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Peniche is full of history
The town of Peniche is located on a peninsula. In the Roman ages Peniche was still an island, but over the years coast and island grew together. In the 17th century Peniche was developed into one of the strongest Portuguese sea fortresses.
Near the harbour is the Fortaleza, a fort that was built in the 17th century to defend the harbour and the town. Through the ages the Fortaleza had many functions. During Salazar's dictatorial regime the fort was an important state prison. Political opponents of the regime were locked up and tortured in the Fortaleza. Nowadays the town's museum and the fishing museum are located in the building.
There is a lighthouse on the Cabo Carvoeiro, the most western point of the peninsula. On clear days you have a beautiful view on the Berlenga islands and the coast south of Peniche.
On the southcoast of the peninsula is the Gruta da Furninha, a cave that was inhabited since prehistory. It is therefore the most important prehistoric archeological site of Peniche. Many objects were found, today they are on display in several museums, like the town museum.
In Peniche you can visit a number of churches and chapels:
- Igreja de São Pedro, Peniches largest church, dates back to the 16th century
- Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Ajuda, an early 16th century church
- Capela de Nossa Senhora dos Remédios, a pilgrimage church, there is a procession every 3rd Sunday of October
- Igreja da Misericórdia, an early 17th century church
- Igreja de Nossa Senhora de Conceição, a 17th century church
Every year, in the first weekend of August, Peniche celebrates the Festa de Nossa Senhora de Boa Viagem, the feast of our lady of the good voyage.
From the harbour of Peniche you can take the boat to the Berlenga islands.
There are many beaches to the north and south of Peniche. Most of these beaches are very popular with surfers because of the superb waves.
On this website you can see all beaches. Just click on the names for more information.
One of Portugal's major seaside resorts
Figueira da Foz is a lively and cosmopolitan seaside resort at the mouth of the Mondego River, it's main asset is its wide and extensive sandy beach.
The beach is many kilometers long, and hundreds of meters wide. It stretches from the mouth of the Mondego to the fishing village Buarcos. Next to Buarcos is the Cabo Mondego, a limestone rock with lighthouse, quarries and browncoal mines.
Northwest of Cabo Mondego is the Serra da Boa Viagem. From the highest point, the Alto da Bandeira (258 meters) you have a fantastic view.
Every year, in the night 23 to 24 June, there is street party in the honor of São João, with parades, fireworks and folk dances.
In the Bairro Novo (new district) there are many hotels, restaurants, discos and a casino. Every year in September there is a film festival in Bairro Novo.
Some of the attractions in Figueira da Foz:
Igreja do Antigo Convento de Santo António (church of the old Santo António convent)
Capela de Santa Catarina (saint Catarina chapel)
Museu Municipal Santos Rocha (municipal museum Santos Rocha). On exhibition are findings from the stone age and the roman period, colonial art, ceramics, carpets, and contemporary art
Igreja Matriz de São Julião (mother church of São Julião)
Mercado Municipal Engenheiro Silva (municipal market halls)
Sun space all around
In the Torres Vedras there are several beaches, like Praia Azul, Santa Rita and Santa Cruz. On this page you can find more information.
Place to be
São Martinho do Porto has always been 'the place to be' voor people from cities like Lisbon. Because of the specific location of the bay, the beach and the sea are accessible for everyone. That's why in summer this beach is also known as Praia das Crianças: children's beach.
You may find difficulties parking your car at São Martinho do Porto during summer holiday, but in the rest of the year that's no problem at all.
All facilities are there. During the summer months you can rent a beach tent, and there is a small children's playground. Highly recommended is the boardwalk that takes you through the dunes, and gives you a good view on the variety of flora in the dunes. The boardwalk takes you across the river into Salir do Porto.
The Bay of São Martinho do Porto Live
Surfers paradise
There are many beaches to the north and south of Peniche. Most of these beaches are very popular with surfers because of the superb waves.
On this website you can see all beaches. Just click on the names for more information.


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I've entered the screenprinting business. Here's a link to my Mason Jar related Etsy Store MasonJarsMixingBowls
I promise my followers that I'm not going to spam you guys with a bunch of Etsy links from here on out. But I'm kind of excited. I decided to sketch some mason jar designs on linoleum blocks, carve them out, make stamps, turn those stamps in to silk screens, and then print some towels, shirts, bags, and things. So, if you're in to canning, pickling, mason jars, and cooking (which you are if you're reading my blog) why not swing by to see if you see something you like. Everything is crafted with the same amount of care that I put in to my canning. I'm mason jar obsessed and this is just another part of the adventure.

subset: commoncrawl


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Gas prices may test more pedalers' mettle
Victor Gaspar lives about 10 miles from his Trailblazers Bike and Sport Shop, and he bikes to work at his Victor store four or five days a week.
Based on sales at his shop and at shops in Canandaigua and Rochester, Gaspar may have more company on the road.
Many of Gaspar's customers say they are planning to pedal to work more often, whether to squeeze a little more exercise into a busy day or to beat steadily rising gas prices.
"Last year we had one person come in specifically to ride their bike to work," Gaspar said. "This year we've already had 30 people come in to purchase a bike saying, 'I'm buying to ride to work.' It's growing by leaps and bounds."
This trend has nowhere to go but up, as one-half of one percent of Americans ride their bikes to work, according to the League of American Bicyclists. Efforts like the organization's Bike-to-Work Week (May 12 to May 16) and Bike-to-Work Day (May 16) may help.
A Web site is even dedicated to bike commuters, at commutebybike.com, which offers articles ranging from "A Guide to a Simple Bike Commute" to "How to react to aggressive or angry drivers."
Andy Thomson, manager at RV&E Bike and Skate Shop in Canandaigua, said he will ride his bike to work when he can; however, since he lives in 20 or so miles away in Fairport, it won't be every day. He works about nine hours day, and the additional three hours for the commute (about 40 miles total) would take time away from seeing his wife.
"If I lived 10 miles away, it would be a different story — I would ride in every day," Thomson said.
Bob Virkler, of Canandaigua, who has been riding his bicycle for 30 or more years, tries to ride whenever possible, though his 20-mile work commute to North Main Lumber in Geneva is too far for him to pedal. He and his wife own two four-cylinder vehicles, a small SUV and a Mazda Protege, the latter of which they take when traveling together.
"If I am going somewhere that is four or five miles away, I will use my bicycle because it doesn't use any energy or pollute," Virkler said. "I sort of started riding in response to the fuel crisis in the 1970s. It's not really about gas prices now, though. I still drive when I need to, but if I can use the bicycle I do."
Bicycling is more than just finding a cheap way to go to work. It's also about finding a healthier lifestyle.
"The media has been pounding into everyone's heads about how unhealthy Americans are, so people are thinking, 'What can I do to curtail this?'" Gaspar said. "Children's bike sales are going up too; parents are being told to get their kids outside. (Kids) need to be active — the obesity rate (in children) is scary."
Virkler feels most who pedal are doing it because they enjoy the exercise more than just the savings at the pump.
"I like the bike for exercise and can have that benefit while I get to where I am going," he said. "I still think the only people who will commute by bicycle are those who truly enjoy riding."
Whatever the reasons, bicycling is big business.
About 18 million bicycles have been sold annually in the United States over the past few years, accounting for about $6 billion in annual sales, said Fred Clements, executive director for the National Bicycle Dealers Association in Costa Mesa, Calif.
An adult hybrid bike — used for road and off-road surfaces — usually ranges from $350 to $600. Children's bikes can range from $70 for a 12-inch to just under $400 for a 24-inch model.
The price of bicycles has gone up slightly however, due to increased shipping costs and the higher cost of tires and inner tubes. When ordering bikes, RV&E tries to order enough so that manufacturers will cover the cost of shipping, which is about $30 per bike.
Gaspar said there has also been more service work on older bikes; customers are bringing in bikes they haven't used in years and are trying to get them fixed up, he said.
With all of the riders using the roads, many communities — including Canandaigua — could be more bicycle-friendly, Virkler said.
"It mostly involves making wider shoulders on the roads, and people being more aware of us (out on the roads)," he said. "I've seen cars pass a cyclist out in traffic and then cut them off to make a right turn."
If fitness and the economy aren't enough to make a bicyclist hit the road more often, Andy August, owner of Park Ave Bike Shops in Rochester and Henrietta, offers an incentive to his employees if they ride to work: money.
"If they ride to work, my employees receive a (monetary) bonus depending on the length of their commute," August said, adding that the farthest distance was five or six miles from the store.
August said he has seen a lot more interest in commuting by bike, and thinks it will continue — especially if gas stays over $4 a gallon.
"You're going to see a lot more alternative ways to save energy — biking uses none except for your own," August said. "The rising price of fuel isn't really good for the economy, but it's pushing for a more healthy (way of transportation); people are going to start thinking about bikes more."
Kelli O'Brien can be reached at (585) 394-0770, Ext. 272, or at email@example.com.


