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The Late Movies: Puppies, Kittens & Babies vs. Roomba
There are three undeniably cute things in life: kittens, puppies and babies. (How you rank them is an important personal choice.) Combine any of those three things with technology and you have YouTube gold. Here's three videos of each battling the Roomba. (And never fear, lovers of guinea pigs, turtles or Elmo ... there's cute videos for you, too.)
Baby Vs. Roomba
In our first battle of baby vs. Roomba, we learn that some kiddos just want to climb on and enjoy the ride.
Others, however, enjoy the chase.
But an important lesson: If you're going to use the Roomba as transportation, you better hold on tight.
Puppies Vs. Roomba
Instead of taking an interest in the Roomba, like the babies, some dogs treat it as a dangerous home invader. This Maltese is not too happy with her new roommate.
Other dogs, however, learn the ultimate skill when battling a Roomba: how to turn it on and off.
But, of course, some pups just want to be left alone to snooze.
Kittens Vs. Roomba
A whole litter of little kitties took a ride on Roomba. Only a few managed to hang on for the whole thing.
These curious dudes tentatively investigate their new robot friend.
And this cat takes control, holds on tight and drives the Roomba around the kitchen.
Does your pet have a love-hate relationship with your appliances? Let us know in the comments.


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Plogging for Poetry Month!
April 11, 2007 at 9:17 am Janie Hermann 7 comments
Helene Blowers over at Library Bytes posted some "Podcast Thoughts" last week where she made the case for libraries to podcast about current events, topics and culture. Helene's thoughts mirror mine precisely. In fact, it is something that I have been thinking about for several months and it finally came to fruition on April 2nd with the official launch of the PPL Poetry Podcast Blog for National Poetry Month.
I wanted to call it the "PPL Poetry Plog" since it is a series of podcasts on a blog, but I thought that might be too confusing (and too much alliteration). I then wanted to call it Poetcast, but the folks at poets.org beat me to it. Not thrilled with the final name (last minute decision, just had to call it something), but I am thrilled with the results and how many readers we have had during the first 10 days. Our stats, in fact, are exceeding my expectations by leaps and bounds (over 225 viewers on most days and over to 2,000 views thus far). I know the statistics will get skewed by posting here, so I held off. I wanted to see how far we could take this with only local exposure and word of mouth. Others have found us already, such as the Book Blog at timesunion.com and that has thrilled me.
We have recorded 26 poets so far and hope to do a few more before the end of the month. The poets all come from the greater Princeton area and each poet brings a unique voice and perspective to the project. For instance, Paul Muldoon, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 2003, did a beautiful reading of a pantoum for us and Enriqueta Carrington's poem was read by 2 poets in 2 languages while Judith McNally contributed a unique "microlouge". We have many more surprises in store for the rest of the month, including some wonderful poetry by a high school student.
This has been a real team project and with me every step of the way has been Evan Klimpl. Evan is one of our Tech Aides at PPL and I simply must give credit where credit is due. I may have had the original concept and coordinated the project, but it is Evan who responsible for doing 90% of the poetry recordings, cleaning up the files to make them sound professional, uploading the files, preparing many of the posts and anything else that I have requested. I can not thank Evan enough for embracing this project with the such enthusiasm and dedication. Also assisting with this project and deserving thanks are Bob Keith and Romina Gutierrez from PPL. And last, but certainly not least, in the early stages of this project my good friend John LeMasney gave me some invaluable advice about how we could do this project for free (which was one of my goals besides promoting poetry).
This is an idea that I hope other libraries will steal, because it is a project that can be done without having to make any investments — except perhaps a decent microphone for recording ($35-50 maximum) if you don't already have one. Here is how we did it (in a nutshell):
- We used Audacity from sourceforge.net to record and edit the .mp3 files
- The blog was set up at wordpress.com — this is the free version of wordpress and it works well for a project such as this
- Our .mp3 files are being hosted at archive.org
- The player that we are using to in the posts comes free with wordpress
- We took photos while the readings were being recorded to ensure consistency
This has been a terrific way for Princeton Public Library to experiment with how we want to implement podcasting in to our programs. We have lots of ideas and now that we have the process figured out we will hopefully be able to podcast more original content in the near future.
Entry filed under: Blogging, Podcasting. Tags: Audacity, Poetry, Princeton Public Librayr.
7 Comments
What a great use of podcasts. Very nice job PPL folks!
We run a concert series, some paid professional performances, some lunchtime lobby concerts which highlight local high school programs and staff musicians. We podcast exerpts of these ..
Thanks for the feedback and link love David. I would love to chat with you at CIL before or after our cybertours!
Nice use of podcasting at Morris County Library. We also have a music series and a series called "Readings over Coffee" that we are thinking of turning in to podcasts.
Janie – I love your poetry series and, in the category of "great minds think alike" we had been working on something similar for our poetry month podcasts here at Dowling College. You can see the line up here:
There is a lot of work involved and I commend you for pulling it all together.
Yes, nice work morris county library!
Janie – Let's definitely chat around cybertours or any other time for that matter. I'll keep an eye out for you.
Thanks, Janie – yours is a great use of open source software, and I hope everyone tries to do something like what you have here! WordPress and Audacity make a fantastic team.
I have enjoyed the podcasts immensely. Thank you Evan and Janie!

subset: commoncrawl


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American Indian Movement
American Indian Movement (AIM), Native American civil-rights activist organization, founded in 1968 to encourage self-determination among Native Americans and to establish international recognition of their treaty rights. In 1972, members of AIM briefly took over the headquarters of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C. They complained that the government had created the tribal councils on reservations in 1934 as a way of perpetuating paternalistic control over Native American development. In 1973, about 200 Sioux, led by members of AIM, seized the tiny village of Wounded Knee, S.Dak., site of the last great massacre of Native Americans by the U.S. cavalry (1890). Among their demands was a review of more than 300 treaties between the Native Americans and the federal government that AIM alleged were broken. Wounded Knee was occupied for 71 days before the militants surrendered. The leaders were subsequently brought to trial, but the case was dismissed on grounds of misconduct by the prosecution. AIM also sponsored talks resulting in the 1977 International Treaty Conference with the UN in Geneva, Switzerland.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: North American indigenous peoples


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Box Office: Gatsby Opens Strong, But Iron Man 3 Still Takes Top Spot
The Great Gatsby had a strong opening with $51.1 million at the box office this weekend, but still fell behind Iron Man 3, which claimed the top spot for the second week in a row. The superhero vehicle starring Robert Downey Jr. earned $72.5 million, the fourth-highest second weekend earnings ever (behind The Avengers, Avatar and The Dark Knight), according to Box Office Mojo.
TV Scorecard: What's renewed? What's canceled?
Coming in at No. 3 was Pain and Gain with $5 million.
Tyler Perry's latest, Peeples, opened in fourth place with $4.85 million, just ahead of Jackie Robinson biopic 42, which fell two spots to No. 5 with $4.65 million.
Get the scoop on 39 must-watch season finales
Oblivion landed at No. 6 with $3.9 million, while The Croods took seventh place with $3.6 million.
Rounding out the Top 10 were The Big Wedding (No. 8, $2.5 million), Mud (No. 9, $2.3 million), and Oz the Great and Powerful (No. 10, $802,000).
View original Box Office: Gatsby Opens Strong, But Iron Man 3 Still Takes Top Spot at TVGuide.com
Other Links From TVGuide.com


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Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day Helps Company Set Single-Day Sales Record
It seems half a million people may have made good on their promise to eat at Chick-fil-A yesterday in support of company president Dan Cathy's marriage equality opposition.
Between busing same-sex marriage opponents across states, the lines around the block, and restaurants running out of food, it seems Mike Huckabee's Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day meant payday for the fast-food chain.
In a since deleted tweet saved for posterity by Good As You, megachurch pastor Rick Warren claims Cathy himself reached out to him to say that "#ChickFilA has already set a world record today." And that was with "7 more hrs to go in the West."
Chick-fil-A's executive vice president of marketing Steve Robinson also told CNN the company had a "record-setting day."
Despite the good news for the fried chicken slinger's coffers, the company is making it clear to the media that they had absolutely nothing to do with this impromptu bout of appreciation.
"Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day was not created by Chick-fil-A," the company wrote in a statement. "We appreciate all of our customers and are glad to serve them at any time. Our goal is simple: to provide great food, genuine hospitality and to have a positive influence on all who come into contact with Chick-fil-A."
And, up in New Hampshire, at least one franchisee is looking to live up to that code of conduct by sponsoring a local gay pride festival.


