text:
Adrian Builds A Wall Of Speed
Jul 31, 2012
Olympic Games, London, Day 4 heats:
Heading to the midway point of the meet and some are struggling while others are just getting going. When lesser teams start to feel the fatigue of what is the harshest environment of them all in many respects (the dimension of all things is greater at the Games, be it transport, food halls, distance to walk, numbers of fans, crowd noise, media, lights, camera, action and so on), the big guns plough on. Take the US: they have had a few knocks this week but make no mistake they intend to remain the superpower. In the 4x200m relay this morning, minus Phelps, Lochte, Berens, they clocked a time that many will not match tonight in the final.
Here's the spirit we're talking about: Ready to take it on today. Let's get it. #TeamUSA !- Ryan Lochte, defeated but not demoralised, and ready to step up to the plate once more.
The end result of this meet will hang on who now has the spirit, the strength, the wherewithal and the guts to get up each morning for the next four and treat it like a new dawn.
Men's 100m freestyle
Nathan Adrian (USA) threw down the gauntlet in heat 6, a 48.19, off a 22.99 split, delivered after he eased up in the last few swings of his stroke. Next in came Gideo Louw (RSA), on 48.29, Brett Fraser (CAY), on 48.54, Nikita Lobintsev (RUS) on 48.60 and Cesar Cielo (BRA) on 48.67. Filippo Magnini (ITA) was gone in 49.18, Adam Brown (GBR) in 49.20.
Next up, out on the wing of heat 7, Pieter Timmers (BEL) tipped in a 48.54 ahead of Konrad Czerniak (POL), on 48.67. James The Rocket Roberts and Yannick Warrior Of Gaul Agnel clocked 48.93 - would it be good enough? Just.
In the last heat, Sebastiaan Verschuren (NED) pipped James The Missile Magnussen (AUS) in 48.37 to 47.38, with Brent Hayden (CAN) on 48.53. The semis were locked at 48.99, 49.02 17th, meaning Agnel and Roberts made it by 0.09sec. Tight.
Magnussen said: "It was good. I am still trying to recover from not getting a medal in the relay and trying to stay positive. I have spent a lot of time with my coach one to one, thinking about what went wrong. It didn't matter what anyone said, I gave 100% on the night." On feeling pressure before the heat, he added: "The swim this morning has been very positive so I have to stay relaxed and focused and hopefully I will swim well tonight. My pride was hurt last night and I think a lot of people think they can beat me know."
Roberts said: "I am pretty happy this morning as morning swims are always pretty tough."
Women's 200m butterfly
In lane 4 of heat 3, world champion Jiao Liuyang (CHN), in lane 5, world silver medallist Ellen Gandy (GBR), 0.04sec apart in Shanghai. Gandy got overexcited this morning and cracked out ahead, the rest shadowing her. But by the last turn, the Melbourne-based Brit was struggling. Jiao came off the wall well and sped on to a 2:07.15 win ahead of Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 2:07.75, and Cammile Adams, on 2:0818. Gandy was fifth in 2:09.92 and left to wait to see whether that would make the cut.
It turned out to be shy of what was needed, another British medal target missed well before the final this time, a 2:09.33 by 2004 Olympic champion Otylia Jedrzejczak (POL) the last time in the top 16. On a list of 12 medal targets cited by Britain on the eve of the Games, four have now passed by at these home Games, one ticked with a big smile from Rebecca Adlington in the 400m freestyle on the way to the 800m on Friday.
The last heat of the morning saw Kathleen Hersey (USA) clock 2:06.41 ahead of Britain's second hope, Jemma Lowe, on 2:07.64, and Zsuzsanna Jakabos (HUN) on 2:07.79.
Lowe said: "I'm really happy I've made it to the next round, that was the aim this morning. It was the best (time) I've done in the morning." Asked about her teammate's misery, Lowe showed the support you would expect, saying: "I just blacked out and focused on myself. Everyone has their ups and downs. I'm sure she gave it her best this morning."
Canada's Audrey Lacroix made it through to the semi-final in 15thn place in 2:09.25.
Men's 200m breaststroke
Looking smooth in style and long in stroke, Scott Dickens (CAN) won heat 2 in 2:10.95 to set a strong pace for the leaders.
Next up, the water warmed up with world champion Daniel Gyurta (HUN), looking powerful and confident but chased by Michael Jamieson (GBR), on 2:08.71, the Brit celebrating a national record of 2:08.98, Scott Weltz (USA) on 2:09.67. Ryo Tateishi (JPN) responded with a 2:09.37 win in the next heat ahead of Clark Burckle (USA), on 2:09.55 as the last man inside 2:10.
The sub-2:10 club this morning was completed by Andrew Willis (GBR), on 2:09.33 (matching his English record), a touch ahead of reigning champion Kosuke Kitajima (JPN), on 2:09.43, the semis locked in 2:11.66.
Men's 4x200m freestyle
France and Germany set the pace at 7:09.18 and 7:09.23 respectively in the first heat, before the United States stamped its foot down with a dominant 7:06.75 in the last of two heats ahead of Australia, on 7:10.50, and Britain, on 7:10.70. Next home came China, 7:11.35, and Russia, a nation that won the crown back in 1992, on 7:11.86. That was not good enough to make the final in 2012, the first heat including Hungary on 7:11.64 and New Zealand on 7:11.51.
The US splits: Charlie Houchin, 1:48.22; Matthew McLean, 1:46.68; Davis Tarwater, 1:46.33; Conor Dwyer, 1:45.52.


text:
Office Depot and OfficeMax decided to merge without picking a new CEO for the combined company.
Instead, there's going to be a competition.
This whole process is really strange. Leadership is almost always decided before going through something as big as a multibillion dollar corporate merger.
"We always tell our students that you need to decide three things before a merger: price, board of directors and CEO," Jay Lorsch, a professor at Harvard Business School, told Bloomberg. "I don't think this bodes well for the merger if they can't agree on a CEO. I've never seen anything like it."
A selection committee will be put together and it will decide who will take the helm of the new company.
"Both incumbent CEOs, as well as external candidates, will be considered in the search process," says Office Depot's press release. "Neil Austrian, the Chairman and CEO of Office Depot, and Ravi Saligram, the President and CEO of OfficeMax will remain in their current positions through the completion of the search process."
The company's name, brands, and the location of the corporate headquarters are still undecided. They will be determined by the new leadership after the committee picks a new CEO.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
By Don Edgar
SHADOW treasurer Joe Hockey has called for an end to the ''culture of entitlement'' so we live within our means. But in such a debate, the pejorative term ''welfare benefits'' must go, replaced by real needs, equal rights and the common good.
George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion character Alfred Doolittle laments his lot as one of the ''undeserving poor'': "Think what it means to a man … he's up against middle-class morality all the time … 'You're undeserving, so you can't have it' … I don't need less than a deserving man: I need more …''
Doolittle was right. Evidence suggests it is rich, well-educated, higher-status people who feel entitled, not the poor.
A Berkeley University study last year found that people in the upper echelons of society were more likely to lie, cheat, take things meant for others, cut off other road users and endorse unethical behaviour in others. Why? Because they feel entitled. They are clever and have the money to cut corners and hire lawyers if needed. These elite are less empathetic to others, less altruistic, more individualistic and more greedy.
Another study by Professor Howard Gardner at Harvard University, on the meaning of ''good work'', asked professionals how they juggled their ambition to succeed against their desire to work responsibly and ethically. They claimed that values such as fairness, scientific objectivity, truthful reporting and work-life balance were important to them. But, in practice, many compromise these principles to advance in their professions. They will, they say, change their behaviour once established and successful.
Gardner says they know the difference between right and wrong but lack exemplars of ''good work''. Post-modern relativism has undermined belief in the efficacy of universal values such as truth, honesty, fairness and goodness. People have been programmed to compete, distrust others and feel entitled because they are brainier, more hard-working or more ambitious than others. They are ''the deserving'', yet lack the morality on which a fair and equitable society must be based.
Hockey is right to suggest we must spend our tax money wisely, but he has a few blind spots. The UN Declaration of Human Rights offers a reasonable framework. Article 25 asserts: "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being … and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control."
The crucial proviso (Article 24) is that these shall be provided within the country's limits; they are not fixed entitlements but goals to be met insofar as resources allow.
It's the law which makes rights into entitlements, and it's government actions that produce a so-called ''entitlement mentality''. If the retirement age is set at 55 instead of 65 or 70, if we neglect public education and favour the elite or if we leave tax loopholes for the rich, there won't be enough money for schools and hospitals. It is, as Age writer Tim Colebatch puts it, ''simple arithmetic''.
Most social expenditure in Australia is, in any case, designed to make the economy more efficient, not just as handouts to the disadvantaged. Parental leave is not a handout, nor are disability benefits; they are aimed at keeping people productive and active as citizens of a caring democracy. Childcare is not welfare; it's a crucial grounding for adequate child development and a means of capitalising on women's higher education in an economy short on skills. Good food and health provision are not welfare; they are preventive insurance against later costs of obesity, diabetes and extended, debilitating old age.
The goal should be to raise up the disadvantaged, to shore up the good society for all. Without educated, healthy, well-housed and work-satisfied people, we are all worse off. Inequality harms us all.
Hockey and others should be reminded too that social spending in Australia is nothing like in profligate European regimes. Australia spends only 16 per cent of GDP on so-called ''social entitlements''. Only 0.4 per cent of GDP goes to unemployment benefits, the meanest level in the Western world. Just 2.4 per cent goes to family benefits, aimed at ensuring women (now well educated and productive) can have paid jobs as well as manage childcare. The biggest payments are for health (5.7 per cent) and old age (4.3), both states of life that are universal, not confined to the ''undeserving poor''. No political party can afford to undermine such essential services in a decent society.
We already means-test payments more than any other OECD country, have compulsory superannuation and are not yet living beyond our means.
It is, in any event, a travesty of policy to define the debate in terms of individual moral failures. Tragedy and misfortune can strike a family at any time; the global crisis throws people out of work, not their own laziness; floods and fires destroy people's homes and livelihoods; a mother who stays at home to care for children is doing work of value to us all and probably has before, and will later contribute in the paid labour force as well.
Social policy should be based on a wider morality of ensuring equal opportunity for quality education and training, room for choice and flexibility in the workplace, respect for human rights and an expectation that every citizen will contribute responsibly to the wider common good. We should not pit the ''deserving'' against the ''undeserving poor'', or we will all be poorer in every way.
Dr Don Edgar is a sociologist. He will chair a forum on May 7 at University College, Melbourne University, titled ''Re-imagining Values for the 21st Century''.


