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Already being compared to the comics work of indie legend Brian Wood, THE NIGHTLY NEWS is the debut book for creator Jonathan Hickman, who handles all the writing, art, lettering and coloring himself.
"It's true," laughs Hickman. "I wrote it, then drew it, colored it, lettered it, rewrote it, and then redrew it. My wife said if I didn't stop, she was leaving, so I corrected the typos (that's code for rewrote it again) and stopped."
THE NIGHTLY NEWS finds John Guyton broke, divorced and living in the streets of New York City one day, and at war with the corporate news media the next. All because he gets recruited to join the Cult of the VOICE.
"It's a story about revenge," explains creator Jonathan Hickman. "Not long ago, I found myself wondering what happens to the people who get their lives taken apart in the scandal of the week fashion that these mainstream and cable news outfits employ to boost ratings and revenues. After doing the research, seeing how some of these people's lives have been ruined, I was surprised there hasn't been any real reciprocity. This is that story. Like all revenge stories, at some point the question of 'Is it worth it?' gets asked and the answer will definitely surprise a lot of people."
The book features a completely different aesthetic than most any comic book shelves - aside from it's design, almost the entire book is comprised of double-page spreads.
"It looks really cool," says Hickman. "Art style is obviously very important to any comic, but with THE NIGHTLY NEWS I really wanted to bridge the gap between traditional comic art and graphic design. Plenty of books recently have tried to do this, I think this might be the first one to get it right."
THE NIGHTLY NEWS #1 (SEP061787) is a six-issue full-color miniseries available for advance orders in the September Previews (on sale now) and the first issue hits stores November 1 and retails for $2.99.
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Palliative care is a specific discipline within medicine. It specialises in care and support that recognises the unique needs of a person who has an advanced or life-threatening illness, and of their family and carers.
The Last Stage of Our Journey: Palliative Care and the End of This Life
We enter the world entirely dependent upon other people. Most of us will also live our final months, weeks or days in this world requiring the care and support of others to sustain us. While dying is an intensely personal experience, it is also a journey which we should not have to undertake alone.
Good quality care at the end of life is integral to a comprehensive and just health-care system. It is never a 'waste of the healthcare dollar' to care for people who are dying. Although they are approaching the end of their lives, dying people should never be regarded as 'unproductive' or 'burdens,' but as our brothers and sisters who are worthy of quality health care, reverence and love.
How well we care for the dying is an important indication of how compassionate and humane we are as a society.
The dying person should not be dismissed as incurable and abandoned to his own resources and those of the family, but should be re–entrusted to the care of doctors and nurses. These, interacting and integrating with the assistance given by chaplains, social workers, relatives and friends, allow the dying person to accept and live out his death. To help one to die means to help him to live intensely the final experience of his life.
Providing a good life for the dying
Australia has the capacity to provide good palliative care.
Not everyone in the final stages of life will experience pain, but if patients do experience it, in almost all cases it can be relieved. Health professionals and our health system should strive to improve quality of life for patients, their families and carers by providing care that addresses physical, emotional, social, cultural and spiritual needs. The aim is to help the person live as well as possible; not to die as soon as possible! Palliative care:
- affirms life and regards dying as a normal process;
- provides relief from pain and other distressing symptoms;
- neither hastens nor postpones death;
- integrates the physical, psychological, social, emotional and spiritual aspects of patient care; and
- helps people to live as actively as possible until death.
Neglect versus untiring service
Euthanasia and assisted suicide, sometimes called 'mercy killing', is the deliberate killing of another person with the motive of ending his or her suffering. This can be achieved by doing something (e.g., giving a lethal injection) or by failing to do something (e.g., withholding life saving treatment or care, including food and water) with the intention to cause or hasten death. The defining feature of an act of euthanasia and assisted suicide, therefore, is the intention to deliberately bring about a person's death.
By contrast, palliative care is aimed at supporting people at the end of their life and thereby recognises the dignity that person bears until the moment of his or her death; it never involves an intention to end a patient's life. It seeks to eliminate suffering by treating symptoms; not to eliminate the sufferer!
Even when not motivated by a selfish refusal to be burdened with the life of someone who is suffering, euthanasia and assisted suicide must be called a false mercy, and indeed a disturbing "perversion" of mercy. True "compassion" leads to sharing another's pain; it does not kill the person whose suffering we cannot bear. As a Sydney-based palliative care specialist explains: When fears are addressed, the process of adjustment discussed, symptoms are managed, continuity of care is provided without abandonment, depression is treated, and the person's value and sense of worth reaffirmed without implication of burden, most will again be empowered and choose life. A sense of certainty, dignity and healing is restored for these patients and those who care for them.
A junior doctor's story
Working on the cancer ward I have many patients with multiple complex symptoms. Most of these are easily solved with basic adjustments to medications, however Joe was different. He came in with intractable nausea and it took us many weeks of trialling various doses of several different anti-nausea medications before we seemed to be getting anywhere. It was during this time of experimenting that he looked at me – his entire body weary with long, unforgiving, nauseous days – and told me that he felt his life was no longer worth living. That's how bad his nausea was making him feel! Eventually, our Palliative Care specialists got the dosage right, and he was discharged home with medications that his family was taught to administer through needles into his belly. But this was completely worth it – Joe simply wanted to be in his own home, surrounded by his family, able to converse and interact with them, for as long as possible. With good palliative care measures, we had made it happen. He was a patient who required a lot of time and effort to sort out, but as doctors we are obliged and fulfilled by making that effort for our patients.
Euthanasia and and assisted suicide disguised?
The euthanasia and assisted suicide lobby sometimes argues that doctors covertly practice euthanasia and assisted suicide by administering large doses of pain-killers to dying patients. However, there is a real difference, both ethically and legally, between intending pain relief and intending death.
In most cases their is a clear distinction between the dose which relieves pain, and the dose which over-sedates. Doctors occasionally foresee that giving increasing doses of pain-killers or sedatives to comfort a patient may also have the side effect of shortening that patient's life (just like any medication may have sideeffects). But where the intention is to relieve suffering and not to hasten death, these doctors are not performing euthanasia or assisted suicide.
In such a case, death is not willed or sought, even though for reasonable motives one runs the risk of it: there is simply a desire to ease pain effectively by using the analgesics which medicine provides.
Palliative care sometimes also involves the withdrawal of medical treatments which have become futile (are no longer working) or overly-burdensome for a patient, even where it is foreseen that this may cause death to come sooner. Again, this is not the equivalent of euthanasia or assisted suicide, but an acceptance of the human condition in the face of death, and reflects the prioritisation of the comfort of patients and the easing of their distress. It is very different from a choice to refuse treatment because we judge life to be futile or overly burdensome.
What about food and fluids? Can these be withdrawn?
These decisions are made on a case by case basis. The provision of nutrition and hydration is 'ordinary care', and the presumption is that they should always be provided, unless the patient has reached a stage where the provision of food and water is futile or would be unduly burdensome. The withdrawal of food and fluids must never be done with the intention of causing or hastening a person's death. However, it may be permissible when death is imminent, in order to allow a patient to die more comfortably or when there is no medical or symptomatic benefit from such treatment (i.e., the treatment is not helping the patient to live longer or feel better).
The increasing need for palliative care
Sadly, there are still people in our community who are not dying well. Too often this is because people are unable to access the care they require, perhaps due to insufficient funding, services and expertise, or because of a lack of understanding of what palliative care is able to offer .
It is crucial to improve access to, and development of, palliative care services, rather than promoting inhuman 'solutions' to suffering like euthanasia and assisted suicide. These two responses to suffering are very different; while palliative care always upholds the dignity of the patient and strives to serve their needs, euthanasia and assisted suicide implicitly state we can give up on striving to improve the lives of our patients – when a patient's pain, nausea or depression is no longer "worth" fixing.
Medically assisted killing denies the truth that the request which arises from the human heart in the supreme confrontation with suffering and death, especially when faced with the temptation to give up in utter desperation, is above all a request for companionship, sympathy and support in the time of trial. It is a plea for help to keep on hoping when all human hopes fail.
Even if in some instances palliative care is unable to relieve all a patient's suffering, unlike euthanasia and assisted suicide, it will always affirm a patient's inherent dignity. As Dame Cicely Saunders, a leading figure in the development of palliative care famously said:
"You matter because you are you. You matter to the last moment of your life, and we will do all we can, not only to help you die peacefully, but also to live until you die."
Of course, professional or specialised palliative care is only ever one aspect of caring for people at the end of life. The deepest human need is love – the knowledge that we are not alone.
"Dying does not always require health-care intervention, but it will always need human support – someone to sit with people and support them in their final journey."
— Professor Margaret O'Connor, President of Palliative Care Australia
In most cases, it is a dying person's loved ones – their family and friends – who are best able to provide this care. Together we all share the responsibility to offer our time, acceptance and love.

