text:
On2 Technologies
Company type | Subsidiary of Google Inc. |
Industry | Video codec technology |
Founded | 1992Clifton Park, New York | ,
Defunct | June 21, 2010 |
Fate | Acquired by Google |
Key people | J. Allen Kosowsky, Chairman Matthew C. Frost, COO Tim Reusing, GC James Bankoski, Senior VP Paul Wilkins, Senior VP Wayne Boomer, Senior VP Yaowu Xu, Senior VP |
Products | TrueMotion S, TrueMotion 2, TrueMotion RT 2.0, VP3, VP4, VP5, TrueMotion VP6, TrueMotion VP7 and VP8 |
Parent |
On2 Technologies, formerly known as The Duck Corporation,[1] was a small publicly traded company (on the American Stock Exchange), founded in New York City in 1992[2] and headquartered in Clifton Park, New York, that designed video codec technology. It created a series of video codecs called TrueMotion (including TrueMotion S, TrueMotion 2, TrueMotion RT 2.0,[3] TrueMotion VP3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8).
In February 2010, On2 Technologies was acquired by Google for an estimated $124.6 million.[4] On2's VP8 technology became the core of Google's WebM video file format.
While known by the name The Duck Corporation, they developed TrueMotion S, a codec that was used by some games for full motion video (FMV) sequences during the 1990s. The original office of the Duck Corporation was founded in New York City by Daniel B. Miller, Victor Yurkovsky, and Stan Marder. In 1994 Duck opened its first "satellite" engineering office in Colonie, NY under the management of Eric Ameres. Miller became CEO of newly renamed On2 Technologies until Doug McIntyre was hired in late 2000, when Miller resumed his role as CTO. CEO's after McIntyre included Bill Joll and Matt Frost.
After Miller's departure in 2003, newly promoted CTO Eric Ameres moved the primary engineering office to upstate NY's capital region.[5] Ameres later departed in 2007 to pursue other research as part of the opening of the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) at his alma mater, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). After Ameres' departure in 2007 Paul Wilkins served as co-CTO with Jim Bankoski. Wilkins was founder of "Metavisual" which was acquired by On2 in 1999 to bring the VP3 codec to market. The VP3 codec became the basis of On2's future codecs as well as the basis of the open source Theora video codec.
In 1995, The Duck Corporation raised $1.5 million in venture funding from Edelson Technology Partners.
In 1997, they raised an additional $5.5 million in a venture round primarily financed by Citigroup Ventures.
In 1999, The Duck Corporation merged with Applied Capital Funding, Inc., a public company on the American Stock Exchange. The merged entity was first renamed On2.Com and then On2 Technologies, trading on the AMEX as ONT. ONT's price peaked at a little over $40 per share, briefly giving the company a market cap in excess of $1 billion.
On April 4, 2000, On2 buys Quickband, Inc. ("Quickband"), a wholly owned subsidiary of the company, acquired substantially all of the assets of DVD Mags, Inc. ("DVD Mags"), a California corporation in the business of aggregating and producing short-form entertainment content for distribution across digital and traditional channels (the "Quickband Acquisition"). The Quickband Acquisition was effected pursuant to an Asset Purchase Agreement ("Purchase Agreement") dated as of March 9, 2000 by and among the company, Quickband and DVD Mags.
On November 3, 2000, On2 acquired the game engine development company Eight Cylinders Studios.[6]
In May 2007, On2 announced an agreement to acquire Finnish Hantro Products, a provider of video codecs for chips for wireless devices.[1] The acquisition was finalized on November 1, 2007.[7]
In November 2008, On2 announced that it would partner with Zencoder to create Flix Cloud, a high-capacity online video encoding service using Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2).[8] Flix Cloud launched in April 2009.[9]
Acquisition by Google[edit]
On 5 August 2009, Google offered to acquire On2 Technologies for $106.5 million in Google stock.[10][11][12] On 7 January 2010, Google increased its offer to $133.9 million,[13] and on February 17, 2010, the stockholders of On2 Technologies voted to accept the offer.[14][15][16] On 19 February 2010, the transaction was completed, valued at approximately $124.6 million.[4][17][clarification needed]
After this purchase, the following message was posted on the on2.com website: "The On2 products Flix Pro, Flix Standard, Flix Exporter, Flix PowerPlayers, Flix Live, Flix DirectShow SDK, Flix Publisher and Flix Engine are no longer for sale."[18]
TrueMotion S[edit]
According to the company itself, development started in the early 1990s.[19] The first versions of the codec were mainly targeted at and used for full motion video scenes in computer games. One of the codec's competitive advantages in this field was that, unlike MPEG, it does not require a separate decoder, thus reducing costs to game publishers.[2] At the time, MPEG's dominance was nearly secured, especially with hardware-implementations of the codec, meant to run on special hardware boards only.[20]
This was the first version in the TrueMotion series of proprietary lossy video compression formats and video codec. This format compressed frame in either a 32-bit or 16-bit RGB color space with a FourCC of DUCK
(or TMOT
for a version of TrueMotion S that was licensed by Horizon Technologies[21]). It is usually put in an AVI container. The filename extension varies from game to game. Some leave it with .avi
, other games use .bin
or .duc
. Gaming consoles which were licensed to use the codec include the Sega Saturn,[2] Sega 32X,[2] and 3DO Interactive Multiplayer.[22] Simon & Schuster first person games such as Star Trek: Borg also used the compression format. Some of the files can be played back with a video player that uses the libavcodec library, such as MPlayer.
In 1995, Horizons Technology Inc. began shipping the TrueMotion-S Compressor software for Macintosh and MS Windows.[23][24] TrueMotion-S was originally developed by the Duck Corp. for applications such as the Sega game box.
In 1996, the main competitors for TrueMotion S software codec were Cinepak and Indeo in games for first-generation CD-ROM based game consoles.[25]
TrueMotion RT[edit]
The "real time" version in the series was released in 1996. It was meant for real time capturing and processing of digital video.
TrueMotion 2[edit]
The second version in this series only supported a 24-bit RGB color space optimized for Windows rendering which orders components as BGR with a FourCC of TM20. Used for Final Fantasy VII and Star Trek: Klingon.
In 1997, Microsoft Corp. licensed The Duck Corp.'s TrueMotion 2.0 video codec technology to bring TV-quality video to the PC platform.[26]
DK ADPCM Audio 3/4[edit]
There are two obsolete versions for associated ADPCM audio compression.
TrueMotion VP3/4[edit]
On June 1, 2000, brought version 3.1; August 16, 2000 version 3.2. The third version in the series switched to using a planar Y'CbCr 4:2:0 color space.
In late 2001, On2 released their VP3(.2) compression technology into the open-source community including their patents on the technology. The technology lives on in the form of Theora. The Xiph.Org Foundation created its codec Theora as a fork of the codebase of VP3.2. The forked version added 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 sub sampling for better color quality options.
In April 2001 VP4 was published, which brought an improved encoder for the same bitstream format.[citation needed]
TrueMotion VP5/6[edit]
A preview version of VP5 was published on February 21, 2002, with production version being available as of May 1, 2002.[27][28][29] The production version of VP5 codec was released in May 2002.[30]
When the codec was in beta, to preview its quality, On2 created a plug-in for RealPlayer.[30] Lately the final version of the codec was ready. The VP5 codec was limited, when the VP6 came out.
The sixth version like VP3 and VP4 kept the same bitstream as VP5 and added an optional alpha channel to the color space.
In April 2003 AOL has bought broad licensing rights for VP5 and VP6 codecs.[31] More recently,[when?] On2 licensed its technology to AOL for use in an IP-based video telephony product, to Tencent Holdings of China for use in its instant messaging products, and to Saver Corporation of Japan to enable new Flash 8 mobile video applications.
On May 12, 2003, On2 announced the release of VP6.[32] Revised versions 6.1 and 6.2 followed later that year. Since October 2003 it may be used free of charge for personal use.
In late 2003, On2 announced that its VP5 and VP6 codecs were selected by Beijing E-World as a video coding method to be used in a Chinese-developed competitor to the DVD format called the EVD (Enhanced Versatile Disc) format. Then in April 2004, On2 announced that its business relationship with E-World had soured, and that On2 would file multiple breach of contract claims against E-World in arbitration proceedings. The arbitrator reached a conclusion on March 10, 2005, according to SEC filings by On2 on March 14, 2005. The arbitrator dismissed each of On2's claims and ruled that E-World owed nothing to On2 and had not breached the contract. It seems unlikely that On2 will ultimately get any significant payback from the EVD initiative, although some contract relationship remains in effect.
A number of less highly visible deals with other customers and partners seem to have worked out more amicably than the Chinese DVD project. Recent announcements have related to deals with Apex Datacom, IWAPI Inc., Vividas, Digital Witness, XM Satellite Radio, PowerLinx, and LeapFrog Enterprises. In particular, the company indicated that it expected to recognize some revenue from the Leapfrog deal in the third quarter of 2005 and also made optimistic statements about the future with XM Satellite Radio.
In 2004, On2's VP6 was selected for use as the Macromedia Flash Video 8 codec. This apparently stems from a deal made in the second quarter of 2004 with revenue in that quarter of $1.4 million for the licensing agreement. In related news, On2 announced on April 5, 2005, that it had acquired the Flix Flash video encoder technology from Wildform, Inc. On2 added support for Flash 8 video output to the Flix 8 product line that they released on September 13, 2005.
