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Sunday, 31 January 2010 12:15 AM EST
The government's response to the financial meltdown has made it more likely the United States will face a deeper crisis in the future, an independent watchdog at the Treasury Department warned.
The problems that led to the last crisis have not yet been addressed, and in some cases have grown worse, says Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for the trouble asset relief program, or TARP. The quarterly report to Congress was released Sunday.
"Even if TARP saved our financial system from driving off a cliff back in 2008, absent meaningful reform, we are still driving on the same winding mountain road, but this time in a faster car," Barofsky wrote.
Since Congress passed $700 billion financial bailout, the remaining institutions considered "too big to fail" have grown larger and failed to restrain the lavish pay for their executives, Barofsky wrote. He said the banks still have an incentive to take on risk because they know the government will save them rather than bring down the financial system.
Barofsky also said his office is investigating 77 cases of possible criminal and civil fraud, including crimes of tax evasion, insider trading, mortgage lending and payment collection, false statements and public corruption.
One case concerns apparent self-dealing by one of the private fund managers Treasury picked to buy bad assets from banks at discounted prices. A portfolio manager at the firm apparently sold a bond out of a private fund, then repurchased it at a higher price for a government-backed fund. A rating agency had just downgraded the bond, so it likely was worth less, not more, when the government fund bought it. The company is not being named pending the outcome of Barofsky's investigation.
Barofsky renewed a call for Treasury to enact clearer walls so that such apparent conflicts are less likely.
Treasury said it welcomed Barofsky's oversight but resisted the call to erect new barriers against conflicts of interest. The new rules "would be detrimental to the program," Treasury spokeswoman Meg Reilly said in a statement. The existing compliance rules "are a rigorous and effective method of protecting taxpayers," she said.
Much of Barofsky's report focused on the government's growing role in the housing market, which he said has increased the risk of another housing bubble.
Over the past year, the federal government has spent hundreds of billions propping up the housing market. About 90 percent of home loans are backed by government controlled entities, mainly Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration.
The Federal Reserve is spending $1.25 trillion to hold down mortgage rates, and millions of homeowners have refinanced at lower rates.
"The government has stepped in where the private players have gone away," Barofsky said in an interview. "If we take government resources and replace that market without addressing the serious (underlying) concerns, there really is a risk of" artificially pushing up home prices in the coming years.
The report warned that these supports mean the government "has done more than simply support the mortgage market, in many ways it has become the mortgage market, with the taxpayer shouldering the risk that had once been borne by the private investor."
Barofsky's report echoed concerns raised by housing experts in recent months, as home sales and prices rebounded. They warn that the primary reason for the turnaround last year has been billions of dollars in federal spending to lower mortgage rates and prop up demand.
Once that spigot of cash is turned off, they caution, the market will be vulnerable to a dramatic turn for the worse. Daniel Alpert, managing partner of investment bank Westwood Capital, wrote in a report that national home prices are bound to fall 8 to 10 percent below the lows of last spring.
"The lion's share of the remaining decline will occur in markets that saw sizable bubbles but have not yet retrenched," he wrote.
Officials from the Obama administration counter that massive federal intervention has helped the housing market stabilize and prevented more dire consequences.
Barofsky's report also disclosed that, while the Obama administration has pledged to spend $75 billion to prevent foreclosures, only a tiny fraction — just over $15 million — has been spent so far. Under the Making Home Affordable program, only about 66,500 borrowers, or 7 percent of those who signed up, had completed the process as of December.
He said the key to preventing future crises is to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, create and improve loan underwriting and supervision of banks. He stopped short of endorsing specific proposals for overhauling financial regulation, but said many of the proposals would go far to improving the system.
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Authorize iOSX Forum to access your account?
iOSX Forum
- Developer
- By Macoun GbR
- Application URL
- osxentwicklerforum.de/
- About this app
Das Forum für macOS und iOS Entwickler
This application will be able to:
- See Tweets from your timeline (including protected Tweets) as well as your Lists and collections.
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- Mute, block, and report accounts for you.
Learn more about third-party app permissions in the Help Center.

subset: commoncrawl


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V rámci konference občanské společnosti na vysoké úrovni na téma Politika v oblasti mládeže v zemích západního Balkánu, kterou uspořádal Evropský hospodářský a sociální výbor (EHSV), byl zdůrazněn klíčový význam mladých lidí pro budoucnost tohoto regionu a byla vyslovena výzva k aktivnímu zapojení mládeže do tvorby politik.
západní Balkán
The EESC's Western Balkans Civil Society Forum, which took place in Skopje on 30 September and 1 October, put the spotlight on the need for a clear EU accession perspective for the region and the role civil society should play in this process.
At its March plenary session, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) hosted a debate with Olivér Várhelyi, Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, to discuss the state of play of the accession of the Western Balkan partners. EESC members showed their convincement that integrating the Western Balkan partners in the EU is a geostrategic investment in peace and economic growth.
EESC criticises European Council decision to deny the opening of accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is deeply disappointed about EU leaders' decision to further postpone opening accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania at the European Council of 17-18 October, due to the lack of unanimity between the Member States.
The 7th edition of the Western Balkans Civil Society Forum, which took place in Tirana on 16 and 17 April, concluded with a call for the next Commission to maintain the Western Balkans enlargement policy as one of its priorities in the interest of both the region and of the EU.
EU accession remains a key motivation for reforms in the countries of the Western Balkans
The EESC held the 6th Western Balkans Civil Society Forum in Sarajevo on 10-11 July. Participants adopted a Final Declaration calling for increased media freedom, opening the doors of the Western Balkans to EU enlargement, the implementation of migration policies and increased employment opportunities, and working on women's rights.


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In this post:
- improve upper body strength and shoulder stability
- Ido Portal inspired exercise
Nick Ortego is a health coach specializing in biohacking for runners. He integrates modern methods with the ancient wisdom of yoga to help runners get the most out of every aspect of life. He is the owner of N 2 Action, a wellness studio in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, offering personal training, health coaching, yoga, and fascial stretchIn this post:
Also find more on the Nick Ortego Fitness YouTube Channel
For a free coaching session, submit your info in the form below:


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When I'm in the arrange window, and I scroll down, the page rolls down, as expected. However, when I'm int he mixer window and I want to scroll down a fader, I'm scrolling the same direction and the fader moves upwards. Also left and right have switched in the mixer window and some plugins knobs move the wrong way, but not all.
I'm using a Kensington Trackball mouse, and before it always worked fine. I have set up a dedicated profile for Studio One in Kensingtonworks, where the scroll direction is the opposite from that default, like I always do and for parts of Studio One this seems to be correct.
Does anyone know how to fix this?
Users browsing this forum: pawelhebda and 21 guests


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SEARCHING for answers about what was happening in our little girl's body to cause AUTISM, Michele couldn't sleep. It always seemed like there was an entire parallel universe inside Collette, but we just couldn't reach it. So late one night last March, Michele dug up an old lab report,and line by line, began googling each obscure acronym. Nothing out of the ordinary until she came across this:
Total cholesterol: 105
Collette's CHOLESTEROL level was at the BOTTOM of the entire population, and no one had noticed…
Matt, Michele and her sister Megan Guinnessey are running this year's New York City MARATHON to raise awareness and funding for emerging research that cholesterol may be a MISSING PIECE of the autism puzzle — research that may help our daughter Collette. She is one of THOUSANDS of children diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) who were recently found to have abnormally low cholesterol levels. We all know that too much cholesterol in an adult can lead to poor health; the opposite is also true. In a developing child, the body's ability to produce sufficient cholesterol is VITAL to proper BRAIN functioning and overall health.
A recent study published in the American Journal of Medical Genetics found that in subjects who came from families with two children on the autism spectrum, 19% of those children had abnormally low cholesterol levels (hypocholesterolemia) – ten times the rate in the general population. Other data suggests that as many as 5 PERCENT of all children with ASD have abnormally low cholesterol levels (hypocholesterolemia), leading researchers to believe that cholesterol deficiency may play a major role in some cases of the disorder. With 35,000 kids diagnosed with autism each year in the United States, you can imagine the far-reach IMPACT this research could have on the lives of countless children.
Under the loving care of Dr. Elaine Tierney at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore we have been SUPPLEMENTING Collette's diet with synthetic cholesterol and have seen dramatic IMPROVEMENTS in her eye contact, mood and sleep patterns.
Dr. Tierney — along with a team at the National Institute of Health and Ohio State — is in the process of conducting a clinical trial to determine if in fact cholesterol supplementation alleviates autism symptoms in these children. Your SUPPORT will go directly to this RESEARCH study– and accelerate the process of finding ANSWERS for children who fall into this subgroup, like our little Collette.
Thanks for visiting our Crowdrise site!


