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Hagel met Jewish groups
President Barack Obama's nominee for defense secretary, former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), sat down at the White House Friday with Jewish leaders to discuss his views on Iran and the U.S.-Israel relationship, several Jewish groups said in a brief joint statement.
The hour-long session was "an important opportunity for a serious and thorough discussion of key issues of importance to all of us," said leaders of the Jewish groups, which included the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the Anti Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations.
"Senator Hagel...discussed his commitment to the U.S.-Israel relationship, including his determination to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, to maintaining Israel's Qualitative Military Edge, and to sustaining the Obama Administration's unprecedented security cooperation with Israel," said an official who asked not to be named. Hagel "appreciated the opportunity to have a constructive, informed and wide-ranging discussion," the official added.
Hagel has had a difficult relationship for years with some leaders of the pro-Israel community, stemming from his opposition to various sanctions proposals and his refusal to sign letters the groups supported. In a 2006 interview, he complained about the tactics used by what he called "the Jewish lobby" and he spoke of "the dumb things they do" that he considered unhelpful to Israel.
Vice President Joe Biden—who has a close relationship with Jewish groups and with Hagel—also attended Friday's meeting, according to an official.
J Street, a liberal Jewish organization which has been openly supportive of Hagel's nomination and which Hagel addressed in 2009, did not take part in Friday's session.
Friday's meeting appears to have been first reported by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.


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Joey Pants was born in Lansing, raised in Webberville and has lived in Michigan his entire life. Growing up in Villbilly land, Joey learned the value of hard work, honesty and giving back to the community. He's had jobs as a fence builder, factory rat and telephone pole climber (Lineman). While working in cable, friends told Joey he sounded like he could be on the radio. In 1999, he attended Specs Howard School of Media Arts. After graduating in 2000, Joey was in an electric accident. He took 13 thousand volts of electricity and fell 25 feet from a pole. After a long recovery, he went back to Specs for the radio program and graduated in 2002 with "Most Entertaining and Most Outgoing" honors. He began as an intern at WMMQ in 2002 and filled in as morning show producer when Deb Hart began referring to him as Joey Pants.
Joey Pants
Best Moments in the Rivalry: Jalen Watts Jackson
There was NO WAY we were going to win.
Haslett Powerlifter Honored by the Governor
Jackson Rahrig also happens to have Down Syndrome


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The Amazing Cottage Give-Away
The 5th Annual Cottage Charm Giveaway has now officially begun! Bigger and certainly grander than the royal wedding of William and Kate :), this special annual event, will run until May 29th, 2011. This is a multi-blog, month long event beginning Sunday, May 1st where bloggers give away, on their blogs, items they feel exhibit "Cottage Charm". Anyone can join at any point in May before the 29th. On May 29th, all participating bloggers will announce their winners and post it to their blogs. An ongoing list of ALL the giveaways and participating bloggers is maintained by our fabulous hostess Kim at her fabulous blog, Twice Remembered during the entire month of May.
The list grows and grows the whole month of May as bloggers add their Cottage Charm Giveaway to their blogs. So you'll want to keep checking back each day for new give-aways!
According to the posted rules, I am supposed to tell you how to enter this give-away. Just leave a comment so I know you were here and if you are posting as anonymous you must leave me an email address so I can contact you if you win. And I would love it if you would sign up and choose to follow my blog. :) Tell me in the same comment that you have signed up to follow, so I can count you twice. And all comments must be on this post to qualify so my feeble mind can keep up. No international this time as the package will be quite heavy. So.....there you have it, ........ easy peasy. Now go follow and check out all the other wonderful give-aways right here.
How about some tall, dark, and handsome to start your day off? hmmmmm?? Joe knows it is good to share and will start your day off with a kick. Joe comes from good stock.....from the best growers in the world. Start your day with a fabulous cup of this coffee. (now don't you feel foolish for thinking something else?) :)
After that early morning meet up with Joe, it's time to hop in the shower. Included in my cottage give-away is une barre de savon affine par triple broyage a base de legumes, emballee dans une belle boite de souvenir. (pink French soap in a beautiful box) Oh my!
I know most of you love vintage as much as I do. ..... And monograms and old tattered leather and burnished gold gilt and shabby goodness and worn vanilla tatted lace and the gorgeous patina of ancient ephemera that only time can give. On my recent day at the auction, I discovered these fabulous 1920's books in a beat up box, hidden under some old clothes. No one but me (I think) discovered this and I was the lucky recipient of these gorgeous old pieces....two of which will be yours. Won't they be gorgeous in a vignette in your home?
And near and dear to my heart, I am also including a real authentic bird's nest, collected from the grounds of our farmette. Bobby G. picks these up as he is cutting the grass and always presents them to me as a precious gift, which it is! This dear perfectly made nest would be so sweet under a cloche next to those old books. :) Bringing nature inside is so much a part of cottage living. Discarded nest, feathers, moss.....they all add so much organic texture and interest. So I would also like to include a real honeycomb, sweet as can be and so unusual. This piece is just beautiful showing such perfection in those hexagonal cells. This colony of bees decided to build under my neighbor's decking and when it was removed last Fall, she immediately called me, knowing how much I would love it. I hope you will too!
The day has been very busy and it's time for dinner. You are cooking a sumptious dinner tonight aren't you? I thought so. And I know I am invited. Add a touch of elegance to your dinner table with this fabulous ornate silver menu holder.
The day is winding down and you are tired. Retire to your boudoir, light your beautiful and very elegant new white pear "Gardeners Eden" candle and relax.
And while no one's looking, pull out these Belgian chocolate drenched oreo cookies you are hiding and savor the moment. Pure yummy perfection! And the end to a beautiful day.
So there you have my give-away.....vintage, white candles, chocolates, pink and silver...what's not to love? And don't forget the tall, dark, and handsome Joe. So follow if you don't already and leave a comment. :)
Today I am combining my Pink Saturday post with the cottage give-away announcement. Lots of cottage charm here for the give-away and lots of beautiful pinks at Beverly's blog How Sweet the Sound. Thank you Beverly and Kim for hosting these fabulous parties. ~~~~~ All of April has been so wet that most of the yard and garage sales out here were canceled and THEY have ALL been scheduled for this Saturday. Can't wait to get going so I'll see you on Sunday. And as always..... xoxoxoxoxo


