text:
Hi, I've written the following code:
Currently what happens is that two arrays are being taken in, and all possible sequential combinations of the indices of Array A are being stored as a list of seperate arrays, each of which are the same size as array B. Currently to do this sizeA has to be smaller than sizeB.
import java.util.*; public class Main { public static void main(final String[] args) throws FileNotFoundException { ArrayList<String> storeB= new ArrayList(); ArrayList<String> storeA = new ArrayList(); Scanner scannerB = new Scanner(new File("fileB")); Scanner scannerA = new Scanner(new File("fileA")); while(scannerB.hasNext()) { String b = scannerB.next();{ storeB.add(b); } } while(scannerA.hasNext()) { String A = scannerA.next();{ storeA.add(A); } } final int sizeA = storeA.size(); final int sizeB = storeB.size(); final List<int[]> combinations = getOrderings(sizeA-1, sizeB); for(final int[] combo : combinations) { for(final int value : combo) { System.out.print(value + " "); } System.out.println(); } } private static List<int[]> getOrderings(final int maxIndex, final int size) { final List<int[]> result = new ArrayList<int[]>(); if(maxIndex == 0) { final int[] array = new int[size]; Arrays.fill(array, maxIndex); result.add(array); return result; } // creating an array for each occurence of maxIndex, and generating each head //recursively for(int i = 1; i < size - maxIndex + 1; ++i) { //Generating every possible head for the array final List<int[]> heads = getOrderings(maxIndex - 1, size - i); //Combining every head with the tail for(final int[] head : heads) { final int[] array = new int[size]; System.arraycopy(head, 0, array, 0, head.length); //Filling the tail of the array with i maxIndex values for(int j = 1; j <= i; ++j) array[size - j] = maxIndex; result.add(array); } } return result; } }
I'm trying to modify this so that, regardless of sizeA and sizeB (currently sizeB has to be bigger then sizeA), I can create arrays which are double sizeB and duplicate each index value. So if we had: [0,1,1,2] this would become: [0,0,1,1,1,1,2,2] i.e duplicating each value and placing it next to it.
I currently have code that looks somewhat like this to do this:
public int[] getArray(int originSize) { int[] result = new int[originSize * 2]; for (int i = 0, j = 0; i < originSize; ++i, j+=2) { result[j] = i; result[j+1] = i; } return result; }
But I'm having trouble incorporating it into the original code.
Also how would I modify what I have so that rather than producing all possible combinations, on each call, a single array at random is produced rather than a list of arrays?
Thanks a lot.


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If you're tired of algorithms helping you find music and you're curious what other people you actually know are listening to, Monstro is a new service that uses your Twitter account to pull together mini-mixes based on the songs your friends enjoy enough to share with the world. You can "tune in" to mixes created by friends and other avid music-sharers, check out the service's music charts to discover new bands, and fall in love with music all over again.
Monstro uses your Twitter account to see what music you've been sharing recently, and then builds a mix based on those songs. You can click on any of them to listen, download them from Amazon or iTunes, stream on Spotify, or check out a music video at YouTube. The "Friends Mix" page shows you songs that your friends have shared on various social networks so you can listen in and hopefully discover something new. You can even see which other Twitter users have shared the same song.
If you're looking for something completely new, check out the Monstro Charts, which are a combination of popular artists overall, popular on Monstro, or popular on the social network or music service you prefer. With one click, you can see the songs and artists that users share the most at The Hype Machine, Spotify, Last.fm, Pandora, Soundtracking, and more.
Monstro isn't really a music player or streaming radio service, although you could use it that way. What it really does—and does very well—is introduce you to new bands that your friends are listening to, and lets you explore new music you may not have otherwise found on your own. It's completely free, and all you need is a Twitter account to sign up.

subset: commoncrawl


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Swedish scientists have mapped the gene sequence of Norway spruce (the Christmas tree) — a species with huge economic and ecological importance — and that is the largest genome to have ever been mapped. The genome is complex and seven times larger than that of humans.
Norway spruce shoot [Credit: WikiCommons] |
In addition to its scientific interest this new knowledge has immense importance to the forestry industry in many countries.
This major research project has been led by Umeå Plant Science Centre (UPSC) in Umeå and the Science for Life Laboratory (SciLifeLab) in Stockholm.
"Forest tree breeding is now entering a new era, and Sweden has the potential to be in the forefront of development," says Professor Ove Nilsson from UPSC. "Newer and more effective methods can begin to be used to ensure that the over 200 million tree seedlings planted each year in Sweden are as strong, healthy and well-adapted as possible for both poor and rich soil areas in different parts of the country."
The scientists have identified about 29,000 functional genes, marginally more than humans have, but the question arises: why is the spruce genome still seven times larger than ours? According to the study an explanation is "genome obesity" caused by extensive repetitive DNA sequences, which have accumulated for several hundred million years of evolutionary history. Other plant and animal species have efficient mechanisms to eliminate such repetitive DNA, but these do not seem to operate so well in conifers.
"It is remarkable that the spruce is doing so well despite this unnecessary genetic load," says Professor Pär Ingvarsson at UPSC. "Of course, some of this DNA has a function but it seems strange that it would be beneficial to have so very much. This appears to be something special for conifers."
The greatest challenge in the project has been to get the approximately 20 billion "letters" found in spruce's genetic code into the correct order, rather than obtaining the actual DNA sequences.
"Imagine a library with ten thousand books as thick as the bible, written in a language with only four letters," explains Professor Stefan Jansson at UPSC. "If someone took one hundred identical copies of each of the ten thousand titles, passed them all through a document shredder and mixed all the shreds, and you then were asked to piece together an accurate copy of each title, you can realize that it can be a bit problematic."
"We had to customise computers and rewrite many of the computer programmes used in similar studies in order to handle the large amount of DNA sequences," says Professor Joakim Lundeberg from SciLifeLab. The national data storage system was stretched to the limit, and there were many other practical problems that had to be solved along the way to pull through the project.
