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"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough," Robert Capa once said.
Unfortunately for the poor bugger, he got too close to a landmine one day. Still, this is one of my favourite ever quotes.
While he was clearly talking about getting close to your subjects – he was on one of the barges which landed on the Normandy beaches for D-Day – I also like to think that to get closer to the world is also to improve your photography.
And that's what the SOTM World Tour did for me. It took me out into places I'd never heard of, to busy, neon-stained alleyways, across African plains with skies that last forever and fighting arenas stacked with sweating, shrieking, betting-slip brandishing crowds.
These are ten of my favourite images from my year-long trip around the world, from the many thousands that I took with my Nikon D5100, my iPhone 4S and then, toward the end, my Nikon D7100 after my 5100 fell apart. It was only a few months old but I guess world travel was just too much for it.
I've only ever self-taught myself how to take pictures, and being out in the world was the best lesson of all.
The top image shows pupils from Sekolah Rendah Batu Marang school, in Jalan Batu Marang water village, Brunei. The charming Kathy Wharton is their English teacher and she kindly took us around, showing us her school and the water village, perched on top of perilous-looking stilts, where her charges come from.
After I posted some of these images on Facebook my friend Helen, with whom I stayed, told me I'd "captured the real Brunei". Which pleased me greatly.
The throbbing Shibuya Crossing, in the heart of Tokyo, has many smaller roads and alleyways running away from its busyness.
The gentleman above was the waiter in a noodle place, cheap and very tasty, in one of these veins. I fully intended to return, so good was the food, but was distracted by Tokyo's many other shiny attractions and never made it back.
So it's fortunate that I did ask him for a photo upon my only visit. He didn't speak English but when I smiled and pointed at my camera, posed with great confidence and grace. And I liked his white wellies.
When in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, I was taken to the remarkable Shamwari Game Reserve by my friend Kimberley. There I went on three safari rides and was overwhelmed with the beauty of the place.
One time we spotted a serval hiding in the bushes. I saw it twitch through my viewfinder and instinctively pressed the shutter. When I looked at the screen afterwards, this shot is what I saw. It's my best action photo, I think.
There isn't that much to do in Geneva. It's pretty enough and very clean, but a bit too sanitised for my liking.
But at least Lake Geneva has public pianos for people to tinkle. I saw this young woman sat at one while delving into her bag. My camera was completely the wrong exposure levels so I was rapidly adjusting dials, willing her to hold her position for a few seconds longer – when she looked up.
I knew my exposure was wrong, but took the shot as I liked what I saw in my viewfinder. The moment then passed.
I looked at the image I'd taken and it was virtually black, totally underexposed. But as I was shooting in RAW I had hope. When I got it onto my computer, I was able to change the exposure – and was thrilled with how it turned out.
So if you're not shooting in RAW, you should consider doing so. There may come a time when it will save you.
I have always wanted to visit Uluru, fairly in the centre of Australia's outback. When I was a boy it was more commonly known as Ayers Rock.
But even though I was enthusiastic about it, I was still hugely surprised about just how hypnotic it is. Enormous, red, hugely different to the landscape around it, a monstrous pimple squeezed up from the earth, back when the planet was still being formed.
Looking at the rock during sunrise and sunset is to experience kaleidoscopic colours and shapeshifting shadows. You might think staring at a large rock can't be that exciting, but somehow, it is. You'll never feel old again when you consider how what stands before you came into being more than 600 million years ago.
Also, about 2.5km of Uluru is buried below the desert soil. Mind. Boggled.
I chose the shot above because I got Kata Tjuta in the background, once known as the Olgas. They're a collection of 36 domes and in many ways are even more remarkable than their neighbour.
She's the flashy one, who puts out with her russet looks, getting most of the attention, hogs all the postcards, while Kata Tjuta is visited as something of an afterthought, an added extra for tourists who've come to see the hot girl in the neighbourhood. But I loved them both.
The Lumpinee stadium is beautiful because it's fragile. It's about to be knocked down and relocated, which makes the sweating, kicking, yelling all that more intense.
Like the last time you make love to someone you're soon to part from, you savour everything because you know it won't happen again. Their imperfections become adorable because it's about to be all over.
Built in Bangkok in 1956, the stadium looks like it might not last too much longer. Look away from the shiny ring, where respectful Muay Thai fighter knee and punch and kick one another.
The apparently leaky ceiling is made of corrugated sheets, with many long-stemmed fans shivering like leaves on a trembling pond. The cheap seats aren't even seats, they're benches and people just stand anyway.
And the VIP seats are just part-plastic chairs, although they do afford an excellent view of the action. Despite this, I really wanted to move into better positions but was restricted to shooting where I was perched.
As a result, my 18-200mm Sigma lens came in handy, and of all the shots I got that night, this was my favourite. I turned it grayscale to add a bit more mood to the young man's determined glare.
I was on a food tour in Hong Kong and was taken to a dim sum place for breakfast by the smashing Laura, who runs Hello Hong Kong Tours.
It was a local place for local people, and I loved it immediately. It's one of the places in Hong Kong that still has people pushing food carts round, which supply you with your choice of dishes.
While there I spotted this chap walking around with a big metal kettle, topping up the ubiquitous Chinese tea that sloshes around in eateries all over the city. I was desperate to photograph him, he looked fantastic.
I grabbed some half decent shots of him at the next table, and then suddenly, out of nowhere he shimmered and appeared at our table, directly opposite me. I managed to take this photo, and then another.
I preferred the second image, but it's not pin sharp because the focal point was over his shoulder. So after suffering that slight disappointment, I decided to have my camera on autofocus sometimes, especially in an unpredictable environment, to ensure that focus isn't an issue at least.
After my shutter had flickered a couple of times, he spoke in Chinese and apparently said: "You have to pay me now, because everyone wants my photo, because I look like Buddha."
We all laughed, and he said: "No, seriously, you have to pay me." But he was joking, and when we left I shook his hand. It was like a lobster with a grudge.
There's nothing so good for the soul as seeing a happy elephant.
There are plenty of these at the Elephant Nature Park near Chiang Mai, Thailand. These remarkable, beautiful creatures have been abused at some point, often by some of those in Thailand's logging industry. The guilty ones must have black souls.
Eye-gouging, beatings, pelvises broken by forced matings, the stories run a chill though your blood. And if you ever want to ride an elephant, do bear in mind that they are beaten and broken as babies, treated horribly, in order to get them to allow humans to ride them – so don't.
At least they are happy here in this sanctuary. This chap was having a damn good scratch of his nads on this concrete pole. Or it might be a female. I was too polite to ask.
We were out of Kampot, at the very bottom of Cambodia, when a tremendous storm shattered overhead.
After making it back via a slightly traumatic tuk tuk journey, we found the town flooded. This is a common occurrence in these parts, and the population were clicking into gear, chucking out buckets of floodwater from shops and restaurants, using squeegees to push back the tides in a well-practiced fashion.
The local children seemed to delight in all the fuss. These two characters were going up and down the flooded road, so I got several shots of them with my camera. But this one was the first that I got, grabbed with my iPhone as they rode past and run through an Instagram filter.
It's not totally sharp but captures their spirit best of all the ones that I took.
This lady lives in a shack in Missionvale township in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
She lives alone and says she is lonely. Someone told me later that her husband had died in a fire after they lit a stove indoors, which also destroyed all her possessions. She is also HIV positive and washes clothes for her neighbours, in exchange for food so she can go on living.
She has had her room tidied up by Missionvale Care Centre, a charity which does incredible work in the community. The floor is mud, so they've put mats down, but when it rains the ground is still soggy beneath her feet. The roof leaks also.
The light was perfect as she sat near the doorway, so I took her photo with her permission. I'm very fond of it, and yet it upsets me whenever I look at it.
The world is both a beautiful canvas to work with and a terrible sight to see. Thank you for looking at my pictures.


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SAN FRANCISCO -- Imatinib therapy with surgical removal of residual tumors outperformed imatinib therapy alone among patients with recurrent and metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumors, researchers reported here.
Patients who received surgical treatment of residual tumors after imatinib therapy had significantly better progression-free survival (HR 2.33, 95% CI 1.03 to 5.24, P=0.04) and overall survival (HR 5.46, 95% CI 1.46 to 20.41, P=0.01) than those treated with imatinib alone, said Seong Joon Park, MD, of University of Ulsan College of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea, at a press briefing Tuesday.
Action Points
- This study was published as an abstract and presented at a conference. These data and conclusions should be considered to be preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
- Note that this retrospective cohort study suggests that surgery after initial response to imatinib therapy increases survival in patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors.
- Be aware that the patients undergoing surgery had significantly fewer peritoneal metastases than those receiving imatinib alone.
In addition to surgical intervention, progression-free survival was associated with female sex, KIT exon 11 mutation, and low tumor burden, while overall survival was associated with low tumor burden, Park and colleagues reported at the Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.
"This study strongly suggests that surgical resection of the residual lesions after disease control with imatinib may be beneficial in patients with metastatic or recurrent gastrointestinal stromal tumors," Park said during the briefing.
"Gastrointestinal stromal tumors are uncommon tumors that can appear anywhere along the gastrointestinal tract," added Neal Meropol, MD, of Case Comprehensive Cancer Center in Cleveland, who moderated the discussion but was not involved in the study.
Even if patients with metastatic and recurrent stromal tumors initially respond to imatinib, most "have residual tumor lesions" even with continuing drug treatment, which may lead to resistance, the authors noted, adding that 80% to 85% of patients respond to first-line imatinib therapy.
The retrospective study placed 134 patients with metastatic or recurrent gastrointestinal stromal tumors and who showed at least 6 months of disease stabilization or response to imatinib treatment into a surgery group (42 patients) or continued imatinib therapy group (92 patients).
Patients underwent surgery a median of 19.1 months after imatinib treatment, Park and co-authors wrote.
All patient and tumor characteristics were well-matched between groups except age (51 in the surgical intervention versus 58 among those continuing imatinib) and metastases to the peritoneum (12 in the surgery group versus 56 in the medication-only group), they noted.
Participants in both groups were followed for a median 58.9 months (range 15.4 to 129.1) to outcomes of progression-free and overall survival.
Patients who received both imatinib and a surgical intervention had greater progression-free survival than those who maintained imatinib treatment (87.7 months versus 42.8 months, P=0.001). Those in the surgical intervention group also survived longer than those who maintained drug therapy (overall survival not reached versus 88.8 months, P=0.001).
Park noted that surgery is considered and recommended "in young patients who have good performance status," adding that adding surgery to gastrointestinal stromal tumor treatment is better attempted in medical sites that "have low morbidity and mortality associated with surgery" and a surgeon with a lot of experience.
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
Primary Source
Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium
Source Reference: Park SJ, et al "The role of surgical resection following imatinib treatment in patients with metastatic or recurrent GIST" GiCS 2013.


