text:
New Year's Message: From Pessimism To Optimism... And The Power Of Innovation
from the love-the-possibilities,-upset-at-the-roadblocks deptA couple months back, I had a really fascinating experience. I had two meetings in a row, each with incredibly successful content creators -- people who have embraced new business models and new technologies to amazing results, both creatively and monetarily. We were discussing the state of the entertainment industry today, as well as additional strategies for navigating what's coming next. What I found amusing, however, was how at some point, in the middle of each of those meetings, the person I was talking to sat back, laughed, and said "you're such an optimist about these things!" I was amused, since both of these individuals had already shown an ability to thrive in these new, often unchartered waters, but they still weren't completely convinced of their own success.
But the part that really struck me, was that immediately following these two meetings, I went to check on Techdirt, and was reading a series of comments about how reading Techdirt each day was making people more and more pessimistic -- what with new, more draconian copyright laws, domain name seizures, free speech violations and the like happening. And the juxtaposition of the two things struck me as odd. Yet, it seems to happen quite frequently. Just a week after those meetings, I was at the Monaco Media Forum, and I thought how nice it was that the opening of the event was entirely focused on optimism and all of the new opportunities that innovation has opened up for the media landscape. Having attended so many entertainment industry/media/policy/etc. events where most of the focus is on "the problems" or "the threats," I found that really refreshing. I mentioned on Twitter how cool it was that the conference was opening on such an optimistic note, rather than the pessimistic openings of other events. And the very first response I got back was: "look who's talking!"
And so, it seems, there's this odd dichotomy, where many people reading the site seem to feel that I'm angry or pessimistic in general, when the truth is quite the opposite (though, apparently, that only becomes clear to some people when they talk to me in person). For my last post of the year for the past two years, I've taken up similar subjects. In 2008, I wrote, On Staying Happy..., about how it was a myth that I was somehow filled with rage and angry about the world. There's so much wonderful going on, and it was excitement about all of that which keeps me happy. Last year, I expanded on that subject, in writing about Creativity, Innovation and Happiness, noting all the amazing achievements and progress made in 2009.
Once again, this year, I feel quite the same way. But I've been thinking a lot about the juxtaposition between those who think I'm extremely optimistic, and those who insist I'm extremely pessimistic -- and I think the best explanation I have goes back to a post I did in April, in which I explained how much I love seeing progress, and if I'm upset about anything, it's only about the roadblocks that get in the way of progress. I talked about the famous Louis CK video "Everything's Amazing & Nobody's Happy" where he discusses all of these amazing technological advances -- mobile phones, internet on airplanes, flying in airplanes itself -- and how people bitch and complain about it when those things don't work. Similarly, in that post, I compared two articles -- one complaining about the state of mobile phones today, and the other pointing out just how amazing it is that we have mobile phones today which are basically amazingly powerful computers in your pocket.
The point I was trying to make was that I definitely see both sides of that argument. I'm amazed every single day by some of the amazing things out there. And yet, at the same time, I'm frustrated by anything that gets in the way of making it even better. So, I'm super optimistic about innovation, and all of the possibilities out there. And I believe, quite strongly, that you cannot stop innovation -- but you absolutely can hinder it. So any "anger" that people feel, which may give them a sense of frustration and pessimism is my frustration about the roadblocks and barriers and hurdles that people throw in the way of this innovation -- either due to a misunderstanding of innovation, or through laziness and an unwillingness to change to take advantage of those new opportunities.
So, don't take the stories on Techdirt of negative things that are happening as reasons to be sad or pessimistic. Just look at them as highlighting the temporary roadblocks to innovation that need to be cleared out of the way. The faster those roadblocks are cleared, the sooner we increase that pace of innovation and there will be even more to be happy, excited and optimistic about. There will always be new roadblocks, but innovation cannot and will not be stopped.
Yes, it's frustrating to see roadblocks, corruption, monopolies and other efforts designed to hinder such innovation. It's frustrating because we know they're not necessary, and serve only to slow our own opportunities to experience great innovations. But, remain optimistic that as those roadblocks are cleared away, there will continue to be so much more that's wonderful to be optimistic about.
Filed Under: innovation, optimism, pessimism


text:
In the Bhukitta Hotel, Thai hospitality meets contemporary culture, comfort and style.
The word "Bhukitta" is the original Thai name for Phuket, and means "mountains on the horizon". This word defines the Bhukitta's style as a which integrates the spacious freedom and comfort of a contemporary boutique concept hotel with Thai hospitality, cleanliness and service.
Phuket Town's most central superior 4-star hotel, the recently-refurbished and spotlessly clean Bhukitta offers an unusual degree of comfort for its price range. The Bhukitta is a 163-room boutique hotel with a pleasantly spacious contemporary architecture and interior decor which raise this hotel above others in its class. These include two large swimming pools, room service including a reasonably-priced a la carte menu (11am to 9pm), and outstanding views over Phuket Town, the surrounding mountains, and the sea from the upper floors. All rooms are well furnished, with polished hardwood floors, comfortable Western-style twin or double beds, air conditioning, and modern en suite bathrooms with hot showers. Some ground floor rooms open directly on to the swimming pool.
Bhukitta Hotel & Spa offers 34 guests rooms, all room and let us pampers you with a
variety of accommodation options.
Deluxe Balcony
(Room size: 32 sq.m.)
Deluxe Pool View
(Room size: 35 sq.m.)
Deluxe Pool Access
(Room size: 32 sq.m.)
Food lover can fully enjoy an extensive range of local dishes in a wide variety of
regional styles: Thai & international food, Barbecue Seafood Dinner.
Discover a wonderful place to sit and enjoy to fresh seafood and relaxing
drinks in the evening.
Bhukitta Spa
We merge the traditional healing massages with sensations of the rainbow colours and Thai culture of hospitality to enhance the chakras, which is fundamental to inner harmony and health. Among the outstanding highlights is its signature treatment, "The Bliss of Thai Chakras" a specially created combination of Thai Herb's Body Scrub & Mask, aromatherapy body massage, Floral Water Body Spray and Thai Herbs Purifying Facial Spa.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
About loki_racer
Forward observers work with artillery and have nothing to do with reconnaissance (scouting as you call it).
Why exactly was it mentioned that he is a Vietnam veteran?
Shipping to APO/FPO is not the same as shipping to any other state. Legally, yes, it is, APO/FPO are considered stateside addresses. Process-wise, it's not the same. Businesses have to fill out customs forms, which require an employee visiting the post office to complete the paperwork.
Now, this is what I want to know. I order from Amazon on almost a weekly basis, and not once has there been a customs form on the outside of it for my APO address. Every other company I've ordered from has had to fill out a customs form.
Here's a little trick if they won't ship to APO/FPO. Use NY as your state. If they aren't checking zipcodes, NY is the same as APO/FPO. Test it out with something not important, but it's worked for me.
Take down your mailbox if you don't like USPS property in your yard. Problem solved.
Federal law prevents anyone but the resident or assigned USPS route employee from touching any part of the mailbox. This includes the flag, the post, the door, etc.
This isn't some government scheme to create a monopoly.
It's to stop asshats from dropping 9,000 flyers on your mailbox. If they want to mail me, buy a stamp. In my old neighborhood people would drive through the neighborhood and stuff flyers under the flag on the mailboxes. Then 10 minutes later, there would be flyers all over everyone's yards.
I worked from home and could see my mailbox from my office desk. Anytime I would see someone doing this, I would take a photo of them, print the photo, get the flyer, and stick both in an envelop marked "Deliver to Postmaster".
The postmaster then estimates the number of flyers illegally delivered and bills the person. This is a courteous. The other option is that person being tried for breaking a federal law.
I'm all about small government, but I support this law 100%.
They do NOT own mailboxes. They have laws preventing anyone but the resident and the assigned USPS employee from touching any part of the mailbox.
This isn't some government scheme to keep a monopoly. The laws are designed to stop people from opening your mailbox and/or dumping shit in it.
There be software pirate on that ship.
What I don't understand is where you quoted that from. You quoted something that hadn't been mentioned in this discussion before, so I was simply saying I don't understand where the quote came from.
I'm fairly sure you're not the brightest crayon in the box. I'm not the one arguing that a monopoly equals no competition. The author of the article claims that copyright equals government granted monopolies. I said if this were the case, then any market with a copyright involved, would only have one supplier, or a variation of supplies that had licensed the copyrighted material. Since that is the definition of a monopoly, then I have proved that copyright law does not constitute government granted monopolies.
I'm done playing round robin with you. Thanks for playing.
Quick, abandon the straw man accusations for something else.
You might want to read up on United States v. Microsoft. The case had everything to do with Microsoft using it's power in the OS market to attempt to win the browser market war. Previously Microsoft was charged by the FTC of abusing it's "OS monopoly". However, this case deadlocked and was dropped.
I have no clue what "Copyright exclude others from using what you made without paying you. You are the only one that can use that work freely. You have the monopoly over that work. And it's government issued. What's the doubt here?" is and why I need to answer it.
No. It is my opinion that if IP law were creating "gov't granted monopolies" there would only be one piece of software for each type of application.
A straw man would have been me saying this was truch and then using it to dispute the "gov't granted monopolies" statement.
By the definition of monopoly, there couldn't be competition in each market of the software world, if the author's statement were true.
I think you misunderstand what a straw man is. I haven't misrepresented any part of the author's argument. I haven't tied the author's argument to another idea, or to an indisputable idea.
Throwing out the straw man card is a cop out if you ask me.
Unfortunately it's not a straw man. The government issuing copyrights does not equal "gov't issued monopoly".
What if pigs could fly?
I agree the IP system needs to be modified, but I think it's extreme to say IP laws/lawsuits equal government issued monopoly.
I'm not new here, but I also don't buy the idea that IP laws stop companies from developing software. If this were the case, there would be one OS, one antivirus software, one email client, etc.
Blind hatred of the copyright and patent system does less to help reform those laws than doing nothing.
Which software companies have "gov't granted monopolies"? I'm not aware of any government issuing monopoly licenses to any software developer.
Txtopida - copyrighted as of......now.
Ha, I was referencing McChrystal as an example of how the military hasn't perfected mind control. Otherwise, he wouldn't be in the news. It was a poor joke.
Brainwashing and mind control are two different things in my book.
Brainwashing is making someone thing something is one way when it isn't. Mind control is a dude at a computer turning a knob to get patient x to jump rope.
I'll agree the military brainwashes recruits. I think it's the only way they are going to get the results they need/want. But they are far from mind control (see General McChrystal for a reference).
What's silly is that you are saying I said "Having said all of that, to suggest that the DOD and US military hasn't spent billions of dollars on mind control and behavior modification experimentation is silly" when I never said that.
When constructing an argument, try to use statements that are true.
Ah, so your one friend is a mirror image of what the Marine Corps is? Makes perfect sense to me.
There is a clear reason for the practices used at USMC basic training. DI's are trained to strip down civilians mentally and physically to the point that they have a fresh starting point and then build them back up to a cookie cutter of a person. The reason? So when the lead is coming down range, the response given by these Marines is generally uniform and can be relied on. These USMC DI's are considered to be the best in the world, by the way.
I'm willing to bet your buddy gainer more than he lost from his time with the Marines.


