text:
Note: All comments in square brackets are X screensavers that I ran for my slides. If you want to play along at home, start up xscreensaver-demo and click on the screensaver named. By the way, for any screensaver that wants random images (such as VidWhacker), I used a directory full of strange camel pictures (some of which I processed to make even stranger, just for those of you who think the phrase "strange camel" is redundant).
VidWhacker (camels)]
Good evening. Welcome to my eighth State of the Onion speech. I only have two more speeches to go after this, and I'll be up to 10. You see, 10 is kind of a magical number for speeches. According to Sturgeon's Law, 9 out of 10 speeches are crap. After we get to number 10, we'll know which one of mine wasn't ... Probably number 9 or number 10 ...
So I'm giving you fair warning that this is probably going to be a lousy speech. Those of you who attended Damian Conway's Presentation Aikido seminar yesterday will be sure of it. You'll probably get more out of this speech than anyone else — mostly as a kind of negative example. You can just get out Damian's notes and start ticking off all the rules I've violated.
Now the particular reason this speech is going to be lousy is that I made up all my slides before I knew what I was going to talk about.
Well, OK, that's not quite right. I didn't make up my slides. I was lazy. That's a virtue, right? And I was Impatient. Plus I had the hubris to think that it didn't really matter what my slides say — I can probably wrap a speech around them anyway. Especially since there's only a 10% chance that it has to be a good speech.
So anyway, here's my first real slide. It's a picture of how Damian thinks.
As most of you know, Damian is very clear-headed and determined. He gets where he's going. It doesn't matter what the problem is, he'll find a way to solve it eventually. He may have to backtrack occasionally, but he's very goal-oriented, and knows how to backtrack gracefully. It's very good that we have Damian on the Perl 6 design team, because we need someone who thinks like that.
Here, on the other hand, is a picture of how well I think on Damian's level.
AntSpotlight (camels)]
Yes, this is the famous Ant Spotlight screensaver. And yes, that is where I got all my slides from. And no, I didn't have a goal in mind when I picked them. Do you see any goals in this picture? Do you see any efficient search strategies? Do you see anything resembling speed here?
That's how well I think on Damian's level. On a different level, I think like this:
Cloudlife, fast]
On this level, my mind is in a continual ferment. Things bubble up to the surface unbidden, and evolve in unexpected directions. Everything gets compared with everything else because the entire stew pot is bubbling like crazy. Well, maybe it's not like crazy. Maybe it is crazy.
One of the things that bubbled up recently was that the subject of this talk had to be screensavers. I didn't know why. Maybe I still don't know why. But be that as it may, that's what this talk is about. Screensavers, and why I have to talk about them today, and why I have to talk about why I have to talk about them today. It's a kind of recursive problem, you see.
Incidentally, this screensaver is a variant of Conway's Game of Life. No, not our Conway, the other Conway. Unless our Conway is the other Conway. Whatever, we'll keep our Conway. After all, he's TheDamian.
Anyway, the game of Life is sort of the prototypical example of a cellular automaton. A number of screensavers are based on cellular automata. I have great empathy for all of them, because that's how I think... I think...
On the other hand, my mind is like a screensaver that no one can ever look at, except maybe me, and God. People can't see the ferment in my mind. What they see externally has to be filtered through my verbal apparatus, which is actually quite limited. I often think that my verbal processor is a slow interpreter. My wife's verbal processor is a fast compiler. Actually, those of you who know Gloria will realize that she probably does her verbal processing down in the microcode. Or maybe it's just hardwired. She can read out loud faster than I can read silently. Or maybe it's just that she can talk faster than I can think. Or more likely, it's just that I think slower than she talks.
Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah. This is how other people view my thinking. I spend a certain amount of time bouncing all over the cognitive map, then I'll perseverate in a particular area for a while, and then I'll take a flying mental leap to something that seems to the observer to be totally unrelated. They aren't unrelated, but they are long-range links. You know — all that six degrees of separation stuff. You need the long links as well as the short ones to make your graph work that way. There, my mentioning that is another example of just that sort of mental leap. This screensaver tends to look like a random walk generated by a person with attention deficit disorder. I don't have ADHD. I tend to perseverate and not get distracted when I should get distracted. If anything, I have Asperger's syndrome, or some kind of mild autism. My good friend Tom Christiansen, who does have ADHD, once said jokingly that I have "task-switching deficit" disorder. He's probably right on that. Certainly I seem to be stuck on this Perl thing. I've been stuck there for more than 15 years now. People think I make these long mental leaps all the time, but they're all in the scope of this one picture. In my mind, everything relates to Perl, one way or another. You'll notice this screensaver never jumps off the screen.
Another way to view this screensaver is that the long jumps are indicative of the ability to stay on task a long time. In that view, if you have attention deficit disorder, your thinking looks more like this, because you're changing directions faster than you want to.
People with ADHD have many endearing qualities, spontaneity not the least of them. But it is a disability, and the ADHD approach only gets you so far. More to the point, it tends to get you back where you were. Here we see a screensaver based on a random walk. It's actually rather stultifying if you watch it long enough. It's been shown mathematically that a random walk will eventually return to the place it started if you wait long enough.
Now, just because I say a random walk is stultifying to watch, please don't take that to mean that ADHD people are stultifying to watch. Quite the opposite, in fact. I'm just using these screensavers as talking points, as metaphors of life, but some of my metaphors limp. As we get older we realize that everyone has disabilities. That seems to be true of metaphors as well. They all limp. Except for the ones that are dead. Anyway, please don't anyone take offense at my free associations. Even if they're true.
You know how people are sometimes rude on Usenet or on a mailing list.
Sometimes they'll write something that can only be taken as a deadly insult,
and then they have the unmitigated gall to put a smiley face on it, as if that
makes it all right. It doesn't, you know. Nevertheless, if I insult you with
a deadly insult in this talk, please put one of those little smileys after it.
Anyway, where was I. Oh, yes, random walks. And the fact that they're kind of stultifying to watch.
You could throw in a little symmetry for interest. In fact, there's already a special screensaver for that, which you can use if you want to find out if you've cracked...
Personally, Rorschach blots always look like butterflies to me. Or pelvis bones, I admit it.
Or Mecha warriors. And such. You could almost swear the designers of Japanese anime must use this program to come up with new ideas for various kinds of monsters. But it's still a random-walk program when you look at it. It's value to psychoanalysis comes from the bilateral symmetry, which psychoanalysts think will remind us of sex, for some reason. Probably has something to do with the fact that people are bilaterally symmetrical.
Pychoanalysts tend to have abstract hang-ups about sex (at least the Freudian ones do), but since we're not psychoanalysts here, why stop at bilateral symmetry? Why stop at random walks? Why not psychoanalyze ourselves with other kinds of free associations?
Which is precisely what I'm doing here. Another way of looking at this talk is that I'm psychoanalyzing myself in front of you, using all these screensavers as Rorschach blots to free associate with. Another way to look at it is that screensavers are sort of a poor man's LSD, without the bad trips.
By the way, I don't think there are any Freudian psychologists in the audience, but if you happen to be a Freudian psychologist, and were insulted by my earlier remarks ... well ... just deal with it ... repress it, or something ....
In honor of Freudian psychology, I should in all fairness point out that I am myself the subject a classical case of repressed memory. I don't remember anything from my fifth grade. It wasn't anything sexual (I don't think!), but I am told that it was one of these experimental open classrooms where you have to decide yourself what you're going to learn. That works well for these kinds of people:
One of the aspects of my Asperger personality is that I don't initiate things like that. I have impaired executive function, in modern terminology. I almost never initiate telephone calls. I almost never initiate anything, in fact. Funny, considering Perl, but nevertheless true.
The most telling example of that is when Deja first put up all the old Usenet news articles for browsing. My good friend Randal Schwartz went in and discovered that of the hundreds of articles I'd posted over the years, only one article was not a follow-up to some else's article. I don't initiate. I have no initiative. I guess that makes me lazy. Oh, well.
Anyway, I don't remember fifth grade at all. I did terribly that year, and completely blocked it out of my memory. I remember fourth grade and sixth grade just fine though. But then, I did well those years. It all fits. Case closed.
But now I have this other psychological mystery I'm trying to solve. Maybe it's just some kind of compulsion, but I know deep down that I have to talk about screensavers for this speech. But why? Why, why, why, why, why? It's irrational and illogical.
So that's what the rest of this talk is about. It all ties in with what happened to me last year, and it also all ties in with Perl.
So about what happened to me last year: I had a mutation. That's nothing new — people have mutations all the time. So do screensavers. Many screensavers, such as this one, are based simply on showing you a mutating object, moving around the screen. That's pretty natural for screensavers. After all, the original purpose of screensavers was to save your screen, and that meant not putting the same picture up in the same place for an extended period of time. Of course, a blank screen would serve for that just as well. But, ya know, a blank screen just isn't very interesting. So we get these various mutator objects instead.
This one does interweaving cubes.
Here's a cute mutator. The little engine that could, if you will...
This one does flip flops. Being good at flip-flops is a prerequisite for designing computer languages. At least, I find that I have to do frequent flip-flops in the design of Perl 6. I probably shouldn't over-generalize that to other language designers, who by and large are smarter than I am.
Here's a picture of Perl 5. It's cool.
Gears (planetary)]
Here's a picture of Perl 6. It's just the same as Perl 5, only cooler.
Planetary gears are very scalable — you can get a large increase or decrease in revolutions out of them. For that reason, planetary gears are often used in the engines of high-performance turboprop aircraft. Definitely industrial-strength stuff.
Bouboule, 3d]
This one's kind of ugly, but then it's supposed to be viewed in 3D using those red/blue glasses. For some reason it reminds me of my stomach when I'm not feeling so good.
Which reminds me to get back to the subject. Mutations. I had one, in my stomach. It's a pretty well understood mutation, as these things go. It's the sort of mutation that produces a stomach tumor.
Mirrorblob, color]
As I stood in this exact spot a year ago, I told you that I'd been in the hospital for four days with a bleeding ulcer. What I did not know at that time was that the ulcer was on a tumor the size of my fist toward the lower end of my stomach. I did not know that I would have the lower half of my stomach removed two weeks after OSCON. I did not know that I would have complications, and complications on my complications, recursively. I did not know that I'd be spending a total of two months in the hospital.
I was pretty ignorant back then.
You see, when you have bleeding ulcers on your vacation in Kauai, the doctor there tells you that he saw the ulcers, but he doesn't tell you that he saw them on a tumor. What he does tell you is to see a gastroenterologist the moment you get home. After all, he doesn't want to ruin the rest of your vacation. Never mind that you've spent it in the hospital.
So after last year's OSCON I go in for another gastric endoscopy. That's where they slide a tube down your throat to look at what's down there. This is rather unpleasant, so they use what's called conscious sedation. They spray numbing gunk in the back of your throat, and put you partway under. You can kind of remember it afterwards, but not the bad bits.
Spotlight (camels)]
Then the doctor looks around, much like our ant spotlight we had earlier. He can't see too much at a time, but he spots the tumor, and takes pictures of it. He can't tell how big it is, because endoscopes are monocular, and you can't really tell how close you are to what you're looking at.
A lot of screensavers are based on the spotlight metaphor. Here's another:
Bumps (camels)]
And another.
Zoom, lenses (camels)]
In this case, the size of the spotlight is the whole screen, like one of those useless digital zooms on your digital cameras. But it's still just viewing one portion of the picture, whether that's part of a camel, or part of an elephant. Or part of your stomach. My stomach, in this case.
At this point my gastroenterologist refers me to a surgeon. Since we don't know how big the tumor is, I have to drink a bunch of coconut-flavored white gludge and go in for a CT scan. I don't like coconut. I don't like white gludge. But I do it anyway. It makes some of your body less transparent than other parts. Some screensavers are about transparency. Others are about opacity.
Like the distinction between fermions and bosons, objects in screensavers have to decide whether to bounce off each other or allow overlap. And if they overlap, whether one of them hides the other or not. In this case, we see through the overlap. Many screensavers just pile things on top of each other, like this:
I find these screensavers disturbing, because they remind me that with the passage of time, everything old gets covered over by new things. It's a metaphor of past, present, and future.
After my CT scan, the surgeon calls my wife even before I get home, and asks if I could go into surgery the very next day to have the tumor removed. She says yes. So I do. Sometimes the future is closer than you think.
General anesthesia is not like sleeping. My dreams usually kind of look like this:
But general anesthesia looks like this:
You have no present, just a past, and (hopefully) a future. You don't dream — it's just a big blank until you come out from under.
Then they put you on morphine, so you won't hurt. Instead, you itch. Did you know morphine makes you itch? Boy, does it ever. And you have really weird dreams. Dreams kind of like this:
Bubbles, fastest, no hide]
Or this:
I had really weird dreams on morphine. Didn't like those screensavers. But a wonderful poem came to me — it started out "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure dome decree." But I can't remember the rest of it.
Just kidding. But the place I did visit in my dreams was Xanadu, and it wasn't a very nice place to be. I prefer normal dreams.
When I was awake, I thought I was choking to death because of the tube down my nose to my stomach. I wasn't, but I thought I was. It wasn't until I cajoled a nurse into looking down my throat with a flashlight that I was mollified. That nurse became my favorite nurse, in a Florence Nightingale sort of way. I had several other favorite nurses too, for various reasons.
But then I had complications. As some of you know, twenty years ago I went blind in my right eye due to a case of shingles in my cornea. Shingles is just a recurrence of chicken pox virus.
So here's a screensaver called "NerveRot".
I love this screensaver, in a perverse sort of way. It's so...so...in your face. It's unnatural in so many ways. It looks like a fractal, but its fractal dimensionality isn't constant.
I don't love real nerverot. And shingles is a form of nerve rot, one of those things that kicks you when you're down. And I was down. I got a shingles infection on both sides of my head, which was unusual. It took me several days to figure it out. Fortunately, they have drugs to suppress it. But instead of getting out of the hospital in five days, it took ten. The good news was that my pathology analysis results came back saying that the excised tumor looked relatively benign in all respects except for its large size.
The bad news was that I was home for only twenty-four hours, and had to go back to emergency. I had never been more nauseous in my life, and to compound that, I found that even if I wanted to, I couldn't upchuck due to spasms in my esophagus. If you've ever had a tube down your nose, you'll know that you never want to have one again, but I was so miserable that I asked for one. It was a great improvement.
This screensaver was written to be nauseating, and I think it succeeds admirably in that. In fact, it really bugs me that I don't know why it has two needles pointing in different directions. I had far too many needles going in various directions when I was in the hospital. I hope that other needle there isn't the altimeter.
Anyway, this reminds us that an open source project needs a leader who has a good sense of direction, who doesn't change his mind continually about things like, say, how double-quoted strings ought to process interpolations, or which bits of the parser should work top down, and which bottom up. If you can find such a leader for Perl 6, that would definitely be an improvement over me. At least in some respects. Of course, I have the advantage of rules one and two. Rule 1: Larry is always right. Rule 2: Larry will still be right even after he changes his mind. Now I'm thinking there should also be a Rule 3, just in case. Rule 3 would say that Larry does not need to continue to be right after he's dead.
BSOD "Blue Screen of Death"]
I was sure I was dying. I went back into the hospital, and stayed there for weeks. The bad news was that my surgery site had scarred up, and I couldn't eat or drink anything. I got all my nutrients and fluids through an IV line.
The good news was that if I waited long enough, it might open up again of its own accord.
That bad news was that after several weeks, it didn't.
The good news was that they had ways of putting tubes in to bypass the obstruction. So I had more procedures.
The bad news was the procedures didn't work.
The good news was that they had a way to revise the first surgery.
The bad news was that fixing the first surgery meant going through surgery all over again six weeks after my first surgery. Meanwhile, I spent a lot of time idling.