"But the timing was optimal; when the new DNA sequencing machines were unpacked at our newly established laboratory, DNA arrived from our model spruce tree. By sequencing and analysing the largest genome in the world so far, we have shown that SciLifeLab has both technical and scientific capacity for research at the highest international level," concludes Joakim Lundeberg.
The results have been published in the journal Nature.
Source: Umeå universitet [May 22, 2013]


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10 Haunted Places to Visit in Kansas
10 of History's Most Infamous Female Prisoners
10 People Who Went Missing in Rocky Mountain National Park
10 Obscure Facts about One-Hit Wonders from Before the 1980s
10 Silly Beliefs People Have about Animals
10 Extinct Species That Are Still Alive Genetically
10 Bizarre Legal Name Changes
10 Facts You Might Not Know about the Nazi's Atomic Bomb Program
Top 10 Wizarding World Mysteries That Were Never Fully Explained
10 Films That Influenced Star Wars
10 Haunted Places to Visit in Kansas
10 of History's Most Infamous Female Prisoners
Who's Behind Listverse?
Jamie Frater
Head Editor
Jamie founded Listverse due to an insatiable desire to share fascinating, obscure, and bizarre facts. He has been a guest speaker on numerous national radio and television stations and is a five time published author.
More About Us10 People Who Went Missing in Rocky Mountain National Park
10 Obscure Facts about One-Hit Wonders from Before the 1980s
10 Silly Beliefs People Have about Animals
10 Extinct Species That Are Still Alive Genetically
10 Bizarre Legal Name Changes
10 Facts You Might Not Know about the Nazi's Atomic Bomb Program
Top 10 Wizarding World Mysteries That Were Never Fully Explained
Top 10 Stunning Religious Buildings In Images
Religions – no matter how much they adhere to principles of poverty – have produced some of the most magnificent pieces of architecture in man's history. Using our Top 10 Organized Religions and their Core Beliefs as a source for the religions chosen to be shown here, we have found images of the most incredible and significant building and temples for each. In the course of writing this list I have come across a large number of beautiful places I never knew existed; I hope this experience will be yours as well when reading it. For the sake of brevity I have not described each religion – see the original list for a more detailed explanation.
St Peter's Basilica is found in Vatican City and has been at the center of the Catholic Church since it's very beginning. In the first century AD St Peter was buried in that spot after his crucifixion. Because of his importance as first pope the place was remembered and revered by the early Christians. In the 4th century the first basilica of St Peter was built there and that was replaced in the 16th century by the current Basilica – designed by Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, Carlo Maderno and Gian Lorenzo Bernini. It is one of the greatest (if not the greatest) works of renaissance architecture to exist today. Contrary to popular belief, it is not the official Papal basilica – that honor is held by the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran.
Masjid al-Haram is a huge mosque in Mecca, Saudia Arabia – it is the largest in Islam and is home to the Kaaba – a black square construction towards which all Muslims must pray every day. The kaaba is believed to contain a stone bearing the footprint of Abraham as well as a black stone which Muslims say was a meteorite that fell from Heaven to show Adam and Eve where to build an altar. The consturction of Masjid al-Haram began in 630 AD when Mohammed won a military victory in the place and began to govern under his law.
Kashi Vishwanath Temple is one of the most sacred temples to Hindus. It is located in Varanasi (a city mentioned in the Hindu scriptures – home of the god Shiva), India. Hindus are expected to travel at least once in their lifetime to Varanasi and they should also ideally scatter the ashes of their dead family members in the Ganghes river there. Hindus believe that the town is the oldest living town in human history. The temple has a fifteen meter high gold spire, part of which is pictured above.
The most important place in Buddhism is the Mahabodhi Temple which is built on the site which is believed to be the "Navel of the Earth". It is the location of the Bodhi Tree under which the first Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment around 528 BC. The temple is in the state of Bihar in India. Unfortunately in recent years the temple has been plagued with accusations of fraudulent use of donations and selling of sacred objects for profit.
Sri Harmandir Sahib is one of the holiest sites in Sikhism. It is located in Punjab, India and was built in 1574 AD. It contains the holiest scriptures to Sikhs, Guru Granth Sahib – a variety of poems, hymns, and religious instructions. The temple is also called the "Temple of Gold" as its upper floors are covered in real gold.
Obviously there is no longer a Jewish temple to include on this list so I have chosen the Great Synagogue in Budapest instead. It is the largest synagogue in Europe the fifth largest in the world. It houses a holocaust museum, school, and a cemetery. It was constructed in 1854 and can seat three thousand people.
While not the primary Baha'i temple, the Lotus Temple in India is the newest and certainly most interesting structurally. It is designed to look like a lotus blossom and it succeeds rather well. It was built in 1986 making it the newest building on this list. All religions are welcome, no sermons are allowed, and music is permitted but musical instruments are not.
The Temple of Confucius in Qufu, China is the most important temple for Confucianism. It was the first built, is still the largest, and is also now a world heritage site. It is the largest cultural site in modern day China and because it was underwent repairs from fire damage just after the building of the Forbidden City, it bears a striking resemblance to many of the features found there.
Sri Digambar Jain Lal Mandir, the largest and oldest Jain temple is located in Delhi, India. It was established in 1656. It has some interesting rules attached to those who wish to enter: no food (not even crumbs left in the mouth), no leather, and no women menstruating. Other significant historical buildings are found in the same region so it is worth considering visiting.
Okay I am cheating a bit here. In first place (for lowest number of adherents) was Shinto but, alas, Shinto shrines are horribly boring to look at! So in its place I present the finest standing temple built to honor all the gods of Ancient Rome. The Pantheon is a stunning work of construction built in 27 BC. It remains to this day thanks largely to the fact that it was taken over as a Catholic church when Roman paganism began to falter. While there are many Christian modifications to the temple to make it suitable for Christian worship, it does still retain many of its original pagan elements – including numeric and symbolic elements in the design. It is, as one would expect, located in Rome.