subset: commoncrawl


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We all know the effects of aging on the body. Sagging skin that has lost its elasticity can give you the appearance of looking older than you really are. Droopy eyes can make you seem older, and adversely affect your vision.
There are options for both lower eyelid surgery and upper eyelid surgery or a combination of the two.
Eyelid surgery is also known as blepharoplasty. Surgical intervention can increase your vision while adding a more youthful appearance. Flaccid eyelids can negatively affect self-esteem and decrease confidence in yourself. Eyelid surgeons are equipped to help restore more normal vision and help you look and feel younger than ever.
How does blepharoplasty work?
During a blepharoplasty, extra skin and fat are removed from the eyelids, upper or lower or both, to diminish wrinkles and fine lines and to remove bags and dark circles.
As with any surgery, recovery is important. There will be some swelling, bruising and redness in the incision area, you may tear up a lot, or your eyes may feel dry.
Temporarily blurred vision is common, and you may be sensitive to light, as well. Your doctor will give recommendations for rest and medication to alleviate any uncomfortable symptoms.
You will feel pretty much back to normal after about ten days or so, depending on the depth of your surgery.
Also read What is Orthodontics?
Ptosis Surgery
The procedure to correct baggy upper eyelids is called ptosis surgery and reinstates the eyes' natural contours while increasing vision capability. It will be easier to use contacts or glasses and will ease inflammation in the folds of the skin on the forehead and eyelids. Individuals with sagging eyelids unconsciously raise their eyebrows to see better, creating pressure and pain in the forehead.
Sometimes only a single eye is affected (unilateral) and at others, both eyes (bilateral). Drooping can be barely imperceptible or very noticeable by others, where the eyelid virtually covers the whole pupil. Adults and children can have ptosis, but it is primarily associated with aging.
Complete recovery can take up to six months, but most individuals can resume normal activity after about 3-6 weeks.
Are you a candidate for eyelid surgery?
Qualifying for eyelid surgery is simple. If you have issues like bags under your eyes, droopy eyelids, eye puffiness, wrinkles and fine lines in the eye area, flabby skin around the eyes, and have difficulty seeing clearly because of one or more of these problems, you can benefit from eyelid surgery.
Medical involvement will offer you better vision while restoring your natural beauty. Your eyes can now be the focal point of your face instead of deterring from it.


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Dear Member:
The recent intensified focus on sexual harassment in our industry and across many sectors has exposed abuses of power that pervade workplaces across the country and beyond. We believe it also presents a unique opportunity for unprecedented change and is a call to action for us all.
We unequivocally condemn workplace harassment in all its forms. We are committed to finding solutions to ensure a safe work environment for our members wherever they work across the globe. As you will read below, we are working in partnership with industry stakeholders and other allies, and taking steps on our own to help ensure safe and equitable workplaces for all SAG-AFTRA members.
Employers have a legal and contractual obligation to provide a safe work environment and we are committed to holding them accountable.
SAG-AFTRA members also have an obligation as it relates to this issue. When acting in the capacity of a producer or supervisor, they are subject to the same laws and rules as any employer. Beyond this, we all share the expectation that our members, and all professionals, will refrain from engaging in harassing conduct and support efforts to eliminate this scourge from the workplace.
We are building a multi-faceted program to do our part to help facilitate and accelerate the industry's culture shift towards sustainable improvements in workplace safety and equitable treatment.
Our membership includes professionals who are often placed in vulnerable, physically intimate situations. Accordingly, we have a particular responsibility to approach this issue in a comprehensive way. The Four Pillars of Change initiative, described below, encompasses steps that we believe will yield sustained improvements to the safety and treatment of our members as they work and pursue employment.
Our goals are to strengthen and clarify the rules that protect our members in their work environment, provide ongoing training to empower them and ensure they have essential tools to protect themselves while working, expand the union's capacity to support members who face harassment, and collaborate with Industry stakeholders to expand available recourse and recovery resources for assault and harassment survivors. This is a multi-year effort that SAG-AFTRA will pursue in collaboration with Industry partners.
We believe in the power of collective action and encourage all of our members to support this effort.
SAG-AFTRA will develop materials that give members a clear understanding of their rights in the workplace and provide reliable guidance to navigate the unique environments of the entertainment and media industries. We will:
- Disseminate and clarify protections for employees, including those that flow from the law, our collective bargaining agreements, applicable policies and other regulations.
- Establish a Code of Conduct along with scenario-specific guidance that outlines best practices and offers practical insights for members on how to avoid and/or address sexual harassment in the workplace and related environments.
- Communicate clear expectations that members will refrain from harassing conduct.
- Provide guidance for members who experience or witness sexual harassment.
- Provide information for reporting sexual harassment and the resources to support members seeking assistance.
These materials will be developed in consultation with our members and with guidance from subject matter experts.
SAG-AFTRA will provide training, expert panels and other educational programming to ensure that members have practical tools available to them when confronting, experiencing or witnessing harassing behavior. We will:
- Sponsor panels and member discussions on harassment, suffering and discrimination within the industry.
- Create guides and videos to ensure the information is disseminated broadly.
- Provide enhanced anti-harassment training for SAG-AFTRA staff to strengthen the union's ability to protect members worldwide.
SAG-AFTRA is reinforcing its capacity to intervene on members' behalf as needed. We will:
- Expand our capacity to intervene rapidly and forcefully to protect our members against sexual harassment.
- Assess and upgrade as appropriate our intake procedures to address harassment-specific requests for support.
- Work with Industry partners to pursue technology-based solutions that facilitate safe channels to report harassing conduct, identify predators and stop repeat offenders.
- Pursue legislative and policy improvements to strengthen sexual harassment laws and work to advance equity for all SAG-AFTRA members across industries and borders.
- Where appropriate, add and/or strengthen provisions to address sexual harassment to our collective bargaining agreements.
In recognition of the complex nature of this pervasive problem, SAG-AFTRA will work in collaboration with Industry stakeholders and other allies to help achieve a more equitable and harassment-free workplace. We will:
- Participate in the efforts of the Industry-wide Commission on Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality in the Workplace, with memberinitiated groups, and with other industry stakeholders that are committed to addressing these issues.
- Continue to build bridges within and beyond our industry to partner with strategic allies who are focused on these issues, including ReFrame, Times Up, the AFL-CIO, the International Federation of Actors, and others.
- Establish a specialized "Trauma Hotline" to support our members in need of advanced intake services and clinical referrals due to harassment and assault-related trauma.
- Work with the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, in collaboration with sister organizations such as the Motion Picture and Television Fund and the Actors Fund, to provide additional counseling resources to respond to the need for acute short-term intervention.
- Work with Industry partners to address the extreme shortage of long-term therapeutic resources available to survivors in this industry.
As representatives of the 160,000 actors, broadcasters and recording artists working in entertainment, music and media around the world, SAG-AFTRA is committed to this long-range initiative to make the work environment safe for all professionals who work under our contracts.
Together, we can create lasting change that bolsters anti-harassment efforts, increases your safety and security, and advances equity for all.
Strength in Unity,
|Gabrielle Carteris
|David White
|National Executive Director


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AkzoNobel helps to rebuild a Wonder of the Medieval World
AkzoNobel's Decorative Paints business is helping to recreate one of the Seven Wonders of the Medieval World – the Porcelain Tower of Nanjing in China.
during the Ming Dynasty, the original pagoda was mostly destroyed in the 19th century. But a highly anticipated construction project is underway which will revive the cultural icon, with AkzoNobel making a key contribution through its color expertise.
one involves constructing the main Buddhist temple, featuring the distinctive porcelain pagoda. After being selected for the prestigious project, experts from AkzoNobel carefully selected a light yellow shade for the upcoming painting work on the temple's porcelain walls. This color reflects the building's heritage and symbolizes the regaining of former glories.
"We are honored to be involved in the reconstruction of the Porcelain Tower of Nanjing," said Ruud Joosten, AkzoNobel's Executive Committee member responsible for Decorative Paints. "We are keenly aware of the importance of preserving cultural heritage, as it's one of the main pillars of our Human Cities initiative. This project is therefore a wonderful example of how we are striving to help make cities around the world more vibrant and liveable."
Lin Liangqi, President of AkzoNobel China and Managing Director of Decorative Paints China and North Asia: "The Porcelain Tower of Nanjing was regarded as a national treasure and it remains as culturally significant now as it was hundreds of years ago."
20,000 kilograms of Dulux Pro Stucco – an acrylate, copolymer-based waterborne texture paint – has been used to coat 8,000 square meters of porcelain walls. The product offers outstanding weather resistance, adhesion and color versatility and has also been used in other high profile cultural restoration projects, such as WuHan Gemdale, West River Moon in Xi'an, and Jade City in XinJiang Province.
current construction project, known as the Nanjing Porcelain Tower Relics Park, will transform the original site into a cultural attraction for the city.


