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Hurricane Irene Crashes Into East Coast
SCOTT SIMON, host: This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. Hurricane Irene has arrived. The storm has already struck parts of North Carolina. Some 200,000 people there are without power. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano urged caution as Irene moves up the East Coast.
Secretary JANET NAPOLITANO (HOMELAND SECURITY): Irene remains a large and dangerous storm. People need to take it seriously, people need to be prepared.
SIMON: Prepared, because forecasters say that Hurricane Irene could bring destructive winds, heavy flooding and a storm surge with coastal flooding. Irene has weakened to a category-1 hurricane but its path is wide. Irene is described as being larger than Hurricane Katrina with hurricane warnings in effect for much of the Atlantic Coast, from North Carolina to Massachusetts. Now coming up, we're going to more about hurricane preparations in New York and New Jersey, but as Irene has made landfall this morning on the North Carolina coast, we're going to begin with Greg Allen, who's in Manteo, North Carolina. Greg, thanks for being back with us. And what's it like?
GREG ALLEN: Well, Scott, we think the center of the storm has been passing us and it might be a little bit north of us now, just judging from the winds. We have had some pretty mighty winds here for the last hour or so. Now things tend to have calmed down a fair amount. We're still getting some big gusts but, you know, the sense I'm getting talking to people here in Manteo, where I'm at, and from hearing from what's going on just across the bridge over on Nags Head and the way in Kitty Hawk, is that things are not as bad as they could have been. You know, we say that oftentimes and we sometimes regret it later. But so far, most of what we're seeing is tree limbs being down, you know, which is (unintelligible) to power outages, but not the wide-scale flooding so far. That could still come, of course, but so far we're kind of staying cautiously hopeful.
SIMON: Did people seem to get out before the storm struck?
ALLEN: Yes, I think so. You know, I drove down throughout the Outer Banks yesterday. I saw houses, just every house I saw was nailed up tighter than a drum, with plywood and I didn't see any cars around. I'm hearing today that there are more people around on Nags Head than we thought. I think some people are actually coming in to check on their property. They maybe hunkered down inside, and they're coming out now. They're still being warned to watch out for possible flooding, but most people, as far as I can tell did leave (unintelligible) visitors left. I think what we have are some of the people who live here who wanted to stay around and watch their property. It's a lot of rain, as you might expect. We've been having a lot of rain since yesterday 'cause this storm is so big, pushing these huge bands of rain and wind in front of it that it's still hours away from hitting this area but we've been feeling the effects for some time. We're getting a fair amount of wind. It's probably sustained around 30 miles per hour but we get these gusts, like this one now, which come up to over 50. So, you know, you're starting to see this storm come this way. But as I say, it's still down. It's just hitting the tip of North Carolina now and it'll be a couple of hours until it gets here.
SIMON: And of Irene's downgraded category into a status 1, status into category-1. Is that seen as good news?
ALLEN: Oh, yeah. I mean, that what has made all the difference here, of course. You know, as we know, they were predicting originally this could have hit as a category-3, which would have a major impact all along the coast. Now a category-1 storm, you know, as it's heading northward and is expected to hit New England tomorrow at category-1 also. That will still be - still be a major event for a place that doesn't see category-1 hurricanes very rarely. But here in the North Carolina they are certainly prepared for something like this. What we've seen so is just mostly shingles and some siding off houses, not, you know, some piers have been damages farther south where the storm came ashore and the strong waves kind of knocked against the pier. So there's been some damage and there's been reports of a couple of deaths, I think one from a tree limb falling on someone. But we were really, you know, getting ready for something much, much worse than this. So, so far, so good, but we'll keep our fingers crossed here.
SIMON: Greg, finally, rank for us, please, if you would, the concerns that people there in North Carolina have now.
ALLEN: Well, that's right. There's a lot of things coming. I mean, the biggest one, number one, is storm surge. And they've been talking about a storm surge that could be several feet. And, you know, so far we've not seen a dramatic here in the Outer Banks but down in a little farther south where the storm came ashore here - New Bern - a good part of that city is flooded, we're hearing reports of. And power's out for more than half of the people in the town. So - and that's because that's inland, that the water backs up up the river that New Bern is on, and it caused this huge (unintelligible) that kind of been inundated much of the town. That kind of thing they've been talking about. So the problem's not just for the coast people right on the coast, being some inland communities, as the water backs up through the sound and some of the rivers. That's number one; of course though the wind's taking down trees. We've got, as you mentioned, a couple hundred thousand power outages here. That's going to continue as it goes up the coast.
SIMON: Thank you, Greg.
ALLEN: And then we're also looking at a lot of rainfall here. So that's going to be - could lead to some flash flooding.
SIMON: NPR's Greg Allen in Manteo, North Carolina. Thanks. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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L. Robert Fullem died peacefully at his home on Martha's Vineyard on Thursday, Feb. 7 at the age of 83. He is survived by his wife Elsbeth, with whom he had just celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary, with his daughter Leslie Fullem Hunter, and three sons, John Christopher Fullem, Robert Fullem and Terrence Fullem, as well as 10 grandchildren. He is also survived by his sisters Joan and Lois and his brother Jack.
Prior to retiring on Martha's Vineyard, Bob was a lifelong resident of Upper Montclair, N.J., and attended Seton Hall Preparatory High School. He graduated from Colgate University in 1951 and received his JD degree from Harvard Law School. After law school, Bob served for three years with the Judge Advocate General's Corps in the U.S. Army. Upon leaving the service, Bob started his distinguished legal career with Dewey Ballantine in New York, becoming a managing partner before retiring in 1997 after 40 years with the firm.
In addition to his family and his career, Bob's passion was the Farm Neck Golf Club on Martha's Vineyard, which he co-founded in 1978. Until recently, he served as either president, chairman or board member of the club.
A small ceremony for family and friends will be held at Chapman, Cole & Gleason in Oak Bluffs on Saturday, Feb. 16 at 2 p.m. A mass will also be celebrated on Martha's Vineyard later this spring.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Farm Neck Foundation (P.O. Box 1656, Oak Bluffs, MA 02557) or the Animal Shelter of Martha's Vineyard (P.O. Box 1829, Edgartown, MA 02539).

subset: commoncrawl


text: |Note: The mechanism for saving MolSlides is broken (October, 2008). It will not be fixed unless I receive lots of requests by email. We strongly recommend that you create pages at Proteopedia.Org if you need to present customized molecular views. If you want your customized molecular views to be in Powerpoint®, please see Polyview-3D at Top5.MolviZ.Org.


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Aliens: Colonial Marines will bring new levels of bone-chilling suspense and adrenaline-filled action to the renowned franchise. The game pits players against the universe's ultimate alien killing machines, the Xenomorphs, in claustrophobic environments guaranteed to produce blood curdling thrills that the movie is renowned for.
Aliens: Colonial Marines begins with an ostensibly abandoned ship, the U.S.S. Sulaco, recovered in orbit around LV-426. Players lead a group of highly trained United States Colonial Marines as they board the deserted craft to uncover the fate of the crew. They will have to fight to survive unspeakable horrors and their own anxieties as they chase down the truth behind a galaxy-spanning deception that places humanity at the mercy of the most murderous and deadly species in the universe. Aliens: Colonial Marines features authentic environments, such as the surface of LV-426 and Hadley's Hope, weapons inspired by the film series and is designed to provide an exhilarating and engaging new chapter in the Aliens universe.
Aliens: Colonial Marines is scheduled for release from Sega in 2012 on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.


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Cutest Baby contest seeks submissions
Everyone loves a cute, cuddly baby and we want readers to share theirs in the Heller Motors Cutest Baby Contest, with supporting sponsors Wrights Furniture, the Pontiac Daily Leader and the Fairbury Blade for a chance to win prizes from local businesses. The public will be voting for the cutest baby beginning Jan. 15.
Beginning at 8 a.m. Monday, Dec. 31, entries may be submitted online by going to pontiacdailyleader.com/cutestbaby.
There is a $10 entry fee per baby, with $3 of each entry going to the Caring Pregnancy Center of Pontiac. There will also be a keepsake section with all of the entries published Jan. 19 by the Pontiac Daily Leader and Jan. 23 by the Fairbury Blade.
Entries will be accepted online through 9 p.m. Jan. 14.
Pontiac businesses awarding prizes include Lydia's Cup, Casey's General Store, Joe's Stationhouse Pizza and Pontiac Massage.
Contest rules include (see website for complete rules): The baby in the photo must be under the age of 24 months as of Jan. 31, 2013; professional photos may be submitted; there is no limit to the number of entries someone may submit; photo must be of the baby only; all babies must be wearing a minimum of a full coverage diaper in the photo; and photos may be in natural color or black and white.
Submissions will appear on the Pontiac Daily Leaders' website at www.pontiacdailyleader.com beginning Jan. 15. The public can view the photos and vote beginning at 8 a.m. that day. Voting ends at 9 p.m. Jan 29.
Voters are limited to 10 votes per day, per entry. No more than five voters may be registered from the same residential computer IP address.
At the end of the voting period, the photo receiving the highest number of votes will be declared the winning photo. Several top places will receive prizes.
Winners will be announced the week of Jan. 30 through Feb. 5.


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Clean Pro Lexington
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Why Kalma Chowk Underpass is a bad idea…
Traffic is becoming a major issue for dwellers of this city of 10 million, especially for the vast majority of population that cannot afford to drive Corollas or fancy Range Rovers. The current Punjab Government has been epic in initiating unplanned, unreasonable and unjustified projects just for the sake of gaining mass publicity and a possible nod from the Western governments and donor agencies. Transparency and good governance are two important issues in which the Punjab government, according to some observers, was apparently faring better as compared to the center and other provinces. Any sane person from the general population, however, will highly disagree with this false notion when he still has to enjoy the effects of these supposedly successful initiatives. Urban planning is one important issue where each of our governments handsomely fails. The long-awaited Lahore Rapid Mass Transit system has almost been laid to rest while highly questionable strategy of road widening and tree cutting continues. Meaningless small stunts like construction of the Park n Ride plaza on Liberty Roundabout hardly have done anything to resolve the planning crisis and make our city more livable. The ugly structure, by the way, is hardly used by anyone and emits more carbon thanks to its free shuttle service to Liberty Market (located just a few hundred meters away) using diesel coaster buses.
Ahmed Rafay Alam, in his recent article published in the The Tribune, pretty much summarizes the flaws of recently inaugurated Kalma Chowk underpass project. He writes,
"Investment in public transport (and removal of private automobiles from roads) is the only long-term solution. Three years ago, the Punjab government launched the Lahore Transport Company with the promise to import some 1,300 buses into the city within three years. Well, it's been three years and no such buses have been imported. Meanwhile, the Lahore Transport Company continues to pay salaries to its many officers and employees. The construction of the Kalma Chowk overpass excuses the failure by the Punjab government to adopt any long-term public transport alternatives. This should not be so and taxpayers should be informed of the reasons why no public transport is being provided, as promised."