TrueMotion VP7[edit]
The seventh version changed the bitstream from previous versions for better coding efficiency and was released in March 2005; since July it may be used free of charge for personal use.
It is a codec with both VFW and DirectShow support that On2 Technologies claims has better compression than leading competitive codecs such as MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) and VC-1.[citation needed]
On2 Technologies announced TrueMotion VP7 in January 2005.[33] The public release of VP7 codec software was available in March 2005.[34]
On March 9, 2005, On2 announced a new codec, VP7. On2 claimed that VP7 is superior to the H.264/AVC standard, based on claims of comparative technical capabilities and licensing costs. This claim has been disputed by a developer of x264, a popular H.264 encoder.[35]
In April 2005, On2 Technologies licensed On2 Video Codecs (including VP6 and VP7) for Macromedia Flash.[36]
On December 1, 2005, Skype announced that they had licensed current and future versions of its video compression software and had integrated it into the beta version of Skype 2.0 for point-to-point video conferencing Skype protocol.[37] No financial terms were disclosed relating to the deal.
On August 13, 2007, On2 announced the addition of H.264 support to its On2 Flix product line.[38]
Move Networks also used the VP7 codec in its Move Media Player plugin for Firefox and Internet Explorer, used by ABC and Fox for its streaming of full network shows.[39]
TrueMotion VP8[edit]
VP8 was published in 2008 and marked the transfer of formats to Google with their acquisition of On2 and was open sourced on May 19, 2010.[40] The VP8 codec was licensed under a BSD license.[41][42]
- ^ The Duck Corporation On2 Technologies - The Duck Corporation, Retrieved on 2009-08-11 Archived November 2, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d "Sega Video Will Be Duck-y". GamePro. No. 62. IDG. September 1994. p. 161.
- ^ Fleischman, Eric W. (June 1998). "WAVE and AVI Codec Registries - RFC 2361". Archived from the original on 2021-09-28. Retrieved 2009-12-05.
- ^ a b "Google Closes On2 Technologies Acquisition". Google investor relations. 2010-02-19. Archived from the original on 2010-04-22.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today announced that it has completed its acquisition of On2 Technologies, Inc.
- ^ Churchill, Chris; Union, Albany Times (2009-08-06). "Google buys little-known video technology company". seattlepi.com. Archived from the original on 2018-06-30. Retrieved 2018-12-12.
- ^ "SEC Info - ON2 Technologies, Inc. - '8-K' for 11/3/00". www.secinfo.com. Archived from the original on 2001-03-07. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
- ^ On2 company information page[dead link]
- ^ On2 Technologies and Zencoder Partner to Create On-Demand Video Encoding Service[permanent dead link]
- ^ On2 Technologies Releases On2 Flix Cloud On-Demand Video Transcoding Service Archived 2009-08-26 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Whitneu, Lance. "On2 answers questions on Google merger". CNET. Archived from the original on 2012-10-25. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
- ^ Wauters, Robin (5 August 2009). "Google Acquires Video Compression Technology Company On2 For $106 Million". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 2021-09-28. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
- ^ "Google to Acquire On2 Technologies". Archived from the original on 2021-09-28. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
- ^ Shankland, Stephen. "Google sweetens On2 acquisition offer". CNET. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
- ^ Kafka, Peter (2010-02-17). "Sold! On2 Shareholders Agree to Get Googled, Finally". All Things Digital. Archived from the original on 2021-09-28.
- ^ "On2 shareholders vote today on Google deal". The Business Review. 2010-02-17. Archived from the original on 2021-09-28.
- ^ "On2 Stockholders Approve Merger with Google". PR Newswire. 2010-02-17. Archived from the original on 2021-09-28.
On2 stockholders holding in excess of a majority of the outstanding shares of On2 Common Stock voted in favor of the merger proposal.
- ^ Fulton, Scott (22 February 2010). "What does Google gain from having purchased On2?". BetaNews. Archived from the original on 2021-09-28. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
- ^ "On2 Technologies - Making Video Possible, from Handhelds to HD". Archived from the original on 2009-03-06. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
- ^ "Information from duck.com". Archived from the original on 1997-02-09.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ Feldman, Tony (2003-09-02). An Introduction to Digital Media. Routledge. ISBN 9781134734962.
- ^ "Codecs - Winamp & Shoutcast Forums". forums.winamp.com. 23 April 2006. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
- ^ "Gex Related to a Duck?". GamePro. No. 69. IDG. April 1995. p. 147.
- ^ "Horizons Technology ships the Windows version of its TrueMotion-S software-only video compressor; TrueMotion-S Compressor can be implemented without expensive desktop upgrades". 1995-10-26. Archived from the original on 2012-10-13. Retrieved 2009-10-24.
- ^ "Horizons Technology signs new international distributors for TrueMotion-S software-only video; new distributors to bring high-quality software-only video to Europe and Israel". 1995-06-21. Archived from the original on 2012-10-13. Retrieved 2009-10-24.
- ^ Robert Currier (1996). "Horizon Technology's TrueMotion-S Codec". Archived from the original on 2008-12-25. Retrieved 2009-10-24.
- ^ Microsoft Corp. (April 28, 1997) Microsoft Licenses Duck Corp.'s TrueMotion 2.0 To Bring Television-Quality Video to the PC Archived 2008-04-30 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved on 2009-08-11
- ^ On2 (2002-02-21) On2 Releases Preview Version Of VP5, The World's Most Powerful Video Compression Technology Archived 2010-01-30 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved on 2009-08-16
- ^ CNet (2002-02-22) On2: Move over, MPEG-4, Retrieved on 2009-08-16
- ^ StreamingMedia.com (2002-02-27) On2 Previews VP5 Archived 2007-10-17 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved on 2009-08-16
- ^ a b On2 (2002-05-01) On2 Technologies Releases Production Version Of VP5 & TrueCast 7.2 Archived 2007-12-04 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved on 2009-08-16
- ^ CNET News (2003-04-04) AOL licenses On2 video codecs, Retrieved on 2009-08-17
- ^ Press release of On2 on the release of VP6 at the Wayback Machine (archive index)
- ^ On2 Technologies (2005-01-10). "On2 Technologies Launches TrueMotion VP7 Preview". On2 Technologies. Archived from the original on November 29, 2007. Retrieved 2009-09-11.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ On2 Technologies (2005-03-07). "On2 Launches VP7 Codec and TrueCast 8 Client/Server". On2 Technologies. Archived from the original on November 29, 2007. Retrieved 2009-09-11.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Glaser, Fiona (2011-10-23). "The first in-depth technical analysis of VP8". Diary Of An x264 Developer. Archived from the original on 2012-02-09.
VP7, for example, was claimed to be 15% better than H.264 while being much faster, but was in reality neither faster nor higher quality.
- ^ On2 Technologies (2005-04-05). "On2 Technologies Licenses On2 Video Codec for Macromedia Flash". On2 Technologies. Archived from the original on November 30, 2007. Retrieved 2009-09-17.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ On2 Technologies (2005-12-01). "On2 Technologies Codec Offers High Quality Video to Skype". On2 Technologies. Archived from the original on December 4, 2007. Retrieved 2009-09-11.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ About Archived September 3, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Widevine and Move Networks Announce Partnership & Integration to Secure Delivery of Video Content for Major Broadcast Networks". Move Networks. 2008-01-08. Archived from the original on December 6, 2008. Retrieved 2009-09-11.
- ^ Parr, Ben (19 May 2010). "LIVE: Google Makes Major Announcements at Google I/O". Mashable. Archived from the original on 2021-09-28. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
- ^ Paul, Ryan (2010-05-20), Google pounds the open standards drum during I/O keynote, Ars Technica, archived from the original on 2021-09-28
- ^ Mackie, Kurt (2010-05-20), Google Goes Open Source With WebM, VP8 Codec, Redmond Channel Partner
External links[edit]
- On2 Technologies
- Horizons Technology ships the Windows version of its TrueMotion-S software-only video compressor (1995-10-26) Archived 2012-10-13 at the Wayback Machine
- Horizon Technology's TrueMotion-S Codec, (1996), Robert Currier
- Horizons Technology signs new international distributors for TrueMotion-S software-only video (June 21, 1995) Archived October 20, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
- Duck TrueMotion 1 - on MultimediaWiki
- "On2 VP7 Website". Archived from the original on September 13, 2008. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
- TrueMotion VP7 White Paper
- Specification
- Google acquisitions
- Software companies based in New York (state)
- Video codecs
- American companies established in 1992
- Software companies established in 1992
- 1992 establishments in New York City
- Defunct software companies of the United States
- Defunct computer companies based in New York (state)
- 2010 mergers and acquisitions


text:
Comparing yourself to others with the same health problem can influence your physical and emotional health, according to researchers who conducted a qualitative synthesis of over 30 studies focusing on the relationship between social comparisons and health.
"If you've ever looked at another person and thought, 'Well, at least I'm doing better than he is,' or 'Wow, I wish I could be doing as well as she is,' you're not alone," said Josh Smyth, professor of biobehavioral health and of medicine, Penn State. "This phenomenon -- first proposed in the 1950s -- is common in daily life. When we're unsure of how we're doing, we can reduce uncertainty by getting information from others. People with chronic illnesses are particularly likely to compare themselves to others with the same illness."
In their qualitative synthesis published in the current issue of Health Psychology Review, Smith and the researchers at Syracuse University and the University of Iowa found that people who compare "downward" to others who are worse off, are less depressed than people who compare "upward" to people who are better off. Downward comparisons often are associated with immediate positive feelings such as relief and gratitude.