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Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'capacitors'.
Found 27 results
Powerbook 520/540c Power Adapter repair/re-cap
Outlander posted a topic in 68k PowerBookRan into an issue where my power adapter for my Powerbook 540c was outputting 16v on one pin, but only 2.xv on the other pin so my 540c would no longer start up. Took the PA apart(it's epoxied together) and discovered 6 capacitors. 2x 330uf - 25v, 2x 100uf 200v, and 2x 100uf 25v. The part numbers can bee seen in the picture. While the capacitors didn't look bad, I knew they were 20 some years old and it was time to swap em out. Sure enough, as soon as I soldered in the new caps I got 16v back on both pins and my Powerbook 540c is happy again!
Macintosh SE/30 list of capacitors
Alex posted a topic in Compact MacHello I am going to be reworking the logic board on an SE/30 and am looking for a list of capacitors for the board. The board I have has already gone through a repair by an unknown third party and I intend to remove all the caps he put in place. I would like to install the original electrolytic capacitors and other caps that the board hosted. I don't want to go with tantalum capacitors because of their very disruptive end of life characteristics, namely they can blow up. I would appreciate if someone in the know could provide me a list of caps and their respective locations. Kindest regards —Alex
Solved Classic II no sound cap issue
pinto_guy posted a topic in Compact MacI thought I'd post this here to perhaps help some. I have a Classic II which worked OK, but with only a faint sound. So I thought I'd recap, but only those caps I guessed were involved in sound. Started with C11, C12, C14 and C15: no help Then C9: no help After I changed C4 (47uF), I finally got a loud bong. However, I lost the mouse pointer Thinking I must have shot C5 and C8 while hot-airing that area to desolder, I changed them too, and I recovered the mouse pointer So everything looked fine, except for a heavy random hissing/whistling of the speaker. I then realized that C11 had not been soldered properly. After this was fixed, everything works OK. Great feeling So next time someone is having a sound issue with a Classic II, I'd recommend to start with C4.
Video: Recapping the SONY CR-44 Power Supply (for SE & SE/30)
JDW posted a topic in Compact MacI finally finished my video on recapping the SONY CR-44 PSU, which can be used in the SE and SE/30. The video is long but informative. A Mouser Cart is linked in the text description under the video (you'll have to watch it on YouTube to see that), for those of you wanting to easily purchase all the electrolytic capacitors required. You also find a link in that description to my SEASONIC PSU replacement video, for those of you who haven't seen that one either. There's still reason to recap the SONY PSU though -- it's fanless and dead silent when operating. If you have only 1 PDS card and no major upgrades, the SONY PSU, once recapped, is more than adequate. Enjoy.
Mac SE/30 no video after re-cap
kahlil88 posted a topic in Compact MacFinally got around to re-capping my Mac SE/30 board, after swapping the CRT from an unhappy Mac Plus and confirming signs of life. Screen came on and I could even boot off my Floppy Emu, though sadly the ADB ports appear to be dead. I knew it could use a re-cap after 30 years (at least 15 of which it was used as a door stop at my old high school). Re-cap went smoothly, and afterwards I cleaned the board with soap and a toothbrush, pressure washed with hot water, then shook and sat to dry overnight. Powered on the next day and I get a chime but no video. I decided to have a go at re-flowing UE8, UF8 and the other chips in that row, along with all the caps I had replaced (a few weren't as flat as they could be). Powered on and not even a chime. Went back for a second pass and ended up breaking a leg off UF8. The speaker chimes again but then blip-blips indefinitely, almost like it's stuck in a reboot loop but doesn't fully chime after the first one.
Macintosh SE Not Working
curtiscoffee posted a topic in Compact MacHi, This is my first post on these forums. I felt this would be the best place to come to ask how to get my Macintosh SE working again. So I managed to get my hands on this Macintosh SE. It came with the original manuals, mouse, keyboard, and even a carry bag! I paid around $5 New Zealand dollars for it. Yes I can't believe it either. So when I got it home, I plugged it in and it turned on, and it worked! I think that the disk drive is dead, because it just had the disk logo with a question mark and ejected the yellow protector disk. I left it on for a few hours. I then noticed a burning smell and smoke came out of the back of it. I opened it and being very careful i turned it on and i noticed that the flyback transformer was arcing and the monitor wasn't turning on, But I did get the start up sound and the fan was running. At first I thought a cap had popped on the analog board, but after inspecting it they all look perfectly fine. Also checking the main board it looks perfectly fine and the battery hasn't leaked. Has anyone else had this problem before? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
How To Video: Recapping a Macintosh IIsi Power Supply
Alex posted a topic in Mac II, Quadra & CentrisRecapping a Macintosh IIsi Power Supply Related reference (cheat sheet): http://recapamac.com.au/macintosh-iisi-power-supply/ or on archive.org, http://web.archive.org/web/20191125110228/http://recapamac.com.au/macintosh-iisi-power-supply/
Analog Board Recaping Advice
mac1nt0s posted a topic in Compact MacHello! I've decided to recap the analog boards in my Macintosh SE and SE/30 and now I need to buy the caps and I'm wondering a few things: - which company should I buy the caps from (there's quite a lot of different companies and I don't really know which ones to buy)? - should the max operating temperature be 105 C or is 85 C enough, considering that the SE and the SE/30 have a fan? - is it okay to buy the caps from AliExperss (I know that Mouser is generally the best for capacitor purchases, but the shipping is quite expensive, because I'm located in a smaller country and I really don't want to pay that much for shipping)? Thank you for taking your time and helping me out!
lc ii Macintosh LC II Recapping and Dishwasher - please don't!
Alex posted a topic in 68k LC & PerformaSo this is not about the retrobrite that the 8-bit guy completed, that turned out very nice. Instead it is about this really bad video he did, sorry I know some of you may like him but this video was wrong in so many ways that I had to warn potential viewers. I couldn't comment on youtube because they were not available for this video. Do not twist off caps from any logic board, it's not in the manual as it were for a reason … you run the risk of ripping of the pads that capacitors are soldered to. Once a pad is removed through the force of twisting off a cap, a time consuming repair is definitely at hand, even if they don't tear off the board they can come loose causing continuity problems later on. Please watch some other videos on how to desolder. No manual will ever tell you to twist off a capacitor but you will find desoldering procedures. This is the legendary Mark Siegel from PACE. I don't expect folks to purchase all this gear to remove a few caps but this man is a legend for a reason. You can learn a lot from him and the other PACE video below. These are really interesting videos in my view. You will learn so much! There are excellent videos on the topic of soldering, it's actually an amazing thing (tin and lead). I hope you find these interesting. Washing logic boards in a dishwasher, this is medieval (sorry what term should I use?), the water is not the proper kind, it can leave minerals and other residue behind that in the long term has a negative impact. He could have cleaned his board with isopropyl alcohol and a for for purpose anti-static brush or taken the time to clean up manually with a cotton swab. -- The lesson videos on soldering by PACE will present cleaning methods throughout. No ESD protection? Without grounding the board and yourself the risk of electrostatic discharge is completely possible and any damage is practically undetectable by our senses. The damage this discharge can cause is microscopic and can result in latent issues that manifest into crashes, system freezes etc. I hope this will equip you to perform any rework on your Mac or other electronics with safety to the board while ensuring a good solder job and good clean up.
SE/30 video redraw problem
Y030 posted a topic in Compact MacHi folks, this is my first post here and I'm looking for some help diagnosing yet another video issue with a Mac SE/30 - hoping that someone could point me in the right direction. Usual story, dug the Mac out of storage to find it didn't boot, display full of stripes and noise. Removed the caps, cleaned out the electrolyte, dirt and oxide, replaced caps. The board looks great, no visible broken traces and squeaky clean. Connected to power, the Mac chimes, POSTs and boots all the way to the Finder normally, the mouse and floppy work. The issue is only the left quarter of the screen is being drawn, as if divided into four columns, leaving horizontal strips across the rest. In the Finder I can make out the trash and menubar but being continually overwritten in the same quarter screen. It's as if only 25% the VRAM is being written, but the whole memory is being read back out to the video circuit. With the RAM and ROM SIMMs out the Mac shows a stable full screen stripe pattern. Swapping out both RAM/ROM with a known good set yields the same results. I'd appreciate it if anyone could offer any advice on what could be happening. Before I buzz out the entire board or start replacing chips I'd like an idea of what's going on.
HD20SC SONY PSU Schematic for Recapping, ESR
JDW posted a topic in PeripheralsI'm in the planning process to recap the SONY PSU housed inside my Apple HD20SC external hard drive enclosure. (I might make a video.) I've got a Mouser cart filled with mostly Organic Polymer Aluminum Electrolytic capacitors for that PSU (see below), which have very low ESR down to between 12mΩ and 43mΩ. There are many benefits to low ESR capacitors, and the life rating on them is very high compared to regular aluminum electrolytics. But my concern is that the output of some switch-mode (switching) power supplies can ring if the ESR of the output capacitance is too low (as per the data sheets of many switch mode controllers), so do any of you have a schematic? If not, have any of you used a large number of Organic Polymer capacitors in your vintage Mac PSU recap jobs with success? (I'm asking about power supplies here. Non-PSU applications don't matter much. Mostly those cases are a decoupling/bypass caps which hold up the voltage in times of voltage dips, and those caps benefit from very low ESR.) Here's my Mouser list of mostly polymer caps: C226: 22uF 35V, D=5.2mm -- (Mouser: A759BQ226M1HAAE075) C202: 47uF 25V, D=5.2mm -- (Mouser: A750EK476M1EAAE040) C222: 47uF 25V, D=5.2mm -- (same as C202, so get 2pcs) C109: 150uF 400V, H=32mm, D=25.8mm -- (Mouser: 860021383023) C110: 4.7uF 350V H=32mm, D=12.8mm -- (Mouser: UPM2G4R7MHD) C210: 330uF 16V, D=8.1mm -- (Mouser: RL81C331MDN1KX) C215: 470uF 10V, D=8.1mm -- (Mouser: RNE1C471MDN1) C213: 22uF 100V, D=10.2mm -- (Mouser: A759MS226M2AAAE045) C124: 2200uF 10V, D=12.7mm -- (Mouser: UHE1C222MHD) C209: 2200uF 16V, D=12.7mm -- (just buy the same as C124, so get 2pcs) CR-35 daughter card: C181: 100uF 10V, D=8.1mm, H=13.5mm -- (Mouser: RNS1A101MDN1KX) C182: 100uF 10V, D=8.1mm, H=13.5mm -- (same as C181, so get 2pcs)
psu Is this Circuit board normal
SE30_Neal posted a topic in Compact MacHi Guys, i brought a used a/b analogue board/sony psu combo as a temporary replacement for my se/30's whilst i recap and clear up my original items. The replacement board is from an SE which I believe is identical? Basically I've been experiencing some minor shimmers/flickering especially when cold (3-4 months now) so i thought it was about time to re-cap both my analogue board and psu as the motherboard had already been recapped some time ago, including a new battery. Question is psu board looks a little unusual, at first i though it was spilt liquid of leaking capacitors yet on inspection the caps all look great; no swelling, no residue, no corroded tracers. I used a q-tip to clean the edge and nothing came off. Its almost like varnish. Is this normal on the sony PSU? neal
VIDEO: Recapping the SE or SE/30 Analog Board
JDW posted a topic in Compact MacIt took me a while but I finally got my SE & SE/30 Analog Board recapping video published to YouTube today. Safari users, note that you'll need Chrome or FireFox to watch it in 4K. Don't forget to watch it on YouTube so you can check out the links I put in the text description (click SHOW MORE to see all of it), including the Mouser Cart that includes all the capacitors you will need. Enjoy.
New Video: Recapping the Micromac DiiMO PDS Accelerator Card
JDW posted a topic in Compact MacI made a new walkthrough video about replacing all the electrolytic capacitors on the MicroMac DiiMO 50MHz 68030 accelerator for the SE/30. I explain my choice of Niobium Oxide capacitors over tantalum, show the replacement, then boot and run benchmarks. The SE/30 shown has a recapped motherboard, recapped analog board, and SEASONIC PSU. The video is 4K but if you're a Mac user who loves Safari, you'll need Chrome to view it in 1440p or 4K. Also, it was sadly during the making of this video that my Epic Blunder occurred. My humble thanks to all of you who are so kindly trying to help me in that thread. I make videos for the enjoyment of it and as a way to give back to the community. I currently don't allow ADs on my videos nor do I have a Patreon account, which is why I've never earned any monetary compensation at all from my videos. (The down side of that is Google doesn't suggest my videos as well as videos with ADs enabled.) I make videos that I really wish someone else had made for me. Even though what you see in my videos isn't necessarily groundbreaking or unique (some of you are far beyond me in terms of troubleshooting knowledge, repairs and mods, for example), I simply am transforming into an easy-to-digest video what otherwise has been exclusively found in "text form" in forums like this. For the new generation of younger people who don't prefer to read, videos are becoming increasingly important. (Even so, I still get Millennials complain my videos are too long, so we can't please everyone. I prefer to be thorough rather than worry about the clock though.) My next video endeavor will be to show the recapping of an SE/30 analog board, and then I will have yet another video showing the recapping of the SONY PSU. Anyway, I hope this information is useful not only for you DiiMO owners but also for those of you who need to recap 5V voltage rails, as the Niobium Oxide caps I chose work perfectly for that, assuming you need 22uF. They come in other sizes though so give them due consideration in your recapping jobs.
Yet another Macintosh Portable repair thread.
Westinghouse posted a topic in 68k PowerBookHi all, Picked up a Mac Portable 5120 (non-backlit) last week; before powering it up, I removed the logic board, removed the caps from it - all of them, except the tantalum cap on the hybrid board - cleaned the board, replaced the caps, and got a new black 6v 4.5ah brick battery. Putting it all back together, it won't boot off of the battery alone - the screen flickers, and it either hangs on a flickering mouse-pointer screen, or flips over to the chimes of death. With the original Macintosh Portable power adapter and new battery connected, it will boot 90% of the time. When it falls, it simply does nothing. Based on previous threads here, I'm suspecting the hybrid board. I did find one bad trace on there, which I have bridged, but no change. Wondering if anyone here has any ideas to help narrow down the next vector of attack. I want to test continuity on all of the hybrid board traces, but I lose some of them beneath ICs.
Micron Xceed Grayscale Adapter recap
JDW posted a topic in Compact MacI have a functional Xceed grayscale adapter that looks exactly like joethezombie's photo. There are 4 electrolytic radial capacitors that are old enough to warrant replacing, especially so since they are only temperature rated up to 85°C: C4: 10uF, 16V C5: 47uF, 10V C8: 100uF, 16V C9: 100uF, 63V There are numerous 10,000-hour 105°C rated replacements available on Mouser. Have any of you grayscale adapter owners performed a recap on your adapter? And more specifically, do any of you understand the function of the adapter well enough to know if replacement caps with significantly lower ESR (than the stock caps) would actually create problems? Thanks.
Need guidance on Classic II repair
sixsevenco posted a topic in Compact MacHi Everyone, My Classic II arrived! Cosmetically, it's beautiful, but it definitely needs recapping. The electrolyte fluid leak is very obvious. I don't see any corrosion, so that's good. Anyway, I have tried to do my homework, and figure as much of this out as possible. But I've hit a point where I am stuck, and I could use some help. My board has 13 capacitors. Looking at the reference for my board at maccaps.com, I see that I need to buy the following replacements capacitors: 8 - 10µf - 16V - SMT 3 - 47µf - 16V - SMT 2 - 1µf - 50V -SMT First Question: For the first capacitor (10µf - 16V - SMT), there are 887 options on Digikey that meet these specs. How do I narrow this down to a specific capacitor to buy? Do I need to worry about tolerance? Dimensions? Or should I just go with the lowest price? Second Question: Should I recap the power supply while I'm at it? The caps on the power supply seems to be through hole, so that will likely be an easy task... Third Question: I've read that there is a bleeder that should discharge the CRT. Any chance that isn't working as intended? I've never worked with CRTs before, so I'm a little intimidated. Fourth Questions: Are there any guides on how to service/lubricate the floppy drive? I haven't found any. (admittedly, I haven't looked that hard.) Thanks 67
Please help ID which SE/30 boards I had recapped...
Von posted a topic in Compact MacHi All, I got a chance to inspect each of the 3 SE/30 motherboards I have for 2 systems. It has been a few years since I have looked at these and I am pretty certain I sent 2 of these away for a recap job however I am not an capacitor expert and could use help identifying the work done on each. Apology in advance for the quality of the photos. This is the board that came in my original SE/30: I thought I had this one worked however those appear to be the original caps. Is that correct? This is a socketed board I got off of eBay that looks like work has been done to it: This is the board that came with a system that had a Daystar 030 Accelerator attached to the board. The original non-socketed CPU was removed for the Daystar to plug into, however, the photo has the stock CPU inserted... This one too looks like it has had work done however the caps are different than the stock socketed board... THx!
Bringing a Mac Plus back from the dead!
JNizzle posted a topic in Compact MacHello people! I recently acquired a Mac Plus while doing a clean out of my grandfather's old factory. The keyboard and mouse were FUBAR, as they had been left under an old can of paint which leaked all over them. He said that there was also a hard drive somewhere, but we couldn't find it. I scrubbed as much old paint of this Mac as I could, and besides from a rather even coat of yellowing, it seems to be in pretty good nick. I took it home and plugged it in, and it made the start up bong and the floppy drive made noises, but the screen never fired up. I cracked open the case and besides some dust, everything seemed to be in relatively good shape. No caps were leaking, and nothing looked corroded. I also discovered that this Mac had 4Mb of RAM. Nice! I came to the realisation that this Mac had deeper problems. I noticed when I found the Mac, that it had LOTS of screen burning, which indicated to me that the CRT as a whole could have just bit the dust, or that the flyback transformer was completely screwed. Further poking around inside the machine also revealed that the CRT power connector looked like it was burned or melted. I thought while I had it open, I'd perform the cap change just in case, for longevity if I ever got this thing working. I couldn't find all the correct caps, so I used some higher volt ones, and there was one blue non-polar one that I didn't change at all. Upon firing this up after the change, it worked! I have no idea why the cap change fixed it, non of the caps seemed damaged in the slightest, I verified this when I removed them. No residue or anything! So now I have a semi working Mac, but I have 2 issues which I'm unsure of how to fix. The computer makes a REALLY REALLY high pitched squealing noise. I think this may be the flyback transformer, but I'm not sure. UPDATE: When I fired up the machine to take the photos in this post, the noise was gone! I'm unsure if it will come back, has anyone else had this problem? It's also VERY hard to insert floppies into the drive. The seem to be stuck on something, I'm not sure what though (I've made sure it's aligned correctly). Also, sometimes when I put them in, the jitter around in my hand like crazy until whatever mechanism in there stops, and I can finally insert the disk! And on top of that, the auto eject doesn't seem to be working, but I'm not that familiar with macs that boot directly from disk, as my other mac (a mac classic) is currently not working AND it has a hard drive. I also have no boot disk to test this machine further. Let me know what you guys think!
SE/30 Woes
SlateBlue posted a topic in Compact MacI recapped my SE/30, and the repair failed to fix it. Prior to recap, the Mac had horizontal bars from top to bottom and no chime. The attached photo shows the screen after recap was completed, and still no chime. I checked to make sure RAM was installed properly. Also, if I remove the RAM, the horizontal bar pattern returns. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I apologize if the pic is oriented incorrectly. The uploader does this automatically and I'm not sure how to rotate the photo.
Recycled Classic — worth persevering with?
scruss posted a topic in Compact MacI picked up a Macintosh Classic at an electronic waste roundup the other week. Despite the case being badly discoloured and giving a RAM-related Sad Mac on boot, I could tell that the Quantum HD was still spinning and the display is really sharp. The machine has its problems, and I'm wondering if it's worth refurbing. Your advice/opinions on the following are welcomed: Capacitors — I recapped the logic board and replaced the PRAM battery. The logic board caps had all leaked, and cleaning up the mess was not fun. The battery, though dead, hadn't leaked. The Fishy Smell — The analogue board looks clean, and the display is steady and sharp. The machine still smells pretty rancid when it warms up, though. I thought I'd cleaned all of the capacitor goo off the logic board (even the stuff crusted under the SCSI controller), but maybe the smell is some left over. Floppy Drive — the SuperDrive doesn't recognize formatted disks. If you let it format one, it clicks through all 80 tracks formatting, then verifies, then reverifies, then spits the disk out with an error. I haven't cleaned the heads or done any of the lubrication tricks yet. RAM — the two 30 pin SIMMs on the daughtercard don't seem to be recognized, so unless I set the jumper to "SIMM not present", I get the Sad Mac. I tried alternative SIMMs from a local salvage place, but got mostly the same errors. As is, I'm stuck with 2 MB until I work out what's up. Do these daughtercards ever fail? Case — cosmetically horrid, with yellow discoloration on the main case and keyboard. So display, hard drive (completely with slightly messed-up 7.1 installation), keyboard and mouse are fine. I realise that an 8 MHz 68000 ain't all that, so I'm wondering if further work on this is worth the effort.
Macintosh Classic AB Recap
SlateBlue posted a topic in Compact MacHi everyone. I thought I'd take the time to create a post about my recapping adventure, and maybe take the opportunity to ask a few questions. If the is dry reading for you, I apologize. I'm not known for being a good storyteller. So, for starters - A several months ago, I acquired a Macintosh SE and a Macintosh Classic. The SE appeared to work just fine (still has original caps on board), and was in overall good condition with minimal yellowing. The Classic would boot fine, but had no sound, and the case had significant yellowing. I removed the logic board from the Classic to find that all the SMD caps were leaking. I set the SE aside and went to work on the Classic. After a botched repair attempt (a couple of lifted pads), I sent the board to Novi, Michigan for a professional recap job. The recap fixed the sound issue, but I still had yet to tackle the cosmetic issues of the machine. Pressed for time on other projects, I set the Mac Classic aside to be worked on at a later date. Last week, I finally took the time to completely disassemble the Mac Classic so I could retrobright the front bezel and rear case. I also took the time to blow compressed air over the AB to remove years of dust. Upon reassembling the computer and powering it on, it seemed the hard drive would quite spin up. It would try, and with each attempt the screen would flicker. Thinking I had a bad hard drive (it worked weeks prior), I swapped a known good working one to find that the issue persisted. I then realized I likely was dealing with a voltage issue. I measured both +5v and +12v at the external floppy port and realized the voltage readings were low ~ around +4.8 and +11.65 respectively. So, I adjusted PP1 until both voltages were in an acceptable range ~ +5.05 and +11.99. I suspected that the compressed air had somehow turned the potentiometer and decreased the voltage. Yesterday, after cleaning the floppy drive, I noticed the screen would appear to shake/wave slightly as the disk drive was working. Thinking again that I had a voltage issue, I measured at the external floppy port again. The voltages were ~ +5.15 and +11.77. At this point, I realized adjusting PP1 wouldn't fix the issue. Too little voltage is worse than too much, right? So, I removed the AB and desoldered the caps from the bottom left/center of the board (yellow box in attached photo) to find them all leaking. I guess it's time to recap the AB now. My questions: I know that I must match the capacitance and voltage ratings of the original caps. Must I also match the physical size? Can someone explain whether one should choose General Purpose or Low Impedance caps and why? I searched the Interwebs and could not find a capacitor list for a Macintosh Classic Analog Board. Can I get away with leaving the smaller (physical size) caps alone? None appear to be leaking. Thanks!
Macintosh Classic chessboard screen
saturizer posted a topic in Compact MacI've bought a Macintosh Classic computer recently, it was in a very nice condition with original keyboard and mouse, but with an issue of a chessboard-like pattern displayed on the screen all the time. At first I thought that it might be caused by capacitors leak on the logic board, but after I've cleaned the logic board in a dishwasher and than with pure alcohol, nothing happened — the pattern on display was the same. So I decided that caps are dead and need to be replaced. I've replaced all the capacitors on the logic board, but again with no result. After that I've found the information about this issue might been caused by broken capacitors on the analog board, so I've replaced a group of caps mentioned here (http://www.maccaps.com/MacCaps/Capacitor_Reference/Entries/1990/10/15_Macintosh_Classic_Analog_Board.html) total 8 caps, although they aren't all the same as in the guide, cause I have a later model (1992) I suppose. Still no result, the pattern on the screen is absolutely the same. What else could I try? Any help or ideas are much appreciated!
IICX Vulnerable Spots?
trag posted a topic in Mac II, Quadra & CentrisI've had a box of 20 or so IIcx logic boards in the attic for a decade or more. I got the batteries out of them early on, so I never had a battery explosions, but I've been contemplating the damage leaking capacitors will do over time, and thinking I really need to get the box down and pull all the caps. So, I'm in the process of doing that now. It's a slowish process. I don't have time to actually test and "repair" each board, but I want to halt any damage. After I pull the caps, I'll thoroughly clean the boards. Now, here's the question: Is there any particularly vulnerable spot on the IIcx where capacitor goo collects and causes damage? In other words, anywhere I should apply extra attention while applying the solvents and cleaning? I would hate to remove the caps, clean the boards, and leave corrosive goo hiding under some chips eating away traces. The 74 series chips around the battery holder and the Right Sound Chip look like likely candidates. At least, on most of these boards, their pins have a fair bit of corrosion. I think these boards were originally part of Shreve Systems collection of old boards. One of them had a note on it dated '96 saying it wouldn't work. I bet the caps had failed back in '96. My IIci needed new caps by '97. Many of these boards have no ROM chips. Does the IIcx typically have them soldered down? If so, then why in the world did someone remove the ROM chips from so many of these boards? It's not like you can put them on a SIMM. The logic board ROMs are too large. Then there's a few boards on which the traces have pulled up like a bunch of little hairs. But I guess the custom chips will be useful for other repairs.. Do I remember reading somewhere that the sound chips are actually a D to A converter available under a regular non-Apple part number? I got one of the Quadra 840AV boards down while I was at it. This one had a note I made from 2007 saying it was working. I hope it still does. There's a lot of visible leakage around the caps now. I need to find the other one, which is actually in an 840AV case and remove its caps too. Geeze. I thought I was doing good to remove the batteries. I could spend a lot time removing all the SM electrolytic caps from logic boards in the attic.
Leaky caps in Quadra 840AV CD-ROM drive
mitchW posted a topic in Mac II, Quadra & CentrisI recently acquired a working, but neglected Quadra 840AV. It came with 3 hard drives installed, an original CD-ROM drive, and with a 64 MB of RAM. It clearly needed a total recap of a motherboard and a good cleanup, which I did. Then I tested the machine, and I found out that a CD-ROM drive wasn't detected, even that it was connected properly. I figured out that it must be the drive that failed. Then I cracked open the Sony CDU561-25 drive, and to my surprise, I found capacitors that have leaked and corroded the PCB. The damage was quite bad, but fixable. There was a group that leaked, and they were three 16V 47uF and two 16V 10uF silver electrolytic SMDs. On the left side of the PCB, there were four 6.3V 100uF that looked okay, but when I changed them, they were certainly on their way to fail (fishy smell). So when I replaced them all with tantalums, the CD-ROM drive now works flawlessly, and I know that they won't leak ever again. Also, I was impressed with the build quality of this particular drive, it is massive and it has a voice coil laser mechanism, which just screams high quality all around. So, next time your CD-ROM drive fails, check the caps inside the unit. Also, if you have a Sony CDU561-25 or similar, it will be the smart idea to change the caps just to be sure, even if they are not leaking. Sometimes the CD-ROM unit will cost alone more than a complete computer, so it is worth it.


