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Rule #1 - Be Patient - Rule #2 - Don't ask when, if you don't contribute - Rule #3 - You have coding skills - LinuxMCE's small brother is available: http://www.agocontrol.com
On 2/21/06, Michael Jones <firstname.lastname@example.com> wrote:>> That's exactly what I'd like to do. What kind of card are you> using? Are you happy with it?>I have a PVR350. It does the encoding, decoding, and acts as a TV/soundcard. Watching live TV, recording, and watching recordings doesn't evenregister on the processor usage meters. The only thing that registers is theflagging of commercials, and it is "niced" to a reasonable level.The trick was getting mythfrontend to show on a different X server. I reallywanted this so that anyone could log out, or not be logged in at all, andstill have mythfrontend running uninterrupted.I use FC4, but needed to upgrade the Xorg server to 6.9 to supportconcurrent X servers. Before Xorg 6.9 only one X server could be active at atime. After I did a bit of playing around with Xorg 6.9 and lircd, I endedup with a separate X server that only takes input from lircd and iscompletely independent of my primary head X server. It uses a separatexorg.conf file specified on the command line, so the gui xorg configurationtools don't mess up the PVR 350 setup. The X server and mythfrontend are runas a rc service and start automatically.To make it easier, I used the X server athttp://washington.kelkoo.net/epia/and advice fromhttp://blog.chris.tylers.info/index.php?/archives/14-Multiseat-X-Under-X11R6.97.0.html.I really like the setup, and my wife likes it too, which is always a majorfactor. One of the cool parts, is that I can have a separate mythfrontendrunning as the currently logged in console user watching a differentrecording on the monitor. This feature isn't used often, but sometimes Iwant to watch TV while I "work".I will follow up with more information later and maybe a howto and specfilesand rpms.

_______________________________________________mythtv-users mailing firstname.lastname@example.com://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users


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TALLINN, ESTONIA—While Estonia's prowess in cyberconflict and cyberdefense has grown in recent years, so too has its startup scene. After all, Skype was created in Estonia in 2003 and was acquired by Microsoft for $8.5 billion last year.
Its success has inspired a new generation of Estonian startups, often collectively referred to on Twitter as the #estonianmafia, which were pitching themselves at the Latitude 59 conference held last week at Tallinn University of Technology. This university campus is also the location of Küberneetika, the Institute of Cybernetics, a Soviet-founded facility that dates back to the 1970s and became the first home of Skype decades later.
AngelList, a site that aims to link startups with venture capital, currently has 52 Estonian entries, which on a per capita basis, puts it as the number two country after the United States—not bad for a country with just 1.3 million people.
Among the speakers at Latitude 59 (full disclosure: I was a speaker, and my plane ticket and hotel were paid for by the organizers) were members of the Estonian old guard, including Allan Martinson, a well-known Estonia venture capitalist who during the emergent post-Soviet period in the 1990s was the founding CEO of the Baltic News Service and later the CEO of MicroLink, one of Estonia's largest IT companies.
"I've been trying to analyze it," Martinson said, attempting to understand the huge number of Estonian startups in recent years.
"There is no single reason. Perhaps when it really started about two to three years ago, it had something to do with the economic crisis, which influenced many people to leave their current jobs."
He added that while it's hard to prove directly, he speculated that many of the dozens of Estonian startups are "acts of desperation" to make money.
"Because if you're a guy in Estonia and if you're technically educated, you want to become rich. The only way to become rich in this country if you have a technical background is to launch your own company. You probably couldn't become rich by working for somebody. It's difficult to get $150,000 salaries in Estonia, which is an exception as compared to Silicon Valley. Here, you can't become rich as a salaryman, and you can't become rich by just focusing on the Estonian market."
Narrow firms, growing success
Martinson pointed to a few recent success cases, or companies that many people outside the tech industry probably haven't heard of, as they focus on particular niche industry areas. If you prefer the startup jargon, they're B2B outfits.
These are companies like ZeroTurnaround, a Java development tools company, which has gone from zero to almost $10 million of revenue in three years; GrabCAD, an online community and social network for mechanical engineers; or Kinotehnik, a photographic equipment company that has drawn a fair amount of attention in filmmaking and photography.
"There are probably 50 to 70 startups which have emerged within the last two or three years," Martinson added. "Around five to ten of them have grown to over $1 million in revenue, some even reaching $10 million. So most likely we will see one or two companies reaching $100 million size in about three to four years time, which is substantial. And if we reach $1 billion, we'll be extremely lucky."
Of course, he said that it took Skype six years to reach the billion-dollar threshold. But beyond entrepreneurship, there may be a much more fundamental obstacle to continuing with Estonia's tech success.
"One very Estonian issue here is that in the early 1990s we had a big demographic slump," Martinson said. "The birth rate went down. We used to have 20,000 births a year in 1989, which then dropped to 12,000. That means that now those people are becoming 20-22 years old, and we have the least number of really young people. That means that any company here in Estonia, especially a high-tech [company] that employs young people—they will experience much less choice in labor market and have access to fewer people who will become entrepreneurs."

subset: commoncrawl


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Toy story: Old favourites fight rise of the tablet
The big players in the traditional toy market have come out fighting in Britain as little fingers are increasingly occupied by iPad-type devices at playtime.
Previously seen as the preserve of grown-ups, tablets are increasingly top of children's wish-lists.
The best-selling toy in Britain last year was the Furby, the cuddly robotic "pet" that has irritated millions of parents with its constant chatter. But tablet computers designed specifically for kids came close behind, according to the NPD market research group.
With toddlers frequently more nimble on touchscreens than their parents, major players including Samsung are cashing in with tablets designed for the lucrative and tech-savvy youth market.
At this week's London Toy Fair, manufacturers of traditional toys insisted they face a bright future—but admitted the rise of tablets means they're in for a tough fight.
"We have to recognise these days that there's a place for tablets and for technology," said Jamie Dickinson, marketing manager at Playmobil, the German-based brand that has produced some 2.6 billion plastic figures since 1974.
"When children grow up and go into the adult world, they need to know how to use the technology," he told AFP as he stood in front of a display of Playmobil figures at London's Olympia exhibition centre.
"But there are lots of other skills that they need to learn, which only traditional toys can give them."
Playmobil is resisting the digital onslaught, with its global sales increasing by 5.3 percent to 531 million euros ($726 million) last year.
In the British market, the building sets and action figures markets will enjoy a 10-percent jump in growth this year, NPD predicts, partly thanks to toys linked to the football World Cup in Brazil.
Many of the toy firms displaying their wares in London were counting on the support of parents with an instinctive suspicion of the Internet and, by extension, tablets.
Metal construction kits by Meccano have been a boys' favourite since they were invented in England in 1909—and are "still very popular, especially in the eyes of parents, grandparents and those who buy gifts", said Kevin Jones, European marketing director for the brand's owner Spin Master.
"The great thing about traditional toys is that they have longevity. It's great value for parents," he told AFP.
Lego is another perennial favourite that has diversified its range, partly through movie tie-ins. The Danish firm saw a 13 percent increase in global revenue in 2013, although Asia accounted for much of the positive figures.
Roland Earl, director general of the British Toy and Hobby Association, played down the threat posed by tablets, arguing that there is plenty of space in the playroom for a variety of games.
"We've found that the traditional toy market has held up very well over the last ten years," he told AFP.
"In fact, we've posted growth in the UK in most years out of the last ten—and the computer game industry has actually suffered in the last year, possibly from less expensive free games that are available on the web."
Tablets have a "novelty value" that may yet pass, he suggested.
Some parents may worry that having these gadgets at such an early age could create a dangerous tendency towards lethargy—but after all, say manufacturers, iPad-loving adults are hardly setting a good example.
French maker Lexibook said it now makes tablets aimed at users as young as two.
"They want to copy their parents and use a tablet themselves," said Lexibook CEO Emmanuel Le Cottier.
"So we've created a range of tablets going from two to 14 years old, with dedicated content for each target age-group."
He added that Lexibook's kids' tablets—like many of their rivals—come with parental control features, including the ability to set a daily time limit on their usage.
Nine-year-old Emilie Brun said she prefers playing with her parents' tablet to traditional toys—but she's usually ready to move on to something else after a couple of games.
"There's loads of interesting games on the tablet to play when I'm bored in my room," she told AFP.
"But I'm also happy to play 'teachers' with my sister."


