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VIDEO: The Daily Zap for games played April 3
Lakers may be done with Gasol | Jackson acknowledges Anthony's tough road | Cuban to fund HGH study | Riley opens up on Heat's road
No. 1: Lakers may be done with Gasol … for good — Two days ago in an interview with ESPNLosAngeles.com's Dave McMenamin, Lakers forward Pau Gasol recounted his bout with vertigo that, until Tuesday, kept him out of L.A.'s lineup since March 23. The former All-Star big man is still dealing with issues from vertigo and, as playoff-eliminated L.A.'s season heads into its final seven games, it is unlikely Gasol will suit up between now and then. With this season likely over, Gasol, an unrestricted free agent at season's end, might not be a Laker again, too. Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times has more:
Pau Gasol might have played his last game in a Lakers uniform.
The team is leaning toward sitting him for its final seven games while he recovers from a severe recurrence of vertigo.
He won't play Friday against Dallas after dizziness kept him confined at the team hotel Wednesday while the Lakers played Sacramento. He flew back on the team charter that night after missing a fifth game because of the illness.
It was the latest downturn in a rough season for Gasol.
In addition to various verbal tussles with Coach Mike D'Antoni about his role in the offense — and the small-ball concept in general — Gasol missed seven games in February because of a strained groin and three games in December because of a respiratory infection.
He leads the team in scoring (17.4 points a game) but is shooting only 48%, the second lowest accuracy of his career.
Gasol, 33, becomes a free agent after this season, sure to take a pay cut from the $19.3 million he currently makes but unsure where he will land. If it's somewhere else, his last game with the Lakers will have been a nine-point, four-rebound effort in a 124-112 loss Tuesday to Portland.
No. 2: Jackson praises 'Melo, acknowledges his burden — As we wake up on the morning of April 3, the New York Knicks are in sole possession of No. 8 in the Eastern Conference. That's a surprising state for a team that has grossly underachieved this season and, yet, finds itself somewhat in control of its postseason destiny. New Knicks president Phil Jackson addressed the media on Thursday and (somewhat) praised the team for its rise and singled out All-Star Carmelo Anthony as well. Jackson had compliments — but also some criticisms — for Anthony in a state-of-the-team address with New York media, which Fred Kerber of the New York Post details:
In 17 days as Knicks president, Phil Jackson has seen the best of times, he has seen the worst of times.
And he has seen a lot to like in Carmelo Anthony.
Jackson, during a 16-minute state-of-Knicks Nation address with the media Thursday at the team's Greenburgh practice facility, praised the energy and effort he has witnessed from the Knicks while admitting they have been playing to the level of the opponent.
"They've been up and down," said Jackson, who reiterated he has "no intention of coaching" again.
"I've thought they've played a lot better against higher-quality teams or tougher teams than they have sometimes against also-rans. But they're playing with great energy now and they're playing with purpose, and I appreciate that."
Among other positive developments, the 13-time NBA champion – a record 11 times as a coach, twice as a player — has seen Anthony flash parts of his game that certify the All-Star forward as among the true elite. Jackson and Anthony have chatted, but the talks did not address the player's future. The here and now – specifically a push to the playoffs in the final six games – is sort of big.
"Carmelo's really stepped into another level of trying to help players," said Jackson, who referred to a critical assist Anthony made during the victory at Sacramento. "That's one of the things we see that Carmelo can do and that he's grown as he's gone along."
"We've had a couple occasions to talk. We haven't really delved into the future as much as what's going on [and] getting to know each other…see how he's feeling about playing," Jackson said. "He's had to carry a big load. It's been a tough year for him. But it's been a tough year for everyone. It's not just isolated with him, but I think he feels the weight of it a lot more on himself."
Looking forward and evaluating how to lessen that load is big for Jackson as he and all the president's men try to figure out how to improve the Knicks. With collegiate games going on, Jackson has had a chance to meet with scouts and personnel evaluators.
If the Knicks make the playoffs, some players suggested the Knicks can do some damage. The chief reason, as Jackson sees it, are the contributions from the likes of J.R. Smith and Amar'e Stoudemire to ease Anthony's load.
"Now they have more than one option out there on the floor, and I think that we'll give teams trouble," said Jackson, who explained the playoff format is big for evaluating the future.
"You're playing a team in a seven-game series, you're really seeing who's going to be attacked, how they stand up to the pressure, who performs in the critical situations, what the grind of a multiple-game series does to a team and how they react," Jackson said. "Those are all valuable lessons."
While many believe coach Mike Woodson is living on borrowed time, Jackson spoke positively about how the team has responded.
"Mike has a philosophy. It's worked for him in the past. It's worked for him in Atlanta," Jackson said. "One of the reasons why they've been successful in the last month and a half … has been their defense has improved."
VIDEO: Knicks president Phil Jackson talks about the team's surge of late
No. 3: Cuban backing HGH study — Earlier in the season, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said he thought human growth hormone research could be done better, at least in terms of how it relates to athletes. It seems Cuban is putting his money where his mouth is, writes Tim McMahon of ESPNDallas.com, who says that Cuban is helping fund a university study on HGH:
Cuban said Thursday he has made a significant financial commitment to fund a potential university study on the issue.
"It'll be a two-year study that applies HGH to injuries preoperative to postoperative injury recovery," Cuban said before the Mavs-Los Angeles Clippers game at Staples Center.
"So if you're able to retain more muscle going into an operation because you're working out and HGH helps your muscle. And you're able to regain it faster, then we cut the recovery time.
"And it'll be geared around one type of injury that has hundreds of thousands of examples a year. So we'll be able to do a placebo environment without hurting anybody, right? So here's the way we do it now. And here's how we do it with HGH. So hopefully it will accelerate recovery."
Cuban declined to divulge many details because the study needs approval from the Food and Drug Administration and Drug Enforcement Agency. He would not specify the university that plans to do the study other than to say it has a highly respected medical school.
Because of the need for approval from the government agencies and other paperwork, Cuban is not certain when the study would begin.
Cuban broached the subject of HGH use for athletes recovering from injuries at the NBA Board of Governors meetings in October …
"I just want to know what reality is," Cuban said. "And if we can improve recovery time, obviously that's a plus for all of us, but there was never any basis in fact for not allowing it for use [while recovering from injuries]. It was all marketing. So let's find out. Let's find out what's real and not real."
No. 4: Riley sees Heat's big picture — As most know, the mastermind behind the Miami Heat's signing of LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade was Heat president and NBA icon Pat Riley. His ability to land those three All-Stars have made the Heat the power they are today. And in a fantastic story by ESPN.com's Michael Wallace, we get a look into not just how that 2010 bonanza went down for the Heat, but also how Riley and Heat owner Mickey Arison has plans to keep Miami among the NBA's elite for as long as he possibly can:
Riley's résumé, as a Hall of Fame coach and executive, along with his reputation one of the league's most respected — and shrewd — businessmen in the game, have made him as polarizing as he is successful. But his methods and high-risk gambles have frequently produced championship results — seven, to be exact — from his days coaching the Showtime Lakers and overseeing major overhauls of the Heat's roster. But even Riley, who once compared himself during trade talks to a riverboat gambler, has concerns about the uncertainty that looms after this season.
"You always fear," Riley told ESPN.com. "It's not a real fear. I always have concern when players are in the situation they're in. But we feel we have the best organization in the league for those players to stay, and to also attract others to want to come here. With our three guys, we hope that this turns into a generational team. And that it's not just we're at the end of this four-year run right now because players have some options this summer."
Riley's confidence in his roster has withstood some frustrating and inconsistent stretches this season. The Heat president started his career coaching Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy to four titles over the span of nearly a decade in the 1980s. Now Riley, who turned 69 last month, has visions of a perfect bookend to his decorated career.
The goal is to retool the Heat's roster around James, Wade and Bosh to keep them together and in title contention for another handful of years and produce another dynastic decade. Despite difficult financial decisions looming amid a more punitive luxury tax set to kick in this offseason, Riley hopes to rely on three franchise pillars that have kept the Heat proactive and productive all these years. It starts with stability.
Riley believes he still works for a team owner in Micky Arison who remains as committed to winning and producing an elite product now as he was when they first met 19 years ago. Securing James in 2010 was the most recent splash, but Riley points out that Arison has been willing to create waves for decades. The process began in 1995 when, just two months after Riley was hired, Arison signed off on a trade that brought in Alonzo Mourning and later led to deals for P.J. Brown, Juwan Howard, Tim Hardaway and Dan Majerle. Riley said what the Heat pulled off in the summer of 2010 was similar to what they initially had visions of doing over a nine-month span in the mid-1990s before the NBA voided Howard's contract.
"Ever since I came here, and Micky and I hooked up, the whole concept was you wanted to win," Riley said. "He really wanted to win and wanted to put on a great show and have a great product. Right off the bat, right out of the blocks, we were able to trade for Alonzo. Then the league took Juwan away. But Micky has always been one that tactically and with great thought, weighing all the pros and cons, has swung for the fences. And I have too."
While many believe James, Wade and Bosh — three of the top five picks in the 2003 draft — began plotting their course to eventually becoming teammates during their time together in the 2008 Olympics, Riley already had planted his own seed the day Wade signed his first major extension in 2006.
"This is how I think you plan and have a vision and look forward, hoping you can do something that's special," Riley said. "Coaching Kareem and Magic and James Worthy, and playing against [Larry] Bird, [Kevin] McHale and [Robert] Parrish, and [Joe] Dumars, Isiah Thomas and [Bill] Laimbeer, you need to have three really, really great players. There's two superstars and another truly great player. You've seen that on pretty much all championship teams have had that kind of element."
Riley remembers getting a call from Heat general manager Andy Elisburg on July 11, 2006.
"Andy was at a gas station," Riley said. "And he said Dwyane had accepted his extension, and it was a three-plus-one [three years guaranteed, plus one option year]. And it was Dwyane and LeBron James and Chris Bosh and Amar'e Stoudemire and a bunch of other guys that signed their extensions and they're all three years with one option. And I said, 'Well, who are the other guys?' And he gave me the list. And I said, 'Well, we're going to be players in 2010.'"
But amid all of Riley's roster building and burning and rebuilding over the years, very little emphasis was ever placed on the draft or tapping into the foreign-player market.
"Everything we did from 2006 to 2010 was to be able to sit down at the table with LeBron and Chris and Amar'e and [Carlos] Boozer and Mike Miller, all these guys, to try to bring them to Miami," Riley said. "We were fortunate that they came, but we also planned for it. There have been some deals that we've made that haven't worked, but they haven't really been deals that really cost us a lot or hurt us."
But Riley admits he's had to adapt in some other ways to better relate to modern NBA culture. In the past few seasons, he has opened a Twitter account, relented on his stance against players wearing headbands and has allowed James' manager and the personal trainers for James and Wade greater access.
But mostly, Riley steps back and allows coach Erik Spoelstra to legislate the team culture.
"LeBron, being who he is in this world, in this game, has a very heavy load," Riley said. "There's a heavy load off the court and on the court. It's a lot different than what it used to be. He manages everything he has to manage that maybe Magic Johnson didn't have to manage back in the 1980s. I've adapted to that."
No. 5: D'Antoni, Kaman burying the hatchet? — Just a little over a week ago, Lakers center Chris Kaman was openly complaining to the media about coach Mike D'Antoni's gameplan and useage of him this season. But it appears a chat with D'Antoni's agent may have helped Kaman see just how hard D'Antoni's job has been and softened the tension between the two, writes Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report:
Warren LeGarie, the agent for embattled Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni, was doing all the talking.He was doing the pointing, jabbing his index finger into Chris Kaman's chest. LeGarie also stood up periodically to yell down at the Lakers center hunched in a courtside seat Tuesday night, ball in his lap, postponing his pregame court work to listen.
Head bobbing in emphatic declarations, LeGarie gestured numerous times toward the Lakers bench where D'Antoni is positioned during games. Kaman threw his hands up a few times but had little to say to LeGarie, who represents so many NBA coaches and executives that he qualifies as more of a power player in this league than any 7-footer.
Kaman is the type who has done far more talking than listening in his life, and some of his talking this season has been about D'Antoni's rigid, uncommunicative, distrustful coaching of the Lakers while not giving Kaman consistent playing time. Just one week earlier, Kaman had revealed that D'Antoni hadn't talked to him for the previous three weeks.
D'Antoni has one more guaranteed season left on his Lakers contract, and the club is leaning toward retaining him despite some privately disgruntled players and massive public disdain. It's not clear which way the organization will go with him.
But Kaman's 15-minute conversation with LeGarie ended with the agent yelling two words to Kaman: "Thank you. Thank you."
After the Lakers' 124-112 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers was complete, I asked Kaman about his pregame chat with LeGarie and whether it had given him any new perspective on D'Antoni's situation.
"We were just talking," Kaman said. "We were just talking about everything. He's just a good buddy of mine."
I asked Kaman where he stands now in his feelings about D'Antoni.
"It's been a tough year for him, as it has been for a lot of guys," Kaman said. "Me, in particular, just being in and out, in and out, just trying to figure my way through all of this, I can sort of put myself in his shoes and try to look myself in the mirror and say, 'What would I do if I was him?' And it's hard to answer that question; it's a tough position.
"Especially with all the injuries we've had and all the different things we've had to go through, I think it's no easy task for a coach. Especially with the Lakers. This is a first-rate organization, and they do things better than most. They're used to winning, and it's a lot of pressure. And all these injuries didn't make it any easier for him."
Bear in mind, just one week ago Kaman was saying this season was "by far" and "tenfold" worse than any other in his 11-year NBA career.
While not naming a name and saying "it doesn't get anyone anywhere" to spout negativity with the season a lost cause, Kaman said last week that the key to good coaching is "being a mediator as opposed to being someone in authority all the time. It's about putting little fires out—small fires here or there—and keeping everybody's egos together and managing that. Players know how to play if you give them enough guidance in the beginning."
Late Tuesday night, when I asked Kaman if D'Antoni's communication could've been better, Kaman said generously: "It always can be better with any coach, not just Mike. It's such a big balance to be a head coach. It takes a lot. It takes a lot out of you. You see guys who can't even finish years sometimes; they have to defer and hand it over to someone else. It drives people nuts.
"It takes a special person to coach a team, and in this day and age, the way the game is played, it's a lot of pressure. You get two, three years, maybe, and then you're outta there if you don't produce. It's no easy task. So I've got to look myself in the mirror and put myself in his shoes; it's tough. It isn't easy. With all the injuries and everything, it's hard to say what would've happened if we would've had a healthy team."
SOME RANDOM HEADLINES: Rockets point guard Pat Beverley expects to return in time for the playoffs … UNC forward James Michael McAdoo is headed to the NBA Draft … Rockets assistant coach-turned-University of Houston coach Kelvin Sampson could earn $1 million a season in his new gig … The Celtics might be interested in re-signing forward Kris Humphries this summer … Guard Jodie Meeks wants to stick with the Lakers next season … Former Heat center Alonzo Mourning is reportedly headed to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame …
ICYMI of the Night: The Mavs' Brandan Wright gives Blake Griffin a taste of his own (dunking) medicine …
VIDEO: Brandan Wright powers home a dunk over Blake Griffin


