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Louise Heusinkveld
Louise's interests have always been concentrated on travel and the arts, in spite of her first career being spent entirely in the world of science. She is fortunate that her husband's career has taken her to far flung destinations and allowed many opportunities for world wide travel. She contributes her travel and nature images to several stock agencies, and her flower and garden imagery to a specialist garden agency.
Louise was born in the UK, and raised in Toronto, Canada. Louise's first career was in library and information management, working with scientific research companies in Canada, and then at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York. After her husband's career took them overseas, Louise held a number of short-term positions as a librarian, but since 2007 she has been a full-time freelance photographer. She is currently based in South Carolina, and travels frequently to world wide destinations including England, France, Malaysia, and Australia.
All works by Louise Heusinkveld
from the gallery of Louise Heusinkveld


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Sportbike Rider Picture Website
Sportbike Rider Picture Website will Cease Operations on May 30, 2023
Our decision to close the website was not an easy one, but unfortunately, we have been facing financial difficulties due to the lack of advertising revenue available for personal websites.
Despite our best efforts to generate revenue through alternative means, such as donations and subscriptions, we were unable to sustain our operations. We would like to thank our visitors
for their understanding and support during this difficult time. We have truly appreciated the opportunity to serve our community for the past 25 years and will deeply miss being a part of it.
Please be sure to join our Facebook Pages for all our photos ( Sportbike Rider Picture Website, Sportbike Babes, Streetbike Rider Picture Website, & Sportcar Pictures ).
|More Information on the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R
The Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R or ZX 1000 E is a Kawasaki sport bike, the successor to the ZX-9R. It was originally released in 2004 with minor revisions in 2005. It combines an ultra-narrow chassis, low weight, and radial brakes. In 2004 and 2005 the ZX-10R won Best Superbike from Cycle World magazine, and the international Masterbike competition.
Kawasaki engineers used a stacked design for a liquid-cooled, 998 cc (60.9 cu in) inline four-cylinder engine. The crankshaft axis, input shaft and output shaft of the Ninja ZX-10R engine are positioned in a triangular layout to reduce engine length, while the high-speed generator is placed behind the cylinder bank to reduce engine width. With a bore and stroke of 76 mm × 55 mm (3.0 in × 2.2 in), the ZX-10R engine's one-piece cylinder and crankcase assembly reduces weight and increases rigidity. The DOHC are machined from chromoly steel built for strength, four valves per cylinder improve high-rpm breathing, and the forged, lightweight pistons offer high heat resistance to further enhance the bike's power-to-weight ratio.
Cooling system
In addition to liquid cooling, the ZX-10R engine has an oil cooler adjacent to the oil filter to reduce oil temperatures. Slosh analysis was also used to design the internal structure of the oil pan, thereby reducing windage losses and helping to maintain low oil temperatures.
A multi-plate wet slipper clutch transfers power to a six-speed, close-ratio transmission ideal for closed-course competition. The back-torque limiter automatically disengages the clutch (partially) under hard downshifting at high engine speeds to prevent rear wheel hop during corner entry.
A new six spoke wheel design is claimed to be almost as light as special purpose race wheels. Since the 2006 model the sidewall profile of the rear tire has been increased from 190/50/ZR17 to 190/55/ZR17.
The 2004 model was the debut of the Ninja ZX-10R. It was compact with a short wheelbase and a high power-to-weight ratio, which helped the handling. The exhaust system was fully titanium with single muffler.
Among other changes, the 2006 model had twin underseat exhausts which contributed to a 5 kg (11 lb) increase in dry weight. The engine remained largely unchanged.
The 2006 ZX1000D6F model carried over to the 2007 model year, with only color scheme changes. The most noticeable difference between 2006 and 2007 is that the heat-shields on the exhaust pipes are black on the 2007 ZX10R, and 2006 came with silver ones.
The ZX-10R was all new for its launch for the 2008 model year. There was a dramatic change in appearance with the bike with a much more angular front end. Kawasaki moved away from the twin underseat exhausts of the 2006–2007 model to a more conventional single side exhaust. The compression ratio of the engine was raised.
The 2009 model received only slight changes from the 2008 model.
The 2010 model received slight changes from the 2009 model, including, upgraded Öhlins steering damper, upgraded transmission, and revised bodywork.
The 2011 ZX-10R underwent major overhaul both mechanically and visually. Most notably, Kawasaki introduced their Sport Kawasaki Traction Control (S-KTRC) system as standard. It predicts when traction will be lost and adapts accordingly. Also new are an ABS option called Kawasaki Intelligent Braking System (KIBS), a completely new design, adjustable foot-pegs, larger throttle bodies, a horizontal rear suspension, lighter three-spoke wheels, Showa Big Piston Fork (BPF) front suspension, and an LCD panel dashboard. The 2012 model is identical to the 2011 with the only exception being the slightly different paint schemes offered. In 2013 the models went under another small revision where the colors offered changed again and the front dampener was replaced with an Ohlins electronic front steering dampener. In 2014 the only changes were different colors. In 2015 the only color offered was black, alongside a 30th anniversary edition (in EU, a green color is also offered).
Tom Sykes in 2013 became the first Superbike World Champion for Kawasaki since Scott Russell and the first on a ZX-10R. Stuart Easton won the 2014 Macau Grand Prix. Jonathan Rea won the 2015 Superbike World Championship season. Jeremy Toye holds the Heavyweight (Open) lap record at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.
The 2016 ZX-10R received a major update. With a claimed 210 hp with ram-air intake at 13,000 rpm. The electronics now use a Bosch five-axis Internal Measurement Unit (IMU). A sixth degree is calculated by proprietary Kawasaki software. The S-KTRC updated with a added launch control mode a quickshifter and engine brake control. Also optional smarter KIBS cornering ABS. Because of its predictive as opposed to reactive nature, Kawasaki touts this system of S-KTRC as the most advanced of all current traction control systems. Some of the changes mechanically that are now lighter are the slipper clutch, balancer,crankshaft as well as pistons. A less restrictive air filter and larger air box as well as a lighter less restrictive exhaust system. A new transmission that is cassette style is vertically stacked. The previous petal rotors that have been in use since 2004 are now replaced with circular rotors. They are now also larger from 310 mm (12.2 in) to now 330 mm (13.0 in). The calipers are now Brembo M50 Monoblock and the master cylinder is a radial Brembo. The brake lines are now braided stainless-steel. A first for production sport bikes a 43 mm Showa Balance Free Fork derived from WSBK. Kawasaki also offers Race Kit parts for chassis and engine.
External links
Official website
The photo 2005-Kawasaki-Ninja-ZX-10R-330055-GP.jpg (2005 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R - Uploaded for: fikethebike
2005 Kawasaki ZX-10R) was uploaded by: [email protected].
Please note, we do not have accessories, motorbikes, motor cycles, motorcycles, or motorcycle gear for sale. This site is dedicated to displaying bike images of Aprilia, Bimota, Harley Davidson, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Triumph, Yamaha, and other sportbikes.

subset: commoncrawl


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Today in the news: Sea foam takes over Australian town
Hot video: Australian beach town blanketed in sea foam
News to know
Brendan Marrocco, the first soldier to survive losing all four limbs. has received a double arm transplant, the Associated Press reports. It is the seventh operation of its type performed in the U.S.
Marrocco received both limbs and bone marrow from a single donor as part of a strategy to reduce the risk of the limbs being rejected by Marrocco's body.
Marrocco and his surgeon have planned a press conference for Tuesday to discuss the surgery.
Quote of note
"This doesn't mean that I'm taking leave from you. ... I still will be able to meet many of you. I am deeply thankful for the faith that you've had in me ... in all these years that I've been able to be queen." - Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, who announced to day in a televised speech that she will be abdicating the throne. Her son, Prince Willem-Alexander, will take her place as monarch.
GateHouse News Service


