text:
By Amit "Prototyped" Gurdasani, Kyle "greenfly" Rankin
Welcome back to Linux.Ars. This week, we've covered in gory detail how someone tried to get a backdoor into the Linux development kernel's source code. Also, we're reintroducing you to the excellent quasi-lightweight window manager Enlightenment, as well as the X11 extensions aXe and XDamage, both of which should give eye-candy connoisseurs something to cheer about. We'll also show you how to do things with files in entire directory hierarchies. Finally, we'll look at the ROX Filer, a RISC OS inspired file manager for X11 that's pretty nifty to use.
Last week saw an alarming occurrence: someone attempted to insert a backdoor into the Linux 2.6 kernel code available from the BitKeeper-to-CVS gateway which provides users of the CVS source control system the ability to access the latest kernel source code tree. This tree is generated from the BitKeeper source control system which holds the source code, and where changes to the code are merged. Larry McVoy of BitMover, the makers of BitKeeper, announced on November 5 that someone had made modifications to code in the CVS repository.
The unauthorized modification was discovered when the CVS source code tree was being synchronized with the BitKeeper tree. The CVS logs indicated that renowned kernel programmer David S. Miller of Red Hat made the changes, but he denied having done so. Closer inspection revealed that someone had modified the C function sys_wait4(), the code that dealt with a particular system call from a user's task, to elevate the task's privilege level to superuser level — current->uid = 0 — when the system call was made in a certain manner. This was made to look like a somewhat subtle programmer error, so that it would not be easy to detect, and would allow for very-nasty and widespread local exploits.
The primary credit for having found and curtailed the exploit goes to the BitKeeper team, who were concerned enough about the security of the Linux kernel that they even put in checks to ensure that after the synchronization, the CVS tree looked identical to the BitKeeper source that it was copied from. Linus Torvalds explained why this sort of modification would have been noticed very quickly, had it been done on the original BitKeeper-managed source code.
We believe that it is a testament to the resilience of the open-source development community that, despite the subtle and serious nature of the exploit attempt, it was found, fixed, investigated and reported to the public within twenty hours' time. Indeed, there was little danger of the code making it into an official kernel release, since releases are cut from the BitKeeper repository, not the CVS repository derived from it.
As of now, it is not known who was responsible for inserting the exploit. The CVS gateway has been taken down for forensics.
Users of the Enlightenment window manager were given a treat (and perhaps a surprise) on November 5, 2003 as Enlightenment 0.16.6 was released. Many Enlightenment users had long assumed that any development on the DR16 series was finished, since Enlightenment 0.16.5 was released on October 27, 2000, and all talk since that time had been on the development of the still-to-be-completed DR17 series.
So, why the new release? While Enlightenment has long supported both GNOME and KDE, new releases of both desktop environments were having problems with Enlightenment compatibility, specifically related to the support of Extended Window Manager Hints. As these problems emerged, patches were posted on the e-devel mailing list, and plans for a new release were made, with Mandrake (Not to be confused with the Linux distribution) posting the first 0.16.6 pre-releases.
In June of 2003 Kim Woelders assumed the role as DR16 maintainer and had been working since to incorporate and test all the new patches that were now being submitted. The significant new features in E 0.16.6 include:
Setting persistent properties of a number of Eterm windows
Enlightenment has always had as its goal giving users as much control of their desktop as possible, while adding plenty of eye candy. Even though Enlightenment 16 is over 3 years old, it still has many features other popular window managers have not yet incorporated. One can see this with a quick look at the DR16 feature list. Some notable features are proper Xinerama support (for multiple-display systems), per-application based session and property management (window memory, i.e. the ability to keep track of the size, shape, position and decoration of application windows between sessions), Virtual and Multiple Desktops, and highly-configurable window borders.
Advanced users might appreciate the power and flexibility found in the Enlightenment eesh tool, which allows users to perform window manager events and queries on the command line. Using eesh you can write scripts that move, raise, lower, iconify or scroll your windows. Greenfly has used eesh to create a "Quake console" that lowers or raises a terminal via a keybinding, no matter which window has focus.
So, how do you get it? Packages for many Linux distributions can be found on the Enlightenment download page and, depending on the distribution, new packages might already be available for automatic update (E 0.16.6 packages have now entered Debian unstable, for instance).
Selecting properties of a Galeon window to remember
This week, we've covered two emerging extensions to the X Window System that are intended to provide mechanisms for things like window alpha blending and intelligent drawing updates. This should prove interesting for developers and desktop users alike, since it will allow for both eye candy and more serious applications, like accessibility for the visually impaired.
Both these extensions have been designed by Keith Packard, who also spearheaded the development of the Render and Rotate-and-Resize (RnR) extensions in XFree86 versions 4.0.2 and later. Bill Haneman from Sun, known for his work on the GNOME Accessibility Project, has also contributed to the project, which should allow for better screen magnifiers and the like.
The Apportion X Extension (aXe) enables a program external to the X11 display server to be able to render window hierarchies (windows with their widgets, controls and the like; a special case is the root window, which is an ancestor of all windows on the display) in off-screen memory, and then allow an external program (say, your window manager) to decide how to show them. This should allow for effective magnification and contrast effects (hence the interest of accessibility developers), drop shadows on menus, transparency/translucency effects, animations, and the like. Best of all, all these things can occur while the windows are being updated (see below). (As of the deadline for this week's edition, the link to the protocol description on the aXe page seems not to be working, so you can view Google's cached version of it instead.)
The XDamage Extension allows applications to track when a window obscures them, or when a window is moved across them, etc. Normally, when an obscured window is uncovered, the application that owns it receives an Expose event, whereupon it can repaint the window. The XDamage extension provides the ability to notify an application whenever windows it wants to monitor undergo a redraw, and some portion of them changes. This provides a powerful mechanism for "live" effects, animations, etc., since applications that cause the effects (i.e., a translucent window, a window with a drop shadow, a screensaver, a "live" shrinking/twisting animation during iconization of a window, etc.) can ask to be notified whenever windows that they are obscuring are updated, so that they can themselves ask to be redrawn. In conjunction with the Render extension (to allow translucency/alpha blending of windows) and the aXe extension (for other effects), this extension will allow true alpha blending to come to XFree86, now that an event model exists to support notifications of updates of other windows.
In this issue, we introduce bash scripting and regular expressions by demonstrating two techniques: one that searches and replaces text in files in a whole directory tree, and another that bold-faces keywords in the output of grep.
Once in a while, we need to search for a phrase in a bunch of files and replace it with another. For instance, an editor might be informed of a consistent misspelling in the next issue of the magazine she's editing. A product's name might be changed on a web site. A company might be acquired or renamed, and marketing and technical documentation might need to be updated. In such a case, it's handy to have a tool around that you can use to automate this.
Here's a bash function that can search and replace in files within an entire directory tree:
replace () {
SEARCH="`echo \"$1\" | sed -r 's/([\^\.\[\$\(\)\|\*\+\?\{])/\\\\\1/g'`"
REPLACE="`echo \"$2\" | sed -r 's/([\^\.\[\$\(\)\|\*\+\?\{])/\\\\\1/g'`"
PATHNAME="`dirname \"$3\"`"
FILEPATTERN="`basename \"$3\"`"
find $PATHNAME -name "$FILEPATTERN" -type f -exec sh -c \
"sed \"s/$SEARCH/$REPLACE/g\" \"{}\" > \"{}.S_R\"; exec mv \"{}.S_R\" \"{}\"" \;
This can be invoked as in the example below:
$ replace 'ACME Graphics, Inc.' 'ACME Imaging Corp.' 'Reports/2003/Q4/*.{txt,log}'
We should note that all these parameters, especially the third, may contain symbols that bash will try to expand when they are typed on the command line. This is because, unlike DOS and Windows, UNIX shells do globbing, or wildcard expansion, themselves. The solution is to surround all these patterns with single quotes when invoking the bash function, so it will consider the entire contents of the single quote pair a literal string.
Note that the last parameter must contain at least a file pattern because of the way this function works, so it is not enough to specify just '/home/amitg/Reports', for instance; we must specify '/home/amitg/Reports/*' instead.
If we place the function in our ~/.bashrc, the function will be created every time we start a new bash shell.
Let's explain the core functionality of the function we showed you in the previous section. It depends on two tools, find and sed. We've covered the tool find in passing before, but we think that it deserves proper treatment. Not only is find useful in searching for files named a certain way, but it is also an excellent tool to operate on them.
As an example, suppose we have a directory hierarchy full of files of all kinds. We want to search for the term "ACME Graphics, Inc." in only the files ending with .txt or .log, and replace it with "ACME Imaging Corp.", but only in files that are older than a week ago. Say we have tons of these files, so going through each one with a text editor is going to be a lot of tedious work. Thankfully, find is very good at tedious work like this.
find has the ability to take boolean search criteria. If you mention some criteria in a row, such as -name '*.txt' -mtime 7, only files that match both criteria will be operated on. If you mention something like '(' -name '*.txt' -o -name '*.log' ')', if either criterion is satisfied, the file will be operated on.
The -exec option lets you specify a command to be run that can take the matched file name as a parameter, specified by {}, and terminated using ';'. This command will check all files ending in .txt for spelling errors, for instance:
$ find lysdexic -name \*.txt -type f -exec ispell {} \;</pre?
(The backslashes are to tell the shell not to expand the *, and not to treat the semicolon as a command separator.
The sed command can be used to do the actual search-and-replace in the contents of each file. We'll introduce it a bit better later, but for now, let us mention that the command sed -r 's/''search/replace''/g' ''filename'' will search the file ''filename'' for ''search'' and then replace it with ''replace'', then outputs the text to standard output. This can be ''redirected'' into another file, which can then be moved back. Redirection is accomplished by starting a ''subshell'' that is meant to run just the search-and-replace command, and then using the greater-than sign to indicate that the output goes into another file. Putting all these together gets us:
<pre>$ find reports \( -name \*.txt -o -name \*.log \) -type f -mtime 7 \
-exec sh -c "sed -r 's/ACME Graphics, Inc\./ACME Imaging Corp\./g' {} > {}.new; exec mv {}.new {}" \;
This will faithfully search through everything under the directory reports and replace all instances of ACME Graphics, Inc. in files ending in .txt or .log more than a week old with ACME Imaging Corp.
We think that few people will say that grep is not a useful tool, especially the GNU version of the tool. If you have large amounts of text to search through, using grep is quick and effective. fgrep ("fast grep"), also invoked as grep -F in the case of GNU grep, is a variant that will only look for fixed strings, rather than the patterns ("regular expressions") that grep will look for.
GNU grep and its variants have the ability to output a number of lines of context along with lines that carry the keyword being searched for. The -A option specifies the number of contextual lines to output after a line containing the searched-for keyword, and the -B option specifies the number of such lines to output before the lines found with the keyword in them.
For instance, searching through the COPYING file that comes with the Linux kernel source for version 2.4.22 for the phrase "free software" yields this:
$ fgrep -i -A1 -B1 -m5 "free software" ~/linux/COPYING
of the kernel, and does *not* fall under the heading of "derived work".
Also note that the GPL below is copyrighted by the Free Software
Foundation, but the instance of code that it refers to (the Linux
Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
software--to make sure the software is free for all its users. This
General Public License applies to most of the Free Software
Foundation's software and to any other program whose authors commit to
using it. (Some other Free Software Foundation software is covered by
the GNU Library General Public License instead.) You can apply it to
When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not
price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you
(The -i option tells grep that the provided search term is case-insensitive; for instance, "free software" will be accepted as well as "Free Software" as well as "FREE SOFTWARE" — were it not provided, only the exact term "free software", including capitalization, would be matched. The -m5 option limits the report to only the first five matches; we didn't want to flood you with unnecessary listings.)
The problem here is evident in the third set of results—it is not so easy to find exactly where the term "Free Software" occurs in that set of results, since fgrep will band together lines that are within the bounds of -A and -B that carry the searched-for pattern. This is where ANSI color codes come in.
ANSI color code is an informal name given to those escape sequences that most terminals and terminal emulators recognize as instructions to output subsequent information in a certain color or style (e.g. boldface, underline, inverse video). These originated in the work of the ANSI X3 Committee, which produced the X3.64 standard in 1979 that specified control codes to be obeyed by compliant terminals. So far, no one has implemented the standard fully, but things like these color control codes as well as various cursor and terminal setting control codes are widely accepted. (If you are interested, the ECMA has a newer version of the standard, ECMA 48 — also accepted as ISO/IEC 6429:1992 — [ http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-048.htm available for download] free of charge. A summary of the codes is also available.)
ANSI color codes look like this: <ESC> [ colornumber ; colornumber ; … colornumber m
The control code for boldfacing is 1, and specifying 0 as a control code causes all styles and color settings to return to default. So, we can take fgrep's output and put the boldfacing code before it, and have it return to normal style after the keyword. The tool to do this is sed, the stream editor.
So we type
$ fgrep -m5 -i -A1 -B1 "free software" ~/linux/COPYING | sed -r 's/(free software)/^[[1m\1^[[0m/gi'
of the kernel, and does *not* fall under the heading of "derived work".
Also note that the GPL below is copyrighted by the Free Software
Foundation, but the instance of code that it refers to (the Linux
Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
software--to make sure the software is free for all its users. This
General Public License applies to most of the Free Software
Foundation's software and to any other program whose authors commit to
using it. (Some other Free Software Foundation software is covered by
the GNU Library General Public License instead.) You can apply it to
When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not
price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you
The ^[ is an escape character, ASCII 27, inserted at a bash prompt by hitting Ctrl-V Esc.
Now let us explain the parameter we provided to sed. Providing regular expressions in the form of s/pattern/replace/options to sed will cause sed to take standard input (by default, input from the keyboard, but we have piped output from grep into sed here) and transform the input. This involves matching bits of text using the regular expression we have indicated as pattern, and replacing the matched text with transformed text according to rules specified where we have indicated replace. This can be just replacement text, or it can consist of back-references like \1, which indicates that the text matching the pattern in the first ( ) pair should be reproduced. The options modify the nature of the match, as we will see in a moment.
So in this case, the pattern free software is matched, and then replaced with the matched text surrounded by control codes that will boldface it. By default, sed will stop with the first replacement on a line, but the g option modifies this behavior to keep looking until the end of the line. Also, since our text contained both the uppercased Free Software and the all-lowercase free software, and we wanted to match both occurrences (hence the -i option to fgrep), we provided the i option to sed, too.
We can make this a bash function, so we don't have to type out the sed command every time. We put this in our .bashrc:
bgrep () {
SEARCH="`echo \"$1\" | sed -r 's/([\^\.\[\$\(\)\|\*\+\?\{])/\\\\\1/g'`"
fgrep -i "$1" $2 $3 $4 $5 $6 $7 $8 $9 | sed -r "s/($SEARCH)/^[[1m\1^[[0m/gi"
In case you're wondering why that SEARCH line is there, it cleans up the search phrase so that sed does not interpret any symbols in it specially as part of the pattern to match, but treats them as literal.
We edit the file using VI or some other editor that can be used to insert the escape character (in this case by hitting Ctrl-V then Esc), then we either log out and in again, or in a pre-existing shell where we want to use it, we run source ~/.bashrc.
The way this function has been written, the first parameter needs to be the text to search for, so any options like -i, -A, -B or -m need to be specified after it.
$ bgrep "free software" ~/linux/COPYING -m5 -A1 -B1
of the kernel, and does *not* fall under the heading of "derived work".
Also note that the GPL below is copyrighted by the Free Software
Foundation, but the instance of code that it refers to (the Linux
Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
software--to make sure the software is free for all its users. This
General Public License applies to most of the Free Software
Foundation's software and to any other program whose authors commit to
using it. (Some other Free Software Foundation software is covered by
the GNU Library General Public License instead.) You can apply it to
When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not
price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you
A file manager is one of the pillars of a decent desktop environment. One of the first things a user learns to do on his computer is to create, move, copy, list, open, rename, delete, and otherwise handle files, and a good file manager can help to make these tasks easy, quick and efficient. The file manager we introduce to you in this issue, ROX Filer, is among the lighter-weight modern file managers for the X Window System.
ROX Filer's user interface is inspired by the RISC OS that ran on Acorn Archimedes computers. Starting it up, you get a clean GTK+ 2.0 window with icons and file names. Any images that ROX recognizes will have thumbnails generated and used as their icons. On top is a standard toolbar that lets you, among other things, navigate upward through the file system hierarchy, access "bookmarked" locations in the file system as well as a history, resize the icons for a better look at the previews, sort files according to the criterion of your choice (name, type, date, size, owner or group; ascending or descending), etc.
ROX Filer at startup
ROX is pretty simple to use — double-clicking a file attempts to open it if ROX knows how, and if it doesn't, pops up a message box asking you to set a run action. Double-clicking a folder will open it in the same window, using the same view settings.
Actions such as renaming a file or folder, setting an icon on an item or a class of items, or setting a run action are done via the contextual menu that pops up on a right click. This contextual menu actually encompasses everything that you can do with ROX Filer. It also lets you set ROX's options, as well as allowing you to modify your view of the folder — how to sort the files, how much detail to show, how big the icons should be, etc.
Icons in ROX Filer can be set arbitrarily
ROX Filer lets you set icons arbitrarily. Any file or folder can have a custom icon set, or you can choose to set the icon for all items in a MIME type (what ROX Filer uses to determine the type of a file) by just right-clicking any one and setting its icon. Similarly, it is possible to set the run action for any MIME type or its category using this right-click menu.
ROX Filer enforces the one-window-per-folder rule. This prevents any confusion on the user's part, so she does not need to decide whether or not a window is a duplicate of another, so whether it should be closed or not. Unfortunately, it does not seem to preserve window size or view information, both of which are important for spatial cognition and manipulation of files.
For quick navigation through the filesystem, one can hit the / key, and then type and tab-complete his way through the filesystem. The tab completion is very convenient, and rather unusual in a file manager.
Go places quickly with ROX Filer
Unfortunately, navigating among the icons in a window by typing the first letter of the file you are attempting to locate isn't supported in the regular view — however, this is easily accomplished by using the location bar (Indeed, this mechanism is more powerful, since you can type more letters in the name, and the selector will move to the most appropriate icon thus far).
Keyboard navigation in the window is convenient
ROX Filer supports XDND quite well, which means that you are able to drag and drop objects to and from most GTK+, GNOME and KDE applications easily. ROX itself makes much use of the drag-and-drop paradigm, for instance, in setting icons. It also supports creating scripts and symbolic links in a "Send To" menu, where you can specify target applications and scripts that can process files.
ROX can draw a desktop with icons, too, and can also be configured to pass mouse clicks on the desktop through to the window manager. ROX calls the desktop a "pinboard". You can start this up by invoking rox -p=default. The icons on the desktop do not reside in any directory on the hard disk, but rather, they exist as items in an XML file. Consequently, you also cannot move items to the desktop, but only create references to them. The pinboard can also be configured to show minimized windows' icons. Setting the background image is easy — right-click somewhere on the pinboard, choose "Backdrop", and then drag and drop an image of your choice into the dialog box provided (similar to the Set Icon dialog box shown above). There is a nifty history/navigation menu provided, too.
The file manager is highly configurable. Colors used for file names can be configured based on file attributes. The spacing between icons can be adjusted. Options to make life convenient are provided, such as resizing icons automatically based on the number of files in the folder, and resizing the window automatically to fit the icons it displays. There's even a section on changing ROX's interactions with misbehaving applications to get them to interoperate.
There is also the ability to show a panel. Running rox -l=default creates a sidebar on the left edge of the screen that carries icons for folders and any launchers that you care to create by dragging and dropping application executables onto it. Similarly, rox -r=default will create the panel on the right edge of the screen, rox -t=default will create a panel along the top edge, and rox -b=default will create one along the bottom edge.
In all, we enjoyed using ROX Filer, and found it to be a good lightweight alternative file manager.
This article is in need of attention.
Please improve it and then remove this notice.