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Social media comes in many forms and flavors with new types coming in and some older ones slowly dying out. It has become so ubiquitous that we rarely think about it when we use it.
I primarily use Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and LinkedIn, in addition to my blogging, but I have become less and less enamored with social media over time. Although I was never a rabid user of Twitter, I did initially use it on a regular basis but now will frequently go days between tweets or without even looking at it.
The reason for this isn't just the novelty of it all wearing off. It's more that it's become less pleasant due to the amount of spam that is permeating the social media space, coupled with the overbearing commercialization that is taking place. Layer on top of this the erosion of privacy and it doesn't look good. Even my college-age daughter, a prime demographic for social media, complains about these same issues.
Many of the people that I get as followers on Twitter seem to offer nothing more than a continual stream of advertisements. It seems that a growing number of "Internet marketers" are taking over Twitter, trying to get business in teaching people how to grow their follower counts and sell advertising.
It's not that business doesn't have a place on Twitter; it is possible to project a corporate presence in social media without it simply being a way to advertise. A good example is Scott Monty who heads up social media for Ford. Monty is very effective in getting Ford's message out by talking with customers rather than just talking to customers.
Social media platforms are also becoming increasingly attractive targets for hackers. Sometimes they do it to get at your data, sometimes it is to hijack your account for spam or phishing purposes and sometimes it is simply mischief. Whatever the reason, it just creates one more impediment to people wanting to use social media.
When we use social media technologies, we are putting our personal data in "the cloud" and very often under terms and conditions where we relinquish rights to our data to the media provider. Because of its popularity, Facebook has gotten a lot of attention regarding its privacy policies and has changed them a number of times due to public pressure--but only due to public pressure.
Facebook's original Terms of Use stated that the company basically had perpetual rights to your content and could use it however it pleased. Facebook has since changed its user terms to give the company full rights to your content subject to your privacy settings and until you delete your content or those that you have shared it with delete it. Although somewhat better, the terms still give Facebook the open rights to your content, something most people don't bother to read about.
So, is social media dead? No, it isn't dead and will likely be around for some time, but I do think we will start to see a significant shift in how it is used. My prediction is that while social media technologies such as Twitter and Facebook may continue to grow in terms of numbers, you will also see more churn as people try it for awhile, become disillusioned and stop. I also expect that those who do stay with it will use it less on average than today's users.
Does this mean I was wrong to advocate the use of social media in the corporate world? I don't think so. I stand by this because I also think we'll see changes to counteract the downsides I mentioned. I think this will be in the area of premium service; we'll pay to avoid the spam and to maintain our privacy.
This premium service will extend to the corporate world where companies will be able to easily deploy in-house solutions that they can keep separate and private from the outside world. The driving force for this is when more executives start asking the question
Premium services will be a big shift perhaps, but one that I think is inevitable.
Mike Schaffner directs information technology for the Valve and Measurement Group of Cameron in Houston and aims to infuse a business-based approach to IT management. He also blogs regularly at Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms, and you can follow him on Twitter at mikeschaffner.
See Also:
IT: It's Not Just About Technical Skills


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Artist: Asal alikhani
Title: Untitle
Code: ASAL008fo
Medium: Mixed media
Edition: –
Size: 350 x 250 mm
(11,8 x 9,8 inch.)
Estimated Price: 2/000/000T
Asal alikhani, Designer, painter and illustrator. Born on may 30, 1990, resident of tehran. After completing several courses in the field of art, including a diploma in visual arts and paintings and obtaining an associate degree in visual arts in 2009. She continued her bachelor's degree in graphics illustration until 2012 and in 2014 she entered the faculty of art and architecture of tehran markaz university in the field of illustration and, was introduced as a top student in all academic years. Simultaneously with completing her master's thesis project, which was the starting point for her work. In addition to all the training and courses she had passed before, she considered it necessary to start gaining new and unique expriences by looking at the history of art and considering contemporary and modern art according to the knowledge and effect of color through form, and apply creativity as well as a new approach to technique for new concepts.


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What surprised me the most when I heard the news of Phillip Seymour Hoffman's death was that his passing ran so counter to the reputation he had earned over his 25 years as an actor. Dependable, intelligent, consistently remarkable: These are the qualities we had come to associate with Hoffman's work. His death at the age of 46 from an apparent drug overdose was the opposite of all that. It felt thoughtless and irresponsible, leaving behind three children and a partner. Hoffman's career had been about striving for excellence, and reaching it. His death simply feels like a waste.
For all his great performances, what's probably most amazing about Hoffman is how few mediocre ones there were. All great actors—especially those of the character-actor/everyman variety—have to do their share of throwaway, just-for-the-paycheck gigs where they bring their natural gravitas or familiar persona to mediocre studio material. But since 1996—when he first hooked up with longtime collaborator Paul Thomas Anderson in Hard Eight—Hoffman has a frighteningly small amount of roles that you could point to as unmemorable. In terms of batting average, his may be the best of the last three decades among steadily working actors. Even the potentially forgettable parts were terrific in his hands. He was the best villain in the Mission: Impossible series, giving Tom Cruise a worthy nemesis at last in Mission: Impossible III. And even if Plutarch Heavensbee is the dumbest name of any character he's ever played, his portrayal of the gamemaker in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire helped give that movie its sense of grownup dread. Hoffman never played down to the material, nor did he try to artificially elevate popcorn fare with theatrical flair. No matter how big a star he got, he kept that everyman quality, figuring out how to make roles distinctive without being showy about it.
It might seem weird to start off an appreciation of Hoffman with his franchise work, but it's simply a way to suggest how deep his catalog is. He has a whole litany of overlooked indies that are going to shock people once they catch up to them. He's terrifically melancholy as a violinist married to Catherine Keener in A Late Quartet. He's plenty of fun as a freewheeling American DJ in the 1960s British comedy Pirate Radio. He's a sweetheart as a soft-spoken screenwriter in David Mamet's Hollywood satire State and Main. And he's absolutely volcanic as the soulless, drug-abusing scumbag Andy Hanson in Sidney Lumet's final film, the criminally underrated thriller Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. It's a portrait of everyday evil that's so corrosive precisely because Hoffman almost makes you feel for the guy while at the same time leaving no doubt what a bastard he is.
To praise an actor like Hoffman, you'd probably dip into meaningless clichés such as saying that he "disappeared" into his roles. But that old chestnut actually applies to Hoffman in that he was a performer who knew how to immerse himself into characters without wowing you with technique. Yes, his Oscar-winning turn as Truman Capote in Capote is impressive in terms of pure craft, expertly copying the author's demeanor and speech patterns, but it's actually a performance of feeling, not mechanics. When I think of Hoffman's Capote, I remember an ambitious writer who learns to put away his sympathies for the cold-blooded advancement of his career—I only after-the-fact remember it was also a pretty good imitation of the guy. That to me is the best definition of "disappearing": putting aside the ego to focus on an audience's connection with a character you've constructed.
Like all great character actors, he played types. He could be the larger-than-life blowhard (Punch-Drunk Love, Almost Famous). He could be the ineffectual wimp (Happiness, 25th Hour, Magnolia). But he was at his best when he seemed to mix those qualities, playing characters who came across one way and then made you wonder what else was inside them. Capote will be his best-remembered creation—one of Hoffman's happiest legacies is that, rare among great actors, he won his Oscar for the right role—but we can also point to Freddie Miles, the insinuating, faux-charming stranger in The Talented Mr. Ripley. Also worthy of mention is his theater-director character from Synecdoche, New York, which outside of Inside Llewyn Davis may be the greatest onscreen portrait of an existential artistic crisis of this century. It might contain Hoffman's strongest everyman performance—so much so that because many people consider the movie a triumph for its talented writer-director Charlie Kaufman, it's easy to miss how profoundly sad and troubling Hoffman's performance is. If Kaufman's dazzling metaphors for the meaningless of life animate the story, Hoffman gives Synecdoche, New York its despondent heart.
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And then there's The Master, again an example of where his marvelous portrayal got overshadowed by those around him. Paul Thomas Anderson's storytelling was stunning and Joaquin Phoenix's performance is one for the ages, but Hoffman is the film's quiet, looming mystery, playing a man whose false modesty about his own greatness conceals layers we're not sure we want to unravel. The Master may be Hoffman's most overtly flamboyant performance, but there's also a lot of steely control in there—flamboyance tempered by calm fire and cool intelligence. The movie wouldn't work without the teamwork between him and Phoenix: It's a marvelous dance that goes on.
I'm perhaps leaving out your own favorite Hoffman performance, which only speaks to how great an actor he was. (I haven't even mentioned how terrific he is in the forthcoming A Most Wanted Man. And I'm completely neglecting his work on the stage, which I never saw and really regret.) I've been struck by how many colleagues have reacted to his passing with anger—almost as if they're upset that he somehow betrayed us by dying. I understand that feeling: I think I took him for granted, which you should never do with a world-class performer. Lately, Moneyball has been rerunning on cable, and I always check in during the parts that Hoffman is in. You may not even remember, but he plays Art Howe, the disgruntled manager of the Oakland A's who's wholly unsupportive of Billy Beane's efforts to rebuild the club using sabermetrics. Each time I watched the movie now, I noted how I had completely overlooked Hoffman's great performance as the beaten-down, fading coach: It seemed like an insignificant part, but Hoffman had made it special, not through style but just understated authority. He knew exactly what he was doing, even if I had been too distracted by Brad Pitt and the rest of the movie to notice. I'm sorry I wasn't smart enough to pick up on it the first time. And I'm even sorrier he's gone.
Grierson & Leitch is a regular column about the movies. Follow us on Twitter, @griersonleitch.


