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Then the girl popped up to hand the first lady his resumé.
The first lady seemed a little taken aback but then explained to the other children, who might not have heard the girl's comment, that the matter was "a little private, but she's doing something for her dad."
Mrs. Obama – who was playing host to the children at the White House on Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day – promised to deal with the matter later.
When the event ended, Mrs. Obama gave the girl, Charlotte Bell, a hug and then reached back to grab the resumé off a table as she left the East Room.
Charlotte's family had joked over the weekend about making a job pitch to the first lady, but her parents didn't know she would give it a try, according to her mother, an executive branch employee who did not want to be identified.
Charlotte's father, Ben Bell, has been looking for a policy job for more than two years and recently has been trying to get a job with the Obama administration. He worked on the Obama campaign in 2012.
Evan Vucci / AP


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Wednesday, October 9, 2013
The coronation of Miss Timberland, Jade Fayall, was held on Sept. 28 in the THS gym.
Jade was accompanied by her court: First Attendant Alyshia Ravenell, escorted by Shaheem Joyner; Second Attendant Destinie Shivers, escorted by Premier Nelson; as well as the queens of each class and club.
Jade is the daughter of Alex and Pamela Fayall of Alvin, and was escorted by Kyandre Steed.
The court was also made up of queens from J. K. Gourdin and St. Stephen Elementary schools.
Terri Hopkins introduced the Mistress of Ceremonies Essence Fayall.
The invocation was given by the Rev. Brian Williams; greetings were given by Erin Wooten; a song was performed by Shauntia White, and a tribute was delivered by Dannicia Laws.
That was followed by the Farewell March of Miss Shy-da Bradley, former Miss Timberland.
Devante Lampkin led a dance, followed by the Promenade by the current Miss Timberland. A waltz by Her Majesty and the Court was followed by presentations by Leshonda Reed, and remarks and acknowledgements by Kerry Daugherty.
The Rev. Brian Williams delivered the benediction.
A huge thanks to everyone who helped and coordinated this event, led by Gwen Robinson. Everyone had a wonderful time.
Principal of the Year
Congratulations to Timberland High School Principal Kerry Daugherty, who has been selected the Berkeley County School District as High School Principal of the Year.
According to THS English teacher Sara Smith, "…students are this principal's primary concern. He is mindful that every student has a story and a background, and strives to accommodate and connect with them as individuals.
"He works hard to make sure that each student is given fair and appropriate opportunities to succeed. He is concerned not merely with student achievement in the classroom, but their needs outside of the classroom. I believe this is what sets him apart from other principals and makes our school a place of which I am proud to say I am a part". Congratulations to Mr. Daugherty.
Bonneau Peanut Festival
The 2013 Peanut Festival will be held on Saturday, Oct. 19 in Bonneau. Everyone is invited to attend.
There will be activities for everyone. The parade line up will begin at 9:30 a.m. on Murray's Ferry Road in Bonneau. Contact Teresa Fuda for more information.
Anyone concerned about the Martin Marietta request to rezone 395 acres of land to Heavy Industrial at the Quarry in Jamestown is invited to attend the upcoming meetings:
Oct. 14 at 6:30 p.m., Berkeley County Land Use Committee; and Oct. 28 at 6:30 p.m., Berkeley County Council meeting.
The council meeting will include a public hearing, and the third reading of the rezoning bill, as well as public input. This is the last chance to voice your concerns.
All of the Land Use and council meetings are on Mondays and are held at the Assembly Room in the County Administration Building on Hwy 52. For more community information, contact email@example.com, Clayton Kelly, or the Rev. Wilford Kinlaw.
Happy October Birthday
McCoy Rodgers, Corey Bradshaw, Cindy Lampkin, Alia McConnell, Dana Wrighten, Lynette Alston, Tasha Kinlaw, Cardell Scott, Francesca Jefferson, Cephus Rogers Jr., Derrick Jones, Andrea Morrison, Felicia Grant McDavid, Lefonza Shaw, Steven McConnell, Tamika Wigfall, Tameka Rogers, Gayvonne Carter, Susan Raysor, Reginald Hill, Syniah Hawkins, Jalem Scott, Reva Hawkins Hall, Shelley Greene, Margie Wiles, Jimmie Callum, Jean Callum, J.C. Callum, Jennifer Nole, Dakarai Wynn, Shirley Padgett Kearise, Levolia D. Rhodes, Candice Friendly, Darrel L. Davis and Frank Wenningham.
Prayer List
Linda Morgan, Tammy Britt, Lorrine Gaskins, Sandy Wilson, Jr., Evelyn Scott-Smalls, Lance Britt, Debra Gaskins, Ray Snider, Wilton Green, Ernest Foster (Margaret Maybank's brother), Margaret Maybank's son, Ila Shuler, Debbie Beauford, Christine Reames, Phillip and Debbie Rowland, Leon Bradshaw, Ausy McConnell, Lorenzo McConnell, Bernice Taylor, Flora Beauford, Cleecy Lewis, Diane Mazyck, Walter Taylor, Marvin Brunson and Shirley Smith.
Please remember our sick community members, and our law enforcement, our military, and their families.
Sympathy and condolences to the family and friends of Albert Ham Jr.
Please send any information or news you would like shared in this column to email@example.com or call 257-2880 by 7 p.m. on Wednesdays for inclusion in the following week's paper.
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subset: commoncrawl


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23 years on and still people don't get free software
In 1989 The GNU project introduced the GPL - not the first occurrence of a free software licence but arguably the most important. Yet today in 2012 we still have large sections of the computing industry which just doesn't get free software. I came across a glaring example of this today.


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5 Life Lessons Learned from the 'Left 4 Dead' Franchise
A few months ago, I wrote my very first gaming column. It was filled with innocence and whimsy. That's because I wrote it before my full-blown Left 4 Dead addiction kicked in. For those of you who don't know, the Left 4 Dead series allows you to assume the identity of one of four characters, killing zombies in an overrun city, swamp, mall, amusement park ... until you make it to safety. More importantly, since it came into my life, I've been a quivering zombie-killing junkie. And I'm jonesing for the rumored third installment -- although in my day, if you wanted to make a video game sequel, you had to add breasts. (Or at least a red ribbon.)
Even more bizarre? I don't even play online. I'm so busy these days that I just find like 20 minutes here or there. One level before bed, a break while paying bills, whatever I can manage. I simply don't have the time to call up a bunch of friends to get online and play a full collaborative game. (Or friends.) So yes, I'm addicted to Left 4 Dead even though I'm using the game's virtual teammates to help me play.
I can hear you now: "Why?"
Well, it looks cool, and it's fun, and it's violent, and, y'know, zombies.
Then I can hear you say: "No, I mean, why are you telling us this, old man? What's your point?"
Oh, my point is, Left 4 Dead has done more than entertain me; it's taught me about life. There are many valuable lessons in its code, all there for the taking, and I'm going to explain them all to you right now so I can pretend I'm not wasting my life playing video games in my basement.
#5. Stay Away from Crazy Bitches
One of the cool things about Left 4 Dead is that it features a variety of zombies. And some of them, or indeed most of them, make no damn sense. But that's part of the fun. One of the zombies is referred to as a Witch. She looks like this:
Not Fiona Apple.
Here's the thing about the Witch. All she wants to do is sit alone and cry. If you don't go near her, she won't hurt you. Step too close, however, and she will literally tear your fucking eyes out. Sorta like this:
The Witch is a lot like that hot-but-borderline-anorexic chick from your freshman dorm. The one you'll get an instant crush on during orientation, but then one day, in the middle of the semester, you'll notice she hasn't bathed or changed clothes for three days. Her room is a mess of cigarette butts and uneaten pizza, and like the Witch in Left 4 Dead, she will absolutely destroy you. You need to stay away.
There is no way to help the Witch. It's also almost impossible to put her out of her misery quickly before she drags you down and reduces you to a bloody lifeless corpse.
LIFE LESSON: Stay away from crazy bitches.
#4. Running Away Is Never Good Enough
As I'll discuss further below, Left 4 Dead, much like life itself, values a little bit of pragmatic cowardice. Most of the time, however, Left 4 Dead will punish you for being a pure coward. The best example of this is the zombie known as Tank. Why do they call him Tank? Well, because they'd be sued for copyright infringement if they called him what he really is: Zombie Hulk.
"Hulk Smash. I mean, Tank Smash. I mean, braaaaaaaaaaaaaaainnnnnnnnns."
It takes a team to bring down Tank. If you take him on alone, you will die. If you simply run away and let your teammates deal with him, most of the time you will die. In the beginning of the first Left 4 Dead game, there is a little explanatory vignette. Tank comes hauling ass, flipping cars and grunting. The four startled characters back away slowly, asking "Run or shoot? Run. Or. SHOOT?!" And the wise advice given by the old Vietnam vet is "BOTH!"
The best way to take down Tank is to run the hell away from him while still pumping him with bullets.
LIFE LESSON: Run away from trouble, but don't turn your back on it. Some problems are too big to face head on, alone. You need the help of friends, and you need to break it down in pieces. It's OK to take a few steps back, as long as you're still taking steps to move forward with a solution.
#3. Pay Attention to What People Say
So just going by Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2, there are a whole host of special attacks that can kill you besides just ordinary zombies. There are:
Boomers that puke on you and bring on an infestation;
Smokers who constrict you with insanely long tongues;
Tanks that beat you to death;
Witches that murderously claw you;
Hunters that move like Spider-Man and kill you;
Spitters that spew acid;
Chargers who are like half-Tanks that pummel you; and
Jockeys who ride you to your death.
Yeah, the Jockey zombie is just as ridiculous and stupid and awesome as it sounds.
And the thing is, each of these vehicles of death has either sound effects or theme music (or both). You get some heads up that trouble is coming. Boomers make gross vomity noises, Hunters growl like tigers, Jockeys giggle like frat boys on nitrous. If you're paying attention, you can prepare for trouble before it finds you. I like to squat when a Jockey's coming; I start firing whenever I hear a Hunter, even if I can't see him; and I proactively shit my pants the instant I hear a Witch crying.
LIFE LESSON: In life, there is an endless variety of things coming your way for the sole purpose of fucking you up, but if you're alert to your surroundings, your chances of defeating them are greatly increased.


