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Better known as NFC, the method that enables devices to communicate with each other physically in the same location, is an addition in the Wii U's controller's many abilities. I will detail the ideas I'd like to see used for the NFC with the controller.
First of all, the games will be the most important factor (to me) that can contribute to this method. The first game that came to my mind when thinking about the possibilities of said method, was none other than Super Smash Bros. While the Nintendo 3DS already has in store a function of collectible character cards (that can fight each other) for the game Kid Icarus: Uprising, and possibly even for Smash Bros. 3DS (Both games developed by Masahiro Sakurai), the Wii U could very likely have action figures with installed microprocessors to interact with the Wii U's controller. The possibilities these action figures could provide are endless. I mean, just imagine having a little Link figure and passing it by the controller to activate Link's various sound and voice effects, or taking pictures of Link with the controller, then changing Link's attire with the drawing/coloring application (as seen in 2011 E3) and having that same attire appear in-game when you play as Link (as an optional costume, of course) in a manner that can be accomplished only with figures with microprocessors, thus, if you wanted to cheat and use a Ninja Turtle for the picture, or take the microprocessor out and put it inside a Barbie, it would be with null results (at least most probably, knowing Nintendo). The Wii U and 3DS will obviously have a connection as the last generation of consoles and handhelds by Nintendo have had, and one of the ways both Smash Bros. games will be connected will be via the NFC. First, take the character cards: if used with the Wii U's controller, it will, for example, unlock new things such as new series of trophies for each character, depending on the character's card being scanned; think retro, if you will, wouldn't it be just awesome to have all the 8-bit versions of Smash characters as trophies, or even better, as playable characters?
The cards themselves can also simply unlock in-game viewable cards (a la Brawl stickers or trophies) when scanned, that can easily be seen on your Wii U controller while spectating and gambling on an online Smash match on your television. NFC recognizes devices, so why not use it to recognize the 3DS device while playing Brawl in order to activate a feature where, say, the characters can fight on top of a giant 3DS, and in the same color as the one you possess, or having backgrounds of the games you have saved on the 3DS system chosen at random, say for example that you have a Mario vs. Donkey Kong game saved, wouldn't you like to see some Mario Factory-themed background? maybe some Mini-Marios running around? and only then can these features be unlocked, if not used, then some players will not enjoy the next Smash game to the fullest.
Something that immediately is thought of about NFC is the interaction between two or more Wii U controllers: exchange in anything from cards, trophies, costumes, replays, pictures, custom stages, custom stage parts, etc. But the possibilities can encompass even more vast and complex spaces that only Nintendo can think of.
Now let's go on with other games that can work great with NFC: Metroid. Immediately do I think of high-tech when I hear Metroid; Samus uses all kinds of artifacts installed onto her suits, and her many visors are proof of that, as well. So why not use NFC to communicate with devices such as computers, cellular telephones, and other Nintendo consoles (Wii, 3DS, DS) to activate new features or story-arcs (making a butterfly effect from the normal story mode), or to unlock new information on different races or history of a planet, sort of like Metroid Prime 3's lore system, but in this case you would discover even more. Or let's say, hypothetically speaking, that Nintendo doesn't like the Apple company, and when an Apple computer is recognized by the WiiU controller, a very difficult, monstrous, ugly boss appears out of nowhere, if beaten (again, it won't be easy) the game would reward you with many credits and a WiiU trophy, to say the least. Another possibility, albeit more farfetched than any of the above, is that the controller can recognize a cell phone within range that has internet functionality and send music tones from Metroid's game soundtrack (only if permitted by the phone user) or maybe even some art to use as backgrounds. The same ideas can be applied to games like Star Fox.
I would be interested in a Pokémon game with NFC capabilities, Pokémon games have always been social and communication games to play with buddies, whether to duel or exchange Pokémon or other goodies, so to enhance that communication for the Wii U version of Pokémon is a must, I would buy in an instant as long as it is a full exploratory world exactly like in the handhelds (not a stadium one), and that would be my only dissilusion if it's not.
Then, NFC can also be used for downloadable content to the Wii U or to games themselves, but I am thinking it will have a strong connection with Club Nintendo (Nintendo's rewards system) I mean simply for the fact that you can use the controller to surf the web, makes it have a connection with Club Nintendo, because you can easily register games, complete surveys, earn coins, and get your rewards without even using the computer.
The fact that Wii U has NFC tech definitely makes me more interested in the system, I believe in "the more, the merrier" philosophy, and this certainly applies well here, specially since the Wii has been criticized for not being very open in these regards (although I'm perfectly fine with it). I've had confidence in the Wii U ever since it was speculated to exist, so my confidence continues to grow every day, and I think it will be the monster Nintendo has been having in chains all this time, a monster that will eventually infect those that it bites, and those that behold it, then assimilating the two lesser animals that will envy it.
These are my ideas, but more than ideas, they are my wishes (hence the de facto attitude in my ideas), because it can benefit gameplay and unlockables greatly, making it more fun and addictive for everyone and also convenient for Nintendo; they can make big bucks with most of these ideas that they may already have in mind. So, we can only hope and wait.


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Style: 39965504 Color Code:
Set of 40 small delicate studs including 13 sets with shimmering stones and 7 sets with fun metal shapes. Easily mix and match to create your unique look.
I was really excited about these at first. I have 13 ear piercings altogether so I was super stoked to finally be able to wear earrings in all of my piercings comfortably. As far as looks go, they're adorable. Unfortunately, the backings for a lot of the studs do NOT fit at all. I ended up losing about over half of them because the backings kept falling off, and when I would go and put in a new pair, the same thing would happen. Super bummed because I really loved this set especially for the price.
Love Love Love!
This earring set is extremely versatile and adorable! I love mixing and matching the different earrings so they look different every day! I ordered the Icy Silver set and was surprised by the range of colors and shapes! I love them all, and plan on ordering more soon!
Love these!
I was a little skeptic to order these online but went into the free people store the other day and had to buy them! They look a lot better in person and are good quality so far. I got the moody blues and love the way they sparkle! They're so teeny and cute and you can't beat the amount of earrings for $20.

