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For this week's test, it's important that you know nothing about the test so you'll have to take it and then read about it. First, watch this short silent animation (1:30) of some geometric shapes:
Now write a brief description of what happened in the animation. If you need to rewatch the video to refresh your memory of the details, you can. Just don't read anything about the video before you finish writing your description.
Done? Okay, now it's safe to read on.
The Heider-Simmel Animation
The animation you watched is from a landmark experiment conducted by psychologists Fritz Heider and Mary-Ann Simmel in the 1940s. Heider and Simmel were among the first researchers to study attribution of causality or how we use information to arrive at an explanation of what has caused events (or more simply "why did this happen?").
Attributing cause in social situations requires what researchers in the field of autism often refer to as theory of mind, mentalizing or cognitive empathy. Before you run off screaming into the night, bear with me, because I think there are some interesting things we can learn from how we interpret the animation.
First, let's talk about why the animation is made up of shapes and how that changes things, especially for autistic viewers. Heider and Simmel discovered that when most people watch an animation of independently moving geometric shapes, they attribute intentional movement and goal-directed interactions to the shapes. This was interesting to the two researchers because the attribution happens in the absence of common social cues like body language, facial expressions or speech. And it turns out that their findings are highly replicable. Nearly everyone who watches the animation, when asked to describe it, comes up with a fairly detailed "story" of what is happening.
In the past couple of decades, Heider-Simmel type animations have been used as part of autism research on theory of mind and social impairment. Ami Klin makes some interesting points about why. The most obvious reason is the lack of conventional person-based social signals. By stripping out body language and facial expressions–or even any human representation at all–there is a leveling of the playing field for those of us who don't glean much information from nonverbal signals.
The animations also remove all verbal interaction, which Klin says many autistic adults learn to use as an interpretative strategy in social interaction. If we can't intuit what is happening socially, we can still ask a lot of questions, do research, gather data, develop social scripts, etc. as a way of supporting our interpretation of a situation. He even takes this one step further to say that the real difficulty many autistic people experience is in recognizing that a social demand exists in a novel social situation.
Remember my experience from last week with The Lady Of The Five Excuses? That's exactly what he's talking about. In a lab setting, theory of mind experiments are presented as such. Where will Sally look for the marble? signals to the research participant that a problem needs to be solved and a lot of autistic adults are good at reasoning out the solution to defined problems. Unfortunately, there's no one following me around in real life saying things like, "why does The Lady Of The Five Excuses not want to help you Do The Thing here?"
That's the difference between controlled clinical theory of mind experiments and real life social interaction. Skill at one does not necessarily predict skill at the other.
Taking the Test
So that's the underlying theory behind the test. When the animations are used in actual research, a lot of detailed data is collected and scored on various scales. Since we're doing Crowd Sourced Science, we'll have to interpret our own results as best we can.
I hope you watched the video and wrote down your impressions before reading the background. Although I had seen this animation mentioned a long time ago in the context of autism research, I didn't know much about it. I did know that the figures were meant to be interpreted anthropomorphically, but I would have done that anyhow, given the strong emotions I feel when watching the video, so I don't think I had too much of an advantage. I waited until after writing my description to do more detailed research.
Here is my description:
The big triangle (BT) is in an enclosed structure with a door. A little triangle (LT) and a circle (C) come along. They hang around in a sort of confused way until BT comes out. BT and LT argue, with LT first being the aggressor then BT getting really aggressive and bullying/chasing LT. C hides behind the door and watches. When LT runs around the corner and hides, C goes into the building and closes the door. BT runs around a little outside then follows C into the building and closes the door. C is nervous and moves around the room frantically, trying to hide or escape from BT's anger. LT opens the door and helps C escape. They run around a little in confusion until BT comes out to chase them and they run away together. BT goes back into the building and breaks the walls in anger.
Interpreting the Results
There are a number of ways descriptions of the video can be interpreted and evaluated. The article I linked to (as well as this one by Castelli and Frith) goes into greater detail if you're interested. I'm going to focus on one specific aspect of interpretation, which is the attribution of social meaning to the animation.
There are basically three broad levels on which people approach attribution of causality in Heider-Simmel animations:
Literal interpretation. The geometric figures are described only as such and no motivation or anthropomorphic qualities are attributed to them. Example: the small triangle moved parallel to the circle, the large triangle moved out of the rectangle, the small and large triangles came into contact three times in a row.
Goal-direct interpretation. The figures are described as having anthropomorphic actions like running, hiding, fighting, dancing or fleeing. In other words, they are trying to achieve certain physical goals but there is little to no description of motivations or desires. The description is written mostly from the perspective of an impartial observer who is recording the actions of an event. Example: the small triangle ran around the house twice, the large triangle chased the small triangle around the corner, the circle moved into the corner as the large triangle approached it.
Social attribution interpretation. The figures are described as having anthropomorphic actions as well as feelings and motivation (affective and cognitive mental states). There is an emphasis on why the figures act or react the way they do, with detailed attribution of intent. Example: the circle is trying to persuade the large triangle, the large triangle is jealous, the small triangle is trying to coax the circle, the large triangle is manipulating the circle's feelings, the two small shapes are celebrating their deception of the large triangle. Additionally, there is often a highly detailed narrative used to explain what has happened (a gestalt explanation). Example: the small shapes are friends and the big triangle is a bully, the circle was supposed to go on a date with the big triangle but he got angry when he saw her with the small triangle.
When I reread my description in this context, I see that I'm on the border between #2 and #3, and the social attribution interpretations that I do make are often quite crude and fractured. I attributed human-like actions and emotions to the shapes, but don't have a lot to say about intent and certainly didn't think to create a narrative storyline for the shapes.
When I rewatched the video after doing the research for this post, I noticed more details. For example, the big triangle seems to shake its head 'no' and the circle seems to make some progress in calming the big triangle down by cowering and acting submissive when they're inside the house. But I think I saw those things on my third viewing because I knew that I was supposed to be looking for intent. They didn't occur to me on the first two viewings, where I had no information about how others had interpreted the animation.
There are quite a few research papers that discuss why autistic people often use fewer social attribution descriptors for Heider-Simmel animations. The two papers I linked to are a good starting place if you're curious.
Not surprisingly, I have a few theories of my own:
Dude, they're triangles. Being more literal thinkers predisposes autistic viewers to interpret the animation more literally, focusing on the actions of the shapes rather than attributing emotional or mental states to the objects. I admit to some difficulty getting past the fact that they're faceless shapes and clearly not people.
Gestalt vs. details. Autistic people are detail-focused, often at the expense of gestalt (big picture). Just as I scored poorly on the city versus mountain picture test by focusing too much on a single detail (roads!), I found that I was more focused on describing each segment of the action rather than integrating the segments into a larger narrative.
Online vs. offline processing. Castelli and Frith's paper talks about online versus offline processing of social events and that really hits home with me. I do most of social attribution processing offline, before or after the fact. People with typical social skills do a great deal of processing on-the-fly as the interaction unfolds (which Castelli and Frith refer to as online processing). Online processing is especially challenging for me in new situations, like interpreting an animation sequence with little detail about what I'm "supposed to be" seeing.
The Bottom Line
This isn't as well suited to "getting results" as some of the other quantitative quizzes, but I was surprised at how accurately it seemed to gauge my thinking style and approach when it comes to social interaction.
On an unrelated note: When I wrote the autistic gaze post, I said that I don't intentionally use my peripheral vision to look at things. Well, I was wrong. This weekend I went to see Captain America in IMAX 3-D and it was super overloading. About halfway through the film, I realized that I kept turning my head to the side and trying to watch the screen out of the corner of my eyes, which is impossible when wearing 3-D glasses.


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After 15 years he left the music business to pursue a career in alternative medicine and became a doctor of chiropractic and also an acupuncturist. He has studied in the UK, with a spell of clinical practice in Nanjing, China and developed a chain of chiropractic clinics, perhaps the most successful in Europe. Terry then turned his hand to training others in how to be successful.
He currently runs Europe's largest consulting business in alternative medicine, lecturing and leading seminars all over Europe and the USA on success and how to become one. Terry is actively involved in charity work and is chairman of the board for the YMCA of East London.

