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A survey conducted for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee released on Tuesday asked respondents whether they were more or less likely to vote for Warren based on the things they had seen or heard about her. Thirty-nine percent said they were more likely while 38 percent said they were less likely. One plausible explanation for the split decision is that while voters have read a lot of negative stories about Warren flubbing the heritage story, they've also been exposed to positive paid media spots about her. She's outspent Brown on TV ads and recently had the airwaves to herself for almost three weeks. "Scott Brown is in a good position. Despite being outspent on TV 3 to 1 in the months of April and May ... he has a one point lead over Warren," wrote Brown pollster Neil Newhouse in a memo responding to the Suffolk poll. But Brown's been up with significant radio buys of his own. And the almost daily coverage the heritage issue has received in the state's biggest newspapers amounts to a massive heap of negative earned media against the Democrat. "The amount of earned media on this story alone you could not have purchased," said Massachusetts Democratic strategist Mary Anne Marsh. At a minimum, the controversy has veered Warren off-message for a month and has forced her to devote time responding to the issue. That's time that would be better spent on other matters. On Thursday, she was asked how she knew she was part Native American and replied, "because my mother told me so." Responses like that are the ones keeping the story alive. The Brown camp also has staked political capital on the scuffle. His aides have put a lot of eggs into a basket that hasn't delivered concrete results for them yet. "Scott Brown's desperate attempts to distract voters from his own Republican record are simply not working," said DSCC spokesman Matt Canter. The polls reinforce a truism about the political landscape this cycle. National issues like the economy and the two parties' stewardship of the path to recovery are generally going to trump parochial issues in statewide races, save for blockbuster developments. From a process standpoint, the biggest takeaway from the Native American tussle has been the way the Warren campaign has handled the story. It hasn't had much luck steering the discussion toward Wall Street oversight, which is Warren's bread-and-butter issue. If faced with bigger distraction in the fall, the campaign can't afford to respond the same way if it hopes to escape unscathed.
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Wortschatz API
Wortschatz (trans. Vocabulary) is a collection of German-language linguistics services hosted by Leipzig University. These services provide extensive information pertaining to individual words, such as the lemmatized (base) form of the word, sample sentences using the word, usage frequency, synonyms, contextually similar words, and co-occurrences with other words. Wortschatz also provides services for working with word patterns and n-grams. These functions are all accessible using the Wortschatz SOAP APIs. The Wortschatz website and API documentation are given in German.
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A method for dynamically allocating network resources while transferring multimedia at variable bit-rates in a network extracts first content features from the multimedia to determine renegotiation points and observation periods. Second content features and traffic features are extracted from the multimedia bit stream during the observation periods. The second content features and the traffic features are combined in a neural network to predict the network resources to be allocated at the renegotiation points.
1. A method for dynamically allocating network resources while transferring a bit stream in a network, comprising:
extracting first content features from the bit stream to determine renegotiation points and observation periods, in which the bit stream is compressed;
extracting second content features and traffic features from the bit stream during the observation periods; and
combining the second content features and the traffic features to predict the network resources to be allocated at the renegotiation points.
2. The method of
3. The method of
4. The method of
5. The method of
6. The method of
identifying a set of candidate features; and
selecting a subset of the candidate features as the second content features and the traffic features.
7. The method of
8. The method of
9. The method of
evaluating a relevancy of the selected subset of features using a selection neural network.
10. The method of
11. The method of
12. The method of
13. The method of
classifying a training bit stream into traffic clusters based on the set of candidate features; and
determining a consistency measure for each candidate feature based on said traffic clusters; and
selecting a predetermined number of candidate features with the highest consistency measure as the subset of features.
14. The method of
determining a mean inter-class distance for each candidate features;
determining a mean intra-class distance for each candidate features; and
dividing the mean inter-class distance by the mean intra-class distance to determine the consistency measure for each content features.
15. The method of
16. The method of
17. The method of
estimating the I-frame spatial complexity by a weighted sum of magnitudes of AC coefficients for each macroblock of the I-frame.
18. The method of
subtracting motion vectors from adjacent P frames to form acceleration vectors; and
determining the mean magnitude of the acceleration vectors by:
where {right arrow over (m)} is a forward motion vector for macroblock (i, j) of frame k, and M and N are dimensions of the frame in terms of macroblocks.
19. The method of
classifying the training bit stream into traffic clusters based on the set subset of features;
determining a consistency measure for feature of the subset of features;
selecting a predetermined number of features of the subset with the highest consistency measure as a final subset of features.
20. The method of
expressing the traffic features as a vector that includes a maximum allowed arrival rate for bits for various time intervals.
21. The method of
applying principal component analysis to the subset features; and
providing the first N principal components as input descriptors to the prediction neural network.
22. The method of
determining cross-correlations between pairs of the subset of features to reduce the size of the subset.
23. The method of
constructing a plurality of candidate subsets of features;
determining a mean square error between actual and estimated values of features of each candidate subset of features; and
selecting the candidate subset of features with a minimum number of features that yield a lowest mean square error as the subset of features.
24. A system for dynamically allocating network resources while transferring a bit stream in a network, comprising:
a feature extraction unit configured to extract first content features, second content features, and traffic features from the bit stream during the observation periods, in which the bit stream is compressed;
means determining renegotiation points and observation periods in the bit stream from the first content features; and
a prediction neural network configured to combine the second content features and the traffic features to predict the network resources to be allocated at the renegotiation points.
The present invention relates generally to a method and system for allocating network resources for bit streams, and more particularly to dynamically allocating resources for multimedia bit streams.
Networks are the principal means for communicating multimedia between communication devices. The content of the multimedia can include data, audio, text, images, video, etc. Communication devices include input/output devices, computers, terminals, multimedia workstations, fax machines, printers, servers, telephones, and personal digital assistants.
A multimedia network typically includes network switches connected to each other and to the communication devices by circuits. The circuits can be physical or virtual. In the latter case, the circuit is specified by a source and destination address. The actual physical circuit used will vary over time, depending on network traffic and resource requirements and availability, such as bandwidth.
The multimedia can be formatted in many forms, but increasingly it is formatted into packets. Packets in transit between the communication devices may temporarily be stored in buffers at the switches along the path of the circuit pending sufficient available bandwidth on subsequent circuits along the path.
Important considerations in network operation are admission control and resource allocation. Typically, admission control and resource allocation are ongoing processes that are performed periodically during transmission of bit streams. The admission control and resource allocation determinations may take into account various factors such as network topology and current available network resources, such as buffer space in the switches and capacity in the circuits, any quality-of-service commitments (QoS), e.g., guaranteed bandwidth, and delay or packet loss probabilities.
The admission control and resource allocation problem is complicated when a variable bit-rate (VBR) multimedia source or communications device seeks access to the network and requests a virtual circuit for streaming data. The complication arises because the features, which describe the variations in content of the multimedia, are often imprecise. Thus, it is difficult to predict what the requirements for network resources, such as requirements for bandwidth, by the VBR source will be in the future. For example, the bandwidth requirements of VBR sources typically vary with time, and the bandwidth variations typically are difficult to characterize. Thus, the admission-allocation determination is made with information that may not accurately reflect the demands that the VBR source may place on the network, thereby causing degraded network performance.
More particularly, if the network resource requirements are overestimated, then the network will run under capacity. Alternatively, if the network resources requirements are underestimated, then the network may become congested and packets traversing the network may be lost, see, e.g., Roberts, "Variable-Bit-Rate Traffic-Control in B-ISDN," IEEE Comm. Mag., pp. 50-56, September 1991; Elwalid et al, "Effective Bandwidth of General Markovian Traffic Sources and Admission Control of High Speed Networks," IEEE/ACM Trans. on Networking, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 329-343, 1993. Guerin et al., "Equivalent Capacity and its Application to Bandwidth Allocation in High-Speed Networks," IEEE J. Sel. Areas in Comm., Vol. 9, No. 7, pp. 968-981, September 1991.
Transmission of digital multimedia over bandwidth-limited networks will become increasingly important in future Internet and wireless communication. It is a challenging problem to cope with ever changing network parameters, such as the number of multimedia sources and receivers, the bandwidth required by each stream, and the topology of the network itself. Optimal resource allocation should dynamically consider global strategies, i.e., global network management, as well as local strategies, such as, admission control during individual connections.
Bandwidth allocation and management for individual bit streams is generally done at the "edges" of the network in order to conserve computational resources of the network switches. While off-line systems can determine the exact bandwidth characteristics of a stream in advance, in many applications, on-line processing is desired or even required to keep delay and computational requirements low. Furthermore, any information used to make bandwidth decisions should be directly available in the compressed bit stream. It is desirable to have a resource management system that can accurately estimate the required bandwidth in real-time using only compressed domain information.
Resource Renegotiating for VBR Video
Of all multimedia, it is particularly desired to improve resource allocation for VBR video and audio data. These are becoming increasingly popular due to their consistent visual and acoustic quality. The hallmark of VBR data is that bandwidth undergoes both short-term and long-term changes, in reaction to the complexity and therefore, compressibility of the underlying content. Moreover, the long-term variations are more difficult to handle and being able to predict the estimated bandwidth over longer intervals is desired.
As stated above, allocating a constant amount of bandwidth to a VBR stream will usually yield one or more results: inefficient use of network resources, due to over or under-allocated bandwidths, and a requirement of large network buffers and consequent delay. Therefore, the bandwidth requests made by the VBR source should be periodically renegotiated in order to obtain high network utilization and low delay. Determining appropriate renegotiation points is also a problem. If renegotiation is too frequent, overhead increases. On the other hand, if the renegotiation is infrequent, coarse estimations are made.
Conventional methods typically renegotiate resources according to changes in bit stream level statistics, see Zhang et al., "RED-VBR: A new approach to support delay-sensitive VBR video in packet-switched networks," Proc. NOSSDAV, pp. 258-272 1995. The relationship between past and future traffic is parametrically modeled in techniques described by Chong et al, "Predictive dynamic bandwidth allocation for efficient transport of real-time VBR video over ATM," IEEE J. Sel. Areas of Comm., Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 12-23, 1995, and Izquierdo et al. "A survey of statistical source models for variable bit-rate compressed video," Multi-media Systems, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 199-213, 1999, and references therein.
Content-based methods are motivated by the high correlation between long-term traffic characteristics and video content, see Dawood et al, "MPEG video modeling based on scene description," Proc. IEEE ICIP, Vol. 2, pp. 351-355, 1998, and Bocheck et al, "Content-based VBR traffic modeling and its application to dynamic network resource allocation," Research Report 48c-98-20, Columbia Univ., 1998. Although multimedia content is a major factor in determining the bandwidth allocation, content alone may not be sufficient for predicting future traffic and in estimating how much resource to request.
Bandwidth Renegotiation Points
In the prior art, on-line determination of bandwidth renegotiation points for VBR content generally falls into three categories: deterministic, traffic-based, and content-based.
Deterministically setting the renegotiation points is the simplest method. Bandwidth requests are made every n frames, where n is an empirically determined balance between request overhead and correlation of bit-rates.
Traffic-based renegotiation occurs when a stream exceeds a previously negotiated bandwidth request, or when utilization drops below some threshold level. Although traffic-based renegotiation tracks the real bandwidth more closely, a single complex frame in a video can cause the requested bandwidth to remain unnecessarily elevated for some time.
A more "natural" renegotiation point is content-based, for example, a scene or "shot" boundary. A shot is defined as all frames acquired in a continuous sequence between when the camera's shutter opens and closes. By examining the bits used per frame in the VBR video, one can learn that the most dramatic change in bit usage occurs at the beginning of a new segment. Within a single segment, the traffic characteristics are usually relatively constant. If a segment has a sudden change in content features, the change can be considered another segment boundary, as far as renegotiation is concerned.
Many methods are known for finding segment boundaries in the compressed domain, see, for example, Yeo et al, "Rapid scene analysis on compressed video," IEEE Tr. Circuits and Systems for Video Tech., vol. 5, No. 6, pp. 533-544, 1995. That method uses a windowed relative threshold on the sum of absolute pixel differences, and allows for fast, on-line determination of renegotiation points.
Bandwidth Request Per Interval
The next step is to determine how much resource to request at each renegotiation point, without introducing significant delay. For natural renegotiation points such as segment boundaries, previous traffic cannot generally help to determine how much resource to request when the traffic pattern has changed. With the requirement of on-line processing in mind, one can predict the traffic for the entire segment based on a short observation of the beginning part of a new segment, as illustrated in FIG. 1.
The content-based prediction method described by Bocheck et al. includes training and testing stages. In the training stage, content features of a training video are quantized into a small number of levels, e.g., slow, medium, or fast motion. Every possible combination of significant features is labeled as a content class for which a typical traffic pattern is determined. During testing, the content class of each segment in the video is identified by extracting the same features, and the typical traffic pattern of the class is used as the predicted traffic for that segment.