text: Dear Sir/Madam! A few days ago I tried to compile OpenFOAM, I didn't succeed in compiling paraFoam, neiteher I didn't succeed in using ParaView 3.4, downloaded from official site, in viewing VTK-format data from Open FOAM. Compiler refused finding cmake. Earlier I worked as software tester than a programmer in NT projects. But know I hardly can't understand how compilation in *nix takes place, what is make, cmake, profile, etc. What is *nix executable? I've heard that Gentoo compiles executable each time it is to be run, and what other Linuces? Is here somebody who can briefly tell me about software development under *nix? And about what benefits gives using Sun Studio or Portland Group PGI instead of gcc & gdb, by the way what else do I need to compile and run my first project under *nix? I use Ubuntu 9.04 x64, openSuSE 11.1 x64, Fedora 9 x64, Fedora 11 ppc64 & Solaris 10. Sincerely, Dmitry Zaletnev


text:
It is moving to see a President shed tears over loss of Life, as President Obama did during the announcement of his Executive Action on gun control two days ago.
But it is baffling to consider that the death of 26 innocent people at Newtown can move President Barack Obama to tears, while the death of over 57 MILLION innocent unborn babies does not appear to move him in the least.
Just HOW Pro-Abortion is President Obama?
President Obama is the most radically pro-abortion President we have ever seen.
Ironically, this is a man who, as the black child of single mother, would himself have faced a more than 54% probability of abortion, if abortion had been legal at the time of his birth.
- President Obama is so pro-abortion that he voted three times against Born Alive Infant Protection Acts that would require medical care for a baby who survives an abortion.
President Obama supports the killing of a baby born accidentally in a botched full 9-month term partial-birth abortion.
- President Obama is so pro-abortion that he has voiced support for the abortion of his own grandchildren.
- President Obama is so pro-abortion that through ObamaCare, he has forced mandates on religious employers, forcing the employers to provide abortifacient drugs to their employees, against their own religious beliefs. He has pursued this prioritization of abortion in health care after initially promising his pro-life Democrat colleagues (Stupak and his 11) that ObamaCare would not include abortion.
- President Obama even has a "Science Czar," John Holdren, who has advocated forced abortion and forced sterilization in the United States to control population.
So we now have a President who has forced abortion onto America, against the wishes of 2/3 of the American population, by deception and through lies.
Do we plan to do something about this as voters in 2016?
Can the aggressive abortion agenda and the culture of deception in our government be changed?
Can we do something about this as voters in 2016?
-Stay tuned, for upcoming articles on the 2016 election, on candidates, and on America's future options.
See also previous articles on related topics:
The Importance of Babies…
- The Baby – an article on the importance of the baby, written on my son's birthday, 3 years ago today. Happy Birthday, Chris!
- Dear Baby – a letter written our first grandbaby before she was born
- Abortion – a Much Bigger Deal Than You Think – an article for those who think abortion is not a big deal.
- The Contrast – an article contrasting Madison's Pro-Life community with Madison's Pro-Choicers, and featuring the behavior of Annie Laurie Gaylor, Dan Barker, and the Freedom From Religion crowd at a Catholic Pro-Life event.
- Black Death in America – on the importance of showing concern for all black deaths.
Obama Administration Forcing Abortion…
- The Deceiver
- July 4th or Obama's Independence Day Gift to America – a Trojan Horse
- Report Card Time: or Downgrading the United States
- August 1st, 2012 – Day of Infamy
- Political Puzzle Pieces Falling into Place
Obama Administration Subverting Religious Freedom…
- A Tale of Two Presidents: Timothy & Barak
- A Tale of Two Presidents – the Drama Continues
- The No Religious Freedom Mandate and the President Can Issue Unilateral Mandates Mandate and the Let's Sneak Abortion into ObamaCare While Nobody's Looking Mandate
Elections 2016:
- Elections 2016 or Taming the Black Swan or Selling Out vs Sticking to Principles
- Election 2014 – What Just Happened? or Battle for the Soul of America


text:
Send to a Friend » | Subscribe » | Unsubscribe » | Archive » | Update your Profile » | Print all Articles » | RSS » | Visit our website »
To advertise in Glee Daily News 2020 contact email@example.com
Phone 01733 775700
Glee Daily News Newsdesk:
Barrus unveiled a range of over 60 new and exciting products under brands Town & Country, Wilkinson Sword, WOLF-Garten, and Velcro at this year's Glee.
The Barrus stand will showcase the product innovation and development that continues to take place across the brands, as it enters new areas of the industry and develops engaging customer solutions.
The unique and interactive stand will invite visitors to explore the vast range through a variety of different zones, including a greenhouse which takes centre stage on the stand, a planting and propagation area, and a Christmas section, to help promote its innovative products and displays, and support the ongoing movement towards sustainable living.
A first for Town & Country as they take propagation by storm with multiple new products on display at this year's GLEE. Buyers interested in propagation will be spoilt for choice, with new Grow Bag & Utility Trays, Potting Trays, a Garden Sieve and Electric Greenhouse Heaters on display in the exciting new greenhouse area including the current range. The new and innovative stand design shows the forward thinking of the brands. The sectioned stand will allow you to get up close to the products in a lifestyle setting. As a heritage brand with over 60 years of bringing innovation to UK consumers, Town & Country knows how to engage and attract shoppers and has launched an exciting range of new point of sale concepts to help do just that. Each British-made stand has been developed with a commitment to quality, functionality, and exceptional value for money in mind, to improve the customer journey through exciting visuals and easy product interaction.
Town & Country will also be showcasing an eye-catching display of the exciting Pluma range, which takes inspiration from the feathers to decorate the popular Cloggies™, the luxurious Lux-Fit Gloves, the Memory Foam Kneeler and a new addition to the range, the Double-Wide Kneeler. A great selection of gardening essentials to bring the perfect gifts.
Plastics and recyclables
Town & Country has launched a Planter range to make it easier for everyone to feel the benefits of nurturing and growing plants, even those with small balconies or courtyards with the launch of the Tiered planter range, allowing new and keen gardeners to take planting to the next level and grow up. They provide a great way people to mix and match plants for dramatic, or complementary effect within the separate tiers, meaning gardeners with any size outdoor space can essentially create an entire garden in a small area, simply by planting up. Alongside the tiered planters Town & Country are launching an expanded range of planters including a beehive shape, square and trough planters in several sizes to give end user to the right choice for them.
The UK, recycled material made and 100% recyclable planters, benefit from integrated drainage holes to ensure plants don't sit in water-logged soil following heavy rain or an over-enthusiastic watering session.
To support the sell through and to expand the key message of planting up, both planters can be displayed in two display Free Standing Display Units.
The small version holds 50 of the tiered planters and the large display holds 40 planters per display. They are informative and eye catching, depicting the many uses from strawberry planters, herbs and flowers to succulents and the ever-wonderful chilli plants.
Door Mats
Town & Country understand the growing industry of home and garden and know the importance of sustainability. At GLEE 2022 the brand is launching a new range of door Mats including a selection made from 100% recycled materials such as plastic bottles and old car tyres to ensure a positive environmental effect.
The Town & Country door mats are high quality, functional doormats which come in a range of sizes and designs from, boot cleaners, to runner matts in a complete FSDU system. The range is tailored to be functional with textured Cross patterns on the trellis mat to enhance scraping and boot cleaning and the luxury door mat is machine washable.
We understand finding the right doormat can be a challenge for a busy home, but our versatile collection allows your customer to make the right choice, using a specific stand which draws attention and educates the end user to the individual merits and product benefits.
This email is sent on behalf of Glee Birmingham by its official media partner Garden Trade News, published by Potting Shed Press Ltd.
We hope you found this Glee Daily News email update useful, but if you would rather not receive communications of this kind from us in future, please unsubscribe here.
Glee Birmingham is brought to you by Hyve Group plc, 2 Kingdom Street, Paddington W2 6JG. Company number 01927339 (England and Wales)


text:
how correct principles magnify business success
In New Zealand, hundreds of lives were changed by the birth of a new program called Launching Leaders.
Learn more about Jim Ritchie's famous formula for success that he developed and mastered 50 years ago.
Financial success can be attained much easier than you probably think. It is as easy as 1-2-3.
Any journey will be a failure if you don't know where you want to end up. A Personal Constitution will help you on your path to success.
One of the most underutilized tools in business is divine guidance. Why do so many people neglect it?
Success can never be obtained alone. Mentors can be by your side all along your path to success.
We should not seek to be successful to benefit ourselves, but to lift those around us who are in need.
As a mother have you ever thought, "How can have a positive influence on my child's future?". We have the answer.
Get hooked up to receive inspirational video's and blogs; all designed to maximize your success. Steve and James also share secrets to success on their own personal blogs.
Feel free to contact The Ministry of Business to schedule speaking engagements, or if you have any questions.
Steven A. Hitz Steven A. Hitz, along with his wife, Ginger L. Hitz, founded US–Reports, Inc. in 1998. Since then, the company has grown to become the largest, uniquely structured corporate footprint of its kind, providing loss control, premium audit, and risk assessment services to over 500 insurance companies. |
In 2010, US–Reports became a member of The Kaufman Financial Group, the world's largest independent insurance broker. Steve still serves as CEO of the company. ...Continue Reading |


text:
Want more practice?
Receive instant access to our 500+ Flashcards when you join AccountingCoach PRO.
We now offer 10 Certificates of Achievement for Introductory Accounting and Bookkeeping. The certificates include Debits and Credits, Adjusting Entries, Financial Statements, Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Cash Flow Statement, Working Capital and Liquidity, Financial Ratios, Bank Reconciliation, and Payroll Accounting. Click here to learn more.


