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Issue 453 -- Oct 02 - 08, 2010
A Subtle, But Significant, Shift in U.S. Somali Policy Opens the Door to Realism
By J. Peter Pham, Ph.D.
Last Friday, speaking in New York to reporters one day after attending a major meeting on Somalia chaired by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the margins of the 65th session the United Nations General Assembly, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson signaled a subtle, but significant, shift in United States policy—one that opens the door to finally dealing realistically with what the veteran diplomat characterized as "a national problem, a regional problem, and also a global problem."
After reiterating the formulaic support for the internationally mediated Djibouti peace process as well as for the tottering "Transitional Federal Government" (TFG) of Somalia and its weak head, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, and expressing the pious hope that the moribund regime would somehow become more effective, more inclusive, and provide services to its people, Ambassador Carson then, with little fanfare, announced a major refinement to what was otherwise the conventional approach taken by American administrations since the last entity that could accurately described as approximating a central government collapsed during the presidency of George H.W. Bush:
But we will also be pursuing a second track, which we think is also increasingly important, and that is we will work to engage more actively with the governments of Puntland and Somaliland. We hope to be able to have more American diplomats and aid workers going into those countries on an ad hoc basis to meet with government officials to see how we can help them improve their capacity to provide services to their people, seeing whether there are development assistance projects that we can work with them on. We think that both of these parts of Somalia have been zones of relative political and civil stability, and we think they will, in fact, be a bulwark against extremism and radicalism that might emerge from the south.
Equally as a part of the second-track strategy, we are going to reach out to groups in south central Somalia, groups in local governments, clans, and sub-clans that are opposed to Al-Shabaab, the radical extremist group in the south, but are not allied formally or directly with the TFG. And we will look for opportunities to work with these groups to see if we can identify them, find ways of supporting their development initiatives and activities.
These brief remarks are significant on several different levels which deserve to be carefully considered:
First, while Ambassador Carson was virtually obligated by diplomatic politesse to repeat the mantra of support for the TFG, it is clear that that hopeless entity has lost the confidence of all but the most uninformed and/or downright stubborn policymakers in Washington—and developments this week provided no one with any reason to revise negative impressions of the current interim Somali regime, the fifteenth such entity since the fall of the Muhammad Siyad Barre dictatorship in early 1991.
Despite the fact that, as I told a Congressional hearing last year, the TFG is "not a government by any common-sense definition of the term: it is entirely dependent on foreign troops from the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) to protect its small enclave within Mogadishu, but otherwise administers no territory; even within this restricted zone, it has shown no functional capacity to govern, much less provide even minimal services to the citizens," its denizens continue to waste what little energy they have quarreling with each other over the resources that the international community has graciously donated to them. Last Tuesday, Sharif Ahmed finally managed to force the resignation of the TFG's prime minister, Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, with whom he had been at odds for months. Rashid Abdi, the Nairobi, Kenya-based Somalia analyst for the International Crisis Group, summed up the situation well in an interview with Reuters as an attempt by Sharif Ahmed and his allies "to re-invent the TFG but this cannot be achieved by changing an individual," adding that the president was merely looking for a scapegoat. Moreover, whatever his faults, Sharmarke, the son of Somalia's last democratically elected president, Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke (elected 1967, assassinated 1969), represented what little remains of the rather diminished secular current in Somali national politics.
To compound matters, the prime minister's departure was not the only crisis the TFG leader brought upon his own head this past week. Over the weekend, the Ahlu Sunna wal-Jama'a (roughly, "[Followers of] the Traditions and Consensus [of the Prophet Muhammad]," ASWJ) militias, which have hitherto opposed al-Shabaab and its allies in the central regions of Somalia and which entered into a power-sharing agreement with the TFG in March of this year, pulled out of the TFG, citing the Sharif Ahmed's reneging on promises to incorporate five of the group's members into the cabinet as agreed upon in the deal. The relatively moderate Sufi Muslim movement's walkout means that the TFG's nominal writ is even more limited than it has ever been since it was created in 2004. Foreign Policy assistant managing editor Elizabeth Dickinson put it into perspective in a rather entertaining essay last week entitled "How Much Turf Does the Somali Government Really Control?":
Imagine if the U.S. government only controlled a few blocks on either side of the White House, or if French troops securing the Élysée Palace were afraid to march down the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. It's a good bet your government is in trouble when it doesn't even control the district where the presidential palace is located ... The country's internationally supported government wouldn't last through the night were it not for a 7,000-strong African Union peacekeeping force that protects them.
And the government is entirely dependent on the Ugandan and Burundian soldiers who make up AMISOM since, as Dickinson noted, "Some 9,000 troops have been trained and armed to help fortify the government, but desertion rates are astronomical. Perhaps no more than 1,000 soldiers—or fewer—remain." In a nutshell, if you've had several years and several hundred million dollars worth of foreign aid and you're still going to bed every night worrying about whether the one road that connects your bunker in the presidential palace compound at Villa Somalia with the rest of the world will still be open in the morning, it is highly unlikely that you'll ever amount to much.
There is no doubt that an experienced Africa hand like Ambassador Carson knows this, even if he just cannot say it out loud. He was, if anything, very careful in his choice words which, under closer examination, reveal something of U.S. thinking. For example, notice what is missing in the assistant secretary's recital of states and other entities recognizing the TFG as the government of Somalia: "It is recognized by IGAD, which is the subregional organization. It's recognized by the AU and it's recognized by the UN." As I have pointed out previously in this column space, the United States does not in fact recognize the TFG as a sovereign. The lack of affirmative de jure recognition for the TFG is presumed by the introduction last year of a proposed Congressional Resolution by Congressman Donald Payne, chairman of the Africa Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives, urging "the Obama Administration to recognize the TFG and allow the opening of an official Somali Embassy in Washington." (Fortunately, that piece of ill-considered legislative tinkering with executive prerogatives has never made it out of committee.) In fact, earlier this year, in the administration's official brief before the U.S. Supreme Court in a case involving Siyad Barre's former defense chief, Mohamed Ali Samantar, Justice Elaine Kagan, at that time Solicitor-General of the United States, and Professor Harold Hongju Koh, Legal Advisor of the State Department, acknowledged that "since the fall of that government, the United States has not recognized any entity as the government of Somalia."Specifically, the administration spelled out official American policy: "The United States does not recognize the TFG as the government of Somalia, and absent contrary guidance from the Executive Branch, the TFG is not in a position to assume that role in United States courts." (Full disclosure: Professors Lee Cassanelli of the University of Pennsylvania, Ioan M. Lewis of the London School of Economics, Gérard Prunier of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Hussein Bulhan of the University of Hargeisa and I filed a joint brief as amici curiae in support of Samantar's victims).
In short, U.S. support for the TFG isn't quite as thoroughgoing as it is often portrayed as being—and rightly so since Sharif Ahmed is about as likely to succeed as president of Somalia as he is to mount al-Burāq, the mythical winged steed of Prophet of Islam, and ascend to the heavens.
Second, Ambassador Carson's announcement concerning greater engagement with Somaliland and Puntland is to be applauded as not only good policy, but right policy, as far as it goes. Specifically, he pledged:
The greater engagement can be defined as meeting on a periodic basis with government officials from these two political entities, talking to them about development issues, including a range of health, education, agriculture, water projects that they might want to develop, looking for ways to strengthen their capacity both to govern and to deliver services to their people. In the past, we have not engaged these areas and political entities aggressively. We will now start to do so.
I have consistently argued for such an outreach. After monitoring the remarkable presidential elections in Somaliland in June, a poll which was not only declared in conformity with international standards by observers, but remarkably for the Horn of Africa subregion, resulted in a smooth transfer of power from a defeated incumbent to his democratically elected successor, veteran statesman Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud "Silanyo," I affirmed here that:
It is not only prejudicial to our interests, but also antithetical to our ideals, to keep this oasis of stability hostage to the continual conflict which afflicts its neighbors to the south, rather than to hold Somaliland up as an example of what the other Somali regions might aspire to—and could readily achieve if their unelected so-called leaders weren't so busy fighting tooth-and-nail over the decayed carcass of an utterly collapsed state and the pitiful scraps which some members of the international community stubbornly continue to toss at it in the hope of somehow reanimating a corpse that has been dead for almost two decades. It is high time that the international community dedicate its resources to strengthening the viable, rather than wasting them on the defunct.
As for Puntland, while it is still formally committed to being a part of a future federal Somalia, its people have reserved their right to negotiate the precise terms of any such union. While the region has its problems—and is a problem to the international community insofar as it is the epicenter of Somali piracy—it is nonetheless understandable that its citizens have edged closer to formally abandoning the wreck that passes for the Somali ship of state. In December, the regional parliament voted unanimously to adopt a distinctive flag, coat of arms, and anthem (hitherto the emblems of Somalia had been used). After the ignominious ouster of their fellow Darood/Harti clansman, Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, from the prime ministry, one should not be surprised if Puntland's leaders followed the lead of ASWJ and broke entirely with the TFG. In any event, as I argued in a column last year, the international community should not hesitate to strike some sort of a "grand bargain" with the northeastern region, exchanging political and economic engagement for a firm commitment from President Abdirahman Mohamed Mohamud "Farole" and the Puntland government for continued opposition to Islamist extremism and resolute action to rein in piracy.
