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Fight Club is an in your face adrenaline filled movie, which isn't afraid to laugh at itself and at us. It's part action film, part satire, part comedy. A strange and unique blend that really works.
If you haven't seen Fight Club, be prepared, it's a movie that definitely has to grow on you. The first time I saw this film in the theaters I had a mixed reaction to it. Then I read the book by Chuck Palahniuk, and began to find myself really liking the story. By my third enthusiastic viewing on DVD I realized that Fight Club is one of those movies that truly improves with time and repeat viewing.
The Picture: On DVD Fight Club looks great. Fight Club is presented in its theatrical aspect ratio of 2.40:1 and is enhanced for Wide Screen TV's. Having seen Fight Club in the theaters I was particularly impressed with the films transfer on to DVD. Fight Club is a very dark film with a lot of deep dark tones. The transfer to DVD masterfully reproduces these dark tones in a very clear and clean way while still maintaining the gritty feel of the movie.
The Sound: Fight Club features truly fantastic 5.l Dolby Digital audio track which is used very well by both the movies sound effects and the excellent score by the Dust Brothers. A nice feature (if you have the equipment to support it) is the main Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track is THX EX enhanced - Which basically means it has an additional rear center channel. Fight Club is THX certified, I wish more of the the THX certified movies looked and sounded this good.
The Extras: Fight Club is so packed to the gills with special features, I found myself spending as much time watching the special features as I did the movie. The best special features are the 4 audio commentary tracks on the DVD. It was quite a task listening to ALL 4 commentary tracks, and I'd recommend spacing them out a bit. The two tracks I liked the best were the main Commentary track with David Fincher and the second track with David Fincher, Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter. There are so many layers to this film and these two tracks really flesh out many of the subtleties and meaning which make Fight Club such an amazing movie.
The Second Disc in this 2 disc set is devoted entirely to extras. Be warned, this DVD has so many features and so many options it's almost impossible to get through. While I admired the uniqueness of the way the Making of Fight Club Features were presented (with multiple camera angles and audio tracks), I found the experience of watching them to be disjointed. I was so overwhelmed by option and selections that it really didn't end up being an enjoyable experience. I think the Making of Fight Club Features are a great example of DVD technology being over used and getting in the way of the enjoyment of the material. I would have much rather seen a more compiled making of documentary over the fragments presented on this DVD.
When Fight Club was announced I got the impression that there would be many more Outtakes and Deleted Scenes. There are only 7 fairly short deleted scenes, most of which compare the deleted scene with the scene that ended up in the movie. With so much room on the second DVD I would have liked to see more Outtakes and Bloopers (like on the Criterion release of Armageddon).
If you are a fan of trailers and promos, you'll be in heaven with Fight Club. I don't think I've ever seen such an extensive collection of promotional materials including: Teasers, Trailers, TV Spots, Internet Ads, PSA, Posters, Lobby Cards and even the Film's Press Kit. Of special note are the Fight Club Internet Ads which are extremely entertaining as well as 2 PSA's which are just hilarious.
Conclusion: Fight Club is a really exceptional DVD due mostly to the superb film and sound transfer. It is packed with special features, but quantity in this case doesn't necessarily mean quality. I spent a great deal of time with Fight Club, much more than almost any other DVD that I own, but not all of that time was quality time. Especially on the second DVD, I found myself spending a lot of time just flipping around trying to figure out what I was watching. If Fox had released Fight Club with the great picture and sound and only 2 of the commentary tracks, a solid making of documentary and the deleted scenes, on one DVD, it would have been enough, the rest is bonus.


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Toth Twofer by Gianmaria Caschetto
Writer and Artist James Romberger has posted his thoughts and analysis of the newly released 'Genius, Animated: The Cartoon Art of Alex Toth' for 'The Comics Journal'.
As well expected for those who are familiar with James' reviews of the previous volumes in this series, this review offers his no-holds-barred perspective on the latest and last volume in the series.
And on a side note, I would strongly recommend you pick up James' book 'Post York' published by Uncivilized Books.
Simply The Best by John Paul Leon
The Three Witches by Jay Fosgitt
Here is the new forum/discussion code.
>> More...
Congratulations to mainstream comics pro and fellow Toth fan Lee Weeks on his new book in the TwoMorrows MODERN MASTERS series:
Yep, got it today. The five stories I listed in my prior post are in there. Reproduction isn't that great but they are certainly readable! It's not a lot of Toth but for $17 this 400+ page monster of Silver age art I believe is worth getting.
For those that haven't been on eBay this week, check this puppy out:

subset: commoncrawl


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A nice story to read about the perils of using excel when you don't know what you are doing. Fools rush in where angels fear to trade.
[...]The new model "operated through a series of Excel spreadsheets, which had to be completed manually, by a process of copying and pasting data from one spreadsheet to another." The internal Model Review Group identified this problem as well as a few others, but approved the model, while saying that it should be automated and another significant flaw should be fixed.** After the London Whale trade blew up, the Model Review Group discovered that the model had not been automated and found several other errors. Most spectacularly,
[...]"After subtracting the old rate from the new rate, the spreadsheet divided by their sum instead of their average, as the modeler had intended. This error likely had the effect of muting volatility by a factor of two and of lowering the VaR . . ."
But while Excel the program is reasonably robust, the spreadsheets that people create with Excel are incredibly fragile. There is no way to trace where your data come from, there's no audit trail (so you can overtype numbers and not know it), and there's no easy way to test spreadsheets, for starters. The biggest problem is that anyone can create Excel spreadsheets—badly. Because it's so easy to use, the creation of even important spreadsheets is not restricted to people who understand programming and do it in a methodical, well-documented way.***


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Boulder has set a record for its wettest 24-hour period. Ever.
Prior to Wednesday, the single wettest day on record was July 31, 1919, when 4.80 inches of rain were recorded, according to Bob Henson, a science writer at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
Henson said that the latest official readings for Boulder show that from 6 p.m. Wednesday to 9:15 a.m. today, 7.21 inches of rain have fallen in Boulder, with amounts likely varying from a bit lower in northeast areas of the city to higher than that to the southwest.
"We have never had anything this big," said Boulder meteorologist Matt Kelsch.
Additionally, the last three days of rain are more than Boulder has experienced in any month on record.
Since the rain kicked in late Monday afternoon, Boulder has officially recorded at least 9.61 inches of rain, topping the 9.59 inches recorded in the entire month of May 1995.
But the numbers, in fact, go higher
"There was 10.35 inches (since Monday evening) at my house in South Boulder, and I think over toward northwest Boulder, in the Holiday neighborhood, and some other areas, they are at 11 inches," Kelsch said. "They had 8 1/2 inches just yesterday, north of Pearl St."
By late 4:30 p.m.Thursday, Kelsch said another 1.21 inches had brought the total at his south Boulder residence to 11.36 inches since the storm ended, and that since it was still raining, it might already be at 12 inches. By contrast, he said, downtown Lyons had received only 6.06 inches since Monday, but that the totals west of there were surely far higher.
Kelsch added that reporting is not as thorough for areas such as Nederland and Allenspark, but that he believes totals for the storm in and around those mountain communities will be higher.
This is also by far the rainiest September ever for the city.
"Keeping in mind that Boulder records are a little bit spotty in places, but this is an extreme event for any month. But for the month of September, the heaviest rainfall (previously) was 3.05 inches, and that was Sept. 4, 1901," Henson said.
"So we may have doubled that record, and no other September day has received more than three inches. This is a one-day record (for any month)."
In fact, Boulder's one-day record has not just been broken; it has been shattered. After the 4.80 inch reading in 1919, all runners-up rounding out the Top 10 for a 24-hour-period are readings of 3.6 inches or less. Also, all of those feel between April and early August.
So both in totals and timing, Henson said, "This is an event that really stands apart."
Prior to the drenching of the past 24 hours, watchers in parts of Boulder had recorded up to 5 inches of rain through Tuesday.
And it's not over.
National Weather Service meteorologist in charge Nezette Rydell said this morning, "Even though we are on the downside of this system, we could expect problems anywhere on the Front Range today, possibly even tonight, and start looking for improvement to begin on Friday.
The chance of rain is expected to drop — finally — to about 30 percent Friday night and Saturday, she said, before climbing back to 50-to-60 percent, Saturday night and Sunday.
Preliminary readings show that Boulder Creek reached 3,100 cubic feet per second at Broadway on Wednesday night, according to Treste Huse, a hydrologist for the National Weather Service.
And with more rain in the forecast tonight, "We're definitely watching it because the soils will be saturated," Huse said.
"Water is already standing, and we have another risk of flash flooding, so we definitely are still concerned."
Boulder has long ranked as one of the state's top flood hazards and made a national list of six "disasters waiting to happen" published by the University of Colorado in 2004, along with a devastating hurricane striking New Orleans.
The most moisture Boulder had previously received on record in the month of September is 5.5 inches, in 1940, according to Camera weather historian Bill Callahan.
The Big Thompson flood of 1976 was considered between a 500-year and 1,000-year event. The disaster between Estes Park and Loveland killed 145 people and caused $41 million in damage after dumping 12 inches of rain in three hours.