text:
Question from James:
Hey thanks for reading this. If evolution is survival of the fittest then why was Hitler considered evil? If he could overcome the Jews then Germans must be better then Jews. In fact racism shouldn't be a bad thing if you truly believe your race is better. Also why does it matter is animals go extinct? I get cows and animals we use, but who cares about obscure fish and bugs?
Answer by SmartLX:
Your initial question about Hitler is like asking, "If the atomic number of boron is 5, why did two different actors play Darrin on Bewitched?" The first part is true and so is the second, but the two are unrelated.
Evolution is an explanation of what has happened, over the entire history of life on earth, to change it from a single population of similar single-celled organisms to the vast complexity and diversity we see today. "Survival of the fittest" is still an apt simplification, because at all times those organisms which are more fit for survival and procreation are the ones that pass on the most genes. Some kill members of their own species to get along, some don't have to. Even Darwin thought it was pretty brutal, writing that "nature is red in tooth and claw," but human morality is difficult or impossible to apply to non-human animals. They're just doing what their instincts tell them.
Evil on the other hand is a label we apply to actions and people who go against our morals and ethics. Hitler's genocide violates the morality of such a huge majority of us that society as a whole can label him evil without fear of being challenged. That the act was intended to benefit Hitler's chosen race does not make it good or ambiguous just because this sounds vaguely evolutionary, because there is no morality to evolution. Evolution is just what happened, take it or leave it, and our morals as applied to Hitler come from other sources.
The Holocaust comparison fails on other levels. Here are two.
– Despite the claims of Nazi propaganda which tried to dehumanise the Jews, the Holocaust boils down to a single species attacking itself en masse, which isn't good for any population. So does any act of ethnic cleansing, which is why racism is unsupportable by evolutionary theory. If anything the Holocaust could be seen as an act of "social Darwinism", which borrows the terminology of evolution but has little in common with it.
– The six million Jews were murdered in an act of artificial selection, not natural selection. Evolution has no will and no goals, but Hitler decided those Jews should die. This deliberate culling has far more in common with techniques that have been used in animal breeding for centuries, long before Darwin.
Moving on, we actually don't care very much about fish and bugs, do we? The former we catch live, kill painfully and eat with relish, and the latter we crush on our forearms without a second thought. Fish and insects are alien to us, so it's hard to empathise with them – especially the insects, as we can't really look them in the eyes. Once you get to mammals like cows and pigs, we're still happy to eat them but we start to care whether they are treated humanely on the farm and in the abbatoir. We perceive cats, dogs, apes and monkeys as so like us in behaviour and attitude that most of us wouldn't even consider killing one, let alone eating it. This empathy is where we get the urge to protect animals and treat them well, rather than some platitude about them all being "God's creatures", but there is a sliding scale of how strongly it applies.
That wasn't really your point though. If you want an evolutionary rationale of why we should prevent obscure species from going extinct, animals that wipe out other animals or plants completely usually do themselves a terrible disservice in terms of survival. They deprive themselves of a food source, or a crucial nutrient is lost which leaves them susceptible to disease, or they allow a new poisonous species to flourish, or they put themselves at war with some other animal that was dependent on the late species. All of the above might apply to us, but additionally human science and medicine might have all sorts of uses for species of any type. Finally, although we can't muster much empathy for alien-like species while they suck our blood or whatever, the fact that they're just trying to survive too does engender a broad sense of solidarity with all living things.


text:
All things considered, is there a more desirable lens line on the planet right now than Fuji XF? In fact, mid-2014 also seems to be smack-dab in the middle of Fujifilm's moment. It's just on one great big roll right now. Everything coming up sevens.
In just a few years, Fuji has created a coherent, consistent line of all-new lenses that essentially have it all when you consider all the factors that impinge on desirability—size, weight, performance, handling, specs, and consumer cost. Expensive but attainable, fast but not too big, sensational image quality—nothing clearly beats it for general non-specialist photography even now, and users have faith that the vaporware on the lens roadmap will show up when Fuji says it will. The company's track record has been excellent. All that is priceless.
So satisfying.
Such fun.
That's why I was amused/appalled to come across two conflicting headlines on Fujirumors:
April 2014: "New Source: X-PRO2 will feature a Full Frame sensor. Initially 3 to 5 FF lenses!"
May 2014: "X-PRO2 will feature an APS-C sensor! (trusted source)"
Well, one of those might turn out to be right.
Evolving perfection: The sensible yet spectacular XF lineup. Due soon: the pro normal zoom, a fast constant-aperture 16–55mm that will be weatherproof and have image stabilization. Ideal for the X-T1.
Profit is like heroin to companies. Fuji camera division executives are probably looking at Sony raking in the bucks with the A7 series and it's gnawing at their intestines like a hungry hyena. However, they'd be shooting themselves in the foot to make an interchangeable-lens camera with a 24x36mm sensor now. No, scratch that: they'd be shooting themselves in the head*.
We've all heard that Sony wants to break the Canikon duopoly and become a major cameramaker. Sadly, it will fail at that goal.
Its Achilles' heel will do it in. Brief recap on Achilles: he was the mighty Greek hero of the siege of Troy. To make him invincible, his mother dipped him in the River Styx as a baby, the magic waters of which reached every part of him but the place where she gripped him by the heel. Later, he was killed by a poison arrow which hit him—lucky shot—on the heel. The ancient Greeks loved to explain things with confabulated stories that involved completely implausible back-formations—they'd all be considered mad as hatters in the modern world—reading Homer just makes me want to slap people—but never mind: the point is that the story gave us a nice expression. An "Achilles' heel" means a weakness which will fatally undermine fundamental stength.
Fundamental strength: a coherent, comprehensive lens line that consumers feel safe investing in and are confident will continue.
All you have to do to know why a full-frame X-Pro2 would be a miserable idea is to imagine yourself as an owner of an X-Pro1 and three lenses. How would you feel?
Alternately, you could just imagine yourself owning any Sony interchangeable-lens camera now**.
About that last, a quick question: If you're a Sony owner, and you frequent any forums whatesoever, have you ever written that you'd really like for Sony to release an X lens for Y camera? Of course you have. A Sony camera owner who is completely satisfied with the lens options for his or her camera is the owner of a fixed-lens Sony camera.
Well, there are certainly other options for lenses. Photographers have never had more or better lenses to choose from that right this historical minute. Canikon have extensive lines for the flippin'-mirror 35mm-legacy cameras that people are beginning to not buy; Pentax has stuck with APS-C and makes many sweet lenses that have no counterparts in other lines; Micro 4/3 has a delightful motley of all kinds of lenses from a variety of makers—anyone who cannot window-shop an appealing Micro 4/3 lens arsenal isn't trying very hard.
But there is something exquisitely special about the XF lineup.
And lens lineups are what ensure long-term health. Even if you have to start over from scratch once in a while***. Sony is doing it all wrong, all wrong. Fuji is doing all right. So far.
*Pardon the metaphor density of that paragraph. We'll speak to the writer.
**Lest the teenagers out on the forums dismiss me as a h8er, I'm a Sony fan and a Sony owner. I have two.
***Cf. FD—>EOS.
Original contents copyright 2014 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.
If you're gonna buy a Fujifilm XF lens...
(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:
Gordon Lewis: "I agree. For the sake of elaboration, Sony has three separate lens lines: one for its DSLRs, one for APS mirrorless, and a third for full-frame mirrorless. Cross-compatability between lens lines is limited and requires bulky adapters. Many of their lenses are already relatively bulky to begin with. No one, including Sony, seems to know what lenses they will introduce next or when or for which line. I suspect for reason for this state of affairs is that Sony views lenses more as 'accessories' than as the raison d'être for a camera line."
Hugh Smith: "Fuji ( I seem to recall) back in the '70s attempted their beautiful STX but it never took off. This time around, they are killin' it and show no signs of stopping. I for one, love my X series. My two pesos."
SeanG: "Indeed. Had an A7 briefly. The all-too-familiar angst I had with the A700 and NEX-5 returned. The X-Pro1 (with 18mm ƒ/2 and 35mm ƒ/1.4) are quite satisfying. Cheers!"
Aaron: "Fuji's lens lineup is exactly why I owned a X-E1 and now have a X-T1. Not only do they get it, they're the only company that gets it. Even the basic kit lens is terrific: useful range, small, sturdy and a full stop faster than all the other kit lenses out there. I've yet to be disappointed with any of the Fuji-X lenses I've purchased."
Steven Scharf: "I don't think there is 'a more desirable lens line on the planet right now than Fuji XF.' The X-Pro1 was my introduction to Fuji's interchangeable lenses, and its lens lineup at that time was far more limited at that time that it is now, but the Fuji lenses have proven, in my experience, to be the most pleasant surprise and the real jewel in the crown of the Fujifilm X-system. There's several X-bodies that provide superb images, including the X-Pro1, X-T1, etc., and even the completely overlooked little X-A1, but it's the lenses that really define this system as becoming one of the finest on the market. I've been so impressed, in fact, that I've now come to the conclusion that they are amongst the finest lenses I've ever used. The 18–55mm 'kit zoom' is as good as any Canon L standard zoom I've shot with, and the Fujifilm XF 14mm ƒ/2.8 and XF 23mm ƒ/1.4 primes are truly spectacular. I'm really waiting for that constant-aperture ƒ/2.8 16–55 'pro zoom.' Yowza."
Eric Onore (partial comment): "I believe the lack of Sony lenses for the E mount at least is overstated. Here is a partial list... [See the Comments Section for Eric's list —Ed.] I will also note that Fuji rolled out the X-Pro1 with three lenses and no zooms. Sony rolled out the A7 and A7r with two primes and two zooms. The primes are of particularly good quality based on testing websites (I don't own either system). It remains to be seen if Sony will support full frame as well as Fuji has supported its system, but it is too early to declare that Sony doesn't get it."
Michael Steinbach (partial comment): "Fujifilm should get an award for understanding what enthusiasts want."
Eddie Davis: "It appears that the majority of people are linking their passion and degree of success to a particular camera maker being based on what that camera maker has done in regards to their lens lineup. Applying that logic to many other camera brands is probably an honest way of knowing whether that company stands behind its camera. However, applying it to the Sony A7, and you are no longer comparing apples to apples, as it is a model of camera that is not dependent on its own lens lineup. The new Sony FE Mount is something altogether different. As far as I am aware there is not another camera manafacturer that has done anything similar in producing a body that can use pretty much almost any lens in existence."
Robert Roaldi: "I remember reading in Road & Track magazine years ago that the problem with GM (at that time) was that nobody in their senior management actually drove cars. They were all finance corporate types who were chauffeured everywhere. I wonder if the people at Fuji responsible for this array of products spend their weekends taking pictures. If I won a lottery, I'd buy everything they make just to reward them."
Mike replies: ...In the same way that NBC News covers commercial aviation every night because Brian Williams flies all the time and thinks everybody else does too.
And funny you should mention GM, because Ford has one big problem starting this very day: Alan Mulally retired today. He was a car guy who started from a love of cars and knew what car people liked. He knew that the company's success started from a vision of one customer buying one car. Ford is going to wish they could clone that guy. A clear thinker.
Paulo Bizarro: "I think Sony make more interesting cameras than Fuji, but Fuji make more interesting lenses than Sony.
"Given the nature of the companies (electronics giant versus smaller company), Fuji have to stay more focused, and that is what they are doing. I have used a small Fuji X system for a while, wonderful lenses indeed, but fidgety cameras. Never used Sony, because I place lenses before cameras. In the end, I have settled with Olympus OM-D E-M1, a system that provides wonderful lenses and cameras."
Mike replies: My head is leading me in the same direction. My heart is more fickle.... :-)
Fabio Riccardi (partial comment): "I bought both the Sony A7 and the Fuji X-T1, both of them with a reasonable set of lenses for a 'complete' system.
"After a couple of months of usage, I decided to keep the Sony and sell the Fuji. Quite frankly the quality of the images I was getting out of the A7 is unbeatable. Even though the X-T1 is a really cute and fun to use camera—and yes, it has lots of lenses to choose from—I found myself gravitating towards the A7 way more than the X-T1.
"The Sony's sensor is in a completely different league than the Fuji's, and pretty much so is the rest of the camera. The 55mm Sony/'Zeiss' lens is one of the most amazing pieces of glass I've ever seen, breathtaking. The 35mm is pretty good, though a bit to expensive, and the 24–70mm is 'OK.'
"Theoretically, the Fuji's 18–55mm is a better lens than the Sony/'Zeiss' 24–70mm. But in practice, when I compare pictures taken with both camera systems side by side, the A7+24–70mm runs circles around the the X-T1+18–55mm, under any possible circumstance. That's it."
Jim Woodard: "I own two Sonys, NEX-6 and A7, and two Fujis, X-E1 and X-T1. The Sonys are much easier (IMHO) to shoot my old OM, Nikkor, and Leica mount lenses with than the Fujis. When I bought the Sonys (A7 as a backup for my D700), I planned to use mostly those legacy lenses. Then I bought the Fujis, with the same plan, and wasn't as pleased with their ease of use with the older lenses.
"But!! I did get hooked by the Fuji lenses, totally! Except for that same aperture ring issue you brought up. Hooked enough that I haven't been shooting with much but the Fujis for the past few months."


