After a week of fighting MythTV, I took it easy today, apart from writing up what I have done so far. There's only so much pain one can take, and I also had other things to do, like the house photos.
I had puzzled over the strange default system name that Ubuntu gave to my computer: greg-GA-MA785GT-UD. Peter Jeremy came out with an explanation: it appears to include the model number of the motherboard!
Apart from the question about how it found the name, what earthly use is that? It would make (marginally) more sense to describe the appearance of the box. I never cease to be amazed.
Trump: sticking in the knife?
I continue to be horrified about how a person like Donald Trump could be in the running for election as President of the United States of America. I'm sure that in China leaders are pointing to the fact as evidence that democracy does not work. Worse, he stands a non-zero chance of being elected. For the first time ever, I've been following the US election campaign.
Four months ago I was worried about the outcome of three votes: the British referendum on leaving the European Union, the Australian Federal Elections, and the US Presidential Elections. So far two of my fears have been fulfilled; hopefully the third will not. That would more than make up for the other two.
Gradually there are signs that things might improve. I had privately hypothesized that people would bring out dirt on Trump closer to the election day (now only 5 weeks away): people tend to forget, so it doesn't make sense to do it earlier. And now two newspapers have weighed in: first, The Arizona Republic, a conservative newspaper that has always endorsed the Republican presidential candidate, has broken with 126 years of tradition and endorsed Hillary Clinton as president. And USA Today, the largest circulation newspaper in the USA, has broken with tradition of not expressing opinions on the presidential candidates. They didn't endorse Clinton: they simply disendorsed Trump.
Republican nominee Donald Trump — is, by unanimous consensus of the Editorial Board, unfit for the presidency.
Yesterday Sasha developed an irritation of his left eye, and despite treatment it was worse today, so over to see Pene Kirk, who took a look under his (anaesthetized) second eyelid (what an amazing amount of space there is there!) and found nothing. New ointment, and hopefully it'll go away.
The weather hasn't been good lately. Lots of wind and rain, though fortunately most of it occurred in South Australia, where for a while 100,000 households were without power.
To bring that into context, South Australia has 1.5 million inhabitants. Outside Adelaide, the population is only 500,000 odd, so 100,000 is a fair chunk of the total number of households.
It's high time that politicians should be made accountable before law for their actions.
No way of moving it; we had to drive around it.
smbios.system.maker="To Be Filled By O.E.M."
smbios.system.product="To Be Filled By O.E.M."
smbios.system.serial="To Be Filled By O.E.M."
smbios.system.version="To Be Filled By O.E.M."
And not only was it a bizarre choice of name, it's modern: the name was truncated to greg-GA-MA785GT-UD.
A week or so ago the It's All Text addon to firefox	stopped working. Why? It seems that the developer uploaded a corrupt version to the web site.
Why should that stop the locally installed version working? Because. My best guess is that automatic updates are so clever that they first remove the old version, then check if the new one works.. I waited a while, sent a message to the developer, which remains unanswered, and went out looking for an alternative. What I want is a way to get a sane editor (Emacs) to edit text fields in firefox.
Surprisingly, there are very few. About the only one I could find was withExEditor. I tried that, and nothing happened. No error message, nothing except an entry in the Extensions list. Left feedback on the web site, and this time the developer (Kazumasa Hasegawa) contacted me, and we worked through the problem. Today I discovered that it worked fine on tiwi and ceeveear, but not on eureka. What's the difference? The version of firefox, maybe? eureka was running version 44, tiwi 45, and ceeveear presumably the latest and greatest.
OK, off to upgrade firefox. But that's another story.
In passing, it seems that there's a new version of It's All Text, but it has a different URL. Too late. For the time being I'll stick with withExEditor.
So I am finally forced to upgrade firefox on eureka. I've been reluctant; the package system is much better now, but there seems to be a maze of twisty little interdependencies, all different. Every time I have tried to upgrade firefox, it has tried to remove Emacs. Not an option.
So how about rebuilding from source? Started that—not for the first time—and not for the first time and into endless pain: all the packages that needed removal before I could build the new version. The worst seems to be rust, which bills itself as "an open-source systems programming language that runs blazingly fast...". I can't judge that, but the installation process doesn't bear it out. Normally the build is the long part of installing a port from source, but in this case, after building, the installation ran for fully 30 minutes, using lots of CPU time in the process. What was it doing? I don't know. And I don't care.
After that, gave up and tried removing and reinstalling the firefox package, which seemed to have made peace with Emacs. The dependencies are amazing!
The process will require 184 MiB more space.
497 MiB to be downloaded.
That's amazing enough in itself. 25 years ago it would have cost me a little over a million DM to download that much data (and would have taken the best part of a week). And what are they?
So to install firefox you also need two complete other browsers? And both LibreOffice and OpenOffice? And Hugin? And samba? I'm amazed.
The operation will free 1 GiB.
388 KiB to be downloaded.
What caused that? Some monitor size sensitivity?
On 28 September I installed Mythbuntu, this time leaving space for additional installations. Again MythWeb failed, this time with an error message that suggested that there's an error in the error handling code.
So I started again with straight Ubuntu and installed MythTV via the package. First I had trouble running mythtv-setup because the database wasn't installed correctly. After fixing that, I ran into different problems with MythWeb: something refused a connection.
How can things go so horribly wrong? For a couple of days I didn't even want think about it, but I came to the conclusion that the installations can't all be that bad, or the project would fold. So it seems logical that I should try a completely standard installation, DHCP, stupid system name and all, and see how that went.
The ^C was my attempt to get it to do something. In the end, again, I had to press RESET.
In passing it's interesting to note that the encoder status now shows two encoders per card. I wonder if that works. Theoretically it's possible, as long as both recordings are on the same transport stream.