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Section Twenty Nine
أَللَّهُمَّ لَكَ الْحَمْدُ حَمْدَ الشَّاكِرِينَ لَكَ عَلَى مُصَابِهِمْ، الْحَمْدُ لِلّهِ عَلَى عَظِيمِ رَزِيَّتِي، أَللَّهُمَّ ارْزُقْنِي شَفاعَةَ الْحُسَيْنِ يَوْمَ الْوُرُودِ، وَثَبِّتْ لِي قَدَمَ صِدْقٍ عِنْدَكَ مَعَ الْحُسَيْنِ وَأَصْحابِ الْحُسَيْنِ الَّذِينَ بَذَلُوا مُهَجَهُمْ دُونَ الْحُسَيْنِ.
"O' Allah! To you belongs the praise, the praise of those who are thankful to You for their tribulations. All Praise belongs to Allah for my intense grief. O' Allah, grant me the blessing of intercession of Husayn on the Day of Appearance (before You) and strengthen me with a truthful stand in Your presence along with Husayn and the companions of Husayn – those people who sacrificed everything for Husayn."
The final section of this Ziyarat which is recited in Sajdah – again, showing that this visitation is directed towards Allah and that He is always in our sight is one of thanks. We confirm that we praise Him just as those who have been plagued with tribulations glorify and sing his praise.
We also conclude our visitation with asking Allah for the permission of Husayn to intercede for us on the Day when we shall all be gathered in His presence to be accountable for our sins and that we are able to stand alongside Husayn and his companions – those who sacrificed whatever they had for his cause.
With this, we bring our visitation to the grandson of the Prophet to a close and ask Allah to accept our actions and to grant us the ability to be able to manifest all which we have said in this supplication. We also ask Allah to give us the strength to be able to love those whom He has commanded us to love and to hate those whom He has commanded us to hate. We also ask for the Tawfeeq to be able to follow the footsteps of Husayn and that we are able to reject the "Islam" of Yazid and the likes of him...


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This tutorial will help you turn your Windows based system into a SecureFTP server.
Secure Shell (SSH) is a program that lets you log into another computer over a network, to execute commands in a remote machine, and to move files from one machine to another. It provides strong authentication and secure communications over insecure channels. When using ssh, the entire login session, including transmission of password, is encrypted and therefore is very secure.
You may have noticed that many webhosts allow ssh access. This means that you can login to their webserver and execute many UNIX commands (the ones they allow you access to) on your account. Not only can you connect to other computers that provide SSH access, but you can also allow others to connect to your computer using SSH.
To take this one step further, you can also turn your Windows PC into a Secure FTP (SFTP) server. SFTP is a program that uses SSH to transfer files. Unlike standard FTP, it encrypts both commands and data, preventing passwords and sensitive information from being transmitted in clear text over the Internet. It is similar to FTP, but because it uses a different protocol, you must use a FTP client that supports SFTP (more about that later).
Installing SSH on Windows
Most UNIX based systems (Linux and OSX) come with SSH preinstalled, so connecting to a remote host is very easy. However, if you run a Windows system, you need to download some additional software to make the SSH programs available to you. Fortunately a free open-source project called SSHWindows, provides a nice Windows installer that will setup the SSH client and Server on your system.
Your first step will be to download the Binary Installer Release from SSHWindows. Once downloaded, run the installer and be sure to install both the client and server components.
Configure the SSH Server
In this next step, I have summarized the information that is included with the readme.txt that is included with SSHWindows (it can be found in c:program filesopensshdocs)
Your first configuration step is to set up the passwd file. You will need to set up the passwd file before any logins can take place.
Passwd creation is relatively easy and can be done using two programs that are included with SSHWindows – mkgroup and mkpasswd. Both of these programs are located in the c:program filesopensshbin directory.
To begin creating the group and passwd files, open a command prompt window and navigate to the c:program filesopenssh directory.
You must first create a group file. To add all local groups on your computer to the group file, type the command as shown below:
mkgroup -l >> ..etcgroup
You will now need to create a passwd file. Any users in the passwd file will be able to log on with SSH. For this reason, it is recommended that you add users individually with the -u switch. To add a user to the passwd file type the command shown below:
mkpasswd -l -u username >> ..etcpasswd
NOTE: the username specified above must be an existing windows login account.
Creating Home Directories for you Users
In the passwd file, you will notice that the user's home directory is set as /home/username, with username being the name of the account. In the default install, the /home directory is set to the default profile directory for all users. This is usually c:documents and settings.
If you want to change this location you will need to edit the passwd file. The passwd file is in plain text and can be edited in Notepad or any text editor. The last two entries for each user are safe to edit by hand. The second to last entry (/home/username) can be replaced with any other directory to act as that user's home directory. It's worth noting that when you run SSH on windows, you are actually running SSH in a scaled down version of cygwin, which is a Unix emulator for Windows. So, if you will be placing the user somewhere outside the default directory for their Windows profile, you will need to use the cygdrive notation.
To access any folder on any drive letter, add /cygdrive/DRIVELETTER/ at the beginning of the folder path. As an example, to access the winntsystem32 directory on the *c:* drive you would use the path:
Connecting to your SFTP Server
To connect to your new SFTP server, you will need to download an FTP client that supports SFTP. I use Filezilla which is a nice free FTP and SFTP client. You might also try WinSCP which is another free SFTP client.
To test if your server is running, create a new connection in your client and specify SFTP as the server type, 22 as the port, and localhost or 127.0.0.1 as the server name. You will also need to provide the user account and password for any account that you added to your passwd file. Now connect to the server. If all went well, you should see a directory listing where you pointed the home folder to. If not, there are a couple of things to check. Make sure your Windows firewall is set to allow traffic over port 22 and finally double check your passwd file to make sure that the account you added is actually there.
Because SSH allows access to only Windows user accounts, you can restrict access based upon NTFS file permissions. As such, SFTP does not provide for chroot jails (a Unix method for locking a user to his/her home directory). Simply lock down your filesystem for that user, and SFTP will respect that.
In the end, setting up an SFTP server turned out to be a very effortless task. With a couple of open source programs and a couple of command-line commands, you can up and running in no time at all!


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First it was lomo, then cross-processing, and now the latest craze among online photographers seems to be making their photos look like miniture models.
A common side-effect of macro photography is a shallow depth of field (DOF) which means that only a small portion of the scene is in focus. Luckily this effect is very easy to emulate and here's a tutorial to show you how. Pay attention to Christopher's advise about what sort of shots work well! You could also buy a Len Baby which does a similar job and more!
Daily Dose of Imagery has a very good example of the "fake model" photo. He blurred the foreground and background, but some middle distance objects are in focus and intersect the blurred area. Nicely done.
Even after an effect becomes stale and overused online, there's always the print world. People seem to like that sort of stuff all the time!