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Observations on British and American English
by an American linguist in the UK
England and America are two countries separated by a common language.
--George Bernard Shaw
BrE = British English
AmE = American English
OED=Oxford English Dictionary (2nd edn. [1989], unless otherwise noted)
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
two quick notes
1. Benjamin Zimmer points out the linguistic issues that are allegedly related to the Prince William-Kate Middleton break-up over on Language Log today. The post and the links from that post touch on many topics that we've already discussed here. Jan Freeman of the Boston Globe has blogged on this too--linking to my humble blog here. Thanks, Jan!
2. Another notch on the Canadian Count belt. A vendor at the Portobello Market asked me if I was Canadian. Her response to my Americanness was "Your accent is very soft." I've had that one before too...
3 comments:
- lynneguist said...
And now Ben Zimmer has back-linked to me. What caring-sharing blogging!
- 19 April, 2007 12:31
I get this sometimes too. It always amuses me because, to my American ears, the difference between standard Canadian and US accents is very small. Maybe I'll ask the next person what they think the differences are.
- 20 April, 2007 13:39
- lynneguist said...
If they say that your accent is 'soft', then the answer to your question is that they think Americans are usually 'more twangy' than you. But most of the reason they guess you're Canadian is that they're afraid of offending Canadians. (Hit the 'Canadian count' tag for previous discussion!)
- 20 April, 2007 13:44


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MARTINSBURG - Soon, Martinsburg native Jonathon Mann will know what it is like to be part of history.
Thursday, the Berkeley County Farmland Protection Board approved the sale of Boydville to Mann for $500,000, pending review with legal council for any potential amendment or edits to the contract.
The Berkeley County Farmland Protection Board acquired Boydville in December 2005 and has been looking for a steward since.
"I really think that we were very fortunate to find somebody who has the desire to carry out the wishes that Farmland Protection had hoped we could find," said Board President Floyd Kursey.
The motion passed 3-1, with the newest member to the board, Matthew Barney, voting in opposition to the sale.
"It had nothing to do with Mr. Mann or his proposal for the house. It had everything to do with our end," Barney said. "I just thought we were rushed in this. They were really strong about getting rid of it, and I was really strong about advertising more, trying to get more proposals and seeing if something else will come through."
Further opposition to the sale was voiced during the public comment section of the meeting. As the owner of a historic property, Martinsburg resident Charles Connolly believed the Farmland Protection Board needed to do more to ensure the future historic preservation of Boydville.
"I felt compelled as a citizen to make a statement in support of historic preservation. I think that the Farmland Protection Board has a responsibility when they purchased the property when they sell it, to ensure that the buyer continues to preserve it," Connolly said.
After a $5,000 down payment, Mann will pay the Berkeley County Farmland Protection Board $1,500 a month for approximately five years.
Making a call to the county assessor Thursday, Barney said that with the easements on it, the Boydville house, not including the property or additional structures, was appraised at $800,000.
Despite opposition to the sale, Kursey believes the board made the best choice given the situation.
"We can no longer spend funds to maintain Boydville, and it will not sit there by itself. With no funds, it will deteriorate without somebody taking care of it. We made a decision based on what we feel was the best thing for us to do as a board, and it was not a snap decision," he said.
While reliving the Farmland Protection Board of the responsibility of maintaining Boydville, the board is not completely void of the property, Kursey said. The preservation and conservation easement placed on Boydville will require a minimum yearly monitoring to ensure that the conditions of the easements are being met.
"(The sale of Boydville) will give us the focus of what I feel the Farmland Protection Board should be functioning on, which is to save productive farmland in Berkeley County," Kursey said.
- Staff writer Samantha Cronk can be reached at 304-263-8931, ext. 132 or email@example.com.


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IxDA Dublin
Message to the group
IxDA Dublin was founded in October 2008, with just 8 members, to provide local Interaction Design practitioners and academics with an outlet to come together, share ideas and build community.
Since then we have been meeting on a monthly basis to discuss and present a range of topics relating to Interaction Design. Membership of our community has reached the 300 mark.
Our monthly events tend to be informal, where a very social group of local designers discuss, present and host workshops around different themes. Topics covered to date include eye tracking, personas, beer storming, conference reviews, sketching workshops and innovation trials.
In November 2011, 2010 and 2009 we produced our most ambitious and successful event to date as part of Irish Design week. DEFUSE: Design For Use, featured 12 thought leaders from the IxD field, each presenting their inspiring ideas in the tricky yet entertaining "Ignite" 5 minute format. The event was free, received rave reviews and placed IxD firmly on the Dublin design map. We recored the 2010 & 2011 events, the videos are on YouTube.
You are very welcome to join our group. Let us know if you have any questions or comments. We create our own local newsletter, if you would like to join you can do so here.


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LISBON - The May 7 primary election has yet to generate much interest at the Columbiana County Board of Elections, even though the filing deadline is less than a month away.
The filing deadline for anyone wanting to run in May 7 primary election is Feb. 6, and the only person to file candidacy petitions to date is county Municipal Court Judge Carol Robb, a Republican, who is seeking re-election.
Other judges up for election in the primary besides Robb are fellow county municipal court Judge Mark Frost and East Liverpool Municipal Court Judge Melissa Byers-Emmerling.
The only other primary races for elected office will be in East Liverpool, Salem, Leetonia, Lisbon and Wellsville. Like the judges, these are partisan races, where the candidates are required to run as a Democrat, Republican or independent.
The following is a list of the elected positions in those communities up for re-election in the May 7 primary and the current incumbents:
East Liverpool
- Council President: John Torma.
- Treasurer: Doreen Marshall.
- Council at-large (3 to nominate): Russell Dray, Sherrie Curtis and Charles Wade.
- First Ward Council: Ray Perorazio.
- Second Ward Council: Ryan Stovall.
- Third Ward Council: Tom Cunningham.
- Fourth Ward Council: Scott Barrett.
- Council President: Mickey Weaver.
- Treasurer: Robert Tullis.
- Council-at-large (3 to nominate): Bret Apple, Brian Whitehill and Jeff Cushman.
- Council (4 to nominate): Shana Zimmerman, Steve Clunen, Dave Tingle and Dan Summers.
- Council (4 to nominate): Joe Morenz, Mary Ann Gray, Roger Gallo and Willis Coleman.
- Board of Public Affairs: John Garwood.
- Council (2 to nominate): Rosie Goss and Tonda Ross.
In the county's remaining villages, as well as all townships and school boards, elected positions are non-partisan, and candidates run for those positions without having to declare a political party affiliation. These candidates run in the November general election and not the primary, and the filing deadline for non-partisan races is in early August.


text:
Given the accessibility of polling places before and after regular work hours, administrator and professional and Local 3882 employees should not need time off from work to vote. New York State law requires that an employee be given sufficient time to vote. Sufficient time is defined as four consecutive non-working hours while polls are open. (For example, an employee would have sufficient time to vote during non-working hours if his or her workday ends at 5 p.m. and polls are open until 9 p.m.) If, due to unusual circumstances, an employee requests time off from work to vote, contact the Employee Relations or the Vice President for Human Resources to discuss the request.
For Local 1 and Local 810 employees, please refer to the applicable contract for all information about voting. For non-union service staff, please contact the Office of Employee Relations.
- Dates of official enactment and amendments: Not Available
- History: N/A
- Cross References: N/A


text: I did try other distros on the Mac, but still had the same problem finding ports for software that is widely available for x86. From: Rod Sent: Monday, November 18, 2013 4:07 PM To: Chattanooga Unix Gnu Android Linux Users Group http://mintppc.org enjoy. On Mon, 18 Nov 2013 15:40:53 -0500, <basic2point0 at gmail.com> wrote: I read about it only being supported on Ubuntu a while back but had forgot about it. Glad you mentioned it. I've heard a lot of good stuff about Mint as well. I might play around with Ubuntu/Cinnamon on my personal machines to see how that works. I just like the fact that Cinnamon is similar to Windows, and thought that might be a little more comfortable for them. I have Lubuntu on an old P4 machine that I was playing with a while back, but haven't messed with it in a while. It was very simple and ran very quick on that machine. I remember having some software issues, but I can't remember exactly what they were. Outside of that, it was a good experience. Somebody recently offered to trade my PowerMac G5 for a PowerEdge T105. I was running Debian PPC and I was having trouble finding powermac ports for some software and it was becoming less and less useful to me, so I went ahead and traded. I had the PowerMac dual core 2.0 GHz, 512MB RAM, 160 HDD (which was given to me) and the other guy said he had a dual core Dell with 2 GB RAM, 250 GB HDD, so it sounded like a good deal to me, since the PC would be more useful to me. Got it home to find out its a dual core 2.4 GHz Opteron, 8 GB RAM, 2x2TB HDD, SAS RAID card and all sorts of fancy extras... Then my monitor died shortly after, so I have this great (basically free) machine sitting there waiting to do some cool stuff as soon as I get a monitor. From: Alex Smith (K4RNT) Sent: Monday, November 18, 2013 12:22 PM To: Chattanooga Unix Gnu Android Linux Users Group You should be aware that the Steam client is only officially supported on Ubuntu (I'm not very happy about this choice, but I imagine after the Steam PC is released that it might be expanded). I don't have any experience with Mint, however I've heard a lot of people like it, and all the power to them. :) I have Xubuntu installed at home on a desktop I have set up in the living room for common use, and nobody has had any problems with it. I'm also working on getting my primary desktop rig expanded to a larger power supply - I have 8x serial attached SCSI disks installed for the system disks, and I'm trying to get it set up on a dual-boot with Ubuntu Studio. Feel free to contact me off-list if you have further questions, or would like some assistance. Good luck! On Mon, Nov 18, 2013 at 11:37 AM, <basic2point0 at gmail.com> wrote: My parents have a PC that is a few years old. If I remember right, its a Sempron @ around 2.0 GHz, 2 GB RAM. They use for getting online, my mom plays PopCap style games, my dad has some games on Steam - Half-Life 2 era and older. I've left it alone with XP because that's what they prefer, but they've been having software problems lately, mostly driver issues, and just want to be able to turn it on and use it. Anyhow.. Steam is looking pretty good on Linux, especially for the games my dad likes. There's obviously plenty of games available that my mom would like. I just need to make the transition as easy as possible for them, since they don't take change very well. I'm thinking Linux Mint with Cinnamon desktop, since its pretty similar to Windows. Any suggestions? _______________________________________________ Chugalug mailing list Chugalug at chugalug.org http://chugalug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/chugalug -- " ' With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably.' Those words were uttered by Judge Aaron Satie as wisdom and warning... The first time any man's freedom is trodden on we're all damaged." - Jean-Luc Picard, quoting Judge Aaron Satie, Star Trek: TNG episode "The Drumhead" - Alex Smith (K4RNT) - Dulles Technology Corridor (Chantilly/Ashburn/Dulles), Virginia USA -- Using Opera's mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://chugalug.org/pipermail/chugalug/attachments/20131118/95c406ca/attachment-0001.html>


