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In Sickness and in Health: Welcome to Ecuador
We arrived in Manta, Ecuador the first week of September and spent the first couple of days settling into our new apartment on the 11th floor, stocking up the kitchen and looking at the Pacific view from our kitchen window (we're in the lower rent unit which faces the city rather than the beach). And then… one of us (let's use the Spanish word for sick, "Enfermo", for our patient) was down with fever, chills and a gut-wrenching, racking cough that was accompanied by a growing sense of fatigue, malaise and a slowly increasing shortness-of-breath. And, not just for a short period of time but for days…
When you're traveling, health comes before everything else. Exploring a new environment or meeting other people just isn't practical or even doable when you don't feel well. Luckily, so far, when one of us has been down the other has been healthy and can run errands, track down a doctor or medication, heat up the chicken soup and generally act as a stand-in for mom, a cheerleader when the whining starts or an advocate when navigating a foreign medical system.
While we have a few health issues we're generally fairly healthy but we've needed to find a doctor and /or dentist several times and in several countries in our two years of travel. When in need of medical care we've availed ourselves of our contacts to gain access to proficient heath care. We've asked the people from whom we were renting, reached into the expat community for advice and inquired through language schools or NGO's where we were volunteering. It boils down to relying upon the knowledge of those who live in the community.
Once it became clear that Enfermo was not going to become well using our emergency supply of medications we reached out to find assistance. The fastest response came from our apartment manager who found a doctor who specialized in respiratory diseases; a pulmonologist by training. An appointment was set up for that afternoon and a taxi took us across town to the Clinica Americana, which, while only a block from the Malecon (the walkway along the beach), looked rather rundown on the outside and, while clean, old-fashioned looking on the inside.
Upon our arrival we were warmly greeted by the doctor who introduced us to his wife seated at the reception desk. The doctor spoke some English but called in his daughter, an outgoing second-year medical student, to join us and assist with the translation during the examination. We spent an hour in the doctor's office during which he examined the patient and we all discussed Enfermo's medical issues. We also engaged in conversations about the Doctor's travels in the US to attend medical conferences and our travels in Central America. Before leaving, the doctor provided us with a prescription for medications we would need to pick up at the farmacia (most are available for the asking without a prescription). He most generously gave us samples of medications which we would need or were currently using. With a follow-up appointment in hand we willingly paid the nominal $40 consultation fee and departed.
The following week found us back for the scheduled appointment with the daughter again in attendance to assist with any translation difficulties. Poor Enfermo's cough had improved but the feeling of fatigue and shortness of breath had become worse. A breathing treatment with a nebulizer was administered and the doctor doled out more samples of different antibiotics used in a combination one-two punch against the offender, bronchitis. He also graciously loaned us a nebulizer to continue a few more breathing treatments at home. Enfermo left the office a half hour later with new prescriptions, a third appointment date in another week and a more positive outlook about the prospects of a future recovery. We, again, gladly ponied up the nominal fee.
There is an old saying that, "When you have your health you have everything" and at no time in our lives has that saying been more true than when we've been traveling. Being of the baby boomer generation we are much more aware of our health than, say, a traveler in the twenty to thirty year-old range. Realistically, we know that this is the best our health will ever be, right here and now. Additionally, we travel as partners sharing the fun and also the not-so-fun times that come with traveling as a lifestyle. We're fully cognizant that pursuing our travel dream could come to a standstill if one of us becomes seriously ill.
Enfermo is much improved and, after being holed up in our apartment for an interminable period, we're now looking forward to exploring Manta and Ecuador and sharing it with our readers.


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Oral Presentations
Visualizing collective discursive user interactions in online life science communities
Dhiraj Murthy, Alexander Gross, and Stephanie Bond
Group foraging in dynamic environments
Michael E. Roberts, Sam Cheesman, and Patrick McMullen
Markerless motion capture in the crowd
Ian Spiro, Thomas Huston, and Christoph Bregler
Tracking the 2011 student-led movement in chile through social media use
M. Barahona, C. García, P. Gloor, and P. Parraguez
Effects of social influence on the wisdom of crowds
Pavlin Mavrodiev, Claudio J. Tessone, and Frank Schweitzer
Learning to predict the wisdom of crowds
Seyda Ertekin, Haym Hirsh, and Cynthia Rudin
What "crowdsourcing" obscures: exposing the dynamics of connected crowd work during disaster
Kate Starbird
Collaborative development in Wikipedia
Gerald C. Kane and Sam Ransbotham
Crowdsourcing Gaze Data Collection
Dmitry Rudoy, Dan B Goldman, Eli Shechtman, and Lihi Zelnik-Manor
Analytic methods for optimizing realtime crowdsourcing
Michael Bernstein, David R. Karger, Robert C. Miller, and Joel R. Brandt
Crowd & Prejudice
Nicolas Della Penna and Mark D. Reid
Re-differentiation as collective intelligence: the ktunaxa language online community
Christopher Horsethief
When majority voting fails: comparing quality assurance methods for noisy human computation environment
Yu-An Sun and Christopher Dance
An existing, ecologically-successful genus of collectively intelligent artificial creatures
Benjamin Kuipers
Toward a comparative cognitive history: Archimedes and D. H. J. Polymath
Lav R. Varshney
Collective intelligence in humans: a literature review
Juho Salminen
Thermodynamic principles in social collaborations
Huan-Kai Peng, Ying Zhang, Peter Pirolli, and Tad Hogg
Crowdsourcing collective emotional intelligence
Rob Morris and Rosalind Picard
Social aspects of virtual teams
Daphna Shwarts-Asher
The Wikipedian revolution: collective intelligence in the Egyptian Blogosphere
Gloria Mark, Justin Chung, Ban Al-Ani, and Jennifer Jones
Collective creativity: Where we are and where we might go
Lixiu Yu, Jeffrey V. Nickerson, and Yasuaki Sakamoto
Crowd Memory: Learning in the collective
Walter S. Lasecki, Samuel White, Kyle I. Murray, and Jeffrey P. Bigham
Patterns of social influence in networks of situated cognitive agents
Russell C. Thomas and John S. Gero
Who is authoritative? Understanding reputation mechanisms in Quora
Sharoda A. Paul, Lichan Hong, and Ed. H. Chi
Leading the collective: Social capital and the development of leaders in core-peripery organizations
Benjamin Collier and Robert Kraut
Macroscopes: models for collective decision making
Subramanian Ramamoorthy, András Z. Salamon, and Rahul Santhanam
Collective cognitive authority: expertise location via social labeling
Terrell G. Russell
Motivations for participation in socially networked collective intelligence systems
Jon Chamberlain
A Computational Analysis of Collective Discourse
Vahed Qazvinian and Dragomir R. Radev
GalaxySearch – Discovering the Knowledge of Many by Using Wikipedia as a Meta-Searchindex
Hauke Fuehres, Peter A. Gloor, Michael Henninger, Reto Kleeb, and Keiichi Nemoto
Broadcast search in Innovation Contests: Case for Hybrid Models
Thomas Gegenhuber and Marko Hrelja
The effects of prediction market design and price elasticity on trading performance of users: an experimental analysis
Ivo Blohm, Christoph Riedl, Johann Füller, Orhan Köroglu, Jan MarcoLeimeister, and Helmut Krcmar
Rationale awareness for quality assurance in iterative human computation processes
Lu Xiao
Automatic Prediction of Small Group Performance in Information Sharing Tasks
Wen Dong, Bruno Lepri, and Alex (Sandy) Pentland

subset: commoncrawl


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"Much as I love my job, first and foremost, I am a husband and a dad," says Howie Mandel, host of two versions ofDeal or No DealHowie Do It.
— one in prime time on NBC, and a half-hour syndicated version every day — plus his new hidden-camera prank show, "So meeting people, learning about their hopes and dreams, and then seeing those dreams come true is amazing." The 52-year-old father of three (daughters Jackie, 24, and Riley, 16, and son Alex, 19) has been married for 30 years to Terry Soil. He says his greatest success is his family — and staying out of the way when anything at all needs to be done around the house.
I knew I wanted to marry my wife when...she made me laugh. It was wonderful to meet a witty woman. The biggest void that people can have in their lives is a sense of humor. Spending your life with someone who doesn't have that wouldn't be palatable.
Our favorite date night is...seven nights a week. My wife doesn't cook, so we eat out every night. It's not fine dining or anything — we're not fancy people. Last night, we went to Johnny Rockets. We go to a lot of delis. But every night feels like a date. We see a lot of movies. But we don't plan a Saturday night out.
More From Good Housekeeping
My handyman style at home is DIY or Dial-the-Phone...neither. Dial-the-Phone implies that I would actually go to the phone. This is going to come off terribly, but I do nothing around the house. It's not for lack of volunteering or even being there, it's just that I'd get in the way. I'm mostly inept.
My favorite daily activity is...to sit at a coffee shop and eavesdrop. You get a sense of what people find funny.
The one thing my wife and I will never agree on about the house is...what color something should be. She'll never do anything in the house without asking me, but I'm color-blind, so when I make a choice, I'm told that it clashes. So then I say, "Then why did you ask me? I'm color-blind." To which she says, "Because I want you to be involved."
Our favorite family tradition is...any time we can get the five of us together for dinner. I love sitting with three young adults carrying on a real conversation.
Our best parenting strategy is...to be a united front. You can't be the dad who takes your kid out after your wife has said, "No ice cream," buys the ice cream, and says, "Don't tell your mother." You teach the child to lie — and to disrespect the other parent. We learned early on that we needed to be united, even if we disagreed, and to have that conversation out of earshot of the kids.
The best thing I taught my kids is...that they should do what they are passionate about. I came from Canada, chased an opportunity, and we are living in California, and I make my living making people laugh all day. And one of my kids is a teacher, one's an actor, and the other, well, she's 16, and she'll be whatever she wants to be. And the best thing I did was not get in the way.