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Enemies to Bees: Pesticides and Hybridized Plants
Honeybee gardens Honeybee gardens are an earth-friendly way to save on water usage, beautify your yard, and help honeybees. Who wouldn't rather look at beautiful flowers in the spring, summer, and fall instead of a grass lawn that needs to be cut every week? There are many things to consider when planning your honeybee garden, […]Continue reading
Remembering "The Life of the Bee," Life Magazine 1952
LIFE Magazine Aug 11, 1952, and a showcase of paintings depicting life inside the hive The cover, a black-and-white closeup of Joan Rice, announced her as "Robin Hood's New Girlfriend". Also on the cover, a headline announcing, "Farewell to Eva Peron." But what is not alluded to on the cover is the edit piece that you […]Continue reading
Trees, Bees and Global Warming
Global forests are suffering from rising temperatures There are a number of important reasons why the Carmel Forest should mostly be allowed to rehabilitate itself. According to NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies the temperatures across the planet between December 1, 2009, and November 30, 2010, show that 2010 ranks as the hottest year on […]Continue reading
Listening to the Honeybees: Ban neurotoxins and plant bee-friendly flowers
This New Year marks a time when citizens around the globe celebrate the bountiful blue planet and the fruits of its earth. Yet, something just isn't right. Worldwide we are entering into another consecutive year of hundreds of billions of dead Italian honeybees. Is the honeybee trying to tell us something?Continue reading
A New Year's Resolution for Gardeners
Making Informed Choices About Gardening Practices and Products to Support a Healthy, Natural Environment The new year often brings about a desire for change and personal reckoning. We make promises, resolutions and plans to better ourselves and the world around us. Over the past couple of years, many people have committed to building environmentally conscious, […]Continue reading
An Interview with Professor Jonathan Snow
Inside the world of honeybee research with Jonathan Snow Jonathan Snow, Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology at Williams College, received his B.A. from Williams College in 1996, after which he completed his graduate studies at UCSF and his post-doctoral training at Harvard Medical School on the effects of transcriptional regulation in immune system development. He […]Continue reading
5 Reasons To Get A Taste For Local Honey
September is National Honey Month. It's an ideal time to celebrate honey and indulge in your craving for this sweet and viscous food known as "liquid gold." While indulging, why not focus on local honey, or honey made as close as possible to your home? Here are five potent reasons to step away from the […]Continue reading
Plight of the Dwindling Honeybee
The urgent need to support organic initiatives and save the bees Each spring, during my childhood, I planted trees with my dad and my brother, and the bees always intrigued us. Last year, in late June, I finished "The Incomparable Honeybee;" I was cautiously optimistic that the overall death rate amongst honeybees was trending downward. […]Continue reading


