I have been traveling regularly to India, for the last 7 or 8 years, so I have by now certainly spent more than half a year in the country. Recently it occurred to me that I am actually very grateful that I had the possibility to come here so often - and that I have learned quite a lot from 'Mother India', probably much more than I expected beforehand.
So what has India taught me?
Obviously, India is a country where, to phrase it mildly, not everything happens 'on time', and where situations are often not quite comprehensible. This is not only true for the 'stupid tourist from the west', also for Indians themselves what happens around them is not a consequence of some planning from above, but things happen simply due to one reason: because they happen. There is nothing to understand, nothing to plan - you can only accept the situation as it is, deal with it, and make the best of it. I think, being the German I am (or at least once was), learning to deal with this type of situation was rather challenging for me - but it was very much worth it. I still remember the situation where things changed for me, about 3 years ago (who cares about the precise year anyway!).
I was taking a tour around Delhi-Agra-Jaipur around 2010 - organized by the IRCTC (the Indian Railway Operator), but, of course, the whole trip was taking place by car (a much recommended tour by the way). Rajasthan was certainly worth a visit - one memomorable moment in Jaipur was when my cab couldn't drive because an elephant was on the right lane, and a camel on the left one, so the street was blocked. But the moment which really made me 'understand India' actually happened in Agra (home to the Taj Mahal).
I was taking a three-wheeler, and asked the driver to bring me back to my hotel. If you have been to India you will have realized that auto-rickshaws are overall amazingly reliable, although they don't look like it - this one, however, wasn't. So it was a hot day (probably 35 degrees or so), I was in a place unknown to me, maybe an hour's walk from my hotel, but who knows into which direction, and my mode of transport broke down. The driver fiddled with various parts of his three-wheeler, but nothing happened. I still remember that I was first getting rather nervous - an unknown city! The car doesn't work! I will die of thirst, hunger, and my parents will never find out! Well, this is what I thought first... but after a few minutes I suddenly felt such inner calm which I haven't felt often before, and also rarely since. I have felt that 'I am safe', that one way or another, I will get back to my hotel just fine. And I also clearly remember gaving the thought in this situation that, finally, 'I have understood India'. In order to be able to deal with India I cannot have my German planning mentality - this breaks down rather sooner than later in this country. If you come to India you have to be able to let go, to accept the way things happen around you - India is stronger than your plans. But once you give in you will have an amazing time - not only because of the country around you, but also because you are able to let go inside.
I am very glad that, by now, I am able to pick how to approach situations much more freely - many situations, in particular in work life, still require planning, so this is probably still my regular mode. However, if things don't quite work out - the plane is delayed or cancelled, something else is delayed: No problem, sit down, watch the sunset, and get a cup of tea. Things will work out eventually, one way or the other, but it will be fine..
It might be this screw...?
India is without doubt an intense country to visit - it's very much about 'people'. It's crowded everywhere, there is constant interaction with everyone around you, whether you smell your sweaty neighbour on the bus, you touch other people because the train is crammed (as I experienced first hand on the commuter railway in Mumbai this time!), or whether a 3 year old kid is pulling your elbow and is asking for money.
What I had to learn from all this is to mentally protect yourself - by accepting the situations as they were (see above), but also by acting in ways more appropriate to the situation than what I have learned 'at home' (in western countries). I think the problem is that in western countries you are often taught to 'act nice' - if there is someone who would like to talk to you then listen, if there is someone who needs your help then lend him or her a hand, if someone needs consolation then try to give it to him. However, this does not work in India, at least not 'in public' - you would spread yourself too thinly, and be worn out rather soon. However, I would assume that many visitors who come from 'the west' to India are in some sense too open and receptive for the many impulses one receives over here.
So what specifically happened to me? I think the worst situation that happened to me was in 2008, when traveling back from India via Mumbai airport. Some 'nice colleagues' asked me at the bus, when arriving at the airport, whether they could carry my luggage. I declined, but after 5 steps they still demanded money for 'helping me'. They asked for 500 Rupees (a ridiculous amount, about the weekly wage of a farmer) but they could offer a rather generous 'rebate' as well. Given the dark corner we stood in, and the fact that guy in front of me was about 2 meters tall, I was then more or less pressured to give him 200 Rupees in the end for his amazingly helpful 'service'.
However, on a subsequent trip - accidentally or maybe not so accidentally the same tour of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur described above - there was a situation where I finally managed to act quite differently. Driving down the highway between Agra and Jaipur, the driver showed me an 'original Indian restaurant' at lunchtime, charging hundres of Rupees for Paneer Palak and selling wooden elephants in the entrance hall. I decided... that this is not quite the place where I wanted to have lunch that day, so I just started walking down the highway (at about 35 degrees, in the sun around noon), for some reason quite optimistic that there will surely be further dining options located along the way. And indeed, after a few hundred meters one of the 'roadside dhabas' appeared - another restaurant, without electricity or any of that modern rubbish, but one that served food in a way I much preferred to the first one.
Of course, the place was rather basic, but I basically didn't care - I was happy I found this place and enjoyed my meal, which was the meal I have really chosen to eat myself. The funny event happened when I was asked to pay and when I was given the bill - the owners tried to charge me twice the original price! So I asked for the menu - however, they were now able to produce a second menu with much higher prices, and by that stage they had probably thought they had defeated me... but not quite, you are not going to mess with Anoop anymore! I had (more or less accidentally, this is one of my habits) taken a picture of the first menu which I was now able to show the waiter, so I asked for a pen and started to slowly and happily correct the prices on the bill to the original ones. The owner was slightly embarrassed, his kids were rather amused, and in the end I left a large tip anyway. It wasn't about the money - it was about being able to play this game, and I was very happy to be able to do so, finally! It took me about 6 visits to India and maybe half a year in the country in total, but now I am able to get you good prices in Chandni Chowk as well (so if anyone needs a wedding dress, please just let me know!). Forget your western attitudes when coming to India - here things work differently, so learn to play the game - and be friendly and fair, but also firm in what you want (and what you don't want), otherwise this country will not work for you.
It is rather easy to believe prejudices and blanket statements ('Iran is evil!', 'America is evil!', 'Germans are like that!', 'Indians are like that!'), especially if you don't have any evidence to the contrary (such as from first-hand experience). Given my extensive travels I however came to realize that general statements are best ignored - they are more often plain wrong than not. I think the main problem I have with many prejudices and 'simply truths' that they tend to be divisive - and that I feel that, quite to the contrary, being _inclusive_ is key to interacting with people, so this is where prejudices are seriously getting into the way.
Before I repeatedly visited India, I have to my great shame to admit that I also believed a rather long list of blanket statements about it - 'be careful with the food!' (I ate at McDonalds the first few days when I went there for the first time... I could have had nice Dosas instead!), Indians do this, Indians do that. However, since I have started teaching here I came to realize that there are multiple (many!) layers to every truth, and it's important not get stuck in the first layers already. One of the biggest contrasts I have found in India is that between the 'ruling class', and those who 'actually do the work' (even more so than in other countries, I would say). Quite often you hear about the former, but when you go to India you meet the latter. If you read about India in the news, it is about corruption, it is about people going to bed hungry, it is about population growth and about the occasional terror attack by the Naxalites or trouble in Kashmir.
So the bottom line of this story is: The leadership in India may be what it is, and you may read in the newspaper about the country what you want to read (you probably find evidence for anything you like): The students and people I have met first-hand when coming to this country for several years are simply amazing. They want to progress themselves, and their country - and I hope 'the leadership' will follow them as well sooner rather than later. It is important to look behind the superficial associations and prejudices everyone of us has - and the most honest way to do that is, in my opinion, to travel a lot. And, to not just be a tourist, but to really interact with inhabitants of different countries in a day-to-day environment. It is sometimes not easy to identify your own prejudices - putting yourself repeatedly into a challenging environment (such as India) certainly helps you to 'wake up', and it forces you to reorganize your thinking, and your attitudes.
I realized that once I have let go of many of my prejudices I have started to feel 'at home anywhere on this planet'. This feeling is difficult to describe, but I think deep inside humans are similar (culture forms them differently), and whether you are sitting in a hut in Andhra Pradesh or in a skyscraper in New York City, deep down you are still part of the same planet. This feeling is a very soothing, a very calming experience.
I think I should dedicate the last picture to the many students I have had the pleasure of teaching at IBAB in Bangalore - it was a very good time with every single one of you, and I wish you all the best for your future!
It was good to visit Muscat/Oman - certainly one of the friendly places on this planet - and I had an excellent return to Mumbai aftwards as well.
While I had only one night in Oman the guest house right at the beach - the L'Espace - was amazing, and there is shortage of nice grilled meat in that country either!
I think the reason is that I am by now feeling entirely relaxed when I am in India, and interestingly this feels like being 'connected to the world, as one'. There is little 'things are different here - so I feel uneasy' anymore, it is now more like 'things are different here - but everything is fine, the way it is'. Feels good I have to say.
I just arrived in Pune this evening, had a nice dinner with Karthikeyan - more to come here shortly!


One particular question that arises out of particle "decay". If particles truly decay to intermediate W and Z Bosons, why is it that there are different products resulting from the exact same intermediate particles? Surely once a W or Z Boson comes into existence it should decay to exactly the same end products?
We infer from this that there is more going on than it first seems. In the context of particles being massless photons on a phase-locked concentric path conforming to toroidal knot patterns at the epicenter of an outward spiral of their own standing-wave synchotronic radiation, despite the overabundance of adjectives we have a possible glimpse of an answer. Consider when two particles are given sufficient energy to overcome the barrier presented by their standing-wave synchtronic radiation (known in the Standard Model by the names "electrical charge" and "strong force"), the disruption to that outward spiral (which was an integral part of maintaining the photon - aka particle's - pattern) is only partially disrupted.
In other words although the epicentre has been disrupted - resulting in a phase-transformation into intermediate particles such as the W or Z Boson - the immediate surrounding space around the chaos is still "ringing" with (and expecting there to exist) the original particles that created that outward spiral in the first place. In fact what is present within the surrounding space is an "imprint" if you will of the overall charge and spin characteristics, and not so much the actual particle that was originally at the epicentre of the spiral. When it is time for the W or Z Boson to collapse, the surrounding space therefore critically influences the decay, thus giving wildly different end results.
Thus we have a natural explanation as to why conservation of aspects such as "charge" and "leptop number" occur, because these aspects are "imprinted" into the surrounding space in a similar way to that in which water may be imprinted by chemical compounds that have long since been removed from the actual vicinity of the water molecules that originally surrounded them.