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Broncos have released Willis McGahee
Hey, the Broncos have this wide receiver -- I believe his name's Welker -- the Patriots foolishly let get away.
Why would they want to get bogged down running the ball?
From the Broncos' media relations department:
BRONCOS RELEASE RB WILLIS McGAHEE
ENGLEWOOD, Colo.— The Denver Broncos on Thursday released running back Willis McGahee, it was announced.
"It's never easy to part ways with a veteran player who made so many positive contributions to our team and community," Broncos Executive Vice President of Football Operations John Elway said. "I appreciate all of the competitiveness, toughness and leadership Willis brought to the Broncos. He was an integral part of our team's turnaround during the past two seasons, and I wish him the best as he continues his NFL career."
McGahee (6-0, 235 pounds) is an 11th-year veteran who spent the last two seasons with Denver, totaling 1,930 rushing yards and eight touchdowns on 416 carries (4.6 avg.) in 25 regular-season games played (23 starts). A two-time Pro Bowl selection, McGahee spent his first eight NFL seasons with Buffalo (2003-06) and Baltimore (2007-10).
In 130 career regular-season games (89 starts), he owns 8,097 rushing yards and 63 touchdowns on 1,957 carries (4.1 avg.) in addition to 202 receptions for 1,319 yards (6.5 avg.) with five scores. In nine career postseason games played (3 starts), he has amassed 111 attempts for 408 yards (3.7 avg.) with five touchdowns along with 10 catches for 70 yards (7.0 avg.).
Drafted by the Bills in the first round (23rd overall) of the 2003 NFL Draft from the University of Miami, McGahee capped his collegiate career by breaking the Hurricanes' single-season records with 1,753 rushing yards and 28 touchdowns as a sophomore in 2002 to earn consensus first-team All-America honors in addition to being named a finalist for the Heisman Trophy.
A graduate of Central High School in Miami, McGahee was born on Oct. 21, 1981.


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WEST DES MOINES – When fans arrive for the tournament, we know they're looking for some tasty treats to enjoy the game with.
Local food trucks are preparing for the big college tournament at The Hall!
Vendors are expecting crowds into the thousands and food truck owners say there is a reason to come enjoy their mobile kitchens over a regular bar and restaurant.
"Food trucks, number one, you're definitley supporting local," explains Grant Montour, owner of Roadside Tacos. "You're taking care of the folks that are living in the city."
You can catch food trucks at The Hall:
MON: 5pm – 9pm
TUE: 5pm – 9pm
WED: 5pm – 9pm
THU: 11am – 2pm and 5 – 9pm
FRI: 11am – 2pm and 5 – 9pm
SAT 11am – 9pm
SUN: 11am – 9pm


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Manuscripts and Publications
Filters: Author is Naar-King, Sylvie [Clear All Filters]
Health literacy and antiretroviral adherence among HIV-infected adolescents.. Patient Educ Couns. 79(1):25-9.. 2010.
Multiple risk behaviors among youth living with human immunodeficiency virus in five U.S. cities.. J Adolesc Health. 46(1):11-6.. 2010.
A multisite randomized trial of a motivational intervention targeting multiple risks in youth living with HIV: initial effects on motivation, self-efficacy, and depression.. J Adolesc Health. 46(5):422-8.. 2010.
Predictors of condom use in a multisite study of high-risk youth living with HIV.. AIDS Educ Prev. 22(1):1-14.. 2010.
Predictors of medication adherence in high risk youth of color living with HIV.. J Pediatr Psychol. 35(6):593-601.. 2010.
Psychosocial factors and substance use in high-risk youth living with HIV: a multi-site study.. AIDS Care. 22(4):475-82.. 2010.
Youth living with HIV and problem substance use: elevated distress is associated with nonadherence and sexual risk.. J Int Assoc Physicians AIDS Care (Chic). 9(2):113-5.. 2010.
A clinic-based motivational intervention improves condom use among subgroups of youth living with HIV.. J Adolesc Health. 49(2):193-8.. 2011.
Alcohol and marijuana use outcomes in the Healthy Choices motivational interviewing intervention for HIV-positive youth.. AIDS Patient Care STDS. 26(2):95-100.. 2012.
Depression and stigma in high-risk youth living with HIV: a multi-site study.. J Pediatr Health Care. 26(4):300-5.. 2012.
Patterns of disclosure among youth who are HIV-positive: a multisite study.. J Adolesc Health. 50(3):315-7.. 2012.
Barriers to medication adherence in behaviorally and perinatally infected youth living with HIV.. AIDS Behav. 17(1):86-93.. 2013.
The initial feasibility of a computer-based motivational intervention for adherence for youth newly recommended to start antiretroviral treatment.. AIDS Care. 26(1):130-5.. 2014.


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President Obama, Mitt Romney in Ohio for dueling speeches
Dueling from down the road, President Barack Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney on Thursday will offer deeply contrasting visions for how to fix the sluggish economy, framing in their most direct terms the fierce, fundamental choice that will decide the November election.
The setting alone is a competition: Obama and Romney will give their economic speeches at about the same time from the same state, battleground Ohio.
Given the fragile economy, the split-screen showdown offers the sense of a bigger moment in a campaign that has been defined mainly by ads and fundraisers. Yet for all the hype, particularly surrounding the speech of the sitting president, previews from both sides point toward plenty of familiar themes and few, if any, new ideas.
For Obama, the speech will aim to get above the daily ups and downs — more downs of late — and pull the American people into the discussion Obama wants: a choice between his economic ideas and Romney's. As he has done before at pivotal moments in his presidency, Obama will use a big speech to try to reframe the debate.
For Romney, the occasion is about defining how he would lead the economy, including the priorities for his first 100 days in office. The former Massachusetts governor who made a fortune in business is sensing momentum on his side, particularly as the weak pace of job growth undermines Obama's stick-with-me message.
Obama is not expected to announce any big policy changes. His aides say his pending jobs ideas before Congress remain valid, and he will keep pushing them.
The two men will essentially be going after each other from 250 miles apart, with Obama at a community college in Cleveland and Romney at a manufacturing company in Cincinnati. In choosing Ohio, they are targeting the state that strategists in both parties consider perhaps the most contested and vital of this election.
Obama will probably pound on the second-term economic vision he began laying out months ago. He will lay out a jobs plan of spending tax money on education, energy, science and innovation and transportation; cutting the debt by reducing spending elsewhere and raising taxes on the wealthy; and taking on the nation's loophole-loaded tax code to make it fairer.
Romney will talk about cutting regulation and spending, overhauling the tax system, doing away with Obama's health care overhaul and supporting a major oil pipeline known as Keystone XL. Setting his own expectations for Obama, Romney told donors in Cincinnati: "He'll speak with great rhetoric and eloquence. But actions and records speak a heck of a lot louder than words."
Without doubt, Romney and Obama have starkly different visions of economic rebirth, the issue of top concern for voters. To hear them tell it, Obama thinks Romney's jobs philosophy is a failed notion of just cutting taxes and gutting regulation, while Romney says the president is a big-government defender who is stifling the free market at the cost of economic acceleration.
Of the two, Obama is carrying more of a political burden because, as the guy in charge, he is saddled with a lumbering economic recovery. Romney can largely blame the incumbent — just as Obama, as a candidate, benefited from blaming President George W. Bush.
Obama has sought to erode that argument and dent Romney's business credentials by saying his only idea is faulting Obama.
The speeches come in a month marked by bad economic news. May employment numbers showed that the private sector created a disappointing 69,000 jobs and that the jobless rate ticked up to 8.2 percent. This week, the Federal Reserve released data showing that the median family net worth shrank between 2007 and 2010 to levels not seen since 1992.
No matter what path either candidate takes to reach the necessary 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency, Ohio and its 18 electoral votes figure in every scenario. No Republican has ever won the presidency without winning Ohio. Obama carried the state 52 percent to 47 percent in 2008 over John McCain; Bush carried it 51 percent to 49 percent in 2004 over Democrat John Kerry.


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Lost and Found
Did we lose something in the course of your transport? We'll do our best to find it for you. Call us at (907) 249-8358 and we will attempt to locate your item.
24-Hour Medevac Dispatch


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By Prof. Whitney S. Bodman
Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
Is it better to hate or to be hated? The unfolding story of the 14-minute pornographic collection of film clips about Muhammad raises this question. The film itself was represented as a trailer of a full-length feature film, though there may not ever have been more than what was posted on YouTube.
The first reporting, from the Wall Street Journal, was that the film was produced by "Sam Bacile," an Israeli-American, supported by 100 Jews. Ah, so we can hate the Jews for producing a film so offensive to Muslims. Or at least Muslims can hate the Jews, who, of course, hate the Muslims. But then it was revealed that Steve Klein was involved in the film. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which follows hate groups in the United States, he is not Jewish, but a Christian white supremacist. Founder of Courageous Christians United in 1977, he believes that America is at war with Islam, "a cancer that WILL attack us and KILL as many as they can to further the Islamic doctrine of sharia" (his caps).
So it is not Jews who are to blame at all! It is a group of radical American Christians who want us to fear Islam and prepare for a holy war against Muslims who, in spite of being about 1% of the population, will somehow make us all subservient to sharia law. So Klein, along with a few other enthusiasts such as Robert Spencer, author of popular screeds against Islam and the Jihad Watch blog, and Pamela Geller, Atlas Shrugs blogger, peddle fear of Islam to us. They manufacture emails and claims about Islam that are distorted and often enough entirely fictional. Such myths of Muslim conspiracies inspired Anton Breivik's massacre of 77 people in Norway, probably the murder of 6 Sikhs in Wisconsin, and numerous incidents of violence against Muslims and mosques across our nation.
But why make a film so clumsy and crudely done? It is not hard to guess. Such a film was bound to provoke reaction in the Muslim world. If you think that a holy war is coming, but somehow it fails to emerge, one can try to provoke it by whatever devious means one can dream up. If you can't make enough of us hate them, you can inspire more of them to hate us. It serves the same end. The film is nothing but provocation.
But there is more. It has emerged that "Sam Bacile," is actually Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, an Egyptian Coptic Christian of many aliases and a history of fraud. He said that the film tries to expose the hypocrisies of Islam. It does nothing of the kind. It manufactures whole-cloth fictions that expose only the sick imagination of the director. It was he who tried to blame the Jews, an example of 'let's you and them hate."
There are Muslims complicit in this effort. The film was first posted on YouTube early in the summer, but ignored. The outrage was kindled when Shaykh Khaled Abdallah broadcast a clip of the film on Egyptian television on September 8th. Abdallah has a regular CairoTV show on which he lambasts Christians, liberals and the West.
Why exacerbate tensions between Copts and Muslims in Egypt? And between Americans and Muslims and Jews? Perhaps because, if the fear is stoked enough, maybe the holy war that Nakoula and Klein and Geller and Spencer and Abdallah so ardently wish for may finally come about.
But it won't.
For every Muslim who protests the film, there are a million who do not. They sit at home, shrugging the latest insult off, or grieving that there are those who want more hate and fear in the world, not less. For every Muslim in the street, there is a Muslim group or leader – including our local Muslim leaders – condemning not only the film, but the deadly violence against four Americans in Benghazi and the violence at American embassies in the Muslim world. For every American who succumbs to the fear-mongering, there are more who do not, and count Muslims among their friends.
There are those who will do anything to make us hate and fear. Thanks be to God for those Christians, Muslims, and Jews – people of every faith and people of no faith – who have the courage and wisdom to do neither.
Article provided by Professor Whitney S. Bodman, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
Ramadan Kareem
All praises are due to Allah ﷻ alone. As we welcome the holy month of Ramadan, a time of blessings and spiritual growth, let us take the


