text:
...making Linux just a little more fun!
Single Image Stereograms (SIS) are two-dimensional images that seem to be three-dimensional; these 3-d images appear to "pop up" (or "pop down") out of the printed paper. The amount of training the typical human nervous system requires to see such images seems to vary from person to person; it seems to help if you are old and myopic! This tutorial is not about that however; it is about creating the images that will invoke the 3-d image in the eye a trained beholder. I will explain how I created such a stereogram of (what is to me) a beautiful mathematical entity called "Borromean Rings". The techniques described are sufficiently general that readers should be able to create their own images. In particular, the reader may want to construct a depth map for something else like a trefoil knot or a fish.
The history of how I got interested in stereograms is at the end (see section 6) of this document.
1.1 Software Required. If you have a basic Debian setup (with XFree86) that is connected to the Internet, then all you need to do is execute the following command as root:
apt-get install gimp blender stereograph
In other words, you need to install the software packages: gimp, blender, and stereograph, in addition to a basic Graphical Desktop (XFree86) installation.
You need to start the GUI and then start gimp or blender running as applications within the GUI. This is usually as simple as starting a terminal and typing gimp or blender as the case may be. Depending upon the sophistication of your interface you can probably also get them under the "Graphics Applications" menu.
The 3-d modelling program Blender is an excellent contribution from the NaN Company and the Blender Foundation to the community. It is capable of far more than the construction of depth maps as described in this document. Excellent tutorials are available on-line, or as downloadable documentation. Start at the Blender community site for more...
We first start blender and create an empty scene in it. This is done by typing Ctrl-X in blender and accepting the offer to erase all objects. This creates a scene with a cube (selected), a camera, and a lamp. You can further type a twice to select all objects, then type x to delete all selected objects. Finally, accept the offer to erase the cube, lamp, and camera. As a result we become bold adventurers who are traveling light without a lamp or camera!
We will now (approximately) follow the tutorial given in the section on "DupliFrames" in the blender manual to create the "rings".
First press space to activate the menu to add objects. Select a "Curve" of type "Nurbs circle" and press the enter key. Unless you have moved the "3-d cursor" in blender,1 this should be inserted with its center at the origin of the co-ordinate system. Now we scale it by a factor of 2 in the y direction by typing s, y, 2 and entering. This is the central "path" of the ring.
Next we add the curve that is the "contour" of the surface. Go to the object mode by hitting Tab. As before, press space to get the object addition menu, and select another "Curve" of type "Nurbs circle". Scale this surface to a reasonable size by typing s, 0.25. Finally, to avoid confusion, rename this curve to "contour" by typing n, and then edit the name by selecting it with a left mouse button click.
Now we return to object mode with a tab and select the original y-stretched circle. Get to the edit menu by typing F9. Under the menu "Curve and Surface" there is an entry called "BevOb". Select it and enter the name of the other curve, i.e. "contour" if you followed the last step of the previous paragraph. The y-stretched circle will now be used as a "path", and the contour will be "extruded" along it making a ring. To finish things off, select the "contour" with the right mouse button, grab it by typing g, and shift it 10 steps to the right and "out of sight" of the camera by typing x followed by entering 10.
To create the two other copies of the ring we go as follows. First select it with the right mouse button and make a linked duplicate by typing Alt-d. Then rotate it by 90 degrees by typing r and entering 90. Shift to the "side view" by typing the 3/PgDn key on the Number-Pad. Again rotate by 90 degrees by typing r and entering 90. Now shift to the "front view" by typing 1/End on the Number-Pad. Make another copy by typing Alt-d and rotate it by 90 degrees by typing r and entering 90. Go back to the "top view" by typing 7/Home on the Number-Pad and then rotate again by 90 degrees by typing r and entering 90.
To get a better view of the rings we first place the 3-d cursor at the origin. Then type . (period or dot) to get the rotations to be about the 3-d cursor (which is at the origin). Select all the rings one by one as follows: select the first with a right mouse button click and select each of the others with a right mouse button click with Shift pressed. Now rotate by 45 degrees around the z-axis by typing r followed by entering 45. Then shift to the front view by typing 1/End on the Number-Pad; again rotate by 45 degrees, this time around the y-axis, by typing r and entering 45. Go back to the top view by typing 7/Home on the Number-Pad and switch to the "solid" view by typing z.
The brain does create a 3-d "feeling" out of the image rendered above but it is not really a "pop-up" 3-d image. For that we have to create a depth map version of the image. In blender this is done using a texture. A texture is attached to a material so we must add material first.
Type F5 to obtain the Materials and Textures menu. The select the default Material by clicking the button next to the button marked "ADD NEW" under the "Material" menu. You may also select a new "Material" with "ADD NEW". Now, the last menu on the right is the "Textures" menu. If the Default texture is already added then there will be a small "tick" mark next to a button that says "Tex". Otherwise select the default "Tex" texture with the button next to the "ADD NEW" button in this menu; alternatively add a new texture if there is none. Now select the leopard-skin" like button that has a helper-pop-up which says "Texture buttons". A new set of menus appears. In the "Texture" menu in this panel select the "Blend" texture.
Go back to the "Material" menus and buttons by selecting the red "sphere" that has a helper-pop-up which says "Material buttons". Select the "Map Input Menu". This menu allows us to select the input data that is used to determine the variation in material that forms the texture. Select the "Glob" button that makes the "Global" co-ordinates the input data for the texture. Further select the first "Z" button (next to the "sizeX" slider). Select the blank buttons next to the "sizeY" and "sizeZ" sliders. This says that the texture maps the z co-ordinate of the object to the x co-ordinate of a linear "blend".
Now we select what this linear blend is output as. Go to the "Map to" menu at the extreme right. Deselect "Col" (for Colour) and select "Emit" in order to make the texture emit light in proportion to its z co-ordinate (which is the co-ordinate that measures the distance from the camera). We also click the "No RGB" button (which sometimes shows up as "No RG" due to lack of screen space) so that the blending is just a grayscale from black to white.
We still do not have a camera to view this! We should be in the top view, if not then shift to it by typing 7/Home on the Number-Pad. Place the 3-d cursor at the origin (make sure it is the origin in all views!). Now add a camera with space and then select "Camera" in the menu that appears. Go the front view and raise the camera 10 steps in the z direction by typing g followed by z and then entering 10. We need to set the background to a uniform dark gray. You will notice a new set of menus. Click the numbers next to "HoR", "HoG" and "HoB" in the "World" menu and set these to "0.1" by entering 0.1. If you type F12 now you will see a depth map which we need to tweak just a little more.
First of all we improve the rendering. Type F10 to bring the "Render" menu. In this menu deselect the "Shado(w)", "EnvMa(p)" and "Gamma" buttons. Select the rendering to at least "75%" in order to see things more clearly. Most importantly click the "OSA" (for the over-sampling/anti-aliasing) which will cause the rings to be smoother. Finally select the output format in the "Format" menu to be "Targa Raw" instead of "Jpeg" (the default). Also click the "BW" button since we know the output is a grayscale.
This will give a reasonable depth map. However, you may wish to improve it a bit more. I felt the "black" in the rings was too dark and so I made the material emit a little more light by increasing the "Emit" slider in the "Shaders" menu up to 0.2. Further, the "ofsX" slider was brought up to 0.3 and the "sizeX" slider was taken down to 0.7.
When you are satisfied with the rendering, go to the "File" near the top left corner of the blender window and "Save Image". You may want to "Save" the .blend file as well. I will assume below that you have saved the image as borromean.tga; moreover, I will assume that the image is of size 640x480 which is the default size.
The GNU Image manipulation program is an absolutely marvelous program. I can (and have) played with it for hours! We will put this very versatile program to the limited use of creating a nice background texture for the stereographic image.
We open gimp. With the "File" menu or by typing Ctrl-n we create a canvas of size 640x480. One way to quickly create a texture of the type we need is to select the "Fill" tool from the "Tools" menu or by typing B. Then choose a nice flat pattern like "Leopard", "Rain" or "Sky". From the "Tool Options" dialog we then select "Pattern Fill" and fill the canvas with this pattern.
Now save the pattern as texture.png using the "File" menu or using Ctrl-S.
The stereograph command line program can generate a number of different types of stereograms. Even transparent ones that contain two images in one! We will create a rather simple stereogram with the command:
stereograph -R -a -t texture.png -b borromean.tga -o stereo.png
A brief explanation of these options is in order. The -t option clearly indicates the file that contains the texture while the -b option indicates the file that contains the depth map; finally the -o options indicates where the output should go. The -a options tells stereograph to enable "anti-aliasing" and the -R option is an experimental one to get rid of "artefacts".
If you find it difficult to "see" stereograms you can add the option -A which will put two triangles in the image that will assist the viewing. That's it! The file stereo.png is a stereogram image file. You can view it with your favourite image viewing software or you can even open it in gimp to view it.
I first learnt about Single Image Stereograms (SIS--which are also known commercially as MagicEye(TM) images) because of the gift to me by my sibling of a MagicEye book. Initially I appreciated the beautiful textures that were on the glossy pages of this book, but could not verify the claim of the creators that there were three-dimensional images that would "pop out" of the page. One day my aged ancestor chanced to see the cover of the book and said something like "What a strange elephant!" It is only then that I tried to see the images and was successful (Thom's morphogenesis sometimes acts extremely locally).
There are numerous sources of information (especially on the World Wide Web) on how these images "work". On reading these and attempting to create some on my own it became clear to me that the GNU Image Manipulation Program GIMP is an excellent program to create the textures. For a while there was also a GIMP plugin which would create the SIS images from a texture and a depth map. This was replaced quite soon with the excellent stereograph program. However, for a long while I could find no reasonable way to create the depth maps short of writing a program for each such map or some other form of "hacking". Whenever, I looked at 3-d scene creating software the mention of "raytracing", "textures", "lighting" and "rendering" would confuse me terribly--I'm a mathematician and not a physicist after all! Another barrier was the fact that the most popular such software povray was considered "non-free" by Debian. I had no wish to invest time and effort learning to use a program that could perhaps become unavailable to me at some point in the future.
Sometime last year I chanced upon blender, its excellent manual, and more than a few tutorials for it. Thanks to the documentation, the terms above acquired a "real" mathematical meaning. Indeed it became clear to me that blender could become for 3-d drawing what xfig already was for 2-d. Since the latter was already on my list of great graphics tools I decided to learn blender at the next available opportunity. This opportunity was the decision of our Institute (IMSc) to create a logo for itself through a "contest". While the logo "material"-ised quite nicely with (and without!) blender I still could not get the depth maps that I was looking for. It was only by repeatedly reading the blender manual for explanations on "lighting", "material", "texture" and "rendering" that I finally chanced upon the method that is described here.
The end result has been this tutorial on creating a 3-d SIS image of the Borromean Rings. Since writing this I have learnt from the "Linux Artist" site that there are many more 3-d drawing tools like blender.
As a teacher who comes from a family of teachers I cannot prevent myself from giving a few exercises:
1. In other words, don't even touch your mouse unless you really need to go somewhere!
Kapil Hari Paranjape has been a ``hack''-er since his punch-card days.
Specifically, this means that he has never written a ``real'' program.
He has merely tinkered with programs written by others. After playing
with Minix in 1990-91 he thought of writing his first program---a
``genuine'' *nix kernel for the x86 class of machines. Luckily for him a
certain L. Torvalds got there first---thereby saving him the trouble
(once again) of actually writing code. In eternal gratitude he has spent
a lot of time tinkering with and promoting Linux and GNU since those
days---much to the dismay of many around him who think he should
concentrate on mathematical research---which is his paying job. The
interplay between actual running programs, what can be computed in
principle and what can be shown to exist continues to fascinate him.