I think I started developing an empathy for screensavers about that time. The poor things just have to sit there and twiddle their thumbs. I was simultaneously bored and unable to concentrate. My friends sent me books that I couldn't read. The only thing I could concentrate on long enough was crossword puzzles. With a crossword puzzle, you can quit after a clue or two, and still make overall progress, even if your brain is crashing every few minutes. As mine was at that point.
This particular screensaver fools me more often than I care to admit. The problem is that the more computers you've used, the more different kinds of crashes you've seen. And mentally, you classify them all in the "Oh, shit!" category, which is a category the brain is very efficient at processing.
On the other hand, the part of your brain that says, "Hey, that's the crash screen for a different operating system, dufus!" — that part operates at a much slower pace. This is actually a profound psychological truth. Back in the heyday of Prolog, everyone was bragging about how many LIPs they were able to process. That's logical inferences per second. But your brain applies many different LIPs ratings depending on how urgent the problem seems to be. The brain is chock full of shortcuts, and orthogonality be screwed. Optimizers cheat, and sometimes they get caught cheating. With this screensaver, you can catch your own brain's optimizer cheating.
I got to go home for a week before my second surgery. I could even walk around my neighborhood with a portable IV pack on my back. I remember admiring some of the flowers in the neighborhood. They were a welcome sight after the hospital. But, you know, it's really scary getting all your food and water through a tube. Especially the water. I got to be home for my birthday, but I couldn't eat anything. Well, OK, I cheated. I ate one Popsicle, and watched it drain back out of my stomach tube. At least it tasted good.
My second surgery was a success. Eventually. I had to go through the same morphine rigmarole again. At least this time they put in a stomach drain tube so I didn't have to put up with a nose tube. But I had complications again, this time with some internal bleeding. I lost enough blood that they were seriously considering giving me a transfusion. But I squeaked through, and eventually came home. This time I had a feeding tube, which was in some ways an improvement over an IV, and in other ways not. In particular, I was now housebound, because the stomach feeding pump was not as portable as the IV pump. I had to make do with fake foliage on my computer screen.
This screensaver makes use of an ancient technique. If you're working in an opaque medium such as oil paint, draw the background first. Then paint the foreground over that. This may seem like cheating, but we use rules of thumb like this all the time. Every time you do lexical scoping, you're treating the outer lexical scope like a background, and the inner lexical scope like a foreground. That's why it's so natural to talk about an inner variable hiding an outer variable of the same name.
Can you begin to see why I have a special mental relationship with these screensavers? Maybe I'm a little bit crazy, but I can't decide if it's psychotic or neurotic. You know the difference, don't you? A psychotic thinks that 2 + 2 = 5. A neurotic knows that 2 + 2 = 4, but it makes him nervous.
Maybe it's just a simple, everyday obsession.
Eventually, I learned to eat again, and got off my feeding tube. I'll never take eating for granted again. I'll never take tubes for granted again either. Now that I'm out of the hospital, here's what my dreams look like:
Only they mean something different now.
I recovered pretty rapidly, physically speaking. But it took months to really get back into gear mentally. Not until this spring did I feel like I was competent to write Apocalypse 12, the one about object-oriented Perl. All in all, I'd estimate that my little medical escapade set the Perl 6 design back six months or so. But Apocalypse 12 was the last big hurdle. With that, the design of Perl 6 can be said to be largely complete.
We are now in the endgame, which is the name of this screensaver. Now that the Parrot engine is in such fine shape, it's time to concentrate on writing a fine Perl 6 compiler to target it.
Open source projects start out small and grow over time. They send out tendrils in directions you don't expect. Perl started as a text-processing language. Look, now it's a system-administration language. And look over there, now it's a web-programming language, too. Oh, wait, now it's for genomics research.
You'll note sometimes the tendrils withdraw, like a squid's tentacles. That's just the natural process of deciding which things belong in the core. In squid terms, what to eat. Perl has eaten a number of things in the last 15 years. Some of them caused indigestion, but hey, that's life.
You'll notice it's cyclical. All successful open-source projects go through periods of expansion followed by periods of redesign and reintegration. It's a natural cycle. You just have to try and not starve while you're molting. Perl has been molting for a few years now. Or maybe it's been more of a metamorphosis in a cocoon. Anyway, Perl 6 is going to start emerging this year. It's going to be exciting.
You might say we're going to have a whale of a time.
The latest National Geographic has an article about squid who change their colors. Often they have reasons for changing, but sometimes I think they just change for the heck of it. A couple of years ago I was snorkeling in the Bahamas, and got to watch a school of cuttlefish swimming along. They weren't hiding or courting or anything like that, but as they swam along they would all change color to brown, then yellow, then red, then green. It's like, "Hey guys, wouldn't it be cool if we all ran the same screensaver at the same time?" Sort of a cultural identity thing, I suppose.
The interesting thing was that while I was watching, they forked. You know, like BSD. One group of cuttlefish went off one way, and the other group went off another. Maybe they had a personality conflict. Maybe they had a fight over licensing. I dunno. But the cool thing was that the moment they forked, they desynchronized their screensavers. This group wanted to stay green, while the other group wanted to go on and try out some purple. Who knows what goes on in the mind of a cuttlefish — it's possible that they split specifically over the color issue. Wouldn't be the first open-source project to split over the color of the bike shed.
I predict that within 10 years, we'll have clothing that runs screensavers, and what's more, we'll have gangs of people running around with synchronized displays to show that they "belong." Schools will then outlaw gang screensavers, and impose uniform screensavers on their students. Someone will hack into your clothes processor just to get you into trouble with the teachers. Norton and McAfee will sell software to make sure your clothes keep saying what you want them to say, and not what someone else wants them to say. Or show...
Or maybe by then your shirt will be able to authenticate all the IPv6 addresses it communicates with. The hard part is going the other way — how are you going to authenticate your shirt to someone else? Are you going to bother to set up an unspoofable identity for every shirt in your closet?
Of course, if your shirt is programmable, you really only need one of them. Or maybe you need two, for when the other one is in the wash. I suppose geeks can get away with owning a single programmable shirt. For some definition of "get away with." Maybe it's more like "get away from," as in "get away from me."
Molecule (sucrose)]
Anyway, that's another talk. In fact, it's a talk I already gave five years ago. Some of you will recognize this screensaver. It wasn't a screensaver yet when I gave my third State of the Onion talk, but now it is. That's progress. Cool. But watch out for those pheromones. And if you're on a low-carb diet, don't even think about looking at this picture of sugar.
Well, enough about chemistry. I already talked about that once. If I start repeating myself, you'll think I'm getting old. (I am getting old, but I don't want you to think it.) Anyway, you want to hear something fresh. Fresher than a geek's T-shirt, anyway.
In any event, the real geeks will probably just have the screen tattooed on their chest. Or their stomachs. Teletubbies "R" us.
Anyway, back to freshness.
Now, there's two ways one can go about keeping a fresh outlook on life. One way that works, or at least works for some people, is to suddenly change course in midstream. Call it the worms approach.
The problem with worms is that they don't learn much from history. The only history they remember is where they just were, which is where they don't want to be now. I've known some people like that.
The other approach to keeping fresh it to not be quite so, um, random. In other words, learn a little more from history. You can do that either by depth or by breadth. In any case you're keeping more history state around than just a single position.
Demon, slow]
Software projects have history, and state. Here you see various software projects feeding on the disorder around them. I'd like to think some of them are open-source projects, but doubtless some of the more aggressive ones are closed source.
Demon, fast]
Over the long term, this is also a view of how dominant species tend to wipe out their smaller competitors. This is also, unfortunately, a picture of where the business world is heading these days. At the rate we're going, we'll end up with just a few large corporate players because right now we have the best government big business can buy. You can see just a few little holdouts that survive in tiny ecological niches only because they're parasitic on the large beasts.
Notice also that nearly all the original information has been destroyed in the name of progress. Archeologists will have to study the leftover crumbs, as they always have. Necessarily, they will over-generalize, just as historians always over-generalize. That's all you can do when too much has been forgotten. Of course, I'm over-generalizing about history here. But screensavers that forget things make me sad.
Speaking of history, I recently got to see Tom Stoppard's play, Arcadia. I should say, I got to see it again. Every time around, I get something a little different from it. It's an iterated algorithm.
For another example, take Perl. Paul Graham has opined (Hi, Paul) that there are a lot of spectacularly original ideas in Perl, but I'd like to correct that impression. There are indeed a few original ideas in Perl, but most of the ideas were stolen. Perl has learned a spectacular number of things from history. Paul was right about one thing, though — some of the things Perl learned from history were spectacularly wrong. That's not to say that some of my original ideas weren't also spectacularly wrong. But hey, that's what iterated algorithms are for. "Release early, release often" is the old phrase. The new catchphrase seems to be "Learning in Public." Same sort of thing.
[At this point I skipped to the final section for lack of time, but you can see the rest of my padding material here.]
This makes some pretty good-looking mountains. It cheats, of course, compared to how Mother Nature does it. This sort of algorithm doesn't simulate plate tectonics or erosion, so you're not going to get good mountain ranges or river valleys out of it. But our computers are still far too slow to do adequate simulation of all of physics, so we live in an era where "as good as we can do" has to be "good enough." The brute-force approach would often take too long, so our algorithms tend to cheat all over the place. In the case of a fractal landscape like this, that can actually be a psychological advantage, insofar as the artificial landscape comes out with a slightly alien feel, which people seem to like, in moderation.
The problem with exploring oversimplifications, however, is that they're not actually as interesting as real life over the long haul. At least, not individually. Maybe there are enough oversimplifications to explore that they emulate the richness of reality merely by being sufficiently different from each other. Certainly all the books ever written don't add up to the complexity of the universe, since obviously they're a part of it. And yet through the power of imagination, an individual book can give us the impression of worlds beyond our own.
I'm not sure how this relates to Perl, except to say that Perl has always been about being "good enough" rather than "perfect." Good enough is often a lot more interesting than perfect. It's almost as if the imperfections that keep "good enough" from being "perfect" are the very features that make things interesting, because there are a lot more ways for things to go wrong than for them to go right. Even if it's just a little wrong. A lot of these screensavers are a little bit wrong. But they're interestingly wrong.
I wasn't gonna show this one, but last Wednesday I was suddenly in the state that it looked like I wasn't going to be able to show any of these screensavers. Namely, my laptop completely crapped out. It was too late to send it in for repair and have any hope of getting it back again in time. I didn't have the money to buy a new laptop, nor the time to install Fedora Core 2 on one if I had bought one. I couldn't guarantee that I could find a laptop to borrow that would have Fedora Core 2 on it, at least, not in time to make sure I got these screensavers all lined up in a row. Fortunately, I was pretty sure I knew what was wrong with my laptop, since the power light had been flickering when I wiggled the cord.
So on Thursday I spent all day dismantling my laptop to get at the motherboard. I don't know why they make it so you have to remove everything else before you can remove the motherboard, but that's basically what you have to do. Then I went down to Fry's and bought the teeny-tiniest little soldering iron they sell. I went back home, and I got that motherboard out and I soldered it with the complete expectation that I was probably ruining the motherboard completely. I put it back together again, and only had two extra screws when I was done. I still don't know what they belong to. But it doesn't matter. 'Cause I booted that sucker up, and it worked. And that's the laptop I'm showing you these screensavers on. How many of you have ever tried to solder your motherboard? OK, keep your hands up if the motherboard still worked afterwards. You guys know how I feel right now.
Of course, the joke's kind of on me. It broke again just before I left, and I had to resolder it again last night... I have a great deal of empathy for my computer, having to undergo two surgeries like that...
Many screensavers are based on bouncing balls.
Pong, a classic. The first version didn't even use a computer.
I'm waiting for the version that does a bouncing camel.
Multiple bouncing balls in a box are a metaphor for community. Notice how the escaping balls explode. This is what happens to people who move from Perl to Ruby.
Attraction, balls]
Attraction and repulsion. Some people find Perl attractive at a distance and repulsive up-close. Others have just the opposite reaction.
With small enough balls, you start getting into particle simulations, which are good for flame-like effects. But if you look closely here, you can actually see the little balls bouncing when they hit the ground.
Communities are defined by their centers, and often have a fractal quality about them. The people circulating further in are more involved than the people farther out. The insiders say things like, "We need to make Perl 6 the best language for most common tasks." The people further out do not feel absolutely bound to one community or another. They say things like, "Use whatever language is appropriate for the task at hand." The outer people are more likely to drift from one community to another. That's OK. In fact, it's healthy.
When it gets unhealthy is when you start drawing boundaries between communities, and you start being exclusive. Or worse, mandatorily inclusive. Then you start building things like the Berlin wall to keep people inside your community. In anthropological terms, that's tribalism. A tribal Perl programmer might say, "If you leave the Perl tribe to go and join the Python tribe, we will hunt you down, cook you, and eat you." Or if you join the Ruby tribe, you will explode. By and large, I am not in favor of tribalism.
Except for my tribe, of course.
[Here's the ending I skipped to.]
VidWhacker (camels)]
I could go on and on. There are over 200 screensavers that come with X windows these days. We haven't begun to talk about some of the fancier ones that you can download that do useful work, like searching for extraterrestrial intelligence, or finding new cancer drugs. But the ones I've talked about today are the once I notice in my kitchen when I walk past my Linux box. I notice them, and I think about them, and I think about what they mean. So I hope you're starting to get an appreciation for them.
But I don't think I've really adequately conveyed yet why I wanted to show you these screensavers. Last night, when I tried to explain all this to my family, I suddenly found myself getting rather teary-eyed about it all. It's not so much the fact that the individual screensavers are so interesting. It's really about how they relate to each other, and to the world.
There's been a lot of talk lately about 100-year languages and the like, and while it's fun to speculate on the nature of such long-term enterprises, the history of futurology warns us that the only sure prediction is that all predictions are sure to be inaccurate. The things that are relatively predictable are not fashionable. They're small, but universal. Like screensavers. I predict we'll have screensavers in a 100 years, even if we don't have screens any more, and all our brains take their inputs via neural implants. And those future screensavers will relate to each other just the same way as our screensavers, even if they are different screensavers.
Think about this little program called
xscreensaver-demo that
I've been using to show you these screensavers. Within this program, all
screensavers are considered equal. It's like in a hospital where all the
nurses on your floor are considered to be more or less interchangeable. And
indeed, they purposefully mix things around so you get different nurses each
day. But when they do that, you discover that, in fact, all the nurses are
different. All the doctors are different. And they're all wonderful in their
own way. Likewise, every screensaver is different, and you can relate to them
in different ways.
They are so equal, yet so unequal at the same time. And last night I realized that this was what was important about Perl, and about the Perl community. Not a fancy grammar, or fast engine, or clever optimizer. Those things are all nice, but the heart of Perl the language is all those modules that fit into Perl like interchangeable screensavers, and yet are all so different from each other. And the people who write those modules, and grammars, and engines — they're all equal in the eyes of the Perl community, and yet all so different.
So it was really only last night that I figured out why I had to talk about screensavers tonight. And that reason is you. You're my little flock of screensavers. You're my nurses and my doctors and my patients. You've performed multiple surgeries on my soul, and let me perform surgeries on your souls. We're a hospital of people helping each other, performing random acts of beauty for each other, even when no one is watching but God.
These days I may be missing the bottom of my stomach, but I still have the bottom of my heart. So I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being precisely who you are.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.


