text:
Why Tori and Dean Don't Like Date Night
While most parents with young children are typically counting down the days until their much-needed date night, Tori Spelling insists she and hubby Dean McDermott would rather stay home and take in all the chaos than spend an evening away from their four children.
"I want to enjoy every moment because I feel like every parent, the one thing they say is: 'Oh my gosh don't blink. It flies by,'" Spelling tells omg!. "I'm madly in love with my husband. He's in love with me. We have the rest of our lives together. I just want to enjoy these precious years where we can be with the kids all the time and they love it."
The 39-year-old made headlines last year after announcing she had become pregnant with her fourth child just six weeks after giving birth to her third, daughter Hattie, now 16 months. (Her family already included son Liam and daughter Stella, now 5 and 4 respectively, and McDermott's 14-year-old son Jack from his first marriage, who lives with them part time.) She then shocked fans again when it was revealed that she had been diagnosed with a condition called placenta previa during her pregnancy with Finn, had been at risk of losing the baby, and secretly spent four months in the hospital on bed rest. It was an experience that she says has changed her outlook on life.
"It definitely taught me to kind of slow down and relish in every moment and to be in the present. I'm such a workaholic, but I want to be a completely hands-on mom, so I spend my life just making sure that everything gets done," Spelling confesses. "So it threw me off because I had to just do nothing while I was in the hospital before he was born. It kind of made me realize that, wow, life is so precious and fleeting and you've got to hang on to these moments because you never know what's going to happen."
And that includes not anticipating that you'll ever be the mom of a brood this big. Case in point: When she and McDermott, her husband since 2006, took a family photo for the Hollywood-focused coffee table book The World According to Wonder, a few years back, they had just two little ones. By the time the book – which features pics of hundreds of celebs and was put together by World of Wonder, the production company that produces Spelling's reality shows – had been published, that number had doubled.
"I'm so devastated that two of our kids aren't in the picture!" she exclaims. "It's so funny. I keep looking at that picture and thinking it wasn't that long ago and yet it was so different in our lives."
And in case you were wondering if more kids are on the horizon, the answer is no.
"I think Finn loves being the baby and this was his way of telling us he wants to be the baby for good," she shares. "So I think we're good."
These days, the Spelling-McDermott household – which consists of Liam, 5; Stella, 4; Haddie, 16 months; and baby Finn, who will be 6 months in a few weeks – is proudly self sufficient with their own backyard farm complete with vegetable crops and fertile chickens.
"We're a very DIY family. We spend a lot of time at home and make everything ourselves, which I think is a great thing to pass on to the kids," Spelling explains. "We have a certain celebrity lifestyle but we make sure that at home the kids have responsibilities. They're very aware of living off your own means and I think that's an important lesson to teach them. So we try to balance it that way."
To be sure, Liam and Stella understand that their family is a little different than those of most of the other kids at school, and that there are people called paparazzi whose job it is to take their photos.
"Their normal is 'Oh, OK we see ourselves on TV. Or we possibly could open up a magazine and there could be a picture of us … they know that that's part of their lives."
But the former "90210" actress has no qualms about the fact her kids are growing up in the spotlight like she did.
"I know we're here to ground them. And I think that's what's important at the end of the day," says Spelling, who adds that her parents, iconic TV producer Aaron Spelling and wife Candi, did the same for her. "My parents were actually very grounded. We might have lived in a not-so-normal circumstance compared to other people, but we had a very normal lifestyle within our lives, if that makes sense."
One part of that "normal lifestyle" included a vegetable garden just like the one she and her family have today … albeit the one at Spelling Manor was a lot bigger.
"People would probably be shocked to know that Aaron Spelling, on any given weekend, would be in that vegetable garden with his shirt off and a pair of shorts and sneakers and he would be like picking the food and taking it in and shucking the corn," she shares. "He actually did do that."
Kind of hard to picture, but we'll take your word for it, Tori!
More Features On Yahoo!:


text:
Brooke, Sir James
Brooke, Sir James, 1803–68, rajah of Sarawak on Borneo, b. India, of English parents. After active service in Burma (1825–26), he retired (1830) from the army of the East India Company. He sailed (1838) for Borneo, and on the west coast there he assisted (1840) Muda Hassim, uncle of the reigning sultan, to suppress rebel Dyak tribes. For his services he was made (1841) rajah by the sultan of Brunei and proceeded to create a government and to put down head-hunting and piracy. He was given a baronetcy by the British government and entrusted with the governorship (1847–57) of Labuan. He was succeeded by his nephew,
Sir Charles Anthony Johnson Brooke, 1829–1917. Sir Charles extended the authority of the government to all parts of the country and abolished slavery. He was succeeded by his son, Sir Charles Vyner Brooke, 1874–1963. Sir Charles was forced out of Sarawak in 1942 by the Japanese invasion. He ceded Sarawak to the British government as a crown colony in 1946.
See Sir Steven Runciman, The White Rajahs (1960); R. Pringle, Rajahs and Rebels (1970); N. Tarling, Britain, the Brookes and Brunei (1972).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Southeast Asia History: Biographies

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Thunder ease past Raptors
Toronto, ON – Russell Westbrook paced five Thunder players in double figures with 23 points and seven assists as Oklahoma City thumped the Toronto Raptors, 104-92, on Sunday at Air Canada Centre.
Kevin Durant netted 22 points on 6-of-11 shooting to go with seven rebounds and seven assists, while Serge Ibaka added 19 points and eight boards for the Thunder, who have won two straight since a loss to Brooklyn on Wednesday and five of six overall.
Kevin Martin scored 16 points and Nick Collison donated 10 and eight rebounds in the triumph.
"I thought we were focused defensively," Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. "That's how we win, we score off our defense. We did a really nice job today."
Alan Anderson posted 27 points on 10-of-14 shooting, while Amir Johnson added 19 and nine boards in the setback for Toronto, which has lost two straight since a three-game winning streak.
DeMar DeRozan and Jose Calderon gave 11 and 10 points, respectively, in a losing cause.
Holding a slim 52-50 lead at halftime, the Thunder created some space for themselves in the third quarter.
Calderon drained a trey with 7:37 left in the frame to bring the Raptors within 60-59, but the Thunder then reeled off nine straight points, capped by a pair of free throws by Durant, to expand the lead to 69-59 with 4:28 to play.
Calderon scored on a layup to stop the run, but the Thunder led by as many as 15 in the quarter and carried a 78-67 lead into the fourth.
Landry Fields cut the deficit to nine with 11:24 to play courtesy of a nice reverse layup, but the Thunder led by double digits the rest of the way en route to the victory.
"This is one of the most talented, well coached teams in the league," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said of Oklahoma City. "I told our guys I was proud of how hard they played today. We have to bring that effort every night."
Toronto stayed close early on, as a running slam by Johnson pulled the hosts within 9-8, but Oklahoma City then ripped off 10 straight points to build a comfortable lead.
Durant and Martin drained 3-pointers during the surge, which gave the Thunder a 19-8 lead with 4:41 to play in the opening quarter.
Ibaka hit a hook shot to make it 23-12 with 3:10 left, but the Raptors closed the session with the final six points to pull within 23-18 after one quarter.
Durant floated in a jumper early in the second stanza to make it 36-30, but the home side responded with a 12-1 surge, capped by a Kyle Lowry trey, to give the Raptors a 42-37 edge.
The Thunder were unfazed by Toronto's surge, and answered right back with the next eight points to move back in front, 45-42, with 3:29 to play and the team took the lead into the break.
Game Notes
Oklahoma City leads the all-time series, 21-12 ... Oklahoma City shot 49.4 percent from the field and 22-of-24 from the free throw line ... Sunday marked the first time in the past seven games that Toronto's bench scored less than 49 points ... The Raptors shot 44.7 percent from the floor, including 8-of-23 from 3-point range.


