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The Games of Stealthjam
[one_third]The world's first global stealth game jam has concluded, and the completed stealth game entries are here to download![/one_third]
On the weekend of June 22, Sneaky Bastards kicked off Stealthjam: the world's first global stealth game jam. It was a weekend brimming with stealth design discussion and furious prototyping, and teams of independent developers from around the world raced to create and explore new forms of stealth gameplay in just 48 hours. What follows are the games that were successfully completed; games that take stealth in directions we have not seen before.
[one_third][button_big url="http://games.on.net/file/50367/" color="green2″]Download All Games[/button_big]
(374MB – Registration required)
Chris Lewis
Blackout offers an interesting twist on the core light and shadow-based dynamic of power and safety. Usually, shadows are your friend; from them, you are completely safe (so long as no guard happens to trip over you, or shine a flashlight in your eyes) and you also have the power to observe your surroundings uninhibited. Here, shadow is only created when hitting the spacebar to temporarily create a level-wide blackout. And it is completely black, save for a tiny light cone around your character. A blackout causes lasers to deactivate and severely inhibits guards' line of sight, but also makes it far easier to accidentally step on a pressure plate – and then, it's game over. A basic planning phase has been implemented that consists of drawing a path through the level which remains visible during the blackout, and there's a kind of tension that arises from trusting your own drawn path by bailing along it in the dark. Though the levels end just as things start getting tricky, there's a solid core concept behind Blackout we'd love to see developed further.
Box Escape
Tom Bakker
A simple, top-down game of timing whereby a cube must be moved to the end of the level, whilst avoiding roaming spotlights. What Box Escape does is strip back the typical system of guard patrols (represented here by the spotlights) into its most basic form – a timing-based puzzle. Whilst Box Escape does offer a few nailbiting moments, and evokes something of a planning phase through safe spots and having every light follow very readable patterns, the game, in and of itself, isn't an entirely unique exploration of stealth gameplay.
Colour Chameleon
James Apple, John Apple, James Zin, Jared Michael
Quite a few games in Stealthjam explored existing methods of evasion in the animal kingdom. Colour Chameleon is the first of them. Created by a group of artists with no actual programming experience, the game is rough but built upon an original spin on stealth gameplay. As the chameleon runs down the track, it must blend in to coloured strips on the ground to avoid being attacked by the spiders that await. What we can see from this concept is a game that potentially marries sneaking and rhythm to create a kind of stealth-based synesthesia similar to something like Audiosurf. Give it a go, and see where your own extrapolations take you.
Dance or Die
David Davila, Gabriel Ortiz, Felipe Lucio, Miguel Olvera
Speaking of rhythm, Dance or Die is one of the strangest things we've ever played. It's about getting fed up with being in a club playing that's lame music and is full of lame people on the dancefloor, so you need to collect your stuff and get out. But you need to do it without the other dancers thinking you're lame, which means… you need to do it in time with the music. It's totally bizarre, totally abstract, and it totally works. If you just project the team's given context onto the coloured squares, it's kind of hilarious. What the game needs, however, is actual music, as well as a slightly more forgiving window to move on the beat. Perhaps a penalty for standing still, too, to force you to plan your route through the dancefloor and not break your flow. Flow is a thing, right? Can you tell I can't dance? Good. Play this game.
Desk Rage
Desk Rage Team
This game reminds me of one of those 90s Dilbert Desktop games, in that you play as a disgruntled employee who must sneak his way through his office's cubicles and flip his boss's desk. On the way, they need to avoid other employees, who will run and tell the boss because they're suck-ups. Desk Rage explores a bit of AI manipulation: the player is able to tamper with office equipment that will distract the employees to create a risk/reward situation through the need to leave the cover of the cubicles to do so. We don't think the third-person view works however; the game would play much better from a top-down, or fixed isometric, perspective.
Facility Sneak
Michael Shaw
Facility Sneak is perhaps a victim of its own ambition. With an original goal of a squad-based, turn-based, grid-based stealth game – which sounds fantastic – the realities of the game jam environment proved, well, too real for this one-man team. Though the final version retains the turns and the grids, it doesn't appear to use them to explore the kind of potential a turn-based stealth game could have with a single character given the rest of the game's mechanics.
Giraffes Gone Wild
Team Unicorn
Giraffes Gone Wild is another game where the team's original vision was closer to fulfilling the Stealthjam mission of exploring new stealth mechanics. Players would contort a giraffe into comically impossible positions to hide behind things like trees in the manner of a Looney Tunes cartoon. Unfortunately, the team was unable to bring the concept to fruiting within the game jam time limit, and so what resulted feels less like it explores stealth gameplay. There are some great physics and random level generation driving the game, but the game needs some kind of motivation to commit to actions which raise the alert meter, in order to give reason to subsequently visit the giraffe sanctuary to cool it down. Did I mention this game is kind of wacky?
Michael Sawayda, Dustin Byrne, Eduardo Cabrera, Ian Chee, Robert Munn
GLOW does a fantastic job of exploring the delicate interplay between safety, action and perception in stealth-based multiplayer combat. This is a two-player deathmatch game where the level is pitch black. Firing lights up the area around you, and your projectile, but also leaves your player-character glowing for a few seconds, giving the other player a chance to line up a shot from the safety of the shadows. The thing is, no one will win unless someone fires and reveals themselves, so battles can develop into tense games of misdirection. We'd love to see this concept explored over more complex level designs and with higher player counts.
The Huntsman
Jason King, Matthew Korver, Tom Spratt
The Huntsman is part DayZ, part Splinter Cell Versus mode. It's an asymmetrical multiplayer game where one player is the Huntsman (literally a giant spider – we can already see Justin running in the opposite direction) and the other is the Hunter (a man with a big gun). Both are tasked with killing the other, but are easily killed themselves. The spider relies on using the dark to close in on the unsuspecting hunter, and using his webs to slow. The Hunter has limited ammo and vision and must be aware of his prey hunting him throughout, using his flashlight and flares sparingly. Dark, ominous woods and hilly terrain make this a deadly game of cat and mouse (man and spider?) that can be won through stealth or firepower.
Calum Spring, Tim Stasse, Blair Duncan, Glenn Cowley, Tim Bermanseder, Dylan Young, Rob Krix
What we have here is a basic approximation of the social stealth gameplay that Chris Hecker is currently exploring in the development of SpyParty. That kind of exploration is exactly what Stealthjam encourages, but it's probably the most difficult angle to approach stealth mechanics given the 48 hour time constraints. So it is that InconSPYcuous offers a multiplayer spy/sniper setup that is hampered by the spy's inability to really imitate NPCs and throw the sniper off. There's some fun to be had in imitating their skittish, random movement, but the game needs more behaviours to explore. That said, InconSPYcuous lays solid groundwork, though we don't know if the shadow being cast by SpyParty is, at the moment, too long.
Million Dollar Monkey
Team Fully-Evolved
Team Fully-Evolved wanted to make a Nightcrawler Super Meat Boy Platformer where the player is able to shift in and out of space to pass through walls avoid being seen by enemies, and avoid damage from environmental hazards. And they've done just that. Million Dollar Monkey explores occlusion-based stealth where you have more control over that occlusion than in most other stealth games – the closest we can think of is Warp. We'd love to see the stealth aspects here explored more than the platform and puzzle mechanics, because the core concept is so simple, yet so solid, that it could easily make for a new kind of stealth game.
Moonlight: Mistress of Mischief
Dan Silvers
We think Moonlight's creator must hate us. Why else would he place a giant gemstone in front of an arrow-launching turret that instantly kills the game's player character? We want that damn gem. Though pressing the movement key really fast to dodge the arrow by moving two squares super quick kind of replicates the 'flight' moments in stealth games, it feels a little like we're cheating the system. For a stealth/puzzler so stalwartly grid-based, we were hoping for a few more ways of bypassing these kinds of roadblocks. The game is currently being developed and updated beyond the Stealthjam event, as this IndieDB page details.
Awesome Ninja Game
Thomas Hill, Elliott Richards, Lachlan Page, Angus McPherson
This is the first Stealthjam game to include an incentive for non-lethal action. More points are awarded for leaving guards alive whilst collecting treasure in this 2D sidescroller reminiscent of upcoming stealth game Mark of the Ninja. The player can hide behind doors while a guard patrols past them, or take them out from behind. It is a basic translation of stealth mechanics onto a 2D plane whilst providing faux depth, but the eponymous ninja's shoes are remarkably slippery, and thus his ability to jump with precision not too… well, precise.
Transient Team
Recall fares a little better than the previous attempt at turn-based stealth, using its Roguelike inspiration to instil a sense of dread and urgency. There's a tension that arises from hiding behind a cupboard and hitting the 'next turn' button, wondering if the guards saw you and are about to change their patrol pattern and make a beeline for you. Unfortunately, there's insufficient feedback for when this is the case, and with no recourse to recover when spotted, the Roguelike influence starts to strangle the otherwise interesting exploration of stealth.
Shadow Thief
Patrick Rasumssen, Carmen Penna
Shadow Thief is a game is about a thief breaking into an office building on the top floor to reach the bank on the ground floor. You are to use the shadows to avoid the guards by jumping into the shadow itself. Unfortunately, we can't seem to get the game to function properly. We jump into the shadow, but are still detected by the patrolling guards. Perhaps you might have better luck? The game requires the installation of GameMaker 8.1, and must be opened in it as a project file.
Sir Steal-a-Lot's Adventures
Martin Gartz, Jorge Monterrubio, Diego Guerra
We love this idea. You're a chameleon who "absorbs" not just the colour of his background, but the pattern as well, in order to sneak past guards. If you absorb stripey wallpaper, for example, you're only hidden unless you position yourself exactly over the wallpaper so that the patterns match up, like Gotye. It's like a combination of Metal Gear Solid 4's octo-camo, and Metal Gear Solid 3's camouflage percentage index, but far more exact. We can't actually seem to get past the sixth room, but it doesn't matter; the concept is brilliant and we want to see more.
Jack Erskine, Jake Higgs, Micheal Muirden, Tom Buttery, Anneke Cox, Dan Harvey, Trevor Clift, Hannah Mattner
Squidden is one of the most polished games to come out of Stealthjam, and another that explores colour-based camouflage in the animal kingdom. We're also giving it the award for best-worst pun in the title. You play as a squid who must consume fish then change colour to hide in the coral as a bigger, snappier fish tries to, in turn, eat him. It's a good idea, but I feel the stealth aspect is perhaps a little divorced from the game's objective. Having the different colours on the right thumbstick is definitely an interesting approach, though. Still, There's a solid foundation in Squidden that we would like to see developed upon.
Steampunk Inn
Steampunk Inn Team
Steampunk Inn presents an intersting concept, whereby you play as an inn owner who robs from his tenents whilst they sleep. The more you steal, the more you can upgrade your inn, which attracts more unaware guests. Sneaking into their rooms requires holding your breath, as floating security sentries detect increased levels of moisture in the air. The random level generation doesn't particularly play well into the strict time limit for each level; perhaps, given an overview of each floor before commencing, some rudimentary planning could facilitate the most optimal path to the most bountiful rooms and make for a richer experience.
TAG Team
We hope you like dubstep! TAG paints you as a graffiti artist who navigates a city environment through some athletic platforming trying to get as many graffiti tags up as possible, all while trying to avoid detection by floating police sentries. Kind of like a stealth-based Jet Set Radio. It's a cool idea, however we'd like to have seen some more done with the police sentries to prevent gameplay from devolving into a stop-and-start affair. Perhaps spraypainting their lenses to ward them off?
Operation Om Nom
Team Operation Om Nom
Operation Om Nom is nothing short of brilliant. It's a stealth game where the player creature can disguise himself as everyday objects by eating them. You can eat a pot plant, which you'll then turn into, but have sprouted legs and can shuffle along like in an old cartoon. Stay still – in places where pot plants would logically be – and guards won't notice you. This ability is limited by the creature's digestive system – you eat the pot plant to turn into it, and then have a limited run with it before you'll poop it out. There's some other brilliant stuff in here, like dynamic music that adds new layers depending upon how close you are to your goal, and the ability to run on the ceiling (but not on ceiling fans). However, it's the ability to disguise as objects that we've completely taken to. This idea is begging for a complete stealth game to be designed around.
Interested in hosting Stealthjam 2013?
It's safe to say that Stealthjam will become an annual event – and we're looking for people to help make next year even bigger!
If you're interested in applying to host a local Stealthjam event in your city in the middle of 2013, get in touch:
See you next year!