You brewed yesterday? Let's go to your place and try it.
Beer will never be ready the day it is brewed. It needs time for the yeast to ferment, which could take anywhere from 3 - 14 days (or even longer). If you were to try to drink the beer (it's still wort at this stage), it would be more malt then anything. Patience is required to be a homebrewer. Now with many people in this millennium having lifestyles focused on instant gratification, homebrewing is a good change of pace.
You're moonshining huh? How do you know it won't kill you or make you go blind?
Homebrewing is now legal in all 50 states!
Commonly, people who do not know the process behind alcohol production will confuse making beer with hard liquor (they'll call you a moonshiner erroneously). Although the two production processes are similar in they require fermentation, liquor is produced by distilling the wash (our beer is their wash). In this step, any methanol (our blinding agent) produced during fermentation will be boiled off first. In this concentrated form, the methanol can be dangerous. Luckily in beer making, even though there is some methanol, the concentration is not great enough to cause harm. Plus the ethanol in beer prevents any methanol from interacting in your body (the cure to methanol poisoning is ethanol). And if they are concerned that your beer might be infected, just tell them that you'd know if the beer was unfit to drink before bottling. Also, homedistilling has been illegal since George Washington's time, because the government likes its tax money. We have Jimmy Carter to thank for legalizing homebrewing.
How do you know how much alcohol is in it?
A quick answer I give to people is "I use a hydrometer", and most of the time they ask where I get one. Other times the follow up question is "what's that?", so then you must explain the concepts of density to them. A hydrometer measures the specific gravity of the fluid it is in, which is equal to the density of the liquid divided by the density of water. With this information, you know how much fermentable sugar is in wort. By taking two readings, one before and one after fermentation, you can figure out ABV by subtracting the two and multiplying that result by 131.
How do you get it in bottles/get the cap on?
The short answer to this question is to use a bottle capper (which can be found at every homebrew store like every other piece of homebrewing equipment). It isn't difficult to understand how the device works: you place an unused bottle cap on the bottle and crimp it down to and make the container airtight. But that is only one part of the bottling process. I cover this subject in more detail in my article "Beginners Guide to Bottling Homebrew"
Are you going to sell it? Why don't you start a brewery?
First off, it is illegal to sell homebrew in the United States under federal law. The government likes its tax dollars a lot, especially those obtained from "sinful" purchases (alcohol). Plus you'd be in a lot of hot water if someone who drank your homebrew got really sick because of poor quality control. The key to running a good brewery is batch consistency, something hard to replicate on a homebrewing setup.
If I did want to start a brewery, I'd need quite a bit of capital to pay for all the equipment and advertising, a good staff, and a good lawyer to get me through all of red tape (> $200,000). I know many states have made it easier to start up a microbrewery/brew pub in the last decade, but it doesn't mean it is economically feasible to do so when the entire market has been saturated. Nearly 1000 new breweries have opened in the United States since the year 2000. If anything, it might be worthwhile to start a brewery when many of them start to fail and the market for cheap used equipment grows larger.
Can I get some free beer?
Enjoy your beer alone... or with friends!
Sharing is caring. And although it can be expensive to make a batch, and although you cannot legally sell your homebrew to your friends, you can enjoy a bottle with them comfortably at home. Just have them cover (or or help you brew!) the next round.
What are questions your friends have asked you about homebrewing?


