text:
move in day
Growing up, I always knew I wanted to attend college. Not having many family members who attended college and my mother's words of wisdom was extra motivation to accomplish that goal. Around this exact time last year, I received my acceptance letter to Ball State. After I received that information, the rest of the school year seemed to fly by. The summer before this school year, also went by extremely quick. The whole week before August 19th consisted of the same schedule each and every day. Wake-up, pack, and then go out for the night. Finally, August 19th arrived, and it was time to start a new chapter in my life.
As I pulled into my neighborhood in the early hours of the morning, my head was instantly filled with thoughts. Usually I try not to think in depth and let things come as they are, but this time I let the thoughts rush in. Thoughts like "Will I make it? Am I going to follow in the footsteps of my brother and flunk out? Will I be as successful as my uncle? Am I going to become an alcoholic?" As I pulled into the driveway, those thoughts came to an end as I walked in and gave my mother a kiss goodnight and we exchanged the nightly "I love you."
Since it was summer, my brother was home. We talked all through the morning about what to expect and the things that caused his down fall. After the words of wisdom, he decided to give me a small preview of what activities I most likely would participate in for the legendary "welcome week." We made a short trip around the corner to a liquor store, where he bought a fifth of the finest cognac I have ever had, Hennessey. We sipped on that through the morning continuing our talks about the next four years of my life. Before we knew it, we were both plastered, stuck to the couch staring at an empty bottle of liquor. Thinking it was time to get a little rest before the big day; my brother surprised me again with everybody's favorite plant. Not knowing my brother participated in that illegal act, I was shocked, but turning him and the plant down was a no. It was dark and quiet outside as we slowly inhaled and exhaled. Telling me more stories of his college days made me think, college was going to be a crazy experience. After our minds were freed and our livers had had enough, we called it a night.
Waking up later on that morning, I had a slight headache, but I knew that was coming. After a long hot shower and my last home cooked meal, it was time to leave for Muncie. After a sincere prayer from my aunt, a kiss goodbye to my mom and grandmother, my aunt, brother, and I were on 69-north headed to Muncie. Still feeling the effects from the early morning preview, I rested my head on the window and completely dosed off. I woke up as soon as we pulled of McGalliard to Tillotson. All I saw was bumper to bumper traffic and young ambitious faces like mine. Half hungover still, I showed no emotion and put my head back on the window. More of the same thoughts rushed back in my head as we pulled up to Lafollette. After receiving my room number and key, it was time to unload the car and move into my new home for a year.
The terrible heat of Lafollette hit me as I stepped out onto the 2nd floor; luckily my roommate has asthma, which allowed us to get an air conditioning in our room. My roommate and I got to the room simultaneously. Boxes, duffle bags, suitcases were everywhere. Trying to get our family members back on the road, we insisted we needed no help with unpacking. After some kisses goodbye, hugs, and an "I'll miss you," we were officially on our own. Once the coast was clear, and the music was cranked, to my surprise, Matt, my roommate, pulled out a bottle of vodka. I never was the person to drink two days in a row, but I couldn't refuse. Being safe, I closed and locked the door as we started knocking back shots. Not being much of a drinker, I was surprised that no chaser was needed. After about 20 minutes of destroying my liver, somebody knocked at the door. After popping in some gum and hiding the evidence, I peeped through the peep hole and saw it was one our friends and his girlfriend from high school who also attend Ball State. He could automatically tell what we had been up to. Laughing and cracking jokes, for a while, he offered us to ride with them and some more of everybody's favorite plant. Looking at the floor cluttered with luggage and the empty room, we accepted the offer and departed Lafollette.
Cruising around Muncie feeling on top of the world, literally, I thought to myself "is this college?" After cruising around Muncie for a while, we stopped in University Apartments to check out one of friend's new place. His roommates and he had been participating in the same activities as us and probably many other people in Muncie at the time. After a couple games of Madden, and more drinking it was time to go back to campus and finally unpack. On the short drive back to campus, I noticed it was only six o'clock, and my body was already shutting down. Once we got back to Lafollette, I stopped off in the bathroom while Matt went to the room. Matt was used to this type of alcoholic punishment, so I just knew he was going to pull the rest of the vodka out from hiding and want to finish it. As I finished my business in the bathroom, I came to the room and to my surprise I found Matt sleeping. I was relieved. Unlike Matt, I had enough energy in me to at least put sheets on the mattress. After slightly making up my bed, I slowly fell asleep.
I woke up to Matt continuing the punishment to his liver. Feeling sick and worn out, I turned down his offer to continue. It was 11:00 at night and move-in day was almost over, but the luggage and everything else in the middle of the room had yet to be unpacked. I mustered up enough energy to unpack my belongings, and fill up my closet and drawers. By this time, everybody in my hall had just started their nights. They looked and sounded exactly how I did five and a half hours earlier. We received numerous invites to join the festivities. Not wanting to disappoint, we accepted and left the half done room again.
After meeting all the fellow hall members, Matt and I stumbled over to stu west to check out more friends' dorms. Meeting people on the way, we brought a mini parade to stu west. That was not a good idea. Too many people intoxicated people in a small room, was bound to cause some trouble. Of course the trouble came. Who knew such a small accidental nudge would cause me to get so angry. After some threats, the situation simmered down. On the walk back to Lafollette, I laughed everything off and forgot about the whole thing.
It was finally time for more much needed sleep. We set up the TV and turned to "sports center." After catching up in the sports world and watching the top ten plays, I turned off the TV, kicked my feet up and began to think about the day as a whole. I could not help but laugh and think to myself "that was only day one."


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Long before it became cool to ditch your PC for a Mac — and before a new crop of Apple-friendly family tree software jumped on the bandwagon — genealogists had Reunion. This full-featured program from Leister Productions was the first commercial family tree software to be developed just for Macs (rather than a "retrofitted" Windows program), and for a long time, it was Apple users' only non-shareware choice.
Not to be outdone by its newfound competitors, Leister recently released Reunion 9 — and the new version keeps it solidly at the head of the pack.
As with most Mac software, installation is easy: It took only a few minutes to download and drag-drop Reunion into my Applications folder, and I was exploring the attractive, polished program before my coffee was gone.
A big development in version 9 is the ability to keep multiple windows open and drag and drop between them. This makes adding a source notation to an event or adding a child to a family easy as pie.
In the default view (Family Card), a selected husband and wife appear in the middle of the screen, with their children listed below as clickable buttons, and their respective parents as buttons above. Clicking any button — colored pink for women and pale blue for men — brings that person and his or her spouse front and center.
Navigation arrows in the main toolbar make it simple to return to what you were looking at a few screens ago, and the Bookmarks icon gives you easy access to a list of often-viewed family members. The Treetops icon is new in version 9 — clicking it displays the most difficult-to-reach branches of your family tree. Searching for details in your file isn't quite as simple: I found the search tool (click on the Find magnifying glass icon) a bit complicated, although the search boxes that come up in list windows are more straightforward.
If you accidentally drag and drop a cousin into a relationship with his grandmother, a warning screen pops up to ask whether you really want to make him his own grandpa. Reunion 9 also lets you mark items as sensitive to exclude them from shared GEDCOMs (the universal family tree file format) and Web postings.
Reunion 9 offers many attractive charting options: comprehensive family reports and registers as well as plain-vanilla Ahnentafels, plus graphic reports such as fan charts and multicolored timelines. Version 9 accommodates more multimedia file formats than its previous incarnation and lets you do more with the material. You can create slide shows — complete with transitions and music — featuring your entire family tree or groups of selected people.
If you have an iPod that uses a dock connector, Reunion's new Pod Card feature lets you take your family with you. You can save an index and surname list of up to 950 people in your iPod's Notes section.
Reunion 9's exhaustive, easy-to-follow manual includes step-by-step instructions on readying your tree for the Web. The program prepares your information in Web folders for you to post to the Internet (some HTML know-how is required). Finding duplicate data also seems suited to the technologically inclined: The manual's in-depth explanation of the process is enough to make your head spin. Foreign languages, on the other hand, won't cause any confusion. Thanks to the newly added Unicode support, any computer can read accent marks and non-English characters in your file.
Vital Statistics
Reunion 9
(717) 697-1378
Price: $99, or $59.95 for upgrade downloads
Biggest draws: Ability to drag and drop between windows, in-depth manual, Web output, fun Treetops and Pod Cards features
Drawbacks: Clumsy search tool
From the November 2007 issue of Family Tree Magazine.

subset: commoncrawl


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This week for my Interview Series, we have Cameron Blair, Digital Media Consultant at Wilkinson Group, talking to us about his career path, blogging for PR, staying on top of news and trends and where the communications industry is headed.
1. Can you tell us a little about your career path so far? Have you always been working in the communications industry?
Well, I started out as a photographer, snapping pics for a local newspaper in the Philippines while I was travelling through the southern island of Mindaneo. When I moved to Sydney I started my own business shooting weddings and events. I also did a bit of web design work as well.
2. Did you ever utilise social networking services like Twitter or LinkedIn in any of your job hunts?
No not really, although I do see many people using those sites to find work, I myself have only used social media for reputation building and personal socializing. I suppose the people on Twitter are more interesting than my real life friends. Just kidding.
3. As a contributor to Wilkinson Group's blog, what sort of role do you think blogging plays in the PR?
Blogging is a fantastic tool for clients. Firstly, (and most importantly) it helps companies drive sales through e-commerce and SEO. Secondly, it allows companies to maintain and increase a positive reputation. Finally, it gives companies a voice and lets them join the conversation.
4. You're a Digital Media Consultant at Wilkinson Group as well as the Director of Communications at IPREX Global PR and Communications, how do you manage to balance your work / life effectively? Or do you just not sleep?
Sleep? What's that? Yeah it's pretty full on, but I do manage to have a great work/life balance. I do work very hard and long hours, but I love what I do, so I don't mind. My wife might have another opinion on that though.
5. Communication professionals have to perform a wide range of tasks during their day-to-day; monitoring campaigns, writing and updating content, advising clients, developing strategies, etc. But what do you think is the single most important skill for a communication professional?
Integrity, I can't stress this enough. If you're not honest in this game, then you're quickly found out and that's the end of you. Always be honest.
6. With social media, digital technology and communication platforms evolving at such rapid speeds, how do you stay on top of industry news and trends?
Ever heard of Jeff Bullas? He's probably the guy I read the most. Mashable is also pretty cool. There is so much information out there that it is pretty overwhelming.
7. What would be the top 3 blogs / websites that you visit most frequently?
Jeff Bullas, Mashable and… hmmm… PR Daily News… yeah PR Daily news is great.
8. And lastly, in the next 5 years, where do you see the communications industry headed?
From a PR perspective, I think it will boom. Especially for Australia because many Chinese businesses are looking to expand in overseas markets, and, thankfully, they will need public relations to develop their brands and communicate their key messages to the media.
***To get in touch with Cameron say hi on Twitter @CameronJamez***