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The days are heating up here in Dillon, SC at South of the Border, and we have a lot of hot new things going on around the 300 acres that make up America's Favorite Roadside Attraction. Everything from renovations and updating of all of Pedro's classic attractions to construction of a brand new feature is coming together as the summer travel season gets closer. We invite you to stop by and see all the exciting new changes on your way to your favorite summer vacation fun spot!
South of the Border features 3 different ways to spend an evening with us on the way to your vacation destination. Our Motor Inn has 300 newly refurbished rooms to get you relaxed, rested and ready to hit the dusty trail the next morning. Our Pleasure Dome features an indoor heated pool, sauna and locker rooms with showers to help motel and campground guests with their relaxation. Also, the Pleasure Dome and surrounding area has just been outfitted with free WI-FI wireless internet for our guest's convenience. Our campground has full hookups and power for motor homes and campers, and barbecue grills and showers for those who rough it in a tent. You can see our newly published rate schedules for Camp Pedro and the Motor Inn on our Accommodations page.
Construction of a new attraction for South of the Border is progressing extremely well. We will be transforming our Pedroland Park page into an Attractions page in the very near future to reflect the park's new direction and focus. Our new environmentally themed attraction will feature a "Reptile Lagoon" ~ complete with live alligators and crocodiles run by Pedro's cousin Zurdo. It will also have a Learning Center to educate our guests, school groups and locals about the vital need to preserve our natural resources and respect Mother Nature. We will have more details in a future blog, which you can receive through an RSS feed. Or you can follow @SOTBPedro on Twitter and join our official Facebook group for regular updates and happenings at South of the Border.


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While Shelby County and city of Memphis government leaders have grappled with the loss of property value and its impact on the property tax rates for both governments, suburban leaders have a different reality.
The county's six suburban towns and cities are more reliant than Memphis on sales tax revenues as they also deal with the same property value loss in the 2013 property reappraisal.
All had property tax hikes this budget season to at least generate the same amount of revenue as their old rates factoring in the property value loss.
"We are dependent on the revenue that we get from the sales tax and our sales tax has been good," said Collierville Mayor Stan Joyner on the WKNO-TV program "Behind The Headlines." "Our sales tax is strong. We hope that it will continue to be strong and that it will increase."
Two fiscal years ago, Collierville saw 10 percent growth in its sales tax revenue. This past year was "pretty flat" by Joyner's description.
Germantown Mayor Sharon Goldsworthy, on the same program, said the sales tax numbers are definitely down for Germantown. She puts it at about a drop of 4 percentage points in the amount of general fund revenue Germantown gets from the local options sales tax over past years. That's a shift from about 20 percent to approximately 16 percent.
"That's one more reason why the property tax rate was adjusted upward. It has to be covered somehow," she said. "We have really mounted what we thought were very vigorous 'shop Germantown' campaigns and such. But we have just been more than a little frustrated by a flatness or even a decline."
"Behind The Headlines," hosted by Eric Barnes, publisher of The Daily News, can be seen on The Daily News Video, www.memphisdailynews.com.
Germantown has no annexation reserve territory left to take in. It has reached its geographical limits under the growth plan required by the state.
"So the type of explosive growth that we experienced in the '70s, '80 and '90s, that went away a long time ago," Goldsworthy said. "With the recession, housing development kind of went away. But we never expected to grow much beyond 45,000 to 50,000 at total build out."
Housing growth is beginning to return to Germantown. And this week Germantown city leaders are expected to sign off on a new Baptist Memorial Healthcare facility on the Wolf River Parkway medical corridor.
But the fact that Germantown is at its borders under its annexation plan is a factor in sales tax growth or the lack of it.
"We share the state sales tax on a per capita basis. And those communities that continue to grow benefit from that growth. We don't," Goldsworthy said. "Couple that with the state sales tax also being down during the recession period and that's another reduction that we are powerless to do anything about."
Collierville, by contrast, has about 20 square miles left to annex in its reserve area and much of it is on the north side of the Wolf River, which means some challenges in terms of infrastructure.
"We have done everything that we can from a planning standpoint to see that Collierville develops out in the vision that we want it to develop out," Joyner said. "And we've held very closely to that. But in years past where you could make it across town in 10 minutes – well today, it may take you 25 minutes. Any time you have that growth, though, I think that's going to be the challenge for you."
Another challenge is manufacturing and logistics around the Norfolk Southern intermodal yard in Rossville in Fayette County.
"With the opening of the multimodal rail yard just on our eastern border, we'll see pressure for development from industrial and commercial and warehouses," Joyner said.
Meanwhile, both mayors said they would prefer, at least for now, to see the development of municipal school districts in their towns and cities that have their own superintendents.
Goldsworthy and Joyner were reacting to word last week from Arlington Mayor Mike Wissman that he and Lakeland leaders are pursuing having the same superintendent for their respective school districts.
"I think we still lack absolute clarity on whether that is permissible under the law. … I think there needs to be some clarity there," Goldsworthy said. "Right now, our particular scenario that we've been following for creation of the district imagines we will have our own. But we have also talked about the value of cooperative contracts. I think that is still kind of sitting out there."
Joyner said attorneys have advised him a common superintendent would be permissible under state law.
"I think that probably our (Collierville) school board (to be elected in November) is going to want to have their own superintendent," he said. "That will be their hire."
Copyright 1995 -
by The Daily News Publishing Co. Inc. - All Rights Reserved


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Invariant Strings
The language you're used to programming in very definitely shapes the way you think about solving programming problems. For example, I've been programming in C and C successors for 25 years. A deep rut in my brain is the idea that a string is pointer to an array of characters. In other words, it's a reference type. I always think of it as having two parts, the reference and the referred to data, which can be manipulated separately. The referred to data must also be memory managed, which is always at the back of my mind when manipulating strings.
This makes strings inherently harder to work with than, say, a simple integer value.
But not all languages are like this. For all their faults, BASIC, Javascript and many other languages handle strings in a seductively easy manner. They can be copied and passed about just like integer values. They behave not like reference types, but like value types. I wanted that for the D programming language, but how does one go from two part reference types to a value type? It's not like one could stuff an arbitrary number of characters into a fixed size value.
The first requirement is fairly obvious. Strings need automatic memory management, done with either reference counting or garbage collection. That takes care of copying them about. But there's another, more subtle requirement. When a value is copied:
int a;
int b = 5;
a = b;
b = 6;
we intuitively expect the last assignment to b to not affect the value in a. Unless we actually do something with a, its value should not change out from under us. What's needed are invariant strings. Invariant strings (also called immutable strings) are reference types where the reference can be rebound, but the string data itself can never change. Thus:
string a;
string b = "hello";
a = b;
b = "world";
and a still is "hello". This is done without any copying or changing of the actual strings, just the references are manipulated. Since references are just pointers, it's as efficient as copying integer values around.
But, a C programmer would ask (and being an old C programmer I asked this a lot), most of my string uses require changing the underlying string data. How can I do this with invariant strings?
To my great surprise, I discovered that although most of my programs heavily manipulate strings, they rarely need to actually change the underlying string data. Most of the manipulations involved moving references around, slicing, and concatenating. This can all be done with invariant strings. The handful of remaining cases are isolated and easily handled by using a mutable character array, doing the manipulations, and then converting it into an invariant string. Invariantness coupled with automatic memory management means reference types can be treated as if they were value types.
And so, my thinking about strings has changed. I now program them just like they were value types. In D it's every bit as easy to program with strings as it is in BASIC or Javascript. It's quicker to write the code, the result is easier to understand, and there are a lot fewer bugs. It's even just as fast. What's not to like?
Note: Many thanks to Andrei Alexandrescu who educated me on the utility of invariant strings and how invariant references can be treated like values.


