text:
A Journey Remembered
by Adolf J. Volk, Regina, Saskatchewan, member of the Journey to the Homeland Tour, May 16-26, 2013
In May, I joined a Germans from Russia Homeland Tour organized by the Germans from Russia Heritage Collection situated at the North Dakota State University Libraries. It was a tour to Odessa, Ukraine and the German settlements of our ancestors who emigrated there at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century. We wanted to see the life that they had and to understand our heritage a little better. I had an additional, unique objective – to visit my birthplace.
When we met as a complete group on May 17, 2013 in Frankfurt, Germany, we introduced ourselves, spoke about our family background, and gave the reason for joining the tour. We visited and quickly realized that our stories were similar and that we wanted to learn about our people and pay homage to our ancestors. It was with a sense of kinship and much anticipation that this thirty-six member group began a pilgrimage to the "homeland." It was the beginning of an emotional roller coaster ride into our ancestral past.
As I stood on the top of the aircraft departure stairway in Odessa on a 32ºC day and looked at the surrounding country-side, I quickly became aware that this was a prairie summer and the area looked much the same as the central plains of the American north-west and the Canadian prairies. I felt very much at home. In fact, I was at home in that I was born in Odessa, Ukraine SSR. I was anxious to visit the place where I lived and the Odessa places of which my parents often spoke with much fondness as they shared their experiences with my brother and me.
The excitement of the visit followed quickly. As we approached our hotel, our tour guide explained the economics of purchasing water and other refreshments at a store about a block from our hotel as opposed to the high price charged at our hotel. My friend Peter and I quickly followed this suggestion. As we crossed the street to the store, I had an uncanny feeling that I was near the place where I had lived as a child. When we started to return, I again had a strong feeling of being close to my first home and mentioned it to my travelling companion. We did not know where we were because there were no street signs to give that information and, because street signs were written in Cyrillic language, we could not understand them. We returned to our hotel and joined the group for our welcoming dinner.
At the end of the dinner, the tour guide again suggested the purchase of liquid refreshment at the store "just up the street on Pushkinskaya Street," the street that we were on a short time before. We bolted from the room and within five minutes stood in front of 69 Pushkinskaya Street, facing the second floor apartment – my home for the first two years of my life. Ironically, I returned to that spot 69 years later.
We stood there in silence, staring at the apartment building. In my mind's eye, I saw the life that I imagined in that apartment. I saw me sitting on a couch on the balcony of which I have a photograph. I saw my older brother playing with me. I saw my father in his German army uniform and my mother preparing a meal. Through my tears, I saw my father carrying two suitcases and my mother holding us by the hand as we headed to an awaiting car to take us to the nearby railroad station to leave Russia with the retreating army. My parents knew that they would be separated for some time and that they might never see each other again. Tears streamed down my face as these images stirred my emotions and as I realized, once again, that I am the last survivor of that family unit.
I attended mass at the Church of the Assumption on the following day and I was impressed with the inside of the church and the number of people in attendance. It reminded me of another time when all the churches were closed, appropriated by the state, and converted into warehouses, granaries, or social centres. Lack of care and attention inexorably led to the decay of most of the church buildings. I imagined the agony that the Russian-Germans felt when they could no longer practice their faith.
Our tour of Odessa that afternoon was a journey into the past. Much of the old city has been restored although there is still much that remains unattended. We were taken to the area of the city that was once occupied by the wealthy and which is sprinkled with tributary statues among wonderful buildings and castle-like homes. We stood at the top of the famous Odessa steps that led to the ocean. We walked along the tree-lined promenade and we ended at the splendor of the Odessa Opera House. It was a "once-upon-a-time" glance into as city as it once was.
That evening, we attended the performance of Tchaikovsky's opera, "Iolanta" at the Odessa Opera House. While the outside of the building is beautiful, the inside is magnificent. It was wonderful to have prime seats and to be near the stage for a very affordable ticket price. It was heartening to look about the theatre and imagine my parents attending performances there seven decades before. I could feel their joy in being surrounded by this majestic theatre and its beautiful music. A good day ended.
The next two days were devoted to touring some of the Black Sea German villages. The people on the one hour drive down the Kurtschugan Valley to the first village in a twenty-passenger air conditioned van seemed to be pensive. Some quiet conversations could be heard but most people appeared to be wrapped in their thoughts as they looked at the same fields and gardens that our ancestors established and admired. The first stop gave a clear vision of reality and was the harbinger of what was to come.
The first impression of each village is one of neglect and ruin. In all of them, the symbol of one of the most important things in the lives of these settlers was their church—their place of worship as a community. They were magnificent cathedral-like structures with great architectural beauty that now stood in ruin or were completely gone. They were the places where people met, prayed and sang to the glory of God. They were the places where infants were baptised, children were confirmed, young people married and old people buried. They were the centre of the community, easily identified by their massive spires. The spires were torn down; the churches were shut and the clergy was banished, imprisoned or killed. The freedoms that the settlers were promised came to an end as the communists attempted to end any kind of religious activity. The church buildings became granaries, warehouses, or places for social activity. When the Russian-Germans were driven out of their villages and forever banned from returning to them, their churches soon deteriorated to the decaying walls and crumbling pillars of today.
The second impression was that the once-established homes, gardens, orchards, vineyards and fields that were confiscated from the Germans and given to the Russians, were not maintained and had the same fate as the churches. The few homes that remain are those that have had some attention and are still used but collectively they did not resemble what they were like when my parents and forefathers lived there. Baden, the village of my father, has completely disappeared with only a few houses remaining and those are now incorporated into another community. However, Elsaß (Alsace), my mother's village, remains viable.
When, on day two of our villages visit, we stopped on top of the hill on the entry road to Elsaß and disembarked, we beheld a beautiful and serene scene of fields with their emerging crops, cattle resting in the tall grass, summer skies and gentle breezes. We heard the distant sounds of activity in the village. I was standing at a place that my mother and her family once stood. I saw two women working in a garden and I imagined that this might have been what my mother would be occasionally doing as a teen-aged girl. The sounds and smells of the area made me feel at home. Our visit to the town school of 180 students brought us in contact with dedicated teachers trying to do the best that they can with limited resources. The students were interested in learning and were curious about visitors from America. The former church building with its absent dual steeples had had many iterations since its closure and now housed a community centre and a library. A new complex for the town was partly erected and still stands as it was in 1991 when Ukraine gained its independence but had no money to complete the building. The land surrounding the village remained as a state farm with most of the village people employed by the farm. I found my maternal grandfather's house and saw, from a distance, the stone quarry that he once owned and operated. The town was hanging on but its future may be in peril.
The third impression is one of poverty. Ukraine is poor and its people are poor, especially those who live in rural areas. The poor condition of homes, buildings and roads is very evident and they remain so because the Ukrainian government does not have the funds to maintain or repair them and most people eke out a living to enable them to feed their family and keep a roof overhead—to survive. There is little or no money to do anything else. Efforts are being made to improve their condition but the process will take time. Much of this is in sharp contrast with developments in the newer part of Odessa where glass towers and modern buildings indicate an influx of new money and new people seeking economic opportunities. There is a slow increase in entrepreneurialism and growth of the middle class which may lead to greater progress.
My fourth impression - the reality - is that there are virtually no German settlers remaining in Russia and Ukraine. The German Russian exodus began in 1871 when Czar Nikolas II took away the freedom from military conscription for the German settlers. It continued with Stalin's subsequent deliberate genocide directed at getting rid of the German people in Russia by killing over one million of them by execution or by sending them to forced labour camps in Siberia or Kazakhstan or other parts of Asian Russia without proper accommodation or food. It came to a final conclusion as the remaining Germans in Russia emigrated to Germany in the 1980s and 1990s when communism ended and Germans were permitted to leave Russia and Ukraine.
Their absence was evident as we visited the cemeteries in many of these villages and searched for familiar names or graves of ancestors. We could not find any evidence of the old cemeteries for the headstones had disappeared and the grave sites could not be identified. It was as if all traces of our people had been erased. I could not find any trace of my ancestors nor the grave of my oldest brother who I never knew. Only in Elsaß did we see the newly-found, characteristic wrought-iron cross that once stood high on the old cemetery and now stood as a tribute to the German families who founded and built the village.
As I boarded the airplane to go to Germany, I realized that I, too, was a German from Russia who fled on March 19, 1944, returned to my homeland in May, 2013 and now was leaving again. The lump in my throat as I said my last goodbye remained with me for a while. I knew that I was to learn more as our journey continued in Stuttgart.
As we visited the offices of the "Landsmannschaft der Deutschen aus Rußland" (The Brotherhood of the Germans from Russia) and the House of the Bessarabian-Germans, and attended a most wonderful evening with representatives of both groups, we learned of the work that these groups were doing to help Germans from Russia and to help others understand the plight of their people. When we heard their choir sing the old German songs of our people and heard the life story of each choir member, stories of hardship, loss and suffering and stories of joy in their ancestral homeland, we were deeply moved. We also realized that these stories had to be shared with our children and with a world that does not know what happened to this disappearing people. We realized, too, that the Germans from Russia endured many unbelievable hardships but know how to laugh and to enjoy the company of others. Their interaction with the tour members and the excellent traditional food they prepared for the evening showed that there is joy in survival and we all have reason to celebrate. Our shared, common characteristics and history connected us.
My fifth impression, then, is that the Germans from Russia are a distinct people. The shared heritage and maintenance of a rich culture over two centuries champions a sense of distinctiveness. Their religious conviction, values, sense of family, recognition of importance of education, strong work ethic, willingness to accept challenges, strong convictions, determination, readiness to help neighbours, singular ethnic peculiarities, frugality and diligence are common characteristics that make us a unique people.
The stories of the Germans from Russia have to be told. Their stories reveal the odyssey of individuals and a people and unveil a horrific cruelty and injustice that offers lessons to those who would listen. They can guide us as we move forward in our lives and teach us how minimize the possibility of such atrocities from recurring. The roots of what we do today lie in the past. The experiences of yesterday prepare us for our future and the new lessons that it brings. Though painful and unpleasant, we cannot escape our past. The experiences of our ancestors have instilled in each subsequent generation strength and character that we must continue to pass on. We cannot ignore history. Who will carry the message when the voices of the Germans from Russia become silent?
I have a newfound respect and much gratitude for the people who are taking the history of the Germans from Russia to others. I am grateful to Michael Miller from the Germans from Russia Heritage Collection at the North Dakota State University Libraries for his selfless dedication to keeping our story and those of our ancestors alive. I am in awe of the work that is being done in Germany, America, Canada and Brazil in adopting the cause and actively pursuing an awareness and information campaign. I am thankful to my fellow travellers on the 2013 Germans from Russia Homeland Tour. As the poet, Tennyson, said through the words of Ulysses, "I am a part of all that I have met,"… and they are a part of me.
The "Germans from Russia Homeland Tour" allowed me to learn about and reflect upon the lives of my parents and my ancestors and to understand my people and who and what I am. It made me realize the value of sharing my history with my children and grandchildren so that they too can remain connected to their history. This I resolve to do.
Finally, thank you, mom and dad, for making good choices.
Adolf J. Volk
[A proud German from Russia]


