text: 000 FXUS63 KLSX 310145 AFDLSX AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO 845 PM CDT Sat Aug 30 2014 .UPDATE: Issued at 845 PM CDT Sat Aug 30 2014 Very spotty convection continues to linger along and ahead of weak mid-level shear axis, with remnants of weak surface boundary also aiding a bit of development attm from just south and se of UIN into central IL. PoPs should continue to ebb into the late evening and overnight and slowly shift east with the shear axis, but in spite of very spotty coverage/absence of radar returns it may be that total cessation of the convective threat will be slow to work its way east. Other sensible weather concern for tonight is fog potential. Very humid low level ams will remain draped over area, and while some higher level clouds may limit radiation in the se part of the FA, very little cloud cover and fairly light winds over the northwest half of the CWA should mean a greater potential for fog development in this area. Will get update out the door after 02z ob trends are ingested. Truett && .SHORT TERM: (Through Late Tonight) Issued at 329 PM CDT Sat Aug 30 2014 Weakening trof of low pressure will move over the area tonight. The vast majority of the mid-upper level energy associated with this system is well north of the area over the Upper Midwest, and what little vorticity there is in our vicinity is moving northeast away from the area. The surface trof is already quasi-stationary, and is providing a nice area of surface moisture convergence over eastern Missouri and southwest Illinois. Expect convection to continue to develop in this area of moisture convergence through late afternoon into early evening. Convection should loose steam within a couple of hours after sunset though. Some isolated showers or storms could continue to survive through the evening as a weak low level jet develops and interacts with left over boundaries, but the vast majority of the area should remain dry overnight. Think there will be some fog development before sunrise Sunday, though am not sure how dense it will be. First thoughts are 3-5 miles with some spots dropping lower. With weak southerly flow over the area, expect overnight lows to remain in the mid 60s to low 70s. Carney .LONG TERM: (Sunday through Next Saturday) Issued at 329 PM CDT Sat Aug 30 2014 (Sunday - Tuesday) Seasonably warm conditions with drier weather is expected on Sunday. Tropical disturbance with origins in the Gulf of Mexico looks to track southeast of area. Cannot rule out some showers/storms over portions of southwest Illinois...but feel that the bulk of the precipitation should be across KY/TN. Fairly vigorous late summer shortwave trough will quickly eject out of the lee of the Rocky Mountains and move northeastward into the Upper Midwest by 1200 UTC Monday. Combination of strong DCPVA and diffluence aloft should help force an area of widespread showers and thunderstorms Sunday night somewhere across the mid-Missouri valley. Convective evolution is difficult to ascertain heading into Monday...but current thought is that MCS should be able to maintain itself east/southeastward into at least portions of central and northeastern Missouri as well as west-central Illinois as 30-40 kt LLJ veers. Uncertainty continues to increase thereafter as best dynamics head toward the US-Canadian border. Trailing cold front or effective boundary from prior night`s convection will likely stall out somewhere over the CWFA and could provide a focus for convection in the late afternoon. Shear/CAPE combination certainly is supportive of organized severe thunderstorms including supercells due to orientation of deep- layer shear vector with respect to aforementioned boundary. Risk does look quite conditional however due to many factors including: 1) degree of instability due to antecedent clouds/precipitation, 2) weak convergence along sfc fold front, and 3) UL dynamics/forcing displaced well to the north of CWA. Temperatures also will be a challenge on Monday and leaned toward the cooler guidance for highs across northern areas and more of a blend of model guidance for southern areas. However... actual high temperatures do have the potential of being quite a bit cooler if the overnight MCS from Sunday night propagates further southeastward than currently forecast. Monday night looks wet as frontal boundary will interact with strengthening nocturnal LLJ should produce widespread showers and thunderstorms over portions of the mid-Mississippi Valley. Main uncertainty is to exactly where this would transpire across the area as exact positon of sfc boundary will be important. For those reasons...upper PoPs a bit over some areas but did not go with categorical PoPs just yet. Heavy rain may also be a threat with convection Sunday night - Monday night due to anomalous precipitable water values and deep warm cloud depths. Did lower/shift PoPs on Tuesday a bit to the south and east as latest guidance suggests cold front or effective boundary will finally clear CWA by Tuesday morning. Skies should at least scatter out or partially clear from north to south into early Tuesday afternoon. Consequently... did bump up high temps a degree or two with afternoon temps topping out in the mid 80s to near 90 degrees. (Wednesday - Saturday) Active weather with chances of showers and thunderstorms looks to return to the region Tuesday night through Wednesday as frontal boundary moves back northward across area as upper-level ridge begins to amplify once again. Weather pattern will essentially revert to what we have seen predominatly over the past two weeks with upper ridging across the central United States and a trough in close proximity to the west coast. What it means for us...above to well above normal temperatures day and night along with mainly dry conditions. Look for lows largely in the low 70s and highs in the upper 80s to low 90s to end the work week. Slightly cooler conditions may occur by next Saturday as upper ridge flattens out a bit allowing precipitation chances and cloud cover to increase across the region. Gosselin && .AVIATION: (For the 00z TAFs through 00z Sunday Evening) Issued at 527 PM CDT Sat Aug 30 2014 Widely scattered showers/storms continue to plague the St Louis metro area ahead of a weak upper level disturbance and weak surface trough. This activity should dissipate and/or shift southeast of the taf sites later this evening. As the mid-upper level clouds shift southeast of the taf sites later tonight and the surface wind becomes light the MOS guidance is hinting at the formation of stratus clouds and fog late tonight/early Sunday morning. The stratus clouds and fog should dissipate by late Sunday morning, although there may be scattered diurnal cumulus clouds in the St Louis metro area during the late morning and afternoon. S-swly surface winds can be expected on Sunday. Specifics for KSTL: A few more showers/storms may impact STL until 01-02Z this evening. At least light fog is expected towards morning as the s-swly surface wind becomes light with the NAM MOS guidance also hinting at the possible formation of stratus clouds as well. The fog and any stratus clouds should dissipate by late Sunday morning, although there may be enough residual low level moisture for the formation of scattered diurnal cumulus clouds late Sunday morning and afternoon. The surface wind will increase again to around 8 kts in the afternoon from a s-swly direction. GKS && .LSX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES: MO...NONE. IL...NONE. && $$ WFO LSX


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Cybelle's Pizza has dampened hunger pangs with a menu of gooey New York–style pizza, calzones, and Italian pasta favorites for more than three decades. Staff invite diners to pick up or receive deliveries of pies devised from a selection of four sauces, five types of cheese, and 35 toppings—with such mainstays as pepperoni and meatballs, and unique offerings that include corn and a medley of clam and garlic—or opt for 1 of the restaurant's 20 preconceived specialty pizzas to avoid labor disputes with overworked brain cells. The restaurant's calzones envelop sauce along with two types of cheese and chosen toppings, and pasta dishes and appetizers, such as oven-baked hot buffalo wings, round out meals.
The dough wizards at Papa John's hand toss circular masterpieces with original and thin crusts made from high-protein flour to support warm bouquets of toppings. Hand-cut produce crowns all of Papa John's pizzas, mingling with the sun-soaked sweetness of sauce made from fresh, California-grown tomatoes. By adhering to its brand promise of "better ingredients, better pizza," Papa John's grew from a back-tavern pizzeria into more than 3,500 restaurants within three decades' time, or the amount of time it takes to grow a single pizzeria from a small seed.
Four Star Pizza's masterful pie artisans dole out steamy slices of pizza loaded with tomato sauce and melted mozzarella to complement hot sandwiches, wings, and baked italian pastas. Specialty pizza creations include an all-meat smorgasbord of pepperoni, beef, and canadian bacon and a greek pizza loaded with marinated artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, and ancient philosophical texts. Chefs make pies to-order daily in seven sizes, from the personal 8-inch pie to a massive 24-inch replica of a Roman chariot's wheel.
Marzano aims to bring a bit of southern Italy to Oakland, creating an environment that the San Francisco Chronicle says, "Has a vibe that's as embracing as you'll find at the beloved family-owned trattorias in Italy." Although Executive Chef Douglas Borkowski and his team roll their own papardelle pasta and cure bacon in-house, the real star of the menu seems to be the traditional stone oven. The wood-fueled flames roast meatballs, snap peas in brown butter, and Neapolitan–style pizzas laden with everything from aged provolone and spicy, fennel-tinged sausage to cremini mushrooms and truffle oil. The Zagat-rated restaurant's rustic charm extends beyond the menu to the intimately sized dining room's ambiance. Brick walls and exposed wooden rafters complement country-style chandeliers, which are built from the staves of French wine barrels, according to the Chronicle's review. Opposite the row of tables sits a massive bar stocked with housemade bitters, Italian wines, and half-completed Sudoku puzzles.