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Komatsu Ltd has unveiled its electric mini excavator, based on its accumulated technological expertise of hybrid construction equipment and electric forklift trucks.
Equipped with an in-house developed new charger, high-voltage converter and other devices, it offers excavation performance on a par with the internal combustion model of the same power output, while achieving zero exhaust gas emissions and a dynamic reduction in noise levels.
Komatsu expects a wider range of applications for this machine, including construction work near hospitals or schools or in residential areas, where contractors pay special attention to exhaust gas and noise during work, as well as inside tunnels or buildings.[Read more…] about Komatsu develops electric mini excavator


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São Julião is our favourite beach in Ericeira, especially when you time it right and the tide is all the way out… it goes for miles and is almost always empty. Pure bliss. If you follow me on Instagram you would have seen these already… they´re iPhone photos and edited with vsco cam.
38.962950 -9.415464


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How the brain puts the brakes on the negative impact of cocaine
Research published by Cell Press in the January 12 issue of the journal Neuron provides fascinating insight into a newly discovered brain mechanism that limits the rewarding impact of cocaine. The study describes protective delayed mechanism that turns off the genes that support the development of addiction-related behaviors. The findings may lead to a better understanding of vulnerability to addiction and as well as new strategies for treatment.
Drug addiction is associated with persistent and abnormal changes in the reward circuitry of the brain, and drug-induced changes in gene expression are thought to contribute to addiction behaviors. Recent research with rodent models of addiction has implicated histone deacetylases (HDACs), which are modulators of gene expression, in the regulation of cocaine-induced behaviors. However, how cocaine regulates the function of HDACs and whether this regulation can modify addiction-related behaviors was not known.
"HDAC5 in the nucleus accumbens, a key brain region involved in drug abuse, limits the rewarding impact of cocaine and the long-lasting memory of places where the drug was taken, particularly after prior cocaine exposure," explains senior study author Dr. Christopher W. Cowan from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. "However, it was not clear whether this was a passive role for HDAC5 or whether drugs of abuse might regulate its function after drug exposure." In the current study, Dr. Cowan and colleagues explored how cocaine might regulate HDAC5 and the development of drug reward-associated behaviors.
Using a rodent model, the researchers discovered that cocaine triggered a novel signaling pathway that caused HDAC5 to move to the cell nucleus, where gene expression occurs, and they found that this process was essential for HDAC5 to limit the development of cocaine reward-associated behaviors. "Our findings reveal a new molecular mechanism by which cocaine regulates HDAC5 function to antagonize the rewarding impact of cocaine, likely by putting a brake on drug-stimulated genes that would normally support drug-induced behavioral changes," concludes Dr. Cowan. "Deficits in this process may contribute to the development of maladaptive behaviors associated with addiction following repeated drug use in humans and may help to explain why some people are more vulnerable to addiction than others."
More information: Taniguchi et al.: Histone deacetylase 5 limits cocaine reward through cAMP-induced nuclear import. DOI:10.1016/j.neuron.2011.10.032


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|By appointment, near Davis
|By appointment only
|Phone Number
|(530) 746-8198
|[email protected]
|William Liu
|Payment Method(s)
|Credit Card, Cash, Paypal
William Liu is a local photographer who grew up in Davis. He is an alumni of Davis Senior High School and an alumni of University of California, Davis. He is a member of the Cal Aggie Alumni Association. Will does portraits (including senior portraits, family, engagements), events (including performing arts), macro, landscape, sports, and nature. William also teaches a photography course at the Davis Adult School called "How to Use Your Digital Camera." The best way to contact Will is via email.
Note: William Liu Photography's indoor studio is in Woodland which is a short 15 minute drive from Davis and about 30 minutes from most parts of Sacramento.
Photos are NOT released under Creative Commons-By license. The photos within this section are Copyright © 2010 by William C. Liu, all rights reserved. You can enlarge them by clicking on them.
Davis has a wide variety of resources for Photography
Davis has a wide variety of resources for Photography
You must be logged in to comment on this page. Please log in.


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Recollections of a
Bronx Irish Catholic
In the 1950s, the Bronx was a melting pot of immigrants and first-generation families: Jewish, Italian, and Irish alike. Peter Quinn shares his story of what it was like to be a Bronx Irish Catholic, commonly referred to as a B.I.C. ℘℘℘ "Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, / Who never to himselfRead more..


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WASHINGTON -- It is an ideological milestone that the emerging Republican front-runner is as skeptical of the New Deal as anyone in his position since the New Deal. During the 1936 election, Republican nominee Alf Landon called Social Security "unjust, unworkable, stupidly drafted and wastefully financed." Now, according to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Social Security is a "Ponzi scheme" that tells young workers a "monstrous lie." It is a "failure" that "we have been forced to accept for more than 70 years now."
It is true that Barry Goldwater, during the 1964 campaign, said, "I think Social Security ought to be voluntary." But when his rival Nelson Rockefeller claimed this would be a "personal disaster to millions of senior citizens," Mr. Conservative backed down. Challenged on his proposal, Goldwater responded, "I don't know where you ever got the idea."
It is true that Ronald Reagan, during his 1976 campaign for president, contended, "Fascism was really the basis for the New Deal." But Reagan's presidency was an extended accommodation with the New Deal. Reagan used the economic crisis of his time -- inflation and economic stagnation -- not to repeal entitlements but to lower tax rates. Social Security spending rose dramatically during the Reagan years.
It is possible that Perry may fold like Goldwater or accommodate like Reagan, but his current challenge to the Roosevelt consensus is ambitious. "I happen to think," he said in an interview with Newsweek last fall, "that the Progressive movement was the beginning of the deterioration of our Constitution from the standpoint of it being abused and misused to do things that Congress wanted to do, and/or the Supreme Court wanted to implement. The New Deal was the launching pad for the Washington largesse as we know it today."
Perry's entitlement reform proposals remain unformed. But during the same interview, he praised three Texas counties that had opted out of the Social Security program in 1981 (under a loophole that existed at the time). "So I would suggest a legitimate conversation about let the states keep their money and implement the programs. That's one option that's out there."
If Perry presses his case against the New Deal, there are three possible outcomes:
First, Republican primary voters -- while respecting Perry's chutzpah -- might develop concerns about his electability. In his national debut, Perry has tended toward the intemperate. As general electoral strategy focuses Republican minds, disciplined rhetoric might make a comeback. Communism and segregation are properly called monstrous lies; Social Security is a successful program in need of serious reform. Mitt Romney might make progress with this appeal: No candidate who is seen as an enemy of Social Security and Medicare will be allowed by voters to change and modernize those programs.
A second possibility is that Republican primary voters will be enthusiastic about Perry's message while the country is not. According to recent polls, Americans would prefer Congress to cut discretionary spending and raise taxes on the wealthy rather than make major changes in entitlement programs. President Obama might revive his fortunes with a traditional Democratic defense of Social Security and Medicare against marauding Republican hordes.
But there is a third possibility that Perry skeptics should take seriously. Perhaps this ideological moment is just different, in the same way the 1930s or the 1980s were different. Another dip into recession -- a continuing, sputtering failure of the American job-creation machine -- might do more than call three years of Obama policies into question. It might call seven decades of accumulating entitlement commitments into question. Can a modern economy remain energetic and competitive when it transfers increasing amounts from the private to the public sector, from young to old, from the productive to the retired? Will America need to break decisively from the European social model to avoid Europe's economic fate?
A sense of economic desperation expands the range of policy options. Reagan turned a fear of national decline into a radical revision of the tax code -- reducing top tax rates from 70 percent to 28 percent. Today, a second round of recession and an accelerated European economic implosion could create a similar sense of decay and desperation. The normal rules of political realism might be suspended -- this time on entitlements.
It is hard to imagine Perry as the carrier of Reagan-like ideological transformation -- though it was also difficult, at one time, for many to imagine an aging actor in that role. But Perry's critics may find it is not sufficient to declare him outside the mainstream. The mainstream can change.


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On election night in San Francisco, Ed Lee ended up with 31% of the first-choice votes. John Avalos had 19%, and Dennis Herrera had 11%. The remaining 39% of the votes were split up among the rest of em. Here are the preliminary results.
Avalos has a shot to beat Lee in the IRV tabulation, but just barely. The only way he wins is if the second and third choice votes of all the other candidates transfer at a rate of at least 3-to-1 Avalos over Lee. I think this is unlikely because there were so many other qualified candidates in the race, and because Ed Lee is generally considered a competent Mayor. Very few people hate him, he got a lot of second- and third-choice votes.
In the Oakland Mayor's race last year, the results were surprisingly similar on Election Night. Don Perata ended the first-choice tabulation with a commanding 11-point lead over Jean Quan. But when third-place finisher Rebecca Kaplan was eliminated and her votes transferred over, an unprecedented two-thirds of them went with Quan, sending Quan across the finish line. This happened because Quan and Kaplan were the only credible candidates in the race other than Perata, and because they ran a concerted IRV strategy, convincing the voters to rank each other second. Moreover, Perata was a polarizing figure – it was an "Anybody but Perata" strategy.
The same doesn't hold true here. I don't think Avalos and Herrera ran an IRV strategy together, and there were loads of other credible candidates in the race who will eat up each other's second- and third-choice votes. Ed Lee himself will get a lot of those second- and third-choice votes. Because he's no Don Perata.
AND – a lot of ballots are going to be exhausted. Which will be good for Lee. As ballots get exhausted – because voters bullet-voted (i.e. voting for only one candidate), or because all three of their choices are eliminated – the total vote count goes down. As the total vote count goes down, the percentage of the total vote count for a candidate goes up, inching Lee up towards the goal of obtaining 50% of the total vote count. And that's where he wins.
And so a ballot that includes votes for only candidates OTHER THAN Avalos or Lee… is ultimately a vote for Lee.
There were a lot of candidates in the race, and so a high percentage of ballots are going to be exhausted early. Because I didn't see many IRV strategies out there, I'm guessing a lot of voters bullet-voted. It's all going to come down to one question: Who did the losing candidates' voters choose as their second- and third-choice votes, if anyone?
The people who picked Ting, Dufty, Rees, Hall, and Alioto-Pier are more likely to give Lee their second choice votes based on their shared politics. That's about 20,000 votes, not counting exhausted ballots.
The Baum and Herrera voters are more likely to have picked Avalos as their second or third, and that's about 17,000 votes, not counting exhausted ballots.
Adachi voters? Forget about it. His votes will transfer to other Asian candidates, some conservative candidates, some to progressives. He's the wild card. And that's 9000 votes.
The Chiu and Yee voters are going to be squirrely. Yee and Chiu worked hard to defeat Lee, and their voters are more progressive than Lee's. Yet Chinese-American voters tend to be loyal to Asian candidates, and these seconds and thirds are more likely to go with Lee over Avalos. But it's hard to tell where the Chiu and Yee votes came from just yet. I voted for Chiu, and my second went to Avalos. I also got 1400 hits on my voter guide, so I bet a lot of my friends did the same.
Together, Yee and Chiu had 23,000 votes. Based on the numbers above, these votes have to transfer to Avalos at an extraordinarily high rate (4-to-1?) to put Avalos over the top. And I just don't see that happening.


