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Persian users have historically had many problems with the level of Persian support on the Windows operating system. I do not plan to go through a description of these problems in this article, but I would like to mention one serious problem: lack of the standard Persian keyboard. The Persian Keyboard Layout exists as a national standard (ISIRI 2901:1994) and is supposed to be updated soon.
FarsiWeb has done an excellent job of providing the new layout as a keyboard driver for Windows, and made it available on SourceForge. Unfortunately this keyboard driver has a small (but very annoying) problem, which is the Shift+Space combination. Shift+Space is supposed to create a ZWNJ character (so that for example words such as میروم can be typed correctly), but using this keyboard driver, it only creates a normal space.
This is actually a bug in the MKLC tool used to build this driver. MKLC is a proprietary tool available from Microsoft which allows users to define a keyboard layout visually, and creates a driver installation package from it. MKLC has a bug which does not allow a character to be specified for the Shift+Space combination. I had solved this problem with a bit of hacking back in 2004, and I'm publishing the details as well as the resulting keyboard driver (which handles Shift+Space correctly) here. I had tried to submit this work to FarsiWeb guys so that they would update the driver on the SourceForge page, but unfortunately they didn't seem to be interested.
MKLC works like this: it generates a .c file containing the keyboard definition, and uses a stripped down version of the Visual C++ compiler which comes with it to compile this driver and link it against the necessary Windows libraries. In order to intercept this process, I wrote a program called shim, which simply printed all of its command lines inside a file. I then replaced the compiler executable coming with MKLC (cl.exe) with my shim.exe program and re-built the keyboard driver from within MKLC, which gave me some C source code to hack, plus the required commands to compile and build the driver. I then modified the resulting Persian.c file to change the Shift state key code to 0x200C (which is the hex code for ZWNJ) and ran the compilation command manually, resulting in an installer which can be used to install the corrected driver.
You can grab the source and installer files below. The installer is what most users want. It has been tested on Windows XP and Vista. After installing it, you should add a "Persian experimental standard" keyboard layout from the Regional and Language Options applet in the Control Panel.
Persian Keyboard Installer
Source Files
Update 1: It seems that the installer package cannot be installed on Windows Vista SP1 if UAC is enabled. To work around this problem, you need to disable UAC before and after trying to install this package.
Update 2: I ported the hack to MKLC 1.4, which generates a setup package for all 64-bit flavors of Windows, including Itanium 64-bit, x64-64 and WoW64. I have updated the download links for the new version. If for some reason, you are interested in the older version, you can grab them below:
Persian Keyboard Installer (Note: older version — you probably want the newer version above.)
Source Files (Note: older version — you probably want the newer version above.)
Update 3: There is now an improved version of the keyboard layout available for download by Behnam Esfahbod. You should really consider using this version of the keyboard. I'm keeping the original version of the article for historical reference.


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The "Ugly Cameras" discussion reminded me of something from way back in the hazy reaches of early memory.
My first camera when I was young was a Kodak Instamatic 104, which I still have. I used it on my 7th grade trip to Washington, D.C., and I recall using profligate amounts of film at the Gettysburg Battlefield Park (I was a Civil War buff as a kid—at one point I had memorized all the names of all the generals, North and South). But I believe that even before that, possibly from before I was born, my father owned an Argus C3.
He also owned a Zeiss Contaflex B, and that one I remember vividly. I loved it—I loved its solid construction, its shutter sound (a crisp, clean, quiet, well-oiled snick), and the "clear" pictures it made (compared to my Instamatic, anyway)—although I used it solely to take pictures as references for paintings and drawings. I managed to get "our" Zeiss stolen—I worked at Kentucky Friend Chicken the summer I was 14, and while opening the store one morning I left the camera sitting on the electrical box outside, where I had put it momentarily while I unlocked the door. I brought my bike indoors but I forgot about the camera. When I remembered it much later, it was gone. I still have regular anxiety dreams about losing cameras, although that was the only one I've ever lost. My father (generously, under the circumstances) bought me a very nice Konica T3 for my 16th birthday, with which I shot my first public "show"—hung in the lunchroom of the prep school I attended.
Zeiss Contaflex Super B. Photo from J. Vaughan Collectors' Cameras page.
Rather a long way to go to make a minor point, but the thing I'm remembering is that the Argus held zero appeal to me as a boy. It felt awkward and foreign to hold, it was hard to work its controls, it had a tiny, obscure viewfinder, and I remember having no interest in finding out what kind of pictures it took. I was not curious to use it and it inspired no possessiveness in me. Quite the opposite of "my" beloved Zeiss.
As I recall, my father didn't much like the Argus either, although I could be wrong about that.
I wonder if I would have gotten into photography in quite the same way I did, or as soon, if the Argus had been my father's only camera? I think probably not—that Zeiss had a strong appeal to me. It made me want to use it—a feeling that I can still conjure today, as I reminisce.
(P.S. In retrospect, it seems odd that the management would entrust a 14-year-old with the responsibility of opening a retail store in the morning, even if it was only a KFC stand.)

subset: commoncrawl


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Collection Development
Marlene Bishop, MLIS
Valerie Hernandez
Technical Services email: email@example.com
The mission of the Collection Development Department is to build and maintain a library collection that supports the academic and research needs of the LSU Health Sciences Center - New Orleans. As such, the department is responsible for routine evaluation, selection, and acquisition of new resources in the subject areas that pertain to the various schools and centers of excellence. The current collection includes access to over 12,000 online and print journal titles, over 1,500 e-books, and over 58,000 print monographs.
The department orders, processes, and pays for new materials and manages the Libraries' acquisitions budget. All students and faculty are encouraged to recommend resources which will enhance and update the collection in their areas of study and/or expertise. Book recommendations can be submitted to the Collection Development Department via email or in person using the Book Request form. To recommend a journal, email the title and publisher information to Rebecca Bealer, Serials Librarian.
The reserve collections were established to ensure access to resources that are heavily
used such as required course textbooks and core health sciences texts. Reserve materials
are shelved behind the circulation desk at each Library. Reserve materials are restricted
to in-library use, however many items are available for overnight checkout. For more information please refer to our Reserves Policy.
Library books that are required for a course can be placed on reserve for the semester(s) in which the course is being taught. Each semester, teaching faculty should submit a complete and current book list or syllabus to their corresponding librarian liaison. Book requests can also be submitted directly to the Collection Development Department via email or in person using the Book Request form.
In the event that the Library is unable to obtain a copy of a book needed for a course, a personal copy can be placed on reserve. The item will receive a barcode and be added to the Library Catalog for the duration of its use. To place a personal copy of a book on reserve, complete and print a Personal Reserve Request form and bring your materials and the form to your librarian liaison or the Collection Development Department. Your reserve will be processed as soon as possible.
Reserve books are searchable in the Library Catalog via a Course Reserves search. For more information on how to use Course Reserves, please refer to our tutorial. If your course is not listed in the catalog, email your librarian liaison or the Collection Development Department to have it added.
Gifts and Donations
The LSUHSC New Orleans Libraries appreciate gifts of books, journals and other materials
that support and enhance the educational and research needs of the University. While
current materials are preferred, historical items and those items related to the University
make welcome additions to our Old & Rare and Archival collections.
Small donations of 10 items or less may be delivered to the Circulation Desks at any time during Library hours. Please fill out a Donation form and we will send a formal acknowledgment for your gift. For donations larger than 10 items, please contact the Head of Collection Development, Marlene Bishop, to discuss the donation in greater detail.
For donations consisting only of journals, please contact Rebecca Bealer, Serials Librarian. For donations to the Dental Library, contact Head Dental Librarian, Julie Schiavo. For more information, please refer to our Gifts and Donations Policy.
Updated April 2023


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FYS 108 First Year Seminar II Education
Through an introduction and exploration of a discipline-specific topic this course continues to help students engage the learning process at UIU and beyond. During this course students will practice different processes and behaviors that support learning while exploring the UIU collegiate environment. Students will practice meeting collegiate expectations and align collegiate expectations to those of society. It is an expectation that all first-time, full-time students transferring fewer than 30 hours of college credit take the FYS course series during their first year of enrollment. The majority of the course outcomes are "common" First Year Seminar (FYS) goals. That is, all FYS sections will address, practice, and evaluate these same outcomes. However, each section of FYS will be unique in the content used to accomplish these outcomes. This structure provides first-year students with common student learning outcomes and experiences which bring students together, and the format also offers exploratory content that may serve as a guide for personal exploration of their own.