subset: commoncrawl


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Freddie gets his fairytale ending
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It's all over: The Blues' retiring heroes, five-eighth Brad Fittler and coach Phil Gould, contemplate life after representative football after bowing out in style last night. Photo: Craig Golding
NSW 36 Queensland 14
Brad Fittler accepted his place in rugby league history last night by offering thanks for his "fairytale run", while victorious NSW coach Phil Gould angrily reflected on his own quite different public persona as he joined his old ally in retirement.
The Blues ran away with Origin III 36-14 before a sell-out 82,487 crowd at Telstra Stadium, Fittler scoring the sixth and final NSW try to end his 31-cap state career in glorious style.
Gould, Origin's most successful coach, impersonated a windmill by punching the air repeatedly in triumph as his colourful and controversial 16-year coaching career concluded in victory.
"There is no fairytale, I've had a fairytale run my whole life," a teary Fittler said as the siren sounded.
Gould initially expressed similar emotions, saying: "To see the bloke I love most, Brad Fittler, be a part of this tonight is very special for me and I can walk away from this and get on with the rest of my life."
But at the formal media conference, his oratory was darker, as he told media representatives: "I coach for the game, I coach for the players. What I've done over the last three years, I don't want any wraps for. I don't deserve the shit youse f- - -ing give me."
Gould and Fittler, who first forged their alliance at Penrith a decade-and-a-half ago, could not have picked a more pivotal time in Origin history to make their curtain calls.
The result, secured after NSW had led 18-8 at half-time, meant:
The Blues took an overall lead in the number of series won, 11-10, for the first time.
NSW drew level in games won, 35-35;
They edged ahead in overall points scored for the first time.
And five-eighth Fittler's return from representative retirement for the final two games of the series allowed him to equal Wally Lewis's record of 31 appearances.
Fittler boasted: "We were ready to explode tonight and everyone knew it."
Centre Mark Gasnier, kicked out of the team for Origin I after he left an obscene message on a woman's phone, ended up with two tries in a powerful tale of sporting redemption. "The main thing is that Gus and Freddie got sent out on the note they deserved," he told Channel Nine during the victory lap. "They're champion people and they deserve the send-off they got."
Gould - who ended with six series and 14 wins from 23 games - gave early signs he was going to settle scores after the game.
He said on the field: "We get a lot of criticism in the media and a lot of unfair criticism. A lot we bring on ourselves but a lot of it is very unwarranted from people who struggle with their own insecurity and struggle with their own lack of knowledge and they struggle in that they get intimidated sometimes by people who won't bow to them.
"It's the love and support of your family that makes all this worthwhile. I can put up with the other stuff."
He later told a media conference: "We got them good. You saw as good a State of Origin performance tonight as we have ever seen from a NSW side."
For all the best efforts of Queenslanders like Darren Lockyer, Billy Slater and Shane Webcke, this was simply a night that belonged to one team.
The Maroons were hanging on when they trailed 18-8 at half-time and when they lost winger Matt Sing to a broken jaw after a head clash with Sydney Roosters' Fittler early in the second session, their campaign fell apart.
Earlier, winger Slater had been unceremoniously dumped in the opening minute, jolting the ball loose amid complaints from Queensland that he had been spear-tackled.
The Blue tide was stemmed for 11 minutes, before another Slater dropped ball allowed St George Illawarra's Gasnier to score his first try off a Fittler pass.
Queensland's Michael Crocker and NSW's Mark O'Meley slugged it out in the 14th minute before Melbourne's Slater scored in the left corner a few seconds after Sing was unfortunate to not be awarded a penalty try.
Blues fullback Anthony Minichiello had taken him out as he chased a kick into the in-goal area; Minichiello was lucky to stay on, and proved a powerful force in the game.
He had a try disallowed in the 30th minute before halfback Trent Barrett glided between Chris Flannery and prop Webcke to score the Blues' second try.
The third was hot on its heels, Gasnier receiving a cutout pass from Fittler to cross in the corner. Man of the match Craig Fitzgibbon's conversion made it 18-8.
Queensland fullback Rhys Wesser had a touchdown disallowed after half-time, and the Blues waited and waited, then went in for the kill.
Winger Luke Rooney (55th minute), Sydney Roosters' Minichiello (61) and Fittler (74) buried the Maroons' hopes mercilessly before Queensland replacement Matt Bowen grabbed a late consolation try.
Interviewed at full-time, Fittler said: "It's just unreal," before delivering his fairytale line that will no doubt be immortalised. "Just to be able to finish in such a great side . . . I'm over the moon, I've played with Luke Lewis and Luke Rooney, these young blokes - I'll be able to say that in 20 years' time."
Gould spared a thought for the players dropped by the Blues as he joined his team on a lap of honour. "Right off the top I want to thank those players who played in game one and game two who weren't with us tonight," he said.
Queensland coach Michael Hagan said: "They were just too good for us," and summed up the series by adding: "We came up short in the last 45 minutes of the last game."
Maroons skipper Lockyer was full of praise for Barrett, saying he had "taken the heat off Fittler". Apart from Sing, Sydney Roosters' Crocker is unlikely to play this weekend because of rib cartilage damage.
NSW 36 (Mark Gasnier 2, Trent Barrett, Luke Rooney, Anthony Minichiello, Brad Fittler tries; Craig Fitzgibbon 5, M Gasnier goals) bt QUEENSLAND 14 (Billy Slater, Matt Bowen tries; Cameron Smith 3 goals) at Telstra Stadium. Referee: Paul Simpkins. Crowd: 82,487


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Your newly installed swimming pool is your priceless possession and you are willing to take proper care of it? A huge variety of pool maintenance products are available in the market and every pool owner should be aware of the products that they buy. Also, when you buy pool filter products, make sure that you […]Read More
Unicel C 8380 Replacement Filter Cartridge
Unicel C 8380 Replacement Filter Cartridge for Keeping Your Pool/ Spas Maintained All Year Long Pool filters are indispensible aspect of pool upkeep and maintenance. They are responsible for maintaining pool water hygiene and sanitization by removing all sorts of dirt, debris and contaminants from it. In order to ensure years of hassle free performance […]Read More
Unicel C 7477 Replacement Filter Cartridge
Unicel C 7477 Replacement Filter Cartridge for Keeping Your Filter Up and Running Pool filters are inevitable aspect of pool maintenance regime. A high-end pool filter along with pool maintenance accessories such as brushes, skimmers, robotic cleaners can take pool water upkeep and maintenance to a new level. Amongst all the available pool filters, pool […]Read More
How to replace your swimming pool filter cartridge
Read on to find out how to clean pool cartridges! When you think of a swimming pool, you instantly think of the lovely evenings spent by the pool! This means the pool is clean and clear. But the water in the hot tub or a swimming pool can get contaminated by the nearby trees, flying […]Read More
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Read on to find out which filter suits your needs the best! If you have a private pool in your backyard or maybe a hot tub or you might be the owner of a public Pool filters products, in all these cases, maintenance of hygiene and sanitation standards is very crucial. You definitely do not […]Read More
Prolong The Life Of Your Swimming Pool Cartridge
Read on to find out how to prolong the life of your cartridge – swimming pool cartridge! Swimming pool is a great place to have a party or a get together or maybe after you have had a hectic day or a week at work, just come home to a nice backyard pool evening! But […]Read More
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Here is a list of steps for paper pool filter cleaning. Read on Debris, dust, dirt, leave as etc. gets accumulated on top of the water, on the swimming pool floor and on the walls of your favorite hot tub! Well, come someone needs to clean it and the owner, thus needs to have a […]Read More
Five Important Pool Products for the Health of Your Swimming Pool
Do you have a swimming pool in the back yard? Or are you planning to have one? Well, in both the cases, this piece of article is worth considering. When you own a swimming pool, you need to maintain the same, so as to enjoy healthy swimming. For the same, you need a few products […]Read More