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Top Items:
Harry Huai Wang / Facebook Blog:
A new way to share with friends — Chances are, you use parts of the Internet that aren't Facebook. You might post photo albums using Flickr or Picasa, for example, instead of on Facebook. There are a lot of good sites out there, unfortunately, that can sometimes mean a lot of switching around …
Paul Glazowski / Mashable!: Facebook Launches Lifecasting Feature, Auto Imports To Mini-Feed
Vasanth Sridharan / Silicon Alley Insider: Facebook Absorbs Outside Feeds, But Won't Free Its Own
Caroline McCarthy / Webware.com: Facebook mini-feeds get hungrier: Yelp, Picasa, Flickr, Delicious
Nick O'Neill / All Facebook: Facebook Takes Steps to Compete With Friendfeed
Frederic / The Last Podcast: Tuesday Afternoon Thoughts
Brian Solis / bub.blicio.us: Facebook Fuses Mini-Feed with Your Lifestream
Corvida / SheGeeks: Facebook Helping Mass Adoption?
Teresa Valdez Klein / Web Community Forum: How to Use Facebook's New Lifestreaming Features
Heather Green / Blogspotting: New FriendFeed for Facebook
Sarah Perez / ReadWriteWeb:
Facebook's Lifestream: Nothing to See Here — A new post on the Facebook blog announces the arrival of "a new way to share with friends" - that is, they're offering a way for you to import content from non-Facebook sites into your Facebook Mini-Feed and into your friends' News Feeds.
Discussion: loose wire blog and SheGeeks
Jeremy Wagstaff / loose wire blog: Facebook is Dead. I'm Not Being Facetious
Corvida / SheGeeks: Facebook Is No Threat To Friendfeed
Eric Eldon / VentureBeat:
Facebook is kinda competing with FriendFeed, like it kinda competes with Twitter
Facebook is kinda competing with FriendFeed, like it kinda competes with Twitter
Discussion: All Facebook, Thomas Hawk's Digital …, The Real McCrea and Digital Inspiration
Nick O'Neill / All Facebook: The Facebook Newsfeed Breaks
Thomas Hawk / Thomas Hawk's Digital Connection: Facebook is Boring As Hell
Mark Hendrickson / TechCrunch:
Facebook Opens Up Mini-Feed To 3rd Party Services
Facebook Opens Up Mini-Feed To 3rd Party Services
Discussion: All Facebook
Nick O'Neill / All Facebook: Profile Mini-Feed Filtering Proves Misleading
Sydney Morning Herald:
Don't Be Evil or don't lose value? — Google vice-president Marissa Mayer in Sydney last week. — Asher Moses — As Google comes under ever increasing scrutiny for the power it has over our lives, the web giant is tiptoeing back from its long-held corporate motto, Don't Be Evil.
Discussion: Epicenter, Valleywag and Search Engine Land
Betsy Schiffman / Epicenter: Marissa Mayer: Totally Kidding About That 'Don't Be Evil' Stuff
Owen Thomas / Valleywag: Marissa Mayer wishes she could be more evil
Michael Arrington / TechCrunch:
Google's Don't Be Evil Not "Ordained Motto" Says Marissa Mayer
Google's Don't Be Evil Not "Ordained Motto" Says Marissa Mayer
Discussion: VentureBeat, Portfolio.com, p2pnet, CNET News.com and The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs
MG Siegler / VentureBeat: Google: Evil is as evil does
Matt Asay / CNET News.com: Google, lock-in, and evil
Oracle Critical Patch Update Advisory - April 2008 — A Critical Patch Update is a collection of patches for multiple security vulnerabilities. It also includes non-security fixes that are required (because of interdependencies) by those security patches.
Discussion: eWeek, Zero Day and InformationWeek
Brian Prince / eWeek: Oracle Issues 41 Security Fixes in Latest CPU
Larry Dignan / Zero Day: Oracle patches DB, apps
Thomas Claburn / InformationWeek: Oracle Plans 41 Patches For Tuesday
Roddy Lindsay / Facebook Blog:
Facebook Lexicon — At Facebook we love tools that allow you to see what people around the globe are searching for or discussing on blogs, such as Google Trends or Technorati. We thought it would be cool to show trends on the public and semi-public forums across Facebook (also known as Walls).
Discussion: ReadWriteWeb and VentureBeat
Richard MacManus / ReadWriteWeb: Facebook Lexicon Launches - Google Trends for Facebook
Caroline McCarthy / Webware.com:
Lexicon: Meet Facebook's answer to Google Zeitgeist
Lexicon: Meet Facebook's answer to Google Zeitgeist
Discussion: All Facebook and ben barren
Nick O'Neill / All Facebook: Facebook Tracks Trends With Lexicon Service
Redbarren / ben barren: brand mentions on facebook.
Microsoft Completes Acquisition of Danger, Incorporates Company Into Premium Mobile Experiences Group — Microsoft Corp. has completed its acquisition of Danger, Inc., the company announced today. Danger's expertise in building great, intuitive client software for mobile handsets connected …
Discussion: DailyTech, TECH.BLORGE.com, WMExperts, mocoNews.net, Dan's Tech-n-Stuff Weblog, Tech Tracks, PhoneNews.com and Engadget Mobile
Shane McGlaun / DailyTech: Microsoft Completes Danger Purchase
Susan Wilson / TECH.BLORGE.com: Windows swallows Danger; burping out Premium Mobile Experiences division
Dianne See Morrison / mocoNews.net: Microsoft Completes Acquisition Of Danger; Co-Founders Join Newly …
Dan / Dan's Tech-n-Stuff Weblog: Microsoft completes its acquisition of Danger, creates new Premium …
Benjamin J. Romano / Tech Tracks: Microsoft completes Danger acquisition, now the work begins
Humberto Saabedra / PhoneNews.com: Microsoft Completes Danger Purchase, Forms New Internal Group
Rogers Cadenhead / Workbench:
Meme13: Finding New Bloggers in Tech — Steven Hodson writes: … Me too. — Every six months or so, techbloggers reach the joint realization that we're all linking to the same people having the same thoughts about the same subjects. Somebody blames Techmeme, a site that collects …
Steven Hodson / WinExtra: Tracking the Techmeme newcomers
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb: Meme13 Tries and Fails to Solve the Techmeme Echo-Chamber Problem
Vasanth Sridharan / Silicon Alley Insider:
Ads In Twitter Streams? Nope — TechCrunch's Duncan Riley reports that Twitter is rolling out ads, based on "some reports of users spotting ads in their Twitter stream" recently. — One of those users then tells him that she was mistaken and hadn't actually seen an ad, after all.
Duncan Riley / TechCrunch: Twitter Testing Advertising In Twitter Streams
Caroline McCarthy / The Social: Elusive 'Twitter ads' spotted in the wild...or not
Owen Thomas / Valleywag: Where Twitter's ads are — and aren't — Ads on Twitter?
Nate Westheimer / innonate: Veracity: The Future of New Journalism
Saveproduction / Internet Marketing Observations: Banner Ad is to Advertising Campaign as Twitter is to....
Allen Stern / CenterNetworks: Twitter Apparently Clones Pownce's Business Model
Jemima Kiss / PDA: Twitter: has the time come for ads?
Dion Almaer / techno.blog: Yup, ads are on Twitter alright
Nick O'Neill / The Social Times: Twitter Ads Coming Soon?
Jason Lee Miller / WebProNews: Blogger Goofs On Twitter Ads
Thord Daniel Hedengren / The Blog Herald: No Ads Coming To Twitter, TechCrunch Report Bogus
John Gartner / MarketingShift: Twitter Rolling Out Ads
Mathew / mathewingram.com/work:
Of blogs, accuracy and editors
Of blogs, accuracy and editors
Discussion: The Blog Herald and The Last Podcast
Thord Daniel Hedengren / The Blog Herald: Picking The Best Practices From Old Media To Empower New Media
Paul Graham:
Why There Aren't More Googles — Umair Haque wrote recently that the reason there aren't more Googles is that most startups get bought before they can change the world. … This has a nice sound to it, but it isn't true. Google's founders were willing to sell early on.
Discussion: A VC, HipMojo.com, The Blog Herald, SmoothSpan Blog, TechCrunch and RealityCrunch
Ashkan Karbasfrooshan / HipMojo.com: How Often Do You Get a Perfect Storm?
David Krug / The Blog Herald: Blogging and Website Acquisitions
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch: Where Have All the Bold VCs Gone?
Mary Jo Foley / All about Microsoft:
There's more than one way to mesh — On April 15, startup Syncplicity, was hatched. Syncplicity's management team includes a number of former (and near-former) Softies — including Steven Hazel, a former employee of FolderShare. — Microsoft acquired FolderShare, a file-sync vendor …
Discussion: Download Squad, AppScout, ReadWriteWeb and GigaOM
Brad Linder / Download Squad: Syncplicity gives SugarSync a run for its money
Eric Griffith / AppScout: Syncplicity Promises Simple Synchronization, Backup
Marshall Kirkpatrick / ReadWriteWeb: Windows Live Mesh to Launch Next Week
Stacey Higginbotham / GigaOM: Syncplicity Makes Offline Syncing Possible
Mark Hendrickson / TechCrunch:
Cloud File Services Springing Up Everywhere, But Where's My GDrive?
Cloud File Services Springing Up Everywhere, But Where's My GDrive?
Discussion: VentureBeat and Webware.com
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat: Syncplicity launches sync software beta
Grant Gross / InfoWorld:
Lawmakers complain that Google 'gamed' auction — San Francisco - Three lawmakers complained Tuesday that Google "maneuvered" its way into an open wireless network without having to come up with a winning bid in the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's (FCC's) recently completed 700MHz spectrum auction.
Discussion: Electronista and Google Phone
Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
Hearing used for finger-pointing on 700MHz auction, D Block
Hearing used for finger-pointing on 700MHz auction, D Block
Discussion: Tech Beat
Olga Kharif / Tech Beat: Public Safety Spectrum Scuffle Heats Up
Audioholics Home Theater Reviews and News:
Blue Jeans Cable Strikes Back - Response to Monster Cable — Not long ago we reported that Monster Cable had issued a cease and desist letter to Blue Jeans Cable about their Tartan cables. Little did the lawyer drones over at Monster know that Kurt Denke, the president of Blue Jeans was, in a former life, a lawyer by trade.
Discussion: Capitol Valley, Venture Chronicles, Gizmodo, Geek.com, TECH.BLORGE.com, WebProBlog and Gadgetopia
Matt Buchanan / Gizmodo: Blue Jeans Cable Calls BS on Monster Cable Patent Suit, Vows …
Matt Jansen / TECH.BLORGE.com: Monster Cable threatens Blue Jeans Cable with ludicrous cease & desist letter
David Utter / WebProBlog: Monster Cable slapped by target of C&D
Omri / fring:
fring for your iPhone - it's a fringing world first! — OK. So if you're one of the first lucky *#@$%&s to get your hands on an iPhone, you just got even luckier. We've just made a special pre-release R&D version of fring for your iPhone - a mobile VoIP app publicly available for the iPhone?...yep that's a world-first!
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch: Fring's Jailbroken iPhone App Now Live
Josh Lowensohn / Webware.com: Hands-on with Fring's almost-free VoIP for the iPhone
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes / Hardware 2.0: Third-party VoIP app for the iPhone - How will Apple respond to this?
MG Siegler / VentureBeat: VoIP on the iPhone: Not yet legal, but here
Adam Pash / Lifehacker: Turn Your iPod Touch into an iPhone
Andrius / Unwired View: fring VoIP app for iPhone
Matthew Miller / The Mobile Gadgeteer: fring VoIP and IM client is now available for the Apple iPhone
Peter Ha / CrunchGear: Fring comes to the iPhone
Jason D. O'Grady / The Apple Core: Fring first out of the gate with iPhone VOIP client
Andy Abramson / VoIP Watch: Fring Launching iPhone App via Jailbreak
Tom Krazit / One More Thing:
Defiant Psystar back selling Leopard computers — Psystar is back online selling "white box" Macs with a few subtle changes, and one employee has already played the monopoly card. — As you might recall, Psystar's Web site was overwhelmed Monday after it was found to be selling cheap computers with Mac OS X Leopard preinstalled.
Discussion: Infinite Loop, Hardware 2.0, MacDailyNews and GigaLaw.com Daily News
Chris Foresman / Infinite Loop: Psystar on Apple's EULA: No comment, but check out OpenPro!
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes / Hardware 2.0: Psystar: Apple's terms violate U.S. monopoly laws
Doug Isenberg / GigaLaw.com Daily News: "White Box" Mac Seller Back Online After Flap
Greg Sandoval / CNET News.com:
Amazon's MP3s not affecting iTunes — Amazon.com's MP3 service is growing but not at the expense of Apple's iTunes, according to a report issued Tuesday by market researcher NPD Group. — About 10 percent of the people who shopped at AmazonMP3 in February were previous Apple shoppers, NPD said.
Discussion: Ars Technica, Electronista, TechConsumer, MacDailyNews, TG Daily, Listening Post, Mashable!, Coolfer and The Tech Report
Jacqui Cheng / Ars Technica: Amazon MP3 store's gains not coming at iTunes' expense
Mark Raby / TG Daily: Amazon music store not really denting iTunes
Eliot Van Buskirk / Listening Post: Study: 90 Percent of Amazon MP3 Users Didn't Use ITunes Before
Paul Glazowski / Mashable!: Amazon MP3 Sales Only 10% Of iTunes; Little Turnover, Says NPD
Glenn / Coolfer: The Pie Expands For A Change
Cyril Kowaliski / The Tech Report: Amazon MP3 not taking users away from iTunes
Wendy Tanaka / Forbes:
Google In The Hot Seat — Is Google's blockbuster advertising machine sputtering? Wall Street will be looking for an answer from the Internet giant on Thursday when it reports first-quarter earnings. — The number of clicks on ads hosted on Google's (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) …
Dennis R. Mortensen / VisualRevenue:
IndexTools (Yahoo!) Web Analytics goes FREE! — Hi there, a bit of news for you who follow the Yahoo! IndexTools integration steps. But first, THANK YOU very much for all the positive feedback I received in blog comments, separate blog posts, emails, phone calls etc. I truly appreciate that.
Brad Linder / Download Squad: Yahoo! to set IndexTools web analytics suite free
Aurélie Pols / OX2 Web Analytics blog: Yahoo! buys Indextools: 80% of the functionality of Omniture for FREE!
Anil Batra / Web Analysis, Behavioral Targeting …: Move over Google Analytics here comes Yahoo Analytics
David A. Utter / WebProNews: Yahoo Frees IndexTools Analytics
Eric Enge / Search Engine Watch Blog: IndexTools is Made Free by Yahoo