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May 12th, 2011
Religious belief is human nature, huge new study claims
By Richard Allen Greene, CNN
London (CNN) - Religion comes naturally, even instinctively, to human beings, a massive new study of cultures all around the world suggests.
"We tend to see purpose in the world," Oxford University professor Roger Trigg said Thursday. "We see agency. We think that something is there even if you can't see it. ... All this tends to build up to a religious way of thinking."
Trigg is co-director of the three-year Oxford-based project, which incorporated more than 40 different studies by dozens of researchers looking at countries from China to Poland and the United States to Micronesia.
Studies around the world came up with similar findings, including widespread belief in some kind of afterlife and an instinctive tendency to suggest that natural phenomena happen for a purpose.
"Children in particular found it very easy to think in religious ways," such as believing in God's omniscience, said Trigg. But adults also jumped first for explanations that implied an unseen agent at work in the world, the study found.
The study doesn't say anything about whether God, gods or an afterlife exist, said Justin Barrett, the project's other co-director.
"This project does not set out to prove God or gods exist. Just because we find it easier to think in a particular way does not mean that it is true in fact," he said.
Both atheists and religious people could use the study to argue their sides, Trigg told CNN.
Famed secularist Richard "Dawkins would accept our findings and say we've got to grow out of it," Trigg argued.
But people of faith could argue that the universality of religious sentiment serves God's purpose, the philosophy professor said.
"Religious people would say, 'If there is a God, then ... he would have given us inclinations to look for him,'" Trigg said.
The blockbuster study may not take a stance on the existence of God, but it has profound implications for religious freedom, Trigg contends.
"If you've got something so deep-rooted in human nature, thwarting it is in some sense not enabling humans to fulfill their basic interests," Trigg said.
"There is quite a drive to think that religion is private," he said, arguing that such a belief is wrong. "It isn't just a quirky interest of a few, it's basic human nature."
"This shows that it's much more universal, prevalent, and deep-rooted. It's got to be reckoned with. You can't just pretend it isn't there," he said.
And the Oxford study, known as the Cognition, Religion and Theology Project, strongly implies that religion will not wither away, he said.
"The secularization thesis of the 1960s - I think that was hopeless," Trigg concluded.
soundoff (2,338 Responses)
About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.

subset: commoncrawl


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Shadow Giller judge Trevor has reviewed David Bergen's The Matter with Morris. Here are his opening paragraphs:
My second stop on this year's Giller shortlist is David Bergen's The Matter with Morris (2010). Bergen won the Giller in 2005 for The Time in Between, and he was shortlisted in 2008 for The Retreat. The other authors on this year's shortlist are all first-time Giller finalists. None has ever been on the longlist, either. In fact, other than a short story collection here (Winter) or a book of poetry there (Skibsrud), the other finalists are new authors in the book publishing world. Bergen is the heavy-weight, the seasoned professional. Yet, without having read three of the five finalists, I suspect Bergen's book to the be the weakest on the shortlist.
First things first: Bergen's writing is not showy and it is fluid. Though a novel of abstract ideas, the writing remains clear. That's a plus from my perspective. Bergen has honed his skill to the point where he is not in the way of his story. But the story is where the problem lies.
I'd say Trevor and I are in agreement on this one — my review is here.


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Facebook is planning to debut a service, Facebook Exchange, that will allow the company to more effectively target ads to customers, Bloomberg reported today.
The service, which is expected to deploy in the coming weeks, provides real-time bidding on ads, which means advertisers can reach users based on their browsing history, Facebook spokeswoman Annie Ta told Bloomberg. This is similar to what other Web companies, like Google, use to target their ads, and could give a substantial boost to Facebook's ability to increase its display ad revenue and sell-through rates on its inventory.
Facebook confirmed to CNET that the company is testing this new option for advertisers. Prices will be based on cost per thousand views, and the ads will be sold through third-party partners.
The social network already targets its ads based on what users do on its site, but real-time ads allow advertisers to target people by tracking their activities on other Web sites via cookies -- temporary stores of information, typically used to retain information from session to session. The cookies let vendors know which sites users visit, and then display ads with similar subject matter on a user's page, according to Facebook spokesperson.
This means that if you visit a travel site and search for a flight but don't make a purchase, an advertiser can bid on an ad showcasing the trip you were just looking at. That ad will then show up on your page.
The social network has already started placing cookies on browsers and there is no way to opt-out. If you don't want to have these hyper-targeted ads pop up on your pages, you can disable your cookies on the third party sites or on your browser.
Facebook is testing Exchange with eight advertising demand-side platforms, according to a TechCrunch report. The system is expected to be expanded in the next few weeks for sidebar ads charged at cost-per-thousand-impressions.
As TechCrunch's Josh Constine explained," Ford could drop a cookie on a user who looks at the new Escape SUV on its website, but doesn't request a local quote. Then Ford could bid to show that user ads stating 'Ford Escape: Just $21,000'. These would be much more relevant than generic Ford ads showing sedans or trucks that the user might not be interested in. And Ford would likely be willing to pay a high price to reach that qualified lead."
CNET has a message into Facebook and will update when we get more information.
Updated, 10:43 p.m. PT on June 14: Added confirmation from Facebook.


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Iran sentences 8 Facebook activists to prison, 127 years in total
TEHRAN, Iran – TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An Iranian court handed jail sentences of eight to 21 years to eight Facebook page administrators, the official IRNA news agency reported on Sunday.
The report said the defendants were convicted of plotting against national security, spreading propaganda against the ruling system and insulting officials. It did not identify the defendants or the Facebook pages.
It said that the court issued its verdict against the eight activists, who come from various cities including the capital, in April following several court appearances. They appealed immediately, said IRNA.
Facebook is already officially banned in the country, along with other social websites like Twitter and YouTube as well as their mobile apps. However some senior leaders like Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif are active on Twitter, and many Iranians use proxy servers to access banned websites and applications.
In May an Iranian judge ordered Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg to appear in court to answer complaints by individuals who say Facebook-owned applications Instagram and Whatsapp violate their privacy
Authorities banned the social websites after Iranian opposition members allegedly used them to organize their protest rallies following the disputed re-election of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.


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How Do You Know if You Need New Tires?
You need to be aware of three things when deciding if you need new tires: tread wear, exposure to the elements and tire age.
Tread Wear
Who says a penny doesn't buy you anything? With this easy test, a penny can buy you peace of mind when it comes to your tires and safety. Place a penny head first into several tread grooves across the tire. If you always see the top of Lincoln's head, your treads are shallow and worn. If this is the case, your tires need to be replaced. If part of Lincoln's head is always covered by the tread, you have more than 2/32 of an inch of tread depth remaining. This means you probably don't need new tires.
Why Worry About Tread Wear?
The most important reason to worry about tread wear is safety. When your tire treads are worn, your car may respond poorly in adverse weather conditions like rain and snow. With good treads your car will grip the road better. Also, having insufficient tread is considered illegal in many states. And finally, worn treads can make other parts of your car wear prematurely.
Exposure to the Elements
Exposure to heat and the sun's ultraviolet rays may cause structural changes to your tires. These changes are not usually a concern in moderate climates.
Tire Age
How old are your tires? Regardless of tread wear, vehicle manufacturers generally recommend you replace your tires at six years. Most tire manufacturers recommend you replace your tires at 10 years. Check the manufacturer's recommendations on your specific tires.
I Need New Tires
When it's time to change your tires, your Firestone Complete Auto Care dealer wants to make purchasing a new set as simple as possible. We have the best selection of quality tires to fit your vehicle, your budget and your driving style. From economy to ultra high performance tires—in the size you need from brands you trust, including our well-known Bridgestone and Firestone brands—you can Find What You Need Right Here.