text:
Yuja Wang entered the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing at a young age to study under Ling Yuan and Zhou Guangren. From 1999 to 2001 she participated in the Morningside Music summer program at Calgary's Mount Royal College, an artistic and cultural exchange program between Canada and China, and began studying with Hung-Kuan Chen and Tema Blackstone at the Mount Royal College Conservatory. Ms. Wang then moved to the US to study with Gary Graffman at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, from which she graduated in 2008. In 2006 she received the Gilmore Young Artist Award and in 2010 was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant. She made her San Francisco Symphony debut in February 2006 and became a Shenson Young Artist later that year. She was also the featured artist in the San Francisco Symphony's 2010–11 Project San Francisco initiative.
This season the London Symphony Orchestra has invited Ms. Wang as their featured artist in the LSO Artist Portrait series for 2014, which includes performing three concertos, a recital and chamber music in London, followed by a tour of China. She also makes her debut with the Hungarian National Philharmonic performing Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 2. With her frequent collaborator violinist Leonidas Kavakos, she will undertake multiple tours of Europe focusing on the violin and piano sonatas of Brahms; the duo recently recorded the Brahms sonatas for Decca. Ms. Wang also returns to the Boston Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra, and tours the US with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Highlights of last season included a US tour with the Israel Philharmonic, a three-week tour of Asia with the San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas, and a series of all-Brahms concerts at Salle Pleyel in Paris with the Berlin Philharmonic's principal players. She made recital appearances at the Berlin Philharmonie and Carnegie Hall, and embarked on a recital tour of Japan where she made her Suntory Hall debut.
Ms. Wang is an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon recording artist. Following her debut recording, Sonatas & Etudes, she was named the Classic FM 2009 Young Artist of the Year by Gramophone magazine. For her second recording, Transformation, Ms. Wang received an ECHO Klassik award for Young Artist of the Year. She next collaborated with Claudio Abbado and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra to record her first concerto album featuring Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and his Concerto No. 2 in C minor, which was nominated for a Grammy for Best Classical Instrumental Solo. This was followed by Fantasia, a collection of encore pieces by Albéniz, Bach, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Saint-Saëns, Scriabin, and others. Most recently, she collaborated with Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra in a live recording of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2 and Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3.
(May 2014)


text:
Top Definition
a bitch who poses like she's rich, but isnt.drives around in a 4-runner like its the bomb, and then the re-po men come and take it away, leaving her THE RE-PO HO!!!!!
sarah is a total re-po ho! now she has no ride!
от da trick biatch 06 декември 2005
Trending Now
Can you define these popular missing words?
when a frontin' ho gets her ride repossessed, she becomes a repoho
sarah's 4-runner was repoed, and now she is the REPOHO!!!!!
от da trick biatch 21 декември 2005


text:
Last night amidst the chaos of looking for a neighbor boy that never made it home from playing at our house -and his Mom still hasn't called me to let me know all is ok so I will be calling the school today (it's a much longer story that I can't tell here)- I was readying my own children for bed and making a little snack for Noah and cooked it a bit (ok a lot) too long.
Smoke BILLOWED out of the microwave and I had to run the fan and open all the doors and windows and almost evacuate.
And oh that poor French toast stick.
I had to take it out back and, well, let's just say it's in a much better place now.
My Mom was following me on Twitter and emailed me worried. I called her and she first wanted to know if the microwave was ok. Yes, Mom. And so are we! Just kidding. She asked about us, too. After hearing the microwave was ok.
Oh and remember that contest Ivy was in? Well, thanks to YOU, she won!!
Subscribe to my blog here
Twitter me- I'm babysteph


text:
Brodie Williams wins Men's Golf IGA Public Links
Brodie Williams, who will be a senior on the 2012-13 Ball State men's golf team, won the Indiana Golf Association Public Links Championship at Shadowood Golf Course in Seymour, Ind.
Williams posted a 66-70=136 to win the event by one stroke over Skip Runnels and Jake Groninger. Ball State alum Kyle Cox was fourth with a 69-70=139.
Earlier this summer, Williams advanced to the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championships in Midway, Utah, after finishing second at the U.S. Public Links Sectional Qualifying at Purgatory Golf Club in Noblesville, Ind. Williams managed a two round total of 73-70=143 to finish behind only Chad Johnson of Plymouth, Mich. Only two players advanced out of the Purgatory Sectional. The event will be July 9-14 at Soldier Hollow Golf Course.
Williams was the Cardinals second best finisher at the 2012 Mid-American Conference Championships with a tie for 13th. He managed a season low 69 at Pinehurst, and tallied a career best 54-hole score of 221 at the Firestone Invitational. Williams tallied a career best eighth place finish at the EY Invitational. He averaged 74.94 in six events on the season.


text:
|Welcome to the MANGA Forum.
|You will have to register before you can post: log in or sign up at the top of the page to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
hey every one i'm twinky im new so can any one help me
what do you need??"people do not need violence to solve there problems."
Help with what?
ask and you shall probably receive " Life becomes useless and insipid when we have no longer either friends or enemies."
So, then what do you need help with? We cant really help you if we dont know what you need help with LOL!"Bust through the heveans with your Drill!


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text:
The calcium blood test measures the level of calcium in the blood.
This article discusses the test to measure the total amount of calcium in your blood. About half of the calcium in the blood is attached to proteins, mainly albumin. For this reason, the calcium blood test can be misleading, and sometimes needs tests to confirm the result.
A separate test measures calcium that is not attached to proteins in your blood. Such calcium is called free or ionized calcium.
Calcium can also be measured in the urine.
Ca+2; Serum calcium; Ca++
A blood sample is needed.
The health care provider may tell you to temporarily stop taking certain medicines that can affect the test. Medicines include:
Drinking too much milk (two or more quarts a day or having an equivalent amount of other dairy products ) or taking too much vitamin D as a dietary supplement can also increase blood calcium levels.
When the needle is inserted to draw blood, some people feel moderate pain. Others feel only a prick or stinging sensation. Afterward, there may be some throbbing or slight bruising. These soon go away.
All cells need calcium in order to work. Calcium helps build strong bones and teeth. It is important for heart function, and helps with muscle contraction, nerve signaling, and blood clotting.
Your doctor may order this test if you have signs or symptoms of:
Your doctor may also order this test if you have been on bed rest for a long time.
Normal values range from 8.5 to 10.2 mg/dL.
Normal value ranges may vary slightly among different laboratories. Some laboratories use different measurements or may test different specimens. Talk to your doctor about the meaning of your specific test results.
Higher than normal levels may be due to a number of health conditions. Common causes include:
Lower than normal levels may be due to:
There is very little risk involved with having your blood taken. Veins and arteries vary in size from one patient to another and from one side of the body to the other. Taking blood from some people may be more difficult than from others.
Other risks associated with having blood drawn are slight but may include:
Pincus MR, Abraham NZ Jr. Interpreting laboratory results. In: McPherson RA, Pincus MR, eds. Henry's Clinical Diagnosis and Management by Laboratory Methods. 22nd ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Elsevier Saunders; 2011:chap 8.
Wysolmerski JJ, Insogna KL. The parathyroid glands, hypercalcemia, and hypocalcemia. In: Goldman L, Schafer AI, eds. Goldman's Cecil Medicine. 24th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Elsevier Saunders; 2011:chap 253.
On a mission to heal body, mind and spirit


