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LHC Sends Supersymmetry "To the Hospital" By Observing Bizarre Meson Decay
Jason Mick
November 12, 2012 10:09 PM
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Physicists may need new theories to explain how dark matter works
Supersymmetry, or SUSY for short, has been a popular physics theory used to explain away quirks in the Standard Model. But recent findings from
's Large Hadron Collider cast serious doubts on traditional SUSY theory, sending physicists back to the drawing board.
I. Dark Matter -- Does SUSY Offer an Explanation?
When it comes to SUSY, the theory began with a fundamental question -- why were galaxies spinning so fast?
Physicists in the 1900s began to predict the mass of galaxies based on the light of stars within. What they found was surprising -- the galaxies were spinning faster than they would be if merely adhering to a vanilla version of the Standard Model.
So physicists theorized that the galaxies contained large amounts of so-called "
dark matter
". This type of matter is thought to behave in fundamentally different ways from standard matter. The question facing physicists was how
dark matter behave; physicists sought to solve that question with the theory of super-symmetry, a theory which grew increasingly popular in the particle physics world over the years, spawning several variants.
SUSY is a leading theory to explain the existence of dark matter. [Image Source: NASA]
Under one version of the theory -- the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model or MSSM for short -- physicists Howard Georgi (Harvard University) and Savas Dimopoulos (Stanford University) proposed that dark matter consisted of super-particles of masses between 100 GeV and 1 TeV.
The question was how to observe the presence or lack of these high-energy super-particles. At the time (the 1980s), no particle collider was powerful and sensitive enough to create and detect such pairs. Then the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) came along.
II. Signs Point to Many SUSY Models Being Flat-Out Wrong
While the LHC is best known for the
Higgs boson hunt
(scientists currently
think they
have observed signs
of this much-sought-after particle), the LHC is powerful enough to probe other major unconfirmed physics theories.
SUSY is a perfect example.
The LHC has seven built in particle detectors. These include flashy detectors like ATLAS and CMS, which have been used in the Higgs boson hunt.
Many popular version of SUSY predict that the "strange" B-meson -- a short-lived 0.5 TeV (in mass) particle that oscillates between a matter and antimater state -- will decay to muons at a far greater rate than the extremely low rate predicted by the vanilla Standard Model. The source of this shift stems from decay loops such as the chargino and Charged Higgs boson, which SUSY predicts [
] will enhance muon decay rates, by about an order of magnitude.
But it turns out the decay was not as frequent as SUSY expected.
Bs mu-mu decays occur less frequently than SUSY generally predicts. [Image Source: CERN]
Most detectors failed to observe that kind of decay at all. And when the LHCb detector finally did spot it, it estimated that only three out of every billion decay results in muon production.
III. Door Opens to New Theories
This at first blush seems an intuitive conclusion -- it would indeed seem odd that the mid-size meson would produce the relatively massive muons on a frequent basis. But the result does raise major questions -- if SUSY is wrong, what is dark matter made of?
An important thing to note is that while CERN physicists say the new data "squeezes" super-symmetry models, it does not say it invalidates all of them. For example the so-called AKM model -- theorized by professors Ambrosanio, Kane, Kribs, Martin and Mrenna -- appears to encompass the results in its fringe reaches.
As Prof. Chris Parkes
describes to
BBC News
, "Supersymmetry may not be dead but these latest results have certainly put it into hospital."
The observation pushes SUSY to its fringes, raising questions of its validity.
[Image Source: CERN]
Even if the AKM model can accomodate the new results, the fact that they blow up many alternate SUSY models (most of which have over 100 fittable parameters) opens the door to fundamentally different solutions than SUSY to try to explain away symmetry violations.
In other words, the possible fall of SUSY sets the stage for a renaissance of new theory, the kind that equally delights physicists and gives the average member of the public at large a painful headache.
BBC News
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RE: Dark matter is a poor basis to start a theory on
Yes, exactly. Supermassive black holes are being detected in nearly every galaxy looked at. Large stars orbiting very close to M87's black hole will be observed at their closest over the next few years. M87 has jets of plasma emitted from its central black hole, meaning it is spinning. Not just spinning, but calculated to be spinning at over half the speed of light. General relativity predicts that the black hole should be dragging on space-time itself near the spinning black hole. If true, this should have an observable affect on the orbit of these nearby stars. The orbits of these stars around the central black hole should give a much better approximation of the mass of the black hole. Could the missing mass simply be the previously unobservable black hole?
Also, perhaps better observation of galactic black holes will lead to a refined relativity theory. After all, the gravitational singularity, zero volume and infinite density, is by definition the point at which general relativity breaks down and most likely fails to model black holes correctly. We should get a better idea of the mass of the galactic black holes before we decide that there must be a mysterious dark matter aether.
"I'm an Internet expert too. It's all right to wire the industrial zone only, but there are many problems if other regions of the North are wired." -- North Korean Supreme Commander Kim Jong-il
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Times Past for Nov. 8
November 8, 2012
100 years ago ¯ A report by Mr. Bay to the city council recommended the narrowing of Third Street by 10 feet. ¯ The house boat owned by the Big Bill Fishing Club was robbed....
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text:
Although Bilbo Baggins is a diminutive Hobbit, he may be the most human-scaled character in all of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth fantasy world. He is a quiet sort who enjoys nothing more than a nice cup of tea by his snug hearth. No adventurer, he's dismayed in Tolkien's novel when the wizard Gandalf and a cadre of dwarfs recruit him for a battle with a seemingly invincible dragon.
Still, for an actor to play the timid Bilbo takes some nerve. Millions of Tolkien readers have their own image of "The Hobbit's" protagonist. Stepping into his oversize footprints is not a casual lark. Little wonder, then, that Peter Jackson wanted Martin Freeman to star in his "Hobbit" trilogy, which launched recently with "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey."
The English actor specializes in taking the Everyman role in adaptations of much-loved bestsellers. He has played hapless earthling Arthur Dent in the film of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and Dr. John Watson in the BBC series "Sherlock." In a phone conversation, Freeman said he didn't feel he was sticking his head in a dragon's mouth by taking on the iconic Bilbo.
Q How would you describe the young Bilbo, who is a much older minor character in "Lord of the Rings"?
A He's not particularly bold. He's not the main guy in the room. He's not an alpha male. There's a timidity to him, which is part of his pomposity as well, as we join him at the beginning of the show. In many ways, he wouldn't say boo to a goose. But he's quite pent up, and I guess that comes out extraneously through his fidgeting.
Q Did donning Bilbo's large feet affect your performance?
A The feet were key. If your feet are 6 inches longer, then your gait changes. Your balance, your equilibrium, everything changes. Those things don't have to be a conscious decision. But they do add to it.
Q Does it really feel like entering a fantasy realm to perform in a Peter Jackson megaproduction?
A You're aware that you're entering a magical realm. On the other hand it's highly practical, highly pragmatic and very unromantic. The magic and all that is what the audience sees. What you see day to day is going to work, albeit very pleasurable work. You're still making a movie, which is graft, you know?
Q Does it require more imagination to act opposite computer-generated characters like Gollum?
A Yeah, given I've never seen a warg (big bad wolf-hounds with a taste for Hobbit flesh) let alone killed one, that does require a lot of imagination. It's a leap of faith between you, the director, the digital people, everything, to kind of construe exactly what it is I've got my sword embedded in. It does call a lot on the imagination. I found I really enjoyed that. After all, we're people who do for a living what we all do when we are 5. Haven't grown out of it.
Q In this role and in "Hitchhiker" and "Sherlock," you've taken on roles in which fans have a huge investment. Is that especially challenging?
A It doesn't feel like that at all. I have a very straightforward view of acting, which is, it's acting. And it's not life-and-death. If you don't like what I do, there'll be another John Watson along in a couple of years. There's a Joan Watson along now (played by Lucy Liu in the CBS drama "Elementary"). Someone else can have a go at any of these characters. I don't expect mine to be definitive. It's one interpretation. You will never please all the people. The fact that you manage to please a lot of people is enough for me. You can never be inside a person's head while they are reading a book. That's why people say almost by rote, "Oh, it's not as good as the book." Fair enough, but that film can't literally pick apart the synapses of your brain and present what you were kind of hoping for it to look like.
Q There are many newcomers to the story in the cast, but also many actors who had lived in their parts for years in the original "Rings" trilogy. Did that feed helpfully into your performances together?
A It helped me working with Gollum, the first stuff I was doing. It helped that Andy (Serkis, whose on-set performance was data-captured to create the creature) was so adept in that character. To be nose-to-nose with Gollum, on the receiving end of his threats and his malice and his madness, really helped me in finding how Bilbo reacted in life-and-death situations. And with Ian (McKellen) as well, as Gandalf. You feel you're working with this solid base. And also you're in Pete's hands. He knows what he's doing. He knows what he's doing in Middle-earth. That gives you the freedom to skip around and find things and play.


