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Follow Friday - 23 Apr 2010
My recommendations this week. As usual, these are not in any particular order, I normally pick a good post from my week's readings, or left from the prior week! Hope they are useful or at least interesting to you, as well! If it is your first visit, even better! ;-)
I want to credi Betty's Boneyard Genealogy Blog post on 4/9/10 for the following resource:
Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records Search Site
If you are looking for US land patents or records in the 1800s, then you might want to check out the BLM GLO website. Using their search engine, I was able to find and view scanned copies of the original land patents for several ancestors in Missouri in the 1840s.
According to the BLM GLO website:
"We ... provide image access to more than three million Federal land title records for Eastern Public Land States, issued between 1820 and 1908. Currently, we are adding images of Military Land Warrants. These land patents were issued to individuals as a reward for their military service. Images related to survey plats and field notes, dating back to 1810, are added to the site state-by-state as each state's documents are completed. Due to organization of documents in the GLO collection, this site does not currently contain every Federal title record issued for the Public Land States."
Tangled Trees is described as: "Making History Your Own - A Genealogist's thoughts, tidbits, inspirations, and, of course, brick wall - All very much randomly posed. One person's life does not stand-alone but interacts with family, neighbors, community, and history. Our Trees become Tangled just by living. -- T."
You get exactly what was described. I like that! ;-)
I have this site, Kick-Ass Genealogy, on my iGoogle Genealogy Page so that I can check it regularly, and don't miss a post. Today I just read the April 20, 2010, post: How to Find and Use Historical Sources in Your Genealogy (Part I). I started to put it in my POST recommendation, above, and realized I really treat the Kick-Ass Genealogy site as a Resource rather than just a blog... hence, this recommendation. It is always a good read, and, Katrina has her posts well organized by topic, so you can always to find the information for which you are looking.
Families are Forever! ;-)


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From GENE LOGSDON
One of life's mysteries for me is why country people have inevitably migrated to the cities in every civilization that I have studied. In the United States, where there has been little of the kind of violent upheavals that send third world countries into instability, the reasons for migration to cities seem especially specious to me. Some say we move because rural life is boring or stifling with puritanical overly-conservative life styles. Actually agrarian society has often been shockingly wide open as I tried to point out in Mother of All Arts. What happened to me just yesterday seems appropriate. I was parked along the edge of a country road jawing with a couple who were harvesting wheat. A very long-haired individual, naked to the waist, came flying by on a motorcycle, tresses trailing in the wind. Trying to be funny, I opined: "Well it must have been a man because it wasn't wearing a bra." One of the farmers replied, rolling her eyes: "That's a dangerous conclusion to reach around here."
Others move to town because they want to escape what they consider the hard work of farming. That is no longer all that true either and I wonder if it ever was. Millions of factory and construction workers perform harder physical work than most farmers do today or ever did. A friend likes to tell how thrilled he was to get off the farm 70 years ago because he had to work there every day milking cows, no weekends off. When he finally got a decent job in town, he found that, to get ahead, he still had to work on weekends.
Sometimes I think the ideal life occurred in Europe (probably other places too) before the two world wars wrecked the old agrarian life there. Unlike in America, where farmers established themselves on homesteads dotted out all over the countryside some distance from each other, European farmers preferred to live in villages, and to go out daily to their farms around the village. There was little chance to feel isolated or bored and lonely because in the evenings they all gathered on doorsteps or street corners or more likely in the taverns, and enjoyed the camaraderie, true social security, pastimes and amusements of communal life. I'd vote for that any day and now of course we have that, in a way, on the Internet. My village community now extends to New Zealand and Australia which is just awesome.
The main reason country people move to town is because that's where the money is, or so they have always been taught. At some point in every civilization's history, money becomes the standard by which all things are reckoned, and after that the seemingly simple, laid-back pastoral life is no longer deemed possible. I have watched this happen first hand in our own Appalachia. In some parts of the world migration is physically forced on people by various forms of military or political or economic power. But the mountain people of Appalachia were not exactly forced to leave in most cases. I know personally quite a few of them. Some of them once worked for me when I was running a ditching machine. They claimed to love their mountains and would go back home into the hills every weekend, often hocking their spare tire for gas to make the trip. So why did they go north to the factories?
I think that in some cases, people leave rural homes for quite specific material reasons that are overlooked by economists. I have a theory about Appalachia which I have seen hinted at by only one other author, Richard C. Davids, in his excellent non-fiction book, The Man Who Moved A Mountain. The destruction of the vast forests of chestnut trees by blight in the Appalachians coincided roughly with the Great Depression when the great migration from the mountains to the cities got into full swing. The hill people depended on chestnuts as much as we depend today on corn and wheat. The end of the chestnut meant the end of the hill economy. Could that have been the real reason they left their independent life for the auto factories of Detroit?
I have heard scores of reasons for migration to cities, all creditable, most of them based on reactions to population pressure. But I am still left with an anomaly. If there are too many people living in the country, how do they improve their lot by moving where populations are even denser and competition for jobs even greater? If people are short on food, why would they move to a place where they can't grow any of their own? Detroit, by the way, is making news today because of a large garden farm being established right in the center of what was once factory fantasyland.
All this migration to the cities seems especially crazy now that we live so much in an electronic world. People still flock to the city for jobs, but the jobs aren't there anymore. I will probably be ridiculed up one side of Manhattan and down the other for writing this, but I say that the modern large city is a dinosaur, economically and environmentally, and people are slowly beginning to realize it. The extended village is the wave of the future. I look at those energy-sucking skyscrapers and I see very tall tombstones.

subset: commoncrawl


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Those of us in North America knew this fine Italian automobile as the Strada, and we pretty much backed away from it in horror. Not so in Europe, where car buyers kept buying the things until 1988.
This ad appears to be from 1985 or so, judging by the car's grille and the herpes-tinted shades gnawed upon by the Ritmo's comely driver when she spots her white-powder connection driving by in another Ritmo. It's unclear which market saw this Spanish-language ad, since SEAT built Ritmo clones for the SDM. Argentina?


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Photo taken by Heather Jones (olive_and_ollie)
I attended the Modern Stories: Documenting the Modern Quilt Movement event on Friday evening, which began with some free time to mingle and I MET JAY MCCARROLL! Which was great, other than the fact that Jay told me that he expected me to be in my 60's and wearing a sailor hat. Hmmm, not sure how to take that one, but meeting Jay was definitely a highlight of my summer (as was hanging with Jennifer Paganelli of Sis Boom, also in the picture above!)
Photo taken by Heather Jones (olive_and_ollie)
I was there to be part of a panel of creative folks to discuss the modern quilting movement. Guess which one in the picture above is me? The other panelists (in order from left to right) were Jennifer, Kim Hyrniewicz, Melanie Testa, and Nancy Soriano. Amazing, amazing women. I know what you're thinking, and I'm not quite sure how I found myself on that panel either ... but it was a blast!
It was also great to catch up with Heather, Jackie, and Thomas, and to meet some online friends like Heide and Heather from Jennifer's Connecticut quilting posse.
Speaking of Heather, she has already written up a wonderful recap of the weekend that I couldn't even hope to match, so I'd encourage you to head on over to her olive and ollie blog to read more!
OK, so enough with the schmoozing and gratuitous name-dropping for a while. I've (finally!) unpacked my sewing space in the new house and have eased back in to making some blocks and stuff. I'll be back soon with some actual sewn goods to share.