text: PASSOVER, A BRIEF HISTORY Passover is a Jewish holiday that begins at sunset on the 14th day of the Jewish calendar month "Nisan." This year, Passover begins on April 19th. The holiday celebrates the Jewish people's emancipation from slavery during the Pharaoh's rule in Egypt. It is also a somber remembrance of the hardship that the Jews endured before achieving freedom. The story of Passover begins when the Jews, forced into slavery, worked ceaselessly to build some of the great cities of Egypt. The Pharaoh, who felt threatened by the sheer number and strength of the slaves, pronounced that every Jewish boy be thrown into the river Nile. Only one survived. When Moses grew up, God told him that he must free the Jewish people from their miserable lives as slaves. According to the story, after several failed attempts at persuasion, God created ten plagues to fall upon the Egyptians. During the final plague, darkness engulfed the Pharaoh's land and the first- born child of every Egyptian family perished. A lamb was sacrificed, and its blood was placed on the door of every Jewish household, indicating that the Angel of Death pass over the home. For this reason, the annual holiday is named "Passover." MATZOH BALL SOUP Yield: 10 cups INGREDIENTS 4 Tablespoons schmaltz (chicken fat) 1 whole chicken (about 4 pounds), cut up [in 8 pieces] 10 cups mineral or filtered water 1 large Spanish onion, chopped 2 celery stalks, chopped 3 carrots, peeled and chopped 1 bunch fresh thyme leaves chopped and stems reserved 2 bay leaves 2 teaspoons kosher salt teaspoon ground black pepper 2 cups fresh shelled green peas cup dry vermouth 1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic 1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley MATZOH BALLS 2 cups mineral or filtered water 3/4 cup schmaltz (chicken fat), or vegetable oil 1 teaspoons kosher salt 2 1/2 cups matzoh meal 1 teaspoons chopped fresh Italian parsley teaspoon ground ginger 7 eggs METHOD Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the chicken pieces and brown on all sides. Add the water, bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken with a slotted spoon, reserve the poaching liquid, and when cool enough to handle remove the meat from the bones and set aside. Strain the poaching liquid to remove solids, reserving 8 cups, and set aside.* Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in the pot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, and carrots and sweat for 4 minutes, until tender. Tie the thyme stems together and add them to the pot with the bay leaves, salt and pepper. Add the chicken and reserved poaching liquid and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, partially cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, to make the matzoh balls, combine the water, schmaltz, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Gradually add the matzoh meal and stir with a wire whisk until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan. Stir in the parsley and ginger and mix well. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Reduce heat to low and cook for 25 minutes, stirring frequently. Drop the matzoh dough by heaping spoonfuls into the simmering soup. Cover and simmer 15 minutes. Stir in the chopped thyme, vermouth, and garlic and heat through. To serve, remove the bay leaves and thyme stems, ladle the soup into bowls, and top with the chopped parsley. *To de-fat the stock, refrigerate for 1 hour, until a fat layer forms on the surface. Skim the layer of fat off the top and discard. CHEF GILLIGAN


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Response onScreen
Capote, Murrow, Cash: Are These the True Stories?
The Chronicles of Narniaís Aslan isnít the only super-sized personality being brought to life on the big screen this season. Also in the spotlight: the celebrated Edward R. Murrow, who reported the news; the controversial and groundbreaking American novelist Truman Capote who exploited the news; and the American rock-and-roll legend Johnny Cash who regularly made the news. And while critics are already comparing the resemblance of Disneyís Aslan to the regal cat in C.S. Lewisís fiction, theyíre also holding these three biopics against the details of history.
Youíll find that all three ó Good Night, and Good Luck; Capote; and Walk the Line ó have unique styles and approaches to memorializing their distinguished central figures. One hits close to the mark. Another fiddles with the facts to increase the drama. And the third gets the facts right, but the focus wrong.
* * *
In Cold Blood was Truman Capoteís last major work, and it exhausted him. After completing this notorious nonfiction novel about the 1959 headline-grabbing murder of a family in Holcomb, Kansas, Capote fell into a downward spiral of alcoholism and depression, which may have been due in part to the toll that the project took on his mind and heart.
Bennett Miller's new film Capote, based on Gerald Clarke's biography and scripted by Dan Futterman, should encourage a resurgence of interest in Capoteís work. It presents the events leading to In Cold Bloodís publication, from the moment the author has the inkling of inspiration, to the burden of ethical compromises he shoulders along the way.
At first glance, the story of an artist with compassion for prisoners would seem like a story of Christian virtue. And Capote, as played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, certainly demonstrates compassion for Perry Smith, the killer he befriends during prison visits while doing research for his next book.
But Millerís movie is a far cry from Dead Man Walking. As we watch Capote cozy up to Smith (compellingly played by Clifton Collins Jr.) in his death-row cell, itís clear that weíre witnessing a seduction. Capote, presenting himself as a cross between a priest offering absolution and a PR man advocating Smithís release, presents himself as the killerís only friend in the world. Then, his compassion morphs into opportunism and artistic zeal, drawing out the details he will use in his damning prose. If I leave here without understanding you, he half-whispers, like a little red devil on Smith's shoulder, the world will see you as a monster. And I don't want that. And yet, without blinking, he laughingly boasts to friends such as Harper Lee (Catherine Keener), author of To Kill a Mockingbird, that Smith is a gold mine, and that his project is the nonfiction book of the decade. Viewers will respond with conflicting feelings about the man as they watch his fascinating fluctuations between pity and pride, sympathy and selfishness.
