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Pros: A next-generation iPod remote control that doubles as a fashionable unisex digital watch, with attractively futuristic yet subtle styling. Clock and iPod control icons look cool on hidden 7-by-5 LED screen. Enables easy control of the iPod nano's power, track, play/pause, and volume features through intuitive button design, as well as access to Nike + iPod Sport Kit-specific audio feedback and PowerSong features. Generally simple setup. Available in four color combinations, each with stainless steel clasps.
Cons: Requires purchase of Nike + iPod Sport Kit, bringing total price to expensive level, especially given that remote cannot be used with other iPod accessories such as speakers. Resizing of band to fit different wrist sizes is a little tricky and requires you to cut through plastic. Won't completely eliminate some users' need to look at nano's screen.
Our feeling is that there's no iPod accessory out there more misunderstood than Nike's Amp+ ($79), which has been variously described as an iPod remote control, bracelet, or watch: the truth is that Amp+ is all of those things, but its utility varies based on the other Apple and Nike hardware you own. Without anything else, Amp+ is a Nike wristwatch, made from urethane plastic and stainless steel, capable of telling the time on a bright red LED display that's hidden beneath its matte front surface — if you press a time button on its right hand side. Add an iPod nano and a Nike + iPod Sport Kit and Amp+ becomes a remote control, with iPod volume and track control buttons on its face, and a Sport Kit activation/PowerSong button on its left side. Don't press the buttons, and it can be worn as a fashionable bracelet in your choice of four color options: blue, green with orange, black with red, or black with graphite. Extremely simple to use once you're wearing it, the only rough spot is its requirement that the user self-tailor it with a scissors to fit his or her wrist, a process which is not for the squeamish.
It would be an understatement to call Nike's Amp+ iPod nano Remote ($79) the coolest and most misunderstood iPod accessory introduced in the past year. The bracelet, which is sold in four colors—blue, green with orange, black with red, or black with graphite—is a watch, an iPod remote control, and a fashion statement. Give it a quick glance from a distance and you'd think it's just an extra-wide Lance Armstrong LiveStrong wristband, but get up close and you begin to realize that Nike has crafted an understated and underpromoted work of design genius: a wearable, functional add-on for the iPod that doesn't make the user look or feel like an idiot.
Let's skip straight to the biggest pieces of bad news here: Amp+ only works with the iPod nano, and actually depends on you to already have the Nike + iPod Sport Kit, a $29 add-on set that adds a tiny wireless receiver to the nano and a runner-friendly sensor to your sneakers. Consequently, your total cost to buy and use Amp+ is going to be around $110, which is really high by iPod remote control standards, and a number that's frankly not justified by the device's remote functionality alone. Nike has included a simple five-button controller that's exactly like the iPod shuffle's Control Pad, plus two side-mounted buttons—one that's Sport Kit-specific, the other not. If you're wearing your nano on an armband, or holding it in your hand while you run, you have little to no need for Amp+.
Except for the fact that Nike has made Amp+ nearly irresistible as a futuristic watch—assuming that you like one of the color options. Its right-side button can be pressed to reveal a set of 35 red LED dots that are hidden under the bracelet's urethane plastic surface in a 7 wide by 5 tall array. That button makes the current time's hour appear, scroll off, and get replaced by the current minutes, which then dissolve—an effect that is so undeniably cool that you'll be willing, at least temporarily, to ignore the slight inconvenience of needing to press the button every time you want to see the clock. Holding down the clock button lets you reprogram Amp+ for 12- or 24-hour time and reset the time.
As simple as the iPod nano remote control functionality may be, it just makes sense in a device of this sort. Though it's easy to describe, it's not as simple to actually wrap the equivalent of an Apple remote around a wrist, add a clock to it, and make it look good enough that normal people would wear it. Workout purposes aside, Nike's black designs in particular offer a perfect, inconspicuous way to let theft-conscious iPod nano users control playback, volume, and power on/off status without pulling something out of their pockets; the blue and green versions are a bit more eye-catching, but still not identifiable as "iPod accessories."
The one major Nike addition to Apple's standard remote formula is the Sport Kit-specific button, which can be pressed during a Nike+ workout to activate the device's audio feedback, or held down to trigger playback of your PowerSong. Hitting any of the non-clock buttons triggers a brief light show on the red LEDs to show what you've pressed, unnecessary but cool eye candy that visually confirms what you're hearing in your ears. In our testing, Amp+ worked flawlessly to control an iPod nano 30 feet away—more than enough distance given that users will be keeping the nano much closer when connected to the Sport Kit. Conversely, it must be noted that you can't use this particular remote with other iPod accessories, since the Sport Kit occupies the nano's Dock Connector port and doesn't include a pass-through for connection for speakers. It's very specific to a particular usage model: the iPod nano as a portable, out-and-about device.
One other practical issue that bears mention—and the reason Amp+ most demands a sequel—is the accessory's actual utility during workouts. There are two schools of thought regarding access to the iPod nano's screen during runs: some people feel that the nano's on-screen text and song selection features are highly desirable even when they're running, while others need nothing more than the Sport Kit's audio feedback and the ability to change the volume or tracks every once in a while. If you're in the latter camp, Amp+ doesn't need assistance to serve your needs. But some users might prefer a persistent, more complex on-bracelet display that lets you track your time or access other iPod information while you're running. For now, those users will need to look at and use the nano itself, and perhaps a cheaper armband would better serve their needs.
Setup of Amp+ is almost entirely without issues—except for one. From an iPod nano connection standpoint, it could hardly be easier. Assuming you're using the latest iPod nano firmware (1.0.3 or newer), the Sport Kit's settings menu will include a Remote option, which you turn on, then "pair" with a couple of button taps. That's it; Amp+ works as a remote whether or not you're using the Sport Kit's workout modes. You don't need to be walking around with Nike+ shoes or the shoe-mounted sensor in order to control music playback.
Our single functional gripe about Amp+ is in how you set it up for your own wrist. Presumably to keep costs down, Nike uses stainless steel for the wrist clasp and for the back of the watch, but otherwise is using a simple plastic band that's been molded in an O shape to fit a slightly above average man's wrist size—it can't be made big enough to fit huge wrists, but it can shrink enough to fit others, assuming you have a scissors handy. We found the process of opening the metal wrist clasp for adjustment to be a real pain, and the idea of snipping off pieces of the wristband to be a bit unsavory, even though Nike's tried to make the wrist-measuring process easier with an included paper measurement tool.
Once that's been done, though, Amp+ looks, feels, and works great—so much so that we're going to continue to use it as a watch even without the Sport Kit, the major reason we can generally tolerate the price tag. Nike's come up with a form factor so enticing that it's easy to picture the next generation of iPod shuffles utilizing the same general design, and equally easy to imagine Nike evolving Amp+ into subsequent products with persistent clock faces and even more iPod control features. It goes without saying that we'd like to see the Sport Kit, and thus Amp+, work with other iPods and iPhones as well. While we hope that Apple and Nike heed these requests, there's no doubt in our minds that the current version of Amp+ is one of the best iPod nano accessories we've yet seen. Thanks to a great wearable design that we'd take any day over the iPod jackets, shirts, and cabled remotes we've tried, it's highly recommendable, and deserving of more attention than it has received.
Our Rating
Company and Price
Company: Nike
Website: www.Nike.com
Model: Amp+
Price: $79
Compatible: iPod nano with Nike + iPod Sport Kit