text:
SAN FRANCISCO, United States of America – Facebook struck a US$550-M deal Monday to get its hands on hundreds of AOL patents from Microsoft as the social network hardened its defenses before it goes public on the Nasdaq.
Facebook will pick up around 650 of the 925 patents Microsoft bought earlier this month in an auction from AOL in a nearly $1.1 billion deal, Facebook and Microsoft said in a statement.
Facebook's general counsel called the move "another significant step in our ongoing process of building an intellectual property portfolio to protect Facebook's interests over the long term."
"Today's agreement with Facebook enables us to recoup over half of our costs while achieving our goals from the AOL auction," added Microsoft Executive Vice President Brad Smith.
Facebook also arranged to license the remaining 275 remaining patents or applications in the portfolio being bought by Microsoft, which gets the right to use the patented technology going to the California-based social network.
"Today's agreement with Microsoft represents an important acquisition for Facebook," said the social network's general counsel Ted Ullyot.
Going public
While the companies did not disclose specifics on the patents, AOL's trove of intellectual property is believed to include technology for messaging, search, imaging, and Internet telephony.
Facebook is expected to go public next month in a much-anticipated stock market debut. The company will trade on the technology-heavy Nasdaq exchange under the symbol "FB," it said in a filing with US regulators.
Facebook in February filed to go public and could raise as much as $10 billion in the largest flotation ever by an Internet company on Wall Street.
The paperwork filed for the initial public offering provided the first glimpse of the financial details of the web giant launched eight years ago by Mark Zuckerberg from his Harvard University dorm room.
Facebook amended its filing on Monday to report quarterly profit slipped to $205 million despite a surge in revenue as it bumped up research and promotion expenses ahead of its stock market debut.
Facebook has also been incurring the cost of shifting operations to a former Sun Microsystems campus in the California city of Menlo Park.
Facebook said that net income in the quarter ended March 31 dipped from the $233 million logged in the same period last year despite revenue vaulting to $1.06 billion.
While revenue improved year-on-year, it was down about 6% from the prior quarter.
Revenue nearly doubled to $3.7 billion in 2011, with most of it coming from targeted advertising gleaned from personal information shared by the hundreds of millions of users of the platform.
Warning to investors
Facebook — the leading social network in all but 6 countries, notably China and Russia — has been valued between $75 billion and $100 billion.
Facebook recently filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to warn potential investors that patent litigation being pursued by Yahoo! could deliver a significant blow to its business.
Early this month, Facebook fired back at Yahoo! with a countersuit charging that the floundering Internet pioneer is violating the social network's patents — and not the other way around.
The move came after Yahoo! filed suit against Facebook in a California court last month accusing the social networking giant of infringing on 10 patents in several areas including advertising, privacy and messaging.
Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo! asked the court to order Facebook to halt its alleged patent-infringing activities and to assess unspecified damages.
"Nothing about today's action changes the fact that Facebook continues to infringe our patents," Yahoo! said in an email response to an AFP inquiry.
"Companies who purchase patents are often working from a position of weakness and take these actions to strengthen their portfolio."
The Internet Age is becoming as known for patent litigation as it is for online innovation.
From the makers of computer chips to creators of smartphones and designers of videogames, rivalries have spread from marketplaces to courtrooms with combatants warring over rights to use technology. – Agence France-Presse
Add a comment
There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.


text:
The country called Somalia contains a host of would-be governments, including the Transitional Federal Government (which claims jurisdiction over Somalia as a whole) and the two semi-autonomous regions of Somaliland and Puntland. Now Somalia has a third major semi-autonomous region: Jubaland, or Azania, whose creation was celebrated yesterday (see here for a map of Jubaland, and here for another, somewhat different political map of all Somalia).
Jubaland/Azania now has a president, former Somalia Defence Minister Professor Mohamed Abdi Gandhi, who has said a main goal of his administration will be to defeat al Shabab, Somalia's Islamic rebel movement. This, Kenya's Daily Nation reports, is one of the driving goals of the new region's creation, but Somalia's neighbors disagree on whether this tactic is a wise one:
The idea to create an autonomous region near the Kenyan border is hinged on the reason that it will prevent the movement of al Shabaab extremists within the region.
As the conference ended on Sunday, it was not clear whether the Kenyan Government supported the election but recent WikiLeaks revelations showed that the country supported the creation of an autonomous region near its border with Somalia to prevent the flow of illegal arms.
The meeting had been opposed by both Ethiopia and Djibouti, who argue that creating autonomies in the war-torn country could inspire further insurgency by other regions or degrade the gains made by the TFG.
The Jubaland initiative has a long history. A Wikileaks cable (see item 6) shows Kenyan support for the idea in early 2010 (via @slowfalling), and "Kenya has been pouring money [and] supplies into the Jubaland area for some time to fight [al] Shabaab." But momentum toward the creation of an official state picked up with a seven-day conference last week that culminated in the formalization of Jubaland/Azania. Now it remains to see how Jubaland will negotiate its relationships with the TFG, with Kenya, and with the rest of Africa.
Commenter James Gundun, responding to an earlier piece, leaves us with some questions and issues to think about:
Jubaland has been in the works for years – forming a presidential cabinet electing a parliament is expected – although it's difficult to say what comes next. While TFG officials attended the week-long conference before appointing Mohamed Abdi Gandhi, how much overlap are they willing to cede to Kenya? This arrangement can squeeze al-Shabab through local governance and attempt to remedy the refugee crisis, but friction may easily develop between Nairobi and the TFG. Ethiopia also opposes the formal recognition of Jubaland, citing fears of increased insurgency, as it monitors the newly-created Shabelle Valley administration and aspiring Somali Central State. Positive interplay between the TFG, Kenya, and Ethiopia is vital to stabilizing Somalia.
What do you think? Will this move hurt or help al Shabab, or make no substantive difference?


text:
2005 Call for Papers
32nd Annual ACM
SIGPLAN - SIGACT Symposium on
Principles of Programming Languages
Long Beach, California
January 12-14, 2005
Important Dates
Please note that the submission format is different this year.
See below for submission guidelines and LaTeX style files.
The POPL 2005 submission deadline has passed.
Scope of the Conference
The annual Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages is a
forum for the discussion of fundamental principles and important
innovations in the design, definition, analysis, transformation,
implementation and verification of programming languages,
programming systems, and programming abstractions. Both
experimental and theoretical papers on principles and
innovations are welcome, ranging from formal frameworks to
reports on practical experiences.
Submissions on a diversity of topics are sought, particularly
ones that identify new research directions. POPL 2005 is not
limited to topics discussed in previous symposia. Authors
concerned about the appropriateness of a topic may communicate
by electronic mail with the program chair prior to submission.
Submission Guidelines
Submissions should be full papers, similar in scope and size to
what would appear in the proceedings of the symposium.
Formatting requirements for submissions and other details are
given below.
Submissions will be judged on originality, significance,
correctness, and clarity. A submitted paper should clearly
express the contribution of the work, both in general and in
technical terms. It is essential to identify what was
accomplished, describe the significance of the work, and explain
how the paper compares with, and improves upon, previous work.
Authors should bear in mind that individual program-committee
members will be asked to referee many submissions; while every
effort will be made to assign submissions to an appropriate
subset of the program committee, very few papers are likely to
be reviewed solely by experts in a paper's topic area. A good
rule of thumb is that an informed colleague (with expertise in
programming languages) should be able to form an initial
judgment of the technical content of
a submission in 40 minutes. Some advice about how to prepare a
good submission can be found
Submitted papers must describe work unpublished in refereed
venues, and not submitted for publication elsewhere (including
journals and formal proceedings of conferences and workshops).
See the SIGPLAN republication policy for more details.
Authors will be notified of acceptance or rejection by September
20, 2004. The final version of accepted papers must be received
in camera-ready form by November 1, 2004 for inclusion in the
proceedings. Authors of accepted papers will be required to sign
ACM copyright release forms. Proceedings will be published by
ACM Press.
Submission Details
Submissions, including text, figures, and bibliography must fit
in 15 pages, on two columns, with 10 point font on 12 point
baseline, columns 20pc (3.33in) wide and 54pc (9in) tall with a
column gutter of 2pc (0.33in). Pages should be numbered. (Please
note that this is not the standard ACM proceedings format: it is
less compact, and the page limit is correspondingly higher.
The format for final papers may be different.)
We encourage the use of this
LaTeX class file (acmconfbig.cls) or this
LaTeX style file (acmconfbig.sty).
Authors who feel it is absolutely necessary to include
additional material may place it in a well-marked appendix after
page 15, but committee members are under no obligation to review
Titles, abstracts, and full papers should be submitted via the
submission web site. The short abstracts should be
approximately 1-3 paragraphs in ASCII. The full papers should be
in PDF (preferably) or Postscript that is interpretable by Ghostscript and
printable on US Letter and A4 size paper.
The submission deadline for titles and short abstracts is
Friday, July 9, 2004, 17:00 UTC/GMT. The submission deadline for
the corresponding full papers is Friday, July 16, 2004, 17:00
Submissions deviating from these specifications and late
submissions may not be considered.
Program Chair:
Martín Abadi
University of California, Santa
Computer Science Department
Cruz, CA 95064
General Chair:
Jens Palsberg
University of California, Los
Computer Science Dept, 4531K
Boelter Hall,
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Phone: 310-825-6320
Fax: 310-794-5057
Program Committee:


