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Was there ever life on Mars? In fact, could there still be microbes living on Mars now? It's still a distinct possibility. But given the difficulties involved in sending people and specialized equipment to Mars to look for samples, we could be waiting decades to find out. So it's a good thing there's a ready alternative: according to scientists, any life that exists on Mars may well also exist on its moons, especially Phobos.
According to Jay Melosh, of Purdue University, "A sample from the moon Phobos, which is much easier to reach than the Red Planet itself, would almost surely contain Martian material blasted off from large asteroid impacts." Added Melosh, in a press release: "If life on Mars exists or existed within the last 10 million years, a mission to Phobos could yield our first evidence of life beyond Earth."
Melosh and a team from NASA's Planetary Protection Office tried to figure out if a sample from Phobos might contain enough recent material from Mars to include viable Martian organisms. The idea was that if asteroid impacts on Mars could launch material later found on earth, it would be even more likely that similar material would be found on the Martian moons... particularly Phobos, the one nearest the planet.
Melosh and his team concluded that a seven-ounce sample scooped from the surface of Phobos could contain, on average, about 0.1 milligrams of Mars surface material blasted from Mars over the past 10 million years and as much as 50 milligrams of material from the past 3.5 billion years. They presented their findings at a joint NASA-European Space Agency meeting in Austria.
"The time frames are important," Kathleen Howell, Hsu Lo Professor of Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, emphasized, "because it is thought that after 10 million years of exposure to the high levels of radiation on Phobos, any biologically active material would be destroyed."
When an asteroid hits the surface of a planet it blasts a spray of material into space. The result of such a blast on Mars would be particles about one-thousandth of a millimeter in diameter, or 100 times smaller than a grain of sand — about the size of terrestrial bacteria.
By plotting more than 10 million possible paths such particles could take — including possible speeds, angles of departure and orbital forces — Melosh's team figured out which trajectories would be most likely to intercept Phobos, and where they might land on the moon during its eight-hour orbit around Mars.
The probability of a particle landing on Phobos depends primarily on the power of the blast that launched it from the surface. "It is estimated," said graduate student Loic Chappaz, "that during the past 10 million years there have been at least four large impact events powerful enough to launch material into space, and we focused on several large craters as possible points of origin. It turns out that no matter where Phobos is in its orbit, it would have captured material from these powerful impact events."
Shortly after Melosh and his team submitted their report, a 37-mile-diameter crater was found on Mars. Dubbed Mojave, it is estimated to be less than 5 million years old, which means there might be an even greater amount of Martian material on Phobos containing viable organisms than they'd estimated.
"It is not outside the realm of possibility," Melosh suggested, "that a sample could contain a dormant organism that might wake up when exposed to more favorable conditions on Earth." Melosh added that there would be no reason to worry about an "Andromeda Strain"-style epidemic. "Approximately one ton of Martian material lands on Earth every year," he explained. "There is a lot more swapping back and forth of material within our solar system than people realize. In fact, we may owe our existence to life on Mars."
"It's difficult to believe there hasn't been life somewhere out there in the vast expanse of space," Howell added. "The question is if the timeline overlaps with ours enough for us to recognize it. Even if we found no evidence of life in a sample from Phobos, it would not be a definitive answer to the question of whether or not there was life on Mars. There still may have been life that existed too long ago for us to detect it."


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home / customers / case studies / Jackson Laboratory
Thinkmap's visualization is an effective way to navigate through information, and it can be used to help in the discovery of unknown, yet important, relationships. In the case of the Jackson Laboratory, where Assistant Professor Matthew Hibbs runs an effort to understand the mechanisms of abnormal cell replication seen in cancer, a Thinkmap visualization is a key tool for finding the genes that might be involved in this process.
Hibbs and his team study stem cells, cells that are able to divide and differentiate into different cell types, as well as self-renew to produce more stem cells. More specifically, Hibbs is interested in the process of self-renewal, as this is a process that many scientists suspect is key to understanding how cancers form. The challenge is that although we know all of the genes in the human and mouse genome, we don't know what function most of these genes perform, or how they interact with each other to accomplish their role.
Hibbs' lab combines known information from the literature with analysis derived from noisy, high-throughput experiments to determine what might be useful relationships. So a user sees, in one display, two different types of relationships. Those that we know to be true, based on classical research, and those that we're not sure of, based on inferences from over 800 different analyses used to find similarities between genes.
StemSight scout is a Thinkmap-based tool for exploring these potential similarities between genes. The underlying data combines information from literature with information drawn from various experiments, so that an end user can find potential genes to further explore. Since all the information about one gene can be shown in a graph, an end user can quickly drill down to a few potential candidates for exploration. These genes can then be further examined in the lab, thus allowing for more efficient experimentation.
The gene Pou5f1 is well known for its importance in the self-renewal process. The orange lines represent connections that are known from the literature. The green lines represent connections that are inferred from experimentation. A scientist looking at this display might decide to investigate gene Gbx2, to see if it too has importance in the self-renewal process.
"We're really happy with the Thinkmap tool, and how quickly we could get this application built and up for use," says Assistant Professor Hibbs. "Already we're discovering some very promising paths for research and exploration."
Since StemSight is public, other researchers can access the data as well, increasing the likelihood that a solution will be found.
The Thinkmap visualization helps researchers find information that would be difficult to discover without the visualization. Due to Thinkmap's flexibility, Hibbs' team was able to develop a tool that is improving our understanding of stem cells and the process of self-renewal.

subset: commoncrawl


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SEO Starter Guide updated
September 28th, 2010 | Published in Google Webmaster Central
Webmaster Level: Beginner
Update on October 3, 2010: We have fixed the issue causing the highlighted text to be obscured on Linux PDF readers.
Here's what's new:
- Glossary to define terms throughout the guide
- More example images to help you understand the content
- Ways to optimize your site for mobile devices
- Clearer wording for better readability
You may remember getting to see what Googlebot looks like in our "First date with Googlebot" post. In this version of the SEO Starter Guide, Googlebot is back to provide you with some more SEO tips.
You can download the new version here [PDF]. Entertain and impress your friends by leaving a printed copy on your coffee table.


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Canon PowerShot A1000 IS Review
Review Date: September 9th 2008
Author: Mark Goldstein
Leave a comment about this Review
Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 10 megapixel SuperFine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 5Mb.
The Canon PowerShot A1000 IS produced images of good quality during the review period. The A1000 IS dealt extremely well with chromatic aberrations, with limited purple fringing effects appearing only in high contrast situations. The pop-up flash worked well indoors, with no red-eye and adequate exposure. The night photograph was good, with the maximum shutter speed of 15 seconds allowing you to capture enough light in most situations. Anti-shake is a feature that sets this camera apart from its competitors and one that works very well when hand-holding the camera in low-light conditions or when using the telephoto end of the zoom range. Macro performance is excellent, allowing you to focus as close as 3cms away from the subject (although it's difficult to get the lighting correct at such a close distance). The images were a little soft straight out of the camera at the default sharpening setting and ideally require further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop, or you can change the in-camera setting if you don't like the default results. Noise is the biggest problem for the Canon PowerShot A1000 IS. The 10 megapixel sensor produces noise-free images at ISO 80 and 100, but some limited noise is already starting to appear at ISO 200. ISO 400 exhibits quite visible noise and loss of fine detail, and ISO 8000 and 1600 are even noisier.
There are 6 ISO settings available on the Canon Powershot A1000 IS. There is virtually no discernible noise at the slowest settings of ISO 80 and 100, but there is some noise creeping in at the relatively slow speed of ISO 200. More obvious noise and slight loss of detail is apparent at ISO 400, particularly in the shadow areas, and at the fastest settings of ISO 800 and especially ISO 1600, image quality has deterioated a lot. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:
ISO 80 (100% Crop)
ISO 100 (100% Crop)
ISO 200 (100% Crop)
ISO 400 (100% Crop)
ISO 800 (100% Crop)
ISO 1600 (100% Crop)
Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are just a little soft at the default setting ideally and benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. You can also change the in-camera sharpening level to suit your tastes via the My Colors menu option.
Original (100% Crop)
Sharpened (100% Crop)
File Quality
The Canon Powershot A1000 IS has 3 different JPEG image quality settings available, with Superfine being the highest quality JPEG option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.
10M Superfine (4.18Mb) (100% Crop)
10M Fine (2.50Mb) (100% Crop)
10M Normal (1.07Mb) (100% Crop)
Chromatic Aberrations
The Canon Powershot A1000 IS handled chromatic aberrations excellently during the review, with very limited purple fringing present around the edges of objects in certain high-contrast situations, as shown in the example below.
Example 1 (100% Crop)
The Canon Powershot A1000 IS offers a Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is 3cms away from the camera when the lens is set to wide-angle. The first image shows how close you can get to the subject (in this case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.
Macro Shot
100% Crop
The flash settings on the Canon Powershot A1000 IS are Auto, Manual Flash On / Off, Slow Sync Speed and Red-eye Reduction. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.
Flash Off - Wide Angle (35mm)
Auto Flash - Wide Angle (35mm)
Flash Off - Telephoto (140mm)
|Auto Flash - Telephoto (140mm)
And here are some portrait shots. As you can see, neither the Flash On setting or the Red-Eye Reduction option caused any red-eye.
Flash On
|Flash On (100% Crop)
Red-eye reduction
|Red-eye reduction (100% Crop)
Anti Shake
The Canon Powershot A1000 IS has an anti-shake mechanism, which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other digital cameras. To test this, I took 2 handheld shots of the same subject with the same settings. The first shot was taken with anti shake turned off, the second with it turned on. Here is a 100% crop of the image to show the results. As you can see, with anti shake turned on, the images are much sharper than with anti shake turned off. This feature really does seem to make a difference and could mean capturing a successful, sharp shot or missing the opportunity altogether.
|Shutter Speed / Focal Length
Anti Shake Off (100% Crop)
|Anti Shake On (100% Crop)
|1/10th / 35mm
|1/6th / 140mm
Night Shot
The Canon Powershot A1000 IS's maximum shutter speed is 15 seconds in the Long Shutter mode, which is good news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 10 seconds at ISO 80. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like. The camera takes the same amount of time again to apply noise reduction, so for example at the 10 second setting the actual exposure takes 20 seconds.
Night Shot
|Night Shot (100% Crop)
PhotographyBLOG is a member of the DIWA organisation. Our test results for the Canon PowerShot A1000 IS have been submitted to DIWA for comparison with test results for different samples of the same camera model supplied by other DIWA member sites.