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Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.
RUSTON, LA - The New Mexico State softball fell in the 2013 edition of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament championship game with a 4-0 final score to the San Jose State Spartans on Saturday, May 11. The Aggies finish the season with a 37-20 overall record.
A tough day at the plate for the Aggies ended with just one Aggie hit off the bat of Staci Rodriguez. Freshman pitcher Makayla McAdams took the loss for the Aggies as she pitched just 0.2 innings but gave up the initial two SJSU runs.
"I am extremely proud of this team and the way they played all year," head coach Kathy Rodolph said. "It is always disappointing to end the season like this, but I cannot be more pleased with the way this team worked and grew every day this season."
NM State got the first couple of runners on base with Kelsey Dodd's 30th walk of the year and a single out to left center in the first half inning. With two outs, The Aggies were left sitting with a line out to center field for the third out.
San Jose State came up in their half to take the initial 2-0 lead off a single bunt and a RBI double to the right field. The runner at second was moved around the bases off the Spartans second single of the day, both hits came with freshman Makayla McAdams in the circle for the Aggies. Junior Celisha Walker entered the game and closed the inning with a groundout right back at her.
SJSU was able to get two on in their half of the second with a walk and an Aggie error, but was sent away down the side in the third off a back-handed double play by senior Tehani Kaaihue to get the outs at second and third.
SJSU earned two base runners in the fourth off the second off the second NM State error and a single right on the left line. Both those runners were left stranded. Sent away in the bottom half of the fifth, the Spartans plated two more runs in the latter half of the sixth. Two base hits and a fielding error in the inning allowed two Spartan runs to score and the second double play of the game for the Aggies closed the inning with the outs at first and third.
NM State struggled in the late innings of the game, going down in order in five straight innings before sophomore Staci Rodriguez reached base in the top of the seventh on a hit by pitch.
Ending on a high notes for her senior season, right-handed pitcher Alex Newman was named to the 2013 WAC All-Tournament team. She pitched 17 complete innings and two complete games over the course of the tournament week and finished with just a 1.65 ERA through the Aggies four games.
NM State closes out the 2013 with a 37-20 overall record and the second appearance to the WAC Tournament Championship game in two years.
All-Tournament Team
Brooke Baker, Texas State
Kelli Baker, Texas State
Markesha Collins, San Jose State
Kelsey Dodd, New Mexico State
Melanie Goff, Louisiana Tech
Jessie Hufstetler, San Jose State
Amanda Krueger, Louisiana Tech
Alex Newman, New Mexico State
Haylee Staton, UTSA
Nina Villanueva, UT Arlington
MVP: Amanda Pridmore, San Jose State


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Live Review: Whispertown 2000 at Susie's House
It was a good sign when Whispertown 2000 soundchecked with "Look at Miss Ohio," but it just got better from there: tight, country-soul harmonies from the two frontgals; full-on kazoo solos; a drummer that astonishingly played guitar, drums and harmonica simultaneously; a bassist that managed to quote "Dazed and Confused" without malice; and basically a shitkickin' good time. The two gals kinda reminded me of Those Darlins, and hey, didja hear one of 'em is a Nagler? And that she was on Punky Brewster? No shit.
Polaroids, stitching, paintings and collage art hung on the walls, all of it excellent; cassettes and horses. Out in the kitchen, vegan cupcakes for sale, and the most gigantic mushroom I've ever seen in my life. Slung from a side door, $3 cocktails mixed on the spot. Dancing in the halls. "Bring it on Home to Me" on the stereo. (Thanks for the Darondo tip, Nick.)
All in all, a sweet way for the residents of the house to go out with a bang, seeing as they hafta move at the end of the month. And a fine way for Paul Haile and Lauren Harkins from Not to Reason Why to celebrate their just-announced engagement—the diamond ring was busted out on Saturday at Crane Creek Park! Congratulations, you crazy kids.
Tags: House Party, Review, Santa Rosa, Whispertown 2000


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Notice how dramatically off the market the IMF has been, skewered HEAVILY to the optimistic side. Now, notice how aggressively the IMF has downwardly revsied their forecasts to still end up widlly optimistic.
Ever since the beginning of this crisis, IMF estimates of government balance have been just as bad...
The EU/EC has proven to be no better, and if anything is arguably worse!
and the EU on goverment balance??? Way, way, way off.
If the IMF was wrong, what in the world does that make the EC/EU?
The EC forecasts have been just as bad, if not much, much worse in nearly all of the forecasting scenarios we presented. Hey, if you think tha's bad, try taking a look at what the govenment of Greece has done with these fairy tale forecasts, as excerpted from the blog post "Greek Crisis Is Over, Region Safe", Prodi Says - I say Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!...
Think about it! With a .5% revisions, the EC was still 3 full points to the optimistic side on GDP, that puts the possibility of Greek government forecasts, which are much more optimistic than both the EU and the slightly more stringent but still mostly erroneous IMF numbers, being anywhere near realistic somewhere between zero and no way in hell (tartarus, hades, purgatory...).
Now, if the Greek government's macroeconomic assumptions are overstated when compared with EU estimates, and the EU estimates are overstated when compared to the IMF estimates, and the IMF estimates are overstated when compared to reality.... Just who the hell can you trust these days??? Never fear, Reggie's here. Download our "unbiased, non-captured, empirically driven" forecast of the REAL Greek economy - (subscribers only, click here to subscribe) Greece Public Finances Projections 2010-03-15 11:33:27 694.35 Kb. Related banking research can be downloaded here:
It really is a shame when you have to pay for the truth, isn't it? If you think you've witnessed an example of social unrest in Greece, you ain't seen nuthin' yet. Wait until the reality of these faked numbers start hitting home...
What about the UK?
I'm glad you asked. We just finished our UK analysis (subscribers, see UK Public Finances March 2010 2010-03-24 09:32:01 617.23 Kb), and the Greek theme has continued into the land of the Brits.
... and in terms of government balance over-optimism???
The UK government's projections are based on real GDP growth of 1.3% and 3.5% in 2010-11 and 2011-12, respectively while the (extremely and unrealistically optimistic) consensus estimates stand at 1.2% and 2.1%, respectively. The latest estimates announced by the EIU (Economist intelligence unit) in March 2010 are even lower at 1.2% and 1.5% for 2010-11 and 2011-12, respectively. The European Commission has also raised similar concerns with the Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, Olli Rehn, criticizing governments after scrutinizing the strategies of 14 countries, including Germany, France, Italy, the U.K. and Spain, that "their budget projections were based on favorable macroeconomic assumptions after 2010 that may not materialize" (stated in a press article on March 18, 2010)
Raising concerns on the UK, the European Commission also stated that "The U.K. won't meet the EU's recommended target of reaching a 3% budget deficit by 2014-15, and projections for economic recovery may also fall short. Details on how the U.K. government, whose budget deficit is expected to hit 12.7% in the current financial year, will rein back its spending are also lacking. The absence of detailed departmental spending limits is a source of uncertainty".
Continuously rising fiscal deficit has led to a continuous increase in the government total debt, which increased from 43.3% of GDP in 2007-08 to 72.9% in 2009-10. Moreover, according to EU Commission estimates, after Ireland, the UK is poised to incur the worst deterioration in the gross debt ratio in the EU, from 44.2% of GDP in 2008 to 88.2% of GDP in 2011. Though the average maturity of UK's debt is considerably higher compared to other nations (thus no refinancing risk in the near future), the expanding interest burden is exacerbating the already strained fiscal deficit.
Moreover, rising debt not only restricts government's fiscal stimulus and support to the economy, but is also forcing the government to undertake sharp fiscal consolidation measures to moderate the adverse impact of rising interest expenses on the fiscal deficit. This is bound to have an internal deflationary effect.
The government expects an increase in its debt from 55.5% of GDP in 2008-09 to 90.9% in 2012-13. In absolute terms, the government debt is expected to grow from £796.4 billion in 2009-10 to £1,486.2 billion in 2012-13. However, we expect the debt to increase much higher off higher primary deficit owing to relatively lower GDP growth assumptions.
And what about Italy???
Again, we're glad you inquired. Subscribers should download Italy public finances projection 2010-03-22 10:47:41 588.19 Kb as well as the Italian Banking Macro-Fundamental Discussion Note and the
Spanish Banking Macro Discussion Note in anticipation of our upcoming Spain analysis, which should be a doozy!
This is Italy's presumption of economic growth used in their fiscal projections:
For those that don't subscribe, there is still a lot of nitty gritty that I made publicly available on Italy here: Once You Catch a Few EU Countries "Stretching the Truth", Why Should You Trust the Rest?
More on Euro stretching of the truth
If you haven't had your fill of innuendo, ambiguity, creativity and sleight of hand (my polite way of saying "lying"), you can peruse Smoking Swap Guns Are Beginning to Litter EuroLand, Sovereign Debt Buyer Beware!
For the complete Pan-European Sovereign Debt Crisis series, see:
- The Coming Pan-European Sovereign Debt Crisis - introduces the crisis and identified it as a pan-European problem, not a localized one.
- What Country is Next in the Coming Pan-European Sovereign Debt Crisis? - illustrates the potential for the domino effect
- The Pan-European Sovereign Debt Crisis: If I Were to Short Any Country, What Country Would That Be.. - attempts to illustrate the highly interdependent weaknesses in Europe's sovereign nations can effect even the perceived "stronger" nations.
- The Coming Pan-European Soverign Debt Crisis, Pt 4: The Spread to Western European Countries
The Depression is Already Here for Some Members of Europe, and It Just Might Be Contagious!
I Think It's Confirmed, Greece Will Be the First Domino to Fall
- Smoking Swap Guns Are Beginning to Litter EuroLand, Sovereign Debt Buyer Beware!
- Financial Contagion vs. Economic Contagion: Does the Market Underestimate the Effects of the Latter?
- "Greek Crisis Is Over, Region Safe", Prodi Says - I say Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!
- Germany Finally Comes Out and Says, "We're Not Touching Greece" - Well, Sort of...
The Greece and the Greek Banks Get the Word "First" Etched on the Side of Their Domino
As I Warned Earlier, Latvian Government Collapses Exacerbating Financial Crisis
Once You Catch a Few EU Countries "Stretching the Truth", Why Should You Trust the Rest?