However, the Bocheck method has some potential weaknesses. First, the specific prediction structure, via classification, can only feasibly incorporate a limited number of coarsely quantized features; each feature is weighted equally, rather than by its relevance to traffic. Second, prediction based solely on content may not be applicable for bit streams produced with different encoding algorithms or parameters. Third, not all available information during the observation periods is used at the renegotiation points.
Inaccurate predictions can cause allocation requests not to be granted or insufficient resources to be requested. This may result in denial of service, dropped packets, or transcoding to a lower bit-rate, perhaps with degraded quality.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved method and system for dynamically allocating network resources at renegotiation points while transferring multimedia content over a network.
Dynamic resource allocation is critical in the transmission of multimedia bit streams, especially video and audio data. Although content is one of the major factors that controls the bandwidth requirements for the bit streams, content alone is insufficient for predicting future traffic patterns and for determining how much network resources to request. The present invention provides a method for dynamically predicting resource requirements taking into account both content features and available short-term traffic features.
More specifically, the invention provides a method and system for dynamically allocating network resources while transferring a bit stream in a network. The method extracts first content features from the bit stream to determine renegotiation points and observation periods. Second content features and traffic features are extracted from the bit stream during the observation periods. The second content features and the traffic features are combined in a prediction neural network to determine the network resources to be allocated at the renegotiation points. The bit stream can have a variable or constant bit-rate. The features to be extracted can be selected from a training bit stream using either sequential forward selection or a consistency measure, or a combinartion of both.
As shown in
As shown in
Although the problem of predicting long-term or future traffic based on short-term traffic can be handled via parametric modeling, it is difficult to derive a simple and effective parametric model when incorporating content features. For this reason, we describe the use of a prediction neural network to accomplish the prediction task.
As shown in
We use the time between the content boundaries 221 and the renegotiation points 301 as observation periods 401. During each observation period 401, we extract additional content features 201 and traffic features 202.
The observed content and traffic features are classified and analyzed, and selected features and features are combined by the prediction neural network 400. Note, the combining in the prediction neural network can be weighted on a range of zero to one. For example, in some applications, the weight of the content features can be zero and the weight of the traffic features can be one so that the prediction is entirely based on the traffic features. Back-propagation, as describe by Kung, "Digital Neural Networks," Prentice Hall, 1993, can be applied during training to determine the weights. The prediction neural network predicts network resources 410 required at the renegotiation points 301 from the combined content and traffic features.
Feature Selection
As shown in
Sequential Forward Selection and General Regression Neural Network
The feature selection 602 can be performed according to one of the following three feature evaluation and selection procedures.
In a first procedure, we use a non-linear one-pass selection based on a sequential forward selection (SFS), and a general regression neural network (GRNN) to select a subset of relevant features 501-505 for traffic prediction. The principles of SFS and GRNN are described generally by Kittler, in "Feature set search algorithms," Pattern Recognition and Signal Processing, C. H. Chen, Ed. Sijthoff & Noordhoff, 1978, and Specht in "A general regression neural network," IEEE Trans. Neural Networks, vol. 2, no. 6, pp. 568-576, 1991, respectively. They do not describe the combination of SFS and GRNN, and the combined use for feature selection in a network resource allocation context.
The SFS procedure selects the best single feature as the first feature of the subset 501. Next, each of the other candidate features is evaluated with the first feature to find the best two features including the first feature. This is repeated until a desired number of features have been selected. The SFS method is suitable for this purpose because it is capable of incrementally constructing relevant subsets from a single feature. Thus, the construction of subsets of features can be done without requiring the observation of many possible subsets.
As shown in
To evaluate the relevancy of the subset features 501-505, we consider the mean square error (MSE) between actual and estimated values of traffic features. In a preferred embodiment, the actual and estimated values are expressed in terms of principal components (PCA) of D-BIND traffic features. D-BIND traffic features are described in greater detail below. Consider the full feature set F 500 and the mapping of the subset of features Fm 501-505. We denote the training data by (xF,p,yp), where xF,p is the p-th feature in the set of P full features 500, and yp is ground truth data that we wish to approximate, i.e., actual DBIND-PCA values. The mapping of each feature from the subset of features to the approximated data is denoted by g(xF
Beginning with the empty subset for Fm, we individually evaluate the relevancy of remaining features in the complementary set, i.e., F-Fm. At each iteration, a new feature is added to the subset Fm. At the end of this process, the subset Fm contains the minimum number of features that yield the lowest MSE.
Given the set of training data, we associate each sample point with a single Gaussian kernel of the first network layer 702. The input vector x 701 is assigned as the center of the kernel. For an arbitrary input vector, the output of the p-th unit is given by
Intuitively, the GRNN 700 performs interpolation by linearly combining the given training outputs using a set of adaptively determined coefficients.
Consistency Measure-Based Feature Selection
A second evaluation procedure, shown in
A consistency measure C for each set of features is determined 716:
We want the classes to be compact and well separated from other classes. Therefore, a good feature has a small intra-class distance, and large inter-class distance, yielding a large consistency measure C. The distance measure can be Euclidean. The preferred consistency measure considers content features that are related to traffic in a monotonic way.
We select a subset of features 603 that give the largest C values. In decreasing order of importance, these features include an I-frame spatial complexity 501, the mean magnitude of the acceleration vectors 502, the mean magnitude of the motion vectors 503, and the spatial variance of the motion vectors 504. Other features can also be used if they increase the consistency measure C.
The first, I-frame spatial complexity, directly affects peak bandwidth requirements for future I-frames in the segment, and indirectly, peak bandwidth requirements of P and B frames. The spatial complexity can be estimated using a weighted sum of the magnitudes of the AC coefficients for each macroblock of the I-frame.
Motion vectors from adjacent P frames are subtracted to form "acceleration" vectors. The mean magnitude of the acceleration vectors forms our second content feature,
Where {right arrow over (m)}k is a forward motion vector for macroblock (i, j) of frame k, and M and N are the frame dimensions in macroblocks. A high value of the mean magnitude indicates that the motion in the video is complex, and that the residue frames will become increasingly complex, thus requiring more bits.
Similarly, the mean magnitude of the motion vectors is a measure of how much motion compensation is needed, and therefore, an indication of how complex the residue frames are likely to be. Finally, we measure the spatial covariance of the x and y motion vector components.
Hybrid SFS/GRNN and Consistency Based Feature Selection
A third technique for feature selection uses a hybrid approach as shown in
Traffic Descriptors
Many descriptors of traffic are known. Among them, the peak rate, the average rate, and the mean rate are simple ones. However, these descriptors do not capture the traffic patterns over different time scales. To overcome this problem, and as described above with reference to
D-BIND is a vector that includes a maximum allowed arrival rate for various time intervals. D-BIND provides a performance guarantee for the worst case. It is defined as follows.
The cumulative number of bits arriving during a time interval beginning at time τ and of a length t is A[τ, τ+t]. A tightest bound over all time, called the empirical envelope, is:
A piecewise-linear bounding function BW
The D-BIND descriptor is usually expressed in terms of arrival rates:
Fixing [t1, . . . , tp], D-BIND can be described by a vector [r1, . . . , rp] We use r1 through r4 505
When describing an entire segment, the dimensionality of D-BIND becomes large and the prediction complexity goes up. Such an increase is rather wasteful as there is some redundancy in D-BIND. For example, the value rk approaches the mean bit-rate for large k.
Redundancy Check
In order to reduce prediction complexity, we provide two solutions in the form of a redundancy check 734, as shown in
In a first embodiment, we apply principal component analysis (PCA) to the selected subset of features and use the first N principal components as input descriptors to the prediction neural network 400. Thus, the prediction neural network 400 can dynamically predicts the N values.
In a second embodiment, we directly determine cross-correlations between pairs in the selected subset of features. Given that certain pairs of features exhibit high correlation, we can reduce the size of the subset by eliminating redundant features.
Detailed Structure of Dynamic Resource Allocation
The detailed structure of our method is shown in FIG. 8. There are three major blocks, feature extraction 801, feature selection and traffic analysis 802, and traffic prediction 803. The heavy lines 804 indicate data flows used during training and feature selection as described with respect to
Compressed domain processing 806 can use windowed relative thresholds on the sum of absolute pixel differences to perform temporal segmentation 810 of the input multimedia 220 to determine the renegotiation points 301 and the following observation periods 401 of FIG. 4. The features extracted during the observation periods are passed forward for feature selection 602 using any of the three procedures described above. The selected subset of features is passed to the prediction neural network 400.
A traffic descriptor 812 is derived from the extracted traffic features 202. The descriptor is can be used to classify traffic patterns as described above. The dimensionality of the patterns can be reduced by principal component analysis, and a reduced dimensionality traffic descriptor is provided to the prediction neural network 400 to be used in conjunction with the final subset of selected features 603 to predict the network resources 410 to be requested at the renegotiation points 301.
Effect of Dynamic Resource Allocation
We compare channel utilization using our method with known bit stream level approaches. We also evaluate the contribution of content and traffic features of short observation periods to resource prediction. In the comparison we use a 13175 frame video, about 7 minutes, digitized from cable television at 30 frames per second. The video is encoded via MPEG-1 VBR of a fixed quantization step size, with an average bit-rate of 2.1 Mbps.
Link Utilization
The RED-VBR scheme, described by Zhang et al. in "RED-VBR: A new approach to support delay-sensitive VBR video in packet-switched networks," in Proc. NOSSDAV, pp. 258-272, 1995, is a heuristic renegotiation method. That method raises the reserved bandwidth, as described by D-BIND, by a factor α when the real bandwidth exceeds the current reservation, and lowers it by a factor β when the real bandwidth remains below the reserved resource for K frames. The average R-VBR renegotiation frequency is dependent on α, β, and K.
In contrast, our method uses renegotiation points at video boundaries obtained from the content-based temporal segmentation 810. We identified 177 segments in the sample video. Bandwidth reservations comprise two D-BIND principal components from our prediction neural network 400. We train the prediction neural network 400 by one hundred sweeps with data from the first fifty segments.
Link utilization is obtained by trace-driven simulation, similar to that described by Bocheck et al. Multiple video sources, based on the above described sample video but with random starting points, are multiplexed into a T3 line with a bandwidth of 45 Mbps. The results of the comparison are shown in FIG. 9.
With three sets of parameters specified, renegotiation requests from RED-VBR were generated at average intervals of 0.81, 1.54, and 2.23 seconds. The corresponding utilizations are shown by dashed curves 901-903. The horizontal line 904 shows the utilization when the peak bandwidth is allocated to each segment. The upper solid curve 905 is the utilization according to our method, which renegotiates once every 2.48 seconds, on the average. Our method outperforms the RED-VBR scheme of similar renegotiation frequency by 18% as shown by curve 903, and by 9% against the RED-VBR with tripled renegotiation frequency as shown by curve 901.
Mean Square Error (MSE) of Traffic Prediction
With respect to renegotiation points, we consider:
We consider three different neural network inputs for traffic prediction, all based on features extracted during the observation periods:
Constant Bit-Rate Resource Prediction
Our method can also be used in applications where CBR transcoders and encoders are used. The CBR video stream is segmented as above, although the lengths of the segments can be much longer than for a VBR bit stream. Each segment is then transmitted at an appropriate constant bit rate predicted during an observation period at the beginning of the segment. This leads to a piece-wise estimation of bandwidth over time for the CBR bit stream.
We have described a method for dynamically allocating network resources to multimedia bit streams. A content-based approach for determining optimal renegotiation points improves network utilization over non-content-based methods. In traffic prediction, using short-term traffic features as well as content features as inputs to a prediction neural network is more effective than using either content or traffic features alone.
Although the invention has been described by way of examples of preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that various other adaptations and modifications may be made within the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, it is the object of the appended claims to cover all such variations and modifications as come within the true spirit and scope of the invention.
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My Dear Sister,
Your letter has come safely, and I am glad to learn that you are in such an exuberant flow of spirits and hope that such much may long continue.
I received, and answered your other letter in regard to the tombstones at Brother Warren's grave. But as I usually answer letters from recollection, thus saving my eyes from rereading, I forgot to answer that particular inquiry, but remembered it afterwards and should have answered it. In this: I wish to put stones to his grave and also to Father's & sister's, and also to Mother's if I knew certainly the spot, but it appears to me that it would be best to put all up at the same time during the coming year. But if you would prefer having Warren's put up now, write to Jas. Dicks & ask him to do so, and pay him the twelve dollars, and ask Doctor Bosworth if it will not suit him to let you have my part of the expense and let me pay it over to Colonel Smith here the same amount for him, it will save him the risk of the losing it by mail, in the event of his sending his money by mail. But should it not be convenient for the Doctor to do so, and you can spare the money until I shall have an opportunity of getting a check I will forward it to you and should there be other expenses beyond twelve dollars I will share them with you.
The congregation here to which I belong have objects to which they subscribe of much more importance to them than your Academy can be, that I am well satisfied that your application would meet with little or no favor here, and I would advise that no effort should be made. We have six annual contributions, and then certain others which are first recommended by over session, and I am well satisfied that the session would consider other objects as more demanding their recommendation than the academy. You need not be afraid of the opposing party doing anything here if they were to do so it would give me an opportunity which I would embrace if at home of urging your claims.
Wirt Thomas need not repeat his English verb when he is conjugating his Latin verb, but ask him what his Latin verb is in English. I have heard from Wirt and written a very plain letter to him like that which I wrote to you. Much love to all.
©Virginia Military Institute Archives, Lexington, VA 24450


