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It's time to be a good neighbour! In much of Toronto, the City provides mechanical sidewalk snow clearing. But in some parts of Toronto, (mainly the core area), the city is unable to provide this service. That's why the City asks all residents and business owners in those areas to clear the ice and snow from sidewalks adjacent to their properties within 12 hours of a snowfall. Clearing the ice and snow from the sidewalk in front of your home or business will make it safer for everyone. Failure to do so could result in a fine of $100.00 plus $25.00 surcharge, total $125.00 as per Municipal Code Chapter 719. If you plan to use salt, please take care to use the proper amount and not use too much. Using alternative products such as clay kitty litter or sand is also a good idea.
If you are a senior or disabled person living in the core area, and require the sidewalk snow clearing service, you may download the application form (PDF) and submit it to the City along with the required documentation. If you have any questions about the form, the service or are unable to print the form, please contact 311 (service available in some parts of Toronto, York and East York only). If you already completed the application last year, you DO NOT need to re-submit (this process was just recently changed).
You can also visit this website, call 311 or email email@example.com. They can help you get in touch with a Community organization that offers snow removal services for seniors and the disabled (at a fee).
Keep in mind that City staff do NOT clear snow from private property.
Here is a brief description of what you can expect and some helpful numbers to call if you require assistance.
- Sidewalks will be cleared when the snow has stopped and the accumulation has reached eight centimetres (three inches) in November, December and March and five centimetres (two inches) in January and February.
- The service does not include the clearing of snow from driveways or private approaches (private sidewalks) leading to a residence.
- This service can take up to 72 hours after the snow has stopped.
- If your property is a corner lot, the sidewalk on the flank will not necessarily be cleared at the same time as the sidewalk at the front. This work is sometimes performed by different equipment.
- While every attempt is made to clear all the residences on the service within 72 hours, if your sidewalk has not been cleared after 72 hours after the end of a snowfall, please call the appropriate number below and staff will place your address on our "missed list" and crews will be scheduled to attend and clear the sidewalk.
If you have any questions about Toronto's snow clearing service, call 311.


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Australias largest bird of prey, the majestic Wedge-tailed Eagle, is known to soar through the sky for hours on end, frequently reaching altitudes of up to 2,000 metres. In the heat of the day, the eagle makes use of hot thermal air currents that drift up from the ground to reach these dizzying heights, whilst expending little energy.
Proof Quality 99.99% Pure Gold
Each coin is struck by The Perth Mint from 1oz of 99.99% pure gold in proof quality.
Spectacular John M Mercanti Reverse Design
The Perth Mint commissioned American sculptor and engraver, John M Mercanti, the 12th Chief Engraver of the United States Mint, to create the 2015 Australian Wedge-tailed Eagle design.
Each coins reverse depicts an impressive Wedge-tailed Eagle in mid-flight as it prepares to land on a tree branch. The design also includes the inscription AUSTRALIAN WEDGE-TAILED EAGLE, the 2015 year-date and The Perth Mints P mintmark.
Australian Legal Tender
Each coin is issued as legal tender under the Australian Currency Act 1965 and features the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and the monetary denomination, on the obverse.
Limited Mintage
The Perth Mint will issue no more than 1,000 of the Australian Wedge-tailed Eagle 2015 1oz Gold Proof High Relief Coin.
Presentation Packaging and Numbered Certificate
Additional Info
|Metal Content
|Perth Mint
|Diameter (mm)
|Thickness (mm)
|Australian Wedge Tailed Eagle
|Box & Certificate
What are your shipping fees for international shipments?
International shipments of collectible products over $500USD are shipped for free.
Hong Kong and Macau shipments of collectible products over $1000HKD are shipped for free.
For orders under these amounts please use our shipping calculator.
What are your shipping fees for local shipments?
Local collectible orders are shipped for free.
Is my shipment insured?
All shipments sent by LPM are insured, however orders are only covered while in transit. Coverage is terminated upon arrival of the package (marked as delivered or notice of signature from carrier).
What if I have a mixed collectible and bullion order to ship?
Collectible orders will be shipped for free if they meet the minimum requirements but the bullion portion of the shipment will need to be paid by you.
Can I track my shipment?
Yes, you will be given a tracking number by email once your order has been shipped.

subset: commoncrawl


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JOHN Squire's new album Time Changes Everything is his first recording since 1996 — following his seminal work with The Stone Roses and Seahorses — and sees the legend take centre stage as vocalist.
(Before Roses fans write in, yes, technically, John's vocals can be heard on 'Tightrope', the campfire blues that was one of the highlights of 'Second Coming'. But that doesn't count.)
Following experiments with several potential band line-ups, John found himself working alone.
"It was the first time since the Roses that I didn't have a plan," he said.
Loathed to waste more time and energy finding a new singer, and a desire to stop having "my ideas refracted through someone else", he decided to try out his own voice for the first time.
Simon Dawson, co-producer of Second Coming was recruited to work with him in recording new demos.
The results of the initial recordings — developed into full-blown sessions with drummer Andy Treacy, bassist Jonathan White, and keyboard player John Ellis at John's Peak District home — resulted in a mixing session at Mayfair Studios in London.
But if you think this record will be the 'Roses continued', you should save your money because instead it's an intriguing 10-track album of soft rock and Clapton-esque vibes.
Launch track Joe Louis has a lovely riff and track six 15 Days has a pleasing lilt and beautiful guitars.
But that's just 20 per cent of an album that is largely just too mundane and uninteresting — it doesn't break boundaries or offer new insights.
I'm not sure what Squire's trying to achieve with his vocals but he sounds more permanently drunk than a gravel-voiced Tom Waits enigma.
Time does change everything, including my belief that this album will sell.


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Now that I know…Wednesday, February 29, 2012
So I figured out what my blogging problem is… The last time I blogged was after we got back from our trip to the Homestead. Also the weekend of Whitney Houston's death. So then I watched the funeral on TV that weekend and wrote this post in my head on death and all of the tragic happenings that continue to pop up in the lives of so many people I know and love these days…
But that is the kind of a deep post that would take a lot of thought and time to compose well.
And since I spend all of my spare time making coasters for my Etsy shop, and the remaining seconds reading "The Hunger Games" (uh-dicted), I don't even try to blog because I don't have time to post the deep lengthy one.
So then I just don't blog at all. Even if a million, short, funny things happen in the meantime that would take me five minutes to write.
Welcome to two weeks without a new post. This happens all. the. time. Clearly.
I tell ya, first world problems are just so hard.
I'll try to do better…


