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When Mega Man 9 was released in 2008, the game freaked people out with its ability to emotionally transport thirty-something gamers back to the late 1980s. The game's graphics, music, and design choices were all straight out of the Mega Man 2 playbook, a playbook that hadn't been used much in the past 20 years. Experiencing this style of game effectively made me feel like a kid again. The design missteps of Mega Man 7 and and Mega Man 8 were erased from my mind, and my love of Mega Man was back in full force.
With that love rekindled, you'd think I'd be pretty damn excited for Mega Man 10. Problem is, I've been excited for Mega Man sequels before, and I've been burned more often than not. Despite being generally well-made games, Mega Man 3, 4, 5, and 6 were all disappointments in their own ways. It was easy to imagine that Mega Man 10 would join those four amongst my least favorite games in the series. Not only does Capcom have a track record of making less-than-stellar Mega Man games, but with Mega Man 10, they can't rely on nostalgia either. Where Mega Man 9 worked to remind me of the games I grew up with, Mega Man 10 only reminds me of... Mega Man 9, and it's a bit early to be nostalgic for 2008.
To justify the existence of Mega Man 10, the game has to do more than remind me of how much I used to love Mega Man. It needs to give me a reason to keep loving Mega Man, by outdoing the past games in the series, or, at least, equaling them.
Does the game pull off everything that's expected of it? Hit the jump to find out.
Mega Man 10 (WiiWare [reviewed], PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade)
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Released: March 1, 2010 (WiiWare) / March 11, 2010 (PSN) / March 31, 2010 (XBLA)
MSRP: 1000 Wii Points / $9.99 / 800 Microsoft Points
More than any other Mega Man game in recent (as in, twenty years recent) memory, Mega Man 10 becomes more enjoyable the more you play it. Unlike Mega Man 2 and Mega Man 9, which feel fantastic the first time you play them, but gradually get less exciting after beating them, Mega Man 10 only got more fun after the first time I finished it. Part of that has to do with the way the game is paced, but more than anything, it has to do with the need to drop one's expectations.
What does one expect from a Mega Man game? Well, the answer to that is likely to be different for everybody, but for me, I expect a game that gives me the most powerfully sweet-and-sour experience that it can. My two favorite games in the series, Mega Man 2 and Mega Man 9, both work to blast the player with as much joy as possible, through both a catchy, vibrato-packed soundtrack and a multi-colored, surprise-filled visual world. That's the sweet.
The sour comes from the death: the many, many, many kinds of death that Mega Man games are known for. Mega Man 2 and Mega Man 9 are both unafraid to kill the player. Instant deaths are commonplace, but instead of being frustrating and game-killing, the instant deaths in a Mega Man game should make the player smile and even laugh. If the game is doing its job right, the music, visuals, and design choices should be so much fun that you won't mind being forced to play through a level again. It should get more and more fun the more you play it, like a pop song that gets more catchy the more you hear it. That's what I've come to expect from a Mega Man game.
Mega Man 9 seemed to be made specifically to meet those expectations, even at the risk of alienating Mega Man non-fans. Mega Man 10 goes in the opposite direction. With its easy mode, multiple playable characters, branching levels, and fewer instant deaths, Mega Man 10 makes an effort to please those who didn't "get" Mega Man 9. By proxy, people who did "get" Mega Man 9 might be initially taken aback with how different MM10 is.
Level-specific traps and obstacles aren't as Mega Man-centric than those found in 9; the music often fails to initially impress, and most of the weapons feel a little boring on the first try. When I first got my ass kicked by the increasingly brutal ball-tossing elephants in Concrete Man's stage, or heard Tornado Man's stage music, or used Jewel Satellite to reflect back Uzi fire from a Sniper Joe in Mega Man 9, I was genuinely impressed. Those moments don't happen as often in Mega Man 10. Don't get me wrong: they still happen, but they're not as frequent. It takes a little more time to find the joy of Mega Man 10.
The soundtrack feels generally less inspired. An exception to that is Solar Man's stage theme. It doesn't sound like traditional Mega Man music, but it's still really catchy, like a chiptune crossbreed between Led Zeppelin and a the final minutes of Metallica's "One." It's immediately infectious, while most of the other songs in the game take longer to grow on you. As for the weapons, they grew on me too. I've actually found that Nitro Man's weapon is pretty amazing. Not only can you use it to launch little wheels of death down paths or straight up walls, but if you hold the button down after selecting it, you can use it to go straight up walls yourself. Level designs are also easier to appreciate after you've played them a few times. There is a particularly annoying castle mid-boss in Blade Man's stage that's actually a lot of fun to fight after you've acquired Pump Man's weapon, but you might not discover that on the first play-through.
I've also had a surprising amount of fun playing through the game again with Proto Man. At first, getting through the game with his abilities was just too hard, even for a life-long Mega Man fan like myself. Even though he's got a shield, a chargeable shot, and the ability to slide, he's still quick to die, mostly because he takes a lot more damage than Mega Man. Take three hits from a boss like Commando Man, and he's gone. That didn't work too well for me the first time through, but now that I've had some experience with the game, playing through with Proto provides both the added challenge and gameplay variety necessary to keep things feeling new. In many places, playing Mega Man 10 again with Proto Man feels like a whole new game.
If you don't like playing as Proto Man but you still want new challenges, you can always start up a game on the unlockable Hard mode difficulty. In Hard mode, enemies move faster and are placed in more challenging arrangements, and bosses have all-new attacks. It's a genuinely fresh and foreboding task to try going through the game again on the new difficulty.
Speaking of foreboding, Mega Man 10 may have my favorite final castle of all time. It doesn't have my favorite final battle of all time -- no, that spot is still held by Mega Man 2. However, everything leading up to the final battle in Mega Man 10 is pretty much perfect. The music, the boss battles, and the level design are all surprising, challenging, and joy-inducing. If you've just started playing Mega Man 10 but aren't sure if you want to keep going with it, I implore you to get through the last stages before judging the game as a whole.
Probably the greatest source of replay value in the game comes from its challenge and time attack modes. Challenge mode works a lot like the mini-levels found in Mega Man Powered Up. They do a good job of both training newcomers to the Mega Man series and giving pros extra levels to deal with. Time attack is like it was in Mega Man 9, but now you can upload video replays and your best times to online leaderboards. It's pretty damn inspiring to see some of the tricks and exploits that others have used to rush through the game's various stages. I've watched Not Sure's run-through of Blade Man's stage at least three or four times now, both to pick up techniques and for sheer entertainment value.
Overall, Mega Man 10 doesn't have as many high-water moments as Mega Man 9, but it is still consistently fun, while providing more overall content than the Mega Man games that preceded it. Though they may be disappointed with some of the music and levels, fans of Mega Man can't afford to miss Mega Man 10. The game includes a little something from every game in the original Mega Man series (including the oft-forgotten Game Boy entries), and even makes a few references to the Mega Man X games. Though it puts in more effort to convert non-fans of the series, Mega Man 10 is still 100% Mega Man. Its mix of classic Mega Man style, weird new stuff such as bosses shaped like baseballs, and multiple gameplay options should please just about everyone. The truly amazing moments are fewer and farther between this time around, but this is still a great game.
Score: 8.5 -- Great (8s are impressive efforts with a few noticeable problems holding them back. Won't astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash.)
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reviewed by Jonathan Holmes


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Sunday, February 26, 2012
Pecan Biscuits
Whew! After all the chocolate desserts that have appeared on the blog lately, I'm relieved to post a recipe for biscuits - basic, easy, breakfast-friendly, and not chocolate! This is the next recipe in my project to finish all the recipes in Dorie Greenspan's book Baking From My Home to Yours, is Sour Cream Pecan Biscuits. This recipe was the assignment for the original Tuesdays With Dorie group four years ago today.
n.o.e.'s notes:
- You can find the recipe on the post of the original host blog, Ashley of Eat Me, Delicious, here.
- Dorie's biscuits are simple enough to put together. Although you never want to overwork biscuit dough, I didn't mix the dough quite enough; it was crumbly, and floury, which you can see in the finished product.
- I used 3" cutters and gently patted the scraps together and cut them again.
- I baked up half the recipe and froze the other half for a future biscuit occasion.
- My biscuits didn't rise very high as they baked; they turned out like hockey pucks in shape - the top one pictured above is the only one that had any significant rise.
the verdict:
Although I was a little disappointed in the appearance of my biscuits, that was fleeting. Once I tasted them - warm with salted butter - I didn't really care about their (lack of good) looks. I loved the taste of these, a touch sweet and with appealing crunch from the nuts.
5 comments:
- Di said...
I'm really enjoying reading about the recipes that you're going back to. It's reminding me of how many recipes I loved early on that I've never gone back to make again. I've got to find a way to sneak some of them into the rotation. =)
- February 26, 2012 at 11:21 PM
- Leslie said...
I'm glad the flavor didn't disappoint (and enjoying them with a dab of butter is the very best). I sometimes don't knead mine enough and know it as soon as I open the oven door.
- February 27, 2012 at 9:00 AM
- Wendy (pinkstripes) said...
I don't remember these rising very much when I baked them too. I remember them being tasty though!
- February 27, 2012 at 3:27 PM
- Kayte said...
I can't make a decent biscuit to save my life. Yours looks wonderful to me...anything that rises at all looks wonderful to me! And the flavors sound really good. Maybe I should give them a go...they were made before I joined and I don't think I used them as a rewind ever...maybe so as they sound and look really good right now.
- March 2, 2012 at 1:08 PM
- TeaLady said...
I remember these and they WERE delicious. Glad you made them.
- March 4, 2012 at 8:53 PM