But nearly as often, studies show the exact opposite. People who compare upward do better on physical health measures and report feeling hopeful about their ability to improve. Still other studies demonstrate the negative effects of both types of comparisons -- downward comparisons can lead to sadness or worry and upward comparisons can lead to dejection.
Why the difference? According to Danielle Arigo, graduate student, Syracuse University, this is exactly what researchers need to know before they can help people benefit from making comparisons.
"Right now, we know that it can go either way," she said. "Someone's doing better than you are? That can be either inspirational or depressing. Someone's doing worse? That can give you some relief, or it can get you thinking about your own situation getting worse in the future. The problem is that although we don't quite understand how social comparisons work, they are frequently used in health interventions for individuals with chronic illness."
For example, health-education materials often include images or descriptions of patients with a particular medical condition to get patients thinking about a hypothetical future. Public service announcements typically use similar tactics, often with limited effect.
Arigo says that studying the process of social comparison can improve the way we use positive and negative examples of behavior.
"We found that previous research points to differences in what people think about while they're reading, specifically, how similar they are to the person they're reading about," she said. "Focusing on similarities between you and people doing well will likely lead to feeling good. Focusing on differences between you and people doing poorly will likely lead to feeling good. "But if you focus on differences between you and someone doing well, or similarities between you and someone doing poorly, you'll likely feel worse. What people focus on appears to be associated with personality traits, mood and a variety of other factors that are not yet well understood."
According to Smyth, this research summary identifies specific gaps in the current knowledge about social comparisons, including the factors that determine whether a person focuses on similarities or differences between themselves and others. "In the future, this information may help to improve health communication efforts," he said. Jerry Suls, professor of social psychology, University of Iowa, was also part of this research.
Health Psychology Review

subset: commoncrawl


text:
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2008
- Messages
- 723
- Reaction score
- 46
Recent years, MSI really focus on Gaming market of their Notebook product line,
MSI Gaming series notebook already launched 5 type of products, the GT series comes with Top Level performance and gaming features,
the Ultra-thin but powerful gaming notebook is GS series, the only pure AMD platform gaming notebook is GX series,
good cost/performance value of GE series, and entry gaming of GP series.
MSI offered more different level of Gaming product line for more consumers to choose.
This time I want to share MSI latest mechanical design product, it belongs to Ultra-thin style GS series.
High-end Gaming Notebook always gives people feel its heavy on both performance and weight,
but thats because of Highest CPU and Graphics makes these notebook needs higher thermal solution capability, so the size always bigger and much heavier.
This time MSI brought high level Gaming hardware into Ultra-thin style become GSseries, that brings different choice to the gaming notebook market.
First we take a look on GS70 box design, its real different from GT and GE series box design.
Used gift box case style with black cover, the gaming feeling red line across the box, that gives fine works quality.
Inside the box the GS70 and accessories placement is good, use cotton cover and foam rubber to enhance the protection.
Obviously we could see the foam rubber inside the top case to protect GS70 as well.
The gray color type of GS70 notebook backpack comes with different style compared with GT/GE series backpack.
This backpack looks more simple style, metallic material is more high quality, and comes with 1 more interior bag for easier to carry and protection.
GS702PE Stealth Pro notebook
The dimension of GS70 is 418.5x287x21.8mm, weight is around 2.66Kg,
Intel ruled the Ultrabook should be under 21mm, GS70 17.3 notebook only got 21.8mm, the weight is 46% lighter than GT70 which is around 3.9Kg,
these 2 points are the biggest advantage of GS70 dimensions.
A side and whole cover comes with matte black color, the black will change to metallic gray with lights,
and with a little purple under sunshine. The shield used Mg-Al metallic design,its 50% lighter and 10% more solid.
The Logo design looks better than before, with a dragon tattoo inside the red shield, come out white light when power on.
D side bottom design
The 2 parts of exhaust holes for airflow out designed for CPU anGPU cooling, the holes aside the sticker designed with subwoofer.
The Driver DVD, Quick manual, product feature intro, optical gaming mouse and 2 years warranty license.
Slim type adaptor made by Delta, its stable good quality traditional brand. Supports up to 150W power, 25mm thin.
GS70 built in battery is non-changeable, the spec. is 5400mAh60Wh.
C side is the most touched place with keyboard, the size is same as other 17 notebooks,
did not make it bigger because of the slim type design, the square measure is similar as Alienware 17.
SteelSeries slim type full color gaming keyboard got new features, will introduce this later.


text:
- Feature Links
- Privacy Policy
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If you send email to Alameda Municipal Power, your email address may be shared with others within the Alameda Municipal Power organization as necessary to deal with any questions or issues that may arise. Depending on the nature of your message (i.e, a report of a service problem), it may be necessary to share your email address with a third party.
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text:
My dog is digging his way to China. What do I do?
Why do dogs dig holes? Oh, let us count the reasons:
- To regulate their body heat if sufficient shade or warmth isn't available.
- To hunt . . . oh the mice, moles, beetles, and bugs that live in the ground!
- To hide their treasures . . . bones, toys, and other precious items go into the ground, naturally!
- Boredom . . . they are bored, and digging is fun if you're a bored, frustrated dog.
- You dig, why can't they? They learn from their leaders, so if you dig in the garden, they will, too!
First, talk to your veterinarian to rule out any medical reasons for your dog's digging, including separation anxiety. Unfortunately, sometimes your dog's tendencies to dig aren't compatible with yourlife, can be disruptive, and so on. So what can you do to manage your dog's digging?
- When you catch your dog in action, interrupt his digging with a loud noise or command; if he stops, provide a positive reward, such as an edible treat.
- Make sure your dog has plenty to do and gets lots of exercise. A tired dog is a well-behaved dog.
- If your yard has unwanted pests, identify the best way to control them—or your dog will!
- Make sure your dog has plenty of shade and water during the warm months, so he won't dig a hole in the ground where he can stay cool.
- If your dog goes back to the same spot to dig, consider burying something unwanted in the hole, such as his own waste. Usually, he won't want to dig in that spot again!
- Consider giving your dog an area he can enjoy digging in without consequences.
If you have any questions or concerns, you should always visit or call your veterinarian – they are your best resource to ensure the health and well-being of your pets.


text:
I believe that this is happens especially with Windows 7. As far I I've been able to tell XP and Vista come with this line enabled, but windows 7 comments it out and notes that the DNS will handle this.
This extension was deprecated in PHP 5.5.0, and it was removed in PHP 7.0.0. Instead, the MySQLi or PDO_MySQL extension should be used. See also MySQL: choosing an API guide. Alternatives to this function include:
For compiling, simply use the
configuration option where the optional [DIR]
points to
the MySQL installation directory.
Although this MySQL extension is compatible with MySQL 4.1.0 and greater, it doesn't support the extra functionality that these versions provide. For that, use the MySQLi extension.
If you would like to install the mysql extension along with the mysqli extension you have to use the same client library to avoid any conflicts.
Note: [DIR]
is the path to the MySQL client library
files (headers and libraries), which can be downloaded from
» MySQL.
PHP Version | Default | Configure Options: mysqlnd | Configure Options: libmysqlclient |
Changelog |
4.x.x | libmysqlclient | Not Available | --without-mysql to disable | MySQL enabled by default, MySQL client libraries are bundled |
5.0.x, 5.1.x, 5.2.x | libmysqlclient | Not Available | --with-mysql=[DIR] | MySQL is no longer enabled by default, and the MySQL client libraries are no longer bundled |
5.3.x | libmysqlclient | --with-mysql=mysqlnd | --with-mysql=[DIR] | mysqlnd is now available |
5.4.x | mysqlnd | --with-mysql | --with-mysql=[DIR] | mysqlnd is now the default |
MySQL is no longer enabled by default, so the php_mysql.dll DLL must be enabled inside of php.ini. Also, PHP needs access to the MySQL client library. A file named libmysql.dll is included in the Windows PHP distribution and in order for PHP to talk to MySQL this file needs to be available to the Windows systems PATH. See the FAQ titled "How do I add my PHP directory to the PATH on Windows" for information on how to do this. Although copying libmysql.dll to the Windows system directory also works (because the system directory is by default in the system's PATH), it's not recommended.
As with enabling any PHP extension (such as
php_mysql.dll), the PHP directive
extension_dir should be set to
the directory where the PHP extensions are located. See also the
Manual Windows Installation
Instructions. An example extension_dir value for PHP 5 is
If when starting the web server an error similar to the following occurs:
"Unable to load dynamic library './php_mysql.dll'"
, this is because php_mysql.dll and/or libmysql.dll cannot be found by the system.
The MySQL Native Driver is enabled by default. Include php_mysql.dll, but libmysql.dll is no longer required or used.
Crashes and startup problems of PHP may be encountered when loading this extension in conjunction with the recode extension. See the recode extension for more information.
If you need charsets other than latin (default), you have to install external (not bundled) libmysqlclient with compiled charset support.
I believe that this is happens especially with Windows 7. As far I I've been able to tell XP and Vista come with this line enabled, but windows 7 comments it out and notes that the DNS will handle this.
In windows systems, the same error "unable to load dynamic library php_mysql.dll" will happen, if there's an old version of the file in the "windows\system32" folder.
