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Reposted with permission from Team Whymommy to raise awareness for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
We hear a lot about breast cancer these days. One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetimes, and there are millions living with it in the U.S. today alone. But did you know that there is more than one type of breast cancer?
I didn't. I thought that breast cancer was all the same. I figured that if I did my monthly breast self-exams, and found no lump, I'd be fine.
Oops. It turns out that you don't have to have a lump to have breast cancer. Six weeks ago, I went to my OB/GYN because my breast felt funny. It was red, hot, inflamed, and the skin looked…funny. But there was no lump, so I wasn't worried. I should have been. After a round of antibiotics didn't clear up the inflammation, my doctor sent me to a breast specialist and did a skin punch biopsy. That test showed that I have inflammatory breast cancer, a very aggressive cancer that can be deadly.
Inflammatory breast cancer is often misdiagnosed as mastitis because many doctors have never seen it before and consider it rare. "Rare" or not, there are over 100,000 women in the U.S. with this cancer right now; only half will survive five years. Please call your OB/GYN if you experience several of the following symptoms in your breast, or any unusual changes: redness, rapid increase in size of one breast, persistent itching of breast or nipple, thickening of breast tissue, stabbing pain, soreness, swelling under the arm, dimpling or ridging (for example, when you take your bra off, the bra marks stay – for a while), flattening or retracting of the nipple, or a texture that looks or feels like an orange (called peau d'orange). Ask if your GYN is familiar with inflammatory breast cancer, and tell her that you're concerned and want to come in to rule it out.
There is more than one kind of breast cancer. Inflammatory breast cancer is the most aggressive form of breast cancer out there, and early detection is critical. It's not usually detected by mammogram. It does not usually present with a lump. It may be overlooked with all of the changes that our breasts undergo during the years when we're pregnant and/or nursing our little ones. It's important not to miss this one.
Inflammatory breast cancer is detected by women and their doctors who notice a change in one of their breasts. If you notice a change, call your doctor today. Tell her about it. Tell her that you have a friend with this disease, and it's trying to kill her. Now you know what I wish I had known before six weeks ago.
You don't have to have a lump to have breast cancer.
P.S. Feel free to steal this post too. I'd be happy for anyone in the blogosphere to take it and put it on their site, no questions asked. Dress it up, dress it down, let it run around the place barefoot. I don't care. But I want the word to get out. I don't want another young mom — or old man — or anyone in between — to have to stare at this thing on their chest and wonder, is it mastitis? Is it a rash? Am I overreacting? This cancer moves FAST, and early detection and treatment is critical for survival.
Thank you.


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Dr. Conrad Murray's Girlfriend -- Please Release Him ... He's a Good Dad
Dr. Conrad Murray's GF Please Release Him ... He's a Good Dad
Dr. Conrad Murray's girlfriend is begging the court to let him out of jail pending his appeal ... claiming he's a "good father" to their toddler.
Nicole Alvarez -- who played the femme fatale during the trial -- filed a declaration of support for Murray today ... in which she says if Murray is released he will live with her and their 2-year-old son in Santa Monica.
It's not the most powerful or emotional letter. Alvarez says, "Dr. Murray is the father of my child" -- and adds ... he "has been our primary source of support."
It's unclear how much support Murray can provide now -- considering his medical license has been revoked.
Murray's hearing for bail pending appeal of his manslaughter conviction is scheduled for tomorrow morning in downtown L.A.

subset: commoncrawl


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Angela Battle
I knew that I wanted the results of this experience to reflect collaboration - a dialogue between a poet and a painter. Consciously I allowed my own conceptual interests in the natural world and more specifically my current interests in clouds and related weather phenomena to influence my ultimate choice of one of Hearst's earlier works, Fog, as the one to which I would ask and answer through painting. Fog is a solemn work. Hearst deftly uses a beautiful and simple description to simultaneously cloak and reveal complex layers of meaning. Within the 'fog' I sense contemplation of an Iowa farmer's thread to the global community held up against the necessary aloneness of such an individual's specific life and locality; a meditation on the requisite sadness of keeping current and ever aware of a big and busy world while existing on a pinpoint of land in a place that rarely makes the news. There is an underlying sense of foreboding carried by a train and a barking dog and a fog- shrouded neighbor's home and a final irony in an isolation that defiantly seeks to feed the world. Hope, too, trickles into the conversation and Hearst clearly understands the deep geological history of the land upon which his life is lived. To differing degrees, it is all of these multiple levels of awareness that I sought to convey in a painting of beeswax and color by molding and co-mingling image and shape both literal and metaphorical, objective and subjective, rational and intuitive, traveling up and down to encompass the round. I welcomed this opportunity to intersect the poetry of James Hearst with my own vernacular in visual art and would like to thank The Hearst Center for the Arts for giving me the experience. Angela Battle | ||


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Cryptococcal meningitis complicated by hydrocephalus malresorptivus with shunt-reinfection
Kryptokokken-Meningitis mit kompliziertem Verlauf durch Hydrocephalus Malresorptivus und Shunt-Reinfektion
Suche in Medline nach
Veröffentlicht: | 2. Juni 2010 |
Case report: The patient first presented with fever, headaches, psychomotoric slowness and atactic gait. Neutrophilic pleocytosis (395/3 cells) and elevated protein (87mg/dl) were noted in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). No pathogen could be identified, the cryptococcal antigen (Ag) test was repeatedly negative. Minor diffusion interference was noted on MRI. Empirical treatment with ceftriaxone, ampicillin and aciclovir did not improve the condition and increasing pleocytosis (1178/3 cells) was documented. After 14 days cryptococcal Ag (1:256) was detected for the first time in the CSF, but microscopically no cryptococci could be detected. Amphotericin B (AMB)+flucytosine (FCS) were started immediately. The antifungal regimen was changed to posaconazole after severe nephrotoxicity. Due to hydrocephalus malresorptivus an external CSF-drainage was implanted, later replaced by a ventriculo-peritoneal (VP) shunt. Despite continued posaconazole treatment a relapse occurred. CSF cultures grew Cryptococcus neoformans, no resistance against antifungals was found and treatment was continued with liposomal AMB+FCS. After temporary improvement, relapse was confirmed by rising cryptococcal Ag together with increasing visual hallucinations. Stabilization was achieved after immediate removal of the infected VP-shunt and the cryptococcal Ag sharply dropped. Under intense rehabilitation and fluconazole maintenance therapy the neuropsychological status finally improved.
Conclusions: Treatment of cryptococcosis remains a challenge. In the present case, antimycotic regimes changed repeatedly due to severe obstacles caused by poor treatment response, shunt infection and serious side-effects. AMB+FCS remain first choice for the treatment of cryptococcosis. Prolonged application of AMB was not tolerated due to severe nephrotoxicity. Progressive disease was noted under posaconazole, although new studies recommend posaconazole as a good therapeutic alternative. Despite sensitivity against all tested antimycotics, a relapse due to shunt infection occurred.
Establishing a diagnosis can be difficult. Cryptococcal Ag was the only initial parameter of infection and was useful for monitoring the course of disease. As in the present case, no apparent underlying condition of immunosuppression can be found in approximately 30% of cases with cryptococcal meningoencephalitis. The prognosis for these patients is poor and hydrocephalus is a frequent complication.


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Speaking to ESPN, Andres Fassi insisted that the 21-year old winger could become 'one of the Premier League's best players in two or three seasons', and confirmed that he is being watched by Liverpool. He said:
"At the moment, we know that Liverpool is interested. But that's all it is at this point, an interest.
"If [Herrera leaves], it will be thanks to a sale. We will not loan him out or send him for a trial.
"[Herrera] can surely be one of the Premier League's best players in two or three seasons. He's that good."
Herrera was nominated for the Mexico league's 'Golden Ball' in 2011, an award that recognises the country's best talent. Some info about the player:
* Mexico U-23 international
* Left-footed winger
* 27 appearances for Pachuca so far
* 2 assists in 12 starts this season
Jaimie Kanwar


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This article is more than 1 year old
Hackers say Acer breach leaked data for 40,000 users
Welcome to the club, Acer
Hackers say they breached the website security of computer-maker Acer and made off with data for 40,000 of its customers.
Screenshots posted on Friday on The Hacker News appeared to show the purchase histories, names, email addresses, and partial addresses and phone numbers for a limited number of customers stored on acer-euro.com. The site said members of the Pakistan Cyber Army were behind the attack and planned to release the data in the next 24 hours.
"We got mail from PCA that they successfully hacked the FTP of ACER and Stole around 40,000 Users Data, Various Source Codes stored on server," The Hacker News said.
The report comes as dozens of companies and government agencies, including RSA, the Fox network, and the State of Massachusetts, have suffered security breaches that have leaked sensitive consumer information or proprietary company data. At the top of the list is Sony, which over the past six weeks has been the target of a series of devastating hacks that have exposed details for than 100 million customers, including one that surfaced on Thursday.
In some of the cases, the breaches were the result of targeted phishing campaigns, while in others hackers gained entry by exploiting easy-to-spot vulnerabilities in the companies' website applications.
A screenshot posted on The Hacker News showed an FTP application that appeared to have a valid username and password for ftp.acer-euro.com, but it wasn't clear how the credentials had been obtained.
The report said the hackers also stole source code used on Acer's website.
Acer representatives didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment for this post. ®