text:
A plan that would lead to the funding and construction of a new community center is among a handful of goals on the Los Altos City's Council's to-do list for 2014.
Councilwoman Jeannie Bruins told the Town Crier that the development of an action plan to replace the aging Hillview Community Center was one in a "manageable set of goals" discussed by the council at its annual retreat Dec. 14 at the Jesuit Retreat Center.
Bruins noted that the city would spend the year exploring "what it will take" for a new center to become reality. She noted that the plan would likely cover several crucial components in detail, including funding strategies, design options and potential partnerships with other entities.
Mayor Megan Satterlee added that public feedback from a 2012 public survey showed a higher level of resident interest in replacing the aging community center as opposed to some other civic facilities. The survey was conducted at the time to gauge public interest in a bond measure to fund the first phase of the city's Civic Center Master Plan, which called for the replacement of city hall, the Los Altos Police Department and the community center.
"What is different is that the feedback on the master plan has caused us to amend the phasing. Clearly the top priority is the community center," said Satterlee, who described public interest as "high" for replacing Hillview.
Satterlee added that the task would include a 2014 public engagement process "around some options that look different from the master plan so that we can get to a design we think we can move forward with."
Other priorities
Planning for a new community center wasn't the only goal discussed during the daylong retreat.
Bruins said the city would continue to explore parking solutions for downtown Los Altos. Satterlee confirmed that the city would implement and follow up the short-term strategies outlined in the city's Downtown Parking Management Plan.
Satterlee expressed interest in crafting a policy that would outline ways that developers could meet their projects' parking demands by helping to fund the reconfiguration of public parking plazas. She cautioned, however, that "there has to be a meeting of the minds by the majority of the council in order for this policy to move forward."
Satterlee pointed to transportation issues as another key discussion for the new year. She noted that the council would explore solutions in 2014 to the "barriers to success" that prevent some city transportation projects from moving forward at a more rapid rate. She said the issue could include looking at "making some modifications" to engage the public on projects earlier and more efficiently.
"The goal is to move faster when we start projects and to move more of them forward," Bruins said.
The council also listed an ongoing effort to improve community engagement as a whole, which might include the appointment of an ad hoc committee to develop new strategies, Bruins noted. In addition, Bruins and Satterlee cited the continuation of managing the city's finances in a prudent manner as a top priority for 2014.
Some items that could not be addressed in the daylong retreat, including discussions on council norms, the 2014 legislative calendar and potential adjustments to the city's administrative approval process, are slated for discussion at a special meeting, scheduled Tuesday.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Velazquez saddened Mexico-Canada fracas occurred
TAMPA, Fla. -- Gil Velazquez emerged relatively unscathed from Saturday's World Baseball Classic fracas between Team Mexico and Team Canada, but the Yankees' infielder said he was saddened to have been involved in such an incident.
"Instead of people talking about us playing good baseball, now they're talking about a brawl," said Velazquez, who was playing shortstop for Mexico during the game at Chase Field. "That's the sad part about it.
"We don't want to be known as wild people, crazy people. We are good, decent people and we play good baseball. That's what we want to be known for. The sad part is, all that got thrown out the window when the brawls went down."
In the game, Canada's Chris Robinson laid down a ninth-inning bunt single with Canada leading, 9-3. Mexico pitcher Arnold Leon threw three pitches at the next batter, Rene Tosoni, who was hit in the back with the third pitch to spark the benches-clearing melee.
"I really wasn't scared. I was under control," Velazquez said. "More than anything, I was just making sure nobody got a sucker-punch on me, so I was looking around. It was hard to know who was who because everybody [was wearing] red."
The incident was attributed to a misunderstanding about the tiebreaking rules in the first round, round-robin format that places a premium on the number of runs scored.
Bryan Hoch is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @bryanhoch and read his MLBlog, Bombers Beat. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