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With Twitter blocked, Chinese micro-blogging thrives
When a huge mudslide swamped a Chinese town in August, killing at least 1,500 people, word first reached the world thanks to a digital camera-wielding, 19-year-old micro-blogger who idolises Lady Gaga.
Wang Kai's reports on a Chinese Twitter-like service from the northwestern town of Zhouqu made him an online celebrity and underlined the potential impact of the fast-growing new medium in the world's largest online population.
Things looked grim last year when China's censors added Twitter to their list of blocked foreign services amid government accusations that social media were used to fan deadly ethnic unrest in northwestern China in July 2009.
But several Chinese clones soon sprung up, offering users a platform for sending 140-character messages via provider websites or mobile phones -- while exercising heavy self-censorship to keep authorities happy.
China's 420-million web users have seized on micro-blogging as a new avenue for mass expression in a tightly-controlled information landscape.
From almost nothing last year, there are an estimated tens of millions of micro-blogging, or "weibo", accounts in China. Active users will hit 65 million by year's end, the Data Center for the Chinese Internet (DCCI) predicts.
"Weibo's role is huge," Wang Kai, now an English student at university, told AFP when asked to explain its appeal.
"It provides you with your own platform for sending out really meaningful microblogs and opinions. I hope it can be used to help people solve problems."
Users say China's half-dozen providers offer services that are superior to those of Twitter, such as embedding of videos and photos.
They add that more can be expressed in 140 of the Chinese language's pictographic characters than in English.
But the real impact of "weibo" could lie in its ability to knit together -- through the rapid, mass sharing of links -- the countless Chinese blogs, forums and other websites that are the dominant outlet for public expression.
"The density of information they have created, their frequency of dissemination and the degree of connectivity they have enabled for web users far surpass any previous form of Internet use," Hu Yong, an author of several books on the Chinese Internet, wrote in a recent opinion piece.
The DCCI predicts active user accounts will exceed 400 million within three years as China's online population grows. Twitter said in early September it had 145 million users.
A recent poll found that about 90 percent of under-40s use a "weibo" service, engaging in lively discussions on entertainment, lifestyle, the job market or flogging a company's products.
But several cases also have highlighted its potential for rattling the government, which aggressively censors web content it views as a political threat.
In July, an investigative reporter who exposed alleged graft by a listed company in eastern China found himself on a most-wanted list for slander.
Qiu Ziming of the respected Economic Observer financial weekly went on the run, drawing thousands of "followers" with defiant blog posts declaring his innocence and alleging a cover-up.
Police eventually quashed his arrest order after public pressure in an episode that triggered a debate about abuse of official power.
Rumours of a split between President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao were a hot recent topic after Wen made comments seen as urging political reform, and chatter on numerous graft cases and other scandals was widely credited with adding to online pressure that resulted in government action.
Micro-blogging services were briefly cut in July in what analysts said was a message from the government to users to toe the line, but authorities are beginning to use micro-blogging for their own ends as well.
A June government white paper on the Internet singled out micro-blogging as a useful communication tool and praised Internet users for "supervising" the government.
Local-level government agencies nationwide, such as Beijing's police, have set up accounts in a bid for openness -- or at least to guide public sentiment.
"The Chinese government learns very quickly and is very much at the forefront or ahead of the curve of what is on the Internet," said Bill Bishop, co-founder of the news site MarketWatch.com, who now blogs about the Internet in China.
"They are working very hard to effectively channel and manage public opinion. Weibo offer unprecedented challenges and opportunities for the government PR folks to deal with issues in near-real time."
Few experts however see microblogs as posing any imminent threat to the Communist government.
Beijing keeps firm control by restricting weibo services to top Chinese Internet firms well-versed at self-censorship, said Jeremy Goldkorn, editor of the China media website Danwei.org.
"(Micro-blogging) adds to the pressure but it's not enough of a revolution to rewrite the rules of the game. The government can just hire more censors," he said.
(c) 2010 AFP


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You can't get rid of Randy Jackson on "American Idol." Yo. Yo. Yo. …
According to the latest "Idol" rumor, Jackson will return to the show for Season 13 — only months after announcing he was done with the Fox reality competition. But instead of being a judge, he'll serve as the in-house musical mentor, replacing Jimmy Iovine. At least that's what Deadline.com is reporting.
Meanwhile, sources continue to say that Jennifer Lopez is ready to return to the show, as well. But tune in tomorrow and there will probably be a brand-new "Idol" rumor.
So what happened to this major "Idol" revamp we've been hearing about? If Jackson and Lopez do, indeed, return (along with Keith Urban), that represents a lot of familiar faces on a show that was promising big changes.
Moreover, we're starting to worry that "Idol" is turning into a too-kind-and-gentle endeavor. Say what you want about Iovine, but at least he brought a little bit of much-needed Simon Cowell-like bluntness to the party.
Contact Chuck Barney at Facebook.com/BayAreaNewsGroup.ChuckBarney, or Twitter.com/chuckbarney


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Welcome to week 4 of 9 in our analysis of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's Preacher. Read the past installments here, here, and here.
AJ: After three volumes of mayhem, destruction, bloodshed, blasphemy, and a heapin' helpin' of profanity, the Preacher TPBs take a breather with…well, "breather" might be the wrong word. "Diversion" is more like it. Jesse, Tulip, and Cassidy are out of the picture this time as Garth Ennis and a couple guest artists flesh out the backstories of the Saint of Killers, Arseface, and Jody 'n T.C. Last week, you called this collection "inessential." Having re-read it, do you still feel the same?
Paul: I'm afraid I actually feel it even more strongly than I remembered. This won't happen very often at all over the course of these discussions, but I'm going to say that the stories this time around are just not very good. I mean, getting the backstory of the Saint of Killers (or more accurately, a version of his backstory) is cool and interesting. But it also takes the exaggeration and clichés of the main story and really turns them up to 11. And while both Steve Pugh and Carlos Ezquerra have done pretty great stuff elsewhere over the years, here I think they really suffer from being "fill-in" artists for Steve Dillon.
The Arseface and Jody & T.C. stories are straight up pointless.


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Take a quick trip to the Turks & Caicos and warm your soul…and toes.Learn More »
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The Turks and Caicos consist of 40 different islands and cays, only 8 of which are inhabited. The islands of the Turks and Caicos are almost as diverse as its people. From the main tourist center of Providenciales to the quiet and tranquil islands of North and Middle Caicos to the historic Capital Island of Grand Turk; each one offers a different experience and a unique character but all offer year round great climate, beaches and underwater activities.
The only true way to experience the Turks and Caicos Islands is to experience each island in the entire chain. This is probably why most of the visitors come back to the Turks and Caicos on a regular basis.