It seems that the prospect of increased engagement by the United States has already had a salubrious effect on Somaliland and Puntland, which have clashed in the past along their disputed border. On Sunday, Somaliland's interior minister, Mohamed Abdi Gabose, announced that the two governments had agreed in principle to work together against "anti-peace groups who want to threaten our peace," to which Puntland's information minister, Abdihakim Ahmed Guled, responded: "On our side, we are happy to hear that the Somaliland government is ready to work with us on security matters because at this time, there are new groups in the region who are killing Muslim people in mosques. These groups have in the past carried out suicide attacks in Hargeisa as well as in Puntland's port of Bosasso." Both ministers were apparently referring to Sheikh Mohamed Said Atom, who operates on the Puntland side of the border near Galgala where he leads a small insurgency linked with al-Shabaab.
There is, however, in Ambassador Carson's remarks a troubling limitation set for U.S. engagement of Somaliland and Puntland: "We believe that we should follow the African Union position on this. We still recognized only a single Somali state. This is the position of the Africa Union, which is the most important and largest continental regional body. We do not contemplate and we are not about to recognize either of these entities or areas as independent states." Aside from the whether or not the United States should ever allow any international organization—much less one which it is not a member of—to limit its right to exercise the prerogatives of sovereignty, including who it can or cannot recognize, this statement misrepresents the AU position. In fact, the report of a 2005 African Union mission to Somaliland led by then African Union (AU) Commission Deputy Chairperson Patrick Mazimhaka concluded that "the fact that the union between Somaliland and Somalia was never ratified and also malfunctioned when it went into action from 1960 to 1990, makes Somaliland's search for recognition historically unique and self-justified in African political history" and recommended that "the AU should find a special method of dealing with this outstanding case." That the AU has not followed up on the reasonable recommendation of its own panel should not by itself be dispositive, especially when one recalls that only nine of its fifty-three members even qualify as "free" countries in the most recent edition of Freedom House's Freedom in the World report and that twelve of the members of the organization are among the twenty most critical countries in the 2010 edition of the "Failed State Index"put together by Foreign Policy and the Fund for Peace, while another full-fledged AU member—the Polisario Front's phantasmal "Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic"—is at best a farce played out in corner of the Algerian desert.
In any event, given both the chaos that characterizes southern and central Somalia and the demographic reality that the majority of the more than three million Somalilanders were born after the region declared its resumed independence and have never thought of themselves as citizens of a unitary Somalia, can anyone imagine a scenario where it would be possible to reincorporate them into such a state? As Graeme Wood observed earlier this year in Foreign Policy:
A reconstituted Somalia would require reconnecting Somaliland with what may be the world's most spectacularly failed state. Where Somaliland has a fledgling coast guard, Somalia has flourishing pirates, and where Hargeisa has a form of democracy, Mogadishu has howling anarchy punctuated by fits of sharia law. Yet this is the alternative urged by nearly everyone in the region.
But just because "everyone" is urging this nonsense, does it necessarily follow that the United States should accept it as received wisdom? Or, conversely, how does cutting a stable polity like Somaliland off from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and other global institutions help make Somaliland the "bulwark against extremism and radicalism that might emerge from the south" that Ambassador Carson envisions can be its role? And even if it might not be diplomatic to formally rebuff the AU, does tact require conceding it a veto? Is it in anyone's interest to even suggest that it might possibly have one over America's policy options? These are questions which require further consideration.
Third, the recalibrated policy's openness to working with "other moderate forces and elements in the south" even if "they may not be directly allied" with the TFG is the correct one. Why should the otherwise ineffectual Sharif Ahmed be allowed to determine who the international community can or cannot partner with? Supporting governance at the level where it is accountable and legitimate—that is, in local communities, among traditional clan leaders, members of the vibrant Somali business community, and civil society actors, all of which remarkably are still to be found across southern and central Somalia—is the most effective and efficient means of both mitigating the toll of conflicts within Somali society and countering the security threats that have arisen amid the wreckage of the former Somali state.
The international community in general and the United States in particular need to invest the time and resources to identify and cultivate local partners who can work with us and with their fellows in creating a modicum of stability—societal, economic, and, ultimately, governmental. This will not be an easy task since the conflict of recent years has taken its toll on civil society. Nonetheless local groups do exist. To cite just one example whose leadership I know personally, there is SAACID, an extraordinary nongovernmental organization founded and directed by Somali women. SAACID, whose name in Somali mean "to help," has successfully run conflict transformation, women's empowerment, education, healthcare, emergency relief, employment schemes, and development for twenty years—right through the worse of times. Amid the current crisis SAACID is not only providing 80,000 2,000-calorie meals daily to residents of Mogadishu—5,000 meals in each of the sixteen districts of Mogadishu, making the charity the only entity operating throughout the capital (to put this in perspective, it is generally accounted a "good day" if the TFG manages to wave its flag in six districts)—but also running the only women teacher's college in the capital, a rigorous two-year program.
I have repeatedly argued that the most realistic strategy for dealing with the many challenges arising from the spectacular collapse of the Somali state will likely be the one that eschews any ambition to rebuild a centralized state from the top down like the current TFG has repeatedly tried and failed to do. Instead, adapting to the decentralized nature Somali social reality and privileging "bottom-up" approaches are likelier to achieve the desired outcomes: buying Somalis the time and political space within which to make their own determinations about their future political arrangements, while at the same time still being flexible enough to allow their neighbors and the rest of the international community the ability to achieve their legitimate security objectives, including the curtailment of maritime piracy and the containment and eventual eradication of terrorist and other extremists elements. It is reassuring that U.S. policy has begun to shift, however subtly, in the direction of an approach that is not only more modest and balanced, but, as a consequence, more likely to be both successful and sustainable over the long term.
— J. Peter Pham is Senior Vice President of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy in New York City. He also hold academic appointments as Associate Professor of Justice Studies, Political Science, and African Studies at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and non-resident Senior Fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington, D.C. He currently serves as Vice President of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA) and Editor-in-Chief of its refereed Journal of the Middle East and Africa.
Dr. Pham has authored, edited, or translated over a dozen books and is the author of over three hundred essays and reviews on a wide variety of subjects in scholarly and opinion journals on both sides of the Atlantic. In addition to the study of terrorism and political violence, his research interests lie at the intersection of international relations, international law, political theory, and ethics, with particular concentrations on the implications for United States foreign policy and African states as well as religion and global politics.
Dr. Pham has testified before the U.S. Congress on numerous occasions and conducted briefings or consulted for the U.S. and foreign governments as well as private firms. He has appeared in various media outlets, including CBS, PBS, CBC, SABC, VOA, CNN, the Fox News Channel, MSNBC, National Public Radio, the BBC, Radio France Internationale, the Associated Press, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, USA Today, Le Monde,National Journal, Newsweek, The Weekly Standard, New Statesman, and Maclean's, among others.
© 2010 J. Peter Pham
Source: World Defense Review, Published 30 Sep 10
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Home > News, Stories & Videos > News
Mother's Day is coming up on May 13. Here's an inspiring story of one mother in Thailand whose family's circumstances were improved dramatically through the gift of a piglet from World Vision's Gift Catalog.
Malatui is the mother of 14-year-old Thanandorn, a sponsored child, and his younger brother, who is autistic. The children's father is a day laborer.
The 31-year-old woman often cried about her family's desperate situation, especially about not having enough food for her sons. She was also suffering because she did not have money to take the youngest son to the doctor.
"Before World Vision came to my life, I had stress, feelings of hopelessness, and worries about my two sons' education. I even contemplated killing myself and my children," Pratumthip says candidly.
"I had tried very hard to take care of my youngest son," she continues. "He is 10 years old but still can't speak, read, or write due to his disability. He is in kindergarten."
But Pratumthip saw her circumstances begin to change when her family received a piglet through the World Vision Gift Catalog.
"The piglet gave me hope. We have raised this piglet, and we now have three," she says. "I can continue to send my boys to school. I think I can live and overcome all struggles. Thank you!"
This simple gift has brought multiple benefits to a mother who struggled profoundly just to help her children survive.
"The piglet was a perfect gift for our family," Pratumthip confirms. "It ensures a good income, and my boy likes to have pork."
Pratumthip has been raising the pig for several months, and things are going well. The pig became a family member. Pratumthip says her children now smile more often.
"I know my son can continue to school, because we have raised [this] pig," she says. "I am less worried about the future; we will raise more pigs and then [sell] one at a time. Maybe we can breed pigs to have long-term income."
Thanandorn, the elder son, has received benefits from World Vision sponsorship program about five years. He enjoys school and helps Pratumthip with the household chores. Between that and the gift of the pigs, this is one mother who now has far less to worry about.
Read another story about a sponsored girl in India who received additional support through the gift of goats.
Thank God for the relief this mother found through the simple gift of pig. Pray that she and her family will continue to find joy and hope, and pray that many other families in her situation will experience a better life through similar gifts.
Make a one-time gift to help provide a pig to a family in need, or browse the World Vision Gift Catalog to find another life-changing gift to give in honor of Mother's Day, May 13.