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Before Super Bowl XLVIII, I ranked all of the prior Super Bowls from best to worst -- and the order won't really have to change after Sunday's game, which might have been the 48th-best. Actually, come to think of it, 49ers-Broncos in Super Bowl XXIV is still the worst I've ever seen, though not by much.
Hey, let's look at the bright side of the Super Blowout. The completion of the 2013 season gives us a chance to reassess each of the NFL's 32 teams. Where does everyone stand after all the coaching turnover? How will the various salary-cap situations play out?
Below, you'll see our thoughts. As always, feel free to share your take ... @HarrisonNFL is the place.
Let the dissension commence ...
(Note: Arrows reflect change in standings from the Power Rankings that were posted at the conclusion of the 2013 regular season.)
PAST: Week 17 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1
Young core, coming off one of the most dominant Super Bowl performances ever ... it's scary how much potential Seattle has. Not only is this slot a no-brainer, but it's possible this team could go coast-to-coast at No. 1 -- from post-Super Bowl Power Rankings all the way through the 2014 season.
The second-best team in football is not the Denver Broncos. The 49ers won eight games in a row and gave the eventual Super Bowl champs all they could handle -- in Seattle, no less -- during the NFC Championship Game. There are, of course, concerns on defense, from Justin Smith's age (34) to Aldon Smith's reliability and NaVorro Bowman's knee injury. Also, organizational decisions need to be made regarding Donte Whitner and Anquan Boldin. Still, this team isn't going anywhere.
There might be some questions about Peyton Manning's future, and it's doubtful the Broncos will be able to retain Knowshon Moreno. That said, the defense will get Von Miller -- who was knocked out with a season-ending ACL tear in December -- back in 2014, and he'll be just one of many talented young players on the roster. Going through the minicamp and training camp motions will be awfully difficult for Manning after coming this far and playing so poorly in the Super Bowl.
This should be a very interesting offseason for the Patriots. Will they stand pat with the wideouts they have under contract, or will they attempt to re-sign Julian Edelman? Aqib Talib is up for a new contract, as well. And what about the status of Vince Wilfork, an aging player who missed nearly all of 2013? Here's the deal: The Patriots always manage these situations better than we analysts predict they will.
How much better would New Orleans have been if the defense had been playing with a full deck? Victor Butler, Kenyon Coleman, Will Smith, Kenny Vaccaro, Jabari Greer, Patrick Robinson and Malcolm Jenkins all missed time, with some of them lost for the whole season. What if defensive coordinator Rob Ryan had all those players in the Saints' loss to the Panthers in Week 16's NFC South showdown? Even with all those injuries, the Saints still finished 11-5 and won a playoff game.
Carolina fans might be peeved that their squad is ranked below the
Saints, but the reality is that the
Panthers were
beaten handily at home in the playoffs after a regular season during which much went their way. This is not to say Carolina doesn't have a quality football team, but we need to see more than a single season of premium football from this group to merit placement over a healthy New Orleans club.
Re-signing Greg Hardy is going to be tough, given the Panthers' salary-cap situation. There aren't a lot of 25-year-old guys walking around with 15-sack seasons under their belts.
Like the Saints, the Chiefs were completely decimated by injuries -- and they still nearly beat the Colts in Indy during the wild-card round. Kansas City has some concerns with regard to pending free agents, like Tyson Jackson, Kendrick Lewis and Dexter McCluster -- though none of these guys would seriously hurt the team by defecting. The nucleus is intact and will hopefully be upright, unlike at the end of the 2013 campaign.
Having Aaron Rodgers healthy for a whole season would mean everything; ditto having a running back like Eddie Lacy fully involved from Week 1. The 2013 Offensive Rookie of the Year, who should get even better at pass protection, could be a 1,500-yard back. However, the Packers' defense, which still has its leaks, must improve for Green Bay to get back to its Super Bowl-winning form of 2010. People forget that the Packers had the No. 1 scoring defense in the NFC that season.
The good news here is that the Colts' players play for Chuck Pagano and respond to Andrew Luck's leadership -- and the team figures to have a healthy amount of salary-cap space. The ambiguous news is that no one knows how effective Reggie Wayne will be in his 14th year after suffering a major knee injury in 2013, nor does anyone know what to make of Trent Richardson. The bad news is that the Richardson trade debacle left the team without a first-round draft pick.
Eagles are in nice shape, with coach
Chip Kelly entering Year 2 of his program with a franchise quarterback in tow (
Nick Foles).
Patrick Chung, who really didn't contribute a lot, and
Trent Cole, who is 31 and played somewhat out of position, could be salary-cap casualties, but don't misunderstand this team's situation; Philly has some room to maneuver with regard to other players.
It will be interesting to see if the Eagles' front office pays free agents-to-be Riley Cooper and Jeremy Maclin. The latter missed all of 2013, while the former has put up just one solid season. Oh, and then there's Michael Vick. Glad he thinks he's an opening-day starter. Does anyone else?
Perhaps the toughest team to rank here is the Arizona Cardinals, who take a slight plunge based on two factors: 1) the contract situations of key veterans like Larry Fitzgerald ( UPDATE: News broke after publishing of Fitzgerald restructuring his contract) and Daryl Washington (who stands to collect a $10 million option bonus); and 2) the play of Carson Palmer. Palmer has been unsteady -- to say the least -- since 2006. If the quarterback regresses, this squad will not have enough oomph to compete in an incredibly tough NFC West.
Make no mistake: Losing offensive coordinator
Ken Whisenhunt, who became head coach of the
Tennessee Titans, flat-out hurts. The offense was clearly the
Chargers' strength in 2013, and Whisenhunt's use of the ground game and rotation of running backs was imperative to San Diego making the playoffs. Give Whisenhunt some love for quarterback
Philip Rivers
winning The Associated Press' Comeback Player of the Year award -- Rivers, for the record,
would have been my choice, too.
Of course, one of my tweeps did point out that the Comeback Player of the Year award might be more appropriately given to someone coming off a major injury rather than making it a youkindasuckedlastyearbutmanagedtoplaybetterthisyearsohere'sanaward kind of deal.
The Bengals will have a new offensive coordinator in Hue Jackson, a hefty chunk of salary-cap space and, most importantly, the nucleus of an 11-5 team. So, it seems, all is well ... except for the huge question mark at quarterback. Seriously, it's as big as Larry Kinnebrew's belly. (Anyone remember him?) The AFC North cannot be any worse than it was last year; we can't assume the Ravens, Steelers and Browns will go 20-28 again. So even if Jackson does get the most out of Andy Dalton, the Bengals might wind up taking a small step back.
It's been a month now since the Bears locked up Jay Cutler with a seven-year deal, and $54 million guaranteed still seems like a lot of dough for a quarterback who missed more than a quarter of the season, has never finished in the top 10 in passer rating and was outplayed by his backup. As far as the 2014 NFL Draft goes, defensive line is a must for this group.
Ray Rice says he wishes he hadn't played through a hip injury in 2013, further twisting the knife on a bunch of fantasy owners who dropped a first-round pick on him. Hip injuries are different from regular injuries, as Dennis Pitta or Percy Harvin can tell you. Either way, Baltimore must commit to re-tooling the offense, starting at wideout.
After the Steelers' hot finish to the 2013 season, we were reluctant to move them down too far. However, the harsh reality is that they figure to face a complete lack of salary-cap space in 2014. Age in the secondary is also a major issue. Still, we can rattle off a comparative laundry list of problems for the Jets, Cowboys, Dolphins, Rams, Giants ... you get the point.
There is more to football in New York than a terribly boring
Super Bowl and
Geno Smith ... like, say, available salary-cap dollars. The
Jets should have more than $20 million to play with and -- aside from some starters who need to be re-signed -- look to be in decent shape. Draft-wise, wide receiver sure as heck had better be a primary concern.
The most important decision for the front office, however, is whether to let go of veteran quarterback Mark Sanchez. Pretty much the only news you hear about him these days has to do with the $8.3 million the team could save against the cap by giving him the boot.
Now that
Scott Linehan is the "play-caller" and
Rod Marinelli is the defensive coordinator, word is the
Cowboys are looking at bringing
Jon Kitna back, having Titus Young play slot receiver and asking Wayne Fontes to be a consultant.
OK, maybe not, but Cowboys fans surely must be wondering what's going on. Not to mention (but we'll mention): The cap situation figures to stink. #noroom # LionsSouth
The installation of a new front-office regime and some late-season regression by
Ryan Tannehill parks Miami here. Who thought an NFL GM job would be that hard to fill? For a while, it sounded like not even the GM of the local Pizza Hut would take the position -- for that matter, I don't know if
Pizza the Hutt himself would have gone for it.
The man who eventually accepted the title -- Dennis Hickey -- must decide what to do with the contracts of several starters. Free agent-to-be Brent Grimes, who had an outstanding 2013, is a candidate for the franchise tag. We've also seen a lot of chatter about offensive tackle Branden Albert being a target in free agency. Hickey will have the cap space.
What an interesting time for this franchise. While half the world is thinking the team will soon be sipping lattes and going to Def Leppard concerts at the Hollywood Bowl, the St. Louis Rams must decide what to do with the nine draft picks they have to play with come May. The team was already the youngest in the league in 2013; looks like it'll be getting younger, especially if the Rams trade down and acquire even more selections.
Whoa, some decisions to be made for Big Blue. What to do with Justin Tuck? How about Hakeem Nicks, who underwhelms like a boss? Linval Joseph? As things stand, the Giants will have 22 unrestricted free agents to address -- twenty-two. Last year, we drew ire for predicting an 8-8 season -- and New York went 7-9. For 2014, we'll go with 7-8-1.
Getting some help in the pass rush and the running game in this year's draft would be nice. It's a good thing the club
didn't bring John Abraham back for an eighth season in Atlanta in 2013; after all, he merely went on to record 11.5 sacks for the
Arizona Cardinals. Who needs a guy like
that running around and causing havoc?
All that said, the Falcons are in great shape, which is why they get a bump in the rankings. They a) have few of their own pending free agents to sign, with none being potentially catastrophic departures; b) have an owner willing to spend; and c) have a certifiable franchise quarterback -- unlike most of the clubs below. Oh, and getting Julio Jones back in the mix sure won't hurt matters.
Buffalo should be in an excellent salary-cap situation, meaning it can fill several small holes at linebacker, on the offensive line and in the secondary, and figure out what to do with Jairus Byrd. Coach Doug Marrone has so much young talent; it will be up to his staff to develop it. Drafting another 'backer would be pleasant, too.
I like the Ken Whisenhunt hire, but running back Chris Johnson isn't getting any better, younger or healthier -- and he might not even stay in town. This team still hasn't figured out its quarterback situation, either. And though the defense wasn't exactly a problem in 2013, the unit could really use a major impact player besides Jurrell Casey.
Discipline is the word of the day around Detroit, with Reggie Bush saying recently that "culture is going to be the biggest thing we're gonna need to improve on in our locker room." Agreed. That could start with Bush -- who lost four fumbles in 2013 -- not putting the ball on the carpet anymore. Getting rid of the dumb penalties and all the dropped passes from everybody else sounds super, too. We'll see if new coach Jim Caldwell is the man for the job. The Lions fans I've spoken with -- and I know many -- call it an "uninspired hiring." Sports-cliché alert: Time will tell.
Can new coach Mike Zimmer turn around a defense that gave up the most points in the NFL in 2013? That's the question in Minnesota. He'll need the team to add more talent via the draft, perhaps targeting a defensive end first. Additional linebacker help wouldn't hurt, either, and while we're at it, some health might be nice, too. Safety Harrison Smith missed half the 2013 season. The Vikes need him to develop.
My colleague Daniel Jeremiah says that, when it comes to the 2014 NFL Draft, an edge rusher would fit the bill for new Bucs coach Lovie Smith and new GM Jason Licht, and the feeling here is the same. Since Jon Gruden left Tampa Bay five seasons ago to start doing broadcasting work and bad commercials with USFL highlights in them, the Bucs have racked up just 139 sacks, the worst mark in the NFC and second-worst in the NFL over that span. Tampa should have the salary-cap room to sign some free agents. More important than that, however, will be getting a healthy Carl Nicks back.
Owner Shad Khan sure wouldn't be very good at
Risk or
Stratego, as he'd probably divulge the location of his flag right off the bat. Still, kudos to him for
acknowledging the obvious: that the Jags will be looking to draft a quarterback in May. Then he went a step further, adding, "... maybe two." Call it refreshing.
In other news, the Jaguars figure to have a ton of money to work with in free agency -- just like the Browns and Raiders. And also like both those clubs, Jacksonville will have the opportunity to make over much of the roster.
You feel like CEO Joe Banner and GM Mike Lombardi have the tortillas, beans and enchilada sauce ... they merely need the right kind of cheese. Think about it: Cleveland should have somewhere between $40 million and $50 million in cap space to play with, plus the fourth
and 26th overall picks in the 2014
NFL Draft --
thank you, Trent Bustardson. The
Browns also have some good, young pieces, starting with receiver
Josh Gordon.
What's the right move at quarterback? Retaining Brian Hoyer on the cheap (he's set to earn $1.25 million) while using the cache of picks to get the young signal-caller they covet would seem to be the proper play. Of course, given the fact that the Browns want to establish a franchise quarterback, was Mike Pettine -- who cut his teeth as a defensive coordinator -- the correct choice for head coach? I'll let the Dawg Pound answer that one ... @HarrisonNFL.
Expected to have more than $60 million in cap space, the
Raiders are like that kid down the street whose parents gave him an allowance that was five times as big as every other kid's -- he had both
the Death Star AND
the Millennium Falcon -- despite the fact that he was so annoyingly misbehaved that you would rather go to school than have to play Hot Wheels with him.
Almost everyone I know wants Oakland to be effective this offseason and be competitive in 2014. This Raiders organization has had nary a winning season since 2002. Here's the thing: The league is, well, cooler when the Raiders are good. After patiently clearing out the team's finances over the past two years, GM Reggie McKenzie has the cash and the draft ammunition (starting with the fifth overall pick) necessary to implement his plan -- which hopefully starts with getting a quarterback and fortifying both the offensive and defensive lines.
With the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, plus tons of talent already on the roster, the Texans climb out of the cellar in our Power Rankings. The Bill O'Brien hiring made a lot of sense, given where the team is picking and given the fact that quarterback is THE issue here. Veteran receiver Andre Johnson is going nowhere; meanwhile, don't be so quick to assume that Ben Tate is for sure gone. He's younger and doesn't have the wear and tear of Arian Foster. Foster, on the other hand, would be tough to find a trade destination for, given his health and the way 2013 played out -- but that doesn't mean the club couldn't release him. Not saying it will happen, just saying it's a plausible scenario.
With the second-worst record in the NFL, no first-round draft pick and a new head coach in Jay Gruden -- who took some heavy criticism when he was offensive coordinator in Cincinnati -- the Redskins have to start at No. 32. The positive thing for the team is that, unlike last offseason, Washington is projected to have a relatively large amount of cap space. I don't believe the Redskins will be mired at the bottom for long, especially if Robert Griffin III can turn it around.
Follow Elliot Harrison on Twitter @HarrisonNFL.