text:
Topic: GEMCAP (gemcitabine+capecitabine) Citations and Updates
Hi, everyone,
Try something new. I will put up links for the specific regimens(in this case GEMCAP and updates "under the same topic subject" when I will come across it in the future.Therefore if you just want chemotherapy info. for this regimen,you just come to this board under chemotherapy and choose GEMCAP.
God bless


text:
State Sen. Anthony Williams spent a much of his acceptance speech at the Zionist Organization of America's annual gala and awards dinner blasting those groups that had implored him not to attend.
State Sen. Anthony Williams spent the bulk of his acceptance speech at the Zionist Organization of America's annual gala and awards dinner last week blasting those who had implored him not to attend.
"When people challenge me on the integrity of my friends, then I can only resort to one thing — you are not a friend," Williams said during his Oct. 9 speech to roughly 300 ZOA supporters at the Philadelphia Hilton City Avenue.
The African-American lawmaker received the Friend of Zion award from ZOA's local chapter. The group also honored Rabbi Eric Yanoff of Adath Israel in Merion Station, local pro-Israel activists Ruth and Morton C. Gleit, and Nonie Darwish, an Egyptian-born author, critic of Islam and founder of Arabs for Israel.
Over the past year, Williams — perhaps best known for pushing education reform — introduced a bill mandating Holocaust education. He also keynoted Philadelphia's annual Holocaust memorial event and organized a trip to Israel for black and Jewish leaders.
On Sept. 30, Williams received a letter signed by more than 100 individuals and groups, all fierce critics of Israel, including a number of supporters of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. Among the groups that signed were: Philadelphia Jews for a Just Peace, Jewish Voice for Peace Philadelphia, The Mid-
dle East Working Group of the Episcopal Diocese and the Philadelphia Coalition of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Against Israel.
"Knowing you as a defender of equality, non-discrimination, fairness and justice, we ask that you decline this award from an organization with a disturbing history of words and deeds hostile to Arabs, Muslims and Palestinians," the letter stated.
The letter labeled ZOA a "hate group" because it has supported or provided a platform to critics of Islam such as Darwish, Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders and blogger Pamela Geller.
ZOA is considered on the political right when it comes to Israel issues. It has long argued that a peace deal with the Palestinians would be a mistake because the Palestinians aren't ready for peace and incite hatred against Israel.
"Accepting this award may have been an oversight, committed in the mistaken belief that the ZOA is an organization worthy of attention, representative of the Philadelphia Jewish community, and wholesome in its endeavors," the letter said. "It is not."
ZOA National President Morton Klein said Wilders has never spoken at a ZOA event and he described Darwish as a brave woman who exposes the truth about hatred of Jews in the Muslim world. He declined to comment on Geller, who has spoken at several ZOA events.
"We tell the truth about the Muslims' sorry record about human rights and hatred of Jews. Their letter is simply name calling and rubbish," said Klein. "They are the hate mongers. They are the ones promoting lies and hatred against an organization that tells the truth."
According to Williams, the letter was hand-delivered to his office in Harrisburg. A representative of the group said that if Williams did not cancel his appearance, the letter would be forwarded to the media.
On Oct. 4, Williams wrote the group, saying that he had spoken to several rabbis, as well as representatives of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, and he was determined to go forward.
All were in accord, he wrote: "While we may not like or agree with every policy advanced by the ZOA, we recognize that building bridges is essential to building the understanding and tolerance needed to create a safer, more inclusive world," he wrote.
At the ZOA program itself, Williams sounded incensed by the incident.
"Don't ever show up in my office again," he said, referring to the signers of the letter. "What works with me is sitting at a table and having an honest dialogue about our differences."
Williams told the audience that his interest in Israel comes from a respect for human dignity and justice that he learned from his father, Hardy Williams, a former state senator who died in 2010.
"There is a State of Israel," he said, "not just because Jews wanted it, but because the world demanded it."