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Dom Pérignon P2 2004
AC Champagne, Moët et Chandon en coffret, 750 ml
Grape variety: | Pinot noir, Chardonnay |
Producer: | Moët Hennessy |
Origin: | France / Champagne |
Origin: | France / Champagne |
Grape variety: | Pinot noir, Chardonnay |
Vinification: | bottle fermentation, fermentation in steel tank |
Harvest: | hand-picking, strict selection |
Volume: | 12.5 % |
Note: | Contains sulphites |
King or beggar?
Hardly any variety of vine shows such a broad spectrum of quality as the Chardonnay. Its wines range from faceless neutrality to breath-taking class. It is an extremely low-maintenance vine, which explains why it is grown around the world – even in places where it probably should not be. The aromas of the Chardonnay variety are not very pronounced: a bit of green apple, a little hazelnut; in warmer latitudes, also melon and exotic fruits. The wines are often defined by maturing in casks. They develop more or less subtle notes of butter, toasted bread and vanilla. The grapes achieve their highest expression in their region of origin, Burgundy. Its heart beats in the Côte de Beaune: one might think of the plant growth of Meursault or Puligny-Montrachet. With their finesse and complexity, they can survive for decades. Chardonnay also achieves first class in some Blanc-de-Blancs champagnes. It additionally yields great wines in the Burgundian Chablis, and increasingly in Australia and Chile. A simple rule of thumb for pairing with food: When butter and cream are involved, you cannot go wrong with Chardonnay.
Pinot noir
Blueprint of the terroir
No other variety expresses its terroir as precisely as Pinot noir. It is a sensitive, fragile grape. But when it succeeds, it gives the world some of its very greatest wine plants. It especially excels in Burgundy, where it has been cultivated for at least 700 years. Even in the middle ages, it was considered so precious that it was kept separate from other grapes so as to not diminish its value. The finest examples are delicate and fragrant with aromas of cherries and red berries. With maturity, notes of forest floor, leather and truffles enter as well. An irresistible fruity sweetness still shines through, even after several decades. The Pinot noir does well in cool locations: in Switzerland and in Germany, where it is known as Blauburgunder and Spätburgunder respectively; in Alsace and in South Tyrol, in Oregon, New Zealand and Tasmania. Not least, it yields fantastic champagnes. It is a wonderful culinary companion. With its soft tannins and charming bouquet, it meshes with everything, from Güggeli and cheeses to fried fish.
France – Philosophy in a bottle
According to French philosophy, wine should be an expression of the soil and climate. They use the word "terroir" to describe this. Terroir makes every wine different, and many especially good. French wine is regarded worldwide as an expression of cultural perfection. The French believe that humans are responsible for the quality of the berries, the vine variety for their character, and nature for the quantity. This philosophy can be expressed succinctly as: "the truth is the vineyard, not the man."


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This privacy notice applies only to Indiana University School of Medicine and explains the school's practices concerning the collection, use and disclosure of visitor information. Visitor information collected by IU School of Medicine will be used only as outlined in this privacy notice.Other units at the university may collect and use visitor information in different ways. Therefore, visitors to other university websites should review the privacy notices for the particular sites they visit. IU School of Medicine is not responsible for the content of other websites or for the privacy practices of websites outside the scope of this notice.
Because Internet technologies continue to evolve rapidly, IU School of Medicine may make appropriate changes to this notice in the future. Any such changes will be consistent with the school's commitment to respecting visitor privacy and will be clearly posted in a revised privacy notice.Collection and Use
Passive/Automatic Collection
When you view pages on the IU School of Medicine website, the web server does not collect any technical information from your computer or about your connection.Continued use of the school's website indicates consent to the collection, use and disclosure of this information as described in this notice.
Active/Manual/Voluntary Collection
IU School of Medicine will not attempt to collect any information from you through the use of forms or other type of manual input.Information Sharing
IU School of Medicine does not share any aggregate, non-personally identifiable information with other entities or organizations.The school does not share any personally identifiable information with other entities or organizations, except when legally required to do so, at the request of governmental authorities conducting an investigation, to verify or enforce compliance with the policies governing our website and applicable laws, or to protect against misuse or unauthorized use of our website.
Except as described above, we will not share any information with any party for any reason.
Except as provided in the Disclosure of Information section below, we do not attempt to use the technical information discussed in this section to identify individual visitors.
A cookie is a small data file that is written to your hard drive that contains information about your visit to a web page. If you prefer not to receive cookies, you may configure your browser not to accept them at all or to notify and require approval before accepting new cookies. Some web pages/sites may not function properly if the cookies are turned off, or you may have to provide the same information each time you visit those pages.In order to customize the information and services offered to you, IU School of Medicine website uses cookies for:
Disclosure of Information
IU School of Medicine may share some aggregate information with other appropriate university personnel and units to ensure the quality, functionality and security of the website/application.Any other disclosure—with appropriate external parties such as law enforcement agencies—will be done in accordance with all applicable laws and university policies in order to investigate and respond to suspected violations of law or university policy.
Due to the rapidly evolving nature of information technologies, no transmission of data over the Internet can be guaranteed to be completely secure. While IU School of Medicine is committed to protecting the privacy of website visitors, the School cannot guarantee the security of any information that you transmit to university websites, and you do so at your own risk. However, once the School receives your information, reasonable safeguards consistent with prevailing industry standards and commensurate with the sensitivity of the data being stored will be used to maintain the security of that information on the school's systems.In addition, IU School of Medicine will comply with all applicable federal, state and local laws regarding the privacy and security of visitor information.
Privacy Notice Changes
From time to time, the school may use visitor information for new, unanticipated uses not previously disclosed in this privacy notice.Contact Information
If you have questions or concerns about this policy, please contact us.Indiana University School of Medicine
If you feel that this site is not following its stated policy and communicating with the owner of this site does not resolve the matter, or if you have general questions or concerns about privacy or information technology policy at Indiana University, please contact the chief privacy officer through the University Information Policy Office, 812-855-UIPO, firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Arma 3 reinforced by Community Guide video series
Building upon the successful launch of the much-anticipated Arma 3 Alpha, Bohemia Interactive has joined forces with one of its community members to create a series of tutorial videos.
Over the next couple of weeks, Andrew Gluck - better known as Dslyecxi from the Arma community group ShackTactical – will introduce players to Arma 3 and share tips on topics like infantry combat, co-operative multiplayer and mission editing. The first video, which was just released, takes a more general look at Arma 3 and illustrates the authenticity, diversity and opportunity at the heart of Bohemia Interactive's tactical military shooter.
"The Community Guide series is intended to introduce both new and old players alike to the wealth of possibilities that Arma 3 brings to the table, as well as familiarize them with the basic tactical concepts needed to survive in the realistic combat environments they'll encounter on the Mediterranean island of Stratis. This first video sets the stage by talking about what makes the Arma series such a unique and compelling military sandbox experience", explains Andrew Gluck aka Dslyecxi.
The Arma 3 Alpha provides players with the opportunity to try out a limited, work-in-progress build of Arma 3 and contribute to its development by reporting feedback. In comparison to the full game, the playable and sandbox content in the Arma 3 Alpha is considerably limited. It includes 4 singleplayer showcase missions, a subset of weapons and vehicles, 2 multiplayer scenarios, the scenario editor and modding support. The Alpha is set on the island of Stratis (20 km²), while the full game will feature over 290 km² of Mediterranean terrain.
Korneel van 't Land, Brand & PR Manager on Arma 3, concludes:
"The idea behind Dslyecxi's Community Guides is simple: approach Arma 3 from a player's perspective, highlight what's new and what sets the series apart, and provide basic tips on how you can leverage the full potential of Arma 3. As a dedicated community member since Operation Flashpoint, Andrew pools from countless hours of experience and is able to share his enthusiasm like no other."


text: Why Choose Us Shop on MMOAH is safe and convenient where you can enjoy the wonderful shopping experience. Fast Delivery: We have huge stock of Fortnite Items for all the platforms, we delivery your order instantly! Pleased Service: We want to give our customer the best shopping experience! Trustworthy Company: Reputation is our nucleus, if you didn't get your order in your willing ,we can do the refund as you wish. And you can get more information about Fortnite Skins from https://www.mmoah.com/fortnite


text:
College credit recommended for free online courses
Students may soon be able to receive college credit for the free online classes that are reshaping higher education.
The American Council on Education says it's recommending degree credit for five courses offered by Coursera, a company based in Palo Alto, Calif., that offers so-called massive open online courses.
The five courses include algebra, calculus, bioelectricity, pre-calculus and introduction to genetics and evolution.
The courses themselves are free, but students will need to pay between $100 and $190 to receive credit for each class.
Colleges and universities use the American Council on Education's recommendations to determine whether to offer credit for nontraditional courses.
Over the past year, dozens of leading universities have begun offering free, online versions of their most popular courses. But so far, few institutions have offered degree credit for them.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Eastern Red Bat (Lasiurus borealis)
- Protection Status Notes
- Red bats are thought to be one of the most abundant bats throughout their range, though they appear to have declined substantially since the 1800's. L. borealis is not listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
- Description
- Lasiurus borealis is a medium-sized bat with a reddish-orange coat. Adult males are brightly colored, in contrast to the more grayish females and juveniles. Either sex may have white tipped hairs, creating a frosty appearance. The underarms are fully furred to the wrists, as is the dorsal surface of the tail membrane. White patches of fur are present on the shoulders and wrists. The eastern red bat has a forearm of 37-45 mm in length and weighs 7-16 g. No external characteristics are known by which the eastern red bat can be identified with certainty from its western counterpart, L. blossevillii. However, their ranges are not believed to overlap except in extreme western Texas and southern New Mexico. The hoary bat is much larger than the eastern red bat, with a forearm greater than 50 mm. Yellow bats lack the distinctive white markings on shoulders and wrists.
- Life History
- Red bats typically live alone, or in family groups consisting of a mother and her young, except when they group together during migration, as they move to warmer regions to hibernate. Their breeding season is in fall, and females give birth in early summer. Litter size ranges from one to five pups, with an average of three. Young are born blind and well furred on their backs. Pups learn to fly in approximately one month and are weaned one to two weeks later.
Although some red bats in the South may remain in the same areas year-round, those in the northern U.S. and Canada, and most from the Plains States, are clearly migratory. In the fall, southward travel seems to be associated with the passage of cold fronts. The sexes are thought to migrate in separate groups and may actually travel with other bat species. Many red bats have been recorded migrating during the day from August to October. Some have even been noted flying over the Atlantic Ocean!
Red bats are often the first bats to emerge after sunset, typically flying high and eventually coming within 6.5 to 13.1 feet of the ground as darkness approaches. They have long narrow wings adapted for rapid, poorly maneuverable flight, yet are willing to land on light poles to catch moths, and may even catch some prey from the ground. They feed most actively during the first several hours after sundown, but nursing mothers may feed all night. These bats are thought to travel at least 2,000 to 3,300 feet from day roosts to feeding sites and may return to the same feeding grounds on consecutive nights. Red bats eat mostly moths and beetles, but also dine on planthoppers, leafhoppers, and spittlebugs. When possible, they actively select larger prey. On especially warm winter evenings, males emerge from hibernation in order to feed, sometimes even in mid-afternoon, though females apparently do not. - Habitat
- Red bats forage in a variety of habitats, mostly over land, along the edges of pastures, crop lands, or other openings dotted with large deciduous trees. They also have been found in cypress stands, and near pecan trees along rivers. They prefer forested environments.
During winter, hibernating red bats have been documented in a variety of locations, ranging from tree hollows and exposed tree trunks to areas on the ground covered in leaf litter. During summer, they roost in foliage. Hanging by one foot, wrapped in their furry tail membranes, they are well concealed and resemble dead leaves. They roost in the same location for several weeks at a time. - Distribution
- The Eastern Red Bat is found from the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains across southern Canada to the Atlantic Coast and south through the United States to central Florida, western Texas, southern New Mexico and northern Mexico.
- Threats and Reasons for Decline
- Given recent discoveries of red bats hibernating in grass and leaf litter, it is likely that some die as a result of controlled burning in winter, especially in deciduous forests.
- Ongoing Recovery
- Based on knowledge of roosting and feeding behavior, the red bat ranks among a farmer's best friends. Where feasible, it would make sense to foster hedgerow roosting habitat along crop borders and to carefully consider how pesticides are used. Furthermore, forestry practices that employ controlled burning need to be planned to minimize mortality in areas where red bats are known to hibernate in leaf litter.
- Other
- Practically nothing is known about the status of this bat, since, like other foliage-roosting bats, it does not form large colonies that can be surveyed . However, monitoring select summer roosting areas has proven effective. Study of migratory flyways also could be enlightening. Based on highly credible observations of large flocks of red bats in their diurnal migrations from 1870's, it is thought that they may have declined far more than suspected over the past 100 years.
For more information
Refer to the online version of The Mammals of Texas for additional details on the Eastern Red Bat.