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Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/08/26/koobface_carder_pharma_spam_tieup/
Koobface worm-flinging gangster linked to pharma spam ops
Login-slurping worm band broke up, moved onto 'solo projects' – infosec bod
Posted in Security, 26th August 2013 14:28 GMT
What do you do after you've made millions through one of the most technically sophisticated strains of malware ever unleashed onto the internet? Make millions pushing penis-enhancing pills, according to more than one security researcher.
The findings suggest at least one of the crooks behind Koobface has branched out to become involved in selling penis pills using junkmail.
Ronald F Guilmette, an independent security researcher who first uncovered the hijacking of machines on Microsoft's corporate network to spamvertise unlicensed Viagra pills back in 2010, has uncovered a strong connection between the same EvaPharmacy group that infected machines in a testing lab at Redmond three years ago and at least one of the people behind the infamous Koobface worm.
"EvaPharmacy is, and has been for many years now, one of the largest if not THE largest spamming enterprise in the known universe, pumping out more spam, month after month, than any other single individual, group, or enterprise on the net," Guilmette told El Reg.
The evidence comes from historic domain registration information that links a Moscow address to both operations and shows an identical phone number linked to the registration of domains linked to Koobface and EvaPharmacy.
Spamtrackers.eu, which has been tracking EvaPharmacy for some time, associates the domain name checkoutpharamcysafe.com with EvaPharmacy. WHOIS records give the owner of checkoutpharamcysafe.com as "Andrey Polev".
A detailed analysis of clues relating to the Koobface worm by security researcher Jago Maniscalchi provides evidence that various domains alleged to have been connected to Koobface were registered by under a variety of similar names: Andrei Polev, Andrej Polev or Aleksandr Polev.
"I suspect that all these are just pseudonyms anyway, so it is probable, I think, that the guy who wrote all these names just didn't bother to be 100 per cent consistent across all his uses of this pseudonym," Guilmette explained.
More critical and more telling, according to Guilmette, is that a contact "phone number" for the allegedly Koobface-related domain name "cheapestpharmacy.at".
The street address and (Russian) zip code listed for both the domain name checkoutpharamcysafe.com (EvaPharmacy) and the domain name cheapestpharmacy.at (Koobface) are also almost identical.
"These matchups, of (a) the registrant name and also (b) the contact phone number and (c) the street address and zip code are _not_ mere coincidences, in my opinion," Guilmette concludes.
"Rather, they appear to point rather unambiguously to a link, at the very least, between the Koobface gang and the EvaPharmacy gang. Maybe Koobface *is* EvaPharmacy and vice-versa. I don't really know."
Let SkLiP the dogs of war
Separately a report by antivirus vendor Trend Micro, titled The Heart of Koobface, shows the same alias or names being used by the registered owner of various Koobface C&C (Command and Control) domains. The details can be found on page 32 of Trend Micro study (PDF).
The name Andrei/Andrej/Alexandr Polev, whether a pseudonym or not, is unambiguously linked to Koobface. It is also linked, again unambiguously, to the EvaPharmacy gang, according to Guilmette.
Other less substantial pieces of evidence further support the theory that Koobface is linked to EvaPharmacy and vice-versa.
One key EvaPharmacy player uses an online moniker "SkLiP" – which is slang, in some parts of the world, for "thief". The Koobface gang apparently identified itself on some occasions as "Ali Baba & 4", a clear reference to Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.
Guilmette's investigations of the links between Koobface and EvaPharmacy had led him to identify one Moscow-based individual, whose name has been supplied to The Register, as the probable chief exec of EvaPharmacy and someone who was previously tied up with Koobface. This person has not been previously named in connection with Koobface, checks by El Reg suggest.
Koobface began targeting surfers on Facebook and other social networks beginning in December 2008, typically encouraging prospective marks to execute malware packages disguised as Flash updates supposedly needed to view lurid or shocking content.
Once executed, the malware turns compromised computers in zombie drones under the control of hackers. The botnet was used to distribute secondary pay-per-install malware on the compromised computers as well as hijack search queries to display advertisements. The botnet was then targeted for takedown, which didn't quite kill it off.
However, things have been very quiet since Facebook, although the social network has since controversially identified five individuals it alleged were involved with Koobface in January 2012. These five people have never been charged.
Koobface was chiefly monetised through click fraud. Guilmette's thesis is that since Koobface went quiet three years ago, at least one of the fraudsters involved has moved on to become making his money through selling Viagra, Cialis and other pharmaceuticals, without prescription, through EvaPharmacy.
It may be that machines compromised using Koobface are been used to spamvertise EvaPharmacy. "Spamming for fake pharmacy domains would be more profitable, to the Koobface gang, than just trying to make money by perpetrating click frond," Guilmette concluded.
Cybercrime researcher Dancho Danchev has also been following the trail of the Koobface gang for years. He reckons Guilmette's theory is along the right lines but needs to be supplemented by evidence from the malware itself, rather than domain name registration information alone.
"I also don't believe in such type of coincidences in our line of work, however, initial attributable 'impressions' must always be cross-checked against multiple infection/propagation indicators of live/historical campaigns, so that a truly realistic picture can emerge," Danchev told El Reg
Although the attention towards the Koobface gang shifted in a post-Koobface botnet security industry, what we shouldn't forget is that once they felt invincible to track/shut down, they experimented through a multi-layered monetisation of hosts, by starting to serve client-side exploits in 2009. What this revealed is also a direct connection with Exmanoize, the author of the Eleonore Exploit Kit, as the initial malicious domains was registered using an email belonging to him, proving that they've been busy socialising with other key market players back then."
Danchev's analysis of the client-side exploits involving Koobface, which mentions Exmanoize, and dating from 2009 can be found here.
The group has split up for solo projects – Danchev
Danchev reckons the group has ceased to act collectively but is still up to no good.
"What are the Koobface gang up to in 2013? Collectively? Nothing on my radar. Individually, everyone's pursuing his own 'career path' with, for instance, key members behind the group currently involved in the adult content monetisation market segment within the underground economy," he said.
Two months ago the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tried to take down EvaPharmacy. Guilmette described these attempts as "ineffective" and "lacklustre".
"My own research indicates quite unambiguously that in this most recent annual attempt of the FDA to take down this criminal organisation's websites. They seized no more than about a quarter of all of the domains that this group is currently actively using for their fake 'Canadian' pharmacies," he told El Reg.
The flaccid truth behind 'Canadian Pharmacy' spam
Outfits such as EvaPharmacy are collectively referred to as Canadian Pharmacy operations because the websites customers use are supposedly located in Canada. Actual order fulfilment can come from countries such as India and China, among others. Often the goods delivered to consumers of these services are placebos or adulterated with contaminates that pose a risk to users' health, as explained in more detail in our earlier analysis of the sleazy business of pushing penis pills here.
Businesses like EvaPharmacy are one of the main reasons why spam routinely deluges users' in-boxes.
"In the first instance, the EvaPharmacy people spam, massively, in order to drive traffic to various of their thousands of 'front end' web sites," Guilmette explained. "Once they have a customer at one of THOSE websites, he can shop and shop and add things to his virtual 'cart' but then, eventually, he will click on a button labeled 'Checkout'. When he does that he will immediately be whisked away to an entirely different domain/website where his personal details, including his all-important credit card information is taken, you know, in order to complete the ordering process."
While the front-end domains are often compromised, portions of legitimate websites are bought and paid for so that the spammers can be sure that they control websites collecting payment for their wares, according to Guilmette. ®


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Number of delinquent homes in California down 28%
Published 4:00 am, Friday, June 15, 2012
Number of the day
28 percent
That's the decline in number of homes in California that were in serious delinquency in April compared with a year earlier, according to CoreLogic. Nationally, it was the second-largest drop in the so-called shadow inventory, behind a 37 percent reduction in Arizona. The inventory of delinquent homes is falling as banks dispose of properties and approve more short sales, in which the price is less than the amount owed.
Hear here
"More banks are now recognizing that treating the problem of delinquent mortgages with short sales rather than bank repossessions can help them minimize their losses."
Latest business videos
RealtyTrac Chief Executive Officer Brandon Moore on the 4 percent drop in U.S. foreclosure filings in May from a year earlier. Default, auction and repossession notices were sent to 205,990 properties, or 1 in every 639 households, the Irvine data firm said in a report Thursday. It was the 20th straight decline in foreclosure filings on a year-over-year basis.
Heads up
Wharton School's San Francisco campus at Hills Bros. Plaza is holding an investor workshop Friday, examining the technology and biotechnology startup sectors. Rowan Chapman, who has been a partner at Menlo Park investment firm Mohr Davidow for 10 years, will offer an insight into the trends and fundamental differences between the two industries, as well as discussing structural changes in the venture capital sector.


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I'm not fancy. I carry around a gameboy color and a book in my purse always. I hate cities and big houses. I dont care about the label on your coat or where your shoes came from. Im simple. Love is what you need the rest is second. Having said that yeah I do appreciate nice things but its not my lifes passion to acquire them. I try to be nice to everyone no matter what. Love invites love. I love to bake and cook. I love my job but I wouldnt mind not working. Im a woman I know my place.
I prefer to get gifts after major holidays.... they are cheaper.
the only thing that any one truly deserves in this world is to receive the same amount of love they put out.
I have a little. Hes one. I like him but were just friends. If you dont like kids thats cool keep on browsing. I only like my kid anyway. Im one and done. So no more in my future.
Pop culture is the reason our country is in decline. I have very low tolerance for things tbat are popular. I dont care that miley licks a wrecking ball. You will never hear me gossip about celebreties or anything like that. I honestly thought a Kardashian was a new candy untill someone told me. I have yet to be assimilated. My resistance is strong.
I have a deep and undying love for Harry Potter. The books not the movies. I have two very nerdy tattos that are from the books. They are my childhood and I cant imagine not reading them every year. I love Star Trek as well. Say the words "Star Trak" in my presence and I will stun you with my phaser and leave you deserted in the delta quadrent.
Can someone please explain white girls to me. Like why do you get dressed up to stand in nature? Why is someone standing in nature with you taking pictures? Do you think that you look less crazy with these photos? I think its ridiculous
Im too generous. I do things just to make others smile. I love making people happy. I dont even have to know you but if I think it'll help your day ill do it!
I'm a pretty great cook
Being a kick ass mother! Not an over exaggeration either my kid is well behaved and happy.
I'm great at not flowing the trends and I won't ever bore you with celebrity gossip.
I'm also really great at movie quotes and trivia games
Tv shows.... Downton Abby
Walking Dead
Nurse Jackie
the Office
Parks and Rec
star trek
Battlestar galactica
house of cards
arrested development
Game of thrones
how I met your mother
its always sunny
Breaking bad
Babalyon 5
Sons of anarchy
Gameboy color
Im terrified of birds!
I also put together lego sets...for no reason