text:
Sign up now & save: Get your first month of Sling TV for just $20
News, help and discussion of Windows 10 Mobile.
HOW TO: offline update unsupported Lumias from 8.1 to latest 10586.xxx, 14393.xxx or 15063.xxx build
Use this control to limit the display of threads to those newer than the specified time frame.
Allows you to choose the data by which the thread list will be sorted.
Order threads in...
Note: when sorting by date, 'descending order' will show the newest results first.


text:
If you've known me for any amount of time, you know that my interests can get very specific, and perhaps, a little peculiar. "Perros Aguacateros" or "Chuchos Aguacateros" (Salvadoran street dogs) are a good example of this.
When I first visited El Salvador in 1999, the street dogs were one of the things that caught my eye, and won my heart.
"Why didn't you tell me you had stray dogs all over the place here?" I asked Carlos. He shrugged. It hadn't occurred to him that this would be of any interest to me, and perhaps it would be like telling someone outside the United States that we have fire hydrants – it's just something that's there, that we really don't find very interesting.
Coming from a place where seeing a dog running around on its own sends me looking for a leash to capture it so I can try to return it to its owner, the perros aguacateros of El Salvador fascinate me. I love dogs, and although I feel sad that these street dogs live without families and have to eat trash to survive, I love seeing them and photographing them, (even as locals laugh at me) – and to many people's horror – I love petting them, too.
This time when we went to El Salvador, I was really looking forward to seeing mis queridos aguacateros again, but they were fewer in numbers. I was told that the government has been making efforts to get them off the streets. It's a good thing, (although I doubt they're adopted out), and a sad thing too, because they're such an integral part of the culture.
Carlos's best friend and his son showed us around for most of our stay, and although they originally laughed at my obsession with the street dogs, they soon began pointing them out and trying to help me find them, "Tracy! Aguacatero!" … It was good therapy too, because we had to put our dog to sleep about a week before we left.
Here are my favorite shots I took of los perros aguacateros of El Salvador. (Photos of aguacateros from my 1999 trip HERE.)


text:
Google is at again. Not satisfied with disrupting the smartphone market with its first two Android software offerings, the search giant is back with a new 'Droid, this time for tablets only.
This means not only does Google have Apple's iPhone in its sights, but it's also planning to take a chunk out of the iPad market.
The newest Android release is called Honeycomb. We saw a brief demo of Honeycomb on a few tablets at CES; Google says it will roll out the whole thing later this morning.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
The look? Very smooth, with lots of opportunities for you to customize your screen by moving things around with your fingers.
Look for devices to be rolled out from the likes of Samsung, Motorola, LG, and Acer, just to name some.
We'll update the Google rollout here, and on Twitter: @scottbudman


text:
- 1 Objective
- 2 What do we do
- 3 Why FLTG?
- 4 Joining FLTG
- 5 Tasks
- 6 New i18n Features to be included for testing
- 7 CHECK-LIST for FLTG Members
- 8 Members
Fedora Language Testing Group [FLTG] is a SIG group of Fedora contributors taking care of language testing in Fedora.
Our mission is to test and review language support in Fedora and act as a bridge between translation team, i18n team and users to aid in testing languages in Fedora.
What do we do
- Test the new fedora releases for our respective languages using different test cases we have prepared.
- File the bugs and provide reference for other translators/testers.
- Add new test cases based on new bugs filed and new packages.
- Prepare the ISO for testing in consultation with the release-engineering team.
- Coordinate and conduct both i18n (with the help of Fedora i18n team) and 110n test days.
- Based on the ISO selected for testing, review the test cases.
- Keep informed the l10n team about new issues, helping them to improve the testing.
- Submit the report on test days and collect feedback from testers.
Why FLTG?
- To improve the quality of Fedora in our native languages.
- To develop more test cases for easy and planned testing.
- To help the translators/testers find the common bugs.
- To have a collective testing platform where all translators can be together and test to improve their product with less bugs and errors.
- A point of contact for all testers to get more information on testing events, test cases and common bugs.
Joining FLTG
IRC Channel
#fedora-fltg[?] on Freenode
Mailing Lists
- fltg list - Discussions about Language Testing activities, bugs filed, test cases, feedback on testing
- Mail discussions are available at FLTG Archives
Meetings are held weekly on Tuesdays, 0930 UTC.
Fedora Language Test Days
Fedora 18
- L10n/i18n Installation Test Day - Due to issues with anaconda, no installation test day was conducted for F18.
Previous Test Days
Fedora 17 **
- L10n Desktop Test Day (2012-03-07) Completed
- i18n Test Day (2012-03-14) Completed
** Note: FLTG started testing from Fedora 17 release.
Fedora 16
- L10n Desktop Test Day (2011-08-30) Completed
- i18n Test Day (2011-09-01) Completed
Fedora 15
- i18n Test Day (2011-03-03) Completed
- L10n Test Day (2011-03-08) Completed
Fedora 12
Language Bug Triage
List need to create in Bugzilla 'TODO'
New i18n Features to be included for testing
Fedora 18
Fedora 17
- Gnome Input Integration ibus
- Eekboard
CHECK-LIST for FLTG Members
This list explains the step-by-step tasks executed by the FLTG group before every testing event. Each members choose their tasks and work collectively towards making the testing event successful. To view the list click here.
- A S Alam (asa)
- Jaswinder Singh (jassy)
- Ani Peter (apeter)
- Sweta Kothari (swkothar)
- Kévin Raymond (shaiton)
- Nilamdyuti Goswami (ngoswami)
- Manoj Kumar Giri (mgiri)
- Pravin Satpute (pravins)


text:
Bret Michaels will live to rock on.
The former Poison front man and reality television star was released Thursday after an emergency appendectomy earlier this week, according to the San Antonio Business Journal.
Michaels, 47, was rushed to Christus Santa Rosa Hospital-Westover Hills in San Antonio, Texas, Sunday after complaing of severe stomach pains due to what was originally thought to be symptoms of the flu.
U.S. & World
The day's top national and international news.
Michaels was in Texas to perform for his Roses and Thorns tour at Seaworld and has rescheduled the concert for Oct. 1.


text: Vancouver beats Becks- The Province May 14, 200812:00AM PDT Previous Next Whitecaps 2 Galaxy 1 Wednesday, May 14, 2008 EDMONTON -- David Beckham gave the crowd a treat, but he couldn't deliver a victory for the Los Angeles Galaxy. The Vancouver Whitecaps posted a 2-1 victory over Beckham and the Galaxy in a friendly on Tuesday night. The match was played in front of 37,104 fans at Commonwealth Stadium, with most coming to catch a glimpse of Beckham in action. He set up the lone Galaxy goal late in the first half but the Whitecaps controlled play for much of the contest. Beckham helped the Galaxy tie the game 1-1 in the 43rd minute. He fired a long cross into the top of the box for Alan Gordon, who beat charging Whitecaps goalkeeper Srdjan Djekanovic to the ball and headed it into the open goal. Nicholas Adderly and Eduardo Sebrango, with his third of the season, scored for Vancouver. The Whitecaps took the lead in the fourth minute with a goal from Adderly, who beat Galaxy goalkeeper Josh Wicks -- a former Whitecap -- with a low shot inside his right post. The Whitecaps took a 2-1 lead in the 66th minute on a beautiful strike from Sebrango, who fired a blast past Wicks at the left post. Beckham is an international celebrity who has transcended sports. "He's amazing," said Sean Smith, who made the trip from Calgary for the game. "He's extremely good. He's one of the best players to see what's happening and anticipate the game. "Girls also think he's sexy-hot." © The Vancouver Province 2008 Previous Next