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Explore our history of innovative solutions using thermal actuator technology.
Leading the industry with the most advanced, reliable, and compact self-actuated valves for temperature control.
learn about our valves
Our manufacturing is carefully designed and monitored so only the best products leave our facility.
learn about our products
From engineering to manufacturing and
shipping, every process is managed in house.
learn about the industries we serve
Our manufacturing process is fine-tuned to perfection, enabling us to offer solutions for every need.
read our story
Interactive Applications Guide


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The PanoTools Next Generation list (PanoToolsNG) is the most active and vibrant place on the Internet to discuss PanoTools, panoramic imaging, and related technologies and techniques. If you're looking for information about PanoramaTools, front-ends such as PTGui, hugin, or PTAssembler, or companion apps such as enfuse or enblend, this is a great first stop. Come on in and join us!
Please note that the usage of the PanoTools NG list - either as a member or a non-member - is subject to the User Guidelines. Please read carefully
You are welcome to join the list. To do so, create your own free Yahoo groups ID at http://groups.yahoo.com/. Then surf to the PanoTools mailing-list homepage and click the button Join this Group.
The traffic volume of PanoToolsNG is about 20 to 40 messages a day. There are several ways to read the list. Note that you must be a member in order to write to the list, no matter which way to read you use.
You can choose to receive individual messages or a daily digest as E-mail from Yahoo in various formats.
- You can read and write on Yahoo
- There are a couple of approved Message Archives, some containing the predecessors of PanoToolsNG, too.
- There is a nice customizable interface (including threaded view) on Nabble with read and write access.
- You can participate using a NNTP usenet news reader (write through newsreader mail function)
Hint: The list is not propagated to the "wild usenet", it's only available from news://news.panotools.org/local.panotools.main


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The Center for Research on Families (CRF) is an endowed interdisciplinary research center in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences and College of Natural Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
CRF contributes to the university's mission by
- increasing research on family issues;
- building a multidisciplinary community of researchers who are studying issues of relevance to families;
- connecting national and internationally prominent family researchers with UMass faculty and students;
- providing mentoring to increase successful funding and management of external grant awards;
- providing advanced data analytic methods for training and consultation; and
- disseminating family research findings to scholars, families, practitioners, and policy-makers.
Read more about CRF's mission and vision.
Families are a basic unit of human and animal life. Research must cross academic disciplines and engage many perspectives to fully understand family functioning and its effects on individuals and societies. Thus, research at CRF encompasses disciplines as diverse as the life sciences, social sciences, public health and nursing, education and natural resources.
CRF's programs provide lectures and consultation from national experts, methodological training and expertise, grant-writing support and research funding to faculty and students from these diverse backgrounds at all stages of their academic careers. We are committed to investing in each faculty member and student's research career for the long term.
The Center's activities have produced: multimillion dollar increases in federal research funding for family research since CRF's inception; forged new connections among faculty and students conducting family research within all colleges on-campus as well as the Five Colleges and the other UMass campuses; and dramatically increased national and international collaborations and recognition for family research originating at UMass Amherst.


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Adding domains to Premium Listings
In the Domain Manager, you can add valuable .com, .net, .org, and .co domain names to our Premium Listings for increased visibility. For more information, see our article about Premium Listings.
Note: You can only add .com, .net, .org, and .co domains to Premium Listings. Other domain extensions are restricted.
When you add a domain name to Premium Listings, you must let us know how you want us to pay you when it sells. For more information about Premium Listing payments, see Commission rates for Premium listings.
Note: You cannot add domain names that have transfer protection services, such as Ownership Protection, to Premium Listings.
- Log into your My Products page.
- If you aren't automatically directed there, make sure to select the My Products tab:
- Click Manage All:
- From the top menu, click on the Buy & Sell tab and select Premium Listings:
- On the Premium Listings page, click Add Domains.
- Separating each value with a comma, enter a domain name, its listing price in USD, and on or off for its automatic renewal status (optional). Use separate lines for each domain name entry.
For example, on one line, enter coolexample.com, 500, on if you want to sell coolexample.com for $500 and automatically renew the listing when it expires.
- To automatically renew the Premium Listings for domain names you didn't enter an automatic renewal status for in the previous step, select Automatically renew domains unless otherwise indicated.
- For Payee account, do one of the following:
- To use an existing payee account, select it from the list.
- To create a new payee account, click Manage payee accounts. On the Payee Accounts page, complete the required fields, and then click Save Changes. For more information, see Setting up Payee Accounts. Return to the Domain Manager to select the new payee account.
- Read the legal agreements that display, and then select I have read and agree to the terms and conditions.
- Click OK.


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Barlow's prodigious creative energy has manifested itself in 20 albums. From an early gig playing bass in Dinosaur Jr., to leading indie rock standard bearer Sebadoh and releasing cassettes of his lo-fi home taping solo project Sentridoh, through to scoring a Top 40 hit with 'Natural One' from the Kids soundtrack with Folk Implosion, his quality to quantity ratio has been inordinately high. This is especially impressive given the variety contained in his discography -- each of those bands and projects had its own distinct identity, as defined by Barlow and his collaborators. All past Folk Implosion releases were a product of the collaboration between Barlow and John Davis. With Davis now retired the new line up consists of Lou, Sebadoh drummer Russ Pollard and guitarist Imaad Wassif.
This band shares a member with Deluxx Folk Implosion, Sentridoh and Sebadoh. This artist is a member of Lou Barlow.


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Hazing Kaine: Lt. Guv rips Assembly
Local Dems say it's pure coincidence that both Governor Mark Warner and Lt. Governor and 2005 gubernatorial candidate Tim Kaine (pictured here) showed up in Charlottesville March 31. Warner held a town meeting at the Nook. Kaine came by that afternoon to bless the new Main street Democratic headquarters and the three Dem City Council candidates: David Brown, Kendra Hamilton, and Kevin Lynch. Both Warner and Kaine castigated the Republican-majority General Assembly that has yet to pass a budget. Kaine, on his way to the Miller Center, says people there "asked me months ago to talk about the General Assembly wrap-up. I changed the speech to 'The 10 Stages of Budget Disaster.'"– Lisa Provence


