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Lawrence Yun in many ways is the voice of residential real estate. As the National Association of Realtors' chief economist and forecaster, his predictions are followed, analyzed, praised and criticized by real estate professionals across the U.S., and noted in Congress when legislation involving residential real estate is being considered. When he speaks, he usually draws a crowd.
Yun was born in South Korea, but his parents moved to Columbia, South Carolina, when he was in the fourth grade, where he completed his secondary education. He graduated from high school and went on to Purdue, where he graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering. A Ph.D. from the University of Maryland followed.
He takes part in several forecasting panels, including the Harvard University Industrial Economist Council. The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Q This has been a pretty interesting period to be a real estate economist.
A Yes, both the bubble and the crash. I've been working at NAR since 2000. I started out as a junior economist and was promoted to chief economist in 2008.
Q Which was more interesting as an economist, the bubble or the crash?
A Any time there is movement in economic data, it naturally raises questions as to why it is happening. It was a very interesting period academically, but in the real world this was a terrible situation for the country and for the industry to go through.
Q Did you see the crash coming?
A Everything looks clear in hindsight, but during that time one had to ask the question: Is this sustainable? It was during a time when lending was opening up to a point at which there were no underwriting standards. It clearly was abnormal. It was hard to say whether it would crash or taper off without price declines, but it was clearly a misalignment of all the fundamentals. During the height of the bubble, the NAR put out a brochure on subprime mortgages for Realtors to use with consumers. It said, here's what "teaser rate" means, and here are the potential risks involved.
Q In the Bay Area, prices are skyrocketing again, and some fear there's a new bubble forming.
A It's a little different this time, compared to 2005. Underwriting standards are much tighter. People who get mortgages are meeting very strict standards. Second, there are large cash transactions. People are cashing in stock options and Asian buyers are coming in with all cash. Any time there are cash transactions and higher down payments, the risk of potential decline is reduced. That is even though the price increase is fairly rapid and clearly not sustainable.
Q What happens then?
A The question becomes: Is it going to reverse and decline, or flat-line and taper off? I would say that first, prices are not setting new highs yet. The market is still in recovery mode. Together with tighter lending standards and crash transactions, that means there's less risk. A decline in the tech economy would be the primary reason for a crash. I'll add that any economic data that's seeing a strong upper movement could have a temporary push downward before going up again. Prices in the San Francisco Bay Area might have a little volatility, but I don't see a sustained decline.
Q There's also the emergence of the Asian buyer as a force in the market.
A China's economic growth is relatively speaking still solid, and it is creating millionaires right and left who want to divest out of China. I think there will be a continuing increase of overseas Chinese buyers in the Bay Area.
Q A major complaint here is the lack of inventory. Do you have any thoughts on that?
A The main way to get genuine fresh inventory is for builders to build more homes. Another way might be for people to decide to move out of the Bay Area, but that's not likely to happen because of the area's strong job growth. And building regulations in the Bay Area are stricter, broadly speaking, than in the rest of country. The only real building that can occur is in the outlying regions. That means steadily worsening commutes, unless more high rises are built.
Q Those high rises are pricey. What's left for the middle-income buyer?
A People who own a home are smiling about their equity, and other people just feel shut out. Even people on six-figure incomes have sticker shock when they see home prices. It's leading to social tensions. Many people in the middle, who have moderate incomes, view owning a home as part of the American dream, but they are denied that dream. They are also denied that ladder of advancement, where you own a home, build equity and trade up. There needs to be more supply to moderate or taper the price growth so people can use their savings to buy a home. When prices are rising faster than savings, it's a discouraging, demoralizing situation.
Q Aren't some homeowners just afraid to sell?
A It's a rational decision. Even though they want to trade up, move to a better school district or for whatever reason, they don't want to give up their home and not be able to buy another.
Q How long will it take for the housing market to get back to normal?
A The housing construction activity taking place is insufficient in relation to job growth, so I'm afraid that prices may continue to rise, though not so rapidly. Hopefully, they'll begin to flat-line and give people a chance to save up for a down payment.
Contact Pete Carey at 408-920-5419. Follow him at Twitter.com/petecarey.
Age: 47
Born: Sunchon, South Korea
Current job: Chief economist, National Association of Realtors
Previous jobs: 2000-08, junior economist, National Association of Realtors; 1999-2000, economic consultant to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Department of Education; 1995-98, economics adviser, U.S. Agency for International Development
Education: B.S., mechanical engineering, Purdue University, 1988; Ph.D., economics, University of Maryland, 1995
Residence: Arlington, Virginia
Family: Married, one son
five things you didn't know about lawrence yun
1. He developed graduate school economics curricula for several universities in Kazakhstan.
2. He speaks "basic, conversational Russian."
3. He's a recreational cyclist.
4. He loves to read.
5. Despite his degree in mechanical engineering, his wife complains that he cannot even fix a doorknob.


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Thank you to all who planned, staffed, volunteered, and participated in SEWSA 2014. What an extraordinary conference! See you next year in Florida.
The Women's Studies and Resource Center at the University of North Carolina Wilmington is proud to present SEWSA 2014: The Ebb and Flow: Navigating the Changing Landscapes of Feminism. The conference will be held on UNCW's campus on March 27-29, 2014. We look forward to welcoming you to Wilmington!
Notifications have been sent out to all who submitted, and the tentative program is posted. For questions, concerns, or changes, please email Katja Huru.

subset: commoncrawl


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I have a problem with 2 movie files of mine.
When I want to put them on my ps3 it says " not enough hard disk ".
When I look at the information it says " 94gb "
On my computer they are 256mb each.
The files are mpeg2.
Help would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance


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2.7-4 Entrapment -- § 53a-15
Revised to December 1, 2007 (modified May 20, 2011)
The evidence in this case raises the issue of the defense of entrapment. The statute defining entrapment reads in pertinent part as follows:
in any prosecution for an offense, it shall be a defense that the defendant engaged in the proscribed conduct because (he/she) was induced to do so by a public servant, or by a person acting in cooperation with a public servant, for the purpose of institution of criminal prosecution against the defendant, and that the defendant did not contemplate and would not otherwise have engaged in such conduct.
Entrapment exists only if the defendant was not predisposed to committing the crime at issue. If the criminal intent or the willing disposition to commit the crime originates in the mind of the defendant and the criminal offense is completed, it is no defense that the opportunity is furnished or the defendant is aided in the commission of the crime in order to secure the evidence necessary to prosecute the defendant. On the other hand, it is entrapment if the criminal design originates in the mind of the government agent or police officer and the defendant is induced into the commission of the offense when the defendant would not have committed it except for the urging of the officer or government agent.
The vital factor in determining if there has been an entrapment is whether the defendant was induced by the urging of a governmental agent or police officer to commit a crime that the defendant would not otherwise have committed. Inducement means more than a simple request by a government agent or police officer to break the law. There is a clear distinction between inducing a person to commit a crime and setting the stage to catch that person in the execution of criminal designs of the person's own volition. If officers of the law induce an innocent person to commit a crime that that person would not otherwise commit, it is entrapment and a defense to the crime charged.
It is for you to determine, on the basis of all the evidence, whether the state has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that it did not induce the defendant to commit the offense with which the defendant is charged. If you unanimously find that the state has proved all the elements of the crime of <insert name of offense> beyond a reasonable doubt, and has disproved the claim of entrapment beyond a reasonable doubt, you must return a verdict of guilty on this count. If you unanimously find that the state has failed to prove any one or more of the elements of the crime of <insert name of offense>, or failed to disprove the claim of entrapment, you must return a verdict of not guilty on this count.
General Statutes § 53a-15 codifies Connecticut's prior case law on entrapment, and adopts the subjective standard of the defense, as have most states and the federal courts. State v. Lee, 229 Conn. 60, 81 (1994). "The subjective test of entrapment focuses on the disposition of the defendant to commit the crime of which he or she is accused." Id., 78. "[T]he subjective defense of entrapment succeeds only if the government, not the accused, is the source of the criminal design. The subjective defense fails if the accused is previously disposed to commit the crime, and the government merely facilitates or assists in the criminal scheme." Id., 79. See generally State v. McNally, 173 Conn. 197, 200-202 (1977); State v. Fine, 159 Conn. 296, 299 (1970); State v. Wilder, 128 Conn. App. 750, 753-61, cert. denied, 301 Conn. 934 (2011); State v. Nero, 122 Conn. App. 763, 783-94 (2010).
To warrant an instruction on
entrapment, the defendant must produce evidence of both inducement and lack of
criminal disposition. State v. Hawkins, 173 Conn. 431, 436 (1977);
State v. Capozziello, 21 Conn. App. 326, 328-29, cert. denied, 215 Conn. 816
(1990). "Where there is evidence on the issue of entrapment as to which
reasoning minds might disagree, the question is one of fact to be submitted to
the jury." State v. Marquardt, 139 Conn. 1, 7 (1952).


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According to Apple's iPhone stock checker, every Jun 30 2007
According to Apple's iPhone stock checker, every single Apple Store in the country currently has iPhones available.
Update: That page only updates once a day at 9pm for the next day's stock. So when it says there are iPhones in stock at 3pm, that's not necessarily the case. (thx, jeremy) At around 11:30 am ET today, Jake Dobkin reported "plenty of stock, no wait to purchase".


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Join other Commissioners in the Red Jacket District for a working session to identify challenged units, develop improvement plans and share experiences. All Commissioners in the Red Jacket District are encouraged to attend and participate.
Meeting starts at 7:00 PM and runs until 9:00 PM.
Meetings are held in the Library Media Center at
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If you have a question, comment, or suggestion, please e-mail: Greg Voyzey
Privacy Policy Technical Support. Copyright © 1998-2016. All rights reserved.


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Castellani Highlights Part D's Success in Hill Blog
Castellani Highlights Part D's Success in Hill Blog
06.14.13 | By
Craving some health policy news on a Friday afternoon? Check out an op-ed that ran in The Hill today from our CEO, John Castellani, on Part D.
He discusses Part D's remarkable track record, and calls out a brand new study on the off-setting power of Part D for beneficiaries with congestive heart failure (CHF). The study found that Part D has led to more than $2.3 billion in annual savings for Medicare by reducing medical expenditures for beneficiaries with CHF without prior comprehensive drug coverage.