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Lytro is on a roll. After launching manual controls just last month, the company today release a real treat. The Lytro desktop software just received an update that brings two new features into the mix: perspective shift, which slightly adjusts the perspective of the camera after the picture's been taken, and living filters. Best of all, these new features work with previously taken Lytro photos.
And just when you had finally wrapped your head around a picture changing focus after it's been taken…
In case you're late to the game, Lytro launched a brand new type of camera which captures an entire light field, rather than one plane of light, allowing for interactive images which can change focus with a single click.
This was magical enough in itself, but the company promised that with this disruptive technology would come even more creative benefits: changing focus was just the beginning.
Today, the company delivers on that promise with not one, but two, new features.
The first is shifting perspective, and it's certainly the most important. One of the main reasons our eyes sense a third dimension besides length and width is the fact that we're always moving slightly. These slight movements communicate with our brain to mark that the computer is closer than the coffee table is closer than the tv is closer than the wall.
It's basic stuff, to the point where it's so obvious you'd never think about it on your own, but Lytro has found a way to integrate it into its software. This means users can not only change focus of the photo, but swivel it around to check out the perspective.
All you do is hold click and move around within the frame. On the iPad, the experience is even better, as Lytro has used the gyrometer to control the perspective shift based on which way you tilt the device. It's only a slight shift in perspective, the same shifts you make standing, walking, or looking around a room, but it's a fundamental part of establishing distance and depth.
This is possible on exsiting photos thanks to the sheer amount of data embedded in each photo taken by a Lytro. There's enough data for the company to keep building features for a long while on the software side, and they prove with this update.
The second new feature is called Living Filters, and it's essentially adding photo filters but on steroids.
For example, Black and White is actually called "Film Noir" and it leaves just the slightest bit of color in a photograph. It's with this color that you know the girl on the left is a red head and the girl on the right is a brunette.
Other filters like Carnival (think fun house mirror) and Line Art (which is like a cartoon drawing) are more on the fun side, while Crayon (for example) brings a professional grade quality to photos by letting you choose which parts of the photo are in color and which fade to black and white.
What's important is that no matter the filter, all the images maintain the same interactivity.
To meet demand, Lytro amped up distribution in a huge way. The company's previous backlog of orders has been fulfilled entirely, so if you order a Lytro today on Amazon, it would arrive tomorrow — something the company couldn't previously state.
The update is available for all Lytro users in the desktop software, but once you've enabled the update and opted in to perspective shift for your library (which is undoable), all photos you've taken (even existing photos you took months away) will be enabled for perspective shift whether you're in the software, on the web, or in a Facebook newsfeed.


