker maintained that the shake-up of Windows 8 would be good for the business, although with his "patience" mantra, not immediately.
"Things won't improve, certainly in the first half of the year," he said. Windows 8's next shot at improving PC sales: The back-to-school selling season, which typically kicks off in June and runs through September.
"I think there's still enough optimism [among OEMs] about Windows 8," said Baker.
Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at @gkeizer, on Google+ or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed. His email address is firstname.lastname@example.com.
See more by Gregg Keizer on Computerworld.com.
Read more about pcs in Computerworld's PCs Topic Center.

subset: commoncrawl


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hi, I post a link to the phpbb3 guide to preventing spam, maybe it can help ....
Preventing forum spam ...
This forum related stuff. Problems? Suggestions? Here.
Post Reply
3 posts • Page 1 of 1
Preventing forum spam ...
Company Of Heroes is the 'water gun version' of Blitzkrieg Mod" (Heinz Wilhelm Guderian, 1939)
- V13dweller
- Posts: 128
- Joined: 25 Nov 2014, 09:18
- Location: Perth, Western Australia
Re: Preventing forum spam ...
Urgent meeting on the Spammer topic is required as "They" are back, but now it's in Russian!
Re: Preventing forum spam ...
It was leftover user from the past, so probably just wasn't active... but if they can overcome even this captcha, then it sucks :/
Post Reply
3 posts • Page 1 of 1


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The classic animated Halloween-themed PEANUTS special, "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" (OAD on ABC 10/30/01), created by late cartoonist Charles M. Schulz, as well as a bonus PEANUTS cartoon, "You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown," in which Linus runs for class president, will air THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network. The program will air with Spanish audio via SAP.
In the 1966 animated special "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown," The PEANUTS gang celebrates Halloween, with Linus hoping that, finally, he will be visited by The Great Pumpkin, while Charlie Brown is invited to a Halloween party. Cast members include Peter Robbins (Charlie Brown) and Christopher Shea (Linus). The cast also includes Sally Dryer as Lucy, Chris Doran as Schroeder, Bill Melendez as Snoopy, Kathy Steinberg as Sally, Tracy Stratford as Violet and Ann Altieri as Frieda.
"It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" was executive-produced by Lee Mendelson and created and written by Charles M. Schulz. Bill Melendez is the producer and director and Vince Guaraldi is the music composer.
"You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown" - in which Linus runs for class president with Lucy and Charlie Brown managing his campaign -- features Chad Webber as Charlie Brown, Robin Kohn as Lucy, Stephen Shea as Linus, Hilary Momberger as Sally and Todd Barbee as Russell.
"You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown" was written by Charles M. Schulz, directed by Bill Melendez and produced by Lee Mendelson and Bill Melendez. The original music was composed and performed by Vince Guaraldi.
On October 2, 1950, the PEANUTS comic strip launched in seven American newspapers. Who would have guessed the impact the brand would have around the world for decades to come. Nearly 60 years later, the comic strip appears in over 2,200 newspapers, in 75 countries and 21 languages. PEANUTS animated specials have become a seasonal tradition and thousands of consumer products are available in virtually all retail channels. Charlie Brown kicking the football, Linus and his blanket and Lucy leaning over Schroeder's piano are images to which everyone can relate. Such phrases as "Security Blanket" and "Good Grief" have become a part of the global vernacular. Lee Mendelson and Bill Melendez's association with Charles Schulz stretches back to 1965 with "A Charlie Brown Christmas," which debuted on CBS in 1965 with Mendelson as executive producer and Bill Melendez as animator and director. The three men continued their long-term association until Schulz's death, working together on 50 PEANUTS network specials and four feature films. The network specials won five Emmys, two Peabodys and 18 other Emmy nominations.
About Peanuts Worldwide
The PEANUTS characters and related intellectual property are owned by Peanuts Worldwide LLC, a joint venture owned 80% by Iconix Brand Group, Inc. and 20% by members of the Charles M. Schulz family. Iconix Brand Group, Inc. owns, licenses and markets a growing portfolio of consumer brands including CANDIE'S (R), BONGO (R), BADGLEY MISCHKA (R), JOE BOXER (R), RAMPAGE (R), MUDD (R), MOSSIMO (R), LONDON FOG (R), OCEAN PACIFIC (R), DANSKIN (R), ROCAWEAR (R), CANNON (R), ROYAL VELVET (R), FIELDCREST (R), CHARISMA (R), STARTER (R), WAVERLY (R), ZOO YORK (R), and SHARPER IMAGE (R). In addition, Iconix owns interests in the ARTFUL DODGER (R), ECKO (R), MARC ECKO (R), ED HARDY (R) MATERIAL GIRL (R), PEANUTS (R), and TRUTH OR DARE brands. The Company licenses its brands to a network of leading retailers and manufacturers that touch every major segment of retail distribution from the luxury market to the mass market in both the U.S. and worldwide. Through its in-house business development, merchandising, advertising and public relations departments Iconix manages its brands to drive greater consumer awareness and equity.
This program is broadcast with Spanish audio via SAP and carries a TV-G parental guideline.


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There's been a lot of discussion in the media lately about advisory fees, especially the combination of a flat fee or retainer with the customary AUM fee. Years ago, after watching firm revenues plummet in the wake of the dot.com crash of 2001, I also became an advocate of advisors receiving a portion of their fees from a flat annual retainer. In fact, many of my clients went to just such a combined fee structure to smooth out their revenues. However, even though it seemed like a good idea at the time, our experience with mixed fees hasn't been very good—many of my clients have subsequently stopped using flat fees—and I would caution advisors who are considering this "new" fee structure to reconsider. Here's why.
The first problem we ran into stemmed from separating advisory services. Most of my clients justified charging a flat fee to their clients by separating financial planning from investment management. The advisors then changed an annual flat fee for the planning, and then reduced their AUM fee so that the total worked out be about the same dollar amount (at least until the assets showed significant growth). So far so good: the clients understood the rationale, and we got virtually no resistance to the change.
However, the seed had been planted in the clients' minds that financial planning and investment management were separate services, paid for separately. So, after a couple of years of this combined payment, many clients began to feel that they weren't really getting much ongoing benefit from the financial planning (which had largely been done on the front end), so they stopped paying the planning fee, but continued to get their assets managed at the new, discounted rate.
I'd like to say we were smart enough to see this predictable aspect of human nature coming, but in fact, we weren't. Consequently, our attempt to smooth out revenues merely resulted in decreasing the amount of market dependent reviews that our advisors received.
But wait, it gets worse. Our new fee structure also had an adverse effect on the clients who continued to happily pay the annual financial planning fee along with the asset management fee. It seems that when the markets dropped dramatically in 2007-2008, many of those clients had a problem continuing to pay the unchanging financial planning fee. Even though the amount of the AUM fee declined in line with the decline in asset values, and even though the financial planning fee was clearly for financial planning only, the clients still had a problem with it. In fact, our firms lost a number of clients over this issue. It seems that many clients, whether they know it or not, have a strong attachment to the identity of interest that comes from AUM fees: when their values go down, they like to see their advisory fees go down as well.
The moral to this story is that advisory fees are serious business that should not be trifled with lightly. Of course, there are very compelling business reasons to try to disconnect revenues from market volatility. Yet as we all search for a better fee model for advisory, it's important to be mindful of the reasons that the current fee structure (with all its flaws) is the basis for our current client relationships, and try not to do anything to jeopardize them.


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When Christmas rolls around I have many traditions when it comes to decorating and such, but I also try to mix things up a little here and there. This year, since I have the iCarver at my disposal, extra ideas popped into my head and I was able to try a couple different things. I made a couple wood stockings and custom cookie cutters.
Posts Tagged with: iCarver 40-915X
Getting the General CNC iCarver 40-915X Set-upStandard
Part of what prompted this blog was having a iCarver 40-915X from General CNC. I've thought about starting a blog about my prop building/collecting experiences but didn't take the leap until the iCarver gave me the perfect excuse. I could document the process of learning to use it and and the way in which a CNC router can expand a prop maker's capabilities. Continue reading
Showing off Some Props at Toronto Mini Maker FaireStandard
Myself and a couple other members of the Toronto Prop Party took part in this years Toronto Mini Maker Faire to show off some of our props and talk about how we make them. I also was showing off the iCarver 40-915X (made by General CNC) that I have been using for the past month or so.