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Report: Mass. Mental Health Services 'Way Behind'
Massachusetts is "way behind" in its delivery of mental health services with treatment options hampered by budget cuts since 2009, inadequate funding for police training and a shortage of inpatient psychiatric beds that is putting stress on hospital emergency rooms, according to a new report.
The report from the state chapter of the National Association for the Mentally Ill was released Monday two days before the House Ways and Means Committee is scheduled to unveil its redraft of Gov. Deval Patrick's $36.4 billion budget, a spending plan criticized by activists for raising mental health spending by only 1 percent.
The report calls for a $16 million increase in the Department of Mental Health's annual budget, and a $2.7 million increase in funding for courts that handle drug and mental health case and issues facing military veterans. It predicts Patrick's budget, if enacted, will lead to 215 children and families and 250 adults losing services, and estimates that DMH spending would need to rise by $85 million to return to 2009 levels, adjusted for inflation.
Winning a partial standing ovation for his remarks at a lobbying event, Massachusetts Trial Court Administrator Harry Spence, who once led the state's Department of Children and Families, recalled his work in the 1970s to deinstitutionalize services for individuals with mental illnesses. Calling the current situation "the great failure of deinstitutionalization," he said too many people with mental illnesses are spending too many years in prisons and jails.
Spence said the effort to create a more "just system" hinges in large part on following the path of New York which has doubled the number of specialty courts. Massachusetts has 26 courts that specialize in cases involving veterans, the mentally ill and substance abusers. Spence hopes to increase that number to 50 over three years.
"We are on a mission in the judiciary to double the number of specialty courts," Spence said, expressing hope that lawmakers will agree to a $2.7 million request by Patrick to fund eight more specialty courts.
Calling the number of people imprisoned in Massachusetts "purely because of their mental illness" unacceptable, Spence said mental health courts are in place in Springfield, Plymouth and Boston, which he said is expanding its mental health court to West Roxbury. Spence said the courts have begun the work of providing treatment rather than incarceration, and 21 drug courts are also often fielding cases involving individuals with mental illnesses.
The efforts underscore developing links between leaders of the judicial and executive branches in tackling problems. For instance, Spence said the trial court has a "wonderful partnership" with the Department of Mental Health and also has relationships with the Department of Public Health and Department of Veterans Services.
Breaking down the $2.7 million request to add eight specialty courts, Spence said it would pay for the hiring of four probation officers, a $750,000 Department of Public Health increase to provide more substance abuse beds, $800,000 to the Department of Mental Health to pay for clinicians to offer expert opinions to the courts, and $200,000 to pay for peer services to veterans.
Massachusetts also has the lowest legislative appropriation for training per police officer in New England to help police respond to cases involving mental illness, the report said. And compared to the five other New England states, Massachusetts ranks last in percentage growth of funding for mental health services since 2009 when the recession dried up state tax revenues and forced cuts in government spending, including mental health spending, the report said.
While the Patrick administration has touted community-based services as preferable to institutional services, the report describes the Department of Mental Health's community-based services for adults as suffering from "an unacceptable lack of oversight and monitoring data to evaluate quality and outcomes" and says a shortage of public and private psychiatric inpatient beds has forced hospital emergency rooms to take on more mental health patients.
"With up to half of emergency department beds being occupied by patients experiencing behavioral health issues, neither those patients nor other emergent patients can possibly receive the care they need," the report said. "The lack of available acute care beds in the state leaves these patients in acute crisis with nowhere to go."
ER beds are occupied by patients with behavioral health issues, according to the report, because community-based services are "inadequate" and there's been a 40 percent decrease in publicly-funded psychiatric inpatient beds since 2005. The report cites the closure of a 20-bed inpatient unit at North Adams Regional Hospital as contributing to the trend of reduced availability of psychiatric beds in hospitals.
"The most important point we want people to remember from this report is that despite modest progress in some areas, Massachusetts has a long way to go with regard to the way it treats the thousands of residents who live with mental illness," NAMI Mass Executive Director Laurie Martinelli said in a statement. "Massachusetts is way behind in terms of providing individuals with mental illness the services and supports they need."
Aside from the funding increases, the report also calls for passage of bills to adequately fund police training (S 1189), to eliminate discrimination against people with mental illnesses who collect long-term disability, and to create a private "right of action" for individuals who believe state mental health parity laws have been violated (S 1959). The report also calls for passage of legislation (H 840) requiring private insurers to cover emergency psychiatric services. Insurers have resisted new coverage mandates, citing efforts to keep health costs in check.
The report also dissects community-based programs, estimating they account for about $618 million of the $712 million in total spending from the Department of Mental Health's budget and serve between 20,000 and 25,000 individuals. The report says community-based services are delivered by 20 vendors working under 44 contracts, and estimates 73 percent of those receiving community-based services have a diagnosable mental disorder that "results in functional impairment which substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities."
The report says the department does not publish client outcomes on its website, a goal under the contracts, and instead only makes available to the public annual survey data "from a small sample of adult clients," with the most recent survey available dating back to 2011. Judging from available information, the report concludes "a lack of transparency and little to no progress in client outcomes is unimpressive for what DMH describes as 'the cornerstone of the department's community mental health system for adults.'" The report further cites a decrease in employment rates since 2009 and "only slight improvements" for individuals in less restrictive living arrangements.
Provided with a copy of the report and asked to comment on it or offer any kind of rebuttal, Executive Office of Health and Human Services spokesman Alec Loftus emailed the following statement: "Under Governor Patrick's leadership, the Commonwealth has made significant investments in its mental health systems, from opening the state-of-the-art Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital, to providing community-based services to thousands of patients near their families and support systems. The Governor's budget furthers these investments, with additional resources for mental health courts, substance abuse treatment programs and training for law enforcement around the needs of mentally-ill individuals."
The Patrick administration is again pressing this year to close the remaining mental health beds at Taunton State Hospital, which Health and Human Services Secretary John Polanowicz has said will grow jobs in the region while maintaining the number of beds in the state.
The Legislature has previously blocked the administration's move to transfer the 45 beds from Taunton to the new Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital. Polanowicz has said Taunton's closing will allow $6 million to be invested in community-based mental health services. Lawmakers opposed to Taunton's closing say it will leave southeastern Massachusetts underserved by the department.


text:
You MUST
- ensure all sidelights and rear registration plate lights are lit between sunset and sunrise
- use headlights at night, except on a road which has lit street lighting. These roads are generally restricted to a speed limit of 30 mph (48 km/h) unless otherwise specified
- use headlights when visibility is seriously reduced (see Rule 226)
Night (the hours of darkness) is defined as the period between half an hour after sunset and half an hour before sunrise).
[Laws RVLR regs 3, 24, & 25, (In Scotland - RTRA 1984 sect 82 (as amended by NRSWA, para 59 of sched 8))]
You MUST NOT
- use any lights in a way which would dazzle or cause discomfort to other road users, including pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders
- use front or rear fog lights unless visibility is seriously reduced. You MUST switch them off when visibility improves to avoid dazzling other road users (see Rule 226)
In stationary queues of traffic, drivers should apply the parking brake and, once the following traffic has stopped, take their foot off the footbrake to deactivate the vehicle brake lights. This will minimise glare to road users behind until the traffic moves again.
[Law RVLR reg 27]
You should also
- use dipped headlights, or dim-dip if fitted, at night in built-up areas and in dull daytime weather, to ensure that you can be seen
- keep your headlights dipped when overtaking until you are level with the other vehicle and then change to main beam if necessary, unless this would dazzle oncoming road users
- slow down, and if necessary stop, if you are dazzled by oncoming headlights
Hazard warning lights. These may be used when your vehicle is stationary, to warn that it is temporarily obstructing traffic. Never use them as an excuse for dangerous or illegal parking. You MUST NOT use hazard warning lights while driving or being towed unless you are on a motorway or unrestricted dual carriageway and you need to warn drivers behind you of a hazard or obstruction ahead. Only use them for long enough to ensure that your warning has been observed.
[Law RVLR reg 27]