text:
Someone told me at the time that He-Man was back and I got super excited. Then I saw what the toys looked like. "That isn't He-Man," I said. I never looked at them again.
So my MOTUC NA He-Man shipped, and should be here Wednesday. I'm really excited. I think he looks phenomenal. I had a NA Skeletor, and that was about it from the original NA line. Granted, I was a little past the target age range, but I do know that the popularity just wasn't there like it was with vintage. There was just such an aesthetic difference that it didn't feel like a continuation of the storyline.
My question is this: do we think that NA would have been more popular the first time around if there was a stronger resemblance to vintage MOTU? Is there a chance it might have grabbed more vintage fans in that case?
Got Man-E-Faces, Give 'em Whiplash when I Battle-Cats
Someone told me at the time that He-Man was back and I got super excited. Then I saw what the toys looked like. "That isn't He-Man," I said. I never looked at them again.
I think the biggest failure of the NA He-Man line was its disconnect from the original toy line. The branding on the packages was totally different, the figures were skinnier/taller, and the designs were a huge departure. I understand why they did what they did, but I think it was very misguided. I think a new He-Man line at the time could have been a huge success.
Anecdotally, I know I would have loved a new He-Man line. I only ever saw NA figures ONCE at Toys R Us. I thought they were some sort of knock off figures or something. Even though they said "He-Man" on them, everything was totally different - it was like a totally unconnected toy line got put in He-Man's place.
Updates to the old characters, while still keeping them recognizable, would have been a much better move than a totally new cast. And He-Man should have been more recognizable as well. As an adult, I can appreciate the NA line in a different light, and it's sad that the failure of the NA line kept us from having new He-Man figures for 10 years.
*sigh* Yeah, I think that's a resounding "Yes" from everyone. It probably would have. I think I'm one of the few who LOVED the ideas they put forth. It must have just been the exact right time and age for me. I already had fond memories of He-Man at the time, and honestly it wasn't that much of a past memory back then, either. I mean MotU was my first toyline ever - so I was into it when I wasn't able to read or even say the word "Skeletor" (I called him Hehe 'cause of his laugh).
So I was the exact right age for a new He-Man, and the new look must have been directly up my alley. I loved translucent stuff, so He-Man drew my attention right away. I also associated with the thinner figures, 'cause I was always a skinny little kid. Made He-Man look more like an ideal I could have hit (you know what I mean, it's not like any amount of real work would have gotten me to that point. It's just what kids think, ya know?) Then, of course, I read the minicomics that came with them and OH MAN. Skeletor was so awesome. I was already a fan of his, but when he fixed himself up with cybernetics after getting fried - well, it blew my mind.
So yeah...it would have gotten mass appeal if they had stuck closer to the vintage style (and maybe didn't ignore so much of the original story). But ya know what? I wouldn't have changed a thing. NA was my own personal little He-Man line for it's time, even though I know I'm not the only fan. Just feels like it was made for me at that moment, ya know?
Last edited by Alexx; July 12, 2013 at 02:45pm.
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I think that for one, the timing was too close to the end of the vintage line. The vintage line ended around 1987-ish, so at 1989-90, it was still pretty fresh in the public's mind. If they were going to make such a big departure from the original line, then they should have waited til further into the 90s in my opinion. I was still collecting toys at the time NA came out, and was very into TMNT at the time. I saw the HE-MAN line and, like many others, did not think that this was a "real" He-man line.
The other problem was the complete disconnect with the vintage line, save for He-Man and Skeletor, as far as figure selection went. Also, they went from being muscle bound to very small, skinny, "cheaper" figures in a sense. Perhaps remaining truer to the original scale and buck would have been a better idea. But, perhaps since if it had came out a few years later than it did, this wouldn't have mattered, as original MOTU would not be remembered by the target consumer by the mid-90s.
I definitely didn't embrace NA until the last few years, in large part due to the MOTUC line, and having these characters in the same style as the vintage characters. And althought I've had the NA DVDs for a long time, I previously wasn't able to get into the show. Now that I know the characters a bit better I can appreciate the show much more.
I didn't even know they had a show for this line until I was well into my 20's or joined up here. Didn't matter though I like many others stated, took 1 look at this line in Canadian Tire (where many kids toys go to die) in my later youth and said what the hell left both he-man and skeletor there to rot. Although I remember Optik being pretty cool b ut not cool enough girls in a package would have sold better to me at the time ( sadly I do NOT mean She -ra that was a whole 'nother can of WTF!?
It's hard to say as I moved on to collecting Hasbro WWF figures.I pretty much got turned away from Motu when they introduced dinosaurs and were calling themselves Powers of Grayskull.I think the creativity of the line had ran its course and there wasn't alot more they could do to save it.All the momentum I had collecting the line was gone.I bet if they had redone the same figures in a 3.75 inch scale ala g.I. Joe I would have collected.
I think 2 things killed the New Adventures:
1) the lack of "retrocompatibility". You could not use the newer figures with older accessories or vehicles, even though the line was meant to be a continuation of the story. This means that if you wanted ANY vehicle or accessory AT ALL for your new action figures, your parents HAD to shell out money to buy new ones. That must've gotten many parents angry.
2) the horrible, HORRIBLE cartoon. I admit that it was superior to the Filmation cartoon in certain areas (technical realization, being one long story instead of disconnected episodes) but there were a lot of questions it left unanswered. Why do He-Man and Skeletor already look different before leaving Eternia? Why are those scientists so stupid? Why was Christian symbolism shoehorned into the cartoon?
Mattel already had a solid storyline for the minicomics, which was retold in various comics magazines, but the cartoon chose to ignore it and replace it with something full of plot holes. Why couldn't anyone at Mattel see that it was a bad idea? If the cartoon is supposed to be a 20-minute long commercial for the action figures, but it's so lame that even kids (the target audience) realize it's lame, nobody will buy the action figures because they will infer that they are lame too!
I actually liked the toys more in some cases, because they had unique sculpts, better articulation, and weren't those squat bodies. I do think that the cartoon hurt it in some aspects, not the writing but the animation and some of the voice acting. Anyone tuning in would have a hard time recognizing He-man or Skeletor.
Now if the show had gone to a second season and moved forward with the plans to return to Eternia it probably would have pulled in more people. But still, the cartoon threw some people off (and continues to).
For me the NA cartoon is like classic Dr Who. It's not always good, but it becomes something fun to watch none the less. If you can get past the flaws there are a lot of really enjoyable and fun bits.
Last edited by Barezz; July 23, 2013 at 11:50pm.
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Had the figures looked the same as the Vintage I'd of liked them....but as a kid I thought they ruined He-man. Then I saw the cartoon and was done with He-man till my son got interested a year ago. So.....yeah, I think had they been more like the originals and had Filmation done the cartoon I'd have dug em.
My Trader Feedback: http://www.he-man.org/forums/boards/...mighty-He-Dad!
I'm gonna say no. If memory serves correct, the NES and Sega Genesis were on fire. Nobody was buying action figures at that time.
- - - Updated - - -
In hindsight, Mattel should have put out a side-scrolling beat 'em up at arcades like Marvel did the X-MEN.
And then released a version of that for the Genesis. That would at least have kept the brand from fading away like it did.
You're talking about a short period of time which established both Nintendo and Sega as very large companies. Safe to say a lot of consumer spending was focused in that area.
The premise and designs were cool enough. But the figures were too far a departure from the vintage line.
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Probably not considering the Ninja turtles probably would've blown them out of the water regardless.
Although it may have lasted a bit longer. Especially considering the vintage figures actually bear a slight resemblance to the vintage TMNT toys. they have a similar stance I think
Yes. I think if they had the same traditional build as the 80s figures, they would have done better as a toy line.
While I didn't have the whole line I remember getting the beefier he-man back in the day and thinking it was a cool toy.
That being said, I think some link to the vintage would have helped. This toy line could have evolved the form of the action figure further like they did with the vintage line. I don't recall seeing ripped action figures back in the 80s (other than moth). They did something different. Where as the NA line simply followed the status quo of the way toys where done in the early 90s...you know like crap. It just seemed lazy for mattel to make these toys. It was like they thought they could simply slap the moth name on something and it would sell gang busters.
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I would have loved the figures more & would have collected them if they were executed like the vintage motu figures.
I was turned off because they were not in scale & looked repulsive.
Skeleton-Warriors, Ra-Jar, Spinwit, Rock Golem, General Tartaran, Hawke, Slob-Boar, King Agho, Hunga the Harpy, Sh'gora, Masks of Power Demons, Nocturna, Lizzor, Sagitar, Crimson Fury, Lodar, Vizar, Angast, Negator, King Miro, Melaktha, Crystal-Man, ABC Giants, Stridor, Road Ripper, Land Shark
Wow, it's like the first two responders here are inside my head...
Same here- I was all, "Cool! Where are theyohmygoshwhathavetheydone..."
I also love the idea of continuing the saga, even with the 1930's pulp-style refit of the mini-comics (loves me some '30's pulp sci-fi), but as it was mentioned above, too many changes, too fast.
NUMBER ONE KILLER: SCALE CHANGE. Look at how many people are going NUTS over the 4H renditions of the NA lineup, many admitting that they hadn't planned on looking twice at NA figures- Classics are all ONE SCALE. To people like me, that's huge, and allows for some latitude in preference about Comic/Filmation/NA/PoP. So much so, that I'm now collecting ALL of them that I can.
Number two: Slight improvements in articulation cancelled out by flea-market figure sculpting. Honestly, my first look at them, and I scanned the package to see if the license had been picked up by Ja-Ru, or some other checkout-line toy company. It was a huge step backward for a line that I had fallen in love with, partly due to its sharp, imaginative sculpts. Again, Classics' sculpts are mending fences pretty well for me.
Personally I loved the more realistic look of the skinny NA figures. At that time I thought the old Motu figures looked strange compared to other toys I played with like Star Wars, Super Powers or Secret Wars. Their stubby legs just made them look weird to me. But overall it would have probably been better to have them been more compatible with the old toys. But I agree with the poster who said that they would have been wiped away by TMNT anyway.
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Nothing could stop the fall of original motu. NA was a right move in direction but by that time every classic action figure was declining, look at transformers, GI Joe, saint seiya, all of these fell in the early 90s
Times changed, people too. I guess video games and consoles like mega drive were taking over.