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Scottish trio the Fratellis (not to be confused with the evil gang in Steven Spielberg's GOONIES) seemed to emerge fully formed from the Babyshambles-inspired boho-chic scene that also spawned the Rakes and the Paddingtons. Their debut full-length, COSTELLO MUSIC, mixes the tried-and-true sounds of glam-rock, stripped-down acousticisms, and Class of '77 punk. In time-honored punk fashion, the three band members all use the surname Fratelli.
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Sky Bet Championship: Blackburn boss Gary Bowyer hails best performance
Gary Bowyer toasted the most complete performance of his Blackburn reign with a 2-0 win over QPR.
Last Updated: 08/04/14 11:18pm
Goals from Rudy Gestede and Tommy Spurr meant Rovers ran out 2-0 winners over Rangers to take their unbeaten run to seven games and move them four points behind sixth-placed Reading. There is still a quartet of teams between the two, though, meaning the final five games are likely to see numerous twists in the play-off race.
Rangers themselves are slipping back into that mix after this loss at Ewood Park ensured Blackburn's bitter rivals Burnley could seal second spot this weekend.
However, while they may have inadvertently assisted their east Lancashire neighbours' quest, Bowyer's mind is firmly focused on his own team's run-in.
Asked if that was their best performance of the season, Bowyer said: "I think so, yes, for the full 90.
"We've had some impressive halves and spells in games but for a complete 90 minutes we were excellent and the players deserve all the credit.
"Everybody from start to finish, they were right at it and they were truly a credit to their football club tonight against a tough team."
Reading's loss at Bournemouth gave each of the chasing pack the opportunity to close the gap and with Ipswich and Brighton both winning, as well as Nottingham Forest picking up a point, Blackburn still have a host of teams between them and the play-off zone.
"Looking at the games tonight and the results, you wouldn't have been able to predict that," Bowyer admitted.
"The craziness of the Championship has got five games left so I'm sure it'll spin out loads of different permutations throughout them."
Bowyer was coy when asked about injuries after the match with 23-goal striker Jordan Rhodes substituted in the second half following a succession of knocks.
The Scotland international appeared to head off down the tunnel when withdrawn, and Bowyer said: "There's one or two (knocks). We'll see tomorrow morning, it wouldn't be Blackburn Rovers without a game finishing with an injury."
QPR assistant manager Kevin Bond admitted defeat in their pursuit of Burnley with Sean Dyche's men now 13 points clear of them with only 15 points left to play for.
"I think so," Bond said when asked whether automatic promotion was a step too far.
"I think we probably thought that it was going to be nigh on impossible for us before this evening. Obviously we just want to go into the latter part of the season in as good as form as we can and try and get a bit of momentum.
"Everyone knows how important it is in the most important part of the season and hopefully that will culminate in a play-off spot."
In truth, the visitors were architects of their own downfall. Gestede was allowed lots of space to fire in a ninth-minute opener while goalkeeper Rob Green evoked memories of his World Cup gaffe in 2010 by allowing Spurr's shot to sneak in past his near post.
However, Bond called on the R's to brush off back-to-back losses and the disappointment of failing to catch Burnley.
"We need to make sure we make the play-offs," he added.
"There are sides outside the play-off spots showing great form and that happens every year. One, more than one, will come with a great run and if they creep into the play-offs last game you have to be aware of them.
"At the moment, we just need to get our own house in order in terms of getting everybody fit and well so we can get everyone available for the manager to be able to pick his best side for the last few games of the season and, hopefully, going into the play-offs."


text: This afternoon, City National issued a news release outlining its second quarter 2012 financial results. To obtain a copy, please visit our website at cnb.com. After comments by management today, we'll open up this call to your questions.And now I'll turn it over to our CEO, Russell Goldsmith. Russell Goldsmith Good afternoon. Thank you all for joining us again for this quarterly call. This afternoon, as you know, City National announced a strong and productive second quarter, with net income up 15% from the second quarter of last year to $54.8 million. Period-end assets grew to nearly $25 billion, up 10% from the second quarter of last year and another new all-time high for us. Loans and deposits increased at double digit rates. Both are at new record levels for City National. And that total does include the $300 million in loans we were also pleased to add with the acquisition of First American Equipment Finance, which we announced in the quarter, and closed on April 30. The other acquisition in the quarter we were pleased to announce was Rochdale Investment Management, which closed recently, on July 2. In the second quarter, credit quality remained strong, expenses remained in check, and City National further bolstered its strong capital position with a successful offering of a $150 million subordinated debt offering, which replaced and expanded a piece of our capital structure that we've had for many years. All in all, we're pleased with City National's performance halfway through the year, especially in light of today's economic environment and the continuing extraordinarily low interest rates. Fortunately, City National is well-positioned for the remainder of 2012 and beyond. We are prudently growing a diversified array of assets, adding new clients and colleagues, and investing for the future. In a few minutes, Chris Carey and I will be happy to take your questions, but first I want to discuss some other highlights from the second quarter. Let me start with loan growth. Following a very strong first quarter of loan originations - in fact our most productive ever - new loan originations in the second quarter actually exceeded the first quarter level, and set a new record of just under $900 million. And that's without the First American portfolio. And that's 40% ahead of last year's pace.


text:
Popular destinations
Bahamas was once a refuge of pirates, and now is one most popular and sought-after tourist destinations in the world. Our all inclusive resort in Bahamas is now one of the most popular thanks to the amenities, restaurantes, theme parks near by and fantastic diving and great watersports activities on the beach. Duty-free shopping and vibrant nightlife and spectacular beaches are the main selling point to the tiny archipelago, but there is so much more to enjoy. Discover Nassau!
Featured destinations
Paradise Island
Beautiful beaches, shopping centers and theme restaurants, the perfect locations in the Caribbean to spend some great and relaxed vacations.Holidays in Paradise Island


text:
Racine Signs Pay Equity Bill into Law
(Host) Lieutenant Governor Douglas Racine signed the "equal pay for equal work" bill into law Thursday. Racine is acting governor this week because Governor Howard Dean is away on vacation in Costa Rica.
The legislation requires employers to give the same salary to a woman that it offers to a man for comparable work. It also allows the attorney general's office to investigate cases of pay inequity.
Sitting at a conference table in the governor's ceremonial Statehouse office, Racine said he was very pleased to sign the bill:
(Racine) "Equal pay for equal work is an important step in closing the pay gap between men and women. This law is going to have a positive effect for Vermont's working women and their families. It will increase women's purchasing power, raise the funds available for healthcare and childcare, augment their retirement income and help their savings accounts in other words, help with economic security. This is a good law for Vermont."
(Host) Sponsors of the bill say it was important to pass the legislation because Vermont has one of the highest percentages of women in the workforce of any state in the country.
Racine is a candidate for governor in this fall's election.