What's the cause of that? Off to google for the error message, and found both an open bug report and this thread, which seems to indicate that it was a broken upgrade of MySQL. It refers to another bug report that was closed... when? 5 months ago! The system really seems designed to hide the dates. But that would suggest some time in April or May this year, round the time the distribution was made. So why hasn't it been updated? Or at least supplied with a warning? This is really amazingly bad. I wonder how many people really use it.
Decades ago, my first experience with firefox was anything but positive. Since then I've learnt to live with it, but it seems to continually try to annoy me. On the very first occasion, I discovered that it had replaced the standard X key bindings with, as I said at the time, "something Microsoft-like". At the time I found a way round the problem, but after today's upgrade it stopped working.
What's wrong this time? Sometimes I despair. Twenty years of web browsers, twelve years of multimedia software, and they continually conspire to make life hard. But this time I found a firefox addon to do the job for me, firemacs. Installed it, and yes indeed, it gives me back all the missing bindings—and more. Now searching is with c-s, like God intended, and of course c-r is search backwards. But that's what firefox uses for refreshing the screen. I'm going to have to reconfigure and rethink.
After that, oh wonder, MythWeb worked! Done! After only 9 days!
Finish configuring the system, including system name, IP address, file systems and my user ID.
Fix MythTV searches and display, which requires recovering my scripts. Hopefully I have checked them all in on a file system that wasn't affected by the disk crash.
Encoder 1 [ DVB : /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0 ] is local on greg-GA-MA785GT-UD3H and is recording 'German News' on SBS HD. This recording is scheduled to end at 11:00 AM.
Encoder 2 [ DVB : /dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0 ] is local on greg-GA-MA785GT-UD3H and is recording 'German News' on SBS ONE. This recording is scheduled to end at 11:02 AM.
Encoder 3 [ DVB : /dev/dvb/adapter1/frontend0 ] is local on greg-GA-MA785GT-UD3H and is not recording.
Encoder 4 [ DVB : /dev/dvb/adapter1/frontend0 ] is local on greg-GA-MA785GT-UD3H and is not recording.
As the device names show, the first two encoders are the same card.
In passing, it seems that the install program didn't truncate its stupid system name after all; it just displayed it in a box that was too small.
It has recently been brought to my attention that you have uploaded photos of my horse, Magni, to an online album taken during the recent Historical Dressage clinic.
Given the continuously negative way you have treated me since I have begun owning Icelandic Horses and as Magni is not your horse I would like you to remove them from your album and delete what you have taken of him from your personal files.
In the future if we both find ourselves at the same clinic I would prefer you to not point your camera in my direction and allow me to learn in peace.
What should she do? The images are of surprisingly poor quality, and possibly that's enough reason to remove them. But presumably the body in the saddle is the owner, so she must have seen that Yvonne was taking the photos. If she had objected, that would be the time to do it, not after Yvonne put them up on the web and they have doubtless been sucked in by countless search engines.
What does the law say about this kind of situation? It depends strongly on the country, as I considered a few years ago. The copyright belongs to Yvonne, and in general it's a good idea to get a model release if you're taking photos of people. But who ever does that? And in the environment of a riding "clinic", lots of people take photos. So why should these particular photos be removed? Because of the "continuously negative way she has treated her"? What does that mean? Yvonne asked, but got no sensible reply.
Yes, it takes all kinds. But it might be a good idea for participants in this kind of event to sign a model release when they register.
For some time I've had difficulty with bread rising, both last time and the time before. And last time I noted that the dough had not risen completely overnight. So this time I started 2 days ago and left it for two nights and a day, during which it rose considerably more. And when I finished the dough this morning, it rose in only 80 minutes, by far the fastest I have ever experienced. In addition, the dough was much smoother. Hopefully that will translate to better taste when I get round to eating it.
Clearly the system name (and DHCP served IP address) is Just Plain Stupid. It should be called ceeveear.lemis.com, which has a public IP address.
To use NFS, my personal user ID should be the same as the IDs on other systems in the network.
Programme information is from the EPG, which most Australian channels make almost useless. For example, only SBS has a "Movie" category in the EPG. Others use categories like "Unknown". I have hacks for this, but it'll change when I install shepherd.
What category are movies on the other channels? Hard to say, because MythWeb doesn't display it. I'll need to frob the web pages to make them useful.
Various configuration changes, like getting sane dates and times, modifying the programme searches to work correctly, and recoding the images so that the times are correctly.
The intention is to share the /home file system (which takes up most of the disk) between such root partitions as remain. /dev/sda1 contains a configuration that fits my environment better, so today I copied the MythTV and MySQL configuration from /dev/sda8 to /dev/sda1 and booted from it, in the hope of being able to use it with minimal changes.
Things didn't quite work out like that. Somehow I must have missed parts of the configuration, and what I got at the end was an utter mess. And the tuner card configuration didn't work because the capturecard table has a column hostname, which I didn't change in time. As a result I ended up with four cards, two local, two "remote". And for some reason the local configuration ended up being different from the first time round, though the cards themselves are identical. Admittedly, I've seen and marvelled at this before.
Along with hundreds of these messages, it dumped the EDID on the console in hexadecimal. OK, it's correct: the EDID is broken, but the reaction was surprising: it continually powered the TV off (something that I didn't know was possible), even when the TV had another input selected. And on at least two occasions the TV ended up in a state where it was powered on but didn't react to the controls; I had to disconnect power to get it to respond again. And logging in to the system was complicated by the fact that I had no ssh keys, and that the login name (greg) didn't match the other systems. Another frustrating day.
So what do I do next? In the short term, boot greg-GA-MA785GT-UD3H again. Next, I think I'll try a new installation on /dev/sda1, first adapting the system to the network, and then trying to set up MythTV. At least there's no pressure any more.
At Photokina last month, Olympus announced a whole lot of new equipment. Some of it is already on the market, notably the M.Zuiko Digital ED 30mm f/3.5 Macro.
