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On my hockey forum we took a diversion and started discussing the lineage of our car ownership. Reading through some other peoples lists jogged a lot of fun memories of cars that I've driven but didn't necessarily own. I thought I'd document my ownership history and then use the thread as my 'garage' thread even though I don't have anything very remarkable at the moment.
My complete evolution:
'93 Dodge Intrepid -Black/gray, loved it. As with all my Intrepids it was a great highway cruiser. Totaled it in a single vehicle accident.
'90 Dodge Daytona ES -Had the Mitsubishi V6. The car was surprisingly well kept and was owned by a Dodge mechanics wife. Unfortunately it was an automatic. Totaled it in a single vehicle accident the summer before my senior year of high school, even made the newspaper.
'85 Nissan 200SX -Notchback. Bought it from the classifieds somewhere in Pittsburgh for $400. I went to a salvage yard and found the same car and had them tow it to the house for $100 and I cobbled both cars together to make something half decent. I drove it all summer and then it died in a parking lot in Greensburg and never ran again. Scrapped it.
'85 Toyota Corolla -It was a urine brown color, terrible. First car I owned with a manual. Car was super clean but developed a 'no start in the rain' issue. Traded.
'98 Dodge Intrepid -The red one. First year of the second generation. I did a ton of work upgrading the interior with 300M parts including in-dash navigation. Totaled it in a single vehicle accident, closest I've ever come to dying on the road. lol at this being the only picture of it that I have handy.
'00 Dodge Intrepid -The silver one. The peak of my Intrepid ownership. I took all of the upgrades off of the red car and put it in the silver one. Loved it. The undercarriage rusted out and I sold it to Carmax after buying the M6.
E24 BMW M6 -Bought it sight unseen on eBay. It ran for about two years and I did some modest repairs and upgrades. Then it developed a no-start issue and I never caught up with the project. Traded it to a better mechanic for the K75S.
'80 Toyota Hilux -Paid about $250 for it and intended to use it as a beach cruiser in NC. I bought a fancy carburetor for it and never could install it right. Drove it from the farm I bought it at to the house and then never again. Scrapped.
'01 Land Rover Discovery II -Loved this thing, but the 16mpg was atrocious. If I knew I was moving to WI I would've kept it in a heartbeat, though. I blew the motor, had it replaced, and then sold it to a co-worker a few months later who ultimately traded it in on a Nissan Xterra. Boooooo.
E36 BMW 325is -I bought it to prep for BMWCCA SpecE36 and stripped it out shortly after buying it. Then Ashley was diagnosed with cancer and everything got put on hold. It's now my daily driver here in Wisconsin and has truly been an exceptional winter driver with a set of Blizzaks on it. I can't say enough about how well it handles in the snow. I still intend to race it one day but now that we're both pursuing doctorates at the moment it will likely take a few more years. I blew the motor a few months ago and put a used one in and now it pulls strong while getting 400mi to a tank. Great car, no car payment, love it.
'13 MINI Cooper -Still have this car, though Ash took it and it is her current daily driver. (SOLD, replaced by Saab)
'08 BMW 650i (TRADED on '02 BMW 330Ci)
'98 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra (SOLD)
'82 Delorean DMC-12 (SOLD)
'03 Ford E-350 Super Duty XLT -6.8L V10, 12 passenger interior. (SOLD, replaced by Trailblazer)
'08 BMW Z4 3.0si (TRADED on M6)
'05 Dodge SRT-4 (SOLD)
'03 Chevrolet Trailblazer LT - (SOLD, replaced by X5)
'08 BMW X5 (TRADED on Chevy Volt)
'96 Saturn SL2 - Parts car for SC2, ran when parked.
'02 BMW 330Ci Dinan 3 -SpecE46 build.
'10 Saab 9-3 SportCombi
'96 Saturn SC2 - Streetable endurance racer and TT racecar.
'17 Chevrolet Volt - PHEV, first EV of any kind for us.
2-wheels Good:
'75 Honda XR75
-First motorcycle, I had it when I was in 6th grade or so. Really fun when it ran. I distinctly remember my Dad trying it out and ending up flat on his back with the bike doing a cartwheel.
'04 Honda CBR600F4i
-Great first bike, had a blast with it for a riding season. Sold it to a Navy Corpsman before going to Iraq, didn't realize I wouldn't have another bike again for 4 years.
'01 Honda RC-51
-Outstanding machine, racing V-twin. I really wish I had the space and funds to keep it forever but I sold it on eBay to a gentleman that had it shipped to England. Really glad to have had some time with it but it's in better hands now.
-Took this on trade from the E24 M6 project. A really remarkable bike that never showed it's age, helped Ashley fall in love with two-up riding.
-700lbs of cruising absurdity. BMW only made a cruiser style bike for 7 years. This was the top of the line, has integral ABS and had a full sound system with six disc changer but I removed it in lieu of my Bluetooth helmet system. First bike I've owned without a manual choke. Super comfortable and quiet bike. It's too far down the 'comfort' side of the spectrum for me, I have a K1300S in my future still. It does have about 120L of cargo capacity and that's not considering the luggage rack.
Ashley's complete evolution as well, I taught her to drive when she was 18 so she's owned these during the time we've dated and married:
Dodge Aires
Oldsmobile Alero
'05 Dodge Neon
-Bought brand new, ended up being a really great car actually. Though it's the only car I've ever seen that had power windows up front and crank in the rear.
E46 BMW 330xi
-Photo taken on the Tennessee side of the Tail of the Dragon.
E60 BMW 535xi
-Nice enough car, she loved it. Turbos have a nasty habit of shutting off when being worked hard like driving in 100F heat or driving over mountains. I think it's a fat slushbox pig but she makes the payments. It was t-boned in December but was not totaled and drives well.
Other cars I've had an affiliation with but didn't own:
Mercury Bobcat -I don't even remember it first hand, my Dad totaled it and broke his back. I'm a chip off the old block.
Honda Civic-Late 70s or early 80s. Significant in that the first word I ever spelled was "H-O-N-D-A." I vaguely remember riding in it from NC to MN and back to NC when I was 4, we got caught in a snowstorm in MN and it was the first time I ever saw snow.
Ford EXP -Crap. One popped up on BaT recently, though.
Chevy Citation X-11 -Crap, also. Was miserable on cold PA mornings.
Ford Escort -First car I ever drove, at about 12 years old. Had that funky fault indicator that I thought was cool because I was young and dumb.
Isuzu Trooper -Rode from Boston to Denver in the back of one when I was about 8 years old. Awesome. My Dad kept it until one of the rear wheels fell off while going down the road. Traded it in on a...
Ford Ranger -First vehicle I ever drove stick with. Not sure I had a license. My Dad pulled over near Mt. View Inn and I drove the rest of the way to Whitney, no warning or anything. Fun day.
VW Beetle -My Dad's project, rarely ran.
Ford Bronco II -Gas guzzling fun, rebuilt the motor with my Dad when I was 9 or so, first real experience wrenching. He traded it on a Nissan pickup for the gas savings.
'65 Ford Mustang -My Dad's current project, except now he can afford it so it's actually progressing.
I'll update this thread as I find more pictures of the older cars. I know I have them in deep storage on my NAS drive but not 'in the cloud' anywhere.
I don't expect much ownership change. I love not having a car payment. My DMC hunt will start in April 2017 after I'm done with my first year of law school. Too much happening right now, and winter is looming, so I'm not looking to do all the legwork to buy something like that and then put it directly into storage.
Ashley has said she wants to switch to leasing next, so I'm sure she'll start a 2-year cycle of likely German mid-line luxury leases in the next few years. Not necessarily BMWs, not sure what the company is doing, they're lost.
Feel free to discuss your experience with anything on here. They weren't all pretty but they all had a part in my automotive upbringing.


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SALTEX 2017 leading the way in innovation
SALTEX 2017 leading the way in innovation. SALTEX 2017 continues to attract some of the sector's biggest names ensuring that visitors can again expect to see an impressive line-up of world-class innovation for use by managers of pitch, grounds, landscaping, park and estates when the event opens its doors at the NEC, Birmingham on 1 and 2 November.
John Deere, Toro, Ransomes Jacobsen and Kubota have all confirmed that they will be returning to the show for a third consecutive year to showcase their latest product innovations. With over 200 exhibitors already signed up, they will be joined by companies such as STIHL, ICL, Rigby Taylor, DLF Trifolium, Dennis & SISIS, Charterhouse Turf Machinery, Advanced Turf Technology, Fleet Line Markers, plus many more leading companies.
Featuring the broadest ever spectrum of exhibitors that plan to launch a multitude of new products, SALTEX 2017 is set to play host to the most technologically advanced equipment showcase in grounds management. Combined with the two-day Learning LIVE educational seminar programme, which will cover topics linked to every aspect of the industry, the show will offer innovation, education and networking opportunities at every turn.
Reesink Turfcare, the sole UK distributor of Toro products, enjoyed a successful SALTEX 2016 and marketing manager Holly Jones says plans are set for its return this year.
"SALTEX 2016 was a very successful show for us. It certainly seems to be growing year-on-year in terms of visitors and exhibitors! We decided to sign up for SALTEX 2017 as we feel the show is attracting exactly the right potential customers for our goods and services."
Likewise, Adrian Langmead, groundcare business development manager for Kubota, said: "SALTEX continues to provide an excellent platform for both existing and potential Kubota customers to get close up to the machinery and talk to our experts about the right machine to suit their needs. We had a fantastic time at last year's event and we look forward to the 2017 event to again meet with the industry's leading groundcare individuals to discuss our products and after sales support which we offer as part of the complete Kubota experience."
Rebecca Rassie, PR and communications manager for STIHL, also reflected on a 'buzzing' SALTEX 2016: "From STIHL's point of view, SALTEX 2016 was an extremely successful show. The team on the ground received a myriad of requests from new customers eager to open STIHL accounts, leads from councils enquiring about cordless demonstrations and many conversations with STIHL-approved dealers who were in attendance too. Our private upper floor level of the stand offered us a one-to-one opportunity to catch up with dealers, members of press and key UK and international contacts, and offered a great view over the buzzing show. STIHL will absolutely be in attendance at SALTEX 2017!"
After a year's absence it has also been confirmed that Campey Turf Care Systems is returning to SALTEX to profile its turfcare products. Regarding its re-engagement with SALTEX, managing director Richard Campey said: "For Campey Turf Care Systems, 2016 was the year of the UK and Ireland Grassroots renovation tour which brought us into contact with groundsmen and women from across the UK. In 2017 our marketing plans will be to build on this momentum.
"A significant part in re-enforcing our connection with grounds professionals across the natural sports turf spectrum is to meet face to face through practical demonstrations and educational seminars. We are delighted to be attending SALTEX again as part of this continuing process."
For more information visit www.iogsaltex.com

