text:
THE chairman of Bolton Hospice has stepped down after six years in the role.
Graham Yardley will be replaced by Judith Bromley, who has been a trustee at the hospice since 2006.
A well-known businessman, Mr Yardley was the finance director at the Georgia Pacific factory in Middlebrook and first became involved in Bolton Hospice in the mid-1990s.
After serving as a member of the fundraising committee in 2001, Mr Yardley became a trustee in 2004 and chairman in 2007.
Among his most significant achievements were the acquisition of Giles House which has enabled Bolton Hospice to increase its number of beds by 20 per cent.
He said: "I have the highest regard for the outstanding quality of our staff and volunteers.
"I have been constantly amazed at the numbers who have remained as volunteers since the hospice opened in 1992 — such dedication is outstanding. I am delighted that Judith has agreed to become the new chairman.
"She has great energy and intellect but more importantly is a very caring person and will serve the people of Bolton well."
Mrs Bromley, a partner at Russell and Russell, Wood Street, Bolton, said: "I am extremely proud and honoured to be appointed as the new chairman.
"The hospice has a special place in the heart of the people of Bolton who support all the hospice does through volunteering and fundraising to enable us to provide the wonderful facilities we have here.
"As a Bolton girl born and bred, attending school here, having a business here and living here all my life, I am eager to maintain that special bond and to help make the hospice the best it can be."
She has worked as a volunteer on the hospice's inpatient unit and in the bereavement support team.
Mr Yardley will remain a trustee of Bolton Hospice and intends to stay involved in the charity.


text:
Greetings to all of you first of all.
I have always had the desire to study the Buddhist philosophy but haven´t been quite well directed to it perhaps. Problem is that when you ask a Muslim which book one should read to study Islam, he will suggest the Qur´an, a Christian will suggest the Gospels, a Jew will suggest the Torah and a Hindu will direct me to the Bhagavad Gita, but what exactly should I read to study Buddhism?
In short, which book is considered as holy or sacred by the Buddhists, if there is any at all?
Answers are much appreciated.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Packing For PluviaLogic puzzles require you to think. You will have to be logical in your reasoning.
Kemal and his parents are part of an expedition that is going to settle a new planet, called Pluvia Three. Kemal knows that at the colony site on the planet, the average temperature is 45 degrees Centigrade, average wind speeds are 8,000 meters per hour, the planet rotates on its axis 431 times for every time it goes around its sun, and each rotation takes a third longer than Earth's. Rainfall is 254 centimeters per year, and gravity is about 78% of Earth's. Kemal is allowed to pack any four items from this list of his favorite belongings.
down-filled parka
battery-powered portable refrigerator
Asian fighting kite
baseball bat
Mickey Mouse® calendar watch
inflatable raft
hockey skates
book collection
Which four items should Kemal pack?
HintAssemble and interpret your data carefully. Make comparisons between Pluvia and Earth.
AnswerKemal should pack his inflatable raft, refrigerator, baseball bat, and books.
45 degrees Centigrade = 113 degrees Fahrenheit
8,000 meters per hour = 8 km per hour = 5 miles per hour
431 revolutions (days) > 365 days in an Earth year
254 cm = 100 in. of rainfall
You can use an encyclopedia, the World Wide Web, or a call to your local weather station to get weather information for the place where you live. You will see that the Pluvia Three colony is very hot, not at all windy, and very wet.
Clearly, it is too warm for the parka or the hockey skates, and there is not enough wind to fly the kite. The Mickey Mouse® watch won't be much use since the planet has a different calendar from Earth's 365 days per year and 24 hours per day.
On the other hand, with all that rainfall, there must be lakes and seas where a raft would come in handy. Kemal would want to keep his snacks cool, so the refrigerator would be useful. It would be possible (and probably fun) to play baseball on a planet with lower gravity, although Kemal and his friends might want to make the diamond bigger than it would be on Earth because the ball will fly farther. Finally, you can read books anywhere. That's one of the nice things about them.
What Next?
See another brain teaser just like this one...
Or, just get a random brain teaser
If you become a registered user you can vote on this brain teaser, keep track of
which ones you have seen, and even make your own.
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text: Join The News-Sentinel for a live chat at 7 p.m. to discuss the latest in high school basketball. Also follow The News-Sentinel live blog and chat below throughout the night for the latest high school basketball news from area games. In addition, you can participate in the live blog and chat by sending in questions or comments using the interactive live chat below or including the hashtag #nshoops when you Tweet about high school basketball.


text:
If you're needing a boy band fix, look no further than Tuesday night. Composed of British and Irish boyos, The Wanted may be picking up where N'Sync left off and where New Kids and Backstreet Boys won't seem to let go of. Embarking on their first North American tour, the group comes to Dallas bringing its twinkish ways and pop music vibes.
And it looks like they really like their gays. Although they hit up Deep Ellum here, part of their tour consists specifically of playing gay clubs. They've already performed at Roscoe's in Chicago and Saloon in Minneapolis; next week, they hit Krave in Vegas and Cherry Pop in WeHo. They got the right idea, because if you make it with the gays, then it's all clover from there.
Curious? OK. We have five pairs of tickets to give away for tomorrow night's show, thanks to promoters Tactics Productions. What do you gotta do? It's a new band, so I won't give ya tough trivia. Just email me here with "Boi power" in the subject line and your full name in your email. Winners will be selected by random at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.
Congrats to the winners. Enjoy the show! In the meantime, check their sound out in the video "Warzone," after the jump.


text:
Note: This item is more than nine years old. Please take the publication date into consideration for any date references.
Print – Plain Text – Permalink
News Release
Media Contact: TPWD News, firstname.lastname@example.com, 512-389-8030
Aug. 26, 2008
National Hunting and Fishing Day to be Celebrated Sept. 27
AUSTIN, Texas — Hunting and Fishing Day in Texas and across the nation is slated for Sept. 27 and every outdoors person is encouraged to extend a natural invitation to family, friends, neighbors and co-workers to step outside and share the values and the fun of the outdoors.
That invitation is being extended to Texans on Oct. 4-5 during Texas Parks & Wildlife Expo at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's headquarters complex.
A wide range of activities will mark Hunting and Fishing Day nationwide sponsored by sportsman's clubs, conservation groups and civic agencies. Texas Parks & Wildlife Expo, while scheduled for Oct. 4-5, is working toward the same end, introducing the young and old to the outdoors.
Dozens of outdoor-related events will be ongoing throughout Expo, including demonstrations, adult and youth shooting, casting clinics and demonstrations, youth fishing derby, seminars and others.
Texas Parks & Wildlife Expo is designed to create public awareness to the importance of hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation; focus public attention on the contributions hunters, fishermen and other outdoor users have made to preserve the abundant wildlife and natural resources of Texas; inform new generations of Texans about the history of hunting, fishing and the outdoors; and underscore the critical role of hunting, fishing and the outdoors in wildlife management and conservation.
At the urging of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, Congress designated National Hunting and Fishing Day on the fourth Saturday of every September as a public reminder that good conservation depends on hunters, anglers and shooters. In fact, through licenses and excise taxes, these outdoor enthusiasts generate $100,000 every 30 minutes for fish, wildlife and habitat programs.
In Texas, hunting and fishing contribute more than $14 billion annually to the state's economy, according to data in the 2006 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation.
Findings from the report indicate the economic effect from Texas hunters, anglers and wildlife watchers was estimated to be $14.4 billion
Hunting and fishing play an important ecological role by managing wildlife populations and creating a healthy environment.
It has been more than a century since America's first environmentalists — hunters and anglers — established the conservation tradition in our nation. These early environmentalists warned that the population growth and industrial development that offered prosperity for our nation also created serious threats to the future of our wildlife resources. Hunters and anglers fought for the laws and regulations that created a new system of wildlife management that would rescue many species of wildlife from near extinction and would set aside millions of acres of important habitat to help ensure future wildlife abundance.
In Texas, efforts by anglers helped create protection of red drum and other aquatic resources from commercial over-harvest, as well as conservation of aquatic habitat such as seagrasses and the control of invasive exotic aquatic vegetation.
On the Net:
Publication — Permission is granted to publish, in whole or in part, any news releases on this page.
Print — A print-friendly version of the news release shows only the release with font sizes set to the browser default.
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To copy text into an editing software:
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English/Spanish — News releases posted in both English and Spanish have one of these links.
If you have any suggestions for improving these pages, send an e-mail to email@example.com and mention Plain Text Pages.
(5.4.16 i)


text:
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High performance in-line spectrophotometer developed jointly with X-rite. Allows for automated color measurement directly within the printer itself. Simple installation process. Both black and white interchangeable backing plates included. Built-in print dryer to accelerate the dry-down and reading process. Compatible only with third-party RIP's and workflows. Fully supported by the Epson Proofing Edition Series.
General Information
|Product Type
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|Manufacturer Part Number
|Manufacturer Website Address
|Epson Corporation
|Product Model
|Product Name
|SpectroProofer 44" Color Calibrator
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This product is shipped only within Canada and Warranty valid for Canada only.
Computer Valley makes every effort to provide accurate specifications, descriptions, images and price on all products that are found on www.computervalley.ca
However for complete and updated descriptions, compatibilities, specifications and actual photo we recommend our clients to consult with manufacturer's websites or simply call us for proper clarifications. Computer Valley is not responsible and will not accept returns for items purchased that are not compatible with your system. Please ensure that you have verified compatibility and actual photo with your system by visiting the manufacturer's web site prior to purchase or give us a call to make sure what you are purchasing.
For more information, visit our Shipping and Return policy.
Computer Valley wants to provide you with the best and fastest possible service. We try to ship in stock orders placed before 2:00pm EST the same day. For in stock orders placed after 2:00pm EST they are usually shipped the next business day. However there are always exceptions. Please contact us prior to placing your order if you need your purchase by a certain date.
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text:
clw_uk wrote:stuka wrote:If so, that would only be a problem for one who is attached to such speculative/superstitious views.
Could you elaborate
You might want to elaborate on your understanding of the Cārvāka view as you understand it. The short of it, though, is that the Buddha's transcendent teachings transcend speculative and superstitious views, including the various speculative and superstitious views of kamma and reincarnation/"rebirth".