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Kotick Itching to Sell Cutscenes As Films
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Kotick Itching to Sell Cutscenes As Films
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has laid out plans to package the in-game cinematics from games like StarCraft and sell them as movies.
Cinematics are of such high quality today, especially those created by developers like Blizzard in the recent StarCraft II, that Activision CEO Bobby Kotick thinks they should become more than pieces of a game. If gamers are spending an hour watching these computer-generated scenes while playing, why not remove them from the game and charge for viewing privileges?
That's exactly what Kotick plans to do at Activision within the next five years. At the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference this week he detailed his plans to monetize cutscenes that can be sold as movies.
Speaking about these cutscenes, Kotick said: "If we were to take that hour, or hour and a half, take it out of the game, and we were to go to our audiences for whom we have their credit card information as well as a direct relationship and ask, 'Would you like to have the StarCraft movie?', my guess is that ... you'd have the biggest opening weekend of any film ever."
He guesses that such a product could be priced at around $20 to $30, but any pricing at this point is pure speculation. "Within the next five years, you are likely to see us do that," he added. These "movies" would be distributed online directly to consumers from Activision.
Kotick calls the people that would purchase such a product "enthusiast consumers," because they're willing to watch cinematics again even though they might have already beaten a copy of the game they're from. This really isn't all that new of an idea, aside from the digital distribution aspect of it, as Blizzard released a cutscene collection on DVD called the Blizzard Collection in 2002 long before Kotick was associated with the developer.
That price range seems really high, considering that an entire game costs $50 or $60, but this is a business that would likely provide extra revenue to any company that has fans on the level of World of Warcraft and StarCraft. It's not like gamers would have to buy these scenes if they didn't want to, but rest assured, plenty would.
Source: Gamasutra
I am displeased and unsurprised, there's no way this will fly.
That seems lazy and an excuse for money grabbing. I could watch the cutscenes on Youtube if I wanted to. Also, the gaps where the gameplay was will be around.
Blizzard did this before? Oh... well... Blizzard like money too.
Calumon: I like cake and money. Can I have a money cake?
There is nothing seemingly about it. I can't believe that he keeps pulling shit like this! FUCK!
God DAMN it!
Does this mans greed know no bounds?
Biggest opening weekend of any film ever? This movie geek begs to wholeheartedly disagree with this stupid comment.
Everybody loves money...Especilly Kotick i could bet he drinks money smoothies for breakfest.
And as you stated you could just watch the cutscenes on Youtube but then again Ýoutube could get a scary mail from Activision lawyer and would be forced to take em down.
Ohh...Did your last title really breack the Escapist?
Bobby Kotick has come up with a new and creative way to squeeze more money out of video games? WHERE AM I? MARS???
Seriously. Next he'll want to charge an extra $15 for the "high-quality" game soundtrack. If you don't pay, every game will just be midi music and Nintendo bleeps.
...The fact that that last thing I said would be awesome has nothing whatsoever to do with my point. PAY ATTENTION, GUYS.
Does anyone else hear the Imperial March play in their head everytime they read the name Bobby Kotick?
I would rather not see this happen, really. What do you do when you have a part of the game that isn't a cutscene, but you lose control of your character and things happen? Does that get included?
Also, I would hate to see anyone give away their precious money for something like this, especially to a company such as ACTIVISION. =_=
Oh, and, if this DOES happen? You know what the next step will be? You guessed it, exclusive in-game content for purchasing the cutscene compilation! WEE! Then even I would be tempted to buy the damn thing.
Fuck that.
This proves how out of touch Kotick is, completely removing the game play from a games story is removing half the story and most of the experience. What a tosser. Should remove the ko and just call him Tick, all he wants is blood. Didn't he come out recently stating that he actually likes games or something? This proves he doesn't have a clue about them.
Unfortunately, yes. I set it to some Japanese Characters which wasn't supported by the titles coding, causing it to become numbers displaying an error. This caused the entire bar separating User from post to be stretched along quite a bit. I changed it as soon as I noticed.
Calumon: Yeah, kinda our bad. We reported it so it's not that bad.
So, the games itself will not have cutscenes anymore and whoever wants to watch them has to pay? I myself do not like this and wouldnt buy such uncomplette games. Though i know many people who just dislike cutscenes in general and will probably like their new cutscene-less games.
I mean, I don't see it doing too well.
Why not just use Blur to make ACTUAL movies...?
Eat a dick, Bobby.
Well, at least we won't ever get a game and then have to pay to see the cutscenes that didn't come with the game.
So now they are trying to sell cutscenes that are probably already in games. If you did not buy the games then you most likely have no interest in the cut scenes and if you buy the game it's not like you need to see them all again. What a pointless, greedy idea. It actually made me a little angry on the inside.
How about this Bobby - just make a fucking movie?
Make a great game, include cutscenes (so those pesky script writers and directors can focus on something)- then pass the ball to the film makers.
Still waiting on the game>film that gets it right.
But voice actors do, Bobby. And they will probably start demanding a larger chunk of the cut if you do this.
Not only is this starting to crossover into tie-orphans-to-the-railroad-tracks evil, the plan is about as well thought out as an underpants gnome scheme.
Questions of greedy publisher executives aside, this is kind of silly.
If you just take the cutscenes out of a game, you'll end up with an extremely disjointed narrative.
Plus, why would I pay for a bunch of cutscenes that (a) I can already view at any time and (b) are going to be freely available on the net?
Dear God, Metal Gear Solid 4 would be about ten minutes of gameplay!
^ Mortons4ck has said about everything I could on the subject.
Oh, Bobby, you crazy, crazy man.
So using in-game adds to lower the cost of games = bad and tacky.
This is so hilarous. Bobby Kotick gains some respect by saying he won't put advertising in games and then immediately destroys that respect by trying to make gamers pay for cutscenes they can just download on youtube.
Well done Kotick, not many people can gain and loose respect like this.
My god, it's... it's like the man is comprised entirely of pure business.
What has been unleashed upon is is madness my friends, money making madness.
So it would just be the cutscenes? StarCraft 2 has a way to just view them in game after you've seen them. Why not pay the $20-$30 more for the actual game? It'd be cool if they took some of the cutscenes and y'know, actually added to them and made full length movies. Then again you can't charge as much for that and it would cost far more.
got my pretty Cutscens from StarCraft 2 on a DVD + behind the scenes footage :D StarCraft 2 Collecters Edition <3
tho it dosent surprise me its the CEO of Activision and not Blizzard... Activision you greedy wankers !
"... you'd have the biggest opening weekend of any film ever"
Speaking as someone who has never played any of the Starcraft games I can say that it might be interesting to see just the story. On TV. For free. When nothing beter is on.
Can't imagine anyone that's already seen it would want to pay for it again.
But I guess that's where the credit card and direct relationship comes from.
I'd actually like to see a Starcraft Movie in the Quality of Blizzard's CGI (!) Cutscenes.
...But the problem is, it has to be a movie.
Cutscenes do not make a movie...at best, they make up parts of a movie.
I've seen a story summary of Starcraft 1 recently on Youtube, and most of the time i was shown Mission Briefings and In-Mission Dialogue. The Cutscenes didn't even told HALF of the Story.
Also, if i see a "Cutscene Movie", i want real pre-rendered CGI Cutscenes, not Ingame Cutscenes.
I don't care that they look kinda good on Starcraft 2, it's not enough to make a movie out of it.
If by taking cutscenes out, he means ruining the story of games and makeing a movie full of holes where game play should be he is made of fail. If on the other hand, he is talking about making a movie to complement the story of the game using the same technology and visual style as the games cutscenes, he might actually have a decent idea. It could give the teams making the cutscenes more freedom to play around as well as more revenue for the companies. And if he wasn't a greedy f**k that money could go back inot new projects, or finance pricecuts on games for us...
Pretty much the Only company I'd pay to watch a movie from is Valve.
Now those guys know how to make a good movie:
Or he could get money with a similar and less hate earning method. Game movies USING the same way cutscenes are done. Imagine if the Hitman movie was like a 2 hour cutscene from Blood Money? Agent 47 looking the same, sounding the same, and made by the game developers instead of being ruined by Hollywood.
As long as you know I don't have to start buying my cutscenes separate from the game, no biggie for me. As for your greed Mr. Kotick, you should burn.
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Sew Ribbon
Viewer Comments
I looooove watching your videos.it allows me creative choices with your products.thank you for the great inspirational videos.Alina from Michigan
I love these items; they're fun, easy to work with and the ribbons are absolutely great. I had thought that in getting the entire set might be overkill but each item gives a completely different look to the cards that I do. I love them! Of course, I haven't found any product at PaperWishes that I don't love - and the webisodes are just icing on the cake!
Lovely designs. Sending the website to stamping pen
pals. I'm enjoying you two
very much and seeing your
instructions and products.
Hi This is the first time i have seen it but it looks good.Regards Frank
This is a must have tool. Makes your project
very special. It's quick and easy with beautiful results. I choose the zig-zag...
and I can't put it down.
You have such nice things.
Another great webisode ladies. I love the variety & versatility of these products. I may need to put these o
n my holiday wish list. Thank you again and I look forward to the next webisode.
These are cool tools. I especially like the multi (10) layered flower on the card. Please tell me WHICH punches she used and the sizes so I can reproduce the look. Thanks!!
Reply from Paper Wishes Customer Service:
If you'll look in the gallery, you'll find the complete instructions for Talia's flower and all the other projects.
Always enjoy your webisodes. Really love the new HD, it plays great in full screen and I can see details now. Thank you.
Reply from Paper Wishes Customer Service:
A big thanks to the IT guys!
Wow, these are cool!! I've never seen anything like it...just added this to my Christmas/Birthday wish list:)
Wonderful new tools - these are going on my wishlist for sure! Thanks for the wonderful ideas. Will the remaining samples be added to the gallery? I'd love to get instructions for the card with the big flower.
Reply from Paper Wishes Customer Service:
Somehow it was lost but it is in the gallery now.
As usual, a great webisode using great products to make great projects. Thanks! And the quality of the webisode itself was MUCH better; clear and crisp video. I could even watch the webisode as "full screen" and it wasn't blurry at all like previous webisodes. Thanks for fixing that.
Reply from Paper Wishes Customer Service:
We now have high definition videos--yeah!
You didn't say weather you can reuse the needle. How to you store it and if not how to get more needles. It really looks fun to do. You always come up with great ideas.
Reply from Paper Wishes Customer Service:
So sorry, yes the needles are reusable and we carry replacements.
Paper Wishes Weekly Webisodes feature free scrapbooking video classes and card making video classes! Every week Paulette and LeNae bring you new online scrapbooking or card making classes demonstrating the very latest paper craft and scrapbooking techniques. Each of our free card making and scrapbooking classes also gives you unique project ideas and tips from Paper Wishes' Design Team. Come back often so you don't miss any of the fun in our card making and scrapbooking classes! You are sure to be inspired! Also watch for our "Week of Webisodes" events where we feature new scrapbooking video classes daily!


text: The Dodgers manager's wife, Lori, had introduced him to the ballet. He "thought it would be fun" to join the company in his hometown of Evansville (Ind.), and he made his debut on Saturday night—blonde wig, makeup, blue dress, and all, thinking it "would be funny." Mattingly didn't dance, but based on this footage from a local TV news report, at one point he might have told one of his fellow performers to steal third. [The Big Lead, via Tristate]


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Ghetto Twiinz (Female Rap Group) - Rock Rock [Label Submitted]
"The Ghetto Twiinz return with new single "Rock Rock". New album titled "Them People Coming" is set for release 11-30-10 under independent Katrinaville Entertainment. official website: http://www.ghettotwiinz.com official facebook fanpage: http://www.facebook.com/ghettotwiinz submitted by label: Katrinaville Entertainment "
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Tate Modern (burgundy) 22/25£Available in store only for 90.00 by Jennie Ing
Signed limited edition lino cut print no. 22/25 by Jennie Ing.
Overall size 280mm x 355mm
Image size 150mm x 210mm
Jenny works in relief print, a hand process involving cutting away areas from the surface of a flat block of lino, inking the remaining area and printing from this on to paper. She uses oil based inks and prints on high quality 100% cotton rag Fabriano paper using an albion press, a Victorian letter press.
Her work mainly features the urban environment and the places she knows best: London and its nearby area. It is an interest in architecture and a fascination with the way space is taken up in our cities that have led to these pieces, as well as the patterns, repetition and colours found in the built environment. Some of this interest occasionally spills over to lead to work of other subject matter.


