text:
- Posts 18
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Join Date:02-03-2012
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Posted in thread: saiga 7.62x39 or wasr 10/63 on 08-12-2012 at 04:21 PM
Centerfire Systems has converted Saigas advertised for $569. They don't have the traditional AK
front hand guard but you could always add it later if you want.
Posted in thread: Ak or 1st crossbow on 08-12-2012 at 04:15 PM
Get the Saiga first. The longer you wait the higher the prices will go. Obama supports another
assault weapons ban. If he gets re-elected I think we'll see a push for it.
Posted in thread: Saiga ak sights on 08-12-2012 at 04:07 PM
My eyes are getting older making it harder for me to see the iron sights now so I have a red
dot on my Saiga. Love it.
Posted in thread: my first AK on 07-11-2012 at 05:02 PM
For just a little more money you can find a converted Saiga that has a Russian barrel and
receiver instead of being a parts gun like the WASRs. I picked up a converted Saiga from
Classic Arms in Feb f...
Posted in thread: Good AK-47 on 02-24-2012 at 03:08 PM
The Saigas seem to be hit or miss when it comes to threaded barrels. Some come with the barrels
threaded and some don't.
Posted in thread: Good AK-47 on 02-24-2012 at 10:37 AM
I'm not sure. I didn't take a real close look at the front of the barrel to see. I'll take a
closer look at it when I get home this evening and report back. That Arsenal conversions are
probably the b...
Posted in thread: Good AK-47 on 02-24-2012 at 03:07 AM
I bought a converted Saiga from Classic Arms about three weeks ago. Saigas have Russian dimpled
receivers and Russian barrels. I paid $479. It has the Tapco G2 trigger, welded bullet guide
for standar...
Posted in thread: Doomsday preppers on 02-11-2012 at 02:47 PM
Bummer for the guy in TN. I don't think being on the show was his downfall. Making quirky jokes
with his DR. Is what did him in. I watched the show and will continue to watch. There are some
good tips...
Posted in thread: 1st concealed carry for the wife? on 02-11-2012 at 02:14 PM
I have a S&W bodyguard .380 and carry it everywhere I go in an ankle holster. I've put about
500 rounds through it without and problems at all. I rarely use the laser. I practice shooting
at targets u...
Posted in thread: Saiga IZ AK-47...any reviews or opinions? on 02-11-2012 at 01:47 PM
I recently purchased a converted Saiga from Classic Arms. I had looked at several WASR's but
had heard some of the bad stuff about them and was a little hesitant about getting one. I'm
very happy with...


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It looks more and more like the partnership between Microsoft and Nokia could work out a lot better for Microsoft as news emerged in recent days that one of the rising stars of the mobile world had publicly told the Redmond outfit it would not be releasing a WP7 device any time soon.
ZTE recently joined the mobile elite, joining Nokia, LG, Samsung and Apple as one of the top five mobile phone vendors in the world and is now it seems beginning to flex its muscles a little in this part of the world. Reports in the Wall Street Journal quote ZTE's director of mobile devices in the UK as saying the company feels Microsoft's strategy regarding promoting Windows Phone 7 (WP7) was not what ZTE had expected. Though he did add that he hoped Steve Ballmer and Co. would up their game in the future: "We anticipate that Microsoft will respond more effectively to market needs in terms of user experience {and} in terms of cost."
Wu Sa said the company did have WP7 running on handsets in its test laboratories but due to the issues mentioned above have no plans on releasing a smartphone on the platform any time soon. This will again come as a blow to the WP7 platform, which has failed to do any significant damage to Android and iOS in terms of market share since launching last year. However since Microsoft will not release the actual figures, preferring to say they are pleased with the sales, we don't know for sure how successful/disastrous the initial period has been. Reports have also emerged that Nokia's first WP7 device won't be here until 2012 at the earliest which leaves WP7 having to reply on current partners, one of whom (LG) already lamented the marketing skills of Microsoft last January.
Mr. Wu went on to say that ZTE would not be looking at content on it own phones preferring to focus on the hardware – for the moment: "The content strategy is something we are looking at but is not the top priority. A content strategy may be good for the consumer, but is it good for the networks? We are trying to meet to have the right compromise between the networks and their customers."
Source: Wall Street Journal

subset: commoncrawl


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5.0 and 5.7 Discussion, Need help w '90 Brougham 5.7 Code 43 (ESC) problem in Cadillac Engine Discussion; Hey Everyone, my latest "project" is a '90 Brougham I saved from the salvage yard. It has the 5.7 (350) ...
- 10-21-04 11:58 PM #1Cadillac Owners Member
- Automobile(s): 06 STS;05 DTS;03 STS;96 Fleetwood;95 Deville
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Need help w '90 Brougham 5.7 Code 43 (ESC) problem
Hey Everyone, my latest "project" is a '90 Brougham I saved from the salvage yard. It has the 5.7 (350) Chevy FI engine @ 106k miles but it has developed a pesky problem with the "Knock Sensor" system (officially called Electronic Spark Control, or ESC). After driving the car approx 10 miles (more or less) the "Check Engine" lamp will come on and the Climate Control will tell me it has a code 43 ECM problem, which is something with the Knock Sensor system. When this happens, power is NOTICABLY less (you have to floor it to maintain 50MPH!). Sometimes the car will go back to normal on its own, but most of the time I have to shut it off and restart to get it to go away (temporarily).
I tried replacing the ESC module from a '91 Brougham with the 5.0 FI engine, but no luck. I also tried bypassing the entire system by sending +12v into the ECM on the line coming from the ESC, but it appears (according to the service manual) that the ECM performs a once-per-startup functional test of the ESC system, and if it fails, the code 43 will result as well, so bypassing the ESC doesn't work either. I haven't yet replaced the Knock Sensor itself, but before doing it I wonder if this is a common problem out there and maybe someone knows if something is causing the knock sensor to report all this knocking (vibration) to the ECM constantly causing the code 43.
Any guesses or suggestions would be appreciated!! Doug


text:
Subaru WRX Forum (http://www.wrxtuners.com/forums/)
- Newbie Forum (http://www.wrxtuners.com/forums/f51/)
- - Limp Mode? (http://www.wrxtuners.com/forums/f51/limp-mode-35529/)
Limp Mode?
I am a new owner of about 2 months now, and I have had issues with my WRX right out the gate. This has been a long string of events and I will try to make it as brief as possible.
CEL came on 2 days after purchase...it was determined by the code that it was one of the O2 sensors (cannot remember which one). Because I live in Cali and bought the car in Nev the dealership wanted me to bring the car back so they could fix the problem. This was difficult since working 6 days a week did not allow me to get there quickly.
After 2 weeks of driving the car with the CEL on the car suddenly started running like crap:
Bogs down and occasionally died when idling with the clutch in. When turn car on it sometimes starts idle at 1500 then drops to around 4-500, sometimes only starts at 4-500. When taking off the car seems to hesitate like its being constricted.
After finally getting the car to the dealership they replace the O2 sensor and then said there was also a problem with the AFR sensor running "retarded." Of course the didnt have the AFR sensor instock anywhere nearby so I had to still drive the car 70 miles home with the CEL still on.
The dealership sent an AFR sensor to a mechanic in my town for me to have them replace it. They did and cleared the CEL and told me to drive it for a few days to see if anything came on.
Right off the bat I could tell that the car was still not running right. It is still doing most all the same things I stated above in third paragraph. I have told the dealership and mechanic and they told me they dont know what the problem would be.
So now with all that out of the way my current question is [B]"Where do I go from here?"[/B] I have other Subaru owners tell me my car is running in limp mode? As far as I know everything in the car is stock. It just seems like the car is gutless right now.
Any help will be greatly appreciated as I am a new owner and not much of a gear head in the first place. Let me know if I need to provide more info I will do my best to provide it.
Thank you!!
Sounds like its still in limp mode or something. Disconnect the battery and let sit for a couple minutes, then reconnect and see if its still there.
No CEL now still right?
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[quote=the RIOT act;310929]Sounds like its still in limp mode or something. Disconnect the battery and let sit for a couple minutes, then reconnect and see if its still there.
No CEL now still right?
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Correct currently no CEL on or any other lights. I will try the battery disconnect and let it sit for 10 mins.
Thank you!
Just a minute or two is fine. It may take a little bit for the ECU to reprogram itself after reconnecting and driving for a while, so don't get discouraged if its the same right away. Take a long ride after resetting and post up how it goes.
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Pull the codes when your CEL comes back. It will come back if it's running this poorly. I would have immediately guessed the primary o2 sensor, but it sounds like they did too and replaced it. I'm surprised the AFR sensor went bad, but it would cause similar problems. There is a whole host of things that could cause this and cause the car to go into limp mode. I would check spark plugs and for any air leaks pre-turbo side. Unmetered air would make it go crazy.
To quickly reset the ECU, remove the negative battery terminal, secure it, set up on the brake pedal for ~10 sec to discharge any left in the system. Then reconnect the negative battery terminal. Does the car idle OK? Does it immediately drive like crap after a reset? Or only when the CEL kicks in?
A well lit photo of your engine bay should allow us to tell you if it has been messed with others may miss.
Reset the ECU via battery, and took the car for a ride but could not go very far or long cause im still at work. The car is still running the same: Idle is all over from 400-1600 when car starts and drops to about 3-400 when i come to stop sign or light. It even feels like its about to die and the stick even wobbles for a second when it does this. Also when accelerating it still feels like the car is being constricted and seems to hesitate when i give it more throttle, especially at around 4500-5000 rpms.
I appreciate any more info and I may be able to provide a pic soon but I wont have access to here the rest of today.
Thanks again everyone for the help!
This sucks for your first subie experience. Don't think all subies are like this, they really are great cars. Hope you get it figured out.
Agreed! I've had no problems with mine. Keep taking it back though if resetting the ECU doesn't work. I know it sucks getting it there but you gotta keep records of this BS so if it keeps up you can have a better case. Hope things work out OP!
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Thanks everyone! The CEL still has not come back and it seems resetting the battery is not working. Looks like I will get to take advantage of my handy little extended warranty I got for the car and take it to a shop. Figured it was worth checking here first in case it was something simple and save me some money.
This is my first Subie but I have a few friends that have them as well and they are great cars that's why I decided to go with one.
Again thanks for the info and glad to have this site as a resource now.
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SparkFun Electronics Comments urn:uuid:214d0e4e-f1b1-d287-ce26-ac5b4c9f8249 2017-06-28T01:16:05-06:00 SparkFun Electronics brennen on On Breaking Things... Again brennen urn:uuid:d672513d-1b27-08eb-d33f-a7bc82ab129a 2013-11-15T22:08:21-07:00
Certainly sounds like a bug. I couldn't think what in the MongoDB comments would have been affected by PostgreSQL, but it occurred to me that we might be looking for a string somewhere we have integers, or vice versa. We'll have a look.
 l0gikG8 on On Breaking Things... Again l0gikG8 urn:uuid:23e2f587-e619-60c9-c2ac-8f4def463aef 2013-11-15T17:41:51-07:00
When looking at other users' customer profile pages, I do not see any of their new comments made after the db change-over. When I'm logged in looking at my own profile page, I only see new comments, no pre-conversion pithiness. Is this a bug or a feature?
 Calif on On Breaking Things... Again Calif urn:uuid:78fd4260-a0b3-bdae-d56a-fcb04a4fc3f9 2013-11-15T16:38:29-07:00
Still remember when slashdot encountered the pain of mysql in 1999. Back then, it was memory leaks & bugs. We get older, but the internet never ages. It just represents that stage of career when a sysadmin is tasked with building a 1st website & follows the same path, over & over.
 brennen on On Breaking Things... Again brennen urn:uuid:29bc36a4-a4c8-72c9-5d46-3b42202ca884 2013-11-15T01:07:37-07:00
I'll write up a short blog post with some notes.
 crlanglois on On Breaking Things... Again crlanglois urn:uuid:51736b6b-6998-5ba9-8cb5-1104ba7cfd2e 2013-11-14T23:06:11-07:00
I had the same question, the 'why' explanation here was pretty vague. I'm more a developer than a DBA and I'm fairly familiar with MySQL and I didn't get that part of the article.
 kremlan on On Breaking Things... Again kremlan urn:uuid:be102acd-64dd-10c0-1421-091181e6aa3a 2013-11-13T16:20:16-07:00
So… What were the advantages PostgreSQL provided you over MySQL/MariaDB?
 brennen on On Breaking Things... Again brennen urn:uuid:5fe6c5da-9ac9-56a3-d378-384f3ea7905f 2013-11-13T14:45:54-07:00