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Kathleen Parker: Time to diversify Santa
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer.
And a penguin?
In case you missed the most pressing issue of the season — Santa's race — Fox News' Megyn Kelly reaped a whirlwind when she recently declared that not only is Santa white but so was Jesus.
"Santa is what he is," she said. "Just because it makes you feel uncomfortable doesn't mean it has to change. You know, I mean, Jesus was a white man, too."
Kelly was directing her verdict to Slate blogger Aisha Harris, who wrote that Santa should be a penguin instead of a "fat white guy." Harris recounted growing up with two Santas, one black and one white, but felt ashamed that her Santa was overshadowed by the more broadly accepted, default white Santa.
Not surprisingly, Kelly's commentary earned her ridicule, mockery and a full-scale national debate (at least on cable TV, where time must be filled) and absurd charges of racism. Where is Chris Crocker when you need him: "Leave Megyn alone! She's a human!"
Had Kelly ignored the article, we might not be engaged in this consequential conversation. No one but Kelly even mentioned Jesus. Instead, she has learned the lesson once articulated by P.J. O'Rourke: "Just as some things are too strange for fiction, others are too true for journalism."
Obviously, Santa has always been white — at least in white households. And Jesus has to be white. Haven't you seen all those stained-glass windows?
Except, seriously, he probably wasn't. A Jew living in the Middle East 2,000 years ago — pre-sunscreen, not to mention at least 40 days wandering in the desert — Jesus probably wasn't the light-skinned, brown-haired, sometimes blue-eyed lad most Americans of a certain age thought they knew.
As a child I often wondered how black people felt about Jesus and, therefore, God being white. There was a lovely little African-American church on the corner of Gervais and Millwood in Columbia, S.C., where I visited family during the summer, that featured the familiar image of Jesus kneeling in Gethsemane. He was beautiful in a Brad Pitt Legends-of-the-Fall kind of way, so I had a little crush. But I never passed that church without also thinking about the worshipers inside. Didn't they want a Jesus who looked like them?
And, by extrapolation, a Santa?
Well, yes, it turns out that many did and do, including Harris.
This story would have no flippers if it didn't hint at a larger issue that isn't really about race. The skin color of magical elves who fly around in reindeer-drawn sleighs is a far easier conversation than the broader iconoclasm that is really at the root of what Kelly perhaps intuited but failed to convey. But then cable TV, tethered as it is to hits, blips and buzz, doesn't often lend itself to deep reflection.
It should be no surprise that, as demographics shift, so do cultural icons. It is also understandable that such challenges would be unsettling to many, but there are more sophisticated ways of discussing them without resorting to "The War on (fill in the blank)."
Among other reasons, war demands victory rather than understanding.
At first glance, Santa, the most innocent of icons, seems a gratuitous target for revision. Looking closer, however, diversifying Santa in a nation that elected a black president seems appropriate. When you make up stuff, you can make it up again.
Besides, very young children are oblivious to race. Assuming no racial animus at home, most children would as eagerly climb on the lap of a jolly black Santa as a white one (or any other race/ethnicity). They only want the thrill of the gift and the reassurance (note to New York's brawling Santas) that all is right with the world.
This is the true gift of Santa. He is a gentle grandfather — a benevolent figure to whom all impossibilities can be presented and conquered. As such, he is a human gesture of kindness to children whose innocence will be ravaged soon enough.
Myths transcend race and serve purposes beyond the material. They elevate our spirits, impart hope and convey values: It is better to give than to receive. Such lessons are more pleasantly absorbed when visions of sugar plums are dancing in our heads.
Which is probably what Kelly meant to say, and might have added: Just because something makes you comfortable doesn't mean you shouldn't change it.
Email Parker at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Hi again everyone! It's Maria from Not Only Quilts and I'm so happy to be back here at Moda Bake Shop to share my third tutorial with you all. This time we'll be making a really fancy pot holder!
"Just a pot holder?" you say. "How boring!"
Well, this pot holder is anything but boring; it's fancy and fun to make. =)
And the folded star technique you learn here can be used for so many other things: make it bigger for a pillow cover or make it smaller for an adorable ornament! It's the perfect way to use a few spare fat quarters for a gift. I recommend you read the entire tutorial before beginning this project.
6 Fat Quarters (Flurry by Kate Spain)
Disappearing marker
Color matched thread
Cotton batting
Step 1 – Selecting fabrics
Choose 4 FQ's (Fat Quarters) that coordinate nicely: these will be your star.
And choose 1 FQ for backing, and 1 FQ for drawing, and sewing on.
Step 2 – Cutting
* Cut (1) 10″ x 10″ square from your backing fabric and (1) 10 x 10″ of your drawing and sewing fabric. For one of these squares I substituted the drawing and sewing one with an ugly fabric from my scrap bin as it won't be visible when we're done). That's all we need and the rest can be placed in your scrap bin.
* We will cut each of the 4 FQ's we selected for the star into (16) 3″ x 4″ pieces.
First cut (3) 4″ strips from the 18″ long side of your FQ. We do it from this side to get as much leftover fabric as possible. Then sub-cut these strips in 3″ sections until you have 16 (you will get 18 from the strips through). Repeat this for all 4 FQ's.
* From the fabric that you choose as your bottom fabric (see step 5), cut two 5″ squares. Split them in half diagonally so you end up with 4 triangles.
* Use the leftovers from one of the star FQ's for binding.
Step 3 – Drawing
On your background square, with a ruler and a pen, draw lines from corner to corner, and then from middle to middle, like this.
Step 4 – Ironing
Bring your 64 rectangles over to your ironing board. On the 4″ long side, fold down about a 1/4 inch towards the wrong side of the fabric and iron it. Do this for all rectangles; it gets a little repetitive, yes…
Step 5 – Select layout
Now we're going to select the layout of our star. Here are some of my test versions. You should have 8 pieces in the layout, 2 of each fabric. I ended up going with #1 because it felt nicely tied together when it started and ended with the same color and slowly faded to blue and back to green.
Step 6 – Creating the star base
Now we're going to start making the star. First we need to get all the pieces in place, keep the test version you decided to go with next to you when doing this for reference, as it's easy to accidentally get the fabric in the wrong order.
Start with the vertical line; place your centerpiece exactly by the horizontal line the fold at the line, right side up while still centered over the vertical line. A scant ½" down, place your next piece and pin in place, this distance has to be the same all around your star so it's very important you keep it still. In my photo below, you can see my reference pile next to it. =)
Place the rest of the pieces a scant 1/4″ down from each other's edges and pin in place. Try to keep this measurement the same all around your star since your star will be wonky otherwise.
Repeat for the other side of the line until you have this. Make sure the top pieces on each side touch but don't overlap. This is very important.
Draw a line in the middle of your pieces (5″ in from the edge) using a disappearing marker and sew along the line using your walking foot – otherwise you risk your pieces shifting. Choose a thread that blends in nicely with your bottom fabric (in my case, the solid green) because it will be most visible there.
Remove the pins from your first row so you can flip the fabric from side to side. Complete your second row using the exact same measurements, carefully folding away the already stitched in place row and keeping your top piece touching them, but not overlapping, like this.
Draw your centerline with the disappearing marker and sew in place. This time you have to first sew one side, and then the other so backstitch a few stitches in the center.
Now we've come to the diagonal rows. This is where it get's a little bulky but as long as you take your time to make sure that the center of your top fabric really meet the others without overlapping, you will be able to get a beautiful star.
Do this for all 4 diagonal lines. Draw a centerline (you can draw it from the middle fold to the drawn line on your background fabric) and sew in place. Voila! You've sewn all of your pieces in place. Now it is time for folding! =)
Step 7 – Folding your star
This step might seem complicated but it really isn't, it just requires patience and maybe one or two practice folding rounds. So the first time, you might want to just pin in place and see where that leaves you because it can be a little tricky to get the folds even the first time.
Many of the written descriptions below can seem very confusing, however, just click the photo below them and enlarge it and it should become crystal clear what I'm trying to get across. =)
Separate two piles of fabric by flipping them to the sides, like this.
Starting on your right hand side, take the top piece, fold it over, wrong side towards wrong side so you get a triangle with a little leftover at the bottom. Enlarge the photo below and you'll see exactly what I mean.
Lie it down towards the scrap fabric like so.
And fold it back over towards the seam again, right side to right side and the first fold is done!
While holding onto your right side fold, do the same thing to the left one. Fold it wrong side towards wrong side.
Lie it down towards the scrap fabric and then fold it back over towards the seam on the left side.
And the first star center is complete! Now we only need to do the single folds for the rest of the pieces.
On the right side (always start from the same side), fold it down, wrong side to wrong side like we did with the first two pieces.
Then simply lay it over your already folded pieces.
Fold the left one the exact same way.
While holding the one's you've already folded in place, fold the next layer too.
Pin in place.
And then sew a sort of V shaped row of stitches, high enough to secure all three layers but away from the parts that will be visible when folded, like this.
Fold two more and stitch again.
And repeat. Make sure you remove all pins after sewing because it will be very difficult to retrieve them afterward. =)
For the last fabric, only pin in place… don't sew yet.
Repeat 8 times, until the star is ready. Admire your hard work a little before continuing.
Now you can add batting and backing, sew around the edges, and cut a circle to make a round potholder. I preferred a squared one so I'll be attaching some corners to it.
Step 8 – Finish the front
Now we're going to take the 4 triangles we've already cut and use them to make our piece square. I made them big so no matter how you've folded, they should cover your ends. I can't give you exact measurements here as it depends a little on how far apart you've placed your pieces and how you've folded. So here we do a little trial and error. Place your triangles wrong side up far enough up to cover the folds of your star but low enough to cover the corners when folded down, again a couple of pictures are more explanatory I think:
Before stitching, flip over your pinned triangles to make sure they cover all they should, like so:
Stitch along your pinned rows to get them in the correct position. Trim off the triangle edges sticking out.
Step 8 – Back, batting and quilting
Add batting (I use just one layer of normal cotton batting, this potholder has so many layers of fabric, you really don't need any extra protection from heat when using it) and backing to your little potholder. Baste and quilt as desired, I choose to do a simple echo of the star shape.
Step 9 – Binding
I know most of you already know how to do this, so then just skip this part and bind with your preferred method. But I remember from making my very own first potholders how difficult it was to get a decent looking edge and hanger on the darn thing, so in case there's anyone else out there like me a few years back, this section is for you =)
Cut two 2″ long strips from your desired binding fabric from the 18″ end, join them to make one continuous binding strip. We're going to make single fold binding, so 2″ wide is wide enough.
Fold the strip in half, wrong sides together and iron it, then open it up and iron the edges towards the center fold, something like this. I know mine doesn't match perfectly (I got lazy and made it with my bias band maker).
Start in one corner of your potholder. On the wrong side of your potholder, pin your binding wrong side up from the very end and start sewing from the top. Use a 1/4 inch seam allowance.
Sew until you're a 1/4 inch away from the bottom edge. Backstitch and clip your thread.
At the corner, fold back your binding to a 45 degree angle, like so:
Fold it back at the right edge down towards the next side you're about to sew. Again, this sounds more complicated then it is. Just look at the photo and then you start your stitching 1/4″ from the edge where the little arrow is, it will be exactly in line with your last row of stitching. Be careful not to catch your fold with your stitching when backstitching.
Continue around 3 corners but don't do the last one, so you'll end up with these flips on 3 corners.
When you come to the last corner, stop an inch or so before the end. Take the starting point binding and pin it in place around the front.
Sew the final inch or so all the way to the edge.
You should have a fairly long piece leftover at this point. You can now shorten it to 4″ sticking out over the edge.
Fold over your binding and pin in place, making sure you get pretty 45 degree corners as you go. I'm normally very lazy and never pin my bindings, but for this part of the tutorial I wanted to show the recommended way of doing it when you're a beginner – to ensure an even and nice looking binding as it easily slips away from you when machine sewing it in place if you're not used to it. =)
Before you sew it all in place, take the hanger piece sticking out and fold it back over itself, right sides together, and 1/8″ from the edge, sew a few stitches back and forth to close it.
Flip it back and into the fold with the seam like so.
Now start stitching at the end of the hanger, closing it off as you go and follow it all the way around. Stop a few inches from the end and flip the hanger underneath the end so you make the little loop with the same seam as you end the binding.
One ~10″ big, super fancy folded star potholder! A lovely but usable decoration for your own kitchen, or the perfect gift for the person who has everything!