Family-owned Caffe Trieste?s early risers are treated to breakfast foods like quiches and bagels topped with lox. For lunch or dinner, customers choose from one of seven breads to create their own panini. They then mix-and-match meats, cheeses, and veggies?including pastrami, roasted red pepper, and cheddar?and finish off the flavor with sun-dried tomato pesto or chipotle dressing. The chefs also personalize classic Italian pasta dishes according to customers? preferences, with five noodle options and homemade marinara or Bolognese sauce. All of which may be enjoyed over a live musical performance on Tuesdays at the Oakland location and Sunday?Tuesday and Friday?Saturday at the Berkely location.
For more than 30 years, diners at Il Pescatore Ristorante have looked out over the Oakland Estuary as they dine on authentic Italian meals. The term "authentic" isn't taken lightly in the eatery's kitchen, either. All three founders have roots in Tuscany, and their high standards show in the plates, such as pasta della casa doused in a veal-and-prosciutto sauce; a signature veal T-bone with rosemary; and housemade gelato crafted with fresh fruit. The wine list rounds out meals with local California vintages and wines imported from Italy, all of which are tastier than the very first Italian wine: bottled pasta sauce.


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The Subaru Baja From Hell, Reviewed!
Kiss me, I love it.
Kiss me, I love it.
you may have issues
This is me with my Baja.
this mother fucker had HKS engineers sent straight from japan to work on his fucking car.
overnight techs from japan.
I want that license plate on my car.
(Source: ilovesubaruimprezas)
When I was still at Subway I hated having to restock the ham. The reason being was that it smelled absolutely foul when cutting open the bag. It reminded me of gross toilet water.
Eat fresh, mass consumers!
I lost it at the FABULOUS one.
A Subway restaurant worker says she was so sick that she was vomiting, but was ordered to keep on working and serving people food.
This goes to show how much food service workers are treated like sub humans these days. It's disgusting and something needs to be done about it. 15 years ago when employees were more aware of their rights as workers this would never fly because people were much less afraid to stick up for themselves. If this happened to me when I still worked at Subway and the manager tried to force me to stay, I would have given her the finger and just walked out and drove myself home while making a phone call to the Labor board after I felt better.
I got PTSD chills just reading this. Knowing how Subway customers usually are I'm almost 100% positive they knew it was nearly closing time but didn't care. I'm honestly not sure if I would have been able to hold it together because I used to get absolutely furious when clock beaters showed up, especially since I always had all of my closing duties done ahead of time so all I needed to do was run the end of day program on the computer and get the fuck out.
I saw a Brat parked at my YMCA today so I saw it as a perfect opportunity to park my Baja next to it.
Another thing I hated when I worked at Subway:
Customers who had multiple sandwiches but made me work on one at a time on the veggies even though they all had the same type of veggies anyway.
KD 6 Elite: #Team
Just picked up a pair of these online. Dick's Sporting Goods was the only place that still had my size in stock.


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Live Musician Spots
Maturity Ratings
Each Second Life destination has a maturity rating of General, Moderate, or Adult. You can choose to show or hide destinations based on their maturity rating.
Learn more about maturity ratings.
Looking for live music performances in Second Life? Check out these hot virtual world music spots.
Page 1 of 6
The Merry Prankster
The Merry Prankster supports live music by hosting new and veteran Second Life performers, and has done so for seven years. At the high tech, high times Merry Prankster venues, you can expect great music, great friends and good fun. Feel free to join the party with the Pranksters!View this destination »
Club Carnage
Since 2005, Club Carnage has hosted live deejays, events and games to a strong and growing community. This newcomer-friendly music hangout spot is a great place to meet new people.View this destination »
Hesperia of Templemore
Hesperia of Templemore is a wonderful sim dedicated to live music performances. This stunning build excites all of the senses, with several music venues that host many live events. Come to Templemore City for the beautiful views, intricate design and awesome ambiance.View this destination »
MainLine Dance Club
MainLine Dance Club is a great place for listing to music. They have DJ's, live bands, fishing, daily contests and more. MainLine is friendly and welcoming to anybody who wants to just come out, have a great time and make new friends.View this destination »
Mystery at Crescent
This is the Second Life home of the Invisible Band, sometimes known as the Interplanetary Liberation Front or the Deep Space Jug Band. Come hear music streamed 24/7 as well as regular live music shows.View this destination »
All people love music and it's time to make some ballyhoo on ballyboo. Ballyhoo's a place to hear handmade live music. They provide handpicked weekly events with singer/songwriters, classical and more. Come on over, browse and listen.View this destination »
Club Borderline
Club Borderline is a rock and country club with contests and live DJ's every day, even live singers every Sunday. Disco on Mondays, and just lots of fun. Come check it out. Newcomer friendly, there's always something to enjoy here!View this destination »
Music Soulmates
Music Soulmates is a place where music lovers meet. They have mega live concerts, live events, a beach setting, and more.View this destination »
LA Club 2020
LA Club 2020 is over five years old and makes the most major live events and concerts on the grid. Come see more than 40 events a week, only at LA Club 2020.View this destination »
Tranquil Cafe
Every Sunday to Thursday evening, Tranquil Cafe features live folk/pop performances, and continues to support both new and experienced musicians by offering a calm, relaxed atmosphere for dancing and making friends.View this destination »
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The choral rock band out of Dallas, Texas, has been thrilling audiences with its live performances for over a decade.
The drug Oxycontin is a powerful medication prescribed by doctors to relieve pain. But it can also be highly addictive. It's an opioid capable of inducing a high like heroin. Addiction rates are particularly high amongst Canada's aboriginal or first nation communities.
The BBC's Linda Pressly reports from the isolated reserve of Fort Hope in northern Ontario where abuse of the drug is devastating the community.


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My Grandfather, Herman H.C. Fick b 27 Aug 1859 in Monterov, Germany. came to Wi at age 14 with brother. Brother had to return because of sickness. Herman married in Wis. His parents were Johann Fick and Louise Eckert. Did He have other siblings? What happened to brother? who were his grandparents. Please Email...
Elizabeth R.
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Man stuck on roof of building at County Ground in Taunton (From This is The West Country)
Get involved! Send your photos, video, news & views by texting COUNTY GAZETTE to 80360 or email us
Man stuck on roof of building at County Ground in Taunton
Updated 10:04am Sunday 8th June 2014 in News
A MAN stuck on the roof of a building at the County Ground in Taunton last night was rescued by firefighters.
The fire service got a call for help from the police at around 9pm.
Two fire crews from Taunton and the specialist rescue team from Bridgwater were sent to the scene, and rescued the man using a 13.5-metre ladder.
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Stepaside, United Kingdom
Amroth Road, Stepaside, SA67 8QJ – Show map
Excellent location – rated 9.1/10! (score from 140 reviews)
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Score from 113 reviews Very good
Nice location just off the main road.lady who dealt with us was lovely and friendly nice breakfast and alpacas just outside! Great.
Watch your knees on the bed
only four rooms quiet surrounding clean comfortable marvelous breakfast charming hosts
We were made very welcome and the facilities were very good, we had excellent breakfasts and the catering cupboard was very useful especially after a long drive.It was lovely to sit outside our own room when the evenings were nice.
Absolutely first class accommodation. Beautiful surroundings. Rooms spotless, food first class and staff great. Can't fault it. We will be back. P.s. The animals are a bonus!
Stay was too short!
We received a lovely warm welcome and enjoyed every second of our two night stay. Everything was perfect and we really couldn't have asked for more.
Clean, comfortable, modern room. God bed. Very quiet. Good breakfast
the friendly staff
the very noisy main road directly outside the hotel having to pay extra for vegetables with the lamb dinner also some of the blinds were broken
Friendly owners, clean rooms good breakfast
The accomadation was lovely and very clean. The Staff were really friendly and we were given a warm welcome. The breakfast was cooked really well and plenty of choice.
Peace and quiet, lovely room with excellent facilities.great choice and quality for breakfast .
Horsemanstone is a lovely B and B, our room had a gorgeous view with a shared slate veranda and good parking facilities. The room was very clean and modern. The staff were lovely and made you feel very welcome, and the breakfast was good. Highly recommend.
Beautifully furnished with everything you need to hand - lashings of hot water in a user-friendly shower, comfortable bed. Delicious breakfasts served unobtrusively. Friendly owners who knew the area well so could point us in the right direction for evening food, etc.