text:
Everyone else on my blogroll seems to saying the same thing (who said the Internet opened people up to new viewpoints and ideas? Pah!) but if you happen to be eligible to vote in the United States, Vote For Kerry today please, if you happen to care about international co-operation in the "fight" against terror, the environment, the economy, and generally being a good worldly neighbour.
As opposed to Bush. Don't forget that after 9/11, even the French national newspaper said "We're all Americans now." To go from that to having most of your notional allies dislike you in the space of three years takes some doing.
Although, Democrats, listen. You need an exciting interesting candidate next time.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Kwaidan Book Club
This Committee is responsible for putting on Kwaidan Book Club, Our Book Club. Kwaidan Book Club is our "Read Japan" aspect where members have an opportunity to read and discuss a Japanese related book. Kwaidan Book Club typically meets once a month. Meeting dates and locations are listed on JSNO's Events Calendar.
If you are interested in joining this committee or need any more in depth information, please contact Gissel Ferriol at firstname.lastname@example.com.
For the month of November, we will be reading and discussing "Kokoro" by Natsume Sōseki, the great Japanese modern novel.
"Soseki is the representative modern Japanese novelist, a figure of truly national stature." —Haruki Murakami
*Please help support Tubby & Coo's Mid-City Book Shop by ordering your copy through them. Make sure to mention that it is for the Kwaidan Book Club (Japan Society of New Orleans's Book Club) for a special discount!
Date & time: November 11 - 4-6 PM
Place: Tubby & Coo's Mid-City Book Shop
631 N Carrollton Ave., New Orleans, LA 70119
Check out the Facebook page for more information!
No collection of Japanese literature is complete without Natsume Soseki's Kokoro, his most famous novel and the last he completed before his death. Published here in the first new translation in more than fifty years, Kokoro—meaning "heart"—is the story of a subtle and poignant friendship between two unnamed characters, a young man and an enigmatic elder whom he calls "Sensei." Haunted by tragic secrets that have cast a long shadow over his life, Sensei slowly opens up to his young disciple, confessing indiscretions from his own student days that have left him reeling with guilt, and revealing, in the seemingly unbridgeable chasm between his moral anguish and his student's struggle to understand it, the profound cultural shift from one generation to the next that characterized Japan in the early twentieth century.
NATSUME SŌSEKI (1867-1916), one of Japan's most influential modern writers, is widely considered the foremost novelist of the Meiji era (1868-1914) and a master of psychological fiction. As well as his works of fiction, his essays, haiku, and kanshi have been influential and are popular even today.
MEREDITH MCKINNEY (translator) holds a PhD in medieval Japanese literature from the University in Canberra, where she teaches in the Japan Centre. She lived and taught in Japan for twenty years and now lives near Braidwood, New South Wales. Her other translations include Ravine and Other Stories, The Tale of Saigyo, and for Penguin Classics, The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, and Kusamakura.
*Book and author information found on Amazon*