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Seeking the Business Vote
Top candidates for governor explain how they would make it easier for businesses to succeed.
Those in Hawaii struggling to maintain a business or start a new one can rest easy on one thing: Our next governor has no plans to increase taxes that impact business – at least not in the immediate future.
All three major candidates – Democrats Neil Abercrombie and Mufi Hannemann, and Republican James "Duke" Aiona – uniformly promise to improve Hawaii's convoluted, complex and time-consuming regulatory process. And they all say their key focus will be jobs.
That's what Hawaii Business learned from a survey of the three candidates and a study of the campaign for governor. Some themes are clear:
• Aiona focuses his remarks around the achievements of the Linda Lingle-Aiona administration of the past eight years and, if elected, promises to take those initiatives further and faster.
• Hannemann casts his ideas for the governorship as a reflection of what he did as mayor of Honolulu, talking about such things as infrastructure, transportation and regulatory reform.
• Abercrombie talks about getting the state administration in better tune with the people – including the business community – so that it reflects rather than thwarts their interests.
The "business" planks of the three candidates are remarkably similar, with few hard specifics, but at least one issue suggests a divergence in policy: What to do with the stateLand Use Commission?
The LUC is of intense interest to landowners and developers, who say it largely duplicates county regulators and want it reformed, and to environmentalists and some planners, who see the LUC as an imperfect but necessary bulwark against over-development.
To the question of whether the LUC should be abolished, maintained or changed, Aiona gave no immediate response to Hawaii Business. However, in January, the Lingle-Aiona administration proposed a bill to "simplify" commission processes by creating a "legislative-like" process in place of the contested case system used today. The bill did not pass.
Abercrombie contends his goal is to restore public confidence in the commission so it can ensure sustainability of the Islands. That reads as: Keep it, but make some tweaks if enough people want them.
Hannemann had the most specific response to our LUC question, saying that many of its land-use regulatory duties could be shifted to the counties. He also said there is no need for an environmental assessment "at this level" and he called for a quasi-legislative process in place of today's time-consuming, contested-case hearing process.
Here are some of the questions we asked and an abridged version of the candidates' responses:
What is your top initiative for improving the Hawaii business climate?Abercrombie: Streamline the permitting and regulatory process; improve the education system so it produces workers ready for the 21st-century economy and reform procurement. "Politics has overwhelmed the process of bidding for and performing work for the government. We must have a government procurement system that is fair, based on merit and free from political pressuring."
Aiona: Reduce regulatory barriers that delay permits and approvals. "The vast majority of complaints I hear from businesses, large and small, are how long it takes to go through the process of applying for and obtaining permits and approvals." The lieutenant governor also focuses on strengthening the Island workforce through education reform with a focus on science, technology, engineering and math; reducing the cost of business by lifting government mandates; and placing more of the state's reporting and permitting requirements online.
Hannemann: Place greater emphasis on sports, the film industry and marketing Hawaii as a place to meet and do business. Speed up infrastructure improvements and continue pushing for an Oahu rail system. Gridlock acts as a de facto "tax" on business, he says. Attack waste and inefficiency and streamline the permitting process. Conduct an early audit of state government, similar to the audit he ordered when he became mayor.
Do you propose eliminating or reducing any tax?
Abercrombie: The key is tax stability so businesses can plan. "At the moment, I have no plans to change the tax code. However, I am open to working with the business community on subjects like the general excise tax and employment taxes, especially with regard to how they impact small business."
Aiona: "Hawaii businesses suffer from one of the highest overall tax rates in the nation. … I believe there are taxes (where) marginal rates can be reduced. However, rates can be reduced only after we have a fair and transparent tax system." Fair, he says, means everyone pays their fair share and tax evaders are pursued. Transparent means, among other things, understanding and rationalizing the myriad of exemptions that have been built into the system over the years.
Hannemann: While there is room to look for unfair tax preferences and loopholes right away, "Given the condition of the state treasury, and before we can consider eliminating or reducing any tax, we have to grow the economy." Once the economy stabilizes, he would be willing to work with business on reassessing the corporate income tax, use tax, conveyance tax and so forth.
Would you consider raising any tax impacting business?
Abercrombie: "I don't think we need to increase any taxes right now. I believe we need to improve people's confidence that their taxes are being spent wisely." However, he did say he would consider working with the Public Utilities Commission to increase the Public Benefits Fund. For an average of $1 a month per household, the state could materially step up its energy-conservation programs, saving far more for average households than they would pay, he says. Hawaii has to capture some of the $5 billion being spent now on imported oil.
Aiona: "Taxes do not need to be raised. However, if we continue down the path of raising one of the already highest tax burdens in the nation, businesses will not invest, will not hire and will not grow."
Hannemann: "It is hard to see how raising any business taxes would be productive for the economy at this time. Before looking at any revenue enhancements, we need to make sure we are spending hard-earned tax dollars wisely by looking for cost savings, cutting expenditures, seeking grants and other measures."
Would you eliminate or change any regulation or law impacting business?Abercrombie: Conduct a full-scale review of all regulatory laws to achieve streamlining while still protecting the public interest. An example, he says, is the Public Utilities Commission, where the process slows down progress toward energy independence and stifles energy entrepreneurs. An independent Hawaii Energy Authority would combine policy oversight now found in the Energy Office with some regulatory authority.
Aiona: While regulations have their place for public health and safety, "Over the years, the approval process has become too protracted and bureaucratic and it lacks transparency." He would place time limits in which permits or approvals must be issued "or the application will be deemed approved."
Hannemann: Evaluate and update the law governing environmental-assessment requirements "in light of recent court decisions (such as the Supreme Court's Superferry decision). The uncertainty over what's required under this law has created tremendous frustration, not only for businesses but for those government agencies charged with overseeing zoning and planning matters."
Are business-reporting requirements, such as consumer complaints, adequate or too onerous? Should they be more transparent?
Abercrombie: "The key is to ensure the public is protected in ways that are not too burdensome to businesses. In the end, protecting consumers is good for the public and good for business."
Aiona: "Annual business reporting requirements can also be fulfilled online and certificates of good standing and other business documents can be purchased online and downloaded instantly." He says this was accomplished by the Lingle administration, while, at the same time, "cutting just about every fee and charge to the maximum extent allowed by law." He says he would also reduce or eliminate the time complaints remain posted online when they are not upheld.
Hannemann: Business should have the right to respond to a complaint before it becomes public. Adjudicated complaints should be posted, but only after the oversight agency has fully investigated the matter and rendered its decision, he says.
Should the Land Use Commission be abolished or maintained, or should its mission be changed in some way?
Abercrombie: "As they are with other aspects of government, many people have expressed frustration with the Land Use Commission and wonder if it is truly meeting the public interest." He says it is important to restore public confidence in the commission. The LUC's basic mission is to ensure sustainability for the Islands and, to that end, he says, he has promised to talk with experts and community people to determine how best to accomplish that mission.
Aiona: Did not respond.
Hannemann: "There is no doubt that something needs to be done about the Land Use Commission." Many LUC duties duplicate county processes, adding to bureaucracy and delay, he says. Moreover, the contested-case format "lengthens the process and imposes a high level of uncertainty for any business applicant considering investing in our state." He will propose legislation that eliminates some LUC duties that duplicate county processes; eliminates the need for an environmental assessment at this level; and creates a quasi-legislative process instead of the current adversarial contested-case hearing process.
What is Hawaii's best "business-friendly" law? Its worst?
Abercrombie: The best law or laws are improvements in procedures to automate the process of creating a business in Hawaii. "The state has made good use of technology to streamline that process from what used to be rife with confusion and frustration." The most "business-unfriendly" law was the recent effort to "renege" on the high-tech tax credits. "This is not to say that the tax credits were perfect laws. … But when government is undisciplined and unreliable, it sends exactly the wrong signal to the business community and it further damages our business climate."
Aiona: One of the best business-friendly laws is Act 207, the energy-facilitation law of 2008. The law supports the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative goals and "establishes a fair procedure with time limits by which permits are either issued or, if not issued, deemed approved." An example of the worst law is the "card-check" law, which allows unions to organize the employees of a business without conducting a formal, secret vote of all employees.
Hannemann: Act 221 (high-tech tax credits) is illustrative in that it was both the most business-friendly law and the worst. It was the best in its intent to jumpstart the tech industry in Hawaii and in its success in stimulating investments in local technology companies. It was the worst because of all the attempted and actual changes made to Act 221 over the past decade and all the local, national and international negative publicity those changes produced. "The law did not realize its full potential. One of its biggest downfalls was that it did not have the necessary measurement tools built into the original law – raising unanswered questions and controversy."
Private-sector Experience
Mufi Hannemann regularly points out that he is the only one of the three leading candidates who has significant executive experience in the private sector. In between campaigns for office, he worked with C. Brewer & Co. in Honolulu and on the Big Island. He also notes that he is a former head of the state Department of Business and Economic Development.
But the bulk of Hannemann's experience has been in the public sector: working in the White House, in the administration of former Gov. George Ariyoshi, on Honolulu's City Council and, of course, as mayor.
Abercrombie and Aiona have spent almost their entire careers in public service. Aiona, a lawyer, began as a deputy prosecutor in Honolulu, and then moved to the City Corporation Counsel's office and later became a Circuit Court judge with experience both in Family Court and in the successful Drug Court. In 1999, he joined a Kailua legal and consulting firm while continuing to serve as a part-time judge. In 2002, he was elected lieutenant governor.
Abercrombie, an academic who received his PhD from the University of Hawaii and has taught at UH and served at almost every level of government in Hawaii, including the state House and Senate, on the Honolulu City Council and briefly in Congress before he was elected full-time to Congress in 1990. While he was earning his college degree, he worked at a number of jobs from teacher to waiter.

subset: commoncrawl


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Creating Python Packages
PyCharm makes it possible to create Python packages recursively, thus creating the whole package structure.
The Python package nodes are marked with the icon.
To create a new Python Package
- In the Project tool window, select the destination directory .
- On the context menu of the selection, choose , or press Alt+Insert to invoke the context menu:
- In the New Package dialog box that opens, specify the package name.
You can also specify nested packages; in this case, the names should be delimited with dots:
Click OK. PyCharm creates the new package or package structure:
See Also
Last modified: 26 July 2017


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The U.S. pork industry's latest call for federal aid to prop up producers nearing bankruptcy may take a month or two to decide, Deputy Agriculture Undersecretary Michael Scuse said today at a House Agriculture subcommittee hearing in Washington, DC.
The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) wants the government to buy at least $50 million of pork products for federal food assistance programs and take other measures to save an industry that is floundering from losses of $23/head in the last two years, which amounts to total losses of more than $5.3 billion since September 2007.
"To stop producer foreclosures and bankruptcies and for us to continue providing consumers around the globe with the safest, most nutritious meat protein, we need to find a way out of this two-year-old crisis," testified NPPC President Don Butler.
Moreover, NPPC cited data from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange indicating that losses for the rest of the year could reach $30/head. Based on lean hog futures, the group also expects the cost of production to exceed cash hog prices in all but four months in 2010.
"The department continues to evaluate pork market conditions and, if justified, USDA will initiate additional surplus removal purchases this fiscal year," Scuse said.
USDA spent $164.6 million to buy 100 million pounds of pork during fiscal year 2009, ending on Sept. 30, for donation to food banks. That doubled the total for fiscal year 2008 and included $30 million in additional surplus removal purchases this fiscal year, Scuse said.
USDA said that up to $250 million is available in Section 32 funds, raised by customs receipts, to help unsubsidized farm products including pork.
NPPC's Butler said the crisis was caused by a surge in production costs due mainly to higher feed costs and compounded by export bans on U.S. pork products by countries pointing to H1N1 influenza concerns.