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- Dexter Community Schools 734-424-4100
- Bates School, 2704 Baker Rd.
Dexter, MI 48130
- Webmaster: Hope Vestergaard
- Dexter Community Schools is committed to making our website accessible to visitors with disabilities. If you encounter difficulty navigating this website due to a disability, please email our accessibility team or call 734-424-4102 for assistance.
The Dexter Community Schools district includes the city of Dexter and parts of eight townships. Learn about the Dexter area on our Community page.
The Latest News
Need to know what's going on? Want to share your news with us? Start with our Communications page.
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Current employee in need of information? Interested in working for the district? Visit Human Resources.
Student athletes, parents, and spectators: here's DCS Athletics headquarters.
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Check out our Prospective Parents page.
Looking for a space for your event? Start with our Facilities homepage.


text:
New York, NY 10014
(212) 243-1500
New York, NY 10003
(212) 228-2004
(all photos by Adam Lindsley)
The final leg of my
Keste prides itself on its Neapolitan pizza, but it doesn't strictly adhere to the VPN's stringent rules, and it's all the better for it. I only had the Margherita there, but it ended up being one of the best Margheritas--and certainly the best Neapolitan-style Margherita--I've ever had.
Though the crust was fantastic, I think it really came down to the cheese and sauce with this pie. The sauce didn't hit me with the burst of TOMATO like it does on just about every other Neapolitan pizza I've eaten. It felt closer in nature to Chris Bianco's sauce, though still distinct enough to set itself apart. Simple and elegant. I thought it was amazing, and along with Keste's exceptional house-made fior-di-latte--which unlike most fresh cow's milk mozzarella was extremely flavorful--made every bite better than the last.
Yes, all the usual components of pizza greatness were present, the perfect char and airy hole structure of the soft and pliant crust, the smoky flavor of the wood-fired oven coming through loud and clear. If you're in town, I highly recommend it, and I eagerly await my next visit.
The final stop on this mini pizza tour was the much-hyped Artichoke Basille's in the
Artichoke Basille's claim to fame is its "artichoke slice," which is essentially a plain slice of NY-style pizza covered with a thick layer of artichoke dip. I am not kidding you. I'm not a big fan of artichoke dip at all, but I knew I had to try it. So I ordered a slice of that, a Margherita slice, and one of their Sicilian slices.
Let's just get this out of the way: that artichoke slice is an abomination. It isn't the flavor, because I actually thought the "dip" that comprised 60% of the slice was mildly tasty. No, I think it's the quantity of the dip that got to me. There's just too damn much of it, and I cannot imagine eating an entire slice of that stuff. I had only about a third of it and my stomach tilted rapidly toward the queasy side. I knew I couldn't get another bite down.
I moved on to the Margherita slice. This is your average, run-of-the-mill NY slice, very mediocre and nothing special at all. The crust is hard, brittle, and bitter, with a too-thick cornicione that breaks apart like a saltine cracker. It was the worst crust I'd seen in a long while. The one thing the plain slice has going for it is the bright, delicious tomato sauce. If only there had been more of it to counteract the bland mozz and grated parmesan on top...
The third slice I ordered blew the other two out of the water. Artichoke Basille's Sicilian slice is superb and without question the best thing on their menu. The crust is very crispy, crunchy, and unlike the NY-style slices here, has a lot of flavor (though, as you can see in the pic, mine was just a tad too blackened -- and before you ask, no, those aren't my dainty black-nail-polish fingertips holding up the slices). Even better is the copious amount of the house tomato sauce on this slice. This sauce tastes exactly like the freshest, ripest tomato on the vine, and I couldn't get enough of it. The same boring mozz and parm floated atop the red sea of goodness, but I just ignored the cheese altogether and savored every bite of that tomato sauce. They ought to think about ditching the round pies and selling this sauce in jars instead. I'd buy it.
Two of the three food critics of New York Magazine cited Artichoke Basille's Sicilian slice as their favorite pizza in NY. It's quite good, but I cannot agree with them. Instead, I must side with NYM's third critic, Adam Platt, who declared Di Fara his pizza of choice. Di Fara definitely had the best pizza I ate in New York, and absolutely worth the trek to Midwood.
If I had to rank every pizzeria I visited (because I know how much everyone loves a damn list), I'd put Di Fara at the top, followed by Keste, then Motorino, with Artichoke Basille's at the bottom, and if I knew someone was visiting the city, that's the order I'd recommend to them. You'll find something worth your while at every one of those places, which is pretty exciting, if it's any indication of the quality of the rest of
Anyone feeling generous enough to front a plane ticket?


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So. Thanks to a whole lot of unfortunate timing, I haven't been able to put together Random Encounters for the past few weeks.
Next week we'll be back for real. This week, I've got two requests for you:
1) Send me some questions! Shoot an e-mail to email@example.com with the subject "Random Encounters." The best questions will be featured in an upcoming mailbag. Make them interesting. Boring questions like "What's your favorite JRPG?" will probably not be featured. More intriguing questions like "Would you rather be burnt alive by Firaga or have Zell as a roommate for the rest of your life?" may make the cut.
2) Talk about JRPGs! Use Kinja below to talk about what you've been playing, what you're excited about, and what you enjoy most about everyone's favorite genre.
Random Encounters is a weekly column dedicated to all things JRPG. It runs every Friday at 3pm ET. You can reach the author at firstname.lastname@example.com or follow him on Twitter at @jasonschreier.


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men's button facing shirtWishlist
- Description
This is the design inspired by the original flea market find that started it all. Originally made in 1911, this redesigned worker's buttoned shirt kept the authentic design of the neckline, the patch button border made of cotton and the fabric-clad buttons – a real eye-catcher for sure. Now and then, the added neck patch proves invaluable for every hard working man.
Produktion: Made in Germany
- Material
- Maco-Imit, 67 % Baumwolle / 33 % Viskose
- 1-fädig, 130 gr., gefertigt auf original Rundwirkmaschinen
- natürliches leichtes Material für bestes Hautgefühl
- weiche und angenehme Struktur
About Maco-Imit:
For over a hundred years, the material blend used for this shirt was a popular substitute for the expensive Maco-cotton from Egypt. Even today, the comfortable haptics can hold its own – this shirt may be a revision, but isn't it an original piece nonetheless?
Want to learn more about our fabrics? Dann klicke hier
- Details
- patch button border made of cloth
- authentic fabric-clad buttons
- remarkable, puristic neckline design
- interior neck patch
- authentic flat knitted cuffs on sleeves
- maximum comfort: triangular patch under the arms
- gentle to the skin, free of chemical additives
- completely made in Germany
- Form & Fit
- slim, but still comfortable cut
- straight hem
- maximum comfort: due to circular knitting and therefore no side seams
- ca. 2cm extra length, as garment may shrink in the first wash
- Good to know