text:
I'm looking for a recipe for arepas. Can anyone help, and also steer me to the proper cornmeal/cornflour? In the groceries, I see masa for corn tortillas, but am not sure if that is what I should buy to make arepas. I've been wanting to make them ever since I heard an article on NPR about women cooking and selling arepas on the streets in New York City. They sounded delish!
Thanks much,
SD Susan

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Does Schedules Direct have, and if so, can their share, their JSON schema for their data?
Examples are always nice (and using the wiki for them has been what I have been doing), but having a schema eliminates certain interpretation issues.
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests


text:
2'6" x 6'3" / 75cm x 190cm
3'0" x 6'3" / 90cm x 190cm
4'0" x 6'3" / 120cm x 190cm
4'6" x 6'3" / 135cm x 190cm
5'0" x 6'6" / 150cm x 200cm
6'0" x 6'6" / 180cm x 200cm
With Promo Code Mattress20
On Orders Over £100
Available for you to pick
New Maze Rattan Ranges
On Trustpilot 36,838 Reviews
Relyon Wool 1090 6' Super King Mattress
Customer Price
Please note headboard is not included.
Please note wood may be visible through the Classic fabrics.
Divan base is manufactured by British Bed Company
is the level of support to the body, suitable for average to heavily weighted people. This is not a comfort rating.
in a 5'. Each spring is encapsulated in fabric, body moulding, no roll together, quiet and perfect for side sleeping.
fillings give natural warmth and comfort to this mattress, the best insulator going, just ask the sheep!
24 cm
creates a firmer edge to the pocket mattress, a very expensive process, only for top quality mattresses.
buttons evenly over the sleeping surface, keeping the fillings together and adding a tension to the springs.
This mattress is delivered rolled up for easy manoeuvrability. Please allow 4-24 hours for it to fully inflate.
Two sleeping sides, turn and rotate frequently.
Domestic Flamability Rated Source 2 for Low Hazard, General Domestic use
The manufacturer will provide a 5 year guarantee on this product against material faults & workmanship. More info
We offer FREE next working delivery between the hours of 8am - 6pm to UK mainland addresses. Orders below the value of £100 will incur a charge of £7.
We deliver free to the UK mainland and offer a charged service for addresses outside of the UK mainland


text: Hello all, I have banding this question around and I thought I would see if I get some people to "correct" any mistakes I have here. and yes I have read the FAQ's but they never answer the single question... what is a beowulf cluster. A Mosix cluster is an intel only cluster that needs. 1- All machines to be running the same kernel. ergo a homogenous cluster. 2-Fast networking. It provides the ability to automatically load balance the mebers of the cluster by transparently moving process between the cluster members. Weakness. 1-A process may only be movd if NO shared memory is being used. Beowulf seems to me to be a cluster of machines connected with a hihg speed networking fabric that then a secondary set of libraries is used to spawn the process on individual nodes. Depending on the software (and libraries) being used this may be a heterogenous cluster. Or at least this is what it seems to me. Anyone care to flame and set the record straight ???? Leslie Donaldson >Its becomming a bit confusing for me. >I can't seem to pin-out what is a better "standard" >for setting up a cluster ... MOSIX or BEOWULF . >And what is the difference between both of them > >Thanks >Cyrus -- /----------------------------\ Current Contractor: None | Leslie F. Donaldson | Current Customer : None | Computer Contractor | Skills: Unix/OS9/VMS/Linux/SUN-OS/C/C++/assembly | Have Computer will travel. | WWW : http://www.cs.rose-hulman.edu/~donaldlf \----------------------------/ Email: mail://email@example.com Goth Code V1.1: GoCS$$ TYg(T6,T9) B11Bk!^1 C6b-- P0(1,7) M+ a24 n--- b++:+ H6'11" g m---- w+ r+++ D--~!% h+ s10 k+++ R-- Ssw LusCA++


text:
Nursing Continuing Education – Interesting, Affordable and Convenient
Enjoy innovative, interesting, and informative wellness presentations for improved health and greater happiness. And earn nursing continuing education credit at the same time.
All of our programs are accredited to award nursing contact hours. Spectrum LifeWorks' one-hour online video presentations make it convenient for you to earn continuing education credits.
Follow these three easy steps to earn your nursing continuing education:
Choose a nursing continuing education program to view.
Watch your continuing education program within 30 days of purchase.
Receive your continuing education certificate once you complete your evaluation.


text:
FridgePad - Magnetic Refrigerator Mount for iPad
Sleek, simple, tool-free iPad mount
- No replicators yet, iPads are the next best thing
- Holds your iPad, iPad 2 or New iPad(3) firmly to the fridge
- Protection & convenience in one simple package
We're still waiting for starships and replicators. Alas, this means we're stuck in Sector 001 with only the supplies in our kitchen and our culinary skills to survive. The good news is that technology is already helping out in the kitchen. With the addition of the iPad to our families, we've been able to access millions of recipes from around the intertubes, bringing new flavors to our previously bored taste buds.
But we want to be sure our Precious is protected while in this land of gooey egg yolks, greasy peanut oil, and powdery sugar. In comes FridgePad, ready to save the day! It's the best no-tools iPad mount on the market and holds your iPad or iPad2 to the fridge so tightly that you can slam the door without fear. Check your email while waiting for coffee to brew, listen to music while washing the dishes, or catch up on your favorite TV shows while getting a bite to eat. Need to charge your iPad too? The super long PowerLine makes a great companion for the FridgePad.
Product Specifications
- Mount your iPad to your fridge with no tools!
- Keeps iPad safe & secure while you cook, clean, or eat
- Fast & easy iPad clip in and removal
- Full access to all ports and buttons
- Works in landscape or portrait orientation
- Can be easily removed or repositioned
- Does not mark or damage your fridge or iPad
- High strength magnet is 25x stronger than it needs to be
- Slam the door! Your iPad will stay safely attached - really!
- iPad, iPad 2 or New iPad(3)
- Apple Smart Cover compatible
- Nearly all refrigerators: FridgePad works on any fridge door that is made of steel and has a flat section at least 21cm x 16cm in size. This is a majority of fridge designs, but if your fridge has an extremely curvy door, FridgePad may not work on the front of your fridge.


