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Future college students looking at a difficult job market and staggering student loan debt levels may be rethinking the value of a degree, especially as colleges continue to increase overall costs.
Continue Reading Below
According to the College Board, the overall average cost to attend an in-state public college for the 2012-13 academic year for students who don't receive any financial aid rose 3.8% to a record $22,261, with tuition accounting for about half of that increase.
The report also shows that public university tuition and fees alone rose 4.8% to $8,655 and climbed 4.2% at four-year private schools to an average of $29,056 this year.
In response to the rising costs, a Pew Research Center poll shows that 75% of the public says most people cannot afford to pay for a college education, especially with the average amount of student loan debt for a bachelor's degree at an all-time high of $23,000.
If colleges don't address the issue of affordability, students may opt out of getting their degree resulting in extreme declines in enrollment, warns Jonathan Robe, research fellow for the Center for College Affordability and Productivity.
"Some midlevel bachelor's liberal arts colleges or even some public midlevel master's universities may be forced to drastically change their model of operations or even go out of business," he says. "There has been some talk that some of these schools may not have a sustainable trajectory."
To make an education more attainable for students, here are four ways colleges can keep students' costs lower and boost the value of their degrees.
Make it easier for students to calculate costs. Colleges and universities are now required to post a net price calculator on their website to provide an estimate to current and prospective students based on their family's circumstances.
Although school calculators can help families decide whether a school is affordable, colleges can take more steps to make the cost more readily available, says Francine Block, college admissions consultant for the American College Admissions Consultants.
"If you go on a college website, they don't pop up for you—you really need to go looking," she says. "Now that colleges have required it, it's there but it's not always as accessible and understandable for the families, and the colleges are still playing with it a little bit."
Streamline the transfer process. Many schools have articulation agreements with community colleges to help students' credits transfer, but the process isn't always efficient and can result in students taking additional time and money to make up for lost credits, says Robe.
"There are a lot of problems that need to be addressed in terms of easing the transfer process and certainly we would want students to be able to as long as…they have mastered the material at community college and they are ready for four year level work--we shouldn't penalize them by requiring them to take additional courses or an additional year," he says.
Block explains that schools can expand their acceptance of articulation agreements beyond the community college down the road.
"They don't have to be just within state--it can be within a geographic area but not just staying in state and I definitely think that's something that they should be doing."
Curb lavish spending on facilities. In the wake of decreased endowments, colleges and universities curbed some million-dollar renovation projects but they are still competing against each other for prospective students, says Block.
"The building wars that are going on, from the highest climbing walls or the dorm facilities--they are trying to please this generation as opposed to educating them at some point," she says. "I have students who come back and say, 'the dorms weren't nice and the lab wasn't new,' and that's because schools have gone out and spoiled the kids with all of these facilities."
Randolph Lowry, president of Lipscomb University, explains that despite being far beyond the basics of education, many colleges are merely keeping pace with what students and families are demanding.
"One of the reasons that these places are so expensive is when you're talking about a full service university, we have to essentially fund a small city," he says. "We're not in the business of making money off of this—we try to figure out how to pay for it every year and anything that is extra, we put back into next year."
Offer more three-year degree programs. Lowry claims more colleges are exploring ways to get more students earning a bachelor's degree more efficiently, particularly through offering three year degree programs.
"They can finish in three years and they have about $10,000 [saved] in costs and more significant, they get into the work force an entire year earlier, so that can be $50,000 or $60,000 [saved]."
Block points out that although more colleges could stand to offer three year programs, it is also up to the student to work harder and possibly attend school over breaks.
"In many cases, it's taking five courses per semester versus four and it's also a matter of maybe getting one or two summers," she says. "Some schools charge per course and others charge a flat year tuition and if you're charging a flat year tuition and a student is able to get in 10 courses instead of eight, it can speed up their graduation."


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Guest post by Mark Reynolds, Schools Business Manager (@themarkreynolds)
Last year I was asked to join the Advisory Board of SAFE, a project that gives pupils a real-life way of learning e-safety through social networking. At the time, they were looking to expand from their established base in Primary Schools, up into Secondary – where pupils not only needed e-safety advice, but would also benefit from understanding the positive impact that social networking can have and the opportunities it could create for them. As well as me representing Microsoft on the board, there are also people from Facebook, the SSAT and school groups like the United Learning Trust and we are working together with schools across the UK to create a positive new approach to digital wellbeing education and social media projects for learning.
At a recent board meeting, I was being told all about Digital Badges and the work which the SAFE team have planned for Safer Internet Day. As they know much more about it than I do, here is a guest post from Kate Valentine that originally appeared on the DigitalME website:
Digital Badge launched for Safer Internet Day 2013
Safe and Makewaves introduce the Safe SID Badge to reward young people who 'Connect with Respect' on Safer Internet Day 2013.
Digital Badges are being awarded to young people who 'Connect with Respect' as part of a Safer Internet Day campaign being run by Safe the Certificate in Social Networking, and Makewaves, the award winning social learning environment.
The Safe SID Badge will be awarded to young people who follow the 2013 Safer Internet Day (SID) theme by commenting on debates and uploading their own media to a dedicated channel on the Safe Network on Makewaves.
Digital badges are an innovative way of rewarding safe and positive use of social networking. The accreditation system will use Mozilla's exciting Open Badges technology, which was launched in 2011 and has the potential for officially recognising the skills and achievements gained by learners (students and teachers) both in school and beyond.
Schools will be able to explore the issues around online rights and responsibilities with pupils and students, and the digital Safe SID Badge 2013 will be awarded and displayed on successful reporters' profile pages on Makewaves.
Leading e-safety expert Alan Mackenzie believes "sitting children and young people in a classroom and "teaching" e-safety is an ineffective way of empowering a life-skill. Safe and Makewaves have taken this to the next level by creating a learning environment where the safe use of digital media is the cornerstone of learning. The landmark tenth year of Safer Internet Day on 5th February 2013, Safe and Makewaves are encouraging children and young people to "Connect with Respect"; working collaboratively to create, upload and share digital content and at the same time earn a fabulous digital badge for all their hard work. What better way to reward children and young people for sharing, safely!"
Schools new to Makewaves can sign up for free social media tools to enable safe and easy publishing of podcasts, videos and blogs. Teachers can moderate students' work and control who can see it. By joining the Safe Network, schools can also access video tutorials, resources to download and certificates to award on completion of the Safe activities.
The 10th annual Safer Internet Day will be celebrated on February 5th 2013, with organisers Insafe and UK Safer Internet Centre hoping to make the event "bigger and better than ever before".
If you or your school would like to get involved in the SAFE program, please contact Kate and the team on firstname.lastname@example.com or find them on twitter @DigitalMe_Safe

subset: commoncrawl


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Web UI Refactoring
Presupuesto $30-250 USD
Looking for a developer to help revamp a church portal based on PHP & MySQL, the project is also to fix a few issues with the portal.
The portal has been functioning for about 10 years and requires an optimal facelift to include functionality like responsiveness, beautiful icons etc
53 freelancers están ofertando el promedio de $202 para este trabajo
HI Mate, Can you please let me know what changes you want in your church portal? Do you have new icons ? Can you please share link with us after that ia am able to say how much time it will take for responsive Más
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hi, i will work on your project, I specialize in graphics design and web development, lets discuss it further , shall we?


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NEW LONDON � When James Goins robbed a BP gas station on Route 32 in Franklin a year ago, he used the stolen cash to buy drugs, authorities said.
Goins, 28, of New London, was sentenced Tuesday in New London Superior Court to two years in prison for the Oct. 28 holdup.
Assistant State�s Attorney Lawrence Tytla said a pre-sentencing report shows the crime should be blamed on �a persistent, ongoing, serious and severe drug problem.�
According to police, Goins threatened the clerk with a knife during the holdup. He fled after getting five $20 bills.
State police arrested Goins on Jan 29.
�Any time a weapon is displayed, it�s a serious crime, and it has consequences,� Tytla said. �The clerk is only working in the day because he�s terrified to work at night because of this situation.�
Goins accepted a plea bargain in August in which he faced a maximum of three years in prison, plus three years� probation.
He admitted the robbery to police, saying he had done it with a friend. �A couple of months ago, during Hurricane Sandy, I was in Norwich with my friend Sean Cooley,� Goins said in a written statement to police. �Both Sean and I are addicted to heroin. We were both dope sick, and Sean started talking about robbing a convenience store. I didn�t want to, but he kept talking about it and convinced me to go with him.�
Goins said in the statement that Cooley parked his car in the parking lot of a nearby auto repair business, and Goins went inside carrying the broken blade of a pocket knife. Goins told police that he and Cooley then drove to New London and bought drugs using the stolen cash.
Cooley also is charged in the robbery as well as two others police said he did solo. He has denied taking part in the robberies or knowing Goins. Cooley is scheduled to make a pretrial court appearance Thursday.
Judge Susan Handy took a year off the sentence in the hope that Goins would overcome his addiction.
�Your entire life has been a pattern of addiction,� she said. She said she hoped he would remain sober instead of continuing to return to prison. �No one wants to see that,� she said.
�No, I don�t either,� Goins said.
�I�d like to apologize to the court and the victim,� he said. �It was something way out of my character, and something I�ll never do again.�


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There are many commands related to modules. Only the most commonly used module commands are described here; documentation for the rest can be found in the module chapter. There is also a brief description of modules, structures, and packages below.
structure ...
structures visible in the current package.
The packages associated with the
structures will be loaded if
this has not already been done (the
ask-before-loading switch
can be used disable the automatic loading of packages).
,config [
command in the
config package, which includes
the module configuration language.
For example, use
to load a file containing module definitions. If no,config ,load
command is given, the
config package becomes the
execution package for future commands.
,user [
Previous: Logistical commands | Next: Debugging commands


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US Spy Satellite Logo Not At All Subtle: Octopus Enveloping The Earth
from the nothing-is-beyond-our-reach dept
"We don't get any cell site or location information as to where any of these phones were located." -- Keith AlexanderThese phones. Under this program. But under this other program we collect pretty much everything. Beyond that, the various "code names" the NSA uses are somewhat revealing as well. Lots of people commented on the insanity of calling the giant database FASCIA. But, at the very least, you could argue that the NSA never expected those code names to be made public. And with the misleading statements, they were still holding out hope that maybe, just maybe, a meteor would magically flatten Glenn Greenwald, Barton Gellman and Laura Poitras before the info got out.
But... how about when the US intelligence community actually does something publicly. Like live tweeting the launch of a new spy satellite. Apparently, they slap the most unsubtle logo on it that you can imagine.
Here's a photo of NROL-39 being readied for launch. Check out the full gallery: http://t.co/dHrcSxXhG0 pic.twitter.com/sEHEqPYWRB
— Office of the DNI (@ODNIgov) December 5, 2013
Sure. They're spies. This is what they do. But, somehow, you'd think that maybe, just maybe, someone with a tiny bit of sense back there at the office of the director of national intelligence would think that, "gee, a lot of people around the globe are pretty fucking angry at us for all the spying we're doing right now. maybe we shouldn't be spitting in their faces, mocking their concerns, and reminding them that we're blatantly evil people who really don't give two shits about their privacy."
Of course, that would take some actual recognition of what anyone thinks of them, and that doesn't seem to be part of the way that the US intelligence community operates.


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NHMS Communications Manager Living a Dream
Gavin Faretra used to imagine what it would be like to attend NASCAR's annual media tour in North Carolina, but he never got a chance to actually make the trek to stock car racing nirvana during his days covering the sport for the Concord Monitor.
Well, Faretra, who was hired as the communications manager at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in May, is finally making the pilgrimage this week. Is it what he envisioned?
"And more," Faretra said during one of a handful of stops Wednesday on the penultimate day of the 31st annual NASCAR Sprint Media Tour hosted by Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The four-day press junket, centered around the speedway and all the team racing shops nearby, has drawn media members from over 200 affiliations, testing their endurance and appetites.
"Everything seems to revolve around some sort of food," Faretra said.
Worked around breakfast, lunch, dinner and the inevitable late night munchies back at the media hotel in Concord (North Carolina, that is), Faretra said the media has had almost unlimited access to drivers and owners, filling up their notebooks and film with stories.
"Essentially, you get one-on-one conversations with the biggest names in the sport," Faretra said.
Wednesday's itinerary was typical: The media boarded three buses for breakfast at Chip Ganassi Racing Teams and the announcement that Cessna Aircraft will be a major sponsor for the team. Interviews with Ganassi and drivers Jamie McMurray, Dario Franchitti, Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas followed.
The media was herded back in their buses for a trip to Charlotte Motor Speedway for more interviews, then headed over to Hendrick Motorsports for lunch and interviews with team owner Rick Hendrick and drivers Kasey Kahne, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. They went back to the hotel to file stories, take break and get ready for dinner at Penske Racing and, finally, the day ended back at the hotel for an after dinner party hosted by FoxSports that included a late-night buffet.
"It's never ending," Faretra said. "I think the media is getting tired."
And full.


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At Cavalluzzo we provide prompt and clear advice and representation. We work to make complex issues understandable and try to ensure that simple matters stay that way. We always discuss with clients in advance the costs associated with large and small projects. We have an equality based, culturally sensitive perspective.
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Our lawyers represent unions, professionals and professional associations, non-unionized employees, multi-employer pension and benefit plans, and other organizations and individuals seeking justice in the workplace and in other areas of law.
Our firm provides a wide range of practice areas to assist our clients in meeting their increasingly complex legal needs. We ensure that our clients have access to specialized expertise and support in the practice areas listed below. Many of these practice areas overlap, and our lawyers work with each other to fashion integrated and innovative legal strategies for our clients.
January 17, 2019
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Cavalluzzo Wins Reinstatement and Damages for Employee Terminated for Misconduct Caused by Addiction
October 09, 2018
OBA - Assessing Random Drug and Alcohol Policies
February 13, 2018
Summary of Bill 148 - "Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017 Brings Major Changes to Ontario's Labour and Employment Laws"
Friday, March 1, 2019
Phil Abbink Speaks at Labour Arbitration Advocacy: Focus on Evidence Conference
Thursday, December 6, 2018
Robyn White Speaks at Lancaster House Conference: "Effective Harassment Investigations
Our firm has been counsel on a number of the leading employment, pension and benefit class actions that have been brought in Canada. This website provides information on these cases, as well as updates for cases that are still in progress. The information in this website is intended solely for the information of clients, class members and potential clients of the firm, and is otherwise confidential and privileged.
All Class Actions
Latest Update: January 03, 2019
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Cavalluzzo offers a distinctive articling experience. Our focus is on justice in the workplace, which we pursue in a multitude of forums and jurisdictions. We are a union-side labour law firm, with additional expertise in a number of other related areas of the law.
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In recent years there has been a significant increase in the number of investigations by Children's Aid Societies (CAS) across Ontario into allegations of inappropriate conduct by teachers.
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You know what that means?
It means someone has dug a nice big mud hole out back while looking for moles in the yard.
It also means that someone is going to have to get their muddy self off my sofa.
I see a bath in Charlotte's-and MY- future.
What is your day shaping up to be?
Have a great weekend!


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It sounds as appealing as apple pie: ensuring religious freedom.
In reality, a proposed amendment to the Florida Constitution facing the state's voters is a much more complicated, and combustible, combination of religion and politics.
Already, activists across the political spectrum are forming political action committees, holding news conferences and setting up websites as they mobilize for battle between now and November.