tantek I think that was my first automatic RSVP to one of aaronpk’s indie events, and I saw the push notification of my RSVP show up on his mobile device!!!
tantek !tell benwerd rest-up and feel better. Sorry to miss you but take care of yourself and we’ll hack online!
KevinMarks should we iterate on that as part of the salmentions/swat0 work?
bret When are people meeting up?
tantek bret - did you miss the party notice?
tantek bret - tl;dr - we’re at Pints!
bret I'll come by after food!
bret You still @ pints?
tantek bret - feel to review http://indiewebcamp.com/2014-review#Technologies and later sections - that’s what I’ve been working on. Going to try to put that out in a blog post tonight.
seekr I'm a newbie here, and have seen lots of tech talk going by - wondering how much of what happens on the weekend will be at that level - will there be a few people speaking English (or British or whatever)?
tantek seekr have you ever been to a BarCamp?
tantek seekr - yes the schedules are filled out for past events - and they vary widely because the participants vary!
tantek We’ve had two IndieWebCamps in Cambridge so far. Likely another coming up sometime in October.
seekr Will all presentations be made by people at the two venues (as opposed to people streaming from their own locations)?
seekr ok - thanks, tantek!
seekr and will there be a setup that permits questions from the virtual audience?
GWG seekr: I lurk all the time.
seekr I've been lurking and logging since discovering the channel this morning - excited about what's happening on the weekend!
GWG I wish I could have afforded to go, but I spent my discretionary travel money for 2015.
GWG tantek: I haven't given up on asking.
seekr ben_thatmustbeme: I'd like to do so very much - thanks for the offer! I'll look forward to meeting and spending time with you!!
GWG I need to figure out an issue with the textual presentation of location data.
ben_thatmustbeme still on that huh GWG?
seekr Perhaps I can bring along a new MIT grad tech buddy some time with whom I hope to work on a semi-political site for a cause related to development in Somerville, where I live, ben_thatmustbeme .
GWG ben_thatmustbeme: I took a break and did a bunch of other stuff.
seekr I meant to say he's a new buddy - but graduated from MIT a few years ago, ben_thatmustbeme .
seekr will do, bret - thanks!
GWG The perspective on the wiki is once again tantek's.
seekr I'm in night mode, so will push on through until when things start in Brighton, which I reckon won't be too long from now.
GWG The why of location in a note.
GWG I couldn't find any debate on how location should be presented so I started a bit of that.
GWG On textual presentation of location.
GWG We've all been in that hole.
seekr Yeah - http://indiewebcamp.com/next-iwc seems more useful as a current home page than the planning one - to me, at least.
seekr Also, we see on the "next-iwc" page the text " When: from July 11, 2015 (2015-07-11) at 9:30am through July 12 (2015-07-12) at 6pm" - which I think is deficient in that it doesn't indicate which of the venues it applies to and doesn't specify a time zone (is that supposed to be GMT?).
KevinMarks should we parse iframe src as u-* ?
seekr I think we're all excited, Loqi!
tantek but now I’m wrestling with a weird people grid effect when the names are hidden!
seekr that's why I know I'm gonna love you guys (and gals) so very very much, tantek!
KartikPrabhu seekr: do you already have your own website? link?
seekr KartikPrabhu: I did some software in Perl and PHP to produce what you see in the right-hand "Newswire" column. Now I'm mainly interested in finding alternatives to Facebook and Twitter for another site I'm working on. I'm hoping someone in this community will have some suggestions (I have found some via non-evilGoogle searches, but haven't had a chance to check 'em out yet).
seekr should off-site attendees do the RSVP thing - maybe to get listed?
tantek seekr - do you use Facebook or Twitter yourself personally?
seekr Good advice, KartikPrabhu++! I'll get to work on it soonish. Finding this community is truly inspirational!
seekr tantek: Well, I have a bogus Facebook acct, which I use only for snooping purposes, and I very occasionally use Twitter to track some issue that interests me. Other than those exceptions, no.
seekr I eschew Google also, though I've been known to use the translator occasionally, and I don't know how to avoid uToob (though I can use a non-web client to avoid tracking).
tantek.com uploaded /Special:Log/upload "uploaded "[[File:2014-indieweb-movement.jpg]]""
seekr oh wait, it's a joke!
tantek seekr - do you publish anything personally on Twitter or Tumblr?
tantek seekr - sure. Would you publish notes or longer thoughts on your own site if you had it?
tantek or even just a portfolio / resume?
seekr I might well do, tantek - I could easily install blog software - maybe WordPress and do my own blog.
seekr ah - yeah - second time I've heard about known today - gotta check it out!
seekr I know that WP is subject to various forms of insidious attack.
voldn what the hells is Indie about the ICANN/DNS behemoth? why are you encouraging domain purchasing?
seekr what's the alternative, voldn, something like no-ip?
KevinMarks_ Hm, srcdoc for e- is interesting. Would e- on an iframe with srcset imply fetching the src?
seekr Does anyone here have preferred alternatives to Facebook and/or Twitter?
Loqi KevinMarks_ meant to say: Hm, srcdoc for e- is interesting. Would e- on an iframe with src imply fetching the src?
KartikPrabhu needs to really get on with the "navigation links direction post"
KevinMarks_ I am wondering if there is a different parsing directive that means "fetch the src of this iframe and parse it as if it was here in the html"
KevinMarks_ Hm, could a marginalia comment be an iframe?
KartikPrabhu tantek: a lot of sites use JS to load comments. A good way to doing that is to have a separate comments page for any given article and then use JS to include comments when some one clicks on "Show comments"
tantek goes back to working on /2014-review until KevinMarks adds his suggestion to the microformats wiki as noted already.
tantek KartikPrabhu: no one here is doing separate page for comments yet, so when someone starts experimenting with that, we can discuss it. Til then, not really worth worrying about to that level of detail.
KartikPrabhu tantek: true. I was worrying because I was considering implementing that but did not (yet).
LukasRos Can’t be at IWC this weekend but I’ll try to follow at least a bit over IRC.
LukasRos Is there already anyone from Brighton in this channel?
seekr waves at keroberos, who he thanks again for turning him on to IndieWebCamp!
seekr should start in ~15 mins (?) - any info on video streams yet?
tantek rhiaro: hoping to hear from you that you’ve gotten adactio to setup talky at IWC Brighton with the HD stereo camera he has!
tantek KartikPrabhu: you should write up “separate comments page” as inevitably it will become necessary once you get too many (100s?) of comments on an post or paragraph etc.
LukasRos I have a picture.
KevinMarks who is talking in german?
KevinMarks LukasRos? is that you?
LukasRos doesn’t know the difference between turning speaker off and microphone on.
rhiaro LukasRos: is it working for you?
rhiaro KevinMarks can you hear?
LukasRos rhiaro: Now it’s working again.
rhiaro adactio: introduces IWC, principles, shows own site "crappy php, not proud of it, but it works"
rhiaro ... Also owns own bookmarks. Lists sites he used that went down..
rhiaro Push notification from twitter: "kevinmarks and tommorris are tweeting about indiewebcamp"
rhiaro seekr: what's not working specifically. Site not loading, or just no video/audio?
tantek I don’t go near Twitter half the time, I just use Quill and Bridgy.
KevinMarks what was the question?
KevinMarks is this petere again?
tantek petermolnar could you add that about ssl.com to /HTTPS ?
LukasRos rhiaro and others: There’s also the option to use Cloudflare and their free SSL certificates, but it’s a MITM proxy. I use that for my site.
petermolnar do we have a server provider recommendations wiki page?
tantek petermolnar, yes, see what is webhosting?
rhiaro ... I wouldn't say 'website' more 'collection of pages'. Likes a static website.
KevinMarks perl is short for Particularly Esoteric Regex Language and consists largely of punctuation.
seekr guess I don't feel so bad not being able to connect (yet, still trying) knowing that the audio is inaudible - hope they can work something out - maybe get a direct connection to the speaker's mic?
KevinMarks echo might just be you- headphones?
rhiaro Not sure how many people can be connected on talky beta, anyone?
neuro` Is there a live stream somewhere please?
ben_thatmustbeme rhiaro: have you got some IWC stickrs to give out?
rhiaro ... Does geolocation and brings a map. Also started collecting places/venues in database. UI tries to work out nearest venue.
ShaneHudson_ Has anyone else done anything with service workers yet?
rhiaro ... Last time was in april..
tantek what is digital ocean?
ben_thatmustbeme rhiaro: when does that bingo app get made?
ShaneHudson_ Is Charlotte on here? If she is using Craft, a few of my plugins may help.
seekr what happened to this channel? it's been dead for some time, it seems - is Bright on on a lunch break or what?
seekr do certain ports have to be open and/or forwarded?
seekr I tried Chromium also.
seekr I'll shut it down to see if it makes a difference.
ben_thatmustbeme make sure its trying to get access to the correct camera?
seekr when do sessions resume?
rhiaro Long lunch in the sun..
seekr ben_thatmustbeme: nothing in dmesg for two whole days!
seekr ben_thatmustbeme: are you using Firefox with talky?
seekr maybe it also generally has a camera icon?
seekr Is there any audio or audio/video recording going on in Brighton for later archiving?
seekr you think there should be a camera icon as part of the widget?
seekr ah - that's gotta be it, then!
seekr It's prolly hanging trying to open the camera.
seekr Is there an essay somewhere that explains why silos as primary repositories are a bad thing? I'm assuming it's cos someone else owns the data, but perhaps my assumption is incorrect.
ShaneHudson_ rhiaro: There will be docs for each session though right?
seekr wouldn't one want to avoid silos altogether if one is security conscious - maybe doing countercultural political stuff and wanting to maintain anonymity?
ShaneHudson_ On Quill, it is using the wrong micropub endpoint despite it being in the HEAD of my site? Any ideas?
ben_thatmustbeme what URL are you logging in with?
tommorris Brightonians have returned from lunch.
GWG tommorris: What about Location and Check-in?
ben_thatmustbeme Yay. What is your site in?
LukasRos ShaneHudson_: You mean indieauth.com? That site was made by aaronpk.
ShaneHudson_ Are there any android devs here?
LukasRos I do have a little bit of Android experience.
LukasRos Unless you mean by ”žhere“ someone at the IWC because I’m not there.
LukasRos Haven’t done this but shouldn’t be too difficult, because you just need to know which Intent the app uses for sharing and then handle that Intent.
LukasRos I think it should be an intent filter for android.intent.action.SEND.
LukasRos Specified in the manifest. And then you need to parse the content of the Intent and either pass it to a URL in the browser or do something in the app.
ShaneHudson_ Oh of course, it can be sent in the URL... hmm that makes it quite nice.
LukasRos That would be great.
LukasRos Actually not ”žjust“, that post is a bit older, just updated POSSE to use Zapier.
jgarber Hello, IndieWebCampers! Has anyone combined Micropub with Rails? Specifically, ActiveRecord? ActiveRecord expects data (params) to be structured in a particular way so my first guess is that an app would need something between a Micropub endpoint and ActiveRecord, but wanted to float the question out there in case anyone else has tackled this.
jgarber rhiaro: Ah, right, good point. Perhaps I was over-thinking the entire thing.
rhiaro Probably put that in the readme if it's not already!
rhiaro Oh man, do I have to stay up all night to watch IWC PDX?
rhiaro I feel like I do.
rhiaro Anyone at IWC Brighton have dinner plans?
Loqi slack/shaunguice: Good morning IWC! I'm hoping to participate remotely this weekend too. Is there a stream or webcam to load, or a hangout to join?
gRegor-phone On our way. Will we need to be buzzed in again?
tommorris is located in pub.
tommorris Telepresence has found its compelling use case: getting drunk with geeks.
KevinMarks can someone at indiewebcamp PDX do the noterlive scribing?
seekr oops - don't they start at 10:30 pdt, which is under 20 mins from now?
seekr will there be any sort of non-talky stream available?
Loqi slack/shaunguice: I'd like that.
tantek good morning from Portland!
KevinMarks_ Can someone there do noterlive.com scribing?
tantek aaronpk introduces IndieWebCamp 2015!
seekr ah - great - thanks, bret!
Loqi slack/shaunguice: bret: working. audio a bit trippy but definitely better than nothing!
benwerd Audio is a little funky, but hooray!
benwerd Aw, thanks snarfed and tantek. I did the right thing (still under the weather), but I'm watching.
bret what is wrong with audio?
bret or add you to the hangout?
seekr ah - better now!
bret aaronpk: do we have a speaker phone?
tantek thanks for the audio check seekr!
tantek anyone taking notes on demos?
bret aaronpk: usb? can I grab it?
tantek I demo’d my indie RSVP support, and aaronpk’s indie event support. And also my <style scoped> support for custom post styles.


Alexandra Hemmerly-Brown/Army News Service<br> Sgt. Sherri Gallagher, foreground, of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, representing the U.S. Training and Doctrine Command at Best Warrior 2010, locates a point on her urban orienteering course in order to find a weapons cache. Gallagher is one of the best long-range shooters in the country.
Originally Published: October 25, 2010 10 p.m.
Sgt. Sherri Jo Gallagher, who grew up in Prescott and graduated from Prescott Christian High School in 2002, won the U.S. Army's Best Warrior Competition and was named Army Soldier of the Year on Monday at the Association of the United States Army Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.
Gallagher, 26, currently an instructor/shooter with the Army's Marksmanship Unit, is the first woman to win the competition, which is in its ninth year.
Gallagher, who has been in the Army for two years and represented U.S. Army Training and Document Command, competed over the weekend in the 2010 Best Warrior Competition in Fort Lee, Va. The Best Warrior Competition is described as the Super Bowl of Army competitions to determine the Army's soldier and non-commissioned officer of the year.
"There was a lot of preparation that was put into this and it's just a huge honor to be able to be named as the best warrior for the soldiers," Gallagher told CNN.
Gallagher described military boards that started off with Sergeant Major of the Army Kenneth O. Preston, a physical test, and an exam that all Best Warrior competitors took.
"And after that we went into soldier skills and all the different warrior tasks that all soldiers should be competent in, and that included first aid, land navigation, convoying clearing rooms and any basic level soldier skill coming into the Army," Gallagher said.
When asked if he was excited to hear about Gallagher winning the competition, Middleton Tompkins, Gallagher's stepfather, said "Oh, yes! We're so proud of her."
"I was just wiping the tears out of my eyes," her father, Joe Gallagher, said after seeing his daughter's interview on CNN. "I'm so proud of her."
"When we heard the results of how she was doing in each individual event last week, I told my other daughters she has a good chance of winning this," Tompkins added.
Tompkins said his wife, Nancy, was at Monday's ceremony in Washington.
"I knew about 45 minutes ago, when she (my wife) texted me 'She's won,' " Tompkins said.
Gallagher said one of her favorite events was room clearing.
"They gave you a team of people to go clear rooms, but in the process they gave you a whole village. They gave you a target you had to search for," she said. "As you go through you clear all the rooms, you detain the people that you need to detain, you find your target and you have to march him back into the home area.
"You're graded on every step of the way. And also in the process, the team you were given, they were not experienced in room clearing, so you had 10 minutes to prepare them for the event that was about to take place."
Gallagher said the hardest part for her was the training that led up to the competition, but she said her trainers prepared her well.
"I was able to enjoy the whole thing, because I felt I was truly prepared for it," Gallagher said.
Gallagher is combat lifesaver qualified, combative Level I certified and completed the Instructor's Training Course.
Her personal interests include working as a veterinarian technician, educational growth, competitive shooting, helping others, being outdoors, physical training and spending time with family and friends.
Gallagher's short-term goals include deploying and assisting her team in their mission in Afghanistan, earning a leadership position within the service rifle section, and earning a bachelor's degree in medicine.
Gallagher's long-term goals include making a career out of the Army, earning a gold medal in the Olympics for marksmanship, and obtaining the Distinguished International Rifle and Pistol Badges.
Tompkins said he's hoping to see Gallagher next, when she comes home for Christmas.
Soldier of the Year from Prescott helps celebrate Army's 236 birthday in Washington, D.C.