subset: commoncrawl


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Friday, December 28, 7 PM
The Grand Finale, feat. Illa Styles, Kyle The Ghost, Big B, Yung Sums, June Elizabeth, Tyrone Leake Jr, Coffee Black @ Gallery 5 – $7 in advance/$10 at the door (order tickets HERE)
If you're anything like me, your first thought upon seeing that they've titled this Gallery 5 hip hop show "The Grand Finale" is, "Oh god, please tell me they're not going away too." Thankfully, as far as I can tell, there's no cause for alarm — if this show is the grand finale to anything, it's 2018, not Gallery 5. And at the end of a year that saw AGM's ruling triumvirate (Nickelus F, Radio B, Michael Millions) dominate the hip hop game here in Richmond, this excellent showcase is here to let all of us know that RVA's hip hop scene has a lot more than that going on.
There's a wide variety of sounds from all around the city and state on this lineup, but you can't be blamed if Illa Styles' name is the one that jumps out at you. He's not necessarily at the top of the bill, but his 2018 EP theBalance makes clear exactly why all of us should be listening to him. It's a masterful slice of life from a veteran MC who gives us gritty, focused lyrical flow overtop of incredible multilayered beats that make the rhymes hit that much harder. It's the most assured statement yet from a man who's recording career goes back most of a decade and is already full of strong and powerful statements.
Another strong artist on this bill is Kyle The Ghost, who comes heading up the freeway from Newport News to team up with Richmond rapper Big B (and no, that's not the reggae-rap guy from the West Coast). The two of them recently laid down an excellent collaborative track over a Haze Banks beat called "Passion," which showcases both of their lyrical talents and can't-miss flow. Between Big B's 81 Dreaming and Kyle The Ghost's Rebirth, both of them have also released solo projects this year that show they are more than capable of standing on their own. And then there's also Yung Sums, who's been making a name for himself around town as a battle rapper but also showed himself to have studio skills aplenty on his recently-released album Black Friday. There are quite a few more artists on this bill too, and if you want to have an amazing last weekend of 2018, seeing all of them send the year out on a high note is an unbeatable way to do it.
Wednesday, December 26, 8 PM
Mitchell Evan, Tyler Meacham, Pistol Sister, Rebekah Rafferty and The Wakes @ The Camel – $7 (order tickets HERE)
The Christmas holiday is officially over (sorta… though really, this is only day two of the "12 days of Christmas" you've been hearing about all your life), but we all know that the whole week between Christmas and New Years is kind of a rabbit hole everybody falls down. We won't really be out of it until the New Year celebrations are over and the kids are back in school, so for now, just enjoy the ride and relax. Mitchell Evan is at the Camel tonight to help you do so, bringing you the debut of his latest solo album, Nostalgia. And this laid-back songwriter has the perfect sort of music to keep you in the right mood for this lost holiday week.
Nostalgia isn't out yet, so none of us will hear it in all its glory until tonight at the Camel, but Mitchell Evan has released two singles from it thus far, and both give reason aplenty to expect this to be an excellent album. "Las Cruces," which brings us the title lyric of sorts — "It's a hell of a drug, nostalgia" (and ain't that the truth) — has a melancholy alt-country sound that gets under your skin in the best possible way, while "Timpani Hits" has a more orchestral feel that might just have you thinking of Damien Rice. Both of these tunes are beautiful, and there's plenty more where that came from, so come down to the Camel tonight and get the first taste of Nostalgia. Opening sets from local pop starlet Tyler Meacham and the MacKenzie Roark-led group Pistol Sister, plus an "after-party set" by Rebekah Rafferty and the Wakes, sweeten this pot considerably. Dip into it.
Thursday, December 27, 8 PM
The Vegabonds, Kendall Street Company, The Dirty Grass Players @ The Broadberry – $12 in advance/$15 day of show (order tickets HERE)
"Southern rock" probably evokes a certain mental image in all of our minds, one derived from childhoods hearing Lynyrd Skynyrd and Molly Hatchet songs on the car radio while driving around in the tiny backseats of our dads' pickup trucks. OK, so maybe that's only some of us, but it's OK, because Southern rock has grown and changed since those days, and in this post-millennial post-Drive By Truckers era, things are quite a bit different. The Vegabonds are a prime example, with their mixture of guitar crunch, church-y organ hums, driving tempos, and high-lonesome vocal hooks adding up to something that's sure to appeal to fans from all over the good ol' US of A and beyond.
Right now we're talking about Richmond, though, and this town is pretty close to Nashville in a geographical sense, so chances are there are quite a few of us more than ready to embrace the down-home heaviness of The Vegabonds, who are about to release their fifth album, simply entitled V, once the year turns. Get a sneak preview of that record tomorrow night at the Broadberry, and catch a set from VA's own Kendall Street Company in the bargain. This group mingles Americana sounds with the sort of granola jams all y'all who mark the LOCKN Festival dates on your calendar the second they're announced each year are gonna flip for. With Baltimore bluegrass pickers The Dirty Grass Players opening up, this is gonna be a night to remember.
Friday, December 28, 8 PM
Plastic Nancy, Big Fundamental @ Garden Grove Brewing – Free?
This Friday night, get some psychedelic grooves into your soul over at Garden Grove Brewing. This free show will apparently feature two sets each from Richmond groups Plastic Nancy and Big Fundamental, and considering that the show gives all the appearance of being free, this sounds like quite a bargain, if you ask me. Plastic Nancy have a pretty noisy, almost punk take on the whole hazy psych sound as displayed on a recently released single that apparently heralds a whole LP of this fuzzy, buzzy stuff. Sounds like a party.
Big Fundamental are more laid-back and rollicking on their Basement Demos, released earlier this year, but things definitely stay loud and distorted throughout. It's clear that both of these groups will twist your head right around, and you'll love every minute of it — especially in the pleasant surroundings Garden Grove always provides. Where pre-New Years' weekend treats are concerned, this one is a home run.
Saturday, December 29, 8 PM
Thorp Jenson, JR Wolf @ The Camel – $7 (order tickets HERE)
If it's gonna be that kind of week, we may as well lean into it, right? That's what local Americana singer-songwriter Thorp Jenson and the duo of scene mainstays Angelica Garcia and Russell Lacy, collectively known as JR Wolf, will be doing at the Camel this Saturday night, and you can't go wrong by joining them. What will specifically be going on is Thorp and his band pulling together a tribute to the Grateful Dead at the dawn of the 70s, that era which produced classic studio albums Workingman's Dead and American Beauty as well as classic live albums Europe 72 and the Skull And Roses record (which, yes, is officially self-titled).
For a band that made a half-century's worth of reputation on their head-expanding psychedelic epics, this was a time at which they were focusing pretty strongly on folk and country influences, bringing their more free-flowing tendencies to bear on classic American tunes complete with polished vocal harmonies — and that's probably the perfect material for Thorp Jenson to focus on with this tribute set, as it largely mirrors his own focus as a songwriter. Whether you're a Thorp-head or a Deadhead, this one is sure to please you. And while we can't tell you much about what it sounds like when Angelica Garcia and Russell Lacy combine powers like the Wonder Twins to form JR Wolf, we're sure based on their mutually powerful track records that you're going to find the results intriguing and delightful. Come chill.
Sunday, December 30, 10 PM
Hallelujah, Deathbirds Surf Club, Delicate Whip @ Bandito's – Free!
It seemed unlikely that we could get through this whole week without some ugly punk noise, and now it's become a certainty that we can't. Oh, but who would want to? Especially when we have the opportunity to spend a Sunday night in the company of these killer Richmond outfits for the low, low price of zero dollars! Hallelujah, who made quite an impression on the RVA noise-rock scene in the early years of the 21st century with their harsh interjections of sound, have been back in action as a trio for a while now, and showed on last year's self-titled full-length that they've still got the goods. Get ready to have your hair blown back — if you've got any left.
Deathbirds Surf Club have been an intriguing proposition from the word go, bringing a straightforward 60s-retro surf sound to the modern RVA punk scene in the same way that the Fresh-O-Matics did 20 years ago. However, instead of evoking the hard-charging guitar heroics of Dick Dale, the Deathbirds go for lovelorn sincerity with a strummy pop sound that's on the fresh-faced Beach Boys end of things — with some Wavves-type modern indie damage thrown in to spice things up. It's a unique proposition, for sure, and one that's always worth catching. The moody sludge of local newcomers Delicate Whip kicks the whole thing off in fine fashion, and if you've invested wisely, you'll have a big plate of tacos in front of you before they start.
Monday, December 31, 8 PM
Piranha Rama, Chance Fischer, Dr. Millionaire, Ghost Piss, Dazeases @ Gallery 5 – $10 in advance/$15 at the door (order tickets HERE)
It's probably not too early to ask… what are you doing New Years Eve? Some would say you're best off ordering a pizza, staying in, and going to bed early. We certainly don't recommend spending your afternoon driving up to NYC to stand in the freezing cold in Times Square, but despite the cynics, there are still good times to be had on New Years Eve here in RVA. And if some great local music in a variety of sounds and styles is your thing, Gallery 5 is definitely the place to be. Not only will there be champagne toasts and a photobooth (as well as "glitter" and "tears," if the facebook event page is to be believed — and chances are it's correct), there will be an amazing variety of excellent musical performers, all of whom at least originate here in our own river city.
You know what's up with Piranha Rama by now, right? This conglomeration of Richmond musical all-stars has been plying their trade around town for the past year in fine fashion, bringing us a unique and lushly instrumented take on lounge-inflected retro-surf indie pop. Or something like that. Their self-titled LP is a real treat, and if you haven't tasted it yet, this will be a great opportunity for you to make 2019 a better year than 2018 by getting familiar. That's not even to mention the outstanding double-dose of RVA hip hop we'll get on this bill from a couple of Richmond's champion rhymers, Chance Fischer and Dr. Millionaire. Both of them are set to slay, so be prepared. And then there's the double-dose of ambient electronic unease from moody divas Ghost Piss and Dazeases. Really, what more can you ask for? I mean, yes, you can ask for a really outstanding 2019, but that's kinda beyond the capacity of a live music preview column, so this excellent show will have to do.
Bonus Hampton Roads Picks:
Thursday, December 27, 7 PM
Ancient Torture Techniques, Amara, MSD, Nervous System, Berkowitz @ Charlie's American Cafe – $5
One totally lovely element of the Hampton Roads musical scene's 2018 has been the return to full-time action of Ancient Torture Techniques, a power-violence ensemble best known on these RVA streets for their decade-ago split with bygone locals Street Pizza. They're back, and while they still don't have a Bandcamp page, they do have a quiver full of Spazz-meets-Slayer blastbeat-fueled mayhem to deal out on us all. You can show your gratitude with headbangs.
They're joined on this bill by a smorgasbord of heavy grinders representing the current crop of this sort of high-speed devastation in the commonwealth. Newport News shredders Amara have a wall of harsh fuzz noise for you, pushing all the needles into the red with their grinding metallic riffage. Richmond's MSD (no clue what it stands for, put your best guesses in the comments) go for a more straight-up death metal approach, while Norfolk's Nervous System find the line where grindcore meets hardcore and hit it for all it's worth. And of course, Berkowitz represents with some lo-end death-grind to kick it all off. Be prepared to thrash.
Monday, December 31, 7 PM
GWAR, Against The Grain, Stonecutters @ The NorVA – $20.50 in advance/$23 at the door (order tickets HERE)
New Years Eve in the Norfolk area is looking quite a bit like a lot of Richmond metalheads' dream of a brutal year-ending party here at home. That's because GWAR is taking over the NorVA for New Years Eve, and if you don't love the idea of ending 2018 soaked in (fake) blood, I don't know what to even tell you. It's a bummer this isn't happening closer to home, we agree — but hey, GWAR were just here at The National in November. So rather than pointing fingers at the NorVA for poaching our favorite alien overlords, let's all just order our tickets now, gas up the Jeep, and leave early to beat the tunnel traffic, shall we?
GWAR's turn toward a more KISS/Nugent-style vibe on most recent LP The Blood Of Gods will make their furor even more apropos for a night of celebration, and also means they'll be able to match up perfectly with Detroit's Against the Grain, whose triumphant throwback-thrash approach is your ticket to nonstop headbangs. Kentuckians Stonecutters kick things off with some more powerful 80s thrash stomp, as exemplified on their brand new LP, Carved In Time. Overall, this is a night of absolutely stupendous metal in the offing, so take this opportunity to send 2018 out with a (head)bang! But seriously — pick a DD ahead of time, we don't want y'all wrecking into the bay on your way back to town.
Top Photo by Alyk Visions
Email me if you've got any tips for me about upcoming shows (that take place after the week this column covers -– this week's column has obviously already been written): firstname.lastname@example.com [and yeah, there's plenty more of my writing to read over at GayRVA — come say hey.]
Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond