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Representing the latter case, Wind Across the Everglades (1958), scripted by On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan, 1954) scribe Budd Schulberg, who apocryphal account has it took over direction for the heroin-abusing filmmaker, represents the absolute apex of Ray's drive toward contradiction. In visual terms, the director's elegant mobile framings of the South Florida landscape stand side-by-side with perfunctory multi-figure set-ups and degraded second-unit style inserts of the area wildlife. The last of these, especially in the frequent inclusions of alligators submerging and emerging from the Everglade swamps, assures the film's connection to the recent Hollywood cycle of the safari picture, popularized by King Solomon's Mine (Compton Bennett and Andrew Marton, 1950), with its human subjects sutured into an often dangerous wilderness. While Wind Across the Everglades provides for a similar fauna-based spectacle, it remains less the source of adventure that it is in the purer safari iterations than a signifier of the Everglades status as wilderness. Indeed, the Everglades are here, in this turn-of-the-century set narrative, a Western-style frontier with the Law contending against the Lawless (plume-hunting poachers), who claim as their watchword, the very un-50s notion of "protest."
In Ray's hands, there is sympathy for both, with each located comfortably outside of a cultural hegemony that the opening, kitschy (at least from our present perspective) voice-over establishes - namely the craze for plumes in ladies' hats. Christopher Plummer's Audubon Society hero Walt Murdock fights against the consumerist-inspired environmental destruction wrought by this trend, with outlaw poacher Cottonmouth (Burl Ives) and his libertine cohorts the principle source of his quest. The latter faction, however, promotes the pleasures of the flesh that one senses quite clearly Ray himself endorses - busty women, swamp game cooked over an open flame, homemade liquor - while taking the freedom of the individual to his logical conclusion: "eat or be et." (Their ultimate spirit-addled confrontation with Murdock on Cottonmouth Key represents the aforementioned great moment.) They are, in other words, the perfect 1950s dissidents, while Walt is a strident opponent to the unassailable value of commerce, which is to say he is the perfect 1950s dissident. Whatever the role that Schulberg played in Wind Across the Everglades, the film manages to fully embody Ray's cinema.
Party Girl (1958) is a Nick Ray film of quite a different sort. While Wind Across the Everglades invents a new form in the matrixed combination of safari picture, Western and topical film, Party Girl reinvents the dormant form of the 1930s gangster picture within the director's melodramatic mode (displayed in Rebel Without a Cause and his supreme masterpiece, Bigger Than Life, 1956, among others). In looking to this earlier source, prohibited by the same Production Code to which Ray's films uniformly applied stress, aiding in its ultimate collapse a decade later, Ray also finds a politics to challenge 1950s consensus thinking: an advocacy for the little guy that promoted physically impaired attorney Tommy Farrell's (Robert Taylor) original association with gangster Rico (Lee J. Cobb). In the narrative's present, Tommy has become an advocate for the guilty, adroitly manipulating juries to acquit the clearly criminal. His comfort with this arrangement, however, decreases after he meets the eponymous 'lady of leisure' and dance hall girl Vicki Gaye (Cyd Charisse), with whom he eventually becomes conjugally involved, in spite of the fact that he is still supporting a wife at the time of the original meeting. In short, Party Girl revives pre-code subject matter as much as it does the gangster genre itself.
Moreover, Party Girl pushes the limits of what is permissible on screen: Charisse, who is subsequently glimpsed nude briefly behind a semi-opaque screen, engages in a striptease - the same year as Julie London's infamous Man of the West (Anthony Mann, 1958) strip - amid a series of on-camera dance set-pieces that collectively mark the film as a work of mixed cinema. Ray notably shoots these sequences in Cinemascope, from a variety of angles that include overheads with Charisse staring directly into the camera, thereby highlight the picture's decisive artifice. Then again, Party Girl contains none of the cheapness apparent elsewhere in the director's work (as for instance in The Savage Innocents, discussed below): Party Girl's set designs are often intricately constructed and its color palette immaculately chosen, as for instance in Ray's inspired layering of Charisse's red dress on a differently toned red couch. Throughout, Ray and director of photography Robert Bronner's cinematography is characteristically sinuous, fluidly registering the film's memorable interiors much the same as Howard Hawks's and Lee Garmes's mobile camera work achieved a similar effect in the definitive Scarface (1932). And as the film's earlier source, Ray's remaking of the gangster genre even includes a machine-gun montage.
The director's European-financed The Savage Innocents (1960) synthesizes Wind Across the Everglades's predilection for poetical, aquatic-dominated landscapes, here often approaching a surreal beauty, with Party Girl's highly constructed spaces, here conveyed through the film's igloo interior and matte-painted Arctic snow-scape sets. (This striking convergence of the real-world and studio aesthetics corrobrates Jean-Luc Godard's suggestion that the whole of the cinema could be exumed from Ray, along of course with its combination of sex and violence.) Ray pairs these spaces with a Forbidden Planet (Fred M. Wilcox, 1956)-brand electronic score that combines to make The Savage Innocents an apogee of both the director's distinguishing artifice and his taste for the palpably odd. Then again, the film's subject insures the film's strangeness far more than its expressly unreal sets: an Eskimo Anthony Quinn finds a salve to loneliness in "laughing" with a comely native girl, whom he then exchanges for her more attractive sister, Asiak (Yoko Tani), after becoming jealous of the latter's "husband," and his principal rival. With Asiak in tow, Quinn's Inuk encounters white traders and discovers that his in-born ability to hunt fox could mean the chance to buy a fire arm or "thunder stick" (the director's ecological concern returns in the film's suggestion of the practice of over-hunting). Here, Ray combines the primitive and modern in this place to startling effect, with its juke box, Elvis-look-a-like native and the aforesaid pelts all introduced in a single setting, wherein Asiak, moreover, performs one of the silver screen's most memorably bizarre dances. Nevertheless, the young Eskimo woman remains skeptical of the white man, who "doesn't approve of naked people," and who in one later instance refuses Inuk's generous invitation to 'laugh' with his wife.
In this latter regard, The Savage Innocents appears to prefigure the sexual emancipation that would emerge subsequently in the nascent 1960s, and allies with that period's broader challenge to bourgeois Judeo-Christian values. In The Savage Innocents, itself an extreme form of the Western according to film scholar Lisa K. Broad, sympathy is purely on the side of the uncivilized, on the side of those who pursue the pleasures of the flesh without succumbing to the temptations of greed. For them, a woman is new every time she reenters the igloo, whether or not she has 'laughed' with another. As always, Ray's film is about sex. However, the imperatives of civilization, whose laws are stronger than any individual, and therefore flawed according to Ray's way of thinking, will demand that Inuk experience punishment for acting according to his own, anti-Western ethical, free-love code.
The Savage Innocents is the ultimate Nicholas Ray film. Perhaps it is only fitting that it should initiate a decade (from outside the US) that would move toward Ray's own worldview, rather than occurring in a second that found him at odds with the America around him, which he may have defined, but in negative.