subset: commoncrawl


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Today is Friday, Dec. 13, the 347th day of 2013. There are 18 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On Dec. 13, 2000, Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore conceded to Republican George W. Bush, a day after the U.S. Supreme Court shut down further recounts in Florida.
On this date:
In 1642, Dutch navigator Abel Tasman sighted present-day New Zealand.
In 1769, Dartmouth College in New Hampshire received its charter.
In 1862, Union forces led by Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside launched futile attacks against entrenched Confederate soldiers during the Civil War Battle of Fredericksburg; the soundly defeated Northern troops withdrew two days later. (It was during this battle that Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee is said to have remarked: 'It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.')
In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson arrived in France, becoming the first chief executive to visit Europe while in office.
In 1928, George Gershwin's 'An American in Paris' had its premiere at Carnegie Hall in New York.
In 1937, the Chinese city of Nanjing fell to Japanese forces; what followed was a massacre of war prisoners, soldiers and citizens. (China maintains as many as 300,000 people died; Japan says the toll was far less.)
In 1944, during World War II, the U.S. cruiser Nashville was badly damaged in a Japanese kamikaze attack that claimed more than 130 lives.
In 1962, the United States launched Relay 1, a communications satellite which retransmitted television, telephone and digital signals.
In 1978, the Philadelphia Mint began stamping the Susan B. Anthony dollar, which went into circulation in July 1979.
In 1981, authorities in Poland imposed martial law in a crackdown on the Solidarity labor movement. (Martial law formally ended in 1983.)
In 1994, an American Eagle commuter plane crashed short of Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina, killing 15 of the 20 people on board.
Ten years ago: Saddam Hussein was captured by U.S. forces while hiding in a hole under a farmhouse in Adwar, Iraq, near his hometown of Tikrit. A summit to forge a European Union constitution collapsed in Brussels, Belgium. Oklahoma quarterback Jason White won the Heisman Trophy. Former Sen. William V. Roth Jr., R-Del., creator of Roth IRA accounts, died in Washington at age 82.
Five years ago: The White House weighed its options for preventing a collapse of the troubled U.S. auto industry. Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford won the Heisman Trophy after guiding the highest-scoring team in major college football history to the national championship game.
One year ago: U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice withdrew from consideration to replace outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Rice had run into opposition from Republicans angry over her explanation of the September attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. Rice had said the attack stemmed from a protest over an anti-Islamic video, which later proved incorrect.
Today's Birthdays: Former Secretary of State George P. Shultz is 93. Actor-comedian Dick Van Dyke is 88. Actor Christopher Plummer is 84. Country singer Buck White is 83. Music/film producer Lou Adler is 80. Singer John Davidson is 72. Actress Kathy Garver (TV: 'Family Affair') is 68. Singer Ted Nugent is 65. Rock musician Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter is 65. Country musician Ron Getman is 65. Actor Robert Lindsay is 64. Country singer-musician Randy Owen is 64. Actress Wendie Malick is 63. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is 63. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is 60. Country singer John Anderson is 59. Singer-songwriter Steve Forbert is 59. Singer-actor Morris Day is 57. Actor Steve Buscemi (boo-SEH'-mee) is 56. Actor Johnny Whitaker is 54. Rock musician John Munson (Semisonic; Twilight Hours) is 51. Actress-reality TV star NeNe Leakes is 47. Actor-comedian Jamie Foxx is 46. Actor Bart Johnson is 43. TV personality Debbie Matenopoulos is 39. Rock singer-musician Thomas Delonge is 38. Actor James Kyson Lee is 38. Actress Chelsea Hertford is 32. Rock singer Amy Lee (Evanescence) is 32. Actor Michael Socha is 26. Country singer Taylor Swift is 24. Actress Maisy Stella is 10.
Thought for Today: 'My theory is to enjoy life, but the practice is against it.' – Charles Lamb, English essayist (1775-1834).
Copyright 2013, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.


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Nomination fatigue? Elizabeth Banks' jokes fall flat
Tough room, Elizabeth Banks.
You could've heard crickets in the Democratic convention hall when the "Pitch Perfect" and "Hunger Games" actress attempted a joke or two in introducing a short video about Hillary Clinton.
Delegates barely laughed or clapped. Nomination fatigue? Clinton had just received the party nod.
Banks walked to the podium in white fog to Queen's "We Are the Champions," mocking a similar entrance at the Republican convention by Donald Trump.
"The Trump campaign is hard up for money. I just bought their fog machine on eBay for 30 bucks," she attempted. "I don't feel good about it. I don't."
Also taking the stage Tuesday was "Girls" creator Lena Dunham, who praised Clinton for making it easier for sexual assault survivors like herself in New York to access emergency room care. She was joined by "Superstore" star America Ferrera, who spoke of her Honduran parents and their struggles raising a family on meager salaries.
"Occasionally I needed a free meal to get through the school day," she said, citing what she called Clinton's commitment to immigrant families like hers.
Tony Goldwyn, who isn't president but plays one on "Scandal," introduced "mothers of the movement," women of color who lost children to gun violence or excessive force in police custody. He said these mothers "have turned their pain into power and their outrage into action," adding, "They understand that we must reach out to each other because of our diversity, because we are stronger together."
Debra Messing, who co-starred on "Will & Grace," introduced a first responder and a victim from the 9/11 terror attack. And singer Andra Day performed her "Rise Up," accompanied by United Percussion, a drumline and marching band.
To close out the evening, actress Meryl Streep, wearing an American flag-motif dress, likened Clinton's "grit and grace" to a host of women trailblazers through history, from Harriet Tubman to Sally Ride.
Streep spoke of Deborah Samson, who disguised herself as a man to serve in George Washington's Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Rather than reveal her gender after being shot, she dug a musket ball out of the wound with a penknife and sewed herself up.
"These women share something in common," Streep said, "capacity of mind, fullness of heart and a burning passion for their cause. They have forged new paths so that others can follow them — men and women, generation on generation. That's Hillary. That's America. "
Streep was followed by singer and activist Alicia Keys, founder of the We Are Here social justice movement.
"Let's act on our differences and celebrate them," Keys urged as she performed a medley of her songs.
Earlier Tuesday, Bryan Cranston, who played President Lyndon B. Johnson on Broadway and HBO, appeared on a civil rights panel with 1960s-era activists and signed on to an anti-Donald Trump campaign with more than 100 other celebrities at the Democratic National Convention.
Cranston was joined by Julianne Moore, Kerry Washington, Mark Ruffalo, Neil Patrick Harris, Shonda Rhimes and Macklemore in calling on Americans to deny Trump the White House. It's part of MoveOn.org's "United Against Hate" effort.


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Another arrest over Gold Coast bikie brawl after police move on Bandidos clubhouse
Another man has been arrested over last week's bikie brawl on the Gold Coast after police surrounded the Bandidos clubhouse in inner Brisbane.
The man was arrested after more than 100 officers descended on the clubhouse in Bailey Street, West End.
Acting Chief Superintendent Jim Keogh says a patched member has been taken into custody and is likely to face charges.
"I won't beat around the bush. We were of the understanding the Bandidos were coming to the clubhouse here tonight. We have arrested one offender here who we believe was involved in the melee on the Gold Coast on Friday night," he said.
Earlier today two other club members were charged over last Friday's brawl, which broke out in the busy Broadbeach precinct.
A 25-year-old Loganlea man and a 27-year-old Berrinba man were both charged with riot.
A total of 27 people have now been charged over the incident.


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Posted by Editor on 06/26/03
Tour de Gastown Needs Volunteers
Be a Part of the Action by Joining the Gastown Volunteer Team!
Volunteer opportunities range from registration, banner/signage, volunteer check-in, road marshaling and set-up and takedown of the event.
If you're interested in participating in one of BC's premier cycling events of the year, and have a flexible schedule on the day of Wednesday, July 23rd contact:
Tatiana Micenko (604) 215-0306
Or e-mail her at firstname.lastname@example.com
For helping us with this great Vancouver event, you'll receive:
Tasty food!
A commemorative t-shirt featuring the 2003 Steamworks Tour de Gastown race poster
And a front row view of North America's top cyclists racing through Gastown for more than $10,000 cash
For more race info visit our website at www.tourdegastown.com
Canadian BMX Championships
The biggest race in Canada goes this weekend in Ridge Meadows (30 mins from Vancouver, BC). The CCA Canadian BMX Championship weekend features a festival-like atmosphere with a Hawaiian Theme Canada Cup on Saturday including a live Surf band, Salmon BBQ and Hawaiian Luau . . . Then on Sunday, the Canadian Championship event. All riders who make their mains receive Canadian National plates by BKS.
The Ridge Meadows track is one of the finest in Canada and the weekend promises to keep everyone entertained. On Sunday plates will be presented on the podium with draw prizes and more. A minumum of $1000 has been added to Pro Men on Sunday.
Visit www.ridgemeadowsbmx.com for more info.
|Return to Canadian Cyclist homepage | Back to Top


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South African Journal of Agricultural Extension
On-line version ISSN 2413-3221
Print version ISSN 0301-603X
MUSTAFA-MSUKWA, A. K.; MUTIMBA, J. K.; MASANGANO, C. and EDRISS, A. K.. An assessment of the adoption of compost manure by smallholder farmers in Balaka District, Malawi. S Afr. Jnl. Agric. Ext. [online]. 2011, vol.39, n.1, pp.17-25. ISSN 2413-3221.
The decline in soil fertility is widespread in Malawi and is threatening food security in the country. While the use of inorganic fertilizers to improve soil fertility has immediate results, the escalating prices make it impossible for the majority of smallholder farmers to use them. There is, therefore, need for alternative low-cost soil fertility enhancing technologies. Compost manure seems to be a viable option to be promoted. This study was designed to assess the adoption of compost manure making and utilization by smallholder farmers. The study was conducted through a combination of individual interviews and observation of 150 smallholder farmers as well as through focus group discussions. Key recommendations for compost manure technology were identified through consultations with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security. Based on the key recommendations, a knowledge test was constructed to assess knowledge of the technology and a checklist was designed to assess farmer practice. The study revealed that the most critical factor that affected the adoption of compost manure technology was knowledge. Given that knowledge is a pre-requisite to any technology adoption, farmers knowledge on composting will therefore need to be raised substantially before appreciable levels of adoption can be expected. The amounts of compost that farmers made fell far short of their annual needs because of the late timing of the actual compost manure making. However, farmers have a positive perception of the compost manure technology as they believe it improves soil productivity.