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Sat Nam Yogis
This article about the self-sensory system, the set we will be working on in the coming weeks, it gives a good overview of the development we are in as human beings.
The Self-Sensory System: Your Protecting Archangel
By Michael Neutrino
"The love of existence, of our lives, and of our breathing will be in need of the flow of the psyche in us; therefore, we can be a real combination of self within the self. And the sensory system that will develop automatically out of us will be our archangel protecting us and glorifying us. "
-Yogi Bhajan 8/1/00
The self-sensory system is the next quantum leap in the evolution of humanity. It is like we are all getting upgraded to "first class" to enrich and enliven our spiritual journey. We are shifting from a mental self-awareness system to a self-sensory awareness system.
In the previous evolutionary state, mental awareness gave us the ability to self-reflect. We became aware of ourselves, learned from our mistakes and discovered that we could improve our lives. We could use the mind to make our decisions and make use of skills such as logic, strategy and planning.
Mental self-awareness freed up a lot of energy that was previously focused mainly on survival. With this new system, we could control nature, form tribes, stay in one place and grow crops. This enabled us to pursue art, language, culture, religion, philosophy and science—the bedrock of our modern civilization.
However, at this point in our human history we have taken the mind as far as it can go. In this present age, to use your mind to navigate through life will become more and more dangerous. It's like when you are learning to ride a bicycle and you use training wheels. At some point, the training wheels cease to be a support and eventually become a danger.
Now we are transitioning into a self-sensory awareness system. We are essentially giving the authority of the mind over to the Soul. Yogi Bhajan told us that the "emotions are the sensory system of the soul" (Aquarian Times, Spring 2003). Solar flare activity is like a persistent jack hammer penetrating our aura to awaken our emotional body. The emotions are part of this new awareness system. Emotions become a problem when you are a victim to them—going back and forth like a ping pong ball. Your emotions are here to guide you to make the right choices for you.
To use your emotions in this way you must meditate and use the breath so that you can observe your emotions and not be overwhelmed by them. Your emotions will tell you when something is "off" and not correct for you. For example, you may feel angry in a relationship or a job or by a negative habit that is not correct for you. These emotions are coming from deep within your Self to communicate to you—the self. "Yes, this is correct for my evolution" or "No, this does not serve my evolution." However, often at first, people are clearing buried emotions from childhood and past lives before their self-sensory system is fully operable.
In the Piscean Age, we have been taught not to trust ourselves and trained to give our power over to an outer authority to tell us what to do. We have also been taught through our conditioning to not trust our feelings—instead to trust our logical, rational mind. Now it is reversing—you can't trust your mind like you used to—however, you can trust your feelings. Your feelings will become more and more intense as we move more fully into the Aquarian Age.
So to shift from mental self-awareness to self-sensory awareness is like the difference between looking at a black and white photograph and watching a technical color, surround sound 3D IMAX movie. The self-sensory system allows you to take in life at a such a rich and deep level. If life is a road, you are able to see miles ahead, see around the corners, see the detours and the dead ends.
The self-sensory awareness system expands outside of the individual self so that you can truly feel, see and know another person as yourself. The self-sensory system will give you a real experience of the Aquarian Sutra, "Recognize the Other Person is You" rather than just a nice belief to follow.
Through this new awareness system you will experience yourself connected not only to every human on the planet but also to the birds and wildlife, the oceans, the trees, to marine life and the planet herself. When you do harm to someone else you will feel that same harm done to you in that moment. When you are kind to another you will feel that same kindness extended to you in that moment. This new self-sensory system will bring us together as One Human Consciousness. This new awareness system will be like our own personal archangel protecting our innocence by communicating to us when something "feels bad," and exalting us when it "feels right." Making corrections to our behavior will be effortless.
Imagine the world when this new awareness comes fully online. Imagine who you will become with this new awareness. You will deeply feel and know that other person as yourself. Would you be sensitive, gentle, compassionate, thoughtful, kind, caring and loving towards others? These are all qualities of sainthood. In the Aquarian Age, with this new sensory awareness system, we will live in a world filled with beautiful radiant saints.
this article is copied from www.3ho.org
Sat Nam, Linda


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The Hurd has both NFS server and client implementations, which work, but not very well: File locking doesn't work properly (at least in conjunction with a GNU/Linux server), and performance is extremely poor. Part of the problems could be owed to the fact that only NFSv2 is supported so far.
(Note though that locking on the Hurd is problematic in general, not only in conjunction with NFS -- see the file locking task.)
This project encompasses implementing NFSv3 support, fixing bugs and performance problems -- the goal is to have good NFS support. The work done in a previous unfinished GSoC project can serve as a starting point.
Both client and server parts need work, though the client is probably much more important for now, and shall be the major focus of this project.
Some discussion of NFS improvements has been done for a former GSoC application -- it might give you some pointers. But don't take any of the statements made there for granted -- check the facts yourself!
A bigger subtask is the libnetfs: io map
This task, GNU Savannah task #5497, has no special prerequisites besides general programming skills, and an interest in file systems and network protocols.
Possible mentors: ?
Exercise: Look into one of the existing issues in the NFS code. It's quite possible that you will not be able to fix any of the visible problems before the end of the application process; but you might discover something else you could improve in the code while working on it
If you can't find anything suitable, talk to us about possible other exercise tasks.