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The following is an overview of the recent Honeynet Project and Research Alliance study 'Know your Enemy:Phishing' aimed at discovering practical information on the practice of phishing. This study focuses on real world incidents based on data captured and analyzed from the UK and German Honeynet Project revealing how attackers build and use their infrastructure for Phishing based attacks.
In this paper we have presented a number of real world examples of phishing attacks and the typical activities performed by attackers during the full lifecycle of such incidents. All the information provided was captured using high interaction research honeypots, once again proving that honeynet technology can be a powerful tool in the areas of information assurance and forensic analysis. We analysed multiple attacks against honeypots deployed by the German and UK Honeynet Projects. In each incident phishers attacked and compromised the honeypot systems, but after the initial compromise their actions differed and a number of techniques for staging phishing attacks were observed:
This data has helped us to understand how phishers typically behave and some of the methods they employ to lure and trick their victims. We have learned that phishing attacks can occur very rapidly, with only limited elapsed time between the initial system intrusion and a phishing web site going online with supporting spam messages to advertise the web site, and that this speed can make such attacks hard to track and prevent. IP address blocks hosting home or small business DSL addresses appear to be particularly popular for phishing attacks, presumably because the systems are often less well managed and not always up to date with current security patches, and also because the attackers are less likely to be traced than when targeting major corporate systems. Simultaneously attacking many smaller organisations also makes incident response harder. We have observed that end users regularly access phishing content, presumably through receiving spam messages, and a surprisingly large number appear to be at risk from becoming victims of such attacks.
Our research also suggests that phishing attacks are becoming more widespread and well organised. We have observed pre-built archives of phishing web sites targeting major online brands being stored, ready for deployment at short notice, suggesting the work of organised phishing groups. Such content can be further propagated very quickly through established networks of port redirectors or botnets. When coupled with evidence of mass scanning and hard coded IP addresses in web content and scripts, this suggests that many instances of a particular phishing site may be active at any one time. Web traffic has been observed arriving at a newly compromised server before the uploaded phishing content was completed, and phishing spam sent from one compromised host does not always appear to advertise the sending host, which again suggests it is likely that distributed and parallel phishing operations are being performed by organised groups.
Our research demonstrates a clear connection between spamming, botnets and phishing attacks, as well as the use of intermediaries to conceal financial transfers. These observations, when combined with quantitative data on mass vulnerability scanning and combined two-stage phishing networks, demonstrate that the threat posed by phishers is real, their activities are organised, and the methods they employ can sometimes be quite advanced. As the stakes become higher and the potential rewards become greater, it is likely that further advancements in phishing techniques and an increase in the number of phishing attacks will continue in the coming year. Reducing the number of vulnerable PCs contributing to botnets, countering the increasing volume of spam email, preventing organised criminal activity and educating Internet users about the potential risks from social engineering all remain significant security challenges.
Sponsored byVerisign
Sponsored byIPv4.Global
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Sponsored byWhoisXML API


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I have a sump pump that runs a lot (I have a perched water table under my house).
It discharges into my gutter and there is a significant mold build up.
My sump pit is just a hole in the ground, but I would like to try dropping a bromine tab in my sump pit.
My worry is that this will mess up the ground water.
My second worry is that it will mess up my pump.
Are these valid concerns or can I just try this out and see if it helps my mold issues?


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One area — or street, to be specific — in downtown Phoenix has businesses teaming up to benefit, cater to and converge the community via consignment goods, community gardening and recycling.
It's called Roosevelt Row, home of the GROWop Collective, the Greenhouse and Butter Toast.
GROWop features items you wouldn't find in your local retail store, including home décor, handmade lights and candles. The vintage collection includes shoes, purses, jewelry and more. Open five days a week, Wednesday through Sunday, the snug, inviting boutique has something new and innovative each visit.
Ashley Eaton, one of three owners of the GROWop, established it as a collective where artists could showcase their work.
"My two partners, Kenny and Josh, came up with the name GROWop; it stands for growing opportunity," Eaton says. "The whole idea of the place is to be somewhere small businesses can start and grow."
During First Fridays, the boutique offers courtyard space to vendors with no permit required and just 25 percent of their earnings go the boutique. This new idea is called arts markets; vendors will be able to sell their goods and services on empty lots around the neighborhood. This also promotes cleaning of the lots.
"We are all separate, but we work together a lot to see what our street needs and what we need for our community," Eaton says.
Members are typically the vendors that come out on First Fridays, but anyone can email the collective to get involved.
The collective started with a simple garden in the front yard, and lead to a store in the living room of the house. Although a resident currently lives in the home, the owners are hoping as they acquire more items to sell, the rooms will be cleared and made available for more shelf space.
The vegetables — greens, spinach, and others — that are planted in the garden are sold at the farmers markets in the local area, helping to bring in natural, local produce and create revenue for the area.
Aside from the garden, the clothing sold is considered one-of-a-kind, provided by local designers.
"We bring on designers that share our viewpoint and style," Eaton says. "We are all into recycling, the planet and handmade stuff. Our concept is community oriented."
If you journey across the street, you will find the Growhouse, a garden and gallery with a collective garden. They invite community members to join the garden and local artists to present ideas for the gallery on a rolling basis. They hold diverse workshops and events throughout the year, host gallery shows, provide live music and host garden tours on First Fridays.
The goal of the Growhouse is to become self-sustainable with collective, shared grow lots. Members are able to come in and grow their own fruits and vegetables and learn how to grow them at home.
A door away from GROWop is Butter Toast, a small boutique that made its way into the row November 2008. Owners Traci Nelson and Jasmine Jarrett do more than make crafty clothes and soaps; they recycle items into vintage clothes and organic personal items.
They bring in consignment clothing and make them new again. Butter Toast uses recycled plastic bags and reuses items from buildings to promote a cleaner healthier environment.
"Our floors are from an old high school gym," Nelson says. "They were going to throw them away, but we took them."
With a unique variety of hand-picked clothes, housewares and locally-made, natural soaps, the shop creates an unusual atmosphere that promotes health, well-being and a cleaner environment.
GROWop and Butter Toast have vintage clothing in common, but the two stores are different in many ways.
For instance, Butter Toast is more of a retail clothing store specializing in vintage clothing.
"We changed locations from around the corner because we have grown," Nelson says. "We have one local fashion designer based in New York that sends us her pieces."
The owners say they were concerned customers would think it was a breakfast cafe, but the name has caught on.
Roosevelt Row has style, grace and dozens of boutiques from which to choose. With a vital mix of residential and commercial properties, the area has continued to grow since 1948.
[stextbox id="grey"]
Roosevelt Row
Butter Toast


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What public figures say is more important than what they do, because cable TV and political blogs can cover a mud fight more cheaply and more easily than they can a real story.
Quick synopsis: Woodward has reported doggedly on the White House's role in putting "sequester" cuts -- $85 billion this year -- in the 2011 Budget Control Act. Last week, as Woodward was writing that President Barack Obama was moving the goal post in negotiations on those cuts, a White House aide yelled at him on the phone for a half-hour, Woodward says. Economic adviser Gene Sperling later sent him an email to apologize for raising his voice. Sperling also wrote, "I think you will regret staking out that claim."
The White House says no threat was intended. I believe that. I also see why Woodward might perceive the exchanges as a threat -- not to harm him physically but to deny him access. Without access, Woodward cannot write best-selling books.
Why am I writing about what Ron Fournier, National Journal editor-in-chief, described as "a silly distraction to a major problem" -- Washington's failure to lead under a budget deadline? Because this could be a turning point -- the moment when the White House press corps starts pushing back.
As Fournier wrote, the Woodward flap is indicative of the "increasingly toxic relationship between media and government." Things have gotten so ugly that in the midst of the Woodward flap, Fournier put an anonymous White House source on notice that if he continued to send him emails filled with "vulgarity, abusive language" and you'll-regret-it talk, Fournier would feel free to print said missives with attribution.
It would be nice if a more substantive dispute than the White House's treatment of Woodward sparked this mild rebellion. Think Benghazi. Yet there is a substantive dispute behind the fluffy fight.
As Politico reported, the White House "has, with great success, fudged the facts. The administration has convinced a majority of the country that Republicans are more to blame by emphasizing that Republicans voted for the plan. Which they did -- after Obama conceived it."
In an October presidential debate, Obama claimed that "the sequester is not something that I've proposed. It is something that Congress has proposed. It will not happen." PolitiFact rated that claim "mostly false." Obamaland's misinformation cookie is crumbling.
By Thursday's White House news briefing, the mutual disdain between the press corps and spokesman Jay Carney bubbled over. Reporters questioned dubious administration claims about layoffs attributed to sequester cuts. Ed Henry of Fox News asked why the White House had held a closed-to-the-press swearing in for Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.
Henry also is president of the White House Correspondents' Association, so Carney used the question to crack a joke about the group's complaint about reporters' lack of access to the president during a recent golfing vacation. Keep it up, White House, and the press corps will wear your scorn as a badge of honor.


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Kentucky lawmakers are struggling to finalize new Congressional districts.Both chambers approved new maps of the districts last month and have been in a conference committee for weeks to work out the differences. Last week, legislative leaders thought they were close to an agreement that would leave the maps relatively unchanged, but no compromise was made.
That's a problem, since the deadline for candidates to file to run in the new districts is Tuesday at 4:00 pm. House Speaker Greg Stumbo says even if an agreement is reached, it's unlikely the General Assembly could approve a plan before the deadline."That's possible but I don't think that will happen," he says. "Had the plan been made public for the last three or four days it might not have been necessary to extend the filing deadline. But since it wasn't and since we don't have an agreement and since therefore this notification process can't occur, it's likely that as soon as they do pass it, it will require some time lapse."It's likely the bill setting the new maps will also include a later filing deadline. The compromise plan reportedly makes the Sixth Congressional District more Democratic and less compact. State Senator Damon Thayer says he can't support that."It makes drastic changes to the existing Congressional lines and I believe unnecessarily, really disrupts the Central Kentucky regional nature of the Sixth Congressional District," Thayer says. "And since I live in the 6th District I feel like I need to stand up and continue to be a voice."The new maps of state legislative districts are also in limbo.