text: Cambridge Symposia, organized to serve the scientific community through the administration of interdisciplinary conferences in the biological sciences, is announcing their upcoming meeting, "DNA Forensics: Science, Practice, and Future," to be held April 21-27, 1996 in Sante Fe, New Mexico. Topic Description: Almost twenty years back it was shown that the blue print of life, the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), varies enormously in its structure and organization between individuals, and the recombinant DNA technology allows one to unravel this variation. More tha n eleven years have passed since the world has witnessed that by typing DNA from biological samples left at crime scenes, it is possible to exonerate a wrongly accused suspect, and the same technique does indeed identify the true perpetrator. Since then, versions of the same technology have been used in numerous cases around the world to exculpate suspects and to convict criminals. In civil litigations of identifying parents and relatives as well, DNA typing has played a major role around the world. Fo rensic and medico-legal experts, in unison, agree that the DNA technology is the most powerful tool that a scientist can offer for forensic investigations, even more diversely usable than the traditional fingerprinting imaging. In spite of the tremendous success of using DNA in forensics around the world, such well-publicized criticisms by otherwise well known experts, raise a few questions. Why are there such contradictory views? Is the science of DNA typing still in its adolescence that needs more ma turity to apply in legal cases? Is the practice of DNA typing fallible to the extent that the results are not trustworthy? If DNA typing is so controversial in forensics, how reliable are its applications in medicine and biology? What is in store for t his technology for future? The theme of this conference is to discuss these basic issues. While a number of recent meetings and symposia have discussed these issues in platforms that varies from sophisticated technical details to educating general publi c, the goal of this meeting is to put the science, practice, and future of DNA forensics in their proper perspective. Experts encompassing molecular geneticists, forensic practitioners, legal authorities, and statistical geneticists, will be invited to initiate discussions on these subjects. The meeting will be divided in three parts consistent with the major themes. In each session the main presentations will be grouped in thematic format, at the conclusion of each of such sessions time for discussion will be preserved to raise alternative views and their justification. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For immediate information on this meeting, including a full program draft, please see our website: http://www.xensei.com/users/symposia James Larkin Cambridge Symposia 1037 Chestnut Street Newton Upper Falls, MA 02164 tel. (617) 630-1399 fax. (617) 630-1395 symposia at xensei.com