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Scholarship Overview
This scholarship is for juniors of Topeka High School in Topeka, Kansas. To qualify for this scholarship, applicants must demonstrate financial need in meeting obligations of their senior year.
How easy is it to apply?
Not too bad
This scholarship's application process may have items such as essays that could take a couple hours.
How much competition is there?
Relatively little!
This scholarship has a relatively low number of applicants.
Financial Need: Is this you?
Financial need will be considered.
Class Year: Is this you?
- High school junior
Home State: Is this you?
- Kansas
High School: Is this you?
- Topeka High


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Not Only Are College Students In Debt; So Are Colleges
We always read stories about college students constantly trying to dig themselves out of debt. There are always complaints about how these colleges and universities raise their tuitions, sometimes bi-yearly.
It turns out that there is a good reason that tuition continues to rise- Colleges are in huge debt themselves.
"Overall debt levels more than doubled from 2000 to 2011 at the more than 500 institutions rated by Moody's, according to inflation-adjusted data compiled for The New York Times by the credit rating agency. In the same time, the amount of cash, pledged gifts and investments that colleges maintain declined more than 40 percent relative to the amount they owe."
Colleges have little choice but to raise tuition- which in turn raises the debt of its students.
This would be understandable, but the debt of the schools is only on the rise. Someone needs to come up with a better plan then simply redistributing the debt.
Paul Hudson | Elite.