Greek emergency workers have used boats and helicopters to evacuate people who'd taken refuge on a beach to escape a deadly wildfire near Athens.
At least 24 people have been killed by the flames. There are unconfirmed reports of many more dead.
The authorities have appealed for help from other European Union countries.
• Initial reports suggest the flood will sweep across the north of the country.
• Fidget spinners are a fad that recently swept the nation. Everyone had one.
• People near the suspected bomb began to flee to the nearest place of safety.
• When the police attempted to arrest the criminal, he fled across the border.
• Now the house is mine, I'm going to gut it and completely redecorate it.
• I was gutted to find out that I hadn't passed my driving test. I studied so hard!
There is no letter 'i' in this word.
What is the correct spelling of this word, which means 'escape from danger quickly'?
'Gut' means 'destroy or remove the inside of something'.
Which of these things can you NOT gut?
'Sweep' is a verb of movement.
Which preposition does NOT complete this sentence? 'Fire swept ______ the countryside'.


Shares of Brinker International Inc. were indicated up about 1.2% in premarket trade Tuesday, after the operator of Chili's and Maggiano's restaurant chains reported fiscal second-quarter earnings that matched expectations and sales that beat. Net income for the quarter to Dec. 26 rose to $32.0 million, or 83 cents a share, from $25.3 million, or 54 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, adjusted earnings per share came to 89 cents, in line with the FactSet consensus. Total revenue rose to $790.7 million from $766.4 million, above the FactSet consensus of $780.8 million, as same-store sales growth of 1.8% topped expectations of a 1.4% increase. For fiscal 2019, the company raised its adjusted EPS outlook to $3.75 to $3.95 from $3.70 to $3.90, according to FactSet. The sales growth outlook of 2.0% to 2.75%; the FactSet revenue consensus of $3.19 billion implies growth of 1.7%. The stock has climbed 8.8% over the past three months through Monday, while the S&P 500 has edged up 0.1%.
Will Customers Come Back to Chipotle?
Consistent unit growth and robust entertainment segment lead Dave & Buster's (PLAY) to witness earnings and revenue growth in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018.
Dave & Buster's (PLAY) fiscal fourth-quarter earnings are likely to gain from a robust top line resulting from unit expansion, menu innovation and digital enhancements.
Noodles & Company's (NDLS) top line in fourth-quarter 2018 benefit from increase in restaurant revenues.
Demand for restaurant services depends on consumer spending. In a fiercely competitive industry, these three restaurant stocks stand to gain.


Q.) Please explain the rulings about Rami.
The most preferable time of rami on the 10th of Zil Hijjah is from sunrise till mid-day (zawaal).
It is also permissible to make rami after mid-day till sunset.
It is undesirable (makrooh) to make rami after sunset, but if someone makes rami after sunset till before the time of Fajr the next day, the rami will be accepted and there will be no penalty. Moreover, it will be permissible for the person who has been excused by Shariah to make rami at night (after sunset) without any undesirability.
It is also permissible to make rami from the time of Fajr till before sunrise on the 10th of Zil Hijjah, but it will be highly undesirable as it is the time for wuqoof in Muzdalifah.
فلرمي جمرة العقبة أربعة أوقات، وقت مسنون بعد طلوع الشمس، ووقت مباح بعد زوالها، ووقت مجزئ مكروه بعد طلوع فجر النحر، ووقت مكروه وهو الرمي بالليل لمن ليس له عذر.
The most preferable time of rami on the 11th and 12th of Zil Hijjah is from mid-day till sunset.
والوقت المسنون فى اليومين من أيام التشريق من الزوال إلى غروب الشمس، ومن الغروب إلى طلوع الفجر وقت مكروه.
ويجوز للرعاء تأخير الرمي إلى الليل الآتي ... فلو ترك الرمي فى اليوم الأول رماه فى ليلة المقبلة ولم يكن مؤخرا له عن وقته.
وأما الجواز فى اليوم الرابع فمن الفجر إلى الغروب، إلا أن ما قبل الزوال وقت مكروه وما بعده مسنون.
The scholars have explained that women, children, elderly, etc. fall under the category of those who are excused. Therefore, it will be permissible for them to make rami at night (after sunset) without any undesirability.
It is permissible to appoint someone to make rami on one’s behalf only when one is very sick or so weak that he cannot reach the place of rami even with the help of a conveyance. Women, children and those elderly people who are not so weak cannot appoint someone to make rami on there behalf on the basis of extreme crowds. The crowd is very little at night, and women, children, elderly, etc. are permitted to make rami at night, as explained above.
When one misses out rami on any of the days, he has to make qadha and there will also be a penalty.
The method of qadha is that he has to pelt the number of pebbles he had missed before or on the 13th day of Zil Hijjah. It is not permissible to make qadha after the 13th of Zil Hijjah.
If one misses out less than half the amount of pebbles he was supposed to pelt on a particular day, then he will have to give out in charity 2.216 kg of wheat in lieu of every pebble he missed. However, if the value of his wheat reaches the value of one goat, then he should not exceed the value of goat, but give sadaqah of little less than the value.
If one misses more than half or all the pebbles of one particular day, he will have to give damm (slaughter a goat). Similarly, if he misses more than half or all the pebbles of more than one day, he still has to slaughter only one goat. He will not be required to slaughter a goat in lieu of each day.
( قوله وأكثره ) كأربع حصيات فما فوقها في يوم النحر أو إحدى عشرة فيما بعده ، وكذا لو أخر ذلك .
It is understood from the abovementioned that it will not be permissible to delay all rami till the 13th of Zil Hijjah. If one does so, it will be regarded as qadha and he will be penalised with a damm (slaughtering of a goat).


I need help can you help me please?
Est ce que vous pourriez me dire si ceci est bien; et si ça répond au sujet?
sujet: After the 2004 tidal lave in Asia, many children became orphans. In such a situation,do you think it is better for them to be taken charge of in different parts of the world?
After the 2004 tidal lave in Asia, many children became orphans. In such a situation, I think it is the better for them to be taken charge of in differents parts of the world.
Nevertheless, I think that the fact of leaving their country is not either a good solution.
Indeed, I think that to leave their country for a rich country where the adoptions are springs of problems; such as in France.
Can be a "luck" because they have no future in their country of origin.
Furthermore, the adopted children are wished; and thus they will miss nothing.
Contrary in Thailand where they miss means; where the poverty is a queen, and where they will miss maybe love and tenderness because they meet themselves orphans.
The fact of leaving, can be to facilitate their mourning; because this country is the country of all their misfortunes.
The country of their birth becomes suddenly the country of their death.
And to finish, the adoption of these children their would allow ^de to find certain balance; and to solve many present problems of adoption in France.
What would allow to avoid making as the arc of zoé in the LIBAN.
More need "to steal" children.
The happiness of some would make the happiness of the others.
However, that stays their country of all their previous history.
The spring of their culture; of their roots.
By leaving it, they will lose in some sorts their culture.
They will feel as emptied of any essences; and in perpetual collection of their identity.
Furthermore, even if they have no more their relatives; that stays all the same their country; where is the memories of their parents.
Nevertheless, I think that the fact of leaving their country is not either a good solution.!!!
Indeed, I think that to leave their country for a rich? country where the adoptions are springs of problems; such as in France.
What would allow to avoid making as the arc of zoé in the LIBAN.!!!!
Le style est comme une liste de courses.
Voilà j'ai tenu compte de vos indications.
Je ne comprend pas qu'est ce que vous voulez dire par : votre style est comme une liste?
After the 2004 tidal wave in Asia, many children became orphans. In such a situation, I think it is better for them to be taken charge of in differents parts of the world.
Nevertheless, I think that the fact of leaving their country is not either THE solution!
Indeed, I think that to leave their country for a developed country where adoptions are sources of problems; like in France.
Could be a "chance" because they have no future in their country of origin.
Furthermore, adopted children are a desire; thus they will make everything for them.
Contrary to Thailand where they have not means; where poverty is queen, and where they will miss maybe love and tenderness because they are orphans.
The fact of leaving, to be able to facilitate their mourning; because them country is the country of all their misfortunes.
To finish, the adoption of these children would allow them to find certain balance; and to solve many conflicts of adoption in France.
This would allow them to avoid making like the arc of zoé in the LEBANON.
No need "to steal" children.
However, it is their country of all their previous history.
By leaving it, they will lose their culture.
They will feel as emptied of any essences; and they look for their identity.
Furthermore, even if they have no their parents; that stays all the same their country; where is the souvenirs of their parents.
Indeed, I think that to leave their country for a developed country where adoptions are sources of problems ; like in France.
No need "to steal" children.The happiness of some would make the happiness of the others.
Une liste de courses? Car (et ce n'est pas la première fois que l'on te fait la remarque en anglais et en allemand) l'enchaînement de tes phrases n'est pas toujours assuré, la conséquence de tes phrases n'est pas toujours évidente, quelques phrases n'ont pas de bon syntaxe.
D'avoir deux psudos sur un fil de discussion pourrait être confusant pour tes interlocuteurs.
After the 2004 tidal wave in Asia, many children became orphans.
In such a situation, I think it is better for them to be taken charge of in differents parts of the world.
However, to leave is not the solution of everything.
Indeed, I think it is better for them to be taken charge of in different parts of the world because it is a “chance” because it is a luck for them.
They have no future in their country of origin.
Furthermore, by leaving their country, they leave at the same opportunity poverty which is queen in Thaïlande ; misfortune.
To leave their country to facilitate their mourning; because this country is the country of all their misfortunes.
The happiness of some would make the joy of the others.
The source of their culture; of their roots.
Furthermore, even if their relatives died ; Their country of origin is their country of origin.
Where there are souvenirs of their parents.
Indeed, I think it is better for them to be taken charge of in different parts of the world because it is a “chance” for them.
Furthermore, even if their relatives died ; Their country of origin is their country of origin.Where there are souvenirs of their parents.
Maintenant ce n'est que les lignes souslignées qui se présentent en liste.
Il y a une amélioration.
However, to leave is not the solution for everything.
Furthermore, by leaving their country, they leave at the same timeliness poverty ; misfortune.
Indeed, this country is the country of all their misfortunes.
Besides, to leave their country to facilitate their mourning.
To conclude(end), we can say that the country of their birth becomes suddenly the country of their death.
By losing their culture of origin; they will also lose their identity.
The place where there are souvenirs of their parents.
Les vides sont à remplir.
Les paragraphes sont à mettre en forme.
To conclude, we can say that the country of their birth becomes suddenly the country of their death.
This will provoke an identity crisis.
Furthermore, even if their relatives died; their country of origin is their country of origin.