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St. Patrick's Day Weekend Events In Buffalo
Get your green on, Buffalo.
St. Patty's Day in the Queen City is not just about parades and pints of Guinness. This weekend, March 14-March 17, there are several Irish-centered events around the town to celebrate in full fashion.
Check out the list of the weekend's events below!
March 14
Annual Civic Luncheon
Buffalo Irish Center
March 14, 11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Civic luncheon with Kindren, Blarney Bunch and the Clann Na Cara dancers. Corned beef and cabbage dinner, beer, wine and pop.
An Evening of Irish Song & Dance
Fredonia Opera House
March 14, 7:30 p.m.
Celebrate St. Patty's Day weekend with Irish pub tunes, folk era favorites and the Clanna Na Cara Irish dancers in what has become a Chautauqua County and Fredonia Opera House tradition.
Celtic Concert with Readon & Garvey
Springville Center for the Arts, Mongerson Theater
March 14, 8 p.m.
A little pre-St. Patrick's Day concert with Reardon & Garvey, who will perform a wide range of music including contemporary Folk & Irish, along with original tunes. The concert will also feature special guest Irish storyteller Tim Daly.
Live at O'Larkin
Larkin Square
March 14, 5 p.m. – 8 p.m.
The food trucks return to Larkin Square for a special "Food Truck Friday" – Irish style! The second annual "Live at O'Larkin" will feature music by McCarthyizm and Crickwater, the Clann Na Cara dancers and Greater Buffalo Firefighters Pipes & Drums.
Live Music: Callahan, Daly & Jones
Buffalo Irish Center
March 14, 8 p.m.
Live Music: Joe Head
Shannon Pub
March 14, 3 p.m. – 6 p.m.
St. Patty's Day Kick-off Party
Magruders Restaurant, Pub & Banquet House
March 14, 4 p.m. – 11 p.m.
Cheap drinks, corned beef, giveaways and live music from Off the Grid and the Joe Shanahan Duo starting at 4 p.m.
Live Music: Dave North Trio
Shannon Pub
March 14, 8:30 p.m.
St. Patrick's Pops Party
Kleinhans Music Hall
March 14, 8 p.m.
Six-time Grammy Award winners and Irelands best-known band The Chieftains join the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra to kick off Buffalo's St. Patrick's Day festivities. Expand this exciting evening with an exclusive pre-concert party to benefit the BPO. Party begins at 5 p.m. Tickets for the Complete Pops Party Package (includes beer & wine happy hour, dinner and concert tickets) for $150 ($100 if you already have the tickets). Free, open to the public, post-concert celebration in the Mary Seaton Room with special guests The LeftOvers, an Irish folk and rebel band.
March 15
Murphy's Wake
White Star Inn & Banquet Hall
March 15, 7 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.
Dinner theatre presented by Actors Anonymous Theatre Company & the White Star Inn. An audience participation comedy, complete with traditional Irish music, jokes, jigs, stories and sing-alongs! Full Irish dinner included.
ShamRock the Village
Village of Lancaster (Broadway & Central Aves)
March 15, 4 p.m. – 11 p.m.
Join the Village of Lancaster for a St. Patrick's Day Parade at 4 p.m. and after parade party at the Moose Lodge with food, drink and fun for the whole family. Award-winning band "Back To The Bars" on stage 5 p.m. – 9 p.m. and the Marshall Dillon Band on stage after 9 p.m.
St. Patrick's Day Party
The Topper
March 15, 4 p.m. – 12 a.m.
Corn beef and cabbage. Music by REFLECTOR.
St. Pat's Celebrations
Buffalo Irish Center
March 15, 11 a.m. – March 16, 12 a.m.
Pub: Kevin McCarthy (3 p.m.) and St. Mary's Road (7 p.m.). Emerald Room: Penny Whiskey (6:45 p.m), Clann na Cara (7:15 p.m.), Rince na Tiarna (9 p.m.). Advance sale tickets ($7) are available in pub or Tara Gift Shoppe, door admission $10.
Saint Patrick's Day Celebration
The Broadway Market
March 16, 11:30 p.m.
Celebrate St. Patty's Day at the Broadway Market with the Rince na Tiarna Irish Dancers (11:30 a.m.) and The Blarney Bunch performing popular Irish songs (12 p.m. – 3 p.m).
Live Music: Dave North Trio
Shannon Pub
March 15, 7:30 p.m.
Live Music: Off the Grid
Angry Buffalo at the Rose Garden
March 15, 8 p.m. – 11 p.m.
Celtic Seisiuns
March 15, 4:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Enjoy zesty Irish tunes and cheap imperial pints of Guinness.
March 16
St. Patrick's Parade Celebrations
Buffalo Irish Center
March 16, 1 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Pub: McCarthyizm (3 p.m.) at the pub. Emerald Room: LeftOvers (3:30 p.m.), Rince na Tiarna (5:15 p.m.), Clann na Cara (7:15 p.m.). Advance sale tickets ($7) are available in the pub or Tara Gift Shoppe, door admission $10.
St. Patrick's Day Celebration & Fundraiser
Trillum Lodge
March 16, 4 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Fundraiser for the Cherry Creek Volunteer Fire Department. Corned beef and cabbage plus other irish fare, green beer, drink specials, Chinese auctions and music by Doc & Bill.
Live Music: Joe Head
Shannon Pub
March 16, 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Live Music: Dave North Trio
Shannon Pub
March 16, 4 p.m.
Live Music: Toast
Dwyer's Irish Pub
March 16, 5 p.m.
Jack FM + Great Lakes Brewing Company's Conway's Irish Ale Crawl
Starts at Fat Bob's, then goes to DBGBs, Hardware and Frizzy's
March 17, 12 p.m. (until whenever we finish)
March 17
St. Patrick's Mass + St. Pat Celebrations
Buffalo Irish Center
March 17, mass starts at 10:45 a.m., celebrations following
Mass in Claddagh Room at 10:45 a.m. followed by a traditional Irish breakfast in the Emerald Room. $20 advance ticket only (available in the pub or Tara Gift Shoppe). Later, Penny Whiskey (1 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.) and Kevin McCarthy (5 p.m.) in the pub. Poor Ould Goat (3 p.m.) and Rince na Tiarna (6:30 p.m.) in the Emerald Room. Pre-sale admission for $7 available in the Pub or Tara Gift Shoppe. Door $10.
Live Music: St. Patrick's Day with Joe Head
Shannon Pub
March 17, 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Live Music: Off the Grid
Raintree Bar & Grill
March 17, 6 p.m.
Live Music: Dave North
Shannon Pub
March 17, 6 p.m.
Quiz Night
Shannon Pub
March 17, 8 p.m.
DJ and Team Trivia
Shennanigan's Bar & Grill
March 17, 7 p.m.
DJ and team trivia where the top three teams will receive bar tabs.
Step in Time Irish Folk Music
Wine on Third
March 17, 8 p.m.
Multiple Days
Finnegan's Farewell
Ripa's Restaurant
March 13 – 16, Thursday/Friday/Saturday 7 p.m., Sunday 2:30 p.m.
An interactive comedy by Kevin Alexander produced by Lancaster Opera House and the Lancaster Regional Players. Eat, drink and be merry with traditional Irish drinking songs, dinner, beverages and lots of lively step-dancing.
Stones in His Pockets
Irish Classical Theatre Company at Andrews Theatre
March 13 – March 23
How about a play for Saint Paddy's Day? "Stones in His Pockets," a comedy about two young men in a small village in the South of Ireland playing tiny roles in a major feature film, will be performed live at The Andrews Theatre by the Irish Classical Theatre Company.
Take a peek at the map below and see where everything is located!
View St. Patrick's Day Weekend Events in Buffalo in a larger map
Contributed by Ashley Steves


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Safety first when wading for specks
Should you have been doing any boating in our inland waterways, you will notice what appear to be new buoys along the shallows. That's more than likely not the case. Now is the time when trophy speckled trout chasers are out in full force. Most of the more experienced anglers who plan to be wading will wear easily visible warm gear on their upper bodies. This is to make them more visual to any other boaters that are also going fishing. This practice should be at the forefront for all anglers who are into the wading thing when they are after the big females specks.
Another important thing to use while wading in the cooler waters is a good pair of insulated chest waders. As a precaution, be careful not to wade too deep so that the water comes over the top of the waders. One thing is not to go too deep, but just how you do that is to use your feet to shuffle along so as to feel any sudden drop-offs. These could not only cause discomfort, but also be fatal. A good example of that would be wading the shorelines of ship channels or rivers. The water can go from a couple feet deep down to several feet over your head in a single slip.
A good rule of thumb that has worked for me is not to take along too much fishing tackle. This can be cumbersome, and tackle can also simply get in the way. The float tubes with a place for a few lures and an extra rod and reel is a good idea. It would be a disaster to have a malfunction of some equipment and be a long way from the boat that brought you there.
The lures for the colder water are, in my opinion, quite simple. Any lure in a mullet or shad color and shape that sinks slowly will be the go-to choice. It is important to be doubly sure that the lure is armed with sharp, strong hooks. You might not get but one or two strikes from a big fish, and it would be a shame to miss landing it because of dull hooks. There are a number of lures on the market today that are made especially for going after the big speckled trout during the cold-water months. The most widely recognized one is the Corky. This lure has been used for taking many double-digit fish. The Catch 2000 as well as several others are becoming more popular.
I have had some good success using a big Rogue with a hole drilled between the lip and the front hook. The Holey Rogue became popular when bass guide on Toledo Bend Ken Sawyer began using it for catching schooling bass. The plastic lures such as Bass Assassins and other lures do a good job, too.
Whether to use a monofilament leader or not is strictly the angler's choice. With the new materials that become nearly invisible in the water, more folks are using leaders that are stronger test than the main lure. Even the main line size has long been and still is debatable. Some folks use 8 to 10 pound test mono with the reel's set loose. Then it may be set according to the breaking strength of the main line. The theory is to allow the fish to feel little or no resistance when it strikes. By the way, the cold-water strike will likely be only a sudden heavy feeling during your retrieve. A slow metabolism causes slower feeding action.
Some anglers choose to use heavier test line when they are going after heavy fish. The newer fluorocarbon lines allow heavier test lines to be fairly invisible. Heavier test line will not cast as far or as well as lighter test line. That needs to be considered when selecting the line test.
There are more and more trophy speck anglers now choosing to use live croakers for bait. These fish live well in the cool water, and they are a favorite food fish for outsized speckled trout. The specks will eat big croaker, mullet or shad, but those in the 8 to 10 inch length are easier to handle, and the big fish like them, too.
Many folks choose to do their thing in a boat. The boaters will drift along using the electric trolling motor occasionally to stay in the area. Just remember to be as silent as possible and don't bump the boat. The fish didn't grow large being stupid.
It's big speck time now, but first of all, stay safe.
Billy Halfin can be reached by e-mail at bhalfinoutdoors [at] aol [dot] com.


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Routier Improves Time at New Balance Invitational
Feb 6, 2007
New Balance Collegiate Invitational
@ 168 St. Armory
Manhattan, N.Y.
Manhattan, N.Y. - The men's and women's indoor track team traveled to the 168 St. Armory in Manhattan, N.Y on Saturday, February 3rd. Reggie Routier (Freeport, N.Y./Freeport) set a new personal best in the Triple Jump with a 14.08-meter (46' 2 1/2") jump to place 10th in the collegiate men's triple jump. This increases his NCAA Division III and ECAC qualifying standards.
In the same event freshman Kurt Johns-Harris (Stonybrook, N.Y./Ward Melville) jumped 13.43-meters (44' 3/4") to place 18th.