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Big Content often claims to be losing absurd amounts of cash to a peg-legged and eye-patched crowd of Internet pirates. To deal with the problem, entertainment lobbyists around the world have suggested that governments might want to mandate "three strikes" laws to punish repeat online infringers, and that Internet service providers should get involved in the battle. But three-strikes rules have their own significant costs, and ISPs are now waging a "bogus numbers" battle of their own in an effort to defeat the proposals.
Case in point: the UK, where a BT spokesman told the Mirror this week that a proposed graduated response scheme could cost each Internet user in the country �24 a year—and cost the ISP industry �1 million a day.
A bit of fancy mathematics shows this to be �365 million a year, but extreme skepticism is needed here. There's no data given to support this claim, and the pleasing roundness of the number suggests that this is about two rungs up the ladder from "total guess."
The �365 million claim is more about countering content industry rhetoric about losses by pointing out that graduated response schemes have real costs of their own.
For example, the UK's major label trade group, BPI, wants action from the government because of losses—�180 million in 2008 and �200 million in 2009. These numbers have calculations behind them, but they're still wildly approximate, incorporating all sorts of assumptions. A BBC Radio 4 program looked into this number recently and showed conclusively just how fuzzy it was.
But such numbers have tremendous shaping power on the debate about online copyright infringement. We've seen far more absurd numbers used literally for decades in the US in an attempt to scare legislators, despite having no foundation.
BT is fighting back with calculations of its own, this time suggesting that the yearly cost of implementing graduated response laws is actually greater than the major labels' alleged losses to file-sharing. Of course, once other content industries (such as movies) toss their numbers onto the pile, this no longer holds, but the basic point remains: "fighting piracy" is not without significant costs of its own.


text: I'd recomend trying the latest natsemi dp8381x driver (1.11) - from Donald Becker. it's on the scyld website, or in the recent kernel sources. joelja On Thu, 15 Nov 2001, Nirmal Bissonauth wrote: > Hi all, > > I would like to know if people have been successful in using gigabit > ethernet(over copper) cards with the Tyan Thunder K7 motherboard. (s2462) > This has two built-in 3com 100 Base T cards. > > I have tried to use a DLINK DGE-550T card with the latter but without much > success. Even after disabling the onboard NICs, the card did not work > properly. The problem is that an interrupt is not set after a DMA > transmitt (something to do with the APIC I presume). I tried linux kernel > 2.4.12-ac3 with the latest driver from Dlinks website, but that did not > make much difference either. I have six of these. > > The cards that I am particularly interested to hear about are the > 3com Gigabit Network card (3c996-T) or (3c996B-T) or (3c1000-T) > Intel PRO/1000 Gigabit Server 1000B-T PCI Adapter (PWLA8490T) > NETGEAR 100/1000Base-T Copper Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (GA-623T) > Netgear 100/1000BASET 32/64 BIT PCI Gigabit Adapter (GA-622T) > SMC TigerCard 1000BaseTX 32/64Bit PCI Gb Ethernet Nic (SMC9462TX) > > Or any other cheap gigabit network cards. > > Regards > Nirmal > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > Nirmal Bissonauth email: nirmal.bissonauth at durham.ac.uk > University of Durham www: http://aig-www.dur.ac.uk > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > _______________________________________________ > Beowulf mailing list, Beowulf at beowulf.org > To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf > -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joel Jaeggli joelja at darkwing.uoregon.edu Academic User Services consult at gladstone.uoregon.edu PGP Key Fingerprint: 1DE9 8FCA 51FB 4195 B42A 9C32 A30D 121E -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It is clear that the arm of criticism cannot replace the criticism of arms. Karl Marx -- Introduction to the critique of Hegel's Philosophy of the right, 1843.


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Brrrr…it's cold out there
We know the severe winter weather that hit several parts of the country last week affected many of you, so we hope everyone is recovering safely! At Uniform Advantage, safety is a priority, and due to freezing weather, sleet and snow, we had closed our Georgia Distribution Center for a couple of days last week. Consequentially, this may have affected your order. So we thank you for your patience, and apologize for any inconveniences this may have caused. Since some of the ice and snow has melted (see pictures below), we've been working hard on getting everything back up and running. Again, thank you for understanding, and you will get your order soon!
Stay warm out there,
Uniform Advantage


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Yet the systems to which survivors and their children turn are frequently unprepared to address the range of issues they face in trying to access safety and heal from the traumatic effects of abuse.
The National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma & Mental Health provides training, support, and consultation to advocates, mental health and substance abuse providers, legal professionals, and policymakers as they work to improve agency and systems-level responses to survivors and their children. Our work is survivor defined and rooted in principles of social justice.
We hope that the resources on this site will be helpful to you. We invite you to stay in touch by signing up for our Email List. If you have questions or comments you can Contact Us.
In response to the current national emergency, NCDVTMH will continue to provide updates, resources, and tip sheets to support domestic violence and sexual assault advocacy organizations and coalitions in responding to the trauma, mental health, and substance use-related needs of survivors and their families.
NCDVTMH is funded through a combination of unrestricted private funds and federal grants.
NCDVTMH also serves as one of four national Special Issue Resource Centers funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Administration on Children, Youth and Families; Family Violence Prevention and Services Program.
NCDVTMH is a member of the Domestic Violence Resource Network (DVRN).