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During the pandemic, the city will not be abating or moving homeless encampments with the exception of immediate health, safety and fire concerns. The City has made some provisions to increase access to hygiene facilities.
Portable Hand washing Units for the Unhoused
The City of Richmond received 6 temporary portable restroom and hand washing facilities throughout the city to promote the public health for the homeless community. The locations are as follows:
• Rydin Road (north of Central Avenue)
• Civic Center-Main Library & Auditorium
• GRIP - 165 22nd Street
• San Pablo Ave & Richmond Greenway
COVID-19 Emergency Housing For Unsheltered Community
In March the governor's office announced that it would be providing support to local communities to help provide emergency housing for the homeless population. The purpose of the effort is to limit the exposure of the unsheltered community to COVID-19, particularly seniors and those with pre-existing conditions. Contra Costa County received the emergency funding from the state. Funding is limited and cannot house every person impacted.
In compliance with health officers recommendation to empty the shelters and congregate living facilities there have been two facilities identified in the City of Richmond by Contra Costa County Health, Housing and Homeless Services. The identified locations are the Courtyard, by Marriott, and the Sure Stay by Best Western.
The Marriott location will house clients from the Bay Area Rescue mission residents, some from Brookside Shelter and some from GRIP's warming center. Individuals and families who will be occupying these rooms are from west county and considered high risk based on their age or health condition. GRIP will be the on-site provider and food vendor. The clients are not those who have tested positive for COVID-19. The county is providing testing to those in congregate living facilities.
For more information, visit Contra Costa Health Services' website.
Additional Local Homelessness Resources
• Unsheltered individuals are currently exempt from the shelter in place order.
• View CCHS' Coronavirus and Homelessness Frequently Asked Questions
• Healthcare for the Homeless
• CCHS Guidance for Those at High Risk
• Link to CC Health, Housing, and Homeless Services
• Supervisor John Gioia's Food Distribution Site Map for Contra Costa County
• gripcares.org
• Help for the Unhoused
• Download PDF summary of resources
Local Rental and Eviction Resources
• City of Richmond Issues Supplemental Order Prohibiting Rent Increases and/or Evictions for Residential and Commercial Rental Units: The Director of Emergency Services issued a Supplemental Order, effective April 27, 2020, which extends the prohibition on certain types of evictions to commercial tenants and also prohibits rent increases on residential properties with more than one dwelling unit that were constructed before February 1, 1995 (including LIHTC properties) through May 31, 2020, or any extension of the local emergency
• Revised Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Rentals: What Richmond Tenants and Landlords Need to Know Fact Sheet (English & Spanish)
• Access the Letter Template for Tenants to Inform Landlords of Their Inability to Pay Rent Due to the Financial Impacts of COVID-19: English | Spanish
• If you have any questions about the Supplemental Order, please contact the Rent Program at 510-234-RENT(7368) or email@example.com to speak with a Housing Counselor. For updates, visit their website
State of California's Housing and Homeless Information
• Under the Governor's Executive Order, through May 31, 2020, evictions related to non-payment of rent for COVID-19-related economic hardships have been halted. If you are financially impacted by COVID-19 and can't pay your full rent, make sure to let your landlord know in writing no later than seven days after the rent is due, and save documentation as proof. Learn of other financial assistance.
• Many utility providers are not shutting off services due to non-payment. Check with the California Public Utilities Commission for more information.
• The Governor has also reached an agreement with financial institutions to give relief to people who can't pay their mortgages as a result of COVID-19. California is placing a moratorium on foreclosure sales or evictions for 60 days.
• California Awards $100 Million to Cities, Counties and Continuums of Care to Help People Experiencing Homelessness During COVID-19 Pandemic
• Funding Formula Breakdown
• View more at https://covid19.ca.gov/housing-and-homelessness/
Show All Answers
On October 28, 2018, the City of Richmond declared a shelter crisis, finding that the health and safety of unhoused people is threatened by a lack of shelter. According to the Contra Costa County Homeless Continuum of Care 2018 Annual Report, that year, 1,119 persons lost their housing in the City of Richmond and 333 unsheltered people slept and lived in Richmond after becoming homeless.
The Contra Costa County Homeless Continuum of Care 2018 Annual Report compiles data from the Point in Time Count (PIT), Service data from Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), and consumer surveys and interviews. However, getting an accurate count of the homeless population is challenging because of the mobility of the population, the cyclical nature of homelessness, and the barriers to interviewing the homeless population.
We often get the question, "What is the City doing to combat homelessness?"
In general, the city can impact homelessness in several ways:
1. Set policies that encourage the development of affordable and low income housing;
2. Set policies to prevent residents from going into homelessness;
3. Collaborate with the Contra Costa Counties Continuum of Care (COC) to advocate, partner, support and expand resources for the unhoused in Richmond.
4. Enact policies and programs that address homelessness.
Additionally, the City of Richmond declared a shelter crisis on October 28, 2018 finding that the health and safety of unhoused people is threatened by a lack of shelter and the City passed a resolution declaring homelessness a public health emergency. These two resolutions allow the City an expanded range of options when looking towards both long term and temporary solutions for homelessness. The City of Richmond does not have a Health and Human Services department, but the City contracts with Contra Costa County Department of Health, Housing and Human Services (H3) to provide a Coordinated Outreach Referral Engagement (C.O.R.E) team to connect unsheltered people to the County's Continuum of Care, the range of services provided to help people stay housed and access housing and services.
The City of Richmond, like many cities, is experiencing the impacts of rising levels of homelessness. Many of these individuals lack the transportation, resources, and ability to access traditional services within the coordinated system of care. To improve access to services, Contra Costa County established a Coordinated Outreach Referral and Engagement Team (C.O.R.E). C.O.R.E assists the unsheltered with obtaining short term and long term housing, transportation, mental health referrals, food and health care.
In 2019 the City of Richmond partnered with the San Pablo Police Department and initiated a C.O.R.E Homeless Outreach Engagement Team dedicated to the Richmond/San Pablo area. The C.O.R.E team is part of a comprehensive strategy to focus on homelessness. C.O.R.E provides routine intervention services for the homeless population to include housing assistance, shelter placement, mental health wrap around services and health care. CORE is set up to work with city staff to provide outreach services to local encampments. The City of San Pablo provides cost sharing benefits and joint planning in this effort. A similar effort was spearheaded by Martinez and Pleasant Hill.
The benefits of a comprehensive strategy to focus on homelessness include:
• Identifying homeless individuals and gathering data about their specific problems (mental health issues, drug or alcohol dependencies, poverty, etc.). The outreach liaison can make referrals specific to these underlying problems.
• Identifying whether any homeless individuals have family members that can assist in supporting them.
• Engaging the unhoused and connecting them with housing, medical, economic, and mental health services.
• Building trust between the outreach liaison, city departments, and the homeless community in order to find solutions that do not solely focus on enforcement.
• Providing ongoing support to the chronically homeless.
C.O.R.E can be contacted by calling 211. Call 211 and speak with a dispatcher or leave a message regarding the individual who may need help, their location, and a call back number.
Currently, due to the pandemic, the CORE team is part of the essential outreach response to prevent the spread of coronavirus among the unhoused community. Initially C.O.R.E placed the most vulnerable populations into the Project Roomkey Hotels. Due to the impact of COVID-19, CORE has temporarily suspended its transportation services for the unhoused.
C.O.R.E teams are not designed for emergency response. For medical or other emergencies, dial 911.
If you have more questions about C.O.R.E functions, please contact or Captain Walle at email@example.com. If you have questions about the C.O.R.E contract, or the Homeless Taskforce, contact Crime Prevention Manager Michelle Milam at firstname.lastname@example.com
Call 211 or Text "HOPE" to 20121 to get the County's services. There is free confidential service available 24/7. Callers will be matched and referred to appropriate programs for:
a. Basic needs services (meals, bathrooms, mail, laundry)
b. Lunch served bagged, to-go (2 to-go meals per person per day, 7 days/week)
c. Non-emergency medical attention
d. Mental health support
e. General help
f. Case management, Monday to Friday, from 9 am-3 pm
Please note C.O.R.E teams are not designed for emergency response. For medical or other emergencies, dial 911.
If the person is between the ages of 14-24 and has run away, been thrown out, or are feeling unsafe in their home, there are free and voluntary services: 1-800-610-9400
Call 211 to be connected to the County's services. Please note C.O.R.E teams are not designed for emergency response. For medical or other emergencies, dial 911.
The Richmond Rent Board has published a list of non-profit resources that provide financial assistance to help people maintain their housing. Please see page 3 and 4 for a list of these non-profits (http://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/DocumentCenter/View/41438/Updated-Landlord-and-Tenant-Resources-Directory-4-20-18?bidId=)
In 2017, the City Council established a homeless taskforce. A series of nine policy findings were established by a collaborative team of city, community members, non-profits, and the county to provide direction to Richmond on how to impact homelessness. These policy findings are utilized to develop an annual list of priorities for the City of Richmond. The homeless taskforce is open to the public and meets on the last Thursday of every month. During the pandemic the taskforce meets at 1:00 pm on Zoom. To be added to the contact list please email Taskforce coordinator Michelle Milam at email@example.com
Current Efforts:
• C.O.R.E Homeless Outreach Partnership with San Pablo – Richmond currently has expanded homeless outreach services to the unhoused community. In 2018 the city enacted a partnership with San Pablo, Contra Costa County Health, Housing and Homeless Services, to provide resource navigation and outreach to those experiencing homelessness. Services include intake, housing and shelter placement, health care referrals, mental health referrals, and during the pandemic assistance on COVID-19 testing in partnership with local healthcare providers.
• The City Council voted to establish a pilot interim sheltering project and directed the Planning department conducted an eight-month survey to study best practices on develop a Safe Parking Program. The City Council allocated $300K in lieu fees to launch the project, and is currently working to identify an appropriate site.
• The City has developed a partnership with the SOS (Safe Organized Spaces) Team. SOS is currently spearheading a Richmond Streets Team. The Streets Team employs unsheltered individuals to respond to homelessness and neighborhood streets impacted by dumping and encampments throughout Richmond. The team conducts neighborhood outreach with debris removal, sanitation and hygiene interventions, and community-building processes that lead to improved encampment conditions where unsheltered individuals reside and are supported to shelter-in-place.
According to Contra Costa Homeless Continuum of Care (CoC) 2018 Annual Report:
• An average of 2,450 people were served each month.
• 58% of persons served in temporary and rapid rehousing exited to permanent housing.
• There was a 32% increase in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development funding provided over three years.
• 97% retention rate in Permanent Supportive Housing programs
• 58% of CORE outreach consumers had a positive outcome (entered shelter, warming center and/or SUD treatment)
Richmond like many smaller cities has to work within the County network to access state and federal funding for homeless services and projects. Large cities like Oakland and San Francisco receive a percentage of state and federal funding directly paid to those cities to provide services and housing to mitigate homelessness. These are largely demined by formula based on population.
In Richmond, our work has to collaborate with other entities, primarily the County to help increase and improve services for homeless individuals.