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Inside NYSCATE: Moodle, GIMP, and other open source in education | Opensource.com
Inside NYSCATE: Moodle, GIMP, and other open source in education
As an educator, trained Linux systems administrator, and technology director for a K-12 school district, I have been actively involved with NYSCATE (The New York State Association for Computers and Technologies in Education), a non-profit organization that works to lead the transformation of teaching and learning through technology. It's been 20 years since I attended my first NYSCATE conference, and the conference's open source presence has taken many different forms.
Four years ago I partnered with a local technology firm and presented about using Virtual Box and several different versions of Linux including Fedora and Ubuntu. Conference attendees who attended our session got a chance to win a brand new computer equipped with Ubuntu, Virtual Box and other virtualized open source operating systems. Two years ago I presented on "Teaching Digital Citizenship with Free and Open Source Tools." Both sessions were well received.
Previous conferences presentations have focused on using the K12 Linux Terminal Server project and thin clients in schools. In the previous years, Rochester Institute of Technology had presented on One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) and also MythTV. A few years ago I met Warren Luebkeman at NYSCATE. Warren owns, Resara, a company that specializes in providing open source solutions to education and the private sector. I have met other vendors too who have promoted open source software solutions as part of their repertoire.
The open source impact
The largest growth of open source in schools has been the adoption of an increasing number of Web 2.0 applications. Most of these are hosted on Linux servers, running Apache and PHP. While most educators are unaware of this growing trend that does not stop them from using these resources.
Financial constraints which have effected nearly every school have driven educators and those charged with supporting education in the direction of open source. In the recent past K-12 schools and colleges used proprietary learning management solutions. Eager for a cost effective solution and one that can be easily tailored to each entity's particular needs has caused many teachers and administrators to look at Moodle. Schools that adopt Moodle as an LMS need only provide hosting or contract for it and the necessary staff development for teachers and students. Moodle can be used in school or at home on any of a variety of platforms including Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Android and iPad, iPod and iPhone devices.
With the growing popularity of Moodle, each year has seen NYSCATE members presenting on how they use the open source learning management system. The strength of Moodle is evidenced by the number of vendors on the display floor who found it necessary to compare themselves to Moodle. Also, at this year's conference I noticed an absence of Blackboard and Angel, who had booths at previous conferences. I wondered if that was due to the increasing penetration of Moodle into the the public school enterprise. Nearly all BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services) in New York State now host Moodle servers for their client school districts and a growing number of State University of New York and private colleges in New York do the same.
Open source has become so prevalent in most educational enterprises that it is taken for granted. NYSCATE has its own Twitter account (@nyscate), and most if not all presenters use Twitter. I first became a Twitter user because NYSCATE wanted all its presenters to tweet/advertise their sessions. Twitter is undeniably open source. Wikispaces.com which is used by many presenters is also open source, as is PBWorks.com which is also used by many presenters. I would venture to say that most Web 2.0 applications which are extremely popular in the education space are running on Linux servers with Apache and PHP.
Open tools and software
One of the more interesting sessions that I attended at this year's conference was presented by Adam Bellow (@adambellow) who demonstrated how some schools are using Lulu.com to produce their school yearbook at great savings to the school districts. Other students including my own regularly use Gimp on the desktop or SumoPaint in the cloud. Both are reasonable replacements for Photoshop. Ustream.tv, which hosts morning announcements in some schools and other streaming educational content, is yet another example of quality affordable technology made possible by open technology. Even the increasingly popular Google Apps for Education, which now has official New York State Education Department and BOCES support, rides in an open source cloud.
The open source model is about collaboration and community building, and that is ultimately what education is about. People helping people learn. The growth of educational resources due to the presence of open source software in the educational enterprise has dramatically leveled the playing field, and it will continue to expand as creativity and insight about its use grows.
7 Comments
Of value to share?
The largest growth of open source in schools has been the adoption of an increasing number of Web 2.0 applications. Most of these are hosted on Linux servers, running Apache and PHP. While most educators are unaware of this growing trend that does not stop them from using these resources.
mhh.. i agree with the first point, but concerning my personal experiences, open source education software (for example moodle) has become more and more famous within the last years, even for teachers or profs. Wonderful trend, I think.
Rainer / Starbike
I've noticed the same thing in education lately. As someone who spent more time configuring Slackware 1.2 in college (because... it took a long time!) than I did exploring the ease of Windows 95, I take notice when newer open-source options start gaining momentum.
Although Open Source *is* growing in popularity on the backend, most schools in my area of NY (southern tier) seem to still be purchasing a TON of software and hardware that's very much proprietary. SMART/Promethean products (the Wii-based board never really caught on...), MS Office (why? OpenOffice is free...), iPads/apps (versus Android), etc. Even most of the ebooks that we buy cost just as much as the paper versions... and aren't editable.
One could say "one step at a time", but as these newer proprietary technologies/platforms become more ubiquitous, they're going to hold the adoption of more open-source products back. Honestly, I just updated from Ubuntu to Windows7 myself... because most of what I teach online can't be done easily on Linux. :( But I'm behind the effort 100% and hope to someday use that Slackware knowledge for something other than nostalgia.
I agree with you. India has come out with the world's cheapest tablet - for a whopping $35!!
Yet in my state, there are school districts requiring high school students to shell out $300+ for a laptop. I don't get it. How long before knowledge and awareness about these android tablets in India becomes known here?
Australia is now #1 ranked English-speaking country and #2 ranked globally in terms of digital education (S. Korea is #1). Australia is investing over $2.4 billion into their digital education initiatives and programs. One of them involves providing the digital infrastructure necessary for ALL Australians to benefit from a digital economy. They've got a national plan and focus to their curriculum and to providing a global digital education. It's still piecemeal here and there's no or little concept of the differences between propriety-based digital content and non-profit, commercial-free or open source digital content.
I agree except I keep seeing questions every week posted on the International Society for Teachers in Education (ISTE) LinkIn Group about whether corporations should be allowed to run publicly funded online schools or something equivalent. I also keep seeing little knowledge about open source.
People are used to paying for information - copyright, trademark material dominates. I think people have forgotten about the public domain and what public institutions mean. The country's largest provider of public virtual schools is a private, proprietary-based, commercial enterprise who lobbies to get in.
Cities and towns rely on and do not question paying money for print or digital information and content, even though digital information and content is freely available and accessible with open source today. There's a dissemination issue and intellectual freedom issue at stake.


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Exhibiting black pain without being gratuitous is never easy. But Barthélémy Toguo manages it in his new exhibition, Strange Fruit, writes Lwandile Fikeni.
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State Rep. Rick Mirabito, D-Williamsport, will hold a hearing of the Democratic Policy Committee at 2 p.m. May 1 at Lycoming College's Wendell Hall, room D001 on the topic of natural gas drilling in the Loyalsock State Forest.
The policy hearing, which will be attended by several members of the House Democratic Policy Committee, will be an opportunity for the public to provide input into proposed natural gas drilling and access to land in the Loyalsock State Forest and Rock Run area of McIntyre Township.
The meeting follows an April 4 closed door meeting that the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources held with an invitation-only list of people, which included elected officials and selected members of area outdoor and environmental organizations.
"The issue of public input into the decision-making process about this is critical. Unfortunately the public hasn't been able to weigh in as much as they should," Mirabito said at a press conference in Harrisburg on Monday.
Mirabito said that DCNR was invited to the meeting, but declined, according to Mirabito. Christine Novak, DCNR spokeswoman, confirmed Wednesday that the agency would not be attending.
Other organizations expected to provide testimony at the hearing include Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Penn Futures, Responsible Drilling Alliance, Sierra Club, Loyalsock Creek Watershed, Trout Unlimited and the Lycoming Audubon Society, Mirabito said.
Fact Box
WHAT: Hearing on gas drilling in the Loyalsock State Forest
WHEN: 2 p.m. May 1
WHERE: Lycoming College's Wendell Hall
The public also is invited to provide testimony to the committee.
Mirabito said that some people may not necessarily be opposed to natural gas drilling, but want to have a say in possible gas drilling on sensitive state forest lands.
"I thought it was important to bring the policy committee to Williamsport to have a broader discussion," he said.
The legislator added that gas drilling on such lands has an impact on local tourism.
"It's really an issue that affects more than Lycoming County. They're concerned about it as people who utilize it," he said of visitors who travel to the area to enjoy the state forest.