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Start Slideshow
- Milly Film house by Samyn and PartnersThis gorgeous greenery-wrapped live/work space in Linkebeek, Belgium was completed by Samyn and Partners in 2007 after 8 years of construction. In the original plans, Samyn and Partners designed the building's walls to be covered in ivy, while a patinated copper material was chosen for the roof. It's a blessing that this project took so long to complete -- during construction, the original concept for a "green" façade grew stronger and the ivy and copper roof were scrapped in favor of a lush living envelope that features a selection of exotic plants chosen by botanist Patrick Blanc.1
- Milly Film house by Samyn and PartnersDubbed Milly Film, the mixed-use building is designed to serve as a cinematographer's residence, production studio, and workspace.2
- Milly Film by Samyn and Partners InteriorThe design began with the decision to maintain the existing structure of a small one story house on the ground level. The renovation provided structure for the entry, office and kitchen for the residence, and the living room and stairway extend to the rest of the building.3
- Milly Film by Samyn and Partners Section BThe production studios are housed mostly in the cellar also take up a small section on the second floor. With the addition of a mezzanine, the second floor also features a master suite and bedrooms and bathrooms for 5 children.4
- Milly Film by Samyn and Partners InteriorThe mezzanine is protected by a textile netting and offers an expansive view through the the building's grand glass wall façade. The vegetated facades face north, east and south to enhance privacy. Since a west-facing window wall will receive an excessive amount of sunlight in the summer months, immense translucent white polyester curtains hang from the ceiling to the ground floor to ensure efficient shade for optimal heating and cooling control.5
- Milly Film by Samyn and Partners Site PlanSamyn and Partners worked together with Patrick Blanc to finalize the Vertical Garden concept.6
- Milly Film by Samyn and Partners InteriorThrough careful planning the team determined the necessary support systems, insulation and water-tightness necessary for plant life. Felt stapled onto rigid PVC panels acts as a support system for irrigation and fertilization of the building's beautiful green façade.7


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Alicia Keys is adding her voice to the Super Bowl show for the third time.
The Grammy-winning R&B singer will perform the national anthem before the NFL championship game on Feb. 3 in New Orleans.
The league said Friday that Keys' three performances at the Super Bowl will be the most in the event's history. She sang "America the Beautiful" before the 2005 game, and was part of the pregame show in 2008.
Keys, who turns 32 next week, released her fifth studio album, "Girl on Fire," late last year.
The Super Bowl teams will be determined Sunday, when the San Francisco 49ers play the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC championship game, and the Baltimore Ravens face the New England Patriots in the AFC championship game.
The NFL said in October that Beyonce will be the star of the halftime show at this year's Super Bowl. She sang the national anthem at the 2004 NFL title game in her hometown of Houston.
Others who have performed the national anthem at past Super Bowls include "American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson last year, as well as Whitney Houston, Billy Joel, Diana Ross, Neil Diamond and Mariah Carey.
At the 2011 Super Bowl between the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers in Dallas, pop star Christina Aguilera flubbed a line while belting out the national anthem. When she was supposed to sing the words "O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming," Aguilera instead repeated an earlier line, with a slight variation — drawing plenty of attention on Twitter.


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It's the most wonderful time of the year!
Are you ready?
I'm off to a good start this year.
My Christmas shopping is done & our Christmas cards are in the mail!
source: unknown
I know...hate me.
I'm not trying to brag, I am just reeeeally happy that I did it.
Every year I say I am going to do it, but this is the first year it has actually happened.
It will probably never happen again.
source: HGTV
I haven't done any decorating, though.
I've been dragging my feet there.
source: Pretties and Posies
These are pictures I found in my Christmas decorating file.
I love them.
source: White Flower Farmhouse
I use a lot more color in my Christmas decorating.
But I love the all white with natural elements theme.
Don't you sometimes wish you could have another house
just so you could decorate it in a different style than you're used to?
I do.
Is that weird?
source: Pretties and Posies
I am looking forward to getting out my decorations next week.
I hope my sisters will share their Christmas decor here on our blog. {hint, hint}
Merry Christmas!
{that was my first "Merry Christmas" of the year...yay!}


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That wintry landscape means difficult times for our feathered friends. While some birds fly south for the winter, many common Iowa backyard birds stay – chickadees, song sparrows, cardinals, juncos – and stick it out through the brutal cold and snow. You can give them a helping hand – and in the process get a chance to enjoy watching them up close – with just a few simple steps.
Two of the most important things to provide are shelter and water. Shelter for the birds can be a brush pile, or vines or perennials that you don't cut down in the fall. Providing water during freezing temperatures can be more difficult; heaters for bird baths available, or simply keeping some water open by hand will also do the trick.
Finally, you can feed the birds. Placing the feeders so that you can watch the birds from inside your house can provide hours of entertainment as they brighten our winter landscape. For information on what food suits which birds, check out some of these titles from the library:
The Backyard Bird Feeders Bible by Sally Roth
Creating a Bird-friendly Backyard Habitat by Scott Edwards
Experts Guide to Backyard Birdfeeding by Bill Adler
The Bird Feeder Book by Donald Stokes
And, just because where there's a bird feeder, there's bound to be squirrels, Outwitting Squirrels by Bill Adler


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If you would like to connect directly to your Mi LightStyle unit while outside of your network please follow these steps:
1. Find your external IP address by going to http://www.whatismyip.com
2. Port forward the Mi LightStyle communication port.
- Log into your router and find the page option in the router that allows you to port forward data to an internal IP address.
- Here you need to enter two pieces of information. Enter in the internal IP address that is assigned to Mi LightStyle, and enter the port to forward the data on. Mi LightStyle defaults to port 80 for HTTP access and port 443 for HTTPS access. The recommended practice is to use port 443 as this will be a secure connection (HTTPS).
- If your router supports an external facing port and internal facing port, set the external and internal port to 443. Some ISPs may block access to port 443. If you experience problems connecting, try setting the router's external port to 500 and the internal (Mi LightStyle facing) port to 443.
3. Enter info in Mi LightStyle app.
a. Open Mi LightStyle app and go to the "My Settings->Lighting Controller" page.
b. Select HTTPS for "Connect Method".
c. Enter the external IP address for the "Secure - https://" field from step 1.
d. Enter "443" for the Port or "500" if you changed the external facing port setting on the router to 500 from step 2.
4. Tap the Sync button and Mi LightStyle app will attempt to sync with Mi LightStyle over HTTPS.
5. Once you verify you can sync with your Mi LightStyle over HTTPS, you can set the Connect Method to "Auto". This allows Mi LightStyle app to make the best connect decision depending if you are on your local Wi-Fi (HTTP) or if you are connected to a remote Wi-Fi access point or cellular connection (HTTPS).
One thing to note is that if Mi LightStyle reboots it may be possible Mi LightStyle will receive a different IP address then what is currently assigned. If that happens then your router will forward the data to the wrong internal IP address. You have two options here:
1. Re-enter the Mi LightStyle IP address in the router to forward the data to the new IP address.
2. Tell Mi LightStyle to use a fixed internal IP address that doesn't change from reboot to reboot. This can be done on the Configuration page of the Mi LightStyle unit through the Configuration Admin Console.