text:
One of my favorites, Carcharadontosaurus! I've been so busy lately I haven't had much time to just draw some dinosaurs, and the ones I have drawn are, well not ment to be seen yet. Just a rough sketch, need to move the legs forward a tad.
Rugops, legs are a bit long, but easily fixed and I think move the arms forward a tad, I have another more recent layout I might go with instead.
I might get a the chance to draw some dinosaurs in some comics again, stay tuned for that:)
Oh, belated Happy Christmas and Seasons Greetings. I drew a whole Christmas comic this year so I'm sort of Christmased out. We sat home and watched Doctor Who all day:)

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Comedian Dave Chappelle to Shoot Hoops with the Minnesota Timberwolves
Comedian Dave Chappelle has made the Twin Cities his home for the past week, doing a few shows at First Ave in Minneapolis. He will cap off his week with a shoot-around with members of the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday night.
Dave and the members of the T-Wolves will hit the court at Target Center at Midnight on Sunday, with doors opening an hour before at 11pm Saturday night. Entry to the undoubtedly humor-filled night of basketball will be free for the first 1,000 people that show up, but there's a catch. You'll have to have a ticket, receipt, or electronic proof purchase for a ticket to one of his last 12 shows before the event (including Saturday night's show at Pentages in Minneapolis).
In a press release for the event, it is announced pancakes will be served; which is a reference Chappelle fans will enjoy. In an episode the Comedy Central skit show Chappelle Show, Dave plays Minnesota musician Prince, who plays a pickup basketball game against Eddie Murphy's brother. Following the game, Prince serves everyone pancakes.


text:
"Deathly Hallows: Part 1" World Premiere Live from London
Nov 11, 2010
DH Film
Update: The live broadcast from the "Deathly Hallows: Part 1" World Premiere in London has now finished. Scroll down for quotes and pictures of the cast and crew and stay tuned for exclusive video and more from Leaky, who attended this evening's premiere!
With just over half an hour to go before the live stream begins, a reminder that both Livestream and UStream will be broadcasting the red carpet arrivals at the "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1" World Premiere in London's Leicester Square from 12pm ET / 5pm GMT. The stream is embedded at the bottom of this post.
TLC is in attendance and will also provide complete coverage of the premiere right here in this post. Stay tuned and be sure to follow @Leaky on Twitter for up to the minute updates! Leaky's exclusive footage from the premiere will be up later today, so stay close for that, too!
4:39 pm GMT / 11:39 am ET: The first few pictures of fans waiting behind the barriers for the stars to arrive can be seen right here in our galleries, which will be updated throughout the evening with up to the minute pictures from the premiere.
6:43pm GMT / 13:43 pm ET: At this point, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Tom Felton, Daniel Radcliffe, Imelda Staunton (Professor Umbridge), Mark Williams (Mr. Weasley), J.K. Rowling, John Hurt (Ollivander) and Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood) have all arrived. Keep checking Twitter for up to the minute updates!
6:49pm GMT / 13:49 pm ET: Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling is now being interviewed on Livestream, check it out below!
8:00pm GMT / 15:00 pm ET: New photos in the galleries, including some of J.K. Rowling, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley), Tom Felton and Evanna Lynch at the premiere.
8:10pm GMT / 15:10 pm ET: Whilst everyone is inside watching "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1," here is summary of a number of quotes from the HP cast and crew, via the @Leaky Twitter account:
- Jason Isaacs (Lucius) calls Lucius Malfoy a "broken man" in Part 1
- David Heyman (producer): "David Yates has done the most incredible job with these films."
- Emma Watson (Hermione) was most nervous about filming the torture scene with Bellatrix
- Harry/Hermione dance is one of David Yates' favorite scenes
- David Yates (director): Finished "Deathly Hallows: Part 1" three weeks ago
- Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix) spilling some movie secrets during the live stream!
- JK Rowling about the end of the films: "I've already been through my grieving process, so I can counsel everyone else tonight."
- JK Rowling: "I think the fans are going to love this film. It's my favorite!"
- Malfoy Manor even has its own organ, according to Tom Felton!
- Tom Felton's (Draco) favorite Death Eater is Lucius, of course!
- Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood) says her character is a "good role model"
- John Hurt (Ollivander): "I've never known anything like the Harry Potter films"
- "Thank you so much to everyone for supporting these films!" – Daniel Radcliffe (Harry)
- Dan Radcliffe said it was "fantastic" to be on location instead of filming year-round in Leavesden Studios.
- Bonnie Wright (Ginny) says ending of Part 1 is "perfect."
- Rupert Grint says about Ron in #DeathlyHallows: "He goes on quite a journey. There's a lot going on in his head. He's jealous and paranoid."
- Mark Williams (Mr. Weasley) interviewed on Live Stream. Admits he hasn't seen the film yet, but is looking forward to it
8:51pm GMT / 15:51pm ET: Even more new photos have been added to the Leaky galleries, including a photo of J.K. Rowling with Dan Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint and photos of Helena Bonham Carter, the trio and Clémence Poésy.
9:31pm GMT / 16:32pm ET: Photos continue to be added to the galleries including this one of Katie Leung (Cho Chang) and more pictures of the trio here and here.
10:31pm GMT / 17:10pm ET: Find a fun photo of Emma Watson with some Death Eaters at this link.
12:09am GMT / 19:09pm ET: New photos of James and Oliver Phelps (Fred and George Weasley, respectively), a larger cast shot, John Hurt, Imelda Staunton, Ralph Fiennes and more are now in our galleries.
You can watch the broadcast below, courtesy of Livestream. Alternatively, you can watch the broadcast on Livestream and UStream's respective pages:
style=" padding-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 560px;">Watch live streaming video from harrypotter at livestream.com