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Reader DAV raised the following interesting question:
The strange thing about 6..3.5 Simplified Equations that gets me is why should CO2, CH4 and N2O have different equational forms? And what would be the physical basis for raising something to the 0.75 or 1.52 power? The whole thing looks ad hoc as if someone was insistently forcing a linear regression fit.
This was raised in the context of a discussion of the logarithmic form of the CO2 relationship, reader DAV observing that other structural forms were reported for other GHGs. So where did these other relationships come from originally?
IPCC TAR reported their "simplified expressions" in their Table 6.2 shown below here:
The provenance of the various CO2 expressions is provided, but the provenance for some of the other ones is not as clear as one would like. However, it's not hard to determine that they come from Myhre et al 1998, the corresponding table being shown below here. Myhre states explicitly that the functional forms, with all their peculiarities, are derived from IPCC AR1 (1990); indeed, some of the parameters remain unchanged (CH4 for example.)
Moving back to IPCC (1990), it cited Hansen et al 1988, mentioning that the functional forms were adopted from Wigley 1987, a publication in the CRU house organ, Climate Monitor. And sure enough if one continues back to Hansen et al 1988, one finds the functional forms in Appendix B, as shown below:
As previously noted, there is no derivation of the functional forms in Hansen et al 1988; it cites Lacis et al 1981, where the matter is not discussed at all. Possibly Wigley 1987 will shed some light on this. The CRU library is mailing me a copy.
On a more positive note, whatever the reasons for the original derivation, Myhre et al 1998 re-estimated the functional forms from their radiative-convective model, showing the following relationship generated from their radiative-convective model. From this one can see that, at levels that interest us, not much really turns on whether the relationship is modeled as a log relationship or a square root relationship.
What is perhaps more instructive here is that the results in Myhre et al 1998, as in Lacis et al 1981, were calculated from a 1-D radiative-convective model, which should be much more accessible analytically than a 3-D model. Myhre et al 1998 summarize their model as follows:
We use the 10 cm-1 narrow-band radiative transfer scheme of Shine (1991) with the HITRAN 1992 (Rothman et al. 1992) spectral-band data, except where otherwise stated. In a number of publications (Freckleton et al. 1996; Christidis et al. 1997; Pinnock and Shine 1998) it has been shown that this scheme can reproduce both irradiances and forcings to within a few percent of line-by-line calculations for a wide range of gases.
The forcing is defined as: the change in irradiance at the tropopause following adjustment of stratospheric temperatures, following the trace gas perturbation. This so-called "adjusted forcing" is a better indicator of climatic impact than the so-called "instantaneous forcing" in which stratospheric temperatures are kept constant (see IPCC 1994, 1995; Hansen et al. 1997). We use the fixed-dynamical-heating approximation (see e.g. Forster et al. 1997) to calculate the temperature changes.
At this point, I'm reasonably content that the narrow-band radiative transfer scheme relied on here does do what it's said to do here. I haven't confirmed this, but I don't plan to pursue this at this time. My browse of the radiative transfer literature leaves me with a pretty high comfort level that the authors are not Mannian.
I'm mainly interested in the apparent assumption of an unchanging atmospheric profile with additional CO2. It hardly seems a very unlikely coincidence to me that the tropopause just "happens" to occur at a level of pretty much maximum CO2 impact; it seems far more likely to me that tropopause height is interrelated to CO2 levels. This complicates the math significantly. It looks to me like a calculus of variations problem and not necessarily a very easy one.
One of the problems with articles like Myhre et al 1998 and Lacis et al 1981 is that they deal with the matter in purely parametric terms. They leave atmosphere unchanged and derive a sharp response. My guess is that concurrent changes in the atmospheric profile would reduce the response, perhaps even substantially. Because neither Lacis et al nor Myhre et al took a mathematical approach to the problem, they don't really provide much insight into the relationships. Lubo" has posted on this aspect of the topic and I'm going to examine his logic.
Hansen, J., M. Sato, A. Lacis, R. Ruedy, I. Tegen, and E. Matthews, 1998: Climate forcings in the Industrial Era. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 95, 12753-12758.
Myhre et al 1998 online here


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Jerry Moore: Who'll tell these Muslims they can't worship near Ground Zero?
Shortly after the 2001 terrorist attacks, word began circulating that police wanted to speak with Mohammad Salman Hamdani about his activities at the World Trade Center.
And why not? This Pakistani-born Muslim had studied biochemistry and worked as a lab technician while attending college. After the Twin Towers collapsed, people became suspicious when Hamdani failed to report to work and had gone missing.
It turned out that Hamdani was involved in the events at the World Trade Center that morning. As an emergency medical technician, he made his way to the Twin Towers to assist the injured.
Rumors that he was being sought by authorities weren't true, but his family endured suspicions about him for some time. His remains were finally discovered six months later in the rubble of Ground Zero near the north tower, his EMT bag close by.
Having lived in New York since he was 1, Hamdani helped finance his education at Queens College by working part time as an EMT. Planning to study medicine, he served as a research assistant at Rockefeller University.
As if all that weren't enough, Hamdani had become a cadet with the New York City Police Department. He certainly packed a lot in to his 23 years of life.
This is one of the many stories of Muslims victimized by the evil we witnessed on 9/11. The families of these people have grieved every day since then, just like those of all the others who died.
So, what if they decided to go to Ground Zero next year and offer public prayers for their loved ones on the 10th anniversary of 9/11? Would they be driven from this area because their Islamic faith enrages others?
Controversy over a proposed Islamic center a few blocks from Ground Zero suggests these poor people would not be welcome to mourn their dead. The hysterical mantra declares that since the attacks were committed in the name of Islam, permitting a place for Muslim worship so close to the site would be sacrilegious.
While the controversy has focused on the location of a building, the argument against the facility holds that Islamic religious practices are in no way appropriate anywhere near Ground Zero. Muslims choosing to pray at the site, therefore, would likely be equally upsetting.
I've been trading opposing comments with a woman on Facebook over this story for the past few days. I asked her if this Islamic center would insult the memory of the Muslims killed on 9/11.
"What about the Muslims that were killed on 9/11?" she responded. "We know 19 of them were terrorists."
Pondering the fate of people like Hamdani, her vulgar reply sickened me. She must know that some of the innocent victims of 9/11 were Muslims, yet her first thought was to bring up the hijackers. Then to display her warped ignorance further, she wrote that Muslims in this nation "do not pledge allegiance to America."
Hamdani wasn't just someone who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Like many heroic first-responders that day, he gave his life helping others in the midst of a national crisis. If this doesn't demonstrate the incredible love he had for his city and our country, what would?
Who, then, will be callous enough to kick grieving Muslims out of Ground Zero next year if they came to pay respects to those they lost? Who's going to tell them that their diseased religious practice has no place within the incubation zone of this sacred area?
My guess is that no critic of the planned Islamic center wants to go this far. How could you inform a victim's mother that she must keep her distance with her fanatical beliefs?
But that's where the opposition against the center falls apart. Either Islam is not appropriate for Ground Zero, meaning these Muslim families wouldn't be allowed to conduct public prayers there, or its presence would be permitted, meaning the Islamic center is acceptable. For if you can tolerate having Muslims practice their faith in the open at Ground Zero on Sept. 11, why should you be troubled by Muslims saying private prayers tucked away inside an office building several blocks away?
My heart goes out to everyone who lost a loved one on 9/11, but their anger in this case is woefully misdirected. Violent fanaticism led to these attacks, not religion. The terrorist group al-Qaeda is no more a subset of Islam than the Irish Republican Army is of Roman Catholicism.
Worse, these people's pain is being manipulated by opponents of the Islamic center. These opportunists repeatedly spread lies about the planned facility to advance their bigotry against the Islamic faith.
Mohammad Salman Hamdani was just as patriotic as anyone else who died that day. To suggest his family members cannot honor his memory at Ground Zero in a religious manner of their choosing is both shameful and un-American. And to declare that an Islamic center located within a few blocks of the hallowed site would be a tribute to terrorism is a reckless distortion of the facts.
When confronted with how to treat minority groups, we Americans have often reverted to fear and prejudice. But time and again this has only led to misery, for both them and us. When will we ever learn
Jerry Moore is the opinions editor for Suburban Life Publications in Chicago's western suburbs. Contact him at (630) 368-8930 or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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He Can Still Be Saved: 32 Days Into His Hunger Strike, Oleg Sentsov Must Be Released Immediately
Sentsov faces an uphill battle; the Russian state does not like ultimatums, and the chance that he will succeed in securing freedom for his fellow Ukrainian prisoners is very… More
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A woman in France is to be tried on charges of insulting President Macron after describing him as 'filth' in a Facebook post.
"I asked the (police) if it was a joke, I had never been arrested," she said. "I am not public enemy number one." https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230329-french-woman-faces-trial-for-insulting-macron-on-facebook #FreeSpeech
In her debut collection My Dear Comrades, Sunu Chandy (@sunuchandy) draws from her many disciplines—#poetry, #law, #activism—to invite the reader into a space that resists boundaries while living among them.
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Hard Skin
What is thick hard skin?
Areas of thick hard skin are usually yellowish and round, larger than corns and with crossed lines on the surface of the skin. They form on the top and outer edges of toes, on the ball of the foot and the back of the heel, and are caused by on-going stress and pressure on foot. They tend to cause a widespread feeling of burning rather than the acute pain caused by corns.
How to deal with thick hard skin:
Physically removing the skin is a common approach to treating thick hard skin – files are ideal for this – and latex or felt protective plasters are effective in relieving discomfort. For beautifully soft, pedicured feet, use the Pedi Perfect Electronic Foot File - it's rollers gently remove areas of hard skin and smoothen calluses.