text:
Posted 5 years ago
(290 items)
Another basement treasure.
I loved this the moment I spied it.
I know it's an ashtray, but it's so beautiful
the handpainted blue design, the satin glaze, the soft shape of it
I thought I'd be able to identify it from the signature,....but no.
I've no idea of it's age or where it was made.
Could be Moroccan? European?, of from an American pottery?
any guesses would be welcome.
Thanks for stopping by.


text:
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Use the skills you already have, along with familiar tools like Azure Active Directory and SQL Server Management Studio, to manage your database infrastructure across on-premises SQL Server and Microsoft Azure. Apply industry-standard APIs across various platforms and download updated developer tools from Visual Studio to build next-generation web, enterprise, business intelligence, and mobile applications.


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I love the short yellow school bus! Riding the bus is fun! I ride the bus to school every day, but I also ride the bus to other places, too. When I go on trips with Miss Lang and everybody in the special-needs class, we all get on the bus and go to the zoo or the planetarium. One time, we ate pizza at Pizza Hut, and we took the bus then, too. And you know what? Someday, I'm going to drive the bus myself!
Sometimes, when I am on the bus, I hold my Dallas Cowboys hat in my hands and turn it and pretend that I am driving the bus. Sometimes, even when I am not on the bus, I also think about driving the bus, too. Even when I am sleeping, sometimes I have a dream that I'm driving the bus, and when I wake up, I am sad that I woke up and am not driving the bus anymore.
Right now, I am only 13. But when I get older, I am going to be a grown-up and get a job as the bus driver. But I have to be a grown-up first. When you're a grown-up, you get a driver license with your picture on it. My older brother Mark said I don't need to worry about getting a driver license, because he will take me anywhere I want. But that is silly! I am going to get my own driver license and drive the bus! Mark reminded me what happened with my bicycle last year and said that maybe driving the bus isn't a good idea. But I know I can do it! I can drive the bus! I just need to work extra, extra, extra, extra hard!
I'm going to always pay attention in my Skills For Living class. And I'm going to do all the exercises with Mr. Festge when he comes in for Motor-Coordination Hour. Even when I want to go look out the window at the lawn-mower man instead of sitting at my desk and doing my clock worksheet, I won't. I'll sit in my seat and be extra, extra, extra, extra good.
Daryl W. was in our class last year, but he graduated at the end of the year because he was 18. He got to wear a graduation dress and walk up on the stage, and Mr. Culver gave him a book, and everybody in the whole place cheered. Now Daryl W. works at the grocery store, and he gets to use a sprayer and spray off the vegetables so they stay green. Just like Daryl W., I'm going to get a job when I'm older. Only my job is going to be being the bus driver!
Right now, our bus driver is Mr. Timmons. And he gets paid for driving the bus! But it's so fun driving the bus, I would do it for free! Someday, it will be me being nice to all the kids on the bus and calling them "Mr." and "Mrs." to be funny. It will be me who helps everyone get their boots on and yells, "Look at the chickens!" when we drive past the ostrich farm.
Every day on the bus, I am watching carefully so that when it is my job to drive the bus, I will remember which tree to turn at. When I am the bus driver, I'll get to wear a blue jacket that says "Walter" on it, just like the one Mr. Timmons wears. I'll keep it very clean and never put it on the floor of the bus where it can get dirty. I'll never leave a sandwich in the pocket, either, unless I plan to eat it that same day.
I'll get to go and pick up all of my friends on the bus. Only, we won't just go where it says on the schedule. We'll get to go wherever we want, because I will be driving! If we see a dog on the side of the road, somebody will say, "Pull over!" and I will pull over, and we will all get out and pet the dog or even take him for a ride if he wants to go. I would go fast around the corners because it makes everybody laugh when their knapsacks fall on the floor. And when we go over the railroad tracks, I won't be a slow poke and stop even though there is no train coming.
On Monday, I will drive to Hawaii, and on Tuesday, I will drive to the Super Bowl. And on all the other days, I will drive other places, too! At the end of the day, I will drive the bus back to the place where they keep all the buses at night, the place I saw when I fell asleep in the back of the bus that time. And I would get to look at all the buses in a row!
I told my teacher Mr. Reese that I want to be a bus driver. He said maybe instead I should think about working at the Walgreens or feeding animals at the pet store. I said, 'No! I want to drive the bus!' He said that maybe I should get a job cleaning the buses, which he said is a very important job because if no one cleans the buses, no one will want to ride on them. What a silly-billy! Doesn't he know what a bus driver does? He drives the bus! Being a bus driver is the only thing I want to do in the whole wide world! I can't wait!