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UH Manoa Confucius Institute Public Lecture Series presents Peter Hessler on March 5University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Center for Chinese Studies
HONOLULU — The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Confucius Institute presents Peter Hessler as its first distinguished lecturer on March 5. Hessler is the China correspondent for The New Yorker Magazine and a nominee for the National Book Award in 2006. The free public lecture titled, "Boomtown: Life in a Chinese Factory City," will be held at 4:30 p.m. on March 5 at the Center for Korean Studies Auditorium on the UH Mānoa campus.
"Boomtown: Life in a Chinese Factory City" is an illustrated lecture on Lishui, a city in Zhejiang Province, that tracks its development over the course of a year, with a special focus on the interactions between bosses and workers, and the special culture that develops in factory towns like Lishui.
Hessler obtained his undergraduate training at Princeton University (BA, 1992), and was awarded a Rhodes scholarship to study at Oxford. He subsequently earned a second BA in English at Oxford in 1994. His connection to China was forged in 1996—1998, when, as a Peace Corps volunteer, he taught English and American literature at Fuling Teachers College in Sichuan.
Hessler is a frequent contributor to National Geographic Magazine and is also the author of the following prize-winning books:
Oracle Bones: A Journey Between China's Past and Present (2006, HarperCollins)—finalist for the National Book Award 2006; named a "Notable Book of 2006" by The New York Times and one of the year's best books by The Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, and The Minneapolis Star-Tribune; named Best Asian Book of 2006 by Time Magazine's Asian edition; translated into Chinese, German, Italian, Dutch and Portuguese.
River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze(2001, HarperCollins)—winner of the 2001 Kiriyama Prize; short listed for the 2002 Th omas Cook Travel Book Award; listed as an outstanding book of 2001 by The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times; translated into Chinese, Thai, Korean, and Hungarian.
Hessler is currently working on a third book in his China trilogy.
The Confucius Institute at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa is a part of the University's Center for Chinese Studies. For further information, contact CI-UHM co-director Dr. Cynthia Ning at 808-956-2692 or firstname.lastname@example.com.
This first event in the Confucius Institute's public lecture series is co-sponsored by UH Mānoa's Journalism Program, School of Communications, and the East-West Center.


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This week on the podcast:
With plans for a new football stadium at Candlestick Point dead in the water, urban design writer John King talks about what might happen to the development of new housing in the Hunters Point neighborhood.
Also: Is brown the new white? Tech writer Ellen Lee discusses Microsoft's recent launch of the Zune; and reporter Tom FitzGerald takes a look at the very-few-holds-barred phenomenon known as the Ultimate Fighting Championship.


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Savory Italian Sausage Strata
Total TimePrep: 25 min. + chilling Bake: 1 hour + standing
Makes12 servings
- 1 pound bulk Italian sausage
- 1 loaf sourdough bread (1 pound), cubed
- 1 jar (4-1/2 ounces) sliced mushrooms, drained
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
- 10 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 3 cups half-and-half cream
- 1 teaspoon ground mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup shredded Italian cheese blend
- In a large skillet, cook sausage over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Place bread cubes in a greased 13x9-in. baking dish. Layer with mushrooms, onions and sausage.
- In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, cream, mustard and salt. Pour over top; sprinkle with cheese. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
- Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 60-65 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. (Cover loosely with foil if top browns too quickly.) Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
- Serve immediately or before refrigerating and baking, cover and freeze casserole for up to 3 months.
- To use frozen casserole: Thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Bake according to directions.
Nutrition Facts1 piece: 414 calories, 25g fat (11g saturated fat), 242mg cholesterol, 824mg sodium, 25g carbohydrate (4g sugars, 1g fiber), 19g protein.
Recommended Video
Dec 12, 2013
Looks delicious , can't wait to try it!
Apr 3, 2013
Made this delicious dish for Easter Breakfast and it was well received. I do suggest covering the dish after 1/2 hr. so the cheese doesn't brown too much although my company enjoyed the crisp melted cheese on top as well. I made this and froze it and then took it out of the freezer on Saturday. Didn't change a thing and would make it again and again!
Mar 27, 2013
Would be good with diced ham replacing sausage.
Mar 26, 2013
I make a very similar casserole but use peeled and deveined uncooked shrimp. Mine does not use mustard but I am sure it would be very good with it added. Delicious
Dec 9, 2012
I wanted to try this recipe; but, it took 5 pages of printing to get one complete copy of this. Something is wrong with your "print copy".....no more till this is fixed.
Mar 9, 2011
Good! I used turkey sausage and added italian seasoning to it.


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Much like the debate over the financial backing of firearms manufacturers, the debate about gun control is raging, with some people advocating for stricter gun controls, while others are saying that it's not the guns that are the problem – it's about treating mental illness and how entertainment glorifies violence.
Read more of my local coverage of the issue at dailyitem.com.
I posted the question on Facebook yesterday and got a bunch of responses. Here are a few:
What's your take? Should we get tougher on guns or focus on other factors?


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Looking to make planetary exploration lemonade out of budgetary lemons, NASA says it is open to taking a quicker route to the holy grail of Mars -- learning if there is or was life there.
Citing lack of budget, the Obama administration wants to pull out from a flagship expedition with Europe to return soil and rock samples from Mars.
The point of the multibillion-dollar, multi-spacecraft campaign, slated to get under way in 2016, is to determine if Earth's neighbor has or ever had life. NASA was to provide the launches, landing system and some science instruments, among other contributions.
Even if Congress nixes a U.S. pullout from the project, it may be too late. Europe already has a new partner for the mission -- Russia.
PHOTOS: Top 10 Places To Find Alien Life
Instead of lamenting, NASA is putting together Plan B, a less expensive and perhaps faster path toward answering the age-old question about life on Mars.
"Seeking the signs of life still remains the ultimate goal," Doug McCuistion, director the Mars Exploration Program at NASA headquarters, told reporters during a conference call Friday.
"I'm hoping that in this process some ideas emerge -- and if they don't I'm going to throw some in -- to try and look at if there are things we can do in the near-term that will shortcut this long search," added NASA space science chief John Grunsfeld, a former astronaut who flew five times on the space shuttles.
WATCH VIDEO: New concepts for Mars-probing rovers would use Martian wind to move around the planet.
NASA shot for the moon during its first foray to Mars with a pair of robotic landers that conducted life-detection experiments in 1976. The general consensus is that the Viking robots did not find life, though analysis from one of the experiments is still ongoing 36 years later.
"To a certain extent, since Viking we have gone in with the assumption that Mars is currently a dead planet," Grunsfeld said.
That view is changing. Scientists have detected methane in the Martian atmosphere, which could be a sign of microbial life on the planet. The gas also could be caused by geology.
In addition, an armada of space probes dispatched over the past 15 years has provided mounting evidence that Mars was not always the cold, dry desert it is today.
Mars may even have habitable environments now, places like Newton Crater, which is one of several sites that may be touched by melted briny underground water during the warmer summer months.
NEWS: NASA's Mars Viking Robots 'Found Life'
"There is reasonable thinking that there could be life on Mars today," Grunsfeld said.
Scientists may be getting more answers soon. In August, NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, a sophisticated rover nicknamed Curiosity, is due to land in Gale Crater to look for places that would be suitable for life, or at least life as we know it. The results could impact NASA's future Mars mission planning.
"Wouldn't it be grand if Mars Science Lab images something or looks at something in Gale Crater and it gives us a stronger indication along these lines?" Grunsfelds said, referring to Mars' suitability for life.
The first part of the agency's revamped Mars exploration plan is expected this summer.
© 2012 Discovery Channel


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Archive for the 'LFTR' Category
Rethinking nuclear power.
ABC Unleashed has recently featured an article by environmentalist Geoffrey Russell; Rethinking Nuclear Power.
It's worth reading.
I like the idea of closing down uranium mines, and using existing stocks of mined uranium efficiently.
Uranium mining is far less environmentally intensive than mining coal, of course, but it's basically inevitable that all mining is fairly environmentally intensive, and it's always an appealing prospect if we can mine less material (whilst still maintaining our energy supplies and our standards of living, of course.)
I have to admit, when I first saw Geoff's claim that we could completely eliminate uranium mining, I was skeptical. So I took a more detailed look.
A nuclear reactor which is efficiently consuming uranium-238 and driving a relatively high efficiency engine (typically, a Brayton-cycle gas turbine) will require approximately one tonne of uranium input for one gigawatt-year of energy output. This high efficiency use of U-238 could be best realized something like an IFR or a liquid-chloride-salt reactor (the latter is essentially the fast-neutron uranium fueled variant of a LFTR). This figure of one tonne of input fertile fuel per gigawatt-year is also comparable for the efficient use of thorium in a LFTR.
There are about one million tonnes of already mined, refined uranium in the world, just sitting around waiting to be put to use, which is termed so-called "depleted uranium".
According to one source, the exact worldwide inventory of depleted uranium is 1,188,273 tonnes [1].
The total electricity production across the world today is about 19.02 trillion kWh [2].
Therefore, total worldwide stocks of depleted uranium, used efficiently in fast reactors, could provide every bit of worldwide electricity production for about 550 years.
That's not forever, but it's a surprisingly long time. And that's just "depleted uranium" stocks; not including the stocks of HEU and plutonium from the arsenals of the Cold War, and not including the large stockpile of uranium and plutonium that exists in the form of "used" LWR fuel.
I know some thorium proponents aren't going to like this; but there's a strong case to be made here that uranium-238 based nuclear energy has a clear advantage over thorium, simply became of these huge stockpiles of already-mined uranium, for which there exists no comparable thorium resource already mined. The 3,200 tonnes of thorium nitrate at NTS is tiny compared to the uranium "waste" stockpile, but they're both really useful energy resources which can replace the need for more mining.
Any type of breeder or burner reactor utilising 238U, or 232Th, as fuel requires an initial charge of fissile material to "kindle" it; however this requirement for fissile material is quite small; and personally, I think the inventories of HEU and weapons-grade plutonium recovered from the gradual dismantlement of the arsenals of the Cold War are perfectly suited to this purpose – destroying those weapons materials, whilst putting them to a valuable use.
Then again, with the means to completely replace the use of coal and fossil fuels in a way that requires very little or no uranium mining, I really hope the rest of the world keeps buying that iron and copper and bauxite. Alternatively, we're going to have to start developing a more technologically based economy in this country to make up the reduction in exports of these commodities – perhaps developing and selling reactor technology?
Developing uranium enrichment technology, such as SILEX, is of limited usefulness because the relatively inefficient thermal-neutron fission of 235U, and hence the need for enrichment, will not supply any large portion of world energy demand in a sustainable fashion over the long term. The small amount of 235U in nature is of limited significance, over the long term.
Alternatively, perhaps a shake up of agriculture, using extensive desalination to supply fresh water requirements, might be used to replace Australia's income from coal and uranium. I'm not sure.
Tip 'o the hat to Barry at Brave New Climate for pointing out this article.
[1]: http://www.wise-uranium.org/eddat.html
[2]: From the World Factbook, 2008 ed. (jokes about the integrity of CIA's intelligence aside…)