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Statement of
Michael J. Astrue
Commissioner of Social Security
Testimony before the Senate Finance Committee
May 23, 2007
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:
Thank you for the opportunity to share our plans to reduce the backlog of disability claims.
As you are well aware, a major challenge that faces our agency is the disability determination process for the Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income programs.
For more than half of a century, Social Security has helped disabled workers and their families cope with the loss of income due to a severe disability. Unfortunately, many of today's applicants face an uphill battle simply to get a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ). For some, the long wait for their day in court leads to homelessness and the loss of family and friends. Sadly, people have died waiting for a hearing.
As you know, our disability programs have grown significantly over the last five years and will continue to do so at an increasing rate as aging baby boomers reach their most disability-prone years. At the same time, Congress has added new and non-traditional workloads to SSA's responsibilities while appropriating on average about $150 million less each year than the President has requested since 2001. As a result, the agency is struggling to balance its new responsibilities and its traditional work within tight resource constraints.
So it should be no surprise that the problems associated with the disability determination process are also stressing our network of field offices. Increasingly crowded waiting rooms, loss of staff and unaddressed workloads are a direct result of the growing backlogs. This situation is unacceptable.
When I appeared before you at my confirmation hearing, I promised to report back to you with my recommendations for reducing these backlogs and prevent them from recurring. Today, I want to make an initial report on our first 100 days. Our disability backlogs are a problem that I am determined to overcome. Many of you are aware that my interest in becoming Commissioner was driven by both personal and professional interests. I handled my father's disability application when, at age 52, he suffered a severe cerebral brain hemorrhage caused by a rare form of brain cancer.
We are overdue for a change. The length of time many people wait for their final disability decision is unacceptable. I am committed to a process that is as fair and speedy as possible. Today, I want to share with you a number of important steps we have taken, will take, or are contemplating taking in the near future to better manage our workloads.
There are four areas which I believe hold the most promise to eliminate the hearings backlogs: compassionate allowances; improving hearing procedures; increasing adjudicatory capacity; and increasing efficiency with automation and business processes.
Despite the fact that our ALJs are achieving a record high productivity rate, backlogs continue to grow. The current number of cases waiting for a hearing decision is about 738,000, leading to average waiting times of 505 days, the highest ever in SSA history. Pending hearings have doubled since 2001. In addition, the number of applications for disability benefits has been extraordinarily high throughout the first seven years of this decade, and, as mentioned earlier, funding has not kept up.
To provide more context, Congressional budget reductions below the President's request from 2002 through 2007 are equivalent to processing an additional 177,000 initial claims and an additional 454,000 hearings. I want to thank you for the funding included in the FY 2007 annual appropriation. Although attrition continues to reduce staffing levels, those funds allowed us to avert employee furloughs and hire a limited number of staff in critical areas. We thank the Members of this committee for the support you gave us in obtaining these funds, and we very much need you to continue your advocacy effort on our behalf.
The success of the initiatives that I share with you today depends on timely and adequate agency funding. Properly funded, these initiatives will reduce the amount of time members of the public wait for a hearing decision and will lead to a reduction in the number of cases pending in our offices.
Compassionate Allowances
Attached to this testimony is additional information about our proposals to reduce the hearings backlogs and address the shortfalls of the disability determination process. We believe that these initiatives will have a significant impact on reducing backlogs.
One way to reduce the number of cases in the determination process is to use automation tools to screen cases. We have seen the success of the Quick Disability Determination (QDD) model currently in use in New England . This computer model identifies cases that are most likely to be allowed. To date, the New England states have decided 97% of these cases within the required 21 days and they have an average decision time of 11 days. About 85% of these cases have been allowed during the initial review, and more have been allowed with additional documentation. We plan to build on the success of the QDD because it is both efficient and compassionate for us to do so. To date, the majority of QDD cases are cancer cases because the model does not yet cull a wide enough variety of diseases. Currently, QDD cases constitute only 2.6% of our cases but we are committed to pushing the number of cases that can be decided through the model as high as we can possibly go while maintaining accuracy.
An added difficulty is that our examiners are working with outdated medical listings and poorly defined categories of disabilities. Many cases that should be resolved quickly are not being determined in a timely manner because many of our listings are outdated. To help us with this initiative, Secretary Leavitt has generously offered the assistance of the Department of Health and Human Services on a taskforce to jumpstart our effort to refine and update our rules.
Other course corrections at SSA include reorganizing the Office of Disability and Income Support Programs to better align our organizational structure with our mission of dedicated service to Americans with disabilities. We have already received helpful advice from the Office of Inspector General, which at my request, has completed a first draft of an organizational audit.
In addition, we found that two of the new electronic systems developed for Disability Determination Services (DDS) as part of the Disability Service Improvement initiative were not ready for real-world use, and were in fact causing considerable delays in processing caseloads. While one of these systems may have potential over the long term, they both have been pulled. We are instead focusing on refining our two primary systems that will make us fully electronic. To accomplish that goal, we have used an additional $25 million from our technology reserve fund.
Improve Hearing Procedures
We have already begun to attack the problem of aged cases starting with the cases that are or will be 1,000 days old as of September 30, 2007. I consider this initiative to be a moral imperative. An applicant should not have to wait three or four years for his or her day in court. We have established a goal of reducing these cases to a negligible level by the end of this fiscal year, and I am pleased to report that the number has already dropped from more than 63,000 on October 1 of last year to about 14,000 as of last week. We have made this progress by reallocating resources and redefining the metrics by which we measure success.
We are also studying the experiment of 1995-2000 that authorized Senior Attorney Advisors to issue fully favorable decisions. The Social Security Advisory Board has recommended this program. We will evaluate the lessons from this experiment for similar approaches we could adopt now to improve the disability determination process.
Increase Adjudicatory Capacity
Hiring additional ALJs is an essential element in a successful plan for reducing the backlog. Further improvements are expected from our plans to increase efficiency of support staff. Before a hearing can be held, there is a large amount of work that must be done to prepare the case to be reviewed. With advances in technology and improved management, there are a number of ways to increase the efficiency of this behind-the-scenes work, and we will pursue them all.
As an interim measure, we will streamline the folder assembly portion of case preparation to limit file assembly to a cover sheet and numbering pages sequentially. Streamlining the assembly will have an even greater impact as we add the software needed to automate this function.
In addition, we will send volunteers from our field offices to hearing offices with the largest backlogs to help assemble the remaining 220,000 paper files. We plan to dedicate 5,000 hours of overtime per month to this effort, which will probably continue through next year. To a large extent, the cases pending the longest at the hearing level are paper files. When these cases are finally adjudicated, they will be replaced by the electronic files which will require less time and effort to prepare. By streamlining the file assembly process and making additional staff available to prepare cases, ALJs can schedule as many hearings as possible.
We have also decided to mandate the use of the Findings Integrated Template, or FIT. This tool is now being voluntarily used by about 80% of our judges. It is an abbreviated decision format that captures all of the key elements required for a defensible opinion. Those judges who use FIT have a lower rate of remands from the Appeals Council which saves us time and money.
In addition, we will screen our oldest cases using profiles developed by the Office of Quality Performance to identify cases where there may be a high probability that an allowance can be issued on the record without a hearing. During my visits to hearing offices in Atlanta and Boston , many employees expressed their belief that cases that were initially denied because an applicant did not meet the durational definition of a disability could, at this stage in the process, now meet the time requirements associated with our programs. If true, we could make a significant impact on our backlog. This screening initiative will begin next month.
We are also planning on capitalizing on the flexibility now available to us with electronic disability folders and other technologies. Assigning our ALJs to 141 offices nationwide does not give us enough flexibility to address the worst backlogs. Video hearings have successfully addressed backlogs on an ad hoc basis, and we feel that reserving a percentage of ALJs in a central office solely to do electronic hearings for the most backlogged offices is a better and smarter way to use a very expensive resource.
Increase Efficiency through Automation and Improved Business Processes
We know that technology is instrumental in improving performance.
At the hearing level, we need the ability to sign decisions electronically. Currently, decisions are printed, signed and then scanned into the electronic folder. By implementing electronic signature capacity, the adjudicator will be able to complete the decision-making process electronically, thus sending the signed decision directly to the folder with a click of a mouse.
In addition, we need shared access to the electronic folder. Currently, cases cannot be transferred from office to office in an electronic format. We are forced to print and mail cases that are remanded or are shared with another office. For example, if a hearing office seeks assistance from another office for case preparation or drafting decisions, the electronic folder must be converted to a paper folder. If a hearing office remands a case to the DDS, the electronic folder must be converted to paper before it is returned to the hearing office. This is a waste of time, energy and resources. It also undermines the premise behind going electronic. Our Office of Systems is working on fixing this issue.
To help us reduce ALJ travel time and costs, we are installing all hearing rooms with video equipment to enable us to increase the number of hearings; an initiative which will particularly benefit rural areas.
We are also excited about the long-term potential of a new automation tool called ePulling. This program will support preparation of electronic cases for hearing. Case preparation has three components: file development, file analysis, and file assembly. ePulling will reduce the amount of time it takes to assemble folders and will allow the staff to devote more time to file analysis and development. ePulling will identify potential duplicate documents, classify documents by type of evidence and date, sequentially numbered pages, and create exhibit lists. Implementation of ePulling is projected to begin with a pilot next spring.
Our progress in working down our aged cases is an example of successfully improving our business processes. Other initiatives in this area include, but are not limited to:
• Direct Appeals Council to issue final decisions when possible to reduce remands;
• Be more proactive in investigating alleged ALJ misconduct complaints;
• Improve management training;
• Encourage greater cooperation between Hearing Offices, Field Offices and Area Directors;
• Standardize the electronic folder in hearing offices; and
• Implement a quality assurance program.
Mr. Chairman, when it comes to disability backlogs, there is no single magic bullet. Our goal is to slow the growth of cases pending until we reach a tipping point next year with the addition of a substantial number of ALJs who can begin to help us drive the backlog down. With better systems, better business processes, and better ways of fast-tracking targeted cases, we hope to return to the more manageable levels we experienced at the beginning of this decade. This task won't be easy, and it won't be possible at all without your continued support for adequate funding for this effort.
Thank you again for your past support, and I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.