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Regulators Crack Down on Classifying Workers as Contractors
A crackdown on businesses that treat some workers as independent contractors is causing a stir in industries from trucking to exotic dancing.
At issue is whether the companies improperly classify employees to avoid paying overtime and payroll taxes.
In recent months, regulators have demanded millions of dollars from companies that hired independent...


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Follow RFF News on your cell phone. Text follow rff to 40404 you will receive txt messages with RFF News
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So who do we think goes to exile? i am thinkign either yao or Earl sicne they ahve already gone. BUT if the pillow fight is reward then with Rocky's mouthign off he might get sent.
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Moderators: Three Stars, dagny, pfim, netwolf
Cr@zy871 wrote:I am right there with you Bio... My GF is convinced that I have a problem. I feel like I am scouring over every sports site, rumor mill, social media platform, every 15 min to see if there is any new info... Maybe I do have a problem....
Nah! LET'S GO PENS!
Daniel87 wrote:Yeah, most of us have problems. In April we complain about the defense. Then in June we care more about getting a winger for Crosby. It's because the playoffs are 9+ months away and we want to see 1200 goals scored during the regular season.
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From Openmoko
Porting dfu-util to Windows
Note: This is entirely work in progress and has not yet been successfully finished. Nevertheless hopefully the information on this page will serve as a starting point for anyone who find the time to take this further. After all, as many people still use Windows PCs as their every day computers, having a convenient way to re-flash a Neo from Windows would probably open up the user base.
Potential Approaches
- Cygwin
- Not very attactive as Cygwin binaries require Cygwin in order to run. You will not get a simple, native dfu-util.exe which can be downloaded and used on any Windows machine that way.
- MinGW/MSYS
- MinGW (Minimalist GNU for Windows) seems to be the platform of choice.
- LibUSB-Win32
- Will only be able to be built on a Windows box
MinGW/MSYS port: What has been done so far
The preferred order of installation is:
- Install MinGW (the core installation should be sufficient)
- Install MSYS (Note: make comes with MSYS while GCC comes with MinGW)
Here is step-by-step howto:
- Download http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=2435&package_id=240780&release_id=529741 and execute the installer.
- Note: It has often been a good idea to install into a directory that has no spaces in the filename.
- Download MSYS-1.0.10.exe from http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=2435&package_id=24963 and install. You will need to enter the path where you installed MinGW. It's a good idea to install MinGW and MSYS next to each other, i.e. C:\SOMEDIR\MinGW and C:\SOMEDIR\MSYS.
- Note: Make sure to open the "Current Version: 1.0.10" folder as the newer version 1.0.11 does not have an installer yet. (See: http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/message.php?msg_id=fhvul1%24f6j%241%40ger.gmane.org)
- Download http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/mingw/msysDTK-1.0.1.exe?download, which contains the autotools. Install into the same directory into which you installed MSYS itself. The installer might not automatically suggest the right directory.
- Note: If anyone can spot this file from http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=2435, please edit this page. I was only able to find this direct link by using a search engine.
That should give you an Icon in your Start menu in MinGW->MSYS with the name of msys. Open that one, and you will find yourself in a bourne compatible shell on your native Windows system.
You can try to execute some commends such as gcc, make, etc. to make sure you installed everything correctly.
Getting dfu-util sources
Your home directory in msys lives in the location where you installed MSYS in %MSYS_HOME%\home\%USERNAME. Check out the dfu-util sources there or copy them into that directory in case you checked them out somehwere else on your Windows filesystem.
Where we're stuck
configure.ac:4: error: Autoconf version 2.59 or higher is required configure.ac:4: the top level autom4te: /bin/m4 failed with exit status: 1 configure.ac: `AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE' must be used automake: your implementation of AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE comes from an automake: old Automake version. You should recreate aclocal.m4 automake: with aclocal and run automake again. configure.ac: required file `./install-sh' not found configure.ac: required file `./mkinstalldirs' not found configure.ac: required file `./missing' not found automake: no `Makefile.am' found or specified
You can download autoconf 2.59 from http://prdownloads.sf.net/mingw/msys-autoconf-2.59.tar.bz2?download. All you need to do to install it is to use a utility like 7-Zip to extract the files into your msys\1.0 directory.
Once you get that going, you can do a
Then it will choke on PKG_CHECK_MODULES because pkg-config is not installed. To install pkg-config, check out http://www.mingw.org/MinGWiki/index.php/pkg-config
It says that you need the following package:
glib glib-dev libiconv gettext pkg-config
You can get all of these from the GTK+ for Windows page at: http://www.gtk.org/download-windows.html
Depending on how you installed MSys, you may have to copy the pkg.m4 file from the MinGW/share/aclocal directory into the MSys\1.0\share\aclocal directory.
Then you will need to create a libusb.pc file in the MinGW\lib\pkgconfig directory. I created the following:
prefix=c:/MinGW exec_prefix=${prefix} libdir=${exec_prefix}/lib includedir=${prefix}/include Name: LibUSB Description: USB for Win32 Requires: Version: 0.1.12.1 Libs: -L${libdir} -lusb Cflags:
Then, copy the libusb.a file from the LibUSB-Win32\lib\gcc directory into the MinGW\lib directory and the usb.h file from LibUSB-Win32\include into MinGW\include (or you can copy it into your dfu-util\src directory.
Now try this again:
It should be successful. Then you can try building:
And you will get this:
main.c:29:22: byteswap.h: No such file or directory main.c:30:20: endian.h: No such file or directory
Unfortunately, both these files are missing in Gnulib for mingw as described here: http://www.gnu.org/software/gnulib/manual/html_node/byteswap_002eh.html#byteswap_002eh and here: http://www.gnu.org/software/gnulib/manual/html_node/endian_002eh.html#endian_002eh
But, the default endianness assumed appears to be little endian, so you can comment out the #include's for those two files and just use the defaults.
Once you get passed that, it will complain about the types u_int8_t, u_int16_t, and u_int32_t. They might be defined somewhere, but it was easier to
#define u_int8_t uint8_t #define u_int16_t uint16_t #define u_int32_t uint32_t
to get passed that.
Then it will complain about undefined references to sleep and usleep. These were taken out of MinGW so you will have to define the following macros:
#define sleep(seconds) Sleep((seconds)*1000) #define usleep(microseconds) Sleep((microseconds)/1000)
Then you should be able to successfully compile.
After this, a Windows driver needs to be installed when the device is in U-Boot and connected through the USB. Windows does not come with a DFU class driver and Jungo seems to be the only one that has created a DFU class driver, but it is non-free. You can use LibUSB-Win32 as the driver for the device by creating an INF file for it for this device. Use in-wizard.exe that is part of the LibUSB-Win32 binaries distribution. Run the wizard, select the following device:
Vendor ID Product ID Description 0x1D50 0x5119 USB Device
Insert the Manufacturer name: OpenMoko, or FIC? Insert device description: Device Firmware Upgrade
Then save the INF file along with the auto generated CAT files.
When you get the New Device Wizard when plugging in the device in U-Boot mode into Windows, select this newly generated INF file.
Once you get to that stage and run
dfu-util --list
and you should be able to list the device. Example:
Found Runtime: [0x1d50:0x5119] devnum=7, cfg=0, intf=2, alt=0, name="USB Device Firmware Upgrade"
Where to go from here
When trying to upload or download files, the following error is encountered:
Opening USB Device 0x0000:0x0000... Claiming USB DFU Runtime Interface... Cannot claim interface: usb_claim_interface: could not claim interface 2, invalid configuration 0
Hopefully someone can pick this up and figure it out from here!


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Zac Efron Congratulates Nicole Kidman on Her Golden Globe Nomination!
Zac Efron films scenes on the set of Are We Officially Dating with his co-star Miles Teller on Saturday (December 15) in New York City.
The 25-year-old actor was seen sporting a cool pair of shades while taking pictures with a fan.
PHOTOS: Check out the latest pics of Zac Efron
On the same day, Zac tweeted, "Congrats to Nicole [Kidman] on much deserved @GoldenGlobes and @SAGawards nominations!!! It was an amazing experience working together."
In case you missed it, have a look at Zac having fun while on vacation in the Philippines.


text:
South-Eastern Europe could throw up some surprises to the downside, Peter Attard-Montalto, emerging market economist at Nomura, told CNBC.
Not enough consideration has been given to how much growth will be dragged down by euro zone bank deleveraging, he said, especially in countries such as Serbia and Romania.
Forecasting the next policy step from the Turkish Central bank was a particular challenge for economists like himself, Attard-Montalto said, comparing trying to predict its next move to playing online fantasy game World of Warcraft.
'"The central bank there is playing an exceedingly complicated policy, and the Turkish economist at Nomura says its like playing Warcraft every morning, with the central bank governor, trying to work out what he's going to do," he said.
Markets may be skeptical about Turkey, which has seen exceptional growth over the last ten years but has looked vulnerable in recent months, but Attard-Montalto is moderately positive on economic growth in the country.
Poland will also probably beat market expectations in terms of growth, although Attard- Montalto expects two interest rate hikes this year, one in June and July.
''They're [ratcheting] up their rhetoric and talking about a hike in the 'nearest future,' as they put it yesterday," he said. "The trouble is the market didn't see this at all."
The Polish cental bank's monetary policy committee has become more confident in its outlook for growth. Inflation should remain around 4 percent over the target of 3.5 percent, to the end of the year, Attard-Montalto said.
Meanwhile with snowballing debts, the Hungarian government is trying to stimulate its economy, but Attard-Motalto said the 18 percent minimum wage rise will raise prices via inflation and end up hurting the consumer.