text:
One of the great challenges facing developers of business apps that run on mobile handsets is the presentation of tabular data in an area slightly larger than a business card. Presenting sufficient data at a size that is conveniently readable is a difficult task, which must be done correctly. Flub this aspect and no one will use the app, regardless of how good its other properties might be.
Fortunately Cocoa Touch, the object-oriented framework used in programming for Apple devices such as the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, provides classes that display data in a compact, tabular format. One of the classes,
UITableView, helps arrange such data into a hierarchic structure of lists, with each list presented as a table on the screen. Other supporting classes and methods enable a user to navigate easily through these tables (screens) of information. The user can then quickly drill down through a complex data set to reach the desired information.
UITableView is good at managing and displaying information, it often serves as the workhorse in data-centric applications. Unfortunately, the information on using
UITableView is scattered throughout volumes of documentation in the Apple iOS SDK. This article consolidates this information and introduces you to
UITableView and its related classes. In addition, I demonstrate how to use these classes through two example iOS apps.
Table Terminology and Types
In the abstract, table data is presented as rows of content, and the rows can be formatted in a specific style. Exactly what constitutes a row and a column though is a looser concept on mobile devices that it is on the desktop. An iOS table row is a horizontal strip of content drawn across the width of the screen. Rows are often referred to as cells, from the
UITableViewCell class that implements them. The content of a row can be a mix of text or graphics, and you can specify the row's height in points. However, because a row spans the width of the screen, a table displays only one column of information.
Rows of related content can be grouped into sections. Sections are delineated by distinctive header strip that appears at the top of each group and contains a title. An optional footer can appear below each group; it also has a title. The titles can consist of strings or graphics. Like the cells, you can specify the height of headers and footers. The entire table can also have its own optional header and footer.
iOS tables come in two styles: plain and grouped. For the plain style, a table consists of section headers, followed by rows of content displayed as lists. For example, the Mailboxes screen of the iOS Mail app demonstrates this style. For the grouped style, the sections occupy distinct screen regions, with the header and footer content appearing above and below them. The Settings app is an example of this style.
Figure 1 shows these two table styles, and indicates the sections, headers, and footers. Note that while the plain style does support footers, they are often not used.
When you first create a table, you specify its style, either directly in the code or in Interface Builder. Once set, a table's style cannot be changed.
Table rows (cells) have four predefined styles: default, style1, style2, and subtitle. These styles vary slightly in the number of built-in text fields they offer and whether an optional image is displayed. Different cell styles can appear in a table, and a cell's style can change on the fly, as driven by user actions.
Cells can also be customized to present additional text labels or images, or present controls such as sliders, buttons, and switches. For example, in Figure 1 the grouped table (right) has cells that contain a switch and a segment control.


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Welcome back to Surname Saturday on Discovering Latvian Roots!
This week I'm going to talk about compound surnames – that is, a surname formed from two words, rather than one. These are a relative rarity in Latvian surnames when it comes to names of Latvian language origin (German language origin compound surnames are more common when it comes to surnames held by Latvians). Some compound forms that are more common than others. On the other end of the spectrum, there are some that I have seen that make me think "Boy, do I want to know the story behind this one!"
The most common first elements in compound surnames that I've encountered are "jauns" and "vecs" – "young/new" and "old", respectively. As name elements, they typically drop the terminal "s". Names in this category include Jaunkalns (new hill – Liepupe, Limbaži), Jaunozoliņš (young oak [diminutive] – Suntaži), Veckalns (old hill – Limbaži, Stiene) and Vecvanags (old hawk – Vidriži). Based on the number of farm names that have similar elements, it is likely than many of these surnames originate from farm names. Additionally, as I mentioned in my post Importance of Farm Names, if two farms that are "Jaun-something" and "Vec-something" are close together, they could have common familial origins.
The most common second element I've seen is "kalns", meaning "hill" or "mountain". Being as Latvia's tallest "mountain", Gaiziņkalns, is only 312m above sea level, it does not qualify as a mountain according to most definitions I've found. As such, for Latvian names, I translate "kalns" as "hill". Examples of this name element can be found in Baltaiskalns (white hill – Skrunda), Briežkalns (stag hill – Rūjiena), Rožukalns (rose hill – Bīriņi, Limbaži, Sēļi, Turaida) and Smilškalns (sand hill – Ķoņi, Valmiera).
Sometimes given names appear as part of compound names – the most common ones I have seen are Pēteris and Brencis. Examples: Jūspēteris (your Peter – Trikāta), Vecpēteris (old Peter – Jaunjelgava) and Tiltabrencis (Brencis from the bridge – Bilska).
Now to some of the more unusual ones, that really leave me wondering! Here we have Aizvakars (yesterday – Skaņkalne), Pelēkzirnis (grey pea – Mazsalaca) and Trīstiltiņš (three bridges [diminutive] – Katvari). But the one that I really want to know the story behind is Bezbiksis (Rīga). Unless I'm interpreting it incorrectly (though I'm not sure how else it could be interpreted!), this name would mean "one without pants". My guess as to the story would be that he must have been late getting to the surname-assigning meeting in his parish and in his haste forgotten his trousers, and the estate lord would not let him forget this incident!
Do you have any unusual compound surnames to share, in any language? Or maybe a long Latvian name that you suspect might be a compound name that you would like to have looked at? Let me know in comments!


text:
April is the cruelest month. Is the September the most corrupt?
It's hard to say, given the squirrely nature of data on corruption. But it's clear that an unfortunate intersection of California's legislative and election calendars makes September a month for potential corruption and influence peddling.
Here's the problem.
U.S. & World
With the legislative session ending in late August or early September (this year it was Aug. 31), most bills go to the governor to sign during the month of September.
At the same time the governor is considering bills, the election season is in full swing. Indeed, September is now the final stretch of the election season, since a California election, in the era of the mail ballot, is no longer a day but nearly an entire month of voting, beginning in the first half of October.
So a governor must decide on bills that can be very important to moneyed interests at the same time those interests are donating to and participating in candidate campaigns and initiative campaigns of great conseqeuence to the governor.
Indeed, governors have to use the initiative process, given the inflexibility of California's system, as Gov. Jerry Brown is doing this year with Prop 30.
Brown's aides have said he will evaluate bills on the merits. But that assurance isn't enough.
Brown would be inhuman not to feel the pressure of the initiative campaign as he signs bills -- since he'll be juggling both tasks. And as a professional politician, he'd be foolish not to consider tradeoffs between signing or rejecting a bill on its merits, and making a decision that would help his much more important initiative campaign.
And even if Brown manages to keep bill signing and electoral politics completely separate, it would be almost impossible for him to avoid the perception that he might signing or not signing something to appease some important interest playing politics.
That's sure to be a problem for his initiative campaign and for voters. After all, it's hard enough to understand a complicated measure like Prop 30 on its own; it's even harder when the public debate throws in assorted bills and pensions and other issues into the mix.
So, instead of beating up the governor, we'd be wise to think hard about changing the legislative calendar, the election calendar, or both to prevent nasty collisions in the intersection that is September. One possibility would be to end the legislative session much earlier in the year -- and bring back the legislature routinely after elections to handle unfinished business. (This also might also protect August from corruption -- a dangerous time when legislators hold fundraisers and make last-minute decisions on bills at the same time).
An even better solution would be to adopt a new election calendar that separates initiatives from candidate campaigns.
Let elections for election officials take place on the normal calendar. But spread the votes on initiatives, like Brown's Prop 30, throughout the year -- maybe every month -- so that those measures are considered separately. And make sure that those initiative campaigns don't intersect with bill signing.
Otherwise, we're bound to be talking about corruption, influence -- and the possibility of same -- all September.
Lead Prop Zero blogger Joe Mathews is California editor at Zocalo Public Square, a fellow at Arizona State University's Center for Social Cohesion, and co-author of California Crackup: How Reform Broke the Golden State and How We Can Fix It (University of California, 2010).
Send us your thoughts via Twitter @PropZero or add your comment to our Facebook page.