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Elfsight Pricing Table Free Download WordPress plugin v2.0.0
Elfsight Pricing Table v2.2.0 is a stable and functional WordPress wordpress plugin tool that allows to create and publish totally customizable pricing tables on your WordPress website in a matter of minutes. This WordPress wordpress plugin has Simple and graphic visual representation with comprehensive purchase information are the main components of a pricing table that sells.
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Because of the need for more home health aides and nursing assistants, the school is expanding the Patient Care Assistant program.
DAYTONA BEACH — Lindsay Martin knew she wanted to become a nurse from the time she was in middle school.
"I just have always loved taking care of people," said Martin, 22, of Port Orange. "I love being at the hospital and seeing all the different procedures. I love learning."
As a senior at Spruce Creek High School, she was dually enrolled in Daytona State College's Patient Care Assistant Program, learning hands-on how to bathe, feed and care for patients in area hospitals and nursing homes. She will graduate Dec. 13 with her associate degree in nursing.
Because of the need for more home health aides and nursing assistants like Martin, the school is expanding the Patient Care Assistant program, which allows graduates to take the state exam to become a certified nursing assistant.
In addition to the Daytona campus, the program also will be offered at DSC's campuses in New Smyrna Beach-Edgewater in the spring and Flagler/Palm Coast.
Jobs providing basic care for patients in hospitals and residents of long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes, make up one of the fastest growing professions.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Statistics, the job growth for nursing aides, orderlies and attendants is expected to grow by 20 percent from 2010 to 2020, faster than the average for all occupations.
Employment of registered nurses is expected to grow 26 percent during that 10-year period because of the "aging baby boomer population who will demand more health care services as they live longer and more active lives," according to the Bureau of Statistics.
Students in the Daytona State College program learn key skills including home health care; hospice training; infection control and hygiene; pressure-ulcer prevention; patient safety such as fall prevention and ambulatory devices; feeding techniques, hydration and nutrition; and personal protection.
The program's graduates can earn $9 to $12 an hour, according to the school. The program also gives students clinical skills if they decide to continue their education and transition to becoming a licensed practical nurse and registered nurse.
For Martin, who works as an emergency room technician at Halifax Health Medical Center, the program helped her experience the various clinical areas and facilities she could work in. Students do clinical trials in hospitals, home health care facilities, hospice and long-term assisted care facilities.
"It's a good starting point," Martin said. "It opens your eyes up to seeing the different areas of the health care system. It gets your foot in the door into knowing what you want to do."
She also said she knew her basic care skills before walking into nursing school.
The 12-week program will start at the New Smyrna Beach-Edgewater campus Feb. 4 with graduation April 29 and the Flagler/Palm Coast campus will start May 20 with graduation Aug. 6.
Twenty-four students will be accepted for each class.
Classes at the Daytona Beach campus start Jan. 14 and again May 20.
Tuition for the program is about $950, which includes books and equipment. Whenever possible, the college assists qualifying students with vocational training funding.
Daytona State College officials said the program attracts students from all ages and stages in their life.
Sheryl Gray, Daytona State professor and assistant chair for the licensed practical nurse and certified nursing assistant programs and dual enrollment health careers, said the program serves about 70 to 100 students a year. There were as many as 150 in 2009 but the economy caused the numbers to drop in 2010 to 112, though Gray said registration numbers are increasing.
Expanding the program, she said, allows students in the Flagler and the New Smyrna Beach area to have better access "because some people have difficulty with transportation and gas is expensive."
Gray said there's always a need for more certified nursing assistants, with some retiring and others advancing into nursing or other health care jobs. She said the Daytona State patient care assistant program is unique because students get practical clinical experience.
"They are actually performing with live people instead of mannequins or each other. They are in the real setting with real patients and working with staff members in our local facilities," Gray said. "They are better prepared not only for the state exam, but to enter the workforce."
Her son, Trevor, 21, graduated from the program when he was also in high school and is now at Daytona State to become a licensed practical nurse while working as a certified nursing assistant.
Amanda Carbuccia, 37, of Daytona Beach, graduated from the patient care assistant program earlier this year and is now seeking an associate degree in nursing from Daytona State. She will become a registered nurse in 2014. She works as a certified nursing assistant at Halifax Health Medical Center on the orthopedic floor.
She always wanted to become a nurse, but took time to work with her husband, who was in the restaurant business.
After she was burned in an accident involving a pot of soup about eight years ago, watching the nurses who cared for her "refueled" her passion to return to school.
"I love medicine," Carbuccia said. "I like helping my patients accomplish goals and get better and being a part of that."


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Waikato community raises $25k
Waikato community raises $25k.
On the field, Wayne 'Buck' Shelford was uncompromising. He was a key part of the 1987 All Blacks rugby team which won the inaugural Rugby World Cup. Thirty years on, off the field, Shelford still has that steely resolve but it's not about rugby anymore..
It's about men's health, getting men to talk about their health, in particular detection of prostate cancer. Shelford was the guest speaker at the Hautapu Rugby Club's Blue Ribbon Day Charity Match and Auction event in the Waikato on Saturday. The Cambridge-based rugby club commissioned a special rugby strip, by Paladin Sports, for its Senior A team to play in against opponents Fraser Tech at Memorial Park in Cambridge.
People paid a gold coin entry fee as a donation and the special Hautapu rugby jerseys were later auctioned at the clubrooms. All up the club raised about $25,000 which would go to the New Zealand Prostate Cancer Foundation. "That's just really awesome," Shelford said at the conclusion of the auction.
For more on the Fundraiser and article head to http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/93558013/waikato-community-raises-25k-for-nz-prostate-cancer-foundation
Image Sources : www.stuff.co.nz


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Cable gets five years for faking his shooting
The former New Milford man who misled police into a 12-hour "wild goose chase" a year ago in search of a fake shooter was sentenced to five years in prison.
Joshua Cable, 30, apologized to the court for his actions on Sept. 26, 2012, that led to the manhunt for a nonexistent, alleged shooter along Route 7 in New Milford.
Cable had shot himself.
His five years in prison will be followed by five years of special probation, Superior Court Judge James P. Ginocchio ruled Sept. 25 in Litchfield.
Cable had pleaded guilty July 9 to criminal possession of a firearm and possession of a sawed-off shotgun/silencer.
Formerly of New Milford, he was also facing charges of filing a false incident report and tampering with physical evidence, among other charges.
"I apologize for my actions," a dejected looking Cable told Ginocchio in court. "I am sorry."
The investigation into the September 2012 incident that shut down Kent Road for 12 hours and cost some $25,000 in police services led investigators to believe Cable had, in fact, shot himself.
A videotape of Cable positioning a shotgun under his armpit confirmed that fact, according to court documents.
"Mr. Cable had previous convictions, one in 2004 for a robbery, which also included a weapon," said Assistant State's Attorney Kim Gallo, "and he shot himself in September in order to gain sympathy from a woman he was involved with."
Gallo added she had agreed to the special probation because Cable "tragically had a very difficult childhood, eventually leaving home and going to a safe place where he would no longer be abused."
Public Defender Christopher Cosgrove added, "Substance abuse has been an issue for Mr. Cable... he was oblivious of his actions the night of Sept. 26."
Ginocchio told Cable his sentence was "what a first-time offender might receive," that possession of a weapon, having "pointed the blame at a member of a minority" and "leading police on a wild goose chase" could each have involved serious jail time.
The conditions of Cable's five years of special probation included a mental health evaluation and treatment as well as a substance abuse evaluation and treatment.
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Presented by BankersHub, this webinar gives you the tools and insights to create an onboarding strategy for a more effective new-hire.
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15 December 2009
Dream and Awake
Dream and Awake is a Swedish based company that does my favorite kind of recycling by taking dresses of yesterday and tweaking them into something new and wonderful. Each dress is handpicked from around the world and redesigned for a modern girl while retaining all of its vintage charm. Below is a sampling of the one of a kind pieces we've already missed out on! But not to worry, there are plenty more in their shop.
11 comments:
- reckless daughter said...
very cool! great...one more place I need to steer clear of until I buy everyone ELSE'S gifts!
- December 15, 2009
- thimbles and gingham said...
this looks really cool. i'll have to check it out.
- December 15, 2009
- Ashley said...
Amazing pieces... will have to check them out!
- December 15, 2009
- Danielle @ Story of Style said...
Just chanced upon your blog. Love it!
- December 16, 2009
- Unknown said...
Good one on Dream and Awake . It really helps!!
I came across one such legit home business opportunity in www.debtfreeliving.topratebiz.com . It seems to be a TopRate ethical home-based business that you can enjoy from the comfort of your own home.
- December 16, 2009
- Alissa Loves said...
absolutely fabulous!
- December 16, 2009
- Christina said...
So pretty and unique! Thanks for sharing.
- December 16, 2009
- Anonymous said...
That looks really great!
I have an award for you, check my blog to see.
xx Rebecca
- December 16, 2009
- kookie kulasa said...
gosh I like ALL of the dresses! ;)Much love from Manila :)
- December 16, 2009
- Anonymous said...
ohh i love these dresses, whish i could have them all.. :) your blog great btw now I'm a new follower.
- December 17, 2009
- ms Givens said...
I cant wait for summer. I plan on living in dresses!
- December 17, 2009