Are you guys using foreign keys at all?

Basically no, not right now. We had some bad experiences years ago.
 jma89 on On Breaking Things... Again jma89 urn:uuid:a0ed1631-6b5a-c0b7-b258-0a888949585e 2013-11-13T12:29:49-07:00
Make sure you are using the correct storage engine. I can speak from experience that MySQL will properly enforce foreign keys (amongst other things) if you are using the proper engine. (InnoDB for the win!)

Here's MySQL's page on the matter: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/storage-engines.html
 Customer #460040 on On Breaking Things... Again Customer #460040 urn:uuid:ad7fca11-6255-5b6a-51aa-06d96a12ba99 2013-11-13T08:20:18-07:00
Just a comment on inventory location. I had the honor of project managing the migration to a shiny new inventory system for a 250,000 sq foot warehouse with about a million SKU's . It was a piece of cake! Other than the voices in my head and the 2d symbologies I have tattooed on my body, I am perfectly fine. Go for it! What could possibly go wrong?

Rob Keown Room 201 Montague Asylum for the Insane
 BeerCannon on On Breaking Things... Again BeerCannon urn:uuid:a1336daa-a4f3-d452-176c-63d6a3114e89 2013-11-13T08:01:59-07:00
It was a great game.. as I recall, one of the first CD-ROM based games that actually attempted to sync the animation with the spoken audio, and did a decent job of it. I tried to run it on a modern PC at home to show my kids, but couldn't get more than the title screen to show before I hit my .pif tweaking limit.
 SQLServerIO on On Breaking Things... Again SQLServerIO urn:uuid:40868069-00d0-3942-8dae-7c298ac6c9c4 2013-11-12T22:50:12-07:00
Are you guys using foreign keys at all? I have found, to my dismay, that MySQL may not honor keys even if they are enforced and you can end up with inconsistent data. Usually, I have found this out during pre-migration testing but it can be a huge PITA. I have also seen FK's defined on the postgres side but not enforced leading to the same kind of condition. Did you have to deal with this and if so how did you handle it? For the record, I'm a MS SQL Server guy as well but really love Postgres quite a bit as well.
 tuba_man on On Breaking Things... Again tuba_man urn:uuid:39d62aaf-3ab3-d700-64a7-60d1713ebe83 2013-11-12T18:15:46-07:00
As a fellow sysadmin-type pokemon, nice work! Having trust from your higher-ups is a great feeling, and makes the job a lot easier to do. Congrats on the successful upgrade. :)
 Customer #11476 on On Breaking Things... Again Customer #11476 urn:uuid:e06daec6-081f-10fb-cc9c-6061a2456704 2013-11-12T15:52:41-07:00
Two locations I've always included in any inventory tracking system I've supported are 'Limbo' and 'Hades'. Inventory is so much like a Dante-inspired story that it always felt appropriate.
 Jasmine2501 on On Breaking Things... Again Jasmine2501 urn:uuid:92d64d13-5ef7-eded-f993-865bf9f4b53c 2013-11-12T14:46:52-07:00
I take a rather selfish look at that subject. I go where the money is. SQL Server is a great product, for sure - I even think it blows Oracle out of the water in terms of performance these days, something which Oracle has been banking on for decades. I wouldn't be able to hang with you guys. I don't know much about open source stuff unless I use it for personal projects. I like all kinds of development, and I've worked in hardware, software, databases, integration, networks, etc - whatever pays well. I'm a team player who cares about the company welfare, but I don't push political arguments any more - I choose the political environment I want. I've quit some really cool jobs over bad politics (aerospace).

But, as you say, that's the place I'm in due to experience. I'm a Microsoft-stack hired gun. I'm branching out but I'm limited by my experience, as I think we all are. It would be a bad idea for my own company to go to all open-source stuff because of that. I'd have to fire myself and poach devs from you :)
 brennen on On Breaking Things... Again brennen urn:uuid:77320b24-fc09-178d-338e-7031918d3503 2013-11-12T13:51:21-07:00

LOL, tell me again how SQL Server is a dead end. I've been raking in cash for 20 years working with it :)

Yeah, I mean, I've generally heard that it's a really solid product. I'll stand by my statement, though: Closed systems die. Of course, all systems die, but all else being equal, I'm convinced the closed end of the spectrum has worse survival characteristics than the open end. Then again, that's a minor consideration in this context - I don't really think any of the major commercial database vendors are going away any time soon. The argument that the openness of code is a practical consideration doesn't especially hinge on it in this case.

I mean, there's no sharp line between the politics of software and the pragmatics of software. I started a career avoiding Microsoft tech when I could for political and aesthetic reasons, but these days the practical reality is that even if I was inclined to work with that stuff, my accumulated expertise is all elsewhere. I work on a team whose accumulated expertise is mostly elsewhere. We've got a bunch of things that live outside of the Microsoft ecosystem, and it's pretty dirt-level practical to avoid entangling them with an entire extra stack.
 Jasmine2501 on On Breaking Things... Again Jasmine2501 urn:uuid:c671bcd8-ae7c-2cbb-e78d-05e6f04e13f4 2013-11-12T13:23:08-07:00
So, we should expect to see lower prices now as a result of this windfall of efficiency, right?

Funny Photo
 Jasmine2501 on On Breaking Things... Again Jasmine2501 urn:uuid:fa04cf79-8fba-1529-d252-16f24701ba70 2013-11-12T13:20:46-07:00
Go read EF Codd's original work on the relational algebra - you'll REALLY respect relational databases if you understand it. Most people never take advantage of their database system, thinking of it as persistent storage for spreadsheets, but if you can get past that obvious relationship you can do some really powerful stuff.
 Jasmine2501 on On Breaking Things... Again Jasmine2501 urn:uuid:cb41bf29-c17f-aa83-4c8c-32b34b16c6e7 2013-11-12T13:17:12-07:00
LOL, tell me again how SQL Server is a dead end. I've been raking in cash for 20 years working with it :)

I appreciate your decision, but I don't think it's practical. It's political, which is a perfectly good reason.
 Frencil on On Breaking Things... Again Frencil urn:uuid:b345bf07-0f4a-5c63-9044-d16474dc637f 2013-11-12T12:58:33-07:00
It was the first thing that came to mind when describing Sparkle growing many tentacles… because it was just such a terrific game. Where else could you put a wig of spaghetti on a mummy wearing roller skates to win a beauty pageant? =)
 Erik-Sparkfun on On Breaking Things... Again Erik-Sparkfun urn:uuid:44f408ee-6565-0f48-1554-59e00f0637cd 2013-11-12T12:52:08-07:00
We've actually slowly built towards our own solution for quite a few years now, while directors have looked at oodles of different off-the-shelf solutions. None of them worked the way we wanted them to, or they came with strings attached we weren't interested in dealing with, so we're doing our own thing (still). The actual inventory location tracking is the big thing we're still missing, and this database migration was one of the final hurdles we had to clear before full implementation.
 M-Short on On Breaking Things... Again M-Short urn:uuid:b402f546-8e3a-ab71-571f-6f0bd528c0cb 2013-11-12T12:30:30-07:00
With a home built back end that does everything except for our accounting we need an IT staff we can trust. Most of the people in this building have no idea what it is you guys do other than you keep us up and running and without you we'd be in big trouble. Thanks IT for all you do and keeping us up and running.
 Customer #459164 on On Breaking Things... Again Customer #459164 urn:uuid:d5f17d81-1193-cfd7-d6b6-4ac995b31197 2013-11-12T11:56:02-07:00
Congratulations on the migration. I read about the inventory tracking problem. It almost sounds like what you guys need is a small WMS package. WMS - Warehouse Management System. There are many vendors out there and a ton of packages. But basically a WMS package would do a lot for you, including helping you map out the locations in your warehouse.

A WMS could help: 1. Track incoming receiving and purchase orders. 2. Manage receiving locations, inventory locations, and shipping docks. 3. Help put away stock to correct locations. 4. Help with picking orders from the correct inventory locations. 5. Reports to track inventory flow. 6. Cycle counting - to count locations and figure out what is there ( and identify inventory shortages ). 7. Interfaces to UPS, Fed-Ex, etc for shipping.

Etc, Etc. I think you get the point.