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April 11, 2014
A-G Gani Patail loses to Rosli Dahlan: NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW
by Din Merican
William Pesek, a prominent Bloomberg columnist, wrote recently that the global outcry over the loss of flight MH370 has highlighted the country's deepest flaws of incompetent people running the country.
The Fumbling Team of MH370
"The fumbling exposed an elite that's never really had to face questioning from its people, never mind the rest of the world. The country needs nothing less than a political revolution," said Pesek. And I agree. Nothing will change until the present political elite is made to pay for their ineptitude, incompetence and crooked ways by Malaysian voters.
At the international level, our political leaders will have to take the blame. At the national level, we are facing a crisis of our public institutions being headed by not just mediocre and incompetent people but also characters who are downright dishonest and who abuse the system with impunity– the rogues in government.
Rosli Dahlan wins against A-G Patail
That brings me to the news reports of this morning that my young friend, Lawyer Rosli Dahlan, has again won another case against A-G Gani Patail. For my readers' convenience I have reproduced only the MKini report by Hafiz Yatim (below) that provides interesting links on this story that never ceases to inspire me.
Back in Time–To the Eve of Hari Raya (Aidil Fitr), 2007
It's a sad story of how on the eve of Hari Raya 2007, Lawyer Rosli Dahlan (right) was brutally arrested in his office in full view of his staff by the ACA (now MACC). He was then charged in a most sensational manner to deceive the public into believing that Rosli had hidden illegitimate assets belonging to the Director of Commercial Crimes, Dato Ramli Yusuff, in another sensational story fanned by the media dubbed as the "The RM 27 million Cop".
All this was part of a conspiracy to eliminate Dato Ramli from the PDRM as Dato Ramli posed a threat to then IGP Musa Hassan and A-G Gani Patail. Rosli was made a victim because he dared to defend Dato Ramli despite warnings having been sent to him. Since then, Musa's former ADC had sworn a Statutory Declaration to expose IGP Musa Hassan's links with the underworld.
A lot more was also disclosed about A-G Gani Patail's association with shady corporate figures like the one in the Ho Hup Affair. The Internet was also abuzz with stories about how A-G Gani Patail went to Haj and had his son to share a room with a shady former Police Inspector who was once charged for corruption, Shahidan Shafie, a proxy of former MAS Chairman Tan Sri Tajudin Ramli.
That explains why A-G Gani never charged Tajudin Ramli for the losses of RM 8 billion that MAS suffered despite recommendations by Dato Ramli Yusuff. Dato Mat Zain Ibrahim, former KL OCCI also swore SDs about A-G Gani Patail throwing away the Batu Putih case for pecuniary gains.
Yet Gani Patail remains as the A-G of Malaysia, leading many to speculate that he has a grip on PM Najib Razak because of Razak Baginda's acquittal in the murder of the Mongolian beauty, Altantuya Shariibu. In that case, the A-G did not appeal against Razak Baginda's acquittal.
On the other hand, the A-G has pursued criminal appeals against certain people like Lawyer Rosli Dahlan and Dato Ramli Yusuff (left). In the PKFZ case, A-G Gani Patail charged and appealed against the acquittal of Tun Ling Liong Sik which led to Tun Lingcalling him – " That Stupid Fella".
Back to Rosli's case. Lawyer Rosli, he has fought a long and lonely battle, winning his acquittal and then suing every one of the mainstream media for defaming him – Utusan Malaysia, The Star and the NST, and winning against them one by one very patiently.
On April 15, 2008, Utusan Malaysia published a public apology admitting their wrongdoings and acknowledged that the Utusan Malaysia's article "was written and published in a sensational manner to generate publicity which exceeded the parameters of ethical journalism surrounding the investigation of YDH Dato' Pahlawan Haji Ramli Haji Yusuf who at that time held the post of Director of the Commercial Crime Investigation Department of Police DiRaja Malaysia."
On January 15, 2013, the Star paid damages and admitted to its wrongdoings in a published public apology.
On October 18, 2013, the KL High Court found the NST and the MACC guilty of defaming Rosli and ordered them to pay damages of RM 300,000 and costs. This made history as it was the first time that the MACC was sued by a person and the MACC lost and had to pay damages.
Last year Rosli sued A-G Gani Patail, MACC Chief Commissioner Tan Sri Abu Kassim and several other MACC officers for conspiracy, false and malicious investigation, abuse of power, abuse of prosecutorial discretion, malicious prosecution, prosecutorial misconduct and public misfeasance.
Read the MKini report below and you will discover that A-G Gani Patail had engaged Tan Sri Cecil Abraham , a senior private lawyer from Messrs ZulRafique & Partners (an UMNO law firm) to defend him, the A-G Chambers (A-GC) and the MACC.
I find that surprising since I am told that the A-GC has over 800 lawyers, making the A-GC the "largest law firm" in the country. By contrast, I am told that the largest private law firm in the country has a maximum of 140 lawyers.
That means the Government of Malaysia spends millions of ringgit to staff the A-GC in order to defend the government. Yet when the Government is sued, A-G Gani Patail engages private lawyers. Does that makes sense to you?
Is A-G Gani Patail admitting that he is not confident of the A-GC, which he heads, to defend him and the government in the face of the law suit by Lawyer Rosli Dahlan? Is A-G Gani Patail admitting that the A-GC is incompetent? Was that why Tan Sri Shafee Abdullah was asked to be an ad hoc DPP to prosecute the appeal against Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim? Or is there is a commercial logic to that? Is A-G Gani Patail outsourcing legal work to his friends in the private sector to reward them for covering up for his misconduct and incompetence?
I had a chat with Tan Sri Robert Phang who has always been critical of A-G Gani Patail. He told me a more worrisome story. Robert Phang questioned whether Tan Sri Cecil Abraham (right) is a fit to lawyer to defend the A-G because Cecil Abraham sits in the MACC's Operations Review Panel, which advises on oversights in the MACC. One of the committee's functions is to ensure that the MACC and other government agencies do not commit abuses. It is like an Ombudsman. If so, how can Cecil Abraham defend A-G Gani Patail and the other MACC officers whom Rosli has accused of fixing him? Is that not a conflict of interest?
Other lawyers tell me that Cecil Abraham is the senior lawyer implicated in the PI Bala SD case over the Altantuya murder. I am stunned by all these revelations. It seems that all the committees and advisory panels in the MACC and other government agencies are to cover up for their wrongdoings rather than to expose and correct them. No wonder our country is headed for doom !
I am told that Rosli's Statement of Claim against A-G Gani Patail contains very damning revelations about A-G's misconduct. I am told that with every victory that Rosli gained against A-G Gani Patail, more and more civil servants and people are coming up to him to offer assistance and being more willing to be witnesses in his cases. This was unlike before when many were afraid to be associated with him.
Is that why AG Gani Patail does not want to go to trial and employ all kinds of delaying tactics in Rosli's suit against him. Is that why A-G Gani Patail engaged Tan Sri Cecil Abraham to strike out Rosli's suit? Otherwise, why is A-G Gani Patail so afraid to go to trial in Rosli's case?
But now that Tan Sri Cecil has lost this striking out application and the A-G is ordered to pay cost to Rosli, who is going to bear this cost? Should taxpayer's money be used to pay for the misconduct of these rogues in government? If we taxpayers have to bear this cost, then A-G Gani Patail and the likes of him will never be repentant. There will never be accountability!
In my view, A-G Gani Patail must bear the full costs of his misconduct. He must be held accountable and he must pay the legal fees charged by his friend Tan Sri Cecil Abraham. I am also of the view that the MACC should sack Cecil Abraham from being on its Advisory Panel. Cecil Abraham cannot sit there to pretend that he is acting as a check and balance against the MACC's misconducts whereas he is also covering up for the MACC when the MACC is sued by Rosli, and getting well paid by the Government using tax payer's money!
Conflict of Interest
The conflict of interest is so clear and it is appalling that a senior titled lawyer like Tan Sri Cecil Abraham cannot see that. I also feel that the Bar Council should not stand idle arms akimbo with this revelation. The Bar Council should subject Cecil Abraham to disciplinary proceedings for breaching such common sense rule on conflict of interests. Cecil has dishonored the Bar and the Council must act against him!
Well Done, JC Wazeer Alam Mydin
In that regard, I must congratulate Judicial Commissioner Wazeer Alam Mydin for having a fair sense justice in not allowing A-G Gani Patail to strike out Rosli 's claim. A judicial Commissioner is basically a probationary judge. For a probationary Judge to do this means JC Wazeer is indeed a brave man who would not tolerate public authorities who commit abuses and then claim immunity. It is indeed a brave probationary judge to stand up to the A-G and tell it to the A-G's face that the A-G is not above the law.
The winds of change is blowing and judges like JC Wazeer Alam will be a credit to the judiciary. JC Wazeer Alam is indeed a brave man to make this iconic statement:
"The claim by AG of his absolute public and prosecutorial immunity is an anathema to modern democratic society."
April 11, 2014
A-G not immune to legal action, rules Judge
by Hafiz email@example.com
The Attorney-General is not immune to legal action, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur ruled today.
Judicial Commissioner Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera said this in dismissing Attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail's application to strike out the suits by former Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Ramli Yusuff and his lawyer Rosli Dahlan.
"I am afraid that the notion of absolute immunity for a public servant, even when mala fide or abuse of power in the exercise of their prosecutorial power is alleged in the pleadings, is anathema to modern day notions of accountability.
"I agree that deliberate abuse of power by a person holding a public office is tortious and is referred to as misfeasance in public office.
"Such a tortious act can arise when an officer actuated by malice, for example, by personal spite or a desire to injure for improper reasons, abuses his power," Vazeer Alam said.
"This is keeping with developments in modern jurisprudence that absolute immunity for public servants has no place in a progressive democratic society," the judge added. The A-G and two other officers from the A-G's Chambers were named in the respective suits filed by Ramli Yusuff and Rosli Dahlan.
They had sought to strike out the suits on the grounds that they should be immune to such action in carrying out their prosecution powers. Ramli had filed a RM128.5 million suit against A-G Gani, former IGP Musa Hassan and several Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission officers.
Rosli had filed a separate suit amounting to RM48 million against the same parties.The two are suing them for abuse of power, malfeasance in the performance of public duty, malicious prosecution and prosecutorial misconduct, among others.
Suits not filed out of time
Judicial Commissioner Vazeer Alam also ruled that the two suits for malicious prosecution were not filed out of time as this cause of action accrued upon the determination of the final appeal. He said that the court could not consider the period to be when Ramli or Rosli were acquitted, as there were subsequent appeals against the acquittals made after this.
"As with Ramli's case, the appeals lodged by the public prosecutor were dismissed in June and in November 2011. Therefore the filing of the action on Nov 1 last year is well within the time stipulated in Section 2 of the Public Authority Protection Act," the ruled,
Vazeer Alam also allowed the two to name the MACC in their legal action, since the MACC took over from the Anti-Corruption Agency.
Ramli had sued the defendants for their claim that he was the policeman in the Copgate affair and that he had RM27 million in assets.
Subsequently, Ramli was charged with the non-disclosure of some of his assets and the case against him was thrown out. Ramli's lawyer friend Rosli was also hauled up as a result of this.
Ramli, who was a former state Police Chief for Pahang and Sabah, said in his statement of claim that his relationship with Gani soured in 2006.
This was after he met then Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and recommended that former Malaysia Airlines chairperson Tajudin Ramli be prosecuted for the severe losses suffered by the company.
"But the A-G decided not to prosecute Tajudin. I even told the PM then that if the AG was reluctant to prosecute Tajudin, the CCID would have the necessary resources to conduct the prosecution.
"This earned me Gani's permanent displeasure…" Ramli said in his statement of claim.
'A brave decision'
After today's court session, Ramli commended the judge for his brave decision. "I am not doing this for Ramli Yusuff but for the Police Force, some of whom have been victimised as a result of this. And I am also doing this for the serving government officers who have also been victimised.
"I am also seeking closure to an event that has affected my possible career advancement," he said.
The RM27 million investigations had hindered his promotion to be the Inspector-General of Police, he added. This post was subsequently handed over to Musa Hassan.
Rosli, on commending today's High Court decision, said abuses by the public authority have for too long been insulated by invoking the Public Authority Protection Act.
"Today, a brave judge has declared that absolute prosecutorial immunity is anathema to the modern concept of democracy. This is to remind the public authorities that no one is above the law," Rosli said.
Several Police Officers under Ramli's charge have also been prosecuted as a result of the Copgate affair and all of them have acquitted and have been reinstated to their posts during former IGP Ismail Omar's tenure.
Ramli was represented by Harvinderjit Singh, while Chethan Jethwani and Darvindeer Kaur appeared for Rosli. Senior lawyer Tan Sri Cecil Abraham, Rishwant Singh and Senior federal counsel Dato Amarjeet Singh represented the defendants.
Vazeer fixed June 18 for case management to possibly fix trial dates for the hearing.