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Printable Recipes
I installed a plugin that should allow you to print recipes by clicking on Print This Post at the bottom of each post. Of course, this was so simple to install that I'm pretty sure it won't work properly. And unfortunately, I don't have a printer at home to test it out tonight. So, if anyone happens to try it, let me know how it works.
Update: I noticed that the Print This Post link is only available when looking at posts on the main page. It won't work if you get to the post via the archives or categories. I'll look into this.
4 Responses to "Printable Recipes"
it WORKS!!!
great…now i dont have to copy-paste the recipes into words 😀
Awesome! Really cool feature. This will so be on the list of things I beg and try to bribe you to help me with, after I work out the first one. (I, um, can't find my FTP password. I'm that intellectually compromised.)
Your plug-in works on my mac, as well. That's really neat!


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It's been an interesting summer thus far here in eastern South Dakota. In early June, we were praying for rain, worried about what August would bring as our summer forages were already turning brown. By the end of June, we'd had flash-flooding across the state, hail storms that pummeled corn fields, tornados that decimated farm buildings and lightning strikes that killed calves. Although our locale escaped the worst of it, we are still dealing with an abundance of moisture, which has made putting up high-quality hay a challenge.
In his most recent Hay & Forage Minute newsletter, Bruce Anderson, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension forage specialist, recently wrote about how to handle rained-on hay and how best to store it from now until winter. Here are three tips for handling and storing wet hay that I picked up from his piece:
1. To bale or not to bale. That is the question.
"Sometimes, the big problem with rained-on hay is the long-term damage to the regrowing plants," says Anderson. "Driving over the field repeatedly — trying to turn hay to hasten its drying — will injure regrowth and can cause soil compaction, especially if the ground is wet and soft."
Anderson recommends moving the hay any way possible -- bale it; chop it, or even blow it back on the ground as mulch.
"You may need to damage plants by driving on them to turn hay to speed drying and get sunlight to plants underneath. But do it anyway to prevent old windrows from ruining the rest of your haying year," he advises.
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2. Watch for problems in damaged strips.
"If the wet windrows lay there too long, the plants underneath will be smothered," he explains. "This not only lowers yield, it creates a terrible weed problem as grasses and broadleaves infest the killed strips. These weeds will contaminate all future cuttings. In addition, if rained-on hay windrows are left in the field until next cutting, they frequently will plug your mower, both slowing you down and maybe even expanding your vocabulary."
Anderson says the quality of the new hay will also be low, which means more than one cutting suffers from having windrows getting rained on. "Insects and weeds may invade, and then need treating to prevent further problems," he says. "There isn't much of a positive payback managing rained-on hay, but to ignore it is even more expensive."
3. Store hay to keep moisture at bay.
While storing hay indoors would be ideal, it's not practical for many producers. Anderson offers some outdoor storage techniques that help minimize loss from now until winter.
"Over one-fourth of your hay's nutrients can be lost due to weathering between now and feeding next winter," he says. "To minimize these losses, begin by making dense, evenly formed bales or stacks. They will shed water better and sag less than a soft core or less dense package. Use net wrap or plastic twine spaced no more than 4 in. apart on round bales to maintain bale shape and provide a smooth surface that encourages water runoff."
Anderson recommends storing hay on elevated, well-drained spots that will prevent the bales from soaking up moisture from wet soil or standing water.
"Especially avoid terrace valleys," he recommends. "Also avoid fences or tree lines that cause snow to drift onto hay or that prevent wind and sunshine from drying off wet bales. Often our biggest mistake is placing bales so water that runs off of one bale ends up soaking into an adjacent bale. Never stack round bales during the rainy season unless they are covered or unless they will be fed very soon. And avoid placing bales in a row with the twine or wrapped ends touching one another."
He says the best way to store round bales is to make sure there is 1 ft. of air space on all sides of the bale for good ventilation. Round bales should be in rows with the flat ends butted together to form a cigar-like shape, Anderson explains.
"Orient these rows north and south so prevailing winds will not cause snow drifts and so both sides of the row can receive sunlight for drying," he suggests.
With these guidelines, Anderson says ranchers can lower storage losses, increase feed quality, and improve animal performance.
As I write this blog post, it's thundering outside and the clouds are darkening, so it looks like our plans to cut hay today won't pan out. But I will keep these suggestions in mind as we put up hay this summer. Although these are pretty basic suggestions, they are good reminders as we round up forage for the winter months.
How is haying going in your neck of the woods? Have you had a wet summer, or are you praying for rain? How are you dealing with the conditions in your area? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
The opinions of Amanda Radke are not necessarily those of Beefmagazine.com or the Penton Farm Progress Group.
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Sunday, September 11, 2011
scavenger hunt: sept 11
38 comments:
Your bokeh is great and that flying high, wow!! I can only imagine how high that bee feels off the ground!ReplyDelete
Love your first picture all that red and green :)ReplyDelete
That little girl is so cute and the cousins picture is great.
Your pictures are all really good. Love them!!!
Great photos for the scavenger hunt- I love the bokeh and the bikes! wowzers! that is flying high!ReplyDelete
Very nice. The cousins make me smile, and your bokeh is fabulous.ReplyDelete
Awesome set! The bokeh is awesome!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousSeptember 11, 2011 at 8:28 AM
Gorgeous shots. My favorites are the first two. So pretty.ReplyDelete
The second one is gorgeous. The light is so perfect that she looks like silk, your editing is so gorgeous.ReplyDelete
That little girl is a doll! Love the first two and how you caught the bee flying.ReplyDelete
Beautiful pics - and I always love bokeh! :-)ReplyDelete
These are all wonderful! My favorites this week are bokeh, cousins, and process of elimination. :)ReplyDelete
Such beautiful photos this week, I love the cousins shot, they just look so happy to be together.ReplyDelete
Your photos are beautiful!ReplyDelete
Beautiful pics! Came here from I heart macro.ReplyDelete
I love your remember shot. How beautiful. :)ReplyDelete
Marla @ www.blueskiesphotoblog.com
I love your bokeh as well as your flying high. I read your post about your husband who drowned, I'm glad to hear that you know your not alone. Your boys are so handsome and look so much like you!ReplyDelete
Lovely set Deb especially that macro - I haven't even got all the hunt photos sorted yet. Not sure if I'll have them up today at all.ReplyDelete
You have some really amazing shots today! Love the bokeh in the first shot.ReplyDelete
Such amazing shots.. Love how you captured that be in air.. so cool!!ReplyDelete
Hugs, Linda
Great Bokeh and flying high shots!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousSeptember 11, 2011 at 12:49 PM
oh my gosh, that little girl (daughter?) is soo cute, what a great angle! great set this weekend, my fave is the last one!ReplyDelete
Love that last shot of yours! Great interpretation of "Flying HIgh".ReplyDelete
Deb - these are great ;D I have so much to say.... 1. love the cuteness 2. your boys have the best shoes! 3. love the flying bee (and great bokeh in that one too!)ReplyDelete
wonderful shots, love the flying highReplyDelete
Great shots! Love your Process of Elimination best!ReplyDelete
Your shots are really fantastic... and I was very touched reading your story. What handsome young sons. I'm sure you are very proud.ReplyDelete
Nice photos! This little statue is cute :)ReplyDelete
You have a way with the camera my dear! Love the cousins shot! So sweet.ReplyDelete
Your photos are awesome thanks for sharing!ReplyDelete
My Macro
Wonderful photos!!ReplyDelete
Love the capture of the children- so much happiness!!
Fabulous shot of bokeh and flying high (wow)!
Have a good week :)
- AnonymousSeptember 11, 2011 at 7:36 PM
WOW what gorgeous photos! You have some ROCKIN Bokeh going on in some! Love that!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousSeptember 11, 2011 at 8:09 PM
thanks so much.. you stopped by twice. Honestly when I write, I just don't think about it too much, I write the words that come to mind and then eliminate the sentences around them.ReplyDelete
Fantastic set, love your flying high shot, the colour of the flowers and the bokeh, beautiful! Your second shot is gorgeous, she's adorable!ReplyDelete
You ALWAYS create the most gorgeous Bokeh Deb! Love it!ReplyDelete
Such beautiful photos! You even got some delicious bokeh in the last shot.ReplyDelete
What a great set - I especially love process of elimination and remember!ReplyDelete
I love how you captured the details on your photos. Love your setReplyDelete
Love that first photo! And what a cute little birdbath :)ReplyDelete
Great set! Love your flying high!ReplyDelete