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Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT2 Review
Latest Camera Reviews
Panasonic Lumix DMC-G80 Review
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Great Post,
Love this blog
Please visit our sites
This is pretty great post.I must say now families can enjoy using a digital camera, both for outdoor activities, vacations, while allowing children to also take photos without worrying about risks for the camera…
The video sample link doesn't work
awesome site! i love taking pictures! check it out.
I cant wait for this camera to come out. i have the FT1 and couldnt be any happier. great at macros in water and good at correct exposures in tricky places.
Great review. Does this Panasonic automatically rotate the pictures in the correct way? I'm referring to the meta information that is saved in each photo, so that rotation is not needed while editing (similar to the Canon Ixus).
What will be best alround (water and ski) sportscamera. The Olympus Tough 8000 or the Panasonic DMC-FT2 ?????
According to the comparison that DPReview made of the compacts in this class in ultimo '09, the canon came out with the best image quality closely followed by the panny FT1 while the Olympus Tough was the worst.
Now that the FT2 is as tough as its competitors, if only it keeps up the good image quality (for this class of camera) from its younger sibling it should be a safe bet.
Damn why am I stuck with an Olympus 1030, anyone interested? ;)
Great review - good to see some real detail for a camera that's not out yet! (UK at least).
I Want`s it…..My Preciousssss!
Nice loocking Camera, had the FT-1. It has implemented most of the shortcomings of its predecessor, but still it won't be first choice for outdoor sports. Why does't it have the simple to implement but essential funktions like manual focus (with the lens system everthing farther than 5m is sharp anyway) for instantaneous sport shots and an intervall mode for pictures every few seconds (camera assembled to a kite, etc.)? Why doesn't the video restart itself after 15 minutes, making it possible to place the camera somewhere at your sports equipment? Why is panasonic not looking at the very successful Pentax W-Series, which has some of theses features? I don't get it…
I currently use an Olympus Tough 8000, I use the camera for shooting during marathon running. This is my sole purpose of having a 'rugged' camera.
However, the 8000 does not deliver quality pictures. I would like the best possible image quality from a compact camera that can sustain the 'bumps' and moist from running… that why Im in the rugged game.
After lots of reading, the FT2 (TS2) here seems to offer the best image quality… however, please suggest if that is not so or if you could point at better alternastives (Im NOT diving and NOT going to the South Pole).
Any comments on the 'new' main competitors - Tough 8010, Pentax W90, Casio rugged ?
Kind regards, Dr. Tor Rønnow, Denmark
can anyone tell me how this matches up to the new Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX5 ?
Does anyone know of a store where I can go in and actually get my hands on one of these tough sports cameras (Pentax W80, Lumix DMC-FT2, Olympus Tough 8010)...? I do not like the idea of paying out hundreds of pounds without trying it first but I'm losing hope scowering the net for stockists.
Please let me know if you know of anywhere…
I currently have the FT1 and it is by far the best, most enjoyable camera I've owned. Looking forward to having a play with this one once it arrives in stores.
I have been reading up on the TX5 and it looks extremely cool.. with better image quality and better video than the TS2… which makes it a hard coice between to seemingly great cameras.
some video shot with this camera, with an Octopus as the cameraman:
super rugged and excellent quality HD video in such a small form package. am super happy that it survived the crushing grips of this New Zealand Octopus!
does anyone khows which camera is better, olympus 8010 or ft2? and why?
i have this camera - it is absolutely brilliant, sensational pics and hd movie. easy to use, instructions are clear and umcomplicated
I just bought mine FT2 last month and test it out on my trip to Bali, using it on hill, in the rain, under hot sun and yeah, underwater shooting, both in swimming pool and open sea diving, so far so good, the camera operate well in those extreme condition, the only thing was that the underwater, especially sea water image a bit blur, but once go thru the PS auto level, the vivid color show up again, just like magic! cool… luv mine FT2!
Bought this and immediately took it on a very dusty, muddy and wet 4 day hike. it survived. but I found the screen impossible to see in the bright sun, the color and sharpness nowhere close to my canon 850is and about 30% of the pictures badly blurred from shake. reviewing the exif on the pics suggests the camera was not making very good decisions about shutter speed. i suppose i should have played around with the 'sports' setting but a $400 camera should not need a psychologist. i think i will buy a dry bag for the canon and send this back. it's a real nice color.
just got mine - seems to do the job.
Whats the deal with non OEM batteries, will the ft2 take them? I know panasonic have started encoding batteries so that only OEM ones can be used (like my G1)
@ jj
Yes, this camera will only use certified batteries (either OEM or from certified manufacturers, according to Panny's website).
I just need to know whether this camera is worth $50 more than the new Optio w90.
My mju: 8000 tough just ceased to function with no obvious reason 13 months after the date of purchase. I bought it before the Canon or the Lumix were available. Sorry. The image quality is nothing to write home about, either, especially the video.
A NO vote from here for the Olympus.
what is best - the lumix dmc ft2 or the pentax w90? - never mind the price.
This site really helped me to decide on the FT2 or TS2 as it's known here in the US. I looked at all the Olympus, Pentax and Casio but none comes out great as an OVERALL package with the better IQ.
PROS: Small, compact, FAST startup and BOMB proof! Great for the snow, or water or anything rugged without having to worry about damaging the camera. Great battery life as well, much better than the Sony DSC-N1 that it replaced. Awesome video as well.
CONS: Cannot turn off the LED for the sneaky shots in the dark against my nuisance neighbor. And the time and date stamp only works for 3MP and not the full resolution. Don't understand WHY but oh well, it's not a deal breaker.
Used it in the pool, at the golf course (LOVE the 10 fps mode!). IQ is OK but hey, it's a compact.
Past cameras: Sony DSC-N1, Nikon Coolpix 5000.
thanks to the 8 capper for the advice. I picked up the feeling else where that the FT2 (TS2) does great video - so I think that is it decided ... I was concerned about fiddly controls and if the screen was ok in sunlight - presume you have found these things ok? Anyone have any comment about this (especially if compared to the pentax W90….
Yes, I use the TS2 in the snow all the time and on bright bluebird days to wind blown overcast days. No problems with seeing the screen for me. Like anything else, it's not 100% perfect for everyone but compared to the Sony DSC-N1 and other compacts, the TS2 has the ability to adjust the screen brightness to the ambient light. You can turn this on or off, so that's a plus.
If it's an issue, I would have said something.
As for fiddly controls, I don't see it as a problem at all. The knobs are firm and the buttons are positive so you know when you press it. In some areas, the TS2 excels - I just love the ability to quickly change my MPs and aspect ratios with the Q Menu button, going from 16:9 to full QUICK! Or have the gridlines on display at a push of the button - you'll be surprised by how useful this is.
My wish list for the TS3 is that Panasonic should streamline the control knobs and buttons, especially the picture mode knob. Make it flush so it sits better and doesn't grab when I pull it out of my pocket. This is probably in contrary with the people who use this camera for diving and wearing glove but hey..it's my wish list.
Good luck with it, there's a lot of great cameras out there but the FT2 or TS2 is perfect for my needs.
this panasonic is far superior that the 80 olympus, which is super slow, from pressing the shutter to the picture being taken.
have just played with FT2 and regret wasting my money on the olympus, marek
sorry i meant the olympus super touch, do not buy it but this panasonic, its in a different league
sorry to much partying!!!!!!!!!!!
sorry I meant the olympus super touch! do not buy it
its super slow compared to this panasonic, which is a great toy in comparison, another class
Hi guys!
Can anyone tell me whats best; the Olympus tough 8010 or the FT2. I'm leaning towards the olympus.
I am a freediver and I want to use the camera as an underwatercamera.
Thanks! :)
The TS2 is better by far according to reviews.
However, do consider the Sony TX-5, I choose this myself, actually, after many readings of reviews etc. Great camera ! But Im sure that the TS2 is close at par, being my first choice before the TX5 came out… just days before I purchased the TS2.
Thanks Tor.
Anyone who have an other opinion?
Olympus tough 8010 or TS2 ??
I did some comparison for the Olympus tough 8010 and the TS2. So far i came up with these:
Tough 8010:
Has a 2 cm macro zoom while the FT2 needs 5 cm.
Has tap controll what the FT2 lacks
Can make 5 fps while the FT2 does 1,8 fps. (although in lower res the FT2 is extremely fast)
Has a lens cover
Can withstand a 100kg crush (but then i wasn't planning to dance ON my camera)
While the FT2/TS2:
Has a faster focus, users complain about the olypmus's zooming speed.
Has Movie-stabilisation.
Has a 1,1 sec startup instead of 6 sec!!
Has better image quality is low light situations.
Has an overal better image quality.
Can divide video's on the camera.
Can leave its led on while filming (very convenient).
Can make 380 pictures on a single charge according to CIPA, while the olympus has just 200
So i went for the FT2 and i didn't regret it.
It make's very nice pictures. Use a flash in low light situations (without the pics a still a bit noisy)or with a still image use the Night scenery mode (beautiful) or the starry sky mode with a shutter time up to 60 sec.
Make's excellent movie's and has IMO very good sound. The avchd movie can be converted to mpeg to half size with no quality loss.
it is better than the competition (At least on paper) for many reasons..
The main is that it has OPTICAL ZOOM working in video (movie) mode.. This on it own makes it a true video-camera.
All other watter resistant cameras have no optical zoom function while videoing..
I hope they now made it true water resistant (it claims 10m) as the FT1 (TS1) had some issues as i read..
I am a fan of the TS2 but still wondering what makes it superior to Pentax W90 beside having 2 more MP of resolution….? Anyone has seen any serious head to head review between our TS2 and W90???
I read everybody talking about the possibility of the sceen of the TS2 to ger scratched that is not possible. They use a special glass that avoid scratches so do not worry about it anymore.
Thanks Tom!
The FT2 is better! I have ordered it now.
Your welcome Jesper,
Don't forget to order a class 6 SD-card for the avchd recording. I also recommend the gorillapod for long shutter times.
Okay, Thanks!
I can't decide whether to order an FT1 or an FT2? obviously there is a fairly big price difference and I'm just wondering what you're actually paying extra for with the FT2?
Shutter lag drives me mad so out of both cameras I'm looking for the quickest, any thoughts?
just to add, a bit late, the best series of reviews I've seen is here: http://www.lenstip.com/125.4-article-Underwater_cameras_test_2010__Panasonic_Lumix_DMC-FT2.html
I picked up the newer lumix after these reviews, after thinking "when in doubt, get the sony". Although my old Sony P150 is a lot sharper and ergonomic, I needed something my children can use. So far so good. Scroll down to the end of the lenstip review, you'll see what a great job they did over there. /blake
ok - further to the helpful advice of several peole I bought my FT2 ..... but I cannot get it to accept my SDHC card. It is brand new but the camera just says "insert the sd card again" - but however many times I do - it makes no difference.
Am I unlucky with a duff card or has anyone else this problem? I dont have any other cards to try in it - and they are expensive £15-20 so I dont want to buy another in case it makes no difference….
Richard, it could be lots of things. Brand new camera, but still sometimes there is dust and stuff in there from packaging. Shine a flashlight in the tiny slot SD and see if all the contacts seem clean and shine back at you. You probably bought it on-line, but I'm sure your local camera shop would slap one of their spare SD cards in there and see if the camera takes it. If it does, see if your SD card goes in one of their cameras without error. Other thing: take the battery out, put in the card, then put the battery in and turn it on. Sometimes a strange circuit war gets going and this order of doing things (putting the SD in a battery-less camera) straightens it out. Hope it works!
Can anyone advise me on which would be best
I am selling all my pro SLR equipment and just want an easy pocket for hols, video and good low light (indoors and concerts etc)
I have in mind either the
DMC TZ8 (which from what i can see is the same as the TZ10 but without GPS)
or the Canon Powershot SX210IS (which shoots at f2.0 although the zoom seems very limited on that going only to 60mm.
I just bought this camera today and I tried taking several pictures. They all have so much noise.
I bought this to upgrade from my Canon A710 and this camera is at least 10 levels bellow my old canon.
I don't know what to do to fix this, tries resetting everything, setting ISO to 80, etc, to no avail.
Will probably return it.
I have own both the Olympus 770SW & the Tough 8000 - BOTH have failed in the silliest of conditions.
I attempted to go through the customer care channels and although very positive on both occasions, they couldn't guarantee that either wouldn't leak again!!
We are talking literally 3ft below the surface in a swimming pool!
I bought this camera a while ago, then I dropped it from maby 0,5 meter and the screen got a big crack! It says shockproof from 2 meters!
Apart frm that its a pretty good camera.
Bought it and I think it is fabulous. This is my 15th digital camera and I suspect my last for a long time to come.
It's performance is as good or better to anything I have oned before but it is so compact and robust that carrying it in ytour pocket is not an issue.
The best thing is I never have to worry about getting it wet and as I am one hell of a clumsy guy I won't have to worry about dropping it either.
In summary it's worth the money.
can anyone tell me how to get the video off the SD card? The jpegs download simply using the supplied cable, but I cant even find the AV files when plugged into my computer (HP Paviion dv6000)
also thanks to balke for the solution to the sd card - reinserting b4 the battery got it accpeted for storing jpeg stills - but basically the card is duff as it wont store video. But at least it is not worthless now!
#26 The 8 capper! said: And the time and date stamp only works for 3MP and not the full resolution. Don't understand WHY but oh well, it's not a deal breaker.
This is the deal breaker for me if this is the case. I must have time/date stamp on all photos at a resolution of 5MP or more, usually a contract condition.
when i shake my panasonic DMC FT2..sound like some part loose inside..i used it once for snokerling…
I love my DMC-TS2! I have the yellow one. It's been great, although I am a little paranoid about dust impairing proper sealing. I think I'm going to get a cheapo waterproof case for it just for dusty areas.
I am having a problem similar to Richard's first issue (the "insert card again" problem). I've tried to put the card in before the battery and I'm still getting this error. My camera accepts my other cards just fine. This is really frustrating since the other cards are just back-ups and it's the 32GB card that it won't accept.
Does anybody have any idea why it would do this?
ive just got my panasonic dmc-ft2 delivered (so i havent used it at all!) and i have the same problem as lana, when you shake the camera it sounds like something is loose inside. is there anyone else who has that problem?
mine rattles too, don't think its a problem though!
what a relief!!...
thanks friends on your respond..
yeah, i went to a photo guy, he told me the shaking sound is a sensor that register in which direction you hold the camera when you snap a shoot. so problem solved, its supposed to rattle.
Regarding Luminex TS2: Thinking of buying one-
I'f off on a rafting trip-I read that image stabilization does not work while panning or on a moving boat-therefore get much hand shake in any video
Anyone know if this is true, and if so any workaround
Tx in advance
Ray, I use the aerial photo setting on it and this sets the focus on 5m to infinity and also seems to provide the best stabilization. So the focus doesn't hunt all the time in fast moving situations. Very satisfactory at 400 ASA. Got some great bodysurfing shots. It's gonna shake on a raft though. I'd get a small monopod or even build a fixed pole to screw it to that still provides some swivel. Most shake comes not from the raft bouncing up and down, but from your hands trying to compensate the movement. Test it what I'm saying in a car. Film through the wind shield hand held, then film with the camera resting on the dash. Do a few heavy curves. You'll feel far less sick watching the footage of when the camera is firmly on the wind shield than in your hands.
Just got the camera. Tx for the tip-will try the aerial phot setting with and without some form of stabilizatiion before I leave for the Grand Canyon. I'll see if i can find a mini-monopod.
Again-tx much
can anyone tell me how to get the video off the SD card? I can pull off if I use memory hungry jpeg format - but cannot pull of or view the AVCHD format - but do not know why that is.
Richard, just do a search on the SD card for the file format MTS. The VLC media player will play it if your graphic card can handle HD. If not, you can download the propriatory software from panasonic and it'll both find the content, download it, and you can select a framerate for playback. Wanna laugh? On my old computer, I need to select 2 frames per second to watch the movie. Fortunately the O!Player is hooked up.
How does a camera that sells for under USD$100 in the USA sell for $325 -> $500 here in Australia? I am going to buy one from a USA online seller and source a charger compatible with the Australian power supply.
John, the "pricegrabber" advertising links above are for dryland cameras. Same look/feel/spec, except don't go swimming with them!
Couldn't ask for a better camera. I've been cycling accross south america and apart from my bike, this is the best bit of kit that has accompanied me.
I used to have a Ricoh GR digital and loved the manual features, but it didn't stand up to wear and tear.
The Panasonic may not have all the manual controls, but it has enough (the exposure + / - is good) and so far has withstood all the knocks, sand and water thrown at it.
It's only an expensive option if you don't abuse it, otherwise it's great value for money.
All the pics and HD vids on my blog have been shot with it:
Love it!
hi im wonderingif anyone can help?
after uploading my movie files to my computer using the panasonic software i deleted the mts files from the streamline folder. after replacing the memory card back into my ft2, the movies are still showing only the camera tells me it can't replay the image and there is no picture and it will not allow me to delete the file using the camera delete funtion. now the software will not even recognise the new movie files that i have recorded. what am i doing wrong have i deleted the wrong files?
hope someone can help i do not want to lose all my footage but im afraid i may have to bite the bullet and wipe my card!
Karl, I've found that software quite unstable too. Maybe it erased some data file that references the movies/pictures it takes or it made a change and also corrupted the reference data file. Who knows. I know that if you erase shots from the memory while inside a file explorer you may get some data corruption on the card. Now you say this soft can also cause corruption. Wonderful. I guess we should only trust the camera to delete/format. So if the camera says there is nothing, you could try soft that recovers data and supports memory cards if you have a card reader. You'll get big lumps of unidentified data you've got to try to identify. I don't know if gspot or a program like that can identify MTS streams. Good luck!
After very dissappointing winter / alpine photo and HD video results with my Pentax W90 I decided to invest in the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT2/TS2.
I'm pleased to say that so far I'm delighted with the results for climbing and alpine use.
The DMC-FT2 Scottish winter climbing video test can be see at at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NawMD_eKn3A together with the poorer HD video from my Pentax W90 at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1Q01IU95VU
I've red the (sort) manuel and lost the CDrom, is there an list with all the icons of the menu online? (what's the URL)
Or is there an more complete manuel on the web i can download?
well, rein, that was a surprisingly long search. I gave up on the US site.
This model is the non-US version, identical in every way I believe.
The above link was from here:
Can I use the burst function underwater - ie. when chasinga fish. Does the burst function operate witht he underwater setting as it does with the scene mode?
Very disappointed, after only having the camera for four days water has seeped into the battery compartment when used in the pool. Spoke to Panasonic and have to now send it away to be 'looked at'. NOT HAPPY!!!!!!
By the way my sister has the earlier model of this camera and water also leaked into the battery compartment and it had to be sent away to be repaired. She was told it was not a common problem with the camera…...mmmmm one has to wonder!!!!
I've buyed this panasonic ft-2 camera and after few days of snorkeling it was broken….water in it and good bye!
Panasonic don't accept warrancy because of the water so keep your eyes open and buy another camera or you have to safe this camera with a box because it is not safe and not water resistent as you need….
if you wanna try your fortune buy it, and good luck!
Camera broken after few snorkeling…. panasonic says that this problem is out of guarrancy so it's my problem.
I?M WITHOUT WORDS: WATCH OUT!!!! :mad:
I bought the FT2 especially for my trip trough Western Australia. Picture and Video quality are great, better then my older Canon D400.
Unfortunately the battery broke after a week and needed to be replaced.
One other negative thing is the software. I can not work out how to copy only the new images to the PC. Doesn't matter what I try it copies always all the images even if they're are already on the computer.
Does anyone know how to copy only the new images and videos to the PC????
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Did anyone have any trouble after downloading the software for photofun studio Edition HD 5. Downloaded alright but keeps coming up with error message and stopped working but it never really started. . Uninstalled and installed several times but still the same problem. We have Window's 7 home premium on our computor..Have contacted panasonic so just waiting to hear.Wondering if anone else has had this problem. grateful for any help.
Sorry forgot to mention the camera a Lumix FT2 with software problem regarding photofun studio 5 hd edition
An important difference for me between olympus 8010 and ft2:
the screen in ft2 (actually i used ft1, but ft2 shouldnt be different) is better than in 8010, photos looks much more beautiful.
That means that with ft2 you can enjoy watching your photos on the camera and dont have to wait to see them on your computer to appreciate the real quality.
Also it offers a more accurate reference when you have to decide wether you have the right shot or you have to take another one.
The silicone case covers the tripod mounting hole. I plan to use the camera while sailing, using a Gorillapod to fix it to the boat. Would like to have the case fitted at the same time.
Anyone successfully cut a hole on the case to fix the tripod? I'm worried the case will rip and become useless.
I just got back from a trip in Thailand (14 days) and I'm very disappointed by the quality of the photos. I should have set it to a fixed iso 100 because most of the photos are grainy, some are so distorted that are unusable but with a lot of postprocessing I hope I'll get 100 photos out of 2000 I took.
what settings did you use? This camera is taking great photos but it certainly helps to rtfm.
Check out my images in the link below, 75% were taking with the FT2 and the others with an older Canon SLR D400. You tell me which ones were taking with which camera.
This little camera is a real star. Once you get around the massive amount of variations possible in shoot modes and digital assisted zoom you realise that someone at Panansonic spotted the need for a very competent robust POCKET camera. This is definitley it. If there are compacts that give better image quality, they will be bulkier, less durable,not as well made and certainly not waterproof. I love the fact that the lens is upright inside the camera, meaning no moving parts on the outside to get bashed.The images so far I have are stunning, and in most cases on a par with my Canon SX1is which is a brick by comparison. Focus is quick, accurate, colour balance excellent, speed exemplarary. All in all I think it is very good value for money if you take account of its overall specification and capability. Well done Panasonic. I love the colour too, mine is orange, you can find it in dark holes!
Do not buy tis camera product warrenty is rubbish and Panasonic do nothing but blame the owner.
Camera still operates fine but is corroding in mulitple places, around buttons, on aliminuim plating, and the spring on under battery hatch is covered in salt.
Was used once in salt water and rinsed after 2hrs.
Panasonic told me i was to late and it has to be done within a hr. They then said that the plating is just a cover and can corrode but dont worry camera will still operate. Oh and the spring uunder battery hatch has to be cleaned with brushed provided. So remember that when you are leaving the beach to spit clean and use your brush WITHIN a hr otherwise its your fault
Take my word look at the Pentax
I thought I maybe just got unlucky but everyone on this thread seems to have the same problems. I believe this camera is just badly designed. The seals are really flimsy. I've taken it snorkelling several times, every time no matter how careful I am to keep the seals clean the water gets inside. Now its corroded inside and playing up. Sent it back under warranty and they claim it passes their tests. Definitely the worst camera purchase I've ever made.
I thought I maybe just got unlucky but everyone on this thread seems to have the same problems. I believe this camera is just badly designed. The seals are really flimsy. I've taken it snorkelling several times, every time no matter how careful I am to keep the seals clean the water gets inside. Sent it back under warranty and they claim it passes their tests. Definitely the worst camera purchase I've ever made.
I'm sad you guys have had some trouble. For what it's worth, for me, this camera has done exactly what the doctor ordered. It says in the manual to rinse it right away in fresh water when you get out and let it air dry. It says in the manual to limit immersion to no longer than 30 minutes. I've always had a bucket of fresh water ready to rinse it in as soon as I get out of the chuck. I just set it on a towel in the shade. Maybe I'm boring but if the manual says to do it a certain way, well it's up to me to conform and use the thing to spec. It's a pocket camera, operating without an enclosure. I thought the seals were really tiny and I doubted it would be able to handle it. But "I took the plunge", followed the rules, and no probs yet (fingers are obviously in the crossed position). I bought it because I'm just mssing around in shallow water for laughs with my kids. Sure it's costly for a pocket camera, but the alternatives in pocket are similarly priced and frankly, if you want the real deal you should reqlly spring for an enclosure set up. You won't regret it, some modern enclosure set-ups are absolutely fantastic and the restrictions the Lumix has just aren't there.
Blake I'm with you here, I think it is a brilliant camera which takes great photos. I have been using it on all my snorkel trips for the last 5 month which was almost every weekend. I took it quite often into the ocean for even more than an hour on regular basis and washed it only when I got home 2-3 hours later. The camera still looks new and no signs of any salt damage or corrosion. So far the seal keeps the water out but I'm always taking great care that there is nothing between the lid when I close it.
I can only recommend this camera for everyone who likes to go for snorkel trips or spends time around water.
People should just read the manual and stick to it to avoid the problems they have instead blaming Panasonic.
There is only one thing I don't like about this camera and that is when you point it directly into the sun during sunset or a another bright light source it shows a blue vertical line which I'm not sure where exactly it comes from.
I think there is a new version out the Lumix FT3
whatever you comments is..my Panasonic FT2 leaking after 4 times snokerling…really dissapointed. Eventhough it's an underwater camera..but i tot it still need a casing… :(
Have been really happy with my little ft2 camera & highly recommend it. Purchased it in Jan this year & so far I have used it in the pool with the grandkids then spent 9 day's in fiji in May snorkeling everyday & it was brilliant. I followed the instruction's & always rinsed it in fresh water straight away, wiped it down & let it dry naturally. Never opened the casing until late each evening when totally dried to charge my battery alway's checked seal. I love it. Have so much fun with it & really happy with the pictures & video function.
My dmc-ft2 developed a blur after being in relatively cold water for only 10-15 min. Water had also entered the battery space and it went completely dead. Panasonic supplied me with a new one. I do not take it underwater anymore. It just is a camera that stands relatively rugged conditions but it is not an underwater camera, which it claims. Its design just isn't good enough. How could one praise an underwater camera when it is not waterproof? In that respect it is just a bad camera. If you take it skying it is fine. You can take it out of your pocket anytime, drop it in a little snow, etc. But when it claims to be waterproof up to 10m, it should be waterproof up to 10m. And it is definitely not for all of us.
Hi I have a panasonic Lumix DMC-FT2 and have encountered a few issues. Within the last week or so my camera when turned on will instantaneously take a photograph, then after that fail to respond to any commands, changes in setting etc. I am able to turn the camera on and off but that is all. I took the battery and chip out and have tried to air out when camera as I thought some moisture might have gotten into the camera…but it hasn't done anything. Do you have any suggestions?
Just for info, we're back from two nice hols, 10 and then 12 days this summer in the ocean with my kids. Before going, I did a first inspection: tons of fluff and other dusty-looking stuff, small hairs, had gathered from all the times I had opened the hatches to view content, recharge and so-on. I spent a solid while in concentration, cleaning both seals with some lint-free cloth and plain water, then let it dry open for ten, reinspected and off we went to the sea. Like stonecold I had no probs, this the third season with this camera. Great shots, the HD is freakin great. People with different experiences, well, hey, what can I say? I'm sorry for you and it is disappointing when stuff doesn't work as it should. This little series of forum comment is just a speck in the universe of use this camera gets everyday. You can't judge this camera on what is written here alone, neither the positive nor the negative feedback. And I'm sure not going to criticize people who have had problems with the camera -the cleaning is a bit dainty, the seals seem a bit too small in my view, and the latches seem to close without imparting as much compression onto the seals as I would like. That said, before the model goes off-production, I may buy a seal set, I noticed they sell them for replacing after a while. My conclusion? A solid little pocket camera which resists water down to at least about 6 or more meters (I've personally not gone deeper with it.) but you've got to look after it with proper care, keep it free of dust in the seal area. My experience? It sure resists getting smucked by Atlantic coast waves! And it sure didn't mind the cold waters (9C) of the Salish Sea! Would rebuy the newer model, nuff said.
Not a waterproof camera.
After much reading of reviews and blogs we purchased a panasonic FT2 for a trip to Cairns. It leaked on the first outing of 1 metre depth and has had a fogged lens ever since. This was despite our fastidious soaking it in water after salt or sand exposure and using the tiny brush and accessories for drying between outings. Panasonic had it checked under warranty but found no fault and sent it back unchanged. Guess what? It still fogs up.
Splash resistant maybe but not waterproof. Do not buy this camera if you want to use it under water.
Mine FT2 started fogging after snorkeling trip and after that i checked the battery, memory card and the other interfaces seal and it was dry inside. Then the camera stopped working. Authorized panasonic service said that the camera leaked through the seals (wtf?? were dry!!!) and its my fault. Now i have broken overprized camera which i cannot use. Thank you Panasonic for your great services and for your "waterproof" camera! :-(
Bought this camera last year, used it for a week for snorkelling, photos only acceptable, better in video mode. Always had the full recomended treatment after immersing. This year on my third of ten vacation days… oops! Non responding camera… completely dead… kaput!!! Some moisture on battery compartment, let it dry… but nothing…kicked the bucket!!!
DON´T BUY IT FOR UNDERWATER EVEN FOR ONE FOOT DEEP… IT´S NOT WATERPROOF. Maybe ok for out of water fun, but definitely not for underwater. And looks like I'm not the only one with this opinion…
How do I get "copy" mode on Lumix DMC-FT2 to transfer from internal memory to card?
I have had my TS2 for two years now. In year one the problem is condensation on the inside of the lens when scuba diving, caused by going from +27 degrees above water to +20 degrees C at 15-20 feet below water. On surfacing and leaving in the sun for 10 mins cleared it.Panasonics answer is that when I took out the battery to recharge it the night before "hot, humid air got in the camera" which caused condensation. A year later and just finished another scuba trip to Caribbean and had lens condensation again plus when back on surface, I found a few drops ofwater leakage into battery case. Dried out OK and still works but not sure it will survive a third trip! Other issue is that LCD screen is not bright enough underwater to see clearly through dive mask. Will keep it for its ruggedness and 'splashproofness' but am buying a GoPro as a real 'waterproof' camera
Deeply disappointed with this camera. I just took it on holiday with the kids and used it under water twice. On each occasion I fastidiously followed the underwater instructions (brushed seals, used extra cover etc.). The reward for all my efforts: firstly a camera that fogged-up completely and secondly, a camera that will not turn-on. I am unfortunately beyond the warranty period. This was the first and last 'underwater' camera for me. Like the previous, you a better saving up for a little longer and getting a GoPro.
Oh man i have to join the "gang" of disapointed panasonic Lumix ft2 owners. Have had mine for 1.5 years (this is a $600 camera) and it has corroded so much that it has bored down under the screen and filled up with water = toasted camera! Panasonic say it is my fault and i am probably the most anal person when it comes to cleaning this little beast! very very disapointed as this was a great camera but just not fit for purpose!
Entry Tags
hd video, hd, 720p, 2.7 inch LCD, 14 megapixel, lumix, panasonic, waterproof, shockproof, dustproof, freezeproof, 4.6x zoom, ft2, dmc-ft2, Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT2 Review, dmc ft2


