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Theme installed successfully
You can view the theme help file in the theme folder to assist in the setup.
The theme help file is in the help folder. Steps to access the help file below:
- Unzip the "unzip_me_music.zip" file that you have purchased from Themeforest.
- Search for the help folder, and open the index.html file in any browser.
Drag widgets onto the index page left sidebar to remove this message.


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subset: commoncrawl


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Obama: McCain relationship 'a classic romantic comedy'
BURBANK, Calif. — Jay Leno said he couldn't help but point out to President Obama on Tuesday that he's been getting along remarkably well recently with his 2008 rival, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
"That's how a classic romantic comedy goes," Obama laughed. "Initially you're not getting along and then you keep on bumping into each other."
Citing McCain's work on a number of issues, but particularly immigration reform, Obama went on to call McCain "a person of integrity," explaining that he's "willing to say things regardless of the politics" and "go against the grain of his party sometimes."
( Also on POLITICO: Transcript of Jay Leno's interview with President Obama)
Obama acknowledged that he probably wasn't helping McCain win more Republican support for immigration reform and other bills by declaring his love, saying "It's probably not good for me to compliment him on television."
But he couldn't help himself, quickly adding, "He's an example of a number of Republicans in the Senate and the House who want to be for something, not just against things."
The line drew applause from the studio audience.


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Making a noise by default
The most common source of problems for new users of Rosegarden is still a straightforward inability to get any sound out of it.
There are two parts to this problem, plus a third related problem:
We need to fix the first two, and preferably all three, of these things if the random Ubuntu user is going to be able to start up Rosegarden and get some satisfaction straight away. (Note that the third problem becomes a bit less important if we solve the first one using DSSI plugins, whose timing is not at issue.) How can we solve them?
dmm-The random Ubuntu user should install ubuntustudio-audio on her Ubuntu or Kubuntu system, which brings in:
(SOM- see my tutorial on setting this up for yourselves
Some notes moved here from First Impressions and How to Improve Them (a subject of which this is really a part):
[DMM: One thing several similar packages do is load the last file you worked on if you start with no file on the command line. Maybe we should do that, and default the last file you worked on to some synthy demo file. It might be even better to default to something like the Bach concerto trumpet duet arrangement via FluidSynth-DSSI, but I don't think we could contend with the soundfont issue there.
I bet that if we just took an "executive decision" to bundle a soundfont such as A320U, relying on the presumed due diligence of Musix etc, we'd manage to find ways to make sure many of the included demos did play by default. Some packagers would want to take the soundfont back out of the package and depend on a separate soundfont package, that's their prerogative.
Also, another old old feature possibility is to have a message included in the composition that pops up in a dialog when the composition is loaded. It could just be one of the optional header fields in the document properties, or something. Then the demos that remained "pure MIDI" could pop up a message to tell you so. I'm a bit reluctant about this one because I feel it may be opening a whole other box of potential features we haven't time to do. [cc]
Another thought might be to depend on Timidity/freepats, and do some kind of startup twiddling to run the thing if nothing else is present.
My experiments with this kind of thing in STG suggest that getting any external ALSA sequencer client to run up "automatically" (remember, we also have to get the RG device to connect properly to it) is going to be a tough one to get working reliably cross-distro. I think we should try to avoid going this way. [cc]
It's probably the cheapest and most free way to get some kind of MIDI working using stock distro packages, but without depending on DSSI plugins, and it runs as an ALSA sequencer client. I just haven't traditionally recommended it, because I think it sounds inferior to QSynth with a good, big soundfont. Though anyway, my thinking away from DSSI is probably colored by its traditional association with JACK, and all the extra trouble that entails. If DSSI could come up working on any bog standard non-audio distro, that might be the best way to go indeed. We could try that route first, and see how it fares on old hardware. Most of our users seem to want to run Rosegarden on an 800 MHz PIII, because "Linux runs great on old computers." We might even go so far as to put up some "You're pissing in the wind with this fossil" warning dialog about low CPU power and low RAM too. Just look at my own futile resistance to JACK, and stubborn insistence on getting all of this to work on a vanilla distro. I only enjoyed success once I finally relented.Internal Link


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Peckham, Rufus Wheeler
Peckham, Rufus Wheeler pĕk´əm [key], 1838–1909, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1895–1909), b. Albany, N.Y. Admitted (1859) to the bar, he became a leading Albany lawyer and was prominent in local Democratic politics. He served on the state supreme court (1883–86) and on the state court of appeals (1886–95) before he was appointed by President Grover Cleveland to the U.S. Supreme Court. A zealous defender of property rights, he ruled in the famous case of Lochner v. New York (1905) that a maximum-hours law was unconstitutional.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: U.S. History: Biographies


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Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects.
The animals on the cover of Essential CVS are bobacs (Marmota bobak). Also known as "steppe marmots" because of their wide distribution in the steppes (vast, grass-covered plains) of southern Russia and Kazakhstan, bobacs range as far west as central Europe. Though they are slightly larger than black-tailed prairie dogs, bobacs are otherwise quite similar to their North American counterparts.
Unlike most marmots, which live primarily in mountain environments, bobacs prefer to build their sprawling burrows in open, rolling grasslands or on the edges of cultivated fields. Bobacs are strictly diurnal and are most active during the cooler hours of the day. When they are outside of their burrows, it is common for a sentry to stand erect and alert on its hind legs, ready to bark an alert at the first sign of a predator or other danger. After running to their burrows, bobacs will then await an "all clear" call before returning to the surface. During the summer, bobacs eat enough lush vegetation to double their weight. The added fat reserve nourishes them throughout their winter hibernation.
Like other marmots, bobacs are very social animals that live in large groups, or "towns," which may range from a single acre to over 1,000 acres. Towns are subdivided further into "wards" and even smaller "coteries," which are usually made up of a single adult male, one to four adult females, and any number of offspring under two years old. Young bobacs, born in litters of about five or six, leave their natal coterie after their second hibernation. Because their coats can be used as imitation marten fur in hats, coats, and other apparel, bobacs are greatly threatened by fur hunting.
Brian Sawyer was the production editor and copyeditor for Essential CVS . Jane Ellin was the proofreader. Derek Di Matteo, Claire Cloutier, and Colleen Gorman provided quality control. Jamie Peppard provided production support. John Bickelhaupt wrote the index.
Ellie Volckhausen designed the cover of this book, based on a series design by Edie Freedman. The cover image is a 19th-century engraving from the Dover Pictorial Archive. Emma Colby produced the cover layout with QuarkXPress 4.1 using Adobe's ITC Garamond font.
Bret Kerr and David Futato designed the interior layout, based on a series design by David Futato. This book was converted by Joe Wizda to FrameMaker 5.5.6 with a format conversion tool created by Erik Ray, Jason McIntosh, Neil Walls, and Mike Sierra that uses Perl and XML technologies. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is LucasFont's TheSans Mono Condensed. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano and Jessamyn Read using Macromedia FreeHand 9 and Adobe Photoshop 6. The tip and warning icons were drawn by Christopher Bing. This colophon was written by Brian Sawyer.
The online edition of this book was created by the Safari production group (John Chodacki, Becki Maisch, and Madeleine Newell) using a set of Frame-to-XML conversion and cleanup tools written and maintained by Erik Ray, Benn Salter, John Chodacki, and Jeff Liggett.


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February 28, 2008
William F. Mann, whose late great-uncle was a Supreme Grand Master of the Knights Templar of Canada, is the author of "The Knights Templar in the New World". He lives in Oakville, Ontario. In this program, he discusses his books "The Knights Templar in the New World: How Henry Sinclair Brought the Grail to Acadia" and "The Templar Meridians: The Secret Mapping of the New World". This is a fascinating program about Templar families, ancient secret knowledge and the Vatican. We discuss bloodlines, royals, leaders, Templar navigation and Templar meridians. We also talk about the knights of Malta, crusades, the bankers, conspiracy, the "Da Vinci Code" and symbolism of the balanced cross. For our second hour, we explore more into the topics of bloodlines, the grail, DNA research and William's connection to the Sinclair's. We also discuss the Viking/Native American connection as well as the Vatican's genocide of South and North American tribes. Later, we talk about the DNA research that is conducted by stclairresearch.com and what they might be looking for if they haven't already found it. Lastly, we discuss the possible descendants of Jesus and Mary and the emerging of a new world "leader".