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by David Crane david at defensereview.com This article has been updated with digital photos (JPEG format), as well as a link to the KAC CQB PDW fact sheet/spec sheet. Click on the photos below to view them full-size. Knight's Armament Company (KAC) has just (formally) introduced a 6x35mm PDW (Personal Defense Weapon) with AR-15/M16 controls for the Mil/LE market (tentatively) called the …Read More »
Tag Archives: 4.6 defense round
HK MP7 PDW. Serious Compact Firepower
By David Crane defrev (at) gmail (dot) com November 17th, 2002 Every once in awhile, as the editor of Defense Review, I have the rare and somewhat distinct pleasure of handling and firing a firearm that is not only brand spanking new, but actually manages to knock my socks off. Please keep in mind that I did not expect Heckler …Read More »


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Working out from home but want to run a marathon? Here's how one man did just that.
Editor's note: Part four of USA TODAY's Working Out From Home (#WOFH) series focuses on maintaining your strength at home if you're used to working out in a gym. Sign up for Good Sports, our weekly newsletter that will bring you more home workout tips + stories of the good throughout the world of sports.
Distance runners everywhere have been feeling the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, with races canceled and many courses and trails shut down, keeping runners confined to their residences. Outside of running a multitude of miles on a personal treadmill, distance runners have been tasked with finding creative ways to get in their mileage.
Gareth Allen took that creativity to another level at the end of March, putting together his very own marathon course in his backyard garden in southern England. The 47-year-old from Southampton is a 13-year running veteran who has run 137 marathons and ultramarathons in the last four years.
Given his typical volume of miles and races, carving out his own 26.2-mile course became a necessity. Allen is trying to complete 12 100-mile runs in less than 12 months for charity.
MORE WORKOUT TIPS:Yes, you can do strength training without fancy equipment. Here's how.
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"I'd seen articles on people doing runs in their apartments or balconies. I looked at my garden, got out a tape measure and realized I could actually do a marathon — or more — in my back garden," Allen told USA TODAY Sports. "The biggest challenge was going to be keeping count and the constant turns. The first problem was solved when a local triathlon company offered to lend me their timing system so I could do live lap counting. The second problem was solved when I decided to change direction every 100 laps."
Part four of USA TODAY's Working Out From Home (#WOFH) series focuses on sculpting original courses for distance runners. Allen used his garden's 130 feet to make out the 138,336 feet necessary for a marathon. That equated to 1,064 laps. He ran it in 5 hours, 2 minutes.
Allen's garden marathon course has inspired others to be creative with their own courses, he said. He opted to stream his entire race on Facebook Live. At one point, more than 4,000 people were watching.
"The response has been crazy," Allen said. "I did this for a bit of fun. The live stream was there because I'm more of a social runner, so company is important. The live stream seemed to be a good way of achieving this given the current situation.
"I don't think I'm an inspiration; I just used technology to show people what is possible and have a bit of fun at the same time. It's the emergency workers who are the inspiration at the moment."
The point is, runners don't have to feel confined by being confined.
Allen said his main advice is to have a positive support system with family or friends, and to be strategic in designing the course to address the mental rigors that often accompany distance runners when the "wall" sets in.
"The main advice is to keep changing direction — so running loops is better than 'there and back.' It allows you to vary what parts of your body are under pressure," Allen said. "Also, if you have a garden, get permission first as I now have a path worn into my lawn," he added with a laugh.


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Event Planning Guide
The Department of Health and Human Services encourages organizations to observe the HIV/AIDS Awareness Days.
These tips will help local organizations to plan and implement awareness events. You know your community best, and you know what messages it most needs to hear. Use the ideas below to tailor your plans to meet your community's needs.
If you work with other organizations to plan an event, you can help prevent the spread of HIV and build a local network that responds year-round to the epidemic.
Getting Started
Consider these questions and ideas as you decide to plan an event:
- How can you raise awareness in your community in a way that reaches those most at risk and affected by the epidemic? What type of event would interest your target audience?
- How can the unique voices in your community can add meaning to your plans? How can you incorporate the knowledge, skills, and interests of diverse voices, such as providers and youth?
- Don't reinvent the wheel. The lead national organizations for the Days offer many useful tools, such as fact sheets, graphics, posters, and more.
- Use the national theme to reinforce common messages.
- Research what's happening. Identify past local events, get advice and learn about new plans.
- Reach out beyond traditional partners. Large employers, faith institutions, insurers, and other organizations may want to get involved.
- Consider how new media can help you reach your target audience.
- Plan ahead to reach out to the media and to evaluate your event.
Ideas for Local Events
- Hold a public forum or town hall meeting to talk about the impact of HIV/AIDS in your community. Include the perspectives of people living with HIV.
- Encourage your newspaper or schools to sponsor essay or other contests.
- Hold a news conference with elected officials to raise public awareness of the impact of HIV/AIDS on your community. Ask other public officials and leaders to talk about the challenges in the response to the epidemic.
- Invite elected officials to visit a local HIV/AIDS service organization.
- Ask your mayor or elected official to send a letter/memorandum to all city employees about the Day, and to tell them of HIV testing sites. Ask your local leadership to issue a proclamation recognizing the Day.
- Hold a cultural or faith-based event with speakers who can call attention to the local epidemic.
- Submit an editorial or letter on local needs to your newspaper.
- Encourage radio stations to air public service announcements.
- Offer free HIV testing at a special event. Offer incentives to attend. Get tested yourself to set an example, or ask a local celebrity to take the test.
- Organize a health fair to educate people about HIV/AIDS, testing options and other health issues.
- Honor a local leader or organization for their response to the epidemic.
Promoting Your Event
- Ask local media to report on the local impact of HIV/AIDS. Make yourself or other experts available to speak on local radio or TV shows.
- Issue a media advisory and press release to encourage coverage of your event.
- Register your event on the national lead organization's site for the specific Day.
- Publicize your event to community calendars, on TV, and through community centers, and neighborhood markets.
- Add event information to your website, social network sites, your newsletter and to list servs.
After Your Event
- Complete the evaluation requested by the national lead organization for the Day.
- Send news releases to media representatives who didn't attend your event.
- Thank those who attended or contributed to your activities.
- Write a follow-up article for your newsletter, board and community publications.
- List the media and community leaders you invited, with notes for next year.
- Submit a short narrative about your best practices and success to the national lead organization's site.
Encouraging Individual Action
Local events are most successful when individual participants are encouraged to take action in response to HIV/AIDS. Here are some actions you can suggest.
- Get tested for HIV.
- Talk with your health care provider about your risks for HIV.
- Learn about the risk factors for acquiring HIV.
- Decide not to engage in high risk behaviors.
- Practice safer methods to prevent HIV.
- Talk about HIV prevention with family, friends, and colleagues.
- Tell people about why this Day is important to you.
- Talk about the epidemic's impact on your community with friends and family.
- Provide support to people living with HIV/AIDS.
- Volunteer at a local organization that serves people living with HIV.
- Ask community leaders to increase their response to addressing the epidemic.
- Get involved with or host an event for the Awareness Day in your community.
- Help fund an event for the Day or support it with in-kind donations.
- Visit AIDS.gov for information from the Federal government about HIV/AIDS prevention, testing, treatment, research, and using new media in response to HIV/AIDS.