text:
Editor's note: We are currently running a four part series by Hans Bergsten that highlights some of the new features available in JavaServer Pages (JSP) 2.0. JSP 2.0: The new deal, part one described the new Expression Language. In part two Bergsten describes improvements in error handling and new features in the deployment descriptor. The following is an excerpt from his newly released O'Reilly book, "JavaServer Pages, 3rd Edition". This is Chapter 11 "Developing Custom Tag Libraries as Tag Files."
Starting with the 2.0 version of the JSP specification, custom tag library actions can
be implemented in two ways: as Java classes or as regular text files containing JSP
elements. In prior versions, custom actions could only be implemented as Java
classes, putting them out of the reach of nonprogrammers. Another problem with
the Java implementation of custom actions is that you're forced to printout HTML
code with
println() calls to produce complex content — the very problem JSP was
supposed to solve.
In this chapter I show you how to develop custom actions as plain text files and package them as tag libraries that can be used in JSP pages.
A tag file is a text file that contains JSP elements implementing the functionality of a custom action. You must use a .tag[1] filename extension to identify this type of file to the web container. All JSP elements that you can use in a JSP file can also be used in a tag file, with exception to the page directive (a tag file is not a page). There are also a few JSP directives that are only allowed in a tag file, as you will see shortly. Apart from that, creating a tag file is no different than creating a JSP page. Once created and installed, a tag file is used the same as the custom actions implemented in Java that you've seen in previous chapters.
Example 11-1 shows a very simple tag file.
Example 11-1. Simple tag file (copyright.tag)
<%@ tag body-content="empty" %>
<%@ taglib prefix="c" uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core" %>
<jsp:useBean id="now" scope="application" class="java.util.Date" />
Copyright © ${now.year + 1900} My Company
This tag file inserts a copyright statement with the current year in the calling page. The first line is a tag directive. You may use attributes of this directive to specify a description, icon, or an example that a page-authoring tool can show the designer. Other attributes let you specify whether EL expressions should be processed, as well as various information related to scripting code, i.e., the same type of information as you specify with the page directive in JSP pages. All of these attributes are described in Appendix A.
In most cases, tag file authors only care about the attribute used in Example 11-1:
body-content. This attribute defines how the custom action element's body should
be handled, and that it must have one of these values: empty, scriptless (the
default), or tagdependent. If it's empty (as in Example 11-1), trying to use a body for
the custom action element results in a syntax error. The scriptless value means that
the body can contain any JSP elements except the type of scripting elements
described in Chapter 16. In other words, template text, EL expressions, standard
actions, and custom actions are all allowed. As you will see later, the tag file can ask
the container to process the actions in a scriptless body when and how often as it
wants through the use of standard action named
<jsp:doBody>. If the
attribute is set to tagdependent, the action element body is treated as pure template
text (i.e., action elements and EL expressions in the body are not processed, just handled
as plain text).
The rest of the tag file in Example 11-1 looks just like an ordinary JSP page. It
declares that it uses the JSTL core library, a
<jsp:useBean> standard action to create
an instance of the
java.util.Date class representing the current time (if it isn't
already available in the application scope), and finally outputs static template text
mixed with a dynamic value (the current year) generated by an EL expression:
${now.year + 1900}.[2]
Tag files can be placed directly in the web application structure under the WEB-INF/ tags directory or a subdirectory. Each directory containing tag files represents a separate tag library:
Here we have two tag libraries:
mytags and
myothertags. The
mytags library contains the copyright.tag file from Example 11-1 plus three other tag files. By default, the
name of the custom action implemented by the tag file is the filename minus the .tag
extension, so the copyright.tag file represents a custom action named
copyright in
mytags library.
A JSP page must declare that it uses a tag library represented by tag files in the web application structure with a slightly different taglib directive than what we've used in earlier chapters:
<%@ page contentType="text/html" %>
<%@ taglib prefix="my" tagdir="/WEB-INF/tags/mytags" %>

Note that the
tagdir attribute is used instead of the
uri attribute. The value of the
tagdir attribute is the context-relative path to the directory that contains the tag files
for the library. It may seem redundant to have to specify the /WEB-INF/tags part of
the path, since all tag library directories must start with this path. Regardless, the JSP
specification group decided to require this to be consistent with other attributes taking
path values.
When the JSP container processes this JSP page, it locates the copyright.tag file in the WEB-INF/tags/mytags directory and turns it into a format that the container can invoke. The conversion details are left open by the JSP specification, allowing container vendors to compete with smart implementations. Tomcat turns the tag file into a Java class and compiles it, but other implementations are possible (e.g., converting it to a proprietary data structure).
Tag files can also be packaged in a JAR file. It requires a bit more work and is primarily of interest for tag files intended to be reused in many applications, so let's defer the details to the end of this chapter. One thing to note at this time, though, is that when the tag files are packaged in a JAR file, the taglib directive is used with the uri attribute exactly as in the previous chapters. This means that tag files packaged in a JAR file are indistinguishable from custom actions implemented as Java classes. You can therefore implement the actions as tag files initially (because it's easier) and convert them to Java classes later (maybe to gain better performance) without having to make any changes in the JSP pages that use them.
The tag file in Example 11-1 is too simple to illustrate all that you can do with tag
files. For instance, most real-world tag files are controlled through attribute values
set by the page author. You may recall from Chapter 7 that the
<ora:motd> custom
action has a
category attribute for selecting the message category that messages
should be picked from. Example 11-2 shows how a tag file implementation of the
<ora:motd> action declares, accesses, and uses this attribute value.
Example 11-2. Using attributes in a tag file (motd.tag)
<%@ tag body-content="empty" %>
<%@ attribute name="category" required="true" %>
<%@ taglib prefix="c" uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core" %>
<jsp:useBean id="mmb" class="com.ora.jsp.beans.motd.MixedMessageBean" />
<c:set target="${mmb}" property="category" value="${category}" />
Each attribute must be declared with an
attribute directive in a tag file. In
Example 11-2, the
category attribute is declared using an
attribute directive with
the name attribute set to
category. The
required attribute is set to true, meaning that
the page author must specify a value for the
category attribute; the container complains
if the attribute is missing. The default value for
required is false, so you can
leave it out for attributes that are optional.
Another attribute of the
attribute directive, not used in Example 11-2, is
rtexprvalue. A value of true means that the author can specify the value either as a
static string or as a request-time attribute value, such as an EL expression; false
means the value must be a static string. The default value is true, so you only need to
use this attribute if you absolutely require a static value.[3]
The value the page author assigns to an attribute shows up as a page scope variable
in the tag file, with the same name as the attribute. This makes it easy to use it in an
EL expression. In Example 11-2, a
<c:set> action sets the category property in a
MixedMessageBean (which contains the list of messages). The EL expression used as
the value gets the category page scope variable that represents the
category attribute.
It's important to note, however, that the page scope seen by the tag file is not the same as the page scope seen by the page that invokes the tag file — I sometimes call the page scope seen by the tag file the tag scope to make this distinction. By giving the tag file its own local page scope, there's no chance for confusion between the calling page and the tag file if they use the same names for page scope variables.
Occasionally, declaring all attributes for a tag file can be a hassle. Say you want to
develop a tag file that generates an HTML table, and you want the page author to be
able to specify all standard attributes that an HTML table element supports. That's a
lot of attributes and the tag file would need to test for the existence of each one. A
better approach for this scenario is to use the tag directive's
attribute. This attribute declares that the tag file accepts any custom action element
attribute. The attribute value is the name of a local page scope variable that holds a
collection (a Map) with all undeclared attribute names and values. Example 11-3
shows an example of a tag file that uses this approach to generate a table with all
request header values.
Example 11-3. Using undeclared attributes in a tag file (headers.tag)
<%@ tag body-content="empty" dynamic-attributes="dynattrs" %>
<%@ attribute name="caption" required="true" %>
<%@ taglib prefix="c" uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core" %>
<c:forEach items="${dynattrs}" var="a">
<c:forEach items="${header}" var="h">
dynamic-attributes attribute declares a variable named
dynattrs to hold the
undeclared attributes, and a JSTL
<c:forEach> action loops through the collection
and adds the name and value for each to the HTML

 element's attribute list.
As shown in Example 11-3, you can declare regular attributes in the same tag file.
This example declares a mandatory attribute named
caption, used to add a caption
text for the table.
This is how you can use the tag file, shown in Example 11-3, in a JSP page:
<%@ page contentType="text/html" %>
<%@ taglib prefix="my" tagdir="/WEB-INF/tags/mytags" %>

<my:headers caption="Request Headers"
border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" />
The action element for the tag file defines values for the mandatory
caption attribute
plus three undeclared attributes:
cellspacing, and
[1] If you write the tag file in XML format, as described in Chapter 17, you must instead use the .tagx extension.
[2] The year property of a
java.util.Date (represented by the
getYear() method) contains the current year minus 1900, so here I add 1900 to get the real year.
[3] The convention established by JSTL is that only
var and
scope attributes should have
rtexprvalue set to false. These attributes may need to be available in the translation phase (hence, have static string values) in a future version of the JSP specification to allow for additional syntax checking and optimizations.
So far, the tag files we've looked at ignore (or actually forbid) the body of the custom
action element used to invoke them, but the body is often an important part of
the equation. One example is a conditional custom action, such as a variation of the
<c:if> JSTL action. It needs to process the body if the condition is true. Another
example is a custom action that transforms the body in some way or simply uses it as
Let's develop a custom action that transforms its body content. It first converts all
characters that have special meaning in HTML and XML to the corresponding character
entity codes (e.g.,
< to
<), and then converts special proprietary codes into
HTML elements. A custom action like this can be used to process user input in an
online forum to protect it against cross-site scripting attacks while still allowing for
limited formatting of the messages. Here's how you can use this custom action in a
JSP page:
<%@ page contentType="text/html" %>
<%@ taglib prefix="c" uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core" %>
<%@ taglib prefix="my" tagdir="/WEB-INF/tags/mytags" %>
<%-- Create test data --%>
<c:set var="message">
This is just a lot of text that the browser will format to
fit the browser window. Attempts to <blink> add HTML elements
are dealt with by conversion to character entities.
This part I want the browser to leave alone, so that
all my indentations are left intact:
public class Foo {
public String getBar( ) {
return bar;
And then some regular text again.
<title>Online Forum</title>