text:
JDT Core/Null Analysis
This page discusses a proposed improvement in the static null analysis of the JDT compiler.
See also bug 186342.
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Design Space for Inter-Procedural Null Analysis
- 3 Actual Stragegy in the JDT
The static analysis of the JDT compiler detects many potential programming problems related to the null-ness of variables: dereferencing a null value (-> NPE), redundant null checks etc.
However, the current analysis is restricted to flow analysis within one method. No assumptions can be made about
- arguments flowing into a method
- return values from method calls and
- field reads.
In order to include these elements in the analysis one could either
- use whole program analysis (very expensive - not feasible for a (incremental) compiler)
- explicit contracts via an extended type system or annotations
The second option is well explored in research and some existing tools (like FindBugs) already introduce specific annotations to this end.
One could argue that advanced analysis should be left to specialized tools (like FindBugs) but having something like this in the JDT compiler should show two benefits:
- feedback is more immediate and it is available for all JDT users without installing more software
- analysis might be more precise than existing tools, because the actual flow analysis in the JDT compiler is already pretty strong (unproven claim).
Design Space for Inter-Procedural Null Analysis
This section discusses different options how tools for inter-procedural analysis could be designed. This write-up was made in preparation of designing a concrete strategy for the JDT.
Degree of Annotating
A radical approach would suggest that every reference type in the program must explicitly exclude or include the value
null. E.g.,
String would not be legal type in any declaration (local variable, field, method signature) but only
@NonNull String and
@MaybeNull String are.
This radical approach has two problems:
- it introduces vast efforts for annotating every type reference in the program
- it is very difficult to apply to intermediate variables within a method body with branches, loops etc.
E.g., the JDT compiler has no problem seeing that this is safe:
Foo foo2 = null; if ((foo != null) && foo.isOK()) foo2 = foo; else foo2 = new Foo(); foo2.bar();
In the radical approach at least two more variable were necessary: at each point where analysis finds that a value cannot be null, a new variable with a differently annotated type would be needed. By contrast, the compiler can manage these intermediate states implicitly.
Thus it seems better feasible not to strive for full proofs of the absence of runtime errors, but to focus on gradually feeding more information into the analysis in order to just detect more (instead of all) potential runtime errors already during compilation. The radical approach can be weakened in two ways:
- make annotations optional
- limit the program locations where annotations should occur (note, how this actually relates to JSR 308).
In the vein of design by contract the following locations are relevant
- method parameters (= method precondition)
- method return value (= method postcondition)
- fields (= invariant)
To truly reflect design by contract one might want to weaken the rules to
- exclude non-API methods from contracts
- but inter-procedural analysis is also relevant within a class, so annotating even private methods is useful, too.
- accept inconsistent field states in the middle of a method body (only the first read and the last write within each method would be checked)
- but such intermediate inconsistent states might be observed by concurrent executions and would make the analysis unreliable.
Generally annotations could happen in two ways:
Extended Javadoc, like:
/** * @param @nonnull input ... * @return @maybenull ... */ public String foo(String input) { ... }
Alternatively, Java 5 annotations can be used to say the same:
public @maybenull String foo(@nonnull String input) { ... }
This is where JSR 305 comes into focus which covers the issue of standardizing "Annotations for Software Defect Detection"
After a first analysis I see two problems with JSR 305:
- It has stalled, no official documents produced in 4 years, I couldn't find a proof of any activity during the last 2 years. JSR is marked as inactive, may soon be withdrawn.
- It is far more generic than what we need for this specific issue: everything is built upon a meta annotation
@TypeQualifier, it invests in supporting four states:
- unspecified (no annotation)
- @UnknownNullness (same interpretation as unspecified)
- @Nonnull
- @NullFeasible
- The rationale for @UnknownNullness is for discarding an inherited specification. I wasn't convinced that any contract could be specialized to "no contract" - when specializing an inherited contract you should be explicit what the new contract is (which must be conform to the inherited contract).
See also these slides (May 2008) by William Pugh.
The main issue with both syntaxes is the lack of standardization.
Annotations have the advantage that a CLASS retention (or perhaps even RUNTIME) would support compiling against contracts in class files, which is not easily possible with the Javadoc based approach.
Standard vs. Configuration
Once the JDT compiler officially supports any specific syntax this creates a de-facto standard which might conflict with existing and future standards (any code written against the de-facto standard might be incompatible with future tools).
Possible solutions:
- Wait for the standard annotations (which may be waiting for ever)
- Make the concrete syntax configurable
- select between Javadoc and annotation styles
- select the exact annotation classes to use (cf. bug 186342#c12).
- Do not provide a default, as not to define anything standardish
- Provide implementation as a separate "use on your own risk" plug-in
(1) doesn's look attractive to me. (2) is kind-of a workaround, carefully giving the message: we are not defining a standard, if you use this you should be prepared to change your annotations once a standard is created (automatic migration to a new standard shouldn't be so hard OTOH). (3) might be used to side-step the whole issue by saying: we're only doing technical exploration, but interested folks may still download and use this as early adopters. Technically, I would implement this using OT/Equinox :). This would be an intermediate solution (still need to download additional stuff - but works as integral part of the incremental compiler) - shouldn't be difficult to migrate into the JDT/Core once we know more about standardization.
My irrational hopes are, that once users find out how great this is, someone will step forward and declare a standard. It would be great if people have something to play with and actually see the difference.
Semantical details
I see these issues worth discussing:
- Do we need more than @Nonnull and @MaybeNull?
- How exactly do annotations interact with inheritance (should mainly just apply the rules of design by contract, actually)
- What are the defaults?
- How do field specifications interact with concurrency?
Regarding (3) I believe in "Non-null References by Default in Java: Alleviating the Nullity Annotation Burden". OTOH, for perfect freedom one could make the default configurable in a hierarchical way (see also Pugh pp. 43 ff):
- per project, package, class, method
- all public, protected, default members
- all fields / method parameters / method return values (also for convenience: signatures (param|return) / all)
bug 186342#c14 points out that finding a good default is difficult because different not-annotated library functions have different contracts (e.g: HashMap.get() -> @MaybeNull, JTable.getSelectedColumns() -> @NonNull). Thus either default would produce a lot of false positives. For solving this issue one might use more fine grained control also over 3rd-party code, like a nullity-profile, with externalized defaults and exceptions / contracts.
Actually, a nullity-profile could also be used to map existing annotations within 3rd-party code to a different annotation class.
Actual Stragegy in the JDT
By default the JDT does not support inter-procedural null analysis, however, starting with bug 186342 the JDT can be configured to use annotations for null contracts across method boundaries.
Configuring Null Annotations for the JDT
By default the JDT does not recognize any null annotations but it can be configured to do so. For this purpose three independent options exist:
- Specify the names of annotation types to be used for marking nullable vs. nonnull types.
- use this if you want to achieve compatibility with annotations defined by some other tool (or a future standard, should one be defined eventually).
- Emulate null annotation types that do not exist on the build path
- use this if you don't have any actual null annotation types or if you just want to avoid having to configure your build path for null annotations.
- Implicitly import null annotation types in every Java file
- use this if you want to use null annotations by their simple name even without a corresponding import statement in your sources.
If at least one of these options is defined / enabled, the compiler will start analysing null contracts. If "emulate" and "implicitly import" are enabled, no further preparations are required for using null annotations in your code.
Conversely, if null contracts are enabled ..
- ... without specifying annotation type names
- → the following built-in defaults will be used:
- nullable =
- nonnull =
- nullable =
- → the following built-in defaults will be used:
- ... without enabling annotation type emulation
- → the specified annotation types have to be provided on the build path (either as source or binary files).
- ... without enabling implicit annotation type imports
- → annotation types have to be imported or referenced by their fully qualified name.
Null Contracts
Once properly configured the JDT compiler supports specification and checking of null contracts. Each part of a null contract implies an obligation for one side and a guarantee for the other side.
Method Parameters
When a method parameter is specified as nullable this defines the obligation for the method implementation to cope with null values without throwing NPE. Clients of such a method enjoy the guarantee that it is safe to call the method with a null value for the given parameter.
When a method parameter is specified as nonnull all clients are obliged to ensure that null will never be passed as the value for this parameter. Thus the method implementation may rely on the guarantee that null will never occur as the value for this parameter.
Method Returns
The situation is reversed for method returns. All four cases are summarized by the following table:
|method implementation
|nullabel parameter
|may safely pass null without checking
|must check before dereference
|nonnull parameter
|must not pass null
|may use without checks
|nullable return
|must check before dereference
|can safely pass null
|nonnull return
|may use without check
|must not return null
Local Variables
Null contracts can also be defined for local variables although this doesn't improve the analysis by the compiler, because local variables can be fully analyzed without annotations, too. Here the main advantage of null annotations is in documenting intentions.
The following is an example of a program where all sides adhere to their respective part of the contract:
public class Supplier { // this method requires much but delivers little @Nullable String weakService (@NonNull String input, boolean selector) { if (selector) return input; else return null; } // this method requires nothing and delivers value @NonNull String strongService (@Nullable String input) { if (input == null) return ""; else return input.toUpperCase(); } } public class Client { void main(boolean selector) { Supplier supplier = new Supplier(); @Nullable String value = supplier.weakService("OK", selector); @NonNull String result = supplier.strongService(value); System.out.println(result.toLowerCase()); } }
- Althoug we know that toUpperCase() will never return null, the compiler does not know as long as
java.lang.Stringdoes not specify null contracts. Therefor the compiler has to raise a warning that it has "insufficient nullness information" to guarantee contract adherence.
- Null annotations for the local variables are redundant here, as the nullness information can be fully derived from the variable's initialization (and no further assignments exist).
Null Contract Inheritance
A method that overrides or implements a corresponding method of a super type (class or interface) inherits the full null contract. Its implementation will thus be checked against this inherited contract. For the sake of safe polymorphic calls, null contracts must be inherited without modification, or be redefined in the following ways:
- A nonnull method parameter may be relaxed to a nullable parameter. The additional checks have to be performed in the body of the overriding method. Callers of the super type must still pass nonnull, while callers which are aware of the sub type may pass null.
- A nullable method return (or a return with no null annotation) may be tightened to a nonnull return. The additional checks must again be performed in the body of the overriding methods. Callers of the super type still have to check for null, whereas callers which are aware of the sub type may safely assume nonnull return values.
Any overrides that attempt to change a null contract in the opposite directions will raise a compile time error.
This explicitly implies that callers only need to inspect the null contract of the statically declared type of a call target to safely assume that all runtime call targets will adhere (at least) to the contract as specified in the statically declared type, even if the runtime type of the call target is any sub type of the declared type.
The following bugzillas address future improvements of the above strategy (order roughly by priority):
- bug 334455 - UI for new preferences regarding null annotations
- bug 334457 - [compiler][null] check compatibility of inherited null contracts
- bug 331647 - [compiler][null] support flexible default mechanism for null-annotations
- bug 331651 - [compiler][null] Support nullity profiles for libraries
- bug 331649 - [compiler][null] consider null annotations for fields


text:
I'm trying to
watch curl for live feedback on HTTP tweaks. However, when I execute the command, the output is garbled with some download stats. I've tried sending
stderr to
/dev/null, to no avail.
When playing with
curl on it's own, this output seems nowhere to be found.
What am I missing?
the full command line I'm running is actually
watch --color -d "curl -I sandbox.dev | ccze", because I want colorized output. It seems that if I remove the
ccze pipe things are a little better, altough the download stats are still there.