text:
Read the full story here Web Link posted Friday, November 8, 2013, 10:36 AM
Town Square
Ideafarm may be headed to jail
Original post made on Nov 8, 2013
Read the full story here Web Link posted Friday, November 8, 2013, 10:36 AM
Comments (51)
a resident of Blossom Valley
on Nov 8, 2013 at 11:05 am
Yes, let's give him more attention.
a resident of Bailey Park
on Nov 8, 2013 at 11:36 am
Never heard of this guy and he sounds like a bit of a nuisance. But this article comes across as very biased in favor of the MVPD. As usual for this newspaper.
a resident of Old Mountain View
on Nov 8, 2013 at 11:40 am
I don't agree with a lot of what he says, but I also don't want to live in the kind of place that silences people for expressing ideas or opinions. I hope he can get back out there, politely and lawfully expressing his ideas.
a resident of Monta Loma
on Nov 8, 2013 at 12:21 pm
So he was standing off the sidewalk.
I saw him standing at the corner of Castro and El Camino a couple times. He was not blocking traffic.
Who is the victim?
While I don't agree with most of this guy's message I do think he's right. This is a waste of tax money. Leave the guy alone.
Now we're going to put someone in jail for stepping off the sidewalk.
a resident of another community
on Nov 8, 2013 at 1:08 pm
It costs more than $40K per year to house an inmate, plus healthcare "benefits". Sure he is sometimes annoying. But prison is for much more serious crimes.
a resident of Blossom Valley
on Nov 8, 2013 at 1:25 pm
Otto, sometimes he is standing on the corner, which is completely legal. It's the times he kinda walks out into the middle of traffic where he's being a danger.
Also, the part about beating up a 62 year-old woman.
a resident of Castro City
on Nov 8, 2013 at 2:19 pm
Well, at least he won't be homeless anymore...
a resident of Castro City
on Nov 8, 2013 at 2:21 pm
Oops. Read "unemployed" and thought "homeless." Sorry.
a resident of North Whisman
on Nov 8, 2013 at 2:24 pm
Well, if you really want to hear more about him, just search his name on the Voice... lots of articles.
You wrote: "I don't want to live in the kind of place that silences people for expressing ideas or opinions". Me either.
But please remember that expressing his ideas is not what he was arrested for. Some of you may not have seen him blocking the traffic, but I have. One day, he created a bit of a mess and nearly 1 accident (that I saw) by blocking the street while traffic had a green light.
In addition, I do not have to agree with everything he says; however, I do draw the line at offensive speech - ie: the word F*[email protected] in a sign on a public street that I drive with my young children. If I stop them from watching movies & reading books because of that language, should I have to put up with it in my own community?
a resident of Castro City
on Nov 8, 2013 at 2:28 pm
He is homeless though.
Mr. IdeaFarm is a bigot and a homophobe, an general annoyance, and judging from his MV Voice comments, a bit insane, but I'm not sure a jail sentence is warranted here. Would some sort of psychiatric facility be less or more expensive here?
a resident of Cuesta Park
on Nov 8, 2013 at 2:30 pm
@Oh Boy: You should just tell them it's an agricultural term, meaning "to plow". Because, technically, that's where it came from.
a resident of Blossom Valley
on Nov 8, 2013 at 2:35 pm
Agreed! Counseling may be effective in correcting his inappropriate behavior. Jail should be reserved for criminals, not generally harmless, behavior.
a resident of Cuesta Park
on Nov 8, 2013 at 2:37 pm
At a time when overcrowded jails & prisons are court ordered release predators of far more danger to our public safety than a sign waving eccentric, Police & DA resources would be better allocated to solving local residential break ins & robberies IMHO!
a resident of Willowgate
on Nov 8, 2013 at 2:40 pm
I wish that people would calm down about this guy and his signs. We don't need to drive every person out who is not exactly like the rest of us. I like to have people with different views in Mountain View.
I would rather have us spend time catching the person whose dogs poops at Landels School nearly every single day - that is someone who has some explaining to do.
a resident of Sylvan Park
on Nov 8, 2013 at 2:41 pm
Andrew Pumar, convicted of vehicular manslaughter in the death of William Ware, gets one year. And this guy gets two years for being a nuisance? This is not right and agree, a total waste of taxpayer dollars.
a resident of Monta Loma
on Nov 8, 2013 at 2:44 pm
poor guy. I do think jail is a harsh sentence. I often saw him but rarely understood his messages.
i agree, some type of therapy/counseling might be better than 2 years in jail.
a resident of Shoreline West
on Nov 8, 2013 at 2:53 pm
I am with Kathy!
a resident of Rex Manor
on Nov 8, 2013 at 3:21 pm
The *maximum possible sentence* is two years in jail. I doubt the judge will come down that hard on Mr Ideafarm. The sentencing hearing was earlier this afternoon. Has anyone heard the final verdict?
a resident of Monta Loma
on Nov 8, 2013 at 3:23 pm
Leave the guy alone and he would of already been in san mateo by now. What he has done is nothing compared to Murder, rape, or any other bad crime. He tried to make a citizens arrest on a lady 4 yrs older than him for tampering with his signs and of course there was a commotion where she resisted. The Bi**ch should of left him and his signs alone. She started it. So now he is going to get blamed for it. Unbelievable.
I'm all for Ideafarm and his innovative ways. If you listen to what he says, he is spot on at times. Oh, but the liberal media control freaks won't allow that. So string him up on the nearest tree.
a resident of Rex Manor
on Nov 8, 2013 at 3:33 pm
Hey, he has not been sentenced yet. Two years is the maximum. He will almost certainly get less time. In any case, the guy really is a public nuisance. If jail is what it takes to get him off the streets, so be it!
a resident of Whisman Station
on Nov 8, 2013 at 3:45 pm
Hey, "What a waste of money," he attacked the wrong person. Hell yes, she was terrified and resisted when some stranger tackled her. Try to read all of the words. Tough to do, but it helps keep you from confusing people by mixing incorrect facts with your abundant hostility and general ignorance.
Free speech is important to protect, but it is not protected when you physically endanger others. The guy is perfectly right at times on his free-speech rights and behaviors, and really wrong some of the time. Sometimes he gets out in traffic and creates a hazard, but then sometimes he keeps it within bounds. Creating confusion and attracting attention, then crying for protection, are elements of his game, repeatedly. I am all for tolerating whatever nut exercises free speech, but not at all sympathetic for someone who calculatedly games the system and crosses the bounds. If you want to do civil disobedience, fine, you are not entitled to claim you are innocent or protected. Part of the point is to get arrested in order to register your protest. Your choice.
a resident of another community
on Nov 8, 2013 at 4:04 pm
Free Speech is fine, agree with standing on El Camino with sign. Don't swear or be vuglar, block people or traffic, just be polite. You might find that your message or views will get noticed.
a resident of Monta Loma
on Nov 8, 2013 at 4:09 pm
"According to police statements from the time, he had the wrong woman and the Mountain View Police Department did not accept his citizen's arrest."
Yes, I did read and I believe Ideafarm rather than the police hear say.
They were targeting him for anything they could to pick him up. And of course they won't believe what he says.
Think about it.
a resident of another community
on Nov 8, 2013 at 4:21 pm
Mr. Ideafarm may or may not be nuts... but the concept of being persecuted by the MVPD isn't hard to imagine.
Next opportunity, verbally challenge a cop's authority. No crime in free speach... If you see one not doing his duty, ask him why. Better yet, do it so as to attract public attention.
a resident of Monta Loma
on Nov 8, 2013 at 4:33 pm
It's about farmin' time he was taken seriously by law enforcement. What a nuisance having that piece of junk wheel barrow, or whatever it was, that interrupted a turning lane. It's a relief that he is off the street and probably out of Mountain View. Thanks MVPD and the other agencies. And good riddance to the nuisance man.
a resident of another community
on Nov 8, 2013 at 4:55 pm
Funny, about the time this guy goes silent Mr. Roode becomes more vocal. Coincidence?
a resident of Shoreline West
on Nov 8, 2013 at 5:31 pm
Flava Dave is a registered user.
Ideafarm tarted creating dangerous situations when he started leaving his sign *IN* the street at El Monte and El Camino. He consistently pushes the limits every time he sees what the public and police are willing to put up with.
I don't know if he deserves jail, but needs some kind of help.
ideafarm usually posts here under his own, name, but maybe he has some fake ones now.
a resident of Shoreline West
on Nov 8, 2013 at 5:31 pm
Flava Dave is a registered user.
Ideafarm tarted creating dangerous situations when he started leaving his sign *IN* the street at El Monte and El Camino. He consistently pushes the limits every time he sees what the public and police are willing to put up with.
I don't know if he deserves jail, but needs some kind of help.
ideafarm usually posts here under his own, name, but maybe he has some fake ones now.
a resident of another community
on Nov 8, 2013 at 6:10 pm
I've spoken with Ideafarm twice. I find him to be polite, informed, and well spoken, as well as humorous at times. I disagree with many of his viewpoints; however, he is patient and clear and listens well, so we can actually enumerate the details over which we disagree rather than make broad assumptions about the other person, as seems too often to happen in debate. My experience is that Ideafarm is simply far more open and aggressive about trying to help the world in a way he thinks he can than most people. Not surprisingly, many find his abnormal behavior -- i.e., behavior outside of the norms of first-world suburban society -- a nuisance.
I have no idea about the details of his various run-ins with the law. It is not clear from this article whether charges were pressed re: the citizen's arrest gone wrong. If charges were dropped or he was cleared, then that case should have no bearing on anything in the present case. Frankly, I think the author of this article was a bit malicious in mentioning that case without providing the details of its resolution if there was one, or stating that there is no resolution at present.
In particular, the present case seems to concern only "obstructing a public street" and "being a public nuisance." We are in sad times, and I would find Mountain View to be a scary place to shop or live, if these behaviors -- even if completely and unambiguously true -- were enough to lead to a jail sentence. A fine -- like one would receive for driving too fast, say, in a residential area -- would be commensurate with the activity (though I might oppose even a fine). But a jail sentence? Goodness.
a resident of Waverly Park
on Nov 8, 2013 at 6:17 pm
Waldo is a registered user.
Good riddance, Funnyfarm.
a resident of Old Mountain View
on Nov 8, 2013 at 6:33 pm
Ideafarm is in it for the attention. He usually ends up posting on stories covering his shenanigans. Don't see him here though. Unless he's using an alias like, lets say...."What a waste of money"? Perhaps? lol
a resident of Stierlin Estates
on Nov 8, 2013 at 7:32 pm
That "craziness," Ideafarm says, came in 1992, when he hit his wife. He was arrested for spousal abuse, the couple separated and Ideafarm lost custody of his two daughters.
"I became furious at the system for setting my wife and me up for failure and making it impossible for my kids to have what we thought we were going to have."
Ideafarm's campaign is essentially a fight against the system he says destroyed his marriage -- against the spiritless world he glimpsed back in middle school. "Now, I'm just as furious," he says.
Web Link
The woman in this article was not the first woman he has laid hands on. As a child, I saw my sister get hit by her husband. It was always somebody else's fault for his strikes. I am thankful that MVPD protected my family then & now.
a resident of Gemello
on Nov 8, 2013 at 9:06 pm
Most big trucks and suvs parked on the streets are traffic hazards for people who are driving their cars and hard to see oncoming traffic on either side. I really think people who park big pickup trucks, Cago vans, and SUVs arrested and sent to jail and their kneecaps completely blasted.
a resident of Castro City
on Nov 9, 2013 at 9:04 am
If you don't want him to go to jail and you want the police to focus on other crimes then get everyone to stop calling about this guy. The police respond to calls for service on idea farm, they are not hunting him down and trying to silence him. He creates numerous calls for service everyday he gets "active" in this city.
a resident of Gemello
on Nov 9, 2013 at 9:07 am
Kathy is right.
a resident of another community
on Nov 9, 2013 at 6:40 pm
I don't like Ideafarm but if you go to crimereports.com and put in Mountain View you can see all the crimes happening in Mountain View. Let's get the real criminals off the streets.
a resident of North Whisman
on Nov 10, 2013 at 3:56 pm
Our government prosecutes Ideafarm for exercising his right to free speech, but our government says it does not have the resources or time to do enforce our immigration laws. Ideafarm did not commit a felony by forging documents and using fake IDs. Illegal immigrants drain resources from our schools, health care system, jobs, housing, etc. They drive down wages and drive up housing costs and have taken jobs that millions of unemployed US citizens would like to have. If we resolved our immigration problems we would resolve our economic, education, housing, unemployment problems, etc.
I don't understand why some people/politicians are more concerned about the plight of illegal immigrants rather than the plight of our elderly, homeless, jobless, health careless, educationless, much of which is caused by the overwhelming needs of the illegal immigrants.
If our government has the time and resources to prosecute Ideafarm, then our government has the time and resources to enforce our immigration laws and require businesses and social services to use e-verify.
a resident of Old Mountain View
on Nov 11, 2013 at 2:23 pm
The day he said watching the NFL on Sunday was a sin is the reason why he deserves a life sentence.
a resident of Blossom Valley
on Nov 11, 2013 at 2:27 pm
Why did IdeaFarm always want to have dinner with local teenagers? I thought that was a bit odd.
I'm not making this up. It was on his website, when he wanted people to eat together. Basically, he said that strangers would meet at a local restaurant, and the dinner would be hosted by a local teenager.
I thought it was creepy.
a resident of another community
on Nov 11, 2013 at 2:28 pm
A nuisance and a pain in the *ss? maybe. Worth all the time and resources the MVPD expends on him? Hmmm. They seem to have a different agenda than 'public safety' in prioritizing which laws to enforce.
a resident of another community
on Nov 11, 2013 at 7:56 pm
What's his real name?
a resident of Gemello
on Nov 12, 2013 at 10:00 am
I think he legally had his named changed. Yeah.....
My legal name is "Wo Of Ideafarm". I changed my legal name in 1999 as a symbol of my decision to commit the remainder of my life to establishing and developing "IdeaFarm (tm) City", a sovereign state located on the Internet. IdeaFarm (tm) City is, according to its Constitutional Declaration, an "external association" that exists under the protective aegis of, but is not subject to, the organic law of the United States of America. IdeaFarm (tm) City - Federal Constitutional Protectorate of the United States of America, is a constitutional monarchy. I am, according to that declaration, a dual citizen of IdeaFarm (tm) City and, by birth, of the United States of America. Within IdeaFarm (tm) City, my name is "Wo'O Ideafarm". Within the United States, my legal name is "Wo Of Ideafarm".
a resident of another community
on Nov 12, 2013 at 1:20 pm
Wo Of Ideafarm is a registered user.
I've been here but unable to post due to a technical problem. That's probably a good thing; my participation would have changed what has been a good converstaion. I will keep silent except to answer direct factual questions and correct factual errors.
a resident of Shoreline West
on Nov 12, 2013 at 3:35 pm
Flava Dave is a registered user.
Posted by gereninom, a resident of Gemello
"Most big trucks and suvs parked on the streets are traffic hazards for people who are driving their cars and hard to see oncoming traffic on either side. I really think people who park big pickup trucks, Cago vans, and SUVs arrested and sent to jail and their kneecaps completely blasted. "
What exactly is this rant about? Comparing ideafarms trailer left IN THE STREET (in the street as not on the shoulder. Not on the sidewalk. IN THE STREET) with no lights, after dark. On more than one night. Either MVPD was being "nice" or didn't know what to do at first. But finally they got rid of it.
Why are you threatening violence?
a resident of another community
on Nov 12, 2013 at 6:56 pm
Wo Of Ideafarm is a registered user.
Doghouse and Doghouse #2 have been in police custody "as evidence" since Fall 2010. The seizures without a warrant are patently unlawful, but I chose to not challenge them because the government must store them indefinitely and cannot collect storage fees from me.
The idea that the Doghouses themselves are needed for evidence is preposterous. Neither of them are ever going to be wheeled into a courtroom. Any two year old can see that the seizures are to silence me. This is just the tip of the waste of taxpayer money involved in this proceeding, which is now at hearing #44.
The City could never find any law to use to silence me. Parallel parking the Doghouse is just as legal as parallel parking a motor vehicle. You don't have to leave your lights on all night when you park your car at the curb!
a resident of Shoreline West
on Nov 12, 2013 at 8:51 pm
Flava Dave is a registered user.
It's not parallel parking when you leave your cart IN THE STREET at El Monte and El Camino. It's blocking traffic. There is no shoulder in the intersection
a resident of another community
on Nov 13, 2013 at 7:42 am
Wo Of Ideafarm is a registered user.
The El Monte position was exceptional in that there is indeed a hazard. Once I saw the hazard, I stopped using that position.
The hazard at the El Monte position is the result of the coincidence of two unlawful acts: (1) A driver making a "blind" right turn without being prepared for a pedestrian or bicyclist who happens to be crossing within the crosswalk, combined with (2) A bicyclist who crosses within the crosswalk without looking to his left to watch for someone coming around the "blind". The Doghouse's position at El Monte was, although unusual, perfectly legal.
This might sound like a rare coincidence, but I observed several motorists zipping around the "blind", obviously not anticipating the possibility that a pedestrian would be there. I also observed several bicyclists riding right into the crosswalk without reducing speed or looking to their left, obviously oblivious to the danger of doing so.
The police could not prevent me from parking the Doghouse there because I had a right to park it there as a matter of law. (There is no law against it.) If a bicyclist had been killed, it would have been the fault of the motorist, since the bicyclist, using the crosswalk, has the right of way. In law, the Doghouse's positioning would not have created any legal liability for me.
I tried to deal with the STUPIDITY of these motorists and bicyclists by posting warning signs, but those signs were not effective. That is when I abandoned use of that position.
The police actually contributed to this hazardous situation by attempting to strong arm me with various threats, such as a threat that they would tow the Doghouse if I continued to park it there. They turned it into a pi**ing contest. If they had just said, "Yes, the law says that you can park it here, but how will you feel if one of these STUPID drivers kills one of these STUPID bicyclists?", I would have seen the hazard right away and not used the El Monte position.
I don't want to hear any more about the El Monte position. It does not represent the general character of the speech operation. There are absolutely no reasonable safety issues with its location, for example, on the sidewalk in front of City Hall. Yet that is the location that incited the most severe interference by both the City and by private persons, including one incident in which I was almost killed and which left me permanently crippled.
a resident of North Whisman
on Nov 13, 2013 at 11:38 am
rolo8ab is a registered user.
My comment will surely be lost in this sea of useless comments .
There's something WRONG with LAWS-COURTS-JUDGES-SENTENCING ,the whole ball of wax..
How does Ideafarm a pubic nuisance face a possible 2yrs lockup ....And this
Pulmar person sentenced to 1yr for driving reckless an taking someones life.
Clearly , laws protect criminal...Ah whats the point..in commenting .. Its such a waste of time and energy....
a resident of another community
on Nov 13, 2013 at 12:46 pm
Wo Of Ideafarm is a registered user.
Dear precious rolo8ab, the point of commenting is that a single comment such as yours has the power to annihilate the spell of comatose stupidity in this lobotomized "community". Dialog with me here. Ask me factual questions. What is happening will stun you. The fact that it is happening right here, under your nose, and no one knows, will stun you even more.
If I can keep my *ss out from behind bars for just a few more weeks, THIS STORY WILL BE TOLD! But will anyone listen? Will anyone act? Will the story's telling matter?
Someone offered to break me out of jail. I don't need that. I just need a few people to help me tell the story and to spread the word, so the government cannot get away with SILENCING me and COVERING UP what they have done to me, with your money, for six years.
a resident of Shoreline West
on Nov 13, 2013 at 3:42 pm
Flava Dave is a registered user.
Do I need to post a photo of where your cart was at El Monte? It was not legal. give it up
a resident of another community
on Nov 13, 2013 at 4:57 pm
Wo Of Ideafarm is a registered user.
Really. During the whole conflict with MVPD, I never got a single ticket. MVPD officers threatened to do all sorts of things, all of them illegal. Zero tickets. Zip. Nada.
You wanna know how MVPD got the Doghouses off of the street? The cowards seized the Doghouse "for safekeeping" while I was imprisoned at Elmwood Jail for 14 days. When I got out, returned to MV, and discovered the heist, I used the last $500 of my remaining credit to build Doghouse #2. Then I took Doghouse #2 to MVPD and had them allow me to transfer all of my equipment from the Doghouse into Doghouse #2 while Lieutenant Souza, (then) Sergeant Plamondon, and two other officers supervised. Doghouse #2 was then put into service and remained active up to November 30. On that day, the cowards seized Doghouse #2 while I was in Court for a hearing. Both Doghouse and Doghouse #2 have been in custody ever since "for evidence".
During the whole time that the Doghouse and Doghouse #2 were being used, no MVPD officer was ever able to find a single law to cite me for.
One of the many hilarious audio recordings that will be released when the expose is published (on DVD) is of Officer Mello making a series of threats to try to get me to move the Doghouse from the El Monte position.
If you don't believe me, go to the Court's web site and view my traffic record by entering this information:
Wo Of Ideafarm
I've done it for you with these links:
Web Link
Web Link
Don't miss out
on the discussion!
Sign up to be notified of new comments on this topic.
Post a comment
Stay informed.
Get the day's top headlines from Mountain View Online sent to your inbox in the Express newsletter.
New Palo Alto sushi spot highlights late-night hours and affordable prices
By The Peninsula Foodist | 1 comment | 12,237 views
Who Gets the Money? Farm Bill (part 6)
By Laura Stec | 5 comments | 2,700 views
Sharing That Just Works
By Sherry Listgarten | 5 comments | 2,106 views
Robots, I am tired of talking to you!
By Diana Diamond | 13 comments | 1,560 views
I Do, I Don't: One Reason Feelings Matter
By Chandrama Anderson | 3 comments | 863 views