text: Explore Holiday Inn hotels in Wisconsin and see why our kid-friendly hotels are perfect for family vacations, anniversaries or weekend getaways. Choose from our Holiday Inn family hotels in Wisconsin for your next vacation. When you stay with us, kids Stay and Eat Free at Holiday Inn. No matter what brings you and your family to Wisconsin, there's a Holiday Inn® brand hotel that has something special to offer. All of our family friendly hotels in Wisconsin provide a distinct experience built to make your travels better.


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Thanks for stopping by Humorous Interludes.
From time to time I will share the "fortune" I find in a fortune cookie I just opened.
I received a large box of them after winning a life changing "contest" I described in this blog on November 4, 2014.
If you are a new reader of, "The Fortune Cookie", you should read the fortune cookie story "contest" I just mentioned above. It might make more sense.
Here's the fortune cookie "thought" for today:
"To know what you don't know is to know it. You know?"
I hope you found it enlightening, or thought provoking, or weird, or whimsical, or funny, or just plain satisfying like a good cup of coffee, tea, or a bottle of fine wine.
As Paul Harvey used to say, "Good day".
© 2015 Ronald J. Yarosh


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Travel Nurse RN - Telemetry - $2,191 per week in Turlock, CA
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text:
Quantum information is the physics of knowledge. To be more specific, the field of quantum information studies the implications that quantum mechanics has on the fundamental nature of information. By studying this relationship between quantum theory and information, it is possible to design a new type of computer—a quantum computer. A largescale, working quantum computer—the kind of quantum computer some scientists think we might see in 50 years—would be capable of performing some tasks impossibly quickly.
To date, the two most promising uses for such a device are quantum search and quantum factoring. To understand the power of a quantum search, consider classically searching a phonebook for the name which matches a particular phone number. If the phonebook has 10,000 entries, on average you'll need to look through about half of them—5,000 entries—before you get lucky. A quantum search algorithm only needs to guess 100 times. With 5,000 guesses a quantum computer could search through a phonebook with 25 million names.
Although quantum search is impressive, quantum factoring algorithms pose a legitimate, considerable threat to security. This is because the most common form of Internet security, public key cryptography, relies on certain math problems (like factoring numbers that are hundreds of digits long) being effectively impossible to solve. Quantum algorithms can perform this task exponentially faster than the best known classical strategies, rendering some forms of modern cryptography powerless to stop a quantum codebreaker.
Quantum computers are fundamentally different from classical computers because the physics of quantum information is also the physics of possibility. Classical computer memories are constrained to exist at any given time as a simple list of zeros and ones. In contrast, in a single quantum memory many such combinations—even all possible lists of zeros and ones—can all exist simultaneously. During a quantum algorithm, this symphony of possibilities split and merge, eventually coalescing around a single solution. The complexity of these large quantum states made of multiple possibilities make a complete description of quantum search or factoring a daunting task.
Rather than focusing on these large systems, therefore, the goal of this article is to describe the most fundamental, the most intriguing, and the most disturbing consequences of quantum information through an in-depth description of the smallest quantum systems. By learning how to think about the smallest quantum computers, it becomes possible to get a feeling for how and why larger quantum computers are so powerful. To that end, this article is divided into three parts:
Single qubits. The quantum bit, or qubit, is the simplest unit of quantum information. We look at how single qubits are described, how they are measured, how they change, and the classical assumptions about reality that they force us to abandon.
Pairs of qubits. The second section deals with two-qubit systems, and more importantly, describes what two-qubit systems make possible: entanglement. The crown jewel of quantum mechanics, the phenomenon of entanglement is inextricably bound to the power of quantum computers.
Quantum physics 101. The first two sections will focus on the question of how qubits work, avoiding the related question of why they work they way they do. Here we take a crash course in qualitative quantum theory, doing our best to get a look at the man behind the curtain. The only prerequisites for this course are a little courage and a healthy willingness to ignore common sense.
Single qubits
Bits, either classical or quantum, are the simplest possible units of information. They are oracle-like objects that, when asked a question (i.e., when measured), can respond in one of only two ways. Measuring a bit, either classical or quantum, will result in one of two possible outcomes. At first glance, this makes it sound like there is no difference between bits and qubits. In fact, the difference is not in the possible answers, but in the possible questions. For normal bits, only a single measurement is permitted, meaning that only a single question can be asked: Is this bit a zero or a one? In contrast, a qubit is a system which can be asked many, many different questions, but to each question, only one of two answers can be given.
This bizarre behavior is the very essence of quantum mechanics, and the goal of this section is to explain both the bounds that quantum theory places on such an object and the consequences that such bounds have for our classical assumptions. Given how counterintuitive this behavior seems, I will first explain in some detail how polarized light provides the perfect example of a qubit. Using a little light, some polarized sunglasses, and a 3D screening of "Avatar," I'll use that specific example to describe how all single-qubit states can be thought of as points on or inside a sphere, and finally how the fundamental operations of quantum measurement, rotation, and decoherence can be visualized and understood using that sphere.
Before continuing, I should define a word that I'll be using frequently: state. A system's state is a complete description of that system; every system (including a single qubit) is in a particular state, and any systems that would behave completely identically are said to have the same state. Classical bits, therefore, are always in one of exactly two states, "zero" or "one."
With that out of the way, our first step is to find an object which always gives one of exactly two answers, but which can be measured in many different ways. Here's where you're going to need those polarized sunglasses. Polarized sunglasses are different from normal sunglasses because they are designed to block the glare from horizontal surfaces, like a long stretch of desert highway or the surface of a lake on a sunny day.
How do they work? Light is in fact made of photons—the smallest indivisible unit of light—and every photon creates a tiny, oscillating electric field as it travels. Light from the sun (and most other sources of light) is composed of photons oscillating in all sorts of directions. However, light which is reflected off a horizontal surface (like glare off a lake) will become horizontally polarized. When the light reaches the sunglasses, the photons are either transmitted or absorbed. If a photon's electric field oscillates horizontally, polarized sunglasses absorb it. If it oscillates vertically, it will pass right through the same sunglasses.
These polarized lenses provide our first example of a quantum measurement, as they show a way to distinguish between horizontally polarized and vertically polarized photons (based on which gets transmitted and which gets absorbed). They can, of course, be used to ask a different question (make a different measurement) if they are tilted. By tilting your head 90 degrees, you make a measurement which is the opposite of the first, as the sunglasses transmit all of the glare you were trying to avoid. By tilting your head 45 degrees to one side (diagonally) or the other side (antidiagonally), they will transmit only half the glare.
Does this mean that the types of questions you can ask are limited to the angles at which you can tilt your head? That may seem reasonable, but if you went to see the 3D showing of Avatar, you might have guessed that this isn't true. In order to create the illusion of three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional screen, movie theaters need to control exactly which photons go to each of your eyes. For decades, this was done using color. (Remember the 3D glasses with one red lens and one blue lens?)
To get full-color 3D, we need another way to control which photons go in which eye. Once again there are only two answers—absorbed or transmitted—so we need new questions. You don't want the entire movie to change when you tilt your head, so using horizontally and vertically polarized lenses is out. Likewise, diagonally and antidiagonally polarized lenses won't work. (Test this out in a 3D movie—tilting your head won't ruin the effect.)
The solution is something completely different, called circular polarization. The two lenses in modern 3D glasses each ask the question, is an incoming photon right-circularly polarized or left-circularly polarized? Each lens transmits only one of these two types of light (one of the two answers to the question), allowing special projectors (which transmit the same types of light) to control what image is seen by each of your eyes, thereby creating the illusion of electric blue warriors riding extra-terrestrial pterodactyls flying off the screen.
If the polarization of a photon is the perfect example of a quantum bit, what can the following three questions/measurments tell us about it?
- Is the polarization horizontal or vertical?
- Is the polarization diagonal or anti-diagonal? (In other
words, will it pass through my polarized sunglasses when I
tilt my head forty-five degrees to the left or to the right of
- Is the polarization right-circularly or left-circularly
polarized? (In other words, does it pass through the right or
left lens of a pair of 3D glasses?)
If we performed the measurements that these three questions represent on the horizontally polarized photons generated by highway glare, we would learn that each photon always passes through a horizontal polarizer (question 1), but has only a 50% chance of passing through diagonal (question 2) or right-circular polarizers (question 3).