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Book review: The Dark Inside by Rod Reynolds
The slaying of courting couples in remote locations, exactly three weeks apart, sent the town into a state of panic throughout that long summer. Stores sold out of guns and ammunition, and at night the town was locked down while police patrolled streets and local neighbourhoods.
In his gripping, perfectly paced debut novel, London-born Rod Reynolds revisits the scene of those terrifying crimes to imagine an insular Deep South town, still recovering from the effects of war, packed with demob happy GIs and now held in a vice-like grip of fear and suspicion.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdIt proves an inspired and compelling backdrop, although the real joy of Reynolds' stunning thriller lies as much in its devilishly clever attention to detail as in the absorbing blend of murder, mystery and simmering menace.
In fact, the evocation of time and place, and the portrayal of a town under mental siege, is so breathtakingly authentic that one could be persuaded that this is Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe territory reborn.
'Three days travel and a million miles from New York,' disgraced crime reporter Charlie Yates knows his latest job in faraway Texarkana is 'a bullshit assignment' but an incident at work has left his news editor eager to see Charlie out of the way… maybe for good.
Once The Examiner's top man, Charlie's life is on a fast-track, downward slope. His marriage has 'gone to hell' and a bad accident has left him with serious anger issues.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdBut what seems at first like a small town murder story to big city boy Charlie – two young couples attacked in local lovers' lanes leaving three of them dead – soon turns into something far bigger when, within days of his arrival, another courting couple are mercilessly slaughtered.
Charlie finds himself lured deeper into the case by the beautiful, fiery Lizzie Anderson, sister of one of the victims, 17-year-old Alice, the only person to have survived the attacks and seen the killer up close.
But as he starts to make his own investigations into the murders, Charlie senses an 'undercurrent' in the town and discovers that the not-so-good folk of Texarkana have secrets that they want to keep hidden at all costs.
There are people out there who are protecting the killer and as he investigates further, Charlie's determination to uncover the truth could cost him more than just his job.
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdThere is a seductive, filmic quality to The Dark Inside… a slow-burning, spine-tingling tale punctuated by bursts of shocking violence and an all-pervasive air of malignant distrust that bleeds poison into a town teetering constantly on the edge of paranoia.
Reynolds' incisive, razor-sharp characterisation is undoubtedly the driving force behind this exceptionally powerful debut. In Charlie, we have the classic outsider… a man battling both his own demons and a traumatised community which is inherently prejudiced, suspicious of strangers and awash with murky secrets.
Drawn inexorably and unrelentingly into a fascinating web of intrigue and deception, readers will find there can be no turning back until the last page has turned.
Stylish, assured and perceptive, The Dark Inside is a remarkable first novel.
(Faber, paperback, £12.99)


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There are millions of reasons why PRWeb is more effective than most online marketing tools. But here's an abridged version.
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Anita Wlodarcyzk at the Rieti 2013 IAAF World Challenge meeting (© Giancarlo Colombo)
Silas Kiplagat and Musaeb Balla posted quick times in the middle-distance events, while Anita Wlodarczyk and Sally Pearson broke meeting records at the IAAF World Challenge meeting in Rieti on a highly entertaining afternoon of athletics on Sunday (8).
Rieti staged the final leg of the IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge for both men and women. A qualifying round was held on Saturday afternoon to determine the best four best throwers in both categories.
Anita Wlodarczyk, silver medallist at the World Championships in Moscow, clinched the win in Rieti with a meeting record of 76.57m to secure the win in the IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge. The Polish star backed up her winning mark with two more throws over 75 metres (75.07m and 75.14m). Olympic and World champion Tatyana Lysenko had to settle with runner-up place with 73.90m.
Wlodarczyk won the Hammer Throw Challenge with 233.83m ahead of Lysenko (227.59m).
Hungary's Olympic champion Krisztian Pars, who set the best qualifying mark of 78.17m, won the men's Hammer with 79.80m in the third round, beating World champion Pawel Fajdek who produced a best throw of 76.29m in the fourth and last attempt after three fouls to finish ahead of veterans Szymon Ziolkowski (75.30m) and Nicola Vizzoni (74.50m).
Despite this defeat, Fajdek clinched first place in the Hammer Throw Challenge with 246.23m ahead of Pars (264.17m).
Kiplagat makes up for Moscow disappointment with 3:30 in 1500m
The magic blue track of the Raul Guidobaldi lived up to its reputation as the temple of middle-distance running produced fast times on a sunny and warm afternoon of outstanding performances.
Silas Kiplagat, sixth at the World Championships in the 1500m in Moscow, backed up his post-championships good form, clinching his second consecutive win after Zurich.
The 1500m was paced by Ismael Kombich who went through 400m in 53.48 before Collins Cheboi took over as pacemaker, clocking 1:50.73 at 800m and 2:47.73 at 1200m. Kiplagat went to the front with 300m to go and ran an outstanding final lap to finish first, setting a season's best of 3:30.13 for his second win in a row in Rieti.
Johan Cronje, World bronze medallist in Moscow, set a South African record of 3:31.93 in second place as the top nine runners all clocked a seasonal or a personal best. Mohamed Moustaoui from Morocco set a season's best of 3:32.08 in third to finish ahead of Nick Willis who also lowered his 2013 best with 3:32.57.
"In Moscow I was not in good shape," said Kiplagat. "I felt very weak and the weather was too hot. I wanted to win and set a fast time. Winning in Rieti for the second consecutive year was very special."
Qatar's Musaeb Abdulrahman Balla, 24, dipped under 1:44 in the 800m for the first time to set a national record of 1:43.93.
The fast pace was set by 2011 World youth champion Leonard Kosencha who went through 400m in 49.08. USA's former 400m hurdler Brandon Johnson took the lead at 500m after Kosencha dropped out, then passed 600m in 1:16.56 before Balla took the lead coming off the bend.
Balla ran a great final straight to take the win ahead of World Junior bronze medallist Edwin Melly, who set a season's best of 1:44.49 to hold off Johnson by 0.06. Ireland's Mark English dipped under 1:45 for the second time in his career with 1:44.89.
Semenya returns with sub-two form
South Africa's Caster Semenya, World champion in 2009 and Olympic silver medallist in London last year, returned to sub-two-minute form to clinch the win in the women's 800m with a season's best of 1:58.92.
She held off Kenya's Nelly Jepkosgei, who smashed her personal best with 1:59.40. Ukraine's European indoor champion and World finalist Nataliya Lupu dipped below two minutes to take third place in 1:59.52, beating 2011 World 1500m silver medallist Hannah England from Great Britain (2:00.39).
World 5000m silver medallist Mercy Cherono also impressed by winning the women's 3000m in a solid 8:35.97 in a race where eight athletes set personal bests. Sylvia Kibet, World silver medallist in the 5000m in Berlin and Daegu, ran the fastest time of her career with 8:37.47 to beat compatriot Agnes Tirop (8:39.13) and Netherlands' World finalist Susan Kuijken who dipped under 8:40 with a life-time best of 8:39.65.
Edwin Soi, Olympic bronze medallist in 2008 and fifth at the World Championships in Moscow, narrowly edged USA's Ben True by just 0.06 in the men's 3000m, winning in 7:36.53 as True smashed his PB by almost eight seconds.
Three men – Soi, True and 1500m specialist Caleb Ndiku – broke away with 600m to go. Soi and True launched their kick with one lap to go, opening a gap on Ndiku who was eventually overtaken by Cyrus Rutto who was rewarded by a career best of 7:37:57.
Meeting records from Pearson and Perkovic
Australian star Sally Pearson, Olympic champion in London and World silver medallist in Moscow, improved the 100m Hurdles meeting record, clocking 12.64 to win ahead of Jamaican Andrea Bliss, second in 12.93.
"The meeting record confirmed that I'm still in good shape," said Pearson. "I'm happy with the season. The silver medal was not what I wanted but I'm happy considering the injury. It was very special to run in Rieti. I enjoyed the weather and the atmosphere of this meeting."
Croatian superstar Sandra Perkovic, reigning Olympic, World and European Discus champion, set a meeting record of 66.12m on her fourth attempt to cap another great season in which she won her first World title, the Diamond Race and lost only once.
The women's Discus was one of the best events of the meeting as it featured the entire Moscow podium, but it was Zaneta Glanc from Poland who took second place with 62.24m ahead of World bronze medallist Yarelys Barrios (61.98m) and France's Melina Robert Michon (61.62m).
US sprinter Walter Dix, double Olympic bronze medallist in 2008 and double World silver medallist in 2011, returned to sub-10 territory. He clocked 9.99 to win the men's 100m to back up his recent 20.12 200m performance in Brussels.
Dix edged 2010 World indoor champion Dwain Chambers (10.09) and 2012 Olympic finalist Ryan Bailey (10.10).
Jamaican doubles in men's and women's sprints
Stephanie McPherson from Jamaica, fourth at the World Championships, missed her PB by 0.08 to win the 400m in 50.00, beating compatriot Kaliese Spencer who set a personal best of 50.19.
Carrie Russell scored another Jamaican sprint win, taking victory in the 200m in 22.62 to set her third PB of the season in this event with her best before this year being 23.86.
Jamaica confirmed their dominance of the men's 200m where 2011 World University Games champion Rasheed Dwyer took first place in 20.30, beating Ukraine's Serhiy Smelyk who set a personal best of 20.39. Two days after setting a 400m PB in Brussels, Italian Matteo Galvan set a 200m lifetime best of 20.50.
Jamaican Rusheen McDonald, World 4x400m silver medallist in Moscow, set a meeting record in the 300m with a world-leading 31.97. The race commemorated late Italian sprint legend Pietro Mennea, who competed eleven times in Rieti and set a 300m world best of 32.28 in 1979 on this track.
McDonald was awarded by Tommie Smith, 1968 Olympic 200m champion and former World record-holder, who was the special guest of the Rieti meeting together with another athletics legend Alberto Juantorena, Olympic 400m and 800m champion in 1976.
European bronze medallist Irina Gordeeva upset Olympic champion Anna Chicherova in the women's High Jump. The Russian had a clean sheet up to 1.99m while Chicherova needed two attempts to clear the routine height of 1.85m and jumped 1.96 at the second time of asking.
Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF