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It appears I'm pregnant again.
This isn't exactly welcome news. I just had our third daughter in August 2012. She's only 5 months old right now and according to the bloodwork I just had done, I'm somewhere between 8 and 10 weeks pregnant with #4.
Here's some background.
DH and I have been together for 8 years and married for 6. DD3 was actually born on our 6th anniversary. We've had ups and downs, but more downs than ups. And it's worsening with every baby.
Our first daughter was conceived a month after we were married. Quite the shock for me, but I'd always wanted to be a mother and I was completely enthralled with the whole idea of having a family right away. Granted, we didn't get much time to just be married first, but we were both excited.
We started trying for #2 when DD1 was about a year old. It only took a few months and DD2 was born 11 days after #1's birthday. She's a handful, but the most lovable creature you could imagine. Of course, we love her to bits as well.
Having two daughters was fairly exhausting and I was finding myself pretty much raising them alone. Sure, he was physically there, but he wasn't pitching in very much. It seemed like 1952 in our house - he was only expected to go to work and come home, while as the "stay-at-home-mom" it was my job to clean, cook, and take care of all the kid-related things. (I blame his mother for this mentality. She's a neurotic nutjob who can't sit still and runs around behind everyone cleaning up messes faster than they can make them.) He was also born in a very rural part of the country where education really wasn't the focus. His parents (with 8th grade educations) and the school community noticed when he was very young that he was very intelligent. They treated him like he was something super special, and I think he really got an entitlement complex from it. I deal with the condescending attitude repercussions of that constantly. He's lazy and selfish and has a horrendous temper. And I'm really beginning to intensely dislike him.
I wasn't terribly sure about having a third, while he was much more insistent. We didn't try for her, but we didn't exactly prevent either. She was a surprise, but a very pleasant one. When he'd mentioned having another I told him that I wouldn't even consider it if he wasn't going to pitch in more and actually act like a parent. He (after much arguing, redirecting, and denying) agreed to take a more active role. He's done better, but I still feel it's the bare minimum.
Before DD3 was born, we'd talked about DH having a vasectomy. I feel as though I've done enough work here - spent nearly 3 years pregnant and had 3 natural, unmedicated births, that it was his turn. He's been putting it off and putting it off saying, "I'll do it in my own time! Stop rushing me!" We've been pretty careful, with only one 'oops' moment. Obviously, it only takes once.
This baby will be due almost exactly ONE YEAR after DD3. I'm scared to death, completely pissed off that he put me in this position because of his selfishness. I was so angry about it, that I told him everything I'd been thinking, but keeping in for the past few years. How I'd really been waiting for the kids to be old enough to be in school full time so I could go back to work. Once I had a good job again (I have a doctorate) I was planning to get out.
He's agreed to personal counseling and marriage counseling, as well as getting back onto his medications. He might do it, and he might even be better, but I'm really doubtful it'll save our marriage.
I'm really at a loss, though. I had no desire to have another baby. I cried for the first three days after I found out. Babies close together aren't a dealbreaker, but they are my THIRD and FOURTH! I don't know if I can do it. And I can't trust that he'll follow through and really be there. His track record is pretty shitty in that department.
Ladies, please. I need some advice. I never, ever thought I'd consider terminating a pregnancy. It's just not me. But I so don't know if I can do it.


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PARKERSBURG - Several local homes will be featured in the 2012 Holly Trail Tour of Homes from 1-5 p.m. Dec. 9 in Parkersburg and Vienna.
The GFWC Parkersburg Woman's Club is organizing the tour, which also includes a stop at the club's house at 323 Ninth St.,where refreshments and entertainment will be provided, along with two homes in Parkersburg and two in Vienna.
Tickets are $8 in advance and $10 at the door. Advance tickets are available at Crown Floral and Hallmark Store in the Grand Central Mall or by calling Judy Parrish at 304-295-8738, Carole Woody at 304-422-0543 or Shirley Davis at 304-422-6105.
Article Photos
Owners Jack and Kellie Casas have been working for two years to restore the historic home at 1707 Market St. in Parkersburg, which will be featured on the 2012 Holly Trail Tour of Homes on Dec. 9 in Parkersburg and Vienna. (Photos by Wayne Towner)
The homes are Jack and Kellie Casas, 1707 Market St., Parkersburg; Paul and Karen Fritz-Weber, 5213 Glenbrook Drive, Vienna; Keith and Michelle McClung, 1433 22nd St., Parkersburg; and George and Barbara Volker, 5123 Glenbrook Drive, Vienna.
The two Glenbrook Drive homes are located near each other, off 51st Street in Vienna.
Proceeds from the annual Holly Trail tour are a major portion of the funds that the Parkersburg Woman's Club uses to support projects in the community, including scholarships, children's brown bags, leadership training at Girls State and nursing home caring, among others.
"The Parkersburg Woman's Club is one of the oldest in the state of West Virginia and the oldest in Parkersburg not to have a break in their service to the community," Holly Trail chairman Judy Parrish said.
The Weber home at 5213 Glenbrook Drive in Vienna was build in 1995 by local architect Wade Buchannon. It will be decorated for the holidays in a theme of "Christmas in Gold and Silver" and features a large Christmas tree and chandelier in the foyer.
Nearby is the Volker home at 5123 Glenbrook Drive, which will have a classic Christmas theme using lit topiaries, garlands, wreathes, globes and lights, along with a special nativity scene, a wall tree and imported candle stands.
In Parkersburg, the McClung house at 1433 22nd St. was built in the 1900s by Parkersburg engineer Frank Miller. It retains many of its original features, including trims, woodwork, butler's pantry, stairwells and crown mouldings.
The Casas house at 1707 Market St. features a grand foyer with circular stairway and other features throughout the home. it will be decorated in the theme "Christmas From the Heart." The owners have been working two years to restore the historic home.
Two more holiday home tours will be held the same weekend, in Marietta.
* ReSTORE Marietta will hold its annual Holiday Loft Tour from 5-8 p.m. Dec. 8 in downtown Marietta. For more information, contact (740) 885-8194.
The cost is $10 a person and all tickets will be picked up the night of the Loft Tour at the ReSTORE Marietta office, 132 Putnam St.
* The Betsey Mills Club Holiday Tour of Homes will be held 1-5 p.m. Dec. 9 in Marietta. Tickets are $10 in advance at the Betsey in Marietta and $12 at any door on the day of the tour. Refreshments will be offered at The Betsey at Fourth and Putnam streets during the tour.
The historic homes and buildings on the Marietta tour will include: Dr. Joseph and Diane Bruno, 301 Fifth St.; Joyce Robinson and Judy Phillips, 606 Washington St.; Nancy and Jeff Hollister, 613 Sixth St.; Phyllis and John Myers, 440 Fifth St.; and Christ United Methodist Church, 301 Wooster St.


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RICHMOND, Texas – March 2, 2013 – Although not unexpected in the face of ongoing drought conditions, Ducks Unlimited is once again disappointed in the decision to restrict the water supply to rice growers for the coming growing season. Waterfowl, wading birds and other wetland wildlife will face yet another year of reduced habitat availability in the critical wintering area of the Texas Mid-Coast. Severe drought continues to plague the region, including the Highland Lakes watershed that supplies irrigation water for agriculture on the Texas Mid-Coast.
"We understand that the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) must take a conservative approach when dealing with limited and unpredictable water resources, and we continue to support LCRA's proactive decision to move forward with the construction of a proposed off-channel reservoir in the lower basin. However, withholding water from rice growers for a second straight year represents another setback for wintering waterfowl and an insurmountable economic challenge for local economies dependent on agriculture and waterfowl hunting," said Dr. Todd Merendino, Ducks Unlimited manager of conservation programs.
According to a Texas AgriLife economic impact analysis, on average, rice contributes $374.3 million and more than 3,300 jobs annually in Colorado, Wharton and Matagorda counties alone. Those numbers do not include rice farming's substantial contribution to the revenue and jobs generated from waterfowl hunting and other outdoor recreation.
Those same rice-producing lands provide important waterfowl habitat that is the basis for the region's waterfowl hunting heritage. The loss of that rice acreage will not only be a substantial economic blow to the many farmers, communities and service industries related to rice agriculture; it will double current waterfowl habitat shortfalls along the Gulf Coast.
Recent research already indicates that lack of adequate habitat along the Gulf Coast is impacting the health of some species. Approximately 60 percent of the estimated 1.96-million-bird midwinter waterfowl population for the Texas Mid-Coast is expected to rely on ricelands (active and idle flooded rice fields) to meet their food needs. In addition, the Gulf Coast Joint Venture identifies specific population objectives for more than 12 million shorebirds and wading birds that are highly dependent on water in ricelands for nesting, migration and wintering habitat.
"A recent suggestion by the Central Texas Water Coalition (CTWC) indicating that wildlife would be better served by LCRA simply buying out the rice farmers is completely unrealistic," said Kirby Brown, DU conservation outreach biologist.
The effort would require the outright purchase of approximately 58,000 acres that are farmed for rice each year. With land costs of approximately $3,000-4,000 per acre, such a buyout would require between $174 and $232 million. Rice is grown on a three-year rotation in Texas, meaning the buyout of all 150,000 acres managed for rice would cost between $450 million and $600 million.
"Even if the financial resources for such a buyout were available, the land would still require intensive annual management (now provided by rice growers as part of annual growing operations) to provide the needed resources for waterfowl and other migratory birds. Additionally, water would still be needed to flood the habitat beginning with the arrival of early migrant shorebirds and waterfowl in August—so we do not view the CTWC suggestion as a feasible solution to provide habitat for waterfowl nor to increase water resources," Brown said.
For every 10,000 acres of flooded ricelands lost, the region loses the ability to support 120,000 waterfowl. While the current impact of the LCRA decision cuts off water to more than 50,000 acres of ricelands used by waterfowl, setting aside 10,000 acres of idle land as CTWC recommends will not provide anywhere near the same habitat values for waterfowl and other wildlife.
"The resources provided by these flooded agricultural habitats are critical to waterfowl for overwinter survival and subsequent reproduction in the spring. Even if landowners are interested in selling, buying them out and allowing the land to go fallow and dry will drastically reduce available waterfowl habitat. Without annual management to promote favorable waterfowl habitat conditions, these acres would essentially provide no resources for waterfowl and other wetland-dependent wildlife. Equally important, the suggestion does nothing to address the long-term need to develop additional water supplies in the region," Brown said.
With projections predicting a doubling of the population in the state over the next 50 years, water availability will become an increasingly difficult issue. Ducks Unlimited is committed to ensuring wildlife habitat needs are fully communicated so that decision makers can make the most informed water allocation choices.
"If there is any silver lining, perhaps it is that the ongoing drought has increased awareness of the urgency with which the state should address water needs. We need to be working together across all user groups and geographies to conserve water resources every step of the way, and to ensure that future generations of Texans, business owners, wildlife and waterfowl all have sufficient water resources to thrive in the Lone Star State," Brown said.
Ducks Unlimited Inc. is the world's largest non-profit organization dedicated to conserving North America's continually disappearing waterfowl habitats. Established in 1937, Ducks Unlimited has conserved more than 13 million acres thanks to contributions from more than a million supporters across the continent. Guided by science and dedicated to program efficiency, DU works toward the vision of wetlands sufficient to fill the skies with waterfowl today, tomorrow and forever. For more information on our work, visit www.ducks.org. Connect with us on our Facebook page at facebook.com/DucksUnlimited, follow our tweets at twitter.com/DucksUnlimited and watch DU videos at youtube.com/DucksUnlimitedInc.
Andi Cooper
(601) 956-1936
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp Act into law.
First duck stamp, designed by Pulitzer-prize winning editorial cartoonist, Jay N. "Ding" Darling, issued.
Prairie drought peaks.