Either remove it or update it.
i've experienced a similar (if not the same) problem.
to enable the mysql_... and mysqli_... funtionality, i opened the php.ini file to uncomment the following lines:
but phpinfo() still stated that no mysql extensions were loaded.
i tried the fixes and suggestions above with no success.
so i invoked the windows shell and typed ("Path" environment variable set to the PHP & MySQL directories):
php.exe -m
this returned the following error: "PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library 'C:\php5\php_mysql.dll' - Module not found."
this told me that PHP didn't recognize what i thought was the extensions directory. it searched all other places first (sys-dir, workin'-dir, the MySQL "bin" dir because of the "Path" variable set, and even a curious directory "C:\php5" that doesn't even exist on my mashine) but not the expected "ext" directory.
so the fix was to go to "php.ini" again and uncomment the following line:
this fixed it for me.
so if module loading is done improperly, first of all check the "Path" environment variable and the "php.ini" file - especially the "extension_dir" config value - and check if all values are set to their correct values.
hope this helps any1.
OS: Win7 Ultimate x86
Apache v2.2.16
PHP v5.3.3
MySQL v5.1.50
Could not install mysql, on windows, had several conflicts or bugs.
In order to solve it:
* Used the "libmysql.dll" provided by PHP zip files, not the one that comes with Mysql, the mysql file had to be moved or deleted from its folder. Put it on the "apache/bin" folder, altought some use it in "windows" folder.
* Originally, moved "*mysql*.dll" files from its extension folder, and returned back.
* enabled mysql driver extensions in the "php.ini" file, but also enabled some extensions, that seemed not to be required, but, it did, like "php_openssl.dll" or "php_pdo.dll" on an early version of php.
Added the "PHPIniDir xxx"" to the "httpd.conf" apache config. file, where xxx is the path to the folder where the "php.ini" file is located, and make sure its the same.
Be warned, that this fixes, may help or not, for your installation, since there are many ways to configure the same thing (to solve a problem).
I had problems when moving from a version of PHP that used the isapi dll to the fast cgi version. The script to register the script maps compained that there was already a script map in place.
I went to the IIS control panel, right clicked on websites and removed the php association in the Home Directory | Configuration screen.
However, the fastcgi script still complained about existing script map. Finally I tracked it down, I had to right click on Default Web Site and clear out the php mappings from there too.
Then it all worked, except that for some strange reason, the php.ini file that gets picked up is the one from my old PHP directory, not the latest upgrade one. But this can be detected by running phpinfo which shows the loaded php.ini file so I knew which one to amend with the fastcgi options.
Bit of a hassle to figure it all out but it does work in the end.
I have experienced exactly the same problem as flo_stefi at yahoo dot com below. It appears that instead of loading libmysql.dll that came with the PHP package, the PHP engine was loading libmySQL.dll located in MySQL's bin directory, which was causing Apache to crash.
I fixed the problem by renaming MySQL's libmySQL.dll into libmySQL_renamed.dll. Now PHP loads the library that came with its package and everything works fine.
Please note that libmySQL.dll in MySQL bin directory should be renamed in order to use right library (that comes with PHP).


text:
Dangshen: How to Stomach It
By Anthony Almada, M.S.
When searching for answers to nebulous digestive problems, many delve into the trove of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM); while there, look for the herb dangshen, which comes from the root of the codonopsis (Condonopsis pilosula). Here's why:
Water extracts of dangshen have historically displayed modest immune-enhancing effects on human cells. However, in animal studies, a water extract showed protective effects against a variety of ulcer-inducing agents, marked by a suppression of stomach-acid production.
One study using dangshen, which garnered national attention, involved 116 patients with difficult-to-treat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). For 16 weeks, patients were given a placebo, an individual Chinese herb (15 capsules per day) or a combination formula (600 mg raw, dried dangshen per day, equaling the 15-capsule regimen). A significant improvement of symptoms was seen in both groups receiving the herbs. How and why dangshen works, however, remains a mystery.
Exercise biochemist Anthony Almada, M.S. has collaborated on more than 45 university-based studies and is founder and chief scientific officer of IMAGINutrition.


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"Fish Forever" – the motto of Belize's fishermen. Last week the Government of Belize in partnership with Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) took a major step towards fulfilling that vision with a vote by Belize's cabinet to authorize the implementation of catch shares in its network of marine protected areas.
"Belize's decision will protect the country's magnificent Mesoamerican Reef and promote the vitality of its fishing industry," said Larry Epstein, Mesoamerican Reef Program Manager for EDF, "This substantially adds to the growing list of successful conservation measures Belize is using to preserve its oceans for future generations."
As a first step, the Belize Fisheries Department will implement their design for TURFs and catch limits for spiny lobster in 2011 and 2012 in Glover's Reef and Port Honduras Marine Reserves. Belize has already taken the first steps for allocating access to TURFs, creating a monitoring regime, and creating committees of fishermen to participate in the implementation and management of catch shares.
"Catch shares will assist in enforcing marine laws and ensure that fishermen are part and parcel of the enforcement, and respected as custodians because it will be part of their livelihoods that they will be protecting."
– Hon. Rene Montero, Belize Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Cooperatives
In 2009 EDF created a partnership between the Government of Belize Fisheries Department, Wildlife Conservation Society, and the leading Belizean conservation NGO – the Toledo Institute for Development and Environment (TIDE). Our coalition achieved this milestone in Belize through an education campaign that engaged fishermen, policy makers, elected officials, and government managers of marine reserves. EDF's team of economists, scientists, and catch shares experts built Belize's technical capacity for catch shares and helped develop the catch share design – including Rod Fujita, Kate Bonzon, Laura Rodriguez, Jake Kritzer, Doug Rader, Tom Lalley, and Tesia Love. The Government of Belize has stated a vision for catch shares in all marine reserves, and for the commercial lobster fishery.
Fishermen in Belize understand first-hand and have been advocating catch shares since EDF, WCS, and TIDE began working in their communities. According to one fisherman from Placencia, a fishing community in southern Belize, "Every year for the past ten years we have had a decline in lobster production. That is due to, I think, to overfishing and a general decline in product itself." Now Belize and its fishermen have a tool at their disposal that protects its oceans, while at the same time supporting the livelihoods and food security for the people that depend on its resources.


text:
Welcome to OpeningParliament.org, a forum intended to help connect the world's civic organizations engaged in monitoring, supporting and opening up their countries' parliaments and legislative institutions.
Parliamentary monitoring organizations (PMOs) are working to create strong, open and accountable parliaments, through enhancing citizen participation in the legislative process and bringing parliaments closer to the people they represent. OpeningParliament.org provides a forum for international collaboration on efforts to improve access to parliamentary information and share experiences and good practices among PMOs. It also serves as the home of the Declaration on Parliamentary Openness, a set of shared principles on the openness, transparency and accessibility of parliaments developed by the international PMO community.
OpeningParliament.org and the Declaration on Parliamentary Openness are outcomes of a conference of PMOs co-hosted by the National Democratic Institute, the Sunlight Foundation, and Latin American Network for Legislative Transparency, in Washington, D.C. The conference, held from April 30-May 2, 2012, brought together PMOs from 38 countries worldwide to facilitate discussion of international strategies for improving access to useable parliamentary information and sharing good practices in advocating for parliamentary transparency and in monitoring parliamentary performance.
The gathering was supported by the Omidyar Network, the Open Society Foundations, the National Endowment for Democracy, the World Bank Institute and the Embassy of Mexico to the United States. For more information, please see a full conference agenda and links to presentations, and the joint press release issued at the conclusion of the conference.
For more recent information about the initiative, see our Timeline of Events and the OpeningParliament.org blog.


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Supplies: Record It! -Just Splendid:Journaling Pack. 6x6 Paper Pad; Record It! -Here is Happy:Journaling Pack,Enamel Dots; Now & Then -Mildred :Chipboard
Hello! Stephanie here with you to share this month's mini album!
My husband and I recently celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary with an overnight getaway. It was so nice spending some time together and I of course had to document this occasion. As I was looking through all of the amazing My Mind's Eye collections, the overlays from the Record It! "Here is Happy" Journaling pack popped right out at me and I knew they would be fabulous in a mini album. I didn't have too many photos from our little trip, so the overlays added a nice visual effect to my book. Putting this book together is super fast and easy since there is very little trimming or cutting involved!
Let's get started!
1. Start by gathering your supplies.
I am using the overlays from the Record It! "Here is Happy" collection, as well as some journaling cards and 6x6 paper pad from the Record It! "Just Splendid" collection. I love how versatile the MME products are! You will also need a hole punch, two pieces of 4x6 chipboard and two book rings.
I printed off five photos from our trip and then paired them with 5 overlays and 5 journaling cards. I wanted to keep consistency throughout my album, so each spread will be: journaling card - overlay - photo. I also grabbed an extra overlay to use as a cover/title for my mini album.
2. Add your title onto an overlay.
I chose to use the chevron overlay as my cover page and adhered my title "seven" and a wood veneer onto the front.
3. Adhere a 4x6 piece of patterned paper to each piece of your trimmed chipboard.
These two covered pieces will be the front and back of your book. I trimmed a piece of patterned paper from the "Just Splendid" paper pad to 4x6 for my cover page and used a 4x6 journaling card as my end page.
Tip | Save the chipboard that comes in paper packages just for book binding and covers. The chipboard adds some stability and thickness to the book.**
4. Add your journaling and embellishments and adhere your pages back to back in the journaling - overlay - photo order.
5. Punch holes in your photos, overlays and journaling cards.
Now that your pages are adhered together (with the overlay between the journaling card and photos), you will want to punch two holes on the left hand side of your book. Be sure each adhered page and overlay is facing in the correct direction to make sure you don't add your hole to the wrong side.