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Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more.
Yes. While the terminal is closed during off-hours, the airport is open with access to a telephone 24 hours a day. After-hours service can be obtained by calling (574) 267-3689. A $25 after-hours fee applies.
Show All Answers
No. However, there are two air charter service operations on the field:
There are three off-site rental car companies that service Warsaw Municipal Airport. Arrangements will need to be made through them directly:
Warsaw Municipal Airport (ASW) does not have an airplane fleet. The Warsaw Flying Club, not affiliated with ASW, has aircraft for rent. Their contact number is (888) 566-3877.
Due to high demand, transient hangar space is generally limited. The local EAA chapter will occasionally have hangar space available for a $25 donation. For assistance in finding accommodations, please call the airport manager prior to arrival at (574) 372-9541.
Contact the Warsaw Municipal Airport by email or at (574) 372-9541 for a list of current flight instructors operating out of Warsaw.


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Who doesn't love free tacos?
Thanks to the Golden State Warriors 118-113 road win against the Cleveland Cavaliers in game three, Taco Bell is giving away free tacos on Tuesday.
Before the 2017 NBA Finals began, the taco chain offered a free Doritos Loco Taco if a team "stole" a road win during the series.
The Cavaliers took game four 137-116 but eventually fell to the Warriors 129-120 Monday night, securing Golden State's second title in three years.
Customers can grab their free taco at participating Taco Bell locations between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. There is a limit of one taco, which is valued at $1.69 each.
Learn more about the "Steal a Game, Steal a Taco" promotion here.


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Playboy's The Smoking Jacket (yes, I write for them you transparency freaks) rounds up the best of the latest Nymphomercials out there. What's a Nympomercial? A Nymphomercial is an infomercial that is so sexy (either intentionally or otherwise), that you can practically have sex with yourself, or someone else, while watching it.
They've collected a few of the best here which includes Thigh Glider, Breat Stim, Easy Curves, Cool Blast, NuBra and Flirty Girl Fitness. Check them all out here.


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All our tenancies start on a Monday. Your rent is payable weekly and in advance. Therefore your first week's rent will be due on the day your tenancy starts, and you will need to pay a week's rent in advance every Monday.
You can also pay your rent calendar monthly. You must remember to multiply the week's rent by 52 (weeks in the year) and divide by 12 (months in the year). The Operations Manager can help you to calculate this. Rent paid monthly must still be paid in advance, to prevent you going into arrears at any time in the month.
Occasionally (about every four years) the rent year has 53 weeks instead of 52 weeks, to keep in line with the calendar year. When this happens, you need to calculate your monthly payment by multiplying by 53, not 52. We will warn you in advance when this occurs.
For security reasons, please never send cash through the post, and our staff cannot accept rent payments while they are out on visits. For information on how to pay rent please see How do I pay rent?


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Hong Kong ferry accident: Crew arrested after collision kills 38
| Hong Kong
Hong Kong police on Tuesday arrested six crew members from two boats in a collision that killed 38 holiday revelers, but offered no theory about how the vessels ran into each other on a clear night in one of the safest and most regulated harbors in Asia.
The Monday night crash was Hong Kong's deadliest accident in more than 15 years, and the worst maritime accident in more than 40. Some relatives of the dead went to Victoria Harbor to toss spirit money in honor of the victims Tuesday, while other people waited at the morgue for tragic news about loved ones.
Police Commissioner Tsang Wai-hung said crew members from both boats were detained on suspicion of endangering passengers by operating the craft unsafely. "We expect further persons to be arrested," he said.
RELATED: The World's Fastest Growing Cities
Tsang said police suspect both crews had not "exercised the care required of them by law," but he did not elaborate.
A ferry collided with the Lamma IV, which was taking more than 100 employees of Power Assets Holdings Ltd. and their families to famed Victoria Harbor to watch a fireworks display in celebration of China's National Day and mid-autumn festival.
The government said in a statement that 101 people were sent to hospitals; 66 were discharged, and four had serious injuries or were in critical condition.
The ferry was damaged but completed its journey, and some of its passengers were treated for injuries. Local TV later showed images of the ferry, with its bow chewed up and chunks missing.
Hong Kong and Kowloon (Ferry) Holdings Ltd., the ferry operator, did not return calls seeking comment.
The government said 28 bodies were recovered overnight, and eight more victims were declared dead at hospitals. Two bodies found aboard the vessel Tuesday raised the death toll to 38, according to government statements. At least four of those killed were children.
Salvage crews raised the half-submerged Lamma IV using three crane barges that surrounded it Tuesday.
At the same time, several dozen relatives of victims traveled by boat to take part in a traditional Chinese mourning ritual, praying alongside Taoist priests and tossing spirit money into the wind.
As mourners wept and leaned out their boat's windows, other observers could see rescue workers bring what appeared to be a dead body out of the water and put it on the deck of a fire department rescue boat, where it was covered with a sheet or bag.
Police didn't know the exact number of people aboard the boat at the time of the accident and were interviewing survivors to determine if others were missing.
Survivors told local television stations that the power company boat started sinking rapidly after the 8:23 p.m. collision. One woman said she swallowed a lot of water as she swam back to shore. A man said he had been on board with his children and didn't know where they were. Neither gave their names.
Though there was no immediate word about how the collision occurred on Hong Kong's tightly regulated waterways, it appeared human error was involved. Both vessels should have been illuminated by running lights when they crashed near Lamma island off the southwestern coast of Hong Kong island.
Such large-scale accidents are rare for Hong Kong, a semiautonomous enclave off mainland China that has one of Asia's most advanced infrastructures and economies with first-rate public services. The accident is the deadliest to strike the territory since a 1996 high-rise fire that killed 41, and the deadliest ferry accident since 88 people died during a typhoon in 1971.
Power Assets' director of operations, Yuen Sui-see, said the Lamma IV was carrying 121 passengers and three crew members, well below its capacity of more than 200.
"There was a boat that came in close and crashed," he said. "After the crash, the other boat continued away. It didn't stop."
The ferry involved, the Sea Smooth, has a top speed of almost 45 kph (28 mph) and carries up to 200 passengers. Local news reports said it is operated by the Hong Kong and Kowloon Ferry company on a regularly scheduled service.
Hong Kong fire services deployed seven boats, including one to support diving operations, and more than 200 rescue personnel, the government said. Four rescue boats and a team of divers also were dispatched from the mainland Chinese province of Guangdong nearby, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported.
Several dozen relatives gathered at Hong Kong's morgue to await information on their loved ones.
A man who gave only his surname, Lee, said he and several relatives had spent the night searching for his 52-year-old sister, who had boarded the boat with three co-workers from the utility company.
"My niece called me last evening and said she believed my sister was on the boat so we should do something right away, we should go find them," he said.
They went from hospital to hospital, to the pier and a nearby yacht club. On Tuesday Lee was at the morgue, which he said would be the best place to get information.
Victor Li, deputy head of the company that owns Power Assets, was reported by Hong Kong media saying the firm would provide emergency payments of 200,000 Hong Kong dollars ($25,793) to the family of each person killed.
Li's father, Li Ka-shing, is Asia's richest man. Power Assets Holdings Ltd., one of several companies in the elder Li's sprawling business empire, owns the Hong Kong Electric Co., one of the city's two electrical utilities.
Li Ka-shing visited a hospital Tuesday and told reporters he felt "very sorry."
"I don't want to say too much. I just know that many people have passed away," he said in comments broadcast on Cable TV Hong Kong.
Social media sites lit up with discussion of the tragedy and condolences for the victims and their families. Cellphone footage of the partly submerged boat was posted to YouTube.
Lamma is the third-biggest island in Hong Kong and near one of the coastal Chinese city's busiest shipping lanes. The island is home to about 6,000 people, including many of the former British colony's expatriate workers.
The tragedy is a test for Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's new Beijing-installed administration. His July inauguration was greeted by protests, and opposition by students and their parents against the proposed teaching of China-influenced patriotic history forced his government to back off the plan last month.
After the collision, Leung rushed to the pier where rescue work was taking place and promised a full investigation.
RELATED: The World's Fastest Growing Cities
Follow Kelvin Chan at twitter.com/chanma
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.