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Harrison joins Bengals, motivated by Pittsburgh
James Harrison, 35, left Steelers after failing to restructure contract
James Harrison sat in front of the Bengals backdrop, leaned on his right forearm - the one with "James" tattooed length-wise - and thought about his day.
"It's a change," he said of his introduction to tiger stripes. "That's definite. But everything has a reason, and everything happens for a reason. So it's the reason I'm here."
He's here to try to get the Bengals their first playoff victory in 23 years.
The 35-year-old linebacker left Pittsburgh as a free agent, unable to agree on a restructured contract to help the Steelers get under the salary cap. He chose Cincinnati because it's been in the playoffs each of the last two seasons and it's close to his home, which is still in Pittsburgh.
Plus, he gets to face the Steelers twice a season as AFC North rivals. Although he has no hard feelings toward the team that helped him become one of the NFL's best, he hasn't forgotten how things ended there.
It won't be long before he gets a chance to make his point in person. The Bengals' home opener is a Monday night game against the Steelers.
"I understand it's a business, so it's not like I can really take it personally," Harrison said. "But to say that it doesn't motivate me in some sense would be a lie."
After he left Pittsburgh, Harrison had to work out for the Bengals, who wanted to make sure he was beyond a knee injury that sidelined him during training camp and forced him to miss the first three games last season. He was in Arizona working out when the Bengals offered a two-year deal last month.
Harrison estimated he spends between $400,000 and $600,000 a year to stay as healthy as possible. He said he uses a hyperbaric chamber in Arizona, and has his own staff of acupuncturists, massage therapists and homeopathic doctors.
He'll bring them with him to Cincinnati, where he joined his new team for the first time this week.
"I'm still not able to do certain things, but as far as my physical health, I'm able to train a lot harder than I have been over the last two, three offseasons,"
Harrison said. "I'm able to do a lot more weight (lifting). I'm able to just do a lot more things that my body physically couldn't do because of injury, or whatever it may be."
Harrison was the league's defensive player of the year in 2008. He helped the Steelers win Super Bowls in the 2005 and 2008 seasons.
Cincinnati hasn't won a playoff game since the 1990 season, a streak of futility that's tied for seventh-longest in NFL history. The Bengals made the playoffs as a wild card team each of the last two seasons but lost to Houston in the opening round both years.
Coach Marvin Lewis is 0-4 in the playoffs during his 10 years in Cincinnati.
The Bengals return their defense virtually intact from last season, when it finished sixth in yards allowed. Adding Harrison will upgrade a position where they needed some depth. It'll also bring in someone accustomed to winning playoff games.
"He gives you that swagger and that seal," cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones said Tuesday, after working out at Paul Brown Stadium. "You know when you mail off the letter you make sure you put a stamp on it. Well, he's the stamp."
Jones spent some time with Harrison reminiscing about their head-to-head encounter in Dallas in 2008, when the linebacker hit him on a punt returned and injured his neck. Jones fell on the ball, and Harrison dived on top of him.
"I muffed a punt and he almost killed me," Jones said. "We talked about it today. That was the first time I hurt my neck, then I re-injured it again when I was here. I told him if he was down (on the field), I probably would have done the same thing."
NOTES: The Bengals signed guard Tanner Hawkinson of Kansas, their fifth-round selection. Six of their 10 draft picks are under contract. ... CB Dre Kirkpatrick, their top pick last season, said on Tuesday that his injured left knee is better but not yet fully recovered. He hurt the knee last summer, causing him to miss training camp and the first half of the season. He aggravated it late in the season. "I know I'll be back for training camp, but hopefully I can maybe slide into a little OTAs or slide in the three-day minicamp," Kirkpatrick said. "It's all about what the doctor is saying right now, so I'm just taking it day by day."