text:
The Mayans Predicted This Stock Sell-Off, You Know
Oh, it's just a harmless little bunny, isn't it?
The market is waking up today to the prospect that the economy really might plunge over the fiscal cliff. This is coming as a something of a shock, although it's hard to see why.
Despite all the empty rhetoric from the lecterns over the past month, there's always been a real possibility that these guys would bluff each other right over the edge, just like there's still a real possibility this is all just more negotiations and a deal will come before Dec. 31. The Guns of August have been massing on the Potomac for some time, and Boehner's Plan B sounded fishy the day he unveiled it.
The biggest takeaway from the collapse of Boehner's Plan B isn't necessarily that the proposal got dumped. With the President vowing to veto it, nobody thought it would make it into law anyway. The biggest takeaway is that Beohner couldn't even rally his membership in the House. As Ezra Klein wrote over at Wonkblog, this may spell the end of Boehner's Speakership.
More In Fiscal Cliff
- FX Hasn't Yet Priced in Risk of U.S. Default
- Stock Inflows: The Great Rotation Begins, or a Fiscal Cliff Sidestep?
- Would Going Over Cliff Have Been Better for U.S. Rating?
- Fiscal Cliff Spurs Goldman Stock Awards
- Special Dividends Shatter Records, Thanks to Fiscal Cliff
- Moody's: U.S. Credit Rating Isn't Out of the Fiscal Woods Yet
So, everything, apparently, is in disarray. But Plan B was always a negotiating tactic. It was never going to become law, and you wonder if even now there's a game being played, and Wall Street's playing a part.
There is that old saying that nothing focuses the mind quite like be hanged at dawn. The only spur in the side of the Congressional horse that gets it moving is watching the Dow lose 500 points in a day. Remember the second TARP vote, the one that approved the bill, came after the market plunged in response to the first vote, which rejected it.
Today could be messy. It's the Friday before Christmas, so volume's liable to light, relatively speaking. But it's also a "quadruple-witching" day, meaning a whole plethora of options expire, so traders will be active either closing or exercising those positions. Still, the major indexes are up sharply for the year, and have been on a tear since mid-November. Even a 200-point drop today would be just a burp.
At last glance, Dow futures were down 181 points, while S&P 500 futures fell 21 points.
Keep an eye on the dollar, which is strengthening You would think the currency of a nation whose political leadership is in turmoil would be weakening. But, as we saw with last year's U.S. debt downgrade, when you've got the world's most secure safe haven, people will beat a path to your door no matter what. The yield on the U.S. 10-year note, also, has dropped down to 1.76%.
Lastly, and this may sound obvious, but where the indexes stand at the closing bell matters more than the opening bell. The hot-stock boys have had a way of rallying the market in the last hour, and when the market gets news it can digest overnight, it usually seems to rationalize it away by 4 p.m. New York time. The bad sell-offs seem to come when the news hits in the morning or during trading hours, when there's no time to react.
Of course, if the Mayans were right about today, you may not have to worry about 4 p.m.
For more MarketBeat and other streaming markets coverage from The Wall Street Journal, point your mobile browser to wsj.com/marketspulse.


text:
Alumni director steps down
Published: Thursday, February 7, 2013 at 4:01 p.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, February 7, 2013 at 4:01 p.m.
Deborah Raziano said she's cried a lot during past few weeks.
Fortunately, she said, it's the good kind of tears.
After 32 years as the alumni coordinator at Nicholls State University, Raziano, known to her co-workers as "Raz," is stepping down.
"I was sitting in my office for the last time, with everything moved out, and it just kind of hit me all at once," Raziano said. "I've been through the good, the bad and the indifferent, and this is a very hard thing to walk away from."
Raziano has joined what she always refers to as "the Nicholls Family" in 1969, as a freshman student. Before graduating in December of 1973, she was named her class president and Miss Nicholls.
Raziano said the campus has changed dramatically since her days as a student.
"It's a totally different place," she said. "You look at these things like the new Rec Center and the Jazzman's coffee house and realize that those were things you never even thought about when I went to school."
As alumni director, Raziano's job has been "the chief cheerleader at Nicholls." She created the structured membership program for the school's alumni foundation, reintroduced a class ring, redesigned The Colonel alumni magazine and developed an alumni website.
She's also started several campus traditions, including the annual alumni crawfish boil and the Awards for Excellence ceremony.
Raziano said she may be stepping down, but she won't be slowing down. The school named her alumni director emeritus, and she views the title as more than simply honorary.
"I won't be able to just stay home. I won't be able to go from going 100 mph to zero," she said. "I still plan on being Nicholls' No. 1 cheerleader."
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.


text:
GOSHEN — The FBI's new leader of a Mid-Hudson gang task force says his team is as focused as ever on the region's most violent criminals.
Supervisory Senior Resident Agent Felipe Orengo said the mission remains "absolutely the same" three years after more than 500 federal, state and local law enforcement officers swarmed the City of Newburgh in surge-style gang takedown.
Orengo, a Middletown High School graduate, took over the FBI's local operations after the old boss, James Gagliano, was appointed deputy legal attach� in Mexico City. The job includes oversight of the Hudson Valley Safe Streets Task Force. The hybrid unit comprising 11 law enforcement agencies led investigations that yielded federal indictments of more than 300 defendants in Orange, Sullivan and Dutchess counties.
Location, ST | website.com


text:
Google Presents Google Ventures With $1.5B for Investments Through 2017
Google Ventures got an early Christmas present, scoring $1.5 billion in new funds from parent Google to bankroll start-ups through 2017.
Serving as Google's corporate investing arm since 2009 Google Ventures invests in virtually every stage and sector from health care and energy to mobile and consumer Internet companies. Investing for financial–not strategic–reasons, Google Ventures previously invested $200 million a year in companies including online vacation rental site HomeAway (now public) , energy company Nest Labs and personal genetics company 23andMe.
Announced in a tweet during a Thursday gathering of 100 or so of its portfolio companies at the Googleplex, the $100 million annual increase gives the firm extra gunpowder to fuel growth in existing portfolio companies and scout for new, later stage deals.
Google Ventures Managing Partner Bill Maris talks about how he raised the fund in less than 30 minutes, the firm's increasing focus on later-stage deals and why a $1 billion fund might someday make sense.
How is the fund structured?
This is $300 million for 2012 and another $300 million in 2013 and every year after that. Most [venture] funds raise this amount every 3-4 years, but we work on a calendar year so over the next five years we're looking at $1.5 billion.
That's a lot of money. When and how did the decision come about to expand the fund?
It was a very short conversation with a small group of people. It took 30 minutes or less. But it wasn't a surprise to anyone. It was part of an ongoing conversation.
Shortly after announcing the expanded fund, you indicated that you could get even bigger. Were you joking or have you and [Google Chief Executive] Larry Page really discussed creating a $1 billion fund some day?
We don't talk tongue in cheek. It's a reminder to think big. We want to disrupt venture capital in a way that's never been done before and we don't want to be constrained by capital to do [the deals] we think need doing.
I understand one thing you think needs doing is more, later-stage deals, both as follow-on financing for existing portfolio companies and new companies. Why?
In later-stage companies, the returns are lower but there's less risk too.
Some investors who financed companies like Facebook and Groupon shortly before they went public did so at high valuations only to see them tank on the public markets. How do you handle a dynamic like that in such later-stage deals?
We have very high expectations in the late stage. We will not invest in any [company] that tanks.
You've scaled Google Ventures during the past year from 40 people to 60 and now offer a suite of services for start-ups like design, marketing and technical recruiting. Will you continue to add new services and scale current ones with this new fund?
We will continue to expand as our portfolio expands. We're right sizing the dollars available and we'll continue to do that.
Does this make you more competitive with other VCs?
We're not competing to beat other VCs. We're competing for the attention and mindshare of entrepreneurs.
What's your biggest challenge?
Talent. It's always attracting and retaining the highest quality talent that you can.
Write to Lizette Chapman at firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow her on Twitter at @zettewil


text:
Mills sworn in as Manatee schools superintendent
Published: Wednesday, March 20, 2013 at 8:11 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, March 20, 2013 at 8:01 p.m.
BRADENTON - The frame is already hung in Rick Mills' fifth-floor office overlooking the Manatee River. For the new superintendent, it's a commemoration and a memory — of a 45-minute rush in a Blue Angels F/A-18 Hornet during a VIP flight in the 2010 Chicago Air Show.
Five Things You Probably Didn't Know About Rick Mills
• Stationed at the MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa from 1996 to 1999, he would check out planes for the weekend and fly to Pompano Beach to go scuba diving.
• He took a team of Chicago educators to jump with the U.S. Army Golden Knights parachute team.
• During the interview process, students wondered if the former military man would enact a dress code.
"Tell Manatee students not to worry," he said last week.
• The military has a tradition of awarding coins to those who have met success. Mills plans to develop Manatee County's own "coin of excellence" to distribute to teachers, staff and administrators.
• Mills and his wife, Jessica, own two long-haired miniature dachshunds named Dexter and Raleigh.
The pilot, with Mills in a tandem seat, accelerated from 500 feet to 10,000 feet in four seconds. They flew upside down and broke the sound barrier. Mills passed out for a few seconds as high-altitude forces sucked blood from his brain.
It was awesome.
Mills, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and the former chief executive officer of Minneapolis schools, was sworn in as the latest Manatee County School District superintendent in a packed ceremony early Wednesday.
And though many are eager to see Mills take the reins of a district that has seen a recent series of budget overruns and spending issues, Wednesday was all about meeting a man with diverse experiences — and some pretty good stories.
Mills told the media of his VIP flight, an opportunity offered to him as an area superintendent in Chicago. He talked sharks with board member Julie Aranibar and several members of the citizens search committee. He greeted a long line of school administrators, community figureheads and search panel members waiting to shake his hand after a swearing-in ceremony by Judge Tom Gallen.
"He seems warm ... and receptive," said Peggy Delegato, the chair of education for the Manatee County NAACP, who met him for the first time Wednesday. "Most of this country's sound management policies originate from the military — I am looking for good management skills."
Others said they were extremely hopeful that Mills, who will be paid $183,500 per year, will restore confidence within the district and with the public.
"He was my choice from the beginning," said Jane Grace, a member of the search team commissioned by the School Board to help vet candidates. "He may not have come out of the education genre but the other candidates would have been the same-old, same-old."
During the welcoming ceremony, Mills spoke briefly of his transition to education, telling the story of how, as a commander of a cavalry squad in Kentucky, he was convinced by the former CEO of Chicago Public Schools to become an educator in 2001. He became the director of military schools, known for using data analysis and performance management to spark student gains.
His approach led to academic growth for the sector of schools he would later oversee as a Chicago area superintendent from 2009 to 2011. Many hope that approach will improve Manatee schools' budgeting as well as student performance.
The superintendent, who has a reputation for being organized and direct, has already posted a 100-Day entry plan to the school district website.
"I really want to focus on feedback," Mills said from his office Wednesday, "and address immediate concerns in the first 100 days."
He will hold a senior leadership meeting Friday that includes a budget briefing. On April 20, there's a retreat for board members and the superintendent. Also in April, an 11-member transition team funded through the Florida Department of Education and the state superintendents' board will arrive to evaluate the way the district handles operations and finances.
Former Citizens Advisory Group Vice-Chair Bill Vogel will organize the transition team, which will consist of leaders from across the state.
"They want to engage the Citizens Advisory Group in that week and get feedback from the community," Mills said.
Mills says he plans to do the same thing on his own. He has scheduled one-on-one meetings with board members for the rest of the week. He's dining with citizens' group members Richard Conard and Richard Greene tomorrow, and playing golf with Aranibar on Saturday. He plans to visit every school in the district this school year.
He wants unity, he says. It's a desire not lost on others.
"The success of Mr. Mills is our success," said Conard, the chair of the citizens group. "The challenge is to focus on a new day."
Reader comments posted to this article may be published in our print edition. All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.