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- For Brazil's world class players and fans
- Currently Unavailable
The midfield maestro of Brazil is a player of immense skill and form, but also as one of good sportsmanship and class. Show your support in his official jersey!
This jersey is engineered for excellence. Ultimate comfort for a winning performance.
Redesigned away jersey has Brasil team badge, five championship stars and bold yellow detail cuffs.
Flat-locked seams for chafe-free comfort.
Dri-FIT fabric adds breathability, strength and comfort.
100% recycled Dri-FIT polyester. Imported.
Lamentamos que todavia no hay descripción en español para este producto.


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Excel 2010 keyboard shortcuts I: CTRL key shortcuts
Learn Excel 2010 keyboard shortcuts. Specifically, learn how to use CTRL key shortcuts that let you do everything from selecting and editing cells, to inserting items and formatting.
How to create a basic chart in Excel 2010
Charts make data visual. With a chart you can transform spreadsheet data to show comparisons, patterns, and trends.
Office 2010 Security: Protecting your files
In Microsoft Office 2010, when files open, Message Bars can alert you to useful information and potential problems with your files. Security Message Bars provide the opportunity to consider the potential security risks that may be in your file, and then the ability to open or read the file while reducing the risks that can occur.
Excel 2010 keyboard shortcuts II: ALT key shortcuts
Learn how to use ALT key shortcuts that let you access almost any command in Excel 2010. These keyboard shortcuts are also called access keys, and they are handy when a CTRL shortcut isn't available for a command.
Plan payments and savings in Excel 2010
Learn how to figure out payments and savings by using formulas in Excel.
Sparklines: Use tiny charts to show data trends
As you look at rows and rows of data, sometimes it's hard to immediately make sense of it. Add tiny charts called sparklines next to data to give readers a picture of what the data means, making it easy to spot patterns and trends.
The IF function: what it is, and how to use it
The IF function checks to see if a condition you specify is true, or false. If true, one thing happens; if false, something else happens. For example, if you use the IF function to see if amounts spent are under or over budget, the result for True could be "Within budget," while the result for False could be "Over budget."
Understand data at a glance with conditional formatting
Sometimes it's hard to read and interpret data by scanning rows and rows of information. But you can use conditional formatting to make certain data stand out, helping you to analyze data, and to identify patterns and trends.
Use Excel tables to manage information
Manage information by using Excel tables, which make it easy to format data, sort, filter, add totals, and use formulas.
VLOOKUP: What it is, and when to use it
Learn how to use VLOOKUP to look up a value you want to find in an Excel list or table. Using VLOOKUP is similar to looking up a person's name in a telephone book to get a telephone number. VLOOKUP looks at a value in one column, and finds its corresponding value on the same row in another column.
Save time by creating and running macros in Excel 2010
Do you find yourself doing the same actions over and over again in your spreadsheets? Did you know you can create macros so that Excel can do that repetitive work for you? Macros are sets of instructions based on actions that you record while you work in your spreadsheet. After you record a macro, you can use it again as the need arises.
Check out training courses for the rest of the Office programs.


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There were 61 bookings at the San Joaquin County Jail in the 24 hours ending at 8 a.m. Thursday. At that time, there were 1,385 people held at the jail, which has an official capacity of 1,411. When the jail is full, some inmates may be released early.
The California Highway Patrol did not submit an incident report.
The Stockton Fire Department responded to 100 calls for service in the 24 hours ending at 8 a.m. Thursday, including three vehicle accidents, 71 medical calls and three structure fires.
Location, ST | website.com


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Knitting in America
by Melanie D. Falick
Buy it Now at Amazon.com
Editor's Note: Since we published this review in 2000, the book has gone out of print. But it has been re-released as a paperback under the title America Knits.
Previous reader comments
"Knitting in America by Melanie Falick... this particular book is how my knitting career started in January 1999. I saw the book and wanted it for my birthday. I enjoyed the photos and was inspired by the stories of the knitters. I put down my quilting needle and picked up knitting needles and wool and have not looked back since. It is a book that is so good, i pick it up again and again.. it sits on my coffee table. Melanie and Chris did a great job!" rsutton, 9/7/2001
"This is my favorite book in my collection of knitting books. I was very interested in the stories of the knitters featured in the book. A bonus, is definately that patterns are presented by each artist." Gail, 9/7/2001 Buy it Now at Amazon.com
Return to Book Reviews


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I have downloaded and extracted the Tar.gz file into my home folder.
location at /home/paul/qcad-3.0.0-rc2-prof-linux.
I can get it to run only if I manually start it using the qcad shell script file within that folder
how do I get the program manger to recognise this as a valid program, so that i can get it to appear in the programs list.