Really enjoyed our stay and will be going back again next month. Anna and her team are amazing. Everything about the Horsemanstone is amazing.
Great stay, accommodation well presented, owners and staff very friendly. Quiet location in rural setting with stunning views, close to main road to provide easy access.
Nothing, we enjoyed the whole experience
We have travelled extensively home and abroad, so it was a joy after a long drive to reach a 'little haven' set in stunning countryside. Run by genuine people - nothing too much trouble and 5 star breakfasts. This is no ordinary B&B highly recommended.
the location
Every thing
The manager was very nice and helpful.
This was a lovely little B&B in a great location, very clean, modern and perfectly suited.
We had a 2 night stay at the Horsemanstone. I was very impressed with the room we were provided. The linen, décor, fixtures and fittings were all of a very high standard and luxurious. The breakfast was first class with a good menu selection. The owners and staff were very obliging and friendly. The view through our patio doors was stunning, and the alpacas added to this. We would definitely recommend a stay at the Horsemanstone and will be returning as soon as we can.
From the minute we arrived, we were made to feel welcome and at home. Our room, room 4, was an attic room with lovely views across the farm. The room was spacious, clean and modern with great facilities including a large TV, Dvd player, ipod dock, kettle, microwave and fridge. Everyday our room was replenished with clean towels, tea and coffee, fresh milk and bottles of water (very handy for taking out on day trips.) The highlight of our stay had to be the breakfasts. We were given a menu to make selections from the day before so upon arrival in the breakfast room the wait for food was minimal. The breakfast selection was lovely, we had full english one day, croissants the next and smoked salmon and egg on toast on our last day. In addition to this cereal, fruit and orange juice were available to help yourself to and top ups of tea and toast were always offered. The lady serving breakfast was also lovely and friendly and nothing was too much trouble. We would certainly love to come back again and have already recommended it to friends.
Super owners and staff.
Amazing place, just like being in a family, hosts were so friendly, breakfasts excellent and the animals adorable, shall definitely be returning.
No negatives at all
Location, people/staff, quality of room, breakfast, peaceful.
good standard, very clean, friendliendly staff
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text: At A-1 Towing Inc. we pride ourselves on getting the job done right with personal, prompt, professional service. From cars to motorcycles to equipment. We can give you a tow, and also help with all kinds of lockouts. Serving all of south Jersey and accepting all major credit cards, we make it easy to have A-1 take care of whatever your problem is.


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Dennis Gaskill
Hello and welcome. I wrote eBook Farming: How to Grow Money Selling Your Words and Ideas to help average, everyday real people to create income streams of their own. Click here to learn more about me.
eBook Farming Facts
~ Over 46,000 words!
~ 2,000 Resources!
~ Over 300 Hours!
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Thank you Dennis. I have been a fan for some time now, and for the first time in my life, I want to thank somebody for parting me from my spondoolies (money).
If every thing in the world was as sincere as this publication there would be no wars, plus and PLUS what a wonderful world this would be.
I am proud to be associated with you and what you are trying successfully to achieve.
After the first reading, the motivation is there already. I have a lot to learn, but I know I will get there now. THANK YOU!
Are You Serious About Wanting To Discover Financial Freedom So You Can Live The Life Of Your Dreams? It's No Accident. In Less Time Than You Might Think, I Can Show You How To Start!There are more people trying to sell you the Secrets of Getting Rich on the Internet than there are individuals actually making their living at it. In fact, most are just hoping to earn a second income while claiming they can show you how to make a fortune! Shhh. They've bought some resell rights, set up shop with high hopes and promise you fantastic wealth...only to be hugely disappointed themselves. These "experts" come and go faster than the seasons.
I'm not a professional marketer. I'm not trained in crafting slick sales pages. I don't even claim to be an expert, but I do earn my living from the Internet. I've been in business online since 1997. It's my only job, I work from the comfort of my home, I live well, and set my own hours. You can too, and I'd like to show you how.
Yes, These 4 Proven Steps Will Help You Learn How To Create Your Own Hot Information Products With Ease!eBook information products are among the hottest selling products on the net.The beauty of it is that anyone can create eBooks. In eBook Farming, I show you everything you need to know to create automated income streams from your own eBooks - and yes, you CAN write eBooks - remember, I'm going to show you how. It's a simple as this:
That's all there is to it! Plenty of others are earning money from ebooks that are no smarter than you are. You too can make good money on the Internet, and eBook Farming shows you exactly what you need to do. Each eBook you create can be an ongoing income stream that can earn money for you 24/7. [ Example Income Stream ]
Don't Be A Dog On A LeashSadly, there are those who will say anything to sell you their get-rich-quick schemes. There are private sites and marketing clubs that take your money and give you precious little useful information, all the while continually trying to sell you more products as though it's the last step to solving the mystery of actually making money online. They'll lead you on like a dog on a leash if you let them. I know, I was one of the dogs they led around in the beginning. eBook Farming isn't like that, there is nothing else you have to buy.
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There really is no mystery. There is no automatic way to wealth. There are those who have their own products and those who don't. Those who have their own products are the ones making the REAL money.
You're never going to gain wealth working for someone else or selling other people's products. You need your own products so you can keep the BIG piece of the money pie instead of a little slice! eBook Farming will show you how to get your hunk of pie.
What Everybody Should Know...eBooks Are The Perfect ProductAnyone that can read, write, and type can create eBooks and develop multiple income streams from them. There is some work involved, but it's clean work and it isn't that difficult either. How hard is it to sit on your rear end and read and type?
eBooks are perfect products because:
Your own eBook product(s) can be your ticket to a better life. It's well within reach for you to create additional income streams that will enhance your lifestyle to a very worthwhile degree. Plus, there is always the chance that you could hit the jackpot - it only takes one product that catches fire to become rich.
How Often Do You Hear Yourself Saying: "I Wish I Could Make More Money!"What would you do with additional income? Buy a nicer car? Buy a house? Pay off debts? Take a dream vacation? Put the kids through college? Buy a boat? Or perhaps you'd just start saving more for the future.
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Click Here for Articles About The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
VIDEO: Orlando Bloom Talks Recent Broadway Debut on TODAY
|Related Links
|Evangeline Lilly Shares New ANT-MAN Pics on Instagram!
August 21, 2014
|Paul Rudd in New Images & Video from Set of Marvel's ANT-MAN
August 20, 2014
|Bobby Cannavale Joins Cast of Marvel's ANT MAN
August 18, 2014
|VIDEO: Actress Sarah Wayne Talks New Thriller 'Into the Storm' on GMA
August 06, 2014
|Related: TODAY,
Orlando Bloom stopped by this morning's TODAY on NBC to talk about reprising his role in the new Hobbit film and his recent experience making his Broadway debut in Romeo and Juliet.
"You really learn about your audience," explained the actor of performing on the Broadway stage, "and how the audience really is the third wheel of this vehicle. Without it, you can't get anywhere." Watch the appearance below!
About TODAY:
NBC News pioneered the morning news program when it launched TODAY in 1952 with Dave Garroway as host. For more than 60 years, TODAY has provided a daily live broadcast of the latest in domestic and international news, weather reports, and interviews with newsmakers from the worlds of politics, business, media, entertainment and sports.
TODAY is renowned for providing its audience with a "window on the world," bringing viewers breaking news as it happens and often broadcasting from locations around the globe. TODAY's longtime home at New York's Rockefeller Plaza attracts thousands of visitors each year to peer into its windows and become part of TODAY's broadcast. The Emmy Award winning program is anchored by Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker and Natalie Morales. Don Nash is the executive producer.
THE FOURTH HOUR OF TODAY WITH Kathie Lee Gifford AND Hoda Kotb
The fourth hour of 'Today,' hosted by Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb, has been hailed as "appointment television" by Entertainment Weekly, "uproarious and irresistible" by People magazine, and "Today's happy hour" by USA Today. With their undeniable chemistry and wit, Kathie Lee and Hoda bring viewers a fresh lively show each morning that always gets people talking.
In what has become a fan favorite, Kathie Lee and Hoda discuss the headlines and hot stories of the day in Today's Talk, giving their original and often hysterical perspectives. Throughout the show, the hosts use Facebook and Twitter to interact live with their fans and get immediate reactions and suggestions. The program is a go-to destination for celebrity guests and musical acts, as well as today's newsmakers, authors, designers and chefs.
About Author
- Producer Reveals More on ABC's 'THE STORY OF FROZEN' Special; Confirms Broadway Plans
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- VIDEO: Ansel Elgort Talks New Film 'Men, Women & Children' on GMA


text:
From Mark Sandlin at The God Article [Read more...]