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With Kanye West's recent album Yeezus leaking into the mainstream ahead of its official launch date, critics aren't the only ones looking to West for answers. While a leaked album is always going to be a hot potato topic, Kanye is renowned for setting a new standard and wardrobe when pushing to the next level. What you might not realize is that while yes, all albums are marketed to some degree; it's not always in the ways that you think.
Look at these revealing choices Kanye has made over the years, and we at Male Standard think you might be surprised to see there is more than meets the eye to this style icon!
College Dropout
Back in 2004, Kayne burst on to the scene with what would quickly become his first original and signature look. What you might not know is that even then, Kanye was switching things up, and his 'Louis Vuitton Don' approach to fashion made him an instant icon. From the launch of his career, fashion and men's grooming have been at the forefront of this mind, and his two Holy Grail brands Ralph Lauren and Louis Vuitton remain as such to this day.
Photo credit: Esquire
His enthusiasm for fashion was so significant that it influenced the front cover of his first album College Dropout, and features him dressed as a remarkably similar Ralph Lauren bear.
Late Registration
A new album signaled a new look for West, when he appeared on red carpets sporting new brand names. It was very much 'out with the old.' With the 2006 Grammys acknowledging his success, West took to the stage sporting a lilac satin three-piece tuxedo and sneakers, proving that this was a man who knows what he wants and would never stop short to get it. This was an exciting experimental time, and showed that fashion can be fun.
It was also the first time we began to wonder if music was Kanye West's first love, or fashion, as his music showed incredible diversity after this colorful debut.
808 & Heartbreak
After playing out casual kicks and nightclub wear (remember those white neon shades from his Daft punk induced Era?), West kicked it up with 808 and showed us how he is not only a great rapper but also a prodigy in the world of fashion. Like anyone who has suffered from a broken heart, Kayne showed us how to 'butterfly' into something bigger and better. Sadly, this was also a time where he grew a mullet, showing that you can also 'win some and you lose some.
In 2009, Kanye West took to the air and journeyed into celebration of his fourth album with an unofficial fashion show world tour, hitting up Milan, Paris, and London!
The Amber Rose Era
With his head in the fashion clouds, we soon saw Kanye move his heart to the love of a new woman, Miss Amber Rose. With this change of motivation, we saw Kayne buck the new album new fashion trend, and instead took on a new casual style that had the same spunky attitude as his best gal. During this time, Kayne was proud to work with his fashion icon Lois Vuitton, and moved away from his urban youth and into the elite world of YSL and beyond.
Throughout 2010, we saw tons of denim and whitewashing, which some argued was better left in the 80's. The his and hers look would also see another revival after this stone cold breakup.
NBA All Star Performance
Not one to pass up the chance to make a scene, West took the NBA All Star Half-show Game with Rihanna sporting Air Jordan 6's and a striking all red ensemble. This wardrobe choice saw Kayne move back to his causal roots, but without any of the normalcy you wouldn't expect. If there is one thing West knows how to do, it's put on a show. The red monochromatic look will be another of his lasting tributes to fashion.
The lights reflecting back in his sunglasses that sets Kanye on a pedestal is no mere coincide but rather a signature look of how he presents himself.
Yeah, we'd be smiling too…
We see West continue with his sneaker obsession into his Watch the Throne Era, where he was sporting fresh new Nike Air Yeezy 2s. As anyone who went to the shows thereafter knows, this was his staple "work" uniform for the entire tour.
The Kardashian Era
When new beau and recent baby Momma Kim Kardashian hit the scene, Kayne shared his heart and his love of fashion with his top women. We see Kayne introduce Kim to the world of luxury fashion and lifestyle choices, and tons of his and hers celebrity matching outfits. If it weren't so cliché, it wouldn't be Kanye. Kim was even matched with a pair of her very own Yeezy 2s for women as shown below.
When not matching, opposite color schemes have taken West and Kardashian from the streets to the Red Carpet shamelessly.
Modern Day Kayne West: Yeezus
With a new album, lady, and baby, we were wondering what this year has in store for Kayne in terms of fashion and men's grooming. We'd say his best so far!
The day of the Yeezus album leak, Kanye was dressed to impress, and highlighting his unique blend of his years of music and fashion success combined. One thing about fashion and fame is that Kanye knows you will make mistakes, but knowing what works for you is what makes this journey so deeply rewarding. As Kayne matures, so has his confidence and sense of style. We are looking at 2013 as a year for suits, ties and sneakers, a stellar power-combo!
The beard is neatly trimmed, the hair short, and overall a professional yet pleasing look you could actually conceive of wearing yourself, bravo!
His choice of simplicity over daring makes this a classic style that is easy to turn into your own without overkilling it. Sticking to black, white, red, and grey clothing and men's accessories is a great style choice that will bring you into 2014 with some great fashion moments. The additions of gold jewelry mark the 'Return of the Mack' and his oversized sunglasses are bang on trend for summer (Read more here).
What Do You Think? Leave A Comment Below And Let Us Know If Kanye West Or His Fashion Choices Have Ever Inspired You!


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Where to begin?
I've thought about writing this a few times and then stopped myself. One: through sheer embarrassment and two: for fear of opening a can of worms.
I don't even really know how to say this and can feel my cheeks flushing as I write. But here goes…
I was brought up and raised as a Jehovah's Witness. Don't all roll your eyes at once, as was the standard reaction when I was a kid. I walked away from it all at around the age of 17 and haven't looked back since, however, my thoughts and feelings surrounding the way in which I grew up remain strong and if I'm quite honest enrage me at times.
It's not something I think about daily but every now and then it will rear its ugly head or I'll see something about Jehovah's Witnesses and think 'Oh what now!' Yesterday my friend shared this video on Facebook and watching it just reminded me of the things I was told. When I look back, it really is unfathomable to me that anyone can teach this indoctrinated way of thinking to children and get away with it. Here's the absurd video, straight from JW headquarters, this video is absolutely genuine and demonstrates the same 'lessons' I was taught as a child. Watching it really does beggar belief.
This is what it's like to grow up in a cult.
You are told that there is only one way, that 'worldly people' are evil and corrupt. That homosexuality is wrong, that blood transfusions are wrong, that the bible is wrong. Sex before marriage, women in positions of power, HARRY POTTER (!) Yep, you guessed it…
Wrong, wrong wrong!
Jehovah's Witnesses are not worshippers of God in the traditional sense, they have their own version of the bible and of course their literature in the form of The Watchtower and The Awake; you might have had them thrust at you on a street corner, or worse had someone knock on your door, armed with magazines, inviting you to bible study. They call what they believe 'The Truth' and when you meet another JW at a conference or similar you would say to them 'Do you believe in The Truth?'
As far as I know there's not a secret handshake.
I should point out that since meeting Justin I converted to Catholic and although I suppose I'm not practising (as in I don't go to church regularly) the children are all baptised as Catholic. I think part of me feels guilty for not going to church but the other part of me is relieved that I live my life without the constraints of having to. I don't feel quite brave enough to walk away from organised religion and go it alone.
I do believe in God or at least I want to believe in something.
To not believe when I was growing up would have meant exile from all that I knew and even from my family. My Dad was disfellowshipped, looking at that expression written down summons all sorts of weird Lord of the Rings connotations and actually makes me laugh out loud at the absurdity of it. He was shunned and expelled from the congregation because he smoked and liked a drink. As far as the organisation and the Elders (I told you it's very Tolkein) were concerned they wouldn't speak to or acknowledge him if they were to see him. As his children, we were also supposed to shun him so that he lived in eternal condemnation. We did not do this, and neither did my mum but still it must have been incredibly hard for him emotionally.
Now considering my dad was very poorly for much of his short life – he died aged 46 when I was 18 – I lived with a constant sick feeling that when he did eventually die he would be bound for the depths of hell.
I grew up believing that one day pretty soon armageddon would hit. Decisions would be made; you would either be chosen for eternal life or you would burn in hell. No in between. Being a naughty headstrong and mischievous little girl, in my head I was convinced that I wouldn't be chosen and so I had my escape route planned. I remember being around 8 years old and practising throwing all my soft toys from my bedroom window in a bid to save them and myself from impending doom. I am not sure what I imagined but getting out of the front door was never an option. I used to have dreams that my sister and I would be dragged from our beds, separated forever.
Her in heaven me in hell.
The good from the wicked.
It was actually like living a nightmare and my sister and I have both agreed that we had a heavy feeling and an anxiety that we were never quite safe from it. Often at 'meetings' – Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays -we were reminded that armageddon and judgement day could happen at any time. The sooner the better for most of the congregation, I recall the excitement on the adult's faces at the prospect of the end of the world. Of course, it meant eternal life for them but every other living person and creature would be anhilated, this would be far worse than any war we've ever had.
God's decision would be final and I probably wouldn't make the cut.
So while other young children were read soothing bedtime stories we were faced with the grim images of burning buildings and dead bodies piled up in the street. It's no surprise that I still suffer from night terrors to this day as does my sister. Below are a few images I found and are the actual images I was shown as a child.
If all the preaching of doomsday wasn't enough, we were set apart at school because we did not celebrate Christmas or birthdays. I will never know how it feels to believe in magic, in Santa or the tooth fairy. I will never know what it feels like to make a wish when blowing out birthday candles and believe it might come true.
Because to believe means certain damnation from God. Even if that belief robs you of your entire childhood.
Birthdays were such a non-event in our house, I remember one day I asked my mum what the date was:
'Oh it's the 6th of September'
My birthday is on the 4th I'd turned 13 two days before, my journey into womanhood had begun with no mention, no salutation, no card, no cake or songs or candles, no present.
No nothing.
It has damaged me and not because I wanted material things, but because I longed to be normal.
By the time I got to secondary school I was becoming wise to it all, I knew that I didn't want people finding out and so I would lie when people asked what I got for my birthday making up elaborate stories of parties and new trainers to save myself the embarrassment of people finding out my secret. I carried around a lot of guilt for living a lie but it was better than the alternative.
I thanked my lucky stars each and every time we were sent on 'the work' to go knocking on doors in an attempt to convert others. I think I would have died if I'd happened upon someone's house I knew. I was very clever at getting out of things though, knowing by the age of 10 that if I put the thermometer under a lightbulb and then shook it down to just below 4o my mum would let me stay home. Or drinking just enough salt water to induce a light vomiting and then I wouldn't have to go.
All I really wanted to do on a Sunday morning was watch The Waltons, not go and listen to a load of crazies talking about how abhorrent gay people are or how stoning people that had sex before marriage in bible times was perfectly acceptable.
Or that Satan is the invisible ruler of the world…
I went to a sleepover at my friend's house once and we were watching some sketch programme on the tv. They did this thing where there was a pretend door and a different dubious character would knock on it, of course all my friends roared with laughter when behind one knock a man in an anorak showed up with a couple of magazines 'Jehovah's Witness calling' I went so red and wanted to cry, none of them knew about me but I felt like I wanted the floor to open and swallow me whole when it dawned on me just how much people in 'the world' loathe Jehovah's Witnesses.
Once I'd left 'The Truth' I went as far off the rails as humanly possible. Underage drinking and drug taking, I've lost count of the number of casual one night stands I've had, I rebelled in the truest sense of the word. I hurt myself and those around me.
I stopped caring, I met a boy who would treat me badly and I ended up pregnant by the age of 18, at the time there couldn't have been a worse predicament to have landed myself in but actually, somehow I managed to turn my life around and the rest, so they say is history.
Growing up in a cult has taught me a few things: there are crazy extremist people in the world, that couldn't care less if armageddon came and destroyed your life in fact, they would be gleeful. There are people that can not accept you if you're different, there are people that think they know the truth and you do not.
Armageddon never came, I turned my back on an organisation that is anything but holy, I have an open heart and a lot of love and acceptance for others.
That is how I have chosen to live.
That is my truth.