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Read Fontaine's autobiography, No Bed of Roses, and what you get comes close to something said by her sister, who said "Joan is very bright and sharp and can be cutting." The woman who published the book in 1978 seems witty, confident, possessed of a wide range of interests and, perhaps, not nearly as fascinated by her Hollywood past or even by acting as she once was. It must be admitted that this isn't the best star memoir the Siren has read, nor is it even one of the best. There is something rather perfunctory about it, a sense of oh-gosh-I-guess-they-want-to-hear-about-this-now. Social life is covered in more detail than most of the movies, although this may have little to do with Fontaine. Like most star memoirs it was ghost-written and it's axiomatic in the publishing industry that people want gossip from Hollywood books, not moviemaking analysis. The Siren has to believe that Fontaine would have preferred to write more about Letter from an Unknown Woman (which gets one--one!--brief graph) and less about her ghastly stepfather and his pawings or about her celebrated feud with her sister.
About that feud--the Siren wrote once before about the difficulty of peering into family matters, and she reiterates that here. The Siren, who has enormous admiration for Olivia de Havilland as well as her sister, does not presume to understand what seems to be quite genuine bad blood between the two. One explanation Joan offers in her book is strikingly simple, however. They got along badly because they were raised to do so. The Siren spends a good part of her day trying to patch up sibling rivalry; Joan and Olivia's mother, a frustrated actress herself, spent her days fanning it. She raised the two in perpetual competition with one another, and the habit stuck. No matter what is behind the rift, it's a shame to think that these two women, with so few people alive who remember the years and the people they do, are still cool toward one another. The Siren has this bright little fantasy that they actually call each other regularly and keep the "feud" alive in the press for the sake of appearances--it's part of their legend, after all, darlings.
Anway, the book has plenty of examples of Joan's lively sense of humor. One instance got her in considerable hot water avec Olivia, when a reporter called to ask Joan's opinion of Olivia's new husband Marcus Goodrich. Joan replied, "All I know about him is that he has had four wives and has written one book. Too bad it isn't the other way around." The Siren found this quite funny. Olivia, predictably, did not. Here's Joan's summary of filming A Damsel in Distress: "I tripped over fences and stepping stones to the tune of 'Things Are Looking Up.' George and Ira Gershwin also wrote the haunting 'Foggy Day in London Town' for our film. I also fell on my face."
She fell in love with George Stevens during the filming of Gunga Din, but nothing came of it, nor did she learn much about acting from him. Speaking of multiple-take directors--Fontaine says Stevens' basic direction was "I don't know what's wrong. Let's shoot it again." Stevens would sometimes halt filming cold to go off and pace or stare into the middle distance. Joan reports that "it was Carole Lombard who solved the mystery of George's brown studies. 'You know what that s.o.b. is thinking about when he's in one of his trances? NOT A FUCKING THING.'"
Reportedly Joan's first husband, Brian Aherne, quipped that the book should have been called "No Shred of Truth." But the ex-husbands and lovers don't come off all that horribly, though none of them emerge with much credit either. Take Conrad Nagel, for example. Surely no man wants to think that when he is dead and buried, a woman whom he deflowered will contribute to keeping his memory alive by saying the whole thing reminded her "of when I had to stand up in class as a child and be vaccinated."
Aherne, for his part, went off to knock back a few with director Jean Negulesco the night before he was to marry Joan, then had Jean call for him to say he was too afraid to go through with the marriage. Joan told Jean that she'd be at the church the next day and wasn't about to call off anything, no matter what Brian did subsequently. Brian showed the next day, they got married and apparently this didn't come up later on in their marriage. The Siren isn't sure whether it's this part of the book that upset Aherne, or the part where he spent much of their wedding night dancing around their hotel room in his dressing gown. The Siren suspects most men outside of a professional corps de ballet do not want the word "pirouetting" to show up anywhere near a description of them, not to mention the word "tassels."
Irrelevant though this next bit is, Siren can't abandon this phase of Joan's life without a favorite anecdote, told by Joan and quoted in Boze Hadleigh's Hollywood and Whine:
[During] a trip under the aegis of a British War Relief campaign [in World War II] we were at the Mormon temple in Salt Lake City. It happened to be the anniversary of a college sorority and all the girls celebrated by coming to meet the handsome actor. Microphones were thrust in front of us. Brian [Aherne] was to deliver a message to the RAF pilots who would be listening to a shortwave rebroadcast. Did have to anything in particular to say to these brave airmen?
Brian said yes indeed, he did. 'Chaps, keep your peckers up!' Silence...the girls fled in embarrassment. The president minister blanched. Only when I got my English husband back to our hotel did I inform him that in America 'pecker' did not mean 'chin.'
Yesterday on the TCM Birthday tribute the Siren caught one early Joan movie, Blond Cheat. In her autobiography Joan showed her opinion of this one pretty clearly by failing to mention its existence. The Siren can't say she disagrees. Joan is exquisitely pretty in the movie--more slender than other stars of the day, perfect bone structure, skin so dewy it seems to come with its own inner key light. Unfortunately this is part of the problem. One characteristic of an inexperienced but beautiful actress is that she will often play to her loveliness. By that, the Siren means that every move will show the young lady is excruciatingly conscious of how she looks. (Amy Irving was frequently guilty of this early in her career, and Scarlett Johansson still is.) You can see that she feels the lipstick on her lips, the mascara on the lashes. She knows how beautiful she is, but she doesn't own that beauty yet. She is trying it on in front of the camera--pirouetting, if you will. Every aspect of the character becomes subordinate to this physical effect. On top of this, Joan is saddled with one of those lead-balloon imitation screwball scripts--where the leading man declares "whatever it is, I'm not going to fall for it," and then falls on his face.
The most fascinating part of this movie was the date on it--1938. One year removed from respectable performances in Gunga Din and The Women, and just two years from Rebecca, one of the best performances Joan ever gave. Olivia was right, Joan was bright and sharp indeed.
Postscript: Do check out this birthday post for Joan at JJ's place, As Little as Possible. It includes a fab clip of Joan, wearing Pucci or something close, and stumping the panel on What's My Line.