text:
In August 2005 Peter Quinn, now retired Chief Information Officer of Massachusetts, decided that OpenDocument was the best way to store documents with the guarantee that they would be able to be opened 10, 30, 50 years from now. For a state government, this is particularly important. He led Massachusetts toward OpenDocument and OpenOffice.org. The move, which sparked controversy and ferocious lobbying, is likely to end-up in history books (and while we're at it, I'll mention that history books in particular ought to be accessible 50, 100, 1000 years from now!). Quinn's move was to create a snowball effect we have all witnessed over the past 2 years; when MA switched to OpenDocument, somebody at Microsoft realised that they had a problem—a real one—and that something needed to be done right away.
Having OpenXML (Microsoft's standard) approved by an official body quickly, very quickly, became Microsoft's priority. To start with, it looked like the software giant had managed to fool everybody and had things its way. Things turned out a little more complicated than that. Right now, the future doesn't look too bright for Microsoft, as the ISO fast-tracking of OpenXML is hitting problems on all fronts; money can open many doors, but it can't buy you broad consensus on a bogus standard pushed through via sneaky practices. Microsoft keeps managing to defend an indefensible format day after day, but it's proving to be an up-hill battle.
However, the real war has only just started. ISO allowing Microsoft to fast track OpenXML is in itself a really bad sign: a sign of a standard body that is willing to be bent by lobbying and by the big muscles (or dollars?) of a company that has grown too big. I know Microsoft, I have witnessed computer history unfold before me for decades, and I sadly believe that OpenXML will eventually manage to squeeze through the standardisation process, and well, become a competing standard (an expression that is absurd in itself, if you ask me).
While the standardisation war is absolutely crucial, I firmly believe that the only way this battle can be won is by making sure that people use OpenDocument in their everyday life. This sounds obvious, but well, it isn't—and it isn't an easy goal. Here are some things that can be done to fight the battle:
- Ask companies to make documents available in OpenDocument format. Bank forms, mortgage application forms, templates, etc.: write to every company you use, and ask them to provide ODF files as well as DOC/PDF ones.
- Lobby Microsoft so that it directly supports OpenOffice.org documents. Right now, there are two options: the Sun ODF Plug-in for Microsoft Office and the OpenXML/ODF Translator Add-ins for Office. Neither of them are optimal. They both have problems and limitations mostly because of Microsoft. For example, Sun's plugin has problems that stem directly from Microsoft: every time you open an ODF document, you get: "This file needs to be opened by the ODF Text Document text converter, which may pose a security risk if the file you are opening is a malicious file. Choose Yes to open this file only if you are sure it is from a trusted source." Also, you can't open an OpenDocument file using the plugin with Office 2007, which has a bug that causes it to ignore... other input filters. These are obviously show-stoppers for the average user. I see these plugins as temporary solutions. Since OpenDocument is a standard, it should be included in Microsoft Office by default, even though this might take a great deal of lobbying and flexing of muscles.
- Convince more and more OEMs to provide OpenOffice.org pre-installed with their computers. Dell is already doing it with their Ubuntu machines. However, what OpenDocument really needs, is to be an available option—a free one!—when you get a new Windows computer to have OpenOffice.org already available. This is made hard by Microsoft trying to put a "text drive" version of Office in OEM computers. Again, I have seen some movement here, and I think it's a very obtainable goal.
- Make people and small offices realise that Office doesn't come with Windows, and if they are using Office without paying for it, they are doing something illegal. Show them OpenOffice.org, a valid alternative. This seems obvious, but I am always amazed by the number of people who have never seen or heard of OpenOffice.org.
- If you have a popular web site, only give away ODF files; if people complain, tell them to download and install OpenOffice.org. In my view. OpenOffice.org should become "The Firefox of the office suites".
Basically, members of the free software community can and should do more than just watch the fight and rest on their laurels: the more people that fight, the more likely we are to win this battle, which is anything but over. We should all keep in mind that OpenDocument might become, even in the long term, a "fringe format" that nobody actually uses. Microsoft's monopoly on file formats, if that becomes the case, would create unimaginable damage.
what a shame that standards die because certain companies want their own proprietary set standards to thrive and take precedence.
MA had a set back...
M$ succeeded in getting MA to recognize OOXML as an open format. How references to Word 95, etc. can be considered open, I have no clue. New-speak.
see http://www.linux.org/news/opinion/mass_oxml.html
A problem is an opportunity.
Problem and solution: The same roots
Having industrial/commercial support for ODF is one thing, but support on a broad public scale is another. We need people that are aware and tell their neighbors to cause a snowball effect. The actions and awareness of free people make the difference between still corporate-friendly pushing of standards nowadays coined by the term "Open Source" and real standards based on their (our!) decision on freedom. As long as people aren't aware there will be no real freedom as people rely on each other to live freely, not on corporations or government.
Please help creating a free society!
With regards from Germany
The Danish approach
In Denmark, there is a parliamentary decision to apply open standards in communicating official documents. Here, the discussion has been whether Open XML can be considered an open standard. See article on this here:
I still find that OOo .odt docs often do not open correctly on KWord. As long as that is the case, talking about standards becomes a bit abstract.
that's it! from now on - only ODF attachments ;-)
i shall include an email signature that explains why i refuse to open and use .doc attachments (although i can) and why i am sending text only as ODF!
Online office suites
I agree, there is no success like the common man adopting the standard. I think we should get the online office suites to encourage ODF. That will automatically make people aware and educate them about ODF.
Ask RMS!
RMS addresses this in his classic We can put an end to Word attachments essay:
While I am a free software man, I also generally discourage formatted attachments for bandwidth reasons. Receiving a shopping list in OpenDocument format is still pointless.
Slackware man. Linux user no. 353252
How true...
thanks for your article. I mentioned it on my blog twice already:
- http://wolfgang.lonien.de/?p=353 and
- http://wolfgang.lonien.de/?p=365
Plus you can see my advice to Achim Berg, CEO of Microsoft Germany, on LXer Linux News:
- http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/91076/index.html
I agree - it is an important topic. And RMS needs all the help he can get. We all owe him anyway.
With greetings from Germany,
Wolfgang Lonien
"CEO" of the community site thedebianuser.org
Little steps
When I requested a hosting provider to build our website, I wanted to have downloadable files available as .doc (unfortunately our customer are very much conservative...), .pdf and .odf. The sad story is that I had even to explain them what the .odf extension is.
So, not only the great audience need education but also the so-named "professionals".
Best defense
I think the best defense against OOXML attacks is to keep up the good, thorough and speedy work to improve the quality and versatility of ODF and ODF-supporting free software. Remember that OOXML is a buggy, awkward and badly documented file format which seems to be specifically designed to be supported in full only by MS Office. It is merely a facade of a standard, not a standard in the real meaning of the word, i.e. it can't actually be successfully and completely implemented by other vendors.
I think very few, if any, applications will support the creation of OOXML files any time soon. Reading, yes, writing of a limited subset, yes, but probably no full support from anything but MS Office. Come to think of it, even MS Office probably won't support it in full. Even if the standard is repaired so that it actually describes a correct format, which ECMA-376 does not, MS has a pretty long history of not even getting their own stuff quite right. Wouldn't it be fun if they could be held accountable for not adhering to their own standard, and therefore not supporting any standard document format at all? There are clearly some things which Word2007 does which are not standards conformant, like using VML in a newly created document. The standard explicitly says it should not. Looks like they messed it up.
It is obvious that writing office productivity software is no longer rocket science, and that it is now within reach of free software projects to create high quality office suites. OpenOffice.org is only one example of that. If *only* MS uses OOXML and nobody else supports it, MS might soon find itself alone inside the walls they built to keep users from moving to other office software, with no means for tearing them down. In there, MS will starve to death and never bother us again with its highly questionable ethics. Or perhaps MS Office will actually start supporting ODF and start competing with quality software, not with lock-in tactics using obfuscated file formats.
I would certainly consider paying for MS Office it it was any good. If it was significantly better than OpenOffice.org it could even cost almost as much as it does now, I would still consider buying it. But it would need to support ODF first, I certainly wouldn't assume everyone else was prepared to buy it.
A few years ago, MS had a firm grip on the market, but they are slipping. They can feel it, that's why they are resorting to such ugly methods to keep their lock-in at any costs. You can almost smell their fear, and it's sad. All they really have to do is play nice, but they simply don't know how to do it.
while we are at....
While we are at it we need to change MS business practice as well. A lot of people do not know that companies pay a lot of money to MS just to use their products. Example server 2003 itself cost about $500- $800. now that you have a windows 2003 server box now you need clients so you need XP pro that cost about $200 per machine. Ok now you have a windows 2003 server and XP machines and now in order for the machines to talk to the server you need to buy licenses to connect to the windows 2003 server on top of the base cost of the copy of server 2003 and copies of XP Pro. I know this is way of topic but still shows how MS controls the market.
ODF Interoperability and slow OOo
AFAIK, ODF is not supported by other free office suites/applications as weel as OpenOffice.org. By the way, how do we know that OpenOffice.org supports the standard well enough? ODT is not the default format of AbiWord. As mentioned in one of the comments above, KWord and OOo implementations of ODF are not 100% compatible. On Windows, you must install a plugin so that AbiWord has full ODF import/export support. Although it is not directly relevant to the issue, I believe that the fact that OOo is a rather "slow" application is/will be an obstacle for the wide acceptance of OOo and ODF. Just try to open/edit and save an ODT document over 100 pages. You will see what I mean.
The efforts shoud concentrate on supporting ODF as completely as possible. ODF should be the default format. OOo should be as fast as possible (maybe Java is the problem).
I'm not a big fan of the OOo
I'm not a big fan of the OOo suite either, but the point is the standard, not the application.
Personally, I've never run into ODF compatibility problems between KWord and OOo (not denying that it can happen of course -- I may just be lucky). OTOH, I have seen a number of problems going back-and-forth between OOo and KWord in DOC format. ODF, being an open, well-documented format, means that both parties can readily meet the standard if they are willing to put in a reasonable effort. The old proprietary standards like DOC format made that a near-impossible task, and that explains the problems I've had with it.
I agree that OOo is still way too slow, and I personally prefer to use KWord (or better yet, LyX -- but it doesn't have an ODF filter to my knowledge, unfortunately). In fact, I'm very pleased with the KOffice suite for isolated use -- it's only when it comes to MS Office interoperability that I find I need to use OOo -- and then I mainly use it as a conversion utility.
I know that the media hype is that ODF is "OpenOffice.org format", but this isn't really all that true. OOo v1.x can't even read ODF, and until earlier this year, I still had computers running a version of Debian with this earlier version of the OOo suite (after my surprise with v1, I pretty quickly got around to upgrading them all to use OOo v2.x). ODF is really a cooperative standard that all of these applications are working towards. OOo may currently be the best implementation -- but that could easily change. In fact, I'd really like to one of these other applications take the lead.
That's really the whole point of using an OPEN standard -- it makes the applications compete on the quality of their implementation without creating locked-in clusters of users who have all their files held hostage by whoever controls the format.
I'm not a big fan of the OOo
Oops. The above post was by me. I didn't intend to post anonymously.
Oh, and I've since found out that there is at least an export filter from LyX to ODF; I just haven't got it installed (it's on my to-do list now). I still don't think there's an import filter.
Yeah. Abiword uses it's own
Yeah. Abiword uses it's own .abw format, which is a XML format similar to HTML, but in my mind Abiword is the ideal word processor, fast and simple. If I want to write more complex documents, I'd use LyX or LaTeX.
"text drive" version
I spent a few minutes there trying to figure out what a "text drive" version was -- maybe a filesystem that converts all text documents into DOC or OOXML format on disk writes?