text:
A now-defunct National Security Agency (NSA) bulk collection program that collected information about online communications exceeded its authority, collected too much, and shared that information too freely, recently declassified court documents show.
The program collected, according to the official IC On The Record Tumblr page, "certain electronic communications metadata such as the 'to,' 'from,' and 'cc' lines of an email and the email's time and date." The compliance issues detailed below are generally self-reported, and thus cannot be treated as the full extent of the NSA's overreaches of its authority during the life of the particular program.
The government, the document indicates, "acknowledges that NSA exceeded the scope of authorized acquisition continuously during the more than [redacted] years of acquisition under [the] orders."
According to the document, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC, which in this post is referred to as the FISA court) authorized the NSA to "engage in the bulk acquisition of specified categories of metadata about Internet communications." Queries were to be executed through the use of "seed" accounts, which the material defines as "Internet accounts for which there was a reasonable articulable suspicion ('RAS') that they were associated with a targeted international terrorist group."
For United States persons, the FISA court document notes that RAS "could not be based solely on activities protected by the First Amendment."
The document also notes that the "NSA could disseminate U.S. person information to other agencies only upon determination by a designated NSA official that it is related to counterterrorism and is necessary to understand the counterterrorism information or to asses its importance."
Why did the NSA need to collect so much information? The document is at times heavily redacted, and so the reasoning here is choppy. The below screenshot contains the section that details the argument for the bulk collection in question:
An initial episode of unauthorized collection — filed as a Notice of Compliance Incidents — stemmed from what the government described as a lack of knowledge among NSA employees who then miscommunicated with [redacted] parties, whom I suppose to be contractors.
The court asked the government if information other than metadata had been collected. It was told that no other types of information had been. The document dryly notes that "this assurance turned out to be untrue."
In what appears to be a later incident — all numerical dates are redacted in the document — a "typographical error" also led to "unauthorized collection."
Threes' Company
In the language of the document, the "next relevant compliance problems surfaced in [redacted] year" and touched on "accessing metadata," the "disclosure of query results and information derived therefrom" and "overcollection." In short, three separate ways that the NSA managed to exceed its authority in its operation of the program.
After the government disclosed that the "NSA had regularly accessed the bulk telephone metadata using a form of automated querying based on phone numbers that had not been approved under the RAS standard," the FISA court "ordered the government to verify that access to the bulk [Internet] metadata complied with comparable restrictions." In short, because the government had overstepped in a similar program, it was pressed to show that with the Internet communications metadata, it had not.
The government came back and said that a "discontinued" query practice that did not square with the RAS system had existed. The NSA promised to go through its Internet communications metadata program to stiffen compliance. A bit late, perhaps.
Continuing the year's compliance issues, NSA analysts who "were not authorized to access" the Internet communications metadata "directly nonetheless received unminimized query results," according to the court.
The NSA also admitted to "placing [query] results into a database accessible by other agencies' personnel without the determination, required for any U.S. person information, that it related to counterterrorism information and was necessary to understand the counterterrorism information or assess its importance," another breaking of the rules.
The NSA, according to the court, also "made it a general practice to disseminate to other agencies NSA intelligence reports containing U.S. person information extracted from the [Internet] metadata program without obtaining the required determination." So, the NSA was more than willing to share information about U.S. citizens with other agencies, not in keeping with the rules set down to government the program that collected the data, or its sharing.
According to the FISA court, the government "simply ignored" the dissemination rules in place.
And finally, regarding overcollection, the government filed "yet another form of substantial non-compliance " relating to the collection of "information beyond the [redacted] authorized categories." Apart from the other types of data that were collected, the government said that "[v]irtually ever [Internet] metadata record" that was collected — and here now according to the court — "included some data that had not been authorized for collection."
The FISA court document deadpans that the "government […] provided no comprehensive explanation of how so substantial an overcollection occurred." The document also says that the government [said] nothing about how the systemic overcollection was permitted to continue." Or, put another way, the government didn't break down how it managed to get it so wrong, for so long.
Citing the massive failure of the NSA to stay within its lanes, the court determines that "those responsible for conducting oversight at the NSA failed to do so effectively."
Call it the understatement of the year.
In short, the NSA was given the capability to collect bulk Internet communications metadata, subject to restrictions on who could access the data, how it could be shared, and precisely what sort of information could be acquired.
In each case it broke the rules, collecting too much, allowing unauthorized parties to search the pooled data, and sharing it too broadly without adequate protections.


text:
Will new talks between Sudan and South Sudan end oil dispute?
In January, South Sudan cut off oil production, accusing its northern neighbor of stealing its oil. Now the African Union is aiming to settle things down.
Here's how the Sudan peace plan of 2005 was supposed to work: After 22 years of civil war, South Sudan would try to coexist with the Sudanese government in Khartoum, and if that didn't work out, they could secede and form their own country. The South would pump oil, the North would pipe it out to Western markets for a fee, and everyone would be happy.
Here's what happened: South Sudan and Khartoum didn't get along, South Sudan seceded in July 2011, and the two countries have been fighting, rhetorically and militarily through proxies, ever since.
Now, tensions are bringing the two countries perilously close to war. In the northern states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile, rebels once allied with the South have been waging a guerrilla war against Khartoum, and Khartoum has responded with carpet bombing of civilian areas. Ethnic rivalries in the South Sudan states of Jonglei and Unity have broken out into fighting, and tens of thousands have been displaced. The South reports that northern MiG jet fighters have bombed oil fields this past weekend, and refugee camps in the South. In January, South Sudan accused Khartoum of siphoning off Southern oil for its own refineries, and has shut off oil production, pushing both economies to the brink of collapse.
Peace efforts by former South African President Thabo Mbeki attempted to bring both sides back to the negotiation table in January during the African Union's summit meeting in Addis Ababa, to no avail. But a fresh round of talks over oil pipeline fees, starting Tuesday in Addis Ababa, give the two sides a chance to pull themselves back from the brink.
Amb. Princeton Lyman, the US government's special envoy to Sudan, told reporters in a Jan. 25 telephone conference call that the situation between the two Sudans is serious, but that war is not inevitable.
"I don't think either Sudan or South Sudan wants or intends to go back to full-scale war," Ambassador Lyman said in the Jan. 25 conference call. "The relationship is bad. So there is a danger that things could get out of control, that incidents could lead to greater conflict. That's why these issues are so terribly important, not only in and of themselves but to prevent exactly what you're talking about. But I think both sides recognize that going back to full-scale war would be disastrous."
In theory, these two countries should be eager to return to the negotiation table out of sheer self-interest. South Sudan ended up receiving about 75 percent of all oil-production after secession, making it a potentially very rich country. This is good news, because South Sudan will need a lot of money to rebuild its country after 22 years of civil war. But South Sudan is a land-locked country, and the only pipelines that can currently take its oil out to foreign markets run through northern Sudan.
Khartoum, for its part, desperately needs transit fees from all that southern oil to help keep its own economy going, and to pay for the enormous government bureaucracy that it has built up to govern what was once the largest country in Africa. Diplomatically, it needs to resolve its conflicts with South Sudan and with its western Darfur region in order to have a hope of restoring relations with the international community. Heavy economic sanctions against Khartoum's leaders – imposed both for allegations of Sudan's support for terror groups and also charges of war crimes and genocide in the Darfur dispute – have prevented Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir from accessing foreign investment.
But sometimes countries don't do what is in their long-term self-interest. And while the US and the African Union are struggling to prevent a full-scale war, it doesn't take full-scale war to create a full-scale humanitarian disaster.
Presently, more than half a million civilians in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states are displaced and lacking access to food. The Famine Early Warning System (FEWS-NET) has warned that famine is possible if emergency measures aren't taken to provide food assistance to the displaced, but Khartoum has denied international aid groups access into South Kordofan and Blue Nile, saying they are internal matters.
Aside from those displaced from borderland conflict zones, there are an additional 700,000 South Sudanese living within northern Sudan, and the International Organization for Migration says it is struggling to help those who want to repatriate down south before Khartoum's deadline of April 9.
Dividing Sudan into two countries was always going to be difficult. The 2005 Sudan Peace Accords, signed in Naivasha, Kenya, anticipated several potential problems and offered creative solutions. But as the Monitor reported in June 2011, "public consultations" that were intended to give Sudanese citizens a voice about their future in the disputed borderline states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile were never held. Some members of the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement, allied with the South Sudan government, saw the consultations as a mini-referendum for possible secession. Armed conflict broke out before a vote was taken.
Khartoum, which has just completed talks with Mr. Lyman on a recent visit, says it will continue to study the African Union's suggested mediation plan. But the ruling party in Khartoum, the National Congress Party, dismissed any diplomatic intervention by the United States.
"We don't trust them and their positions," said NPC officer for mobilization Haj Majid Suwar said in press statements on Sunday. The US "promised prior to the signing of Naivasha agreement (the 2005 peace accords) to remove Sudan's name from terror list and cancelling sanctions on it but has not delivered and repeated the same behavior in Abuja agreement and backed down on its obligations."