text:
If you're already familiar with Flex and ActionScript, you will know how useful the listBase controls are to fast RIA development. When working with the List, Tree, DataGrids and other controls, you may first be looking to get over the hump of populating your control with the correct data. Understanding the breadth and depth of dataProviders is an article in itself (not discussed here).
Once you do have an understanding of them, you may be in a situation where you will need to do further manipulations, like sorting or filtering. The ActionScript library has a few nifty classes that work in conjunction with the ArrayCollection (used as a dataProvider for list-based controls) that help with this type of functionality. In this article I will build a basic application which uses an ArrayCollection as a dataProvider and apply sorting and filtering to it.
Building Our Application
To start with, let's talk about what we want to build. We really need a list of items that lend themselves to being sorted and filtered. For our data, we will use modern desktop and laptop computers. Because the DataGrid already has some built-in sorting, we will just use a plain List control to demonstrate sorting and filtering. I've purposely used the word Laptop, Netbook and Desktop for easy filtering.
Example Data:
Dell Mini 9 Netbook
Dell Inspiron 546 Desktop
Dell Inspiron 14 Laptop
Alienware Aurora Desktop
Alienware M17 Laptop
HP Pavillon p6100 Desktop
Compaq Presario CQ60Z Laptop
Toshiba Teca M10 Laptop
For the UI, we will want to allow the user to enter text which will filter the list. So, we will use a listControl and a TextInput Control. As the user types text in the TextInput, the list will remove items that don't match. Here is what our app looks like:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"
width="100%" height="100%">
<mx:HBox width="100%" height="25" verticalAlign="middle">
<mx:Label text="Filter"/>
<mx:TextInput id="search" width="100%"/>
<mx:List id="computers" width="100%" height="100%">
<mx:ArrayCollection id="computersCollection">
<mx:Object label="Dell Mini 9 Netbook"/>
<mx:Object label="Dell Inspiron 546 Desktop"/>
<mx:Object label="Dell Inspiron 14 Laptop"/>
<mx:Object label="Alienware Aurora Desktop"/>
<mx:Object label="Alienware M17 Laptop"/>
<mx:Object label="HP Pavillon p6100 Desktop"/>
<mx:Object label="Compaq Presario CQ60Z Laptop"/>
<mx:Object label="Toshiba Teca M10 Laptop"/>
You'll notice that we used the "default property" to set the dataProvider of the List. The List control could have also been written more explicitly as follows, where we specify the dataProvider.
<mx:List id="computers" width="100%" height="100%"> <mx:dataProvider> <mx:ArrayCollection id="computersCollection"> <mx:Object label="Dell Mini 9 Netbook"/> <mx:Object label="Dell Inspiron 546 Desktop"/> <mx:Object label="Dell Inspiron 14 Laptop"/> <mx:Object label="Alienware Aurora Desktop"/> <mx:Object label="Alienware M17 Laptop"/> <mx:Object label="HP Pavillon p6100 Desktop"/> <mx:Object label="Compaq Presario CQ60Z Laptop"/> <mx:Object label="Toshiba Teca M10 Laptop"/> </mx:ArrayCollection> </mx:dataProvider> </mx:List>
<mx:List id="computers" width="100%" height="100%">
<mx:ArrayCollection id="computersCollection">
<mx:Object label="Dell Mini 9 Netbook"/>
<mx:Object label="Dell Inspiron 546 Desktop"/>
<mx:Object label="Dell Inspiron 14 Laptop"/>
<mx:Object label="Alienware Aurora Desktop"/>
<mx:Object label="Alienware M17 Laptop"/>
<mx:Object label="HP Pavillon p6100 Desktop"/>
<mx:Object label="Compaq Presario CQ60Z Laptop"/>
<mx:Object label="Toshiba Teca M10 Laptop"/>
The TextInput will be used by the user to filter the list of computers in the List. Now that we have a working application, let's start the process of filtering the data based on the user input.
{mospagebreak title=Implementing the Filter}
The process we will use to filter the list is quite simple. Flex and ActionScript have made this job easy for us by providing the filterFunction attribute of the ArrayCollection. This attribute points the ArrayCollection to a function that we will write.
The function determines which of the elements of the collection will be displayed and which elements will not be displayed. The function is called once for every item in the list. The function must has a Boolean return type which translates TRUE to display the object and FALSE to NOT display this object.
Here is what our filter function will look like:
public function filter(item:Object):Boolean{
var tmpString:String = new String(item);
// If there is nothing is the search box
if (search.text==""){
return true;
// if the contents of the search box
// is a sub string of this item
if (tmpString.indexOf(search.text)!=-1){
return true;
return false;
Let's break this down. The item is passed to our function by the ArrayCollection as an Object. The first thing that our function does is create a new String object out of the item being tested for display. We do this because we want to make use of the some the string methods (indexOf).
Next, we check to see if our search TextInput is blank. If it is, then we should not filter anything. In this case, we simply return TRUE for all elements. If the search TextInput DOES have text in it, we would have to continue execution of this function in order to see if the contents of the search TextArea is a substring of the item being tested for display. If the search text turns out to be a substring of the item, we would return TRUE, thereby causing the item to be displayed.
At the start of the application, all items are display; however, if we were to type into our TextInput, nothing would change in our list. This is because we need to tell the the ArrayCollection to refresh itself when a character has been pressed in the search box. To do this, we add the following event to the search input:
<mx:TextInput id="search" width="100%" keyUp="computersCollection.refresh()"/>
Refreshing the ArrayCollection effectively calls the filterFunction again — once per item.
Here is a look at the completed application:
In the example image above example, notice that only items with the word Laptop are displayed.
{mospagebreak title=Making it Case Insensitive}
If you were to type "laptop" instead of "Laptop" you would not see any results. This is because our function cares about the case of the letters. To fix this, we can simply change our filter function so that the comparison is case insensitive. Here is an updated portion of the filter function:
// if the content of the search box
// is a sub string of this item
if (tmpString.toLowerCase().indexOf(search.text.toLowerCase())!=-1){
return true;
Notice the addition of the 'toLowerCase' methods being call on tmpString and search.text. This converts both strings to lowercase before testing to see if one is a substring of the other.
Sorting Our ArrayCollection
For the remaining portions of this article we talk about sorting our list in ascending and descending order. Much like the filterFunction, the ArrayCollection object provides an object for sorting. Although a little bit more complicated, much of the work is done for us thanks to encapsulation. To get our sorting algorithm in place we need to create two objects, the Sort and the SortField. Here is the code:
// version 1
var sort:Sort = new Sort();
sort.fields = [new SortField("label", true)];
The first line is a general Sort object which our ArrayCollection will reference. The sort object has a property called fields which references an array of the SortField Object. This sounds more complicated than it really is. Here is another way to write the same code that is easier to read:
// version 2
// create a new sort object
var sort:Sort = new Sort();
// Create a sort field.
// The sort field is a label name in the
// ArrayCollection. The sorting will be
// performed on this field. The second argument
// determines if the sort is case insensitive
var sortArray:Array = new Array();
var sortField = new SortField("label",true);
// Add the sort field to the array
// assign sort fields to the sort object
sort.fields = sortArray;
// assign the sort object to our array collection
computersCollection.sort = sort;
This alternative method is drawn out a bit more and does not take advantage of the short form of creating Arrays. Nonetheless, both ways are valid. For the remainder of the article we will go with version 1 of the sorting code. We need to place this code in our application.
Also note that you will have to import the sort classes, as in:
import mx.collections.Sort;
import mx.collections.SortField;
{mospagebreak title=Adding the Sort Button}
Our sort code above successfully connects the Sort object to our ArrayCollection. This code needs to be executed once before we can make greater use of it. To make this possible, we will create a new function that runs after the application has been created. We will take advantage of the creationComplete event that is triggered once the application is created. We will modify the Application Tag in the following way:
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"
Notice the newly-added creationComplete="init()". This will cause the init function to be called when the application is created. Here is the init function along with some Sort Object declaration (in public scope):
import mx.collections.Sort;
import mx.collections.SortField;
// create our sort object
public var sort:Sort = new Sort();
// connect the sort object to the ArrayCollection
public function init():void{
sort.fields = [new SortField("label", true)];
This code will not sort the list immediately because the creationComplete event is triggered after the controls on the screen have been displayed. What you will see is the natural order as listed in our dataProvider. To cause the list to be sorted we will add a sort Button to our UI. We'll add this code to our MXML after the <mx:List> tag:
<mx:Button label="Toggle Sort Order" click="toggleOrder(event)"/>
Our button has a click event which refers to the following function:
public function toggleOrder(event:MouseEvent):void{
The toggleOrder function calls the sort object's reverse property. Next, we refresh the ArrayCollection so that it will re-apply the sorting algorithm. That is all that is needed to switch the sort order from ascending to descending order.
So there you have it. We've successfully created a Flex application which can filter a list of items based on user input as well as sort them when the user initiates it. Flex/ActionScript provides easy to use methods that allow this type of processing to be performed with a minimum amount of code. Our Flex application was a mere 73 lines of code, which included the list items (they would normally be pulled from an external source).
You can see the full Flex app running at: http://www.reefkeysoftware.com/blog/sort_filter


text:
- Home /
- Parqueterie Coffee Table
This beautiful Parqueterie coffee table unit features a natural exposed finish with one drawer. A great addition for any shabby chic living room.
Length: 135cm Width: 60cm Height: 43cm
Write Your Own Review
Delivery lead time for items is usually between 6-12 Working Days (2-3 weeks), however the majority of items we sell are delivered within 6 Working days.
Please note some of our items are special order and have a longer than usual lead time. Please send us an email or call to check the lead time. Once you have placed your order and there is a longer than usual lead time we will notify you via email.
Please note the size and weight of the item may effect the delivery lead time.
Our manufacturers may occasionally alter or slightly change the design of items. Shabby Store cannot accept these as faults. The majority of the furniture we purchase is hand crafted and therefore sizes are only offered as a guide. Our manufacturers reserve the right to change specification without prior notice.
To avoid any misunderstandings ourselves and our manufacturers feel that it is important to advise all customers, old and new, what they should expect from the products sold on Shabby Store Website. (The Manufacturer) pride ourselves on providing exciting ranges of unusual design-led products, Many of the products are hand-made or hand-finished. This is how they are intended and the resultant variable finish is what helps to sell the product and set it apart from the mass-produced items you would expect to find in Multiples. Hand-blown glass will have bubbles and/or slight colour variations. Hand-made ceramics will vary slightly in shape and/or size. Hand-applied ceramic glazes, especially the clever reactive glazes that they often use to create special effects will have firing marks or glaze bubbles of glaze runs. These items are not in any way faulty, it is how they are intended to be. They and us feel we must point this out to you because we do want all our customers to get complete satisfaction from ranges. Occasionally some of our newer customers are not aware of or don't know what to expect from hand-finished items. We hope this information helps.
For more information with regards to our delivery and returns policy please use the following link Delivery & Returns
We offer free delivery on all UK orders which are over £1000.
This will automatically apply in the checkout if your order qualifies for free delivery.
You have no obligation to purchase the product once you know the price. You can simply remove the item from your cart.
You have no obligation to purchase the product once you know the price. You can simply remove the item from your cart.