text:
Retail Cleaning in College Park, Georgia
Want to provide your customers and shoppers with a clean environment and comfortable shopping experience? Here at Xpress Cleaning Solutions of Atlanta, LLC, we know that dusty shelves, spills on floors and visible dirt is not the look you're going for! With 24 years of providing retail cleaning services in College Park, Georgia, Xpress Cleaning Solutions of Atlanta, LLC knows how to get your business noticed in the best ways possible, creating a cleaner and more successful experience for your customers.
Call for a FREE Quote
Xpress Cleaning Solutions of Atlanta, LLC's Retail Cleaning in College Park Keeps People Shopping
Providing customers with 24 years of quality retail cleaning services, our College Park retail store cleaners will give your business the cleanest image. Windows and glass collect fingerprints and smudges. Dust collects everywhere. Floors need an extra shine. Door knobs, tables, and counters are touched so much throughout the day and become a playground for germs. We have helped stop germs and bacteria from spreading in College Park shops and businesses for 24 years. Let Xpress Cleaning Solutions of Atlanta, LLC give your College Park store shiny floors, spotless surfaces and your crystal clear mirrors that sparkle!
Xpress Cleaning Solutions of Atlanta, LLC's Focus On College Park Details In Retail
Creating the cleanest solutions for all of your College Park retail cleaning needs for 24 years in business, Xpress Cleaning Solutions of Atlanta, LLC has been enhancing shopping experiences with consistently clean results. Paying attention to detail that welcomes people to come in and keep shopping, Xpress Cleaning Solutions of Atlanta, LLC has been cleaning College Park retail locations for 24 years, such as department stores, malls & shopping centers, grocery stores & supermarkets, car dealerships, and much more.
Xpress Cleaning Solutions of Atlanta, LLC's College Park Retail Cleaning Services
Our expert retail cleaning services focus on & include,
- Disinfecting Shelves, counters, and all surfaces
- Display case cleaning
- Mirrors
- Aisles, offices, entryways, storage and inventory areas
- Tile and carpet floor cleaning
- Interior and exterior window cleaning
- Restrooms
- Trash and recycle
- Special event clean-up
Call (678) 506-7507 today so that Xpress Cleaning Solutions of Atlanta, LLC can provide you with quality retail commercial cleaning services in College Park!
★★★★★ - "I used Xpress Cleaning to clean linoleum floors in a retail store that I recently rented. The floor was simply filthy with yellow stain marks everywhere. I was not sure if the floor could be salvaged or if I needed new flooring. The appointment was at 12 pm but they arrived at 11:15 am, well before time. They explained clearly how they were going to treat the floor before they got started. The result is simply amazing. The floor looks brand new! They were very reasonable as well. I would recommend Xpress Cleaning to everyone."
Brij C., Retail Cleaning in Sandy Springs, GA
2019-10-03 -
★★★★★ - "If you have been searching for a professional crew to maintain your VCT, your search is over. Xpress is the only folks that will do my floors from now on."
David H., Floor Stripping and Waxing in Atlanta, GA
2022-08-19 -
★★★★★ - "Express Cleaning Solutions of Atlanta takes pride in its' commitment to customer satisfaction, they are considerate, hard-working and joyful. Express Cleaning knows the meaning of professional results when it comes to your flooring. Considering a maintenance program with Xpress Cleaning Solutions of Atlanta. Thank you Express Cleaning!"
j Whited, Commercial Cleaning in Marietta, GA
2022-08-19 -
★★★★★ - "Team showed up on time and ready to work. Floors were adequately cleaned and polished. They honored the quoted price and performed the job in a timely fashion."
Taneka F., Floor Stripping and Waxing in East Point, GA
2020-02-21 -
★★★★★ - "Great experience from start to finish. They worked with my schedule to accommodate a time that I was available and the job was well done.
Reggie went above and beyond to make sure we were satisfied with the outcome.
My wood floors are so shiny, they look like they are still wet! I would recommend Xpress for your floor needs."Brandi Milford, Floor Stripping and Waxing in Marietta, GA
2019-12-27 -
★★★★★ - "Great job! I reached out and they were able to get the job done on the same day. Very responsive! Thank you!!"
Jarius A., Floor Stripping and Waxing in Sandy Springs, GA
2019-12-06 -
★★★★★ - "Great Customer Service! I will hire them again."
Corey T., Floor Stripping and Waxing in Mableton, GA
2019-12-06 -
★★★★★ - "Excellent service!!!!. The company was extremely professional and thorough. We used them for our office and they left both our floors sparkling. We will use them from now on. I highly recommend."
Joniki B., Office Cleaning in Kennesaw, GA
2019-12-06 -
★★★★★ - "They did a great job at last minute and did a very impressive job. I now saved them as contact."
Maurice E., Floor Stripping and Waxing in Smyrna, GA
2019-12-06 -
★★★★★ - "Very nice working with Shavonda and Reggie. They missed just a few spots and gladly came back to clean those. It's tough catching everything with posy construction cleaning, and they did a really good job."
Caroline H., Post Construction Cleanup in Marietta, GA
2019-12-06 -
★★★★★ - "Xpress Cleaning did an excellent job on my hardwood floors. My family came by a week later and thought the floors were still wet. Xpress Cleaning came back a week later and cleaned the grout from my tiled floors. Another excellent job. Excellent service at a great price."
Marshall S., Floor Stripping and Waxing in Tyrone, GA
2019-10-03 -
★★★★★ - "The crew did a great job, and their attention to detail was spot on."
2019-09-09 -
★★★★★ - "Fantastic job on my floors. I had kitchen, dining, foyer, and three baths including baseboards cleaned. (Linoleum) They finished the job in 90 minutes. My floors look brand shining new and the house smells wonderful. Highly recommend 👍🏽👍🏽"
Francyne M, Floor Stripping and Waxing in Douglasville, GA
2019-08-29 -
★★★★★ - "Team showed up on time and ready to work. Floors were adequately cleaned and polished. They honored the quoted price and performed the job in a timely fashion."
Teneka F., Floor Stripping and Waxing in East Point, GA
2019-08-29 -
★★★★★ - "They came on time performed their duties and was very through. They worked as a team and were Very through would hire them again."
Paul Gravina, Commercial Cleaning in Atlanta, GA
2019-07-26 -
★★★★★ - "Awesome work!! Very friendly staff and a professioional team of employees to work with in this competitive business! My husband and I strongly recommend this over all cleaning service!!"
Pamela Usher Yancey, Office Cleaning in Atlanta, GA
2019-06-28 -
★★★★★ - "We were in search of a professional company to do a strip and wax floor job for a building we maintain. We searched on Google and chanced upon Xpress Cleaning Solutions. After reading all of their positive reviews, we decided to give them a call. Shavonda was very professional and answered all of my questions. We set up an appointment, and it was the best decision. Reggie and his assistant arrived to our location promptly and ready to work. They had all of the necessary supplies on-hand to do complete the job. We were very impressed with the job they did for us and will certainly be using them again in the near future to strip and wax the entire 17,000sqft facility. Thank you Shavonda and Reggie for a job well done! We will be sure to tell all of our business associates about your exceptional customer service and the impressive job you did for us!!"
Kimberly Gates in Fairburn, GA
2019-04-15 -
★★★★★ - "Wow!!! I own two commercial buildings and have struggled for years trying to find the right company to strip and wax my floors Every company I used fell short of what I expected I found Xpress Cleaning and they were professional from my first phone call to keeping in close contact with me during the process and checking to make sure I was happy when the job was done. It was a wonderful experience and my floors look AMAZING!!!!"
K.Moore in Marietta, GA
2019-03-04 -
★★★★★ - "I contacted Xpress Cleaning after having some brand new VCT tile floors installed but the contractor I hired put too much glue down and it was coming through the tile. I reached out to this company and they got all the glue up and the floor looks amazing now. Hats off to Reginald, what a friendly guy and very hard working man."
2019-02-12 -
★★★★★ - "I hired this company to maintain our building on a nightly basis because they did such a wonderful job on our floors, its been 2 years and they are still consistent. Never missed a day of work."
2019-02-12 -
★★★★★ - "Team showed up on time and ready to work. Floors were adequately cleaned and polished. They honored the quoted price and performed the job in a timely fashion."
Anonymous, Floor Stripping and Waxing
2018-12-17 -
★★★★★ - "I found Xpress after searching online as we were in need of tile waxing on our breakroom and restroom floors. We are a medical facility so this is EXTREMELY important! I'm am glad that we found them! They were on time, friendly, and very professional throughout the entire process. We will have them come back for more work!! If I could give 6 stars I would. Thank you for a great job!"
Darryl in Smyrna, GA
2018-11-26 -
★★★★★ - "They came in and made it happen. Took my floor that had been neglected for years and turned it into a showroom. Couldn't be happier with the job they did. Will definitely be calling them for any flooring needs in the future. Great price for quality work. You don't see that too much anymore."
Jeff in Smyrna, GA
2018-08-20 -
★★★★★ - "I was very satisfied with the service Xpress Cleaning Solutions provided. They were careful with moving everything and placed everything back just as I needed. These guys were energetic and friendly. The floors look new again after the cleaning and waxing. A great job. I do recommend this company for your cleaning needs."
Bertha Hughes in Moreland, GA
2018-08-09 -
★★★★★ - "From my first contact to the completed job, this company was very professional. I appreciate a business that does what they say they will do! Reggie arrived on time to give me an estimate. They set my cleaning appointment with a time that worked for my business. They kept me notified with text messages. Reggie arrived on time, did a great job of cleaning our tile floors. I'll be using this business again!"
Sheryl Clay in Douglasville, GA
2018-07-24 -
★★★★★ - "You want the best, try out Xpress, they put me all the way in the game when they cleaned my floors!"
2018-05-23 -
★★★★★ - "Xpress Cleaning, Did a great job with cleaning our office and stripping and waxing our floors. I would recommened this company to anyone."
2018-05-22 -
★★★★★ - "Ok, Ok Reggie, I still owe you lunch, Man. Hats off to you and your team !! After having 3 different floor specialists come to my buildings ... Xpress Cleaning was the only crew that operated on my floors and brought them back to life ..You said you were the Man for the job , and I'm happy I chose you."
Harold T in Mableton, GA
2018-01-16 -
★★★★★ - "I hired xpress cleaning solution of Atlanta to strip and wax wooden floors in a new property they did an excellent Job.They where on time and finished on time for move in."
Devin Deveroe in Oxford, GA
★★★★★ - "They where prompt and efficient doing my floors"
Devin Deveroe
★★★★★ - "I hired Xpress Cleaning Solutions of Atlanta to strip and wax my wooden floors in a new property, they did an excellent job"
Anonymous, Floor Stripping and Waxing
2017-07-20 -
★★★★★ - "I own a property management company and I hired this company to do the ground keeping and managing of the property. They are doing a fantastic job. They are always on schedule and they keep our community clean."
Marlina in Atlanta, GA
★★★★★ - "Thank You. My floors are just Awesome. I will recommend your service to family and friends."
Jno in Smyrna, GA
★★★★★ - "This company is awesome! Reggie came and did my windows and pressure washed my house and made sure that his personnel took their time to do the job right. He also did a touch up on my powder room floor and did a fantastic job. I will definitely use this companies service again. Thank you!"
Sherry and Keith in Douglasville, GA
★★★★★ - "Reggie and Shavonda run an excellent business. There customer service is outstanding. All employees are polite and hard working. I hired them to do all the tile floors at Kings Way Christian School July 2016 and they did an outstanding job. they were on time and made sure the job was done right and I was happy. You cannot go wrong with this company. I WILL BE USING THEM AGAIN"
Jake Pitts in Douglasville, GA
★★★★★ - "Very professional, on time, and did a wonderful job."
Chamonda R -Atlanta, GA
2016-04-20 -
★★★★★ - "They came out to do my hard wood floors. They were on time , very professional and reasonable price. I would definitely be using them again my floors looks flawless."
Stacey W. -Lithia Springs, GA
2016-04-20 -
★★★★★ - "I've been a client for 5 years now and I am still pleased with the service that's provided. I have two offices that are maintained by them. I can definitely say that my employees and I enjoy walking into a clean environment! XCS pays great attention to detail and communicate effectively. I have not had an issue with this company so far. If I were to, I'm confident that they would resolve it. I love their professionalism and teamwork. I've delt with s few companies before this one and must say they are the best by far! Thank guys for providing outstanding service!"
Kenya W. -Douglasville, GA
2016-04-20 -
★★★★★ - "My experience was great for a great price. The customer service was great and I just needed my carpet clean!!! They were on time and considerate of my schedule!!! Thanks Xpress Cleaning Solutions of Atlanta!!! You were outstanding!!!"
Shonte M. -Atlanta