You could probably do your own system too, but I would recommend studying the existing WMS/Supply Chain software solutions, because just tracking inventory is the tip of the iceberg and there is a lot more capability in some of the WMS packages then you could just code on your own quickly.

Good luck! Tracking inventory is definitely something that is needed as you guys ship and receive more products.
 BeerCannon on On Breaking Things... Again BeerCannon urn:uuid:4999e279-d84a-0623-116e-3913c3234a6d 2013-11-12T11:28:47-07:00
..and was that a "Day of the Tentacle" graphic in the blog for this post???
 BeerCannon on On Breaking Things... Again BeerCannon urn:uuid:e715f2c1-db7e-a7bc-9038-537c9e2a0f76 2013-11-12T11:05:25-07:00
Congrats on nailing down the infrastructure. I've lived through company-wide platform migrations (ISAM, B-tree, DB2, SQL) a few times in my career, so I know the pain when things go wrong and the exhilaration when they go 'as planned'.

I've been running MS SQL Server at the core of all of our systems – operations apps developed in-house with Visual Studio and accounting via Great Plains Dynamics – for over 15 years without a hiccup. Well, the accounting was initially C-tree but we converted it to SQL perhaps 12 years ago.

Get your database right, and the sky's the limit. Glad you were able to implement a DB that will expand your capabilities.
 enigma32 on On Breaking Things... Again enigma32 urn:uuid:ad3ba670-8db1-d0a8-8e4a-2c0a107ba19a 2013-11-12T10:48:17-07:00
Is there a previous post that discusses your reasons for switching to Postgres from MySQL? edit: …. reasons for switching away from MySQL?
 brennen on On Breaking Things... Again brennen urn:uuid:9b70cf08-42ae-889a-e1a0-f15925b6f689 2013-11-12T10:37:31-07:00

I was just wondering, besides "wanting" to go open source. Was there other reasons why open source was the choice?

Of course this is partially an ideological/political decision. On the other hand, it's also a pragmatic one:

We're explicitly a company trying to make open source hardware work, and in furtherance of that goal, it helps a lot to walk the walk with regards to our software choices.

We don't especially want to pay for MSSQL. We really don't want to pay for Oracle.

We're generally averse to Microsoft technology, and keep it out of our core stack as much as we possibly can.

Closed systems die.

We don't have any special intentions of doing development work on PostgreSQL, any more than we hack on the Linux kernel or PHP, but we still benefit from the openness of those systems. (And hey, if we want to contribute, it's nice to know we've got the option.)
 dafoink on On Breaking Things... Again dafoink urn:uuid:b13f49d8-7401-0b89-ebd3-1796bfbf020d 2013-11-12T10:25:49-07:00
I was just wondering, besides "wanting" to go open source. Was there other reasons why open source was the choice? Price, changeability, etc.? Just wondering. If it is the ability to change, do you think that you would ever have to change source if you choose a solution like Oracle or MSSQL? Just wondering. as someone who has done a lot of programming in MSSQL and Oracle, I have never really seen a reason to extend the DB for even some of the most complex operations (they are pretty extendable through stored procs, functions, etc.).

just wondering. don't hate me because I make a living off of non-open source :-)
 brennen on On Breaking Things... Again brennen urn:uuid:8276121f-9e07-ce94-9c5a-3fdb965063b9 2013-11-12T10:19:17-07:00
It's not at the moment, but it will be in a couple of minutes.
 Customer #146957 on On Breaking Things... Again Customer #146957 urn:uuid:cc8a0e2a-14c3-2a03-5bb5-32822aa43b8a 2013-11-12T10:18:50-07:00
Is "New Products" working correctly? I'm seeing a lot of old products.
 brennen on On Breaking Things... Again brennen urn:uuid:a1725bcb-bf21-07fd-0e4f-855756fee4d8 2013-11-12T10:12:00-07:00
Like Frencil says, PostgreSQL was a pretty obvious choice given the constraints of "needs to be SQL that can handle our existing data, the big proprietary players are right out".

As far as other kinds of database go, we've got a bunch of legacy data that a) is already in an RDBMS, and b) should be in an RDBMS. I've always kind of hated SQL - it's not the way I naturally think about a lot of problems - but the more time I spend on this stuff, the more I respect SQL. It represents a whole lot of problems already solved by a whole lot of people much, much smarter than I am.

Aside from Mongo, there're a ton of other data stores out there that we might use sooner or later, but I think the bulk of our core business will remain in a SQL db for the imaginable future.
 ben___ on On Breaking Things... Again ben___ urn:uuid:710c55f7-8524-caed-290b-b5bcc8ba89fe 2013-11-12T10:04:42-07:00
db_converter did an excellent job. We did hack it quite a bit, mostly for type conversion.
 EricM on On Breaking Things... Again EricM urn:uuid:1c04f733-4fe9-0351-43c0-211d8bcb054f 2013-11-12T09:27:05-07:00
Congrats!

I've actually done a large MySQL->PGSQL conversion in the past. That was… fun. And actually need to do it again (with a different site of course) soon.

Did db_converter work pretty well as it stood for you, or did you guys have to hack it any?
 Frencil on On Breaking Things... Again Frencil urn:uuid:b231e2e1-3d55-56ca-4654-413119c68a08 2013-11-12T09:19:12-07:00
There are always other databases in play. These comments, for instance, are stored in MongoDB along with some other less-relational data. As far as relational data stores go, however, we knew we wanted an open source database that employed ANSI-compliant SQL and would scale well (immediately eliminating big obvious options like Oracle or MSSQL). PostgreSQL was the obvious choice and we've actually been wanting to switch to it for a number of years. In the run-up to actually doing the switch, as we dug into Postgres's intricacies out of necessity, we kept discovering features that reinforced our confidence that it was the right choice, curtailing the need to audit a lot of other options to any great depth.
 sgrace on On Breaking Things... Again sgrace urn:uuid:a2016783-095e-c94e-4c47-bce8a5aa7966 2013-11-12T09:12:09-07:00
Congrats guys on a successful migration (hopefully. crosses fingers). You all deserve a half a day of watching silly cat videos and drinking beer to unravel the stress spring you all felt for the past several months.

I know a bit about the reason why to move to PostgreSQL from MySQL, but were other database types/architectures you guys explored before making the move?


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Have Pre-Calculus Questions? Ask a Pre-Calculus Tutor
Hi there,
Do you have any classmates' expressions yet?
Ok, you can post them here, and I'll respond to each of them :)
Why is it important to simplify radical expressions before adding or subtracting?
You have to simplify radical expressions before you add or subtract them because you can only combine them if they are like terms -- meaning if the value inside the root is the same, and the index of the root is the same.
How is adding radical expressions similar to adding polynomial expressions? How is it different?
This is similar to adding polynomials, because for those also, you can only add like terms. The main difference is the definition of like terms. For radicals, it means the same value inside the root and same index. For polynomials, it means that the variables and the powers on them are the same.
Provide a radical expression for your classmates to simplify.
sqrt(8) + sqrt(2)
sqrt(4*2) + sqrt(2)
= 2sqrt(2) + sqrt(2)
= 3sqrt(2)
Thanks, XXXXX XXXXX post the classmates' ones :)
No problem! I hope everything is okay!
No problem!
Can you confirm #4 and #10, which have funny symbols?
Ok, I'll have these for you in a bit :)
Here you go!
1.)Add or Subtract. Simplify by collecting like radical terms if possible.
5√2 + 8√2The value in the radical is the same, so add:13 sqrt 2
7√45 - 2√5Simplify:7sqrt(9*5) - 2sqrt(5)21sqrt(5) - 2sqrt(5)19 sqrt 5
2.)The square root of 3p plus the square root of 7q.These are unlike roots, so you cannot do anything:sqrt(3p) + sqrt(7q)
3.)Add and simplify
√5a+2√45a3Factor the second term:sqrt(5a) + 2sqrt(9a^2 * 5a)= sqrt(5a) + 6a sqrt(5a)Factor:(1+6a) sqrt(5a)
4.)Here is a radical expression for the class to solve:
7√(5&3x) + 5√(5&3) x - ∛3x =Please retype
5.)Problems for my classmates...Simplify:√45= sqrt(9*5)= 3 sqrt 5
√21/9sqrt(21/9)= sqrt(21)/3
6.)Simplify √36a2b2= sqrt((6ab)^2)= 6ab
7.)problem for the class√5 * 3√2Multiply on the inside of the root:3 sqrt 10
8.)2√8+z + 4√4+zAssuming the 8+z and 4+z are inside the roots, they are not like roots, so nothing can be done.
5√6+x + 10√2+x3Assuming the 6+x and 2+x^3 are inside the roots, they are not like roots, so nothing can be done.
9.)Examples for the class:-√81= -sqrt(9*9)= -9
√36/16=sqrt(36)/sqrt(16)= 6/4= 3/2
10.)Example for the class√ 12 âˆTM √15Please retype
Let me know if you have any questions,Scott