subset: commoncrawl


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In article
Sheldon T. Hall
:I'm considering taking my outsourced web services in-house. This is
:for my personal domain, so the number of pages is quite small. I'm
:running IRIX 6.5.20f, patched to current with the free security
:Is the "stock" webserver in 6.5.20f secure enough that I can expose it
:to the world?
: Are there any known "issues?"
At least load the Apache2 from the freeware distribution. (Though
that has some issues sometimes with processes dying.) Better yet would
be to grab the latest Apache or Apache2 sources and build it yourself.
The image data is transmitted back to Earth at the speed of light
and usually at 12 bits per pixel.


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New Articles
Irving MacArthur HS
Photo: Michael Ainsworth
Irving MacArthur's Daniel Vinson (27) celebrates a fumble recovery as he leaves the field with Anthony Ragan (20) during the first quarter against Plano in their season opener in Irving on Friday, August 28, 2009.
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"Water conditions were good in larger wetlands, but the lack of snow this past winter and the lack of significant spring rains reduced the number of temporary and seasonal wetlands," Szymanski said. "Undoubtedly, many wetlands dried up within days of completing the survey."
Additionally, nesting cover in North Dakota continues to decline. During the survey, Szymanski noted many large tracts of grassland and Conservation Reserve Program land had been converted to cropland since last year. "North Dakota currently has about 2.3 million acres of CRP, which is down about 30 percent from 2007," Szymanski added. "Projections are that more than 650,000 acres will be lost in 2012, and an additional 1.1 million acres will be lost in 2013-14. The loss of critical nesting cover will be disastrous for breeding ducks, other nesting birds and hunting opportunities in the future."
The July brood survey will provide a better idea of duck production and insight into expectations for this fall. Observations to date indicate prospects for good production across the state given abundant breeding pairs and average wetland conditions.
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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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CPRIT asked reviewer to reconsider score, and Boston oncologist said no change needed
AUSTIN — As my colleague Sue Goetinck Ambrose reported earlier, the director of Texas' cancer-fighting agency recently asked some scientific reviewers to reconsider poor scores they gave to an applicant's request for state dollars.
One of those reviewers was Dr. Monica Bertagnolli, chief of the division of surgical oncology at the Brigham & Women's Hospital/Dana-Farber Cancer Center in Boston. She said Thursday that she resigned this week as a scientific reviewer for the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas — but not because of the request from Bill Gimson, CPRIT's director.
Bertagnolli said she stepped down because of accusations leveled earlier this year against Dr. Alfred Gilman, CPRIT's former top scientific officer, that he was biased in favor of research projects at his longtime employer, the Dallas-based University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. She called that sniping "absolutely ludicrous."
Gilman, whose resignation was announced in May and took effect this month, stepped down after saying the agency's peer review system was under attack from foes, including some members of the CPRIT Oversight Committee.
Bertagnolli was part of that peer-review system, in which out-of-state scientists review applications to avoid conflicts of interest.
Experts in science and business separately review applications for CPRIT awards that help Texas companies develop products to diagnose, prevent, or treat cancer – awards referred to as "commercialization."
The Dallas Morning News obtained a Sept. 25 e-mail to scientific reviewers in which Gimson noted that an applicant received a high score from commercialization reviewers, but a low score from scientific reviewers.
Gimson said the commercialization reviewers then sent more questions to the applicant, which provided more information.
"Please let us know whether you wish to revise your score," Gimson wrote to the scientific reviewers.
Bertagnolli said she recently received a separate e-mail from CPRIT, presumably about another applicant.
She said when she was asked whether she wanted to revise her score, she told CPRIT no. She said it was the first time she had received such a request from the agency.
"I know I said, `No, it is still really, really bad,' and I know one of my other fellow reviewers sent back a whole page and a half about why it was so terrible and why he wasn't going to change his score either.
"It was unusual to be asked again, but we're not mice. I am going to give my same opinion if that is what it is," Bertagnolli said.
Citing the state agency's rules on confidentiality, Bertagnolli declined to identify the applicant or why in detail she gave it a low score other than "it was an issue of scientific quality." She said she didn't know what the final decision was on the application.
Bertagnolli said she understood why the commercialization reviewers gave the applicant a high score.
"If I were nothing but a commercial person, I would have liked it too. It could have made a lot of money, but it wasn't a scientifically valid thing and eventually down the road, it's going to be not good. It's a very common thing in American medicine that something that is commercially attractive is not necessarily the best thing for the patient,'' she said.
CPRIT didn't respond to questions about how many times Gimson has asked for "re-review of scores."
In a written statement, the agency said if scores vary, "the process allows for further review or discussion…"
"The final decision on whether to revise scores rests with the individual reviewer," the statement said.
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Calculating Bicycle Velocity
by Byron on Apr. 18, 2014 at 9:34 AM
Found this bike brake light from a news article that popped in my newsreader and it's quite interesting. LucidBrake inventor, John Craig, is improving his current tail light system that works on de-acceleration with a new TI inductive…» Read More »


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Do you ever feel like you could use a super-sized helping of strength? Only God has the key ingredient. read more
Page 57 of 124
Active Fathers Plant Life-Changing Seeds
When children don't get the attention they crave from their fathers, they find other ways to get it, and most aren't good. read more
Would Your Child Say You Are a Good Parent?
Here are some poignant questions to ask your children to see how they feel about the job you're doing raising them. read more
5 Characteristics of Brothers in Arms
Do you have a group of brothers whom you trust to protect your back in all situations? read more
The Wife Must Submit, and So Must the Husband
If either you or your spouse has an issue with submission in your marriage, consult the Bible. It's a mandate. read more
Which Sounds Better—Heaven or Hell?
That may sound like an easy question for Christians, but why do many in our society think the answer is cut and dried the other way? read more
6 Tips for Raising a Confident Daughter
With all of society's pitfalls these days, dads have an obligation to instill confidence in their daughters. Here are some suggestions. read more
3 Angry-Dad Scenarios That Can Damage Your Children
Has your anger hurt your relationship with your children? What can you do to fix it? read more
Quiz: Are You a Closet Christian Road-Rage-Aholic?
If you're someone who deals with road rage, rest assured that your behavior as a Christian is being monitored by everyone. Here are some Scriptures and suggestions to help you behave in a godly manner. read more
5 Ways to Teach Your Kids Respect for God's Creation
As humans, the Bible says God gave us dominion over the earth. Here's how we can be good stewards of that gift. read more