Online Forum

Here's a formatted message:
This page first saves test data containing text, an HTML element, and the proprietary
formatting codes in a variable named message. In a real application, the text
would likely come from a database or some other external source. It then processes
the text with the
<my:htmlFormat> custom action.
The result is shown in Figure 11-1. Note how the
<blink> HTML element is displayed
instead of causing most of the text to blink, and how the formatting is preserved
for all text between the proprietary
[code] and
[/code] tags.
Figure 11-1. Result of text processing with a custom action
Example 11-4 shows the tag file that implements the
<my:htmlFormat> custom action.
Example 11-4. Processing the body (htmlFormat.tag)
<%@ tag body-content="scriptless" %>
<%@ taglib prefix="fn" uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/functions" %>
<%@ taglib prefix="c" uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core" %>
<%-- Capture the body evaluation result in a variable --%>
<jsp:doBody var="bodyRes" />
<%-- Convert special characters to character entities --%>
<c:set var="escapedBody" value="${fn:escapeXml(bodyRes)}" />
<%-- Replace "[code]/[/code]" with "
/" --%>
<c:set var="convBody"
value="${fn:replace(escapedBody, '[code]', '
')}" />
<c:set var="convBody"
value="${fn:replace(convBody, '[/code]', '')}" />
<%-- Output the result --%>
Note that the tag directive in Example 11-4 sets the
body-content attribute to
scriptless. As I mentioned earlier, this means that the page author is allowed to put
template text, standard actions and custom actions, in the body but not scripting elements
(i.e., Java code).
It's after the directive elements that this example gets interesting; here's a standard
action that we have not discussed before:
<jsp:doBody>. This action can only be used
in tag files. It evaluates the body of the custom action element, meaning that all
action elements (if any) in the body are called and the output they produce is mixed
with the template text (if any). The result is saved in a variable, using the
attribute to name the variable. This attribute is optional, as shown in Table 11-1, and
you can use the
varReader attribute as an alternative. If you don't specify any of these
attributes, the result is added to the page invoking the custom action.
Table 11-1. Attributes for <jsp:doBody>
|Attribute name
|Java type
|Dynamic value accepted
|Optional. The name of the variable to hold the body evaluation result as a
|Optional. The name of the variable to hold the body evaluation
result as a
|Optional. The variable scope; one of
application. Default is
The difference between the
var and
varReader attributes is the type of Java object
used for capturing the result. The
var attribute captures it as a
String and is sufficient
for most cases. When the
varReader attribute is used, the result is captured as a
java.io.Reader object instead. For large results, this can be slightly more efficient
when combined with an action or function for the transformation that reads its input
from a
Reader. Along with one of
var or
varReader, you can also specify the scope for the variable with the
scope attribute.
The rest of the tag file in Example 11-4 transforms the captured body. First it uses
the JSTL
fn:escapeXml( ) function to convert all special characters to character entity
codes, and then it replaces all occurrences of
[code] and
[/code] with the HTML

 and

 tags using the JSTL
fn:replace( ) function, to preserve formatting in these sections. Finally, the converted body evaluation result is added to the calling
page with a simple EL expression.
Processing the custom action body is easy and powerful as you can see, but wait, there's more! The custom action body is actually just a special case of what's called a JSP fragment in the JSP specification. A JSP fragment is an executable representation of a set of dynamic elements (actions and EL expressions), optionally mixed with template text. When the tag file invokes the fragment, all the dynamic elements in the fragment are executed. Since the elements have access to the current values of all scoped variables, the result typically differs from invocation to invocation, and the tag file can invoke it any number of times (e.g., once or none for a conditional action or multiple times for an iteration action).
In Example 11-4, the
<jsp:doBody> action invokes the special fragment representing a
custom action element body, but named fragments can also be provided as custom
action attributes and be invoked by the tag file. Such fragments are invoked with the
<jsp:invoke> action, described in Table 11-2.
Table 11-2. Attributes for <jsp:invoke>
|Attribute name
|Java type
|Dynamic value accepted
|Mandatory. The name of the fragment to invoke.
|Optional. The name of the variable to hold the body evaluation result as a
|Optional. The name of the variable to hold the body evaluation
result as a
|Optional. The variable scope; one of
application. Default is
Let's develop a variant of the JSTL
<c:forEach> action to illustrate how you can use
named fragments. Say you want to loop through all the elements in a collection to
generate an HTML table, and you want to render even rows one way and odd rows
another. Here's a page that solves this problem by using a custom action with separate
fragment attributes for even and odd rows:
<%@ page contentType="text/html" %>
<%@ taglib prefix="my" tagdir="/WEB-INF/tags/mytags" %>
<%@ taglib prefix="c" uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core" %>
<title>Even and Odd Rows</title>

Even and Odd Rows

<my:forEvenAndOdd items="a,b,c,d,e">
<jsp:attribute name="even">
<c:set var="counter" value="${counter + 1}" />

${counter}: Even Row

<jsp:attribute name="odd">
<c:set var="counter" value="${counter + 1}" />

${counter}: Odd Row

A fragment attribute value is defined using the
<jsp:attribute> action introduced
earlier. The body of this action element makes up the content of the fragment. In the
page shown here, each fragment attribute values contain a JSTL
<c:set> action for
incrementing a counter and HTML table row and cell elements for showing the
counter's value plus the static text "Even Row" and "Odd Row", respectively. The
fragments also set different row background colors to make the differences clear. The
result of processing this page is shown in Figure 11-2.
Note how the current value of the counter page scope variable is used for each new
row, and how the rows alternate between the even and odd fragments. Example 11-5
shows the tag file for the
<my:forEvenAndOdd> custom action.
Figure 11-2. Representing even and odd rows as fragments
Example 11-5. Using fragment attributes (forEvenAndOdd.tag)
<%@ tag body-content="empty" %>
<%@ attribute name="items" rtexprvalue="true" required="true" %>
<%@ attribute name="even" fragment="true" required="true" %>
<%@ attribute name="odd" fragment="true" required="true" %>
<%@ taglib prefix="c" uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core" %>
<c:forEach items="${items}" varStatus="status">
<c:when test="${status.count % 2 == 0}">
<jsp:invoke fragment="even" />
<jsp:invoke fragment="odd" />
The tag directive specifies that the body must be empty; in this example, it must only
contain the
<jsp:attribute> elements (no template text of other elements), and they
are considered alternatives to regular element attributes, not body content.
To tell the container to use an executable fragment as the attribute value, the
attribute must be declared as such. Note that the
attribute directive's
attribute is set to true for both the
even and
odd attributes. Otherwise the container
evaluates the
<jsp:attribute> body once and sets the attribute to the resulting value,
as described in Chapter 6.
After the directives in Example 11-5, JSTL actions are used to loop through the list of
items, and decide whether it's an even or odd row. The
<jsp:invoke> action then
invokes the appropriate fragment. The result is what you see in Figure 11-2.
Attributes provide input to a custom action, but sometimes you also need to give the
page that contains the custom action access to data produced by the custom action.
For instance, the
<my:forEvenAndOdd> action is not all that useful unless the page can
access the current iteration value in the fragments for even and odd rows. To handle
this requirement, data can be passed from a custom action to the caller by exposing
it through declared variables.
Example 11-6 shows a version of the tag file from Example 11-5 that's been extended to expose the current iteration value as a variable named current. All differences between the examples are highlighted.
Example 11-6. Exporting data through variables (forEvenAndOdd2.tag)
<%@ tag body-content="empty" %>
<%@ attribute name="items" rtexprvalue="true" required="true" %>
<%@ attribute name="even" fragment="true" required="true" %>
<%@ attribute name="odd" fragment="true" required="true" %>
<%@ variable name-given="current" variable-class="java.lang.Object"
scope="NESTED" %>
<%@ taglib prefix="c" uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core" %>
<c:forEach items="${items}" varStatus="status" var="current">
<c:when test="${status.count % 2 == 0}">
<jsp:invoke fragment="even" />
<jsp:invoke fragment="odd" />
variable directive declares the variable. The
name-given attribute specifies its
name and the
variable-class attribute its type. (Here I use the most generic class
java.lang.Object, because the collection to iterate over can contain elements
of any type.)
scope attribute accepts one of three values:
AT_END, or
NESTED. It controls where the caller sees the variable. Despite its name, it has nothing to do with
the scopes we've talked about earlier (
session, and
application), so visibility would have been a better name for this attribute. If it's set to
AT_BEGIN, the variable is visible to the caller immediately after the start tag for the custom action
element. If the attribute is set to
AT_END, the variable is visible after the end tag.
NESTED means it's only visible between the start and end tags.
To make the data visible to the caller, the tag file sets a page scope variable with the
name declared by the variable directive. I told you earlier that the tag file has its own
page scope, separate from the caller, so the container must do a bit of magic for this
to work. For a variable declared as
AT_BEGIN or
NESTED, it copies the value of the variable
in the tag file's page scope to the caller's page scope before invoking a fragment.
If the variable is declared as
AT_BEGIN or
AT_END, it copies the value before exiting the
tag file. In the case of a
NESTED variable, it also saves and restores the value of the
caller's page scoped variable with the same name, if any, before entering and exiting
the tag file. Don't worry if this sounds confusing at first; it actually ends up working
as you would expect it to.
The tag file in Example 11-6 exposes a variable named current, containing the value
of the current iteration value. The local variable is set indirectly with help of the var
attribute of the
<c:forEach> action. As you may recall, the
<c:forEach> action makes the current iteration value available in the page scope variable named by this
attribute. By setting the name of the
<c:forEach> variable to the name of the declared
tag file variable, the variable value set by the
<c:forEach> action is also exposed to
the caller.
With the new version of the tag file, I can use it to display the current iteration value in each row:
<%@ page contentType="text/html" %>
<%@ taglib prefix="my" tagdir="/WEB-INF/tags/mytags" %>
<%@ taglib prefix="c" uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core" %>
<title>Even and Odd Rows</title>