text:
Deborah Borda. Photo: Los Angeles Philharmonic Association.
For roughly a year, the classical music world waited. Who would be appointed the next maestro of the illustrious New York Philharmonic? And when word finally came I read about it as:
"Yep. It's Jaap"
That was from the New Yorker magazine. A hilarious announcement naming the Dutch conductor Jaap van Zweden (pronounced Yahp van ZVAY-den) to begin his tenure there in 2018.
And that's not all. Deborah Borda, CEO of the LA Phil, has just announced that she'll head back with him to swap for the same top job there -- after 17 years of building vast symphonic fortunes in the City of Angels. (Curiously, van Zweden has been canceling his guest gigs since signing with New York, but did get here to Borda's realm last week.)
So bear in mind that what happens in Berlin resonates in Boston, as it does in Los Angeles and London. When an elite orchestra puts out its international search for a music director, whispers abound, with one speculation spilling after another. The game of musical chairs is on. In fact, Gustavo Dudamel quickly renewed his contract here in time to allay rumors that he would be in the NY running.
Naturally, van Zweden (right) aroused great interest when he came this month to guest conduct the LA Philharmonic. Yes, we wanted to see just what arsenal this small, muscular no-nonsense man packed, what won him the plum New York job.
Especially because he was not quite the starry eminence of a Boulez or Bernstein or Mahler -- past NY Phil directors. And even considering that he actually did not more than sit in the Concertgebouw's concertmaster chair for 19 years before he became only a conductor of lesser orchestras.
Mysteries prevail sometimes. But NYP musicians are said to eat their maestros for lunch -- so avid music followers are even more curious to see how the marriage works out.
Leading the LA Phil, van Zweden was every bit the workman in full command. In Beethoven's Fifth, with its four fateful knocks, he showed himself to be a galvanic force, if not so much a pensive soul who can dwell in the shadows. And in the Shostakovich Fifth we heard its powerful Russian militarism but felt less its abject hollows and spaces.
Whatever else the Dutchman inspires, as a key to his winning New York's big conductorial prize, we can only know by the smiles on our resident musicians' faces at concert's end Saturday -- their widely beaming smiles and his more than ample appreciation of them -- that orchestras are keen on this man, that they give their utmost.
Others give their utmost, too. Jamie Rigler is one. As executor of the Lloyd Rigler-Lawrence Deutsch Foundation, he has been sponsoring an exclusive opera series at the Broad Stage presenting celebrated singers and putting on lavish pre-concert spreads.
The format goes like this: A full orchestra accompanies two singers, with the three taking turns so as to showcase each individually and even lessen the burden all around. The latest: Diana Damrau and Nicolas Testé.
It turns out that Damrau is currently the Met's hot draw ("Puritani" and "Roméo et Juliette"). No wonder. The German soprano just might be the most animated singing actress around today. She doesn't need supertitles, she enacts the words and the music like no one else. Humor? She's a comedian. Irony? She's an ironist. Drama? She's a tragedian. And of course there's the voice -- coloratura precise, high notes intact, a bit shrill at full volume but soft beautiful tones elsewhere. She opens in LA Opera's "Contes d'Hoffmann" March 25.
Testé, her French co-star at the Broad, made a striking contrast as a stage personality. Almost retiring, the handsome bass-baritone with the gorgeous mahogany tones sang a wrenchingly sorrowful "Elle ne m'aime pas." And finally the two joined onstage for "Bess You Is My Woman," where Damrau coaxed from her shy Porgy passionately ringing outpourings, along with a smooch.
The program in general, though, had a lot of nearly esoteric numbers not so winning with an audience -- it's hard to imagine they are touring this same show on two continents, with conductor Pavel Baleff, who relished the orchestral interludes he led between arias.
Also relishing: I got the sense that James Gaffigan, with the LA Philharmonic, luxuriated in the blazing sensuality he drew from the band's account of Ravel's 2nd Suite from "Daphnis et Chloe." Does it matter how often you hear it when performed at this level, as an enchanting gossamer mist, the epitome of French voluptuousness? Some music stays. It's there for a virtuosic orchestra to revel in, especially with a flutist like Denis Bouriakov et al. (And even for a composer like Brian Easdale, back in 1948, who picked up a fragment from it for his score, "The Red Shoes.")
Another piece, say, James Matheson's "Unchained," need remind us only once that a composer can experiment within its various instrumental sections for his own amusement but not our own.
And then there are those who straddle several idioms without excelling in every one. Take Patricia Racette, a real trouper. Few could fault the soprano's Verdi or Puccini, as in "Butterfly" -- where we've melted in the presence of her extraordinary word-painting, her musical sensitivity and legato technique. But "Salomé"? Now that's an opera (still onstage at the Music Center) with the game Racette. She brings it physical and vocal grit, but just doesn't pierce the decadent perversion of it all, no, not that Baudelairean necrophilia so inscribed by Oscar Wilde and Richard Strauss.
This Judean princess pranced about, up and on the cistern imprisoning the holy man who is her fatal attraction -- even to the final stark nude moment of shedding her seven veils. She telegraphed wildness but of an ordinary, tomboy sort, not the perfumed dementia we saw years ago in Maria Ewing's Salomé, trapped inside a schizoid world of isolation.
Different kinds of prancings and prisons saw the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater once again at the Music Center Pavilion. On this visit the choreography left behind the recent bright, tight, highly controlled mechanics of abstract movement and gave us two dark, moody pieces that showed its dancers in loose, gauzy streetwear.
Matthew Rushing.
Most impressive of these was Kyle Abraham's "Untitled America" which vaguely hints at the anguish of incarceration but consoles itself with ambience and poetic reflections, along with moving personal testimonies as voice-overs. "r-Evolution, Dream" is a compendium of street dance modes in revue style capped off by Matthew Rushing's singular presence -- an elegant, utterly imperious, noble figure, bubbling with good vibes. He commands your gaze with his every gesture, his every eyelash flick.
The company, still reliably producing top dancers, celebrates them generously. And it never fails to give audiences their favorite going-home gift: the heart-felt, uproarious Ailey signature "Revelations."