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'Girls,' Season 2, Episode 4, 'It's a Shame About Ray': TV Recap
This is my favorite episode of the season so far, even though there's no Adam. It's the tale of 2 dinner parties that go terribly awry. It's the perfect episode to demonstrate that while we may not always like the characters, understand their motives for lying, or agree with their decisions, we understand what it's like to be confused, to not know your way and to mess up.
Elijah is LIVID that it has come to this! He's packing his stuff up to move out, don't forget your round brush and astro glide! Hannah gets to keep all of the stuff Elijah's ex, George, bought to furnish the apartment because Elijah slept with Marnie. "I resent the fact this wasn't a dialogue, it was a monologue," Elijah pouts. Hannah says she made a mistake trying to "repurpose him" and some people should just remain in the past. (Truth). Elijah announces he won't pay rent this month for 2 reasons: 1. no funds 2. he paid for all of Hannah's burritos junior year. And they were way more expensive than a normal girl's burritos because she added spinach, guac and pecans. AND he paid for their butt plug. "You're probably still using it, so maybe you should pay me," Hannah retorts. (Is this the end of Elijah? That makes me sad. I enjoyed his character and his wit and when he'd call Hannah out on things).
Thomas-John has the most amazing view from his apartment. It's seriously amazing. It's time to meet Thomas-John's parents (um, a little late on that one), and anyone who knows anything knows this isn't going to go well. First, his parents are going to be early and we know Jessa can't be on time to save her life. "It's vile," she says. "They hate waiting," Thomas-John counters. They're going to a steak house, but Jessa doesn't eat meat unless she's menstruating. "I'm sure you'll find a delicate way to explain that," he says and she tries to convince him to have sex before they leave. This scene takes place when it's light out. By time they make their way to dinner, it is dark out. So clearly Jessa succeeded. Thomas-John is a nervous wreck.
Dinner is bad. Not the food, the conversation. Jessa does not fit into Thomas-John's world. All Thomas-John's exes were "very ambitious women." Jessa only went to college for 7 months and she left because she had to go to rehab for heroin. "You know, Jessa does her own hair," Thomas-John says loudly. But the parents want to talk about the heroin. "I never shot it, I only snorted it, that's important." The conversation doesn't get any better. "You certainly have lived a lot," Mom of Thomas-John says. "That's very impressive especially since I haven't heard a word about work." Jessa says she's going to figure it out. "It must be very nice to find yourself in such a successful 'situation," the mom continues. "Situation?" Thomas-John asks indignantly. "Well what's one supposed to call it?" "Well you're supposed to call it a marriage, mom, or a union. A union of souls." Oh, and Jessa doesn't believe in God. "I wish there was a Lord, but there isn't." Thomas-John ends dinner perfectly, "And this is why we didn't invite you to the wedding."
Back at the apartment with the amazing view, Thomas-John and Jessa have it out. Their marriage lasted all of 2 months, a record for some people, but not as long as Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries. (Aw, they returned the dogs to the pet store). "What was I supposed to do, lie?" Jessa asks. Thomas-John points out that wouldn't be the worst thing she's ever done. Jessa says Thomas-John thinks he's a free spirit because they lived together for 2 weeks, but she's been living this life for 20 years, and when she's 50 she's going to be so fat because she'll be full of experience. "You will have only lived with me and that will be the one thing you've got. It's disgusting." Thomas-John points out that Jessa isn't disgusted when she's spending his money. "The money is irrelevant to you? Do you think I think it's an accident that you ended up with the only finance guy who made a profit from the recession? I'm a miracle!" he shouts. "I'm a unicorn! I'm a needle in a haystack and you're just some dumb hipster who's munching my hay."
Jessa counters: "You're just some scared guy who didn't get laid until he was 16. No one liked you in high school and no one likes you now. I am embarrassed when we walk down the street because you're so average. I told my friends you were born a test tube baby just so you have a little edge."
"You're my worst nightmare," Thomas-John says. "I've never made a mistake like this before." He continues, "You know why I look hookers Jessa? Because they respect me. They don't say 'Oh I like your apartment' and then mumble under their breath about how it looks like the set of gay 'Entourage.' And they don't buy a bunch of Buddhas and put them everywhere so it looks like whenever we're having sex we're being watched by a bunch of fat babies."
"You're a ridiculous person," she says. "You're just a whore with no work ethic," he counters. And he gets punched in the mouth. That was a good punch. "How much money do you need to leave?" She comes up with 30,000. He counters with 10,000. She says 11,500 because she did things she didn't want to do. He says someone is going to make a movie out of her life called "hi I'm Jessa and I destroy people's lives because I'm bored." Her last act of revenge — she breaks his humanitarian award. (His Hummy).
Hannah is having a celebration because jazzhate.com is publishing her first piece. Charlie and Audrey (all headband-ed out) are there and Marnie walks in. Even though Marnie was invited (as a gesture), nobody expected her to come. (And Hannah is still really MAD at Marnie). Audrey wants to go but then Marnie offers to go, but then Hannah says everyone should stay, while waving a rather large knife, so everyone stays.
This dinner party is lame. Audrey and Shelby are starting a mustard company! Nobody cares. Audrey, who obviously hates Marnie, takes a dig at her employment status. "Are you hosting a poetry night?" Audrey asks meanly. No, she shows people to their tables. Oh, here are Ray and Shoshanna. They are late because they were having sex. The scene ends with the best line ever from Marnie to Audrey, "So, where do you get your headbands."
Dinner talk turns sexual. Marnie (the repressed one? the one who isn't experimental?) says she doesn't someone should be made to do something she doesn't want to do. Hannah says "unlike you I'll do almost anything sexually. The only thing I won't do ever again is a butt plug." Shoshanna: "What's a butt plug." Hannah: "you know what a butt plug is." Marnie to Hannah: "You want to take this one?" So comes the explanation of what a butt plug is. "Why would you want to plug it?" Shoshanna asks, honestly perplexed. "Do you want that?" she asks Ray. "No," Ray says. "Every guy wants it," Hannah says. Elijah begged her for it. We get to the word "butthole" and that word bothers Marnie. Makes her squeamish and uncomfortable. Ray points out Marnie may not like the word because she's thinking about Charlie and she can't have Charlie because Audrey is here. Marnie to Charlie: "I spend no time of my life thinking about that part of your body."
Now dinner gets REALLY INTERESTING because Audrey accuses Marnie of still thinking about Charlie. "You're showing up places all the time to see your ex-boyfriend" "and there was the time you showed up at his door in the middle of the night asking to sleep in his bed." Marnie: "He let me in." Audrey: "What was he going to do, turn away a crying mess? He probably thought you'd slit your wrists." (Hannah: "She's too self-involved to commit suicide."). "I'm tired of being polite," Audrey says. "You're a stepford psycho and I'm tired of seeing you around everywhere." Marnie: "Then leave." Audrey: "You leave." Marnie: "Hannah, who do you want to leave?" Hannah: "Charlie can pick who leaves." Marnie doesn't like that answer, so she storms to the roof.
Hannah tries to change the subject (or keep the dinner conversation going) by asking Ray if he's still living in Boerum Hill. That question opens up a whole new can of worms. Ray got kicked out of his place because his godmother had to move back in. (Oh, Charlie goes to check on Marnie and obviously Audrey hates that). So Ray doesn't really have a place to live…so he's been "living" at Shoshanna's. Only Shoshanna wasn't aware of this. "Oh my God do you live with me?"
Marnie is on the roof (another amazing view!). She's having a tough few months and doesn't know what the next year of her life is going to be like, I get it, but sometimes Marnie is one prissy S.O.B. I have continually wondered how Marnie and Hannah have remained friends because they are both "me, me, me" all the time.
Charlie apologizes for Audrey and says she's insecure. "Why, are her mustards not receiving enough accolades?" She's insecure because Audrey knows how close Marnie and Charlie were/are. Marnie says the key line of the episode, "I don't even know what I want." Charlie talks about all the ways Marnie is amazing and kisses/gropes her. "I'm seeing someone" Marnie says as she pulls back. When she tells Charlie it's Booth Jonathan (I still hate that name), he understandably flips. "That little ewok in capri pants?" Charlie: "Just know in your head will never again get any of this," he tells her, pointing at his crotch as he leaves the roof. He comes back down to Hannah's place and sees that Audrey left.
Now Shoshanna and Ray get into it. Shoshanna is upset because she's feeling used. She's not ok, but "we can talk about it when we get back to our shared home, which we apparently share. And I would have liked to have been informed of that fact so I could have bought new sheets or called my aunt for advice about living with a man for the first time." "We don't live together," Ray asserts. "Really? Really? So then where do you live when you're not living in my house 7 days a week?" she squeals. "In my Mitsubishi."
Later, as they wait for the subway, they have a calmer conversation. Shoshanna says Ray should have more interests and passions…and his own place. "You can't pay for anything…" Ray: "Just say it, I'm a loser. Don't you think I was counting down the days until you figured it out?" Oh yes, we learn Shoshanna is 21 and Ray is 33, and his one valuable possession in this world is a sign picture of Andy Kauffman. "What makes me worth dating? What makes me worth anything?" "That I'm falling in love with you," she says. "It's a cray thing to say, It's way too early for you to say something like that," he says. And then he admits that he loves her too. Her first love. Sweetest scene ever.
Hannah has been eating a bundt cake all this time while Charlie is frantically texting Audrey. Charlie is mad at Marnie. "She comes in here like a stalker with no idea of what's socially appropriate and she just drives out my sweet, sweet, sweet girlfriend." Hannah tells Charlie he's a jerk. "You know what kind of year she's had. First you guys break up then her dad loses his job, then she loses her job. Then she has sex with a gay man. Then she has to come over here and deal with your needs and your whining." The only thing Charlie cares about: "What gay man?" "That is none of your concern."
The night ends with Hannah naked (of course) in the tub singing Oasis's "Wonderwall." Jessa shows up (does EVERYONE have keys to her apartment?) in tears and gets in the tub with Hannah. She sits there crying in front of Hannah, completely naked, holding her hand. Until she snot-rockets into the tub. "Not even I would do that," Hannah says. And even though these girls are as different as can be, they can sit in the same bathtub, cry, blow their noses, and be there for each other.