The company's sales have been falling for years. It has been shutting down stores, selling real estate, and spinning off brands to stem the bleeding. Since 2007, Sears has closed half of its locations — which include Sears and Kmart stores — and eliminated more than 137,000 jobs.
Some employees are now predicting that the rest of the company's physical stores will close within the next two years.
They are severely understaffed, with some operating on less than half of the employees they need, according to workers who spoke to Business Insider.
Not only are the stores firing people, but they are also cutting labor hours for the workers that remain, according to the employees. In some cases, stores are operating with just one or two cashiers — and sometimes no cashiers at all — they said.
That's making it increasingly difficult to hire and retain experienced workers, according to a former Kmart employee of 41 years who said that she was laid off in February. She told Business Insider that her store's employees hadn't seen raises in eight years.
She blames the company's CEO, Eddie Lampert, for the company's downfall.
"Lampert has taken this company and, with pompous arrogance, has destroyed it," she said. "Customer care is vital to a retail business. Lampert just couldn't understand that."
Workers also said that the stores are suffering structurally from a lack of investment.
An employee who currently works for a Sears in Ohio said that his store is rife with issues, from broken walls and escalators to frequent roof leaks. He said that the merchandise on the floor is often torn open, and no one will buy those items.
A former assistant manager of Kmart, who left the company in 2012 after 12 years, said that the company really started going downhill after the introduction of Shop Your Way, a loyalty program that Sears introduced in 2009.
"Items scanned per minute decreased from 18 to five items per minute because the program was littered with exclusions and confusion. Several items didn't ring as advertised or generate the points as expected. This resulted in long lines and angry customers. Abandoned carts meant utilizing payroll to return those items back to stock."
He said that he and his family shopped at Walmart instead of Sears or Kmart to avoid the confusion of Shop Your Way.
"Imagine trying to keep an eye on two children and trying to understand a confusing SYWR [Shop Your Way] offer," he said. "We opted to avoid the confusion and shop Walmart — where the tag or the sign told us what we would pay. No gimmicks."
"[Eddie Lampert's] ideas of reward cards to transform the company were a waste of time and money. If they didn't have a card, you were supposed to enroll them while you have 10 waiting in that one line to check out. Most people were so disgusted when they finally got to pay, they didn't want to apply. They just wanted to pay and go."
In response to the employee complaints, Sears spokesman Howard Riefs said that the company encourages workers to provide feedback.
"One of our cultural beliefs as a company is to embrace feedback," Riefs said. "We have a variety of ways that associates can give authentic feedback — even anonymously — and would encourage them to do so."
"I am very proud to be part of SHC [Sears Holding Co.]," said Jen Chamberlain, a Sears sales associate in Victor, New York. "From online and in-store shopping to home and car repair services integrating with Shop Your Way, it is truly a high standard of operation for any company."
Scott Ogden, an associate store manager in Miami, Florida, said, "I am proud to be part of the SHC team because we all work together on a daily basis to achieve the same common goals. SHC is comprised of great leaders and team members who strive every day to deliver their best results."
In dozens of messages over the last several weeks, people claiming to work for Sears and Kmart complained about the stores' deterioration.
"Clearance is the standard operating procedure at our store," one person wrote on the message board. "We have at least half of our store on clearance. Too much stuff people don't want... and what they do buy they will usually return as defective. ...Not long until the end, it will come soon."
"Lately the majority of tire shipments consist of Patriot and Radar tires. These are simply cheap crappy tires. We have about 12 sets of Michelin tires left and a handful of Goodyear. Even shipments of their signature RoadHandler tires have slowed down. It's embarrassing when I have to face a customer and explain I just don't have much product to offer."
One person said that the stores have deteriorated so much that it's like caring for a "dead body."
"Our motto now is 'you can only do what you can do,'" the person wrote. "It's sad to watch what we worked for with pride for so many years to be slain in front of us and then we still have to care for the dead body."
Some stores are being inundated by shipments of merchandise several times a week, and they don't have enough employees to move the products from the trucks to the stock rooms, and then to store shelves in a timely manner.
"We have been getting shipments of things that we don't need — it seems like they are just trying to empty out of the warehouses," one person wrote.
"My store is down to a skeleton staff," one person wrote.
Another said that they have a 17-year-old in a managerial position.
"With new hires only lasting less than a month, experienced employees quitting for better paying and better working conditions we have hardly anyone with any experience to run the store. The worst is that we have a 17-year-old running the office and cash office. He has no experience in either but he is a warm body to fill the job. The end is coming soon, get out while you can."
If you work in retail and have a story to tell, then send an email to retail@businessinsider.com.


Senators are working to again revise legislation designed to help guard digital voting infrastructure from cyberattacks after meeting with state officials.
Sen. James Lankford James Paul LankfordHow Republicans are battling judicial obstructionism today GOP gets used to saying 'no' to Trump GOP to go 'nuclear' with rules change for Trump nominations MORE (R-Okla.) told The Hill that he expects to work out the final details of the bill within “weeks,” after state election officials expressed some remaining concerns with the current version.
Lankford and a slate of bipartisan co-sponsors originally introduced the legislation, called the Secure Elections Act, last December, months after the Department of Homeland Security acknowledged that Russian hackers tried to break into voting systems in 21 states as part of a broader effort to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.
While officials maintain there is no evidence any votes were changed, the revelations have spurred broad concerns about foreign interference in future elections — including cyberattacks that could alter vote totals or undermine confidence in the final result.
Officials and experts have stepped up demands for states to replace paperless voting machines with those that produce a paper backup that can be audited. President Trump Donald John TrumpForget the spin: Five unrefuted Mueller Report revelations Lara Trump: Merkel admitting migrants 'one of the worst things that ever happened to Germany' Financial satisfaction hits record high: survey MORE and Kirstjen Nielsen Kirstjen Michele NielsenDemocratic Party chief: Trump is 'compromised' Hillicon Valley: Facebook expects up to B FTC fine | DHS face scanning at airports sparks alarm | New Twitter tool targets election misinformation | Lawmakers want answers on Google 'Sensorvault' Dems accuse White House of caving to Trump's 'ego' on Russian meddling MORE, his Homeland Security secretary, have both endorsed the idea.
Congress has already sent $380 million to states to upgrade voting equipment and address security concerns.
The proposal — spearheaded by Sens. Lankford, Amy Klobuchar Amy Jean KlobucharHarris wins town hall war among CNN viewers Cory Booker releases 10 years of tax returns Dems accuse White House of caving to Trump's 'ego' on Russian meddling MORE (D-Minn.) and others — would go further. It would codify into law many of the actions already underway at the Department of Homeland Security, seeking to expedite security clearances to state officials and bolster information sharing between the federal government and the states on cybersecurity threats and breaches.
It would also set up a grant program for states to take steps to secure their voting infrastructures, guided by a federal advisory panel that would develop guidelines and recommendations for states to follow on election cybersecurity.
“The biggest consideration is, 10 years from now, we don’t want people to lose focus and to take their eye off the ball,” Lankford told The Hill on Thursday.
State officials have been wary of efforts to address election security at the federal level, given that states — not the federal government — have historically been responsible for administering elections.
Without broad support from state election officials, it will likely prove difficult to pass the legislation.
For that reason, Senators have brought the states to the table to hammer out the legislation. On Monday, Klobuchar and Lankford met with secretaries of state from Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota and Missouri to discuss the proposal.
By all accounts, the meeting went smoothly. Lankford described it as “very productive,” adding that the biggest concern was whether the advisory panel created by the bill would be redundant, given other groups already in place at the federal level to advise states.
“There is a federal interest in making sure there is some type of baseline action by the states,” Simon said.
He also said engagement from Capitol Hill, as well as from Homeland Security, was helping to “persuade secretaries who had concerns about federal overreach that really this is more about federal partnership."
States initially resisted Homeland Security’s decision to open up election systems to voluntary federal protections at the start of 2017. But several states and localities have since requested help from the department, including remote cyber hygiene scans and more rigorous on-site vulnerability assessments.
Still, the secretaries are not signing on to support the legislation — at least not yet. “I’m not ready to support the legislation in its current form,” said Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (R). “I probably disagree a little bit with some of the senators on how important the bill is,” he said, adding that he believes the extent of Russia’s efforts have been “exaggerated” by federal officials.
Ashcroft said that the revised version should do more to increase the flow of information from the federal side to the states, which was a source of concern ahead of the 2016 vote.
In a statement, Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schedler (R) said he was “encouraged by the dialogue” at the Monday meeting.
A spokesman for Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson (R) said she “was pleased to be able to share Indiana’s perspective on election security,” but deferred to the senators on the specifics of the bill.
Lankford says he and other senators have gone through “five or six, maybe seven” revisions of the legislation, soliciting feedback from state officials and other stakeholders in order to improve it. The latest iteration, unveiled in late March, picked up support from Sens. Richard Burr Richard Mauze BurrGOP senator: 'No problem' with Mueller testifying Collins backs having Mueller testify Graham says he's 'not interested' in Mueller testifying MORE (R-N.C.) and Mark Warner Mark Robert WarnerDems reject Barr's offer to view Mueller report with fewer redactions GOP senators divided on Trump trade pushback Hillicon Valley: Trump unveils initiatives to boost 5G | What to know about the Assange case | Pelosi warns tech of 'new era' in regulation | Dem eyes online hate speech bill MORE (D-Va.), who together lead the Intelligence Committee investigating Russian interference.
He expects to have a newly revised version within weeks.
While the senators hope to pass the legislation before the 2018 midterms, Lankford acknowledged that it would be too late for the legislation to help officials replace voting hardware. The first primary took place last month, and the general election is less than seven months away.
Currently, five states rely solely on paperless voting machines, or direct-recording electronic machines, and several others have mixed voting infrastructure that includes them.
But Simon believes that hackers pose a greater threat to centralized voter databases, rather than actual vote tallying machines, which are not connected to the internet and typically surrounded by a great deal of security.
His state, Minnesota, was among the 21 states targeted by Russian hackers. The cyber sleuths probed the state voter registration database for vulnerabilities, but never tried to break in.