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Background: Julius Streicher is most known as the leading anti-Semite of the Third Reich (after Hitler, of course). This is a speech delivered in Nuremberg on 4 July 1939, two months before World War II began. Streicher had just returned from two months of recuperation after a skiing accident. He was also fighting for his political life, since he had ruled Nuremberg in ways that even alarmed his fellow Nazis. In February 1940, a tribunal of fellow Nazi Gauleiter would rule him unfit for leadership, and he was forced to leave Nuremberg for the remainder of the Third Reich, although Hitler guaranteed him the resouces needed to continue to publish his weekly Der Stürmer.
This speech presents a fairly typical Nazi outlook on world affairs just prior to the outbreak of World War II.
The source: Fränkische Tageszeitung, 5 July 1939, pp. 3-4.
My dear fellow people's comrades
If those who wished me ill had had their way, I would not be here. It was not easy for me to lie still in bed for eight weeks and follow the doctor's orders. My longing for Nuremberg, and for you, kept growing. I wanted to return and look into your honest faces.
Passing through the row of torches held by your youth moved me deeply. Whenever one thinks of the reward that we old fighters want and hope to receive for our work, for our loyalty to the Führer, I can only say this: Our reward is not in material things, but rather in the love of the people for whom we have fought. The best reward for me has been the smiling faces of your children, your cheers, and everything else I experienced on the way here!
At this festive moment, our thoughts turn to larger matters. A few days ago on June 28 we remembered that day twenty years ago when we were forced to sign the Versailles peace dictate. We remember with pride the men who rejected this so-called peace treaty, which we were forced to sign. There were others like Hershberger who signed their names to it. That did not surprise us, since those who grew up in a parliamentary system had no character left, no feeling for the nation's honor.
The German people was told that the treaty would bring with it democratic justice. The misled masses believed that the Treaty of Versailles would create the foundation for world peace. Even in this ancient German city, people rejected those who protested against signing the dictates of Versailles. Citizen opposed citizen. In those days, a Frenchman could write: "The German people is wallowing like sow in its filth." Years of hatred between brothers, years of shame and misery followed.
Then Adolf Hitler rose up and presented his program! It was a program that did not advance the prosperity of a class or a party, but rather one whose fulfillment would bring blessing to the entire German people. The German people's community grew out of hard, unceasing battle. This people's community gave us the strength to once more find the path.
If we ask today what has become of Adolf Hitler's program, we have to say that it has largely been fulfilled. Just a few examples. We promised to destroy Jewry. Today, the Jew has been defeated! The Reich Bank, once in private hands, represented the interests of International Jewry rather than those of the German people. Now, it has returned to Reich ownership. Then there were the Nuremberg Laws. They were announced in this city and carry its name. You Nurembergers can be forever proud of that.
We have learned from the Führer that one must wait if he wants to accomplish one goal after another. It was first necessary to create a new Germany army. Under its protection, one point after another of the party program was fulfilled. Although we still do not have our colonies back, that is not our fault. One thing, however, is sure: The day will come when we are once again a great colonial power. He who is honest has to grant that we have done what we promised to do!
Because of Adolf Hitler we have become a people once more, and a nation that no longer has to go begging to other nations, but rather one that can demand its rights with its own strength. Adolf Hitler has made us so strong in just a few years that other countries no longer dare to attack us.
Just as today in England a Jew can receive the title of lord, so, too, the former German Kaiser ennobled his court Jews.
Just as the German imperial house was ruined by its relations with Jewry, so, too, will the English people, who have long been ruled by the Jews, be destroyed by them. Proud England will meet the same end that it prepared for the Kaiser! Today England agitates against a new Germany, seduced by the Jews. One gets very excited about each Jew who commits suicide, thereby entirely forgetting that England's blockade starved thousands of German women and children during the World War. Today, no one in England wants to remember that it continued the blockade after the war despite all the promises of the Treaty of Versailles!
We know that the English and French peoples do not wish for war with Germany. The Jew is the one who wants war! To those attempting to encircle us by building anew the same alliance one brought against us in 1914 we say: What was possible then is no longer possible today! The German people is different today than it was in 1914, and its leadership is different than it was in 1914. In the British Isles, too, people realize that in the age of the air force, there are no longer any islands. Thus, they turn for help to where the Jew, as the Devil incarnate, rules. Who would have thought that once proud Albion would beg for support for months in Moscow?
In recent weeks, we have seen people abroad trying to make a distinction between the German people and its leadership, just as they did in the period just before the takeover of power. Then they said: The German people is being raped! It wants nothing to do with Nazism! Today, they promise wonderful things to the German people if they will only desert Adolf Hitler.
However, the German people has learned from the past. It knows that such promises are lies. The German people and its leadership are united. It is ridiculous to attempt to separate the people from Adolf Hitler. The Führer is with the people, and the people is with the Führer!
There have always been alliances between peoples, but never before one like the one that unites the German and the Italian peoples! This alliance is without guile. The other side, however, has no trust. The negotiations in Moscow prove that each is ready to betray the other. We have our Führer, and the Italian people has its Duce. Providence sent these two men at the right moment. They will bend the world to their wills!
I am happy that 120 people's comrades from Danzig are with us today. Let me assure you: Danzig will become German, and we in Nuremberg will support you when you need us.
It is wonderful to see how other peoples are growing nervous about the Jews, even as their governments seek to encircle us. We are completely at ease, and trust our leadership completely. Poland can be as crazy as it wishes. We know that fear is behind all the noise. If Polish newspapers write that two regiments of Polish cavalry would be enough to drive Gauleiter Forster from Danzig, we can only laugh. We know Gauleiter Forster. He comes from our Gau and went to our school! It is just as ridiculous when Poland attempts to denigrate German blood, saying that men like the immortal Field Marshall Hindenburg or Commander of the Army von Brauchitsch have Polish blood only because they come from the eastern part of the Reich.
We believe that all those who rise against us today will be defeated. With this faith we march into the future, proudly, calmly, and trusting fully in the Führer. I am happy that I had the opportunity upon returning to Franconia to speak seriously, but also confidently, to you. We have always seen clearly at critical moments, and in hard times we have always proven ourselves strong men and women. Today we can say: Should something happen that we do not wish for or want, we will stand together in an unbreakable community.
Never again during hard times will it be possible for a few to live well
while others suffer. In such times, we will be sure that the same duties,
and the same rights, apply to all. I urge you: March with us whom fate
has made the political leaders of our wonderful Franconia. Follow the
Führer with the same faith as always. Give to him your floral bouquets
at the coming Reich Party Rally of Peace. Our greeting to the Führer
should rise up to the heavens like a prayer: Our Führer: Sieg
[Page copyright © 2006 by Randall Bytwerk. No unauthorized reproduction. My e-mail address is available on the FAQ page.]
Go to the German Propaganda Archive Home Page.


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SARS, Bird Flu, terrorists, religious extremists, extreme religionists, DEMOCRATS—it seems that we find a new reason every week to mistrust those around us and yet our society has yet to implode in the orgy of fire and chaos that 24-hour-news networks would have you believe. Liars and Outliers by Bruce Schneier explains how civil structure continues advancing despite our best efforts.
Society can't function without trust, and our complex, interconnected, and global society needs a lot of it. We need to be able to trust the people we interact with directly: as we sit next to them on airplanes, eat the food they serve us in the cabin, and get into their taxis when we land. We need to be able to trust the organizations and institutions that make modern society possible: that the airplanes we fly and the cars we ride in are well- made and well-maintained, that the food we buy is safe and their labels truthful, that the laws in the places we live and the places we travel will be enforced fairly. We need to be able to trust all sorts of technological systems: that the ATM network, the phone system, and the Internet will work wherever we are. We need to be able to trust strangers, singly and in organizations, all over the world all the time. We also need to be able to trust indirectly; we need to trust the trust people we don't already know and systems we don't yet understand. We need to trust trust.
Making this all work ourselves is impossible. We can't even begin to personally verify, and then deliberately decide whether or not to trust, the hundreds-thousands?-of people we interact with directly, and the millions of others we interact with indirectly, as we go about our daily lives. That's just too many, and we'll never meet them all. And even if we could magically decide to trust the people, we don't have the expertise to make technical and scientific decisions about trusting things like airplane safety, modern banking, and pharmacology.
Writing about trust, economist Bart Nooteboom said: " Trust in things or people entails the willingness to submit to the risk that they may fail us, with the expectation that they will not, or the neglect of lack of awareness of that possibility that they might." Those three are all intertwined: we aren't willing to risk unless we're sure in our expectation that the risk is minor, so minor that most of the time we don't even have to think about it.
That's the value of societal pressures. They induce compliance with the group norms- that is, cooperation-so we're able to approximate the intimate trust we have in our friends on a much larger scale. It's not perfect, of course. The trust we have in actions and systems isn't as broad or deep as personal trust, but it's good enough. Societal pressures reduce the scope of defection. In a sense, by trusting societal pressures, we don't have to do the work of figuring out whether or not to trust individuals.
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By inducing cooperation throughout society, societal pressures allow us to relax our guard a little bit. It's less stressful to live in a world where you trust people. Once you assume people can, in general and with qualifications, be trusted to be fair, nice, altruistic, cooperative, and trustworthy, you can stop expending energy constantly worrying about security. Then, even though you get burned by the occasional exception, your life is still more comfortable if you continue to believe.
We intuitively know this, even if we've never analyzed the mechanisms before. But the mechanisms of societal pressure are important. Societal pressures enable society's doves to thrive, even though there's a minority of hawks. Societal pressures enable society.
And despite the largest trust gap in our history, it largely works. It's easy to focus on defection-the crime, the rudeness, the complete mess of the political system in several countries around the world-but the evidence is all around you. Society is still here, alive and ticking. Trust is common, as is fairness, altruism, cooperation, and kindness. People don't automatically attack strangers or cheat each other. Murders, burglaries, fraud, and so on are rare.
We have a plethora of security systems to deal with the risks that remain. We know how to walk through the streets of our communities. We know how to shop on the Internet. We know how to interact with friends and strangers, whether-and how-to lock our doors at night, and what precautions to take against crime. The very fact that I was able to write and publish this book, and you were able to buy and read it, is a testament to all of our societal pressure systems. We might get it wrong sometimes, but we largely get it right.
At the same time, defection abounds. Defectors in our society have become more powerful, and they've learned to evade and sometimes manipulate societal pressures to enable their continued defection. They've used the rapid pace of technological change to increase their scope of defection, while society remains unable to implement new societal pressures fast enough in response. Societal pressures fail regularly.
The important thing to remember is this: no security system is perfect. It's hard to admit in our technologically advanced society that we can't do something, but in security there are a lot of things we can't do. This isn't a reason to live in fear, or even necessarily a cause for concern. This is the normal state of life. It might even be a good thing. Being alive entails risk, and there always will be outliers. Even if you reduced the murder rate to one in a million, three hundred unlucky people in the U.S. would be murdered every year.
These are not technical problems, though societal pressures are filled with those. No, the biggest and most important problems are at the policy level: global climate change, regulation and governance, political process, civil liberties, the social safety net. Historically, group interests either coalesced organically around the people concerned, or were dictated by a government. Today, understanding group interests increasingly involves scientific expertise, or new social constructs stemming from new technologies, or different problems resulting from yet another increase in scale.
Philosopher Sissela Bok wrote: "...trust is a social good to be protected just as much as the air we breathe or the water we drink. When it is damaged the community as a whole suffers; and when it is destroyed, societies falter and collapse." More generally, trust is the key component of social capital, and high-trust societies are better off in many dimensions than low-trust societies. And in the world today, levels of trust vary all over the map-although never down to the level of baboons.
We're now at a critical juncture in society: we need to implement new societal systems to deal with the new world created by today's globalizing technologies. It is critical that we understand what societal pressures do and don't do, why they work and fail, and how scale affects them. If we do, we can continue building trust into our society. If we don't, the parasites will kill the host.
Excerpted with permission from John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Liars and Outliers by Bruce Schneier is available from Amazon.com