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"Give Me Everything You Have," Lasdun's new memoir, describes how Nasreen became his Internet stalker. At the height of her harassment, she was writing him dozens of daily emails, defaming him online (in his Amazon reviews, his Wikipedia entry, the comment sections of his articles), and sending off denouncements to his colleagues and employers.
The story begins with an unexpected request for a favor. Two years after their class, Nasreen emails: She wants help with her book. Lasdun, no longer teaching, hesitates. But she's persistent, flattering, and after all, a talented writer. They fall into a regular correspondence. He's mostly terse but still helpful, putting her in touch with his agent and agreeing to read her work. She sends him chatty messages full of creative musings and daily gripes and links and Photoshopped self-portraits, but probably, he figures, this is just how younger people use the Internet.
The ominous precision of the book's early pages is riveting. Lasdun's description of email's slippery nuances will engross anyone who has ever changed "Hey!" to "hey-" to "HEY:" to "Dear James." With its unexpected courtliness, its unspoken rules and parameters, its strategic sense of tone, and its endless archives, email affords plenty of opportunity for close-reading daily life. Lasdun is a skilled and sensitive critic of the accidental epistolary novel we're all writing all the time.
Happily married, he does his best to discourage Nasreen's overtures while still serving as a friendly mentor. (Her manuscript impresses him: It features, he notes, an "interestingly unbalanced heroine.") At times, early on, Lasdun's equilibrium may startle the reader. "Nasreen's insistent, unstoppably amorous communications, often a dozen or more a day now, had begun to feel oppressive," he writes at one point. He responds to fewer and fewer of these emails. She, meanwhile, begins copying him on messages concerning a discrimination suit she's filing at her office job, messages in which "sex, gender, race, money, and Middle Eastern politics mingle" with a taste for "exhibitionistic boisterousness."
"This will be fun," Nasreen writes to her lawyer. "Let's call it legal performance art." The discrepancy between this emerging character and the quiet student he remembers distresses Lasdun. Had he misjudged her? Had he lazily imagined "the corniest archetype of demure Middle Eastern womanhood as concocted in the Western male psyche"? If he had, what would it mean for his abilities as a writer and observer of other humans? Or was she herself somehow changing? He stops responding altogether, and then things get bad.
"You had no integrity with me and you're using a God given talent to say nothing," she writes, in her first "unequivocally hostile" missive. "I don't want to hear about your family because your kids have a future of being thought of as Nazi Germans."
In quick succession follow more hostile messages, mapping out the main themes of the harassment to come: spasms of anti-Semitism ("Do you have to be the stereotype of a Jew, James?"), accusations of artistic fraud ("You steal. You steal. You steal"), accusations of sexual impropriety ("Morgan College, your brothel"), and demands ("I want your apartment give me your f****** keys").
"I think this is called verbal terrorism," Nasreen eventually writes.
"Though I didn't quite know it yet," Lasdun says, "I had entered the realm of stricken enchantment in which technology and psychology overlap, where the magical thinking of the primitive mind, with its susceptibility to spells, curses, witchcraft of every kind, converges with the paranoias peculiar to our own age."
Lasdun progresses from confusion to horror as he realizes the scope of Nasreen's campaign to "ruin" him. From her voluminous correspondence (with himself and an expanding array of his associates), Lasdun gathers that he is racist, misogynist, and Zionist; that he has appropriated Nasreen's ideas for use in his fiction, slept with his students (although not Nasreen herself), and conspired with his agent and an editor to sell material from Nasreen's novel-in-progress to other writers. He hopes that most of her accusations are obviously absurd, but he also believes in the power of words-and in the tendency of people to believe what they read.
The Internet, he suggests, has perhaps reversed the modern tendency to favor verified fact over rumor, allowing notions of reputation and honor to regain the traction they had in the past. Online we're not so different from medieval knights or Victorian governesses: All we have are our good names, and any outlandish smear may tarnish them. You will be judged based on "this strange new emanation of yourself, your Internet presence." Fortunately for Lasdun, though, the eerie weightlessness of online words can also allow them to vanish: Lasdun reports Amazon slanders and they go away, as does the fart joke Nasreen slipped into his Wikipedia page. Years later, a thorough Googling won't turn up much to damage his reputation. (GoodReads, unlike Amazon, has no "report" function, so her one-star review of his "racist and horribly frightening" story collection remains.) But the most visible sign of Nasreen's handiwork is Lasdun's own extreme vigilance. "This is the official website of the writer James Lasdun, and the only reliably accurate source of information about his work," announces jameslasdun.com.
"You don't have to be a writer to imagine how it feels to find yourself the object of a malicious attack on the Internet," Lasdun writes, and indeed, his story makes a thoughtful addition to broader conversations about "cyberbullying." Still, he seems uncomfortable with the implications of writing about his own life. "Why should anyone but me be interested in these intimate, personal matters?" he wonders while working on a poem about his father, chiding himself for not addressing more "self-evidently important subjects." This concern seems to haunt his memoir as well, and he addresses it partly by engaging with Nasreen's attacks in the same geopolitical vocabulary she's adopted. "It seemed to confer a more dignified solemnity on our conflict," he writes. "Better to be found complicit in the original sins of Israeli history than in some act of petty plagiarism."
Late in the book, in fact, Lasdun actually travels to Jerusalem, which doesn't quite seem like the most effective response to Nasreen's "verbal terrorism"-either for practical purposes or literary resonance. What a reader might find to be a more persuasive understanding of her behavior-that it's a product of mental illness-Lasdun admits that he prefers to ignore. "As soon as you reduce human behavior to a pathology," he writes, "it becomes, for literary purposes, less interesting (at least to me)." But his own response to that pathology, his attempts to resist its chaos, are interesting; much more so than the disquisitions on Israel and literature that he presents in an apparent effort to establish his story's broader significance.
Lasdun is scrupulously polite, self-deprecating, and deliberate as he presents his saga. He's at pains to acknowledge any burdens placed on his audience's interest or belief. His account is salted with little apologies for subjectivity; I lost count of the number of asides along the lines of "(at least to me)." But his flights of writerly fancy can provoke impatience, and (at least for me) guilt over that impatience. Reflections on his father, an account of a train trip-he'd been so generous with his empathy for me as a reader, and I couldn't even allow him this? No, evidently I could not. Come on, back to the crazy lady. Paranoia begins to seem like Nasreen's lasting curse. In her wake, Lasdun's self-flagellation is exhaustive and sometimes exhausting. He admits everything (unseemly attractions, unfair judgments, vestigial prejudices) before any imagined adversary can accuse him.
Also paranoiac, in a different sense, is the endlessly evolving network of literary analogies he assembles. "The Duino Elegies," "The Penitent," Sylvia Plath, DH Lawrence, "Strangers on a Train," "Tintin," "Gawain and the Green Knight"-after a while it begins to look like everything is connected to everything else and it all connects back to Lasdun. In an acutely stressful and irrational situation, he explains, "you start to attach great importance to any circumstance that resonates with your own. These things become your signs: the clues that, if you follow them correctly, will enable you (so you believe) to penetrate the mystery that stands before you."
Of course Lasdun doesn't actually think everything is all about him. He's too modest and too self-aware, as his constant apologies make clear. But the palpable effort required to analyze online experiences without sounding like an egotistical maniac (IS EVERYONE LOOKING AT ME?) comes to seem like the book's central concern. While Internet privacy (timely!) and stalking (scandalous!) are snazzy talking points, "Give Me Everything You Have" is most revealing as a psychological portrait of lives split online and off, and difficulty of weighing what happens in one world against the other. Nasreen's behavior and Lasdun's response suggest different solutions to the same problems: They're both struggling to keep themselves in balance, without the steady certainty of solid ground.


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Sebelius Declines to Say If She Ever Offered Resignation
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the administration official who has been the face of the Affordable Care Act and who has shouldered much of the blame for the troubled HealthCare.gov website, declined to say Friday whether she had ever offered her resignation to President Barack Obama.
"I'm not going to discuss what I talk about with the president," she said during an appearance in Miami.
Mrs. Sebelius has spent the last three-and-a-half years implementing the Affordable Care Act. So, when problems began to mount amid the botched rollout of the online insurance marketplace, a number of Republican lawmakers called for her dismissal or resignation.
More In Health Law Rollout
- A Selection of Jonathan Gruber's White House Emails
- Ohio's Gov. Kasich Clarifies: I Still Oppose Obamacare
- Immigrant Groups Try to Block Termination of Health Plans
- Americans Still Not Sold on Obamacare - WSJ/NBC Poll
- Affordable Care Act Exemptions - The Short Answer
- Study: Selling Health Insurance at Christmas Is Bad Idea
So far, the Obama administration hasn't fired anyone for the malfunctioning website, but the White House brought in Jeffrey Zients, a trusted adviser, to lead the effort to fix HealthCare.gov.
Mr. Obama has stood by Mrs. Sebelius, noting that she didn't write the code for the website. On Friday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney would not address the question of whether Mrs. Sebelius had offered to resign but repeated that the president has confidence in his cabinet secretary and appreciates the work she has done.
In Miami, Mrs. Sebelius also waved off a question about whether the president's promise that "if you like your plan, you can keep your plan" was a lie. This week, the fact-checking website Politifact.com named the president's repeated assurances about keeping health coverage "the lie of the year."
For the last few years, Mr. Obama has said dozens of times that the Affordable Care Act would not force people to change their health insurance. After millions of Americans began receiving notices that their health coverage had been cancelled, Mr. Obama announced that he would allow canceled plans that don't meet the law's requirements to be extended for a year.
"The statement about keeping your plan was one that is applicable to the vast majority of Americans in the health insurance market," Mrs. Sebelius said Friday.
The Miami Herald posted video of Mrs. Sebelius's remarks online.