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Pay 'n' Spray is a spray shop/garage in which vehicles can be mended, repainted and have the engine repaired. It serves three main functions: to repair a vehicle, to change the paint color, and subsequently allow the player to lose wanted levels. The Pay 'n' Spray has been featured in all Grand Theft Auto games except GTA 2 (However, in GTA 2 there are Max Paynt garages and the two garage types' functions are almost the same). Pay 'n' Spray does not appear in GTA V, and is instead replaced by Los Santos Customs.
Vehicle Repair
Driving a damaged vehicle into a Pay 'n' Spray will repair any body damage the vehicle has incurred, and will result in a re-spray of a different color, with a few exceptions. However, emergency vehicles cannot be driven into a Pay 'n' Spray, as the player receives some variation of the message, "WHOA! I don't touch anything THAT hot!" or "No way man! I don't touch those!" The only exceptions are the VCPD Cheetah in GTA Vice City, and the FBI Car in GTA III, which is re-sprayed from black (pursuit version) to gray (road block version). In addition, bicycles weren't allowed in Pay 'n' Spray, prompting the message, "I don't do toys!"
Wanted Level Reduction
Pay 'n' Spray allows the player to rapidly lose any wanted level. Visiting a Pay 'n' Spray after incurring a wanted level results in a gradual reduction in police attention. During this probationary time period (where wanted stars flash), if any crimes are committed in view of a police officer, the full wanted level will be immediately reinstated. In GTA IV and GTA: CW, the player can only enter a Pay n' Spray when they are out of sight of the police.
In all games, respraying an undamaged or lightly damaged vehicle is often free of charge, while respraying significantly damaged vehicle costs money. Additionally, when the player is taught how to use Pay 'n' Spray in introductory missions, the visit would be free of cost. Since GTA III, respraying a repaired vehicle or a near-healthy vehicle will not cost the player any money to respray the vehicle.
- GTA 1: Cost is relative to vehicle damage and/or wanted level
- GTA Vice City: $100
- GTA San Andreas: $100 (Dating Michelle Cannes grants Carl Johnson free use of her auto repair shop).
- GTA Liberty City Stories: $100
- GTA Vice City Stories: $100 (if the Civil Asset Forfeiture Impound has been completed, the Pay 'n' Spray cost is free.)
- GTA Chinatown Wars: $200
The paint shop has a wide range of colors available, but the player may not choose which color the vehicle is been re-sprayed. In certain cases, particularly with special vehicles, the color will not change, but the police will no longer recognize the vehicle as if it had. In GTA San Andreas, custom paint jobs received from mod garages will not be removed. In GTA IV, the color is determined by the player's "favorite car color", as shown in the game stats.
Right after the vehicle is repaired, the player can receive a re-spray free in GTA Vice City, GTA Liberty City Stories and GTA Vice City Stories. If the player drives the repaired car out and back into Pay n Spray, the car receives a re-spray, and the message shows up, "Respray is complimentary" or "Hope you like the new color."
From the 3D Universe games, the respray and subsequent repair of a vehicle is near instant. However, from the HD Universe games, it will advance time by three hours, except in multiplayer, where it is free and immediate, and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (where it only takes two in-game hours) . It should be noted that if the player has arranged an activity with a friend or asking a girlfriend, going to a Pay 'n' Spray will result in missing the activity/date.
- Liberty City:
- San Andreas:
- West Glen Wood
- South West Marina
- Sout East Sunview
- East Telephone Hill
- Central Woodside
- Vice City (the shops are been known as Al's Paint Shop):
- South Banana Grove
- South West Felicity
- North East Greek Heights (unmarked on maps)
- South West Little Dominica
- North Vice Shores
GTA III and GTA Liberty City Stories
GTA Vice City and GTA Vice City Stories
- Ocean Beach
- Vice Point
- Viceport
- Little Haiti
- Little Havana (inside the Sunshine Autos garage, called Spray'n'go).
GTA San Andreas
- Los Santos
- San Fierro
- Las Venturas
- Redsands East
- The Camel's Toe (unmarked, not accessible in PC and Xbox versions, or 2nd versions of PS2.)
- Red County
- Tierra Robada
- Bone County
GTA IV + Episodes from Liberty City
- West Way, Purgatory, Algonquin
- Gibson St, Outlook, Broker
- Frankfort Ave, Northwood, Algonquin
- Hardtrack Ave, Port Tudor, Alderney (Axel's Pay 'N' Spray)
- Panhandle Rd, Leftwood, Alderney (Axel's Pay 'N' Spray)
GTA Chinatown Wars
- Chase Point, Bohan
- Hove Beach, Broker
- Willis, Dukes
- Northwood, Algonquin
- Westminster, Algonquin
- Fishmarket South, Algonquin
- Pay 'n' Spray could be a take of the phrase "Spray and Pray", which is a common expression of a execution-style killing or a full on merciless gun battle.
- If a Sea Sparrow is flown into a Pay 'n' Spray in the original PS2 version of GTA Vice City, wheels will be added to to the pontoons. The only garage big enough to fit such aircraft is the spray'n'go in the Sunshine Autos complex.
- In GTA 1, various cars, when taken to a Pay 'n' Spray in either Liberty City or Vice City, will be resprayed into unique colors that don't feature on AI driven versions of the car.
- To restore a closed Pay 'n' Spray in GTA San Andreas in Las Venturas on PC, go to data\maps\vegas folder, open vegasE.ide file with Notepad, found the 8957, vgsEspdr01, vgsegarage, 150, 128 line and replace 128 with 2176. Be aware, its use can lead to problems with sound. Make sure you have a back up for the original file.
- During the GTA IV multiplayer, the Pay 'n' Spray can be used free every single time. Using it doesn't subtract money from your online character, nor does it advance time by three hours. In addition, it will make you lose your wanted level and does change the car's colors.
- The entrance of the Pay 'n' Spray in Idlewood, Los Santos is located just in front of a ramp that leads into Los Santos' storm drain. Often if the player drives too fast and jumps on the ramp, the car will go straight into the shop.
- The ladder variant of the Fire Truck has been enabled to use the Pay 'n' Spray allowing the player to repair the vehicle.
- In GTA Chinatown Wars, if you enter the Pay 'n' Spray with a bike and hit the wall inside it, eventually falling from it, the bike will disappear, and Huang will come out on foot.
- In GTA IV, a special white-and-red version of a Coquette can be found rarely if the player resprays any Coquette (except the one for Stevie's Car Thefts).
- Buses are unable to enter Pay 'n' Sprays because of their size, however, in GTA IV, there are Two Pay 'n' Sprays that the Buses actually can use. The First being the one in Outlook, Broker. The Second in Leftwood, Alderney. However, there are no other colors other than the original green/white paintjob the Bus initially came in.
- Driving a beater variant of the Vigero, Sabre, or Emperor into a Pay N' Spray in GTA IV will result in a unique message; "This is the best I can do with this wreck". The vehicle will still be resprayed, but will still look and perform like a beater (i.e. a beater Vigero will NOT change to a regular well-kept Vigero after a trip to the Pay N' Spray. Modding the game's Pay N' Spray using a custom script, however, can allow this to happen, resulting in a much more realistic Pay N' Spray experience.)
- Despite being a law enforcement vehicle, the "policew" in TBoGT can use the Pay N' Spray, but will not be resprayed. Also, the game treats it like a normal car, when technically it should have the "This is the best I can do with this wreck" quote. However, this might have happened if the vehicle was normally obtainable, and not deleted.
- There's a glitch in GTA: San Andreas on where the pedestrian becomes invincible, to make this glitch happen you need to beat a ped and make sure he/she will try to fight back, and then drive to the pay 'n' spray and the ped will follow you inside the paint garage and then when the garage opens the ped will become lifeless but he/she will continue trying to kill you.
- Driving in any cars that are flipped over into the garage will cause the game to freeze.
- In a GTA V preview during May 2, 2013, it has been confirmed that the Pay 'n' Spray had been cut and replaced with the Los Santos Customs. It is however occasionally mentioned on Lifeinvader on the Los Santos Customs page.
See also