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Our Real Time Stream Crunchup is only a week and half away (get tickets here). We've been working hard to pull together the best startups, investors, engineers, and marketers developing products and platforms which take advantage of real-time data and communications in new ways. The real time stream is fast becoming a dominant metaphor for consuming information, increasingly displacing or at least transforming the traditional Web page. It has implications for startups, venture investors, media, search, and business, in general. We'll explore all of these facets in panels, on-stage interviews, demos, and a roundtable.
Twitter to Facebook have already embraced the stream, but they are only the beginning. An whole new ecosystem of real time stream platforms and apps is emerging before our eyes. In fact, so many companies wanted to demo their product launches at the CrunchUp that we had to turn some away. But we still managed to fit in about a dozen demos, many of them will be seen for the first time.
The speakers lineup includes founders and executives from Twitter, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, FriendFeed, TweetDeck, Meebo, WordPress, Seesmic, Virgin America, Tweetmeme, Qik, and more. Individual panels will do deep dives into the market opportunity, the real time platforms, real time search (something I am very excited about), and real time business. By real time business, I mean how businesses are adapting to the stream as a tool for marketing, brand management, customer engagement tool, internal communications, and even resource allocation. Putting together this conference has opened my eyes as to how far-reaching the real time stream is already, and these are early days.
I hope you can join us to see for yourself. Below is the (almost final) agenda:
Real Time Stream CrunchUp (Agenda)
Friday, July 10, 9:00 am – 4:45 pm
Fox Theatre, 2223 Broadway, Redwood City
Get CrunchUp tickets HERE for $295, which includes a ticket and expedited check-in to the August Capital party.
Press contact: Daniel Brusilovsky
9:00 – 9:45 am
The Real Time Opportunity
Q&A with leading angel investors John Borthwick and Ron Conway, moderated by Michael Arrington and Steve Gillmor.
9:45 – 10:30 am
The Real Time Moment
- Jack Dorsey, Twitter
- Chris Cox, Facebook
- Bret Taylor, Friendfeed
- Erick Schonfeld, TechCrunch (moderator)
10:30 – 10:55
Real Time Communication Demos
- WordPress, Andy Skelton
- Netvibes, Freddy Mini
- Meebo, Sandy Jen
- AOL, Frank Gruber
- Adobe Wave, John Shapiro
- Additional STEALTH demos
10:55 – 11:05 am
11:05 – 11:30
Real Time Application Demos
- Seesmic, Loic Le Meur
- PeopleBrowsr, Jodee Rich
- Wowd, Boris Agapiev
- Additional STEALTH demos
11:30 – 12:15 pm
Real Time Search
- Gerry Campbell, Collecta
- Matt Cutts, Google
- Kimbal Musk, OneRiot
- Vipul Ved Prakash, Topsy
- Edo Segal, Investor and founder Relegance
- Sean Stutcher, Microsoft
- Danny Sullivan, Search Engine Land
- Erick Schonfeld, TechCrunch (moderator)
12:15 – 12:30 pm
Real Time Mobs
Michael Arrington and Robert Scoble talk about the darker side of the stream
12:30 – 1:45 pm
1:45 – 2:15 pm
Real Time Media Demos
- 12Seconds.tv, Sol Lipman
- Qik, Bhaskar Roy
- Magma, Andrew Baron
- Additional STEALTH demos
2:15 – 2:30 pm
Business Demos
- SocialMedia, Somrat Niyogi
- Twitturly, Joel Strellner
- Bantam, John Rourke
- Salesforce, Kraig Swensrud
- Microsoft Silverlight
2:30 – 3:15 pm
Real Time Business
- Porter Gale, Virgin America
- John Ham, Ustream
- Eric Marcoullier, Gnip
- Ross Mayfield, SocialText
- David Sacks, Yammer
- Maynard Webb, LiveOps
- Tim Young, SocialCast
- Erick Schonfeld, TechCrunch (moderator)
3:15 – 3:30 pm
3:30 – 4:45 pm
Real Time Roundtable
- Chris Cox, Facebook
- Iain Dodsworth, TweetDeck
- Nick Halstead, Tweetmeme
- David Hornik, August Capital
- Loic LeMeur, Seesmic
- Dan'l Lewin, Microsoft
- Kevin Marks, activity stream junkie
- Bret Taylor, Friendfeed
- Max Ventilla, Aardvark
- Craig Walker, Google
- Andreas Weigend, Stanford and Berkeley
- George Zachary, Charles River Ventures
- Steve Gillmor, TechCrunchIT
- Erick Schonfeld, TechCrunch
All details are here.
Press, please email Daniel Brusilovsky for press consideration to attend the CrunchUp and August Capital outing.
August Capital Tickets
Friday, July 10, 5:30 – 10:00 pm
2480 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA
Get tickets NOW, courtesy of Eventbrite. They'll go fast, so grab them now. UPDATE: Round of tickets sold out. Final batch of tickets will be released next week.
Tickets are $20 to help manage the guest list and minimize no shows. Due to extremely limited availability, we regret that tickets are non-transferrable and non-refundable. If you use your name to purchase multiple tickets, your guests must arrive with you to check in at the door.
Demo tables, photowalls, games and other sponsorships are available to make a memorable impression with MeetUp attendees. Please contact Jeanne Logozzo or Heather Harde to learn more about sponsorship packages and custom opportunities.
Big Time Thank Yous to Our CrunchUp Sponsors
Product Sponsors: Glam Media Lab's Tinker live conversation moderation, Tokbox live video chat, Ustream live video streaming, Bantam Live, Charles River Ventures and mailspace cc:Betty.
Demonstration Sponsors: Seesmic, OneRiot, PeopleBrowsr, Mashery, IDrive, Sun Start-Up Essentials, Meraki, SocialFeet, Tapulous, Loopt, Grey Goose Vodka, Future Works, Gaping Void and Stormhoek Wines.
Event Sponsors: Eventbrite for ticketing and MediaTemple for hosting, Topix, ReTargeter, Coveroo, Pandora.
Please contact Jeanne Logozzo or Heather Harde to learn more about sponsorship packages and custom opportunities. Additional details here.


text: One's existence always comes a whole circle. Where earlier on individuals eaten particular food items only when they were in year, points was modified for the diploma by which buyers could acquire just about any food items from the foods store, regardless of its seasonal supply. Nonetheless, however again we have been moving straight back… Continue reading Seasonal Goods Store


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How to tell if you're using the new endpointWith the new endpoint enabled, any new publishing profile that you download will be configured to point to it. To confirm if your publish profile uses the new endpoint, open it up and look for the publishUrl attribute under the MSDeploy profile node. If the publishUrl looks something like "sitename.scm.*" then your profile is pointing to the new endpoint. If it looks like "*.publish.azurewebsites.windows.net" than it's still pointing to the old one. Here's an example of what it might look like:
The left profile has the old endpoint while the right profile has the new endpoint
How do I move back to the old endpoint?For the moment we are keeping the previous Web Deploy endpoint available to ease the transition. If needed you can get a publish profile that points to the old publishUrl by doing the following steps: 1. Open your site in the Azure management portal and click on the "Configure" tab.
2. Add the app setting "WEBSITE_WEBDEPLOY_USE_SCM" and set it to "false". Don't forget to click "save" to commit your changes.3. Go back to the dashboard and re-download your publishing profile. The publishUrl should now point back to the old *.publish.azurewebsites.windows.net address.
4. Publish with the new publish profile.
Limitations of the new endpointThere are a small set of known limitations for the new endpoint that have simple workarounds via Azure Portal and are usually one-time actions. These limitations include any actions which attempt to:
- Modify any application pool settings
- Create new sub-applications


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When we all learned that Superman and Wonder Woman were dating — or at least, boinking — the reaction was almost entirely negative. And for good reason: this diminishes Wonder Woman somewhat, by turning her into Superman's New Girlfriend. But the truth is, superheroes dating each other is almost never a great idea. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times a romance between two superheroes has been cool.*
Here's why superheroes should date normal people instead of other supers.
First off, let's get one thing sorted out — we love superhero romances. Superhero comics are basically soap operas with more fight scenes and zany costumes, and this means that romance is a key ingredient. Superheroic characters don't just need action and high-powered fisticuffs, they also need heartbreak. And the number one source heartbreak is romance. (With families coming a close second, probably.)
A lot of my favorite Incredible Hulk stories have to do with Bruce and Betty almost getting together but not quite making it, or getting together and running into trouble. Who can forget that great issue during Peter David's run, where Bruce is running to catch the train that Betty is on, and he just misses it, but then she jumps off the train and meets him? Likewise, a lot of my favorite Superman moments revolve around him and Lois, and many of the coolest Spider-Man moments involve Gwen Stacy or Mary Jane Watson.
So yes, every superhero should have a love interest — it's just part of the genre. In fact, I'd argue that Wonder Woman's lack of a compelling love interest is as much a problem for her character, in the modern age, as her lack of a great rogues gallery. Jodi Picoult and Gail Simone tried to give Wonder Woman a love interest, Nemesis, and it totally didn't click. Although at least there were some fun scenes of Diana showing how Amazons court someone. And of course, there have been plenty of incredibly awkward superhero romances over the years.
But superheroes' love interests shouldn't be other superheroes. In general. There are bound to be a few exceptions to this rule, and I'm happy to hear them in the comments. Like, maybe the Scott Summers/Jean Grey relationship is an example of a love affair between two supers that worked, for a while. But in general, superhero romances work better when the love interest is not superpowered.
For one thing, superheroes always need stuff to anchor them to the real world. A lot of that usually comes from their non-superpowered supporting casts, including friends and people they work with in their secret identities, or whatever. Or roommates, or family members. But a non-superpowered love interest can be a powerful factor keeping the hero anchored in the real world — and given how easy it is for superheroes to just slip away into a land of nonstop fights and random plot devices, the more help they can get staying anchored in reality, the better.
For another, the relationships between superheroes are based on a lot of other stuff, which is worth exploring and which romance would likely crowd out. When two superheroes team up, you get to explore issues of comradeship and teamwork. You get to see heroes be friends with each other, and you get to see friends disagreeing over stuff. A lot of the richest superhero storytelling comes from team-ups and sometimes uneasy cooperation, and it's hard to cover all that ground if the heroes are also dealing with their lover's quarrels and stuff.
Just imagine how the famous "Wonder Woman snaps Max Lord's neck to stop Max controlling Superman" storyline would have gone if Wonder Woman had been dating Superman at the time — it would have been a relationship spat, instead of a serious ethical question.
There's also the issue that people have been bringing up with Wonder Woman — that if a more famous male superhero starts dating a female superhero, she's likely to be pigeonholed as just "Superman's girlfriend." It's hard enough for female superheroes to get enough exposure and carve out their own identities — given how many of the most prominent ones are still female versions of existing male characters. In an ideal world, neither party to a romance would become defined by it — but in superhero comics and media generally, we're not there yet.
(The worst super/super romance, for my money? Batman and Catwoman. I've never understood those two as a couple, and they've given rise to some of the most idiotic storylines in comics, like when Bruce sees a cat-shaped stalagmite in the Batcave and decides this means he's destined to be with her. And the more recent shenanigans. I get Bruce/Talia, but I don't get Bruce/Selina. At all.)
The conflicts between romance and duty are likely to be a lot less interesting, when both parties in the romance are supers. When one party in a romance isn't a superhero, then the hero can be torn between her duty to fight evil and her need to spend time with her sweetie. But when both partners are supers, you're more likely to see the kind of conflict between "watching out for your teammates" and "saving your lover." The two lovers will probably have spats over whether they were really backing each other up during that big fight with Dr. Carnivore, or being distracted by their emotions over the previous night's big hot tub misadventure. Or whatever.
Bottom line: Superheroes should mostly date real people, because superheroes are usually at their most interesting when they're spending time in the real world, having interactions that aren't just about punching and being Cosmic. But what do you think?
* Okay, fine. It's more than just a handful of good relationships. People in the comments have brought up a number of good examples, including Apollo/Midnighter, Reed and Sue Richards, Hawkman/Hawkwoman, and a number of others. So there certainly are a decent amount of counter-examples.