text:
When it comes to connecting job seekers to paid apprenticeships, no one does it better than Maricopa County. The U.S. Department of Labor ranks Maricopa County #1 in the United States for the number of people placed into registered apprenticeship programs supported by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).
Even better, Maricopa County's highly successful Registered Apprenticeship (RA) program is looking to expand into new sectors, providing even more opportunities to residents at a time when demand for new careers is high.
"The Registered Apprenticeship program gives hundreds of people each year a pathway out of poverty, putting them to work right away in industries where they can build a career," said Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Clint Hickman, District 4. "I applaud the Workforce Development Board for authorizing and overseeing a program that is truly a model for the rest of the country, and I look forward to the planned expansion of the program to serve people in our criminal justice system."
Up to this point, the RA program has focused primarily on building partnerships within the construction industry including electrical and sheet metal work, pipefitting, welding, plumbing, and heat and A/C installation and repair. However, Maricopa County is now actively looking to partner with the Department of Economic Security and companies in healthcare, insurance, and information technology (IT) to expand the types of apprenticeships offered. In addition, there are plans to provide apprenticeship opportunities to justice-involved individuals who often face significant challenges upon release in getting and maintaining employment.
"The Workforce Development Board aims to be innovative in its approach to connecting the people of Maricopa County with good jobs. We know that's more important than ever," said Matt McGuire, Chairman of the Maricopa Workforce Development Board. "The Apprenticeship Program is one of many tools we support to move job seekers forward, and it has definitely proven to be among the most effective at getting people into a career that supports a higher quality of life."
In program year 2019, the employment rate for apprenticeship participants was 93.6%, higher than any other type of job training offered by the County, and significantly higher than the 62.2% employment rate for basic career services.
"For many job seekers, an apprenticeship is more practical than other options such as continuing education because employers are paying them to learn a skill," said Shawn Hutchinson, a Workforce Representative on the Maricopa County Workforce Development Board. "For employers, it's an opportunity to develop young talent and build relationships that can benefit both the apprentice and the company for years to come."
"This program was exactly what I needed after I was laid off from a job in the construction industry due to the COVID-19 pandemic," said Matthew Conroy, a recent program participant. "Getting paid as an Electrician Apprentice allows me to grow in an industry I'm passionate about, and the paycheck is helping me pay for schooling at the Phoenix Electrical JATC."
In program year 2019, Maricopa County had 660 apprentice participants. A little more than halfway through program year 2020, there have been 472.
There are two ways a person might get placed into an apprenticeship through Maricopa County's program. They could come looking for a job through "Arizona @ Work, Maricopa County" and choose that option after talking with a case worker. They could also be referred for an apprenticeship by an employer. Depending on their need, Maricopa County might cover part or all the cost of the first year of an apprenticeship. Typically, by the time an apprentice enters year two, they are able to cover the cost on their own. With these registered apprenticeships, both wages and skill levels typically increase as they progress.
"Strong, established partnerships are what make this program work so well," said Deb Furlong, Workforce Program Manager with Maricopa County Human Services Department. "We have some amazing employers who work collaboratively with us to find the right people and help them succeed. And we have county staff who are dedicated specifically to this program. All of that creates an environment where our apprentices are invested in their employers and the employers are invested in their apprentices. It's really quite unique."
The Maricopa County Workforce Development Board (MCWDB) was established to assist the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors as the Chief Local Elected Officials in strategic planning, oversight and evaluation of the local workforce development area, as well as to promote effective outcomes consistent with statewide goals, objectives and negotiated local performance.
The MCWDB receives its authority in accordance with the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), signed into law on July 22, 2014 and is comprised of leaders representing the local area's geographic and business demographics in private business and in the public sector.
The Workforce Arizona Council is responsible for implementing the Governor's strategic vision for a robust and effective workforce system in the State of Arizona. Consisting of industry leaders in private business, community and labor organizations, local and state government agencies, and members of the State's legislature, the Council serves as a guiding force towards a stronger Arizona workforce and labor market.


text:
Call Him Ishmael
Call Him Ishmael
It is no secret that Ubuntu isn't the coolest, new-kid-on-the-block distro sensation anymore – actually that news is already a few years old. Still, Ubuntu has kept itself in the headlines with community dramas, desktop debates, and a crowd-funding effort to launch a mobile phone. The Ubuntu vision is so vast and enthralling that it is hard for the press – and the Ubuntu management – to let it go: a single unifying Linux popping up on phones, tablets, desktops, servers, and other devices that no one has even invented yet.
Dear Linux Pro Reader,
It is no secret that Ubuntu isn't the coolest, new-kid-on-the-block distro sensation anymore – actually that news is already a few years old. Still, Ubuntu has kept itself in the headlines with community dramas, desktop debates, and a crowd-funding effort to launch a mobile phone. The Ubuntu vision is so vast and enthralling that it is hard for the press – and the Ubuntu management – to let it go: a single unifying Linux popping up on phones, tablets, desktops, servers, and other devices that no one has even invented yet.
But reality is starting to sound its trumpet. The Ubuntu Edge mobile phone effort didn't work, the TV initiative isn't going anywhere, and the personal cloud/music store dream disappeared in April when Canonical CEO Jane Silber announced an end to the Ubuntu One service.
Back in January, Canonical was in the news with its annual financial statement. The company reported a net loss of around US$21 million for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013. Canonical said the report only applies to its UK-based company and doesn't give a full accounting for its worldwide market presence, implying that the picture isn't really as bad as it looks for the UK, but the saga of Ubuntu still doesn't seem to be playing out according to the plans they all made five years ago.
Mark Shuttleworth said last year, "We could slice Canonical to something profitable pretty straightforwardly. We could slice down to the server or we could slice down to just OpenStack, and we'd be much smaller and we'd be profitable" [1].
So why don't they? Seriously, I love this idea of a dominant global Linux platform running on everything, but it doesn't seem to be working, and I'm worried they might be locked into an old dream that is already obsolete.
I'm having trouble visualizing how the mobile phone biz is actually going to make any money for Canonical. Three years ago, the mobile model was still undefined – no one really knew how it worked. But the reports are in, and it seems clear by now that all mobile operating systems lose money. The only reason to produce a mobile OS is if you are making the money back some other way. Android loses money, but Google makes the money back through search ads and links to online tools. iOS loses money, but Apple makes the money back by selling phones. Mozilla has the Firefox OS mobile system, closer to Ubuntu in philosophy and market share than either iOS or Android, but Mozilla isn't expected to make any money because it is a nonprofit, and, in fact, it gets a massive subsidy from Google, so it has no problem with paying to code its own new mobile OS.
Canonical's Ubuntu One personal cloud and music store offered a glimpse into a possible profit model for Canonical's ventures into the mobile arena, but since Canonical has ended Ubuntu One, any plans built around it have simply evaporated. The controversial smart scopes feature, which offers vendor-sponsored suggestions for desktop search queries, might generate some revenue (even if it has seriously alienated many of Ubuntu's most loyal fans), but even if the community were to forget about the privacy implications, it really doesn't look like Ubuntu will be able to fund its whole mobile operations by selling search suggestions.
According to Shuttleworth, the server business is actually in the black. The desktop system has taken a hit in its public profile by losing the limelight to Mint – and also because the once-popular Ubuntu desktop has gotten morphed in unpopular ways as Canonical pursues its "convergence" dream. But even now, lots of computers around the world are running Ubuntu or Ubuntu-based systems. When you think about it, the cost of maintaining the server version, and providing customer support for enterprise workstations, largely underwrites any cost for producing the free desktop.
If the desktop is still relevant, and the server is making money, and the OpenStack integration is proceeding according to plan, maybe it would be a good thing for Mark Shuttleworth to let go of his mobile "convergence" dream, which seems to be bringing nothing but red ink to Canonical. Of course, one could argue that he is ultimately spending his own money, and he doesn't need me to tell him how to spend it. But the real problem isn't that Mark Shuttleworth might lose too much of his own money. The problem would be if this company, which serves a vital role for the open source economy, implodes from a bad case of management burnout and owner frustration because it has been chasing the great white whale of mobile convergence rather than keeping the focus on what it does best.
- Why Ubuntu's Creator Still Invests His Fortune in an Unprofitably Company: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/08/why-ubuntus-creator-still-invests-his-fortune-in-an-unprofitable-company/
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)


text:
module OpenSSL::PKCS5
Provides password-based encryption functionality based on PKCS#5. Typically used for securely deriving arbitrary length symmetric keys to be used with an OpenSSL::Cipher from passwords. Another use case is for storing passwords: Due to the ability to tweak the effort of computation by increasing the iteration count, computation can be slowed down artificially in order to render possible attacks infeasible.
PKCS5 offers support for PBKDF2 with an OpenSSL::Digest::SHA1-based HMAC, or an arbitrary Digest if the underlying version of OpenSSL already supports it (>= 0.9.4).
Parameters¶ ↑
Password¶ ↑
Typically an arbitrary String that represents the password to be used for deriving a key.
Salt¶ ↑
Prevents attacks based on dictionaries of common passwords. It is a public value that can be safely stored along with the password (e.g. if PBKDF2 is used for password storage). For maximum security, a fresh, random salt should be generated for each stored password. According to PKCS#5, a salt should be at least 8 bytes long.
Iteration Count¶ ↑
Allows to tweak the length that the actual computation will take. The larger the iteration count, the longer it will take.
Key Length¶ ↑
Specifies the length in bytes of the output that will be generated. Typically, the key length should be larger than or equal to the output length of the underlying digest function, otherwise an attacker could simply try to brute-force the key. According to PKCS#5, security is limited by the output length of the underlying digest function, i.e. security is not improved if a key length strictly larger than the digest output length is chosen. Therefore, when using PKCS5 for password storage, it suffices to store values equal to the digest output length, nothing is gained by storing larger values.
Examples¶ ↑
Generating a 128 bit key for a Cipher (e.g. AES)¶ ↑
pass = "secret" salt = OpenSSL::Random.random_bytes(16) iter = 20000 key_len = 16 key = OpenSSL::PKCS5.pbkdf2_hmac_sha1(pass, salt, iter, key_len)
Storing Passwords¶ ↑
pass = "secret" salt = OpenSSL::Random.random_bytes(16) #store this with the generated value iter = 20000 digest = OpenSSL::Digest::SHA256.new len = digest.digest_length #the final value to be stored value = OpenSSL::PKCS5.pbkdf2_hmac(pass, salt, iter, len, digest)
Important Note on Checking Passwords¶ ↑
When comparing passwords provided by the user with previously stored values, a common mistake made is comparing the two values using "==". Typically, "==" short-circuits on evaluation, and is therefore vulnerable to timing attacks. The proper way is to use a method that always takes the same amount of time when comparing two values, thus not leaking any information to potential attackers. To compare two values, the following could be used:
def eql_time_cmp(a, b) unless a.length == b.length return false end cmp = b.bytes.to_a result = 0 a.bytes.each_with_index {|c,i| result |= c ^ cmp[i] } result == 0 end
Please note that the premature return in case of differing lengths typically does not leak valuable information - when using PKCS#5, the length of the values to be compared is of fixed size.
Public Class Methods
Parameters¶ ↑
- string -
- string - should be at least 8 bytes long. -
- integer - should be greater than 1000. 20000 is better. -
- integer -
- a string or OpenSSL::Digest object.
Available in OpenSSL 0.9.4.
Digests other than SHA1 may not be supported by other cryptography libraries.
static VALUE ossl_pkcs5_pbkdf2_hmac(VALUE self, VALUE pass, VALUE salt, VALUE iter, VALUE keylen, VALUE digest) { VALUE str; const EVP_MD *md; int len = NUM2INT(keylen); StringValue(pass); StringValue(salt); md = GetDigestPtr(digest); str = rb_str_new(0, len); if (PKCS5_PBKDF2_HMAC(RSTRING_PTR(pass), RSTRING_LENINT(pass), (unsigned char *)RSTRING_PTR(salt), RSTRING_LENINT(salt), NUM2INT(iter), md, len, (unsigned char *)RSTRING_PTR(str)) != 1) ossl_raise(ePKCS5, "PKCS5_PBKDF2_HMAC"); return str; }
Parameters¶ ↑
- string -
- string - should be at least 8 bytes long. -
- integer - should be greater than 1000. 20000 is better. -
- integer
This method is available in almost any version of OpenSSL.
Conforms to rfc2898.
static VALUE ossl_pkcs5_pbkdf2_hmac_sha1(VALUE self, VALUE pass, VALUE salt, VALUE iter, VALUE keylen) { VALUE str; int len = NUM2INT(keylen); StringValue(pass); StringValue(salt); str = rb_str_new(0, len); if (PKCS5_PBKDF2_HMAC_SHA1(RSTRING_PTR(pass), RSTRING_LENINT(pass), (const unsigned char *)RSTRING_PTR(salt), RSTRING_LENINT(salt), NUM2INT(iter), len, (unsigned char *)RSTRING_PTR(str)) != 1) ossl_raise(ePKCS5, "PKCS5_PBKDF2_HMAC_SHA1"); return str; }