Why should I want that? I already have a Zuiko Digital ED 50 mm f/2.0 Macro, a Olympus Zuiko Digital 35mm f/3.5 Macro and a M.Zuiko Digital ED 60mm f/2.8 Macro, not to mention the SMC Macro-Takumar 50 mm f/4. Isn't that enough?
Sadly, not any more. Most of them have their uses. The old Macro-Takumar is good because it has a physical diaphragm ring, so I can put it on bellows and reversing rings. The 50 mm Zuiko is a good all-round lens, though a little long in focus. That's why I bought the 35 mm lens.
But then Olympus came out with focus stacking, and very few lenses support that. The only macro lens was the 60 mm lens. So I had to get one of them, only three months later. The problem with that lens is the same as with the 50 mm lens: it's very long focus (mid-telephoto). It also has a filter size that doesn't match my ring flash. So I still use the 35 mm lens, though it can't do focus stacking.
And that's where the 30 mm lens comes in. It does do focus stacking. Or does it? How sure can I be? In any case, it's on sale in Australia for prices lower than I've seen anywhere in the world. How long will that last? And do they have an Olympus warranty? Some claim a one year warranty, some two. Where's the licensed dealer list?
This Warranty, is ... for a period of two years for purchases of an Olympus Micro Four-Thirds camera, ten years for purchases of Olympus Binoculars and one year on all other Olympus products.
I can't see that the two year warranty applies to lenses only. But no, she was adamant, and seemed reluctant to draw the discrepancy to the attention of anybody else. Regarding the support for focus stacking, she said that she couldn't comment, since the new camera is still under development. But I was sure I had seen it somewhere, I just wasn't sure where.
It's also mentioned here, but that's a document from the USA that has no legal meaning in Australia.
Finally I could order the lens, which went smoothly.
It is important to remember that you must honour any promises—whether verbal or in your warranty—that you make, regardless of how the rights in the ACL apply to that particular transaction.
In the process, look at that destination: "AUSTRALIA - CAPITAL - SYDNEY". Who on earth labours under such delusions?
v is the effective focus distance at closest focus, and f is the focal length, so v - f is the extension, on which the magnification depends. (FF) refers to using the Takumar on a full-frame camera. The columns with extension tubes assume my (total) 26 mm automatic extension tubes for the Olympus, and the (total) 61 mm tubes for full frame. It's clear that however it's described, the Olympus macro lenses come much closer.
Some people are happy to display their lives for everyone to see. Others seek more privacy.
Clearly there are contradictions here. Firstly, Yvonne did not take a photo of the person in question, only of her horse. Do we need a model release for that? I don't think so. Secondly, the person is by no means "private"; I found several similar images which she had posted on Facebook, including one with Arne Koets. I wonder if she has a consent form from him.
So were we invading her privacy? Privacy laws vary considerably between countries. Called up the Free legal aid service on 1300 792 387 and discovered that they only handle criminal law. They did give me some pointers, though, including the Central Highlands Community Legal Service on 1800 466 488, and a reference to the Fitzroy Law Handbook, which is available on line.
69.111 As with other forms of personal information, the coverage of images is limited by the scope of the Privacy Act. For example, an image is not covered by the Privacy Act if it was taken by an individual who is acting in their private capacity.
The PA 1988 does not apply to personal information that individuals collect, hold, use or disclose for the purposes of their personal, family or household affairs. In other words, the PA 1988 does not apply to an individual's handling of personal information unless it is done in the course of running a business.
If you intend to sell or distribute images that include people, then it is worth getting your subjects to sign a model release form as this will protect you against any comeback.
If, however, your photo is to be used in some sort of educational context, such as in a journal, industry newsletter, newspaper or otherwise, typically a model release won't be required due to the educational and informative nature of the photo.
What I haven't been able to find is what kinds of images could be considered private. Even in Germany, where privacy is strictly enforced, outside photos of buildings are allowed. What about animals?
An individual has certain rights to control the use of their image. The specific details will vary from one country to another depending on national legislation, although the general rule seems to be to protect a person against defamatory or offensive use of their image.
That actually makes more sense to me than the Australian legislation. But here again the requirements are generally limited to commercial use of images of people. Defamation and offensive use are a different matter, of course, and I assume that Australian law has adequate remedies for that, but there has so far been no question of that.
If you operate a website, and someone else posts copyright infringing material (e.g. someone else's photo or music) to your site, you are likely to be liable for copyright infringement. For this reason, most sites usually contain terms and conditions of use which state that users will not infringe copyright. It is a good idea to respond quickly to complaints about infringing content on a website that you operate.
That's the other way round, of course, and certainly it makes sense.
Off with Yvonne, Nikolai and Leonid to visit the Geoffrey Cutter Centre and the Eureka Village Hostel. I'm getting the distinct impression that Niko isn't enjoying it particularly. It's also sad to see how quickly some of the residents are ageing.
If this looks confusing, it may be because Australia Post doesn't know top from bottom. But it looks as if, despite promises, Cambuy	took more than 48 hours to despatch the lens. And I was half hoping to have it by tomorrow. Thanks, Cambuy. That's the last thing I buy from you.
Off to the Dereel Hall today for a meeting of the Dereel Camera Crew. Lisa Hunter, the convener, did a presentation about the wildflowers round Dereel. I'm amazed how many there are, and how few I have been able to find myself.
After the presentation, off to Swansons Road to an area where Lisa knew a number of wildflowers. It's just on the edge of the area where we used to take the dogs for a walk when we lived in Kleins Road. Probably the biggest reason I didn't find very much is that the flowers are generally just individuals spread out among an uninteresting background.
I also brought two cameras: my E-M1 with the 60mm f/2.8 Macro, and Yvonne's E-PM2 with the 35mm f/3.5 Macro. The latter combination proved to be as good as useless: I couldn't get any good autofocus. I think this lens is going to go once I get the new M.Zuiko Digital ED 30mm f/3.5 Macro, which should focus much more quickly with the E-PM2.
Hopefully this spring's weather isn't a portent of things to come.