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his article is full of errors and misconceptions. I clarified most of them last week in "Why the Wineklvoss Bitcoin ETF Was Rejected and How to Create a Regulated Vehicle That Passes Muster". In said article I demonstrated that China doesn't have the majority of trade volume. That's just WRONG!
The SEC's problem with Gemini's market reach is easily rectified by thier not trying to be so vertically stack and sharing liquidity with other exchanges - something that will likely have to happen anyway. As you can see, bitcoin exchange trading in its totality, represents a very small portion of bitcoin trading.
Most BTC trades are P2P and/or OTC. Lest the SEC complain about that, real estate is handled the same way (and unregulated) yet there are plenty of real estate ETFs. Now, despite the fact that most BTC is traded OTC, you can still buy your BTC at or close to exchange prices. Yes, a large purchase may create some slippage, gaps and spreads, but that is the same nature of any thinly traded market - and BTC is much more liquid than most - again, referencing the real estate market. No market maker in commercial real estate can be assured he can pick up office building or condo units at a certain price or spread, or even the entire complex.
The fact that Lex is comparing Bitcoin to cannabis shows a material misunderstanding of what bitcoin is. Silicon Valley gets it, which is why Microsoft, IBM, et. al. are jumping on board (bitcoin is more akin to the Internet than it is to weed), but the finance guys in the east are still behind the curve. Unfortunately, it appears the finance guys in the east don't even understand the financial portions of Bitcoin. Reference my educational articles from the recent past. After reading what is essentially Fake News about Bitcoin from Financial Times, London Business School and Credit Suisse, I have created an easy to understand metric that allows anyone to compare the risks and rewards of Bitcoin to basically any currency, commodity, stock or asset class.
- Bitcoin Investment Risk vs Reward Calculator to Compare BTC to EUR, GBP, Gold & Stocks
- It's Time To Beat Up On Credit Suisse and Their Woefully Misinformed Bitcoin Advice
- Bitcoin Is Reaching the Point of No Return - Buy Side Should Take Note
- Censorship, Autonomy and Risk Management When Dealing With Digital Assets: How to Minimize Risk of Loss
Now, taking into consideration the (properly) risk-adjusted reward of bitcoin relative to most major asset classes, one can easily understand why smart institutional investors would want some exposure - hence the rush to build ETFs. Take a look at what will happen to bitcoin prices if such ETFs were to be approved.
You see, the introduction of even a small ETF will set the Bitcoin platform on FIRE!


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Flu Continues to Wane, but Deaths Still Epidemic
Flu Continues to Wane, but Deaths Still Epidemic
Robert Lowes
Medscape Medical News
Jan. 25, 2012 — Flu activity continues to fall in the U.S. even as the death toll, which lags behind the infection rate, continues to rise, according to the CDC.
Through the third week of 2013 ending on Jan. 19, the percentage of deaths attributed to flu and pneumonia in 122 cities rose to 9.8% from 8.3% the week before, according to the CDC's latest report on this flu season. This again passes the epidemic threshold for such deaths, which is 7.3%.
So far, 37 of those deaths are children.
Likewise, the number of hospitalizations associated with flu rose from the week before, 18.8 to 22.2 per 100,000 people.
At the same time, flu activity has been slowing. The percentage of doctor visits for flu-like illness — defined as fever along with a cough or sore throat — fell to 4.3% from 4.6%. This figure is still far above the figure the CDC uses to consider the start of a flu season, which is 2.2%.
In a telebriefing today, CDC Director Thomas Frieden, MD, MPH, predicted that the rate of flu-related hospitalizations and deaths would rise in the coming weeks despite a decline in overall flu activity.
Frieden attributed the seeming conflict to the time gap between when flu first strikes and when the disease sends patients to the hospital, where some eventually die.
More information on the latest developments on the flu season is available at Flu View, a weekly surveillance report from the CDC.
Natural Cold and Flu Remedies
View Article Sources
© 2013 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved.


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Lomas Brown 'regrets' trying to get Scott Mitchell hurt
- Brown revealed last week he intentionally missed a block in a game that led to Mitchell's injury
- Mitchell responded to the comments, calling Brown 'reprehensible'
- Brown said he will try to reach out to Mitchell about his comments
Might this end the back-and-forth between former Detroit Lions teammates Lomas Brown and Scott Mitchell?
Brown was on ESPN2's First Take this morning, responding to the controversy that has surrounded him since he said on ESPN Radio last week that he purposely missed a block in 1994 in order to get Mitchell hurt.
Mitchell responded Wednesday by calling Brown "reprehensible."
Brown said this morning he "regrets" the incident that happened in 1994 and that he hopes to talk to Mitchell about it soon. He said he will reach out to Mitchell. And he said he thinks he was a good teammate to Mitchell.
Somewhat cryptically, Brown also said, "Scott knows a lot of things that went on, too, in Detroit."
More layers to the onion?
Here's more of what Brown said this morning:
"I know I played well over 18,000 plays … in this league. It's one play out of the 18,000 that I regret. It's done, it's out there. I'm not going to retract, I'm not going to sit here and make excuses. I know America is looking at me, and they're like, 'Wow,' but I'm not going to make excuses.
"You get frustrated during the course of the game. You do things that, a lot of the time, you think about later in life -- you don't think about right there, because it's in the heat of the moment. …
"The one thing I can say is I should have been more tactful at how I said that. That was wrong on my part. I should have humbly said that. It came off as boastful. I shouldn't have said it that way."


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8415.0 - Mining Operations, Australia, 1997-98
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 29/10/1999
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Profits up 6% for the mining industry in 1997 98 - ABS
The mining industry's main activities - coal, gas and oil extraction, and metal ore mining - recorded a 6% increase in profits in 1997-98 to $19.6 billion, according to figures released today in a new publication by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Direct employment by mining companies fell by 9% to 50,875 persons at 30 June 1998. In contrast, contract mining expenses increased by 26% to $2.9 billion, with most of the increase occurring in the gold mining industry.
The metal ore mining industry was a major contributor to profits, recording a 9% increase in 1997-98 to $6.8 billion. This was primarily due to an increase in the value of sales and new mines coming on stream in the iron ore and copper mining industries. Profits for the coal mining industry also rose by 9%, to $5.2 billion, mainly as a result of increased production which offset the effects of lower prices. Total profits in the oil and gas extraction industry increased by almost 1% to $7.6 billion.
Value added nationally was $23.8 billion in 1997-98. The largest contributor to value added in the mining industry was the oil and gas extraction industry, accounting for 37% of the total in 1997-98 with $8.7 billion. The coal industry was the second largest contributor, accounting for 28% of the total with $6.7 billion.
Total net capital expenditure in 1997-98 increased by $3.1 billion, or 61%, to $8.3 billion, with increases in most industries. Net capital expenditure in the metal ore mining industry doubled to $5.3 billion as a result of new mine development and upgrades to plant and machinery at other mines. The oil and gas extraction industry recorded an increase of $511 million, or 38%, to $1.8 billion. In the coal mining industry net capital expenditure fell by 3% to $1.1 billion.
Further details are in Mining Operations, Australia (cat. no. 8415.0) available from ABS bookshops. A summary of the publication is available from this site. The ABS encourages media organisations with online news services to link to the summary. Please phone us if you need assistance to do this.
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Spring fever continues to pummel primetime, with most firstrun shows — even hits like "Modern Family" and "Glee," in their returns — at or near season-low levels last week.
It also remains a challenging time for new series looking to establish themselves, though ABC launched "Don't Trust the B in Apt. 23" to pretty good numbers thanks to its lead-in from "Modern Family," which despite lower numbers was the week's top scripted show among young adults.
The Alphabet also saw OK perfs from "Scandal" in its second week and "GCB" in its sixth, while CBS saw its cop show "NYC 22" open modestly and NBC's new comedy "Best Friends Forever" looked weak in its second.
It's been years since a scripted series launched in April went on to become a ratings hit, so the shows trying to establish an audience right now are certainly fighting an uphill battle.
One returning show that is thriving despite the distractions that accompany spring is HBO's second-year drama "Game of Thrones," which was cable's top primetime scripted show last week in both young adults and total viewers.
Overall last week, Fox rode "American Idol" to a victory among young adults, with its 2.4 rating/7 share in adults 18-49 followed by CBS (2.1/6), ABC (1.8/5), NBC (1.7/5) and Univision (1.5/4), according to Nielsen estimates. Fox tied CBS for the lead in adults 25-54, while the Eye led easily in total viewers.
"Idol" claimed the week's top spots on the 18-49 ranker with its performance show (5.0/14 in 18-49, 16.81m) and results seg (4.3/13, 15.81m). The Fox vet has been TV's top-rated music contest for five straight weeks now, after lagging NBC's "The Voice" in February.
"Glee" returned from a six-week break with solid numbers for this time of year (2.7/8, 6.76m), placing second in its Tuesday slot. The stronger lead-in also helped 9 p.m.'s "New Girl" (2.8/7, 5.23m) rise from its low of the previous week.
Top scores for CBS came from Monday comedy anchors "Two and a Half Men" (3.6/9, 10.40m) and "How I Met Your Mother" (3.5/11, 8.00m), with the latter one of only two scripted programs to do better than a 10 share among adults 18-49 last week. Also, "NCIS" (3.1/9, 17.66m) was the week's No. 1 drama in 18-49, 25-54 and total viewers.
The net, which is considering an expansion of its Thursday comedy lineup next fall, tried a "Big Bang Theory" repeat Thursday at 9 and it narrowly led its half-hour (3.1/8 10.21m). And an hour later, "Person of Interest," the net's current Thursday 9 p.m. show, looked good in a repeat at 10 (1.8/5, 8.58m).
CBS preemed "NYC 22" to lackluster numbers on Sunday (1.5/4, 8.86m), though it did retain most of its "Good Wife" lead-in (1.8/5, 10.16m).
ABC welcomed back "Modern Family" (4.2/11, 10.35m) after three weeks of repeats, and the show emerged as the week's No. 3 series in 18-49, and No. 1 among scripted shows. It helped launch "Don't Trust the B in Apt. 23" to solid numbers (2.9/7, 6.91m), tying for 14th on the week in the demo.
Thursday newbie "Scandal" held steady in its second week (2.0/6, 7.28m), airing out of "Grey's Anatomy" (2.9/8, 8.85m).
The net's new take on "Titanic" sank, with Saturday's three-hour segment doing a 3 share in 18-49 and Sunday's hourlong conclusion doing a 2. On Sunday it led into "GCB" (1.5/4, 4.43m), which took a hit as a result.
NBC was paced by "The Voice" (4.0/11, 10.52m), the frame's No. 4 show, and also saw improved numbers for the show's Tuesday results seg (3.5/9, 9.00m). Also, "Celebrity Apprentice" was on the rise Sunday (2.2/6, 6.66m).
Otherwise, it was slow going for the Peacock, with "The Office" its top scripted skein (2.2/6, 4.39m).
HBO's "Thrones" held steady (1.8/4, 3.77m), which was good enough to put it ahead of other scripted cable originals for the week, with BET's "The Game" (1.2/3, 2.26m) and FX's season finale of "Justified" (1.1/3, 2.66m) coming closest in 18-49.
Faring well in its second week was Lifetime's "The Client List" (1.0/3, 2.85m), which built on its "Army Wives" lead-in (0.9/2, 2.91m) in all key demos. At AMC, "Mad Men" (2.69m) and "The Killing" (1.81m) were down a bit week to week.