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Got a new build? Want the best trigger and LPK available? Well, here it is! We've put together a quality Mil-Spec Lower Part Kit to accompany your Giessele trigger group. The Lower Parts Kit is manufactured by the same people that make LPKs for some the top names in the AR-15 industry.
Lifetime Warranty on Our Lower Parts Kits
We're confident that our quality lower parts kits meet or exceed Mil-Spec standards that we are backing it up with our Lifetime Warranty Program.
Product Description
The G2S is made with the same tool steel as the SSA and the sears are also wire edm'ed. The main differences with the SSA are a different way of holding the hammer pin in, different pins, no laser marking and only spot MP check. Visually, from the outside of the gun there is no difference from the SSA and the feel and reliability is the same
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Tuesday, 30 March 2010
Confessions of the world's greatest babysitter
I got to her place at 8.15pm (they were off to a late movie). All three of the kids were still up (including Miss C who is yet to be 2). They had been at the beach all afternoon/evening and were, quite literally, bouncing off the walls. Sis assured me that they would be off to bed in the usual manner. I was equally sure they wouldn't. She did the rounds and slotted them all in. The bedside lamps of the 2 older kids were left on, Mr M had his latest motivational CD playing on rotation, and I was given instructions to turn the lamps out after 15mins (and to leave the hall light on).
I settled on the couch, checking out their new Tivo. After 15 mins, I went into the kids rooms. I checked Miss A who had conked out and was fast asleep hugging a menagerie of stuffed animals. A quick pull-up of the covers and she was off for the night. One down (8.30pm). Not bad.
I then checked on Mr M. He was wide awake. He assured me that he usually had a glass of water and got up to go to the toilet (in the family bathroom) before bed. As he has an ensuite in his room, I allowed him to use that, fill up his cup and then guided him back into bed. He protested. Tried it on, but in the end he wasn't any trouble and by 9pm he was asleep. 2 down. Unbelievable.
Lastly I checked on Baby A. She was fully asleep. I pulled up her covers and left quietly. All the kids asleep. 9pm. Whoa Hoo.
I decided to get myself something to snack on and then settle into some trashy mags before my planned nap on the couch. I was loving myself and the evening of quiet.
I opened the pantry door and was greeted by a packet of chocolate toffee coated macadamias. Macadamia nuts first coated in toffee and then quality milk chocolate. Oh my! I decided I could have a little taste. Biggest mistake. I had one. And then another. I closed the pantry door and returned to the couch, only to find myself back there getting another couple of nuts moments later. And then I had gotten halfway through the packet and I thought I could hide them at the back and they might not notice them. And then I had another couple. And then there were only 3 left and I thought, I may as well get rid of the evidence, maybe they won't miss them? I ate the lot! 150g of pure heaven. Weight Watchers? What's that? Oh my. Delicious. Awesome beyond explanation.
I spent from 10.30 -11.30 trapped on the toilet. Some would call this karma. I think it was just a mean prank of nature, but I get Irritable Bowel Syndrome and my daliance with the macadamias obviously triggered a bout. I was as sick as a dog. I was too 'tied up' (so to speak) to call my sister to warn her that I was incapable of looking after her children should anyone wake and need some adult intervention. I was just stuck and had to do what needed doing and hope that the kids would be all right. They were, luckily. Not a peep.
After an hour of hell, I struggled my way back to the couch where I resumed my plan for a nap. I promptly fell asleep and was woken when my sis and b-i-l returned from their date. I had to confess both my binge and subsequent "punishment". They were pretty understanding really (B-i-l had bought said chocolates for sis in Melbourne when he was down there last week, apparently a little ritual they have when they go there) which only made me feel worse.
So if anyone knows where I can buy some of those chocolates in Sydney, please let me know. I really should replace my sister's stash. I, on the other hand, won't be going there again.
Posted by MultipleMum at 21:26 0 comments
Saturday, 27 March 2010
Musings from a weight loss journey
The weightloss has been far greater than I expected. It started with a bang (3.7kg in the first week) and kept steadily going down. I was aiming to lose 8kg in the 3 months (I thought I was being optimistic too which is hard for me, being a pessimist). In total I have lost 11.7kg. From a start weight of 87.9 down to 76.2kg. Only a couple of kilos shy of my "healthy weight range" and well on the way to a better shape and fitter lifestyle. I did plateau for the last couple of weeks and I think this is a combination of being less committed to the program (it certainly worked well when I was following all of the rules) and getting closer to my weight goal. Life just gets in the way sometimes don't you think?
I was one of the "on-line only" users, although other "star-bloggers" were doing the meetings or a combination I think? I found the on-line WW program easy to follow, although having done the program through traditional "meetings" approach before was helpful I think. I had all the basics down-pat before I started (just needed to be dredged from the bottom of my cortex). My advice to anyone tackling this approach would be to take your time to set up your "favourites" and recipes in the beginning (while it is all new and exciting) to save you time down the track.
The WW recipes are truly great. Tasty. Quick. Easy to prepare. Low in Points. What's not to like? I have some cookbooks that I have bought over the years and I downloaded many for future use too. They have helped me to modify some of my cooking techniques in other family favourites to improve the healthiness of our home menu, without altering the taste. This will definitely be a change for life!
One downside of the online program is that it has SO MUCH information that I think if you were new to all of this it would be a little daunting. Take baby steps. I found the Community noticeboards really helpful too, especially when the motivation lagged. There are lots of others documenting their journeys and you can gain valuable thin-spiration from them. Join a "thread" and interact with other Weight Watchers. The community members also pointed me in the direction of other awesome websites (such as www.coolrunning.com where I discovered the runner within) that have supported my Weight Watchers program with exercise and other lifestyle changes. There are a lot of people out there losing a LOT of weight with this Weight Watchers and they are changing their lives in the process. It is amazing!
So really, this has been an EXCELLENT start to 2010 for me. I feel fitter, healthier and, most importantly, more in control of my eating and it is all thanks to Kidspot Social, Weight Watchers and me! I will be continuing my weight loss journey out of the world of "overweight" and into my healthy weight range and hope to acheive this by my 37th birthday (May 21).
I will be back after my final weigh in on Monday. Maybe I will get that 300g I have been trying to remove for the last 2 weeks to make it a clean 12kg. You'll have to tune in to find out :)
Posted by MultipleMum at 21:24 0 comments
Monday, 22 March 2010
Taking a weigh-in pass.
How did you go this week? Anyone else taking a pass?
Posted by MultipleMum at 21:23 0 comments
Thursday, 18 March 2010
Meet my friend Flappy
I thought it was just me, but upon closer inspection, you see them all the time. Flappy is obviously not just for young players, like me, because even some of those experienced types have one. Even really good runners can have them. Flappy. You know the hand that seems to flap instead of comfortably sitting in the loose fist position?
I first encountered flappy (as I affectionately named it) when I started doing the C25k program. Even doing a 60 second interval in the first week, I noticed that I have one hand that will not be still. Robert, the guy who recorded the series of Podcasts that I listen to (www.ullreys.com/robert/Podcasts/ ) mentioned early in the program that you need to develop a 'comfortable' running position'. So when I was checking my position, I noticed this silly hand thing that I do. I have been trying really hard not to do it but every now and then I check myself and there it is. Flappy.
The other day I noticed a bloke who was running at the park also had a version of flappy. His was the first flappy that I had noticed, other than my own. Actually if I am honest, his was in much worse condition than mine is. He gave me some comfort. And now I have been further validated by the appearance of this third flappy. The awesome lady that I spotted this morning. The awesome lady whose life I coverted for a brief second. The awesome lady who sported a flappy. Phew. It is not just me.
Posted by MultipleMum at 21:22 2 comments
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Oh for some babies that would sleep!
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So for the last week or so I have commenced operation one-day-sleep and have been "stretching" them out in the morning and trying to put them in for just one sleep. The problem is that they are now only sleeping for 40 minutes in the middle of the day. That's it. No more. In my haste to improve my own outlook, I have effectively changed them from three hours of sleep to one 40 minute nap.
It is driving me mad! They are completely feral by dinner and not eating well and then, of course, Dew Drop is carrying on all night (he's always been the troublesome sleeper) because he is so over-tired. The Minx has also been more difficult to get to sleep, but she sleeps through the night (as she has since she was four months old). Oh for some sleep!!!
Mother's guilt is consuming me because I think If I had just left them on the two sleeps none of this would be happening now. Selfish me.
The sleep deprivation has been problematic for my Weight Watchers too as I really crave carbs in the afternoon (rice crackers have been doing the trick and at only 1 Point for 10 they aren't causing Points blow-outs either).
We have been able to get out a bit more, which I think has done wonders for all of our mental health, but has the price been too high for the babies? I don't know whether to continue on with my plan, or go back to the two sleeps. Ideas? Thoughts?
Posted by MultipleMum at 21:20 0 comments
Monday, 15 March 2010
I lost a gold bracelet!
I feel a bit cheated because I have had a bumper week this week. I tracked daily, stuck within my Points and added 12 Activity Points (and used only 3 of them). C'est la vie I suppose. Maybe my hard work will show up on the scales next week?
On the up side, at least I didn't put on the gold bracelet! Next week I want to lose at least a necklace, or even a necklace with a matching pair of earrings and an anklet.
How did you go this week?
Posted by MultipleMum at 14:46 0 comments
Thursday, 11 March 2010
Entertaining my three year old is getting entertaining
A couple of weeks ago we tried out "Mainly Music" (MM). It is run at one of the local churches, and being a non-church-goer type I have seen the sign for a few years and not been tempted. But as it is within walking distance, which only means three into/on the back of a pram, rather than carseats etc I thought "Why not?" A friend of mine from Mother's Group has been going for at least 2 years, how bad can it be? Well, pretty bloody bad. If a room filled (to the brim) with Mummy's and their under 4s singing bad songs in what can only be described as "off key falsetto" floats your boat, then Mainly Music could be for you. The facilitators were two fifty-plus women (I am being unkind, they were probably not really that old) with an overhead projector and a distinct lack of "pre-school voice".They were as engaging as a sack of potatoes. I had moments during the 2 hours (only singing for 45 mins) where I thought that if someone entered the room, saw a bunch of over-animated Mums (much more so than the Nannas up the front) and confused and frightened little kids, they would think it was some sort of sect. Needless to say I was not a fan. BUT on the plus side, the women who went there were extremely friendly and interesting, the babies thought it was marvellous and it was cheap (with a great morning tea provided). So, although I gave it one-star at the time, it does pave the way for another visit to MM should a Wednesday morning be rainy and the children feral.