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Keystone Offers Three-Mountain Feast for Skiers and Riders
November 21, 2006
KEYSTONE, CO - (News Release) - More holiday travelers are expected to take to the skies, roads and slopes for the Thanksgiving holiday, according to AAA, and that's delicious news for Keystone and other ski and snowboard resorts around the country.
AAA estimates more than 38 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home this holiday, a 2.7 percent increase from last year with mountain areas expected to see 8.3 percent of travelers.
"Thanksgiving's the holiday known for carving - especially at Keystone where you can carve a turn on freshly groomed corduroy or carve into a scrumptious turkey dinner prepared by one of our award-winning chefs or do both," said Patricia Campbell, Keystone's new chief operating officer. "Keystone's serving up a veritable feast of skiing and snowboarding for the Thanksgiving weekend. We're opening all three mountains, a second base area, Keystone's tubing hill, our Nordic Center and also offering skiing and riding until 9 p.m. this weekend. You'll want to come back to Keystone for second or third helpings."
Located just 75 miles west of Denver and its international airport, Keystone opened earlier this month and plans to at least triple the amount of available terrain for Thanksgiving skiers and riders by opening all three mountains - Dercum, North Peak and The Outback. To sweeten the pot, Keystone plans to turn on the night lights for sunset skiing and riding until 9 p.m. Wednesday - Sunday only (Nov. 22-26).
The resort's A51 terrain park will serve up more treats - some of the only jumps in the country and a hearty helping of rails and boxes - for thankful holiday jibbers.
Blessed with bountiful natural snow, as well as one of the most high-tech snowmaking systems in the industry, Keystone has historically offered some of the best early-season snow conditions and event schedules. This year's no different.
Keystone's second base area, the Mountain House, will open during the day Wednesday - Sunday (Nov. 22-26) with lift access and skier services. On top of the mountain, Adventure Point tubing hill will open tomorrow for the season; reservations are required.
Keystone's on-mountain restaurants, Der Fondue Chessel and the Alpenglow Stube, as well as the resort's award-winning restaurants in the valley will serve turkey, mashed potatoes and all the fixings this weekend. To work off that extra piece of pumpkin pie, make tracks to Keystone's Nordic Center this weekend for snowshoe rentals and tours. Or, plan to take part in Keystone's holiday celebrations. For more information, click your way to keystoneresort.com.


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WoRMS name details
Podocoryne Luetken, 1850
158178 (urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:158178)
unaccepted (spelling error)
Species Podocoryne Haeckelii Hamman, 1882 accepted as Hydractinia fucicola (Sars, 1857) accepted as Stylactis fucicola (M. Sars, 1857) (taxon inquirendum)
Species Podocoryne alderi Hodge, 1863 accepted as Podocoryna borealis (Mayer, 1900) (possible synonym, species inquirenda)
Species Podocoryne americana Mayer, 1900 accepted as Podocoryna americana (Mayer, 1910) (basionym)
Species Podocoryne anechinata Ritchie, 1907 accepted as Hydractinia anechinata (Ritchie, 1907) (basionym)
Species Podocoryne apicata Kramp, 1959 accepted as Hydractinia apicata (Kramp, 1959) (basionym)
Species Podocoryne areolata (Alder, 1862) accepted as Podocoryna areolata (Alder, 1862) (spelling mistake)
Species Podocoryne bella Hand, 1961 accepted as Podocoryna bella Hand, 1961 (basionym)
Species Podocoryne borealis (Mayer, 1900) accepted as Podocoryna borealis (Mayer, 1900) (spelling mistake)
Species Podocoryne carnea M. Sars, 1846 accepted as Hydractinia carnea (M. Sars, 1846) accepted as Podocoryna carnea M. Sars, 1846 (spelling variant)
Species Podocoryne denhami Thornely, 1904 accepted as Hydractinia denhami (Thornely, 1904) (gensu transfer)
Species Podocoryne dubia accepted as Hydractinia dubia (Mayer, 1900) (synonym)
Species Podocoryne fulgurans ( A. Agassiz, 1865) accepted as Lizzia blondina Forbes, 1848 (synonym)
Species Podocoryne hayamaensis Hirohito, 1988 accepted as Hydractinia hayamaensis (Hirohito, 1988) accepted as Podocoryna hayamaensis Hirohito, 1988 (basionym)
Species Podocoryne inermis Allman, 1876 accepted as Hydractinia carnea (M. Sars, 1846) accepted as Podocoryna carnea M. Sars, 1846 (synonym)
Species Podocoryne meteoris Thiel, 1938 accepted as Paracytaeis meteoris (Thiel, 1938) (incorrect genus)
Species Podocoryne minima (Trinci, 1903) accepted as Podocorynoides minima (Trinci, 1903)
Species Podocoryne minoi (Alcock, 1892) accepted as Hydractinia minoi (Alcock, 1892) (synonym)
Species Podocoryne nassa Millard, 1959 accepted as Cytaeis nassa (Millard, 1959) (genus transfer)
Species Podocoryne ocellata (Agassiz & Mayer, 1902) accepted as Hydractinia ocellata (Agassiz & Mayer, 1902) (synonym)
Species Podocoryne proboscidea Hincks, 1868 accepted as Hydractinia proboscidea (Hincks, 1868) (basionym)
Species Podocoryne reticulata Fraser, 1938 accepted as Hydractinia reticulata (Fraser, 1938) (basionym)
Species Podocoryne selena Mills, 1976 accepted as Hydractinia selena (Mills, 1976) accepted as Hydractinia americana (Mayer, 1910) accepted as Podocoryna americana (Mayer, 1910) (synonym)
Species Podocoryne simplex Kramp, 1928 accepted as Podocorynoides minima (Trinci, 1903) (synonym)
Not documented
Schuchert, P. (2020). World Hydrozoa Database. Podocoryne Luetken, 1850. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=158178 on 2020-10-28
Martinez, Olga
The webpage text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
basis of record Neave, Sheffield Airey. (1939-1996). Nomenclator Zoologicus vol. 1-10 Online. [developed by uBio, hosted online at MBLWHOI Library]., available online at http://ubio.org/NomenclatorZoologicus/ [details]