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Hello Friends,
Since today is my birthday and it's in the middle of the Christmas season, I thought I would give away a few of my favorite things!
I love Christmas and books and writing and chocolate and snowmen. And I love to give gifts, so you are the lucky ones today, my friends!
I have one $20 Amazon gift card, some books, some writing items, and I'm going to give them away to my readers this week. All you need to do is reply to this post and answer the question, what is your favorite thing about Christmas? Feel free to forward this post to friends who enjoy inspirational romance books or reading blogs about author journeys. For those who reply by this Friday December 14th, those comments will be thrown into the pot and my seven-year-old daughter will draw the winners. (I'll need your mailing address to mail them out.)
What is your favorite thing about Christmas?
Good luck and Merry Christmas! (My last post until next year!)


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A Russian Tank ballet, choreographed by Andrei Melanyin, head of the State Academic Bolshoi Theater of Russia.
It's hard to look away when a 45-ton tank takes a 4-foot jump. And as it lands, more than 15 feet away from where it took off, you feel the force of the impact migrate through the metal bleachers into your feet, legs and gut.
I'm at a dress rehearsal at Zhukovsky test center, about 25 miles outside Moscow, for a theatrical performance called The Invincible and the Legendary, set to debut the next day at a Russian arms exposition. The dry name of the Russian expo—the Engineering Technologies International Forum 2010—belies its military focus and mass-market entertainment value. One part defense-technology trade show and one part summertime festival, the Forum's first two days are designated to showcase modern military hardware for potential foreign customers, but over the weekend the Forum becomes a patriotic pep rally. To get people's attention, the organizers at the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) need a show. Russian entertainment is not known for subtlety: Enter the T-90s, stage left.
Andrei Melanyin, seated with his legs crossed, watches the tanks practice from inside a beige tent in the bleachers. As the director of The Invincible and the Legendary, he's looking for mistakes with a practiced eye. Melanyin is the head of the State Academic Bolshoi Theater of Russia, which includes the world-famous Bolshoi Theater, and a professor at the Institute of Modern Art. "They asked me to come in and do something theatrical," he says of the government organizers of the event. "They wanted something more than just a technical demonstration." The show he produced skips like a fake gemstone across Russian history, from the violent founding of the nation out of the Kiev city-state in the 12th century to demonstrations of hand-to-hand combat, set to the music of Ravel's Bolero, by modern paratroopers. The program also includes a reenactment of a raid on a terrorist camp by attack helicopters, a display by combat dogs and a parade of heavy vehicles running obstacles. And the tanks—not just jumping ramps, but choreographed in a synchronized dance routine.
"I have rehearsed a lot with the tanks, but I had never sat inside one until this morning," Melanyin says, standing in the empty stands under the cool shadow of a flapping Russian flag. "If I had, I would not have asked the drivers for so much." Indeed, it's hard not to feel bad for the crews inside given the cramped interiors and padded cloth helmets endured by the tank crews.
The military technology festival comes at a pivotal time in Russia's history. After a long, painful slide, the government has nationalized the defense industry, reformed the military leadership structure and has set its sights—and oil revenues—on rearmament. Until recently, new materials were sold to other nations before they were delivered to the military. Now, military purchases for the domestic services have restarted. The need to sell weapons, which served as an economic foundation during the depression that swept Russia after the fall of communism, is being eclipsed by more domestic ambitions. Russia is rearming with modern weapons, but to do so means buying from abroad. For example, Russian tanks are nearly legendary, but their sensors are outdated and their armor is substandard. The government recently announced that it was considering purchasing kits from Germany to modernize its fleet and is buying Italian armored vehicles outright. This is a blow to Russian pride, given the country's proud history of weapon design.
Still, Russia is very much interested in selling its wares. Delegations from the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and India, among other nations, were on hand at the forum, seen wandering the expo and chatting with marketing spokesmen and booth bunnies at the displays. (Most interestingly, a handful of staff from an Iranian university were asking questions, in English, of the makers of sophisticated antiaircraft missiles.) Russia exported $5.3 billion worth of weapons-related production in the first six months of 2010 alone, according to an announcement made at the forum by the head of the FSMTC.
The show opens the next day. Stuntmen run around wielding flaming clubs, large squibs simulate cannonball impacts, paratroopers break bricks and tanks dance in their odd, clumsy way, waving their turrets in a coordinated, bizarre display. The 2-hour show ends with a curtain-call parade of the heavy vehicles, rolling past the stands while the Russian anthem plays and the crowd stands to cheer. It is all very inspiring and interesting, but I never feel the patriotism displayed by those in the stands. I just feel left out.
Jumping tanks, paratroopers breaking flaming bricks and attack dogs taking down terrorists: This is nationalistic entertainment.
Joe Pappalardo is a contributing writer at Popular Mechanics and author of the new book, Spaceport Earth: The Reinvention of Spaceflight.