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Badges and Certification | News
A new company called Accreditrust hopes to address the need for independent, third-party certification of digital badges. Its flagship offering, BadgeSafe, is a digital credential validation service that can be integrated into the learning environment to ensure badge authenticity.
"Badges are rapidly becoming a social currency that represents one's portfolio of professional and academic achievements," said Eric Korb, Accreditrust president and CEO, in a prepared statement. "And like any currency, badges must be validated to ensure their validity. Whether it's a license, a certificate, or a diploma, it is essential for stakeholders — including hiring managers, educators, government entities and procurement executives — to possess a high degree of confidence that a digital badge is authentic."
BadgeSafe, which is compatible with Mozilla's Open Badge Infrastructure, allows application developers to use a standards-based REST API over a SSL (secure sockets layer) connection to assert badges (and their associated metadata) with BadgeSafe certification. A unique secret key is issued to developers to ensure authority and security. BadgeSafe-encrypted badges can be instantly verified and authenticated even if the issuing system, service or organization ceases to respond. A BadgeSafe "keyhole" icon serves as a mark of authenticity for each badge, signifying that credentials are authentic and up-to-date.
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Onions. Straight out of camera JPEG.
Update: If you're only arriving here now, please note that I've got two other posts up about this camera already, including some semi-controlled lens test shots.
Time for a break from the heavy Buddhisty type stuff I've been posting about lately, 'cuz I just bought a camera.
I've been without a "big" camera since I sold my Canon EOS system a few years back. I loved everything about the 5D except the bulk—it's a heavy and very visible piece of kit, and as compact cameras improved I eventually reached a tipping point where the 5D just stayed at home. It was too nice a system to keep gathering dust, so I sold it.
In the interim, I've been using a Canon S90 compact and a Panasonic GF1 with the 20/1.7 pancake. These get the job done well enough, but nevertheless have some limitations that I kept bumping into. The Canon is fantastic for a pocket camera, but neither the optics nor the electronic image quality are as good as on a larger camera; the Panny was capable of superb results in the right conditions, but I was missing the viewfinder, and I was pretty often bumping against its imaging limits too—specifically, in bright light I would tend to blow out the highlights, and in poor light I would struggle with noise.
Somebody finally built the camera I've been waiting for since the digital revolution—a thoroughly modernized re-invention of the Leica CL. This would be the Fuji X-Pro 1. I finally got mine, and since this is a new model that has evoked a quite a lot of interest, I'll be blogging about getting to know it. I've only had it for a day, so this post represents very preliminary first impressions, which are usually all about being tremendously excited. So be warned.
So, what's so special about the X-Pro 1 that I was ready to shell out a good deal more for it than, say, the excellent Panasonic G3 or the upcoming Olympus OM-D EM-5, jumping into a new and untried system to boot? Or, put another way, what's so special about the Leica CL that I've been waiting for a digital re-invention of the concept for so long?
That Rangefinder ThingI won't go into a long dissertation about the pros and cons of rangefinder cameras here. If you like to shoot street or situational photography and have never shot with a film rangefinder, I would strongly recommend that you try one out. An SLR insulates you from the scene; you're hiding your face behind the camera and looking at the picture painted on a matte screen framed in black space. A camera with a big, clear viewfinder in the corner puts you in the scene. You're more present to your subjects because your face isn't hidden, and you can anticipate better because you can see outside the frame. You're looking at the scene, not at a picture. It encourages a different way of photographing; you anticipate what's going to happen, stay a step ahead of it, and then shoot when the time is right.
This makes a rangefinder—or rangefinder-style camera—something of a special-purpose instrument. An SLR is much more versatile; it's equally at home with super-telephotos as with fisheyes; shooting architecture with tilt-shift lenses or fast-moving sports; portraits or wildlife. Rangefinder-style cameras are at their best in situational shooting of human-scale, human-range subjects in the field. The X-Pro 1 can, obviously, do a lot more; the electronic viewfinder even makes it totally feasible to shoot it with lenses that are wider or longer than can be used with the optical viewfinder. I'm pretty sure that it would be fairly frustrating to try to shoot, say, sports with one, though, compared to an SLR. So if what you're looking for is a great all-rounder, then this ain't it. It'll do other jobs than its main mission in a pinch, but it really is intended primarily for street/situational/event shooting—but I'm expecting that it will do that better than just about anything else out there.
PedigreeTechnically, the X-Pro 1 isn't a rangefinder camera, because it doesn't have a rangefinder. It has contrast-detection auto-focus, like most of 'em out there. It is, however, designed to recreate the way of shooting with a rangefinder camera, in a completely modern package. Fuji has an impeccable pedigree designing and building rangefinder cameras, from the Hasselblad X-Pan to the 645 and 6 x 9 "Texas Leicas," so this type of camera is very much in their corporate DNA.
When Fujifilm came up with the X100 last year, it was already clear which way they wanted to go. I almost bought it then, but canceled my order after the first reviews were in. I felt that it still had too much of the engineering prototype to it. There were the slow startup times, the clunky menu system, the control lock-up while writing, the cranky AF, and the other numerous little issues excellently covered in reviews that all seem to conclude with "Great camera, but..." Even the design looked a bit unfinished, with some unsightly bulges and the flash sitting uncomfortably where you'd expect the bright-line illuminator window. I felt I didn't want to put up with that kind of stuff in this day and age, and decided to wait a bit.
The X-Pro 1 smooths out the wrinkles in the X100 design and takes the concept a notch further. True to my handle, I was delighted to see a camera system being launched with not one, nor two, but three normal-range prime lenses, and no zooms!
The other half of the attraction of the rangefinder is the lens system. Fuji started its X-system with three primes: an 18/2.0, a 35/1.4, and a 60/2.4 Macro. On the Fuji's APS-C sized sensor, these lenses have imaging characteristics that are as good as identical to 28/2.8, 50/2.0, and 90/4.0 lenses on full-frame, which just happen to be the three lenses you'd be most likely to find in a PJ's bag in the glory days of rangefinders, in the 1950's or thereabouts. Only the 35/2.0 equivalent is missing from this starter set, and I hear there's a 23 mm lens on its way next year. Even the physical lengths of the lenses are within a few millimeters of their Leica counterparts.
It's also clear what Fuji had in mind when tweaking the lenses' rendering characteristics—in particular, the bokeh (quality of the out-of-focus areas) on the 35/1.4 is simply lovely: it would be interesting to see the results of a blind test between it and the Summicron 50/2.0, or even the fantastic but insanely expensive Summilux 50/1.4. I love the way this lens renders scenes, above and beyond measurable characteristics like resolution and contrast, which are excellent too.
So why the X-Pro 1? Because I feel very strongly that it's trying to do something that's worth doing, and I believe that it does it well. While they market it as a "pro" camera—and I'm sure many pros will find uses for it—I still think that I'm a more likely customer: an amateur who likes rangefinders and has enough disposable income for something pricier than the mass-market CSC's, but doesn't want or can't justify the cost of a Leica.
I do catch occasional bouts of serious Leica lust, but hanging out on Leica owner forums for a while usually cures that. I have a mild phobia of dentists.
The ViewfinderThe viewfinder is the main reason this camera holds such an attraction for me. And now that I see it, I like it. A lot. It's slightly smaller than the one on my Leica CL, but optically a good deal better. It's sharper and contrastier and there's virtually no visible chromatic aberration. With the higher magnification (the 35 mm lens) there's almost no barrel distortion either; at the lower magnification there is a bit, about the same as on the CL. The electronic overlay is clear and crisp, and I can customize it to my heart's content. What's more, the clever automatic magnifier Fuji engineered in does a good deal to offset the smallish size of the viewfinder—the real estate is more efficiently used than on a finder with a fixed magnification when using it with anything other than with the widest framelines.
I'm especially impressed by the way they addressed the parallax problem with AF—there are two boxes showing the position of the AF box at infinity and at minimum focus distance, and when I focus, the green box settles somewhere between them. This means I can compensate for focus distance already when placing the AF spot on my subject by eyeballing it, and I get confirmation that the AF snagged on what I intended, rather than, say, the background. It's a very elegant solution to a complex usability problem. So bravo. Beats me why they don't have it set up this way by default, though.
The electronic viewfinder is better than I expected too. Resolution is high enough that I can get acceptable focus on it in manual-focus mode, at least at relatively close focus distances. It's also less laggy than most other EVF's I've used. It freezes for a split-second when auto-focusing. The EVF is totally usable in a pinch; I suspect that when I get the 60/2.4, I will be using the EVF with it more than the optical viewfinder; its framelines in the optical viewfinder will be pretty small.
The LCD is also excellent—sharp, great contrast and color. The antiglare coating is a bit of a fingerprint magnet though, as is the antireflective coating on the front of the optical viewfinder.
Build, Fit and FinishThe camera and lenses are very nicely put together. Much better than the Panasonic GF1 or the Leica CL, for that matter, and at least on par with the EOS-5D I used to have; the fit and finish of the buttons and dials on the back are perhaps even a hair better, other than the jog dial which does have a bit of play to it. There's been a bunch of griping around the Net that the camera feels "light." Well, it does, but only in the way a nice bicycle feels light. It's made of aluminum and magnesium rather than brass like Leica M's, but it is in no shape or form "cheap" or "flimsy." I think you'll only be disappointed if you expect the weight and massively overengineered feel of a Leica. Compared to anything else, it feels great.
As far as I'm concerned, light is good. A kilo of camera—like the 5D with the 50/1.8 Mk 1—gets heavy during a day. This is half that. More so because the camera is just a hair bigger than I would've built it, had I been able to commission one to my personal requirements—it's about a centimeter wider and a half-centimeter taller than the CL, which feels just about perfect to me as dimensions go. So not a pocket camera by any stretch of the imagination, but a good deal lighter and more compact than a dSLR, even a small one like a Pentax K-5.
The lenses don't have the beautiful buttery feel of perfectly-engineered micromechanics you get in really nice manual-focus lenses, but then AF lenses never do. In terms of tactile feel, these Fujinons feel better than the Ugly Ducklings I used to like so much in the Canon system.
Oh, and the hoods are among the nicest I've come across. And they were included. Châpeau! Both project slightly into the viewfinder, but not so much that it's a bother. The rubber caps supplied for the hoods are a bit weird, though; I'm not convinced they'll stay put very well. The normal lens caps—pinch-style—are very nice.
PerformanceThe X-Pro 1 feels pleasantly snappy in action. It starts up and wakes up quickly enough that by the time it's up to my eye, it's ready to shoot. The menus are responsive enough to be as good as instantaneous. Shot to shot times are quite fast, say a half-ish second between shots in single-shot mode.
Auto-focus is fast enough that I don't really notice it anymore; I have always used the focus-recompose-anticipate technique, though, which means I'm not as demanding of AF speed as some. Subjectively it feels about as fast as the GF1, or the EOS-5D with those old lenses of mine. It does slow down noticeably in low light, but remains perfectly manageable. I just tried a Panasonic G3 at the store, though, and that was noticeably faster. As far as I'm concerned, the AF performance seems entirely sufficient for this type of camera. If you're the type who rams through to shoot, though, you might find it less satisfactory. Or maybe not; this is subjective.
I think the best way to shoot this—for my type of shooting anyway—is to set the AE-L/AF-L button to AF-L, and make it toggle. I'll see how this will feel once I get used to it; I had the EOS-5D set to focus with the AE-L button, like the X-Pro 1 does in MF mode. This way might be better, or not. I don't think I'll leave it in MF mode because it doesn't have that nice little dance with the white and green boxes.
My first impressions of manual-focus are a bit mixed. While the haptic feel of the manual-focus ring is pretty good for an AF lens, the throw on it is way too long; you have to twist a lot to get from close to infinity. Perhaps they figured that MF would be primarily used for macro, where precision is paramount. It's odd.
So no major complaints on the performance front, at this point anyway. A few niggles, but that's it.
FeaturesDespite the fundamental simplicity of the design, there are gobs of features packed into the camera. I'm pretty confused about them at the moment, and have figured out so far mostly how to switch things off. Like image review. It's distracting when it pops up in the optical viewfinder after shooting a frame. There's stuff like, oh, a histogram, a level, a composition grid, lots and lots of film simulation modes (unlike with my previous cameras, I think I may actually be using these—what I've seen of it, this guy seems to be capable of producing remarkably nice color out of the box, so the raw format might end up as more of a fallback than before), and so on and so forth. Oh, and it even does video. Don't know how well, and don't care.
The Q button seems nifty as it gives fast access to the most important ones. I haven't yet figured out what all those little icons mean, but that oughtn't take too long.
SoundsThe shutter sounds nice. Quiet but crisp. I bet they put some effort into engineering that sound. This would certainly work as an event camera at least as well as a Leica. It's not as whisper-silent as a leaf-shutter camera like the X100, but certainly not noisy. The AF motors on the lenses are audible—noisier than the Panny 20/1.7, say—but a good deal quieter than the Canon 35/2.0 or 50/1.8 Mk 1. One surprising sound is the relatively frequent whispering that comes from the iris adjusting as I pan around brighter and darker areas. That's a bit odd, since it does it even when I'm using the OVF and it presumably doesn't need to stop down to get a picture on the screen.
If It Ain't Broke, Why Fix It?I dislike modal controls, and have long been wondering why everybody was so eager to ditch the simple, elegant, and obvious aperture and shutter speed controls on classic rangefinders: turn a dial to set the shutter speed, with A for auto, and turn the aperture ring to set the aperture, again A for auto. Instead we get all this PASM and scene mode nonsense with the control dials switching function depending on which mode you're in. This two-dial method of setting the exposure value works as well as it always did, and you get aperture- or shutter-priority or full-auto too if you want it. The third main control dial is for AE compensation between -2 and +2 stops, at 1/3 stop intervals. Nice and clicky. I concur with the folks who pointed out that it would've been nice to add some tactile feedback on the zero point; you can see what the AEC is set to in the viewfinder and of course by looking at the position of the dial, but it wouldn't hurt to be able to feel it too. It'd be quite easy to file a little notch into the dial at the zero line but... no. Just... no.
I'm not sure if I'd also want a dedicated dial for ISO; I used to think that was rather necessary, but since this sensor appears to give pretty much uniform results between ISO200 and ISO1600, there's less need to fiddle with it. We will see in due course if this starts to feel like something that ought to be changed; there is something to be said for simplicity, too.
I gotta rhapsodize a bit about how this looks. As a hipster colleague of mine who shoots film only commented, "Hey, that looks like an actual camera." Well, it does. Retro, yes, but good retro.
There are three types of retro design: there's good retro, there's bad retro, and then there's indifferent retro. Good retro is a re-invention of an old design concept, true to its original purpose and not for simple nostalgia value. Bad retro means imposing an old design on something that's functionally different, resulting in something that usually neither looks very good nor functions very well. Indifferent retro just means taking a perfectly functional design and adding some visual design cues to make it look like something else, without materially affecting the usability. There are examples of all three types of retro among cameras. I won't say which is which, as I would only earn more enemies, but I do have a certain famous mantra cycling through my head. Ommm...
Anyway, the X-Pro 1 is a handsome, purposeful-looking camera, with a design language that isn't obviously aping any particular other model on the market. It most reminds me of the Konica Hexar RF, a lovely Leica clone with built-in motor drive and aperture-priority AE. It's clearly not a copy of or homage to anything, though—the design seems purely functional, and similarities with old rangefinders arise naturally where the same solutions to the same problems are used. The overtly retro touches, like the faux leather wrapped around the body, or the engraved FUJINON LENS SYSTEM logo on the top plate just accentuate it.
There's no reason they couldn't have gone the silly-money Leica M9 Titanium way, and prettied up the same camera with a carbon-fiber-and-metal futuristic sports-car look, but the retro look is probably safer and certainly more discreet.
Niggles and weirdnessesThe X-Pro 1 is a niche camera. That means that Fuji wouldn't have the kind of resources Nikon, Canon, Sony, or even Olympus or Panasonic brings to bear on one of their mainstream camera models. This inevitably leaves some niggling weirdnesses in—from what I've heard, royalty like the Leica M9 isn't quite free of them either.
So far—which isn't very far—I haven't encountered anything really serious, but there are definitely a few odd decisions and rough edges left in there. For example:
- The mysterious whispering aperture. Even when I'm in OVF mode and my eye isn't on the viewfinder. Why?
- Why isn't the 35/1.4 an internally-focusing design? An extending front element is so... 1980's.
- Those rectangular rubber caps that fit the front of the hoods seem like an afterthought. I'm pretty sure they'll fall off and get lost sooner rather than later.
- The EVF freezes momentarily when focusing.
- The manual-focus throw is really long. There has to be a reason they made it this way, because it would've been just as easy to gear it up, or even make it logarithmic (fast movement, short throw, slow movement, long throw).
- Why is the tripod mount next to the battery door? I understand if there's an engineering reason not to center it on the lens mount, but if it was on the other side, it'd be possible to swap batteries with a tripod plate screwed on.
As niggles go, these are pretty minor. Another niche camera I used—the Sigma DP1—had them up the wazoo, to the point that they made using the camera a bit of a chore. AF was really slow, the LCD was really low resolution making it not so much fun to compose on it, and the whole thing locked up while writing, which took ages. Compared to that, the X-Pro 1 is slick as a greased weasel.