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I love TV travel porn. Turn on a little Rick Steves traipsing around Europe's back doors, Ian Wright of Globetrekker getting hamstrung in a Turkish hammam, or Anthony Bourdain slurping up Pho in Vietnam on No Reservations, and I am fixated. Hell, I'll even watch the awkwardly matched foursome of Gwyneth Paltrow, Chef Mario Batali, food writer Mark Bittman, and Spanish actress Claudia Bassols just to see them thump melons and gobble down salty pig parts as they ramble through the markets and kitchens of Spain on PBS's Spain…on the Road Again.
As much as I adore armchair exploration, however, there is one program that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth – the wildly popular CBS reality travel show The Amazing Race. If you've never seen it, the show consists of 11 two-person teams that fly around the world to compete in challenges, typically based on the local culture, such as roping a llama in Peru or driving a snowplow in Siberia. Since it began in 2001, "Race" has won eight Primetime Emmy Awards and has been franchised to include versions in Asia, Australia, and Latin America. In Israel, The Amazing Race is called HaMerotz LaMillion, which translates roughly as "Race to the Million," because teams compete to win $1 million (or, in the case of Israel, one million new Israeli shekels).
In sum, the Amazing Race is an adrenaline-fueled travel adventure show beloved by millions of TV viewers worldwide. So why do I hate it? Here are three reasons:1. Travel shouldn't be about numbers. "Five continents, 25 cities, and more than 40,000 miles" was the tagline of the final episode of Race's Season 7. To many travelers, the dream is to rack up visited destinations like trophies. But should travel be boiled down to just numbers? Should quantity trump quality? There's a certain hollow materialism to counting countries and treating cities like personal stats. It reminds me of a saying that was popular in the 1980s, "He who dies with the most toys wins" and leads me to my next point…
2. Travel is best when you slow down. Were every moment not recorded, would Race's contestants even remember the difference between Peru and Chile or South Africa and Botswana? Filming for the Amazing Race typically takes place over one month, during which time participants travel to as many as a dozen countries. One of the shortest seasons, The Amazing Race 12, had contestants traveling 30,000 miles to 10 countries within 21 days. I understand that such a breakneck speed makes for great television – it is a race, after all. But I feel that The Amazing Race sends the wrong signal to travelers that it is okay to speed through airports and train stations and villages. Travel should be one of those activities where you allow yourself to slow down and take note of the details. Travel deeply not quickly.
3. Travel should, in itself, be the reward. The $1 million prize is why The Amazing Race gets tens of thousands of applications each season. Who can fault would-be contestants for wanting to race around the world for that kind of cash? Not me. Though, what if The Amazing Race made travel the reward? There are so many quotations about the benefits of travel that I could use here, but I actually think a recent tweet from Gadling friend and Twitter's favorite nomad Andrew Evans (@wheresandrew):
In its defense, The Amazing Race bills itself as a "reality program" and not as a "lifestyle program," the Emmy category under which most travel shows are classified. And, I also applaud Race for shining a spotlight on destinations that many travelers may never get to see (Burkina Faso!). But I fear I will never quite understand why a show that puts personality above place and discord above discovery is so beloved by travel enthusiasts. The Amazing Race stresses me out; give me Rick Steves any day.
The 19th season of The Amazing Race premiers on Sunday, September 25.
Photo from Wikipedia


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Here, Let Me Lick Those Tears
January 25, 2010
I've previously noted an air of default entitlement among the UK's arts practitioners and commentariat, but for those in need of further illustration here's the Guardian's Laura Barnett, alerting us to another crushing injustice.
Right now, the economic climate for artists in this country looks particularly bleak... Unlike some European and Scandinavian countries, the British government makes no specific social provision for artists,
Oh, say it isn't so.
unless through the publicly funded regional arts councils.
Ah. So the government does in fact make special provision for artists. To the tune of almost half a billion a year. And as we know, arts councils can be counted on to spend your money wisely for the betterment of mankind.
In Denmark, for instance, 275 artists are granted an annual stipend of between 15,000 and 149,000 Danish krone (£1,750 to £17,000) every year for the rest of their lives.
Readers will no doubt recall the Danish artist Bettina Camilla Vestergaard, whose benefactors include the Danish Arts Council, the Arts Grants Committee Sweden, the Danish Ministry of Culture and the Cultural Council of Aarhus. Ms Vestergaard used her government stipend to spend six months in Los Angeles pondering "identity and gender" and working on an "intervention in public space":
My first three months primarily consisted of passing time in residential Hollywood, sitting alone in my car, shopping and getting fuel.
The results of Ms Vestergaard's lengthy, publicly subsidised musings can be appreciated more fully here.
But in this country, for artists without a lucky early break, rich parents or benefactors, a day job is often the only way to survive. [...] What a day job inevitably means, of course, is spending the majority of your waking hours not doing the thing you love: making art.
It's an outrage, I tell you. Thankfully, some businesses are sensitive to the arts community and its special needs.
For the last four years, [actor, Lainy] Scott has been working at RSVP, a call centre in east London that employs only artists, taking calls for Which? magazine and WeightWatchers. Shifts are available in the day, evening, or at weekends, allowing artists to plan their work around shows, rehearsals or auditions.
Some comfort, then. However,
"There are people who get very bogged down by having to do non-acting stuff," Scott says.
Update: An artistic Guardianista adds,
When I left college in the early 80s after finishing my Fine Art degree, I went and lived in Holland for 6 months as some artist friends of ours had been allowed to live in an old disused warehouse by Leiden council. They had electricity paid and were allowed to claim the equivalent of the dole to just be artists. We put on experimental theatre, lived and worked in the same place... This was an investment in the economy... Why have artists take up jobs that people rely on in a time of recession. Why not allow them to claim benefit but not have to job search?
"Just to be artists." Oh, I like that. And don't dismiss all that experimental theatre, which is after all an investment in the economy. Taxpayers can't get enough experimental theatre.


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I have a confession: I don't always love library school. I know I want to be a librarian, and library school is helping me to achieve that, but the fact is, it isn't always rainbows and smiles. Sometimes you have to take classes you don't enjoy, do assignments that don't seem relevant, or deal with people you'd just rather avoid.
This summer has been one of those times for me. I've been busy from the get-go, finishing up the fieldwork requirement for my program, taking classes, and working on a very time-intensive project for my graduate assistantship. While I recognize the value of all of these things, it hasn't been the most fun or exciting summer.
Now, the fall semester is about to start up again, and I'd really like to get back some of the excitement I felt a year ago, when I was first beginning my library school journey. So I took to the internet, in search of inspiration, of something that would remind me why I decided to go to library school.
I thought I would share my findings with all of you, just in case anyone else out there is feeling a bit grouchy, exhausted, or unmotivated. Here are a few reminders of what we aspire to, what we can accomplish, why we chose this path in the first place:
The 'I Love My Librarian' Award. This award, sponsored by The Carnegie Corporation of New York and The New York Times, is given to 10 amazing librarians each year. You can read about past winners and watch video interviews with them (and steal some of their great ideas) at this site.
Seattle's 'Books on Bikes' Program. I always love to hear about libraries going out into their communities, and this is a great example of that, for both outreach and advocacy.
What Do You Geek? TEDx Talk. I know the geek the library movement isn't something new, but Mary Stein is a dynamic and enthusiastic speaker, and I loved listening to her ideas-she made me excited to work in a library.
Abandoned Wal-Mart Turned Library. This is another not-so-new story, but it made a resurgence on social media recently, and was a reminder of the good things libraries bring to communities.
Libraries Changed My Life. This blog features inspirational stories from people who love and depend on libraries, and is a great example of how and why libraries and librarians matter.
Just reminding myself that libraries and librarians like this do exist has helped me get a little more motivated for my classes to start next week, and I hope, if you've been feeling like me, that it does the same for you.
Now it's your turn: what inspired you to go to library school, or what inspiring library-related things have you discovered lately? Let me know in the comments.
Categories: This Is Awesome, To Read


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The Sri Mariamman Temple is the oldest Hindu temple in Singapore and was founded in 1827, eight years after the East India Company established a trading settlement in Singapore. Today it is a stone's throw from Singapore's Central Business District.
The rural South Indian mother goddess Mariamman is a protector against diseases.