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"Nothing is more politically volatile than monkeying with the health insurance of seniors," says Benjamin Sasse and Charles Hurt in the New York Post. That is why Obama plans to restore Medicare Advantage funds due to expire in October.
The Observation Deck
A blog of opinions on local, state and national issues


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Putting a Face on Theatre
Sort by:
Hope it makes people do a better job and make it fly ! ERIC ANTHONY SMITH Jul 21 4 views
A play by Crystal Smith-Connelly, performed at the Hudson Theatre in Hollywood as part of 2Cents Th… Crystal Smith-Connelly Jul 7, 2014 48 views
Corn Stock Theatre's "Corn Stock For Kids" in Peoria, Illinois recently put on Disney's The Little… Todd K. Pilon May 5, 2014 43 views
Tim Brosnan discusses Starbucks' size designations with his therapist. Tim Brosnan Jan 3, 2014 35 views
A few thoughts on the recent controversy surrounding the Phil Robertson interview published in GQ m… Tim Brosnan Jan 3, 2014 16 views
Tim Brosnan as Brabantio speaking to the title character in Shakespeare's "Othello." Ordinarily, th… Tim Brosnan Dec 30, 2013 22 views
Tim Brosnan performs Polonius monologue from Shakespeare's "Hamlet" Tim Brosnan Dec 30, 2013 15 views
A Ryman Stoner monologue from the play "Coup/Clucks" Tim Brosnan Dec 30, 2013 14 views
Tim Brosnan as Silas Barnaby in 2006 Dollywood production of "Dollywood's Babes In Toyland" Tim Brosnan Dec 30, 2013 13 views
Tim Brosnan with a brief list of signs that you're a cat person Tim Brosnan Dec 30, 2013 8 views
Dream Logic Productions presents ... Peter Saputo and Tim Brosnan discuss cycling, religion and the… Tim Brosnan Dec 30, 2013 13 views
Tim Brosnan spends another hour on the therapist's couch, this time talking about restaurant servin… Tim Brosnan Dec 30, 2013 10 views
In this dream, Tim Brosnan travels via tornado from a strange control room to an impromptu gatherin… Tim Brosnan Dec 30, 2013 13 views
Kim A. Tolman Dec 20, 2012 45 views
A process video of how to build a dead prop rabbit. Contains instructions for a bed foam and paper… Lydia Winkelmann Sep 28, 2012 231 views
Casting with Plastic 300 by Smooth on, Molding with Body Double, casting with latex. Severed Finger… Lydia Winkelmann Sep 28, 2012 74 views
Welcome to the Prop Shop. This is an instructional prop video using smooth-on products to create ha… Lydia Winkelmann Sep 28, 2012 34 views
Mark Modzelewski Sep 22, 2012 25 views
A trailer for my first book, For I Am Zeus: A Collection of Plays About Greek Mythology Crystal Smith-Connelly Aug 26, 2012 32 views
LBCC Theater Production. May 10-11-12 and 17-18-19 at 7:30 PM May 13 at 2:00PM Dan Stone May 10, 2012 47 views


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- NEMA Commends Inclusion of Energy Efficiency in EPA Proposed Rule
- Schneider Electric and Pepco Holdings Partner for First Commercial Deployment of Green Button Connect My Data
- NEMA's Industrial Control Indexes Slip in Fourth Quarter of 2013
- Senate Should Act on Popular Energy Efficiency Bill
- Americans Broadly Support Energy Efficiency
- NEMA Urges Senate Finance Committee to include Energy Efficiency Incentives in Tax Reform
- NEMA's Industrial Control and Adjustable Speed Drive Index Reaches Record High Level
The Industrial Energy Efficiency Coalition (IEEC) is an alliance of companies seeking to leverage their expertise and track record in industrial controls and automation to promote continuous energy efficiency improvements in industrial systems and processes, as well as business ecosystems.
Industry uses about one-third of all energy consumed in the United States, but current policies and investments do not adequately address the energy savings opportunities of this sector. Therefore, a more comprehensive approach to create and promote industrial energy efficiency and savings is needed. IEEC seeks to promote processes, methods, best practices, technologies, and metrics that will drive energy efficiency improvements throughout industrial processes.
IEE Events
- 36th Annual Industrial Energy Technology Conference, May 20-23, 2014 – New Orleans, LA
- 18th Annual ARC Industry Forum, February 10-13, 2014 – Orlando, FL
- ACEEE Summer Study on Industrial Energy Efficiency, July 23-26, 2013 – Niagara Falls, NY
- 16th Annual Congressional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency EXPO + Forum, June 12, 2013 – Washington, DC
- 15th Annual Congressional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency EXPO + Forum, June 21, 2012 – Washington, DC


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acrylic rim framesI'm always attracted to fluorescent colors but I have no idea why. Highlighter yellow or construction orange—especially in small objects like this—it's a little wild crazy fun.
petal vasesThe shape is perfect for arranging flowers, especially if you have just a few stems to work with. And the color choices are right on—blossoms against black will only look richer and the chartreuse is mood elevating.
hancock chartreuse bookcaseThis bookcase is tall, but very fine in profile so it's a great canvas for the vibrant chartreuse—which is like a happy face so you can't help but smile back…maybe that's why I like this palette.
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Parler Francais?
The newly opened and fab Brighton Wine Shop and Tasting Room are offering exciting new French lessons at their wine bar in Brighton's North Laines. Join them and enjoy a glass of quality wine in a friendly and comfortable atmosphere, the perfect environment for learning French.
Their experienced and qualified teacher, Amanda, will focus on a new topic and language point each week. The evening will be divided into two sessions: a one hour lesson, which will examine a language point suitable for beginners; followed by an optional informal one hour discussion using the language learnt in the first hour.
Bookings are taken on a weekly basis. To book your place for this week, just drop by or call 01273 567176.
Price: £12 (includes a glass of wine)
When: Every Tuesday 6 – 7/8pm
Where: The Wine Shop & Tasting Room, 9 Jubilee Street, Brighton BN1 1GE
What better way to start learning a new language… and Sea Spray will offer a welcome glass of wine to all guests deciding to make a night of it in one of our themed boutique hotel rooms – we are just a 10 minute walk away! Au revoir!
For more info on the Brighton Wine Shop visit their website – www.tengreenbottles.com