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You will visit: France, Belgium (in transit), Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina (in transit), Italy, Vatican City
The European Spirit is THE sightseeing tour. Start in Paris, finish in Rome and in between.....let your imagination run wild! Cruise the canals in Amsterdam, wander the cobbled streets of Prague and watch the sun set from a cliffside bar in Dubrovnik.
Ready to book? Want to talk to a specialist?
Top Offers & Trip Notes
Itinerary + Inclusions & ME Time Optionals
ME Time Optionals
ME Time optionals will take your trip to a whole new level with unforgettable experiences unique to the places you visit. See more, do more, live more & go home completely regret-free. Costs for these aren't included in your tour cost & are payable to your Trip Manager in local currency.
On our trips we don't just take you to the destinations, we make sure you get under the skin of every place you visit. From amazing food & accommodation, to exclusive access to incredible experiences, with Contiki you'll get unbeatable value & a completely unique travel experience.
Check-in to the hotel and get to know your fellow travellers and Tour Manager, who knows all the ins and outs of the regions you're going to visit.
After dinner we will depart for the 'Paris by Night'tour, where the French capital transforms into the "City of Lights". Lamp-lit bridges and cool little cafés give us a real taste of Paris' romance. Your Tour Manager will fill you in on the world's most recognised monuments, like the Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tower. If you're adventurous, get right into French culture when you arrive at a Parisian café with the opportunity to try out France's national delicacy – escargot! You'll also get to toast the start of your tour with French Champagne.
- Exclusive 'Paris by Night' sightseeing tour with Champagne & escargot
- See the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, the Champs-Élysées, and Notre Dame Cathedral
This town is loaded with possibilities. Discover its many bistros, museums, tree-lined avenues and diverse quartiers (neighbourhoods).
Get a feel for French flair by window shopping on the Left Bank, step into the Notre Dame Cathedral or explore the endless galleries of the Louvre and get up close to the famous Mona Lisa. Try indulging in some delicious pastries and relax in one of Paris' many green spaces.
Tonight, treat yourself to a real Parisian night out, starting with an optional dinner in an atmospheric restaurant, where you can get to know your group. Then sign up for an authentic cabaret experience, complete with can-can girls and Champagne.
- Parisian Dinner Euro 36.00
- Nouvelle Eve cabaret show Euro 80.00
Cut through 3 countries in one day, as we roll on to the free-wheeling, buzzing city of Amsterdam.
Check out Amsterdam's eye-opening Red Light District, where the creative and wacky come together on narrow cobbled streets, 24/7.
- See Amsterdam's canals & gable houses by night
Cruise into the countryside and bike around like the laid back locals, past working windmills, to the world-famous cheese village of Edam. In an intro into Dutch culture, see how clogs are made at a clog maker's house and try some of the famous Dutch Edam at a cheese farm.
Free time this afternoon to experience Amsterdam's coffee shops, museums and quirky boutiques. Wander along the canals and past gabled houses or try out Amsterdam's multi-ethnic cuisine. This cultural melting pot dishes up loads of affordable food.
With an optional evening canal cruise, there's a chance to toast your travels with the group, unwind with a few drinks and uncover another angle on Amsterdam at water level. Get some pointers on the city's hot spots from your Tour Manager and head into town for a fun night out.
- See canals & a windmill on a countryside bike tour in Edam
- Visit a cheese farm & clog maker's house
- Canal cruise (1 hour) Euro 24.00
- Volendam Dinner Euro 31.50
Motor down the autobahn and get ready for a dose of über-cool Berlin.
With two nights in this historical hot spot, you've got time to find out what makes Germany's capital one of the most cutting-edge cities in the world. It's hard to believe that this funky town has had such a troubled past.
On arrival your Trip Manager will peel back the layers of history and point out the lesser-known details of Berlin's troubled past on an orientation tour of the city.
- See the Tiergarten, Alexanderplatz, Russian War Memorial, Brandenburg Gate & historic Reichstag building
- Take in commemorative artwork & the remains of the Berlin Wall
Today why not join a local guide for a tour? Learn about the East/West split at the Berlin Wall and check out the controversial Reichstag (German Parliament) as well as Tiergarten (one the world's biggest parks). You'll also visit Checkpoint Charlie, where many East Berliners tried to escape to the West, and be reminded of Germany's darker past at the Brandenburg Gate.
With free time, get inspired by Berlin's creative scene and check out its galleries and street art. As a world forerunner in contemporary art, Berlin's walls are covered in cutouts and graffiti.
Shopping-wise, this town has it all and is right up there defining style. Berlin is great for small boutiques, funky fashions and one-of-a-kind buys. Your Trip Manager knows Berlin's ins and outs, so get some pointers before you splurge.
Do as the Berliners do and grab a currywurst (a local favourite) and kick back at a Bierkeller (German beer house).
Experience the world of espionage in an optional evening Cold War & Cold Drinks tour with our Local Guide, and enjoy a fascinating look into the Stasi (what was once the East German Secret Police). Then top off your time in Berlin with some of your new friends and explore the city's legendary nightlife. With cool cocktail bars and some of the best techno clubs in the world, there are heaps of fun choices.
- See the site of Checkpoint Charlie
- Berlin historical walking tour Euro 9.50
- Cold War & Cold Drinks Euro 16.50
Heading south, we roll on to the region of Dresden, often dubbed 'Florence of the North' because of its beauty.
This town completely rebuilt itself after being flattened in World War II. Your Tour Manager will show you Dresden's signature buildings, like the Opera house, the domed Frauenkirche, the Royal Residence – once home to the Saxon Kings – and the massive Zwinger Palace, where the royals went to party!
Lunchtime! Go local and hang out in a river side beer garden, order some hearty German dishes with regional specialities like sour roast and potato soup.
Then we head over the border and into the Czech Republic to Prague.
Prague is a beautiful and atmospheric city. It's also pretty compact, so it's best explored on foot. Get straight into Prague's historic heart with your Tour Manager. You'll walk together over the landmark Charles Bridge, through Hradčany Castle, the home of the original Bohemian Kings and to the gothic St. Vitus Cathedral along the way.
By night, Prague is loaded with all types of music, from jazz bars and hip DJs to opera. There is something for everyone, so make the most of it with the group.
- Visit Dresden the city destroyed in World War II and known as the 'Florence of the North'
- See the rebuilt Baroque architecture of the Royal Residence, Zwinger Palace, Opera House and Frauenkirche
- See Hradčany Castle, the Cathedral of St. Vitus, Charles Bridge and Wenceslas Square
- Visit the Old Town Square and see the Astronomical Clock
Have a go on two wheels and discover Prague on an optional bike tour with our Local Guide, who knows all the city's ins and outs. Exploring by bike is the perfect way to get an overview of this compact city, as you can hit the back alleys and side streets of the old town.
More free time means you can get deeper into Prague's Old Town in your own time. The city itself is a UNESCO World Heritage site, with a jumble of little lanes, alleys and courtyards. Slow the pace down and give yourself a chance to uncover its hidden treasures. This is also the spot to pick up some famous Bohemian glass, beads or garnet and amber jewellery.
Choose a river cruise on the Vltava, which runs through the heart of Prague, and take in stunning views of the city from the water. The Czech capital has a really mixed past so look out for signs of the Holy Roman Empire, the Bohemian Empire, the Nazis and the Communists.
By night, Prague is loaded with all types of music, from jazz bars and hip DJs to opera. There is something for everyone, so make the most of it with the group, and finish your travels off here with a night to remember.
- River cruise with buffet meal Euro 29.00
- Prague bike tour Euro 20.50
Southbound, we head across the boarder into Austria.
Next stop is the cultural hub of Vienna. Tonight, there's a chance to experience Vienna's musical legacy with a Mozart and Strauss concert in one of the city's imperial palaces.
- Mozart & Strauss concert Euro 30.00
Your Trip Manager starts the day by introducing the group to the city's historical heritage. There's the imperial grandeur of Schönbrunn Palace, the elegantly ornate State Opera House and St. Stephen's Cathedral – a Gothic masterpiece. Cruise down Kärntner Strasse, Vienna's main shopping spot and buy some traditional ceramics and materials for gifts back home.
There's free time to check out the magnificent squares and majestic palaces or the city's art galleries. Take a break in a coffee house like the locals do, chill out in Vienna's manicured gardens or wander along the Danube River.
Get schnaps savvy with a behind-the-scenes look into this local liqueuer's production in an optional excursion to the Old Vienna Schnaps Museum.
- See Schönbrunn Palace, St. Stephen's Cathedral & the State Opera House
- Scenic drive along the historic Ring Road
- Old Vienna Schnaps Museum Euro 7.00
- Schnitzel and Screams Euro 33.00
Cross through the unspoiled Alpine scenery of Slovenia to Croatia's political and cultural core, Zagreb. With tonnes of historic architecture and old-world charm, this is a true Balkan gem.
Free time this afternoon means a chance to get outdoors and explore the 18 hectares of Maksimir Park, the city centre's largest green space, complete with elegant pavilions and promenades.
For something different, go local and head to the Dolac quarter's fresh produce markets, where you can try out regional specialties like ribice (small fried sardines) and cevapi (grilled minced meat).
Tonight, liven things up with a fun night out, either on the city's main square or by the water at Jarun Lake, if the weather is warm.
Set out for Croatia's sparkling coastline as we journey to the spectacular fortress town of Dubrovnik, well known as the "Pearl of the Adriatic".
With Baroque buildings, museums and monasteries, this eye-catching UNESCO World Heritage Site is great to explore. Get lost in the walled city's web of winding streets.
You've got free time so pull up at a table in the pedestrian district of the stunning Old Town. Lunch on fantastic fresh seafood or a spicy beef stew. For full scale views of the area, wander along the 2kms of Old Town walls or hike up Mt. Srj.
Otherwise, take a moment to remember Croatia's recent history visiting the war memorial or the war photo exhibition. Or else get away from it with a taste of paradise on the small neighbouring island of Lokrum. With botanical gardens, a small lake and gorgeous beaches, this is the perfect place to chill out.
In the afternoon, try our optional Dubrovnik Cruise. Jump on the family-run boat and island hop!
- Locally guided walking tour in Dubrovnik
- See the fortified city & the Old Port
- Boat Cruise Euro 23.00
Weaving up the Dalmatian Coast towards Split, we pass crystal clear waters scattered with green islands.
Get up close to Roman heritage when you wander through the domain of Diocletian's Palace in the city centre, complete with 220 buildings and a huge cathedral.
Zadar is the next stop with its medieval churches and marble streets. Check-out the local man-made wonder, the Sea Organ, where surging water bursts through holes cut into the rock. If you're keen, grab a few buddies and hang out among the lively student population that fills the town's bars and cafés.
- See Diocletian's Palace in Split
Today we'll head to little Ljubljana, Slovenia's happening university town and colourful capital. Compact and user-friendly, it's easy to discover on foot and with a gorgeous hill-top castle and striking river, it's a great place to hang out. Take a walk along the shaded riverside paths or head to the city's popular meeting point, Presernov Tg, the central town square where you can watch lively street musicians and performers.
- See Ljubljana's castle & old town
Use your free time this morning to explore the pretty town of Bled.
Sticking to the Adriatic coast, we roll through Slovenia and into Venice. Watch the scenery change and maybe practice some of your Italian phrases!
Known as the "floating city", Venice is packed with character, crammed with hidden lanes and linked by a network of canals.
The group travels on our private boat through the waters of the lagoon to visit the city's historical heart. The limestone Bridge of Sighs, the Gothic arches of the Doge's Palace and the expanse of St Mark's Square (pigeons and all!) show off Venice's unique beauty and way of life.
Take some time to explore the floating city and lose yourself in the backstreets. There's an optional walking tour where you can discover the labyrinth of interweaving lanes, waterways, palaces, piazzi and markets with our Local Guide. You'll see historic monuments, hidden treasures and the Rialto market – a local favourite for food shopping.
Maybe grab a table on St Mark's Square and eat some delicious Italian food al fresco.
Cap off the day with an optional gondola ride & share this amazing experience with your friends - seeing Venice from on the water is unforgettable!
- Private boat through the canals & islands of Venice
- See the Bridge of Sighs, the Doge's Palace & St. Mark's Square
- See Venice's iconic canals & gondolas
- Secrets of Venice Walking Tour Euro 11.00
- Gondola ride Euro 22.00
Wind through the Apennine Mountains and Tuscan countryside to the Renaissance city of Florence.
The scene-stealing Duomo Cathedral rises above Florence, which serves up frescoes, markets and priceless art. Spend the afternoon uncovering this open-air museum.
Our Local Guide gives you the inside track as the group learns about Florence's cultural beginnings and explores streets crammed with artworks from masters like Michelangelo. Then take a look into a skillful demonstration of Florentine leather making and understand this region's traditional art.
With bargains and bustle, the city's markets are a great place to hang out. Grab a gelato and enjoy this gorgeous city.
Tonight there's a choice of a group dinner – an authentic Tuscan feast, where you'll get to try regional dishes in the heart of Florence. Afterwards, head with the group to a local bar, order yourself a glass of Chianti wine and kick back Tuscan style.
- Discover the Secrets of Michelangelo's Florence – see where his David was gifted to the Florentines, Ponte Vecchio, the Medici Palace & much more on our locally guided walking tour of Florence
- See the Duomo, Basilica Santa Croce, Giotto's Bell Tower, the Baptistry & Piazza della Signoria
- Learn about Florence's leather craft with a demonstration
- Tuscan Meal Euro 22.00
- Souvenir group photo Euro 11.00
Travel through Tuscany's rustic hills, past the recognisable cypress tree landscapes of this olive oil-producing region to vibrant Rome, via a stop off at the iconic Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Our special access coach tour gets you right into the thriving atmosphere of this living timeline as your Tour Manager shows you the Colosseum and Piazza Venezia. Continue on foot to check out the Pantheon and Piazza Navona. Honour tradition at the Trevi Fountain and throw a coin in the fountain's waters (it's meant to improve your chances of returning to Rome!) or maybe hang out with your new friends at the Spanish Steps, sit back with a few slices of pizza and people watch.
- See the Leaning Tower of Pisa
- Special access Rome sightseeing coach tour
- See the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Piazza Venezia, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon & Piazza Navona
- See St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City
This morning, make the most of our Local Guide's inside knowledge with an optional guided tour of the Vatican Museums, including the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. Then check out Rome's imperial glory by visiting the Colosseum and Roman Forum.
Take off into the city and absorb the atmosphere, as Vespas flash past timeworn monuments that are surrounded by fountains, pizzerias, cafés and bars. Before you hit the shops, let your Tour Manager point you in the right direction with some tips on the best buys.
Live the local lifestyle by indulging in a long lunch on a paved piazza or knock back a shot of espresso at the bar, like the Romans do.
Tonight, make the last night on tour one to remember, and head out into the Roman nightlife with your friends.
- Vatican Tour Euro 34.00
- Rome of the Emperors and Gladiators including the Colosseum Euro 29.00
The trip ends after breakfast & it's time to say "arrivederci" to your new friends.
Ready to book?