text:
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: Archive : Implementations (Invert order)
This is the list of all contributions published in this section, in chronological order.
By @les (on 26/04/2011 @ 16:39:50, in Implementations)
We are moving the site into a new server. The modifications should be terminated within hours. We regret for any inconvenience.
By @les (on 23/04/2011 @ 09:22:13, in Implementations)
Dear customers,
(ZIP files) - OnClassical is currently working to ensure faster album downloads by uploading zip files on our servers. Each file will include all the tracks of an album, so that you will have one file to download rather than many files. Only a few days and our team will be done!
(HD tracks) - Many of our customers are asking to make our master recordings available, rather than CD-quality files. This would be possible, and it was OnClassical's original intention. OnClassical was the first label in Italy to make .wav files available online, so why not be the first label to sell HD tracks? Our current server would allow us to do so, and in the very near future our customers will have some of our hi-fi recordings in 88.2 kHz x 24 bit to download as well.
(Hi-res covers) - Once more, we regret not to have published the cover art-work, but our limited production time only allows us to produce the cover image. However, all covers are made with care by using high quality images purchased within the public domain resources (high resolution images have a cost nonetheless, even when the images are free). For our customer's greater satisfaction, all our covers will soon be available in 1440 x 1440 pixels x 300 dpi (print quality), and will be available as you access each recording's profile.
The team at OnClassical will be away for a few days, April 24-27. For assistance, please contact studio@(ourdomain) or call +39 339 3162931.
We at OnClassical hope that you will enjoy the improvements we have made to our website!
Alessandro Simonetto, founder
By @les (on 10/12/2010 @ 12:27:45, in Implementations)
The previews, unlike before, are no longer 64 kbps full-track, but of 35 seconds and high quality (192 kbps MP3) to test the recording quality (which is our main goal). I hope you'll understand the reasons behind this choice: in fact, other than an economic reason, we hope that by hearing such a great sound you will then want to download the entire album. Remember that artists earn 50%, with the only exception of a couple of albums; on the purchase page it will be specified when you are donating half to the artist and when not.
Another implementation is about the art look of our site, which we have "modernized". We have always kept the site very simple so that neither you (nor us) are distracted by anything other than our recordings.
We have further expanded the database adding some useful data for better understanding how the recordings have been made. In fact, on the same table as for the player, there are two other windows: "Album Introduction" and "Info"; in the latter you will find some technical detail about the recordings, including credits and recording location and instruments used.
By @les (on 30/05/2009 @ 16:35:16, in Implementations)
Due to various requests we have just implemented the payment method with PayPal. Purchases will be easy, fast and secure as before: from the page of payment (ex. onclassical.com/purchase.htm?id=16) you can now choose between the options: BankPass and PayPal.
Good listening!
By @les (on 01/04/2009 @ 22:00:15, in Implementations)
We have just started a work of transference of our files to Amazon Web Services. In terms of navigating the site onclassical.com anything won't change while there will be significant improvements in download files in high quality (.wav): the downloading of files is certainly faster and more stable.
In a few days the transaction will be completed and the results comparable with the current system.
By @les (on 22/05/2008 @ 12:21:41, in Implementations)
Starting last month we lengthened the period of time to download your purchased music from 10 days to 99 days. So all music purchased even 3 months ago may be redownloaded at:
We also implemented a function to download with no cookies activated or cookies deleted. On the page you will find a box and some easy instructions to follow...
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Mac Taylor, the nonpartisan legislative analyst, is deeply respected. And careful. The analyst and his office have a well-earned reputation for independent thinking, and for not taking sides.
In that context, it was interesting to hear Taylor speak forthrightly this week at a Sacramento conference put on by the Public Policy Institute of California. (Your blogger was on a panel at the conference, but not the same one as Taylor).
Taylor's sharpest comments came when he described the complexity of the budget system, including how hard it is to predict and understand the school funding guarantee, and when he talked about the state tax system.
U.S. & World
Taylor noted various problems with the tax system, and in particular its volatility. And then he added, in what sounded sharp to my ears at least, "It's only getting worse."
How so? Taylor then said a couple of things that wouldn't have made Gov. Jerry Brown terribly happy to hear (Brown wasn't there).
First, he noted that the changes in the balance between state and local government pursued by Brown, known as realignment, had made the state more dependent on the income tax -- and that dependence is the reason for that volatility, since income, particularly for wealthy taxpayers, can be volatile.
Taylor then also mentioned that voters are considering two measures that could add to that volatility. Those two measures are the hotly contested Propositions 30 and 38, each of which raise income taxes temporarily (though in different ways and for different time periods).
There was nothing untrue in what Taylor said. As Prop Zero readers know, the California budget system, built on complicated formulas, is truly getting worse (quite naturally, without anyone having to help it along).
But Taylor's words also felt unusually direct, and they come at a politically delicate time, when much of the state's political and media establishment is billing Prop 30 in particular as a necessary measure to save the state.
As the state's problems get, well, worse, keep a close eye on Taylor. And what his office says and does.