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This was originally written on my FB page where I post pictures and links almost daily and which you immediately should follow. I remembered about the stool samples when I was writing this post about the Soviet medicine of my day.
*Warning: please don't eat while reading this.
Soviet kids had to be healthy whether they wanted it or not. And healthy meant parasite-free. So once in a while, my school (and I imagine all the other schools in the area) put out a call for stool samples. By a certain deadline every child had to submit a matchbox full of you-know-what, tightly wrapped and marked with the name of a producer.
At that time (and maybe still) the Soviet toilets (in places with indoor plumbing but not in public restrooms) were different from the American model we are all used to. Instead of a small pool of water ready to accept your deposits, it was more like a vase with hardly any water at all. When done, a person would pull a chain and a waterfall coming down from the high-mounted tank (if the water was on that day) would flush the stuff down through the hole located in the front part of the toilet.
That technical aside was necessary to explain that at least our parents didn't have to fish for floating crap, it was all right there, nice and piled. Clearly no 8- or 9- or even 12-year-old wants to have anything to do with putting their own crap in a small box, so that somber duty had to be fulfilled by our parents. Many years later, as a parent myself, I've done many disgusting things and touched some substances that would make a grown man gag (and they did). But even after thousands of diapers changed I am still not sure I could go ahead and do what my mom had to do. This is something that would make you think twice about having a child.
The next day, the matchbox was proudly delivered and submitted to school, securely wrapped in multiple layers of paper and plastic (we didn't have zip-locks or any bags of that nature) and tied with a string, with my name proudly scribbled on it like a designer brand. To this day I have no idea if anyone did anything with those nuggets. You can imagine that a school with 800 or a thousand kids can produce enough crap to fertilize a small organic beet farm. (Note to self: submit this idea to the school district as an extra source of income in light of recent school budget cuts by Governor Brownback.)
I always imagined that a lab in lower circles of socialized healthcare hell, populated by medical school dropouts, dimly lit and smelling worse than a meatpacking plant on a summer day, did nothing else but unwrapped the packages and examined the contents for parasite eggs and the signs of dinners past.But in reality I think they just threw these boxes away and faked the results. After all, sooner or later the parasites show their ugly heads, if you know what I mean.
Epilogue: When we came to the United States we had to pass some medical tests (in addition to the overpriced testing we were required to do in Moscow before we left). Then we received a mail-in stool sample kit, which consisted of some Popsicle sticks and cardboard envelopes. I was tempted to send my stuff in a box, but reconsidered and just threw the kits away.
They would have to pry a stool sample out of my……….