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Fla. murder suspect posted photo of wife's body
SOUTH MIAMI — Derek Medina appeared to live much of his life online.
The 6-foot-2, 200-pound South Miami resident posted photos and videos of himself kick boxing, sailing, meeting celebrities and wearing a Miami Heat championship ring. In one Facebook photo, he mugged for the camera, holding a knife and a gun and wearing a green camouflage vest.
There was also what he called his "emotional" side: One of the six e-books the 31-year-old wrote and promoted on his website discussed the importance of communication to a good marriage.
On Thursday, Medina's Web-based persona took a nefarious turn: First he apparently posted a message on his page in which he confessed to killing his 26-year-old wife, Jennifer Alfonso. Moments later, a gruesome photo appeared on the page: a woman wearing black leotards slumped over on the floor with blood on her face and arm, her knees bent and her legs bent back behind her.
Several hours later, Facebook officials had taken down the page and Medina had turned himself in to police. Wearing a green jumpsuit, he appeared via video Friday before Miami Judge Maria Elena Verde, who ordered him held without bond on a first-degree murder charge. He is being represented by the public defender's office. A lawyer from the office told him to not discuss the case with anyone.
Neither Medina nor Alonso had criminal records prior to her death. Their relationship appeared rocky, however.
Public records show they first married in January 2010, divorced in February 2012, then remarried three months later. In March 2012, Medina bought the couple's condominium unit for $107,000.
Medina seemed to share some of these experiences in a 41-page e-book titled "How I Saved Someone's Life and Marriage and Family Problems Thru Communication," which recounts the marriage of a man and a woman who divorced, then remarried — and in between times had frightening encounters with aliens and ghosts.
"The author was with his wife in New York and his wife was attacked by a ghost," Medina wrote on a personal blog. "She was seeing a ghost and was being taunted and messed with. She informed her husband and he told her to go to sleep and he would watch over her. Minutes later he was attacked by a demon ghost and he was sick and throwing up."
A self-described fan of ghost hunting, Medina wrote on his Facebook page that he and Alfonso had once searched for ghouls in Florida and Louisiana. Other adventures included an encounter with bats in a cave in the Bahamas. A video he posted shows Medina throwing an object at the winged mammals before they fly toward him.
Acting was also a part of his life, according to Medina, who claimed to have appeared in the Miami-based crime drama "Burn Notice," though his name doesn't appear in online credits for the show.
His work life, according to his Facebook page, included a job as property management supervisor at The Gables Club, a gated, upscale condominium complex in Coral Gables. An official for the company who refused to identify himself said Friday that Medina worked there "briefly," but declined to elaborate on when or why he left the job.
A maintenance worker, who would not give his name, said he had seen Medina working at the front desk, taking care of calls and the tenants. He said was "a very nice guy, polite."
When he saw the news this morning and Medina's picture, the worker said, "It can't be. He's too nice."
Yoshi Dade, 33, a neighbor of Medina's at the townhouse complex where he lives in South Miami, said Medina approached him more than a year ago while Dade was working out. Dade said Medina told him he was the neighborhood watch patrol. He also told Dade he had a concealed weapons permit. Those claims could not be confirmed immediately.
Neighborhood watch became a household phrase following the arrest of former watch volunteer George Zimmerman, who was acquitted last month of all charges in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin in a gated townhouse complex in central Florida. Zimmerman shot Martin following a confrontation between the two while Zimmerman was on patrol.
Of Medina, Dade said, "He would walk around here and kinda patrol the area. He was always telling me there was a lot of stuff going on around here."
Dade thought the incident was bizarre and had only a few other interactions with Medina after that.
"He was just different," Dade said.
Neighbors said Medina was very private and never said hello.
Lori Wilkinson saw the couple and their daughter several times at the apartment's pool and mailbox and said they seemed like a nice family.
A neighbor who only identified herself as Sylvia said she was shocked.
"I couldn't sleep last night. I kept thinking of her," Sylvia said, although she said she did not know the couple.
Medina wrote several Facebook postings on Thursday about his wife, who was a waitress at Denny's.
"Im going to prison or death sentence for killing my wife love you guys, miss you guys takecare Facebook people you will see me in the news," said one post.
To Pamela Rutledge, the director of the Media Psychology Research Center in Boston, the grim postings were Medina's way of communicating his pain.
"This looked to me like someone who was in a lot of emotional distress who was actually confessing," she said. "Facebook and social technologies are really, for a lot of people, the go-to means of communication."
On July 25, a photo of a bloody body part showed up as the profile picture on the Facebook page of former Tampa, Fla., wrestler Brian McGhee. Hours later, he was charged with killing an ex-girlfriend.
According to Medina's arrest affidavit, he and Alfonso got into a heated argument in an upstairs bedroom of their condominium, at which point he grabbed a gun and pointed it at her. He said Alfonso left the bedroom, then later returned to tell him she was leaving him. Medina then went downstairs and confronted Alfonso in the kitchen, where she began punching him, the affidavit says.
Medina went back upstairs to get his gun. When he returned with it, Alfonso grabbed a knife. Medina said in the affidavit that he was able to wrestle the knife away and put it in a drawer, but that she began punching him again. It was then that he shot her several times, according to the affidavit.
A Facebook post about the slaying went out to friends at 11:11 a.m. Thursday.
Then came the photo, titled "Rip Jennifer Alfonso:" a woman in black leotards slumped on the floor who looked like she had fallen backward from a kneeling position, with her legs bent to her sides and blood on her left arm and left cheek. The photo was up for more than five hours before Facebook removed the page late Thursday afternoon.


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Matua Valley that is! I first purchased this wine last year while out in California. That was the 2006 vintage and we really enjoyed it for its crisp refreshing nature. So when I saw the 2007 at Total Wine and More, I grabbed a bottle. The wine was a 2007 Matua Valley Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. It cost me $9.99, had a screw-cap, and clocked in at 13% alcohol by volume.
On the nose the peppers jumped out at me! After they blew off, I found grapefruit, citrus, asparagus, and lemon. In the mouth, the fruit was grapefruit all the way, with lemon, and an odd bit of pear. The wine was crisp and tart and perfect for our hot hot hot weather!
PS: Happy Friday the 13th! I'm off for the weekend to my college reunion, see you all on Monday!
Filed under: Matua Valley, New Zealand, Sauvignon Blanc, White | 2 Comments »


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You have to hand it to Amazon, its is just going at this market hard and not letting up and by the looks of things, it is learning as it goes:
Whether you're in the market for an 8.9-inch or 7-inch tablet, the Kindle Fire HDX is a hard device to beat. Not just for the screen resolution or the high-end processor, either: at $229 for the smaller model or $379 for the larger, the HDX is among the cheapest tablets on the market that we'd even consider recommending at those screen sizes. Even the LTE models, at $329 and $479 respectively and available for Verizon and AT&T, are as cheap as you'll find for their kind. (And they're not even the cheapest of Amazon's new tablets.)
If Amazon can deliver on all its promises with its core apps, from email to the updated Silk browser, and can make the HDX into both the best vessel for Amazon content and something more besides, these two tablets are going to be hard to beat. And Mayday's going to have a lot of customers this fall.
via Amazon's Kindle Fire HDX: power, with a helping hand | The Verge.


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- Long cuff design
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Focus on Meaning to Become a Better Lover
- Whitney Hopler Live It Editor
- 2004 25 May
Advice abounds on how to improve your lovemaking techniques in marriage. But you could know all the techniques there are to know and still not have a fulfilling sex life with your spouse. That's because true satisfaction comes only when sex is imbued with the meaning and purpose that lead to genuine intimacy.
Here are some ways you can become a more purposeful lover:
• Realize that sex is more mental than it is physical. Understand that your thoughts powerfully influence your feelings and actions. Know that if you transform your thoughts, you can transform your lovemaking.
• Remember that God designed sex. Recognize that sex is a good gift designed by God for husbands and wives to enjoy fully and often. Make it a priority to pursue a fulfilling sex life, trusting that God would like that for you and your spouse.
• Deal with unsettled issues from your past. If you've suffered neglect, abuse, or some other problem in your past that's blocking your ability to achieve a good sex life with your spouse, pursue the healing you need. Seek the help of a trusted friend, pastor, or counselor.
• Identify what turns you on ... and off. Talk honestly with your spouse about how you can work together to make specific changes in your lovemaking so you'll both be more fulfilled. Beyond physical changes you might make, also consider how you might build greater intimacy through communication, feeding your minds and emotions, recreation, enjoying social time, and pursuing spiritual growth together. Rank which issues are most important to each of you.
• Accept yourself and your body. Realize that, in order to successfully love your spouse, you must love yourself first. Know that this doesn't mean being selfish, but instead accepting the fact that God made you in His image and imbued you with great worth. Remember that God also made your body. Make peace with the way you've been made.
• Keep on striving to learn more about your spouse. Understand that there is always more for you to learn about your spouse, no matter how long you've been married. View your marriage as an adventure where both you and your spouse are explorers.
• Understand gender differences. Discuss how you and your spouse are different because of your different genders. Seek to understand how the differences between men and women apply to your marriage, and how you can keep that in mind as you try to build a more satisfying sex life.
• Affirm your commitment to each other. Let your words and actions communicate security to your spouse, recognizing that a sense of commitment gives you both the peace you need to fully invest in each other. Be willing to make sacrifices for the sake of your relationship.
• Love your spouse for who he or she is - not who you want your spouse to be. Accept the reality of the person you married and let go of unrealistic expectations and attempts to change him or her. Ask God to help you see your spouse as God sees him or her, and to love your spouse no matter what.
• Learn your spouse's love language. Ask your partner to describe what makes him or her feel loved - words of affirmation, gifts, etc. Then strive to express your love for your spouse in those specific ways.
• Don't use sex as a weapon or bargaining tool. Don't withhold sex because you're angry or use it to manipulate your spouse into doing what you want. Realize that sex is a gift from God that should be opened with no strings attached. Give each other the freedom to ask for whatever you each desire, and whenever possible, try to give it to each other. But never demand sex. And if you need to turn your partner down, be graceful and loving when you do.
• Vary times, positions, and places. Be creative. Discover new times, positions, and places for your lovemaking to keep it fun.
• Learn each other's erogenous zones. Take the time to figure out how you can bring each other the most pleasure by arousing these zones during your lovemaking.
Adapted from Making Love Meaningfully: The Purpose of Marital Intimacy, copyright 2003 by Charles M. and Virginia Sell. Published by Broadman & Holman Publishers, Nashville, Tn., www.broadmanholman.com.
Charles Sell is professor emeritus of educational ministries at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. He has contributed articles to several prominent publications, including Christianity Today, Moody, and The Evangelical Beacon. He is also the author of numerous books, including Family Ministry, Achieving the Impossible, Intimate Marriage, Unfinished Business: Helping Adult Children Resolve Their Past, and Power Dads.
Virginia Sell helped her husband conduct research for Making Love Meaningfully: The Purpose of Marital Intimacy. She joined him to interview many couples through surveys, marriage seminars, and counseling sessions.