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Lindsay Lohan Is 'Out of Control,' Says a Source
Less than 24 hours before the well-documented punching incident at an N.Y.C. nightclub that got her arrested, Lohan was "dancing like crazy" past 2 a.m. at The Darby, at one point "causing a scene" when she thought she lost her phone, says an onlooker. "She even demanded that a girl at a nearby table empty her pockets."
The following night, Lohan appeared drunk, according to reports, before she allegedly punched Tiffany Mitchell at a Manhattan nightclub. She is due in court for the altercation on Jan. 7.
Simply put, Lohan, 26, continues to struggle with alcohol, says a friend. "She will fool people into thinking she's changed, but at some point in the night, she always snaps and it's always the same story," says the pal.
After the nightclub incident, Lohan's assistant Gavin Doyle Tweeted to the actress: "@lindsaylohan after bailing you out last night I HOPE and PRAY you get the help you so desperately need. We are ALL rooting for you. xxx."
Lohan is "out of control," adds a second source. "Her friends don't know what to do. She won't ever change."
Meanwhile, another source close to the actress denies that she has a problem and says that it's the "near constant criticism" that's taking a toll on her. "If everything you did was criticized, you'd lash out too," says the pal. "But she'll be fine, she's tough. She'll probably outlive everyone."
For now, Lohan is due in a Los Angeles courtroom on Dec. 12 for a hearing relating to a June 8 car accident that resulted in three misdemeanor charges, including lying to a police officer. Those charges normally wouldn't threaten jail time for a first time offender, but because Lohan is still on informal probation, those charges, combined with a possible assault, could land her in jail.
The last time the starlet appeared before L.A. Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner, the judge warned Lohan that she could face 245 days in jail if she slipped up again.
Reporting by KEN LEE, HOWARD BREUER and EMILY STROHM