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Lawrence Construction, Inc.
Roof Installation Contractor Gamaliel
Lawrence Construction, Inc. is a family-owned business that specializes in residential construction. We specialize in high-end renovations and new home construction. We have been working on residential properties for many years, which has given us the experience to work on big and small projects. Your construction project will be overseen by a licensed and insured general contractor. From planning to completion, the general contractor will keep everyone informed. We ensure to leave our customers happy and satisfied by completing the project with the quality craftsmanship you can expect from a professional. Therefore, if you want to renovate your home or add a new home built, you should contact our team of experts today.
Business Name:
Lawrence Construction, Inc.
GamalielGamaliel Arkansas 72537United States
(870) 539-9979
About Gamaliel
Gamaliel gə-MAIL-ee-ə is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Baxter County, Arkansas, United States. Gamaliel is located along Arkansas Highway 101, 12 miles (19 km) northeast of Mountain Home and 3 mi (4.8 km) south of the Arkansas—Missouri border. Gamaliel has a post office with ZIP code 72537.Gamaliel is located on a ridge between Bennetts Bayou to the east and the Norfork River/Norfork Lake to the west. Gamaliel campground on the east arm of Norfork Lake is about three miles to the southeast.It was first listed as a CDP in the 2020 census with a population of 33. == Demographics == === 2020 census === Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category.
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Davi & Dani Color My Soul Full Size Run Dress
Shipping calculated at checkout.
This cute-as-can-be dress features a subtle plaid print, half-length puff sleeves, a square neck, and a smocked waist. It also has elasticized sleeves and neckline.
- Sizing: True to size
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- Features: Smocked waist, elastic neckline and sleeves
- Neckline: Square neck
- Sheer: No
- Stretch: No
- Product measurements:
S: bust 32 in, length 44.5 in
M: bust 35 in, length 45 in
L: bust 37 in, length 45.5 in
1XL: bust 42 in, length 46 in
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3XL: bust 46 in, length 47 in
- Material composition:
Self: 100% rayon
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- Care: Hand wash cold. Do not dry clean. Do not bleach. Do not iron. Do not tumble dry.
- Imported
Young and Junior Contemporary supplier Davi & Dani was created by and is loved by fashion enthusiasts everywhere. Their unique and creative tops, dresses, bottoms, outerwear, and more, in plus and regular sizes, put a spin on traditional and trending styles, so you'll be turning heads while wearing Davi & Dani.


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With many years operating in the painting industry, LDG Industriel has developed a reputation as Nova Scotia's premier painting company. Our Halifax painters offer superior craftsmanship and have an eye for even the smallest of details. Using the highest-grade painting tools, products, and techniques, our capable painting contractors offer the following exceptional painting services.
With over countless homes and businesses painted in and around Halifax, Dartmouth, Sydney, Truro, New Glasgow, Glace Bay, Kentville, Amherst, Bridgewater, and Yarmouth, our Halifax painters have delivered a 100% project completion rate. We offer an exclusive painting satisfaction guarantee which is backed by the confidence that only a professional painting company like ours can provide!
Handling each painting project with the utmost care, our Halifax painters value each of our clients unique needs. Whether you need a small room in your home painted, the whole interior of your commercial business upgraded, or the outside of your industrial warehouse sandblasted and resurfaced, our Halifax painters are here to help! With a total commitment to excellence, high standards of quality, and professionalism, our painting contractors are fully licensed and insured. Please contact us to learn more about our company, and for a free, no-obligation consultation and quote. Our Halifax painters are ready and able to assist you with all of your residential, industrial, or commercial painting challenges. View our gallery of past painting projects or read testimonials from some of our esteemed clients for more inspiration!
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text: Isaac Graves This article has been published in various forms by The Huffington Post, YES! magazine, Education Revolution, and the Institute for Democratic Education in America. Introduction As a leader within the alternative and democratic education community, I am frequently asked the question, "What is democratic education?" When I was a teenager, and at that … Continue reading


text: Neighborhood parks serve as social and recreational focal points for neighborhoods in Altamonte Springs. These parks offer a wide range of facilities, such as playground equipment for kids, picnic areas and benches for interaction with nature, or a spot to just relax and read a book. All are easily accessible for children and senior adults.