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By Sarah N. LynchPosted 2012/11/08 at 8:55 pm EST
WASHINGTON, Nov. 8, 2012 (Reuters) — Staffers at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission failed to encrypt some of their computers containing highly sensitive information from stock exchanges, leaving the data vulnerable to cyber attacks, according to people familiar with the matter.
While the computers were unprotected, there was no evidence that hacking or spying on the SEC's computers took place, these people said.
The computers and other electronic devices in question belonged to a handful of employees in an office within the SEC's Trading and Markets Division. That office is responsible for making sure exchanges follow certain guidelines to protect the markets from potential cyber threats and systems problems, one of those people said.
Some of the staffers even brought the unprotected devices to a Black Hat convention, a conference where computer hacking experts gather to discuss the latest trends. It is not clear why the staffers brought the devices to the event.
The security lapses in the Trading and Markets Division are laid out in a yet-to-be-released report that by the SEC's Interim Inspector General Jon Rymer.
The revelation comes as the SEC is encouraging companies to get more serious about cyber attacks. Last year, the agency issued guidance that public companies should follow in determining when to report breaches to investors.
Cyber security has become an even more pressing issue after high-profile companies from Lockheed Martin Corp to Bank of America Corp have fallen victim to hacking in recent years.
Nasdaq OMX Group, which runs the No. 2 U.S. equities exchange, in 2010 suffered a cyber attack on its collaboration software for corporate boards, but its trading systems were not breached.
One of the people familiar with the SEC's security lapse said the agency was forced to spend at least $200,000 and hire a third-party firm to conduct a thorough analysis to make sure none of the data was compromised.
The watchdog's report has already been circulated to the SEC's five commissioners, as well as to key lawmakers on Capitol Hill, and is expected to be made public soon.
SEC spokesman John Nester declined to comment on the report's findings.
Rich Adamonis, a spokesman for the New York Stock Exchange, said the exchange operator is "disappointed" with the SEC's lapse.
"From the moment we were informed, we have been actively seeking clarity from the SEC to understand the full extent of the use of improperly secured devices and the information involved, as well as the actions taken by the SEC to ensure that there is proper remediation and a complete audit trail for the information," he said.
A spokesman for Nasdaq OMX declined to comment on the security lapse at the SEC.
Since the internal investigation was concluded, the SEC initiated disciplinary actions against the people involved, one of the people familiar with the matter said.
The SEC also notified all of the exchanges about the incident.
The SEC's Trading and Markets Division, which has several hundred staffers, is primarily responsible for overseeing the U.S. equity markets, ensuring compliance with rules and writing regulations for exchanges and brokerages.
Among the division's tasks is to ensure exchanges are following a series of voluntary guidelines known as "Automation Review Policies," or ARPs. These policies call for exchanges to establish programs concerning computer audits, security and capacity. They are, in essence, a road map of the capital markets' infrastructure.
Although they are only voluntary guidelines, exchanges take them seriously.
Under the ARP, exchanges must provide highly secure information to the SEC such as architectural maps, systems recovery and business continuity planning details in the event of a disaster or other major event.
That is the same kind of data used by exchanges last week after Hurricane Sandy forced U.S. equities markets to shut down for two days.
Prior to re-opening, all of the U.S. stock market operators took part in coordinated testing for trading on NYSE's backup system.
SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro recently said the SEC is working to convert the voluntary ARP guidelines into enforceable rules after a software error at Knight Capital Group nearly bankrupt the brokerage and led to a $440 million trading loss.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Karey Wutkowski and Lisa Shumaker)
Categories: Asset and Resource Hoarding, Cyber Security, Security, Societal, Technology


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Visitor reviews for Biberwier Ski Resort
(NOTE: Reviews may be edited by our content team for the purposes of ensuring accurate and relevant information)
Biberwier Ratings
Overall: 3.2. Based on 1 vote. Vote
Snowsure: 3.0
(1) Occasionally gets enough snow for skiing, (2) is often closed due to a lack of snow, (3) occasionally suffers from a lack of snow, (4) rarely suffers from a lack of snow, (5) Biberwier is snowsure even in the poorest seasons.
Variety of pistes: 2.0
(1) The ski runs are featureless and unvaried, (3) the ski runs are varied but not extensive enough for a week, (5) Biberwier has diverse and interesting pistes including forests and high alpine terrain.
Off-piste: 1.0
(1) No off-piste worth mentioning, (2) off piste is out-of-bounds, (3) some varied offpiste that stays fresh for one or two days, (5) a vast array of off-piste routes that can stay untracked for several days.
Scenery: 3.0
(1) An ugly resort in a bland setting, (3) average mountain views and resort, (5) a spectacular setting and a beautiful / historic resort town.
Access: 4.0
(1) At least one overnight stop, (2) requires a whole day, (3) requires more than half a day – you may have time for a few turns (4) arrive by lunchtime and ski all afternoon, (5) there is a main airport within an hour of Biberwier.
Public Transport: 4.0
(1) There are no buses or taxis to Biberwier, (3) there are slow or infrequent buses / trains available, (5) getting to the resort is easy with frequent bus / train connections.
Accommodation: 4.0
(1) No places to stay in/near Biberwier, (3) a few places to stay in the resort, (5) a wide variety of accommodation suitable to suit all budgets.
Cheap Rooms: 4.0
(1) No budget accommodation available, (3) just one or two hostels so book ahead, (5) several cheap hostels and pensions available.
Luxury Hotels: 2.0
(1) No luxury accommodation available, (3) just one or two luxury hotels so book ahead, (5) several up-market hotels in Biberwier.
Ski in/Ski out: 2.0
(1) The ski area is located far from any accommodation, (3) a free ski bus takes you to the ski area in a short trip, (5) Ski-in ski-out accommodation is available.
Childcare: 3.0
(1) There are no child care facilities at Biberwier, (5) the resort has excellent child-care facilities including at least one reasonably priced creche.
Snowmaking: 3.0
(1) Biberwier relies entirely on natural snow, (3) there are just a few snow cannons, (5) there are snowmaking facilities on all pistes.
Snow Grooming: 5.0
(1) There are no snow groomers at Biberwier, (3) occasionally some pistes are left ungroomed and in a poor state, (5) all the runs at Biberwier are groomed daily.
Shelter: 5.0
(1) there is nowhere to ski when it is windy or visibility is bad and lifts often shut, (3) there are some trees for poor visibility but main lifts sometimes close, (5) Biberwier is mostly in forest where you can ski in flat-light and windy days, lifts rarely close.
Nearby options: 5.0
(1) If snow conditions are poor at Biberwier, it will be poor everywhere nearby, (3) there are good alternatives within an hours drive, (5) other locations on the same lift pass provide a rich variety of snowsure ski conditions.
Regional rating: 3.0
(1) Biberwier usually has poor snow conditions compared to other resorts in region, (3) has average conditions for the region, (5) usually has the best snow conditions in the region.
Lift Staff: 4.0
(1) The staff at Biberwier are rude or unhelpful, (5) lift staff at Biberwier are pleasant, cheerful and eager to help.
Crowds/Queues: 4.0
(1) the resort is always busy and there are usually long lift queues, (3) it is quiet apart from occasional weekends and school holidays, (5) it is uncrowded and lift queues are very rare.
Ski Schools: 4.0
(1) No ski schools available, (2) one or two ski schools but local language only, (3) a few ski schools but book early for multi-lingual instructors, (4) plenty of ski schools and multi-lingual instructors available, (5) excellent ski schools with friendly multi-lingual ski instructors.
Hire and Repairs: 4.0
(1) Nothing can be sourced, not even ski-wax or ptex. (3) there are some ski shops but rentals need to be booked in advance, (5) good quality ski equipment can be purchased or hired and overnight repairs are possible.
Beginners: 4.0
(1) Beginners can only watch others ski and snowboard, (3) a few gentle slopes but beginners will get bored in less than a week, (3) Vast areas of gentle terrain.
Intermediates: 3.0
(1) No intermediate terrain at Biberwier, (3) intermediate skiers will get bored after a few days, (5) vast areas of cruising runs.
Advanced: 2.0
(1) Nothing for advanced skiers and snowboarders, (3) enough steep terrain for a few days with some good offpiste, (5) Enough steep terrain and offpiste areas to entertain advanced skiers for at least a week.
Snow Park: 1.0
(1) Not even a kicker at Biberwier, (3) average sized park quite well looked after, (5) huge park area and expertly crafted pipes, jumps and boardercross trails.
Cross-country: 1.0
(1) There is nowhere to go for cross-country skiing around Biberwier, (3) there are some cross country trails available, (5) the area features many spectacular and well maintained cross-country trails.
Luge/Toboggan: 1.0
(1) No designated luge or toboggan runs, (3) there are toboggan runs that open quite often, (5) Biberwier has long and well maintained luge / toboggan facilities suitable for all ages.
Mountain Dining: 4.0
(1) Nowhere to buy food by the pistes, (3) some places to eat up on the mountain but they are often busy and expensive, (5) there is a variety of excellent mountain eateries right next to the slopes to suit all budgets.
Eating: 4.0
(1) Bring your own food, there isn't even a shop. (5) A wide variety of places to eat and drink in the resort, from fast food to fancy restaurants.
Apres-Ski: 3.0
(1) Nothing to do, not even a bar, (3) there are a few bars in the resort but nothing special, (5) clubs and bars stay open until very late and have a friendly atmosphere.
Other Sports: 3.0
(1) No sports facilities at all apart from ski lifts, (3) resort has just a small public swimming pool, (5) resort has all kinds of sports facilities, including a full-size swimming pool.
Entertainment: 2.0
(1) Besides the snow and walking there is nothing to do here, (3) the non-skier will find things to do for few days but may become bored after a week, (5) the resort area is a fascinating place to visit, regardless of winter sports.
Winter Walks: 4.0
(1) Very limited walking and no snowshoe trails, (3) a couple of designated scenic walking/snowshoe trails, (5) extensive and diverse winter walking trails for all abilities.
Ski Pass Value: 4.0
(1) A 1 week ski pass is overpriced compared to the number of lifts available, (3) the ski pass is averagely priced and covers a reasonable number of lifts, (5) ski passes are excellent value for money and cover a lot of lifts spanning a big area.
Value (National): 3.0
(1) Overall, Biberwier is one of the most expensive ski resorts in the country and not worth the money, (3) overall represents average value for money, (5) overall offers the best value resort in the country.
Value (Global): 3.0
(1) Overall, Biberwier is one of the most expensive ski resorts in the world, (3) overall it offers pretty average value for money compared to resorts from other countries, (5) internationally the resort offers excellent value for money.