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Representing Louisville — Kentucky's 3rd Congressional District
Candidate Comparison
KY 3rd Congressional District Candidates – Comparison
Physician and Surgeon for over 30 years
Attended Columbia, Harvard and UCLA
Full-time faculty at UCLA
Clinical faculty at UofL
Past editor of Louisville Medicine
Congressman for past 8 years
Attended Yale
Stock broker
Past editor of Louisville Eccentric Observer
Supports a balanced budget amendment
Opposes raising the federal debt ceiling
Supports lowering corporate tax rates
Supports Right to Work
Opposes Card Check
Repeal employer mandate of ACA
Restrain Federal Reserve
Restrain EPA regulations of businesses
Opposes a balanced budget amendment
Supports raising the federal debt ceiling
Opposes lowering corporate tax rates
Opposes Right to Work
Supported Card Check
Repeal and Replace ACA
Healthcare for every American
Transparency and Competition
Prevent Gov/IRS access to medical records
Supports ACA
Prefers Single Payer government run healthcare system
Gov access to medical records integral to a single payer system
Build the fence
Enforce the laws
No citizenship for illegal aliens
Opposes the fence
Believes the border laws are being enforced
Supports amnesty and citizenship for illegal aliens
Opposes EPA war on coal
Supports Keystone XL pipeline
Supports energy independence
Supports EPA war on coal
Opposes Keystone XL pipeline
Minimum Wage (FMW)
Opposes a 40% increase in FMW
(click HERE for more information)
Supports a 40% increase in FMW
Supports school choice
Opposes school choice
Read more
Yarmuth and Grimes' Shared Hypocrisy
Yesterday, Alison Grimes and John Yarmuth launched a joint attack on Republicans, this time attempting to raise fear among senior citizens about social security and Medicare. Yarmuth said McConnell "lies to his constituents," while Grimes accused McConnell of wanting to privatize social security and "gamble" seniors' wages. This is not only a bald-faced lie, it's the lowest form of fear mongering and political malfeasance.
It appears that Ms. Grimes and Mr. Yarmuth have more than their dishonesty in common. While they are out campaigning to raise the minimum wage, both Grimes and Yarmuth have family restaurant businesses that pay minimum wage to their employees.
Mr. Yarmuth's Sonny's BBQ employment practices have been chronicled in a Florida newspaper, the Ocala Post. Not only do they pay minimum wage but they are converting full-time workers to part-time to avoid providing health insurance as mandated by ObamaCare.
Now Ms. Grimes' shares a similar hypocrisy that has been reported by CNN. The Grimes business, "Hugh Jass Burgers," not only pays their workers just $2.13 per hour, but they feature menu items named after women's body parts, like: "Charlotte's Rack" and "Abby's Hugh Jass". Does Grimes really have the beef to declare a war on women as the cornerstone of her campaign? Of course not!
It is clear that both Yarmuth and Grimes are cut from the same cloth. Our local media works tirelessly to protect both of them from public scrutiny and keep their constituents in the dark.
So let's review the facts for ourselves:
On Minimum Wage – Both Grimes and Yarmuth pay minimum wage or less at their own businesses.
On Healthcare - Neither Grimes nor Yarmuth supply health insurance benefits to all their workers.
On the War on Women – While Mr. Yarmuth's business is cutting hours from working women with children, Ms. Grimes is shaming and ridiculing women's bodies with sexist names for menu items.
Kentucky deserves better leadership. Kentucky deserves honest leadership. Both Grimes and Yarmuth are hypocrites and neither deserves your vote.
This November you will have a choice to express your disapproval of Grimes and Yarmuth. You will have the opportunity to make this right. It's time to stand up and make your voice and your vote known. Send a clear message that this hypocrisy will not be rewarded.
Dr. Michael Macfarlane
Congressional Candidate for Kentucky-3 District
1 Ocala Post on Aug 23 2013.
2 (Chris Frates, Scott Zamost, "Grimes and her family's Hugh Jass Burgers," CNN, 10/20/14)
Ebola Virus and Politics
I, like you have been following the stories concerning Ebola around the country and particularly at Texas Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. This morning we awoke to discover that a Dallas nurse who had treated patient Thomas Duncan who succumbed to Ebola last Wednesday, has now tested positive with the infection. She was fully aware of the patient's diagnosis and used full CDC isolation precautions including gown, gloves and mask while she cared for the patient, yet she still has fallen victim to the disease. Her sacrifice to care for a sick patient is exactly what healthcare providers do on a daily basis.
Each new Ebola infection triggers an elaborate and expensive protocol of contact screenings and monitoring of hundreds of potential people in addition to decontamination procedures by hazardous material professionals. Routine care at a hospital with infected patients will be impaired. Texas Presbyterian has temporarily halted new emergency room admissions. It should be apparent that the situation could easily become overwhelming if more cases are encountered. We are presently out of the new experimental drug ZMapp, which has already been credited in saving the lives of other healthcare workers. The medication is a biologic of monoclonal antibodies and it takes time to produce.
Unfortunately, the Ebola topic has become a part of the political debate for the upcoming midterm elections. Is the federal government doing all that is necessary to prevent a major out break in the United States? Presently the disease is endemic only in a few West African nations where presently over 4,000 have already died.
The Federal response at this time is to set up screening facilities at major airports in the U.S. for travelers who have already entered the country. Each passenger will need to be evaluated based on their most recent travel destinations, undergo a mini-medical examination, and then have a decision made whether or not to allow them entry, begin further monitoring, a quarantine or hospitalization. I do not envy anyone who must make that call. Public health is at stake.
Common sense on the other hand would suggest treating such a deadly disease at its source rather than bringing it into the US. Common sense would also suggest curtailing unnecessary travel to and from these endemic countries temporarily, at least until we have more immunoglobulin and better procedures in place to ensure infected individuals do not get on planes. To be clear, travel bans would not restrict aid and humanitarian work in endemic countries or travel for medical professionals who are working to stop a pandemic at its source. We need a common sense approach and we need it quick.
Unfortunately common sense seems to be lacking in our government at every level. Fortunately for us, the people still have it and will soon weigh in.
Michael Macfarlane, M.D.
Candidate for KY 3rd Congressional District
The Minimum Wage Debate
The Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor was one of the earliest promoters of the idea of a Labor Day to celebrate America's labor movement in the 1880s. Its leader and the majority of its members were Catholic at that time, and they both promoted the working class and acted as a labor union, yet rejected socialism. Catholics have had a long tradition of supporting the working class and promoting a living wage. As a Catholic, I hold to that tradition.
As a physician, I was taught the importance of carefully evaluating the plan of treatment. Though our intentions are good, those treatments often have unintended consequences. To provide the best care, we must constantly weigh the risks vs. the benefits of any medicine or surgical procedure.
The same careful evaluation of political remedies is necessary because like in medicine, good intentions are not enough. Too often what seems to be a good solution may have disastrous consequences down the road. Take, for example, the subprime mortgage fiasco. The good intentions of those who wished to make it easier for people to become homeowners nearly collapsed our entire banking system. Similarly, raising the minimum wage is a simple solution to a complex problem, and it will have serious adverse consequences. If only it were so simple that we could just mandate every employer pay his employees more money and presto, the problem of poverty would be solved! Little in life is that simple.Read more
Yarmuth Fact Check
Today, Mr. Yarmuth was on WHAS Great Day Live. Lets check some of the statements he made.
Minimum Wage
In support of his call for raising the minimum wage Mr. Yarmuth stated, "nationally, the purchasing power of the minimum wage today is 30% less than it was 40 years ago". Checking the statement against data from the non-partisan Pew Research Center and the Department of Labor one can see that the inflation adjusted value of the minimum wage changes almost yearly based on changing economic conditions.
Since its inception in1938, the average and median inflation adjusted minimum wage was $7.09. That means the purchasing power of the minimum wage today ($7.25) is better than it has been on average since 1938.
Mr. Yarmuth selected the highest one-year inflation adjusted value of $10.34 that occurred in 1968 to get that number. Curious!
Equal Pay for Women
In support of his false claim of unequal pay for women, Yarmuth stated "right now a woman makes 77 cents for every dollar a man makes for the same work". This statement is entirely untrue!
Raw census data shows that the income of all women is 77% of the income for all men. This raw census data does not break down pay by the kind of job performed. In fact, when education level and specific jobs are studied, women earn the same as men for comparable work. Today more women are graduating from high school, college and medical school than men. Liberals like John Yarmuth further suggest that this non-difference is evidence of sex discrimination bias.
Shame on Congressman Yarmuth! Some people will do anything to get elected.
Courier-Journal Op-Ed: GOP and the West End
Recent efforts of the Republican Party at outreach into the West End of Louisville and the African-American community are meeting with resistance. While the Democrat Party has had a near monopoly with local African-American voters, many in that community are finding that their situation has steadily deteriorated in nearly every measure after decades of Democrat leadership. They are realizing that more government involvement is not the solution to their problems. Better education, jobs, and security in their person and homes are the road to independence and happiness...Read more
U.S. Territories Catch a Break From Obamacare
U.S. Territories Catch a Break From Obamacare
The Affordable Care Act is back in the news. Again. There's been a change to the law from the top-down. Again.
Last week the Department of Health & Human Services decided to unburden the U.S. territories of several of the law's requirements.
So residents in Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands are finally off the hook. No Obamacare for them. When will those of us on the continent get so lucky? Once again the Unaffordable Care Act looks like the law that anytime Health & Human Services doesn't like something, they can just change it.
Sadly, it took a near total collapse in availability of medical insurance for the territories to get any relief. Individuals weren't given any subsidies and no one was required to pay.
With confusion over the availability of subsidies in the majority of states, and a likely case before the Supreme Court on the matter soon, the collapse in the territories strikes close to home. Already we've seen greater overcrowding of our emergency rooms and undercutting of charity services.
Congressman Yarmuth helped write this bill, and was a key player in its passage and the communication of its message. He claims to have read every word, and most certainly knew it wouldn't turn out as promised. Remember the Great Lie? If you like your current plan and doctor you can keep them? Perhaps the President can even be forgiven some here. He most certainly did not read or write the bill, and perhaps misunderstood some of its 2700 pages. No such benefit of the doubt can be granted to John Yarmuth. He was elected as a public servant, a Representative of the people, and he lied to all of us for years, finally admitting the truth to Joe Arnold late last year.
John Yarmuth crafted the most destructive law in American history, and he perpetuated a blatant lie on the American people and every Louisvillian in order to see it through. This most egregious violation of the public trust cannot be forgotten, and it will not be forgiven.
Fighting Hunger
Yarmuth Votes NO on Fighting Hunger Incentive Act of 2014
Yesterday, Representative Yarmuth voted NO on a bill to extend expired provisions that provided a tax deduction for businesses to donate their food inventory to charitable organizations. The bill easily passed with bipartisan support, including all of the Kentucky delegation with the exception of Yarmuth, and with the support of the American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Restaurant Association.
This deduction has existed since 1976 and only expired last year. According to the American Farm Bureau, without the tax write-off, "it is cheaper in most cases for these types of businesses to throw their food away than it is to donate the food."
Tearing Down Walls
President Reagan knew how important it was to free all people to pursue opportunity, growth, and happiness. He knew that to do so meant to tear down the walls that separate us. 9th Street is the wall that has made us two cities, but no longer. We are spreading the message of opportunity, growth, and happiness to all the people of Louisville, and with faith and hard work, our wall, too, will fall.
VA Scandal - Another Broken Promise
President Obama promised our Veterans that he would cut red tape and waiting times at the VA Hospitals. Now we find that up to 40 patients may have lost their lives because of sham waiting lists at many VA hospitals. Despite good doctors and nurses, the bureaucracy of the VA prevented patients from getting timely appropriate care. The institutionalized problems of the VA system are what you can expect under Obamacare when it is fully implemented.