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Justin Bieber sparked chaos at a mall in Omaha, Nebraska on Saturday after leading fans to believe he was making a surprise appearance at the shopping center in a series of posts on Twitter.
The pop superstar, who was in the city ahead of his concert at the CenturyLink Center that night, sent his online followers into a frenzy after appearing to suggest that he was making a return to the local Westroads Mall, where he had previously shot a viral video which ended up being included in his "Never Say Never" concert movie.
On Saturday afternoon, he tweeted: "been a great little break but now gotta get back to tour. where are we going??? OMAHA MALL!!!"
Bieber then shared a link to the "Never Say Never" clip, in which he is featured leading the crowds in a chant of "Omaha Mall" before breaking into an impromptu performance.
His messages prompted hordes of devotees to flock to the venue in anticipation of their pop idol's arrival – but the "Baby" hitmaker failed to show.
Police were called to the scene to respond to reports of minor crowd disturbances but no arrests were made and the large group soon dispersed.


text:
I plan on updating the blog a bit more often now that I'll actually have cool things to share! Nothing worse than reading a blog about nothing. I'll finally share more from my wife, mother, and teacher side, rather than focusing solely on creativity.
Thank you so much for joining my family on this ride. I pray you are enlightened, encouraged, and empowered by what I share.
Today, the kids and I took it easy (a little laundry, a little water table time, a little reading...). It was day 1 and, of course, I wasn't quite ready. I had every intention on starting today and I was not about to stall so, we did do a little school work related to what we were already learning about last week. (I know myself, if I didn't start today, I would've started in September)
A few weeks ago, I heard my 4 year old, Joa, correctly name all the money coins to a friend of ours who gave him an impromptu quiz at the ice cream shop. I was floored because I had no idea he knew money. So I did what I always do, I started setting up opportunities for him to play with money. By allowing him to engage on his own, I draw interest and curiosity without forcing a topic on him.
Last night while cleaning the counter clutter, I ran into an empty crate of Ferrero Rocher chocolates from my mom's 60th birthday party last weekend. An idea for a game popped into my head. I decided to write different cent amounts inside each opening of the crate and create a matching/sorting game.
After breakfast, Joa went to play with his money and I just laid the crate next to him. He was curious and so I explained the game to him. He could name all the coins but, I noticed that he struggled a bit with the amounts, so I made a cheat sheet for him.
Not to be left out, baby sister got an ice cube tray which she had to fill up with matching coins. She may not know which one is which, but she was exposed to the coin names. It was also a great way to practice the concept of same and different. Toward the end of our time she was actually naming the penny correctly every time.
So there you have it. 1 down. Many more to go. I must say my favorite part is watching them engage in learning while wearing pajamas and underwear!
Hopefully, I will insert some rhyme and reason into daily schedule soon. For now, I think we're all thriving on our free spirited nature.
Thanks for reading!


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I have made a suggestion about this before, but I think I'll revamp it to say that a post should not be displayed on the main page if its been there for more than a certain amount of time lets say a week, or it recieves more than 40 replies this time.
Id like to see the main page change now and then, but the same stuff stays up there for weeks at a time, for instance the rpc/dcom exploit is 3 weeks old at the moment. Hopefully you see what im getting at.