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Andryusha suffering from malnutrition exhaustion; a patient at the childrenŌĆÖs home at Kalinovka, 5 February 2008
What is happening at the facility for disabled children at Kalinovka (Zaporozhye Oblast) is simply intolerable in a civilized society. The death of an orphan child in a remote village where there is almost complete lack of medical careŌĆöis it really possible in the 21st century?
Unfortunately, the situation at Kalinovka (150 km. from Zaporozhye), despite some improvements, remains depressing. I will mention only several facts and let the reader draw her/his own conclusions.
One doctor comes out from the raion center town of Chernigov once a week for two hours and must serve 156 seriously disabled children and young persons, nearly all of them wards of the state and without families. At this time it is not possible to supply even basic medical care. The childrenŌĆÖs diagnoses are serious and varied. They include congenital neurological impairments such as brain hernia (the little girl Nadya appears to have an encephalocele), hydro┬¼cephaly, profound cogni┬¼tive impairments, lack of arms and legs, Down Syndrome; other disabilities include cerebral palsy, congenital blindness, multiple fracturing of arms and legs, and HIV infection. Thirty-five residents of the facility occupy the building for bedridden children and spend virtually all of their time in bed.
But the majority of children have had practically no medical checkups from the time of their admission into the childrenŌĆÖs home. Many, if not most, have not been thoroughly examined by specialists. Blood analysis is done no more than once a year and by no means for every child. (There is no lab technician at the internat, and a visiting technician can only take away twenty blood samples at a time. For example, there is a child at the home with what appears to be a swollen peritoneal cavity the size of half a soccer ball. Up to now there has been no defini┬¼tive diag┬¼nosis; anti-inflammatory medication is not prescribed.
Some ten to twelve children have obvious hypotrophy (emaciation and loss of muscle tone), and several have cachexia (the final stages of exhaustion and corporeal deple¬tion due to malnourishment and starvation, as may be observed, for example, in the final stages of cancer). The cause of this condition, from all appearances, seems not to be the lack of food, but inappropriate diet and type of nourishment, due to the fact that the special needs of these illnesses are over¬looked.
The bedridden children may never get outdoorsŌĆöfor years! And the ŌĆ£crawlersŌĆØ only get outdoors during the warm season of the year. Many children lie the entire day gazing at the white ceiling of the room.
Rehabilitation measures are lacking: there is no massage specialist, no physical therapist, and no rehab person.
Hygiene standards are poorly observedŌĆöliving quarters may not be aired out for months, ultraviolet disinfection is not generally provided, two disposable diapers per day do not suffice!
As for children dying at Kalinovka, a commission to investigate the causes of their deaths has not been created. In a single year at the internat ten to fifteen children die. Last year one child died, this year (in 1? months) already two. The particular cause of death of both childrenŌĆöill with hydrocephalyŌĆöin our opinion may be attributed to the breakdown of the heating system and the frigid tem┬¼perature in the room.
The dead children are usually buried in trenches in the childrenŌĆÖs cemetery a kilometer distant from the internat. Here gravesites are marked with small wooden stakes and a little nameplate. After six months one can no longer make out the inscrip┬¼tion on the little nameplate. Most of the old graves (altogether around 400 from the 1950s on) scarcely show even a little mound. In our view, the burial of children in such a manner is unconscionable in a civilized country.
I did not wish to write about all of this, but what happened at Kalinovka two days ago compelled me to share with the patrons of this website what I experienced.
Just by chance, before departing from the childrenŌĆÖs home, I was passing down a corridor when I heard a childŌĆÖs cry from one of the rooms. Glancing over, I saw nursesŌĆÖ aides changing a small childŌĆÖs pampers. This child, Andryusha, caught my attention. He is nearly five and weighs 6,900 grams (15.2 lbs.). During the one-and-a-half months of his stay at Kalinovka he lost 1500 grams. Andryusha was admitted to Kalinovka from the baby home ŌĆ£Solnyshko,ŌĆØ where medical care is somewhat better. It was painful to look at the little fellow: he was skin and bonesŌĆöa fully depleted and dehydrated creature (cachexia). Each touch of the aides caused him pain. The aides explained that for about a week already, Andryusha had not succeeded in eating or drinking. After each feeding, he vomited. They were feeding him cream of wheat with a bottle. The aides had no idea what more to do with Andryusha. For some reason no one had thought to summon emergency help, a doctor, who would be able to order intravenous feeding and prescribe appropriate nourishment.
Andryusha showing severe cachexia...
Fortunately, the doctor from the raion center was expected precisely on this day. He examined Andryusha, diagnosed an extreme stage of cachexia (starvation plus dehydration), and right away it was decided to take the little fellow to the hospital. In addition to Andryusha, two to three other residents at Kalinovka were diagnosed with cachexia, but only Andryusha was taken to the hospital.
And thus, for the past two days, Andryusha has been fed intravenously at the raion hospital in Chernigov. Thanks to our sponsors, we bought an acidified milk product NAN and the formula Nestogen for him. The formula will continue to be needed. We are pleased, though it is still early, that there is a change for the better. In three days Andryusha gained 350 grams of weight, began to eat the formula, and did not spit it up.
The Zaporozhye charity, Schastlivyi Rebyonok (Happy Child) will do everything possible in the shortest possible time so that a pediatrician and neurologist might begin to work at Kalinovka. To achieve this we plan to appeal to the governor and the head pediatrician of Zaporozhye Oblast, but in the event they take no action, we intend to draw the attention of the larger community to this problem (go public). As a last resort we will raise funds to supplement the wages of a doctor who agrees to work at Kalinovka. Tentatively, the amount of the supple¬ment would be 1500 to 2000 hryvnia ($300-400) per month. At the present moment we are looking for donors.
We also appeal to all those for whom the fate of these abandoned children is a matter of conscience. There is an ongoing need for volunteers or funds to purchase:
- nutritional formulas made by Nestle or a similar product (for example, the extremely costly formula Peptamen);
- disposable diapers in sizes 3-7;
- carriages or wheelchairs and special beds with on wheels (for transporting children confined to beds around the ward);
- ultraviolet (quartz) lamps (standard wall lamps for UAH 150 per lamp, and special lamps with an extending arm);
- high-quality digital scales, digital thermometers, and blood pressure cuffs sized for a childŌĆÖs arm;
- high-quality vitamins;
- furniture for the rehab specialistŌĆÖs corner (two sets: a cabinet, sofa, leatherette or leather sofa, arm chair, a soft carpet, 9 by 9, warm rugs for the playroom);
- developmental toys and sports equipment (collections of wooden blocks, durable, resilient balls, dry pool;
- office supplies: albums, paper, felt-tipped pens, colored pencils or crayons, plasticine;
- cassette radios able to read MP3 disks and USB flash drives for music therapy;
- donors for a clad double-pane window and air conditioner for the play rooms (at present the children spend the entire day in the play area, and the window there is stuck; the room cannot be aired out);
- athletic or play court for the internat yard;
- persons who desire somehow to fix the childrenŌĆÖs cemetery (placing iron crosses and nameplates on the graves, for example).
If you are interested in making a tax-deductible donation from the U.S., please contact James Shetler of EleanoreŌĆÖs Kids, e-mail email@example.com, or David Sudermann at firstname.lastname@example.com. Otherwise, donations may be made through bank transfer to the Happy Child Fund or directly to Albert Pavlov, e-mail firstname.lastname@example.com (check English version also of the website www.deti.zp.ua)
For any questions you may have, you may write in English to Albert Pavlov:
Detizp [at] mail.ru


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Sweden wins world hockey title
STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden became the first home team to win the world hockey championships in 27 years, beating Switzerland 5-1 on Sunday for its ninth title.
Vancouver Canucks star Henrik Sedin had two goals and an assist, and Buffalo Sabres goalie Jhonas Enroth made 26 saves to help Sweden become the first team to win the title on home ice since the Soviet Union in 1986. Switzerland earned its first medal in 60 years.
"It was a tight game," Sedin said. "It could have gone either way, I felt. It was lucky we got our first two goals pretty quickly after their first one. After we scored our third, it felt pretty calm on the bench."
Simon Hjalmarrson, Philadelphia's Erik Gustafsson and Dallas' Loui Eriksson also scored for Sweden. Roman Josi had the lone goal for Switzerland.
"It's an unbelievable feeling. You can't put it into words," New Jersey's Henrik Tallinder said. "As soon as we got our legs and got that first goal, I thought we controlled the game pretty well."
In the third-place game, the United States beat Finland 3-2 in a shootout for its first medal in nine years.
The young Swiss team came out aggressively, opening the scoring in the fifth minute after Josi skated in from the blue line and backhanded the puck past Enroth.
But Sweden took over from there, scoring twice in the first period and using the edge to dominate the game.
"We were slow out of the gates, but after the second goal I felt we had control over the game," Tallinder said. "The Swiss haven't had many times they've been down, so we could play their game against them."
Switzerland dominated throughout the tournament, winning all nine of its games before the final.
"Right up until the end I thought it was a lot closer than it was," forward Ryan Gardner said. "The score's not indicative of how hard we've worked."
In the bronze-medal game, Montreal's Alex Galchenyuk scored consecutive goals in the shootout for the Americans.
"After I scored the first one, I was pretty confident and I wanted to go at it one more time," Galchenyuk said. "We (coach Joe Sacco and Galchenyuk) kind of looked at each other, and I was like: 'I want to go,' and I'm happy that he let me. When you win a game for your country … it's unbelievable. It's probably the happiest I've been in my life so far."
Nashville's Craig Smith and Colorado's Paul Stastny had first-period goals.
"It feels great," St. Louis forward T.J. Oshie said. "This is my fourth time playing for Team USA, and I hadn't gotten a medal. Obviously, we wanted it to be gold, but that's not going to take any excitement away from winning this."
John Gibson, a 19-year-old goalie for the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League, made 36 saves.
"At the end there, Gibson was outstanding," Sacco said. "We had only two days of preparation for this tournament and I thought our young group did a really good job. I told them after the game that the most impressive thing was … how we came together as a group."
Gibson, from Pittsburgh, was drafted 39th overall by Anaheim in 2011.
"I don't know," Gibson said when asked about his future. "We're just going to enjoy this for a bit and see what happens."
Phoenix's Lauri Korpikoski scored twice in the third period for Finlan


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I am writing an article related to the ionosphere and I would like to ask what form of the word disperse is right in the sentence:
A significant majority of the error can be easily removed using two or more frequencies due to the disperse nature of the ionosphere.
I looked at few dictionaries and googled the combination "disperse nature". Here is what I found:
▶adjective: Chemistry denoting a phase dispersed in another phase, as in a colloid. – derivatives dispersal noun,
disperser noun,
dispersible adjective
dispersive adjective.
And for example http://www.yourdictionary.com/disperse-system
disperse system
A disperse system is a two-part system made up of microscopic particles and the medium in which they are suspended. (noun)
Here, if I am not mistaken, the word disperse is used as an adjective.
I am not an English native speaker and I have no sense in this. What is the right form for my sentence?


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HS Code: 1515.90.8002
Origin Country: USA
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A Reminder from Outsiders
Sometimes it takes an "outsider" to remind us of our need for recognizing that G-d runs the world.
At a recent conference on religious freedom in America held at Manhattans Congregation Shearith Israel, the oldest Jewish congregation in North America, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia compared the attitudes of European countries towards religion with that of the U.S.
"The founding fathers never used the phrase separation of church and state," he declared in his argument that the rigid separation practiced in Europe would be bad for America and bad for the Jews. He pointed to the experience of Jews in Europe as proof of his point.
"You will not hear the word G-d cross the lips of a French premier or an Italian head of state," he added, "but that has never been the American way."
This seems to echo what the servants of Pharaoh said to him as recorded in this weeks Torah portion. After Moshe warned the Egyptian ruler that unless he released his Hebrew slaves G-d would devastate his land with a plague of locusts, they cried out: "Send these people away to serve the L-rd, their G-d. Dont you yet realize that Egypt is lost?"
In the homeland of the Jews we should not need any reminders about G-d from Egyptian advisers or Italian judges. We have our own Torah and our own history to remind us of our need to depend on serving G-d as the best guarantee for Israel forever.


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About Esther Perel
Psychologist Esther Perel is recognized as one of the world's most original and insightful voices on couples and sexuality across cultures. Fluent in nine languages, the Belgian native is a celebrated speaker sought around the globe for her expertise in emotional and erotic intelligence, work-life balance, cross-cultural relations, conflict resolution and identity of modern marriage and family. Her best-selling and award-winning book, Mating in Captivity: Reconciling the Erotic and the Domestic, has been translated into 24 languages.
Ms. Perel's innovative models for couple relations and leadership have won her an international clientele, from the boardroom to the bedroom and from academia to television. Clients include Janssen Pharmaceutica, AT&T, Johnson and Johnson, Anthony Robbins Productions, The Soros Foundation's Open Society Institute, The Wexner Foundation, The Bronfman Foundation and New York University Medical Center. For more than a quarter of a century, she has implemented effective transitions with international families, boards and executive teams.
In addition to Ms. Perel's psychotherapy practice in New York City, she also serves on the faculties of The Family Studies Unit, Department of Psychiatry, New York University Medical Center and of The International Trauma Studies Program. She is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, an AASECT certified sex therapist, a member of the American Family Therapy Academy and of the Society for Sex Therapy and Research. Trained and supervised by the legendary teacher, Salvador Minuchin, she has trained therapists and crisis counselors throughout the world lending her expertise in wartime, post-war and refugee families.
A regular media commentator, Ms Perel has been widely featured in the international press. She has been a guest on numerous television shows including the "Oprah Winfrey Show," "The Today Show," "CBS This Morning," TV Globo's "Fantastico" in Brazil and Andrew Denton's "Enough Rope" in Australia. Her interviews have appeared in leading publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Vogue, Le Monde, Ha'aretz, Stern, La Republica, The Guardian, The Observer and The Sydney Morning Herald; she also writes a popular column for the magazine Oh La La, published by the Argentine newspaper La Nación.