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TIFF Days Three and Four (grades from Days 5, 6 and 7)
Let's do the easy stuff first, my grades from the last three days of the Toronto International Film Festival:
DOGVILLE (Lars Von Trier, Denmark, 2003) — 9
THE FOG OF WAR (Errol Morris, USA, 2003) — 6
A TALKING PICTURE (Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal, 2003) — 4
THE COMPANY (Robert Altman, USA, 2003) — 6
LES TRIPLETTES DE BELLEVILLE (Sylvain Chomet, France/Canada, 2003) — 7
GOOD BYE, DRAGON INN (Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan, 2003) — 8
AT FIVE IN THE AFTERNOON (Samira Makhmalbaf, Iran, 2003) — 4
THE SCHOOL OF ROCK (Richard Linklater, USA, 2003 ) — 7
21 GRAMS (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, USA, 2003) — 6
THE GRUB STAKE (Bert Van Tuyle/Nell Shipman, USA/Canada, 1923) — 3
SHATTERED GLASS (Billy Bob, USA, 2003) — 7
And here are the capsules for the remaining films I saw through Day Four:
BRIGHT FUTURE (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan, 2003, 6)
This is easily my favorite film by Mr. No Relation, but this really isn't saying as much as it might sound. Plus the Kiyoshi fans I know think this is one of his weaker efforts — call it a Kurosawa film for people who don't like Kurosawa. The plot begins with two slacker friends, Yuji and Mamoru, and their boss, who wants to relive his youth. But sometimes whole subplots and sequences play themselves out merely to set up or get to the heart of something else (think THE CRYING GAME or CITY OF GOD), and the heart of the film is a pet jellyfish that Mamoru left Yuji, and the relationship between Yuji and Mamoru's father.
What sets BRIGHT FUTURE apart from KK's other films for me is that this time, he has a metaphor (the jellyfish) and stays with it and doesn't try to get too obscure (CURE ended in a blizzard of non sequiturs; PULSE was just wtf? throughout). We're kinda expecting this to morph into THE JELLYFISH THAT ATE TOKYO, since most of Kurosawa's earlier films were horror films of one sort or another. But here, he stays with the film's third father-son relationship and how it deals with "the jellyfish." What is the jellyfish a metaphor for — the "sons" friendship, the future, adaptation to environment, all sorts of things (it's one of those deliberately all-unifying symbols, like Moby Dick).
The film is shot on two different qualities of digital video, and the effect is a grungy, dirty, washed out world where the red on the jellyfish stands out as practically the only primary color, and results in a truly glorious image as a parade of glowing red balls swim through a grungy canal out to the sea. Sometimes the metaphors, hooks and symbols are just too obviously (and sometimes explicitly) metaphors, hooks and symbols — they don't really work as themselves (there are two father figures; one of them has two sets of sons; the jellyfish revert to their nature once freed; fatherhood is transferred). BRIGHT FUTURE is a very schematic movie, with a deeply ironic and unsubtle ending. Still, I didn't leave the theater bored or indifferent, and that's always good.
ONG-BAK: MUAY THAI WARRIOR (Pracha Pinkaew, Thailand, 2003, 9)
This martial arts film from Thailand is awesome. This movie has a Mr. Big villain that has a tracheotomy and so speaks through a machine, like Ned in SOUTH PARK, and smokes through the hole in his throat. This movie has a hero who jumps through a coiled-up ring of barbed wire, at full speed. This movie does not use wires or computer imaging. This movie's hero runs over the shoulders of six bad guys in a line. This movie's hero jumps over one moving car at full speed and slides under another at full speed. This movie has an Australian villain who snarls "Thai women come to my country to be hookers." This movie has a fight in which a refrigerator is used as a weapon. This movie has two guys falling from a third-story window, and one plants a full kick on the other while in midair. Did you get that … "while in midair"? This movie has a hero who can execute a jump kick to the head while his legs are on fire. Did you get that … "while his legs are on fire"? This movie's villain has a secret lair in the mountains. This movie has a villain who breaks the sidekick's arm with a chop against the joint (think Joe Theismann); the hero retaliates by using the same maneuver to tear off that villain's leg. This movie has a Buddha head crush two villains at once. This movie prompted dozens of winces and gasps (and laughs) from the hardened gorehounds at Toronto Midnight Madness (and the series' first-ever standing ovation, according to the programmer). This movie had the first question for the director be "how many stuntmen were killed in making this movie?" (A: None.) This movie didn't let out, because of delays and a lengthy Q-and-A, until 3 a.m. at the end of (for me) a six-film day; I was still on too much of an andrenaline high to sleep for more than an hour. This movie is the most awesome movie in the history of awesomeness.
THE MAYOR OF SUNSET STRIP (George Hickenlooper, USA, 2003, 7)
A small bit of genius here in the fact that this is a moral film that is never moralistic. You might not even recognize until, purely hypothetically speaking of course, you are looking through your viewing notes in order to write your capsule live from a Toronto Internet cafe, just how thoroughly it repudiates the lifestyle and mores of its titular character, Rodney Bingenheimer.
The illusion and transitoriness of celebrity, in this case a disc jockey who was one of the great celebrity hangers-on of all time, has been done a thousand times before — but seldom with both this much thoroughness and with this much understanding for what made the lifestyle attractive in the first place without coming across as a scolding jeremiad (except in one scene, involving a member of the girl band the Runaways). It's mostly a bright, fast-paced and funny look at one man's journey through the sexdrugsandrocknroll lifestyle, and is consumable on those terms.
Bingenheimer was never exactly famous, but he was the ultimate plugged-in guy, and he had a knack for spotting The Next Hot Thing in pop music. This in-between status gave him thousands of celebrity photos with seemingly everybody who's anybody — a fetish from a very young age; he even recorded a call to JFK's White House, which we hear. He also had access to limitless sex. Groupies could get close enough to him, but not the actual celebrities, for a hookup. He got more than Robert Plant by being the next-best thing and available — which about says it all. The movie compares Bingenheimer to a West Coast Andy Warhol, but the amazing photos and footage in the film suggest another comparison — Woody Allen's Zelig character, in that he seemingly morphed into whatever crowd was The In Crowd.
Yet you come out of the theater wondering just how much self-knowledge this guy has. He's kept on at a radio station merely for show, and he doesn't seem to realize that he has helped wreck the life of a man who went out West to become famous like him. There are several stand-out references to Kato Kaelin (a punchline) and Phil Spector (potentially a murderer). His father and stepmother are clearly, without saying it but showing it in the placement of photos, ashamed of him. And his girlfriend doesn't love him.
My fellow TIFF geek Noel Murray said as we walked out the theater that the girlfriend and parent scenes were the documentarian rubbing Rodney's nose in it. I initially told Noel that I didn't really think so, but I have changed my mind. However, I have to say that it just didn't bother me — partly because the film filmed Rodney's holy moment (dumping his mother's ashes); partly because Rodney makes it equally clear that he doesn't love his girlfriend either (he says he'd move to London in a jiffy if he saw someone better); and partly because he seems so oblivious that self-knowledge might have required it.
TIME OF THE WOLF (Michael Haneke, France/Austria, 2003, 8 )
The first 30-40 minutes of this movie are as good as anything Haneke has ever made, which is saying a lot. The man is the best pure director in the world, but his script lets him down in the middle of the movie. Society breaks down for reasons that are never explained and are thus not important — and the movie's brilliant beginning shows Isabelle Huppert and her family trying to get by on a day-to-day basis (or a minute-to-minute one, actually) in a world where nothing can be counted on and all social rules have evaporated.
The opening scene, of a confrontation in the cabin, is as tight and tense as anything in FUNNY GAMES. The camera successfully follows a parakeet as it flies inside a cabin; a night-time closeup of a burning branch becomes a glowing speck on the horizon as the first outsider arrives (think of the famous horizon shot in LAWRENCE OF ARABIA); and a much bigger ember becomes the first group of outsiders. It's all formally breathtaking, along with taut and suspenseful. Much of the action in the early part of the film occurs at night in the countryside, with no source of light beyond the fire the family keeps or the branches they can burn for a few seconds, but Haneke makes everything perfectly intelligible (except that which isn't supposed to be). This family basically is slow to realize that they are no longer living in the bourgeois liberal social world, but Hobbes' state of nature.
It is a critique of the modern bourgeoisie, but not one that many liberals are very eager to push — that if social relations are constructed, then outside the rules of society, the only rule is the law of the nature — force, the time of the wolf (they even meet a conscious outlaw), the war of all against all. Even the occasional grace notes are reversed (the smashing of a grave). However, Haneke is too smart to realize that the state of nature can't last — "man is by nature a political animal," Aristotle says, and so we get the family joining bands of people trying to form an embryonic society on the basis of survival. Haneke does "state of nature," though, so much better than he does "civil society." TIME OF THE WOLF just loses focuses about the midway point amidst an undisciplined flood of new characters that we never really come to know or care about, and no film has room for more than five or six archetypes.
There are still flashes of Haneke's formal brilliance — a closeup of tears flowing down Huppert's impassive face at night cuts to a blinding shot of a lush, verdant, sunny morning in the forest; the way he frames the single shot of a child's funeral. But it's not enough, though the film bounces back in the last two majestic shots, which I won't spoil beyond saying that during the last one, a lengthy shot, I was muttering under my breath "please let this be the last shot." And it was. thanks mickey.
GOOD BYE, LENIN (Wolfgang Becker, Germany, 2003, 7)
This movie is gonna get a lot of flack from U.S. conservatives when it's released because it's basically a Communism nostalgia comedy, but we should give this film a spin, even though it will obviously attract plenty of the wrong kind of praise. Just keep in mind — it's a light comedy. Basically the family mixup genre, but there's a lot of heart in it, too — my TIFF geek friend Daniel Owen said it's basically "everybody loves his mum." And if that means harboring fond memories of communist tyranny .. well … she's still your mum.
Plus, to the extent the film has a political point, it's *making fun of* East German believers and their Western excuse-makers. Sure enough, the reliable nitwits at the Toronto Festival Guidebook People's Central Committee refer to the unreconstructed East German Communist mother at the plot's center as an "idealist" (while also somehow saying the film "steers clear of broad comedy," which I guess is true if the Three Stooges set the standard). If you could groove on the Australian comedy THE CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION and ignore the idiotic critical praise it got, this film will work like gangbusters.
In 1989, an East Berlin true believer gets a heart attack while seeing the East German police be mean (imagine that). She slips into a coma and only awakens in early 1990, after the Berlin Wall has fallen and while the country is preparing for annexation by West Germany. Rather than risk another heart attack from her seeing all the decadent consumer capitalism consuming the Workers and Peasants Paradise (stop laughing, people), her son decides to take the bedridden woman home, so he can control the environment and maintain the illusion that East Germany is doing just super. OK, it's an idiotic premise (he's obviously gonna have to tell her someday), but it's basically just Rip Von Winkle.
Once it gets cooking, however, this film becomes very funny, as the son has to go to increasingly elaborate lengths to keep his mother, whose health and thus mobility are improving, from finding out. The best scenes involve creating fake East German newscasts to tape for mother, and they are a perfect parody of Communist kitsch, Communist lies, and this woman's limitless will to believe (and not just hers). The 1989 footage of East Germans climbing into West German embassies becomes quite literally the opposite, and she finds it believable. And every shred of the "news report" was a lie. But telling lies was the only way she could continue to believe in socialism and communism. Imagine that.
THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD (Guy Maddin, Canada, 2003, 6)
(Open with map of Canada, star on the northern shore of Lake Ontario. Images are in soft-focus, using high-contrast black-and-white. And no sound unless otherwise noted.)
The largest city in Canada, known to its residents as Toronto, decided to host a film festival, to find the saddest sound in the world. There were many contenders, from every corner of the globe.
(Cue Bollywood music clip; followed by Japanese samurai yell; Italian cursing; French philosophy debates; the sound of seats hitting the back of chairs as people walk out of 29 PALMS.)
But the saddest sound in the world turns out to be unrequited love, the tears flowing from the dashed expectations of a cinephile betrayed. (Cue picture of Victor over a broken heart). He went to the frigid Canadian north in expectation of a masterpiece from the man. (Insert picture of Guy Maddin, gleam on teeth) who made the greatest live-action short Victor had ever set eyes upon.
(Cue 20-second clip from HEART OF THE WORLD, with music soundtrack, preferably one of the cannon shots, depending on the negotiations on the rights.)
Further, he drank from this wizard (insert picture of Maddin, in Merlin costume) the most bizarre cocktail (insert picture of Maddin, in bartender apron and white shirt with sleeves rolled up to elbow) he had ever seen. This cocktail was a DRACULA: PAGES FROM A VIRGIN'S DIARY, as the Merlin of the barstool (insert picture of Maddin, in bartender apron and white shirt with sleeves rolled up to elbow, and also wearing a pointed wizard hat) called it, made from the ingredients Murnau, Mahler, Daghiliev, and Dracula (use flash inserts for mugs of first three men, George Hamilton for the fourth). This feature inspired Victor to start writing a useless blog that nobody ever reads. And all this Maddin (flash edit mug) material came just in the past few months.
(Cue 30s Art Deco title card from THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD.)
An encounter with Mr. Maddin's latest filled Victor's heart (insert a beating heart from some animal; no goats) with anticipation as he took off (jet sound effect) on his trip to the Great White North. He paid two 2003 Canadian dollars to struggle through the Toronto Metro (subway sound effect) to the far-away Elgin Screening Room (North Pole image). And at first, all was as expected. The good Mr. Maddin (flashback to bartender/wizard costume) produced the expected deadpan absurdist comedy (pan along Isabella Rossellini's beer-filled glass legs) done in an over-the-top pastiche of early cinema melodramas (cut to Mark McKinney in Snidely American Whiplash costume and Cheshire Cat grin), the softest black-and-white photography in the world (cut to practically any image), obvious studio sets (show Winnipeg in the snow), and fruity line readings (cue a clip from the pair of Winnipeg's "Saddest Music in the World" contest commentators).
For a period of approximately one hour, perhaps less in the metric system or the Canadian exchange rate, Victor was delighted. One particular laugh of Victor's (cue high-pitched loud laugh) was even heard and recognized at the farthest reaches of the Elgin (cut to quizzical looks from Mike D'Angelo, Noel Murray and Daniel Owen).
(Closeup of a giant, generic script crushing a Maddin doll as it tips over.)
But then the gods of cinema decreed that there should be a plot. That romantic alignments between the main characters must change repeatedly (cut to shot from the swapping orgy in THE ICE STORM), and that we must be made to care about them as human beings, rather than as ciphers and signifiers (cut to Cinema Studies pupil salivating; Victor in an ascot looking puzzled) for Maddin's virtuosity and demented sense of humor.
So the good people of Toronto decided (cut to funeral pyres, with the big red word "SARS" superimposed) that this, then, was the saddest sound in the world. The sound of a dejected Victor leaving the Elgin (cut to North Pole shot, with penguins added) after expecting and then halfway getting a masterpiece. But by the end having been left merely with the sound of one hand clapping. What a sad sound.