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Plant Explosion Texas.JPG
A destroyed car sits as firefighters conduct a search and rescue of an apartment complex destroyed by an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, Thursday. A massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. killed as many as 15 people and injured more than 160, officials said overnight.
(LM Otero | The Associated Press)
WEST, Texas — Rescue workers searched the smoldering ruins of a fertilizer plant Thursday for survivors of a monstrous explosion that leveled homes and businesses in every direction across the Texas prairie. As many as 15 people were feared dead and more than 160 others injured.
Daybreak revealed a breathtaking band of destruction extending outward from the West Fertilizer Co. in this small farming community about 20 miles north of Waco. The thunderous blast was so powerful that it shook the ground with the strength of a small earthquake and could be heard dozens of miles away.
Searchers "have not gotten to the point of no return where they don't think that there's anybody still alive," Waco police Sgt. William Patrick Swanton said. He did not know how many people had been rescued.
There was no indication the blast was anything other than an industrial accident, he said.
The explosion rained burning embers and debris down on terrified residents. It leveled a four-block area around the plant, badly damaging or destroying up to 75 houses, a 50-unit apartment complex, a middle school and a nursing home.
All that remained of one home was the fireplace and chimney. Several buildings with smashed roofs and leveled walls still were smoking Thursday morning.
Firm information was hard to come by in the hours after the blast, and entry into the town was slow-going as the roads were jammed with emergency vehicles. Authorities themselves had trouble entering the heart of the blast zone.
"It's still too hot to get in there," said Franceska Perot, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Among those believed to be dead were three to five volunteer firefighters and a law enforcement officer. The many injuries included broken bones, bruises, lacerations, respiratory distress, and some head injuries and minor burns. Five people were reported in intensive care.
In the hours after the blast, residents wandered the dark, windy streets searching for shelter. Among them was Julie Zahirniako, who said she and her son, Anthony, had been at a school playground near the plant when the explosion hit.
The explosion threw her son four feet in the air, breaking his ribs. She said she saw people running from the nursing home, and the roof of the school lifted into the sky.
"Hit the ground, hit the ground," Zahirniako heard a neighbor yell.
"The fire was so high," she said. "It was just as loud as it could be. The ground and everything was shaking."
William Burch and his wife, a retired Air Force nurse, entered the damaged nursing home before first-responders arrived. They split up, searched separate wings and found residents in wheelchairs trapped in their rooms. The halls were dark, and the ceilings had collapsed. Water filled the hallways. Electrical wires hung eerily from the ceilings.
"They had Sheetrock that was on top of them. You had to remove that," Burch said. It was "completely chaotic."
Authorities said the plant made materials similar to those used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
West Mayor Tommy Muska told reporters that his city of about 2,800 people needs "your prayers."
"We've got a lot of people who are hurt, and there's a lot of people, I'm sure, who aren't going to be here tomorrow," Muska said. "We're going to search for everybody. We're going make sure everybody's accounted for. That's the most important thing right now."
At the Hillcrest Baptist Medical Hospital in Waco, elderly people were wheeled in on stretchers. A man in a wheelchair with his T-shirt covered in blood winced as teams tended to his wounds.
About a half-hour before the blast, the town's volunteer firefighters had responded to a call at the plant, Swanton said. They immediately realized the potential for disaster because of the plant's chemical stockpile and began evacuating the area around the plant.
The blast happened 20 minutes later. Muska, who was among the firefighters, said it knocked off his fire helmet and blew out the doors and windows of his nearby home.
The main fire was under control late Wednesday, but residents were urged to remain indoors because of the threat of new explosions or leaks of ammonia from the plant.
Firefighters used flashlights to search the still-burning skeleton of an apartment complex that was all but destroyed. A flood-lit football field was initially used as a staging area, then other triage centers sprung up around the blast site.
First-responders evacuated 133 patients from the nursing home, some in wheelchairs. Many were dazed and panicked and did not know what happened.
Erick Perez was playing basketball at a nearby school when the fire started. He and his friends thought nothing of it at first, but about a half-hour later, the smoke changed color. The blast threw him, his nephew and others to the ground and showered the area with hot embers, shrapnel and debris.
"The explosion was like nothing I've ever seen before," Perez said. "This town is hurt really bad."
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board said it was deploying a large investigation team to West. An ATF national response team that investigates all large fires and explosions was also expected, bringing fire investigators, certified explosives specialists, chemists, canines and forensic specialists.
American Red Cross crews from across Texas also headed to the scene to help evacuated residents.
There were no immediate details on the number of people who work at the plant, which was cited by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in 2006 for failing to obtain or to qualify for a permit. The agency acted after receiving a complaint in June of that year of a strong ammonia smell.
In 2001, an explosion at a chemical and fertilizer plant killed 31 people and injured more than 2,000 in Toulouse, France. The blast occurred in a hangar containing 300 tons of ammonium nitrate, which can be used for both fertilizer and explosives. The explosion came 10 days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S., and raised fears at the time it was linked. A 2006 report blamed the blast on negligence.


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Can you not bake,
But only gawk like a goose?
(One aimed to please)
Just open your eyes,
And take a gander at these!
(Baker Unknown)
(By Stellar Cake Company)
(By The Quaint Cake Co.)
And that's probably best for you,
Since my ability to rhyme,
Is frankly less than impressive.
- Similar Sweets: Defying Gravity