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Welcome/ Croeso
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The pub has an extensive range of ales from The Celt Experience and other Welsh breweries.The outlet also has a nice selection of traditional welsh food, which is served at lunch and in the evening.
|The Slaters Arms
Near Machynlleth
Tel: 01654 761324
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Now here's a great idea for recouping some of the increasingly frightening budget deficit, put forward by some bright spark on the government's hilarious Spending Challenge website, and pointed out by Dizzy: a windfall tax on people named Steve.
Mark Paul Woodhouse writes:
The best taxes are those that target a specific section of the population, whilst leaving the majority relatively unchanged.
The proposal is to simply tax people who have the given name Stephen or one of its derivatives.
Woodhouse (who I'm sure is being entirely serious) goes on to suggest a basic tariff of £1,500 per year for a Stephen, rising to £2,500 for the admittedly more objectionable Steve. Moreover, "If a Stephen (or one of its derivatives) is married to a Stephanie (or one of its derivatives) then a maximum tax of £6,000 should be imposed on the couple. Future revenue could be generated by targeting surnames such as Stephenson." He's got it all worked out. Not too sure about this, though:
The tax would encourage people to change their name by deed poll to something more imaginative.
Er, yes - I believe that's called a "loophole". When it comes to behaviour the goverment might want to discourage through the tax system, being called Steve isn't quite up there with chain smoking or driving a gas-guzzling four-by-four. The only reason for allowing such an easy opt-out (which might perhaps be mitigated by a levy on deed-polls) is that it would dispose of any claims that the proposal punished Steves for choices made by their parents (but then such is life). Doubtless, even with this proviso some would criticise the tax for being discriminatory (though, happily, Steveness isn't one of the "protected characteristics" mentioned in Harriet Harman's Equality Act, so it might be OK.) It would certainly impact more heavily on the male population. But then so does income tax.
I doubt George Osborne will be taking up the suggestion. Nevertheless, the idea isn't quite as barmy as you (or indeed Mr Woodhouse) may think. For a tax targeting Steves would differentially impact on the demographic best able to pay, and arguably most responsible for the mess we're in: the baby-boomers. It would, in fact, be a generally progressive tax. To quote Steven Pinker (who should know):
All my life I have been surrounded by reminders of the commonness of my given name. Its provenance is auspicious enough: stephanos, the Greek word for "crown". Nonetheless, it lay in obscurity for most of the two millennia after the stoning of the first Christian martyr... Not until the 19th century do a smattering of Stephens reappear on the world stage.. and the first decades of the 20th century added only Benet, Spender and Dedalus, the last of whom didn't even exist.
But between the 1930s, when it was around the 75th most popular name for an American baby boy and the 1950s, when I was born, Stephen (and Steven and Steve) rocketed into 7th place. And it seemed to be even more popular in the demographic circles I inhabited. For as my bulky cohort made its way through the python, I repeatedly found myself surrounded by Steves. In school I was always addressed by an initial as well as a name, since every class had two or three of us, and as I furthered my education the concentration of Steveness just kept increasing...
When I began to write science books, I became surrounded. I aspired to stand on the shoulders of Gould and Hawking, found myself debating first Gould and then Rose and at one point shared the shelves with all of them plus Budiansky and Jones... Steves also dominate high technology, including the CEOs of both Microsoft (Ballmer) and Apple (Jobs), the other joint founder of Apple (Wozniak) and the founder of AOL (Case)...
Hyperstevism is a phenomenon of the second half of the 20th century. Like tulips, dot-com stocks and other examples of the madness of crowds, the fortunes of Steve fell as quickly as they rose. Today it has fallen to levels not seen since the nineteen teens, and it may become as geriatric as Elmer or Clem.
From The Stuff of Thought
As this implies, Stephen and its derivatives are not merely differentially popular in his age-bracket; it is also primarily a middle-class name. Pinker is writing primarily about the United States, but the same demographic phenomenon appears on this side of the Atlantic. It goes without saying that all the Steves mentioned in the above passage could well afford the surcharge proposed by Mr Woodhouse, as could Stephen Fry, Steve Davis or for that matter Stephen Byers, who was such an ornament of the Blair government. Of course, not all Steves are boomers. There are younger Steves, such as Mr Steven Gerrard, the noted footballer about whom various things have recently been alleged. But he, too, could well afford to contribute.
No doubt about it, this one's a winner. The Treasury should certainly tax Steves. Jeremies, too.


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U.S. groups chide China, Russia, Canada for piracy
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Canada has joined China and Russia on the U.S. software, music and movie industries' annual list of countries with the worst record of fighting piracy of copyright goods, an industry coalition said on Monday.
"While there has been a few positive developments in these key markets over the year, the bottom line is that piracy levels have not come down at all or only marginally, and in some countries the situation has grown worse," Eric Smith, president of the International Intellectual Property Alliance, said in a statement.
The group asked the U.S. Trade Representative's office to place all three countries on the U.S. government's "priority watch list" for copyright theft and urged the same designation for 10 others: Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Egypt, India, Mexico, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Ukraine.
It recommended placing 29 other countries or territories on the lower priority "watch list," including the following new additions: Spain, Greece, Sweden, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey, Brunei, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Kazakhstan.
USTR releases its annual list at the end of April.
U.S. business software companies lost an estimated $511 million in sales last year in Canada because of piracy, up from $494 million in 2006, the International Intellectual Property Alliance said. One-third of the business software used in Canada in 2007 was an illegal copy, down just 1 percentage point from the previous year, the group said.
Also, 10 years after signing World Intellectual Property Organization treaties extending copyright protections to the Internet, Canada still has taken "no meaningful steps toward modernizing its copyright law to meet the global minimum standards," the group said.
The industry coalition said it "conservatively" estimates that U.S. companies lost at least $30 billion to $35 billion in sales around the world in 2007.
China again led the list with estimated lost sales in that market of $2.98 billion, from $2.43 billion in 2006. U.S. business software companies suffered the biggest piracy losses -- $2.47 billion -- the group said. Continued...


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[Date Index]
[Thread Index]
[Author Index]
Re: Difference equations
>I am working on a statistical problem to find the moments of a
>distribution, and this lends itself to a recursive solution of the
>problem. I have set this up as a first order non-homogeneous
>difference equation.
Have you looked at the package DiscreteMath`RSolve` which is
part of the Standard Distribution? It is documented in the
"Guide to Standard Packages".
Tom Wickham-Jones