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Recently, I wrote a post about gluten-free oat matzo for Passover. Fortunately, there's also a different kind of gluten-free matzo on the block. These gluten-free "matzo-style squares" are matzo alternatives that taste better than regular wheat matzo or gluten-free oat matzo. With a crisp, cracker consistency, these gluten-free matzos are good enough to be eaten year-round (really!).
Made primarily from potato starch and tapioca starch, and lightly salted, the matzos have a delicate taste, unlike regular dry matzo that leaves you parched and scrambling for water. Yehuda Gluten-Free Matzo-Style Squares have been on the market for the past two years. Not to be left out, Manischewitz came out with its own "Gluten-Free Matzo-Style Squares" this year. (How odd that they have the same name.)
Now, these matzos don't technically meet the seder requirements of matzo — that's why you'll notice a disclaimer on the box that says "not a replacement for seder matzo" or "not for sacramental purposes." At the seder the Hamotzi blessing is supposed to be said over matzo made from one of five grains: wheat, rye, barley, spelt and oats. That's why some people turn to gluten-free oat matzo, though the oat matzo tastes like cardboard and is much more expensive, because of the supervision involved in ensuring that it's both gluten-free and kosher for Passover.
The Manischewitz and Yehuda gluten-free matzo-style squares are very similar — with a crisp, flatbread consistency. Manischewitz is cheaper, which is always a plus, though I like Yehuda's flavor slightly better. Both are certified gluten-free, and both do not contain oats (doctors now say that most celiacs can tolerate pure, uncontaminated gluten-free oats, but some celiacs still have reactions from oats). Yehuda and Manischewitz also make smaller gluten-free matzo crackers, too.
Last year, Yehuda added a toasted onion flavor, and this year adds a fiber-enriched version. The fiber-enriched version has 3 grams of dietary fiber, compared to 1.2 grams in the regular matzo squares. The additional fiber comes in the form of "apple fiber" and "plant fiber." The fiber-enriched version is dry, though. If you want fiber, you'd probably be better off eating a fresh apple, which has 4 grams of fiber, instead of eating apple fiber in your matzo.
Depending on where you live, these matzos can be hard to find. I've found them at a local Jewel that has a good kosher selection. Some Whole Foods stores (at least in Chicago) carry the Yehuda Gluten-Free Matzo-Style Squares, too. You can also order them online, or ask if your local grocery store can order them for you.


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Skram – Concept 3 Media Unit
Written by kris & katie on January 22, 2008. Permalink
This custom media unit is available in a multitude of woods.
"Designed by Jacob Marks, the unit offers generous storage for A/V equipment in the form of a long, narrow flap style door on the right side, additional shelving or storage for the subwoofer on the left (please note at time of order placement intended use for this space), and a slender drawer mounted in the aluminum slab leg. Hand rubbed, 7-coat low-VOC water-based finish."
Purchase Information:Price: $5,750.00
Availability: Buy Skram – Concept 3 Media Unit here


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Judge orders NFL, retired players to negotiate over concussion cases
Retirees want right to sue league, NFL insists claims must be arbitrated
The NFL and former players must try to negotiate a dispute over whether complaints about concussion-related injuries belong in court or in arbitration, a federal judge said Monday.
U.S. District Judge Anita B. Brody of Philadelphia had planned to rule July 22 in a legal fight that involves about 4,200 former players and could be worth billions of dollars.
But instead she ordered the two sides to begin mediation with retired federal Judge Layn Phillips. The retirees want the right to sue the league, while the NFL insists the claims must be arbitrated under terms of the collective bargaining agreement.
Brody asked for a progress report by Sept. 3, while placing a gag order on the lawyers. Both sides agreed to comply.
Many former players say they suffer from dementia, Alzheimer's disease and other neurological conditions, which they believe stem from on-field concussions. The league insists that safety has always been a top priority.
Both sides have something to fear from a court ruling. Brody could throw out the lawsuits and steer them to arbitration; or accept some or all of them, and open up internal NFL files to plaintiffs' lawyers looking for a smoking gun. Still, sports law professor Marc Edelman, who teaches at Fordham University and Baruch College, called it "highly unlikely" that either side would budge during mediation.
"The sentimental impact of this type of case is one that would make it strongly advantageous for the plaintiffs to get to a jury," Edelman said. "The position the NFL has taken is they are not liable for anything that's happened to the players."
Legal arguments
In legal arguments before Brody in April, NFL lawyer Paul Clement said teams bear the chief responsibility for health and safety under the contract, along with the players' union and the players themselves. Players' lawyer David Frederick accused the league of concealing studies linking concussions to neurological problems for decades.
"The plaintiffs got in a lot of their case, that the NFL glorified violence all these years. I would think in mediation that Judge Phillips would let it go further, if that's what they want to talk about," said Andrew Brandt, who directs a sports law centre at Villanova University School of Law.
In recent years, a string of former NFL players and other concussed athletes have been diagnosed after their deaths with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, including popular Pro Bowler Junior Seau and lead plaintiff Ray Easterling. Both committed suicide last year.
About one-third of the league's 12,000 former players have joined the litigation since 2011. Some legal experts feel the NFL may be most vulnerable on claims from a few hundred "gap" players, who played during years when there was no contract in place.
"We respect and will comply with the court's order regarding mediation and will be available to meet with Judge Phillips at his direction," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in a statement. The Plaintiffs' Executive Committee for the former NFL players also pledged to "follow the court's directive."
Phillips, 61, had a meteoric law career before leaving the federal bench in Oklahoma and moving to private practice before age 40. He was a tennis standout at the University of Tulsa, where he also played flag football, according to an online biography. He is now based in Newport Beach, Calif.
"Judge Phillips is pleased to have been appointed ... in this challenging and complex matter. He looks forward to working with the parties to achieve resolution," his office said in a statement.


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A judge sentenced Lindsay Lohan to 90 days in jail Tuesday after ruling she violated probation in a 2007 drug case by failing to attend court-ordered alcohol education classes.
Lohan burst into tears after the sentencing by Superior Court Judge Marsha Revel.
Lohan was not required to immediately surrender but will have to turn herself in on July 20. She will also be required to enter an inpatient rehab program after her release from jail.
The ruling came during a hearing set for the "Mean Girls" star after she missed a court date in May. She has been required to wear an ankle alcohol monitor since then.
The monitor issued an alert after Lohan attended the MTV Movie Awards and after-parties.
Prosecutors had hoped to introduce reports from the monitor to show the actress also had violated a court order against drinking imposed as part of her probation.
Revel said during the ongoing hearing the device showed Lohan's blood-alcohol content was 0.03.
However, Revel said she would not consider whether the actress actually consumed alcohol last month after attending the MTV Movie Awards. Lohan has denied drinking that night.
The judge said she would honor what she told lawyers for both sides in a closed meeting last month and not allow the negative report to be used at the hearing.
Revel said she would only consider whether the actress failed to complete the required number of alcohol education courses on time.
Cheryl Marshall, a co-founder of the education program, testified she did not report Lohan to be in violation of the judge's order when the actress missed nine meetings then made up an undisclosed number.
Marshall said she was aware the program received a phone call from the judge in December saying she wanted Lohan to attend classes each week. But Marshall added she never got a paper copy of the order and did not consider it active.
Marshall's program fought against providing records and testimony at the hearing, but Revel ruled the information was necessary.
Lohan's attorney Shawn Chapman Holley said she hadn't prepared to defend against the alcohol monitor report because the judge had said it would only affect bail for the actress. Revel doubled Lohan's bail to $200,000 after learning of the alert last month.
Lohan arrived about 10 minutes early for the hearing at the Beverly Hills courthouse. Lohan's father Michael and younger sister also attended.
The hearing immediately hit a snag as Chapman Holley and prosecutor Danette Meyers sparred on what evidence could be introduced.
Lohan spent 84 minutes in jail in 2007 after she pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of being under the influence of cocaine and no contest to two counts of driving with a blood-alcohol level above 0.08 percent and one count of reckless driving.
The plea came after a pair of high-profile arrests earlier that year. Lohan was sentenced to three years of probation but had to ask for a yearlong extension in October after she failed to complete her alcohol-education courses on time.