text:
Is your attic or basement full of clutter? Or is it a spare bedroom,
overflowing closet, a packed garage? Many households acquire a plethora of
items over time. Eventually you may find yourself saturated in clutter. Without
a place for each item to go, clutter can creep up and quickly take over a
Before you purchase a dumpster and toss it all in frustration, consider
working through what you own to find gems in what may be perceived as junk. More
than likely some of the items cluttering your home could be of moderate to
great value and waiting for a new home.
There are a few items you may want to look for that could sell well in
an online auction or estate sale.
You can spot items that are quality made and may retain greater value
by looking at the materials used to make the item. Some things to look for
If you are unsure of an item's value, here are a few ways to tell if it
may be worth a look from an expert, like our Caring Transitions Estate Sale and
Online Auction specialists:
By combining these tips you may find hidden gems in the clutter. Bruce
Treadway, Owner of Caring Transitions of Northern Illinois told Realtor.com
writers, "[w]e have sold restaurant menus for over $100 each and city maps
for over $3,000."
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text:
The ultimate moto icon: Sammy Miller
Peter Howarth writes about the long and storied relationship between motorcycle trial icon Sammy Miller and Belstaff.
In the Belstaff collection today there is a waxed cotton jacket named after Sammy Miller, a replica of a 1955 Trialmaster style. 'I wore Belstaff all my career,' says Miller today, now aged 81. 'In 1954, I entered the Scottish Six Days Trial - I wrote to Belstaff, who made a suit for me to wear. I won the Ben Nevis trophy wearing it in that competition. It's a good company, good waterproof clothing. On one Scottish Six Days event it rained five days of the six. I was the only dry guy out in the field.'
Sammy Miller is five-times winner of the famous Scottish Six Days Trial. He has actually won almost 1,500 motorcycle trials, and was twice European Trials Champion, and was also Irish Motocross Champion. He is, quite simply, a motorcycling legend.
An Ulsterman and an MBE, Miller began racing in 1953. He still competes - and wins - today, but when he's not in the saddle he runs the Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum in New Milton, Hampshire. This is home to one of the finest collections of fully restored motorcycles in the world, with 400 exhibits, including factory racers and unusual prototypes. Miller was British Trials Champion 11 times in a row - his record has never been bettered. He also won nine gold medals in the extraordinarily tough International Six Days Trial between 1959 and 1970. This race - the ISDT, as it was known - has now been renamed the International Six Days Enduro, and is famous for being a competition in which riders have to perform their own repairs. It's a challenging annual endurance motorcycle race that requires off-road skill, which is something Miller knows all about.
'Road racing is all static; the markers and the corners are the same,' he explains. 'But in off-road everything changes instantly with the mud and dirt and stones and rivers. You have to be prepared for the unexpected. I always prefer that, because it's forever different.' Does off-road require more skill, then? 'No question,' he says. 'You'd get many all-rounders and road racers who couldn't cope at all with off-road.' It was at the ISDT in East Germany in 1964 that Miller, on the British team, found himself competing against an American squad that featured a familiar face: none other than Hollywood's king of cool, Steve McQueen. The screen legend famously loved his motorbikes and competed for his country in '64.
Sammy Miller remembers practising with McQueen. The actor was apparently 'a nice guy, good craíc, good fun'. But the gold medal eluded him. That honour was reserved for one of his teammates. 'There was a guy in the US team called Dave Ekins,' says Miller. He set off next to Miller: 'We started in pairs, so the American team told him, "Stay behind Sammy Miller for six days and you will have a gold medal." The crowds called us "Miller and his shadow"! He did, and went back with the only gold medal for the USA team!'
Miller also won gold. And he was wearing Belstaff at the time.
Peter Howarth is executive editor of Brummell.