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Simplifying the process.
Valuable federal, state, and local government opportunities often are difficult to navigate throughout their project lifecycles. But not with ScanSource. We simplify the process by helping you and your customers identify—and compete for—federal, state, and local business.
Key government industry sectors
- Project/risk management
- Finance
- Emergency communications
- Data security
- Human-capital management
- Information technology
- Contract management
- Procurement/manufacturing
Top challenges
- Government complexities and regulatory demands
- Staffing shortages
- Lack of quality technology and software
- Increased competition
- Finding more opportunities is resulting from teaming with partners
- Reworking active customers; customer relationship is huge
- Strengthening business development/proactively seeking and asking for bids/ proposals
Based on on Deltek 2020 report:


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Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
Monotonous, rigid military prison life awaits Manning
Bradley Manning, the soldier convicted in the biggest leak of classified information in U.S. history, faces the prospect of years of monotony with no Internet access in a small military prison cell but he would likely be allowed to mix with other inmates and exercise outdoors.
The 25-year-old Manning, who has yet to be sentenced, would be able to nominate friends and relatives for visits pending official approval. A handshake, a brief kiss or a hug that does not involve touching below the waist are allowed during visits, and visitors and inmates may hold hands, according to regulations. Prisoners are allowed to telephone friends and family through payphones that may only be used at set times, but they are not permitted to send email or browse the Internet.
A military judge on Tuesday found the former low-level intelligence analyst guilty of 19 criminal charges, including espionage and theft, for giving about 700,000 classified diplomatic cables and war logs to the anti-secrecy WikiLeaks website in 2010 while he was serving in Iraq.
The U.S. Army Private First Class was acquitted at his two-month-long court-martial on the most serious charge of aiding the enemy, sparing him a life sentence without parole. But his convictions could draw a maximum term of 136 years.
Legal experts said the case was highly unusual and they were reluctant to predict the sentence. The judge has already ruled that 112 days will be deducted because Manning was mistreated in the months after his arrest in Baghdad in May 2010.
The sentencing phase of the court-martial at Fort Meade, Maryland, began on Wednesday and was expected to last at least until August 9, military officials said.
Any sentence longer than 10 years must be served at the United States Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, U.S. Army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel S. Justin Platt said. Manning could also serve time at a Fort Leavenworth military correctional facility, where the spokesman said he had been held pre-trial since April 2011.
Cells, which have walls rather than bars, contain a bed, a toilet and a sink, a desk and a locker, according to unclassified army regulations. The regulations say cells for one person must have 35 square feet (3.25 square meters) of unencumbered space. When confinement exceeds 10 hours per day, there must be at least 80 square feet (7.4 square meters) of total floor space.
Tightly Structured Days
Several people familiar with the prisons described them as clean and relatively safe compared to civilian prisons but said the daily routine was monotonous and tightly structured.
"Most of those guys there have inculcated the hierarchy, the structure, the discipline the respect for authority," said Raelean Finch, a former army intelligence officer who co-writes a blog called "Captain Incarcerated" with a friend and former army colleague serving six years at the Barracks in Fort Leavenworth. (She asked that her friend not be identified further in order to preserve his pseudonym on the blog.)
Finch said that although "it's a tinderbox for sure, tempers flare and whatnot, everyone recognizes they're in a pretty safe situation."
She said many fear being "Fed-Exed" - the term used for being transferred to a civilian federal prison because prisons are perceived as being less disciplined and more violent.
Another blog, "Prison Pie," by a woman who posts her inmate brother's letters, details the routine: Breakfast starts at 5.30 a.m., work hours are between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m., then lunch at noon and back to work at 1 p.m. until 4 p.m., followed by dinner between 4.30 p.m. and 5.30 p.m. Work includes jobs such as catering, laundry, cleaning and yard maintenance.
There is a lockdown for head count twice a day and 3-1/2 hours of time is allotted for activities such as games and movies in the evening until 9.30 p.m.
Mostly Pap Literature
Philip Cave, a lawyer who represents soldiers and visits military prisons, said Manning would be able to borrow from a limited list of books, particularly those with legal information that can help an inmate better understand their case, although there were a few more general-interest titles.
"Mostly pap," said Cave. He said military prisons were more restrictive than civilian prisons about books and magazines, although inmates are allowed to receive titles from friends and relatives that meet official approval.
The former officer Finch said her inmate friend uses a 1990s-vintage refurbished electronic word processor that meets prison guidelines to write his posts, which he prints and sends to her by regular mail since he can't use the Internet.
There is nothing to prevent an inmate writing for publication, the U.S. Army spokesman Platt said, although they may be prevented from receiving compensation for doing so. All correspondence, except between a client and a lawyer, is screened by prison officials.
Cave said that Manning, a slight man who looks younger than his 25 years and is gay, may encounter homophobia, and some inmates may view him as a traitor, although others convicted of espionage are serving time in Fort Leavenworth.
"They may take some extra precautions in the beginning to make sure of his safety," Cave said.
Finch said her inmate friend knew of a number of openly gay inmates. According to him, they do not generally encounter prejudice, tend to socialize among themselves, and sometimes dated within the strictures of a prison environment.
Manning in "Cage" After Arrest
Manning's lawyers and civil rights groups complained that he was mistreated during initial detention in Kuwait and nine months he spent in solitary confinement at a U.S. Marine Corps jail in Quantico, Virginia.
A United Nations special rapporteur on torture formally accused the U.S. government of cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of Manning. A government lawyer responded that the United States was satisfied Manning had been placed in the same type of cell as other pre-trial detainees.
At Quantico, Manning was confined to his cell for 23 hours a day, required to sleep naked and was woken often during the night, military officials said. They said those measures were necessary because of concern that Manning was suicidal.
To compensate for that treatment, the court-martial judge, Colonel Denise Lind, ruled that 112 days should be deducted from any sentence she imposes.
[Source: By Jonathan Allen, Reuters, NY, 04Aug13]
Privacy and counterintelligence
|This document has been published on 05Aug13 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.


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the Liars bench
the liars bench (ljugarbänk in Swedish) a bench designed for the art of lying. On the west coast of Sweden the liars bench is located to have a good view of the harbor, this post celebrates the bench and the art of lying. Now go ahead and construct your own bench.
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Dave's Cold Packed Polish Dills
1 gallon
4 pounds Pickling cucumbers
8 Dill heads
6 Cloves of garlic (or possibly more)
8 cups Water
2 cups White vinegar
1/2 cup Pickling salt (or 3.5 oz by weight)
1 teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper
4 teaspoon Whole mustard seed
Wash and dry the cucumbers; prick a few holes in each with a fork, or possibly quarter them lengthwise. Peel and break the garlic cloves.
Place half of the dill heads in the bottom of a clean 1-gallon jar. Add in the garlic, crushed red pepper, and mustard seed. Pack loosely with cucumbers and top with the remaining dill. Chill while preparing brine.
Combine water, vinegar, and salt in a saucepan. Heat to boiling, then cool to room temperature. Pour the cooled brine over the cucumbers, making sure they are covered. Screw a lid on the jar and store in the fridge for about 4 weeks before serving. If you've quartered the cucumbers instead of leaving them whole, they will be ready somewhat sooner (two weeks instead).
Ingredients can also be divided between four 1-qt widemouth jars. It is it more convenient to make a gallon jar batch (takes less of a footprint in the refrigerator) and then divide up the pickles later into separate jars when they're ready to eat. (Which frees up the jar for the next batch, too)