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2014 Chicago Auto Show
Nissan Teases a Cummins Frontier; Toyota Gets Some Attitude
The Chicago auto show has traditionally been a significant one in terms of new debuts for trucks and SUVs, and this year is no different. There were several production debuts from Toyota and Chevrolet, and a sneak peek of what might be coming in the years ahead from Nissan.
As expected, bi-fuel CNG versions of the 2015 General Motors HD trucks will continue to be offered, powered by the Vortec 6000. Chevrolet will also be selling its own version of the Nissan NV200, sold under the City Express moniker, a quick solution to counter the Ford Transit Connect and the forthcoming Ram ProMaster City.
The biggest surprises came from the Japanese brands. Toyota unveiled a whole portfolio of aggressive off-road-oriented versions of the 4Runner, Tacoma, and Tundra, and Nissan showed a Frontier concept powered by a four-cylinder Cummins engine, giving a not-so-subtle hint of what might be in store for the next-generation truck.
2015 Chevrolet City Express
If you've seen the Nissan NV200, you've essentially seen the Chevy City Express. Changes are minimal, other than the requisite changes to the grille and badging. This gives Chevrolet a quick answer to Ford's redesigned Transit Connect, and Ram's forthcoming ProMaster City. Like the Nissan, it comes with a single powertrain and basic configuration of a 131-hp, 2.0-liter I-4 mated to a CVT, and a two-seat cargo van configuration. Unlike the Ford, there will be no passenger-van configuration, at least not initially.
Click here to read our full First Look.
Chevrolet rolled out a CNG bi-fuel Silverado HD for 2014, and a natural gas offering will continue for 2014. The 2015 model is substantially different outwardly, but the GM HD trucks got an all-new frame and chassis for 2011, with sheetmetal and interiors largely carrying over. Unlike the 1/2-ton offerings, the port-injected 6.0-liter Vortec V-8 carries over, with special modifications to the fuel system and valvetrain for CNG duty. Output is 360 hp and 380 lb-ft on gasoline, and 301 hp and 333 lb-ft on CNG.
Click here to read our full First Look.
2015 Ford F-150 Snow Plow Pre
Polar vortex beware, as the redesigned 2015 Ford F-150 will be available with a snow plow prep option when it goes on sale by the end of this year. Ford says the 2015 F-150 is the first light-duty pickup with a manufacturer-installed snow plow prep package.
2015 Ford F 150 Snow Plow Front End The snow plow prep option is available on all cab configurations (Regular, SuperCab, and SuperCrew), though the F-150 models must be XL, XLT, or Lariat trims equipped with four-wheel drive and the 5.0-liter V-8 engine. Ford rates the maximum weight for the light-duty plow at over 450 pounds.
The full-size luxury SUV market is not what it was a few years ago, when General Motors and Ford had a virtual oligopoly on the segment with the Cadillac Escalade, GMC Yukon Denali, and Lincoln Navigator. Today, there are more competitors, such as the Infiniti QX80 (formerly QX56) and Mercedes-Benz GL. And, of course, the Range Rover has always been a favorite in the ultra-premium SUV class. So perhaps it shouldn't be too much of a shock that it's taken eight years for the Lincoln Navigator to get an extreme, and much-needed, makeover. It's finally here, and the 2015 Lincoln Navigator is sure to appeal to the loyalists who have bought the Navigator over the last 17 years.
Click here to read our full First Look.
2015 Nissan Frontier Diesel Runner
Although based on the current F-Alpha Frontier platform, the Frontier Diesel Runner concept shows what the minds in Nashville and Yokohama are thinking. As we previously speculated, the collaboration between Nissan and Cummins on the next-generation Titan has borne additional fruit, and the Diesel Runner's 2.8-liter Cummins I-4 and ZF eight-speed automatic transmission are a good indication of what we might be seeing in showrooms in the next few years. With more than 350 lb-ft of torque and an estimated 35 percent greater fuel economy than the current 4.0-liter gas V-6, this combination can't hit dealerships soon enough.
Click here to read our full First Look.
2015 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro Series
Since at least the mid-1980s, when Marty McFly expressed his fondness for a black Toyota 4x4, the brand has been known for making capable, rugged smaller trucks. While the aftermarket has long offered ample support for the Tacoma and its predecessors, Toyota's factory contributions have mostly been a series of special trim packages, some with the TRD label. This is the most extreme factory offering we've seen from Toyota in recent memory.
The TRD Pro package on the Tacoma includes TRD-tuned off-road springs with a 2.0-inch front lift, a decreased spring rate for greater high-speed stability and handling, 16-inch beadlock-style wheels, a TRD exhaust, and TRD Pro badging. No changes are underhood, but don't forget the Tacoma is available with a dealer-installed supercharger that brings output to over 300 hp and 330 lb-ft of torque.
Click here to read our full First Look.
2015 Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro Series
The 4Runner has come a long way since its origins of being essentially a short-bed Toyota Pickup with a back seat and a camper shell. Over its 30-year history, it's never lost sight of its roots, and remains a body-on-frame SUV with low-range 4x4 available. The TRD Pro package honors this faithful heritage with an additional 1.5 inches of front lift, an inch more of wheel travel, 17-inch TRD black alloy wheels, TRD Pro badging, and black front and rear bumper accents.
Click here to read our full First Look.
2015 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro Series
Since the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor debuted in late 2010, it has been for the most part unchallenged from other automakers in terms of a factory offering. While the Tundra TRD Pro doesn't quite go as far as the Raptor in the extent of its modifications and upgrades, it's farther than any other manufacturer has gone with a full-fledged factory effort. Like the Tacoma and the 4Runner, the Tundra TRD Pro gets a 2.0-inch front lift, decreased spring rates for improved ride quality over rough terrain, and black TRD 18-inch alloy wheels. It also receives a dual exhaust system, a "TRD Pro" quarter-panel bed stamping, unique seating material color with red stitching, and an ornamental insert on the instrument panel.
Click here to read our full First Look.
2014 Dodge Journey Crossroads
Dodge has lifted the drape off its newest vehicle: the Journey Crossroad. This model isn't as extreme at the R/T, but it does offer cool performance styling cues, such as unique front fascia, with Platinum Chrome accents and a Gloss Black surround; matching Gloss Black taillight bezels and surrounds for the foglights and dark, tinted headlights with black bezels; Platinum Chrome lower rear fascia; and Platinum Chrome roof rails and lower side sills. It also rides on Hyper Black 19-inch wheels.
Click here to read our full First Look.
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$1,453 Refunded for FEMA Mistake
Hooray! Today, after over a year of protesting, we were finally refunded the full $1,453 for flood insurance we had to buy because of a FEMA map mistake. Sometimes, you can fight City Hall and win!
On 7 July 2009, my husband and I received a letter from our mortgage holder that FEMA (the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency) had changed their FIRM (Flood Insurance Rate Map) such that our house was now in a high-risk SFHA (Special Flood Hazard Area). We were required to buy annual flood insurance for the life of our mortgage loan because of FEMA's map change.
Our house was built around 1930 next to the Guadalupe River, also known as the Lewis Canal in what is now the Willow Glen neighborhood of San Jose, California. The Lewis Canal is named after its engineer, Frank Lewis (who was husband to Martha "Patty" Reed Lewis of the Donner Party). The canal was built about a hundred years ago. The property line behind our house runs down the middle of the river and includes a steep embankment that rises five feet above ground level and then drops twenty feet to the river water.
How did the FEMA map of a hundred-year-old canal and eighty-year-old house change? FEMA maps used to be drawn on a plain background. Some clever person decided to take the old maps (as is – with no change) and superimpose the lines on a background of satellite photos. The resolution of the original map and the satellite map were different. The old map was drawn on square grids and the satellite photos were taken with a round lens – so there was some mismatch and alignment error. A flat picture of the round Earth will always have such errors.
The creation of the new map caused the mortgage company's flood area determination company (LPS National Flood) to review the situation of the mortgaged properties which might be effected. Although FEMA's new FIRM did not include any new information with regard to the relative location of our house and the river, the new picture's misalignment appeared to make the line indicating our house touch the line of the river. That our house is ten feet from the edge of the embankment's retaining wall did not matter. Taking the most conservative approach, the mortgage company required us starting immediately to pay $1,453 annually for flood insurance for the duration of the mortgage.
We talked with our mortgage company with no good results. We contacted FEMA with no good results. We contacted LPS National Flood with no good results. We talked with the insurance company with no good results. Everyone said that even though the new map did not correctly reflect the physical circumstances of our house and the river, the mortgage company could require us to buy flood insurance in perpetuity based on the map. We signed up for flood insurance and continued to fight.
We eventually hired J.P. Tanner of Scotts Valley to work with FEMA to correct their map. We learned in the process that hundreds of other San Jose home owners along the river were in the same bureaucratic map-insurance mess as we were. Eventually, in April 2010, FEMA issued a LOMA (Letter of Map Amendment) formally removing our house from the flood zone. It took until today for our mortgage and insurance companies to issue paperwork and send a refund check.