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Gigantic Art
The streets are his gallery: French artist JR covers walls and streets with huge photographs, bringing to prominence the faces of people who would otherwise remain invisible. The man in the hat has one overall goal: He wants to change the world. Our reporter met up with him in New York City
Outside New York City is roaring and buzzing, a permanent projection surface made up of urban canyons and skyscrapers. Inside sitting on a sofa, is JR – the French poster artist, photographer and activist. "Does size matter?" I ask him. In response, he holds out an oversized illustrated book. On it, a counter-question is emblazoned: "Can Art Change the World?" The massive tome collates his wide-ranging oeuvre to date. JR has already put up huge posters in Brazilian favelas, has glued images on gigantic container ships, and has covered the outside walls of houses in Berlin and parts of the wall between Israel and the West Bank with his photographs. This year at the end of May, he also enveloped the pyramid in the inner courtyard of the Louvre in Paris with his work. For an artist, it does not get much bigger than that.
JR jumps up from the sofa. "It is not a question of size," he explains, "but of the surroundings in which I situate my art." In some cities, his images have to compete with huge, loud and garishly colorful advertisements. On the gray concrete wall at the Israeli border, however, a few small posters suffice to attract people's attention. We are in JR's studio in New York's Nolita neighborhood. In his visitors' book, his guests have left messages for posterity. They, too, are preoccupied with the question whether art can change the world. "Hell, f**k, yeah," enthuses one of them. "I hope so," writes another. I cannot decipher the contribution left by French president François Hollande, but he was here, without any press or cameras. I ask JR what he was like, the president. "I don't judge people, at least not on their politics. If someone wants to pay me a visit and talk to me, they are very welcome," says the artist.
We go downstairs to the studio. Here, three of his employees are working on large wooden walls on which – little by little – people's faces seem to appear. The team glue a printed photo face-down onto the wood and begin the precise, painstaking work of removing the paper layer by layer, until only the ink remains. In some places, where the paper has already been taken off, eyes look back at the observer. On some of the other wooden walls smiles are emerging through the remnants of the paper. JR gives visibility to underdogs. His art gives prominence to the faces of people who would otherwise be overlooked.
In April 2015 he began his struggle for attention in the birthplace of advertising. His stage was the plaza in front of the Flatiron Building in the heart of Manhattan. In partnership with the New York Times, JR wanted to draw attention to the situation of migrants in New York City. He photographed Elmar Aliyev, an immigrant from Azerbaijan (who was 20 at the time), and filled the triangular square between Broadway and Fifth Avenue with his 45-meter photograph. To the business people, tourists and everyone else who walked across the image throughout the following days, however, Elmar remained invisible. Seen from the eye-level of the average pedestrian the photograph simply looked like a massive, gray blur. But the more distance you put between yourself and images of this magnitude, the more clearly you can see them. Viewed from the penthouse terrace, only Elmar was visible; everyone else had shrunk to the size of fleas. JR designs public spaces in an XXL format, but his visual tricks and techniques also work well in a virtual setting.
I am standing in the middle of his studio. The artist hands me an Oculus Rift, the virtual reality headset produced by Facebook. He plugs in his smartphone and the headphones from my voice recorder. My eyes perceive profound darkness and my ears nothing but silence. All of a sudden JR reappears in front of me, but now no longer wearing the white T-shirt he was in just a few seconds ago. Instead he has donned a blue denim shirt and sunglasses. It takes me a few seconds to realize that I am in a 3-D movie. Above, below and behind me, I see a virtual world. In it, I accompany JR through his studio, to the photo shoot with Elmar and to Flatiron Plaza. There, I watch the artist and his team glue Elmar's gigantic poster to the ground.
They printed out the image on hundreds of sheets of paper, which they are now putting in place strip by strip. All of a sudden I hear a loud rattling noise – it's a helicopter right beside me. JR is squatting down in the open door and photographs something just below us. I look down and all of a sudden I am no longer standing in Flatiron Plaza. Under my feet there is only air, a few clouds and Manhattan's high-rise buildings. Somewhere further down, there is solid ground, the plaza featuring Elmar's photograph.
Cut. The opened illustrated book lies in front of us again. A photo shows a mighty container ship, from which two huge eyes look back at the French port city of Le Havre. He is not interested in breaking records, says JR, but it is likely that he has already broken quite a few: It took him and his team ten days to attach 2,600 meters of paper strips to the 363-meter ship and its hundreds of containers, even with the dock workers helping out. The work forms part of the "Women are Heroes" project. It is dedicated to women all over the world "who play an important part in their societies, and nevertheless become the victims of war, sexual violence or religious fanaticism every day," says JR.
The Frenchman approached his first artistic experiments in the same way many other teenagers do. At the age of 16, he climbed through the metro shafts and over the roofs of Paris leaving his tag – a scribbled trademark – on the walls. To this day he owns a copy of the master key used by French mailmen, which provides him with access to the stairwells of almost every building in the city. At the age of 17, JR found a digital camera that someone had left behind on the Paris metro, and started photographing his friends spray-painting graffiti. He then put up these photographs on the outside walls of buildings and on building site fences, and called the project "Expo 2 rue" – street gallery.
Can art change the world? F**k, yeah!
Despite having studied economics and photography since those days, JR uses more or less the same artistic method, only the dimensions have changed. 260,000 people from 129 countries have already taken part in his huge "Inside Out" project. Here, it is no longer JR who selects the subjects. Instead, the participants photograph themselves and send the images to his studio in New York. JR's employees then take care of the logistics. They print each picture on A0-size paper and send it back to the participant. The only condition is that the person must feel strongly about a particular cause and must be supported by 50 people who also care about the issue. It is poster art with a snowball effect. "Previously we were happy with five supporters," explains JR. "But we saw that people just kept the posters for themselves. The more individuals are involved, the stronger the element of social control." A collage of 4,000 portraits has even made it to the North Pole. The group responsible for this wanted to draw attention to the environmental damage done to the Arctic. A similar initiative in Pakistan was dedicated to women working in the textile industry. In Paris 4,000 faces covered the dome and floor of the Pantheon. In Tunisia, following the Arab Spring, activists campaigned for more mutual respect with the aid of JR's art.
In his New York studio there is a huge printer that produces the portraits forwarded for "Inside Out." It hums and churns out large-format sheets of paper every minute. His colleagues in the studio wear a uniform: a white T-shirt, jeans and simple sneakers. Is that a coincidence? "I can't stand logos," says JR, throwing a quick glance my way. Thankfully, my black T-shirt is devoid of any symbols. "We work strictly without sponsors and finance every project ourselves," he explains. To make this possible, the studio also produces smaller-scale works with small print runs, which are sold in galleries. JR also markets lithographs on a website, which are produced in a small print shop in France. The works cost between 540 and 2,760 euros. Each copy is numbered and features JR's signature in the bottom right-hand corner.
Only JR's friends know his real name. "The letters stand for my initials, but I play around with the meaning," he says. "I was once asked to wear a name tag at an event and they insisted on me putting down a first and last name. So I wrote 'Juste Ridicule' (just ridiculous) on the tag." Using the pseudonym allows him to travel under his legal name to countries where he may not be welcome as an artist. This is similar to the approach taken by British artist Banksy, the godfather of political street art whose identity is unknown to this day. JR's disguise consists of a hat and sunglasses, like a sort of hipster Fantômas. As he pushes his moped out of the studio into the street, I wonder whether he also has a key to all the stairwells in New York. In any case, JR most definitely has his camera on him as he disappears into the Manhattan streets.
From the frequent traveller magazine Lufthansa Exclusive. For more information about Lufthansa Miles & More offers, please click here.