text:
Miggy's 3-run homer in 9th caps Tigers rally vs. Orioles
BALTIMORE — A reversed call got the uprising started. Then came a walk after the Detroit Tigers were down to their last strike.
That forced Tommy Hunter to go up against Miguel Cabrera, perhaps the last person a struggling closer wants to face with the outcome hanging in the balance.
Cabrera hit a hanging curveball over the center-field wall for a three-run homer, and the Tigers rallied past the Baltimore Orioles 4-1 on Tuesday night.
After being held scoreless on three hits over the first eight innings, the Tigers improved to 1-12 when trailing after eight innings.
''You never know in baseball,'' Detroit manager Brad Ausmus said. ''When the top of our order swings the bat, we can score some runs quickly.''
Hunter held a 1-0 lead before giving up a leadoff single to Alex Avila. Pinch-runner Rajai Davis was called out trying to steal, but Ausmus challenged the call and after looking at the replay, umpires called Davis safe at second.
''The instant replay was probably the turning point, I guess,'' Ausmus said.
Hunter (1-1) recorded back-to-back outs before working the count on Torii Hunter to 1-2. The at-bat ended in a walk.
''You can't let arguably one of the best hitters in the game come to the plate,'' Tommy Hunter said. ''You've got to throw a strike right there and I missed.''
Two pitches later, Cabrera connected.
''It's a chance that we win or we're going to lose,'' Cabrera said. ''You don't have to think too much of it. You've got to go out there and try and see what happens.''
Victor Martinez followed Cabrera's sixth home run with a shot to right that landed on Eutaw Street beyond the scoreboard in right field.
Justin Miller (1-1) pitched one inning to earn his first big league win and Joe Nathan got three outs for his ninth save. Nathan has seven saves and a 0.00 ERA in his last eight outings.
Adam Jones hit a first-inning homer for the Orioles, who have dropped three in a row following a five-game winning streak. Jones has five home runs, four in the last seven games.
Baltimore starter Ubaldo Jimenez gave up three hits, walked two and struck out seven in seven innings. After going 0-4 with a 6.59 ERA in April, the right-hander is 2-0 with a 0.46 ERA in May.
Jimenez, who signed a four-year, $50 million contract as a free agent in February, permitted only one runner past first base. All three hits against him were singles, and on each occasion the runner was erased trying to steal.
Darren O'Day worked a perfect eighth, but Hunter couldn't preserve the lead. He left the mound to jeers from fans who minutes earlier were standing in anticipation of the final out.
Hunter has 11 saves, but his job as closer could be in jeopardy.
''I'm not going to get in to handicapping, this means that and that means this,'' manager Buck Showalter said. ''We'll constantly see what gives us the best option to pitch nine innings, and be competitive and continue to be in first place. And that's what we'll do.''
Said Hunter: ''It's my job today. We'll see.''
Detroit starter Drew Smyly allowed five hits over six innings and matched a season high with seven strikeouts. In his previous three outings against the Orioles, all in relief, Smyly gave up two hits and struck out eight in eight shutout innings.
Detroit trailed 1-0 in the seventh when Hunter led off with a single and Cabrera walked. After Jimenez bounced a curveball, rookie catcher Caleb Joseph quickly found the handle on the loose ball and threw out Hunter trying to take third. Martinez bounced into a 4-6-3 double play.
Baltimore catchers were 4 for 29 in throwing out would-be stealers before Joseph went 3 for 4. The rookie also got his first major league hit, a fourth-inning single.
RHP Kevin Gausman will be recalled from Triple-A Norfolk to start Wednesday for the Orioles. The move was designed to give starters Wei-Yin Chen and Miguel Gonzalez an extra day of rest. Gonzalez will be available in the bullpen for Wednesday's game. Baltimore also announced it optioned RHP Preston Guilmet to Norfolk after the game. Guilmet made two scoreless appearances totaling 1 2/3 innings after being recalled before Monday's game. ... Ausmus said RHP Anibal Sanchez (finger laceration) will come off the DL to start Sunday against Boston. ... Detroit's Rick Porcello, who left Monday's game with a tightness in his side, remains on schedule for his next start Saturday. ... Showalter said starter Chris Tillman had some groin soreness after his start Sunday, but the right-hander appears to have recovered.