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The controversial topic of orcas (killer whales) in captivity is thoroughly examined in a gripping inspection of the biggest keeper of killer whales, SeaWorld. Opening with the tragic story of a female trainer killed by a captive orca, Kirby then reveals that this attack took place in British Columbia in 1991.
The connection to the titular 2010 incident at SeaWorld, when trainer Dawn Brancheau was killed, is the whale. Tilikum, a male orca, has spent almost his entire life in captivity. He has been responsible for the deaths of not only two trainers but also of an apparent trespasser who was found dead in his tank at SeaWorld.
Centering his narrative on both Tilikum and Naomi Rose, the marine-mammal expert for the U.S. Humane Society, Kirby delves into the life of a captive orca, the immense PR campaigns waged by media-savvy SeaWorld, battles with OSHA as the federal government weighed in on the safety of working with killer whales, and the final court cases, one of which is yet to be resolved. Hard to put down. — Nancy Bent
STAFF PICK: Books We're Talking About
In February 2010, SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau died after being pulled underwater between the teeth of Tilikum, a 29-year-old, 12,000-pound killer whale. The thrashing drowning death of this veteran trainer made headlines around the globe, but for SeaWorld critics, the killing should have been only the final nail in the coffin of the marine mammal theme park. Death of SeaWorld by award-winning investigative journalist David Kirby places this much-publicized tragic incident within the context of decades of warnings by marine biologists and animal advocate about the risks of keeping these giant predators in captivity. A real-life scientific thriller.
Journalist Kirby offers another passionate industry exposé (after 2005's Evidence of Harm), focusing on SeaWorld Orlando's popular orca display and its costs in happiness and safety for both the animals and the humans who care for them. The main issue at hand is trainer Dawn Brancheau's death, caused in 2010 by the orca and star SeaWorld attraction Tilikum, but Kirby's painstaking account takes its time before arriving at this central tragedy. In addition to the long history of previous violent incidents involving captive killer whales, Kirby teaches readers more than they ever expected to learn about such subjects as marine park management and orca social dynamics. This comprehensive background can sometimes be more diligent than engrossing, but the narrative goes into high gear with its concluding confrontation between what Kirby portrays as SeaWorld's corporate juggernaut, and the scrappy "anti-cap" (captivity) activists. From this latter camp, the book gives the most attention to disillusioned former trainer Jeff Ventre and, taking center stage as the story's heroine, marine biologist Naomi Rose. Kirby's exhaustively researched chronicle offers the definitive look at its subject, coming down squarely on Rose's side to conclude that the human use of orcas for entertainment does neither species any favors. Agent: Todd Shuster, Zachary Shuster Harmsworth. (July)
Death at SeaWorld: Shamu and the Dark Side of Killer Whales in Captivity is the latest book written by investigative journalist David Kirby. Scheduled for release by St. Martin's Press on July 17, 2012, this non-fiction thriller dives into the captivity versus anti-captivity debate with gusto, to analyze the true cost of keeping killer whales in captivity. "One faction views SeaWorld as a Garden Hilton" Kirby writes in his introduction, "and the other views it as a Hanoi Hilton."
But the debate, which has raged back and forth for years he suggests, grabbed a whole new gear after the death of SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau, who was killed by the giant orca Tilikum in February 2010. Featured prominently in the book is Naomi Rose, a marine biologist and senior scientist for the Humane Society of the US (HSUS). Rose never considered the detrimental aspects of captivity until her extensive studies into killer whale societies forced her to question how artificial life truly was for orcas kept in a display environment. In the Northern Resident orca community for example, "orcas have their own cultures," Kirby explains, with each pod having its own signature collection of clicks and whistles. Rose discovered and wrote in her dissertation, that "Residents travel in matrifocal [centered on the mother] units called matrileneal groups." In other words, Kirby said, from infancy to old age, male orcas "spend most of their time by their mother's side," thus making them "the planet's ultimate mama's boys." Quite unlike their Resident counterparts, Transient killer whales are less vocal and less maternal, the book says. In fact some scientists the author explained, "now believe that the two ecotypes should officially be designated distinct species." These two types of orcas Kirby adds, really "do not like to mix." It's a point hammered home harshly later in the book, when SeaWorld's breeding program is explored in more depth, and it is revealed that Transient orcas are bred to Resident orcas, without any regard for the differences between "species and races."
Like Rose, several former SeaWorld trainers reached disillusioned conclusions of their own. Seeking to advance their knowledge about marine mammals, some eventually realized that independent thinking was neither encouraged nor welcomed by SeaWorld, particularly if it differed from management's own view. SeaWorld possessed a culture all of its own they said; a world of "operant conditioning" and smoke and mirrors designed to obfuscate the most discerning guest. Use of industry "buzzwords" coupled with drilled responses were part of a comprehensive handbook and repertoire that trainers were compelled to learn. There was an entire list of words to avoid said Kirby, as trainers were "spoonfed corporate soundbites." Marine mammals were "not captured," they were "acquired." Captivity was a "controlled environment" or animals were in "human care." Marine mammals did not live in "tanks," they resided in "enclosures" or "aquariums." In one particular memo passed down the chain, trainers were told that no matter what happens on any given day, "Stay positive and keep [explanations], on a 5th grade level." Kirby's detailed history behind the capturing of orcas for the display industry is both gut wrenching and haunting. By the 1970s, the book says, the era of the orca cowboys had removed "more than 200 orcas from Puget Sound."
It's hard not to feel nauseous when Kirby explains that in the 1971 Penn Cove capture, some 80 killer whales were netted, "almost every member of J, K and L pods," says Kirby, or "the entire Southern Resident Community." Seven of these young calves and juvenile orcas were kept and sold to the captive marine industry. Today, only Lolita remains alive, living in an undersized tank at Miami Seaquarium. The aftermath of the Penn Cove captures was equally devastating. "Many orcas perished" in this capture said Kirby. Their bodies being "slit and weighted down with steel chains and anchors so they didn't wash ashore." For those orcas taken from the ocean and their families, the outcome was worse. In April 1968, Hyak II, a calf captured and ripped from his mother during the Pender Harbor roundup, was sold to the Vancouver Aquarium for $5,000. Paul Spong who worked with the calf after his capture said that during the orca's transport, the calf "emitted nothing but a plaintive cry again and again." Spong would later go on to become a staunch advocate for Orcinus orca, abhorring captivity altogether. Meanwhile, the statistics that Kirby provides are a hefty pill to swallow. Of "nearly 130 orcas shipped to display facilities between 1960-1992″ he writes, only "24 of them are still alive;" astonishingly few of them.
Through changing perceptions and the examination of procedures at one of America's premier marine mammal entertainment parks, David Kirby's Death at SeaWorld, seeks to answer several questions. Does captivity benefit wild orcas as the captive industry claims, and is it a truly educational experience for the paying public? More importantly Kirby queries, is keeping orcas in captivity safe for trainers? Kirby systematically punctures the veneer cleverly melded by a savvy SeaWorld public relations department, until the answers are revealed with startling clarity. Cover ups, undocumented incidents of trainer injuries and whale deaths, are consistently dumbed down for the public and in some cases, not even acknowledged at all. "SeaWorld" Rose told Kirby, "was a slow-motion death machine for killer whales." Rashes of trainer injuries or injuries between orcas resulted in death, were passed off as trainer error, or exuberant whales playing.
One such episode occurred after Dawn Brancheau's death, when prior to further investigation, Thad Lacinak, the former Vice President and Corporate Curator for Animal Training at SeaWorld, placed the blame for the attack firmly on the battered trainer's ponytail. Sadly, Tilikum's history is a spotted one. His heartbreaking capture at an early age, ties in with the beatings he endured from more dominant orcas, and clearly defined the whale that he has become today. One cannot help but sympathize with SeaWorld's prime bull, who will be remembered not for what he has endured, but for a bloody legacy cemented by his involvement in the killing of three people: trainer Keltie Byrne in 1991 at Sealand of the Pacific in Canada; Daniel P. Dukes at SeaWorld Orlando and finally, the horrific death of Dawn Brancheau. Brancheau's death resulted in a vigorous but successful investigation by OSHA, the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Judge Ken S. Welsch recently sided with OSHA, which spent six months investigating SeaWorld's killer whale safety practices following Brancheau's death. Welsch upheld OSHA's request which recommended that trainers be protected by a physical barrier or something with the same level of safety, when performing with orcas. Despite SeaWorld's protestations, when Tilikum attacked Brancheau Kirby says, "Tilly was not just playing … this was a killing … and it changed the debate forever."
Kirby is no newcomer to investigative journalism. His previous book, Evidence of Harm, was a New York Times bestseller, and won the 2005 Investigative Reporters and Editors award for best book. It was also a finalist for the New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Award for Excellence in Journalism. The author's latest endeavor generated its own controversy which came long before the book had been read or published. Attempts were made to have Death at SeaWorld banned, accusing Kirby's efforts of exploiting Brancheau's memory. While the trainer's death is certainly covered, it is not taken out of context, Brancheau's death is one part of a much larger story. Back in February, Kirby told Digital Journal, that his book was not "only about Dawn. There have been a lot of deaths at SeaWorld," he said, "two human deaths … many human injuries, and about 25 whale deaths." In a more recent interview with Alex Lewis, Kirby readily admits, that as much as he "hates to say it, if nothing had happened to Dawn Brancheau that day, I certainly never would have written this book. I would still be as ignorant about killer whales in captivity as I was that day." The author also willingly acknowledges the early role of aquariums and captivity in advancing our knowledge of killer whales, specifically in changing perceptions of a once-feared predator to an intelligent counterpart. Unfortunately, as the book reveals, these changes dealt orcas a crapshoot, and in captivity, their intelligence now works against their psyche. Death at SeaWorld pierces the heart in parts, and titillates in others. From the first bumbling intrusion by humans into the world of Orcinus Orca, to whimsical facts about certain members of the species itself, readers will endure a roller coaster of emotions. Kirby also shows that behind the glitz and glamour of a self-regulating SeaWorld, is a corporation that clearly brooks no opposition. For decades, and occasionally with the aid of private and government entities, the organization has bought, bullied and battered those who oppose it, right down to the little guy. And the irony of SeaWorld's 'expertise' is genuinely irrefutable. Touting themselves as having superior knowledge in the field of marine mammalogy, Kirby repeatedly demonstrates how the corporation refuses to acknowledge any external and legitimate studies from superiors in the field. SeaWorld's denigration of opinions that do not jibe with their own, has cost the lives of human and orca alike.
Death at SeaWorld is a 'read it and weep' exposé of shocking connotations. The reader is cleverly and artfully guided by the author through a complicated 'mess-story' that for years now, has been wracked by controversy and confounded by opposing points of view. But this is the quiet strength of the book. Far, far louder, screaming in fact, is the realization that trained orcas in parks bear little resemblance to their counterparts in the wild. Learned behaviors in artificial environments could not be more different, despite the company mantra that captivity for orcas is "educational" for the public. One only has to look at "the wildly popular raspberries," Kirby writes, "when whales make farting noises from their blowhole;" there could not be a more perfect example of how anomalous these animals have become. Sadly, such parlor tricks, have turned one of the ocean's top predators into little more than a circus act, and Death at SeaWorld's crucial exposure of the industry left me feeling betrayed by an organization that courts families on a daily basis, then misinforms them.
Death at Seaworld is a comprehensive book that astutely gathers the material that matters, then delivers it with a profound punch. Kirby's knockout format is articulate and mind-blowing. This riveting read is not one that will easily be dismissed. By the book's conclusion, the author's revelations, make it virtually unconscionable for any person with a smattering of compassion for these majestic creatures, to ever visit a marine mammal entertainment facility again. Kirby, David. Death at SeaWorld: Shamu and the Dark Side of Killer Whales in Captivity. St. Martin's Press; July 17, 2012. Hardcover. ISBN-10: 1250002028; ISBN-13: 978-1250002020.


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STREAMING: Jeff Loomis "Surrender" (feat. Ihsahn)/
We've had Jeff Loomis' Midwestern back ever since he first debuted with Nevermore on the group's self-titled debut LP. Over the years, he has transformed into a wonder axeman (or Guitar Hero, if you want to use contemporary video game parlance), lining up with such greats as Marty Friedman, George Lynch, and Alexi Laiho. Now that Loomis has exited Nevermore, a band he was with for almost two fucking decades, he's free to roam the shred landscape that inspired him in the first place. Inspired by Marty Friedman, Jason Becker, and Yngwie Malmsteen, Loomis' first stab at self-logoing an album--while still with Nevermore, natch--came in the form of Zero Order Phase. Applauded for its fiery guitar work and nods to the string gods that came before him, Loomis' debut was, for all intents and purposes, a dream come true.
Of course, the follow-up to Zero Order Phase isn't entirely a shred LP, something Loomis alluded to during interviews for Zero Order Phase. Plains of Oblivion features, uh, black metal anti-hero Ihsahn on vocals, ex-Soilwork/Scarve drummer Dirk Verbeuren, ex-Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland, Tony MacAlpine, new Nevermore guitarist Attila Vörös, and Nevermore session vocalist Christine Rhoades. Oh, and Plains of Oblivion also features ex-Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman.
"'Surrender' is finally making its way out there," comments Loomis. "It's impossible for me to say what my favorite track on this record is, it seems to change daily, but this one has definitely had its fair share of days. It was just a bit different for me, which ultimately lead to getting Ihsahn on board for it, which again, I can't thank him enough for. I hope you guys enjoy it."
** Jeff Loomis' new album, Plains of Oblivion, is out April 10th, 2012 on Century Media Records. Nab a copy HERE or posit yourself between the frets of Loomis' hammer-ons/pull-offs of doom. Sounds nasty, don't it?


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Travel Photography Photos tagged as pch
2 photos | Tags: pch Show as stream
This is Thomas' favorite tree in the entire world. We were lucky enough to share a day with him there. This shot was taken right before I fell out of it. Good timing Zac.
Thomas' favorite bridge on the PCH was a must-stop. Here is Gabby facing the wind that morning. The air was amazinf.