text:
The news of 28 August 1916 was typical of the time. It was two years into WW1, with the Battle of Fromelles in July and then Pozieres. By the end of August, Australians were fighting at Mouquet Farm, France. Newspapers were full of war news, departures and casualties and the Portland Guardian of 28 August 1916 was no different.
Mrs Thomson of Lower Cape Bridgewater had heard the news her son Private G.E. Thomson was wounded in France. Families of the 37th, 38th and 40th Battalions were able to send their parcels for the front to 380 Bourke Street, Melbourne. The parcels were then forwarded to the various Battalions at a cost of one penny per pound.
I would like to think the next article was about my 1st cousins 3 x removed, Frederick James and Arthur Leonard Holmes (aka Lennie) of Casterton. However, while Arthur was still in Australia, not embarking until 21 October 1916, Fred was in France and wounded by this time.
I searched the WW1 Embarkation Roll and Mapping our Anzacs trying to identify the two Holmes boys, presumably brothers. The venue of the social was not mentioned in the Editorial, so I assumed it was in Portland. The closest I found was Frederick Noah Holmes of Wallacedale and Leslie Holmes of Homerton via Heywood, however, Leslie embarked on August 1.
The Haines family from idyllic Sandy Waterhole on the Glenelg River received news of their son's passing as a result of wounds.
The Mulholland family of Portland also received bad news from France.
I hope Mrs Carnie got her letters from the front.
Mrs Newman of "Ulymah" Gawler Street Portland, was doing her part for the war effort. She was the Portland contact for Mr Herbert Daly, an Australian in Paris. Herbert was collecting socks for those displaced by war, particularly old men.
Newly re-elected Portland Mayor Mr Wyatt received a letter from local boy W.H.J.Baker, serving in France. Corporal Baker mentions "France is such a beautiful place" and "No wonder Germany wants this beautiful country". Read the letter in full here.
Corporal Baker enclosed some of his poetry with the letter. Read the full poem here.
Back in Portland, which must have felt a million miles away from the war, unsettled weather prevailed.
Wattle Day, on 1 September was fast approaching. The first Wattle Day was in 1910 and the outbreak of war saw the day celebrated with extra vigour.
Canadian born silent screen star Mary Pickford was appearing in "The Dawn of Tomorrow" at the Portland Pictures.
As mentioned, Cr James Lewis Wyatt was unanimously re-elected Mayor of Portland. He was Mayor from August 1914 to August 1917.
Victorians, along with the other states, were preparing for their first dose of Daylight Savings. The timing was not exactly how the Act had set out. Clocks went forward on 1 January 1917 and back on 25 March 1917. Daylight Savings did not occur again until WW2 with the years of 1942/3 and 1943/4 each having an extra hour of daylight at the end of the day.
In 1914, the Duke of Portland of England announced that the skeleton of racehorse Carbine would return to Australia for the National Museum. The following article, two years later, announced the skeleton was ready for shipping to Australia. Finally, in December 1919, the skeleton was ready to leave England, arriving in February the following year.
I have seen the skeleton of Carbine at the former Racing Museum at Caulfield Racecourse and its current home at the National Sports Museum at the MCG. While standing beside Carbine's skeleton is not as moving as visiting Phar Lap at Melbourne Museum, it is still an imposing sight.
A video of Carbine's skeleton being reconstructed when it moved to the National Sports Museum can be seen at the link – http://tinyurl.com/8w4w5pv


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I posted the recipe for the friendship fruitcake starter yesterday, and although the holidays are still far in the distance, I wanted to post the full recipe for the fruitcakes now to help you decide whether or not you want to embark upon this fruitcake adventure, because the decision will need to be made fairly soon. The starter takes three weeks to make, and the cake itself takes a month. So I figured you'd need a better description of the resulting cake and photos to help you understand why you should bother with any cake that is going to take this long to make.
After you have your starter ready, you will add peaches, pineapple, and maraschino cherries to it over time, along with copious amounts of sugar. Your fruit will become essentially candied in it's own sugary juices, giving you the most flavorful candied fruit you could ever add to fruitcake. This fruit beats the stems off store-bought candied fruit. It is just sooo….fruity. Usually when I taste a candied cherry, it doesn't taste like much except sweet. This candied fruit is sweet, but has so much flavor!
The actual time you will spend working on the starter and the fruit is maybe a minute a day, and totally worth the result. And if the fruit itself wasn't enough, the recipe for the cake itself is outstanding. I have two versions available, but both are moist and delicious, and studded with this magical fruit, nuts, and shredded coconut. Absolutely fantastic and nothing like the fruit cake you last turned your nose up at.
Now, let's talk about the batter that surrounds the fruit, nuts, and coconut. Usually, friendship fruit cake is made with a cake mix. Two of them, to be exact. When I made this cake last year on Christmas eve, I only had one mix, and of course every grocery store was closed, and I couldn't find a single convenience store that sold cake mixes. Rather than let the lack of a second mix defeat me, I decided to halve the recipe for the cake (what I now call the "easy version" although technically it's the "original version") and use half the fruit for it, then make a batter from scratch to mix the remaining fruit into.
To tell you the truth, I really can not pick a favorite. I love, love, love them both. In fact, I actually would recommend you do the same as me, halving both recipes and using half the fruit in both to see if you can pick one. (Just be very careful to halve everything–this can get tricky if you don't physically write down the new measurements before starting.) They are so different and both so good in their own way.
The cake mix cake is very moist, and very sweet with a great cake mix flavor. I'd say the cake mix version has more of a holiday feel than the other, because it is sweeter. The cream cheese cake is less sweet, the slight tang of the cream cheese pairing nicely with the sweet, candied fruit. It tastes more "real," for lack of a better word, more home made. It seems more of like a cake to enjoy with tea, and this would be a great version to make throughout the year. I keep wanting to pick the cream cheese one as my favorite, until I remember how nice the cake mix one was, so I have given up. I leave the decision entirely up to you, but either way, I don't think you will be disappointed.
Friendship Fruit Cake
Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture
Day 1
In a large glass bowl, combine:
- 1 pint friendship fruit starter
- 1 (16 oz) can sliced peaches with juice, each slice cut into 4 pieces
- 2 ½ cups granulated sugar
Stir every day for ten days. When not stirring mixture, keep it covered with a splatter guard, paper towel, foil, or a loose lid. Let sit at room temperature. Do not refrigerate it or cover it airtight. A pan of water underneath the jar or bowl will keep the ants out, but I had no problem with bugs since I made mine in the winter.
Day 10
- 1 (16 oz) can chunk pineapple with juice, each chunk cut in half
- ½ cup granulated sugar
Stir every day for ten days.
Day 20
- 2 (10 oz) jars maraschino cherries, drained, and each cherry cut in half
- 2 ½ cups granulated sugar
Stir every day for the final ten days.
Day 30
Drain fruit and reserve it and the liquid. Pour the liquid into three glass pint jars. Save one for yourself for your next fruit cake, and give two to friends, along with a copy of this recipe. Cake must be started within 3 days after receiving the starter or you should freeze the starter to use at a later date. Do not use plastic or metal containers to store liquid.
~To make the cake~
Easy version
2 (18.25 oz) yellow or butter recipe golden cake mixes
2 (3.5 oz) boxes instant vanilla pudding mix
1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
8 eggs
2 cup raisins (golden or regular, or a combination)
2 cups chopped nuts
2 cups sweetened, shredded coconut
Reserved fruit
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour two 12-cup Bundt pans or four large loaf pans. In a very large bowl, combine cake mix, pudding mix, oil and eggs. Stir in the raisins, nuts and coconut, and the reserved fruit from the starter. Stir until all ingredients are well combined. The batter will be stiff. Spread batter into the prepared cake pans. Bake for 60-75 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Sit on wire racks and wait ten minutes before turning them out onto the racks to cool completely. I spray my cakes thoroughly with water while cooling to help make them more moist—the water absorbs and does not change the flavor. Store in an airtight container or wrap in plastic wrap. Serve at room temperature.
Cream Cheese Version
5 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup vegetable oil
8 eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups golden raisins
2 cups chopped nuts
2 cups sweetened, shredded coconut
Reserved fruit
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease and flour two 12-cup Bundt pans or 4 large loaf pans; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a separate large bowl, cream together the butter, cream cheese, and sugar. Beat in the oil. Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract until incorporated. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients; the batter will be thick. When barely any streaks remain, mix in the raisins, nuts and coconut, and the reserved fruit from the starter stirring well. Scrape batter into the prepared pans, smoothing the tops. Place the cakes in the oven and bake for 60-70 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Allow cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.


text:
Teddy Roosevelt turns 150 today, and while presidents race fans here in DC are busy celebrating with big-headed Teddy at Hudson restaurant, Teddy's namesake bobblehead doll has been on the road again, taking in the World Series.
That's right. Regular readers know I'm a fan of Phil Yabut's flickr photoset — "Teddy's Travels and Travails", in which Phil has documented the travels of his Washington Nationals Teddy Roosevelt bobblehead doll from the 2007 season. This past weekend, bobblehead Teddy became the first member of the Nationals to make it to the World Series, taking in the late night Game 3 thriller at Citizen's Bank Park, and waking up this morning to a birthday cake which is quite a bit larger than his head. Thanks Phil. And enjoy the Series while it lasts. The Nats' time will be coming soon.