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In America, it isn't too often that a house has a name, but then again, this isn't just any house. The estate, Lynnstone, located outside of Jackson, Mississippi near Flora, has an impressive 27,000 sq. ft main house. Inspired by a Tuscan villa, Baton Rouge architect Kevin Harris worked on the project for over five years – and judging by the fine attention to detail – it shows. Though majestic, the house is remarkably accessible. Each space is filled with antique architectural elements which lends a sense of patina.
I don't often get to show these types of houses – so this was a real thrill for me when I was sent all these gorgeous photographs – extra large to see all the details. The house was featured late last year in the Robb Report and once that article came out, I was free to show all the photos that the Robb Report hadn't. Ah, the beauty of blogging! The photography by Chipper Hatter is wonderful and I spent hours studying each picture, trying to put it all together. I only wished I had a floor plan to show – but I hope that you will come to understand how the house flows from the descriptions.
This story is about a dream home – something to look at and learn from. The interiors are surprisingly warm and inviting, not precious or dressy. Some rooms are large and expansive, others are smaller and cozy. There are hundreds of ideas to take from this. Despite its large size, there are only 4 bedrooms, along with guest quarters over the barn. I hope you enjoy studying Lynnstone as much I did – and I hope you find inspiration from it!
Lynnstone is approached from a long, winding gravel driveway. The house sits on 160 rolling acres with views of the treetops that surround the estate. Kevin Harris, the architect, said the landscape reminds one of Tuscany with the hills and trees. From this angle, the house looks like a small village – with all its different rooftop heights and bell tower.
Lynnstone at dusk. The entrance to the house is at the far left. To enter, you first go through a front courtyard and a bell tower – seen here.
The view of the back side of the estate. Notice on the far right the two Roman temple facades. These house the two guest rooms. Underneath, through large wood doors, is the basement garage (I think!)
Again, the back side – showing the infinity pool. The two story structure above the Roman temples is the guest suite.
Lynnstone was competed in 2010, after a five year collaboration between the architect and the homeowner. The interior designer on the project was Annelle Primos from Jackson, Mississippi. Harris said the house was designed to match the slopes of the landscape. The exterior is rustic – a combination of three layers of Arkansas fieldstones, some of which are covered in lichen to make the rock appear aged. The roof is reclaimed 17th century clay tiles.
The stone steps lead up to wooden doors that open to the entrance.
(Notice here – on the far left is one of the Roman temples that houses the guest room. Under the temples is the garage.)
(ok, I'm dreaming here – but if I lived here – I would leave my car here, and have the butler go park it in the garage. Then I would enter the house here EACH time! I would walk up the stairs, walk through the entrance – walk down the colonnade by the courtyard and then into the house itself. Such a beautiful front entrance – I would want to experience it every time. ok, back to reality.)
A closer view of the stone steps set within the terraced lawn that lead up to the courtyard entrance.
A view of the side of the front entrance. This room is open to the elements – there is no glass in the windows, only wood shutters to keep out the rain. Notice the charming window near the roof. Notice also how the foundation stone is darker and randomly placed compared stone on the walls.
Two large wood doors open to the entrance courtyard building. Dozens of gorgeous lanterns like this are found throughout the property.
The entrance to the courtyard. Wood shutters take the place of glass panes.
The view once you enter the double wood doors – your eyes goes past the courtyard to the front foyer inside the house.
The ceiling of the front entrance, a double height room, with more lanterns hanging from the rafters.
To enter the house, you walk through the entrance building, then walk under the bell tower and on down the colonnade with its arched columns.
Looking back towards the entrance building – the courtyard is on the right. This colonnade leads to the interior. Notice the row of lanterns that light the way.
The view from the outside of the colonnade and the courtyard.
Here, in a side view, you can see the entrance room at the left, the bell tower, then the colonnade that runs alongside the courtyard. On the right, stone steps lead down from the house to the grounds. The large arch in the wall is behind a fountain – see below:
Here is the fountain, as seen by the front entrance. Notice how large the property is from this view.
The view from the lobby in the house, looking back at the front entrance building. The bell tower is at the corner, the colonnade is at the left. In the center of the front courtyard is a sun dial. To the right – is the family room. Above it, are the guest quarters.
At the end of the courtyard and the colonnade is the entrance into the house. Inside the lobby, the rooms surround a fountain in a atrium. You can just see the atrium behind the windows.
The lobby with its gorgeous stone floors and vaulted ceiling. The atrium is behind the window. The dining room is to the right. Such a beautiful space!
The atrium with its elephant fountain. Harris says the homeowner found the elephant in Santa Fe, but the architect was concerned that the "elephant would compromise the integrity of the home." Both the interior designer and the architect had never heard of elephants in Italy. It was researched and discovered that Hannibal had brought over 37 elephants to Italy during the Second Punic War. So…the elephant was allowed to stay!!
Several rooms surround this atrium including the living room and dining room. You can see into the living room here where the piano is.
The dining room is to the right of the main entrance. The table is from Hendrix Allardyce and the chairs are Belgian, with the owner's monograms on their seat back. Through the door is the catering kitchen which serves for parties and as a butler's pantry.
There is a beautiful antique stone mantel flanked by matching mirrors and consoles. To the left, the dining room looks out to the fountain with the elephant. Notice the ceiling treatment in this room – each room has a different treatment.
A close up of the antique double doors that lead into the catering kitchen.
The Catering Kitchen: Quite a kitchen for a secondary one!
At the front entrance to the house – to the right is the dining room and to the left is the living room.
The living room is decorated in creams and off whites. A wood Italian chandelier hangs over this space. On the far right is a door that leads to the library, which leads to the master bedroom suite. The architect designed the house so that you would need to walk through all the rooms to get around – he purposely left out hallways. The living room over looks a portico which leads to an outdoor eating area terrace and the infinity pool.
In the living room – another antique stone mantel. The antique tapestry pillows in the living room are from BViz HERE.
Here is the outside view of the living room – behind the arched colonnade. The steps lead down to terrace and the infinity swimming pool.
The living room is up the steps on the left, the outdoor eating area and fireplace is straight ahead.
Off the living room terrace is the outdoor eating area and fireplace. The main kitchen leads to this space.
The view off the terrace shows just how expansive the estate is.
To understand the layout – the living room is behind the white columns in the middle of the house. To the left of the living room is the library, then the master suite. To the right of the living room is the kitchen and the guest rooms in the two Roman temples – above on the second floor is another guest suite.
The house was designed around the outdoor living areas, which follow the slope of the property.
The family/TV room faces the front of the house. It is located off the front courtyard – on its left side – shown here in a nighttime view. The kitchen is connected to the family room and above it is the guest apartment.
The family room. The door to this room lines up with the bell tower and the arched fountain on the side yard. The flat screen hides behind the large painting on the left. Through the door is the main kitchen and breakfast room.
Next to the family room is the main kitchen and breakfast room. Along with the dining room, this area is another personal favorite. The banquette is just gorgeous with its white slipcover and the scalloped back. And I love how the cabinet was made to look like an armoire – notice its perfect proportion to the room and ceiling height. Notice the chandelier and the wood beamed ceiling. AND, the floors! It's all just so beautiful.
On one side, the kitchen overlooks the outdoor eating area and the swimming pool. On the breakfast room side, it overlooks the entrance courtyard. I wish I had a floor plan for you!!!! I'm trying to explain the layout so that you can understand how it all fits together.
The kitchen features Venetian plaster walls, reclaimed wood, and rustic stone countertops, backsplashes, and flooring. There is also La Cornue range. No overhead cabinets give it a European feel. Notice the old wood doors that open up the bar area. They add so much texture and authenticity to the kitchen. Now, a house this majestic would usually have a slick kitchen with granite countertops and tons of cabinetry. I LOVE how the architect and designer nixed this for a true country kitchen that would be found in Italy.
Another view – notice the pantry doors that hang on barn door hardware.
Above the family room are private guest quarters. The Juliet balcony overlooks the entrance courtyard. Notice again the gorgeous, rustic ceiling. This really looks like a renovated Tuscany farmhouse.
Close up view of the fireplace and seating area.
The bedroom in the guest suite. Notice the wood floors – how gorgeous they are! The casement windows are another wonderful choice. Just beautiful. I could live quite happily in the guest quarters and not ask for more.
The library is the room the connects the living room to the master bedroom suite. The wood cabinets were bleached and then chicken wire was added to give it an aged look. The creams and ivories pick up the color scheme of the living room.
Off the library is the master bedroom suite which overlooks the backyard infinity pool and the acreage beyond. The ceiling is phenomenal – the beams, as in other parts of the house, are reclaimed. The Rose Tarlow Melrose House bed creates a room within a room. Upholstery pieces here and throughout are from the Cameron Collection. The color scheme of creams, ivories and hints of gold repeats that found in the living room and library.
The fireplace features yet another antique stone mantel bought in France. Notice how the window treatments were designed to bring the casements up to the ceiling line by utilizing shades placed under the rod instead of the window.
The bathroom features a large his and hers marble tiled shower that opens off the bathtub.
The MARBLE tub! Amazing. The bathroom has its own garden and fountain.
There is also a wood sauna (natch!)
Her closet is filled with French antiques, including the mirrored doors.
His closet with wood floors and cabinets resembles a fine men's shop.
Showing the back of the house again – on the far left, the master bath with its fountain, the master bedroom, the library – then the living room behind the white columns, the outside sitting area with swimming pool and fireplace, the kitchen, the private guest quarters above the family room – and the two guest suites in the Roman temple buildings at the very right. Underneath, I think, is probably the garage and the basement area.
The two guest rooms are housed in their own Roman temple styled buildings.
Both guest rooms' ceilings are raised to the roof line. They both have stone floors and balconies that over look the countryside.
The second guest room is slightly more feminine in feel with its draped bed.
Of course there is a man cave with a bar! I've studied the pictures for days now and can only conclude this must be in the basement area around where the garage is. Not sure, but if you have a better idea – let me know.
The sitting area in the man cave.
The leather chairs and wood paneling give the room its masculine feel. I love the painting over the sofa!!
Behind antique wood doors is an office/sitting room that for the life of me I can't figure out where in the house this is! I'm going to guess this is near the garage where you enter the house.
The room has a definite masculine feel to it – with the deer heads and other hunting memorabilia.
The stables with its metal roof is quite beautiful!
A side view of the columns and roof line – along with its stone walls. Even the barn has fabulous architectural features – nothing was left untouched, no detail was left out.
Inside, charming lighting gives the stables a festive vibe.
Upstairs – over the stables is a guest house (can I just live here?) Yet, another beautiful space. Notice the ceiling and the kitchen cabinetry.
And finally, the living area in the stables. There is also a bedroom and bath. I like the blue trim on the curtains that picks up the blue of the armoire.
I hope you have enjoyed this visit to Lynnstone! Are you exhausted? I am! I worked on this for four days!!!
A huge thank you to the esteemed architect Mr. Kevin Harris. For more information on Harris, go HERE.
Please visit interior designer Annelee Primos HERE.
All photographs by Chipper Hatter, used with permission. For more information on Chipper's photography HERE.


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Clarion Group Human Rights Policy
The Clarion Group supports the realization of human rights by contributing to society through the development of superior, original technology and products, and delivering innovations that answer society's challenges. As a prerequisite to this, Clarion seeks to meet its responsibility to respect human rights.
1. The Responsibility to Respect Human Rights
Clarion strives to meet its responsibility to respect human rights by not infringing on human rights and addressing negative human rights impacts with which the company may be involved through its operations and business relationships. Clarion understands human rights to be, at a minimum, those outlined in the International Bill of Human Rights and the International Labour Organization's Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. The responsibility to respect applies to all officers and employees of Clarion Co., Ltd.
Clarion expects its business partners and other parties whose own impacts may be directly linked to Clarion's operations, products or services to respect and not infringe upon human rights, and will respond appropriately where they are not respecting human rights.
2. Relationship to Clarion's Values and Policies
Clarion is aware that as a business enterprise it is a member of society and can contribute to creating an environment in which human rights are respected. Meeting the responsibility to respect human rights is key to operating as a responsible business, and is accepted to be a baseline expectation for all companies. This policy supplements the Clarion Group Code of Conduct.
3. Implementing the Responsibility to Respect Human Rights
Clarion is committed to meeting the responsibility to respect human rights through implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
Clarion will develop and implement on going human rights due diligence. Due diligence processes will include identifying and assessing potential and actual human rights impacts, and taking appropriate action to prevent or mitigate risks,. The processes will also entail tracking to ensure the effectiveness of Clarion's actions to address impacts and risks. To account for how Clarion responds to potential and actual human rights impacts, the group will also develop and implement processes to communicate its findings externally.
Where Clarion identifies that it has caused or contributed to a negative human rights impact, the company will provide for or cooperate in legitimate processes to provide remediation.
Clarion adheres to national law and regulation in each market in which it operates. Where Clarion faces conflicts between internationally recognised human rights and national laws, the company will follow processes that seek ways to honour the principles of international human rights.
Clarion will provide appropriate training and capacity building in order to embed this policy commitment throughout the company and to ensure that its consolidated subsidiaries understand and implement human rights due diligence effectively.
Clarion is committed to engaging in dialogue with and consulting relevant external stakeholders about addressing potential and actual human rights impacts.