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(This post is by Ross.) Eight years ago, in October 2003, Stephen Schneider wrote email 0020.txt to Annie Petsonk of Environmental Defense, cc'ing to Mann, Hegerl, Overpeck, Briffa, Hughes, MacCracken, Jones, Bradley, Santer, Thompson, Mosley-Thompson, Crowley, Trenberth, Osborn, Wigley and a couple others. The email stated, in part, the following ([sic] wherever appropriate).
Hello all. Ah ha–the latest idiot–McKitrick–reenters the scene. He and another incompetent had a book signing party at the US Capitol–Mike MacCracken went and he can tell you about it–last summer. McKitrick also had an article–oped, highly refereed of course–in the Canadian National Post on June 4 this year. Here is the URL that worked back then: http://www.nationalpost.com/search/site/story.asp?id=045D5241-FD00-4773-B816-76222A771778
It was a scream. He argued there is no such thing as global temperature change, just local–all natural variablity mostly. To prove this he had a graph of temperature trends in Erie Pennsylvania for the past 50 years (this is from memory) which showed a cooling. THat alone proves nothing, but when reading the caption I noticed the trend was for temperature in October and November!! So one station for two months consitituted his "refutation" of global warming–another even dumber than Lomborg economist way out of depth and polemicizing. I showed it to a class of Stanford freshman, and one of them said: "I wonder how many records for various combinations of months they had to run through to find one with a cooling trend?" THe freshman was smarter than this bozo. It is improtant to get that op-ed to simply tell all reporters how unbelievably incompetent he is, and should not even be given the time of day over climate issues, for which his one "contribution" is laughably incompetent. By the way, the Henderson/Castles stuff he mentions is also mostly absurd, but that is a longer discussion you all don't need to get into–check it out in the UCS response to earlier Inhofe polemics with answers I gave them on Henderson/Castles if you want to know more about their bad economics on top of their bad climate science
The op-ed I believe Schneider refers to is not at the Post website anymore, but it is online here. It was published in April 2003, not June. I didn't publish an op-ed in June 2003, to the best of my recollection (and I have nothing in my files from then). Also, the print edition for the April 2003 op-ed shows the temperature graph for Erie Pennsylvania, and is the only one I've written that refers to that data. I encourage everyone to read my April 2003 op-ed, and then re-read Schneider's email.
There's no mention of Castles and Henderson in it: I think Schneider must have mingled something else in his memory. As to the choice of Erie PA, As I explain in the op-ed, I was responding to a claim David Suzuki had made on TVOntario a few nights earlier, saying that when he grew up in London Ontario, winter used to set in by the end of October, but now the snow didn't come until much later; this being evidence of the fearful progress of global warming (or words to that effect). So I looked up the weather records for London from the 1940s to the present to check. Since the Canadian data on the GISS archive only went up to 1990, I also looked up the Erie PA record, which was the nearest US city (just across Lake Erie from London) with a long temperature record for October and November continuing up to the (then) present. The slight cooling trend in those records contradicted Suzuki's claim.
This is all explained in the op-ed. Contrary to Schneider's claim, I was not using the October-November temperature trend from Erie PA as a measure of global climate, I was using it as a measure of the October-November temperature trend for Erie PA. Schneider was careless in his reading, remiss in his recollection, and obnoxious in broadcasting his opinion to his colleagues.
OK, some jerk sent an email. What does it matter?
10 years before that email was sent, I was a grad student in economics, planning to do my PhD on carbon taxes. When trying to learn about the physical science issues, one of the first things I read was a 1989 Scientific American article by Schneider. Probably many people first learned about the issue from Schneider's writings, and over time he had an enormous influence on the way the scientific message was controlled and transmitted to the public and to policymakers. He edited a major journal, wrote UN climate reports, advised governments and generally spoke for his profession for several decades.
That he turns out to have been intensely biased, arrogant and careless with facts matters a great deal.


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Message Board
Laura Van Wormer Message Board
Talk about the novels, new and used books that Wormer has written!
Author Wormer's Book Reviews
The Bad Witness
Mira, Nov 2002, 23.95, 352 pp. ISBN: 1551669528 NY TV news reporter Sally Harrington is in Santa Monica to testify as a defense witness in the �Mafia Boss Murder Trial�. Hollywood producer Jonathan Small stands trial for killing mobster Nick Arlenetta. While the prosecutor screams murder one, the defense team insists self-defense as they claim that Jonathan shot Nick before the mobster could kill his sister. Sally who has done a documentary on...
The Kill Fee
Mira, Nov 2003, 23.95, 320 pp. ISBN: 1551667444 In Castleford, Connecticut, octogenarian Percy Harrington gives a letter he received to his great niece Sally Harrington to check into. Apparently, somehow Percy owns some property in Hillstone Falls, New York and the Western Connecticut Land Trust Company wants to buy that land. Sally's West Coast lover, former Hollywood cop Paul Fitzwilliam has transferred to the New Haven force to attend a ne...
Trouble Becomes Her
Mira, Nov 2001, 22.95, 300 pp. ISBN: 1551668475 Life looks good to Sally Harrington as she now works for DBS News in Manhattan even though she is the key witness at Los Angels' high viz �The Mafia Boss Murder� trial. Sally's boss Alexandra Waring takes her off everything and assigns her to investigate her old mob pals, Presario-Arlenetta, so the show can produce a special. Choosing between mobsters whom she previously alienated and who almo...


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Poinsettia Flower Tutorial
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Wafer Paper Hydrangea Tutorial
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My newest tutorial shows step by step instruction on how to make a Wafer Paper Hydrangeas Bouquet. Enjoy the tutorial. Follow me on:...
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Fondant Christmas Tree and Shrubs
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This tutorial gives you step by step instructions on how to make a rice cereal Christmas Tree and Shrubs and decorate it with Fondant. ...
3D Halloween Pumpkin Cookie Tutorial
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Since Halloween is around the corner I wanted to share my 3D Halloween Pumpkin Tutorial With you all! Enjoy


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This appendix contains information about troubleshooting. It includes information about the following topics:
Before performing any of the troubleshooting steps in this appendix, ensure that the system meets the requirements and that you have completed all of the preinstallation tasks specified in Chapter 2.
Read the release notes for the product before installing it. The release notes are available on the Oracle Database 11g DVD. The latest version of the release notes is also available on the Oracle Technology Network website:
If you run Oracle Universal Installer on a remote system and you want to display Oracle Universal Installer's user interface on your local system, you might see error messages similar to the following:
"Failed to connect to server" "Connection refused by server" "Can't open display"
If you see one of these error messages, follow these steps:
Note:This procedure applies only to users of UNIX workstations. If you are using a PC or other system with X server software installed, refer to the X server documentation, or contact your X server vendor or system administrator for information about how to permit remote systems to display X applications on the local system.
In a local terminal window, log in as the user that started the X Window session.
Enter the following command:
$ xhost fully_qualified_remote_host_name
For example:
$ xhost somehost.us.example.com
Enter the following commands, where
workstation_name is the host name or IP address of your workstation:
Bourne, Bash, or Korn shell:
$ DISPLAY=workstation_name:0.0
$ export DISPLAY
C shell:
% setenv DISPLAY workstation_name:0.0
To determine whether X Window applications display correctly on the local system, enter the following command:
$ xclock
The X clock should appear on your monitor.
If the X clock appears, close the X clock and start Oracle Universal Installer again.
If you encounter an error during installation:
Do not exit Oracle Universal Installer.
If you clicked Next after you entered incorrect information on one of the installation screens, click Back to return to the screen and correct the information.
If you encounter an error while Oracle Universal Installer is copying or linking files, then rerun Oracle Universal Installer with the
-debug option:
$./runInstaller -debug
Check the log file for details. Refer to "Reviewing the Log of an Installation Session" section.
If you encounter an error while a configuration assistant is running, refer to "Troubleshooting Configuration Assistants" section.
If you cannot resolve the problem, remove the failed installation by following the steps listed in the "Cleaning Up After a Failed Installation" section.
During an installation, Oracle Universal Installer records all of the actions that it performs in a log file. If you encounter problems during the installation, review the log file for information about possible causes of the problem.
To view the log file, follow these steps:
If necessary, enter the following command to determine the location of the
oraInventory directory:
$ cat/var/opt/oracle/oraInst.loc
inventory_loc parameter in this file specifies the location of the
oraInventory directory.
Enter the following command to change directory to Oracle Universal Installer log file directory, where
orainventory_location is the location of the
oraInventory directory:
$ cd /orainventory_location/logs
Enter the following command to determine the name of the log file:
$ ls -ltr
This command lists the files in the order of creation, with the most recent file shown last. Installer log files have names similar to the following, where
date_time indicates the date and time that the installation started:
To view the most recent entries in the log file, where information about a problem is most likely to appear, enter a command similar to the following:
$ tail -50 installActionsdate_time.log | more
This command displays the last 50 lines in the log file.
If the error displayed by Oracle Universal Installer or listed in the log file indicates a relinking problem, refer to the following file for more information:
To troubleshoot an installation error that occurs when a configuration assistant is running:
Review the installation log files listed in the "Reviewing the Log of an Installation Session" section.
Review the specific configuration assistant log file located in the
$ORACLE_HOME/cfgtoollogs directory. Try to fix the issue that caused the error.
If you see the "Fatal Error. Reinstall" message, look for the cause of the problem by reviewing the log files. Refer to "Fatal Errors" for further instructions.
Oracle configuration assistant failures are noted at the bottom of the installation screen. The configuration assistant interface displays additional information, if available. The configuration assistant execution status is stored in the following file:
The execution status codes are listed in the following table:
|Result Code
|Configuration assistant succeeded
|Configuration assistant failed
|Configuration assistant canceled
If you receive a fatal error while a configuration assistant is running, you must remove the current installation and reinstall the Oracle software, as follows:
Remove the failed installation as described in the "Cleaning Up After a Failed Installation" section.
Correct the cause of the fatal error.
Reinstall the Oracle software.
If you face any of the following situations for Oracle home, then run the
opatch lsinventory -detail command to list the contents of the inventory and see section "Recovering from inventory corruption" in the Oracle Universal Installer and OPatch User's Guide for Windows and UNIX for information on fixing the issue.
Oracle home is cloned without completing the inventory steps.
There is bad inventory.
Inventory is not available but it is created when the Oracle Enterprise Manager Agent is installed in a separate Oracle home.
If you connect to Oracle database with a screen resolution of 640X480 or 800X600, then the Next button in the GUI is not visible as it hides behind the Taskbar. To fix this problem, perform one of the following:
Hide the Taskbar.
Move the Oracle Universal Installer screen up.
Set the screen resolution to 1024X768 or higher.
To determine whether a silent-mode installation succeeds or fails, refer to the following log file:
If necessary, refer to the previous section for information about determining the location of the
oraInventory directory.
A silent installation fails if:
You do not specify a response file
You specify an incorrect or incomplete response file
Oracle Universal Installer encounters an error, such as insufficient disk space
Oracle Universal Installer or configuration assistant validates the response file at run time. If the validation fails, the silent-mode installation or configuration process ends.
If an installation fails, you must remove the files that Oracle Universal Installer created during the attempted installation using the Deinstallation Tool. For more information on how to run the Deinstallation Tool refer to "About the Deinstallation Tool".