text:
London Mayor Boris Johnson praised the services offered by Jewish Care's £44 million Maurice and Vivienne Wohl Campus in Golders Green when he officially opened it last Friday. Mr Johnson met residents, members, staff and Jewish Care leaders during a tour of the premises. He described the facility as "marvellous. It's what all elderly care should be like." He was pleased to be able to demonstrate support for Jewish Care "and this marvellous community".
Photos: John Rifkin and Justin Grainge


text:
Did You Hear the One About...
When I grew up in Houston, we told Aggie jokes, like others might tell blond jokes or fill-in-disfavored-ethnic-group jokes. Anyway, way back in the 70's a joke went around something like this:
Did you hear about the Aggie who was caught in the New York blackout? He was stranded on an escalator for three hours.
I remember this only after seeing this story via overlawyered:
Kim Kreis, et al. v. American Multi-Cinema Inc.; AMC Entertainment Inc., No. CGC-10-501102 (San Francisco Super. Ct. filed June 25, 2010).
Trip and fall lawsuit. The plaintiffs injured themselves on a stationary escalator at the defendants' movie theatre, as there was no sign posted warning them that it was not moving.
Is there any unwelcome outcome nowadays, however trivial, that can't spawn a lawsuit?


text:
[Nick Johnson] recently wrote in, sharing a neat project he put together in his spare time.
Our readers are most likely familiar with the ubiquitous "fortune" program that ships with many *nix distros, offering cheeky comments and quotes with the press of a button. [Nick] thought it would be cool to build a fortune telling machine using the app, resulting in the handsome device you see above.
The laser-cut wooden case is home to a Raspberry Pi which does the heavy lifting, a coin acceptor, an LCD screen for displaying the device's status, along with a SparkFun thermal printer. Upon feeding the machine some money, the user can press the "Advise Me" button, prompting the RaspPi to present a printed fortune from its vast database of sayings. [Nick] took some time to do some rough categorization of the fortune databases, enabling the machine to offer more substantial content as the user inputs more coins.
Check out the video below to see [Nick's] fortune telling machine in action.


text:
The first lady cemented her reputation as an international style trend-setter with her choice of a Jason Wu red sleeveless ball gown in the evening, and a striking business-style blue navy coat and dress for the ceremonial daytime events.
It was a huge win for US designer Wu making one of his ball gowns her choice for a second straight inauguration.
The first lady appeared for her first dance of the night with the president at the Commander-in-Chief's Ball for US service members in a ruby-colored chiffon and full-length velvet gown custom made by the New York-based designer.
Her shoes were from the London-based Malaysian-Chinese designer Jimmy Choo, and she wore a diamond-embellished ring handmade by jeweler Kimberly McDonald of New York.
Michelle Obama helped make Wu a household name by choosing a white chiffon gown he designed for the balls celebrating her husband's first inauguration in 2009. Wu, now 30, has since had significant commercial success, but his creations in the two inaugurations has won him a place in US fashion history.
Dressing the first lady, a Harvard-trained lawyer known for her style, can be a huge boost for a fashion designer or retail chain.
Praised for wearing high-end designers as well as pieces from mass-market stores, the first lady has won over fashion critics in her four years in the White House.
"Icon's a big word and it sometimes gets over used, but I think if we're going to use it, we can use it now," said Steven Kolb, chief executive of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, adding, "What makes her a real icon is the work that she does and the woman that she is."
Dresses, sweaters, shoes and belts she has worn have sold out at retailers from designer showrooms to mass market chains including Gap, J Crew and Target Corp., for which Wu has designed low-priced fashions.
Earlier on Monday, the first lady wore a navy coat and dress by designer Thom Browne, inspired by the fabric of a man's silk tie.
Her belt and gloves were from J Crew, a chain that is a fixture in US shopping malls; the necklace and earrings were designed by Cathy Waterman. The suede boots were by Reed Krakoff, as was the short blue cardigan she wore to a celebratory lunch in the Capitol.
Best known for men's clothing, Browne boasts a string of design awards, most recently, a prestigious National Design Award for fashion from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York, which is part of the Smithsonian Institution.
"She likes well-tailored clothes, so the inspiration was doing something that looked tailored and structured and fitted through the body and somewhat A-line for the skirt and the dress," Browne told the Los Angeles Times.
Style mavens credit the 49-year-old first lady with changing the way American women put together their outfits, and, by patronizing US designers, bolstering a multibillion-dollar industry.
A 2010 study from New York University's Stern School of Business found that a single appearance by the first lady can generate $14 million in value for a company.
Famed for her toned arms, Obama set a trend for sleeveless tops. Her cardigans and belted dresses have prompted many working women to switch from blazers and suits in the workplace.
"Michelle looks good however, wherever, whatever she does. Michelle looks good in her sleeping gown," said Sharon Johnson, a therapist who came from Baltimore to watch the inauguration, and joked that she is still looking for the green leather gloves Obama wore on Inauguration Day four years ago.
"Her beauty is so far inside, and shines so far outside," Johnson said.
When Michelle Obama held the Bible for her husband during his official swearing-in on Sunday, she wore a dark blue dress by Reed Krakoff, the creative director for the Coach leather goods company, who has become a fashion designer.
On Sunday night, she wore a sleeveless black sequined dress by Michael Kors to an inaugural reception for supporters.
At that reception, President Obama weighed in on what he termed the most "significant" event of the inaugural weekend, his wife's hotly discussed new hairstyle.
"I love her bangs," Obama said. "She looks good. She always looks good."
Interest in Michelle Obama's clothing has extended to the outfits worn by her two daughters. On Monday, the White House said Malia, 14, was wearing a J Crew ensemble and Sasha, 11, wore a Kate Spade coat and dress.
Obama is a far bigger influence on US fashion than most of her predecessors. Laura Bush favored suits by Oscar de la Renta and Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, is best known for wearing a range of brightly colored pants suits.
Even stylish Jackie Kennedy wore mostly European designers.
Obama's fashion choices have not always been applauded. Some Americans were angry when she wore a red gown from a British label - Alexander McQueen - to a 2011 state dinner for China's president.
Kolb dismissed such concerns, noting that fashion is a global business and that US designers are thrilled when, for example, Kate Middleton, the wife of Britain's Prince of Wales, wears their clothing.
"At the end of the day, we get up in the morning and we look in our closet and we have to feel good about what we put on," he said.
At the end of the inaugural festivities, Michelle Obama's outfits and accompanying accessories will go to the National Archives.


text:
Search results
This book is a history of an illusion. It is also a history of the dream that preceded the illusion. The book discusses statistics as the field of tension between the scientific claims of neutrality and universality on the one hand and the political and economic reality of the conflicting interests of nation-states on the other. The various paths of state- and nation-building that European countries traversed in the nineteenth century are recognisable in the objectives of government statistics and are reflected in the topics selected for statistical study and in the categories used in the research. Each congress was clearly dominated by the specific interests of the country in which the statisticians convened. The book shows in each case how the organisation of government statistics and national concerns influenced the international agenda. It describes the perceptions, goals and dilemmas of the protagonists and their contact with each other, and in so doing unravels the complex relationships between science, government and society, wherever possible from their point of view. The genesis of international statistics was inspired by a desire for reform. Belgium's pioneering role in the European statistical movement was informed both by its liberal polity and the special status of statistics within it, and by Adolphe Quetelet's key position as an intellectual. The consolidation of the Grand Duchy of Baden, a new medium-sized state in the Rhine Confederation and later in the German Confederation, offered great opportunities for the development of official statistics.