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Hands On Tamale Making Class at Ortega 120 (Redondo Beach)
I LOVE tamales but I have a hard time to find ones that are just right for me. I want them filled with things I like, for example I'm always looking for a blue corn tamale but the ones here are usually only filled with cheese. So, when Ortega 120 offered me to attend one of their tamale making class, I thought it sounded fun. The tamale class is only held in December since tamales are apparently a holiday tradition. The chef said that his family would always say that way you will always have something to unwrap for Christmas!
The hands-on tamale class was completely full (and they were all women, which was kind of expected)
The $40 class also includes a glass of their house margarita and food
Then put the filling that you want ...
and fold it over.
The tamales were then steamed for about an hour, and we had our dinner while we wait. Two tacos with a nice, thick tortilla. The chicken was pretty spicy! I thought the beef was definitely the better of the two since it was much more tender than the chicken and that would be the case with my tamales too.
310 792 4120 to make your reservation.


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Can Mutambara save Zimbabwe's power-sharing government?
Zimbabwe's Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara portrayed himself as a mediator while decrying the obstinance of President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
| Johannesburg, South Africa; and Harare, Zimbabwe
For the second week running, President Robert Mugabe's coalition partners – the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) – have boycotted cabinet meetings. It's the latest sign that the country's fragile power-sharing agreement could collapse.
But this doesn't mean that Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF party has the government all to itself. Arthur Mutambara, the country's deputy prime minister and leader of a smaller faction of the MDC, and other members of his party attended cabinet meetings this week in a bid to hold the so-called Government of National Unity together.
Mr. Mutambara this week portrayed himself as a mediator, while heaping criticism on both Mugabe and his own fellow opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, for their obstinance.
"Tsvangirai should not have [disengaged from the unity government] since we need to fight Mugabe from within," Mutambara told reporters on Sunday. As for Mugabe, Mutambara said, "If the [coalition government] collapses, we are telling Mugabe that he will be like a rebel leader and not president of the country. I have told him to shape up or ship out and I am still maintaining that."
Those are tough words for a man whose party performed poorly in the March 2008 elections, and today controls only three out of 31 cabinet seats. While Mr. Mutambara has managed to organize a Monday meeting between Tsvangirai and Mugabe – a meeting that served only to drive the two leaders further apart – political observers say that Mutambara's short track record reveals a volatile, opportunistic man with limited clout.
"Arthur Mutambara has neither the gravitas nor the support in the country and in the parliament to play a useful mediating role between Mugabe and Tsvangirai," says Marian Tupy, a Zimbabwe expert at the Cato Institute in Washington. "He's fundamentally volatile and even people within his own faction are incredibly disappointed in his performance as deputy prime minister so far."
Unity government down, but not out
That Zimbabwe's coalition government is in trouble is not surprising, says Judy Smith-Höhn, a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies in Tshwane (Pretoria). The generals who controlled much of the day-to-day running of Zimbabwe's government were not brought into the negotiating process and so they can play a role as potential spoilers if they feel threatened by political change, she says. In a further sign that Mugabe's party does not take the opposition seriously, Zimbabwe's National Security Council, its top decision-making body on security issues, has only officially met once in the past eight months. "I don't think that the ZANU-PF has changed tactics since September, when it signed the agreement," says Ms. Smith-Höhn. "They are doing the same thing they did before."
That said, Smith-Höhn believes that outside pressure – particularly from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) – combined with internal pressure from moderate politicians on both sides can still push the fractious coalition government back together.
Since beginning his boycott Tsvangirai has met with several regional leaders, among them South African President Jacob Zuma, Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Joseph Kabila, who is the current chairman of the SADC. But it doesn't appear that those meetings have borne much fruit for the embattled MDC leader. The SADC's security committee is due to meet in Harare on Thursday.
Why Mutambara may not have enough sway
While Tsvangirai was trying to drum up regional support, Mutambara told a press conference last week that he was mediating between Mugabe and Tsvangirai to bring normalcy to the inclusive government, and that his "MDC-M" faction would attempt to bring the larger, more powerful "MDC-T" back into the unity government.
"We are in the middle of ZANU-PF and MDC-T," said Mutambara. "We will use this position to make sure that we encourage dialogue between these two major political parties in the country. We will use this position to push for the national interest and for mitigating differences."
University of Zimbabwe political scientist John Makumbe says Mutambara's efforts to mediate in the crisis are unlikely to succeed, because he does not have the political clout to sway Tsvangirai or Mugabe.
"He will not be effective. Not at all, because he is just a small pin standing between two giants with differing political interests," said Mr. Makumbe. Mutambara was wasting his effort trying to convince Mugabe, Makumbe added, because Mugabe has been resisting pressure from both the SADC and the African Union (AU), who are the guarantors of the agreement.
Simon Badza, another University of Zimbabwe political commentator, added that the future of the inclusive government will be determined more by ZANU-PF and MDC-T's "strategic interests" than Mutambara. "I think Mutambara is an opportunist and he thrives on crisis in the government of national unity," said Badza. "He is not a big factor in the inclusive government."
• Our reporter in Harare could not be named due to security concerns.


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In response to The Daily Post's writing prompt: "Not for Thee."
I never say things like this so please keep it to yourself. I was a very smart kid who never had to work to learn anything I wanted to learn or enough to get by in classes that didn't register, can you say Latin? Now that dates me but the time is important. This took place in 1955 when I was a junior in high school.
I received a normal report card the first of three six-week periods in the first semester except for my chemistry grade. Now you should know I became a physicist and my first year college chem teacher tried hard to recruit me for chemistry. So the presence of the first D I had ever seen on a report card was disconcerting but for it to be in chemistry was clearly a mistake. So after school I gave up walking with my friends downtown to the bus and went up to the chem lab to set things right.
Miss Lyons had ruled that chem lab long enough to have spoken fondly of my mother who had graduated two years early in the days when they dealt with smart kids by moving them to the next grade whenever they got too far ahead. She was considered as tough a teacher as we had and I had no plan to charm her nor did I think any more was needed than to gently call her attention to her obvious mistake.
She was seated at her desk in the front of the lab doing whatever teachers do after school when I entered and cleared my throat,
"Miss Lyons, there's a problem with my chem grade" I said as I handed the report card to her.
She looked at it then at me and said, "no, it's all right" and handed it back to me and looked back to the papers on her desk.
I was now confused with my 16-year-old confidence a bit frazzled but I was not about to leave. "But, Miss Lyons, you gave me a D."
She looked up again, sat up and moved her chair back. "Roger, you are very gifted, but you're lazy. If you tried you could learn a great deal more than just what you think is enough to get an A . You're not going to get an A in my class until you do the kind of work you're capable of. In fact if you don't do better next time I'll give you an F."
I don't remember how I extricated myself but I do recall being angry at the unfair treatment. But times were different. I knew better than to expect my mom to back me up on this. School was my responsibility and trouble at school meant trouble at home.
So I sucked it up and got A's the rest of the year. I never had a teacher I respected more, but for reasons obvious to everyone I can't advise a teacher today to use her strategy. That saddens me.
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Old School
Posted by rfpwanderer on December 3, 2014


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As I may have mentioned once or twice before, I don't have cable, and though my boyfriend has been happy (or at least pretends he's happy) to let me watch the Cardinals games on his TV, for many of the other games I've been listening to the radio feeds through MLB.com. It's been quite some time since I've listened to baseball on the radio on a regular basis, and even longer since I listened to any baseball on the radio that involved non-Cardinals announcers. It's quite instructive. Some things I've learned:
1. Most likely to give you an earworm with their intro music: WXYT (the Detroit Tigers). From "Highway to the Danger Zone" to "Lust for Life" (otherwise known as the drum heavy song that used to be in all of the cruise commercials), the Tigers' crew has a knack for coming back from commercial with a song that's going to bounce around in your head for at least a half inning.
2. Most deserving of their reputation: WCBS (Yankees). I tried to have an open mind, really I did, but seriously. John Sterling's never met a point he didn't think needed to be repeated a dozen times in two innings. Suzyn Waldman was fairly subdued during the times I was listening, but joined Sterling in a strange, multi-at bat game 5 tangent on how "people shouldn't speculate what's going to happen during the games because you never know until you play them" that took precedence over the actual on field action. I never managed to last more than half an hour before switching back to the Tigers.
3. Not as big of homers as they're made out to be: everyone. Since I wasn't listening to the Cardinals games on the radio, I was basically a neutral listener. The only time any announcing team's home team bias seemed excessive was during the Braves' last game (the final innings of which I heard on radio after the video feed was clogged by traffic)– and it was hard to tell how much of the excuse making and complaints of unfairness were brought on by the circumstances of the Braves's collapse. I may have had many complaints about the Yankees announcers, but at least in the portions of games I heard, the Yankee mystique didn't get flogged too heavily.
4. Announcer you absolutely must listen to if you get the chance: Bob Uecker (Brewers). With apologies to CuteSports, the silver lining for me in the Brewers' last two losses was the additional chances to hear Uecker call games. Like many of the great announcers, his play by play is fairly unadorned, describing the scene and keeping extraneous chatter fairly brief, but his enthusiasm and understanding of the game comes through in every sentence. If you can get access to WTMJ through MLB.com or elsewhere, spend a portion of tomorrow's game 5 appreciating his skill.
5. The one playoff team I didn't sample: The Diamondbacks. Sorry guys. Not your fault, I just wanted to keep listening to Uecker.