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Definition of economy-size in English:
(also economy-sized)
Of a size that offers a large quantity for a proportionally lower cost: an economy-size container
More example sentences
- If there's a line, fill your giant economy-sized water bottle in the locker-room sink.
- Amazingly enough, the herbs necessary were in the duffel bag in gigantic economy-size bottles, so he could make several weeks worth of things taste like chicken before he starved to death.
- Yes folks, while I was walking around with an economy-sized can of Aqua Net to keep the world's largest hair intact, I was, like, so sad about the ozone layer and the rain forests and stuff.
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- Report: #1084040
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Complaint Review: david han
david hanDAVID HAN 9852 KATELLA AVE 230/112 ANAHEIM, California USA
david han 112han firstname.lastname@example.com ebay iphone scam artist paypal fraud mail postal ANAHEIM California
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orders an item off eBay, files a bogus dispute and escalates it to a claim, then instead of sending back the item, he send a letter asking for a return label, therby tricking ebays tracking system into giving a refund because the "item" appears to be returned to the seller... when it reality its actually a letter. He has done this multiple times...
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 09/12/2013 03:42 PM and is a permanent record located here: http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/david-han/ANAHEIM-California-92804/david-han-112han-dhan8322gmailcom-ebay-iphone-scam-artist-paypal-fraud-mail-postal-AN-1084040. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year.
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- Overview
- Transcript
- View Offline
- What is PHP?
- Installing and configuring PHP and MySQL
- Exploring data types
- Controlling code with logical expressions and loops
- Using PHP's built-in functions
- Writing custom functions
- Building dynamic webpages
- Working with forms and form data
- Using cookies and sessions to store data
- Connecting to MySQL with PHP
- Creating and editing database records
- Building a content management system
- Adding user authentication
Skill Level Beginner
In this movie, we're going to be looking at a different kind of logical expression called Switch Statements. Switch statements are similar to if statements. In that they control the flow through our application. But they're going to have a different syntax, some different rules to follow. And a couple of special gotchas that we want to make sure that we watch out for. First, let's look at the basic syntax. We're going to use the function name, switch, followed by an argument. And that argument's going to be a value. This is the value that we're going to be testing through each of a series of test cases. So then in our curly braces we're going to list off those test cases.
And each one is going to start with case, and then a test value to that we're going to test against value to see if their equal. And then a colon, and then a statement or series of statements that we want to execute. Then following that will be the next case that we want to test. So we'll test whether the values equal to test value two and if it is then we'll execute those statements. And then finally we have the option to provide a default case. If it doesn't match any of the above cases we're going to execute the statements that are defined by default. So, notice that we're dropping down each one of those cases, doing a test on each line.
It's very similar if we've written if, else if, and else. The big difference here is that we're testing equality. We're testing to see, is the value equal to test value 1, no? Okay, move down to the next one. Is value equal to test value 2? That's a very simple comparison of equality. There's no greater than or less than or anything like that. And usually, we're not working with Booleans. Because a boolean is either true or false, so there's really not a lot of test cases. Where you would see it more is it you had something like a string that could be many different things.
For example let's say that our customers had told us that the way that they wanted to be contacted. And they might have said that they wanted to be contacted by email or by phone or by some other message. Text message, Skype, something else, so we could have a switch statement that then executed a set of statements. Based on the way that they told us they wanted us to contact them. Now I only provided two case statements here and a default, but you can have as many cases as you need. You could just keep adding different cases each time. Now most times you're probably going to want if else statements.
You are going to use those way more often than switch statements. The switch statements are going to be very useful when you do have this kind of compact logic. Where you really are just saying, all right I want to test a value and that value can be ten different things. So I'm going to list off the ten different things that could happen if that value is each of those ten cases. And I'm going to provide code for those. The parallel structure can be a little bit easier to read, and to work with. Okay, now that we know the syntax and the basic idea, let's try some out. I'm going to create a new page where we can work these, I'm going to open up basic.html and I'll do Save As. And I'm going to call this switch.php.
Change the title will also be switch, and let's give ourselves a php area. Alright, so to start with, let's just give ourselves a variable. We'll call it a, and we're going to make a equal to 3. And then, let's do a switch statement. Switch and then send the variable n as the argument to switch. So we're going to be testing variable a. And in the case where it is 0, then we're going to echo a equals 0, will be our tag at the end, and semicolon after that. Okay, now let's take that same thing, and I'm going to Paste it here. And let's make our next case, that it's one, alright? See what we're doing here, see the parallel structure? I'm actually going to Copy both of those now.
Save myself some typing, and we're going to make this one 2, and this one 3. I'll change it both here and in the text, so there we go. Now we have our cases. Now remember I could also have a default case, for now I'm not going to do the default case. Let's just do the simple one. We're going to test whether it's 0, 1, 2, or 3. If it's not that, if it's 4, 5 or 6, well, then none of these will execute. And we'll just move on right past this whole statement. So let's Save it and let's try it out. Let's go back to Firefox, and instead of logical, we're going to look for switched.php.
A equals 3, perfect. See how that worked? It skipped right past these cases, it tested them. Said nope, nope, nope, yes, this one matches. So then it executed the statement. All right let's just try moving a and making a equal to 0. Let's see what happens here, Save it. Let's go back to Firefox and let's reload the page. Whoa, wait a minute, a equals 0. Well that's correct. It did match that case. But look what happened after that. It also came back and told us that it was equal to 1, 2, and 3. Which it's obviously not. And if we put another value in here, like 2.
Go back and reload the page. You'll see that it comes back and it executes the first one and every case that comes after it. It's an important point about the way that switch statements work. They do the statement that matches. And then they continue to match every one that comes below it. Well that's probably not what we wanted. So if you don't want that behavior, then you've got to provide a break statement. So break, break and break, after each one. Now when we go back, let's make it equal to 0 again, Save it, go back to Firefox and there it is, a equals 0. That's the behavior that we would expect.
Because we told it, okay, you've done your statement now break out of the switch statement. And that will then drop down here to the curly brace and keep going from there. So this break is super, super important when you're working with switch statements. Drill it into your head and you'll save yourselves a lot of debugging time. Now as I said, we can have a default case here as well. Default and then echo and then a is not 0, 1, 2 or 3. And we don't have to have a break here, because it's the last one.
But I'm going to go ahead just to keep the parallel structure, and also to keep reminding myself that, that break is very important to have. So I'll put it in there, now lets just try a is equal to 9. Go back to Firefox, and there it is. It's not equal to zero, one, two, or three. So you can see how that works, right? Now I'm going to set that back to 2, and let's just drop down here. And I want to show you another example. This example is going to output the Chinese zodiac, the year that it is in the Chinese zodiac. So to do that, we're going to do a little bit of a calculation. We're going to take the year, we're going to use 2013, and I'm going to subtract four from it, and do the modulo of that, using 12. That means that I'm finding the remainder once we divide it by 12. So after we divide it by 12 evenly, how many are left over? So that end result is going to be a single value. So even though I've got a calculation in here, it's a single value that comes through in the end, and that's what I'm testing.
So whatever that value is, whatever that remainder is it will check. If it's 0, then we are in the first year of the 12 year cycle, so it is the Year of the Rat. If it's a one, well then we know we're in the next year and the year is the Ox and so on. What I want to show you here, though, is that white space doesn't matter. Do you see the difference here? Up here, we had each one of these on a seperate line. Case 1 echo break, case 2 and so on. Here I've got them all one after another, very compact, very easy to read.
I've even added in some extra spaces here in front of the numbers to keep it all lined up nice, tight, easy to read. I've still got my colon. I've still got my semicolons to separate the commands and I've still got break, but the white space doesn't matter. Alright just so we can see that let's go ahead and bring that up in a browser. I'll put a br tag here at the end. It pops up and it says 2013 is the year of the snake. Now there's one last example that I want to show you, I'm going to Paste in another example here. Imagine that we have a user type. Let's go ahead and set a user type so we don't get an error. User type, and the user type is going to be equal to customer.
Right it could be customer it could be student. It could be press it could be something else. Well if that user type is student then we're going to echo back welcome. If its press then we're going to say greetings and if its customer then we're going to say hello to them. What I want to show you is what if you had multiple cases that you wanted to match on something. What if you wanted to have press and customer respond to the same set of statements. I mean we could say Hello and just do it there but this is a simple example imagine if this was in fact twenty lines of code, right? So, there's twenty lines of code, am I going to really repeat that twenty lines of code again? No, I don't really want to do that.
Now, this is the thing I want to caution you about. You may be tempted to do something like this, and to say case press customer, with commas between them. That's how you do it in some other languages. It's not how you do it in PHP, though. In PHP, if you want them to have the same one, well, guess what. You just put them one after another. Because what happens when press matches. It executes the statements that are here and then all the statements that are below it until it gets to a break. So press customer is going to do the same set of statements because of the way the switch works. You can see now why the switch statement behaves the way it does and why it needs you to put in that break some of the times.
Because there are cases when you're not going to use the break when you have multiple values like this. So we could have press, we could have customer, we could have case, when it's admin, right? We can just add more cases. And each one of those is going to do this block that's below it. So, let's save it and let's just try it. Let's go down here, we reload the page and there it is. Hello is what we get back as the result. That is the statement that goes with the case for customer. So, as I said, you're going to use if statements a lot more than your going to use switch statements.
But if you look up here it's something like this, where you have the Chinese zodiac. This is the classic case where you're going to want to use a switch statement. Writing if else statements for all of this just doesn't give you the same legibility and ease of maintaining the code as a switch statement does.