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Do you work in an office populated by Dell computers? If so, you're probably used to sitting in front of black boxes running Windows XP, with the usual word processing and spreadsheet tools, which all work adequately well.
Throw a task at the computer that puts it under more stress than usual, and you see that Dell's business machines are not as good at decoding video, rendering 3D graphics, or anything that goes beyond everyday business productivity.
The Dimension C521 is Dell's next generation of workhorse office PC system and comes with an Athlon 64 3800 processor, an ATi X1300 GPU, 1GB of DDR2 RAM and runs Windows Vista Home Premium, all housed in a stylish new white chassis.
Windows Vista is the most noticeable change from before and no doubt the hardware upgrade is needed to ensure Vista remains responsive with the Aero interface enabled. The computer's Windows Experience Index score of 4.2 puts it firmly in the mid range of desktop PCs, as we expected our own tests to verify.
Beefing up hardware on your office desktop isn't just needed to provide Vista with horsepower; everyday computing tasks are now more demanding too. Multimedia is more entrenched in our computing lives than ever; websites with embedded video are popular for both research and lunchtime recreation, while even PowerPoint presentations commonly contain both audio and animation elements.
Dell's office line up used to feature an old Intel-based onboard graphics chip, but with the move to using an X1300 series GPU, there's no longer a reason for any of Dell's machines not to run whatever software you throw at it.
That said, this is no patch on the XPC line. The benchmarks don't come out badly but we can hardly imagine teenage gaming addicts begging their parents to fork out for a Dell Dimension C521. The 3DMark score confirms this, managing just 1,154 points, but this is much better than the integrated graphics of the last generation.
Of course, that isn't important, because the point is to raise the performance bar for small business machines rather than make any great strides at the top end.
Massive storage
The Athlon 64 3800 is noticeably single-core only, but remains a decent number cruncher. Dell has blessed us with the option of a 250GB Western Digital hard drive, perhaps overkill for an office desktop, but hard drives are so cheap these days, massive storage can be taken for granted.
The same could be said for the DVD rewriter in our test machine, not to mention the embedded 7.1 audio and six USB ports buried in the chassis. After using the Dimension C521 for a while, you might think that Dell has tried to bring the home PC experience we're used to right into the office.
You no longer need to assume that since it bears the name Dell and sits on your desk, you can't do certain tasks with your computer. You might not want or need all this extra power - we can't see many offices employing full 7.1 speaker setups - but at least you aren't going to be restricted by any lack of oomph.
The final ace up Dell's sleeve is the price. The Dimension C521 comes in at £500, including VAT, for a PC and 19in monitor, fully capable of multimedia tasks and some gaming, with giant storage and optical backup, all running off Vista Home Premium. With the exception of breaking your wallet, there isn't much this PC won't do.
With such a long list of features and such a high degree of versatility, the Dimension C521 could be a good choice for a budget family machine, although compared with the competition it comes out a bit weak. The X1300 will run today's games but it may look long in the tooth when Direct X10 titles become commonplace.
Bumping the memory up to 2GB and upgrading the CPU will mean it's better tooled to run tomorrow's applications under Vista. Once these additions are factored in, the PC will be less of a bargain, and other similarly priced desktops will give it a run for its money.
This hypothetical criticism doesn't stop us recommending the C521, though. A desktop PC capable of so much for so little is guaranteed to keep Dell's logo in offices for some time yet. Orestis Bastounis