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SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) Quentin Williams threw two touchdown passes and ran for 121 of Bethune-Cookman's 377 rushing yards as the Tigers beat Savannah State 49-7 Saturday in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game.
Williams completed 9 of 12 passes for 103 yards and threw touchdown passes of 11 and 36 yards. His second touchdown, a strike to David Blackwell, gave Bethune-Cookman a 35-0 halftime lead.
Isidore Jackson finished with 100 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries for Bethune-Cookman (8-2, 7-0), Rodney Scott posted 51 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries and Brodrick Waters tallied 47 yards on six carries.
Savannah State (1-9, 0-7) got on the board midway through the third quarter when Cornel Weston recovered a fumble in the end zone. But Waters scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns to create the final margin.
Bethune-Cookman smothered Savannah State quarterback Antonio Bostick all game, forcing three interceptions and recording four sacks.

subset: commoncrawl


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PATC training course "Parallel Programming Workshop" @ HLRS
- begin
- 23.Sep.2013 08:30
- end
- 27.Sep.2013 16:30
- venue
- HLRS Stuttgart
Distributed memory parallelization with the Message Passing Interface MPI (Mon+Tue, for beginners):
On clusters and distributed memory architectures, parallel programming with the Message Passing Interface (MPI) is the dominating programming model. The course gives an full introduction into MPI-1. Further aspects are domain decomposition, load balancing, and debugging. An MPI-2 overview and the MPI-2 one-sided communication is also taught. Hands-on sessions (in C and Fortran) will allow users to immediately test and understand the basic constructs of the Message Passing Interface (MPI).
Shared memory parallelization with OpenMP (Wed, for beginners):
The focus is on shared memory parallelization with OpenMP, the key concept on hyper-threading, dual-core, multi-core, shared memory, and ccNUMA platforms. This course teaches shared memory OpenMP parallelization. Hands-on sessions (in C and Fortran) will allow users to immediately test and understand the directives and other interfaces of OpenMP. Race-condition debugging tools are also presented.
Advanced topics in parallel programming (Thu+Fri):
Topics are MPI-2 parallel file I/O, hybrid mixed model MPI+OpenMP parallelization, MPI-3.0, parallelization of explicit and implicit solvers and of particle based applications, parallel numerics and libraries, and parallelization with PETSc. MPI-3.0 introduced a new shared memory programming interface, which can be combined with MPI message passing and remote memory access on the cluster interconnect. It can be used for direct neighbor accesses similar to OpenMP or for direct halo copies, and enables new hybrid programming models. These models are compared in the hybrid mixed model MPI+OpenMP parallelization session with various hybrid MPI+OpenMP approaches and pure MPI.
Hands-on sessions are included on all days.
The last two days are sponsored by the PRACE PATC program.


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To the editor:
Well, it's time for my journey as the Brunswick Family Assistance executive director to end, as Gene and I explore a different path.
We won't get caught up in tedious whys and mushy good-byes. Let's make this about helping people who don't know where to turn for help.
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Ray-Ban x Scuderia Ferrari Round Combo Matte Black 0RB2447NM
Mixing up materials and finishes, the Ray-Ban Round Combo is reinterpreted according to Scuderia Ferrari key design cues.
The distinguishing elements of Scuderia Ferrari complete the design of these sunglasses: from the Shield logo engraved on the lens to the original red leather stitched temple tips. The Scuderia Ferrari Round Combo features metal temples and bridge, bold front and flat crystal lenses.
- Shape: Round
- Lens–bridge measurement: 49 21
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- Composition: 50% Metal, 50% Nylon
We offer both Standard and Express shipping: choose the service that best meets your needs at checkout.
We provide an easy return service: just ship your items back to us with a shipping service of your choice within 30 days of delivery.


