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Here is a nice shot of two D-Wave OneTM systems being tested in the lab!
Tag Archives: Quantum computing
It's like the quantum computer is playing 20 questions…
I've been thinking about the BlackBox compiler recently and came up with a very interesting analogy to the way it works. There are actually lots of different ways to think about how BlackBox works, and we'll post more of them over time, but here is a very high level and fun one.
The main way that you use BlackBox is to supply it with a classical function which computes the "goodness" of a given bitstring by returning a real number (the lower this number, the better the bitstring was).
Whatever your optimization problem is, you need to write a function that encodes your problem into a series of bits (x1, x2, x3…. xN) to be discovered, and which also computes how "good" a given bitstring (e.g. 0,1,1…0) is. When you pass such a function to Blackbox, the quantum compiler then repeatedly comes up with ideas for bitstrings, and using the information that your function supplies about how good its "guesses" are, it quickly converges on the best bitstring possible.
So using this approach the quantum processor behaves as a co-processor to a classical computing resource. The classical computing resources handles one part of the problem (computing the goodness of a given bitstring), and the quantum computer handles the other (suggesting bitstrings). I realized that this is described very nicely by the two computers playing 20 questions with one another.
The quantum computer suggests creative solutions to a problem, and then the classical computer is used to give feedback on how good the suggested solution is. Using this feedback, BlackBox will intelligently suggest a new solution. So in the example above, Blackbox knows NOT to make the next question "Is it a carrot?"
There is actually a deep philosophical point here. One of the pieces that is missing in the puzzle of artificial intelligence is how to make algorithms and programs more creative. I have always been an advocate of using quantum computing to power AI, but we now start to see concrete ways in which it could really start to address some of the elusive problems that crop up when trying to build intelligent machines.
At D-Wave, we have been starting some initial explorations in the areas of machine creativity and machine dreams, but it is early days and the pieces are only just starting to fall into place.
I was wondering if you could use the QC to actually play 20 questions for real. This is quite a fun application idea. If anyone has any suggestions for how to craft 20 questions into an objective function, let me know. My first two thoughts were to do something with Wordnet and NLTK. You could try either a pattern matching or a machine learning version of 'mining' wordnet for the right answer. This project would be a little Watson-esque in flavour.
"Inside the chip" – new video showing Rainier 128 processor
Here is a video showing how some of the parts of a D-Wave Rainier processor go together to create the fabric of the quantum computer.
The animation shows how the processor is made up of 128 qubits, 352 couplers and nearly 24,000 Josephson junctions. The qubits are arranged in a tiling pattern to allow them to connect to one another.
New tutorials on devPortal: WMIS and MCS
There are two new tutorials on the website, complete with code snippets! Click on the images to go to the tutorial pages on the developer portal:
This tutorial (above) describes how to solve Weighted Maximum Independent Set (WMIS) problems using the hardware. Finding the Maximum Independent Set of a bunch of connected variables can be very useful. At a high level, the MIS it gives us information about the largest number of 'things' that can be achieved from a set when lots of those 'things' have conflicting requirements. In the tutorial, an example is given of scheduling events for a sports team, but you can imagine all sorts of variants: Train timetabling to improve services, assigning patients to surgeons to maximize the throughput of vital operations and minimize waiting lists, adjusting variable speed limits on motorways to reduce traffic jams during periods of congestion, etc etc.
This tutorial (above) describes how to find Maximum Common Subgraphs given two graphs. The example given in this tutorial is in molecule matching. Looking for areas where sub-structures in molecules are very similar can give us information about how such molecules behave. This is just one simple example of MCS. You can also imagine the same technique being applied to social networks to look for matches between the structuring of social groups. This technique could be used for improving ad placement or even for detecting crime rings.
These two tutorials are closely linked – as finding the MCS involves finding the MIS as part of the process. There are also lots of interesting applications of both these methods in graph and number theory.
If anyone would like to implement WMIS or MCS to solve any of the problem ideas mentioned in this post, please feel free!
Physics World blog article featuring D-Wave
On Friday Hamish Johnston from Physics World visited D-Wave to have a look round and investigate the 'inside' of the D-Wave box. Read his report here!
Physics World Blog >> Inside the box at D-Wave
Here are a few of the photos from his visit on Flickr:
Vesuvius: A closer look – 512 qubit processor gallery
The next generation of D-Wave's technology is called Vesuvius, and it's going to be a very interesting processor. The testing and development of this new generation of quantum processor is going well. In the meantime, here are some beautiful images of Vesuvius!
Above: An entire wafer of Vesuvius processors after the full fabrication process has completed.
Above: Photographing the wafer from a different angle allows more of the structure to be seen. Exercise for the reader: Estimate the number of qubits in this image🙂
Above: A slightly closer view of part of the wafer. The small scale of the structures (<1um) produces a diffraction grating effect (like you see on the underside of a CD) resulting in a beautiful spectrum of colours reflecting from the wafer surface.
Above: A different angle of shot produces different colours and allows different areas of the circuitry to become visible.
Above: A close-up image of a single Vesuvius processor on the wafer. The white square seen to the right of the image contains the main 'fabric' of 512 connected qubits.
Above: An image of a processor wire-bonded to the chip carrier, ready to be installed into the computer system. The wires carry the signals to the quantum components and associated circuitry on the chip.
Above: A larger view of the bonded Vesuvius processor. More of the chip packaging is now also visible in the image.
Above: The full chip packaging is visible, complete with wafer.
Quantum computing and light switches
So as part of learning how to become a quantum ninja and program the D-Wave One, it is important to understand the problem that the machine is designed to solve. The D-Wave machine is designed to find the minimum value of a particular mathematical expression which I can write down in one line:
As people tend to be put off by mathematical equations in blogposts, I decided to augment it with a picture of a cute cat. However, unless you are very mathematically inclined (like kitty), it might not be intuitive what minimizing this expression actually means, why it is important, or how quantum computing helps. So I'm going to try to answer those three questions in this post.
1.) What does the cat's expression mean?
The machine is designed to solve discrete optimization problems. What is a discrete optimization problem? It is one where you are trying to find the best settings for a bunch of switches. Here's a graphical example of what is going on. Let's imagine that our switches are light switches which each have a 'bias value' (a number) associated with them, and they can each be set either ON or OFF:
The light switch game
The game that we must play is to set all the switches into the right configuration. What is the right configuration? It is the one where when we set each of the switches to either ON or OFF (where ON = +1 and OFF = -1) and then we add up all the switches' bias values multiplied by their settings, we get the lowest answer. This is where the first term in the cat's expression comes from. The bias values are called h's and the switch settings are called s's.
So depending upon which switches we set to +1 and which we set to -1, we will get a different score overall. You can try this game. Hopefully you'll find it easy because there's a simple rule to winning:
We find that if we set all the switches with positive biases to OFF and all the switches with negative biases to ON and add up the result then we get the lowest overall value. Easy, right? I can give you as many switches as I want with many different bias values and you just look at each one in turn and flip it either ON or OFF accordingly.
OK, let's make it harder. So now imagine that many of the pairs of switches have an additional rule, one which involves considering PAIRS of switches in addition to just individual switches… we add a new bias value (called J) which we multiply by BOTH the switch settings that connect to it, and we add the resulting value we get from each pair of switches to our overall number too. Still, all we have to do is decide whether each switch should be ON or OFF subject to this new rule.
But now it is much, much harder to decide whether a switch should be ON or OFF, because its neighbours affect it. Even with the simple example shown with 2 switches in the figure above, you can't just follow the rule of setting them to be the opposite sign to their bias value anymore (try it!). With a complex web of switches having many neighbours, it quickly becomes very frustrating to try and find the right combination to give you the lowest value overall.
2.) It's a math expression – who cares?
We didn't build a machine to play a strange masochistic light switch game. The concept of finding a good configuration of binary variables (switches) in this way lies at the heart of many problems that are encountered in everyday applications. A few are shown in figure below (click to expand):
Even the idea of doing science itself is an optimization problem (you are trying to find the best 'configuration' of terms contributing to a scientific equation which matches our real world observations).
3.) How does quantum mechanics help?
With a couple of switches you can just try every combination of ON's and OFF's, there are only four possibilities: [ON ON], [ON OFF], [OFF ON] or [OFF OFF]. But as you add more and more switches, the number of possible ways that the switches can be set grows exponentially:
You can start to see why the game isn't much fun anymore. In fact it is even difficult for our most powerful supercomputers. Being able to store all those possible configurations in memory, and moving them around inside conventional processors to calculate if our guess is right takes a very, very long time. With only 500 switches, there isn't enough time in the Universe to check all the configurations.
Quantum mechanics can give us a helping hand with this problem. The fundamental power of a quantum computer comes from the idea that you can put bits of information into a superposition of states. Which means that using a quantum computer, our light switches can be ON and OFF at the same time:
Now lets consider the same bunch of switches as before, but now held in a quantum computer's memory:
Because all the light switches are on and off at the same time, we know that the correct answer (correct ON/OFF settings for each switch) is represented in there somewhere… it is just currently hidden from us.
What the D-Wave quantum computer allows you to do is take this 'quantum representation' of your switches and extract the configuration of ONs and OFFs with the lowest value.
Here's how you do this:
You start with the system in its quantum superposition as described above, and you slowly adjust the quantum computer to turn off the quantum superposition effect. At the same time, you slowly turn up all those bias values (the h and J's from earlier). As this is performed, you allow the switches to slowly drop out of the superposition and choose one classical state, either ON or OFF. At the end, each switch MUST have chosen to be either ON or OFF. The quantum mechanics working inside the computer helps the light switches settle into the right states to give the lowest overall value when you add them all up at the end. Even though there are 2^N possible configurations it could have ended up in, it finds the lowest one, winning the light switch game.