text:
Before you can begin working with Google Maps on iOS, you need to download the Maps SDK for iOS and ensure that you have an API key.
Complete release notes are available for each release.
Step 1: Get the latest version of Xcode
To build a project using the Maps SDK for iOS, you need:
Step 2: Install the SDK
Use CocoaPods
The Maps SDK for iOS is available as a CocoaPods pod. CocoaPods is an open source dependency manager for Swift and Objective-C Cocoa projects.
If you don't already have the CocoaPods tool, install it on macOS by running the following command from the terminal. For details, see the CocoaPods Getting Started guide.
sudo gem install cocoapods
Create a
Podfile for the Maps SDK for iOS and use
it to install the API and its dependencies:
- If you don't have an Xcode project yet, create one now and save it to your local machine. (If you're new to iOS development, create a Single View Application.)
- Create a file named
Podfilein your project directory. This file defines your project's dependencies.
- Edit the
Podfileand add your dependencies. Here is an example which includes the dependencies you need for the Maps SDK for iOS and Places SDK for iOS (optional):
source 'https://github.com/CocoaPods/Specs.git' target 'YOUR_APPLICATION_TARGET_NAME_HERE' do pod 'GoogleMaps' pod 'GooglePlaces' end
- Save the
Open a terminal and go to the directory containing the
cd <path-to-project>
Run the
pod installcommand. This will install the APIs specified in the
Podfile, along with any dependencies they may have.
pod install
Close Xcode, and then open (double-click) your project's
.xcworkspacefile to launch Xcode. From this time onwards, you must use the
.xcworkspacefile to open the project.
Install manually
This guide shows how to manually add the GoogleMaps framework to your project and configure your build settings in Xcode.
- Download the SDK source files: GoogleMaps-3.8.2.
- Unpack the source files.
- Launch Xcode and either open an existing project, or create a new project. If you're new to iOS, create a Single View Application, and disable Use Storyboards and enable Use Automatic Reference Counting.
- Drag the following bundles into your project (when prompted, select
Copy items if needed, please use the same version as above.):
Premium Plan customers must also include
- Right-click
GoogleMaps.frameworkin your project, and select Show In Finder.
- Drag the
GoogleMaps.bundlefrom the
Resourcesfolder into your project. When prompted, ensure Copy items into destination group's folder is not selected.
- Select your project from the Project Navigator, and choose your application's target.
- Open the Build Phases tab, and within Link Binary with
Libraries, add the following frameworks:
GoogleMapsM4B.framework(Premium Plan customers only)
Choose your project, rather than a specific target, and open the Build Settings tab. In the Other Linker Flags section, add
-ObjC. If these settings are not visible, change the filter in the Build Settings bar from Basic to All.
To install the Places SDK for iOS, see Get Started with the Places SDK for iOS.
Step 3: Get an API key
Follow the Get an API key guide to get, add, and restrict an API key.
Step 4: Add a map
The code below demonstrates how to add a simple map to an existing
ViewController. If you're creating a new app, first follow the
installation instructions above, and create a new Single View Application.
Now, add or update a few methods inside your app's default
ViewController to create and initialize an instance of
import UIKit import GoogleMaps class ViewController: UIViewController { override func viewDidLoad() { super.viewDidLoad() // Do any additional setup after loading the view. // Create a GMSCameraPosition that tells the map to display the // coordinate -33.86,151.20 at zoom level 6. let camera = GMSCameraPosition.camera(withLatitude: -33.86, longitude: 151.20, zoom: 6.0) let mapView = GMSMapView.map(withFrame: self.view.frame, camera: camera) self.view.addSubview(mapView) // Creates a marker in the center of the map. let marker = GMSMarker() marker.position = CLLocationCoordinate2D(latitude: -33.86, longitude: 151.20) marker.title = "Sydney" marker.snippet = "Australia" marker.map = mapView } }
#import "ViewController.h" #import <GoogleMaps/GoogleMaps.h> @interface ViewController () @end @implementation ViewController - (void)viewDidLoad { [super viewDidLoad]; GMSCameraPosition *camera = [GMSCameraPosition cameraWithLatitude:-33.86 longitude:151.20 zoom:6]; GMSMapView *mapView = [GMSMapView mapWithFrame:self.view.frame camera:camera]; mapView.myLocationEnabled = YES; [self.view addSubview:mapView]; // Creates a marker in the center of the map. GMSMarker *marker = [[GMSMarker alloc] init]; marker.position = CLLocationCoordinate2DMake(-33.86, 151.20); marker.title = @"Sydney"; marker.snippet = @"Australia"; marker.map = mapView; } @end
Run your application. You should see a map with a single marker centered over Sydney, Australia. If you see the marker, but the map is not visible, confirm that you have provided your API key.
Step 5: Declare the URL schemes used by the API
Beginning with iOS 9 and Xcode 7, apps must declare the URL schemes that they
intend to open, by specifying the schemes in the app's
Info.plist file. The
Maps SDK for iOS opens the Google Maps mobile app when the user clicks
the Google logo on the map, and your app therefore needs to declare the
relevant URL schemes.
To declare the URL schemes used by the Maps SDK for iOS, add the
following lines to your
The following screenshot shows the configuration in the Xcode user interface:
Without the above declaration, the following errors occur when the user taps the Google logo on the map:
-canOpenURL: failed for URL: "comgooglemaps://" - error: "This app is not allowed to query for scheme comgooglemaps"
-canOpenURL: failed for URL: "googlechromes://" - error: "This app is not allowed to query for scheme googlechromes"
To eliminate these errors, add the declaration to your
Info.plist as described above.
Experiment with the Google Maps SDK demo project
Try the SDK demos using one of these two methods:
Use files from GitHub
- Download the code sample archive from GitHub and unpack the archive.
- Open a terminal window, navigate to the directory where you expanded the sample files, and
drill down into the GoogleMaps directory:
cd maps-sdk-for-ios-samples-master/GoogleMaps
- Run the following command:
pod install open GoogleMapsDemos.xcworkspace
Use CocoaPods v1.6.1
- Open a terminal window and install version 1.6.1:
sudo gem install cocoapods -v1.6.1
- Fetch the Google Maps files using Cocoapods:
pod try GoogleMaps
For more details, see the guide to code samples.
Upgrade from an earlier version
Follow these instructions to upgrade an existing project to the most recent version of the Maps SDK for iOS.
If you previously installed the Maps SDK for iOS from a zip file containing a static framework:
- Remove all references to the previous framework from your Xcode project.
- Follow the instructions in the note above to install the Maps SDK for iOS using CocoaPods.
- Make any necessary changes as a result of the upgrade. See the release notes for a list of the changes in each release.
- Clean and rebuild your project by selecting Product > Clean and then Product > Build.
If you previously installed the Maps SDK for iOS from the
Google-Maps-iOS-SDK pod:
- Change your pod name to
- Run
pod install.
- Make any necessary changes as a result of the upgrade. See the release notes for a list of the changes in each release.
- Clean and rebuild your project by selecting Product > Clean and then Product > Build.
If you previously installed the Maps SDK for iOS from the
GoogleMaps pod:
- Check your
Podfilefor any version limiter, and ensure you remove or update the version to ensure you get the version you need. See the release notes for a list of version numbers.
- Run
pod update.
- Make any necessary changes as a result of the upgrade. See the release notes for a list of the changes in each release.
- Clean and rebuild your project by selecting Product > Clean and then Product > Build.


text:
It's amazing how a bottle of pills, not a bottle of hair color, can permanently and naturally get rid of your gray hair.
Sparta, NJ (PRWEB) May 24, 2012
After all the years of being blamed for Dad's gray hair, this Father's Day give Dad the best gift possible, the gift of youth by bringing back his natural hair color!
Go Away Gray, is an all-natural supplement that restores natural hair color without the use of any artificial hair dye by working within the hair follicle to stop the graying process internally.
It replaces an enzyme lost with age, called catalase. Hydrogen peroxide is the culprit behind graying hair. The catalase is able to break down the hydrogen peroxide, which stops the graying process, and allows natural hair color to come back at the root.
"Kids may make us pull our hair out, and we love to say they're at the root of our gray hair, but its cellular damage and a catalase deficiency that we need to blame," said Cathy Beggan, founder of Go Away Gray and President of Rise-N-Shine, LLC. "It's amazing how a bottle of pills, not a bottle of hair color, can permanently and naturally get rid of your gray hair. Go Away Gray is also available as a shampoo and conditioner that work synergistically with the pills for the perfect one-two punch!"
It's not too late to wow Dad this Father's Day. This potent supplement is the gift that keeps on giving, unlike tired ties, tacky t-shirts or weird gadgets. A one-month supply of "Go Away Gray" costs $29.99, or three bottles for $59.98, and can be found in select stores and online at http://www.goawaygray.net . The shampoo and conditioner are each $19.99. For millions of Dads stubbornly bucking the trend of graying gracefully, Go Away Gray makes the most thoughtful gift!
Rise-N-Shine, LLC is a New Jersey based all-natural supplement company engaged in developing and selling proprietary, targeted supplements on the basis of meeting everyday needs naturally. Founded in 2006 by Cathy Beggan, Rise-N-Shine, LLC has over twenty products designed to help people feel and look their best. # # #


text:
My Assistant
Custom Search
Normalization, Wiki Talk
Jul 3 2014, 04:43 PM
Posts: 0
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This topic is designated for discussion of the article: Normalization.
Jul 26 2015, 03:08 PM
Posts: 1,105
Joined: 26-January 14
From: London, UK
It's curious that the article is called Normalization and yet it says nothing at all about normalization. It's really just a collection of design tips which are pretty much unrelated to normalization.
Aug 20 2015, 05:18 PM
UdderAccess Admin + UA Ruler
Posts: 19,557
Joined: 27-April 02
From: Upper MI
nvogel - it is currently under consideration for merging with another Wiki post with more details about 'Normalization'
May 25 2018, 02:28 AM
Posts: 385
Joined: 3-May 17
From: France
Hi,I tried to correct a link. When I pressed "Enter" in edit mode, the page under edit showed a new line, but the preview didn't.So I tried pressing enter twice. When I saved the page, there are now ads on it, but I didn't notice any before. Sorry if I did something wrong.Ian
Custom Search
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|1st June 2020 - 07:50 AM


text:
Novo produto
Double Blue UV-C 230 volt
Aviso: Últimos itens disponíveis!
Disponível a partir de:
This Double Blue UV-C device provides clean drinking water. The water flows through the filter and is then exposed to UV-C radiation. The radiation is produced by a UV-C lamp and makes sure all viruses and bacteria will get no chance to develop themselves.
The Double Blue U-11 is a water disinfection solution combining UV-C technology and an advanced high capacity waterfilter in one housing. The unit comes with all compatible water supply adapters and is available in 12, 24, 120 and 230 volts.
The Double Blue UV-C will be delivered complete with UV-C lamp, bacteria filter and several size connectors for easy assembly
For optimal results, turn on the device a few minutes before using it or leave it on continuously
|35 x 18 x 12 cm
|Maximum poweruse when lamp on
Lifespan 5 micron filter cartridge : 3 mnd
Lifespan UV-C lamp : 8000 Hr.