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CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Dale Earnhardt Jr. was cleared Tuesday for this weekend's race at Martinsville Speedway after missing the last two weeks to recover from a pair of concussions.
NASCAR's most popular driver was examined by neurosurgeon Dr. Jerry Petty one a day after he ran 123 laps at half-mile Gresham Motorsports Park in Jefferson, Ga. Petty monitored Earnhardt during Monday's test at Gresham.
"Dale Jr. has done everything asked of him," said Petty, who consults with NASCAR and is Earnhardt's personal physician. "He hasn't had a headache since Oct. 12, and we have not been able to provoke any symptoms since that time. I have informed NASCAR and Hendrick Motorsports that he is medically cleared for all NASCAR-related activity."
Petty sidelined Earnhardt after the driver went to see him complaining of a lingering headache following a 25-car accident on the last lap of the Oct. 7 race at Talladega. Petty diagnosed Earnhardt with a concussion, and said Earnhardt also suffered one in an Aug. 29 crash during a tire test at Kansas that went untreated.
The injury snapped Earnhardt's streak of 461 consecutive starts, the fifth-longest active streak in the Sprint Cup Series, and ended his shot to win the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.
Earnhardt missed races at Charlotte and Kansas, marking the first time a Cup event did not include an Earnhardt in the field since Sept. 3, 1979.
Regan Smith drove the No. 88 Chevrolet in Earnhardt's absence.
Earnhardt was not at the track the last two weeks. He instead was going through a rehabilitation program directed by Petty, who consulted with Dr. Micky Collins, director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Sports Medicine Concussion Program. Earnhardt was evaluated by Collins last week in Pittsburgh.
His official clearance on Tuesday was a relief to team owner Rick Hendrick, who prematurely told reporters Earnhardt would be in the car at Martinsville before Sunday's race at Kansas. Hendrick later said he had misspoke and that Earnhardt still had the scheduled test at Gresham and Tuesday visit with Petty.
"Maybe I just heard what I wanted to hear when I talked to Petty because everything in Pittsburg was good," Hendrick said. "I will be shocked if he's not in the car. Everything looks good."


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'A beautiful math'
A beautiful math: John Nash, game theory, and the modern quest for a code of nature
By Tom Siegfried
Sylvia Nasar told the story of John Nash's troubled life in her book A Beautiful Mind, although probably better known as the film with Russel Crowe. Neither really explored the beauty of Nash's maths, however, and why his advances in game theory were so powerfully important to so many disparate fields of research and earned him a Nobel prize in 1994. Tom Siegfried sets out to address this unbalance in A Beautiful Math. He does so superbly, explaining how Nash did for the biological and social universes what Newton and Einstein accomplished for the physical universe.
Siegfried devotes a healthy proportion of the book placing Nash's contributions into their historical context. He shows the development of economic and evolutionary theories by people like Adam Smith and Charles Darwin, and the growth of research into optimal strategies that operatives can use when interacting with each other, now come to be called game theory. An early result was the proof that in any two-person game where what one player gains the other loses (a so called zero-sum game, such as chess) it is always possible to find a best strategy for both players (although that best strategy may well involve randomly selecting between different actions each play). But despite this brilliant insight by John von Neumann and others, game theory was still too limited to be meaningfully applied to real-world strategic situations.
The problem is that most real systems, such as social or political manoeuvrings, international relations, or microeconomics, are fabulously complex with networks of dependencies and interactions between individuals. In reality, the games of life are played with vastly more than two players, and there is always the opportunity to actually co-operate with others for mutual benefit. No decision is made in isolation, but is influenced by the expectations of everyone else's decision — "I think that he thinks I think...", and so on. That was until John Nash came onto the scene.
Nash developed the mathematics to prove that for any game with any number of players, there could always be found a special balancing point, the Nash equilibrium, whereby everybody is content with their lot and could not reasonably hope for a better outcome. A Beautiful Math gives a rich account of all the areas of study that Nash's work came to revolutionise, from military strategic analysis during the Cold War to economics, animal behaviour, evolutionary biology, human behaviour, psychology, neuroscience and sociology. But this is not simply a history book. After giving a solid review of the development of applications of this Beautiful Math, Siegfried turns his attention to the future of game theory, including plans to incorporate the weirdness of quantum mechanics into game strategies. Siegfried also makes a good effort at explaining the links between group behaviour and physics, such as why some researchers talk about "taking the temperature of society" or "sociomagnetism".
A major drive through the history of science has been to develop a "Code of Nature" — an understanding of the interactions of humans and society, and Siegfried thinks that game theory might just be the perfect toolkit. But one problem with applying game theory to animal behaviour or human psychology is that individuals often seem to follow strategies very different to the Nash optimum. With limited time and brain power to make an important decision, actually working out your optimum strategy under the Nash equilibrium could be extremely difficult, and at the end of the day not worth the slight improvement in outcome over simpler strategies. Furthermore, more and more psychology experiments are showing that humans often behave very irrationally, such as choosing to punish a cheater in a game even to their own detriment.
This is a very far-reaching book indeed, but Siegfried is careful not to lose his readers along the way. A Beautiful Math is written in a light and conversational style, interspersed with quotes from conversations the author has had with some of the key modern researchers, and with plenty of notes at the back containing more detailed discussions or references if you want to follow up on a particular point. The actual algebra used to calculate the players' optimum strategies at Nash equilibrium is neatly tucked away in the Appendix to leave the text of the chapters uncluttered and readable. This is a well-needed book to complete the story of Nash and his continuing influence in the modern world, because, to borrow Siegfried's flowing words, game theory explains "the coexistence of selfishness and sympathy, competition and co-operation, war and peace".
- Book details:
- A beautiful math
- Tom Siegfried
- hardback - 264 pages (2006)
- Henry (Joseph) Press
About the author
Lewis Dartnell read Biological Sciences at Queen's College, Oxford. He is now on a four-year combined MRes-PhD program in Modelling Biological Complexity at University College London's Centre for multidisciplinary science, Centre for Mathematics & Physics in the Life Sciences and Experimental Biology (CoMPLEX). He is researching in the field of astrobiology — using computer models of the radiation levels on Mars to predict where life could possibly be surviving near the surface, as recently reported in the news.
He has won four national communication prizes, including in the Daily Telegraph/BASF Young Science Writer Awards. His popular science book, Life in the Universe: A Beginner's Guide, is published by Oneworld Publications. You can read more of Lewis' work at his website.