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TUCSON, Ariz. —A once-prominent Aspen socialite charged in the 1996 Tucson car bomb killing of her ex-husband had nothing to gain from his death and is the victim of overzealous authorities who failed to follow other leads, the woman's lawyer says.
However, prosecutors during opening statement Wednesday described Pamela Phillips as a gold digger who hired a former boyfriend to kill businessman Gary Triano to collect on a $2 million life insurance policy. They say she wanted the payout to maintain her lavish lifestyle as her finances dwindled.
It's been nearly two decades since Triano died when his car exploded as he was leaving a Tucson-area country club after playing golf.
Authorities say Phillips paid ex-boyfriend Ronald Young $400,000 to carry out the hit. Young was convicted in 2010 and sentenced to two life terms in prison, but jurors aren't allowed to consider his case while determining Phillips' fate.
Phillips, 56, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
"Gary Triano lived on the edge, the financial edge … He borrowed a lot of money from all sorts of people, many people who maybe were connected with organized crime," defense attorney Paul Eckerstrom told jurors. "That's who we think did this. That's who killed Gary Triano, not Pamela Phillips."
Prosecutors presented a wildly different theory of a woman who grew accustomed to the high life and found herself struggling financially with an easy way out.
"There is one reason that Gary Triano was murdered. One reason. He was murdered because his death benefited Pamela Phillips in a big way — $2 million is a hell of a motive," prosecutor Nicol Green said.
Triano was a developer who made millions investing in Indian bingo halls and slot-machine parlors in Arizona and California before Congress authorized tribes to open full-blown casinos. But after the real estate market declined and he lost control of his gambling interests, Triano went broke.
That's around the time Phillips filed for divorce, prosecutors say, because Triano could no longer support her expensive tastes.
"All of a sudden, the lifestyle that this defendant insisted on and expected was no longer there," Green said.
The couple, who had two children together, separated, but Phillips remained the beneficiary of Triano's insurance policy, paying the premiums herself.
She eventually moved to Aspen and worked in real estate before meeting Young. The two would soon hatch a plan to kill Triano and collect on the policy, Green said.
"They were talking about it for years," Green said.
Young later left Aspen while being investigated by police for fraud, and turned up in Tucson briefly in the summer of 1996.
"The reason he comes to Tucson was that he and Pamela Phillips had already agreed to kill Gary Triano," Green said.
After the killing, Young was on the run from a warrant for his arrest in Colorado on fraud charges while Phillips was sending him money for the hit, eventually adding up to $400,000, Green told jurors.
The investigation into Triano's killing stalled until Young's arrest in 2005. Authorities say he kept detailed records of his financial transactions with Phillips, including recorded telephone conversations and invoices. Green said police also found divorce records pertaining to Phillips and Triano in a van rented by Young. That's when Young and Phillips became the key suspects.
By then, Phillips had received the $2 million insurance payout and had left Aspen for a life abroad.
She was arrested in Austria in 2009 and extradited to Tucson. Her case was delayed after a judge ruled she was mentally unfit to stand trial at the time.
Phillips' attorneys, meanwhile, say the evidence against her is flimsy, and that Phillips was already wealthy with her own money. They say Young didn't even kill Triano, raising the specter that it could have been a hit by a jilted investor, one of whom Triano was about to file a $10 million lawsuit against.
"So when the state tells you that nobody else had anything to benefit from Gary Triano's death … that's just not true," Eckerstrom said. "There's people out there that are angry with him … And remember, benefit can be driven by revenge."


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Hope Solo's husband in jail in Florida
As Hope Solo prepared to play a friendly against Ireland, her husband, former NFL tight end Jerramy Stevens remained at Hillsborough County Jail in Tampa, Fla., after his latest arrest earlier Wednesday.
The violation of probation is a result of Stevens' arrest on domestic abuse charges in Washington state, Ann Howard, director of communications at the Florida Department of Corrections, told USA TODAY Sports. Stevens had permission to travel to Washington, but then he was arrested there, violating the terms of his probation, Howard said.
A warrant for his arrest was issued by the Department of Corrections.
"I believe this is improper," Stevens' attorney, Mark O'Brien, told USA TODAY Sports. "A judge in Washington — after he had a full hearing in which the state of Washington called witnesses, including a law enforcement official — found no probable cause.
"In this particular case, he should not be held without bond — he shouldn't even have his probation violated."
Solo tweeted Wednesday evening in response to a headline on Stevens' arrest.
"I feel bad for all the ignorance in the world. People are so quick to judge. The media spins stories in such dramatic fashion. I will continue to show love, and never make judgments. I am blessed w True Love & the beautiful game of soccer. I wish everybody the same happiness."
A day earlier, she met with reporters for the first time since she married Stevens on Nov. 13. The two were married a day after his arrest at a party for domestic violence in Kirkland, Wash. The judge found no probable cause to keep Stevens in custody and released him.
"My life is great," the goalkeeper said, according to the Associated Press. "My life is happy."
"It's unfortunate what the media can do to judge before the facts are out there. It's hard to see, but it's a hard truth, and it's part of life," she said. "I'm happy. I'm happily married. I would never stand for domestic violence. I've never been hit in my life."
Stevens, 33, was placed on probation through October 2013 for a marijuana charge in 2010. He is scheduled to have a hearing tomorrow in Hillsborough County but will appear on a video screen from jail, O'Brien said.
"He is very upset and angry," O'Brien said. "And he is hopeful that the law will be followed once we get into court."
Contributing: Jon Saraceno


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How to make a voice call
Web and Desktop
Voice calling lets you call your contacts using WhatsApp for free, even if they're in another country. Voice calling uses your phone's internet connection rather than your mobile plan's minutes. Data charges may apply.
Make a voice call
- Open the individual chat with the contact you want to voice call.
- Tap Voice Call.
Alternatively, open WhatsApp, then tap the Calls tab > New Call
. Find the contact you want to voice call, then tap Voice Call
Receive a voice call
If your phone is locked, you'll see an incoming WhatsApp Audio... screen when someone voice calls you, where you can:
- Swipe right slide to answer to answer the call.
- Tap Remind Me, then select if you want to be reminded When I leave or In 1 hour.
- Decline the call by pressing the power button on the side of the iPhone two times.
If your phone is unlocked, you'll see an incoming WhatsApp Audio... screen when someone voice calls you, where you can:
- Tap Accept.
- Tap Decline.
- Tap Remind Me, then select if you want to be reminded When I leave or In 1 hour.
- Tap Message to decline the call with a quick message.
Switch between voice and video calls
Switch from a voice call to a video call
- While on the voice call, tap video call> Switch.
- The contact you're voice calling will see a request to switch to a video call and can accept or decline the switch.
Switch from a video call to a voice call
- While on the video call, tap Video Off, which will notify the contact you're video calling.
- Once the contact turns their video off, the call will be switched to a voice call.
- Make sure you and your contacts have strong internet connections when placing or receiving group voice calls. The quality of the voice call will depend on the contact with the weakest connection.
- Voice calling is available on iPhones running iOS 12 or newer.
- You can't access emergency service numbers through WhatsApp such as 911 in the United States. To make emergency calls, you must make alternative communication arrangements.
Related resources:


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David Ortiz leads Red Sox past Twins
Big Papi hits two home runs to lead Boston to 9-4 win
David Ortiz homered twice for the second straight game and the Boston Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins 9-4 on Wednesday night.
Big Papi went 3 for 5 with two RBIs, one night after a four-hit performance against his former team. Both of his homeruns - off Kevin Correia (1-5) in the third and Caleb Theilbar in the fifth - traveled more than 400 feet into the right-field upper deck at Target Field, where he's batting .528 (28 of 53) in 13 career games.
It was more than enough for Felix Doubront (2-3), who allowed a run on seven hits in 6 1-3 innings and retired nine straight at one point. Doubront hadn't won since April 3 at Baltimore, his first start of the season.
Ortiz, who also doubled in the first inning, moved into sole possession of third place on Boston's all-time homers list (384) and recorded his 43rd career multi-homer game, 41 of which have come with the Red Sox.
Even the Minnesota fans - many of whom likely remember some of the 58 homers he hit with the Twins from 1997-2002 - appreciated Ortiz's display of power, politely standing and clapping as he rounded the bases after his second homer put Boston up 6-1 in the fifth.
Trevor Plouffe hit his second homer of the year for Minnesota, a two-run shot in the ninth.
Joe Mauer's sacrifice fly in the third scored Eduardo Escobar. Minnesota added an unearned run in the eighth after a throwing error by Burke Badenhop from the mound allowed Chris Parmelee to reach third, He eventually scored on Eduardo Nunez's RBI single.
Grady Sizemore had two hits and a pair of RBIs; Dustin Pedroia, Mike Napoli and Will Middlebrooks each drove in a run for Boston. A.J. Pierzynski added a two-run double in the ninth.
Notes: Ortiz's 442 homers moved him into a tie with Dave Kingman for 39th place on baseball's all-time home run list. . The Twins reinstated OF Oswaldo Arcia from the 15-day DL and optioned him to Triple-A Rochester. Arcia missed 33 games with a right wrist strain before playing a 12-game rehab assignment in Rochester. ... Friday will be a big day for injured Twins players in Rochester. Manager Ron Gardenhire said OF Josh Willingham (broken wrist) will start a rehab assignment, and RHP Mike Pelfrey (groin) will start on Friday for the Red Wings. . The teams will play the rubber third game of their series Thursday when Clay Buchholz (2-3) - who is 3-1 in seven career starts against Minnesota - takes the mound for Boston. The Twins' Phil Hughes (4-1) will try for his fifth straight win.