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MMMmmmm!!! Celebrating love with a "love"-ly and simple chocolate recipe (the end result of which does not look simple at all but elegant and delicious). Now, THAT'S amore!
As an adult, I was never much into Valentine's Day. I admit it. It seemed so contrived – like a forced display of love. And nothing makes me more crazy than something that seems forced. One day in talking this over with my sis, she totally convinced me otherwise. "Why would you not want to celebrate a day dedicated to love?" I don't know what happened, but when I heard those words, it just clicked with me that Valentines's can be what you want it to be. It does not have to be cheesy and over the top, but can be just what YOU want it to be.
I view Valentine's Day as a day to celebrate ALL love. The love we have for our parents and children. The special bond between best girlfriends and of course the big amore of our lives. Apparently my father felt the same way because every year without fail, he would bring all of us girls (his 5 daughters) a box of chocolates. And for my mother the same thing, only it was always three times bigger and super fancy with ribbons and flowers all over it.
So every year since my sis talked me into loving Valentine's Day, I make chocolates for those I love. Here is a recipe for strawberry filed cioccolatini. So simple, yet so decadent.
16 ounces chocolate of your choice
8 ounces fresh strawberries
3 teaspoons sugar
1. Chop chocolate into pieces and melt two thirds in a double boiler. Save the other one third to temper.
*Note: see working with chocolate notes below.
2. After chocolate has been tempered, pour into silicone mold and fill half way. Shake mold to ensure there are no air bubbles. Place mold into fridge and allow to cool.
3. While chocolate is cooling, wash strawberries, cut and place in a food processor, pulse until texture is smooth.
4. Cook strawberries with sugar on low heat for 5-7 minutes. Allow to cool.
5. Take chocolate mold out of the refrigerator and add strawberry filling on top of each chocolate.
7. Cover the strawberry filling with chocolate making sure no filling is showing. Allow chocolate to harden and remove from mold. Decorate with opposite chocolate color if desired.
8. Break out the bubbly and enjoy with all your loved ones.
*Notes on Chocolate: make sure not one drop of water comes into contact with your chocolate otherwise it will become grainy and impossible to work with. Your chocolate should be tempered as well to get that shiny surface. Have a look at this site for directions and temperatures for tempering chocolate: www.bbcgoodfood.com


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Choosing the right flavor of 802.1X
Which of the nearly 50 defined EAP Types would work best in your WLAN? In this tip, we compare the most popular EAP Types used with 802.1X, authentication methods that can be supported by each, known vulnerabilities and suitable usage environments.
|Wireless Security
Lunchtime Learning
By Lisa Phifer
802.1X provides an extensible framework for controlling WLAN usage. But 802.1X is merely an envelope that carries some type of Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP). Which of the nearly 50 defined EAP Types would work best in your WLAN? In this tip, we compare the most popular EAP Types used with 802.1X, authentication methods that can be supported by each, known vulnerabilities and suitable usage environments.
EAP-MD5 (Message Digest #5)
LEAP (Lightweight EAP)
EAP-TLS (Transport Layer Security)
EAP-TTLS (Tunneled TLS)
PEAP (Protected EAP)
EAP-MSCHAPv2 (Microsoft Challenge Handshake Protocol)
EAP-GTC (Generic Token Card)
EAP-SIM (Subscriber Identity Module)
EAP-AKA (Authentication and Key Agreement)
EAP-FAST (Flexible Authentication via Secure Tunneling)
Wi-Fi Alliance Certification
EAP-MD5 (Message Digest #5)
This EAP type provides one-way client authentication. The server sends the client a random challenge. The client proves its identity by hashing the challenge and its password with MD5. Because a man in the middle could see both the challenge and response, EAP-MD5 is vulnerable to dictionary attack when used over an open medium. Since there is no server authentication, it's also vulnerable to spoofing. Finally, EAP-MD5 cannot deliver keys. As a result, EAP-MD5 may be used over Ethernet but should never be used over a WLAN.
LEAP (Lightweight EAP)
Also known as EAP-Cisco Wireless, this EAP type provides mutual client and server authentication over Cisco WLANs. As with EAP-MD5, a LEAP server sends the client a random challenge, which the client uses to return a hashed password. The authenticated client challenges the server for its password, followed by a key exchange. Because LEAP is a proprietary protocol, it can only be used in corporate WLANs with Cisco APs and Cisco-compatible cards. Like EAP-MD5, LEAP is vulnerable to dictionary attack. Today, many attack tools can be used to crack LEAP-authenticated passwords. New WLANs should therefore avoid LEAP. If your WLAN already uses LEAP, ensure that every client and server uses long random passwords, and upgrade to a stronger EAP type as soon as possible.
EAP-TLS (Transport Layer Security)
This EAP type is generally regarded as the strongest available and the most expensive to deploy. It provides mutual certificate authentication between client and server, using the standard TLS protocol (a descendant of the SSL protocol used to secure most Web transactions.) The server uses TLS to demonstrate that it holds a digital certificate, requesting the same from the client. The client uses its certificate to prove its identity and keying material is exchanged. The TLS tunnel ends once authentication has been completed, but the keys delivered by EAP-TLS can be used to encrypt data with AES, TKIP or WEP. EAP-TLS is a good fit in WLANs where clients already have digital certificates or where high security needs justify investment in a public key infrastructure to manage those certificates.
EAP-TTLS (Tunneled TLS)
This EAP type balances security vs. deployment cost by replacing client-side certificates with legacy password authentication methods like PAP, CHAP and MSCHAPv2. EAP-TTLS requires the server to authenticate itself by certificate and establish a TLS tunnel through which to challenge the client. Even when a cleartext password is returned, the client's response is obscured by the TLS tunnel. To avoid exposing the client's name, EAP-TTLS should be configured to send an "anonymous" identity when 802.1X starts, then send the actual identity through the TLS tunnel. That tunnel ends when authentication is completed and keys are delivered. EAP-TTLS is a good fit for WLANs that wish to reuse legacy user authentication databases (e.g., LDAP, Active Directory) in a secure fashion.
PEAP (Protected EAP)
PEAP is very similar to EAP-TTLS but uses different client authentication protocols. Like EAP-TTLS, PEAP provides mutual authentication, using server certificates, a TLS tunnel and client authentication through that encrypted tunnel. Unlike EAP-TTLS, PEAP requires the client to use another EAP type, like EAP-MSCHAPv2 or EAP-GTC (see below). Although the same user credentials can be used with EAP-TTLS, a PEAP authentication server must be able to parse both EAP and the contained legacy authentication protocols.
Note: It is critical to use the same version of PEAP on clients and servers. PEAPv0/EAP-MSCHAPv2 requires 802.1X supplicant (client) software included in Windows XP SP2 and 2000 SP4. PEAPv1/EAP-GTC requires another 802.1X supplicant, like the one installed with Cisco's Aironet Client Utility. These supplicants are mutually exclusive -- installing a PEAPv1 client replaces any existing PEAPv0 client.
EAP-MSCHAPv2 (Microsoft Challenge Handshake Protocol)
This EAP type can be used inside the TLS tunnel created by Protected EAP. EAP-MSCHAPv2 wraps Microsoft's Challenge Handshake Protocol inside the Extensible Authentication Protocol. It is a good fit for companies that want to reuse Microsoft user credentials and servers (e.g., NT Domain Controllers, Windows Active Directories) for wireless authentication. Similar goals can also be accomplished with EAP-TTLS/MSCHAPv2.
EAP-GTC (Generic Token Card)
This EAP type can be used inside the TLS tunnel created by Protected EAP. EAP-GTC defines an EAP envelope to carry "one time passwords" generated by token cards like RSA SecurID. It is a good fit for companies that use two-factor authentication to avoid common password compromises (e.g., passwords shared with others, written on sticky notes, stored on stolen laptops) – especially where such tokens are already in use by a remote access VPN. Those starting a WLAN from scratch must decide whether token deployment cost is justified.
EAP-SIM (Subscriber Identity Module)
This EAP type provides mutual authentication, based on the SIM card found in cellular telephones sold by GSM carriers. A SIM may be a small chip inserted into in a dual-mode phone, a wireless data card or a USB stick. That smartcard implements the authentication algorithm normally used by cellular handsets to authenticate to GSM telephone networks. 802.1X requests carrying EAP-SIM are relayed through the carrier's roaming gateway to a GSM authentication server. This type can be used to authenticate devices like smartphones that roam between commercial 802.11 hotspots and GSM networks.
EAP-AKA (Authentication and Key Agreement)
EAP-AKA is similar to EAP-SIM, but meets the needs of non-GSM carriers by using the User Service Identity Module (USIM) employed by Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) networks. Although your carrier's network determines which type your smartphone must use, the permanent authentication keys used by EAP-AKA are considered stronger than the derived authentication keys used by EAP-SIM.
EAP-FAST (Flexible Authentication via Secure Tunneling)
This EAP type was created by Cisco as a replacement for LEAP; it is available today in some Cisco APs and Cisco-compatible wireless cards. Like PEAP and EAP-TTLS, FAST provides tunneled mutual authentication. However, EAP-FAST does not require the server to authenticate itself with a digital certificate. Instead, a one-time provisioning exchange establishes a shared secret, called a Protected Access Credential (PAC) Key. That PAC Key is used for all subsequent authentications. EAP-FAST caters to small footprint clients, like VoWiFi handsets, that would be noticeably slowed by digital certificate signature verification. Currently, EAP-FAST is limited to use in Cisco-based WLANs.
Wi-Fi Alliance Certification
The Wi-Fi Alliance currently tests the following EAP types: EAP-TLS, EAP-TTLS, PEAPv0, PEAPv1 and EAP-SIM. To determine which EAP types your products support, see the Wi-Fi Alliance's Certified Products page. Products that have not been certified may still interoperate, but it is wise to check for EAP type compatibility when deploying 802.1X in multi-vendor WLANs.
>> Read the next tip: Combining 802.1X and VLANs for WLAN authorization


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Chiropractic Pain Management
Chiropractic is a branch of healthcare that focuses on the relationship between the body's structure—mainly the spine—and its function.
Conditions commonly treated by chiropractors include back and neck pain, headaches, sports injuries and repetitive strains. Patients also seek treatment of pain associated with other conditions, such as arthritis.
Doctors of chiropractic receive both classroom and clinical training in anatomy, physiology, microbiology, biochemistry, pathology, nutrition, public health and other subjects. Chiropractic students spend four years learning how to adjust and manipulate the spine, joints, bones, muscles and connective tissues, such as the ligaments and tendons attached to bones and muscles.
Following training, chiropractors must be licensed by the state to practice. Chiropractic does not use drugs or surgery in treatment.
If you are seeing or plan to see a chiropractor, be sure to inform your doctor or surgeon so that all members of your health care team are informed and working together.