text:
John Keats – 19th Century English Romantic Poet most famous for his poetry series of "Odes." Keats experienced periods of severe depression.
Clincal depression is a mental illness indeed, but Keats wasn't diagnosed with clinical depression. What Raphael means I think is that Keats had a lot of tragedy in his life and was prone to bouts of depression, not surprisingly, and particularly so in his last few months.
He certainly to my mind, and from personal experience, seems to have suffered some form of mental illness at particular times but no-one knows for sure.
Either way, it should not be seen as a weakness, mental illness is as serious [and sometime more] than any physical ailment and should be treated as such. I know personally what a stigma it is for me and people I've known with mental health problems.
Rant over
Yes, Saturn and Raphael, depression is not something to be ashamed of; it is an illness with definite physiological foundations. Mental illness, in general, is nothing to be ashamed of and it is not a person's "fault" if they have one. I've had too many family members (lots of depression in my family) and friends (I have a friend with schizophrenia) who have had to bear a great deal of suffering in the name of social stigma. I am all for bringing all mental illnesses "out of the closet" so that the misconceptions, fears, and prejudices surrounding them can be dispelled.
As regards Keats, evidence (from his own letters and the accounts of others) points in the direction that he suffered from bouts of depression most of his life. He often called them his "blue devils". They tended to be triggered by painful events in his life (the weeks and months just after his mother's death, the realization that Tom would die, when he learned that George was getting married and moving to America . . . those are a few times he appeared to suffer greatly from depressed moods and, I believe that the last two examples overlapped somewhat). Certainly there was no understanding back in Keats' day of mental illness as we know it. And, as he is dead and cannot be examined, no actual diagnosis can be made, but it is safe to say that he did suffer from depressed moods.
Malia wrote:Raphael,
I think that Keats's depressions were more than just "feeling down." His brothers, as well as others, testified to his dark moods--moods in which he at times contemplated suicide. His symptoms (as he, himself, described them) speak of the almost debilitating ennui that can occur with a depressive episode.
I'm sorry to hear about your eczema, Raphael. My dad has it on his elbows and it is certainly a painful condition.
I remember an acquaintance I had back in my undergrad days had it very bad on his hands and I think he felt embarrassed about it--because of the way his hands looked with the condition.
But he had such a gregarious nature--he did his best not to let his condition overpower him or become the only "mark" of who he was.
I hope you find some relief for your condition.
Raphael wrote:When I wrote *feeling down*- I did mean that, was putting it politely in respect for him. I still think they were a result of his sufferings though - a reaction to the sometimes unbearable situations and sufferings he faced. I don't think it was clinical depression ( cause unknown, possibly chemical imbalances in the brain as stated by doctors)
Raphael, clinical bouts of depression can be "triggered" by life events. In fact, a traumatic experience in life can alter a person's brain chemistry and make them more susceptible to depressive episodes. Sadly, that is what happened to my Aunt, who just died from the effects of alcoholism (brought on by depression that began from a traumatic childhood event--the suicide of her father).
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text:
The original Blade Runner Sketchbook, containing concept art for Ridley Scott's classic film, has long been out of print. But fortunately, one fan decided to put his entire copy online, so the rest of the Internet can enjoy a black-and-white journey through Rick Deckerd's dystopian future.
One of the particularly wonderful things about the Blade Runner Sketchbook, which includes commentary and art from Scott, Syd Mead, and other Blade Runner concept artists, is that it includes some items that didn't make it into the film. For example, we get a peek at the Cryo-Crypt where the Tyrell chairman is attempting to preserve his body indefinitely. As if there weren't already enough versions of Blade Runner, now we can dream up additional scenes inside this futuristic burial chamber.
Read the entire Blade Runner Sketchbook online. [via ComicsAlliance]


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There are three types of SAT II test: those you must take, those you should take, and those you shouldn't take.
* The SAT II tests you must take are those required by the colleges you are interested in.
* The SAT II tests you should take are tests that aren't required, but that you'll do well on, thereby impressing the colleges looking at your application.
* The SAT II tests you shouldn't take are those that aren't required and cover a subject you don't feel confident about.
Determining Which SAT II Tests Are Required
You'll need to do a bit of research to find out if the colleges you're applying to require that you take a particular SAT II test. Call the schools you're interested in, look at their web sites, or talk to your guidance counselor. Often, colleges require that you take the following SAT II tests:
* The SAT II Writing test
* One of the two SAT II Math tests (either Math IC or Math IIC)
* Another SAT II in a subject of your choice
The SAT II Biology is not usually required by colleges. But taking it and doing well can show a liberal arts college that you are well-rounded or a science-oriented college that you are serious about science. In general, it is a good idea to take one science-based SAT II, such as Biology, Chemistry, or Physics.
Deciding If You Should Take an SAT II That Isn't Required
There are two rules of thumb for deciding which additional test to take beyond the Writing and Math tests:
1. Go with what you know. If history is your field, a strong score on the American History test will impress admissions officers far more than a bold but mediocre effort on the Physics test.
2. Try to show breadth. Scoring well on similar subject tests such as Math, Biology, and Chemistry will not be as impressive as good scores in more diverse subjects, such as Math, Writing, World History, and Biology.
Of course, you also have to know what is considered a good score and whether or not you can get that score (or higher).
Below we have included a list of the most commonly taken SAT II tests and the average scaled score on each. If you feel confident that you can get a score that is above the average (50 points or more), taking the test will probably strengthen your college application. Please note that if you are planning to attend an elite school, you might have to score significantly higher than the national average. The following table is just a general guideline. It's a good idea to call the schools that interest you or talk to a guidance counselor to get a more precise idea of what score you should be shooting for.
Test Average Score
Writing 590–600
Literature 590–600
American History 580–590
World History 570–580
Math IC 580–590
Math IIC 655–665
Biology E&M 590–600
Chemistry 605–615
Physics 635–645
As you decide which test to take, be realistic with yourself. Don't just assume you're going to do great without at least taking a practice test and seeing where you stand.


text:
Start Slideshow
- Perdo Scattarella Los SopranosArchitect Pedro Scattarella has transformed everyday materials used in shipping and packaging into a rustic and inventive interior for a pizzeria in Barcelona. Los Sopranos restaurant is made up of shipping containers, reconstructed freight boxes and packing crates. The subtle hues of the shipping materials are offset with brightly colored chairs, and bold red tiling leading to the restaurant's brick oven.1
- Perdo Scattarella Los SopranosThe front of the pizzeria is an open kitchen, set behind a glass curtain, with the idea that passersby and customers can watch their pizza being made from scratch.2
- Perdo Scattarella Los SopranosBeyond the kitchen and counter area of the restaurant is the double-height dining room on the second floor mezzanine which overlooks the kitchen and double height covered with mis-matched shades. The dining room is lined from end to end with upcycled shipping materials, forming each wall.3
- Perdo Scattarella Los SopranosA bright red shipping container greets guests at the top of the stairs, with a shelf for a beverage display built into the side.4
- Perdo Scattarella Los SopranosPale yellow and blue shipping containers section off other areas of the dining room, creating bathrooms, private dining and storage areas. Wooden packing crates have been joined together to make shelving for oils, napkins and spices.5
- Perdo Scattarella Los SopranosSmaller corrugated shipping containers have been converted into shelving to hold the restaurant's glasses and flat ware, easily accessible to the wait staff. Giant storage signs have also been hammered out to line walls, both downstairs and leading up the staircase. The dining room is laid out in mostly communal dining, with one long rustic table on one side, joined by green and red chairs.6
- Perdo Scattarella Los SopranosThe entire interior was inspired by harbour warehouses of New York City. The reclaimed wooden crates evoke a wharf feel, and give customers a historic narrative to contemplate while they devour their savory pizzas.7


text:
Nino Ferrer en BD
Piero Ruggeri is an Italian architect, illustrator and comic artist, born in Bologna. He graduated in Architecture in Florence, now he divides his work between design projects, graphics and comics. He has attended courses in painting, comics and animation and has worked as an illustrator for advertising campaigns and fable books for Italian publishers like: EMI, EDB, White Star, Edicom and Alinea.
Corsaro Nero
As a comic book artist, Ruggeri has worked extensively with Filippo Neri. Their first book was the pantomime comic 'Steam Park' for the French editor Le Cycliste. After, he drew for the collections 'Nino Ferrer en BD' (2007), 'Charlelie Couture en BD' (2007), 'The Beatles en BD' (2008) and 'Moyen Âge - Contes Celtes' (2009) for the French publisher Petit à Petit. For the Turin publisher 001 he has worked on collections like 'Corsaro Nero' (2008) and 'Nosferatu' (2009).
Beatles en BD
Ruggeri is a teacher in Design and Furnishing Architecture at the University of Milan, participating in the organization of exhibitions in Milan, Bologna, Florence and Paris. In 1994 he established a comics course for the Art Center of Giardini Margherita and from 2004 he also teaches at the Nemo Academy of animation in Florence.
Moyen Âge - Contes Celtes