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Today, we're making our own embellishments! Whether you like to keep it simple or pile on the layers, this step-it-up challenge is for you! Join Dawn as she shows how to step up those embellishments for a variety of different looks!
Here are a few photos of Dawn's projects this week:
All three cards together...
Super simple embellishment...
Embellishment stepped up a little...
Embellishment stepped up a lot...
If you are joining along this week, here are the details concerning the Make It Monday Challenge.
--A new Make It Monday Challenge will go up every Monday morning at 9am EST.
--Create a project utilizing your take on the challenge. Your project must use at least one Papertrey product and include a hand-made embellishment.
--Post your project on your blog, in your gallery or on any other photo-hosting site (such as photobucket or flickr).
--Add your project to our --->InLinkz List HERE<---
--You will have until 7am, Monday, July 2nd, to add your link to the list to be eligible to win. And you can enter as many times as you like.
--We will be tweeting and posting on our Facebook page every night (between 5-9pm EST) highlighting a Featured Project. These tweets/Facebook postings will just be a shout-out regarding projects that caught our eye.
--One randomly selected winner will be chosen from ALL the entries on Monday, July 2nd, after 7am. The winner will be posted here on this blog post, on Twitter and Facebook. The randomly selected winner will get a $25 PTI gift certificate to spend however they like!
Good luck to everyone and we look forward to seeing your projects!
Congratulations Karen C.! You have been randomly selected to receive a $25 PTI gift certificate to spend however you choose! Please send a note to customer service with the email address you would like the gift certificate sent to. And thank you to EVERYONE who played along with this week's challenge!


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New OpenELEC-Generic r18369-g320ea5e Release Image
The Generic image is a "catch-all" build containing more drivers than any other image. As of OpenELEC version 4.0, a number of of other builds are now being rolled into the Generic image. The Generic build will now be used for most devices (Fusion, Ion, Intel, Generic). If you have a device that is not covered by the other images (ATV, RPi, Virtual, etc…) or you are going to install OpenELEC onto a laptop or desktop computer this is probably the best image to use.
|Build Start Time:
|Mon May 12 13:34:44 BST 2014
|Build End Time:
|Mon May 12 18:26:23 BST 2014
|OpenELEC Branch:
|OpenELEC Release:
|OpenELEC GIT Version:
|XBMC Release:
|Gotham 13-16232cc
|Rate This Build:
|Please use your nearest download mirror to improve your download experience
|Download Release:
|OpenELEC-Generic.i386-devel-20140512141350-r18369-g320ea5e.tar (148M) (md5)
Looking for other OpenELEC Generic image releases? Then browse our Generic image release archive for all current and archived releases.
Are you looking for other OpenELEC releases for different platforms (ATV, ION, Fusion, RPi, Virtual, etc…) then browse all our complete build arhive.
Change Log / Git Commit History since last build


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Class EmberArraypublic
import EmberArray from '@ember/array';
This mixin implements Observer-friendly Array-like behavior. It is not a concrete implementation, but it can be used up by other classes that want to appear like arrays.
For example, ArrayProxy is a concrete classes that can be instantiated to implement array-like behavior. Both of these classes use the Array Mixin by way of the MutableArray mixin, which allows observable changes to be made to the underlying array.
This mixin defines methods specifically for collections that provide index-ordered access to their contents. When you are designing code that needs to accept any kind of Array-like object, you should use these methods instead of Array primitives because these will properly notify observers of changes to the array.
Although these methods are efficient, they do add a layer of indirection to your application so it is a good idea to use them only when you need the flexibility of using both true JavaScript arrays and "virtual" arrays such as controllers and collections.
You can use the methods defined in this module to access and modify array
contents in a KVO-friendly way. You can also be notified whenever the
membership of an array changes by using
To support
EmberArray in your own class, you must override two
primitives to use it:
length() and
[] public
Defined in packages/ember-runtime/lib/mixins/array.js:256
- returns
- this
This is the handler for the special array content property. If you get this property, it will return this. If you set this property to a new array, it will replace the current content.
firstObject Object | undefined public
Defined in packages/ember-runtime/lib/mixins/array.js:275
- returns
- Object | undefined
- The first object in the array
The first object in the array, or
undefined if the array is empty.
hasArrayObservers public
Defined in packages/ember-runtime/lib/mixins/array.js:459
Becomes true whenever the array currently has observers watching changes on the array.
lastObject Object | undefined public
Defined in packages/ember-runtime/lib/mixins/array.js:286
- returns
- Object | undefined
- The last object in the array
The last object in the array, or
undefined if the array is empty.
length public
Defined in packages/ember-runtime/lib/mixins/array.js:202
Required. You must implement this method to apply this mixin.
Your array must support the
length property. Your replace methods should
set this property whenever it changes.