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We use a telecine xenon flash scanner. Here are some of the parts of our system.
Because many of you asked, we show you the type of camera we use. It's a professional JVC video camera, model GY-HM750U. What makes it distinctive is its 3CCD image sensor.
Having a 3CCD sensor, and not just a CCD or CMOS sensor, is critical in capturing a true image. The camera provides an HD-SDI output signal, which holds the 10bit Full-HD image information. That HD-SDI signal gets captured by a computer.
The extra color depth of our 10bit, over most transfer houses' 8bit, provides a more refined range for precision color-grading. The camera is pricey but worth it!
2K Resolution: It is important to note that with all 8 mm flash scanners 2K (2048 × 1080) is equivalent to Full-HD (1920 × 1080) — we could even call it a UWHD transfer (Ultra-Wide-HD 2560 × 1080) and the outcome would be the same.
The reason is the "1080" horizontal line count is the same for 2K, Full-HD, and UWHD and because the 8 mm film aspect ratio is much narrower than the narrowest standard captures. In short – there is no point in capturing image where there is no image (meaning in the black areas, at the edges.) We run out of image information well before using the narrowest TV standard. (helpful link to resolution chart on wikipedia)
One can see how the film's frame-height dictates where the zoom needs to be set so as not to crop off important image information. The left and right edges beyond the actual film image will be black, or sometimes they'll look like this -- when shot with certain types of Double-8 cameras.
The lens we is the sharpest 60mm macro lens Canon makes. It's from their EFS series. The lens is held by a special lens holder which allows us to finely tune the image framing getting your whole image perfectly framed during our initial capture.
This is the brain of our flash scanner. The box uses two 8-core microprocessors to control all the required elements of the flash scanner.
The five elements are: the motor and video signal interlock, the strobe laser interlock, the color of the light, the light intensity automation control with added manual override for fine adjustments, and the mechanical adjustment required for any varying shrinkage of the film.
The skeleton of our scanner is a studio class Bauer projector.
The robust German machine (frame) provides the films transport and a stereo duo-play sound playback. Removed from this frame were the original motor, the mechanism of the pull-down claw, the lens, and the gear wheels. They were replaced with a new motor, new interchangeable gear wheels for 8mm and Super-8 film, a new light (a xenon light strobe with color filters and diffuser), a film density reader that pre-reads the film for any required automated exposure corrections, and a laser that reads the sprocket holes' edge for proper strobe timing.
The optics for the light, includes a special encasing, color filters, IR and UV filters to protect your film from the light, light diffusers, encoders, servos, and a whole range of electronics.
Many films did not have sound, but for those that did, we keep the sound interlocked to the image as your film gets scanned, frame by frame. In addition we record, in parallel, the analog sound at an extreme high sample rate of 192kHz. This recording replaces the camera's inferior sample rate sound. This extra step allows for a true 48kHz sound rate, even after we do our final slowing down for playback at proper speed.
And yes ... that's me! A Brooks Institute graduate* at the controls during every frame of your transferred film. I watch very carefully and adjust the light making sure all is going well. *Santa Barbara, CA - 1996 - official diploma appears on our website
If you are intent on transferring the film yourself, you may have considered using one of the inexpensive models appearing on the market several years ago. It is wise not to expect decent results from these, and be prepared to invest a inordinate amount of time for each reel.
May we boast for a moment? Our work is clearly superior to those DIY transfers for several reasons. (Send us a small free, 3" Test-Transfer reel -- we often run a special. Look for details on our website.)
Also, those machines will not capture sound, if your film happens to have a sound strip. However, we will capture it -- at no extra cost! The sweet voices get perfectly interlocked and synced up with the film's image.
Author: Nathaniel CourtensMonday, August 22, 2022


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Japanese Mice Hold Cure For Bald Dudes
Good news for the follically challenged. Researchers at Japan's Tokyo University of Science conducted tests on hairless mice, implanting bioengineered follicles created from stem cells into their skin. Hair then grew on the mice, which means that a cure for baldness could be on the horizon.
This news means a lot of things to a lot of people.
What's impressive and of note for chrome domes, besides the fact that the lab rodents eventually grew hair, is that it continued to regenerate in new, normal cycles after old hairs fell out.
What should make the Republicans happy is the fact that the researchers found that hair follicles can be grown by harvesting adult stem cells. Normally, stem cells need to be extracted from embryos – very controversial for the GOP, who consider it a life- in order to grow into new tissue or organs.
The PETA militia, who likely hate on the scientists for testing on rodents, should be happy since the bald mice benefitted by growing hair. That had to boost their self-confidence, right? Since one of the tenets of the group's beliefs is that animals have feelings.
These discoveries, coupled with prior research and technology, mean there is hope for the cueballs.
Clinical research is hoped for in the next three to five years. Be patient, baldies. Don't order that deluxe comb set just yet.
[Via Yahoo]


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As a parent, it's a good idea for you to learn about fraternities and sororities so you can help your son or daughter make the best decision about whether or not he or she should be part of the Greek life. Educate yourself by checking out this parents' guide to fraternities and sororities.
Academics should be your child's number one focus while in college. That's why most Greek organizations require a minimum GPA in order to remain a member. Usually, each individual chapter has an elected official who is responsible for keeping track of members and their academic performance. Furthermore, many fraternities and sororities have educational programs, such as tutoring and study sessions, which can assist the entire chapters in excelling academically. Most chapters also offer member scholarships. Since obtaining a degree is the main reason for attending college, make sure your student realizes that he must keep up his grades if he wants to participate in a Greek organization.
Your child will have financial responsibilities when it comes to joining a fraternity or sorority. At most schools, there is a one-time new member/initiation fee as well as semester membership dues. Depending on where your child goes to school and which organization he wants to join will determine the amount of dues he will have to pay each semester. If your child is really interested in becoming a member of the Greek life, you need to sit down with him or her and work out a college budget to determine whether or not joining a frat or sorority is affordable.
In the past, fraternities and sororities have received a bad rap for participating in hazing, which is any action taken that produces bodily harm or danger, mental or physical discomfort, embarrassment, harassment, fright, or ridicule. Today, all fraternity and sorority policies strictly prohibit any type of hazing activity. In fact, the organizations have taken on a zero-tolerance stance on this issue, and most states have anti-hazing laws in place. If you feel that your student may be participating in inappropriate activities associated with hazing, you should contact the school's Dean of Students office immediately.
On average, your student should expect to contribute two to four hours per week for meetings and mandatory activities. If your student has the time, he can also choose to participate in optional activities, such as holding an office, attending social events, helping out with various projects, etc. Some organizations require more time than others. Advise your child to ask questions regarding time commitments during recruitment.
Fraternities and sororities participate in many different activities. The kind of activities your student may participate in will vary depending on which chapter he/she joins. Possible activities may include:
If your child decides to go Greek, you should stress how important it is to balance social activities and academics. If his grades start to slip, he may want to cut back on the activities in which he is involved.
Keep in mind that while Greek life is great for some students, it's not for everyone. You should discuss with your son or daughter what he/she would like to do and then support his/her decision. If your student decides that joining an organization is the right decision, make sure he researches the different chapters thoroughly. Read To Rush Or Not to Rush? That Is the Question for more information about going Greek.
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Suns' Gortat out with foot sprain
Phoenix, AZ – The Phoenix Suns announced Thursday that starting center Marcin Gortat is expected to miss approximately 3-to-4 weeks due to a Lisfranc sprain in his right foot.
Gortat sustained the injury during the first half of Wednesday's 98-71 loss to Toronto. The six-year pro has appeared in 182 consecutive games for the Suns since being acquired from the Orlando Magic in December of 2010.
The 29-year-old Poland native has also started all 61 games for Phoenix this season and is averaging 11.1 points and a team-best 8.5 rebounds per contest. Gortat also leads the Suns with 98 blocked shots.


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Monday, 30 November 2009 10:51 AM EST
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California has received $60 million from the federal stimulus package to upgrade its 23-year-old unemployment benefits system even though previous federal funding to improve the same system has not been fully spent.
The state handles about 13 percent of the nation's unemployment claims but processes benefits on a computer system built during the 1980s based on 1970s technology. The state should have completed an upgrade last year using federal unemployment money it received seven years ago, with the new system already in operation.
The original cash infusion was roughly the same amount as the stimulus money California received this year to upgrade its benefits system.
Special: Get Sarah Palin's New Book – Incredible FREE Offer -- Click Here Now.
According to the most recent report from the state's information technology office, the project that was intended to improve the state's so-called Single Client Database will not be completed until 2014, six years behind schedule.
Despite the lag, the U.S. Department of Labor has found no fault in how California used the previous allocation because the program was designed to give states flexibility. They could use the money as they saw fit.
The federal government has no plans to sanction or fine California for not completing the original technology upgrade. The Labor Department said it was more concerned that new stimulus funding is used in a way that will allow more workers to qualify for unemployment assistance.
"We want states to use unemployment modernization funding to provide unemployment compensation to a broader group of workers," Jane Oates, the Labor Department's assistant secretary for employment and training, said in a statement.
California received $66 million in 2002 to upgrade its computer system for processing unemployment claims. The money was authorized by Congress under the Reed Act, which allowed the Labor Department to distribute $8 billion in surplus money from the Federal Unemployment Tax Account.
The intent was to bolster state unemployment trust funds and help pay state administrative costs.
California used its share of Reed Act funding on two projects. One upgrade would have better matched staffing levels with call volumes on the government's unemployment help line. The other was to improve a payment system so claimants can certify their eligibility over the phone or Internet.
As of last January, less than $12 million _ or 18 percent of the total received in 2002 _ had been spent, according to a legislative staff report. The rest remains unspent.
The failure to fully implement the upgrades projected from the 2002 funding has real-world effects on those who have lost their jobs. It is especially noticeable as California's unemployment rate has soared above 12 percent, a modern-day record.
For example, jobless Californians can file their initial application online but have to complete follow-up forms by hand, which takes the state longer to process.
Even once approved, the state does not have the capacity to make direct deposits into people's checking accounts. The state hopes to tackle that project using the latest infusion of stimulus money.
"Everything is done through mail, and I hate that," said 20-year-old Janessa Rivera, of Sacramento, who was making her second attempt this year to apply for benefits at an unemployment office in the state capital. "Only the application is online. Everything else you have to wait for a call. You have to wait for it in the mail."
In 2003, a year after the Reed Act money was distributed, the Government Accountability Office said 17 percent of the $8 billion had been spent. It has not conducted an audit since.
This year, the Obama administration's $787 billion stimulus package allocated another $60 million for California to modernize its unemployment system.
State officials plan to use $20 million to overhaul the state's unemployment database, which runs on computers that display a black screen and fit just 30 lines of text. That conversion is expected to take 1 1/2 years.
The rest could be used for future projects. Just as with the Reed Act, the state faces no deadline for spending the stimulus grant.
Dale Jablonski, deputy director of information technology at the California Employment Development Department, acknowledged the system's upgrade is long overdue but defended the work done so far. He noted that California has not experienced a major computer breakdown even as the number of unemployment claims has spiked.
The state Employment Development Department received 280,000 initial unemployment claims last month, up more than 50 percent from the same month two years ago.
State officials, including Sen. Denise Ducheney, D-San Diego, blamed unrelated bureaucratic delays for stalling the original project.
"It's like rebuilding an airplane while it's in the air," said Jablonski, who helped write the code for California's unemployment benefits system in the 1980s. "It's not easy under normal volumes. It's even harder under high volumes."
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text: In order to successfully trades stocks, options, commodities, futures, and currencies you need to have the education and tools to analyze the charts and make sound trading decisions. STOCKMARKETCADDIE.COM, LLC provides the investment education and market guidance you need to be able to successfully trade the financial markets. You'll get trading education, trading courses, and trading newsletters that will help you to stop losing money in the markets while you learn.