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The worst part of being injured is arguably sleeping.
The drive for sleep is an interesting one. It's incredibly compelling: nothing is better than drifting off to sleep. But with my leg injury, a muscle pull of some sort although I've not specifically identified which muscles yet, as soon as I lay down my legs start to hurt. The past few nights I've been taking an ibuprofen to help me get past this pain. I avoid ibuprofen and other NSAIDs because of a personal and family history of stomach ulcers. But not being able to get to sleep is a greater fear. I take my only ibuprofen of the day.
Eventually I settle down and sleep arrives. But I do so aware my waking sensation will be pain.
One motion which is particularly painful is an abduction motion with bent knees, similar to the clamshell exercise. I simply cannot do the clamshell with my right leg: too painful, especially at my outer thigh. Today I tried some very mild resistance exercises sitting with the same motion. I tied a single wrap of a yellow Theraband between my knees and rotated my knees outwsrd. This I could do: it was a bit uncomfortable but not painful. However, to do it on my side supporting the full weight of my leg is simply not happening.
The opposite motion is also impaired: squeezing the knees together (adduction). But I'm better at this one. I can generate a decent amount of squeezing force. This I feel more in the inner thigh.
The problem with sleeping is it's hard to avoid both of these motions. I am uncomfortable sleeping on my back so I try to move. But moving to either side hurts. Eventually I end up in a position which causes enough pain so I awaken. If that doesn't happen, then it's only because I remain in a position which is uncomfortable. In either case, I awaken feeling terrible, and since I'm trying to drink a lot of fluids, I invariably need to pee. So I struggle to get out of bed, grab my crutches, and haul myself to the toilet. Then I need to assess if I can get straight back to sleep or not. Sometimes I feel like eating a small snack first. But if I eat too much, I'll awaken next time with stomach pain. Eating too close to sleep messes with my digestion. And sometimes I just want to sit up for awhile before going back to bed. That's what I'm doing now.
After enough repetitions, however, I manage to get enough sleep. Then once I'm up and about I'm fairly okay. I'm off caffeinated drinks for this period as they impede rest, and impeded rest means impeded recovery, and recovery is my priority now. So I'm a bit slower than normal getting going in the morning, but it's not too bad. It's good to give my body a rest from daily exogenous chemical stimulation.
As I write this, I'm approaching 10 days since the injury. For serious muscle strains, from what I've read, this is about the time associated with the acute phase (see, for example, this reference on iliopsoas strains says 4-8 weeks for recovery from a grade 2 strain, worse for a rarer grade 3 which I hopefully do not have). So I'm not particularly worried: I'm making progress, although I'm at the point where it's worth seeing a doctor following my initial ER visit and a few visits to an acupuncturist. But I really look forward to being able to get through the night without pain. Nights are the worst.
That cycling is a dangerous activity nobody can seriously deny. I think about all the times I've been squeezed to the edge of the road by cars or trucks and I realize that in any of these situations I was a meter or less from permanent disability or death. What I experienced in my crash was so much less than this: it's ridiculous for me to even think about feeling sorry for myself. Life is finite, and I can't get back the month or so of health I'll have lost from this injury, but I can look forward to feeling healthy and strong again within the next two months. That's not so terribly bad, really.


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TAUNTON — A group of volunteers in Taunton is rallying the troops to clean up the city and improve the environment on Earth Day, while also asking for help to identify areas of the community that are worst hit by litter.
It will be the 24th annual Earth Day Cleanup organized by the Taunton Ecology Awareness Movement, a nonprofit in the city that aims to gain as many volunteers as possible to help them dispose of litter, deal with illegally dumped materials and beautify the community. The event is scheduled for April 26, from 8:30 a.m. to noon, first meeting in the parking lot behind the old City Hall on Summer Street, organizers said.
"It's one of these things that every little bit helps," said Lee Ann Tavares, co-coordinator for the Taunton Ecology Awareness Movement. "Also, you have to think of the broken-window theory, that if the trash is just left there eventually there will be more and more broken windows so it seems like nobody cares. We each can do our part in helping to pick up and take pride in our city and do what we can."
Tavares said she hopes volunteers who plan on attending can be the "eyes" of the organizers of the event to better direct the effort to areas that need to be cleaned. She also asked for Taunton residents to tell them where large items are dumped in wooded areas or left on the side of the road, so the group can pick up and deliver the items to the city dump.
"Sometimes you drive by a certain area all the time and you notice a significant amount of litter," Tavares said. "Whether on the way to work or school, we'd like people to be our eyes and give us ideas of places that need to be cleaned, and hopefully we'll have enough volunteers to go out to all those places and remove those unsightly materials."
The Taunton Ecology Awareness Movement said it will give free T-shirts to the first 100 volunteers who sign up. The cleanup will be followed by a pizza party, organizers said.
"Small areas or large areas to clean are great," said Karen Kullas, co-coordinator of the Taunton Ecology Awareness Movement. "Pick your neighborhood or pick another location. It's a great feeling to help clean up in the city and make it look better."
Kullas said participating in the Earth Day Clean-up is a good way to get more people to develop a vested interest in developing a community that is clean and eco-friendly.
"That way, they can donate their time and energy and be part of the community, and have sense of ownership," Kullas said. "If they want to clean up their neighborhood or area they frequent, we can send folks there to help them and help everyone become more a part of the community and beautify Taunton."
For more information on the Taunton Earth Day Cleanup and to signup, call 508-822-5907 or 508-272-2222; or email: email@example.com or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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rubygems.org Terms of Service, DMCA process, and conflict resolution
We need a TOS that, along with the normal set of legalese, sets out an arbitration process. We need to figure out what that process is going to be, and find a gullible lawyer to help write it.
I pinged Chad earlier today to get some advice from him on this, and I'm going to drag him in to this ticket. James has thought more about this than any of the maintainers so I'm adding him as well.
I'm inclined to have a pretty simple setup where it's the RubyGems maintainers (Eric, Evan, me), Nick as the creator of Gemcutter, and an outside Ruby person with a lot of community exposure. Please share your thoughts.
I pinged Chad Fowler (who pinged David Black and Rich Kilmer) about this. I've asked them to join this discussion as well. Here's a brief excerpt from our email exchange:
We could probably get a lawyer to
help craft something. We've worked with Cooley Godward before. I
think it is a good idea for gemcutter to have a ToS and trying to
write it ourselves with no help might be a mistake. Rich and David,
what do you think?
My main priority would be to disclaim all liability of any kind
whatsoever for Ruby Central and its directors and employees and anyone
else who might get caught in the middle. I would want something like,
"People shouldn't do such-and-such with your software, but even if they do, you can't come after us." I think that's very important.
Beyond that -- in practical terms -- my reaction to the arbitration
board is that it may be a good idea but I would hate to be on it :-)
That's more a measure of me than anything else, I imagine.
I agree that we should consult a lawyer and make sure that whatever we
do, we do right.
Amen. I wish it wasn't necessary, but we're running out of luck trying to do everything by consensus. See http://help.rubygems.org/discussions/problems/406-zentest-vs-autote... for some very recent motivation. As much as you don't want to be on it, I think that you, Chad, Rich, or Jim would be the best choices from outside the active RubyGems maintainers. Maybe a rousing four-way game of paper-rock-scissors?
Ongoing rubygems-developers discussion: http://rubyforge.org/pipermail/rubygems-developers/2010-November/00...
A ToS protecting you guys from liability makes perfect sense. Go for it.
I think most people dislike and don't read EULAs.
That autotest thread came to a reasonable resolution. I'd suggest instead adding a FAQ:
Q: Somebody used the name of my project! Will you transfer ownership of a gem to me?
A: Please contact the owner of the gem and see if they'll transfer ownership or come to another resolution. Rubygems does not have an arbitration board. Do your best to work it out amongst yourselves amicably. Please be nice.
Dan, if we were doing this speculatively, I'd be totally fine with adding that FAQ. In fact, I agree that we should add a "Matz Is Nice So We Are Nice" FAQ about dealing with conflicts without appealing to authority. Based on the difficulties we've had with the autotest issue above and a few others, though, I really think we should have a place to go when everything gets pear-shaped.
We can't violate licenses - that means we cannot transfer code ownership, ever. Similarly we cannot invoke terms that are not part of the license.
We own the gem namespace for any gems pushed to rubygems.org, not gem authors. Otherwise we cannot provide arbitration.
We delegate responsibility for specific gem namespaces to particular users under a responsible maintenance contract - that is we provide free hosting for software that is being maintained in a responsible manner. We cannot force people to do work, but if someone dies or they are unresponsive for an extensive period of time (we need to define that time range specifically), then we may vote to recover, replace or remove namespace ownership for future releases in that namespace.
We should not remove old namespaces except in cases of serious abuse:
a) DMCA takedown b) Data volume abuse (max 200mb gems? we have some 120mb at the moment, I don't think we really want to host those either - they're mistakes as is - maybe aim for 50mb by end of year?). c) Privacy or malware violations (extconf.rb / mkrf -> zip and ship ~ or /etc/shadow or the like).
If we do remove a portion of the namespace, we should remove dependent namespaces also - for example, if a depends on b and c, and we get a DMCA for c, we should takedown versions of a that depend on c. Those versions may be allowed to be re-released not dependent on c. This would be the only special case for re-release of existing versions.
Authors / namespace owners involved in a discussion cannot vote in that discussion.
Discussions that are not legally bound or are not covered by our terms are not to be hosted in our discussion forums. We may discuss those issues from the point of view of coverage, but we should be not seen to be supporting non-legal and out of context discussions. If we do do this, it will raise a feeling of bullying and could be socially engineered by one side.
Gem namespaces are not trademarks. This is quite an issue in general - authors want to be free to write and publish useful software. There is no central registry for all nx and windows binaries and clobbers do occur quite regularly. Authors own a gem namespace when they take a gem namespace, not just for authoring something else in a different namespace or elsewhere. That being said, legal takedowns for registered trademarks are something we have to respect, within reason. You can leave notes in license and application documentation attributing registered trademarks to their respective owners and making it clear that the trademark is not part of the project and is not related to the owner in any way. This is common in documentation and literary writings, and the cases apply to software and software documentation too.
Really good start. Re your point 4, we need to have the DMCA takedown notice stuff published somewhere, even though I hope we never have to use it.
yes indeed, me too
Gems cover the require namespace as well as the gem name namespace, so I think we need an expansion of 3 to cover a case like autotest where a gem was split off with a different name that overlaps a more-established gems' require namespace.
Ok, I'm open to suggestions as to how we can define this correctly / strictly?
Does this apply to named forks?
What about pure/vs non pure, etc?
We need to keep moving on this.
Posterous has started the process for claiming its namespace from a gem author not associated with the company. It would help if I had a document to point to saying "we respect trademark", etc.
Hay, everyone if you want to know dmca process so you can visit to this website dmcanow.com. Because i had also get information about dmca process and i have very impressed
Let's pick this up again. Where are we at? Can we just post one?
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Elert Archive
HSLDA Alerts & Information (ALL) RSS
Elert Archive
HSLDA Alerts & Information (ALL) RSS June 2010 6/30/2010 HSLDA Benefit: Online AP Courses with a Christian Worldview! 6/25/2010 Maine--State Abruptly Barricades Aspirations Program 6/24/2010 Illinois--Visit HSLDA at the Chicago Homeschool Expo 6/22/2010 Massachusetts--Act Now to Defeat Expansion of State Control Over Homeschools 6/22/2010 Virginia--Errors in Goochland Letter 6/21/2010 Georgia--Visit HSLDA at the Southeast Homeschool Expo 6/21/2010 California--Visit HSLDA at the 17th Annual Valley Home Educators Convention 6/18/2010 HSLDA: Final Chance to Register for iGovern Leadership Camp 6/18/2010 HSLDA: 16th Annual Oregon Christian Home Education Conference Next Week! 6/18/2010 HSLDA: Early Registration for AFHE Home Educator's Convention Next Week! 6/18/2010 New Hampshire--Reminder: Evaluations Due to Participating Agency 6/18/2010 West Virginia--Reminder: End-of-Year Assessment Due by June 30 6/17/2010 HSLDA: Help Your Student Earn Potential College Credit with HSLDA Discount! 6/17/2010 HSLDA: Help Your Student Earn Potential College Credit with HSLDA Discount! 6/16/2010 HSLDA: Iowa HSAP Families Now Welcome in HSLDA 6/16/2010 Tennessee--Visit HSLDA at the 28th Annual CSTHEA Expo 6/16/2010 Arizona--Visit HSLDA at the 27th Annual AFHE Convention 6/15/2010 HSLDA: Join Mike Farris in a Biblical Response to Environmentalism 6/14/2010 Louisiana: Action Needed--Homeschool Graduate Bill to be Voted on by Full House 6/11/2010 Virginia--Warren County RE Policy Advances 6/11/2010 HSLDA: Religious Freedom Bill Will be heard in House--Calls Needed 6/11/2010 Ohio--Action Needed to Oppose Reynoldsburg Daytime Curfew 6/11/2010 Rhode Island--Good News: Both Bad Compulsory Attendance Bills Dead! 6/10/2010 Generation Joshua's iGovern Summer Leadership Camps--5 Days Left to Register 6/10/2010 Rhode Island--Action Still Needed on Both Compulsory Attendance Bills! 6/9/2010 Virginia--Warren County School Board to Meet on New Religious Exemption Policy 6/9/2010 Tennessee--Visit HSLDA at the WTHEA Curriculum Fair & Conference 6/9/2010 Rhode Island--Kill The CompulsoryAttendance Age Increase Tonight! 6/9/2010 Florida--Visit HSLDA at the HERI 2010 Convention! 6/9/2010 West Virginia--Visit HSLDA at the Eastern Panhandle Home School Conference 6/9/2010 California--Visit HSLDA at the 27th Annual CHEA Convention 6/8/2010 HSLDA needs your help! 6/7/2010 Louisiana: Update--Homeschool Graduate Bill To Be Heard in House Education 6/4/2010 West Virginia: GenJ's iGovern East 6/2/2010 New Jersey: Visit HSLDA at the Sacred H.E.A.R.T. Convention! 6/1/2010 Rhode Island: Calls Urgently Needed to Prevent Compulsory Attendance Age Inrease 6/1/2010 Nebraska: Online Seminar with Important Information