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"Still Serving" is a video program designed to provide an inside look at veterans who are "Still Serving" other veterans. The monthly 15-minute profile is co-produced by the VA Learning University and the Office of Public Affairs in partnership with the Employee Education System and other headquarters and field offices.
Veterans Crisis Line:
1-800-273-8255 (Press 1)
Social Media
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs | 810 Vermont Avenue, NW Washington DC 20420
Last reviewed/updated August 8th, 2016

subset: commoncrawl


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Group for the Study of Italian Seafaring
After the collapse of the Roman Empire and following the barbaric invasions the political unity of the Italian Peninsula was fragmented and reunification was not achieved until 1870, after the Third Civil War and the conquest of Rome. In this context the study of Italian Seafaring during the Middle Ages and the following periods must therefore be carried out having in mind a complex and contingent historical reality, in which the local shipbuilding traditions were enriched by external influences, such as Arab and Byzantine, originating a diversity of different cultural combinations in each geographical area.
In fact, as Braudel has pointed out, Italy has always been the middle axis of the Mediterranean, and always divided between an Italy that is turned to the West, and another that looks into de Levant.
With the advent of the 12th century the Italian Peninsula witnessed a phenomenon diverse and not simultaneous: its maritime cities developed autonomously and expanded their interests throughout the Mediterranean and even outside it.
The objective of this group is the study of the Italian ships and the contribution that its shipwrights brought to the development of shipbuilding.
- - Mauro Bondioli
Dopo il collasso dell'impero romano e le alterne invasioni barbare, l'unità politica e culturale della penisola italiana si frammentò per ricomporsi solo nel 1870, ovvero dopo la Terza Guerra di Indipendenza e la presa della città di Roma. Pertanto, lo studio della storia dell'Italian seafaring durante l'età medioevale e dei periodi seguenti, deve innanzitutto tener conto di una realtà storica molto complessa e articolata, in cui l'eredità delle tradizioni locali subì dapprima una serie di influenze esterne, come quella araba e bizantina, per dar luogo successivamente a combinazioni culturali diverse per ciascuna area geografica. Infatti, come ha giustamente sottolineato Braudel, l'Italia ha da sempre costituito "l'asse mediano" del Mediterraneo " e si è sempre sdoppiata...tra un'Italia volta a Ponente e un'altra che guarda a Levante". Con la rinascita del XII secolo, un fenomeno peraltro non omogeneo e simultaneo ovunque, la civiltà marittima italiana seppe ergersi autonomamente per diffondersi in tutte le sponde del Mediterraneo ed anche oltre.
Lo scopo quindi del gruppo è studiare le navi italiane e il contributo che i suoi artefici apportarono allo sviluppo della costruzione navale.
- - Mauro Bondioli
Mediterranean Lateeners and Round Ships
The variety of ships and boats built around the Mediterranean basin between the Middle Ages and the early modern period is difficult to imagine. Moreover, a number of important changes have occurred in the way ships were built between the 6th and the 11th centuries, and again a number of important changes seem to have occurred in the way ships were rigged and sailed during the 14th century.
Documental, iconographical, and archaeological sources are scarce for the millennium that that followed the fall of the Roman empire, making it difficult to attempt to study these technological changes from any standpoint. At the ShipLab and SAEN we are trying to use our experience modeling and testing hull shapes and rigging arrangements to improve our understanding of these changes.
Basing our preliminary studies on the reconstruction of a few medieval hulls, as reconstructed by the archaeologists that have studied them, we intend to use a number of technical tools to try to better understand these hull remains and their reconstructions. We believe that the growing corpus of data available - namely considering the important troves of medieval hull remains of the last decade, in Turkey, Israel and Sardinia - will allow a better understanding of these ships' cost, capacity, minimum required crew, speed, and performance under sail.
The main advantage of computer models is that they are flexible and easy to correct in view of new data, ideas, or theories, and we believe that the sooner we start looking at them with our technical tools the better we will be prepared to analyze a larger corpus of data.
Italian Treatises on Shipbuilding
The earliest known treatises on shipbuilding were written in Italy, at the end of the Middle Ages and early Renaissance period. This fact may reflect the importance of maritime trade in the lives of Italy's rich and sophisticated republics.
In cooperation with the Center for the Study of Digital Libraries, the ShipLab is gathering information about treatises and other documental sources on shipbuilding. Our main objectives are twofold: from the computer science viewpoint we want to develop tools that will help researches access and relate information; from the history of technology viewpoint we want to make information available. This project is titled Nautical Archaeology Digital Library.
Ships have been among the most complex artifacts produced by men al all time, and the importance of these treatises and texts on shipbuilding is paramount for a number of different disciplines, of which those with a stronger interest are nautical archaeology, naval history, history of science, history of technology, and history of ideas.
The part of the project that deals with the Italian texts is being developed by Mauro Bondioli and Lilia Campana, but counts with a large team of specialists. Our goal is to make texts otherwise difficult to access available, both on-line and through critical publications.
This project is supported by Dr. and Mrs. Peter Amaral and ProMARE.


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Michael Pennington
Michael Eugene Pennington, 51, of Dry Fork, died May 11, 2013, at Davis Memorial Hospital in Elkins.
He was born Aug. 28, 1961, in Elkins, a son of Clifford Delano Pennington and Jeraldine Alden Wilfong.
Also surviving are one brother, C.J. Pennington, Dry Fork; one sister, Paula Mullenax, Elkins; a nephew, Allen Mullenax and a niece, Laura Mullenax, both of Elkins.
Mike was a carpenter and welder. He worked hanging steel at different job sites and worked as a carpenter in the construction business. He enjoyed hunting, fishing, music and motorcycle riding, and he was a natural at riding horses.
Friends will be received from noon to 1 p.m., the funeral hour, on Wednesday, May 15, 2013, at Hinkle Funeral Home. Rev. Doyle Patch will officiate. Interment will follow in the Red Creek Bethel Cemetery, Lanesville.
Hinkle Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
Condolences may be exrpressed to the family at www.hinklefuneralhome.com.


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Work Incentives Planning and Assistance
The Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 authorized Social Security to award grants, contracts or cooperative agreements to provide community-based work incentives expertise to beneficiaries of Social Security or Supplemental Security Income benefits based on disability. We awarded 95 cooperative agreements throughout every State, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. These projects will begin providing services to beneficiaries in August of 2013. You may find contact information for these projects on http://choosework.net.
The goal of the WIPA program is to enable beneficiaries with disabilities to make informed choices about work, and to support working beneficiaries to make a successful transition to self-sufficiency. Each WIPA project has Community Work Incentives Coordinators who will:
- provide in-depth counseling about benefits and the effect of work on those benefits;
- conduct outreach efforts to beneficiaries of SSI and SSDI (and their families) who are potentially eligible to participate in Federal or State work incentives programs; and
- work in cooperation with Federal, State, and private agencies and nonprofit organizations that serve disabled SSI and SSDI beneficiaries.
The Social Security Administration has a contract with Virginia Commonwealth University to provide training and technical support to the WIPA project staff. You may visit VCU's website at http://www.vcu-ntc.org/.


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Institutions participating in NSSE's Global Learning module are encouraged to respond to the ACE Mapping survey.
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Campus Tours & Visits
Daily Campus Tours
We offer campus tours during the following times for Fall 2016:
- Monday - Friday at 2 pm
- Monday & Wednesday at 11 am
Campus tours begin on August 29th & will end on December 5th.
Please note that we do not have campus tours on the following dates:
- September 5th
- October 17th
- October 18th
- November 21st
- November 23rd - November 25th
Visitors to campus should wear comfortable attire and shoes and be prepared to spend at least an hour viewing the campus on foot. We also advise visitors to be aware of the weather before arrival and plan accordingly. If you have special needs, please inform our office before your arrival.
Self-Guided Tours
If you are planning to visit our campus on a weekend or any other time tours are unavailable, you can take a virtual tour, or download an app for your mobile device.
Group Tours
(For groups of 9 or more students)
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga would love to host your 9th - 12th grade group for a campus tour Monday-Thursday. If your group consists of 9 or more students, we ask that you email Ginny Reese at least 3 weeks in advance. Reservations can be made up to 4 months in advance. Please note, we are unable to schedule group tours during the months of October & March.
UTC Blue & Gold Preview Day
Join us for a day of fun, food and information. Meet current UTC students, alumni and faculty members. Talk to representatives from Admissions, Housing, Financial Aid, Scholarships and Advisement offices. We will also offer tours of campus, residence halls, the UTC Library and you can get your picture made with Scrappy!
Other Special Events
Specialized tours for specific academic departments.