text:
ReleasesBack to
Jacky Terrasson
Jacky Terrasson's 1999 album, What It Is, represented something of a risk. The young pianist's first three albums were barebones trio affairs that had won him rave reviews, whereas What It Is featured additional instruments and was more slickly produced. Gone, it seemed, was the sparse, acoustic approach that had originally given Terrasson his fame. But while this new direction yielded mixed results and left some fans a bit befuddled, one had to respect Terrasson's need to grow and evolve as an artist.Terrasson does much better with his follow-up, A Paris, an homage to the city of his youth and early adulthood. While not a return to the simple piano trio format (there are five guest musicians in addition to two alternating rhythm sections), the album has a spontaneous, natural sound that was lacking from the studio-centric What It Is. What's more, A Paris is packed with new and varied ideas that work, not to mention passionate, fiery playing throughout.Only the last two tracks are originals, the fewest ever on a Terrasson album. "Rue de Lombards," a funk fragment that sounds like an in-studio improvisation, is credited to Terrasson, drummer Terreon Gully, and bassist Remi Vignolo. The rest of the tracks are Terrasson's highly personal readings of songs from French culture. Most will not be familiar to American listeners, with the possible exception of "La Marseillaise" -- the French national anthem -- and the Edith Piaf classic "La Vie en Rose," played in a calypso feel by Terrasson and percussionist Minino Gara.Guitarist Bireli Lagrene's cameos on the bluesy title track and the swinging "Que Reste-T'Il de Nos Amours?" are nothing short of brilliant. The latter, which bears an uncanny likeness to Lerner & Loewe's "Almost Like Being in Love," features Terrasson on Fender Rhodes electric piano. Saxophonist Stefano di Battista also makes two fine appearances, playing tenor on the fast, tense "Jeux Interdits" and soprano on the lively and pretty "L'Aigle Noir," one of the two originals. Both Lagrene and Battista return for the brief, full-company finale, an intoxicating funk line by Terrasson titled "Métro."
Another highlight is Terrasson resuscitating his funk version of Cole Porter's "I Love Paris," the only song by an American writer and the very one that led off Terrasson's 1994 debut album. Bassist Ugonna Okegwo and drummer Leon Parker, Terrasson's trio mates from his first three albums, both return to play on the Porter track, as well as the opening Piaf number "Plaisir d'Amour" and an exquisite reading of Jacques Brel's "Ne Me Quitte Pas." The latter briefly features Gregoire Maret on harmonica, who played on What It Is. Several rather short pieces are grouped right around the middle of the album, giving that part of the program a collage-like feel that can seem a bit superficial. That aside, Terrasson has pulled off something rare: a concept album that succeeds on a variety of creative levels. In the process, he's given exposure to several excellent European musicians, not to mention some beautiful French music that American audiences ought to hear.


text:
Massimo Vignelli "Design Is One"
via anthonyneildart
The investigative design process moves from the inside out: "The correct shape is the shape of the object's meaning." The Vignelli commitment to the correctness of a design has taken their work beyond the mechanical exercise of devising a form best suited to a given function. They've always understood that design itself, in the abstract, could and should be an integral part of function. More than a process and a result, design—good design—is an imperative. "Everything has its own order," they've said. "You can't take a piece of music and scramble the notes. You can't take a piece of writing and scramble the words. You can't take a space and scramble the chairs around."
Beautiful thoughts by Massimo Vignelli


text:
wip-6273.pdf (183 KB)
my buzz & my blog
"When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world." George Washington Carver
What is Social Entrepreneurship?
Statement of Faith
You can find other "Market with Meaning" but you definitely want to see "Profit with Purpose".
I personally "Believe in Kingdom Transformation" because I know there is only ONE "Life for Significant". my facebook & my twitter & my linkedin
— 2010年10月30日 星期六,email@example.com <email@example.com> 寫道﹕


text: Create die-cut hearts in all shapes and sizes in record time with Framelits dies and the Big Shot. Dies have stitching and scalloped details. Framelits Dies help you create detailed die cuts with just a few turns of the Big Shot handle. * 16 dies * Largest die: 3-1/2" x 3-3/4"( 8.9 x 9.5 cm)* Use with Big Shot


text:
BullsOil.com > Cities > Savannah
The Oil Industry > Why are the gas prices going so high in Savannah?
Powered by eeNation.com
Top World Oil CEO's
Savannah has oil companies, gas companies & gas service stations and it's always important to choose that right one. Cheap gas, expensive gas, and affordable gas stations are available in the Savannah area! Oil was discovered a long time ago and believe it or not, there's still areas that have oil. Find an oil well near you!
Top US Oil Giants
Top World Oil Giants
History and Facts of the Oil Industry
Gas prices in Savannah as well as other cities across the nation are increasing little by little. Why are the top oil companies showing outrageous profits each and every year with increases going up and up? It's time for Savannah to fight back! Of course, strikes won't work because we need our fuel and vehicles to get around Savannah! What will work for the people of Savannah? We need to attack the CEO's of these top oil giants and put a stop to this! Everyone understands that the oil reserves are for emergencies and cannot be touched but come on Savannah, we need to fight to allow drilling off the East and West coasts. We only live once and within our generation, if Savannah and other cities don't do something about this, we will fall and a revolution will happen. First the high oil executives will fall, then the ones helping the oil executives, and whoever gets in the way. We need to stop this nonsense of gas increase before it's too late for Savannah as well as everywhere else in the United States.
Let's think about this! The everyday person that's struggling to fill up a tank at these unbelievable rates. Think about when they see an oil executive, ceo, or even an employee of a top oil company. Hatred is in their eyes and no telling what could happen next! Savannah and others need to fight these high gas prices and put a stop to this! Gas going up, the sales of SUVs are going down. SUVs are the tanks of the roads in Savannah as well as other cities. Not only do they have plenty of room, but are extremely safe, compared to a small car with great gas mileage. More fatalities will happen if everyone starts buying smaller cars. Why? because the gas is too high for SUVs. Millions and Millions in profits for these big oil companies when Savannah as well as the other cities are struggling to make ends meet! Bullsoil was created to give everyone an understanding of the oil industry and what needs to be done to put a stop to this! The world without oil could be costly just as the world without the internet. We need to take our chances now and save what we have, but don't destroy the US economy by raising the gas rates. The oil companies should be able to help Savannah and other cities by taking some of those profits and helping the economy instead of greed and helping themselves!


text:
Release the Kraken! Sea Creature Art
OK, so maybe you don't want to release the Kraken on your kids. But how about some sweet sea creature wall art? Even the Kraken looks adorable.
1. Kraken Giant Squid, $45, by Amy Sullivan.
2. Whimsial Star Whale Acrylic Painting, $100, by Andrea Doss from Etsy shop Andralynn.
3. Puffer Fish Newspaper Collage, $55, from Etsy shop BlessHue.
4. Tropical Sea Creatures Canvas Wall Art, $76, by Oopsy Daisy from Wall Sticker Outlet.
5. Abstract Sea Creatures Print, $35, by LindsayMichelle at Society6.
6. Sea Creatures, $18, by Lindsey Salles on Society6.
7. Octopus Kids Art Print, $20, by Annie Bach from Etsy Shop Lulufroot.
8. Shark Head Plaque, $23, from Pottery Barn Kids.
9. Pop Art Shell IV Canvas Wall Art, $70, by N Harbick from Kids Art.
10. Eric Carle's Sea Turtle, $119, from Oopsy Daisy.
(Images: as linked above)


text:
Toronto PyCamp 2011
Qualify Yourself
Do you:
If you answered "Yes" to all of the above, then PyCamp is probably for you.
In order to test yourself, you should complete the installation requirements for PyCamp before registering for PyCamp. That way, you can be sure that PyCamp is for you.
If you already know Python, then PyCamp will probably seem a bit redundant to you. You are welcome to come to PyCamp and "brush up" your skills. But be forewarned that PyCamp is paced for beginners. Only a few advanced language features are covered. But not before beginning features are understood by the entire class.
What To Expect
Check out the PyCamp syllabus. The syllabus is continually revised in response to feedback from previous TriZPUG PyCamps. The syllabus reflects what beginners can be reasonably expected to usefully comprehend and retain in four days.
PyCamp represents a unique pedagogical approach. You will learn:
Your instructor
Your instructor is Chris Calloway, applications analyst for the University of North Carolina Department of Marine Sciences and a member of the Plone Foundation. Chris taught the original PyCamp and has organized many boot camps and sprints for TriZPUG. Chris has been developing in Python for twelve years and has 31 years of of IT experience, primarily with IBM. Chris has previously developed and taught 40 hour courses about Java technology.
What You Need To Bring
What You Need To Do To Prepare
See the participant list updated daily.
How To Get Around
Toronto is served by excellent mass transit which also extends to Pearson International Airport. It only costs $3 CAD to take mass transit to within one block of the classroom from the airport. The airport Rocket bus 192 stops at the Kipling subway station on the Green (Bloor-Danforth) subway line. It's an express bus and Kipling station is the last stop. To get on the bus, go to column R4 at the ground transportation exit of the airport. Column R4 is just across one lane of traffic from column R3. You will need exact change to take the bus. But keep your ticket as you will also use it for the subway. All fares are complete to destination whether starting on the bus or subway. All subway lines leaving Kipling station are the Green line, so take any train. Take the Green line eastbound from Kipling station 15 stops to St. George station. St. George station is the eastbound stop after Spadina station. St. George station is within one block of the classroom on both the Green (Bloor-Danforth) and Yellow (Younge-University-Spandina) lines. The Yellow line serves a downtown loop.
Where To Park
Municipal Parking operates a number of lots within a few blocks of the classroom for as little as $1 per hour.
Where To Stay
There are several good hotels and charming bed-and-breakfasts within walking distance of the classroom. Prices range from $59 per night to about $170 per night dependent on location and amenities. Have a look at the PyCamp Accommodations Guide.
Where To Eat
The neighborhood surrounding the classroom is abundant with a variety of places to dine.
Get the Flyer
You can let others know about PyCamp by posting the PyCamp flyer, because PyCamp is just too good to keep a secret.


text:
From GNUstepWiki
Revision as of 06:18, 17 April 2008; view current revision
←Older revision | Newer revision→
←Older revision | Newer revision→
| This article or section is a stub (i.e., in need of additional material).
You can help us by expanding it
Tool for inspecting the contents of a compressed archive.
Current Version: 1.3
- Released: April 17, 2008
- Licensed: GPL
Zipper consists only of a single window, displaying the contents of the selected archive. Currently, you can view and extract .tar, .tar.gz, .tar.bz2, .rar, .lha, .lhz and .zip archives.