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We hate the "I Hate Reading' Facebook page
And to cap off a great week of plunging share prices and riots on the streets, there is a 'I Hate Reading' Facebook page with 438,544 likes. Somebody should set up the 'I Hate the I Hate Reading Page' page on Facebook. (I know hate is a strong word and my mother told me never to use it, but they started this – although I like to think these people just haven't found the right book yet.)
Here is the official AbeBooks.com reply to the 'We Hate Reading' Facebook page – it's a video entitled Long Live the Book created by Lindsay Thompson. We love this video and Lindsay did an amazing job – she even wrote and performed the soundtrack. We love reading, we love books.


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Events for December 4, 2018
Events Search and Views Navigation
Events for December 4, 2018
Revelations from the Collection
A revealing look, through photography, at selected artifacts from the collections featuring ordinary objects made extraordinary.Find out more »
Brewing Changes Guelph
Label illustration and design: Lind Design Brewing Changes Guelph examines the social and economic importance of brewing beer in the Royal City and the changes brought about by the rise, fall and resurrection of Guelph breweries. Whether one has worked in the brewing industry or has never tasted beer before, visitors will learn how…Find out more »
Coming Home: First World War at 100 Years
November 11, 1918 at 11:00 a.m. marked the profound but symbolic end to the four-year conflict on the Western Front. After the last gun sounded, an eerie quiet must have greeted the soldiers along the front lines. The world was finally ready for peace. In Guelph, people celebrated the end of the First World War…Find out more »
Winter Wonderful: The Game of Carpet Ball
During the cold winter months, both children and adults engage in seasonal outdoor activities, such as hockey or tobogganing. Winter evenings are often spent indoors, playing board games or watching movies. A hundred years ago, the game of carpet ball was a popular winter sport, played inside of course! Similar in gameplay to curling and…Find out more »


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Introducing the PocketShot
Be the first to back the PocketShot and grab our limited early bird pricing!
One weird Monkey...
Dearest beloved SlingShot backers,
Three things to know:
1) If you have not gotten your SlingShot(s) yet, please contact us at email@example.com We probably don't have your shipping info yet (Kickstarter does NOT collect that when you... Read more
We WANT to ship your SlingShots (but we can't)
Charles here from WOXOM, (makers of the SlingShot!)
There are about 200 outstanding orders for Kickstarter SlingShots that we want to ship but CAN'T.There are two main reasons for... Read more
The SlingShot has launched!
We have SHIPPED EVERYTHING!
Your SlingShots are on their way!
The domestic (US) SlingShots went out last Monday (Sept. 17), and the international ones went last Thursday (Sept. 20)... Read more
Backer Party at Charles' studio this Saturday!! (In Portland, Oregon)
We're so happy that the SlingShots have arrived, we've decided on short notice to have a Backer Party at my Portrait Studio this Saturday from 3:00pm to 4:47pm (Pacific Standard... Read more
SlingShots are SHIPPING!!
Yipee! The container arrived today at the fulfillment house! It was supposed to be here last Friday (the 7th), but it's been held up by Customs and the Longshoreman's Union. (ggrrrr!)... Read more
Regarding SlingShot being available elsewhere
To answer the question:
Why is Adorama selling SlingShots now, before backers have theirs?
Here's the scoop:
We messed up! Being new to the whole manufacturing/shipping thing we thought that... Read more
Terrible, horrible, disappointing news
There will be a delay in shipping (yet again!)
First off: PLEASE WATCH THE VIDEO, it explains things in a way that mere words can't do:
Due to... Read more
Our latest (late) update
Here's a video that tells you everything:
My apologies for being so darn slow about updating you all.
It's been (happily) hectic here and we've finally got solid... Read more
Shipping date announcement!!
Backers, friends, and other interested folk:
The SlingShot final sample has been APPROVED and the Purchase Order has been released! Production STARTS!
Watch this video to learn all about it:... Read more
Delays, flippin' delays!
Hello all youz backers,
This manufacturing stuff is a nuisance, I tell you what!
Our last sample from the factory was SUPPOSED to be the LAST sample we'd need. But,... Read more
Expedite Your SlingShot Order!
Attention All Backers! (yup! that's you!)
Kickstarter is a great site, but they don't collect shipping addresseswhen you back the project. I'm not sure why they leave... Read more
Review of out latest (almost complete) sample...
And... it needs more work. *sigh*
NEWS FLASH! Disappointment reigns at WOXOM Central after reviewing the latest sample from the factory.
Here's a video that tells all:
Our sincerest apologies... Read more
What can we say?
Thank you!
To keep up with the latest developments in the bestest way possible, sign up for the WOXOM newsletter at (you guessed it!) ... Read more
The EPIC FINALE
Made possible by backers like YOU :-)
There's less than 20 hours to go ! ! !
Tell everyone! Release the lifeboats!
Or, uh, just... Read more
OMG!! OMG!! Time OUT!! (seriously, we're almost out of time...)
Time is running out, and we are down to the last few tablespoonsful of sand...
With just under 45 hoursremaining in the project, I'm leaving our links so you... Read more
I want it NOW! or: When do I get my SlingShot?
Excuse me Charles, when do I get my SlingShot?
Here's a short video that tells all:
Belatedly yours,
PS:With just under 71 hours remaining in the... Read more
Stunning Macro Video of Dandelions shot using the SlingShot
The current crop of smartphones have amazing optics - they shoot dark night scenes, sunny beaches, and even really close-in macros.
But, the rub with macrois that even... Read more
Way cool Spin-amation of the SlingShot (by Arqball)
The guys at Arqball, another Kickstarter project, sent us one to play with, and this little baby is cool!
Here's the big idea: The Arqball is a small stage that... Read more
What's he doing?! He's making the Flying Monopod Video...
How to use your SlingShot to create unusual and compelling footage
In the professional photographic world (of which I am a card-carrying member), the Monopod is used extensively.
Now,... Read more
Brutal YouTube Product Review (Ouch!)
Blunty Burr (cheeky Aussie) reviews the SlingShot
Who the heck is Blunty Burr? We didn't know until he became a backer... but it turns out he has 109,582 followers of his YouTube channel... Read more
Using the SlingShot - Shocking! leaked! video!...
LEAKED!! EXPOSED!! (by popular demand)
How to attract the man or woman of your dreams! Oh, wait, that's a different video...
THIS shocking, never-before-seen video, exposes the behind-the-scenes reality of ... Read more
Delay in shipping (but, disaster avoided) . . .
At our final, final cross-checkbefore taxiing to the runway and lifting-off, we ran more tests on the original legs design and found that it had no legs! (A bad... Read more
It was a dark and stormy night...
A time lapse from last night (kinda dark & moody).
It was a dark and stormy night in Boring, Oregon(yes, it really is called Boring!). So I boldly scampered... Read more
RAW Footage From the SlingShot (it's not cooked at all!)
You asked for SlingShot shot footage and here it is! I went out on Friday (April 27) and shot this in the forest behind my house. This is straightout of... Read more
Custom Printing on your SlingShots!
Get your SlingShots custom-imprinted!
Impress your friends, crush your competition, and we're on Pinterest. :-)
Print your logo or phrase on the cradleright there for all the world... Read more
Hard-Core Geeky Prototyping Details on the Cradle
BEWARE! Not for the faint of heart (or anyone with a life)
Here's a video that will tell you way morethan you ever wanted to know about the prototyping the... Read more
It's seriously PNEUMATIC...
My Great-Aunt Laura never had one of these! Of course, she was a school-teacher in a one-room school house, so I'm not surprised.
It's a rodless cylinder that moves waaaay... Read more
A Re-Enactment of a THANK YOU
On April 13th at 11:23pm (PST) our project reached its funding goal!
A big T H A N K Y O U ! !to all of you backers who... Read more
We added yet another pledge level...
Want more than 10 and less than 100?
We've added a Pledge Level of FIFTY SlingShots.
Yup! You can start a breeding program and sell the eggs also.
Charles... Read more
New Pledge Level Added
As requested, we've added a pledge level of 100 units. Yeehaw!
Reporting from on the range,
PS: Sign up for our newsletter at http://woxom.net
Prototyping the SlingShot
As promised, we're going to be catching you up to date on the birth and growth of the SlingShot.
One of the key parts of the prototyping process was having 3D... Read more
Things are really moving!
THANK YOU - things are really moving!
And, we still need your help.
We've had lots of ideas have come in alreadyand we want to hear more of your... Read more
Half way there!
We just hit $10,000, which is half way to our goal - and we're not even one WEEK into the project!
(Oops! I'd better be careful or... Read more
Our first update!
Thanks to all of you for jump starting this project. Things are moving!
We'll be updating you on the project frequently.
We'd love to hear from you through email@example.com or... Read more