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WASHINGTON (AP) — The former chairman of the District of Columbia Council pleaded guilty Friday to lying about his income on bank loan applications, the latest blow to a city government rocked by scandal.
Kwame Brown, who resigned his seat earlier this week, admitted in federal court to submitting false documents, including forging the name and signature of a college friend and overstating his income by tens of thousands of dollars. The falsehoods were on bank applications to acquire a home equity loan and a loan for money to buy a boat. His plea comes five months after another councilmember admitted to stealing funds earmarked for youth sports programs.
The two resigned five months apart, and their departures this year — coupled with a federal probe of Mayor Vincent Gray's 2010 campaign that has already produced guilty pleas from two aides — have sent the city government into a tailspin. And the scandals likely aren't helping efforts to gain greater budget autonomy, much less win a vote for the D.C. delegate to Congress or to secure the long-sought goal of statehood.
Corrupt officials have been brought down in other cities, including Detroit and Chicago, but the problem is magnified in a city where the governing body has 13 members, effectively functions as a state legislature and operates less than three blocks from the White House.
"Whether it's resignations, investigations, whatever it is — I think it's had a very bad effect," said Councilmember Mary Cheh, now the panel's acting chair. "People are feeling demoralized, I think they're feeling disappointed."
Cheh said the pleas and investigations risk setting back the goal of gaining more autonomy for District residents.
"It certainly gives (critics) ammunition to say, `What kind of a system are you running over there?"' she said.
Long-running investigations by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia have rattled nerves inside the city
government complex and yielded significant developments in recent months.
Brown resigned his seat following a closed-door meeting with council members. On Friday he pleaded guilty in federal court and was expected to make another court appearance on a separate misdemeanor campaign finance violation that was also brought this week in D.C. Superior Court.
Brown was by turns remorseful and defiant as he addressed reporters after the federal plea hearing, noting that he has not been charged with stealing or misspending campaign funds, despite a lengthy federal investigation. His voice broke as he apologized to his family and the public.
"It has been a long and difficult journey," he said. "Today I am taking the first step in regaining the trust of the people that
I love and serve."
The charges come five months after another councilmember, Harry Thomas Jr., pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $350,000 in public money earmarked for youth sports and arts. He also resigned and was sentenced to more than three years in prison.
Last month, two former Gray campaign aides pleaded guilty to charges arising from his 2010 mayoral campaign. One aide admitted lying to the FBI about straw donations to a minor candidate in the race and the other aide admitted funneling the money and destroying evidence of the transactions. The payments were intended to keep the candidate, Sulaimon Brown, in the race so he could continue assailing then-Mayor Adrian Fenty as he sought re-election.
Gray has denied wrongdoing and has not been directly implicated.
But the investigation continues and the issue has dogged the mayor since two months after he took office, when Sulaimon Brown alleged to The Washington Post that he had been paid and offered a job if Gray won.
Investigators in March also raided the home and offices of Jeffrey Thompson, a well-connected government contractor who was a major contributor to Gray's campaign and to other local officials.
"It's disheartening to say the least, especially when I had supported some of those people who are now under investigation," said Laina Aquiline, a neighborhood leader in the northwest Washington community of Columbia Heights.
There's nothing new about political scandals in the capital city. Marion Barry drew national attention when, as mayor, he was caught on video smoking crack cocaine in 1990. He served six months in prison for cocaine possession. Barry staged a comeback, winning a fourth and final term as mayor, when Congress seized control of city government following years of poor fiscal stewardship. Barry returned to the council in 2004 and has kept his seat despite other legal troubles.
While Brown and Thomas have left the council, an investigation of city leaders continues.
The allegations come at a delicate time for the city, as district advocates have been lobbying Congress for more autonomy on fiscal affairs. Although district residents were given the freedom to elect a mayor and city council in 1973, Congress has the final say over the district's budget and laws.
Nick Jeffress, executive director of the D.C. Republican Committee, said the scandals should make voters think extra hard about electing honest leaders who will have the clout and respect to push the statehood cause.
"We need to have that at the forefront of our minds — who are we electing and what sort of baggage might they bring," Jeffress said. "We need to focus on electing councilmembers who in turn will be able to lobby, hopefully with greater results, to Congress."
But Aquiline said she wasn't convinced the scandals would harm the movement.
"My personal hope would be that it would actually work in the opposite fashion," Aquiline said. "I actually think you would have more well-qualified citizens for such a position if we believed that our voice had any power."
Council members will meet next week to select an interim chair from among four at-large members. Cheh said the city government is still functioning and officials will work to win back trust.
But, she noted, "This is a stain on the government."
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)


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About SMA
The Southern Management Association (SMA) is a domestic affiliate of the Academy of Management. Its primary mission is to advance the research, teaching, learning, and practice of management. SMA membership consists of over 1,000 management professors, doctoral students, and professionals representing more than 200 colleges, universities, and business firms in 43 states and several foreign countries.


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From a fondue appetizer to a pecan pie dessert, here's a frugal Thanksgiving feast that's good for wallet, body, and soul.
Fill your your belly without emptying your wallet with these nutritious staples that can be had for under a dollar a pound.
Getting everybody's lunch ready weekday mornings can be a real chore. Save time and money with these lunches enjoyed by kids and parents alike.
Few foods are as frugal as the potato — and few are as versatile and delicious, either. Try these wonderful ways to prepare the humble spud.
Everyone wants to eat well and spend less money. These delicious, easy-to-prepare meals let you do both.
You can keep your food budget slim and make your meals delicious — turn flavorless food into delicacies with these condiments.
Lack of refrigeration doesn't have to keep you from saving money with a brown bag lunch. Here are a dozen ideas for tasty foods you can keep at your desk.
From soups to sauces, using frugal chicken stock is a great way to pump up the flavor in a variety of dishes. Check out these delicious and surprising recipes.
From cooking blunders to dining-out disasters, sometimes our cheap eating goes terribly awry. Read Wise Bread writers' stories of sweet eats turned sour.
Every so often, I get hit in the face with two facts. First, Americans (even poor Americans) are unbelievably rich. Second, Americans (as a group) utterly lack a cultural traditi
When I brainstorm for cheap eats I often think of packets of ramen. Today I had the pleasure of interviewing Ed from rame
How many of you are familiar with Restaurant.com ? It's a terrfic site that slashes the price of meals by using a coupon system. You usually get great deals on hundreds of local restaurant by paying $10 for a $25 certificate. [more]
Well, I say frugal but some of these cross that line from frugality into something less honorable. But hey, live a little. We all have to try new things sometimes. And they'll all save you a little money, a little time or a little frustration.
Who says that there's no such thing as a free lunch -- you probably have one growing in your yard! Many weeds are edible, and delicious. Best of all, they're free!
Ladies, gentlemen, start your engines. But only after you've loaded them up with sausages, chicken, crabs, Cajun shrimp and plenty of vegetables.
Have you guys ever seen Taco Town? C'mon, the parody of supersizing that is way too funny and agonizingly close to reality? [more]
Let me clarify something. I'm no huge fan of the Golden Arches. I'd much rather have a nice tray of sushi. But this is Wisebread and it's our job to cater to bargain-hunters everywhere. [more]
Your local ethnic supermarket has delicious cultural ingredients you won't find elsewhere — at least not at such a good price!
We're rounding up the best places for ramen recipes in honor of the late, great Momofuku Ando. Enjoy.
In honor Momofuku Ando, we look back on the delightfully frugal and delicious dish that is ramen.
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Ricoh CX2 Review
Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 9 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 3Mb.
The Ricoh CX2 produced images of excellent quality during the review period. The Ricoh CX2's main drawback in terms of image quality is noise, with ISO 400 showing some noise, blurring of detail and slight colour desauration. The noise and loss of detail get progressively worse as you go from ISO 400 to ISO 800 and finally the fastest 1600 setting.
The Dynamic Range mode works really well, resulting in images that have noticeably more dynamic range that those shot in the Normal mode, and far surpassing most other compact cameras. If you want to shoot images that retain detail in both the highlight and shadow areas, then the Ricoh CX2 is a great choice. There is one main drawback though; the DR images have noticeably less saturated colours than the Normal version, which more accurately matches the scene.
The Ricoh CX2 handled chromatic aberrations very well with limited purple fringing effects appearing only in high contrast situations. The 9 megapixel images were just a little soft straight out of the camera at the default sharpen setting of Normal and either require some further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop, or you should set the in-camera sharpening to Sharp. The night photograph was OK, with the maximum shutter speed of 8 seconds allowing you to capture just enough light for most situations.
Macro performance is a stand-out highlight, allowing you to focus as close as 1cm away from the subject, although there is a lot of lens distortion and shadowing at such a close distance. Anti-shake works very well when hand-holding the camera in low-light conditions or when using the telephoto end of the zoom range. The built-in flash worked well indoors, with no red-eye and good overall exposure.
There are 6 ISO settings available on the Ricoh CX2. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting.
ISO 80 (100% Crop)
ISO 100 (100% Crop)
ISO 200 (100% Crop)
ISO 400 (100% Crop)
ISO 800 (100% Crop)
ISO 1600 (100% Crop)
Focal Range
The Ricoh CX2's 10.7x zoom lens offers a very versatile focal range, as illustrated by these examples:
Dynamic Range
When the Ricoh CX2 is in DR mode (Dynamic Range double shot) it takes two images with different exposures, and then records a single image that combines the properly exposed parts of each one. You can also choose to take a DR and Normal image at the same time (both are saved to the memory card). Here is an example which was shot with Normal and then the four DR modes (Very Weak, Weak, Medium and Strong), with links to the original full size images.
Dynamic Range - Very Weak
Dynamic Range - Weak
Dynamic Range - Medium
Dynamic Range - Strong
Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are a little soft at the default sharpening setting of Normal. You can change the in-camera sharpening level to one of the preset levels (Sharp, Normal or Soft) if you don't like the default look.
Original (100% Crop)
Sharpened (100% Crop)
File Quality
The Ricoh CX2 has 2 different image quality settings available, with Fine being the highest quality option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.
9M Fine (3.19Mb) (100% Crop)
9M Normal (1.84Mb) (100% Crop)
Chromatic Aberrations
The Ricoh CX2 handled chromatic aberrations excellently during the review, with very limited purple fringing present around the edges of objects in certain high-contrast situations, as shown in the example below.
Example 1 (100% Crop)
The Ricoh CX2 offers a Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is just 1cm away from the camera when the lens is set to wide-angle. The first image shows how close you can get to the subject (in this case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.
Macro Shot
100% Crop
The flash settings on the Ricoh CX2 are Auto flash, Red-eye Flash, Flash On, Flash Synchro and Flash Off. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.
Suppressed Flash - Wide Angle (28mm)
Forced Flash - Wide Angle (28mm)
Suppressed Flash - Telephoto (300mm)
Forced Flash - Telephoto (300mm)
And here are some portrait shots. As you can see, neither the Flash On or the Red-eye Flash settings caused any red-eye.
Forced Flash
|Forced Flash (100% Crop)
Red-eye Reduction Auto
Red-eye Reduction Auto (100% Crop)
The Ricoh CX2's maximum shutter speed is 8 seconds via the Time Exposure main menu option, which is fairly good news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 8 seconds at ISO 80. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.
Night Shot
Night Shot (100% Crop)
Anti Shake
The Ricoh CX2 has an anti-shake mechanism, which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other digital cameras. To test this, I took 2 handheld shots of the same subject with the same settings. The first shot was taken with anti shake turned off, the second with it turned on. Here are some 100% crops of the images to show the results. As you can see, with anti shake turned on, the images are much sharper than with anti shake turned off. This feature really does seem to make a difference and could mean capturing a successful, sharp shot or missing the opportunity altogether.
Shutter Speed / Focal Length
Anti Shake Off (100% Crop)
Anti Shake On (100% Crop)
|1/9th / 28mm
|1/4th / 300mm