County Assessor Mark Lowderman is being accused of violating campaign finance rules by his opponent's campaign.
Lowderman: I 've done nothing wrong.
Former county commissioner Duncan Bremer had his son, Eli, call media, shopping the story around last week.
Then, on June 6, a formal complaint was filed with the Secretary of State's Office by Colorado Springs political activist Karen McCormick, who says she discovered the issue through a network of friends.
"It's not right to bill taxpayers for what I consider a political campaign," she says.
In a nutshell, Lowderman, assessor since 2007, is accused of sending a mailer to seniors who qualify for the homestead tax exemption on their homes in May — shortly before ballots were mailed for the June 24 primary election. This, Bremer contends, was an illegal campaign contribution by the Assessor's Office. Campaign finance laws bar governments from spending money to support candidates.
The letters sent by Lowderman did not say, "Vote for Lowderman," or contain any campaign message. Rather, they gave information about the program, which exempts half of the first $100,000 of value half of a property's value, up to $100,000, from property taxes for seniors' homes owned by them for at least 10 years. About 22,000 seniors qualify in El Paso County.
We were contacted on June 5 by Eli Bremer, who served as chairman of the El Paso County GOP during a turbulent time when the tea party was in ascendence. We asked him what other media had been advised, and he said he had contacted the Gazette two days before, but nothing happened. The Gazette ran a story in today's edition.
"The complaint will allege he did this for campaign reasons," Eli Bremer told us. "They [Assessor's Office employees] have never done this before [send out letters about the senior exemption]." He also alleged that none of the state's representatives, who determine whether to fund the exemption approved by voters years ago, "remember him advocating for it."
Bremer says it's wrong to spend about $7,200 in county money in coordination with a campaign. "It was done for the purpose of influencing an election," he says. "That makes it electioneering."
Lowderman says Bremer is wrong.
The assessor says he's advocated for funding the exemption for years, and worked closely with Rep. Marsha Looper and other lawmakers on the issue. He also says he sent similar letters in 2009 and 2010.
"It didn't have a damn thing to do with the campaign. I've done nothing wrong," Lowderman says in an interview. "First of all, I’ve been a staunch advocate of the senior program since I took office, and I ran on that platform in 2006. I testified multiple years, a couple of times when the program was going to be unfunded."
He says he planned to send a letter to seniors to advise them the program had been funded, if it was, which wasn't decided until May when the General Assembly adopted the state budget.
"If funding changes," he says, "people get confused."
When County Treasurer Bob Balink sent out tax bills in 2013, he failed to check the box showing whether someone qualified for the program, causing a lot of confusion and a lot of phone calls, Lowderman says. He simply wanted taxpayers to know they had qualified for the program, and that it would be funded for another year.
As for allegations about a news conference that referenced the senior exemption, Lowderman says that wasn't his idea but he obliged when asked by other county officials to participate.
Luis Toro, an attorney and executive director of Colorado Ethics Watch, says if McCormick can prove the assessor letter was coordinated with the campaign, "it could get interesting."
"One has to prove that the spending was intended to help the campaign, and that's very difficult," he says. "Public officials have a way of coming up with explanations that administrative law judges don't like to second-guess. Otherwise, it's one of those unfair advantages of incumbency."


In which division should my child play?
Development of basic fundamental Softball skills and the rules of the game. Emphasis should be on the growth of the player and the enjoyment of the game, with winning and standings left as the last issue to be discussed. Games and practices last about one hour. Games are played on a shortened field with 50-foot bases. The game is coach-pitched (a tee is used if necessary) and players will use a 10-inch "Incrediball" softball. Players are issued uniform shirts and visors.
Development of basic fundamental Softball skills and the rules of the game. Emphasis should be on the growth of the player and the enjoyment of the game, with winning and standings left as the last issue to be discussed. Games and practices last between 1 1/2 and two hours. Games are played on a full sized field with 60-foot bases. The game is coach-pitched and players will use an 11-inch, traditional softball. Players are issued uniform shirts and visors.
Further development of skills, with the coaching of the strategies of the game. Emphasis should be how to play as a team, with players sharing in all positions and roles on the team. The basic ASA skills such as pitching, sliding and how to turn a play should be taught, but not strongly enforced. Games and practices typically last two hours. Games are played on a full sized, skinned field (all-dirt infield) with 60-foot bases. The game is kid-pitched with no walks allowed (coaches come in to pitch if ball four is issued) and players will use an 11-inch, traditional softball. Players have issued uniform shirts, pants, socks, and visors.
The Skill level of the 12U girls should be such that they are aware of and understand the ASA rules completely. The players should be developed for specific positions (as well as backup positions), so as to compete comfortably at the next level. Games are played on a full sized, skinned field (all-dirt infield) with 60-foot bases. The game is completely kid-pitched and players will use a regulation 12-inch softball. Players have issued uniform shirts, pants, socks, and visors.
LVSB Seniors participate in the Valley Inter-Community Girls Softball League (VIGS), which is comprised of teams from Bucks and Montgomery County. Teams play exclusively by ASA rules and are Umpired by ASA certified umpires. The umpires are in charge of the game.
Lenape Valley will have "Sunday Select" teams participate at both the 10U and 12U level for the 2019 season. Our teams will play in the Valley Inter-Community Girls Softball League (VIGS) which consists of local teams from 21st Ward, Doylestown, Harleysville, Indian Valley, Lenape Valley, North Penn, Nor Gwyn, Plumstead, RASA, TYA, Upper Dublin, Upper Makefield, Upper Perk, Warrington and other surrounding communities.


APEX, North Carolina (WTVD) -- One of Nadia Maher's children called 911 after she was shot inside her home in Apex the Friday after Thanksgiving.
Operator: 911 what is your emergency?
Caller: I need police right now. I need an ambulance right now.
Caller: She's not breathing! I don't know what to do!
The frantic call came from Nadia Maher's 16-year-old daughter, who pleaded for help while seeing her dying mother suffering from a gunshot wound.
The shooting happened inside the family home on Walden Glade Run.
While on the phone with 911, the victim's daughter initially told the dispatcher she believes her 4-year-old brother shot their 38-year-old mother in the stomach.
Caller: "It was just an accident. He didn't mean to!"
But according to court documents, the girl changed her story, and said it was her father who did the shooting.
Caller: "It all happened so fast. He was just fixing his stuff. And it accidentally went off. He didn't mean to do it."
But Apex Police said they don't believe it was an accident.
Last Thursday, they arrested Michael Maher and charged him with the murder of his wife.
Authorities have not said what lead them to believe the suspect shot his wife.
But in newly released search warrants, authorities seized several items from the home: security cameras and gun ammunition, cell phones, computers, cash, and the victim's Chanel purse.
Police also searched three vehicles at the home.
The couple's children range in age from 4 to 16.
They are in the custody of Social Services.


Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier this week strongly hinted that Southern Europeans take too much vacation and retire too early. It is an image many Germans share of Greece, Spain and Portugal. But how true are these clichés? A quick fact-check shows that one could say the same thing about Germany.
A pensioner in Greece: On average, Greek men don't go into retirement any earlier than their German counterparts.
How the times have changed. Not too many years ago, Germany was the "sick man of Europe." With 5 million unemployed, its labor market and economy were considered to be ossified. Given the sheer number of stalled reforms, many had given up hope of improvement. Regardless which international comparison was used to determine the best places in the world to do business, Germany always looked bad. Its workers took too much vacation, their salaries were too high, they retired too early, there was too little incentive for the jobless to seek gainful employment and there was no Sunday shopping to spur consumerism.
Today, Germany has the world's fourth largest economy -- and business is booming. At the same time, other members of the euro zone face bankruptcy. When transfers take place within the currency zone, Germany must shoulder the greatest burdens in providing money to beleaguered member states. And because that may continue to be the case for a few more years, many Germans feel their money is seeping away to southern Europe. In response, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is pointing her finger at the recipients of this aid, admonishing them to administer urgent reforms.
Addressing the question of what the reeling crisis nations must do in return for the billions of euros in aid from Germany they need to survive, Merkel said this week: "It is also important that people in countries like Greece, Spain and Portugal are not able to retire earlier than in Germany -- that everyone exerts themselves more or less equally. That is important." Merkel also indirectly criticized southern Europeans for enjoying more vacation than others. "We can't have a common currency where some get lots of vacation time and others very little. That won't work in the long term."
In less statesman-like vocabulary, what she really meant is this: "We aren't going to give our hard-earned German money to lazy southern Europeans." The chancellor made it sound as if Germans are financing some sort of easy prosperity for these countries. While there may not be anything new in the substance of that message coming from Berlin, the tone certainly is. They are the kind of statements that appeal to voters concerned these countries might be getting a free ride at their expense. But is Merkel correct?
The answer is yes and no. It is indisputable that bankrupt countries like Greece and Portugal as well as Spain, where the danger persists that markets could lose confidence in the country, are dealing with massive economic problems. For too long now, these countries have lived beyond their means. And they accepted a loss of competetiveness for their economies as a result.
A statistic from the Cologne Institute for Economic Research (IW) shows that consumer spending and investments in the three countries in the past decade were higher than gross domestic product. If a country consumes and invests more than its actual economic output, then it will rack up foreign debt. In the medium term, that is not an advantageous position to be in -- especially if, as has happened, a considerable portion of the foreign credit is consumed and not invested. It's called living on credit.
The trade balances of Greece, Portugal and Spain show the degree to which the three countries have lost competitiveness. These statistics compare the export of goods and services with imports. A negative trade balance means that an economy is importing more than it exports. It purchases goods from abroad but isn't selling its own products to other countries. A negative trade balance is also an indication of whether a country's products are less attractive on the global market than those of other countries.
Of the three countries, Greece is faring the worst in that regard. For decades, the country has had nothing but significant negative trade balances. In recent years, the situation has worsened further. But Spain and Portugal aren't doing that much better. Before joining the euro zone, the two countries occasionally registered surpluses in their trade balances, but that era passed in 1999. Since then, the trade deficits have grown every year.
The loss of competitiveness can best be seen when analyzing the increase in unit labor costs (see photo gallery). This index measures how labor costs for each worker have developed in relation to the service provided. If labor unit costs rise, it means that the wages are increasing at a faster pace than productivity. The price-performance ratio wanes, and fewer buyers can be found for products.
Greece is also faring the worst when it comes to developments in unit labor costs. In 2009, they were around 40 percent higher than in 2000. In Spain, those costs were up by a mighty 31 percent, with Portugal trailing slightly at 27 percent. By comparison, unit labor costs in Germany have only risen by 7 percent during the same time period.
The Greek budget situation was exacerbated by the fact that the state isn't collecting enough in taxes from its citizens. With a share of 19.4 percent of GDP, Greece has one of the lowest tax ratios in the European Union. Germany isn't much higher at 22.6 percent, but the country is considered to be better at collection than Greece, where tax evasion is considered to be especially pervasive.
Yet despite Merkel's statements suggesting the contrary, along with indisputable shortcomings among these southern European countries, the reality is that they have already begun the battle their inefficiency. Still, it is difficult to make direct comparisons because the pension systems in each of these countries vary considerably.
Greece, for example, has had no general minimum retirement age. On average, workers there retire at the age of 61.9 according to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). That's slightly older than the average age of 61.8 in Germany and Spain (see photo gallery). Now there are plans to set the official Greek retirement age at 65. In addition, Greek citizens would have to pay into the pensions system for 40 years instead of the current 35 before they could draw the benefit. The reform was passed last year by the Greek parliament and will be implemented in 2013.
Spain is taking a little more time to introduce its shifts, but it is also planning dramatic steps. Despite bitter opposition, Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and the country's unions agreed at the end of January to increase the retirement age, in steps, from 65 to 67. In the future, employees would also have to work for 37 years instead of the current 35 before they could collect a pension. The reform isn't expected to be fully implemented until 2027 and it still awaits parliamentary approval.
Currently Portugal has no plans to increase its retirement age from the age of 65. As part of the bailout package it is receiving from the EU and the International Monetary Fund, however, the government in Lisbon has been forced to freeze pension payments at the mid-level and to reduce monthly pension payments to retirees that exceed 1,500 ($2,140). The current actual average age of men entering into retirement in Portugal is 67 -- much older than the European average (see photo gallery). Portugal also pays out considerably less in retirement benefits than other EU states. In the course of his life, the average man in Portugal receives total pension payments of 140,000, according to the OECD. Average payments in Greece, Spain and in Germany are more than twice as high.
The southern Europeans have also dared to make serious cuts in the public service sector. Greece, which until recently had no overview of the actual number of civil servants working in the country, has applied a hiring freeze for an indefinite period of time. The country has also eliminated annual bonuses common for public employees that are equivalent to an additional one or two months of pay.
Spain and Portugal are also making cuts in pay for civil servants. In 2010, Spain reduced salaries for government employees by 5 percent, with no wage increases planned for this year. The country is also planning to eliminate 13,000 public sector jobs.
As part of its bailout deal, Portugal also obliged itself to freeze all public sector salaries until 2013. In addition, national authorities are required to reduce 1 percent of their employees each year, regional authorities are expected to trim staff by 2 percent for normal workers and 15 percent at the leadership level. In total, an estimated 8,000 jobs are expected to disappear each year.
The crisis countries have also been forced to take assertive steps in terms of taxation and have shown themselves to be anything but lazy in this regard. Portugal initially increased its value added tax (VAT) on sales and services from 20 to 21 percent and then to a hefty 23 percent. The country also increased income tax by 1.5 percent and has also since applied a 2.5 percent "crisis tax" on all business earnings. Spain has increased its VAT from 16 to 18 percent, and Prime Minister Zapatero has also announced he will introduce a "wealth tax." Top earners in the country who make over 175,000 a year will see their base tax rate increase by 2 percent to 45 percent.
Since the outbreak of the global financial and economic crisis, Greece has moved several times to increase various taxes. The country increased its VAT first from 19 percent to 21 and later to 23 percent. Fuel and tobacco taxes have also been increased significantly. A 10 percent "luxury tax" has also been implemented for expensive cars and yachts. Greek tax inspectors have also become more vigilant in locating luxury objects that may have been hidden. The government has ramped up investigations in a bid to stamp out the country's rampant black market.
Greece, Portugal and Spain all have their work cut out for them. But Angela Merkel's demand that they should make "a little bit" of an effort is misleading. Serious efforts began long ago.
Besides, Merkel's notion that people in southern Europe are more interested in vacation than work is a myth, at least if you go by figures from the EU's European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound). The agency's figures state that the Spanish and Portuguese are given an annual average of 22 vacation days, with Greeks receiving one more day. Germans, however, with their average of 30 vacation days, are European leaders in that regard. If you also factor in legal holidays, then they clearly have more vacation days than other European countries.


1. The Music Man (1962) as Sound.
2. Gypsy (1962) as Sound.
3. Manhunt in the Jungle (1958) as Sound.
4. Damn Yankees (1958) as Sound.
5. Forbidden Desert (1957) as Sound.
6. The Helen Morgan Story (1957) as Sound.
7. The Pajama Game (1957) as Sound.
8. The River Changes (1956) as Sound.
9. Serenade (1956) as Sound.
10. Pete Kelly's Blues (1955) as Sound.
11. Sincerely Yours (1955) as Sound.
12. The Enforcer (1951) as Sound.
13. Strangers on a Train (1951) as Sound.
14. Tea for Two (1950) as Sound.
15. The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady (1950) as Sound.
16. Colt .45 (1950) as Sound.
17. Barricade (1950) as Sound.
18. It's a Great Feeling (1949) as Sound.
19. The Girl from Jones Beach (1949) as Sound.
20. Key Largo (1948) as Sound.
21. Whiplash (1948) as Sound.
22. The Man I Love (1947) as Sound.
23. Dark Passage (1947) as Sound.
24. Escape Me Never (1947) as Sound.
25. The Time, the Place and the Girl (1946) as Sound.
26. One More Tomorrow (1946) as Sound.
27. Cinderella Jones (1946) as Sound.
28. Deception (1946) as Sound.
29. Nobody Lives Forever (1946) as Sound.
30. Roughly Speaking (1945) as Sound.
31. Shine on Harvest Moon (1944) as Sound.
32. Background to Danger (1943) as Sound.
33. Watch on the Rhine (1943) as Sound.
34. You Can't Escape Forever (1942) as Sound.
35. They Died with Their Boots On (1942) as Sound.
36. Larceny, Inc. (1942) as Sound.
37. Shining Victory (1941) as Sound.
38. Knockout (1941) as Sound.
39. High Sierra (1941) as Sound.
40. The Nurse's Secret (1941) as Sound.
41. Father's Son (1941) as Sound.
42. Manpower (1941) as Sound.
43. Flight Angels (1940) as Sound.
44. The Man Who Talked Too Much (1940) as Sound.
45. It All Came True (1940) as Sound.
46. She Couldn't Say No (1940) as Sound.
47. The Letter (1940) as Sound.
48. Nancy Drew... Reporter (1939) as Sound.
49. The Angels Wash Their Faces (1939) as Sound.
50. Invisible Stripes (1939) as Sound.
51. Hell's Kitchen (1939) as Sound.
52. Code of the Secret Service (1939) as Sound.
53. Secret Service of the Air (1939) as Sound.
54. Smashing the Money Ring (1939) as Sound.
55. Torchy Blane...Playing with Dynamite (1939) as Sound.
56. Boy Meets Girl (1938) as Sound.
57. Cowboy from Brooklyn (1938) as Sound.
58. Blondes at Work (1938) as Sound.
59. Tovarich (1937) as Sound.
60. That Certain Woman (1937) as Mixer.
61. Prairie Thunder (1937) as Sound.
62. The Case of the Curious Bride (1935) as Sound Recording.
63. The Right to Live (1935) as Sound.
64. Captured! (1933) as Recording Engineer.
65. 42nd Street (1933) as Sound.
66. Ever in My Heart (1933) as Sound.
67. Beauty and the Boss (1932) as Sound.
68. The Lady Who Dared (1931) as Recording Engineer.
69. The Finger Points (1931) as Sound.
70. On the Border (1930) as Recording Engineer.
71. Scarlet Pages (1930) as Recording Engineer.
72. One Night at Susie's (1930) as Recording Engineer.
73. The Life of the Party (1930) as Recording Engineer.
74. The Match King (1932) as Still photog.


The event was a success because the young men and women involved were able to meet more potential partners in one night than they would have in one month of typical dating.Organizing a speed dating night for you and your friends can be relatively easy if you plan ahead. Consider whether you want to do this at your house or one of your friends' houses.Everyone has heard of speed dating, but few are clear on how it can be applied in an organizational context. A fast, fun, safe, and comfortable way to meet people from another department; 2.Not only do events like this build professional relationships, but they also contribute to building a high-trust culture. A chance to learn something new about your organization; 3. An opportunity to build stronger interdepartmental relationships; 5.Perhaps provide a light snack and sodas to get them to linger.
You'll first want to come up with a name that you will operate under (a "DBA" name, so to speak).Read one question at a time, which participants then discuss in their pairs.When the event is finished, encourage the guests to stay and enjoy themselves in the venue. Does one part of the organization not really know what the others do?Are relationships across teams not collaborative or even contentious?
In other words, when she's given a task, she will always endeavor to do it perfectly. Dating a wealthy woman means dating someone who is admired by the public.