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Had a leak develop in the starboard water tank that drained the tank down to the 40 gallon level. Point of interest for other 39 express owners, the bilge will hold 50 gallons of water without getting the sole wet with about an inch to spare. Upon removal the tank had a crack at the bottom of the molded in baffle.
First, though not easy the tank can be removed by disassembling the cabinetry. No cutting required, just 5 bungs to replace on re-assembly. Second, the tank will come out through the companionway in one piece but just barely and only with the curved side up. Will probably have the replacement made 2 inches shorter to facilitate getting the new tank back on the boat and ease installation by having room to attach fittings before dropping tank into position. Third, the tanks were custom molded by Todd, the molds have been destroyed.
Hope no one else ever needs this information


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Dennis Ross, just retired as President Barack Obama's top adviser on the Middle East, warned yesterday that Obama means what he says when he declares that the White House isn't ruling out military action against Tehran. Though other, senior U.S. officials, including Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Adm. Mike Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have repeatedly stressed that war against Iran could have unpredictable and dangerous results, Ross said Obama is serious about using force to prevent Iran from acquiring a military nuclear capability.
"He hasn't been reluctant to use force when he says that all options remain on the table," said Ross, in an appearance at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP). "It means that it's an option he is prepared to exercise." Later, in a private discussion, Ross told The Diplomat that even though Panetta, Mullen and others in the administration seem to oppose a strike against Iran, "The president doesn't take his own words lightly. Has he made a decision yet? No."
Ross, before going into the administration in 2009, spent many years at the Washington Institute, a hawkish, pro-Israel think tank, and he has returned there as its counselor and resident expert on the region. While at the White House, he had a reputation as a hardliner on Iran policy, and there has been speculation in Washington that he left the White House because of differences with other U.S. officials, including Pentagon leaders who have expressed reluctance to attack Iran even if that appears to be the only way to halt Iran's nuclear research program. But in his WINEP appearance Tuesday, Ross disputed that, saying instead that he quit after three years in order to keep a promise he'd made to his family.Enjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Just $5 a month.
Though Iran has denied that it seeks to militarize its nuclear program, and despite there being no concrete evidence that Iranian leaders have decided to seek nuclear weapons, Ross said in his view there's no ambiguity. "The Iranians, by their behavior, have made it pretty clear that they want to have a nuclear weapons program," he said. He emphasized that the goal of U.S. policy is to prevent Iran from building a bomb, not containing it once it has developed a military nuclear capability. "It's not about containment, it's about prevention," he said.
Because neither sanctions nor diplomacy have dissuaded Iran from its nuclear program, many analysts in Washington have begun to talk about containing a nuclear Iran, much as the United States pursued a containment, balance-of-power policy toward the Soviet Union in the Cold War. And it's been reported that officials at the White House, the State Department and the Defense Department are quietly discussing precisely that idea if Iran eventually decides to go nuclear.
But Ross laid out an apocalyptic scenario for nuclear Armageddon in the Middle East if Iran gets the bomb. Were Iran to acquire even a limited nuclear capability, it would dramatically destabilize the Middle East, he said, and that's why a containment policy is the wrong approach. "The fact is that Israel looks at Iran as an existential threat, and it is," he said. If both Israel and Iran have nuclear bombs, it would put the region on a hair trigger, and he asked, "Can Israel wait?" if a nuclear-armed Iran seemed to raise its level of readiness for war. "The possibility of nuclear war in the Middle East goes up dramatically."
Ross stressed that there's still room for the administration's combination of sanctions and negotiation to work. "We still have time and space available to us to ratchet up the pressure," he told WINEP. But some analysts have argued that sanctions, pressure tactics and what appears to be a campaign of covert action against Iran could provoke Iran into aggressive, rash behavior that could by itself lead to conflict. In the field of covert action, recent events include the assassination of several Iranian scientists, a computer worm that damaged Iran's centrifuge facility, an explosion that killed the top Iranian commander in charge of its missile program, and the recent crash of a U.S. surveillance drone in eastern Iran. Ross refused to comment on whether or not the United States has a covert action program underway, but when asked about it he replied cryptically, "The full range of options needs to be pursued. All options need to be explored."
One argument against war with Iran, and against harsh economic sanctions that would include curtailing or cutting off Iran's oil exports, is that the loss of Iran's oil on the world market would send prices skyrocketing. But Ross suggested that quiet talks with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait – all of which have expressed alarm about Iranian ambitions in the Gulf – might lead Arab oil producers to ratchet up their output to offset Iranian exports. And, he said, Libya's oil output is already coming back onto the market, further easing pressure on prices. Thus, he said, it might be possible to "phase in an Iran oil shutoff without a spike in prices."