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Greenspun's Tenth Rule of Programming: "Any sufficiently complicated C or Fortran program contains an ad-hoc, informally-specified, bug-ridden, slow implementation of half of Common Lisp."Does that sound too academic? Consider this: how would you write a continuation-based framework (like Seaside) in Java?
When I interview someone, I usually let them use the language of their choice with between C, C++, C# and Java... It's not that I have something against Ruby or other fourth generation languages, but I found that these languages work at a level of abstraction that is a little too high to give me a meaningful insight on the candidate for a forty-five minute interview. There are plenty of very interesting problems that are hard to solve even in Ruby or Python (and actually, it's quite likely this is the kind of problem that the candidate will be struggling with if she gets hired), but formulating the question and writing the solution would take several hours.Let me see if I can condense this: there is a class of problems that are non-trivial to solve in C# and Java but are trivial in Ruby and Python. Hot damn, I could have skipped writing this whole thing and simply posted the quote.
When I purchased an iMac for my home, I had no need for playing DVD's. So I was very close to buying the 17" model. Luckily, I purchased the 20" model so I would have more desktop for programming. I already had a 17" monitor on my development box, and it was starting to feel cramped. Now that I have the 20" iMac, I love watching DVD's on it and I'm very happy I didn't settle for the model that seemed to suit what I thought I would need.Once you're satisfied that the upgrade meets your needs and solves a problem, you go ahead. Later on, you'll discover a whole new world of features. These grow on you, until one day you ask yourself how you ever lived without them.
class Language < ActiveRecord::Base
has_and_belongs_to_many :idioms


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Washington (CNN) - With six and a half months to go until November's presidential election, it's basically all tied up between President Barack Obama and all-but-certain Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, according to an average of the four national surveys conducted entirely after former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania suspended his campaign on April 10.
A CNN Poll of Polls compiled and released Wednesday indicates that, on average, 47% of registered voters in the four polls say they back Obama, with 45% supporting Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who is making his second bid for the White House. With each poll having a sampling error greater than Obama's two-point margin over Romney, it's fair to say that the race can be considered a dead heat.
- Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker
The announcement by Santorum that he was suspending his campaign was widely seen as the moment when the presidential campaign entered a new phase, moving from a primary fight to a general election battle. Even though former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas continue their long-shot bids for the nomination, Romney is now generally considered the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.
The four surveys are from CBS News/New York Times (conducted April 13-17), Gallup's daily tracking poll (conducted April 12-16), CNN/ORC International (April 13-15), and Reuters/Ipsos (April 12-15).
As the CNN Poll of Polls is an average of other surveys, there is no sampling error for the results.
Also see:
Nugent threatens death if Obama wins in November
Romney campaign 'bracketing' aims to 'step on president's message'
Dems, Republicans make their picks in election to replace Giffords
i doubt that. not believable.
Obama will win. Anyone who thinks otherwise is both wrong and obtuse.
It has always been a dead heat in presidential elections. Except in 2008 when republicans screwed up big time when Bush was president. But I guess some people have already forgot how republicans brought the country to its knees during Bush presidency.


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FAQ How do I support formatting in my editor?
The JFace source viewer has infrastructure for supporting content formatters. A content formatter's job is primarily to adjust the whitespace between words in a document to match a configured style. A JFace formatter can be configured to operate on an entire document or on a region within a document. Typically, if a document contains several content types, a different formatting strategy will be used for each type. As usual, a formatter is installed from your subclass of SourceViewerConfiguration. To provide a configured formatter instance, override the method getContentFormatter. Most of the time, you can create an instance of the standard formatting class, MultiPassContentFormatter. This class requires that you specify a single master formatting strategy and optionally a slave formatting strategy for each partition in your document.
The following snippet from the Java source configuration installs a master strategy (JavaFormattingStrategy) that is used to format Java code and a slave formatting strategy for formatting comments:
MultiPassContentFormatter formatter= new MultiPassContentFormatter( getConfiguredDocumentPartitioning(viewer), IDocument.DEFAULT_CONTENT_TYPE); formatter.setMasterStrategy( new JavaFormattingStrategy()); formatter.setSlaveStrategy( new CommentFormattingStrategy(...), IJavaPartitions.JAVA_DOC);
The work of formatting the characters in the document is performed by the formatting-strategy classes that are installed on the formatter. JFace doesn't provide much common infrastructure for doing this formatting as it is based largely on the syntax of the language you are formatting.
Finally, you will need to create an action that invokes the formatter. No generic formatting action is defined by the text infrastructure, but it is quite easy to create one of your own. The action's run method can simply call the following on the source viewer to invoke the formatter:
See Also:
FAQ How do I get started with creating a custom text editor?
This FAQ was originally published in Official Eclipse 3.0 FAQs. Copyright 2004, Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. This text is made available here under the terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0.


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Theory/Post-Theory: An Interdisciplinary Conference April 18th, 2014
University of California, Berkeley
April 18th, 2014
Keynote Address: Professor David N. Rodowick (Chicago)
The Department of Rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley is pleased to invite papers that investigate the role, value, and efficacy of theory in the contemporary humanities and social sciences.
Theory, along with its periodical, concomitant "Post-Theory" moments, has provided the staging ground for debates over the methodological structure and interpretive purchase of disciplines such as literature and film, while also acting as the site of interventions into the epistemological and ethical assumptions which undergird the humanistic disciplines and the sciences. By its very nature, theory both contests and is contested, and as such, is subject to constant self-criticism and revision. As a method for examining not just the content but the very nature of a text qua text, theory has provided the necessary space for critical interventions into the ways in which the humanistic disciplines are produced and reproduced; as a body of texts with its own rhetorical, discursive, and historical traditions, it is itself a product constantly subject to critique and, ultimately, the site of new interventions. "Theory," as both a method and a particular body of texts, thus seems to exist always in a state of critique, and as critique, to be concerned always with what comes after.
Terry Eagleton dates theory's "golden age"—the days of Althusser, Lacan, and Lévi-Strauss, among many others—between 1965 and 1980. This conference aims to investigate whether theory has indeed come to an end, and if so, to ask: not just why did it end, but how could such an end be possible? If it is the case that we live in a 'Post-Theory' age, what comes after theory? What is left of theory as a disciplinary and interdisciplinary method after a particular set of texts has seen its influence wane? In this light, perhaps it is better to speak not of a monolithic "Theory," but of theories. We might ask: what are the prevailing theories of today? What purposes do they serve, both intentional and unintentional? What is the relationship between theory and interdisciplinarity? What role, if any, can theory play in the future of humanistic inquiry?
The keynote address will be delivered by Professor David N. Rodowick (Chicago) followed by a faculty roundtable with Professors Catherine Malabou (Kingston), Mary Ann Doane (Berkeley), and Martin Jay (Berkeley).
With these broad issues in mind, we invite papers on the following themes and topics:
-Reflections on the configuration of academic disciplines and the future of interdisciplinarity
-Interventions in theoretical discourses
-The methodological and disciplinary form of theory in the 21st century
-Critical genealogies of theory in the humanities
-The relationship between theoretical discourses and new media, digital technology, discourse networks and systems theory
-The role of the sciences and/or Science and Technology Studies in contemporary theory -Reconsiderations of the Frankfurt School, and/or critical theory writ large
-The epistemological (or non-epistemological) grounding of theory
-What theory produces in terms of knowledge and discourses
-Theoretical readings of cultural objects
Abstracts of 300 words or less can be sent to firstname.lastname@example.com on or prior to February 14th, 2014. Please include name, title, institutional affiliation, and a brief academic biography. If possible, please also indicate whether your presentation has A/V requirements. Presentations should last between 15 and 20 minutes.
This event is co-sponsored by the Townsend Center for the Humanities.