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|2009-06-15, 00:16
|Link #1
Cross Game - I need more
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: I've moved around the American West. I've lived in Oregon, Washington, Utah, and Oklahoma
Age: 39
Current Events in Iran
Is anybody else here following the aftermath of the election in Iran?
It reminds me a lot of those heady days in the late 80's when all the challenges to the various Communist governments was occurring.
I hope it turns out like it did in Germany and Russia, but I can't help but fear it will be another Tienanmen Square outcome. People forget, but that started off quite hopeful too.
|2009-06-15, 02:05
|Link #2
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 61
A bunch of people are trying to follow it .... but with very little help from the US media :P
Nothing happens on the weekend according to commercial tv news... its all a recap of the previous week. Meanwhile, I'm having to get most of my data from world news sources....
Much will depend on how forceful the moderate clerics are in asserting that the election was not handled properly. Otherwise, the 'ruling fat cats' will come down hard on the middle class and urbanites (with sour long term consequences for the country). They're already arresting almost anyone who could coordinate anything.
Interestingly, I saw some photos of protesters *rescuing* a riot policeman who'd gotten hurt -- seems like they know exactly who to be mad at and who they realize is just part of the chess game.
|2009-06-15, 02:10
|Link #3
cho~ kakkoii
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: 3rd Planet
BBC is doing equally piss poor job at covering. There is this another TV station that I've got which is doing pretty decent job, but unfortunately I can't remember the name of the channel. I'll get back to this thread.
|2009-06-15, 02:14
|Link #4
Takao Tsundere Cruiser
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Classified
I still think the election was a sham especially when it was reveal the opposition leader's hometown voted for the President and to add more fuel to the fire, the President dismiss the allegation of vote rigging like it was nothing only added more fuel to the fire.
Things are going to be bad for Iran unless they do a recount or another election.
|2009-06-15, 04:14
|Link #5
Join Date: Nov 2007
Age: 30
The Guardians probably have something to do with this. Maybe it is due to Hossieni being seen as pro-western rather than moderate in their narrow point of view. If they had twice as much brain cells as their strands of beard, they would be able to see past that US is not as isolationist and paranoid as it was in the past.
P.S Forgive me if my future posts sound slightly "racist and anti-religion" in nature, but my stance towards the politics of Iran are pretty middle-fingerish.
|2009-06-15, 08:14
|Link #6
Cross Game - I need more
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: I've moved around the American West. I've lived in Oregon, Washington, Utah, and Oklahoma
Age: 39
I think it looks like the Republican Guard is backing Ahmadinejad, so it depends on two things. Will the "moderate" clerics oppose him, and will the regular army back the clerics up.
Either way... Iran politics have been changed, whether for good or ill is yet to be seen.
Also, what's with the weird reports of Arabs and even Venezuelans appearing in Tehran as riot police? Just a random false rumor? Or is truth stranger than fiction?
|2009-06-15, 11:59
|Link #8
Feeling comfy
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Singapore
Age: 44
Iran poll loser leads huge rally
1) The protests may potentially become a challenge not just of an election result, not just to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, himself. That means it is, in effect, a challenge to the whole basis of the Islamic Republic, a prospect which some in the West would no doubt welcome, albeit secretly.
2) The public anger, and strong suspicion that the results were rigged in Mr Ahmadinejad's favour, is in itself a good indication of where ordinary Iranians stand with respect to the President's anti-Western rhetoric they don't like it.
3) It should have been a widely celebrated election, one that was conducted openly with minimal interference or intimidation. Sadly, all that ugliness is now beginning to show its hand. So far, the Ayatollah is honouring the election results and calls on the opposition to use legal means to challenge the vote in itself a telling sign of how Islam works in this complicated country: a problematic mix between secular modernity and religious tradition.
4) Unrest in Iran presents a difficult moment for the rest of the world as well. "The election choice was basically between the openly anti-Western Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Mr Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who made it clear he wanted to end Iran's isolation and talk to the Americans, (but) it would certainly not have been an easy relationship, even if Mr Mousavi had become president."
5) "(And) it certainly is not in the outside world's interest to have a long period of disorder in Iran. Political chaos in a leading oil-producing country would do more economic damage to Western countries."
6) Last but not least, what impact could the outcome have on Middle Eastern peace? Think Israel, which regards Iran as one its greatest enemies at the moment.
|2009-06-15, 12:07
|Link #9
Kuu-chan is hungry
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Raleigh, NC
I'm interested to know how Iran explains how they counted 35-40 million paper ballots in a couple of hours. If it was done legitimately, which I find doubtful, they should give the USA some tips on counting.
On the bright side, at least Khameni has called for an investigation. I don't think it'll lead to much though.
|2009-06-15, 12:14
|Link #10
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
Michael Totten's blog is covering the situation in Iran pretty well:
Iran on Fire:
Insurrection: Day 2:
An Enemy of the World:
The updates have been coming in daily since the crisis started.
|2009-06-15, 17:41
|Link #11
Asuki-tan Kairin ↓
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Fürth (GER)
Age: 38
Ayatollah Chomeini once led a peacefull revolution. At that time the shah of persia repressed the people.
The iranian people did not resort to violence then. The military of the shah shot demonstrators but saw the decisiveness of millions of demonstrantors and gave up.
(A prime example of how a people can get rid of a dictator without civil war or preemptive wars of liberation led by third party countries with shady motives)
Ayatollah Khamenei should know all too well how determined the irianian people can be when they want to get rid of a leader.
Even if the election was not rigged up, the leadership might be better of with fair new elections and getting out of this mess peacefully.
I think the determination of the iranian people in this matter will be the most significant factor in the aftermath of this election.
Last edited by Jinto; 2009-06-15 at 18:07.
|2009-06-15, 18:10
|Link #12
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
|2009-06-15, 18:12
|Link #13
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: PMB Headquarters
Tehran blocks broadcasts from BBC
Looks like the Iranian government is ready to commit a mass killing again, this time they will seal everything and make sure nobody interferes with the "justice" of their government. Honestly, every time a government-body goes on a mass murdering spree, they claim it as justice. Pretty lame..
Considering that Iran is now blockading foreign press groups from entering their nation as seekers of the truth as to why civilians are getting gunned down by their government over a simple refusal of acknowledging the unreasonable landslide victory by the incumbent leader who is proven to be extra unpopular within their public for reasons such as attempting to provoke war, making nukes for the purpose of destruction, and not wanting to have peace with other nations. Due to various reasons such as these, the Iranians have become stressed as that they may end up as victims of foreign nation gunfire and air raids as that Iran may launch an attack at another nation provoking a necessary counter-attack. More over, the livelihoods of ordinary Iranians are at stake, they must protest to hope for the best...
Tragically, before they succeed to seek fairness to their recent election; their current ruling government took their lives as the civilians whose livelihoods are at risk clashes with the people who supports the current incumbent leader. Hopefully, the ones open-firing at these poor civilians will start to feel that their actions are not the form of justice but that of crime, the crime of mass murdering innocent civilians over a simple election. Perhaps, the United Nations should step in and prevent this outrageous event from occurring. How pitiful..
|2009-06-15, 18:40
|Link #14
Asuki-tan Kairin ↓
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Fürth (GER)
Age: 38
@Shadow Kira01,
could it be that you are exagerating things a little bit? I did not hear of people being gunned down yet (only of warning shoots) - been reading different news sources BBC,AFP,AP,Reuters. A couple of german reporters was positive that they would be allowed to report as usual as of tomorrow. I am not sure if there is a general deniance of press.
|2009-06-15, 18:44
|Link #15
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Vereinigte Staaten
Age: 26
There's definitely a lot of really bad stuff going down over there, and there is a fair chance (probably?) the election was rigged, but what I don't understand is why the Iranian government (or whoever rigged the elections) are still keeping that Ahmadinejad guy around. I mean, he's just an embarrassment.
|2009-06-15, 22:35
|Link #16
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 61
Looks like the Ayatollah blinked.... his wing of moderate clerics were speaking out that the election looked "irregular". Problem is, unless he appoints an independent panel --- there's no credibility to having the goons who counted it the first time check their results.
And yes, some protesters have been shot... but it *APPEARS* that it may not have been riot police doing the shooting but a hard-line religious militia compound that the protesters got too close to.
Still too chaotic to be sure either way but there have been a few people injured by gunfire.
Last edited by Vexx; 2009-06-15 at 22:45.
|2009-06-16, 00:09
|Link #17
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: PMB Headquarters
|2009-06-16, 05:25
|Link #18
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: at GNR, bringing you the truth, no matter how bad it hurts
Age: 34
the latest report puts the death toll at over a dozon as of this post
and the protesters at one million at their highest
its ironic really, since one of the key issues that LED to the fall of the LAST regime in iran was the involvment of fake votes in elections
if the corrent regime has repeated that mistake, then they must REALLY be desperete
the elections in lebanon last week that the hizballa lost was an indication of the loss of public support for the path that iran is trying to lead
ahmadinijad losing the election only farther cements that notion
so they might have intervened to keep their policies alive
since the matter was raised, i should point out that the isreali view point is that ahmadinijad winning is (believe it or not) the BETTER option
iran isnt really a democracy after all, the elected president is more of a international "face" then an active power in effecting national policy
the ayatolla's do that from behind the presidency, and without asking what the people want
so having the face of someone like ahmadinijad, who is an agressive, anti-western, holocust denier at the for front of such a regime is better (from an israeli view point) then having a resonable man like Mousavi
neither one is the REAL head of the state, but the elected man is the FACE of the state to the outside world
the regime is a dangerus hostile fandamentalistic regime ANYWAY
at least with ahmadinijad in front, its LOOKS match its ESSENCE
Last edited by bladeofdarkness; 2009-06-16 at 05:46.
|2009-06-16, 06:02
|Link #19
Asuki-tan Kairin ↓
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Fürth (GER)
Age: 38
Its not like Israel was much less radical then Iran. If one only thinks about the settling politics and the actual settlers (who would turn very violently against their own country when forced to give up their settlements).
Honestly one cannot be very sympathetic with either side these days. There are fundamentalists on both sides. The only thing one can hope for is that things turn out without another war in this region. But when I hear israel's elites talk these days I always get the impression they actually want a major show down asap.
|2009-06-16, 06:33
|Link #20
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: at GNR, bringing you the truth, no matter how bad it hurts
Age: 34
its easier to say "iran is a threat to the whole world" when you have a mad man like Ahmadinedjad at the helm
i doubt there would be an israeli preemptive strike
the over all goal seems to be making the international community get off its ass and deal with iran and its nuke production project
not that i think it would work mind you
i'm with you on the settlements and settleres
bunch of radical idiots who corrupted the very essence of what zionisem was SUPPOSE to be and are responsible for why its uttered almost as an insult nowadays
but i disagree on one point
true that both sides have fundamentalists
in iran however, the fundamentalists are the ones in power
the settlers are not in power, and are in fact LOSING more and more of what ever influance they have every day
most of the israeli public agrees to the notion of clearing out settlements, using FORCE if neccesery
hell, even the corrent israeli PM just declared that there WILL eventually be a palestinian state (which is something that his own PARTY has always been opposed to)
guess we got obama to thank for that
Last edited by bladeofdarkness; 2009-06-16 at 06:53.
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text:
Executive Overview
This is meant to be a simplified overview of the various pieces that together compose MythTV. It is hoped that after studying this, users new to MythTV will better understand how it works and be able to make more intelligent planning decisions about their own installations. It would actually be a good idea to read this document carefully, and then read the installation documentation in it's entirety before you actually begin any work at all.
MythTV is basically a big multimedia jukebox primarily meant to record television programming to be watched later ("time-shifted") when it's more convenient to the viewer. There are plugins to handle video files that have been manually added to the system (MythVideo) and plugins to play music that has been manually added to the system (MythMusic).
- 1 Operational Breakdown
- 2 Various Technical Explanations
Operational Breakdown
...or "My God, it's full of pieces!"
Software pieces
...also known as "the free parts".
There are three main pieces to the software end of MythTV, but only two of them are actually the MythTV distribution. These can all run on a single machine (provided you have the 1.2Ghz or so of CPU power) or on separate machines, depending on what you'd like to do. It's important to understand what role each of these pieces plays in order to be able to make correct decisions about what pieces to run on your hardware.
Database Server
MythTV keeps track of programming schedules, configuration information, upcoming recording events (i.e., what you wanted it to record) and the inventory of (both recorded and imported) media MythTV has in a relational database. The database is probably the most important component of MythTV because without it, absolutely none of MythTV can function.
Work is progressing on porting things to work with Postgres, but at the moment MySQL is the only supported (and reasonably safe) relational database that works. MySQL 4.1.x is probably "best", but with MythTV 0.20 it became reasonably safe to use MySQL 5.0.x. Don't get crazy and try using beta or development versions of MySQL (like 5.1.x) or Postgres unless you're a very experienced programmer and fully intend to take on debugging and patching things to work without any outside help. (This is directed at you, Gentoo users.)
The database server is going to need some disk space to store the actual database information. The amount of disk space it needs varies depending on a number of factors (whether or not you have a massive music collection, or whether you only have four or five broadcast channels to worry about) but ranges between 256Mb of disk space (comfortable minimum) and 1Gb of disk space (not many people will ever get beyond this). Also, if there's any part of your setup that you'll want to arrange regular backups for, it's the database files. Without them, MythTV will no longer have any idea of what things it has recorded, and there's no easy way to put things back into the database once those records have been lost. (Good thing it will usually all fit on a single rewriteable CD!)
Unlike the other components of MythTV, there may be only one database server involved. If you want to (for whatever reason, probably masochism) spread the database out to multiple machines using some kind of clustering or replication scheme, go right ahead, it's your equipment--just understand that MythTV only needs one database server and doesn't really have a use for any others.