I was telling one of the Mum's at school about my experience at MM afterwards, and she told me about Ready, Steady, Go (RSG). Her little 3 year old boy loves it and she thought I should try it out. So I did. I gathered the troops on Wednesday morning and we drove to the big basketball centre. Doo Dah was dragging his heels. He wanted to stay home and watch TV (not that that was on the cards!). To his surprise, and my delight, RSG was a real hit! They did athletics - running, long-jump, discuss and hurdles. There were at least 10 three year old boys, full of beans, bouncing all over the place. They were energetic! Excited! What Doo Dah lacked in skill, he made up in technique (he has a beautiful running style but must run on the spot because he was second to last every time) and enthusiasm. He had a hoot and whooped excitedly at the end - "Can we come again, Mum?" Now how could a Mum say no to that? On the down side, the program costs $175 per term (about $16 per week) and I spent the entire 45 minutes chasing the twins who spent the whole time climbing the steps and getting in the way of the 10 three year olds. All in all it was at least a 3 star activity, but was it the one? My search for a Wednesday morning activity may not be over yet, but at this stage we have a clear leader.
Funnily enough, I was at school this morning and was invited by another couple of Mums to hang out next Wednesday morning. Guess where they are going? Mainly Music. I giggled on the inside and told them a very hesitant "maybe". I didn't want to spoil their fun :)
Posted by MultipleMum at 14:45 0 comments
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
Approaching goal weight and scared
It is all rather strange. I think I have reached yet another stumbling block in my psychological journey.
You see, it scares me.
I know it sounds crazy and you're thinking I must be a drama queen because who is afraid of actually getting to goal, right? Well, I don't think I am a drama queen, but I really am kind of scared of letting go of what I have always known. If I am no longer "overweight" then I lose a comfortable label and I have to find other ways to describe myself. Do you get what I mean?
I first realised that I had this little fear the other day when I was chatting to Sister B. I said to her that I seemed to be lacking motivation at the moment. I have been snacking more, caring less and not tracking my Points (even though it is so easy with the online tracker!). The weight loss has subsequently slowed down.
As I talked to her though, I realised that because I don't need it as much (I now fit into my clothes, people comment on how good I am looking etc.) I lack the motivation I had in the beginning. She said "But you are almost there! A few good weeks and you will be in your weight range. How can that not be motivating?"
Light bulb moment.
I am scared of being in my healthy weight range, I thought to myself.
To reach goal means that I won't be "trying to lose weight" or "on a diet". Does that equate to having to accept what I look like? And if I am not dieting, does that mean I think I look/feel okay?
It is all too weird! What does one do if they are not dieting???
It has been too long for me to remember. "Yeah. I suppose" is all I said to my sis.
So I have been "watching my thoughts" since that little communication interchange. It isn't pretty in here, I can tell you that.
So, here's an example of my recent thinking. I have always been an active person, and the C25k program has helped me to venture into the world of running. The interval training has been great for my weight loss but it really is challenging a) to find the time to train 3 times a week and b) to get through the sessions (I am now running for 8 minute intervals).
So the other night while I was puffing my way through a 5 minute run, I found myself thinking, if I complete my "diet" will I still run? Am I getting anything out of it other than a few Acitivity Points?
When I really think about it, I am. It clears my head, gives me some time-out from the world, an opportunity to listen to some good music and some fresh air after a long day with the kids. But the reason I do it, is for the Activity Points. So, if I am not "trying to lose weight"? Where does running fit in? See, it is scary and hard to reorganise your thoughts.
I am happy that I have realised this about myself because I have an opportunity to fix it now. I feel I have "wasted" a couple of weeks not really following the program properly when I could have and been even further along the pathway to my healthy weight range. But at least now I won't waste any more time.
I have 2 more weeks of WW and blogging and I have re-committed! So it is another 2 kilos in 2 weeks for me. The keys to my success will be:
A) 6-8 glasses of H2O per day
B) No more than 4 Points worth of snacks per day and
C) Track my Points on the online tracker (ALL of them, no matter what)
So what about you? Are you an ex-dieter who has reached your weight destination? How have you handled the change in cognitive processing?
Posted by MultipleMum at 14:43 2 comments
Monday, 8 March 2010
The fine art of friend stealing
My sister, B, is the most renowned friend stealer. The fact that she is only 21 months older than me, was a year above me at school and went to Sydney Uni with me has meant that we have a LOT of mutual friends. Usually I have met the person first and she sort of adopts them too. I guess I am better at making friends than her.
Recently, my other sister, A, has moved back to the country town from whence we came. In the process she has also begun friend stealing. I understand this too. There are only a certain number of like-minded people around to choose from. Those of my friends who still live there are really great people. Fun, adventurous and up for a laugh. Why wouldn't you steal them if you could?
I really don't mind all of this friend stealing behaviour. My family would probably say something different because I do go on about it a bit when it happens. You know, "can't you find your own friends?" and that sort of thing. It is a form of social networking I guess and probably quite normal. You meet someone you like and surprise, surprise, you also like their friends/siblings. It isn't the best name for it anyway as the "stolen" friend remains my friend too. It is just what we have always called it in our family. It has been a running joke for years. Anyway, I digress.
Usually if I meet a friend's friend whom I like I gradually get to know them through parties or other group outings until suddenly we are friends in own right with a shared history and away we go. I don't see this as a direct steal, but perhaps you do? I have never been good a meeting my friend's friends and assuming an individual friendship with them. I just take my time. It's just me. But since the kids, things have been different. Firstly, we don't really see many of our friends in a social setting these days very often. And secondly, people rarely bring along new friends because we are all trying so hard to spend time with the ones we already have that there is little time for introductions. Consequently, I meet people through the kids and not through other adults. They are mine to start with, no stealing needed.
Over the past few years I have become close to another Mum, R. She is really different from me - kind of quiet and unassuming. But for all of our differences, somehow it just works and we have had a lot of fun rearing our kids together. Because it has been 5 years now and she loves entertaining, I have met quite a few of her pre-children friends. I have discovered she has a couple of women in particular with whom I get along very well. We always find ourselves locked in conversation at R's functions. So the other day while we were celebrating R's eldest daughter's birthday, I was chatting to her friend N and we arranged a playdate. An official friend steal. I felt kind of bad about it, like I should invite R along as well, but as N invited me to her place it wasn't really my responsibility to extend the invite. Right? Friend stealer.
Anyway, N and I had the playdate this morning and it went well. N's eldest boy and Nugget got along really well and kept themselves occupied for hours. N and I chatted away like a pair of old Nannas who have known each other for years. In fact we have. Known each other for years that is. It is just that now we can call each other "friend" rather than a friend of a friend.
So what about you? Are you a friend stealer?
Posted by MultipleMum at 21:28 10 comments
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
Try not to peak in primary school
Picking up Nugget from school each day has me facing a new generation of different "types" of people. I can already see how the game might play out. Take Nugget's new BFF, L. He is a cute boy with a gruff voice who is already a player. He has all the kids wanting to play with him (thanks largely to a Lego catalogue he swans around with in the playground) and he is already bullying kids out of their lunchbox treasures, well, largely my boy, but that is another story. So you can see L as one of the "cool" kids already.
And then there is J. He is a shy boy with a speech delay (it is okay for me to say this as I was a Speech Pathologist in another lifetime) who is quite delightful and smiley but who is already the butt of some of the boys jokes. His parents are equally nice, but equally daggy and I can see that boy J has little hope of being anything other than a "dag". Personally I rather like the dags of the world, but the schoolyard has never been kind to them historically.
And lastly there is H. She is an adorable, blonde, giggly little girl. She looks fabulous in her uniform, always meticulously pressed, with her little bobby socks. Her Mum recently purchased her some "scungies" to wear under her dress because she was noted to "chuck a leggy" (her Mum's words, not mine). The girls swoon around her in the playground. She is destined to be a "popular". Her parents both were, you can just tell by their vernacular and breezely outlook on life, not to mention her perfect-hair and his perfect-teeth.
So already the stage is being set, and some of the characters have their parts. Which group will the Nugget find himself in? Who knows, but if he learns anything from his mother it will be that you do NOT want to peak in primary school. Find your feet. Have some fun. Learn as much as you can. But don't sweat the little stuff. Honestly, you will struggle to remember primary school when you get into your late 30s as I am. But, if you are lucky, you will catch a glimpse of your old self in your child's playground, dressed in someone else's uniform, wearing someone else's shoes, but playing your old part.
BTW I lost 100g this week. Not a huge loss, but "heading in the right direction" as Sister A reminded me. I hope you are still on the Weight Watchers path with me. Drop me a note to let me know how you are going.
Posted by MultipleMum at 14:40 4 comments
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Bronze Age herders spread farming around Asia
Livestock raisers took crops from two farming centers for a continent-wide ride
Nomadic herding groups that inhabited Central Asia's mountains and deserts more than 4,000 years ago spread crops across much of Asia and took up cultivation themselves surprisingly early, a new study suggests.
The findings fit with other emerging evidence that ancient Asians flexibly mixed herding and farming lifestyles. That type of adaptability enabled agriculture to initially spread via mainland herders and coastal seafarers, not migrating farmers or trading networks of urban civilizations as anthropologists had previously thought.
Seeds recovered at two herder campsites in Kazakhstan represent the earliest evidence of the combined use of bread wheat and broomcorn millet, say anthropologist Robert Spengler of Washington University in St. Louis and colleagues. Radiocarbon dates of charred wood and seeds at these sites, Tasbas and Begash, range between roughly 4,800 and 4,300 years ago.
The findings push back the dates