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- multiverse [noun]
From L. multus "much, many" and L. versare "to busy oneself," lit. "to turn to." Tech: A hypothetical collection of different variants of -> universes. Colloq: A large collection of no apparent purpose. Expl: "She has a whole multiverse of shoes," "His essay received a multiverse of comments."
I am considering to consider to read Brian Greene's new book The Hidden Reality on the multiverse. On the pro side there's a likely readable synopsis of an interesting topic. On the con side there's two of Greene's books in my shelf that I never finished reading. A writing therapy exercise I thought might be useful.
First, let's get over with the terminology. Yes, multiverse is a disingenuous nomenclature. If the universe is by definition all that exists, then anything to the multiverse more than the universe does by the same definition not exist. But it's moot to complain about terminology that has already become common use. What exactly the multiverse is depends on the context, but in either case it's something that exists in addition to what the presently most widely accepted theories let physicists expect to observe. Some theories seem to imply the existence of "more," of a multiverse of "more," and that in other ways than "more of the same."
Multi versus uni
The central question is what does it mean "to exist?" As a particle physicist I'd say something that can't be observed doesn't exist. (Observation doesn't necessarily mean a direct interaction.) Talking about the "existence" of something that can't be observed opens the door to fairy tales. Though my invisible friend disapproves, from a scientific point of view I am interested in the multiverse only if it's observable. And even then my interest is very limited since I find the presently discussed possibilities of observation remote and implausible. But yes, there are versions of the multiverse that may have observable consequences. Eg. we recently discussed a paper on signatures of bubble collisions in eternal inflation, one possible multiverse scenario, and there's Laura Mersisni's superhorizon entanglement giving rise to the giant void, and related stories.
For the more entertaining part I'll now take off my physicist's hat (okay, it's an Einstein wig really) and put on my hobby philosopher hat (if you really want to know, it's actually a tea pot lid).
- multiversal [adj]
From noun -> multiverse. Colloq: Of confusing variety. Expl: "By the year 2010, social networking had become multiversal," "The promises during the election campaign were multiversal."
A lot of effort has been spent on the search for a "Theory of Everything." Commonly meant to be a theory unifying General Relativity with the Standard Model of particle physics, it is another misnomer in common use: It is unlikely that a reductionist approach will ever be able to actually explain everything, not in practice and maybe not even in theory. I will however refer here to a TOE in the more general sense as a theory that leaves us with no "Why" questions and reduces all of science to a question of "How" and, knocking on the teapot lid, I'll refrain from pointing out that we can never know if we've found it.
What may such a TOE look like? None of the currently pursued approaches to grand unification or quantum gravity comes even close. Even if string theory or something similar would allow us to compute all the parameters in the Standard Model and in the ΛCDM model, and so on, Nobelprizes would be handed out for certain, but it would just move the Why's elsewhere, for all these theories have other unexplained assumptions: Why are strings/ loops/ E8/ networks fundamental? Why causality? Why these initial conditions? Why quantization? Why a semi-classical or classical limit? Why matter? Why in fact anything instead of nothing?
For this TOE we cannot use an assumption that constrains the theory to reproduce observation. The only guidance eventually left is mathematical consistency. Most occurrences of the multiverse actually still have additional assumptions, but already the problem is the same: too many possibilities. If you don't want to settle for a "just because," a question without answer, an unexplained final cause, you have to swallow that all that can exist, according to current theories, does exist. That doesn't answer the question, but it removes the need for an answer. That is, in a nutshell, the reason for the recurrence of the multiverse in various branches of theoretical physics: Mathematical consistency just isn't enough.
(A probabilistic approach for the multiverse with the assumption that our universe is one of the common ones, trying to derive some features of our universe at least as probable, is a reentry into the question-room through the backdoor. It just rephrases the question why our universe is special and what theory allows us to derive the details, to the question why our universe is especially unspecial and what measure allows us to derive the details, and it makes additional assumptions about how to compute probabilities rspt. about the logic used etc. I'm not dismissing the attempts to define a probability measure on the multiverse as useless since sometimes looking at an old problem from a new direction is fruitful. But the attempt in itself isn't actually progress.)
Mathematical consistency is not a strong requirement. The complex plane and holomorphic functions on it for example are mathematically consistent (unless you insist on some wrong theorem), so is linear algebra on n-dimensional vector spaces. What sort of a universe is that, you might ask. But if mathematical consistency is all that you're left with, that's what you get: Everything that's mathematically consistent "exists" in the same sense as the world around us, a notion of "existence" not in agreement with that put forward by the strange person with the funny wig. This thought then brings us straight to Tegmark's Mathematical Universe: All of mathematics is real, and all that's real is mathematics. There is no distinction because there's no other meaning to "existence."
My problem with the Mathematical Universe is not that I dislike the idea of being made of math (whatever that might mean). In fact, I quite like the idea (up to a face factor). My problem is that for all I can tell it's not of use for anything (oops, lid slipped off) and it is based on an assumption I don't find particularly plausible: That humans in the 21st century have already found the language to describe the fundamental nature of reality.
Formal mathematics is a quite recent achievement in mankind's evolution. Sure, its precision and usefulness in the description of nature is vastly superior to that of, say, the English language. But 50,000 years ago our ancestors have thought of their precise spoken language as the ultimate tool to describe nature, vastly superior to grunting and waving with paws. So how sure really can we be mathematics is so intimately connected to nature that nature is mathematics?
Versus multi
Now let us turn the argument around. Searching for a TOE we were ultimately left with mathematical consistency as only guidance and it's not enough of a constraint. It offers too many possibilities and eventually doesn't explain anything. Unless, that is, mathematical consistency is not the only requirement. (There is of course the requirement to reproduce observation, but that's too pragmatic for my tea pot.) The only way to avoid a multiverse then seems to be that mathematics is not sufficient to describe the fundamental nature of reality.
So the options are: a) Accept a final cause. b) Accept the multiverse. c) Accept that there's a way to describe nature better than with mathematics.
If you don't like a) and b) and therefore have to sympathize with c) you are however left wondering what may describe nature even better than mathematics? Well, you can. Tegmark's Mathematical Universe irks people because they believe there is a distinction between reality and mathematics, between platonic ideas and the world out there. The common point of view is that the math used in theoretical physics is a description of nature, but humans provide the map between reality and the math. It is possible that this mapping is itself a purely mathematical process. I can imagine there to be an algorithm that searches for mathematical definitions whose properties fit to observed data. Yet presently there is no answer to the question whether there is in fact such an algorithm able to do science like a human. Gödel's incompleteness theorem is happily waving its tail, waiting for a chance to pee on your leg.
In summary this means if there is neither a final cause nor a multiverse, there likely won't be any Singularity in 2045 either since no computer algorithm will be able to go beyond math. And vice versa, if a computer algorithm, coded in the language of math, is able to map every aspect of reality to a mathematical structure, then you're likely stuck with the multiverse, Tegmarkian version, subsuming all other versions. It might then just be that the next revolution in physics comes from neuroscience.
- multiverse [verb]
- From noun -> multiverse. From L. multus "much, many" and versus, pp. of vertere "to turn." To make many turns. Colloq: To act or talk incoherently. "She spent the afternoon multiversing around," "His job interview was a disaster; he totally multiversed it."
I'll finish with a quotation from a wise physicist, who wants to remain unnamed but reportedly reads this blog: "The multiverse, the simulation hypothesis, modal realism, or the Singularity –it's all the same nonsense, really."