text:
We all have a collection of old pantyhose that we can't bear to part with but will never wear again... what about the ones with the pattern that make your legs look like tree trunks, or the purple ones that were supposed to be so fashionable, or the fish nets that dig into your thighs...the list is endless and that doesn't include the ones with runs. Don't throw them out! You can recycle them in many different ways.
1. Make sachets: Cut the legs off the tights and cut each one in half so that you are left with around four pieces of material. Fill each piece with lavender and tie the ends so that you have lavender scented balls. These can go in underwear drawers, and wardrobes to keep away the moths and keep things smelling sweet.
2. Use them for cleaning: Opaque tights, the thicker the better, are great for using as soft dust cloths. Wool tights are also perfect for shining surfaces and mirrors.
3. Use as a strainer: Thin tights are good for straining off liquids such as paints.
4. Stake up plants: Use tights to tie plants to trellises and sticks to support them. Since the tights are stretchy and thin, the plants don't get damaged as they grow.
5. Protect plants: Tights can be used to protect plants or vegetable patches from animals and children. Cut down the side of the tights and stretch them over the vegetable patch or pull the hosiery over the plant and fasten at the base.
6. Fun for children: Make stuffed animals and puppets by stuffing legs with old tissues or newspaper. For fancy dress-up, make a cat's tail the same way.
7. Keep in first aid kit: Tights make a great flexible sling. They can also be used to help apply pressure to bandage over a wound.
8. Arm warmers: Leg warmers are in style now and if you want to go one stage further then use a pair of tights as arm warmers. Wool tights are great for keeping arms warm.
9. Emergency fan belt: If the fan belt of your car snaps, hope that someone is wearing tights. Wait for the engine to cool down and tie the tights tightly where the belt was. This is only a temporary measure to get you home.
10. Storage: A leg of tights is great for storing rolls of wallpaper and posters. Cut the waistband out and tie it around the legs stored with wallpaper or posters so that they stay in place.
Related on MNN:
- How to dispose of 8 odd, seemingly difficult-to-recycle items
- What can I do with T-shirts that are too worn out to donate?
- 14 examples of eco-fashion gone too far
This story was originally written for Treehugger. Copyright 2009.


text:
Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn has been charged with two misdemeanor counts of battery and vandalism stemming from a run-in with a photographer outside the Brentwood Country Mart on October 12, 2009.
According to the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office, Penn allegedly kicked the paparozzo during an the altercation in which the photographer's camera lens was also damaged.
Penn is expected to be arraigned March 22 at the Airport Branch Courthouse. If his case goes to trial and there's a conviction, Penn could face up to 18 months in county jail.
U.S. & World
While Penn may be known for his hot temper -- he's also known for his humanitarian efforts. After returning from Haiti where he was involved in helping in the earthquake relief effort with politician John Edwards, Penn and philanthropist Diana Jenkins set up the Jenkins-Penn Haitian Relief Organization to raise money for continued aid to victims of the earthquake's devastation. During a recent appearance on "Larry King Live" Penn said he is planning a return trip to Haiti to help relocate people before the rainy season begins.
The Vancouver Winter Games are here!
Check out NBCLA's full coverage, complete with athlete profiles, amazing photo galleries, and more! Fan us on Facebook, and follow us via Twitter @NBCLosAngeles


text:
279 Palm Terrace Loop, Conway
Home is to be built !The "Parkhill" Floor Plan located in the highly desired "Rivertown Row" Community offers all of the right features and benefits. Features available, but are not limited to: Great Open Floor Plan with no wasted space, Large Foyer area, large eat in Kitchen, , Covered Rear Porch with separate 10x14 Grilling Patio- All of the homes in Rivertown Row come STANDARD with the Luxury of Natural Gas (Tank less Hot water Heater, Gas Heat, and Gas Stove and Oven), 36" and 42" "Profiled" Kitchen Cabinets with Crown Molding, Stainless Steel Appliances, Large Pantry, Completely trimmed and painted garage with drop down storage access which is floored for your convenience, "Low E" Energy efficient windows, upgraded insulation package, Landscaped and Sodded Yard, and so much more. All of the homes in Rivertown Row are built with a "Maintenance Free" Lifestyle in mind. Rivertown Row in Conway's most highly desired New Home community that is very conveniently located near shopping, world class medical offices and hospitals, restaurants, schools, and only 15 Miles to Myrtle Beach.
21A Conway central between 501 & 701 / north of 50
Electricity Available, Phone Available, Sewer Available, Cable Available, Natural Gas Available, Other
Attached, Garage, Two Car Garage, Garage Door Opener
Dishwasher, Disposal, Microwave, Range
© Copyright 2020 of the Coastal Carolinas Association of REALTORS® MLS.
IDX information is provided by the Coastal Carolinas Association of REALTORS® for consumer's personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties consumers may be interested in purchasing, data is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed accurate by the MLS.