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Research Article| 1 September 1992
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Volume 73, Number 9, September 1992
Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc. (1992) 73 (9): fmi–fmviii.
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1992: Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Volume 73, Number 9, September 1992. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 73, fmi–fmviii, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477-73.9.fmi.
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Just curious - how would this script dumper work with the scene.bin? Does it give more information than if you simply viewed it uncompressed or anything? Not too much into programming to understand how this works - but I do lots of hex hacking. heh.~Sky
No, it doesn't read scene.bin. It reads .dat files in the PSX /field dir and the first section of the PC field file (Same format)You have to remeber that the PSX edienness is backwards from a PC so some of the data will look odd. You have to flip it back to get meaningful data.
Is this the same for scripted battles therefore?where are the scripts for said battles? In a scene.bin that launches the battle?
I heard that you can also dig up Spoiler: showAeris' body...
Quote from: sw5000I heard that you can also dig up Spoiler: showAeris' body...Yep, its three steps up and seven left from the spot where you can find the Masamune.
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If you have any questions or concerns regarding our clinical research, please contact Department of Neurology Research at 303-724-4644
or email@example.com
Health Volunteers can participate in research, too.
Principle Investigator (PI): the clinician ultimately responsible for the conduct of the clinical trial
Professional Research Assistant (PRA): title of clinical research coordinators at the University of Colorado. The PRA will coordinate research visits and help the PI best manage participant's care.
A great resource on clinical research: National Institute of Health (NIH):
For those interested in the design of trials for the clinical neurosciences, see the link below. Organized by the University of Michigan, these are NINDS Clinical Trial Methodology courses and include several webinars to help investigators.
Research is very important to us as we advance the knowledge of neurological diseases in order to better the care of our patients.
Many studies are designed by our excellent physicians themselves. From observing the patients they treat, the physicians pose important questions to research; these studies are called Investigator Initiated. Other studies conducted include funding and support from pharmaceutical industries, private foundations, private donors, and government agencies such as the National Institute of Health (NIH). We are proud to have such a variety of research to answer the difficult questions of neurological disorders.
Our clinical research funding totals over $7 million dollars.
Neurology is the 3rd largest clinical research division in the School of Medicine at the University of Colorado with over 100 active clinical trials in different phases of completion (initial study start up, enrolling new participants, and follow up of current participants).
Our faculty consists of over 50 clinicians/scientists dedicated to research, dedicated staff to clinical research regulatory and billing, and over 20 research coordinators conducting the day to day operations of studies. Additionally, our worldwide collaborators include experts from academic institutions as well as leaders in the clinical research field.
Please become part of the neurology clinical research family as we aim to be a center of research excellence. You will find a list of currently enrolling research studies below (listed by area of indication).


text: Luxury On Your Terms Stylish 7-inch value tablet delivers all-around entertainment Fashion-inspired design The design of ASUS ZenPad C 7.0 carries modern influences and a simple, clean look that gives it a universal and stylish appeal. These elements are inspired by our Zen design philosophy of balancing beauty and strength. Learn more about design > Vivid all-round viewing with IPS ASUS ZenPad C 7.0 uses IPS display to deliver 170-degree viewing angles with accurate color reproduction, no matter how you view at the screen. Cinematic audio on the go ASUS ZenPad C 7.0 is equipped with DTS-HD Premium Sound to transform stereo audio into virtual surround sound, letting you enjoy incredibly immersive entertainment experiences at home or on the go. You can also enjoy 360° surround sound when listening with headphones. See what others can't see ASUS ZenPad C 7.0's PixelMaster camera captures stunning, high-resolution photos. PixelMaster Camera comes with best technology that combines software and optical design to deliver incredible images. * May vary by SKU and country For an even more glamorous You ASUS ZenPad C 7.0's Beautification mode makes you or your subjects even better looking before your eyes. Just let ASUS ZenPad balance facial features, soften complexions and remove skin blemishes to create flawless photos — and all in real time! Never miss another moment Zero shutter lag means you'll capture the photo you want without missing a moment. With ASUS ZenPad C 7.0 everything you shoot is caught in real time, so you'll snap the bright sparkle of the most beautiful firework, the cheeky smiles of the wriggliest infant and the shooting star that's passes by in the blink of an eye.


text: It's far from a secret that T-Mobile has been cooking up its next myTouch handset with Huawei (also known as the Ascend G312), and now a phone bearing the same moniker has landed at the door of the FCC. According to the label location diagrams, it plays nice with HSPA, UMTS, GPRS, GSM and Edge, but there's no indication of whether this Huawei U8680 is the QWERTY variant we spotted at the company's headquarters. If you'll recall, Huawei has this 4-inch (WVGA) device pegged to ship with Android Ice Cream Sandwich, running atop a 1.4GHz Qualcomm MSM8255T SoC with 1GB of RAM that's supplemented by 4GB of on-board storage. Of course, this doesn't leave us with any more information about when T-Mobile will officially debut this next-gen myTouch, but for now, you can can view the currently available FCC documents at the source link below.