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Photography by Ron Boszko
When I order live fish at a restaurant in China it is customary for the kitchen staff to present the live fish tableside for inspection in a basket or plastic bag. (And sometime on an elegant silvery stainless platter in upscale restaurants.) The fish invariably flips and flops, and gasps for its last breath. The Asian and European diners amongst us would nod approvingly except of course for the Americans. They would shake their heads in disbelief. Twenty minutes later a beautifully fried or steamed fish is served, and everyone ooohs and aaahs except for the Americans. By this time they are so completely revolted they'd just sit and smile politely, believing PETA evangelists are about to materialize and surround the table with police tape. The different reactions remind me of what I recently read in The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8. Lee. She wrote that Americans don't want their food to look like real animals. Here lies the root of the culinary culture difference.


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(based on 2 reviews)
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Helmet Rocks!!!
By Little Ripper
from Bend, OR
About Me Advanced
Best Uses
Comments about Sandbox Classic Helmet - Kid's:
This is the best helmet for kids. My son loves the way it looks and he gets compliments on the mtn all the time. This is the best helmet I have found for kids that doesn't make them look like Lord Helmet Head.
Bottom Line Yes, I would recommend this to a friend
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(0 of 1 customers found this review helpful)
Love This!
By Toddler Mom
from Upstate, NY
About Me Beginner
Bought this for my 2 year old son to ride ATV's. He cannot wear a normal ATV helmet because of the weight, but I wanted him to wear something to protect him. He wears this helmet with no issues, which is amazing for a 2 year old! I love that there are removable inserts so the helmet can grow with him too.


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- 20
- people in the U.S. have this name View Martha Fortner on Whitepages
Meaning & Origins
New Testament name, of Aramaic rather than Hebrew origin, meaning 'lady'. It was borne by the sister of Lazarus and Mary of Bethany (John 11:1). According to Luke 10:38, when Jesus visited the house of Mary and Martha, Mary sat at his feet, listening to him, while Martha 'was cumbered about much serving', so that she complained to Jesus, 'Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone?' For this reason, the name Martha has always been associated with hard domestic work, as opposed to the contemplative life.
|104th in the U.S.
German: variant (also Förtner) or Americanized form of Pförtner, occupational name for the gatekeeper of a walled town or city, or the doorkeeper in a great house, castle, or monastery, Middle High German portenaere (from Latin porta 'door', 'gate'). Compare English Porter.
|3,054th in the U.S.
Nicknames & variations
Marta, Marth, Marthe, Marti, Marty, Mart, Martie, Martia, Marte, Martee
Fortune, Forte, Fort, Fortin, Fortier, Fortenberry, Fortney, Fortson, Fortunato, Fortuna


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Upstream Theater's Ancient Mariner Is a Triumph
By Paul Friswold
St. Louis Shakespeare's Blood Reigns Is Fit for a King
By Paul Friswold
The Rep's Buyer & Cellar Looks Inside Babs' Fantasyland
By Paul Friswold
New Line's Jerry Springer Worth Cheering For
By Paul Friswold
Four Stories Explore Mysteries of Women
By Kelly Glueck
Challenging Gender Roles in Or,
By Paul Friswold
Review: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
By Paul Friswold
Parents Lead By Example in Carnage
By Paul Friswold
The truth is, to paraphrase the title of a collection of William Kittredge short stories, we are not all in this together.
The morning of the People Project Gala, the Metro Theatre Company presented its new play, More Stuff, to a half-filled auditorium of giddy children and adults at the Missouri Historical Society. The play -- as it was created by the performing ensemble -- is, as some of the best plays are, about nothing much, which means it's about what's most vital to living. A janitor's chores are interrupted by a troupe of nonverbal sprites, dressed in primary colors, who invite him to play. That play involves a variety of props -- ladders, empty water containers, balls, mallets, an accordion, a penny whistle, a kazoo, a red bicycle (whole and in parts) -- with the characters discovering imaginative ways to make delightful use of them. For an hour, the audience was captivated and entertained, watching precisely what fun is.
Metro has gained its international reputation for creating children's theater that never talks down to its audience. Whatever morals are contained in the company's work are suggested or implied -- nobody is going to come out and say, "You see, boys and girls, what can happen if you cooperate with others and are open to possibilities?" That's the kind of dreck Metro never goes near. They treat children as people with minds that wonder and are up for challenge. Although the term "taking risks" has become a cliché in relation to the arts, Metro is a true risk-taking enterprise. The integrity is palpable in everything the company does.
Metro strives for what is best in itself as a group of artists and what is best in its audiences. The sad lesson of the People Project is that, from the very beginning, it has approached the most common of denominators (people), dumbed down to the dumbest levels (words such as "artist" and "sculpture" were avoided in promotional material, replaced by "creative agent" and "people figure" so as not to sound elitist), as if that's what it takes to bind together a region, as if that's what fun is. Arneill admits that he asks himself what the value of these works are as art, a question that isn't so hard to answer if you aren't involved with the process and judge the product from a streetwise distance.
The best art -- and Metro knows this -- always, always subverts the status quo and takes its inspiration from fierce gods. Artists who extend offerings to the banal desires of the Chamber of Commerce risk the atrophy that comes with ease.
Sponsor Content