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For those of us who've been waiting—far too long, it seems—for a smaller, lighter laptop from Apple, Tuesday's announcement of the MacBook Air was a welcome one. I, for one, have been wanting a smaller version of the MacBook Pro since…well, since the MacBook Pro replaced the PowerBook G4 line, sans the 12-inch model.
But subnotebooks—laptops designed to be smaller and lighter than traditional models—generally involve many tradeoffs. For the reduction in size and weight, many smaller notebooks compromise on such attributes as the size of the display and keyboard, processor speed, battery life, and included features. Most also cost more than a comparably-featured larger model. The MacBook Air is no exception, Steve Jobs' claims to the contrary notwithstanding. What makes the MacBook Air unique is that Apple has chosen to make different compromises than those found in most other subnotebooks. The company has essentially said, "It has tradeoffs and limitations, but we think our tradeoffs and limitations are better than the competition's."
Where it shines
Before getting to those tradeoffs, consider the areas in which the MacBook Air stands out. Unlike many subnotebooks, it includes a generously-sized 13.3-inch, 1280- by 800-pixel, glossy LED screen, using the same LED technology found in the MacBook Pro. You also get a full-size keyboard nearly identical to the one found on the MacBook.
In this respect, the MacBook Air is just as usable as a MacBook for general computing, which is to say much more usable than a typical subnotebook. Of course, because of these full-size components, the MacBook Air's footprint is considerably larger than that of many subnotebooks on the market; in fact, the Air's 12.8-inch width and 8.94-inch depth are each 0.02 inches longer than the corresponding dimensions of the MacBook.
It's in weight and thickness—or, if you will, thinness—that the MacBook Air shines. Whereas the MacBook and MacBook Pro are each around 1 inch thick, the MacBook Air is essentially three-quarters of an inch thick at the thickest point, and less than a fifth of an inch thick at the thinnest. And at only 3 pounds, the Air is 2 pounds lighter than the next-lightest Apple notebook.
Other impressive features include the Air's battery life (according to Apple, five hours with WiFi and Bluetooth active); a built-in iSight camera and microphone; video output that supports extended desktop with an external display; an ambient light sensor and backlit keyboard; and a large, multi-touch trackpad.
Where it compromises
But to squeeze into such a svelte package, the MacBook Air is missing a number of features, and other features are scaled back. The most obvious omission—one common to subnotebooks—is an optical drive. If you want to install new software, rip CDs to iTunes, watch DVDs, or burn data to disc, you need to either purchase the $99 Apple MacBook Air SuperDrive, which connects via USB, or use the new Remote Disk feature to "borrow" the optical drive of another computer on your network.
You also lose ports and expansion options. Unlike the MacBook Pro, the MacBook Air has no ExpressCard slot, and unlike both other Apple laptop lines, the Air doesn't include FireWire, Ethernet, multiple USB ports, audio input, and optical audio output. The only ports on the MacBook Air are a single USB slot, an analog headphone/speaker output, and a new Micro-DVI video output. It appears even the Kensington cable lock slot, included in every portable Mac I can remember, is missing. (You can add Ethernet via Apple's $29 USB Ethernet adapter.)
Thanks to heat and space concerns, the Air also isn't as speedy as its larger siblings. Instead of the 2.0GHz to 2.4GHz processors available in the current MacBook and MacBook Pro models, the MacBook Air comes standard with a 1.6GHz Core 2 Duo or, for $300 more, a 1.8GHz chip. (During his keynote on Tuesday, Jobs said that Intel had to create a new, smaller version of the Core 2 Duo to fit inside the MacBook Air.) To be fair, the Air's processors are near the middle of the pack for subnotebooks, which range in speed from roughly 1.2GHz to 2.2GHz.
Space and heat issues also limit the MacBook Air's storage options. Because the laptop is so thin, it appears that only single-platter, 1.8-inch hard drives—the same type found in the 80GB iPod classic—fit; even a dual-platter, 1.8-inch drive, like the one used in the 160GB iPod classic, is too thick. These drives are also slower than a typical laptop drive, at 4200rpm compared to 5400rpm, and are ATA rather than the now-common SATA. The only alternative here, performance-wise, is the optional 64GB solid-state drive, although the high prices for such drives adds $999 to your tab; it's likely to be another year or two before such drives are inexpensive enough to be standard features.
Perhaps the most controversial compromise Apple has made will turn out to be that, unlike nearly every other subnotebook, the MacBook Air uses an integrated battery that can't be easily removed. The apparent reason for such a design is that, as with the iPhone and iPod, the battery had to be shaped to fit within the Air's unusually-thin profile; making the battery removable would have added considerable thickness, as the enclosure would have had to be redesigned to accommodate a more-traditional battery compartment.
Finally, the MacBook Air adheres to the general rule that you pay more for smaller size. Even though it isn't as full-featured as the MacBook, it costs $300 to $700 more than Apple's consumer-level notebook, and for only $200 more you can get a much more capable—but larger and heavier—Mac Book Pro.
So who wants one?
Which raises the obvious question: Who, exactly, is this product for? Over the past couple days, I've heard quite a bit of criticism of the MacBook Air for its limitations. But I think many of these criticisms miss the larger goal of Apple's latest laptop: Unlike the MacBook and MacBook Pro, the Air isn't designed to be a general-purpose computer; it has, by design, limitations that will be unacceptable for many people.
But for a particular market—people who value light weight and are willing to give up other features to get it—it's an interesting machine. And if you've already got another Mac at home, the MacBook Air may be an appealing on-the-go complement, with many of its limitations able to be overcome through the use of clever software features such as Remote Disk and Back To My Mac.
As for me, although it's not exactly what I was hoping for, it's close enough that I'm considering buying one to replace my aging—and heavy—original MacBook Pro. I'm also impressed by the MacBook Air for what it stands for: After years of Apple keeping its product line lean and tightly focused, the Air shows that the company feels its market is big enough to expand into niche products. In that respect, even if the MacBook Air isn't for you—and I suspect that will be the case for most people—it's something all Mac users should welcome.
(Updated 12:40 p.m. PT: Corrected statement that MacBook and MacBook Air display sizes are different. They aren't.)


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NASCAR: Burton steps in, Stewart's future unknown
Tony Stewart's plans for the remainder of NASCAR schedule are to be determined, but veteran Jeff Burton is subbing for his good friend Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.
Tony Stewart's plans for the remainder of NASCAR schedule are to be determined, but veteran Jeff Burton is subbing for his good friend Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.
Stewart-Haas Racing announced Thursday that Stewart would miss the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Pure Michigan 400 Sunday at Michigan International Speedway. He also skipped last weekend's race at Watkins Glen in the wake of the death of Kevin Ward, Jr., in a sprint car accident Saturday in Canandaigua, N.Y.
"(SHR's) Greg (Zipadelli) reached out to me Wednesday morning," said Burton, who has 21 career victories. "It was just in case Tony decides. He gets up earlier than I do, by the way."
Burton agreed to one race in Stewart's No. 14 car, and any additional plans are up in the air according to Stewart-Haas Racing executive vice president Brett Frood.
"Jeff will be the driver this weekend at Michigan," Frood said. "We have not discussed any other races. We'll talk to Tony, and when he's ready to get in the car, he'll be in there."
Frood said the Chase is of the lowest priority -- other than getting Danica Patrick in the playoff.
"Right now the focus is getting Tony in a better place than he is right now," Frood said.
Frood said Stewart has had an emotional week and is grieving.
"Anytime someone is lost, especially at a race track, it's tragic. He's dealing with quite a bit of grief," Frood said.
The incident has been a popular topic in and outside of the motorsports community, with speculation around what Stewart did and didn't see. SHR said Friday morning that "all of the appropriate parties" would be heard from when it becomes appropriate.
"We certainly understand the media has a job to do. While there may be some irresponsible reporting, right now the focus should be immediately on the family," said Frood.
Burton, 47, is racing for only the third time this season. He finished 17th at Las Vegas, 20th in New Hampshire, and spent most of the season in the broadcast booth for NBC.
The timing was right for Burton. He started and finished in the top 10 in both Michigan races last year, including eighth in his Richard Childress Chevrolet on Aug. 18, 2013.
Earlier Friday, NASCAR announced a rules change prohibiting drivers from exiting vehicles on the track unless extenuating circumstances -- such as smoke, fire, threat of bodily harm -- exist.
"NASCAR has been unbelievable in regards to safety," Burton said. "I support the decision if it feels like it's what they need to do. I'm proud that they want safety to be at the forefront."