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Creating an OData API for StackOverflow including XML and JSON in 30 minutes
I emailed Jeff Atwood last night a one line email. "You should make a StackOverflow API using OData." Then I realized that, as Linus says, Talk is Cheap, Show me the Code. So I created an initial prototype of a StackOverflow API using OData on an Airplane. I allocated the whole 12 hour flight. Unfortunately it took 30 minutes so I watched movies the rest of the time.
You can follow along and do this yourself if you like.
Before I left for my flight, I downloaded two things.
First, I got Sam Saffron's "So Slow" StackOverflow SQL Server Importer. This is a little spike of Sam's that takes the 3gigs of XML Dump Files from StackOverflow's monthly dump and imports it into SQL Server.
Second, I got the StackOverflow Monthly Dump. I downloaded it with uTorrent and unzipped it in preparation for the flight.
Importing into SQL Server
I went into Visual Studio 2010 (although I could have used 2008, I like the Entity Framework improvements in 2010 enough that it made this job easier). I right clicked on the Data Connections node in the Server Explorer and created a database in SQL Express called, ahem, "StackOverflow."
Next, I opened up Sam's RecreateDB.sql file from his project in Visual Studio (I avoid using SQL Server Management Studio when I can) and connected to the ".\SQLEXPRESS" instance, selected the new StackOverflow database and hit "execute."
One nit about Sam's SQL file, it creates tables that line up nicely with the dump, but it includes no referential integrity. The tables don't know about each other and there's no cardinality setup. I've overwritten the brain cells in my head that know how to do that stuff without
Next, I opened Sam's SoSlow application and ran it. Lovely little app that works as advertised with a gloriously intuitive user interface. I probably would have named the "Import" button something like "Release the Hounds!" but that's just me.
At this point I have a lovely database of a few hundred megs filled with StackOverflow's public data.
Making a Web Project and an Entity Model
Now, from within Visual Studio I selected File | New Project | ASP.NET Web Application. Then I right clicked on the resulting project and selected Add | New Item, then clicked Data, then ADO.NET Entity Data Model.
What's the deal with that, Hanselman? You know StackOverflow uses LINQ to SQL? Have you finally sold out and are trying to force Entity Framework on us sneakily within this cleverly disguised blog post?
No. I used EF for a few reasons. One, it's fast enough (both at runtime and at design time) in Visual Studio 2010 that I don't notice the difference anymore. Two, I knew that the lack of formal referential integrity was going to be a problem (remember I mentioned that earlier?) and since LINQ to SQL is 1:1 physical/logical and EF offers flexible mapping, I figured it be easier with EF. Thirdly, "WCF Data Services" (the data services formerly known as ADO.NET Data Services or "Astoria") maps nicely to EF.
I named it StackOverflowEntities.edmx and selected "Update Model from Database" and selected all the tables just to get started. When the designer opened, I noticed there were no reference lines, just tables in islands by themselves.
So I was right about there being no relationships between the tables in SQL Server. If I was a smarter person, I'd have hooked up the SQL to include these relationships, but I figured I could add them here as well as a few other things that would make our OData Service more pleasant to use.
I started by looking at Posts and thinking that if I was looking at a Post in this API, I'd want to see Comments. So, I right-clicked on a Post and click Add | Association. The dialog took me a second to understand (I'd never seen it before) be then I realized that it was creating an English sentence at the bottom, so I just focused on getting that sentence correct.
In this case, "Post can have * (Many) instances of Comment. Use Post.Comments to access the Comment instances. Comment can have 1 (One) instance of Post. Use Comment.Post to access the Post instance." was exactly what I wanted. I also already had the foreign keys properties, so I unchecked that and clicked OK.
That got me here in the Designer. Note the line with the 1...* and the Comments Navigation Property on Post and the Post Navigation Property on Comment. That all came from that dialog.
Next, I figured since I didn't have it auto-generate the foreign key properties, I'd need to map them myself. I double clicked on the Association Line. I selected Post as the Principal and mapped its Id to the PostId property in Comments.
Having figured this out, I just did the same thing a bunch more times for the obvious stuff, as seen in this diagram where Users have Badges, and Posts have Votes, etc.
Now, let's make a service.
Creating an OData Service
Right-click on the Project in Solution Explorer and select Add | New Item | Web | WCF Data Service. I named mine Service.svc. All you technically need to do to have a full, working OData service is add a class in between the angle brackets (DataService<YourTypeHere>) and include one line for config.EntitySetAccessRule. Here's my initial minimal class. I added the SetEntitySetPageSize after I tried to get all the posts. ;)
public class Service : DataService<StackOverflowEntities>
// This method is called only once to initialize service-wide policies.
public static void InitializeService(DataServiceConfiguration config)
config.SetEntitySetAccessRule("*", EntitySetRights.AllRead);
//Set a reasonable paging site
config.SetEntitySetPageSize("*", 25);
config.DataServiceBehavior.MaxProtocolVersion = DataServiceProtocolVersion.V2;
Expanding on this class, I added caching, and an example Service Operation, as well as WCF Data Services support for JSONP. Note that the Service Operation is just an example there to show StackOverflow that they CAN have total control. Using OData doesn't mean checking a box and putting your database on the web. It means exposing specific entities with as much or as little granularity as you like. You can intercept queries, make custom behaviors (like the JSONP one), make custom Service Operations (they can include query strings, of course), and much more. OData supports JSON natively and will return JSON when an accept: header is set, but I added the JSONP support to allow cross-domain use of the service as well as allow the format parameter in the URL, which is preferred by man as it's just easier.
namespace StackOveflow
public class Service : DataService<StackOverflowEntities>
// This method is called only once to initialize service-wide policies.
public static void InitializeService(DataServiceConfiguration config)
config.SetEntitySetAccessRule("*", EntitySetRights.AllRead);
//This could be "*" and could also be ReadSingle, etc, etc.
config.SetServiceOperationAccessRule("GetPopularPosts", ServiceOperationRights.AllRead);
//Set a reasonable paging site
config.SetEntitySetPageSize("*", 25);
config.DataServiceBehavior.MaxProtocolVersion = DataServiceProtocolVersion.V2;
protected override void OnStartProcessingRequest(ProcessRequestArgs args)
//Cache for a minute based on querystring
HttpContext context = HttpContext.Current;
HttpCachePolicy c = HttpContext.Current.Response.Cache;
c.VaryByHeaders["Accept"] = true;
c.VaryByHeaders["Accept-Charset"] = true;
c.VaryByHeaders["Accept-Encoding"] = true;
c.VaryByParams["*"] = true;
public IQueryable<Post> GetPopularPosts()
var popularPosts = (from p in this.CurrentDataSource.Posts
orderby p.ViewCount
select p).Take(20);
return popularPosts;
But what does this get us? So what?
Accessing StackOverflow's Data via OData
Well, if I hit http://mysite/service.svc I see this service. Note the relative HREFs.
If I hit http://188.8.131.52/service.svc/Posts I get the posts (paged, as I mentioned). Look real close in there. Notice the <link> stuff before the content? Notice the relative href="Posts(23)"?
Remember all those associations I set up before? Now I can see:
- Get a post: http://22.214.171.124/service.svc/Posts(23)/
- Votes on a post http://22.214.171.124/service.svc/Posts(23)/Votes
- Get a post and get all the comments at the same time: http://220.127.116.11/service.svc/Posts(23)?$expand=Comments
- I can even navigate to a user's details off a comment off a post: http://188.8.131.52/service.svc/Posts(23)/Comments(55049)/User
But that's just navigation. I can also do queries. Go download LINQPad Beta for .NET 4. Peep this. Click on Add Connection, and put in my little Orcsweb test server.
Disclaimer: This is a test server that Orcsweb may yank at any moment. Note also, that you can sign up for your own at http://www.vs2010host.com or find a host at ASP.NET or host your own OData in the cloud.
I put this in and hit OK.
Now I'm writing LINQ queries against StackOverflow over the web. No Twitter-style API, JSON or otherwise can do this. StackOverflow data was meant for OData. The more I mess around with this, the more I realize it's true.
This LINQ query actually turns into this URL. Again, you don't need .NET for this, it's just HTTP:
',Tags)">',Tags)">http://126.96.36.199/service.svc/Posts()?$filter=substringof('SQL',Title) or substringof('<sql-server>',Tags)
Try the same thing with an accept header of accept: application/json or just add $format=json
',Tags)&$format=json">',Tags)&$format=json">http://188.8.131.52/service.svc/Posts()?$filter=substringof('SQL',Title) or substringof('<sql-server>',Tags)&$format=json
It'll automatically return the same data as JSON or Atom, as you like.
If you've got Visual Studio, just go bust out a Console App real quick. File | New Console App, then right-click in references and hit Add Service Reference. Put in http://126.96.36.199/service.svc and hit OK.
Try something like this. I put the URIs in comments to show you there's no trickery.
class Program
static void Main(string[] args)
StackOverflowEntities so = new StackOverflowEntities(new Uri("http://184.108.40.206/service.svc"));
var user = from u in so.Users
where u.DisplayName.Contains("Hanselman")
select u;
//{http://184.108.40.206/service.svc/Posts()?$filter=OwnerUserId eq 209}
var posts =
from p in so.Posts
where p.OwnerUserId == user.Single().Id
select p;
foreach (Post p in posts)
I could keep going with examples in PHP, JavaScript, etc, but you get the point.
StackOverflow has always been incredibly open and generous with their data. I propose that an OData endpint would give us much more flexible access to their data than a custom XML and/or JSON API that they'll need be constantly rev'ing.
With a proprietary API, folks will rush to create StackOverflow clients in many languages, but that work is already done with OData including libraries for iPhone, PHP and Java. There's a growing list of OData SDKs that could all be used to talk to a service like this. I could load it into Excel using PowerPivot if I like as well.
Also, this service could totally be extended beyond this simple GET example. You can do complete CRUD with OData and it's not tied to .NET in anyway. TweetDeck for StackOverflow perhaps?
I propose we encourage StackOverflow to put more than the 30 minutes that I have put into it and make a proper OData service for their data, rather than a custom API. I volunteer to help. If not, we can do it ourselves with their dump data (perhaps weekly if they can step it up?) and a cloud instance.
About Scott
Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.
About Newsletter
If you save this HTML to your hard drive and serve it up from your web server or just surf to it directly, you'll see the Body of Post 23 as fetched from Scott's OData endpoint. Enjoy.
OData JSON Test
loading page...
OData JSON Test
loading page...
Comments are closed.


text:
3:26 pm
September 19, 2009
11:46 pm
September 19, 2009
😯 😯 😯
http://www.examiner.com/article/up-to-1 ... dissonance
Empirical, replicable research published by ICAR, the International Community for Alien Research, confirms that a hyperdimensional civilization consisting of amphibian reptilian hybrids and Gray cybernetic clones, have reportedly abducted approximately 1 billion out of the current estimated human population of 6,783,421,727 as of May 31, 2009 or approximately 14.7 percent of the present world population. These 1 billion human abductees, according to the replicable empirical research, – have had their consciousness and and/or their physical bodies taken by a quantum, hyperdimensional process, and returned to their original location (and in some cases original time) with erased memories of the abduction. Memories of the hyperdimensional abduction retrieved through hypnotic regression and similar techniques reveal consistent patterns during the abductions, related to a covert agenda toward the human species by this hyperdimensional species. One earlier study in the 2002 Roper Poll concluded that 2% of the U.S. population (now estimated at 306,587,601 on June 4, 2009) - had been abducted, or approximately 6.1 million persons by current figures.
Cognitive dissonance or "the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs or attitudes, especially as to behavioral decisions and attitude change" is one way of describing categories of responses to knowledge about and research into hyperdimensional abductions of up to 14 percent of our fellow humans. As the abduction research data conflicts with the conventional paradigm of human reality, it is filtered out and denied, even by major researchers in the field of extraterrestrial studies. One of these publicly and without basis contends that all reported cases of alien abductions are in fact MILAB – psyops abductions done by human military-intelligence agencies in order to create false terror about hyperdimensional extraterrestrial civilizations which are uniformly beneficent to humanity.
11:52 pm
September 19, 2009
Highly intelligent dinosauroids became inter-dimensional travelers, which allowed them to escape the devastation of the asteroid impact 65 million years ago...
5:00 am
September 19, 2009
1 Guest(s)


text:
The AAVSOnet Epoch Photometry Database comprises robotically-processed photometry obtained from all images taken with AAVSOnet telescopes. The major component of this database are observations from the Bright Star Monitor network, as these telescopes have taken the majority of images. There are smaller datasets from telescopes that were only operational during the early days of AAVSOnet, covering fewer targets but going much deeper and often with high cadence (time series). For all current telescopes, the intent is to provide public access to older dat
This page is under construction!
Latitude and longitude: 38d 14'41"S 145d 57' 36"E
Elevation: 138m
Site manager: Peter Nelson
Internet access: Limited
Weather statistics: About 35%
Typical good seasons: Summer-Autumn


text:
Security at Xerox
National Information Assurance Partnership (NIAP)
Common Criteria
Security is critical to every business, and we take it seriously at Xerox.
Learn More >
Submit a question, report a vulnerability, or request more information on product security.
© 2020 Xerox Corporation. All rights reserved. Xerox® and PrimeLink® are trademarks of Xerox Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.