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Oliphant of St. Hubert
Description: This is a decorative oliphant made with Ivory, Bone and Shells. The curvilinear design of the oliphant is wide from one point and narrow from the other. There are two black straps on the piece. There are many carved engravings done in repeated pattern. There are horizontal lines running along the silhouette of the carved piece. There is a chain passing through the black straps to hold the piece.
Date: 1200~


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Sunday, May 27, 2007
Programmer Interviews: Two Warning Signs
Unfortunately, a lot of companies know that these questions are trivial questions, and they know they're supposed to abandon the practice, but they don't know what they're supposed to do instead, so they just ratchet it up a notch. Instead of asking you questions which are trivial because any idiot could answer them by going on Google, they ask you questions which are trivial because any idiot could answer them by pulling Knuth off the shelf. Questions like, "what is a tree sort? What is it good for?" You can give them credit for having higher standards, because they make the hypothetical idiot go to a more sophisticated source, but they're still asking questions which any idiot could answer with access to the right reference materials. But the ability to locate reference materials isn't an important criterion in hiring programmers; it's an important criterion in hiring librarians.
Algorithm questions are becoming the huge warning sign, to me, that syntax questions were in the past. If you take a job with a company that asks you questions any idiot could answer, sooner or later they're going to put you on a project with some idiot who answered them. It's something to watch out for.
The best way to hire programmers is to read their blogs and look at their code. If you don't read their blogs and look at their code before the interview, you've gotten it backwards. The phone screen should come after the Google screen.
Even though I sometimes post embarassing things on my blog, I'm always happier in an interview when I find out the person I'm talking to has read my blog beforehand. I never talk to anybody without researching their company first, and if you googled the company but they didn't google you, that means that the first thing you find out about a prospective employer is that they're less diligent than you are. That's something to watch out for too.
25 comments:
I can't remember who wrote it, but somebody had an article whose hypothesis was that google asked those questions not because they were relevant, but instead that they were intended to weed out bad developers.ReplyDelete
That is to say - they might wipe out some good developers too, but that might be acceptable if the thesis "people who can answer difficult algorithmic questions off the top of their head tend to be good programmers" was true.
Which questions? The NY Times article in the link is about Google abandoning a quiz which included details of the HTTP spec (iirc).ReplyDelete
I have yet to find an employer who actually read my blog, despite it's prominance on my resume. In one interview I wasted 20 minutes on some dumb logic problem about pirates and gold. For interviews I say, read the blog, look at code, talk with former coworkers (not managers). You can't fake that.ReplyDelete
I agree that knowing exactly how arcane tree-sorting algorithms work is not a very useful interview question.ReplyDelete
What is important is that a candidate has heard of Tree/Hashtable structures and knows (roughly) their characteristics and when to use them.
There's a class of interview/test questions where a correct answer is impressive but an incorrect (or 'I don't know') answer tells you precisely nothing about the candidate.
"How is quicksort implemented?" is an example of this sort of question. The fact that someone doesn't know this tells you nothing.
I find it slightly amusing that researching stuff off a book has become more sophisticated than googling for it.ReplyDelete
Are books becoming deprecated? That gives me an eerie-science-fiction-kind-of feeling :P
- AnonymousMay 28, 2007 at 12:58:00 AM PDT
Name some employers who will read a blog if you have one and look over open source code you've released.ReplyDelete
i tend to disagree . As important it is to ask questions relevant to the work the person might be getting hired for , its also important to test algorithm and data structure knowledge. Reading blogs and pet projects done by developers is a good idea . But you know how busy ppl are n how HR ppl work ..ReplyDelete
@anonymous - I'm not going to name any such employers because I already linked to them in the exact sentence you're responding to.ReplyDelete
@godfoca - come on. it's knowing what Google is vs. knowing who Donald Knuth is. the delivery method is irrelevant.
@andrewr & karanjude - it's true these things matter, but a lot of people are just using it as a crutch, the same crutch syntax questions used to be.
You saidReplyDelete
"But the ability to locate reference materials isn't an important criterion in hiring programmers; it's an important criterion in hiring librarians."
Au contraire :) I feel that the ability to locate the right kind of reference materials in the right situation is something that is sadly lacking in even some otherwise wonderful coders. In fact, one of my interview questions in the late 90s was "What do you read?"
Even today, it seems that many coders think themselves too busy to actually read up on the right ways to deal with certain challenges, preferring instead to use their 'initiative' and fudge around the problem rather than seeking out prior art.
So I guess those of us who don't share the compulsion to divulge the last of our innermost thoughts to the world the second we have them, or whose meaningful code is locked up under NDA, should be discriminated against in the workplace? And what happened to "past performance is no guarantee of future potential"?ReplyDelete
No. Pretty much the only way to evaluate someone is to evaluate them. Let them do the job for a while, with careful but not suffocating supervision, and see whether or not they can get up again when they fall on their arse. Hiring is, and should be, a risk, just like any other investment; but a decent trial period (I've tended to suggest three months) really is the only fair way to see whether someone's up to snuff. Anything else is basically a more or less sophisticated form of fortune telling.
Asking somebody who claims to be a Ruby programmer what the "^" character means in Ruby code seems perfectly reasonable to me. I'd ask a Java programmer what the difference between "==" and ".equals(x)" is too. In both cases, the goal is to determine whether the person has actually written much code. Surely no Ruby programmer does a Google search between every line of code they type.ReplyDelete
Similarly, asking about familiarity with basic computational theory is a good way to tell the difference between a hack programmer and somebody who really does know the difference between a good sorting algorithm and a bad one.
Now, I definitely agree that questions like "what's on page 147 of Knuth volume 1" are silly, as are questions about arcana buried in RFC's and protocol specs. The real qualifier for "good" questions should be, "is knowing the answer to the question an important qualifier for filling the job description? Can somebody who doesn't know the answer really be expected to get the work done the way we expect it to be done?"
I don't know much about router configuration, but I know what it means. In a pinch, I could probably do Google searches and read manuals and manage to reconfigure a router. I would hope, however, that nobody would consider me therefore a qualified network admin.
I'm writing this post as a public service for anyone considering hiring me in a Ruby environment.ReplyDelete
I don't know what the ^ operator does in Ruby. I haven't used it, probably because I don't know what it does.
I kind of remember Giles writing that it's an exclusive or operator. And if I had tried to guess before reading that post, I would have guessed exponentiation.
Here's an interesting follow-up: is it a method or an operator?
In other words, can you define it for one of your classes, or is it one of those warty things in Ruby that look like the other things but have their own special implementation in the interpreter?
If you want short-cut evaluation in Ruby, you need to define it in the interpreter. Compare and contrast this implementation to how Lisp and Scheme handle things with macros or how Smalltalk makes everything a black. Both of those languages let you define your own operators with short-cut semantics. Ruby does not.
I'm an unusual programmer. I've worked for and consulted at over 30 companies. I often get offers to go full-time and often turn them down.ReplyDelete
unlike a lot of programmers, I didn't graduate from college, and I didn't study computer science. I studied art, music, Latin, Ancient Greek, and acting. and I've mentored and even taught programmers with master's degrees and doctorates.
in my 20s I did office temping so I could spend the majority of my energy on writing fiction and making music. so if you count that office temping, the number of companies I've worked for is probably more like 50 or 60.
If there's one thing I know through and through, it's how to spot warning signs in a corporate culture very, very quickly.
I think most of the people posting on this thread are well-informed and well-intentioned, but if you're a young programmer trying to decide which job to take, I want you to understand, this post is for you, not them, and the only important thing I have to say is that these warning signs are absolutely warning signs. they are not absolute deal-breakers, but they are definite warning signs. no company is without warning signs. there are worse warning signs. but these are still things to watch out for.
that being said:
@gwen - you need to read Clay Shirky's essay on micropayments. the essay's economics apply to code samples and effort just as readily as they apply to blog posts and cash. less and less people are going to go to the effort of requesting code samples as it becomes easier and easier to obtain somebody's code samples by googling them. if your code falls under NDA, you will appear to be a programmer who does not produce code. I know because it happened to me.
@reg - I assumed ^ was exponentiation when I first saw it too. in fact it often serves double-duty as an XOR, in Perl, Python, C, and many other languages, according to somebody who commented on my post about it. this is pretty relevant; there are lots of corners to any programming language, and some people will know particular idiosyncrasies inside-out. a lot of people don't ever even use XOR, but obviously some people use it often enough that they want it as an operator.
the problem with asking ANY question with a predetermined correct answer is that an expert on Ruby idiosyncrasies can be totally missed by that screening process. if the XOR programmer doesn't remember the correct terminology for a tree sort, oops, too bad. screening out anybody who doesn't know one particular corner of computer science can cost you a potential hire who was an expert in some other corner. this means you should only screen for relevant corners.
this is the other reason companies should do a Google screen before a phone screen. you shouldn't have to waste time on the phone on the question of whether or not somebody knows the language. that's a silly question. it's silly because a good candidate will in almost every case have proof of their knowledge somewhere on the Web, either through blogging, open source, or questions in forums. if you don't have that proof on the Web, you should put it on the Web, and if you can't put it on the Web, you should include it in the e-mail with your resume.
one way or another, that question should be answered before you ever get on the phone. it's a waste of cellphone minutes and it makes the conversation depressing. nobody enjoys trying to spot a liar; nobody enjoys talking to someone who's trying to guess if they're telling the truth or not. that poisons the process, and this type of situation happens every time a technology gets hot. it's an ongoing problem in this industry, tied directly to its cycles. the solution is to use the technologies that the industry created. Google people, read their blogs, find code they've written - and then decide if you want to bring them in for an interview. likewise, if you're too busy to do that, have the people in human resources do it. they don't need Ruby programming skills just to google somebody's name. have an office temp do it for $15 per hour. the money you save will be worth it.
It's quite possible that many good candidates will not have Google-able trails. And as an interviewer, it's my job to find out whether they're a good candidate even if Google turns up zilch.
I get three CVs, one is from someone whose work has been under NDA, one is from a blogger who has exhibited intelligence and an ability to communicate in writing, and one is from someone who has a Ruby Gem available for download and inspection.