text:
I write what I like.
Abdu Katuntu got to keep the position and chairman of the Parliament's Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) on overtime to finish a report on the closure of 7 defunct banks in the Republic. He got the lifeline by the Speaker Rebecca Kagada in Parliament in January, as he wasn't ready to deliver the report.
Katuntu as the MP who ran the committee decided on when to drop the report, which the report was dropped on the 19th February 2019. Now, today the IGG letter of the 19th February 2019 asked the Internal Security Organization (ISO) to look into the investigations and the possible kick-backs for a lenient report, which this was. The Report dropped was sleek, soft and guarded. Therefore, the question of what the COSASE is shielding or didn't dig into could come into question.
If there was some bankers, some inside Bank of Uganda or anyone else of the Stakeholders of the defunct banks would enforce kick-backs to the Chairman and the Committee wouldn't be surprising in relations to this is the Republic of Presidential Handshakes. In the Republic where the MPs are paid for voting in favour of favourable bills and motions of the Presidents agenda. Therefore, the initial idea of the IGG fits the state of affairs.
BUT, this is a hit-job, as this is leaked as the COSASE is getting new leadership, as the report has been delivered to the public and to the Parliament. The IGG and AG could act upon the work that Katuntu delivered. Nevertheless, there are more stakes at hand, as there are invisible hands overshadowing, as the cronies and investors, whose could be close to the President could be implicated. That is why the President was so adamant statements about the whole investigation and that it should have been done behind closed-doors. However, that didn't happen.
Katuntu thought he did good, thought he delivered for the ones he made promises too. He thought with the extended time and promise of leverage, that he wouldn't be hit. However, the President and his security organization is still on a vengeance. They are retaliating now, because the state suddenly looks into it. Because, the state is trying to save face.
It is weird timing that they are starting to investigate now, as they could have looked into the issues within the BoU before this, as there was plenty of banks closed wrongfully. Still, it didn't matter then, but now it does. That looks weird and looks like a hit-job.
That Katuntu is now the latest victim… not the last, whose being used, tricked and later discarded. Peace.
Well, sooner or later this report was bound to happen as the deadline of the Parliament's Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) report into 7 defunct banks in the Republic. It had to be interesting to see how the National Treasury or National Bank, the Bank of Uganda handled it, as the Bank have been going around all cowboy and not with protocol. As the proper guidance nor minutes have arrived to the COSASE as the months of investigations has gone on.
As well, the lack of trust between the parties, lawyers and stakeholders itself. Therefore, the report, had to stinking of it, the lack of due diligence and care for delivering proper craftsmanship, where the profession and their ethics are shining true.
Instead the process of investigation have shown utter contempt of honesty and transparency, as documents have gone missing and people have taken trips away, while they were supposed to testify to the Committee.
That is the introduction. Let's dig into the mess, which was unleashed today on the 21st February 2019.
"The committee further observed that there are no documents relating to the post closure and management of Teefe Trust Bank assets and liabilities. This further complicates the process of winding up including resolving claims and some securities still in possession of the Central Bank" (COSASE, P: 9, 2019).
"No inventory report was availed in respect of ICB but an inception report for liquidation by the Liquidation Agcnt (KPMG) dated 30th September 2001" (…)"without a proper inventory report, BoU did not know what it was taking over in terms of entirety of assets and value. Accordingly, BoU acted in breach of section 32 (3), of the FIS, 1993" (COSASE, P: 10, 2019).
Sold on the Same Day:
What further the report states is that the National Bank of Commerce was closed and sold on the same day. This being done on the 27th September 2012. The takeover and sale took only 6 hours time and was in convention of the FIA. The same actions happen to Global Trust Bank (U) Limited, which was closed and sold on the same day, on the 25th July 2014. This was also done in convention of the FIA.
While on Crane Bank:
"The auditors produced the inventory report on 21st of December 2016 however, BoU had invited DFCU to bid for the purchase of assets and assumption of liabilities of CBL on 9nd December 2016 and subsequently DFCU submitted the bid on the 20th December 2016 a day before the production of the inventory report" (…) "BoU did not carry out valuation of the assets and liabilities of CBL. BUT relied on the inventory report and due diligence undertaken by DFCU to accept their bid to arrive at the P&A. However, the final inventory report was submitted on 13th January 2017. In essence, the final inventory report was never used in evaluating the bid for the purchase of assets and assumption of liabilities of CBL" (COSASE, P: 12 & 13, 2019).
Selling assets on discounts:
"In the case of ICB, Greenland Bank and Co-operative Brank, the total loan portfolio sold of UGX 135bn included secured loans of UGX 34.5bn which had valid legal or equitable mortgage on the real property and were supported with legal documentation BUT were sold, to M/s Nile River Acquisition Company at 93% discount" (…) "Whereas the GTB and NBC discount percentages of 20 and 30% respectively appear reasonable, the 93% discount in respect of the loan portfolio of ICB, Greenland Bank and Co-operative Bank acquired by M/s NRAC was incredibly outrageous" (COSASE, P: 23-24, 2019).
Winding Up:
"The winding up process of all the defuct banks has taken an unjustifiably long time to settle creditor claims. For Teefe Trust Bank (26 years), Co-operative Bank (20 years), ICB (21 years), Greenland Bank (20 years), NBC (7 years), GTB (5 years) and CBL (2 years)!!! Regrettably, many of the creditors and shareholders have and indeed continue to die" (…) "Due to absence of documents, it was not possible to ascertain whether the UGX.9 1 .22bn used to settle customer claims of ICB, Cooperative bank and Greenland bank went to the bonafide beneficiaries. The absence of documents could among others be attributed to the long delay in concluding the winding up process" (COSASE, P: 39, 50 2019).
This is really just a proof of some of the mismanagement and quotes that proves how the Bank of Uganda didn't do due diligence. They didn't fix the issues, neither the work that was needed for the distressed financial institutions, the BoU didn't follow the laws and statutes. All of the banks seems to be closed without protocol. Without proper documentation, neither overlooking assets and the securities.
Therefore, the Bank of Uganda … have not acted as the Central Bank and having the supervisory role over the financial market. They have surely acted in ill-will and not like they are supposed too. If not, these seven banks shouldn't been closed like this, even closed and sold within 24 hours. Peace.
That MP Abdu Katuntu gets to hold the Chair of the COSASE as the Speaker Rebecca Kadaga allows him to continue the Probe into Bank of Uganda (BoU) and the scandals it entails. This is like shady play, because if Katuntu are allowed to stay, what offers have they given to prolong his term as the chair of Committee in Parliament? Isn't the legal protocol abiding for the lawmaker and MP?
Alas, that is just showing the mere disgraceful display of ignorance, the chronic cronyism and the patronage of the state. Even if Katuntu is waving the flag of an opposition party and being an MP for the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC). His acts of overstaying is the same of the ruling regime. He is just waiving differently in the elections, but when in power. The man has trouble emulating the ones he is supposed to oppose and defy.
That the Speaker Rebecca Kadaga allows the MP to be the Chair until the probe of the closure of banks done by BoU. Just shows the mere reflection of how the state doesn't care about the laws or abiding to it. When it comes to their own. They trust Katuntu, that he will deliver the recommendations and the verdict that the state wants. If not, they wouldn't have let him continue.
This even as the MPs are supposed to follow Rule 146, which sets an MP is only allowed to be 2,5 years at a Committee. That is clearly done, so they can ensure that they are getting more portfolio and not to connected in one field. As the connections and the cronies can team up, stop the back-log and also the lack of reports being discussed in the Plenary Session. Maybe, that is also why the Katuntu want to stay. As he has certain favours to uphold.
We can really question, as the final ending of the investigation of the BoU cannot be that important, unless the patronage around Kadaga and the President. Are planning to bury the report and make it as pointless, as certain other Parliament Reports, which are as stale as very old wall-paint after years of bad weather.
We can wonder why Kadaga fights over the rules made for the 10th Parliament, the rules made to ensure transparency and accountability of the Parliament. The 10th Parliament rules should be hold, especially by the Speaker. If the Speaker doesn't care, should the chambers be invaded by strangers and also fake evidence for the Parliament, because if the terms doesn't matter. Does anything else?
If the COSASE Committee terms becomes pointless, than what else is pointless dear Speaker? We can just wonder, why do the Parliament have protocol and guidelines anyway? If the Speaker doesn't follow them or can change her mind?
That is how it looks like and how can we trust this probe, when the chair of the committee can just override the rules. Gets extended and violate the laws to finish a probe into dealings done by the BoU. We can really wonder if the report will be juicy or be watered down juice. Certainly, I cannot trust it now. Not that I ever did, but before, they at least acted like they cared about protocol. Now, it is just pointless exercise of power. Without any rules, as the Speaker can overrule everyone. As she wants. That is the memo, we have gotten this week. Peace.


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Cooperation partners
Everything at hand: Messer as a medical partner
Messer is active in the medical business in over 25 countries. As a medical gas supplier, we have strong partnerships with our business partners and aim to have long-term success collectively.
Messer cooperates with the device manufacturer, EKU and offers their nitric oxide dosage units together with medical gases from Messer.
EKU is a medium-sized German company, specialized in the development and manufacturing of electronic products in the field of ventilation, anesthesia, medical gas therapy and medical measurement technology.
According to the requirements of Messer's customers, EKU delivers nitric oxide dosage units; thereupon a Product Specialist from Messer takes over the organisation of maintenance and calibration services and gives user trainings regarding the demanded products.
Therefore, Messer makes sure that their customers receive services from one source including sales and maintenance of the devices as well as gas supply.
Messer cooperates with Porter Instrument (a business unit of Parker Hannifin) featuring the trade names PORTER and MATRX. Porter and Matrx products are widely used in dental and medical offices throughout North America, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Australia.
Porter Instrument, (founded in 1968) is based near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA, and is one of the global leading suppliers of nitrous oxide and oxygen conscious sedation delivery systems, specializing in the measurement and control of gases in critical applications. The company supplies dental and medical devices through a worldwide distribution network, that help to reduce pain, anxiety, and enables patients to overcome their fear of dentistry or other medical procedures.
Messer and Porter/Matrx cooperate on various levels: Messer supports training courses for dental and medical practitioners in the technique of nitrous oxide and oxygen sedation with sponsorship and by providing gas for the practical sessions, and also supplies nitrous oxide and oxygen directly to Porter/Matrx's customers and distributors in various countries.
In Germany, Messer works closely with Baldus Medizintechnik. Their medical equipment is applied for sedation in dental treatments in order to reduce pain sensitivity and make patients feel more relaxed.
Baldus Medizintechnik, a family-owned business, has provided services for customers in medical technology industry for over 25 years. They focus on the German market and offer various certificated medical devices to hospitals, surgery centres, laboratories and dental practices. Their competence and knowledge enables them to support their clients with high product quality and safety.
According to the needs of Baldus' customers and in relation to the relevant national and European standards, Messer delivers the requested medical gases, in the demanded size and quantity. Baldus is therefore, able to provide customers with a one-stop service – devices, maintenance, planning and technical upgrades for the nitrous oxide sedation therapy as well as the medical gases from Messer.
Salvia Medical, a German cooperation partner of Messer, supplies Messer customers with nitric oxide dosing devices from various manufacturers and also offers comprehensive services.
With over 60 years' experience and expertise in ventilation technology, Salvia medical is one of the leading technology providers of devices for clinical ventilation and respiratory therapy. Their products are used in intensive-care units, the field of intermediate care, emergency rooms, in anesthesia, on regular wards or in home care.
The cooperation in Germany focuses on customer requirements comprising consulting, individual planning, safety-relevant trainings for users, the delivery of the corresponding therapy device including service and maintenance.


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The Master Flyer program was instituted to recognize those individuals who are able to consistently fly quality Birmingham Rollers. Below you will find the policy that outlines how the program works.
There are three web pages containing information on the Master Fly.
- A list ranking the participants
- The detailed data for all the flys and fliers
- An Excel spreadsheet that can be downloaded that contains both sets of data.
Master Flier Award Program Official Policy
Policy Title: Master Flier Award Program
Policy Number: NBRC 003
Effective Date: February 21, 2009
Last Revision Date: February 21, 2009
One of the NBRC's objectives is to continually seek ways to encourage competition while promoting the Birmingham Roller as a performing bird. The Master Flier Award Program was established as a means of recognizing those skilled fliers of Birmingham Rollers, who consistently have their kits performing on a higher level than most, and is based on a points system that gives competitors a means of distinguishing themselves from the roller community in general. To accumulate points towards recognition as a Master Flier, one must compete in a regional, national, or international competition recognized by the NBRC.
003.01 A flier, regardless of membership, shall earn a cumulative total of 750 points in order to become certified as a Master Flier. NBRC members having reached the status of Master Flier will be presented a plaque in recognition of his or her achievement. Prior to 2002, points were awarded for placement on various levels of competition, but are now restricted to placement in NBRC Flys and World Cup competition; points accumulated shall be based on the points system in use at the time of such competition. Results of all NBRC Fly and World Cup competition events dating back to their inception are inclusive in the standings. Master Flier points previously recorded from state flies, local club contests, and special event competitions, earned prior to 2002 are inclusive in the standings, however no more shall be added.
003.02 Master Fliers may continue to accumulate points beyond the Master Flier requirement. NBRC members accumulating a total of 1500 points, with at least 750 of those points earned from NBRC events, shall receive a Master Flier Lifetime Achievement Award (MFLA). Recipients of the MFLA shall be presented a plaque in recognition of their accomplishment and shall be granted a lifetime membership to the NBRC.
003.03 Master Flier points shall be accumulated based upon the total number of kits flown in a respective competition. In the event a Finalist/Qualifier from a regional competition decides not to participate in the Finals and defers to the next lower placing competitor, both shall receive Master Flier points based upon their original regional finishing positions. The new Finalist/Qualifier may continue on to earn more points based on his/her placement in the Finals.
003.04 The NBRC Vice-President shall be responsible for supervising and conducting the Master Flier Program, but has the option to delegate the administration of updating and inputting the point system data to another individual.
003.05 A computer data base program shall be maintained for the purpose of updating, posting and preserving the data of the Master Flier Program. A backup copy of this program shall be kept by the NBRC Vice-President, the NBRC Secretary, and any individual delegated authority by the NBRC Vice-President to administrate the system. All password and log on information to this data program shall be shared with the NBRC Vice-President, NBRC Secretary, and any individual delegated authority by the NBRC Vice-President to administrate the points system. The data base program information shall be in a form that is accessible and can be managed by a person with basic computer skills using a common format, such as Excel or Microsoft Works. The Master Flier data shall be published at least once a year in the NBRC Bulletin and posted on the NBRC website for review. Once the transfer to a paperless system has occurred, no more research to recover undocumented points will be done.
003.06 The NBRC Regional Directors are responsible for reporting the scores of Regional competitions to the National Fly Director within one week of the close of the competition. The reports should include the following:
- The judge's name
- The name of the fliers
- The total score, including depth and quality multipliers or bonus points, DNF for did not fly, or DQ for disqualification.
- The name(s) of the qualifier(s)
The NBRC National Fly Director shall report Finals scores and placement directly to the NBRC Vice-President or his/her delegated individual responsible for recording the scores. In the interest of keeping the Master Flier points up to date, the NBRC Vice-President or his/her delegated individual may record World Cup scores posted through the official World Cup website or other official Bulletin upon verification of their accuracy. Accuracy can be verified through direct contact with the World Cup General Coordinator or Assistant General Coordinator.