text:
I am an artist, writer, and published author. Since 1992 I've called Madison home. The firstborn of six children, I was raised in Milwaukee where my first two books are based.
Double Exposure is the story of an intersex teen athlete who overcomes bullying and learns to stand in her personal power. It's won numerous awards. The paperback edition, along with an LGBTQ youth-focused educational supplement is scheduled for release this October. May it land in the hands of millions of middle and high school students, teachers, and librarians.
Ordinary Angels is part memoir, part novel. Originally, I wrote the book for the purpose of personal healing but because of a promise I made to my son—to publish a book by the time I turned 50—it became my first self-published novel. Ironically, after years of pursuing traditional publishing channels, it was a book I wasn't sure I wanted out in the world that landed me a New York literary agent.
My books are for young people of all ages, including those that live within us, no matter how old we might be. I write fiction focused on the struggles of those whose stories need to be told, from those whose voices need to be heard.
Perhaps the most subversive and radical thing I've done in my life, besides coming out as a lesbian, has been to keep writing; despite dyslexic challenges, countless rejection slips and years of near-publishing misses, and the casual comments from straight-white-male editors that my books were not "commercial enough." This literary label seemed to me to be a kind of code for books that contained gay characters or content; the kind of code words that closed doors.
Life changing words
But then came Amazon and Harry Potter—the series that changed the face of publishing forever, not only for young readers but the entire world! All because, in the dust and rubble of corporate layoffs and publishing mergers, a gay editor believed, like I do, that books can change the world.
That is why I suit up, and show up, and write.
This is why, though I was a single parent with a 13-year-old, and though it would require taking out school loans which I'm still paying back, and though I wasn't sure I was even a good enough writer, and though my spelling was still atrocious, I applied to Vermont College, for a low-residency writing program located in Montpelier where I earned my Masters of Fine Arts, while holding down a job and raising my son.
All because once, a long time ago, I read a book by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings called The Sojourner. The year was 1971, I was eleven years old and starting sixth grade in a new school in the suburbs. I'd picked that book up off my mother's library pile, because I was in the practice of pretending to read and I was tired of being teased about the picture books my younger siblings had long since left behind.
Then, it happened. To this day I can't explain it, but suddenly, the words started making sense. And the protagonist, a grown man from a different place and time seemed to whisper to me in some secret language that only my soul could know.
This book was not a child's book, but my world was not a child's world. And my mother, her Irish eyes, bloodshot, her belly ballooning with the last of six children, sipped her wine and succinctly stated, "That's nice dear."
Archie Comics, Shakespeare or the Bible, it made no difference to her—at least I was reading. No more endless evenings flashing cards in front of my face, turning b's into d's, or covering up the pictures to the storybooks I had memorized—verbatim.
Discovering a dream
My mother had enough on her hands, and out of the bunch, I was the oldest, the dependable one, the one she could count on to help with the babies. As she saw it, life crushes us all soon enough, what could it hurt to let me dream?
Every girl needs a dream.
Especially a girl who struggles in school, a girl who can't sit still, a girl who refuses to wear skirts, a girl who wants to run around shirtless with random packs of wild boys, a girl who races her bicycle off homemade jumps until it breaks in half, a girl who just doesn't seem to know how to act like a girl. The kind of girl that a mother worries about, so…
So what if I wrote my letters backwards and upside down. So what!
I was reading. A trapdoor had sprung open in my brain and now, somehow, the words no longer tripped me up. No longer intimidated me. Words, I decided, were the key. I couldn't always sound them out, but with contextual clues, I discovered an amazing secret. Not in the words themselves, but in the spaces between the words, around the words, within the words, into the world of knowing.
It was in this world of knowing that I began to write. Sporadically. Spasmodically. Illegibly. No one could read what teachers dubbed my "chicken scratch," yet these efforts served me well for I became adept at plumbing the messages buried deep within the crusty shells of images and words.
Things I could comprehend but not explain: the wine stains, like blood, on mother's closet floor; the frantic quivering of my brother's chin when he'd wet the bed; the chalky soap scum on my sister's lips after she called the lady who came to help around the house the n-word.
Wrestling with truth
Then something strange began to happen. The more I wrote, the more I began to remember: my brother Michael laid out in a tiny coffin, wearing a powder blue suit with a rosary wrapped in his three-year-old fingers and the gash on his forehead so finely powdered a person would hardly notice it after the accident.
Michael is in heaven now. We must not talk about it. Accidents happen.
I was the oldest, the dependable one. The one they could count on. So like Michael's body, I buried my memories, my questions, and my knowing. And it worked, slowly, gradually, I began to forget, until I forgot everything—even who I was.
I put down my books, my paper, my pen, and picked up a basketball. The single thing I had a talent for. In high school I made the varsity team and I clung to that ball like a drowning swimmer clings to a life vest; it alone would be my ticket out.
Out to a Jesuit University in Omaha, Nebraska on a four-year Division I basketball scholarship. Out into the post Title IX world of women's sports. Out amidst a world of tumbleweeds and new ideas and an endless array of words. Including words whispered with disdain: gay, dyke, sinner.
Once again, I picked up my pen and began to write.
On the court and on the page I pounded out my pain. Yet, wherever I went, a thin black thread tugged at my soul, as if I'd forgotten something, something important, and I was forever searching for it in the next basket, in the next town, on the next page.
I received a bonus Phys Ed grade for playing basketball. My only "A." At the end of the season someone outed my coach and she was fired. Rumors flew like torpedoes across campus and a few of my dorm mates simply disappeared, too.
"Lesbians." My roommate, a fellow freshman basketball player, shrugged her shoulders. "The school has a responsibility to protect us from predatory lesbians." I was in shock, and after a year of sleeping in dank hotel rooms across Iowa, Indiana, and South Dakota, then twisting my knee beyond repair, I quit.
In the company of books
My father was furious. "If you want to stay at that fancy school, you pay for it!" he shouted through the phone.
So I did. I took out loans. I landed a job as a resident adviser and during those late night shifts, I wrote and wrote and wrote. By day, I took as many "ology"s as my schedule would allow: theology, sociology, psychology, and after I graduated with a degree in marketing (less math, more ology's) I soared off to save the world.
Perhaps if I poured myself into helping other people I wouldn't have time to worry about the feelings surfacing inside me.
In California's San Joaquin Valley, known to the natives as the Grapes of Wrath County, I learned to make solar breadboxes and red-hot tamales and how to fend off the wild dogs that fed on the scraps of the poor. I learned that poverty had many faces, and that there were those who had little money and those who had little heart.
Most importantly, I learned to be alone.
On a mattress, on the floor, with the dry breath of night air and the smell of rotting muskmelons and the heat pressing down on me, I learned to silently sing myself to sleep with books—cheap, bent, paperbacks, and moldy Penguin classics. Whatever I could lay my hands on. Harper Lee. Pearl Buck. Flannery O'Connor. Kate Chopin.
I loved women writers.
Especially women of color, women who tackled tough issues head on, women who taught me what it meant to be a woman—beyond color, class, creed, or even sexual orientation. Maya Angelo. Alice Walker. Zora Neale Hurston.
Falling back
Then came the call that mother had fallen ill from an allergic reaction to the gold salt injections used to treat her Rheumatoid Arthritis. A solution that washed through her veins with rivers of red wine and whatever blue or red or pink pills could be had at the time.
I was the oldest, the dependable one, the one they could count on. I flew home and cooked and cared for the youngest boys, 10 and 12. The ones that came after Michael died. At my father's urging, I joined the family real estate business, and then I began to make money. More money than I knew what to do with.
Never mind dreams. Never mind the writing.
Like other women, I did what was expected of me, I met a man and married.
My mother was ecstatic. She insisted on a large Catholic wedding, and the night before I was to walk down the aisle I dreamed that I was trapped under the ice on the lake where I lived.
My friend tried to help me find a place to come up for air. My friend's father, a member of the Moral Majority, had recently dumped every picture of her into a large black trash bag and thrown it out onto her sister's front lawn.
The friend who'd introduced me to Ferron, Holly Near, and Chris Williamson. Who drank shots of double espresso and took me to my first gay bar in Portland, Oregon. My friend who patiently answered questions about her personal life, and who'd never been anything but loving and kind and incredibly generous.
If she was sinner, I should have realized that night, that I needed to get a different God. The next day, I cried all the way down the aisle, only I didn't know why. Shouldn't I be happy? I remember wanting to turn around and run, but there was an enormous church filled with 300 of my parents' best friends, three priests on the altar, one who'd tutored me when I played basketball in college, all ready to seal the deal. Not even my friend could save me now.
And love, I secretly decided, could fix this. After all, love was the answer to every problem, wasn't it? Determined to build the best life I could, I tried to be the wife I could be and before long I held in my arms the most beautiful creature I had ever laid eyes on; a wrinkled, brown-skinned boy.
Falling apart to build something better
But there was a problem—not with my baby, with me. Every time he cried, the blanched dead bones of my past grew flesh, gathered strength, and marched in my mind like a mad, thunderous army of truth.
Michael's in heaven, we must not talk about it.
I could not eat. I could not sleep. I lost track of what was then and what was now and when I could no longer count the scoops to make my baby's milk, when I lost even my words, I checked myself in.
"It helps some people to start at the beginning and write," the young doctor said.
So I did. I wrote, and I cried, and I wrote. I wrote until my eyes swelled shut, until the sobs shook through my body and the pen slipped from my hand, until I fell into a deep sleep, and it wasn't until I woke that I fully understood what my writing meant to me—that this irrepressible inner drive I had to understand my world, to delve deeply into the subtext of my life, to put thought forms out into the world was as vital to my essence as the air I breathe.
Writing saved my life. Without it, I doubt I would have survived to raise my son.
Writing gave me the first glimpse of a "God" I could understand.
Writing taught me that dyslexia was not a disability, but a gift, a leavening agent, like yeast, that would keep me humble enough to ask for help, willing enough to be persistent, and honest enough to accept who I really am.
Stories save lives
When I write, I cease to be, and I tune into my muses, my angels, who see the world like a dyslexic, from the inside-out, with x-ray eyes that can pierce the walls of any person or character's heart. No matter how hard or scarred it may be.
My muses are not burdened with burgeoning self-doubt and they define dyslexia as freedom, a way of seeing things differently and they whisper to me as the man in The Sojourner once did, in that secret language of the soul, ever-reminding me that I am not alone, nor have I ever been. There are people who think like me, feel like me, love like me, and the truth is gay or straight, black or white, Catholic or Jewish or Muslim or whatever, we are all more alike than we are different. Literature taught me this truth.
Only a week ago, the Assistant Surgeon General's office released a report on the health and well being of lesbian, gay, and bisexual high school students. Unfortunately the "T" was left out. The data supports the cold, hard truth that most of us already know: Teens who do not identify as heterosexual are at a far greater risk for isolation, depression, drug use, bullying, and suicide.
The suicide statistics for LGBTQ youth are staggering, and Double Exposure is dedicated to those we've lost to suicide, including my nephew, Jeffrey Fehr. And this is why we need to support LGBTQ writers. This is why we must read books, and pass them on, and write our own stories, and keep finding ways to fight the subtle forms of censorship that want to silence our voices.
Because we matter, our stories matter, our words matter, and books can transform, heal, and save lives! n
Bridget lives with her amazingly talented partner and creative cohort Roseann Sheridan, and their dog Sophie. To sustain her writing, she recently joined the Sprinkman Real Estate group, and will be offering
a free poem for every home! Learn more at bridgetbirdsall.com.