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Built To Be Loud: A Chat With CenturyLink Field's Architect
Maybe you heard about Sunday's Seahawks versus 49ers game, and how Seattle broke the record for loudest stadium? Or maybe you didn't hear because you were deafened by the record breaking 12th Man roar.
A couple of 49ers fans definitely heard and now they are making their own noise. Judy Spelman wrote a letter to the editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, complaining that the 49ers would have won Sunday's game if their team could have heard their signals. She told KIRO's Dori Monson she wants the Seahawks banned from playing at home if The 12th Man keeps up the noise.
"Consider the possibility of a petition to the NFL to see if other fans feel disturbed by the unfair advantage that Seattle seems to have when you're at home," Judy said. "Maybe a petition that shows broadband fan support for fairness on the field."
But is all that noise solely The 12th Man's doing, or does it have to do with the architecture of CenturyLink?
"Well, it was built to be a great home field advantage," says Paul Greisemer, principal architectural director at AECOM, the firm that designed CenturyLink." The fact that it is loud is really kind of a result of a number of things that came about just through the design. It's on a very small site, comparatively to other stadiums, and because of that we had to compress the building very tightly. Fans are closer to the field than they are in most any NFL stadium today. So that combined with the desire to have a large roof covering, so fans are protected, really kind of combined the greatest of convergence of storms into a great environment."
Beyond the design, the materials used to build the stadium also contribute to the roar.
"It's a metal roof so it naturally is a very reflective surface. As is the seating bowl which is largely concrete. So there are a lot of those materials that are serving as sound mirrors, if you will, and bouncing the sound right back."
I asked Paul what where the loudest part of the stadium is.
"Luckily, it's right on the field, it seems, from all of the false starts that the visiting teams experience. The way the roof is angled, and the way the bowl captures all the sound that goes backwards and focuses it back towards the center of the stadium, you're pretty much going to get the maximum affect right at the players."
As we can now read in the Guinness Book of World Records, CenturyLink is the loudest stadium in the country. Paul says no one even comes close and other cities definitely covet that honor.
"We get calls all the time from various clubs and from stadiums as far as, 'What can we do to improve our game environment?' As far as sound goes, people would love to have what Seattle has. I think they realize that it's pretty tough to replicate what Seattle has. So they're all looking for maybe their own way."
So is Judy The 49er Fan's anger rooted in jealousy? Would she be this upset if 49er fans were just as loud?
"I don't think it is sour grapes at all," Judy told Dori. "I think what we're saying is you put a whooping on the field because you had an unfair advantage. If you couldn't hear your signals and we could hear ours, you would have lost and we would have won. We're a great team, Seattle is a great team. If you can't hear your signals, you can't play the game."
It will be interesting to see if the NFL acknowledges Judy's concerns, since according to Paul, the NFL has praised CenturyLink's unique design and fan experience.
"It's great when stadiums can develop their own persona. They're iconic for the city that they're in. CenturyLink does that better than most or any that I know. Even the NFL recognized CenturyLink recently in the top 10 things in the NFL. CenturyLink was in that top 10 for best home field advantages ever. Not just in the current NFL, but ever. You know, we're very proud of that."


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Marc Jacobs dons his signature kilt and puts his toned muscles to work in a new advertising campaign for Diet Coke that breaks this week in various European markets. Print placements in the U.K. include Glamour, Company, Elle, Marie Claire, InStyle, Cosmopolitan and Stylist magazines.
As part of his role as creative director for the soda giant in 2013, Jacobs can be seen hoisting — Atlas style — a giant pop can, atop which sits Latvian model Ginta Lapina in a Nineties fashion look. Another cheeky ad image shows Jacobs wielding a giant opener, dislodging Lapina from her perch on the bottle cap.
Photographed by Stéphane Sednaoui, the ads are part of the "Sparkling Together for 30 Years" campaign marking the brand's anniversary in Europe and its latest collaboration with a leading fashion designer. They were unveiled at an event in London on Monday along with the three bottles Jacobs designed, each corresponding to a recent decade in fashion.
Jacobs also appears in a new short film — charting three decades of fashion trends via a time-traveling photo booth —posted on Diet Coke's YouTube page. A clip added last month showing the American designer stripping in the same booth has already logged more than 230,000 views.
The drinks, including a limited-edition boxed set of all three bottles, are on sale this month in 11 European markets including the U.K., France, Benelux and Iceland.
Karl Lagerfeld and Jean Paul Gaultier have also been creative directors for Diet Coke, which has since been consumed by more than 2.7 billion people in Europe.


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First, I want to thank all the readers who got in touch to make sure we were okay here at VSL during and after the epic rains we've had both this weekend and last. We got about 8 inches of rain on Friday morning between midnight and 10 a.m. but other parts of Austin, including the airport, got up to 16 inches in the space of just two hours! Whole neighborhoods were evacuated and flooding was widespread. It was a bad coincidence that we'd had 16 inches of rainfall the weekend before because the ground was too saturated to soak up any of the new rainfall and the water had no where to go but where it was led by gravity.
Fortunately, our house and our offices are located in the Westlake Hills area which is west of downtown and across the lake. We are 690 feet above the base water level of Austin so we are immune from most catastrophic flooding. We are mostly dealing with spots of nuisance flooding where water is coming down the grade from the properties just above us and is jumping the gutters out in the front of our house. If the rains comes down too quickly it sometimes overwhelms the French drain on one wall of the studio and causes water to seep through the masonry and onto the floor.
The main house is never in danger of flooding and, after having lived here for nearly twenty years I'm pretty confident that we don't need to worry about the house proper. The floor in the office is concrete with dense foam tiles laid on top. These tiles are interlocking and easily removable and replaceable; and not expensive. If I get water on the floor of the office I use a wet vacuum, designed for sucking up liquids safely, to remove the water and then, when the weather changes (general in a day or so) I take the tiles outside and let them dry in the sun. The vacuum is plugged into a GFI plug and should be safe to use even in standing water as long as the unit isn't submerged.
All camera equipment is store in rolling tool cabinets that stand eight inches above the floor and all other gear; from backgrounds to light stands, is stored on Metro shelving with the bottom-most shelves set at about 12 inches. Even plugs and power strips are positioned on blocks of dense foam that keep them well above the 1/8th inch of spreading water we get on occasion. Our flooding is more of an inconvenience than a real danger and, so far the wet floor has only happened, at most, once a year; on average.
The real danger would come from driving though the low water crossings that dot Austin. A number of people are drowned each year in central Texas trying to drive through rapid water and being swept away in their vehicles. We're a bunch of sissies. If it looks dangerous we're quick to re-schedule shoots because no shoot is more important than our safety or the safety of our clients. A side issue is that even without danger of drowning, etc. the traffic in Austin comes to a screeching halt with any weather event and it can take hours to get several miles, even on the major highways.
The house and studio have brand new, 40 year roofs on them; installed last month. The gutters are clean and the French drains near the studio are usually functional. Nothing in life is guaranteed but we're feeling pretty safe and mostly dry over here.
Our hearts go out to the people who have been flooded out both in May and now this weekend. We are suggesting that locals can do the most good for those effected by contributing money to the local Red Cross chapter or a similar charity that helps provide emergency aid and shelter to displaced families.
To keep this somewhat photographic....when I went out to shoot some shots of the raging waters at a nearby low water crossing I made sure to take a water resistant lens and camera body. My choice? The Olympus OMD EM-5.2 with a Panasonic 12-35mm f2.8 lens. Like the Nikon D750 last weekend, the Olympus spent about an hour in moderate to driving rain and has suffered no ill effects. As I am not a competent weather photographer the images were not very inspiring. That's why I decided to erase them and start over fresh next time.
Thanks for all the good wishes and the concerns for our well being. I appreciated hearing from so many VSL readers. Have a safe week ahead.