Much of the credit for the filmís success should go to Philip Seymour Hoffman, whose impersonation is so thorough and intense that he commands our attention in every scene. Hoffman, an unpredictable and impressive actor with an increasingly stellar record, could have turned Capote into a flamboyant show. Capoteís fashion sense and mannerisms made him stand out in a crowd like a lit-up Christmas tree in a dark forest. But the actor digs much deeper than that, intriguing us with hints of a complex, tormented interior life. His subtlety and his silences are as arresting as that famously pinched voice. Portraying both the brilliance and the brash ego of the writer, Hoffman, Miller, and screenwriter Dan Futterman give us an honest portrait and let us make up our own minds about him.
Capoteís writing stands as a clear landmark in American literature, but did the ends justify his means? In a time when the news media enthusiastically sensationalizes the failings of others, and then delivers this information with a tone of moral superiority, it is good for audiences to be reminded that the messenger is sometimes guilty too.
Good Night, and Good Luck, directed with impressive energy by actor George Clooney, is a slickly produced, tightly wound, precisely focused thriller set in a newsroom, where the cameras follow journalists around intently, just as they do on televisionís E.R., where Clooney got his start. Itís an exhilarating ride that almost resembles a horror movie. As the newsmen plot their next moves in exposing the corrupt Communist-hunting methods of Senator Joe McCarthy, you half-expect a corporate or government boogeyman to jump out from a shadowy corner and tear somebodyís throat out.
As we look over the shoulders of famous figures in the CBS newsroom circa 1953, we see the legendary news anchor Edward R. Murrow, played with riveting precision by the rarely seen but extraordinary David Strathairn. Strathairnís slow-burn intensity anchors the otherwise frenzied film. By slow-burn intensity, I mean that it looks like he has just swallowed several of his own smoldering cigarettes, and is now trying to digest them. As he delivers his devastating news reports, he fixes a penetrating stare as if trying to paralyze his audience with his eyes. His body is tense, ready to dodge the bullet in the event that someone might find a way to fire back at him through the television.
We watch as Murrow goes through weeks of relentless pressure, trying to inform the American public about the abuses of power set in motion by McCarthy in his ruthless, punishing search for Russian spies and communists during the height of the Cold War. Murrow must succeed without calling down the wrath of CBS corporate, without losing his show and its place of privilege, without ruining the lives of those who risk their careers to support him (played by Clooney, Robert Downey Jr., Patricia Clarkson, and others). He must constantly tighten the screws, take inventory, and check his battleship to ensure that there are no weak points vulnerable to counterattack. He mustnít lie or editorialize inappropriately. In short, he must serve up the truth, and let the truth do its work.
If only the filmmakers were as responsible as their inspiring hero. As soon as Good Night, and Good Luck opened, sources such as The Washington Post and Slate began calling the filmís details into question. Apparently, Murrow was not the first brave newsman to pursue McCarthy, as the film suggests. Nor did all of McCarthyís claims turn out to be fabrications and paranoia, although the film would like us to believe they were. Clooney and company are justified in their desire to celebrate journalistic integrity, but in the frenzy of their contempt for McCarthyís ruthless and heartless methods, they lose sight of the context in which these events played out. There were indeed Communist spies infiltrating the United States during those years. Some level of investigation was warranted. The film may be in black and white, but the issues on the table were anything but.
Still, you can expect crowds currently disillusioned with the government to cheer as if Good Luck is nothing but gospel truth. We should indeed cheer the principles on display here, but we should take Clooneyís version of the details with several grains of salt.
Itís uncanny and unfortunate how closely James Mangoldís film about Johnny Cash, Walk the Line, follows the narrative arc of last year's Oscar-winning Ray: Hard childhood. Brother dies tragically. Musician seeks fortune. Musician has affairs. Musician abuses drugs. Musician attains glory. But screenwriter Gil Dennis brings spirit, energy, and humor to the story, with both eyes on Cashís autobiographies. The words are brought to vivid life by Joaquin Phoenix as the Man in Black and Reese Witherspoon as his lifelong dream girl, June Carter Cash.
You can sense the fan-boy enthusiasm Burnett, Mangold, and soundtrack genius T-Bone Burnett have for recreating such legendary hours as Cashís audition for the famous producer Sam Phillips (played here by Dallas Roberts), which stands among the filmís most compelling and memorable moments, and Cash's subsequent rise to fame with Sun Records, alongside such giants as Elvis, Roy Orbison, and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Phoenix brilliantly develops Cash from a naÔve young soldier to a battle-scarred, reckless, rock-n-roll Tyrannosaurus Rex. Youíd be hard-pressed to name an actor working today who could do a better job. Phoenix masters both the walk and that deep drawl ó a voice as distinct as John Wayneís. Phoenix has finally stepped out from the shadow of his famous big brother, the late River Phoenix, who also played a country music singer in The Thing Called Love.
Witherspoon matches him, stride for stride, song for song, in her best performance yet. Her accent never falters. She turns Cash and Carter's debates and duets into fiery, compelling sequences. They're a joy to watch.
Yes, itís a powerful, glamorous, colorful production. But Mangold and Dennis make a grave error in framing the film not as a story of a prodigal son answering the call of Godís grace, but as a man who overcomes unfortunate obstacles (namely, a wife and beautiful daughters) to attain his true dream ó the other woman, June Carter. Looking at the whole of Cashís life, we can see that human catastrophes became a context in which God worked out a powerful story of redemption. But in this version of the story, Cashís faith is a throwaway issue. Mangold wants us to believe that a story of sex, drugs, rockíníroll, and a saving faith was instead a story of sex, drugs, rockíníroll, and a saving infidelity.
Mangoldís version may, indeed, stick to the true details of this chapter of Cashís life, but given only these details, itís easy to come to the wrong conclusion. Think of what men who are tempted to be unfaithful to their wives might learn from watching this film. It could suggest to them that, although their children will have broken hearts, the glory of a new romance, and the adventures it opens up, will make the damage worthwhile.