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- 1.What shall I do to create a ROPOT description? And where am I supposed to place it?After creating a question set, please enter the section designed for administering ROPOT applications using the following path:Teacher ROPOT ... Work with ROPOTClick on 'Create a new ROPOT description' and specify the mode (the type of test or exercise) you want to use (e.g. exercises, PC-based test, text (accompanied by other materials), opinion poll, etc.). Selecting one of the modes, you choose a certain configuration associated with it. Provided some ROPOT descriptions have already been created under the course, you can chose one of these as a template for the new one.
Please ensure that you confirm your choice by clicking on the Select button - an operation that will take you to the form allowing you to edit its individual parameters. NB: All the default settings represent pre-sets that can be changed to suit your individual needs any time you see fit. For example, you might want the application to display correct answers in a PC-based test although it is not common in this mode. Data contained in a ROPOT description is saved in a file with the .qdesc suffix (standing for 'questionnaire description'), which can be found in the File Manager (there is an icon containing a blue square situated right next to its name): The file is sent to the testbank sub-folder (placed under the ROPOT folder) - a location inaccessible to students. Provided you want to place it somewhere else, click on the Find button situated next to the current path to it and specify the new location. - 2.What name shall I choose for the new ROPOT application and what shall I do to link it to a question set?The first three items you are requested to enter into the form used for editing a ROPOT description are the name of ROPOT application, name of file, and address of question set.
- Name of ROPOT application: Please use a short, meaningful string. Provided you want to have your students' scores uploaded into a notebook, make sure the number of characters does not exceed that of 32.
- Name of file: This item is optional. If not provided, it is generated by the System automatically.
- Address of question set: To link a question set to your ROPOT application, you should first specify its address by clicking on 'Select from all question sets'. This will display all the question sets created under the course and allow you to specify those you want to use (by checking them and clicking on 'Use the selected'). If you want to utilize a set located outside the Study Materials section, enter its address into the text field right below the Select from all question sets button and click on 'Use'. To find its address, click on the Find button.
- 3.I would like to combine questions contained in different question sets within the same ROPOT application. Is it possible?Yes, it is. The technique is basically the same as the one mentioned above. However, you should ensure that the checkboxes situated next to 'use' are checked for the sets you plan to use!
Moreover, you might want to specify in which order you want the questions of the individual sets to be presented by entering numbers into the position of the set fields. You may find the opportunity to utilize several question sets within the same ROPOT application helpful mainly in the situations where each of your question sets targets a certain area and you want to design a test containing questions a certain number of which comes from a certain set.
However, it is not possible to have the System select the individual questions (and, for instance, have it add to the test or exercise only the questions 1, 5, and 100) since these do not contain any identification information that could be used for this purpose.
Provided you have questions concerning the ways of designing tests from multiple question sets, please feel free to contact us. If a teacher makes some modifications to his/her questions after they have been answered by students, the students' answers are not affected by this operation. Therefore, the teacher can still see the original form, i.e. the one in which the questions were when being answered by the students. TIP: To view and/or edit a question set, click on 'edit questions'. This will open the question set in a new window allowing you to browse the set and do the editing. - 4.How am I supposed to instruct my students on how to work with the application?You can use the ROPOT application instructions field to provide your students with some information on how to work with the application and inform them about, for instance, the maximum possible score, date on which their scores will become available to them, where they will be able to find them, etc. This information will be displayed to them even before they enter the application.
- 5.And what about the scoring system?If you do not wish your students to be awarded any points for correct answers (applies to, for instance, opinion polls), check 'do not award any points'. Otherwise, enter a desired number of points into the field titled 'default number of points awarded for a correctly answered question (ok)'. Provided you have specified the numbers of points awarded for correctly answered questions in your question set as well as in the ROPOT application, the values in the former override those in the latter. Therefore, if your ROPOT description says that, for example, one point should be awarded for a correctly answered question while the question set linked to it says it should be two points (specified in the form of 'ok 2'), it is the number of points specified in the set, i.e. 2, that is added to the student's score if he/she answers its question correctly. NB: The points are awarded for every 'ok' entered. In other words, if your question consists of four answer fields and the student fills each of them with a correct answer, 4 points will be added to his/her score (provided the default number of points awarded for a correctly answered question specified in the ROPOT description is 1). If you want to assign the same number of points to all the questions (regardless of how many times you use 'ok' in each of these), please specify the numbers in the question set. In the aforementioned example (a question containing four answer fields), you should therefore enter 'ok 0,25' for each of the answer fields. Thus, if the student types correct answers into each of the fields, he/she will be awarded 1 point for the question.
Apart from points, you may also use percentages (e.g. 'ok 25%'). It is also possible to specify the number of points subtracted from the total score for incorrectly answered questions. - 6.Is there any way of saving my students' scores in a notebook?Yes, there is. All you have to do is to check the proper 'Saving' option in the Saving students' scores to a notebook section and the System will take care of the rest.
It is only scores that are saved in a notebook, not, for instance, students' answers.
Provided you want to save your students' scores in a notebook, you have the following options to choose from:- Save the scores of all the ROPOT sessions (all tests): Check this option when you want to allow your students to have numerous different tests displayed (for further information, see below) and want to keep track of their individual scores. However, if they work with the same test repeatedly (only correcting the answers they provided in their previous sessions), it is always the new score that gets saved in the notebook, i.e. the score of their last session.
- Save only the score of the last ROPOT session (last test):
This is the only option to check provided you have selected 'Yes, they should, but it is always the same form
(same questions) that should be offered to them.'.
You may also find this option useful when you want to allow your students to have multiple different tests displayed and you only want the score of their very last session to be saved.
- 7.Is there any way of finding out how many of my students have reached the minimum required score?Yes, there is. To find out, enter the minimum required score into the field titled 'the score the students must reach for the test to be considered passed', which can be found in the Passed/failed evaluation section. You should also configure the application so that it saves your students' scores in a notebook (for further information on how to do so, please see the section above).
Provided a student reaches the minimum required score, the string of *1 (not his/her score) will be added to his/her name stored in the notebook. If he/she does not reach this score, his/her field will remain empty.
The string of *1 allows you to keep track of how many tests your students have passed after you have added up their scores stored in individual notebooks. In this respect, you may want to have a list of students who have or have not reached the required score. If this is the case, please use the following path:change filter selected by their score recorded in a notebook (situated in the 'other' section)Finally, select the required notebook and the score that is to be used for filtering. Therefore, provided you want to see the list of those who have passed the test, enter =1. After you click on 'Select', these students will be extracted from the database of all the students enrolled in the course. The students can find the information about whether they have reached the minimum required score using the following path:Student ROPOT (Revision, Opinion Poll and Testing) - e-learningThe students can either find the green sign 'condition met' or the red one 'condition not met' there depending on their scores. - 8.In which order are the questions and answers to these going to be presented?This completely depends on your preferences. It is possible to have the application present the questions and answers to these (alternatives) in the same order as they are in the question set to which the ROPOT application is linked or you can have these ordered randomly. In other words, you can choose from the following options:
- random - This presents the questions to the students in a random order.
NB: Provided you are preparing a test from several question sets in which you have specified their positions, this specification will be ignored, i.e. all the questions of all the sets used will be blended randomly. - in the same order as that of the question sets they make up, but blended randomly within each of the sets - This option is particularly useful when more than one question set is used. The application presents the questions in a random order while keeping the positions of question sets (provided these are specified with position numbers). In other words, it is the questions of the set with the position number 1 (ordered randomly) that will precede the questions of the set whose position number is 2 (ordered randomly), etc.
- in the same order as they can be found in the set - If you only plan to use for preparing your test, for instance, 10 of the questions making up your question set, it is only the first 10 that will be used and presented in exactly the same order as they can be found in the set. The same applies to the situations where all the questions making up the set are used.
- random - This presents the questions to the students in a random order.
- 9.How many times are students allowed to open the ROPOT application and consult the key?This also depends on you. Provided you wish to allow your students to access a key to your test, you can do so in the section titled 'Do you want the correct answers to be displayed to the students after they have finished working with the ROPOT application?':
- Display all the answers immediately after the submission of answer form: Provided you select this option, after saving the contents of their forms, students will be allowed to browse the key and scores they have reached after clicking on 'view'.
- Display all the answers after the period during which the ROPOT application can be worked with: If you select this option, the application will only allow students to access the key after the period during which the ROPOT application can be worked with (for further information, see below). Until that time, they will not be able to see their scores either. However, you might want to get their scores saved in a notebook (see above) for them to be able to access them earlier.
- Never: Since this option prevents students from browsing the correct answers, it is usually used for purely testing purposes.
- only from ... to ...: This option enables you to specify the period during which your students will be allowed to access the key.
Provided you choose this option without specifying any dates, the keys will be displayed to the students without any time restrictions.
NB: The time restriction described in this section does not prevent students from copying the key and sharing it with others. Provided you want to keep the key hidden from them, do not select this option.
- Yes, they should and some other questions should be offered to them next time they work with the ROPOT application: If this option is selected, after completing a test (exercise), students have an opportunity to have a new one containing some other questions created. You may select this option when using all the questions making up your question set as well. In such a situation, the application generates a test containing blank answer fields, which is similar to the previous one, requesting the students to fill it in again. If you only use some of the questions making up your question set, the students will be offered tests varying in their contents (the questions will be selected randomly!).
- Yes, they should, but it is always the same form (same questions) that should be offered to them: If selected, the option causes the application to generate the test once only. As a result, students cannot work with a new blank test again. They will always be offered the same test with the answers they have previously entered.
- No, they should not. Once they have clicked on 'Save and evaluate the test', they should not be allowed to open the ROPOT application and work with it (change or edit their answers) again: This option proves particularly suitable for examining students since it does not allow them to open their tests more than once (not even before they save their answers).
- 10.The great number of questions in my ROPOT application makes my navigation in it somewhat difficult. Is there any way of facilitating it?Yes, there is. The application allows you to divide you questions into smaller blocks and have them span several pages. Please specify the number of questions you want to get displayed (printed) on a page in the Number of questions per page section.
When working with the test (exercise) on a computer, students will be requested to move between the pages by clicking on buttons. Each time a student moves to another page, the contents of the one he/she has just left will be saved automatically. Note: Having questions displayed on multiple pages prevents students from copying each other's answers. - 11.Is it possible to specify the period during which my students are allowed to work with the ROPOT application?Yes, it is. There are two options available in this respect. The section titled Time during which the application can be worked with allows you to specify the period. The Total time for the test section enables you to enter the time for which your students will be allowed to work with their tests (exercises).
- Period during which the application can be worked with:
Here you may want to enter the start and end dates (as well as start and end times) of the period. - Total time for the test:
This section allows you to activate the timer function for the test (exercise). The time should be entered in minutes. The application starts the count-down the moment the test (exercise) is opened. - Combining both the aforementioned options:
You may want to combine both the options described above. If you do so, it is the 'earlier' condition that takes precedence over the 'later' one.
Example: You specify the period during which your students can work with their tests (exercises) as that of, for instance, 15:00 to 16:00 and you also enter 10 minutes as the time they have for it. If a student opens the test (exercise) at 15:55, he/she will be allowed to work with it for 5 minutes only. If he/she does so at 15:00, he/she will be allowed to work with it until 15:10.
- Period during which the application can be worked with:
- 12.What if a student fails to save his/her answers before the end of his/her test?In such a situation, the Information System will save his/her answers automatically (at the end of his/her test). This feature, which is active by default, cannot be disabled, though. That is why it is advisable that you inform the students of this fact beforehand.
- 13.How shall I proceed to make the ROPOT application accessible to my students?To make your ROPOT application accessible to students, you should set its access rights correctly and create a reference to it. Provided you only want to test the application, save it using the Save and make inaccessible to students for now button and leave its access rights as they are by default. When you finally decide to make your ROPOT application accessible to them, enter the ROPOT description section using the following path:Teacher ROPOT ... Work with ROPOT editOnce in the ROPOT description section, you should first set its access rights by clicking on the Add another right button, selecting one of the options, and clicking on 'Add the right'.
Provided you have selected, for instance, 'students enrolled in the course offered in a concrete term', you will be prompted to confirm your choice by clicking on 'Add the right' again.
You can tell that the operation has been performed successfully by the presence of a table listing the new rights. At the same time, the sentence 'No access rights have been specified ...' disappears. NB: The access rights have to be assigned to the ROPOT description section. Changing them in the File Manager only is not enough. Nevertheless, if you change them in the former, you need not do so in the latter. Another step you have to take is to create a reference to your ROPOT application. This is a file with the .qref suffix (standing for questionnaire reference). In the File Manager, the files of this type have an icon containing a red square attached to them. The .qref file gets automatically created once you save the ROPOT description by clicking on 'Save and make accessible'.
The reference is placed into the folder titled 'Study Materials/ROPOT' by default. This location (default path to the file) can be changed in the section titled 'Making the ROPOT application accessible to students'. To change it, specify the new path and click on 'Use'. A student enrolled in the course under which a ROPOT application has been created can find a reference to it (as well as all the other e-learning-related information) on his/her Student page. He/she can access the reference using the following path:Student ... ROPOT (Revision, Opinion Poll and Testing) - e-learning - 14.I want to set who can work with the ROPOT.The "Rights and Time Group" sets who can work with the ROPOT. Click the "Add another right" button to select the desired option and then click "Add the right and make further specification." If you selected for example "Students enrolled in the course offered in a concrete term," you will have to confirm your selection one more time by clicking the button "Add the right." If the process has been successfully completed, the message "No access rights have been specified for this ROPOT application yet" will disappear and a table displaying the assigned rights will be shown instead. It is possible to enter multiple different rights.
- 15.I want to make the test accessible to different groups at different times.Each ROPOT description can contain a different combination of time and rights settings. For example: a lecturer teaches three seminar group, each being taught in a separate day, and they wants to set up one ROPOT for each group so that students from a specific seminar group can only answer the ROPOT during the day the seminar group is taught. The "Add rights and time group" button adds a section for each seminar group; within this section the rights can be set for the given seminar group as well as the time during which the ROPOT can be answered. Therefore, only one ROPOT – rather than three separate ones – has to be set up. You can also add a special rights and time group. This option is mainly used for setting up ROPOTs for special-needs students (usually used by Teiresiás).
- 16.Will the student lose all answers if an error occurs while saving?In order to avoid cases when the student does not accidentally save the test for some reason (for example due to a power outage or connection failure), students can use the "Save temporarily" function while working with the ROPOT. In this case the student's answers will be restored to their last saved state after restarting the ROPOT. If you wish to minimize the risk of students losing their answers while answering the ROPOT, it is suggested you inform your students of this function in advance. You can also activate the "Saving reminder" option in the ROPOT settings which sets a time limit; once the time limit is reached, a warning reminding the student to temporarily save their progress is displayed.
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