text:
Following a three-day filing period for school board candidates, elections will be held in Earlsboro, Shawnee, Pleasant Grove and Maud, while seats were unopposed in other districts.
The Board of Education positions at stake will be filled at the annual school election scheduled for Feb. 12, 2013.
Vying for the Shawnee Office No. 5 seat, a five-year term, are Gerry L. Pfeil and Judy Chance.
In Earlsboro, Phyllis Croswell and Tracey Poe are in the race for the Office No. 3 seat, a five-year term.
In Maud, there are three candidates in the race for Office No. 3, a five-year term. Scott Bruno, Amy Bassett and DeCarla Wallgren are the candidates in that race.
Those in the Pleasant Grove district will decide between Jerry Skaggs and Timothy J. Lawrence for the Office No. 1 seat, a five-year term.
No one filed declarations of candidacy for the Wanette Office No. 3 seat and the Shawnee Office No. 7 seat.
The sole candidates who were unopposed won filings in the remaining districts. They are:
• McLoud, Office No. 3, five-year term: Randy Patterson.
• Dale, Office No. 3, five-year term: Ronnie H. Newton
• Bethel, Office No. 3, five-year term: Les Herman.
• Macomb, Office No. 3, five-year term: Don Daily.
• Tecumseh, Office No. 3, five-year term: Tracy Bryant.
• Asher, Office No. 3, five-year term: Michael D. Martin.
• North Rock Creek, Office No. 1, three-year term: Rick Gowin.
• Grove, Office No. 1, three-year term: John R. Brown III.
• South Rock Creek, Office No.1, three-year term: Mary Sue McNeil.
• Gordon Cooper Technology Center, Office No. 5, five-year term: Jimmy Gibson.
Location, ST | website.com


text:
2 Gingers Joins Beam Irish Whiskey Portfolio
Beam Inc. today announced that the 2 Gingers brand will be joining its Irish Whiskey portfolio, and Kieran Folliard, the brand's founder and Irish American business entrepreneur, will become Beam's Chief Irish Whiskey Ambassador in the U.S.
"Earlier this year, we entered the fast growing Irish Whiskey category with the acquisition of our flagship Kilbeggan brand," said Chris Bauder, General Manager Whiskey for Beam Inc. "And now we're taking another step forward to expand our Irish Whiskey business in the U.S. with the addition of Kieran Folliard and 2 GINGERS to our Beam Irish Whiskey family. We couldn't be more pleased to have Kieran and his fast growing 2 GINGERS brand on board."
"2 GINGERS' history combined with Beam's resources as the second largest spirits company in the U.S. can create brand recognition that would take a small company like ours decades longer to achieve on its own," said Kieran Folliard. "I am excited to partner with Beam to grow 2 GINGERS and the entire Beam Irish Whiskey portfolio across the U.S."
Kieran Folliard is a 25-year resident of Minnesota, where he grew his former Irish pub business into one of the largest Irish Whiskey accounts in the world. Six months after selling his on-premise establishments in 2011, Folliard introduced 2 GINGERS, a premium twice-distilled Irish Whiskey made by Beam's Kilbeggan Distilling Company, into the market in January 2012. In less than one year, the brand has already become the fastest growing Irish Whiskey in Minnesota.
In his new role as Chief Operating Officer of 2 GINGERS and Chief Ambassador of Kilbeggan Distilling Company, Kieran Folliard will travel throughout the country to market, promote and drive growth for Beam's entire Irish Whiskey portfolio, including 2 GINGERS. In addition, Folliard will be taking an active role in the development of the experience between the American customer base and the Kilbeggan Distillery and Visitor Center in County Westmeath, Ireland.
2 GINGERS is named for Kieran's red-haired mother and aunt. The brand also inspired Kieran's two trademarked signature cocktails: "Big GINGER®" and "Skinny GINGER®." For more information on 2 GINGERS, visit www.2GINGERSwhiskey.com.
The size of the transaction is not material to Beam's free cash flows and the acquisition is not expected to have a material impact on the company's 2012 or 2013 financial results. Financial terms were not disclosed.
2 GINGERS joins Beam's full range of Irish Whiskey brands, including Kilbeggan, from its namesake distillery originating in 1757; Tyrconnell, single malt Irish whiskey; Greenore, single grain Irish Whiskey; and Connemara, the only peated single malt Irish whiskey.


text:
No. 14 Stanford looking to challenge No. 1 Oregon
By The Associated Press
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text:
Dear members,
We are proud to announce the opening of "The Eurobricks Reviewers Academy"
What's this all about?
Some of Eurobricks finest LEGO set reviewers have agreed to teach Eurobricks members the secrets of making a superior LEGO set review. Under their supervision, you will learn the tricks of effective photography, picture manipulation, and the secrets of presenting an interesting and informative review.What's needed to join the academy?
- You must have at least 3 complete sets (including instructions, box is not a must). These sets can be old or new.
- You must have a decent camera (no webcam) and know how to move pictures from the camera to your PC.
- You must have enough time to follow the courses and work on your own reviews.
- You must be motivated to learn how to make the best possible LEGO set reviews.
- You will receive a free course from some of the best LEGO set reviewers on the Internet.
- You are given access to a hidden forum on Eurobricks (The Eurobricks Reviewers Academy).
- You have the chance to earn a special Eurobricks Reviewers tag upon graduation.
- Some graduates may have the opportunity to become a "teacher" (and moderator!) in the academy (conditions explained in the academy).
Everyone who's a member of Eurobricks can join when he/she meets the requirements listed above.
I would like to thank everyone who helped these past weeks to make this possible by working on the courses, graphics and the concept.