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I'm truly shocked. It's like the feeling you have when you're grading blue books and you realize this one's going to have to get an F.
I finally had the time today to read the whole opinion in ACLU v. NSA... I mean, that was the whole opinion, right? I kept shuffling the pages around and looking under the table to see if there were some pages I missed...
What the hell? Was there no law clerk who had enough nerve to say, Judge, it can't go out like this? How do you ever get to the level of arrogance that keeps you from seeing when an opinion is this patently deficient? Where do you acquire the vaulting imagination that allows you think an opinion in this form will even help the side you're rushing to hand a victory to? I can see slipping into abject carelessness in a low profile case, but this is such a conspicuous case. I simply cannot fathom how a judge with any sense at all, with any assistance from law clerks who were not cowed into ridiculous submission, would file a case in this form.
I'm not talking about the normal way judges write result-oriented decisions, which is to layer in the scholarly and neutral-looking verbiage in the hope that most people will swallow it and the critics will seems like sore losers. This opinion -- beginning midway through the text -- does not even look like a rough draft. It seems as if the judge ran out of time and handed in something that was less than an outline. Much less.
The first half of the text is written in a creditable style. Most of this is the discussion of the state secrets doctrine, which concludes with a dismissal of the plaintiffs' claim challenging the data mining program. We then begin the material that leads to the judge's conclusion that the warrantless surveillance program -- known as TSP -- should be enjoined. The first few pages of this are written competently, as the judge finds that the plaintiffs are suing because they have a "distinct and palpable injury" and thus satisfy the first of the three constitutional requirements for standing to sue. Cases are cited and discussed appropriately. One could argue with the analysis, but it is what one expects from a decently written opinion.
At this point, with many issues left to discuss -- including the rest of the standing doctrine and all of the questions of statutory and constitutional law relating to TSP -- the writing falls headlong off a cliff. I have never seen anything like this. There are many sections left to the opinion, but each contains little more than preliminary verbiage -- quotes from old cases and zingers about how the Framers opposed King George III -- with tagged on conclusions about how "obviously" the Fourth Amendment/First Amendment/Separation of Powers is violated. These read like place-keeper sentences that were slated to be replaced by real analysis.
The judge grants a permanent injunction on the assertion that the requirements "have undisputedly been met." Undisputedly? No one disputed that the requirements were met? I guess that was supposed to be "indisputably." The judge drops a footnote listing the requirements for an injunction:
(1) that [the plaintiff] has suffered an irreparable injury; (2) that remedies available at law, such as monetary damages, are inadequate to compensate for that injury; (3) that, considering the balance of hardships between the plaintiff and defendant, a remedy in equity is warranted; and (4) that the public interest would not be disserved by a permanent injunction.The text of the opinion offers three sentences of analysis of these requirements:
The irreparable injury necessary to warrant injunctive relief is clear, as the First and Fourth Amendment rights of Plaintiffs are violated by the TSP. See Dombrowski v. Pfister, 380 U.S. 479, 85 S. Ct. 1116, 14 L. Ed. 2d 22 (1965). The irreparable injury conversely sustained by Defendants under this injunction may be rectified by compliance with our Constitution and/or statutory law, as amended if necessary. Plaintiffs have prevailed, and the public interest is clear, in this matter. It is the upholding of our Constitution.That's not analysis. That's a petulant refusal to take the task of judging seriously. Where is the discussion of hardship and public interest? The judge is so hot to hold the President to what she sees as his constitutional obligations. You'd think she'd take a little more care to give the appearance of adhering to hers.


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Saudi Crown Prince Says King Abdullah "Well and in Good Health"
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) – Saudi Crown Prince Salman said on Tuesday that King Abdullah was "well and in good healthâ€, more than 10 days after the monarch underwent back surgery, a message likely to reassure many states keen on the stability of the world's biggest oil exporter.
No photographs have been released of the monarch, believed to be in his late 80s, since the 11-hour operation on November 17 at the National Guard's King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh.
"Brothers, I convey to you greetings of … King Abdullah and I convey to you good news that he is well and in good health,†Prince Salman, who is also the defense minister, told counterparts from the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council at a meeting in Riyadh, in comments aired on Saudi state television.
Saudi stability is of global concern. The pivotal U.S. ally in the Gulf holds more than a fifth of world petroleum reserves and is the birthplace of Islam, where millions of Muslims flock to perform the annual haj pilgrimage.
Top Saudi royals have repeatedly visited King Abdullah in hospital since the royal court announced the surgery to tighten a ligament in his upper back on November 18 a success, according to state media.
Saudi analysts said it was understandable that recovery would take time, given the king's advanced age.
On Monday, Prince Salman "reassured†Saudis about the king's health at a cabinet meeting, the state news agency SPA reported, but he gave no details on his condition or when he will be released from hospital.
The Saudi stock market index reversed a downward trend after the announcement on Monday, ending the day in positive territory. But on Tuesday, the index fell to a 10-month low to close 1.3 lower.
King Abdullah underwent a similar operation in October last year and had back surgery twice in the United States in 2010 for a herniated disc, after which he spent three months outside Saudi Arabia recuperating.
Two days after his back operation last year, Abdullah appeared on state television and was released from hospital within five days.
The crown has passed down a line of sons of the kingdom's founder King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud, who died in 1953.
King Abdullah – who took power in 2005 – named his brother Prince Salman, 13 years his junior, heir apparent in June after the death of Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz.
Salman, who deputizes for the king, was shown on television last week meeting visiting U.S. officials. He had chaired two cabinet two weekly cabinet meetings since the surgery.
(Reporting by Asma Alsharif, writing by Sami Aboudi, editing by Mark Heinrich)


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How did 20th Century Fox celebrate the new Blu-ray edition of Avatar, an epic tale of love, greed, and survival set in the wondrous jungles of Pandora? They gave a housewife a buncha Blu-ray discs and said, "make a mosaic."
But not just any housewife! This is Laura Hadland of "Extreme Housewifery," probably best known as the Guinness World Record holder for the world's largest toast mural. Really! So she knows what she's doing.
Looks pretty good, Laura. Maybe this little promotional stunt will finally help Avatar break through to the mainstream. [Extreme Housewife via Oddity Central]