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Freedom New Mexico
PORTALES — Junior designated hitter Ethan Wagner hit a pair of homers, and Eastern New Mexico University's baseball team exploded for 13 runs in the last two innings of a 15-5 Lone Star Conference rout of East Central Sunday at Greyhound Field.
The Greyhounds (23-22, 18-18 LSC) won the weekend series 3-1 and moved into fifth place in conference standings. The top six teams advance to the LSC tournament.
Catcher Freddy Carmona extended his hit streak to 26 games with a two-run double in the seventh. He later scored on a sacrifice fly by Kevin Thompson, ending the game via the LSC's 10-run mercy rule which goes into effect after seven innings on "getaway day" of a series.
Russell Campbell (4-2) got the win, allowing four runs — three earned — over six innings. Second baseman Garrett Cook went 4-for-5 with four RBIs for the Hounds, who banged out 16 hits.
Wagner connected for a two-run shot off East Central starter Randell Shrouder (2-5) with no outs in the sixth, tying the score 4-4, then led off ENMU's seven-run seventh with a solo blast, his team-leading eighth of the season.
Right fielder Clint Bowker went 3-for-4 and drove in two runs for the Tigers (12-32, 11-25).
The Hounds return to action on Friday, beginning a four-game conference series at Central Oklahoma with a 4 p.m. nine-inning game.


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Anyone going to the game? I'll be there!
When Portland takes the floor at Madison Square Garden, they will be looking to build on their second win of the season, along with looking to close out an undefeated month of October. Of course the month of October has only featured two games, but there are plenty of things worse than a 2-0 start. In order to turn that 2-0 to a 3-0, and ensure no worse than a .500 record on the teams first road trip, the Blazers will have to first go through one of the NBAs many new look teams. The Knicks were one of the teams not located in Miami that got the cold shoulder from LeBron James and the Decision.
Unlike a few other teams, the Clippers and the Nets, the Knicks did walk away from the summers free agent free-for-all with a pretty solid pickup.
Amare Stoudemire was a perennial All-Star during his eight seasons with the Phoenix Suns, and has been First Team All-NBA, an Olympic Bronze Medalist, and on the short list of top power forwards in the Western Conference and the whole Association at least since the 2004-05 season. Although the authenticity of Stoudemires Hebraic ancestry may be questionable, what isnt in question, and hasnt ever been in question, is his ability to dominate the Portland Trail Blazers. Stoudemire has made a business out of destroying Portland inside, and has long been the primary point of emphasis for the argument against LaMarcus Aldridge. The argument goes: How can LA be one of the most dominant power forwards in the west when he always, always gets flat out worked by Amare? Its a good question, and one LA hopes to answer Saturday at MSG.
New York has split its opening two games of the season, falling to the Celtics 105-101 on Friday night in Boston, and beating the hapless Raptors 98-95 at their home opener Wednesday in Toronto. Stoudemire finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds in the win at Toronto and with 27 points and 8 rebounds in the loss to Boston. Amare isnt the only Knick that can fill up the stat sheet. Danilo Gallinari is a gunner from outside the three point line. In 2009-10, Gallinari launched 488 bombs, hitting 186. Gallinari was second only to Houstons Aaron Brooks in both threes attempted and made. New York also has Wilson Chandler coming off the bench providing instant offense. Chandler scored 22 points in 29 minutes against Toronto.
Portland lost at MSG their last time there, at the beginning of the road trip that even Nata McMillan missed due to injury, but last years stats from that game are basically meaningless because not a single Knick from last seasons starting lineup is in this seasons starting lineup. David Lee is at Golden State, Chris Duhon is in Orlando, Al Harrington is in Denver, and Jared Jefferies is in Houston, leaving Wilson Chandler as the only Knick starter from 2009-10 even on the 2010-11 roster.
The Blazers will find their biggest advantage against New York in their depth. Stoudimire will get his, Raymond Felton is a competent but not great point guard who doesnt make a ton of mistakes, Ive already spoken about Gallo and Chandler. Beyond those four players New York brings very little to the table. The Knicks start two rookies, Landry Fields and Russian import Timofey Mozgov, and after Chandler the most potent Knick off the bench has been Tony Douglas. Douglas scored 12 points in the loss to Boston and 10 points in the win in Toronto. Portland can, and will play 10 men, that should give them a serious advantage.
If the Blazers can keep Amare from having a crazy scoring and rebounding night, he can have one or the other but not both, and they keep the Knicks from hitting wide open threes, in last seasons loss the discrepancy of made threes was 13-to-1 in favor of the home team, Portland should have a good chance at running away with a win on Saturday.
Portland got to play spoiler in Blake Griffins professional debut. Although Saturday wont be Amares pro debut, it will be his first home game in Madison Square Garden. Of course that will give him and the Knicks all the more reason to get up for the win, this is after all a team that fancies themselves an Eastern Conference contender, but outside of Stoudemire, New York doesnt win any individual position. The Blazers have yet to put together a full game that has looked fluid from start to finish. Saturday would be a great time to start.
Felton V Miller. Miller is savvy.
Chandler v Batum. This is gonna be a clash.
Who else but the human X Factor? Fields Esq.
Douglas and Turiaf. Making a mess for the opposition in the front & back courts.
-Will Gallo find his form?
-Will Chandler maintain?
-Can STAT find his passing game and rebound as ferociously as he penetrates?
-Will Eddy Curry, in his utter famine, devour himself at last?
-Will The Gov be benched too early again?
-Will we shoot ourselves against the wall again?
-Will Camby register as many blocks as our team? No, he won't.
True test. Can we bounce back? Portland is a respectable team. But if we play hard we can pull a win here.
I'll be there, section 133. We need some life in that section tho cause it was dead as hell all preseason.
Guess if I was simple in the mind...everything would be fine.
Ahhh I'm all the way upstairs, broke ass law student lol...though if you could sneak me and my 3 guests down i would be very grateful!
I would if I could, but we only have 2 seats and the section is usually packed....just with quiet ass people and fans of the opposing team. But if things continue the way they are in that section...I'll be joining you guys upstairs, lol.
Guess if I was simple in the mind...everything would be fine.
Yeah I feel ya...The Garden on the lower level is gonna be filled with suits, I hate that. Remember that commercial years ago where the usher takes the real fans courtside with their crappy tixx and sends the suits who are there to be seen and get a business deal done all the way upstairs with their courtside seats? Yeah, I wish that were real...
Yea, for real. There should be some sort of decree that you have to make noise and support the team if you're gonna sit in any sort of lower level seats.
I'm dying for the Garden to get as noisy as the Thunder's arena or the Rose Garden but it's only the upper levels getting into the game from the 1st Q to the 4th Q.
Knicks fans need to take the Garden back.
Guess if I was simple in the mind...everything would be fine.
The Key to the Knicks entire season is to win the games they should win, and this is one of them. Let's see if this is the same old Knicks we have been watching the past 10 years, or if this is indeed a brand new era.
Nice Game thread crazy8s....i think we're playing a better team but we can still win this game. Roy will rape us but if we can slow everyone else down then we got a shot at moving to 2 and 1.
Amare went up against a tough frontline last night and still scored 27 points. He should find it easier tonight against the Blazers even though they're no walk in the park with former Knick Marcus Camby starting at center for them.
Portland is a very very good team. They are better than us, we have to outplay them. We have to make the Blazers play up-tempo, make them play our style. Batum has looked really good the last two games for Portland, and everyone knows how good B-Roy is. Gallo NEEDS to have a big game. If he puts up 10 points or less, than we'll lose, Portland has weapons everywhere. I think STAT will have 25+ points if Alridge is guarding him, but he needs help. Hopefully Will the Thrill can keep up his stellar play, wish he'd drive more rather than settle for the 3's, but either way hes having a good start for the season.
SMMFH that this will be the first game I finally get to watch so far in our regular season. Anyway this game could get ugly if we come out lethargic. If we come to play we got a shot. Blazers are better than us so we had better bring some fkn energy tonight.
Hey guys, I just thought I'd stop by and drop my 2 cents.
This is why the Blazers are going to win:
Blazers had a 50+ win season last year with a team plague of injuries (Webster, foot - Greg, kneecap - Przybilla, knee - Fernandez, back spasms - Roy, knee - Batum, shoulder - Mcmillian, achillies).
Blazers (we) are 2-0 this season and are looking to hit another 50+ win season. It is simply amazing how well the Blazers have been doing.
Guess what New York?
We have our same starting 5 with no new additions (excluding 2nd unit)
Roy, Aldridge, Batum, Camby and Miller.
Batum: A 21 year old rising star. Even through the playoffs we saw an injured Batum throw down ~20 points a game. He is deadly and an amazing defender. I don't see any Knicks players having a big night except for the big man inside. PS: BAHTUUUUUMMMM!!!!!
Roy: A scoring beast in the first half of the clippers game, finished with 21 (I believe) and went 0-8 in the second half. If our all-star can't make a bucket in the second half and still throwing down 21 points, how do you expect to win?
Camby: The guy is a solid player. He is becoming a veteran and has the hunger to win an NBA campionship more then ever. He wants wins and he wants them now. Not to mention, with Oden and Przybilla coming back, Camby is working harder then ever to show Mcmillian that he should not be a bench warmer. Expect Camby to OWN in rebounds tonight.
Miller: I'll admit, not a great fit for the blazers, and we're currently trying to trade him. He hates the offense we run but at the same time, he can drop 52 points when he wants, given this Miller is the type of player to ignore the coach and become a leathal scorer.
Aldridge: Has been working on his strength inside. I'll admit, Amar'e will show Aldridge w'sup. Given this, I think Aldridge will not have a big night due to the inside prescense of the big man
I really think Amar'e is going to drop a 35~40 point game and become a BEAST this game due to Portland not having their #1 draft pick G.O or Przybilla (AKA; THE TWIN TOWERS).
My prediction: Blazers by 11 with Amar'e having a HUGE night
Michael Buffer. HUUUGGEEE !!!!!