text:
EXCLUSIVE: Deadpool Dons the Venom Symbiote in "Back In Black" #1 First Look
Comic Books
Showing results 41-80 of 220
DC Comics Co-Publisher Dan DiDio lays out the nuts and bolts of "Convergence," DCâs two-month multiverse and multi-timeline spring event.
DC Comics Co-Publisher Dan DiDio has revealed some of the characters originally slated to fall victim to 2005-2006 event series "Infinite Crisis."
DC Co-Publisher Dan DiDio has revealed more about the "Convergence" event, including a tease that took place in the first year of the New 52.
Scott Snyder says "Eternal" will return after a break, while discussing possible Amazon plans, a year-long break from comics and more.
DC Comics Co-Publishers Dan DiDio & Jim Lee spoke with CBR during NYCC about the Batman line, DC's expanding TV presence, "Futures End" and more.
DC co-publishers talk about state of market, growing female readership! Digital distributor iVerse to relaunch! U.K. man convicted for illegal manga, anime images!
DC Comics' co-publisher Dan DiDio has revealed the next two covers for "Futures End," teasing some big upcoming appearances in the weekly series.
Keith Giffen & Dan DiDio welcome cosmic comics legend Jim Starlin to DC Comics' "Infinity Man and the Forever People" #3, on sale Aug. 20 from DC.
Frank Miller, Jim Lee, Geoff Johns, Scott Snyder & Dan DiDio celebrate the Dark Knight's 75th anniversary, reflecting on how the icon has evolved over the decades.
Co-publishers Jim Lee and Dan DiDio tell CBR TV about the changes coming to DC, their reaction to new teams on "Batgirl," "Wonder Woman" and more.
With the debut of âInfinity Man and the Forever People,â ROBOT 6 examines DCâs latest attempt to revive some of Jack Kirbyâs Fourth World creations.
The DC Comics co-publisher talks about writing "Infinity Man" with Keith GIffen, the book's upcoming guest artists and its "Futures End" tie-in.
The "O.M.A.C." team of Keith Giffen & Dan DiDio are at it again with another New 52 adventure, DC Comics "Infinity Man and the Forever People" #1.
Looking into the future, DC co-publisher Dan DiDio has clarified that "Batman Eternal," "Futures End" and "Worlds End" will all end in March 2015.
The DC Comics co-publisher shares his enthusiasm for the series he's co-writing with Keith Giffen, and the New Gods' increased New 52 presence.
CBR has learned Dan DiDio, Bob Harras, Shelly Bond and Eddie Berganza are planning to move to Burbank with DC Comics' editorial operations in 2015.
Comics veteran Keith Giffen and DC Comics co-publisher Dan DiDio will revisit the New Gods in a new ongoing series, illustrated by Scott Koblish.
DC aims to keep September a big month for them, with the return of motion covers and each ongoing series tying-in to weekly series "Futures End." UPDATED with confirmation of new weekly series.
On the Christmas Eve installment of "DC All Access," DC co-publisher Dan DiDio unveiled Frank Miller's cover for "Detective Comics" #27.
DC Entertainment co-publishers Jim Lee and Dan DiDio addressed DC Comics' 2015 move, promising a "bigger, better and stronger" company. UPDATED with screenshot referencing Donna Troy and Wally West.
A quick shot of Dan DiDio's office wall in a DC Comics All Access video reveals logo treatments for a "Five Years Later" New 52 event.
DC Entertainment co-publisher Dan DiDio is set to appear on "The View" Friday, to hear co-host Whoopi Goldberg's idea for a comic book series.
Collaborators Art Baltazar and Franco announced over the weekend that DC Comics will soon relaunch the Eisner Award-winning "Tiny Titans."
CBR is LIVE from NYCC for a Sunday Conversation with Dan DiDio where the DC Entertainment Co-Publisher will discuss the New 52 and answer fan questions.
At New York Comic Con, DC Comics hosted a special panel for Superman's 75th Anniversary, with the world premiere of an animated short by Zack Snyder and Bruce Timm.
Dan DiDio's announcement at Baltimore Comic-Con indicates that incoming "Batwoman" writer Marc Andreyko is replacing J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman two issues before the team's intended departure.
At Baltimore Comic-Con today, DC Co-Publisher Dan Didio announced that Marc Andreyko will take over as writer of "Batwoman" following the departure of J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman.
To help carry the load for November's "Harley Quinn" series launch from Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner, DC Comics is searching for an unknown to draw one page of the book's #0 issue.
DC Co-Publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee talk digital comics, variant covers and creator turnover! Amazon vs. Overstock in GN price war! Steven Grant chats about "3 Guns"! Plus much more!
DC Comics co-publishers Jim Lee and Dan DiDio return to the CBR Yacht at Comic-Con International 2013 to discuss "Man of Steel," Superman's underwear, Harley Quinn, Damian Wayne and Superman's 75th Anniversary.
At the DC Comics Meet The Co-Publishers panel Jim Lee and Dan DiDio answered fan questions and discussed what's new in the New 52, "MAD Magazine" and Vertigo's "Sandman: Overture."
DC has officially announced September is Villains Month. CBR provides all the details you need including 3D cover images, solicitation information and interviews with Scott Snyder, Jim Lee, Dan Didio and more!
Following this morning's announcement of DC Comics' Villains Month, CBR has compiled a gallery of the animated gif representations of the event's 3D-motion lenticular covers. UPDATED 7:37 AM
DC Comics Co-Publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee spill more details on September's linewide Villains Month event, sharing an early look at the 3D animated covers.
Though Grant Morrison draws down the curtain on "Batman Incorporated" in July, DC Comics will give the series a final hoorah in August with a one-shot anthology featuring work by Chris Burnham, Dan DiDio and others.
DiDio and Quesada talk comics ahead of C2E2! A look ahead at Toronto Comic Arts Festival! Cartoonist Scott Stantis wins Sigma Chi Delta award! Dan Jolley discusses "Bllodhound"! Plus more!
DC Comics Co-Publisher Dan DiDio reportedly told attendees at last weekâs ComicsPRO annual meeting that the âWTF Certifiedâ logo won't appear on any of the comics released in April. ROBOT 6 has details.
DC Entertainment Co-Publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee will appear with a half-dozen DC creators on the Jan. 22 episode of "Face Off," the Syfy competition series that pits special-effects makeup artists against each other.
CBR TV looks back at 2012, sharing hilarious outtakes, bloopers and an impressive amount of kazoo playing from comic book and Hollywood luminaries including Dan DiDio, Ralph Bakshi, Dan Slott, Jim Lee and many more!
Writer J.M. DeMatteis spoke to CBR News about joining Dan DiDio as co-writer on DC Comics' "Phantom Stranger," bringing in the Spectre and a flair for the supernatural and spooky.
Archives: All | Comic Books | TV/Film | Video Games | Web Comics


text:
LAKE CHARLES, La. – The Texas A&M - Corpus Christi volleyball team cruised to their second straight victory with a 3-0 win (25-14, 25-21, 25-20) over McNeese State Tuesday evening in the Southland Conference opener at Memorial Gym. The Islanders hit .330 as a team while limiting the Cowgirls to just .238 hitting. Ivy Baresh and Brianna Brink put together a dominant performance to lead the offense.
Baresh led the Islanders (5-6, 1-0 SLC) with 12 kills on .333 hitting and Brink slammed down 11 kills on .450 hitting. Logen Bourque propelled the Islanders' offense with 35 assists and the Islanders' defense came up big with Bourque, Megan Olivarez and Hailey King all finishing with eight digs apiece. The Islanders also controlled the net with four blocks while limiting the Cowgirls (6-7, 0-1 SLC) to just two.
The Islanders and Cowgirls stayed even through the first set until the Islanders went on a 3-0 run with a kill by Brink, an ace by Olivarez and a Cowgirls' hitting error to push ahead 11-8. The Islanders then built a 14-9 lead with kills by Brink and an error by the Cowgirls. Texas A&M - Corpus Christi capped the first set with a momentous 7-1 run to end the first set 25-14. During the run, Sarah Sanchez and Brink added kills while Olivarez added one of her two aces in the match. The Islanders hit .370 in the set and out-blocked the Cowgirls 4-1. Brink led the Islanders in the set with five kills on .667 hitting.
Texas A&M - Corpus Christi carried over their dominant first-set performance into the second set to start things off. The Islanders jumped out to a 10-3 lead before building their biggest lead of the set at 17-7 with a 5-0 run. However, the Cowgirls answered back with a 7-0 run to force Coach Graystone to call his first timeout of the match. After Brink hammered down a kill, the Cowgirls responded with back-to-back kills to pull within three. After a McNeese State service error, the Cowgirls scored straight kills to draw within two. Baresh answered with a kill before an attacking error by the Cowgirls squeezed out a 25-21 second-set victory for the Islanders. Texas A&M - Corpus Christi hit .267 in the set and limited the Cowgirls to just .180 hitting. King tallied seven digs in the set while Bourque collected six.
The Islanders and Cowgirls battled in the third set before the Islanders surged ahead 15-13 with an ace by King. After a McNeese State timeout, both teams rallied back-and-forth, before the Islanders took control at 20-18 with a kill by Shaquinn Parker. From there it was all Islanders with a 5-2 run to clinch the set and the match at 25-20.
The Islanders will continue conference play on the road Thursday, Sept. 19, against Houston Baptist in Houston, before returning to the Coastal Bend on Friday, Sept. 20, to take on UTPA in the Dugan Wellness Center.
For all the latest on Islanders Volleyball, like the team on Facebook (IslandersVolleyball) and follow them on Twitter and Instagram (@IslandersVB).