What do you think happens next?
This comment has been removed by the author.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousMay 28, 2007 at 4:42:00 PM PDT
"if you don't have that proof on the Web, you should put it on the Web, and if you can't put it on the Web, you should include it in the e-mail with your resume."ReplyDelete
That's your opinion, and a minority one. You are part of a collection of people that wants everyone to know things about yourself that most (as in, most people aren't blogging, don't contribute to newsgroups, don't want to post pictures of themselves with a dildo on their head, etc) people want to keep private. The privacy issue is completely orthogonal to how good a prospective client is.
I'm going to have to go with "Blogs aren't always about code" on this one, Alex. Sure, you can blog about the idiosynchrosies of your particular pet language every day, but one minor slip up and a mention of your political views on this or that, and suddenly, your blog has become a libability and not an asset. I'd greatly frown on anyone using google to find out background information on someone - they might find code, or they might find you espousing your support for Barak Obama(and they happen to be a Clinton fan), thus, subconsiously, you're off the list.ReplyDelete
Anonymous: The simple solution to not posting pictures of a dildo on your head is to not post pictures of a dildo on your head.ReplyDelete
Maintaining a squeaky-clean, unobjectionable-to-all image may be hard. (But then, as this post establishes, no image at all is objectionable to some. This battle you can not win.) Maintaining an image of a human who can be hired is not so hard. There is no 100% solution, and if there were, "no online identity at all" is clearly not it.
@reg - that's exactly my point. I'm not saying it's fair. I'm saying it's the way it is.ReplyDelete
@anonymous - the line you quoted was about proof of being able to code. you're making a huge mental leap there. if you don't have any code you can put on the Web, write something and put it on the Web. you don't have to be an exhibitonist to put together a small site with code samples.
@austin - I totally agree with you. I learned this the hard way when I used a metaphor from comparative religion under the assumption that since this was a programming blog people would take it all with a grain of salt and remain calm-headed. this was a very, very wrong assumption and I ended up killing the post to avoid getting people upset over a metaphor.
but again, I'm not saying it's perfect. I'm just pointing out that it's the way it is. there's a great article about how this is affecting kids, I'll see if I can find it. the reality is, as David Brin predicted in The Transparent Society, anonymity is becoming a thing of the past.
the first time a company hires some ax murderer and some stockholder finds his ax murdering in the first page of search results for the guy's name, googling potential employees is going to become an official best practice. there's no point fighting it.
@jerf - There is no 100% solution, and if there were, "no online identity at all" is clearly not it.
Exactly! I did something embarassing in 2006 and got hired by two companies in a row that knew about it. I didn't even find out they knew until I'd been working for them for a while, in each case. They googled me, found out about my flaws as well as my advantages, and hired me. I think this will become more and more normal in future. And let's face it, if you ask somebody in an interview what their flaws are, is that really useful information? Google them, find out for yourself what their worst flaws are, and then decide if it's a dealbreaker or not. The dude wearing a dildo on his head might still win if he's a better programmer than the upstanding citizen in the suit at church. Nobody hires people to go to church, they hire you to write programs. What you do on your own time is your own business.
Personally I sometimes think posting a picture of myself with a dildo on my head was a good business move. Maybe a company which couldn't handle that wouldn't be a good fit. Maybe I'm doing myself a favor by scaring away conservative companies. Maybe I'm just screening bad customers here. Sometimes these things are simple.
"The best way to hire programmers is to read their blogs and look at their code. "ReplyDelete
Geez, that's what I was hoping for but I'm having a tough time with that. I put out at least a dozen applications recently for programming gigs and not a single one has asked for a code sample or even looked at my blog. Not one. Instead I'm getting cookbook-style hiring questions like "we need someone with exactly 2 years experience with Rails that has 3 years with MySql...is that you?" And at that point I hangup the phone and hide under the bed. I'm getting the feeling that I should have spent the last nine months studying Erlang.
Awesome post as usual.
Heh. Thank you. Actually that's the other reason I recommend this philosophy. Companies that ask you how many years don't really know what it is you should know. Companies that read your blog and look at your code expect to learn something in the process. You can't do that unless you know what to look for.ReplyDelete
Nine months studying Erlang would be a good idea, by the way. The Erlang market is much smaller than the C# market, and has much more interesting people in it. Chad Fowler's "My Job Went To India" has some really solid and maybe surprising perspectives on commodity programming, both from economics and marketing vantage points. Long story short, specializing in something you really dig is a really good job-hunting move.
Thanks for article!ReplyDelete
Thanks for interesting article.ReplyDelete
Glad to read articles like this. Thanks to author!ReplyDelete
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In this episode we cover the latest news from RootsTech 2012, my video interview with Nick Barratt, and an in depth look at Find A Grave with the website's creator, Jim Tipton.
Watch the recording of my presentation Genealogy Podcasts and Blogs 101 RootsTech 2012 website. It's part of the Saturday Recap Video.
Roots Tech was the public debut of the new book Everything You Need to Know About How to Find Your Family in Newspapers and I just want to thank everyone for the amazing response. It's really obvious that a comprehensive book on newspaper research was LONG overdue. The book is now available at the website and stay tuned because the ebook version is coming soon.
Autographed copies still available a very limited time
Read more about and watch my chat with Genealogy Gems Podcast listener and contest winner Carol Genung.
GENEALOGY GEMS APP BONUS CONTENT: Listen to the interview with podcast listener and contest winner Carol Genung.
Watch my chat with television presenter and historian Nick Barratt.
Now one of the big players in British online records brightsolid made a HUGE splash at RootsTech 2012 not only with it's huge and colorful display at the front of the Exhibit Hall, but also by announcing while there that they have formally entered the US genealogy market with the launch of a ground-breaking, "pay-as-you-go" website: www.censusrecords.com.
Read all about it: Brightsolid Enters US Genealogy Market With Censusrecords.com
Customers of the new site will be able to search all US census records from 1790 to 1930 and it will also house the 1940 US census records, when they are released later this year.
My Heritage / World Vital Records
Also making news was MyHeritage.com. They have recently acquired World Vital Records.com and now are also making a splash onto the U.S. scene. I spoke with CEO Gilad Japhet and he told me they have just opened a U.S. office in Provo Utah and will be introducing some exciting new changes in the near future that take advantage of the huge new record collection they have acquired from World Vital Records and will make it easier than ever to build your existing MyHeritage family tree.
FamilySearch Launches Mobile Indexing App
FamilySearch announced a mobile Indexing App at RootsTech that is meant to expand the capability of volunteers to help make the world's historic records searchable online. The mobile device app works on Apple iPads, iPhones, and Droid smartphones.
And FamilySearch also announced the winners of the RootsTech Developer Challenge.
First Place went to Jimmy Zimmerman for his NoteFuser
NoteFuser connects your Evernote® notes to Geni.com or new.FamilySearch.org person records. It also allows you to easily create Evernote® powered research logs and other notes with one click. You can watch a video demo of NoteFuser Demo video at http://notefuser.herokuapp.com.
Second Place went to Brooke Schreier Ganz, LeafSeekLeafSeek helps you turn your genealogical or historical record collections into searchable online databases. LeafSeek includes features such as built-in geo-spatial searches, pop-up Google Maps, Beider-Morse Phonetic Matching, name synonyms, and language localization to help you turn your spreadsheets of names and dates into a full-featured genealogy search engine. leafseak.com.
And there was a tie for Third Place between the Brigham Young University Computer Science Department for the 20 Minute Genealogist and Ellie Rasmus, for Facetree. 20 Minute Genealogist is a site that will visualize your family tree using your new.FamilySearch.org credentials. You can see who in your tree needs work and instantly link to FamilySearch and Ancestry to search for the missing information. You can sign up to be a beta tester at twenty.byu.edu. And Facetree has been developed as a way of using genealogical data from GEDCOM files as context to improve the accuracy of face recognition.
From Pat in New York
"Lisa--Once again I find myself driving along listening to you and mentally adding "To Do" items faster than the speed limit will allow! :) It's like having tea again with a childhood friend -- your comforting tone is oh-so-soothing at the end of the day for the drive home."
Read Pat's blog post at http://dalpiazryan.blogspot.com/2011/10/stroll-back-in-time-to-ellicottville-ny.html "Lost Goose" newspaper notice which was a particular gem found in old small town newspapers.
From Tina in the UK
"Your new newspaper book: I wondered if the content might be solely to do with US newspapers, or do you cover other countries too? I'm interested as I haven't had a lot of luck."
The book is first and foremost a newspaper research process. This applies to newspapers regardless of their location. It does however include a fairly extensive International newspaper Appendix. It is of course impossible to make it complete, however it will certainly give you some great leads, and also provide you with a sense of what is out there and other types of similar websites to look for. While newspaper research starts online, it very often ends offline. And certainly the worksheets would be applicable to all newspaper research.
Sandi wrote: "Just got my signed copy today. Thanks, Lisa! I know I will get lots of GEMS :) I foresee this being a well-used workbook."
Nancy wrote: "Got my signed book in the mail today. Well done. Lots of fantastic tips. and references for all states. I'm reading through it. Thanks, Lisa, for a great book"
Newspaper Lecturer Bret Petersen wrote: "I sure wish that I had had a book like that when I started researching newspapers!"
Question from Dave
"It's funny that I feel like I can call you Lisa although I have never met you in person. I just renewed my premium membership for the second year So I have been following you for quite a while. I love your shows; Gems, premium, and family tree magazine! I listen regularly and always can't wait for the next issue to come out!"
"On to my question: I was reviewing your hard drive organization videos (fantastic by the way) and noticed you mentioned Springfield Ohio as an ancestral home. I too have relatives there. I am currently fascinated by my civil war veteran ancestor Samuel S Cowan…I was wondering where to locate possible obituaries for Springfield? What News Papers were commonly read there?
Thanks again for all you do to feed mine and others addiction to family history!"
Check out Dave's photographs of the Jerseyville IL Victorian Days festival.
Lisa Recommends: Chronicling America website
Also check out my video on Using Newspapers in Genealogy at my YouTube channel
Alison Shares a Grandma Names Followup
"I saw this article in The Australian newspaper today & it reminded me of your stories about Davy so I thought you may like to read it. (Click image below to enlarge)
From Alan
"I very much enjoy your podcast. I wanted to share the name my granddaughter uses for me, one that I think any genealogist might love. We were Skyping one day and my son referred to me as Dad. This was confusing to my granddaughter, so he explained that I was Old Dad – and that has ever since been my name."
GEM: Jim Tipton – FindAGrave
GEM: Your Life in 5 Minutes (Part 6) with Sunny Morton
Get Sunny's book "Your Life & TImes: A Guided Journal for Collecting Your Stories by clicking this link: My Life & Times