Even and Odd Rows

<my:forEvenAndOdd2 items="a,b,c,d,e">
<jsp:attribute name="even">
<c:set var="counter" value="${counter + 1}" />

${counter}: Even Row: ${current}

<jsp:attribute name="odd">
<c:set var="counter" value="${counter + 1}" />

${counter}: Odd Row: ${current}

Note how the exposed variable is used in EL expressions in both fragments. There's still a problem here: the exposed variable name is hardcoded into the tag file. This may be okay in some cases, but it's better if the variable name can be specified using an attribute, just as you can pick a name with the var attribute for all JSTL actions that expose data. Fortunately, there's a solution, shown in Example 11-7.
Example 11-7. Letting the page author specify the variable name (forEvenAndOdd3.tag)
<%@ tag body-content="empty" %>
<%@ attribute name="items" rtexprvalue="true" required="true" %>
<%@ attribute name="var" rtexprvalue="false" required="true" %>
<%@ attribute name="even" fragment="true" required="true" %>
<%@ attribute name="odd" fragment="true" required="true" %>
<%@ variable name-from-attribute="var" alias="current"
variable-class="java.lang.Object" scope="NESTED" %>
<%@ taglib prefix="c" uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core" %>
<c:forEach items="${items}" varStatus="status" var="current">
<c:when test="${status.count % 2 == 0}">
<jsp:invoke fragment="even" />
<jsp:invoke fragment="odd" />
Instead of the
name-given attribute used in the previous example, I use the
namefrom-attribute and
alias attributes of the
variable directive in Example 11-7. The
name-from-attribute attribute value is the name of the custom action attribute used
to name the variable. The named attribute (var in this example) must be declared as
required and must not accept a request time value. The
alias attribute value
declares the name of the tag file's local page scope variable, which the JSP container
copies to the caller's page scope as described earlier. The aliasing trick is needed
because the page author can assign any name for the variable when she uses the custom
action, but a fixed name must be used when developing the tag file.
The rest of Example 11-7 is identical to Example 11-6, but I can now specify the variable
name in the calling page like this:
<%@ page contentType="text/html" %>
<%@ taglib prefix="my" tagdir="/WEB-INF/tags/mytags" %>
<%@ taglib prefix="c" uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core" %>
<title>Even and Odd Rows</title>

Even and Odd Rows

<my:forEvenAndOdd3 items="a,b,c,d,e" var="anyName">
<jsp:attribute name="even">
<c:set var="counter" value="${counter + 1}" />

${counter}: Even Row: ${anyName}

<jsp:attribute name="odd">
<c:set var="counter" value="${counter + 1}" />

${counter}: Odd Row: ${anyName}

In Chapter 9, I described how using the
<jsp:forward> action or the JSTL
action shifts processing from the current page to the page specified by the page
attribute, effectively aborting processing of the current page. Custom actions implemented
as Java classes can cause the same thing to happen.
There's no directive or similar mechanism that a tag file can use to explicitly abort
processing, but using
<c:redirect>, or a custom action that aborts page processing in a tag file has the same effect; both the tag file processing and the
processing of the page that invokes the tag file stop after it aborts the processing.
You can use this feature to, for instance, develop a smart forwarding action that
decides which page to forward to based on runtime conditions, such as the time of
the day, the current user, or the type of browser accessing the page.
All examples in this chapter use a
taglib directive with a
tagdir attribute to specify
the directory that contains the tag files. While this is handy for custom actions implemented
as tag files in an application you control, it's not as easy as one would want
for deployment and use of the tag library in third-party applications. As you may
recall from Chapter 7, it's very easy to deploy a tag library packaged as a JAR file;
just put the JAR file in the WEB-INF/lib directory and use the default URI as the
attribute value in the
taglib directive.
You can do the same with a tag library developed as tag files, but in this case you must also create a Tag Library Descriptor (TLD) and include it in the JAR file. I described the purpose of the TLD briefly in Chapter 7, but let's take a closer look at it here. Example 11-8 shows the TLD for a tag library with some of the tag files we've developed in this chapter.
Example 11-8. TLD for tag files
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?>
<taglib xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee"
As you can see, this file is an XML document. Don't worry about the
<taglib> element
attributes; just copy the element exactly as its shown here into your TLD. I
describe it in more detail in Chapter 21, along with the TLD elements not covered
The first elements provide information about the tag library itself. The
element contains the version of this tag library and the
<short-name> element contains
the default namespace prefix for this library. An authoring tool may use the default
namespace prefix when it generates the taglib directive and action elements, but a
page author can pick different prefixes if needed, as described in Chapter 7.
<uri> element is important. This element declares the default URI (identifier) for
the library. The value you use for this element is the value that must be used as the
uri attribute value for the
taglib directive in the JSP pages to take advantage of the
auto-deploy feature, as I described in Chapter 7.
Next comes a
<tag-file> element for each tag file. The nested
<name> element gives the name for the custom action. It's typically the same as the filename (minus the .tag
extension) but you can specify a different name if you want. The
<path> element
holds the path within the JAR file to the tag file. It must start with /META-INF/tags/.
The TLD file itself must also be located in the /META-INF directory in the JAR file,
so you need to create a directory structure like this for the tag files and the TLD:
Then create the JAR file with the jar command (included with the Java SDK) like this:
C:\> jar cvf mytags.jar META-INF
This creates a JAR file named mytags.jar containing the contents of the
directory structure. You can now place this JAR file in the WEB-INF/lib directory of
any web application that needs the library. When you restart the web container, it
will locate the JAR file and its TLD, so that you can identify the tag library in a JSP
page with a taglib directive like this:
<%@ taglib prefix="my" uri="mytags" %>
In other words, use the
uri attribute with the default URI for the library (declared in
the TLD), just as for the JSTL libraries we've used in previous chapters, instead of
tagdir attribute.
You can also use a TLD to identify tag files placed directly in the filesystem, i.e., not
packaged in a JAR file. Doing this allows you to use the uri attribute instead of the
tagdir attribute for the
taglib directive, potentially saving you from changing the
taglib directives in a number of JSP pages if you eventually decide to package the tag
files in a JAR file for easier reuse in other applications. With this approach, you put
the tag files under WEB-INF/tags (or a subdirectory) just as in the first examples in
this chapter, but you also place a TLD in the WEB-INF directory (or a subdirectory,
like tlds):
In this case, the
<path> elements in the TLD must specify the context-relative path to
the tag files in the filesystem:
Other than that, the TLD is the same as in Example 11-7.
Return to ONJava.com.