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What Will You Let Go of This Fall?
Cozy sweaters, fragrant pots of soup simmering in the slow-cooker, thick socks, many cups of hot chocolate or steaming tea – this season has us taking up all the cold-weather habits and supplies we tossed aside during the summer months. Some fight this arrival of chilly weather as they would a home intruder – "how dare you? Get out of here! This warm sun is MINE!" – while others relish it, anxiously awaiting snow and even colder temperatures.
Feelings of weather aside, what we love about the autumn season is that it provides us a chance to slow down and take a breath. It allows us to turn inward, take stock of ourselves and our families, and see what is extra in our lives that we can simply let "fall" away. As quiet meals inside replace outdoor cookouts, and evenings that were spent strolling the neighborhood or at outdoor events are now spent at home, we're allowed a time of relative rest before the busy-ness of the holidays sets in.
Throughout this brief in-limbo period of not spending much time outside, but not yet surrounded by shopping lists and holiday evites and Christmas wrapping paper, we encourage you to focus on yourself, take stock of extra stressors in your life, and see what you can let go of. Not as easy as it sounds? Stress not, we've got a few ideas:
- Remember that you are in charge of your life. Just you. Not neighborhood social groups, not the school PTO, not even your boss. You're the one who can decide, "yes, I'll be in charge of the garden club social hour" or, conversely, "no, thank you, I don't wish to join yet another workplace improvement committee." Trying to please others is a never-ending, rarely-rewarding job.
- That being said, do what enriches you and your loved ones. Volunteers make the world go 'round, it's true. So do feel free to do a little extra, but be very choosey. You'll know if a task is worth it and rewarding, or if it's just NOT.
- Instead of Spring Cleaning, how about a Fall Purging? Take inventory of each room in your home, and feel the freedom to let go of extra, unnecessary items. Letting several items of clothing, knick-knacks, old toys or books, or dishes simply fall away will bring a feeling of lightness and freshness to your late-autumn days that will last you well into the new year.
- Simplify your relationships. Ask yourself if the relationships that are requiring a lot of your time and energy are worth it. Are they rewarding, healthy relationships? If it's time to let go of certain tie, rather than a drama-inducing break-up, simply stop making the effort, and the relationship will fade. Invest your precious energy into those who bring you joy and who are good for you, and let the others fall away.
Abstract expressionist painter Hans Hofmann said that, "The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak." What was true for him with his art creation is true for us in our daily lives. By letting a few key things fall away, what matters most to us suddenly becomes the objects of our full attention.


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The University Library invites the campus community to join a conversation with Victoria Stodden (Columbia University) on "Opportunities and Challenges for Open Data and Code: Facilitating Reproducibility".
October 24, 2013
Refreshments at 9:30
Talk and Conversation from 10-11:30
Alice Campbell Alumni Center Ballroom
Known for her research and policy work on open data and reproducible science, Victoria Stodden is an assistant professor of Statistics at Columbia University and with the Columbia University Institute for Data Sciences and Engineering. After pursuing degrees at Stanford in Statistics and Law, her research has focused on the problem of enabling reproducibility in computational science. Victoria has developed the acclaimed "Reproducible Research Standard," a suite of open licensing recommendations for the dissemination of computational result and is the co-founder of RunMyCode, an "open platform for disseminating the code and data associated with published results, and enabling independent and public cloud-based verification of methods and findings." She serves on the National Academies of Science Committee on "Responsible Science: Ensuring the Integrity of the Research Process" and on the National Science Foundation's Advisory Committee on Cyberinfrastructure (ACCI).
Learn more about Open Access Week events! http://go.illinois.edu/openaccessweek
Sponsored by the Scholarly Commons of the University Library and made possible through a generous gift from the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics.


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Directory Listing
|Sticky Revision:
some missing files
documentation on pyvisi added
pyvisi with vtk runs noe on the altix
example cleanup
pyvisi compiles now
more work on pyvisi integration
directories are moved around to match escript convention
some renaming
eigenvalues: compiles and passes tests on altix now
Implemented plotting of escript Data objects. This only works with the vtk renderer module at this stage.
Updated to current version of .todo file.
Updated to current state of .todo file.
Initial import to repository. This is the vtk-specific code for the arrow plot example.
Initial import to repository. This is the script that runs all the escript example scripts.
Initial import to repository. These are the example scripts specific for escript Data object testing.
Initial merge of pyvisi into esys repository.
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Thank you everyone for all the amazing comments, tweets, facebook and instagram messages, text messages and emails about my special news of being pregnant!! Gary and I are so thrilled to be sharing this journey with all of you. So again, thank you soooo much you truly know how to make a girl feel so special 🙂
My story of finding out that I was pregnant is no magical story. Simple in a way. Though is ever finding out you are pregnant really simple?
My journey of getting pregnant was not easy due to having PCOS and other hormonal issues.
I knew that getting pregnant was NOT going to be an easy thing for me. Boy was I right. Funny (and frustrating) how when you want to have a baby you can't seem to get pregnant.
Some of this might be a little TMI, sorry if it is but I feel sharing my honest story is important as it might help someone in some way. Please feel free to skip over this post. I know baby stuff is not for everyone.
Brief history of my struggle to get pregnant:
Gary and I started to really 'try' early last year. What I mean by that is that a few years before we would only briefly discuss having kids. We were both unsure if we wanted any. But after a lot of time and deep thought (and after having a niece) we decided we wanted a family!
And my journey to get pregnant begins.
Gary and I decided not to tell anyone that we were trying as we knew it was going to be difficult for me. I did not want the extra stress of others knowing we were trying and being unsuccessful.
After months and months of tracking my morning body temperature, keeping track of my cervical fluid to know when I was most fertile to make a baby and still dealing with irregular periods (thanks PCOS) nothing was happening. Month after month with several negative pregnancy tests I was starting to think maybe I wouldn't be able to get pregnant.
I started to prepare myself emotionally. Thinking to myself that I would be okay if I did not have kids as many people don't.
During this time I started to realize what a magical blessing it is to be able to have a baby even more.
Even though I have PCOS I knew that I could still get pregnant because several of you mentioned to me that you were able to have kids while having PCOS.
That right there gave me hope, so thank you!
I was starting to get frustrated. Sad. Depressed. Scared. I knew that getting pregnant was going to be emotional… but I had no idea how emotional it was going to be.
I knew I had to try something else. My body needed some extra push to work better. Just like with my acne, sometimes you have to do a mix of natural and medicine.
So off I went to schedule a doctors appointment to discuss my next option. We probably tried for 8-9 months before I decided to take another route. Yes I know that really is not that long compared to several other mothers out there who tried for years. I just felt like it was the right time for me to try. My journey was long and scary at times, but I feel so blessed to be able to finally be able to get pregnant. Keep in mind that each person is different and different things work out for some and not for others. Just don't give up or lose hope! I prayed a lot during this past year.
What was my next step?
Clomid was it.
I decided on trying Clomid after talking with Gary, Michelle, my mom and a few close friends. I made my decision to give it a try. I felt like if I didn't at least try I would be upset with myself and time isn't slowing down for me.
I took my first round of Clomid at the end of December time frame. Luckily for me, I only had to take one round of it for it to work. Guess my body finally got the message of how to properly do what it's made to do. I feel very blessed. I also did not get any side effects from taking it. Again feel very lucky! I also bought ovulation trackers to keep track of when I was ovulating along with keeping up with taking my body temperature and watching my cervical fluid. It was like I was a little scientist or something, having all the tools and things to watch and monitor all the time.
Since I knew I was wanting to get pregnant, the first two weeks of January I did no real hard-core intense workouts. I took it upon myself to allow my body to rest some.
I only walked, did some push-ups and planks. Besides that I did no real hardcore physical activity. Now, I am not saying that by me taking 2 weeks off from my regular workouts helped me get pregnant, but maybe it helped. We will never know. I just knew that I wanted to get pregnant and I was willing to stop doing whatever needed to make it happen.
How did I know I was pregnant?
This part is a little difficult to explain. How did I know? Well it was hard to know if I missed a period since my periods are irregular. I had to rely on other signals from my body to let me know.
Overall I felt normal, my energy and sleep were about the same. The biggest thing that I felt was my boobs. How sore they were! My breast usually would get a little sore right before my period, but this time around they were sore for days and days. That was one sign. I just kept thinking to myself this is really weird… maybe I am pregnant?
Second sign was I was still tracking my morning body temperature. And it kept increasing. Ding, ding ding! I started to have these deep feelings that something was different. That I might be pregnant. I kept on with my low key fitness routine and ate my normal eats.
And once Michelle got home from traveling I knew I wanted to take a test to see if I WAS pregnant?!
How did I tell Gary? ( we found out together at the same time, so I don't have a cute story of how I told him)
I woke up one morning (late January) and decided I was going to take a pregnancy test. I just had to know.
So off I went to pee on a stick and wait. Got Gary up out of bed to wait with me. After 3 minutes past…
The biggest smile on my face at this moment! Looked at Gary and said you are going to be a dad. It's positive!!
I could not believe it.
After taking a few minutes to take it all in. It was time to tell Michelle as I had to tell my twin.
How did I tell Michelle?
After seeing the positive test, I grabbed my phone and called her. She was still in bed. After she said hello I said, "sis are you ready to be an aunt again? As I am pregnant"!!! Screaming in excitement. And half asleep Michelle said," really… congrats sis. So happy for you". I said thanks!! And told her I'd see her soon.
After getting off the phone with her she texted me saying how happy and excited she was. And that she would be over shortly.
Once Michelle arrived we just could not stop smiling and talking baby things. I told her that I wanted to take another pregnancy test to just make sure. Since I was trying for so long and were having issues… I just wanted to double check. So off I went to take another test.
And behold the second test said that I was pregnant!!! Now my fears and worries went away. An even bigger SMILE came to my face.
I could not believe it. I was finally pregnant! My dreams of being a mom were coming true.
When are you due? How far along are you?
My doctor says I am due September 27, 2014. My first ultrasound said more like Oct. 4 or 5th but my doctor kept my due date as September 27. Therefore, I am on week 13.
My baby bump progress. Not much of a bump yet. But slowly seeing some changes 🙂
I will be back with more highlights soon.
Do you like hearing about other peoples stories of how they got pregnant? How they found out?
For other moms out there, how did you find out? When did you start to see your belly changing?