text:
Ukraine jitters push crude oil above $100
Benchmark U.S. crude for June delivery gained 60 cents to $100.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, a benchmark for international varieties, rose 52 cents to $108.41 on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
Traders are worried about turmoil in Ukraine and the prolonged disruption of oil exports from Libya despite muted demand and plentiful supplies.
Pro-Moscow insurgents in eastern Ukraine declared independence Monday and sought to join Russia. The Ukrainian and Western governments have condemned the rushed referendum as a sham and a violation of international law.
There are concerns that Russian energy exports to Europe could be interrupted if further instability in Ukraine results in stronger Western sanctions. On Monday, Moscow said it had no intention to annex Ukraine's eastern provinces, while the European Union added 13 people to its list of 48 Russians and Ukrainians punished with visa bans and asset freezes over the Ukraine crisis.
In other energy futures trading in New York:
— Wholesale gasoline added 2 cents to $2.91 a gallon.
— Heating oil gained 1 cent to $2.92 a gallon.
— Natural gas fell 10 cents to $4.43 per 1,000 cubic feet.
By Pablo Gorondi
Associated Press
Ukraine jitters push crude oil above $100 Reviewed by luis on 5/13/2014 Rating:


text:
table of contents
|Kernel Developer's Manual
NAME¶new_unrhdr, delete_unrhdr, alloc_unr, free_unr — kernel unit number allocator
SYNOPSIS¶#include <sys/systm.h> struct unrhdr *
new_unrhdr(int low, int high, struct mtx *mutex); void
delete_unrhdr(struct unrhdr *uh); int
alloc_unr(struct unrhdr *uh); int
alloc_unrl(struct unrhdr *uh); void
free_unr(struct unrhdr *uh, u_int item);
DESCRIPTION¶The kernel unit number allocator is a generic facility, which allows to allocate unit numbers within a specified range.
- new_unrhdr(low, high, mutex)
- Initialize a new unit number allocator entity. The
low and high arguments specify
minimum and maximum number of unit numbers. There is no cost associated
with the range of unit numbers, so unless the resource really is finite,
INT_MAXcan be used. If mutex is not
NULL, it is used for locking when allocating and freeing units. Otherwise, internal mutex is used.
- delete_unrhdr(uh)
- Destroy specified unit number allocator entity.
- alloc_unr(uh)
- Return a new unit number. The lowest free number is always
allocated. This function does not allocate memory and never sleeps,
however it may block on a mutex. If no free unit numbers are left,
-1is returned.
- alloc_unrl(uh)
- Same as alloc_unr() except that mutex is assumed to be already locked and thus is not used.
- free_unr(uh, item)
- Free a previously allocated unit number. This function may require allocating memory, and thus it can sleep. There is no pre-locked variant.
CODE REFERENCES¶The above functions are implemented in sys/kern/subr_unit.c.
HISTORY¶Kernel unit number allocator first appeared in FreeBSD 6.0.
AUTHORS¶Kernel unit number allocator was written by Poul-Henning Kamp. This manpage was written by Gleb Smirnoff.
|February 7, 2010


text:
I am a licensed agent for Travel Guard Insurance. Due to the recent outbreak of swine flu it's a good time to remind you, BUY TRIP INSURANCE.
I am again strongly recommending Cancel for Any Reason Protect Assist Trip Insurance. Purchase within 15 days of your first payment for the best coverage. There is no reported Swine Flu in Bonaire. I have seen many clients lose significant money when they would not have had they purchased trip insurance. Most clients save all year for their two weeks in paradise. Surely the investment is worth the added protection of trip insurance. Hurricane season commences in June. If you are headed to the Caribbean it is even more prudent to be covered. Email me at email@example.com for details.
Tags: Swine Flu and Travel, Travel Guard, Trip cancellation insurance


text:
I have a Like New Spongebob Figurine Toy Figure for sale! This is in excellent condition and would look great in your child's room or to give as a gift.
Comes from a non-smoking household. Do not miss out on this excellent opportunity to get this for a fraction of the cost! For more details, please see the pictures or email me.
Also, I'm selling quality merchandise in excellent condition. Please see my other listings.
* If you can see this ad, the item is available. Please provide your phone number to be contacted sooner.