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The end of the year is open-enrollment time for many 401(k) plans, with employees carefully weighing their investment choices and deferral rates. These are no small decisions; poor choices made today can result in a less prosperous future, as 401(k)s have become the primary retirement vehicle for millions of workers. By recent estimate, investors have nearly $4 trillion in 401(k) plans.
Employers can help new and current participants make the best choices by giving their 401(k) plans a thorough checkup. To help them with this task, we asked experts on defined-contribution plans for their advice on plan goals, fund mix, automatic enrollment, fees and more.
A Pathway to Retirement
"Five or 10 years ago, the attitude among plan sponsors was, we provide a solid plan for our employees, and it's up to them" to take advantage of it, says Bill McClain, principal and intellectual capital leader for defined contribution at Mercer. "A plan sponsor might say that they have an 85% participation rate, and their deferral rates are above average.
"But ultimately, the real measure of a plan's success is this: Does it provide employees with a secure financial future? Does it provide a pathway for employees to retire?"
Making sure a 401(k) can deliver adequate retirement income has become the number-one goal of many plan sponsors, says McClain. "There's a lot of anxiety among employees about their financial future," he says. "Until you dig a little deeper, you may not realize this. There may be a pocket of employees who aren't deferring, or who should have started earlier and should be contributing more, or are taking money out for loans."
Beyond concern for the welfare of their workers, employers have their own bottom-line interests in ensuring that 401(k) plans are performing at the top level. "There are productivity issues and workforce management issues when employees can't afford to retire," says McClain. "They incur higher health care costs." Employees who stay at a company simply because they don't want to retire are employees who are not engaged in the business, he says.
An Inviting Menu
A balanced 401(k) menu offers a variety of funds: equity and index, fixed-income, balanced, target-date (or life-cycle) and more. But such menus can be quite long in practice, and just as in a restaurant, the sheer number of choices can be overwhelming. The continuing trend in plan design, therefore, has been: keep it simple.
"Study after study has challenged the notion that more choice is better," says Josh Cohen, defined contribution practice leader at Russell Investments. "Keep it limited to a few of the major asset classes. Research indicates that participants appreciate having a more manageable number of choices to choose from."
Increasingly, plan sponsors are consolidating fund options. "Does a company really need two large-cap value funds? Pick one," says Rob Austin, director of retirement research at Aon Hewitt. On average, a company has 15 funds in its 401(k) plan, according to Austin; the average rises to 25 if target-date funds, which come in five-year vintages, are counted separately. (Vanguard pegs the average number at 18; see "401(k)s by the Numbers," below.)
Cohen says one asset class that sponsors should consider adding to the menu is real assets, which include commodities, real estate, and infrastructure. "They provide pretty good diversification relative to stocks and bonds, and they have a relationship to inflationary pressures," he says. On the downside, real assets can be volatile and hard for participants to understand. Cohen recommends either embedding real assets into a target-date fund or building a portfolio of real assets as a stand-alone option.
As for offering company stock, sponsors should tread with care in the post-Enron era, warns Austin. Company stock has been the focus of many participant lawsuits. In October, International Paper settled for $30 million a seven-year-old lawsuit that alleged, among other things, that the company had violated its fiduciary duty by offering its publicly traded stock as a main investment option in its 401(k) plans. To keep everything above board, some experts recommend that sponsors hire independent fiduciaries to evaluate and monitor company-stock performance.
When should a plan sponsor pull the plug on a fund? "Some companies will look at its performance over a three-year period, others over five years," says Austin. Sponsors should take care in determining how they will put a fund on a watch list, he says. "Are you going to do it strictly on a return basis or a percentile ranking? It has to be a balance of those—nothing hard or fast." Context is key: in 2008, a fund that had a negative 10% return might have been a top performer in its asset class, Austin points out.
Default Choices, Deferral Rates
One in three plans have automatic enrollment, according to Vanguard. The main issue with automatic enrollment is not whether to offer it but what the right deferral rate is, says Cohen. Three percent is standard, he says, "but lo and behold, plan sponsors see that participants are still at that rate a few years later," he adds. To overcome investor inertia, he suggests either starting automatic enrollment at a higher rate (5% or 6%) or automatically escalating the rate each year to a higher threshold.
The three qualified default investment alternatives for automatic enrollment are target-date funds, balanced funds, and professionally managed accounts. Nine times out of 10, companies choose target-date funds. Sue Walton, a director in Towers Watson Retirement Services, says she's seen greater interest recently in professionally managed accounts, although there has been "more discussion than implementation." "What makes managed accounts effective is the ability to customize them relative to a participant's needs and risk tolerance," says Walton. But the challenge of using managed accounts as a default option, she adds, is that many participants tend to be passive investors: "They've already been defaulted into the program."
Hitting the Target
The approval of target-date funds as a default investment spurred their growing popularity. Half a trillion dollars are now invested in these funds, which automatically rebalance their asset mix from riskier investments like stocks to safer investments like stock as the investor ages.
But target-date funds have been under scrutiny by the Securities and Exchange Commission since 2008, a year when they fell in value by more than 20% on average and by as much as 41%. The dismal performance prompted the SEC to propose a rule in 2010 requiring more disclosure about the funds' asset mix and "glide path" to retirement; the rule is still on the drawing board.
"There is a perception that target-date funds are still not as well understood as they should be by the average investor," says Walton. They can confuse plan sponsors, too, since they vary widely in their construction, methodology and philosophy, says Walton, as well as their expenses. "Some tend to be very aggressive at retirement, with some pretty heavy exposure to equities," she says.
In February the Labor Department issued guidelines (available on the department's website) on selecting and monitoring target-date funds, emphasizing the importance of establishing a process for their selection. Walton says the guidelines provide a good opportunity for sponsors to go back and review the target-date funds in their plans, particularly if they were early adopters in the fund space, when there was limited choice.
Are target-date funds performing well today? "More yes than no," says Austin. Aon Hewitt collaborated with investment adviser Financial Engines to study how 401(k) participants who received "help" (either invested in target-date funds or managed accounts, or used online advice) fared from 2006 to 2010. The result: their annual returns were nearly 3% higher, net of fees, than those of people who did not receive help.
Currently, target-date funds only take age into consideration; the next step may be customization for an individual's risk tolerance and goals. "It's what we call adaptive allocations," says Cohen. "We're spending a lot of time working on that."
Fees: A Wake-Up Call
2012 saw the start of mandatory disclosure of plan fees, by vendors to plan sponsors and by sponsors to participants. Such disclosure "has had very little impact on participants themselves," says McClain. "But it has been a wake-up call for plan sponsors." Industry watchers say plan fees have trended down since fee disclosure began, while Mercer has seen an uptick in interest from companies in benchmarking fees, says McClain.
There are a number of sources for benchmarking fee data, but McClain recommends that sponsors put their plans out to market every two or three years. Surveys or searches for similar plans aren't good enough, he says, "because plans are so different in terms of demographics, service requirements, how they're set up in terms of assets, and so on. Get current market data on your plan."
Experts recommend benchmarking record-keeping and investment fees separately. Many 401(k) plans over the past 10 years or so have followed a bundled model, where the service provider furnishes both record-keeping and investment management and calculates the fees for both as a percentage of assets. "We've seen a lot of arrangements where you pick the investment lineup and revenue sharing is used to pay for record-keeping costs," says McClain. "We're trying to decouple that." Plan sponsors should negotiate fixed administrative fees based on head count, he says, a transparent arrangement that enables them to change fund options without having to renegotiate the administrative fees.