text:
My previous chart of resources to learn programming was well-received, but some people suggested additional resources. I decided I would try a new format to display more resources for learning programming. It is a map of different resources, which are ordered from left to right based on experience. You can choose a resource from each vertical, and then move to the right as you gain experience. A sample path is shown in the image. It would be interesting to see how these kind of charts can be improved to quickly display relevant information about each item. Click on the image below get a clickable image map, an SVG should be coming soon.
Tag Archives: programming
Job Market for Programming Languages
One consideration when choosing a programming language is the demand in the job market for people who know that language. I did some searches on different job sites to see what skills are in demand. Below are the results from Monster.com for jobs that tagged specific languages as skills. For more information, I created a Google Spreadsheet with job data from different websites.
Java is used extensively in big companies, so it has the most results. Javascript is the only language of front-end development, so it takes the second spot. PHP is clearly less popular than it used to be, while Python and Ruby vary by website.
Writing with Less Writing
- People think all writing needs to be paragraphs, but that's not always the best way to express something.
- What's the Appeal of Twitter? + Idea for new platform
- At least include an outline in your article!
- Bonus: What writing can learn from programming
My recent chart on learning programming did quite well and got upvoted on Hacker News and Reddit. I realized that one chart was able to encapsulate the important information from 3 previous blog posts. This makes me think there might be too much of a bias to write content in a specific form and style with paragraphs and connecting sentences, when sometimes another form would work better. A chart or diagram can display certain information in a faster and clearer manner than long paragraphs, making the paragraphs unnecessary. Different diagrams and styles can be used for different types of information.
Ways of presenting content
|Content Format
|Good for this type of content
|Zappable Example
|Benefits for reader
|Extra stuff that get stuck in
|Paragraphs of Text
|Long connected arguments
|Maybe Google and the Future of Search
|Easy linear read
|Connecting sentences, stylistic phrases
|Repeated categories of information
|Resources to Learn Programming
|Fast to reference
|Certain cells just to match others in row. (Maybe use NoSQL-style instead ~)
|Simple decision guide
|Picking a Programming Language
|Can quickly reach relevant decisions
|Random Jokes
|Hierarchical content of separate points
|Attempt below
|Can easily skip subsections
|Hopefully nothing
Even if content doesn't fit into a chart, it does not mean that standard paragraphs are necessary. Sometimes an Outline-style could do the trick.
Outline vs. Paragraphs
- I often start with ideas in note-form before writing a post
- Before publishing notes, need to refine and clarify ideas.
- Also includes "textification" into paragraphs, which consist of things like:
- Keeping to a writing-style (varying words, paragraph format)
- Putting in filler words to build and connect sentences
- This turns writing into nice essay, but it can obscure points for both the writer and reader
- It becomes harder for the writer to revise essay when each change affects the continuity of the sentences and paragraphs. (Maybe writers should also aim for looser coupling!)
- Certain articles (e.g. academic ones) may be so complicated, readers may feel need to create their own outline or diagram to follow it
- Notes need to be refined before being published, but they can still be kept in an outline style, with several benefits:
- Often quicker to write than figuring out how to "textify" content.
- Easier for reader to follow overall flow of argument
- Lets reader skip certain sections or examples and still follow argument (In fact, maybe the reader should be able to understand the argument heading without even reading the implementation!)
- Outline-style can be better for reader and writer, though not sure about this example
Obviously, people know that concise writing or charts are often helpful. However, I think people still feel constrained by standard style expectations. That's why they need things like Twitter and even Powerpoint to permit them to write in shorter form.
I guess Twitter gives people an excuse to write things in short. o/wise they would feel the need to write multip P's. 140 seems a bit xtrem
— Ariel Krakowski (@arikrak) November 28, 2011
While Twitter's limits may be overkill in cases where you actually want to say something, the fact that its so successful shows the power of letting people get to the point. Maybe someone should create a blogging platform that enforces a posts that are concise and include a diagram, outline or chart. This could help popularize a new style of writing.
I'm not arguing for eliminating essay-style text, I just think it might be worth putting more outlines and charts within writing. Even if much of an article needs to be in paragraphs, perhaps some of it would be clearer or more effective as a chart. And more articles should come with short outlines (or diagrams) that says what their main points are. This would let people decide if they want to read it or review what it said afterwards. Why should some one need to construct their own outline or argument diagram to analyze an argument?
Charts and outlines are really just a minor step. For more challenging material, one can go beyond such static content and create more interactive content. But that's for another post…
Chart for Learning a Programming Language
Note: View my updated chart on Learneroo.com
The previous chart helped beginners pick a language, this one shows them what resources to use to learn it. It's better to spend time doing things than to passively read or watch content, so I selected interactive websites, books and courses. Start by going through an online tutorial, and then either read through some of a book or watch an online course. Personally I think a book is better than a video since they're more concise and easier to reference, but most videos below are short and to the point. The chart is based on these posts: Picking a Language, General Tips, Java and Python, Web: HTML Javascript and PHP, Learning Ruby and Rails
Free Resources For Learning a Programming Language
|Good For Kids / Game Programming
|Invent Your Own Computer Games
|Hackety-Hack, Games: Ruby4Kids
|Interactive Tutorial – Codecademy?
|No, You can try Programr
|Yes, there's also
|More Practice and Help
|CodingBat Problems
|Visualize Python executing
(also CodingBat)
(1st part is free)
|Use Firebug or Developer Tools.
(See Waterbear for visual coding)
|Good Free Book for Teaching Programming
|How to Think Like a Computer Scientist
|How to Think Like a Computer Scientist
|Learn to Program
Humble Little Ruby Book
|Eloquent Javascript
|Interactive Video Course
|Intro to CompSci –
Programming methodology
(Warning: full Stanford course)
|Udacity – Intro to CompSci – Building a Search Engine
|CodeSchool's RubyBits*
|.AppendTo Javascript 101
|Advanced Book
|Effective Java*
|Dive Into Python 3
|Pickaxe Guide*
|JavaScript: The Definitive Guide*
|More Training / Bootcamps
|See Local / Online colleges
|See online courses or corporate PythonTraining
|Most Bootcamps are for Ruby on Rails
For kids: CodeHS.com
Picking a Programming Language – Chart
View the Chart and more on Learneroo!
Now that I finished the series on programming, I figured I would make some charts for it. This flowchart will help people pick a language. Click below to enlarge, or view it on Scribd. For more info, see the original post.
Update: After you pick a language, you might want to know how to learn it or how to find a web host.
Learning Ruby and Rails
Note: This post on Ruby and Rails is the final one in a series on Learning How to Program. Previous posts were: Picking a Language, General Tips, Java and Python, and Web: HTML, Javascript, PHP.
Say you don't want to edit old PHP scripts, but instead want to create your own new web application. A good choice would be Ruby on Rails, the 'cool' framework for creating websites. It contains various tools and elements that are common to most web applications so you do not need to re-create them from scratch in your own website. For example, most web apps have forms that take user data and place them in a database. Ruby on Rails lets you create such forms quickly and securely. Rails is written in Ruby, so to code with Rails, you will need to know some Ruby. While you don't actually have to spend that much time coding with Ruby before starting Rails, I think it makes more sense for a beginner to get comfortable with programming basics before taking on a complex web framework.
As always, it's good to jump right in with an interactive tutorial, which there is no lack of in Ruby. You can spend a few minutes on TryRuby and then look at Codecademy or go through slightly more advanced material on RubyMonk, which has 1 free course and additional courses for $10/month. If you like videos, you can pay $25/month and get access to CodeSchool's courses, including RubyBits.
You should have a book also though. Learn to Program is geared at teaching programming concepts to beginners, and they aso have a more recent paid edition. The Humble Little Ruby Book is good for learning Ruby, though if you prefer more attitude and random cartoons, there's the famous Why's Poigant Guide to Ruby. If you have more experience and really want to get experienced at Ruby, there's the Pickaxe Guide.
If you want to download something to teach kids Ruby, there's Hackety-Hack, and if they're just interested in games, there's Ruby4Kids.
Ruby on Rails
After learning the basics of programming and Ruby, you can start learning Rails, which also has interactive tutorials. CodeLearn recently launched to let people learn Rails by trying out things from within their browser. If you like learning by watching zombie videos, check out CodeScool's famous RailsForZombies. You can then signup to CodeSchool and get access to the sequel.
The 'official' free text to learn Rails is the Ruby on Rails Tutorial, which goes through all the details on how you would create a Twitter-clone, from getting things installed to version control, from "rails-flavored" ruby to nice CSS styles, and of course, all the fundamentals of Ruby on Rails.
The book places a strong strong emphasis on writing test code, which is code that tests out your main code to ensure it does what you want it to. It follows the TDD and BDD processes, which means you write the tests before you write your actual program's code. Sometimes you will spend more time writing the tests than actually writing the rails code, but this way you will know your software always works. You can always skips some of the test-parts if you feel its too much.
The issue with a step-by-step tutorial book is that you need to make sure you think about how to do things, and not just copy what the book says. It might be helpful to try to figure out what to do before looking at the code in the book, though that won't always be possible.
If you have a little experience, you might like Agile Web Development with Rails, which goes through how to create a shopping-cart application in part 1, and contains a rails reference in part 2. To learn how to do specific things, you can watch the screencasts on Railscasts. There's also the official Rails Guides, which cover various aspects of Rails.
Of course, to actually learn Rails or programming well, you need to work on your own projects. As mentioned, you should find someone to help you work through a project. If you have a couple months, you could consider signing up at one of the Rails bootcamps that sprung up recently. Devbootcamp pioneered the bootcamp approach in SF, AppAcademy claims they'll only charge you if you get a job, Starter League is well-established in Chicago and Flatiron School recently started in NY. They charge $8k – 12k, but many give partial refunds if you take a job with one of the companies they're connected with.
With all these resources, it's easy to try out programing and then pursue it further if you like it.
Creating Websites – Programming Required
Before learning actual programming languages you'll want to get familiar with the basics of the web. Web pages are structured with HTML and styled with CSS, so you should quickly learn how they work. If you were editing pages before using a WYSIWYG tool like Expression Web, its time to start editing the actual HTML and CSS code. You can either do this in a simple program like Notepad++, or within Expression Web from the "code" view so you can still use some of its tools. To start learning HTML, you can go through a tutorial, such as one of the resources here from Mozilla. W3Schools often comes up on Google searches, and they have some useful interactive resources, but beware that they may contain a few inaccuracies. To get an idea of how HTML and CSS is used, you can view the source of any webpage you visit by clicking on "view source" in your browser. You can also play around with the HTML and CSS from within the Chrome developer tools or with Firebug on Firefox. This will let see how many different websites use CSS styles.