text:
For some reason, I had not heard of this couple of "miracles" before. They were described to me by my good friend Aziz, a devout Muslim and certainly not an extremist. Not all devout Muslims advance false theories to advance their beliefs. I daresay not Aziz– an intelligent, smart, modern, broad-minded and fashionable young man.
These are the two alleged events that Aziz so proudly narrated to me (while also making a passing remark that Michael Jackson had converted to Islam before his death):
One, Neil Armstrong, who landed on the moon forty-one years ago, 'scientifically' proved that Mecca is the Centre of the Earth.
Two, Sunita Williams has converted to Islam after seeing Mecca and Medina from her perch in space three years ago. The two holy sites shone through the stiff darkness of its surroundings. Williams, convinced it was a miracle, converted to Islam soon after landing back on terra firma.
I said to Aziz: the centre of the earth, which is obviously a sphere, has to lie in its core. Let us say you mean the centre of the surface of the earth. How can a sphere, say a football, have a specific point as its centre? You put a point anywhere on the ball and it would be the centre for you. Greenwich village was arbitrarily selected as the 'centre' (timezonewise) for marking a universal standard time; nobody calls it a holy place – not even the British hardcore protestant Christians. Granted, Muslims all over the world –Sunnis, Shias, the discredited Ahmadiyas, all turn towards Mecca to say their prayers. For reasons of their faith, they consider it the central point of their devotion. If they jointly want to set their clocks to the Arabian Standard time displayed by the new huge clock (four faces; each 151 feet in diameter – nearly seven times as large as the faces of Big Ben) set up at 2000 feet height by the Government of Saudi Arabia, fine. Aziz and I will soon learn to calculate my time with respect to each other's watch, just as my friend Llewelyn in Australia and I do every time when we fix up our chat dates.
I looked up the internet to see what was the "scientific proof" advanced by Neil Armstrong to show that Mecca is at the centre of our world.
Here is that alleged proof:
"Neil Armstrong proved Makkah the center of the earth.
The centrality of Makkah has been proved scientifically.
When the astronauts travelled to outer space and took pictures of the earth they saw that it is dark, hanging sphere. Astonished, Neil Armstrong said: Earth is a dark hanging sphere, who hung it? Armstrong was basically trying to say ALLAH is the one who hung it. "
Now any luminous sphere you see from the dark space would seem suspended. Children from all places and all times have asked the same question: "Papa, who hung that moon up there?" .Our lonely, beautiful blue (not dark) planet is indeed suspended in space by the many gravitational and centrifugal forces that keep it there. If Armstrong, a Christian, was basically trying to say Allah is the one who hung it, he didn't say it. That presumption far exceeds Zakir Naik's 'scientific proofs'.
There was another more forceful internet (and other media) claim on Armstrong's conversion to Islam. (That he heard the call for prayer while in space). This was answered by the great man himself as recently as 2005 while in a Muslim-dominant Country:
"Neil Armstrong participated in the Global Leadership Forum in Malaysia on 6 September 2005. The Star Malaysia, currently the most widely read English newspaper in Malaysia, took the occasion to interview him on his moon landing mission with Apollo 11. In the article, Armstrong recalls moon landing, published on 7 September 2005, both in print and online, one finds this statement:
"Armstrong, 75, also denied he had heard the Muslim call to prayer on the moon and had converted to Islam."
Mas'ud Ahmed Khan, certainly no nonbeliever, wrote:
"NO, this keeps popping up time and again, from what I gather Neil Armstrong is not and was never a Muslim, he lives in the US and is a bit of a recluse, he occasionally lectures. Someone told me that he explicitly denied being a Muslim and does not know how the rumour started. It is sad that some Muslims make up stories that have a snowball effect and sooner or later become a "fact" that Muslims boast about can you imagine what impression we give to those who know about Armstrong?
wa'as-Salaam Mas'ud
Mas'ud hit the nail on its head. False propagandists do not serve the cause of their faith. They trivialize it.
Now take this:
"During a conference in Qatar, they Muslim scientists argued that Mecca is the true Center of Earth. They claimed that since the longitude of Mecca was in perfect alignment with the Earth, it is time to replace the GMT, so far the Universal Standard Time with Mecca Time."
The longitude of Mecca city is 39 degrees, 45 Minutes East. You might give or take a minute or two for the exact site of Holy Kaaba. The city's latitude is 21 degrees, 29 minutes North. You have got these figures assuming the internationally accepted (for now) but arbitrarily selected Greenwich village to be running through zero longitude and the rather more correctly designated equator as zero latitude. The Holy City lies nowhere near the equator, which is one specific line you can mark as near-absolute (since it lies vertical to North-South magnetic field and slices the globe horizontally in near-equal halves). If the Muslim scientists wish to draw the zero-latitude line through Mecca, that is fine too. But I do not believe that the rest of the world would immediately follow suit and rewrite all their scientific calculations, Geopositioning systems, air-and-shipborne navigation instruments and all such rigmarole that science as we know it has evolved over the past two-hundred years through the efforts of western (largely Christian, if you wish to introduce religion into it) navigators and scientists.
A South Indian Hindu Pundit once told me that Lord Krishna specifically selected Guruvayoor in Kerala to be his permanent abode because that was the centre of earth!. He also claimed scientific proof. (These days every religious claim has a scientific proof that scientists have not heard of). I nodded a cynical nod and the Pundit walked away in disgust at my ignorance of science. Unlike with a lone Pundit in faraway Guruvayoor, you can't be cynical with a conference of scientists – Muslim scientists in this case. (I haven't heard much about Christian scientists, Jewish scientists nor of Hindu or Buddhist scientists – does science have a religion? There is a journal named Christian Science Monitor, of course). Now what is the other scientific proof advanced by the Muslim scientists who met in Qatar or Cairo? Mecca is equidistant from the North and South poles and hence it is magnetically the zero point. I do not know how you measure that distance. The magnetic poles shift from time to time (like the Centre of gravity of an airplane shifts as you move to the toilet and back), but let us say the length of the earth's magnetic field is constant. The real North and South poles, on the other hand, are known to be static (with respect to earth), and as I mentioned earlier, it is the equator that more or less falls equidistant to both. If there is a zero-(earth) magnetism point on Mecca, or any other city for that matter, then all the cities, towns, villages and hamlets that share the same latitude share that privilege. Another argument advanced is that the Holy city aligns with the North pole. The magnetic field of the earth (or any force field for that matter) is not a single line, but a whole field (like the atmosphere around us can be described as a field) surrounding the central line (which evidently runs through the core of the earth). In that sense, every point on earth aligns with the North pole – hold a compass, the magnetised needle aligns along the North-South Poles as existing at that point of time and place. If you manage to hold the compass right on top of the magnetic North Pole, you should expect it to flutter and hunt as would a direction-finding insturment over an electronic beacon.
Then you are told that there is an"infinite" radiation that emanates from the holy city that reaches every point in the universe without attenuation. If that radiation is one of divine blessing for believers, one can't – and mustn't – dispute it. There is no way to measure the effect of blessings except through faith and long-term experience. There are , indeed, Christian missionaries that "heal" cancer patients on the spot through prayers; but not even the church takes them seriously. There are Hindu Babas who claim to cure HIV and Aids through Yoga or mumbo-jumbo. That hasn't stopped India from having the highest number of HIV patients. So if this Islamic radiation is a physical phenomenon as understood by science – you should be able to measure electro-magnetic radiation by an oscilloscope or one of those radio detectors that hunt for extra-terrestrial signals round the clock.
If it is a nuclear radiation, then with a Geiger counter. Since this radiation (say of light energy because that is what Sunita Williams is claimed to have noticed) and of infinite and non-attenuating strength , you should have bright light all over the world day or night. Unless it was focussed towards space and extra-terrestrial objects. I have no argument against the belief that you get healthier by moving around the holy place any more than against someone else's belief that all one's sins are washed away by bathing in a pollluted, hearse-carrying Ganges. My disbelief lies in bringing the name of science into it.
Physicists tell us that there is a uniform microwave radiation present on our earth that probably permeates the whole universe. This is measurable; it measures equal strength whether you direct the microwave detector's directional antenna towards Saudi Arabia or the godless China. Our earth is nowhere in the centre of the universe of a million or more galaxies – it is not even in the centre of our own Milky Way. Imagine a swirling Juhu Beach to be the Universe. Now pick a single sand anywhere on this beach (galaxy). Fantasize a single molecule in that sand (a cluster of stars) and one random atom (solar system) in that molecule. In terms of relative size, our earth could be an electron circling the nucleus (sun) of that atom. (My analogy might not be technically right; I am just referring to the relative sizes). Which part of our chosen electron, or nucleus, or molecule or the particle of sand for that matter, can claim to be the centre of Juhu beach?
It was, indeed, the radiation of light (not microwave) energy that Williams is said to have noticed when flying over Mecca which instantly induced her to convert to Islam. This is what is said on internet, reproduced faithfully and with great conviction on many other websites:
"Sunita Williams accepted "ISLAM" Masha Allah, because when they were on the moon, they saw towards EARTH, the entire EARTH looked dark, but 2 places on the EARTH looked like SPARKS (Roshni). They were shocked to see that and saw them with the help of telescope and came to know that those two places were " MECCA " and "MADINA" Masha Allah. Then they decided that after reaching to earth they'll accept "ISLAM"
Not just Sunita Williams, but "they". Obviously meaning some other astronauts as well had seen the miracle and converted. We will stick to the case of Williams since other members of the "they" group are not specified.
Now, as far as we know, and I daresay as far as Sunita Williams or NASA knows, the lady has never been, and is most unlikely to ever be on the moon. But never mind that. Perhaps International Space Station, where the lady spent nearly six-and-a-half months, straddling two expeditions without a break, was mistaken for the moon. When she looked towards earth, the entire earth looked dark but for the two places that shone like sparks! ISS, as per NASA, flies 278 kms away from the earth at its lowest point of orbit, and 460 kilometres at its highest point. It takes about 90 minutes to make one revolution around the earth. With that speed, it sees only a fraction of the earth – something like 2 to 5% at any given time. Someone on board the ISS does not see earth like we see the moon (where we see only 50% of it on a full moon night). In none of the pictures produced by NASA or by Sunita Williams in her presentations is the whole earth dark – a physical impossibility). At night Continents shone like a smattering of stars with electric lights -New York, Boston, Paris etc among the brightest. Without any artificial lights Iceland shone the brightest of them all – the huge landmass of ice reflecting the skylights with incredible luminosity.
The two pictures reproduced by the Masha –Allah-Sunita-Williams-converted enthusiasts were never part of the pictures presented by Sunita Williams herself. As a person familiar with computer graphics, they look to me like parts of Google Earth Maps of Mecca and Madina, the contrast between the holy sites and their surrounding enhanced by a photo-editing software (possibly Photoshop).
Perhaps one among the faithfull realized it. A somewhat more restrained Internet claim says:
"Satellite Pictures of Makka and Madina of Saudi Arabia from Satellite by Sunita Williams.
Hey ppl…the scientists of NASA took these two pictures from one of their space satellites. Its clearly evident that while all of the world appears dark and gloomy, the Khanna Kabba looks like a shining star… Isn't it amazing "
One must admit that, even without a tricky photoshopping, the area around the Holy Kaaba – laid with pure white marble slabs does look bright when a Google Earth map is enlarged to display the city of Mecca. So it is with Medina. But this is also true of Taj Mahal in Agra, Akshar Dham in Gandhi Nagar – any site surrounded by white flooring or even John F Kennedy Centre for Performing Arts in Washington. None of them, however you might try, is any brighter than Iceland which has no claim to divinity! To my naked eyes, that is so with the universally revered sites of Mecca and Madina.
Sunita was interviewed by Ajith Balakrishnan of Rediff.com while still in flight, and by quite a few others, including Dilip Sardesai and school children from Singhania Education Centre when she visited India shortly after her space flight.
When boarding for her historic flight, she said she carried a copy of the Bhagwat Gita , a small statue of Ganesha and some Samosas. Later she ordered some more spicy food from the ground. I am repeating that not with any particular pride – but that is what she is said to have carried. Though not India-born, and only partly of Indian blood, she obviously loved things Indian. She ran a barefoot full Boston Marathon while in the Space Station. She walked three (or four?) times in space and watched a continent's shoreline (not Saudi Arabia) flit by while outside the spacecraft. She made a presentation of the modules on board the ISS and swam through empty space (as you would in water) to move from one module to the next. She cut her hair while there and brought the clippings to earth. She spoke to ground stations, to media editors and made presentations when back on earth. She wrote extensively on her mission logbook which is available on the 'Net, but there is no mention of seeing a bright Mecca or Medina and being overwhelmed enough to change her religion.If she produced a shining picture of the Holy City and thereupon converted to Islam, she concealed that fact all too well in her interviews. Nobody since then appears to have asked Sunita Williams directly if she is a Muslim. If she indeed is, there is no reason for her to conceal that fact any more than Barak Hussein Obama didn't have to hide his middle name before being elected to be the President of his supposedly anti-Muslim country.
Let's be fair. This is a tolerant world. Cassius Clay made no secret of the fact when he became Muhammad Ali. Fight managers continued to stage his fights and earn him (and themselves) good money. Ali drew crowds of all religious faiths wherever he went. His quotes are considered pearls of black pride. Jermaine Jackson made no secret of the fact that he had converted to Islam over 20 years ago, and even as late as 2007, was persuading his brother Michael to convert. If Michael Jackson didn't, and died and was buried as a Christian, that was of his own choice. No one, not even Jermaine, claimed to have heard Michael recite the Shahad. We have hundreds of Muslim singers, actors doctors and sportsmen -black, brown or white – not afraid to proclaim their faith. Omar Sheriff was not rejected by Hollywood on grounds of his faith. In the mid-nineteen-forties, a canteen contractor named Muhammad Yusuf Khan assumed the name Dilip Kumar to become a Hindi film actor. His director probably thought a Muslim name might not be acceptable enough for the Hindu audience. He was wrong. We have among us now a Dilip Kumar who converted and changed to be Allah Rakha Rehman. He continues to earn fame and fortune not just in India, but also in London and New York. We have amidst us a Muslim ex-president who vehemently supports India's nuclear efforts and can quote from Gita and Bible as well as from Qur'an without denouncing any. There is an array of Khans in Hindi film Industry with Hindu wives, sisters-in-law, Christian step mothers. There are Muslim women with Hindu and half-Hindu husbands without changing names and taking up conversion. Pakistani singers make their fortunes in India (though not vice-versa). One of the smartest and most vocal women in our colony is a Muslim married to a handsome Hindu Brahmin. Neither hides their beliefs nor change their names. If Sunita Williams did convert, she would have announced it from the rooftop as did Cassius Clay. So would the fearless recluse named Neil Armstrong. At his advanced age and perhaps not much time to meet his Maker, he would not dare deny Him and his true belief.
Let those who invent scientific theories and imaginary miracles by all means declare: "If you don't convert to my faith, you would certainly go to Hell. My Scripture says so."
But let them also remember these words from the same Holy Scripture:
109.002 I worship not that which ye worship,
109.003 Nor will ye worship that which I worship.
109.004 And I will not worship that which ye have been wont to worship,
109.005 Nor will ye worship that which I worship.
109.006 To you be your Way, and to me mine.
It is those words that persuade the knowledgeable Muslims declare with conviction that theirs is a tolerant, peaceful religion. Can someone, please, read that passage aloud to Mullah Amar (since he can't read) and recite it to the ocean so Osama Bin Laden may hear it from somewhere at its bottom?
1. The Holy Quran-English Translation: http://www.jannah.org/qurantrans/
2. http://www.answering-islam.org/Hoaxes/neil.html
3. http://www.nowpublic.com/world/mecca-true-center-earth
4. SWilliams speaks from space : http://ishare.rediff.com/video/entertainment/sunita-williams-speaks-from-space/1161594
5. Photos of earth : http://www.slideshare.net/LawrenceCarson/astronaut-sunita-williams-pics-of-earth
6. Video: (Evidently photos knitted together): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUL112I__Gc
7. –http://www.scribd.com/…/Neil-Armstrong-Proved-Makkah-the-Center-of-the-Earth
8. Sunita Williams mission logbook: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition15/journal_sunita_williams_8.html
9. Pictures of space by SW : http://www.willowcreeklife.com/space.html
10. Stephen Hawking, "A Brief History of Time". Space Times Publications, 1988
11. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1342740/posts