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|Body Region:
|Specific Area:
|Exercise Type:
|Equipment Used:
These exercises should only be performed after evaluation by a qualified medical professional and under their instruction. Should you experience pain or discomfort while doing an exercise, stop immediately.
Lie on your back on an exercise mat. Your knees are bent to 90 degrees and your feet are flat on the mat. Your arms are placed along your sides, flat on the mat. Curl your pelvis forward slightly and raise your pelvis in the air, attempting to create a straight line from your shoulders to your knees. You'll feel a muscular contraction in your stomach muscles and gluteal muscles. Relax and return to the starting position.


text:
Immersive art
So much better than any computer game: The world's first digital museum has opened on Odaiba, a man-made island in Tokyo Bay.
The teamLab motto is "Borderless!", and they apply it to both art and real life. The Japanese collective, which comprises 400 artists, engineers, designers, mathematicians and other creative minds, achieves this with light-space installations. Here, visitors are more than just spectators; barefoot, they immerse themselves in the digital art, practically becoming part of the installation. In June, teamLab opened their own museum in Tokyo, and in August 2019 they will also be exhibiting in Brooklyn, New York. borderless.teamlab.art


text:
all our
products are
My wife and I insist on buying chemical free products for our daughters - so of course I wouldn't have them in the products I make. Parents can feel confident that all of our products are BPA, PVC and Phthalate free.
the big softy
From New Zealand rugby to baby bibs! Lance's knowledge of product design and manufacturing began years ago while working in London for a well-known gift/novelty company. After launching their U.S. operations while living in New York, the native Kiwi moved to Colorado, along with his wife. Fatherhood soon followed, and with the birth of his two beautiful daughters, his conversations changed from rugby to bibs and all things baby.


text:
Things to See and Do in Moscow
Visits (12497)
Despite having business meetings every day I was here in Moscow, I managed to do a bit of sightseeing. June is a good month to visit Russia, as there are nearly 18 hours of daylight to see things. Some things are outdoors, and not constrained to normal business hours.
Near my hotel, the [Crowne Plaza at the World Trade Center], was a cute little park called "Ulista 1905 Goda". It is always nice to see large cities set aside space for nature. There were plenty of park benches to sit and enjoy. The word Ulista simply means "Street" in Russian language, and 1905 refers to the year of historical importance.
The [1905 Russian Revolution] was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. It included worker strikes, peasant unrest, and military mutinies, including sailors aboard the battleship Potemkin. Alexander Adrianov became Moscow's first official mayor. The revolution led to the establishment of the State Duma of the Russian Empire, the multi-party system, and the Russian Constitution of 1906, ending the reign of Nicholas II, the last Tsar of Russia.
Walking from my hotel towards the direction of the Kremlin, I managed to find the [Old Arbat street], which has been around since the 15th century. This was considered a prestigious area of town, home to many artists, academics and politicians. Today, it is pedestrian-only, no cars allowed, with various souvenir shops and restaurants.
This is [Saint Basil's Cathedral], on the [Red Square]. This is officially The Cathedral of the Protection of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat, but there is no longer any moat.
There is a lot to see around the Red Square to see. The [Kremlin] is a walled castle with an [Armoury Chamber] and various other cathedrals and government buildings to see inside. A ticket for the Armoury Chamber will set you back 700 rubles (about 22 bucks). [Lenin's Masoleum] is free of charge, but only open for three hours on weekdays, from 10:00am to 1:00pm, so plan accordingly.
Returning back to the hotel from the event venue on Wednesday, I walked past the [Cathedral of Christ the Saviour] on my way to the Kropotskinskaya subway station. It is actually across the river from the Red Square. Built in 1860, it is considered the tallest Orthodox church in the world at 344 feet. The domes are electroplated in gold.
I found the taxis to be ridiculously expensive here in Moscow, so I took to the subway instead. If fellow filmmaker John Waters can [hitchhike across the state of Ohio], I can certainly be adventurous and ride the Moscow Metro.
The Moscow Metro is second most used rapid transit system in the world (the first being the one in Tokyo). As a result, the subway can get quite crowded, but I found being squashed into a carload of Russian supermodels to be quite tolerable. The price is a bargain at only 28 rubles per ride (less than a dollar), with unlimited transfers.
While the Metro is a great way to get around the city, it is also a destination in itself, as the system was built in 1935 and has historical architectures that you can only see underground. At the [Ploshchad Revolyutsii station], for example, there is a whole collection of bronze statues of men and women in different work roles. For the statue of the frontier guard, many people rub the dog's nose for good luck that it has become bright and shiny.
Dispel quickly the notion that you need to eat traditional Russian food while in Moscow. A bowl of Borsch (a watery soup made from beets) and a plate of Beef Stroganof set me back 50 bucks! Apparently, restaurants know that only tourists ask for "traditional Russian food", so the prices are set accordingly.
I had to find less expensive eats to stay within my per diem meal limits. Where do the locals eat? Russia is a modern country, with plenty of Burger King, Wendy's, Baskin Robbins, Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks.
No visit to any foreign country would be complete without at least eating one meal at McDonald's. Before working for IBM, I did software engineering for McDonald's, so as a former employee, I try to visit at least one McDonald's in every country. They have restaurants in over 120 countries, so I have a ways to go yet.
A meal consisting of a "Royal" quarter-pounder with cheese, large fries and a Coke was only 214 rubles, less than seven dollars. The meat patty was medium rare, just like I make at home. You just can't get that in the States where everything has to be overcooked to avoid food-bourne illnesses. The fries were a bit over-salted, but the Coke struck just the right balance of syrup and carbonation.
Moscow is home to many museums and art galleries. The [State Tretyakov Gallery] focuses on sculptures and oil paintings from Russian artists, named after a Russian merchant who dontated his collection to get it started.
Plan a good two hours to see everything. There were many guided tour groups when I was there, which slowed me down getting through the large crowds of old people.There were over 50 rooms, with subject matter ranging from portraits, ships, and buildings, to piles of dead bodies in battle scenes. I especially liked the unique styles of [Mikhail Vrubel] and [Vasily Vereshchagin]. In many of the rooms, there were laminated placards in large-type English that explained the pieces on display.
My last stop was the [Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU)]. This served two purposes. First, it is situated up on a hill so that you can see a great view of the rest of the city. Second, there were street vendors selling souvenirs, including the ever-popular [Matryoshka dolls], military hats, keychains, and refrigerator magnets.
In other countries, I have found going to the movies as an interesting way to see the locals in action. Foreign movies are shown here in their original language, with either Russian subtitles for the locals or headphones to hear the Russian dubbed audio track. Sadly, I did not have time to do that this week. This poster, depicting the latest Disney movie "Brave", indicates that it opens this weekend.
As always, from a sightseeing perspective, I try to leave a few things un-done, so I have reason to come back. If you know of any other exciting things to see or do in Moscow, please put that in the comments below so that I can consider it for my next trip! I would like to thank my IBM Russia colleagues Rimma Vladimirova and Sunil Bagai for their suggestions and assistance.
technorati tags: Moscow, Russia, Arbat, Kremlin, Saint Basils, Red Square, Moscow Metro, McDonalds, Armoury, Lenin, Masoleum, John Waters, Tretyakov, Disney