HTML on modern websites are not created by hand or by an HTML editor, but by web applications, such as a CMS. Web apps are written in programming languages, such as PHP or Ruby. As discussed, many web apps are written in PHP. So if you want to develop new components for your WordPress blog or wiki, you need to learn PHP. W3schools has a fair amount of info on PHP, and I don't think it has too many errors. WebMonkey looks like it has a good tutorial for beginners. There aren't many new interactive tutorials on PHP, but there are many books you can purchase.
If you're more interested in front-end development (such as visual effects on a page), you need to learn Javascript. Unlike PHP, it is growing in popularity, so there are a ton of resources online to learn Javascript. Previously-mentioned Codecademy created their first tutorial for Javascript, and they have many courses on the topic. They have a bunch of competitors now, such as CodeAvengers, which seems geared at kids. Its good to go through a book too, and Eloquent Javascript is a great interactive resource. The key is to not just read, but to practice and build things, which is easy to quickly do in Javascript. Firebug and Chrome's developer tools have great features for trying out your own javascript and exploring other website's scripts also. After you know the basics of Javascript, you will be able to not only customize web pages, but also create other things like Chrome extensions. In fact, Javascript can now even be used to run the server-side of a website with Node.js (though its not for beginners). This means that you could conceivably create entire websites with javascript only. If you really want to learn Javascript well, you could consider attending Catalyst which is a new bootcamp that opened to train beginners.
Stay tuned for the next post on Ruby and Ruby and Rails, the most popular modern framework for creating websites.
Learning How to Program with Python or Java
In the last post, I discussed some steps for learning to program, and ended with a few general resources. This post will provide some specific links and free books for learning programming with either Java and Python, and the next post will go into web development languages.
As discussed, Python is a great language to learn programming with, and there are tons of learning resources online. A good path would be to start with a simple tutorial and problems, and then go through a more advanced resource that teaches fundamentals of programming.
Codecademy recently expanded to offer Python tutorials, and they have a well-designed site that's good for beginners. There are many other places you can practice problems, such as CodingBat or PythonChallenge. To get a better understanding of what the code does, you can visualize your Python executing.
To learn computer science fundamentals, How to Think Like a Computer Scientist is a great interactive book to go through. After you get through that (or if you already have programming experience), you'll want to look at Dive Into Python 3. If you want a video course, Udacity offers short videos combined with coding problems. You can start by building a search engine in Introduction to Computer Science, and then move on to either Algorithms or Web Development.
Also, If you know a kid who wants to create computer games, Invent Your Own Computer Games is a free eBook on the topic (see also the PyGame modules.)
There aren't as many free Java resources, but there's enough to get started. There's a Java version of How to Think Like a Computer Scientist available online. There's also a free version of Thinking in Java, though you may want to buy the most recent version instead. If you like lots of pictures and attitude, Head First Java is a good book. Once you have more experience, the recommended Java book is Effective Java. You can also go through the official Java tutorials.
Since Java is a different kind of language than Python, there aren't as many interactive resources online. To practice problems, you can go through CodingBat and some stuff on Programr. However, to benefit fully from Java's "safe" features, you will want to do most of your programming in an IDE. I don't think you should use a beginner IDE like BlueJ, since it lacks features that are also useful for beginners. While you type, an IDE can catch certain kinds of errors and auto-suggest methods and let you lookup documentation. Later, you should also learn to use more advanced tools like the debugger. A good full IDE for beginners is Netbeans, though if you want to do Android development later, you should use Eclipse. However, if you know a kid who wants to learn programming, it might be worth checking out the Graphics-focused IDE, Greenfoot.
Since app-development is very popular, I'll briefly discuss it here. Due to Android's complexity, you shouldn't try developing apps before you're comfortable with Java. One you're ready, Google provides a fair amount of training resources. You can also buy a book like Programming Android. If you're impatient to start creating apps, you can use the visual programming tool AppInventor, which should help teach some programming concepts.
Learning How to Program – General Path
In the last post I discussed picking a programming language; this post will discuss a a general plan for learning programming. The next post should link to some language-specific resources.
Basics – The first step is probably to find a good online tutorial that teaches the basics. I don't think long video lectures are a good way to learn programming, since one needs to focus on doing things, and they are also hard to refer back to. Instead, one should find a good interactive tutorial that lets you practice as you go through it. You should practice with small additional problems on your own, either ones you make up or problems you find online.
Reference – Make sure you know where to lookup stuff. You don't want to immediately do a general Google search for every question. Each language has official documentation that you should be able to search quickly to find out how to use something. It might also be helpful to have a specific book or site you check to get more info. It can also help to keep your own code samples organized so you can quickly refer back to previous work you've done.
StackOverflow – StackOverflow.com is a free Q&A site for programming. Once you know your programming basics, if you have a question on how to do something, you can search StackOverflow to see if its been asked. (Often it's easier to search StackOverflow through a Google site search.) If you can't find an answer, you can ask the question yourself on StackOverflow, but make sure you spell out the specific issue your're having. Well-written questions on popular languages often receive very fast answers on StackOverflow.
Bigger Projects – After you've gone through the basics and worked on small coding problems, you'll be ready to take on a bigger project. You should now pick a project that you really want to work on, and learn more as you work on building it. When you get stuck, searching the web (and StackOverflow) will sometimes help you figure things out. However, it helps to have a more experienced programmer to turn to when you're really stuck or for general feedback and guidance. You can either find someone you know, hire a mentor, attend meetups, or even enroll in a programming bootcamp.
Stuff To Learn – Besides learning the specifics of your language, you should also learn the general basics of programming. This includes topics like object-oriented programming, algorithms and data structures. You don't need to cover everything that's done in a college algorithms class, but there are certain topics everyone programming should know. Some algorithms tutorials are available on TopCoder, and if you want a fuller treatment, Coursera and Udacity seem to have decent courses on the topic. Its also important to (eventually) learn good programming practice, such as using version control, debugging techniques, and writing test code (Udacity). Once you've learned these topics, you'll have the experience to help beginner programmers!
Learning How to Program – Picking a Langauge
Lately, learning how to program has become quite popular, so I figured I would put together a quick guide to help people get started. As I discuss in The Future of Education II, I think many people should learn some programming. Even if they don't want to do it full-time, they'll still be able to use it for various smaller things in life. In part I of this guide, I'll discuss the different popular languages that one can learn.
The first step is to pick a language. You shouldn't worry to much about this choice, since you can learn the basic programming fundamentals no matter what programming language you choose. However, you might as well pick the language that fits best with your goals. Since the web is the main area of action nowadays, I'll quickly review how websites work before going through different languages.
PHP is a language built for creating dynamic web pages, and it runs on the server-side. Let's say you just finished building websites without coding and now you want to be able to customize things further. You want to learn how to program the brains of the website, i.e. the back-end. A large number of websites and scripts are built using PHP, and web hosts often come with a list of one-click-install scripts. If you want to create a plugin for WordPress or work with the same script that runs Wikipedia, then PHP is for you. Practically all dynamic web hosts run PHP, and its very easy to get started with it. However, PHP has some issues, such as a messy syntax and certain inconsistencies and quirks. This means it might be better to learn a different language if just want to learn programming or you want to create an entirely new web app. However, PHP has improved over time, and if it fits your purposes, go ahead and learn it.
If you just want an easy and elegant language to learn programming, Python is a good choice. Unlike PHP and Javascript, which are made for the web, Python is a general-purpose language that can be used outside of websites. Python tries to be a very readable language, so even a beginner should be able to figure out what a sample of Python code accomplish. Python has the unusual feature of using indentation to mark different parts of code. This makes the code look less cluttered, but can sometimes cause issues when copying code. If you don't have a specific goal that fits with one of the other languages Python is a good choice to go with.
Ruby is similar to Python in many ways. It is a general-purpose language which is focused more on programmer productivity than running-time on a machine. This 'slowness' isn't really an issue for most cases a beginner will deal with. Ruby has become very popular recently due to the website-building framework written in it – Ruby on Rails. Rails developed certain principles (such as "convention over configuration") that let programmers built websites quickly. If you are interested in creating websites with Rails, then it obviously makes sense to learn some Ruby. While Rails can be used without that much Ruby knowledge, I think a beginner should first learn a simple language before taking on a complex framework.
Java is different than the other languages listed here in a number of ways. All code created in Java needs to be "compiled" into another code before it runs, and all variables need to be "declared" with their name and type. Java also enforces a methodology known as "object-oriented programming", requiring all code to belong to an "object". While there are various benefits to these decisions, they can make it take slightly longer to play around with code and test things out. Java is a heavy-duty language that runs quickly on machines, and it is taught in schools and used in many big companies. People who program in Java use an IDE for programming, which can provide various features to help with programming, such as auto-completion suggestions while they code, and automatic highlighting of certain errors. Java is also the language that Android and Android apps are written in, so if you want to code such apps, you need to learn Java. Java's rules will help you detect certain errors before even running the code, so it does have certain benefits as a first language. However, Java is not the language to pick if if you are interested in quickly creating dynamic websites, or in writing quick scripts for various purposes.
Pick:__ if you want to:__
Javascript – Program front-end webpages, extensions, Appscripts, etc.
PHP – Work with existing PHP scripts
Python – Use a easy general-purpose language
Ruby – Create sites with Ruby on Rails
Java – Program Android apps, Strict rules prevent errors