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The iPad 2 is finally here, in all its greatness and glory! That, however, is not the only reason for celebrating—many a vendor has also announced that it's in the process of creating and producing protective accessories specifically for the newest magical device. In the best Scandinavian tradition of buffet eating, tuck in and help yourself at this veritable feast of fashionable protection covers. It's all in this week's iPad case roundup.
Beiza Cases: Straight from Europe, Beiza brings us the Wave (iPad 2), a luxurious sleeve series that takes its name from its unique wavy design. Made entirely of genuine leather and soft canvas, and available in sixteen different configurations, the Wave usually retails for €140, but is on sale for €105 for a limited time.
Blackbox Case: This company's iPad 2 Case ($99) is handmade in Colorado from solid oak, combining tough protection with a killer old-world look.
CleverWraps: When a case is a beautiful (and expensive) work of art, it becomes unsuitable for some uses. It's one thing to take your leather accessory to work, and quite another to take it to the beach, for example, where it's unlikely to provide much in the way of protection from sand and seawater anyway. Luckily, that's where CleverWraps comes into play with its line of disposable iPad 2 sleeves (three for $15). These waterproof, plastic wrappers keep moisture and dirt out of the way without preventing you from fully enjoying your device (although you will lose access to the iPad's ports and jacks). Best of all—or perhaps worst of all, for those of us concerned about the environment—when you're done, you simply throw them away.
Gelaskins:: This manufacturer is bringing its popular line of printed protective films ($30) to the iPad 2. Each of the several hundreds styles of skins is imprinted with a unique design and provides protection for both the back of the device and the bezel around the screen. The company even provides for download a matching custom background picture for a seamless, all-over look.
Griffin Technology: The Powerdock Dual is a clever charging dock that accommodates two devices simultaneously: an iPad or iPad 2 along with an iPhone or dock-connector iPod. As a bonus, this $60 stand includes a valet area where you can conveniently store your keys and pocket change.
Griffin's Cinema Seat 2 ($40; iPad 2) allows you to strap an iPad 2 to the headrest of a car seat for handsfree viewing. It also features a webbed pocked for accessories and cables and openings for each of the tablet's controls and connectors.
Finally, the Elan Folio Slim ($40; iPad 2) can be used both as a case and as a stand. It comes in black and features openings in all the right places to ensure that you maintain access to the iPad 2's various controls.
Gumdrop: I don't know if it's on purpose, but judging from the amount of engineering that has gone into its design and construction, the Drop Series ($60; iPad 2) may be very aptly named, because it looks like it could protect your iPad from anything short of the Apocalypse. Luckily, safety doesn't come at the cost of style, and the case is available in black/red, black/black, pink/white, or white/black.
The more traditional-looking Surf Convertible ($45; iPad 2) features an animal-friendly, faux-leather exterior and combines the protection of a cover with the convenience of a stand. It comes in black, blue, or red.
iSkin: The iPad accessories in the company's Q.West collection, which combines protection with style in a number of rather unique sleeve and bag designs, are now compatible with the iPad 2.
The Sling ($125) is a handy bag that, in addition to being waterproof, can accommodate a variety of devices, including the MacBook Air. It comes in black, blue, green, violet, or red, and features plenty of extra space for accessories.
If protection is your thing, you may want to check out the Summit, which is probably what the landing airbag of the Mars Pathfinder would look like if Jean-Paul Gautier had designed it. It's shiny; it's puffy; it comes in black, red, teal, green, purple, or white; and it costs $95.
Speaking of fluffy, the 3 Degree ($80) is not quite as shiny as the Summit, but packs plenty of padding to keep your iPad 2 safe and sound. It comes in black, teal, red, purple, or green.
The Ballistic, as its name subtly implies, is made entirely out of ballistic nylon for tough and durable protection. It also features a small external pocket—ideal for a sync cable—and comes in black or gray for $90.
For a stylish and thin look, the Monty ($50) features leather construction, a microfiber interior, and two straps for easy closure to keep everything safely in place. Available in black, it's not as flashy as its companions, making it ideal for a business-oriented setting (unless you're Lady Gaga).
Finally, the Memo is a sleek leather sleeve that uses a strong elastic band to hold its closure in place. Its minimalistic but luxurious looks—available in black, blue, ping, gray, or white—will set you back a cool $110.
iStyle: Like Gelaskins, iStyles sells vinyl skins in a great variety of styles and designs; the company also makes available matching wallpapers for each design. iStyle's skins cost $20, with an optional matte/satin coating available for an extra $5. Versions of the coverings are now available with the iPad and iPad 2.
Macally: In addition to an unpronounceable name, Macally's Bookstand2BL Microfiber Cover & Stand ($30; iPad 2) features all-around protection and a Smart Cover-like flip design that makes it work both as a stand and a typing platform. The blue/orange color makes for a warm, welcoming contrast, and the price is reasonable.
Marware: The Microshell ($40; iPad 2) is made of thin but sturdy rubberized plastic. It preserves the aesthetic lines of the iPad 2 without skimping on protection, and it can be used in combination with a Smart Cover.
Orbino: The hand-stitched Padova Due ($209 to $689) looks exactly like what one would expect from the union of luxury and convenience. It comes in a variety of Italian leathers and exotic materials such as crocodile or ostrich skin, and it features a removable metal stand and flipcover that allow the Due to work as a stand in either landscape or portrait orientation, or as a typing platform. The company is currently taking pre-orders, with delivery expected in five to seven weeks.
Skinit: As yet another "skin" alternative, Skinit now offers completely customizable vinyl-film coverings for the iPad 2. You can choose from a wide variety of professional designs, or even upload an image to create your own. The skins are priced starting at $30, with an optional screen protector currently available on sale for $12 (regular $26).
Speck: Let's start with my favorite from Speck: the iGuy Standing Cover ($40; iPad & iPad 2). Speck markets it as "the funnest iPad cover available," hinting that it's designed to be child-friendly; I suspect, however, that many an adult will find it terminally adorable.
Getting back to more traditional products, the PixelSkin HD Wrap ($50; iPad 2) is a wraparound hardshell case with a front cover that looks—and functions—much like Apple's own Smart Cover. The cover can be folded back to be used as a stand or as a typing platform, and the case provides complete protection to both the front and back of the device.
The PixelSleeve ($30; iPad & iPad 2) is a stretchy, neoprene sleeve with a soft interior. The sleeve is lightweight but impact resistant; comes in black, purple, or pink; and features a convenient handle for easy carrying.
The PortPack 10 and the CorePack 10 ($50 each; iPad & iPad 2) are convenient carrying bags that fit any device up to 10 inches in size. They offer a number of extra compartments and plenty of padding.
Speaking of bags, Speck also offers the A-Line ($60; iPad & iPad 2), which is available in black/gray, gray/purple, or brown/red. Its stylish construction features lots of space, plenty of padding, and fits both iPad models as well as other devices up to ten inches in size.
USBFever: The Soft-Silicone Case costs just $10 and offers snap-on protection for your iPad 2. It comes in smoky black, blue, crystal clear, purple, or frost white.
USBFever's Crystal Case, which will also set you back $10, is a hardshell, snap-on case that provides protection without adding too much bulk. It comes in smoky black, crystal clear, blue, or rose red.
USBFever also offers a range of screen protectors for the iPad 2, including the Anti Glare Protector ($13) and the Ultra Clear Protector ($14).
Waterfield Designs: Waterfield is introducing seven—count them, seven—cases, starting with the iPad Wallet ($79; iPad & iPad 2). Available in six different colors (green, red, brown, teal, gray, or black), the iPad Wallet is a travel case for your iPad that features a separate pocket for a Bluetooth keyboard as well as room for a few other accessories. Its iPad pocket has enough room to accommodate a Smart Cover.
The Smart Case ($59; iPad & iPad 2) comes in the same choice of colors and also provides an extra pocket for a keyboard, but it cuts down on the storage space in the name of compactness. (Though it still offers several layers of padding and a scratch-free liner.) The lack of any visible stitching keeps the case looking smooth and sleek.
The Ultimate SleeveCase ($55 to $60; iPad & iPad 2) features a thin design that doesn't compromise the safety of your iPad. It's available in lead indium or brown leather and can be fitted with an optional shoulder strap ($5–$22) and pouch ($25–$27).
The iPad Slip Case ($29; iPad & iPad 2) features a simple but elegant construction and a minimalist look. It comes in black, blue, green, brown, or pink and can accommodate a Smart Case.
For an even more minimalistic look, you may want to check out the iPad Suede Jacket ($19–$25; iPad & iPad 2), which is as simple as simple can get—and thin to boot. Its stretch-memory construction ensures a snug fit every time, and the optional pocket gives you some extra space for cables and keyboards.
Finally, the Muzetto is an all-purpose shoulder bag that comes in a variety of sizes, including one that fits both the original iPad and iPad 2 for $199. The Muzetto's construction is all leather with one of six accent colors; in addition to a comfortable fit for your device, this bag includes a generous number of pockets and extra compartments for everything from documents to extra accessories.
Wrapsol: The Wrapsol Ultra screen-protection film is now offered in a version for the iPad 2. It comes in both dry- or wet-application versions and in front-only or front-and-back film combinations (but, curiously, not in the back-only configuration that would be ideal for an iPad with a Smart Cover). Prices start at $30.
X-Gear: The 360 Shield (price unavailable) is a polycarbonate cover that features a unique design to both protect the iPad 2 from damage and act as a stand and a typing platform. The product, available either in white or black, will be available for preorder at the end of March.
iPad (1st generation) Family
iPad 2 family
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This year has seen a whirlwind of leaks in the Google phone space. As you know if you've been following along with our extensive coverage, we know pretty much everything there is to know about the Google Pixel 3 and Google Pixel 3 XL, both set to be announced next month at Google's October 9th event. But given an ever-spreading wildfire of distaste toward the bigger model's large notch and plenty of misleading information, the "Pixel Ultra" speculation just hasn't stopped.
While it's impossible to put the rumors in their coffin for good until October 9th, we can round up everything that everyone has called a "Pixel Ultra" so far and write them off one by one…
The original 'Pixel Ultra'
Given the subject matter, I thought it'd be smart to kick things off with the "leak" that started it all. This you see here is the original "Ultra pixel" that showed up in the days prior to last year's Google event. (As you know, that name has since been twisted to be "Pixel Ultra," the same name that Google used when it made fun of the "Ultra pixel" rumors on stage last year.)
Now let me be completely clear: This one is a complete fake. Like, not just a bad photoshop job or a mistake or a fuzzy image of a real phone. This was an intentional fake by a pretty savvy graphic artist. It was a promotional stunt. And it worked out really well for him.
How we know it's not a Pixel Ultra: The guy who made it said so. Also, Google's Made by Google 2017 event came and went, and as we expected, they launched the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL.
The early Ben Geskin 'Pixel Ultra' render
One of the first "Pixel Ultra" renders that popped up — which has been used on many articles talking about the likely-nonexistent "Ultra" phone — was this one published by Ben Geskin in May 2018. Admittedly, it's one of the prettier renders of the Google phone we all want to be real.
Unfortunately, this one was posted right after it was discovered that there was a bezel-less phone used a placeholder image in Android P. I wrote at the time that, while the render wasn't meant to represent the Pixel 3, it might end up looking like it anyway. Unfortunately, we know better than that now, and all credible evidence points to there being only two phones, neither of which look like this.
Google Pixel 3 Possible Design? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/r1mWoTIvCt
— Ben Geskin (@VenyaGeskin1) May 22, 2018
How we know it's not a Pixel Ultra: Ben Geskin is an artist well known for his smartphone renders, and that's all this is. It's a render based on a render Google included in Android P.
The 'Make Google do it' ad
Another "Pixel Ultra" leak that made the blog rounds this year was this official Google advertisement. In the video, you get a glimpse a Pixel 2 XL. Yes, it appears to have very small bezels akin to the other "Pixel Ultra" bezel-less devices, but that's not what you're actually seeing here.
How we know it's not a Pixel Ultra: Because this is a very obvious example of a sloppy effects job. The screen of a phone like this caught on camera from this angle would be essentially impossible to discern, so the maker of this video overlaid an image on top of a real Pixel 2 XL in post.
Also, this video has been live on Google's UK YouTube channel for months, and they would have pulled it — as the company always does — if it were indicative of a future product. Google's not worried about that, because speculating that this is anything of substance is silly.
The Madden 19 commercial
There's yet another example of this with the Madden 19 commercial. This commercial showed what is very clearly a Google Pixel 2 XL on the back, and then flipped around the show the front. That front looked pretty bezel-less, so many jumped to the conclusion it was an unannounced phone.
That's almost certainly not the case here.
How we know it's not a Pixel Ultra: I'll just quote a Redditor on this one. "It's almost like they can just put anything on an existing phone's display in post editing to show what they want. /s"
Or, another Redditor:
The bottom picture looks exactly like a Pixel 2 XL. The top picture looks like the phone image was inserted with CG, because there's no room in the bezels for the front-facing camera, or speaker, or any of the stuff you'd find in the top bezel of a smart phone.
These two Redditors are exactly correct.
Adding displays on top of real phones in post makes a lot of sense and happens a lot because screens often don't look good on camera. Add to that the fact that Madden hasn't pulled this video from the web, and you have yourself a sure-fire case of post-edit illusion of an unreleased phone.
The 'leaked' Pixelbook ads
Next up we have a pair of ads that many thought might show some new Google hardware. These actually first surfaced because someone noticed the smaller bezels on the Pixelbook — a fact about the next Pixelbook that we actually know is likely to be true, even though these are fake.
Painfully, though, some have pointed at the device sitting on the table next to this supposed Pixelbook as yet more evidence of a bezel-less or unannounced or un-leaked Pixel device.
How we know it's not a Pixel Ultra: Similar to the video from the UK YouTube channel, the phone you see here is the victim of a poor photoshop job. For whatever reason, the displays on these devices didn't look good enough for the ad, so overlays were sloppily added.
The Pixel 3 promo video 'Pixel Ultra' spy shot
This is one of the more contentious ones. Someone spotted a device at a — likely very real — Pixel 3 video shoot in LA, and posted it on Reddit and shared it with a YouTuber claiming that it's an unannounced Pixel phone. Unfortunately, none of the photos that they provided have been convincing.
The best shot we got was this blurry one showing the phone from a weird angle through what appears to be a glass window of some sort — causing all sorts of blur and other issues.
The most interesting and convincing thing about this leak has been the circumstances rather than the photo of the phone itself. There is substantial evidence that this photo was taken at the real site of a real Pixel 3 marketing video shoot, and the phone is hooked up to a computer that the original poster alleges was being used to edit footage taken on the Pixel 3.
How we know it's not a Pixel Ultra: Honestly, of everything we've seen so far, this is the one that is hardest to conclusively debunk. But we can try anyway, and I'll let you reach your own conclusion.
Upon closer inspection, this is likely to just be a Pixel 2 XL. Some have lightened up the image to show where the edges of the case end and begin, and when you do that, it starts to become clear. I think the top bezel is obvious, and the bottom bezel being invisible is simply an illusion due to glare or the darkness of the photo.
(Actually, in the image to the right, you can even see where the USB-C cable enters the phone, which seems to show a large bottom bezel clearly.)
If you don't want to believe me, though, the best analysis I've found is that of this Redditor, who made a nifty gif comparing the screen aspect ratio with a screenshot from their Pixel 2 XL:
As you can see, the screen content lines up perfectly, so it's actually the same 18:9 aspect ratio as the 2XL. If it were any taller, there would have been some additional whitespace at the bottom of the screen in the pictures and my screenshot would have been stretched when I lined up the edges
I'm open to being proven wrong, but I think this one is case closed. Add to that the fact that I've been in touch with a source who saw devices at another Pixel 3 marketing video shoot in LA. They told me that the only devices they saw were the Google Pixel 3 and 3 XL you're familiar with.
I understand that the person who took these feels very strongly that it's not a 2 XL — I'm just sharing my opinion here based on the evidence.
That's it… for now
In conclusion, I'd be happy to be proven wrong and I'd love to see Google pull some "surprise and delight" out of its hat. I'm not a fan of the notch in general, and I agree with a lot of the criticism that these two phones are a bit boring in some ways. But just because something is boring doesn't mean we should try and force something less boring into existence without substantial evidence.
That's especially the case when there's plenty of evidence to the contrary. Just for one of many examples, Bloomberg, which has one of the best track records in the industry, is only aware of two phones launching this year. Evan Blass, who basically hasn't missed a phone leak in years (and had the scoop on both of the first two Pixels, if I remember correctly), is only aware of two phones.
That's not to say it's impossible that a third phone exists. In fact, I've heard myself that Google considered launching a third phone this year at one point, and that there's already prototypes of next year's phones floating around internally too. Google's got more phones. They always do. But decisions for next month's event have already been made, and we have good evidence of what they are.
This has been the leakiest phone season for Google, possibly ever, and there's no convincing evidence it was all a marketing stunt. I don't think Google was happy about the notched Pixel 3 XLs managing to escape its grasp and be sold on the black market. I think they, just like any other tech company, would love to be able to introduce their phone themselves and tell its story their way.
I do think, however, that Google has a plan to justify and explain the all-too-controversial notch at its event next month. And I think we'll all find ourselves surprisingly happy with the two phones — the real Pixel 3 and 3 XL — that Google actually is planning to launch. I, for one, am exited for the leaked ones.
More on Google Pixel 3/XL:
- Google announces October 9th 'Made by Google' event in New York City
- Two Made by Google smartphones arrive at the FCC, likely Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL
- Everything we know about the Google Pixel 3 and Google Pixel 3 XL so far
- Things we still don't know about the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL: Price, colors, face security, more
- Opinion: Let's stop trying to will a notchless Pixel 3 XL into existence, it's fine
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.