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Well, that's what the Christian apologist philosopher Alvin Plantinga claims. And he has written a book to "prove" it – Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism. Apparently its required reading for students of theology and the philosophy of religion. Probably because he declares there is a "deep concord between science and theistic belief, . . . . and deep conflict between science and naturalism." The book concludes with:
"there is indeed a science/religion conflict, all right, but it is not between science and theistic religion: it is between science and naturalism. That's where the conflict really lies"
Personally, I think Plantinga uses motivated reasoning, logical possibilities, cherry-picked "science" (he quotes Michael Behe for example) and a naive understanding of adaptive selection to come to his conclusions. On top of that he usually acknowledges that each step is only logically "possible" – he preserves deniability all the way through. But nevertheless comes to firm conclusions! This must be very satisfying for him and some of his mates but I don't think many scientists have even noticed his book.
I certainly haven't noticed a sudden change in the way we do science, or the scientific theories we formulate.
I won't review or comment further on his book here (although I have sort of promised to discuss one or two of Plantinga's arguments in future articles). I recommend that anyone interested should read Maarten Boudry's excellent review –Where the Conflict Lies, Really: Are Science and Theism Best Friends? (I commented briefly on this in The paradoxes of theological gullibility). And I certainly don't support Plantinga's conclusions.
But I do agree with the statement that "Naturalism and science are incompatible."
Before you go and quote me out of context I also agree with statements like "Theism and science are incompatible," "atheism and science are incompatible," "Marxism-Leninism and science are incompatible," "Maoism and science are incompatible," etc. You get the picture. I am saying that all philosophies or ideologies are incompatible with science in the sense that science does not, and should not, a priori, include any of these ideological/philosophical presumptions.
The conflict is not just between science and religion, but between science and all ideologies.
What about "methodological naturalism?"
OK, some people may now be revising their knee jerk reaction that the long-expected senility had finally struck. But what about "methodological naturalism" some would say – isn't that a normal part of the scientific process. In fact, in a recent discussion a student assured me that "methodological naturalism" . . is an assumption of science!"
Bloody hell, is this a new part of science training? I was never told during my university years that I should make such assumptions in my research. And I never went into any of my research projects with that or any other similar "assumption." No colleagues mentioned such assumptions to me either. That claim may be coming from theology and philosophy of religion professors, but it certainly doesn't seem to be coming from working scientists.
In fact, I have always been told, and always accepted, that we should make as few assumptions as possible in research. OK, perhaps reality exists, and perhaps we can assume that it is possible to investigate and understand at least part of that reality. But that is all. (Well, perhaps there was a strong preference for accepting the laws of thermodynamics – but even then there was a realisation that a Nobel Prize awaited anyone who disproved them.) But, on the whole, an open mind is essential for creative research.
Who is promoting this story?
So what's all this palava about "naturalism" – and especially this "methodological naturalism" we are all supposed to assume? While such terms are not bandied about by scientists day-to-day they are used by a few philosophers and politicians. In fact this student could well have been mislead by a body no less august than the US National Academy of Sciences. In their booklet "Teaching about evolution and the nature of science" they say:
"Because science is limited to explaining the natural world by means of natural processes, it cannot use supernatural causation in its explanations. Similarly, science is precluded from making statements about supernatural forces because these are outside its provenance."
This view was endorsed by philosopher of religion John Haught ("By its very nature, science is obliged to leave out any appeal to the supernatural, and so its explanations will always sound naturalistic and purely physicalist") and Eugenie Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education, who is also an atheist ("Science is a way of knowing that attempts to explain the natural world using natural causes. It is agnostic toward the supernatural – it neither confirms nor rejects it.").
There are no shortage of atheist philosophers of science like Michael Ruse and Barbara Forrest who also provide quotes for the enthusiastic Christian apologist to cherry pick and throw at me when I discuss the subject with them. Of course these same apologists ignore philosophers and scientists, like Victor Stenger, who reject this characterisation of how we do science.
Accommodation in science
There are scientists and philosophers who argue the characterisation presented by the US National Academy of Sciences is just political opportunism. That the Academy is trying to placate religious critics by retaining a place for religion. By declaring that science had not found their god because of its own (science's) limitations. Science is not capable of finding gods or other "supernatural" things – "Your god is safe from us." A similar motivation is behind similar comments from scientists and philosophers. Effectively that approach is a tactic which tries to neutralise attacks on science, and particularly evolutionary science, by ring-fencing certain issues. Making them out-of-bounds for science.
Some scientists describe the approach as "accommodation" and firmly criticise it. They see this political tactic as placing the defence of evolutionary science above science itself. The independence of science, the true lack of ideological assumptions within science, and the scientific ethos of searching for truth, are sacrificed just to get those troublesome theists off the backs of evolutionary scientists. And the political tactic fails because it allows theists to place, or attempt to place, arbitrary limitations on science, agrees to the ring-fencing of aspects of reality to exclude science, etc., just to appease the enemies of science.
This tactic also hands juicy quotes to religious apologists who cherry pick them to tell scientists how they should really do research. They can also use these quotes as an excuse for the continued lack of credible evidence for their preferred stories about life and the universe. Even, as Plantinga attempts, to try to discredit science and or leading scientists.
The philosopher Maarten Boudry has an interesting paper explaining the problems with the accomodationist approach of the US Academy of Science – How not to attack intelligent design creationism : philosophical misconceptions about methodological naturalism. I guess as a philosopher he must use the terms used by those he critiques. But he explains the problems and inadequacies of terms like "methodological naturalism," and attempts to introduce amendments to make them more realistic.
Personally, as a scientist and not a philosopher, I feel we should just declare these terms irrelevant. They don't describe how we do research and do encourage misunderstanding by non-scientists.
What the hell is "supernatural"?
People use this word a lot but no-one bothers with a tight definition – perhaps because that is not really possible. My dictionary describes the adjective as attributing a phenomenon or event to "some force beyond scientific understanding, or the laws of nature." So, was lightning and thunder "supernatural" several centuries ago but not now? Is some phenomena we have recorded and do not understand "supernatural" now – even though it may become "natural" tomorrow when we do understand it? If this really means forever beyond potential understanding – how could we possibly know? Isn't this whole thing circular? Theologians tend to define "natural" as "relating to earthly human or physical nature as distinct from the spiritual or supernatural realm."
Surely it's just simpler to say "I don't know" when we come across something we do not understand, that seems to conflict with the current state of knowledge (which the "laws of nature" represent). If we must give it a name call it something like "dark matter" or "dark energy" – place-holders acknowledging we are trumped for the moment but not preventing us from investigating the phenomenon. To call it "supernatural" has unfortunate consequences – it is usually interpreted to mean beyond scientific understanding. Such labels are of no help because they are science stoppers, preventing the progress of understanding.
I have discussed "natural" and "supernatural" before in Science and the "supernatural", Can the "supernatural" be of any use?, The "supernatural" and dogmatism in science, Scientific method and the "supernatural", Defining natural and supernatural and elsewhere.
And I should also make the usual qualifier here. I am by no means claiming that everything is understandable by the human mind, or even that we can detect everything. Nor am I suggesting that our mental and technological abilities are potentially unlimited. We may just not be able to ever investigate some things or understand them when we do. That doesn't stop us from being a very curious species which will continue to investigate things far into the future.
We shouldn't be setting "limits" to science or ring-fencing parts of reality to place them out-of-bounds for science – just to satisfy adherents of ancient mythical beliefs.
Scientific knowledge is counter-intuitive
And that's a strong reason to expel any idea that scientists should make assumptions before the undertake research. For example, exclusion of ideas considered "supernatural" would have prevented progress in our understanding of gravity (action at a distance was considered as introducing an occult force in Newton's time), relativity (how counter-intuitive is that?), quantum mechanics ("spooky action at a distance), and field theories of matter. Excluding the "supernatural" when it is used to mean something we don't understand or don't think possible) would just prevent scientific progress. And we don't.
Of course, those who advocate most strongly for inclusion of the supernatural in science don't really mean that. They mean the automatic inclusion of their god into scientific theories, as an explanation of observed facts, without any evidence. When these people criticise "naturalism" they are really criticising the requirements for evidence, testing and validation in science. But remove those and we no longer have science.
The god hypothesis
However, on the question of gods and similar beings – science does not exclude these, providing the requirements of evidence and testing are fulfilled. In fact scientists, whatever their personal beliefs, should not exclude such beings. After all there could well be a god, or gods. We might well find evidence for that. A god hypothesis may well survive testing and be incorporated into our scientific theories. That may sound mad to some – but personally I think a few hundred years ago gravitational forces, relativity and time dilation, quantum indeterminacy entanglement would have been considered a lot weirder than a god hypothesis
Personally I don't believe there are gods, but as one grows older one gets used to having to adjust beliefs as we learn more about reality. One thing I am pretty sure of though – if a god or gods do exist they won't be anything like the gods humanity has invented over the years.
A last point on god hypotheses. As science has progressed we have found less and less room for gods. Scientific theories these days don't include gods. Not through any presumptions by science or biases in scientists beliefs but because we just don't have any supporting evidence. Another problem is that there is no agreed, clear, structured god hypothesis that can be tested. In fact, as our knowledge has progressed and the lack of evidence has become obvious theologians and philosophers of religion have progressively redefined their gods to be less and less testable. I think they have effectively redefined their gods out of existence. Or maybe in the process of making their god undetectable they have also made it impossible for her to interact with reality. Impossible to have an influence. Which is basically the same as non-existent.
Being open-minded
I said before than an open mind is essential for creative scientific research. Some critics assert science is not open-minded because it doesn't automatically include their (the critics) gods in scientific theories. That concept of an open mind means inclusion of any old idea, without evidence and validation, and no matter how vague. That is not science – it's silliness.
The explanatory power of science comes from its interaction with reality. Creative research must be open to new ideas and speculations but they don't throw away evidence and validation against reality. They are not so open-minded that their brains fall out.


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Deceived by subtle snares of hell,
Adam, our head, our father, fell;
Gen. 3:1,15,17; Gal. 4:4; Col. 2:15.
Deceived by subtle snares of hell,
Adam, our head, our father, fell;
When Satan, in the serpent hid,
Proposed the fruit that God forbid.
Death was the threat'ning: death began
To take possession of the man
His unborn race received the wound,
And heavy curses smote the ground.
But Satan found a worse reward;
Thus saith the vengeance of the Lord
"Let everlasting hatred be
Betwixt the woman's seed and thee.
"The woman's seed shall be my Son;
He shall destroy what thou hast done;
Shall break thy head, and only feel
Thy malice raging at his heel."
He spake; and bid four thousand years
Roll on; at length his Son appears;
Angels with joy descend to earth,
And sing the young Redeemer's birth.
Lo, by the sons of hell he dies;
But as he hung 'twixt earth and skies,
He gave their prince a fatal blow,
And triumphed o'er the powers below.
~ Isaac Watts


text:
From Teleread:
If you're going to bundle a code for a free e-book copy with a print book (and charge a little extra for the deal, as with these DVDs), you'd darned well better honor that code for as long as you're publishing that edition of the book.
[…] e-books aren't milk. There's no earthly reason they should have a sell-by date.
While this Teleread article mainly talks about DVDs, the ending has implications for bundling an ebook with a physical book. Specifically, this is the idea that the publisher would offer a book/ebook bundle at a higher price with a limited time offer on the ebook end of the deal. Beyond the idea that there would be a time limit on a redeemable code for the ebook, I can only imagine that there would be an issue with people attempting to re-download the book for whatever reason and being denied the opportunity to do so. While I do like the promise of such a bundle as someone who owns an ereader, there are some outstanding logistical questions that remain to be seen.