text:
LETTER- So much for Brazen solidarity
It was with shock and disgust that I read the Brazen Careerist column in which Ms. Trunk instructs women to accept the "boy's club" that is the corporate ladder and endure sexual harassment in order to "gain power" and ultimately initiate change "Harassment works: For you, the career-climbing woman."
I'm sure Ms. Trunk recognizes the potential distaste in her bold statement but feels that her advice is a clever way to gain advantages without making enemies (of those who feel threatened by a woman seeking equality and respect in the workplace). For the sake of completion, let's follow this absurd fantasy through and think carefully about the actual results.
This strategy of power games and tacit acceptance may work for Ms. Trunk, whose photograph projects confidence and attractiveness. She very well may be able to turn the tables of sexual harassment through crafty hiring schemes and job bargaining. But what about the less-brazen careerist who is not so capably manipulative, who doesn't necessarily have the skills, or perhaps (gasp) the desire to participate in the corporate climb.
Would we encourage a culture of silence in this situation too? Or should the only ones who speak out on inappropriate workplace environments be the ones who have less to lose?
A strategy of silence is nothing more than complicit participation in the system; and last I checked, that doesn't change anything. Suggesting otherwise is pure rationalization.
For an issue already heavy with stigma, why consciously repress its discussion? Surely the best way to eliminate sexual harassment is to create a culture in which such behavior is unacceptable, not one where talented women become "pariahs."
Emily Sloan


text:
Document Display System
A simple, yet safe method for exhibiting documents
This unique document system was designed specifically for the rotating display of documents inside closed exhibit cases. The components include an acrylic stand that can be adjusted for viewing angle, an acrylic mount and an optional attached museum board to support the document. Documents can be mounted in advance, stored safely in flat files or archival boxes, and easily attached to the stands when ready for display.
Features that make our system secure and flexible include:
Stands are available in 3 sizes and will accept a wide range of mount sizes.
Units can be adjusted to allow for display angles of 0-90 degrees in either vertical or horizontal orientation.
Display mounts are constructed of 1/8" acrylic with polished edges and available in a variety of standard sizes.
Integrated ¼" acrylic cleats on the acrylic mount correspond to adjustable cleats on the stand for a safe and secure fit that installs in seconds.
***Additional Shipping Charges May Apply***
Hollinger Metal Edge Inc
9401 Northeast Dr.
Fredericksburg, VA 22408
Phone: 800-634-0491
Phone: 540-898-7300
Fax: 800-947-8814


text:
Research Advisory Service for Cal Undergraduates
Book a 30-minute appointment with a librarian who will help refine and focus research inquiries, identify useful online and print sources, and develop search strategies for humanities and social sciences topics (examples of research topics).
Schedule, view, edit or cancel your appointment online (CalNetID required)
This service is for Cal undergraduates only. Graduate students and faculty should contact the library liaison to their department or program for specialized reference consultations.


text:
As New Year's Eve approaches, this curious creature, created by Phineas X. Jones (and featured on the Half Acre Beer holiday card), hopes you have a weird and wonderful new year, filled with cryptids and unexpected cephalopods.
You can see more of Jones' cephalopod hybrids on Flickr and his site, aptly named Octophant.
Squidowl Painting [Phineas X. Jones via Laughing Squid]


text:
Parents Collections and Programs Endowed Fund
The purpose of the Endowment is to provide support for the University of Washington Libraries. This endowment will augment the libraries collections of books, periodicals, media materials, and programs designed to enhance the educational experience of the University's approximately 30,000 undergraduate students.
This endowment was set up by the UW Annual Giving Council through funds from the Parents Giving Program. It is the University's intent that distributions from the endowment be used at the discretion of the Dean of the University Libraries, or his or her designee, to benefit the Libraries.


text:
And this one is the Marrakesh Marketplace..........
And this one is the Marrakesh Marketplace..........
So many ideas ladies! I'll let the brainstorming go on a bit longer and then I'll set up the poll. Also, if things go well we're going to have a special surprise for this blog train...hopefully make things a little easier for everyone.
though for that one I'd like to add the tan of the stick and the cream/white of the middle pop to have a couple more neutrals to work with
can you please make an upgraded palette? So we substitute that one I could do that, but I´m totally ouf of time this week...
@Sunny: Really LOVE your palettes... hard choice!
@Marisa: Now I wanna know what you´re planning o.O
Oooh...I really like your color palette Sunny. It reminds me of a hot summer night & fireflies.
"My two favorites are Loriens' masculine theme pallete and then Cintia's lily pond theme pallete"
I agree! Beautiful....
I LOVE Lorien's "Sweet Things" colors! I also like the "Forever Boys" idea and the pond life colors.
Last suggestion from me - Sort of a Magical Garden......
@Lorien, what do you think of this? Give a holler if you'd like any changes.
Its perfect Janet
I love all the colors. This one is going to be hard this time. lol!
Love'em all but my eye keeps coming back to Sunny's Moroccan Marketplace and Lorien's "Candies, cupcakes and other sweet things" I think I have the mental bandwidth for only five colors!
Oh guys, now you are just making things to hard! I can't choose anymore, there are so many gorgeous palettes and cool theme ideas!!
@Sunny: I love ALL of your palettes, although your magical garden is more an 'autumnal theme' to me. And even though the Moroccan/Marrakesh theme totally stumps me (no creative idea floating in my head), I would like to give it a go (I had no idea for Birds&Bees as well and that turned out OK).
@Lorien: Way to make others work for you girl I love both palettes, I still like the boy-theme best. I think... Or maybe the summer one... Or... Ugh, too hard to choose
@Holly: I love your theme title "tooty fruity summer beauty", that makes me smile and think of happy days.
I love all the ideas, but especially Lorien's idea for a masculine themed kit. I'm trying to figure out how to post a few palettes that I found on pinterest.
I love pretty much all of these but I am still so IN LOVE with "pond life"
I love everyone's ideas. All of them have such potential. I'm a huge fan of outdoor or nature topics. Living in hotter-than-blazes Texas, some of those pastel palettes look very spring-y to me. I LOVE Sunny's Moroccan Market palette. Sunny for the Northern hemisphere and a bright spot in winter for the Southern hemisphere. I can't wait to hear other ideas.
While I do like some of the other color schemes that have been added, "Pond Life" is still my favorite...
upppp... now there's three I like! adding Sunny's Magical Garden. This is going to be a tough one to choose. Lovely palettes ladies!!!
here are 3 that I think are pretty
Ooh Bree, I really do like your third pallet...very sunshiny and beachy. It's not at all something that I would choose on my own...but I really like it!
Hope you don't mind if I post 2 color inspirations? I would love to see no pink in the June blog train.
This first one is called DessertBrights and the second one is PoppyColor.
I second your "no pink" motion, Christine! I'm working on a Marie-Antoinette themed kit right now and I've just about seen enough pink for the coming few months! I love all the fresh green-blue-beige like palettes!
@Bree: I´m in love for your first color palette
@Christine @Melo: I wouldn´t mind a bit of pink for June, but I´m still in orange vacation, unless its only a bit of it to get contrast :p
I'm loving the pond idea too
Yeah, I could see there being no pink in this one. The two websites I pulled from have so many palettes, I didn't know which ones to choose. I really like the third one too, although I think I would add white or a lighter cream color as well. I like the second palette that Christine made.
@Sunny - I'm very drawn to your palettes so far. I think I am craving some rich, bright colors after the relatively muted ones of our last train.
I'm pretty easy going when it comes to colors, though - it's very much a "know it when I see it" thing for me so it's impossible for me to tell from looking at a palette if it's something I'll be excited to use later.
Wow - Really hard to make a choice! Everyone has such great suggestions!
I'm happy with whatever the final decision will be.
It's going to be lovely, whatever is chosen. I am still with a pond theme though and I love the colours suggested but for those that like brighter colours, pond flowers, butterflies and dragonflies are so pretty and could incorporate just about any colour so the palette does not need to stick to the greens and blues. I'd suggest a palette but I'm useless - hats off to all the beautiful suggestions.
Love your colour palette Cintia. I would however like to add a couple of yellow/oranges for the goldfish!
I like the summer breeze by Nadia... makes me want summer here, now! (as I stare at the snow still outside my office window )