The Blog of Dr. James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, Indianapolis
From Mark Sandlin at The God Article [Read more...]
David Hayward's latest cartoon has a real life story behind it. Dashrath Manjhi lived in a remote part of Bihar, India. Because of a mountain range with no road through it, when his wife needed urgent medical help, she died, because help could not reach her in time. And so he spent more than the [Read More...]
The Progressive Christianity website has a large number of articles today about creeds. Here are some of them: Gordon Lynch, "Dreaming of a Post-Credal Christianity" Fred Plumer, "Creeds and Deeds" Jim Burklo, "Credo: God Is" Polly Moore, "New Creeds" And in related news, here's my "Creed" again, which may get performed at my church sometime [Read More...]
I had a request for a lead sheet to the song "Creed" which I recorded and shared recently, and so I thought I would share it here, as well as a lead sheet for the song "Reality (In You I Live)" which I shared here earlier and which we debuted in my church on Easter [Read More...]
Below is a song I wrote a while back, but haven't shared publicly until now. I wrote it after a discussion in my Sunday school class about creeds, in which I asked whether a list of beliefs ought to be what characterizes us, or something else. Here are the lyrics, which are also in the [Read More...]
Via Sundries on Facebook [Read more...]
"The church is like a swimming pool. Most of the noise comes from the shallow end." –Often attributed to John Shelby Spong, but originally from William H. Vanstone. Via the Patheos Progressive Christian Portal on Facebook. [Read more...]
I hope you'll forgive my sharing this again. I made a slight adjustment to the recording at one point, and also noticed that when I shared the song previously, the formatting on the lyrics was messed up. So here it is again – a demo version of my song "House of Mirrors"! Lyrics: House of [Read More...]
Here's a demo version the latest song I've been working on. It should be considered a rough draft, but I'd appreciate feedback on the lyrics, the theology, and the music. The "guitar solo" should be treated as a placeholder – in fact, it should be described as a "'guitar' solo" since no actual guitars feature [Read More...]
I was gearing up to write a post about the slaughter of the Canaanites, a topic that came up in my class today. And then I finally got around to watching this Saturday Night Live video, "Djesus Uncrossed," which several blogs I read had already shared: I could not help but connect the two, since [Read More...]
Having shared a humorous reference to Marcus Borg recently, I thought I ought to share something more serious that he actually wrote. In the image and in the text below, is an insightful statement from Borg about the problems which arise when one defines Christianity in terms of believing certain things to be true, rather [Read More...]
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Information Center/Box Office Info
To better serve the University community, we have combined services with the Information Center. There you can purchase tickets for any ticketed University event, during expanded hours of operation.
The University Box office functions when we have ticketed events going on in the Recital Hall and Auditorium, and opens one hour before each performance. The Box Office ticket window is located next to the Recital Hall and Auditorium, down the hall from the Information Center.
To purchase tickets online, please click the link to all current events.
News & Announcements
Divvy plans Northeastern bike docking station for spring
7 days agoChicago's Divvy bike-sharing service will install a docking station adjacent to the Northeastern Illinois University main campus in the spring of 2015, the program announced…
World Music Festival Chicago comes to Northeastern
7 days agoTelvin Trio and Bahto Delo Delo will take the stage when World Music Festival Chicago comes to Northeastern Illinois University. The free event is scheduled for Saturday,…
Meet the new faculty members
7 days agoFreshmen aren't the only new faces on campus. Northeastern Illinois University welcomes nine new tenure-track faculty members for the fall 2014 semester. Say hello to…


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|A look back at gaming history
After our previous foray into some old-school arcade action with the X-Arcade Dual Joystick and MAME, we got to thinking about the early years of home-style gaming. We're talking about back in the late 70's, a time when the USSR was still our Cold War adversary, and the thought of a PC in every household was still a fantasy. While today's generation drools over the heavenly graphics and stellar gameplay that a Doom 3 or FarCry provide, back then we didn't have much more interaction than moving paddles up and down on the edge of the screen in Pong.
Mattel Electronics released some of the first handheld electronic games back in 1977, based on popular sports such as football and hockey. If you've never come across any of these games, you weren't missing much. Gameplay mostly consisted of a bunch of red lights placed in a small mock-up arena, and you hit on a few pads in order to make the plays. Graphically challenged, these games were still warmly received simply because the essence of the real game was there. You didn't need to "see" an actual running back to understand that you were running for a touchdown.
At the same time, more and more kids were pouring into the local arcade, the likes of which are mostly gone now. Back rooms in convenience stores, dimly lit corners at the laundromat, even legitimate locations devoted to nothing but gaming, coin-op arcade machines popped up everywhere. On of Marco's favorite coin-ops, Galaxian, was released in 1979, and has the distinction of being the first arcade game to actually use color; up until then all gameplay was in black and white. This was soon followed by Pac-man and Donkey Kong in 1980 and 1981, and the craze was on. You could find paraphernalia everywhere you looked - cards, stickers, watches. Nothing was sacred. The only issue was how could kids take the gameplay home with them. That's where Coleco came in.
While Coleco may be a well-known name (think Colecovision), it's probably not well known that they started out as a company making leather craft kits for kids back in the 1930 and 40's. In fact, the name COLECO comes from COnnecticut LEather COmpany. As interests have changed through the years so has Coleco's. They were a world leader in plastic above ground pool manufacturing in the 60's, and jumped on the video game bandwagon in the 1970s. Unfortunately their first entry, Telstar, was only a brief success, and Coleco nearly faced bankruptcy.
|Coleco enters the fray
Looking to bounce back from this disparity, Coleco crafted a deal with Nintendo, securing exclusive rights to bring their arcade hit, Donkey Kong, to the kids at home. They eventually produced a Donkey Kong cartridge for the Colecovision game console, but decided to add to their own line of handheld sports games by creating mini arcade units for both this game and Pac-Man. These were designed to copy the look and feel of the real thing, from the little joystick down to the art of the marquee and cabinet panels. Finally, the arcade had hit home, and with it, Coleco had hit pay-dirt.
The styling of each unit mimicked a real arcade machine with a wide base for the controls and a tall cowl protecting the game screen. They were light, yet sturdy units that were powered either by an additional power pack from Coleco called PermaPower, or by 4 'C' batteries, although these would get used up somewhat quickly. What really set these games apart from previous handhelds was the graphics and sound. They wouldn't be considered great by today's standards, so don't get rid of your Gameboy Advance just yet, but they offered a reasonable, if not simpler, facsimile of the actual game.
Construction was also, by necessity, kept simple. We sacrificed one unit for our showcase to see what these were made up of. Removing the upper cowl and screen reveals a particle board with wires running to the batteries for power and a plastic tympanic speaker for the sound. Although limited in range, the speaker was quite capable in producing loud game sounds - sometimes to the detriment of some kid's parents. The jewel of the unit was the VFD display, short for Vacuum Fluorescent Display. VFD screens are commonly used in VCRs, stereos, etc. and provide a bright green light with a good contrast.
VFD is composed of three basic electrodes; the Cathode (Filaments), Anodes (Phosphor) and Grids under a high vacuum condition in a glass envelope. The Cathode consists of fine tungsten wires which are coated by alkaline earth metal oxides which emit electrons. The Grids are a thin metal mesh which control and diffuse electrons emitted from the Cathode. The Anodes are conductive electrodes on which the phosphor is printed to indicate characters, icons or symbols. Electrons emitted from the Cathode are accelerated with positive potential applied to both the Grid and Anode, which upon collision with the Anode excites the phosphor to emit light. The desired illuminated patterns can be achieved by controlling the positive or negative potentials on each Grid and Anode, and the game's colors are laid out on a thin sheet that lays across the top of the glass.
So there you have it. Now, for some show and tell, we've got our personal collection for display. Some units, such as Pac-Man and Donkey Kong I have owned since they came out, back in 1981. Overall, they are in good shape, although the decals on Pac-Man show some mottling where the glue has seeped through, a common issue with these units. Others have been obtained over the years (thank you, Ebay!) and are now ready for us to present.
|Mr. & Mrs. Pac-Man and Galaxian
Pac-Man is probably the most universally known arcade game, spawning more related games than any other title, except perhaps for Donkey Kong. Originally called "Puck-man" in Japan, the name was quickly changed to "Pac-Man" for one main reason: the tendency for American kids to change the first letter of words in print. The name "Pac-Man" is actually derived from the Japanese slang term "paku-paku", which means "to eat" and, believe it or not, his shape is based on a pizza pie with a slice missing. Essentially a maze-game, Pac-Man runs around the screen eating dots while being chased by four ghosts: Inky, Pinky, Blinky, and Clyde. The simple structure to the game lends to a good translation for the Coleco version. The maze is made up of red lines alternating with yellow dots, and the lack of any other colors does eventually wear a little thin. Also wearisome was the constant "wah-wah-wah" in place of Pac-Man's signature "waka-waka-waka". It was loud and ultimately annoying, especially without a way to turn the sound down or off. Still, for "pac-maniacs", this was the game to have in the early 80's.