text:
Nadan Nilekani, the billionaire entrepreneur from India, appears at Asia Society in New York on Thursday, April 25 to discuss how India can leverage "leapfrog" technology to spur development.
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text:
Your home close to the Rialto Bridge!
Size90 m²
Floor No.1
- Family/child friendly
- Kitchen
- Washer/dryer
- Pets allowed
- Towels
- Baby cot
- Internet/WiFi
Accommodation summary
|Calle Tasca, 30122 Venezia, Italy
|Property type
|Property ID
The apartment is just a few steps from the Rialto Bridge and St. Mark's Square.
It consists of an entrance, a comfortable double room, a large living room with a double sofa-bed, a well equipped kitchen, a bedroom with a bunk bed, a bathroom with a bathtub and shower.
The apartment is on the first floor and is reached by a single flight of stairs with handrail but pretty steep.
Not recommended for very elderly or with mobility problems.
In the neighbourhood there are a lot of restaurants, pubs, shops and supermarkets.The apartment is surrounded by the most famous stores where you can go shopping, and by the best restaurants. St. Mark's Square, with its towering bell tower and with its amazing Basilica, is an Istrian stone living room, surrounded by antique cafés and an incomparable atmosphere that during sunrise is romantic and warm, accompanied by the sounds of orchestras. Once you pass the magnificent Doge's Palace and you reach the Riva degli Schiavoni, there is the St. Mark's Basin, with Saint George's Island from which you can see gondolas and boats. On the right, there is the extraordinary profile of the Basilica della Salute, a place that Venetian people love, and celebrate its feast during the month of November. On the left, instead, you can admire the long shore that, overcoming the Arsenale entrance, reaches the Giardini, headquarters of the famous Biennale d'Arte. If you continue that way, you can see on the horizon, the island of the Venice Lido, where every year there is the important Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica (Venice film festival).
House rules
|Price for > 2 guests
|$ 22 US per guest/night extra
|Maximum nights
|1 month
|Check-in after
|On arrangement
|Check-in before
|On arrangement
|Check-out before
|On arrangement
|Cancellation Policy
Reviews of this property
It was a wonderful stay in Venice. We were superbly received by Massimo is a lovely and warm person. As my husband is fluent in Italian, they were able to speak and it looked old friends! His apartment is really the heart of the small alleys and was felt for a few days to be true Venetian. We were spoiled for Massimo had stocked the fridge and made available totu what we needed, all included in the package. Highly recommended to any family because there is a great space and you can cook if you want. A really nice pizzeria close (The Sabrina) with WiFi for teens! Greetings. Avondet family PS thousand thank you Massimo for his warm welcome
C'était un magnifique séjour à Venise. Nous avons été superbement reçu par Massimo qui est une personne adorable et chaleureuse. Comme mon mari parle couramment italien, ils ont pu se parler et on aurait dit de vieux amis ! Son appartement est vraiment au coeur des petites ruelles et on a eu l'impression pendant quelques jours d'être de véritables vénitiens. On a été gâté car Massimo avait rempli le frigo et mis à disposition totu ce dont on avait besoin, tout cela compris dans le forfait.
Vraiment à conseiller à toute famille car il y a bien de l'espace et on peut faire la cuisine si l'on veut. Une pizzeria vraiment sympa tout près (Le Sabrina) avec Wifi pour les ados !
Salutations. Famille Avondet
PS: mille merci à Massimo pour son accueil si chaleureux
Massimo was very kind and friendly. He went to pick us up at the Rialto bridge to drive us to the apartment. When we arrived he had made provision for us without any extra load. We had a right to a bottle of wine! The apartment was very nice, large and well located. We had a great stay with Massimo. I would recommend this apartment without hesitation!
Massimo était très aimable et sympathique. Il est allé nous chercher au pont Rialto pour nous y conduire à l'appartement. Lorsque nous avons arrivé il avait fait de provisions pour nous sans aucune charge extra. On a eu même droit à une bouteille de vin! L'appartement était très agréable, grand et bien situé. Nous avons passé un excellent séjour chez Massimo. Je recommanderais cet appartement sans hésiter!
After arriving in beautiful Venice by plane, we took the boat to the Rialtobridge. There our friendly host Massimo was waiting for us. Because it was my mothers birthday, he had bought her flowers !!!! He helped us carrying the luggage to the appartment in the centre of Venice, which took 10 minutes. After climbing a steep stair we arrived in the appartment. A lovely, but basic place (no TV, internet etc.) with 2 bedrooms, nice living room, clean toilet/shower and cozy kitchen. Massimo surprised us with fresh strawberries, yoghurt and bread in the fridge. The supermarket is in front of the appertment.
We loved Venice and the hospitallity of Massimo and we will surely return !
No surprise that I recommend the appartment of Massimo and the good service of Wimdu.
Ineke, mother Ans and Jos
A beautiful apartment in the heart of Venice, close to Rialto and San Marco. The supermarket just down is very significant. The apartment is large, well furnished and pleasant. Only small downside, the cook was a bit temperamental, some burners do not want to work ... Hosting Massimo is excellent. He gave us a map of the city, and told us where was the apartment, as well as some restaurants and points of interest in the city. We were able to leave our luggage there to recover late in the day. It was a very pleasant stay. I highly recommend this accommodation.
Un bel appartement au coeur de Venise, à deux pas du Rialto et de Saint Marc. La supérette juste en bas est très appréciable. L'appartement est grand, bien aménagé et agréable à vivre. Seul petit bémol, la cuisinière était un peu capricieuse, certain brûleurs ne voulaient pas fonctionner...
L'accueil de Massimo est excellent. Il nous a donné un plan de la ville, et nous a indiqué où se trouvait l'appartement, ainsi que quelques restaurants et points d'intérêts dans la ville.
Nous avons eu la possibilité de laisser nos bagages sur place pour les récupérer en fin de journée.
Ce fut un séjour très agréable. Je conseille vivement ce logement.
Very good home Massimo, punctual he took tps tell us about Venice and give us very useful information for our stay. Apartment ideally located, you can explore on foot. 4 and we were very comfortable inside. Is an address for our next trip ........
Très bon accueil de Massimo, ponctuel il à pris le tps de nous parler de venise et de nous donner des infos très utiles pour notre séjour. Appartement idéalement situé, vous pouvez tout visiter à pied. Nous étions 4 et très à l'aise à l'intérieur.
On à une adresse pour notre prochain séjour........
Our stay in Venice was just wonderful!
The host Massimo was such a big help in organizing things... very precise information, active and friendly support and of course cool recommendations.
The apartment itself was a super basis for our exploration of the city - very central, spacious, clean, well equipped, close to restaurants and a supermarket and a lot of "feeling like at home" atmosphere... Thanks for that!
If you want to have a great stay - go there!!!
A better location for your Venice vacation is almost unthinkable: Located along the connecting street between Rialto Bridge and St. Mark's Square (both good 5 minutes walk), you're right in the middle and most of the goals are achieved quickly. It is beautiful in the morning to stroll around the still-empty St. Mark's Square, at the kiosk behind to get his newspaper, or in the late afternoon again quickly by the investor at the Doge's Palace rüberzuschippern the vaporetto to the Lido, where he spent to relax a little and a cool Bad to take. The apartment offers plenty of space and it is all there, you would need. Massimo, the owner is friendly, helpful and always available when needed. Optimally, the supermarket is just outside the door, where fresh bread and meats can be fetched, but of course any other everyday necessities - such as evening quickly another bottle of wine. We had a very nice time and would be at the next Venice visit this apartment like to refer again.
Ein besserer Standort für den Venedig-Urlaub ist kaum denkbar: Direkt an der Verbindungs-Gasse zwischen Rialtobrücke und dem Markusplatz gelegen (jeweils gute 5 Minuten Fußweg), ist man mittendrin und die meisten Ziele sind schnell erreicht. Schön ist es, am Morgen über den noch leeren Markusplatz zu schlendern, um sich am Kiosk dahinter seine Tageszeitung zu holen, oder am späten Nachmittag nochmal schnell vom Anleger am Dogenpalast mit dem Vaporetto zum Lido rüberzuschippern, um dort noch etwas zu relaxen und ein kühles Bad zu nehmen.
Das Apartment bietet sehr viel Platz und es ist alles vorhanden, was man braucht. Massimo, der sympathische Vermieter, ist sehr hilfsbereit und bei Bedarf jederzeit erreichbar. Optimal ist der Supermarkt direkt vor der Tür, wo morgens frisches Brot und Aufschnitt geholt werden kann, aber natürlich auch alle anderen Dinge des täglichen Bedarfs – z.B. abends schnell noch ein Fläschchen Wein.
Wir hatten hier eine sehr schöne Zeit und würden beim nächsten Venedig-Besuch dieses Apartment gerne wieder beziehen.
Great apartment, well equipped and furnished. Wished could stay for a longer period. Massimo is a great guy. No Complaints anywhere. Friends go ahead.
It was wonderful to meet host Massimo, who gave specific and accurate directions to arrive, and then met us to show us through the maze of streets in Venice to the appartment. The accomodation was central to the supermarket, restaurants and many of the places of interest in Venice. The appartment provided plenty of space for 5 and was well appointed with all basic necessities. Thank you Massimo.
We liked our stay in Venice a lot. The apartment is conveniently located near San Marco and Rialto.
It is a nice apartment with two bedrooms plus a living room with a sleeping sofa. There is also a small kitchen and the small dining room besides it.
Close to the apartment there is a coop (shop) with a great selection of fine groceries, fresh bread and meat. San Marco is about 5 min away.
- Quality assured accommodation
- Every host is verified by telephone
- Secure payment via SSL encryption


text:
I've been thrilled at the response from our customers to the launch of Cloud Networks. I've talked to many customers who are excited to begin using this new network power in their solutions. I also spoke last week at Cloud Expo in Santa Clara, Calif., and it was exciting to see the response from the heart of the Silicon Valley. Many of the attendees were from local tech firms and they were surprised that we had implemented software-defined networks at this scale so early in the life of the technology.
Today, I want to address some of the specific questions we've received from customers about Cloud Networks:
If everyone doesn't get Cloud Networks immediately, how do I know when I have it?
In the "Create Server" screen you will see a "Create Network" button near the bottom.
Alternately, you can list your absolute limits with either the API or with the rackspace-novaclient command line interface. Look in your results for maxTotalPrivateNetworks to be greater than zero. This will mean that Cloud Networks has been enabled for your account.
I'm a Managed Cloud customer and I am required to create all of my servers with both PublicNet and ServiceNet. Why can't I just eliminate those networks when I use an isolated network?
We need public connectivity to Managed Cloud Servers in order for our Support Rackers to log into your server when you need our support. ServiceNet is also required for the server to access other Rackspace systems for automations, patching, etc. In order to ensure a fanatical experience, we require these networks on all Managed Cloud Servers.
I see a network on the Control Panel called "ServiceNet." In the API or the command-line tool, I see "private" as the network name. What gives?
We have traditionally referred to our internal network named "ServiceNet" as a "private" network. In the past, this term meant that ServiceNet was a Rackspace private network that wasn't the public Internet. Today, we also allow customers to create their own isolated networks. This has created some confusion about the term "private." We refer to ServiceNet as "private" in the API for backward compatibility of any automation that customers may have created in our classic cloud. Users should refrain from naming one of their own networks "private," since this could create confusion with ServiceNet.
In the coming weeks, I'll provide more hints and tips for Cloud Networks, as well as suitable use cases. Make sure that you check back here soon.