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Winners and Losers in the Turkish Attack on Syria. Russia is the Most Successful Player
Russia imposed the Astana process instead of Geneva for peace talks, it offered countries to use their local currencies for commerce rather than the dollar, and it is dealing pragmatically with Iran and Saudi Arabia, and with Assad and Erdogan. The Americans, by their recklessness, showed themselves incapable of diplomacy.
Moscow mediated between the Syrian Kurds and the central government in Damascus even when these had been under US control for years. Putin behaved wisely with Israel even when he accused Tel Aviv of provoking the killing of his officers, and stayed relatively neutral in relation to the Iran-Israel struggle.
On the other hand, Tel Aviv never thought Syria would be reunited. Today Damascus has armed drones, precision and cruise missiles from Iran, supersonic anti-ship Russian missiles- and has survived the destruction of its infrastructure and so many years of war.
Israel has lost the prospect of a Kurdish state (Rojava) as an ally. This dream has gone now for many decades to come and with it the partition of Syria and Iraq. The "Deal of the Century" makes no sense anymore and the non-aggression deal with the Arab states is a mirage. Everything that Trump's close advisor, Prime Minister Netanyahu, wanted has lost its meaning, and Israel now has to deal with the Russian presence in the Middle East and bear the consequences of the victory achieved by Assad, the Russians, and the Iranians.
After the Kurds, Israel is the second biggest loser– even if it has suffered no financial damage and no Israeli lives have been lost in combat. Netanyahu's ambitions can no longer be used in his election scenario. Israel needs to prepare for living next door to Assad, who will certainly want back Syria's Golan- a priority for Damascus to tackle once domestic reconstruction is on its way. He has been preparing the local resistance for years, for the day when Syria will recover this territory.


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Seoul's 7 best French bakeries
Much Korean bread, the kind epitomized by the ubiquitous Paris Baguette, comes by way of Japan: soft and chewy, filled with red bean and topped with hot dogs.
In recent years, however, Korean bakers trained in France and Germany have opened a succession of small bakeries. In doing so, they've stated the European case for bread.
Seoulites get to reap the benefits: massive loaves of bread with crisp crusts and airy interiors, buttery croissants, sourdough, baguettes and lines of pastries are now plentiful in the city.
You can satisfy your craving for fresh bread at any of the places below.
1. Paul & Paulina
The chefs at Paul & Paulina have nothing to hide.
Behind a modest display counter, men and women wearing immaculate white uniforms go about their business: they weigh out flour, beat eggs in large stainless steel bowls and roll out dough on the pristine countertops. The silence and precision recall a laboratory more than a bustling kitchen.
What emerges from the kitchen, though, is simply magical.
The pain au chocolat looks like a chocolate snail; buttery layers of dough roll in around a dark chocolate center. The dough is so flaky that it shatters when you bite into it.
The peasant bread has a crackling crust and excellent crumb structure: perfect pockets of air give the bread lightness.
The long line that snakes outside of Paul & Paulina's actually works in your favor. While there is the agonizing wait, the constant turnover ensures that the breads and pastries that you buy will be fresh out of the oven.
Paul & Paulina's also now offers customers the option of calling an hour or two to reserve items.
Pain au chocolat, ₩3,500; Loaf of peasant bread ₩7,000 (half loaf ₩3,500)
Monday-Saturday, noon-7 p.m., closed on Sundays and first Monday of each month
344-6 Seogyo-dong Mapo-gu (마포구 서교동 344-6);+82 02 333 0185
2. Le Alaska
Do you ever wonder where the well-heeled citizens of Apgujeong go to get their pastries? Do you wonder if they even eat pastries?
They do, and to get them they come in droves to Le Alaska, a bakery situated on the apt "Rodeo Street" (yes, named after Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills).
But don't let the luxurious surroundings fool you -- these pastries are affordably priced and delicious.
Though kitchen produces savory loaves dotted with a variety of seeds, nuts and herbs, the pastries are the real specialty.
The wide selection begins with the "Praline," a muffin-shaped puff pastry filled with chopped, roasted hazelnuts and chocolate.
There's also the "Tornado," a flat, crispy elephant ear of caramelized cinnamon sugar that is the perfect accompaniment to coffee.
In addition to the breads and pastries, Le Alaska's Apgujeong location offers a variety of sandwiches and drinks. The sandwiches include a steak sandwich on their house-baked ciabatta and a ham and Gruyere cheese croissant.
Praline pastry ₩3,000; Tornado pastry ₩2,800; Steak ciabatta ₩8,500
Daily, 9 a.m.-10 p.m.
653-9 Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu (강남구 신사동 653-9);+82 02 516 5871
3. Publique
Chef Jang Eun-chul's 28 years belies his experience. Jang has studied or worked as a baker for more than a decade (the last four in France), and he brings all of that experience into a thoughtful, French-style boulangerie and patisserie called Publique. It's located on a residential alley in Hongdae.
"Bread is a very intimate and everyday thing in France," says Jang. "That's why the café is called 'Publique,' because it is a café for the public or the people."
Jang's favorite bread is a humble pain de seigle, a French rye bread. Publique offers a variety of breads, ranging from toasted sesame bread to ciabatta to cheese bread baked with Emmental cheese.
Publique has an array of fruit tarts such as apple, pear and apricot, but the chocolate tart, with a milk chocolate base and a dark chocolate layer on top, is the most memorable.
Publique also makes scrumptious little Cannelés bordelais, éclairs and meringues.
Customers can take a seat at one of the al fresco tables or sit inside with a cup of organic Colombian drip coffee.
Seigle de Publique half loaf ₩12,000; tarts ₩3,800; coffee ₩2,000
Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m., closed on Sundays
311-1 Sangsu-dong, Mapo-gu (마포구 상수동 311-1); +82 02 333 6919; blog.naver.com/publiquepain
4. Pain de Papa
The tagline for Pain de Papa reads, "The bread your father made for you."
That's exactly what Lee Ho-Young, the owner and head baker of this small bakery on a side street off of the famed Garosu shopping road, wants to say with his bread.
Lee makes delicious and nutritious organic breads and pastries along with homemade spreads from figs, peaches, red onions and strawberries.
Pain de Papa also bakes bread made entirely from wild yeast, meaning Lee uses the natural yeast present in raisins to leaven the bread. Leavening the bread using dried fruits can take up to five times longer than traditional methods, but the result is a moist, springy bread with a hint of sourdough flavor.
Pain de Papa makes a variety croissants and brioches.
The most inventive pastry, however, is their take on rusk, a twice-baked bread. Lee bakes spheres of dough with chunks of sweet potato and dried fruits, and then fires them up in the oven a second time with butter to give the exterior a delicious crunch.
The finished product is dusted with confectioner's sugar. Think of it as a kind of a healthy doughnut.
Rusk, ₩1,700; natural yeast raisin bread ₩6,000; homemade jam ₩6,000 to ₩10,000
Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-9 p.m., closed on Sundays
548-5 Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu (강남구 산사동 548-5);+ 82 02 543 5232
5. Retro Oven
If you're one of the moms who send her kids to Hakdong Elementary School, then you probably already know -- and love -- Retro Oven.
For those of us living in other parts of Seoul, coming out to find this neighborhood bakery near the district offices of Gangnam is well worth the trek.
The bakery offers a familiar spread of croissants, pain au chocolat, plain and herb ciabatta.
But the most surprising item is the Laugen croissant, or laugencroissant as it is known in southern Germany.
The Laugen croissant is the result of a perfect union between a pretzel and a croissant. it has all of the butteriness of a croissant with the slight pungency of a pretzel and distinguishing salt on top.
Retro Oven also offers loaves of "Retro Oven" bread, a soft, simple sandwich bread made with wheat and some rye that is ideal toasted with a spread of butter and jam for breakfast or as the base of a turkey club.
Laugen croissant ₩2,800; whole loaf of Retro Oven ₩10,000
Tuesday-Saturday, 12:30-7 p.m., closed on Sundays and Mondays
254-22 Nonhyun-dong, Gangnam-gu (강남구 논현동 254-22) tel. + 82 02 544 9045
6. Maybell
Jung Woong, owner of Maybell, used to be an everyday office worker, or "salaryman" as Koreans like to say, before he decided to quit his job and become a baker.
Maybell came to its location in Itaewon four years ago after a previous four-year stint in the northwest satellite city of Ilsan.
The hearty and crusty loaves did not fit the palates of the Koreans living there, so Jung Woong decided to relocate to Itaewon where he hoped there would be a greater appreciation for his sourdough rye, rosemary rye and baguettes.
The sourdough takes a week to make and comes in sizeable 600 gram loaves.
Maybell opens at noon and closes at 6 p.m. -- or until supplies last.
The latter is an important detail to keep in mind, because the bakery often runs out of bread by four or five in the afternoon.
Baguettes ₩3,000; sourdough loaf ₩5,000 Monday-Saturday, noon-6 p.m., closed on Sundays
737-2 Hannam 2-dong, Yongsan-gu (용산구 한남2동 737-2);+82 02 792 5561
7. Brown Bread
In its display window, Brown Bread posts its baking schedule: pain de campagne (country bread) at 11 a.m., bretzels at noon, rye baguettes at 2:40 p.m., another round of pain de campagne at 3 p.m., and so o
The baking intervals and schedule allow customers to get the freshest loaves.
Located near the front gate of Ewha Women's University, Brown Bread makes the best bread in the area.
Its brezel, a soft pretzel that undergoes an extended fermentation, is probably its best item. Brezels come in different shapes and sizes -- from long like baguettes, to small and round. All are topped with salt crystals.
At ₩1,000, the soft and chewy mini-bretzels make an excellent snack.
Bretzel ₩2,500, Mini-bretzel ₩1,000
Monday-Saturday, noon-7 p.m., closed on Sundays
27-46 Daehyun-dong, Seodaemun-gu (서대문구 대현동 27-46);+82 070 8658 1236
More on CNNGo: Fell + Cole: A little scoop of San Francisco in Seoul