After winning an enhancement kit lawsuit against Atari, General Computing went to Bally Midway and tried to bluff their way into releasing their own Pac-Man offshoot called Crazy Otto. Crazy Otto was a character similar to Pac-Man, but had a set of legs. Bally Midway had other plans, however, and suggested General Computing work on a sequel, which started off as Mrs. Pac-Man, but eventually ended up as Ms. Pac-Man when female workers at Midway objected. The same basic premise of Pac-Man was retained. What they added was some new A.I. for the ghosts, a variety of mazes to run through, as well as new bonus items and cutscenes. It was also one of the first games to attract a large female following, although the character was really nothing more than Pac-Man with eyelashes, lipstick, a bow and a dimple. What had worked well with the home version of Pac-Man worked for Ms. Pac-Man too. The only differences to be found were slight variations in the maze structure, the moving bonus fruit, and an upgrade on the character graphics. For whatever reason, Ms. Pac-Man remains one of the rarest tabletop arcade units; it's extremely hard to find.
Galaxian has a unique place in arcade game history as the first color arcade game. Up until then, games were in black and white with strips placed on the screen to add some color. It also had better sound than what had been common at the time, and used some game elements that have since become standard such as flags or symbols to mark level progression. In a way it was an off-shoot of Space Invaders, except these aliens were much more mobile and it required adept control of the ship to outmaneuver and outgun the enemy. All heady stuff for 1979. The Coleco version was one of the best ports - it had plenty of color and sound, and the gameplay was just as frenetic. They even added two new modes; Head to Head, where two players took on each other, and Midway's Attackers, a Space Invader clone. With three games in one system, it was a kid's (and parent's) delight.
|The Donkey Kong duo and Frogger
Donkey Kong was an overnight sensation, and was the first game to feature both objects that needed to be jumped over and to offer different playing levels. The hero in the game was simply known as "Jumpman", although the trademark red and blue hat and overalls and mustache were present. This now-famous outfit was actually due to graphics limitations rather than any stylistic view. The hat was placed on Jumpman's head to hide his hair, which did not have enough pixels to be animated properly. Overalls were colored blue to differentiate them from his red sleeves and a mustache was added to help users distinguish where his nose ended and his mouth began. Jumpman had to jump or smash barrels as he climbed up girders to save his girl from the clutches of Donkey Kong. Like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong got his name in another odd twist; his creators wanted a stubborn kind of monkey as the nemesis of the game. "Kong" sounded fitting, but a quick look in the dictionary brought up "ass or donkey" for stubborn, and thus was born "Donkey Kong". The handheld version kept the basic layout, but it's simplistic graphics lost a bit of the arcade game's charm. The sounds were also god-awful; it sounded more like the game was breaking than playing. Being one of the only ways to play DK at home in 1981, however, it quickly found its way under many Christmas trees and remains one of the more common units out there.
Donkey Kong's first sequel, Donkey Kong Jr., turned the tables on us. Mario, who had just earned his moniker after Nintendo of America's president took his name from their landlord, was now holding Donkey Kong prisoner. It was now up to the player, playing as DK's son, Junior, to rescue the big ape. Gameplay was entirely different from the original, as Junior needed to climb vines and chains to unlock Donkey Kong's cage, while avoiding Snapjaws and other assorted creatures. The tabletop version of Donkey Kong, Jr. was also completely different from previous games, using a color LCD screen that needed to be lit by an external light source. Unlike the VFD-based games, DK Jr. could not be played in the dark, although it could serve as a alarm clock. DK Jr. also sported perhaps the best graphics and gameplay of the lot. Unfortunately, this would be the last system that Coleco would produce (1981-1983).
Frogger, like many other games, seems to have such a simple premise; get the frog from one side of the screen to the other. The thing is, there are various obstacles in his way including cars, snakes, diving turtles, etc. Highly successful in Japan in 1981, Sega brought Frogger to the states in 1982, and it has enjoyed mass recognition and popularity since then. The simple gameplay was brought to the household by Coleco soon after it hit the arcades, and while the idea was the same, the limited colors and lack of variety made this version less fun to play. Another one of the series that can be found in many attics and trunks of thirty-somethings.
|Zaxxon and Q*Bert
Zaxxon was the first game to use a 3D perspective. In it, you must pilot your ship around and over various obstacles while keeping an eye on enemy planes and tanks, with the final goal of defeating a robot named Zaxxon. Playing in "3D" posed some new challenges for game players - lining up enemy fighters never required such an effort. "3D" also posed a challenge for conversion to home use. The console was completely different inside and out, and it used a combination of mirrors and dual VFD displays to pull of the three-dimensional effect. The planet surface and ground based enemies were created on one VFD, while the player's ship and other air-based enemies were on the other VFD, which was in turn reflected off of the mirror. Sounds good on paper, but gameplay was harder than expected. The "3D" effect was hard to completely grasp, and players were just as prone to crashing into walls as they were getting shot down. It still looked undeniably cool, however, and could be the showpiece to any collection.
Q*Bert was inspired by the artwork of M.C. Escher, and his name originated from the combination of "Cube" and "Hubert". The sole point of the game was to change the color of the cubes, but what really gave this game its needed twist was the angular jumps. Q*Bert jumped on diagonal paths, which led to some eye-straining (and sometimes console pounding) when the player jumped off the edge of the pyramid in what appeared to be a safe jump. Our last showcase was not from Coleco, but from Parker Brothers, the only such handheld game they produced. The design was totally different than Coleco's handhelds with a more vertical VFD screen and large diagonal joystick. These design choices actually made it easier to physically play the game, although the way the cubes were displayed made for a less enjoyable experience overall. Released too near the video-game dropout of 1983, and not having the build-up and recognition that Coleco enjoyed at the time, this tabletop game remains a mystery to many players and collectors.


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Starting an appeal where the school manages its own appeals- any point?(30 Posts)
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Added Sep 23, 2008
by susisonne
Karlsruhe, Germany
I sewed this charlie bag in two different fabrics and used bias tape to link the two pieces.
two different cotton fabrics
Burda Style for the pattern
Sep 23, 2008, 09.18 AMby polychromatin
Very nice fabric combination! :)
Sep 23, 2008, 08.28 AMby passionflower
Love the colors! Great Job.
Add to Favorites 2 people added it
Sewing & Techniques
Say goodbye to skipped stitches and damaged seams!
Fashion & Trends
Flaunt those curves in Kim-approved bombshell looks.
Backstage Report
50 Select Red, White, and Blue patterns are 50% off!
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Editors' Pick
Leopard print, stripes, and mod coats for fall.
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Lunch with Mancubus
Mancubus's lunch gets rudely interrupted4.54 / 5.00 9,794 Views
Spelunker : Savlonic
Spelunker by Savlonic4.39 / 5.00 19,619 Views
'Chicken Castle'
The quest for a limbless pet.4.37 / 5.00 7,851 Views
Visit [www.1up-island.com]
Subscribe to my Youtube channel for more! :D
Merry Christmas Newgrounds!
-Matthew Morandi(Yoshi-1up)
Animator: Me
Voice Actor: D-Mac (Mario & Luigi)
lol - Loads Of Laughs
hee hee
the violence points are for luigi's thret to stab mario
Wow I really enjoyed it was great!!! Also very funny!!!!
i was laughin hard wen i saw this.once again u made another good movie i hope u continue ur movies.
Oh my god that was so funny...
What I love about this is these short cartoons with one punchline usually are too long and take too long to get to the punchline, but this is like 10 seconds long. And the voiceacting is perfect! I've been watching this over and over and I never get tired of it!
I REALLY look forward to your shit.
Damn that was great...
Well normally when it comes to voice acting.. I'm not such a big fan of it, but this 1 is an exception. You really got their voices perfectly! (Though I suppose that's b/c it's a quickie but ehh)
Other than that it was a nice treat for the holidays. XD
"Shutup before I stab you!" ]:)


text:
Literary Scavenger Hunt
10 a.m. -- 2 p.m.