text:
It Guest DT day at Digital Delights and today we have the pleasure of sharing with you TWO very talented ladies!
My home is in Hickory, North Carolina. I have an Associates Degree in Art which I recieved in 1987. I have always been a crafty person cross stitching, crocheting, painting, and scrapbooking. I am married to a wonderful man Eric that lets me do my crafting without any fussing what so ever. I have 2 children Josh is 14 years old, Kayla 13 years old, and I can not forget my furry son Jack that is part of the family too. Thanks for my loving family's support in everything I do.
I used the digital stamps Cannonball Buttons, Circus Tent, Circus Stand, and digital papers Stripes And Spots from www.digitaldelightsbyloubyloo.com
I put my images on a tri-folded card. The images are colored with colored pencils. I cut the circus tent in half and placed the tent on the front of the card. Punched holes in the flowers so the ribbon could close the card. the inside of the card features Cannonball Buttons on the Circus Stand. The background is the digital papers I purchased from Digital Delights. The sign says Have a Banging Birthday. So please visit Delightful Challenges to see other projects and the current challenge.
Vist Christine at her blog "Sweet Pea Cards"
Second Designer today is Jenn!
My name is Jenn Zeeb, I recently celebrated my 20th wedding anniversary May 25 with 4 kids from 7 (first grade) to 19 (just finished her 1st year in college). I am the PTA president at my youngest son's school and work 2 days a week at a lunch/coffee shop.
I have been playing with paper for as long as I can remember. I started selling for Stampin Up, but stopped because I found out I liked buying and playing a lot more than selling. Then I started scrapbooking and found out I have a paper hoarding problem. My husband calls it "kindling" but think I might have to get help one day. I have met great people both scrapbooking and card making, so I wouldn't have it any other way.
Visit Jenn at her blog "Stamplified"
Thanks so much ladies for joining us and sharing your talents:)


text:
Also in Slate: Martha C. White explores California's domination of the international almond market, Boeing's push to sell more aircraft overseas, how a small steel manufacturer thrives on the world stage, and what a tiny software firm can teach us about the future of American exports.
The American consumer has proved to be remarkably resilient in the face of previous recessions, but we're not going to spend our way back to a boom this time. Earlier this year, an AP survey of 50 economists predicted financial instability into next year, while the Federal Reserve Board's most recent Beige Book study says the economic recovery is slowing down. This means the United States has to look beyond our shores for a solution to slowing GDP growth and stubbornly high unemployment.
In March, President Obama announced the creation of a National Export Initiative, the goal of which is to double American exports in five years. White House cheerleaders concede that it's an ambitious target, even though the administration started the clock last year, when exports were at a historic trough. They've since rebounded around 18 percent, which puts us ahead of goal for the time being. Doubling exports by 2014 calls for a roughly 15 percent increase year-over-year, but almost nobody thinks we'll be able to keep up that pace without some aggressive intervention. Obama convened the President's Export Council, a group of CEOs, members of Congress, and executive branch officials to help formulate successful policies. They held their first meeting last month to brainstorm ideas for keeping the momentum going.
The good news is that, alarmist headlines to the contrary, the United States actually exports a huge amount. Those who think of the U.S. solely as a consumer of Chinese-made barbecue grills and Bratz dolls may be surprised to learn that even in dismal 2009, we sent $1.6 trillion worth of stuff out of the country. Most of our exports aren't the kinds of things a shopper in Munich or Mumbai would pick up on their way home from work. Some of what we export is physical goods: We ship lots of heavy machinery, earth-moving equipment, chemicals, medical supplies, animal feed, and agricultural commodities. We also export enormous amounts of intellectual property—movies, music, and software—along with professional services.
Boosting our exports should reduce our $375 billion annual trade deficit, let more money flow into the United States, and goose job growth. In fact, trade economists say export-based jobs tend to pay better and be more stable than others.
But how can the administration, and more importantly American businesses, turn wishful thoughts into sales? Over the next several weeks, Slate will profile a handful of the most creative American exporters. We'll look at big companies and small ones, companies that make things and companies that sell ideas. We'll be studying their best plans and most unlikely successes to find out how they've managed to grow their overseas business in spite of the global economic downturn, what challenges they've overcome, and what they think the administration must do to reach its goal.
We also want to hear from you. Is there a company you know that exports its wares in a particularly innovative way? Do you have a great idea for how we can boost our exports? Tell us about it in the comments section below, or e-mail us at firstname.lastname@example.com; we'll be writing about the best of your submissions in a subsequent article.
Slate will also be hosting a fascinating conversation about exports with leading policymakers, legislators, and businesspeople on the morning of Nov. 15 in Washington, D.C. More details to come soon. We hope you'll be able to join us!
Next: What a California almond company can teach about the globalization of American agriculture.


text:
I am thinking about buying a DP3 for landscape photography, but I am a little bit concerned about the color accuracy produced by the Foveon sensor. I use a Pentax 645D, so I have high expectations in this regard. How do autumn colors look with this camera?Jan
That sounds like an interesting option. But I would like to reduce the weight even more, so the Merrill, combined with a Sony RX1R and/or a Ricoh GR is probably going to be my travel gear. The whole 645D setup with 3 lenses, big tripod and all accessories is really nice but weights more than 10kg.
I have another question about the Merrills. If I buy a Merrill in Japan, can I switch the menu to English or is it Japanese only?
Yes, manually set. At any given aperture and distance-to-subject, a little practice makes it fairly easy & repeatable. Even easier for landscape distances and takes fewer frames at optimum aperture (for sharpness) for good front to back depth. I use a Hoodman loupe sometimes when I need to see my points more precisely. For this image, a couple of practice runs got me dialed in. I hate fly-by-wire manual focus in general, but the the sound produced by the Sigma's focusing actually helps me be more precise - go figure!I think you'll easily get the feel for it. I'd reccomend testing at home for landscape distances at you preferred aperture. Being able to check stack quality immediately will go a long way toward getting a routine that will be dependable in the field. Let me add that the Foveon sensor is very sensitive to under exposure. So when your rental arrives make your first tests be to dial in an appropriate ex-comp setting. E.g. w/ my DP2 I start at +.7, and w/ the DP3 it is +.3. Under exposure will produce an inordinate increase in shadow noise, and when severe, ugly and uncorrectable banding. These cameras have stunning image quality, but within very limited parameters. I truly love mine and would probably give up my other gear before I did the Merrills. Addictive. Rand
So I had a rented DP2M to use last weekend, and a Canon 6D. I like the 6D (and may still buy one at some point), but I ordered a DP2 immediately. The sharpness is hardly to be believed, and the tonal smoothness compared to my other digital gear reminds me of the difference between 35mm and 6X7 MF film.Actually, working with the DP2 reminds me a bit of using MF and 4X5 film cameras in another way: You have to be extra attentive to exposure and composition. The Foveon highlight clipping can be very sharp, and the 6D seemed to have quite a bit more dynamic range than the Sigma. But, when you get exposure taken care of properly, the resulting file is a thing of beauty.People complain about Foveon color balance, but I find it no more difficult to handle in raw conversion than any other sensor, other than the fact that SPP itself is so slow and cumbersome. As soon as Adobe begins supporting the Merrill raw files, that problem will go away.So now I have to decide which DPX to get next. I really see a DP3M as inevitable, and probably a DP1M as well. Would most of you suggest the DP3M next, or the DP1M, for typical landscape use?
T minus 20 hours......until First Official Light for my just-arrived DP3M. Batteries are charged, Milich grip/L bracket attached, 52mm hood and polarizer located, can't wait! Happily, this weekend is likely the height of fall color. Has anyone determined the entrance pupil / "No Parallax Point" (wrongly AKA "nodal point") for DP3M?
I agree, I love my DP3M so much I'm not using my DP2M that much any more. God I love this thing.