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With your help, the Smithsonian's National Zoo raised more than 100 animal babies this year. We opened American Trail. Our research and conservation efforts have helped zoos in the U.S. and abroad. But our mission isn't finished. And neither is yours.
Holiday 2012
Our animals can't speak human. But if they could, they would thank you. You visit them in person and on our webcams. You get e-newsletters to keep up with their milestones. Most of all, you care about their conservation.
'Tis the season of thanks . . . and giving. It's not hard to find the items below in other stores. But you know that by buying a National Zoo gift, you refurbish our animal's habitats, support breeding research, and provide toys that keep them physically and mentally active. And much more.
So, share this gift guide with your friends and family (both naughty and nice). On behalf of the animals we care for: thank you.
Shop and Save Species
With a little help from their keepers, our merry meerkats, kiwi, and red pandas are getting into the holiday spirit! At a "meer" $2.50 each, these one-of-a-kind greeting cards are sure to warm every animal-lover's heart. Need cards for all occasions? Pick out your favorite animal art—featuring 40 feathery, furry, and scaly species.
Proceeds support National Capital Chapter of the American Association of Zoo Keepers (NCAAZK), an organization dedicated to Animal Keeper training and development. Stock up on holiday greetings
Whether you're trimming the tree or just sprucing up your home, our collectable "Wild Baby Ornaments"—crafted by Danbury Mint—will add holiday cheer to your décor. Sculpted of cold-cast porcelain, each ornament is hand-painted and comes complete with a festive green ribbon. Need another reason to be jolly? Your first ornament is FREE! Learn more
Toss out that ugly holiday sweater! We've got you covered with our new line of Smithsonian tees, available at Urban Outfitters stores and online. A breathtaking photo of African lion Luke in the snow will keep you stylish all winter! Shop Urban Outfitters
Fancy creating your own tee? Check out our Café Press online store and choose from more than 30 images to adorn apparel, tote bags, and more. Create your own Zoo gifts
Put a Cheetah Under the Tree $50 (and up)
Justin and Carmelita are growing up. Celebrate our cheetah cubs this holiday season with an Adopt a Species package. With a $65 Adopt Package, your special someone will receive a gift set that includes a cuddly plush cheetah, a colorful photo, and an adoption certificate delivered inside an "animal carrier" box. Adopt a Species
The cubs received their Olympic-inspired names in August and since have become quite the celebrities! With the $50 Adopt Package, you'll receive a framed replica paw print "autograph" to add to your wall of fame. Proceeds from these packages purchase medical supplies for the Zoo's 2,000 residents.
Talk about artistic personality! Meet twoolies—one-of-a-kind wool animals that will brighten your home with their cheerful colors and clever patterns. Each twooly is hand-crafted from natural wool by Toztzil weavers in South Mexico. Mixing trendy concepts with ancestral native designs, twoolies deserve prominent placement on your shelf. Styles: tiger, monkey, elephant, and frog (not pictured). To order, contact FONZ Merchandise by calling or emailing
Gift giving is for the birds…and the apes…and the anteater! When you puy a present for a Zoo animal, you help in a BIG way!
Items such as the octopus's puzzle feeder, the lion pride's boomer ball, and the sea lions' Frisbee give animals the chance to make choices in their habitats and encourage natural problem-solving behaviors. Give a gift to a grr-eat zoo animal
Chopsticks for Salamanders $15
In one year, China cuts down 25 million hardwood trees to make chopsticks. The species they shelter are also disappearing—and fast.
That's why National Zoo keepers created Chopsticks for Salamanders, a campaign to raise awareness of habitat loss and offer a solution: stainless steel reusable chopsticks. All proceeds support salamander conservation, education, and research.
Feast for Conservation
Grab 'n' Go Tote $3
Coming to ZooLights this year? Pop into any Zoo store and pick up an eco-friendly tote. Featuring fun cheetah, elephant, and giant panda graphics, these spacious bags make great stocking stuffers for the animal enthusiast on the go! In stores only.
Find this great gift during your next visit to the Zoo.
If you're passionate about pachyderms, give your loved ones a gift they'll never forget: a behind-the-scenes tour of Elephant Trails!
This rare opportunity to see the elephant barn offers a peek into our keepers' world. Watch them interact with the Zoo's elephants, and see artifacts (such as teeth and poop) up close. Tours take place at 8:15 a.m. on Wednesdays and Sundays.
Proceeds purchase toys and other enrichment items for Asian elephants Ambika, Shanthi, and Kandula.
Book a tour
What's the best way to help wildlife? Become a Friend of the National Zoo!
Whether you're gifting a membership or treating yourself, becoming a FONZ Member shows that you're saving species. There are benefits to your generosity:
What's the special deal this holiday season? Sign up and receive the Nov/Dec 2012 issue of Smithsonian Zoogoer and a 2013 calendar featuring our adorable animal babies.
Spread some Zoo cheer
We encourage you to take Metrorail or Metrobus to the National Zoo. Parking at the Zoo is limited, and using public transportation saves natural resources. Visit the Zoo.
For more information visit our website: nationalzoo.si.edu.
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Modernism Week is an exciting 11 day celebration of mid century modern design, architecture and culture in Palm Springs. The week is filled with a variety of events including tours, films lectures and educational events. We are giving you a special preview ahead of next month's festivities.
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Building Design
The $25 million Frederic and Mary Wolfe Center includes laboratories, lecture halls and offices to provide more space for the College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences and offer students hands-on experience in an integrated medical community.
The new two-story, 54,000 square foot building features modern professional development amenities and state-of-the-art modular laboratory space with movable laboratory elements to enhance efficiency and flexibility. A 500-seat auditorium has also been constructed in the Collier building to accommodate large lecture classes. The Frederic and Mary Wolfe Center, designed by Poggemeyer Design Group of Toledo, is the most complete and clinically advanced facility in the region.
The Frederic and Mary Wolfe Center received a Silver Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certification. The LEED® certification indicates that the building meets energy efficiency standards in many categories, including energy performance, construction pollution prevention, and collection of recyclables. For more information about the LEED® rating system or the U.S. Green Building Council, visit their website.
Building features include:
- Approximately 54,000 square feet of additional learning and office space
- State of the art classrooms
- A drug information center that provides valuable medication information to the public
- A professional development lab in which students practice interpersonal and business skills essential to become pharmacists
- Student computer labs and work areas
- A pharmacy museum and model pharmacy
- Student and common lounges
- Offices for alumni and student organizations
- Video conferencing rooms
- A sterile products laboratory in which students learn to prepare the types of injections and intravenous fluids that are processed in hospitals or specialty pharmacies


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Alexander 1
(356–323 bc), king of Macedon 336–323; son of Philip II; known as Alexander the Great. He conquered Persia, Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, Bactria, and the Punjab; he founded the city of Alexandria in Egypt.
Words that rhyme with Alexandercommander, demander, Lahnda, slander
For editors and proofreaders
Syllabification: Al·ex·an·der
Alexander 2
1.1 Alexander I (circa 1077–1124), son of Malcolm III; reigned 1107–24.
1.3 Alexander III (1241–86), son of Alexander II; reigned 1249–86. He annexed the Hebrides and the Isle of Man in 1266.
For editors and proofreaders
Syllabification: Al·ex·an·der
Alexander 3
1Three tsars of Russia.
1.1 Alexander I (1777–1825), reigned 1801–25. During his reign, Napoleon unsuccessfully invaded Russia 1812.
1.2 Alexander II (1818–81), son of Nicholas I; reigned 1855–81; known as Alexander the Liberator. His reforms included limited emancipation of the serfs.
1.3 Alexander III (1845–94), son of Alexander II; reigned 1881–94.
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Syllabification: Al·ex·an·der
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8 x 8: Friday's Links
Harvard Business Review: Three Questions that Will Kill Innovation
"What is the return on investment on this project?", "Can you prove your case and back it up with hard data?", "Are you meeting your milestones?"
Mashable: What Responsibility Do Social Media Users Have During a Crisis?
"The odds of finding a cell phone in an industrialized nation without a camera in it are extremely small. This means that everyone can generate content with the push of a button. But we must be careful of the content we generate, and that which we pass along. Confirm your information." A call for responsibility.
Inside Facebook: Facebook's New Growth in the Middle East: Do More Users Mean More Protests?
It would appear not.
The Guardian: Revealed: US spy operation that manipulates social media
One of the least shocking news stories of the day. "The US military is developing software that will let it secretly manipulate social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter by using fake online personas to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda." Who would have guessed?
The Loop: Study comparing Android to iPhone Web browsing speed flawed
Everyone got very excited by news that Android was faster than iPhone. Except it wasn't. "Blaze [the company that conducted the tests] has now admitted in a comment to CNET that their tests were flawed. It doesn't seem right for a company to test a product unless they know for sure what technology it's using."
GigaOM: How Amazon Is Following Apple's Lead to Rule Cloud Computing
GigaOM's Derrick Harris asks a good question. "…users are willing to pay a premium and accept a certain degree of lock-in as consequences of choosing either company [Apple and Amazon]. But why, when the core technologies in their respective spaces are all but commodities at this point?" The answer: user experience. "…build a product that works and keep making it better".
The Economist: Go figure
A new class of internet start-ups is trying to turn data into money – including the U.K's Wonga and Klarna, a Swedish payments firm.
TechCrunch: Whom Should You Hire at a Startup? (Attitude over Aptitude)
"The company with the best team on the field will win. The team which hires the most talented people, channels them in the most productive configuration and gets the most output from their unique capabilities." Team, says Mark Suster, is all that matters.


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Thursday Night Football Game Thread: Jacksonville vs. Atlanta
Can the Iced One and the Burner, help maintain the playoff positioning held by Atlanta, or will Maurice Jones Drew run all over the Georgia Dome?"When questioned, the Elders explained that they were in search of magical powers. However, they're actually searching for the whereabouts of a certain ring. This ring is a legendary treasure that long ago was known to exist"


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FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- McDonald's Corp. has joined a growing list of companies that have severed ties with a California slaughterhouse at the center of a federal cruelty and food safety investigation.
The world's largest fast-food chain announced Wednesday that it took immediate action against Central Valley Meat Co. when it learned the U.S. Department of Agriculture had suspended operations at the plant.
The plant came under fire this week after an undercover video showed workers kicking, shocking and shooting downed animals in an attempt to get them to walk to slaughter.
McDonald's said behaviors in the video appear to be unacceptable.
The video was shot in June and July by an undercover operative working for Compassion Over Killing.
Also on Wednesday the USDA announced it was suspending purchases from the company for school lunch and other nutrition programs.
It bought 21 million pounds of beef last year.