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This was published 11 years ago
'Meteorological bomb' or climate change? Experts eye Sandy's cause
A huge storm barrels down on the United States, wreaking havoc with punishing winds, record flooding, heavy snowfall and massive blackouts. Is the main culprit climate change or a freak set of coincidences?
Sandy wiped out homes along the New Jersey shore, submerged parts of New York City, and dumped snow as far south as the Carolinas. At least 50 people were reported killed in the United States, on top of 69 in the Caribbean, while millions of people were left without power. For full coverage, see:
Some scientists say that the key to Sandy's impact may be an extremely rare clash of weather systems, rather than the warmer temperatures that scientists have identified in other hurricanes and storms.
"It's a hybrid storm, which combines some features of tropical hurricanes with some features of winter storms, that operate on quite different mechanisms," said Kerry Emanuel, a professor of Atmospheric Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
While Emanuel said that there is a clear link between climate change and general trends toward more intense tropical hurricanes, in the case of Sandy more long-term study is required to determine whether climate change played a major role.
Other scientists say climate change likely aggravated whatever unique circumstances produced Sandy. They include the global warming that has caused ocean temperatures and sea levels to rise, contributing to more destructive flooding and other damage.
"Sea level rise makes storm surges worse and will continue to do so in the future," said Stefan Rahmstorf, professor of physics of the oceans at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Potsdam, Germany.
World sea levels have risen by 20 centimetres (8 inches) in the past 100 years, a trend blamed on melting ice and expanding water in the oceans caused by rising temperatures. "Every centimetre adds to damage," Rahmstorf said.
Kevin Trenberth, a senior scientist in the Climate Analysis Section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, said the jury was still out.
"There are clearly changes in the environment that all of these storms are occurring in," he said. As for Sandy, however, a lot of the weather conditions that lined up were due to a "crap shoot." A hybrid storm can be an explosive storm, "what we might call a meteorological bomb," without the influence of climate change.
Hurricane, or winter storm?
Sandy began as a late-season hurricane coming up from the Caribbean in what many experts believe were conditions fuelled by unusually warm water temperatures for this time of year. It then joined forces with a large Arctic weather system, which increased its size and transformed it into a winter storm with far more power than would otherwise have been expected.
The third unusual element was a high pressure system off Canada's east coast that blocked Sandy's escape route. While hurricanes usually turn eastward, the system forced Sandy to make a very sharp left turn and slam into the New Jersey coast.
"Many, many hurricanes have threatened the east coast of the United States over many, many years," said David Nolan, an associate professor of meteorology and physical oceanography at the University of Miami. "Virtually all of them move up the coast and eventually turn to the right and head out to sea."
Nolan said there would likely have been a winter storm forming at about this time. Because Sandy happened to be coming up the coast at exactly the right moment, it gave that storm a head start.
"Instead of starting from nothing, the storm is starting from a circulation as strong as a hurricane," he said.
Scientists also note that world temperatures in September rivalled 2005, the year hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, as the warmest in modern records, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
And a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this month said that chances of Atlantic hurricanes were higher in warmer years stretching back to 1923.
Warmer temperatures also mean that the atmosphere can hold more moisture, bringing more rain in many areas. A UN report this year predicted that a higher proportion of the world's rain would fall in downpours during the 21st century, making floods more likely.
"The latest research suggests that a warming climate will lead to more extreme weather events such as flooding rains and drought," said Michael Rawlins, who manages the Climate System Research Center at the University of Massachusetts - Amherst.
Rahmstorf said a record thaw of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean in September also might have helped build up high pressure in the North Atlantic that drove Sandy westward.
"I would be very cautious," he said. "But there is reason to suspect that there could be a connection between the record sea ice loss this summer and the path of this storm."
Recent research indicates that greenhouse gases have raised the chances of some events, such as the Texas heatwave of 2011 or a European heatwave in 2003 that killed perhaps 70,000 people. Scientists said it was too early to know if there was a link for Sandy.
All debate aside, US states still reeling from Sandy say they need to take a lesson from the increased threat of monster storms. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he has no doubt there are more extreme weather events.
"That's not a political statement; it's a factual statement," Cuomo said after a tour of New York City's ravaged infrastructure. New Yorkers will have to deal with "a new reality" when it comes to weather patterns, he said.


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Multi-platinum rockers Buckcherry have announced the release of their sixth studio album, Confessions, for early 2013.
Fans can get an early taste of Confessions by download a free copy of their new song, "Gluttony," at this location. A lyric video for the track can also be seen below.
As previously reported, Buckcherry will join Kid Rock on his 2013 Rebel Soul Arena Tour. Full dates for the trek can be found below the video.
Confessions is out February 19, 2013 via Century Media.
Solo Shows:
- 12/27 Libertyville, IL Austin's Fuel Room
- 12/28 Mt. Pleasant, MI Soaring Eagle Casino And Resort
- 12/31 Las Vegas, NV Fremont Street Experience (with Queensrÿche, Quiet Riot, Pop Evil, Otherwise)
- 1/2 Spokane, WA Knitting Factory Concert House
- 1/5 Edmonton, AB Union Hall
- 1/6 Calgary, AB Back Alley
With Kid Rock and Hellbound:
2/2 Kansas City, MO Sprint Center
2/5 Springfield, MO JQH Arena
2/7 Beaumont, TX Ford Park Event Center
Solo Show:
2/9 Tulsa, OK BOK Center
With Kid Rock and Hellbound:
2/10 Wichita, KS INTRUST Bank Arena
2/13 Bossier City, LA CenturyLink Center
2/15 Nashville, TN Bridgestone Arena
2/16 Greenville, SC Bi-Lo Center
2/18 Fort Myers, FL Germain Arena
2/20 Pensacola, FL Pensacola Civic Center
2/21 New Orleans, LA New Orleans Arena
2/23 Birmingham, AL BJCC Arena
2/24 Huntsville, AL Von Braun Center
2/26 Greensboro, NC Greensboro Coliseum Complex
2/27 Knoxville, TN Knoxville Civic Auditorium
3/1 Memphis, TN FedEx Forum
3/2 Louisville, KY KFC Yum! Center