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NEW ORLEANS (AP) With their hopes of a Southwestern Athletic Conference title gone for both Grambling and Southern, Saturday's nationally televised Bayou Classic in the Superdome gives both teams a chance to finish disappointing seasons in a big-game environment.
The Tigers (1-9) and Jaguars (3-7) enter the game with the worst combined record in the event's 39-year history.
They're wrapping up a season that saw the Jaguars fire their coach after only two games, while Tigers coach Doug Williams has learned that even his status as a playing legend and successful coach in his previous stint on the job doesn't buy much patience from unhappy fans.
``This has been a tough year, one that nobody at Grambling is used to,'' Williams said. ``These are the kind of years that blindside you. A lot of our fans are restless. Well, they forget that I'm an alumnus and I don't like it either.''
At Southern, interim coach Dawson Odoms knows that the ``interim'' part of his title will be removed after the game, but he isn't sure if the ``coach'' part will be gone as well.
Athletic director William Broussard has said he will make a decision on whether to retain Odoms, who was the defensive coordinator until the firing of Stump Mitchell, or begin the search process for someone else.
``Who wouldn't want to be the coach here?'' asked Odoms. ``This is a great place.
``But whatever decision they make, I'm OK with it.''
Certainly Odoms' status would have been improved with a little luck in the Jaguars' last two games, one-point losses to Alabama A&M and Alabama State.
The first game went to overtime and the second ended with an unsuccessful two-point try by the Jaguars after a late touchdown.
But late disappointments and coaching intrigue aside, this is a chance for two archrivals to salvage something from the wreckage of their seasons in what is still the showcase game for the two schools.
A crowd of more than 40,000 is expected in the Superdome and the game will be nationally televised on NBC, although that television contract is expiring after this season.
And for Southern, it's an opportunity to end a four-game losing streak in its meetings with Grambling, a skid that has seen the Tigers regain the series lead, 20-18.
``I haven't beaten Grambling since I've been here,'' said Dray Joseph, Southern's junior quarterback. ``Our record's better than theirs, and our record's not that good.
``So if we lose to those guys, it'd be tough.''


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Illegal aliens to teach
bilingual education?
Dallas school district wants law changed
to allow hiring of foreigners already in U.S.
The largest school district in Texas hopes to get the law changed so it can hire illegal aliens as bilingual teachers.
Superintendent Michael Hinojosa of the Dallas Independent School District says he hopes to work with other urban school systems to pursue changes that would allow hiring illegals to help fill a significant need for teachers who speak Spanish.
According to an Associated Press report, Hinojosa told board members in a policy meeting yesterday: "We are going to follow the law, but if there is the possibility to modify the law, we should."
The idea was first proposed by school board member Joe May, who says the district should be able to hire illegals who have college degrees and are already in the United States. The aliens would go through an emergency teaching certification program.
"I can't believe the law is so rigid and inflexible not to take into account the needs of our children," Rudy Rodriguez, an education professor at the University of North Texas, told the board. "It is a big issue, a hot issue, and this is probably the only district in this country willing to address it."
Though many businesses and private parties do not abide by it, federal law prohibits the hiring of illegal aliens.
Hinojosa says about half of the district's 161,000 students are limited in English, and the district figures it needs another 700 bilingual teachers. District officials have been recruiting teachers in Chile and Mexico, helping prospective hires obtain the necessary visas.
Maria Elena Garcia-Upson, regional communications manager for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, emphasized to the Dallas Morning News that trying to get work visas for illegal aliens is forbidden.
"While we empathize and sympathize with these individuals, there is an orderly fashion in which one can immigrate to this country," she told the paper.
John Keeley, director of communications for the Center for Immigration Studies, told the Morning News May's proposal sends the wrong message to students.
Related special offers:
Michelle Malkin's 'Invasion' – Autographed copies available!


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Pasayten Wilderness
IntroductionThe United States Congress designated the Pasayten Wilderness (map) in 1968 and it now has a total of 531,371 acres. All of this wilderness is located in Washington and is managed by the Forest Service. The Pasayten Wilderness is bordered by the Stephen Mather Wilderness to the west.
DescriptionSkirting more than 50 miles of Canada's border and encompassing the crest of the Cascades, this big piece of very wild country is home to the largest population of lynx in the Lower 48. The Wilderness boasts almost 150 peaks over 7,500 feet in elevation, 160 or more bodies of water, and at least as many waterways, some fierce enough to have carved incisive canyons with sheer walls. Rugged ridges in the west flatten into park-like plateaus toward the east, with deep drainages on both sides. Its diverse forest changes from vegetation typical of western Washington (fir, cedar, western hemlock) to growth typical of eastern Washington (fir, pine, larch). Deer, moose, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, the fabled gray wolf, and the intimidating grizzly bear steal through these woods. Snow falls between October and May, and the hardpack may block the high western-side trails sometimes until early August. Eastern-side trails are usually free of snow by early July. Although part of the Wilderness lies in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, the largest section (and its management) falls within the boundaries of Okanogan National Forest. More than 600 miles of trails provide access to the Wilderness, many of them deceptively gentle at the start and progressively labor-intensive as they crawl up endless switchbacks into the higher country. The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) crosses the area north-south for about 32 miles. The Boundary Trail moves north from the southeast corner to ramble near the Canadian border for a total of more than 73 miles (making it the longest route in the Wilderness) before eventually joining the PCT. A Recreation Pass is required at some trailheads accessing the Pasayten Wilderness.
Planning to Visit the Pasayten Wilderness?
- Print a fact sheet
- General things to consider when visiting any wilderness
- Regulations, Fees, Permits
- Contact the Forest Service
- Visit the National Forest wilderness website
Leave No TraceHow to follow the seven standard Leave No Trace principles differs in different parts of the country (desert vs. Rocky Mountains). Click on any of the principles listed below to learn more about how they apply in the Pasayten Wilderness.
- Plan Ahead and Prepare
- Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces
- Dispose of Waste Properly
- Leave What You Find
- Minimize Campfire Impacts
- Respect Wildlife
- Be Considerate of Other Visitors


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The introduction of feral hogs into the province of Skyrim... Take up your bow and join the hunt in ridding the Holds of these invasive swine!
Only registered members can share their thoughts. So come on! Join the community today (totally free - or sign in with your social account on the right) and join in the conversation.


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Duncan Hayler
Duncan Hayler Set Design
Child soloist Glyndebourne Opera The Cunning Little Vixen, Rattle/Miller 1977.
Member of The National Youth Theatre of Great Britain. Degree in Theatre Set and Costume Design, Wimbledon School of Art. Winner Thames TV Design Bursary.
Engagements include amongst others: State Opera Berlin, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Wielki Opera Warsaw, State Opera Prague, State Theatre Munich, Polish State Opera, Deutsche Opera Berlin and The Ring tour to Tokyo, Yokohama, Washington DC and London. Krakow Opera, Vienna Chamber Opera, Berlin Chamber Opera, Musikwerkstatt Vienna, Friedrichstadtpalast Berlin, Vienna Volksoper, VBW Raimund Theatre Vienna (musical Romeo und Julia), BEMUS Festival Belgrade, Opera North, Theater Gera and Altenburg, Nantes Opera, State Opera Luxembourg, Bregenz Festival, Opera Sao Carlos Lisbon, Garsington Opera, Northern Ballet (A Midsummer Night's Dream), State Theater Bielefeld.
Duncan Hayler has worked with: Rudolf Nureyev, David Pountney, David Nixon, Nicola Raab, David Freeman, Gotz Friedrich, Craig Revel Horwood, Kay Kuntze, Ansgar Weigner, Waut Koeken, Steven Edwards, Emmanuelle Bastet and Henry Akina.
Duncan has designed numerous world premières from composers ranging from H. Gorecki (Warsaw Opera) to Isidora Zebeljan (Bregenz Festival) to the recent internationally acclaimed world première of William Ward Murta's musical The Birds of Alfred Hitchcock, Theater Bielefeld.
After David Nixon's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Beauty & the Beast is his second design work for Northern Ballet.
His most recent work includes the musical Chess for Theater Bielefeld and Lucia di Lammermoor for State Theater Bern (première 28 January 2012).


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Nicholas Sparks is the king of the chick flick.
Eight of his romance novels have now been adapted into films, the latest of which, "Safe Haven," hits theaters on Valentine's Day. But on the set of the film, director Lasse Hallström forbade cast and crew from describing the picture with that saccharine moniker.
"For me, this is not a chick flick — that's a derogatory term for this genre," Hallström said at the premiere of the film Tuesday evening at the newly minted TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. "The words 'cheese' and 'chick flick' really bother me. This is not sentimentalized. It's a little bit like a documentary of two people falling in love — or at least that's the review my wife gave me."
The film, which stars "Dancing With the Stars" veteran Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel, is set in Sparks' favorite state, North Carolina. Fleeing an unhappy domestic situation, Hough's character arrives to a sleepy seaside town and quickly begins to fall for a widower, played by Duhamel.
On the red carpet, Duhamel insisted he would go to see "Safe Haven" even if he weren't in it, and thinks there are elements of the movie that men will enjoy as well.
"Movies are good if they're good, and there are good and bad chick flicks. I love 'The Notebook.' I'm not gonna lie. I saw 'The Lucky One' 15 times," he said, kidding about the latter Sparks adaptation.
Though she was decked out in a lacy gown, Hough was ill at the premiere and had to exit a couple of joint interviews with her costar because she couldn't stop coughing.
"I've got bronchitis and the flu and I just got a B-12 shot. I'm super hard-core," said the actress, adding that she had a 101-degree fever. "That's the great thing is being proud of a movie that you've done, and being this sick — your adrenaline takes over and you're so proud. I'm pretty much numb, is what I'm trying to say."
Still, Hough was all smiles as her four siblings, including fellow "Dancing" alum Derek Hough, and boyfriend Ryan Seacrest met her on the carpet to show support. Duhamel's wife, songstress Fergie, was also on hand, though she rushed inside the theater quickly after her arrival to let her husband have his moment in the spotlight.
Sparks, meanwhile, seemed to be reveling in the spotlight. The author, who says he travels to Hollywood about a dozen times a year, said he was confident that audiences "are going to love this film" — even if it shares some similarities with his previous stories. (Moviegoers may notice that one "Safe Haven" scene, set in a boat in the middle of a small pond in the rain, is particularly reminiscent of a moment from "The Notebook.)
"I think the most important thing to realize is that I write about eastern North Carolina, and there's no big cities there. There's no big sports teams to cheer for, or Broadway," Sparks explained. "So what do you do there? You walk around small towns, you talk to people, and you go out in boats. That is ubiquitous to that part of the world. If you ignore that, you're not telling the real story."
Nicholas Sparks is a master of romance
Julianne Hough reveals childhood abuse suffered while overseas
PHOTOS: Celebrity portraits by The Times
PHOTOS: Victoria's Secret Fashion Show
The Envelope: Celebs on the red carpet


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in a closet. They were just hung next to each other and happened to be
They made for such a chic look when worn together and was an unexpected
composition. The creativity for fashion has no limits or rules!
black top: J.W. Anderson(similar here)
pants: zara(here)
earrings: zara
bag: Chanel
booties: Sophia Webster(also love this pair!)