text:
Karen lives in Florida and her brother, Randall Winston, lives in the Hollywood Hills, but these two are closer than most.
He wears part of a circle around his neck. His sister wears the other. That circle was nearly torn apart 13 years ago, when Karen, who has lupus, needed a kidney transplant to stay alive.
"Everyone in my family got tested. We were all very hopeful that somebody would be a match, and I was," said Randall.
Thanks to Randall, Karen's condition is under control. But lupus isn't curable.
"Systemic lupus is an autoimmune disease, and that means that your body all of a sudden doesn't recognize you," said rheumatologist Dr. Joanna Davies. "It happens to start attacking your body."
Davies says chronic infections, rashes and joint pain associated with lupus mimic other diseases.
"On average patients aren't diagnosed for four years," said Randall.
That's why Randall will participate in this weekend's annual Walk for Lupus Now. In July, he went before Congress to fight for more research money.
In the past year, the FDA has approved the first drug specifically for lupus, Benlysta, and doctors have found success in treating patients with cancer and malaria drugs. But overall, progress in lupus research has been slow.
"That's just tragic. The thing about lupus, because it affects so many parts of the body, is lupus research money will benefit so many other afflictions," said Randall.
The annual Walk for Lupus Now is this Saturday, September 29. Check-in is at 9 a.m. and the walk starts at 10 a.m.


text:
By Stuart Rothenberg/CNN
June 7, 2000
Web posted at: 5:42 p.m. EDT (2142 GMT)
Following is a look at key races in Oklahoma and Utah:
Oklahoma 2: If the Republicans lose Oklahoma's 2nd Congressional District in November, they can blame the folks over at U.S. Term Limits. That's because Republican Rep. Tom Coburn signed the group's three-term pledge, and -- unlike some members of Congress -- he's abiding by it and retiring.
Coburn won the seat in 1994 in part because of the GOP wave and in part because incumbent Democratic Rep. Mike Synar was upset by a quirky challenger in the Democratic primary.
The 2nd Congressional District had developed a reputation as a Democratic district, but Coburn's brand of conservatism resonated with the district's voters. Still, it was one of only two Oklahoma districts to vote for Bill Clinton in both 1992 and 1996, and a strong Democratic nominee could surely be a formidable candidate in the fall.
Both parties have primaries in August to pick their nominee. The Democrats essentially have a two-man contest, with state Rep. Bill Settle facing attorney Brad Carson. The two candidates are about as different as can be.
Carson, 33, is a young, aggressive former White House fellow who suggests immodestly in his campaign literature that he may be "the next Carl Albert." He touts his academic degrees and awards, as well as his quick fund-raising start, and he portrays the Democratic primary as a choice between a veteran legislator who represents the past and a much younger, more energetic outsider who can bring new voters (and some members of the business community) into his party.
Settle, who will turn 63 just after the November election, is a lawyer and a one-time U.S. attorney. He served as a county Democratic chairman for five years, on the Muskogee city council, and, since 1990, in the state Legislature. He represents an overwhelmingly Democratic legislative district and has not had a serious race in years.
That led some to wonder whether he was prepared for a tough primary and general election, and whether he'd raise the funds needed for both elections. But Settle seems prepared for the tests. He currently chairs the state House's Appropriations Committee, which may well explain his surprisingly strong fund-raising.
The Republicans also have a primary, though Muskogee retired auto dealer Andy Ewing seems to be the favorite of party insiders.
Ewing, 62, was recruited into the race by retiring congressman Coburn, a close friend of his. Like Coburn, Ewing accepts a three-term limit, noting that he isn't trying to start a political "career." He projects a folksy manner, much closer to Settle's approach than to Carson's more go-getter style.
Ewing has high name identification from years of advertising his automobile distributorships, and Republican insiders say that he is well-liked in the community.
Ewing's most serious primary challengers appear to be two attorneys, Jack Ross (who ran in the 1990 Democratic primary against then-incumbent Mike Synar), and Steve Money.
Both parties agree that the combination of Coburn's retirement and the fundamentally competitive nature of the district make this race competitive. Although Ewing and Settle are generally regarded as the favorites, neither can assume he has his nomination sewed up. And while Republicans first thought this seat might be lost in November, they have become increasingly optimistic about their chances for holding it in the fall. We'll see if they are right.
Utah 2: Unless the polls are wrong, another incumbent member of Congress is about to be retired by the voters.
Utah 2nd Congressional District Republican Merrill Cook faces a difficult test at the GOP's June 27 primary, where challenger Derek Smith, 35, looks well-positioned to defeat Cook. Smith, an entrepreneur and businessman whose most recent foray has been into the business/Internet field, jumped into the race late but has significant personal resources to put behind his candidacy.
Cook, 54, has received months of bad publicity about his personal style and temper, and he was never accepted entirely by Republican insiders, who haven't forgotten his previous runs (both for governor and Congress) as an Independent.
A poll conducted in mid-May for the Deseret News found Smith leading Cook by 31 points, while a poll for Smith put the margin at a near-identical 29 points.
Many Washington GOP insiders figure that Smith is the party's only chance to hold the seat in November, when the winner of the primary faces an unusually strong Democratic opponent, Jim Matheson, son of a former popular Democratic governor.


text:
Discover what's possible right in your own neighbourhood.
The reason we live so close together is so we can take advantage of the abundance of goods, services, and friendships that proximity provides.
Spontaneous connections make communities come alive. Making optimal use of those serendipitous connections requires a little effort on your part though.
Explore. The next time you find yourself with three minutes to spare, go in, wherever it is you happen to be.
Your three minutes might be fruitless, but it won't be wasted. You'll meet someone new, learn what they're about, and that new information will be available to you when you need it.
On the other hand, right behind that door might be exactly the thing, activity, or experience you didn't realize you needed.
When you fill out the mental map of your neighbourhood and know what's available, that's gives your community its small town feel.
It's not just stores either. Visit the public buildings. There are resources there that you don't know about. Know what you can do at the library, at city hall and the pool.
Check out the clubs too. If one sounds interesting, show up. They may be strangers, but they're only strangers once.
If there's a transit system, know how to use it to get home, even if you'll "never" need it.
The benefits of knowing what's available right around you are worth the temporary discomfort of introducing yourself and asking a few friendly questions.
Connect with your community. That's why it's there.