Backend Server
The backend server is the drab little workhorse part of MythTV that takes care of managing tuner cards, recording actual programs, and starting up jobs like transcoding, commercial flagging, deleting expired programs, and downloading updated TV schedules. The backend is where the bulk of your CPU power will be going. Since it can run multiple jobs simultaneously, it's helpful for the backend to be a dual-core or multiprocessor machine.
The backend needs to be able to communicate with the database to find out when it's supposed to record programming, as well as keeping track of what's already been recorded so that it won't record the same thing twice (unless you wanted it to do that).
The backend is typically where you're going to want to have the bulk of your drive space allocated for storage. The average compressed video that MythTV initially records is going to take up about 1.1Gb per hour, so it's not considered excessive to go out and buy a nice 250Gb drive for this purpose. On the other hand, even the first TiVos only had about 40 hours of storage capacity on them, so you might be quite comfortable with as little as 40Gb of space.
You may set up multiple backend machines, and MythTV will handle distributing recording, transcoding and commercial flagging jobs among them just fine. You may however only have one master backend that tells the others what to do.
Frontend Server
The frontend is basically the graphical interface that shows you the menus and displays the videos on your screen, so obviously it needs X to be on the same machine. Since it is the interface, this is also likely the best place to install any IR recievers or transcievers you have so that you can use a remote control with MythTV. Because of the way the plugins work, it's also probably the logical place to install an optical drive if you intend to watch DVDs or VCDs with MythTV. What it doesn't need is any particularly large amount of storage space since it doesn't really write much except the cached theme files.
Mythfrontend gets it's configuration information (including where the backends are) from the database so it must be able to talk to the database. It gets information about which tuners are available, as well as any video data it's going to show you, from the backend server so it needs to be able to talk to that as well.
You may have as many frontends as you wish, but understand that the number of them that you can watch live television with will be limited to the number of active tuners you have. If you want to have a frontend in your study, and another frontend in your living room, if you intend to be able to watch a different live program on each, your backend(s) will need at least two tuners installed.
Hardware pieces
...also known as "where has all my money gone?"
CPUs and RAM
CPU power is very essential for a number of the tasks MythTV performs. While the frontend doesn't really use much more power than is necessary to play a video in full-screen mode and the database really doesn't work all that hard at all, the backend can use literally as much power as you can possibly throw at it. If you plan on doing framegrabbing (see below as to why you should avoid this if you can) you're going to need lots of CPU power, preferably about 1.2ghz per tuner. Commercial flagging is fairly CPU-intensive, but transcoding really takes the cake since technically it's doing as much work as playing a video plus the work it takes to compress that video all over again.
The frontend and database server don't particularly benefit from a dual-core or multiprocessor system, but the backend can potentially be running many tasks at the same time, and dual-core setups can be very useful for this. What you can't do is split one job between multiple backend machines, but aside from that, more CPU == good, with the absolute lowest acceptable minimum being about 600Mhz for machines with only one (non-framegrabbing) tuner and a frontend playing back SD content only (HD content would be pushing your luck) and job prioritizing very carefully arranged. Unless you're a Linux guru, stick with the former 1.2Ghz per tuner specification.
MythTV by itself doesn't need a huge amount of RAM, although there are some factors to keep in mind. Most people's setups with everything running on one machine and a single tuner card should be able to get by with a mere 256Mb of RAM. Definitely allocate about 256Mb of RAM per framegrabbing task if you intend to do framegrabbing, although again, a hardware-accelerated tuner card makes the effort required to record quite minimal. Most people will probably find 512Mb of RAM a very comfortable amount of memory for the machine.
Disk storage
Disk storage is going to be the system's life blood. You will be amazed at how quickly your new MythTV box can just gobble up disk space when it's initial recordings will weigh in at about 2.2Gb per hour before you transcode them, and even then without losing quality they'll still be about 1.1Gb per hour. Video requires a lot of throughput compared to other tasks, but it's nowhere near the levels of throughput even older IDE disks can supply, so you needn't worry about needing a RAID striping solution. What you will want is simply lots and lots of disk space for the backend.
The only other serious thing to keep in mind about disk space is what will be used by the database. The amount of space the database is going to need will vary between 128Mb at a bare minimum (someone using no plugins who only has four or five broadcast channels) all the way up to possibly as much as 1Gb of disk space (people with satellite TV, a giant collection of mp3s using MythMusic, and archiving some things into MythVideo). Most people should consider 256Mb~512Mb of space for their database, and it's probably a good idea to make this space into it's own partition to ensure that nothing else (or you) can accidentally fill up the available disk and cause the database to crash and become corrupted beyond repair. Once the database is destroyed, there is no easy way to get the information about what you had recorded back into it without simply restoring a copy of it from a backup you probably didn't make.
Networking considerations
MythTV does not rely heavily on the network for anything much except pulling down the program guide information, so if all you have is a on-demand dialup gateway at home, you should be fine. If you go for an advanced configuration with separate frontends and backends, although streaming video across a home network can use a bit of traffic, a plain wired ethernet network (i.e., 10base-T cabling, a.k.a. 10 Mbit) should be fine for most uses. If you plan on using multiple backends, or copying these resulting massive files around your network from one machine to the other, you're probably going to be much happier with fast ethernet (i.e., 100base-T cabling, 100Mbit) and a switch instead of the tired old 10base-T hub.
Wireless throughput, on the other hand, tends to fluctuate more than most people realize due to all the various and sundry things that can interfere with it, so don't expect 11Mbps 802.11b to handle it without the occasional hiccup. 802.11g or 802.11a (if you can afford it) is somewhat recommended, but the real problem is consistency of throughput, which radio devices tend to lack.
Other hardware
Some of the other pieces you might need would be an optical drive, and of course the ever-present infra-red remote control required for high "spousal acceptance factor".
A DVD burner (even a dual-layer model) installed to the frontend can be used by a new plugin called MythArchive to burn backups of videos you've recorded to DVD in a format that consumer DVD players can play back, and thankfully they're pretty cheap. MythDVD is a plugin that is basically just a DVD player application, and it can make use of a DVD drive as well.
A good remote control is probably what most people would consider to be an absolutely essential piece to add to the frontend. Some tuner cards come with an infra-red receiver element and remote control, but even if yours doesn't you should be able to get a nice generic remote control at department stores, and there are a few places mentioned on the wiki that can sell you a pre-built receiever or transciever on the cheap. Those of you who are planning on trying to record premium content (i.e., content that is normally scambled but gets descrambled for you by the cable box you get for being such a well-paying subscriber) will probably need to consider also purchasing an infra-red transmitter or transciever (one that both sends and receives IR signals) so that the MythTV box can emit the IR signals necessary to tell the cable box to change channels.
Various Technical Explanations
...so you don't let the nice salesmen talk you into buying something gold-plated and obsolete.
Issues for recording
Framebuffers and firewire and hardware compression, oh my!
There are three basic ways for MythTV to record broadcasted content, and which ones are usable is tied to how the user gets their TV signal in the first place. The first (and probably least desireable) is a technique called "framegrabbing", the second is over a firewire connection (ideal but not widely applicable), and the third (and least troublesome) is from a tuner card that uses hardware-accellerated video compression.
Framegrabbing is what you're stuck with if your tuner card is one of the older (and/or simpler) tuner cards made that uses a Brooktree chip called the Bt848, Bt878, or Bt878a (although there are a few other variants). These cards are the cheapest type of tuner cards one can get, but this inexpensiveness has it's own hidden price. Framegrabbing (in almost layman's terms) is when the tuner card is given a (nearly literal) window of memory used by your video card to paint the recieved video image into in realtime. The CPU has to "grab" each frame as it appears and then copy it to the software compression codec in order to compress the data so that it doesn't take up absolutely ludicrous amounts of disk space. The audio usually has to be fed through the line-level input on the sound card to be recorded, although there are some cards that support sending audio directly to the CPU through DMA transfers. These cards are excellent for just watching live television broadcasts, but the task of grabbing the images and audio and compressing it in realtime makes framegrabbing a very CPU-intensive task. Generally an SD broadcast requires at least 1Ghz of processing power and about 256Mb of RAM in the machine to record just one stream.
Firewire is one of the primary transport mediums used for digital cameras and other forms of digital video transfer. If you are a subscriber of HD digital cable in the US, there's a good chance the receiver you got from the cable company has a firewire port on it. If it doesn't ask them for one and you'll likely get it (FCC mandate). Depending on who your cable provider is, you may be able to get the video you're watching on the receiver to stream from your cable box to your MythTV box over the firewire cable in it's raw, compressed form (which would be great). At the very least, you should be able to use the firewire connection to make the receiver box change channels (which is less problematic than using an IR blaster and LIRC). Recording video over firewire doesn't require much CPU at all, but with some channels it may be a bit like "drinking from the fire hose" if your machine is underpowered.
Video tuner cards with hardware-accellerated compression that are affordable are somewhat new to the personal computer market, but they're absolutely wonderful now that they're here. What this means is that the tuner card itself handles the "heavy lifting" of compressing the video signal down to an MPEG or XviD stream so your computer doesn't have to. Recording video with these isn't really much more CPU-intensive than just copying a file. If your computer is capable of playing back an SD video in fullscreen without skipping or dropping frames, then it's probably got enough power to handle one of these cards. The most common are the Hauppauge PVR-xxx series cards, which are detailed elsewhere on this site.
Issues for playback
Widescreen or SD (standard definition)
Thankfully, dealing with whether or not you have a widescreen (16:9 aspect) display or a normal (4:3 aspect) display is something that only X (Xorg or XFree86, either will do) only has to deal with. For the most part it's a simple matter of configuring X to use the display at it's native resolution as if it were a normal monitor. If you have a highly expensive display which does 1920x1080 resolution (1080i/p with no downsampling) then that's the resolution you tell X you want to use. If you're using a widescreen LCD monitor that does 720i/p (without downsampling) and has a native resolution of 1280x768, then you configure X to use the display at that resolution. With some widescreens (and some video cards) that X can't quite figure out on it's own, the user may have to manually generate a modeline (or search the wiki for one) that tells X how to use the display, but this is usually not necessary. In almost every case, the video card (possibly with the help of accellerated drivers) and MythTV will be capable of upsampling (expanding) or downsampling (shrinking) the images to fit the display exactly. You'll still get "letterboxing" if you watch a widescreen video on a standard (4:3) display, of course but the fewer resolution changes your video has to be put through before appearing on your screen, the better.
HDMI, DVI, VGA, S-Video, Component, and Composite Output
The type of output your video card can do, and the type of inputs your display device can handle are primarily what dictates what you should use to connect them. From highest- to lowest-quality, the order of consideration is: HDMI, DVI, VGA, S-Video, Composite.
HDMI is a digital connection primarily seen on high-end home theater displays. It also incorporates some technology to thwart naughty video-pirates, but this mostly stays out of our way (for now). If your television and your video card both support this, then it's probably what you'll want to use. It's likely that any display which has an HDMI input also supports DVI input, so you don't need to rush out in a mad buying frenzy to get a new video card if your video card already supports DVI output--the quality difference between them isn't likely to bother you.
DVI is another type of digital connection which is somewhat more common than HDMI. HDMI and DVI connectors look rather similar (in that they're obviously not the 15-pin DIN connector of VGA) but don't get them confused. Most LCD/TFT panel displays support DVI input, and most newer video cards will have a DVI output (some will have two).
VGA is the "normal" monitor cable everyone's used to seeing on computers and monitors. A great many of the LCD TVs currently being manufactured in the US are intended to be dual-purposed as computer monitors and will have a VGA input (and possibly DVI as well), and nearly all (some are coming DVI-only now) computer monitors being sold as computer monitors will accept VGA input. Your video card will almost certainly support VGA output, and even if it only has one (or two) DVI output on it, it should have come with a little adapter that will allow you to use it with the more common VGA display.
S-Video is a multiple pin, round connector type that carries the chroma and luma (color and brightness) parts of the video signal over separate wires, which usually means a very good signal. It looks a little bit like a PS/2 mouse connector, but with more pins. Many, many televisions support S-video input. The cables are reasonably inexpensive, and can be up to fifteen feet long without experiencing notable signal loss. Word of warning: Some video cards have what looks very much like an S-Video output, but has a few more pins involved and is not an S-Video output. These cards will have come with a "breakout box" which will have a number of other connectors on it which often include an actual S-video output, as well as component outputs, and sometimes a composite output as well. Don't get confused and try to force an S-Video cable directly into these, because bent pins really suck.
Component video splits the video signal up into it's three "component" parts, the red signal, the green signal, and the blue signal and sends them over the familiar RCA connections. You can spot these pretty easily because they'll usually be three RCA connectors colored respectively red, green, and blue. This is used by some "studio" monitors, some very expensive theater displays (quite often projection screens), as well as some SUN-type displays and so forth. It's only listed after S-Video because it's not that often you'll come across displays that use this.
Composite video is probably the least desirable connector type of the lot. It's the type of output most video games use, and practically every display supports at least this if you aren't going to have to use an RF modulator with it. It will be a single RCA connector which should be yellow. The other two RCA connections commonly found with it will be white and red, which are the left and right audio channels respectively. (Remember, right and red start with the same letter.) Some of the older nVidia cards have only a composite video connector for TV output. To use the TV output on these cards you will need the nvtv driver as well as nVidia's binary driver. For no other nVidia cards do you need nvtv so don't put yourself through that hassle by mistaking it for something you need if your nVidia card has an S-video output.
Audio Output
...or "How I learned to like stereo all over again".