text:
[The following is a guest post from Literata Hurley. Literata is a Wiccan priestess, poet, and theaologian. Her work has appeared in several anthologies and periodicals, including Mandragora, Queen of the Sacred Way, Anointed, Witches & Pagans, and CIRCLE Magazine. She blogs regularly for The Slacktiverse and her own site, Works of Literata. She is an ordained High Priestess of the Order of the White Moon, a women's spirituality organization. In between leading Rose Coven, reading Tarot, and communing with nature, she is writing her Ph.D. dissertation in history and enjoys travel and spending time with her husband and cats.]
The Arlington County Court refused to grant me the right to perform marriages in Virginia, apparently on the grounds that my "congregation" does not own a building.
I presented my certificate of ordination and documentation of the 501c3 status of the Order of the White Moon, which ordained me. Since my Order is incorporated in California, the secretary asked me if I had a congregation in Virginia; I said yes. She asked me to list the address of the congregation, and I said that we don't have a building. She asked, "So, what, you just meet in each other's homes?" I said yes, we meet in each other's homes, or out of doors (Wicca is, after all, an earth-based religion, but I thought that mentioning that would only be prejudicial to my situation).
She left and came back with the Clerk of Court, Paul Ferguson. Mr. Ferguson said that they were not going to approve me. I asked if it was because we don't have a building. He said, "Yes, you don't have a building, and there were a few other things." I asked him if he would give me a written list of the reasons I was being denied. He refused; he offered to show me the relevant section (Sec 20-23) of the Virginia Code. I assured him that I had read the Code, and asked again if he would give me more specific reasons I was being denied. He said that approving these applications was at his "discretion" and that he didn't "feel" I met the qualifications, but he wouldn't tell me how. He told me that I could apply to another court in another county but that he thought they would probably give me the same answer.
Has property ownership now become the measure of what constitutes a "real" religion in Virginia, or at least in Arlington County? Or is this another example of anti-Pagan discrimination at work?
Patchwork enforcement and a history of discrimination
Virginia is one of the few states in the US that requires clergy members to register with a circuit court in order to be able to perform valid marriages. The requirements in Sec 20-23 of the Code state that the minister must present proof of ordination and "of his being in regular communion" with the organization that ordained him.
These requirements are apparently interpreted in widely varying ways across various circuits in Virginia, as different courts' websites list different types of documentation – or none – that may be required. For courts that openly state they require more than just proof of ordination, the way they ask for information gives tremendous privilege to traditionally-organized, i.e., Christian, groups. And if granting these applications really is up to the "discretion" of the Clerk of Court, there is wide scope for potential discrimination against minority religions with or without the fig leaf of requiring a "location" and other organizational trappings potentially beyond the reach of minority religious organizations.
This problem goes back more than a decade; in 1999, the ACLU helped another Wiccan priestess get her application in this situation approved.
I think it's not unreasonable that I am concerned about what kind of documentation will satisfy the court. I serve multiple groups, one of which meets in a designated location, but since it is an open circle, the people who attend are mostly not members of my ordaining organization. If I provide documentation of this group meeting in a specific location, will the court then ask how many people attend, and how often we meet? What will they require to conclude that I am "really" a High Priestess in a "real" religion?
Why this matters
This is about more than performing weddings. This decision has a chilling effect on me trying to function as clergy in other ways; if the Court will not recognize me as legitimate clergy in this situation, will my right to confidentiality be protected? How can I assure people who come to me for counseling that their communications with me are protected by clergy privilege?
And since this is one of the two major forms of government approval used by a wide range of institutions and organizations to determine whether someone is a "real" clergy member, it can impact my ability to reach out to those who have particular needs: people in hospitals, the military, and prisons all need clergy services, but those institutions are much more likely to deny me the ability to minister to the people involved if I can't say that I'm approved by the State of Virginia to perform marriages.
And although I might have my application granted if I tried another court, that does nothing to resolve the doubt cast on my status by the court with jurisdiction over where I live and do most of my ministry. If another court approved me, it would only serve to highlight the irregular and potentially biased variations in granting recognition across jurisdictions.
What you can do
I currently plan to gather additional supporting documentation and reapply, and if I am denied again, to ask whether I can appeal to a judge of the court. I am also currently seeking advice from the ACLU, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, and the Lady Liberty League. Here's what you can do to help:
First, get the word out. The more Pagans pull together, the better our chances of being recognized as "legitimate" in these kinds of situations.
If you are a Pagan clergyperson in Virginia and you have applied to perform marriages, please write to me at firstname.lastname@example.com. If you were approved, I'd like to know when you were approved, in what court, with what paperwork, and what questions they asked, both written and verbal. People who have been declined, please tell me that too. The more information I have for comparison the better.
I would also like to be able to present letters of support from other Pagan clergy and potentially from Pagan organizations that ordain people, especially ones that ordain people all over the country. If you're interested, please contact me. And if you have other ideas about how to help, please speak up!
People who aren't in Virginia, please provide spiritual and magical support. Pray and send energy that I am able to gather the evidence I need and make a convincing argument, that the court will grant my new application swiftly, and that I may stay positive and be patient throughout this whole process.
I sincerely hope that together we can ensure this is the last time a Pagan in Virginia has her credentials questioned and her status as clergy denied.
[This post was republished, with permission, from Literata's blog. Please follow it for further updates and commentary from Literata on this matter. The Wild Hunt will be keeping in close contact with Literata on this issue, and will post updates as warranted.]


text:
Unpleasant mother-on-law should be politely ignored (copy)
Dear Abby: When my husband and I married, I thought I had hit the jackpot in mothers-in-law. We were becoming friends, going shopping together, etc.
Boy, was I wrong.
Now, five years later, I can't stand her. Just 15 minutes with her sends me over the edge. She's rude, judgmental and gossips like a teenager about everyone.
She put together a cookbook for me filled with my husband's favorite recipes. Guess what? After trying half a dozen of them and failing at every one, I realized she had changed and added or omitted certain ingredients in every single one. When I asked about it, she told me she just wanted her son to prefer her cooking over mine.
Then there was the time she was baby-sitting and took our son to see Santa Claus for the very first time without asking or telling us. That's an event parents want to be part of. I found out about it months later when I looked through her scrapbook.
I'm not sure of her motives, but she has something against me. My husband is on my side 100 percent when it comes to his mother. He can't stand to be around her, either. What is the appropriate way to handle her? She makes us want to move away.
— Ready to Pack in Ohio
Dear Ready to Pack: It isn't necessary to move away to distance yourselves from people like your mother-in-law. Limit the time you spend with her.
When you must see her, be careful not to say anything negative about anyone or give her sensitive information you don't want shared.
If you want to prepare a special food for your husband, go online and find recipes that haven't been "doctored." You'll find plenty of them. Then let him rave about your cooking.
As for the incident with Santa, remember that your son was so young, he probably has no memory of it. Many little children are frightened by big strangers in red suits, which is why smart parents don't force the exposure.
And now that you know what poor judgment your mother-in-law has, make other arrangements for a sitter when you need one.
But don't cut her off. However she managed it, she created the wonderful husband with whom you are blessed.
Dear Abby: I am a divorced father of two children, one in college and the other in high school. I have reached a point in life where I can take trips and make time for me. I am well-educated and earn an above-average income. I'm in decent shape and considered a "catch" by many of the single women I encounter. But most of the women in my age bracket (mid-40s) or slightly younger no longer take care of themselves.
I'm looking for a very attractive woman to accompany me through life. Most single men I know also put a premium on a woman's appearance. Why don't women understand this? Where would you suggest finding a suitable partner for someone in my situation?
— Mr. Particular in Tucson
Dear Mr. Particular: Start at the nearest gym. If that doesn't net you what you're trolling for, another place to look would be the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles. Hef throws large parties there, many of which are charity fundraisers.
Who knows? For a generous donation you might meet a woman who meets your high standards — providing you have enough assets of your own to merit her interest.
Universal Uclick


text:
Matt Bai Deplores GOP Attacks on Obama as 'the Other,' Hints at Racism
Matt Bai's "Political Times" column, "Obama the Other, Deployed as Election Tactic," deplored what Bai saw as an emerging G.O.P. strategy against Barack Obama in 2010 and 2012. Bai predictably brought up former House speaker Newt Gingrich accusing Obama of "Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior," based on a Forbes cover story by conservative Dinesh D'Souza.
This cultural critique of Mr. Obama - a general portrayal of otherness based on his age and ideology, his upbringing and, inescapably, his race - is reminiscent of similar attacks on Bill Clinton, whom 1990s-era conservatives reveled in depicting as a symbol of the socially permissive, self-indulgent hippie left....
After the allusion to racism, Bai tried to portray things in starkest terms:
Mr. Obama's alleged sympathy for so-called Muslim extremists who would desecrate the World Trade Center site, his socialist African ancestry and his early years in Indonesia - all of this creates a shadowy archetype that every conservative enclave (fiscal, foreign policy and religious) can find a reason to fear.
You can probably expect the tenor of these attacks to grow shriller as 2012 approaches and Republican presidential hopefuls begin courting activists in Iowa. For now, at least, the president has no plans to respond - perhaps other than to affirm his Christianity more regularly than he used to. White House advisers contend that as the conservative insinuations about Mr. Obama grow more pronounced, the extremism that underlies them will become self-evident to the public.
Last month Bai fretted in knee-jerk liberal fashion over the "nativist impulse" leading Americans to oppose building a huge Islamic center, topped by a mosque, in a building damaged during the 9-11 terrorist attacks committed in the name of Islam.