text:
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- (UPDATE) Bergen County Regional SWAT team members seized a suicidal man who'd barricaded himself in an apartment above an East Rutherford restaurant late Monday morning after holding a gun to his girlfriend's head, authorities said.
"He was turned over to East Rutherford police, as it's their jurisdiction," Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino said after a nearly three-hour standoff.
"He had the gun to his girlfriend's head," a law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the incident told Daily Voice earlier. "She managed to run out without incident. A perimeter was established and [a crisis negotiator] began talking with him."
Surrounding businesses and residences were evacuated as officers in tactical gear focused on an apartment above a Thai restaurant at the corner of Paterson and Boiling Springs Avenue. A crisis negotiator also was brought in.
"Three separate groups of heavily armed swat teams charged a neighboring building," a witness said. "There's SWAT members across the street at Chef Chan pointing their weapons at the Ploi Thai."
The area -- just up the street from the East Rutherford Municipal Building -- was cordoned off from Uhland Street to Park Avenue. The municipal complex and nearby Alfred S. Faust School on Uhland were placed on lockdown.
SWAT team members entered the restaurant and escorted an elderly man to safety, a witness said.
It was the third time this month that a Bergen County Regional SWAT team removed a barricaded subject without incident.
ALSO SEE: Members of a Bergen County Regional SWAT team battered open the door and seized an Elmwood Park man who'd threatened to kill himself.
ALSO SEE: A barricaded man talked out of his girlfriend's Elmwood Park apartment by a SWAT team negotiator after he stabbed and slashed himself Friday morning is a gang member known as "Young Yb," Daily Voice has learned.
Click here to sign up for Daily Voice's free daily emails and news alerts.


text: Hey guys I've just started developing a new theme for ISPConfig, but everytime I make a change I have to upload the files to an existing site and then via ssh move the uploaded files to the templates dir under ISPConfig web... My question is, how can I simplfy this process? Is it possible to upload files via FTP directly to templates dir? If it is, how?


text:
The 21st annual Senior Wellness Fair is Oct. 24 from 9 a.m. to noon at Timpany Center, 730 Empey Way.
Free flu shots will be offered as well as consultations with advice nurses, demonstrations, nutrition tips and other information from more than 45 area agencies. The event is sponsored by the Santa Clara County Social Services Agency Department of Aging and Adult services in partnership with San Jose State University, Timpany Center and the Friends of Human Relations Commission.


text:
|Space Telescope Science Institute
|ACS Instrument Handbook for Cycle 27
When calculating expected signal-to-noise ratios or exposure times, the background from the sky, and the background from the detector must be taken into account.
Sky background determination is crucial for a successful observation, especially with the increasing CTE losses found in the ACS/WFC. We encourage observers to simulate the sky background for their proposed observations using the ACS ETC and to compare those values with actual on-orbit sky levels observed during Cycle 18 using the results from ACS ISR 2012-04.9.4.1 Detector BackgroundsSee Table 3.1 for read noise and dark current characteristics of the detectors, including variations by amplifier and GAIN for the CCDs.9.4.2 Sky BackgroundThe background in counts/second/pixel for imaging observations can be computed as:
• Iλ is the surface brightness of the sky background, in
erg/second/cm2/Å/arcseconds2.The image of the sky through a disperser is not uniform, since some wavelengths fall off the detector for regions of sky near the edge of the field of view (FOV). Since the ACS grism spectra are of order 200 pixels long, the regions of lower sky will be strips at the long and short wavelength edges of the FOV. The maximum width of the strips from where the signal starts to decline to the edge, where the signal is down by roughly 2×, is about half the total length of a spectrum of a point source, i.e., roughly 100 pixels in the case of a sky background with a continuum of wavelengths. In the case of the HRC, the sky for the dispersed mode will not have the low background strips, since the FOV is not masked to the detector size. These small strips of lower sky background in the SBC and the WFC are ignored in the following formulae. Furthermore in the SBC and the WFC, since the spectra do not lie along the direction of the anamorphic distortion, the plate scales of and above must be replaced by the plate scales and in the orthogonal spatial and dispersion directions, respectively. Interior to the strips, a point on the detector sees a region of sky over the full wavelength coverage of the disperser. Thus, for spectroscopic observations:For a monochromatic sky emission line at like Lyman-α, which will dominate the background through the LiF prism:Figure 9.1 and Table 9.6 show "high" sky background intensity as a function of wavelength, identifying the separate components which contribute to the background. The "None" and "Average" values of the Earthshine contribution in the ETC correspond, respectively, to 0 and 50% of the "High" values in Figure 9.1 and Table 9.6."Extremely high" Earthshine corresponds to twice the "High" value. For the zodiacal sky background, the values in Figure 9.1 and Table 9.6 and the ETCs correspond to the high value of mv = 22.1 from Table 9.4, while the "low" and "average" zodiacal light is scaled to mv = 23.3 and 22.7, respectively.The zodiacal contribution (ZL) is at ecliptic latitude and longitude of 30°,180°, and corresponds to mv = 22.1 per square arcseconds. The Earthshine (ES) is for a target which is 38° from the limb of the sunlit Earth. Use Figure 9.2 to estimate background contributions at other angles. The daytime geocoronal line intensities are in erg/cm2/second/arcseconds2 (see Table 9.5).In the ultraviolet, the background contains bright airglow lines, which vary from day to night and as a function of HST orbital position. The airglow lines may be the dominant sky contributions in the UV both for imaging-mode and spectroscopic observations. Away from the airglow lines, at wavelengths shortward of ~3000 Å, the background is dominated by zodiacal light, where the small area of sky that corresponds to a pixel of the high resolution HST instrumentation usually produces a signal that is much lower than the intrinsic detector background. The contribution of zodiacal light does not vary dramatically with time, and varies by only a factor of about three throughout most of the sky. Table 9.4 gives the variation of the zodiacal background as a function of ecliptic latitude and longitude. For a target near ecliptic coordinates of (50,0) or (–50,0), the zodiacal light is relatively bright at mv = 20.9, i.e., about 9 times the faintest values of mv = 23.3. Deep imaging applications must carefully consider expected sky values!On the other hand, Earthshine varies strongly depending on the angle between the target and the bright Earth limb. The variation of the Earthshine as a function of limb angle from the sunlit Earth is shown in Figure 9.2. This figure also shows the contribution of the Moon, which is typically much smaller than the zodiacal contribution, for which the upper and lower limits are shown. For reference, the limb angle is approximately 24° when the HST is aligned toward its orbit pole (i.e., the center of the CVZ), this limb angle corresponds to "Extremely High" Earthshine. The Earthshine contribution shown in Figure 9.1 and Table 9.6 corresponds to a limb angle of 30°, High Earthshine.For observations taken longward of 3500 Å, the Earthshine dominates the background at small (<22°) limb angles. In fact, the background increases exponentially for limb angles <22°. The background near the bright limb can also vary by a factor of ~2 on timescales as short as two minutes, which suggests that the background from Earthshine also depends upon the reflectivity of the terrain over which HST passes during the course of an exposure. Details of the sky background as it affects ACS, as well as STIS, are discussed in STIS ISR 1998-21. The impact of Earthshine on ACS observations is discussed in ACS ISR 2003-05.Figure 9.2: Background contributions in V magnitude per arcseconds2.Background due to the zodiacal light, Moon, and the sunlit Earth, as a function of angle between the target and the limb of the Earth or Moon. The two zodiacal light lines show the extremes of possible values.Table 9.4: Approximate zodiacal sky background as a function of ecliptic latitude and ecliptic longitude. (In V magnitudes per square arcseconds.)
Observations of the faintest objects may need the special requirement LOW-SKY in the Phase II observing program. LOW-SKY observations are scheduled during the part of the year when the zodiacal background light is no more than 30% greater than the minimum possible zodiacal light for the given sky position. LOW-SKY in the Phase II scheduling also invokes the restriction that exposures will be taken only at angles greater than 40° from the bright Earth limb to minimize Earthshine and the UV airglow lines. The LOW-SKY special requirement limits the times at which targets within 60° of the ecliptic plane will schedule, and limits visibility to about 48 minutes per orbit. The use of LOW-SKY must be requested and justified in the Phase I Proposal.The ETC provides the user with the flexibility to separately adjust both the zodiacal (Low, Average, High) and Earthshine (None, Average, High, Extremely High) sky background components in order to determine if planning for use of LOW-SKY is advisable for a given program. However, the absolute sky levels that can be specified in the ETC may not be achievable for a given target; e.g., as shown in Table 9.4 the zodiacal background minimum for an ecliptic target is mv = 22.4 which is still brighter than both the low and average options with the ETC. By contrast, a target near the ecliptic pole would always have a zodiacal = Low background in the ETC. The user is cautioned to carefully consider sky levels as the backgrounds obtained in HST observations can cover significant ranges.Background due to geocoronal emission originates mainly from hydrogen and oxygen atoms in the exosphere of the Earth. The emission is concentrated in the four lines listed in Table 9.5. The brightest line is Lyman-α at 1216 Å. The strength of the Lyman-α line varies between about 2 and ~30 kilo-Rayleighs (i.e., between 6.1 x 10−14 and 6.1 x 10−13 erg/second/cm2/arcseconds2 where 1 Rayleigh = 106 photons/second/cm per 4π steradian) depending on the position of HST with respect to the day-night terminator and the position of the target relative to the Earth limb. The next strongest line is the OI line at 1304 Å, which rarely exceeds 10% of Lyman-α. The typical strength of the OI 1304 Å line is about 1 kilo-Rayleighs (which corresponds to about 2.85 x 10–14 erg/second/cm2/arcseconds2) on the daylight side and about 75 times fainter on the night side of the HST orbit. OI 1356 Å and OI 2471 Å lines may appear in observations on the daylight side of the orbit, but these lines are ~10 times weaker than the OI 1304 Å line. The width of the lines also vary with temperature, the line widths given in Table 9.5 are representative values assuming a temperature of 2000 °K.Except for the brightest objects (e.g., planets), a filter or prism mode which does not transmit at Lyman-α should be employed. To minimize geocoronal emission the special requirement SHADOW can be requested. Exposures using this special requirement are limited to roughly 25 minutes per orbit, exclusive of the guide-star acquisition (or reacquisition), and can be scheduled only during a small percentage of the year. SHADOW reduces the contribution from the geocoronal emission lines by roughly a factor of ten while the continuum Earthshine is set to zero. SHADOW requirements must be included and justified in your Phase I proposal (see the Call for Proposals).Table 9.5: Geocoronal emission lines.
erg/s/cm2/arcsec2 erg/s/cm2/arcsec2 Ly-α 6.1 x 10–13 6.1 x 10–14 5.7 x 10–14 3.8 x 10–16 ~5 x 10–15 ~3 x 10–17 <3 x 10–15 <1.5 x 10–17