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2013 BMW 7-series comes with more power, features, costMon, 23 Jul 2012
BMW released the details of the 2013 7-series sedan on Friday, saying that the entire 7-series line will offer more power, better fuel economy and more advanced features. And it all comes at a slightly higher cost.
The 740i and Li will now feature a version of BMW's stalwart, 3.0-liter TwinPower Turbo inline-six engine delivering 315 hp and 330 lb-ft of torque. An eight-speed automatic transmission is standard across the entire 7-series range.
A selection of fuel-saving strategies will be employed including stop/start technology, regenerative braking and a driver selectable "eco" driving mode. EPA figures haven't been released yet, but BMW says the 740i showed improvements of about 20 percent on the European cycle.
The price for each new model will be about two grand more than that of the outgoing model. The BMW 740i will cost $74,195, while the 740Li will cost $78,195.
The new 750i gets the same 4.4-liter TwinPower turbocharged V8, this year with BMW's Valvetronic variable valve timing system. That engine is good for 445 hp, a 45-hp increase, and 480 lb-ft of torque. It also gets an eight-speed automatic, which helps the big sedan get to 60 mph in 4.7 seconds. Fuel consumption was reduced by 25 percent on the European cycle.
The 750i and the 750iL also get price increases of about $2,000, bringing their final cost to $87,195 and $90,895, respectively.
The 2013 ActiveHybrid 7 will be powered by the same inline-six found in the 740i. That engine will be coupled to a 55-hp synchronous electric motor and an eight-speed automatic transmission. Total system output will reach 349 hp and 367 lb-ft of torque. BMW claims a 0-to-60-mph time of 5.5 seconds.
The ActiveHybrid 7 features the aforementioned driver-selectable "Eco Pro" driving mode, with a coasting function and "Proactive Analysis," which uses topography, speed limits, traffic and the navigation system to prime the hybrid components for maximum efficiency. For instance, BMW suggests, a longer downhill section could be used to charge the battery for a purely electric home stretch. The sedan can travel 2.5 miles on electric power, at up to 37 mph.
The 2013 BMW ActiveHybrid 7 will cost $84,895 including destination. That's $13,000 less than last year. The price break comes because the 2012 car used a V8, while the new car has the I6.
New features for the entire model line include standard auto start/stop and standard regenerative braking. "Eco Pro" mode is standard across the line. It modifies the powertrain management and settings for heating, air conditioning, seats heating and cooling and electric mirror heating for maximum efficiency.
Other notable features include computer-controlled rear steering, self-leveling air suspension, adaptive LED lights and a new sound system. The navigation system screen will make use of 3-D elements. A voice-controlled "Mobile Office suite" will have a dictation function and the ability to record voice memos. An enhanced radar cruise control system will follow traffic and apply brakes if necessary; BMW parking assistant will take over when moving into a parking spot; and—in a move right out of Ford's playbook—a waive of a foot under the rear bumper will open the trunk.
As for the high-performance Alpina B7, its new base price will be $128,495, and it will get a sportier version of the company's eight-speed transmission called Switch-Tronic.
By Jake Lingeman


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You have decided to install a fence on your property. The first thing you are going to want to decide is whether you want to hire a fence contractor or install the fence yourself. There are many factors in the decision to hire the project out or install the fence yourself.
Before you begin find your property pins or measure from a plot map that is provided to you from your local government agency. You are also going to need to locate your underground utilities and sprinkler lines. For your underground utilities you can call a locate company, it is usually a free service provided by your local utility company. Once you have established the property lines and located your underground obstructions then now you are ready to mark your post locations.
First you need to determine where you want your gates and what size of gates you are going to need. Most commonly your gate needs will be a walk gate which is usually between three and four feet. Standard sizes or stock sizes, which are what most wholesale fence companies stock, are 36″, 42″ and 48″. If you need a size other than the stock size of the gate, it will usually be a special order. If you have a riding lawn mower a five foot gate will most likely work.
Once you measure for your gate post you can measure your line post. The line posts are the post in-between the end post that are also called the terminals. If you have a 100′ measuring tape it will make the next step a little easier, but a 25′ tape will work. Measure the whole distance of your line and divide the measurement by 10, if it comes out for example to be 8 ten foot sections and a 3 foot sections try taking the number and dividing it evenly so you have 9 evenly spaced sections. You don't want to have one small section on the end of the line.
Make sure you dig your post against the home first to make sure there is no drainage pipe of footing in your way. If you do find drainage pipe or concrete footing next to your house, you can attach a pressure treated 2×4 to the home. When stringing your fence line drive your stakes in the ground about 18 inches past where you intend to dig your corner post.


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BEIJING, China (CNN) -- A little girl and her song captivated millions of viewers during the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. But what they saw was not what they heard.
Lin Miaoke was the darling of the Olympic opening ceremony, but it turns out she was lip-syncing.
Games organizers confirm that Lin Miaoke, who performed "Ode to the Motherland" as China's flag was paraded Friday into Beijing's National Stadium, was not singing at all.
Lin was lip-syncing to the sound of another girl, 7-year-old Yang Peiyi, who was heard but not seen, apparently because she was deemed not cute enough.
"The reason was for the national interest," said Chen Qigang, the ceremony's musical director, in a state radio interview. "The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feeling and expression. ... Lin Miaoke is excellent in those aspects."
The decision was made at the highest levels, Chen said.
"We had to do it," he said. "We'd been through several inspections. They're all very strict. When we rehearsed at the spot, there were several spectators from various divisions, especially leaders from the Politburo, who gave the opinion it must change." Watch a Chinese official defend the move »
Few who watched the Olympic ceremony realized the deception. "Tiny singer wins heart of nation," read the headline in Tuesday's China Daily newspaper.
"Lin Miaoke might be only 9 years old but she is well on her way to becoming a star, thanks to her heartwarming performance," the article gushed -- without mentioning she never sang a note.
But as word has gotten out on the Internet, some Chinese bloggers are outraged.
"If you're not good-looking, no matter how well you sing, you'll not be onstage. Do you know you're twisting a whole generation?" read one comment.
Another said, "If foreigners found out, they'd think we can't even find a girl who is good at both." iReport.com: Share your Olympic spirit
As for Yang Peiyi, she's been quoted as saying she was honored to have had a role in the opening ceremony, even though few realized just how big her part really was.
All About Olympic Games • China