What happened to this mornings Deutsche Welle	news? For some reason, it didn't get recorded. Usually that's an indication that something much more important has come up, like a football game in Uraguay. But no, today it was broadcast, it just didn't get recorded. And when I tried to schedule another recording, the system just hung.
OK, reboot—after all, Ubuntu emulates Microsoft—and then the recordings were already scheduled. But what went wrong? That's a problem I've never had before.
But that reminded me that I was still planning to retry a Mythbuntu installation on /dev/sda1. The intention was to set the IP address and system name as it was supposed to remain. I did that, and also installed a couple of programs (Emacs and various minor things), all before configuring MythTV.
All went relatively smoothly, and I was able to complete the configuration almost without problems. But when I tried to access Mythweb, I once again got the undefined function error that I had seen 10 days ago.
Is it any more legible if untangled?
Yes, indeed: frame 2 is a call to custom_error() with a text starting "Unable to conne". At least that's something, but what extraordinary efforts I need to even get the error message! And clearly it's a bug that's easy to wake.
Frustration. I'll think over my next move. In the meantime, back to the functional version (greg-GA-MA785GT-UD3H) on /dev/sda8. And I couldn't log in! It wasn't the password: firstly I knew exactly what it was, and I could log in on a character-mode terminal (what we'd call a vty in FreeBSD), and secondly I could change it to something much simpler and still not log in.
Why do I have such incredible problems with this stuff? Ubuntu is supposed to be for non-technical people. Is it taking its revenge? The only good news was that it didn't seem to be a serious issue: I don't want to use the graphical interface anyway, and the recordings and MythWeb still work.
Two weeks and still more problems than I can understand!
I think I took the first with a focus step of 3, and the second with 5. Things were also not made any easier by the fact that for some reason focus peaking didn't work. I still need to work out what went wrong there.
Hopefully the OM-D E-M1 Mark II will make this easier.
Last week ALDI had a special offer: rack of lamb for only $16 a kilogram. They didn't look bad, so we bought one. But the results were terrible: yes, the meat in the middle was tender, all 5% of the total. The rest included parts that are normally trimmed from the chops, and the whole thing was barely edible. At least the dogs are happy. But once again our opinion is confirmed: ALDI is good for lots of things, but fresh meat is not one of them.
I automatically file a copy of all incoming mail in ~/Mail/backup, and quite frequently refer to the folder after deleting the primary copy of a message. So it was today. But the last saved message was yesterday at 14:20, 20 hours before.
* default rcfile then we also outlaw group writability.
Yesterday I had had an accident setting permissions, and it seems that I set GID my home directory. After fixing that, things worked again.
In general, this matches the inscrutable permissions checking code.
It's been over a month since we decided we needed to do something about our kitchen slicer, and gradually I got round to it. It just doesn't cut well enough any more. Is the motor wearing out? Or is it just the blade? Replacing the blade is trivial: it's designed to be removed for cleaning. So I called up the agents and discovered that the replacement blade costs $46.50, nearly a quarter of the price of a new unit. That's a lot to bet on that being the solution to the problem.
So off again looking for alternative slicers, which start at about $70. And again I found nothing useful. A Google Search for meat slicer review australia brought up this page, which was strange for a number of reasons. Firstly, it didn't mention any model I had seen before, including particularly our current Sunbeam model, and secondly all the details were in obsolete units like pounds and inches. It took me a while to realize that it's a US page, which is pretty useless here. Only the prices are converted to Australian dollars. I'm not sure why they bother.
That difference in cutting height could be crucial. And I'm concerned that no reputable supplier offers it; it's almost only from the manufacturer and on eBay.
So what do I do? I'm not looking for the cheapest unit, just one that I can use. Should I look at more expensive alternatives? To be continued.
Into Ballarat today, primarily to have a haircut, but also did some other shopping. To a kitchenware shop, primarily to buy some knives, but also took the blade of the kitchen slicer to see if it could be sharpened. At least they knew a knife sharpener, just round the corner, but for some unspecified reason it was closed. We'll have to try again another time, maybe not exactly at lunch time.
Then to Christies to finally order a cabinet for my bassoons. Should be there the end of next week.
What didn't I do? Get my hair cut. On the way in there were too many people waiting, and on the way home it was raining heavily, so I decided to put it off. But it'll have to be soon.
While in town I went to UFS to look for a mucolytics to clear my throat. Long discussion with the pharmacist, and I ended up with some surprisingly expensive tablets, "Bisolvon Chesty Forte", whatever that's intended to mean. It does suggest that it's not intended for throats. They're made by Boehringer Ingelheim, a German company, so they come with a "Waschzettel", a descriptive leaflet that tells me that they're probably not the ideal formulation for me. They contain (only) Bromhexine hydrochloride, in an unspecified quantity. Still, they might help.
Then you have to click and wait several seconds for the next page. If you live in remote places like the United Kingdom or the United States of America, you have to click four times, taking about half a minute in all. What a triumph of web mastery!
They have no less than 9 products called Bisolvon, ordered by symptom. What's in them? Ah, with a bit of careful mouse positioning you can select "Find out more" for all of them, and in some cases it doesn't take you back to the same page. And another click and you discover that many of them contain bromhexidene hydrochloride, mine with 8 mg per tablet. There's also a "Bisolvon® Chesty Natural Bisolvon® A Herbal Medicine that helps clear mucus from the chest", but they're not letting on on the details; the "Find out more" just takes you back to the same page.
On the way home, picked up my new macro lens, the new M.Zuiko Digital ED 30mm f/3.5 Macro, serial number ACBA04378. I now have five macro lenses, three of them purchased in the last 12 months.
Why so many? Do I really need them all? I'm seriously considering getting rid of the 35 mm lens. But looking at them shows some surprising things.
In fact, only the 35 mm lens can focus 1:1 (35 mm extension). The two 50 mm lenses only focus 1:2, an extension of only 25 mm.