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Is there a set age for marriage in Islam?
Islam does not give a specific age for marriage, either for the husband or for the wife. Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):
"And for such of your women as despair of menstruation, if ye doubt, their period (of waiting) shall be three months, along with those who have it not"
[al-Talaaq 65:4].
Al-Sa'di (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "along with those who have it [menses] not" means minors, those who have not yet started to menstruate. Adult women who have never menstruated at all are like those who "despair of menstruation" (i.e., have passed menopause); their 'iddah is three months. End quote.
Tafseer al-Sa'di, p. 870
The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) married 'Aa'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) when she was six years old and the marriage was consummated when she was nine years old. Narrated by al-Bukhaari (4840) and Muslim (1422).
Ibn Qudaamah (may Allah have mercy on him) said in al-Sharh al-Kabeer, 7/386:
With regard to females, the father may give his minor, virgin daughter who has not yet reached the age of nine in marriage, and there is no difference of opinion concerning that, if he gives her in marriage to someone who is compatible. Ibn al-Mundhir said: All of those scholars from whom we acquired knowledge unanimously agreed that it is permissible for a father to give his minor daughter in marriage if he arranges her to someone who is compatible, and it is permissible for him to do that even if she is reluctant. End quote.
No one may give a minor daughter in marriage except her father according to the view of Maalik and Ahmad. This was also the view of al-Shaafa'i, but he regarded the grandfather as being like the father in that regard. Abu Haneefah said – and it was also narrated from Ahmad – that it is permissible for a guardian other than the father to give (the minor girl) in marriage, but the more correct view is the former one.
See: al-Mughni, 7/33
The father should not give a minor daughter in marriage except in a case where he thinks it is in her best interests. Just as he may only dispose of her wealth in that which is in her best interests, the same applies with regard to arranging her marriage. Islam only permits that to the Muslim father who is pious and pays proper attention to the best interests of his children, and who understands very well that he is a shepherd and that he is responsible for his flock.
Ibn Wahb narrated that Maalik said, with regard to a man arranging a marriage for an orphan girl under his care: If he thinks that (the husband) is a man of virtue, righteousness and wisdom, it is permissible for him to do that.
Ahkaam al-Qur'aan by al-Jassaas, 2/342
A man should not consummate marriage with his young bride until she is physically able to bear intercourse. This varies from one time, place and environment to another.
For more information please see the answers to questions no. 22442 and 127176.
What young men and guardians of girls should do is hasten to arrange marriages, so as to guard chastity and protect honour, and so as to attain the great purposes for which Allah ordained marriage.
And Allah knows best.


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Credit for the first part of our title goes to British author Peter Hitchens describing how little young people knew of his country's recent past and that most were "dwelling in a void of unknowing." Great phrasing for a reality we are now seeing all over the world as we wonder with him: "What is it about our past that has led it to be reformed out of existence?" Well, truthfully, I am not wondering as I have repeatedly laid out the desires for transformational change, first in my book, and now on the blog, as the calls just get more urgent. Dovetailing with that UN call for Dignity for All globally by 2030 we saw in the last post turns out to be a Rockefeller-funded report of the Commission on Inclusive Prosperity released https://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/IPC-PDF-full.pdf last month that also includes the related vision for "world-class" education.
That IP report would be the sculpted narrative designed to manipulate. Believing in what it asserts requires either being a beneficiary of the vision or being quite ignorant of either history or economics. The usefulness of people not knowing much, while being blissfully ignorant of the acute absence, was really brought home this week as an advocate of Competency-based learning excitedly mentioned that students are told that they "command the helm" of their own learning. I remembered the number of times we have encountered a psychologist or education professor speaking to fellow insiders about creating an internal "keel" within the student's mind and personality that makes future behavior quite predictable. It seems a bit ironic to brag on one hand about the levels of behavioral control being fostered by Competency and its related "high-quality learning" and then to sell the manipulated student on how autonomous they are.
"Dwelling in a void of unknowing" and thus quite ready to be conned while governments steer. Looking for a way to explain the dangers of all this, I went back to a 1958 book called Theory and History by an economist, Ludwig Von Mises, who had the good sense to escape Europe in the mid-30s as Hitler was gaining power. He made the terribly pertinent point that "It is ideas that are responsible for the fact that the interests of people are disparate." If we use education to control the prevailing ideas and, especially to limit them, it becomes much easier to sell visions of solidarity and the need for wholesale transformation.
Apparently the UN report on the 2030 Dignity For All vision or the Inclusive Prosperity report above follow a great tradition of not stressing over the pesky details since Von Mises also noted that "instead of dealing with all these problems Marx contented himself with the dogma that socialism will be an earthly paradise in which everybody will get all he needs." It's much easier, of course, to accept and act on dogma (and never even notice it is not grounded in reality) if students are now trained from an early age to dwell in a void of unknowing, while remaining blissfully unaware of that crucial fact. If Von Mises was correct when he stated:
"it is ideas that determine what people consider as their interests. Free men do not act in accordance with their interests. They act in accordance with what they believe furthers their interests." (my bolding)
Should we be surprised at all that the year after the publication of that book, American educators and psychologists, whose work would evolve into what we now call Competency-based education, began their global push to take an emphasis on facts, textbooks, and lectures out of the classroom? Whoever controls the prevailing ideas also controls what people will believe their interests to be. Something we all need to be aware of now.
In case anyone thinks I am name calling by linking that IP report and Uncle Karl's vision, the report keeps making statements like "While the economic mission of progressives is unchanging, the means of achievement change from generation to generation as the economy evolves." That's darn blunt even before we get to the statement that "we need new social and political institutions to make 21st century capitalism work for the many and not the few." Anyone else see a problem with a goal that "nations need to ensure both that economic growth takes place and that it is broadly shared"? In order to get widespread acquiescence to that transformative vision education is devoting itself to extinguishing and controlling prevailing ideas. Throughout history, widespread prosperity can either come from plunder a la Ancient Rome (or a pirate ship with a talented crew) or it has to rely on a few hardworking people who have unique ideas–The Vital Few–as a book on the history of entrepreneurship called them.
Mind arson and manipulating what people believe makes widespread prosperity impossible. There is a revealing adjective on page 8 of the IP report that really gives away the whole game in the reference to a "managed global economy." That's a wish by a few, not a fact, and of course yet another reason to limit prevailing ideas and make education about specified knowledge, broad vocational skills, and lots of social and emotional training to create the desired dispositions. Oh, and since all desired transformations need a good crisis, we get to hear yet again that "employers are increasingly worried about their ability to find skilled labor." They are more worried about better ideas and service swiping existing customers, but who needs to admit that fact when the skills gap sounds more noble? Plus the advocated alliance of "government, educational institutions, and businesses must work together" actually takes care of the long-term, keeping customers happy, problem. Governments become the real customer and stabilizer of revenue in this vision.
The IP report's authors apparently did not have an adult in their lives when they were children telling them that "wishing will not make it so" because they simply proclaim a desire for "renewing the growth of living standards for everyone." Well, don't tell the high-falutin' members of that IP Commission but Mind Arson makes that plan much harder as does the intention that "children from low-and moderate-income backgrounds need the same opportunities to fully develop their talents that wealthy children have." Since I do not think the plan is Camps in Maine for All at 12 or Grand Tours of Europe using a voucher, school itself becomes the point of levelling and parents of kids perceived as being wealthy need to recognize they are in the line of fire.
In what may be my all time favorite confession of what will make for a "world-class school," we are told that "education is empowering and allows individuals to become actors rather than passive bystanders in the role of the state." In other words, we get to participate in this progressive world where governments hold the final say over everyone and everything. No wonder, "world-class schools are essential for achieving inclusive prosperity, fostering community cohesion [more reason to control prevailing ideas], encouraging a genuine stake in society, and participating in democratic structures." People with a sense of their own unique individuality and the validity of what they know and believe are in the way. Schools are to become the "hub of these experiences" that are required to "deliver on society's needs for social and economic development, political participation, environmental responsibility, and international solidarity."
More reason to limit the prevailing ideas and availability of knowledge. Here's the vision for "a broad and balanced curriculum [that] is vital for the development of inclusive prosperity." Students in these world-class schools get to "gain the core skills needed for the world of work." The pitch line, in other words, may be about getting each of our needs met, but the operating reality is that we exist to meet the needs of others and we are to have little input. Oh, but students also get "space and time to develop." I guess that's when they can be told they are actually masters of their own 'helms'. In their voids of unknowing, most will believe it, at least for a while. Plus school "enhances the so-called soft skills–including team working, people management, civic and school engagement, and diversity awareness–to ensure that children are allowed to be fully engaged members of society in preparation for adult life."
Control the excitement. I am sure the world-class schools all come with t-shirts that say "we are all comrades" since "I am a comrade" would basically negate all this solidarity seeking. Finally, "any curriculum must allow for economic and political literacy," which is more than a little ironic in a report bereft of anything but the aspirational. Now, I know someone out there is saying that the IP report does not mention the Common Core or even competency by name so where's the link? The report does call for "globally competitive standards developed through consensus, not ideology," which is kind of funny in a document calling for education for Inclusive Capitalism to finally fulfill the progressive dream.
Now I have known for a while that the Common Core is designed to produce the data and desired changes in the students called for by a global program called the Achievement Standards Network (ASN). Financed as usual by Bill & Melinda. Yesterday I was poking around on this site http://www.imsglobal.org/iipe.html where (yesterday at least) we could still find a paper by Rob Abel called "Creating a Shared Vision for Assessment Reform: Building on the Common Core" that stated expressly that the Common Core was created to constitute the US's participation in ASN and the Dublin Core and Metadata Applications.
The 'globally competitive standards' then and the ability to get to the Inclusive Prosperity vision are all about the data to be thrown off by digital learning, formative assessments, and "high-quality" learning experiences.
If you are like me, none of this vision sounds inviting. No chance whatsoever of it generating broad prosperity, inclusive or not. That's precisely why we all need to know about these plans now.
I personally want to have the discussion of why a plane cannot fly before it takes off, not after it crashes.
If none of this is stoppable, no one can accuse me of not trying my best to sound the alarm.