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Pinterest recently announced some changes aimed at business users, including new business-specific accounts that seem to be the Pinterest equivalent of Facebook brand pages.
First on the list of changes is a new set of terms aimed specifically at businesses. The business terms give guidance on how to best use the site, and they also allow Pinterest to separate the provisions meant specifically for business owners as opposed to individual users. There is a completely separate set of terms meant for individuals using the site.
Next up, Pinterest now offers verified accounts specific to business users. Now, when new users sign up for Pinterest they can choose between signing up as an individual as a business. And for those already using Pinterest, accounts can be converted by simply providing some information about the business and agreeing to the business terms.
In terms of the resources Pinterest has provided for business users, case studies showing how the platform can be effective for businesses seem to be at the top of the list. The case studies use examples of campaigns from companies that use Pinterest, such as Etsy, Allrecipes, and Jetsetter, that can give users ideas for their own campaigns or uses for the platform.
In the above photo, you can see examples of how travel site Jetsetter has built an online community of travelers through Pinterest promotions.
The site has also published a list of best practices for businesses, including uploading personal content, building a community, and including thoughtful descriptions. Pinterest has included a guide for using the site's marketing materials like the Pin It button and Follow buttons while complying with trademarks and other rules.
With the thousands of businesses already using Pinterest, it makes sense that the site would add some tools and accounts specifically catered toward these users. This move could also signal intentions for the site to monetize its base of business users with future advertising options similar to those offered on other social sites like Facebook and Twitter.
More in: Pinterest


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Back by popular demand, NCM Fathom, Turner Classic Movies, and Warner Bros. bring Casablanca back to select movie theaters nationwide for a final one night showing on Thursday, April 26th at 7:00 p.m. (local time) in a 70th Anniversary Encore Event! Casablanca is a classic tale of unrequited love and is a project that defined the "golden age" of Hollywood and allowed audiences to fall in love with cinema all over again. Turner Classic Movies Presents Casablanca 70th Anniversary Encore Event is the final opportunity to see this stunning digital presentation grace the silver screen on Thursday, April 26th at 7:00PM (local time).
TCM Presents Casablanca 70th Anniversary Event Encore is not showing in any theaters in the area.


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This is the start of a series of articles about agile development. The motivation behind writing these articles is to expand my knowledge of the topic by explaining how I currently understand it. I imagine feedback from readers about their own experiences and understanding of the topics discussed could help my own comprehension of the material.
This entry focuses on some basic vocabulary used in the project management side of agile practices. The vocabulary presented here concentrates on requirement gathering, describing deliverables and estimation and will be used in later articles in this series.
My Experiences
The game team I am currently on use scrum (though purists would called it "scrum but") which is common methodology adopted for managing time on an agile project. I have myself used "agile" style development practices like unit testing and continuous integration (using NUnit, Cruise Control .Net and Trac) in my past life outside of the games industry. I have made sure to make time to read about these agile practices for years.
Most of the week beginning 8th of February 2009 I took part in a lab called Agile Development in C# and I had a glimpse of techniques used in teams around the mother-ship. Spending the week building a project, managing the backlog and taking turns at being the scrum master and team lead was a very educational experience. "Living it" with guidance in this way was like a crucible of learning (there was an element of competition too). It was very rewarding yet quite draining!
My current lead developer attended the same course – thus I am more confident about "buy-in" of some agile practices at that level because of the extra common ground that brought me. I have already had the opportunity to apply some development techniques discussed in that course to the main code base I work with day to day.
Vocabulary: User Stories
User stories are requirements written from the perspective of the customer. A collection of user stories make up the "product backlog" and can be prioritised by how important they are to the user. This allows the developer to concentrate on things that would be immediately useful to the customer for when a vertical slice of the product is delivered at the end of the "sprint".
A user story is an expression of what they want and why, rather than any technical detail of the how.
A good example might be: "I would like my lawn to be short so it is pleasant to lay back and read in the garden."
A poor example might be: "Mow lawn to 2 cm using a rotary petrol mower."
The user stories concentrate on requirement gathering and intent. These stories help communicate how the development team understand the requirements. They also allow quick feedback from the user on any good or bad assumptions made.
Vocabulary: Story Points
Story points were introduced as a way of quantifying an estimate of a user story. Where as estimates are usually expected as a duration, story points are based on an estimation of size and complexity.
For example a gardener might want to estimate the size of the lawn, see how overgrown it is and how much edge work would be necessary to keep it neat before attempting to estimate a time. Depending on weather conditions on the day, it may even take slightly longer on some days than others.
The customer expects a regular fee and period of time spent in the garden rather than taking in to account difficulties from one week to the next. One week the garden may not have grown very much and the whole thing will be quicker to complete. Perhaps the gardener might take the time to make nice little extra touches to the garden to add value that easier week where there is ample time left over.
So a story point is not directly translatable to time because of the various unknowns. The number of story points against something keeps track of how much effort will be required – something with more story points is harder to complete.
Vocabulary: Tasks
Tasks are derived from breaking a user story down in to small chunks of functionality. These tasks are estimated in hours (or story points). The estimated time remaining is updated daily during the scrum.
A task is only counted as "done" when it is verified. A consistent measurement of "done" is important so it can be signed off for the sprint. Quality gates can be used to measure if something is actually complete. This could include passing tests and automated code quality tools.
Once all the tasks for a user story have been completed, functionally tested and verified, then it can be taken from the product backlog.
For example tasks for large garden could be (in the form of Task (verify) – duration):
- Mow lawn (lawn appears visibly shorter. Regular straight lines can be seen in the grass) – 2 hours
- Tidy garden and rake lawn (no debris can be seen on the lawn or path, grass cuttings bagged and loaded) – 1 hour
Vocabulary: The Daily Scrum
The Daily Scrum is often a short morning stand-up meeting only including people doing the work itself. The scrum master role can be taken up by any member of the team. The scrum master asks the questions:
- What did you do?
- What will you do today?
- What is blocking you?
The estimates are updated on the current tasks, and the scrum master goes about trying to unblock the team where they are blocked. Blockages could be something technical, through to waiting on another team to complete a task.
Continuing the gardening example – if the gardeners have noticed the lawn mower blades have become blunt and causing the team to slow down, it would be up to the scrum master to communicate with the tools team and ask them to sharpen the lawn mower blades.
Vocabulary: Sprints
A selection of user stories are chosen for the sprint. Stories can be added or dropped from a sprint, but the deadline for a deliverable does not change. If the deliverable, demonstrable version of the software is created ahead of time and the team feels confident they can take another story from the backlog and if it's too big, break it down where possible.
The idea of a sprint is to always have something to show for the work everyone has done at a regular interval, to allow the users to feed back. At the point a sprint begins, the requirements of the stories they are working on are locked. A sprint can be completely aborted, or a story dropped… but the requirements of an existing story should not change. The motivation is that the team are not aiming for a moving target and can concentrate on getting the unit of work done.
Ideally each sprint delivers a vertical slice to show progress. For the running gardening example I have been using – this might be completing the more simple front garden entirely to prove the gardeners have understood the requirements sufficiently to maintain the garden to the customer expectations. It also gives the customer an opportunity to feedback or change their mind "actually, I want my lawn to have circles rather than lines".
Vocabulary Cheat Sheet
|Daily Scrum
|Short stand-up meeting. What did you do? What will do today? What is blocking you?
|Product backlog
|Prioritised list of user stories.
|Quality gate
|Checklist of things to verify work against before it is counted as completed.
|Scrum master
|Leads daily scrum. Tracks work completed and remaining, and organises removal of things blocking the team. Ideally a role rotated between members of the team.
|A period of time where user stories are chosen to work on. External influences are not allowed to change the requirements of the stories being worked on. Sprints are a fixed length, but stories can be postponed or additional ones taken from the backlog.
|Story points
|Unit of estimation measuring complexity.
|A user story can be broken down in to one or more tasks. Tasks are estimated daily in hours (or story points) remaining by the developer working on them.
|User stories
|User requirements expressed in sentences from the customer perspective.
|Vertical slice
|Showing off a feature in an application that works from start to finish but may be limited in scope. For example a rope bridge crossing a chasm is immediately useful and allows people to cross. Having that in place can help to build a better bridge later.
Some of my references are company confidential and cannot be shared here – the web is full of useful information though. The sites below are useful launch pads to further reading.
- Agile manifesto clearly states the priorities of an agile developer: http://www.agilemanifesto.org/
- Wikipedia has a good overview of scrum and vocabulary discussed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrum_(development)
- Pragmatic Programmers (I've been a fan of their books for quite some time): http://www.pragprog.com
EDIT: Thought of a few more references:
- Jeromy Walsh via Joel Bennett's blog for subconsciously planting the idea of a rope bridge I used in my vertical slice definition.
- Agile game development site: http://www.agilegamedevelopment.com/
- Laura Brandau's blog about her experiences with Agile development: http://www.bridging-the-gap.com/
- Andy Barton recommended this to me the other day, but have not had a chance to look at it yet: http://www.infoq.com/minibooks/scrum-xp-from-the-trenches
Please comment any useful links you have stashed away 🙂