text:
A Milwaukee meatpacker has expanded a recall to a total of two-point-eight million pounds of ground beef sold nationwide.
Emmpak Foods president Justin Segel said Thursday the company has temporarily closed the Milwaukee plant, which produced the ground beef that's been linked to an E. coli outbreak.
Last week Emmpak which does business as Peck Meats recalled 416,000 pounds in Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota.
He says the ground beef was sold in five and 10-pound tubes, mainly to food services. But, he says it's also available in grocery stores. Segel says the company and USDA continued to review the situation and decided to expand the recall.
Emmpak's consumer hot line number is 1-877-817-7622.
The cases of ground beef products being recalled are marked with the "sell by" dates of 9-05-02, 9-06-02, 9-07-02 or 9-08-02. The packages also include the establishment code of 20654 inside the USDA seal of inspection.
The products recalled last week have "sell by" dates of 8-29-02, 8-30-02, 8-31-02, 9-01-02 or 9-02-02.
Extended Web Coverage
What is E. Coli?
How Do You Catch an E. Coli Infection?
Symptoms of E. Coli Infection
How to Prevent Getting E. Coli Infection
Source: http://familydoctor.org/handouts/242.html (Information From Your Family Doctor Web Site)


text:
One of the most used functions on any modern computer is the ability to play back music. From the first beeps and bloops in arcade machines, to the AdLib and the first Sound Blasters in home PCs, to the monstrosity of the 51 million transistor Sound Blaster X-Fi, people have listened and continue to listen to music on computers.
Back in 1997, someone finally decided to write a usable music player for GNU/Linux: X11Amp, now known as XMMS.
Winamp, X11Amp, and XMMS
Way back in May of 1997, a little known software company named Nullsoft released a piece of software that instantly became a hit, and is now, today, one of the best known examples of a music player: Winamp.
Justin Frankel's work, this music player is the de facto player on Windows. Also, similarly, Winamp suffers from a severe bug: it works on Windows only. So, Peter and Mikael Alm, a few months later in November, released a clone of Winamp and named it X11Amp. X11Amp was released as free software.
Peter and Mikael wrote this software because there was a "lack of good MP3 players for Linux". Cloning the look and the features of Winamp, and allowing people to use the popular Winamp skin format, X11Amp quickly became just as popular on non-Windows platforms as Winamp had on Windows.
By 1999, our intrepid X11Amp developers had picked up a sponsor, 4Front Technologies, which are known for their work on the Open Sound System (OSS) (which has since been replaced with the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA)). Through this sponsorship, the X11Amp soon became XMMS. This is around the time I started using XMMS, and started paying attention to XMMS development; thanks to a lot of internal politics issues, it was very... interesting to watch.
The end of XMMSangelion
Continuing on for 5 more years, XMMS gained plugins for almost every sound format on the planet, and spat out dozens of stable releases. Development has ceased as of early 2004. In those 5 years, people learned several things:
- The first version of the GTK+ UI toolkit, although the first of its kind, and pretty much the only UI toolkit when XMMS was started, was buggy, missing features, ugly both inside and out, and a pain to develop for. GTK2, GTK+'s successor, was vastly improved.
- GTK+ and GTK2 library symbols conflict, so even if the XMMS developers wanted to change to GTK2, all the old plugins for XMMS that still used GKT+ would crash XMMS if you tried to use them; this crash does happen in forks of XMMS that use GTK2 and remain compatible with XMMS's plugin API (such as BMP).
- XMMS passes the original memory references of XMMS structures to the plugins, which allows badly written plugins to crash XMMS in new and interesting ways.
- There was no clear way to proceed without a lot of code rewriting, and XMMS was due for a rewrite anyways. That, and the code confused people similar to how a certain Hideaki Anno film did.
By 2002, Peter Alm started a fork of XMMS, named XMMS2, to continue on rewriting, adding new features, adding GTK2 support, and breaking the plugin API to both fix various small issues and to prevent people from using original XMMS plugins without proper porting first.
Peter also wanted to split plugins into "input" and "transport" categories (since a lot of input plugins had redundant code for internet streaming and other similar things), add media library functionality, and split the player engine away from the display (making them communicate through sockets). XMMS2 development seems to be active, yet they aren't making releases often. Unfortunately, I think the project will die out due to lack of frequent releases and publicity.
BMP and BMPx
Starting at around the same time as XMMS2, Beep Media Player (BMP) (lead by Milosz "deadchip" Derezynski) forked XMMS but (unlike XMMS2) intentionally kept the XMMS plugin API. In fact, as long as you don't pop up "configure" or "about" dialogs for plugins, you can use already compiled plugins from XMMS with BMP with no other problems.
BMP development continued on until Milosz decided that XMMS/BMP really did need a major rewrite; although, from what I've seen, he hasn't agreed with Peter on what XMMS's replacement needed. In October of 2005, Milosz forked BMP (which was essentially XMMS with GTK2 and a ton of code refactoring, but not much in the way of new features) and called it BMPx; although I use the term 'fork' loosely, as he decided to start the rewrite from scratch. In addition, BMPx is designed around using Xine (and later GStreamer) as the plugin system.
Milosz did alienate several developers during BMPx development when he decided to scrap BMP's original code. Some left in anger, others left because they were board with the project, and some decided to work on some of the other media players.
However, in my opinion, BMPx seems to be a dead end.
Leaving off where the BMP development team stopped, William "nenolod" Pitcock decided to fork BMP a few days after Milosz started BMPx, and called it Audacious. Starting as just a large bug hunt, Audacious seems to have inherited XMMS's title as de facto music player for GNU/Linux.
William has so far fixed dozens of annoying bugs, added the ability for outside clients to connect to the music engine, has partially rewritten the MP3 decoder (which, in my opinion, now sounds better than libMAD, the previous best MP3 decoder I've heard), and he is now in the process of adding an API to allow Audacious to be used similar to how GStreamer is used.
Between Audacious and BMPx, Audacious seems to be the only project that is actually continuing where XMMS left off. BMP essentially was a huge maintenance and code refactoring effort, although useful, it did not add any really new features, XMMS2 died off, and BMPx is going nowhere.
So, if you're still using XMMS or BMP, try Audacious. The worst thing that will happen is you'll rediscover how easy it is to listen to music on GNU/Linux.
are you drunk?
XMMS2 is still alive and kicking. maybe you should look at your sources :-)
XMMS2 development seems to have died out, which is quite unfortu
"XMMS2 development seems to have died out, which is quite unfortunate because I think they were going in the right direction."
What makes you think that? Actually, the XMMS2 development is VERY active.
Premature news of the death of xmms2
XMMS2 dead? I sure as hell hope not and I really don't think so:
"New release. DrHouse is out.
02 December 2006 CLST (2006-12-02) Submitted By Tobias Rundström"
and I found a few people in #xmms2 who don't seem to think so either!
XMMS also has the lowest bug rate
Probably worth mentioning in any article about XMMS, that according to the Collabnet software quality studies done a few months ago, XMMS had the lowest ratio of discovered bugs to total lines of code.
I'm not entirely sure that's a solid metric of code quality, but it's got to mean something, and kudos are due to the people who wrote XMMS, IMHO. ;-)
It's also my personal favorite music player (no surprise there).
It actually fell to zero
If I remember the stats correctly, the audit picked up 6 bugs in the XMMS software itself, and those were all corrected - meaning that now, XMMS is pretty much bug-free. Now, as mentioned in the article, a plugin can crash XMMS...
It doesn't really matter to me: I mainly listen to streaming Vorbis radio, and there XMMS works just fine (with a very nice Ayo skin ;).
A computer is like air conditioning: it becomes useless when you open windows.
For those saying I'm wrong on XMM2...
Historically, projects that don't release and PR constantly die out. XMMS2 rarely releases, and is almost unheard of; if XMMS2 doesn't change this, then XMMS2 will, in fact, die out. Now, hopefully since I mentioned XMMS2 here, this won't happen, but good projects die all the time. Thats just the way it is.
Almost right...
Projects that don't release often and release lots of PR OR have a small dedicated group of motivated developers tend to die out.
There are some niche projects that have been maintained for years by a tiny group of user/developers. They aren't broad successes, but they keep going.
A lot of research and some game software is like that. XMMS, as entertainment software, probably classes with games.
1 word: Monolithic (and i mean carbonite solid)
The XMMS bug count fell to almost none to zero, but the code is so unmaintainable that we eventually decided stop working on it. You guys don't really get what software development (not "churning out code for the money", but i really mean software development) is about, and what decisions have to be done if you're a project manager, and are trying to think long term.
XMMS has zero bug count but the codebase is so flawed that no one who codes would want to put his fingers into it. I very much doubt the Audacious developers would have had any fun with it before we actually rewrote approx. 60-70% of the XMMS code; all they did was cherrypicking, taking the codebase after we had brought it to a minimal level of real maintainability (far from what i'd call maintainable but at least something that can be worked on), and the countless bugs we've introduced were just the result of taking apart a big block of spaghettized monlithic code which you really can not take apart without breaking everything of it at once in various spots.)
A business that has limited funds (as almost every business has; it's a result of their growth and a balance between funds/venture capital and the amount of products/product lines and/or their complexity/range and external investments) and has to get in some revenue constantly (same thing; or they just go, well, "out of" business), it has to always keep a working product line going, and can't allow for too much research on sideprojects or some "next-gen foundation", but development is inherently iterative due to the business constraints.
Or (or!) you have so much money that you can have something out there that works in the meantime, and in your back offices develop something that is experimental. With free OSS development (volunteer work, not paid by companies; that is, free software developed by people in their free time), the strain you have is comparable to a company that has a) nothing to loose and b) has unlimited funds. But, that isn't enough.
That's where many OSS projects fail in the way you've described, since they just slumber along (nothing to loose: nothing to do!).
*We* have a _long_ term goal, but it's not laid out into infinity. We are watching timeline constraints, but we're not stupid enough to haste things nor are we under cash pressure so we can leave the 1 or 2 years it takes for BMP 2.0 to come out.
You should take a look at: BMPx FAQ: Missing 'trivial' features
I'm sure some "senior" (whatever that means; I've met too many 60 to 70 year old junior seniors in disguise so far) "developers" or "consultants" or "experts in the IT field" will contradict what we're doing and call it doomed from the start (heh) but you're just ain't getting it.
Dip your fingers into the XMMS code and then we're talking. If all that matters to you is a zero bug count, and not maintainablity of code, then you don't know anything about economics, in the educational/scientific sense, as well as in a mere natural, instinctive sense, nor do you seem to get that the entire OSS development ecosystem is geared towards creating stable foundations rather than pushing out finished products at point releases.