text:
Read the full story here Web Link posted Monday, December 3, 2012, 11:18 AM
Town Square
High court takes no action on Proposition 8
Original post made on Dec 4, 2012
Read the full story here Web Link posted Monday, December 3, 2012, 11:18 AM
Comments (30)
a resident of Danville
on Dec 4, 2012 at 6:37 am
Who cares if gay folk want the same rights as straight people? I do as I see no reason why this should not be the law of the land if the law is to protect all people. I can see nothing but a right wing myopic attitude on this. This will harm no one's religion or church, it will not impact marriage between a man and a women so who cares? Anyone opposed to this has some sort of quirky hidden agenda. If you bring the Bible into this then you have violated your own premise of keeping a separation of church and state. Those opposed to gay marriage don't have much of an argument.
a resident of Alamo
on Dec 4, 2012 at 7:41 am
Bill, I am right wing and support gay marriage. Watch those generalizations....
a resident of Danville
on Dec 4, 2012 at 9:55 am
So I'm curious and welcome responses...
Where do we see this ending? There is a lawsuit going on in Utah to allow polygamy again. Personally I don't see a problem with multiple spouses (harems anyone?) but I think that will be next. Then come the more radical issues. It wasn't that long ago that young women were promised to older men. If we allow someone to marry someone else of their choice, and if all parties are okay with it, what about a 13 year old young girl or boy being allowed to marry an older adult male (or female)? and then of course what about the pedofiles? Surely we can't keep an adult female or male from carrying on a relationship and marrying a young person - we'd be violating their rights - wouldn't we? After all it hasn't been many years since the last anti-sodomy laws were removed from the law books. Can anyone say that 20 years ago they saw anti-discrimination laws on the books for people who wanted to cross dress and ultimately change their sexual preferences (physically and/or mentally)? Perhaps those who shout down, harass and name call the anti-gay marriage supporters should now focus their sights on the anti-pedofilers and anti-polygamists. And let's not forget all of those animal lovers out there who leave their fortunes to their pets when they die. Some prefer their pets to their friends and might consider wanting to "marry" their pets. Why would you say no to that? One might consider you a discriminating person if you did - denying someone the basic right to their pursuit of happiness. Just saying that this might someday, maybe not for a couple or more decades, become a VERY slippery slope...
a resident of Danville
on Dec 4, 2012 at 10:56 am
If you have any experience with polygamy, you have to know the pain and suffering it causes family. I have a great grandmother who along with her sister were married to the same man in polygamy. I have the formal photo of them. My grandmother suffered enormously in this family situation. There were 16 children. To think of the possibility of polygamy becoming legal is horrifying. Please don't even try to dismiss this possibility!!! It has already happened in America. I don't care about the consenting adults. I do care about the children they bring prolifically into this world. I do care about the women who are "culted" into this lifestyle and spend a lifetime of subservient treatment. Fewer and fewer families even reflect marriage between one man and one woman with the divorce rates and adultery becoming the standard, young people (mostly women) not even wanting to be married. The laws already make raising a child alone financially advantageous. Let consenting adults sign legal contracts to protect their rights but leave marriage alone. If you are one of the rare ones who comes from a family with a loving mother and father who stick together and raise their children with love, respect and dignity, you are lucky. I was lucky. I see the shattered lives of young people who juggle holidays with multiple parents and demands, who have suffered through their parents bad behavior and have so little to look at as a good example. This is becoming the norm for our society. Do you think that is good for children? Why don't we all put our efforts into improving the lives of our children and grandchildren and society? Why don't we quit being so self centered and think about the type of world we're leaving for our heirs?
a resident of Danville
on Dec 4, 2012 at 12:07 pm
The issue here is the use of the word "marriage". When I got married, it was understood that a man could only marry a woman. Redfine the word, and now I have to define "which" type of marriage I have. Why do I need to tell people about my sexuality? Do they care? I am now being "outed".
More important than the definition of a word is the issue of giving gay couples, bound by a civil union, the same rights as married couples. This is the piece of the law that we need to address. Gay couples can already adopt children and have other similar rights, but they do not enjoy all of the benefits which are available to married couples. Let's make the same rights available to ALL legally-bound couples, but don't do it by redefining a word that has meant one thing for centuries. Let's call it a civil union, an institution sanctioned and recognized by government, and then get on with making sure that all people who have made a commitment to each other have access to the same rights.
a resident of Alamo
on Dec 4, 2012 at 12:31 pm
Bill is right on. The rest use that old "slippery slope" argument that has been used over the years to deny both ethnic and religious groups their rights.
a resident of Danville
on Dec 4, 2012 at 3:46 pm
Age of consent curious George. Age of consent.
Now where kin I git me one of dem harems?
a resident of Danville
on Dec 4, 2012 at 4:43 pm
Homosexuals should have the governmental right to engage in sodomy, if they wish, but to call it marriage would expanding the definition of "marriage" improperly. My opinion.
a resident of Danville
on Dec 4, 2012 at 10:27 pm
Common: anyone who has been married is aware that the human intimacy of that relationship far transcends sex or sexuality. Why do you so crudely focus on those particular rituals, which are available to all, and practiced by many, regardless of their commitment to each other, or their sexual orientation?
Kindly quit fixating on the prurient, and understand the pain. And the injustice. Thanks.
a resident of Danville
on Dec 5, 2012 at 8:29 am
max paine, you just don't get it. It's offensive to take a word that has historically been used to signify union between man and woman. Additionally, a man and woman are the only union that, unassisted, can create new human life. Can't you just leave the word alone out of respect for that God-given miracle? Or must you insist on equality at all costs?
People like you are so close-minded that it becomes ridiculous at times. get over yourself.
a resident of Danville
on Dec 5, 2012 at 9:29 am
1 -- Assuming your "history" is correct (which it isn't), why is that history more important than current legal rights denied to a significant part of our population? And why, oh why, is it "offensive" to you that gay Americans demand full and equal rights? Does that diminish Your rights? If so, How?
2 -- If the purpose of marriage is reproduction, then why allow sterile people to marry? Oldsters? Folks who just don't like kids? Make 'em second-class civil unions and pretend you've been "tolerant."
No, I cannot leave "that word" alone, precisely because of all it connotes in this society. The CA Supreme Court recognized that when it noted that civil unions connote second class status in a culture that reveres the institution of marriage as the fundamental family unit. Have you Ever seen a heterosexual couple opt for a civil union instead of a marriage? Does it occur to you that they don't because it just isn't as good?
You accuse me of "close-minded"-ness, but there's only one of us who refuses to consider something new or different, or understand why it's important -- here's a hint: it's not me.
a resident of Danville
on Dec 5, 2012 at 11:22 am
What does marriage mean? It is different in every state etc. When I married at age 24, I did not sign anything that informed me of all the laws that would be applied to me as a result that step in my life. What if there is a divorce, what if, what if, what if. It IS already a civil union dictated by the changing laws of the place you live. I think a contract should be signed by both parties in a relationship, whether it's heterosexual or homosexual outlining the legalities of THEIR relationship or union so you know the rules up front and politicians & courts should not be allowed to change those rules that can be applied retroactively or negated in other localities. I don't understand why "gay" couples want the present arrangement of marriage. It's married people who should have demanded a clarification of the meaning of "marriage" at the time of the event. If you're so caught up in the moment that you don't take time to consider how it will affect your whole life, you shouldn't get married. Let's work on providing a civil union for all couples and then if they want to get married with family and religious services, it should not be a legal event. Let's get the lawyers out of our pockets. BTW, I have been married for many years, never divorced but have plenty of people in my life that have gone through horrific divorces, child custody contentious legal hassles etc. they never thought they would have to face.
a resident of Alamo
on Dec 5, 2012 at 11:47 am
Marry to love. Do not marry simply to procreate. The fact that a man and a woman can procreate does not make their marriage natural. Rather, it is their love for each other that makes their marriage natural. A marriage between any two people is natural if they love each other. Love is a God-given miracle that knows no sex, no gender, and no boundary. Same-sex marriage will be legalized in the United States; it has already begun.
a resident of Danville
on Dec 5, 2012 at 12:29 pm
Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve.. Born a man be a man.
a resident of Danville
on Dec 5, 2012 at 1:45 pm
max paine - there you go again. Who said the purpose of marriage is to procreate? Not me, you'll need to (as usual) read it again. Open your closed mind. you suggest trying something new. Why should I? What right do you have to impose your idea, that I disagree with, on society? You're right, absolutely none. Same sex "union" is not a marriage, and never will be, in many peoples' minds, and you can't force it. You're not omnipotent with your stupid little laws.
Over and out.
a resident of Danville
on Dec 5, 2012 at 3:29 pm
I thought that was you. True colors coming out, and they are dark, indeed.
For the record, I do not care about your beliefs, however cruel or small they may be, as long as they are privately held. The problem here is that the "stupid little law" in the form of Prop 8 currently conforms to those beliefs, and so denies others their fundamental civil rights under the 14th Amendment.
Do you know what the most striking thing was about the Prop 8 trial? It was how little the defenders had to go on, in terms of support for their "beliefs." Even their so-called expert witness recanted his prior statements, when it came to having to make them under oath. It became utterly obvious that Prop 8 was simply motivated by fear of difference, and anti-gay animus -- and one of the clearest things in American law is that edicts like that eventually fail, under scrutiny of the Constitution.
Kind of like the way you make statements about how "offensive" you believe same-sex marriage is. You need more than those tender sensibilities to support a decree that withholds fundamental rights from those who deserve them as Americans. You're a dinosaur -- apparently a deeply committed dinosaur, but a doomed reptile nonetheless -- and you can ride your "beliefs" straight to extinction.
Good riddance.
a resident of Vista Grande Elementary School
on Dec 5, 2012 at 8:01 pm
Live and let live, folks...homophobia is a thing of the past. Those of you who invest time in hating are in need of moving on. Simply put. If you are educated you remember history tells us at one point catholics could not marry protestants and blacks could not marry whites. As Clint Eastwood said on this issue...."just leave me alone"....stop trying to tell us what is right or wrong based on your view. I am straight so do not have a dog in this fight other than an interest in social justice. I know some say this will enable the Mormons to revert to Polygamy as some of them wish but I say SO WHAT? Let the do what was a fundamental tenet of their founding. I could care less if that is their predeliction.
Live and let live....gay or straight. Get married and stay together as that has proven to be the most stable and productive framework.
a resident of Danville
on Dec 7, 2012 at 8:59 am
let em get married! More tax revenues ("marriage penalty") - bout time they paid their way!
a resident of Blackhawk
on Dec 7, 2012 at 1:37 pm
Gay rights, immigration reform, women's rights .. all these will advance, people have spoken on 11/6 and America wants a progressive, inclusive path forward.
a resident of Danville
on Dec 7, 2012 at 2:43 pm
I am happy tht danvil is so progressiv. I live as a gypsy in dville usualy under the brige and use the libary to internet and wash myself inthe bathrum. I hope since obmaa was elected that we are all treated equl to one anothur. i heard section 8 houses go up near el pntado and el serro so i hope to move there soon. my partnr and i liv together so i hope im naybors with you all soon. we shud all be equl, no matr where we com from.
a resident of Danville
on Dec 7, 2012 at 6:03 pm
Someone let an adolescent with a decent grasp of subject-verb agreement onto the web without appropriate supervision?
Note to hopelessinDville, just misspelling words does not mask your underlying education. However, your misguided use of your time may be an indication of insufficient parental oversight.
a resident of Danville
on Dec 7, 2012 at 6:24 pm
u dont know me mr dogood i have mor tym than you mayb y do you post?
why do u critesize somebody not so smart as you? we are all equl.
a resident of Danville
on Dec 7, 2012 at 9:11 pm
Library still open?
a resident of Diablo
on Dec 7, 2012 at 11:29 pm
a resident of Danville
on Dec 8, 2012 at 9:21 am
Even though Citizen Paine has the governmental right to engage in sodomy, he still is not completely happy, and continues to whine.
a resident of Danville
on Dec 8, 2012 at 10:34 am
And Common, so do You have that right. Since you are repeating your earlier post, we'll have to assume that's all you've got -- an adolescent-stage reference to an irrelevant set of sexual practices that are open to everybody, but that you may find icky. The irony is that for all your pubescent arrested development, You have the right to marry in this state.
Kindly return to the kids' table. You and Homeless have a lot in, uh, common.
a resident of Danville
on Dec 8, 2012 at 6:30 pm
no libary is not open. my partner has smart fone ur r rel smart arent u?
I hope i can mov next to u wit my gay partnr. u OK wit that?
a resident of Danville
on Dec 8, 2012 at 8:42 pm
HopelessDville, it is the decree of our land that "...with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Go find your happiness. It is your right. I could careless where you homestead.
a resident of Danville
on Dec 8, 2012 at 9:53 pm
I supported Prop 8. I do not believe in Homosexual marriage, Polygamy or Incest. I'm weary of the "we just want the rights everyone else has". Well let's just make it fair for everyone. Polygamists who are consenting adults who just want to be able to have the rights of marriage, no matter how many spouses. And what about incestious adults who can even ensure they will not procreate and compound genetic problems for offspring. After all brother and sister, or parent and child would want to have the right to marry if they so desire. Where does it stop? The answer in the State of California was the passage of Prop 8. Time will tell the rest.
a resident of Danville
on Dec 9, 2012 at 9:14 am
To imply the allowing of same gender couples who are in a committed relationship to marry is a slippery slope toward parents marrying their offspring is absurd. One could certainly back up and say "if opposite gender couples were allowed this marriage thing, then the door is open to same gender couples...then parents can marry their kids, etc."
With Proposition 8 being put to popular vote, we allowed a majority to affect the rights of a minority. When we have a majority who dwell on a sexual act that they deem "perverse" rather than recognizing a committed relationship, and who goes on to believe that we all choose our orientation though I doubt they remember choosing (I sure as heck don't) then we have a civil rights issue.
I can't imagine how same gender couples who are in a loving, committed relationship being given the right to marry somehow downgrades that union for the rest of us. Maybe we can get our minds out of each other's bedrooms and look at the commitment between consenting adults as the basis for whether marriage should be an option.
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text:
Sharpened Spikes?
Linebacker eager to help the Patriots in playoffs
FOXBOROUGH - Brandon Spikes has been elusive in his Patriots career - on the field, in the locker room, as a contributor to a defense that is sorely in need of some consistency and help. He showed up yesterday, though, perhaps the prelude to a playoff run in which he might just make up for his spotty appearances, the result of multiple injuries and a suspension at the end of his rookie year.
He indicated as much yesterday on his Twitter feed - an outlet that has occasionally come into question for the second-year linebacker - saying, "Finally talked to the media today.''
Next step? Making his mark in the postseason, after two years in which he has yet to play up to his own expectations.
"I feel like I was just OK,'' Spikes said of his first two years in the NFL. "Me, personally, I always want to just 'ball out' - that's the word I use for it, just 'balling.' Obviously, this is the NFL and there's going to be some ups and downs, but I just feel like I haven't played my best game yet. I'm just striving to do that.''
Why hasn't he been able to put it all together?
"I don't know,'' Spikes said. "That's a good question.
"When I get the opportunity, they call my name, I'm going in the game and I feel like I'm going to make plays. I always look at the game, since I was 4 years old, the same way - I just feel like I haven't played my best game yet.''
Spikes played in only eight games this season, the result of a sprained medial collateral ligament suffered Nov. 6 against the Giants. He missed the next seven, returning to the field against Buffalo, the final game of the season.
"It was tough,'' Spikes said. "It was my first time really ever, my first injury ever in my life, and it was totally different. But with my teammates' help, guys just motivating me, always on my back just trying to get me back out there, it kind of made it easier.
"It hurt me just to see them playing every Sunday and I couldn't be out there.''
It was frustrating for him, of course, especially after he missed time in the preseason because of an ankle issue. He hadn't ended his rookie season the way he wanted, hadn't started his second year the way he wanted, wasn't finishing the 2011 season the way he wanted. And, still, he said, "I just think everything happens for a reason.''
He's back now, in time for the postseason, though he will have to integrate himself into a defense that has struggled with missing personnel all season. Safety Patrick Chung and Spikes (among others) have sat out significant portions of the second half.
"Whenever a player comes back in, there's always an adjustment period,'' said coach Bill Belichick. "That's true of every player. I don't think it's any different for him than it would be for anybody else.
"He has two years of experience. He's a physical inside linebacker that's been a productive guy for us. The more players we have that can contribute, the better. He's one of them.''
As fellow linebacker Jerod Mayo pointed out, Spikes has been in meetings. He has been with the team. He "hasn't missed a beat.''
The question is whether he can demonstrate that on the field in the playoffs.
Spikes seems confident that, despite the ups and downs his career has taken, he can make it all work. He believes he has returned to health, can get back on the field, can contribute, can make his play what he wants it to be.
"I think the sky's the limit,'' Spikes said. "I'm just getting started. I just feel like there's a lot of things I can do. I'm young. I'm still learning the game. I'm trying to be a professional.
"It's a lot different from when I was in college and I could freelance and still make plays. Here, you've got to take a professional approach and be accountable and be there for the team.
"That's what I'm trying to do now, basically. I went through a lot of stuff. But everything happens for a reason. It's just made me a better man and a better player.''
It felt good to be back on the field, he said. Good to be running around. Good to be making plays. Good to not be on the sideline watching his teammates play game after game without him.
A few other teammates - including tight end Aaron Hernandez and Mayo - also suffered MCL injuries this season, but they didn't miss nearly as much time as Spikes. Asked about that, Spikes said, "Everybody's different. Me, it was my first injury, so I was just doing everything I could to get back.
"I knew I was going to be ready for the playoffs. I was just going to make sure that I wouldn't go out and do something to not be able to help this team out there when it really counts.''
That's now. It's time for Spikes.
"Brandon brings that mentality, just being a physical player,'' Mayo said. "He's always a downhill linebacker. It's always good to have him out there.
"But at the same time, guys like Dane [Fletcher] and Gary [Guyton], those guys have done an excellent job with that next-man-up mentality. But it's always good to get Spikes back out there.''
During this bye week, Spikes will continue to make sure that his knee is improving, continue to work out, catch a little football. He'll ready himself, perhaps for that first truly great game as a member of the Patriots.
"It'll give me time to get in the books and go back and look at games I've missed, just try to critique my game and make sure I'm on top of it next time,'' said Spikes, who will be wearing a knee brace in the upcoming game.
He knows he's already dealt with quite a bit in his first two seasons, has had to get through injuries and questions and controversy. He knows that won't be all.
"There's going to be more things,'' Spikes said. "I was just raised when something happens, you get knocked down, you get up, just keep going. Can't look back.''
Amalie Benjamin can be reached at email@example.com. Follow her on Twitter @amaliebenjamin.