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Hello ladies. Yesterday I received a 'guardian grandmas' donation from Debbie Zoeller. She sent the prettiest pastel rainbow colored baby blankets. Three of them are preemie sized, and 3 are regular sized. Just beautiful. Thank you so much Debbie - your hard work is much appreciated. ♥
My little Ladybug woke up from her nap and just had to get into the last 2 pictures. I don't know why she does this, but it's ok - I think she's cute.
Speaking of Ladybug, she is doing much better now. It's been a month since Tex has been gone and my little girl missed her brother terribly. All she did was lay around the house and look sad. She didn't even want to go out. I felt so bad for her. Well, now I know she's feeling better because a couple days ago I took out the vacuum and when I started it, she came running to attack. She did that about 5 times. And she's also going out more often. I'm happy that she's getting back to her old self.
Thanks for dropping by ladies - see ya next time. :)
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
~ 'guardian grandmas' donation ~
Posted by hooksandyarns 14 comments
Labels: 'the guardian grandmas'
Sunday, June 28, 2015
~ a few projects ~
Hello - I hope everyone is doing well.
This first project is something Vince did for me. They are leather tags that I will stamp words on. Pretty cool.
I'm thinking about a yarn basket with 'yarn' on the tag.
You know - in case I forget what yarn looks like. hahaha. :)
This is a grey and white ripple that Erica wanted me to crochet for the baby. She saw a picture of it on Pinterest and sent it to me. It's an easy ripple to crochet, but the counting drives me nuts after a little while.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 increase, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 decrease
repeat 50 million times.
This cute little minion hat was crocheted for my great-nephew Wyatt. He loved it.
I didn't use anyone's pattern for this - I just did my own - and although there's quite a few patterns out there, I'm thinking about typing mine out and posting it here on my blog.
Well, that's it for now. See ya next time. :)
Posted by hooksandyarns 12 comments
Thursday, June 18, 2015
~ 10 pieces of cheese, Laura ~
While I was at the campground, I started putting together the scrappy squares. It was getting too hot to handle, so I would attach one or two squares and then put it down. The temps were around 97 degrees, but it felt like 107 degrees. We have 2 fans on the porch, but breaks to go into the trailer with air conditioning and trips to the pool kept us sane.
I'm also working on a pink baby blanket for my granddaughter-to-be. Wow, that sounds funny to say - granddaughter - I've been saying grandson for almost 16 years now (William is almost 16, James is 9).
The pattern is the 'simply pretty' pattern with two rounds of granny stitch instead of one. The colors are 'pretty n pink' and 'soft pink'.
I bought these two skeins of Red Heart with Love - color is 'fruit punch'. I'll most likely crochet a baby cocoon with it.
Laura and I made a video while at the campground. There's a little bit of crochet and plastic canvas - and a little bit of the campground. :)
Have a great day!
Posted by hooksandyarns 13 comments
Labels: video
Friday, June 12, 2015
~ what I've been doing & a video ~
Plastic canvas wraps. I think these are really cool, and they are quick and easy to work up.
New yarns. These are Deborah Norville's Cuddle Fleece. I'm going to make baby cocoons with it.
Merino Superwash yarn that I dyed with food dye. I watched a video on YouTube on how to do it - it was easy enough to do, but I don't think I'm going to do anymore.
Two baby cocoons for the 'guardian grandmas'.
A granny triangle shawl. I crocheted this shawl with yarn I bought at AC Moore. It was a mill ends bag of yarn so I don't know what brand it is.
See you next time. :)
Posted by hooksandyarns 9 comments
Labels: 'the guardian grandmas', video
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Plodding Toward Paris: UN Climate Negotiations Summer 2014
As if somehow aware of the arrival of over ten thousand diplomats, researchers, and observers focused on climate change, the weather in Bonn, Germany turned a humid and hot 90 degrees Fahrenheit during the June 2014 international climate negotiations. While participants cleared security and swiped badges to enter the air-conditioned halls of the Hotel Maritime, the contrast stood out starkly between the "weirding" climate outside, and climate-controlled world of international policy inside.
For some climate policy wonks, winter weather is the hallmark of international negotiations, as the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meets at the beginning of December each year. However, these annual COP's form only one piece of the negotiating puzzle, as evidenced by huge turnout for the recent—and distinctly summery—meeting in Bonn. Other crucial meetings occur throughout the year leading up to the December COP. These meetings may not capture major media attention like the COPs, but they play a critical role in developing timelines, focusing issue topics, and preparing negotiating text. Meetings must also flesh out agreements from previous COPs and build tangible action from ink and paper. The June 2014 Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany brought these process issues into play.
While much of the talk about climate negotiations focuses on the big policy questions, the nuances of diplomacy in the international process factor into many of the answers. As a new follower of the negotiations, what I found most striking was how observing the process actually provided context for understanding the policy issues at play. Much of the coverage of international negotiations consists of general news synopses for the mass public and technical policy analyses so laden with acronyms as to be unapproachable for the uninitiated. This post seeks to draw a middle path, drawing on my experience at the June 2014 negotiations to explain how some of the larger technical issues are currently moving through the negotiation process. Admittedly the jargon and acronyms can prove a little difficult to digest, but I will introduce them with relevant explanation since they are crucial to understanding the process.
Ad-Hoc Working Group to Advance the Durban Platform (ADP)
During the second week of the Bonn June 2014 negotiations, I followed the daily meetings of the ADP (Ad-Hoc Working Group to Advance the Durban Platform.) This group works to fulfill a two-pronged responsibility. Under Workstream 1, the ADP aims to create a protocol, legal instrument, or other agreed outcome with legal force that will bind parties to achieve certain greenhouse gas emission reductions beginning in the year 2020. Previous international agreement mandates that Parties complete a Workstream 1 agreement no later than 2015 so that they can adopt the agreement at the 2015 COP in Paris. The Paris Agreement would then go into effect in 2020.
However, in order for the Parties to maintain a chance of limiting global warming to 2°C, (the target agreed on by Parties at the Cancun COP in 2010), Parties must significantly scale up actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions before 2020. Hence, Workstream 2 advances action to close the "ambition gap"—which describes the gap between the emissions reductions countries' have pledged to make before 2020 and the more extensive reductions that they must make before 2020 if they hope to avoid more than 2°C of warming. Hopefully, Workstream 2 will help Parties stay on track cutting greenhouse gas emissions at home so that they can agree to more ambitious targets for the 2015 agreement.
Milestones for Milestones
Several facets of the negotiating process stuck out to me as a first-time observer. First, I had not fully appreciated that parties need to hammer out not only a substantive text, but the process and timing of creating that text as well as how it fits with complementary, preceding, and follow-up processes. Everything needs to be fleshed out and there is skin in the game of determining what process the parties will follow.
For example, staying on track to achieve a 2015 agreement requires not only hitting certain milestones, but also determining those milestones and when they must be reached (milestones for the milestones). During the most recent COP in Warsaw, the parties had agreed to an accelerated timeline to advance the 2015 agreement, which would require producing a draft negotiating text in time for the 2014 COP in Lima, Peru. The June 2014 negotiations presented a crucial opportunity to progress toward a Lima draft text by developing expectations and timetables including producing INDCs (initial nationally determined contributions), relaying the commitments Parties will undertake post-2020.
Ideally, Parties should propose their commitments early in 2015 to allow the requisite months to consider proposals, the fairness of their relative ambition levels, and how they collectively stack toward limiting warming to 2°C. However, to prepare their INDCS for early 2015, Parties need to take immediate steps to agree on what information these commitments must contain. Arriving at agreement speedily can require trade-offs in the ambition, complexity, or specificity of commitments. For example, adaptation and climate finance commitments may require different models or metrics that take additional negotiating time to develop.
Negotiating to a Negotiating Text
Another active area of process negotiations revolves around whether the draft text will be formed as a large compilation of submissions from countries or whether the co-chairs will introduce a draft text based on parties' submissions. On the one hand, a compiled document from Parties ensures that the initial document captures every country's complete wish list and compromises from that baseline. However, such a compiled document would be hundreds of pages long and extremely difficult to narrow to an acceptable negotiating text on the current timeline. Alternatively, the co-chairs can produce a shorter document based on party submissions, which can more realistically be narrowed in the allotted timeframe, but as an abridged document its baseline will not include all desired items. Some observers considered the Parties pushing the huge, compiled document to be "obstructionist." Others considered it a reasonable reaction from parties concerned about transparency in the wake of a Copenhagen 2009 COP that had splintered between a mainstream process and a closed-door side process.
The character of the negotiation meetings themselves also surprised me. I had expected a back and forth debate, but the first few meetings followed a pattern that consisted of the co-chairs presenting bullet points to frame discussion topics and then hours of parties taking turns to state their countries positions for the record. Obviously, negotiations require ample time to air all positions before Parties can reach common ground. Further, if co-chairs will later draft a text, parties have incentives to publicly voice their requests. However, until seeing the meetings in person, I had not appreciated how much of the scantily available face time it takes for countries to accomplish this preliminary objective before back and forth negotiations can begin. More detailed coverage of individual Parties stances is available here.
Plodding Along
As the second week of negotiations continued the discussions haltingly made progress despite these tensions. Nicaragua on behalf of the Like-Minded Developing Countries (LMDC) submitted text, bringing to the forefront the tension between party submissions and co-chair developed text. While this caused a stir among Parties, the co-chairs agreed to fold in the positions of the LMDC text into their proposed text. Even as the session neared its close, many questions continued to swirl through the conversations: Would developing countries need to make commitments? What corresponding financial and technological commitments of support would developed countries need to make? What role would adaptation play in the upcoming agreement? If adaptation required different terms was it worth potentially delaying the agreement to include them? How would verification and compliance be undertaken? Would INDCs be locked in as part of the Paris Agreement itself or a corresponding decision that could be more easily updated and adapted if countries had to tweak their commitments?
By the end of the session, though hammering out specifics continued to be difficult, a number of larger players had stepped forward with outlines. Still, some Parties voiced disappointment over the lack of a set timeline to complete concrete steps before the December 2014 meeting in Lima. However, as one clear step in the right direction, the co-chairs promised to release documents to further draft negotiating text based on the parties stances in the wake of the June meeting. On July 7th, they put forward a "non-paper" summarizing "Parties' views and proposals on the elements for a draft negotiating text" including points of conflict.
Parties are now moving to prepare for a World Leader's Climate Summit scheduled by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to occur in September. With President Obama and other world leaders expected to attend, this meeting can highlight positive progress and build further momentum or bring insufficient progress under close scrutiny. Before reaching Lima, parties have their work cut out for them to cross the many points of conflict to create draft negotiating text and expectations for INDCs. Further, the interested public has its work cut out when it comes to understanding the important components of this process and pressuring their leaders to achieve timely action. Slowly but surely, everyone is plodding a path forward.