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In its quest to identify possible substitutes for a toxic flame retardant chemical known as decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released a draft report on alternatives. This comprehensive assessment, developed with public participation under EPA's Design for the Environment (DfE) program, profiles the environmental and human health hazards on 30 alternatives to decaBDE, which will be phased out of production by December 2013.
DecaBDE is a common flame retardant used in electronics, vehicles, and building materials. It can cause adverse developmental effects, can persist in the environment and can bioaccumulate in people and animals. This technical assessment can help manufacturers identify alternatives to decaBDE. In addition, EPA will continue to work with manufacturers to investigate both chemical and non-chemical alternatives for flame retardants.
"EPA is using all of its tools to reduce the use of hazardous flame retardant chemicals like decaBDE and identify safer, functional substitutes to protect people's health and the environment," said Jim Jones, acting assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP). "Virtually everyone agrees that EPA needs updated authority under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to more effectively assess and regulate potentially harmful chemicals like flame retardants. As EPA continues to stress the need for comprehensive legislative reform to TSCA, we are also targeting actions on a broader group of flame retardants to reduce human and environmental risks."
Today's draft report is the latest in a series of actions the agency is taking to address flame retardants made with bromine. Other actions include:
On June 1, 2012, EPA released a TSCA work plan of 18 chemicals which the agency intends to review and use to develop risk assessments in 2013 and 2014, including three flame retardant chemicals. EPA is currently developing a strategy, scheduled for completion by the end of this year that will address these three and a broader set of flame retardant chemicals. This effort will aid the agency in focusing risk assessments on those flame retardant chemicals that pose the greatest potential concerns. EPA anticipates initiating the risk assessments on this category of chemicals in 2013.
On April 2, 2012, EPA proposed actions under TSCA that will require manufacturers, importers, and processors of polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants to submit information to the agency for review before initiating any new uses of PBDEs after Dec 31, 2013. Those who continue to manufacture, import, or process after December 31, 2013, would be subject to a testing requirement under TSCA. EPA is accepting comments on this proposal until July 31, 2012.
In 2009, EPA developed action plans on PBDEs (including pentaBDE, octaBDE, and decaBDE) and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) that summarized available hazard, exposure and use information; outlined potential risks; and identified the specific steps the agency is pursuing under the TSCA. The alternatives analysis for decaBDE was included in the action plan.
The alternatives to decaBDE characterized in the report are already on the market and will be used increasingly as decaBDE is phased out. The alternatives have differing hazard characteristics and are associated with trade-offs. For example, some alternatives that appear to have a relatively positive human health profile may be more persistent in the environment. Some alternatives appear to be less toxic than decaBDE. Preliminary data suggests that these flame retardants may have a lower potential for bioaccumulation in people and the environment. It is important to understand that these health and environmental profiles are largely based on computer-model generated estimates, and that the models are limited in their ability to predict concern. Laboratory testing and ongoing environmental monitoring is necessary to fully understand the potential for concern associated with these chemicals.
EPA's Design for the Environment Alternatives Assessment Program helps industries choose safer chemicals and offers a basis for informed decision-making by providing a detailed comparison of the potential public health and environmental impacts of chemical alternatives. Throughout the partnership, stakeholders, including chemical suppliers, product manufacturers, and non-government organizations have provided valuable information to support the development of these draft reports. EPA is seeking stakeholder and public input on this draft report for 60 days.
This free educational webinar will provide a detailed process for climate-driven "pre-response" in a variety of key areas including: Supply Chain Disruptions, Employee Safety and Productivity, Regulatory and Compliance Risks …and many more areas.


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Might be interesting to watch how this develops.
IRC, freenode, #hurd, about 2010-08/2010-09
<neal> check this out:
<neal> someone is working on implementing dbus in linux
<neal> linux finally gets mach ipc ;-)
<marcusb> it's old news though, unless there is an update
<marcusb> and I think it was only the client?
<neal> youpi : someone is adding dbus ipc to the linux kernel
<neal> marcusb: I just heard about it.
<youpi> (it's crazy how this drives backward compared to a hurdish approach)
<youpi> what is the motivation for moving to the kernel?
<neal> context switch overhead
<azeem_> they wanna use it to talk to device drivers? :)
<kilobug> well, they did that with the in-kernel web server, but they
abandonned it later on
<neal> azeem: I don't think so.
<neal> dbus in the kernel is actually good for the Hurd as dbus IPC is
basically neutered Mach IPC
<marcusb> I don't think anybody wants to put the dbus server in the kernel
<neal> well, there is at least one person
<marcusb> maybe this is a different news from the one I read
<neal> Alban Crequy (albanc) is working out. He works for collabora, fwiw
<marcusb> what I read was about hal etc
<marcusb> so that you don't need a user space daemon to glue the kernel to the
dbus world
<neal> I don't think that is what he is talking about
<marcusb> I can't find it anymore though. I mentioned it in this channel at
the time though, so it should be in the backlog
<marcusb> neal, yeah could very well be a separate thing
<marcusb> neal, dbus does have marginal support for fd passing though, and some
attempts on the mailing list to make "fds" an official type in the message
failed (as far as I could see, I didn't read the whole discussion)
<marcusb> so no mach ipc just yet
<neal> wrong
<neal> FD handling is in 1.4
<neal> type o, if I'm not mistaken
<marcusb> then the discussion moved on from initial rejection
<neal> no, 'h'
<marcusb> I'm out of date by two months
<marcusb> ok
<guillem> neal: AFAIR Marcel Holtmann talked about dbus in-kernel several years
ago, but he never ended up implementing it, or there were rumors he had
private "working code"
Related Mailing List Discussion
AF_BUS, D-Bus, and the Linux kernel, Greg Kroah-Hartman, 2013-02-08.
IRC, freenode, #hurd, 2014-01-28
<braunr> i would like to see things like dbus and zeromq use an optimized
microkernel transport one day
<teythoon> we could port kdbus >,<
<braunr> why not
<braunr> you port cgroups first
<teythoon> exactly
<braunr> :p
IRC, freenode, #hurd, 2014-02-23
In context of linux as the kernel, IRC, freenode, #hurd, 2014-02-23.
<desrt> mach seems like this really simple thing when you first explain
what a microkernel is
<braunr> and because of that, i think it's better to start the right
solution directly
<braunr> it looks simple, it's clearly not
<desrt> but i did a bit of looking into it... it's a bit non-trivial after
all :)
<braunr> mach ipc is over complicated and error prone
<braunr> it leads to unefficient communication compared to other solutions
such as what l4 does
<desrt> ya -- i hear that this is a big part of the performance hit
<braunr> that's why i've started x15
<desrt> i was also doing some reading about how it's based on mapping
memory segments between processes
<braunr> first, it was a mach clone, but since i've come to know mach
better, it's now a "spiritual" mach successor .. :)
<desrt> these are two issues that we've been dealing with at another
level... in the design of kdbus
<braunr> ah kdbus :)
<desrt> this is something that started with my masters thesis a long time
<braunr> ah you too
<desrt> first thing we did is make the serialisation format so that all
messages are valid and therefore never need to be checked
<desrt> (old dbus format requires checks at every step on the way)
<braunr> looks interesting
<desrt> then of course we cut the daemon out
<desrt> but some other interesting things: security is super-simple... it's
based enirely on endpoints
<desrt> either you're allowed to send messages between two processes or
you're not
<desrt> there is no checking for message types, for example
<braunr> yes
<desrt> and the other thing: memory mapping is usually bad
<braunr> that's what i mean when i say mach ipc is over complicated
<braunr> it depends
<desrt> the kdbus guys did some performance testing and found out that if
the message is less than ~512k then the cost of invalidating the TLB in
order to change the memory mapping is higher than the cost of just
copying the data
<braunr> yes, we know that too
<braunr> that's why zero copy isn't the normal way of passing small amounts
of data over mach either
<desrt> nice
<desrt> i got the impression in some of my reading (wikipedia, honestly)
that memory mapping was being done all the time
<braunr> well
<braunr> no it's not
<braunr> memory mapping is unfortunately a small fraction of the
performance overhead
<desrt> that's good :)
<braunr> that being said
<braunr> memory mapping can be very useful
<braunr> for example, it's hard for us to comply with posix requirements of
being able to read/write at least 2G of data in a single call
<braunr> weird bugs occur beyond 512M iirc
<braunr> you do want memory mapping for that
<desrt> ya... for things of this size.... you don't want to copy that
through a socket :)
<braunr> monolithic kernels have it naturally, since the kernel is mapped
<braunr> for microkernels, it's a little more complicated
<braunr> and the problem gets worse on smp
<braunr> again, that's why i preferred starting a new kernel instead of
reusing linux