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Get an overview of this hotelAirport hotel with complimentary high-speed WiFi
Popular property highlights
Close to airport
Located only 10 minutes away from the airport terminals, and on the west end of Blue Lagoon Business Park. This hotel is connected to over 100 retail shops and the Miami Airport Convention Center.
Complimentary airport shuttle
DoubleTree by Hilton Miami Airport Convention Center features a garden courtyard bordered by a pond with waterfalls, a heated pool and spa tub, a bar, 3 restaurants, complimentary high-speed WiFi, and roundtrip airport-shuttle service.
Flat-screen TV in rooms
Renovated in 2014, guestrooms offer contemporary, nonsmoking guestrooms with 37-inch HD LCD flat-screen TVs, pay movies, video games, and wireless Internet access for streaming.
Guest Highlights
- Good location
- Proximity to airport
- Pool
- Helpful staff
- Clean guestrooms
- Guestroom size
- Overall room comfort
DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Miami Airport & Convention Center
Hotel Amenities
Hotel Amenities
Oversized, standard and deluxe guestrooms offer plenty of luxury for guest. The fresh appearance is complemented by the contemporary, 2-story lobby welcoming guests to the hotel.
The hotel offers a fleet of complimentary, roundtrip airport shuttles, which operate 24 hours a day. In-room food service is also available 24 hours. At check-in guests get a DoubleTree Chocolate Chip Cookie as a greeting.
Relax at the Garden Courtyard, bordered by a pond with small waterfalls features and containing a temperature controlled, 50-by-30-foot pool and 8-person spa tub. A 24-hour fitness center features free weights, state-of-the-art cardio-aerobic equipment, and a basketball court.
Complimentary high-speed WiFi with streaming speeds and 24-hour self-serve business center are available.
Over 172,000 square feet (15,000 square meters) of flexible conference and exposition space is available when combined with the attached Miami Airport Convention Center (MACC). Up to 3000 outdoor parking space are available (surcharge). RVs and truck parking available (surcharge).
This hotel offers express check-out.
- Breakfast available (surcharge)
- Free airport transportation
- 24-hour fitness facilities
- Free WiFi
- Conference space size (meters) - 15979
- 24-hour business center
- Conference space size (feet) - 172000
- Conference space
- Meeting rooms 50
- Outdoor pool
- Spa tub
- Free newspapers in lobby
- Bar/lounge
- Limo or Town Car service available
- Multilingual staff
- 24-hour front desk
- Porter/bellhop
- Safe-deposit box at front desk
- Total number of rooms - 334
- Hair salon
- Gift shops or newsstand
- Shopping on site
- Dry cleaning/laundry service
- Television in common areas
- Elevator/lift
- Valet parking (surcharge)
- Wedding services
- Number of coffee shops/cafes - 2
- Concierge services
- Express check-out
- Full-service spa
- Cruise terminal shuttle (surcharge)
- Computer station
- Designated smoking areas
- Luggage storage
- Snack bar/deli
- Free area shuttle
- Express check-in
- ATM/banking
- Number of floors - 12
- Spa treatment room(s)
- Number of restaurants - 3
- Number of meeting rooms - 60
- Conference center
- Self parking (surcharge)
- Long-term parking (surcharge)
- RV, bus, truck parking (surcharge)
- Smoke-free property
- Spa services on site
- Year Built 1984
- Number of buildings/towers - 1
Family Friendly Amenities
- Family Hotel
- Outdoor pool
- Free Wi-Fi
- Soundproofed rooms
- Area shuttle (complimentary)
- Snack bar/deli
- Cribs/infant beds (complimentary)
Available in all rooms: Free WiFi
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi
Long-term parking (surcharge), Self parking (surcharge), Valet parking (surcharge), RV, bus, truck parking (surcharge)
Room Amenities
- Connecting/adjoining rooms available
- Free cribs/infant beds
- Room service (limited hours)
- Premium TV channels
- Video-game console
- Pay movies
- Premium bedding
- In-room climate control (air conditioning)
- Air conditioning
- Free newspaper
- Blackout drapes/curtains
- Phone
- Coffee/tea maker
- Free toiletries
- Hair dryer
- Iron/ironing board
- Desk
- Soundproofed rooms
- In-room massage available
- Daily housekeeping
- Private bathroom
- Shower/tub combination
- Rollaway/extra beds (surcharge)
- In-room safe
- Satellite TV service
- Free WiFi
- MP3 docking station
- Down comforter
- Pillowtop mattress
- Pillow menu
Where to Eat
Impressions - American and Latin cuisine is served in a casual atmosphere, featuring the Doubletree Breakfast and a lunch buffet. Entree salads and sandwiches are also available.
DoubleShot Tapas & Burgers Bar - Serving gourmet burgers, tapas, salads, and cocktails, this bar and grill provides TVs and Internet access. It is open from afternoon till midnight.
Rioja Grille - Featuring steak and seafood, this restaurant specializes in both American and Latin favorites. It is open daily for dinner.
Shepherd Artisan Coffee - Featuring Quick Bites with Gourmet Sandwiches, Salads and Fresh Pastry - famous for it's Italian coffee and European style espresso and cappuccino..
Nearby Things to Do
DoubleTree by Hilton Miami Airport Convention Center includes a heated, 50-by-30-foot swimming pool and an eight-person spa tub.
The recreational activities listed below are available either on site or near the hotel; fees may apply.
- Basketball on site
- Snorkeling nearby
- Golf lessons available nearby
Spa Services
Dreams & Beauty Salon's thoroughly trained hair professionals and hydration specialists offer a range of services that nurture clients' senses and spirit as well as their hair. The expert staff trains each client in the fundamentals of daily hair care and styling, encouraging and supporting clients to embrace and enjoy the authentic quality of each client's hair every day.
- Deep tissue massage
- Swedish massage
- Sports massage
- Number of treatment rooms 2
- Massages
- Body treatments
- Facial treatments
If you have requests for specific accessibility needs, please note them at check-out when you book your room.
- Roll-in shower
- In-room accessibility
- Accessible bathroom
Hotel Policies
Minimum check-in age is 21
Check-in time ends at 6 PM
Check-in time starts at 3 PM
Special check-in instructions:
Check-out time is noon
Payment types
Children and extra beds
- Children are welcome.
- Kids stay free! Up to 4 children 17 years old and younger stay free when using existing bedding.
- Rollaway/extra beds are available for USD 15 per day.
- Free cribs (infant beds)!
- Pets allowed for an extra charge of USD 75 per pet, per stay
- Up to 50 lb
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on property policy.
Optional extras
- Fee for buffet breakfast: USD 17.95 for adults and USD 13.95 for children (approximately)
- Self parking fee: USD 7 per day (in/out privileges)
- Valet parking fee: USD 12 per day (in/out privileges)
- Pet fee: USD 75 per pet, per stay
- Late check-out fee: USD 50
- Rollaway bed fee: USD 15 per day
Hotel Name
- DoubleTree by Hilton Miami Airport Convention Center
- DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Miami Airport Convention Center
- DoubleTree Miami Airport
- Hilton DoubleTree Miami Airport
- Miami Airport DoubleTree
- Doubletree By Hilton & Miami Airport Hotel Miami
- Doubletree By Hilton And Miami Airport Convention Center
- DoubleTree Hilton Miami Airport Hotel
We should mention
This property offers transfers from the cruise terminal (surcharges may apply). Guests must contact the property with arrival details before travel, using the contact information on the booking confirmation. Up to 4 children 17 years old and younger stay free when occupying the parent or guardian's room, using existing bedding. The property has connecting/adjoining rooms, which are subject to availability and can be requested by contacting the property using the number on the booking confirmation.


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Welcome to Experts at Laurier, a one-stop media resource featuring a broad database of experts who have agreed to make themselves available for media interviews. Contact them directly or call a media relations officer at 519-884-0710, ext. 3067 or 3070.
To search for a topic containing multiple words, please enclose the term in quotation marks, for example, "Canadian history"
Search Results
Your search returned the following Experts.
Click on the person's name for more information.
Associate Professor
Areas of Expertise: European geography; European forestry; Germany; Environmental history; Cultural, historical and human geography; Landscape and nationalism; Landscape symbolism
519-884-0710 ext.2076


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Posts Tagged 'Amanda Cazalet'
Junky Styling Junky Air and Ju.St A/W 2011 Catwalk Show Review
Junky Styling eschewed the official London Fashion Week schedule to show their A/W 2011 Junky Air and Ju.St collections on Tuesday 29th March at the Old Truman Brewery. It was bloody fabulous.
Written by Amelia Gregory
Junky Styling A/W 2011 by Olivia Rose.
This was apparently the first catwalk show that Junky Styling have staged in two years, and I'm rather ashamed to say the first that I have ever been to. On this outing I reckon it was well worth the wait. Junky Styling feature in ACOFI and were one of my favourite labels at the recent Find Your Feet ethical fashion show, putting on a strong showing with a gorgeous pink layered maxi dress.
Junky Styling air hostesses.
read more


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NCAA Football 13 – Miami Hurricanes vs Florida State Seminoles Gameplay
NCAA Football 13 gameplay featuring the Miami Hurricanes and the Florida State Seminoles. This gameplay is on Heisman difficulty on NCAA 13. I'm enjoying this game so far and would say that the strongest point of the game is Dynasty Mode. If you want to check out more NCAA 13 content go to my channel! www.youtube.com
Welcome to my series of NCAA Football 13 Road to Glory Mode. Join me as I tell wide reciever: Rick Moss's story about his legacy in the NCAA! Subscribe for more. Like if you really did, or to show support. Follow NoChainzz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/WatchNoChainzz (i follow back).
Video Rating: 4 / 5


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North Dakotans reject initiative to charge extreme animal abusers with felony
Measure 5 on the North Dakota ballot failed Tuesday. The Prevention of Extreme Cruelty to Dogs, Cats, and Horses Act proposed to make the charge a class C felony for anyone who "maliciously and intentionally burns, poisons, crushes, suffocates, impales, drowns, blinds, skins, beats to death, drags to death, exsanguinates, disembowels, or dismembers" a living dog, cat or horse.
The North Dakota Animal Stewards was formed in opposition to Measure 5. The coalition included 20 organizations, from the Milk Producers Association of North Dakota to the North Dakota Veterinary Technicians Association, according to its website. The group presented a four-point stance against the bill, claiming the measure wouldn't improve animal treatment, that it was crafted and funded by an outside organization—the Humane Society of the United States, that it would have interfered with current welfare improvement efforts by the North Dakotans for Responsible Animal Care, and that it would have impeded citizens' ability to shape animal care laws.
Supporters of the bill stood with North Dakotans to Stop Animal Cruelty. This coalition of citizens, organizations and veterinary professionals felt that current laws were too weak. According to its website, the group wanted the option to charge those involved with extreme forms of cruelty with a felony, give judges the option to require abusers to undergo psychological counseling and to prohibit future animal ownership.
The bill failed, with 65 percent of voters rejecting the measure.