Tip | To get your holes perfectly centered, grab two 4x6 cards and punch a hole on one side. Then flip your top card over and punch the second hole, using the first hole as your guide. This will guarantee your holes will be equal distance from the edges. See photo above for a better visual.
6. Add your book rings and you are all finished!!
Here's a look at my finished book...
I love the transparent effect of the overlays. They add so much interest to the photos!!
Thanks so much for joining me today!! I hope I have inspired you to create a mini album using these awesome overlays!! Let me know if you have any questions! Can't wait to see what you create!


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As a citizen, retired Marine, and veteran of the Iraq conflict, I view the situation in Iraq with great concern. I spent three tours totaling 27 months in Iraq, the vast majority in Anbar Province. During my second tour in the fall of 2004, I commanded a battalion during clearing operations in Fallujah. During my final tour in 2007, I was the intelligence director in Anbar with responsibility for targeting Al Qaeda and its affiliates in an area stretching from Syria to Baghdad. When I returned from Iraq in February 2008, I felt that Al Qaeda, if not dead, was mortally wounded. My thinking was that with continued partnership with the U.S. military and intelligence services, the Iraqi government would be able to effectively deal with the diminished extremist threat.
Our President, however, in an effort to placate his base and make good on his campaign promise to get us out of Iraq at all cost, made a strategic error in not solidifying a strategic basing or Status of Forces Agreement with the Iraqi government. Military organizations take a long time to build and without continued training, mentoring, and partnership with a small residual U.S. force, the Iraqi military actually regressed as an effective fighting organization.
In January 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), an extremist organization so ruthless as to have been disenfranchised by Al Qaeda, seized control of Fallujah and Ramadi in western Iraq. I contacted both of our Senators and our Congressman expressing concern about this national security threat and the waste in blood and treasure caused by the ISIS resurgence. I received a mix of democratic talking points and polite canned responses for my efforts.
Fast forward to June 2014, and the ISIS has now seized Mosul, the second largest city on Iraq, Tikrit, Samarra, and the Baiji Oil refinery, the largest in Iraq. The ISIS and the Syrian al Nusra Front have also completely erased the Iraqi and Syrian border in the western desert, effectively establishing an extremist Caliphate stretching from central Syria to the western suburbs of Baghdad.
Many would wave off my concerns thinking that it's a long way away and no longer concerns us. You would be sadly mistaken to believe that. I know this enemy. He is smart, dangerous, brutal, and totally committed. They hate us and they will come for us here in the homeland. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but come for us they will.
Many of a more liberal persuasion would argue that we shouldn't have been in Iraq in the first place. While they might be right, the argument is also irrelevant. We are where we are. The current administration's idea of foreign policy as it relates to extremists threats in Iraq and Afghanistan seems to be to throw up the white flag of surrender wherever confronted with the black flag of Al Qaeda. The administration seems completely paralyzed and unable to formulate a coherent response to the current crisis. Our idea of action is for the State Department to send a tweet. The Iraqis don't need tweets, they need steel on target and a President with enough steel in his spine to put it there.


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iTaste is an application made by Heng Liu, that allows you to create your own avatar. Basically, you can make your own caricature by tapping the four different arrows. You can change the face, eyes, hair, nose, mouth, and ears. The possibilities of different avatars is unlimited because you can add more pictures, by placing the pictures in this directory on your iPhone/iPod Touch – /Applications/iTaste.app/iTaseDefine/. This is a great timewaster, and the best part for me is trying to make the weirdest face :).
iTaste 1.1 brings two new cool updates. The first thing you will notice is that you have more images to make your own caricatures. The images were made by iSpazio, and I have to say, they are very nice. The coolest feature is the ability to take a picture of your caricature. I was not able to get it working on my iPod Touch with Touchroll, but I am sure that it will work on the iPhone. You can get iTaste 1.1 from the iSpazio source.


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The question of Jon Snow's parentage is a complex one. In this article, we propose to tackle it by laying out what facts we know of his birth and its timing in relation to the war and then surveying the potential parents in terms of where they were likely to be at the time of his conception. We will then focus on the possible pairings to see which are the likeliest. This article will make heavy reference to the FAQ entry on Robert's Rebellion:
We know from this e-mail that Jon's birth is 8-9 months prior to Daenerys's, and that Daenerys is born almost precisely 9 months after the death of Rhaegar and the Sack of King's Landing (I: 25). This would place Jon's birth within one month, give or take, of the Sack. As we know the war lasts "close" to a year which is often just referred to as a "year" (I: 96, 233), suggesting 10-11 months is likelier than 9 months. Given this, his conception seems to have been between 1-3 months into the war. Interestingly, this contradicts suggestions from Catelyn and Ned that Jon was concieved some time after Robb's conception (in itself an event taking place several months into the war), so either GRRM is mistaken or he has accidentally clarified a piece of information which was intended to be obfuscated in the series (I: 54, 92). Our own view is that the latter is the case, as GRRM is rather precise about the relative birthdates in a way that seems too absolute to be a random error.
Finally, considering the genetics of the series and Jon's very Stark-like features—grey eyes, brown hair, long face—it seems safe to suppose that any viable theory must include a minimum of one Stark in the equation, or one person whose features are similar to a Stark's. A common point of reference in some discussions has been the tournament at Harrenhal, which seems to have happened a minimum of several months prior to the war, and for purposes of the discussion is unimportant beyond noting that due to the timing Jon Snow could not have been concieved there.
Examining the locations of potential mothers and fathers in light of the above may be helpful.
Wylla: Now a servant of House Dayne, and possibly such even at the time of the war, the general belief is that she must have been in the company of Lady Ashara Dayne to be Jon's mother. If this is the case, the question is where Lady Ashara could have been approximately 1-3 months into the war. What we might say is that they do not appear to have been in King's Landing, at least, at this time due to the fact that it would certainly be a noticeable discrepancy with the publicly-accepted notion that the child is Eddard Stark's. For this to be plausible, the women must have been in some less known location which Eddard Stark could plausibly have reached roughly around the time of the child's conception. It is also possible that Wylla did not enter the service of House Dayne until some time during or even after the war, which would make her location much more difficult to pin down. Wylla's appearance is unknown.
Ashara Dayne: As above, we seem to be able to safely say they were not at King's Landing, at least, for the belief that Ashara Dayne is Jon Snow's mother to be generally considered plausible. Moreover, one can infer from previous remarks from GRRM that Ashara Dayne was not a companion of Elia's in the last year of her marriage, at minimum (SSM), which would coincide with the war. Ashara Dayne is described as very beautiful, with dark hair and violet eyes.
Lyanna Stark: Lyanna's location in all this is fairly well-known: with Rhaegar. We know Rhaegar, at least, was not in King's Landing (II: 582) at the apparent start of the war and it seems probable that Lyanna was not there either. It's later said that Rhaegar "returned from the south" towards the end of the war (III: 418), and certainly that is Lyanna's final location (I: 354-355).
Benjen Stark: Benjen spent the war in Winterfell (SSM).
Robert Baratheon: Robert appears to have been with Eddard in the Vale when the war began (I: 21), and then went from the Vale to Storm's End—probably by sea—which would have taken time. Certainly, two months into the war he was either on his way to Storm's End or in its vicinity, and by four months into the war he was likely fighting his way across the Seven Kingdoms towards the riverlands. It should also be noted that Robert clearly believes Jon is Eddard Stark's bastard son.
Howland Reed: Howland Reed's precise location is unknown. In all likelihood he was at the Neck in the first months of the war, and then would have come down with Lord Eddard's forces. One possibility, however, has been that he was one of the ones who first reported Rhaegar's alleged crime against House Stark, suggesting he was in Lyanna's vicinity at the time. Howland Reed's appearance is unknown, although his children have brown hair and green eyes.
Arthur Dayne: While Dayne's precise location is not explicitly noted except at the very end of the war, when he was at the tower of joy (I: 354-355), it seems probable that as Prince Rhaegar's closest friend and companion that he likely accompanied Rhaegar from the start of the war until Rhaegar departed for King's Landing and the Trident. This would mean he spent the entire time with Lyanna. He appears to have been violet eyed, apparently a standard Dayne trait (not, according to Martin, due to any particular Valyrian lineage), but whether he was dark haired (like Ashara) or dark (like Edric) we do not know.
Aerys Targaryen: Clearly, King Aerys spent all of his time in King's Landing during the war.
Eddard Stark: Eddard appears to have been with Robert in the Vale when the war began (I: 21), and then went from the Vale to the North—probably by sea—and from there on to Winterfell, which would have taken time. In all likelihood, Lord Stark did not come down south of the Neck again until several months into the war. By the fourth or fifth month of the war, he and his forces were likely in the riverlands.
Rhaegar Targaryen: Until he is recalled "from the south" (III: 418) it is widely supposed that Rhaegar was always with Lyanna Stark at this time.
What can we make of this?
Benjen Stark: Besides being quite young, his being located in Winterfell throughout the war makes it practically impossible for him to be Jon Snow's father, especially in relation to Lyanna whose location was obviously with Rhaegar at the time of Jon's conception.