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Mouthwash: Does It Really Work?
Head down to your local grocery store, and chances are you'll find rows upon rows of mouthwash products, all of them making seemingly impossible claims about what they can do. Some of them take a page from the suntan lotion industry by offering "12-hour protection" from plaque and bacteria. Others say they'll make your teeth 50 percent stronger. Leaving aside all the marketing-speak, does using mouthwash actually make much of a difference? Or is our faith in what's become a $689 million-a-year industry simply the result of received wisdom?
Turns out it's a little bit of both. Our obsession with fresh breath has a history stretching back centuries, if not millennia. The ancient Chinese were known to rinse their mouths out using children's urine as a way to keep the gums clean. Ancient Greek scholars like Hippocrates and Pythagoras suggested solutions of salt, alum, and vinegar to maintain fresh breath.
In some places, getting rid of halitosis meant chewing natural substances instead of rinsing:
The Bible (Genesis) mentions labdanum (mastic), a resin that has been used in Mediterranean countries for breath freshening for thousands of years; it may be the original chewing gum. Other folk cures include parsley (Italy), cloves (Iraq), guava peels (Thailand), and eggshells (China). The Talmud suggests peppercorns.
With the Renaissance, people graduated to alcohol -- rinsing with wine or beer. Five hundred years later, alcohol remains a major ingredient in some of the leading brands of mouthwash. The original, gold-colored Listerine is reportedly 26.9 percent alcohol. And while alcohol-based rinses have been tentatively linked to higher rates of oral cancer, manufacturers aren't making it up when they say their products have been clinically proven.
Since the mid-1980s, six-month trials have repeatedly shown that using mouthwash actually has an appreciable effect on plaque and gingivitis, though to varying degrees. In one meta-analysis comparing prescription-strength and over-the-counter solutions, products like Listerine wound up reducing dental plaque in patients by between 13 percent and 56 percent, with a reduction in gingivitis of between 14 percent and 36 percent. Non-alcoholic rinses, such as Crest Pro-Health, had a 15 percent effect on plaque and gingivitis, respectively.
So does mouthwash really work? Unfortunately, the statistics are silent on the matter of bad breath -- which is the reason many of us probably use mouthwash in the first place. Still, what the manufacturers write on the bottle isn't all hype.