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According to firefighters, every second counts during a fire. In fact, house fires can double in size every minute that goes by. About half of home fire deaths happen between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. when most people are sleeping.
But here's the good news: There's a simple step you can add to your nighttime routine to keep you safe.
Research from UL's Firefighter Safety Research Institute (FRSI) shows that closing your bedroom door helps prevent a fire from spreading, lessens smoke damage, and could even save lives.
Just like having the right homeowners insurance, a little preparation can go a long way to help you rest easy. Watch this video to see why it matters to "Close Before You Doze."
Here's why it works: Fires spread more quickly the more oxygen they have. Keeping your bedroom door closed can slow the spread of a house fire, as well as reduce toxic smoke levels.
Having the right kind of fire extinguisher nearby can also help. But when it comes to fire-related deaths, it's usually not the flames that are to blame. Smoke is actually more likely to cause suffocation and death.
When a door is closed during a fire, a person in that room experiences:
- More survivable temperatures: Temperatures typically will stay below 100 degrees Fahrenheit
- Livable oxygen levels: Oxygen levels read around 18%. (For comparison, regular room air is about 20% oxygen.)
- Less toxic carbon monoxide levels: Close to 100 parts per million of carbon monoxide
When a door remains open during a fire, a person in that room is exposed to:
- Less survivable temperatures: Temperatures can get hotter than 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit
- Low oxygen levels: Oxygen levels can decrease to 8%, making it harder to breathe
- Extremely toxic carbon monoxide levels: Dangerous levels can increase to 10,000 PPM CO
Forty years ago, the average time people had to escape a fire safely was 17 minutes. Today's homes only allow for three minutes or less to evacuate. Why? Modern synthetic construction materials, home furnishings, and contemporary layouts allow fire to spread and become toxic much faster than in the past. (Test your knowledge of fire safety facts in this quiz.)
But don't panic—even two minutes is a lot of time to escape a fire if you remain calm, have a plan, and close doors in your home.
One final tip: When you escape a fire, remember to close the door behind you once you exit. This will cut off the oxygen to the fire and may stop the fire's growth.
When it comes to fire safety, closing your bedroom door is a simple step that can make a big difference. Learn more at CloseYourDoor.org.
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After Sony finally revealed the PlayStation 4 last week, I expected (and got) a wide range of reactions from gamers and industry watchers about various aspects of the new system: the new controller, the lack of native backward compatibility, the system's newly announced games, and its hardware processing power, to name a few.
What I really didn't see coming, and do not fully understand, is the focus on the fact that Sony didn't let us look at the plastic casing that will hold the upcoming system.
Reaction to the lack of an actual PS4 box at last week's unveiling was fast and skeptical. "We haven't seen the box. Or triangle, or orb, or whatever this non-existent hardware for the PlayStation 4 might look like," Gizmodo noted right after the event was over. "Sony stoked our excitement, and there's no way to be satisfied. What a bummer."
"Unless [the PS4] console is invisible, Wonder Woman airplane-style, no one actually saw it," news.com.au joked.
"What if Sony threw a product launch party but the product never came?" the Motley Fool asked rhetorically.
"Sony shows PlayStation 4 capabilities, but no box," read the AP headline.
"Sony Holds PlayStation 4 Press Event, Doesn't Show PlayStation 4," wrote Daring Fireball's John Gruber, before calling the entire reveal a "shit show."
Microsoft got its punches in as well, with community manager Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb tweeting, "Announce a console without actually showing a console? That's one approach."
He wasn't the only one making fun on the social-networking service. "Wait, what? Where's the box? Did Sony just prank us?" Popular Science wrote on its feed just as the show was ending.
"Sony pulls meta prank on tech/game press! Banksy is *very* impressed," wrote one Twitter user. "Sony?! Why you no show the console itself?!" wrote another meme-obsessed watcher.
After the show, Sony president and CEO Jack Tretton admitted to AllThingsD that the casing was missing from the event because it wasn't yet finalized. "We don't have a mass-production box that we can bring out and pull out," he said. "That's still in development in terms of final specs and design."
But Sony representatives also pushed back against the idea that the actual casing the system will be in was all that important at this stage of the game. "The console is just a box," Sony Worldwide Studios President Shuhei Yoshida told Polygon. "The controller was very important to show because it has the share button, but the console is just a console."
Sony UK boss Fergal Gara said that while he understands the frustration over the issue, "frankly, a box is a box. Is that really the most important thing?"
Sony Europe's Jim Ryan added to the chorus, suggesting that "in our mind it's like 10, 20, 50 times more important to demonstrate what that PS4 can actually do as opposed to what it looks like."
It's just a box
I have to take Sony's side. Compared to the things the company actually announced during the conference—decently detailed hardware specs, live gameplay and engine demos, game and partnership announcements—what the console actually looks like seems relatively unimportant. It would have been one thing if the casing's no-show came after a press conference that was nothing but a string of buzzwordy promises with no actual content or announcements to back them up, but that's not what happened.
The actual PS4 casing, whatever it looks like, isn't really going to be that important to the way you actually experience the console. Like every console that's come before it, the PlayStation 4 is going to be a box that sits in your entertainment center. You'll interact with it directly for maybe five seconds while you put in a disc and turn the system on (even less if you download games and use the power button on the controller). After that, you'll be ignoring the casing for hours as you stare at the images on the TV screen—you know, the kind of images that Sony actually made the focus of its announcement last week.
Sure, those images were running on development hardware and not a finalized product, which might lead some to think the actual system won't be up to that kind of performance. But those development kits are tuned to emulate what the shipping hardware is going to be capable of running, so developers know what kind of performance level to target. And Sony has already confirmed what kind of input and output ports will be on the final system, so we don't need to see the final housing to get that information either.
I'll admit that a console's form factor does matter a little, as Sony itself has proven by slimming down the PS3's shell two times since the release of the quite-massive launch unit. The tiny Wii was much easier to cart around than its direct competitors, and who can forget the part the GameCube's cute little handle played at the system's unveiling.
To my mind, though, all this focus on Sony's missing box seems to be serving as a proxy for the more legitimate concerns about the other things Sony still hasn't discussed regarding the PlayStation 4. It was hard not to notice that we didn't get a price point or precise release date for the console, which are pretty important bits of information. No one outside of the presenters (and Jimmy Fallon) has actually gotten to touch the controller, which could be seen as worrisome. We've heard extremely few details about the new PlayStation Eye camera or the system's Gaikai-powered streaming features or other details that people want to know about.
Of course, all of this information will be revealed at and after June's E3 show, and this kind of long, slow rollout of new hardware is commonplace in the game industry. But on this score, I think the market has been reconditioned in recent years by Apple's announcement strategy, which keeps new products closely guarded secrets until a full reveal mere days (or minutes) before they're available on store shelves. The last time someone tried that in the game industry was in 1995 when Sega made its surprise Saturn launch announcement, a move that helped the system get trounced in the marketplace by... Sony's original PlayStation.
I understand the need some people have to see a physical product in order to think it's real. But what Sony showed on stage last week proved that the PS4 is a real product, and an impressive bit of hardware to boot. Eventually we'll get to see the magical black box that converts electricity and wireless controller inputs into the stuff we saw on that stage. Until then, just trust that there's a system behind the curtain making it all work.