Robert Baratheon: Not Jon's father. He could not be Jon's father by Ashara Dayne, for one thing, due to the appearances of the prospective parents not fitting the Stark look at all (considering Jon's eye color). He could not be Jon's father by Wylla, because the name means nothing more to him than the alleged woman who fathered Eddard Stark's bastard—it seems he probably never even met her, which makes sense since Eddard and Robert were likely moving to their respective domains and therefore were apart if Wylla is the mother. Robert and Lyanna is the only possibility here, and this requires Robert to somehow come into intimate contact with Lyanna within 3 months of the beginning of the war. This very clearly did not happen. Finally, Robert Baratheon's black hair is a famously dominant trait, with Varys claiming that all of Robert's bastards that he knew of by a number of different mothers came out with it (II: 178), which makes it even more unlikely that he could be Jon Snow's father.
Howland Reed: If Wylla is the mother, it raises the question of just why all the secrecy, as well as why Eddard would claim the child as his own and as being of his own blood. If Ashara Dayne is the mother, it seems somewhat less likely that Jon Snow could come out so clearly Stark in appearance, although not impossible if Howland Reed shares those features. However, again, it does raise the question of why Eddard claimed the child as his own and as being of his own blood. Dorne seems relatively open to pre-marital relations and resulting bastardy, at least when compared to the Seven Kingdoms, so it seems it's unlikely as an attempt to protect Lady Ashara's honor. Finally, Howland Reed does not really seem possible as the father by Lyanna, as she was with Rhaegar and he almost certainly was not any further south than the Trident at the time of the conception. Since he would not have been in contact with Lyanna at the time of Jon Snow's apparent conception, he is ruled out.
Arthur Dayne: Like Rhaegar, it's not impossible for Ser Arthur to have fathered the child on Wylla or Lyanna. That said, his place as a Kingsguard—one who was considered one of the finest knights in the realm—and Eddard's admiration seem to rule him out. There is also the question of why Eddard would claim the child as his own instead of revealing the truth.
Aerys Targaryen: Ashara Dayne is impossible, due to both having features quite different from the Starks, as well as the highly unlikely chance that she was in King's Landing at this time. The same can be said about Wylla, unless Wylla was not in the service of the Daynes at this time, but then the whole question of just why Eddard Stark would claim her child as his own blood seems very curious; presumably it would be to protect the child from Robert's hatred of Targaryens, but why passing the child off as his blood is a more natural and better choice than passing him off as some loyal soldier's or something such makes this seem very doubtful. Aerys with Lyanna is the only one that could certainly work genetically, although this would require her to be in King's Landing at around the time of conception, which does not seem to be the case. If she was with Rhaegar, she was not there when Brandon and his father were killed at what was essentially the start of the war, and she was not there by the last few months of the war. Could Rhaegar have brought her to King's Landing at some point between the start of the war and the conception? It seems improbable, given that the area of the first three months of the war eventually featured Robert and his forces in the stormlands on the move, making such journeys hazardous.
Eddard Stark: Unless Wylla or Ashara Dayne were either in the Vale or the North in the first three months of the war, they cannot be Jon Snow's mother. That said, given that these two are considered plausible in the book, it seems they cannot be ruled out until we have more information on their locations. We do know that it has been put about that Wylla is the mother of Jon Snow, a fact that Eddard has implied and which she has apparently claimed while in Starfall (I: 92. III: 494), and certainly there is no great reason to doubt that she was at least at some point Jon Snow's wetnurse. This has implications for other candidates: they have to have had contact with Wylla at the same time that Eddard was alleged to have done so and we can therefore rule out Robert, Ser Arthur, and Aerys since they were not in the same locations as Eddard 1-3 months into the war. One problem with Eddard being the father by Wylla is that the lies that have haunted Eddard since the war's end (I: 96) do not make a great deal of sense—other than perhaps allowing others to say that Rhaegar raped Lyanna if he knew that this was untrue, he would not seem to have to tell any particular lies. If Wylla is willing to share this sordid story with people at Starfall, it seems mindboggling that Eddard Stark would make a secret of it to the point of making it an issue that troubles his marriage to his wife (I: 55).
Jon being Eddard's son by Ashara Dayne runs into the same timeline problems, as she would have to have concieved the child 1-3 months into the war during which time Eddard Stark appears to have been in the Vale and the North.
Finally, there is Lyanna. Clearly, she was with Rhaegar at this time and could never have come into contact with her brother in that timeframe. Of course, Eddard is also improbable for a host of personal reasons, such as his apparent distaste for the incestuous union of Jaime and Cersei Lannister, his never thinking anything remotely like it, and so on.
Rhaegar Targaryen: Given the detail mentioned above, if Wylla or Ashara are considered plausible mothers based on Eddard Stark's movements, then Rhaegar Targaryen would likely have to have been in the North or the Vale at the time for him to have fathered a child on either of them, a clear impossibility. Even if we suppose that the confusion of the war has made their locations uncertain, they would then certainly have to have been in the south (i.e., in the vicinity of Dorne) for this to work. This is reasonable enough, given that Ashara is Dornish, but Ashara and Rhaegar can probably be ruled out for genetic reasons. Wylla and Rhaegar could not be ruled out similarly, however, but it does raise the question of Eddard's claim to Jon. Finally, Rhaegar and Lyanna works best, because we have very strong evidence that he was actually with her in the entire timeframe of Jon Snow's conception, while at best there is supposition for all other candidates and in some cases significant periods of improbability.
Given the above, we believe the strongest candidates from the above timeline-focused analysis are Rhaegar and Lyanna, Eddard and Ashara, and Eddard and Wylla in order of plausibility (most to least). Robert Baratheon seems entirely ruled out of all the potential combinations, while Howland requires great amounts of supposition to explain certain details. Aerys Targaryen with Lyanna is very distantly possible, but there is no supporting evidence. There's also the speculative argument that since Jon Snow received a direwolf with Eddard Stark's children, that this at least proves one of his parents must be a Stark, which lends weight to ruling out or significantly discounting all those combinations of parents which do not include at least one Stark.
Of the three options mentioned above, it is widely held that Rhaegar and Lyanna are by far the likeliest. Besides the evidence above regarding the timeline, the fact that Lyanna would provide Jon the necessary genetics to come out with the Stark look, and the obvious reasons for why Eddard would claim Jon as being his own blood on such an occasion, there is some other speculative evidence in support of it. One piece of possible evidence that has had a strong impression is Daenerys's vision of a blue rose growing in the side of the wall (II: 515-516). As noted in the Prophecies section, this single reference appears to draw a direct connection between the story of Bael the Bard and the winter rose (in which a Stark daughter is stolen from the family, only to give the House a son by her lover), Lyanna Stark (who is associated with the blue winter roses and with Rhaegar), and Jon Snow (who is on the Wall). While it may simply be hinting at Jon's presence on the Wall, given the significance of the blue rose that we learn of in A Clash of Kings, we find it a promising piece of evidence.
There's also the cause of Lyanna's death. The smell of blood and the fever that Ned recalls (I: 35-36) can certainly be read as the aftermath of childbirth and ensuing fatal illness. This is certainly suggestive that Lyanna could have had a child. It has been proposed that Lyanna was actually killed by one of the Kingsguard, or perhaps even by her own hand, but both seem to speak against the fever Ned remembers and the former, at least, seems sharply at odds of Eddard's continuing admiration of Aerys's Kingsguard.
Finally, there are other small hints which are certainly open to interpretation but which all share plausible interpretations pointing to Jon's parents being Rhaegar and Lyanna, such as the juxtaposition of Lyanna's pleading with Sansa's in relation to the way Robert Baratheon responded to the deaths of the Targaryen children (I: 67), the presence of the Kingsguard which suggests they could have been protecting a possible heir to the throne (I: 354-355), Ned not listing Jon Snow among his children when thinking of what he would do to defend them (I: 406), and the fact that the Targaryens practiced bigamy which strengthens the possibility that a child by Rhaegar and Lyanna would be a legitimate heir to the throne (SSM). No other combination of persons really has the density of circumstantial evidence pointing towards it. While alone no single piece can provide a certain answer, the weight of them does make it seem very plausible.
Common objections to the "Rhaegar + Lyanna = Jon" theory and brief responses to them:
"It's obvious": There is extensive anecdotal evidence—in the form of individuals new to the fandom expressing surprise when first introduced to the theory, because they themselves did not "connect the dots"—that this is not true. Moreover, some alternative theories—that Ned and Ashara or Ned and Wylla are Jon's parents—are clearly far more "obvious", since they are the ones explicitly put forward in the series. If obviousness is a factor that matters, then we can rule those combinations out.
"It's cliche": The response to this is that the basic idea is certainly cliche, but how it plays out is a complete mystery. If Martin turns it on his head by revealing that, yes, Jon is the "rightful heir" but that Jon is not going to become ruler (through death, politics, or choice), that adds another layer of complication and complexity to the story without playing out in a cliche manner. Jon could even end up ruling the Seven Kingdoms and it could be approached in a manner that rises above the underlying cliche. In the end, we simply do not know. What we do know is that the author often subverts fantasy tropes and cliches.
"It makes Daenerys unimportant": The dragon has three heads, and has been something we've known since A Clash of Kings. Clearly, she is one of the heads of the dragon. If anything "intrudes" on this, it's by design, and probably what it really means is that the story is going to be more complex than just, "Daenerys is the great heroine who matters above and beyond everyone else."