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In the last week, our top Apple news included a feature on remastering music for iTunes, as well as coverage on why Mountain Lion will only work with some 64-bit Macs. We also discussed some recent iPad rumors, an allegedly "leaked" Microsoft Office iPad app, a new variant on the Flashback Mac trojan, Messages for the Mac, and more! Read on for the weekly roundup:
Mastered for iTunes: how audio engineers tweak music for the iPod age: Though the lossy compression used for iTunes Plus can cause barely perceptible degradation in audio quality, audio engineers are beginning to create iTunes-specific master files that match CD audio as closely as possible.
What's keeping Mountain Lion off of some 64-bit Macs? Ars investigates: The developer preview of Mountain Lion doesn't support some early 64-bit Macs. As it turns out, the final system requirements aren't yet set in stone.
Leaked parts reveal A5X processor, possible 8MP camera for iPad 3: More hardware component leaks support rumors of a tweaked mobile processor with improved GPU as well as a serious camera upgrade for the third-generation iPad hardware.
Growl devs respond to Mountain Lion's Notification Center: The developers of the Growl notification framework have issued a statement in response to Apple's unveiling of Mountain Lion, which includes a built-in notification system.
"Leaked" Office iPad app seems questionable, and Microsoft is staying mum (Updated): An image making its way around the Internet on Tuesday suggests that Microsoft is on the verge of releasing an iPad app, but we're leery of the claims.
iPhone 4 antenna lawsuits settled with choice of free Bumper or $15: Apple settled a class action lawsuit over iPhone 4 antenna problems, offering a free case for those who missed out on one in 2010.
Mac developers: Gatekeeper is a concern, but still gives power users control: Developers will have hundreds of new APIs to dig into with Mountain Lion, but the big topic of discussion is whether the new Gatekeeper security system is a step in the right direction or just another step toward locked-down Macs.
Flashback Mac trojan is back with new and improved exploit strategy: The Flashback Mac trojan has a new variant that tries three different methods to infect unprotected Macs.
Your questions and answers about Messages beta on the Mac: Lion users are eager to try out the new Messages beta that lets them send and receive iMessages from the Mac. Users sent us a number of questions after the app became available on Thursday, so here are the answers to some of the most common ones.
Apple's latest sandboxing deadline delay signals moving goalposts for devs: Apple's latest delay on its OS X sandboxing requirements suggests a tacit admission that sandboxing isn't quite ready for prime time.
Have a fabulous weekend, folks!
Listing image by Photograph by stacey.d


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Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! However you say it, say it with the Holiday Faces Pop Up Card After Effects CS4 template! Get the gang together for a special holiday greeting you can send to your family, friends, colleagues or clients!
11 character placements are included, easily switch a character from male to female with one click of a button!
See the FAQ for instructions on adding more characters http://videohive.net/item/holiday-faces-pop-up-card-/3531791/faqs
Easy color controls to change colors of clothing, ornaments, and presents.
Video tutorials included!
Faces NOT included.
Music track is not included-buy "Jolly Santa" by PinkZebra.
Check Out Our Other Holiday Templates!


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'X Factor' Controversy: Paula Abdul Told Nicole Scherzinger to Send Rachel Crow Vote Into Deadlock
Quarterback controversies are common as colds in the football realm, and it looks like we have a judge's panel controversy brewing in 'X Factor'-ville. With last week's elimination of fan favorite Rachel Crow, thanks to Nicole Scherzinger's much-criticized decision to let the vote go to deadlock and allow America's voting tally to decide, it turns out that the Scherz may not be 100 percent to blame for Crow's ouster. She may have caved to the pressure applied by fellow judge Paula Abdul.
TMZ posted a video of the final moments and Abdul can clearly be heard telling the Nic to "just let it go to a deadlock" as she struggled mightily between voting for Marcus Canty or Crow. Abdul's mic was low, but you can hear her instructing Scherzinger on what to do.
It sounds like Abdul was trying to help the show (which is live and under serious time constraints) move right along, in addition to supporting her fellow judge who was utterly a mess at having the critical vote fall on her lap. However, all those fans ready to crucify Scherzinger for letting this happen need to back up a little and allow Abdul to shoulder a little of the blame. Judging from this vid, it sounds like it was her idea/suggestion.
Watch Paula Abdul Tell Nicole Scherzinger to Let the Vote Go to Deadlock