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FAIRFIELD — The Lawrence football team easily passed its first test with Cony, beating the Rams 27-6 in a regular-season game Oct. 12.
The Bulldogs expect things to be tougher this time around with the stakes considerably higher.
"Cony had a great season and we feel they deserve to be here," Lawrence coach John Hersom said. "They are just a much different challenge. We know this won't be easy."
Top-seeded Lawrence (10-0) will host No. 2 Cony (8-2) at 1 p.m. today in the Pine Tree Conference Class A championship game. The Bulldogs, who have outscored their opponents 393-85, are playing in their third consecutive conference final and fourth in the last seven years.
The Rams, meanwhile, is in a conference title game for the first time since 1992 — when they lost a 19-18 heartbreaker to Lawrence at Keyes Field.
"It's been a special season so far," Cony coach Robby Vachon said. "We showed up this year."
But to extend the season another week, Cony will have to do what only one team has accomplished since 2006: Beat Lawrence in a playoff rematch of a regular-season game. The Bulldogs, who are chasing their first state title since 2006, are 11-1 in those games, the lone blemish a loss to Skowhegan in 2008.
"We try to celebrate our wins but at the same time be thankful for everything we do," Hersom said. "We try to instill in our guys there can be something bigger to accomplish."
The Bulldogs feature a balanced offense, led by quarterback Spencer Carey. In the conference semifinals, Carey completed 6 of 8 passes for 228 yards with two touchdowns and an interception against Messalonskee. Carey is also surrounded by several key players at the skill position.
"It's exciting to see Cony again," Carey said. "We're ready to go."
Halfbacks Anthony Sementelli, Josh Doolan and Jake Doolan give the Bulldogs plenty of options in a much-improved ground game. Carey is also a threat to run.
"Carey, he is scary by himself," Vachon said. "They don't have to use him a lot, but when he does get his touches we'll have to be cognizant of where he is. He's an excellent football player. They have a lot of kids who can run it. I didn't think we were as physical against them the last time as we've been during the season. We didn't play as physical as we normally do. We're going to have to with Lawrence (today)."
Added Cony defensive back/wide receiver Chandler Shostak: "We know it's going to be tough, but we're looking forward to it."
Cony also presents opposing defenses a few challenges. The high-powered Rams run a spread offense led by junior quarterback Ben Lucas, who has thrown 31 touchdowns this season. He has an abundance of playmakers to throw it to, including Shostak, Jonathan Saban, Tayler Carrier, Brandon St. Michel, Zach Lachance and Dayshawn Roberts.
"We know they like to throw it a lot," Lawrence linebacker Luke Lawrence said. "We had to change our defense against them the last time."
Added Carey, who will be tested at his safety position: "We're going to have to shut down that passing game. We use that as motivation."
Carey and the Lawrence defense stifled Lucas in the regular season. Lucas threw five interceptions and was sacked three times.
Lawrence, unlike several teams, opted not to blitz the big quarterback. Instead, the Bulldogs focused on disrupting receivers' routes and forcing Lucas into making bad throws. The gameplan worked.
"We feel it's an awful tough job putting pressure on him unless you send extra guys," Hersom said. "We couldn't afford to do that. Our front people, they have to play to stop the run but we wanted them to be aware of all the underneath stuff. It worked out well for us last time."
Lucas said he will have to be more proficient today.
"It's a physical matchup," he said. "They like to jam the receivers. Our wide receivers will have to get open and I'm going to have to get it to them. We'll need to step up. Hopefully, it's going to be a really good game. I know we are all looking forward to it."
Bill Stewart — 621-5640
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On Music Lucky Clark
Yellow Brick Road concert set for Oct. 24
World Fish Migration Day celebration set for Oct. 24 in Gardiner
Things to Do
Mike Effenberger joins Blue Live Stream Series
Transforming timberland to 'equity worth buying' Zoom talk set
Things to Do
Anni Clark concert to be held in Freeport