"It romanticizes Rhaegar and Lyanna": It can certainly lend itself to it. The author has pretty much played with notions of romantic tragedy from the start, with the beautiful image of the winter roses as a link between Lyanna and Rhaegar. That said, even if Lyanna is not Jon's mother, the fact is that clearly Rhaegar and Lyanna had some sort of relationship which did indeed lead to a horrible tragedy. Why it played out as it did, we don't know. We do have good reason to know why Rhaegar believed what he was doing was necessary, but certainly we can question the sanity of plunging a kingdom into war over some notion that you've deciphered a prophecy in which you (through your children) play a central role. But then, we've been told more than once about the loose relationship the Targaryens have with sanity.


text:
September 2004
Advisory Committee on Historical Diplomatic Documentation, September 20-21, 2004
Committee Members
- Wm. Roger Louis, Chairman
- Margaret Hedstrom
- Elizabeth Cobbs-Hoffman
- Robert McMahon
- Brenda Gayle Plummer
- Robert Schulzinger
- Geoffrey Watson
Office of the Historian
- Marc Susser, Historian
- Kristin Ahlberg
- Monica Belmonte
- Todd Bennett
- Myra Burton
- John Carland
- Paul Claussen
- Bradley Coleman
- Evan Duncan
- Vicki Futscher
- Steve Galpern
- Amy Garrett
- David Geyer
- Renee Goings
- David Goldman
- David Herschler
- Paul Hibbeln
- Susan Holly
- Adam Howard
- Nina Howland
- Edward Keefer
- Peter Kraemer
- Doug Kraft
- Robert Krikorian
- Erin Mahan
- Bill McAllister
- David Nickles
- Linda Qaimmaqami
- Kathleen Rasmussen
- Florence Segura
- Doug Selvage
- Jim Siekmeier
- Luke Smith
- Chris Tudda
- Susan Kovalik Tully
- James Van Hook
- Laurie West Van Hook
- Jennifer Walele
- Dean Weatherhead
- Susan Weetman
Bureau of Administration
- Brian Dowling, A/RPS/IPS
- David Adamson, A/RPS/IPS
- Harmon Kirby, A/RPS/IPS
Bureau of Management
- Charles Wisecarver, M/SMART
National Archives and Records Administration
- David Kepley, Office of Records Services, Washington, DC
- David Langbart, Life Cycle Management Division
- Don McIlwain, Initial Processing and Declassification Division
- Jeanne Schauble, Director, Initial Processing and Declassification Division
Central Intelligence Agency
- Sue Kiely
- Don Steury, History Staff
OPEN SESSION, September 20
Approval of the Record of the July 2004 Meeting
The committee approved the record of the July meeting.
Report by the Executive Secretary
Marc Susser introduced two new HO staff members: Paul Hibbeln and Peter Kraemer. He said that several Foreign Relations (FRUS) volumes were in the pipeline, with three to be published by the end of the year. It was anticipated that the first electronic volume—Global Issues, 1969-1972, would be ready for publication this fall.
Status Reports by the Deputy Historian and the General Editor
David Herschler noted that the fiscal year (FY) was drawing to a close and reported that the office's FY 2005 budget proposal-requesting double the amount of publishing funds that had been allocated in FY 2004-was unlikely to be approved by October 1. Turning to personnel matters, he indicated that the office was now fully staffed with 40 historians. Herschler praised the support and enthusiasm of the historians and their ability to author policy studies and engage in outreach while working on FRUS . Regarding outreach, the 30-minute history of diplomacy video and its accompanying 100-page curriculum package had reached the final editing stage. Fifteen thousand copies of the video would be distributed at and following the National Council for the Social Studies annual conference in November.
Edward Keefer reported that a new volume on Central and South America; Mexico, 1964-1968, would soon be released. The LBJ tapes and the Thomas Mann Papers had been useful in compiling the volume. A related volume on the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean would also be published soon. Keefer was still optimistic about reaching the 30-year deadline, although he expected "bumps and setbacks." Certain FRUS volumes—15 for the Nixon administration—will only be published on the Internet. Sixteen print and eight electronic volumes were planned for the Carter administration. E-volumes offered two benefits: they could cover more material and could be revised as more documents became available. Keefer hoped that the first e-volume would be available at the December meeting. He concluded by noting that the Kissinger telephone conversations were now available in a word-searchable format for HO staff.
Brenda Gayle Plummer asked why the office's production schedule chart did not list publication dates for certain volumes. Keefer responded that the publication date was only listed when a volume was officially released. In response to a question from Lisa Cobbs-Hoffman about access to intelligence documents in the Central and South America; Mexico, 1964-1968 volume, Keefer replied that only 12 out of about 400 documents had been denied. Margaret Hedstrom asked what typically caused delays between the final editing of the volumes and the publication date. Keefer replied that with the increased editing staff, the office's goal was to produce a volume within 11 months of the final manuscript edit. Roger Louis noted the increase in office personnel and asked if HO had the right balance to reach the 30-year line with FRUS. Susser remarked that the current number of six or seven historians per division would allow the office to reach the 30-year line. Keefer added that 22 historians work on FRUS, and that the office would soon begin researching and compiling documentation on multiple administrations. Watson asked if FRUS was becoming a narrow snapshot because of the increase in documentation. Keefer said that the current and upcoming volumes might be the last of the "great" print volumes—Internet volumes could be larger because there were no page limits.
Brian Dowling reported to the committee that a new, badly needed telephone system would be installed at Newington. IPS has hired two project coordinators for electronic and paper review respectively, thereby making more reviewers available for declassification. Dowling said that new computers would soon be in use as well. Dowling then summarized his plan for completing the review of all 25-year-old records (i.e., pre-1982) by December 2006. In response to a question from Geoff Watson, Dowling stated that RPS could review approximately 11 million pages in 1 year. Margaret Peppe is no longer assisting with declassification.
CLOSED SESSION, September 20
Issues Relating to the Declassification and Opening of the Foreign Policy Record
Hedstrom reported that NARA had completed the processing of the 1973-1974 electronic Department of State cables that were transferred on June 23. She highlighted the fact that NARA had told the committee in July that the process would take 6 months, instead, it took 4-6 weeks. The electronic files were ready to be released, however, the Access to Archival Data (AAD) system was undergoing revision and improvements that should be complete by December 2004. NARA had also encountered a problem with the withdrawal cards in the records, which was now being corrected. In reference to the problem of HO access to cables during the transition and processing phase, Hedstrom noted that the Department of State had resolved the problem. She did not anticipate subsequent problems with access. She expressed her hope that the Department would keep the 1975 records on the State Archiving System (SAS) until NARA released the records on AAD.
Hedstrom indicated that IPS had finished its declassification review of the 1975 paper files. The Department of State had encountered a problem with the withdrawal cards, many of which contain classified information. In addition, the cards had not been vetted by other agencies with equity. The Department of State, however, had completed reviewing 65 percent of the paper files. Rather than release the paper files as they are reviewed, the Department prefers to release all of the information at once.
Hedstrom then discussed the State Messaging and Archives Retrieval Toolset (SMART) system. SMART, like SAS, will capture cable traffic, but also electronic records not currently maintained on SAS, such as e-mail and instant messaging. In other words, the SMART system will be an integrated platform for capturing all forms of electronic communications. Hedstrom noted several areas of progress with regard to SMART: Northrop Grumman-the winner of the design contest-will run the first tests on the system before the end of 2004. A larger pilot-testing program-which comprises 3,500 users-is scheduled for 2005, and an Inter-Agency Working Group has been formed to discuss retention and disposition issues connected to SMART. Overall, the new system should be an improvement. It will capture information now lost, and held the potential of simplifying archival practices and the declassification process. As for the Department of State declassification process, Hedstrom added that new investment in infrastructure should pay dividends in the months ahead.
Following Hedstrom's report, David Kepley discussed the transfer of electronic records from the Department of State to NARA. Although NARA encountered some problems, overall, the transfer proved successful. Hedstrom added that NARA's response across a range of issues had been outstanding. Jeanne Schauble noted that the only real problem had been getting other agencies to clear documents for declassification. Louis complimented NARA for its good work.
Robert Schulzinger said that NARA's swift processing of the State Department records was very encouraging. Two years ago he had been skeptical of NARA's ability to meet the 25-year deadline, but he was now very optimistic about that goal. Six years of documents, however, now needed to arrive at NARA in the next 24 months.
Louis asked if David Adamson or Dowling had any further comments on their morning reports. Dowling expressed optimism that his reviewers would be able to meet the 2006 deadline. He noted that the paper records would be reviewed long before that deadline. Adamson stated that IPS had completed the electronic review of just under 700,000 cables for 1973-74 and of 541,000 cables for 1975.
Charles Wisecarver reported that the Department of State would now be able to track the full life cycle of electronic documents through the SMART system, which would complement SAS. SAS would continue to run as the legacy archive. Once SMART is accepted and activated, no new traffic will be passed to SAS. Consequently after 25 years SAS would cease to exist.
In response to a question from Plummer concerning user issues, Hedstrom said that she and her students had researched the AAD system and monitored users, their learning curve, and the time it took them to complete searches. Her students also interviewed users to ascertain what AAD users wanted from the system. According to Hedstrom, those sampled expressed frustration at not being able to search across series, and thus efforts would be made to make the AAD more like the Google search-engine. She also reported some problems with codes for numeric data, and with navigation of the website.