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The Virginity Hit
- Air Date:
- Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, founders of the online site Funny or Die and the guys behind some of the most raucous comedies produced today are always on the lookout for new talent and they have found it with The Virginity Hit. This movie is down and dirty filmmaking at its finest in just about every way one can imagine. It's four guys, one camera, and their hilarious experience chronicling the exhilarating and terrifying rite of passage: losing your virginity. As these guys help their buddy get laid, they'll have to survive friends with benefits, internet hookups, even porn stars during an adventure that proves why you will always remember your first.
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Tavi Makes Her Editorial Styling Debut in BlackBook
On 'Real Housewives of New Jersey' daughter Christine Staub.
Proenza Schouler sends her their hot new fall graffiti pants, she gets recognized in her local Marc Jacobs store, and she's not even old enough to learn to drive. Well, maybe that's not so different from a lot of models, but Tavi Gevinson is accruing much more clout as a fashion authority. She makes her styling debut in the September issue of BlackBook, in which she dressed model Christine Staub (Real Housewives of New Jersey star Danielle Staub's daughter), who is only one year older than her. The shoot was conceived for Chloë Sevigny, but she had to drop out at the last minute, so Tavi cast Staub instead. Since they titled the spread "Nobody's Daughter" they may as well have cast Courtney Love — unless that would have been too awkward now that she is a personal-style blogger and therefore Tavi competitor, like every working professional in fashion now.
BlackBook editors had said that when Tavi pulled clothes, she didn't pull very many things and they were worried she wouldn't have enough. The pictures have her signature "hanging out by the aluminum siding at 4 on a sunny afternoon feel," but Staub seems to lack the same volume of accessories or layers. We're happy that this spread is age-appropriate and devoid of overt sexiness.
Teen for Teen [Daily Front Row]
Tavi Is Styling Christine Staub for BlackBook's September Issue


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I dare you to look at a kangaroo and not laugh. The Kangaroo Costume is inherently a funny outfit, because the kangaroo is an inherently hilarious animal. It's got a pouch and it jumps around! How can you not laugh at that? It even comes with a little joey in its pouch. D'aw. So, it's funny, it's cute, it's the whole package. And if you like wallabees more, just tell your friends that you're one of those (no one knows the difference anyways).The Adult Kangaroo Costume is a celebration of the world's most famous (and silly) marsupial, but in Halloween costume form.
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Fishers-HSE Travel Baseball will be offering a free Travel Baseball Symposium on Saturday, January 19th from 11 am - 5 pm at the Forum Credit Union Conference Center in Fishers, IN. Please see the attachment for all details. This will be an excellent oppurtunity for all travel coaches to listen to some of the areas best experts discuss various subjects on travel baseball. This event is free of charge for all coaches to attend. You must RSVP for this events. We are excited to announce Wes Whisler as the Keynote Speaker. Wes was the 2001 Indiana Mr. Baseball, played for the UCLA Bruins and also had a career with the Chicago White Sox. Also featured at this event will be Steve Farley, Butler University Head Coach, Jason Taulman, former Butler and Ball State Pitching Coach, Clint Cushman, former NY Mets Scout and former Indiana Bulls National Champion Coach andl Mike Stout, Jr. with an MBA in Sports Psychology. We will also have several tournament facilites represented to let you know about upcoming travel baseball tournaments. The event will have many sports related vendors that will be displaying and there will also be lots of door prizes given away. A light lunch will also be served. Please click on the attachment to get all of the details. You won't want to miss this event. For any questions on this please contact Rick Jacobs, Marketing Director for Fishers-HSE Youth Travel Baseball at 317-753-4877 or e-mail at firstname.lastname@example.com
ACTIVE is the leader in online event registrations from 5k running races and marathons to softball leagues and local events. ACTIVE also makes it easy to learn and prepare for all the things you love to do with expert resources, training plans and fitness calculators.


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SSL Reliability: Only as Good as the Weakest Link
Murray Slovick
New Technology
Compared to traditional luminaires, solid-state lighting (SSL) luminaires are best viewed not simply as user-replaceable or interchangeable lamps but as integrated lighting systems requiring expertise in a wide variety of technologies. That's why lighting solutions offered by distributors such as TTI include more than the LEDs themselves: the optoelectronics parts roster also comprises LED drivers, passives, interconnects, lenses, circuit protection devices, thermal management products and a variety of additional lighting accessories.
LEDs may have an expected lifetime of more than 40,000 hours (compared to 1,500 hours for a standard incandescent bulb). Not only does this very long life virtually eliminate the need for re-lamping, all adjunct components for LED lighting design must be selected carefully to ensure that they meet the lifetime and energy-efficiency requirements of the LED light source. If any one of the complementary parts fails, the system fails, and the engineer's design fails to provide a viable solution to the client.
Since most of the electricity in an LED becomes heat rather than light (typically about a 70%/30% heat to light ratio), if this heat is not removed the LEDs run at high temperatures, which not only lowers their efficiency, but also makes the part less reliable (failure rates of LEDs are most often related to junction temperature and drive current). Usually LEDs are encapsulated in a transparent resin, which is itself a poor thermal conductor. Heat generated from the P-N junction by electrical energy that was not converted to useful light is conducted to the outside from junction to solder point, then to the board, to a heat sink and finally to the atmosphere.
LEDs will decrease in relative flux output as junction temperature (Tj) rises. Most LED data sheets list typical luminous flux at junction temperature (Tj) = 25°C, while most LED applications use higher junction temperatures. An LED rated at 50,000 hours with a Tj of 25°C will survive only half as long with a junction temperature of 125°C. At 175°C, this LED can be expected to survive only about 100 hours. Therefore, sufficient control of this parameter is critical if the LED is to reach the part's expected lifetime.
A packaged LED incorporates a number of different materials with different coefficients of thermal expansion. As a result, temperature swings also can introduce variations in material expansion, leading to mechanical stress that can fracture the wires and can cause catastrophic failure via an open circuit.
One of the secrets to a successful LED fixture design, then, is proper thermal management; conducting away the waste heat produced by LEDs. The most prevalent method to fix thermal issues is using passive cooling. This requires a heat-sink engineered into the design that provides a low resistance path for the heat to flow away from the LED. In general, heat sinks can dissipate power in three ways: conduction (heat transfer from one solid to another), convection (heat transfer from a solid to a moving fluid, for most LED applications the fluid is air), or radiation (heat transfer from two bodies of different surface temperatures through electromagnetic waves).
To ensure long LED life, a heat sink must be adequately dimensioned and consideration must be given to the conducting materials, often aluminum or copper. Alternatively, forced convection can be used, with air pushed through the heat sink using a fan or an air jet. Even a relatively low air velocity of 2 m/s can cut the overall thermal resistance of a heat sink by half. Using a mechanical air mover to cool the LED, however, is also a more costly solution than the standard extruded heat sink. Another downside is noise, and the mechanical construct can also eat into the reliability overhead. Similarly, liquid cooling via pipes can transfer heat away from the LED assembly but it, too, comes with a cost and weight penalty.
Temperature issues also impact the LED driver power supply where the life of an aluminum electrolytic capacitor can decreases by approximately 50% with every 10°C increase in temperature. At higher temperatures dissipation of the liquid electrolyte from the capacitor reduces the cathode connection, resulting in a decrease of capacitance. The reaction rate of the dielectric materials — a combination of a liquid and filler — will double for each 10°C increase in operating temperature. As the capacitor degrades, its ESR, or equivalent series resistance (the sum of electrolytic resistance, dielectric loss and electrode resistance) increases, leading to an increase in output current ripple, which affects the input current to the LED, and in turn the LED's light output and efficacy.
With an intelligent microcontroller it is possible to compensate for LED ageing and correct the color profile to ensure the light quality is consistent over the LED's lifespan. Also, the microcontroller can lower the light intensity or shut down LED strings if the temperature threshold is surpassed. Overall the MCU can monitor safe operation and remotely communicate any problems to ensure the lifespan of the LED is maximized.
LEDs are typically low voltage devices and require only a constant current source, unlike fluorescent and high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps that require a high-voltage ignition source. The nature of LEDs means that small changes in voltage result in large changes in current – as well as dramatic changes in brightness. The primary function of the driver module is supplying a controlled power level over the operating temperature range for the LED (or LEDs) in order to maintain a consistent light output. The topologies used in LED drivers are Buck, SEPIC (Single Ended Primary Inductance Converter), Boost, Flyback, Forward and Buck-Boost. These topologies are suitable for a range of power capacities and for different customer design requirements.
LEDs can be adversely affected by electrical transients, such as ESD or electrical spikes generated by the mains and electronic drivers. Fortunately, LEDs do not generate high inductive spikes or surges like magnetically ballasted HID lamps that often necessitate additional filtering devices to prevent problems for AC power distribution systems. Nevertheless, an LED driver module usually includes some level of protective circuitry to handle common faults that can occur in electronic systems. SSLs also can be exposed to extreme surge conditions such as power-line lightning strikes. Any power-line-coupled transients can reduce LED lifetimes. Electrical overstress (EOS, in general terms defined as any condition where one or more pins on an IC are subjected to current and/or voltage levels that exceed the Absolute Maximum Ratings per the IC data sheet) or ESD, a single fast, high current transfer of electrostatic charge between two objects at different electrostatic potentials, can result in an open circuit and immediate failure.
The solution to ESD and EOS events is relatively straightforward. A transient-voltage-suppression diode (TVS) with a breakdown voltage of around 50 V can help protect the device. TVS diodes are silicon avalanche devices typically chosen for their fast response time (low clamping voltage), lower capacitance and low leakage current. Often, the TVS diode can tolerate a 5,000-W peak pulse and has a response time of better than 1 ps. Addition of a capacitor to smooth the input signal is another appropriate corrective action to prevent EOS failures.
Statements of fact and or opinions expressed in MarketEYE by its contributors are the responsibility of the authors alone and do not imply an opinion of the officers or the representatives of TTI, Inc.
Murray Slovick is Editorial Director of Intelligent TechContent, an editorial services company that produces technical articles, white papers and social media posts for clients in the semiconductor/electronic design industry. Trained as an engineer, he has more than 20 years of experience as chief editor of award-winning publications covering various aspects of consumer electronics and semiconductor technology. He previously was Editorial Director at Hearst Business Media where he was responsible for the online and print content of Electronic Products, among other properties in the U.S. and China. He has also served as Executive Editor at CMP's eeProductCenter and spent a decade as editor-in-chief of the IEEE flagship publication Spectrum.