text:
Mobile network data can be used to optimise public transport, Ericsson believes.
Last week, the communications technology company announced Automated Networked Transport, a new intelligent transport system that perfectly illustrates how smart cities can make the most of the huge amount of data that's already out there.
Ericsson's new offering makes it possible to use telecom network data to analyse the movements of people in cities and to learn where, when, how and why they use public transport. This can be used to create bus schedules based on existing commuter needs and adjusted dynamically in real time.
Similarly, in the case of major sporting or entertainment events, when public transport networks can be overwhelmed by travellers converging in one place, transport operators can review people's movements during previous events and arrange tailored schedules.
As Ericsson pointed out, in today's connected society almost all city dwellers carry a mobile phone wherever they go.
We have developed a system that collects this information and analyses it so that transport operators can gain an in-depth understanding of commuter travel patterns, explained Orvar Hurtig, head of Industry & Society at Ericsson.
Since we remove any information that could be used to identify individuals, their privacy is guaranteed. Using distributed computing, a tremendous amount of data can be analysed and transport networks can be dynamically modified to better serve the needs of commuters.
With urban populations growing rapidly, the solution to ever-increasing public transport needs is not to increase the number of vehicles, which simply raises operational costs, traffic congestion and pollution. Instead, intelligent transport systems such as Automated Networked Transport can help optimise existing transport networks, Ericsson said.


text:
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Brian Scarbeau
| 12/19/2008 9:11 AM | 0 Comments
Introducing the Configuration Management Tool
A while back I discussed the approach we use on some projects to configuration management and how we solve the problem of configuring binding and configuration (and any other) files for different environments. I had originally written the linked article on my blog. While it was fairly successful the main project I've been working on has a number of BizTalk projects within it and I felt that the configuration dictionary approach we were using was becoming a bit of a pain as the XML dictionaries were ...
Posted By:
Michael Stephenson
| 12/18/2008 2:27 PM | 1 Comments
BDC Learnings
I've been meaning to post this for a while. Hopefully this helps you as much as it helped me. A great source for learning the BDC is Sahil Mali blog at: http://blah.winsmarts.com/2... Sahil does a phenomenal job of walking you through a database app definition example. Sahil's solution uses pass-through authentication. However, the SingleSignOn approach gives you a powerful alternative that can also take advantage of SQL Server connection pooling. ...
Posted By:
| 12/17/2008 3:30 PM | 0 Comments
How to Grant Execute to all SQL Server Stored Procedures/Functions
When you create a database i'm sure you can grant users/roles access to stored procedures tables etc.. But if you inherit the sql database then you will need to find a solutionThanks to Jeremy Kadlec from sql tips Unfortunately, with all of the security changes in SQL Server 2005, no default role is available to execute all stored procedures in a given database.Quite sure the same applies to SQL SERVER 2000. But there is a solution looking at the script below: Just pass in the loginname below to ...
Posted By:
Patrick Olurotimi Ige
| 12/16/2008 5:43 PM | 2 Comments
Planning for BizTalk DR
In my current company, we have a fairly good DR story with our "Global" (UK based) BizTalk platform and it's something that is regularly tested (successfully I might add :) ). We also have a smaller BizTalk deployment in the US which follows a different model but which was also proven successful this year for the first time. More on that in a bit. The choice of DR model you adopt for BizTalk will depend on a number of factors: Criticality – how important is the information flowing through or orchestrated ...
Posted By:
| 12/15/2008 4:01 PM | 1 Comments
Error:Unable to load client print control
When you click the print button from the ReportViewer control (Sql Server 2005)you get the error: Unable to load client print control I never had this issue with ReportViewer control (Sql Server 2000). After doing some research it came out that there were many solutions to this depending on your environment. 1) Installing the RSClientPrint.Cab which can be found in the program Files\MSSQL Server\Reporting Services\ReportSerer\bin\.. folder. But with this you would have to deploy this cab to all the ...
Posted By:
Patrick Olurotimi Ige
| 12/10/2008 7:16 PM | 8 Comments
BizTalk Server 2009 Public Beta: First Look
[Source: http://geekswithblogs.net/E... The first public beta of BizTalk Server 2009 was released yesterday, and fulfils expectations by falling in line with the 2008 server and development stack, and offering a few functional extras. I've had a quick run through of it and made some initial notes below. The MSBuild integration is interesting although I haven't got a good grasp yet on whether it will replace custom MSBuild tasks to aid deployment; apparently it works nicely with TFS, but ...
Posted By:
| 12/10/2008 12:11 AM | 12 Comments
Making a custom setup dialog using WiX 3.0
Recently I started diving into WiX (Windows Installer XML) as a toolset for a setup project I needed to create. And it didn't take much time to discover that WiX provides some nice out of the box dialogs without having to do much work. That is, if you only need the basic configurations, such as a folder browse dialog and a license agreement. However, my project required just that little extra dialog, to provide the location of a SQL database. Basically, what I needed was two textboxes, one to input ...
Posted By:
Jan Schepens
| 12/9/2008 10:02 AM | 3 Comments
BizTalk Server 2009 Public Beta Evaluation Edition - Download now
Good news ... On Monday December 8th, 2008 Microsoft announced Public beta of BizTalk Server 2009 (https://connect.microsoft.... What's new in BizTalk Server 2009? Ø Simplify Interoperability ü Support for .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 and Visual Studio 2008 SP1 - take advantages of the latest developer tools. ü Support for Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 – full support of Hyper-V, and increased performance and scale. Ø Extend To The Edge ü EDI - enhanced out of the ...
Posted By:
Rajesh Charagandla
| 12/9/2008 10:47 AM | 0 Comments
BAM Alerts in BizTalk 2009
I have just started setting up a BizTalk 2009 machine to start looking at the CTP and something I noticed in the installation guide kind of supported what I was saying the other day about BAM being misplaced. We knew that SSNS was not part of SQL 2008, and as BizTalk documentation is saying use the old SQL 2005 component if you want BAM Alerts (see below). I believe the roadmap for the features which SSNS provided are intended to eventually end up in SQL Reporting Services so this would seem to support ...
Posted By:
Michael Stephenson
| 12/9/2008 12:27 AM | 0 Comments
Not for the faint hearted
Hosting Your Own Websites For years now I've been building our company websites on external hosting systems. The problem has always been that I have limited control over the hosting environment. During the past year my host has been webhost4life and they do a good job of providing services including DotNetNuke but my desire to host multiple websites made hosting in-house more and more attractive. I've accumulated 18 domain names from Network Solutions over the years and I really wanted to build sites ...
Posted By:
| 12/8/2008 11:32 AM | 0 Comments
A small issue: Loading Excel to Sql Server
God...It's been one year since I started neglecting this blog. I must post something. Is there any point to wait for making a blog entry until you really invent something new? Then I may not make any post at all . This is a small tip which might be usefull for someone. I haven't tested the originality of this topic but this is the thing on which I wasted some of my time on a precious sunday. I was just trying to load some excel files to their corresponding SQL Server database. Data entry? no way!. ...
Posted By:
Srijith Sarman
| 12/7/2008 10:00 PM | 0 Comments
TechFuse 2009 Conference - Now Accepting Applications for Speakers
Our TechFuse 2008 Conference on February 26, 2008 drew in over 425 people for a one day conference, focusing on Microsoft Technologies. Featured tracks in 2008 included SQL Server 2008, System Center, Visual Studio 2008, SharePoint 2007 and more. TechFuse 2009 Conference is going to be held on March 17, 2009 (you bet, the luck of the Irish!) at the Northland Inn in Brooklyn Center. We have selected our tracks (with feedback from our internal instructors and our students) and they are: Virtualization ...
Posted By:
| 12/5/2008 8:49 PM | 0 Comments
BI User Group Q4 Meeting - December 11
We are pleased to announce that we will be hosting our Q4 BISIG meeting at Microsoft Corporation, 8300 Norman Center Drive, Suite 950, Bloomington, Minnesota, 55437 from 3:00 p.m to 6:00 p.m. We hope you will plan to attend this meeting where we have lined up two very exciting and informative speakers. Registration URL: www.ncbisig.org Times: 2:30 - 6:00 Agenda: 2:30-3:00 Registration 3:00-3:15 BI SIG Updates & Announcements (Hear about how the organization is growing and changing to better serve ...
Posted By:
| 12/4/2008 1:59 PM | 0 Comments
The Path Is Not a Legal Form
I've been struggling through a Team Foundation Server 2008 install with Sql Server 2008 over the weekend. It seems to be having an especially hard time with the SQL Server Reporting Services. After analyzing a few things, I determined that the configuration tool was having an issue due to some prior installations of software. The report urls were pointing to a SQL Express directory. I went about setting up the virtual directories manually. This required setting up an application pool, and I assigned ...
Posted By:
Chris Eargle
| 11/30/2008 7:08 PM | 1 Comments
Proper Planning of SharePoint Service Accounts
There is plenty of documentation on how to install and configure SharePoint. For the novice SharePoint user there are step-by-step guides, and for the more experienced user there are checklists. During all of these instructions there is very little emphasis on the proper use of Service Accounts used to install and configure SharePoint. It is, by far, one of the ways that you can spend days in SharePoint install and uninstall. In most cases, when I visit a client to help with the installation, they ...
Posted By:
| 11/30/2008 11:13 AM | 0 Comments
Installing BizTalk Server 2006 R2 on Vista
Just installed BizTalk on my Vista notebook. Here are some information that may help: My BizTalk's edition – BizTalk Server 2006 R2 (Developer edition) Operating System – Windows Vista Ultimate The installation process is as seamless as it was for previous editions of BizTalk Server 2006. Only important point to remember is you download the prerequisite cab file for Vista. You may be in habit of using previously downloaded prerequisite cab file. Setup will automatically download the CAB file (BtsRedistVistaEN32.cab) ...
Posted By:
Jay Kinker
| 11/30/2008 7:40 PM | 5 Comments
Whats the future for BAM?
I was at the SOA/BPM Conference this week at reading and was watching one of the presentations which discussed the differences between BizTalk and Dublin. It occured to my that with BizTalk being pitched as the integration product and dublin being pitched as the application server product this means that BAM is strategically misplaced in terms of being within BizTalk. This is just my opinion but I think that in the future it would make sense to move BAM to be part of the SQL Server BI offering. I ...
Posted By:
Michael Stephenson
| 11/29/2008 12:04 PM | 1 Comments
Visual Studio Team System 2008 Database Edition (Aka: DataDude) GDR - RTM
I just picked this up on RSS and am psyched! We've been using DataDude since early on in it's initial release. It has become an integral part of our database schema development process. Hats off to Gert and all of the others on the VSTS DbPro team for all of the great new features, extensibility and SQL Server 2008 support in the new edition. You can read more about it in Gert's blog post. SALUTE! Jim ...
Posted By:
Jim Erwin
| 11/25/2008 10:55 PM | 0 Comments
Troubleshooting WSS 3.0 Installation
So this is one of my "in the trenches" blogs. I've been setting up a new server to run WSS 3.0, which I've done a dozen times. I have several SharePoint 2007 servers I am currently running, and WSS is a prerequisite, so this shouldn't have been an all weekend project. But, for some reason, this particular install was not cooperating. I performed the same steps in the same order, except in this case I did not install SQL Server. In most of my installations I installed SQL Server since I would be using ...
Posted By:
| 11/24/2008 9:36 PM | 0 Comments
Dublin Webcasts
I've posted a couple of webcasts on Dublin on BloggersGuides.net. They are based on the PDC08-CSD image, so things may well change going forward, but they provide a good intro as to how to get started exploring hosting services in Dublin, and the configuration options. Hosting Workflow Services in Dublin This webcast will look at hosting declarative services in the Dublin application server. The webcast will start with a basic WCF declarative service and demonstrate the procedure to host the service ...
Posted By:
Alan Smith
| 11/23/2008 6:39 PM | 0 Comments
Brown Bag Lunches
A while ago, Andy Warren of SQL Server Central asked if brown bag lunches/training worked. His answer was: …now to the question - do they work? I've tried it when I was managing, and sadly, it didn't work. I disagree with Andy on this one, but to be fair I understand his points and they are all valid. To make sure everyone has the same understanding of what we're talking about, here is Andy's definition of a brown bag lunch: I'll define a brown bag lunch as a training event held at lunch time where ...
Posted By:
Scott Dorman
| 11/23/2008 10:37 AM | 2 Comments
Parallelization (Part 1)
Introduction | Why? | What? | How? | Part 2 Introduction This post was brought about when I moved a development system onto the hardware it will run on in production. The processor is a quad core but even when I had a query with a duration of 30s only one core was running hot, the others were standing on the side line laughing at me. It turns out that to use all your cores you need to be a bit careful about how you write your query. This post and the others in the series are about the discoveries ...
Posted By:
Frustrating Developments
| 11/22/2008 11:39 PM | 0 Comments
I'm frustrated...No matter which jobs I take I seem to end up working on UI with ASP.Net Webforms. I don't like UI and I really don't like webforms. The model feels broken to me. I don't know whether I'm missing something fundamental in my understanding of the webforms paradigm or it really is broken. I seem to spend a lot of time fighting with the framework. You know when you design something really well and it's just 'nice' to use and then you design something badly and its hard to use? You end ...
Posted By:
Frustrating Developments
| 11/22/2008 11:09 PM | 0 Comments
Running a user group .... about what I expected
Well after agreeing to take over managing my local user group I've managed to have 2 meetings in the past couple of months and interest seems to be building back up. On Wednesday it was my turn to present on some of the new T-SQL features found in SQL Server 2008. It felt good to be up front and presenting again as it has been a while for me. I was a bit rushed for time since I was the second of two presenters but that was fine with me. I simply cut out some demos. I know I made some mental notes ...
Posted By:
Jason Row
| 11/21/2008 11:34 AM | 0 Comments
SQL server script to generate CREATE INDEX commands
This script generates the "CREATE INDEX" scripts for a SQL Server database: set nocount on declare @index table ( object_id int, objectName sysname, index_id int, indexName sysname, fill_factor tinyint, allow_row_locks bit, allow_page_locks bit, is_padded bit, indexText varchar(max), indexTextEnd varchar(max) ) declare @indexColumn table ( object_id int, index_id int, column_id int, index_column_id int, max_index_column_id int, is_descending_key bit, is_included_column bit, columnName varchar(255), ...
Posted By:
| 11/21/2008 12:30 PM | 0 Comments