Doubtless it's related to the trickery with the focus.
Apart from that, there's also the obligatory diagram showing how the lens caps fit, a subset of the specifications (doesn't mention magnification), and claiming a fixed field of view of 40° (measured along which dimension?). And two pages of safety instructions and statutory regulations. All that in 32 languages, including some that I haven't yet identified.
And the truth? The field of view is measured across the diagonal, and at 1:1.25 magnification (the unmentioned maximum) it would be 18.2°. And the exposure compensation table is just a toy; it doesn't even specify the points there you need 1 EV and 1⅔ EV compensation. Of course, that information should be displayed in the viewfinder. Maybe they'll do it one day.
And apart from that? I wasn't expecting how close you have to get to the subject at full extension; it can only be a few millimetres from the front element. Tried it with my extension tubes, and of course it got even closer, so close that I'm not sure it would be practical. I'll have to experiment more.
30 mm m.Zuiko 0.095 1.25 13.9×10.4 High magnification, focus stacking Short subject distances, no ring flash, problems with extension tubes?
So for the moment, at any rate, it seems that each lens has its unique advantages.
What's roti? It's a word I know from earliest childhood, the Malay word for "bread". It comes from some Indian language, probably Hindi, where it also means "bread". But nowadays in English it's applied specifically to Indian breads; I always thought of chapati, and that's what Wikipedia says. Google Translate also tells me that it's the Romanian word for "wheel".
Why this pedanticism? Today ALDI had a "roti maker" on special, a grill for making flat breads. Just what I need, and I bought one. It claims not only to bake the bread, but to form it too, rather like a tortilladora. If it can do that too, it'll be excellent.
Reading the instruction manual is the usual mess, but they included two recipes, one for roti and one for chapatis.
It uses the wrong flour sorts. It's not clear how either combination would come out, but atta should be generally available nowadays. They could at least have mentioned it.
The water:flour ratio is very different.
The quantities are not comparable.
The salt quantity looks like an alibi.
Olive oil in chapatis? Just what grows on every street corner in India.
My real interest in these recipes was to compare them to my own. In particular, should the dough be softer for this machine? But the recipes are so far from any concept of accuracy that I can't really decide.
This was on the packaging of the roti maker. The roti on the right looks plausible. But what's the pot? A kuali? That's not used in Indian cooking. And the food in it? I suppose you could think of it as a curry, but just barely.
I can't decide whether this is indicative of stupidity or beating the system.
I'm starting a page with similarly inappropriate photos.
Private email server: good or bad?
A mail server is a computer that serves as an electronic post office for email.
So what is this server? Why is it a security risk? Should she have been accessing her mail via her (implicitly secure) mobile telephone? Was she allowed to access her mail at all outside the State Department?
In the meantime, it seems that some official server of the US Democratic Party has been hacked compromised. and hundreds of email messages	involving John Podesta have been published on Wikileaks.
How can this happen? Apart from relatively simple precautions against intrusion, it's simplicity Itself to encrypt emails. Why didn't they? Are they that stupid? Are they suffering from terminal Microsoft brain rot? This isn't the politicians' fault: it's the fault of their IT people. And again, the observation that I made three months ago: potentially the private server might have been more secure. At least it could have been security in obscurity.
Yes, messages from Clinton's server have been posted too. But they weren't stolen; they were released officially by the State Department. And how did they get hold of them if they weren't stored on their servers?
Yesterday I compared my macro lenses in size and appearance, but I didn't actually take any photos. I did, however, notice the extremely short distance between the front element of the new M.Zuiko Digital ED 30mm f/3.5 Macro lens and the subject.
Today I did some testing. In general, it bore out what I suspected. Here photos of graph paper (1 mm squares, emphasized every 1 cm). I did the shots with artificial light and didn't bother to set white balance, thus the colour.
The real reason for the difference was that the lens was obscuring the subject.
The other thing that's obvious is that the lens shows noticeable pincushion distortion at close range. That should no longer be an issue when DxO Optics "Pro" releases support for the lens.
Most of those values compare nicely. Only the 30 mm without tubes diverges significantly, and I'm wondering if I focused it as close as it would go. Even so, the field of view is noticeably smaller than that of the 60 mm lens.
One thing, though, is clear: my hopes of using the 30 mm lens with extension tubes are dashed. That's a pity.
That's our business, but Graeme has agreed to cut it apart for us.
Wir danken Ihnen für den großen Zuspruch. Leider sind unsere IT Server zusammen gebrochen. Unsere IT Experten haben das Problem gelöst- Sie können das Abo jetzt wieder bestellen.
We thank you for your great support. Unfortunately, our IT servers have collapsed. Our IT experts have solved the problem - you can now order the subscription again.
What a confession! And if that weren't enough, the spelling: "zusammen gebrochen" means "together broken". They meant "zusammengebrochen", for which "collapsed" isn't too bad. In addition, they have removed the obligatory hyphen in "IT-Server" and "IT-Experten".
Once the FAZ was the intellectual newspaper in Germany, even if their advertisement ("Dahinter steckt immer ein kluger Kopf", "there's always a clever head behind it [newspaper]" reminds me of the slogan for the tabloid Bild-Zeitung: "Bild denkt für mich": "Bild thinks for me".
Round 8:45 this morning I heard a once-familiar beeep, and went into the kitchen to find the oven with power, but the microwave oven without. They're on separate breakers, so clearly that was a circuit breaker issue. And sure enough, the same circuit breaker had tripped that continually tripped when the UPS was connected to it. Clearly that wasn't the cause this time. What was? I had thought that it might also be related to the overly high supply voltage, but that too has been fixed. Some unexpected device? Maybe the switch itself?
Mail from Bartosz Fabianowski today, wondering why I, of all people, should refer to folders in an article yesterday. But that was in connection with email, and there the term makes sense. And its meaning is distinct from either file or directory: MUAs typically store messages either in files (Mbox) or directories (Maildir), though I suppose many products in the Microsoft space now store them in databases. In each case, though, the usage "folder" applies. Yet another reason not to apply it to directories.