The real victories of Cashís life have nothing to do with escaping one marriage to establish another, nor do they have to do with record-breaking album sales (a detail the film announces as its triumphant send-off.) The true victory of Cashís life is expressed in the gospel hope that filled his lyrics. Cashís Folsom Prison concert makes him the anti-Sinatra ó when he did it his way, he nearly destroyed himself. When he surrendered to Godís way, he found peace at last.
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A Conversion of the Imagination 2014: A Blueprint for Excellence shows "Seattle Pacific will be a place that knows and understands what's going on in the world, and it will be a place that embraces the Christian story," says President Philip Eaton. [President]
Katrina's Call SPU professors, graduate students, and staff help with hurricane relief efforts on the Gulf Coast and on SPU's campus. [Campus]
Allowing Scripture to Transform Our Lives Kerry Dearborn, associate professor of theology, contributes introductions and study notes to the Renovarť Spiritual Study Bible. [Faculty]
Quality Always Alumni of the Year, Kathi and Jerry Teel, live out their Vitamilk Diary slogan, "Quality Always," in all areas of their lives. [Alumni]
Field Goals Courted by Division I soccer teams while in high school, stand-out Falcon forward, Sarah Martinez, hits goals on and off the field. [Athletics]
My Response John Perkins writes a letter to Seattle Pacific about God's grace during and after Hurricane Katrina.


text:
As a conjunction than follows an adjective or adverb in the comparative degree.
- Wisdom is better than riches.
- He is wiser than I am.
- I am smarter than you are.
Lest is used as a subordinating conjunction expressing a negative purpose. It has a similar meaning to 'for fear that'.
- He fled lest he should be killed.
Note that lest is rare in modern English. Also note that the only auxiliary that can follow lest is should.
While is used to mean:
a) during the time that; as long as; as
- While there is life, there is hope.
- While they were sleeping, the robbers broke in.
b) at the same time that
- The boys sang while the girls danced.
- While you were playing I was working.
c) whereas
- While I have no money to spend, you have nothing to spend on.
As a conjunction only means 'except that' or 'but'.
- The book would be helpful to you, only it is expensive. (= The book would be helpful to you, but it is expensive.)
Because, for and since
All of these words can be used to refer to the reason for something. Since clauses often come at the beginning of sentences.
- Since he had not paid his bill, his electricity was cut off.
A because-clause is less formal than a since-clause.
- Because I was ill, I could not attend the meeting.
- Since I was ill, I could not attend the meeting.


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Richard E. Byrd
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Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd (25 October 1888 – 11 March 1957) was a U.S. Naval officer, aviator, and pioneering polar explorer.
- A static hero is a public liability. Progress grows out of motion.
- As quoted in Struggle : The Life and Exploits of Commander Richard E. Byrd (1928) by Charles John Vincent Murphy, p. 325
- If the expedition had failed, which it might well have done with all hope centered in just one plane, I should still be trying to pay back my obligations.
- On his expedition to fly over the North Pole. His claim to have done so is now widely disputed. Skyward (1928)
- No woman has ever stepped on Little America — and we have found it to be the most silent and peaceful place in the world.
- As quoted in The Oakland Tribune (26 November 1955)
- I am hopeful that Antarctica in its symbolic robe of white will shine forth as a continent of peace as nations working together there in the cause of science set an example of international cooperation.
- Statement made during International Geophysical Year (IGY) operations in 1957, inscribed on the Byrd Memorial at McMurdo Station, Antartica
Alone (1938)[edit]
- This book is the account of a personal experience — so personal that for four years I could not bring myself to write it. It is different from anything else I have ever written. My other books have been factual, impersonal narratives of my expeditions and flights. This book, on the other hand, is the story of an experience which was in considerable part subjective. I very nearly died before it was over.
- Preface
- That risks were involved, all of us knew; but none, so far as we could foresee, that were too great. Otherwise, as leader of a big polar expedition, and subject to all the responsibilities implicit in command, I could not have gone. That I miscalculated is proved by the fact that I nearly lost my life. Yet, I do not regret going.
- Ch. 1
- What I had not counted on was discovering how closely a man could come to dying and still not die, or want to die. That, too, was mine; and it also is to the good. For that experience resolved proportions and relationships for me as nothing else could have done; and it is surprising, approaching the final enlightenment, how little one really has to know or feel sure about.
- Ch. 1
- What people think about you is not supposed to matter much, so long as you yourself know where the truth lies; but I have found out, as have others who move in and out of newspaper headlines, that on occasion it can matter a good deal. For once you enter the world of headlines you learn there is not one truth but two: the one which you know from the facts; and the one which the public, or at any rate a highly imaginative part of the public, acquires by osmosis.
- Ch. 1
- Half the confusion in the world comes from not knowing how little we need.
- Ch. 2
- I paused to listen to the silence. My breath, crystallized as it passed my cheeks, drifted on a breeze gentler than a whisper. The wind vane pointed toward the South Pole. Presently the wind cups ceased their gentle turning as the cold killed the breeze. My frozen breath hung like a cloud overhead. The day was dying, the night being born — but with great peace. Here were the imponderable processes and forces of the cosmos, harmonious and soundless. Harmony, that was it! That was what came out of the silence — a gentle rhythm, the strain of a perfect chord, the music of the spheres, perhaps.
It was enough to catch that rhythm, momentarily to be myself a part of it. In that instant I could feel no doubt of man's oneness with the universe. The conviction came that the rhythm was too orderly, too harmonious, too perfect to be a product of blind chance — that, therefore, there must be purpose in the whole and that man was part of that whole and not an accidental offshoot. It was a feeling that transcended reason; that went to the heart of man's despair and found it groundless. The universe was a cosmos, not a chaos; man was rightfully a part of that cosmos as were the day and night.- Ch. 3
- Solitude is greater than I anticipated. My sense of values is changing, and many things which before were in solution in my mind now seem to be crystallizing. I am better able to tell what in the world is wheat for me and what is chaff. In fact, my definition of success itself is changing.