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Blues Read Everything, Blue Posts, Loroese's Arcane Mines Guide
Malfurion Stormrage Emotes, Gameplay Tooltip Text
Flex Raiding Q&A
Ghostcrawler spent some of his weekend answering questions about Flex Raiding! Reading all of the tweets is worth it if you are interested in the feature, but here are some of the major points:
- Flex difficulty support can be added to old raids in the future, but currently only raids from Patch 5.4 and beyond are planned to support it.
- LFR is designed to clear the entire raid in one night, but flex raiding will be closer to normal raiding, getting one boss or so a week if you are the target audience.
- A shared lockout with LFR or Normal doesn't work, as it would punish people who ran LFR or Normal and then want to do a Flex run with friends.
- Scaling Normal or Heroic would be very challenging, as some bosses would be much easier on one group size than another.
- Being able to use the regular loot system instead of Raid Finder style loot is an option for future patches, not Patch 5.4.
- There is a chance the scaling may go down a little bit lower than 10, but that isn't a promise.
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Blue Tweets
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
League of Legends Lead Content Designer on WoW
LoL's Lead Content Designer made some interesting posts about WoW. You can join the discussion on the forums and see Ghostcrawler's response in the Flex Raiding tweets.
Originally Posted by Morello (Source)It's a tricky topic, because our job is to make decisions based on what players not only want, but need. Let me explain that a bit.
Determining what players want is actually pretty simple - your most invested users tend to be very vocal and will put effort into making sure they're heard (ie; most forumers!) This is a good metric of understanding what players want, at least for high-engagement folks.
What players need is where players don't proclaim a desire for something, but it helps provide something they say they want. Many times, this is more than a single solution - it requires several steps of implementation to reach a result, or takes time to bake in many cases. Let me provide two example of want vs need, and why want cannot be the only driver for developers;
At Riot, we nerf champions. Nerfs are rarely wanted (and many times, unwanted). But, players want to have a fair experience with a variety of options. Additionally, a game without power caps and heavy power creep (something still happening faster than I'd like...) can disrupt the core game design focused around choices, decision-making, and strategy. To accomplish this, we need to nerf champions, even if players don't explicitly want us to.
To use your example, in the pattern of Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King, the changes to easier raid content and more accessibility is actually informed by a want that a lot of players expressed - IE, raids were content that was exclusive from them and they wanted a piece. I respect the guys who make WoW (and its success is a testament), but this is a good example of where the developers should have recognized the core need of exclusivity and the right tuning of that, and steered away from players said they wanted. Personally, I think Burning Crusade is a sweet spot.
The above is a fantastic example of why we have to make tough choices and not always just do what players ask us to do - it's not always the right course of action.
The problem you're speaking to, in my opinion, is when developers think they always have that answer and that being a developer gives you divination into what that is. In my mind, game development isn't about having answers - it's the ways in which you find them.
Our interaction on here isn't just lip-service, it's so we can better optimize decisions around player wants - and explain what players need when they don't want it. This informs us a lot, but we make decisions based on a number of factors - player desires and feedback being one of them.
I hope this helps explain how I feel about this, and how the developer/player interaction looks to me.
One other thing to watch is "the game used to be good when the game was less mature, and it sucks now because of changes" thing. Many times, players just get tired of a game after 1000's of hours, and that's natural. I still think WoW is a cool game, I just can't wring any more enjoyment out of it.
World of Warcraft, nerfed it for exceptionally terrible players and ruined quality of the game in by doing so because players who were bad, refused to accept that and get better.
No, that's the lens of your personal values - you believe your values of game-playing (skill mastery) is the reason all players should play the game. Many people play the same games for different reasons.
Or, sometimes, the changes are just bad. WoW was fun when you could have casual 25 man raids in WotLK. It stopped being fun in Cata when 25 man raids disappeared.
In SC2, the change to larger maps and ever increasing rush distances ruined it for me. I didn't like that a second Nexus/Hatchery/Command Center became the first building after supply structure/unit.
You could bury your head in the sand and insist that people left because they got bored or you could consider that your changes aren't universally loved.
Some changes are bad - and they can disengage players. I found Wrath of the Lich King less fun to raid than BC, but the reason I think it was a harmful direction was more what I think engages players overall - many of the things that do not engage me personally. "I quit WoW because there's not 40-man raids and now people other than me and my 39 friends can raid" is one of those things that would have low value, conversely.
The big difference in players get to think about their own experiences (and should!), where developers need to discover what groups of players need, what drives them, engages them and makes them feel rewarded.
WoW was bad. It is bad and it will continue to be bad. WoW had the simple blind luck to be in the right place at the right time.
The original concept was little more than Everquest with a few modifications. Quests were easier to find, enemies were better balanced for your level, and waiting for your life to regenerate took a lot less time. Aside from that the game was an ugly sack of fail. The raids were broken, literally, almost every raid was released in an unfinished and unbeatable state. We found out in AQ40 that this was done purposefully because Blizzard wasn't able to meet deadlines. I do not like to raid, I occasionally enjoy partying but by and by I like doing solo content or hunting for rare materials. So pretty much WoW has nothing for me because Riadrz want their super op weapon drop and god forbid you have allow a plebeian solo player farm mats to craft a weapon even 1/10th the quality of that thing. No, the items that are only 1/10th as good as Raid loot have materials that drop in Raids.
I hate WoW. I hate Blizzard. They took a fantasy universe I found to be brilliantly designed and destroyed it.
You don't like WoW (clearly!), but this is the attitude I'm saying is flatly incorrect. WoW is a well-crafted game that you do not happen to like. Our own personal tastes do not equate to what is good and bad in game development, only what our potential engagement is. And, to be frank, if you're not the audience, it has little impact on anyone else.
I don't like playing Halo. Halo is an extremely good game.
How could you think burning crusade was the "Sweet Spot". A majority of the players couldn't even get to 3/4's of those raids. Hardly anyone ever see's end game content. I mean, christ. Your mindset works for League of Legends just fine. I can't argue with the results. But I sure as hell can tell you that your mindset would of made WoW a worse game by far, and I would of left it after BC instead of sticking around for MoP. Do not go into the MMO Business again, as I think you were with Guild Wars right?
I'm saying I don't think raids should be inclusive, as the exclusivity of content creates a psychological trick in your brain that makes the game feel endless. Basically, my direction would be (and maybe incorrectly - I haven't tried!) that all content is not for everyone. If anything, League proves core gaming has a big audience, and you don't have to make things easy.
That's a fair assessment. I stopped playing Blizzard games when it became clear to me that my tastes were very different from the majority of their player base. I liked BC but never got to raid there. I liked it because even dungeons had progression with the keys and the hard Heroics. WotLK lost that in many ways, but the raids everyone could do became what Heroics were in BC for me. In Cata, there was little to no dungeon progression (it was even easier than WotLK) but raids were out of reach for me too. I spent 3 months playing as part of a guild in the hope to get into a raid group with no success. I canceled shortly after.
As a player, it was sort of the same for me.
Raids HAVE to be inclusive for the most part. Because that's the only major content in a MMO at max level on the PvE aspect of it. That's the only way to really "progress". How could you miss that? That's why there's heroic raids, so people who want challenging content can go and do that and feel exclusive. And even the new thing where there's a uber secret hard boss that is only unlocked in heroic mode.
I'm actually really startled you could miss something like that. I'm glad league of legends is a game where everyone can participate at max level.
You sure? The game has massive numbers even without accessible raid content - it was in a big period of growth during this time - many players who do not raid have plenty to keep them busy.
Since not everyone plays for mastery, and many play for achievement, over-time reward structures (dailies, rep grinds) engage the majority of the players. The minority still raids, but now it's lost the exclusivity. Are you sure your views are representative?
They may be - I don't have access to their data which could prove me wrong. I'm just checking to see if you're thinking about it from a holistic perspective or a personal one.
Keep Them busy?........Such as Dailies? Do you know how awful those things are? Dailies for everything these days......But yes, recently there's a huge amount of content that is not raiding, that you can certainly do. There's actually a staggering amount of things you can do in WoW that isn't raiding.
Yes, I believe my views are Representative. A much greater part of the minority raids now, I believe ghostcrawler threw a quote out there saying that the size of players seeing end game content was "staggering" now that LFR was out.
And there IS Exclusivity still in the form of heroic raids.
No one really has access to that sort of data except blizzard, but i distinctly remember ghostcrawler saying something similar to "Barely anyone has seen end game content, so we're coming out with Looking For Raid".
I mean, you're putting the bulk over your story and endgame content into raids, something (as you've said yourself) the minority of players will ever get to experience. Why limit that to such a small portion of the community? And also why bother making that content if only a small portion of the community could ever play it?
I think that's the decision-making process that has driven Blizzard - and clearly it is successful. I just think I'd value different design aspects of WoW if it were my decision to play up engagement over the long-term - a bit of less-is-more design.
Can you please teach Ghostcrawler how to properly balance the game then? Instead of throwing Hunter's under the bus like the "Redheaded Step Children Who Lives Behind The Staircase" that we are made to be.
I have a ton of sympathy and respect for Ghostcrawler; he's the face of an entire design team also. I don't think their balancing is really bad, either, I'm not in agreement with their overall high level design philosophy - not that it's bad, I just have a different conclusion. Within that philosophy, though, I think their balance methodology is really appropriate.
Innovation drives the gaming industry in one way or another, and WoW never innovated anything.
The 2 sided conflict of characters with different classes available (initially) had been done before in MMOs. Battlegrounds and CTF style combat had been done in other MMOs, Raid style content had be done before in MMOs. Crafting with almost identical systems existed in other MMOs before WoW. Seamless worlds existed prior.
Nothing World of Warcraft did was particularly unique or innovative. The main reason it became such a huge smash hit was because it was made by Blizzard. Being set in the Warcraft world made it instantly desirable to everyone that had played a Blizzard game, which was a LOT of people. They recruited their friends to play with them who pulled in friends, etc. And we get the legacy that is World of Warcraft.
Was it polished at the time excluding graphics? Sure, hell yeah. But to someone who has been playing the genre of games since Everquest, it was incredibly bland and uninspiring. Especially at launch.
Do I respect World of Warcraft? Of course I do. It's made gaming normal in every day life and an acceptable pastime. It made more money than you can imagine and brought my first and favorite genre of computer games to the masses. But it wasn't special. It wasn't particularly well crafted. It was just -VERY- well marketed.
But WoW redefined what MMO's are for an entire generation of gamers by using well-known methods to deliver the first "doesn't kick you in the balls over and over" theme park experience. While maybe it didn't invent gas powered engines, it certainly built the Model-T.
Innovation is a powerful thing to have, but it's not the only thing that defines a well-crafted game.
It's funny to me, personally, that you use World of Warcraft as an example and say that it lost "a ton" of players. I know personally I couldn't even stomach playing WoW before Wrath of the Lich King (and I bought Original when it released) because of how incredibly exclusionary the gameplay was if you were not in that top 5% . It really had nothing to do with time playing (I played JRPGs most of my young life, so I knew what it took to spend hundreds of hours on a game). I had no interest in committing 40 hours a week to preparing to play a game for 20 more hours that weekend. I feel THAT is what has been addressed by Blizzard, and save the nostalgics and the elitists (who I feel are similar to those on these forums who gripe about special skins not being so very special), no one has much of an issue with needing to do less mindless grinding to experience the actual purposes of the game.
Hardcore players, this feedback is not valuable. We know what happens if developers are too swayed here - you get new versions of an old game that has just enough difference to not pull you over (CS:GO, really the AWP cost being the same was important? No.), but not actually advance the series or genre in a meaningful way. Doing this disallows you to actually give the game any meaning - why does it exist, who is it for?
Now, developers have a responsibility here too; deconstruct why they're saying what they're saying. Many times, your hardcore fans want to ensure the new game has depth and skill. If you're changing how that's done, explain this process to your hardcore dudes. Don't pander or cave, just be upfront. If you're removing burden of knowledge/etc (things that most extremely hardcore gamers will latch on to as meaningful skill), be honest with it and try to evaluate that you're adding real skill mastery to your new game as well.
Your hardcore guys are valuable, but be careful to not let them rail your new game into total conservatism.
Weekly News Recap
Here is your chance to catch up if you missed a day of news this week!
- June 2
- June 3
- We previewed the Battle.net Desktop Client!
- June 4
- Character services are 50% off until the 10th.
- There were a few hotfixes
- June 5
- Titan Runestone will be a guaranteed drop off of Lei Shen.
- June 6
- Patch 5.4 - Flexible Raid preview!
- June 7
- Flex Raiding questions were answered.
- Diablo III is coming to Xbox 360 and PS3.
- Bashiok hinted that there are more interesting Patch 5.4 features to come.


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