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You can't blame people for forgoing substance in favor of salmon and Bachmann's crazy-eye, given how canned and theatrical the State of the Union is and was (unless you consider Tom Friedman-esque rhetoric a policy direction). Let's take stock.
You can watch the whole speech, with transcript and factchecking, here. There was an extended prelude where Obama talked about how it is that India and China are kicking our asses. There was centrist talk about a five-year domestic spending freeze. There was an unfortunate repetition of the hackneyed, meaningless "winning the future." There were some classic heartwarming stories of American perseverance (who did not tear up when the guy who helped save the Chilean miners blushed and reached for his wife's hand?).
Including Kathy Proctor, described thusly:
"One mother of two, a woman named Kathy Proctor, had worked in the furniture industry since she was 18 years old," Obama said. "And she told me she's earning her degree in biotechnology now, at 55 years old, not just because the furniture jobs are gone, but because she wants to inspire her children to pursue their dreams, too."
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That's when Proctor mouthed, "That's me." Obama also shouted out his victory on Don't Ask Don't Tell. (When the camera panned to the military brass, who traditionally don't applaud, their faces were alarmingly rigid. Then again, Admiral Mike Mullen, who was heroic in that effort, was stoic too). Despite the fact that a seat was held empty for Gabrielle Giffords, there was no talk of gun control.
Alas, no one laughed or applauded at Obama's gripe that in case anyone hadn't noticed, the oil companies were doing just fine. So much for a populist moment.
What did stick: One joke about salmon regulation. NPR asked readers to say what they got from the speech, and this was the word cloud 4,000 of them produced:
Michelle Bachmann, gave her very own response after the official Republican one from Paul Ryan. Her presentation about the job-killing stimulus and the evils of light bulb regulation was overshadowed by the fact that she was looking into a camera for something called Tea Party HD, just to side of the feed that went to CNN. Her misdirected gaze — it's a metaphor!
Another symbolic touch: Senators and representatives paired with the opposite party, such that instead of one half of the room rising to clap, roughly every other person clapped. (Nancy Pelosi publicly snubbed Eric Cantor as her date to the dance. Twitter—that's cold.) Roll Call had the right idea about this whole charade. Are the Democrats Balki, since they hate America and love jobstealing foreigners?
President Obama's State Of The Union Speech [NYT]
The State Of The Union, In Your Words [NPR]
Michelle Bachmann's Turn [Politico]
Perfect Strangers [Roll Call]