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Val went to a course for work in Johannesburg on Monday and Tuesday, and fell down the stairs at the Balalaika Hotel in Sandton on the way down to the parking garage. When she got to the car she found her arm wasn't working, so she phoned me and Jethro to come and fetch her, as she couldn't drive.
I took her to Sunninghill Hospital on the way home, and they put her arm in a sling and did all sorts of X-rays, and asked her to come back and see an orthopaedic specialist the next day. So yestyerday I took her back to the hospital for that, and she got an even more fancy cling, and they said a bone in her shoulder is cracked, so she will be sort of incapacitated for the next six weeks or so.
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Si and Ge growth on the stripe-patterned Si (001) substrates is studied using in situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). During Si buffer growth, the evolution of RHEED patterns reveals a rapid change of the stripe morphology from a multifaceted "U" to a single-faceted "V" geometry with {119} sidewall facets. This allows to control the pattern morphology and to stop Si buffer growth once a well-defined stripe geometry is formed. Subsequent Ge growth on "V"-shaped stripes was performed at two different temperatures of 520 and 600°C. At low temperature of 520°C, pronounced sidewall ripples are formed at a critical coverage of 4.1 monolayers as revealed by the appearance of splitted diffraction streaks in RHEED. At 600°C, the ripple onset is shifted toward higher coverages, and at 5.2 monolayers dome islands are formed at the bottom of the stripes. These observations are in excellent agreement with STM images recorded at different Ge coverages. Therefore, RHEED is an efficient tool for in situ control of the growth process on stripe-patterned substrate templates. The comparison of the results obtained at different temperature reveals the importance of kinetics on the island formation process on patterned substrates.
Self-assembled growth of Stranski–Krastanow islands on pre-patterned substrates has attracted great interest [1–20] because it provides an effective route for positioning of quantum dots in nano-electronic devices. For patterning, various methods such as optical [1–3], holographic [4–7], electron beam [5–10], focused ion beam [12–14] as well as extreme UV interference lithography [15, 16] have been used, and different pattern geometries, including stripes [1, 4–6], mesas [2], and pits with various sizes and shapes [3, 7–17], have been employed. For site-control of deposited quantum dots, however, the pattern morphology has to be tightly controlled and the growth conditions tuned to the given template structure [5–17]. In particular, perfect site-control can be achieved only in a limited window of growth conditions [7, 12–17]. In addition, the shape of the pattern morphology as well as the growth conditions also determines where the quantum dots are formed on the surface. Under different conditions, thus, dot formation was found to occur at different substrate locations, such as in the center of pits [7–17], in the middle of grooves [4–6], at sidewalls [4–6], or even at edges or ridges [1, 2, 10, 12, 15, 16] of the pattern structures. Further complications arise from the limited thermal budget available for substrate treatment before epitaxial growth to preserve the pattern on the surface. Therefore, a buffer layer growth is required to remove the defects produced by the patterning process. During buffer growth, however, the pattern morphology rapidly changes and usually a complex multifaceted surface topography is formed [3–6, 15, 16], which further modifies the dot nucleation process. Therefore, the whole process sequence must be tightly controlled for reproducible position control of the quantum dots.
In the present work, we report on in situ control of Si and Ge growth on stripe-patterned Si (001) substrates using reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) where large area patterns were produced by holographic lithography. Because of the simple geometry, stripes represent a model system [4–6] for the growth on non-planar substrate templates with complex surface topographies. Moreover, their one-dimensional structure allows electron diffraction from all parts of the surface when the electron beam is directed parallel to the stripes. This does not apply for two-dimensional patterns due to shadowing effects. In the present work, RHEED is employed to study the pattern evolution during buffer growth from multifaceted "U"- to single-faceted "V"-shaped stripes in real time, by which a high reproducibility of the pattern structure is achieved. Real-time monitoring was also applied during subsequent Ge growth at different substrate temperatures, revealing the critical coverages for sidewall ripple formation and 3D island nucleation. To obtain a real space picture of the nucleation process, the epitaxial surfaces were imaged in a step-wise manner using STM, where due to UHV conditions, epitaxial growth could be continued after each imaging step. In this way, a detailed microscopic picture of the island nucleation process is obtained.
The investigations were carried out in a multichamber Si/Ge molecular beam epitaxy and scanning tunneling microscopy system equipped with a Si e-beam evaporator, Ge effusion cell, and an Omicron variable temperature STM. Stripe-patterned Si (001) substrates were produced by holographic lithography and CF4 reactive ion etching. The stripes were aligned along the [110] surface direction and have a lateral period 350 nm and a depth of 40–50 nm as determined by atomic force microscopy. After standard RCA cleaning (see e.g. [20]), the native oxide was chemically removed by an HF dip, producing a stable hydrogen-passivated Si surface. The samples were then loaded into the MBE system and outgassed and annealed for 15 min at 750°C.
A two-step buffer Si growth procedure was employed to remove the processing defects and residual surface contamination. It consisted of a first low-temperature Si buffer layer of 25 nm thickness grown at a temperature of 450°C, followed by a second Si buffer growth at 520°C. After a short annealing at 600°C for 5 min, Ge was then deposited up to a thickness of 7 monolayers (ML) at two different growth temperatures of T s = 520 and 600°C. The Si and Ge growth rates were 2 and 1.5 Å/min, respectively, as checked by quartz microbalance as well as RHEED intensity oscillations. RHEED analysis was done using 25 kV electrons directed parallel to the stripes along the [110] azimuth direction. The intensity evolution of various diffraction spots as a function of deposited layer thickness was measured using a video-based image processing system. For STM investigations, the samples were rapidly quenched at different stages of growth with a rate of −10°C/sec, and then transferred under UHV to the attached STM chamber. Imaging was performed at tunneling currents of around 0.1 nA and applied sample bias of 2–4 V. Due to the low system pressure in the 10−11 mbar regime, growth could be continued afterward after a short annealing for a few minutes at 450°C.
After patterning, the stripes exhibit a nearly rectangular geometry with vertical sidewalls and a depth of 40–50 nm [6]. Due to the surface roughness, etching defects, and residual carbon surface contamination, a spotty RHEED pattern is observed after hydrogen desorption and annealing, as shown by Fig. 1a. During Si buffer growth, the RHEED patterns rapidly evolve as illustrated by the sequence of diffraction patterns displayed in Fig. 1b–1f. Already after 5 nm Si deposition at 450°C, the surface quality drastically improves and the initial 3D diffraction spots completely disappear (see Fig. 1b). Continuation of buffer growth, results in the appearance of faint additional diffraction streaks inclined by 25° to the surface normal, as indicated by the dashed lines in the RHEED pattern of Fig. 1c recorded after 10 nm Si growth. These diffraction streaks arise from electrons specularly reflected from the tilted sidewalls of the stripes. As illustrated schematically in Fig. 2, the tilt angle α of these streaks with respect to the (001) specular spot corresponds exactly to the sidewall tilt angle on the pattern surface. Their appearance thus indicates a rapid flattening of the sidewalls surfaces and a preferential orientation toward {113} surface facets, which are inclined exactly by 25.4° to the (001) substrate orientation. Further Si growth at 450°C up to 25 nm (see Fig. 1d) does not change much the diffractions pattern.
Increasing the buffer growth temperature at this point to 520°C results in a rapid change in the RHEED patterns. After 2 nm further Si growth (Fig. 1e), the {113} facet spots sharpen and strongly increase in intensity. This indicates an initial rapid expansion, i.e., growth of the {113} sidewall facets of the stripes. During further Si growth at 520°C, however, the {113} RHEED spots weaken again and new facet spots near the specular spot appear at a tilt angle of only about 9°, as indicated by the arrow in the RHEED patterns depicted in Fig. 1f after 17 nm Si deposition. The 9° tilt angle corresponding to a sidewall facet oriental near {119}, meaning that during the high-temperature buffer growth step, the sidewall inclination rapidly decreases due to surface mass transport toward the bottom of the stripes.
This observation is corroborated by the STM images presented in Fig. 3a and b that show the pattern structure after 7 nm, respectively, 20 nm Si buffer growth at 520°C. After 7 nm, the stripes assume a multifaceted "U"-shaped geometry, consisting of segmented sidewalls with main {113}, {114}, and {119} facet orientations as indicated in Fig. 3a. The corresponding facet spots also appear in the surface orientation map (SOM) of the STM image depicted as insert. In these SOMs, the intensity of each spot represents the relative amount of surface area within the STM image with an {hkl} orientation defined by the position (distance and azimuth angle) of the spot relative to the central (001) spot. Obviously, at 7 nm Si buffer, the {113} facet is most pronounced, in agreement with the RHEED data. The formation of {113} sidewall facets also agrees with the fact that the {113} surfaces have been found to be one of the major low-energy surfaces of silicon [21, 22], meaning that the sidewall facettation leads to a lowering of the total surface energy of the system. After 20 nm Si growth, however, the stripe morphology has changed to a shallow "V"-shaped form with an average sidewall inclination close to 9° as revealed by the corresponding STM image and surface orientation map shown in Fig. 2b. This transformation to mainly {119} oriented sidewalls is accompanied by a shrinking of the stripe depth from 35 to 7 nm after 20 nm Si growth. It is noted that the {119} facet spots in the surface orientation map are rather broad and elongated. This means that the sidewall orientation of the "V" stripes is not precisely defined, which explains the diffuse appearance of these facet spots in the corresponding RHEED pattern (Fig. 1f).