Book Display Including: Mysteries. Love Stories, Science Fiction and Graphic Novels
All Day
Poetry Slam Reading, Children will take turns reading, writing, and reciting poetry aloud from poetry books
2 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Ages 5-12 years
Refreshments Provided
William O. Lockridge/Bellevue Neighborhood Library
Published on Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Published on Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Get ready for DC Read-In on March 10, the library's city-wide celebration of reading. Reading is so much fun when you get the right book or have the right person with whom to read.
Children of all ages can join us here at Washington Highlands Friday, March 9, at 4 p.m. to create their own bookmark. We'll provide markers, colored pencils and colorful paper.
I can't wait to see your creation!
Who Said It?: Guess the Source of the Quotes
Published on Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Who Said This?
Libraries allow children to ask questions about the world and find the answers. And the wonderful thing is that once a child learns to use a library, the doors to learning are always open.
Barbara Bush or Laura Bush?
Join the teens' game of "Who Said What" March 22 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
"The Color of Water"
Published on Tuesday, February 21, 2012
The Washington Highlands Interim Library's High Noon Book Club will
meet March 5, 2012 at 12 p.m. We will be discussing the book
The Color of Water, by James McBride. Please come and pick up your
copy. For more information, call 202-243-1185
Tour of Washington, D.C.
Published on Tuesday, February 21, 2012
When students from Hendley Elementary School attended a Black History Program recently, we began by taking a tour through the library using pictures from Picturing America and other post cards from around the city. After the tour, students received a map of Washington, D.C. and were asked to locate different landmarks: the Lincoln Memorial, White House, Smithsonian, National Mall and etc. Students also received a booklet with pictures of prominent African Americans. They were asked to write a paragraph about each person. Teachers and students walked away feeling satisfied knowing a little more about the historic locations D.C. and how to get there using their maps.
Published on Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Published on Friday, February 10, 2012
Published on Tuesday, January 31, 2012
The Washington Highlands Interim Library will reopen Thursday, February 2, 1 p.m.
The library closed Tuesday, January 31 after a deer broke through the library window. The library was not open and no staff were injured.
Published on Monday, January 23, 2012
All are Welcome to Join Washington Highlands Interim Library to celebrate Black History Month with the showing of movies and documentaries every Thursday in February at 4 p.m.
2/2 Documentary: Dogfights: Tuskegee Airmen
2/9 Movie: Boycott: Montgomery, Alabama, 1955
2/16 Documentary: A Great Day in Harlem
2/23 Movie: A Woman Called Moses
Published on Monday, January 23, 2012
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot is a New York Times bestseller about the true story of a poor African-American woman from Clover, Virginia, whose cells were taken from her during a biopsy at Johns Hopkins Hospital without her knowledge in 1951 and became one of the most important tools in medicine, known as HeLa.


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Repository-Centric DevelopmentJuly 24, 2014 at 08:23 PM | categories: Git, Mercurial, Mozilla | View Comments
I was editing a wiki page yesterday and I think I coined a new term which I'd like to enter the common nomenclature: repository-centric development. The term refers to development/version control workflows that place repositories - not patches - first.
When collaborating on version controlled code with modern tools like Git and Mercurial, you essentially have two choices on how to share version control data: patches or repositories.
Patches have been around since the dawn of version control. Everyone knows how they work: your version control system has a copy of the canonical data and it can export a view of a specific change into what's called a patch. A patch is essentially a diff with extra metadata.
When distributed version control systems came along, they brought with them an alternative to patch-centric development: repository-centric development. You could still exchange patches if you wanted, but distributed version control allowed you to pull changes directly from multiple repositories. You weren't limited to a single master server (that's what the distributed in distributed version control means). You also didn't have to go through an intermediate transport such as email to exchange patches: you communicate directly with a peer repository instance.
Repository-centric development eliminates the middle man required for patch exchange: instead of exchanging derived data, you exchange the actual data, speaking the repository's native language.
One advantage of repository-centric development is it eliminates the problem of patch non-uniformity. Patches come in many different flavors. You have plain diffs. You have diffs with metadata. You have Git style metadata. You have Mercurial style metadata. You can produce patches with various lines of context in the diff. There are different methods for handling binary content. There are different ways to express file adds, removals, and renames. It's all a hot mess. Any system that consumes patches needs to deal with the non-uniformity. Do you think this isn't a problem in the real world? Think again. If you are involved with an open source project that collects patches via email or by uploading patches to a bug tracker, have you ever seen someone accidentally upload a patch in the wrong format? That's patch non-uniformity. New contributors to Firefox do this all the time. I also see it in the Mercurial project. With repository-centric development, patches never enter the picture, so patch non-uniformity is a non-issue. (Don't confuse the superficial formatting of patches with the content, such as an incorrect commit message format.)
Another advantage of repository-centric development is it makes the act of exchanging data easier. Just have two repositories talk to each other. This used to be difficult, but hosting services like GitHub and Bitbucket make this easy. Contrast with patches, which require hooking your version control tool up to wherever those patches are located. The Linux Kernel, like so many other projects, uses email for contributing changes. So now Git, Mercurial, etc all fulfill Zawinski's law. This means your version control tool is talking to your inbox to send and receive code. Firefox development uses Bugzilla to hold patches as attachments. So now your version control tool needs to talk to your issue tracker. (Not the worst idea in the world I will concede.) While, yes, the tools around using email or uploading patches to issue trackers or whatever else you are using to exchange patches exist and can work pretty well, the grim reality is that these tools are all reinventing the wheel of repository exchange and are solving a problem that has already been solved by git push, git fetch, hg pull, hg push, etc. Personally, I would rather hg push to a remote and have tools like issue trackers and mailing lists pull directly from repositories. At least that way they have a direct line into the source of truth and are guaranteed a consistent output format.
Another area where direct exchange is huge is multi-patch commits (branches in Git parlance) or where commit data is fragmented. When pushing patches to email, you need to insert metadata saying which patch comes after which. Then the email import tool needs to reassemble things in the proper order (remember that the typical convention is one email per patch and email can be delivered out of order). Not the most difficult problem in the world to solve. But seriously, it's been solved already by git fetch and hg pull! Things are worse for Bugzilla. There is no bullet-proof way to order patches there. The convention at Mozilla is to add Part N strings to commit messages and have the Bugzilla import tool do a sort (I assume it does that). But what if you have a logical commit series spread across multiple bugs? How do you reassemble everything into a linear series of commits? You don't, sadly. Just today I wanted to apply a somewhat complicated series of patches to the Firefox build system I was asked to review so I could jump into a debugger and see what was going on so I could conduct a more thorough review. There were 4 or 5 patches spread over 3 or 4 bugs. Bugzilla and its patch-centric workflow prevented me from importing the patches. Fortunately, this patch series was pushed to Mozilla's Try server, so I could pull from there. But I haven't always been so fortunate. This limitation means developers have to make sacrifices such as writing fewer, larger patches (this makes code review harder) or involving unrelated parties in the same bug and/or review. In other words, deficient tools are imposing limited workflows. No bueno.
It is a fair criticism to say that not everyone can host a server or that permissions and authorization are hard. Although I think concerns about impact are overblown. If you are a small project, just create a GitHub or Bitbucket account. If you are a larger project, realize that people time is one of your largest expenses and invest in tools like proper and efficient repository hosting (often this can be GitHub) to reduce this waste and keep your developers happier and more efficient.
One of the clearest examples of repository-centric development is GitHub. There are no patches in GitHub. Instead, you git push and git fetch. Want to apply someone else's work? Just add a remote and git fetch! Contrast with first locating patches, hooking up Git to consume them (this part was always confusing to me - do you need to retroactively have them sent to your email inbox so you can import them from there), and finally actually importing them. Just give me a URL to a repository already. But the benefits of repository-centric development with GitHub don't stop at pushing and pulling. GitHub has built code review functionality into pushes. They call these pull requests. While I have significant issues with GitHub's implemention of pull requests (I need to blog about those some day), I can't deny the utility of the repository-centric workflow and all the benefits around it. Once you switch to GitHub and its repository-centric workflow, you more clearly see how lacking patch-centric development is and quickly lose your desire to go back to the 1990's state-of-the-art methods for software development.
I hope you now know what repository-centric development is and will join me in championing it over patch-based development.
Mozillians reading this will be very happy to learn that work is under way to shift Firefox's development workflow to a more repository-centric world. Stay tuned.
New Repository for Mozilla Version Control ToolsFebruary 05, 2014 at 07:15 PM | categories: Git, Mercurial, Mozilla | View Comments
Version control systems can be highly useful tools.