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Greenland fallout: Trump scolds Denmark over rejection
Copenhaen, Denmark – Escalating an international spat , President Donald Trump said Wednesday he scrapped his trip to Denmark because the prime minister made a "nasty" statement when she rejected his idea to buy Greenland as an absurdity.
"You don't talk to the United States that way, at least under me," Trump told reporters in Washington. "I thought it was not a nice statement, the way she blew me off."
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called the whole thing "an absurd discussion" and said she was "disappointed and surprised" that Trump had canceled his visit.
Trump said Frederiksen's comment labeling his idea as absurd "was nasty. I thought it was an inappropriate statement. All she had to say was say, 'No, we wouldn't be interested.'"
Greenland is a semi-autonomous territory of the U.S. ally, and Frederiksen said the U.S. remains one of Denmark's close allies.
The political brouhaha over the world's largest island comes from its strategic location in the Arctic. Global warming is making Greenland more accessible to potential oil and mineral resources. Russia, China, the U.S., Canada and other countries are racing to stake as strong a claim as they can to Arctic lands, hoping they will yield future riches.
Trump was scheduled to visit Denmark on Sept. 2-3 as part of a European tour. But early Wednesday, he tweeted his decision to indefinitely postpone the trip. The move stunned Danes and blindsided the Danish royal palace. Spokeswoman Lene Balleby told The Associated Press that it came as "a surprise" to the royal household, which had formally invited Trump.
The U.S. State Department said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke Wednesday with his Danish counterpart and "expressed appreciation for Denmark's cooperation as one of the United States' allies and Denmark's contributions to address shared global security priorities."
Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said Pompeo and Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs Jeppe Kofod "also discussed strengthening cooperation with the Kingdom of Denmark - including Greenland - in the Arctic."
On Tuesday, Trump tweeted, "Denmark is a very special country with incredible people, but based on Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's comments, that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland, I will be postponing our meeting scheduled in two weeks for another time."
The vast island of Greenland sits between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans, has a population of 56,000 and has 80% of its land mass covered by a 1.7 million-square-kilometer (660,000 square-mile) ice sheet.
For all of Greenland's appeal, scientists consider it the canary in the coal mine for climate change and say its massive ice sheet has seen one of its biggest melts on record this summer, contributing to a global rise in sea levels.
Frederiksen said she is standing behind the government of Greenland.
"A discussion about a potential sale of Greenland has been put forward. It has been rejected by Greenland Premier Kim Kielsen and I fully stand behind that rejection," she told reporters in Copenhagen.
Frederiksen, who took office two months ago in a minority Social Democratic government, went on to say that diplomatic relations between Copenhagen and Washington "are not in any crisis in my opinion" despite Trump's canceled plans.
"The invitation for a stronger strategic cooperation with the Americans in the Arctic is still open," Frederiksen said, adding "the United States is one of our closest allies."
Others in Denmark were not as gracious.
Martin Lidegaard, a former Danish foreign minister, told broadcaster TV2 that it was "a diplomatic farce" and Trump's behavior was "grotesque."
Trump's cancellation was "deeply insulting to the people of Greenland and Denmark," former Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt wrote on Twitter.
Claus Oxfeldt, chairman of Denmark's main police union, told Danish media that authorities had been busy planning the third visit by a sitting U.S. president to the Scandinavian NATO member. "It has created great frustrations to have spent so much time preparing for a visit that is canceled," Oxfeldt was quoted as saying.
Ordinary Danes shook their heads at the news, with many calling Trump immature.
"He thinks he can just buy Greenland. He acts like an elephant in a china shop," said Pernille Iversen, a 41-year-old shopkeeper in Copenhagen.
"This is an insult to (Queen) Margrethe, to Denmark," said Steen Gade, a 55-year-old road worker.
In Greenland, Johannes Kyed, an employee with a mine company, told Denmark's TV2 channel that wanting to buy a country and its people is a relic of the past.
"This is not the way the world works today," Kyed said.
The U.S. ambassador to Denmark, Carla Sands, was apparently not informed of Trump's decision ahead of time.
Shortly before Trump canceled the trip on Twitter, she sent a tweet saying "Denmark is ready for POTUS," using an acronym for "President of the United States" along with Trump's Twitter handle and a photo from Copenhagen's City Hall square, where a Dane had paid for two pro-Trump ads on giant electronic screens.
Trump said Sunday he was interested in buying Greenland for strategic purposes, but said a purchase was not a priority for his government at this time. Both Frederiksen and Greenland leader Kielsen responded that Greenland is not for sale.
"The Prime Minister was able to save a great deal of expense and effort for both the United States and Denmark by being so direct," Trump said in the tweet Wednesday. "I thank her for that and look forward to rescheduling sometime in the future!"
Trump is still expected to visit nearby Poland beginning Aug. 31.
Retreating ice could uncover potential oil and mineral resources in Greenland which, if successfully tapped, could dramatically change the island's fortunes. However, no oil has yet been found in Greenlandic waters and the thickness of the ice means exploration is only possible in coastal regions.
Even then, conditions are far from ideal, due to Greenland's long winters with frozen ports, 24-hour darkness and temperatures that regularly drop below minus 30 degrees Celsius (minus 22 Fahrenheit) in the island's northern regions.
American leaders have tried to buy Greenland before. In 1946, the U.S. proposed paying Denmark $100 million to buy Greenland after flirting with the idea of swapping land in Alaska for strategic parts of the Arctic island.
Under a 1951 deal, Denmark allowed the U.S. to build bases and radar stations on Greenland.
The U.S. Air Force currently maintains one base in northern Greenland, Thule Air Force Base, 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) south of the North Pole. Former military airfields in Narsarsuaq, Kulusuk and Kangerlussuaq have become civilian airports.
The Thule base, constructed in 1952, was originally designed as a refueling base for long-range bombing missions. Since 1961, it has been a ballistic missile early warning and space surveillance site.
Darlene Superville in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.