text:
Skoda Auto Unions Talks On Wage Raise With Management Heat Up
Talks on wage increases at Skoda Auto, a Volkswagen-owned Czech car maker and the bellwether of the country's economy, between the company Kovo unions and executives will got into their sixth round Friday with both parties still seen far apart from making a deal.
Unions demand a 7% wage increase on average as of April 1 while the management is willing to offer only a 2.5% wage raise.
"Are negotiations at the end? The company is still dragging its feet to pay its employees fairly for their very hard work," the editorial, published Thursday by the unions online weekly, said.


text:
It is hard to believe that the great financial crisis started 5 years ago today when the subprime crisis surfaced, as many would feel like it was only yesterday.
Jim Reid of Deutsche Bank reflects on the crisis today, and the chart below from his latest note shows the performance of various asset classes over the last 5 years. The best performing asset turns out to be corn, followed by gold and silver. The worst asset classes were mainly European peripheral stocks. Funny enough, the Shanghai Composite was the 6th worst performing asset class.
Source: Deutsche Bank (click to enlarge):
Latest posts by Also Sprach Analyst (see all)
- The Greek Stock Market Collapse in Historical Perspective - 11/25/2012
- New Home Prices Rise in 35 Chinese Cities in October - 11/19/2012
- Nomura: Some Very Bullish Thoughts on China - 09/17/2012
Did you have a comment or question about this post, finance, economics or your love life? Feel free to use the discussion forum here to continue the discussion.*
*We take no responsibility for bad relationship advice.


text:
House Republicans slam Obama's attorney general just as the right-wing conspiracy theory on the infamous gun operation falls apart.
The "Fast and Furious" imbroglio may have just gone sideways on House Republicans. Just prior to them leading a successful House vote for contempt against Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday, a far-reaching investigation published by Fortune magazine poked major holes in the conservative storyline about the alleged gun operation. Claims that law enforcement engaged in a deadly plot to let Mexican outlaws smuggle US guns, the magazine reports, are based on allegations by a lone whistleblower who may in fact be the only person who did any illegal gun-smuggling. The real cause of violence and crime south of the border, it reports, is lax gun laws in Arizona and elsewhere pushed by Republicans and their friends at the National Rifle Association.
GOP Votes for Contempt as 'Fast and Furious' Blows Up in Its Face
Current Status: Blessed (1)
Seeded on Thu Jun 28, 2012 12:36 PM
keyboard shortcuts: V vote up article J next comment K previous comment


text:
|From: Raoul Duke (raould at gmail.com)
Date: Fri Feb 6 17:26:15 EST 2009
> Now, now, let us not go bad-mouthing the imperative world. After all, > it does have its place and value in computing. Perhaps, it should not > have the prominent placement it has now but we can not just dismiss it > out of hand. Mutation is sometimes quite useful. true! that's why we have monads. ;-)
|Posted on the users mailing list.


text:
CME Kudos
Faculty & Staff
2011 Conversations on Diversity Award Recipeint:
Annie Adamian for the After Chico Award
Anne Schulte for Taking it to the Classroom Award
Emilyn Sheffield (Recreation, Hospitality and Parks Management) received the 2011 Scenic Byway Leadership Award for the development of an interactive workshop series on corridor management plans for byways to encourage their recreational and tourism potential.
Annie Adamian (Education) was a 2011 Conversations on Diversity Award Recipient, winning the After Chico Award. She is a science teacher at Bidwell Junior High who earned both her secondary credential and master's in education at Chico State.
Matt Schubert (Kinesiology) won a research award at the Southwest American College of Sports Medicine student research competition. Matt was the only student from a non-Research l institution and the only CSU student in the competition.
Undergraduate Awards for Research and Creativity for Fall 2011 were given to:
Serena Vervantes (Journalism and Public Relations) for her project titled Collected Memoirs.
Natasha Holland and Alexa Janicki (Exercise Physiology) for their project titled for Effects of Load Carriage on Gait Kinematics, Muscle Activity, and Postural Sway
The "Hood with a history" series of newspaper articles produced by journalism students about old Chico neighborhoods received a national award at the annual convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.
Research and External Support
Catherine Himberg (Kinesiology) and John Roussell (Communication Design) is leading a whole-school wellness transformation project at the Children's Storefront School in East Harlem, New York. The project is being captured in a documentary titled "No Excuses!"
The Adapted Physical Education Program received a $1.25 million, five year Federal Personnel Preparation Grant to fund Training and Research in Autism and Collaboration in Kinesiology (TRACK).


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Charles Mockbee IV, President
Chuck serves as the President of the Danville Bell Credit Union Board of Directors. He is a senior felony prosecutor in the Vermilion County State's Attorney's Office, serving as an Assistant State's Attorney for more than a decade. He and his wife, Rebecca, reside in Danville with their son, Jonah.
Steve Autor
Mr. Autor has been a member of Danville Bell Credit Union since 1986 and has been serving on the Board of Directors since 1993. He is retired from Digital Communications, Inc. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Danville Boat Club and enjoys boating on Lake Vermilion.
Schuyler 'Sky' Michenfelder
Sky is retired after 33 years from Aqua Illinois Water Company. Sky is married to Debora who is very active in volunteer work in Danville. Sky is a life long resident of Danville and has served twice on the Board of Directors for Danville Bell with the most recent term starting in 2012. Sky's interests include family and a love of horses.
Erik Plotner
An Oakwood native, Erik has been a credit union member since 1995. A graduate of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Erik worked 5 years in St. Louis for Champion Spark Plug, he spent 10 years working for International Harvester (Navistar) in Chicago, and has been the Chief Financial Officer of Bryant Industries since 2008. Erik is also a member of the Oakwood CUSD #76 School Board. In his spare time, Erik is an avid baseball player and coach. He also enjoys coaching youth football.
Ralph Dunham
Ralph has been a member of the credit union since 2006 and a board member since 2013. He is a graduate of Schlarman High School, followed by Illinois State University, and he has been protecting our community as a member of the Danville Police Department since 2005.
Aadam Alikhan
Aadam is an Assistant State's Attorney at the Vermilion County State's Attorney's Office where he is assigned to the felony division. He graduated from Illinois State University with a degree in Business Administration and from the Southern Illinois University School of Law in 2007.
Aadam grew up in Danville and attended Danville public schools. After graduating from law school, he returned to Danville where he resides with his wife, Kelly, a first grade teacher at Meade Park Elementary School, and their son, Maddox. In his free time, Aadam enjoys spending time with his family and being outdoors.
Aadam has been a member of the Danville Bell Credit Union since 2013. He is honored to serve on the Board of Directors.
Shayne Minton
Shayne was born and raised in rural southern Illinois outside of the small town of Ava. During my school years, he was active in sports and several academic clubs along with serving in the church he attended. After high school, he attended John A. Logan Junior College where he attained an Associates in Construction Management. Shayne then attended Southeast Missouri State University where he received my Bachelors in Construction Management and Design.
He has worked for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for about 6 years in various capacities starting as an intern to his current position as a General Engineer. In this time he has managed close to $100 million worth of government construction, lease, and service contracts and has been involved in long and short-term planning efforts to establish projects for the facilities.
Shayne married his best friend, Beth, back in November of 2013, and they now have a little girl, Cali, who loves coming in the Credit UnIon with him every day. In their free time, Beth and Shanye like to travel home to southern Illinois to visit friends and family.
Mark Ames II
Marla Lane