text:
Finally, after what seemed to be the longest winter on record (and definitely the coldest), some sunshine is starting to arrive in our wee climate. Not only that, but we'll soon be moving our clocks forward to enjoy an extra hour of daylight. Nice one!
There is a common misconception that sunlight is always bad for you, and in particular, your skin. But like most things in life, sunlight is good if it's consumed in moderation. For most people, it creates a feeling of cheer and a feeling of wellness, and its effect on other forms of life are evident, especially now when we enter the Spring. Sunlight is the body's main way of obtaining Vitamin D which helps to contribute to healthy bones and a healthy nervous system, and it helps to increase the production of endorphins in the brain leading to that feeling of cheer. Its tanning properties also help to make you look healthier, and who doesn't want to look better?
So what's all the fuss about and why do some people think that sunshine is a bad thing to be around?
The answer is simple; Too much sunshine can cause damage to the skin. It might not be immediately evident, but sunlight is a contributing factor involved in the ageing process. Its ultraviolet light penetrates through your skin and speeds up the breakdown of the youthful substance that keeps your skin taut, collagen. Collagen is like elastic and its breakdown can be likened to an elasticated trouser waist. When the elastic is pulled tight, you get a smooth surface but once the tension is released, you get wrinkles. Over a period of prolonged sun exposure, which can be anything from a few hours to a few decades, the same thing happens with your skin. So excessive sun exposure leads to premature ageing.
Ageing isn't the only issue with overexposure to the sun's rays. Painful sunburn, cataracts, skin cancers and even cold sores can be triggered by its radiation so we need to strike the right balance between too much and too little sunlight.
With so many health scares over the years related to sunlight, many people have decided to avoid it altogether and somewhat surprisingly, more than half the UK population has insufficient levels of vitamin D. This can result in a number of health concerns too.
There are lots of ways to ensure you get just the right amount of sunlight. Based on our generally light coloured skin, experts advocate ten minutes per day of sunshine on our skin to generate sufficient levels of vitamin D, although people with darker skin may require more sunlight to generate the same levels of the vitamin. And when you've reached your quota of sunlight, make sure you cover up, and use skincare products which contain a sunscreen to slow down the ageing process and protect your skin from sun damage.
So now that the Spring rays are almost upon us, get out there and enjoy the sun (in moderation of course!).


text: Trademark Search Tools Now Available on CD-ROM A variety of trademark search tools and references are now available for purchase from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on the Trademarks ASSIST CD-ROM. This new product offers the following text searchable applications: * Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure * Goods and Services Manual * Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Manual of Procedure * Trademark Statute and Rules (Trademark Law of 1946, as amended) * Trademark Examination Guide and Notes * Trademark Telephone Index * Information Dissemination Organizations Products & Services Catalog This product is available on a single-disc basis for $50. Updated editions will issue on an irregular basis when significant changes occur to the applications included. For further information or to request an order form, please contact: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Office of Electronic Information Products Crystal Park 3, Suite 441 Washington, D.C. 20231 Phone: (703) 306-2600 Fax: (703) 306-2737


text:
Desktop Publishing with HTML
A convenient hack I've been using for the past few years is to leverage web development tools for desktop publishing. Maybe there's some expensive and/or clunky software that can do these sorts of tasks well… but nothing I've found does a great job when you have to create a template that's rendered in a few different ways from data. I've done this sort of thing a handful of times recently for Mission Bit as we often print documents such as thank you letters and labels.
CSS allows you to precisely define the layout of the document. It's a bit awkward, but it works. I've had good luck with using flexbox for layout. You'll want to use page-break-after and/or page-break-inside to control where the page breaks should or should not be. No need to worry too much about standards here, just make it work for you in the browser that you intend to use.
SVG provides for great print-quality graphics, whether you're generating a bar code for an asset tag programmatically or simply including a nice logo.
I don't have any code in particular to share here, but that's the point. The only code you have to write is specific to generating your document. You don't need a massive CSS dependency to bootstrap getting something printed on a page. Next time you have to print something out, see if you can reproduce it in vanilla HTML rather than mucking about with Google Docs, Word, or Pages. I've certainly found it to be a lot more sane this way.


text:
Jesse Williams
(Photo: Caitlin McNaney for Broadway.com)
Richard Greenberg's Tony-winning play Take Me Out is set to be adapted as a limited television series, starring Broadway-bound star Jesse Williams, according to Deadline. As previously announced, Williams will star alongside Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Patrick J. Adams in the Broadway revival, which will begin performances on March 9, 2022 with opening night set for April 4 at the Helen Hayes Theatre. Greenberg will adapt his play for the small screen with Scott Ellis, who will direct the pilot as well as the Broadway revival. The TV adaptation comes from Anonymous Content.
Take Me Out follows Lemming (Williams), star center fielder for the Empires, who reveals he is gay and faces a barrage of long-held unspoken prejudices. Facing some hostile teammates and fraught friendships, he is forced to contend with the challenges of being a gay person of color within the confines of a classic American institution. As the Empires struggle to rally toward a championship season, the players and their fans begin to question tradition, their loyalties and the price of victory.
Williams is known for playing Dr. Jackson Avery on Grey's Anatomy and is set to star in the upcoming film Marked Man. He is currently filming Paramount's Secret Headquarters.Take Me Out will mark his Broadway debut.
Additional casting and a production timeline for Take Me Out's television adaptation will be announced later.


text:
This page is for the old CIAO 4.15 release. Please see the CIAO home page for the latest release.
OGIP: Office for Guest Investigator Programs
The Office for Guest Investigator Programs (OGIP) was a separate division of the Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics at Goddard Space Flight Center. The activities of that group have now become the responsibility of the HEASARC FITS Working Group (HFWG), which makes sure that FITS formats and keywords conform to the current standards and conventions. This office also supports the use of high energy astrophysics data through multimission standards and archive access, among other things. In addition, the OGIP is responsible for the administration of guest observer programs of several high-energy astrophysics missions, Chandra not included.


text:
In our blog post last week: Instance Wide Wait Stats we promised to show You how to visualize the collected wait stats with Microsoft Excel, so this is what this blog post will be about.
The blog post from last week will be the basic setup for this one, so the steps to create the table and to collect the data will not be repeated in this one. If you need them you'll have to go back and get it.
Today I'll encapsulate the TSQL logic in a view, this is not necessary, but it makes it much easier from Excel to connect to a predefined view rather than having to write the TSQL. I will call the view for V_WaitStats, and here is the code to create it:
CREATE VIEW V_WaitStats AS WITH cte AS ( SELECT id, wait_type, wait_time_ms, SampleTime, ROW_NUMBER() OVER(PARTITION BY wait_type ORDER BY SampleTime) as rn FROM InstanceWideWaitStats ) SELECT t1.wait_type, t2.wait_time_ms - t1.wait_time_ms as WaitTimeInMS, t2.SampleTime FROM cte t1 INNER JOIN cte t2 on (t1.wait_type = t2.wait_type) and (t1.rn = t2.rn -1) WHERE t2.wait_time_ms - t1.wait_time_ms <> 0
What I want to do next is connect to my SQL Server View from Excel, I am no way an Excel Guru, but this is so easy, and such a powerful tool at visualize data like wait stats. Here is some screenshots from the process.
First step is to enter the name of the SQL Server where the data is stored
Then is it time to select database and the View that we created earlier in this blog post. And the in the end it is just a matter of choosing the right option.
And then just hit the OK button. Then it is time to show some Pivot Table magic, Excel gives us so many opportunities to play around with the Wait Stats data, further down you'll find some examples that shows some of them. Selecting a subset of wait types or periods is easy with Excel, and the Graph changes straight away.
I use this quite often, and the information that You get with this is very useful. This solution that we have described in these two blog posts, should be in every DBA's toolbox.