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Except once.
Joe Faroe has learned that laws are made by politicians, and politicians are all too human. He believes in the innocents, the ones getting ground up by governments that are too polarized or too corrupt to protect their own citizens. He's been through the political meat grinder himself. It cost him his career, his freedom, and the woman who still haunts him. Since then Faroe has worked outside the rules and politics of government as a kidnap specialist for St. Kilda Consulting, a Manhattan-based global business that concentrates on the shadow world where governments can't go. He is good at his work: intelligent, confident, ruthless.
Until a friend dies trying to kill him.
Now Faroe is out of the business. Retired. He's through trying to save a world that doesn't want to be saved.
Then Grace comes to him, past and present collide, and Faroe finds himself sucked back into the shadows, tracking a violent killer who holds the life of Grace's son in his bloody hands.
©2006 Two of a Kind, Inc.; (P)2006 HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
"The payoff is solid." (Publishers Weekly)
"Lowell brilliantly mingles danger, deception, and desire to create a captivating story that is edgy, sexy, and completely satisfying." (Booklist)
"The Wrong Narrator"
I tought the story and dialogue were excellent, and the book was entertaining, but I thought the main character was a little far-fetched. I don't get how a judge, with "balls and brains", from La Jolla, can put her kid in the situation that is the basis for the story. I also thought the writer used a lot of the same metaphors and phrases over and over again, which I think is just lazy.
But my main objection is with the choice of narrator. I thought she sounded too old for the character she was portraying. Her volume level was also uneven so I had to keep adjusting my iPod.
Still, except for a section in the middle that dragged on and on, I thought it was basically a good and entertaining listen.
"Where's the real Elizabeth Lowell?"
I mean all of her fans are well familiar with her suspense filled, funny, sexy, can't put it down and OMG he did not just say that! scenes. All I can say is that this time she must have been sleep-writing. The book just drags on, tedious and overly filled with details that I as a reader did not need. Even in the action scenes you feel like taking a nap for an hour or two. I love her books, I own all of her books and have never been disappointed. But this one is not going on my to be re-read list.
"Simply Awful"
I was looking for good escapist summer listening...what I got was a badly written, badly read waste of time. A trite story, cardboard characters, and an overly emotive reader makes for a simply awful audio book experience.
"Great Story"
Loved the story although I am not sure I would want to listen to another with this narrator.
"Dreadful narrator"
Pretty typical Elizabeth Lowell suspese/romance worth 4 stars but ruined by awful narration - 2 stars so ave 3. I appreciate there must be different tones for different people and moods but the narrators loud and soft tones are not just irritating, it was difficult to hear the softer parts. No use turning up the volume as it would make the rest of audiobook too loud.
Audible obsessed!
"The Wrong Narrator & Producer"
I've always enjoyed Elizabeth Lowell's books as I did this one ... only If I had read it. First, let me give you my opinion of the book, It was an enjoyable plot; some nice action and descriptive. However if you are looking for a mystery this is not it. There is no mystery it's all upfront of the good the bad and the ugly. The hero was well likable, sexy, dangerous and informed with his politics. As a hostage negotiator he was good at his job. As far as the heroin; well ... for a federal court appointed judge she was a bit stupid about the ways of the world. Sometimes i'd pictured her with her 'pinky finger' in her mouth while she spoke. She takes the title of "BORN YESTERDAY" attitude. I think this was a bit of a mistake on the Authors part because she made the book not believable due to this major foe-pa.
Now let me tell you about this narrator. She reminded me of my grandmother on Thanksgiving after she's knocked back a few bottles of wine and was too tired to sit up after all the turkey she ate. She was in a word: HORRID. I have never heard a narrator so bored and indifferent with an edge of annoyance while reading & acting out the parts. She spoke like she was annoyed and you could actually hear her sigh when she started a new sentence. She mumbled half the time and her words were slurred. I honestly don't know who produced this audiobook, but she/He too didn't do their job. It's a shame because this could have been a pretty decent listen. So I recommend you READ this particular book and avoid this narrator in the future. Sorry to be so blunt but I feel the author had a real disservice done to her with this production.
"Don't waste the money or time"
Poor characters,story development , juvenile writing, unable to complete will not buy another from this author
"A Romance"
I recognized the formula for this fictional rescue tale and settled in for a fun, fast paced listen. What I ended up with was far too much of the earnest sentimental musings, erections and body part descriptions of (I assume) the romance genre.
I might listen to another Elizabeth Lowell if she left out the romance-y elements.
Lane, the son, was my favorite character. Wish there was more from/about him as it would've increased the tension and more heavily invested those looking to rescue him. The romance-y elements set the pace instead. Pity.
The narrator was quite good.
"Have never like Maria Tucci's reading."
I listen to audiobooks in the car, most of the time and find myself struggling to understand her narration. She has this affectation of lowering her voice to reflect pondering or add drama to the reading & it's very frustrating. I love all Elizabeth Lowell books since the moment I read the first book from her which happens to be Moving Target & it's my favorite . But I certainly won't buy any more if they are narrated by Tucci which is a shame as I like them all so much
A good story ruined by mundane narration. The narrator sounded bored which distracted from the story. Its hard to get into the tension of the plot when it is read with no emotion. Had I read this before Blue smoke and Murder another story about the St Kilda operatives I would not have gotten it and that would have been a shame as it is another good story but with much better narration.I often wonder if the Author knows just what an awful job some of the narrators do. end result. Get the second book and forget this one.
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Press Release Detail
Pharmacy Students Head to El Salvador
Students, faculty, and alumni from the Wegmans School of Pharmacy served on the School's El Salvador Medical Mission Team over the summer, and returned in late July after eight days of service to underserved patients in communities throughout the country.
Dr. Alex DeLucenay, Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice and graduate of the School of Pharmacy, led the group as the faculty team leader. He participated in the trip twice while he was a student at the College.
The Fisher group joined a larger group of 47, including interdisciplinary and non-medical professionals and students from as far as California to North Carolina. According to DeLucenay, this was the largest pharmacy team to serve on the trip since it began six years ago.
DeLucenay said the group practiced out of a local church school in San Miguel, where they saw about 1,900 patients over the course of eight days. They treated mostly bacterial, parasitic, and fungal infections, and saw many patients who needed help with pain management.
Thomas Major, a P2 student, was one of the students who served on the mission trip. But it was not his first medical mission trip. Major had traveled to Senegal with his church in 2004 for three weeks, and helped run a similar clinic.
While in El Salvador, Major was given a leadership role in the clinic, often times having to answer questions from other pharmacy students and make clinical decisions on his own because it was so busy.
"My classmates and I had a sharp learning curve, and had to quickly learn which drugs could be used for which infections when it came to antibiotic dosing, since it's not taught until our third year. It certainly tested our leadership abilities," said Major.
He recommends to any pharmacy students thinking about serving on a medical mission trip that they go.
"I would certainly go again. The team camaraderie and adventure alone were very enjoyable. And it's a great clinical learning experience," he said.