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WTPNewsletter 20080512
WTP Weekly What's Cooking?
Headline News!
- WTP 3.0 M7 build declared 20080506040630
- M7 New and Noteworthy
May 05, 2008 - May 12, 2008
- WTP 3.0 M7 build declared 20080506040630
- M7 New and Noteworthy
- Please note that the all-in-one, Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers - M7 is available on the Ganymede update site.
Committers and early testers: Please give the Ganymede staging site a try as well as the latest, early, all-in-one version and report problems as appropriate.
- Plugin Version Information
Previous Adopter Breakage Report Information
- Details
- org.eclipse.jst.jsf.context.resolver.structureddocument.internal.impl.MetadataContextResolver was renamed to org.eclipse.jst.jsf.common.metadata.query.TaglibDomainMetaDataQueryHelper.
- In org.eclipse.wst.server.ui.internal.Messages, the fields host,name,vendor, and version were removed.
- In the internal package, org.eclipse.wst.server.core.internal, deprecated classes ModuleEvent, ModuleFactoryEvent, and IModuleListener were removed.
- In the internal class org.eclipse.wst.server.core.internal.ServerPlugin, getModuleArtifact(...) was removed.
- In the internal class, org.eclipse.jst.j2ee.internal.common.operations.JavaModelUtil, the method findType(..) changed arguments. This class is basically a copy of a JEM class to avoid adding a JEM dependency, and to keep up with changes in JEM, this class was updated.
- In org.eclipse.wst.wsdl.binding.soap.SOAPHeader and org.eclipse.wst.wsdl.binding.soap.SOAPHeaderFault, the methods getPart(...), setPart(...), getMessage(...), setMessage(...) were replaced by new methods. Details:
- The WSDL model SOAPHeader and SOAPAddress classes should have been inheriting the WSDL4J interfaces but weren't. Unfortunately the javax.wsdl interface already defines getMessage() and getPart () using a different signature. So this is a case where in order to 'fix' our model to make it comply with the WSDL4J we needed to break the 'provisional API' (these classes specified api=false in the component.xml file). Current clients will simply need to change references from getPart or getMessage to getEPart and getEMessage to access the EMF equivalent classes.
Back to What's Cooking Archive


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Real rejection of Real ID
And this morning I came across this nugget: Last week Maine became the first state to reject the Real ID Act.
"Maine has spoken: Real ID is a real nightmare for local governments" said Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. "Real ID is an unfunded mandate that could lead to rampant identity theft. We urge other states to follow Maine's call for privacy. Maine's action makes it crystal clear that Congress must fix what's broken and significantly revise the Real ID Act."
Maine's action was only a resolution calling for Congress to repeal the act, but a follow-up bill is expected that will block any state spending on the program. From the Portland Press Herald editorial board...
Members of the National Conference of State Legislatures voted at a meeting in August to oppose the legislation, which is expected to cost Maine taxpayers $185 million over its first five years.
Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap has pointed out that this is six times the total annual budget of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. Nationwide, the cost is estimated to be $11 billion, almost all of it to be paid by the states.
Under the law, Maine would have to obey national standards for issuing driver's licenses, which would be imprinted with a special machine-readable "zone" on the cards containing personal data on the holder. Illegal immigrants would be barred from receiving them.
Privacy advocates, including the Maine Civil Liberties Union and the libertarian Cato Institute, say such data could be a bonanza for identity thieves if the cards were lost or stolen. Even worse, the data could potentially be read at a distance by ID thieves using their own machines to lift the information without ever getting their hands on the cards.
That's why Maine's House voted 137-4 to oppose the Real ID Act, while the Senate was unanimous, 34-0.
While the state so far has only called on Congress to overturn the law, it has another arrow in its quiver. Lawmakers plan to offer a bill directing Dunlap not to spend any money to create the new licenses.
While that could put Maine on a collision course with the feds, other states have joined the effort to lobby for repeal. They deserve to win this fight.
And so the first domino has fallen. More from our D.C. office:
"As Maine goes, so goes the nation," said Charlie Mitchell, Director of the ACLU State Legislative Department. "Already bills have been filed in Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Georgia and Washington, which would follow Maine's lead in saying no to Real ID, with many mores states on the verge of similar action. Across the nation, local lawmakers are rejecting the federal government's demand that they curtail their constituents' privacy through this giant unfunded boondoggle."
As for Pennsylvania, well, let's just say, "We're workin' on it." Learn more at RealNightmare.org.
Andy in the HBG
Labels: Real ID


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As Traded: Bruce Auto Group takes in thousands of vehicles yearly as trade-ins from clients. From time to time we elect not to service a vehicle, as it may have above average mileage for retailing, or it is a make we do not service regularly. These vehicles are sold As-Traded and are a favorite of value shoppers, mechanics, and do it yourselfers – anyone who is shopping for a vehicle at a wholesale price. As vehicles are sold without an inspection, without warranty, and an as-is no exchange policy, we recommend you visit our store to inspect and test drive the vehicle.
The Purchase Price is Vehicle Price + HST. Visit Store for details.
Bruce MVI Plus+ Vehicles are ready to hit the road with a full 2 Year Provincial Safety / Motor Vehicle Inspection (MVI). Many of these vehicles also have the balance of their original factory warranty. We use a Market Value Pricing model to make sure our prices are the best value in your area – up to 500 km's away. MVI Plus is a great option to get a ready to drive vehicle at a lower then market price.
Purchase Price is Vehicle Price, plus applicable fees and HST. Visit store for details. Financing available on approved credit. All prices include a $1,000 financing credit which is contingent on customer financing the vehicle through one of Bruce Auto Group sources.
Bruce Certified Used Vehicles are Pre-Owned Vehicles with built in Peace of Mind. All Bruce Certified Vehicles must past a rigorous 110 point inspection. This allows us to offer an exclusive Bruce Auto Group 3 month, 5,000 km warranty on all Bruce Certified Vehicles. Want more peace of mind? Bruce Certified Vehicles also give you the ability to exchange our vehicle, hassle free, for up to 30 days**. All this, and we use Market Value Pricing research to ensure your Bruce Certified pre-owned vehicle represents the Best Value in Market. Visit our store for details to learn more. See conditions below.All price include a $1000 financing credit which is contingent on customer financing the vehicle through one of Bruce Auto Group sources.
Purchase Price is Vehicle Price, plus applicable fees and HST. Visit store for details. Financing available on approved credit.
Warranties for the failure of:
Block, cylinder head, all internally lubricated parts, oil pump and housing, water pump, fuel pump (high/low pressure), flywheel, manifolds, timing gears, harmonic balancer, cam carriers, oil pan, engine mounts.
Transmission case, transfer case, all internal parts for each, torque converter, transmission/transaxle mounts.
Differentials / Axles
Front and rear differential housings and mounts, all internal parts, propeller shaft, universal joints, axle shafts, bearings and housings/mounts, constant velocity joints, front and rear hubs/bearings, locking hubs.
Repairs must be completed at a Bruce Service Centre
Bruce Certified vehicles come with a 30 day / 1,500km exchange policy. If you are unhappy with your Bruce Certified Used vehicle, you may exchange it for another Bruce Certified Used vehicle at any of our locations.
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Wow, just realized that I never did define my genealogy goals for this year. And if I don't define them, I know myself, and I will be floundering all over the place! I searched the web for some ideas that sounded realistic for me and here is what I have come up with:
1) Take an on-line genealogy class-which I have never done. I just read about one in Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter that is being offered. I can take it for free (with no credits earned, of course). I think that would be the perfect start for me! It is an Archival Research Basics class. I'm excited!
2) Continue to work on problem areas in my RootsMagic database. As I wrote earlier, I have been working on the Problem List and want to get that completed. Then I think that I will begin to work on the Sources list and get it cleaned up somehow!
3) Blog more often about my genealogy efforts!
4) I want to focus more on pictures...I have begun putting some up on Picassa Web Albums for the family. I want to get more pictures scanned and organized this year.
5) Another tip for goals that I read was to choose one family to focus on this year. I am not sure who I want to choose for that, so will need to do some more thinking on that one. It is a good idea, however!
Please share what goals you have set for yourself for 2010 in your Genealogy endeavors...we can all help each other with ideas!