- Ch. 6
- If I had never seen a watch and should see one for the first time, I should be sure its hands were moving according to some plan and not at random. Nor does it seem any more reasonable for me to conceive that the precision and order of the universe is the product of blind chance. This whole concept is summed up in the word harmony. For those who seek it, there is inexhaustible evidence of an all-pervading intelligence.
- Ch. 6
- The human race, my intuition tells me, is not outside the cosmic process and is not an accident. It is as much a part of the universe as the trees, the mountains, the aurora, and the stars.
- Ch. 6
- The things that mankind has tested and found right make for harmony and progress — or peace; and the things it has found wrong hinder progress and make for discord. The right things lead to rational behavior — such as the substitution of reason for force — and so to freedom. The wrong things lead to brute force and slavery.
But the peace I describe is not passive. It must be won. Real peace comes from struggle that involves such things as effort, discipline, enthusiasm. This is also the way to strength. An inactive peace may lead to sensuality and flabbiness, which are discordant. It is often necessary to fight to lessen discord. This is the paradox.- Ch. 6
- When a man achieves a fair measure of harmony within himself and his family circle, he achieves peace; and a nation made up of such individuals and groups is a happy nation. As the harmony of a star in its course is expressed by rhythm and grace, so the harmony of a man's life-course is expressed by happiness; this, I believe, is the prime desire of mankind.
"The universe is an almost untouched reservoir of significance and value," and man need not be discouraged because he cannot fathom it. His view of life is no more than a flash in time. The details and distractions are infinite. It is only natural, therefore, that we should never see the picture whole. But the universal goal — the attainment of harmony — is apparent. The very act of perceiving this goal and striving constantly toward it does much in itself to bring us closer, and therefore, becomes an end in itself.- Ch. 6
- Few men during their lifetime come anywhere near exhausting the resources dwelling within them. There are deep wells of strength that are never used.
- A discordant mind, black with confusion and despair, would finish me off as thoroughly as the cold.
- Ch 7
- Part of me remained forever at Latitude 80 degrees 08 minutes South: what survived of my youth, my vanity, perhaps, and certainly my skepticism. On the other hand, I did take away something that I had not fully possessed before: appreciation of the sheer beauty and miracle of being alive, and a humble set of values. All this happened four years ago. Civilization has not altered my ideas. I live more simply now, and with more peace.
- Ch. 12
- A man doesn't begin to attain wisdom until he recognizes that he is no longer indispensable.
- Ch. 12, last lines of the book.
External links[edit]
- Byrd Memorial
- Alone (1938) Byrd's account of his 1934 winter at Advance Base


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Free-scoring France cruise to qualification
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Article summary
France did not concede a goal and scored 22 of their own in winning all three first qualifying round Group 3 games to progress ahead of Hungary and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Article top media content
Article body
France beat Hungary to top spot in UEFA European Women's Under-17 Championship first qualifying round Group 3 after a final-day decider in Lithuania.
At kick-off, France had a two-point lead over their opponents and made no mistakes as they swept aside Tamás Hevesi's team to go into the 20 November second qualifying round draw. Hungary took second place on goal difference ahead of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who defeated Lithuania 5-0, but they are unable to progress as one of the five best runners-up.
Hungary were on top after the first day thanks to a 9-0 defeat of Lithuania, Zsanett Bernadett Kaján getting a hat-trick. France, runners-up for the last two seasons, overcame Bosnia and Herzegovina 5-0, Valérie Gauvin striking twice.
Two days later France moved to the summit by scoring 12 without reply against Lithuania, eight different players on target including two more for Gauvin. Hungary, however, were held 3-3 by Bosnia and Herzegovina, who were 2-0 up after 19 minutes through Melisa Zukić and Jelena Koprena. Kaján and Fanni Diószegi levelled by the break and while substitute Selma Kapetanović restored Bosnia and Herzegovina's lead four minutes from time, Hungary captain Evelin Fenyvesi ended their opponents' hopes with a last-gasp equaliser.
Hungary had to win on the final day to pip France to top spot, but Justine Rougemont and Marie-Charlotte Léger scored in the first 21 minutes to end any hopes of a shock. Gauvin, with a hat-trick, then rubber-stamped progress for her side, who ended the group having scored 22 goals and conceded none.


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- Home
- Visitors
- About Petersburg
- Civil War
- The Crater
The Crater
Elliott's Salient
Observing that the closest Confederate fortification, Elliott's Salient, was a mere 400 feet from their position, the men of the 48th conjectured that a mine could be run from their lines under the enemy earthworks. Once complete, this mine could be packed with enough explosives to open a hole in the Confederate lines.
This idea was seized upon by their commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Henry Pleasants. A mining engineer by trade, Pleasants approached Burnside with the plan arguing that the explosion would take the Confederates by surprise and would allow Union troops to rush in to take the city.
Digging Begins
Eager to restore his reputation after his defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Burnside agreed to present it to Grant and Major General George G. Meade. Though both men were skeptical about its chances for success, they approved it with the thought that it would keep the men busy during the siege. On June 25, Pleasants' men, working with improvised tools, began digging the mine shaft. Digging continuously, the shaft reached 511 feet by July 17. During this time, the Confederates became suspicious when they heard the faint sound of digging. Sinking countermines, they came close to locating the 48th's shaft.
Mine Completion
Having stretched the shaft under Elliott's Salient, the miners began digging a 75-foot lateral tunnel that paralleled the earthworks above. Completed on July 23, the mine was filled with 8,000 pounds of black powder four days later. As the miners were working, Burnside had been developing his attack plan. Selecting Brigadier General Edward Ferrero's division of United States Colored Troops to lead the assault, Burnside had them drilled in the use of ladders and instructed them to move along the sides of the crater to secure the breach in the Confederate lines.