text: A New Way to Look at Your Bucket List That big list of dreams and goals isn't the only way to look at your bucket list. Share | Have A Question About This Topic? Name Email Address Question Thank you! Oops! Related Contents What to Do When You Lose Your Wallet Ever lost your wallet? Frustrating. Here's what you can do to keep yourself safe. Personal Finance Tips for Military Families Military families face unique challenges, making personal finance even more critical. Managing Your Lifestyle Using smart management to get more of what you want and free up assets to invest.


text:
Size: 4x3.5in (10x9cm)
The Icon is exact handmade copy therefore the dimensions are specific, the hooks for hanging on the wall are nails for horseshoes, while the nails on the periphery of the icon that hold the frame are different as were in the original one. The openings of the face, of the hands and of other details are done one by one with the hand. The wood is oak and comes from the Mount Athos area. The Icon is silver plated with special treatment to remain unchanged through the years.
Dimensions: 3.9x3.5 inches (10x9 cm)
Weight: 0.17kgr [Shipping Times & Rates]
Availability: Item may be not in stock, please ask us before you buy.


text:
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Desperate and ravenous, So weak and powerless over you
Discarded bus tickets and empty glasses littered before me
Bluegrass music drifting from the speakers
A tiredness that aches in my skin
I wish I could hold you again
Bask in your warmth
Hug you close
Feel you lips on mine
Nervous, scared
Wanting more
Never wanting to leave
Posted at 08:47 pm by
Thursday, September 01, 2011
Praise the one who left you broken down and paralyzed
Let no breath enter my body
No movement stir my limbs
Let ashes claim my heart
Discarded to the winds
Posted at 09:15 pm by
Monday, April 11, 2011
When the summer comes a rollin'
I've known her for a little while. She's beautiful. Obviously that made me feel she was unlikely to be interested in me. The fact that she worked at our other site made it even less likely, distance things have a tendency not to work. The company closed that site over Christmas and she;s now covering someone else's job for a year at this site. She invited me out to the pub a few times, I figure she's just being friendly, getting in touch with people she knows, declined because of the distance and effort involved. Asked me again on Friday and I accepted because...I don't know why. I wanted to. I wanted to the other times, I'm just scared. But this time I said yes, so she picked me up, we went back to where she's staying, she fed the cat etc etc. Went to the pub, had a drink, went to another pub to meet someone else, another pub another pub. As an aside when she found out she lost her original job she commented I'd be one of the people she'd really miss seeing. And when she asked me to the pub the first time she said she'd looked forward to having a drink with me. Anyway, last bar she made me do Karaoke, hugged me a bit, kissed my cheek, had my photo taken with her. Taxi on the way home hugged close and kissed me a few times. Which took me by surprise. I pulled her back for another kiss. I think we were both pretty drunk by that point. Then she left the taxi at her place and I went home.
Posted at 09:18 pm by
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Let this darkened hour drift past
Stray memories have a way of catching you Making you pause, ponder and consider Wishing you didn't have to Wishing you could keep plodding on One step at a time Never looking back Never prodding at the scab If it's even a scab Rather than a wound Kept fresh and bleeding By constant picking and prodding With every glance over your shoulder At things you can never change
Posted at 10:51 pm by
Saturday, March 19, 2011
One day like this a year would see me right
I wish people would stop making jokes about how unattractive I am
Posted at 11:35 pm by
Thursday, December 02, 2010
I'm gonna fuck it up again
I'm an idiot
I invited her to sit with us at lunch, and she did, but I couldn't think of much to say, partly because my brain felt a little fried and partly because she sat next to the married guy in our office who flirts constantly with every woman and who she seems to like..
Anyway they had a bit of a chat and apparently she's actually been to watch him play rugby.
Posted at 05:31 pm by
(1) Responded
Monday, November 29, 2010
Heaven help me for the way I am
She was working on reception again today.
All day long I've been getting comments like "Why don't you go work somewhere warm, like reception?"
One of the first emails I received today?
"Why don't you come over here and warm up and keep me company?"
I did go over to get something from the other building at one point, when I got back I had an email.
"You should have stayed longer to keep me company."
I can't ask her out directly, I'm still too scared of just going up to somebody and doing that and having been turned down on the crappy attempts I've made doesn't really provide me with the confidence to go any further. She's admitted she's quite flirty but she seems to go further than the effort flirting would take, after all she talks to me, who is crap at flirting properly, more than the married guy in our office who flirts constantly. Although, this could all just be me being insanely masochistically hopeful. I'd probably be better off just giving up entirely from this point on and not bothering any more, but that's always been hard for me to start with and I'm so unused to any level of attention that it makes it even harder.
If she's just playing with me I'm sure it will become apparent soon, at which point I'll probably slip over to hating her and can get on with my life.
Posted at 04:53 pm by
(2) Responded
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Baby, lay your head on my lap one more time, tell me you belong to me
As an aside, why do people always have to be such children?
I got an email from her after lunch asking why someone had asked her if she missed me whilst I was off work for a day.
The thing that confuses me is that if she goes out of her way to talk to me, how come I get teased about it?
It reminds me of school, which isn't good, because it was people at school that helped to mess me up this badly in the first place.
Why can't I just be honest, tell her how I feel and deal with whatever her response is, why am I so damned terrified?
Posted at 03:44 am by
(1) Responded
All the advice I shunned and I ran where they told me not to run
She asked if I'd buy her some breakfast this morning as she's stuck on reception, so I did.
I complained it was cold in the office and she said I could work next to her and I so dearly wanted to be able to say yes, especially when she made a similar offer later.
I know I shouldn't do this to myself, but part of me can't help but hope and I so rarely get any attention of this order from women, for whatever reason.
Apparently someone at work is organising a night out and she asked if I'd be going, saying that she might actually make it out this time.
When I said I probably would but that I thought my friends were visiting that day, she then said well, she'd still be going if she wasn't too poor.
On the plus side, my friends will be coming and we shall get drunk, and all will be, well, not right with the world, but significantly more fuzzy.
Posted at 01:17 am by
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Another train of thought too hard to follow
Do you know, I'd very nearly forgotten about this, which I suppose is OK, because by now I'm pretty sure everyone else has too.
As near as I can tell, I do have a problem, something in my head is seriously wrong, because I just can't seem to accept that somebody could actually want me. You see, in order to move on and actually try and ask people out properly and gain any confidence in this area I'd need to be able to believe that it's possible for someone to want me on those terms, yet I can't seem to.
I really don't know why.
I'm going to have to find something to do about it.
I intend to move house first, however.
Now, the real reason I feel the need to make this post, which is a similar reason to so many previous posts.
She's beautiful.
I should stop torturing myself like this but I can't seem to help myself.
She has the most beautiful blue eyes, the kind you feel you could stare into forever.
Fuck knows how many hours I've wasted sending her emails at work, if she'd stop replying I could stop myself doing it.
It seems, at times, almost like she's interested, she replies to my emails, texts, etc, talks about so many things you wouldn't quite expect, smiles and waves every time she seems me,seems to genuinely like coming to sit next to me on the bus...
It's far and away the most interest anyone has shown in me for so very long.
I wasn't going to do anything about it, just be typical me, let it pass eventually.
People pointed out that I had nothing to do so, via the medium of email, I did suggest going to the cinema.
Yes, email, lame I know but I'm so very crap at this and so very very scared.
"I'll get back to you on that one"
She didn't
A week or so later I made another similar suggestion, but she just ignored it, so I resolved to not bother any more.
I didn't manage to hold to it, the evening before I was originally intending to go back home to find out more about my sister suddenly being pregnant and married, she messaged me on facebook.
I replied, more messages, told her I wasn't going back home yet because my mother had said there was no point at that time. More messages, another half assed suggestion.
"I'll get back to you" plus a hint that it wouldn't
anything, if you know what I mean.
Spent hours talking to her until I was too tired to stay awake any more.
I don't know why I do this to myself.
She drops hints, relationships are too complicated, I enjoy being by myself, so why do I keep thinking maybe, maybe, maybe she'll change her mind, tell me she wants me?
I tried reminding her of the film when she didn't get back to me, told her to ring me if she did want to see it.
She didn't.
But later texted me, asking how it was and spent the evening texting me.
She's probably just being friendly, but no one else puts in that kind of effort, so it's hard for me to reconcile and I do want her so badly.
I walked over to our other site with her the other day, grabbed some stuff, returned.
I got an email "I see you managed to sneak out without saying good bye to me".
I'm listening to Fiona Apple now, I like it, it's good music and she told me to listen to it so it makes me think of her, which, for obvious reasons, constitutes a problem.
She seems to go out of her way not to say "No, I don't want you" but that doesn't really make anything better.
In fact it would be easier if she just rejected me wholly. I could move on and torture myself over somebody else.
Posted at 10:28 pm by
(2) Responded
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Band of the moment: Powderfinger
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Penny Arcade
Nuklear power
Konsekai Swordwaltzer
Something Positive
Questionable Content
For the sake of clarity,
my "Titles" are song lyrics.
If you find them interesting,
to them
October 2020
Dragon sword
Halcyon sword
Caelris Ayrenne
Ace of Spades
Kyrel Black
Red Dragon
Additions made to this "gallery" as and when I can be bothered
Darkness, Darkness
Robert Plant
Darkness, Darkness, be my pillow, Take my head and let me sleep
In the coolness of your shadow, In the silence of your deep
Darkness, darkness, hide my yearning, For the things I cannot see
Keep my mind from constant turning, To the things I cannot be
Darkness, darkness, be my blanket, cover me with the endless night
Take away the pain of knowing, fill the emptiness with light
Emptiness with light now
Darkness, darkness, long and lonesome, Is the day that brings me here
I have felt the edge of sadness, I have known the depths of fear
Darkness, darkness, be my blanket, Cover me with the endless night
Take away this pain of knowing, Fill this emptiness with light now
Emptiness with light now
Darkness, darkness, be my blanket, cover me with the endless night
Take away this pain of knowing, fill this emptiness with light now
Oh with light now.
Darkness, Darkness, be my pillow, Take my head and let me sleep
In the coolness of your shadow, In the silence of your deep
In the silence of your deep
In the - oh oh yeah
In the summer baby
come on come on come on baby...
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Mashable Photo Challenge: Work in Progress
Last week in the Mashable Photo Challenge we were happy to see you explore the idea of firsts. A gallery of our featured photos can be found in this post and on our Facebook page.
This week we want you to look at the next step. Show us a work in progress. As with your take on "firsts," you are free to interpret this challenge however you would like.
You can send us a photo of a construction site or even something more abstract. Just be sure to include a description of your photo, so we understand why your submission represents a work in progress.
We want you to use whatever image capturing device you have — whether a smartphone or a DSLR. We used an iPhone 4S and the Camera+ app to create our image of a work in progress: one of the basic tools of construction, a hammer.
How To Enter the Challenge
Take a picture that represents a work in progress to you. Be sure to include a caption describing your photo.
Upload your photo to Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Instagram or the photo-sharing service of your choice, and drag and drop it in the picture widget below OR
Tweet your photo to @mashablehq with the hashtag #MashPics. If you need more than one tweet to write your caption, just send us another tweet.
We will choose images based on composition, originality and overall appeal.
Submit your photo by Wednesday, April 18 at 12:00 p.m. EST. We'll feature some of our favorite photos on Mashable, as well as on our Facebook page. We can't wait to see what you come up with!