The change of stripe morphology during Si buffer growth is also reflected in the intensity evolution of the different RHEED diffraction features as a function of deposited Si thickness. This evolution is shown in Fig. 1g for the specular, as well as the {113} and {119} facet spots that are indicated by arrows in the RHEED patterns. The intensity of the specular spot (purple line) slightly increases during the first 4 nm low-temperature buffer growth (not shown), but then gradually decreases due to the rounding of the ridges and filling of the grooves (see STM image of Fig. 3), which decreases the amount of (001) surface area on the stripes. Toward the end of buffer growth at 520°C, however, the specular spot intensity increases again as the surface starts to planarize. The {113} facet spot in the RHEED patterns, for which the intensity evolution is depicted as red line in Fig. 1g, first appears after 10 nm low-temperature buffer growth, and its intensity abruptly increases when the substrate temperature is raised to 520°C during the second buffer growth step. It reaches a maximum after 3 nm Si growth, where the {113} sidewall facets are most pronounced. Further Si growth subsequently leads to a reduction in the (113) intensity and the (119) facet intensity (blue line in Fig. 1g) starts to rise as the multifaceted "U" stripes are transformed to "V"-shaped stripes. Termination of the Si buffer growth at this point yields well-defined stripe profiles with reproducible "V" geometry.
Ge growth on these "V" stripes was studied in a subsequent set of experiments. In the first set, Ge was grown at the same temperature as the second buffer at T s = 520°C. Figure 4a–4f shows the sequence of RHEED patterns observed for Ge coverages increasing from 0 to 7 ML. The corresponding intensity evolution of the specular spot and other diffraction features are shown in Fig. 4g on the right hand side. During the first 2 ML Ge deposition (see Fig. 4b), the RHEED pattern significantly changes, i.e., the residues of the {113} facet spots completely disappear and the specular spot intensity strongly decreases (purple line in Fig. 4g). The latter is caused by the surface roughening of the 2D Ge wetting layer surface associated with the formation of a high density of dimer vacancy lines and subsequently missing dimer rows [6, 19] in the surface reconstruction, which allows a partial stress relaxation [19]. As shown by our previous STM investigations [6], at 2 ML corresponding (2 × 8) surface reconstruction and a stable {11 10}, sidewall facet is formed with a slightly reduced inclination angle of 8° compared to 9° for the {119} facet. During further Ge deposition up to 4 ML, the RHEED patterns do not change much as shown by Fig. 4c. Beyond 4.2 ML coverage, however, splitted 3D diffraction spots appear in the RHEED patterns as indicated by the dashed squares in Fig. 4d and 4f, signifying the nucleation of 3D structures on the surface. From the measured intensity evolution versus coverage represented by the blue line in Fig. 4g, the critical thickness for the onset of this roughening transition is determined as 4.1 ML.
The surface structure formed in this roughening transition is revealed by the STM images displayed in row of Fig. 5 recorded after 4.5, 5.1, and 7 ML Ge growth. Already at 4.5 ML coverage (Fig. 5a), the STM image shows that the {11 10} sidewalls of the stripes are fully covered by ripples oriented perpendicularly to the [110] stripe direction. The ripples consist of alternating {105} microfacets, which is proven by the corresponding surface orientation map shown as insert. The average ripple height amounts to 9.3 Å, which is about twice of the deposited Ge thickness. Comparing RHEED and STM data, the extra RHEED diffraction spots appearing at this coverage can be directly assigned to this ripple formation, and the splitting of these diffraction spots is explained by the fact that the ripples on opposite sidewalls are tilted by 16° (=2 × 8°) with respect to each other. At 5.1 ML Ge coverage (Fig. 5b), additional pyramids and hut islands with {105} sidewall facets start to nucleate on the ridges of the stripes, and their density subsequently increases such that at 7 ML coverage (Fig. 5c), the ridges are decorated by these islands. At the same time, a coarsening and thickening of ripples on the sidewalls occurs. This is in contrast to the expected Ge accumulation at the bottom of the grooves, indicating that there is only little lateral redistribution of the deposited Ge adatoms. Thus, at 520°C, lateral Ge mass transport is inhibited due to slow surface diffusion. Moreover, the nucleation of Ge islands at the edges of the ridges indicates that there is an additional hopping barrier at the edges between the ridges and the sidewall facets.
A completely different Ge island formation process occurs when Ge growth is performed at a higher temperature of 600°C, for which the corresponding RHEED patterns and intensity evolution of diffraction spots are shown in Fig. 6. Like for the case of 520°C growth, within the first two monolayers of Ge deposition the specular spot intensity strongly decreases due to the transition from the initial Si (2 × 1) to the Ge (2 × 8) surface reconstruction [6, 19], and any remnants of the tilted {113} facet streaks in RHEED disappear. Up to about 4 ML Ge, the surface structure and RHEED patterns remain practically unchanged (see Fig. 6b–6c), and the splitted ripple diffraction spots only appear at a Ge coverage of 4.6 ML. This is also evidenced by the respective intensity versus Ge coverage curve depicted as blue line in Fig. 6g, where the abrupt intensity increase in the ripple spot at 4.6 ML is indicated by the vertical dashed line. Evidently, this onset is half a monolayer later than at the lower 520°C growth temperature, and these ripple spots are obviously less sharp and pronounced. The corresponding STM image of the surface structure formed at 4.6 ML coverage is shown in Fig. 5d, evidencing indeed that the sidewall ripples at 600°C are smaller and less pronounced than those at 520°C (cf. Fig. 5a). According to STM line profiles measured along the sidewalls of the stripes, the average ripple height at 600°C is only 5.7 Å when compared to 9.3 Å at 520°C, indicating that at the higher growth temperature less material is incorporated at the sidewalls of the stripes.
At 5.2 ML Ge thickness, additional sharp diffraction spots appear in the RHEED patterns, as marked by the dashed circle in Fig. 6f. This signifies the formation of larger 3D islands on the epilayer surface. The onset is evidenced by the rapid intensity increase in these 3D diffraction spots at this coverage, as demonstrated by corresponding intensity evolution depicted as red line in Fig. 6g. At this coverage, pyramids as well as multifaceted dome islands are found the STM image depicted in Fig. 5e. The shapes of the Ge islands of pyramids and domes correspond exactly to those formed on unpatterned Si (001) surfaces. This is corroborated by the surface orientation map inserts in Fig. 5e–5f, where the usual {105}, {113} and {15 3 23} facet spots of dome islands appear [23, 24]. Interestingly, at 600°C, the amplitude of the sidewall ripples does not increase at higher Ge coverages, which is an indication that the Ge thickness on the sidewalls does not increase much, because once formed practically all of the subsequently deposited Ge is transferred and incorporated into the 3D islands. This is substantiated by statistical analysis of the increase in the total island volume as a function of Ge coverage, which indicates that at 5.2 ML coverage already more than half a monolayer Ge is incorporated within the islands, assuming a Si/Ge intermixing of x Ge ~ 30% within the domes as indicated by previous work (see e.g. [24]).
According to the STM images displayed in Fig. 5, at the higher growth temperature, Ge islands nucleate exclusively at the bottom of the grooves and they rapidly transform from pyramids to domes as growth proceeds. On the contrary, at low-temperature Ge islands form predominantly on the top of the ridges and retain their pyramidal shape even up to 7 ML coverage and only slowly grow in size. At 520°C, also the size of the sidewall ripple progressively increases with Ge coverage up to 7 ML, whereas the ripple amplitude quickly saturates at 600°C. These observations indicate a large lateral mass transport and material redistribution at the higher growth temperature, whereas it is only very small at 520°C, where lateral mass transport obviously only occurs on a very limited length scale. Indeed, at 520°C, the average island distance is only around 40 nm, compared to more than 350 nm (=lateral stripe period) at 600°C. The kinetically limited adatom diffusion at 520°C leads to nearly conformal wetting layer growth up to 4 ML Ge coverage. Thus, the critical coverage for island formation is reached simultaneously at the ridges and the sidewall surfaces, where 3D islands also form (see Fig. 5b). At 600°C, however, due to the higher adatom mobility, the capillary force arising from the high curvature at the bottom of the grooves [18] invokes a significant Ge downward mass transport. As a result, a flattening, i.e., filling of the bottom of the grooves occurs during Ge wetting layer growth as seen by STM in Fig. 5d and thus, also ripple formation is delayed. The Ge transfer to the bottom of the grooves leads to a local thickening of the Ge layer and thus to an exclusive Ge island nucleation at the bottom of the grooves. Once formed, nearly all additionally deposited Ge is sucked into these islands due to the large energy gain associated with the elastic strain relaxation. Therefore, STM images recorded at higher coverages show that even up to 11ML, no new islands are formed on any other surface location.
In this work, in situ RHEED monitoring of Si and Ge growth on stripe-patterned Si substrates was demonstrated as a sensitive tool for controlling the changes in the pattern structure as well as of the island formation process. This allowed to observe the transformation of the pattern geometry from multifaceted "U" to single-faceted "V" stripes. For subsequent Ge growth, ripple and island formation was observed by RHEED and STM, from which the onset of 3D islanding and sidewall roughening was precisely deduced. It was revealed that these processes significantly differ as a function of growth temperature, such that at 600°C ripple formation is significantly delayed compared to low-temperature growth at 520°C, whereas 3D islands starts slightly earlier. This is explained by the higher adatom mobility at the higher growth temperature, which leads to a substantial downward mass transport to the bottom of the grooves. As a result, site-controlled growth of Ge islands aligned in the bottom of the grooves can be obtained only at 600°C, whereas for lower temperatures islands nucleate randomly on the ridges as well as sidewalls of the stripes.
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The authors thank Alma Halilovic and Ursula Kainz for help with the holographic lithography and the Austrian Science Funds (SFB-IRON and P17436-N08) and the Gesellschaft für Mikro- und Nanoelektronik for financial support.
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Sanduijav, B., Matei, D. & Springholz, G. In situ Control of Si/Ge Growth on Stripe-Patterned Substrates Using Reflection High-Energy Electron Diffraction and Scanning Tunneling Microscopy. Nanoscale Res Lett 5, 1935 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11671-010-9814-8
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11671-010-9814-8
- Quantum dots
- Silicon
- Germanium
- Molecular beam epitaxy
- Patterned substrates
- Reflection high-energy electron diffraction
- Scanning tunneling microscopy


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