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Manchester United pushed and heaved their way past a largely lackluster Chelsea side tonight, to book their position in the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League, thanks to goals from Javier Hernandez and Ji-Sung Park, and impressive performances from Wayne Rooney and Ryan Giggs.
Chelsea's Carlo Ancelotti made the strange decision to start with Nicholas Anelka and Fernando Torres, leaving Didier Drogba on the bench. Neither player influenced the first half in the way Ancelotti would have hoped.
The two sides played a mostly uninspired first-half, until Ryan Giggs linked up with John O'Shea, and played a sumptuous ball across the box that Hernandez couldn't help but direct into the goal. He had earlier been correctly ruled offside for a header that had flown into the net from a Wayne Rooney cross, so Chelsea had been warned of the movement and awareness of the little Mexican star.
In the second half, Didier Drogba replaced Fernando Torres and Saloman Kalou was bought on in place of Nicholas Anelka. The two Ivorian hitmen had an immediate effect, causing Van der Sar to make some saves – something barely required of him in the first.
A Ramires sending off looked to be the end of Chelsea's night, the Brazilian sliding through the back of Nani to pick up a needless second yellow. But Drogba was put through by an expert ball from Michael Essien, his turn off the chest control was sumptuous, and his finish was driven into the corner, past a helpless Van der Sar. Finally Chelsea had a lifeline.
Unfortunately Chelsea's defenders were distracted by their teams new found optimism, and allowed Manchester United's Korean winger Ji-Sung Park to walk into the box unmarked. The ageless Giggs picked him out, and the aggregate score was brought back to 3-1.
While United fans will celebrate, realists amongst them will note with pessimism the ease with which Barcelona dispatched of Schalke, and Real Madrid's 4-0 crushing off Tottenham Hotspurs. Even their likely next round opposition, Schalke, were able to beat last years winners 5-2 in the San Siro.
For more analysis of the game, please read below.