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Potential buyers are probing Hewlett-Packard over EDS and Autonomy, according to reports.
Bloomberg reports that HP has received an "increase in enquiries" following a recent regulatory filing saying it would dispose of businesses that don't meet goals.
The Wall St Journal says overtures have come mainly from other US tech companies or their representatives.
According to Reuters, HP regularly gets touched up by bankers, representatives from private equity and technology companies but enquiries have increased since it emerged Dell's in talks with Silver Lake about a possible $15bn buyout.
HP in its 10-K filing said it was evaluating the potential disposition of assets and businesses that "may no longer help us meet our objectives".
EDS and Autonomy are prime targets for buyers, both being outside HP's core PC, server and printer business and both coming into the company through departed CEOs, the result of wild strategy swings, and at great cost. EDS was bought for $13.9bn in 2008 by Mark Hurd to turn HP into a services company but four years later HP wrote $8bn off of the deal. Under Hurd's replacement, Leo Apotheker, software was the new future. The firm went on to spend $11.7bn on UK enterprise search specialist Autonomy in 2011 but that deal was also written down - also to the tune of $8bn.
In November, HP accused Autonomy of accounting impropriety and of misrepresenting its value during the purchase, and referred the matter to UK and US regulators. Autonomy's founder and former CEO Mike Lynch - aka: "the British Bill Gates" - has denied any wrongdoing.
HP is in the midst of a corporate turnaround and restructuring under current chief executive Meg Whitman - who has said that she doesn't expect it to pay off until 2016.
Announcing the strategy and justifying the long turnaround time, Whitman said: "My belief is that the single biggest challenge facing HP has been changes in CEOs and executive leadership, which has caused multiple inconsistent strategic choices and frankly some significant executional miscues."
Whitman appeared to be referring to Autonomy, EDS and their CEO sponsors. Autonomy and EDS are prime candidates for sale to either private equity or another tech company - either one within the sector which is looking for expertise or customers or trying to break in.
That said, it's not like the PC business is a particularly healthy segment for HP to remain in - at least without any major changes. Global sales are falling and during HP's most recently reported quarter, revenue for the Personal Systems Group (PSG) fell 14 per cent year on year; the unit's business and consumer sales were down 13 per cent and 16 per cent respectively.
On Tuesday, Gartner reported that although HP was seated at the top of the PC heap - it has become a dwindling one. Also, PC-makers' last hope, Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system, resolutely failed to reignite sales during the fourth quarter covering Christmas, the analyst explained. According to Gartner, Microsoft's brand-new operating system: "Did not have a significant impact on PC shipments in the fourth quarter." ®


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21 August, 2013 | (01 hr)
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New research from The Conference Board investigates how India, Canada, and Singapore are taking steps to ensure that their country's talent supply measures up to future needs. Companies can learn a lot about effective strategic workforce planning from these national efforts to eliminate gaps between workforce demand and supply.
Dr. Mary Young from The Conference Board and Dr. Rick Guzzo, a Mercer partner, will talk about the growing importance of labor market information systems and the competitive advantage that countries gain when they have the intelligence-gathering, data, and analytic capabilities to stay ahead of employers' workforce needs.
Mary B. Young, D.B.A.
Dr. Mary Young leads The Conference Board's program of research on digital transformation's human capital impacts, big data and human capital analytics, and strategic workforce planning.
Mary is the author of more than 25 research publications from The Conference Boardin...Full Bio
Rick Guzzo, Ph.D.
Rick Guzzo, Ph.D. co-leads Mercer's Workforce Sciences Institute, a research and innovation center, and works with clients on a wide range of strategic human capital issues.
Rick has published dozens of professional papers and four books, including Play to Your...Full Bio


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This video was created for the sole purpose of testing out the Glif, a stand/mount/tripod attachment for the iPhone. It works great! Here's a photo of the Glif in action, acting as an iPhone stand.
The guys who created the Glif did it in an interesting way – they raised money for the project via Kickstarter. Kickstarter helps raise money for creative projects, and has a "unique all-or-nothing funding method where projects must be fully-funded or no money changes hands." Cool way to raise money!


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Unveiled: Wedding Dress of the Week
One of my most favourite fashion terms is passementerie. Its a French term that looks and sounds good, and which economically describes a luxurious array of frivolities used to adorn dress and interiors, including pom poms, bobbles, braid, ribbon, fringing, buttons, tassels and gimp. The English equivalent is the equally delightful 'haberdashery'. Read more


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FACETIME- Cole case: Mystery writer not <i>Dead in the Water</i>
Mystery writer Meredith Cole's concedes that her upbringing wasn't exactly traditional, and neither are her two books. "In 1971, my parents moved here to start a commune," says Cole. The 120-acre Springtree Community south of Scottsville still exists, she says.
When she graduated from what was then called the Tandem School nearly 20 years ago and left to go to Smith College, Cole envisioned a career writing and directing films. She returned to Charlottesville last year with a husband, a son–- and two murder mysteries.
"She had never killed so many people in so many different ways..." reads the opening line of her first, Posed for Murder. The book won for best first traditional mystery in the Malice Domestic Contest (that's what it's really called). That prize came with a publishing contract with the prestigious St. Martin's publishing house. and her second book, Dead in the Water, came out in May.
Although Cole's genre is called traditional mystery, her amateur sleuth, Lydia McKenzie, is anything but ordinary. McKenzie is a murder-solving art photographer who wears great clothes, has boyfriend troubles, and bides her time at a day job with a detective agency.
In Dead in the Water, a prostitute that McKenzie has photographed ends up a floater in the East River, an incident inspired by Cole's life in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.
"My husband and I moved to Williamsburg in '99," she says. "It was a very adventurous, artistic place."
Lots of abandoned industrial space was turning Williamsburg into an affordable New York address. But real dangers and headline-grabbing tragedies lurked.
"Before we left, a serial killer was killing prostitutes," she explains. "The second thing was the death of Spaulding Gray. He washed up in a park that I frequented."
Virginia Festival of the Book director Nancy Damon, who describes Cole's books as "edgy," says she liked the window into the lives of younger professionals. "She represents a new sort of hip generation," says Damon.
Before becoming a mystery writer, Cole, now 40, wrote and directed a couple of feature films and some promos that appeared in such places as the Food Network and the Learning Channel. But her pregnancy gestated a career change.
"I had to decide whether to keep making film, and that's hard to do with small children," says Cole, remarking that screen-writing and novel-writing aren't very far apart. "A screenplay has a three-act structure," she notes. "A mystery follows a similar structure."
Even with critical acclaim and a well-known publisher like St. Martin's, the uber-competitive 21st century publishing world has Cole taking charge of promoting her books. She's done signings in New York, Reston, Gaithersburg, and Raleigh. Locally, she launched her latest work at WriterHouse, where she has taught mystery writing and screenwriting. This fall, she's teaching in UVA's continuing education department.
Although she's moved to another trendy neighborhood– Charlottesville's Belmont– Cole says she intends to keep her series set in Brooklyn. And in writing about murderers, Cole has has learned that fiction can't always follow reality.
"Unfortunately," she says, "most criminals are really stupid, and you can't use them in mysteries because it would be over in five minutes."