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Are you frustrated over lead generation? Whatever strategies you use, your efforts will require patience. It's important to know that if you don't follow all the appropriate steps, you could easily find yourself waiting much longer than necessary. The following article offers tips and suggestions on the best ways to generate new business leads.
If you are a user or digital advertising methods, produce landing pages meant for your desired audience. Your landing pages should be for the exact product or services the customer was researching when they came upon your link. They are receiving the information that they wanted from you. Combine this with an effective contact method, and your leads will begin rolling in.
Incentives can give you some great leads. For example, giving someone an additional reason to get something that they were already interested in is a great idea. Give them an extra reason to take you up on your offer and you will generate many more leads.
If you want to get the best leads, one of the most important things to do is prove to others that you are trustworthy. Don't put ads up that are too bold or that seem cheesy. Keep your offers factual and current at all times. Be honest and transparent, and people will be more apt to trust you.
Be mindful of opt-out issues and privacy concerns. Make sure you remember those leads that opt out on receiving offers or incentives. It won't only waste your time to work with people that don't want to buy, it's also not good because you're violating their privacy.
Don't forget to utilize long-tail keywords. Make certain that you use a minimal number of them that are highly specific to your business. You will find something that suits your business once you have had time to work on it.
Find out if there are any lead groups locally. Usually the groups will consist of different types of local business owners who are looking to trade leads with each other. You might not think that an optometrist could find you potential consumers when you are a yoga teacher, but these meetings could shock you. At the same time, you might hear a client mention they have a toothache and return the favor.
Talk to the other people as you are waiting in a line. This will help you to engage in conversation. Don't overtly sell to them, but figure out if they might be interested in what you're selling.
The size of your budget does not matter as much as a plan that focuses on attaining your goals. Once you start a campaign, be sure you watch over it to figure out what works and what will fail. If you don't have much of a budget, it's even more important to see what is going on so you know where it's best to put your funds.
Hopefully you can use this article to get the advice you need about generating leads. This means that you should also feel a motivation that will help you to grasp the leads you need. It may seem hard, but you will be successful if you use the advice here.


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On March 19th 2016, the Biocorredor Martin Sagrado REDD+ project entered a new level of international recognition, with the registration of the surrounding area as a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. It covers 2.4 million hectares, including the REDD project zone, the Rio Abiseo National Park and all the buffer zones where communities live, which marks the recognition of the project as a model for community and sustainable management. For the local farmers, who have fully designed and managed the project from the beginning, it is a great pride to see that their efforts and their project are acknowledged at an international level.
In 2008, Tristan Lecomte planted a first tree in the village of Santa Rosa in Peru. He created PUR Projet in order to raise funds from companies willing to act for climate. Tree nurseries have grown, farmers have been trained on agroforestry… Today, more than 3 million trees, nearly 5, have been planted in this remote area of the Peruvian Amazon. Reforestation was a first step, the second step was forest conservation.
Motivated by their progress, the farmers decided to start a forest preservation program of the Martin Sagrado reserve and came together to create the Fundacion Amazonia Viva to coordinate the sustainable management of the forest and the natural resources of the area. In 2014, the "Biocorredor Martin Sagrado" REDD+ project is certified under VCS and CCBA standards: it's the official recognition of a community-based project aiming at reducing the pressure on the forest through alternative economic models development.
In March 2016, UNESCO recognized the "Gran Pajaten" as the 5th Biosphere Reserve in Peru. The process had started early 2013 to create a Biosphere Reserve that would cover a 2.4 million hectares area encompassing the project area and part of the leakage area.
Several visits by international experts, UNESCO representatives confirmed the great relevance of the area, mainly due to the outstanding and unique model of community management deployed by the project in the area, and to the presence of the National Park Rio Abiseo in the area, already registered as Work Heritage both Cultural and Environmental.
Biosphere reserves are areas of ecosystems promoting solutions to reconcile the conservation of biodiversity with its sustainable use.
They are internationally recognized, nominated by national governments and remain under sovereign jurisdiction of the states where they are located.
Biosphere reserves serve in some ways as 'living laboratories' for testing out and demonstrating integrated management of land, water and biodiversity.
There are over 500 biosphere reserves in over 100 countries.
The Gran Pajaten Biosphere reserve include:
– A strictly protected core area (in red) on 274,000 ha corresponding to the Rio Abiseo national park, already recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site (pre-Incan cultural and natural heritage)
– A buffer zone used for community forest conservation (in orange), including 450,000 ha of the Biocorredor Martin Sagrado REDD+ project and 362,000 ha managed by local NGOs and communities.
– A transition zone (1.5 million ha, in yellow) where communities and local stakeholders work together to manage and sustainably develop the area's resources (Alto Huayabamba and Jubilacion Segura reforestation and agroforestry projects developed by PUR Projet).
2008 : Start of the Alto Huayabamba reforestation program in Santa Rosa, with the fair trade and organic cocoa farmers of ACOPAGRO coopertive. Plantation of 20,000 trees.
2009 : Start of a second reforestation program in San Martin, with the fair trade and organic coffee farmers of ORO VERDE cooperative. Plantation of 20,000 trees.
2010 : Start of the REDD+ Biocorredor Martin Sagrado project to preserve 400,000 ha of primary forests. The project started with the protection of El Breo concessions on 100,000 has owned by the Dos de Mayo village association.
2011 : Creation of the Fundavi. Marion Cotillard sponsors the project.
2012 : VCS certification (Voluntary Carbon Standard) of the Alto Huayabamba project
2014 : VCS and CCBA certification of the REDD+ Biocorredor Martin Sagrado project (300 000 ha).
2015 : Bertrand Badre (World Bank's CFO) sponsors the project.
2015 : VCS certification of the Jubilacion Segura project.
2015 : Registration of the whole area under the "Bosque Modelo / Model Forest" network in 2014 « Bosque Modelo Rio Huayabamba/ Abiseo », including the Biocorredor Martin Sagrado, Alto Huayabamba and Jubilacion Segura project areas (800,000 ha)
2016 : Registration of a 2.4 million-hectare area as a Biosphere Reserve at UNESCO spread across 3 regions (San Martin, La Libertad, Amazonas), including all project areas. Gran Pajatén is the 5th Biosphere Reserve registered in Peru.
Here is the official announcement on UNESCO's website: link
Video of the project:


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We have some BIG announcements for you all. We are recently nominated in the category for Entertainer of the Year by the Winnipeg Nightlife and Lifestyle Awards! Check them out online and please consider lending us your vote.
As you may have heard we had the pleasure of performing at the Storyteller's Museum on Feb. 23rd. We also enjoyed attending Johnny's birthday celebration on Feb. 26th. Thanks to friend of the show Jenn McVay we have exclusive photos to share with you. Click the photo below to open the gallery!
On that note we are VERY thrilled to announce A.R CASH is performing our first show in Murfreesboro, TN on April 12th, 2019 with special guests at the fabulous Hop Springs Taproom at the Steel Barrel Brewery. Hop Springs Beer Park is the newest entertainment destination and largest craft brewery in the state. To find out more or purchase tickets please visit their website by clicking here and we can't wait to see you!
Big thanks as well to the great team at StandardAero for having us to entertain at their customer event at Heli-Expo 2019 in Atlanta, GA. We really enjoyed it!


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Rhône River Crossing Swiss Alps46.6N 7.8E
The Rhône River flows across the middle of this orthorectified image of Switzerland, dividing the Alps. Also visible in the upper right quadrant are Lake Thun (left) and Lake Brienz (right).
Lake Thun is an Alpine lake in the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland. It took its name from the city of Thun, on its northern shore. It is drained by the River Aar and fed by water from Lake Brienz and various streams.
Lake Brienz is located in the Canton of Berne in Switzerland. The lake took its name from the village Brienz on its northern shore. Interlaken and the villages Matten and Unterseen lie to the south west of the lake.


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The cottage, in the heart of Fort William, offers traditional Scottish hospitality whilst boasting stunning views overlooking Loch Linnhe and is an ideal base for cycling, walking the great outdoors.
Strathavon Cottage Bed & Breakfast
The cottage, in the heart of Scotland's Outdoor Capital, Fort William, offers traditional Scottish hospitality whilst boasting stunning and unrestricted views overlooking Loch Linnhe.
Strathavon Cottage benefits from a central location and is only a 5 minute walk from Fort William town centre offering a selection of shops, restaurants and bars, and approximately a short 10 minute walk from the train station.
Traditional breakfast is served each morning in our sunroom overlooking the fantastic views of Loche Linnhe and the Ardgour Hills.
The Cottage has recently undergone a major refurbishment throughout. All bedrooms ensuite, family room available. Tea & coffee , hairdryers and TV available in all rooms.
The cottage is ideal for cycling, walking and outdoor activities or a base for touring the scenic area. Large garden with stream, storage for bikes or cycles.
Free parking is available to the front of the cottage.
- Parking
- Tea/Coffee
- Secure Bike Lockup
- Garden
- Credit Cards
- Breakfast
Enquire Online
ContactHelp us help you, please mention that you saw this ad on Beds for Cyclists!
01397 705033
Strathavon, Grange Road, Fort . William, PH336JF
1x En-Suite Twin
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We removed the statistics from some of our older games on the Ubisoft Club website. No other interface are impacted. This means the following will no longer be recorded for the affected games:
• Playtime
• Game progression
• Reputation
We understand that this may cause inconvenience for some of our players and sincerely apologise. We sometimes have to take the difficult decision to withdraw services for some of our older games in favour of newer games and services.
To check if the game still offers gameplay statistics:
• Go to the Ubisoft Club website
• Go to Games
• Select the game
• Scroll down to Stats & Leaderboards
We hope that you will still enjoy these titles. If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch with our support team.