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Friday, 15 February 2013 10:11 AM EST
What does smaller government look like? The budget standoff between President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans means Americans may soon find out, and the picture the Obama administration sketches is downright scary.
Cuts in the Navy's Pacific operations of one-third. Furloughed food inspectors forcing nationwide closures of meat and poultry plants. Ten thousand laid-off teachers. A $1 billion reduction in the relief fund for disaster victims. Less secure airline flights and longer waits on airport security screening lines. Reduced monitoring of air pollution, oil spills and hazardous waste.
All this and more because $85 billion in cuts across most federal programs will be automatically triggered March 1 unless Obama and Republicans do something that's eluded them for months: approve alternative savings.
A look at the fight over the so-called sequester, and what its impact could be:
The administration has repeatedly warned that the sequester must be avoided. White House budget office controller Daniel L. Werfel told Congress on Thursday the cuts would have "destructive consequences."
Though many lawmakers of both parties would like to find a way out, conservative Republicans have said they're willing to live with the reductions. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, told The Associated Press this week that "we're going to be stuck with it" until Obama proposes a solution that can pass the Democratic-led Senate.
Overall impact: Administrations past and present always excel at threatening scenarios that make it appear that life as we know it will end. In this case, the law limits the flexibility government officials will have to protect favored programs, but Werfel wrote that the White House has instructed agencies to give priority to avoiding cuts that could "present risks to life, safety or health" and seek other ways to minimize harm to important government services.
The sequester law exempts Social Security, Medicaid, food stamps and Medicare recipients' benefits from cuts, but most programs are vulnerable.
The cuts were expected to mean reductions this year of 8 percent in defense and 5 percent in nondefense programs. But because lawmakers recently delayed the impact until March 1 — meaning it will affect only the last seven months of the government's budget year — the sequester will force deeper reductions of 13 percent for defense and 9 percent for other programs.
Defense: The Defense Department announced last week that because of the cuts it is withdrawing one of its two aircraft carriers from the Persian Gulf region, but there's more coming.
The Navy's top officer, Adm. Jonathan Greenert, told Congress that because of the sequester and already planned long-range reductions, the Navy could not fully support counterterrorism operations in Somalia and Yemen. A letter the Pentagon sent to Congress this week says the military will protect operations for ongoing wars, but expects to curtail maintenance of aircraft and ships, reduce training and maintenance for some Army units and cut Air Force flying hours. There would probably be a freeze in hiring civilians, instead of the 1,500 to 2,000 new jobs monthly. Current civilian workers could be furloughed up to 22 days. And the military's Tricare healthcare system could lose $3 billion, threatening elective care for some military dependents and retirees.
Homeland Security: Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano wrote to Congress that there will be fewer border agents and fewer facilities for detained illegal immigrants. There would be reduced Coast Guard air and sea operations, furloughed Secret Service agents and weakened efforts to detect cyberthreats to computer networks. The Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief fund would lose more than $1 billion. "We do not have the luxury of making significant reductions to our capabilities without placing our nation at risk," Napolitano wrote.
Education: Education Secretary Arne Duncan told Congress that 70,000 Head Start pupils would be removed from the prekindergarten program, about 1 of every 13. Duncan warned those cuts would mean layoffs of 10,000 teachers and thousands of other staffers because of cuts in federal dollars that state and local governments use for schools. Cuts for programs for handicapped and other special-needs students would threaten 7,200 teachers and aides, he said.
Health: The National Institutes of Health would lose $1.6 billion, trimming research on cancer, drying up money for hundreds of other research projects and eliminating up to 20,000 private research positions nationwide. Health departments would give 424,000 fewer tests for the AIDS virus this year. More than 373,000 seriously ill people may not receive needed mental health services.
Transportation: The Federal Aviation Administration plans to furlough most of its 47,000 employees, including air traffic controllers, for an average of 11 days, with most furloughs probably over the summer. FAA Administrator Michael Huerta told employees in a letter this week that while the furloughs can be managed safely, "We might see travel delays and disruptions during the critical summer travel season."
Environment: Cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency would jeopardize its ability to protect the public from oil spills, air pollution and hazardous waste, according to a letter from Bob Perciasepe, who becomes interim head of the agency on Friday until a replacement is named. States would have to shut down some pollution monitors that determine whether air is healthy to breathe. The popular color-coded air quality forecasting system that keeps schoolchildren and others inside on bad-air days would be curtailed or eliminated.
The EPA, which already inspects only a tiny fraction of facilities with the potential to spill oil, would do even less. New models of cars and trucks could be delayed from getting to dealership lots because the EPA couldn't quickly validate that they meet emissions standards.
Internal Revenue Service: A Treasury Department letter to Congress said the IRS would review fewer tax returns, which "could result in billions of dollars in lost revenue." The agency offered no specifics but said each $1 spent on the IRS has meant at least $4 in additional revenue.
Agriculture: The Agriculture Department says meat inspectors could be furloughed up to 15 days, shutting meatpacking plants intermittently and costing up to $10 billion in production losses and $400 million in lost wages. The Food and Drug Administration would conduct 2,100 fewer food-facility inspections this year. About 600,000 low-income pregnant women and new mothers would lose food aid and nutrition education.
FBI: FBI Director Robert Mueller wrote to Congress that sequestration would be the equivalent of cutting 2,285 employees, including 775 agents, through furloughs and a hiring freeze. Every FBI employee would be furloughed for 14 work days.
Interior Department: The department says it is preparing to reduce hours and services at all 398 national parks and might close up to 128 wildlife refuges. As much as $200 million in direct payments to states, mainly in the West, could be eliminated. The cuts could force local governments to cut back on police and fire protection, schools, road maintenance and more.
Labor: More than 3.8 million people jobless for six months or longer could see their unemployment benefits reduced by as much as 9.4 percent. Thousands of veterans would not receive job counseling. Fewer Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors could mean 1,200 fewer inspections of dangerous work sites. There would be fewer investigations into complaints workers are being denied minimum wage and overtime pay. About 1 million fewer people would get help finding or preparing for new jobs.
NASA: Nearly $900 million in cuts would come from programs including money to help private companies build crew capsules to eventually send astronauts to the International Space Station, and to test new technologies for sending astronauts into deep space.
Housing: The Department of Housing and Urban Development said about 125,000 households could lose benefits from the agency's Housing Choice Voucher program and risk becoming homeless. The vouchers are the federal government's major program to assist low-income families, the elderly and the disabled.
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If you've noticed the prolonged absence of yours truly and the paucity of work put into this blog lately, well, yeah, I hear you, and there's a good reason for that. I had been knee-deep in the job hunting and search process, because it was just time to consider a move — not because I loathed my job or anyone I worked with; that couldn't have been further from the truth.
Well, I was successful, and in about five weeks, I'm moving to Portland to start a new gig and a new part of my life. The problem is that, for various reasons, this blog, and any other I've contributed to, can't be a part of it right now. The legal no man's land of working in media dictates that, and I'd rather not do this than consider if anything (or everything) I write would endanger it. Plus, I've never made any money off this blog, and what I made as a contributor to others was not a massive part of my income. It will likely be unnecessary with the move to a larger market with a lower cost of living. (California rent and taxes eat like a Labrador retriever.)
So, until further notice, I'm closing up shop, without any complaints or particular regrets outside of writing more and writing better pieces. It's been nothing short of a fun and rewarding experience, interacting with the commentariat, writing for other folks at Awful Announcing, Sports By Brooks, and Conquest Chronicles, and this forum and platform have introduced me to friends whom I'm thankful to have as part of my life, no matter how big or small y'all actually are.
I'll still probably be around, lurking and commenting on blogs and Twitter appears to be a serious addiction. It seems like a rather opportune time to jump out, because to be honest, the fun had started to drain right out of the entire matter. When that sort of thing starts riding around and you're tired of trolling sites for the latest blow-up to make a point about, but don't have the time to really put into a piece that you feel is more important, it's time to re-evaluate the motivation. The pleasure of writing on a fun subject became less fun as I considered whether it was unique enough for someone to care to read or whether it was truly "good" enough to be farmed out to the Big Boys for linking purposes (I do mean it when I say thank you for anyone who has ever linked back to me, whether I sent something to you or not.)
The community is great and I'll still be a part of it, just not an active, writing part. I'm content with that. So, thank you, to every one of you who read, linked, e-mailed, or chatted with me in some fashion over the past two years.
(Note: if I ever do start up again, it won't be on WordPress. I've soured on this since the redesign here.)
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Building virtual filesystemsBy
Cmdfs builds a filtered virtual filesystem based on a source directory tree. You can even integrate other programs to convert data on the fly.
It's a common task: You only want the users to see certain files on a file server, and the computer also needs to change these files dynamically during access. From the large collection of material on the server, perhaps you want the back office staff to see only the office documents and the graphical artists only the graphics.
Cmdfs is a handy tool that builds a virtual filesystem by filtering the contents of an existing directory tree. With cmdfs, you can create a virtual filesystem containing only the parts of the source filesystem you want to make available to users. However, cmdfs can do much more, including filtering to transform the files to your specifications. For instance, you could use the cmdfs filtering feature to scale down the resolution of too-large digital images or to convert files to an alternative format.
The Cmdfs FUSE-based filesystem lets you build this filtered filesystem without the administrator needing to go through the time-consuming and error-prone task of setting up a complex structure of directories and links. Although the latest cmdfs release dates back to 2010, the software works well – with just a few minor quirks.
Unless the repository for your Linux distribution offers a cmdfs package, installation requires some manual work with the source code archive. (So far, cmdfs hasn't found its way into the Debian or Ubuntu repositories.)
To build the source code, you need the FUSE developer package. Unfortunately, the ./configure script will not notify you if the package is missing, but a simple
aptitude install libfuse-dev
command will load the package.
For the cmdfs source code, see the cmdfs site. Once the FUSE developer package is installed, the familiar process of download, unpack, .configure, make, and make install will take care of setting up cmdfs. If you prefer to know which programs are installed by the package manager, you can use checkinstall instead of make install.
After you complete the installation, users – who need to be members of the fuse group on some distributions – can use cmdfs to create alternative views for files or directories using a syntax modeled on the mount command. Cmdfs provides a read-only directory structure, which the user or administrator can modify using parameters at mount time.
File Filter
As an example of cmdfs at work, suppose I want to create a filesystem that draws files from a source directory but only shows files of a specific type, and I also want it to hide empty directories – that is, directories that don't contain files of the specified type. If the file type I am interested in is .jpg, I would enter:
cmdfs ~/Data ~/test -o extension=jpg,hide-empty-dirs
The file extension is not case sensitive. If you are doing this for multiple file types, use a comma-separated list in quotes, as follows:
cmdfs ~/Data ~/test -o extension="JPG;PNG",hide-empty-dirs
hide-empty-dirs tells cmdfs to hide directories that do not match the filter conditions. Filtering only by file extension has some disadvantages. Files without an extension, or with a misspelled extension, are not included, and if you want to see all possible image formats, your filter list is going to be pretty long. The resulting view would be hard to understand – and probably incomplete. In this scenario, filtering by Mime type is a better choice (Figure 1):
cmdfs ~/Data ~/test -o mime-re=image/*,hide-empty-dirs
To identify the correct Mime type for a specific file, run the file command with the --mime-type option:
file --mime-type LibreOfficeText.odt LibreOfficeText.odt: application vnd.oasis.opendocument.text
Editing Files On the Fly
Cmdfs can do more than just filter data. You can also use external programs to modify the files. For example, you can use the ImageMagick toolkit to transform digital images. ImageMagick [http://www.imagemagick.org/] is a comprehensive collection of tools for manipulating graphic images. With the convert tool, which is part of the ImageMagick collection, you could reduce images to a maximum width of 800 pixels or convert them to sepia.
Because the ImageMagick tools accept input from standard input and can write to standard output, you can integrate them seamlessly with cmdfs to, for example, automatically convert all of your JPGs to PNG files. (One potential problem with this technique is that all of your PNG files would still have a .jpg suffix, which would confuse many applications.)
Because convert can handle simple scaling, as well as perform many other operations, it is a perfect partner for cmdfs. The following command line outputs all the image files at the mountpoint with a maximum height and width of 800 pixels:
cmdfs ~/Data ~/test "-omime-re=image/*, hide-empty-dirs, command=convert --resize 800x800\'^>' -"
Smaller files keep their original size, as defined by the convert > flag, which you need to mask in the input for cmdfs. If all this works as intended, an on-the-fly conversion to sepia should be easy enough, too:
cmdfs ~/Data ~/test "-omime-re=image/*,hide-empty-dirs,command=convert --sepia -tone 90% -"
Integrating programs like this requires some care and attention.
Cache and Options
Cmdfs uses a cache to speed up some processes. Debian systems store this cache in /usr/local/var/cache/cmdfs/username; however, you can change this behavior using the -o cache-dir parameter. In testing, it is a good idea to regularly delete the contents of the cache directory. Deleting cached files is important because cmdfs only creates files in its cache directory if the last modified timestamp changes.
Although you can specify an expiry date at mount time using -o cache-expiry, this will cause peak loads on the system. When cmdfs accesses the mountpoint, it recreates all the files in the cache after the expiry date has elapsed.
The -o parameter offers another couple of useful options beyond cache management. Table 1 gives you some of the most important examples.
All of the examples thus far have been static, meaning that cmdfs will ignore new files and directories at the source. However, if you add the monitor parameter to the -o option, you can tell cmdfs to monitor the sources. To do this, cmdfs relies on the Linux kernel's inotify mechanism
When a change is discovered, it can trigger automated actions. For example, you can inform your users of changes to files in the source directory, or you can automatically launch an OCR tool for documents that are scanned. If you want to use this mechanism in your own scripts, you will need to load the inotify tools from the appropriate repositories.
For permanent use, you will want to integrate the environment in your /etc/fstab file to mount the virtual filesystem automatically. For instance, you could add the following entry for the sepia example,
[...] cmdfs#/Data /home/Username/test fuse user,mime-re=image/*,hide-empty-dirs,command=convert\040-\040-sepia-tone\04090%\040- 0 0
To make sure the entry mounts as intended, you also need to replace any blanks in the command line with \040.
Strange Issues
In our lab, the only problems we encountered were when the directory and mountpoint resided in the same directory – for example, ~/Documents and ~/test. In this case, cmdfs seemed to enter an infinite loop on some distributions when it tried to access the mountpoint with, for example, ls -l.
We contacted the developer, but his troubleshooting efforts failed to come up with an explanation for this behavior before this issue went to press. One possible cause could be incorrect permissions for the cache directory. (The Syslog reports this kind of error.)
Test Files
If you prefer not to use your own files as test candidates, or you don't want to create test files of your own, you can download sample files from the web.
You will find a large collection of test data, including image files, with sizes up to 35GB, from sites such as Digital Corpora.
The Author
Dennis Schreiber is a computer forensics investigator with the fiscal authorities in Thüringen, Germany. He prefers to use Linux for acquiring and evaluating data in his work. When he is not sitting in front of his computer, Dennis spends most of his time with his family and friends – and on his motorbike.
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Updated the plugin to display buttons on both Blog Posts and Products also updated the CSS to make it look better and cleaner then previous. View the ScreenShot.
This Social Buttons Plugin for WooCommerce helps add the Social Sharing Button like Facebook Recommend, Google +1, Twitter Share, Digg it, Pinterest and Reddit to Products Page. So the customers who want to share the product with their friends can easily do that.
You can also select what button you want to display while setting up the Product in case you want to disable any social button from being added to particular Products. By default all buttons get added to Product.