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Yamaha CS01 Synthesizer, MA10 Headphone Amplifier, MH10 Stereo Headphones and MM10 Stereo Mic/Line Mixer "Before. After. Rolling sound..." Producer Series two-page colour advertisement from page 36 and 37 in the August 1982 issue of Keyboard Magazine.
Yamaha must have known they were on to a good thing with the artistic direction taken for the Producer Series of advertisements, and decided to keep the ball rolling after the first ad appeared in the June 1982 issue of Keyboard Magazine - ---see right --->
In that first advertisement, Yamaha focused on the theme of "Private practice", where using only Yamaha Producer Series equipment, a band could practice without annoying the neighbours, or apparently, the pet dog.
In this second advertisement, again appearing only once, this time in the August 1982 issue of Keyboard, the theme switches to "Rolling sound", aka the ability to take your music on the road. And not on now-fasionable inline skates, but old-skool roller skates - toe-brakes and all. Whether we are talking about the skates or the... ahem... cleavage... it is truly all in the details. Hubba! The point is, this battery-operated gear is light and easy to take on the road.
Both this ad and the previous one follow the same "Before/After" layout, with only two splashes of colour to be found. In the "Producer Series" name and the gear itself. Those splashes of colour save the ad in some ways, allowing the readers' eyes to find a focal point. Something that could be rather difficult without the colour in a two page advertisement this busy.
I have to give Yamaha credit. They went to great lengths to make these ads unique. And not just the imagery, but the ad-copy as well. The story pulls each piece of gear from the Producer Series into the ad, even if it is not part of the artwork. Nice.
At some point I'll pick up all these pieces just to fiddle with, but as can be seen in my previous blog post, my obsession is really all about the CS01 synthesizer.
Side note: I went through a period where I was really fascinated with mini-synthesizers and at one point was ignoring all my other gear and creating music based only around my CZ101, DX100, MC202 and Prophecy. Kind of concept album. Never went anywhere, and probably a good thing since that last one I mentioned, the Korg Prophecy, may not be a true mini. Someone would have called me out on that. But it is monophonic. And great sounding. And adorable - just like the rest in this group. :)
Anyways, my obsession is really about the CS01. But the others were definitely along for the ride. For example, all four pieces appeared in the same Spec Sheet promo in the May 1982 issue of Keyboard (a month before the ads started to appear). The promo focuses on the most important aspects of each piece - the size and weight. Plus, us historical freaks get some retail pricing info too!
"Yamaha products. Four new miniaturized sound reinforcement components have been introduced by Yamaha. The portable battery-operated CS01 Monophonic Synthesizer, is 19 3/4" wide by 6-3/8" deep, with a 32-note keyboard, pitch and mod wheels, LFO, variable glissando, pitch, and waveform controls, pulse width modulation, full VCF, VCA, and envelope generator controls, an octave selector for adjusting keyboard range, and an interface allowing modulation of both VCF and VCA functions by breath. A build-in amp and speaker system is also included. Price is $249.95. The MH10 Headphone Amplifier, weighing 17 ounces and measuring 8-3/4" by 5" by 2-1/16", features four line inputs and outputs, separate volume controls, bass and treble controls, and input and master volume controls that permit intentional distortion effects. A built-in analog delay line can create a stereo-like effect. The MA10 sells for $124.95. The MH10 Stereo Headphones weigh two ounces, and feature adjustable headband and a 9' cable. Price is $29.95. Finally, the MM10 Mic/Line Stereo Portable Mixer weighs 17 ounces, measures 98-3/4" by 5" by 2-1/16", with capability of mixing up to four signals. Each powered product runs on either AC or battery. Yamaha, Boxx 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622."$249.95?!?! That's an amazing price for what the portable CS01 can do. And the timing couldn't have been better either. In this May issue alone, we have advertisements for the Roland TB303/TR606 and SCI Remote Prophet. And the article on Jonathan Cain (Ex-Babys Keyboardist touring with Journey) features a large photo of him with an ARP Odyssey strapped around his neck (and looking like he's experiencing severe back problems). Technology was getting to the point where the luxury of portability was starting to kick in. Yamaha was catching the wave.
I'm curious though... can I really get a power generator harness for my dog? I could see how that could come in handy.


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openrtm.org is the official website of OpenRTM-aist, an open source robotic technology middleware which is developed and distributed by Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology.
OpenRTM-aist Version 1.2.2 has been released
The latest release version is OpenRTM-aist-1.2.2-RELEASE. Source and binary packages for Linux and Windows are available from here.
- Release notes
Current versions for each language are:
The Windows installer package available from the link to the right includes all of the libraries, dependencies and tools required to try the example components. Please see "Let's start OpenRTM-aist in ten minutes" after it downloads it. Have fun!
Tools for creating and using RT Components. RTSystemEditor and RTCBuilder operate as Eclipse plugins or RCP programs. rtshell provides a command-line interface for using and managing RT Components and complete RT Systems. The libraries for Python, rtctree and rtsprofile, allow RT Components and RT Systems to be manipulated from your own Python programs.
Source code repository
Bug tracking
Old versions
RTC/RTS profile specification
This page provides some specification documents and schema files of RT-Component's specification description format (RTCProfile) and RT-Systems' specification description format (RTSProfile) which are used in RTSystemEditor, RTCBuilder and rtshelll.
RT-Component profile specification (RTCProfile)
Versioin 0.2
- Specification document(PDF)
- Schema
Version 0.1
- Schema
RT-Systems profile specification (RTSProfile)
Versioin 0.2
- Specification document(PDF)
- Schema


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While I received Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) from Microsoft last Tuesday, I knew I wasn't going to be able to get much done during the past week because of a trip to Denver that was scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday. I was able to get SP1 installed on an HP Tablet PC, in time for the trip, mostly because it was recently purchased and still had the original (RTM) version of Vista installed. All of my other PCs had/have pre-release versions of SP1 installed, and the process for uninstalling that and reinstalling the final SP1 version is time consuming.
Well, as of Friday, I was back from Denver, so I started looking into getting my other PCs up to date with SP1. The biggest challenge would be my main desktop, Viiv (as in, "you haven't lived until you've viived"), because I intended to wipe it out and install Vista with SP1 from scratch. This was a challenge simply because it is my main desktop, and I keep my primary copies of a lot of data on there, including my Web sites, my music, photo, and video collections, and more. There was a lot of backing up to do and a lot of checking and rechecking.
Helping matters, Microsoft provided me with two SP1 discs. One includes both the x86 and x64 standalone installers, which can be used to upgrade existing Vista versions to SP1, and the other is an integrated Vista install disk that includes the SP1 bits built-in. I used the standalone installers on all the other systems, but I used the integrated full install on my main PC. Here's how it went.
Pre-wipeout: Backup, check everything, check everything again
Because of my need to test software on an ongoing basis, I tend to reinstall Windows repeatedly. This shouldn't be seen as a testimony to any weakness in Windows per se, it's just that I muck my systems up pretty quickly. There are two points to be made here: What I use changes pretty frequently, so I can't really automate the process very effectively. And I make some pretty standard mistakes each time I wipe out a system: Maybe I forget to deauthorize the system from iTunes, or fail to back up some saved games. It seems like I miss something every time.
This time, I wanted to make sure that didn't happen. And since I've changed the way I work over the past year, the process was made a bit easier this time around. The biggest change was getting my email, contacts, and calendar off the local system: I manage these in the Internet cloud, so to speak, using a variety of Google, Yahoo, Microsoft services. And not having to back up this stuff was a nice thing to not have to worry about.
But there was stuff on my PC that had to be backed up. The local version of the SuperSite, for example. My documents folder. My pictures. Saved games. Some work in progress from my desktop. I had to export my iTunes playlists and ratings so that I could reconstitute that data after reinstalling, but since the actual songs are stored on a removable HP Personal Media Drive (PMD), all I had to do there was detach the drive. That PMD also contains my movies and a few random backups. It was where I stored the stuff I backed up from the actual PC.
I also had to deauthorize my iTunes and Audible accounts. Decouple the PC from Windows Home Server. That kind of thing. I performed most of this work over the course of Saturday while doing other things in my office and around the home. I also made an additional copy of much of the backup to another external USB drive, just in case.
By Saturday night it was time to get to work.
Wipeout: Boot from the Vista install disk, install, cross fingers
Before installing Vista with SP1, I removed the PMD and unplugged all the non-necessary USB devices, or basically everything but my keyboard and mouse: This included the iPhone dock, the photo printer, the scanner, the Microsoft Xbox 360 game controller adapter, and a small Belkin USB hub. Stripped down to the basics, it was time to install.
Installing Vista, as you probably know, is a simple and quick-moving process. Installing Vista with SP1 is a virtually identical experience. After booting off the integrated DVD and answering a few questions about the how and where of the install, it was off and running, and the whole thing was mostly done in about 35 minutes. (One bit of trivia: There is one tiny difference in SP1 where the background image used during Setup is different from that used in the Setup routine for the RTM version of Vista. See the image below for a comparison.) At the end of Setup, you fill in some user account information, wait while it needlessly rates the performance of your system, and then logon to the desktop for the first time.
As with pre-SP1 versions of Vista, most hardware is simply installed correctly at first boot, and most of what wasn't installed by that point was quickly picked up automatically by Windows Update. I sort of short-circuited the process by manually installing the latest ATI video drivers, but that was all I had to do manually and I suspect that if I had waited, it would have done it all by itself. I then ran the Windows Experience Index (WEI) test to get that out of the way.
I left the USB stuff uninstalled for the time being and began installing my most necessary applications. The first round included Office 2007 Ultimate, Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0, Microsoft Digital Image Suite 2006, ESET NOD32 (an antivirus solution I've been testing lately, though I usually use AVG Free), the Slysoft applications, Wakoopa Tracker, iTunes and QuickTime, the HP MediaSmart Home Server Connector, several Windows Live applications and services, and a few games, including Gears of War and Unreal Tournament 3. After plugging in the PMD, I also copied back some data, including my photo collection and documents.
Sunday morning, I revived all my iTunes playlists and ratings and began importing movies and fixing other iTunes-related miscellanea. Apple's digital media application works well if slowly, but it has a weird habit of dropping the same album art every time I copy the collection over, and I had to re-inform the application that certain videos were TV shows, not movies, one at a time, which I found laborious. It took a while, but iTunes was up and running pretty quickly, minus some podcasts, which I'll be downloading soon. Then it's on to the iPods, Apple TV, and iPhone, which will need to b resynched.
I also finished bringing over all the backed up data from the PMD on Sunday and installed a few things I'd forgotten, like Handbrake. I installed Vista's Web server and got my Web site back up and running, and made sure I could bring it up in Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2008 Express. Everything seemed to be working swimmingly, so I configured the networked laser printer and then brought up the USB devices one by one.
As I write this, the system is pretty much back the way it was. There are a few applications I'll need to install over time, like VMWare, and it will probably be tonight before I get to the iPods and iPhone. Those will take a long time. Other apps will come onboard as they're needed (like the Amazon MP3 downloader).
Installation triage
Through all this, Vista worked without a hitch, contrary to the horror stories that are so common online. There were no crashes, application or otherwise, and no errors. Explorer never hung, and my file transfers all seemed to run pretty smoothly. The only exception was an iTunes movie rental transfer, from the iPhone back to the PC, which took an unacceptably long time (I'm talking over 3 hours). I blame Apple for this, however. Despite claims to the contrary, iTunes isn't very well written. I like it, but it needs work.
Compared to the RTM version of Vista, which I first installed on this system back in late 2006, the SP1 install was just a bit smoother. More hardware was correctly configured automatically, and there were no post-install snafus, as there had been with Vista RTM. That said, Vista RTM didn't exactly fall down hard during my first install either. But there have been improvements.
To this date, I've now updated all of my Vista machines to SP1. My ongoing experiences with this release will shape my final review, of course, but after almost a week of steady use, I've got nothing but positive news. So far.