At Mozilla, we've made numerous improvements and customizations to our version control tools. We have custom hooks that run on the server. We have a custom skin for Mercurial's web interface. Mozillians have written a handful of Mercurial extensions to aid with common developer tasks, such as pushing to try, interacting with Bugzilla, making mq more useful, and more.
These have all come into existence in an organic manner, one after the other. Individuals have seen an itch and scratched it. Good for them. Good for Mozilla.
Unfortunately, the collection of amassed tools has become quite large. They have become difficult to discover and keep up to date. The consistency in quality and style between the tools varies. Each tool has separate processes for updating and changing.
I contacted the maintainers of the popular version control tools at Mozilla with a simple proposal: let's maintain all our tools under one repo. This would allow us to increase cohesion, share code, maintain a high quality bar, share best practices, etc. There were no major objections, so we now have a unified repository containing our version control tools!
Currently, we only have a few Mercurial extensions in there. A goal is to accumulate as much of the existing Mercurial infrastructure into that repository as possible. Client code. Server code. All of the code. I want developers to be able to install the same hooks on their clients as what's running on the server: why should your local repo let you commit something that the server will reject? I want developers to be able to reasonably reproduce Mozilla's canonical version control server configuration locally. That way, you can test things locally with a high confidence that your changes will work the same way on production. This allows deployments to move faster and with less friction.
The immediate emphasis will be on moving extensions into this repo and deprecating the old homes on user repositories. Over time, we'll move into consolidating server code and getting hg.mozilla.org and git.mozilla.org to use this repository. But that's a lower priority: the most important goal right now is to make it easier and friendlier for people to run productivity-enhancing tools.
So, if you see your Mercurial extensions alerting you that they've been moved to a new repository, now you know what's going on.
Aggregating Version Control Info at MozillaJanuary 21, 2014 at 10:50 AM | categories: Git, Mercurial, Mozilla, Python | View Comments
Over the winter break, I set out on an ambitious project to create a service to help developers and others manage the flury of patches going into Firefox. While the project is far from complete, I'm ready to unleash the first part of the project upon the world.
If you point your browsers to moztree.gregoryszorc.com, you'll hopefully see some documentation about what I've built. Source code is available and free, of course. Patches very welcome.
Essentially, I built a centralized indexing service for version control repositories with Mozilla's extra metadata thrown in. I tell it what repositories to mirror, and it clones everything, fetches data such as the pushlog and Git SHA-1 mappings, and stores everything in a central database. It then exposes this aggregated data through world-readable web services.
Currently, I have the service indexing the popular project branches for Firefox (central, aurora, beta, release, esr, b2g, inbound, fx-team, try, etc). You can view the full list via the web service. As a bonus, I'm also serving these repositories via hg.gregoryszorc.com. My server appears to be significantly faster than hg.mozilla.org. If you want to use it for your daily needs, go for it. I make no SLA guarantees, however.
I'm also using this service as an opportunity to experiment with alternate forms of Mercurial hosting. I have mirrors of mozilla-central and the try repository with generaldelta and lz4 compression enabled. I may blog about what those are eventually. The teaser is that they can make Mercurial perform a lot faster under some conditions. I'm also using ZFS under the hood to manage repositories. Each repository is a ZFS filesystem. This means I can create repository copies on the server (user repositories anyone?) at a nearly free cost. Contrast this to the traditional method of full clones, which take lots of time, memory, CPU, and storage.
Anyway, some things you can do with the existing web service:
- Obtain metadata about Mercurial changesets. Example.
- Look up metadata about Git commits. Example.
- Obtain a SPORE descriptor describing the web service endpoints. This allows you to auto-generate clients from descriptors. Yay!
Obviously, that's not a lot. But adding new endpoints is relatively straightforward. See the source. It's literally as easy as defining a URL mapping and writing a database query.
The performance is also not the best. I just haven't put in the effort to tune things yet. All of the querying hits the database, not Mercurial. So, making things faster should merely be a matter of database and hosting optimization. Patches welcome!
Some ideas that I haven't had time to implement yet:
- Return changests in a specific repository
- Return recently pushed changesets
- Return pushes for a given user
- Return commits for a given author
- Return commits referencing a given bug
- Obtain TBPL URLs for pushes with changeset
- Integrate bugzilla metadata
Once those are in place, I foresee this service powering a number of dashboards. Patches welcome.
Again, this service is only the tip of what's possible. There's a lot that could be built on this service. I have ideas. Others have ideas.
The project includes a Vagrant file and Puppet manifests for provisioning the server. It's a one-liner to get a development environment up and running. It should be really easy to contribute to this project. Patches welcome.
Importance of Hosting Your Version Control ServerNovember 13, 2013 at 09:25 AM | categories: Git, Mercurial, Mozilla | View Comments
The subject of where to host version control repositories comes up a lot at Mozilla. It takes many forms:
- We should move the Firefox repository to GitHub
- I should be allowed to commit to GitHub
- I want the canonical repository to be hosted by Bitbucket
When Firefox development is concerned, Release Engineerings puts down their foot and insists the canonical repository be hosted by Mozilla, under a Mozilla hostname. When that's not possible, they set up a mirror on Mozilla infrastructure.
I think a recent issue with the Jenkins project demonstrates why hosting your own version control server is important. The gist is someone force pushed to a bunch of repos hosted on GitHub. They needed to involve GitHub support to recover from the issue. While it appears they largely recovered (and GitHub support deserves kudos - I don't want to take away from their excellence), this problem would have been avoided or the response time significantly decreased if the Jenkins people had direct control over the Git server: they either could have installed a custom hook that would have prevented the pushes or had access to the reflog so they could have easily seen the last pushed revision and easily forced pushed back to it. GitHub doesn't have a mechanism for defining pre-* hooks, doesn't allow defining custom hooks (a security and performance issue for them), and doesn't expose the reflog data.
Until repository hosting services expose full repository data (such as reflogs) and allow you to define custom hooks, accidents like these will happen and the recovery time will be longer than if you hosted the repo yourself.
It's possible repository hosting services like GitHub and Bitbucket will expose these features or provide a means to quickly recover. If so, kudos to them. But larger, more advanced projects will likely employ custom hooks and considering custom hooks are a massive security and performance issue for any hosted service provider, I'm not going to hold my breath this particular feature is rolled out any time soon. This is unfortunate, as it makes projects seemingly choose between low risk/low convenience and GitHub's vibrant developer community.
Thoughts on Mercurial (and Git)May 12, 2013 at 12:00 PM | categories: Mozilla, Mercurial, Git | View Comments
My first experience with Mercurial (Firefox development) was very unpleasant. Coming from Git, I thought Mercurial was slow and perhaps even more awkward to use than Git. I frequently encountered repository corruption that required me to reclone. I thought the concept of a patch queue was silly compared to Git branches. It was all extremely frustrating and I dare say a hinderance to my productivity. It didn't help that I was surrounded by a bunch of people who had previous experience with Git and opined about every minute difference.
Two years later and I'm on much better terms with Mercurial. I initially thought it might be Stockholm Syndrome, but after reflection I can point at specific changes and enlightenments that have reshaped my opinions.
Newer versions of Mercurial are much better
I first started using Mercurial in the 1.8 days and thought it was horrible. However, modern releases are much, much better. I've noticed a steady improvement in the quality and speed of Mercurial in the last few years.
If you aren't running 2.5 or later (Mercurial 2.6 was released earlier this month), you should take the time to upgrade today. When you upgrade, you should of course read the changelog and upgrade notes so you can make the most of the new features.
Proper configuration is key
For my workflow, the default configuration of Mercurial out of the box is... far from optimal. There are a number of basic changes that need to be made to satisfy my expectations for a version control tool.
I used to think this was a shortcoming with Mercurial: why not ship a powerful and useful environment out of the box? But, after talking to a Mercurial core contributor, this is mostly by design. Apparently a principle of the Mercurial project is that the CLI tool (hg) should be simple by default and should minimize foot guns. They view actions like rebasing and patch queues as advanced and thus don't have them enabled by default. Seasoned developers may scoff at this. But, I see where Mercurial is coming from. I only need to refer everyone to her first experience with Git as an example of what happens when you don't aim for simplicity. (I've never met a Git user who didn't think it overly complicated at first.)
Anyway, to get the most out of Mercurial, it is essential to configure it to your liking, much like you install plugins or extensions in your code editor.
Every person running Mercurial should go to http://mercurial.selenic.com/wiki/UsingExtensions and take the time to find extensions that will make your life better. You should also run hg help hgrc to view all the configuration options. There is a mountain of productivity wins waiting to be realized.