text:
Microsoft's new Surface tablet looks like it could give the iPad stiff competition—but according to Bloomberg it won't be matching Apple's offering on every front. Their sources suggest that, initially at least, the Surface will only feature Wi-Fi, and no option for a mobile data connection.
According to sources "familiar with the matter", Microsoft only intends to include Wi-Fi connectivity when Surface is launched.
Maybe that's fine. After all, Wi-Fi-only tablets account for the majority of the market share right now, with most tablets being used primarily in the home—so if Bloomberg is correct, it probably wouldn't really harm Microsoft too much. It would also allow Microsoft to keeps costs low which, in turn, should mean it can pass some of those savings to the consumer.
But Surface's biggest selling point—its keyboard—squarely targets the tablet at people who need a light, portable device that can still deliver functionality on the move. That kind of use could no doubt be added to immeasurably with the inclusion of an LTE connection.
If the rumor is true, it's likely that Microsoft could follow up the initial launch model with an LTE-toting stablemate shortly afterwards. Let's wait and see. [Bloomberg]


text:
24th Annual Mopar Nationals - Coming Home
24th Annual Mopar Nationals
In an environment dominated by the hostile General Motors and his Brand-X troops, going to the Mopar Nationals is like taking refuge in a fortress, a safe haven, or comfort zone-kinda' like coming home.
Blessed with the best weather to ever grace a Mopar Nationals weekend (August 13-15), this 24th annual event held at National Trail Raceway, Columbus, Ohio, broke all previous attendance records and featured more than 3,000 cars, nearly 1,900 vendors, and close to 60,000 spectators. Chrysler enthusiasts from the four corners of the globe made the trek from all over the US, Norway, Canada, Australia, England, Germany . . . which should tell you something about the quality of this event. This year's Nats paid tribute to the Dodge Charger, always a stylistic innovator in a sea of brick-like automobiles, with many fine examples from every year of production, including the little L-body. As always, the Mopar Nationals provided something for everyone-from the judged car show, to the swap meet, F.A.S.T. class race, Manufacturers Midway, model car contest, car corral, matchbox car race (for the little Mopar enthusiasts), and loads of drag racing. Next year's 25th annual event, to be held August 12th through 14th, will pay homage to the mighty Road Runner-the original low-buck, everyman's musclecar. If you want more info, simply log onto www.moparnats.com.
What can we say about the Mopar Nationals that hasn't been said 24 times before? If you are a true Mopar aficionado, then there are no excuses not to attend this event. Besides, what's better than going home?
For more pics of the Nats, go to wwww.moparmusclemagazine.com


text:
lainie phone 1.12.18 013
Published by BuskingBohemians
Rico & Lainie Morales, with Jack & Juno (the fur babies), are musicians traveling around America, playing music & making new friends. Our blog is about our adventures on and off the road, our music, the interesting Americans we meet and interact with along the way, and any awesome ideas and discoveries we come up with that might help others on their own journeys. We will be sharing our insights with you, our entire lives—uncensored. This means you might not like our opinions, our language, our politics, or something else, but we promise, we will always be GENUINE! Follow us and join the journey!! View all posts by BuskingBohemians


text:
About Digital Consumer
Such as their original stance being Pro-SOPA?
Did you know Netflix had an original stance on SOPA and it was
Why do you think they changed their stance? Maybe fearing consumer backlash, they changed it to Neutral, then went behind closed doors to make a Superpac? Is that possible? Maybe you don't actually follow the companies history you are defending. I doubt you will admit you are wrong. I guess you have more in common with Hollywood than you thought?
So Zachary, do you know what Netflix's stance on SOPA was before the public outcry? With your posts, I would assume that you don't.
Let me explain to you about Superpacs... corporations make them so they can hide what they are doing.
Hmmm...public is against SOPA, so I will say I am Neutral, make a Superpac that will fund Pro-SOPA and then act like I did nothing of the sort, and you can't follow the trail because Superpacs are protected.
You guys defending Netflix aren't really that dumb are you? Seriously? Is streaming 9.99 a month with Netflix worth your soul?
Are you guys at Techdirt morons?
"The point here is that this struggle, between those who want to control the Internet and not merely deliver it, and those who want it to be open and un-tiered is not over. Netflix just reminded us of that fact. Yes, the company did reverse its stance on SOPA, claiming neutrality, """""after sending a letter to Congress agreeing with its spirit""""", but now it is back."
Lol I put a post farther down on this, I too would pay 20 a month for HBO only...these fricking dinasaurs don't get it.
Instead they make...12.5, or is it 4 or less dollars a subscriber? I notice there are 12-15 dollar deals for 3-4 movie channels on cable, and cable is taking their cut out of that, so what is the number they are making a sub? 2 dollars?
And I want to hand them 20 directly, and they don't want it...gg.
I would pay 20 dollars a month to subscribe to HBO alone without cable with their shows game of thrones, true blood, etc. I wouldn't even blink at the cost if it was convenient streaming from my roku or pc.
Falcon's Eye, LORD, and BRE FTW
And I understand what you are trying to say about legal language being a slippery slope between freedom and 10 years in prison, but to any rational person, they would understand this guy shouldn't be within 10 miles of children or any kind of communication with them. I believe there an indescribable amount of bad laws out there that should not be enforced, and I would cheer someone defending themselves through a loophole for those, but when a law actually works by putting a sick fuck in prison, we should all be cheering for that tiny piece of justice in the world.
Sorry Mike, I think you are from outer space on this one, and I generally agree with a majority of your articles. These creeps use every angle they can get to get at children, and just because he wasn't convicted of more charges, doesn't mean they aren't out there. I have a family member that was convicted of this stuff, and personally I think he is better off dead for the things he did to his kids. I c0-ran a BBS back in 95-96, and facebook is exactly what a bbs is(minus a BBS operator dropping into your session to chat for shits and giggles), just with more advanced options and more money. It is obviously the evolution of the old BBS software, and in any case, the courts obvious intention was to stop this guy from having any opportunity to approach children or have access to anything that would feed his sickness(which in turn endangers children). Stopping internet access from a guy like this is definitely not extreme or unreasonable, as there are very real victims at the end of the line. To be honest, even defending someone that is seeking loopholes to resume his predatory practices puts you in a bad light and undermines what I believe you are trying to do with your blogs and your site in general.
The bad company touched me on my wallet, my freedoms, and my convenience. The they asked me to drink this kool-aid, and I barely got away. I was soooo humiliated!
Every single sucker that puts money into a company that has already screwed you or someone like you deserves everything they get. Enjoy your consoles and your iGotscrewed 5.
Problems with this video.
She kept her bra on.
She didn't take her bra off.
We didn't see her assets.
Other than that, it was great!
Oh, btw, I can do a majority of those things on my android phone without breaking warranty. Have fun iSuckers;>
So I was talking to a family member the other day about the Facebook employer login issue.
She seemed to think it was okay, and I understand her single perspective, as she is a small business employer, and a bad employee can be devastating to a small business.
Unfortunately, she didn't see the big picture of how this type of entitlement from employers ties into all the other rights we are losing month by month from big corporate interests backed by big government.
What is next? Employers scheduling interviews at your house so they can see how you live? Maybe they need to interview your spouse and kids too. Maybe they need a list of ex-girlfriends and ex-wives to really get a picture of who you are.
So just like being a digital consumer, or consumer of media in general, being a job applicant is the equivalent of being a thief or potential criminal of some type, and should be treated as such.
Our whole society is getting numb to the idea of not having due process, or being considered guilty until you have fought tooth and nail to prove your innocence. Why should the innocent struggle to name themselves?
Why can the authorities not take the burden of proving guilt, as is their job? Year after year they throw out fear words such as "terrorist", "pirate", "violent criminal", and
"socialist"(see what I did thar?). With these words they strip your rights and offer you false securities.
Do you think if a terrorist that wanted to blow something up
and had millions of dollars, they would fall into these FBI traps? They keep grabbing these young angry kids who never would have had the resources to actually do anything and encourage them and offer them resources that they would not have had on their own, and when they cross the line, bam, there is another victory!
In the end though, there are no victories for the American people with these scapegoat tactics, this fear mongering. It is too the point where the only Americans willing to fight already work for the government, and we have internet activists who think that their hitting a petition button online will have any long term effect on our governments way of doing business.
I am part of the problem. I work 60 hours a week, and juggle
my 4 year old with my wife who also works full time as we barely get by, and I am unwilling to pursue my beliefs in a physical sense. I am afraid that my own cowardice will bind my son into slavery or force my son to be on the front lines
of freedom because I did not act an American should.
I do not have a comprehensive solution to our government and the claws of special interest that make our laws and steal our opportunities and our rights. I try to ignore the fear in my gut on a daily basis of the weight of our problems.
I feel guilty about the sacrifices I am not yet willing to make to shape our country. In reality, although I say America, and I say our country, I really mean our world.
In 6 months to a year, the article will read, "Police in Australia driving around arresting people with open networks".
I have the same sick feeling. I wonder if my cowardice will pave the way for my 4 year old son to be a combatant.
Errrr^lack of "u"'s....nevermind.
/wonders why hes not a stand up comedian.
Signed, Captain clueless.
Those damn wanks and their "u"'s!!!!!