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Susquehanna Senior Wins Bennington Writing Prize
Published on April 8, 2011
SELINSGROVE—Susquehanna senior Lauren Bailey, a creative writing major from Collegeville, recently won the Bennington Writing Prize in nonfiction for her essay, "Convalescence." Hers was one of three pieces selected from the anthology "plain china: Best Undergraduate Writing 2010" to receive an award.
"plain china" is a national literary anthology showcasing the best undergraduate writing from across the country. Esteemed personal essayist Phillip Lopate selected Bailey's essay for the award.
"All the essays were rather good, but 'Convalescence' was astonishing," remarked Lopate. "What impressed me was the self-awareness, honesty and risk-taking, the way it kept uncovering deeper layers of feeling and complicated experience, all wrapped in such an accomplished, mature, writerly prose style."
Competing against writers from schools such as Harvard, Princeton, Rice, Georgia, Columbia, Swarthmore, Stanford, Emerson and Colby, Susquehanna students have won three of the first six prizes awarded by "plain china." Holly Moncavage, a 2010 graduate, won for her poem, "addicts," and Sarah Turcotte, a 2009 graduate, took the prize for her short fiction piece, "Scars," which will be published in The Atlantic.
"Lauren Bailey's prize-winning essay is one of those pieces that announces the emergence of a young writer with a compelling voice," said Gary Fincke, professor of English and director of the Writers Institute at Susquehanna. "Her winning the national award against such strong competition is one more way of verifying the ambition and quality of Susquehanna's creative writing program. That we have the winner in poetry, as well as last year's winner in fiction, is astonishing in how it brings credit to all the genres and the faculty who teach them in our program."
Bailey's essay is published at http://plainchina.bennington.edu/vol2.
Karen M. Jones


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- Attorney General Brad D. Schimel
- Fighting Crime
- Victim Assistance
- Consumer Protection
- Media Center
- About Department of Justice
- Topical Index
This Google™ translation feature is provided for informational purposes only.
The Office of the Attorney General is unable to guarantee the accuracy of this translation and is therefore not liable for any inaccurate information resulting from the translation application tool.
Please consult with a translator for accuracy if you are relying on the translation or are using this site for official business.Contact the Department of Justice
MADISON - Special Agent Kim Skorlinski of the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation recently received a Distinguished Service Award from the Wisconsin Association of Homicide Investigators (WAHI) at their 2010 Annual Conference in Wisconsin Rapids on April 22. WAHI presents this award to an association member who is about to retire from the law enforcement profession and has shown the highest degree of professionalism throughout their career.
"My congratulations to Kim. Special Agent Skorlinski's honor speaks to his career and service," said Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen. "All law enforcement should aspire to such high praise by their colleagues. We are proud of his career and this distinguished achievement."
Special Agent Skorlinski is assigned to the Special Assignments Bureau of the Wisconsin Department of Justice, which conducts complex investigations of persons or organizations involved in criminal activity in the area of personal or property crimes.
Skorlinski received his B.S. Degree in Sociology and Criminal Justice from Winona State University, Winona, Minnesota. Skorlinski started his career as a Deputy Sheriff at the La Crosse County Sheriff's Department where he stayed for two years.
Since 1983, Skorlinski has been with the Division of Criminal Investigation's Appleton Office. Skorlinski has worked in the Narcotics and Vice, White Collar, and Special Assignments Bureaus of DCI.


text: We pride our selves on being the quality handmade fresh food specialists. That's why cafes, corporate kitchens, clubs and caterers all over Sydney intrust us to hand make all of their sandwiches, salads, baguettes, wraps and desserts fresh daily, delivered 365 days a year. Our food is made under the strictest food safety and quality control principles. It is our mission to supply cost effective fresh food solutions to our customers that ensure consistency, quality & food safety are of the highest priority. Download our brochure for more information on our foodservice range of uncut sandwiches & wraps, bulk salads, dips & compotes, and an endless array of other menu ideas.


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Sandra M. Leal
Assistant Professor
Teaching Interest
Research Interests
The central nervous system (CNS) is a vast network built upon thousands of precisely interconnected neurons. Remarkably, this specialized system maintains the fidelity of neurotransmission and promotes the execution of simple and complex behaviors. Many neurological, neurodegenerative, and psychiatric disorders, including epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, and schizophrenia, result from genetic defects that disrupt the organization and function of the nervous system. Thus, my broad, long-term research goal is to understand the basic mechanisms that coordinate the proper formation and organization of the CNS. To achieve this challenging goal, our laboratory employs the fruitfly, Drosophila melanogaster, as a powerful model system in which we can apply a battery of genetic, molecular, cell biological, and behavioral approaches to study CNS development and function in far greater detail than is possible in higher organisms. Further, a completely sequenced fly genome, the conservation of neural networks, and the advent of functional comparative genomics will enable us to translate our basic research in flies to higher organisms. At present, approximately 75% of identified genes implicated in the etiology of human diseases share an orthologous or related gene in the fruitfly. Thus, the simple fruitfly harbors the potential to help advance therapies to treat human diseases.
During embryonic CNS development in both flies and humans, formation of a neural circuit requires the functional integration of three processes: 1) neuronal specification, 2) axon pathfinding, and 3) synaptogenesis. Neuronal specification involves the generation of unique neuronal subtypes at specific times and locations in the nerve cord and brain of developing embryos. Axon pathfinding involves the subsequent ability of neurons to extend axons towards their targets, while synaptogenesis is a process by which axons form and sustain synaptic connections with their targets. These processes are highly complex and despite decades of research, the exact molecular mechanisms and genetic programs that mediate them are not completely understood. Thus far, preliminary results from a forward genetic screen I undertook in Drosophila have yielded a large number of gene candidates encoding some growth factor, neurotransmitter receptor, and cell cycle proteins that may play vital roles in regulating neuronal specification, axon pathfinding, and/or synaptogenesis. While we continue to identify these gene candidates, our lab is also functionally characterizing a pair of new neural fate specification genes identified from the forward genetic screen: neuromancer-1 (nmr-1) and neuromancer-2 (nmr-2).
Specifically, we are deciphering the genetic and molecular basis of nmr-1 and nmr-2 function as neural specification determinants. nmr-1 and nmr-2 belong to a large family of T-box transcription factor genes governing many developmental processes throughout all metazoan species. Although the roles of T-box genes in embryonic patterning, organogenesis, and limb development have been well characterized, their roles in regulating CNS development remain largely unexplored. As a postdoctoral fellow, I generated antibody probes to assay Nmr-1 and Nmr-2 protein expression in the CNS and together with other specialized tools developed in Drosophila, determined that Nmr-1- and Nmr-2 are expressed within interneuronal populations of the embryonic nerve cord. Very recently, the embryonic stem cell lineages that give rise to Nmr-1- and Nmr-2-positive interneurons have also been identified, completing the descriptive analyses of these T-box genes within the Drosophila embryonic CNS (Leal et al., in press 2008).
As a new investigator, my research will shift towards understanding nmr-1 and nmr-2 function in regulating CNS development. Studies on neuronal specification in Drosophila and vertebrates have identified a growing number of conserved transcription factors that act in a combinatorial manner to specify the fates of individual neurons. Based on these findings, it is plausible that nmr-1 and nmr-2 are members of a combinatorial transcription factor code that regulate gene expression within interneuronal subtypes where variation among subtypes is dependent upon permutations of distinct transcription factors. Generally, transcriptional regulation of gene expression also depends upon the interaction of transcription factors with co-regulatory proteins to activate or repress gene expression. However, completely deciphering Nmr-1 and Nmr-2 function in the context of neuronal specification requires not only an identification of co-regulatory effectors, but also the identification of downstream target genes since these genes have the potential to regulate specific neuronal properties including neurotransmitter synthesis and axon pathfinding behaviors. Given the complexity of this regulatory network, our lab is undertaking two major research goals: 1) to identify nmr-1- and nmr-2-interacting genes as well as Nmr-1- and Nmr-2-interacting proteins and 2) to identify nmr-1 and nmr-2 downstream gene targets. These comprehensive analyses will provide insight into the mechanisms by which nmr-1 and nmr-2 function as transcriptional regulators to specify neuronal fates and functions during CNS development.
Selected Publications
Leal, S.M., Qian, L., Lacin, L., Bodmer, R., and Skeath, J.B. Neuromancer-1 and Neuromancer-2 Regulate Cell Fate Specification in the Developing Embryonic CNS of Drosophila melanogaster. Developmental Biology, in press (2008).
Neckameyer W.S. and Leal, S.M. Biogenic amines as circulating hormones in insects. In, "Hormones, Brain, and Behavior", Academic Press, D. Pfaff, A. Arnold, A. Etgen, S. Farbach, R. Moss, and R. Rubin, Eds., in press (2008).
Leal, S., Kumar, N., and Neckameyer, W. GABAergic modulation of motor-driven behaviors in juvenile Drosophila and evidence for a non-behavioral role for GABA transport. Journal of Neurobiology. 61:189-208, 2004.
Leal, S.M. and Neckameyer, W.S. Pharmacological evidence for GABAergic regulation of specific behaviors in Drosophila melanogaster. J. Neurobiol. 50:245-261, 2002.