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Edition Five
Greetings all!
The first thing I'd like to do is thank everyone who became fans of "Yankee Yapping" on Facebook. It's great to have a following on the 'net, and I hope everyone enjoys the blog every week and the other postings each day.
Anyway, away we go!
My thoughts on…
Road Trip and Why the Yankees Didn't Get Washburn
It's been an up-and-down road trip for the Bronx Bombers to this point, as they've gone 3-4 over their last seven games.
Taking two of three from Tampa Bay was a great thing and a good way to start the trip, but it all came tumbling down for some reason when the Yanks got to Chicago.
Game one of the four game series wasn't terrible; we just caught a bad break in the bottom of the ninth and we lost, 3-2. But respect to Nick Swisher for keeping us alive in the top half of the ninth with that solo home run.
The White Sox turned it on and just beat us down in the next two games, and the Yanks really didn't help themselves. They played some sloppy defense and didn't get great pitching on Friday night. Sergio Mitre, simply put, was awful. It was disgraceful to watch as a Yankee fan.
Friday was also the non-waivers trade deadline and I was hoping for the Yankees to make a pitching move. One name that kept popping up was Jarrod Washburn, but it just didn't happen for the Bombers.
The unfortunate truth is that the Yanks called Seattle about Washburn who has put up some decent numbers this year (Washburn was 8-6 with a 2.64 ERA at the deadline) But the Mariners wanted either Jesus Montero or Austin Jackson in the deal. Unwilling to part with either one of those top prospects, the Yanks tried to negotiate for lesser players and called Seattle to inquire.
But Seattle never got back to the Yanks, giving them the opportunity to trade Washburn away to the Tigers. And it proved to hurt the Yanks, seeing as how poorly Mitre pitched in Friday night's 10-5 loss (three innings, five earned runs on seven hits, two walks, and one strikeout)
So instead of a pitcher, the Yanks added utility man Jerry Hairston, Jr. Coming over from the Cincinnati Reds and only playing in two games for the Yanks thus far, Hairston already has three hits, two RBIs, and a run scored.
Hairston has also played some solid defense in the last two games, earning himself a "Web Gem" on Sunday night's edition of "Baseball Tonight" on ESPN. He made a great, diving stop at third base to prevent a hit in the first inning of Sunday's game.
Good pickup for the Yankees in Hairston, but we could have used a starter.
For as bad as everyone said A.J. Burnett looked on Saturday afternoon, I personally didn't think he was that horrible. He walked a batter with the bases loaded in the second inning, an inning that the White Sox scored six runs.
But if you took a close look at the pitch that was called ball four, it was not a ball. That pitch was right over the plate and knee level, but the umpire refused to ring it up. Burnett only walked two batters and he struck out four over the 4.2 innings he pitched, but he was getting no help from the umpires and overall wasn't terrible. The Yanks lost big, 14-4.
Finally the Yanks pulled out a win in Sunday's game, winning 8-5 and hopefully gaining the momentum back for tomorrow's game against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Melky Cabrera
In yesterday's 8-5 win, it was a banner day for Melky Cabrera. He started the Yanks off on the right note with a home run in the top of the second.
He then went on to double in the fourth, single in the fifth, and triple in the ninth, completing the first Yankee cycle since Sep. 3, 1995 when Tony Fernandez accomplished the feat against the Oakland Athletics.
He also became only the 15th Yankee to ever do it, joining the likes of Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, and Bobby Murcer among others.
Another interesting stat that came up was that like Cabrera, Mantle and DiMaggio also hit their cycles against the White Sox.
Looking at the emotion on his face after he slid head-first into third base, you could just tell how happy Cabrera was. I think it really meant a lot for him to hit for the cycle, and after the game he was so thankful for Joe Girardi giving him the chance to play everyday.
Remember that Cabrera and Brett Gardner battled for the starting centerfielder job in Spring Training, a battle that Gardner won. But so far it looks like Cabrera is winning the war.
Cabrera has set a career-high in home runs this season with 10 to this point (the most he ever hit in a season was eight coming into this year) and he has been clutch in every facet of his game. He's made some great catches on defense and has a handful of walk-off hits under his belt.
He was named Pepsi's Clutch Performer of the Month in May, and he certainly earned it. As of June 9, Cabrera had 23 RBIs on the year, and of those 23 runs batted in, 11 of them either tied the game or gave the Yanks the lead in the seventh inning or later.
At press time Cabrera is sporting a .292 batting average with the noted 10 homers and 40 RBIs. Fans can expect more big things from the clutch Cabrera down the stretch, as this is proving to be his best season yet.
I think the Yanks made the right move not trading him for Mike Cameron in the off-season.
David Ortiz and his use of PEDs
I'm really not surprised David Ortiz's name was on the list of 104 players that tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.
As a Yankee loyalist, I am by no means a supporter of the Boston Red Sox, but I have to say I was disappointed in Ortiz for it. I really have nothing against him personally; I feel he has been the face of their organization for a few years now, and he has such a way about him.
Ortiz seems to keep the Boston clubhouse loose with his attitude and presence, and he's been doing that ever since he arrived in Boston.
But I cannot tell you how many conversations I had with my best friend about how Big Papi all of a sudden gained legendary power.
We used to say all the time, "he didn't hit anything when he was a Minnesota Twin. Then he goes to Boston and he's Mr. Power?" It didn't make sense then, but it does now.
While a member of the Twins, Ortiz hit a total of 58 home runs over six years. In his first year with the Red Sox in 2003 (which was also the year he tested positive for PEDs) he hit 31 home runs and averaged .288 with 101 RBIs. Before '03 Ortiz had never knocked in more than 75 runs in a single season.
I would be extremely upset if I were a Boston Red Sox supporter. That would be like finding out Derek Jeter took steroids. It would crush me.
Hopefully the players wise up and realize that if you take steroids, you will get burned. Your reputation gets tarnished and everything you do is looked at differently. Now other players (most notably Torii Hunter of the Los Angeles Angels) are saying Boston's 2004 and 2007 World Series Championships are tainted.
I would say in a way they are, more so '04 than '07. Ortiz was a major reason (if not the reason) the BoSox even made it to the World Series in '04. He was named the MVP of the ALCS that year—the series Boston rallied back from 3-0 to beat the Yankees.
Speaking of MVP Awards, Manny Ramirez was named the '04 World Series MVP. He was also caught for using PEDs, so yeah; I would say Boston's '04 World Title is looking pretty phony and artificial.
But good performances and timely hitting from clean players like Dustin Pedroia and Mike Lowell were bigger reasons they won it in '07. Unless players from the '07 team test positive for banned substances in the future, I would say they won it fair and square that year.
Upcoming Series vs. Boston
On Thursday, the Yanks start up a four-game series against the arch-rival Red Sox. This is the series that can either make or break either team, and determine which club will have the upper hand in the AL Eastern Division and which one will have to stay afloat in the Wild Card.
At press time the Yankees currently sit in first place with their record of 63-42. Boston is 62-42, ½ game out of first place and even with New York in the loss column.
Girardi is doing the right thing with today's off-day. He is re-configuring the rotation so that the better of the Yankee pitchers match-up with the Red Sox.
Andy Pettitte and Mitre are starting the two games against Toronto, while the brunt of the staff will go head-to-head against Boston.
Joba Chamberlain, Burnett, CC Sabathia, and Pettitte will be the four pitchers the Red Sox will see (on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, respectively). Right now the Yankees are looking at John Smoltz and Josh Beckett in games one and two of the series, and it is not yet known which two Red Sox pitchers will go on Saturday and Sunday.
The Yankees have not beaten the Red Sox at all this year, going 0-8 against their worst enemies. But the Yanks have an advantage playing at home where they are 35-17 this year.
Whatever happens, the Yankees need to at least split this series, and if not take three out of four or sweep them. If the Yankees and Red Sox finish with the same record and Boston wins the season series against the Yankees, Boston gets the division crown.
So with roughly two months to go, this series may prove to be huge in which team gets the division.
"It's the master plan…God's way…Yankees/Red Sox."–Johnny Damon
That does it for this week's edition of Yankee Yapping. I'll be back next week with more topics and analysis.
Until then, Go Yankees!
2 Comments
Yes a late post but i hope you still see this. I do not like people yelling at players for using PED and then not looking at the big picture. they like to yell at the newest name on the list. 1st of all when you said he never had more then 75 RBI who cares RBI is a team stat if noone is on base u can only get 1 RBI and that means you need to hit a HR. Also if you actually looked at his HR stats with MIN. 1-9-0(injured) 10-18-20-31(year 1 boston) i would say thats a pretty slow paced development. Also Saying the 2004 boston red sox looked phony you are right(lol yeah right and I am the HR king) Lets see who should of won the world series. How about tony larussa he had no convicted users on that team but hmm, he won with cansecco and McGuire. Now I am a huge McGuire supporter what he did was legal and what he did for the game was important he deserves to be in hall. But larussa had 2 convicted steroid users. So far Ortiz hasn't been convicted for steroids he got it for supplements which is still bad but it isn't steroids(i am thinking of supplements and things like what A-rod and Arroyo used as lets say beer and Steroids are hard core alchol). ok so not larussa. How about Your yankees yes your yankees would be a nice clean non phony 2004 WS champions. Oh wait Sheffield and Giambi were caught for steroids and A-rod has used PED. so ur 2004 NYY with 3 PED users should have won the 2004 WS to be a more Clean winner. guesse you would of liked to let NYY win and you would be saying it was phony. No offence you probably are a great baseball person to go to a game with. Just do not like Yankee fans tearing into ortiz for no reason. Now you could say well Boston fans made fun of A-rod when he was caught. here is the difference though. Bos made fun of a-rod when Bos team was clean. Unless you mock Boston fans by saying. Well we cheated. but who cares we had to keep up with you. Something along the lines of that.
I don't care what you say, I don't believe Ortiz at all, I stand by what I said in the segment, and I'm not going to back down from it.
And I never said if the Yankees won the title in '04 it wouldn't be artificial. I kow Sheff, A-Rod, and Giambi were just as roided up as Manny & Ortiz.