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He's baaack! Jon Stewart returns from summer hiatus on 'The Daily Show'
NEW YORK – Jon Stewart is back, and the shaggy beard he grew over the summer is gone.
"The Daily Show" host returned Tuesday night to the Comedy Central show. He'd been off since June 6, directing and producing a movie in the Middle East. John Oliver subbed to strong reviews.
Stewart quickly referenced some of the stories he missed — hitting upon Paula Deen, Anthony Weiner's alter ego "Carlos Danger" and Miley Cyrus' sultry MTV dance before the first commercial message.
He beckoned the camera close to whisper to his audience: "I've missed you so much. You don't know what it's like in the real world. Nobody applauds every stupid (expletive) thing that you do."


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How would it be if you could navigate to a customer's Twitter profile in a single click from your CRM account?
Or, how about Facebook profiles?
How much easier could selling get?
As a Zoho CRM User, you can now create custom links that help you use your customer data in an efficient manner. You might depend on other online Apps for information – like Zoho Support for tracking your Customer Support Requests. By defining custom links, you can navigate to the required service directly from your CRM account.
How's this making selling easy? Well, take this case. Before talking to a prospect, it's obvious that you'll do your homework. You'll gather information about the prospect from several sources – Social Media being the primary source. By taking the 'Twitter' field as the reference, you can create a custom link for the Contacts module. Then, all it takes is one click. You land on your prospect's Twitter profile instantly. You save time spent on searching, and you can do what you are good at – selling!
This is just one of the many possibilities. Weather, Maps, Search… it's all at the click of a button.
Construct your own links and do let me know how it worked for you. Add your comments right below.
– Sharanya R


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Hey everyone! How have ya been? Sorry for the long break. Crazy times, but I will save the catch up for another post. Went backpacking twice this summer – and I was diggin it! Check out this pic of the Sawtooth Backpacking trip I took with the hubby my son, and his brother. We had a blast and the Sawtooths are awesome by the way! I fell in love with Sun Valley – too bad my bank account does not match my love for that area! Hope to chat with everyone soon!
My son took this pic on our first day entering the Sawtooth National Forest. Absolutely stunning!


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Welcome to Calvary Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Calvary is a warm and friendly, exciting and growing, Bible-believing Baptist Church. As you visit with us, you will discover what so many others have discovered over the years – there is a real joy and peace that satisfies when nothing else in the world does.
We look forward to meeting you!


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P.J. Hairston scores 23 points to help North Carolina hold off Villanova 78-71 in NCAAs
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – First his North Carolina players gave Roy Williams a tough, hard-fought, milestone victory.
Then they surprised their coach with a specially made gift to help him commemorate the occasion.
As soon as the Tar Heels got into the locker room after beating gritty Villanova 78-71 in the second round of the NCAA tournament Friday night, they gave Williams a jersey with the number 700 emblazoned on the front. It was his 700th career win, a plateau he had been downplaying all week but a moment his players had said they all wanted to be a part of.
"It was special because Coach didn't even know we had the jersey for him," said P.J. Hairston, who led North Carolina with 23 points. "He wasn't expecting it at all. He is proud, but he wasn't even thinking about the 700."
Now he's surely thinking about what comes next.
North Carolina's win set up a dream matchup Sunday in the third round of the South Regional between the eighth-seeded Tar Heels (25-10) and top-seeded Kansas, where Williams coached for 15 years and rang up 418 wins.
The Jayhawks (30-5) struggled to put away scrappy Western Kentucky in a 64-57 victory Friday night.
Kansas fans have been jamming the Sprint Center in downtown Kansas City, about 30 minutes from the Jayhawks' campus. Now, they get the game they've been waiting for.
By beating Villanova, Williams extended his NCAA record of consecutive tournament appearances with at least one win to 21.
"I love the mental toughness of our team the last eight or nine minutes," he said.
The never-say-die Wildcats (20-14) have plenty to be proud of as well.
They erased a 20-point deficit that North Carolina built in the first half and then nearly climbed out of a nine-point hole in the final minutes after the Tar Heels hit three consecutive 3-pointers and once again appeared to take control.
"I'm proud of this team. I'm proud of their effort," Villanova coach Jay Wright said. "They're tough guys. They've got faith in what we do."
Picking on a season-long weakness for the ninth-seeded Wildcats, North Carolina shot 11 of 21 from 3-point range while getting outrebounded 37-28.
JayVaughn Pinkston had 20 points and Darrun Hilliard scored 18 for Villanova.
After UNC took a seemingly comfortable 65-56 lead on Hairston's 3-pointer and James Michael McAdoo's jumper, Ryan Arcidiacono answered with Villanova's second 3, cutting the lead to 65-59. But Marcus Paige dropped in a short jumper that put the Tar Heels on top 67-59 before a media timeout with 3:03 to go.
A pair of foul shots by Arcidiacono, James Bell's 3-pointer and Pinkston's two free throws sliced the lead to 67-66. Paige then drilled a 3 and Hairston completed a three-point play a little while later for a 76-68 lead with 42 seconds left.
"I thought earlier in the game it was all happy and smooth and the ball was going in the basket," Williams said. "Then all of a sudden they started competing a little harder than we did."
Earlier, trying to protect a precarious 54-50 lead over the plucky Wildcats, North Carolina went to its strongest weapon and unleashed 3-pointers on three straight possessions by Hairston, Reggie Bullock and Hairston again.
Shooting from long range, the Tar Heels were openly exploiting a season-long weakness for Villanova, which had struggled with perimeter defense.
"We worked really hard on trying to prevent them from getting 3s," Wright said. "They do a great job. They know you're trying to stop their 3s."
Paige had 14 points and Bullock added 15 for UNC.
Mouphtaou Yarou scored 17 points and Arcidiacono had 10 for Villanova.
A 15-0 run midway through the first half led to a 32-12 North Carolina lead and Williams appeared poised to comfortably cruise to victory No. 700. A jumper by McAdoo gave North Carolina its biggest lead with 7 minutes to go in the half.
But after going without a field goal from the 10:56 mark to 5:16 showing on the game clock, the Wildcats regrouped, pounced on some sudden sloppiness by North Carolina and closed out the half on a 14-3 spree to go into halftime trailing only 37-29.
Then, opening the second half on an 11-3 spurt, they finally caught up when Hilliard's layup tied it 40-all at the 16:04 mark.
"We just couldn't make a shot," Hairston said. "We took some crazy shots, we rushed some shots, we turned the ball over and at the same time Villanova was coming down and getting chip-ins and easy two-point plays."
Hilliard's bucket and Pinkston's putback gave Villanova a 44-42 lead, its first since it was 4-3. But at the 12:06 mark, Bullock's third 3-pointer gave North Carolina a 47-45 advantage.
Paige, Hairston and McDonald all hit 3-pointers while the Wildcats were committing five turnovers during North Carolina's first-half run. After Leslie McDonald took a pass from Bullock and moved in for a layup, Hairston scored on an underhand scoop and McDonald drilled a 3 to put North Carolina on top 28-11.
Two free throws by McAdoo made it 30-11, then Pinkston and Arcidiacono hit free throws before Pinkston dropped in a jumper to end the Wildcats' field goal drought.
Pinkston got open for a 12-footer and Hilliard followed with another short jumper, making it 37-23. After a Tar Heels turnover, Tony Chennault kept the spree alive with another bucket.


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Karaoke Wing and Sing Night!
August 22, 2024 @ 9:00 pm - 11:59 pm
|Recurring Event (See all)
An event every week that begins at 9:00 pm on Thursday, repeating indefinitely
Come sing and wing at 9pm with DJ K.O.! Get here early and get some $1 wings with your favorite hot sauce and sing a tune or three! Wings are $1 each, 5-10-15-20-50 increments


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