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Or how to redirect oneself into self-creation when being more quiet and stable within oneself.
A common experience that emerges within oneself after some time as in several years of being 'processing' one's mind and upon working with the basics of understanding one's emotions and feelings, understanding one's reactions and how to practically work with them, one gets to a phase which I've defined as a 'zero point' or 'dead point' because it is that moment where one can noticeably be more stable, more quiet, not so many voices in the head or being more at ease within oneself to a point where we get to apparently feel a form of loss or death within us, and the interesting thing is that it's not like we are in fact becoming more robotic or 'dead' inside ourselves, but the other way around.
This experience which is in fact a lack of energetic stimulation/not participating as much in our minds which we may experience as a loss or 'missing' something in our lives can be understood in two ways:
1. We have defined ourselves so much according to energy as emotions, feelings, constant inner conflict and inner movements that we had equated those experiences as 'being living/being alive' where we had always accepted and allowed our self-definition to be equated to an energetic experience inside us, moving us, being the 'driving force' for us to do something. An example is where one gets to discover within this process of self-awareness that even our great plans and projects in our lives could have been in fact motivated by a form of self-interest, a fear such as an inferiority seeking a superiority, a way to 'demonstrate' to others one is capable of something and trumping others and calling this 'one's motivation to succeed'.
I found that a lot of what I did and moved myself with was in fact that of ego, of self-interest, of seeking an energetic experience and so, that was part of what I had to willingly stop doing and feeding in my life – and yes it felt like quitting a drug of sorts of course, but that's what I knew I had to do in order to be the real me that is here, just physically here which practically means saying 'no' to all kinds of 'temptations' if you will for me to 'go back' into the old ways, to just participate into this or that 'a little' and it's no different to craving a drug or sugar if you're addicted to either, it seems like one just can't hold it, but through continuous practice in one's resolve and discipline, it is possible to 'starve' that experience and let it go.
I've found that upon then being more stable, calm and quiet within myself, self-motivation and self-movement is are one of those seemingly challenging points because one won't 'feel' like doing anything, but one can move, can direct and get to do things, regardless of 'getting anything out of it' as an energetic experience, but simply doing it based on a common sensical decision to create, to support oneself, to get to attend our basic responsibilities, to expand, to grow, to develop ourselves further and this is where one can easily fall into the idea that 'nothing is opening up for us'/ nothing is moving, nothing is happening – because we are no longer motivating ourselves through energy, within constant friction and conflict seeking a 'way out' and we are no longer having these high and lows that we had defined as 'who we are' – but it will in fact be a more quiet process that in comparison to the previous 'hectic and energetic self' might seem indeed like an internal death experience, but it's not.
This phase and experience of 'not having much going on inside oneself' and inside one's head can even be felt in some as a form of depression, which surely just as 'regular depression' it happens when we are sinking into nothingness, finding comfort in doing nothing else but self-pitying ourselves and focusing on fueling emotional turmoil inside. In this phase and process I'm talking about, it might feel like 'nothing moves, nothing makes us 'feel' any longer, so what's the point?' and that's how if one does not in fact direct oneself to create oneself and fill that space there, one can go back to 'the old self' as in seeking for stimulations as energy fixes of any kind that we had become used to and apparently 'feel alive' again.
This is what happens when one 'falls' into a pattern again that one had self-forgiven and worked on before. It just means we didn't sufficiently stand in our decision and resolve to stop a particular habit or pattern in our minds and so in our doings, it means that we allowed our addiction of any kind to 'kick in' as a mind- back up to keep ourselves ensnared in our minds, going into the old patterns because 'it feels familiar, it feels like the good old me again' and before we know it we're back to base 1 of transcending/walking through a particular experience, habit or addiction for that matter, and we have to start the whole process of standing up from those experiences again, and as many times as required to get it.
So here it means that one has to actually get used to this seemingly and apparently 'slow pace' of living, which is an actual physical pace, not a 'mind pace' where everything goes super fast and can be insta-created as we wish and like and so forth – one has to let go of all of those bits that seem to be like 'mind hooks' coming up in our minds, wanting to go here/do that/think this/imagine that in order to 'keep the mind alive' so to speak, that's exactly where we have constantly decide to starve those desires and false needs because really, we don't need these experiences to be 'alive' at all, au contraire, they represent obstacles, detours that take us back to square one and not really move forward.
That's also where one's understanding of what is to be self-honest comes handy, because that is a constant guideline to know how do we decide to spend our time of the day, how do we decide to live every moment, what do we decide to invest our space and time on – and this is there where the point 2 comes in.
2. This 'deadness' or 'emptiness' or 'lack' experienced is in fact an indication that we are at our blank-slate point or square one of self-creation. What happens when we stop particular habits or patterns is that we stop giving space, energy and time to that which used to 'occupy ourselves' in our minds, something that would most likely not be constructive but time-consuming, destructive, keeping us in fears, anxieties, feeling unsatisfied, wanting to do/consume something all the time to 'feel something' but, that desire right there once that it is settled and kept 'at bay' with one's resolve and perseverance, what is left is in fact a space, a void that needs to now be reprogramed, re-wired, a part of us that now has to be self-filled with something like a living word, a new set of actions, a new plan to see where and how do we want to expand and explore ourselves into.
And this is where according to one's environment, capacity, time, financial stability and a variety of other factors we can decide how to best redirect our time, effort and attention to self-creation in a way that is now supportive, in a way that we know we are supporting ourselves to become the versions of us that does not require to exist in constant stress, fear or conflict to be motivated to do something, that does not require to have a constant 'competition' in mind to decide to be better every day, that can decide to no longer be defined by particular likes, preferences or types of personality that could refrain ourselves from doing something that is 'out of our programming' so to speak, and see/test who we are within it and not fear the change.
This is then the phase we constantly are in whenever we go more effectively stopping ourselves from diving into a mind experience, and then there's that opportunity to expand further or remain 'on the nothingness-same spot' – none of these two options is better or worse, it's simply about where one is at one's process and in one's self-honesty. But in my case, whenever I remain into 'not moving myself' in those moments, it becomes like being stopping for far too long on a traffic light and knowing that there's a green light again, an opportunity to step on the road and redirect myself but I don't do it, and that's what can lead myself back to similar patterns of the past like depression, feeling lethargic or apathetic or 'seeing no point' in anything because one has now created space in oneself to redirect, to create, to grow, to develop new ways and ideas, to make decisions on how to invest our time of the day on – and if this is not done, then we might go back to seeking to 'feel' something because we haven't actually taken self-responsibility to create ourselves, to direct ourselves.
And this is also a very personal phase of self-creation because we are so used to having something/someone 'telling us what to do' or 'what to create' or 'where to put our attention on' or 'what we have to complete now' – we've done that all the time from when we were very young in our parents' house and then on the education system, then at work, in society and we've been so used to always 'following' and having someone else 'leading us' – which makes it truly 'awkward' in this new phase because: we have to decide and give direction to ourselves, we have to test new things ourselves, we have to decide how far or how near we decide to take ourselves to in doing/living something, which directions to take.
For that, we can only have our self-trust, knowing that no matter 'what' we decide to do with ourselves, we always have the tools of self-support like writing, applying self-forgiveness, developing self introspection and self-honesty to then create solutions, create ways through in moments where difficulties emerge, where plans fail and we have to find a new route – this is a certainty that we can create within us because of having proven to ourselves that it is possible to stop being 'guided by the mind' and that we now can stand in the path of self-creation and test, find, be creative and know that we can always find a way through in it.
It's also very much the realization of self-creation, of being god onto ourselves and understanding that there is nothing or no one that can decide this for us, we have to do it and so acknowledge the responsibility and results/consequences that may unfold from our decisions, for ourselves and for everyone else that is here in this world as well.
All of this might sound too much or 'scary' for some, but it's actually the most empowering position one can stand on, and one that is enjoyable if one decides to make it so – again, it's very much up to each one to decide who I want to be and who do I decide to be in this phase of creating the better version of myself that I can work for myself and that I can, at the same time, gift to others in this world/in my life to.
Sounds good isn't it? It's a constant redirection, because 'temptations' will always come in whichever form we have programmed ourselves to, each one of us knows exactly what those 'weaknesses' are that we have to develop into a strengths, simply making a decision that we know where such experience leads us – therefore, there's always a moment to detour and take another way, one that is honorable, that is of self-honesty and that in the long run – no matter how 'hard' or 'challenging' it may seem at first to step into self-change – we know that it is the better way, it is the commendable way, it is the way that we will lead ourselves to get to a spot in our lives where we can 'bear ourselves' and embrace ourselves completely – no regrets, no guilt, no remorse, no 'what if's or 'should have's' because this way means assessing what is it that we really want to use our life-time and space on and for.
All that is left from this then is a reminder for myself whenever feeling like 'giving up' or seeing things as 'pointless' or 'nothing is happening' or 'feeling too empty' and going into a general 'low experience' what do I know? I require to set myself a direction, to give myself a direction and at the same time expand to something a bit different than before so as to no create also a constant-comfort zone where there is no real expansion in it, but just keeping oneself constantly occupied on the same. That's the challenge I have for myself and will look into this as I decide precisely, upon having this 'blank slate' where would I like to develop myself more, what would I like to expand my interests on, where can I expand my support on, what can I create?
The options are many, we can make a decision of what we do, where we do it, with whom or alone and make sure that whatever we create, we take responsibility for it at the same time.
So, time to step out of the 'dead-nothingness-zone' and give that step into self-creation.
Recommended: From Created to Creator – Reptilians – Part 306
Check out these great sites for self support and self development :
Get Real with Cerise & Joe
School Of Ultimate Living | Facebook
EQAFE.Com : SELF Education and SELF Awareness Store
7 Year Journey To Life Process : People Sharing their Processes of Self-Forgiveness and Self-Correction
Desteni Forum : Discuss and share with us


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Tesla's self-driving system was on at time of fatal Florida crash
A Palm Beach County, Fla., man activated the self-driving system on his 2018 Tesla seconds before the vehicle slammed into a tractor-trailer in suburban Delray Beach, according to federal investigators.
Jeremy Beren Banner, 50, from the Wellington area, died at the scene of the March 1 crash.
A preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board said that neither the vehicle's autopilot feature nor Banner attempted to brake the Tesla 3 or make an evasive maneuver before it traveled underneath the truck while traveling 68 mph in the 14000 block of State Road 7, north of Atlantic Avenue. The crash sheared off the Tesla's roof.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said the truck had pulled out of Pero Farms and was making a left-hand turn onto northbound State Road 7 when the Tesla, headed southbound, smashed into the undercarriage of the tractor-trailer. The posted speed in the area is 55 mph.
The NTSB report states that Banner took his hands off the steering wheel eight seconds before the crash, but the self-driving system did not detect it.
The autopilot system has been criticized for its reliability. The Delray crash is similar to one that took place in 2016 near Gainesville in which a Tesla driver died after the vehicle struck a tractor-trailer. The system has also played a role in three other fatal crashes since 2016, according to reports.
Tesla released a statement saying the company was "deeply saddened" by the Delray Beach crash, but added that, "Tesla drivers have logged more than one billion miles with autopilot engaged, and our data shows that, when used properly by an attentive driver who is prepared to take control at all times, drivers supported by autopilot are safer than those operating without assistance.
Richard Keith Wood, 45, of the Tampa suburb of Ruskin was driving the truck and was not injured.


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At first glance, this screen looks strangely familiar. The dock icons, the gray, rounded windows, the whole layout; it's Mac OS X, except not quite. The top-left icon is the giveaway. This ain't OS X, it's Red Star, North Korea's state-sanctioned operating system. And Version 3.0 looks very Mac-like.
These screenshots were reportedly captured by Will Scott, a computer science graduate student who recently taught computer courses at North Korea's Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, according to his Reddit AMA bio. Red Star 3.0, the Linux/KDE based OS released this past summer, offers a new Mac-esque motif in place of the previous version's Windows 7-like design.
Notably, most North Koreans don't have access to the world wide web, so Red Star 3.0's Mozilla-based browser (named "Naenara," or "my country") is mostly used on library and university computers to access a heavily limited national intranet.
But while Kim Jong-un won't let his people have unfettered access to the web, he will give them access to a fashionable, outdated (knockoff) operating system. So over the summer, the state-run Korea Computer Center released the revamped OS that borrows gleefully from the Mac system the rest of the world knows so well.
If nothing else, Red Star 3.0 shows that North Korea's knockoff industry and walled-off parallel tech universe have design chops, even if they are a few years behind. [Computerworld]
Update: as reader Robert A Petersen points out, curious Linux fans can download Red Star by clicking right here. But good luck—everything's written in Korean.