text:
Try these hands-on activities designed to engage children of all ages in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) experiences.
70% of tomorrow's jobs will require STEM. nada 2067 is a national discussion to help shape the future of STEM learning to make sure nadian kids are ready.
Visit our Space page to find exciting action projects, classroom resources for every grade, cool videos, reer profiles and more.
With your support, together we n inspire the potential of a whole generation.
Give back to your community - and country - by volunteering with Let's Talk Science.
Our work environment offers our staff members positive challenges and meaningful opportunities.
Our supporters recognize that science literacy is not only relevant and important to understanding and participating in our changing world, it is fundamental to building an innovative society. Science allows us to question the world around us.


text:
In the 1980s, when thrash metal clawed its way into the music industry, many prayed for the movement's quick death. Let's just say those prayers went unanswered or were offered to the wrong rock gods. Two documentaries take different approaches to thrash metal. Both offer a folk history of how an unlikely sound came to define a decade long after the synthesizers faded.
In the 1980s, when thrash metal clawed its way into the music industry, many prayed for the movement's quick death.
Let's just say those prayers went unanswered or were offered to the wrong rock gods.
Two documentaries take different approaches to thrash metal. Both offer a folk history of how an unlikely sound came to define a decade long after the synthesizers faded.
'Get Thrashed'
"Get Thrashed: The Story of Thrash Metal," Directed by Rick Ernst. Lightyear Entertainment. Not rated. Contains violence, sexually explicit language, and drug use references.It was the 1980s, when MTV showed videos instead of reality shows, and the videos were a 24-hour onslaught of hair mousse, cutesy-pie vocals and hot pink spandex –almost always sported by men.
There was bound to be a backlash – and was there ever – as legions of hard rock fans vowed to take back the noise.
Taking their cue from the acid rock bands that dominated British and American music in the late 1960s and early 70s, they spawned a loud, aggressive, new sound.
That sound was called, "thrash," and this is its story.
"Get Thrashed" associate producer, Lee Kundrat, aka Rat Skates of seminal band, Overkill, lends authority as one who lived the thrash scene, and shared in its glories and hardships and even its tragedies.
Director Rick Ernst, who for more than 10 years worked at MTV News in New York, provides a lucid look at a genre many dismissed as music of unkempt louts (it just couldn't compete, apparently, with all the meaningfulness and Jungian symbolism of The Police.)
Some of the criticism approached hysteria, and to hear it one would never guess that other crises loomed, such as nuclear escalation, the AIDS epidemic, Apartheid in South Africa, or the Iran/Contra debacle.
The discontent simmering beneath the era's optimism was the dark muse of thrash, inspiring lyrics of rage and protest along with scary cover art and spiky-lettered logos.
With time lending objectivity, "Get Thrashed" tracks the genesis of thrash and the emergence of thrash scenes worldwide – including San Francisco, Germany and even seemingly unlikely locales such as Japan and Brazil.
Musicians weigh in, with firsthand histories of groundbreaking bands such as Metallica, Kreator, Megadeth and Exodus, and later, crossovers such as Suicidal Tendencies that brought together thrash with disparate forms such as punk and rap.
Like thrash itself, the film is fast-paced, lacking in pretense, sprinkled with vulgarities, and full of heart. For the uninitiated, it's a thorough tutorial in the subtle differences within this extended family (the inclusion of decadent hair-sprayed Motley Crue at "Headbanger's Ball" causes howls of outrage), and the peculiar ways in which rival camps influenced each other.
It's also fearless in its exploration of how thrash culture, a mostly white male phenomenon in origin, related to women and non-white artists and audience members.
There are also unflinching and anguishing accounts of the personal costs many musicians paid -- including more than one fatal on-tour accident.
Nowadays, many rock scholars, including some in the film, argue that thrash was a needed corrective in a time of teased-up silliness. The story is richly told with concert footage, music and memories that make it a must for any rock musician, pop culture historian or devoted thrash fan.
Extras include interviews and an in-depth look at the geography of thrash, with profiles of bands from various countries where the genre thrived and still has a following.
Far from a fad in a decade remembered amusingly for fads, thrash still makes itself heard – and its legacy will leave your ears ringing.
'Born in The Basement'
"Rat Skates: Born in The Basement," Directed by Lori DeAngelis-Kundrat. Kundrat Productions. Not rated. Some language, violent references.In the late 1970s, Lee Kundrat was a suburban teen who liked skateboarding and loud music.
Kundrat – also known as Rat Skates – went on to become a founding member, drummer and promoter of Overkill, one of the pioneers of the thrash metal sound and stage sensibility.
"Born in The Basement" is his personal account of how his band formed, rose, and fell away, but not before making its mark on a genre often mocked but grudgingly acknowledged for its influence.
If you are looking for a sensational look at hotel room destruction and drug-hazed decadence, you might end up longing for the cult mock documentary, "Spinal Tap."
You might anyway. Because this film, not unlike "Spinal Tap," is self-effacing, and smartly honest about what it means to risk everything for a dream.
To Kundrat, it meant, in a word, work – and, many surprising lessons.
If you want to promote your rock band, you can find ideas everywhere, even in a supermarket. (This is where he learned how to shrink-wrap by hand cassette tapes, which he recorded and assembled by hand.)
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Iron Maiden, a band Kundrat idolized, won't mind to know he even copied the design of the letter "O" from the band's logo as the first letter of his own.
Creating an image often means improvising, as milk crates take on a new life as slick looking drum risers. An equally jarring drum kit platform becomes a "dungeon" from which the lead swinger, flourishing a vampire cape, can emerge to salute rows of screaming fans.
Another crucial insight: It's not uncool to get help from family and friends. The film celebrates the support of Kundrat's parents, buddies and his wife -- Lori DeAngelis-Kundrat, who directed this film and spent many a concert night overseeing the merch table.
(The promotional material refers to "brain washing" girlfriends, but it's hard to take this at face value, as Kundrat conveys nothing but respect for the woman who has stood by him all these years and remains a creative as well as personal partner.)
For many bands in the thrash scene, there was another, not-so-silent partner: Satan.
Well, his name got dropped quite a lot and, some even argued that a certain subgenre or music with Satanic themes or sentiments stood alone from its non-Satanic counterparts.
Maybe some were sincere, maybe some just pandered to their audience; perhaps many just sought a reaction as the so-called Christian right gained a voice in public policy debates.
For his part, Kundrat said he became increasingly annoyed with overt anti-Christian imagery and messages, which he found mean-spirited and divisive.
In fact, a current that runs throughout "Born in The Basement," whether spontaneous or consciously played, is a growing alienation from peers who adore the rock lifestyle but aren't prepared to put in the effort or make the sacrifices required of a professional musician.
When the band finally lands a deal with a major label, Kundrat and his band mates find it something of a hollow victory. They've achieved some commercial success, but cringe at the changes that come with relinquishing some control.
Extras include interviews with former band mates, radio interviews, a segment from a German documentary that was never completed.
The fact that the film is largely told from one point of view means it runs the risk of appearing self-serving, and the presentation is a bit busy and distracting at times.
But "Born in The Basement" is a brisk-paced and keen insight into a movement in rock as told by one who has lived it. And, it's great fun -- with music by Overkill, The Dead Boys, Without End and other thrash pioneers and their kindred.
In a band? Want to start one? Want to do anything creative? When discouragement looms or your impetus flags, watch this and take heart. And then, get off the couch.
Margaret Smith is Arts and Calendar editor at GateHouse Media New England's Northwest Unit. E-mail her at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Wooden Shoe Display, Amsterdam
Originally uploaded by panopticon.
The picture above has absolutely nothing to do with anything I'm going to write. I just wanted to jazz up the page a little.
My common (though not exclusive) practice is to write blog entries in the evening, let them mellow overnight, and post them the next day.
This has saved me on more than one occasion from making public things I've written in the throes of depression, things so maudlin that Sylvia Plath would roll her eyes and tell me to just get the fuck over it.
Today, however, I'm spinning my wheels at the office waiting for a tech to get back to me about an annoying bug in the program I need to use.
So I'm blogging. My head is elsewhere. I've had enough of this place. My boss is absentee without explanation. I've been working overtime. They can give me five minutes of mental freedom.
It's hot in here. Sticky hot.
I work in the attic of what used to be one family's Extremely Large House or Starter-Sized Mansion (depends on your point of view).
Sounds charming, I'm sure, but my office used to be a maid's bedroom. They didn't much care in the 1890s whether the maids slept comfortably. This means that a century later, I am writing to you from a sweatbox.
In the winter, it's an icebox. Bob Cratchit would feel right at home. Actually, Bob Cratchit was better off. He had a candle on his desk. I have to hold my fingers over my Mac's exhaust vent to keep them from cramping up.
The house itself is an interesting place to work. The day I interviewed, they brought me up the servants' stairs to the third floor, and sat me down in a windowless room that had a large, prominent Have-a-Heart Trap in one corner.
"Squirrels," said the drone from Human Resources.
The ceiling was also dripping steadily into a bucket right next to my chair.
"Let me start off by showing you our department org chart..."
"I see you've been working in Web design since 1995..."
Drip. Drip.
"...and our benefits package is really excellent..."
Plunk, drip. Drip.
Why am I certain this has never happened to any of my friends who work in corporate jobs?
The walls around my desk are dormers. If I were not unusually short, every time I stood up I'd bonk my head on the ceiling. I sometimes wonder if I only got the job because I met the height requirement.
On the other hand, the walls are in such rotten shape that nobody complained when I started decorating them by taping up large prints of my photos. It looks cheerful and reduces greatly the amount of crumbling plaster that lands on my face.
Did I mention that I'm wearing a necktie today? I can hardly breathe. If I have to wear a necktie, the women I work with should have to wear girdles or at least control-top pantyhouse one size too small.
We all had to dress up because Very Important People are visiting two floors below. Mind you, it's not on my schedule to meet with or otherwise interact with any of them.
It's just that in leaving or entering the buildling, they might see us. If they saw us, and we were not in business attire, they might become enraged and banish us to the attic.
Oh, wait.