text: Audiences came to know Keira Knightley as the soccer star in the sleeper hit "Bend It Like Beckham." The British actress went on to leading roles in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise and "Atonement," and earned an Academy Award nomination for "Pride & Prejudice." The red carpet favorite is also the face of Chanel.


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'Melo who? Nuggets extend Gallinari to 4-year, $42.5 million pact
The deal is done — Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari has agreed to a four-year contract extension. The 23-year-old small forward will make close to $42 million in that four year span, a league source told The Denver Post.
HoopsVibe's Very Quick Call: Gee, think the Denver Nuggets are glad they pulled the trigger on the Carmelo Anthony trade?
There's no more shot happy small forward. There are no more off-court 'Melo dramas. And their future is known.
Today, the Nuggets inked Danilo Gallinari to a four-year pact for a very reasonable $42.5 million, and continued building a team with balance and depth.
Got thoughts? Well, get at HoopsVibe News in the comment box below.


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"Endemic state weakness in Sharfland is a product of Great Power Politics." Discuss.
Date of submission: 30/06/2016
Date of submission: 30/06/2016
Pierre M. Syirfegi, Grenoble Institute of Geopolitics
Professor J. Le Poit PhD, Grenoble Institute of Geopolitics
Political economy of Central Crataean states
Percentage of module grade:
This assignment is submitted as part of the Master's Degree in Central Crataean Studies. By submitting the assignment, the author certifies that the text is from his/her own hand, does not include the work of someone else unless clearly indicated, and that the thesis has been produced in accordance with proper academic practices and guidelines.
It is difficult to dispute the fact that Sharfic politics have for the last one hundred years been characterised by endemic insecurity. From the Great War of the early twentieth century to the more recent, harrowing civil war of the twentieth, the Sharfland has been in a state of near or total state collapse for almost the entirety of the last century. Attempts at analysing this phenomenon have drawn mixed results, with scholars blaming both physical factors (geography and resource stress) to less tangible social, economic and cultural factors (for example "ethnic hatreds" and more recently, globalisation). All of these approaches deserve a level of recognition; however this paper will primarily attempt to deconstruct the role of "Great Powers" in Crataea (Dumanum, Questers, and historically Songia and Quiberon) in the contemporary Sharfic situation.
The Great War of 1899-1910 could be seen as the first major manipulation of Sharfland by the "Great Powers". Sharfland's situation pre-war, whilst not utopian, was one of relative comfort; the then-Kingdom of the Dragon Mountain was richer than its neighbours, and governed by a benevolent monarch who poured vast resources into modernising his state (Thompson, 1993, p.14). The outbreak of hostilities however severely damaged the economy – the Free Port of Freiburg, chartered by the King to the Praetonian Sharfland Company, saw a reduction in trade of around 35% due to naval battles between Praetonia and Quiberon in the Oryontic (Draskovic, 2008, p.290). This severely stunted the modernisation drive, weakening the King's position in an era of creeping democratisation and giving birth to revolutionary elements within Sharfic society. This Great Power rivalry certainly served to foster instability in Sharfland, forcing the previously neutral state to become dependent on Dumanum for imports and exports of goods (ibid, p.295). Dumanum's subsequent coercion of its Crataean clients (including Sharfland) into raising expeditionary forces to fight in Questers was a deeply unpopular action in Sharfland that further eroded the King's authority and painted him in the eyes of many Sharfics as less demigod and more Dumani puppet (ibid, p.316).
Post-war Sharfland remained an unfortunate vassal of Dumanum, having Birbiriya (roughly a third of its territory) ceded to Sandirius in the Dumani-brokered Treaty of Rema in 1921 (Valls, 2001, p.83). Whilst the re-integration of Freiburg in 1924 did have some effect in rebuilding national morale (ibid), the continued post-war economic disruption had depressed Sharfic living standards to a level more akin to that of Uiri, Sharfland's poor, landlocked and hated eastern neighbour (ibid, p.85). The masses of dispossessed peasantry were easy targets for Songian communist agitators, who tapped into the general feeling of disenfranchisement within the Sharfic population and began to educate the rural peasantry in the norms of Songian communism (ibid, p.96). While there was certainly support for communist ideas in Sharfland, Valls asserts that its supporters did not have the strength to overthrow the monarchy independently (ibid, p.101). The population was instead galvanised by the end to royal yak subsidies in 1932 – an economic move pushed for by Dumanum, which had grown tired of supporting its southern neighbour – that doomed millions of peasants to inevitable bankruptcy (ibid, p.102). The subsequent Yak Revolution was not a communist insurrection, as it has been portrayed in the past – it was an explosion of suppressed anger that became a generalised, directionless revolt against the monarchy, that was only hijacked by the more politically aware Songian revolutionary cadres at least a week after the first uprisings (ibid, p.110). It is certainly feasible that without the continued interference of Dumanum in Sharfland's affairs the Kingdom would have remained intact for at least another decade; without the interference of Songia Sharfland's communisation may have been avoided altogether.
This communisation of Sharfland resulted in a state that for sixty years lurched from economic crisis to political crisis to military crisis, only managing to suppress constant uprisings with its monopoly on air power (Rex, 1998, p.88). Certainly the 1997-2010 civil war was an inevitability – the Sharfic Soviet was effectively hollow, having never rebuilt the foundations of the state eroded between 1899 and 1932, either directly or indirectly, by the" Great Powers". Even the current post-war settlement, with Sharfland divided into two entities, has been brought about by the interference of both Dumanum and the Praetonian Commonwealth during the war years (Ekiferi, 2014, p.30). The Sharfic Federation has returned to the Dumani sphere and is unlikely to escape the orbit of Urbs Dumanus within the next few decades (ibid, p.86). Both entities remain weak and unstable, with Sovereign Sharfland in particular described as little more than an "outlaw state" that bleeds insecurity into its neighbours (ibid, p.89). However, the anarchist territory being as it is under protection from the Estates-General and Freeholder's Association it is unlikely that this source of insecurity will be plugged in the near future. Sharfland itself has federated along ethno-linguistic lines in an effort to placate its many minorities, which is a short-term solution at best – many scholars assert that Sharflands federalisation will lead to renewed civil war and total disintegration within a decade (ICPG.org, accessed 2016).
It is undeniable that the course of contemporary Sharfic history has been charted primarily by the political and economic interests of the "Great Powers", who can be provably implicated in almost any trauma experienced by Sharfland in the last century. The stability and relative prosperity of the Sharfic state prior to the Great War contrasts strongly with the chronic insecurity beginning in 1899 – the period in which Sharfland found itself incidentally and explicitly subject to the machinations of far larger and more powerful nations.
Arguments on ethnic and religious "ancient hatreds", often touted when discussing the wider region, have little currency when the relatively peaceful Monarchy period is evidence against it. The only common factor in the state decay of the 20s to the 90s is the shaping of Sharfic history by those who are not Sharfics. The current status quo in Sharfland certainly suits the powerful nations of the world, who have little appetite to go to war over their respective fiefdom. However it most certainly does not suit the interests of the Sharfic people, who remain economically and politically crippled by decades of bad governance. With a world still riven by ideological rivalries and power politics, it is unlikely that Sharfland will cast off its neo-colonial shackles, overcome its political hurdles and become a functioning state in the near future.
Word count: 1063
Thompson, E (1993) "The road to modernity" in The Dragon Mountain – reassessing the Sharfic Kingdom, Kingston Publishing House.
Draskovic, M (2008) "The war in the Oryontic" in The Great War – a definitive history, Jacksonville Press.
Valls, G (2001) "Sharfland" in Red tide – the spread of Communism in south Crataea, Editions du Evian
Rex, L (1998) "The inevitable collapse" in State of Emergency – Sharfland's seventy year crisis, Gladiator Books
Ekiferi, M (2014) "Introduction" and "The future of Sharfland" in Sharfland in the 20th Century, Axum Paper Company
International Crataean Policy Group (2016a) Sharfland's continued decay [online] available from http://www.icpg.org/articles/2016/sharf ... nued_decay