text:
Payments Insourcing Dashboard and Payments Workbench
If your organization insources payments processing from smaller banks, you may benefit from our business-process-management tools (solution accelerators) that boost efficiency in these areas:
- Transaction management and monitoring
- Transaction repair and approvals
- Real-time reporting
Our Payments Insourcing Dashboard accelerator is a front-end application that interfaces with your payments back-office operations to provide a single view of all incoming and outgoing payment transactions. Your payments administrator can get complete visibility of all payment transactions, and can initiate repairs and flag approvals.
Some of the key features of the tool are:
- Well-defined user hierarchy — Customizable screen layouts per user roles
- In-house and insource payments summary — Summary of payments status classified by instruments, incoming channel, outgoing channel, acquisition mode and charge option
- Reporting capabilities
The Payments Workbench accelerator then allows your staff to repair and approve insourced payments from any bank. It offers comprehensive exception management functionality required for smooth monitoring of transaction processing and seamless problem resolution.
Key benefits of these solution accelerators:
- Improved monitoring and compliance management covering multiple jurisdictions
- In-time response and user-friendly technology
- Frequent on-demand information and reporting
- Improved internal governance and groupwide securities exposure management
- Reduced cost of compliance due to an enterprise-wide framework
- Separation of data and process ownership
- Improved accuracy
- High-value, low-cost solution with no licensing fees
Contact us about our payments application framework.
Learn More:
Data Sheet: Insourcing Dashboard and Payments Workbench


text:
With a mom as fashionable as Rachel Zoe, it's no surprise that Skyler Berman is seriously stylin'.
"He's an amazing butterball," Zoe, 40, gushed to Us Weekly Wednesday at a Beverly Hills event when asked about her son with husband Rodger Berman. Since becoming a mom, Zoe admitted she's been a little neglectful when it comes to keeping up with trends, or adding to her own wardrobe. Her new favorite hobby? Buying baby clothes for Skyler instead.
"It's so much more fun shopping for him," the stylist shared. "I buy him everything! Little linen pants, tank tops and shorts…Seersucker jackets and newsboy hats and Gucci…I can't stop. It's like a disease."
Zoe also revealed that baby Skyler--who celebrated his first birthday March 22--started chatting up a storm recently, although the Bravo star says he's not quite ready to talk designers with her just yet.
"He's saying water, and mama, things like that," Zoe laughed. "Just the basics!"


text:
Congo - Genesis
'); var yuipath = 'clientscript/yui'; var yuicombopath = ''; var remoteyui = false; } else // Load Rest of YUI remotely (where possible) { var yuipath = 'http://yui.yahooapis.com/2.9.0/build'; var yuicombopath = 'http://yui.yahooapis.com/combo'; var remoteyui = true; if (!yuicombopath) { document.write('
Congo - Genesis
Lay lady lay - Bob Dylan
Roc Boys - Jay-Z
Long Cool Women (In A Black Dress) - The Hollies
Whooooooooooooo, Pig Sooooiee!!!
last four...
breathless - dan wilson
the chase - kill hannah
sea lion - feist
don't forget to set the house on fire (before crawling into bed) - junior varsity
This is the darkest timeline.
Such a great Canadian Artist
One More Night - Phil Collins
Nude - Radiohead
sleepwalker - the wallflowers
This is the darkest timeline.
Killing In The Name Of - Rage Against the Machine
Congratulations - Traveling Wilburys
Read my Pacers blog:
Follow my twitter:
Remember (Live) - Ben Harper And the Innocent Criminals
There is a crazy sweet Bass solo going on as I type. Still Going on......Still going on.
One - Metallica
Whooooooooooooo, Pig Sooooiee!!!
Whooooooooooooo, Pig Sooooiee!!!
Chocolate Thunder you are My chocolately favourite
Having Wings (Live) - Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals
Evil Woman - ELO
Damn!!!!! Where has ELO been all my life?
Girlfriend (Live) - Avril Lavigne
Valley of Death - Cunninlynguists
Elo is amazing.
Whooooooooooooo, Pig Sooooiee!!!
Ground On Down (Live) - Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals
You Got The Tony!!!!!!
In The Lord's Arms (Live) - Ben Harper
Whooooooooooooo, Pig Sooooiee!!!
hahaha Is he any good? He is only the best musician out there today. Get some of his earlier stuff to start out like his Fight For Your Mind CD, or Burn to Shine. I have seen him 4 times in concert and each time has been better than the last. There is just something about his voice, his slide guitar skills and his music that I can not get over. I listen to his music ALLL the time and I still want to listen to more. I have like 100+ of his live shows and I just want more and more. Doesn't matter when the concert was or what he plays it is a fantastic show.
You can check out his website www.benharper.net and click on BHIC Radio at the Top right hand corner and you can check out some of his live stuff. Listen to your brother and check out as much as you can.
I am listening to Purple Rain (Live) - Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals.
Only playing it once and it is on his website at the above mentioned link and BHIC Radio.
I'll try and get some as soon as I can.
Whooooooooooooo, Pig Sooooiee!!!
Believe me he is even better live.
I am listening to Joy To The World - Sufjan Stevens


text: Samuel M. Smith escribió: >> It's a wiki, so the set of maintainers contains you, too. :-) In >> particular, >> people who have found problems and solved them are often the best >> people to >> write documentation about how to avoid such problems. If you have >> the time, we >> would appreciate your fixes to that page. >> >> > > After spending about 10 minutes I couldn't find anywhere to get a > password that lets me > edit the wiki. My mailing list user/password doesn't work? > > http://www.scipy.org/UserPreferences


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Why does the public seem so ill-prepared to answer basic questions about the size and scope of government? The answer might simply be: They never really had to before now. For generations, conservatives have warned about a government that was too intrusive and a danger to private initiative; liberals have been bemoaning a government that has not done enough to secure social justice. Yet the public has never had to make a hard choice because of economic growth. In the latter half of the 20th century, growth in real gross domestic product averaged 3.6 percent per year. This enabled us to have our cake and eat it, too: The government could grow every year, and do more to ensure equity between citizens, without intruding on the private sector via higher tax rates. Everybody could win, in some sense.
Since 2000, growth has been roughly half that, clocking in at 1.8 percent per year, which is about where most experts believe 2012 will end up. This stagnation has put unprecedented pressure on Washington. The "have your cake and eat it, too" combination of big spending and low taxes has generated an annual budget deficit that now tops 10 percent of gross domestic product, unprecedented in peacetime and unsustainable over the long haul.
This is a reality that appears not to have sunk in on the public. Polling data indicate that the people simply do not understand the parlous state of public finances—hence the refusal to brook tax hikes to deal with the deficit, or spending cuts in entitlements, the biggest drivers of the nation's overdrawn account. Little wonder that, after two years of gridlock between two sides that cannot find common ground, the public obstinately refused to break the tie in 2012.


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Louisiana House Democratic leader John Bel Edwards said Wednesday that he intends to run for governor in two years.
Edwards characterized himself as a moderate centrist who can attract an array of voters. He said he wants to put Louisiana on a different path than the one Gov. Bobby Jindal paved.
"I'm so disillusioned by what I see after eight years of Bobby Jindal," he said, citing declining state funding for higher education, the lack of new State Police cadets, the decline in hospital beds for mental health patients and other issues.
Edwards, D-Amite, first expressed his interest in the race Wednesday morning on a Baton Rouge radio show, igniting speculation about the election.
By law, Jindal cannot seek a third, consecutive term.
State Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain, a Republican, already is raising money for the race. State Sen. Gerald Long, R-Winnfield, said he also is weighing whether to run.
Edwards is an attorney who has served in the Legislature for five years.
"I'm starting the process of raising money," Edwards said. "This is just the beginning, and this is very much a marathon."


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Build-a-Monster Magnets
Create your own family of monsters for the kitchen fridge. Just print out these magnetic monster templates on Avery Magnet Sheets, cut out and let your kids bring their monsters to life! With body parts to mix and match, kids will have fun putting together a creature that's all their own. For a fun twist, crop and print headshots of family and friends so kids can create monsters with a familiar face.
Frankenstein Magnet Sheet Template
Bride of Frankenstein Magnet Sheet Template
Reviewed by 5 customers
This review is from AVERY Build-a-Monster Magnets:
BOOtiful monster and background. Looks great on magnetic board & the kids love it!
This review is from AVERY Build-a-Monster Magnets:
These are awesome and so easy to make. The grandkids will love them. I wish you had a lot more to chose from and some for every holiday... How about it? Will you be able to have some ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas?
This review is from AVERY Build-a-Monster Magnets:
Kids loved it! It was a little hard for the younger ones to cut but a little help and it was done.
This review is from AVERY Build-a-Monster Magnets:
The idea is really cute, especially for younger kids. Fun for the office though too. Only thing that would make it better would be to see some more characters so you have more body parts to swap around. Can you add some additional traditional Halloween characters such as skeletons, werewolves, witches, etc?
This review is from AVERY Build-a-Monster Magnets:
The build-a-monster magets are a really cool idea - easy to do and play for kids of all ages. Why only 2 templates? I was hoping to see a series - only having 2 to pick from and inter-change is not all that exciting.
Any chance to create some vampires, werewolves, skeletons, elves, etc???


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Home Concert Tickets Alternative and Indie Matt Costa
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text: "I am an art major with an emphasis in art education, and I have also pursued a minor in mathematics. My experience during my four years at Concordia has been priceless. Concordia has given me the skills, discipline, faith and knowledge to be successful in life. I have focused my passion for art on drawing and painting. The education at Concordia has provided me with a variety of opportunities to expand my horizons as an artist as well as given me the opportunity to reach beyond artistic limits. The benefit of attending a small private Christian institution, such as Concordia, is that it has allowed me to study my passion in art as well as grow in my faith. I am thankful for the one-to-one attention I have received in the art department. This has definitely had a significant impact on the artist I am today. With a strong family support of parents, siblings, and fiance, I have excelled in my profession and feel I am ready, more than ever, to have an art classroom of my own, so that I can continue to teach others the beauty of art and the major influence it has on individuals and society."