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RACIAL EQUITY: It's Time to Step Up. We Need Your Help. Click Here.
Wisbar.org will be unavailable on Octoder 21 starting at 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. for system maintenance.
This month we highlight readers' comments posted online to two WisBar InsideTrack articles. Let's hear what you have to say. Post comments to articles online or respond to Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter posts. Or simply email the editors at org wislawmag wisbar wisbar wislawmag org.
For the past 30 years, jury trials have steadily declined in both federal and state courts, including in Wisconsin. To answer the questions, "why is this happening, and how does it impact lawyers and the justice system," legal writer Joe Forward invited the perspectives of two trial attorneys and presented data from circuit court statistics to show trends in civil and criminal cases in Wisconsin from 2003-2012. (WisBar InsideTrack, March 19, 2014.)
Several factors have led to a general decline in civil jury trials over the years, including high costs, increased use of mediation, tort reform, advertising, political developments, and changing perceptions that juries are not as receptive to plaintiffs, and more. Fewer jury trials can lead to unwanted consequences, too, including less trial experience for younger lawyers.
Asked how the disappearing jury trial as a deepening trend affects you as a lawyer or the legal system, readers weighed in by posting the following comments.
Excellent, well researched and well written article. For all the reasons mentioned in the article, I agree; the demise of jury trials (both civil and criminal) adversely affects the justice system's ability to protect individual rights and hampers development of the common law.
I have heard from older attorneys that they used to be able to simply subpoena treating physicians to give testimony at depos or trial. There is far less access to caregivers and far higher costs for the same in recent years. A letter to a physician is now responded to by a letter from the legal department that a meeting can be arranged after an estimated fee is posted up front, at the tune of $300 or more. It seems that Burnett. v. Alt, 224 Wis. 2d 72, 589 N.W.2d 21 (1999), has definitely changed the landscape in terms of the number of personal injury cases going to trial.
Respectfully, I think this article misses any reference to what is probably the biggest single reason there are fewer jury trials today than 30 years ago: the change in the application of the standards for granting summary judgment. Thirty years ago, summary judgment would not be granted if (as the rule says) there was a genuine issue of fact for trial to a jury.
Things have evolved over time to the point where the granting of summary judgment is much more the rule than the exception – the exact opposite of 30 years ago, which has really turned things upside down. The standard hasn't changed, but the application of it has, so that today courts routinely resolve actual factual issues of significance and then grant judgment on the assertion that there is no bona fide factual dispute.
Once the granting of summary judgment became so routine, naturally insurers and defendants have become unwilling to consider settlements – holding out instead for summary judgment to get them out of harm's way. The result is that the plaintiff's bar has had to settle cases that really should be tried, in order not to suffer an outright loss.
Justice clearly is not being served by this development. The justice system has been eroded by it in civil cases. In criminal cases, the tougher laws and policies (especially as to sentencing) developed over these last 30 years (or more) has made it much more risky for defendants to go to trial. WL
Looking for a job? Looking for new employment? The job market is slowly improving, but attorney positions are still relatively scarce. Improve the employment odds through networking, career counseling experts say, and consider alternative career paths. In this article by legal writer Joe Forward, career experts advise creating a networking plan and offer tips on how to execute it. (WisBar InsideTrack, March 5, 2014.)
While I appreciate all of this advice, there is one element that is always missing from articles of this sort. That element is how recent graduates/new attorneys afford all of this work. I know many new lawyers who would love to do pro bono or low-cost legal aid work (and I count myself among them), and such work would be a perfect example of activities that help us gain experience while we try to hide from the economy. Yet school debt and our bills (for food, rent, Internet, and health insurance) make it impossible to participate. And if we are employed, we tend to have little control over our working conditions, along with low pay and little to no paid leave. This makes meeting someone for coffee or lunch a money-losing proposition, because every minute spent away from work means less pay – which is another thing many of us simply cannot afford.
In future articles providing career advice, I would like to see more attention paid to the problem of how expensive it is to look for work, and how this lost generation of attorneys is supposed to pay for it.
I am employed currently in an LTE position with the WI DOJ, but my appointment's allotted hours run out at the end of April. … In addition, I have a family and simply cannot afford to regularly pay $25 to $100 for networking events, which means I am limited to the small number of free events available.
Here's a couple of facts that suggest a solution, but one that requires funding for low- to moderate-income legal services, and as such, will not be popular with the current powers that be in the legislature: 1) there is a large and well-documented "justice gap" in our state, particularly in view of the recent legislative decision taken to eliminate all funding for civil legal aid; and 2) there is also a large population of unemployed or underemployed new attorneys who would love to do low-cost legal aid work.
If the funding can be found, the State Bar should set up "incubators" for lawyers looking to fill the justice gap to allow them to gain experience and get their practice legs under them, addressing both issues with one program.
There is definitely a cost in time and money to investing in yourself. Whether you do traditional marketing, join a section, or volunteer on a committee or in a free legal clinic, I think the goal should be finding the right mix of activities that support your professional and personal growth.
If we focus too much on what's best for us in terms of income and career, then other things that are at least as important to professional and personal satisfaction will suffer. Finding the right balance early in your career is important.
Linda Albert, the State Bar of Wisconsin's WisLAP coordinator, shared an interesting academic article with me. It's called "What Makes Lawyers Happy," and it summarizes research that comes to the shocking conclusion that lawyers are people too. To thrive, we need the same authenticity, autonomy, close relationships, supportive teaching and supervision, altruistic values, and focus on self-understanding and growth that promotes thriving in others. The authors also point to other research demonstrating that undue focus on financial rewards is counterproductive in terms of performance and productivity.
Since my area of focus is pro bono legal services and access to justice, here is one practical suggestion. Start small in shaping the pro bono and public service part of your base. One of the free legal clinics in your area will allow you to keep control of the time you devote to your pro bono service. It also gives you a chance to find out what sort of service is most rewarding. Most free legal clinics will only take a few hours per year out of your schedule.
I've met many very senior and very new (or even unemployed) lawyers volunteering in legal clinics over the years. We all benefited in some way at the same time that we provided what help we could to people who needed a hand dealing with the legal issues they faced.


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Justin Kirk may be on all of the posters for NBC's new comedy Animal Practice, but even he knows who the real star of the show is — industry veteran Crystal the Monkey.
Premiering Sept. 26 at 8/7c, Animal Practice marks the first regular TV series gig for Crystal, a showbiz vet known for her appearances in The Hangover Part II and Community. After 16 years of waiting for her first TV series, Crystal is enjoying every ounce of the limelight thus far playing the right-hand
man monkey of misanthropic vet Dr. Coleman (Kirk). But is Crystal enjoying the spotlight a little too much? "She's got a little power. She's getting a little diva-y around here," says co-star Tyler Labine.
Animal Practice's monkey business overshadows human business
Adds executive producer Scot Armstrong: "Hollywood attitudes are hard to deal with. She's very demanding. She insists on having a trailer that's exactly one foot wider than Will Smith's trailer."
However, it seems no matter how big Crystal's head gets, it's hard to hold a grudge. As star JoAnna Garcia Swisher points out, "Who doesn't love a monkey in scrubs?"
Watch this first look video from Animal Practice to get the behind-the-scenes dirt on Crystal's first day on the job and life off the set:
Animal Practice premieres Wednesday, Sept. 26 at 8/7c on NBC.