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Madeline Vann, MPH
Squamous cell carcinoma is a form of skin cancer. It is the second most common form of skin cancer.
The cancer develops in the uppermost layer of skin cells. Squamous cell carcinoma usually grows slowly. It is rarely fatal if treated early. However, the cancer can be lethal if it spreads beyond the skin.
Copyright © Nucleus Medical Media, Inc.
Cancer occurs when cells in the body divide without control or order. Eventually these uncontrolled cells form a growth or tumor. The growths invade and take over nearby tissue. It is not clear exactly what causes these problems in the cells but it is probably a combination of genetics and the environment.
Areas of skin that are damaged have a higher risk of cancer. Skin that is regularly exposed to the sun is most likely to develop skin cancer. Squamous cell carcinoma may also develop in skin that has scars, burns, or exposure to chemicals or radiation.
Factors that increase your risk of developing squamous cell carcinoma include:
Symptoms include:
You will be asked about your symptoms and medical history. A physical exam will be done.
The skin growth will be examined. A sample of the growth will be taken and examined for cancer cells. This will help determine the stage and type of the cancer.
The information will be used to guide treatment and make a prognosis.
Talk with your doctor about the best treatment plan for you. Options include:
For people who are not able to have surgery, other treatment options include:
To reduce your chances of getting squamous cell carcinoma, take these steps:
American Academy of Dermatology
American College of Mohs Micrographic Surgery
Canadian Dermatology Association
Canadian Cancer Society
Alberta Provincial Cutaneous Tumour Team. Prevention of skin cancer. Edmonton (Alberta): CancerControl Alberta; 2013 Feb. 27 p. (Clinical practice guideline; no. CU-014). Available at: http://www.guideline.gov/content.aspx?id=48130#Section420. Accessed February 25, 2015.
Jerant A, Johnson J, et al. Early detection and treatment of skin cancer.
Am Fam Physician. 2000 Jul 15;62(2):357.
Saraiya M, et al. Preventing skin cancer.
MMWR. 2003 Oct 17;52(RR15):1-12.
Available at:
Accessed February 25, 2015.
Squamous cell carcinoma. EBSCO DynaMed website. Available at:
http://www.ebscohost.com/dynamed. Updated January 16, 2015. Accessed February 25, 2015.
Squamos cell carcinoma. American Academy of Dermatology website. Available at:
http://www.aad.org/skin-conditions/dermatology-a-to-z/squamous-cell-carcinoma. Accessed February 25, 2015.
Sunscreen FAQs. American Academy of Dermatology website. Available at: https://www.aad.org/media-resources/stats-and-facts/prevention-and-care/sunscreens. Accessed February 25, 2015.
Last reviewed February 2015 by Michael Woods, MD
Please be aware that this information is provided to supplement the care provided by your physician. It is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. CALL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new treatment or with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
Copyright © EBSCO Publishing. All rights reserved.


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Women's Nike Court Tranxition Basketball Shoes
Buy Online & Pick Up In-Store
Inspired by the court, yet perfect for everyday wear, the Nike Court Tranxition is an ideal combination of elements from the past and today's style. The durable leather upper and high-top silhouette ensure comfort and support, while the cushioned midsole adds extra comfort where you need it. An environmentally friendly outsole made of rubber allows for plenty of traction, rounding out the total package on these standout kicks.
- UPPER: Leather
- MIDSOLE: Cushioned
- OUTSOLE: Environmentally friendly rubber


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The WV Division of Homeland Security and Emergency management is requesting homeowners in Jackson County to contact FEMA. Jackson County is a non-designated county for Individual Assistance for homeowners who received damages during the wind storm (Derecho) on June 29, 2012. Homeowners must register with FEMA.
Registering with FEMA may increase Jackson County's chances to be Assistance which means individuals with losses can obtain disaster assistance,
Please call 1-800-621-FEMA (3362).
Although you may have been inspected earlier by FEMA or the State Damage Assessment Team, it is imperative you call and register with FEMA.
The state monitors these registrations and uses the information gained to provide justification to FEMA when requesting the addition of counties to a disaster, and therefore it is very important that anyone in Jackson County with disaster-related losses call the 800 FEMA number to register.
There is a deadline for the state to make this request for adding Jackson County.
Location, ST | website.com


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Research Experiences for Undergraduates
Energy Generation and Storage
At Binghamton University (State University of NY)
DUE February 19, 2016
Theme: Renewable Energy Generation and Storage
Faculty: Chemistry, Physics, Materials Science and Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Participating Research Center: Center for Autonomous Solar Power
Dates of program: May 31, 2016 to July 29, 2016
Support for REU students:
- $4000 stipend
- Housing in dormitories provided if needed
- Travel subsidy to and from Binghamton – up to $500
- Meal allowance for the eight week period: $500
Research activities:
Students will work with a faculty mentor on a topic related to that faculty member's research. Research will typically involve experimental work using the extensive facilities at Binghamton University. Students will receive additional education training in safety, research ethics, and renewable energy and storage. Group meetings and social activities will be held each week.
Other activities:
Binghamton's summers are almost ideal for outdoor activities. The university is very near the Finger Lakes region and within four hours of New York City and Philadelphia. Other organized students groups will be active in the summer at Binghamton, and the REU program will coordinate its student activities with them to offer additional opportunities for all students.


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"Boys, I'm one of those umpires that misses 'em every once in a while so if it's close, you'd better hit it." Cal Hubbard
RedsBaron (01-19-2014)
Dom Heffner (01-18-2014)
George Anderson (01-19-2014),_Sir_Charles_ (01-20-2014)
Am I the only person that every time I see "RIP - The Professor" I think of the AND1 mixtape streetballer?
Considering Mary Ann probably has enough money now to make the Howells look bourgeois, I'd let her be my Sugar Mama.
Burn down the disco. Hang the blessed DJ. Because the music that he constantly plays, it says nothing to me about my life.
OK. Some channel (I think it is TV Land) has starting showing Gilligan's Island again. So last night, with nothing better to do, I thought I'd watch an episode or two for old time's sake. Yes, I used to enjoy the program as a kid when I'd get home from school and watch it before dinner time (syndicated then... I am not that old lol). It was so bad and stupid that I had to turn the channel after 15 minutes of it. Just really BAD TV. The acting, the script, etc, etc.
So... am I just too old now to "get it"? Was this program designed for kids that are younger than 12 yr old and/or people who were Timothy Leary followers back in the day? It made Erik Estrada look like an Oscar winning actor.
Small market fan... always hoping, but never expecting.
Board Moderators may, at their discretion and judgment, delete and/or edit any messages that violate any of the following guidelines: 1. Explicit references to alleged illegal or unlawful acts. 2. Graphic sexual descriptions. 3. Racial or ethnic slurs. 4. Use of edgy language (including masked profanity). 5. Direct personal attacks, flames, fights, trolling, baiting, name-calling, general nuisance, excessive player criticism or anything along those lines. 6. Posting spam. 7. Each person may have only one user account. It is fine to be critical here - that's what this board is for. But let's not beat a subject or a player to death, please.


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If you skipped straight to the Hands-on sections in Chapter 3 then reach paragraph 2 in the section Hands-on: Printing a Drawing and the "Click the button to center your drawing on the paper." does not work here is the reason.
The section The First Start in Chapter 2 says to use the unit 'Millimeters'.
When in Chapter 3 your drawing units are supposed to be Millimeters.
If you want your sample to look nearly exactly the way the one in the book looks, scrap your current drawing and start a new one.
Before drawing anything go to menu Edit/Current Drawing Preferences - Tab Units and set them to Millimeters.
If your not concerned about matching the samples in the book but just want to get the drawing onto the page:
Use the button Fit to Page.