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[Updated at 3:12 p.m.] The gunman in Thursday's Johns Hopkins shooting - identified as Warren Davis, 50 - shot himself and his mother, who was being treated at the hospital, Baltimore's police commissioner said.
Davis was standing outside room 873 in the Nelson building, where he was being briefed by a doctor about the condition of his mother, Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld said.
"Mr. Davis was receiving some news about the care and condition of his mother just outside the doorway to that room when he became emotionally distraught," the commissioner said.
During the conversation, Davis pulled a small, semiautomatic gun from his waistband and shot the doctor once in the lower chest/upper abdomen, he said.
Within minutes, a tactical team later entered the hospital and found Davis dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His mother had also been killed, Bealefeld said.
[Updated 2:33 p.m.] Baltimore police now say the incident at Johns Hopkins Hospital is a murder-suicide.
The gunman, who shot a doctor in the abdomen, killed himself as well as someone else. It was unclear who else was killed, but sources say the wounded doctor is expected to recover.
Some media outlets, including The Baltimore Sun, are saying that the gunman shot his mother, who was being treated at the hospital.
[Updated 2:23 p.m.] There are now conflicting reports on how the shooter at Johns Hopkins Hospital died.
Some media outlets are reporting the gunmen shot himself, but CNN has not been able to confirm the reports. Police earlier told CNN that police shot the gunman.
[Updated 2:04 p.m.] Minutes after police announced the shooter at Johns Hopkins Hospital was killed by a tactical team, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said, "The situation is resolved."
SWAT team members leaving the scene told CNN the same.
The situation has now moved from a tactical operation to a crime scene, Guglielmi said.
[Updated at 1:56 p.m.] Employees at the scene of the hospital shooting tell CNN affiliate WBAL that the shooter was unhappy with how his mother was being treated and that the wounded doctor was shot during surgery.
A reporter for The Baltimore Sun told CNN earlier that he had heard similar information from his sources.
One employee, Cynell Robertson, told WBAL that the moments after the doctor was shot were frightening.
"My boss came running in to tell me to stay put where I'm at, there's a guy running around with a gun and we didn't know what he's going to do,"she told WBAL.
Police have said the shooter was killed by police, but no further information was immediately available.
[Updated at 1:51 p.m.] Police say the suspect in the Johns Hopkins Hospital shooting is dead. He was shot by police, authorities said.
[Updated at 1:40 p.m.] Baltimore police say the situation at Johns Hopkins Hospital is contained, but "we're still trying to gain control of the suspect."
Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi described the suspect only as an African-American male in his 30s. He further said police have heard reports the shooter is in a room, barricaded with a family member.
Guglielmi refrained from providing information on the shooter's location because there are televisions throughout the hospital.
He said there was no risk to the general public or patients and that the FBI is on standby. He wouldn't discuss whether police were in contact with the shooter.
As for the injured doctor, Guglielmi said he suffered abdominal injuries.
"He's in surgery as we speak, but he is going to be OK," he said.
[Updated at 1:14 p.m.] Criminal profiler Pat Brown tells CNN she believes the incident at Johns Hopkins could end "better than most situations" because the shooter does not appear to be a mass murderer.
The shooter may even realize he's made a huge mistake, and he might be scared because he knows he's trapped, Brown said.
A hospital employee, who said she left the hospital shortly before noon, told CNN affiliate WBAL that her shift isn't over for several hours. She has not been told to go home and she has not been able to return to work, she said.
"I really am scared," she told the station.
[Updated at 1:03 p.m.] A statement from Johns Hopkins Hospital says the doctor who was shot is a "faculty physician" and that confidentiality policies prohibit the hospital from releasing more information.
[Updated at 12:42 p.m.] Police say they know where the Johns Hopkins suspect is and have him cornered.
However, said police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi, there is no information on whether the shooter has hostages.
Guglielmi said tactical units are on the scene, but the emergency room remains open and the incident is contained to one floor.
He further said he has learned that the doctor's condition has been upgraded, and his injuries now do not appear life-threatening.
Justin Fenton, a crime reporter for The Baltimore Sun who is across the street from the hospital, said a source tells him the shooter is upset about his mother, who is being treated at Johns Hopkins.
[Updated at 12:35 p.m.] Baltimore police say a SWAT team is on the scene as they attempt to apprehend the shooter.
[Updated at 12:29 p.m.] Baltimore police say earlier reports that a suspect was in custody in the shooting at Johns Hopkins Hospital were incorrect.
Baltimore Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said authorities also have no information on a motive or the relationship between the suspect and a doctor who was critically wounded.
[Updated at 12:25 p.m.] A shooter who critically injured a doctor at Johns Hopkins Hospital in east Baltimore, Maryland, has been "subdued and disarmed," according to a hospital spokesman.
Police reported that a doctor had been shot, and Johns Hopkins spokesman Gary Stephenson said the injured doctor had been taken to an operating room.
Earlier, local media said the suspect was hiding in a patient's room on the eighth floor of the hospital. CNN affiliate WMAR in Baltimore said the shooter had barricaded himself. It's unclear if the shooter was alone in the room.
Reports indicate the wounded doctor is in critical condition. Many people were evacuated, according to reports. Those who weren't evacuated were told via e-mail to stay in rooms at the hospital, which has about 1,000 beds. The e-mail further instructed them to keep room doors locked and to stay away from windows.
The hospital released a statement saying it had temporarily restricted access to the hospital's main buildings.
A witness told WMAR that the shooting happened in the hospital's Nelson Building, which is near the emergency room entrance.
Local media reports indicate the shooting occurred between 11 and 11:30 a.m.
To all Jesus love us all. He die for us. It's time to invite him into your heart! Sign of the time:)
what if it was your mom , or your dad who was the doctor . would it be funny then , oh guess it didnt happen too me , well think it s it's there own fault ;;, blacks ,// hospitals refuse patient s on the basis , they don't have insurance ,hosptials cant refuse somone in a emergency , they have stablelize them fool ,you guys ur a discace too humanity. ispent two years at hopkins fo treatment for cancer , had less than 5% chance i'd survive but w the doctors and nurses , and sure there more i made it , so ihave nothing but temper reality there is in this world still , and won't let anyone drag me down ,i can think on my own , and dont need too follow anyone . so learn too think on your own instead of trying convince anyone u know the truth or the facts, of what really hapened unless u where there or physic, ,theres no way ,all i can say is thank god theres people in this world that care , wake up , before reality lands at your feet. then u can read the blogs and see how ignorant people can be, have a good life ,
More issues with guns being put into the wrong hands
Check out this video on YouTube:
I watched the incident carefully yesterday and was watching the live feed online. I personally think that fox news orwellian doublespeak is an aggravating factor in what I have come to call the Holden Caufield phenomenon. I just knew when I woke up yesterday and saw that an independent tea party candidate had won the republican (or as I like to call them the philosophical decendents of Mrs. Olson) primary that another one of these incidents was imminent brought to us yet again by the folks that have saturated the streets with a lethal product with infinite shelf life. At any rate my point is this. The swat team went in in their orwellian military gear complete with nazicommie facemasks. They did not wear them on the way in. The last member of the line to emerge and the only one to be holding his weapon up on exit is wearing his mask. IF THE INTENTION WAS TO DISARM THE SITUATION WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU SEND IN THE ORWELLIAN GOON SQUAD COMPLETE WITH MASKS. THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN REMOVED FROM THEIR KIT FOR THIS. THEY HAVE NO RIGHT WHATSOEVER TO GO ABOUT ON AMERICAN SOIL MASKED IN THIS WAY. The presence of someone in a a mask probably aggravated the situation.
I would also point out that only a dupe or a fool would believe the police version of any event that they didnt witness personally.
Grey's Anatomy had a very similiar episode like that only worse. After watching the rerun last night, I was wondering how long it would take for some idiot to go out there and do the same thing. It's hard to believe how sick people are really out there.
In today's nutzy society, I can't believe that people in the television business would even want to show something like that knowing that people are goofy enough to copy it. I really think they need to re-think a lot of crap that they put out there trying to fill up all those stations.