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Haas UMC-750SS 5-Axis Universal Machining Centre
Haas UMC-750SS Specifications
Coldon Engineering Limited
"The Haas service is great. They always have the spares we need in stock, don't charge the earth for them, and as long as we call their service department before 4:30pm they'll get the parts to us first thing next morning. If we need a service engineer to visit they'll be here the same day or within 24hrs. I fully recommend Haas."
Greenwich University
"We're able to call the applications department for advice and they've always managed to provide us with the solutions we need, whether over the telephone or in person. Haas have given us some CNC control simulators, so our students can test their programming skills without the danger of crashing one of our real Haas machines. The training that Haas offers has proved invaluable both to students and staff."
BBR Engineering Limited
Titan Motorsport Limited
Woodbridge Engineering Limited
Headline Filters Limited
"In all cases, every possible part that could be required is shipped in for the Engineer. Any parts not required are collected the next day & are never installed unless absolutely required. This honest philosophy, together with realistically priced spare parts ans highly competent staff make the upkeep of even our older machines viable. I look forward to many more years dealing with Haas."
Member of the British Safety Council
Member of the Manufacturing Technologies Association
© 2017 Haas Automation Ltd
Website Terms & Conditions
CNC Verticals VMC & Mills | CNC Horizontals HMC | CNC Turning Centres & Lathes
CNC Rotaries & Indexers | Haas USA


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University Social Club
Studying at Cambridge
Lunch Menu
Our food is freshly cooked and great value. See our current weekday menu.
Ceroc 7.30pm - 10.30pm
Lindy Hop 7.30pm - 11.30pm
Tai Chi 1.15pm - 1.45pm
Salsa 7.30pm - 10.30pm
Tai Chi 6pm - 7.30pm
Tango 'La Felena' 8pm - 10.30pm
Salsa 8pm - late
Kizomba 7pm - 1am
© 2017 University of Cambridge
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Investigative conservation journalist Shawn Heinrichs seeks to combine powerful stories with captivating images to reach millions and mobilize them to action.
©2017 Asia Society | Privacy Statement | About AsiaSociety.org | Terms & Conditions | Sitemap | Contact
Asia Society takes no institutional position on policy issues and has no affiliation with any government. All views expressed in its publications and on its website are the sole responsibility of the author or authors.


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Basecamp, the project management and collaboration suite from 37 Signals, is no exception. It offers a lean, manageable menu of extras created by third-party developers for everything from mobility to analytics to backup. The trick, of course, is picking the right ones based on your needs and use cases.
In an email interview, Nick Narodny, cofounder and SVP of business training at Grovo, shared four of his must-have Basecamp extras. (If you need a crash course in how to use Basecamp, Grovo offers a half-dozen online training videos free of charge.) We tacked on a few more for good measure.
"Absolutely necessary for anyone with an iPhone [who] needs to access Basecamp projects on the go," Narodny said. Rappel is more expensive than some other apps for Basecamp, but according to Narodny, the $9.99 price tag is well worth it for heavy iPhone users. "Rappel offers the full functionality of the Basecamp on the Web, plus the speed and simplicity of a well-designed mobile app."
[ What IT trends do you expect to see for small and midsize businesses this year? See 7 SMB Technology Predictions For 2013. ]
UpcomingTasks offers a mobile alternative for users who don't want to pony up for a paid app, or for the legions who use Android devices. "Also a great option for the Basecamp user on the go, UpcomingTasks is a super-simple way to check Basecamp tasks from any mobile device," Narodny said. "It's free to use and it's not limited to Apple products."
With growing demand for easy-to-use methods of slicing and dicing large piles of data, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the "Reporting, Charts, Planning" category of Basecamp extras is the most robust. Narodny likes EasyInsight for its ability to produce highly visual reports. The EasyInsight platform also works with other popular cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services, Google, and Zendesk.
"If you're a visually oriented person, or if you [simply] need reporting features from your Basecamp projects, EasyInsight is a great addition," Narodny said. "Once you've connected [the two applications], EasyInsight can build graphs and charts based on the information in your Basecamp account."
Integration is the name of the cloud game for many organizations. Zapier integrates Basecamp with more than 140 other online apps, including Evernote, Facebook, Google Apps, WordPress and Yammer. "Zapier connects Web-based services together so you can create automated tasks from one service to another," Narodny explained. "For example, if you want to create a Basecamp task each time you get an email with a particular label, you can connect Basecamp with Gmail and build the formula. Or, if you've got big files shared with others in your Basecamp account, you can use Zapier to sync a Dropbox folder as a backup for those files."
To follow on the heels of Narodny's recommendations, here are three more Basecamp apps for your consideration:
We seem to focus on making sure our apps are available on the small screen -- specifically, our phones and tablets. But it's less than ideal to huddle the team around an iPhone. While still in beta, Statusboard enables you to put your Basecamp information on an office TV monitor or other large-screen display. It also includes integrations for Google Analytics and Twitter data.
Wappwolf and Yoxel
Backup and sync features are critical when managing a large quantity of documents and other data across a project team. There are several Basecamp extras for these functions, depending on which other platforms you use and what you want to sync. Wappwolf will automate backup and sync between Basecamp and Box.net, Dropbox and Google Drive. Yoxel syncs Basecamp calendars and tasks with Exchange and Google Apps.
Cloud computing, virtualization and the mobile explosion create computing demands that today's servers may not meet. Join Dell executives to get an in-depth look at how next-generation servers meet the evolving demands of enterprise computing, while adapting to the next wave of IT challenges. Register for this Dell-sponsored webcast now.
User Rank: Apprentice
Thu, 04/25/2013 - 04:26
As a long time Basecamp user I find that it's team scheduling abilities are a little weak. As a result I've been using Workstack (www.workstack.me) to help me schedule my team's tasks on a single calendar view.
User Rank: Apprentice
Mon, 07/22/2013 - 07:34
I agree with you Spencer. As long as I have been a basecamp user, I found it's great for collaboration and project tracking but it really lacks good scheduling abilities. Now I am using proofhub (www.proofhub.com) to manage my team as well as my work.
User Rank: Apprentice
Tue, 09/10/2013 - 18:11
We found that trying to use the Basecamp discussions for all communication was not very practical. To resolve this we created the Work Bins Outlook Mail for Basecamp Plugin. The purpose of the plugin is to allow users to continue using their email for communication while working on a project in Basecamp. It is a great fit for projects that involve vendors that are not and should not be users in an organizations Basecamp project. This is especially true in cases when users need to send mail to a support@ email address and have no idea who will be on the other end. In my past experience with Basecamp, IGve found that these types of emails tend to be very important to archive as a discussion so your whole team can reference them, the Work Bins plugin does that for you. The plugin also gives users a good way to categorize their emails by project to make their inbox more manageable.
The plugin was a byproduct of a larger development effort and will eventually be a part of our enterprise cloud storage platform. For now we are letting people download and use the plugin for free. Check it out at http://www.work-bins.com/produ... and please let me know what you think. I am hopeful that our plugin will make it even easier for organizations to start using Basecamp and get their employees on-board.
Network Computing
User Rank: Apprentice
Thu, 12/11/2014 - 03:03
Basecamp is one of the first and most popular Project Management tools that exist, although there are also other new and more complete solutions in terms of PM that can offer much more than a simple PM software. One of them is Comidor ( https://www.comidor.com) which is based on cloud and is a full package for every small- medium business
Network Computing
User Rank: Apprentice
Thu, 12/11/2014 - 03:33
User Rank: Apprentice
Thu, 05/04/2017 - 08:01


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Aug 21, 2012
Customer Content Specialists: What's in a Name?
- Tagged in Integrated Marketing
- Leave a Comment
When I walked into my first day at PR Newswire six years ago, I was excited to start my new job as an "Editor." The news junkie in me was thrilled that I'd be spending my days proofreading and distributing organizations' press releases to the media.
However, over the last six years, my job (along with my colleagues) has evolved to stay ahead of the constantly changing Communications industry.
Just as PR Newswire is now much more than a text wire service, I no longer perform only the duties that editors at PR Newswire once did. While we still process and proofread your press releases, our role is more about adding value to your content, helping it come alive, and increasing the visibility of your message.
This change didn't happen overnight, though. It's been a gradual evolution. As our industry has changed over the last few years, PR Newswire's editors have likewise learned how to advise you on keywords, SEO, social media, the benefits of multimedia, and other ways to deliver greater audience engagement for all of your content.
And now I'm proud to say we have a new name that truly reflects what we are capable of:
The PR Newswire Editorial team is now Customer Content Services.
Your Customer Content Specialists are here to
- help find a distribution that will gain you the results you're looking for;
- serve as a liaison between you and the audiences you want to reach by providing the know-how and technology needed to reach them;
- take an active interest in how PR Newswire can best tell your stories to the world by counseling you on communications best practices;
- and help measure and understand the success and reach of your messages.
Our editors haven't gone anywhere and you won't experience any changes in the service you have become accustomed to. Rather it was recognized that the title of 'Editor' was very limiting in what it conveys to you.
My colleagues and I can help you during every stage of the process – before, during and after each news release is distributed. From identifying how to best meet your objectives all the way through evaluating and measuring your message's overall success, Customer Content Specialists are available 24/7 (even on holidays) to provide guidance.
Although we still proof and format your press releases and are available over the phone to answer questions about your account, we are also looking at how we can optimize your messages for search engines and social media; whether a localized, national or global distribution is best; how to target your news to media or investors specific to your industry; and how to best incorporate multimedia content.
Ultimately, our job revolves around driving your – our customers' – content in a constantly changing industry, and improving the results our work together generates.
As happy as I was to be called an Editor when I first started at PR Newswire, my colleagues and I are energized by the change in our title.
And we hope you are too. By more accurately identifying ourselves as your Content Specialists, we hope you will actively take advantage of all we have to offer beyond just editing your news release.
Amanda Hicken is a Senior Customer Content Specialist in PR Newswire's Cleveland bureau. In her free time, she pens the blog Clue Into Cleveland and can be found on Twitter @ADHicken45 tweeting about comic books and the city she loves.
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