text:
By Kay S. Pedrotti
[email protected]
If there is no saving the Lamar County Activity Center, then all the iconic buildings in the local black community will have lost their venerable grandmother.
The Thrift Store at the Lamar County Activity Center will move out of the facility, a prospect neither the operators nor customers favor, said Mildred Barber, manager. Shown on the day they were told a move was imminent are Samanda Westbury, Beverly Phinazee, Barber, Judy Lambert, and Amanda Westbury. The store sales benefit programs in the county for children and seniors "and there will be some that wouldn't make it without us," said Amanda Westbury.
Activity Center closed down
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Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Bitter? Well, a little....
Well, really, you don't need to worry so much about Fizzy. The truth is, I kind of like my job. It's not perfect. You're not going to catch me and my job alone in a closet doing unspeakable things (I worry about some of you, really), but I'm quite satisfied. For starters, I don't work weekends. I sometimes really help people. I have a lot of flexibility. I can eat lunch or go to the bathroom any time I want. (I'm not joking. This is huge.) There's a lot of room for career growth and research. If someone told me I'd still be working at the same place 20 years from now, I'd be pretty happy. Like they say in Office Space, it would be nice to have that kind of job security.
So your next question is undoubtedly, "But Fizzy, you're always whining and moaning. If you're happy, why don't you just shut the hell up already?"
Well, that's a good question, although quite rudely phrased. It's sort of like this: say you spent the whole day cleaning your giant house. It sucks but then when it's done, maybe you can finally relax. Except you can't relax because you pulled a muscle in your back and have excruciating pain for the next several weeks. It's sort of like that.
I wish I could say that my training sucked and now it's over, thank god. Except it's not so simple.
All right, my pre-clinical years were not great. My school had a failure rate of something like 10%, which meant that 10% of the class actually had to repeat an entire year. That puts a lot of pressure on you, especially when you're in the midst of a bad break-up and some family medical issues. But I was used to studying hard, so while it was bad, it wasn't that bad. The clinical years were when I started to fall apart. Some people simply don't like waking up at 4AM and working 27 days of the month. Some people start to physically deteriorate. I was in the latter category. I've always had a pretty low energy level (which would explain my impending obesity) and I really struggled with the physical demands of clinical work (e.g. sleep deprivation, standing in place for eight hours, etc.). It was pretty bad, but I got through it.
It was intern year that really got me though. It changed my conception of myself, and not in a particularly positive way.
For starters, my first resident as an intern was a cruel bitch who tore me down on my first day and continued to bat me down every time I tried to recover. (You can read more about her cruelty here.) People like her over the course of my training really brought down my confidence in myself. But it wasn't just that.
I'm a typical oldest child in that I always feel this compulsive need to be responsible. I'm not Type A, but when you ask me to get something done, you can bet it will get done and at least a day early. In school during group projects, I was always the one who quietly did everyone else's work while they slacked off. I am extremely reliable and organized and always have been. Except I discovered during my intern year that after 2AM on a call night, I wasn't particularly reliable. I'm not going to elaborate further, except to say that I'm not proud of my behavior on some of my call nights. (I will at least say that absolutely no harm whatsoever came to any patients.)
That was part of why I switched residencies, in order to have a more regular schedule. Leaving my residency was the most drastic thing I'd ever done in my life, very unlike me, but I was horrified that I couldn't trust myself during call-heavy ward months. I don't think of myself as prone to depression, but I became desperately miserable that year. I was recently reading a journal I kept during intern year, and I wrote one very serious-sounding entry where I said that I wished a car would run me down on my walk to work the next day.
So that's my story. Years later, I still have negative thoughts about myself due to those early years of training. I have trouble thinking of myself as the old reliable person I always was, despite three extremely successful subsequent years of residency. And some of the physical ailments I developed under the extreme stress of my early training still haunt me. But I guess in some ways, I got off easy. One of my colleagues attempted suicide during intern year.
Some of you have applauded me for my honesty and this about as honest as I can get. I don't know how common my experience was, but I've learned it's more common than I thought. I was, after all, a very average intern, as my shocked program director told me when I informed him I couldn't take anymore. I suspect there are people reading this now who feel the same way I did, have in the past, or will in the future.
20 comments:
Fizzy, I thank you for your honesty. I really loathe the culture of medical training sometimes. I am hoping work hour rules will do something to help, but it won't get rid of those really awful residents.ReplyDelete
Here's to the light at the end of your tunnel. I can almost see...wait, no, I can't see mine yet.
The Industrial Supply Company From Hell (where I worked for 3 years prior to medical school) was a lot like this. I am desperately afraid that residency will be a repeat. On the other hand, at least as a resident they won't make me clean under the conveyor belt when orders get slow. For a year.ReplyDelete
I am someone that really does better with a normal amount of sleep as well.
And for the record, the whole wanting to get hit by a car thing? Felt that way during 90% of my Ob/Gyn rotation, for the sole reason that the residents were 90% psycho bitches. That's right: MEAN BITCHES (take that Candace). And that's the least offensive term I could come up with.
- AnonymousJanuary 26, 2011 at 8:59 AM
I love your post, Fizzy. Please keep writing!!! <3ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJanuary 26, 2011 at 9:10 AM
Fizzy - thank you for your honesty, Medical training is cruel. I was on call with guy intern who cried every call night.. I feel bad I could not comfort him as I had to do work for the two of us while he was crying. He later developed retinal detachment, took 2 weeks off and was ruthlessly critisized by his intern peers for having 2 week "vacation" on their expense. I cried on average once a year in my residency training, form physical emotional exhaustion since I had to work 36 hour shifts without any sleep and could not push myself physically or mentally anymore. Suicide rates among women doctors are the highest in the country. Because you will more often than not end up in bad environment after your training, plus family, plus rasing kids, or spouse, or parents issues. I thank you for your posts about bad MD jobs, I had 2 bad ones and on my 3rd and happy. My last job I witnessed a woman collegue rash out of the exam room, down the hallway exclaiming on top of her lungs "Damn this place, they do not respect doctors here" only this was a stronger expression. We doctors work harder than most, have less and less respect from our patients, more and more abuse from our bosses/practice owners/institution leaders and yet we are expected to say ... we love our jobs...thats where people break down, because they do not feel they can "love" this life. I am in a happy environment now and like you hope for another 20 years. So lets breathe a sigh of relief.ReplyDelete
Fizzy - Your post reminds me of this particularly horrible rotation I had as an intern. The fellow was mean and wouldn't help me when I asked for help with a patient and the admit orders, as well as the plan of care. The fellows on service complained that I couldn't stay awake for the 30 hour shifts, and my program director even suggested that I get my thyroid function checked because I couldn't stay up for 30 hours!!!! I subsequently discovered how indispensable coffee is for keeping awake starting from 2am onwards during on call days. That was the only way I survived calls. (When I was breastfeeding I would pump bags that were labeled "Lots of caffeine!")ReplyDelete
Thank goodness it's all over. I really did not like residency. I don't see why it's a necessary rite of passage to have such ridiculous hours and such a demeaning hierachy in order to learn to be a doctor. So I do approve of all these recent changes and IOM recommendations. But that's a topic of discussion for another day.
Thanks again for your honesty Fizzy. I really enjoy your "controversial" posts and appreciate your ability to say the things that so many of us are thinking.ReplyDelete
Your comments about responsibility really stuck a cord with me. I too have a compulsive need to be responsible and found that when extremely stressed and sleep deprived my reliability dropped off. Luckily I've found that out in medical school and will choose my specialty accordingly!
Keep writing and keep up your cartoons, you have a real talent!
- AnonymousJanuary 26, 2011 at 5:16 PM
I think we all have these stories. I came into med school thinking surgery but my horrible rotation put that out of my mind quickly. I guess I came out less traumatized because the rest of the rotations were great and I left with my self esteem intact. I think that is critical. I had horrible hours but never felt demeaned in residency. But I guess I was really lucky. Glad you are recovering. I hope you get increasing enjoyment from it and recover.ReplyDelete
Everyone is so supportive... I have nobody to argue with! :PReplyDelete
It's really amazing that people don't crack more often under the combination of abuse and long hours. Worse, I think we all tend to hide it from each other, and pretend we're all fine.
And even worse, when someone really does crack under the pressure, such as that guy Anon mentioned with the retinal detachment, all their colleagues criticize them as being "weak." But I can't even throw stones because it's hard not to get angry at someone who causes you to have even more work when you're already overworked.
I've always been surprised by the people who give you such a hard time about being honest about the fact that medical training is terrible. I spent several months of intern year hoping I would get hit by a train, not bad enough to die, but to end up on a vent in the ICU, because surely that would be better than the emotional beat down I was getting every day. While those feelings are now resolved, I can't help feeling that I lost something very valuable to me: my optimism, my idealism, and my good opinion of people in general. I understand that medical training is hard for a reason, but does it need to be so hard to take all that away from us?ReplyDelete
Maybe the goal *is* to make us crack... at least, to make people who are vulnerable break down early, before they're in a position of power to do more damage. After all, as attending doctors, we get abused by patients and the hours can also be pretty brutal.ReplyDelete
What bothers me is that I always heard medical training was hard, but I really just didn't *get* it until I actually experienced it.
- AnonymousJanuary 26, 2011 at 10:40 PM
I can relate in a way. When I was in the Army, my training was draining physically, mentally and emotionally. I remember running at 0500 wanting to cry so bad cause I was so exhausted, but you never let them see you cry. Every time I saw a car drive by during our morning physical training I wanted it to hit me so bad cause I knew that was about the only reason I could stop.ReplyDelete
Blah Blah Blah, life is hard when your doing you best and people are still yelling at you and treating you like dirt and all you can think about is having to go pee.
Been there sister.
Anon: I actually felt like I was in the army. Except the big difference is that I think people expect to physically push themselves when they join the army. I would never have joined the army for that reason. It was more of a surprise in medicine.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJanuary 27, 2011 at 8:11 AM
Yes, people don't get the physical demands of medicine. That said some people thrive on it. I get a feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day. Fizzy, you ave every right to be honest about the work and the pain and sacrifice. Just remember there are a few crazies like me who enjoy it.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJanuary 27, 2011 at 6:13 PM
My best friend cracked during surgery rotation. She had the meanest "witch" of a resident in the whole very malignant program. I mean, this resident is still legendary - and not in a good way. Instead of the school being supportive they ended up kicking her out. So... not everyone makes it or has a rainbow at the end of the training tunnel. She's got a ton of loans to pay back and many productive years lost.ReplyDelete
One resident from my program tried to kill his kid and himself - luckily he was not successful.
I have high expectations of my interns, and I am ALWAYS complaining about something. "I didn't get any sleep last night because I was taking care of my kid." "My intern forgot to order..." "My attending wants to meet for hours to discuss..." It is my way of coping - and maybe it is your way too.
- AnonymousJanuary 27, 2011 at 8:15 PM
The internal medicine residency at my medical school was so toxic that nobody from my class matched or wanted to match there, except for one person. Rumor had it that she got "locked in" by the department heads who deliberately gave her poor recommendations so she wouldn't match anywhere else. Don't know if it's true, but based on what I'd seen in that place it was certainly believable. The residents there were some of the most unhappy people I've ever encountered. My FP residency (which was elsewhere) was comparativley benign, even though most of it was on no sleep--every 3rd night with OB call which meant deliveries all night long. It's too bad that post graduate training remains so toxic after all this time.ReplyDelete
You must be my sista from anotha mista! I am new to this blogsite but Thank God for it. It is impossible to be prepared for the physical, mental, emotional demands of medical school and especially residency. I am ten years out and still have those years stored in a tiny corner of my brain that shouts "Do not open!!!" whenever my mind wanders there. How would we survive without denial and reaction formation as awesome defense mechanisms right? Some moments of my day are joyful and i honsetly feel that i'm doing what I'm supposed to do but those are fleeting and the overall crush of all the responsibility and hassle most of the time makes me wish that I could enjoy my life and my family the way I feel like I was meant to. Wish I had opened a flower store or something instead. Thanks Fizzy for putting it out there...
- Kellie (General Surgeon)January 28, 2011 at 4:37 PM
I did both army basic training (regular not officer) and surgery residency. Both were difficult but in very different ways. I think my most difficult rotation was in medical school and was pediatrics. It was an ER intern doing her pediatrics rotation that I didn't get along with at all. She was a bitch.ReplyDelete
I still think the first 3-4 weeks of my maternity leave was WORSE. I think it was worse because I knew that it was for real and not going away anytime soon. Being a mother now is the BEST :)
- mamadocJanuary 28, 2011 at 9:05 PM
Yeah, while residency sucked in a number of ways maternity leave topped it. Being up all night every 3rd night pales beside being up all night with a screaming newborn who bloomed into a colicky infant. I literally remember the first time the kid was awake and not screaming or eating because it didn't happen until she was several weeks old. The trauma remains, even though said kid is now almost 30 years old.ReplyDelete
Yeah, maternity leave was rough. I think I may have even written a post comparing maternity leave with internship (or at least, I composed it in my head). The part that was worse was that you never get a night or a day off. But in general, I think it was way better because I actually felt happy when I watched my daughter feed in the middle of the night, whereas I'm pretty sure I derived no joy from anything I did in the middle of the night on call. Then again, I might have felt differently with a colicky baby.ReplyDelete
I was actually happy to go back on call after my maternity leave, I think I got a little more sleep on call than with my newborn.ReplyDelete