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Global Asbestos Panorama 2012: Questions and Answers
Asbestos has had many nicknames. In Canada it was called white gold; elsewhere it was called the magic mineral. We know it by another name: killer dust. Everywhere asbestos has been mined, transported, processed or used, human beings have died and the environment has been polluted. The truth is simple: there is no safe level of exposure to asbestos, all types of asbestos are carcinogenic and the best way to protect human beings from asbestos is to ban its use. To understand the current scale of the global asbestos situation, a series of questions has been considered.
Where is Asbestos Used?
Chrysotile (white) asbestos remains the most widely used type of asbestos; for decades, the predominant use of chrysotile has been for the production of asbestos-cement construction products such as pipes and roofing material. Data for 2010, reveal that the world's top six asbestos consumers China (613,751 tonnes (t)), India (426,364 t), Russia (263,037 t), Indonesia (111,849 t), Uzbekistan (98,635 t) and Thailand (79,250 t) accounted for 78% of global usage.1 In 2010, 68% of global sales went to Asia and 22% to Eastern Europe, regions where asbestos health and safety regulations are either non-existent or unenforced. The WHO estimates that every year 125 million people are being occupationally exposed to asbestos; the number of people exposed to asbestos environmentally remains unknown.
Where is Asbestos Produced?
Data from 2010 show that 99% of global production takes place in five countries: Russia (1,000,000 t), China (400,000 t), Brazil (270,000 t), Kazakhstan (214,000 t) and Canada (100,000 t). Throughout most of the 20th century, Canada was the world's leading supplier of chrysotile asbestos; in the 1970s asbestos production in Russia and Kazakhstan outstripped that in Canada for the first time. In 2011, production at Canada's last remaining asbestos mine ground to a halt. Despite increasingly desperate attempts to reinvigorate asbestos mining in Canada, which may succeed given the support for the industry from governments in Ottawa and Quebec, it appears that the leadership of the global asbestos lobby is now in transition from Canadian to Russian hands. A chrysotile conference in Moscow in June 2012 is widely regarded as the event which will mark the handover of power to industry stakeholders in Eastern Europe.
Why is Asbestos still being Used?
Major international agencies, regional authorities, scores of national governments and independent scientists believe that asbestos is a substance which should be banned. A 2010 statement on asbestos issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) was categorical:
All types of asbestos cause lung cancer, mesothelioma, cancer of the larynx and ovary, and asbestosis (fibrosis of the lungs). Exposure to asbestos occurs through inhalation of fibres in air in the working environment, ambient air in the vicinity of point sources such as factories handling asbestos, or indoor air in housing and buildings containing friable (crumbly) asbestos materials. Currently, about 125 million people in the world are exposed to asbestos at the workplace. In 2004, asbestos-related lung cancer, mesothelioma and asbestosis from occupational exposures resulted in 107,000 deaths and 1,523,000 DALYS [disability-adjusted life years]. In addition, several thousands of deaths can be attributed to other asbestos-related diseases, as well as to non-occupational exposures to asbestos. Elimination of asbestos-related diseases should take place through the following public health actions: a) recognising that the most efficient way to eliminate asbestos-related diseases is to stop the use of all types of asbestos; b) replacing asbestos with safer substitutes and developing economic and technological mechanisms to stimulate replacement; c) taking measures to prevent exposure to asbestos in place and during asbestos removal (abatement), and; d) improving early diagnosis, treatment, social and medical rehabilitation of asbestos-related diseases and establishing registries of people with past and/or current exposures to asbestos.2
Asbestos vested interests disagree with the WHO's assessment; they have billions of reasons to do so. In order to protect asbestos markets and develop new ones, asbestos traders have engaged in a long-term, coordinated global marketing campaign to cast doubt on science which shows the harmful effects of human exposure to all types of asbestos. Industry-commissioned experts produce research papers which claim that chrysotile asbestos can be used safely; the same experts testify in courts on behalf of asbestos defendants. One of the most effective strategies employed by asbestos vested interests is: confusion. Sowing doubt where none exists enables them to forestall regulations restricting the use of their products.
Where is Asbestos Banned?
National legislation outlawing the new use of asbestos has been adopted in 54 countries, de facto bans exist in countries such as Canada and the U.S., and debate is on-going in Malaysia, the Philippines, Brazil, Albania, Iran and elsewhere about the viability of transitioning to non-asbestos technology. While current worldwide consumption remains around 2 million tonnes a year, and this is 2 million tonnes too much, usage has decreased substantially since the 1980s.
What is the Human Cost of Asbestos Use?
No one knows how many lives have been lost due to the widespread and uncontrolled use of asbestos around the world. The International Labour Organization has estimated that more than 100,000 people die every year from work-related asbestos exposures. Professor Joe LaDou, from the University of California, is more pessimistic saying:
The asbestos cancer epidemic may take as many as 10 million lives before asbestos is banned worldwide and exposure is brought to an end The battle against asbestos is in danger of being lost where the human cost may be the greatest, in developing countries desperate for industry.
In the United States, asbestos-related diseases cause 10,000 deaths a year; in American men over 50 years old, they account for one death out of every 125.3 Between 2005 and 2045, epidemiologists predict that a further 100,000 Americans will die of their exposures to asbestos. Asbestos epidemics have been documented in countries throughout Europe4 as well as in Canada, Brazil, Australia, Japan and Korea. Because of the long time lag between exposure and disease manifestation, evidence of emerging epidemics can take up to 40 years to document. It can take even longer in countries where governments, such as those in Canada, Brazil, Russia and India, are determined, for political and economic reasons, to deny the link between asbestos and disease. While national asbestos epidemics are serious matters what is equally as worrying, if not more so, is the lack of data on asbestos cancers:
Reliable figures on the incidence/mortality of/from mesothelioma are available for about 15% only of the world population. In particular, mesothelioma epidemiology is scarcely known for a majority of the big asbestos producer/consumer countries. Where data are available, marked variations in incidence are observed. During the last decades mesothelioma incidence showed a progressive increase in various industrialized countries, reaching the highest values in Australia, Belgium, and the UK The mesothelioma wave consequent on the very high world asbestos consumption (which) occurred in the 1970s has yet to be seen.5
Is a Global Asbestos Ban Possible?
Support for the international banning of asbestos has escalated in recent years. Developments such as protests in Indian towns earmarked by asbestos companies as sites for new factories,6 public and medical condemnation of asbestos stakeholders in Canada, and educational activities regarding the asbestos hazard in Albania7 substantiate an increased concern about the human hazard of exposure to asbestos. An asbestos-free future is possible.
1 The consumption and production data quoted in this paper are sourced from the United States Geological Survey (U.S.G.S.).
2 WHO. Preventing Disease through Health Environments. 2010
3 The Asbestos Epidemic in America.
4The health effects of Europe's massive asbestos use were analyzed in a paper entitled: The European mesothelioma epidemic. The epidemiologists predicted that the number of male mesothelioma deaths in Western Europe for the period 1995-2029 would be 250,000. With additional male deaths from other asbestos-related diseases and the asbestos deaths of women, the asbestos death toll in Western Europe could in this 35-year period exceed 500,000. No estimates are available for asbestos fatalities in Eastern Europe where the use of Russian asbestos remains the norm.
5 Bianchi B. Geography of Mesothelioma: An Overview. Abstract to Global Asbestos Congress 2004; website:http://park3.wakwak.com/~gac2004/
6 Kazan-Allen L. Asbestos Protests in India. May 24, 2010.
7 Kazan-Allen L. Raising Awareness of the Asbestos Hazard in Albania. May 28, 2010.