text:
Parsing the Indiana and North Carolina Primaries
Yesterday, Democrats voted in Indiana and North Carolina. My latest W.S.J. column parses the results. A few highlights:
With Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton trading victories in North Carolina and Indiana, it's tempting to call Tuesday's primary vote a split decision. Instead, political prediction markets have declared Senator Obama a clear winner.
Senator Obama began Election Day rated a 76 percent chance to win the Democratic nomination. By the time the poll results were finalized, the markets had reassessed his chances at 89 percent. This 13 percentage-point rise makes Tuesday's primaries the best day of the campaign for Senator Obama since the surge of momentum he enjoyed after the Iowa caucuses.
On the flipside, Senator Clinton's chances of securing the nomination were cut in half, falling from 22 percent to 10 percent.
The political junkies amongst us will be easily recognized today: we are the bleary-eyed folks hovering over the coffee pot.
The Indiana race turned out to be surprisingly close, and while C.B.S. confidently called the race minutes after 8 p.m., the other networks waited until about 1:15 a.m. While C.B.S. was ultimately correct, you can bet there were some white knuckles as the vote count came in closer than expected:
Interestingly, when C.B.S. made its early call, prediction markets still rated Senator Obama a 1-in-14 chance to win. His stock dipped briefly in response to that call, but within 15 minutes, it became clear that C.B.S. didn't have any special information, and Senator Obama's stock quickly recovered to its previous level.
Thus, political prediction markets clearly suggest that C.B.S. analysts took a pretty big gamble.
The propensity of committees of expert analysts to be overconfident is a widely documented phenomenon, and if the C.B.S. bigwigs are interested, I'm willing to bet that greater reliance on the wisdom of crowds can serve as a useful counterweight.
It seems pretty unlikely that the network executives intended their station to risk a 14-to-1 bet.
A full wrap-up is available here.


text:
Time is money: Apple pays $21M for clock design, says report
Apple shells out many millions of dollars to license the iconic Swiss clock-face design it apparently adapted for use in iOS 6, says a news agency report.
Quality Swiss-made timepieces don't come cheap. Just ask Apple.
The company shelled out a $21 million "lump sum" to license a clock-face design from the Swiss Federal Railway service, French news agency AFP reported, citing a Swiss paper.
In September, the railway service, also known as SBB, objected to the clock-face design in iOS 6, saying it too closely resembled a trademarked design created in 1944 by SBB employee Hans Hilfiker and used in train stations throughout Switzerland.
Hilfiker's design has been honored by both the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the London Design Museum and has become a symbol of Swiss punctuality, according to the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs' swissworld site. It's also licensed to Mondaine, a Swiss watch manufacturer.
SBB reached a licensing agreement with Apple last month, but at the time, an SBB representative said the amount of the licensing fee and other details of the deal would remain confidential.


text:
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences says the three will be honored with Oscar statuettes at the Governors Awards in November. The academy's Board of Governors voted Tuesday to recognize the entertainment industry veterans.
Winfrey will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, which honors philanthropic and humanitarian contributions. The 57-year-old media mogul, who was nominated for a supporting actress Oscar for 1985's "The Color Purple," supports various charitable and educational causes, including her own namesake foundations and Academy for Girls in South Africa.
Jones and Smith will receive honorary Oscars for their outstanding careers.
Jones has appeared in more than 50 films. The 80-year-old actor - voice of Darth Vader - was nominated for an Academy Award in 1971 for "The Great White Hope." His other credits include "Field of Dreams," "Patriot Games" and "The Hunt for Red October."
Smith was NBC's first makeup man when he started his career in 1945. He won an Oscar in 1984 for his work on "Amadeus" and was nominated again in 1989 for "Dad." Known as the "godfather of makeup," he also worked on "The Godfather," "The Exorcist" and "Taxi Driver." Smith also helped train many of today's top movie makeup artists.
Smith, Jones and Winfrey will receive their statuettes on Nov. 12 at the 3rd annual Governors Awards dinner at the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center, just above the Kodak Theatre, where the Academy Awards are presented.