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Harvard's library can't afford journal subscriptions
April 23, 2012
Harvard University is probably the single richest school on the planet. Its endowment in 2011 was the biggest in the USA, at $31.728 billion — over 60% more than the next highest (Yale, at $19.374 billion).
It's also in with a good shout as the best university in the world — the current Times Higher Education ranking has it equal second, behind only Cal Tech, level with Stanford, and ahead of Oxford, Princeton and Cambridge.
If any university should be able to pay all its journal subscriptions without problems, it's Harvard.
So this memorandum, published last Tuesday, came as quite a shock:
To: Faculty Members in all Schools, Faculties, and Units
From: The Faculty Advisory Council
Date: April 17, 2012
RE: Periodical Subscriptions
We write to communicate an untenable situation facing the Harvard Library. Many large journal publishers have made the scholarly communication environment fiscally unsustainable and academically restrictive. … Some journals cost as much as $40,000 per year, others in the tens of thousands. Prices for online content from two providers have increased by about 145% over the past six years, which far exceeds not only the consumer price index, but also the higher education and the library price indices. …
The Faculty Advisory Council to the Library, representing university faculty in all schools and in consultation with the Harvard Library leadership, reached this conclusion: major periodical subscriptions, especially to electronic journals published by historically key providers, cannot be sustained: continuing these subscriptions on their current footing is financially untenable. … Costs are now prohibitive.
Yes, you read it right. The world's richest university can't afford journal subscriptions. If anyone ever doubted that subscription prices had run wild, that the academic publishers who control access to the research we generate are out of control, this should dispel any remaining illusions that all is well with the current model.
Happily, the Harvard advisory council does not limit itself to whining, but has concrete suggestions for researchers (and also for the library). The actions they recommend for researchers on their staff are:
- Archive all their own papers as Green Open Access.
- Submit to open-access journals; "move prestige to open access".
- Resign from editorial boards of non-OA journals if they won't convert.
- Ask professional societies to take control of publishing in their fields.
- Recruit colleagues to join them in these measures.
The deal here is that Open Access is not a fringe issue any more. It's not just something that idealistic young researchers like to shout about. It's a major part of the strategy of one — several, actually — of the world's top universities. I'd argue that it's been a moral imperative for a long time. Now Open Access has become an economic imperative, too. (Anyone who doubts that it's much, much cheaper than the subscription model should check out the numbers in my recent article at The Scientist: it seems to come out at about one eighth of the cost.)
For more analysis of Harvard's public statement, see Harvard: we have a problem at Stephen Curry's Reciprocal Space, and "No, we can't" at the Library Loon's Gavia Libraria. (The latter is particularly interesting because it offers a librarian's perspective rather than the much more familiar researcher's perspective.)
21 Responses to "Harvard's library can't afford journal subscriptions"
April 24, 2012 at 12:23 pm
[…] Harvard's library can't afford journal subscriptions (svpow.com) […]
April 24, 2012 at 3:30 pm
Mike and Matt, you both hit the nail right on the head. When journal subscription prices are so out of control that even Harvard can't afford the current system, that's when you KNOW it's insane to try to justify keeping it. I wonder how other universities are even managing at this point… I also agree the fall of profit-gouging publishers will probably be swift and brutal, despite having had no shortage of warnings that the abyss that way lies.
April 24, 2012 at 9:01 pm
Ah, ça ira, ça ira, ça ira !
Les aristocrates à-à la lanterne,
ah, ça ira, ça ira, ça ira !
Les aristocrates, o-on les pendra !
April 25, 2012 at 5:12 am
Of course, I don't know whether David is encouraging the revolution or calling us a bunch of mangy vengeful peasants…
April 25, 2012 at 2:35 pm
There's got to be an element of "Harvard doesn't want to afford it." As an alumna, I used to give contributions directed specifically toward Harvard's libraries. Some years ago now, Harvard disallowed any such directed contributions — if one is going to donate to Harvard, one donates to the endowment and they do whatever they want with it. Part of this problem is administration's decision about how much money they are willing to devote to the libraries.
April 26, 2012 at 12:07 pm
[…] Harvard's library can't afford journal subscriptions […]
April 26, 2012 at 10:34 pm
[…] It seems the world is conveniently arranging itself for the benefit of this occasional series. Every time I am about to post an installment, something apposite happens out there. Just as I was preparing part 0, Bernstein Research's investment report Is Elsevier Heading for a Political Train-Wreck? came out; just before part 1, Elsevier decided that the solution to their problems was to hire a PR guy; and now, as I prepare part 2, America's richest university says publicly that it can't afford spiralling subscription fees any more. […]
May 3, 2012 at 9:50 am
[…] That last point is crucial, of course. It ties into Harvard's goal to "move prestige to open access". […]
May 4, 2012 at 11:15 pm
[…] Universities are not messing about. When Harvard say they can't afford subscriptions, they probably mean it — it's not just a negotiating […]
May 8, 2013 at 9:01 pm
[…] the Who Needs Access? site [disclosure: which I helped build]. So far no-one's mentioned that Harvard can't afford its subscriptions – or maybe they have but the comment was silently moderated into oblivion, as has happened […]
June 11, 2013 at 9:49 am
[…] with the socialist brush, it turns them off the idea of OA. But there is no need for that. When even the richest university in the world can't afford all its subscriptions, open access is good news for the rich as well as the […]
June 14, 2013 at 8:40 am
[…] I don't think hybrid journals are the way to go. As Harvard said in their we-can't-afford-our-subscriptions memo, that means we need to "move the prestige to open access". Specifically, we need to […]
December 20, 2013 at 9:33 am
[…] we all know, University libraries have to pay expensive subscription fees to scholarly publishers such as Elsevier, Springer, Wiley and Informa, so that their researchers […]
June 30, 2015 at 11:11 pm
[…] click this and there's a paper right there at the end of that link! ilk. It might save our institutional libraries from bankruptcy, even. […]
March 8, 2016 at 8:31 am
[…] THE STORY SO FAR: Erin McKiernan can't get access to the research she needs in Mexico, Mohammad M.M.H can't get it in Jordan, and Nora Turoman can't get it in Serbia. Meanwhile, Christy Collins is in America, but can't get the research she needs to understand her son's health condition because she's not a full-time academic. Josephine Hellberg is a full-time academic — at the University of Oxford, even — but also doesn't have access to the research she needs. Oh, and the richest university in the world can't afford its scholarly subscriptions. […]


text:
Last Halloween I sent Lynn a book. Within a week, she had sent a note to say Thank you, and by Thanksgiving, she mailed a long letter telling me how much she enjoyed the book. Now, this may not seem earth shattering in and of itself, but it does prove that even in these hectic times, some souls still possess a gracious courteous heart.
What is a courteous heart, you ask? Manners, breeding, decorum, savoir-faire all define courteous. A quality that is so often missing in our society, but one that Lynn possesses. Her courteous heart often refers to the gift I gave her five years ago. I do not remember what it is I gave her, but she does. It is her repeated gratitude over my kindness that illustrates her genteel manner.
The courteous heart can do everything beautifully from allowing shoppers with fewer items ahead in line, to passing the salt before being asked at dinner. For the courteous hearts, a simple "Good Morning" is pleasing. It is too bad that most people growl the sentiment as they rush past us making a sound something akin to having a tooth pulled. Then, there are those who just simply refuse to acknowledge others at all unlike the courteous of heart. The courteous speak distinctly and with kindness so one never has to ask, "What did you say?"
Think about the usual birthday gift or Christmas present. It is the one wrapped in pretty paper and adorned with ribbon. A symbol of what all friendly acts should be–kindness performed with imagination. Then what is giving? Ah, the courteous heart makes it their business to know what a friend really wants. One friend I have believes it is her job to give the most thoughtful of gifts. Once, I mentioned that I crave cucumbers in sour cream, and I wistfully dreamed of eating this fare at every meal. I will tell you, I have never had a meal at her house since, without finding a delicious bowl of cucumbers in sour cream.
It is not easy, this business of giving; it is an art. An art requires time and imagination to pull off. For instance, for my thirty-fifth birthday, my husband contrived a treasure hunt that I had to follow under the direction of tiny sticky notes. The clues–some being very vague–lead me to a hotel room. My arms were loaded with packages I had found along the hunt. When I arrived at the hotel and opened the door to room 132, I found, to my delight the best surprise party I have ever experienced! There will never be a gift more spectacular as that. It was not wrapped in pretty paper or ribbons, but packaged with thought, imagination, and hard work.
The courteous of heart often out perform ordinary folk in manners and decorum, even in everyday tasks. A co-worker named Joe, understood kindness to an impressive dimension. He never let a morning pass without a personal greeting and a smile, he held elevators for others, sent out cards in sympathy and in congratulations, avoided gossip, and expressed a positive thought about all he met. He accomplished all this with the humblest of attitudes. His courteous heart was automatic. Joe had lived it for so long that his kindness and courtesy functioned without deliberate thought.
Must we all be like my co-worker? It would be nice, but I would not go that far. Joe is a perfect mentor, and we can all strive for his ideal. Maybe it is enough to ask- that when you are shuffling through your daily existence-stop every so often, say "Good Morning," and mean it. Listen to those you love and hear what they are truly yearning for, and then do your best to give it to them. It could be something as simple as a good book or a bowl of cucumbers in sour cream.
A courteous heart is so rare. Often, there is not enough time to do all the things we must do, and it seems, no time to consider others. However, if you are interested in enlarging your mystic organ where true human kindness flows, learn to put yourself in another's place, and anticipate their thoughts. The courteous, remember, does kindness with heart.
©Grandmother Musings 2012-2013. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog's author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Jamie Nowinski – Grandmother Wisdom/Grandmother Musings with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.