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Being overweight is like a curse as it raises several health problems. It is generally seen that some people eat a lot but do not gain weight while some gain weight even on eating less. Losing weight is a difficult task especially for those who suffer from mental problems as they find eating foods as the only way to satisfy themselves. There are some common reasons behind the increasing weight in body:
1. Weight gain depends on the metabolic rate of body. Slow metabolism in body is the main cause of not burning calories and increasing body weight.
2. Immunity becomes weak due to lack of iron, magnesium and vitamin D in regular diet and this alters metabolism of body.
3. People having stress, tension and depression mostly eat junk foods, take beverages and drink alcohol more just to distract themselves and thus weight increases in such people.
4. Increasing age slows down digestion and reduces metabolic rate. This results in weight gain.
5. Less production of testosterone in men and estrogen in women leads to increase in weight.
6. People having problem of thyroid disorder also gain weight in an unusual manner.
Some changes in lifestyle can help to lose excess weight at home:
1. The most important step for weight loss is to cut back on sugar and starch. This reduces insulin and also reduces hunger for calories.
2. Eating meals rich in protein source, fat source and low-carb vegetables also help to lose few calories. These kinds of foods reduce desire for snacking.
3. Lifting weights 3 times a week can burn a few calories which further prevents metabolism from slowing down.
4. Taking proper sleep is an important part of losing weight fast.
5. Eating foods slowly makes one feel full after eating even small meals and thus one does not overeat.
One can also use InstaSlim capsules to reduce excess body fat naturally. These are the best ayurvedic weight loss supplements as these supplements are made purely from herbs. These supplements help to combat every factor in body that results in increase in weight.
InstaSlim capsules provide the following benefits to overweight people:
1. These supplements suppress appetite and thus reduce cravings for sugary and junk foods.
2. Unique formula of these capsules promotes metabolic rate in body to increase utilization of body fat.
3. These ayurvedic weight loss supplements improve blood circulation to increase usage of fat stored in body for producing energy.
4. Promote fat metabolism to keep production of energy regular in body.
5. These supplements regularize bowel movements which in turn keep toxins out of body.
6. Nullify ill effects of thyroid disorders on metabolic rate.
InstaSlim capsules are loaded with Vaivading, Babool, Arjun, Pashanbhed, Chitrak, Jawasa, Bahera, Kali Mirch, Haritaki, Dikamari, Samudra Shosh, Chavya and Sounth. These herbs have the property to convert fat cells into energy. These herbs can effectively enhance functions of body organs that help in digestion and absorption of nutrients from foods. These herbs also keep bowel movements regular for healthy weight loss. To get long lasting and effective results, use these ayurvedic weight loss supplements on a regular basis. Taking InstaSlim capsules for 3 to 4 months can reduce excess body fat and give optimum health benefits.


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This video of a dolphin having sex with a headless fish corpse isn't especially movie related, but I think you'll agree that the way the editor set the video to James Bond-y spy music is very cinematic. And anyway, I'm trying to realize my goal of being the number one Google result for "masturbating dolphin." God willing. I'll need your help, each and every one of you.
In any case, it appears to be some kind of river dolphin, which uploader Alexandros Malikides says he filmed at the zoo with his family, sticking its penis in a headless fish carcass, which if we're to judge by the dolphin's face, is an act that is immensely pleasurable. As commenter Donkey Hodey once opined, "Dolphins kill for fun and sexually abuse lesser species. They're like the redneck of the sea."
Thanks to Uproxx's animal rape expert Robopanda for the tip (via I09). (Although, is it still considered rape if the animal is already dead? Discuss.)


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Former Diocese of La Crosse priest injured in rollover crash
LA CROSSE, Wis. — Former Diocese of La Crosse priest Robert Flock was injured in a vehicle crash in Cochabamba, Bolivia.
The Diocese says Auxiliary Bishop Flock of the Archdiocese of Cochabamba was returning with two other priests from an installation of a newly appointed pastor in the Archdiocese when the truck they were riding in went off the road.
Police reports state the crash happened in the Town of Parotani, about 25 miles outside of Cochabamba. Bishop Flock was sitting in the front passenger seat when the truck went off the road, flipping three times.
Bishop Flock suffered several broken ribs, according to police reports. The priests in the back seat received several cuts and bruises. Archbishop Tito had bruises to the head. The Diocese of La Crosse says all of them are reported to be released from the hospital on Monday.
Winding roads and heavy rains appear to be related to the cause of the crash, according to police.


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College Beauty Blogger Allie Giordano of Miss Glambition is sharing her favorite beauty tips, tricks, and trends. Here, she shows you a fun twist on a classic 'do.
Whether you overslept and are rushing out the door, or you're getting ready for a night out with friends, this small braided detail is an easy way to upgrade your typical top knot and add some fun to your hair. To get the look, just follow these simple steps!
1. Secure your hair in a high ponytail (where you want the bun to ultimately be).
More From Seventeen
2. Take a small section from pony, and braid it all the way to the bottom; secure with a clear elastic.
3. Twist the remaining larger section of hair until the entire ponytail is in a tight twist. Wrap the twisted hair around the base of the ponytail to create a bun. Secure it in place with a hair tie.
5. Take the small braid from step 2, and wrap it around the bun and secure tightly with bobby pins.
6. To finish off the look, apply a mist of hairspray, and you'll be ready to head out the door!
10 Cool Bun Hairstyles For Days You. Just. Can't.
Hair How-To: Perfectly Undone Bun
Hair How-To: Flirty Boho Braid
Photo Credit: Allie Giordano