text:
Hi there
This is the first time posting in the forum but a long time user of the forum. What I am trying to do, is to get a flow to trigger an sending an email when the date of a required audit approaches. The audit due dates are listed in a SharePoint list and you would think that this would be a simple thing to do. However, no matter how much I tinker and how much I see what others have done, I cannot get this to work.
This is what I have done:
@equals(item()?['Nextauditdue'], adddays(utcnow(),'mm-dd-yyyy')+14)
So basically I want this to send me an email when it is 14 days to the audit due date.
If anyone can shed light on this, I would be most grateful.
Solved! Go to Solution.
We would need to do similar to what we did before. Setup a dummy date that's unique (1/1/2049), run your Flow, go to results, Get Items -> Outputs -> Body and then hit ctrl+f and search for that year and see if you can find it. Then, that should give show you how SharePoint see your column name.
It is working!! Thank you so much!!!!! You have been a great help. Thanks so much for taking the time 🙂
Yessss! That's awesome! Congrats . It's awesome because now through all that troubleshooting, building anything similar will be so much simpler. Cheers!
gotta say this is a GREAT thread and I have dedicated a few days at going back and forth here.
I finally reached a good point with my testing...
My dates seem to only be working with month and day -- ignoring the year.
I'm using;
@less(formatDateTime(item()?['reminder_x0020_email'], 'MM/dd/yyyy'), formatDateTime(addDays(utcNow(), 01), 'MM/dd/yyyy'))
I have (3) items in my share point list with dates of
I can consistenly get an email for both A & C but C is in 2019...
can anyone help shed some light?
I should add that I can live life without the addition of days, so I'm eagerly open to any suggestions on how I can simply have my flow check that date column and if it matches the date of today = send email
ok, I got it to work with this one and posting up for fuuture me to review as needed.
@equals(formatDateTime(item()?['reminder_x0020_email'], 'MM/dd/yyyy'), formatDateTime(utcNow(), 'MM/dd/yyyy'))
@chico glad this was helpful and that you found your solution. No idea why your 2019 wasn't being checked. I only use mine with a "is today 30 days away from the date in the column"? If yes, it sends the e-mail and if not, nothing happens.
Hi Kris,
Thanks for sharing this. I've successfully made 3 reminders - 14, 7, and 1 day before the date in my SharePoint list column.
However, I just tried to do one where it sends a notification when the Current Date is after the deadline, where it will send an email to the "backup person" every day - from 2 days after the deadline.
This failed - and by that I mean it sent out a bunch of emails even though the date is not yet passed.
This was my code:
@less(formatDateTime(item()?['Review_x0020_Date'], 'MM/dd/yyyy'), formatDateTime(addDays(utcNow(), 2), 'MM/dd/yyyy'))
Do you know a way to make this work correctly?
Hey @tehfunnie
I haven't really delt with anything like what you are thinking of. You could play around with like trying to get that logic to check if the today's date minus two days is equal to your date in your SharePoint list but I'm not quite sure of the syntax of it all ... maybe something like this:
@equals(formatDateTime(item()?['Review_x0020_Date'], 'MM/dd/yyyy'), formatDateTime(addDays(utcNow(), -2), 'MM/dd/yyyy'))
I have not tested this and there might be a subtractDays function that might help you but my theory is that it should work with the addDays as I have it in the code and the -2. So you'd have your Review Date from your list be, for example, 10/27/2018. Then your Flow runs today and takes today's date, 10/29/2018 and adds -2 days (aka subtracts two days) for 10/27/2018, dates match, and in theory and e-mail goes out?
Let me know if you get it working.
Hello everyone, thank you in advance on providing advice on an issue I am facing with this Flow. I was able to get it perform the basic action, meaning it sends an email 30 days before a date is approaching. However, the Flow still says failed and there are multiple error messages.
Error 1: Action failed, no dependent actions succeeded - Under Inputs, the Expression result says 'false'
Error 2: Action failed, no dependent actions succeeded - Invalid template, unable to process template language expressions for action 'Condition' at line '1' and column '2498': Run History | Microsoft Flow
Hi All,
Can anyone help me to set flow for the following condition
|Root Cause
|Business Impact
|Management Action Plan
|Due Date
this is the list , i want to set reminder to the responsibal person ( responsibilty column) to get auto email reminders before due date(due date column). which template to select or to create custome template.
i am using online sharepoint. Thanks in advanced.
Please check out what other people or myself have done in the thread. The accepted solution on page one should give you a really good refernece.
Your code / layout for that Flow would look something like the following:
My guess is that there might be a line in your List that does not have a date? That would cause it to be "null" aka not present. At this point, I'm pretty sure Flow just moves onto the next item but technically, for that line, it failed as it couldn't evaluate the date: it couldn't compare today's date against nothing.
That's just my guess from looking at what you posted. This would refer to Error 2, I think. Error 1, I think, is related because if your condition fails, it can't really move onto the If Yes and If No steps of your Flow. You COULD adjust your Flow to first check if there is a Date present, and if not, leave blank and if yes, then compare that date to today but I don't think it's worth the trouble.
Wow, thank you so much @kristof805! I checked and I did have many blanks, upon adding a date, the Flow ran successfully.
This has been very helpful information. Thank you all. While applying to the original list the date column failed to be recognized by Flow, a rebuilt list and content type was successful. My additional requirement is to add multiple intervals of 90 days, 30 days, 7 days, expired or zero day. What is the recommendation for best practice to add multiple intervals?
I've seen others use 1 day, can we use 0 for expired the day of?
I went with the stacked condition route and it worked like a charm. A peer had suggested to use the Switch control to have the Case properties stacked horizontally vs vertically, but the Case property did not approve of the expression that's been provided throughout this string. Looking for a more literal string.
@lgonyea22, for simplicity's sake, I would actually make one working flow with whatever day offset you want, let's say 90 days, and then make a copy of that Flow and just adjust the day offset. Sure, you'll have multiple Flows but it they all be smaller and less complicated. Also, if one breaks, you only have to troubleshoot that one, instead of your switch / case or multiple if / then statement Flow. Good luck!
Wondering if anyone might be able to shed some light on how I might set the condition logic to send the email to the doc owner when any of the docs' reviewed date is older than one year.
Any insights would be greatly appreciated!
@JV2018, the main answer / logic should work, except you'd change the days value to be 365 and you'd put a plus instead of a minus.
Maybe something like:
@equals(formatDateTime(item()?['Date'], 'MM/dd/yyyy'), formatDateTime(subtractDays(utcNow(), 365), 'MM/dd/yyyy'))
I just realized that its missing one other piece. I have selected properties of all of the documents but have not singled out the 'last review date' for this condition. Can you possibly advise where that would be woven in?
@JV2018, I guess I haven't been on the Flow website because now Flows that ran successfully don't have the output provided neatly formatted on the results page. Instead you get to download it.
Anyway, inside the output there should be a modified value that you might be able to work off of in your next step. I'm not really familiar with this part of the process though, it's just my best guess. You might want to start a separate and your question might get more exposure.
Hello -
This is the thread I have been looking for! BUT!
I do not have an
"EDIT IN ADVANCED MODE" option! Have I added the incorrect control? Please advise!
Thanks so much!
Keep up to date with current events and community announcements in the Power Automate community.
A great place where you can stay up to date with community calls and interact with the speakers.
Check out the latest Community Blog from the community!


text:
These are great. They're similar to flapjacks, but because they've got fruit in, you can call them "breakfast bars" and say they're healthy.
Makes 16
140g light muscovado sugar
3 tbsp golden syrup
140g butter
250 rolled oats
150g walnut pieces
150g mixed dried fruit (I used a mixed dried berries pack)
50g sesame seeds or mixed seeds
The Cooking
It's really easy. Pre-heat the oven to 160C/320F/gas 3. Pop the butter, sugar and syrup into a pan and heat until they're melted. Meanwhile put all the other ingredients into a large bowl. Once the sugar, syrup and butter have melted, pour it over the rest of the ingredients and mix it until everything's coated.
Spoon the combined mixture into a square tin (about 23cm x 23cm or thereabouts) and then pat it all down so it's compacted. Put it in the oven for 35 minutes.
Leave it to cool completely, then cut up into bars. It's that simple!