text:
One thing I miss about being a kid is report card time. I liked getting that feedback four times a year.
There was never going to be a varsity letter in my clumsy high school career, so academics was my competitive sport. As adults sometimes it's hard to know how we are doing without a regular progress report. So I'd like to give you one you can use for your money, to measure your progress on the "Five Fundamentals of Financial Fitness." Answer the questions below, give yourself the appropriate points for each answer, and check out your score at the end.
Try the quiz now, and then try it again in a few months to see how your progress is.
1. How much are you saving?
Add up the amount you saved in 2012 — your savings account, your 401(k), IRAs — everything except the money you put away that doesn't stay long but finds its way back to your checking account. Don't include employer contributions. Now take that number and divide by your gross annual income (combined if there are two of you working). Note on the lower points for 21 percent+: while saving is good, hoarding is not, and saving well beyond 20 percent of your income could possibly be a sign of that.
0 percent: 0 points
1-5 percent: 1 point
6-9 percent: 2 points
10 percent: 3 points
11-20 percent: 4 points
21 percent+: 3 points
2. How much liquidity do you have?
Liquidity is a measure of funds you can access readily, without concern of market valuation. A typical W-2 type employee should have 10 percent of his annual income someplace he can access it easily, and another 20 percent in reserves. Those who are self-employed or in a shaky job position should have more.
Add up how much you have in liquid funds like savings accounts, money markets, or CDs, plus the interest earning (non-stock) portion of any Roth IRAs. Then divide by your combined gross annual income.
0 percent: 0 points
1-5 percent: 1 point
6-9 percent: 2 points
10-20 percent: 3 points
20-50 percent: 4 points
50 percent+: 3 points
3. Are you taking full advantage of your retirement accounts?
For 2013, you are allowed to contribute up to $17,500 to your 401(k) or 403(b), plus a catch-up of $5,500 for those 50 and over. IRA contribution limits (for those eligible) are $5,000 plus an additional $1,000 for age 50 and over. For a couple under 50 for instance, a 401(k) and IRA each, the max is $45,000 per year. Add up your contributions to your retirement accounts and divide by the total eligible amount. Don't include your employer match.
0 percent: 0 points
1-10 percent: 1 point
11-30 percent: 2 points
31-50 percent: 3 points
51 percent +: 4 points
4. Do you have the right size house?
Most Americans will find a house value of 2 to 2½ times their gross annual income to be comfortable financially. Mortgage should be between 50 percent and 80 percent of the value. In some areas with extremely high real estate values like some parts of New York City and New Jersey, you may need to go as high as 3 to 3½ times but will need to cut back in other areas.
Divide the value of your house by your annual income.
0-49 percent : 2 points
50-99 percent: 3 points
100-250 percent: 4 points
250 percent-350 percent: 1 point
350 percent+: 0 points
5. Is your consumer debt under control?
Over-utilizing consumer debt — meaning non-equity debt like credit card debt, furniture loans, excessive car and student loans, and the like — means borrowing from your future to fund your today. When that debt piles up. it can be dangerous to your financial security.
Add up the amount of interest you paid on these non-mortgage and non-business debts in 2012 and divide by your gross annual income.
0 percent: 4 points
1-2 percent: 3 points
3-4 percent: 2 points
5-9 percent: 1 point
10 percent +: 0 points
How much do you give to charity?
Charitable giving is not only good for the charity, but it's good for you. You may think that cutting out donations from your budget will ease your financial stress, but studies show that giving actually improves your state of mind. Aside from the tax deduction, giving to charity is the antidote to materialism, and that in itself reduces anxiety about money.
Add up your total donations to charity in 2012, whether tax deductible or not. In this exercise money given to friends or others in need do count. Divide by your gross annual income.
0 percent: 0 points
1-2 percent: 1 points
3-5 percent: 2 points
6-10 percent: 3 points
11 percent +: 4 points
Add up all your points.
19-24 points: You made the high honor roll. You have mastered the essentials of money management.
13-18 points: Honor roll material. There is room for improvement but you're doing well.
8-12 points: You've got some good skills and can grow into more.
0-7 points: Many fall here due to economic circumstances; many when they're just starting out or raising a young family. Sometimes folks fall into this category because of financial habits that need work. If you find yourself here, take heart my unscientific observations are that most people fall into the 0-12 point category. Don't be discouraged but work on small changes as you can. Those small steps over a long period of time yield big results.


text:
Happy Tuesday, Bits-ers. We've got some news and whatnot for you today, but first…
Our own Russell Hammond has updated the Release Dates & Artwork section with all the latest Blu-ray, DVD and Video Game cover artwork and Amazon.com pre-order links. As always, a portion of anything you order from Amazon in the same session (after clicking through to them from our links) goes to help support our work here at The Bits and we really appreciate it!
Now then, Tim has just checked in with a review of Shout! Factory's new Woochi: The Demon Slayer on Blu-ray. The disc arrives in stores today and it sounds like it's pretty fun. We've also updated our review database today with another pair of BD reviews from the original Bits website: Tim's take on Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (from Warner Home Video) and District 9 (from Sony). Enjoy!
Speaking of Sony, in announcement news today the studio has revealed their first batch of "4K-Mastered" Blu-ray releases due on 5/14. Keep in mind, these are NOT actual 4K Blu-rays. They're essentially the BD equivalent of Sony's Superbit DVDs from a few years back – simply mastered from 4K source material with high video data rates, but still just 1080p. My personal response to these is similar to my reaction to the Superbit DVDs back in the day: If you can master Blu-rays in better quality, why haven't you been doing it all along? Anyway, the specific titles to look for on 5/14 are Ghostbusters, Glory, Taxi Driver, Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man, Angels & Demons, The Karate Kid (2010), The Other Guys, Battle: Los Angeles and Total Recall (2012). At least the SRP is just $19.99 (which makes them just $14.99 on Amazon). See the cover artwork below.
Meanwhile, Universal has set a number of their catalog BD titles for re-release in "comic book-style" Steelbook packaging on 6/25, including The Big Lebowski, The Chronicles of Riddick, Death Race, Doom, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Hot Fuzz, The Hulk, The Incredible Hulk, The Mummy (1999), Paul, Pitch Black, Scarface, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Serenity, Shaun of the Dead and Van Helsing.
We should add that Universal has also set An American Girl: Saige Paints the Sky for release on Blu-ray Combo and DVD on 7/2.
Finally, here's something that's going to bug some of you guys: Retail sources are telling us that Disney is getting ready to announce Oz: The Great and Powerful in four SKUs – a single-disc Blu-ray 3D, a single disc Blu-ray, a 2-disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo and a single-disc DVD, all with Digital Copy. Yes, you read that right. They're NOT announcing a combo with BOTH Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D in the same package. Yet they're STILL charging $44.99 for the Blu-ray 3D. So same price, less value. DUMB, DUMB, DUMB… and sure to piss off a lot of fans who might be interested in 3D but also want the 2D copy.
I'm sensing a growing trend happening in the home video industry… and it's not a good one. More and more, it seems like the people who make these release decisions at the major Hollywood studios – about which titles and features to release on Blu-ray – are people straight out of business or marketing school who are concerned only with the bottom line and have zero connection to the product, no love of film, no experience with home video/home theater enthusiasts and what they want (and are eager to buy if only the studios would listen to them)… and absolutely no interest in taking the time to find out. By releasing fewer and fewer catalog titles on Blu-ray, by actively turning down ideas for special edition releases and content (a complaint I've heard repeatedly in recent months from special edition producers), and by pushing the industry more and more towards downloads… these people are actively (and unwittingly) bringing about the demise of home video as we know it. They're abandoning collectors and film enthusiasts, shrinking the home video market, and essentially putting themselves out of a job. All at a time when the folks at Warner Archive and some of the smaller indie studios (think Shout! Factory, Criterion, Olive Films, Twilight Time, etc) know that the way to move physical product – that's discs to you and me – is to cater to enthusiasts by finding the right titles, making them special in a cost effective way and aggressively targeting the collector and enthusiast audience online. Listen up Hollywood: There's still a huge audience of people out there who WANT to buy films on Blu-ray! They have money ready to spend, but you have to LISTEN TO THEM! You have to give them the product they want, with real value, at a price that isn't insulting.
Ugh. I have a feeling this column is going to resume an old tradition of regular industry rants in the near future…
Anyway, we'll leave you today with a look at the cover art for three of Sony's "4K-Mastered" BDs…
Stay tuned.
- Bill Hunt


text:
What does a baseball team do when it has a large pitching staff?
Well, in the case of Nicholls State, it uses it all.
That's what the Nicholls State coaches did against Southern University Wednesday night and will continue to do the rest of the season.
The formula certainly worked to perfection in the Colonels' home opener, as Nicholls put six pitchers on the mound en route to posting an 11-1 victory.
Those arms allowed just five hits while striking out 13 Jaguar batters.
Freshman starter Zach Thiac from Archbishop Rummel High School recorded his first win of the young season after fanning five in three innings of work.
"He (Thiac) did a fantastic job for us," Nicholls coach Seth Thibodaux said. "We had six freshmen out here tonight, and I was excited to see that. Some other freshman arms that came out of the bullpen and did well for us were (Justin) Sinibaldi and (Grant) Borne. We had a real professional approach on the mound this evening, and I'm really proud of my guys."
Thiac said the entire pitching staff is starting the season full of confidence because of what the Colonels hitters are doing at the plate.
"We got off to a quick start with Matt (Richard) getting a homerun to give us a quick spark. Scoring those four runs in the first inning was big for us guys on the mound," he said of the Colonels that improved to 3-1 overall. "I feel like we have a solid group of pitchers and all of us capable of getting the job done when we are called upon."
After striking out three batters in the first frame, Thiac had the opportunity to sit down and watch the Colonels bats at work in the bottom half of the first inning.
Nicholls exited the first frame scoring four runs on four hits. Two of the Colonels runs came by way of hits, while the others were aided by a pair of Southern errors.
The Jaguars (2-2) scored its lone run of the game in the top of the fourth on a Fernando Morales RBI single to right field that made the count, 4-1.
Nicholls added two more runs in its half of the sixth thanks to Mike Barba fielder's choice that scored Alex Tucker and a wild pitch scoring Ray Eureste.
The final five runs all came in the bottom of the eighth on the strength of five hits, four of which were RBI shots.
Leading the way at the plate for Nicholls was preseason All-Southland Conference selection Philip Lyons. Lyons went 3-of-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs. Richard, Zachary LeBeouf and Eureste also finished with two hits each.
Pitchers dominate in home opener
What does a baseball team do when it has a large pitching staff?