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For many a TechCruncher, the past week has been the same as most. Break some news, go to some events, turn the world on with your smile… you know the drill. But for John Biggs, Josh Zelman and I (and at times Matt Burns), this week has been a whirlwind of crazy awesome parties, Southeastern drawls, incredibly cool startup pitches, and an amazing amount of both pork and beer.
It's the Southeast Meetup tour ya'll, and it's coming to a close tonight. We've hit Atlanta, Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte, and now we're headed to Greenville, South Carolina. (As a side note, the location has changed. We'll now be holding the event at The Overlook Grill – 601 South Main Street Greenville, SC 29601.)
It's been a long ride, but a great one. In fact, we've invited at least two dozen companies to apply for Disrupt — yep, that's how cool these companies are.
It's amazing to look for startups outside of Silicon Valley and Silicon Alley and find an abundance of exactly that. Hopefully, the last spot on this totally successful meetup tour will bring more of the same.
Again, the location has changed, so if you're coming tonight be sure to familiarize yourself with The Overlook Grill – 601 South Main Street Greenville, SC 29601.
Here's another look at our sponsors:
Honda has long viewed itself as a mobility company, focused on creating new value for its customers and society through innovations developed from the initiative and original thinking of Honda associates around the world. The willingness to pursue new dreams for the customer, which Honda expresses as "The Power of Dreams," has been at the core of the company's success and comes not only from new ideas but also from the determination of Honda associates to make these ideas come true for the customer. By creating new value for its customers — and by focusing on areas of critical social concern, such as the environment — Honda hopes to gain recognition throughout the world as a company that society wants to exist.
The Creative Coast is a non-profit organization supported by The City of Savannah and SEDA. We exist to nurture the members of our community engaged in creative or innovative endeavors and to cultivate an environment in which they can thrive.
Rails Machine is a full-service web operations and hosting company. We're a small team of experienced, dedicated, and focused people who have a genuine interest in technology and enjoy working with and giving back to the Ruby on Rails community. We founded Rails Machine in 2006 to create the ultimate hosting environment for Rails applications.
Total Server Solutions was founded in 2005 with the goal of providing unsurpassed support and technical services to the web hosting community. Over the years, Total Server Solutions has grown to offer some of the finest colocation facilities in the world as well as fully managed dedicated server offerings, custom solutions, and cloud computing services.
Thumb Friendly helps local businesses and national brands acquire new customers with powerful mobile marketing strategies. With web access at their fingertips, mobile users are ready to learn, ready to interact, and ready to buy; but a mobile optimized website is only the beginning. Our m360 Strategy Plan is a complete management program proven to drive new visitors to your site, retain them with a great user experience, and convert them into revenue generating customers. Our solution tracks and records visitor engagement through a sophisticated monitoring program. The real power behind m360 is our consultative approach to building a mobile marketing strategy. We provide detailed reports and analysis of your campaign's performance which we use to refine your strategy to its optimal state. No contracts, just results!
Yovia is a People Engine – a technology that monetizes social media. Yovia enables individuals and businesses to spread the word® profitably and organically throughout Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+.
PrivateDocs is the first enterprise social network with a core emphasis of document management and collaboration among internal teams, personal and business relationships. Secure, fast and beautiful- PrivateDocs is the next generation of business collaboration. Come share with us- we're Awesome!
Atlanta Capital is an SEC registered investment advisory firm that specializes in managing high quality stock and bond portfolios on behalf of institutional and individual investors. For over 40 years, Atlanta Capital has remained dedicated to a single investment philosophy which has been successfully executed over a variety of market conditions. Today, our philosophy is consistently applied across a broad range of traditional equity and fixed income investment strategies. We believe the experience and stability of our investment professionals are the hallmarks of our organization.
Levitate Media develops video for the tech market. We help companies explain their offerings more effectively through animation, 3D, motion graphics, live video capture, testimonials, and more. Our productions help simplify complex ideas and are viewed on websites, during sales presentations, at trade shows, and anywhere else video can be played.
The StartupChicks mission is to build a world-wide community of like-minded female founders, to educate, coach and mentor entrepreneurs to help accelerate their businesses, and to inspire aspiring female entrepreneurs to take the leap.
The Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) is a startup accelerator that helps technology entrepreneurs in Georgia launch and build successful companies. Founded in 1980, ATDC has helped create millions of dollars in tax revenues by graduating more than 130 companies, which together have raised over a billion dollars in outside financing. Headquartered in Atlanta's Technology Square, ATDC serves as the hub for technology entrepreneurship in Georgia. ATDC provides business incubation and acceleration services to hundreds of startups through coaching, connecting and community. Membership is open to all technology startup companies in Georgia, from those at the earliest conception stage to revenue generating, venture-fundable companies.
Pardot is a B2B cloud marketing automation software provider that increases revenue and maximizes efficiency for companies with multi-touch sales cycles. Pardot's platform features CRM integration, email marketing, lead nurturing, lead scoring and ROI reporting to help marketing and sales teams work together to generate and qualify sales leads, shorten sales cycles, and demonstrate marketing accountability. Pardot offers affordable pricing for the SMB market.
Social Fortress is data security and information privacy reinvented. Backed by the people who originally invented it. For both the enterprise and the consumer.
Badgy delivers "SEO for Social" for major brands, increasing the reach of their content on Facebook and Twitter. It's the fastest and most seamless way for a brand to operate a social loyalty program. Most recently, we've made it dead simple to get any Facebook app page using the extremely effective Facebook Timeline Actions.
CodeGuard provides automatic cloud website backup and restore built upon Amazon Web Services: WordPress, MySQL, and FTP/SFTP. Restore files or entire sites whenever your want, and be notified when content on the site changes. Launched May 2011 at TechCrunch Disrupt – NYC, CodeGuard received the Audience Choice Award. Since then over 4 billion files have been examined and they recently announced the closure of a 1.3M Series A financing.
Collectors are the best consumers…crazy and passionate. CollectorDASH gives collectors a community-based experience making collecting more fun and affordable. With an innovative and integrated solution, the CollectorDASH platform is set to disrupt this multi-billion dollar market.
In the growing e-commerce market, small and medium businesses with online stores often choose to drop-ship products direct from supplier to customer to compete with the big players. eCommHub is a drop shipping platform that integrates with your online store to automate inventory management and order fulfillment through a third-party, effectively allowing you to expand product offerings, route orders intelligently, and minimize backorders. With its easy setup process and pay as you grow™ pricing, eCommHub can serve smaller online retailers, allowing them to grow their business, increase their margin and improve customer retention.
Employees today are publishing and sharing their valuable product and process optimization ideas almost everywhere except where they are needed the most – inside their own companies. What we do at IdeaString is help companies capture the innovation and genius of their employees, customers and partners —then efficiently identify the best ideas so they can put them to work in their own business – instead of having to read about it on the internet, in the media or even from a direct competitor. IdeaString's patent-pending technology puts the human spirit at the center of innovation – every employee's unique talents and behaviors are intelligently leveraged to optimize the innovation process for richer, more creative Ideas that equals more valuable outcomes for business.
We're fans of innovation and we're completely sold on startups. It's in iFusion's DNA. In addition to providing chief marketing officer counsel on a fractional basis, we also provide a full-range of marketing services to emerging growth companies. We've been in the trenches and understand the unique demands of taking a start up from idea to market. Ours is a customer-centric approach to marketing that raises awareness, nurtures leads and generates revenues.
TAG educates, promotes, influences and unites Georgia's technology community to foster an innovative and connected marketplace that stimulates and enhances Georgia's tech-based economy.
Special thanks to the fellows at GBW Strategies who helped us organize the event.
GBW Strategies is a new era, Triangle-based public relations and marketing firm serving clients such as Facebook and the Cherokee Challenge.
StrikeIron is the leader in Data-as-a-Service (DaaS), delivering data quality and communications solutions via our cloud platform IronCloud. We provide address verification, email verification, phone validation, phone append, SMS text messaging, and sales tax solutions to customers in a variety of markets. Our solutions are delivered as Web services that can be easily integrated into any application or system. Additionally, our solutions are pre-integrated into leading platforms like: Magento, Eloqua, Salesforce.com, Informatica, Oracle CRM On-Demand and more.
American Tobacco Campus has evolved from an abandoned industrial husk to a thriving hub for cutting edge companies, restaurants and festivals. In addition to longtime tenants Burt's Bees and global advertising firm McKinney, American Tobacco recently welcomed a R&D arm of HTC. Late last year, Brooklyn-based Wireless Generation chose the campus for a development branch expressly because of its cultural verve and access to top talent.
American Underground (inside American Tobacco) is home to the most capitalized technology accelerator in the southeast, startups, a gaming incubator, and resources such as NC IDEA and CED The Underground has become a model for other cities eager to foster entrepreneurialism, and an attractive asset to larger companies looking for spark, ideas and talent.
Triangle Startup Factory, the most highly capitalized technology accelerator in the southeast, runs an intensive, three month program customized for early stage startup companies. Startups receive seed capital, hands-on mentorship, and access to a network of active angels, veteran startup founders, and experienced technology experts.
Digitalsmiths is the technology leader in video search and recommendation; with customers such as Warner Brothers and Paramount.
Argyle Social is a Durham based marketing software company committed to helping their customers "harness the social channel and bend it to their will.
Netsertive drives increased local sales opportunities and targeted online exposure by providing technology-driven, high-performance online marketing to businesses and their related brands.
Geomagic is a leading provider of 3D software for creating digital models of physical objects.
SciQuest helps organizations streamline their entire source-to-settle process, and is the only company that provides the scale, expertise and transparency that your organization requires to improve your bottom line.
Relevance delivers open source software solutions to help businesses succeed.
Sharefile/Citrix provides business solutions that are enabling mobile workstyles and powering cloud services.
NC Idea is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization created to serve as a catalyst for young, high-growth, technology companies in North Carolina. They help these innovative companies mainly by providing early financing in the form of grants.
Groundwork Labs is a catalyst to generate momentum for North Carolina startups and help prepare them for funding opportunities such as grants, accelerators, or angel investment.
Idea Fund Partners is a seed and early stage venture capital firm with offices in Durham, North Carolina and Orlando, Florida. They invest mainly in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic, focusing on companies developing software, medical devices or other technologies where intellectual property is an important asset and source of differentiation from competitors.
Shoeboxed provides the fastest way to turn a pile of receipts into digital data for effortless expense reporting, accounting, bookkeeping, and tax preparation.
Bandwidth.com provides Internet and telephone solutions to power business.
ReverbNation provides a central site for musicians, producers, and venues to collaborate and communicate.
The Durham Chamber serves the needs of businesses, non-profits and government agencies of all sizes in the greater Durham-area.
The Escapist is a multiple Webby Award-winning internet site focusing on games and entertainment, and is the leading voice in videogame culture for 4 million fans worldwide. This year, The Escapist will host the Escapist Expo, North Carolina's premier consumer convention, which will unite fans of videogames, tabletop games, comics, music and more in a celebration of everything great in multi-media escapisim.
Contactology is the go-to provider of email marketing software for white labeling, API integrations, enterprise and startups. Marketers know we're the ESP they'll never outgrow.
inMotionNow is a leading provider of workflow solutions for the enterprise creative department, facilitating efficiency and productivity in the approval process for print, video, and interactive content. The company's flagship product, the inMotion SaaS application for Creative Workflow Management, enables companies to manage and track their marketing and creative projects in a centralized, online environment. inMotion reviewers can access and markup content online and deliver approval back in minutes, from any internet-enabled device or through the inMotion Mobile Review app for iPhone and iPad.
Special thanks to Packard Place for hosting the event.
NexTable started with an idea to make reservations better and more affordable to our restaurant community. NexTable was founded by a group of dedicated entrepreneurs, restaurateurs and developers. Together with the assistance of local restaurateurs and mentors, we are committed to serving the restaurant industry by creating a revolutionary iPad real-time reservation, table management and marketing system that simply excels in value, innovation, features, and ease of use. Our objective is to liberate restaurants from using manual booking systems and costly competitors.
Virtual Race Bags provides a fully-integrated online platform for Event Directors to efficiently and cost-effectively deliver sponsor messages to event participants. Much more than a simple "virtual goody bag," Virtual Race Bags delivers sponsor deals, offers and messages to event participants using an online platform that is customized for each event. In addition, through our network of events, national brands can reach over 1.5MM participants in 2012. Virtual Race Bags was founded in 2010 by a team seeking to leverage their professional experience in the Endurance industry and as Athletes to help significantly improve upon the iconic race bag.
Founded by a team of compassionate doctors, WeRx.org believes that all patients deserve the right to be fully informed about their healthcare. WeRx.org provides a community of caring advocates and patients a platform to share and compare the most up-to-date prescription drug costs between their local and online pharmacies. If you believe that every American deserves the right to have access to their needed medications, join us!
Autopilot allows you to book a vetted, professional driver on demand when you can't, shouldn't, or simply don't want to drive your own vehicle. You can reserve a driver with the push of a button, track their arrival, and enjoy the benefits of automated, cashless payments all from your mobile device.
mailVU.com provides an business video platform to service providers. Our API and private label accounts enable businesses to easily integrate video recording and distribution functionality into their own service. mailVU's combination of mobile and computer apps allow real-time video recording of testimonials, pitches, applications, or personal messages and presentations. Customers access a private content library where videos can be viewed and managed, and then distributed in a variety of manners including social media, newsletters and email, or embedding onto websites.
inMotionNow is a leading provider of workflow solutions for the enterprise creative department, facilitating efficiency and productivity in the approval process for print, video, and interactive content. The company's flagship product, the inMotion SaaS application for Creative Workflow Management, enables companies to manage and track their marketing and creative projects in a centralized, online environment. inMotion reviewers can access and markup content online and deliver approval back in minutes, from any internet-enabled device or through the inMotion Mobile Review app for iPhone and iPad.
Umatch combines cutting edge technology, proven research and retention principles, and dynamic machine learning into a proactive, holistic approach to improving enrollment yields, student retention rates, and graduation rates.
NEXT is an economic development program of the Greenville Chamber uniquely focused on the growth and attraction of early-stage knowledge-based companies in Greenville, South Carolina.
The Iron Yard provides innovation, education, coworking, mentorship, capital, and events for the technology and design communities.
The Upstate Carolina Angel Network, LLC (UCAN) is a group of accredited investors located in Upstate South Carolina who invest in and support start-up and early-stage, high-growth businesses in the Southeastern United States. Since its inception in 2008, UCAN has invested more than $5.6 million in 22 companies.
The mission of the Arthur M. Spiro Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership is to support educational, research and outreach programs that promote entrepreneurial activity and economic development of the region, state and nation. The focus is on wealth creation through entrepreneurial activity.
Dealer Ignition is the fastest, easiest, most effective way for brands and dealers to market online.
Servosity's Mission is to: Deliver Mission-Critical Backup and Disaster Recovery to MSPs and IT Resellers in a way that makes their brain do the happy-dance.
Mailprotector provides a suite of SaaS based email security and management solutions to over 3,000 organizations across six continents.
Foxfire specializes in Warehouse Management Software solutions and services. Our warehousing software is available as Level 1: Inventory Management, Level 2: WMS Express, and Level 3: WMS Enterprise. Foxfire warehousing software is ideal for start-up to mid-sized warehouses that want to optimize production and processes. Foxfire WMS provides the flexibility to use the system as is or to configure to exact specifications.
RAP Index is a key contacts software service, developed by advocacy experts for advocacy professionals, that uses a patent-pending scoring process to decisively identify and measure the Relationships, Advocability and Political Capital of an organization's stakeholders, to find their key contacts and activate their best messengers. RAP Index is an indispensable service that helps organizations Know Who They Know℠ from the Capital to Main Street.
Fusion Web Clinic is the smartest Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system in therapy. It is the first and only system that automatically keeps track of daily, required tasks for each staff member, and graphs patient progress. Fusion allows you to work smarter, not harder.
Vigilix helps companies improve the value of their technical support services through PCI validated proactive monitoring and remote access. Currently over 20,000 systems are supported by companies using Vigilix's POS Monitoring & Management solution.
ProActive Technology delivers dynamic solutions to help clients identify what data is necessary for improved business performance and then to develop the most efficient software for that purpose. Specializations include SharePoint Development, Custom Programming, and Database Management. ProActive provides fully-managed, worry-free custom software development that's sensitive to your budget, schedule, and business model.
Loc Engine: You are here. They are there. Let's share. Real-time tracking and location management.
tribr is taking the hassle out getting together with a group of your friends. More fun with your tribe, and less hassle!
Pathwright is a platform for creating, teaching, and selling beautiful online courses.
Eleos Technologies is on a mission to eradicate fax machines from the face of the earth. Our cloud- based mobile platform enables businesses to capture documents and photos from remote workers and customers.