1. Before the modern era, polio was a mild disease seldom resulting in paralysis.
2. The largest epidemic occured about 1950 and had significantly declined by 1955 when vaccine was first introduced.
3. Disease can not be 'conquered' without addressing the disease cause.
4. Disease is not caused by a lack of "cow-pus", rotting material or carcinogenic poisons in the bloodstream.
The fact that polio incidence increased after WWII and was only a minor problem before 1900 are clues that polio was a man made disease mainly caused by chemical polution, most notably persistent pesticides which were used very carelessly. Sometimes parks were sprayed with DDT at the same time children were playing. Flys on milk cows were sprayed with not a thought of contaminating the cow's milk and thus poisoning children as a result.
6. Creation of and introduction of the Salk vaccine was motivated by fear that, without the vaccine, contributions to 'polio research' charities would drop.
Test results on the Salk vaccine were biased by throwing out polio cases 'after the first vaccination'. Test results were also biased by including only data from the '11 most accurate states' while ignoring the data from the other 33 states included in the test. What would the '33 least accurate states' data have shown?
7. Introduction of the Salk vaccine was beset first with known deaths related to the vaccine and then by a rise in polio cases.
8. Truth of the vaccine's true detriment was withheld from the public. Several states had rises in polio rate following vaccine introduction.
The definition of epidemic was changed from 20 cases to 35 cases [per 100,000]!
The definition of polio was changed from paralisis occuring for 24 hours or more to paralisis occuring for 2 months!
The remaining polio cases were then diagnosed as meningitis!
Note: The increasing sized black bars indicate larger numbers of 'reported' (Notified) cases of polio following vaccination. The decreasing sized grey bars indicate the fewer cases of polio were 'confirmed' thus allowing the false claim that the vaccine was working.
http://www.harpub.co.cc/pol_all.htm With 3 wonderful graphs relating DDT/etc to polio cases.
The following graph gives one an idea of what the world wide damage per year might be from the contaminated Polio vaccines.
A chapter from the book Diet Prevents Polio written by Benjamin P. Sandler, M.D., and published in 1951, at the height of the polio epidemic. In 1938, the only laboratory animal that could contract polio by experimental inoculation was the monkey. [Rabbits were completely immune to polio...] The next step was to lower the blood sugar of the rabbit to subnormal values with insulin injections, and then inoculate the rabbit with polio virus. This was done and it was found that the rabbits became infected and developed the disease.
The Origin of the 42-Year Stonewall of Vitamin C Landwehr, Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine, 1991 "Dr. F. R. Klenner, Reidsville, N.C.: It might be interesting to learn how poliomyelitis was treated in Reidsville, N.C., during the 1948 epidemic. In the past seven years, virus infections have been treated and cured in a period of seventy-two hours by the employment of massive frequent injections of ascorbic acid, or vitamin C."


Context. We present an initial overview of the filamentary structure in the Orion A molecular cloud utilizing a high angular and velocity resolution C18O(1–0) emission map that was recently produced as part of the CARMA-NRO Orion Survey.
Aims. The main goal of this study is to build a credible method to study varying widths of filaments which has previously been linked to star formation in molecular clouds. Due to the diverse star forming activities taking place throughout its ~20 pc length, together with its proximity of 388 pc, the Orion A molecular cloud provides an excellent laboratory for such an experiment to be carried out with high resolution and high sensitivity.
Methods. Using the widely-known structure identification algorithm, DisPerSE, on a three-dimensional (PPV) C18O cube, we identify 625 relatively short (the longest being 1.74 pc) filaments over the entire cloud. We studied the distribution of filament widths using FilChaP, a python package that we have developed and made publicly available.
Results. We find that the filaments identified in a two square-degree PPV cube do not overlap spatially, except for the complex OMC-4 region that shows distinct velocity components along the line of sight. The filament widths vary between 0.02 and 0.3 pc depending on the amount of substructure that a filament possesses. The more substructure a filament has, the larger is its width. We also find that despite this variation, the filament width shows no anticorrelation with the central column density which is in agreement with previous Herschel observations.
Current address: Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.


How do you see anything through the LCD under low light conditions, such as a party with dim lighting, in order to take a picture and have any clue as to what is going on in front of the lens? Everybody is commenting on the low light performance or the LCD performance in bright light. What about low light and the LCD? This seems to be a real limitation, but if anybody has suggestions, I would like to know how I might cope with this issue.
I disagree. It may be WYSIWYG but given the variety of lighting conditions, while the LCD may in fact be "trying" to show me a picture, not enough light may be available from the picture takers angle to see it in the LCD. The lens gets it's light from the front, the LCD from the back. Many times, this can be two totally different lighting situations. I've taken pictures on overcast days (and I was in and out of the shadows) where the LCD was next to useless. But what I was taking a picture of was well lit. At it's best for those pictures, I could only use it for framing, but that was enough. I took the pictures and once inside I switch to playback, and find they've come out great. And an optical viewfinder would have helped. Would have saved me all the time I spend fiddling with the angle of the LCD,backlight on/off, and brightness settings. Many times people must think I'm wierd for taking pictures the way I do, having to hold the camera in wierd positions just to get the sun to hit the LCD! The worst is when the sun is directly at my back and low.
The LCD is completely WYSIWYG and if you can't see anything through the LCD then the picture you take will be black too. If you are outside and open the shutter really wide you will see the LCD go white as the light overpowers the exposure. The best thing to do is to increase the ambient light in the area by turning on every light. You will still use the flash for the picture but you need to get more light on the scene to see through the LCD. For what it is worth, an optical viewfinder probably wouldn't do any better job in those situations.
Vizio smart tv, model E550i-A0, I have a dark screen and cannot adjust brighter.
Have the charging system tested, this sounds like a low voltage condition from a possible defective alternator or wiring connection.
Set scene to "NATURAL LIGHT" Capture natural light indoors, under low light, or where the fl ash can not be used.
or set Scene t "PARTY" Capture indoor background lighting under low-light conditions.
Use a tripod if available, or brace the camera against a wall, table, or other fixed object when taking pictures to reduce blurriness.
If you don't have an object to brace the camera against, use these techniques to reduce camera shake. Press the camera button instead of jabbing at it.
Search the internet for "low light photography" for more tips. The PARTY and NATURAL LIGHT settings on your camera should boost the ISO on your camera.
Do some test shots before hand in low light situations to see what works best.
Why does my TV have sound but no picture?
Flat-panel LCD TVs have a lifespan newly approaching 100,000 hours on average. The lifespan of an LCD TV is generally longer than that of similar-sized plasma televisions. Some manufacturers even claim that their LCDs can last upwards of 100,000 hours when used continuously under controlled conditions (e.g., in a room with "standard" lighting conditions and 77° temperatures throughout). Just how realistic such claims are is debatable. After all, whose living room has no windows and remains at a perfectly comfortable 77 degrees year-round?
In any case, the pictures on fluorescent backlit LCD TVs will show some "wear" because they are generated by powerful lamps, which, like any lighting appliance, will dim over time and with use. The picture you see will dim ever so slightly as the backlighting bulbs dim. One other consideration is that CFL fluorescent backlighting will change colors over time. This will change the white balance on your TV and cause color calibrations to be thrown off.
Therefore, the most important thing to consider when it comes to the lifespan of your LCD TV is the actual lifespan of the light source in your LCD. LCD TVs last as long as their lightsources do. So, the lightsource in your LCD TV is the critical component of your LCD display unit. Newly introduced LED backlit LCD TVs will have the best long term performance. LED backlighting is superior in that the white balance of the TV will not be affected by changing bulb color over time. It's a more consistent bulb technology and will also maintain its brightness longer.
The edge lit version of LED TVs will use far less energy while local dimming LED backlighting will be more accurate and present a better picture while using more power. We believe that local dimming LED backlighting will be slightly less stable from a life span standpoint.
To ensure the integrity of your lightsource for the duration of your LCD display's lifespan, you will definitely want to adjust the CONTRAST setting of your LCD TV. Too high of a CONTRAST level will prematurely age your lightsource because it will have to work harder to maintain such light intensities. Your best bet is to keep your CONTRAST set appropriately for the conditions under which your view your LCD display. Brighter ambient light levels require slightly higher CONTRAST levels, while lower ambient light levels demand less CONTRAST.
Check the relay switch located under the hood. Also check the Low Beam Light bulbs.
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you need additional flash or brighter light to click in low lighting condition. In order to compensate for low light conditions, the shutter goes slow and therefore you get fuzzy pictures.
Another way is to click on movie(video) mode and then atleast you can see them moving around as well as while editing, you could take out some pictures from the video( though on lmuch ower resolution).
brightness: 45% or adjust the black of the video to the black of the pilar bars to equilize them.
back lamp ( if avalible) low when lights are dim, high when lights are bright.
the problem with LCD is they don't look so good with dark sceens. the contast ratio is very low. natively 3000:1 aas compaired to plasma or other direct view TVs. the LCD is back lite and the thin materal of the LCD can not completely block the back light from coming thru. there for the complete "black screen" is illuminated "blue". the best thing is to keep the lights on bright in the room for the best picture.


I. In the reading passage, one of the victims of the flood, Rajeswari shared her sufferings with the flood relief team. On the basis of this, develop an interview by a news reporter.
News Reporter : Rajeswari, could you tell me what had happened?
Assume that you happened to read some of the articles / news reports on the flood rescues. You were deeply moved by the sorrows of the victims of the floods. You decided to raise funds for the cause. You wanted to share this idea with your classmates and seek their assistance in this matter.
Prepare a speech (or a talk) that you would like to make to convince the donors about the need for raising funds for the cause.
You may use the ideas given below.
Shortage of basic needs like food, clothing and shelter.
Assume that you were one of the victims of the flood and received some help from a donor. Write a letter thanking him and expressing your gratitude.
On the basis of the diagram given below write a paragraph stating the sequential series of actions / methods (preparation before, during and after) that can be taken for disaster management.