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California Love
California. The word itself is as smooth as butter, as sweet as honey. It is my Shangri-La. My Bali Hai. Even as a young girl, I thought of California as a unique, special place. Some of my relatives lived there, … Continue reading
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At its annual shareholders' meeting on January 19, 1983, Apple announced two new products that would play a pivotal role in the future of the company: the Apple Lisa, Apple's original GUI-based computer and the precursor to the Macintosh; and the Apple IIe, which represented a natural evolution to the highly successful Apple II computer line.
One of these platforms met an early end, leaving behind technology that shaped the entire industry. The other, built on proven technology from an engineering genius, remained a reliable breadwinner during uncertain times in the early life of the Macintosh and carried Apple's most popular 8-bit computer line to its natural conclusion.
Remembering the Lisa
The Lisa introduced a completely new paradigm—the mouse-driven graphical user interface—to the world of mainstream personal computers. (Note that the release of the Xerox Star workstation in 1981 marked the commercial debut of the mouse-driven GUI.) The Lisa's elevated retail price of $9995 at launch (about $23,103 in today's dollars), slow processor speed (5MHz), and problematic custom disk drives hobbled the groundbreaking machine as soon as it reached the market.
Despite those drawbacks, the Lisa made a huge splash in the industry in 1983 thanks to a bitmapped graphical operating system that utilized icons, pull-down menus, and overlapping windows to represent and manipulate information instead of the then-familiar convention of typing text-based commands. The interface launched a revolution in the way consumers interacted with personal computers.
The impact of the Lisa's GUI was so profound that dozens of companies jumped on board with imitative and catch-up products in the mouse-driven GUI space—not the least of which was Microsoft, which first announced its Microsoft Windows operating environment in November 1983, ten months after the Lisa's debut.
Perhaps even more profound was the effect the Lisa had on Apple itself. While the Lisa's development initially began under Steve Jobs's guidance, the Apple cofounder was later ousted from the project. This prompted Jobs to take charge of another computer project within Apple, Jef Raskin's low-cost appliance computer—the Macintosh.
Under Jobs's feverish and singular guidance, the Macintosh, released just one year later, flowered into a low-cost competitor to the Lisa, sealing the fate of the awkward, overpriced computer.
The rest of that branch of history should be at least somewhat familiar to readers. A few of the Lisa's achievements that the Macintosh emulated include the mouse and the bitmapped display, the desktop paradigm, representational icons, proportional fonts, pull-down menus along the top of the screen, and overlapping windows (something Microsoft Windows didn't offer until version 2.03 in 1987).
But the Lisa had a few more tricks up its sleeve that remained unique to the system for years. For example, it offered cooperative multitasking (which the Macintosh OS did not feature until 1987 as an optional part of System Software 5); protected memory (which did not appear until Mac OS X in 2001); a built-in screensaver; and the ability to utilize plug-in expansion cards, hard disks, and up to 2MB of RAM (the first Mac was limited to 128KB).
The Lisa also debuted a few features that the Mac has never fully imitated. In the most dramatic example, the Lisa's OS (the Lisa Office System) handled user-generated files in a completely document-centric manner. That is, one did not launch an application and then open a file from within that application, as is common in Mac OS X and Windows today. Instead, one "tore off" a blank document from a virtual stack of "paper," which created a user-editable document in the file system that the user would then double-click to open in the appropriate application.
In a sense, Lisa's document-centric approach was the exact opposite of the paradigm advanced by iOS today, in which the user deals solely with applications at the OS level and not documents individually.
Also, in a significant step forward for user convenience, the Lisa included the world's first computer "soft" power switch, which, when pushed, initiated an automatic shutdown sequence that saved and put away all documents safely before powering down the system.
After the launch of the Macintosh in 1984, the Lisa fell far behind in sales, and it became clear that the Mac represented the future of Apple. So began the Lisa's absorption into the Macintosh ecosystem. First, the Lisa adopted Mac-like features such as the 3.5-inch floppy disk drive and a new exterior design that appeared in a much-needed 1984 revision commonly dubbed the Lisa 2. Then the Lisa gained the ability to run Macintosh software with the MacWorks software-emulation environment.
In 1985, the Lisa hardware saw its last hurrah: Apple rebadged its remaining supply of Lisa 2 computers as the Macintosh XL, and the Lisa was laid to rest.
To this day, the Lisa remains one of Apple's most fascinating dead platforms— especially since its early demise entombed pioneering interface concepts that have yet to be fully replicated by any Apple platform.
Remembering the Apple IIe
The story of the Apple IIe began with Apple's first high-profile failure, the Apple III. Launched in 1980, the Apple III targeted the business market with an over-engineered, high-priced machine whose Apple II compatibility Apple purposely crippled in the name of market differentiation.
Around the time of the Apple III's launch, Apple was so sure of the new computer's success that it had halted all future development of Apple II-related projects. But by 1982, as it became clear that the Apple II wasn't going away (in fact, it was becoming more popular than ever), Apple scrambled to upgrade its aging Apple II line, which had last been refreshed in 1979 with the Apple II+.
The result was the Apple IIe, which packed in several enhancements that regular Apple II users had been enjoying for years thanks to a combination of the Apple II's plentiful internal expansion slots and a robust third-party hardware community to fill them. Among those features were 80-column text-mode support, support for lowercase letters (yep, the original Apple II and II+ supported only uppercase letters), and 64KB of RAM standard (expandable to 128KB).
Most importantly for Apple, the Apple IIe drastically lowered the chip count on the system's motherboard from over 100 chips to 31, allowing Apple to manufacture the computer at a lower cost while extracting a higher profit from each unit.
Upon its release in 1983, the Apple IIe proved immediately popular, and it soon became the standard Apple II model against which all others would be compared. The Apple IIe's reliability and backward compatibility with a rich library of Apple II software made it a fixture at schools, where a generation of American schoolchildren grew up playing Apple II-based educational games such as The Oregon Trail, and eventually, Number Munchers.
Thanks to the IIe, the Apple II series remained a steady source of income for Apple during an uncertain period in the mid-1980s when the Macintosh wasn't selling in the volume that the company had anticipated. Even after the introduction of the vastly upgraded Apple IIgs in 1986, demand for the Apple IIe remained steady, and Apple marketed a version of the IIe all the way up until 1993, when the company finally pulled the plug on the stand-alone Apple II line (the Apple IIe Card for Macintosh computers was spared for two more years).
By 1993, when Apple discontinued the II series, the Macintosh was firmly positioned as the future of the company. But those who used the Apple IIe and the Lisa in their prime would not soon forget the fruitful impact both systems had on the course of Apple's history.
[Top image credits: Lisa photo by Mike Blake; IIe photo by Adam Jenkins]


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Looks like Oracle's continued push for Java everywhere, from the "Internet of things" on down, isn't just based on hype. At least one set of numbers puts Java's performance head and shoulders above that of the competition for server-side Web frameworks. But is performance alone enough to win over the non-Java faithful?
Since March 2013, software development firm TechEmpower has been running an ongoing series of performance benchmarks for dozens of popular Web application server frameworks, such as Ruby on Rails or Django. Each successive round of tests has benefited from community feedback, with the benchmarks themselves released as open source on GitHub. Those interested in having their own frameworks benchmarked can fork the code, add their own tests, and submit the results.
When the seventh round of TechEmpower benchmarking concluded at the end of October -- with 84 frameworks and some 200 different test permutations -- the dust settled to reveal that many of the frameworks that performed best across the board were Java-based. Four frameworks in particular stand out: Gemini, Grizzly (created to allow easy use of Java's New I/O API), Undertow, and Vert.x.
What's most striking is how many of the frameworks that are better known -- such as Sinatra for Ruby, various ASP.Net frameworks, and the aforementioned Django for Python -- had performance that ranked sometimes orders of magnitude below the big winners. The new kid on the block, Node.js, did exhibit impressive performance, but still only clocked one-fourth to one-third the performance of the fastest contenders.
Oracle's been beating the Java drum quite loudly of late as a one-size-fits-all solution to -- well, everything, but definitely as a solution for building robust Web services. Its plans for Java 8 involve unifying Java's various editions to make it easier to write code across both embedded devices and servers -- which, if the ARM-in-the-server contingent has its way, may come to resemble each other more. And one of the biggest Java-related pushes is Project Avatar, a JavaScript and HTML5 services layer for Java that works with -- guess what? -- Grizzly.
If Grizzly and the rest of its Java framework brethren are indeed performing so well, does this mean everyone should ditch their current frameworks and rewrite everything in Java? Probably not. As much as Oracle would like to think otherwise, developers choose a given framework for plenty of reasons other than raw performance. Ease of development, time to release, developer affinity, and third-party community involvement are all at least as crucial. Random example: CakePHP may have fared poorly in the TechEmpower race, along with CodeIgniter and Symfony, but PHP and its frameworks run some 35 percent of the Web.
Java frameworks may have the raw performance that Oracle wants to brag about. But the rest of the frameworks have the developer base, the penetration, the loyalty -- and maybe the lack of the feeling that Oracle's peeking over their shoulders.
This story, "Surprise! Java is fastest for server-side Web apps," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Get the first word on what the important tech news really means with the InfoWorld Tech Watch blog. For the latest developments in business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.