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Cloud Computing | Feature
The purchase of Cloud.com has helped Citrix round out its offering of custom cloud solutions that will appeal to colleges and universities.
With cloud computing looming as the next big thing in higher education, Citrix Systems' recent acquisition of Cloud.com, an open source cloud computing platform, will have caught the attention of university CIOs nationwide. The move bolsters Citrix's cloud infrastructure portfolio by giving customers virtualization, orchestration, and networking solutions that are designed and built specifically for the new cloud era.
Cloud.com is the developer of CloudStack, an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) software platform that simplifies the process of building, deploying, and managing a cloud computing environment. As opposed to traditional enterprise server virtualization platforms where cloud management is layered on top, Cloud.com's product is designed to help users design and create a cloud infrastructure from the ground up. As a result, customers have the ability to choose the hardware, software, management products, and service providers they want—an important consideration for CIOs leery of getting locked in with any one vendor.
For higher education institutions, the benefits of moving to a cloud service range from handling heavy server traffic during registration (traffic which invariably drops to a trickle after registration ends) to managing software and data across multiple campuses.
"Cloud computing delivers a radically more efficient and cost-effective method for delivering IT services to end users," says Peder Ulander, VP of product marketing in Citrix's newly formed Cloud Platforms Group. "This is hugely important in higher education and we have seen great traction with wins like Hokkaido University in Japan. It will use this model for providing IT resources to researchers across Japan on an on-demand basis."
Building a custom-designed cloud system that is automated, elastic, and scalable from the get-go is significantly faster and cheaper than trying to retrofit an existing server system, claims Ulander. And the addition of Cloud.com's software platform now gives Citrix the ability to offer this custom service to colleges and universities.
"Our XenServer, XenDesktop, and NetScaler platforms are already widely deployed as the infrastructure of choice for cloud-era data center build-outs," notes Ulander. "Cloud.com adds to this portfolio with an orchestration and management platform that ties everything together. For universities and colleges looking to extend their IT services strategy to the cloud, Citrix will have an open, flexible, and advanced architecture that will enable them to quickly deploy and be successful."
Like most industry watchers, Ulander sees more and more colleges and universities moving toward cloud infrastructure and shaping the development of cloud technology. "Universities are already utilizing the cloud for many efforts," he says. "For some, it is an extension of the HPTC space they are already heavily vested in, including file storage, research modeling, developer platforms, desktop, e-mail, and user services. In many cases, the first cloud software platforms were launched in academia—the University of Barcelona, University of California, Santa Barbara, University of Chicago, and Clemson University all have major stakes in cloud platforms."
The rapid growth of cloud technology has spawned a global open source community of developers, researchers, technologists, and corporations. Both Citrix and Cloud.com have fully embraced open source as an essential element of cloud computing.
"The Cloud.com product line will continue to support leading open source hypervisors like Xen, as well as commercial hypervisors like Citrix XenServer and VMware vSphere," confirms Ulander. "Citrix will also be adding support for a range of Microsoft platforms and solutions, including Hyper-V and System Center, and a full range of platform-as-a-service (PaaS) development environments, storage and server hardware, and management systems."
Citrix is a founding member—and the second largest contributor to—OpenStack, an open source cloud computing platform for public and private clouds. With the acquisition of Cloud.com, which was also a contributor to the project, the company plans to increase its support of OpenStack.
About the Author
Jennifer Skelly is a freelance journalist and screenwriter based in Los Angeles, CA.
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Caveat: this is a quick check to see if we have a performance regression, which I run routinely before a release, and my no means a comprehensive performance test !
I ran this both on my home cluster and our internal lab.
This test is described in detail in [1]. It forms a cluster of 4 nodes, and every node sends 1 million messages of varying size (1K, 5K, 20K). We measure how long it takes for every node to receive the 4 million messages, and compute the message rate and throughput, per second, per node.
This is my home cluster and consists of 4 HP ProLiant DL380G5 quad core servers (ca 3700 bogomips), connected to a GB switch, and running Linux 2.6. The JDK is 1.6 and the heap size is 600M. I ran 1 process on every box. The configuration used was udp.xml (using IP multicasting) shipped with JGroups.
- 1K message size: 140 MBytes / sec / node
- 5K message size: 153 MBytes / sec / node
- 20K message size: 154 MBytes / sec / node
This test mimicks the way Infinispan's DIST mode works.
Again, we form a cluster of between 1 and 9 nodes. Every node is on a separate machine. The test then has every node invoke 2 unicast RPCs in randomly selected nodes. With a chance of 80% the RPCs are reads, and with a chance of 20% they're writes. The writes carry a payload of 1K, and the reads return a payload of 1K. Every node makes 20'000 RPCs.
The hardware is a bit more powerful than my home cluster; every machine has 5300 bogomips, and all machines are connected with GB ethernet.
- 1 node: 50'000 requests / sec /node
- 2 nodes: 23'000 requests / sec / node
- 3 nodes: 20'000 requests / sec / node
- 4 nodes: 20'000 requests / sec / node
- 5 nodes: 20'000 requests / sec / node
- 6 nodes: 20'000 requests / sec / node
- 7 nodes: 20'000 requests / sec / node
- 8 nodes: 20'000 requests / sec / node
- 9 nodes: 20'000 requests / sec / node
This is actually good news, as it shows that performance grows linearly. As a matter of fact, with increasing cluster size, the chances of more than 2 nodes picking the same target decreases, therefore performance degradation due to (write) access conflicts are likely to decrease.
Caveat: I haven't tested this on a larger cluster yet, but the current performance is already very promising.
[1] http://community.jboss.org/docs/DOC-11594


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A bright orange orb hangs just above the horizon under an expanse of blue and yellow sky. It's hard to take an interesting picture of a sunset, and at first glance, there is nothing remarkable about this one. What is remarkable, however, is that this vivid image was taken a century ago—a time usually seen only in black and white.