And on 1 April 2014 Niko cut a groove in my finger, which for some reason I didn't photograph.
Spring is half over, but it's been a terrible start. Last month we beat (by 11%) the record rainfall for September. So far this month we have roughly equalled a typical month's rainfall for October. And we've had wind like never before. Will it ever stop, or is this part of climate change?
Today Mick and Mick came along to tidy up the garden, somewhat hampered by lack of preparation. They didn't get very far: Mick² ran out of whipper snipper wire, and it was so windy that Mick¹ couldn't complete laying weed mat. Hopefully later, but it strikes me how expensive gardeners are. Maybe we should really do more ourselves.
As if to make that point, Yvonne returned having visited the Ryans in Kleins Road, and brought back a couple of birches, a couple of Salvia microphylla, two Nandina domestica and many cuttings of Buddleja, which required planting. Time to tidy our garden stuff up.
The text translates as: "You were right. Humans really don't land on their feet".
I'm not the only person to have problems with chromium (correct name, but the executable is called chrome) version 52. Last week I entered a bug report and had it almost immediately closed as a duplicate of this report. And that one has been open since 22 August, without any action. I don't know how to interpret this: you'd think that something as important as a web browser would get better attention.
On IRC today, Callum Gibson told me that he had no problems with exactly the same release. On his suggestion, I created a new user, logged on as he, and started chrome. It ran normally.
So: some configuration file issue? I had already removed the ~/.cache/chromium and ~/.config/chromium directories. What else does it touch? Took a look at the files that the new user created; nearly 250 of them. Can I bear to look for the culprit?
Lasagne for dinner this evening. I never cease to be amazed how much sauce béchamel it uses. Today I made 900 ml for 750 g ragù bolognese, which should have been correct, but it seems that I could have used 30% more.
Huevos rancheros for breakfast today. That requires tortillas. And that's close enough to whatever ALDI thinks roti is that I could try making them with the new roti maker.
It's supposed to replace the tortilladora too, but to be on the safe side I made the tortillas in my own tortilladora—after all, it's no more work. Turning the thing on for the first time caused more smell than I expected, along with some suspicious looking smoke out of the thermostat cover. But that went away.
The whole thing is supposed to go very quickly: 15-20 seconds on one side, 20-25 on the other, a few seconds on the first side, and ready! Done in less than a minute.
But it was relatively well done, possibly a little dry. I can compensate for that.
So in the evening we ate something with chapatis, using my standard recipe. This time I tried flattening them in the cooker. Slip! And the doughball shot sideways out of the cooker. Not once, but three times, after which I got the tortilladora and discovered, to my surprise, that it worked very well, and the chapati was almost perfectly round. Previously we always rolled them out. This time I used a little more water (80 g instead of 77.5 for 100 g atta), but I don't think that would make a big difference.
So I tried to demonstrate the slipping dough to Yvonne. And it flattened with no problems. Probably the doughball needs to be pretty flat before it goes in. Unfortunately, it wasn't very round, so for the last chapati I used the tortillera again.
And the speed? More than a minute, but much faster than with the tortillas. The other strangeness is that the upper side also heats, but it's not mentioned in the instructions. I tried it, and it didn't work well: the top is hinged, so it lies on the roti at an angle.
I still need to gain more experience with the thing, but so far it looks like a good acquisition.
The exact middle of spring was so windy that I couldn't take my monthly photos. Today I managed it before 13 mm of rain fell. What a weather!
And there's really not much to show for it. The last Canna from last year is just about dead, and the last Petunia is also more of interest that it's there at all.
What caused that? Lack of fertilizer? Random mutation? I'll address the first possibility first.
And apart from that? Not much. Yvonne is right that we should plant some new flowers.
In the 1960s I lived in Kuala Lumpur and went to school in England. It was quite a culinary experience, but in general not a good one. In particular the British concept of Asian (mainly Indian) food was bizarre to say the least, I have a recollection of some greenish thick flour sauce over tasteless meat, served with curry powder for those who liked it "hot".
Fortunately those days are over, but despite massive immigration of Indians and Pakistanis to the United Kingdom, the British concept of curry remains strange. Last week I bought some Pataks pre-mix "Chicken tikka masala" sauce, whatever that may mean: fry chicken pieces, add, cook for 15 minutes. It was worth a try, and today was the day.
Too much fenugreek—something I recall from 50 years ago—but apart from that not too bad. I'm just left wondering what the "tikka" means.
I'm not overly concerned about personal security; I consider privacy largely a thing of the past, and I've adapted to it. This diary is one example: there's not much that I do that doesn't get published.
But somehow Facebook scares me, and the details I publish there are deliberately incorrect. In particular, I put in places that have interested me in the past. For some time now I was born in Kandahar, went to the Novosibirsk State Technical University, and lived in Kharkiv. But that's getting boring, and may be one of the reasons why I get so much spam in Pashtu, Russian and Ukrainian. Time to move on. One place that I somehow missed visiting on Gonbad-e Kavus (or is that Gonbad-e Qavus? Wikipedia can't agree with itself, but the spelling گنبد كاووس suggests the former. So today I moved there.
Why tomorrow? Clearly a time zone issue. By the time I "moved", it was already past midnight UTC, so it would seem that Facebook is making assumptions that all the world is in the United States of America.
A couple of years ago I made a first attempt at Chinese beef and broccoli, mainly because I couldn't find any good recipes on line. Last week Yvonne bought some broccoli (green and white), and it was high time to get rid of it. So another attempt, starting with a renewed online search.
Ths one turned me off immediately by requiring garlic powder, ground ginger, brown sugar and reduced sodium "soy" sauce, not to mention strange things like divided vegetable oil. But even apart from that, it didn't look interesting.