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Freeware applications and open source software that provide IT managers with great tools at no cost
Network protocol analyzer Wireshark, which was formerly named Ethereal, works on Windows, Linux, OS X and Unix platforms to allow network managers to examine protocol data from a live network or from a capture file on disk. Key features: Wireshark is freely available open source software that provides deep inspection of hundreds of protocols, examines VoIP application traffic and performs live data capture with offline analysis.
Nagios is an open source host and service monitoring application designed to run under the Linux operating system, but also works on other platforms as well. Key features: Nagios, built out of the project formerly known as NetSaint, monitors network services such as SMTP, POP3, HTTP, NNTP and more. The software also monitors host resources such as processor load, disk and memory usage, running processes and log files. It can incorporate environmental factors such as temperature. The open source application can also be customized by network managers via plugins.
Scrutinizer is a NetFlow and sFlow analyzer that accepts unlimited flows from routers, switches and network interfaces to help network managers better understand the top talkers in their environments. Key features: Scrutinizer can identify top hosts, top application per hosts, top hosts per applications and provide network mapping. The software integrates with third-party applications and is able to notify service providers if intruders are coming from their networks.
Freeware faves A to Z: Network managers have long turned to freeware applications and open source software to address pain points without breaking the bank. The applications offer quick fixes to management and security issues with no budget approval and often become core to IT toolboxes. Here we highlight 20 freeware and open source tools, some that are well established and others that are newcomers to the free software game.
The NetFlow Configurator utility, available from management software maker SolarWinds, lets IT managers unfamiliar with the command-line options for configuring NetFlow set up NetFlow on supported Cisco devices. Key features: The utility also helps network managers set up collectors for Cisco NetFlow data by specifying the ports on which the collectors are listening and enabling monitoring of inbound and outbound traffic data per interface, SolarWinds says.
PuTTY is a client for Secure Shell (SSH) and Telnet connections that enables network managers to run a remote session on a computer over a network. PuTTY implements the client end of the session. Key features: PuTTY uses cryptography to secure the connection against eavesdropping, hijacking and other attacks, according to its developer. The software application supports SSH1, SSH2 and Open SSH as well as Telnet and Rlogin.
ZipTie is a framework for network inventory and configuration management that allows network managers to discover devices in their network, create an inventory and manage the configurations of those devices. Key features: ZipTie performs discovery, backup and restoration of network device configurations as well as provides a comparison of device configurations over time. The software offers a vendor-agnostic approach to managing configurations across varied vendor gear.
jManage is an open source application management platform. It provides a centralized console for managing application clusters and distributed application environments. Key features: The jManage platform includes dashboards, alerts, graphs, security features and SNMP support. The software is designed to manage applications in development, quality assurance, staging and production environments.
Snort is an open source network intrusion prevention and detection system that uses a rule-driven language to combine several methods of protecting networks, such as signature, protocol and anomaly-based inspection practices. Key features: Snort has three primary uses: It can be used as a straight packet sniffer like tcpdump, a packet logger (useful for network traffic debugging, for example), or as a full-blown network intrusion prevention system.
Kiwi Syslog Daemon is a freeware Syslog Daemon for Windows that receives messages from network devices and displays them in real time. Key features: The freeware "receives, filters, logs, displays and forwards Syslog messages and SNMP traps from such hosts as routers, switches, Unix systems and other Syslog-enabled devices," according to its keeper, Kiwi Enterprises.
OpenNMS is an enterprise-grade network management platform developed under the open source model and supported both by community and commercial efforts. Key features: OpenNMS enables network managers to perform service polling to determine the availability of managed nodes, as well as collect data to store, report and establish thresholds. It also includes event notification and management capabilities.
MRTG (Multi Router Traffic Grapher) is a tool that graphs router and other network device traffic by monitoring SNMP and creating visual images of the traffic passing through each interface. Key features: MRTG is free software licensed under the GNU GPL that works on Unix, Linux, Windows and Netware. The software can track traffic on network devices and show network managers the bandwidth hogs, chatty protocols and end users potentially tapping applications they shouldn't.
UltraVNC is a free software application that enables network managers to remotely control the screen of another computer from their own workstation via the Internet or a network connection. Key features: IT staff and help desk workers can use UltraVNC to more quickly address end-user performance problems and fix computers located at remote sites without sending a technician to the client desktop. The application also enables file transfers between computers.
The freeware application FastSCP, introduced in 2006 by virtual systems management start-up Veeam, promises to provide file management capabilities for VMware ESX Server users. Key features: FastSCP (Fast and Secure Copy) enables IT managers to transfer files between ESX Server and Windows machines, without reconfiguring the ESX Server.
Argus is a software application that monitors systems and network devices such as routers for availability and alerts IT managers when there are potential performance problems. Key features: Argus features an intuitive Web interface, monitors network connectivity as well as system availability, and generates graphs on what is happening across the network. The software also can escalate alerts and notify network managers when problems aren't addressed within a predetermined time.
Kismet is an 802.11 Layer 2 wireless network detector, sniffer and intrusion detection system. It works with any wireless card that supports raw monitoring mode. Key features: Kismet is able to identify networks by passively collecting packets and detecting named, hidden and non-beaconing networks via data traffic. The software can provide graphical mapping of networks, perform hidden network SSID de-cloaking and output data via XML.
NTOP is a network traffic probe that can sort network traffic according to protocols, display traffic statistics, show IP traffic distribution among protocols, and identify e-mail addresses of computer users, among other things. Key features: NTOP lets network managers sort network traffic based on various criteria, analyze IP traffic based on source and destination, act as a NetFlow/sFlow collector for flows generated by routers or switches, and produce RMON-like network traffic statistics.
PingPlotter Freeware is a traceroute application that allows network managers to trace the route between them and a target and collect performance metrics about that route. Key features: The software application can deliver packet loss and latency numbers and display them in a graphical format. The visualization can help network managers more quickly determine which hop on a route is causing performance problems, according to PingPlotter.com.
Clam AntiVirus is an open source antivirus toolkit for Unix that was designed to scan e-mails on mail gateways. Key features: ClamAV includes utilities such as a multi-threaded daemon, a command-line scanner and an advanced tool for automatic database updates. The core of the open source package is an antivirus engine available in the form of a shared library, and the application includes built-in support for almost all mail file formats.
Cacti is a data collection, storage and graphing tool that lets network managers poll data from multiple sources and create visual representations of information across complex networks. Key features: Cacti is available free for use under the GNU General Public License (GPL) and can tap SNMP for those network managers using MRTG or other traffic graphing tools.
Nmap is a free, open-source security scanning utility that scans networks for network exploration, inventory or security auditing purposes. Key features: Designed to rapidly scan large networks, Nmap runs on all major operating systems and uses raw IP packets to determine which hosts are available on the network, which services those hosts are offering, what operating system they are running and what types of packet filters and firewalls are in use.
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Building on the success of both LEGO Star Wars videogames, LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga enables families to play through the events of all six Star Wars movies in one videogame for the first time ever. From the Trade Federation's "negotiations" with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn in The Phantom Menace to the space battle above Endor in Return of the Jedi, The Complete Saga allows players to kick some brick through dozens of Story Mode levels.
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Serena Avila-Mott was honored last week at the Los Angeles County Fair as one of Diamond Bar's community heroes. She was nominated by Pamela Robinson, a member of the city 's fair committee.
"Serena is a wonderfully talented young lady. At 27 years old, she has accomplished more than many adults twice her age. She is passionate about reaching out to help those who are less fortunate and those who have been marginalized by society.
" She has taken her passion for working with special needs and under-served children from Diamond Bar to a third world country. Serena has also gone back to her former schools and volunteered, serving in various roles….
"She is the youngest member of the Diamond Bar Women's Club and has already demonstrated she is not afraid of taking on a variety of responsibilities in the club. She will be serving as membership chair…
"She is on the cutting edge of ushering in a new wave of volunteers who grew up in Diamond Bar, and are paying it forward… Serena is also proving that she understands the benefit and value of serving her community and truly enjoys giving back."


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So here's the thing, ever since I was little I've watched a lot of ghost movies and shows, even after I became an atheist. I would read books about ghosts as a kid, and I thought I could communicate with spirits through a magic 8 ball. I'm not by nature very skeptical, I make an honest effort to ask questions and keep my mind open, not jumping to conclusions. I was raised by my single mother, and as you may have guessed she loves reading about ghosts, and watching things about ghosts on TV and we would see scary movies. Honestly I was exposed more to things of that nature than I was to religion. I've gotten to a point that I can't watch scary movies with anything supernatural in them because I get scared that any minute things will start moving on their own, or something will appear in a mirror or in front of me, it really freaks me out. I know that it's stupid for me to feel/think that way, but I just can't help it, and I'm really ashamed. I'll be 18 in less than a month and I'm still sometimes afraid of the dark.
I was wondering what everyone's opinion here is on the topic of ghosts? Do you think they exist or not, is there any evidence for/against them, and is there anything that science has to say? Do you have any tips on being a good skeptic?
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i used to be afraid of ghosts, i remember one time i was watching a movie with my sister and i wanted some popcorn, and as i was heading to the stairs, i looked down and saw a girl who looked, well i described her as looking like Saumara from the ring, you know, she is wearing that old night gown, but i saw her wearing that and running shoes. silly i know, and another time i was going out to feed my dogs, very late at night, and i heard loud and clear someone saying hi, to this day i still don't know what it was. it scared the shit out of me. But i don't believe in ghosts,anymore. i can walk outside in the dark and not be afraid. all i can say is, if you see something or hear something go bump in the night, think of a logical reason for the sound is someone, or you see something its probably just a shadow or a stack of things, things lined up just so and it makes it look like someone is there. think logically. hope this helps o_O
I don't believe in ghosts at all. In fact I lone ripping those ghost hunter shows to shreds when my wife watches them. :) I will say that when I was younger I used to be afraid of all manner of scary movies. My irrational fear of my youth was vampires, believe it or not. I always had to sleep with the covers pulled over my neck (as if that would protect from a vampire bite. lol But it all stopped rather quickly. Was it from growing up, losing my religion, or maybe both. But now I am quite skeptical, but I still don't watch scary movies much. But the reasons have changes. Before, it was fear. Not, I just don't care for them and find myself debunking the presented story in my mind. Don't worry about ghosts though, they're no more real than Jack's beanstalk.
All my fears of the supernatural fell away in a relatively short period of time. I didn't really notice it, but if I had to pinpoint it, I would say it was tied to the rejection of all forms of "magical thinking" (which coincided with my deconversion). Investigating the psychology of supernatural belief...magical thinking...whatever you call it...helped me to be objective about some of those areas where I was holding irrational beliefs.
I did still have some residual fear of the dark. You never know what natural threat may find cover in the shadows--a shin-thirsty coffee table, Fido's tennis ball, or The Creeper from next door. I know you're afraid of much more powerful things lying in wait. But take comfort in this: it's human instinct to fear the unknown. Right now your unknown includes the possibility that ghosts exist. Our ancestors survived because they were on edge after dusk, because their curiosity was tempered by a fear of sticking their hand into that mysterious dark cavern.
But if you learn about the arguments against paranormal activity and test those ideas for yourself, I think you will find yourself watching scary movies for the laughs. Really! Keep an open mind and start looking at skeptic's videos/books in the daytime. It is just a matter of mastering your fears...
Try something similar sometime. Expose yourself to places you think or feel the presence of ghosts and you will find there is nothing there.
Consistent exposure to your fears is a strategy used by therapists to treat phobias. It works if you do it right. It took about me about three weeks of walking through my the house in the dark (here and there) before I had the same result as Jim.
True story, it works. I didn't used to be able to pee in front of other people. So, for about three weeks, I left the bathroom door open when I peed. Now I can pee in front of anyone.
another thing you may want to consider is that in recorded history there has never been empirical, verifiable evidence of ghosts. none.
every bit of "evidence" seems to change with the times. photos now no longer show spectres (fully clothed or wearing sheets because who wants to see a naked ghosts). they show bright lights and balls of dust that reflect flashes in modern digital cameras. you also got people on ghost hunter shows using equipment in ways that the equipment was not designed for and then claiming paranormal activity. ridiculous.
i suggest you read up on joe nickell. he's been investigating the validity of ghosts (and other woo woo) for a long time. it may help you realize that it's something you will eventually outgrow.
Not really since they can't read...
Isn't that weird? They can write however. Sometimes get paid handsomely for it too.
I hear they also have trouble remembering their name when talking to a "medium." They can convey the most intimate secrets, especially about people who talked to aids of the medium about it beforehand, but they somehow have to reconstruct their names on basis of statistics by guessing the first few letters.
I guess being dead kind of fucks op your mind.
Age has a way of mellowing fears. You are young and as you mature you will notice that most of the things you fear dissipate into nothingness. Ghosts are part of the magical world of childhood.
My neighbors are in their fifties and they believe in ghosts. They're also theists.
I was 17 until i stopped being afraid of the dark.... dont be ashamed. you grow out of it eventually. If it persists though i suggest mabye getting help?
Thanks man. :)