text: Friday, November 08, 2013 Activity Limitation Rates Rising Faster Than Predicted Overall arthritis rates rose as expected in the United States between 2010 and 2012, but the incidence of arthritis-attributable activity limitation (AAAL) exceeded projections, with an estimated 22.7 million Americans—nearly half of the estimated 52.5 million with arthritis—suffering with symptoms that limited normal physical activity. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the numbers this week and called for "greater use of evidence-based interventions" to battle the effects of AAAL. The CDC report on arthritis and AAAL summarizes the results of the National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS) conducted in 2010, 2011, and 2012, and compares these to its predictions for the disease. In its projections CDC estimated that arthritis would affect 55.7 million Americans by 2015—an estimate that it says is still on target given the new numbers. What surprised the CDC was the rate of increase of AAAL, which has passed the 22 million mark predicted for 2020, and "might exceed the 25 million projection for 2030." Editorial notes accompanying the report point to the incidence of comorbidities such as heart disease and diabetes as contributing to the higher-than-expected rise in AAAL and recommend greater attention to education and exercise. "An opportunity for collaboration is the dissemination of information regarding evidence-based self-management education and physical activity interventions that have been proven to reduce pain and improve function, mood, confidence to manage health, and quality of life," the report states. "The physical activity interventions recommended are appropriate exercise regimens intended to reduce activity limitations and … assuage concerns over aggravating the condition." The APTA website offers multiple resources on exercise and arthritis, including an online course focused on exercise prescription for older adults with osteoarthritis. Comments The CDC could help educate the NIH and other government departments about their use of faulty inferences and omissions about physical theraptist practice in their educational messages and handouts to the public. In this public message about arthritis and aging (http://www.nia.nih.gov/health/publication/arthritis-advice#.UoDgQmt5mSM), the NIH is supporting the NIA's faulty inferences and omissions about the role of physical therapist practice by not mentioning the benefits of exercise prescribed by physical therapists. General exercise is discussed as is medicines and surgery that may be prescribed by the doctor. Here is another example (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/patientinstructions/000094.htm) in which the NIH publically recommends that people with congestive heart failure can get exercise advice from physical therapists or trainers, of course after seeing their doctor. Posted by Lise McCarthy on 11/11/2013 9:00 AM


text:
White Sox starter Jake Peavy made another rehab appearance on Friday, pitching 5 2/3 strong innings for Triple-A Charlotte. Peavy allowed seven hits and three runs, but struck out eight batters while throwing 85 pitches, 62 for strikes.
"I gave up a few runs, a two-run homer late, but I made a lot of good pitches," said Peavy. "I couldn't feel any better stuff-wise. I thought I was much better than I've been in the past. I feel better than I have in quite some time."
So what's next?
"Hopefully, I have one or two more [starts] before I come back," said Peavy. "I'd like to go in five days, and I expect my body to respond. But I think Charlotte is off Wednesday, so I'm not sure. I'll just take it in stride. Maybe they'll send me to [Double-A] Birmingham. We'll see."
Peavy's next (last?) rehab start is Wednesday, May 4, at AA Birmingham. The Sox play at the Angels 5 days later, May 9.


text: The CPWplus line of industrial scales offers an expanded selection of models with capacities to meet more applications than ever. Easy to use, the CPWplus combines reliability and durability for weighing tasks in material testing, shipping and receiving, office, industrial and agricultural applications. With an RS232 interface, a hold function, and a large display with a remote indicator the CPWplus line gives you a versatile scale forless money.


text:
Our "How To" page has great suggestions for using modeling chocolate.
|White and dark chocolate (sugar, cocoa solids, cocoa butter, milk solids, soy lecithin, vanilla) glucose, vegetable color, cornstarch, gum tragacanth. Contains soy and milk products. Prepared on equipment used for other foods including peanuts and tree nuts.
Use and Storage
|READY TO USE: Roll and cut or shape by hand. If too soft or sticky, cool. If hard, knead lightly or warm for
just a few seconds in the microwave.
WORK IN STAGES: let pieces rest and firm a bit before attaching together or additional shaping.
If the modeling chocolate melts, the cocoa butter can separate out. To bring it back together knead lightly
on a cool surface, cooling and mixing to incorporate the fat back into the mass.
TO COLOR: Use liquid or paste colors, water based powders that have been dissolved in just a little water
or oil based powders dissolved in just a little oil or cocoa butter.
STORE: tightly covered as the surface will dry out. For short-term and use keep at room temperature. If not using for several days keep tightly covered in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature. Modeling chocolate will keep for one month or longer at room temperature and for one year if refrigerated or frozen. Cold or dry modeling chocolate can be softened by warming in the microwave just a few seconds (really) at a time - carefully! Colors may fade when exposed to light.
Educational Information
Modeling chocolate is easy to use
Decorate a gingerbread house, cake, cupcakes - delicious fun for all ages!
Additional Information
|Our "How To" page has great suggestions for using modeling chocolate.
| Milk: YES
Eggs: NO
Peanuts: NO
Tree nuts: NO
Fish :NO
Shellfish: NO
Soy: YES
Wheat: NO
|We do our best to keep our equipment free of allergens but cannot be certain that there has been no cross contamination of ingredients at any point in our sourcing and production. None of the ingredients contain gluten or wheat.
|Natural white, Natural dark, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green