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LIUNA on December Jobs Report: U.S. Economy Recovering Too Slowly, Federal Infrastructure Investments Needed to Spur Growth
Jan 04, 2013, 03:31 ET
WASHINGTON, Jan. 4, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- According to today's jobs report from the U.S. Labor Department, job growth stalled in December, leaving the national unemployment rate unchanged at 7.8 percent. The construction industry added 30,000 jobs last month, rebounding slightly from November's decline of 20,000. Terry O'Sullivan, General President of LIUNA – the Laborers' International Union of North America – made the following statement about the slow pace of U.S. economic growth:
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110428/DC91600LOGO)
Our economy is recovering far too slowly for the millions of Americans who want and need work. America is in dire need of aggressive federal investments in our nation's critical infrastructure to accelerate economic recovery, reduce the federal deficit and put Americans back to work.
When we invest in critical infrastructure – our roads, bridges, highways and transit systems – we create desperately needed middle class jobs. That puts money into the hands of working families, which stimulates consumer spending and generates real economic development.
Without aggressive federal investments that create jobs, our economy will continue to limp along, too weak to make significant employment gains on its own.
Now that several key provisions of the fiscal cliff debate are behind us, Congress needs to put America's working families back on top of their priority list and commit the resources needed to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure. Doing so will put a million unemployed construction workers back to work and provide the middle class wages our economy desperately needs.
The half-million members of LIUNA – the Laborers' International Union of North America – are on the forefront of the construction industry, a powerhouse of workers who are proud to build America.
SOURCE Laborers' International Union of North America


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sorry up front at this may get a little long winded
First- Our boat has been in an "amentity free" harbor since '06. We don't even have culinary water. The entire dock consists of 22 10x20' single slips, we're at the end of it. the first 2 years our power supply consisted of running extension cords from the utility building about 200 feet away, which itself was connected to temporary power. in 2008 the harbor got a decent power supply installed, after that, I ran some 8 gauge wire from the building to the dock, and installed a 30 amp plug. From there, I ran the boat power using a 10 gauge contractors extension cord. Our boat has two 30 amp input plugs, and I rigged up a junction box that allowed me to feed both inputs using the same cord. When I installed the 30 amp socket I attempted to install a GFCI breaker, but it always tripped. So I just installed the outlet without the GFCI. There are three GFCI's in the boat, and they operate properly without issue. And I've otherwise had no problems with the power. In 2009 I ran all new 8-3 wiring directly to the boat, from a 50 amp knife switch electric box that's attached to the building. The two hot leads split at a junction box at the boat, and each lead feeds a 30 amp outlet. I've had absolutely no problem with this setup. I find no ground leakage, I've checked hull voltage and voltage from the hull to the water several times and I've never found any stray current other than a few millivolts.
Our friend sold the harbor in January, and now we have new owners. The Harbor property is leased from the state, and they will be doing an inspection soon, so I thought I should upgrade the boat's power connection. I picked up a 50 amp GFI service disconnect box, and an electronic kilowatt meter which I mounted inside a Hoffman fiberglass electric box. I spent the afternoon Sunday installing the box, running conduit and wiring, only to have the same problem with tripping the GFI breaker once it was all connected.
FWIW, yes, I'm still using the 8 gauge and I know I should be using larger, but this has always been at my expense, and the new owner is planning on installing "official" dock power within the next 2 years. Until then, this should continue to get us by.
Part of the new install included hammering a new dedicated eight-foot long ground rod just below where the box is mounted. The incoming power was originally connected to a large A/C unit, consisting of two hot leads and a neutral. The ground and neutral connections are separate in the new box. I ran several tests with the voltmeter; neutral to each hot measured 122 V, ground to each hot the same, and even though they were not connected within the box, the neutral and ground wires showed continuity. With power off I also checked continuity between all the box connections, everything was fine. All tests were made while the boat was plugged in. Interestingly, I found that the breaker would trip even with either or both load wires disconnected from the breaker. Only the neutrals were connected. I disconnected the GFI neutral test wire, and the breaker was fine until I touched it to the neutral bus bar, then it tripped.
Once I unplugged the boat, the breaker didn't trip.
As I understand how GFI's work (like from this online explanation): "In normal operation the current that flows in from the 'hot' wire must return in full through the 'neutral' wire, and only way there could be an imbalance in the amount of current flowing in to the hot wire, and the amount of current flowing back through the neutral wire would be if an external source is adding current or current is being leaked through an external source.
-- How can there be any current for the GFI to measure when the loads are disconnected? If there's no current, why is the breaker tripping?
Any ideas on where to start looking?
Thanks in advance!
Here's a pic of the new setup--


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VMware will offer 7 years of support from the general availability of a new Major Release as per the Support and Subscription Terms and Conditions.
|Phase Length
|Additional Policy Details
|General Support
|5 years
|During the General Support phase VMware offers new hardware support and guest OS updates. VMware will update the Hardware Compatibility Guide with new hardware platforms that have been tested and certified. General Support for selected new hardware technology (such as servers, processors, chipsets, and add-in cards) is based on VMware's discretion, OEM partner input, and customer input. An 18-month hardware support window is started when a major or minor vSphere release is generally available. New hardware technology launched within the 18-month window will be supported in a compatible mode by an update to a vSphere major/minor release; hardware technology launched after the 18-month window will normally not be supported by that release. VMware will only introduce new hardware versions in major or minor releases of vSphere although each release does not guarantee a new hardware version. Non-critical bug fixes are provided at VMware's discretion and based on customer input within the first two years of General Support.
|Technical Guidance
|2 years
Does VMware's Enterprise Infrastructure Life Cycle Policy apply to the whole VMware vSphere Software Suite as a bundle or apply to its individual products?
The VMware Enterprise Infrastructure Lifecycle Policy applies to the individual products. While Major releases of the vSphere products will normally occur together, the support lifecycle policy applies to the individual products, such as VMware ESX, VMware ESXi and VMware vCenter. The lifecycle of a new release will begin from its release date for the respective product.
Yes, the support lifecycle is divided into two phases, General Support and Technical Guidance, each offering different levels of support:. When a specific release has reached the end of the Technical Guidance phase, it is said to be at "end of support".
Fixes are provided during the support lifecycle in one of the following methods. For VMware ESX, fixes are provided in either patches for the most critical issues, or in Update releases. Fixes for VMware vCenter products are provided in Update releases. These update releases are designed to deliver bug fixes and other critical or serious corrections or fixes without requiring a new maintenance release.
There are two primary differences between updates and maintenance releases: the content of the releases, and the applicability of subsequent patches.
New hardware support means that within the General Support phase, VMware will work with its hardware partners to continue to expand the System Compatibility Guide for that particular release. The selection of hardware and priority order that they are being tested and added to the System Compatibility Guide depends on customer and hardware partner input. VMware does not guarantee that all new hardware available in the market will be supported.
Based on VMware's discretion and input from customers, VMware will work with OS vendors to enable support of new OS releases, OS Service Packs and OS patches. This applies to selective new Major OS releases within the first 2 years of General Support and selective new Minor OS releases or Service Packs within the first 3 years of General Support. VMware will update the VMware Compatibility Guide regarding support of Guest OS releases and Service Packs.
Physical hardware is defined as servers, processors, chipsets, and add-in cards. An 18-month hardware support window is started when a major or minor vSphere release is generally available. New hardware technology launched within the 18-month window will be supported in a compatible mode by an update to a vSphere major/minor release; hardware technology launched after the 18-month window will normally not be supported by that release. The hardware version of a virtual machine reflects the virtual machine's supported virtual hardware features. Each release of VMware vSphere will support the existing and 4 previous virtual hardware versions.
What are the criteria for determining if a bug is critical or non-critical (as specified by VMware's Support Life Cycle Policy)?
Critical bugs are deviations from specified product functionality that causes data corruption, data loss, system crash, or significant customer application down time. A bug is considered critical if it meets the mentioned criteria and there is no work-around that can be implemented.
The Enterprise Infrastructure Lifecycle Policy starts with the VMware vSphere 4 Software Release and beyond.
VMware Infrastructure 3 product releases are covered by the legacy Infrastructure 3 Support Lifecycle Policy.
VMware provides Major Releases, Minor Releases, Maintenance Releases and Updates. See the VMware Update Policy page for more information.