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"Cruising Altitude" book review: Flight attendant's tale of crazy passengers, crew drama is good, cheesy fun
I'm not ashamed to admit to the guilty pleasure of reading People magazine as a way of decompressing, and so it came as no surprise that not only did the venerable chronicler of shallow wading recently review "Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama, and Crazy Passengers at 35,000 Feet," by flight attendant Heather Poole (Harper Paperback Original, $15), but the magazine loved it.
As did I. Like People, Poole knows what her readers want (the majority of her readers being those who have followed her Gadling blog, Galley Gossip: Confessions from the Jumpseat). They want juicy tidbits about celebrities (she delivers, with no names but sometimes enough description that you can figure it out), to know if flight attendants ever date passengers (yes) and the dirt on whether pilots are as skeezy as they sometimes seem (yes and no).


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By: Vicky Coffin
I love walking into libraries and book stores—I am like a kid in a candy shop. I just know that if I explore enough, I will find at least one book miraculously placed on the shelf just for me. It could be a novel about vampires or witches; it could be a pop-up picture book that I can share with my kids; it could be a manual on home repair full of instructions my husband and I need to fix the leaking kitchen faucet. In every scenario, there is one common theme: the freedom to choose. I can make the choice to escape my reality for a while, spend quality time with my family and friends, or educate and empower myself, all with just a book.
I did not always feel this way; when I was younger, reading felt like a chore. I equated reading with homework and drudgery. It seemed like a waste of time to read about events that happened in the distant past when I should be out in the real world living my life. I could not relate to many of the characters in books that are now considered classics; Tom Sawyer, Hamlet, and Madame Bovary were all so foreign to me. Not only did I not understand why the characters behaved the way they did, but I didn't really care, either.
When I read Wuthering Heights for the first time, something changed. I hated Heathcliff and Cathy—they were both cruel, tortured souls. So, why did I care what happened to them? When I truly opened my mind and heart to the author's words, I realized that these flawed characters were capable of sharing a perfect, deep love. It was not the fairy tale kind of love with happy endings and noble sacrifices—it was messy and passionate and all the more real to me for its honesty. And that is what hooked me—that I could get lost for a while in these other realities—that I could step back from my own life to problem-solve, reason, or even fantasize with all of the time in the world. If I needed to, I could simply shut the book and walk away. But I am nearly always compelled to crack that book open again after some time of reflection.
Now that I am a parent, I find it compelling to share my love of literature with my children. I have favorite stories that I think they will enjoy, but I'm always surprised how a book I picked up on a whim ends up being one of their new favorites. They always love to guess what will happen next, and we have the chance to talk about the rights and wrongs of the world through a story. I am also amazed at the factual information they absorb about their favorite subjects. My seven year-old told me today that the spot on Jupiter was most likely caused by a comet—that is news to me!
I cannot deny that I, too, love to learn new things from books authored by experts in all different subject matter. Parenting books filled with information about pediatric care helped me at 2:00 a.m. on many occasions when my kids were sick; my knowledge of installing flooring, cement board, tiles, fixtures, and even renovating a complete kitchen has expanded exponentially with the help of many how-to books; and of course, the textbooks I visually consumed during my studies in librarianship have led me down a career path that gives me much personal fulfillment. I am very fortunate to spend each day at my job helping others find just the right book—for research or just for pleasure.
And that is truly the key—finding the right book. One book can light a fire under you—make you question the world and seek out the answers—allow you the opportunity to ponder your own choices and your perceptions of others. In the world of reading and literature, you are given an opportunity that no one can take away—the freedom to choose where your thoughts will take you next. Get lost in a good book, and just maybe you will be found.
Vicky Coffin has worked at both public and academic libraries during her career as a librarian. For the past seven years, she has worked as a Reference Lecturer at the J. Eugene Smith Library at Eastern Connecticut State University where she is also the primary collection builder for the library's popular Leisure Reading Collection.


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Play the greatest bring up to date in order to Minecraft: Pocket Version until now! It's your renovate of a technology. Down load that at this point and pay attention to yourself!
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Pocket Version contains Survival in addition to Resourceful settings, multiplayer over a neighborhood Wi-Fi network, unlimited industrys, caves, completely new biomes, mobs, villages in addition to so very much more. Build, build in addition to check out wherever so long as you possess hands free in addition to battery power in order to shed.
There's by no means been recently a better time to appreciate Minecraft on the move.
Minecraft — Pocket Version is really a Common Software. Pay out when in addition to perform in any Google android devices.
Bug fixes
- Fixed startup crash for old worlds
- Wolf no longer angry after killing target
- Fixed bugs with Tame animals not being tame
- Fixed several collision checks
- Added View-bobbing slider in menu
- Fixed mob effects not being removed after death
- Fixed crashes with skins
- Fixed overlay rendering on skins
- FishHook now despawns on game exit
- Fixed arrow crashing the game
- Fixed arrow being picked up by player in mid-air
- Worked on multiplayer spawning
What's New in Version
- Various bug fixes
Require 3.0 and Up & File Size 38mb


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Roto-Die to Join the Formtek Family
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Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Formtek Inc., Cleveland, OH, has agreed to purchase Roto-Die, Inc., also based in Cleveland. Roto-Die manufactures hydraulic press brakes from 60- to 144-in. capacity. Formtek's metalforming-equipment manufacturing brands include Iowa Precision, Lockformer, Engel, Lion and ISM.
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Here is an exceedingly tiny Ryan Gosling performing with great enthusiasm at a Mormon talent show in 1991. He is also joined by his sister Mandi. Why were they performing for Mormons? Shhhh, we can't even deal with that right now because what we really need to talk about is the fact that this video takes our souls on a little journey from the delightful place where we want to date Ryan Gosling across the river of temptation into a scary, scary land where we wish we were Ryan Gosling's stage mother instead. Oh no. No. The darkness, it comes!
[Via Buzzfeed]