text:
A scalable approach to speeding physical verification
| EE Times: Latest News
A scalable approach to speeding physical verification
| Rahul Kapoor, Marilyn Adan, and Louis Schaffer
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=23904803
| Physical verification runtimes and memory usage have exploded with the increasing number of design rules, their subsequent complexity and the size of chips to be verified. While a traditional approach focuses on speeding up code execution through running multiple threads on multi-CPU (and more expensive) machines, a higher price/performance ratio can be achieved through an optimal combination of distributed processing and multi-threading.
Such a solution also offers better scalability, benefiting from the current trend towards adopting a network of inexpensive Linux machines. On the other hand, such an approach would have to tackle the issues of data versus command distribution across machines, network latency, ease of setup, and peak memory usage. This article uses real world examples to demonstrate the need for a scalable solution, and provides some sample performance points delivered by such a solution.
Physical verification has always been associated with DRC (design rule checking) or LVS (layout versus schematic). While a physical verification tool has many more applications, such as layout post-processing and optical proximity correction, runtime always depends heavily on both the size of the layout to be verified and number of rules to be checked. These two parameters are increasing with every new design.
With over 100 million gates at 90nm, and the average number of design rules expected to be upwards of 700 (figure 1) at 90nm, it is no surprise that physical verification runtimes on larger designs may be measured in days (sometimes weeks!) rather than hours. Despite this, designers are frequently requesting an overnight turnaround time (TAT), based on the need to achieve at least one turn every day or see the results after an overnight run. Turnaround concern is accentuated even more because physical verification is run as a last step before sending the layout to the foundry.
Figure 1 � Quadrupling of design checks from 180nm to 90nm
Figure 2 shows how the physical verification task can be thought of as several runset commands running on a layout (full chip or block) producing an error output and a modified layout. To reduce the turnaround time over a single CPU run mode, an optimal processing platform should be able to determine the right combination of runset command, and find the portion of the layout to which the command is applicable. These combinations can be sent to separate CPUs and the results can be reassembled at the end.
Figure 2 � System view of physical verification problem
In practice, two approaches have been used to reduce TAT:
Distributed processing
For distributed processing, an advanced scheduler sorts the commands inside a runset and distributes individual commands to separate CPUs. The distribution can be across multiple machines with multiple CPUs, or on a single machine with multiple CPUs. The distribution of individual commands requires that each distributed compute engine (usually a CPU) has the capability to independently process separate commands.
As an example of distributed processing, a runset might have separate commands for metal 1 to metal 1 checks and metal 2 to metal 2 checks. Since there is no layer dependency, these checks can be performed independently. As one CPU performs the metal 1 to metal 1 check, another CPU can perform the metal 2 to metal 2 spacing check simultaneously.
The throughput of the verification run is increased by almost a factor of two. The memory usage of both commands running together is managed by only loading the relevant layer data. It is rare for both the commands to achieve peak memory usage simultaneously.
The first challenge for distributed processing is programming the scheduler to organize commands based on input and output layer dependencies. The information about layer dependence is used to determine when a command will be run. Boolean, spacing, and data preparation commands benefit the most from this layer information. The scheduler also has to track connectivity dependencies to ensure that commands requiring connectivity information are run in the proper order.
The second challenge for distributed processing is to eliminate the "pinch points" in the code. Pinch points are the areas of code that artificially prevent commands from being distributed across the CPUs.
As an example, many connectivity commands rely on the prior connection of layers in a certain order. This preset connection, or connect database, is used to run one command. The connection can then be enhanced or modified to run another command. Instead of the second command waiting for the first command to finish, the connect database can be automatically replicated by the scheduler across the CPUs so both commands can run in parallel.
As an example, the antenna rules for a regular MOS and a high power MOS may be different. However, both devices have the same connectivity through all of the metal layers in the design. A special recognition layer is used to identify the high power MOS device. Otherwise the device layers which create the high power MOS are the same as the regular MOS. Thus, replicating the common connectivity for parallel processing on separate CPUs can eliminate the pinch point.
Separate processes (such as TCP/IP) are used to communicate between the different components of a distributed run. This allows distributed runs on multiple machines across a network. Excellent utilization (figure 3a) has been achieved running across a network.
Figure 3a � 90 percent utilization in networked configuration
Distributed processing depends on the scalability of the runset. The more separate and independent sequences of commands, the more benefit extra CPUs can be expected to provide. Connectivity dependency and layer dependency can limit the number of commands that can be run simultaneously.
A good rule of thumb is to use as many CPUs as number of metal levels in the runset. Thus, distributed processing can speed up the verification process significantly. Figure 3b shows the 7x speedup using 10 CPUs for a 90nm TSMC runset. Inexpensive Linux based machines were used across a LAN to achieve this scalability.
Figure 3b � 7-fold speedup with distributed processing
Multithreading enables the execution of a single command simultaneously on different pieces of a layout, which increases throughput. The layer data used by a command is cut into multiple regions. These separate regions within a layer can be loaded and processed by separate threads in parallel.
As an example, a metal 1 to metal 1 spacing check is multi-threaded between two CPUs. A single image of all of the metal 1 in the design is loaded into machine memory. Each CPU process, or thread, will perform the spacing check on different regions of the metal layer. The memory required is controlled by the number of regions that the layer has been separated into.
It is useful to think of multithreading breaking the design into regions. The number of regions can vary by design, and there are typically more regions than the number of CPUs (each CPU runs one thread.) Larger designs will use more regions to allow more multithreading and better memory management.
Multiple threads running at the same time handle the work on these regions. If the number of regions is greater than the number of CPUs, then a thread will start work on the next available region after completing work on a region.
A shared memory approach can constrain the multi-threading performance. Different threads use shared memory to communicate with each other as commercial implementations actively avoid costly disk access. For small to medium designs, a shared memory approach yields fast processing, but very large designs can cause extensive memory swapping to occur.
Combining multi-threading and distributed processing
While both multi-threading and distributed processing are currently in use to achieve overnight runtimes for larger 130nm and 90nm designs today, more efficient hardware architectures are evolving to meet the overnight TAT for future designs.
An important step in this direction is to recognize that distributed processing and multithreading are complimentary. Distributed processing can be used for servers across a network, while multithreading can be used on multiple CPUs on each server, allowing users to get the most out of lower-cost dual-CPU servers.
Thus, two CPU servers can be utilized over the network with two threads each. This combination will take advantage all of four CPUs available. Distributed processing and multithreading may also be run on a single server with multiple CPUs. A 4 CPU server can be effectively utilized by running a 2 CPU distributed run with 2 threads per distributed engine. This will utilize all four CPUs, with the advantages of parallelism both at the runset level and at the command level.
As an example of combining distributed processing and multithreading, consider the how metal 1 and metal 2 checks described above could benefit. The first step could be to distribute metal 1 and metal 2 checking commands between two different dual-CPU machines. This is possible because distributed processing can utilize compute resources on different machines.
Once distribution is complete, the spacing commands could be multi-threaded between the two different CPUs on each machine. The multi-threading reduces the memory required to execute the single command, while simultaneously boosting performance.
This trend to run combined distributed processing and multi-threading also utilizes the trend towards inexpensive Linux clusters. 32 bit Linux servers are cost effective, but are limited by the maximum amount of accessible memory. A future challenge is to control peak memory utilization and optimize distributed processing over the network to take advantage of this low cost solution. Currently, 32 bit Linux servers are limited to medium and small designs, while higher capacity designs are benefiting from 64 bit servers.
Figure 4 � Multi-threading complements distributed processing
Figure 4 shows how multi-threading can provide a substantial speedup after distributed processing gains start leveling off. In the example, two threads were run on each of the six servers, needing 12 CPUs.
Designers continue to demand overnight turnaround time, despite a growing number of checks and higher data sizes at 90nm and beyond. To meet the TAT requirement, a physical verification tool can use distributed processing to exploit runset parallelism and multithreading to exploit data parallelism. Using data generated by Synopsys' Physical Verification Solution, Hercules PVS, this paper illustrates how both approaches can be combined to tackle the turnaround challenge for largest chips now and for future processes.
Rahul Kapoor joined Synopsys in 2003 as marketing manager for Physical Verification. In that capacity, Mr. Kapoor handles the business development and marketing plans for Synopsys' physical verification products and platforms. Before coming to Synopsys, Mr. Kapoor was a senior design engineer for Intel.
Marilyn Adan joined Synopsys in 2002 as technical marketing manager. Her primary role is to ensure that product development is focused to meet customers' current and future needs. Before joining Synopsys, she was a technology manager at Raza Foundries where she ensured partner companies met schedules and performed technical due diligence on potential investments.
Louis Schaffer joined Synopsys in 2001 and is currently a corporate applications engineer. In that capacity, he performs benchmarks for a variety of customers. Before joining Synopsys, Mr. Schaffer was in graduate school at Clemson, where he earned his MSEE.
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Industries Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act of 2013
May 31, 2017
On August 9, 2013, President Obama signed into law the "Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act of 2013" . The Act, among other things:
(1) exempts certain conduit hydropower facilities from the licensing requirements of the Federal Power Act (FPA);
(2) amends Section 405 of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to define "small hydroelectric power projects" as having an installed capacity that does not exceed 10,000 kilowatts;
(3) authorizes the Commission to extend the term of preliminary permits once for not more than 2 additional years beyond the 3 years previously allowed under Section 5 of the FPA; and
(4) directs the Commission to investigate the feasibility of a 2-year licensing process for hydropower development at non-powered dams and closed-loop pump storage projects.
Qualifying Conduit Facilities: Please follow the links below for guidance on how to file a notice of intent to construct a qualifying conduit facility, an application for a small hydropower exemption, and an application to amend a preliminary permit term.


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text:
Single row deep groove ball bearings for saw
A wide variety of designs exist including reciprocating:
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text:
Re: Brillouin function for a Ferromagnet
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg111162] Re: Brillouin function for a Ferromagnet
- From: Themis Matsoukas <tmatsoukas at me.com>
- Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2010 05:43:35 -0400 (EDT)
Your question is ambiguous: 1. Are you using regular math notation, or Mathematica notation? It appears you are using both, which makes it difficult to decipher the meaning of (), [], B_J. 2. Did you mean to say B_J[x]=... ? 3. Is J a known constant, or an unknown to be obtained from the fit? Themis > First I have to apologize if this is too basic for > this forum... I have some temperature dependent > magnetization data from a FeNi-alloy. The measurement > was done from RT up to the Curie temperature T_c of > the alloy. I want to compare my data to a Brillouin > function with different angular momenta J. Basically > I have to solve > > M/M_0=B_J[(T_c/T)(M/M_0)], > with > B_J=(2J+1/J)coth[(2J+1/2J)x]-(1/2J)coth[x/2J], > where > M_0 is the saturation magnetization > > How do I basically solve this and in parallel fit it > to my data? In principle I want to obtain M_0 and > T_c. My data consists of M(T). > > Thank you for your interest and answers, > Frank >


text:
Rise Up Against Bullying
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