text:
The Roofing Company
The Roofing Company Services
The Roofing Company of Tampa Bay proudly provides the best quality roofing materials to our community. Our knowledgeable staff will provide information about the different roofing materials available, as well as details about our industry-leading labor and warranty information. We pride ourselves on providing exceptional customer service and the best roofing materials. We understand that your roof protects your investments and, most importantly, your family. Finding you a long-term solution with a solid warranty is our top priority. We strive to build lasting relationships with our customers through exceeding their expectations and gaining their trust through exceptional customer service.
Business Name:
The Roofing Company
5635 FL-54Port Richey Florida 34652United States
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About Port Richey
Port Richey is a city in Pasco County, Florida, United States. It is a suburban city included in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. == History == In 1883, Aaron M. Richey arrived from St. Joseph, Missouri, and settled near the mouth of the Pithlachascotee River.
Neighborhoods in Port Richey, Florida
Aloha Gardens, Arlington Woods, Bayonet Point Estates, Beacon Woods, Beacon Woods East, Beacon Woods Greenside Village, Bear Creek Estates, Berkley Woods, Buena Vista, Cape Cay, Chelsea Place, Collier Place, Country Club Estates, Deer Hollow, Embassy Hills
Things to do in Port Richey, Florida
Our Newest Profiles


text:
Red King Crab Legs & Claws 14-17 Count Splits 491829
Please contact firstname.lastname@example.com with questions.
Serving Suggestion
Drawn butter or specialty sauces make ideal accompaniments or serve legs along side prime rib or steak. The elegant appearance of King Crab's white meat makes for an exceptional appetizer and it rests beautifully atop a crisp salad.
Preparation and Cooking
BROIL: if split, place King Crab in broiler pan, shell side down; brush with butter in favorite sauce. Place pan about 4 inches from heat; broil 3-4 minutes. Brush occasionally with butter or sauce while broiling.
STEAM: place steam basket in large pot; fill with boiling water to depth of 3/4 inch. Place crab legs in basket; reduce heat and steam, covered, about 5 minutes or until crab is thoroughly heated.
Food Safety
Keep frozen at 0°F or below until ready to use. To thaw: Place King Crab on a shallow pan or tray that drains easily and place this pan into a larger one to contain the drippings cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 8-10 hours, or overnight.
Ingredients & Nutrition Information
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 3.0 Ounce (weight) (85 g / 3.0 oz)
|Amount Per Serving
|Calories 80
|% Daily Value*
|Total Fat 2g
|Saturated Fat 0g
|Trans Fat 0g
|Cholesterol 45mg
|Sodium 910mg
|Total Carbohydrate 0g
|Dietary Fiber 0g
|Total Sugars 0g
|Includes 0g of Added Sugars
|Protein 16g
|Vitamin D 0mcg
|Calcium 0mg
|Iron 0mg
|Potassium 0mg
*The % Daily Value tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.


text:
Romney's inner circle to abruptly expand
New voices, new needs for the general election
Black and champagne-colored sport utility vehicles lined up outside Mitt Romney's North End campaign headquarters one day last week and, for one of the few times this year, the candidate bounded into the building for what amounted to a homecoming.
Greeting the presumptive Republican presidential nominee was an eclectic cast of advisers who are as familiar to him as his own family, an extraordinarily tight-knit circle that includes about a dozen men and women who, for more than a decade, have formed the core of Team Romney.
Often secretive and always loyal, the advisers now face their ultimate test: transitioning from a relatively small circle that guided Romney through bruising primaries to a group that is expected to grow far larger in just a matter of weeks in order to reset the campaign for a general election fight against President Obama.
A number of those in the inner core have not previously worked in a presidential general election campaign, and new players with national experience recently have begun joining the campaign, potentially challenging the hierarchy with which Romney feels so comfortable. But some of Romney's top advisers, speaking in interviews in which they discussed the candidate's general election plans and decision-making process, said the core group will remain even as they welcome newcomers and new views.
"This is a group where there's no showboating,'' said Beth Myers, who managed the 2008 presidential campaign and is now a senior adviser. "That's the Romney way, to bring people together who have a lot to offer and then be respectful of each other's opinion. You may hear, 'Um, no,' but you'll never hear, 'Shut up.' It's a culture where everybody feels free to speak.''
The expansion, and the potential change that comes with it, will be swift. Romney's campaign is preparing a dramatic increase in manpower, with the current full-time staff of about 80 expected to reach 400 in the coming weeks, according to a Romney aide.
Romney, whose father George unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination in 1968, is heading into uncharted territory, going where no Romney has gone before. He becomes the de facto leader of the Republican Party, planning a convention in Tampa and attempting to unseat a Democratic president.
As a former business consultant, Romney is viewed as putting a much higher premium on the value of advisers than some other presidential candidates. Emulating what became known as the "Bain way,'' named for the manner in which Romney's Bain Capital partners debated investments, his campaign advisers are urged to play devil's advocate as strategy is mulled. In the 2008 campaign, this approach backfired, with competing teams of advisers going in different directions. This time, the key difference is that the core team is smaller and even more loyal, and decisions are not second-guessed after they are reached, aides said.
Yet there are major questions about how Romney's advisers will fare in running a general election campaign against President Obama, who retains much of the team that won the 2008 campaign and is better funded and organized. How equipped are they for the battles ahead? How smoothly will the new voices be integrated, and will divisions be forestalled as the heat of the campaign intensifies?
Romney's longest-serving aides have been with him at least since he ran for governor in 2002. They include Myers, a former gubernatorial campaign volunteer who became Romney's chief of staff on Beacon Hill, and Eric Fehrnstrom, who served as a Romney spokesman during his governorship and in 2008. Now a senior adviser, Fehrnstrom recently created controversy when he compared the transition to the general election to shaking an Etch-A-Sketch. Notwithstanding the damage from that remark, Fehrnstrom is so close to Romney that the candidate promptly stood by his adviser, further cementing the already strong bonds of two-way loyalty within the team.
"Eric and I can finish each other's sentences,'' Myers said. "We've been working together for 10 years.''
Other longtime aides include Peter Flaherty, a former gubernatorial aide who is a senior adviser; Spencer Zwick, another former gubernatorial aide who is the campaign's finance director; Matt Rhoades, the 2008 communications director and now campaign manager; and Bob White, a former Bain Capital partner who is one of Romney's most trusted friends.
While these former gubernatorial aides have not played a major role in a general election presidential campaign, Romney has several other key advisers who have such experience, including longtime friend Ron Kaufman and political strategists Stuart Stevens and Russ Schriefer, all of whom worked with Romney on his failed 2008 White House bid.
Still, in recent weeks, and often with little fanfare, new faces have started showing up as advisers. The campaign announced that Ed Gillespie, a former Republican National Committee chairman who served as a strategist for President George W. Bush, would become a senior adviser. The Romney campaign declined to make Gillespie available for an interview, and he said via e-mail that he could not talk without such authorization. Another longtime GOP operative, Charles Black, a former strategist for Senator John McCain's 2008 presidential bid, also became a Romney adviser earlier this year. Black could not be reached for comment.
Apart from his core group of advisers and his paid campaign staff, Romney has a wide range of people he consults on various topics.
Many were active in George W. Bush's administration, and most were also part of Romney's team in 2008. The advisers tend to be conservative on social and economic matters and hawkish on foreign policy and defense. The campaign has downplayed the conventional wisdom that the candidate will move to the middle now that Romney is the presumptive nominee, and there has been no visible effort to bring high-profile moderates on board.
While Romney tweaks Harvard University - he said recently that Obama is out of touch, maybe because he spent too many years at Harvard - many of his advisers hold graduate degrees from the Ivy League school, and Romney himself is a Harvard Law and Business School graduate. And while he has criticized the culture of Washington, many of his advisers are current or former lobbyists.
Some of those tapped as advisers have taken positions out of sync with Romney on key issues, something not uncommon for Romney, who professes to want a range of debate within his team.
One of his economic advisers, Harvard professor Gregory Mankiw, has suggested a gas tax of more than $2 per gallon - even as Romney blames Obama for gas prices that he thinks are already too high. One of his foreign policy advisers, Mitchell Reiss, has suggested negotiating with the Taliban to end the war in Afghanistan - an approach Romney opposes. Reiss said via e-mail he could only talk with the campaign's authorization, which was not provided.
Several of his health care advisers have criticized Romney's insurance law in Massachusetts.
Romney has assembled 22 special advisers on foreign policy and working groups organized into regions such as Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Afghanistan or into issues such as human rights, international assistance, or counterterrorism. That compares with four advisers on the economy, suggesting that foreign policy remains an area where he needs more advice. Romney recently said, for example, that Russia was the "No. 1 geopolitical foe'' of the United States, a comment critics seized upon as outdated, reflecting a Cold War mindset.
Perhaps no one is more important to Romney as a source of advice and support than his wife, Ann. She often provides a sounding board, and he credits her with pushing him into the race in the first place. Romney's oldest son, Tagg, is also a frequent presence on the campaign trail and gives advice to his father - just as Romney once went along on some of his father's campaigns.
When Romney made his visit to campaign headquarters last Thursday, most of his close advisers were there, and the mood was buoyant. It came on a day when the campaign was trying to capitalize on a comment that Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen had made about Ann Romney, a stay-at-home mom, not working a day in her life. After the meeting in Boston, some gathered around a television to watch Ann Romney on Fox News. Everyone knew that a tough road lay ahead in the general election. But this was, in the lexicon of the campaign, a Mitt moment - one to savor.
"It was just fun to see him,'' Myers said. "He was obviously feeling good. He was really proud of Ann today. We watched her . . . on Fox. I've never seen him look so proud as he was of Ann.''
Matt Viser can be reached at email@example.com. Follow him on Twitter @mviser. Michael Kranish can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeKranish.


text:
Source Information
Ancestry.com. London, England, Land Tax Records, 1692-1932 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.Original data: London Land Tax Records. London, England: London Metropolitan Archives.
Background Information and Tips from the Archive.
About London, England, Land Tax Records, 1692-1932
This database contains land tax records for various areas in London from the years 1692 through 1932.
What's in the Records
The land tax was introduced in England in 1692 as a means for raising government revenue and was not done away with until 1963. Land tax records are of value to genealogists because they often list both property owners (proprietors) and tenants, placing them in both a parish and a year.
Records in this database may list the following details:
- county
- parish
- year
- proprietor
- tenant
14 May 2021: Additional records created though database improvements.