For reference, my ~/.hgrc. Worth noting are some of the built-in externsions I've enabled:
- color - Colorize terminal output. Clear UX win.
- histedit - Provides git rebase --interactive behavior.
- pager - Feed command output into a pager (like less). Clear UX win.
- progress - Draw progress bars on long-running operations. Clear UX win.
- rebase - Ability to easily rebase patches on top of other heads. This is a basic feature of patch management.
- transplant - Easily move patches between repositories, branches, etc.
If I were on Linux, I'd also use the inotify extension, which installs filesystem watchers so operations like hg status are instantaneous.
In addition to the built-in extensions, there are a number of 3rd party extensions that improve my Mozilla workflow:
- mqext - Automatically commit to your patch queue when you qref, etc. This is a lifesaver. If that's not enough, it suggests reviewers for your patch, suggests a bug component, and let's you find bugs touching the files you are touching.
- trychooser - Easily push changes to Mozilla's Try infrastructure.
- qimportbz - Easily import patches from Bugzilla.
- bzexport - Easily export patches to Bugzilla.
I'm amazed more developers don't use these simple productivity wins. Could it be that people simply don't realize they are available?
Mozilla has a bug tracking easier configuration of the user's Mercurial environment. My hope is one day people simply run a single command and get a Mozilla-optimized Mercurial environment that just works. Along the same vein, if your extensions are out of date, it prompts you to update them. This is one of the benefits of a unified developer tool like mach: you can put these checks in one place and everyone can reap the benefits easily.
Mercurial is extensible
The major differentiator from almost every other version control system (especially Git) is the ease and degree to which Mercurial can be extended and contorted. If you take anything away from this post it should be that Mercurial is a flexible and agile tool.
If you want to change the behavior of a built-in command, you can write an extension that monkeypatches that command. If you want to write a new command, you can of course do that easily. You can have extensions interact with one another - all natively. You can even override the wire protocol to provide new capabilities to extend how peers communicate with one another. You can leverage this to transfer additional metadata or data types. This has nearly infinite potential. If that's not enough, it's possible to create a new branching/development primitive through just an extension alone! If you want to invent Git-style branches with Mercurial, you could do that! It may require client and server support, but it's possible.
Mercurial accomplishes this by being written (mostly) in Python (as opposed to C) and by having a clear API on which extensions can be built. Writing extensions in Python is huge. You can easily drop into the debugger to learn the API and your write-test loop is much smaller.
By contrast, most other version control systems (including Git) require you to parse output of commands (this is the UNIX piping principle). Mercurial supports this too, but the native Python API is so much more powerful. Instead of parsing output, you can just read the raw values from a Python data structure. Yes please.
Since I imagine a lot of people at Mozilla will be reading this, here are some ways Mozilla could leverage the extensibility of Mercurial:
- Command to create try pushes (it exists - see above).
- Record who pushed what when (we have this - it's called the pushlog).
- Command to land patches. If inbound1 is closed, automatically rebase on inbound2. etc. This could even be monkeypatched into hg push so pushes to inbound are automatically intercepted and magic ensues.
- Record the automation success/fail status against individual revisions and integrate with commands (e.g. only pull up to the most recent stable changeset).
- Command to create a review request for a patch or patch queue.
- Command to assist with reviews. Perhaps a reviewer wants to make minor changes. Mercurial could download and apply the patch(es), wait for your changes, then reupload to Bugzilla (or the review tool) automatically.
- Annotating commits or pushes with automation info (which jobs to run, etc).
- Find Bugzilla component for patch (it exists - see above).
- Expose custom protocol for configuring automation settings for a repository or a head. e.g. clients (with access) could reconfigure PGO scheduling, coalescing, etc without having to involve RelEng - useful for twigs and lesser used repositories.
- So much more.
Essentially, Mercurial itself could become the CLI tool code development centers around. Whether that is a good idea is up for debate. But, it can. And that says a lot about the flexibility of Mercurial.
Future potential of Mercurial
When you consider the previous three points, you arrive at a new one: Mercurial has a ton of future potential. The fact that extensions can evolve vanilla Mercurial into something that resembles Mercurial in name only is a testament to this.
When I sat down with a Mercurial core contributor, they reinforced this. To them, Mercurial is a core library with a limited set of user-facing commands forming the stable API. Since core features (like storage) are internal APIs (not public commands - like Git), this means they aren't bound to backwards compatibility and can refactor internals as needed and evolve over time without breaking the world. That is a terrific luxury.
An example of this future potential is changeset evolution. If you don't know what that is, you should because it's awesome. One of the things they figured out is how to propagate rebasing between clones!
Comparing to Git
Two years ago I would have said I would never opt to use Mercurial over Git. I cannot say that today.
I do believe Git still has the advantage over Mercurial in a few areas:
- Branch management. Mercurial branches are a non-starter for light-weigh work. Mercurial bookmarks are kinda-sorta like Git branches, but not quite. I really like aspects of Git branches. Hopefully changeset evolution will cover the remaining gaps and more.
- Patch conflict management. Git seems to do a better job of resolving patch conflicts. But, I think this is mostly due to Mercurial's patch queue extension not using the same merge code as built-in commands (this is a fixable problem).
- Developer mind share and GitHub. The GitHub ecosystem makes up for many of Git's shortcomings. Bitbucket isn't the same.
However, I believe Mercurial has the upper hand for:
- Command line friendliness. Git's command line syntax is notoriously awful and the concepts can be difficult to master.
- Extensibility. It's so easy to program custom workflows and commands with Mercurial. If you want to hack your version control system, Mercurial wins hands down. Where Mercurial embraces extensibility, I couldn't even find a page listing all the useful Git extensions!
- Open source culture. Every time I've popped into the Mercurial IRC channel I've had a good experience. I get a response quickly and without snark. Git by contrast, well, let's just say I'd rather be affiliated with the Mercurial crowd.
- Future potential. Git is a content addressable key-value store with a version control system bolted on top. Mercurial is designed to be a version control system. Furthermore, Mercurial's code base is much easier to hack on than Git's. While Git has largely maintained feature parity in the last few years, Mercurial has grown new features. I see Mercurial evolving faster than Git and in ways Git cannot.
It's worth calling out the major detractors for each.
I think Git's major weakness is its lack of extensibility and inability to evolve (at least currently). Git will need to grow a better extensibility model with better abstractions to compete with Mercurial on new features. Or, the Git community will need to be receptive to experimental features living in the core. All of this will require some major API breakage. Unfortunately, I see little evidence this will occur. I'm unable to find a vision document for the future of Git, a branch with major new features, or interesting threads on the mailing list. I tried to ask in their IRC channel and got crickets.
I think Mercurial's greatest weakness is lack of developer mindshare. Git and GitHub are where it's at. This is huge, especially for projects wanting collaboration.
Of all those points, I want to stress the extensibility and future potential of Mercurial. If hacking your tools to maximize potential and awesomeness is your game, Mercurial wins. End of debate. However, if you don't want to harness these advantages, then I think Git and Mercurial are mostly on equal footing. But given the rate of development in the Mercurial project and relative stagnation of Git (I can't name a major new Git feature in years), I wouldn't be surprised if Mercurial's feature set obviously overtakes Git's in the next year or two. Mind share will of course take longer and will likely depend on what hosting sites like GitHub and Bitbucket do (I wouldn't be surprised if GitHub rebranded as CodeHub or something some day). Time will tell.
Extending case study
I have removed the case study that appeared in the original article because as Mike Hommey observed in the comments, it wasn't a totally accurate comparison. I don't believe the case study significantly added much to the post, so I likely won't write a new one.
From where I started with Mercurial, I never thought I'd say this. But here it goes: I like Mercurial.
I started warming up when it became faster and more robust in recent versions in the last few years. When I learned about its flexibility and the fundamentals of the project and thus its future potential, I became a true fan.
It's easy to not like Mercurial if you are a new user coming from Git and are forced to use a new tool. But, once you take the time to properly configure it and appreciate it for what it is and what it can be, Mercurial is easy to like.
I think Mercurial and Git are both fine version control systems. I would happily use either one for a new project. If the social aspects of development (including encouraging new contributors) were important to me, I would likely select Git and GitHub. But, if I wanted something just for me or I was a large project looking for a system that scales and is flexible or was looking to the future, I'd go with Mercurial.
Mercurial is a rising star in the version control world. It's getting faster and better and enabling others to more easily innovate through powerful extensions. The future is bright for this tool.
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