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Kids hunt for Easter Eggs in Arenac County
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There is little evidence to suggest that having asthma or diabetes should preclude a patient from venturing under water, according to researchers at the Dive Medicine Symposium at Rutgers University here.
"There's not a lot of strong data to suggest that diabetics are at increased risk" of potentially serious adverse events, said Michael Madsen, DO, a fellow in undersea and hyperbaric medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Likewise for other depth-related illnesses such as arterial-gas embolism in the lungs or decompression sickness, also known as "the bends," he said.
The same thinking applies to most asthmatics, said David S. Lambert, MD, who specializes in hyperbaric therapy at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. However, those with severe disease are often disqualified from diving after failing a required pulmonary test.
Earlier concerns about diving with diabetes led to bans in the U.S., U.K., and parts of Europe that were in place until the mid-1990s -- and until 2004 for France.
Madsen said the major issue for diabetic divers is the potential for an underwater hypoglycemic episode that causes unconsciousness. These episodes are usually triggered by increased metabolic demands, since patients are "using more energy than usual when they're diving," he said.
They're particularly problematic for insulin-dependent diabetics, because their regular dose of the hormone may be too high for someone undergoing increased activity.
There are also concerns about myocardial infarction among diabetic divers from unrecognized vascular disease, Madsen said, although these threats are more frequently detected today and divers know about such risk in advance.
Even so, few studies have found evidence of an increased risk of adverse events among diabetic divers.
Data from research in 2005 performed by the British Sub Aqua Club, the diving regulatory agency in England, found only one instance of hypoglycemia among 447 diabetic divers who completed 14,000 registered dives.
And 2004 data from the Diver Alert Network (DAN), the diving regulatory agency in the U.S., found no symptomatic hypoglycemia cases among 80 divers on over 6,000 dives, although it did record some "fairly large glucose drops."
On the basis of that data and other studies, the American Diabetes Association guidelines recommend that divers remain physically fit and get regular exercise outside of diving.
They must also have no significant systemic disease, as well as excellent control of their diabetes, and their physicians "should have the final say in determining fitness to dive."
DAN guidelines recommend an annual physical that includes screening for heart disease if the diver is over 40.
The agency also recommends that diabetic patients take blood glucose readings an hour, 30 minutes, and immediately prior to "splashing," or starting their dive.
Madsen said that blood glucose should be kept "a bit above normal" at 150 mg/dL since the diver will be using more energy than normal.
"When diving, we like to keep diabetics a little bit sweet," he said, adding that the dive should be cancelled if blood glucose tops 300 mg/dL.
For asthmatics, the biggest concern is having an attack underwater. And some studies have shown an increased risk for arterial-gas embolism or decompression sickness, Lambert said.
For instance, one study reported by DAN found that 12% of arterial-gas embolism victims had a history of asthma, and another found that asthmatics have a fourfold increased risk of decompression sickness.
But Lambert said the data were based on surveys and case reports, detracting from their strength and power.
A large study at the University of Rhode Island found only one asthmatic patient among 2,131 diving death records that they assessed.
Guidelines from the American Thoracic Society say that patients with well-controlled, stable asthma who have normal spirometry and "understand the risks of scuba diving ... seem to have only a slightly increased risk over the general population."
Patients considering diving "should have their asthma severity and control reviewed, undergo spirometry, and have an action plan in place with access to emergency rescue medications," according to the guidelines.
Ultimately, the decision about permitting the asthmatic patient to dive is in the physician's hands, Lambert said.
He said patients with cold-induced asthma are immediately prohibited from the sport because exposure to colder underwater temperatures could trigger an attack. Likewise, exercise-induced asthmatics are disqualified from diving.
But those with mild intermittent and mild persistent asthma are "probably OK to dive," Lambert said.
"It's the patients with moderate persistent and severe persistent asthma ... that I'm going to be most concerned about," he declared.
He said physicians should base their decisions about a patient's ability to dive on chest x-rays, pulmonary function tests, and a thorough patient history -- and make all decisions "on a case-by-case basis."
Most importantly, the physician must be sure the asthmatic patient understands what he or she is getting into.
"Diving with asthma is all about patient education and understanding the risks," Lambert said.
While there were no presentations on diving with cardiovascular disease, symposium organizer Matthew Partrick, MD, who specializes in emergency and undersea and hyperbaric medicine at Southern Ocean County Hospital in Manahawkin, N.J., said patent foramen ovale (PFO), literally a "hole in the heart" between the atrial chambers, increases a diver's risk of decompression sickness.
Alfred Bove, MD, PhD, of Temple University and president of the American College of Cardiology who is an expert in diving and the heart, said most patients with cardiovascular disease can participate in recreational scuba diving as they would any other sport.
Bove, who was not at the conference, said deciding which patients with heart disease should or shouldn't dive is an "art," because there is little data on risk.
As with asthma and diabetes, he said, decisions are made on a case-by-case basis. But in general, he said in an interview, patients are diving "with stents, pacemakers, mechanical heart valves, or while they're taking blood thinners."
"Many people who have heart problems," he said, "can dive safely."
The researchers reported no conflicts of interest.
- Reviewed by Dori F. Zaleznik, MD Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston and Dorothy Caputo, MA, RN, BC-ADM, CDE, Nurse Planner
Primary Source
Fisrt Annual Dive Medicine SymposiumSource Reference: Madsen M "Diabetics and diving" Dive Medicine Symposium 2009.
Secondary Source
First Annual Dive Medicine SymposiumSource Reference: Lambert DS "Diving and asthma" Dive Medicine Symposium 2009.


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