text:
Our colleague Joe Barr sometimes described himself as a doddering old geek. Many knew him as a Linux evangelist; others knew him from his ham radio activities. And those of us who worked with Joe knew him in all of his sometimes irascible, often funny moods. Joe was always one of our favorite people, and we are devastated to report that he died at home, unexpectedly, last night.
How many people both write about and espouse GNU/Linux -- and also love miniature donkeys and rescue abandoned puppies? Joe was one of a kind. We will miss him on many levels, in many ways, but we will not miss him nearly as much as his wife Susan will; they were married almost exactly one year ago, after knowing each other for more than 10 years.
Susan asks that instead of sending flowers, you make a donation to an animal rescue group of your choice in Joe's name.
Not long ago, at a SourceForge, Inc. corporate conference held in Chicago, Joe delighted the entire assemblage with an impromptu recitation from this ee cumming poem:
since feeling is first
since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you;
wholly to be a fool
while Spring is in the world
my blood approves,
and kisses are a far better fate
than wisdom
lady i swear by all flowers. Donââ¬â¢t cry
ââ¬âthe best gesture of my brain is less than
your eyelidsââ¬â¢ flutter which says
we are for each other: then
laugh, leaning back in my arms
for lifeââ¬â¢s not a paragraph
And death i think is no parenthesis
That's Joe to a T -- not only the poem's content, which is sadly apropos in an obituary tribute to him -- but also the fact that he was the kind of guy who would stand up in the middle of a business meeting to recite poetry.
I will stop typing now, because I'm crying too hard to hit the right keys.
Robin 'Roblimo' Miller
Editor in Chief,
SourceForge, Inc.


text:
Setup Information:
A) 1 Mafia Goon, 1 Mafia Roleblocker, 1 Sane Cop, 1 Doctor, 5 Townies
B) 2 Mafia Goons, 1 Sane Cop, 1 Doctor, 5 Townies
C) 1 Mafia Goon, 1 Mafia Roleblocker, 1 Sane Cop, 6 Townies
D) 2 Mafia Goons, 1 Sane Cop, 6 Townies
E) 1 Mafia Goon, 1 Mafia Roleblocker, 1 Doctor, 6 Townies
F) 2 Mafia Goons, 1 Doctor, 6 Townies
G) 1 Mafia Goon, 1 Mafia Roleblocker, 7 Townies
H) 2 Mafia Goons, 7 Townies
A Mafia Roleblocker may perform his roleblock even if he is the only surviving Mafia member. Mafia can communicate only at night.
In case of tied voting, where not all players have voted, I will consult the list of coin tosses below, Heads lynches the first player in alphabetical order, Tails the second.
Rules (mercilessly stolen from Snark):
- Votes and questions must be posted in bold and on a new line, like this:
Vote: Snark
You must unvote to change votes, in bold and on a new line, like this:
Vote: Snark
- When someone gains a majority of the votes, they are automatically lynched, and daytime automatically ends whether or not the mod is online to declare day-end. Posting after the hammer vote is not allowed, even if the hammer-vote was accidental.
- If deadline is reached and no player has a majority of the votes, then the person with the most votes is lynched. If the votals are tied, then random.org will randomly select one of the tied players to be lynched UNLESS all players are voting and exactly 2 players have votes placed on them. In that special case, there will be no lynch. If you don't understand this, please ask for clarification. See Setup rules for the pregenerated random.org results.
- You can vote to "NL" (no lynch). If "NL" gets the majority of the votes (or wins a tied votal), no one will be lynched.
Posting rules:
- No posting in this thread unless you are playing in it.
- No talking about this game except in this thread or in an appropriately titled spoiler in the discussion thread.
- No editing your posts. For any reason. At any time.
- Do not lurk!
- You may post in thread during the day phase but not the twilight phase. If the deadline for a day passes, then it is automatically night, whether or not the mod has had time to make a day-end post.
- You may not quote directly from your role PM or any other PMs from the mod or other players. Paraphrasing is fine.
Death rules:
- You're alive until the mod tells you that you're dead, by PM or in thread.
- Once you die, you may no longer post in this thread, but you may read spoilers in the discussion thread. That is your consolation prize.
Private Message rules:
- You can ask the mod questions by PM if you'd rather not ask in thread.
- No PMing other players concerning this game unless your role specifically allows it and you CC the mod in every communication.
8. dimochka
9. Madge
Role PMS are going out. Please confirm in thread so we can get on with the day.


text:
Shadowgun coming to iPhone and iPad September 28th
If there's one game due for release this fall we easily got excited about, it must definitely be Shadowgun. The fine folks over at Madfinger Games announced that their much anticipated iPhone and iPad game is set for release in the App Store this September 28th. Shadowgun caught the attention of many mobile gamers at E3 and Gamescom when it first became clear how good the graphics are in the game. Take a look at the screenshots yourself, and you'll immediately see that this game almost looks as good as a coneosle game.
Not only the graphics make this a much promising game, its unique concept that combines third person action with tactical combat will most likely also make us fall in love with the game. You play the role of John Slade who's on a mission to hunt down Dr. Edgar Simon, a geneticist who used to work for the evil Toltech Enterprises corporations. The game's story takes place in the year 2350, which means that you'll come across a lot of futuristic, scary looking mutants, cyborgs and other space litter with some life in it.


text:
This blog post is found at www.perrynoble.com
Perry Noble is the pastor at New Springs Church in Andrewson S.C.
WARNING: The following post IS graphic…He use some language that may be considered offensive by some. This is NOT an apology…just wanted you to know!
I had the privilege of speaking at Clemson's FCA the other night and I felt led to go in a direction towards the beginning of the message that I hadn't planned on…and so I want to expound a little on a few things here.
I said, "My daughter is going to date one day…and the last thing I want her bringing home to meet me is a 'nice Christian boy.' If she does that I will probably have to punch that dude in the throat!"
Why? Simple–nice Christian boys are one of the reasons Christianity is not advancing the way Jesus has called us to. Why? Because a "nice" Christian boy will go to church, Bible study, raise his hands in worship and then go back to wherever he lives, sit at his computer look at porn and masturbate. And "boys," it's incredibly difficult to lead the charge against the gates of hell with your pants around your ankles. (Uh…this isn't just college students–some married men are struggling with this as well! AND let me say I've struggled with this and the Lord delivered me from it seven and a half years ago! Here is a post I did on the subject.)
(YES…I said that word–and if it ticks you off then I invite you to get your head out of the sand and face reality…in fact, I did an entire post on the subject of masturbation…you can read it here!)
And the LAST thing I want my daughter growing up to be is a "nice" Christian girl. Why? Because these are the girls who WILL NOT necessarily have sex with a guy…but are not afraid to have oral sex and then justify their actions by saying, "well…we didn't 'do it!'"
We don't need anymore "nice" Christian boys and girls…we need men and women who are madly and passionately in love with Jesus…who have a Philippians 3:10-11 mindset, who take Hebrews 12:2 view in life, who realize Philippians 2:5-11 was the BOLDEST move ever made and who want Matthew 22:36-40 to be true in their own lives.
Someone who is in love with Jesus just doesn't care–they do not care if they are single, they want what Jesus wants for them. They do not care what people think about the type of house they live in or the kind of car they drive…they just want to see Jesus lifted up–even if that means sacrifice. They do not care if they are blogged about and/or ridiculed–they want to know Christ more and more and are willing to do ANYTHING He asks them to do.
One of the clearest marks of a disciple in Scripture is OBEDIENCE to Jesus. (John 14:15) We can have all of the knowledge in the world–but information without application is degradation! The Bible says in Psalm 95:7-8 that if we hear His voice that we should NOT harden our hearts.
Question–is there anything that God is calling you to do? Anything you need to stop doing? Anything you need to start doing? What is it that is going to take you from being a "nice" follower of Jesus to becoming someone who is radically in love with Him?
We all fight this battle…I know I have. In the past I have overcame a pornography addiction AND also an addiction to reading what was said about me on the internet, whether good or bad. WHICH God revealed to me was actually pride–the sin that got satan kicked out of heaven! AND I am constantly fighting daily to do what Philippians 4:8 and Colossians 3:2 says to do!
BUT–the LAST thing I ever want to be is a "nice" Christian man…I want to be a fully devoted FOLLOWER of Jesus Christ…the term Christian today has been so neutered! I don't even like it anymore. (Stay calm…the term Christian is only used three times in the New Testament.) I've been that "nice Christian guy" in the past–but I want MORE…I want to see John 3:30 come true in my life!!!
What term do I like? JESUS LOVER! I want to be known as a Jesus lover…someone who is passionate about JESUS! My wife needs me to be in love with Jesus. My daughter needs me to be in love with Jesus. NewSpring needs me to be in love with Jesus. WHY? Because when I love Jesus I will do what He says…and that is NEVER a bad thing!
"Nice" Christian boys and girls will not change this world…EVER…all they do is put on a good front and then "live like hell" and think that no one sees. (I Samuel 16:7) BUT JESUS LOVERS…they are "all in!" Do they make mistakes? HECK YES! BUT…when they do so they ask for forgiveness, REPENT and then move on.
My passion is to raise up a church full of men and women who love Jesus…who don't just play games but go all out to do whatever He asks. I am trying my best to do this…will you join with me? Let's REALLY commit to knowing Christ and allowing HIM to be known through us…and let's turn this world upside down for Him! He did it with some guys in the Gospels…I'm crazy enough to think He can do it again!