text:
By Lindsay Sakraida
Lindsay Sakraida is a freelance writer who, in addition to tennis, has covered fashion, film, photography, shopping, and music. Check out her musings on Twitter at @LinTENNIS (tennis-related) or @LinSakraida (generally non-tennis related, but sometimes she can't help herself).
As eloquent as he is, we're thinking Rog is going to have trouble with this whole 100-words-or-less thing. (Super Stock photo)
The write choice? We here at TSF are devout fans of the upcoming Madrid Open's aggressive cultivation of a sleek and modern brand, and if you're likewise moved by the tournament' s vivid colors, style, and daring innovations, then be sure to check out the latest competition in coordination with ellesse. The equally-chic Italian label has designed uniforms for the ball kids, and to celebrate the relationship, ellesse is giving away an all-access trip to the contestant who can best wax poetic (in 100 words or less) about why he or she should win. Flex a creative muscle (preferably in a Rafa-esque fashion), and you and a friend could each snag a flight from anywhere in the world, hotel accommodations for eight nights, an invite to the opening party and a bit of spending cash. Hurry, though: the competition ends at 5 am ET on April 22.
By the way, we' re serious about that " flex a creative muscle" thing; the winner of this competition will also have to detail the Madrid experience by keeping a daily diary. We can see it now: Dear Diary – I think Feliciano winked at me during his practice session today. Do you think he has a girlfriend? Or a second baby mama? Or maybe he just got a little clay in his eye??
Click the link above or the image below to visit the contest entrance page.


text:
Fur is used in reference to the hair of non-human mammals, particularly those with extensive body hair coverage that is generally soft and thick, as opposed to the stiffer bristles on most pigs. The term pelage – first known use in English c. 1828 – (French, from Middle French, from poil hair, from Old French peilss, from Latin pilus,) is sometimes used to refer to the body hair of an animal as a complete coat. Fur is also used to refer to animal pelts which have been processed into leather with the hair still attached. The words fur or furry are also used, more casually, to refer to hair-like growths or formations, particularly when the subject being referred to exhibits a dense coat of fine, soft "hairs." If layered, rather than grown as a single coat, it may consist of short down hairs, long guard hairs, and, in some cases, medium awn hairs. Mammals with reduced amounts of fur are often called "naked", as with the naked mole-rat, or "hairless", as with hairless dogs.
- Composition
- Mammals without fur
- Natural selection
- Artificial selection
- Use in clothing
- Controversy
- References
An animal with commercially valuable fur is known within the fur industry as a furbearer. The use of fur as clothing or decoration is considered controversial by some people: most animal welfare advocates object to the trapping and killing of wildlife, and to the confinement and killing of animals on fur farms.
Fur usually consists of two main layers:
Mammals with well-developed down and guard hairs also usually have large numbers of awn hairs. These begin their growth much as guard hairs do, but change their mode of growth, usually when less than half the length of the hair has emerged. This portion of the hair is called awn. The rest of the growth is thin and wavy, much like down hair. In many species of mammals, the awn hairs comprise the bulk of the visible coat. The proximal part of the awn hair shares the function of the down hairs, whereas the distal part aids the water-shedding function of the guard hairs, though their thin basal portion prevents their being erected like true guard hairs.
The modern fur arrangement is known to have occurred as far back as docodonts, haramiyidans and eutriconodonts, with Castorocauda, Megaconus and Spinolestes preserving compound follicles with guard hair and underfur.
Mammals without fur
Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals, however, several species or breeds have considerably reduced amounts of fur. These are often called "naked" or "hairless".
Natural selection
Some mammals naturally have reduced amounts of fur. Some semiaquatic or aquatic mammals such as cetaceans, pinnipeds and hippopotamuses have evolved hairlessness, presumably to reduce resistance through water. The naked mole-rat has evolved hairlessness, perhaps as an adaptation to their subterranean life-style. Two of the largest extant mammals, the elephant and the rhinoceros, are largely hairless. The hairless bat is mostly hairless but does have short bristly hairs around its neck, on its front toes, and around the throat sac, along with fine hairs on the head and tail membrane. Most hairless animals cannot go in the sun for long periods of time, or stay in the cold for too long.
Humans are the only primate species that have undergone significant hair loss. The hairlessness of humans compared to related species may be due to loss of functionality in the pseudogene KRTHAP1 (which helps produce keratin) in the human lineage about 240,000 years ago. Mutations in the gene HR can lead to complete hair loss, though this is not typical in humans.
Sheep have not become hairless, however, their pelage is usually referred to as "wool" rather than fur.
Artificial selection
Humans have artificially selected some domesticated mammalian species to have breeds that are hairless. There are several breeds of hairless cats, perhaps the most commonly known being the Sphynx cat. Similarly, there are several breeds of hairless dogs. Other examples of artificially selected hairless animals include the hairless guinea-pig, nude mouse, and the hairless rat.
Use in clothing
In clothing, fur is usually leather with the hair retained for its aesthetic and insulating properties. Fur has long served as a source of clothing for hominoids including the Neanderthal. Animal furs used in garments and trim may be dyed bright colors or to mimic exotic animal patterns, or shorn down to imitate the feel of a soft velvet fabric. The term "a fur" is often used to refer to a fur coat, wrap, or shawl.
Usual animal sources for fur clothing and fur trimmed accessories include fox, rabbit, mink, beavers, ermine, otters, sable, seals, coyotes, chinchilla, raccoon, and possum. The import and sale of seal products was banned in the U.S. in 1972 over conservation concerns about Canadian seals. The import and sale is still banned even though the Marine Animal Response Society estimates the harp seal population is thriving at approximately 8 million. The import, export and sales of domesticated cat and dog fur were also banned in the U.S. under the Dog and Cat Protection Act of 2000.
The manufacturing of fur clothing involves obtaining animal pelts where the hair is left on the animal's processed skin. In contrast, making leather involves removing the hair from the hide or pelt and using only the skin. The use of wool involves shearing the animal's fleece from the living animal, so that the wool can be regrown but sheepskin shearling is made by retaining the fleece to the leather and shearing it. Shearling is used for boots, jackets and coats and is probably the most common type of skin worn.
Fur is also used to make felt. A common felt is made from beaver fur and is used in high-end cowboy hats.
Most animal rights activists are opposed to the trapping and killing of wildlife, and the confinement and killing of animals on fur farms. According to Humane Society International, over 8 million animals are trapped yearly for fur, while more than 30 million were raised in fur farms.
According to Statistics Canada, 2.6 million fur-bearing animals raised on farms were killed in 2010. Another 700,000 were killed for fur by traps.