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It's hard to import a European murder mystery without importing baggage along with it — expectations of a gray chill, of relentless and austere severity.
It's not that you won't see any of that in Broadchurch, the eight-part British drama that comes to BBC America beginning Wednesday night. It begins with a body found on a beach at the bottom of a wall of craggy cliffs. There are broken hearts, and there's a kind local cop (Olivia Colman), and there's a shipped-in city cop with a heavy heart and a sharp tongue who doesn't get along with anyone (David Tennant). You'd be forgiven for thinking it was going to be, in short, a drag.
And if it were a simple crime procedural, its close-up handling of such a devastating story might seem exploitative, like just another dead body in another quirky television town. But while there is a mystery here, and while they will solve it in these eight episodes, the solution to the murder mystery is not what the show is really about.
The show is about the town of Broadchurch, where the body is found, and about the way grief is so unwieldy and burdensome that it interrupts and interferes with every other emotion. Trust is upended, old wounds are opened (and others are healed), and relationships are threatened by the deeply human but totally wrongheaded tendency toward trying to negotiate the terms under which others manage pain.
At the center of the show are great performances from Colman and Tennant as Ellie Miller and Alec Hardy, the local cop and her new, grumpy superior who are working together to solve the case. Ellie's family knows the family of the deceased, and she represents what's unavoidably intimate and personal about handling tragedies. Alec is newly promoted and imported, and he's just coming off a case that went poorly, so his investment is just as great in its way, but very different.
Over the course of the story, suspicion will shift over and over before it settles. People will seem one way, then another. The local journalists following the story will seem craven, and then honest, and then desperate. Ellie and Alec are both right sometimes and wrong sometimes, and they will do the wrong thing while trying to do the right thing.
Broadchurch treats tragedy in a community as almost an autoimmune disorder, where beyond the initial loss, the real fight is getting the thing not to turn its passions and defenses against itself. It does feel timely. It's common to talk about series as "timely" when their storylines closely mirror real events or the issues they raise are in direct parallel. But a story about pain not being translated into mistrust and mistreatment is always timely, really.
It's rare that television is this good at presenting flawed humanity as both the greatest and most dangerous element of any social structure. It's a lot more than a murder mystery.
Broadchurch begins Wednesday night at 10 p.m. ET. The first episode is also streaming free, with no commercials, at the BBC America site.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.