Kepley noted that usability testing and user-friendliness had been difficult to determine. To this end, NARA triangulated its approach and surveyed current users, employed expert review companies at the Human Computer Interaction Lab at the University of Maryland, and analyzed Hedstrom's data. The findings from all these approaches overlapped significantly, making problems easier to identify. Hedstrom asked Wisecarver if HO would be included in the pilot testing of the SMART system; Wisecarver replied that there were no plans to do so as they wanted to use a small number of pilot testers. He said that he would, at The Historian's request, set up a demonstration.
Louis asked Keefer to report on the Nixon Tapes. Keefer reported that, over the next year, HO planned to identify the remaining tapes-especially from June 1972 through July 1973-for possible inclusion in the FRUS series. Although many tapes had already been transcribed for the earlier period, this would facilitate research for the remaining volumes on the Nixon administration.
Louis asked Schulzinger to report on the role of the committee on access and on preparation of FRUS. Schulzinger said that he would focus on how the publication of the series could promote access to the underlying historical record. As the series continued to publish a smaller percentage of the available documentation, this question would become even more important. Schulzinger argued that this trend underscored the importance of access guides, which would become indispensable for research. HO compilers, he explained, have a unique knowledge of the files that should be used before it is lost. Schulzinger expressed his hope that HO would reconsider its decision to wait until the office had completed the Nixon/Ford volumes to publish the relevant access guide. Since the guides could be updated on the Internet, he believed that they should be published upon completion of each individual volume.
Schulzinger then discussed how the committee might facilitate declassification. He mentioned Robert McMahon's suggestion of having a "lessons learned" discussion focused on recently published FRUS volumes. The Six Day War volume, for example, contained a number of President's Daily Briefs (PDBs), but only five were published. The volume included "title with no text" pages to indicate the denied PDBs. Schulzinger suggested that the committee "retrospectively" review the denied PDBs and consider possible actions toward declassifying them. He thought that it would be more effective for the committee members to review published volumes prior to convening in Washington than looking at unfinished volumes during a subcommittee meeting.
Louis suggested that the committee review one or more of the following volumes at its meeting in December: Foundations of Foreign Policy, 1969-1972; Organization and Management of Foreign Policy; United Nations, 1964-1968; South and Central America; Mexico, 1964-1968; and Arab-Israeli Crisis and War, 1967. Louis expressed a preference for reviewing the latter volume and asked the committee members for their suggestions. Keefer recommended that the committee review the volume on South and Central America; Mexico, 1964-1968 as it was the newest volume and dealt with some intelligence issues.
In response to a question from Schulzinger, Susan Weetman said that the committee would be able to examine denied and excised documents from any volumes they chose to review. Schulzinger added that the committee was particularly interested in looking at previously declassified, or improperly declassified, documents that had been re-classified or withdrawn. He suggested that a subcommittee be formed for this purpose.
Geyer commented that the practice of submitting an entire FRUS manuscript to the CIA had resulted in the reclassification of documents located at the National Archives. NARA, however, merely added these documents to the list of withdrawn items without indicating that the documents had been declassified previously. Don McIlwain noted that the Department of Energy cited the Kyl–Lott amendment as justification for reclassifying previously declassified documents. CIA reviewers, however, claimed the right to remove documents from the open files that, in their view, had never been "properly declassified."
The discussion then turned to the subject of FRUS access guides. David Langbart suggested that development of the description of records is more of a NARA responsibility, rather than something for HO staff. Louis thought Langbart was thinking more of an extended bibliographic essay than an access guide. Hedstrom said that HO historians were finding documents that might not be published in FRUS but could be useful to other researchers; access guides and finding aids could be complementary.
Louis asked Keefer how the office envisioned the form and scope of the access guides. Keefer said that the office would begin the access guide as the volumes from the first Nixon administration are finished. Keefer did not want to pull historians away from researching and completing their FRUS volumes. Louis indicated that he wanted assurance that the access guides would be completed; Keefer confirmed that they would be. Hoffmann asked if the access guides needed to be done upon completion of a volume. Keefer responded that each editor authored a note on sources with the volume. McMahon said that the volume itself and the note on sources alert readers to material relevant to the volume and provide much of the value of an access guide. Louis asked whether historians are doing the access guides as they compile their volumes. Keefer said that they were. Louis reiterated the value of access guides.
Luke Smith said that producing individual access guides for each volume ran the danger of reinventing the wheel; it is better to write access guides applicable to entire administrations in order to avoid needless repetition and save time for the compilers to focus on their volumes. Louis contended that individual access guides maintain the quirkiness of individual compilations. Doug Selvage expressed the view that the access guide would merely sum up the contents of the volume's footnotes and source list. McMahon suggested that committee members review the newly-published volumes and see how this information is presented, then perhaps they could make suggestions. Hoffmann noted the staff's belief that they were completing the access guide in an appropriate manner and said that she had confidence in Keefer and his vision.
Schulzinger said that this session had been useful and that the committee should be vigilant about pursuing issues that it had let slip in the past. A subcommittee would be a good way to ensure consideration of specific access and declassification issues.
CLOSED SESSION, September 21
Staff Historians Report on Volumes in Progress and Other Office Business
Staff historians William McAllister and John Carland reported to the committee on the progress of their volumes. Paul Claussen, Chief of the Policy Studies Division, reported to the committee on the role of that division in the Office of the Historian in researching and writing historical studies in U.S. diplomacy and foreign policy for the Secretary of State and the White House. He briefly discussed with the committee a range of specific past, current, and future historical projects.
The CIA and the Foreign Relations Series
Herschler introduced the CIA representatives and reported that he had little new information to report as only 2 months had passed since the last HAC meeting. During those 2 months, the CIA had participated in a verification meeting on the Soviet Union 1969-1970 volume, and HO had submitted the Iran-Iraq, 1969-1972 and South Asia Crisis, 1971 electronic supplement volumes to the CIA for review. Herschler anticipated that HO would henceforth be submitting approximately one volume per month to the CIA for review. He noted, however, that there was a time lag between the completion of a volume manuscript and its submission for review. The Declassification and Publishing division, for example, needed time to ascertain where the manuscript had to be sent for clearance and enter all of the volume's documents into a computer database.
Herschler reported that the CIA had nearly completed the backlog of review and declassification decisions that had accumulated before and since the 2002 Memorandum of Understanding. The office was pleased by this development, as it was by the ever-growing cooperative spirit exhibited by the CIA. Herschler then noted that five volumes in the CIA declassification queue were currently beyond their due date. On the whole, the CIA had been completing its reviews in a timely matter. Increasingly, other agency reviews were delaying the volume production process: HO will thus have to pay more attention to other agencies, prodding them to adhere to their review deadlines.
Louis asked Herschler to explain the verification meetings. Herschler responded that verification was the final stage of the declassification process, during which the CIA, HO, and IPS reviewers meet to verify that all declassification decisions in a given volume have been properly executed on the manuscript, and that all documents have been properly declassified.
Louis then asked CIA for their report. CIA confirmed that James Van Hook had proved a very effective conduit between the CIA and HO, noting particularly his importance in arranging Louis's July visit. CIA said that with the present paucity of FRUS volumes in the CIA review queue, CIA reviewers have worked on other projects and dealt with the details of FRUS volumes already received. In FY 04, the CIA had vetted 13 manuscripts and 1 access guide and had participated in 3 verification meetings. CIA speculated that verification meetings, rather than manuscript reviews, would likely occupy most of the CIA staff members' time in the coming months. The CIA Historical Review Panel would meet in December, around the time of the next HAC meeting.
The CIA History Staff currently lacked a chief historian. The History staff spent the summer in internal training, as well as academic outreach activities, including an electronic project involving CIA training and history. In August the staff arranged a seminar for university professors on the teaching of intelligence, which was geared towards acquainting professors with the "nuts and bolts" of intelligence work. The staff would soon publish a classified study on DCI John McCone. It was also working on a project on Warsaw Pact military intelligence, which was geared towards the declassification of Soviet documents covertly acquired during the Cold War. Some of the material was already in the public domain, but there would be new documents as well that would contribute to the understanding of U.S. intelligence work and the Soviet military. The CIA Staff was also working on a project on intelligence and the Rolling Thunder campaign that would be ready early next year. Finally, the staff was working on a project on the CIA's focus on the Soviet Union and the Middle East.
Van Hook reported that several State historians had recently conducted research in CIA files. Van Hook's Iran retrospective volume is in declassification and he is researching his next volume on intelligence operations and foreign policy.
Van Hook then commented on the visit to CIA by Louis, Melvyn Leffler, and himself during the last HAC meeting. They had a productive discussion on the process of the Directorate of Operations (DO) review and declassification of FRUS documents. Louis emphasized that these contacts with CIA were beneficial, and Van Hook agreed.
The committee discussed the status of the Iran and Congo volumes with the CIA.
Geyer commented on the recent Warsaw Pact documents in the book A Secret Life, published by journalist Ben Weiser last year. He invited comment on the fact that Weiser had apparently received access to CIA information and subsequently published details that FRUS historians could not publish. The CIA representatives responded that they were aware of the book, but the staff present were not involved in the process and therefore could not comment specifically. They noted, however, that there were differences between what was released in private books, and what was published in FRUS—an official government publication. Geyer continued that the book contained identifications and extraordinary detail from CIA material. The CIA representatives explained for the group that the book was a very exceptional case. The individual involved, now dead, had indicated that he wanted the story told.
Louis inquired as to whether the CIA had a new rationale with regard to withholding Presidential Daily Briefs from declassification. The CIA representatives reported that the issue is pending with the Interagency Security Classification Advisory Panel (ISCAP) and is now before the President.
The committee adjourned for staff comments and executive session.