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Reference material about some of the awards and recognitions available to Boy Scouts.
Boy Scout Advancement
This is a video overview of the Boy Scout advancement program.
This book helps council and district advancement committees understand and implement the advancement programs and procedures of the Boy Scouts of America. Regardless of the structure in a council or a district, advancement must be promoted, as detailed in this book, to achieve a successful program in the lives of youth members.
BSA Insignia Guide
The BSA Insignia Guide presents detailed information to enable our members to wear the correct complete uniform on all suitable occasions.
The Conservation Good Turn is an opportunity for Cub Scout packs, Boy Scout troops, Varsity Scout teams, and Venturing crews to join with conservation or environmental organizations (federal, state, local, or private) to carry out a conservation Good Turn in their home communities.
Boy Scouts can earn a new Centennial Recruiter patch by recruiting a boy into their troop this fall.
Boy Scouting provides a series of surmountable obstacles and steps in overcoming them through the advancement method. The steps in the advancement system help Boy Scouts to grow in self-reliance and in their ability to help others.
The merit badge counselor is a key player in the Boy Scout advancement program. By serving as a merit badge counselor, you offer your time, knowledge, and other resources so that Scouts can explore a topic of interest.
The Centennial Quality Awards program is designed to recognize units, districts, councils, areas, and regions in achieving excellence in providing a quality program to a growing youth population in America at all levels of the Boy Scouts of America.
This series of videos (which may also be downloaded as podcasts) demonstrate how to fulfill each and every requirement for the first three ranks of Boy Scouting.
A new feature is available to Scouts and leaders to help a Scouts complete the new First Class requirement that states he must invite a friend to a troop meeting or activity.
To earn the Eagle Scout rank, the highest advancement rank in Scouting, a Boy Scout must fulfill requirements in the areas of leadership, service, and outdoor skills.
This workbook will help Life Scouts plan and record their progress toward Eagle and complete and submit a final report.
You can post this sign at the location of your Eagle Scout leadership service project. Fill in the details with a marker, and you and your unit will have instant community recognition. The sign measures 26" X 16" and comes with a collapsible frame. Item No. 32104, available from www.scoutstuff.org.
This is an electronic version of the Eagle Scout rank application.
The BSA Ready & Prepared Award was developed to encourage and reward Boy Scout troops, Varsity Scout teams, and Venturing crews that incorporate safe practices while enjoying challenging activities.
The Hometown U.S.A. Award is a joint program between Keep America Beautiful Inc. (KAB) and the Boy Scouts of America. It is designed to give recognition to the outstanding efforts of Scouts in their communities in regard to citizenship and environmental improvement.
The emergencies of today's world demand more than ever that our young people and adults be trained as individuals and as units to meet emergency situations. This program fosters skills in our youth and adult members so that they can participate effectively in this crucial service to their families, communities, and nation.
The BSA Physical Fitness Award is designed to heighten fitness awareness and to help change the lifestyles of American youth and adults to improve the quality of their lives.
The merit badge program, which provides opportunities for youth to explore more than a hundred fields of skill and knowledge, plays a key role in the fulfillment of Scouting's educational commitment.
Scouts who achieve the rank of Eagle are entitled to receive the U.S. Army Youth Certificate of Recognition at their Court of Honor ceremony.
The Unit Leader Award of Merit replaces the Scoutmaster, Varsity Team Coach, and Venturing Crew Advisor award of merit programs. This new recognition has revised requirements and may be earned by Cubmasters as well.
The Boy Scouts of America, acting through the National Court of Honor, may award the Silver Antelope to registered Scouters of exceptional character in our region for distinguished service to youth. Nominations are made annually by the regional executive committee based upon recommendations by the Volunteer Recognitions Committee.
The Silver Beaver Award is the council-level distinguished service award of the Boy Scouts of America. Recipients of this award are registered adult leaders who have made an impact on the lives of youth through service given to the council.The Silver Beaver is an award given to those who implement the Scouting program and perform community service through hard work, self sacrifice, dedication, and many years of service.
The goal of this awards program is to encourage and recognize outstanding efforts in natural resource conservation and environmental protection.
Recognition may be given to a member of the Boy Scouts of America when he or she saved or attempted to save life under circumstances that indicate heroism and risk of his or her own life.
Insignia and awards are available to show a Scout's involvement in the world Scouting movement.
To encourage members to grow stronger in their faith, religious groups have developed religious emblems programs.
This award recognizes outstanding contributions to BSA members who have disabilities. Woods Services, founded in 1913 as The Woods Schools for Exceptional Children, is a nationally recognized leader in services for people with developmental disabilities, brain injury, and mental health diagnoses, serving 1,000 individuals annually. Click here for the council nomination form.
Leave No Trace is an awareness of our impact on the environment that teaches us to respect the rights of other users of the outdoors as well as future generations.


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"A Picture Perfect Christmas" is this year's theme to be incorporated in float design and other entries. Judging of the floats will begin promptly at 2 p.m.
Food donations will be collected along the parade route.
Parade entry forms can be picked up at the Franklin Chamber of Commerce office located at 425 Porter St. Entry fee is $25.


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Dear Prospective Student,
We are delighted that you are interested in the General Theological Seminary for your theological education. The first Episcopal Seminary in the United States, GTS continues to live into its mission "...to educate and form leaders for the Church in a changing world," through a community centered on worship, spiritual formation, fellowship, and social justice.
Located in the heart of New York City, within the thriving neighborhood of Chelsea, the General Theological Seminary offers the unique opportunity to live and study in one of the most dynamic urban centers on earth, all while surrounded by the beautiful, garden-like serenity of the Close.
Whether you feel called to ordained ministry or lay leadership in your faith community, whether you are drawn to advanced theological studies or a certificate program, whether you are interested in studying part-time or even as a non-degree student, GTS offers a path and a course of study that will meet your needs.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. We look forward to seeing you on the Close.
GTS Admissions
Statement of Educational Effectiveness:
The General Theological Seminary is fully accredited by the Association of Theological Schools, Website:www.ats.edu
General Theological Seminary educates and forms men and women for a wide variety of professional ministries. Nearly all students enrolled in General Seminary graduate and go on to serve either in ordained capacities or positions of pastoral responsibility. Our lay graduates pursue vocations both within and outside church settings as well as pursuing further graduate education or academic careers. On average, 96% of General's graduates are placed in full-time vocational employment or educational positions within a year of graduation.


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La Crosse's city council is close to doing away with so-called rehearsal votes. That's because on Tuesday, the Committee of the Whole voted to dissolve itself.
The decision, of course, is not final until the full council votes on the issue Thursday night. That quirk is why some think a change is long overdue.
"I have a tough time understanding why there are two votes so I suspect the (public does too)," said council member Doug Happel.
Happel is among the majority who voted Tuesday in favor of changing how it works. He says the current process of meeting first on Tuesday and then again on Thursday is not efficient.
"Even after the council votes at the Committee of the Whole, it's not a final vote. That's just kind of a warm-up if you will," said Happel.
Those who want to keep the status quo point to the sometimes high turnout at Committee of the Whole. They say lots of people like to come for the public hearing portion of the meetings.
"Just for the sake of the public hearings and continuity, I felt maybe getting rid of Committee of the Whole maybe wasn't the best idea," said council member Paul Medinger.
Medinger says he's not strongly opposed to ending the Tuesday meetings but he does worry it will reduce the amount of public input.
"That's where the public is more involved and we have more of the discussion and debate. that's why I think that's where we have our most productive debates," said Medinger.
Happel says the proposal would move the public hearing portion to the Thursday council meetings. Although, it would require the approval of five council members each time to happen.
"I think this is actually going to help city government and I do believe it will actually help people make their voice heard," said Happel.
The council will also vote Thursday on whether to dissolve the Highways, Properties and Utilities Committee.
If passed, the changes will take effect next April.


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Hi guys,
My Hard disc just crash and i bought a used one, 500GB. Apache was working well on the crashed hard drive. I installed windowsXP SP2 OEM on the new hard disk. I downloaded WAMP x64 from the internet. After installation it gives me this error C:\wamp\bin\mysqld.exe is not a valid win32 application. When I press ok i also get another error C:\wamp\bin\apache\apache2.2.17\bin\mysql.exe is not a vaid win32 application. When i finish the installation and try to run the programme, i will also get the following error Aestan Tray Menu has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience. The server will not start. Pse am stranded. How do i move ahead from here. I need your help.
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Last years runners -up Pia have recruited strongly taking ASC's Chris Moly and two decent Limoux players in Arty Shead and centre Mathieu Mayans. Few are looking beyond these three sides for the honours in 2011. Limoux could be a bit off the pace and have Aussie Daniel Wagon returning as coach. Not sure if he intends to play or not. The Grizzlies have a Welsh feel with Gareth Dean now on board alongside Geriant Davies from the Scorpions and Barrow's Anthony Blackwood.
There was a hope that the game would cut back on the number of overseas players but it looks like business as usual unfortunately. Sixteen signed up in the Aude alone. It makes it harder for the other hopefuls to compete and inhibits clubs from seeking promotion. Montpellier have made the move up this year at least giving the comp ten clubs. Fingers very much crossed for them as they dont appear to have brought on board many new players. Last year FCL played Pia in the Final. As their Juniors did. These clubs have the pick of all the best players including the kids coming through.
Interestingly this past summer Villeneuve who its believed will be coached some time this year by Stanley Gene supplied up to half a dozen of the Federations Roosters team U20s who played against Super League opposition. Hopefully USV will be on an upward curve with some of their youngsters building on their recent success. They've also got a good lively full back returning in Farid Nicolas too. In the same vein will be I think the entente St Gaudens-Toulouse. The link between these clubs seems to be developing nicely. Two veteran Aussies seem to have returned in Adam Innes and Rus Bussain to add experience to a youthful squad. TO XIII blooding lads before the CC challenge across the Channel re-starts in February.
There will be interest to see how the improvements up in Provence at Avignon and Carpentras will be built on. SOA have an Aussie coach Amos returning and have taken two good forwards from Limoux in Aaron Wood and Joris Casals. RCCC too should shape up. The two Khattabi brothers lead the way and Said Tamghart returning from Halifax will create a feisty pack and young Soubrayas in the backs gives some dash outwide.
Will be interesting to see what Steve Deakin makes of St Esteve-XIII Catalans the Dragons feeder club. All French obviously and now with wing Carlos Mendes signed up when it was thought he would end up in Carcasssonne after playing for Toulouse last year in the CC. No doubt the incoming Trent Robinson will want to have a look at these hopefuls before deciding who will get the final jumpers at the Dragons come 2011.
Edited by audois, 21 September 2010 - 11:26 AM.