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Self-Catering Holiday Cottage Accommodation in Aberfeldy
Cottages and Self-Catering Holiday Accommodation in Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland
Get away to unspoilt Perthshire on your cottage break and enjoy a stay in Aberfeldy. Poet Robert Burns waxed lyrical about this Perthshire town. In modern times, it's famous for being the first Fairtrade town in Scotland. Set next to hills, Aberfeldy is an attractive town with elegant buildings and plenty of Perthshire charm.
What Aberfeldy Offers for a Self-Catering Holiday:
• Breadalbane Community Campus has a swimming pool.
• The Birks Cinema shows a diverse programme.
• At the Scottish Crannog Centre, you can show the kids how local people used to live in ancient dwellings, and learn ancient skills.
• Explore Loch Tay, six miles from Aberfeldy, which is the county's largest loch.
• Follow a circular walking route to see beautiful waterfalls, namely The Falls of Moness and the Falls of Acharn.
• For days out, Loch Tay Forest Park is within easy reach and is a great place to enjoy walking and wildlife watching. Head to Queen's View for some of the best views in the area where you can look out over Loch Tummel and Loch Tay Forest.
• For more Scottish culture, head to nearby Pitlochry which is only around half an hour's drive away. There are a number of whisky distilleries in and near Pitlochry where you can take a tour and enjoy a wee dram. In season, you can watch salmon jumping up stream in the town's salmon run.
Options in terms of holiday homes in Aberfeldy include budget apartments, town houses and even Victorian villas. Whatever type of holiday accommodation suits you best, we hope you find the perfect holiday house for you in or close to Aberfeldy.
Holiday Homes in Aberfeldy, Perthshire
|Castle Menzies Farm Holiday Cottages , Aberfeldy, Perthshire
Sleeps 6 | 3 Bedrooms | Dogs welcome: 2 | 4 star rated
|Weekly price From 325 to 850 GBP
Facilities: Free internet access
Facts about this Cottages in the Highland Perthshire - Selection of beautiful holiday cottages, many of which are dog-friendly, 30 minutes drive from the popular town of Pitlochry, individually decorated and finished to a high quality, perfect base for exploring the rural Scottish Highlands.
|Last Minute Availability:
|from 01 July 2017 to 15 July 2017;
01887 829666,
Email the owner or agency
|Silverburn Cottage, Aberfeldy, Perthshire
Sleeps 5 | 2 Bedrooms | Dogs welcome: 2
|Weekly price From 400 to 750 GBP
Facilities: Free internet access
Information about this Cottage in the Tayside - Delightful holiday cottage based in rural Perthshire, tastefully decorated with original artwork, boasts underfloor heating and use of shared wood-fired sauna, perfect for families or romatinc couples
Email the owner or agency
|Approximately 17 miles from Aberfeldy
|Wildgrass Cottage @ Wester Lix Cottages, Killin, Perthshire
Sleeps 4 | 2 Bedrooms | Dogs welcome: 3
|Weekly price From 300 to 725 GBP
Facilities: Free internet access
Information about this Cottage in the Perthshire in Scotland. - Peaceful and rural 2 bedroom holiday cottage with en-suite bathrooms, sky tv and sauna sitauted in the idylic Dochart Forest, close to the charming village of Killin beside Loch Tay, ideal for couples or small families
|Currently next available:
|from 24 June 2017 to 01 July 2017; from 17 July 2017 to 22 July 2017; from 29 July 2017 to 12 August 2017;
+44(0)1567 820 990,07747862641
Email the owner or agency
Country Cottages Online.Net for UK holiday cottages and self-catering holidays overseas, trading name of XE Website Solutions Ltd.
17 Fennfields Rd, South Woodham, Essex, CM3 5RZ, United Kingdom.
Registration no: 3991504 and VAT registration no: 104 353357
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John Denver Deserves to Be in the Country Music Hall of Fame
The year was 1975. At the Country Music Association Awards that year the most coveted award, 'Entertainer Of The Year', went to John Denver.
Denver was on the road touring that night and Charlie Rich was the presenter. On stage Charlie announced the nominees (which included 4 eventual Hall of Fame members: Waylon Jennings, Loretta Lynn, Conway Twitty and Ronnie Milsap).
When Charlie announced that John Denver was the winner, John couldn't see the stage and accepted the award via satellite, thanking Charlie and giving his acceptance speech.
What he didn't see was Charlie Rich, apparently and allegedly inebriated, take out his lighter and burn the envelope after reading the name 'John Denver.' Apparently Charlie (and many of the 'mainstream' country fans) didn't think John Denver was 'country enough' to have earned the honor.
(On a personal note, I always found that interesting since I've always loved Charlie Rich music, but I don't consider it what might be called traditional country.)
Such was the musical career of John Denver.
In the 1970's he was too 'country' for pop/rock radio stations and listeners, and he was too 'pop/rock' for country radio stations and listeners. So what did he do?
Well, he didn't change and sold millions and millions of albums to country and pop/rock fans. And he did it with songs like 'Take Me Home Country Roads'.
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John Denver took his songs around the world, and in the process brought country music to millions of people who, otherwise, would never have 'discovered' artists like Waylon, Willie, Buck Conway, Loretta,Dolly and, yes, Charlie Rich.
One of John's 'signature' songs was 'Rocky Mountain High'. Really, you don't think this is country?
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Whether singing about his beloved Rocky Mountains, about the pure joy of going 'Back Home Again' or saying I Love You to his wife Annie, it's all rings Country pure now.
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With several Top Ten Country hit's, including three #1's..Two #1 Country albums (1974's 'Back Home Again' and 1975's 'Windsong') and multiple CMA Awards, it's time now to extinguish that infamous flame from Charlie Rich's lighter and induct the great John Denver into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Yes, and Thank God He Was A Country Boy!
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SHAKERS Vodka, The Great American Spirit
This is by far the best Vodka I have ever encountered. It is made from pure Minnesota grain and distilled 6 times. This vodka is exceptionally smooth with a slight vanilla finish. As a result this vodka makes a fantastic Black Russian, Vodka Gimlet or sip cold.


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Free Airplane Event Saturday at McCallister Museum
Saturday there will be a free airplane event in the morning at McCallister Aviation Museum.
The event is free and begins at 11 a.m. but the museum is asking for some type of donation to keep this event alive.
Local pilots will be flying in and showing off their airplanes every saturday during the month of August.
The museum is hoping to have their biggest event of the month on the last weekend of August.
McCallister's is located on South 16th Street near the airport.


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How To: Adding an OEM Tachometer Cluster on a 2005-up
View Single Post
Focus Enthusiast
Join Date: Feb 2005
Fan#: 19637
Location: murrieta, ca
What I Drive: 2005 Cloud 9 White ZX3 S
Posts: 333
FF Reputation:
Buy-Sell-Trade Rating: (
How To: Adding an OEM Tachometer Cluster on a 2005-up
How to change Speedo Clusters from Non-Tach style to Tach style on a 2005 in
10 Easy Steps
Estimated time: 30 minutes max.
1. Purchase a Speedo/Tach. In 2005, the instrument clusters were changed in wiring and construction, making it mandatory that a 2005-2006 cluster be used (2000-2004 will not work). I purchased my cluster at car-part.com for $85 shipped.
2. Disconnect the negative cable on your car's battery.
3. Tools needed: 7mm combination wrench, 7mm and 8mm sockets w/ ratchet or nut driver.
4. With the 8mm socket, remove the two bolts on the lower dash trim, at about steering column level. The whole panel does not to be removed, so you can leave the lower hood cable, OBD2 plug, and attaching bolts alone.
5. Pry the lower trim panel back on the far left corner to gain access to the single bolt securing the dash trim, located right below the headlight switch.
6. Remove the bolt with a 7mm combination wrench.
7. Now it's time to remove the instrument trim panel - it just tugs loose. Once it's free from it's clips, disconnect the rubber flap that sits between the steering column and the trim panel. It's held on with rubber nipples that fit in slots on the trim panel - just pull them out one at a time.
Then, disconnect the electrical plug on the Trunk release button. The button pops out easily too. The trim panel should now be ready to lift off.
8. All that's left now is 1 plug and 4 bolts. Remove the 4 bolts attaching the cluster to the dash, and disconnect the plug. The plug latches like a basket handle - just pry up the black handle and the plug will seperate from the cluster. To plug it back on, push the handle back down and it will suck the plug onto the speedo cluster's socket.
9. I found that if your car does not have ABS or Traction Control, the cluster will illuminate the traction control, abs, and brake warning lamps whenever the key is on. To avoid staring at them lit up all the time, I remedied this by removing the upper lens and bezel from the actual speedo cluster and applying black tape over the offending led bulb lenses. When I put the bezel back on, it became impossible to tell they were permanently lit. The only down side I can see by doing this is the Brake warning lamp is now inoperable so if you're one of those who drives away with your emergency brake on or you don't check your brake fluid level periodically, this mod might not be for you.
10. It's time to install the cluster! Just put everything back on in the order it came off and you'll be done! Go enjoy!
Last edited by zxtunerdotcom; 10-26-2005 at
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|District Attorney
|Allegan County Prosecuting Attorney
|Michigan 49010
|14 miles
|Barry County Prosecuting Attorney
|Michigan 49058
|16 miles
|Kalamazoo County Prosecuting Attorney
|Michigan 49007
|21 miles
|Kent County Prosecuting Attorney
|Grand Rapids
|Michigan 49503
|26 miles
|Calhoun County Prosecuting Attorney
|Battle Creek
|Michigan 49014
|28 miles
|Van Buren County Prosecuting Attorney
|Paw Paw
|Michigan 49079
|30 miles
|Eaton County Prosecuting Attorney
|Michigan 48813
|38 miles
|Ionia County Prosecuting Attorney
|Michigan 48846
|38 miles
|Lowndes County District Attorney
|Michigan 48838
|45 miles
|Ottawa County Prosecuting Attorney
|Grand Haven
|Michigan 49417
|46 miles
|St. Joseph County Prosecuting Attorney
|Michigan 49032
|46 miles
District attorneys (DAs) are the highest-ranking law enforcement officials in their jurisdictions. Their authority is usually county-wide, although some district attorneys represent large cities. As long as they have probable cause, district attorneys have complete discretion in filing charges against individuals. Informed by police investigations, district attorneys may charge anyone with misdemeanors or felonies.
District attorneys review the available evidence and assess witness credibility to determine whether a suspect may have committed a particular crime. A DA may charge a suspect directly or may refer the evidence to a grand jury to consider an indictment against a suspect.
District attorneys are responsible for prosecuting defendants in court. They present the evidence and arguments to a judge or jury, oppose the arguments of a criminal defense attorney, and work to obtain a conviction against the defendant.