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My first thought after playing Super Mario Galaxy 2 for the first few hours was that Nintendo was kind of being a jerk about the whole thing. It's much harder to nail a satisfying game mechanic—whether it's in 2D or 3D—than people understand. Nintendo constantly shows you something amazing and masterfully produced, and just when you've gotten over being amazed at how well it plays, the game throws it away and offers up something else, equally good.
Saying this is Nintendo at its platforming best is an understatement. This is the equivalent of a baseball player hitting nothing but home runs for an entire four-game series, calling his shots Babe-Ruth-style before each swing. Nintendo plays with the genre like there is nothing at stake, doing incredible things with it as if it's simply a decision to make a game this good.
|Super Mario Galaxy 2
|$49.99 Shop.Ars
|Nintendo Wii
The world is your ship
The game is a direct sequel to the first Mario Galaxy, except this time you're given a ship shaped like Mario's head to pilot around a simplified world map, filled with galaxies that are themselves given a selection of stars to try to find. You land on a galaxy and get a task to complete to earn the star. In addition, there is always a comet coin to track down in order to keep you exploring.
So what do you have to do to earn these stars? Everything! Fight bosses, platform in 2D and 3D... you'll swim, fly, float, and fall. You'll need to hurry, you'll be forced to take your time. In some cases gravity will be your enemy and at other times it will be your ally. You'll meet friends from past games... and enemies too. Sometimes entire sections of the game will remind you of past Mario games. There is no way to describe the sheer joyous exploration of the game, nor how surprising many of the moments are, without playing it yourself. We could list a variety of the levels, but why take away the fun of discovery?
Mario is given a huge number of moves to interact with his world. He can jump, grab, back-flip, triple-jump, long jump, and wall-jump. There are circumstances where he can fly, tunnel, and roll. He can grab items, ice-skate, climb, and butt-stomp on both enemies and the environment. The genius of the level design is that you're constantly being tested and stretched and asked to use all of these moves and actions. If you see a far-off platform or glittery object, don't worry. You can get to it. It will just take some imagination. If you have any hope of collecting all the stars—which is a daunting task—you'll have to explore every inch of the land and find every secret. The hidden areas and secret stars are deviously scattered around the game, and each one will give you a feeling of accomplishment when found.
To progress throughout the game you need a set minimum of stars, but there are multiple ways to find them. You can go back and find stars you've missed, you can pick out the easy ones from the galaxies available to you, or you can explore the star challenges the comets bring as you collect the comet coins around the galaxies. If you simply want to see each world and finish the game, the challenge is very slight. The more you see and do, however, the more demanding the game becomes.
Extra lives are plentiful. You can explore your ship between missions, and it's filled with extra lives and colorful characters. Grab 100 coins, you'll get an extra life. Collect 100 star bits, you'll get an extra life. Other characters will mail you extra lives. Nintendo doesn't want to punish you for trying new things in the levels, so it has made extra lives easy to find or even buy. If you're given an extra life in the middle of a challenge, look out: that's Nintendo's way of telling you "this is going to take you a few tries."
The game will help you
Just like New Super Mario Bros. Wii, if you mess up while trying to complete certain challenges enough times, the game will offer to help you. During one particularly tricky section, I took the game up on its offer. The computer takes over for you and completes the section, but at the end you're given a bronze star. If you want the gold star, you'll have to do it yourself.
That bronze star counts towards your totals, so you can move to the next challenge or move closer to unlocking the next section of the game, but we're guessing that you won't be able to see everything if you have bronze stars in your collection. It's a neat mechanic, and it's used with flair: if you don't want the help, you don't have to use it. If you use it, you'll still need to go back and master that segment to get all the stars. If you just want to "beat" the game and see the ending, this removes a large portion of the frustration.
While some gamers may sneer, we play games to have fun, and controller-throwing frustration is never fun. This gives you the option of accepting a little help to move ahead, but if you don't want it you can simply turn it down. It's a little touch that helps to make the game accessible for a wider audience, and the title is better for it.
Besides, on the computer-controlled run through of the challenge, Mario seemed to avoid grabbing coins and star bits, as if to say you won't be getting much help by the feature. It's a nice touch.
In conclusion
The multiplayer is still limited. Player 2 can help you collect star bits or fight enemies by moving a cursor on the screen. It's a fun way to play with your kids and the extra helping hand can come in very handy during a level. Still, the focus is on playing a single-player game and testing your platforming skills.
The game continually shifts and adjusts and introduces new challenges. Some are simple, such as beating a level with a time limit. Others are devilishly difficult, such as being followed by ghostly doubles who try to knock you down and keep you from your goals. A moderately talented player will be able to enjoy the challenge and beat the game, but only the best will be able to do everything. No matter what level you're playing at, you can sit down for 20 minutes and have a good time, or you can lose yourself for hours. The Mario haters will continue to bleat about the same ideas being rehashed once again, but the truth is that Nintendo is constantly trying to beat its own best, and it delivers exactly what gamers want—and in huge doses. This is, thus far, the peak of what platforming can offer. Will it be beaten? Is it all downhill from here? Who cares? Let's sit down and play.


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"The reason that I am a writer today is Shakespeare."
Three-time Oscar nominated screenwriter John Logan (Hugo)
Here it is, in just under 1,000 words, the secret of being a successful screenwriter. (From the lips of a bona fide and currently successful screenwriter.)
There was some disappointment yesterday when the Oscar nominations were announced. (Isn't there always?) While there were some new faces, in general, many felt it was a lot of the usual suspects; Scorsese, Spielberg, Sorkin, etc.
It's a little bit like the Super Bowl this year— The Patriots verses the Giants. Brady verses Manning. Haven't we seen that before? In fact, we have—Super Bowl XLII back in 2008 when the New York Giants and Manning defeated a then undefeated New England Patriot team led by Brady. There is one simple reason why these those two quarterbacks are in facing each other in the Super Bowl again—they are two of the best quarterbacks in professional football.
Ditto that from a filmmaking perspective for Scorsese, Spielberg, Sorkin…Clooney, Pitt, Streep, Malick, Alexander Payne, and Woody Allen.
But there is one screenwriter that is not a household name outside of Hollywood (as someone like, say, Diablo Cody) who had a killer year in 2011—John Logan. Though a top A-list Hollywood screenwriter, I think by design, he flies a little under the radar for even the average moviegoer.
He's nominated for writing the film Hugo. A film that led the field for the 2012 Oscars with a total of 11 nominations. But wait, there's more! He also wrote Rango (featuring Johnny Depp) which received an Oscar nomination for Animated Feature Film. But wait there's still more! He also wrote Coriolanus which was released in 2011 and picked up a BAFTA nomination for its director Ralph Fiennes. Yes, 2011 was a very good year for John Logan.
And it's not like he's a newcomer. He's fifty-years-old and has been nominated for an Academy Award twice before; The Aviator (2004) and Gladiator (2000). On top of that his credits also include Any Given Sunday, The Last Samurai, and Sweeney Todd.
So here's the really important question? What's his secret? Glad you asked. John Logan has the answer;
"I graduated from Northwestern. I had no money. No one had any money. So I got a day job, shelving books at the Northwestern University Law Library. Every morning I would work from nine to five and shelve books, for ten years. Every single day for ten years.
I lived in a tiny studio apartment where you could practically touch the walls. Outside the window was a place that installed car alarms, so at all hours it was car alarms. I lived on tuna fish, which I still will not eat to this day. I learned to de-bone a chicken because it was cheaper. And it was hard. And it was the greatest time of my life because I had no expectations of anything but learning how to do my job, which was to be a playwright….And my plays were put on in teeny little church basements or in back allies, in theaters that were condemned while the play was going on. It was fantastic. It was a very vibrant time in Chicago theater, and I loved it. I spent ten years learning how to do my job and it was fantastic."
His writing eventually got noticed and he landed an agent in L.A., Brian Siberell at CAA. He didn't have any assignments, but moved to L.A. and took nine months to write his first screenplay, which eventually became the movie Any Given Sunday. But not, according to Logan, until he and Oliver Stone did a few re-writes;
"We did 26 drafts of Any Given Sunday, one right after another, so I learned everything about the form from him. He was patient. I'd go to his house, he'd say, 'Pick up that Oscar, hold it, it'll feel good, you'll enjoy it.' And then we'd work. Any Given Sunday, like all these monstrous big movies, was hard to get made."
In case you missed it—26 drafts. That's after his spending nine months writing and re-writing it on his own. 26.
Still with me? Still want to be a screenwriter? If so, here's the bomb. From the lips of John Logan, here's the most powerful, and potentially life-changing advice as you'll ever find for being a screenwriter;
"If you want to be a screenwriter—a successful screenwriter—here's the secret…This is what you have to do, it's great—don't tell anyone. You have to read Hamlet, and you have to read it again, and you have to read it until you understand every word. And then you move onto King Lear. And then maybe treat yourself to Troilus and Cressida.
And then you know what? Then you're going to go back and read Aristotle's Poetics until you can quote it. And then you're going to read Sophocles, and then you're going to read Ibsen, and then you're going to read Tony Kushner, and then you're going to read Chekhov. You're going to understand the continuum of what it is to be a dramatist, so you have respect for the form in which you are trying to function. So you understand what comes before you. Then, if you chose, watch a couple of movies."
On Monday I was a guest speaker at a college and asked, "Is screenwriting hard?" I think Mr. Logan answers that question quite well.
Here are the CliffsNotes on John Logan's path to successful screenwriting:
* Study acting and playwriting in well-established Midwestern college that has a alumni history of successful writers/actors
* Devour Shakespeare
* 10 years of starving and learning his craft (while working a non-creative day job)
* Writings (finally) get him an L.A. agent
* Sells script to Oliver Stone and then does 26 drafts
* Becomes a wealthy and in demand writer complete with a house in Malibu
* Receives several Oscar nominations
The above quotes from Logan are from his BAFTA talk on September 20, 2011. Below is the You Tube 2-minute teaser which as of this writing only has 339 views. (Link to PDF of full talk.) Seriously, if there is one post I've ever written that I think you should pass on to fellow writers via Twitter, Facebook, text, email, or whatever— it's this post.
Special thanks to BAFTA and the BFI Screenwriters Lecture Series in association with the JJ Charitable Trust for the work they do.
Tomorrow we'll be back looking at the continuum of film history. (Inspired by my seeing Hugo and The Artist earlier this year.)
P.S. As big a year as Logan has had in 2011, 2012 doesn't look like it's going to be bad for him either. On top of possibly winning his first Oscar, he's credited on the soon to be released Lincoln directed by Spielberg, and is also credited on the new James Bond film Skyfall which is currently being filmed.
Update 1/26/11: Found this nice little nugget about Logan:
"What I value most of all is his extraordinary knowledge of everything under the sun — film, theater, painting, literature, world history, you name it. I can tell you he's absolutely unique is that sense and it gives him a real advantage as a writer."
Martin Scorsese
LA Times article
Related posts: Screenwriting da Chicago Way
Sam Shepard's Start
Beatles, Cody, King & 10,000 Hours
Screenwriting Quote # 43 (Aaron Sorkin)
Screenwriter's Work Ethic (Tip #2)
Screenwriting Quote #82 (John Logan)