text:
CV, Curriculum Vitae and Online Resumes Search
Recruiters - Try Postings!
Postings.com™ is a must-have for recruiters who want to:
- Find Qualified Candidates
- Find Job orders and Post Splits
- Be Found in Search Engines
- Implement a Social Sourcing Strategy
Job Seekers - Look Here!
Hitting a wall with your job search? Try Climber Premium.
- Top the Search Engines
- Unsurpassed Candidate Marketing
- Power Career Networking
- Fresh Jobs from the Net
Were you looking for organization job results?
Click Here to search for organization in our 2.4M jobs.
Online Resumes with "organization"
Tractor-trailer Truck Driver
Supply Chain Executive with an established record of developing profitable methods to increase efficiency and reduce costs. A proven reputation for embracing challenges with a proactive, organized approach to solving problems with responsible follow-through and delivery of practical results. Management responsibilities have included: Purchasing, Financial Reporting, Inside Sales, Distribution Logistics, Operations, Produ...
Ideal Companies: Distribution, Logistics, Inside Sales
Tags for this Online Resume: Procurement, Analyst, Logistics coordinator
Web Marketing and Business Development Specialist
Creative, Entrepreneurial, Intelligent, Driven, Ambitious, Above Average, Dedicated, Enthusiastic, Good Looking
Ideal Companies: Google, Apple, Gillette, BMW, Mercedes, Anyone who is creative and innovative; fast-paced
Tags for this Online Resume: Marketing, Business Development, Partner Relations, Web Marketing, Product Management, Internet Marketing, e-Commerce
In Between
goal-oriented, multi-tasker, honest, hardworking, humorous, organized, detail-oriented, professional, kind.
Rehabilitation Coordinator
Intelligent, empathetic, strategic, organized, thoughtfull, creative, humorous, responsible, reliable, courteous, slow, tasteful, experienced, truthfull, savy, resourcefull, persistent, patient
Ideal Companies: Hazelden
Caring, tactful, productive, outgoing, responsible, encouraging,energetic, dedicated, reliable,professional, Committed, organized.
Adjunct Faculty
committed, enthusiatic, loyal, honest, peaceful, organized, devoted, diverse, logical, peaceable, teamworker, level-headed.
Ideal Companies: Henry Ford Community College
Administrative Assisant
Honest, responsible, funny, respectable, timely, organized, intelligent, independent, reliable, hard working, fast learner
Ideal Companies: Computer Related Companies
In Between
Dependable, Enthusiastic, Friendly, Creative, Detailed, Organized, Team player, Curious, Supportive, Helpful, Lifelong Learner, Involved
Tags for this Online Resume: Management, Human Resources
job profile
determined, tenacious, cooperative, organized, leader, respectful, dedicated
organized, efficient, self-starter, team player, goal oriented, good communicator and listener
Ideal Companies: G&P Trucking, SouthEastern Freight Lines, DHEC, DSS
dream job
organized, energized, prompt, thorough, detailed, precise.
I am mother, I am a very hard worker, I have a fetish with keeping things cleaned and organized. I like working with the public because I always learn new things. I like to feel responsible and like an adult. I am 20 years old.
Ideal Companies: I would love to work for hospitals, banks, county jobs.


text:
The news is more evidence of the close ties between Israel, the United States and Mr Suleiman, who is tipped to replace Hosni Mubarak as Egypt's president.
The close relationship has emerged from American diplomatic cables leaked to the WikiLeaks website and passed to The Daily Telegraph.
Mr Suleiman is Israel's preferred candidate to replace 82-year-old Mr Mubarak. A secret hotline between Mr Suleiman and the Israelis was said to be "in daily use", according to US diplomatic cables.
The pledge to cleanse Sinai was made by Mr Suleiman to Yuval Diskin of the Israeli Security Agency (ISA) after he complained about the smuggling of weapons across the border with Gaza. According to a cable sent in November, 2007, Mr Diskin met Rob Danin, the US deputy assistant secretary of state, and Mark Kimmitt, the deputy assistant defence secretary, in Tel Aviv and told them that the Sinai peninsula had now become a "weapons and explosives warehouse" for operations in Gaza, Egypt and Israel.
The cable said: "Diskin told Danin and Kimmit [sic] that the ISA had, on several occasions provided Omar Suleiman, chief of Egypt's intelligence services, with detailed intelligence on the names of smugglers.
"In 2005, Diskin said he met personally with Suleiman in Egypt, at which time Suleiman promised personally to take responsibility for 'cleansing the Sinai'."
The cable continued: "Despite these promises and Israeli offers to initiate joint operations, Diskin said Egypt has not acted to eliminate the smuggling networks. In Diskin's view, there is a core policy problem in that the Egyptians saw themselves as the primary mediator between the Israelis and Palestinians, and are careful not to alienate either side."
Mr Suleiman worked hard to position himself as the main Egyptian link with Israel. According to the cable, he was blocking attempts by the Israelis to form links with other members of the Cairo government.
This was, according to Mr Diskin, because of Mr Suleiman's "desire to remain the sole point of contact for foreign intelligence".
The efforts paid off. In 2008, Mr Suleiman was named as Israel's preferred successor to Mr Mubarak and the new secret direct hotline was in daily use. By early 2009, Dan Harel, deputy chief of staff at the Israel Defence Staff, was reporting that "on the intelligence side under Suleiman co-operation is good".
A cable reported: "Co-operation against smuggling is better with Egyptian Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman than it is with Egyptian Military Commander Field Marshall Tantawi."
In May, 2009, in a meeting with the Americans, Mr Suleiman was telling them of how Egypt had made the border with Gaza more secure. This included "destroying tunnels, and erecting underground metal barricades", although he "acknowledged that the smuggling could never be fully stopped".
Mr Suleiman has already won the backing of Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, to lead the "transition" to democracy after nearly three weeks of demonstrations calling for Mr Mubarak to resign.
Earlier this week, David Cameron spoke to Mr Suleiman and urged him to take "bold and credible steps" to show the world that Egypt was embarking on an "irreversible, urgent and real" transition to democracy.


text:
GIL .. BIOSCI/Bionet News .. Biosequences .. Software .. FTP |
Hi everybody -- Here's a help request I've been asked to forward. Please dont answer to me! I'm no biologist nor geographer! TIA for any helps, pal. -- Andrea Palazzi pal at kril.cedoc.unimo.it :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) I'm a marine biologist and I'm looking for a PC program that could help me in drawing spotted distribution maps, where each spot represents a unique geographic coordinate - e.g. a given latitude and longitude. I've thousands of samples to represent and without such an help I would be forced to draw several differently sized maps and, on each of these, try to locate the point corresponding to the coordinates of each sample - a painstaking work, indeed. The scale of the maps I need is not so detailed, in the order of 1:25,000,000 to max about 1:1,000,000. Areas concerned are Indian and SW Pacific Ocean. If you have heard of some tool that could be help to me I thank you in advance if you'll let me know ! Please address answers to: spalazzi at pianeta.it with subject: MAPPING :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)


text:
Debunking 10 Wildlife Removal Myths to Give You a Feral Free Home Have you ever had a wild invader in the house? Do you know some Wildlife Removal Myths that exist? If yes, you are not alone. Practically all of us have one or the other uninvited critter making their way into our properties. And […]
Squirrel Damage Gallatin
Squirrel Damage in Gallatin mainly happens in the spring or fall times. That is the mating season for squirrels in Gallatin. The squirrel removal and damage is usually associated with the mating season and young squirrels running and chewing. Unfortunately, if you see squirrels on your roof, there is a good possibility that the squirrels are chewing on your home and can be a problem. Squirrels don't need much room to enter and will chew almost anything they come in contact with. Squirrels also leave a lot of waste in your insulation that can easily cause damage to dry wall. Leaving the Squirrels in the attic for a long period of time, can cause major damage. Whether it's the insulation being ruined with urine, feces, etc. or its electrical wires being chewed on, the damage can be severe. Call Alpha Wildlife to hand the squirrel removal safely, humanely, and permanently.
Alpha Wildlife takes a humane approach in removing squirrels before the squirrel damage has become too severe. You have to be careful not to deter the squirrel from coming out of the attic. If done improperly, the squirrels can die in your attic causing other issues for you. They can also make new holes if they are trapped inside, costing you more time and money. If there are baby squirrels in the attic or soffit, It is always better to catch the adult squirrels first. Once they are all carefully removed from the Gallatin home, Alpha Wildlife will take them to a wildlife rehabilitator and they will release the squirrels when they are ready.
Squirrels Damage Gallatin | Squirrel Inspections
Squirrels find their way into homes in search for a secluded, safe and quiet place to give birth. The nature of the attic space is perfect for squirrels as there's a smaller chance of predators sneaking up or harming them. The warmth and darkness are similar to the environment of a den. Most of the time they're just looking for a safe nesting place where their babies will be safe and dry. If you need any assistance removing the squirrels in the eaves or attic, Call Alpha Wildlife today!
Be proactive and hire a wildlife removal specialists in the Nashville, TN area to remove the squirrel for you before it has babies or causes major damage. Alpha Wildlife will inspect your home for entry points, set up traps, look for babies, clean and sanitize the area, and seal the entry points. By doing the recommendations from the Alpha Wildlife technicians, you will have peace of mind that the squirrels in the eaves are gone for good.
Squirrels Damage Gallatin | Squirrel Movements
The First signs that people will generally experience with squirrels, is a quick running or scurrying in your attic, just as the sun rises. This noise will generally continue for a few hours in the morning and then again in the afternoon, just before the sun sets. Most squirrels will typically sleep in your attic at night, because your attic has become their new home. Squirrels will normally chew a baseball size hole in your Soffits, Roofline, Eaves, etc. Once inside, they chew electrical wires, create insulation damage, and contaminate your attic and home with their feces and urine.
Squirrels Damage Gallatin | Squirrel Diseases
It is possible for squirrels to carry parasites such as fleas, ticks, and more, which will make them potential carriers for diseases. They will leave lots of droppings in your home, which can expose you to health risks such as leptospirosis or salmonella.
Squirrel Removal Nashville | Alpha Wildlife
Make sure to choose the Nashville Squirrel Removal experts you can count on – Alpha Wildlife! To learn more about Wildlife removal and prevention in the Nashville, TN area, follow us on Facebook or YouTube or call us at (615) 434-5331. Contact our Squirrel Removal and Prevention experts to learn more!
Alpha Wildlife offers squirrel damage prevention services in the greater Nashville, TN area, including:
- Antioch
- Bellevue
- Belle Meade
- Brentwood
- Clarksville
- Hendersonville
- Franklin
- Gallatin
- Goodlettsville
- Madison
- Murfreesboro
- Hillsboro
- White House
- Berry Hill
- Forest hills
- Smyrna
- Hermitage
- Mount Juliet
- Springfield
This includes the following counties: Davidson, Wilson, Cheatham, Maury, Montgomery, Robertson, Rutherford, Sumner, Wilson, Williamson.