text:
Add Tom Moore's voice to the chorus of NFL experts who think the Indianapolis Colts should take Andrew Luck with the first pick in this month's NFL Draft.
In an interview with NBC's Michele Tafoya, Peyton Manning's former offensive coordinator in Indianapolis made it clear that he thinks the former Stanford quarterback is the closest thing he's seen to a second coming of Manning.
Reuter: Draft strengths/weaknesses
Chad Reuter says the 2012 NFL Draft is deep at several positions, like CB, but other groups leave a lot to be desired. **More ...**
"He's the real deal. If you draft him you never have to worry about anything," Moore said, according to ProFootballTalk.com. "You know he'll be prepared. You know he'll be in shape. You know he'll study. You know he'll practice hard. ... And you'll know he's going to go home and spend two-to-three more hours working on what you talked about.
"If I was still coaching I'd love to have him because he can do the things I like to do: audibles at the line of scrimmage; no-huddle. He has a great awareness of what's happening."
Moore, who served as the Colts' offensive coordinator from 1998 to 2010, didn't think much of reports that the team is interested in signing veteran free-agent quarterback Byron Leftwich -- presumably to help mentor Luck.
"Andrew Luck doesn't need a mentor," he said. "I've never bought into the theory that you learn by watching. I think all that stuff is really overrated."
Moore was also asked about reports that the Colts are still considering taking Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III.
"This kid [Luck] is the first pick in the first round and there's no question about it. I would draft him and I would never look back."


text:
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Three Connecticut doctors billed Medicare for nearly 24,000 drug tests in 2012 - on just 145 patients. Despite the extraordinary number, Medicare administrators paid the doctors a total of $1.4 million, according to a Reuters analysis of government payments to health providers.
The three physicians stand out in the Medicare data released last month because they conducted three to four times more drug tests per patient than any other provider in the country. In fact, they ordered so many individual tests, their patients averaged one every other day.
A surge in prescription drug abuse among older Americans has been accompanied by a big increase in urine and blood tests nationwide. Part of an effort to detect that abuse, the tests generate millions of dollars for providers. Medicare, the government insurance system for the disabled and people 65 years and older, is footing the bill.
Medicare administrators declined to comment on the doctors' bills or to say whether they were investigating. But experts in laboratory billing said the high frequency of tests was extremely unusual and underscored the need for Medicare to improve oversight of potentially lucrative drug tests to guard against billing for unnecessary procedures.
"Those numbers are ridiculously high," said Dr Stuart Gitlow, acting president of the American Society of Addiction Medicine. "There is no medical indication I can think of that would require such frequency of testing. I can't come up with a scenario at all."
Two of the doctors work together in New London, Connecticut. The third doctor works in Ellington, about 60 miles away. Two of the three, contacted by Reuters, denied any wrongdoing, with one saying he was simply following Medicare's billing rules as he understood them. The third declined to comment.
Each of the doctors requested only the most expensive and comprehensive drug test, for as much as $94, rather than the simpler $19 one. This was done to improve the accuracy of the results, one said.
Medicare paid medical providers $457 million in 2012 for 16 million tests to detect everything from prescription narcotics to cocaine and heroin, according to the Reuters analysis.
"In some parts of the country every doctor and his cousin is hanging out a shingle to do (addiction) treatment. There's a tailor-made opportunity for ordering a profusion of tests instead of one," said Bill Mahon, former executive director of the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association.
"It's like turning on a spigot of money," he said.
Urine and blood tests are potential areas of fraud and abuse because guidelines for drug testing are vague, leaving the frequency of testing to the discretion of the provider. Unlike private insurance companies, which sometimes dispute charges and pay providers only when they have vetted a claim, Medicare almost always pays first and asks questions later.
There is often a legitimate need for such drug tests, to determine whether an addict has relapsed or to ensure that patients prescribed painkillers are taking them rather than selling them.
In 2011, the average number of older Americans misusing or dependent on prescription pain relievers grew to about 336,000, up from 132,000 a decade earlier, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Urine drug testing first showed up on the radar screen of Medicare investigators in 2011. Since then the Office of the Inspector General of Health and Human Services, which oversees Medicare, has settled three cases in which it charged providers whose billings for drug tests were deemed excessive.
When Medicare administrators released the payment data for 880,000 healthcare providers last month, officials said they hoped outside experts would comb through it for possible waste, fraud, and abuse.
Addiction psychiatrist Erum Shahab of Ellington conducted 8,518 drug tests for 43 Medicare patients in 2012, the Reuters analysis found. That's an average of 198 per patient and the most of any Medicare provider in 2012.
Shahab declined to comment on her billing.
Medicare reimbursed her billing number $207,046 for these tests, which detect multiple classes of drugs. Ninety-five percent of her Medicare revenue came from the tests.
New London-based Dr Bassam Awwa, who also specializes in treating addiction, conducted 13,260 drug tests for 90 patients in 2012, or 147 per patient. That's about three per week for every patient. Medicare paid his billing number $983,894.
Dr Ammar Traboulsi, who shares an office with Awwa, was paid for 2,142 drug tests on 12 patients in 2012, or an average 178 tests per patient. Medicare paid his billing number $159,107.
Among the thousands of providers who charged Medicare for drug tests, the next highest number of tests per patient in 2012 was 50. Excluding the three Connecticut doctors, the median number per patient nationwide was 1.3.
"We would never do that many drug screenings here, even in our intensive outpatient treatment center," said Dr Elizabeth Howell, the director of the Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship Training Program at the University of Utah Neuropsychiatric Institute, when Reuters read her the numbers for the three Connecticut doctors.
"There's a big question mark in my mind about what they're doing," she said.
It is not possible to tell from the Medicare data how many providers are fraudulently or wastefully billing for drug tests. For instance, some physicians may be ordering tests on the vast majority of their patients, even those with no history of abuse.
Recent court cases, however, hint at the extent of the problem.
In February, SelfRefind, a chain of addiction treatment centers in Kentucky, agreed to pay $15.75 million to settle allegations that they billed Medicare and Medicaid for drug tests that were medically unnecessary and many times more expensive than other suitable alternative tests, the Department of Justice said in a statement.
Doctors Awwa and Traboulsi run a program in which patients addicted to opioids are given Suboxone, a drug made by Britain's Reckitt Benckiser RB.L as a safer substitute, much as heroin addicts are weaned off that drug through methadone.
Awwa said the payment numbers for his practice were correct, but misleading. He conducts drug tests only once a week for patients in the Suboxone program, not the three times per week the Medicare data suggest.
But he billed Medicare separately for each drug he tested. Rather than charging Medicare once to test a patient for ecstasy, ketamine and bath salts, for instance, Awwa charged the program three times.
"This is the way we were told to bill," he said. "We are not doing them artificially to generate revenue."
Traboulsi, in a separate interview, offered similar explanations.
Medicare billing rules effective Jan. 1, 2011, however, prohibit providers from charging for each drug tested.
"If you did one drug, if you did 50 drugs, it should have been times one," said Melissa Scott, a laboratory billing consultant.
Awwa said he believed the guideline was effective as of 2013 and since then has charged Medicare for only one test per patient visit. Medicare has not responded to Reuters' requests for Awwa's 2013 and 2011 billing data.
Medicare uses an automated procedure to halt payments to providers who bill multiple times for the same drug test, according to Rob DeConti, assistant Inspector General of Legal affairs at the Office of the Inspector General. But providers can skirt the automated denials by changing the way they submit their bills.
Awwa said Medicare audited him and found nothing wrong with his laboratory billing practices. Medicare said it does not confirm or deny whether it has investigated any provider.
Reporting By M.B. Pell and Sharon Begley, editing by Michele Gershberg and Ross Colvin
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.


text:
Remember the doggy bandana I knitted for Miekie (seen here modelled by Tess) as part of last year's Stitching Santa?
It was from the book Woolly Woofers by Debbie Bliss.
I bought it as much for the quirky illustrations as for the actual content – just look at this backdrop for the so-called Teacup Yorkie!
Well, our other Yorkie, Fifi, has been to the Vet's a lot recently as she's an old dog that needs a bit more regular attention. She is much happier wearing a dog coat than those awful cones, but she doesn't really have enough. I thought this little coat would be a quick and simple knit to go with the fleecy coat I made the other week.
Most of the coats in the book are in there sizes; small,medium and large, but this particular design was specifically for Toy breeds and only available as 'one size fits all'.
I should have been wary at that statement as both Tess and Fifi are a Toy Yorkshire Terrier, yet Tess is literally twice the size of Fifi.
Undeterred, I cast on using a super chunky yarn in two colours which were dictated by the two half-balls of Lion Brand that had been languishing at the bottom of my 'leftovers' bin for months now. There should just about be enough to make a tiny coat.
The gauge was only slightly bigger than the tension gauge suggested in the pattern so I carried on to the end, playing yarn chicken (again!) and winning with just 6″ to spare.
I tried the finished coat on Fifi and….
…..it was HUGE!
It could probably have gone around her twice and the end flopped well past her tail. She even looked the other way in an effort to communicate her humiliation.
So I tried it on Tess…..and it fit perfectly.
It looks just like it does in the book – nice and snug around the chest and not too long in the body.
She was even happy to pose for the camera.
There's only one tiny issue, and that's the fact that she has thick hair (and lots of it) and never really gets cold enough to warrant wearing a coat, so if anyone has a little dog that would wear it, let me know and I'll send it to you.