Before you anchor your hook into the previous statement: That's also where a lot of projects fail; they keep creating infrastructure for so long that they seem to eventually forget they were actually planning to release a product. With BMPx and BMP2, we have something that is usable _right now_, yet it's still only the draft of BMP2. It's both at the same time: A clean codebase with very good maintainability, and at the same time already a usable media player. We put the 2 things of this hypothetical company that has unlimited funds into *one* box: the product that is out there and works, and the development project; and guess what, it works for us. Maybe some others have failed, but that was then their misguided management or no-grasp what management of software development (to extend on the previous term) is about.
It might take another year or one and a half until we have BMP 2.0 out but after then the amount of maintenance will be minimal, the codebase will be extensible, and the right foundation for BMP 3.0.
Continuing the company analogy...
Actually the Audacious developers didn't have much fun until most, if not all of the newly introduced BMP code was rewritten. I would indeed agree that countless bugs have been introduced at this point, which are now resolved. Now that the foundation is solid, individual areas of the code are selected for a performance-enhancing rewrite, which at times adds more features as well.
In other words, Audacious does partial rewrites in-between releases, with the codebase never unusable for over 48 hours. Having absorbed most of the plugins allows us to keep even SVN in a workable state. I'm not sure that "that was wrong, I'll smash it all down and rewrite from scratch" is a good approach, especially if it happens more then once.
Generally, a good way to see which open source software is succeeding is how much developers it attracts and can keep interested. In your company analogy, how many employees one can retain. It would suffice to say that Audacious is a much larger company.
Thanks for the pointer
Thanks for bringing Audacious back to my attention. I tried it early this year and it was still quite immature and Beep Media Player was more stable for me. After your article I found that it had advanced quite a bit along with a package in Debian Unstable. I really like just a simple audio player in a lot of instances and I have a number skins I've grown fond of over the years.
I'd like to give a tip of the hat to the coders all along the way from X11amp to Audacious that have brought us this fine program.
Hideaki Anno
For those who don't know who he is, Hideaki Anno is the main writer behind the Evangelion anime series at Gainax' studio (he co-founded it, as a writer first then as a director).
The series, interestingly enough, didn't end on a definite note (but a dark yet hopeful one), which confused most of its fans (having thought about it for a looong while, I found it ended very well on its own - it was overly hard on any eighteen year old's brain who hadn't taken philosophy as its main course, though).
In reaction, Anno decided to make a movie (the End of Evangelion) which some claim is the 'proper ending' while others describe it as an unnecessary slugfest. Its animation was flawless, the action contained one of the most violent fights seen to date in Anime, and it closed most of the plot holes in the series - it was thus technically perfect. However it litterally ended on a sick note.
A computer is like air conditioning: it becomes useless when you open windows.
BMPx going nowhere?
Was that statement a reference to the stability of BMPx as an audio player or to the activeness of the releases? Because as far as I know BMPx runs quite well (atleast for me) and is very active in releases. Having used all kinds of media players including resource hogs like Rhythmbox and Amarok I believe BMPx is a great step forward. In that way I also think it to be a bit unfair to mention it in the same article as just simple media players like xmms and audacious.
My 2 cents...
Eelco Bosselaar aka AcTiVaTe
What the Frell..
..you've got to be kidding me!
> Starting at around the same time as XMMS2, Beep Media Player (BMP) (lead by Milosz "deadchip" Derezynski) forked XMMS
Wrong, I forked off XMMS earlier than XMMS2 started, at least as far public availability goes. (EDIT: In hindsight or as i remember now it was actually so that i was mailed by the XMMS guys when i first forked it and they asked me whether i wouldn't rather want to work with then on "XMMS2", but i have no idea how far the project had proceeded at that time, so it's probably valid to say "around the same time".)
> BMP development continued on until Milosz decided that XMMS/BMP really did need a
> major rewrite; although, from what I've seen, he hasn't agreed with Peter on what
> XMMS's replacement needed.
First of all this was not my, but a team decision. We didn't "ask Peter" since we don't have any obligations towards the XMMS/XMMS2 developers; there was nothing to agree _upon_, and especially with BMPx, since it was written from zero with only a minimal amount of original BMP code (not even really XMMS code anymore since it as refactored already for a long time).
You seem to think that just because (the first, initial, XMMS forked BMP) was a fork, we had some kind of obligation towards the XMMS developers or what is the point you're trying to make here?
>In October of 2005, Milosz forked BMP (which was essentially XMMS with GTK2 and a
>ton of code refactoring, but not much in the way of new features) and called it
>BMPx; although I use the term 'fork' loosely, as he decided to start the rewrite
>from scratch. In addition, BMPx is designed around using Xine (and later
>GStreamer) as the plugin system.
You're not using the term "loosely", you're entirely misusing it. I didn't fork it off, I've laid the foundation in a separate codebase and as soon as there was something the rest could work on with me, we started to work on it together. The "code refactoring" phase was much earlier, at times of the XMMS-forked (now in the right sense of "forked") BMP.
GStreamer is not exactly a plugin system either. I encourage you to tell the GST developers that it is one, but beware of being flamed and chased into the bowels of hell.
("[...] although I use the term 'fork' loosely, as he decided to start the rewrite from scratch" How about "I totally abuse the term and in fact he just wrote it from scratch but since i love using all those leet F/OSS words I'll just call it a spoon. Fork. Whatever.")
> Milosz did alienate several developers during BMPx development when he decided to
> scrap BMP's original code. Some left in anger, others left because they were
> board with the project, and some decided to work on some of the other media
> players.
Board. "Bored" perhaps?. Well AAMOF no developers left because of the rewrite which again was not the initial fork of XMMS (your text is really way jumbled up basically beyond correctability; maybe I should "fork" it and "rewrite it from scratch" instead...). There were no developers alienated because of our change. Some left later on but for other reasons than the code rewrite (like, becoming more active in infrastructure development e.g. GStreamer or Gtk+.)
No one from the original BMP team as far as I know works on other media players. (Sounds like you're trying to tell a goodnight story for children to sleep: "And if they didn't die, they still live somewhere out there, working on other media players!")
It looks to me like you've read our About page, did some kind of minimal research or something, and then intentionally jumbled this up. I'm not necessarily saying you did, but being a person who actually *lived* through all those times from X11amp to Audacious, and being the initiator of the BMP _project_ which currently develops BMP 2, I know the actual facts, and you've just got them so plain wrong that you either made it all up or deliberately forged them so your article can make a point on Audacious. You've simply got all facts surrounding BMP development wrong; all of it.
Also, you just fail to realize that BMPx is, while it's not a Winamp2-alike media player anymore, very well made in it's own right and on a really good way to become BMP 2.
If emo overwhelms you and the winamp2 GUI gives you a warm buzz then that's long time no reason to say that players with entirely different concepts are a dead end.
PS: I've been writing for magazines too and I can only give you the hint that you really should stop doing that unless you are willing to do the basic fundamental stuff that needs to be done before writing an article, starting with proper background research.
Oh, really now?
> (EDIT: In hindsight...
Do you always find a way to stick your foot in your mouth?
>> although, from what I've seen, he hasn't agreed with Peter on what XMMS's replacement needed.
> We didn't "ask Peter" since we don't have any obligations towards the XMMS/XMMS2 developers
Just because you didn't ask him doesn't mean you don't disagree with him. At no point did I say you needed his permission. You're going your way, and he is going his. I don't see why you disagreed with that; is BMPx a XMMS2 clone and you forgot to tell everyone?
Also, by making BMPx what it is now, you're essentially saying the Winamp look/feel isn't the way to go for a music player, which Peter did copy at first. All "post-Winamp" players are working towards that goal; iTunes, Amarok, Exaile: they all are trying to make more efficient ways of playing and maintaining your music collection. You disagree with Peter on how that is supposed to happen.
> No one from the original BMP team as far as I know works on other media players. (Sounds like
> you're trying to tell a goodnight story for children to sleep: "And if they didn't die, they
> still live somewhere out there, working on other media players!")
Descender and Quirk, both former BMP developers, have gone on to work on LAMIP now.
> I know the actual facts, and you've just got them so plain wrong that you either made it all
> up or deliberately forged them so your article can make a point on Audacious.
Oh really? Its kind of funny that several people who were actually there when this happened say you are wrong. I saw it happen too, are you saying I'm lying as well? Hell, Chainsaw personally shot you down in your previous comment on this article just because you got stuff so wrong.
If you want people to take BMPx seriously, then stop trolling in blog comments, and start coding.
Troll article
This article is a joke; Patrick McFarland is good friends with one of the primary Audacious developers and is a known internet troll. The bias he is showing here in this article is obvious, if FSM wants to be taken seriously then they need to dump people such as this contributor and quickly.
If you want to see examples of Patrick's trolling adventures, just ask and I'll provide links. His blog is one example of it.
Some inaccuracies
XMMS2 is not a fork of XMMS - there's no code shared between the two projects.
There is no 'GTK2 support' in XMMS2 - XMMS2 is a client-server system, and the XMMS2 daemon (xmms2d) doesn't have any GUI code at all. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xmms2#XMMS2_and_other_projects explains 2 other uses of 'xmms2' which may be confusing. In short, those other uses had nothing to do with the current XMMS2 project, and are now defunct.
XMMS2 doesn't have 'input' plugins like XMMS. The sentence 'Peter also wanted to split plugins into "input" and "transport" categories' doesn't make much sense, since it was the 'input' plugin concept that got split into 'transport' and 'decoder' plugin concepts in XMMS2.
There's no doubt that XMMS2 will die out, just like most other systems die out - it remains to be seen just how this will happen. :)
Troll article & "known internet troll"
Yehaw, please lay off using troll as a derogative term, some of us feel tenderly towards the title :
So when are some of you spastics going to start using a proper toolkit? My hands are currently tied apropos media players, since I can't find anything like audacious (or even any of its blotchy inbred xmms siblings) which is written against either the Qt libraries or KDE libraries.
xmms does what a player needs to do. Audacious seems to follow in its stead.
Russian translation of this post
Russian translation of this post: xmms.info/from-xmms-to-audacious.php