text:
Posted By Blogger to jules' pics at 11/26/2010 03:26:00 PM
Where in Japan can I get myself a plate of grub like that?
When I saw your comment in my emails I assumed you were asking about hornet sashimi, and was going to sugest VAAM as an alternative :-)
Ribs, buffalo wings and other sweet, greasy meaty goodness can be found at TFI Fridays all over the place. It's bit pricy but, well, proper food *is* pricy in Japan...


text:
By Marie D. Jones and Larry Flaxman
Behind every origin story of ancient cultures and civilizations…behind every myth, every fairly tale and folklore and every religious text is an underlying layer of truth that describes the scientific knowledge and spiritual wisdom of the time. These amazing stories and myths may also hold a storehouse of hidden knowledge that matches today's most cutting edge theories and discoveries. To those that came before us, where language was in its infancy and lacked today's sophistication, the facts were, in fact, the story, and somehow, that story had to be considered important enough to go "viral" and spread from one culture to the next.
Click here to enlarge top photo.
From the implicate and secret knowledge embedded in fairy tales, folklore and cosmogenesis stories, to the amazing science behind myth and religious writings from all over the world, what we have come to know as story contains more fact, more information, than we ever imagined. But that fact is often hidden behind a beginning, middle and an end, with a message, or a theme…a story meant to impart information even as it entertains or continues a heritage and legacy of a people from generation to generation.
Our ancient religious texts, myths and folklore show how even the most primitive cultures understood the world around them far more than we give them credit for, and may have actually contained common beliefs, concepts and understandings of the times. These are examples of "monomyth," the common structures found in all myth and ancient stories. These common elements are surprising when we consider that people in those days had no simple means of spreading ideas. How, then, did such distant cultures share so many similar ideas?
Aside from common themes, we also must ask, how did they know what they knew? Historians, anthropologists and archeologists all stand in awe of the sophistication of various monuments built around celestial activities our primitive ancestors could not have known about…or could they? Scientists are amazed at the intricate knowledge our ancestors had, made evident in their drawings, maps, writings and oral traditions, of the natural world they existed in, long before computers and Google and wikis were invented.
We still struggle to understand how ancient cultures could achieve what they did minus the advances we take for granted.
But the ancients didn't just communicate their knowledge and information via the stories they told. They also utilized art and architecture, ripe with intriguing common themes and elements, motifs and iconography and symbolism. Information can come to us in pictures, as rock and cave art of our primitive ancestors tell of their close connection with nature and natural cycles and phenomena, and even potentially supernatural phenomena. Across the globe, both primitive and ancient art and architecture often present elements so similar to one another, it suggests that certain themes were archetypal to the entirety of humanity. Why did so many diverse civilizations, separated by thousands of miles, with no real means or methods of communication, all use the same symbolic imagery, with only slight regionally influenced variations? Was there some outside influence spreading these common themes, or were these cultures tapping into a field of ideas and information that existed in the collective subconscious?
The highly popular "ancient astronaut theory" is one way we attempt to explain the leaps in knowledge, as well as how that knowledge spread over large distances so quickly. Other theories include the science of memetics; the field/Grid theory of an invisible and implicate clearinghouse of information available to everyone at any time; and even good old word of mouth! All of these theories have validity and merit, and might help us better understand what our ancestors wanted to tell us, including those things we continue to argue, even kill each other, over, such as religious beliefs, traditions and historical events.
How information spread and went "viral" long before we possessed cell phones and social networking and the Internet speaks volumes about how communication itself evolved in ancient times, and what was important enough for them to communicate in the first place. Whether their modus operandi was fairy tales or folk legends, myth or religious parable, rock art or vase paintings, mosaic tile floors or lavish cathedrals built to precise sacred geometric measurements, pyramids or stone henges, or those strange objects out of time and place we call "archeoenigmas," our ancient ancestors communicate with us, today, in so many ways. It is up to us, though, to correctly interpret their "viral mythology" and what it meant to them, as well as what they hope it will mean to us What it all comes down to, though, is about the way our ancestors often communicated information by encoding and embedding it in the creativity, art, architecture and the imagination of the times, out of direct sight of those who might not want that truth revealed. Even as we look back into the past, we see that viral mythology is also about how the stories we tell today, and the art and architecture we imagine and build into form, will embed the information we want to communicate to future generations, and create and shape our future in the same manner. The tales we tell today become the viral mythology of tomorrow. What are we leaving behind and what will it say about who we were and what was important to us? What will future descendants think of us when, one day on an archeological dig, they find our cell phones, our computers, our toys and comic books and temples and mosques and churches, our television shows and movies, our novels and plastic water bottles and houses and mansions and tent cities and trash dumps and ghettos, our jewelry and tattoos and texts and emails and pet clothing…
If you would like more information or to purchase this book through AMAZON.COM, simply click on this link: Viral Mythology: How the Truth of the Ancients was Encoded and Passed Down through Legend, Art, and Architecture
It all starts with "In the beginning…" "Once upon a time…." "Long ago and far way…" and "Every picture tells a story…" How the Trugh of the Ancients Was Encoded and Passed Down through Legend, Art, and Architecture. New Page. ISBN: 978-1-60163-295-1 List Price: US $15.99.


text:
'The Shoe Maven'
Tonya Walker has been living with Parkinson's disease since the age of 32 and had DBS surgery on her left side in 2013 and then on her right in 2015. She created 'The Shoe Maven' fashion blog in 2015, started up her own fashion label called TSM Originals in aid of The Michael J Fox Foundation. Tonya is a passionate advocate for increased awareness of young-onset Parkinson's and loves shoes. She lives in Florida, US, with her husband and young son, where she is also a law professor.