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Essays on Machine Learning and Hedonic Models
Yang, Miaoyu
MetadataShow full item record
Chapter 1 and 2: We survey and apply several techniques from the statistical and computer science literature to the problem of demand estimation. We derive novel asymptotic properties for several of these models. To improve out-of-sample prediction accuracy and obtain parametric rates of convergence, we propose a method of combining the underlying models via linear regression. We illustrate our method using a standard scanner panel data set to estimate promotional lift and find that our estimates are considerably more accurate in out-of-sample predictions of demand than some commonly-used alternatives. While demand estimation is our motivating application, these methods are widely applicable to other microeconometric problems. Chapter 3: We collect high dimensional data and extract features from house descriptions and images to use as controls within a hedonic model to estimate the impact of fracking on house prices in Pennsylvania. Supplementing a structured dataset with high dimensional unstructured data in the form of descriptive words and images of homes can help to close the gap caused by omitted variable bias. We construct curb appeal scores based on aesthetic features of home images. We then compare four models: OLS, LASSO - OLS, random forest and gradient boosting. The ensemble tree models (random forest and gradient boosting) yield 10% improvements in prediction accuracy compared to LASSO and OLS. Our results imply that royalty payments exactly compensate for the negative environmental effects on homes within 1 km of fracking wells but increase the price of houses farther away by up to 5%.
- Economics [134]


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|From Gangireddhu
Saw this guy at Kukatpally a few days ago and asked him if I could take his picture. He was ready, and took out his pipe from his bag and posed along with his bull. He also started talking to me rapidly in Telugu, the dialect of which he spoke was so totally incomprehensible to me that I couldn't get even a single word of what he was saying. He was also going on in a very sing-song way – so there was no help even in terms of inflection or accompanying facial expression or gesture. The bull, though, seemed to understand perfectly what he was saying, and seemed to nod or shake his head rather sagely at the right moments. It was after a few minutes of this 'conversation' that I mimed to them that I wanted to take pictures of them and they readily acquiesced. Once the pictures were taken and money bestowed on the performer (which he was rather disappointed with, I gathered from the increased intensity of his sing-song, which also went up the scale a notch), I took my leave of them.
Later enquiries came up with the name of the art form, a different version of which I am familiar with from my childhood – the boom boom maadu of Tamilnadu. The boom boom referred to the noise made by the performer by rubbing a stick on the stretched skin of a smallish drum (called an udukkai I think). He would, in rapid Tamil which would be totally incomprehensible to anyone other than someone from the same region as himself, ask the bull questions about the target person's fortune and future and the bull would nod or shake his head in answer. After predicting a spectacular future which would invariably include a happy marriage, several children, a promotion, a foreign trip and many such dreams, he would hopefully ask for his baksheesh, which would not always be forthcoming very readily.
The gangireddhu seems to be more fortunate in that way – people seem to be more ready to pay them today that they were to give to money the the boom boom maadu and his owner back when I was a kid.


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Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs came into the fold Thursday as all three settled with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in the auction rate securities suit. For the majority of investors, the glass is very much half empty. First some numbers:
- Goldman Sachs will pay a $22.5 million fine and buy back about $1.5 billion in auction rate notes, while
- Deutsche Bank will pay a $15 million penalty and buy back about $1 billion of the notes.
- Ensemble Merrill Lynch will buy back between $10 billion and $12 billion and pay a $125 million fine under the agreement reached with Massachusetts and New York, and the SEC.
While Merrill Lynch was forced to take back the biggest chunk of regurgitated auction rate securities, its fraud was also the most egregious. In early August, Merrill said that it would buy back the securities from retail clients, but the announcement was a faint attempt to preempt a harsher settlement that would be imposed by regulators. When clients who had already cashed out at a loss tried to get reimbursement, they found a door slammed in their face. Witness:
But when Merrill "voluntarily" announced plans to buy back securities from retail clients last week, it made no such provision for clients who had already cashed out at a loss.
"It's like Merrill said, 'Let's jump before they push us, and maybe we'll hit the awning instead of the street,' "
And they were right. Those who cashed out with a loss were left out in the cold.
Merrill agreed to buy back $7 billion of untradable debt instruments from investors, small businesses and charities who bought them from the bank, the SEC said Friday .
The figure excludes ARS that have already been redeemed by the issuer, such as a municipality, according to an SEC official. That explains the difference between the SEC amount and the $10 billion to $12 billion in the agreement announced by New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on Thursday.
Even though the move left many in the lurch, at Merrill Lynch they are as happy with the deal as Andrew Cuomo. Here's how Cuomo congratulated himself:
"We have certainly addressed the bulk of the crisis here in terms of the number of people and established a strategy for the total resolution of the problem," the attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, said in an interview.
The CEO of Merrill Lynch also emphasized a strong friendship with regulators:
John Thain, chairman and chief executive of Merrill Lynch, said he was pleased to reach an "amicable resolution" with regulators and glad that the bank's "clients would have the certainty of a favorable resolution to this unprecedented liquidity crisis."
Favorable is right, if you mean from the bank's point of view:
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's auction-rate securities settlements with Wall Street banks show that the man who bills himself as the "people's lawyer" favors savers over shareholders.
The almost $35 billion of frozen debt that Citigroup Inc., UBS AG, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley and Wachovia Corp. agreed to repurchase covers less than 18 percent of the $200 billion Cuomo last week estimated was outstanding, and is targeted at individuals, charities and small businesses.
Then Thain, who took the rare step of meeting personally with Mr. Cuomo, simply couldn't restrain himself. (WARNING: This can make you sick.)
"We are pleased our clients have the certainty of a favorable resolution to this unprecedented liquidity crisis," Thain said in a statement.
Well you can believe Thain about as much as you would Cuomo. Of course the people's lawyer cares about savers, individuals, charities and small businesses. At least he would like you to think he does. If we were cynical we'd even think he's trying to gloss over the other 82 percent of the $200B that the banks would otherwise have had to pay. If Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal were doing their jobs, they might mention this.
Lest Mr. Cuomo be confused with Robin Hood, let's be clear: the crime here is fraud, not being rich. So wealthy defrauded investors are intrinsically deserving of a lower level of justice than identically defrauded retail investors? Well, that's inside out of the way things are usually done, but we'd bet the banks would rather pay 18 percent to the puny pups than 82 percent to the big wolves. Is it true that wealthy investors are inherently no good and deserve to be defrauded?
"A lot of institutions were lied to by their brokers, and brokerage firms put their own interests ahead of their institutional customers," said Jacob Zamansky, a securities lawyer at Zamansky & Associates in New York who represents institutional investors in auction-rate cases. "Cuomo was run over in his haste to get a settlement by these major firms."
Securities lawyer Zamansky said many of the institutions he represents will go to arbitration to seek damages for "fraudulent" sales of auction-rate securities.
"I think it's outrageous that the firms are going to wait two years to deal with the liquidity for institutional investors," Zamansky said. "These are companies that have to make payroll, that have to make investments. Some of the companies can be out of business by then."
Well, at least Mr. Zamansky seems to have the right idea, even if the financial media doesn't. As for the SEC, those clowns sound more like the lapdogs than watchdogs:
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reached an $8.5 billion agreement with Merrill Lynch & Co. to settle allegations the firm misled investors when marketing auction-rate debt.
Merrill will buy back up to $7 billion in securities from individual investors, small businesses and charities and take steps to cover their losses, the SEC said in a statement today. The bank must also use "best efforts" to help other businesses and institutional clients unload about $1.5 billion in frozen debt, the agency said.
"Merrill Lynch's conduct harmed tens of thousands of investors who will have the opportunity to get their money back through this agreement," the SEC's enforcement chief, Linda Thomsen, said in a statement.
Oh gosh, you mean "try their best." Yeah, thanks for nothing, Linda Thompson. Did Thain meet with you too?
Let's see if we can figure how this all got worked out. Hmm…. Hmmmmm… Sensing political pressure or political opportunity, Cuomo launched an investigation at the big banks and dug up some damaging dirt. Let's hear what the grapevine has to say:
Securities firms have little defense against regulators because of incriminating documents and the risk to their reputations, said William Shepherd, a Houston attorney whose firm, Shepherd, Smith Edwards & Kantas, has met with more than 500 investors holding the securities.
"The regulators had these firms dead to rights," said Shepherd, who worked as a bond market salesman in Texas for 20 years. "All the firms will be shamed or forced to do something, even Goldman which seems to be saying that all of their clients are rich and sophisticated."
With the heat on, the big banks sat down with Mr. Cuomo to discuss his political ambitions and whether or not they would push back Spitzer style or behave more "amicably," to quote Thain. That's where a deal was made in everybody's best interests, and what began as an aggressive effective investigation and punitive legal action morphed into a protect-the-big-banks sham. It's the same age old scam to protect your big billionaire's first.