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Yarn Profile: Blackberry Ridge Woolen Mill Colorflow
First Impressions
Some yarn companies cheat and machine-knit large sheets of stockinette that they dye in slow color repeats. Then it's simply a matter of unraveling the "blank," as it's called, and re-skeining the yarn.
But when those color changes are achieved in the fiber itself, before ever being spun, you have a remarkable yarn. The most famous example would be the likes of Noro Kureyon. Different colors of fiber are fed into the carding machine at specific sequences, then the carded fibers are stripped off and spun into singles.
Anne Bosch wanted to do something even trickier: Ply two such singles together into a rounder, more structurally stable yarn that still maintains those slow, elegant color repeats. At first, her carding machines did too good of a job and the colors were blended together into a single mishmash. But after several tries, she mastered the process of creating a single roving of fiber with consistently slow, steady color migrations. Next came the challenge of spinning each roving with such precision that, when two such strands were plied together, the colors would still match. Any time a strand of roving breaks or tangles on the spinning frame, the color sequence risks being thrown off, so this is no small feat.
As a playtime project, Colorflow is available in limited supply, and skein yardages vary depending on the color. If you're a fan of slow repeats, however, you will absolutely want to give one of these massive skeins a try.
Knitting Up
Colorflow is composed of two strands that are plied together at a fairly perpendicular angle. That perpendicular twist, combined with the puffy woolen constitution, results in a remarkably round yarn with exceptional stitch definition.
It's also a breeze to knit. By row two, I was knitting and purling by touch alone. All my stitches looked perfectly even, and I encountered no knots or peculiarities in my skein.
Blocking / Washing
But I can't give you an accurate report on the yarn's overall colorfastness because to do so would've required that I knit up the entire skein, all 400+ yards of it. The part that I did knit was a dark brown shifting to a lighter yellowish brown. However—and this is yet another thing that makes the yarn so much fun—the brown wool is actually from a different sheep breed than the rest, taken off the backs of naturally brown sheep. It hasn't been dyed at all. The rest of the colors? I'll keep knitting away and let you know what happens.
Washing was a joy, as this yarn did what all good woolen-spun yarns do: the fibers relaxed, stretched their legs, and filled in all the nooks and crannies in my swatch. Once dry, I had a beautiful piece of cohesive fabric with a smooth bloom along the surface. There was no change in stitch or row gauge.
In terms of touch, there's not much itch to this yarn, especially after you wash it and let the fibers relax and bloom into place. I will tell you that the natural brown wool feels a micron or two thicker than the other fibers, so if you're a Princess and the Pea kind of person, you may want to stick with the all-dyed colorways (i.e. those without brown).
The flip-side of the overall heartier constitution of this wool? Greater durability for your finished garment. You want those fibers to be long and strong to compensate for the fact that most woolen-spun yarns, including this one, are actually over 90% air.
Once the fabric had been washed and allowed to bloom, the surface gained such cohesion that it was reluctant to allow any pills to form. Eventually a few wisps appeared but only after what I'd consider extreme duress.
Fortunately, not only does Anne own a mill, she's also a great knitter and designer. Her Santa Fe Shoulder Wrap (shown here) was designed to showcase the color progressions and accommodate the yardage of each individual skein.
Any stockinette-heavy shawlette would be perfect in this yarn. You could shake things up and use garter stitch too. Likewise, if you wanted to make gifts for all your friends, you could buy two wildly contrasting colorways and make several amazing versions of Jared Flood's simple striped Noro scarf. But you probably won't be doing hats or mittens or anything so small that the transitions are lost.
No, obviously this yarn won't be for everybody—just as some people are fine with one kind of oil in their pantry. But if you do enjoy the thrill of the rare and unusual yarns that tell a great story, support good people, and produce interesting results, definitely add Colorflow to your list. Considering the painstaking work that goes into producing each skein, and the hefty yardage contained therein, the price is a steal.
Yarn Name
Blackberry Ridge Woolen Mill
Fiber content
100% U.S.-grown wool
None given, but it's a worsted-weight yarn that gave me 5 stitches per inch on US 7 (4.5mm). Woolen-spun yarns have greater gauge flexibility, so you could easily go up or down a needle size to fit your needs.
Average retail price
Varies from $14.50 to $42.50/skein depending on yardage
Where to buy online
Blackberry Ridge Woolen Mill
Weight/yardage per skein
Varies, most average 7 oz / 420 yards (384m)
Country of origin
Manufacturer's suggested wash method
None given, but I'd recommend gentle handwash in lukewarm water with mild soap. Rinse in same temperature water, blot dry in a towel, then lay flat away from light and let dry.
Review date
Color used in review
Bright Santa Fe
Wholesale distributor
I don't know if Blackberry Ridge Woolen Mill sells its yarn wholesale to other stores, but it's worth a query if you're interested.
Source of review yarn
Purchased at Blackberry Ridge Woolen Mill