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Another week complete! My pains from over doing the weights last week seem to be gone, which is great!
We had our long run today and since this weekend we have been under a heat advisory we knew we would have to get started first thing in the morning. We did our run at our company park and started at 6:30am. It was already 75 and the temps were going to get hot quickly.
Rob had 15 miles to do and I had 18-20. I was hoping to do 20, but I had to rearrange my schedule to do the half marathon and hadn't done 18 yet. I planned to get going and then see how it went. Well how it went was freaking hot!! Rob and I ran our pace easy and used this run as time on our feet, and with the heat that turned out to be the best option anyways. By mile 12 we were stopping for water at every mile and my pace slowed because I had start walking to get going because my hips were sore. After a couple more miles I had to walk to eat my Clif Blocs. By mile 16 I decided 18 was going to do. The heat was becoming too much. I'm glad I didn't gamble with the heat and got my 18, especially going from 16 to 20 was probably not the best idea anyways if I want to keep injuries away. 18 miles is now the longest I've ever ran and it was also my first run over 3hrs!
As soon as I got to the car I checked and the temp was 88. Rob and I stopped and got bags of ice and each took an ice bath. I felt so much better afterward. I definitely know 20 miles will be okay and hopefully better temps will mean better pace and less water breaks.
Later we headed out to a lake with Ritter and Dan to go boating for the afternoon. Turned out to be a better use of the heat since we could chill in the water!
This is how the week went:
M: Walk 2 Miles (Treadmill, 2-3% incline, 15:00 pace), Abs and Arms
T: Bike 5.1 Miles (Easy, P1, L4, 15.3mmph), 4 Miles Easy (Treadmill, 1% incline, 8:50 pace)
W: Rest
R: 6 Miles Tempo (Treadmill, 1% incline, 8:20 pace w/3 @ 8:00)
F: Bike 9.1 Miles (Easy, P1, L5, 18.2mph)
Sa: Warm Up .55 Miles (9:15 pace), 3.1 Miles Race (7:40 pace, PR, 3rd AG)
Su: 18 Miles Long (Company Park, Hot, 10:26 pace)
Total: 31.65 Miles


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DANLEY v. U.S.(1976)
On petition for writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied.
Mr. Justice BRENNAN, with whom Mr. Justice STEWART and Mr. Justice MARSHALL join, dissenting.
Petitioners were convicted in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon of use of the mails to ship obscene materials in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1461, of interstate transportation of obscene materials in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1462, and of interstate transportation of obscene materials for purposes of distribution and sale in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1465. The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed. 523 F.2d 369.
Title 18 U.S.C. 1461 provides in pertinent part:
Title 18 U.S.C. 1462 provides in pertinent part:
* * * * *
Title 18 U.S.C. 1465 provides in pertinent part:
I adhere to my dissent in United States v. Orito, 413 U.S. 139, 147 (1973), in which, speaking of 18 U.S.C. 1462, which is similar in scope to 1461, 1465, I expressed the view that '[w]hatever the extent of the Federal Government's power to bar the distribution of allegedly obscene material to juveniles or the offensive exposure of such material to unconsenting adults, the statute before us is clearly overbroad and unconstitutional on its face.' Id., at 147-148, 93 S. Ct. 2674. For the reasons stated in my dissent in Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, 47 (1973), I would therefore grant certiorari, and, [424 U.S. 929 , 931] since the judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit was rendered after Orito, reverse.
I also note that in Hamling v. United States, 418 U.S. 87 (1974), this Court held that federal obscenity prosecutions did not require proof of a uniform national standard of obscenity and that a juror sitting on a federal obscenity case was permitted to draw on the knowledge of the community from which he came 'in deciding what conclusion 'the average person applying contemporary community standards' would reach in a given case.'Id., at 105. Here, however, the State of Oregon, at the time of petitioners' trial, had no policy prohibiting the distribution of obscene materials, unless minors are involved. This case, therefore, raises the important question whether a uniform national standard should be applied in the circumstance. Decision of that question certainly merits plenary consideration and oral argument.
In these circumstances, I have no occasion to consider whether the other question presented by petitioners merits plenary review. See Heller v. New York, 413 U.S. 494, 495 (1974) ( Brennan, J., dissenting).


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Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, now the host of Family Talk, admitted on his radio program today that the National Day of Prayer Task Force, chaired by his wife Shirley Dobson, were praying for Obama to be defeated on Election Day. Religious Right activists have lambasted Obama with false smears that he had "cancelled" the National Day of Prayer and defended the event as "not politically inclined," even though it regularly hosted anti-Obama speakers like David Jeremiah and Harry Jackson and both Dobsons are closely tied to the GOP. But during an interview with Concerned Women for America president Penny Nance, Dobson gave away the game and said that his wife and Task Force vice-chair John Bornschein put together an election season prayer effort that they hoped will defeat Obama.
Dobson: Many, many, many Christians were praying and we really need to address that issue first: where was God? Because there were these '40 Days of Prayer,' there were several of those that took place, where people fasted and prayed for forty days asking the Lord for His intervention on Election Day. We did a program last week where my wife Shirley came in with her vice-chairman John Bornschein and told how three hundred Gideon prayer warriors came to Washington, went to every single office of the House of Representatives and the Senate and prayed for the occupant, prayed for our representatives, went to the White House, went in a vigil to the Supreme Court, which is now at great risk, and went to the Pentagon. People like that were praying all over this country and the Lord said no.
Nance: He said no.
Later in the interview, Dobson lamented that we "we lost this election" because God "said no" and warned we are now living in a "time of judgment." Nance even raised doubts about Obama's Christian faith as she said that God can still "use this President" just as He has "used people who were not believers and were not followers of the Lord or followers of the God throughout the Bible to do his work."
Dobson: Because we lost this election does not mean that the Lord has turned His back on us. I think this is a time of judgment but those of us who are trying to serve Him and defend the things that He has taught, may yet see Him act. He said no this time but who knows what will happen in the future. Nobody knows.
Nance: Nothing is too big for God. God can use this President just like He can anyone else, and He has throughout history used people who were not believers and were not followers of the Lord or followers of the God throughout the Bible to do his work, so we will pray to that end and trust the Lord knows what He's doing, but I'm already looking ahead to 2014.
So next time the Dobsons complain that Obama isn't caving to their demand he participates in their event, maybe they can give up the act that they are non-partisan.


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I mean we all knew this was coming, but it's still cool to see. Here's a video of the progress of researchers working on a thought-controlled robot in a joint venture by the CNRS-AIST Joint Robotics Laboratory and the CNRS-LIRMM Interactive Digital Human group.
We know this starts innocently enough, but it's only a matter of time before thought controlled robots become robot-controlled thoughts. Just saying.
Any interest out there in picking up a mind-controlled robot helper? Any worries about it eventually reading your possibly upset thoughts towards your girl/boyfriend and accidentally killing them?
Feel free to discuss robots, or anything else, here or over in the Talk Amongst Yourselves forum. Have good chatting, and remember: No fate but what we make.
(Via Geekologie)


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The $19 TrackR is a like a leash between your wallet and your mobile phone. It's a Bluetooth-enabled wafer of plastic that fits in your wallet or pocket. You pair it with your phone, and whenever the TrackR and your phone get separated both your phone and the TrackR start beeping.
The app also takes a GPS snapshot of where your wallet was at the moment of separation in case you didn't hear the alert. Tap a button within the app to make your wallet "ring" in case your looking for it around the house or in the dark. The technology works both ways, which means your wallet can beep to alert you that you're leaving your phone behind. Works with your iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, new iPad, iPad mini and the new iPod Touch.
Yesterday, I met with Scott Hawthorne (left) and Chris Herbert (right) of Phone Halo, the 5-person company that designed the TrackR. They demoed the TrackR and I was impressed with how well it works. At $19, it seems like a good deal. They said the battery life is 1.5 years.
Scott and Chris kindly left a sample unit with me, which I plan to start using. I'll review it after I've had it for a week or two.
The TrackR will be available in the US and internationally as soon as the FCC and CE approve it (it uses low-power Bluetooth). You can pre-order one on Indiegogo for an estimated April delivery.


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June 16, 2017
Season ticket holder or first timer, watching your team take the field or visiting new teams in a different venue, gripping your seat tightly during the finger-biting last minutes of a close game or cheering on a decisive win – sports can certainly be some of the best entertainment possible.
Whether you enjoy baseball, football, soccer, hockey or any other sport, the roaring crowd, sights and smells that fill a stadium have something to offer everyone. A little planning can help keep your costs under control, and you can apply the ideas below to almost any sporting event.
Save money on the tickets. You may be sticking with your home team through thick and thin, but you can still look for ways to save money. Avoiding the most popular games, such as those on the weekends and when you're playing against big-name teams, can be help. To further maximize your savings, consider the following tips:
Timing your purchase can also be important. If you suspect a game will sell out, it may be better to buy early than risk having to pay above face value on a reseller site. With less popular games, ticket prices tend to drop as game day approaches.
Compare transportation options. Public transportation isn't a guaranteed money saver if you're going with a large group. Carpooling or splitting the cost of a ride from a car-sharing app could be cheaper. If you're driving, look for off-premises parking lots. You may need to walk a bit, but you'll also be able to save money and might avoid some of the post-game traffic.
Eat before and bring snacks. Everyone knows stadium food is expensive and filling up on a big meal before the game can help you avoid cravings. Unbeknownst to some fans, stadiums might let you bring in outside food. However, there's often a strict bag policy, which could limit the size of your bag and may require bags to be transparent. Check the stadium's policy closely and call the team's office if you need clarification.
Bottom line: A sporting event can be a wonderful way to build memories and spend a day with your friends or family. However, the expenses from a single game can quickly stack up if you're not careful. Luckily, there are many ways to save money on tickets, transportation and food and still have a memorable experience.
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This article is intended to provide general information and should not be considered health, legal, tax or financial advice. It's always a good idea to consult a tax or financial advisor for specific information on how certain laws apply to your situation and about your individual financial situation.