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Although many people think of "immunity" and "plea deals" as being one and the same, they are, in fact, quite different legal concepts, both in theory and in practice.
To begin with, there are actually three different types of immunity.
The first of these is called Proffer Letter Immunity – and it's the most common and weakest type. All it does is allow someone to meet with federal investigators and/or prosecutors with the assurance that, with two exceptions, what they say won't be used against them later on in a criminal proceeding.
The first exception is that the feds can use anything the person says to collect evidence that can subsequently be used against them – and the second exception is that if the person subsequently testifies in court and says something different than what they said in their King/Queen For A Day meeting, the feds can use their original statement to impeach their testimony.
The second type is called Letter Immunity – and it usually involves a fairly detailed agreement that is negotiated between an individual's legal representative and the feds. What this kind of immunity gives someone is a promise by the feds that they won't use what the person says against them, either to find other evidence or for any kind of prosecution.
The third type is called Statutory Immunity – and it's the rarest and strongest type. What this type of immunity means is that a federal district court judge looked at the possible testimony that someone would give in a grand jury proceeding or at a trial and decided that the person has, per the Fifth Amendment, a legitimate right not to answer any question – and then ordered the person to testify anyway.
So, with all that in mind, which of the current – or potential – NXIVM defendants is likely to get immunity? Most likely no one. And if anyone does, it most likely will be only Proffer Letter Immunity – which, as noted, does not really offer any guaranty that a person won't be prosecuted.
There are three very important reasons why the feds probably won't offer immunity to anyone.
– First, they already have one or more defendants who will likely agree to plea deals that will require them to divulge everything they know about the NXIVM crime syndicate that was being run by Keith Raniere and the Bronfmans (Most immunity deals happen before the prosecution has been able to secure any indictments – and it needs testimony from one or more insiders to do so).
– Second, the feds already have several witnesses who will supply critical testimony against Raniere and his criminal cohorts. This includes the "Jane Does" that were cited in the indictment and the superseding indictment – and numerous others who are quite willing to tell what they know about the criminal activities of Raniere et al.
– Third, thanks to Raniere's ego-driven demand to have virtually everything he ever said filmed and/or recorded – and his sick need to collect blackmail material on both his friends and enemies – the prosecution has a virtual treasure trove of documentary evidence to use at trial.
Current defendants:
Plea Deals
Plea deals, on the other hand, are agreements in a criminal case between the prosecution and a defendant whereby the defendant agrees to plead guilty to one or more specific charges in return for some concession(s) from the prosecutor. This, in turn, usually ensures that the defendant will get a certain sentence – although, depending on how the plea deal is structured, the actual sentence may be left up to the discretion of the presiding judge.
So, which of the current – or potential – NXIVM defendants is likely to get a plea deal? Well, it won't be many – and the first ones to the bargaining table will undoubtedly get the best deals.
And without naming any specific names, there are probably six types of defendants that the feds would consider for plea deals:
(1) Someone who can provide details about the DOS sex trafficking operations.
(2) Someone who can provide details about some/all of the financial-related crimes (e.g., money laundering, tax evasion, etc.).
(3) Someone who can provide details about NXIVM's abuse of the legal system, both in terms of its numerous, baseless civil lawsuits – and the lies and perjuries it used to get innocent people indicted.
(4) Someone who can provide details about the various public officials who were bribed or blackmailed in order to turn their back on NXIVM's illegal activities – or to aid and abet NXIVM in the commission of crimes.
(5) Someone who can provide details about all of NXIVM's illegal IT-related activities (e.g., the hacking into others' emails accounts; the planting of keyloggers, spyware, and viruses on others' computers; the planting of child pornography on John Tighe's computer; etc.).
(6) Someone who can provide details about NXIVM's operations in Mexico.
So the Plea Deal Bus could possibly have as many as six seats. Now, the question is who's going to fill them…


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Mexico could be the site of next year's Formula One world championship's double-points finale.
That is the claim of FIA vice president Jose Abed, who represents Mexico on the governing body's World Motor Sport Council. It was confirmed last week that, after a more than two-decade absence, the sport is returning in 2015 to the iconic Mexico City layout, which is being renovated.
It will disappoint some, however, that Abed confirmed to Grupo Formula radio that the exhilarating Peraltada corner will be axed from the new F1 layout.
"Firstly, the old banked curve is too dangerous, and the second reason is that we need to accommodate another 40,000 spectators," Abed said.
But the 2015 Mexican Grand Prix could be spectacular for another reason, Abed revealed.
"Perhaps we will see the season finale in Mexico -- with double points," he said.


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Celtics bounce back with win over Raptors
Boston, MA – Jeff Green netted 20 points to lead a balanced Boston scoring attack that carried the Celtics to a 112-88 bounce-back win over the Toronto Raptors from TD Garden.
Six other Celtics reached double-figure points to help the team end a two-game skid that included an ugly 100-74 setback at doormat Charlotte on Tuesday. Paul Pierce added 15 points, with Kevin Garnett, Jason Terry and Jordan Crawford contributing 12 each to the victory.
Rudy Gay paced the Raptors with 19 points, but went just 7-of-19 from the field and Toronto was outscored by a 63-48 margin after halftime en route to its 10th consecutive defeat at TD Garden.
DeMar DeRozan and Terrence Ross finished with 17 and 13 points, respectively, in the setback.
Boston took control of the contest early in the second quarter, outscoring the Raptors by a 16-6 stretch over a four-minute span to turn a three-point deficit into a 37-30 lead midway through the period. The margin grew to nine by halftime after Pierce drained a pull-up jumper just prior to the buzzer to send the Celtics into the locker room owning a 49-40 advantage.
"We came out and we threw the first punch tonight," said Celtics guard Courtney Lee. "Last night [Charlotte] caught us off guard a little bit and we didn't execute the way we usually do. Our defense sets, we lacked in a couple of them."
Toronto made a bid to get back into it in the third quarter, putting together a 9-0 run capped by a Jonas Valanciunas basket to pull to within 53-49 four minutes into the frame. The Raptors still trailed by four, 60-56, at the halfway mark of the period, before Boston dominated the remainder of the session.
The Celtics ripped off a 21-6 tear immediately afterward, with a Crawford layup followed by two made free throws from Green enabling the Celtics to enter the fourth quarter up by an 81-62 count.
Toronto shot just 37.5 percent for the session and was whistled for nine fouls, allowing Boston to go to the line 19 times and make 15 of those attempts.
"We had a four-point game in the third quarter and then we let frustration set in," said Raptors head coach Dwane Casey. "We haven't been getting calls all year and that frustrates us, and we can't let it happen. But again, when a team turns it up like that, we have got to turn back our fire and get back into them. And I thought that was the difference in the game. They turned up the heat and we didn't respond."
The Celtics then continued to pull away in the fourth quarter, with the differential reaching 26 points after Green drove and scored with 5:24 to go for a 98-72 score.
Game Notes
Garnett passed Jerry West for 15th place on the NBA's all-time scoring list and now has 25,201 career points, with Pierce (23,763) overtaking Charles Barkley for 20th place in that category ... Pierce also climbed over Allen Iverson for 10th place in league history for free throws made after going 9- of-11 from the line. He has now hit 6,377 for his career ... The Raptors announced on Wednesday that forward Andrea Bargnani will miss the remainder of the season after spraining his right elbow against the Lakers last Friday ... Toronto hasn't left TD Garden with a win since a 114-112 decision on Jan. 23, 2008.