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I've been meaning to get better about posting, but my schedule has been full and keeping me busy — 3rd grade is for real!
Anyway, some highlights from the last few weeks…I passed my Green Belt test in Taekwondo so I'm one step closer to being a lethal weapon.The test was harder because there was a lot more material to know, but Confucius says "the man who chases two rabbits catches none." In other words, focus is key so that is what I did. I centered myself and calmed my nerves and performed like a high-kicking, board-breaking rock star!
Over the past couple of weeks I also got in touch with another side of my roots by going to the Greek Food Festival with daddy and grannie. This is the side my last name comes from, but we know very little about so we figured we could get caught up at a festival — yeah, not so much. But we did have some fun playing with sand. Opa!
And then here's a couple of pics from when grannie came to have lunch with me for grandparent's day and then GiGi and I tying to get some rest. The pic with grannie was sneaky on my part because she told me she wanted to take a selfie in my cafeteria and didn't want me in it, but I photobombed with a big smile and showed her….hmmmm….I may have been played, nah! I'm sure she really came to have lunch with me hoping to get a selfie without me in the picture.
Filed under: Friends, Taekwondo | Tagged: Board break, Grannie, Greek Food Festival, Opa!, Taekwondo | Leave a comment »


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Prime Phyllotaxis Spirals
The phyllotaxis spiral is one of the classical forms of mathematics, and there is a wonderland of resources available online both images and explanations. The basic idea is to put points round in a spiral with the same angle between each point. This gives a family of forms:
Note that, as the angle changes the dots sometimes pack in better than others, this can actually be studied and the best packing is related to the golden ratio. The points in this spiral are placed down in order, so we can associate each to a whole number:
Now when I see a lit of numbers like this, I want to pull out the primes, see what pattern they make:
There are some hints at patterns, lets expand out, and look just at dots:
There seem to be spiral arms which are richer in prime numbers than others. We can analyse things further by colouring each number depending on its prime factors. The more prime factors the lighter the number, giving the image for the start of this post:
Now there is a clear pattern, light and dark arms spiraling out. Can we understand this pattern?
Think about the construction of a phyllotaxis pattern we turn the same angle every time, that means within a particular pattern we can find other phyllotaxis patterns. The one at twice the speed, three times the speed and so on. For example we could dive our pattern into two patterns each with twice the rotation angle. This gives:
All prime number (other than 2) are odd, so they must lie on the subspiral corresponding to the odd numbers. In addition it turns out that the spiral arms that we see are related to the Fibonacci numbers (themselves closely linked to the Golden Ratio). The particular curves we see relate to 144. Here is the spiral given by multiples of 144, pulling out just one such curve:
Note that in the prime factor picture this curve gives a very light line as every number in it is a multiple of 144, and 144 itself has 6 prime factors (three twice and two four times). Taking the multiples of 6 instead of 144 (which gives us several of these curves as 6 divides 144) we see another pattern of lines that are light in the image:
More importantly the curves next to these ones give numbers one more or less than a multiple of six. Every prime number has this form (all other numbers are multiples of 2 or 3 or both). This gives the curves of prime numbers we saw.
So by considering the construction of the initial image it begins to reveal its secrets. Yet, just as with the primes on their own there seems to be plenty of mystery left for investigation…


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Chris Highcock over at Conditioning Research has just released a new ebook on strength training for hikers: Hillfit: Strength. Hiking is one of my favorite hobbies. I particularly like walking up hills and mountains. If you're ready to reap the benefits of resistance training, this jargon-free plan is an excellent starting point, and may be all you'll ever need. Even if you never go hiking.
Chris is a fitness columnist for "TGO (The Great Outdoors)." He lives and hikes in Scotland. Chris's goal with the program is to increase your enjoyment of hiking by increasing your level of fitness.
He clearly presents four basic home exercises requiring no special equipment; they're bodyweight exercises. You get it done in 15 minutes twice a week! The key is to do one set of each exercise, slowly, to exhaustion. What's slow? Ten seconds for both lift and lowering. For instance, when you do the push-up, you push up over the course of 10 seconds, then let your body down slowly over 10 seconds. The exercises are for both upper and lower body.
I'm reading about similar exercise ideas from Skyler Tanner, Doug McGuff, Nassim Taleb, Jonathan Bailor, and Doug Robb. Bailor, in his recent book, also recommends only four exercises. Highcock's look a little safer for rank beginners.
The idea is to recruit three different types of muscle fiber during the muscle's movement. If you move explosively and finish too soon (get your mind out of the gutter!), you're only using one type of muscle fiber (fast twitch, I think). You want to stimulate a strength and growth response in all three types of muscle fiber. And explosive or rapid movements are more likely to cause injury, without any benefit.
Once you get the basic program down, Chris takes you through some easy variations (called progressions) to make the exercises gradually harder, so you continue to improve your strength and fitness.
Chris understands that many folks can't do a single push-up. He takes you through pre-push-up movements to get you prepared to do actual push-ups. This goes for all four exercises. I bet even my little old lady patients could use this program. (This is not blanket clearance for everybody to use this program; I don't need the lawsuits. Get clearance from your own doctor first.)
The exercises incorporate our five basic movements: push, pull, squat, bend/hinge, walk/gait. The four exercises are: wall sit (squat), push-up, modified row, and hip extension.
My only criticism of the book is that Chris should have used young, attractive, bikini-clad models to illustrate the exercises. The existing photos are clear and helpful, however.
But seriously, the only suggestion I have for the next version of Hillfit would be to mention that it will take a couple or three weeks to see much, if any, improvement in strength once you start the program. Same for when you increase the workload with the exercise progressions. Perhaps this is in there, but I missed it. You don't want people quitting in frustration that they're not seeing progress soon enough.
The author provides scientific references in support of his program, so he didn't just make this stuff up. Only one of the references involved mice!
Several "take home" points for me personally are: 1) stretching before or after exercise does nothing to prevent injury or soreness, and may hurt short-term athletic performance, 2) don't hold your breath, 3) train to "momentary muscular failure." I'm not entirely sure what momentary muscular failure means. It may not be Chris's term, but it's prominent in one of his best scientific references. I use free weights and don't think I can safely go 100% to momentary muscular failure. Hitting momentary muscular failure, by the way, is more important than the amount of weight you're moving.
Highly recommended.
PS: I'd like to see Hillfit available on Amazon's Kindle and Barnes and Noble's Nook.
PPS: When you go to the Hillfit website to order, you'll find the price is £9.95 (that's GBP, British pounds sterling). I've never ordered anything priced in GBP. In today's U.S. dollars, that's a little under $16.00. You can pay via PayPal or a major credit card. I assume the conversion from one currency to another is automatic and seamless. I don't know if there's a extra fee by the payment processor for doing the conversion.
Disclosure: Chris kindly sent me a free digital copy of his ebook. I don't know Chris. I will receive no remuneration for this review, nor for book sales.