This one also wants low-sodium soy sauce and brown sugar (2 tablespoons. That must be round 40 g!), along with "salt as needed - use sparingly". Clearly a sodium hater. It looked marginally better, suggesting Oyster sauce instead of the Hoi Sin that I used last time.
This one was difficult to assess. It's mainly pictorial, and the most obvious issue was the extreme thickness of the meat (¼" slices, over 6 mm). The recipe itself is hidden way down the bottom, and by the time I had got there I had already been turned off. It also wanted low-sodium ingredients—is there some fad going on in the United States of America at the moment?—and the obligatory ridiculous quantities of sugar. But one suggestion that I didn't see until too late was spring onions, which could have improved the matter.
Finally I found this recipe, which wanted neither low-sodium nor powders, though it couldn't get by without a teaspoon of sugar. So I based some of my recipe on that.
The difference? No sugar, of course, and meat cut more finely, about 2 mm thick, 1×4 cm across. I used their "marinade", which was far too thick, so I was no longer able to fry the result. And the idea of thickening the sauce was ridiculous: it was too thick already. Still, the result wasn't too bad, though a little sweet; adding sugar is just plain crazy. Probably a good basis for the next attempt. Here it is, for reference only. Here's the latest recipe.
Cut the beef into thin strips about 1×3 cm in size and about 3 mm thick. Mix with oyster sauce, sherry, sesame oil and soya sauce and marinate for 30 minutes.
Cut the broccoli into small florets. Finely chop ginger and garlic. Fry the ginger and garlic in the oil until about half-cooked. Add the broccoli and stir fry briefly. Add a little water, cover and steam until bright green.
In another pan, fry the beef until cooked.
Mix together on a serving dish, garnish with coriander leaf and serve.
It's funny how some days are really eventful, and on others, like today, hardly anything happens. Got through the last online course that I want to complete, online photography course	by Marc Levoy, which tended to sag a bit at the end, but it still well worth watching. Sadly his treatment of panoramas was less than inspiring. But I think I've done enough online courses for the moment. Time to catch up with other aspects of life.
Into Ballarat again today, primarily to finally get a haircut. While there also did a number of other things that I have been planning for a while: to the knife grinder, who has a door that looks shut even when it's open—he was probably there last time. But he can't sharpen the blade of the kitchen slicer.
Then to Bunnings for some gardening supplies, including 15 plants planned to be a mixture of petunia and pansies, but in the end came back with 10 petunias, 4 tagetes and only a single (black) pansy. Now if only the soil would drain enough that we could plant them.
It's been nearly 11 months since Jim Macintosh came to give us a quote to build the winter garden. And somehow that was the last we heard, and I let it slip. Today finally to look for some displays that I had found advertised on the web. The first one simply wasn't there—web rot? And the second didn't really have what I was looking for. One particularly unwelcome piece of information was that in a bushfire prone area the roof must be steel, not transparent. That almost kills it. The best we can do is something like the verandah in Kleins Road with transparent blinds. They can't prohibit that.
But which is safer in a bushfire? What do these designers think when they come up with these regulations?
So I had an excuse after all—so I only got about two-thirds of it done. Tomorrow the bandages come off, and once the forecast heavy rain has drained, I can continue.
We currently have a couple of pretty flowers that I could use as objects for trying better macros. I didn't get very far; somehow there are two many tricks in setting up focus stacking. I'm gradually remembering that the shutter speed must be 1/13 s or longer for flash, but the menu settings keep baffling me, and I'm still not sure what exactly the correct approach is. Do it wrong and it only takes a single image.
But even that shows that I need to improve the lighting. Hopefully things will be better with the OM-D E-M1 Mark II.
I tried this in Wantadilla, but the results didn't look good. On the other hand, I didn't realize how completely the instruments fill out the height of the cabinet. It looks as if I will be able to screw pegs directly into the top plate of the cabinet.
The maker also presses the chapati, making it not only unnecessary to use a separate press (itself hardly any difference), but also unnecessary to move it once the chapati is pressed. And that's good, because it's easy to fold or tear the raw chapati when moving it.
I was able to mainly recover it in the tortilladora, and maybe with some experimentation I could get it to work in the maker. But there's a basic conflict between pressing (should be cold) and cooking (should be hot). So for the moment I'll use the tortilladora.
The chapati in the sandwich toaster cooked nicely from both sides, but far too slowly. Apparently the temperature is lower, surprising given the difference in power (900 W for the roti maker, 2 kW for the toaster). So, sadly, that's not going to work unless I can find one with adjustable temperature.
Rotate by 180° and continue, and it came out relatively well.
But this time it took longer to cook them all, and as a result they were even dryer. I don't think I can compensate by making the dough even moister: I can only barely handle them now. One possibility might be to try to find out how to press them in the roti maker, in which case I might be able to start them off moister.
When will it finally dry out? Despite all the rain, nothing much is growing yet, and Yvonne is complaining about running out of hay for the horses.
Would a dose of fertilizer work that quickly? About the only other possibility I had considered was a random mutation, but the second flower seems to disprove that.
Yes, the original out-of-camera JPEG is smaller than the ones from DxO, but the conversion compressed it by a further 80% odd, while the same conversion of the DxO JPEGs reduced the size by less than 50%.
The JPEGs are generated automatically by the focus stacking algorithm. Are they more heavily compressed? Like all modern system cameras, the camera offers me a choice of JPEG compression—if I select JPEG at all. But here it's automatic. More investigation required.
We're still looking for a kitchen slicer. Next week ALDI has one on special. Last time we tried one, it was useless, but who knows if they haven't fixed the problems. If not, we can always return it.
But then Yvonne told me that somebody had one to sell on the Facebook Dereel Buy Swap and Sell channelgroup, so I went looking. Nothing. Sales, including sold items, going back years, but this was supposed to be recent.
So she showed it to me on her screen. Sure enough, it was there, and she tried to contact the seller (who hasn't answered). But why didn't it display on my screen? In the end I restricted the view from "Anytime" [sic] to "2016"—and there it popped up.