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Faculty and students in the speech communication department are hosting a weeklong display in the Oesterle Library Gallery during the 2011 National Freedom of Speech Week Oct. 17-23. The campus community is invited to visit the exhibit and view, read and listen to the various items on display.
Included in North Central's Freedom of Speech exhibit are some 13 posters that relate to different issues concerning freedom of speech. At the bottom of each poster are two questions, which are designed to promote reflection and discussion by viewers about freedom of speech issues. Some of the posters include issues that relate to flag burning, artistic freedom, freedom of speech in China, clothing as freedom of speech, broadcast speech, protesting and the freedom to read.
Also included in the exhibit is a banned books display; Banned Books Week took place Sept. 24-Oct. 1. Next to various books are folded cards explaining why the book was banned. Students, faculty and staff were encouraged to write their own responses on sheets of paper at the tables and on the whiteboard within the gallery around the display.
A video will also run throughout the week that presents things that are not considered protected speech, as well as quotes about free speech from a variety of famous people.
John Stanley—exhibit coordinator, assistant professor of speech communication, assistant director of forensics and director of individual events—says last year's premiere Freedom of Speech exhibit at North Central was featured as "A Model Program for Celebrating Freedom of Speech Week" and as a partnering organization by freespeechweek.org. In addition, the Naperville Public Library is promoting this year's weeklong exhibit at North Central as part of its display of books related to Freedom of Speech Week.


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Island Air announced Tuesday that it closed the sale of the airline to a newly formed holding company owned by Oracle founder Larry Ellison.
In a press release, the company says the sale secures the future of Island Air and its employees.
"This is another major investment and commitment to Hawaii," said Paul Marinelli, vice president of Lawrence Investments, LLC. "We understand the critical importance of transportation in an island state and we will ensure that Island Air strengthens its role, capacity and service to the people of Hawaii. We recognize the need for providing options for travelers, and we believe Island Air has tremendous potential to deliver value to both residents and visitors."
"We are excited Mr. Ellison has acquired Island Air. He has the vision and resources to literally take Island Air to new heights," said Les Murashige, Island Air president. "The entire Island Air team pulled together over the past year to restructure and position the company for success and this sale represents the culmination of that process. I want to personally thank our 245 employees, the unions that represent them, and our entire management team for their efforts this past year. And, on behalf of all of us at Island Air, we welcome Mr. Ellison and we look forward to an exciting future together."
The billionaire already bought the island of Lanai last June.
There are no planned staff changes and Island Air will continue its operations as usual while developing plans for additional planes, routes and services. All current tickets will be honored and all Cloud9 members will retain their status and benefits.
Last month, Rep. Mele Carroll found out that Ellison could be buying Island Air.
"The possible purchase of Island Air will bring positive changes to both the airline and areas within our district. Island Air's fleet needs some updating, so I hope that Mr. Ellison will consider this in order to assure the safety of interisland passengers," said Carroll.


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DD LOVES avocado! I give it to her daily, and sometimes she eats a whole one (well probably not casue some of it ends up on the floor or her!)
Is avocado binding? Casue ever since she is pooping more solid and straining when pooping.
I dont want to stop giving it to her, but might cut back the frequency and see if it helps her poop better!


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Existing Regulations
B1.11: Fencing
Installation of fencing, including, but not limited to border marking, that would not have the potential to significantly impede wildlife population movement (including migration) or surface water flow.
Previous Regulations
Categorical Exclusion Determinations dated before November 14th, 2011 were issued under previous DOE NEPA regulations. See the Notice of Final Rulemaking (76 FR 63763, 10/13/2011) for information changes to this categorical exclusion.


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Find Your Passion: Former 'Walking Time Bomb' Launches Stroke Initiative
By Dana Lewis
For months, Alan Blinder considered himself a "walking time bomb." After having a series of transient ischemic attacks, often called "mini-strokes," his doctor told him it was only a matter of time before the incidents grew into full-fledged strokes with potentially devastating effects.
The "walking time bomb" was an active junior in high school. After months and more than a dozen incidents, his physician withdrew him from school because the mini-strokes caused such disruptions.
Blinder, now a sophomore journalism and political science double major at The University of Alabama, taught himself from home and visited specialists across Atlanta to determine what was causing the events.
"Nephrology, neurology, cardiology, gastroenterology," he says, naming some of the specialists. "But no one could figure out what was going on."
Finally, his pediatrician contacted the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, who has a diagnostic center specializing in diagnosing difficult pediatric cases.
"They're the real-life version of 'House'," Blinder says, comparing them to the popular medical drama television series.
He was eventually referred to Dr. Rebecca Ichord, a leading pediatric neurologist, who noticed a pattern in his medical records – Blinder was always sitting down when the events happened.
Blinder was amazed that after visits to more than 60 specialists, Ichord diagnosed him with a blood pressure cuff. Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS, is a disorder characterized by lightheadedness and confusion because blood vessels do not constrict properly while sitting down. Blood pools in the legs, limiting the supply to the brain. In some adolescent patients with POTS, the inadequate supply of blood triggers sensitive regions in the brain to overact and cause strange, localized symptoms that look like a stroke.
Once diagnosed, Blinder was prescribed a drug that helps constrict blood vessels and was also prescribed an increased fluid and salt diet to increase his blood volume. Since February of 2007, Blinder has had few problems resulting from POTS.
From his experiences, Blinder has learned that it takes an average of 24 hours to diagnose a child with a stroke, although children need to be treated within 3 hours of a stroke to prevent devastating consequences.
"It's even more important in the Southeast," Blinder points out," because a child is 20 percent more likely to have a stroke here."
Blinder, a Norcross, Ga. native, took his experiences and used them as a motivating force to meet with Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, who presented a resolution on National Stroke Awareness Month for children in May 2006. The resolution was passed unanimously by the U.S. Congress.
Not stopping there, Blinder had the idea to start a pediatric stroke initiative program when he moved to college. The University of Alabama, he says, was the one university he visited with that said "let's talk about it."
Blinder was not disappointed when he came to campus in fall 2008. With the help of the University Fellows Experience in the Honors College and the College of Community Health Science, Blinder is directing the new University of Alabama Pediatric Stroke Initiative, focused on education, advocacy and research.
"Right now, we don't have the resources to be a clinical program," Blinder says. "But that's OK – we are the first pediatric stroke initiative in the Southeast and one of the few nationwide who can really be a resource to families with children who have had strokes."
The interdisciplinary initiative also hopes to work with groups like the UA School of Social Work, potentially pairing students in the school with families statewide, to help ensure families receive the services made available to them by federal mandate. Many children with strokes also have learning disabilities but often do not receive assistance in school, Blinder says.
Blinder says he would like to see the program become endowed, enabling it to become a sustainable initiative and a cornerstone for stroke awareness in the state. He also promotes National Stroke Awareness Week on campus. It includes educational components about childhood stroke for nursing and medical students.
"This is the realization of a dream," Blinder says. "In the coming years, we feel that the Initiative has the chance to do a lot of good for the state of Alabama.
"A lot of kids are counting on us."
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Dana Lewis will graduate in May 2010 from The University of Alabama with two bachelor's degrees in public relations and political science, and a minor in the Computer-Based Honors Program. A native of Huntsville, she plans to work and pursue a graduate degree in health communications.
This story is part of the Find Your Passion series. To learn more about how you can find your passion at The University of Alabama, please visit UA Undergraduate Admissions.