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The Z10 Has Arrived, and Thorsten Heins May Be a Miracle Worker
Mar 22, 2013 11:05 AM PT
Times are changing for BlackBerry.
Had Heins suggested a year ago that Apple needed to step up its innovation or it would be left behind, the Internet may have crashed due to the masses of people logging on to express their scorn. Although Apple still has its legion of fans and it is still the U.S. market leader, there is now more than a glimmer of doubt about its invincibility. And here comes BlackBerry with a device built to take on the iPhone.
As the battle for smartphone market share enters a new phase, industry analysts, vendors and mobile users all are eagerly watching to see if the once-dominant BlackBerry can claw its way to No. 3. Some are watching the executive who brought BlackBerry to this place with equal interest.
Taking Control After the Storm
When Heins took over BlackBerry's helm a little over a year ago, he was faced with the wreckage caused by the relentlessly poor, stubborn decision-making of former RIM coCEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie. There was a lot of speculation that he would merely lead the company into a buyout.He was described as "boyish." There was little analysis of his management style or vision. Now that BlackBerry is starting to look like a contender again, he's getting a second look.
Thorsten Heins is showing himself to be more than the caretaker of a weak and perhaps dying BlackBerry, Bruce White, professor of computer information systems at Quinnipiac University, told the E-Commerce Times.
He apparently has taken to heart the saying, "sometimes the best defense is a good offense," White continued, referring to Heins' criticism that Apple and the iPhone are "too 2008." What Heins did was plant a seed: Could the new Z10 be a better phone than the iPhone? Could the user interface be better on the Z10 than on the iPhone?
"While Apple has made improvements and new models, up to the generation-5 iPhone, the user interface and the basic processing are about the same as the first iPhone," noted White.
Meanwhile other providers such as BlackBerry and Samsung have not been idly sitting around.
"Heins suggests that better hardware, better software and improvements are available to users with the new Z10 Blackberry," White said. "That is a strong statement."
More of the Same
Of course, BlackBerry has not completely abandoned its roots.
"Thorsten Heins has come to understand that for BlackBerry to stay relevant, they need to refocus on what they've always done best, and that is enterprise messaging and productivity solutions," said Andrew Till, SVP of smartphones and connected devices at Symphony Teleca.
Furthermore, "the BB10 platform is fast and can compete with any of the OS platforms that are out there today -- and their attention to detail geared toward a mobile consumer is what will enable the company to regain its position in the market."
Can the Z10 Hold Its Own?
Much of BlackBerry's fate rests on the Z10. The company has done what it could to suggest to the world that it has changed, but consumers will be the ultimate arbiters of that.
So far, the device has done well in the UK, Canada and India, "although we need to see if those initial sales numbers can be sustained," Andreas Scherer, managing partner at Salto Partners, told the E-Commerce Times.
BlackBerry has a fighting chance with the Z10, he added. "The turnaround isn't over though. It's more like the beginning of the third round in a championship fight."