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Personal portfolio, made by a student of 12 years old
You need:
- portfolio
- white drawing sheet A4 size
- pencil
- eraser
- compass
- coloured ink
- straw
- scissors
- glue
- coloured paper
- markers
- fine waterproof black marker
- split pin
In Holland children go to highschool at the age of 12. Our elementary school is for children aged 4 - 12 years old. At the end of the 8th group, children of our school get their own portfolio with drawings they made that last year. The portfolio's are bought by the school. Of course, the dull gray folders must become personal portfolio's. In the context of the coming up farewell of elementary school, we have therefore made a sort of remembrance medal. Take a white drawing sheet, a straw and coloured ink. , een rietje en enkele kleurtjes lichte ecoline. Drop some ink on the sheet and blow it with a straw. Repeat with other colours and leave it to dry.
Detail spiral


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Students and teachers in Vancouver, British Columbia, can now use the gender-neutral pronouns "xe," "xem," and "xyr." The move is designed to accommodate students for whom "he" and "she" does not fit or is deemed inappropriate.
It's taking forever for us to adopt gender-neutral pronouns, so this move is very encouraging. The best we've got at this point is "they," which is obviously quite awkward. Some Swedes, for example, have started to use "hen" instead of "han" (he) and "hon" (she). And German parents can now select an indeterminate gender for their children.
The newly coined pronouns — xe, xem, and xyr — are pronounced to rhyme with the genderless plurals "they," "them," and "their," and all starting with the "z" sound. So phonetically speaking, they're pronounced "zey, "zem", and "zare."
According to the board, the new words are meant to primarily apply to a tiny minority of students, namely transgender students. Additionally, however, they could also be used by intersexed individuals or anyone else who believes that gendered pronouns are inappropriate.
"We're standing up for kids and making our schools safer and more inclusive," board member Mike Lombardi told the Vancouver Sun. In addition to this change, students can now choose to use any toilet facilities they prefer, including a mandatory unisex option.
It's a fascinating move by the school board, but as Joseph Brean of the National Post points out, it may not stick.
Science fiction fans will of course recall similar attempts to change the language of gender, particularly in those futurist worlds that feature postgendered or uniquely gendered characters. Greg Egan, in his hard SF classic Diaspora, borrowed Keri Hulme's gender-neutral pronouns "ve", "vis", and "ver" to help his uploaded sexless characters get their language right. Klingons use "glach." In the collaborative Orion's Arm universe, pronouns such as "e", "em", and "eir" are commonly used to avoid confusion in a world featuring not just genetically-altered humans, aliens, and artificial lifeforms, but also characters with other possible genders beyond just male and female. And though not science fiction, the pandrogynous being named Breyer P-Orridge adopted the gender-neutral and alternating pronouns s/he, h/er, and h/erself.
Read more at the National Post.
Image: l i g h t p o e t/Shutterstock.


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There are longstanding concerns related to the increase in immigration visas, especially for H1B temporary tech workers. Is the popularity of imported labor due to a true lack of skilled domestic employees or do employers prefer H1B employees because they are less likely to be encumbered by families and community responsibilities?
Two recent excellent articles in major journals take up the ageism issue, which stirred me to think of the local impact on a declining middle class; and whether all the prognostications for Silicon Valley such as head count and housing consider this ignored demographic.
First an article in The New Republic "The Brutal Ageism of Tech" indirectly frames the problem as how the pressure on older tech workers is a boon to another sector ? plastic surgeons. Apparently cosmetic surgeons have a new revenue stream - applying Botox to techies ? men in particular. If anyone is interested Fridays are busy key day for patients since the weekend allows a physical respite.
"?In the one corner of the American economy defined by its relentless optimism, where the spirit of invention and reinvention reigns supreme, we now have a large and growing class of highly trained, objectively talented, surpassingly ambitious workers who are shunted to the margins, doomed to haunt corporate parking lots and medical waiting rooms, for reasons no one can rationally explain. The consequences are downright depressing?."
"Still, ageism in Silicon Valley is usually more subtle: an extra burden of proof on the middle-aged to show they can hack it, on a scale very few workers of their vintage must deal with anywhere else. "People presume an older developer learned some trade skill five to ten years ago and has been coasting on it ever since," says a 40-plus developer whose department consists mostly of 20-year-olds.
In 1999, a consultant named Freada Klein began a five-year "quality of work" study of 22 start-ups, whose employees she anonymously surveyed on a regular basis. Though Klein found that few of the companies copped to overt discrimination, many confessed to having elaborate points-based systems for evaluating job candidates, in which they deducted points for being married, having kids, and living in the suburbs. The older candidates were quite literally being held to a higher standard."
The above lengthy article then studies the relation of entrepreneur age to receptiveness of VC's, using Silicon Valley ecosystem.
In the second article, "Tech Industry Job Ads: Older Workers Need Not Apply" the author addresses the role nuanced language in job advertising that can give cover to a corporation to avoid the legal quagmire of age discrimination.
"Young tech workers fill office parks and corporate cafeterias across Silicon Valley with few if any grey-haired colleagues in sight. It's a widely accepted reality within the technology industry that youth rules. But at least part of the extreme age imbalance can be traced back to advertisements for open positions that government regulators say may illegally discriminate against older applicants.
In fact, many factors explain the age imbalance in the technology industry. Younger workers command lower salaries and benefits. They are also less likely to have families and can therefore work longer hours. Some hiring managers also look for candidates who are a good "cultural fit," which can be code for young and hip."
We have a segment of population that is in a charitable word: ignored, but in reality is sandbagged. What is the impact for our area and Silicon Valley? This is probably an invitation for co-blogger Steve Levy to weigh-in. This week he writes about "Improving Job and Income Mobility for the Region's Low and Moderate Wage."
Any experiences in the crowd?


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Triquetra simply means "triangle"
and has been used to refer to a variety of three-cornered shapes
but has been evolved into a symbol of depth.
Often seen in the Book of Kells,
some have surmised that because of its frequent use
as ornamentation
It has been a part of folk lore predating the creation of the ancient texts.
It appears in stone and metal on crosses,
markers, jewelry and other artifacts
through-out Celtic history.
Because of the Christian Influence
and their lore concerning the Trinity,
many have attributed the shape to represent:
"The Father, Son and Holy Ghost",
but it could easily represent any lore that embraces the Three:
Parents and child;
the three phases of human existence:
Youth, Middle Age and the Elderly;
Maiden, Mother, Crone;
Green Man, Hunter, Sage.
All Threes:
a number of Manifestation in Creation.
In recent years
it has been popularized within the Pagan and Wiccan communities,
for they too love the manifestation of Three.
It has even been embraced in the Television series "Charmed";
the Triquetra is embossed on the Grimoire of the Three Sisters.
The Triquetra Earrings represent the Trinity,
the manifestation of Three and the integrity of one purpose through love.
The Triquetra Earrings are for those who cherish
the idea of the Trinity in its many forms.
For more Earring designs, be sure to visit my Earrings Page


text:
Morning Five: 09.04.13 EditionPosted by rtmsf on September 4th, 2013
- Labor Day is in the rear-view mirror now, so prepare yourselves for two solid months of preview material from the college basketball writing industry. Frankly, in the need to fill space with relevant content, we all probably overdo it a tad, but with the start of practice mere weeks away and preview magazines already hitting the newsstands, it's hard to not get excited. SI.com's Andy Glockner has put together his third annual "non-conference primer" for us, which, if you're not familiar, breaks down the slates at a number of the top programs in America. He slots 13 schools into four separate categories ranging from "This is how you do it" (Kansas) to "Not good enough, given context" (Louisville, Ohio State, Oklahoma State and UCLA), and there's not much room for disagreement. Even more agreeable is that simply reading about some of these games is more than enough reason to start daydreaming.
- One of the schools that falls into Glockner's "Certainly acceptable" category is Michigan, which boasts non-conference games with Duke, Stanford, Arizona, Iowa State and possibly a rematch with VCU in the Puerto Rico Shootout. The rise of John Beilein's Wolverines over the last few years has been well-documented as a trademark success story where great coaching, recruiting and player development all intertwined, and now Michigan fans everywhere can get the inside scoop on the progression with former walk-on Josh Bartelstein's new eBook, "We On." Bartelstein originally started blogging behind-the-scenes for MGoLive.com with his "Bartelstein Blog" while Michigan was sitting at 1-6 in the Big Ten during his sophomore year. The Wolverines went on to make the NCAA Tournament that season, following it up the next two years with a Big Ten championship and a trip to last year's national title game. With a courtside seat for all the fun, Bartelstein's documentation of the rise of Michigan basketball will sell for $7.99 and is sure to inspire some copycats along the way. Does Andrew Wiggins blog?
- One basketball player who wouldn't have trouble finding a willing readership if he ever decided to blog is LeBron James. The two-time NBA champion never attended a single day of college, but when you're as marketable as he is, you don't have to. The Ohio State University has already claimed James as its own (remember, James' talents are originally from Akron), wearing his line of basketball shoes and gear since 2007. Never one to miss a great recruiting opportunity, Thad Matta has decided to dress up the Buckeyes' locker room with a nameplate and locker filled with James' OSU product line. This is simply brilliant — we're guessing that most 16- and 17-year olds don't realize that James was a prep-to-pros kid a decade ago — so, in the worst case, recruits are impressed by the school's association with the World's Best Player; in the best case, they might believe he actually played in Columbus. That sound you just heard was John Calipari getting out his hammer to nail a photo montage of Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard and Kevin Garnett on the wall of the locker room at Rupp Arena. Hey, friends of the program…
- One of the nastiest rumors of the summer involved Louisville hardwood hero Kevin Ware, he of the gruesomely snapped leg against Duke in the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight. We won't lower ourselves to discuss the content of the Kentuckiana rumor-mongering other than to say that his head coach, Rick Pitino, summarily dismissed any accusation that Ware had been suspended from the team. Pitino also said that Ware was recovering nicely but he is still a month to six weeks from getting back onto the basketball court, and even then, he's likely to have some issues trusting his body for a while. With all the depth that Louisville will have in this year's backcourt, it wouldn't be unreasonable to foresee a redshirt year for the junior should he take a bit longer to come around after what was such a devastating injury. And who would blame him (other than the conspiracy theorists, of course)?
- We'll end with a sad note today as Butler's friendly canine mascot, Blue II, passed away over the Labor Day weekend. The English bulldog became synonymous with Butler basketball as the school spent the better part of his nine-year lifespan rising from the role of plucky mid-major to that of a national program. His final blog post located here, entitled "I Leave You With 'Thanks,'" is pretty much the tear-jerker that you'd imagine it would be, inasmuch as you can suspend reality to give the slobbery mascot his own voice. That suspension of belief wasn't very hard for this writer, nor would it likely be hard for many millions of other dog owners who too consider man's best friend an indispensable part of the family. A snarky commenter on Twitter yesterday suggested that, given the short life span of dogs, it's best to consider them merely as pets and remain "detached" so as to not suffer after they're gone. To that we say, that's no way to live, sir, no way to live at all. Rather, we should strive to attach with all your heart's desire — these furry little creatures will never let you down. RIP, Blue II.