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[Info ]
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The Deeply Devoted Bouquet by FTD® bursts with elegant simplicity and divine beauty. A single red rose flaunts its vibrant crimson petals offset by lily grass blades and aspidistra leaf arranged in a square red glass vase, capturing your most romantic sentiments and offering a message of endless love.GOOD bouquet is approximately 23"H x 6"W.BETTER bouquet is approximately 23"H x 7"W.BEST bouquet is approximately 23"H x 8"W.
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Why are tag libraries popular these days? One reason is that JSP development often consists of many tasks that are common and repeatable; an obvious solution is to incorporate common and functionality into tag libraries, which can then be reused over the course of many projects. Wouldn't it be great if there were existing libraries that everyone could use without having to write them? Welcome to the Taglib project of Jakarta. This article will discuss the Taglib project and how you can take advantage of some great open source tag libraries.
If you are new to JSP development, custom tag libraries are something that you'll want to become familiar with. Custom tags are a way to separate presentation from logic. If you have tasks that are being done repetitively they are probably good candidates to be incorporated into a tag library. Incorporating them into the tag library makes life easier for the page designer because if there are logic changes, they can be handled within the tag library. There is no need to actually change the JSP. This also means that if there are page layout changes, there is no need to change the logic. Using tag libs makes for more maintainable JSP.
Custom tags can modify content within a tag body and have access to the application context. Custom tags can be used to generate dynamic content as well as to implement flow control. Additionally, tags can interact with other tags as well as be nested within each other. For a full description of using and building your own custom tag libraries, see my previous two articles, Building Custom Tag Libraries, and Advanced Custom Tag Libraries.
The Jakarta Taglib project is an open source repository of tag libraries. We'll go into a brief description of what's available, what each one does, and situations in which you might want to use each. For those who aren't familiar with open source, it might be time to find out more about it.
Also in JSP and Servlets:
Learning the New Jakarta Struts 1.1, Part 2
Learning the New Jakarta Struts 1.1, Part 1
JSP Standard Tag Libraries, Part 2
JSP Standard Tag Libraries, Part 1
Learning Jakarta Struts, Part 3
So there you have it. Hours of coding (not to mention debugging) saved by using one of the many available taglibs from the Jakarta project. As you can see, there
are many available taglibs, and chances are some of them have tags that you probably could use in your current applications that use JSP. So why reinvent the wheel?
The Jakarta Project is actually an umbrella project for many other projects which aim to deliver commercial-quality Java server programs. All of the projects are open source and are developed by programmers throughout the world. Anyone can participate, but there are guidelines as to how source code gets updated in the CVS repository. There is always a need for more open source programmers, so maybe this article will add a few new faces to the contributing developer list.
You may already have heard of some Jakarata projects: Tomcat, a JSP/Servlet engine, ANT, a make-like build environment, or Structs, a framework based on the MVC pattern for JSP. This article focuses on the Taglib project, but you should take the time to become familiar with some of the others. There is some useful stuff out there if you know where to look. For a complete list of Jakarta projects, go to http://jakarta.apache.org.
It is possible to download just binaries or complete source code for all of the projects. Sometimes all you need is a binary or jar file. If you need to modify any of the functionality, obviously you will want the source code. Each project details how to retrieve and build from source. And it's a relatively straightforward process.
Related Reading
Java Servlet Programming, 2nd Edition
Let's look at the Jakarta tag libraries that are available and what each provides.
At the time of this writing there were twenty supported libraries and one unsupported library. There seem to be new libraries added constantly. If you are interested in using a specific library, it is best to check the Jakarta site for specific installation instructions and requirements for that taglib.
The application taglib contains tags that can be used to access
information contained in the
ServletContext. Tags that
are defined in application scope as well as application init
parameters can be accessed. Tags are included for setting, getting,
removing, and testing of attributes. Looping and value testing are
provided for init parameters. A sample tag from this library looks
<app:equalsattribute name="sue"
The application attribute with name sue matches the string
The Bean Scripting Framework (BSF) is used for incorporating
various scripting into Java applications and applets. Supported
scripts in BSF include Javascript, VBScript, Perl, Tcl, Python,
NetRexx, and Rexx. If you are interested in more details pertaining to
BSF you can check out IBM's Bean Scripting Framework
page. The BSF taglib allows any of these languages to be used in
JSPs. There are scriptlet tags that are the equivalent of
<% in a JSP, and expression tags that are equivalent
<%=. You specify which language you are using to
the tag.
DateTime taglib makes dealing with dates and times
easier. It contains tags that handle formatting, generating dates,
using time zones, dealing with localization, and parsing. It doesn't
get much easier than
<%-- Display the current time formatted --%>
The current time is:

DBTags, formerly called JDBC, contain tags that can be used to read and write to an SQL database. It includes connection management, creating and executing statements, prepared statements, testing and formatting of result sets. To say that this taglib could save you hours of coding is probably an understatement; having some understanding of JDBC helps.
I18N taglib is useful for creating
internationalized web applications. The bundle tag is used for loading
the resource bundle based on locale, while the message tag is used for
looking up keys in the bundle.
Input taglib allows the user to present HTML
<form> elements that are tied to the
ServletRequest. Tags in this lib allow for default values
to be placed on forms when necessary. This lib is optimized for a
special case -- tying data to the
ServletRequest object
and providing the standard form elements.
The IO library allows URLs and HTTP requests to be performed. So
JSP can be used to perform HTTP
GET or
operations and to make XML-RPC and SOAP requests. Currently the IO
library supports any protocol supported by the Java URL class. This
includes file system, FTP, HTTP, HTTPS, XML-RPC, and SOAP. The
<jsp:include> is only capable of including a
servlet that is in your current web application. The
<io:request> included in this taglib can be used to
make "server side include" style calls to any web server anywhere for
any resource. There is also a Unix-like pipe tag that can be used to
pipe between tags that can't pipe themselves.
The JNDI Library creates an instance of a
javax.naming.Context from attributes providing some of
the standard values. Attributes can include URL, initialFactory, id,
and scope. You can also do lookups, searches, and listings of
The JSP Spec taglib is the resource to use if you are looking for examples of how to do the things described in version 1.1 of the JSP specification. This library focuses on techniques more than on production scenarios. It can be useful to those just coming up to speed on writing custom tag libraries.
If you need to send mail from a JSP, the
Mailer taglib
can help you out. Mail can be sent in three ways; using the name of
the SMTP host, using the name of a JNDI Resource for a JavaMail
Session, or using the name of a JNDI Resource for a JavaMail
MimePartDataSource. Tags for including all necessary
message parts, including body, header, to, cc, subject, and send, are
included. Using Mailer might look like

<!—- server attribute -->

<<a href="mailto:mt:mail%20server=%22switchbacksoftware.com%22%20to=
mt:mail server="switchbacksoftware.com"
subject="Mark Twain Quote">
<mt:message>Always do right. This will gratify
some people and astonish the rest.
There are four separate taglibs that are focused on tags related to
Page, Request, Response, and Session. If you need to access the
PageContext, or attributes within a page-scope, the
Page taglib will provide tags for getting, setting, and
testing of attributes. The
Request lib currently has 28
tags that provide a variety of actions. They can be grouped into the
following categories:
header, and
queryStrings. Basically anything that you want or need
to do with a request can be handled with this tag library. The
Response lib can be used to set cookies, encode,
redirect, set header information, or send status in a response. Tags
in the
Session lib are useful for getting, setting, and,
testing attributes in the session as well as for invalidating and
setting timeout limits.
The regexp custom tag library contains tags that can be used to perform Perl-like regular expressions. These tags implement the three most common Perl 5 operations involving regular expressions:
As with Perl, any non-alphanumeric character can be used in lieu of the slashes. In order to use this taglib you not only need a servlet container, but you also need the Jakarta ORO Perl Regular Expression package.
Scraping or extracting content from web documents is common these
days. After your JSP scrapes a document for the first time, the
results can be cached for subsequent JSP requests using the
Scrape taglib. These results are returned unless the JSP
determines that the document must be rescraped using predefined
logic. By specifying the URL and text anchors to mark the beginning
and ending of content to be scraped, you can easily provide
information from other sites, such as stock quotes, in your pages.
Utility taglib has samples of some basic
tags. Some of which, like the
hello tag, are strictly for
demonstration purposes, while others can actually be used like the
paste, and
tags. There are also conditional and looping tags.
XSL (eXtensible Stylesheet Language) uses XSLT to perform
transformations of XML documents. The XSL taglib provides tags to
apply a specified URI that points an XSL file to an XML document
(which is itself specified by a URI). The
will insert the transformed result into the writer of the JSP. This
taglib requires the binary distributions of the Apache Xerces XML
parser as well as the Apache Xalan XSL processor. Both can be found on
the Apache XML site.
Last but not least is the
Xtags taglib. This is a
brand new taglib that was just added to the Jakarta project by Citria
Ltd. XTags implement an XSLT-like JSP tag library to allow navigating,
processing, and styling of XML documents directly in JSP. XTags makes
heavy use of the XPath expression language and is built on top of
dom4j. Using this taglib requires dom4j and log4j. To be able to use
<xtags:style> tag, JAXP is required along with
an XSLT implementation such as
xalan.jar and
crimson.jar, both available from http://xml.apache.org.
There is also an SQL sample taglib, but it's no longer supported. So if you want the SQL functionality, try using the DBTags mentioned above.
So there you have it. Hours of coding (not to mention debugging) saved by using one of the many available taglibs from the Jakarta project. Chances are some of them have tags that you could use in your current JSP application. Why reinvent the wheel?
The value of open source is that you can use (and contribute) code that has been run, reviewed, and tested by many. Let's rephrase that: if you are using custom tag libraries in your JSP, and you are not using at least one of the Jakarta taglibs in the project, you may be spending money on development cycles that are both unnecessary and wasteful. Simple enough.
Sue Spielman is an associate editor for ONJava.com, covering JSP and Servlets technologies. She is also President and Senior Consulting Engineer for Switchback Software LLC.
Read more JSP and Servlets columns.
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