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The CHART Teen Task Force will host its 17th Teen Health Fair from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 2, at the Admiral Coontz Recreation Center in downtown Hannibal.
The Health Fair features booths on health and safety for teens, a DJ with music, free prizes for teens, and free food for all visitors. At the Health Fair, teens can learn about seat belt safety with the convincer sled. Information on prevention of lung and skin cancers and sexually transmitted diseases will be discussed. Teens can have vision screening. This free teen event is designed to promote healthy lifestyle choices for teens, and is an opportunity for church youth groups, scout groups, school groups and families with teens to combine fun and learning.
Over 30 booths will provide information for teens, and all teens will be eligible for prizes. The Teen Health Fair is made possible by many generous donations from area merchants and individuals, the Riedel Foundation, Evening Kiwanis, and the United Way of the Mark Twain Area. The event is co-sponsored by the CHART Teen Task Force and Hannibal Parks and Recreation.
For information contact Dr. Sandra Ahlum at 231-3108.
Location, ST | website.com


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Alliance for new antibiotics
27.02.2013 - Xellia Pharmaceuticals and the Statens Serum Institute have kicked-off a collaboration to find new medicines against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
The 4 -year collaboration of the Norwegian firm with Trondheim-based SINTEF Materials and Chemistry and the Danish Institute (Copenhagen) focusses on developing novel antibiotics to combat multi-drug resistant (MDR), Gram-negative bacteria. Supported with US$3m from the Research Council of Norway, it will target Pseudomonas, Klebsiella, Acinetobacter and Enterobacter species.
Severe sepsis and septic shock due to such infections claim up to 135,000 lives each year in Europe and 215,000 in the US. Resistance to existing antibiotics has become a major healthcare issue worldwide. In the EU alone, infections due to serious hospital-based MDR infections have been reported to cost between €28,500 and €70,100 per surviving patient.
Recently, pan-drug resistant (PDR) and even so-called extensively drug resistant (XDR) Gram-negative bacteria have started to appear, taking the treatment situation to a critical point. The lack of novel antibiotics is significantly compromising the survival and recovery of patients suffering from these infections. At present, only two antibiotic subclasses are still available to treat XDR infections, polymyxins and tigecycline. They have been used for 60-70 years without developing a significant resistance. However, these antibiotics are known to exhibit elevated nephrotoxicity (affecting kidney function) and are, therefore, not ideal for systemic treatment of XDR-infections.
Xellia aims at developing new, polymyxin-like drugs with fewer side-effects. The SINTEF and Statens Serum Institut research groups are specialists in fermentation development and drug testing. Xellia already markets four antibiotics targeting Gram-negative bacteria.
© eurobiotechnews.eu/tghttp://www.european-biotechnology-news.com/news/news/2013-01/alliance-for-new-antibiotics.html


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Nike Free TR Fit Valentines Day Women's Training Shoes
Buy Online & Pick Up In-Store
Strengthen your foot while doing your fitness training in the Nike Free TR Fit. Phylite cushioning in the midsole for a soft, responsive ride. Deep flex grooves help mimic barefoot movement.
- Nike Free flexibility for strengthening your foot, now in a training shoe for lateral movements.
- Valentines Day


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In honor of World MS Day on May 26, we asked Julie Hare of Napa's Counter Punch, a winery dedicated to the fight against multiple sclerosis, to share the resources that have helped her the most. Here they are in her own words.
Hare, 52, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2009. Counter Punch Wines donates 10 percent of proceeds to fighting MS. Go to www.counterpunchwines.com.
1. UCSF MS support group.
"Dr. Elizabeth Crabtree leads this community of positive, proactive people," Hare says. "(Along) with educational topics, it allowed us to interact with people who knew what we were going through." http://multiplesclerosis.ucsf.edu.
2. Pilot study on Stress and Pain Management for People Living With MS
"I learned various coping skills and relaxation techniques, like visualization," Hare says. The study is sponsored by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. www.nationalmssociety.org.
3. Free telecounseling sessions
"The counselor helped me accept my diagnosis," Hare says. www.nationalmssociety.org.
4. Webinars and in-person seminars
"These seminars covered beneficial topics such as MS and yoga, relationships and intimacy, benefits of mindfulness and improving mobility," Hare says. www.mscando.org.
5. Attitudinal Health and Healing Support Group
"I benefitted from participating in the local (Napa) group for at least one year," she says. "The 12 principles of ATHH can be found on their website and I use them even today." www.ahinternational.org.


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I have recently been asked to attend the GPLv3 conference later this month in Boston at MIT, and so I thought this was a good time to share how I personally view the GNU General Public License (GPL), and how it has touched my life.
Some seem to view software as a closed sphere; meaning that one person or group's success must come at the expense of another's. For those that have this rather selfish and narrow view of a closed world of zero sum games, I guess it makes sense to be able to take software and ideas that others have created, and offer them back with some modifications as proprietary solutions under the exclusive control of one individual or group.
From my view, I care not whether someone else is more or less successful with any given software or market than I am, nor do I view "the market" as a closed system where gain is only possible at the expense others, but rather as an open system without limits. What I do care deeply about, however, is that in the future others are able to enjoy the same freedoms and advantages that I have enjoyed. To me, the GNU GPL remains the best and most effective means to accomplish this today.
While the GNU GPL has enjoyed great success in the past, there are important challenges which I feel were not fully anticipated or originally addressed. The first is the question and challenge of software offered as a remote service. The second is the question of software patenting.
The question of software as a service is important. First, what if I take, say for example, SQL-Ledger, which is a web based accounting system offered under the GNU GPL, modify it in some way, particularly for some peculiarity in the way I do my own books, and then offer it to my employees through an internal web site. I think virtually everyone agrees this is a legitimate activity, that no "distribution" has occurred, and that I should be free to be able to do this. Certainly there is no GNU GPL question involved in this.
Now consider, instead, I choose to open an "ASP" model "accounting" service that I offer to the general public. Again, I take SQL Ledger, modify it in some manner, and keep these changes proprietary. Because the user is remote and the software executes on my server, I might legally get around the specific language in the current GNU GPL and hence my obligation to share my changes. But clearly I would have also violated the clear intent of the licensor and copyright holder of SQL Ledger in the process, who's generosity has enabled me to open my asp accounting business in the first place.
The question of software idea patenting is an even more insidious challenge. When a traditional patent is offered on a "machine", this means that nobody else can duplicate or make a machine that did something in a specific way. However, this does not prevent someone from creating a machine that achieves the same result through a different method.
When a patent is secured on an idea, the patent doesn't cover just how one person might express or implement an idea. Idea patenting excludes anyone else from producing a similar end result, no matter how clever they are or how differently they might choose to do so. A software idea patent excludes all other potential implementations of a given solution. I think that the way in which the GNU GPLv3 chooses to address these two fundamental challenges to freedom will determine the immediate future of the free software profession.
Of course, there are other issues that relate to the GNU GPL. Some raise what I feel is a completely false assertion: that the GNU GPL mandates or favors a specific form of economic organization. On the contrary, advocating software freedom—just like advocating political freedom, or democracy—doesn't favor or advocate any specific economic system. But, I do believe it maximizes the potential of whatever economic system has already been chosen.
There are, as far as I am aware, only two groups who directly oppose the GNU GPL. The first, and by far the largest, are those who wish to be free to exploit other people's work for their own exclusive gain. The second includes those who feel that restricting freedom, even of those who choose to exploit others, is unacceptable. I have nothing to say or offer to the first group. However, for the second group, who do have a very principled stand, I always felt the GNU GPL's true purpose was to be able to outlive its own usefulness and become unnecessary—when all software is free and the exploitation of freedom is therefore no longer possible, then the GNU GPL will no longer be required.
4 Comments from old system
Comment from: Tony Mobily [Member]
01/06/06 @ 10:09
Fantastic blog entry.
Thank you David!
Comment from: Ophion [Visitor] · http://ophion.freeshell.org
01/07/06 @ 14:52
That was a thoughtful post on an important subject, and I am glad to have read it.
Comment from: Ted Swart [Visitor]
01/07/06 @ 18:46
Yes indeed. A beautifully written defence of the ultimate aim of the GPL: To make its existence unnecessary.
Comment from: Nato Welch [Visitor] · http://n8o.r30.net/
01/09/06 @ 00:01
One little-acknowledged possibility that deserves serious consideration:
Using Trusted Computing to Close the Web Services Loophole in the GPL


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Tottenham Hotspur Message Board
Team formation, wingers and the lack of chances
Soldado looks fed up and who can blame him. We are currently playing with two wingers - no problem with that per se, but we have a right footed winger playing on the left and a left footed winger playing on the right. This is ok for the odd occasion that they cut inside (as Townsend does regularly) and has a shot (Lennon does this quite rarely) but when the full back shows them down the line there is no end result i.e. a cross because they don't feel comfortable kicking the ball with the wrong foot, or, if they do attempt it, it is not usually a quality cross anyway. This results in them cutting back and playing a short pass back or inside.
The cycle then begins again with us trying to force a move through the middle in a congested area full of midfielders and centre backs. One of our great successes last year was our ability to break with speed, get a cross in and score. Now, we are not breaking as quickly with wingers who are trying almost every time to come inside and shoot - a skill which, unlike Bale, they are struggling with.
AVB is sticking with the lone striker which means we usually only have one striker in the box at any one time. If the system is right and working, this is fine but with the wingers on the wrong wings no crosses are coming in and no chances created. This cannot go on forever. Our lack of chances and consequent lack of goals will cost us time and time again.
AVB has to decide what he wants - two wrong sided wingers, a low chance created record and a fingers crossed high conversion rate and one frustrated striker OR one winger swapping sides, two wingers playing on their stronger foot, two strikers in the box with one midfielder being sacrificed.
One thing is shining out loud and clear - to me anyway - the current formation and system is not working.Sort: Newest | Oldest | Most Replied Expand all replies
Not sure that it's that different from last season - just that Bale was more accurate when shooting so masked the lack of provision to the 'strikers' by scoring himself. The assists have dropped from the midfielders, and I think AVB sees midfield as the main provision of goals. Not a bad idea - spread the goals - but I'm not sure where that leaves strikers like Soldado/Daffy. I saw an article recently expressing just this - that for this to work, a different type of striker is required who can create their own chances more and work back into midfield.
- 1 Reply to Jlock
Well if anybody wanted an example of what I was saying, then last night was it. Left footed Lamala on the right wing cutting in every single time. Walker going past him but not getting one single cross in. And even if he did there was lonely little Defoe with at least 4 big defenders around him. Even the commentators were talking about it. It was even worse on the left with right footed Naughton and Sigurdson not getting to the by line once. We were squashed into the middle, with all the relevant opposition markers, like pigs in a pen. They were a poor side and we made them look as good as us. Something has to change but unfortunately I am not sure the super arrogant AVB will even contemplate that he might be wrong about his team selection and tactics. Dembele was a waste of space giving the ball away more than any other players on the park. Erikson was not much better. But is that their fault? They got the ball looked up to try and find a forward pass only to see little Defoe surrounded by defenders so they had no choice but to hit a short sideways/backwards pass OR give it to a winger only to find them running back inside straight at them. At one point 3 of our players bumped into each other!! Shocking!