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And here it is, my fabulous cover for the final book in the Mesmer Trilogy: "The Amarinth Heir"!
Coming Soon, Mesmer, Book #3: The Amarinth Heir!
A hidden kingdom in a forbidden forest. A realm she can't escape without the trust of a mage. But trust and magic make complicated allies – when time is running out.
When Lea's presence in Verlaine leads to the unexpected discovery of a secret hidden long ago by an ancient enemy, a secret that has the power to alter the fabric of Lea's and Gabriel's very different worlds forever, the Lorien spy must make a choice between protecting the kingdom she never believed she could betray, and saving the world – and mage – she never imagined she could come to love.
*Apologies, folks, but the initial release date of November/December 2012 proved a bit too ambitious for me. As a further update to those who are waiting, all I can say is, when Book 3 does come out, you'll absolutely love it! Cheers to everyone, and may the year come to a close with much joy and happiness to us all (Mayan prophecies regardless)!:)


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Author: N
HERSHEY, Pa. – David Hutsell of Baltimore, Md., the 44th PGA Professional National Champion, will lead a group of 20 PGA Professionals to the 93rd PGA Championship, Aug. 8-14, at Atlanta Athletic Club in Johns Creek, Ga.
Hutsell captured his first National Championship with a final-round 3-under-par 68 for an 11-under-par 274 total, Wednesday at Hershey (Pa.) Country Club. He won on the second playoff hole, defeating Faber Jamerson of Appomattox, Va., and Scott Erdmann of Tigard, Ore., who had bowed out of the playoff after the first extra hole.
Hutsell, 40, will be making his second consecutive appearance in the PGA Championship.
The following PGA Professionals will join Hutsell at the 93rd PGA Championship:
Danny Balin of Greenwich, Conn., representing Burning Tree Country Club in Greenwich, Conn.; Brian Cairns of Waterford, Mich., representing Fox Hills Golf and Banquet Center in Plymouth, Mich.; Todd Camplin of West End, N.C., representing Pinehurst (N.C.) Resort and Country Club; Jeff Coston of Blaine, Wash., representing Semiahmoo Golf Resort in Blaine, Wash.; Sean Dougherty of Overland Park, Kan., representing Milburn Country Club in Overland Park, Kan.; Scott Erdmann of Tigard, Ore., representing Oswego Lake Country Club in Lake Oswego, Ore.; Faber Jamerson of Appomattox, Va., representing Falling River Country Club in Appomattox, Va.; Marty Jertson of Phoenix, Ariz., representing PING Golf in Phoenix, Ariz.; Brad Lardon of College Station, Texas, representing Miramont Country Club in Bryan, Texas, Robert McClellan of Butler, Pa., representing Butler (Pa.) Country Club; Rob Moss of Broadview Heights, Ohio, representing Pepper Pike (Ohio) Club; Mike Northern of Colorado Springs, Colo., representing Valley High Golf Course in Colorado Springs, Colo.; Dan Olsen of Free Soil, Mich., representing Walnut Hills Country Club in East Lansing, Mich.; Steve Schneiter of Saratoga Springs, Utah, representing Schneiter's Pebble Brook in Sandy, Utah; Mike Small of Champaign, Ill., representing the University of Illinois; Stuart Smith of San Gabriel, Calif., representing Somersett Country Club in Reno, Nev.; Jeff Sorenson of Blaine, Minn., representing Columbia Golf Club in Minneapolis, Minn.; Bob Sowards of Dublin, Ohio, representing New Albany (Ohio) Country Club and Craig Stevens of Dallas, Ga., representing Steel Canyon Golf Club in Atlanta, Ga.
About The PGA of America
Celebrating its 95th year, The PGA of America has maintained a twofold mission of its founders: to establish and elevate the standards of the profession and to grow interest and participation in the game of golf.
By establishing and elevating the standards of the golf profession through world-class education, career services, marketing and research programs, The PGA enables its professionals to maximize their performance in their respective career paths and showcases them as experts in the game and in a multi-billion dollar golf industry.
By creating and delivering dramatic world-class championships and exciting and enjoyable promotions that are viewed as the best of their class in the golf industry, The PGA of America elevates the public's interest in the game, the desire to play more golf, and ensures accessibility to the game for everyone, everywhere. The PGA of America brand represents the very best in golf.
Please click on the link below to access images from the 20 players who qualified for the 93rd PGA Championship:


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NEW ORLEANS -- Marine biologists are trying to learn whether they can increase populations of two of the Gulf of Mexico's most popular sport and food fish -- and perhaps further relax quotas on one of them -- by raising and releasing small fry.
Hundreds of thousands of spotted seatrout, known locally as speckled trout or specks, and thousands of red snapper fingerlings have been released in recent years, all identifiable by tiny wire tags. The problem is finding them again.
Of nearly 600,000 or so specks released since 2006, only about 50 have been recovered, said Reginald Blaylock, director of the aquaculture center at the University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Coast Research Lab in Ocean Springs, Miss.
On Thursday, scientists from USM and the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources released just fewer than 2,000 red snapper to an artificial reef south of Horn Island, Miss. A flexible hose was attached to their tank, a diver carried the other end to the reef, and a valve let the fish into the hose.
They're too small for electronic tags, so microwire tags invented in the 1960s are being used to try to tell whether all those little fish are having any effect on overall species numbers.
Although the first U.S. fish hatchery opened in the 1880s, the science is relatively young, said Ken Leber, associate vice president for fisheries and aquaculture research at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla., and head of the Science Consortium for Ocean Replenishment -- a group of five institutions including USM.
He dates the start of hatchery science to 1989. "There are precious few success stories, but we shouldn't throw out the baby with the bathwater. We need this technology in this century," he said. "We're seeing more and more habitat degradation" such as damage to seagrass meadows from river-borne sediment and damage from dredging and trawling, he said. "If the habitat disappears, it's hard to have a sustainable fishery."
Alec D. MacCall, who wrote the paper "Against Marine Fish Hatcheries" in 1989 as one side of a printed debate, said people have changed land ecosystems so much that many species can't use them any longer. That isn't the case yet in the ocean, but especially with climate change, "we're moving toward" such a situation, he said.
MacCall, a senior scientist in the National Marine Fisheries Service fisheries ecology division in Santa Cruz, Calif., said Thursday that he hasn't seen any conclusive research since his paper came out to persuade him that hatcheries have contributed significantly to repopulation of species that spend their entire lives in the ocean.
And, he said, "The real fundamental problem is fishery reform. ... If a hatchery effectively stops management reform for the natural stock, I'd be hesitant to call anything successful."
Leber said his research has shown that common snook, which spawn at the mouths of rivers and other waterways and live in the freshwater upstream as hatchlings and juveniles, can be successfully introduced in those waterways. He identified hatchery fish through genetic analysis, distributing kits through bait and gear shops to let anglers easily send in genetic samples.
A similar campaign and testing in Mississippi might be able to get more information about specks, he said.
Overnight fishing tournaments in Florida found that 3 percent of the adult fish caught in some areas were hatchery stock, Leber said.
"We're only releasing 6,000 a year. You wouldn't expect that to even show up. But if we can do that with 6,000 fish, think what I could do with 100,000 fish a year. We just cannot rear that many snook yet."
Blaylock said he uses fish taken in routine state and USM catches to assess fish populations because he knows exactly where each is caught. The scientists use magnetic wands to check for the tags. They've occasionally thought they'd found a hatchery fish only to discover it was a wild fish that had swallowed a hook.
Blaylock said USM's hatchery costs about $2 million a year to operate. It comes from a combination of federal grants, mostly from one agency or another within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and state grants through programs including Tidelands and the Coastal Impact Assessment Program.
Texas gets millions of dollars a year for hatchery research from that state's branch of the Coastal Conservation Association, a sports fishing group, but "Mississippi isn't quite as rich as Texas, so we don't get as much direct financial support," Blaylock said.
He said he's working with red snapper and speckled trout because they're among the most popular fish in the Gulf.
Overfishing brought annual fishing quotas on red snapper, though those have risen from 4 million pounds in 1991 to just more than 8 million pounds last year, when NOAA said overfishing had ended and the population is rebounding. A new stock assessment is under way. The quotas are divided between commercial boats and recreational anglers.
Hatcheries will never eliminate fishing restrictions, Leber cautioned. "We need stronger laws than ever," he said.
Specks are not considered threatened but are "under enormous fishing pressure" because of their popularity, Blaylock said.
Since 2004, when the seatrout project started, "we've learned a lot about the culture of the fish, the tagging technology. We've developed the ability to identify all of our hatchery fish genetically. But we have not yet figured out how to efficiently catch the fish after we release them," he said. Finding ways to do that is part of the project and a graduate student's thesis topic, he said.
The student is studying whether gill nets, seines, traps or trawls are best at catching the fish while they're still small. "He's looked at some sonar tracking to try to track them as they leave to know where they go to try to sample them," Blaylock said.
But at least specks will spawn in tanks and eat easily raised plankton, though the hundreds of thousands released by USM are just a drop in the ocean.
Red snapper are a far tougher problem. Researchers must collect eggs from wild-caught females because they are still trying to figure out how to get the fish to spawn in captivity, Blaylock said.
Once hatched, they have a problem in common with snook: Their mouths are so tiny they can't eat brine shrimp or easily grown plankton called rotifers. They need the newly hatched larvae of even tinier and harder to raise creatures called copepods.


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Used 2014 Keystone RV Alpine 3600RS
Fifth Wheel
Stock #23948 RA
Delaware, OH
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