text:
The second season of the Science Channel's series The Meteorite Men premieres tonight! Today, we're featuring an extended version of my Q&A with Geoff and Steve that appears in the current, DIY Space issue, of MAKE, Volume 24.
Q&A with The Meteorite Men
Geoff Notkin and Steve Arnold hunt for visitors from outer space, but they aren't looking for little green men. Their treasure is of the geologic sort: meteorites that bring to Earth clues of astronomical and planetary development in the universe. Notkin and Arnold have searched for meteorites together for years, and now share their hunting adventures in the Science Channel's Meteorite Men television program. We checked in with the pair to get their tips and insights for DIY meteorite hunters.
What is the simplest form of meteorite hunting that the DIY enthusiast can tackle?
Meteorites fall randomly over the entire surface of the earth, so theoretically, you could search for them anywhere—even underwater if you happen to have your own submarine, and it wouldn't surprise us a bit if a couple of MAKE magazine readers have blueprints for a homemade mini-sub on the drawing board! But it's important to be realistic. The vast majority of meteorites contain a large amount of iron, and that iron will begin to rust in humid environments, eventually causing the meteorite to decompose. So, the DIY meteorite hunter might consider limiting his or her searches to arid environments where meteorites could last hundreds or even thousands of years. Open spaces with little plant growth are easier to hunt that forests and grasslands, which is one of the reasons why Antarctica, the dry lake beds of the American Southwest, and the deserts of Northwest Africa have produced so many meteorite finds. The easiest way to begin your own personal hunt is to head out to a barren area that is devoid of vegetation, with few indigenous rocks, and see if you can spot anything unusual.
What kind of research would you recommend doing before you set out on a meteorite hunt?
The most important weapon in the meteorite hunter's arsenal is knowledge. There are many different types of common earth rocks that are frequently mistaken for meteorites. Before commencing a search, the would-be meteorite hunter should become familiar with what meteorites look like, and also practice a few simple field tests that can help in identifying suspected space rocks. Our Guide to Meteorite Identification is a good place to start.
In addition, there are a number of excellent meteorite books on the market. For someone wanting a comprehensive but readable introduction to meteorites, we recommend Rocks from Space by O. Richard Norton — a friend of ours, and an important science writer who passed away recently. Richard also wrote The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Meteorites, a more detailed reference work for those wishing to delve more deeply into the field. And a more recent addition to the list of must-have meteorite books was published last year by Penguin. The Fallen Sky, written by Chris Cokinos (another friend of ours), takes the reader on a lyrical and unforgettable journey through the history of meteorites, meteorite hunters, and some of the major discoveries in meteorite history.
What are the must-have tools for meteorite hunting?
The single most useful meteorite hunting tool is a good magnet. As mentioned earlier, the vast majority of meteorites are rich in iron, and they will easily adhere to a powerful magnet. We use magnets in the field, on a regular basis, to check suspected space rocks. There are plenty of terrestrial rocks that contain iron, so if an unusual-looking rock jumps to your magnet it doesn't automatically mean you've found a meteorite, but it's a step in the right direction.
We also rely heavily on metal detectors, as many of our hunt locations are the sites of old meteorites falls and we expect any surviving cosmic material to be buried. There are a number of good metal detector companies out there, but we have a particularly high regard for Fisher Labs in El Paso, Texas.
A good topographic map is important if you're hiking or driving in remote locations, as is a reliable GPS — not just to tell you where you are, but to mark find locations for future reference. We typically carry a small, portable digital scale with us so we can record the weight of finds, as well as plastic specimen bags, a notebook and a digital camera. Geoff is a photography nut and never goes anywhere in the field without one or more of his cameras.
What kind of meteorite-hunting tools can you make at home, instead of having to purchase them somewhere else?
As Steve is fond of saying: "There's no meteorite hunting aisle at your favorite mega-mart," so we end up designing and building much of the equipment that we use in the field. The simplest tool, and one of the most effective is a magnet cane, and this is used when hunting for meteorites that are on the surface. It's basically a walking stick with a powerful magnet affixed to one end. When you're hiking ten or fifteen miles a day, keeping your eyes peeled for unusual-looking rocks, it's a time saver and an energy saver if you don't have to bend down and pick up every one of them. We touch possible meteorites with the cane, and if a rock sticks to the magnet then it warrants a closer look. We have also designed and built more elaborate magnet rakes — a device that holds multiple magnets and can be carried close to the ground, or dragged, in areas where we suspect meteorites might be exposed. The more ambitious hunter might consider designing and building a custom metal detector.
What are the identifying traits of a meteorite to look for when you are out on the hunt?
There are three broad classes of meteorites — stones, irons, and stony-irons. All have somewhat different characteristics, but nearly all meteorites will be strongly attracted to a powerful magnet. Meteorites typically feel heavier than earth rocks of the same size and a meteorite that has fallen recently will usually exhibit a black rind known as fusion crust, caused by burning in the atmosphere. Some meteorites display regmaglypts, which are small, round or oval indentations created while the meteorite's surface was partially molten. The most abundant type of meteorites are stones known as chondrites, and they take their name from the tiny chondrules — colorful, spherical, pre-solar grains — they contain. For a more detailed look at features unique to meteorites, please see the episode of Geoff's Meteorwritings column on Geology.com entitled "Meteorite Identification."
What are the most common mistakes people make when hunting for meteorites?
We have, many, many times, been contacted by people who are certain they've found a meteorite. In most cases the hopeful have, in fact, picked up a piece of iron oxide, such a hematite or magnetite. Hematite, sometimes called kidney stone, can develop into unusual shapes and its surface often looks as if it's been, at one time, in a molten state (it hasn't). Magnetite is usually black, heavy and will adhere to a magnet, so this abundant earth rock is the most common "meteor-wrong." Early prospectors, in search of valuable metals like gold and silver, have left their mark across the planet, sometimes in the most remote and surprising places. Portable smelters were set up all over the United States, especially in the West, and the runoff, or residue, from those smelters is known as slag. Usually heavy, dark, with a burned appearance, slag is mistaken for meteorites all the time.
What are the top two or three things you wish you had known when you started hunting for meteorites?
We should have known how difficult it was actually going to be, so we could have been better prepared for the many disappointments and unsuccessful hunts that are part of a meteorite hunter's life.
It also would have helped if we had been more familiar the mechanics of strewnfields — zones in which numerous meteorites from the same parent body have fallen at the same time. Understanding how strewnfields form, and how meteorites are distributed within them can aid an experienced hunter with meteorite recovery.
How did you come up with the design for the large tow-behind-the-truck metal detector, and how difficult was it to construct?
The giant meteorite detector, which we affectionately call the "Big Rig"(see above) was designed and built by Steve with a very specific purpose in mind.
Metal detectors send either an electromagnetic pulse or a radio signal into the ground in search of metallic objects. That signal decays quickly, so the larger the transmitting coil, the deeper into the ground the detector can "see."
Steve was born in Kansas and was very interested in the Brenham pallasite meteorite site in Kiowa County, Kansas. Meteorites were first found there in the 1880s and for over 50 years the record for the largest Brenham mass was held by H.O. Stockwell, a meteorite hunter from Kansas who found a 1,000-pound complete specimen at the site in the 1940s. Steve believed that larger, deeply-buried masses were hidden in the strewnfield, out of range of conventional metal detectors, so he built the Big Rig as an experiment. He was tremendously successful and found a record-breaking 1,430-lb meteorite buried 7 1/2 feet underground in 2005. Steve and Geoff went on to work at the site together for several years, and recovered several other large masses, including a 230-lb and a 273-lb mass while filming the Meteorite Men pilot.
The electromagnetic coil for the Big Rig was built specially for us by an electrical engineer in Europe, and Steve constructed the sled himself. The sled has gone through many different iterations, and Steve has continued to experiment and refine the design. One of the problems inherent in the Big Rig's construction is that absolutely no metal can be used! Ball bearings, metal wheels, washers, wire, bolts, or screws would all interfere with the coil's operation, so the entire assembly had to be built using non-conductive materials, and that was quite a challenge. The Big Rig is also frequently towed over rough ground, and we've experienced many breakages. Rapid in-field repairs are just part of everyday life for the Meteorite Men.
When you've found a meteorite, what should/can you do with it? (are there any legal issues you need to consider – i.e. if you've found them on someone else's land, etc.)
It is very important that would-be meteorite hunters familiarize themselves with the legal issues associated with searching for space rocks. In the United States, meteorites generally belong to the person who owns the land upon which they fell. Meteorites found on Federal land belong to the Smithsonian Institution and should be turned over to them for study. Other ownership issues vary by state, and Bureau of Land Management offices have different policies in different parts of the country. So, if you're thinking of hunting on BLM, State, or Federal land, be sure you check with local offices first and get permission from owners of private land. Most National Parks and Monuments do not allow the removal of any material, including rocks, fossils, sand, plants, etc., and the use of metal detectors is illegal in many Federally-owned areas. There are severe penalties for people who do not follow regulations, so do your homework first.
In addition, it is extremely important that new meteorite finds be made available to academia for study. When we recover meteorites that are new to science, we donate representative samples for study. There are a number of prominent research labs in the country that can identify and classify new meteorites, and these include the Center for Meteorite Studies at the University of Arizona, Tempe; the UCLA Department of Earth and Space Sciences in Los Angeles; and the Institute of Meteoritics at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.
What is the best tidbit of advice you can give to someone who wants to hunt for meteorites on their own?
Be prepared to put in a lot of time, and a lot of hard work, and also do your research. Meteorite hunting isn't easy and there is a lot of strategy and science involved. Understanding what meteorites are, where they come from, and how they fall, will help improve your odds of finding that rarest of wonders — a rock that has traveled to our planet from outer space.
Check out MAKE Volume 24:
MAKE blasts into orbit and beyond with our DIY SPACE issue. Put your own satellite in orbit, launch a stratosphere balloon probe, and analyze galaxies for $20 with an easy spectrograph! We talk to the rocket mavericks reinventing the space industry, and renegade NASA hackers making smartphone robots and Lego satellites. This, plus a full payload of other cool DIY projects, from a helium-balloon camera that's better than Google Earth, to an electromagnetic levitator that shoots aluminum rings, and much more. MAKE Volume 24, on sale now.
1 thought on "Meteorite Men Q&A and Season 2 premiere"
to [url=http://mofact.org/wp-content/temp/]nike air max pas cher[/url]p notch employment about this post! I adore how you would introduced the information you have and also the technique you actually achieved it crucial as well as obvious to [url=http://mofact.org/wp-content/temp/]nike air max pas cher[/url] recognise. Thank you a great deal.
Comments are closed.
Join Make: Community Today


text:
activity streams
As people use various different web sites to blog, update their status, post their location, or photos, sites and tools have emerged to aggregate these various actions into a continuous eclectic stream of activities.
Such activities typically involve a subject (the person doing the activity), a verb (what the "doing" is of the activity), and often a direct object (what the activity is being done to or with). Activity stream aggregators typically republish activities in reverse chronological order, independent of type of activity.
Friendfeed was perhaps the most well known web site that does cross site activity aggregation/publication, and Movable Type has (had?) built-in support for aggregation/publication of activity streams as of v4.1.
For more examples, see the DiSo wiki activity streams page (see also the other DiSo wiki, not sure which to use).
problem statement
The type and variety of activities that services support and publish is growing every month. Services like Friendfeed and tools like Movable Type must either be continuously updated with one-off per service implementation support, or provide nothing more than lowest common denominator feed aggregation and publication.
If activity streams were published in an open standard format then activity stream aggregators that supported such an open format would automatically support any new standards supporting activity stream services without having to play the continuous one-off proprietary API implementation catch-up game. In addition, new activity publishers would be less beholden to trying to reimplement others' proprietary APIs (and all the giving up control to a likely competitor problems that arise from that practice).
existing standards
Feeds (and related formats, RSS, Atom, hAtom) solve most of the problems of activity streams. Movable Type 4.1's activity stream publishing support already supports hAtom today for example.
The subject of an activity is nearly always the author of a feed.
The direct object of an activity is typically an item or entry in a feed.
Sites that publish different kinds of objects/items in their interfaces often present those items/posts differently depending on the kind of object. Activity Streams thus has a set of object-types that represent these kinds of objects, based on their research on existing object type publishing examples in the wild.
apparent need and focus
Thus key pieces that seem worthy of standardization are:
- the verb aspect of an activity
- the object-type of an item or post
Per the microformats principles, by focusing on these smaller parts of the problem (verbs and object-types), we may be able to more quickly solve the larger problem of representing activities and activity streams.
Thus, per the microformats process:
rejected brainstorms
The following brainstorm proposals have been found to be problematic for various reasons.
activity object brainstorm
Previous brainstorm thoughts and proposal:
Strawman brainstorm (to be archived as a past attempt activity-object-brainstorming) : for now, try simply re-using the Activity Streams set of object-types as class names, preceded with "h-as-", as a microformats2 poshformat for representing different Activity Stream object-types in hAtom. Use these object-type class names to "subclass" the "h-entry" class in hAtom, e.g. where you might publish

With this strawman proposal, for blog posts you might publish:

Or for little tweet/text notes:

And RSVPs (as brainstormed) :

sites implementing activity object brainstorm
See: http://indiewebcamp.com/ActivityStreams#Use_with_microformats2