text:
The touch screen cursor is moving erratically or skipping, or generating ghost touches.
IMPORTANT: This article applies only to specific products and/or operating systems. Check Applicable Products and Categories for details.
Follow these steps to troubleshoot and resolve this issue.
IMPORTANT: Make sure the computer battery is charge to 30% or higher before attempting to use this procedure.
- Remove all connected devices from the computer, including the AC Adapter.
- Download the Touch Panel Calibration Tool file and save it to a easily remembered and located directory.
NOTE: Make a note of the directory where you save the file for future reference.
- Using the touchpad only, browse to the directory where the file was downloaded and double-click the UNOOTH-P0112513-1082.EXE file to begin the calibration process.
IMPORTANT: From this point on, do not touch the screen. Doing so may affect the calibration process and cause unintended consequences.
- In the Browse For Folder window, click the OK button.
- At the C:\Users\Username folder, double-click the Panel Calibration Tool folder.
- In the Panel Calibration Tool window, double-click the CalibG4 file.
NOTE: The calibration process will begin.
- Once the calibration is finished, using the touchpad only, shut down the computer .
- After the computer has completely shut down, turn the computer back on.
NOTE: If the issue is still occurring, please confirm the computer battery is charge to 30% or higher and that all connected devices have been removed from the computer, and perform the touch screen calibration again.