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MrCodeDude necesitaba un nuevo diseño de camiseta y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 212 diseños de 47 diseñadores freelance.
Looking for someone to design a shirt that our entire website audience could wear (both male/female, 25-55 years old). Would like the design to be contemporary, but not too grungy or busy that it is something your parents wouldn't wear.
Star Ratings:
* - Not something I like or I think can be improved upon.
** - Not something I like, but I think can be improved.
*** - Something I like, but isn't complete yet.
**** - Like the design a lot, could still use some minor improvements.
***** - Love it. Flawless, wouldn't change anything.
BFAds.net is the premiere Black Friday website on the internet. Black Friday is the Day After Thanksgiving, the day where most retailers (Walmart, Best Buy, Target, etc.) have their best sales of the year. My site catalogs every sale item in each retailer's advertisement and then advises users on which deals we think are best. In previous years we've been featured on the cover of the NY Times, in numerous newspapers (WSJ, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, etc.), and on national news television (Good Morning America, Early Show, NBC Nightly News). This year I'm hoping to get shirts produced to distribute to our visitors to help promote the site.
I plan on a black or charcoal t-shirt with either a 1 or 2 color design.
I have no idea what I want design-wise. I just know it needs to be a simple design that anyone from 25-55 could wear and not look out of place.
Feel free to incorporate any of the things associated with Black Friday into the design: long lines, crowds, shopping, money, coupons, etc. We call the people that go out and shop our "strike team," so maybe that reference could be used for a design spark.
- Must feature BFADS.NET (and optionally 2008) and/or our full URL http://www.bfads.net somewhere in the design
- Has to be a light-on-dark design
- One sided designs are preferred, but so many people have submitted 2-sided designs, I'll accept both single and double sided designs. Thanks and sorry for the confusion!
- Maximum 2 color design
- Final design must be in vector format (I only know of .ai, but I'll contact my printer to see what other formats they accept)
- No designs that extend to the sleeves or back of the shirt
- Nothing too noisy like this ( http://99designs.com/contests/12255…#entry-339 -- I love the design, but it is not something my mom would wear)
- Not a big fan of true red on a black base. Just doesn't sit with me well.


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The prophetic books bear the names of the four major and twelve minor prophets, in addition to Lamentations and Baruch. The terms "major" and "minor" refer to the length of the respective compositions and not to their relative importance. Jonah is a story about a prophet rather than a collection of prophetic pronouncements. In the Hebrew Bible, Lamentations and Daniel are listed among the Writings (Hagiographa), not among the prophetic books. The former contains a series of laments over the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. The latter is considered to be a prophetic book, though it consists of a collection of six edifying diaspora tales (chaps. 1–6) and four apocalyptic visions about the end time (chaps. 7–12). Baruch is not included in the Hebrew canon, but is in the Septuagint or Old Greek version of the Bible, and the Church has from the beginning acknowledged its sacred and inspired character.
The prophetic books contain a deposit of prophetic preaching, and several of them in addition are filled out with narrative about prophets (e.g., Is 7; 36–39; Jer 26–29; 36–45; Am 7:10–17). In ancient Israel a prophet was understood to be an intermediary between God and the community, someone called to proclaim the word of God. Prophets received such communications through various means, including visions and dreams, often in a state of transformed consciousness, and transmitted them to the people as God's messengers through oracular utterances, sermons, writings, and symbolic actions.
It would be misleading to think of these works as books in our sense of the term. While some prophecies originated as written material, prophetic activity more commonly took the form of public speaking. Prophetic discourse addressed to different audiences in different situations would, typically, be committed first to memory, then to writing, often by the prophet's followers, sometimes by the prophet himself (e.g., Is 8:1–4, 16; Jer 36:1–2; Hb 2:2). Small compilations of such pronouncements and discourses would be put together, arranged according to subject matter (e.g., pronouncements against foreign nations), audience (e.g., Jeremiah to King Zedekiah, Jer 21:1–24:10), chronological sequence (e.g., in Ezekiel generally), or by verbal association (e.g., catchwords). These units would be circulated, edited, expanded and interpreted as the need arose to bring out the contemporary relevance of older prophecies, and eventually integrated into larger collections. The titles would have been added at a later date, in some instances centuries after the time of the prophet in question.
The office of the prophet came about as the result of a direct call from God. Unlike that of the priest, the prophetic function was not hereditary and did not correspond to a fixed office. In Israel as elsewhere in the ancient Near East and Levant, there were, however, prophets (nebî'îm in Hebrew) who were employed in temples and at royal courts, and some of the canonical prophets may have started out as "professionals" of this kind. Prophecy also differed from priesthood in ancient Israel in that there were both male and female prophets. Though none of the prophetic books is named for a female prophet, Miriam (Ex 15:20) and Deborah (Jgs 4:4) played important roles at the beginning of Israel's history and Huldah (2 Kgs 22:14) toward the end. The Bible gives great importance to the call or commissioning of the prophet, which was often accompanied by visionary or other extraordinary experiences (e.g., Jer 23:21–22; Ez 1–2). In these accounts the prophetic intermediary can be represented as a messenger commissioned by the Lord as king (e.g., Micaiah in 1 Kgs 22:19–23, and Isaiah in Is 6:1–13), and therefore prophetic speech is often introduced with the form used in the delivery of a message: "thus says the Lord" or some similar formula. Sometimes the prophetic calling could be expected to involve struggle, persecution, and suffering.
While prophetic messages sometimes bore on the future, their primary concern was with contemporary events in the public sphere of social life and politics, national and international. They focus on public morality, the treatment of the poor and disadvantaged, and the abuse of power, especially of the judicial system. They pass judgment in the strongest terms on the moral conduct of rulers and the ruling class, in the belief that a society that does not practice justice and righteousness will not survive. With equal rigor, they also condemn a religious formalism that would legitimate such a society (e.g., Is 1:10–17; Jer 7:1–15; Am 5:21–24). They view international affairs, the rise and fall of the great empires, in the light of their own passionate belief in the God of Israel and the destiny of Israel. The prophets never take political and military power as absolutes. They do not preach a new morality. They are radicals only in the sense of a radical commitment to and interpretation of the religious, legal, and moral traditions inherited from Israel's past.
Prophetic speech is not, however, confined to judgment and condemnation. The prophets also exhort, cajole, encourage; they announce salvation and a good prognosis for the future. Sometimes present realities and situations shade off into, or are taken up into, a panorama of a more distant future. In many instances, too, prophetic pronouncements are developed by a cumulative and incremental editorial process into a more inclusive and total vision of a final salvation and a final judgment, with or without the presence of a messianic figure. This process is particularly evident throughout the Book of Isaiah, and played an important part in the self-understanding of early Christian churches and their interpretation of the person and mission of Jesus. For early Christianity, therefore, prophetic texts were used to describe the new reality of Christ and the church (e.g., Mt 1:23; Acts 2:14–21; Gal 4:27).
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Longtime readers know I have a slight obsession with Twinkies — not with eating them, but with grossing myself out about what's in them. To me, Twinkies symbolize the worst of American food culture — which is full of cheap, overprocessed, synthetic edible food-like substances that are strongly linked to obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
Well, apparently, CALPIRG — a nonprofit that tackles environmental and other progressive issues — feels the same way about Twinkies. The nonprofit's put together a video explaining just why Twinkies are so cheap. How could a super-processed, heavily branded, overpackaged product made with dozens of ingredients be cheaper than a carrot that can simply be pulled out of the ground?
The short answer is farm subsidies. Unfortunately, those two words that often make people's eyes glaze over — which is why CALPIRG's put together this short video to give you the skinny:
Watch it to find out why high fructose corn syrup is in so many products in supermarket aisles — and why it's so much tougher to eat well on a budget than to eat horrendously.
Want a world where carrots can compete with Twinkies on price? CALPIRG lets you easily send a letter to your senators asking to end the subsidies that make unhealthy food dirt cheap. Environmental Working Group has a Farm Subsidies Database that lets you see at a glance where all this subsidy money is going — as well as a written primer on farm subsidies if you'd like more of the nitty gritty details after watching the CALPIRG video.