text: Job Discussion Forums :: View topic - Is teaching English a profession? Get TEFL Certified & Start Your Adventure Today! Job Discussion Forums"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!" FAQ Search Memberlist Usergroups Register Profile Log in to check your private messages Log in Is teaching English a profession? Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4 Next Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> General Discussion View previous topic :: View next topic Author Message leeroyJoined: 30 Jan 2003Posts: 777Location: London UK Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2003 5:11 pm Post subject: Non profeshnels A lot of interesting points here, once again As we've already established, it depends quite a lot on your definition of a professional before it can be decided if you are one. If a professional is defined as someone who is practising in an area in which he/she has an "advanced level of study" (which I interpret as a degree), then I, and I think most others in this industry (although not, I sense, on this board), are not professionals. I however, and most of the other non-professionals I have worked with, can illustrate the difference between "while" & "during". Why? Because most new teachers hold on to course books like their new-born babies, and when they see "Chapter 12: While & During" they think to themselves "Well, I have to teach this, so what does it mean?". "what better way to learn something than to teach it?" (Larsen-Freeman, 1997) Most of what myself & my associates know about the English language comes from exactly this. I would think, though, that knowing the appropiate uses of "while" & "during" is half of it. The other half is knowing how to present this to a class in an interesting, productive and communicative way. Again, most of the non-professional teachers I have come into contact with do a pretty good job of this too. Most of the teachers at my organisation are CELTA qualified with no or non-relevant degrees, but we are aware of such concepts as STT, class management, error correction, etc... Why is this? Because most of us take a certain amount of pride in what we do, although I am not suggesting that this is a rival or substitute for formal education. So I suppose I would rate most of my colleagues as "semi-professionals", apart from those of us who date our (ex) students of course! I am well aware of the backpacker-entertainment-monkey that exists around the world, and am trying to suggest that Not All Unqualified Teachers Are Like That. Leeroy (References) Larsen-Freeman (1997) "Grammar and Its Teaching: Challenging the Myths." ERIC Digest. (ED406829) Back to top Gary BJoined: 19 Feb 2003Posts: 35 Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2003 8:31 pm Post subject: Wha'z up? Good idea about changing the subject or at least getting back on track. I'm one month away from getting a Masters in TESOL and I still don't look at ESL/EFL as a real profession. Some points were made that if one took their job seriously and looked at their job as a profession, then it's a profession. Hell, one can take diswashing very seriously and may be the fastest and most efficient dishwasher in town, but it's not a profession. I look at ESL/EFL as a quasi-profession, much like bartending. I mean do we consider bartending as a profession? Some people do, some don't. I also looked at various definitions of profession and they all mention something like advanced training or education as a requirement for a profession. In many cases, one is not hired to teach ESL/EFL with advanced training and in some cases yes. I would say the general overall perception of people in English speaking societies does not consider ESL/EFL a profession except for the people involved in it. I know I got a lot of funny looks and reactions when I told people around the Detroit area that I'm getting a Masters to teach English. They'd say, Who are you going to teach English? and "Why don't you work in the public school system or get a normal teaching job teaching kids or high school? I do love teaching ESL/EFL but still can't look at it as a true profession. Chow for Now, ESL/EFL A Quasi-Profession In Motown Gary B. Back to top RogerJoined: 19 Jan 2003Posts: 9138 Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2003 12:55 am Post subject: Just thought... 'while and 'during', how do you EXPLAIN this to FELLOW NATIVE SPEAKERS? I don't know if non-professionals can TEACH such topics although I have no doubt they can explain the difference to themselves. A native speaker intuitively 'knows' the difference, perhaps they even 'feel' rather than 'know it. but they do not necessarily have a convincing theory at their fingertips. Native speakers follow their guts, so to speak, and English as an L2 speakers need a more academic approach to the same phenomena. Perhaps a PROFESSIONAL teacher can EXPLAIN it to people who share a common language with them, but how do you go about it when you are faced with foreigners (or as they so quaintly put it 'speakers of other languages than English')? Herein lies, perhaps, a defining difference! Back to top SherriJoined: 23 Jan 2003Posts: 749Location: The Big Island, Hawaii Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2003 1:24 am Post subject: Gary B I am sorry to hear that despite the fact that you have chosen to do an MA in EFL you still don't regard teaching EFL as a profession. Yes it is true that there are businesses that hire people without advanced training but that doesn't mean that the schools that do take teaching seriously aren't out there. The fact that some cowboy schools exist in the world is not reason enough for me to say that the whole profession of teaching EFL is non-exisitent! As for the opinions of the people you know in Detroit about teaching EFL--who cares? I am not teaching EFL to impress them or anyone else. You are welcome to your opinions of course. I just think it is a shame that you feel this way. By the way why do you write "chow for now"? What does "chow" mean (except for food)? I have been out of the States for a long time now. Am I missing something here? Back to top Ben Round de BlocJoined: 16 Jan 2003Posts: 1946 Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2003 2:01 am Post subject: While or During I think some valid points have been made about teaching EFL using the example about teaching the difference between while and during among others. True, most native English speakers can tell when to use while and when during would be the standard choice. Some EFL teachers might be able to explain when to use one and when to use the other to other native English speakers or maybe even to non-native English speakers. Then again some might not. Take the following two sentences for example. He learned a lot during training. He learned a lot while training. Both are grammatically correct. Is there a difference in meaning? Are there situations where one would be used but not the other? When I was getting my MA in TESOL, we used to get questions like this thrown at us in a couple of courses all the time. I found them to be good courses, because they forced us to really think about the English language and how we use it. (Note: Please don't take the time to answer the questions or go into lengthy explanations in a reply post. They're included only as part of an example suggesting the importance of knowing and being able to explain the language we teach.) Back to top AnnJoined: 02 Feb 2003Posts: 45 Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2003 5:03 am Post subject: Exactly Ben! That is the reason I do feel unqualified as a teacher sometimes. Even though I have learned the nitty gritties of the English language in a formal setting, there is still some intrinsic knowledge required. One does go with one's gut feeling at times, and it is hard to explain certain rules. One of my pet peeves is that English (as a language) doesn't always abide by rules. I can't explain the exceptions at times and it frustrates me as a teacher. *sorry for straying from the topic, Glenski.* I had thought about completing my earlier post but lost my original thoughts over the day. In the end, I have to agree with everyone who regards ESL/EFL as a profession. I disagree that dishwashing or drug dealing is not a profession--it IS! Its just not regarded as a profitable or socially acceptable one. Back to top Kent F. KruhoefferJoined: 22 Jan 2003Posts: 2129Location: 中国 Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2003 6:38 am Post subject: the dancing monkey ... revisited Hello People: I didn't mean to cause such a hub-ub with the dancing monkey analogy, and I certainly don't think that being able to explain the difference between 'during' and 'while' is the make-all or break-all for English teachers. My point was more subtle. What I was trying to say is this: If you are the sort of English teacher who takes these questions seriously (the point of my original post), then I would say that you are in a profession. In other words, the mere fact that some of us (and most people on the street) can't answer these questions...is proof enough that teaching English is not quite on the same level with washing dishes. Ok; let's clear up this mess now. 1. He learned a lot during training. 2. He learned a lot while training. In example #1, the preposition 'during' is followed by the noun "training", also called a gerund. In example #2, the conjunction 'while' is followed by the continuous form of the verb "to train", as in "He learned a lot while he was training. In example #2, the 'he' and the 'was' are absent, but they are implied, because using the conjunction 'while' requires a subject and a verb. (also called a clause) Teaching the concept is usually less difficult than the example above. I simply explain to students that 'during' is followed only by a noun, and 'while' is followed by a clause (a subject and a verb) and most students grasp it fairly quickly. eg. During the holiday, during the lesson, during the war, etc. While I was on holiday, while I was in class, while they were fighting, etc. Is all of this really important? Heck no. It simply illustrates the difference between being able to speak English ... and being able to teach it as a profession. Just as the doctor knows how to use his scalpel (let's hope), a professional teacher needs to know how to explain grammar. How you explain it is not such a big deal. It's the result that counts. Whether you learned "how" to explain these things from experience, by sitting in a classroom, or snuggled up with your 'Headway' workbook...does not matter much, I think. Yours truly, Kent Back to top stgeorgeJoined: 17 Jan 2003Posts: 26 Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2003 11:04 am Post subject: I didn't have time to read all the posts thus far so I'll just insert my opinion randomly into the discussion. In Taiwan and South Korea you only have to look the part and have a degree and you'll go straight into a job. The employers couldn't give a fig about professional qualifications. The fact is employers in Asia generally don't want professionals. Just look at all the naive fools who post comments like "can my school make me do this?" or "visa advice needed" on the Korean forum. That's the sort of person they love in Asia: as young and naive as possible. You can shout about your qualifications from "accredited universities" as much as you like, but they count for nothing in this most unprofessional of professions. Back to top AnnJoined: 02 Feb 2003Posts: 45 Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2003 12:49 pm Post subject: Kent, I teach the same thing from my book, "Grammar in Use." But thanks for reiterating it. Back to top Ben Round de BlocJoined: 16 Jan 2003Posts: 1946 Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2003 2:21 pm Post subject: On a personal level Quote: You can shout about your qualifications from "accredited universities" as much as you like, but they count for nothing in this most unprofessional of professions. - stgeorge I'm not going to enter into the debate at this point about professional vs. non-professional. However, in my particular case qualifications have made a difference. I enjoy living and working in Mexico. Perhaps I would've managed to get my current job without my qualifications, but I think it would've been unlikely or at least much more difficult. Even more important, I believe, is the fact that my employer (university) has made it evident in subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) ways that it wants to continue employing me in part because of those qualifications. Without my qualifications I'd have probably had two options: return to teaching in language schools or leave an area of Mexico that I enjoy. Because I didn't particularly like teaching in language schools, I'd have probably chosen the second option. Therefore, in my case I feel qualifications have counted for something. Best wishes! B.R. de B. Back to top Gary BJoined: 19 Feb 2003Posts: 35 Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2003 4:26 pm Post subject: Wha'z up? Ben makes a good point that credentials CAN make a difference in where you teach and maybe the rate of pay. The points about being able to explain grammatical questions as a sign of being professional or unprofessional is not a strong argument to define teaching ESL/EFL as a profession or not. In fact, many of the courses I've taken suggest staying away from lengthy grammatical explanations, (which I disagree with to some point). After all, there are many disagreements and unexplainable areas of any profession. My response to Ann's point about saying, "it's a shame I don't feel that teaching ESL/EFL is not a profession" is that it's not a shame at all, it's reality in my opinion. I don't care so much what other people think because I take pride in what I do and I love what I do. The point is the general consensus of most people in English speaking areas wouldn't consider ESL/EFL a profession except for those in the field. St. George said something like it's the most unprofessions of the professions and I agree with this statement. I mean if it were a profession, why are we even asking ourselves this question? Chow for Now, Reading Some Interesting Insights In Motown Gary B. PS: The chow for now business is just a rhyme thus chow and now and the spelling is actually something like Ciao, not sure but changed it because of "ow". Common expression to say good-bye. Back to top AnnJoined: 02 Feb 2003Posts: 45 Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2003 6:40 pm Post subject: Could ask you the same thing: Do you really care how society views this line of work? In my area (IN THE United States), ESL/EFL is seen very much as a profession and a respected one at that. Back to top GlenskiJoined: 15 Jan 2003Posts: 12844Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2003 8:44 pm Post subject: Gary B, I don't know where you get this idea... Quote: The point is the general consensus of most people in English speaking areas wouldn't consider ESL/EFL a profession except for those in the field. Any support for it? Maybe it's true for the area in which you work, but teaching ESL/EFL covers a LOT of countries! As for St.George's statement... Quote: it's the most unprofessions of the professions I didn't want this thread to say how professional it was. Just whether or not it really is a profession. I can think of several OTHER professions that people consider unprofessional. Lawyers (known negatively by some as "ambulance chasers"). Faith healers (seen by many as shamans or quacks). Drug dealers and prostitutes (for obvious reasons). In my opinion, teaching ESL or EFL is definitely a profession. Whether you need advanced training or not to get hired is irrelevant. Carpenters don't need training. Janitors don't. Hotel desk clerks don't. Landlords don't. In my dictionary there are two definitions. One calls for advanced training, and the other just says it's any job. What's so unique about teaching ESL/EFL is the international aspect of the work. I know some regular elementary school and high school teachers in the USA who were suddenly told that they would be teaching ESL the following year and had no opportunity to improve their skill sets by getting training, so they picked up whatever they could all on their own. And, we all know that various countries have slack regulations on who can be a teacher. The idea still holds that teaching and getting paid for it is a job (ie, a profession). Whether you do it with a strict code of ethics, or whether you stay with it a long time, or whether you teach grammatical structures to university students or present little old ladies with 60 minutes of recipe swapping time, it's still a job. Quote: I mean if it were a profession, why are we even asking ourselves this question? Simple answer: someone said it WASN'T a profession. Back to top RogerJoined: 19 Jan 2003Posts: 9138 Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2003 11:57 pm Post subject: Gary, why do patients go to see a DOCTOR? AWhy do unhappily-married people go to see a lwayer? Why do owners of a house with a broken watermains ask a plumber to fix it? Why do people rely on the postman, the cabbie and the milkman? And yes, my plumber (in China) took the faulty tap off, then examined it - and put it back on! It was still leaky! And one of the doctors in a HK hospital sold me an expensive injection for my recurrent leg cramps! (I found out that bananas contain enough magnesium to ward the problem off). And the postman often puts the letters in the wrong box... Still, they all are professionals! Back to top Gary BJoined: 19 Feb 2003Posts: 35 Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2003 2:28 am Post subject: Wha'z up? With all due respect to the various responses to this topic, I'll ask the question again, "If teaching ESL/EFL is TRULY A REAL PROFESSION than why are we even discussing this and why would anyone even ask? There must be some doubts regarding this issue. Chow for Now, Having Doubts In Motown Gary B. Back to top Display posts from previous: All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> General Discussion All times are GMTGoto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4 Next Page 2 of 4 Jump to: Select a forum Where to Begin----------------General DiscussionNewbie ForumCurrent Events ForumTechnology ForumOnline Teaching Forum Africa Forums----------------General Africa Forum Asia Forums----------------CambodiaChina (Job-related Posts Only)China (Off-Topic)Hong KongIndiaIndonesiaJapanMalaysiaPhilippinesSingaporeTaiwanThailandGeneral Asia ForumVietnam Caribbean Forums----------------General Caribbean Forum Europe Forums----------------Czech RepublicFranceGermanyGreeceItalyMacedonia and the BalkansPolandRomaniaRussia & C.I.S.SpainTurkeyUkraineUnited KingdomGeneral Europe Forum Latin America Forums----------------ArgentinaBrazilChileColombiaCosta RicaMexicoMexico (off-topic)PeruGeneral Latin America Forum The Middle East Forums----------------BahrainEgyptIsraelKuwaitOmanQatarSaudi ArabiaUnited Arab EmiratesGeneral Middle East Forum North America Forums----------------General North America Forum Oceania----------------Australia/New Zealand You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forum This page is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling. 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Release Date: 2011 |
Knott- EMERITUS (4)The codification of a language we call Youth....SowingSeason STAFF (4)I've never been more ready to move on...Shamus248 (5)One of Yellowcard's finest projects. A bit of a continuation of Ocean Avenue, but even mor...gmang (3.5)Yellowcard is back....
Wildcatforever (4)Yes....muzikdizcovery (4.5)When You're Through Thinking, Say Yes is a reflection of the past, and a view at the futur...sceezy (4)After a two year hiatus, Yellowcard returns with a bang in 2011 with When You're Through T...
In b4 Sowing.
Great review Jared. Your last two paragraphs really hit it out of the park.
Album Rating: 3.5Awesome. I want to hear this.
Album Rating: 4.0I can't decide how I feel about this yet.
It really annoys me how similar the vocal melody in Sing To Me is to that in Hang You Up.
Nice review. Count me interested. Was never a huge fan of these guys, but I'll give them another chance.
Appreciate it guys
hmm, knott, they dont really sound too similar to me
Digging: The Trees And The Wild - Zaman, Zaman
Album Rating: 4.0You kidding, at the end of the choruses it's like the same vocal melody.
"Sing for me"/"Pull you down"
Some good songs on here, doubtless, but it all feels a little bit stunted.
I also loved Paper Walls and Lights And Sounds.
Album Rating: 3.5Your review makes me happy. Can't wait to get my hands on this, Ocean Avenue was the album back in the day.
one for the kids and paper walls are still their best, but this has some quality stuff on it.
I enjoyed much of paper sounds but it was forced
Album Rating: 4.0paper sounds
Album Rating: 2.5never heard an album from them, nice review.
Paper Sounds?
Album Rating: 4.5I'm not sure how I feel about this quite yet either. The chorus in the opening track sounds just like the verse from "View from Heaven" and there are some other annoying little similarities. It isn't as catchy as I had hoped, but I have a feeling it will grow on me in other ways and perhaps become more meaningful than Paper Walls, if not L&S as well. Definitely not better than Ocean Avenue, but nobody was expecting it to be. Should be an interesting album for me to digest, seeing as I have loved this band since One For The Kids.
Nice review Jared. I disagree with a few minor points, like how this is in a fresh context. From what I have heard so far this is a 50/50 merge of Ocean Avenue and Paper Walls. I love the violin presence that was sorely missed towards the end of YC's first run (pre-hiatus), but I was a little disappointed that there weren't any huge riffs like on The Takedown or at the end of Holly Wood Died. Also a lot of the songs, while energetic and solid instrumentally, seemed a little samey. After about 2 listens only about four of the songs stand apart very strongly. Like I said though, I will definitely listen to this more to see if my opinion changes, but as it stands this is a slight letdown but still very good (maybe a 3-3.5). I will definitely review it when it comes out too, if for no other reason because I have had my intro paragraph written for over a month.
Digging: Sam Amidon - Sam Amidon
wait... what?
Yes... just yes.
Album Rating: 4.0Willies avatar is awesome, it's so fluffy!!
Great album!
Album Rating: 4.5just noticed the recommended by reviewer: "reunion albums - not sucking" haha
Album Rating: 4.5Sometimes you just break my heart, you know that Xeno
you guys fucking serious
it's yellowcard
Digging: Chamber - Cost of Sacrifice
Bands: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z