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"He who does not love does not know God, for God is love."
As I've shared with you before, we spend time on our scriptures every morning on our way to school. We have a sort of routine that goes something like this:
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This morning I was blessed with the realization that Naomi is finding ways to apply these scriptures. Why does that excite me? Because it means she gets it. She really gets it! She is doing more than just memorizing scripture. She is paying attention and actually understanding them. Don't get me wrong… my ultimate goal is for my girls to understand and apply the scriptures, not just memorize them. It's just so amazing when I see it happening!
When we began to recite this week's scripture, Naomi stopped to tell me that she shared it with her Sunday school class yesterday. Apparently they were learning about Cain and Abel.
"We learned about Cain and Abel in my class and I told them our scripture. Abel loved God and all of his brothers, but Cain didn't love Abel or God. So I told them all about our scriptures and I told them 'He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.'"- Naomi
Not only did she understand the scripture, but she also shared it with her friends. It blessed my heart to know that it's sinking in and being put to use. 🙂 As for Adah, she applies her scriptures, too… but usually only when her or her sissy is in trouble! That's when we hear about honoring and obeying!
Just remember, when it comes to memory verses:


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Sassy has talked about the art of receiving a few times, the most recent being: how to receive in the bedroom. Today, let's talk about the holidays! Time to quit the martyr act and start getting what's yours!
I grew up in a family of self-sacrificing women. They would do everything in their power to ensure the safety of their loved-ones and would assume responsibility for everyone's happiness. It was a crossbreed between caretaking and martyrdom that was seen as necessary and admirable. To this day, I try to explain to my beautiful mother that these tendencies are not healthy for anyone. I explain that sacrificing herself by making huge daily meals, expending ridiculous amounts of energy, and spending a lot of money on everyone around her, is detrimental for each and every person involved. First, it causes under-functioning in her entourage (they will do less because she will always do more). This will lead to a complete disregard of my mother's time and efforts. Second, she will undermine the resiliency of other people by continually doing the job for them (they will never feel autonomous, capable, or efficient around her). Third, she will be disrespecting herself, her efforts, and her value by constantly doing everything for everyone else. Fourth, relentlessly caretaking for multiple years may cause fatigue, bitterness, and/or resent that may manifest in day-to-day moods and behaviors (being easily irritated, snapping at people, avoiding social events are some examples of what could happen when bitterness or fatigue set in).
Does this sound familiar? If this is you or someone you love, I want to tell you where it comes from. My studies and practice have informed me that this type of behavior comes from an "I'm not good enough" core belief. In order to feel worthy, or valuable, or "good enough," excessive caretaking and sacrifice is necessary. In other words, the only way to see your own value and worthiness is to constantly and markedly do for other people. …and sorry to tell ya, this is a problem!
Therefore, the gift I'd like for you to give to yourself this year is the gift of freedom. Free yourself from the bondage you created. You are still an exceptional person regardless of what you give to other people. You are still an exceptional, spouse, parent, friend, colleague, cousin, etc. You don't have to relentlessly give to others for them to see your value!
Here are some "fun" holiday exercises to try if you are finally ready to quit the caretaker and/or martyr role for good.
- Caregivers have a hard time receiving. When someone tries to give something to a caretaker, they do not know how to receive the gesture. Well, holiday time is a great place to start practicing the art of receiving. When someone tries to do for you, here's an idea: LET THEM!!! Before your gift exchanges this year, mentally prepare yourself to look the gift-giver in the eye and to simply say, "thank you." None of this: "Oh-my-gosh-thank-you-so-much-I-can't-believe-this-it's-just-what-I-wanted-how-did-you-know-you-are-amazing-thank-you-thank-you-your-really-shouldn't-have." STOP THAT SHIT! Say, "thank you." Maybe even, "thank you, what a thoughtful gift" and THAT'S IT!!! You deserve the gift, you are worthy, and you are not indebted to the gift-giver. THEY WANTED TO GIVE YOU A GIFT. ACCEPT IT AND MOVE ON.
- How about starting to say "no"? When you've slaved over the menu and your son wants you to make an extra dish because his new girlfriend doesn't like potatoes, the answer is "no." When your spouse wants you to wrap all of his gifts for people at the office and you've been gift wrapping for the last two hours, the answer is "no." When your friend wants you to accompany her to the nutcracker but you actually hate it, the answer is "no." When you feel tired, … "no." When you've had enough, … "no." When you just don't feel like it, … "no." Now I'm not saying that you should stop doing everything in life, I'm just saying that it's time to start seizing what you really want and to start getting what you really want (and you don't have to use the word "no" per se; adding a "maybe next time" or "let me think about it first" usually appeases the anxiety of a caretaker).
I want you to have a brilliant holiday season full of both giving and receiving. Your relationships will be more balanced and healthier if you finally start graciously taking, in addition to joyously giving. Happy holidays to all!


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Honest Days is an unexpected delight. Bookin writes how he sees it — weaving images, dreams, and truth into tight addictive prose. It's a book that captures the haze of the everyday and buffs it into magic.
Noah Falck, author of Snowmen Losing Weight and You Are In Nearly Every Future.
Matthew Bookin is my second favorite dead Russian comedian, and my first favorite living American fiction writer.
Lucy K. Shaw, author of The Motion and WAVES
View the book trailer here
Matthew Bookin (b.1985) is a co-founding editor of PEACH MAG. He lives in Buffalo, NY.
Pages: 102
Dimensions: 5 x 8 inch ISBN: 978-1721017737 Cat No: DW-001-31 Imprint: Dostoyevsky Wannabe Originals Publishing Model: Classic


text:
NABTEB Alevel Registration Form
How To Register For NABTEB A Level Programme
NABTEB A level Registration hereby call interested candidates who want to go through NABTEB A Level programme, a 10-month programme that serves as an alternative to gain admission into 200 level of almost universities in Nigerian through Direct Entry form. With NABTEB A Level result, students can study any course at their preferred university. NABTEB A Level affiliated Universities in Nigeria that candidates can use the result to gain admission into.
Unlike JAMB, NABTEB A Level result does not expire and results holders can use the result over and over again in the nearest future. NABTEB A Level is one of the cheapest A Level programmes a candidate can run to gain admission
Registration for NABTEB A Level is ongoing please visits when is NABTEB A Level registration closing to know the dates
How To Know If NABTEB A Level Form Has Closed?
To know if NABTEB A Level form has close, visit NABTEB A Level form to print the form out, if you didn't see the form to print out, that means the registration form has close
While we wait for this procedure to finalise we can assure you, we are the body to trust help you put in the right pathway for your successful admission into 200 level of any Nigerian universities and into any course with this alternative admission.
Our examination centres and study centres, shall be the one of the best centres for your successful completion of the programme and the actualization of the main goal, which is to use NABTEB A Level gain admission without JAMB and into the course of your choice.
The NABTEB A Level Registration Procedure Shall Be Followed In These Manner
To register for NABTEB A Level, candidates shall print out the form out at the NABTEB A Level form page
Procedure To Apply For NABTEB A Level Programme
Preliminary instruction. It is necessary for all applicants to have informed his/her parent(s) or guardian(s) aforehand about NABTEB A-Level programme. After their consent applicants should follow the below instructions
1 Print out the form below and fill the details with CAPITAL LETTERS all through
2. Pay in the application fee which is #15,000 ( Please check the breakdown of NABTEB A Level tuition fees here ) to the following account details
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We advised that you use your personal and active email address to send your data to us, as further information and instructions would be communicated through the email address used during the registration.
Check the NABTEB A Level registration form closing date
For complaints, advise and info about NABTEB A Level registration and admission, please call 08180679748 or 09050904734


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Today's reading is all about love and love perfected. If we love one another, we can't hate our brother we are told. The rest of it seems to be some pretty deep theology that is difficult to understand unless we pick it apart. The bottom line is we are to allow God's love to flow through us towards all people, even those we don't particularly like. But, sometimes that is difficult even in the best of circumstances, because we just don't always feel like loving - anyone.
What do we do when that happens? What do we do when we don't feel love... and, what if the person we mostly don't love, is our spouse? After all, that is the person we are committed to loving, in sickness and in health and all of that, right? But what if we don't feel like it and all our spouse seems capable of doing is jumping on our last nerve? Or, even worse, we don't feel anything at all when we are with them - not anger, not disdain, not love, not anything.
I think really love isn't a feeling. I don't think we always feel love like we think we should or movies tell us we should. I think love is a choice. We choose how we treat another, we choose how we act, how we respond. We choose to act in love - or not. We aren't always going to feel like being kind, or patient or long-suffering. But we choose to do so in spite of how we feel. The feelings of love come and go. We must remember, marriage is a marathon, not a sprint. We aren't always going to feel great and sometimes we'll "hit the wall" to use a runners metaphor but if we push through that wall and just choose to keep going even though there are times we don't feel we want to take one more step, we just might find that we do indeed have the stamina to finish the race.