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Bertrand Chemel, executive chef at 2941 Restaurant in Falls Church, Va., makes the kind of gnocchi that other chefs admire. He's particular about almost every step, as you'll see in the directions. The payoff is on the plate: fluffy, and light enough to serve year-round. "00" flour is a soft Italian durum wheat flour, available at some grocery stores as well as Italian specialty markets. You'll need a kitchen scale and a food mill or potato ricer. Serve warm with sauce (see the recipe for Spring Gnocchi With Rosemary Cream and Peas), or drain and transfer the just-cooked gnocchi to a baking sheet greased with olive oil while you melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the gnocchi and sear until lightly browned on both sides. Serve hot, with a little grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. 2941 POTATO GNOCCHI Makes 4 to 6 servings 4 large Idaho potatoes, 12 to 13 1/2 ounces each, free of any dark spots 1 tablespoon sea salt, plus more as needed 2 pinches freshly grated nutmeg 5.3 ounces (a scant 1 1/4 cups) "00" flour or all-purpose flour, sifted, plus more for dusting (see headnote) 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 tablespoon melted unsalted butter 1 large egg, beaten Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Create four thick beds of kosher salt on a rimmed baking sheet. Rinse and dry the potatoes, then arrange each potato on its own bed of salt; the salt will prevent the potatoes from burning on the bottom. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until the potatoes yield slightly to the touch but not so long that the skin separates from the flesh. Discard the roasted salt or reserve for another use. Place a food mill or potato ricer inside a large mixing bowl. Lightly dust a cutting board and a rimmed baking sheet with flour. ("Lightly" means so that you can barely see the flour, like a coating of dust on a piece of furniture.) Use a knife to cut each potato in half lengthwise (on the baking sheet) to release steam; this is important to avoid a gummy mixture. After 2 minutes, use a spoon to scoop the warm flesh into a food mill or potato ricer (in batches, as needed). Discard the potato skins. Grind or rice the potatoes over a large bowl so that the potato shreds are fluffy and almost dry to the touch. Wait for 1 or 2 minutes for the potato flesh to cool a bit more, than add the tablespoon of sea salt, nutmeg and flour; toss gently, being careful not to overmix. Add the oil, butter and egg. Use your clean hands and a light touch to gently incorporate the ingredients, taking no more than 20 seconds to create a shaggy dough that is soft but not sticky. Transfer to the cutting board. Use a bench scraper or large knife to divide the dough into four equal sections; cover loosely with a clean dish towel to keep them warm. Work with one dough portion at a time. Use your fingers and a light touch to roll the dough into a rope that's about 3/4 inch thick, moving from the center out toward the edges. It should not look smooth. Cut into 1-inch lengths, transferring them to the dusted baking sheet. Repeat to use all the dough. If flour is visible on the surface of the gnocchi, use a dry pastry brush to remove it. At this point, it's best to cook the gnocchi right away. But they can be refrigerated for several hours. Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add a generous pinch of salt. Gently add the gnocchi, which will sink to the bottom. As soon as a few of them bob to the surface, use a Chinese skimmer or strainer to remove all of them. NUTRITION Per serving (based on 6): 330 calories, 7 g protein, 62 g carbohydrates, 5 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 40 mg cholesterol, 1090 mg sodium, 4 g dietary fiber, 3 g sugar
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Gnocchi Recipe: 2941 Potato Gnocchi
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By Caitlin Kelly
Holy hell, people!
Have you ever gone through all your stuff: in the attic, in the basement, in the garage, in your storage locker(s)?
Jose and I have
ruined spent the past few weekends, for two to four hours each time, cleaning out the dozens of boxes containing the detritus memorabilia of our shared and separate lives.
We live in, and I work in, a one-bedroom apartment with few closets, so we need additional storage space for out-of-season clothing, sports and camping gear, luggage.
But you know the deal — when you don't know quite what to do with something, you tend to postpone a decision, instead tossing it (if you have space) into the attic, basement, garage or extra bedroom(s.)
Then one day you actually notice how many boxes and tubs there are — enough! Time to sort through it it all.
It's exhausting, both physically and mentally: sort, decide, dump, donate, sell, keep, give away. Then photograph, measure and list it on Craigslist, Freecycle or Ebay, or drive it to the thrift store or consignment shop.
Or, if it really has potential monetary value, calling in an appraiser and/or dealer.
It's hard to let go of things if, as many do, they also carry strong, happy emotional memories — your baby's clothes, your wedding dress, notes for your thesis. It's who we are, or once were.
It felt very weird to throw my hard-won early New York magazine clips into the garbage, (none of them on-line), but I'm not that person anymore. And no one is going to look at a story from 1995 or 1997!
We were dealing with/deciding about stuff like:
The box filled with all the gorgeous textiles my mother collected in her solo world travels: silk saris, embroidered cotton molas, exquisite woven wool mantas from Peru, all of which have value to a collector or dealer. (Kept them.)
All the wedding photos from my first wedding, filled with a blond, naive, hopeful 35-year-old pretending it was all going to be OK when I knew I was not. (Kept them.)
Huge, heavy piles of yellowed newsprint and tattered magazine pages, some of the hundreds of articles I've produced since I began working as a writer 30+ years ago. (Tossed them all. Gulp.)
The research notes for my two books. (Tossed.)
But we also made some happy re-discoveries, like my very first professional business card from the journalism job I loved most, as a feature writer for The Globe and Mail, Canada's then only national newspaper.
And my sketches, paintings and journals from my trips to Kenya and Tanzania and New Zealand and Australia.
Jose found a signed note on heavy white card stock — The President — from George HW Bush, whom he photographed many times while in the White House Press Corps. I found a signed thank-you letter from the late great American choreographer Bob Fosse, to whom I had written a fan letter.
I still have the small, battered trunk I first took to summer camp when I was eight years old. Yes, I do, dammit!
Have you been cleaning out/tossing stuff?
Yours or someone else's?


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American Family Care
American Family Care was founded by Dr. Bruce Irwin, a primary care physician 31 years ago. In April 2013, AFC acquired Doctors Express Urgent Care, making us the largest family care/urgent care organization in the country.
AFC Urgent Care has over 200 locations in 27 states, with more clinics scheduled to open this year! We remove the administrative burden of the medical practice, allowing you to focus on patient care. We offer modern clinics in urban and suburban locations. Our clinics are equipped with digital x-ray, CLIA-approved labs, EHR, along with a professional support staff. The result is a rewarding career, allowing for a excellent work and life balance.
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(205) 776-1310
URL: American Family Care


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Welcome to this week's Math Munch!
Have you ever played Scrabble or Bananagrams? Can you imagine versions of these games that would use numbers instead of letters?
Meet Tom Lennett, who imagined them and then made them!
Numemko is a crossnumber game. Players build up number sentences, like 4×3+8=20, that cross each other like in a crossword puzzle. There is both a board game version of Numenko (like Scrabble) and a bag game version (like Banagrams). Tom invented the board game years ago to help his daughter get over her fear of math. He more recently invented the bag game for his grandkids because they wanted a game to play where they didn't have to wait their turn!
One important feature of Numenko is the Multichoice tile. Can you see how it can represent addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, or equality?
How would you like to have a Numenko set of your own? Well, guess what—Tom holds weekly Numenko puzzle competitions with prizes! You can see the current puzzle on this page, as well as the rules. Here's the puzzle at the time of this post—the week of November 3, 2013.
I can assure you that it's possible to win Tom's competitions, because one of my students and I won Competition 3! I played my first games of Numenko today and really enjoyed them. I also tried making some Numenko puzzles of my own; see the sheet at the bottom of this post to see some of them.
In emailing with Tom I've found that he's had a really interesting life. He grew up in Scotland and left school before he turned 15. He's been a football-stitcher, a barber, a soldier, a distribution manager, a paintball site operator, a horticulturist, a property developer, and more. And, of course, also a game developer!
Do you have a question you'd like to ask Tom? Send it in through the form below, and we'll try to include it in our upcoming Q&A!
Say, do you like Bloxorz? I sure do—it's one of my favorite games! So imagine my delight when I discovered that a fan of the game—who goes by the handle Jz Pan—created an extension of it where you can make your own levels. Awesome, right? It's called Turning Square, and you can download it here.
(You'll need to uncompress the file after downloading, then open TurningSquare.exe. This is a little more involved than what's usual here on Math Munch, but I promise it's worth it! Also, Turning Square has only been developed for PC. Sorry, Mac fans.)
But wait, there's more! Turning Square also introduces new elements to Bloxorz, like slippery ice and pyramids you can trip over. It has a random level generator that can challenge you with different levels of difficulty. Finally, Turning Square includes a level solver—it can determine whether a level that you create is possible or not and how many steps it takes to complete.
Jz Pan is from China and is now a graduate student at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, majoring in mathematics and studying number theory. Jz Pan made Turning Square in high school, back in 2008.
Jz Pan has agreed to answer some of your questions! Use the form below to send us some.
If you make a level in Turning Square that you really like, email us the .box file and we can share it with everyone through our new Readers' Gallery! Here is my level from above, if you want to try it out.
Jz Pan has also worked on an even more ambitious extension of Bloxorz called Turning Polyhedron. The goal is the same, but like the game Dublox, the shape that you maneuver around is different. Turning Polyhderon features several different shapes. Check out this video of it being played with a u-polyhedron!
And if you think that's wild, check out this video with multiple moving blocks!
Last up this week, have you ever heard that it's impossible to fold a piece of paper in half more than eight times? Or maybe it's seven…? Either way, it's a "fact" that seems to be common knowledge, and it sure seems like it's true when you try to fold up a standard sheet of paper—or even a jumbo sheet of paper. The stack sure gets thick quickly!
Well, here's a great story about a teenager who decided to debunk this "fact" with the help of some math and some VERY big rolls of toilet paper. Her name is Britney Gallivan. Back in 2001, when she was a junior in high school, Britney figured out a formula for how much paper she'd need in order to fold it in half twelve times. Then she got that amount of paper and actually did it!
Due to her work, Britney has a citation in MathWorld's article on folding and even her own Wikipedia article. After high school, Britney went on to UC Berkeley where she majored in Environmental Science. I'm trying to get in touch with Britney for an interview—if you have a question for her, hold onto it, and I'll keep you posted!
EDIT: I got in touch with Britney, and she's going to do an interview!
The best place to read more about Britney's story in this article at pomonahistorical.org—the historical website of Britney's hometown. Britney's story shows that even when everyone else says that something's impossible, that doesn't mean you can't be the one to do it. Awesome.
I hope you enjoy trying some Numenko puzzles, tinkering with Turning Square, and reading about Britney's toilet paper adventure.
Bon appetit!
PS Want to see a video of some toilet-paper folding? Check out the very first "family math" video by Mike Lawler and his kids.
Reflection Sheet – Numenko, Turning Square, and Toilet Paper


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Art, Clothing, and FASHION; when talking about fashion it is hard not to discuss clothing; and when speaking about clothes, it is hard to omit the influence of art. Thus, these three words go hand in hand to give meaning to each other. Art, clothing, and FASHION influence each other and provide basis for us to understand each one.
Just Click the Image for Latest Fashion Tips
I found a website which is very interesting and very useful to me and this website is all about fashion and the site is Named as FASHION EVOLUTION and the url is http://vinodhini.info/ .This site which gives the full information about the LATEST FASHION which prevails in the market.As you can search from A to Z for a the Latest Version.This site which is an AWESOME ONE IS GIVING THE details about the upcoming cloths and i found this site is also giving all kinds of Tips from various FASHION EXPERTS.Frankly speaking this site gave me a new look over fashion.Thanks to those Experts who Helped me for my New Looks.