The sunset is just one of thousands of color photographs that Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii made between 1905 and 1915. With funding from Czar Nicholas II, he set out to document the diverse people and landscapes of the vast Russian Empire. Prokudin-Gorskii planned to produce images that would be used in classrooms, but the widespread exposure he envisioned for his pictures was not to be.
Without an affordable method for mass reproduction and with the upheaval of the Bolshevik Revolution, the photographs languished until the entire collection, including nearly 2,000 glass negatives, was purchased by the Library of Congress in 1948. But they too were unable to find a suitable way to present Prokudin-Gorskii's work until nearly 100 years after they were taken—when digital equipment allowed the library to scan all 1,902 negatives and restore Prokudin-Gorskii's pictures to their original color.
"His cutting-edge technology met our internet and digitizing cutting-edge technology in just an almost perfect cycle," said Helena Zinkham, chief of the Prints and Photographs Division of the LOC.
Made public through the LOC's website beginning in 2001, Prokudin-Gorskii's digitally restored photographs were shared over the web and featured in a number of small exhibitions around the world. People were drawn, Zinkham believes, as much by the format of the pictures as the content.
"It is as rare as hen's teeth to have color photography from that era," said Zinkham. "So it just knocks peoples' socks off, even if you have no direct connection to Russia."
Among those who discovered Prokudin-Gorskii's pictures online was Robert Klanten, the publisher of German publishing company Gestalten. "I saw a couple of these photographs and I was immediately in love with them," said Klanten. This October, Gestalten will release Nostalgia: The Russian Empire of Czar Nicholas II Captured in Color Photographs, which will feature 283 of Prokudin-Gorskii's works.
Combing through the entire Prokudin-Gorskii collection, Gestalten's editorial team was particularly drawn to the portraits and scenes from daily life—many of which were shot in a 'snapshot' style despite the three-second exposures necessary to create them.
The pictures themselves cover a remarkable range—both geographically and in subject matter. Portraits were taken against backdrops that range from lush Siberian forests to neatly planted fields to a dank and crumbling prison yard in Turkestan. Even simple scenes—a train track cutting through a rock-strewn landscape or mine workers filling horse-drawn carts—are striking when you realize they portray a land on the verge of revolution, both industrial and political. It is even more appropriate, then, that Prokudin-Gorskii captured these scenes with a groundbreaking photographic method.
"Most people think of the past as something that happened in black and white," said Klanten. The use of color, combined with Prokudin-Gorskii's less-formal style was revolutionary in photography, according to Klanten. "The way he approached the whole thing is kind of a precursor to modern photography…it is almost a democratic approach to photography."
Nostalgia: The Russian Empire of Czar Nicholas II Captured in Color Photographs will be released in the U.S. by Gestalten in October.
You can explore the entire Prokudin-Gorskii collection at the Library of Congress.
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text: New Lab-animal ventilator, controlled by microprocessor, delivers adjustable tidal volume from 0.05 ml to 50 ml per stroke. Electronically controlled stepping motor with attached lubricant free air cylinder allows continuously adjustable phase ratio, tidal volume, and stroke frequency (5-200 strokes/min). It is suitable for a wide range of animals starting from mice to dogs. If you are interested to receive more information, please e-mail your street address. GHOSH Internet: 75144.2413 at compuserve.com


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Passion with a Purpose
Passion is less and less talked about these days.
It has been replaced with the idea that
we have to simply accept whatever current
situation life presents us with at the moment.
There is less and less encouragement,
and more and more discouragement,
when it comes to discovering our individual God-given passions.
This is disappointing because our God-given passions have been given to us with a purpose.
Passion with a Purpose
What does passion mean to you?
That was the question Christian author Deborah Bateman asked readers in an article published at LivingBetterAt50.com.
She also asked several other questions like "what do you love?" and "what would you do if no one paid you anything?"
Deborah gives the encouragement to "Discover what you love and do it!"
And she goes on to say…
"I hope you discover your passion, because when you do you get so much joy out of it. Don't get me wrong, it is still work. Sometimes you may get tired or frustrated, but when you love something you keep coming back to it. No one has to prompt you to do it. You do it because that is what you love." (read entire article here)
Deborah H. Bateman is a Christian author of multiple books including "Finding Our Identity in Christ."
Find out more about Deborah Bateman and her books on her website at www.ChristianDailyResources.com.
Have You Tapped Into Your God-given Passion?
The Bible gives us many warnings about the passions of a sinful nature and the need to keep them under control. A powerful way to do this is to keep the first and primary passion of our heart toward God and His Word.
"The passion of my soul's desire is for the house of the Lord; my heart and my flesh are crying out for the living God."
— Psalm 84:2 (BBE)
The passion of Christ is the ultimate example of passion with a purpose. It was not only a passion with a purpose, but a purpose in line with God's will, and a passion that came with a price.
"To whom also He showed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God."
— Acts 1:3
Have you discovered your passion? It is worth discovering – even if it comes with a price. It will put a spark in your life, energize you and give you a positive drive to move forward, and a zeal to strive toward success. Why? Because your God-given passions come with a purpose, line up with God's Word, and cause you to be a blessing to others!
May you tap into your God-given passion and live with a purpose and a life full of growing prosperity!
Be Blessed to Be a Blessing!
God bless you always,
BEFORE YOU GO… Please Share your Passion in the comment section below and then like and tweet with others…


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A 13-year-old snapped the picture Tuesday and later posted it on his Facebook page.
Authorities said Thursday that the boy shown in the photo went with his mother to see police.
The boy resembles 14-year-old Avonte Oquendo, who was last seen on Oct. 4 walking out of his Queens school.
The teen who took the photo approached the boy and asked if he was Avonte. But the boy didn't respond.
Avonte's parents had said they couldn't be sure that the photo showed their son.