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There are times wherein there is a perception of there being 'a lot going on in the world' based on the information/news that we get all around the world in our media outlets wherein there's this massive created awareness of events/situations unfolding as 'news' which lately relate more and more about wars, attacks, political confrontations which keep us all 'hooked' on a particular mindset of fear, anger, nervousness related to the threat of wars or potential wars around the world.
What happens is that in this, we become subject to our own fears, our own assumptions, even our own attraction to morbidity at times when it comes to potential death and destruction events that may or may not be happening near to us, but still, it is as if our entire attention is then directed or 'guided' toward a conflict that is broadcasted and placed under the spotlight for the whole world to see as the most relevant news/point of the day.
Here there are some points we are missing out entirely such as how our attention is suddenly directed/guided to Only focus on the external conflicts between nations and potential wars, which eventually also creates a point of stress, fear, anxiety or even nervousness between the population due to the rehashing of past experiences as past wars/conflict situations in history where we become just subject to what 'those in power' decide and so act out on one's own fears based on the idea that this could potentially 'hit us' or be the death of ourselves, which I cannot deny in terms of the actual problems that are created. It is so that many people die in these conflicts, many people are in fact on the ground facing such life-threatening and torturous conflicts – but what happens here is that suddenly we become enthralled by this information, we forget about 'ourselves' as our first point of responsibility and even more so, we forget to rather investigate and come to investigate and question why is it that these conflicts exist in the first place? Why have we never come to see a solution to this based on common sense where the people have a say into these 'military moves' that are mostly promoted and carried out by 'people in power' that we have separated ourselves from.
This renders us only as spectators of this media war, this virtual or informational war wherein what is expected of us is to simply be at the mercy of what a few decide to do and take a side on the conflict, which creates further conflict between each other as people of this world. Such is the example of how people get arrested in 'peace demonstrations' and/or create further riots against embassies of the countries considered to be 'the problem' and so through feeding the conflict at a thought or even physical actions such as protests for war, we collectively Feed the war by participating in the fears, the judgments toward either 'party'/side of the conflict or identifying some as the culprits or wrong doers. I mean, I've seen myself doing that with the conflicts lately based on, once again, knowledge and information of who I perceive or understand to be the 'real wrong doers' and what happens in this position is that it is very easy to miss out the point of how any person, any faction, any country, any perceived 'key player in the conflict' in this world are nothing else but individuals like you and I that are acting out on their own roles we have all collectively accepted and allowed based on ideas of power, ambition, control, beliefs about the righteousness to attack or kill in the name of some other 'greater picture' or 'big plan' so to speak to continue benefitting a few elites… and in this we miss out the fact that it is ourselves waging war against ourselves no matter 'where' they are coming from, which country or society/group of people is plotting the war or have plotted it for a long time.
Therefore I suggest to always remember that creating contempt, anger, blame or a sense of injustice to fuel retaliation or vengeance toward one faction of human beings is and will only fuel the problem further and so to rather come to understand that what is recreated through participating in fear, contempt, blame is the actual verification of the war itself, accepting it, embracing it as our own and how we tend to 'take a side' based on what the media spurs
It is then to not forget about our potential to actually change ourselves so that one by one we can start first of all waking up to realizing that believing everything that the media says or all the excuses for wars is a massive point of mind control to debunk so that we can instead rather focus our attention and time to develop solutions, to educate ourselves and those around us to not fall 'prey' for whatever is spun on TV/media/internet. We can remain informed about 'what's going on in the world' and even be a trigger to investigate further the causes, the reasons and justifications for it, how we have come to accept 'war' as a normal thing in our lives and as such ensure that one can be informed about 'what's being promoted' without taking a part of it through emotionally reacting to it, as that is what the aim is mostly for here.
Let's keep in mind that one of the best forms of mind control that we act out on ourselves and each other is fear. So through spreading fear and participating in it within ourselves, we become actual cogwheels in a greater machinery that feeds off such attention, such emotions that will then justify further wars and conflict on either side of the parties involved. I suggest we rather ask ourselves why isn't starvation in our daily news? Why aren't the absolute hideous thoughts that go on in our minds about one another part of our 'daily war news' for example and question that very 'declaration of war' within ourselves and toward each other? Why have we come to accept only a few mostly very well planned events to become our sole point of focus that we respond to based on the continuous impulsing of news in the media?
My perspective is that If we had the ability to actually produce our media on things that we can actually do and conduct in these cases, it would contain a much more practical and educational continuous reminder of the solutions that each one of us can take to learn how to conduct/direct our lives in the best possible manner, considering what is best for all, pushing the progressive acts for the betterment of our society to the headlines so that we can motivate each other to prevent further wars, to not fall a trap of our emotions and instead to emulate people that present examples of what it is to take self-responsibility in this world. It's very easy to get emotionally drained if one consumes media-wars for far too long, I am an example of that and how in 2001 I fell right on as a prey for the whole terrorism agenda, which is part of the reasons why I later on sought to simply avoid being informed and focusing on 'ways to get out' of myself or the system, which is how we also then justify our own irresponsibility if we fall prey to the idea that 'the world is so messed up, there's no way out!' which is yet another trap that I suggest Not to fall on, as this is part of the mind-war scenario to continue being docile to be controlled by our mind, our own emotions.
The solution is then to be able to use these media wars to continually focus on placing into perspective the information we're getting/being fed in our mobile updates, in your TV or internet media site and then check ourselves whether there is any fear/emotional experience coming through from the information being read. Next, seeing if I am already assessing who is the one to blame, as when one already creates this 'stance' toward the information provided, it is no different to choosing one brand over another based on How the product/brand is sold to us. Next point is seeing and assessing our participation in the solution for it: can I in fact create a solution for such conflict? And if not then ask why we are constantly fed about these events?
Here it is important to say that I don't deny the fact that being informed about what goes on in the world is relevant, but there's also a responsibility that comes with that to ensure we don't drink/consume the words in the media to feel a part of the conflict without even understanding why the conflict was created in the first place, or without even investigating if these were in fact staged events/plans that have been scheduled for a long time just to ring the war bell and justify it with whatever 'rings true' to people as a 'genuine reason to go to war' – and that's where we as public opinion have to always simply have NO reason at all to support any conflict, any war, any vendetta, any historical excuse to events that lead to any form of harm or abuse toward life. That is a very principled living and common sensical consideration wherein no matter what we are told in and through the media, we remain clear that there is obviously no reason whatsoever to justify any war scenario. Instead I very much encourage everyone to rather investigate the deliberate purpose of wars, who really benefits from them, what really goes on behind the scenes in massively broadcasting these conflicts that have apparently no solution.
We have to stop being victims of our 'human nature' wherein we blow things out of proportion and this doesn't mean that an actual war/armed conflict is meaningless or not to be taken care of, but we do tend to acquiesce to wars through believing 'we are making up our minds' based on 'what the media tells me so' without focusing on real solutions which is of course that of preventing and stopping any war within and without of ourselves.
So the whole point here is to look at the reality of the ongoing situation: it is a war situation going on at an 'on the ground' level and a media-mind-war situation as well, an 'infowar' that we are all participating in by focusing too much only the words and the reactions we create about it based on what the media says such as pondering who/what/why was this plane shut down in Ukraine, or whether there is any real reason for Israel aiming at eradicating Gaza, and whether the US and Russia will just re-enact the cold war scenario without even questioning if the history, reasons and justifications we've been told are valid or areal at all. Let's rather start questioning why we perceive we have to 'take a stand' by supporting one side or the other in a conflict, instead of simply realizing that any war, any conflict within or without of ourselves won't be solved by further protesting, by becoming emotional about it or by wanting to 'know further' about it either –
Wars as any other ongoing and daily war we wage within ourselves and toward each other in our day to day living will only stop when we can learn how to consider each other as equals, when we can learn how to honor each other as living beings and so realize that no war is waged 'against others' but is always toward self, war is always self abuse. Having said that, no matter how 'evil' plans there might be for further conflicts and how this ongoing war scenario escalates, it is to not lose perspective on it in taking 'a side' to what we perceive as "the good" or "the bad guys" – no. This is about rather ensuring one doesn't get hooked on the information and remaining stable and self-directive in our everyday living because, let's be realistic here: unless you are actually living in Gaza or Ukraine at the moment, you and I are most likely only being media junkies reacting to the whole media-war scenario without any relevance to solutions, but only reacting the way we are 'supposed' to in our belief that we have to 'appear to be worried' about it, which is useless and causes more problems than solutions.
What do I propose as solution? To focus on what I can do for myself to stop my inner war within my mind, to investigate why I can read something and become suddenly fearful, nervous, anxious or fearing my own death. What I've come to see and realize is that it's because I hadn't understood before why wars are created and directed, for what purposes or how 'we could be so evil' to do this onto ourselves– and so through this more easily being able to stop participating in any fear/mixed emotions about a news note we might come across and so rather get back to our reality where we then simply ensure that we work with what is here as our own self-stability in the mind, where we ensure we don't feed the psychosphere/collective unconscious with further war mentality but instead focus on the solutions required, which begins by of course not supporting any war scenario under any justification/story told and always stick to solutions. That's what I see has supported me to no longer be the media-junky victim that plays on fear, but simply get to research further, understand the 'greater picture' of world-control/manipulation, how we are mostly easily controlled by emotions and so by instigating fear at a massive level which makes us all more docile to accept any potential war scenario as 'necessary for solutions' which is the concept to of course debunk at all times.
Now it is not to diminish what is going on and the people that's being killed, but the more we only give attention to these situations, the more we continue to miss out the point of where this conflict begins with: ourselves.
We tend to miss then the fact that as devastating a war situation can be, it is only one section of the world that's having the magnifying lens upon it. There is an ongoing war of ourselves as human beings toward our environment/other living beings, there are constant wars going on in our own minds, in our personal relationships, within our cities, there's passive-aggressive relationships where we constantly threaten each other's living condition by refusing to provide money to everyone as a living right wherein the very structure of our society is founded upon war/antagonism/violence and furthering the divide and conquer mentality. We all – or the vast majority – live in survival-mode just because we haven't managed to ensure food and shelter for everyone; we spend more time pondering about our own desires and dream-lives or wars and conflicts between certain groups in the world-system than sorting out basic coexistence problems/differences that prevent us from living/co-working and coexisting the best possible way. And the reason why we get easily caught up in 'the problem' is because we don't actually focus on how to create solutions for ourselves, and that is quite a limitation we haven't grown out of, which obviously needs to be corrected now.
It's time to assess 'who am I' toward this information, what am I accepting and allowing within myself to be directed toward fear/anger/contempt or 'take a side' on this information, why do I tend to only blame a few as the culprits for creating the problem instead of seeing the greater picture wherein it is actually our collective responsibility to not give into further conflicts and become 'active informants' based on the fear to be part of a conflict, but to actually focus on the solutions, the plans for correcting the current structural problems we have co-created in our societies around the world and within ourselves in order to make a constant 'necessary hype' about as what we write, what we focus our lives and attention on: self responsibility at all times.
We should all focus on how we could instead make of our multiple media outlets a massively available source of supportive information that can aid in our awakening to become better and more responsible individuals/living beings that can then walk within the awareness that we create that which we decide to place our focus and attention on. If we only focus on wars, we will only perpetuate/feed the war itself. It is necessary to be informed of the real interests about wars, but also not to get only hooked on the war-playouts that are mostly fixed stories to not focus on our actual points of responsibility wherein each one of us can in fact make and contribute to the creation of a world we all want to live in, one where war can finally be abolished forevermore, because it is only the minority that supports wars that believes to be "benefited" by it –
We know no one can ever really benefit from war, harm and abuse – this is a mindset we have to eradicate within us and that is what we can then start working with within ourselves here: taking self-responsibility for every single thought, emotion and experience so that I can stand as a genuine no-war being within and so without, because only one by one in this awakening of self-responsibility can we genuinely create solutions by working together in this world.
No one really likes war, so why keep feeding it with hatred, anger or sadness? Rather joins us and work together to create a world that is best for all.
Suggested educational website: DAWN Democracy Against War Now
Join us within our focus and attention on self-responsibility, correcting the problems and being the change we want to create as a war-less world