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|System: PS2
|Review Rating Legend
|Dev: Bemani
|1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid
|4.0 - 4.4 = Great
|Pub: Konami
|2.0 - 2.4 = Poor
|4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
|Release: Sept. 16, 2008
|2.5 - 2.9 = Average
|5.0 = The Best
|Players: 1-2, 2-8 (Online)
|3.0 - 3.4 = Fair
|ESRB Rating: Everyone 10+
|3.5 - 3.9 = Good
by Amanda L. Kondolojy
It is hard to believe that the DDR series has been around for a decade now, but the release of DDR X is celebrating this occasion, and it is quite fitting that this title is one of the most party-focused titles to come to the PlayStation 2. Unfortunately, this may be the last title for the franchise on the PlayStation 2. Even as such, DDR X is a very strong entry in the series and proves that there is still some rhythm left in the PlayStation 2, even if it may be the closing chord.
One thing that is great to see in this title is the LAN capability that allows you and up to three other friends to connect all your PS2s together and have giant DDR sessions. While this may sound like overkill for the uninitiated, being a fan of DDR is sort of like being part of a cult, so the thought of people bringing additional televisions and PlayStation 2s to a gathering is not all that far fetched. You are also able to play the famed (and feared) doubles mode (where one player uses two pads) in a multiplayer setting. So, if you are a really hardcore DDR enthusiast, then DDR X will definitely keep you happy and keep onlookers amazed. For those who really like to show off, this DDR title, like the many before it, does support the EyeToy peripheral, so you and your friends can check out your DDR game face on-screen.
Even with the extensive LAN capabilities, I still would have liked to see some type of online functionality included in DDR X. Since the title is probably the franchises last hurrah on the PlayStation 2, I can see where it may have been a moot point to create online functionality for a dying system, but it still might have been nice for those who have yet to pick up the Xbox 360 and have yet to have the DDR experience online.
There are several modes in DDR X including the standard free play mode as well as a customizable workout mode. The dance editor mode is back in this title as well, much to the delight of many fans. None of these modes have really been changed or upgraded, and youll pretty much get the same experience with these as you have in the past. However, the main mode has been completely redone for DDR X and takes the form of the Street Masters, which is an urban-themed story mode. You can play as one of fifteen different characters, each with their own intersecting storylines. While none of the character storylines are really that deep or engaging, the change of pace is very nice, and all the different characters provide a decent amount of replay value.


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Engineering Supervisor - Development Services
Padre Dam Municipal Water District
Engineering Supervisor - Development Services
Padre Dam Municipal Water District
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October 13, 2020
Santee, California
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$36.35 - $56.56 per hour
Full Time - Experienced
Civil - Water / Wastewater, Civil Engineering
Preferred Education:
Some College
Padre Dam Municipal Water District is seeking candidates for the Engineering Supervisor of Development Services. This position is a working supervisor that will oversee the development services and inspection work groups.
Under general direction of the Engineering Manager, the incumbent is a working supervisor in the construction inspection (including location, and inspection, and new development and planning services work group. Provides leadership and supervision across multi-functional groups, performs a full range of services, many highly complex and sensitive in nature, related to engineering projects and other services. Duties include (depending upon area of assignment): Planning, assigning, and supervising work; training staff; working with management, other departments, legal counsel, and other organizations to accomplish department and agency objectives; preparation of division's budget.
Supervise staff to include: Assisting with goal setting, assigning and monitoring work, training or ensuring staff are trained, setting performance standards, conducting performance evaluations, resolving conflicts, coaching staff, reviewing time sheets, and making hiring and disciplinary recommendations.
Supervise and participate in developing and implementing plans, work processes, procedures, and work standards to attain annual goals and objectives.
Provide day-to-day leadership and work with staff to ensure a high performing, customer services-oriented work environment that encourages employee involvement, continuous improvement, and innovation.
Prepares and monitors budgets for the cost centers for functional areas within area of responsibility.
Reviews improvement plans, grading plans, maps and easements to ensure completeness and conform to Padre Dam and Water Agencies Standards (WAS).
Ensures all required documents and agreements for projects are in compliance with policies, standards, laws, and regulations when submitted; reviews required insurance and bond certificates to protect Padre Dam's interests.
Prepares and reviews special agreements and prepares reports for the Board and for management.
Coordinates project activities with engineers, developers, contractors, and other governmental agencies and establishes conditions for developing private development facilities in Padre Dam.
Works with attorneys, other organizations, property owners, management, and other departments to resolve project issues to meet standards as they arise.
Responds to and resolves customer inquiries and complaints; researches and responds to difficult customer account problems.
Reviews plans/details, submittals, specifications, contact documents, and soils reports.
Confers with Padre Dam engineers and contractors regarding work or materials that deviate from plans and specifications and ensures that approved corrective measures are applied.
Determines source control requirements for non-residential sewer installations and connections based upon District Rules and Regulations.
Acts as the main representative for Padre Dam on private development projects, and assists in resolving issues or problems related to those projects.
Reads and interprets boundary maps to determine inter-agency involvement, improvement districts, annexation requirements, special area surcharges, and assessment district requirements.
Inspects and approves private developer and Padre Dam contracted construction relating to earthwork, concrete, masonry, pipeline, steel fabrication, welding, manholes, outlet assemblies, valves, meters, structure pipeline, steel tanks, pump stations, lift stations, paving, and landscaping.
Assures that staff maintains records of progress and details of construction work and maintains daily reports and project record drawings.
Performs construction management activities to include: Preparing daily progress reports, extra work and change order requests; writing related correspondence, authorizing progress payments, accepting work on behalf of Padre Dam, signing off on projects, and responding to after-hour emergencies.
Reviews survey data and procedures to see that line, grade, and locations have been properly established and that they are adhered to during construction.
Monitors the disinfection / chlorination of facilities and takes samples for testing.
Sets and demonstrates inspection and location standards.
Performs locator duties to include locating facilities and setting up and operating measuring devices.
Maintains databases to track construction documents and monitor the approved process.
Project Management to include management of external consultants and contract management.
Performs other duties of a similar nature or level as assigned.
Training and Experience
Completion of coursework beyond high school related to mathematics, mapping, plan checking, and/or construction,
five years experience performing construction inspection or plan checking activities, including subdivision plans, maps and easements, preferably with underground facilities including one year of supervisory experience;
An equivalent combination of education and experience sufficient to perform the essential duties of the job.
Bachelor's degree in Engineering or a related field preferred
Professional engineering license (P.E.) desired.
Licensing Requirements
Valid CA driver's license
Engineering-In-Training Certificate within two test cycles after date of hire.
Competent Person Certificate Issued by the State of CA
Water Distribution Operator Grade D3 certificate from the State of CA, Dept. of Health Services within three test cycles of date of hire.
Additional Salary Information: Salary will be dependent on level of experience
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About Padre Dam Municipal Water District
Padre Dam provides water, wastewater, recycled water and recreation services to 100,000 residents in the San Diego suburbs of Santee, El Cajon, Lakeside, Flinn Springs, Harbison Canyon, Blossom Valley, Alpine, Dehesa and Crest. We are a public agency with policies and procedures directed by an elected five-member Board of Directors. Our infrastructure is worth $243 million and we have an annual budget of $53 million. We import 100% of our treated water supply and treat two million gallons per day (MGD) of wastewater at our Water Recycling Facility. Mission Our mission is to provide quality water, recycled water, park and recreational facilities and wastewater management services for our customers. We accomplish this mission in the most cost-effective manner possible, earning customer and community respect.
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text: Opening today at the Morgan Library and Museum is an exhibit featuring portraits of William Shakespeare. "The Changing Face of William Shakespeare" features the oil on panel portrait by an unknown artist and was inherited by Archbishop Charles Cobbe (1686-1785). The Cobbe portrait pictured above has been determined to be the original of a long series of portraits traditionally identified as Shakespeare. The exhibit runs through May 1. The Morgan Library and Museum is located at 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street.


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During this holiday season, as we approach the New Year, it's nice to look back and reflect on the progress we've made and the challenges we've faced (and some we have overcome). It's also nice to look forward to the year ahead, new challenges, and new opportunities.
Now, I'm not saying that the patient-centered medical home is going to bring peace on Earth and goodwill to all, but there certainly is a lot of joy to be had from being part of the transformation of our fractured healthcare system.
Changes brought about in our practices, and in the ways we practice medicine, already show signs of bringing long-lasting improvement to the system. We have certainly seen patients get more coordinated care and more team-based care, with more people helping them achieve the health state they need to get to.
Patients have been more safely and quickly transitioned from the inpatient setting back to their lives at home, more discharge medicines have been reconciled, and follow-up plans more seamlessly carried through.
We have seen dozens of examples of readmissions prevented by the care systems that were put in place. Patients getting their medicines in a timely fashion, more affordably, makes an enormous difference in their lives.
Care arranged at home can prevent patients from tipping back over the precipice that led to an admission in the first place. Building up a community team around them and getting them access to care when they need it helps keep them healthy and moving toward their health goals.
Our staff and all the members of the healthcare team in our practice are far more engaged in the process of caring for patients, and seem happier for doing so. Nurses are getting to do more nursing, doctors more doctoring, and social workers more social working.
And our internal medicine residents, who have been frustrated by the sometimes insurmountable mess of primary care medicine in the 21st century, seem to be coming on board with more enthusiasm and involvement. They're taking ownership of their patients as leaders of the healthcare team, following panels of patients, working on disease management projects, and helping drive best practices throughout the healthcare experience.
As we initiate and improve all of these aspects of care that are part of the patient-centered medical home, it is our hope that medical students exposed to primary care medicine will see a better lifestyle, a happier set of providers, and a less frustrated group of patients, which will inspire them to seek primary care as a more viable life choice.
And most important, at the center of it all are our patients. I cannot tell you how many times we have heard that their lives are better because of the innovations our practice has put into place over the past year or two. They tell me over and over again that they feel like there's a real team taking care of them, that everyone in our practice is looking out for their interests, helping them move along that path towards health.
Through speedier post-discharge follow up appointments, advanced access to care when they want to be seen, care coordinators following up with them and helping them get access to community resources, and even information technology providing them with more data about their own health, we are creating a more empowered, educated, satisfied, and hopefully happier and healthier patient.
And what might the year ahead hold?
As seen in this column over the past year or two, we've faced hurdles and barriers aplenty -- some too high to get over and some which just challenged us to push harder.
We will continue to demand the resources necessary to build out our healthcare teams and to create truly patient-centered teams made up of care coordinators, doctors, nurses, NP's, PA's, registrars, technicians, social workers, community workers, and whoever else is needed to take care of our patients.
We will push for the support needed to build information technology so that it functions how we and our patients want (and need) it to function, to provide us and them with useful and timely healthcare information to help make the best medical decisions.
And we will push to help change this fractured healthcare system to create an environment where each and every member of the team is able to truly practice up to their license, to perform the duties they have been trying to perform, been trained to perform, and desperately want to perform, to take the best care of our patients.
Our institution starts an accountable care organization on Jan. 1, a brand-new year. New rules and regulations, new resources, new committees. A different funding stream from the federal government is expected to arrive as well, with its own set of goals, directives, restrictions, and oversight.
I can only hope that as we move forward -- us here at our institution and you at yours -- that we all continue to keep our goals in sight, always moving forward to build the best possible healthcare system that our patients and this nation deserve.
Looking back at the year gone by, and ahead to the year we face, I remain excited and enthusiastic about continuing on this grand experiment, and I'm glad that you're taking this trip with me.
Be well, and a healthy and happy New Year to all.