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Willie Carden expected to replace outgoing manager Milton DohoneyUPDATED 7:08 PM EST Nov 27, 2013
Willie Carden, director of Cincinnati Parks for the past 14 years, is expected to replace outgoing manager Milton Dohoney next week.Video Transcript
ELECT ... IS MOVING FAST... HE JUST ANNOUNCED WHO HIS NEW CITY MANAGER WILL BE.... WHEN HE TAKES OFFICE. IT'S A MAN WHO ALREADY WORKS FOR THE CITY.... AND HAS HAD SUCCESS.... TRANSFORMING SOME OF CINCINNATI'S BIGGEST LANDMARKS. WLWT NEWS FIVE'S JOHN LONDON IS HERE .... WITH WHO IT IS... AND WHY THE MAYOR-ELECT IS SO CONFIDENT.... HE'S THE RIGHT GUY FOR THE JOB. JOHN. IT'S WILLIE CARDEN. HE IS JOHN CRANLEY'S PERMANENT PICK. HE IS DESCRIBED AS DYNAMIC, DETAIL-ORIENTED AND DRIVEN... If an infectious smile guaranteed success, Cincinnati would be awash in it. Parks Director Willie Carden believes by sheer force of personality he can get a lot of stuff done. Others who have observed his style... (Chris Smitherman - Cincinnati Council) ("I feel Willie Carden is the right person at the right time.") Seem to be invigorated by it... (P G Sittenfeld - Cincinnati Council) ("Willie Carden is the gold standard. He's energetic, he's visionary, he's professional...") Former Mayor Charlie Luken considers Carden the finest public servant he's ever met. As you've seen on WLWT.com, his most visible success is all around you, whether on the riverfront or tucked into the interior of the city's core. A prodigious fundraiser, he has the ear of the city's philanthropic and business communities. (Willie Carden - City Manager-Select) ("I'm going to call, I'm going to ask, I'm going to plead because we have an opportunity to take this city to places that it has never been taken.") The Mayor-elect intended to conduct a national search. But, says the more he inquired about Carden, the more he liked. Carden has no prior City Manager experience. Milton Dohoney, who vacates City Hall this weekend, is one of the most credentialed City Managers in the country. (Willie Carden) ("You look around here, people see a person whose hard-working, whose going to be truthful and honest and he's going to be accountable and anything more than that, can't worry about it.") If confirmed by Council next week, he'll get into the weeds of Streetcar costs. He'll be challenged to present the Cranley goal of a structurally-balanced budget by July. (John Cranley - Mayor-Elect) ("Of course we're going to bring this whole streetcar issue, a resolution one way or the other.") The parks people love him. He is by self- definition a communicator who tries to inspire... (Amy Murray - Council Member-Elect) ("We haven't had as much open communication as we need. So, I think with Willie we'll have open communication for the whole city.") CARDEN HAS BEEN WITH THE CITY FOR TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS. HE'LL BE PAID $235,000 A YEAR. HE IS GUARANTEED HIS PENSION. HE WILL FOREGO SEVERANCE IF TERMINATED. EXPRESSED ADMIRATION FOR HIS PREDECESSOR TODAY AND TOLD US HE CAN'T WAIT TO GET STARTED. CINCINNATI'S CHARTER COMMITTEE ISSUED A STATEMENT SAYING WHILE CARDEN MAY BE FIRST-RATE... THE PROCESS MAYOR-ELECT CRANLEY EMPLOYED IS FLAWED... CHARTER SAID "IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT MULTIPLE CANDIDATES FROM A NATIONAL SEARCH BE PRESENTED FOR COUNCIL TO CONSIDER."
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CHAMPION Men's Long Mesh Shorts
Product Details
The versatile CHAMPION® men's long mesh shorts provide instant "air conditioning" with their cool, breathable mesh construction. The super-smooth tricot lining is comfortable against your skin, and the inner drawcord provides a customized fit. Sleek side-seam pockets keep your keys and cash close at hand.
Get your new CHAMPION® shorts today from Sports Authority.
- 100% polyester
- Mesh shell with tricot lining
- Full athletic fit
- Four-needle elastic waist with inside drawcord
- Side-seam pockets
- Vented, double-stitched hems
- Inseam: 8.5 inches
- Made in Honduras
Product Recommendations
Product Reviews
Reviewed by 1 customer
- Allows Free Movement
- Breathable
- Comfortable
- Dries Quickly
Best Uses
- Casual Wear
- Gym
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Comments about CHAMPION Men's Long Mesh Shorts:
I bought these shorts for my husband, who is a big guy with "thick", muscule-toned legs. Typically, he's hard to shop for when it comes to shorts & pants b/c of his leg measurements. However, these fit perfectly! The Big & Tall section on the website is ideal, and I will definitely be returning for additional items.
- Fit:
- Feels true to size


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In the past we've seen people hack Kinect and Wiimotes in order to control their Windows 7 desktops by any other mean other than their computer mice. It was really only a matter of time before we saw our phones being hacked to controller our desktops. Developer Arik Poznanski's latest release does just that. He has created a driver which enables his Windows Phone 7 smartphone to control Windows 7 on his desktop.
It took him over six months to complete this little project and today he's released it to the world. He's managed to develop drivers which transmit data from the Windows Phone 7 accelerometer sensor in real time to a Windows 7 desktop. By making use of Windows 7 API's which provide a standard interface for accessing the various types of sensors like the accelerometer, Arik created a software driver which transmits the Windows Phone 7 data to Windows 7.
At the moment there isn't really much that you can do with it. But at least we know it can be done, and it's probably only a matter of time before more developers start messing around with it and we see some real uses coming out of this.
Just imagine being able to play first person shooters on your desktop, where you can twist and angle the gun using the acceleromter in your phone, or navigating your way through twists and turns in a racing game. There is a lot of uses that can be found for this, it would pretty much be identical to using a Wiimote on your computer in a way.
For those of you who want to try it out, there's instructions on how to do it on Arik Poznanski's blog here. Just be warned it is still quite rough and isn't an official Microsoft program.


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Resources // news
The Cost of Green Buildings: Are green buildings truly cost-effective?Does a green building cost less to create and maintain than a conventional building? The General Services Administration (GSA) says yes.
Check out this great article from the publication, Buildings, about green building performance. Our Director of Embassy Programs, Ben Lilly, and Mechanical Department Head, Rob McAtee, are both quoted.
"Look at lifecycle costs and buyback time. For example, with photovoltaics, you might look at tying it back into the grid so you can push power back onto the grid and see what utility rates you get from that," said Lilly.
Click here to read the full article.


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Hard times are falling on communities across the country, and even in the affluent San Francisco area, belts are tightening and the economy is in decline. But on a recent December afternoon, on an island in the middle of the Bay, on a plot of land surrounded by cracked concrete and crumbling buildings, a lively celebration was gearing up, one that defied the growing gloom all around."
By the day's end, Ireland's 2007 and 2008 Gaelic football All-Stars had faced off against each other in front of over 2,000 fans, and San Francisco's Gaelic Athletic Association (SFGAA) had formally opened three new world-class fields, named a Pairc na nGael.
Players and fans of Gaelic football and hurling are ecstatic. Before the park materialized, they had never had their own base. They were "wandering aimlessly," with "no real homes . . . a rudderless ship," according to Pat Uniacke, President of the SFGAA Treasure Island Board of Directors.
In just eight months, workers and volunteers turned unused land owned by the U.S. Navy into high-quality pitches, where players can now pass a football or strike a sliotar without tripping in a gopher hole or having to surrender the pitch to other sports. But the new fields on Treasure Island go far beyond sport in their significance to the Bay Area and the Irish-American community. The second phase of the project involves a 25,000-square-foot community center and clubhouse, and will be open to any organization that wishes to use it. The space will host feiseanna, banquets, conferences, and the like and serve as a center where people can gather to socialize and celebrate - a physical hub in an increasingly virtual society.
This new foothold for Gaelic games is also a link between families and across decades. Irish President Mary McAleese praised this aspect when she appeared later the same week at the opening ceremony for Pairc na nOg, the new youth field that is part of the same project. In front of children from 25 area schools dressed in brightly colored football jerseys, McAleese recalled the largely Irish immigrants who came to San Francisco in the 1850s "with so little - but they still had the love of their games. And here we are a century and a half later, in very different times, honoring their memory. To the Irish-American families and the dignitaries, fans, players, and volunteers who attended the opening ceremonies that week, the new GAA center is more than just well-kept grass for games and competition. It's a knot joining America back to Ireland, and the Irish-American past to its unwritten future - a knot that's being tied and tightened even as you read.
A Long Time Coming
Work was finished on the fields less than a year after the lease was signed, but in a sense they were 155 years in the making. Ever since Irish immigrants played Gaelic games in San Francisco as far back as 1853, they've never had fields of their own.
In the decades since, participation levels have waxed and waned, largely in relation to the economy here or in Ireland and to the resulting immigration rates. But the sports and the culture have always lived on, in one way or another. McAleese likened it to a baton handed on from generation to generation. That baton has never been dropped, but now - with a home base - Gaelic games are much better positioned to grow.
As is the culture at large. John O'Flynn, another key SFGAA board member and chair of the Irish Football Youth League, sees Gaelic games as "a very important cog in the wheel in promoting Irish-American culture." The games get people together who might not know each other, and those connections last throughout life.
Ray O'Flaherty, a native of County Offaly and owner of a popular Irish pub an hour's drive south in San Jose, considers the games as an important cultural link to bygone days. "It keeps us living with the past, with stuff we all did when we were young people . . . it's the preservation of our traditions."
Indeed, the desire to preserve Irish culture and pastimes inspired the very creation of the GAA back in 1884 in Thurles, County Tipperary. At the time, hurling and other Gaelic games seemed threatened by British rule and the general dilution of Irish language and identity.
Those threats seem distant now, but other things challenge the growth of Gaelic games in the U.S. today: the periodic declines in Irish immigration and competition for the youths from other sports, like soccer. Supporters of the games see Pairc na nGael as a counterforce to those factors, and a unique opportunity to build community. The games also link Irish Americans to their Hibernian roots in another, more direct way. Many of the youths know little of Gaelic culture or of Ireland itself. But every two years or so the GAA raises money to send some of the underage teams back to Ireland to take part in the FZile na nGael, a tournament for youths.
"It's a process of acculturation," says Liam Reidy of the SFGAA, "to take them home to Ireland where a lot of their parents and grandparents were born and raised." For many, it's their first real exposure to Ireland beyond family stories and a Gaelic surname. So what may seem to some like merely sport or competition is in fact a link to the past and a gateway to Ireland.


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In article <firstname.lastname@example.com>,
David Newman
> refclock_newpeer: clock type 26 invalid
>This is with the stock install of FreeBSD; I didn't install ntp from
>ports, and I have not recompiled the kernel. (If I do need to recompile
>the kernel, please let me know what option(s) to use.)
You need to recompile ntpd. FreeBSD ships ntpd by default without
refclock drivers.
Garrett A. Wollman | As the Constitution endures, persons in every
firstname.lastname@example.com | generation can invoke its principles in their own
Opinions not those | search for greater freedom.
of MIT or CSAIL. | - A. Kennedy, Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003)