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Paper Toss
by: Backflip Studios • 471.9K
All Android applications categories
by: Backflip Studios • 471.9K
Published: 2013-07-02, by Ana Gracia.
This game is based in the real experience of making paper shots in the trash can while working the office. The app is simply a game that enables you to do the same activity in your smartphone. You just need to flick on the paper towards the desired direction. Beware of the electric fan, as it'll make your shot more challenging.
The game includes 3 levels of difficulty for the Office scenery and four different sceneries (Office, Airport, Basement, Restroom). The latter three only have one difficulty level; the best option would be setting three as in the office.
This is a pointless game with no other purpose than passing the time; but the problem is that it can get really hard in the additional sceneries, as you can't choose the difficulty. It also gets boring after a while, it's not recommended for playing for a long time.
Backflip Studios Inc. is the creator of Paper Toss, as well as another successful app like Nin Jump. Some things could be changed for improving the game as a whole, but overall, this is a fine app to pass the time when you're bored.
Tags: paper toss , papaya paper toss , paper toss game , papertoss , paper toss qr , paper toss papaya , paper tooss , dd paper toss
by Ana , Appszoom
Jul 02, 2013
from 471.921 reviews
by A Google user
Jun 27, 2017 | "Awesome"
It is fun
by RugbyPlayer 1
Jun 27, 2017 | "Great"
Good for practiceing Pokémon Go
by A Google user
Jun 27, 2017 | "Good"
Boring game w/ nothing else To like
by Jessica Power
Jun 27, 2017 | "Awesome"
Good way to pass the time
by Rajesh Dudhrejia
Jun 27, 2017 | "Awesome"
by A Google user
Jun 26, 2017 | "Great"
I think it is very fun
Download Paper Toss
Free - V2.0.0 - 46M
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This is the third in a series of reports from US Men's 470 crew Bob Merrick as he and skipper Paul Foerster continue their preparation for the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, this September.
Another team that has excelled in Sydney is the Portuguese team of Alvaro Marinho and Miguel Nunes. These two won the Pre-Olympics last September without needing to sail the last day. They also won the Pre-Olympics dress rehearsal in Sydney the previous year. Although the Portuguese fleet is not as strong as the French, Nunes and Marinho did have to beat out the '96 bronze medal team of Hugo Rocha and Nuno Barreto for their Olympic berth. Training with the '96 bronze medalists has helped Marinho and Nunes rise to the top of the class after only four years of 470 sailing. This pair has slipped a little this spring on the European circuit posting no top results at big regattas, but it has plenty of time between now and September to get over its slump.
If the past three months provide any indication of how much the pecking order can change in a relatively short amount of time, most teams will be ignoring past results and concentrating their efforts on improving their own ability to perform well on the racecourse. Paul and I will continue racing as much as possible by sailing two regattas in France this July. Many of the top teams should be there as these events could be the last two real racing opportunities before the Games.
These last few months before the Olympic Regatta will become a balancing act for us between training hard and avoiding burnout. There is always work to be done to improve speed, boat handling, and tactics, but the time for endless hours of training is waning as the priority starts to shift toward staying healthy, focused, and relaxed.
Bob and Paul's Big Adventure
On the next beat we did OK, playing the left and passing the Greeks. We had another good run to move up to fifth place and that's where we finished. New Zealand finished 15th, Ukraine ninth, but Australia won.
We decided to stay away from the pin-end crowd in the second race and started near the boat. We played the shifts on the right, but missed the last good, right-hand puff, got stuck in the middle, and passed on both sides to round in the 20s. We had an OK first reach, but we should have gone low so as to pass a lot of boats. A great run moved us up into the teens, then we slowly picked off boats to finish 11th. The Aussies were third, Ukraine 23rd, and New Zealand 17th.
In Race Three, we had a poor start again near the pin. We held our lane though, and went left. We probably rounded in the high teens again and passed one boat on the reach, but got rolled by the Aussies. On the next run we were rolling well again and passed some boats, getting the Aussies right at the leeward mark. On the next beat we played the left and passed a couple more boats. We kind of got out of phase on the next run, but still managed to pass a German boat and held even to finish ninth. Ukraine finished second, the Aussies 12th, and New Zealand sixth.
Going into the final day, we've got 53 points, but the Aussies have 39.8, and the Ukraine team is right behind us with 54. Behind them the Russians have 56 and the Israelis have 59.8. We will have to try for better starts tomorrow.
Bob and Paul ended up posting scores of 3-8-1 on the final day, and though the Australian team won the regatta, SailNet's Team 2000 beat them in the final two contests, providing good momentum for the next time they meet in July.


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All Android applications categories
PLEASE READ! You need the Master Soundboard App to use this Soundboard Pack.
If you do not have the Master Soundboard you will be prompted to download it when you start the Pack.
You can get the Master Soundboard App by starting this Pack without it, search for it or use this direct link:
This is an unofficial Soundboard.
This Mass Effect soundboard features a collection of over 100 sounds, including the epic Sovereign sounds from Mass Effect 1 and the themes from Mass Effect 1, 2 and 3. Enjoy!
If encounter problems while using the App/Pack or have suggestion/questions please use our e-mail since we are NOT able to respond to comments, commenting is a one-way communication!
Set Sound as Ringtone/Notification/Alarm, requires SD card.
Instant-play homescreen sound widgets for any sound.
Add Sounds to Favorites.
Sound Queueing(Playlist).
Infinite Sound Looping.
UI Customization.
Saved to SD-Card.
The Soundboard Packs are an excellent way to get free ringtones, notifications or alarms!
Tested on:
HTC Wildfire (Cyanogen 7)
HTC Hero (Android 2.1)
Samsung Nexus S (Android 2.3.6)
Asus TF101 (Android 4.0.3)
Samsung Galaxy Nexus (Android 4.0.3)
Having problems?
Visit us at http://gnejs.org/ or send an email to Gnejs Development(firstname.lastname@example.com) and try to describe the problem as good as possible.
Gnejs Development hopes that you enjoy this release.
Best of wishes!
Tags: mass effect pack , pack sonidos mass effect
from 477 reviews
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Free - V2.0.0 - 24M
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Ginkgo biloba 'Autumn Gold'
Autumn Gold Ginkgo, Maidenhair Tree
Form and Growth Characteristics: Plant Type - TreeGrowth Rate - Slow to MediumMature Height - 50-80'Mature Width - 30-40'Longevity -
Ornamental Characteristics: Flower - Dioecious, male flowers are borne on the short shoots in cylindrical, 1" long catkins during March to April; the female on 1.5-2" long pedicel bearing 1 or 2 greenish ovules.Fruit - This male cultivar produces no fruit. But if it did, the Ginkgo fruit is actually a smelly, messy naked seed (not a true fruit); tan to orangish in color with a plum-like shapeLeaf - Fall Color - Excellent deep golden yellowBark - Usually gray-brown ridges with darker furrowsOther Features - The Ginkgo is widely known for its medicinal properties. This male cultivar is upright, broad, symmetrical, and spreading with age.Possible Use - Season Of Interest -
Culture and Care: Care Requirements - Prefers sandy, deep, moderately moist soil with full sun, ph adaptableNative Habitat - Eastern ChinaDiseases and Insects - None seriousStrength - Weakness -Plants of this taxon:
Find Related Plants:- Other plants with the common name Ginkgo.- Other plants of the family Ginkgoaceae.- Other plants of the genus Ginkgo.- Other plants of the species Ginkgo biloba.


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Double Shot #955
Tuesday, September 11, 2012 at 5:12AM
Just muddling through, one bug at a time.
- Scripting Chocolat with Node.js - First time I've seen an editor driven by JavaScript.
- PostgreSQL 9.2 released - Get it while it's hot.
- Skeu It! - A gallery of gratuitous user interface decisions.
- Yeoman - Web app toolkit based on Node and plenty of other stuff, including a port of the Rails generator system.