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Caught On Tape: Amy Winehouse Snorting Coke Off CD Case!
UK's News of the World revealed another Amy Winehouse drug video. Courtesy of the Newsoftheworld
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
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According to a recently filed class action lawsuit, Hamilton College has a $650-$750 million endowment yet the school fails to pay athletic department interns adequately. Plaintiff Benjamin Kozik, who was employed as an intern by Hamilton from August 1, 2010 until his resignation on October 19, 2012, worked as an assistant football coach, among other positions. He was paid a flat monthly rate regardless of the number of hours worked which the complaint alleges is a violation of the minimum wage requirement laws.
At times, Kozik would work in excess of forty hours per week but was not paid time-and one-half overtime compensation. On multiple occasions, Kozik would work shifts in excess of ten hours yet he was still paid his flat rate.
Hamilton College is one of New York's oldest colleges and prides itself on a positive, enriching and fair employment practice. Kozik's lawsuit would suggest otherwise. The complaint, which was filed on December 12, 2012 in the US District Court for the Northern District of New York (12-cv-1870), seeks to recover unpaid minimum and overtime wages, spread-of-hours pay, attorneys' fees and costs, interest, and liquidated damages.


text: Pediatrics / Jill Halterman Lab The Preventive Care Program for Urban Children with Asthma The Preventive Care Program for Urban Children with Asthma is comprised of research investigators, program coordinators, project nurses, research associates, graduate students, undergraduate students, and volunteers. We are located on the third floor of the Saunders Research Building (SRB) in the Division of General Pediatrics (Pediatric Health Services Research) room 3.420. Through our unique partnership with the Rochester city schools, primary care practices, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the University of Rochester, and the Rochester community, we focus on improving health care for urban children who suffer from childhood asthma. Our goal is to develop sustainable models for identifying and treating children with this all too common disease.


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JOHANNESBURG (AP) — At least 21 miners in South Africa who were trapped by debris in an abandoned mine shaft and later rescued face charges of illegal mining, authorities said Monday.
Ten miners emerged from the mine shaft near Johannesburg on Monday, one day after emergency responders rescued a group of 11, the South African Press Association reported. The men were in good health and rescue workers handed them over to police.
Emergency workers have said some of the miners who were working illegally were reluctant to come out of the shaft because they feared arrest. The trapped miners were discovered after police patrolling in the area heard shouting beneath a mine entrance that had been blocked by a large boulder, according to local media.
"We had men who came halfway up the shaft but then turned around. Our rescue members cannot go down the shaft because it is too dangerous," the South African news agency quoted rescue worker David Tshabalala as saying.
It was unclear how many other miners were still below ground because those who have come out have not divulged information, he said. Food and water were sent down to the miners on Sunday.
"We will wait to see what the other miners that have been rescued can tell us and maybe we can negotiate with" the miners who remain underground, said Sugan Moodley, a spokesman for emergency services.
Penalties for illegal mining include fines and prison time in some cases. Illegal mining is common in South Africa, a major producer of gold and platinum.


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Ted Kennedy Jr. is planning to run for the state Senate in Connecticut.
Two people briefed on the decision said the son of the late U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts will announce on Tuesday that he intends to seek the Democratic nomination for the 12th Senatorial District. They spoke on condition of anonymity because Kennedy wants to make the announcement.
Kennedy is 52-year-old health care lawyer who lives in Branford and has been mentioned as a possible political candidate for years. He said last month he was considering running for the seat and would announce his decision within two weeks.
U.S. & World
The 12th District is represented by Guilford Democrat Edward Meyer, who is retiring. The seat represents Branford, Durham, Guilford, Killingworth, Madison and North Branford.
Kennedy has said he's been encouraged by friends and civic leaders to run for the seat.
He will make the announcement at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at James Blackstone Memorial Library Auditorium, which is located at 758 Main Street in Branford.
Kennedy's name has been floated over the years as a possible candidate for various political offices, including U.S. Senate seats in Connecticut and Massachusetts, but he has declined to run.


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Office of Data and Decision Support
Driven by Data. Enrollment Management Pulse, Faculty Data Zone, Accountability, Accreditation and more.
Continuous Improvement
The college is always working on programs and initiatives that support student success and completion, engagement with our community and a commitment to excellence.


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For those who think the NFL is inconsistent in the way it dishes out fines, here's another piece of evidence.
Texans defensive back Quintin Demps and Jaguars receiver Kevin Elliott got into a fight on Sunday, but the NFL didn't fine either one of them.
It's not clear why the scuffle didn't draw a fine (or a penalty flag). It wasn't as bad as the infamous Cortland Finnegan-Andre Johnson battle, but it was still a skirmish between two players that the referee had to step in and break up.
For all the relatively minor offenses that the NFL docks players' paychecks for — from choreographed touchdown celebrations to wearing the wrong color shoes — you'd think getting into a fight that the referee has to break up would merit some sanction. But not in this case.


text: This paper presents a new similarity measure and nonlocal filters for images corrupted by multiplicative noise. The considered filters are generalizations of the nonlocal means filter of Buades et al., which is known to be well suited for removing additive Gaussian noise. To adapt to different noise models, the patch comparison involved in this filter has first of all to be performed by a suitable noise dependent similarity measure. To this purpose, we start by studying a probabilistic measure recently proposed for general noise models by Deledalle et al. We analyze this measure in the context of conditional density functions and examine its properties for images corrupted by additive and multiplicative noise. Since it turns out to have unfavorable properties for multiplicative noise we deduce a new similarity measure consisting of a probability density function specially chosen for this type of noise. The properties of our new measure are studied theoretically as well as by numerical experiments. To obtain the final nonlocal filters we apply a weighted maximum likelihood estimation framework, which also incorporates the noise statistics. Moreover, we define the weights occurring in these filters using our new similarity measure and propose different adaptations to further improve the results. Finally, restoration results for images corrupted by multiplicative Gamma and Rayleigh noise are presented to demonstrate the very good performance of our nonlocal filters.


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Santa Clara Public LibraryHome library Menu
Holiday Book Talk: Gift Book Suggestions
Holiday Book Talk: Gift Book Suggestions
Monday, November 19, 6:30 PM - 7:45 PM, Central Park Library Redwood Room.
Jenn Ramage from Random House, Children's Librarian Erin Ulrich, and Adult Services Librarian Mary Boyle, share their recommendations for new books to read and to gift this holiday season.
There will be a free raffle - the prize is a bag of newly released books! Please provide your name and email address at the event to sign up for raffle.
The event is free and open to the public.
This event is presented by the Foundation and Friends of the Santa Clara Library in partnership with the Santa Clara City Library and Random House.
Click here for the event flyer.


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Americans love Corvettes and, unfortunately, so do a few unsavory characters. The National Insurance Crime Bureau found that, since the fiberglass two seat debuted in 1953, more than 90,000 have been stolen. That's 6 percent of the 1,526,747 'vettes ever built, or one in 10 over the past 30 years.
NICB said that before 1981, when the National Highway Traffic Safety Board standardized vehicle identification numbers industry wide, theft reporting wasn't entirely accurate. But cars were still relatively easy to steal in the early '80s. When Chevrolet took a year off from producing corvettes, built up a bunch of hype, and released a much anticipated 1984 model, GM enjoyed record sales (still unsurpassed today) of a much sought after and easy to jack sports car.
The General churned out 51,547 of the sleek new 'vettes in 1984 and, over the years, thieves have made off with 8,554 of them — nearly 17 percent. But even with blistering modern Corvette performance making the cars more desirable, better security systems have made recent models less likely to get stolen.
The old ones still get stolen but, once in a while, one makes its way home. NICB reported that a 1965 Stingray stolen in Memphis in 1970 was finally returned to its owner in 2009 after having gone through several owners in multiple states. Better late than never.
Photo credit: Associated Press


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RUB Scientists visualize for the first time simultaneous encoding of object orientation and its motion
Imaging with voltage-sensitive dye: A method to capture real-time brain dynamics
The dye incorporates in the brain cells' membrane and changes fluorescence whenever these receive or send electrical signals. Hence, high resolution camera systems allow to simultaneously capture activities of millions of nerve cells across several square millimeters across the brain.
First-time visualization of grating pattern motion across the brain surface
As a stimulus the researchers used simple oriented gratings with alternating black-white stripes drifting at constant speed across a monitor screen. These stimuli have been used for more than 50 years in visual neuroscience and still are conventionally applied in medical diagnostics. However, brain activity that signals both the grating's orientation and its motion simultaneously has not been detected so far. Such signals could now be demonstrated for the first time. Note that further computational steps including sophisticated analysis were needed before those smallest brain activity signals became visible.
Cortical mapping of object orientation
Optical imaging became state-of-the-art since it allows fine grained resolution of cortical pattern activity, so-called maps, in which local groups of active nerve cells represent grating orientation. Thereby, a particular grating orientation activates different groups of nerve cells resulting in unique patchy patterns. Their specific map layout encodes actual stimulus orientation.
Transfer of motion information through overlaid activity waves
Jancke: "Our novel imaging method furthermore captures propagating activity waves across these orientation maps. Hence, we additionally observe gratings moving in real-time across the brain. In this way, motion direction and speed can be estimated independently from orientation maps, which enables resolving ambiguities occurring in visual scenes of everyday life." The emerging spatial-temporal patterns could then individually be received and interpreted by other brain areas. To give a picture: a radio gets a permanent stream of broadcasts simultaneously. In order to listen to a particular station one has to choose only the channel to tune. For example, a following brain area might preferentially compute an object's orientation while others process its movement direction or speed simultaneously. In the future, the scientists hope to discover more of the brains real-time action when similar tools are used with increasing stimulus complexity: Naturalistic images are experienced so effortlessly in everyday life. Still it remains an intriguing question how the brain handles such complex data gaining a stable percept every moment in time.
Title Listing
Onat S, Nortmann N, Rekauzke S, König P, Jancke D (2011). Independent encoding of grating motion across stationary feature maps in primary visual cortex visualized with voltage-sensitive dye imaging. Neuroimage 55: 1763-1770. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.01.004
Editorial journalist
Meike Drießen
Press Office Ruhr University Bochum