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Women's Health
DHEA May Help Sex, Symptoms After Menopause
Dec. 20, 2011 -- Low-dose DHEA works as well as hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to ease menopausal symptoms and to improve women's sex lives, a small pilot study suggests.
DHEA is a hormone widely available in the U.S. as a dietary supplement. DHEA is produced by the adrenal glands, the liver, and the testes. It's a parent hormone that gives rise to both male and female sex hormones. The supplement is a man-made version.
The new findings, from an Italian study of 48 women, are "proof of concept" that DHEA can help menopausal women, suggests study leader Andrea Genazzani, MD, PhD, director of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Pisa, Italy.
"Low doses of the hormone DHEA may be able to help women deal better with menopausal symptoms, as well as helping their sex life," Genazzani says in a news release. "The work shows that DHEA has potential, especially for those women who may have problems in taking more conventional HRT."
Genazzani warns, however, that the study is small and that its findings must be validated in larger studies.
In the one-year study, women who asked for HRT to treat menopausal symptoms were assigned to different treatments. Twelve women got low, 10-mg doses of DHEA once a day. Another 12 women received combination hormone therapy, while 12 others received tibolone, a synthetic hormone replacement treatment used in countries outside the U.S.
A fourth group of 12 postmenopausal women, who did not want HRT, received vitamin D plus calcium to prevent bone loss.
After a year of treatment, the women treated with DHEA had the same improvement in menopausal symptoms as the women treated with HRT or tibolone.
None of the women complained of sexual dysfunction at the beginning of the study. But after a year of treatment, those who received DHEA and those who received HRT reported improved sexual function. No similar improvement was seen in the women who got vitamin D.
Measures of hormones in the blood showed that DHEA works differently than HRT. DHEA increased "male" androgenic hormones while HRT increased "female" estrogens.
Today on WebMD
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NOTE! Washington SBA test scores and updated rankings for the 2014-15 school year were recently posted to SchoolDigger!
Educators from Smarter Balanced states worked together to develop high-quality assessments that provide more accurate and meaningful information about what students are learning. The Smarter Balanced assessments replace existing tests in English and mathematics for grades 3-8 and high school. Administered online, these new assessments adapt to each student's ability, giving teachers and parents better information to help students succeed.Source: Wa State OSPI
Number of Students
% of Students
For more information about how the Department of Education defines ethnicity, see Defining Race and Ethnicity Data, National Center for Education Statistics


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Women's Asics Mikura Core Running Shorts
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Hi there,
I see that if you use CoreAVC with AVISynth you can use Nvidia's CUDA to assist in the decoding of x264 content, which takes a large load off the CPU. Is there an ATI equivalent that one can use? I find that x264 content gives my Core2Duo 3.16 Ghz machine with 4 gigs RAM a run for its money (even with Mencoder MT enabled) with the odd spike to 100% CPU usage. It would be great if there was some way to use my Radeon 4870 to reduce the load on the CPU.
Any such feature / tool / software, or are there any plans to support it?


text:
As More Teens Use Hair Color, Incidence of Allergies Increases
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD
WebMD Health News
Hair Dye Allergies on the Rise
Feb. 1, 2007 -- Tattoos and body piercings are so yesterday. These days the hottest fashion trend among teens is hair that screams in shocking colors like Napalm Orange, Atomic Pink, and Electric Blue.
Some parents may breathe a sigh of relief; even the most "permanent" dye job isn't as permanent as a tattoo, or a pierced lip or tongue.
But as more and more young people color their hair, the incidence of hair dyeallergies is also increasing, warns a group of European dermatologists.
The culprit is a common chemical ingredient in permanent hair dyes, called para-phenylenediamine, or PPD. PPD is found in more than two-thirds of commercial dyes, the researchers say, including many of the top-selling brands.
Patients with severe PPD reactions commonly develop painful rashes around the hair line or on the face, which often require treatment and can occasionally lead to hospitalization. Facial swelling is also common.
Many Don't Seek Treatment
In his own London clinic, dermatologist John P. McFadden saw a doubling of PPD reactions over the past six years.
"Dermatologists report anecdotally that the frequency of positive reactions to PPD on patch testing is increasing," McFadden and colleagues write in an editorial published in the Feb. 3 issue of BMJ.
Last October, editorial co-author Heidi Sosted of the University of Copenhagen reported on eight cases of severe hair dye reactions among teens between the ages of 12 and 15.
Reactions were so serious that five of the teens had to be hospitalized, and one reportedly ended up in intensive care.
In an earlier study, Sosted and colleagues examined the frequency of hair dye reactions in a sample population of 4,000 adults living in Denmark.
A total of 18% of the men and 75% of the women said they had used hair dyes, and slightly over 5% said they had experienced allergic reactions to them. But only 15% of those who had allergic reactions reported seeking medical treatment.
"Wider debate on the safety and composition of hair dyes is overdue -- among medical and scientific communities, the public and legislators," McFadden, Sosted, and colleagues write in the BMJ editorial.
"Cultural and commercial pressures to dye hair and, perhaps, the widespread obsession with the 'culture of youth' are putting people at risk and increasing the burden on health services."


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Master Your Money Type : Nationally renowned "money-answers man" Jordan E. Goodman, reveals six "money types" to help you identify your financial personality and understand the emotional roots of your type. Once you do, you'll learn how to both defuse destructive attitudes and discover your dominant moneymaking talents. Along the way, you'll get step-by-step guidance on everything you need to build wealth and freedom - from asset allocation and real estate investments to debt management and retirement planning - all customized for your money type. Abridged on 6 compact discs. Read by Geoffrey Wade.
|Business & Economics


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Notification system for OS X apps.
Growl is a notification system that allows any application to send it a notification, and then it displays it. You can (for example) be notified that you have new email, or that a download completed, etc.
Support for Applescript, Perl, Python, TCL, Cocoa, Carbon, Ruby and more being added.
Required OS: 10.7
Tags: notifications , adium , system , preference , pane
62 Opinions
Growl 1.2beta3 finally fixes GrowlMail for me. Lets hope they get the final release out soon.
Snow Leopard compatible beta found at http://growl.info/beta.html
A pre-beta version that works with Snow Leopard can be found at: http://groups.google.com/group/growldiscuss/browse_thread/thread/819cdede7370af04/68222f63b39ba763?lnk=raot
Direct Download Link: http://growl.googlecode.com/files/Growl-1.2b1-88cb8adf89cc.zip
Doesn't work 100% in Snow Leopard. Let's hope a fix soon :)
I'm proud to be user #12,500 lol :)
Just started using Growl today and I must say, it's pretty awesome. I've known about it for a while but never downloaded it because I ignorantly didn't think it would be worth my time.
I was very wrong.
Tip: instead of clicking the close box on each notification one at a time, you can close all of them by pressing option while you click the close box of any one of the notification boxes.
Source: tech-recipes.com
FYI: Growl support is coming to Awaken 5. Screenshot: http://www.flickr.com/photos/embraceware/2820197110/
Does someone know how to log notifications?
I'd like to log status changes from adium, like this adium plugin seems to be doing.
Is there a way to lower the volume of iTunes while playing the sound for a notification?
Minuteur does that, and it's quite useful. :)
I loved Growl but finally had to nuke it a few days ago. It worked great in Tiger but was nothing but a pain in the butt with Leopard. Growlmail never working was the nail in the coffin as this was my favorite use of Growl.
Page 2 of 7. 62 entries.


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E-Gal Eye Teaser: Bald E-Gal Productions
Bald E-Gal productions just released the teaser for their upcoming film "E-GAL EYE". With a list of heavy-hitters this movie is bound to be amazing. Featuring: Austin Young, Randy Vannurden, Dan Brisse, Shane Ruprecht, Yusaku Horii, Matthew Boudreaux, Cody Beiersdorf, Seth Huot, Krister Ralles. with friends Tommy Young, Erik Zimmerman, Ryan Barker, Charlie Fenton, Peter Limberg, Nate Lavik, Drew Poganski, Bjorn Leines, and more.The movie drops September 1st.Read More


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The 84 Annual Oceanside Pier Swim was delayed for over an hour due to heavy fog but as soon as it cleared and the horn sounded, swimmers raced for the water and pushed through the waves. The top swimmers finished the mile long course in a little over 17 minutes.
— David Brooks