text:
Champions for Wellbeing (PANCo)
Who do we turn to for advice about healthy behaviours and what works in Early Years?
PurpleBee offers the gold standard in online training for the nationally-recognised role of PANCo (Physical Activity and Nutrition Co-ordinator). A PANCo is a champion for change; having a qualified PANCo in your setting gives Early Years settings the in-house expertise to integrate a culture of positive health, physical activity and wellbeing in children, their families and staff.
A PurpleBee CACHE Level 4 PANCo certification can help you to meet and exceed Ofsted's expectations around the health and wellbeing of children, families and your team.
'Early Years Practitioners provide a healthy diet and a range of opportunities for physically active play, both inside and outdoors. They give clear and consistent messages to children that support healthy choices around food, rest, exercise and screen time.'
Ofsted Education Inspection Framework 2019
Sign up for our FREE Taster Mini PANCo Series to help you get up to speed with key topics in Early Years through three short videos. Includes a FREE infographic.
Our Starter Guides are introductory level CPD courses for PANCo which can be studied as a standalone online course or a first step into a Career Enhancement Programme.


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The White Sands Pupfish (24-27) had a tough outing on Monday, as the Alpine Cowboys (39-18) dominated in a 15-5 win at The Aquarium.
The Alpine Cowboys scored six runs in the ninth on the Alpine Cowboys scored in the ninth on a passed ball, a two-run double by Casanova Donaldson, and a three-run triple by Austin Prott.
The Alpine Cowboys were led by a flawless day at the dish by John Hotta, who went 4-4 against the White Sands Pupfishs pitching. He singled in the second, third, fifth, and ninth innings.
Anthony Figliola picked up the win for the Alpine Cowboys. Figliola allowed one earned run, eight hits and two walks while striking out five over 7 2/3 innings of work.
The White Sands Pupfish were led by Miguel Castanos hitting. Castano went 2-3, drove in one and scored one run. He singled in the eighth inning and doubled in the ninth inning.
Ian Drapsho (4-2) was the games losing pitcher. He allowed eight runs in five innings, walked three and struck out three.
The Alpine Cowboys hammered the White Sands Pupfish pitching as six hitters had a field day, combining for 15 hits, 12 RBIs and eight runs scored.


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A SERIAL killer serving 75 years for murdering two children and a young woman breaks his silence for the first time in almost three decades.
Alejandro "Alex" Henriquez still maintains his innocence as he told Piers Morgan that the New York Police Department made him a "scapegoat".
The 57-year-old was given three consecutive life sentences in 1992 for the murders of Jessica Guzman, 10, Shamira Bello, 14, and Lisa Ann Rodriguez, 21.
The victims were strangled and beaten with rocks.
Piers sat down with the inmate at Sullivan Correctional Facility for an exclusive interview in the upcoming ITV series Serial Killers.
He heard how Henriquez says he has nothing to do with the three murders.
Henriquez said: "You're not paying me for the interview, I'm not here because I want to meet you.
"Let's go back to the fact that I conned, liar, cheat, whatever you want to call me fine. That has nothing to do with taking three innocent lives."
Henriquez refuses to acknowledge what he's done or show any remorse despite Piers' attempts to get him to confess.
The Bronx serial killer said: "My life has been destroyed, my family's life has been destroyed and yet I'm innocent.
"It's been 28 years and we tend to overlook the evidence."
The disturbing documentary delves into the national outcry over the death of Jessica Guzman in 1990.
Her death prompted the NYPD to put together a special task force to solve a string of murders over the previous two years in Bronx, New York.
Henriquez became the prime suspect during the investigation when it emerged that he was the last person to be seen with Jessica.
Who is Alejandro Henriquez?
Alejandro "Alex" Henriquez is serving 75 years, or three consecutive life sentences, for murdering two children and a young woman.
He was convicted in 1992 of killing of Jessica Guzman, 10, Shamira Bello, 14, and Lisa Ann Rodriguez, 21.
The victims were strangled and beaten with rocks.
He was arrested following public outcry for the murder of Jessica in 1990 when the NYPD put a special taskforce together.
He was the last person to be seen with Jessica.
FBI legend James Fitzgerald claims Henriquez is a psychopath.
The businessman was convicted when he was 31 and still maintains his innocence 26 years later.
He was also known to the other two victims.
Henriquez is also considered a suspect, but has not been charged, in three other deaths.
The murder victims were Heriberto Marrero, 15, his niece, Nilda Cartagena, 13 and Annette Rosario, 17.
Piers worked with FBI legend James Fitzgerald and the man who caught "the Unabomber" Theodore J. Kaczynski to explore the case.
The team identified psychological clues into the Bronx killer's behaviour.
These clues offer insight into Henriquez's behaviour.
Fitzgerald said psychopaths like control and it is their way of surviving.
He said: "They don't want to be controlled, they want to control others and they'll do anything within their power, through lies, through manipulation, through even violence to get those points across."
The FBI legend hinted that Henriquez went after younger girls because he "may not have been able to perform" with women his own age.
He explained: "The fact that he kept going after these young girls is a clue that maybe his sexual activities with women around his own age weren't going quite the way he would have liked.
"He quite frankly may not have been able to perform at times with them, so what he would wind up doing is regressing in his own psycho-sexual way to these younger women, children and that's how he would somehow gain control over them and satisfy his sexual needs."
- ITV's Serial Killer with Piers Morgan airs on Thursday at 9pm
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at firstname.lastname@example.com or call 0207 782 4368 . You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.


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Saturday, March 27, 2010
Rock's Royal Sushi - A Review
Anyone who has been eating sushi for many years knows that there are a few sushi "Masters" in Cape Town, some know them all, others know of 2 or 3 and some only know the ones they follow.
Rock, in my most humble opinion, is one of those "Masters" (I know a few more but this isnt about them :P ). In the industry, Rock is known as the "go to guy" if you want to know which sushi chefs to hire and he has trained a fair few of the chefs in Cape Town.
For many years we have followed Rock, from his days with Cape Town Fish Market, to Food Lover's Market and now to his own place in Table View.
Not working alone, Rock has recruited Jesse, also from CTFM and FLM as his second in command and together they make fantastic sushi.
The service needs a mention as a bit of a caution. It isnt fantastic, the waiting staff still has a lot to learn but at the same time they are not disasterous and with a bit of patience everything is good :)
So for my ratings
Food ❤❤❤❤❤
Service ❤❤♡♡♡
Price ❤❤❤❤♡
p.s. I love this place so much I started a group for it http://bit.ly/9U9Wiw
3 comments:
I am a big fan of sushi, but so many places seem to be sub-standard in the quality, never mind the price. I'll give Rock's place a go based on your expertise and review :)ReplyDelete
Great! Let me know how it goes.Rock and Jesse know me and my family well so we tend to always get great service, it will be interesting to know how a new person experiences itReplyDelete
There like a bear.ReplyDelete
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Free online Moms Home Job
Visit to – www.freeonlinehomejobs.com Home jobs and Wondershare are pleased to announce the summertime affiliate sales contest. We're giving away a total of $3500 in cash for selling hot Wondershare products for business, training & productivity, multimedia, mac and more! Now's your chance to heat up your affiliate sales with increased commissions of 60% for all Wondershare products and have the opportunity to win one of three cash prizes. The contest will run June 16-August 31, 2011, and will include affiliate sales for all Wondershare (RegNow ID 8799) products during this time. Please see the Contest Details section at the bottom of this email for more information on the contest rules. Wondershare is a company dedicated to meeting the needs of today's consumers by providing them with a diverse catalog of software products and services with more than 60 different products across consumer, business, education and training segments – and over 25 new products launching in 2011. With nearly 1.1 million customers around the world, Wondershare's affordable and user-friendly product lines offer solutions for both home and business use. Visit to – http
Republished by Blog Post Promoter


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I'm going to be big about this and not get all giggly. It's basically an incontinence sensor for folks who, through no fault of their own, can't tell when they've wet themselves.
Consisting of a sensor that fits inside the SIMPants (again, not making this up or laughing), the SIMBox has a SIMstrip that senses wetness and goes to the SIMserver that connects to the SIMsystem Manager. It then sends text messages or will page the nurses or assistants or the hospital's loudspeaker system.
As carers are often unable to immediately respond to events, the software will display a summary log of alerts and manual observations can also be entered. The final bladder chart includes all observations in one easy-to-read report.
On completion of the 3-day assessment, the SIMsystem™ Manager produces shift, daily and 3-day reports that may be used by carers for the development of continence care plans.
In a way, this is the perfect gadget: it gives a person back their dignity instead of taking it away. I hope when I'm at this point someone will get an SMS when I need to be changed.