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One of the earliest detailed descriptions of Northern Europe is reported in the account written by the Arab Muslim writer and traveler Ahmad Ibn Fadhlan, who was sent in 921 CE as the secretary to an ambassador from the Abbasid Caliph al-Muqtadir from Baghdad to the Volga Bulgars by the Black Sea and the Caspian. Ibn Fadhlan's travel account was the source of inspiration to many fictional narratives in Western literature and art, such as the the well known novel Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton, filmed as The 13th Warrior directed in 1999 by John McTiernan, and the film Beowulf, released in November 2007.
One of the earliest detailed descriptions of the Vikings is reported in the account Ibn Fadhlan wrote after his travels in Northern Europe. In 921 CE Arab Muslim writer and traveler Ibn Fadhlan was sent as the secretary to an ambassador from the Abbasid Caliph al-Muqtadir from Baghdad to the Volga Bulgars by the Black Sea and the Caspian. The mission itself was something of a bust. But while there, Ibn Fadhlan recorded his encounter with a band of traders from the North, whom he called Rus, or Rusiyyah.
Figure 1: Front cover of The 13th Warrior (previously published as Eaters of the Dead) by Michael Chrichton (Ballantine Books, reissue edition 1988).
His adventures were the inspiration for the well known novel Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton [1] (filmed as The 13th Warrior (1999) directed by Johni McTiernan, with Antonio Banderas as Ibn Fadhlan [2]. In the film, the Arab ambassador is taken even further north and is involved in adventures inspired by the Old English epic Beowulf. Indeed Crichton designed Eaters of the Dead as being a fictional version of the historic events which created the basis of the epic Beowulf.
While undoubtedly Crighton had some familiarity with Ibn Fadhlan's account, his novel Eaters of the Dead is totally fiction, mixing Ibn Fadhlan with Beowulf and a bit of H.G. Wells' Morlocks added for flavour. There are, however, translations of Ibn Fadhlan's true account available, including the excerpts discussing Ibn Fadhlan's adventures among the Rus as discussed below.
According to the plot summary of the 13th Warrior, in the early 10th century Arab courtier Ahmad Ibn Fadhlan accompanies a party of Vikings to the barbaric North. Ibn Fadhlan is appalled by the Vikings customs –their permissive habits, their disregard for cleanliness, their cold-blooded human sacrifices. Later he learns the horrifying truth: he has been enlisted to combat a terrific monster, the Wendol, which slaughters the Vikings and devours their flesh. Ahmad Ibn Fadhlan first does not feel comfortable with the strange men of the north, but when he finds out what really exists, he bravely fights alongside the Vikings in a battle that can't be won [3].
A major Arabic TV series The Roof of the World (Saqf al-`alam) was produced in 2007 (directed by Najdat Anzour) charting Ibn Fadhlan's journey from a contemporary perspective. The 30 one-hour episodes tackle the relations between Islam and Europe at two moments: the time of Ibn Fadhlan and the present [4].
Beowulf an old English epic poem
Figure 2: Poster of the movie Beowulf (2007) by Robert Zemeckis. (Source).
Beowulf, written in Old English sometime before the 10th century CE, is an Old English heroic epic poem. It describes the adventures of a great Scandinavian warrior of the 6th century. A rich fabric of fact and fancy, Beowulf is the oldest surviving epic in British literature.
Beowulf is of anonymous authorship. Its creation dates to between the 8th and the 11th centuries, the only surviving manuscript dating to circa 1010. At 3183 lines, it is notable for its length. It has risen to national epic status in England.
The text exists in only one manuscript. This copy survived both the wholesale destruction of religious artefacts during the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII and a disastrous fire which destroyed the library of Sir Robert Bruce Cotton (1571-1631). The manuscript still bears visible scars of the fire. The Beowulf manuscript is now housed in the British Library, London [5].
Figure 3: First page of the Beowulf manuscript written by an anonymous Anglo-Saxon scribe who wrote the 'Nowell Codex', Cotton Vitellius A.x.v. 129 r, held at the British Museum (Source) . Online at answers.com and in the digital library of Project Gutenberg.
In the poem, Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, battles three antagonists: Grendel, who is attacking the Danish mead hall called Heorot and its inhabitants; Grendel's mother; and, later in life after returning to Geatland (modern southern Sweden) and becoming a king, an unnamed dragon. He is mortally wounded in the final battle, and after his death he is buried in a barrow in Geatland by his retainers.
Beowulf has been adapted a number of times in novels, theatre, and cinema, including the 2005 film Beowulf and Grendel and the 2007 animated film Beowulf directed by Robert Zemeckis [6].
The relationship between Ahmad ibn Fadlan and Beowulf (the etymology of which may be the Arabic name Buliwyf or its variants) [7] is autorised by the fact that Ibn Fadhlan's account of his North-European travel may have been a source for the old English epic. This link is still to be established firmly on strong historical grounds. However, the connection between the two inspired the modern literature which extrapolated the strange aspects of both to build a captivating narrative, like the one constructed by Michael Crichton in the Eaters of the Dead.
Overview of Ibn Fadhlan's travel account
Figure 4: Illustration of the expedition led by Ibn Fadhlan to Northern Europe in a Russian museum in Norod, Russia. (Source).
Ahmad ibn Fadhlan ibn al-Abbas ibn Rashid ibn Hammad was a 10th century Arab Muslim writer and traveler who wrote an account of his travels as a member of an embassy of the Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad to the king of the Volga Bulgars, the Kitab ila Malik al-Saqaliba.
For a long time, only an incomplete version of the account was known, as transmitted in the geographical dictionary of Yaqut (under the headings Atil, Bashgird, Bulghar, Khazar, Khwarizm, Rus), published in 1823 by the Russian scholar, C. M. Frähn, who translated the text from Arabic into German [8]. Only in 1923 was a manuscript discovered by the Turkish scholar Zeki Validi Togan in the library of the Iranian city of Mashhad. The manuscript MS 5229 dates from the 13th century and consists of 420 pages. Besides other geographical treatises, it contains a fuller version of Ibn Fadhlan's text (pp. 390-420) [9]. Additional passages not preserved in MS 5229 are quoted in the work of the 16th century Persian geographer Amin Razi called Haft Iqlim (Seven Climes) [10].
Figure 5: Page of the manuscript of Ibn Fadhlan's travel account. (Source).
Ibn Fadhlan was sent from Baghdad in 921 to serve as the secretary to an ambassador from the Abbasid Caliph al-Muqtadir to the iltäbär (vassal-king under the Khazars) of the Volga Bulgaria, Almis.
The embassy' objective was to have the king of the Bolgars pay homage to Caliph al-Muqtadir and, in return, to give the king money to pay for the construction of a fortress. Although they reached Bolgar, the mission failed because they were unable to collect the money intended for the king. Annoyed at not receiving the promised sum, the king refused to switch from the Maliki rite to the Hanafi rite of Baghdad.
The embassy left Baghdad on June 21, 921 (11 Safar 309 H). It reached the Bulghars after much hardship on May 12, 922 (12 Muharram 310 H). Until today, this day is an official religious holiday in modern Tatarstan. The journey took Ibn Fadhlan from Baghdad to Bukhara, to Khwarizm (south of the Aral Sea). Although promised safe passage by the Oghuz warlord, or Kudarkin, they were waylaid by Oghuz bandits but luckily were able to bribe their attackers. They spent the winter in Jurjaniya before traveling north across the Ural River until they reached the towns of the Bulghars at the three lakes of the Volga north of the Samara bend.
Figure 6: Front cover of Ibn Fadlan's Journey To Russia: A Tenth Century Traveler From Baghdad to the Volga River, edited by Richard N. Frye (Markus Wiener Publishers, 2005).
After arriving in Bolgar, Ahmad ibn Fadhlan made a trip to Wisu and recorded his observations of trade between the Volga Bolgars and local Finnic tribes.
A substantial part of Ibn Fadhlan's account is dedicated to the description of a people he called the Rus or Rusiyyah. Most scholars identify them with the Rus' or Varangians, which would make Ibn Fadhlan's account one of the earliest portrayals of Vikings.
The Rus appear as traders that set up shop on the river banks nearby the Bolgar camp. They are described as having the most perfect bodies, tall as palm-trees, with blond hair and ruddy skin. They are tattooed from "fingernails to neck" with dark blue or dark green "tree patterns" and other "figures" and that all men are armed with an axe and a long knife.
Ibn Fadhlan describes the hygiene of the Rusiyyah as disgusting (while also noting with some astonishment that they comb their hair every day) and considers them vulgar and unsophisticated. In that, his impressions contradict those of the Persian traveler Ibn Rustah. He also describes in great detail the funeral of one of their chieftains (a ship burial involving human sacrifice). Some scholars believe that it took place in the modern Balymer complex [11].
Figure 7: The ship burial of the Viking ruler Igor the Old in his boat in Kievan Rus', by the Polish Painter Heinrich Semiradzki (1845-1902). (Source).
His description of the Vikings, who he called the "filthiest of God's creatures" yet the most physically beautiful people he had ever seen—"tall as date palms, blond and ruddy"—was but one of many notable passages in the writings of Ibn Fadhlan. He also discussed the existence of Gog and Magog, beastly creatures mentioned in ancient sources and associated with the end of the world. Throughout the Middle Ages, travelers and pseudo-authorities claimed to have located Gog and Magog somewhere in Central Asia; Ibn Fadhlan, at least, reported this tale merely as a legend he had heard from others.
Upon his return to Baghdad, Ibn Fadhlan wrote an account of his journey. The final portion—the part that presumably would have told about his journey back and his later life—has been lost, but the fragments that survive make for highly informative and sometimes powerful reading [12].
References and resources for further reading
- Anderson, Joseph, "Description by Ibn Fozlan …", Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Edinburgh, vol. 9, Part 2, 1873, pp. 518-31.
- Blake, Robert P., and Frye, Richard N., "Notes on the Risala of Ibn Fadlan", Byzantina Metabyzantina, vol. 1: 2 (1949), pp. 7–37.
- Canard, Marius, "La relation de la voyage d'Ibn Fadlan chez les Bulgares de la Volga", in Miscellanea Orientalia, Variorum, 1973, article XI.
- Frähn, Christian Martin, Die ältesten arabischen Nachrichten über die Wolga-Bulgaren aus Ibn-Foszlan's Reiseberichte. Saint Petersbourg: Mémoires de L'Académie Impériale des Sciences, VIème série, 1823.
- Frye, Richard N. (editor), Ibn Fadlan's Journey To Russia: A Tenth Century Traveler From Baghdad to the Volga River. Markus Wiener Publishers, 2005 (Paperback). See the Table of Contents.
- FSTC Ltd ((1 June 2002), "The Travels of Ibn Fadlan".
- Gabriel, Judith, "Among the Norse Tribes: The Remarkable Account of Ibn Fadlan", Saudi Aramco World, November/December 1999, pp. 36-42.
- Golden, P. B., "Rus," Encyclopedia of Islam, Leiden 1995, vol. 8, pp. 618-29.
- Ibn Fadhlan, Ahmad b. al-'Abbas b. Rashid b. Hammad, Reisebericht. Rihlat Ibn Fadlan. Edited and translated into German by Ahmed Zeki Validi Togan. (Deutsche Morgenla¨ndische Gesellschaft, Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgendlandes. XXIV, 3.) Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus, 1939. Reprinted at Frankfurt am Main: Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science, 1994 ("Islamic Geography", vol. 168).
- Ibn Fadhlan], Ibn Fadlan, Ahmed, Voyages chez les Bulgares de la Volga. French translation by Marius Canard Paris: Sindbad, 1988, reeditied 1999.
- [Ibn Fadhlan], Ibn Fadlan: an Arab Among the Vikings of Russia (from Science and Its Times-Thomson Gale Corp., 2005-2006).
- [Ibn Fadhlan in Russian], On Ibn Fadhlan's travels in Russia (in Russian).
- Kowalska, Maria "Ibn Fadlan's Account of His Journey to the State of the Bulgars", Folia Orientalia, vol. 14 (1972–3), pp. 219-30.
- La'ibi, Shaker, Introduction in Arabic (in two parts: part 1 and part 2) to text of Ibn Fadhlan's Rihla.
- [Letters On the Vikings], Ahmad ibn Fadlan: Letters On the Vikings.
- Magennis, Hugh, Michael Crichton, Ibn Fadlan, Fantasy Cinema: Beowulf at the Movies. Old English Newsletter, vol. 35.1, Fall 2001.
- [Magmu']. Magmu' fi 'l-gughrafiya: tubi'a bi-'t-taswir 'an makhtut al-Maktaba ar-Radawiya fi Mahhad 5229. Mimma allafahu Ibn-al-Faqih wa-Ibn-Fadhlan wa Abu Dulaf al-Khazraji. Edited by F. Sezgin et al. Frankfurt am Main: Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science, 1987 (Series "?Uyu¯n at-turath, vol. 43).
- Montgomery, James E., "Ibn Fadhlan and the Rusiyyah", Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies vol. 3 (2000), pp. 1-25.
- Netton, Ian Richard (editor), Islamic and Middle Eastern Travellers and Geographers. 4 vols. London/New York: Routledge, 2007, 1520 pp. Vol. 1: Medieval Geographers and Travelers; vol. 2: The Travels of Ibn Jubayr (AD 1145–1217); vol. 3: The Travels of Ibn Battuta (AD 1304–1368/9 or 1377). See the online table of contents.
- [Risala], Risala: Ibn Fadlan's Embassy to the King of Volga Bulgaria (nbulgaria, 1999-2003).
- Simonsen, Jørgen Bæk, Vikingerne ved Volga / Ibn Fadlans rejsebeskrivelse, Højbjerg: Wormianum, 1981.
- Smyser, H.M. "Ibn Fadlan's Account of the Rus with Some Commentary and Some Allusions to Beowulf." Franciplegius: Medieval and Linguistic Studies in Honor of Francis Peabody Magoun, edited by Jess B. Bessinger and Robert P. Creed. New York: New York University Press, 1965, pp. 92-119.
- Stone, Caroline, "Ibn Fadlan and the Midnight Sun", Saudi Aramco World, March/April 1979, pp. 2-3.
- [Studies]. Studies on the Travel Accounts of Ibn-Fadhlan (1st half 10th century) and Abu Dulaf (1st half 10th century). Collected and reprinted by Fuat Sezgin in collaboration with Mazen Amawi. Frankfurt am Main: Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science, 1994 ("Islamic Geography", vol. 169).
- [Video], A Muslim Goes to Europe, 922 AD. Based on Richard Frye's translation of Ibn Fadhlan's non-fictional account of his travels up the river Volga in the 10th century: Ibn Fadlan's Journey To Russia: A Tenth Century Traveller From Baghdad to the Volga River, edited by Richard N. Frye, Markus Wiener Publishers, 2005.
- [Viking], The Viking Answer Lady Webpage: Risala: Ibn Fadlan's Account of the Rus.
- [Wikipedia], Ahmad ibn Fadlan, in Wikipedia the free encyclopedia.
- Watson, William E., "Ibn al-Athir's Accounts of the Rus: A Commentary and Translation", Canadian/American Slavic Studies vol. 35 (2001).
End Notes
[1] Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton, Hardcover, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1976; Paperback, Ballantine Books, 1998; reedition HarperCollins Publishers, 2006. See: http://www.crichton-official.com/books-eatersofthedead.html.
[2] See the screenplay of The Eaters of the Dead based on the Novel by Michael Crichton at: http://eaters.ifrance.com/screenplay.htm (revised draft, March 1991).
[3] See the plot summary at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120657/ and at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120657/plotsummary.
[4] See an account on this TV series at: http://www.daralhayat.com/culture/tv/09-2007/Item-20070925-3dbfe89d-c0a8-10ed-00c3-e8c4235207e1/story.html.
[5] Adaptation from the Old English version by David Breeden: available online at: http://www.lone-star.net/literature/beowulf/. The text is also available on the website of McMaster university at: http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~beowulf/. See the Electronic Boewulf at the University of Kentucky website, an online guide for the Electronic Beowulf, version 2.0 (2003), a set of 2 CD-ROMs published by the British Library Publications.
[6] For more data, see "Beowulf", in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf, the official movie site: http://www.beowulfmovie.com and the synopsis of the film at: http://imdb.com/title/tt0442933/synopsis.
[7] This hypothesis was not investigated before: see "Beowulf (hero)".
[8] C. M. Frähn, Ibn-Foszlan's und anderer Araber Berichte über die Russen älterer Zeit (published by the Russian Academy of Sciences, with a German translation, 1823). Reprinted in Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag, 1976.
[9] Ibn Fadhlan, Reisebericht. Rihlat Ibn Fadlan. Edited and translated into German by Ahmed Zeki Validi Togan. (Deutsche Morgenla¨ndische Gesellschaft, Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgendlandes, XXIV-3, Leipzig, 1939). Reprinted at Frankfurt: Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science, 1994.
[10] See C. Edmund Bosworth, Ebn Rosta (d. after 290/903), Encyclopedia Iranica, and S. Maqbul Ahmad, "Ibn Rusta," Encyclopedia Islamica, 2nd edition, vol. III, pp. 920-21.
[11] See, "Viking funeral", in Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia.
[12] For more details on Ibn Fadhlan's travel account, see the electronic publication of the Arabic text : click here; Judith Gabriel, "Among the Norse Tribes: The Remarkable Account of Ibn Fadlan", Saudi Aramco World, November/December 1999, pp. 36-42; Richard N. Frye, (editor), Ibn Fadlan's Journey To Russia: A Tenth Century Traveler From Baghdad to the Volga River (Markus Wiener Publishers, 2005), and other sources quoted in the bibliography section below. See also: Bibliography of Arabic Sources Relating to the Vikings. More resources are among the entries on Arab travelers in Literature of Travel and Exploration: An Encyclopedia, edited by Jennifer Speake, Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 2002.