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SAN FRANCISCO -- Starting today, Pacific Gas & Electric natural gas rates will decrease significantly, but electric rates will rise slightly for residential customers, the utility said Monday.
Average gas rates for residential customers will drop nearly 6 percent starting today, compared with the average bills a year ago. However, electricity rates will rise about 2 percent compared with January 2012, PG&E said.
"These revenues help us serve customers by reducing the frequency of electrical outages, improving the responsiveness of our call centers, providing more convenient services and, above all, continuing to upgrade the safety of our gas and electric operations," said Tom Bottorff, PG&E's senior vice president of regulatory affairs.
Gas rates are falling because wholesale costs have declined for natural gas.
Electricity rates are rising because of PG&E's costs to maintain and modernize its electricity system, as well as a state government mandate that obliges PG&E to buy more renewable energy for its power grid.
The decline in gas rates might not last more than a month, however: Because of a pipeline safety upgrade approved by state regulators, gas rates will rise 2 percent as soon as February, PG&E said.
PG&E hopes to create a safer and more modern gas pipeline system through the upgrades. The improvements are being instituted in the wake of the lethal San Bruno explosion in 2010.
The average electricity bill will change in these ways: For customers using 550 kilowatt hours in a month, bills will average $91.60, up $2.29 from a year ago; for 850 kilowatt hours of usage, bills will average $188.05, up $3.82; for 1,200 kilowatt hours of usage, bills will average $307.13, up $5.59.
Gas wills with average usage at 72 therms a month will total $77.47, a decline of $4.90 compared with a year ago.
"Although electric and gas rates fluctuate from year to year, our average customer bills remain well below the national average," Bottorff said.


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Letter to the Editor: Where's the pain?
March 13, 2013
Where's the pain?
To the Editor:
I just read an article reporting that Republican Party leaders have recognized a situation, now that sequestration has become reality. Ostensibly (the article reported) GOP leaders can feel the pain of budget cuts. The story lead-in sounded uncharacteristic to me … and awfully suspect. I read further.
Sure enough, U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, and other intransigents, are not actually feeling pain. They have become concerned about reduced spending for U.S. military operations, military weapons development and global military deployment. Recognizing a painful situation for the Pentagon, they have persuaded colleagues in Congress to restore approximately one-third of military expenditures slashed by sequestration. And to ensure that Pentagon leaders do not lose sleep and develop migraines, GOP leaders promised to restore the remainder of military spending cuts, sometime later.
The story continued and touched briefly on the sort of spending cuts that do not cause pain for Republican leadership. The vast majority involved expenditures that interfere with a free-wheeling, laissez-faire private sector, such as inspecting for mad cow brain matter in slaughter houses, snooping around for robo-signer signatures on homeowner eviction notices, and in a few, seriously draconian instances, eliminating all candy wrapper/trash pick-up patrols in otherwise pristine national parks, patronized by American pigs gone feral on family vacation.
What the article did not touch on is the definition of painful austerity. Admittedly, one person's painful austerity is another person's mild inconvenience is another person's cardboard house under an Interstate highway bridge. The article also did not mention why the GOP considers mandated descent into another recessionary economy to be the best medicine for a just now recovering, very sick state of economic affairs.
Recommended Stories For You
So in sum, I must state the obvious and ask the question that seems farthest from the collective mind-meld of GOP headliners. First, the statement: No U.S. citizen has mandated that Congress inflict pain and possible chaos upon this nation. Second, the question: Why not formulate a basic plan for fiscal operation, resulting from rational negotiation and see how responsible, democratically elected governance works, for a change?
I apologize for following an obvious statement with a serious question with an obvious answer.
Jerry Shafe Jordan
Grand Lake


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NBA arenas: The good, the bad and the ugly
Which cities have basketball cathedrals? Who plays in the dumps? Kevin Ding ranks 'em.
The Lakers lost Tuesday night in Indiana, but it wasn't a completely ugly loss because it came at Conseco Fieldhouse the prettiest arena in the NBA.
With an old-school, brick-heavy design yet a clean, modern feel, Conseco is the perfect place for basketball in a state rich in hoops tradition.
(Beyond that, there's nothing good to say about India-no-place except that it's the world headquarters for Steak 'n' Shake, which I'm telling you flat-out is better than In-n-Out Burger. Yes, I know that's blasphemy to some of you.)
From Conseco as the best to another one the Lakers have used for a recent NBA Finals as the worst, check out this review of the NBA's arenas. To see photos of the five best and five worst arenas, click on "MORE PHOTOS" to the right.
1. Conseco Fieldhouse, Indiana: Borrowing from old-time baseball with a hand-tiled out-of-town scoreboard instead of an electronic one, this quaintly feels more like a gym than an arena.
2. Rose Garden, Portland: It's unfathomable that this arena is 13 years old; it manages to feel cutting edge yet cozy.
3. Madison Square Garden, New York: Some say it's a dump. Hey, it's a classy dump.
4. EnergySolutions Arena, Utah: Gotta love a relatively new place that puts its fans right on top of the opposing players.
5. Air Canada Centre, Toronto: Beautifully done. And for all that the Maple Leafs dominate here, it doesn't even smell like hockey (the stench of stale perspiration, by the way).
6. American Airlines Center, Dallas: Very cool Texas-themed architecture on the outside, and inside Mark Cuban sits on the baseline next to the Mavs' bench and triggers replays on the overhead monitor with a wave like a king beckoning to his subjects.
7. TD Banknorth Garden, Boston: It's not the original Boston Garden, but inside it all feels legit with the clearest overhead monitor ever built.
8. Staples Center, Los Angeles: Doesn't try to be anything but what it is an entertainment haven.
9. Oracle Arena, Golden State: The kid in me who loved seeing Busch Stadium right there while driving on the freeway in St. Louis loves how this place is right off I-880, and it definitely has character.
10. Pepsi Center, Denver: Not quite as cool as Coors Field down the street, but a solid arena in every way. Now if they could just move the airport closer to downtown
11. Toyota Center, Houston: There's a rocket built into the bottom of the overhead scoreboard that comes out to simulate a takeoff during pregame introductions.
12. American Airlines Arena, Miami: It fits the superficial South Florida scene perfectly, which isn't saying that much, but at least its bayside instead of in the 'hood like old Miami Arena.
13. US Airways Center, Phoenix: Chase Field next door is a reminder that this place isn't new anymore, but it sure hasn't gotten old.
14. United Center, Chicago: The House that Jordan Built feels comparably cavernous to Staples, but without the pizzazz.
15. Arco Arena, Sacramento: Similar to an old college arena with a complete lack of luxury, it has fan-friendly qualities but a ton of functionality problems.
16. Time Warner Cable Arena, Charlotte: This new arena in a traditional basketball region for the NBA's newest team should've been as cool as Conseco, but it's not even close.
17. FedEx Forum, Memphis: Give me an aging Pyramid over this ho-hum joint that looks just like the Charlotte arena.
18. Ford Center, Oklahoma City: Looks just like the Charlotte and Memphis arenas.
19. AT&T Center, San Antonio: Congratulations on successfully building a new arena to look like a clean barn the fans who come for the rodeos must be thrilled but there's nothing special here.
20. Bradley Center, Milwaukee: The Bradley Center, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, feels like Milwaukee in 1988. Not an altogether good thing.
21. Wachovia Center, Philadelphia: Elton Brand is just 5-4 here this season. It's no Cameron Indoor Stadium, apparently.
22. Philips Arena, Atlanta: Weird stuff here with the luxury suites all stacked on one side of the court, so it's impossible to unify the fans.
23. Target Center, Minnesota: Kudos for attaching it to the downtown mall so that fans (and reporters) never have to venture out into the cold, but the sightlines are terrible.
24. Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland: The team should play its home games in its awesome Cleveland Clinics Courts practice facility out in the 'burbs instead of this nondescript blob downtown.
25. Verizon Center, Washington: Boring, boring, boring. No wonder Gilbert Arenas goes to such lengths to entertain himself.
26. New Orleans Arena, New Orleans: Phil Jackson is right. Sorry, but this city doesn't merit a team.
27. Izod Center, New Jersey: Having to play at least one season in this dump voted the worst NBA arena by USA Today a few years back before moving to Brooklyn might be enough to keep LeBron James from coming in 2010.
28. Amway Arena, Orlando: Dwight Howard could take a running start from the parking lot and knock over this entire tiny building.
29. The Palace of Auburn Hills, Detroit: Too dark, feels bigger than it is, way out in the middle of nowhere, ugly and dirty. Otherwise, it's a palace!


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Delays caused by the switch to a new access route could postpone the start of the San Clemente Dam removal project past summer and even into next year, said a county planner.
But a California American Water spokeswoman said the company is hoping to begin the much-anticipated project by summer.
Work on the $83 million project, which includes removing the dam and re-routing a portion of the Carmel River along with removing the old Carmel River dam, was supposed to start last year. But opposition to a proposed access route that would have sent large trucks and heavy equipment along narrow roads in the Cachagua community forced Cal Am to back off its original plans.
The new route would be built off Carmel Valley Road before the Sleepy Hollow neighborhood and include two bridges.
The dam project is designed to remove the aging, seismically unsafe San Clemente Dam and improve natural habitat for endangered steelhead. It is backed by a public-private partnership between Cal Am, the state Coastal Conservancy and National Marine Fisheries.
Senior planner Bob Schubert said Tuesday the county Planning Commission likely wouldn't be able to consider the project until this summer, after additional environmental review focused on the alternate access route is complete.
Schubert said it would likely take at least a few months to address scores of conditions on the project before work could begin, pushing the start date close to the rainy season when planned construction would be impractical.
But Cal Am spokeswoman Catherine Bowie said company officials still expect to start work on the project by summer. She said early work — building temporary pipes to divert the river away from the site — needs to be done in dry weather, and access route construction would be done at the same time.
On Wednesday, a joint tour of the proposed access route by the Planning Commission, the Carmel Valley Land Use Advisory Committee and the Carmel Valley Road Committee will kick off a series of meetings as part of the project review process. The tour will include a visit to the dam.
On March 13, the Planning Commission is scheduled to hear a status report about the project from Schubert.
Carmel Valley's advisory committee is set to consider the project March 18, and the newly reconstituted Cachagua Land Use Advisory Committee is expected to weigh in on the proposal at a date to be determined.
Bowie said project backers have tentatively scheduled community meetings on the project for March 26 at a location to be determined.
More environmental review conducted by the state Department of Water Resources is under way, said Bowie. Because a similar access route was studied in the environmental review for an earlier dam project, the additional review is expected to take less time.
Cal Am first proposed the new route as a possible alternative last fall, after strong community opposition and direction from the Planning Commission to consider alternatives before the project review could proceed. Company officials originally called for using the Cachagua route on a temporary basis until the new route was finished to avoid further delay.
It was only last month that Cal Am officials formally notified the county there would be no use of the Cachagua route, Schubert said.
Project backers still haven't submitted an application that includes the revised route, he said. Access route tour · The tour, which is open to the public, will begin at 10:30 a.m. today from the parking lot of Carmel Valley Community Park, 77 W. Carmel Valley Road.
Access route tour
· The tour, which is open to the public, will begin at 10:30 a.m. today from the parking lot of Carmel Valley Community Park, 77 W. Carmel Valley Road.