text:
Facebook appears to be untouchable in the realm of Social Networks, having become the first page loaded and the last page closed on many people's browsers and it's the single most commonly installed application on every major mobile OS. For many people Facebook has become their only window to the Internet. At 845 million active users worldwide, including nearly 1/2 of the entire US population, Facebook truly is a phenomenon.
Enter Google+, the 4th effort Google has made into the social space. Unveiled on June 28th, 2011 to a swarm of people trying to get into the invite-only "field test" and nearly crashing the service in just a short few hours (I was one of the few who got a working invite and I'll confirm it was barely functional for several days due to crowding). The excitement quickly waned, but the service has been quietly gaining an estimated 625,000 new users daily with a massive leap in users coming in December. Despite a common perception that few people are using Google+ the estimates suggest that it will reach 400 million users by the end of 2012, nearly half of Facebook's current total.
Facebook has not let Google+ go unnoticed, quickly adapting to mimic many features for which Google+ was initially praised. Within a week of the unveiling Facebook had unofficially released a tool for treating their existing Lists feature as a version of Circles, later introducing automatic lists based on workplaces, schools or other significant commonalities. Facebook also signed a deal with Skype to offer video calling services in an attempt to rival Google+ Hangouts. They've even added a feature allowing people to Subscribe to other users, making it easy to see public updates from people without having to become friends.
Facebook has also taken to another strategy as well, not just to slow Google+ but to cement their position as the dominant social network of the internet. When Google+ first arrived, the most common complaint wasn't that it was slow or clumsy to work with, there wasn't much to do, or even that there just weren't enough users…The biggest complaint was about fatigue from setting up another social network; having to find and organize friends, creating albums, uploading pictures, customizing security settings and learning how everything works. This complaint lead to an 'A-Ha!' moment for Facebook, by giving users the perception that too much work is involved in using another service they will simply stay where they are at.
How is Facebook going to add a cost to joining other social networks? I first realized their goal when I saw a friend asking about the new Timeline feature, mostly complaining that it wanted users to add even more information and photos from their past to fill out the history. People often assume Facebook wants this information to sell to advertisers, but the reality is that most advertisers don't want that information, it's basically useless to them. Facebook simply wants you to make an investment by storing as much data as possible on their servers. They aren't looking to sell or abuse your data (well, not yet) or expose it to the world (like they've done a few times in the past), they just want to make it increasingly complicated to migrate your history to a competitor down the line.
Just yesterday Facebook announced plans to purchase Instagram, a social network directed at sharing photos. At first glance this seems trivial, even a bit confusing. Instagram doesn't do anything substantial that's not already offered by Facebook or can't be added very quickly, it can't be a patent or talent acquisition (not at the $1 billion price tag) and there's already features in Instagram to cross-post your photos to Facebook. It becomes increasingly clear that Facebook's primary interest is absorbing Instagram's existing database of users and pictures. As a benefit, Facebook is surely looking to also integrate the wide discoverability offered by Instagram's design, encouraging people to explore publicly shared photos. I'm not predicting the dismantling of Instagram, rather I expect it will soon meld into the Facebook ecosystem as a separate application connected through your Facebook credentials. All of this serves to deepen the integration Facebook has with user data.
Is this new tactic malicious or creepy, I don't think so. Facebook is simply playing into peoples' laziness by asking for a little more information at a time until it's unmanageable and impossible to relocate. It's really just smart business. It's also very telling; expect Facebook to become more aggressive, possibly even taking some bigger risks soon.
Both networks are stepping up their game. Google+ is now integrated (non-invasively) into Android 4.0 and with several of the sister services (most notably Google Search itself) while Facebook has partnered with Microsoft to offer social search results and huge marketing opportunities. Back in the late stages of 2011 it looked like Facebook had nothing to fear but their actions over the last 3 months hint that they are preparing for a fight. It might be a crazy thought, but I think somebody could make a movie out of this. 😉


text:
Aikido is not a sport, it is a martial art which laws (takemusu) are in harmony with the laws of the universe. Studying them allows the practitioner to understand his place in the universe. Aikido was born in Iwama, O sensei achieved in that village the synthesis of tai jutsu, aiki ken and aiki jo.
The International Takemusu Aikido Federation (ITAF) brings to the practitioner the structure he needs in order to work as close as possible to the reality O sensei MU defined. The official national representations are the guarantee of a teaching faithful to the Founder's.
In modern Aikido, weapons are hardly taught, if taught at all. In O sensei's Aikido, on the contrary, aiki ken, aiki jo and tai jutsu are unified and form together a riai, a family of harmonious techniques stemming from one unique principle. Each techniques helps understand all the others.
Peace is a balance between a human being and the world around him. The true martial art's goal is not to become stronger than one's opponent but to find in that opponent a way to realize harmony. There is no enemy anymore as such, but an opportunity offered to reach unified ki.


text:
The POTC stuff sells out fast here too... I guess so much for waiting on clearance for that wheelhouse ruin... If I'm gonna get it I need to do so soon. That skull/bone cage is a kickass piece for Star Wars customs too. Could be an Amanin captive prison or an Ewok one as one of our customizers used it for... It's cool looking.
Thanks E, I appreciate it man. That's one of those goofy things I want, but ultimately if I don't get this set cheap I'll live without it too... Just it's a good piece to fit into military dio's... I saw a set an XD guy painted up. Man it's nice when painted "professionally". Very realistic. Cool stuff... Thier Series 2 looks fantastic.
Dale, is that the Medicom version? What do you think overall?
Page created in 0.046 seconds with 18 queries.


text:
The folks at the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) dropped us a line today to let us know they were sending a thank you gift to Sega for pulling advertisements for Samba De Amigo that featured chimpanzee actors. After the lovely, uplifting information PETA passed on to the publisher I can't see that they really had much of a choice.
We explained how involuntary chimpanzee "actors" are taken away from their mothers when they are just a year or so old and forced to perform confusing and repetitious tricks. We also explained some of the horrible methods that chimpanzee "trainers" use, such as electric shocks with shock collars and prods, isolation, beatings with sawed-off pool cues and slapjacks, and food deprivation. Then, at the ripe old age of just 8, the chimpanzees reach puberty and their showbiz careers are over—and they end up being dumped at dismal roadside zoos or sold to laboratories for experimentation.
In thanks, PETA is sending Sega a lovely card and some vegan chocolates shaped like monkeys, which I am sure in their world means "thank you". In mine it means, "Haha! Those weren't real chocolates!" Chimp, Chimp Hooray—SEGA Pulls Ape Ad! [PETA]


text:
|Oracle® interMedia Java Classes Reference
10g Release 1 (10.1)
Part Number B10830-01
|View PDF
public static float evaluateScore(OrdImageSignature signature1, OrdImageSignature signature2,
String attrWeights)
Compares two image signatures, returning a score that indicates the degree of difference between the image signatures. This method compares the image signatures in signature1 and signature2 using weights specified for one or more visual attributes. Returns a score between 0.0 and 100.0, where a lower value indicates a closer match.
Specify a weight in the range 0.0 to 1.0 for one or more of the following visual attributes: color, shape, texture, location.
You must specify a value greater than 0.0 for at least one of the following attributes: color, shape, or texture. The location attribute indicates the importance of the distribution of the color, shape, or texture features in the images. During processing, the values are normalized such that they total 1.0. For example:
Note:The ORDImageSignature evaluateScore( ) method operates on two image signatures, not on indexes on database tables. Therefore, this method cannot take advantage of the increased performance that is possible using image matching with image signature indexes on the underlying tables. To use image signature indexes, use the IMGSimilar and IMGScore SQL operators.
See Oracle interMedia Reference for more information about image signature indexes.
The first OrdImageSignature.
An OrdImageSignature to be compared to signature1.
A String that specifies a list of one or more visual attributes and the weight to be applied to each attribute.
Return Value
This method returns the score, as a floating-point value.
This exception is thrown if an error occurs calling the evaluateScore( ) method in the database.


text:
Aitor Throup
Aitor Throup is a menswear designer. Born in 1980 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he later moved to Burnley, Lancashire in 1992. He studied BA Fashion Design at Manchester Metropolitan University, achieving first class honours in 2004. Two years later he graduated from the Royal College of Art with an MA in menswear.
Throup's RCA graduate collection was entitled 'When Football Hooligans Become Hindu Gods'. It had a strong narrative thread running through it and a diverse selection of influences from street sportswear to Hindu symbolism. For this he won graduate collection of the year at the fifth International Talent Support competition in 2006. The following year he sat on the competition's judging panel.
Since graduating, Throup has opted to pursue his own projects. In addition to garment design, Throup also illustrates and sculpts. He has art directed and styled stories for i-D, Arena Homme + and Vman.
For Autumn/Winter 2008, Throup collaborated with Stone Island for their presentation collection at Milan Menswear Fashion Week. In 2010 Throup began working as a creative consultant for Umbro and participated in the design of the England kits for the 2010 World Cup. He collaborated with the brand again in 2011 on a line titled the 'Archive Research Project', which was presented as an installation at Dover Street Market.
Throup was appointed as Executive Creative Director of G-Star RAW in 2016, after three years as a creative consultant for the brand.
Selected Publications
- Borelli, Laird. 'Fashion Illustration by Fashion Designers', Chronicle Books, March 2008
- Davies, Hywel. 'Modern Menswear', Laurence King Publishers, February 2008
- Davies, Hywel. '100 New Fashion Designers'. Laurence King Publishers, September 2008
- Tungate, Mark. 'Branded Male: Marketing to Men'. Kogan Page, April 2008
- Aitor Throup features in a project.
- Aitor Throup features in a project.