text:
Purchase this article with an account.
Nishal Shah, Nora Brackbill, Alexandra Tikidji-Hamburyan, Colleen Rhoades, Georges A Goetz, Alexander Sher, Alan Litke, Liam Paninski, Eero Simoncelli, EJ Chichilnisky; Novel Model-based identification of retinal ganglion cell subunits. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2016;57(12):No Pagination Specified.
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© ARVO (1962-2015); The Authors (2016-present)
Purpose :
Visual signals from photoreceptors are pooled by bipolar cells, rectified, and pooled to generate responses of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). This process creates "subunits" in the RGC receptive field (RF) that mediate responses to fine texture and movement. Because it is difficult to record from bipolar cells, computational methods to expose their function based on RGC recordings are valuable. A previous method (Freeman et. al., 2015) used a greedy algorithm that assumed non-overlapping subunits. Can we identify RGC subunits with a more general method?
Methods :
Macaque parasol RGCs were recorded using 512-electrode arrays ex vivo. Responses were fitted with a model in which stimulus intensities are combined linearly to produce subunit activations, which are then exponentiated and summed to obtain the firing rate. For a given number of subunits, the likelihood of the model parameters is maximized by alternating between estimating subunit membership by soft-clustering the ensemble of stimuli preceding spikes, and estimating the linear weights associated with each subunit.
Results :
Fitting the model to simulated data, using fewer fitted subunits than the simulated number of bipolar cells, produced inferred subunits that subsumed several simulated bipolar cell RFs completely. Hence, a complete characterization may require more data. Subunits estimated from RGC data were spatially localized and non-overlapping, as expected from bipolar inputs of a single type, even though these properties were not assumed in the model. Finally, a "null" stimulus was presented, orthogonal to the linear RF estimated from spike-triggered averaging. A linear model predicts no response to this stimulus, but RGCs exhibited clear temporal structure. The subunit model captured some of this structure (R2≈0.3).
Conclusions :
A novel technique for estimating subunits of primate RGCs shows promising results in recovering putative bipolar cell spatial structure.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.
Spike triggered average (left) and subunits inferred for a 4-subunit model (right), fitted to a 12-subunit model simulation (top) and to data from a parasol RGC (bottom). Dot colors indicate subunit membership in simulated cell.
Rasters of responses to "null" stimulus from a RGC (middle), a fitted linear model (bottom), and a fitted 4-subunit model (top). The firing rate of each model was adjusted by an arbitrary scale factor to approximately match the raster structure in the data.
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- 30
- Jul
- 2018
Lexington Relocation Meets A Healthy Passion
American businesses, now more than ever, are starting to focus on overall health and wellness as a way to keep employees happy and productive. Gallup Report recently found that, on average, Americans are working 47 hours per week, clocking around 17 hours more than some of our European counterparts.
This means, with less free time, Americans must carefully balance their work lives with their personal ones.
Staying healthy and focused can be a challenge for busy professionals and their families while relocating. Finding the time to plan, shop, and cook meals while still trying to acclimate to a new location can be hectic and frustrating. Any help in keeping yourself and your family healthy and well nourished is a welcome relief. This is why we've teamed up with Lexington local and owner of A Healthy Passion, Kate Horning.
At Lexington Relocation, clients will now have the opportunity to sign up for a service that provides tools to make mealtime easier – whether you prefer to cook a meal or you simply don't have the time to do any cooking in general.
What's A Healthy Passion?
From planning to shopping to cooking, A Healthy Passion provides you with what you need to maintain a well-rounded diet for yourself and your family during a relocation or transition. Each client is provided access to an AI Healthy Living Personal Assistant, Sarah, that will create custom personalized meal plans designed around your dietary and lifestyle choices (such as paleo, vegetarian, gluten-free etc), nutritional or macro needs, and avoid any food allergies you may have.
Shopping for your meal plan is made easy via a convenient shopping list accessible from your phone or with delivery in as little as an hour from their partner Instacart. Sarah can also provide cooking tips and reminders, as well as help you discover new meals to try by recommending recipes that meet your healthy lifestyle needs. You can add these recipes to your personal cookbook, mark your favorites, and share notes with your friends and family. Finally, if you are too busy to cook, A Healthy Passion's chefs will prepare meals for you that can be delivered directly to your doorstep – whether in your in-between home with Lexington Relocation or in your new forever home.
Whether you're a client looking for meal planning or chef-prepared meal services, A Healthy Passion and Lexington Relocation Services have now made maintaining a healthy lifestyle an easy thing during a transitional phase. To learn more about how to utilize this service, contact Lexington Relocation today or visit A Healthy Passion!