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February 13, 2009
LA Jolla, CA—Fruit flies and humans share most of their genes, including 70 percent of all known human disease genes. Taking advantage of this remarkable evolutionary conservation, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies transformed the fruit fly into a laboratory model for an innovative study of gliomas, the most common malignant brain tumors.
"Gliomas are a devastating disease but we still know very little about the underlying disease process," explains John B. Thomas, Ph.D., a professor in the Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory and senior author of the study, which is published in the current edition of the Public Library of Science Genetics. "We can now use the power of Drosophila genetics to uncover genes that drive these tumors and identify novel therapeutic targets, which will speed up the development of effective drugs."
Better models for research into human gliomas are urgently needed. Last year alone, about 21,000 people in this country were diagnosed with brain and nervous system cancers, Senator Edward M. Kennedy the most famous among them. About 77 percent of malignant brain tumors are gliomas and their prognosis is usually bleak. While they rarely spread to elsewhere in the body, cancerous glial cells quickly infiltrate the brain and grow rapidly, which renders them largely incurable even with current therapies.
Top: Normal fly brain for comparison. Glial cells are shown in red. Bottom: Tumor cells (shown in green) have overtaken almost the entire brain of an adult fly.
Image: Courtesy of Dr. Renee Read, Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Gliomas originate in brain cells known as "glia" and are categorized into subtypes based on how aggressive they appear, with glioblastoma being the most common and most aggressive form of glioma. Their diversity is mirrored by the number of different signaling pathways involved in the generation of these tumors, yet aggressive gliomas all seem to have one thing in common: Most, if not all human glioblastomas carry mutations that activate the EGFR-Ras and PI-3K signaling pathways. Such mutations are also thought to play a key role in developing drug resistance.
"Fruit flies possess homologs of many relevant human genes including EGFR, Ras, and PI-3K," explains postdoctoral researcher and first author Renee Read, who spearheaded the project. "We developed the Drosophila model to figure out how these genes specifically regulate brain tumor pathogenesis and to discover new ways to attack these tumors."
When Read activated both signaling pathways specifically in glia in genetically engineered fruit flies, she found that, just as in the mammalian brain, activation of the EGFR-Ras and PI-3K pathways gave rise to rapidly dividing, invasive cells that created tumor-like growths in the fly brain, mimicking the human disease.
"Once I had verified that the fly tumors share key aspects with human gliomas, I could use the model to screen for new genes that are involved in disease process and compare them to the genes that were found as part of The Cancer Genome Atlas' glioblastoma initiative," explains Read.
Glioblastoma is one of the first cancers studied by The Cancer Genome Atlas research network, whose goal is to accelerate understanding of the molecular basis of cancer through the application of modern genome characterization technologies such as large-scale genome sequencing.
Like most cancers, gliomas arise from changes in a person's DNA that accumulate over a lifetime but sorting changes with wide-ranging impacts from innocent bystanders has been a challenge. "While these initiatives give us big lists of altered genes they don't tell us much about which ones are really important," says Read. "Addressing this question in mouse models or patient studies is extremely expensive and time-consuming. In flies, I can test hundreds of genes every week."
The Salk researchers are now using their fly model to search for genes and drugs that might block EGFR/PI-3K-associated brain tumors. The drug tests are being done in collaboration with co-authors professor Webster Cavenee, Ph.D., and associate professor Frank Furnari, Ph.D., both experts in human brain tumor biology at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at the University of California, San Diego.
The researchers are hoping that through their combined efforts new discoveries from the fly model can be rapidly translated into mouse and human brain tumor studies and lead to development of new therapies for this deadly cancer.
The work was supported by the National Institutes for Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the American Brain Tumor Association.
For information on the commercialization of this technology, please contact the Salk Office of Technology Development, (858) 453-4100, Ext. 1278.
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to fundamental discoveries in the life sciences, the improvement of human health, and the training of future generations of researchers. Jonas Salk, M.D., whose polio vaccine all but eradicated the crippling disease poliomyelitis in 1955, opened the Institute in 1965 with a gift of land from the City of San Diego and the financial support of the March of Dimes.


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Rule #1 - Be Patient - Rule #2 - Don't ask when, if you don't contribute - Rule #3 - You have coding skills - LinuxMCE's small brother is available: http://www.agocontrol.com
Hello people,I have been trying to make use of the builtin asterisk server.I can make phone calls to my telephone and can also dialout.The problem is that the asterisk version does not support the g711 codec which is the preferred choice of my voip provider.I get also messages that there are no conversion codecs from g711 to sln.Maybe i am wrong because this is my first experience with asterisk.The provider is http://12connect.com/home/default.php?a=home&id=1022&lang=nl&site=1500Keep up the good work!!With kind regards,William van de Velde
(note i havent used asterrisk, i magage switchvox pbxes, based on asterisk)g729 is normaly the issue as digum(i think) need you have a licence per channel (concurrent call)however you should be able to have the phone itself set to g729 you can use bypass mode and not pay for the licence.I could be wrong however i think asterisk is the same.
Well i am new but i should have read the basics The thing is that g711 = alaw/ulaw but i filled g711 as the allowed codec.