text:
by Jim Fetzer (with Preston James)
One of the primary means of immobilizing the American people politically today is to hold them in a state of confusion in which anything can be believed and nothing can be known… nothing of significance, that is.– E. Martin Schotz, HISTORY WILL NOT ABSOLVE US (1996)
9/11 appears to have been a classic "false flag" operation in which an attack is planned by one source but blamed upon another. In this case, the evidence suggests neo-cons in the Department of Defense and their allies in the Mossad were actually responsible for the execution of the atrocities of 9/11. That story was buried, however, in a surfeit of alternative explanations for which the evidence was far more tenuous but which were of much greater political utility. And in each case, qualified experts uncovered evidence that induced sincere but false beliefs that they were "the real deal".
The situation encountered with regard to 9/11 turns out to be far more sophisticated than the efforts that were made to divert attention from the conspirators in the case of the assassination of JFK, where "Track #1", as we might call it, implicated Lee Harvey Oswald as "the lone assassin". Track #2 suggested that he working for Fidel Castro and that Cuba had done it. Track #3 was redirected domestically to encompass the mob, while Track #4 targeted the Soviet Union. But these were superficial distractions for which most of the evidence was flimsy and inconclusive. 9/11 presents a greater challenge to unpack, because in this case, planted evidence was more extensive and appeared to be real.
Deep black covert operations, of course, are by their very nature shrouded in layers of secrecy, protected by the "need to know" and sensitive compartmented information (SCI). Since WWII, however, major covert operations have become increasingly sophisticated and new models have been developed which take full advantage of the extensive national security laws and practices guaranteed under the National Security Acts of 1947 and 1952. The experts who create these plots are specialists in PSYOPS, which entails accessing, stimulating and manipulating the subconscious minds of the target population as a single unit in order to create beliefs and instill motivations in the public mind that are necessary to support of their actions but would normally be viewed as unacceptable.
This is related to Abraham Maslow's "hierarchy of needs". When basic primal survival fears are activated in the "group mind" of the masses, this fear induces the motivation for a population to willingly give up their rights and liberty even for merely the promise of more protection from the boogeymen. This principal is the basis for successful PSYOPS. The use of multi-track intermeshed, deep-black covert operations also creates massive cognitive dissonance among federal investigators, private researchers and the public, which typically eventually results in folks abandoning the issue and going away in "quiet desperation", which is the actual intended result of those who plan and activate them.
Deep Black/False Flag Ops
The "shroud of secrecy" they afford provides perfect cover to plan and carry out these sophisticated multi-track deep black covert operations and keep them secret–even from those operatives who are involved as well as the government's own agents who do the investigations. The "national security" cover can be dropped on any matter that is at risk of being disclosed to the public and then can be invoked again at any time. Thus, alphabets who discover what really happened can be silenced and the media can be gagged with the delivery of a "national security letter".
One of the greatest advances in deep black, false flag/stand-down covert operations has been the development of a new, more complex design, best referred to as "multi-track, enmeshed". This involves using a complicated design with independent covert operations, each of which could individually do the job if they were actually "taken live". These operations, however, are designed to be enmeshed at the nexus of the actual target, at which point some are de-activated and one or more taken live.
This can completely confound even the most seasoned investigators, thus creating so much conflict among researchers that these emergent conflicts between them provide the best cover possible for what was actually done and how it was done. Multi-track and interwoven deep black covert operations are therefore designed from the very start to obfuscate the actual operation that is selected and taken live, thereby denying most intel and government officials as well as the public any real knowledge of the actual operational purpose and information about the covert operation or why a particular covert operation was taken live as the predominant op.
As an illustration, when we attempt to peel the 9/11 onion, we discover there are at least five different alternative theories for which evidence has emerged, where each of them has sincere supporters who falsely believe that they have found critical evidence about that happened on 9/11. Each of these is actually one plot of many plots, which were deliberately contrived to creating sufficient confusion that everything about 9/11 turns out to be believable and nothing is knowable. Such deep black cover op designs can thereby provide sufficient "after the fact" cover to keep the truth buried in confusion forever.
Palestinians Did It
Cover Story #1: Palestinians Did It! Efforts were being made before the Twin Towers were destroyed to imply Palestinian responsibility for commandeering those planes and committing those crimes, which may have taken the lives of as many as 3,000 citizens and employees. Those who were watching closely saw archival footage of Palestinians rejoicing on a festive occasion being broadcast as though it were contemporaneous to convey the impression—meant to be indelible—that the Palestinian people had taken pleasure at inflicting misery on America.
An early report from CNN even asserted that the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine had claimed responsibility for 9/11—and that was before Flight 175 had hit the South Tower! So during that brief interval between the first hit on the North Tower at 8:46:40 and the second on the South Tower at 9:03:11, a propaganda operation to implicate the Palestinians was well under way. The immediate availability of this report and video footage indicates the direction in which responsibility for these attacks was originally intended to be cast
And that might have become the official cover story, were it not for observant residents near Liberty State Park in New Jersey who watched as five young men, dressed in Arab garb, filmed the destruction of the Twin Towers, cheering and celebrating, which came across as odd behavior, under the circumstances. When they were apprehended in a white van from Urban Moving Systems, the driver would inform the arresting officer that they were not the problem: "We are Israelis. We are not your problem. Your problems are our problems. The Palestinians are your problem."
They were found to have $4,700 in cash, box cutters, and foreign passports in their possession. Urban Moving Systems would subsequently be identified as a Mossad front. After 71 days of incarceration, the Dancing Israelis would be released and return to Israel, where three of them would go on TV there and explain that their purpose had been to document the destruction of the Twin Towers. Once they had been arrested, however, the story was quietly dropped. It was just too revealing that Israel had been profoundly involved in the events of 9/11.
Arab Hijackers Did It
Cover Story #2: 19 Arab Hijackers Did It. If these attacks could not be blamed on the Palestinians without revealing Israeli complicity, the fall back was effortless. We know "the official account"—that nineteen Islamic terrorists hijacked four commercial carriers, outfoxed the most sophisticated air defense system in the world and perpetrated these atrocities under the control of a guy in a cave in Afghanistan. It would turn out that 15 of the 19 alleged terrorists were from Saudi Arabia and none were from Iraq.
But that would not matter in the grand scheme of things, where Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld would push 9/11 as a justification for attacking Iraq. Not only was the public being fed false information about weapons of mass destruction and collusion with al Qaeda, but the national press was oblivious to the obvious question that remained unaddressed by government officials or the main stream media: If 15 of 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, two from the UAE, one from Lebanon and Egypt, then why were we attacking Iraq?
Osama bin Laden with al Qaeda
Even our own FBI would eventually acknowledge that it had no "hard evidence" that Osama bin Laden had had anything to do with 9/11. But the range of evidence that exonerates al Qaeda and implicates the Bush/Cheney administration in these crimes has become as broad as it is deep. Elias Davidsson, for example, has shown that the US government had never produced evidence that the alleged "hijackers" were even aboard those four planes. Muslims. David Ray Griffin, the leading expert on 9/11 in the world today, has shown that the alleged phone calls from those planes were faked, where even our own FBI has confirmed that Barbara Olsen never spoke to her husband, Ted.
Leslie Raphael has offered reason after reason for concluding that the Jules Naudet film was staged. The evidence that no planes crashed in Shanksville or hit the Pentagon is beyond reasonable doubt, where others have shown that the videos of Flight 175 hitting the South Tower are fake, which may have been a brilliant stroke to generate dissension within the 9/11 Truth movement, since the truth of video fakery has proven to be politically divisive. The scientific evidence disproving the official account is also abundant and compelling. Given what we know now, anyone who continues to believe the "official account" of 9/11 is either unfamiliar with the evidence or cognitively impaired.
Pakistan/Turkey/Saudi Arabia
Cover Story #3. The Pakistanis Did It. This track was based upon the supposition that well-financed Pakistani intel were able to buy expensive "K Street" lobbyists and gain influence with high officials in the government and Department of Defense, who had much to gain from a "staged terror attack" such as 9/11. It was the next layer of the onion to be peeled when and if the Arab hijackers story wouldn't work any longer and was initiated by the revelation that Omar Sheikh, a British-born Islamist militant, had wired $100,000 before the 9/11 attacks to Mohammed Atta, allegedly the lead hijacker, at the direction General Mahmoud Ahmed, the then head of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). As Michael Meecher has observed, it is extraordinary that neither Ahmed nor Sheikh have been charged and brought to trial on this count. It certainly raises the prospect that the ISI was deeply involved and possibly responsible for the events of 9/11. Even if it were true, however, it cannot begin to account for the causal nexus that brought about 9/11 or identify those who were "pulling the strings".
"Ahmed, the paymaster for the hijackers," Meecher writes, "was actually in Washington on 9/11, and had a series of pre-9/11 top-level meetings in the White House, the Pentagon, the national security council, and with George Tenet, then head of the CIA, and Marc Grossman, the under-secretary of state for political affairs. When Ahmed was exposed by the Wall Street Journal as having sent the money to the hijackers, he was forced to "retire" by President Pervez Musharraf. Why hasn't the US demanded that he be questioned and tried in court?" Although a number of reasons have been advanced for not taking this story seriously, Meecher mentions a number of sources who have information that might or might not implicate the ISI and expose those who were behind 9/11, the most important of whom appears to be former FBI translator, Sibel Edmonds, who has recently been speaking out.
Sibel Edmonds
Edmonds, a 33-year-old Turkish-American linguist, who is fluent in both Turkish and Azerbaijani, has tried to blow the whistle on the cover-up of intelligence that names some of the culprits who orchestrated the 9/11 attacks. While Sibel has been under gag orders forbidding her from testifying in court or mentioning the names of the people or of the countries involved, she has said. "My translations of the 9/11 intercepts included [terrorist] money laundering, detailed and date-specific information … if they were to do real investigations, we would see several significant high-level criminal prosecutions in this country [the US] … and believe me, they will do everything to cover this up".
Revelations claimed to emerge from her case have been described as being explosive, including "that foreign operatives who were working in the translation department been tried to recruit her for their operations; that there exists a nuclear spy ring aided and abetted by high ranking US government officials who have been selling America's nuclear secrets on the black market; that foreign language intelligence directly pertaining to 9/11 was deliberately withheld from FBI agents in the field; that Osama bin Laden had an 'intimate relationship' with the United Stages government right up until 9/11." While most of this is probably true, the theory of the case that she appears to imply—that Turkey (with assistance from actors from Pakistan, and Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia) had been using Bin Laden and the Taliban as a proxy terrorist army to promote its own agenda—may be true in its own right, but based upon the totality of what we know now, does not begin to approach an explanation for the stand-down by NORAD, for example, or of how the demolitions were situated or the post-attack cover-ups.
The US "Let it Happen"
Cover Story #4: It was allowed to happen. The distinction between "LIHOP" (let it happen on purpose) and "MIHOP" (made it happen on purpose) has been powerfully reinforced by the "Able Danger" contretemps. As a highly classified, anti-terrorist intelligence operation, Able Danger fell under Special Operations (SOCOM) and Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) control. When claims arose that the US had had advanced knowledge of 9/11 and had allowed it to happen, a 16-month investigation by the Senate Intelligence committee reported in December 2006 that there had been no knowledge of the 9/11 attacks by US authorities.
The evidence, however, indicates that was not the case—and, indeed, that the events of 9/11 were orchestrated and staged by elements within the Department of Defense with help from their friends in the Mossad. As the 10th observance of 9/11 approaches, we know that there were a minimum of two independent deep cover covert operations which were operating on dual track, parallel and also interwoven. The first one was the creation and tracking—principally by the Mossad—of some "low tech" terrorist cells, which were set up, financed, and trained by US and other intelligence agencies.
"Able Danger" discovered this low-tech terror cell sub-track, which we can call "Track A". The operation was designed to be discovered to create false cover, so that when 9/11 succeeded, it could be shown by information discovered by a bona fide intelligence group that this terror cell was responsible. That would be the role played by Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer, other members of the "Able Danger" team, and Coleen Rowley of the FBI in Minneapolis. Track A, however, was designed to be discovered and then the investigation stopped, creating the image of high-level US incompetence that had allowed this terror cell to succeed in hijacking aircraft with box-cutters and then flying those aircraft into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.
When the folks from "Able Danger" swear that they uncovered "a real terrorist cell plot", they are telling the truth. It was set up this way as a false track. When Coleen Rowley expresses frustration because she could not obtain a search warrant for the hard drive of Zacarias Moussaui because he was involved in this terror cell, she was telling the truth. But Track A was set up as a false track to be terminated before the 9/11 attacks to provide a convincing cover story for the highest levels of US intelligence and make the government appear to be merely hugely incompetent. After all, how could government officials of this incompetence have staged a successful and effective covert operation?
The US "Made it Happen"
Actual Story: The US "Made it Happen". Track B, by comparison, was a high-tech track designed to use readiness exercises on 9/11, including some 17 anti-terrorist drills on 9/11 that disrupted communication and coordination between NORAD and the FAA, by taking some of them live and substituting high-tech weapons in order to target the Twin Towers and the Pentagon by that means. Track B involved the use of numerous different demolition means, including incendiaries and multiple modes of destruction, most of which alone would be insufficient cause for the detonation of the Twin Towers, which was arguably used to induce false leads confusing investigators and researchers.
A perfect example turns out to be the "hard science" 9/11 Truth group's insistence that nanothermite was the principal element used in the demolition of the Twin Towers. This position, which has assumed a status akin to that of a dogma within the 9/11 movement, turns out to be unsustainable in light of research that has established that nanothermite is non-explosive—or, at best, a feeble explosive—and cannot have been responsible for blowing the towers apart, for ejecting massive steel assemblies hundreds of feet, or for the pulverization of concrete or the destruction of steel by means of shockwaves. To a bona fide explosives expert, the claim that nanothermite provided the explosive energy or enough shockwave velocity to perform these tasks had to be an obvious deception. If it was deliberately planted to divert research on 9/11 along an ultimately unproductive line, it may have succeeded beyond the wildest intel dreams as a classic "red herring".
Another example, surprisingly, is the Pentagon attack, where some of those within the 9/11 community have argued strenuously for not going there, because the Department of Defense might spring a new video on the public that proves a Boeing 757 actually did hit the building. The evidence contradicting that contention is abundant and compelling, however, including the expert assessment of Major General Albert N. Stubblebine, USA (ret.), perhaps the world's leading expert on image analysis and interpretation, who has concluded that no plane hit the Pentagon. When you take all the evidence into account, the case against a plane is staggering, but internal dissension has precluding using it— and other powerful proofs of governmental fakery —and has taken this evidence out of the public domain:
"From the photographs I have analyzed very, very carefully," Stubblebine has explained, "it was not an airplane." During an interview in Germany, he explained that there should have been wing marks on the façade of the Pentagon. "If it had wings, it would have left wing marks. [There are] those who claim that the plane tilted and hit the ground first and lost a wing. But airplanes have two wings, and he could not find indications of any wing in any of those photographs." Regarding the Twin Towers, he added, "Look at the buildings falling—they didn"t fall down because of an airplane hit them. They fell down because explosives went off inside. Demolition. Look at Building 7, for God's sake."
Whistleblowing as Deception
The politics of 9/11, however, are far more murky than the science. So when folks from Able Danger swear that they uncovered a real terror cell plot, they are telling the truth. It was set up this way as a false track. When a Colleen Rowley expresses frustration because she could not get a search warrant for Moussaui's hard-drive because he was involved in this terror cell, she is telling the truth. When a Sibel Edmonds is gagged by court order and tries to tell how certain how administration officials were communicating with this terror cell, she is telling the truth. Indeed, the effort to mislead our own experts even extended to Richard Clarke, who has explained that he himself had been given the false impression that, apart from a few analysts, the CIA had been unaware of what was going on prior to 9/11, which was intended to support the theory of US incompetence.
Clarke, who was the nation's leading anti-terrorism expert, recently observed, "It's not as I originally thought, which was that one lonely CIA analyst got this information and didn't somehow recognize the significance of it," Clarke said during an interview. "No, fifty, 5-0, CIA personnel knew about this. Among the fifty people in CIA who knew these guys were in the country was the CIA director. … We therefore conclude that there was a high-level decision inside CIA ordering people not to share that information. … It is also possible, as some FBI investigators suspect, the CIA was running a joint venture with Saudi intelligence in order to get around that restriction … These are only theories about the CIA's failures to communicate vital information to the bureau … Perhaps the agency decided that Saudi intelligence would have a better chance of recruiting these men than the Americans. That would leave no CIA fingerprints on the operation as well."
Indeed, as Ian Henshall has observed, if you substitute the Mossad for the Saudis, you have the explanation for the dancing Israelis, who were apprehended for filming and celebrating during the destruction of the Twin Towers and were released later under orders from Michael Chertoff, then an advisor Attorney General John Ashcroft and a dual US-Israel citizen, who would become Director of the new Department of Homeland Security—which leads directly to reports like those from Dr. Steve Pieczenik that 9/11 was indeed "an inside job" and studies like those from Alan Sabrosky, Ph.D., who has explain that 9/11 involved complicity between neo-con Zionists in the Department of Defense and the Mossad, where Israel had very powerful motives for 9/11 and, along with the Bush/Cheney administration, has been its primary beneficiary.
But Israel cannot have done this alone. The NORAD "stand down" and the attack on the Pentagon required complicity at the highest levels of the Department of Defense. And the benefits to the Bush/Cheney administration have likewise been enormous. As Patrick Martin has observed, "Without 9/11, there would be no US occupation of Iraq, putting an American army squarely at the center of the world's largest pool of oil. Without 9/11, there would be no US bases across Central Asia, guarding the second largest source of oil and gas. And without 9/11, the Bush administration would have been unable to sustain itself politically, faced with a deteriorating economy and widespread opposition to its tax cuts for millionaires and social measures to appease the fundamentalist Christian Right."
The Fourth Reich
Indeed, the extreme motivation of a small number of radical Israelis and their lobbies like AIPAC to manipulate US foreign policy in the Mideast may have created huge future trap for them in their role as "classic cutouts", which can be later exposed in a limited hangout admission in order to direct blame toward the Mossad and the small number of radical Jews involved, who do not represent most Jewish folks at all, thus directing blame away from from those who used them in their cutout role and who were actually at the top of the command structure. This limited hangout disclosure could then later be used to blame all Jews and add them to the large and growing Homeland Security watch-list list of possible domestic terrorists such as Muslims, fundamentalist Christians, returning veterans, Ron Paul supporters, Constitutionalists and tax protestors, and member of any current social group that is trying to gain exposure and cessation of rampant government corruption and creeping tyranny of the government at all levels, which of course encompasses those dedicated to 9/11 Truth.
Richard Clarke, Anti-Terrorism Czar


text:
If you've ever ridden a hot streak "too long" at a blackjack table or left in a huff after the dealer hit 21 three times in a row, then you are no better at gambling than a rhesus monkey.
That's not exactly the conclusion as articulated by researchers at the University of Rochester, but rather my interpretation of their study that showed monkeys possess the same "hot hand bias" as humans when it comes to gambling. In other words, both species have trouble accepting the reality of randomness.
From a university blog post:
The new results suggest that the penchant to see patterns that actually don't exist may be inherited--an evolutionary adaptation that may have provided our ancestors a selective advantage when foraging for food in the wild, according to lead author Tommy Blanchard, a doctoral candidate in brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester.
The cognitive bias may be difficult to override even in situations that are truly random. This inborn tendency to feel that we are on a roll or in a slump may help explain why gambling can be so alluring and why the stock market is so prone to wild swings, says coauthor Benjamin Hayden, assistant professor brain and cognitive sciences.
"Luckily, monkeys love to gamble," says Blanchard.
Presumably because monkeys would make a mess of playing cards, the researchers devised games that in two instances returned patterned results that were quickly learned, but in a third produced results that were truly random. The monkeys played all three scenarios the same way -- even over time -- thereby exhibiting the "hot hand bias" that has been the undoing of many a human gambler.
The full report can be purchased here.
"We're a complex mix of biases and heuristics and statistical reasoning," says Blanchard. "When you put it all together, that's how you get sophisticated behavior. We don't know where a lot of these biases come from, but this study--and others like it--suggest many of them are due to cognitive mechanisms we share with our primate relatives."