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Barnes and Noble has just hired a new head of Nook Media Operations and hopefully a fresh new face will save the ailing brand. The company said Mahesh Veerina will become Chief Operating Officer on October 7th.
In his new role, Mr. Veerina will oversee all of NOOK Media operations, including Software Engineering, Hardware Engineering, IT, Digital Services, Device Operations, Research & Development, Device Product Management, and User Interaction & Design.
Barnes and Noble actually hired another person to join the Nook Media team as well. Doug Carlson will assume the role of Executive Vice President of Digital Content and Marketing, effective immediately.
"Mahesh and Doug are two highly successful business leaders who together have a wealth of experience in technology, digital content, consumer products, publishing and operations, and have created and grown businesses from the bottom up," said Mr. Huseby. "Mahesh is a proven leader with special expertise in strategic product and market vision, simplifying complex technologies, building world-class teams, developing partnerships and execution. Doug brings to NOOK® a deep background in digital publishing, executive leadership, marketing, sales, finance, operations, strategy, business development and entrepreneurship across a diverse universe of businesses. With these new appointments, I'm confident that we've now structured our business in a way to best position us for success."
Michael Kozlowski is the Editor in Chief of Good e-Reader. He has been writing about audiobooks and e-readers for the past ten years. His articles have been picked up by major and local news sources and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times.


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Sprinkle Sugar Cookies
I fully intend to bake my way through the month of December, and share all of the results here. Well, at least the delicious ones! If you are in the market for a Christmas treat that is equal parts sweet, festive, and simple to make, you are going to be oh so happy with these classic sugar cookies canvassed with bright, cheery sprinkles.
This is likely to highlight my OCD tendencies in an unflattering way, but I actually had the idea to make something like this last year, and could not find red and green sprinkles for the life of me. (Europe is many wonderful things, but it is not exactly a paradise of ingredients for American-style baked goods.) So I approached the problem as any good expatriate would, and bought them on Amazon. Unfortunately, it was already mid-December by the time I conceded defeat on a local purchase, meaning they did not arrive until early January, and, well, the bottom line is that these charming red and green jimmies traversed the Atlantic Ocean only to sit in my kitchen for a full year, waiting patiently for their time to shine.
Fortunately, their hour has arrived, and it was worth the wait! These cookies are highly addictive and fun to bake, especially with little ones, who would probably enjoy rolling the dough into balls and using their hands to adhere a generous sprinkle coating. Plus, can you imagine anything more colorful and cute for a holiday cookie tray, or to leave out for Santa on Christmas Eve? I would definitely leave some extra presents at a house that left a plate of these with my name on it.. just sayin'. ; – )
Sprinkle Sugar Cookies
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. baking soda
- 3/4 tsp. table salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup (2 ounces) cream cheese (this is optional, adding it just makes the cookies a little fluffier and, well, creamier!)
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean pod split open and the seeds scraped out
- 1/4 tsp. almond extract optional
- approximately 1 cup sprinkles
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F, and prepare two baking sheets by lining with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and whisk to blend. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter, cream cheese, and sugar and beat on medium-high speed until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla extract or vanilla bean seeds, and almond extract, if using. Beat again until incorporated. Add the flour mixture and beat on medium-low speed just until the streaks of flour disappear. (If you don't have a stand mixer, you can use a hand-held mixer or just do these steps by hand.)
- Chill the dough for 15-20 minutes, then scoop out balls of approximately 1 1/2 tbsp. each. Pour the sprinkles into a small bowl. Roll each scoop of cookie dough briefly in your hands to make a smooth ball, then roll each in the sprinkles and turn to coat evenly. Arrange on baking sheets, and use the bottom of a drinking glass to flatten each ball gently until it is about 1/2-inch tall. Bake for about 10 minutes for soft cookies (they will look underbaked, but finish setting with the residual heat from the baking sheets) or about 12 minutes for crispier cookies. Let cool for 10-15 minutes on the baking sheets before transferring cookies to a wire rack. Enjoy!


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In this week's Green Felt Journal, I look at the death of my former workplace, the Trump Taj Mahal:
Even without the current Republican presidential candidate's name on the building's crest, the Taj is as perfect a symbol of Atlantic City's quick decline as can be imagined. Opened in 1990 as the city's largest, it kept its place on top of the casino win pile until the 2003 opening of the Borgata. The stilled casino's minarets and gilded domes now give the sense of a dying empire.
Read more: Lessons From the Fall of Atlantic City – Vegas Seven
This was difficult to write.


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In the six years since the Affordable Care Act was enacted, the law has survived not one but two Supreme Court challenges, a presidential election, and more than 50 attempts by Congress to repeal the law, including one attempt that made it to the President's desk. For health policy wonks, the continuing barbs have just become part of the regular chatter on the law now known as "Obamacare" by lovers and haters alike.
But sprinkled in the news coverage of the latest legal challenge and a GOP plan to replace the ACA is evidence that perhaps things are starting to take a turn in at least a few states that previously made news opposing Obamacare.
Four states that have been vocal opponents of the ACA have taken action recently to step back into the fray to enforce the law, protect consumers and stabilize their markets.
- Missouri: One of the early opponents of the ACA, Missouri enacted a law that made it a crime for state employees to do any work at all on implementing an ACA marketplace. Missouri is also one of the few "direct enforcement" states that early on deferred to the federal government to enforce ACA reforms. But with a law signed this month, Missouri regulators gained the authority promoted in the ACA to review proposed health insurance rates.
- Florida: Governor Rick Scott has been one of the most vocal opponents of the ACA, refusing to take federal funding to implement the ACA, establish a state marketplace, or expand Medicaid. But Florida's Office of Insurance Regulation, as a condition of approving the proposed merger of Aetna and Humana, is requiring Aetna to offer coverage through the federally facilitated marketplace in underserved areas of the state.
- Alaska: Then-Governor Parnell was quick to point out the flaws of the ACA and refused to establish a state-run marketplace. But last month Republican leaders enacted a law intended to shore up insurers and stabilize individual market premiums through a state-run reinsurance program.
- Alabama: Governor Bentley has said the ACA is "deeply flawed and does little to help improve the health of our citizens." But with action taken this Spring, the federal government is no longer directly enforcing federal law in Alabama – the state Department of Insurance has committed to reviewing insurance plans for compliance with the ACA and other federal health laws. It also now joins the ranks of states with an "effective rate review program."
The ACA is not alone among major federal health laws. Slow and gradual state implementation is more the norm than the exception. For example, five years after the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 was enacted, the Government Accountability Office reported to Congress that states were continuing to "evolve" in their response to enforcing HIPAA protections for their residents. And although most states had established Medicaid programs within 5 years of enactment, the last state (AZ) didn't come on board for nearly two decades. As states continue to "evolve" on ACA implementation, we'll keep CHIRblog readers posted.