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About the Book
Dabo, a young boy living in the heart of West Africa, helps his grandmother by fetching water from a hidden stream. Behind a narrow, secret passage, Dabo would uncover an untouched world of majestic plants and insects that would change his life forever.
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~By DONATION~ Jodi Serota Presents: Gratitiude, Thanks & a Soul Ceremony for Forward Movement for Everyone with Special Guests
META Center NY
Wednesday, July 23, 2014 from 7:00 PM to 9:30 PM (EDT)
Event Details
In gratitude for 9 years of being in this particular META Center NYC space and as we are moving on to find our new, more expansive NYC location, I will channel my last event in this building that has supported us all in the community for all these years.
Please join us, as we are all at a crossroad on our journeys for greater goodness through expanded consciousness, connecting more for Divinely directed focus.
This multidimensional event will be channeled specifically for those present, including guided Information, frequency activations through vibrational sound, along with light language transmissions with Divinely guided meditations for clarity of soul choices.
Live your life consciously from a higher conscious perspective, be part of our conscious community and know you're supported always and never alone. Everyone Is Welcome!
Please register via Eventbrite. For questions, call 212-736-0999 ext. 1.
When & Where
Meta Center NYC
214 W 29th St - 16th Floor
New York,
Wednesday, July 23, 2014 from 7:00 PM to 9:30 PM (EDT)
Add to my calendar


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Improvements in Tumor Targeting, Survivorship, and Chemoprevention Pioneered by Tamoxifen
Improvements in Tumor Targeting, Survivorship, and Chemoprevention Pioneered by Tamoxifen
Twenty years ago, antiestrogen therapy with tamoxifen played only a secondary role in breast cancer care. All hopes to cure metastatic breast cancer were still pinned on either the discovery of new cytotoxic drugs or a dose-dense combination of available cytotoxic drugs with bone marrow transplantation. A similar strategy with combination chemotherapy was employed as an adjuvant for primary breast cancer. Simply stated, the goal was to kill the cancer with nonspecific cytotoxic drugs while keeping the patient alive with supportive care. However, medical research does not travel in straight lines, and an alternative approach emerged to solve the problem of controlling tumor growth with minimal side effects: targeted therapy. The approach of using long-term antihormone therapy to control early-stage breast cancer growth would revolutionize cancer care by targeting the tumor estrogen receptor (ER). The success of the strategy would contribute to a decrease in the national mortality figures for breast cancer. More importantly, translational research that targeted the tumor ER with a range of new antiestrogenic drugs would presage the current fashion of blocking survival pathways for the tumor by developing novel targeted treatments. But a surprise was in store when the pharmacology of "antiestrogens" was studied in detail: The nonsteroidal "antiestrogens" are selective ER modulators—ie, they are antiestrogens in the breast, estrogens in the bone—and they lower circulating cholesterol levels. This knowledge would establish a practical approach to breast cancer chemoprevention for women at high risk (tamoxifen) and low risk (raloxifene).
Mina and Sledge presented a valuable overview of the changes that have occurred during the past few decades in the treatment of breast cancer.[1] I am pleased to be invited to offer my personal observations on the changes that have occurred in the endocrine treatment of breast cancer over this period. These changes are considerable, and I will approach my task as an observer from the bottom looking up. I say this because, as a new PhD graduate in pharmacology who had studied "antiestrogens" as an academic exercise from 1969 to 1972, I was told I could now do anything I wanted. I chose to contribute to the reinvention of an orphan drug, ICI 46,474, into tamoxifen.
Each generation creates and defends its own fashion in cancer research, and this concept is well illustrated by the early resistance to change in the approach to treating breast cancer. Virtually no one was interested in "another endocrine therapy," as combination cyto-toxic chemotherapy was predicted to cure cancer.
In contrast, it is now clear that the approach to health care has changed in the past 20 years, not once but twice, as a result of advances in endocrine therapy. In the first case, Mina and Sledge identify tamoxifen as the first targeted treatment for breast cancer.[1] This is a reasonable assessment, as the translation work on tumor targeting ultimately was shown to be successful.[2] Perhaps equally important was the fact that tamoxifen has a beneficial therapeutic ratio that facilitated its use as a long-term adjuvant therapy. The application of the laboratory strategy of long-term antihormonal therapy targeted to the estrogen receptor (ER)[3,4] saved lives, which in turn has contributed significantly to the national reductions in mortality.[5,6]
Secondly, the knowledge gained with tamoxifen propelled the drug forward for testing as the first chemopreventive for any cancer, created a new drug group—the selective ER modulators (SERMs)—and resurrected keoxifene, a failed breast cancer drug,[7]to be the first SERM for the treatment and prevention of osteoporosis, but with the ability to reduce the risk of breast and endometrial cancer.[8]
Historical Background
The story of the discovery of tamoxifen as a "morning after pill" in the 1960s to then being reinvented as a targeted breast cancer therapy in the 1970s has been recounted recently.[3,4]Nevertheless, the tale is important to retell, as it illustrates how changing fashions in research can influence progress. The development of the oral contraceptive by Pincus and colleagues at the Worcester Foundation during the 1950s changed society forever. Despite enthusiasm to create new ways to manipulate reproduction, the fashion of research in reproductive biology declined steadily throughout the 1960s with a decreased investment in the development of new contraceptive methods. But, in its place, the "War on Cancer" was declared in 1971.
The tale of tamoxifen also illustrates the length of time that must be taken to evaluate successful treatment strategies to effect changes in health care. Nevertheless, momentum to change the approach to the treatment of breast cancer, and, indeed, of any cancer, accelerated with tamoxifen. The drug became a ubiquitous tool to test targeting in breast cancer. More importantly, tamoxifen set the stage for the current optimism that important advances in cancer research are within our grasp and the sincere belief that clever people will solve problems and develop practical ways to kill cancer cells selectively with minimal side effects for the patient.
Although it is not possible to recapture the exact mood of the clinical community during the early 1980s, it is fair to say that chemotherapy was king. It is possible, however, to illustrate the unimportance of antihormonal therapy by reference to the work of opinion leaders at the time.
From the Bottom Looking Up
In the early 1980s, you could refer to two bibles if you wanted to know about a particular treatment or medicine. Goodman and Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics (7th edition),published in 1985, is where you would go first to look up the importance of tamoxifen in medicine. The book has less than a page on the anticancer uses of tamoxifen and a short discussion of antiestrogen action relevant to the induction of ovulation. What you will find is reference to a couple of review articles that were written to consolidate all the small and scattered reports about the pharmacology, clinical studies, and future potential of antiestrogens.[9,10]
The second book—the Pharmacologic Principles of Cancer Treatment—was edited by Bruce Chabner and published in 1982. In this 443-page book, the structure of tamoxifen is shown on page 148 and descriptive information about antiestrogen therapy appears on pages 164 and 165. The absence of anything futher about the agent was not an omission. There was not much optimism about the use of tamoxifen at that time. Although a preliminary study of the efficacy of ICI 46,474 (tamoxifen) first appeared in 1971, the response rates were the same as for other endocrine therapies.[11] The clinical development of tamoxifen to treat advanced breast cancer did not set the world on fire! Importantly, however, there were fewer side effects compared to other treatments. Tamoxifen was approved for the treatment of advanced breast cancer in the United States in December 1977, but how could the drug be used to its best advantage in the clinic?
Focus on Chemotherapy
In the early 1980s, most eyes were focused on the merits of combination chemotherapy and its value as a curative adjuvant therapy. Reference to the proceedings of a 4-day meeting reported in Adjuvant Therapy of Cancer IV, edited by Stephen Jones and Syd Salmon (1984), illustrates the quest by cooperative groups worldwide to use chemotherapy to cure cancer. Almost half of the 64 papers presented focus on the adjuvant therapy of breast cancer, with only 8 of the 26 breast cancer papers mentioning the evaluation of 1 or 2 years of tamoxifen treatment in their protocols. Away from the application of adjuvant therapy to enhance survival, the quest for cancer cure was focused on dose-dense chemotherapy and the empirical application of bone marrow transplantation. This was admirably reviewed by I. Craig Henderson in Breast Diseases.[12]
That said, why did the process of moving from concept to changes in health care take such a long time for a novel targeted therapy with few side effects?