text:
This handbook has been prepared to serve as a guide to the Board of Directors, the Priority Group Consultants, the Committees, and the staff of the Association for Library Service to Children in the performance of their duties and responsibilities.
It includes the Bylaws of the association and describes the general responsibilities, activities, and composition of priority groups and committees. The procedures described are consistent with those in effect at ALA Headquarters, and in some cases are dictated by overall ALA policies.
-Revised May 2014-
Policies and Organizational Guidelines
Annual Conference Planning
Policies and Organizational Guidelines
- ALSC Board of Directors Conflict of Interest Policy
- ALSC Community Agreements
- Bylaws
- Field of Responsibility Statement
- General Information
- Headquarters Service
- Blog Policy
- Corporate Sponsorship Guidelines
- Electronic Discussion List (ALSC-L) Policy
- Guidelines for Electronic Communication
- Frequently asked questions about the Policy for Service on Award or Notable Children's Books Committees
- Policy for Service on the Children's Literature Lecture Award Committee
- Policy for Service on Award Committees
- Policy for Service on Media Evaluation Committees
- Policy for Service on the Children's Literature Legacy Award Committee
- Seals Usage Guidelines
- Twitter Use Guidelines
- Guidelines for ALSC Committees Posting Content to the ALSC Website
Pertinent ALA Policies
ALSC Matters! Newsletter
The official online newsletter of the Association for Library Service to Children.
Children and Libraries: The Journal of The Association for Library Service to Children
Monograph (non-serial) Publications
Committees may determine that to achieve a specific objective, they need to develop a manuscript for an article, pamphlet, book, or list (either print or on-line versions).
Unless the committee has authorization within its function statement to produce a continuing publication (e.g., Notable Children's Books), Board approval is required, via a proposal process, before work beings on the project. Once approved, the Program Officer will advise and assist committees with the publishing process.
- Nominating and Leadership Development Committee
- Nominating Process for Board positions- questions and answers
- Election Process
Guiding Documents
Roles and Responsibilities of Elected Officials
- President
- Vice-President/President Elect
- Past-President
- Executive Director
- Board of Directors
- ALA/ALSC Councilor
- Fiscal Officer
Program and Budget Development
- Budget - General Information
- Program and Budget Evaluation Criteria
- Children's Library Services Endowment - funding for committee projects
General Information
- List of ALSC Committees, Discussion Groups, and Task Forces
- Volunteering and the Appointments Process
- Committees - General Information
- Chair Orientation Tipsheet
- Committee Member Orientation Tipsheet
- ALA Representation to Outside Organizations
- Organizational Definitions
- Committee Volunteer Form
Meetings & Resources
- ALA Connect Tips
- Best Practices for Virtual Committees Wiki
- Board Action Request form
- ALSC Procedures for Implementing ALA Open Meeting Policy
- ALSC Travel Policy
- Sample letter to member supervisor
- Quarterly reporting form (online)
- ALSC Pathfinder (How do I...?)


text:
Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report published
The Great Barrier Reef Outlook Report 2009, prepared by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, is the first comprehensive assessment of the health of the Great Barrier Reef and identifies the key challenges facing it now and into the future. It is the first report of its kind and provides a reliable and scientifically credible assessment of and outlook for the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage site.
The Report states that the outlook for the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem is at a crossroad, and it is decisions made in the next few years that are likely to determine its long-term future. Unavoidably, future predictions of climate change dominate most aspects of the Great Barrier Reef's outlook over the next few decades. The extent and persistence of the damage to the ecosystem will depend to a large degree on the amount of change in the world's climate and on the resilience of the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem in the immediate future.
The Outlook Report identifies climate change, continued declining water quality from catchment runoff, loss of coastal habitats from coastal development and remaining impacts from fishing and illegal fishing and poaching as the priority issues reducing the resilience of the Great Barrier Reef.
The full Report and an 'In Brief' version are available on the web at <www.gbrmpa.gov.au/corp_site/about_us/great_barrier_reef_outlook_report>
Further detail on the evidence that was used to develop the Outlook Report is available at Outlook Online which provides direct extracts from, and links to, the information sources. This provides a huge source of additional information about the GBRWHA.
For more information, contact email@example.com
For young people, the 7th episode of the 'Patrimonito's World Heritage Adventures' cartoon animated series is on 'Climate Change and the Great Barrier Reef', and is released by the World Heritage Centre in collaboration with the Australian Government Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA). The DVD copies of Episode n°7 are available from the World Heritage Centre and are also available online at https://whc.unesco.org/en/patrimonito/.


text:
From bungee jumping to surfing lessons to hours at the craps table, tourists have been known to spend good money on a wide range of thrilling, only-on-vacation activities. Target practice with an assault weapon can now be added to the list.
In the aftermath of the mass shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., there have been plenty of arguments made that guns are necessary for protection, or that perhaps we need much stricter gun control. In some popular tourist destinations, another argument is being promoted: Guns are supposedly good clean fun.
Within a couple months of the Newtown massacre, the Associated Press highlighted a number of over-the-top Las Vegas shooting range promotions aimed at tourists, including real-life "shotgun wedding" ceremonies and "romantic" packages allowing couples to renew their vows and shoot guns, all for one price. Sin City has been living up to its nickname and was "embracing tourists' newfound interest in big guns the only way it knows how: by going all in," the story noted.
"Customers just want to have fun," one employee at a Vegas shooting range explained. "It's like a bucket list item."
(MORE: Tempting the Young: New Efforts to Get Younger Consumers Hooked on Guns, Soda & More)
Naturally, gun-control advocates have a different take:
"These gun stores and shooting ranges offer bad puns in poor taste in their efforts to put a happy face on firearms, yet each day more than 86 Americans die from gun violence," said Newtown native Josh Sugarmann, who is executive director of the Washington D.C-based Violence Policy Center.
USA Today recently reported that the guns-n-tourists trend isn't limited to Vegas. "Ground zero for gun tourism," in fact, is reportedly not the Las Vegas Strip but beautiful Waikiki, Hawaii. Normally thought of as a paradise for beaches, surf, and relaxation, Waikiki is also a magnet for foreigners—Japanese, in particular—who want to try their hands at something they'd never be able to do at home:
Tourists from countries with the strictest gun laws, such as Japan, are the most attracted to Hawaii's gun clubs. Jeff Tarumi, an NRA certified instructor at the Royal Hawaiian Shooting Club, estimates that over 90% of his customers are Japanese tourists.
The club mentioned above offers shooting packages ranging from $60 to $300, including one designed for children under the age of 15. Before being allowed to fire a weapon, tourists must show ID, pay up, and watch a 15-minute gun safety video. They can select from among dozens of guns to shoot, including assault rifles and high-powered .44 Magnums.
(MORE: List Price = Joke Price: 4 Examples of How Original Prices Are Meaningless)
Curiously, even as some tourists are eager to take advantage of the availability of guns in the U.S., they are also fearful of Americans' wide-open access to guns. "I wouldn't feel comfortable traveling to the mainland U.S. because of the gun laws," one Japanese tourist is quoted saying. "Hawaii is OK."


text:
General Manager Ozzie Newsome addressed the media Saturday at the NFL Scouting Combine, and he took a number of questions about the status of Ray Rice following his arrest on domestic violence charges last weekend.
Newsome has not spoken with Rice yet about the incident, but the running back has been in communication with members of the organization. Rice has had several conversations with Head Coach John Harbaugh, Director of Player Development Harry Swayne and Director of Security Darren Sanders, who have relayed that information back to Newsome.
Based on those conversations, Newsome suggested there is more to the story than what has currently been reported.
"Right now I feel very good about his side of the story, but I also feel very good about what he has done since that to help himself to not allow himself to get in a situation like that again," Newsome said. "I think that's the best way to say it."
Rice and his fiancée, Janay Palmer, were both arrested and charged with simple assault domestic violence following the incident in an Atlantic City casino. A court summons alleges that Rice struck Palmer with his hand and rendered her unconscious.
Video released by TMZ shows Rice pull Palmer out of an elevator while she appears to be unconscious, but it does not show the events leading up to that portion of security footage.
"I did [watch the video] online just like everybody else did, and it doesn't look good," Newsome said. "But I'm going to reserve all my comments up until I have a chance to talk to Ray. From what I've gotten from John and from Harry and Darren, the whole video needs to be reviewed.
"I don't know if anybody here has had the opportunity to talk to Ray, and I don't know if a different story is going to come out. The video is what it is. But like I said, up until the process runs its course, we as an organization, we will stand down."
Newsome reiterated Harbaugh's message from an interview Friday, where he said that Rice is still in the team's plans for next season and that the organization is still gathering information about the case.
"In any of those situations, it's very concerning, but up until we get all of the facts we will allow the process run its course," Newsome said. "I think John said it best yesterday: 'We will let the facts determine what the consequences will be.'"
Depending on additional information that is released, Rice could face punishment from the NFL. A report from Sports Illustrated said that video exists of Rice knocking out Palmer, and that he could face a suspension from the league.
In regards to a potential punishment, Newsome said that Ravens will refer to the NFL's rules regarding player conduct.
"As a league, we have a conduct policy," he said. "Being a member of the league, we will follow that from A to Z. Up until we get to that point – right now he falls under the personal conduct policy with the league. And we will allow the league to take its position before we will have to take any."