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PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Alexei Ramirez hit a tiebreaking double in the 11th inning to lift the Chicago White Sox over the Philadelphia Phillies 5-4 in the opener of a day-night doubleheader Saturday.
After a 41-minute rain delay following the top of the ninth, White Sox righty Nate Jones escaped a no-out, second-and-third jam in the bottom half.
The teams were forced to play two after Friday night's interleague game was rained out. John Lannan faces Chicago's Hector Santiago in the nightcap.
Alejandro De Aza hit a two-out triple off J.C. Ramirez (0-1) in the 11th and Ramirez followed with a liner to right-center for his fourth hit. Ramirez then scored when shortstop Jimmy Rollins booted Alex Rios' grounder for an error.
The Phillies fell to 3-10 when they have a chance to move to .500. They won consecutive series over first-place Pittsburgh and Atlanta, and took three of four from defending NL East champion Washington.
But the inability to hit a sacrifice fly cost Philadelphia against the White Sox, who entered with the third-worst record in the majors.
Jones balked runners to second and third in the ninth before retiring Carlos Ruiz on a shallow fly, striking out pinch-hitter Laynce Nix and getting Ben Revere on a hard liner to right.
The Phillies had runners on first and third with one out in the 10th, but Ramon Troncoso (1-2) fanned Delmon Young and Kevin Frandsen grounded out.
Addison Reed pitched the 11th for his 24th save in 28 tries. He allowed an RBI single to pinch-hitter Humberto Quintero.
Rookie Jonathan Pettibone allowed three runs and six hits, striking out six in six innings. The Phillies fell to 10-6 in Pettibone's starts.
White Sox starter John Danks gave up three runs and eight hits in 6 1-3 innings.
Darin Ruf fouled off three straight pitches before driving a changeup out to straightaway center to tie it at 3 in the seventh. Ruf has two homers in 20 at-bats since being called up to replace injured slugger Ryan Howard. Ruf hit 41 homers last season, including 38 at Double-A and three for the Phillies.
Ruf then made an over-the-shoulder, sliding catch on a foul ball near the stands in the eighth.
Conor Gillaspie's sacrifice fly put the White Sox up 3-2 in the sixth. De Aza's two-run double in the fifth tied it.
The Phillies jumped ahead 2-0 in the first on a RBI groundout by Domonic Brown and RBI single by Delmon Young.
NOTES: Plate umpire Brian O'Nora left the game after the top of the 10th inning. There was no immediate word on the cause. … Ruiz took a hard shot to the throat on a pitch that bounced in the dirt before striking the catcher under his mask in the seventh. He grimaced and went down to the ground briefly, but stayed in. … This is the fourth-ever series between the teams and first since the Phillies swept a three-game set in June 2007. … The White Sox recalled LHP Donnie Veal from Triple-A Charlotte to replace lefty Matt Thornton, who was traded to Boston on Friday night. Veal retired the only batter he faced in the eighth. … Revere extended his hitting streak to 10 games. … Gordon Beckham has an eight-game hitting streak. … Cole Hamels (4-11, 4.17) goes for his third straight win in the series finale Sunday afternoon against Chicago's Jose Quintana (4-2, 3.67).


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Jen & JJ
What I know about Jen and JJ. I am pretty sure they met working in the yacht industry, Jen works as an amazing chef and chief stewardess and JJ between captain and engineer. I know that Jen was going to med school until she realized she couldn't handle blood, and was drawn to the science behind culinary. I know that JJ is apparently good with anything that comes to boats and the sea. I know that Jen has traveled alot, spending months in India (alone) that once her plane hit an air pocket and dropped A LOT, that when they were chartering in a storm there was a massive wall of wave heading straight for their sailboat. They are both pretty bad@ss to say the least. Jen is an incredibly positive, intelligent, gorgeous girl with a heart of gold, and JJ is a sweet, respectful, down to earth great guy. I know they are crazy about each other, complement and complete each other. They work and travel the world together, and it was my pleasure and honor to document their wedding day, in Campos, Mallorca. When you live far from your families, Jen from the UK and JJ from South Africa, if you are lucky enough your friends become your family as well. On Saturday June 4, Jen and JJ were joined by their closest friends and family from near and far to celebrate their marriage and happiness, and the sun couldn't have shone brighter for them. Love you both very much and I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed taking them. All the best in your newly married adventures!Read More


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New Header
The time is right for a header change, so I return to deep space. This is from NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory photo gallery, which actually is a computer-stimulated image of a star's gases falling into a black hole. My header collection is on the Past Headers page (or click here).
I also changed my theme from MistyLook to the update version called Misty Lake, so I imagine adjustments will be necessary. If I don't like it, I'll be either switching back to Misty Lake or go for a new look.
On Politics
I didn't know about this death benefit for families of members of Congress.
Put Congressional Democrats and Republicans in a room to discuss the budget is easy. Getting them to make policy decisions about the budget may not be difficult – but they would have to ignore the big obstacle also in the room – Politics – because policy and politics are not the same, but quite different.
Cheers to ongoing Senator Olympia Snow (R-ME) for this comment: If we (voters) allow our political system to be subjugated to the fringe factions or to ideological interests or the podium-thumping belligerents that we're witnessing today, then that's the government we're going to get.
There is an interesting battle in my state (Ohio) regarding Medicare Expansion between our Republican governor and the Republican legislature.
Republicans using the debacle at healthcare.gov to criticize the Affordable Care Act makes as much sense as Democrats making excuses for healthcare.gov. Meanwhile, a Congressional hearing on the matter is nothing more than political theater.
Given the previous statement, this one from The Onion will lead you into The Onion's headlines for the week: New and improved Obamacare program released on 35 floppy disks
On This Week's Headlines from The Onion
- Child sees no reason why Iron Man costume can't be worn at grandfather's funeral
- Proposed immigration law calls for US to shut down border slide
- Weird man begins every morning by dousing his naked body in water
- Republicans announce plan to go after Obamacare
- Mom breaks into son's apartment to administer latest flu vaccine
- Johnson & Johnson announces new Leave-In Q-Tip
Interesting Reads
See the video and the article about the person behind Humans of New York
Interesting editorial about fixing Social Security
Eight unlikely animal friendships
How black holes work (timely with my new header)
A book review about Ben Franklin's science
Enjoy these bioluminescence images
See Jim's good explanation of timing a launch to Mars
On Potpourri
Think about this one. What if you were from Sudan then came to the US to play basketball and get an education. Six years later, your passport is no longer good because you are from South Sudan, which now has independence. Then recently, you learn that your father died. Here's the story.
A writer at DeadSpin ranked 51 regional dishes (50 states and DC) and ranked my beloved Cincinnati Chili #52 – behind being hit by a car.
Time: The Musical returns next week featuring short time (a minute or less). I announce the planned date on the next Monday Morning Entertainment, (probably Tuesday). Thinking outside the box is important for this act, but dealing with a tyrant producer is a challenge in itself.
Texting + driving = matches + gasoline … thus begs the question WHY? Here's an interesting post IAMM3Z about the pair.
Here are your reasons to celebrate this weekend
- (Friday) International Artist Day, Sourest Day, World Pasta Day, Bandana Day, Breadsticks Day, Greasy Food Day, Punk-for-a-Day Day
- (Saturday) Make a Difference Day, Mule Day, Forgiveness Day, and Mincemeat Pie Day
- (Sunday) Cranky Co-workers Day, Mother-in-Law Day, Reformation Sunday, Visit a Cemetery Day, Potato Day
The next Saturday Morning Cartoon post will feature a well-known character – and the post is ready!
This is the perfect occasion to thank ABtwixt for this comment: I'd never willingly deprive myself of your OITS, it's better than the Sunday paper!
To send you into the weekend in honor of Time: The Musical, here's one that does not qualify for the next act, but could have been in Act 1: the '70s hit from The Babys: Isn't It Time. Have a safe weekend and in the words of Garrison Keillor, Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.