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As Drudge noted last night, a book review in today's New York Times by author-professor Robert Dallek trashed "Her Way," the new autobiography of Hillary Clinton by two of the paper's long-time reporters, investigative reporter Don Van Natta Jr., and Jeff Gerth, who worked at the Times for over 25 years.
Dallek's is a common name in the Rolodex of Times political reporters looking for a critic of Republican presidents past and present, and as shown by his negative review of "Her Way," he can also be relied on to defend Democrats. That's something Times' book editors surely suspected when they approached Dallek with the assignment in the first place, suggesting that in this case ideological loyalty to the liberal Hillary trumped the paper's corporate loyalty to its long-time reporters.
"In 'Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton,' Jeff Gerth, a former reporter for The New York Times, and Don Van Natta Jr., an investigative reporter at the paper, have written what will become mandatory reading for Mrs. Clinton's opponents.
"Mr. Gerth and Mr. Van Natta see themselves as relating the unvarnished truth about Senator Clinton. 'Never before has such a high-profile candidate occupied the spotlight for so long without the public's learning the facts about so much that is crucial to finally understanding her,' they write. Mrs. Clinton; her husband, Bill; and their supporters have told a flattering story about the couple. 'Now it is time for another,' less laudatory version.
"Mr. Gerth and Mr. Van Natta describe Mrs. Clinton's undeniable flaws. They see her as unable to acknowledge misjudgments on health care reform or her vote in support of President Bush's war in Iraq: she believes that it would 'arm her enemies and undermine her carefully cultivated image as an extremely bright person who yearns only to do good for her fellow citizens.'
"The book is almost uniformly negative and overly focused on what they consider the Clintons' scandalous past and the darker aspects of Mrs. Clinton's personality. Her ambition, for example, is seen as an unattractive compulsion that, at times, has led her into untoward behavior. They assert that the Clintons had a longstanding deal to win the presidency, first for Bill and then for Hillary, a secret pact of ambition.
"The evidence of such a pact -- interviews that have already been challenged in the press -- is less than convincing. Moreover, that the Clintons are ambitious and hunger for the public spotlight is obvious. But does this make them different from anyone else in politics, including two of our most notable presidents, Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt?"
"The book's greatest flaw is its flogging of all the Clinton scandals, not simply because they are so familiar and ultimately came to so little, but also because they give us insufficient clues to what sort of president Mrs. Clinton might be. It would have been more instructive to learn something new about why her health reform initiative failed or to explain in some detail why she was overwhelmingly re-elected by New York voters and has been, as even some Republican senators acknowledge, an effective senator."
Dallek preferred Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein's less-negative Hillary bio, "A Woman in Charge," because at least in Bernsteins' view, "[Hillary Clinton] has almost always 'stood for good things.' She is 'special,' and if she consults her better angels, she has the wherewithal 'to change the world, if only a little.'
"Mr. Gerth and Mr. Van Natta seem to detect no angels in Mrs. Clinton's nature whatsoever, much less better ones, and the result is a one-sided figure who never quite springs to life or feels truly authentic."
For more New York Times bias, visit Times Watch.


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You are currently browsing the tag archive for the 'J. Alexander' tag.
It's like she's daring us now.
All the crazy "Pot Ledom" stuff. Tookie. The branding words. The insane challenges. The "All-Stars" disqualification of Angelea Preston with no explanation. The failure to give any kind of award — even for Most Patient Model To Sit Through This Crap — to Allison Harvard.
All of it. It's like Tyra Banks is daring us to keep watching "America's Next Top Model."
Last week on Cycle 18, "British Invasion" — which, yes, I am still watching — they dumped one of the frontrunners, AzMarie, for refusing to wear a (sigh) "booty tooch pad" in Tyra's tooch class. That's where we are now.
But all of that, somehow, I can stand. I'll shake my head, but I can stand it. But I wake up today and — lo and behold — my three favorite people on the show have just been fired: sexy noted fashion photographer Nigel Barker, the fabulous runway diva coach extraordinaire Miss J. Alexander, and the on-shoot style director/therapist, Ice Man Jay Manuel.
I can't see the end game with this.
Are they seriously thinking this will help ratings — because ratings are down because of Nigel and the Jays? Ratings are not down because of Nigel and the Jays. We all know ratings are down because:
1. Lisa won "All-Stars" instead of Allison.
2. There's been no explanation about Angelea.
3. The show has just gotten too bizarre and too much about Tyra's own ego as opposed to finding raw new talent and supporting it.
Kelly Cutrone was added to the judges' table this cycle and so far it sounds like she's still going to be around. She gets to stay, the guys have to go. Unbelievable. I really think they must want the show to end so they're going to go out of their way to kill it.
If you are still curious/sad/determined enough to still want to keep up with ANTM news, be sure to check out Wetpaint.com/americas-next-top-model for all kinds of daily updates, polls and my recaps. I want Sophie to win this cycle, and not just because she's best friends with Hermione Granger. It won't change everything that's happened but Sophie winning would end the men's reign on a high-ish note.


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If we were to prioritize any of those policies, such as cutting tax rates, then we could justify tolerating high deficits a little longer. The brighter prospects for higher growth and improved resource employment would increase our future debt-service capacity.
But this is not what Professor Krugman is talking about. He believes that we need more government spending, not less. Drawing inspiration from John Maynard Keynes, he remarks that Keynes wrote about the need to spend our way out of the depression when "Britain was deeper in debt than any advanced nation today, with the exception of Japan."
Krugman supports his argument by noting that Britain "has had debt exceeding 100 percent of GDP for 81 of the last 170 years." We could be forgiven for rather doubting that this supports his argument.
The root of Krugman's confusion on debt lies in adherence to what my old professor James M. Buchanan (also a Nobel laureate) once called the New Orthodoxy. Krugman believes that governments differ from families in that they don't have to pay back their debt. From this, he can deny that debt burden is shifted on to future generations. Krugman also believes that when Americans lend to the U.S. government there is very little burden because "we owe it to ourselves."
Acceptance of the New Orthodoxy was a boon to big-spending politicians and their special-interest groups. If government debt was less burdensome than once believed, then they could justify the greater use of debt to fund government spending.
Professor Buchanan's great contribution (54 years ago) was to show that the New Orthodoxy was wrong. Government debt really does resemble private debt. Government debt really does shift the burden onto future generations. Also, the distinction between internal and external debt is largely false.
Krugman's debt theory fails for the same reason that his government-spending stimulus theory fails. He sees us in the aggregate, not as individuals. This is why he can claim that "every dollar's worth of foreign claims on America is matched by 89 cents' worth of U.S. claims on foreigners" as if it all just nets out. What he does not mention is that each of us is affected differently.
When someone buys a government bond, it is a voluntary market transaction. The buyer voluntarily gives up current resources for use by the government. There is no symmetry for taxpayers, especially those in future generations. For those who bear the burden of current and future taxation, the transaction is not voluntary.
It makes no sense to say that "we owe it to ourselves." Even when Americans lend to the U.S. government, those who lend are not necessarily the same as those who bear the burden. Understood this way, Krugman would be correct to downplay the extent to which we are "in hock to the Chinese." But he is wrong to downplay the extent to which we are in hock.