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A charity for people with learning disabilities is saying goodbye to its chairman who guided it through "dark times".
Steven Fifer, who has chaired Harrow Gateway for the past two years, has decided to retire to focus on his career as a communications manager.
The now 31-year-old took a keen interest in the charity seven years ago, after his elder sister, Analise, began using its services.
It has survived tough times in the past few years, when lack of money and volunteers meant it almost had to shut its doors for good in 2010.
But it has overcome those challenges and two years on, it is now a thriving activities centre where disabled adults feel "safe and inspired".
Mr Fifer, who grew up in Stanmore, said: "It was a dark time back then, we were really struggling - but since then we've turned it around.
"Now there's a lot more energy and buzz to the place and financially, we're doing okay. I'm incredibly proud of everything we've achieved here.
"I will be sad to leave my role, but I'll still be involved in the charity when I can. I just don't think I can donate the right energy you need to be a chairman at this stage in my life."
Back in 1999 when the charity was formed, it held just two activities - but now it boasts monthly discos, exercise classes, and many more.
Its headquarters in the Cambridge Road car park, in North Harrow, now form a community hub for its members.
Mr Fifer said he has enjoyed seeing the charity's users go from being shy and timid to lively and outgoing as they become more relaxed in their surroundings.
He added: "It makes a huge different to their lives - we get them out of the house and help them interact with people of their own abilities. It gives them confidence too.
"I've loved my time here, we've had a been a really positive turnaround, but now it's time for someone else to take over."


text:
Unit Level: Intermediate
Available as a Student Elective: Yes
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Is an advanced post-TCE course which places its main emphasis on the development of a sound command of the four language skills of listening, reading, speaking and writing.
ASSESSMENT: Internal assessment (including written, aural and oral tests) (40%), two-hour written examination (60%)
TEACHING PATTERN: Online activities and independent study; two one-hour tutorials per week
Note: Class attendance may still be required
Web dependent - L,HSome parts of this unit will be taught online
Resource dependent teaching & learning - L,HIndependent study with provided resources replaces face-to-face or other classes (e.g. lectures)
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This unit includes international cross-cultural issues/skills.
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Smoke Screens: Cross-cultural Effectiveness of Anti-Smoking Messages
by Kelly Turner and Krista Wilke
Smoking is the largest preventable cause of illness and premature death in the United States, increasing people's risk of heart disease, cancer, and other smoking-related illnesses (Department of Health and Human Services, 2000). With cigarette companies spending as much as $75 million on advertising as Marlboro did in 1993 (Consumer Reports, 1995), anti-smoking campaigns would be wise to consider specific populations if they are to compete with the likes of Marlboro and other major conglomerates.
One population that is at significant risk for smoking is Hispanic Americans. Upwards of 31% of Hispanic American high school students report cigarette use and almost a fourth of the total Hispanic American population currently smokes, with this number on the rise (Casas, Bimbela, Corral, Yanez, Swaim, Wayman, & Bates, 1998). Understanding what constitutes an effective anti-smoking message for minority populations is crucial to improving current U.S. marketing strategies, especially as they relate to health behaviors.
One factor that has been used to explain differences between populations is cultural orientation. Cultural orientation is most commonly categorized by the terms individualism and collectivism (Han & Shavitt, 1994; Hui, 1988). These terms describe the extent to which a person's identity is dependent on others. That is, individuals with a collectivist orientation tend to consider others when making decisions whereas those with an individualistic orientation tend to be more independent and self-reliant. In effect, one's cultural orientation describes the extent to which a person feels integrated with others and with his or her social environment (Hui, 1988).
There is evidence that targeting advertisements based on cultural orientation is not only common but is also an effective strategy. For example, a study by Han and Shavitt (1994) found that advertisements in the U.S. (in which the majority of the population traditionally identifies as individualistic) tend to focus on individual benefits and preferences, personal success, and independence. However, advertisements in Korea (where the majority of the population identifies as collectivist) typically emphasize in-group benefits, harmony, and family integrity. Their study also found that individualistic appeals were more effective in the U.S. than in Korea, whereas collectivist appeals were more effective in Korea than in the U.S. (Han & Shavitt, 1994).
The present study examined Anglo and Hispanic Americans' responses to anti-smoking messages that posed a threat to either an individual smoker or to the family of a smoker. After viewing one of the two anti-smoking messages, participants answered questions about fear elicited by the message, their attitudes toward smoking, their intentions to smoke, and their opinions on several other health-related questions. It was hypothesized that for Anglo Americans (typically an individualistic group), an anti-smoking message that targeted the individual would be more effective than would an anti-smoking message that threatened the family. Conversely, it was hypothesized that for Hispanic Americans (generally a collectivist group), an anti-smoking message targeting the family would be more effective than would one that threatened the individual.
The results of the present study showed that Anglo Americans were more anxious after viewing the anti-smoking message that targeted the individual than after viewing the anti-smoking message that targeted the family. The reverse was found for Hispanic Americans, who reported being more anxious after viewing the anti-smoking message that targeted the family than after viewing the anti-smoking message that targeted the individual. These results support the hypotheses and thus provide insight into designing more effective anti-smoking messages geared toward Hispanic Americans. It was also expected that degree of acculturation (the extent to which a person identifies with the majority population) would affect cultural orientation and therefore would influence the effectiveness of the messages. Consistent with this notion, more acculturated Hispanic American participants, as determined by the participant's primary language (Palinkas, Pierce, Rosbrook, Pickwell, Johnson, & Bal, 1993), had more negative attitudes toward smoking after viewing the anti-smoking message targeting the individual than did the less acculturated Hispanic Americans. Interestingly, Hispanic Americans were more affected by anti-smoking messages in general than were Anglo Americans. That is, after viewing the anti-smoking messages, Hispanic Americans were more fearful about the harmful effects of smoking, reported stronger intentions to live a smoke-free, and had more negative attitudes toward smoking than did the Anglo American participants.
Taken together, these results support the notion that effective anti-smoking campaigns aimed toward Hispanic Americans should focus on the negative consequences of smoking in order to deter this susceptible group from lighting up. Furthermore, the target population's level of acculturation should be considered when developing effective anti-smoking campaigns. It is hoped that with more research in this area, we can stamp out smoking in this growing population.
Casas, J. M., Bimbela, A., Corral, C. V., Yanez, I., Swaim, R. C., Wayman, J. C., & Bates, S. (1998). Cigarette and smokeless tobacco use among migrant and nonmigrant Mexican American youth. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 20, 102-121.
Consumer Reports. (1995). Hooked on tobacco; the teen epidemic, 60, 142-147.
Department of Health and Human Services. (2001). Deaths: Preliminary Data for 2000. Retrieved March 16, 2003, from http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr49/nvsr49_12.pdf
Han, S., & Shavitt, S. (1994). Persuasion and culture: advertising appeals in individualistic and collectivist societies. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 30, 326-350.
Hui, C. H. (1988). Measurement of individualism-collectivism. Journal of Research in Personality, 22, 17-36.
Palinkas, L. A., Pierce, J., Rosbrook, B. P., Pickwell, S., Johnson, M., & Bal D. G. (1993). Cigarette smoking behavior and beliefs of Hispanics in California. American Journal of Preventative Medicine, 9(6), 331-337.


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SANTA CRUZ - When Santa Cruz police investigators served a search warrant in a possible child pornography case, they found the suspect's computer actively downloading illicit images, Deputy Chief Steve Clark said.
Police in Santa Cruz began working with detectives from the Pleasant Hill Police Department in November to investigate online videos of child pornography being distributed.
Using forensic software, detectives were able to track the source of the videos to Tate Middour, a 38-year-old Santa Cruz resident. Investigators allege Middour was actively seeking out, downloading and redistributing online child pornography from a computer in his home. When police investigators served a search warrant at Middour's home, they found a computer there in the process of downloading child pornography, Clark said.
Middour was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of charges of possession, depiction and distribution of child pornography. He posted bail four hours after being booked into Santa Cruz County Jail.
Clark said some of the child victims depicted in the pornography are already known to law enforcement and investigators are working to determine whether Middour also was producing child pornography.
The Shaffer Road resident also is believed to have had contact with a number of children. Police are asking anyone whose child has had contact with Middour to call detectives at 831-420-5820 or the anonymous tipline at 831-420-5995.


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Back in May I had a post titled Make music videos with iMovie in 5 minutes. It lead to a Macworld article on Beat Markers in iMovie 10. Gary at MacMost has posted the above video tutorial of the same concept albeit with iMovie 11. Can you see how very it easy it is to make a competent music video? I really love this.
"Beat Markers allow you to set points in an audio track and then drop in video with cuts that match the beats. After timing out the beats in a soundtrack, all you need to do is drag and drop video or photos into iMovie and the video will be cut to match the markers. You can even add transitions that fit along with the beats." – macmost.com
For more info: apple.com/ilife