text:
I have long been deeply concerned about the effect our modern, highly industrialised approach is having on nature's capacity to sustain life on Earth. There is a growing set of alarming problems which, if not addressed with real urgency, will severely affect nature's capacity to keep her life support systems running and thus guarantee the well-being of billions of people around the world.
It is worth bearing in mind that bodies like the UN have produced countless reports showing the damage we have so far been responsible for. In the last half century alone, not only have we depleted over a third of the world's farmable soil, we have so intensified the way we produce food we are now using far more water than we did, even though there is less fresh water available.
In that same 50 years we have also burned down over a third of the world's tropical rainforests and are still doing so - despite the fact that they are actually the lungs of the world. An area the size of a football pitch goes up in smoke every four seconds - that's over 26,000 football pitches a day! As a result, we have destroyed more than 80,000 species on which, did we but know it, we depend for our long term health and welfare. Everything is interconnected.
Thus, because these forests produce billions of tonnes of rainwater every day, we now risk big consequences for our ability to grow all the food we will need to feed what will soon be a global population of nine billion people. And all of these problems are being compounded by climate change, an effect the experts ominously call "a threat multiplier." For many years I have sought to highlight that this all adds up to something far more than an "environmental crisis." We are fast engineering a global economic crisis.
This film demonstrates the work of those initiatives I have set up through which I aim to bring together leaders of organizations and government and those from the corporate world to share their knowledge and forge practical solutions. They range from trying to establish more sustainable fisheries and better ways of managing farming within tropical forests, to the creation of more sustainable approaches to food production and more local forms of food distribution, not to mention clever financial mechanisms that enable global corporations to do things differently for the good of the Earth and for their profits. This is the work of my International Sustainability Unit and of the British Asian Trust.
The film also profiles the Cambridge Programme for Sustainable Leadership, of which I have been patron for 20 years, and the work of a project I established in 2004, called Accounting for Sustainability. This works with the corporate world and within government to ensure we are not battling to meet the challenges of the 21st Century with the decision-making techniques and corporate reporting systems of the 20th Century. If we are to guarantee the well-being of our grandchildren and their grandchildren, then genuine sustainability has to become embedded in the DNA of business and government. As this film shows, without a resilient approach to business and economics, I am afraid we run the risk of bequeathing those who follow us something far worse.


text:
Andrew Plumb is a really active member of the MakerBot community, and there's a nice interview with him about his experiences up on the MakerBot blog. I'm writing a piece about MakerBot for Make: 21, and found his story particularly interesting.
I was fortunate to be going through university in the early '90s right when Linux was making the rounds – Math and Engineering, Control and Communications Systems program at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. (Cool! There wasn't a Control and Robotics option back then.) That box of a hundred-odd 3.5″ floppies landed on my desk and I was plunged into the second emerging wave of Open Source software – the first being the BSD origins of UNIX. With healthy wiki, forum, google group and twitter extended participation (to name a few channels), the RepRap+MakerBot+Thingiverse projects feel like they could be leading a third wave of open source innovation and community.
Join Make: Community Today


text:
Looking for a system that would be able to support gaming in a setting of medieval-ish, raw and muddy themes (if I were to pick an example, the setting of The Witcher series would come in close). These would be my requirements for the system:
- low fantasy (where magic is very rare or virtually non-existent)
- grim theme (dirty, gloomy, death on every corner)
- classless system (i.e. letting the player construct their own characters)
- mundane, NOT heroic (i.e. not letting the players become some demigods and such - keeping it human)
- rich in combat and tactics (as in putting together a custom set of armor with its pros and cons, choosing a specific weapon with its pros and cons (speed, reach, style, types of damage), smithing and crafting, learning combat moves and such)
- customization-friendly (as in keeping the system a bit abstract and flexible - i.e. not swaying into too much simulationism and specifics, in the Riddle of Steel sense)
Preferably (but not necessarily), also:
- dice pool resolution mechanics
- level-less system (a point-buy system would be desired - as in taking certain points of experience for enemies defeated and/or quests solved, and spending these points on the go / whenever one feels like it)
- rich on thievery (sneakin', stabbin', stealin', shootin' ... but still, I may be able to house-rule these features into the system myself)
No opinion about:
- Combat grid / map
If you want examples of settings/themes that may fit well with the aforementioned requirements, he re you go: Thieves World, Thief, Ironclad, The 1982's Conan (not interested in that Riddle of Steel system, though), The Witcher (this trailer gets the theme right, although Geralt is way too good when it come to fighting).


text:
Want to lace up the skates and twirl in the shadow of palm trees, city skyscrapers or dramatic stone cliffs. Slip an slide your way around the top 10 ice-skating rinks.
Boston: Boston Common Frog Pond
The nation's oldest public park transforms its reflecting pool into an outdoor rink each winter. Chefs from the local restaurants Cheers and Hampshire House oversee the kid-friendly menu at the snack bar.
Nov. 15 to Mar. 17; $4, free for kids under 14, $8 skate rental.
Chicago: McCormick Tribune Ice Rink at Millennium Park
The Windy City's newest downtown park is a feat of landscaping that encompasses a Frank Gehry-designed concert space, an interactive fountain, a garden, a restaurant — even room for art exhibitions, picnics, and, yes, outdoor skating.
Nov. 14 to Mar. 16; free, $9 skate rental.
Houston: Polar Ice Galleria
Beneath a glass atrium inside Houston's sprawling, high-end mall, this bi-level rink provides a well-deserved break from that other holiday sport — shopping.
Year-round; $8, $7 for children under 13, $3 skate rental.
Los Angeles: Downtown on Ice
At the Pershing Square rink, surrounded by palm trees, skaters can join periodic hockey clinics run by the L.A. Kings or glide along to live swing, jazz, or country music during free concerts held Tuesdays and Thursdays at noon, Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 1 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m.
Nov. 15 to Jan. 21; $6, $2 skate rental.
Minneapolis: Depot Skating Rink
Housed in a former train shed at the historic Depot, the rink has an iron-truss canopy ceiling and giant glass walls looking out at downtown Minneapolis.
Thursday to Sunday, Nov. 21 to Mar. 16; $8, $6 for children under 18, $6 skate rental.
New York City: The Pond at Bryant Park
There's no shortage of Manhattan rinks, but the pond — ringed by trees and gleaming skyscrapers — gets kudos for its free admission and park perks: an old-fashioned carousel, a flower kiosk, and a holiday market. The rink shuts down early to make way for the white tents of Fashion Week, held each February.
Oct. 26 to mid-Jan.; free, $10 skate rental.
Philadelphia: Blue Cross River Rink
On the banks of the Delaware River, the rink sponsors free lessons for local public school students and an annual event lineup that includes the crowd-pleaser "Skate With Santa."
Nov. 23 to Mar. 2; $6, $3 skate rental, $1 discount coupons available online.
Sun Valley: The Sun Valley Ice Rink
Cool mountain nights and a sun shade keep this outdoor rink open even in the dog days of summer. A part of the ritzy Sun Valley Lodge, the rink mounts annual ice shows with Olympic medalist headliners and sells gear and frilly skating costumes.
Year-round; $10, $8.50 children under 13, $4 skate rental.
Washington, D.C.: Sculpture Garden Ice-Skating Rink
The rink is strung with festive lights and set amid the National Gallery of Art's outdoor sculpture collection, graced by the works of Joan Miró, Sol LeWitt, and Ellsworth Kelly.
Nov. 17 to mid-Mar.; $7; $6 for children under 13, seniors, and students with ID; $3 skate rental.
Yosemite National Park: Curry Village Ice Rink
Half Dome and Glacier Point make a spectacular backdrop for skating, one of Yosemite's many winter activities (snowshoeing, skiing, snowboarding, tubing) for hearty souls. Refuel at the warming hut and snack bar nearby.
Mid-Nov. to mid-Mar.; $8, $6 for children under 12, $3 skate rental.


text:
Oconee Painting Lake Oconee
Simply The Best Painters!
We have been serving Lake Oconee since 1998 as the most reliable and experienced painting company. We are proud to offer you the best painting job you've ever seen. We are experts in interior and exterior painting. Our custom cabinet painting crew can bring your cabinets back to life. Our Carpentry and design team are second to none. We have offices in Athens and Watkinsville as well as Gainesville and Greensboro so you can always count on us to provide top-quality service. All employees are background and drug tested. Our crews have been with the company an average of seven year. We are "Simply the best"."
Eatonton is a city in and county seat of Putnam County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 6,307. It was named after William Eaton, an officer and diplomat involved in the First Barbary War. The name consists of his surname with the English suffix "ton," meaning "town". == History == The Rock Eagle Effigy Mound, a Native American archaeological site, is located north of the city.
Ace Hardware, Adams, Alpharetta, Ansley Brook, Chris' Neighborhood Barber Shop, County of Putnam Swimming Pool, Crooked creek community association, Crown Ridge Subdivision, Downtown Norcross, Enclave Lake Oconee Townhomes, Flat Rock, Georgian Hills, Greater Valley Brook, Green Acres, Greshamville