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General Off-Topic Board / Re: Exile LSD: The Law School Years« on: May 10, 2010, 12:57:22 PM »
This thread seems to have stoped congraulating me. this needs to change ASAP
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So I start studying for my retake today.
Second time's the charm. Congratulations.
It is your choice. However, if you do not state this, they cannot find out. Your arrest does not impact your ability in applying for law school nor in getting thru the school cirriculum. Your answer should be, I have nothing to report that will impact or prohibit my ability in applying too or completing the course work for graduation.........
Whatever you do, do not follow oceansmarine's advice. It is imperative that you disclose the arrest in a separate statement. All law schools will tell you that failure to disclose the offense could have serious repercussions, not the least of which will come when you go for your character and fitness test to get admitted to the bar. It is advisable also to research the requirements for admission to the bar in the state in which you intend to practice, because certain crimes may prevent you from being admitted (no idea if that's true if your arrest though).
Oceansmarine advice is horrible. The fact that the arrest does not affect getting into or through law school is nearly inconsequential compared to the post-graduation process.
I'm old, I've erned the right to complain about anything I want, its what old people do
I agree and do the same thing. I earned the right to do it by living to the age I am and I like to yell at the TV talk show pundits.
Just "bump" a bunch of threads. We saw that they get their panties all in a wad about doing that!
This is why I appreciate that LSD's become a ghost town. You can pretty much do what you please, and there's nobody around to complain. Except I guess matthies.
QuoteLimiting supply (like closing schools as some argue) never does much for demand (see war on drugs, gambling, prostitution, smoking ect.)
Are you suggesting that if we closed down the law schools people would start illegal law schools? Would the Mexican mafia get involved? Because a mafia law school would be awesome.
just got my first graded law school test back. top 30% in property...
not sure how i feel about this yet...
Considering applying PT and transferring to FT. There is no guarantee his will work out, so it'd be nice to know the answer to the question.
E.g. GULC PT vs FT, Fordham PT vs FT
Thanks for your input.


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Innovation in Software Research Recognized in 2012 SEIF Awards
March 28, 2012 | By Microsoft blog editor
Today, research in software engineering encompasses a wide range of computer science and engineering disciplines. These include systems and networking technologies, hardware design, programming languages, security, and privacy, to name a few. Microsoft Research actively engages with researchers across these disciplines to advance the state of the art in software engineering applications and tools. The areas of mobile and cloud computing are of particular recent interest, and are where some of the most exciting and innovative work is being done. Today smartphones and cloud services, are being used in complex scenarios pushing the envelope of what software can do. The design of such scenarios introduces challenges unique to this new paradigm.
The Microsoft Research Software Engineering Innovation Foundation (SEIF), a forum for collaboration among software engineers worldwide, presents its annual awards to promote these efforts. The SEIF awards provide seed funding to innovative research in software engineering, recognizing projects that aim to advance the state of art in software engineering.
Now in its third year, SEIF is pleased to announce the winners of the SEIF 2012 request for proposals. This year, the awards have focused on the application of software engineering to mobile and cloud computing.
As in past years, SEIF winners are spread across the world—with projects as diverse as their backgrounds. For instance, Harald Gall of the University of Zurich plans to create a collaborative tool that uses Microsoft Team Foundation Server to assess software quality. Mayur Naik of Georgia Tech plans to develop an automated test-generation methodology for mobile apps, doing so by advancing a program analysis technique called dynamic symbolic execution while making heavy use of the Microsoft Z3 automated theorem prover. Arno Puder from San Francisco State University intends to develop a toolkit called XMLVM, which can cross-compile a commercially available Android application to Windows Phone 7. Unusually, we have two awards going to the same institution this year. Alexey Gotsman from IMDEA in Spain will be working on a project to specify and validate memory models for Windows Phone. Mark Marron, also at IMDEA, Spain, will be working on finding and fixing memory usage problems.
These are just a sample of the innovative software engineering projects recognized by this year's awards. You can read more about them and the rest of the SEIF winners on the SEIF website.
Congratulations to the 2012 winners!
—Arjmand Samuel, Senior Research Program Manager, and Judith Bishop, Director of Computer Science, Microsoft Research Connections
Learn More


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How to Handle Your Own Complaint
Identify the problem: Before you complain to a company, be sure to identify the problem, summarize what (if anything) you have done to resolve it, and decide what you think is a fair settlement. Do you want your money back? Would you like the product repaired? Do you want the product exchanged?
Gather records: Start a file about your complaint. Include copies of sales receipts, repair orders, warranties, canceled checks, and contracts that will back up your complaint and help the company solve your problem.
Contact the person or a representative of the business who sold you the item or performed the service. Calmly and accurately explain the problem and what action you would like taken. If that person is not helpful, ask for the supervisor or manager and restate your case. A large percentage of consumer problems are resolved at this level. Chances are, yours will be too.
Keep a record of your efforts and include notes about whom you spoke with and when, and what was done about the problem. Save copies of any letters you send to the company as well as letters sent to you.
Be persistent: If you are not satisfied with the response, don't give up. If the company operates nationally or the product is a national brand, call or write a letter to the person responsible for consumer complaints at the company's headquarters, i.e., the company's public relations representative or president. Many companies have toll-free telephone numbers, often printed on the product.
Writing a Complaint Letter:
The letter should include your name, address, home and work telephone numbers, email address and account number, if appropriate. Make your letter brief and to the point. Specify the important facts about your purchase, including the date and place you made the purchase and any information you can give about the product -- such as the serial or model number. If you are writing to complain about a service you received, describe the service and who performed it. State exactly what you want done about the problem and how long you are willing to wait to resolve it. Be reasonable. Include copies (not originals) of all documents regarding your problem.
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