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Remember the 1992 courtroom film drama, "A Few Good Men"? The blasphemy laws of Pakistan (which condemn to death anyone who blasphemes the Prophet Muhammad) are to millions of its minority citizens what "code red" was to the marines in that iconic movie: a euphemism for the use of force to garner unconditional obedience from the masses. And the Jan. 3 assassination of Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab – Pakistan's largest province – is a message to every moderate Muslim in the country to dare not challenge the vitriolic blasphemy laws, or they could be next.
Repealing blasphemy laws is an idea whose time has come. They laws are at the symbolic heart of the battle over hardline intolerance and hypocrisy. This larger religious and cultural struggle is now destabilizing Pakistan. Not only are these laws a disgrace to Pakistan, but they also provide more harm than protection to the honor of Prophet Muhammad. Just look at what the Quran says about him, "And We have sent thee not but as a mercy for all peoples (21:108)".
Who are Egypt's Copts, and the Middle East's other Christian populations?
Targeted for acting on principle
The plot of "A Few Good Men" revolves around the murder of a marine, William Santiago, who had trouble following unjust practices on the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and therefore decided to be a whistleblower. Following the orders of Colonel Jessup (played by Jack Nicholson), two of Mr. Santiago's fellow marines inflict severe extrajudicial punishment dubbed as "code red," causing his death.
The opposition to Mr. Taseer was triggered by his fight for the release of Aasia Bibi, a poor Christian mother of five, imprisoned for allegedly blaspheming Prophet Muhammad. Her offense stemmed from fetching water for fellow farm workers in her village in 2009. The Muslim villagers refused to drink water carried by an "unclean" Christian. They later told authorities that Ms. Bibi had made insulting statements about the Quran and Prophet Muhammad. This resulted in a death sentence for Bibi on Nov. 8, 2010.
Not only did governor Taseer then make razor sharp public statements condemning the draconian blasphemy laws, but he also embarked on a mission to secure a presidential pardon for Bibi.
His noble mission faced severe resistance from all sides. Students from religious schools (madrassahs) burned effigies of him during street protests, the pseudo-Islamic intellectuals mocked his liberal lifestyle on talk shows, and the clergy publicly declared him worthy of death. On Dec. 31, a coalition of religious parties protested in all major Pakistani cities, demanding that blasphemy laws remain intact. For all practical purposes, a "code red" had been issued against the governor of Punjab.
5 key players in Pakistan's tribal belt
Murder and blasphemy
While the federal government promptly issued statements that no amendments would be made to the blasphemy laws, Taseer responded differently by posting on Twitter: "I was under huge pressure 2 [bow] down b4 rightist pressure on blasphemy. Refused. Even if I'm the last man standing."
He stands no more.
On Jan. 3, his own security guard, Mumtaz Qadri, shot him multiple times with a Kalashnikov. Why? According to Interior Minister Rahman Malik, Mr. Qadri told police that he killed Taseer because the governor had called the blasphemy law a black law.
While this is the most high-profile murder surrounding gross and frequent abuse of blasphemy laws in Pakistan, it clearly is not the first. Due to communal hatred spread by these laws, more than 101 members of the Ahmadiyya (a minority Muslim sect) and more than 20 Christians have been killed by religious zealots since 1986. In June 2008, the entire population of Rabwah (the town that serves as the headquarters of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in Pakistan) – 60,000 people – was charged with committing blasphemy.
Responsibility to follow Muhammad's true legacy
How did the prophet Muhammad show his mercy to the poor, the slaves, and the oppressed? One simple behavior: listening. Pakistani media must provide a voice to the oppressed minorities. And the citizens simply need to listen – just like the prophet did. Only then can we begin to change an atmosphere of hatred into an atmosphere of mutual understanding. Doing so is crucial not only to repair Pakistan's image but also to demonstrate the true legacy of prophet Muhammad.
Who knows how and when this ordeal will end in Pakistan? The movie, A Few Good Men, however, ends with Colonel Jessup admitting to ordering a "code red," prompting his arrest. When the two marines accused of Santiago's murder are dishonorably discharged for "conduct unbecoming a United States Marine", one of them yells: "Colonel Jessup said he ordered the code red. What did we do wrong? We did nothing wrong."
The other responds, "Yeah we did. We were supposed to fight for people who couldn't fight for themselves".
Despite every indication that the conduct of Pakistani religious, judicial, and political authorities is unbecoming of a true Muslim, they continue to maintain a defensive posture: What did we do wrong? We did nothing wrong.
And the voice that tried to valiantly respond to that question has been silenced.
Aasia Bibi must be worried in her prison cell, praying for a few good men.
Faheem Younus is a former youth president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA and a clinical associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.


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The Hand That Feeds (halo)
From nine inch nails wiki
The Hand That Feeds (also known as Halo 18), released on March 28, 2005, is the first single released in promotion of the album With Teeth. Most versions include the album version and various remixes of the title track. The 10" picture disc is one of the few releases to include "Home."
Standard Slimline
Limited Edition Digipack
DVD Single
9" Vinyl
A "The Hand That Feeds" - 3:31
10" Picture Disc Vinyl
A "The Hand That Feeds" - 3:31
12" Vinyl (The Photek Mixes)
A1 "The Hand That Feeds" (Straight Mix) - 7:46
B1 "The Hand That Feeds" (Dub Instrumental) - 7:51
12" Vinyl (DFA Mixes)
A1 "The Hand That Feeds" (DFA Remix) - 9:02
B1 "The Hand That Dubs" (DFA Version 1) - 14:12
Album Credits
External Links


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Petition of the day
The petition of the day is:
Lawson v. FMR LLC (Granted )
Docket: 12-3
Issue(s): Whether an employee of a privately held contractor or subcontractor of a public company is protected from retaliation by Section 806 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1514A.
Certiorari stage documents:
Recommended Citation: Ben Cheng, Petition of the day, SCOTUSblog (Oct. 12, 2012, 6:01 PM), https://www.scotusblog.com/2012/10/petition-of-the-day-352/


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Google Link: Command - Busting the MythsBlog Post: November 23, 2009
Well i think the backlinks shown by google blog search are somewhat acceptable. for example backlinks for seomoz using google blog search is 42,096.
However i dont think they are much accurate. But u can use them to find out some of the recent backlink added to your site.