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Lucifer Falls
The Rock
The water was cold but the wet feet were worth it. One of my favorite little falls in Robert Treman State Park, Endfield, NY. Photo ©2015 A.D.Wheeler / http://TheExplorographer.com
Time Space
A 98 second exposure processed in camera using the Sony a7r and a Lee Big Stopper ND filter. Shot in jpg and in High Contrast Black and White, an internal camera setting. Cropped in Lightroom.


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Sept. 4, 2013— -- The choreography, costumes, and heated competition are all back for season 17 of "Dancing With the Stars," along with 12 new celebrities ready to take to the dance floor.
Actress Valerie Harper, "King of Queens" star Leah Remini, TV personality Jack Osbourne, former NFL star Keyshawn Johnson, and reality star Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi are among the contestants vying for the coveted mirrorball trophy this season.
Singer Christina Milan, "Glee" star Amber Riley, actress Elizabeth Berkley Lauren of "Saved by the Bell" fame, and comedian Bill Engvall, will also lace up their dancing shoes this season.
Disney star Corbin Bleu, Brant Daugherty of "Pretty Little Liars," and Bill Nye, who is best known as "The Science Guy," round out the dynamic lineup.
The entire 2013 celebrity cast was revealed live today on "Good Morning America" in New York City's Times Square. Hosts Tom Bergeron and Brooke Burke-Charvet kicked off the much-buzzed about announcement and also unveiled the celebrities' professional partners, including reigning season 16 pro champ Derek Hough and beloved veterans Cheryl Burke, Mark Ballas, Karina Smirnoff, Tony Dovolani and Val Chmerkovskiy and more.
Which cast member has seven tattoos? Click here to find out fun facts about the season 17 cast.
The new season kicks off with a two-hour premiere on Monday, Sept. 16 at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on ABC. For the first season ever, the hit show will combine the performance and results show into one two-hour program on Monday nights. The couple with the lowest scores from the judges that night combined with the public votes from the previous week's performance will be eliminated.
Which couple are you most excited to see hit the dance floor this season? Tell us what you think in the comments.
Meet the Season 17 Cast
Meet the pro partners and see the season 17 pairings!
Valerie Harper
Actress Valerie Harper, beloved for her role as Rhoda Morgenstern on the classic TV sitcom "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," will give "Dancing" a whirl this season. Diagnosed with terminal brain cancer earlier this year, Harper, 74, has exceeded doctors' expectations and continues to be optimistic about her prognosis.
"The brain scans that you get every two months are looking better and better and better," Harper said today on "GMA." "My doctors and neurologists …. they are just delighted that I'm moving in the right direction. As my husband said, 'Let's just buy time, Val."
Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi
Reality TV star Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, who made a name for herself on MTV's "Jersey Shore," brings her unabashed big personality to the ballroom this season. The new mom, who showed off her recent weight-loss, is also a best-selling author and stars in her own reality show, "Snooki & JWoww."
Keyshawn Johnson
Former NFL Super Bowl champion and three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver, Keyshawn Johnson will tackle the dance floor this season. Johnson played for the New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Dallas Cowboys and Carolina Panthers during his career, and went on to join ESPN as an NFL analyst and personality.
Leah Remini
Actress Leah Remini, who has starred for nine seasons on the hit comedy, "The King of Queens," has been a television fixture since age 18 with memorable roles on sitcoms like "NYPD Blue," "Friends," "Saved by the Bell," and now "Dancing With The Stars."
Jack Osbourne
TV personality Jack Osbourne, the 27-year-old son of rock legend Ozzy Osbourne and wife Sharon, brings his spunk to the dance floor for season 17. Osbourne, who most recently hosted the SyFy series "Haunted Highway," opened up about his shocking diagnosis of multiple sclerosis last year.
Christina Milian
No stranger to the stage, singer Christina Milian will compete on the dance floor this season. Milian, who is currently recording her fourth album, broke out in the music world with her hit "AM to PM" and was recently the social media correspondent for "The Voice."
Amber Riley
Amber Riley turns heads with her killer vocals as Mercedes on the hit musical comedy, "Glee," and will now be performing on the "DWTS" dance floor. Riley is currently working on her debut solo album.Pro Partner: Derek Hough. Riley will dance with reigning season 16 pro champ Derek Hough, who returns for his 12th season.
Bill Nye
TV personality Bill Nye, known to kids simply as his character "The Science Guy," will explore the world of dancing this season.
"It's all physics; it's all the study of motion," Nye said today about applying his knowledge on the dance floor. "I'm feeling great."
The mechanical engineer has a passion for science and is writing a new children's book about energy.
Elizabeth Berkley Lauren Actress Elizabeth Berkley Lauren, who began her TV career as Jessie on the hit sitcom, "Saved by the Bell," will take her turn on the dance floor this season. The actress is also a New York Times bestselling author for her book "Ask Elizabeth," and a new mom.
Corbin Bleu
Disney star Corbin Bleu, best known for his role as Chad in the "High School Musical" franchise and who has also starred on Broadway, is lacing up his dancing shoes this season.
Brant Daugherty
Millions of "Pretty Little Liars" fans know Brant Daugherty as Noel on the hit ABC Family show and now the actor will give "Dancing" a whirl.
Bill Engvall
Comedian Bill Engvall, best known as a member of the Blue Collar Comedy comedy troupe and for his "Here's Your Sign" bit, will bring his humor to the ballroom this season.
Meet the pro partners and see the season 17 pairings!
Watch the two-hour premiere on Monday, Sept. 16 at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on ABC.


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Greece has hospitals that belong to both the private and the public sector.
The Diagnostic and Therapeutic
Kyanous Stavros is a privately owned hospital and diagnostic centre. The centrally located hospital was set up in the year 1963 and is one of the finest hospitals in
One of the prominent hospitals in
IASO General is a hospital with state of art facilities and services. The hospital has an ICU that is world class and is known to be amongst the best in the country. It has a Coronary Care Unit and was the first in the country to have a dedicated unit for diagnosis and treatment of heart ailments. IASO General is also equipped with an up-to-date accident and emergency department. There are 10 highly sophisticated surgical units and an angina pectoris unit in the hospital. It also has internal medicine, surgery and diagnostic divisions. The surgeries department has facilities for thoracic, plastic, cardiac, orthopedic and general surgeries. The address for the hospital is 264 Mesogeion Ave. 155 62 Holargos and the contact no is 210 650 2000.
Helena Venizelou founded Marika Eliadi Maternity Hospital in 1926. At that time there was an acute shortage for good hospitals and trained staff for maternal care in the city. The hospital was set up with an aim to provide advanced natal care not only to entire
If you need medical help, the next time you are in


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Yudhoyono, Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, Susilo Bambang so͞osē´lō bämbäng yo͞o´dōyō˝nō [key], 1949–, Indonesian army officer and political leader, popularly known as SBY, president of Indonesia (2004–), b. Pacitan, Java. A military officer who was trained both in Indonesia and the United States, in the 1990s he came to support a reduction in the military's influence in Indonesian politics and sought in 1998 to facilitate President Suharto's resignation. Under Presidents Wahid and Megawati he served as minister for security and political affairs but ultimately broke with both leaders. In 2004 he challenged Megawati for the presidency and won a landslide victory after a runoff election, becoming Indonesia's first directly elected president. In office he won regard for his handling of the 2004 tsunami and his efforts to fight corruption and terrorism. He also benefited from Indonesia's economic growth, though large numbers of Indonesians continued to live in poverty. Yudhoyono was reelected in 2009.
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