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Home > World News > Article
A long-awaited report from South Africa's national police agency has concluded that crime, not racial hatred, was to blame for almost all the attacks on rural farms that have led to the murder of 1500 white farmers since 1991.
Released at a news conference in Cape Town yesterday, the report was the official response to complaints by white farmers and their supporters that South Africa's majority black Government had failed to protect them after the end of minority white rule in the early 1990s.
The attacks, often on isolated homesteads, have become a post-apartheid symbol of whites' fears of becoming targets of black vengeance.
The attacks increased from about 327 in 1991 to 1100 in 2001, when about one in seven attacks resulted in a killing and one in three victims suffered serious injury.
Farmers and their supporters sharply challenged the report's conclusions.
"You are on your own," Paul Swart, a spokesman for the opposition Democratic Alliance party, said in a written statement.
"The Government will not protect you. That is the message to farmers and farm workers in the farm attack report released at Parliament," he said.
The critics argue that the nature of the attacks, which they say frequently involve torture and rape, is proof that something other than theft is at work.
But the document, more than 500 pages long, used exhaustive statistical analysis of police reports to reach the opposite conclusion.
"There is a very common misconception that in a large proportion of farm attacks nothing is stolen," the report stated.
"That is not so: investigations by the committee have shown that various items are stolen in by far the greater majority of cases, and, in those cases where nothing is taken, there is almost always a logical explanation, such as that the attackers had to leave quickly because help arrived."
For example, the report stated, an analysis of 2644 attacks on farms and small homesteads from 1998 to 2001 concluded that the motive in nearly nine in 10 cases "was clearly robbery," while another 7 per cent involved some form of intimidation, and 2 per cent appeared racially or politically motivated.
Similarly, the report stated, an analysis of 1398 victims of farm attacks in 2001 showed that 147 people were murdered, and 12.3 per cent of female victims were raped.
But in seven of 10 rapes, the victims were black, not white, and analysts stated that more recent figures suggest that the proportion of rapes against whites is decreasing.
On the other hand, the analysis also concluded that while two-thirds of attack victims were white, white farmers were five-times as likely to be the target of a murder as were blacks.
The chairman of the committee that studied the attacks, Charl du Plessis, a former South African attorney-general, said much of the analysis tended to suggest that farm attacks were crimes of opportunity - driven by poor security and the desperate state of the attackers.
"Perpetrators are an average age of 25 years with some as young as 14. Typically they are black, usually uneducated, almost always unemployed and almost always from a dysfunctional family," Mr du Plessis said at a news conference in Cape Town.
Durkje Gilfillan, a lawyer with the Legal Resources Centre, a non-profit agency that works on land reform issues for black farm workers, said in a telephone interview that the report underscored what some analysts have long maintained: that attacks on farmers are little different from attacks on other South Africans.
"It is your usual stuff, robbery with aggravated circumstances, and it is no higher than anywhere else," he said. "Obviously they are vulnerable because they are out on their own. They need to start taking precautions like you do in the city."
- New York Times
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Pop Culture
Hollywood Now: Chris Pine, Rachel Weisz & Ari Graynor, Plus So Many Babies!By Gerri Miller
New flicks with celebs in interfaith relationships and from interfaith backgrounds, plus their baby news!Go To Pop Culture
Tag Archives: Weddings
This Weekend, At Midnight, Under The Chuppah
We excitedly mentioned that we've been able to help Dee and Kate, who will be getting married at 12:01am on Sunday, July 24 (the moment same-sex marriage becomes legal in New York State) find a rabbi to officiate at their (Jewish, interfaith) wedding.
Here's a video, via Newsday, about the happy couple:
Mazal tov!
As a bonus, we also have an essay that Rabbi Lev Baesh, director of our Resource Center for Jewish Clergy, and the lucky officiant for Kate and Dee's upcoming nuptials, wrote about this experience:
You might not guess this, but it can be easier to find a liberal rabbi to officiate a same-sex wedding than to find one to officiate a Jewish wedding for an interfaith couple. This Saturday night at midnight, I will be officiating the first legal gay wedding in the State of NY. The couple found me in Massachusetts through InterfaithFamily.com's free Jewish Clergy Officiation Referral Service, after being turned away by several rabbis in the NY area.
NY: First Gay Marriage!
It was with great excitement that I heard the news from the New York Senate a few Shabboses ago: in a vote of 33-29, the state passed a bill allowing same-sex marriage! The bill would come into effect on July 24, 2011. In honor of NY State, we updated our homepage's news section linking to our newly updated LGBT Resource Page.
Like many, I started hearing about the colorful plans for weddings, non-profits and individuals alike doing what they could to prepare for the throngs of couples who will want to take advantage of the new law shortly after it comes into effect. (One of my favorites? The "pop-up chapel" planned for July 30 in Central Park.)
But then, via our free Jewish clergy officiation referral service, we received an email requesting a rabbi to officiate at what will be New York's "first gay marriage." Enthusiastically, we jumped on the task. (Not that we're biased, but the office was maybe slightly more enthusiastic about this request than the hundreds of others we receive – but only slightly, of course, since we're thrilled to be able to help out so many of you!)
Our own rabbi Lev Baesh will be in NY to officiate at their interfaith, Jewish wedding. The couple, Dee and Kate, want their wedding to be a wonderful celebration. As such, they're inviting everyone, even you.
We're thrilled for the couple, Dee and Kate – mazal tov!Updated to add: For more, please read Ed Case's blog post, Happy and Proud. Stay tuned for more details as we get them…
Event Planners: Take Note!
Very excited to be writing my first blog post for InterfaithFamily.com. It's officially my 2nd week as IFF's new Director of Development, and so far, everything is going extremely well!
My co-worker, Benjamin Maron, sent me a link to a great article on CNN's website, focusing on intercultural and interfaith weddings. Recently, I was meeting with an event planner from an upscale hotel in Boston and I told him I was joining the staff at IFF. He immediately jumped up and said, "Wow, that's a fabulous idea for an organization!" He mentioned that, as a wedding planner, he is often looking for officiants for interfaith marriages, and could use a resource like IFF to share with his clients. It hadn't occurred to me that IFF could be a great resource for event planners. So, when I met with another event planner a few weeks later, I proactively mentioned IFF and its potential usability for him and his fellow event planners. He, too, was hooked.
I think it's a good start – a few more key people now know about this website, and can share it as a resource for interfaith couples embarking on that next step in their life: marriage.
We Can Help…
Sarah Silverman, if the unicorn wasn't Jewish, we could help you.
Do you know someone who's looking for a rabbi for their interfaith wedding? Let them know about our clergy officiation referral service, matching couples, individuals and families with Jewish clergy for weddings, bris or baby namings, bar or bat mitzvahs, conversions, counseling*, funerals, and more.
[sub]*Sarah, you and your unicorn might be most interested in this…[/sub]
Do Interfaith Couples need Genetic Testing?
I met Randy Yudenfriend-Glaser recently at the convention for Reform Rabbis in New Orleans and she opened my eyes in a new way to the issue of testing for genetic diseases.
I had always thought that testing for the genetic diseases most common in Ashkenazi Jews was a waste of time for interfaith couples as clearly one partner wasn't Jewish and couldn't be a carrier. I have been corrected.
The nineteen devastating genetic diseases found most commonly in the Ashkenazi Jewish population are not only found in Jews. They are found in other ethnic groups as well, just less frequently. This means that even a non-Ashkenazi Jew, even a non-Jew, can be a carrier of one or more of these 19 very serious diseases.
The Jewish Genetic Disease Consortium strongly recommends that if only one grandparent of the couple was of Ashkenazi background, the simple blood test screening is necessary.
The protocol is: the member of the couple with the Ashkenazi background is screened first. If he or she is found to be a carrier, a genetic counselor will be able to recommend the proper screening for the spouse/partner. If both members of the couple are carriers of a mutated gene for the same genetic condition, there is a 25% chance – with each pregnancy – of having an affected child, a 50% chance that a child will be a carrier of the disease, and a 25% chance the child will be neither a carrier nor affected.
For more information, please visit jewishgeneticdiseases.org.
Take a Break
It's that busy time of the year (is there ever not a busy time of the year?). Hanukkah's over but we're still celebrating the December holidays with friends and family, colleagues and communities. You need a break, we need a break, time for a hodgepodge of links. Happy reading!
Take a break…
And now back to the holidays…
Until the next hodge podge…
Marriage in Israel: Civil Unions and Couples Sought!
Recently, Israel created civil unions as a marriage option. However, they're only an option if neither partner is Jewish. Which means that, for the first time in Israel, people without religious affiliation can get married.
According to the Jerusalem Post, civil unions have
…given rise to a worrying push, led by Knesset Law Committee Chairman David Rotem (Israel Beiteinu), to extend the right to a civil marriage to all Israelis, regardless of religious affiliation – thus potentially making Israel, the world's only Jewish state, a facilitator of intermarriage.
Currently, Israelis intermarry by getting married abroad (often in Cyprus) then returning to Israel.
In a country that has government-backed (and funded) Orthodoxy as the norm, is there a way to modernize marriage? Is there a way to accept intermarriage? Would ending the Orthodox-controlled chief rabbinate's authority over marriage in Israel be a realistic solution?
And while we're on the topic of marriage in Israel… We were recently contacted by a graduate student who is doing research in Israel for their Master's thesis at the University of Zürich, Switzerland in Social Anthropology and Political Science. The research is on inter-religious/inter-ethnic couples living in Israel — where one partner is Jewish Israeli and the other is Arab Palestinian (Muslim or Christian). If you are in such a couple, or know folks who are, and would be interested in helping out in this unique study, please [email@example.com]contact us[/email] and we will put you in touch with the researcher.
The Mixed Marriage of the Century
I didn't think the wedding of Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky would be eclipsed so soon, but here comes the engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton. People everywhere are just fascinated by the British royal family. Through our lens here at InterfaithFamily.com, we can't help but focus on the "intermarriage" aspect of the relationship. No, Kate Middleton isn't Jewish – now wouldn't that be an interesting situation! – but she is a "commoner" and, well, you can't be much more "royal" than William, the future King of England.
The Jewish community's response to interfaith marriages might take a lesson or two from the British aristrocracy's response to its own kind of mixed marriage. Their attitudes have certainly adapted over the years towards a welcoming approach. It isn't all that long ago that King Edward VIII was forced to abdicate in order to marry Wallis Simpson, a commoner (and divorcee to boot). But Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles have publicly expressed their complete delight with Prince William's choice.
The British don't have any qualms about the status of the children of a royal-commoner marriage: any child of William and Kate will be not merely royal, but, well, the heir to the throne. That goes further than the Reform movement's approach, where a child of an interfaith marriage is at least presumptively potentially Jewish if raised Jewish.
The British also make it easy for someone marrying in to acquire royal status. I'm no expert on this. I'm not sure if by reason of the marriage, Kate becomes a Duchess or a Princess, or that happens by the Queen just conferring that status on her. Either way, she becomes part of the royal family. It would be nice if the Jewish community considered our partners who aren't Jewish part of the family in the same easy way.
The press has focused on how solicitous William has been of Kate. After all, he's lived his entire life with what I'm sure are peculiar or at least particular "rituals" of the royal family, and she'll have to get used to all of that. William reportedly promised her father that he would help her to adjust. Wouldn't it be great if the Jewish partners in interfaith couples took the same kind of approach with respect to sharing Jewish traditions with their partners?
Here at InterfaithFamily.com we're positive about the potential for couples from different backgrounds to build fulfilling lives together and to decide to affiliate their family with the tradition of one partner while honoring and respecting the tradition of the other. We're happy to see that at least at the outset, it looks like Prince William and Kate Middleton have a good chance of doing just that. So we'll send them an early mazel tov!
Starting the TV Season with Interfaith Couples
I admit that ever since the dramatic season finales of ABC's Grey's Anatomy, with its disgruntled widow shooting spree, and its spin-off Private Practice, with the death of Dell Parker by a drunk driver, I was wondering how they would begin the new seasons. I was happily surprised to find both episodes dealt with life-cycle events for interfaith couples on last Thursday's season premiers.
On Grey's Anatomy, Dr. Christina Yang (Sandra Oh) married Dr. Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd). As described on BeliefNet, Christina considers herself Jewish; the character converted as a child when her mother married a Jewish oral surgeon, Dr. Saul Rubenstein. Christina has, from time to time, brought up her Jewish background. Both of Dr. Yang's engagements were to non-Jews; it would have been great to see her plan/have an wedding that reflected her Jewish identity.
Dr. Yang's first wedding, which was planned, but never happened, was to happen in a church with no Jewish clergy present. This wedding was planned by Dr. Yang herself, and not by a future mother-in-law, which gave Christina the perfect opportunity to have included a local rabbi in her ceremony. (InterfaithFamily.com has several rabbis and Jewish professionals in the Seattle area to whom we could have referred her.) I am disappointed that the recent season premier episode completely ignored her faith as well. This was a missed opportunity to portray how meaningful an interfaith wedding could be.
On Private Practice, Drs. Cooper Freedman (Paul Adlestein) and Charlotte King (Kadee Strickland) start the season making love while discussing how Charlotte's pastor wants to talk to Cooper's rabbi. I hope the powers that be take the opportunity to explore the dimensions of an interfaith wedding for them!
Looking forward to where the season will take these shows… And hoping to see some interfaith issues explored by the two couples!
Reform Movement Task Force on Intermarriage Reports
Our CEO Ed Case is attending the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) in San Francisco. The CCAR is the rabbinic association of the Reform movement. I look forward to his opinions on the presentation of the CCAR task force on intermarriage. News reports, including this one in the New York Times suggest a slight shift on the issue. The panel proposed that Reform rabbis work on encouraging interfaith couples to stay in the Jewish community instead of trying to prevent interfaith marriage.
The task force did not suggest any change on rabbinic officiation at interfaith weddings. Currently, Reform rabbis can choose to officiate at interfaith weddings according to their conscience, though the Reform movement formally opposes rabbinic officiation at interfaith weddings.
Since 1983, the Reform movement has recognized children of interfaith families as Jewish if their parents raise them as Jews–whether the Jewish parent is the mother or the father. This has brought many more interfaith families into Reform congregations, making it the largest of the Jewish denominations in the United States, which is the largest Jewish community in the world. Reform congregations have been working for years on integrating interfaith families and their children and finding ways to honor non-Jewish spouses who support Jewish family members' practice of Judaism.
If you're a member of a Reform congregation, what has your experience been? Does your rabbi make your whole family feel welcome? How about the rest of the community?