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Puns make a lot of people groan. But not me, I love them.
And when I dress up for Halloween at the office, I pun it up.
Halloween is a day which makes adopting a different character or persona completely socially acceptable. With that kind of freedom, wouldn't you want to be someone or something devilishly clever, at the very least?
That's my plan.
On October 31, as I cross Centennial Park Boulevard in Atlanta, Georgia, and head into the CNN headquarters, I'll have the same excited grin on my face as I always have on Halloween. I'll be exceedingly pleased and proud of the punny costume I dreamed up and put together - this year I'll go as Hell-o Kitty - and I'll barely hold back my enthusiasm when people ask what I am.
Simultaneously, I'll temper my squee with the understanding of what lies ahead: The inevitable "huh?" and "I don't get it."
One year I was particularly happy with how I'd executed the pun of a small Orange Julius. I created a Roman soldier's tunic and lappets and wore a laurel wreath crown, all in shades of orange. And I'm short, so I loved that effectively I was a mini-sized Julius Caesar. The perfect rendition of a small Orange Julius! But the majority of my coworkers guessed I was Pocahontas.
Last year I went as pumpkin pi. I created a poofy orange dress and wore a green fez (which functioned as a stem) that were covered in mathematical equations which solved pi. I even put a joke one on there: ∏≠r2 Get it? Pie are round, not square. Once again, I stumped the journalists of CNN.com. I didn't think it was that subtle.
Even my simplest costume - a witch hat, lab coat and prescription pad - left a few coworkers scratching their head. And how obvious is that one?
I'm willing to bet some of you share this unique frustration. Still, it's nothing compared to the awesomeness of a good pun Halloween costume. If you're struggling to come up with an appropriately nerdy costume for next week, Geek Out! would like to offer some inspiration:
Buzzfeed has a great post about pun costumes. Our favorite is the very Gandalf-esque "Fantasy Football," but a close second is the "Cap-sized ship."
"One night stand" requires some skills with a saw or trompe l'oeil (or a trip to the local party store) to recreate an accurate night stand, but "cereal killer" is relatively low-effort and uses props you likely already own in your kitchen.
This "Frank Einstein" costume would be a great partner outfit to anyone dressing in homage of Edison vs. Tesla. (Wearing a meme costume this year? Be sure to submit your pictures to iReport!) Of course, the classic "Freudian slip" is a perennial giggle-fest for psych majors, everywhere.
Other ideas:
"Hairy potter": Dress as a gardening "Cousin It." Cousin It was arguably the coolest monster on "The Addams Family," and this hairy beastie wearing a gardening smock will certainly command attention.
"Doctor Jones": It's pretty easy to dress up as "Indie," but don't ignore this adventurer's hard-earned academic title. Put the "doctor" back in a Doctor Jones costume by wearing scrubs, rubber gloves, a surgeon's mask, an adventurer's hat and carry a bullwhip.
"Iron Maiden": Ren Fest dress languishing in your closet? Break it out for a double-pun costume! Pair it with an "Iron Man" mask and you're instantly transformed into an "Iron Maiden." Then hum "Run to the Hills" as you mill about the Halloween party.
"B minor": Obviously the most treacherous chord of them all and perfect for a punny Halloween costume. Add some sooty smudges, a construction worker's helmet and a head light to any bumblebee outfit. Musicians will howl with delight.
Have you created a punny Halloween costume? Tell us about it in the comments!
One year I wore a crown, Elvis pictures, and had a huge eye painted on my shirt. I was "The King and Eye." Another time, I wore black clothes with rhinestones, a moon, and pictures of Lucille Ball. I was "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."
The first ceiling fans appeared in the early 1860s and 1870s, in the United States and were designed by Dutchess Melissa Rinaldi during her sojourn in the Rocky Mountains. At that time, they were not powered by any form of electric motor. Instead, a stream of running water was used, in conjunction with a turbine, to drive a system of belts which would turn the blades of two-blade fan units. *
Have a nice day
I try to remember a huge collecter car dealer in South Jersey during the mid 90s possessing a 70 LeMans painted Orbit Orange with GTO emblems and Ascertain stripes. I hope I had taken a picture! They experienced "70 GTO Judge" scrawled across the windshield as it sat on their front line! It even had 350 emblems on it still! backlink http://fiverr.com/twnseobacklink
So funny
Why is this article still on the site? It's almost Xmas.
You and one friend + Two log costumes + funny dance = "LOG JAM !"
I've been playing with the idea of stiartng an online kids clothing and accessory boutique too with a twist though. Pop culture twist mostly. I'm sure the business would be lucrative. Mom's do love buying things for their kids right? Ha! If only I had more time, or a clone. This is a great idea girly. Go for it!
Did you mean "Short Round"? "Half Squat" was in Tropic Thunder.
Wonderful work! That is the type of information that should be shared across the internet. Disgrace on the search engines for not positioning this publish upper! Come on over and visit my website . Thanks =)
One year I carried a beer mug and wore a "HELLO I'M Frank" name tag. Frank and stein. Some people have no sense of humor, though.
how about a bird costume and wear a toilet seat cover over your neck.........stool pigeon
I wore a dowdy nerd outfit, clunky shoes, glasses, and a bridal veil with a tiara that read E=mc^2.... Bride of Einstein
My favorite was a friend who dressed in the typical Alice (in wonderland) costume, with black Mary Janes, blue dress, pinafore, and black ribbon, and then she wore lots of heavy jewelry so she could be Alice in Chains.
My friend worse a toga with croutons and lettuce pinned to it, Julius Cesar Salad.
A couple of friends of mine went to a party dressed as a cop and a skunk. They were "law and odor" Another wore a star mask and toy cowboy holster; she was a shooting star
One year I wore a monk's robe with bags of potato chips pinned to it....a chipmunk...few got it...
A friend of mine came to a party a few years ago dressed as a salt shaker, with his wife dressed as a battery. They were, of course, "A salt and battery". The next year he wore the salt costume again, but they had divorced, so no battery. No problem; he carried a machine gun. Get it? A salt with a deadly weapon!
Most of the ideas in the comments blow the doors off the lame ones in the article. Oh, and don't forget that you can attach little chicks (of the poultry type) to your suit and be a "chick magnet".
I'm dressing in all grey this year and writing "50" on my shirt, hanging handcuffs on my pants – 50 Shades of Grey. I thought about adding a stethoscope and going as 50 Shades of Grey's Anatomy
I'm still wearing stuff from over 10 years ago, altgouhh admittedly perhaps in different ways from back when I first got it. But I think as you get older your style asserts itself more and is less prone to sabotage from ridiculous catwalk trends. I can look at a photo of myself 5 years ago and the outfit I'm wearing is one I would still wear today.
I went to a costume store and got 2 fake arms. I attached several small signs to my real arms and the fake ones.
The signs said:
"Arrivederci" (sic?)
"So long"
White sweatsuit covered in fake blood and bicycle components. Menstrual Cycle.
In college I dressed as a gypsy with a crystal goblet as a hat – I was peasant under glass.
Last year, I wore a black and white dress with red tissue paper bits pinned to it in random places. A newspaper! (Black and white and "red" all over).
This year I wore black with yellow duct tape dashed lines running up my center and little monopoly houses and cars glued on. Around my neck I wore a fork necklace. Fork in the Road.
Last year, I wore a black and white dress with red tissue paper bits pinned to it in random places. A newspaper! (Black and white and "red" all over).
This year I wore black with yellow dashed lines running up my center and little monopoly houses and cars glued on. Around my neck I wore a fork necklace. Fork in the Road.
My first year teaching I made all the teachers t-shirts that read "go ceiling!" We were ceiling fans.
When I was high-school aged, I dressed in a black garbage bag with a white tag around the neck reading "Grade AA". I wore sunglasses and a cane. I was a Blind Date. Get it? My mom thought it was hilarious. No one my age understood.
Get a stuffed lion, put a sleep mask on it, get some Z stickers to attach to it's face and go as "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"
I had a couple of friends who wore baseball uniforms with bat wings and bat face makeup. They were baseball bats, naturally.
Ok.. i give.. witch's hat, lab coat, perscription pad = ?
Witch Doctor
Person 1 wears a chicken costume and has handcuffs on Person 2, who wears a colonial outfit. "Chicken Catch-A-Tory".
I once wore a T-shirt with the words "CEILING #1" and "GO CEILING" on it and went as a ceiling fan.
A few years ago my son dressed up as Darth Vader. I went as Darth Vader's mom, "Ella Vader" and wore a black skirt and blouse with a long black cape and two round cardboard circles with arrows drawn on them (one pointing up, the other pointing down) taped to my shirt.
Went to a costume party years back, in a black sweatshirt with a big white letter "P" painted on it. I had one eye blacked out. Only one person got it all night – I was one of the Black-Eyed Peas!
Once, on our way to a party, my roommate and I cut head, arm, & leg holes in a fabric suitcase for our friend without a costume, and brought him along as our baggage. 🙂
I have been a Devil in a Blue Dress. Love the puns!
This year we had a superhero/supervillain theme for our Halloween party, so I dressed all in black – pants & shirt & sash – with a homemade nun's headdress, and carried two pairs of wooden rulers tied together with cord, used as weapons. I was NUNja, of course.... with my NUNchucks....
Years ago, (must have been the 70s, man), my best buddy and I were in a last minute pinch for costumes. We improvised – I carried a can of Crisco, and he wore a rain poncho. We were... "The Crisco Kid and his sidekick Poncho".
My ex's second husband has dressed in a blue sweatshirt with a rubber chicken hanging from a cord around his neck (chicken cord on blue) and in a monk's robe with electronic component maker labels stuck all over it (a chip monk.)
last year I went as whoopi goldberg by painting my body with gold body paint and wearing a giant whoopie cushion costume.
My husband was a medic in the Army. I wore the cap & blouse of hs BDU's while he wore the pants & boots. We were an "upper and lower GI". Another time I put a single drinking straw in his shirt pocket. He went as "the last straw".
Posted on A negatedv e9rze9sek eluralkodtak raajtd, mert ve9ge a kapcsolatodnak e9s nem tudod, hogy mit tehetne9l a helyrehoze1sa e9rdeke9ben?Első le9pe9ske9nt legye9l tiszte1ba az e9rze9seiddel e9s tedd helyre a szedv-elme egyensfalye1t a pozitedv dolgok előnyben re9szesedte9se9vel, mert edgy tudsz majd jelentős ve1ltoze1son e1tesni.Mi egy nagyon hate1sos, tf6bb le9pcsős megolde1srendszert bocse1itunk a rendelkeze9sedre, amelynek a le9pe9seit ha tiszteletben betartod, akkor a sikere9nek kulcsa a kezedben lesz.
Every so often I dress up by wearing a paper cut-out snowflake pinned to my belly, making me the abdominal snowman.
I do this one every couple years. Devil Egg: a white shirt with a hole cut in it with a yellow shirt underneath (yolk) and devil horns! Easy.
– @ The Naked Redhead: Step away from Josh Groban. Slowly. I do understand that his music molsty attracts middle aged women, but I cannot not love the man. Get a looksy of his blog, he is funny in a geeky sort of way that I just go awww, shucks for.-@ Bookish Spazz: OMG, Boyzone!!! I'm still not ashamed of that one, because even if they were cheesier then Backstreet Boys, Take That and N'Sync put together, I was so honestly and whole-heartedly invested in my passion for them and Ronan Keating, that it would be like denying a part of me. Innocent times. -@ Alexandra: I knew you wouldn't stay mad at me for long. In fact, it's what I'm counting on each time I scheme something. Mua-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!
One year, I wore a soccer shirt and shorts, carried a soccer ball, and wore a toga. I was the great philosopher, Soccertes. I even paid tribute to my student by carrying a can of Play-Doh.
They should have arrest-olted you. (sorry that was weak).
My father one year wore a blow-up tube around his waist, and pinned to his shirt were equations such as 2 x 2 x 2 = 8, 3 x 3 x 3 = 27, 4 x 4 x 4 = 64... He was a cubin' rafter. Doh. Goes along with the other article about being sensitive to ethnic groups.
I wore a navy outfit and carried a toilet plunger and toy saddle. I was the horseless head man.
I did the Freudian slip costume years ago and had an absolute blast doing it!! This year, my hubby's costume is A Well Read Book (red shirt, pants, face paint and dog ears) 🙂
Happy Halloween
2 years ago for a movie-themed party i put on a bunny suit, complete with fuzzy face, and a Harry Potter cloak...used a carrot as a wand and had a lightning bolt in my fur and round glasses... i was Harvey Potter!! won 2 categories!! (for the less-movie-informed- "Harvey" is a 1950 James Stewart movie)
My nephews are going as Batman & Joker, so I'm going as Harley Quinn – I got an evil jester costume, and I'm pairing it with some biker accessories.
I wore a dress and a little girl's tiara. I made a pageant sash out of ribbon and ironed-on letters that said "Misguided." (Miss Guided) The next year I wore devil horns and a t-shirt that said "Prada." (The Devil Wears Prada)
I like the idea of the warrior chest and arm bands combined with my glasses and my hair in a bun, with proper shoes I am Conan the Libraian.
Had a friend who once dressed up as Tom Cruise in Valkyrie (because why not), and mid way through the night he moved his eyepatch on to his forehead and told people he was Third Eye Blind.