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|Bakersfield, Calif.
As a senior (2014): A first team all-WIRA selection, team co-captain and named the team's most outstanding rower…competed with the varsity eight in all 12 spring races, sitting in the five seat 10 times and six seat on two occasions…posted a time of 6:55.6 on the 2,000-meter ergometer, the fastest mark in school history…won the Director's Award, given to one female student-athlete by the Sacramento State athletics department for unselfishness, commitment, work ethic and excellence in their sport…earned the CRCA's National Scholar-Athlete Award for the second straight year, given to rowers with a 3.5 or higher cumulative grade point average…also named to Conference USA's Honor Roll…rowed with the varsity eight in three of her four years with the program.
As a junior (2013): Competed with both the varsity and second varsity eight during the spring…rowed with the varsity eight in the four seat in two races…rowed with the second varsity eight in the five seat (three times) and the six seat (once)…dealt with a back injury during the middle of the spring, forcing her to miss some races…one of six Hornets to receive the National Scholar-Athlete Award, given to rowers with a 3.5 or higher cumulative grade point average.
As a sophomore (2012): One of five members on the team to compete with the varsity eight in every spring race, sitting in the four seat each time…helped the varsity eight to a bronze medal at the WIRA Championships, and a sixth place showing (out of 33 entries) at the Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia…posted a personal-best time of 6:59.8 on the 2,000-meter ergometer test, becoming one of just a handful of rowers in school history to finish below seven minutes.
As a freshman (2011): Competed with the novice eight in the five seat of every spring race…won silver with the boat at the WIRA Championships, the highest finish for the novice eight at WIRA's since 2005…sat at three with the varsity four in each of the boat's last six races, including winning gold at the WIRA Championships…sat at three with the second varsity four in one race as well.
Personal: A psychology major…has a personal-best and school record time of 6:55.6 on the 2,000-meter ergometer test…that's the fastest mark in school history by over a second…sister, Lindsey, is also a member of the Sacramento State rowing team.


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http://www.videolan.org/ (free. mappable hotkeys)
On the prerelease, I've been unable to play most DVDs or ripped ones reliably on the Media Player. Even WMP throws an occasional RUNDLL error when I hit a video file.
I'm not the brightest star in the sky when it comes to video.
Anyway. I installed VideoLAN and I can't find a DVD or ripped one that won't play. I'm wondering if anyone here has incorporated this player into XL?
I use copies on other machines to play videos locally, from the server, accross my network.
"All" that's missing is the XL interface.
Take a look


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Inhaler Use While Receiving Radiation Therapy
Last Reviewed: June 29, 2008
Dear OncoLink "Ask The Experts,"
My father is about to begin radiation for tongue cancer. Due to respiratory problems, he is unable to undergo surgery. He is on oxygen and uses Advair and Spiriva. Is it acceptable for him to continue these during radiation? Will they affect healing, tissue damage etc?
Harry Quon, MD, MS (CRM), Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania, responds:
There is no reason to believe these medications will affect healing. However, he might find that the inhalers irritate his upper airway in the presence of mucositis ( painful inflammation and ulceration of the lining of the mouth and throat), a common side effect from head and neck radiation.


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All Items : Clubs and Organizations : Boy Scouts : Pre 2000 item #301094 (stock #PB00094)
Admiral Ale's Book Depot
The Brotherhood of Cheerful Service : A History of the Order of the Arrow by Kenneth P. Davis. Printed by the Boy Scouts of America. 1990 It goes into the History and service of The Order of The Arrow. Very Fine condition, 11 inches tall, Priority or Media Mail w/insurance


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With the fall semester approaching, local colleges and universities are hurrying to finish several major construction projects.
And while school officials, students and fans say they're proud of the work, they're also lamenting the disparity between a construction boom and declining support for academics.
The biggest local project, the nearly 100,000-square-foot new Fletcher Technical Community College campus in Schriever, is all but finished.
Fletcher officials unveiled the $21 million campus, which will roughly double the school's size, at a July 31 ceremony that drew dignitaries from all over the state, including Gov. Bobby Jindal. It's now the largest single building in the state's community-college system.
Students will attend classes there when classes start Aug. 22. Construction is finished, and the college is putting the finishing touches on computer equipment, library materials and other furnishings.
Nicholls State University is also forging ahead with several construction projects on its Thibodaux campus. The largest is a 63,000-square-foot, $16 million recreation center that's been in the works for years.
Once finished, the center will include a second-floor walking track, basketball courts, a 5,000-square-foot weight room and a 35-piece cardio room with treadmills and exercise bikes equipped with TV screens and docks for music players, among other amenities.
Mike Davis, Nicholls' assistant vice president for facilities, said workers are laboring overtime to finish the building, but it won't immediately be open when school starts.
"The construction is progressing rapidly, but we're not going to make that Aug. 18th date we were hoping for," Davis said. "It's probably going to open sometime after Labor Day."
Davis said the Rec Center is one of the biggest projects the school has seen in years.
"We're going to be the last school to get a building like this. Every time a center opens on a campus, it becomes hugely popular," he said. "In a lot of cases, it becomes an even more popular gathering place than the student union."
Nicholls has several other projects on the horizon. After more than seven years of fundraising, the school has finally assembled the more than $12 million necessary to start construction of a new culinary school.
Davis said he hopes to break ground on the new building in the first few months of 2013.
Campus administrators said the culinary school, one of Nicholls' flagship programs, badly needs the facility.
They say enrollment at the school has grown from about 50 students in 1997 to about 300 today, yet the school's limited space in Gouaux Hall hasn't expanded.
"We haven't even been able to recruit for that program because we're already busting at the seams," Davis said.
The new building will provide space for 500 students. It will include state-of-the art kitchens and storage space, as well as a dedicated restaurant for students to operate during their "bistro" practical application class.
In addition to those two major projects, the school is refurbishing the football stadium, finishing a new soccer complex and installing new lights in Rienzi Circle at the front of campus.
The construction boom, among the largest in either school's history, comes at the same time that repeated cuts in state money are causing cutbacks in the school's academic units.
This year, administrators are making their 10th budget cut since 2008, slashing $5.3 million. To make that cut, administrators have laid off 28 employees, mostly staff members, and further slashed department budgets.
Those cuts have also forced the school to raise tuition and fees, leading many Nicholls students and alumni to cry foul.
"What would be the use of a rec center if there is no one who can afford to go to school there?" wrote Arlene Guidry on Facebook.
"One would think that if they're having hard times cutting programs and having to lay people off because they don't have the money to pay these people and keep these programs intact that they would hold off on these buildings," wrote Ronnie Campo. "I would think that health care programs would be more important than cooking classes."
Nicholls President Stephen Hulbert said he understands that frustration.
"I understand how a taxpayer, after reading or hearing about the catastrophic state cuts to higher education, might look at our new recreation center and perceive a contradiction in priorities," Hulbertsaid. "The reality is that we are not permitted to take one dollar from such projects to balance our operating budget."
Hulbert said the money paying for the new construction was virtually all raised specifically for those projects without the kind of state dollars that pay for teachers and academic programs. In many cases, that money was raised years before the university hit hard fiscal times.
The rec center, for example, is paid for entirely by a fee students voted to approve years ago. Costs of operating the center will be paid using a new recreation operations fee that takes effect this fall.
Since students voted specifically to use those fees for the rec center, the school can't legally use them to shore up its education budgets.
The culinary school building is paid for using a specifically dedicated $8.1 million in capital outlay money and more than $4.5 million from local donors.
The elevator project was paid for using state emergency money to fix serious safety issues, and the soccer building was paid for using mostly donations.
While school officials acknowledge the dissonance, they say there's simply nothing they can do. They also argue that as Nicholls increasingly shifts away from a school paid for by state tax money to a school paid for primarily by students, building a university with amenities and extras that appeal to students is increasingly important.
"Ultimately, to save higher education in Louisiana, we will require not only a statewide understanding of the facts but also a true partnership with our leaders in Baton Rouge, which we currently do not have," Hulbert said. "Until then we will continue to do everything we can to recruit and retain as many students as possible."
Staff Writer Matthew Albright can be reached at 448-7635 or at email@example.com.


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Every year, our lovely creative director Piera teams up with Roanne of RoAndCo to throw an unforgettable joint birthday rager dubbed "The Pink Party" for obvious reasons. With DIY black light paintings, smoke machines, Kanon Organic Vodka, and glow sticks, this year's party was more tart than sweet, as the chicas took to NYC hotspot The Westway for some down-'n'-dirty fun. And if you can't imagine Christopher Bear from Grizzly Bear, Ezra Koenig from Vampire Weekend, Lisa Mayock of Vena Cava, Jeff and Sam from Shipley & Halmos, or Zoe Lister Jones getting low in an old strip club-turned night club, then try a little harder. It all happened this past weekend and we've got the pics to prove it.
Click through for the best snaps of the evening and start getting amped up for next year.


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