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A reader wrote back in early January with speculation that many of Obama's dubious prospective appointments—Rice for state, Lew for treasury, Hagel for defense, and now Todd Jones for ATF—might be part of a deliberate strategy to provoke GOP filibusters such that Harry Reid would have more cover to eliminate the filibuster, notwithstanding the recent small-bore deal between Reid and McConnell. As Mr. G wrote:
Three obviously partisan picks meant to generate highly publicized, partisan confirmation hearings and opposition from the R's … Does this not appear to be a set up for Harry Reid to eliminate the filibuster to ease in radical leftist justices to the Supreme Court? I can hear Reid now, "We had to eliminate the filibuster on nominations because those awful R's won't confirm any of Obama's picks …"
Hard to know about how Machiavellian Obama might be. But in pondering this (and preparing for class next week), I had occasion to recur to Federalist 76, where Hamilton discussed the president's appointment power in relation to the Senate "advise and consent" role through the confirmation process:
It will readily be comprehended, that a man who had himself the sole disposition of offices, would be governed much more by his private inclinations and interests, than when he was bound to submit the propriety of his choice to the discussion and determination of a different and independent body, and that body an entire branch of the legislature. The possibility of rejection would be a strong motive to care in proposing. The danger to his own reputation, and, in the case of an elective magistrate, to his political existence, from betraying a spirit of favoritism, or an unbecoming pursuit of popularity, to the observation of a body whose opinion would have great weight in forming that of the public, could not fail to operate as a barrier to the one and to the other. He would be both ashamed and afraid to bring forward, for the most distinguished or lucrative stations, candidates who had no other merit than that of coming from the same State to which he particularly belonged, or of being in some way or other personally allied to him, or of possessing the necessary insignificance and pliancy to render them the obsequious instruments of his pleasure.
It would seem Obama has little shame putting forth nominees who have "no other merit than that of . . . [being] personally allied to him." This suggests that Obama, who reportedly seldom talks to members of Congress even from his own party, has little regard for the first branch of government. It's one thing to provoke Republicans into furious opposition, but do you really want to make your own party vote for an obvious turkey like Hagel? If I were Harry Reid I wouldn't be pleased.


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Much attention has been paid to concussions in the past several years, and it has cast a rather dark shadow, especially on athletes and athletics.
There is nothing quite as valuable as a completely functioning brain, and a damaged one is far worse than a limp, an ACL tear or a host of other disorders. Concussions, however, are just one item on the list of head injuries collectively termed traumatic brain injury.
Our faithful Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are ever diligent in their collection and dissemination of disease and accident statistics. Based on emergency department numbers from 2006 to 2010, falls are the cause of the majority of TBIs in two age groups: the very young (0-4 years old) and the elderly (65 and older) – 73 percent and 82 percent respectively.
For ages 5 to 14, falls caused 35 percent of traumatic brain injuries while being struck by or against an object also caused about 35 percent of TBIs. For ages 15 to 44, the distribution evens out with TBI occurring in near-even proportions for assaults, falls and motor-vehicle "events." In the 45-to-60 age group, falls increase to nearly half that of the older-than-65 group, or about 40 percent.
A college roommate of mine experienced a bizarre TBI. On a protracted ride home, his requests to pull over to relieve himself were ignored, and he experienced urinary bladder over-pressure.
After threats to flood the rear floor of the vehicle, the driver swung off to a bowling alley. In midstream (so to speak), my friend passed out, falling backward from the porcelain, like a falling tree, to a one-point landing on the back of his head. It wasn't pretty: He was unconscious with the fountain still running, liberally hosing him down. The scene was amusing, with guys running out to the car and back into the restroom with dry clothes.
He had experienced micturition syncope – micturition is urinating or peeing, syncope is fainting. A sudden decrease of bladder pressure can initiate a nerve reflex, causing a drop in blood pressure, reduced circulation to the brain and loss of consciousness – the faint. It is a condition much more prevalent in males and worse with age and straining to pee.
In a 1961 letter to the British Medical Journal, a British physician summarized: "... the sex difference is not (just) due to the short wide urethra of the female preventing the need to strain, but to the difference in posture of the two sexes while micturating and, of course, to the quantity of beer each is prepared to consume." Yes, alcohol can be a factor.
My friend, though otherwise fully recovered, had lost his sense of smell (anosmia) and was unable to appreciate perfume, other fine aromas and even some unmentionable odors. The nerves for smell pass from the upper nasal passages through bone, in sieve-like openings, to the brain. When the brain is accelerated (or decelerated) because of impact, it slides and can severe the nerves of smell. There is no treatment, and the loss is usually permanent. Pee with caution!
www.alanfraserhouston.com. Dr. Fraser Houston is a retired emergency room physician who worked at area hospitals after moving to Southwest Colorado from New Hampshire in 1990.


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MoneyGram International Inc. will pay $100 million as part of a government settlement in which the company admitted to criminally aiding and abetting wire fraud and failing to maintain an effective anti-money-laundering program.
The consumer swindles that MoneyGram was involved in defrauded "tens of thousands of victims" across the United States via telephone, mail and Internet between 2004 and 2009, according to federal prosecutors who announced the settlement Friday.
The U.S. Department of Justice will be returning the $100 million to victims over the next three months.
MoneyGram, the world's second-largest money transfer company, was founded in Minnesota but shifted its headquarters from St. Louis Park to Dallas in 2011. The company's chairman and CEO during the period, Philip W. Milne, stepped down in 2008 following record losses from investments the company made.
MoneyGram still employs about 700 people in Minnesota, with operations in St. Louis Park and Brooklyn Center. There are dozens of MoneyGram agent locations statewide, some in Wal-Mart stores.
"MoneyGram's broken corporate culture led the company to privilege profits over everything else," Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said in the government's news release. "MoneyGram knowingly turned a blind eye to scam artists and money launderers who used the company to perpetrate fraudulent schemes targeting the elderly and other vulnerable victims."
A two-count criminal information was filed Friday in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. As part of the deal, MoneyGram agreed to a five-year deferred prosecution agreement in which the government will dismiss the charges if the company complies with all its obligations during that time.
Among those obligations, the company will be required to hire an independent compliance monitor who will report to the U.S. Department of Justice.
In an interview Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kim Douglas Daniel, one of the prosecutors handling the case, said that the settlement doesn't close its investigation and that this is "an agreement just with the corporation."
"This agreement contains no provision that precludes further investigation of responsible individual parties," Daniel said. "We're going to continue to investigate these facts."
Daniel wouldn't comment on who might be targeted.
The agreement is the latest of the company's legal troubles in recent years.
MoneyGram also said Friday that it has received civil investigative demands from a working group of nine state attorneys general investigating whether the company took adequate steps to prevent consumer fraud from 2007 to 2011. The company said it's cooperating and that no claims have been made against it.
In 2010 MoneyGram agreed to pay $80 million to settle claims that it defrauded investors by allegedly hiding its exposure to the subprime mortgage crisis.
In 2009, it paid $18 million to settle allegations by the Federal Trade Commission that it allowed its money transfer system to be used by fraudulent telemarketers in Canada who allegedly bilked U.S. consumers out of more than $80 million from 2004 to 2008.
MoneyGram would not provide a company official to discuss the latest settlement. It disclosed the agreement Friday in conjunction with its third-quarter earnings. In the disclosure it said it had been served with subpoenas.
In a conference call Friday with industry analysts, MoneyGram's current CEO, Pamela Patsley, said the company was cooperating with the government and has invested more than $84 million in a revamped compliance program.
"We take compliance extremely seriously at MoneyGram and nothing angers us more than when people attempt to use our service to engage in illegal activities," Patsley said during the call. "Since 2009 we have created a new culture at the company."
From 2004 until 2009, however, MoneyGram collected fees and other revenue on thousands of transactions it processed for MoneyGram agents that were known to be involved in an international fraud scheme targeting the U.S. public, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
The wide range of scams included fraudsters posing as victims' relatives making distressed phone calls in need of money, for instance, or falsely promising big cash prizes or lottery winnings. All the schemes involved victims sending them funds through MoneyGram's system.
MoneyGram customers filed more than 60,000 complaints with the company from 2004 to 2009 involving losses of more than $128 million, according to court documents. The vast majority of the complaints were about losing money through such schemes.
According to court documents, the company refused to fire agents they knew were committing fraud.
Court documents show the company continued to reward MoneyGram agent James Ugoh in Toronto despite a pileup of consumer fraud reports involving Ugoh's "Money Spot" outlets. By 2008, when it permitted Ugoh to open his 11th Money Spot, customers had filed more than 1,000 complaints involving his outlets.
In another instance, MoneyGram executives at the senior and executive vice president level attended a meeting in April 2007 where the company's fraud department recommended closing 32 specific Canadian outlets considered to be "the worst of the worst." The executives ultimately rejected the advice.
Jennifer Bjorhus • 612-673-4683