text:
All members are welcome to club events. Please book at the office.
Regular Events
Happy Hour weekly on Fridays after bridge (approx. 4:30pm)
Special events
October 2019; Sunday 6th of October:Pairs Congress 10 am to 5 pm
November 2019 ; Tuesday 5th on November Melbourne Cup Day
December 2019; Sunday 8th of December Swiss Pair Congress 10 am to 5 pm
Monday 16th of December Members' Xmas Party


text:
Upon leaving Japan, something I had prepared for but still shocking occurred.
I had booked a business class flight with Air China from Japan to Ho Chi Minh City, and I was pretty excited about my flight. I arrived at Narita Airport and checked in at the counter. I gave the lady at the counter my passport, and she asked where I was going, I informed her that I was going to Ho Chi Minh, at this point I had not told her for how long. She asked me for my visa, note that, for British Citizens entering Vietnam up for 15 days we do not require a visa. I informed the lady, if I am going for up to 15 days, a visa is not required. Therefore, I didn't understand why she was asking for one. You can also obtain a visa on arrival which is common and to be frank, and she should have known about this option.
Nevertheless, as I would be in Vietnam for five weeks, I had applied for a letter of invitation which I gave her. She gave the letter of invitation to two of her colleagues whom then inspected the letter for 20 minutes, they brought an iPad out and discussed the letter. I admit that I did not understand what they were saying but the constant picking up and looking at the letter made it very apparent what was happening.
While this was happening the check-in clerk asked me how long I would be staying in Vietnam, I informed her 2.5 weeks in Ho Chi Minh and 2.5 weeks in Hanoi. She asked me how would I be getting from Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi, and I was perplexed by this, I was tempted to say to her I plan to walk, but that would not have gotten me anywhere. She also wanted to know when I would be leaving Vietnam, and I informed her of the date. While I was providing her with this information, she wrote it all down, and I thought that was the end. However, I was wrong.
After she had finished noting all the information I had provided, she asked to see my flight details for my journey to Vietnam, and to Thailand which would be my next stop. At this point, I was getting very annoyed by her behaviour as I could see what her colleagues were doing with my letter of invitation.
I provided her copies of my flight details which I had in an email, and she checked the flight information to make sure this was accurate. If you could see the look on my face, it was clear I was angry, however, in these situations being angry and vocalising my frustration could easily stop me getting on the flight which I did not want.
The check-in clerk then dared to ask for my addresses in Vietnam, and now, I felt that she had gone too far with her questions. I declined to answer and informed her she does not need my addresses while in Vietnam as she is not the immigration officer and has enough information to know when I will be leaving Vietnam. She kept quiet! In hindsight, I should have said something sooner and this situation all of this would have ended. However, at the time all I wanted to do was get on my flight and move onto warmer climates.
I will be honest I felt there was a hint of racism in what had occurred. As I looked around me, none of the other passengers were going through the same questioning process as myself. Moreover, the checking in process does not take almost 40 minutes to complete when there are no issues! It left a slightly sour taste in my mouth, but I had to remind myself not everyone behaves in this way.


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About us
Development process
Technical Specification
Research & Strategy
UI & Graphic Design
QA & Usability Testing
Technical Specification
The purpose of a technical specification in a software development project is to define the customer's technical requirements that will be addressed by the project.At the stage of the creation a technical specifications , it is assumed the writing of the document describes in detail the functionality of the project and the customer needs. Together with our managers this document will be formed.
Research & Strategy
Together we examine the market opportunity, the industry competition, technology advances, and end-user needs to create plans that integrate the client's web and mobile strategy into their overall strategy. Our products are appealing and engaging, as well as deliver a great user experience.
UI & Graphic Design
A clear, intuitive and user friendly interface is a foundation for a successful application, regardless of the platform. Our years of software usability and design expertise, enables us to create functional, platform-specific and elegantly designed user interfaces for desktop, mobile and web applications.
This is the process that involves our software engineers, who's task is to make the drawn design and functionality of the project come to life.
QA & Usability Testing
Software QA involves the entire software development process - monitoring and improving the process, making sure that any agreed-upon processes, standards and procedures are followed, and ensuring that problems are found and dealt with.
What we do?
Individual approach to every client. We are always happy to work on projects with high level of complexity, reaching to bring the project to a high level, constantly improving, and never leaving a job half done.
We can talk for hours about how we are good and effective, but your opinion will always be the most accurate and important.
Ekaterina Vlasova
BigBrother was involved in the development of a CRM system for intrnal needs of our company. At this time they are supporting the CRM system and continuing to develop new features that are necessary. All communicaton is conducted through project management system, which garauntees a great result. Good reference is deserved in fact that the company works on internal projects and are ready to provide a wide range of solutions to the client needs.
Kiril Vasiliev
Great job! The guys produced a full site migration from an old engine to a new one with added functionality. Everything was done in a promt matter, were always online, answered all questions, discusse all details, and all of this at a democratic price. Very happy with the cooperation.
Alex Belov
Sinncerely grateful to the company for taking our online store for servicing, which was developed on Shop-Scrips 5 with a freelancer, that was doing work on our site and than disapeared. Before them I reached out to many other companies, that were in the experts list, but most were not willing to take onn this job because of the difficuty. We trusted out store to BigBrother, take took on the job and we don't have a single regret.
Irene Demidova
Only the most positive emotions. The most important is the end result. Never did I think that project development with be such a big help from the beginning! I thought that everything was going to be coded from the start, and I am happy that I did not demand this from the start. First of all we got rid of unwanted features and added those that are in fact needed by the user.
Contact Us
BigBrother, Starokubanskaya Str.114, Krasnodar, Russia


text:
The "3rd-man seat" is installed between the driver and passenger seats to comfortably fit an additional passenger in the cab area. There is a storage compartment under the seat cushion for maps and such, and when unoccupied, the seat-back flips down to offer a drink holder. The seat comes in black vinyl, and a lap style seat belt is included with the clever mounting bracket kit
>>Note: Yes, this seat fits Sprinters with bulkhead partitions
3rd-man seat for the 07-2019 Sprinter: $929 optional installation at our shop: $200
…what is the 3rd man seat ?
for the 2007-2019 Sprinter
Now available is the 3rd man seat for the OLDER, 2002-2006 Sprinter. The seat kit installs with common hand tools and a drill, and allows a third passenger to tag along comfortably. When unoccupied, the seat-back flips down to offer a drink holder, and there's storage under the lower seat cushion. A lap style seat belt is included with the direct-fit mounting kit.
>>Note: Yes, This seat will fit your Sprinter even if there's a bulkhead partition.
3rd-man seat for 02-06 Sprinter: DISCONTINUED
for the 02-2006 Sprinter
Note: A small number of Sprinters come with a floor vent between the seats (see photo at right). The 3rd-man seat will NOT fit these vehicles.


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The Wild West is back, ready or not
For a second, I thought I was watching a remake of "High Noon." If you recall, most disputes pictured in the movie were settled by gunfire.
But I wasn't watching a remake of the classic Western. I was watching what is called in the broadcast industry an actuality, something that was actually happening at the moment.
To my surprise, I was seeing a radio communicator interview a person who was protesting outside an event where President Obama was speaking. That is not strange in and of itself, but the interviewer had a pistol strapped to his body, and the person he was interviewing had a rifle strapped to his -- formidable looking weapons.
The person with the rifle was strutting back and forth as though he was modeling his weapon.
At first, I couldn't believe my eyes. Then I started to listen to these two gunslingers discuss the right to bear arms.
But at the president's appearance about health care? If they thought they were going to get into the meeting bearing arms, the Secret Service had other ideas. They had to check their weapons at the door, or not enter.
That made me feel better; however, on top of that scene there was another event of the same character in New Hampshire, where a person waiting near a presidential appearance also had a pistol strapped to his body. Like the others, he strutted around the area outside of the meeting displaying his weapon -- perfectly legal, but in very bad taste, and a visible threat to anyone who might be there to embrace the president's health plan.
This is not a criticism of the gun laws that the National Rifle Association has successfully pushed through Congress and the Supreme Court, but it is a criticism of the wanton way some members of the NRA interpret the rules. Was the wearing of the guns and rifles supposed to throw a scare into those who were attending the public meeting? I don't think that officials of the NRA would stand for such a display of power at a government-sponsored meeting.
But the gun bearers aren't the only ones who've managed to get their point across. So have the disruptors of the congressional town hall meetings on health care.
They apparently like the plans that they have, and can obviously afford them. So, it's a situation of, I've got mine, and those who don't will just have to suffer with no prescription medicine, or proper medical attention. It comes under the heading of, "Suffer the little children" -- and everyone else without medical insurance.
I was raised from childhood that this was a nation of caring; caring for others who might not be as fortunate as you are. I can remember the days long before health insurance when doctors made house calls, and if they saw destitute conditions in a home, they waived any charge.
There was a beneficent doctor in Stamford; as a matter of fact, there were many. But Dr. Bernard Nemoitin Sr. became a legend. He would visit families in the tenements on Pacific Street, where the downtrodden, hard-working families lived. He usually took a fresh chicken or some eggs in payment for his services. Many years later, when his son became a doctor, those families continued to call on the son, who in many ways carried on the tradition by having patients line up in front of his office on Saturdays.
But presently, we have gun-toting citizens strutting outside of presidential meetings, and others who shout down congressmen inside. Very little empathy for families in trouble seems to exist in some parts of the country.
There is speculation that the major insurance companies and their public relations agencies are the drivers of much of the above -- especially the screamers inside the meetings. That is not democracy, not the way it was taught to me.
Don Russell is a columnist for The Advocate. His e-mail address is email@example.com.