text: Prev | Next Purchase this photo Billy Summers/The Putnam Herald At the annual Pumpkin Carving Contest on Sunday, Oct. 27, 2013, at Hurricane City Park, Haley Miller carves her pumpkin. Gallery: Putnam in Pictures, Friday, Nov. 1 Nov. 01, 2013 @ 03:58 PM The Herald-Dispatch / 2015 Did you miss something in Putnam County this week? Chances are, one of our photographers was there. ()


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SCORE seminars scheduledFriday, February 22nd, 2008
The small-business advocacy organization SCORE debuts its 2008 "5 for 5 Business Education Series" beginning Wednesday, Feb. 27 through May 8, followed in the fall by a 13-week entrepreneur certificate program, "How to Start and Expand a Business."
The series is a combined effort by the NW Ohio 5 Collaborative Partnership of SCORE, Northwest State Community College (NSCC) in Archbold, Center for Innovative Food Technology, NW Small Business Development Center and Six Disciplines business excellence centers. The coalition serves small business in Defiance, Fulton, Henry, Paulding and Williams counties.
"It's come from the need of the five counties in the west because being the Rust Belt that we are, have been in the past, we need to focus on small business and develop, shall we say, niche businesses in the area so we build the community business instead of a big-box or big company business. So we're focusing on small-business development," said Loren Frendt, SCORE chairman.
The "5 for 5" series focuses on specific issues small businesses tend to face, he continued, which were carefully developed. Topics range from HR management to workers' compensation to business succession. One event, Sustainable Food Day, addresses innovations such as co-ops, community gardens and niche markets for local producers and marketers throughout the area.
The ongoing programs, such as Sustainable Food Day, aim to revitalize the region's economy by strengthening, for instance, ties between local suppliers and marketers of produce and other foods. Frendt described "5 for 5" overall as "a community business structure for supporting small business" based on survey responses his organization has compiled.
"[The economy] pretty much dictates to us what's happening as far as small business is concerned in our culture today, and we need to pull together as a community to make things happen," he said.
All events are held at the NSCC campus. Admission is $15 per person or $50 for groups of five. Sustainable Food Day is free and open to the public. For more information call SCORE at (419) 865-8503 or visit www.scoretoledo.org.


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Cult Nails 2nd Anniversary Collection
Cult Nails 2nd Anniversary Collection
It's our 2nd Anniversary! Grab the new 2nd Anniversary Special Release NOW! For a limited time (while supplies last) each bottle of Blaze purchased will come with a free gift. The free gift will be either a pair of cubic zirconia earrings, a pair of 1/2 carat genuine diamond earrings (2 pairs will be given away), OR 1 pair of 1 carat genuine diamond earrings (1 pair will be given away). FREE GIFT ONLY AVAILABLE FOR A LIMITED TIME, WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!
- Tempest High gloss, self-leveling, pure white
- Blaze Glowing gold and copper glitter
- Fetish Wax-look finish black
Availability: Cult Nails
Discussion and debate are highly encouraged, and we expect community members to participate respectfully. When asking a question, please check the FAQ section (above) for information about purchasing, price, dupes, and the like. If you have general feedback or need technical support, please contact us.
Comments that include advertisements, self-promotion, insults, etc. may be in violation of our comment policy and subject to deletion. Please see our comment policy for more information.


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Photo by Gary Choppe
Welcome to my Web site! After a number of years, it was time to update the original and this iteration is the result. It is fully "responsive" now, which will allow you to view it on your iPhone, tablet or desktop machine. I've also added 2 new pages, one covering my ongoing Endowed Lecture Series and the other, an Archive page. I hope you enjoy browsing the site as much as I have in redoing it. Start by clicking on any of the names in the black navigation bar at the top of this page, ( or, if you are viewing this on a cell phone, the word "Menu,") and enjoy!
Dr. Arno A. Roscher, M.D., is a World Governor, Vice President and US Section Representative at Large of the International College of Surgeons. He is a Clinical Professor of Pathology, Keck School of Medicine, USC (LA) Ret., and Emeritus Director of Laboratories, Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. He is also an Emeritus member of FICS (Hon.) and FCAP and FASCP.


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High School
Produced by BOCES New Visions: Journalism & Media Studies program
Posts filtered on Tag
The ultimate cheat code
For all my gamers out there who troll blogs, here's a shout out to you: The Konami Code. It is easily the most common "cheat" code out there, originally created by Kazuhisa Hashimoto, a game developer who realized that with a built in back door to the video game Gradius, it would be possible to complete the […] [Read More]
Cheaters never win..
Temple Run is the name of the game. And if you haven't played it I suggest that you download it to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod. It is the number one free game in the App Store right now, and it is extremely addictive. If Crash Bandicoot and Indiana Jones could reproduce together, they would […] [Read More]


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Böcker av Danzig Baldaev
Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia: v. II(1 röst)
Focusing on the Russian criminal tattoos, this second volume features drawings and photographs, which depict an extraordinary world where a criminal's rank, history, and sexual preference are indelibly displayed on their bodies.
Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia: v. 1
Edited by Damon Murray, Stephen Sorrell. Foreword by Alexei Plutser-Sarno. Text by Danzig Baldaev. Photographs by Sergei Vasiliev.
Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia: v. 3
During his 30 years supervising inmates in St. Petersburg's notorious Kresty Prison, Baldaev recorded over 3,000 of their tattoos and parsed their meaning, revealing an extraordinary world where the criminal's position, history and even sexual pre...
Drawings from the Gulag(1 röst)
Consisting of 130 drawings by the author of the acclaimed Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopedia series, this graphic novel describes the history, horror, and peculiarities of the Gulag system from its inception in 1918. Mature readers.


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Singer22 is a big fan of Vanessa Hudgens, and we are especially big fans of the jewelry she wears! Don;t you love her accessories? Inspired by the "bohemian-chic" style, Miss Hudgens sure knows how to accessorize!
However, one item she cannot get enough of is her Jennifer Zeuner Large Horizontal Cross Necklace in Gold AND Silver. If you are a big fan of Vanessa like I am or if you want to add more to your jewelry collection, Singer22 has everything Jennifer Zeuner!
Who knew running errands could look so fashionable? Vanessa wore her Jennifer Zeuner Large Horizontal Cross Necklace in Gold while pumping some gas at the station. She also wore a white tank top, printed shorts, as well as her other favorite Singer22 accessory, Blu Moon Heart Shaped Sunglasses in Black.
She also added the silver version of the Jennifer Zeuner Large Horizontal Cross Necklace with her other various necklaces. Vanessa was out and about with her boyfriend (and Singer22's favorite male fashion icon) Zac Efron when she was spotted wearing her silver necklace. She wore a turquoise tank top and white mini shorts to complete her look.
Take a breather from the "bling" jewelry you see nowadays and stay minimal and fresh with Jennifer Zeuner at Singer22!