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Who was A.F. Ray?
In a black-and-white photo of one of the founding fathers of Garden City, Ray looks off to his side through slit eyes, his jaw set square, like he's been in a few rowdy bar fights.
Rumor has it that Ray, a Weld County bootlegger during Prohibition, once shot off a man's finger for cheating in a poker game.
But Ray's real legacy comes from his fight to establish Garden City, a blip of a town on Greeley's southernmost edge, when Greeley voters refused to allow liquor within city borders even after Prohibition ended.
Since then, the town of 1 square mile has kept true to its libertarian traditions, allowing medical marijuana dispensaries, a gentlemen's club and even "perimutuel wagering" — state-regulated gambling on off-track horse races — within its borders. That, some will say, has perpetuated the image of Garden City as an oasis of vices.
But it really depends on who you talk to, said Brian Seifried, Garden City's mayor.
Steeped in (mostly true) rumors of liquor-spiked watermelons, gun-waving bar owners and a series of court battles spurred by the notion of every person's equal right to booze, many — including Seifried — relish the town's fringe culture, which is not only fun, but profitable. Sandwiched between two larger cities, Garden City's unique placement brings the benefits of urban growth without the burden of paying for additional infrastructure. Drawn to businesses exclusive to Garden City, thousands of consumers from Greeley and Evans share their tax dollars with the little town every day.
Sure, Ray may not have been thinking about tax revenue when he triumphed in the court battle to create Garden City in 1938. But his tenacity, individualism and courage established a town that Seifried said he has yet to see paralleled in its idiosyncrasies.
"Garden City has given me a lot of opportunity personally," said Seifried, who owns the 8th Avenue Wing Shack and co-owns A.F. Ray's, the bar. "It's just been a pleasure to do business."
By most measures, Garden City isn't much of a city. It has no post office, no police force and no schools (students go to schools in Greeley-Evans School District 6). From its inception, the town has existed for one reason: showing people a good time.
It has about one business for every three of its approximately 325 residents, and compared its neighbors to the north and south, Garden City is practically rolling in money. While Greeley and Evans officials fret about road maintenance and keeping lean budgets, Garden City leaders have been caught dreaming up new ways to shower surplus revenue on their residents.
Even the Garden City boundaries are unusual, its outline extending a block here and there in what looks like a game of Dominoes that got out of hand. In places, you could hold your breath and walk through Garden City — although some visitors to the town these days are more likely to venture there to inhale deeply.
Only in Garden City do new bar owners encounter basements sealed off to underground tunnels once used to transfer moonshine, or brag that their Wednesday night bar scene is famous — or infamous, depending on who you talk to.
"Garden City is a very colorful town," said Rusty Boyd, town board trustee and the owner of Whiskey River. "We have some very colorful characters."
"Garden oasis"
According to a historical pamphlet written for the Garden City Town Hall, the town was named for a "special" 10-acre garden that Ray tended to after a bout in prison. Bootleg whiskey, hidden in the melons of Ray's garden patch, earned it the nickname, "garden oasis."
When Prohibition ended across the rest of the nation, liquor store owner L.P. Norton fought to operate his business just south of Greeley. Met with resistance from the city, Ray and his equally determined wife, Ida, jumped in to help incorporate the town.
Even after the Rays sold off small parcels of their land to get the required 30 landowners to sign a petition to form the town, their case was twice thrown out of court, then approved on the third try.
Today, the town is still an oasis of a different sort of garden greenery.
Four medical marijuana dispensaries — prohibited in Greeley and Evans — bring in a fair bit of revenue to the town, which operates on a yearly budget of less than $1 million.
Nature's Herbs Wellness Center is one of Garden City's top employers, said Cheryl Campbell, town clerk and administrator. The other four are Schaefer Enterprises, Village Inn, Whiskey River and 8th Avenue Wing Shack, Campbell said.
In deciding to allow dispensaries, Seifried said he and other Garden City residents have followed with the town's heritage in valuing individual rights.
"Due to our history, I think there's a tolerated level of alternative businesses," he said. "I've had great concerns in putting together the regulations we do have."
But those businesses have taken pride in their community as much as any other, Seifried said. He said the fears that kept many municipalities from allowing dispensaries, such as making it easier for kids to find marijuana, hasn't come to fruition in Garden City.
Campbell said the logistics of a small town keep costs low. Only two plots of land remain undeveloped, she said, so it's not as though the town needs to invest much in planning and zoning. Garden City contracts its law enforcement out to the Weld County Sheriff's Office and fire services to the Western Hills Fire Protection District, and residents are on the Greeley water and sewer system, Campbell said.
That means very few overhead costs for the town, which has a population that barely outnumbers the graduating class of Greeley Central High School.
"We have no long-term debt," Campbell said. With a little budget surplus some years and grant money here and there, the town got a new town hall in 2001, a new park last year and allocates a little money each year for road maintenance, town officials say.
"You almost feel like you have to defend it," Campbell said of allowing marijuana dispensaries in town. "But we operate like any other town."
That doesn't mean the town has been without its challenges, she said. At night, Garden City's population swells as neighboring residents filter in to the bars.
As Clarence Krieger, a Garden City town trustee since 1974, said, "Any time you have booze, you have troubles."
Now more than ever, Krieger, 74, said the issue tends to be underage drinking. But, he said, "I'm sure Greeley has their share of problems, too."
Boyd said revenue the town gains from sales taxes on liquor and medical marijuana is a recipe for "plenty of money."
As Greeley struggles to make a dent in more than $100 million worth of road maintenance needs, Boyd said Garden City recently trimmed each resident's trees for free.
"I would say I think we're progressive for taking advantage of the rules and regulations," Boyd said. "Why do you suppose alcohol was made legal? So that the federal government could get those tax dollars."
Community business
Serving as mayor up until he died in 1973, A.F. Ray was easily the biggest promoter of Garden City, Krieger said.
"He was the king fish," Krieger said from a seat in Town Hall, dressed in overalls and yellow tinted glasses. "What he said, you better listen ... He didn't take no guff from ya."
Ray's character and mystique so entranced the town's current mayor that he and his business partner named a bar after him. The bar was once owned by Ray himself.
Originally called Nob Hill Tavern, Seifried's partner bought the bar from a World War II veteran in his mid-80s, lovingly referred to as Papa Lew.
When Seifried was just 20 years old, Papa Lew also leased him the building that would become the 8th Avenue Wing Shack.
From frying chicken in 110-degree weather to opening his fourth Wing Shack this year, Seifried said if it wasn't for Garden City, he wouldn't be where he is today.
"You're not burdened by some of the municipal bureaucracy that's in other cities," he said.
As newly elected mayor in April, Seifried said one of his first orders of business was to establish a Garden City business owners' association.
With 60 businesses within the town's borders, there is more to the town than just its party city reputation.
The single best benefit of living there, Seifried said, is the sense of community. "If more people felt involved in their communities, we would have more prosperous, safer places to live," he said.
Krieger, who moved to Garden City as one of its youngest residents when he was 18, said he's been to the "other" Garden City — the one in Kansas, best known for its mention in Truman Capote's true crime novel, "In Cold Blood."
Krieger said he wouldn't want to live there. The best thing about Garden City, Colo.?
"It's my home," Krieger said.