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Quick walkthrough
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text:
U.S. stock futures were mixed with the government reporting Wednesday that homebuilding slowed during the first month of the year.
Dow Jones industrial futures gained 3 points to 14,010. The broader S&P futures lost 0.50 points to trade 1,527.50. Nasdaq futures were flat at 2,780.75.
Even though builders eased their pace in January, the Department of Commerce reported that new housing starts remained at a 4 1/2-year high.
Builders started construction at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 890,000 last month, down 8.5 percent from December, which was the best performance during the final month of the year since June 2008.
Perhaps more encouraging still, applications for building permits rose to an annual rate of 925,000 in January, 1.8 percent higher than December, which had been the high-point since mid-2008.
It has been a mixed week in the housing sector.
The National Association of Home Builders reported Tuesday that confidence among U.S. homebuilders slipped this month from the 6 1/2 year high it reached in January. On Wednesday, while the luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers returned to a profit during its first quarter, it fell short of Wall Street estimates and shares fell early.
Also on Wednesday, the Labor Department said that the rising costs of food and soda helped push wholesale prices higher last month, though inflation appears under control.


text: 1. Regulations for the examination of officers of the Quartermaster's, Subsistence, and Pay Departments, under the following act to provide for the examination of certain officers of the army Author(s): United States. Adjutant-General's Office, author. Publication: [Washington] : [publisher not identified], [1864] Subject(s): Military PersonnelEmployee Performance AppraisalAmerican Civil WarUnited StatesUnited States. Army.


text:
When a Pokémon takes one of our available six slots in a game, it's not always an inclusion born out of love. Maybe we just need a specific type of Pokémon to deal with a threat. Maybe it's just a temporary inclusion, the best Pokémon we can find at that point in the game. Maybe they're just an HM slave.
Given that Pokémon games track our friendship level with each critter, it's not a stretch to say that Pokémon must feel the distance—and since they're smart, they must think about whether or not we actually love them.
Here's a heartbreaking comic by Steven Universe's Tiffany Ford, which explores the inner thoughts of a Pikachu that is having doubts about its trainer:
Man. That last panel. Makes me think about all the times I've put a Pokémon at a type disadvantage because I didn't really care. Aaaaa I'm sorry!
You can check out more of Tiffany Ford's work here.


text:
Facility had 38 nuclear criticality safety infractions in the last fiscal year and received an overall performance rating of "does not meet expectations."
The Energy Department has given a key weapons lab an "inadequate" rating for its latest safety record on "nuclear criticality," a measure of atomic stability.
Los Alamos National Laboratory received the weakest nuclear criticality safety rating of all U.S. nuclear weapons laboratories, though its performance is assessed to be getting better, according to a report released last week covering fiscal 2013. Deputy Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman submitted the assessment to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.
Nuclear criticality typically refers to a balance of neutrons in a reactor, with "subcriticality" suggesting underproduction and "supercriticality" suggesting overproduction. Nuclear criticality safety is the practice of preventing atomic chain reactions from taking place in fissile materials outside of reactors.
The Los Alamos facility in New Mexico had 38 nuclear criticality safety infractions in the last fiscal year and received an overall performance rating of "does not meet expectations."
"Operations in the main plutonium facility at LANL were paused in June 2013," the 75-page annual report states. "Resumption from the pause will occur on an operation-by-operation basis once the associated procedures are validated from a conduct of operations perspective, criticality controls are verified to be adequate and flowed into procedures, and operators trained."
The National Nuclear Security Administration "in general" has had "difficulty hiring and retaining qualified criticality safety staff," with Los Alamos and the Y-12 National Security Site experiencing more difficulties in that arena than other weapon sites, according to the report. The Y-12 complex, located in Tennessee, received an "adequate" performance rating, even though it had 71 infractions.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California had the highest rating of any of the sites. The California complex's overall safety performance was judged "excellent," with only one criticality safety infraction occurring in the last fiscal year.
The Nevada National Security Site's overall performance was described as "adequate, but does not fully meet requirements," though it recorded just one minor infraction. Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico was given a safety rating of "adequate," with no infractions reported since fiscal 2009. Meantime, the Pantex Plant in Texas also was given an "adequate" safety grade, with no infractions reported in more than 20 years.
NEXT STORY: Don't Expect the VA to Improve Overnight


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This may be a minor thing but it's something that could end up being a small factor in a few Detroit Lions games this year: Detroit could have a fairly mean 2 TE set with Brandon Pettigrew (almost recovered from injury) and offseason acquisition TE Tony Scheffler. Scheffler is a good player. A few years ago, he was a great option for Jay Cutler in Denver when Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal were covered. Similarly in Detroit, Scheffler may find some good space to get open in the middle and sit in zones especially, using his size to block out some space. Calvin Johnson will be the primary focus of most pass defenses and that automatically opens up at least a bit of space for Scheffler/Pettigrew. Also, Pettigrew himself was starting to look pretty good last year before his injury.
Now, I still think the Detroit D will struggle. Vanden Bosch, Corey Williams and Suh may all add some teeth to the D-Line, and Louis Delmas is a very good safety, but it won't be enough and the D will likely continue to struggle.


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micro:bit at ISTE 2017 by a 4th grader
My name is Zane. I am 9 years old and going to 4th grade in Austin, Texas. I love technology a lot. Especially if it involves computer programming.
I was introduced to micro:bit last year, when my dad brought home a small cardboard box with the device, battery pack, and USB cord. I "borrowed" the box and went to the website written on the box (microbit.org), pressed "Let's Code" and started with the easiest editor: PXT (Java Script Blocks Editor). I started getting more advanced by coding with code kingdoms and python.
I became a big fan and presented micro:bit at my school for the science fair in February, and iPadpalooza
in June. IPadpalooza is a
learning festival and a celebration of the cultural-shift the iPads have brought about in education and the world. Most recently,
I presented at the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).
This year's ISTE was held in San Antonio, Texas. I had the opportunity to participate in the Interactive Playground in the micro:bit section, together with Robyn,
a high school student presenter, and the Trashbots team. I got to explain what micro:bit is, its capabilities,
and do some hands on programming. For about four hours, a stream of educators came through our section. I presented some of my programs, such as Traffic Light where
micro:bit controls 3 LEDs: red, amber and green. This was a good example of expansion. I also made a program on the spot that made micro:bit say
Hello ISTE.
Why Hello? I did Hello because I wanted to show that programming the micro:bit is very easy. The attendees were asking all sorts of questions such as: What is the
micro:bit? Is programming the micro:bit hard? what languages are supported? How to get the expansions? How much does is cost? They liked holding the micro:bit and
looking at all its components. They were impressed by how small and light it was. I met people from all over the world: from Japan, Canada, and from many USA states.
I even saw my Education Technology teacher from my school! At one point, the ISTE TV crew came in and interviewed me. I got to talk about the micro:bit on ISTE TV!
ISTE is not an ordinary conference, it is a worldwide conference. It is huge. It covered many floors of the vast exhibit center. It was a big deal. I was very happy to be part of this event. I was most happy talking about micro:bit to so many people. For me, going to ISTE, changes everything - like me writing my very first blog, this one!


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The family pride themselves on providing a personalised friendly service making their guests feel very comfortable. There are rooms with shared bathrooms, T, central heating and the italian breakfast is included also in the price.
We can assist you with full information about the public transportation, directions, sightseeing, theatre, restaurant, museum and taxi bookings, parking, laundromat & internet points. Shopping areas and famous Rome attractions such as Colosseum, Roman Forum, Piazza Venezia, Piazza di Spagna and Piazza del Popolo are located in a short walking distance from Termini Accommodation.


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The Knot Atlas
The link love just keeps coming! At Secret Blogging Seminar, Scott Morrison makes a plug for the Knot Atlas. It looks like it's starting with the information from Bar-Natan's knot table that I've linked to before, but now in wiki form. Joy!
The Underlying Category
In the setup for an enriched category, we have a locally-small monoidal category, which we equip with an "underlying set" functor . This lets us turn a hom-object into a hom-set, and now we want to extend this "underlying" theme to the entire 2-category .
Okay, we could start by finding "underlying" analogues for each piece of the whole structure, but there's a better way. We just take the setup of the "underlying set" from our monoidal categories and port it over to our 2-categories of enriched categories.
In particular, there's a -category that has a single object and . This behaves sort of like a "unit -category", and we define . This is a 2-functor from to , and it assigns to an enriched category the "underlying" ordinary category. Let's look at this a bit more closely.
A -functor picks out an object , while a -natural transformation consists of the single component — an element of . Thus the underlying category has the same objects as , while is the "underlying set" of .
Given a -functor we get a regular functor . It sends the object of to the object of . Its action on arrows of (natural transformations of functors from to shouldn't be too hard to work out.
Given a -natural transformation of -functors we get a natural transformation . Its component in is an element of an "underlying hom-set" — an arrow from to the appropriate hom-object. But this is just the same as the component of the -natural transformation we started with, so we don't really need to distinguish them.
At this point, some of these conditions tend to diverge. The ordinary naturality condition for a transformation between functors acting on the underlying categories turns out to be weaker than the -naturality condition for a transformation between -functors, for example. In general if I start talking about -categories then everything associated to them will be similarly enriched. If I mean a regular functor between the underlying categories I'll try to say so. That is, once I lay out -categories and , then if I talk about a functor I automatically mean a -functor. If I mean to talk about a regular functor I'll say as much. Similarly, if I assert a natural transformation I must mean -natural, or I would have said .