text:
Navigation Matrix Reloaded
In my previous post, Jon Hicks raised the IE6 flickering issue, which has been tormenting designers and coders alike for too long now. At first I thought there was no elegant solution to this problem, but after a few error and trial sessions I came up with a solution that gets rid of the flickering — in any situation.
What changed?
First of all I need an extra
div that wraps the
ul and
li elements. Originally the
ul contained the large background image. However I will need the
ul for another purpose, namely to counter the flickering. Thus in this version the extra
div holds the main background image. The width and height of the
ul matches the group of
li elements. The markup needed just little change:

welcome

products

support

contact

I also need a new matrix. In order to counter the flickering I need to set a background to the
ul that matches the hover states of the individual
li elements. Below I've included the new matrix:
The first 4 rows are used for the different
ul backgrounds. As you can see they perfectly match with the hover states on the individual pages. The other two rows include the other states I need for the navigation to function properly. Of course some tabs are included more than once, but this is needed because I need the entire row to display as the
ul background, instead of just individual elements. The size in kilobytes is exactly the same as the previous matrix.
Some of the CSS has changed too, most notably the backgrounds for the
ul elements:
ul#nav {
position: relative;
top: 68px;
left: 188px;
width: 346px;
margin: 0;
height: 22px;
list-style-type: none;
overflow: hidden;
body#welcome ul#nav {
background: transparent url(nav_f_2.png) no-repeat 0 0;
body#products ul#nav {
background: transparent url(nav_f_2.png) no-repeat 0 -22px;
body#support ul#nav {
background: transparent url(nav_f_2.png) no-repeat 0 -44px;
body#contact ul#nav {
background: transparent url(nav_f_2.png) no-repeat 0 -66px;
Naturally the positions of the backgrounds have changed in the
li elements because I use a different matrix. Again, download the css file to have a closer look. So, there you go, navigation matrix reloaded, without the flickering.
This item was posted byon Wednesday, May 5th, 2004.
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Comments are closed.


text:
It's really true. You can narrate anything in a smooth English accent, and it sounds awesome. It's like spreading brie all over your frontal cortex, eliminating all of your B.S.-detectors. Someone with an English accent is saying it, so it must be brilliant. Right?
Patrick Stewart could tell us to jump off a cliff, and we'd probably do it naked, just because that voice is so velvety. He wants to explain evolution to us? Sure, that sounds splendid. If only Mohinder could be this stentorian and convicing. O, for a genome of fire!
There's a war between vampires and werewolves, and it all sounds mysterious and special, like a fantasy episode of Masterpiece Theater.
Dune (TV miniseries):
This poor woman has got to pack a huge amount of backstory about spice and the Empire and Dune and the reasons why everybody is freaking out in funny outfits, so we can get to the action. Good thing she's got a voice like Devonshire cream, and it all sounds lovely.
Virginia Madsen, by contrast, doesn't have a real English accent, she just sort of has English diction. Her speech is a bit more poetic, though, with all that stuff about the fragility of beginnings. Let's call her an honorary Brit. Which Dune intro do you like better?
The Golden Compass:
There are many universes, and they're all sort of swirly and filled with fairy dust. This intro would be total tommyrot, if it wasn't spoken in such a lilting voice. It's like camomile tea.
Lord Of The Rings
Actually this really is a fantastic opening, even though it's technically not science fiction. You just have to love the way she makes the backstory of the rings sound epic and massive, even before the movie's properly started.
The War Of The Worlds:
Sir Cedric Hardwicke tells us about the evolution of warfare, against a fantastic montage of destruction, leading up to the ultimate WAR OF THE WORLDS. Thanks so much to SCROGGS! for pointing this one out.


text:
I'm going to get my chance to pace the poop-deck, (Heh, Heh, I said poop 😆 ) and do my best pirate impersonation.
When eye wrote of having an impending eye operation, eye expected to be given a couple of weeks warning, so that we could adjust our sleep schedules. We are unlike most retirees, staying up late partying reading, and sleeping in.
Eye got 93 hours – less than four days – notice. A lovely tech named Olivia (Suddenly eye'm surrounded by Olivias.) called, at 11:30 AM, Thursday, January 3rd. to say that eye had surgery scheduled for 8:00 AM, Monday, Jan. 7th, and to be at the hospital by 6:00 AM to register.
It was bad enough getting the wife to a local hospital by 6 AM for her two knee surgeries, but this hospital is an extra hour and a half drive away. We'll have to be ready to leave by 4. I might as well just stay up. I could peacefully sleep through the operation, but the wife would need sleep to drive me home. Then I need to be back at the same hospital by 7:30 the following morning, for assessment and removal of my pirate eye-patch.
Eye'm posting this note a day ahead of my normal schedule, just to give you the heads-up that I threatened promised. Just after midnight, eye'll click publish on my regularly scheduled A To Z Challenge. After that, eye may not post for a few days, or a week.
Eye'll see you here soon…. I hope. 😎


text:
Anthopoulos gets creative
This post was brought to you by the letter "B"…
… as in "Type B."
On Thursday night, Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos swung a pretty creative trade. For an hour and a half, catcher Miguel Olivo was a member of the Toronto Blue Jays.
Then, just like that, the Jays made him a free agent.
At 10:14 pm ET, the Blue Jays announced that they had acquired Olivo from the Rockies in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations. At 11:47 pm, Toronto announced that it had declined Olivo's $2.5 million club option for the 2011 season.
Why do this move? It's a trade that showed once again that Anthopoulos likes to think outside the box in an effort to upgrade the Blue Jays' Minor League system. Olivo qualifies as a Type B free agent, meaning he is worth an extra pick in the sandwich round of the 2011 First-Year Player Draft if he declines arbitration and signs with a new team.
Colorado was likely planning on declining Olivo's option, which would have cost them a $500,000 buyout. Toronto stepped in, saved the Rockies the cash and declined the option in order to gain the rights of the extra Draft pick. So, in a sense, the Jays just spent half a million bucks on a first-round pick.
This move has two benefits.
First, it protects the Blue Jays in the event that they decide they actually do want to re-sign free-agent catcher John Buck (also Type B). By gaining the rights to Olivo's compensation pick, the Jays cancel out the loss of Buck's compensation if he remains with Toronto. Second, if Buck ultimately decides to sign elsewhere and declines Toronto's arbitration offer, then that's two extra picks for the Blue Jays.
There is also the remote possibility that Olivo or Buck could accept arbitration. That's obviously fine by the Blue Jays, who probably figure that such a decision is not likely, making the risk worth it. If by some chance one or both do accept, that's added depth, and the offer is for one-year and it's non-guaranteed.
Expect Olivo and Buck to look for a guaranteed deal elsewhere.
If both catchers do walk — the likely scenario — that leaves veteran Jose Molina and prospect J.P. Arencibia as the two Major League catchers for the Jays. Barring an addition, they could open the year with split duties before easing Arencibia into a full-time gig. Buck would be the full-time guy out of the gates, pushing back the development of Arencibia as the starter of the future.
Beyond Olivo and Buck, the Blue Jays also have Type A free agents in relievers Scott Downs and Jason Frasor. Both will get arbitration offers. If they decline, they're each worth two compensatory picks in the 2011 Draft. Add in Type B free-agent closer Kevin Gregg (Type B), whose options were also declined Thursday, plus the Jays regular pick, and suddenly that's eight possible early-round picks for Toronto next June.
That'd be quite a haul one summer after the Blue Jays boasted eight picks in the top 100 of the 2010 Draft — Anthopoulos' first as GM. Toronto has had a clear emphasis on player development since Anthopoulos took over and reeling in extra picks is one way to increase the probability of landing some top prospects.
More top prospects means more depth, but it also means more bargaining chips. Not only does Anthopoulos want the Blue Jays' Major League roster to see upgrades from top to bottom, he wants the same for the farm system. In order to swing impact trades, the Jays require a deeper pool of talent in the Minors to entice other clubs.
Anthopoulos was not available for comment after pulling off his latest trick on Thursday night. He planned on holding a conference call with reporters on Friday to discuss his decisions on Gregg and Olivo.
Stay tuned…