Why wasn't it there before? Of course all Facebook stuff is in nominally backwards, so to be expected that I can hardly complain about it any more, but why does it show me stuff going back years and not currently active stuff?
One of the things that puzzled me about yesterday's roti making experiments was that the sandwich toaster took longer to cook the rotis than the dedicated roti maker, although the toaster has a rating of 2 kW and the roti maker only 900 W. Turned them on again today and measured the temperatures: the toaster ranged between 200° and 250°, and the roti maker was around 200°. So why the difference? More experiments needed.
After yesterday's	measurements, it seemed a good idea to try the sandwich toaster again as an alternative to the roti maker. Huevos rancheros	for breakfast, so I did the tortillas in the toaster.
And once again it took too long, and the result was dry, brittle tortillas. I just don't understand why. I could try a moister dough, I suppose.
But we're a long way from that at the moment. A week ago Mick¹ discovered that, though the plant wasn't dead, the stem had broken off. OK, they're tough, so we took the remains and put them in the kitchen to replant. And of course we forgot them. A couple of days ago they were looking particularly unhappy, so I finally trimmed the branches and put the rest in some water in a dog's bowl. Within a few hours they had sucked in enough water to look almost normal again, and later, to my surprise, they started flowering!
That's really tough stuff. It's a pity they only flower for a few days a year.
Clearly the background material is too shiny. I can get some paper, and I think I'll do that. The other possibility is to move the background further back. This is all flash illumination, so that will automatically darken the background.
The top 15 cm or so of the fill have been eroded. I wonder when they will fix that.
Somehow I can't bring myself to do any gardening work. I had to plant the Carpobrotus, and also did some other stuff, including the Nandina domestica, Salvia microphylla and Betula pendula that Yvonne brought with her last week, but when I found another birch, I just couldn't be bothered. Will this change?
That's right, $175 (Canadian, as good as the same as Australian) for an empty box! And as if that wasn't enough, another $90 for postage! Clearly this is aimed at people with more money than sense.
But then, maybe that's the case with all Leica equipment. As far as I can tell, the SL (Typ 601) is the current flagship model. And compared to the Leica M it looks very good. But it only just exceeds the capabilities of my Olympus OM-D E-M1, though it costs 7 times the price. I looked at this a year ago, but didn't add the prices. I've put them there, rather than repeat the whole table.
And the lenses? They have a partnership with Panasonic, and so there are Leica-branded lenses with names like Summilux. In particular, there's a 25 mm f/1.4 lens that is in competition with the new Olympus m.Zuiko Digital ED 25mm f/1.2 PRO.
Those were just the lowest prices, from Staticice. If the mFT prices seem too low, you can pay more—up to $1,398 for the 25 mm lens. But why the enormous price difference? The cheapest Leica M lens is nearly 3 times the most expensive mFT lens. Are they that much better?
But my real issue is whether I can justify the price of the Olympus f/1.2 lens. It's just coming on the market now, at prices round $1,700. That's a lot more than the 25 mm Summilux. So when a second-hand Summilux 25 mm f/1.4 came up on eBay, I offered up to $405 for it, and won. So I've saved $1,300 and lost ½ EV lens sensitivity. I can live with that.
Surprise visit from Nele Kömle this afternoon, along with a very quiet Nina from Graz. Seems they were in Ballarat to have Nelson looked at (allergies).
The only problem are specks of dust on the sensor. This isn't supposed to happen to Olympus cameras. My best bet is that they're random, but even after being shaken off by the sensor cleaner, they can fall back there. I think what I need is something to blow the dust out of the camera. These hand blowers are probably too weak, but I can't find anything mechanical that isn't far too strong.
Last year it was in full flower two weeks earlier.
We're still not sure what to do about the verandah, now that we're not allowed to put transparent roofing on the thing. In the meantime, a Troy from Rokewood came along to take a look, and there's a good chance he'll be able to do at least some of the work for us.
Not immediately obvious, is it? The gap between the tray and the blade is about 7mm. When cutting meat at a thickness of, say, 3 mm (a reasonable thickness), the last piece to slice is 6 mm or less thick, and it falls between tray and blade. That could happen with the Sunbeam too, but with a gap of only 3 mm it wasn't nearly as much of an issue.
Planted most of the remainder of the plants that we bought recently; hopefully the ground will stay relatively dry now.
Bread baking time today, started by the discovery that my D starter family has died out after 36 generations: it had gone mouldy.
And the current supply of rye meal has run out. Not a worry: we bought a new 25 kg sack last week. But looking at it showed that it was wholemeal. Here the new flour on the left and the old flour on the right.
Originally, the 'flower' or finest quality of meal; hence, the finer portion of meal (whether from wheat or other grain) which is separated by bolting. Also, in modern use, the ordinary name for the meal or farina of wheat as opposed to that obtained from other grain.
Etymology: A specific use of flower n.; compare French fleur de farine the 'flower' or finest part of the meal. Johnson 1755 does not separate the words, nor does he recognize the spelling flour.
It's interesting that "flour" only refers to wheat. That would explain why the rye meal we have bought has always been called meal. But what went wrong? This is clearly wholemeal, and there's nothing on the packaging to indicate that. I'll bake a loaf (roughly 50/50 of each) and see how it turns out, but there's a good chance we'll have to return the sack.
In addition, the new model has a 200 W motor, while the old one has a 150 W motor. All in all, a surprising number of small improvements. I hadn't expected that.
Will we keep it? Probably. Together they cost $74, and the cheapest of this model that I can find on eBay costs $70 including postage. If something goes wrong with one of them, we can cannibalize the other.
To Ballarat this morning to see Dr Paul Smith. Once again a number of things have cropped up: phlegm in throat (referred to a specialist), non-healing lesion on hand (chilled out with liquid nitrogen) and my dislocated finger (can take another couple of weeks to heal completely). And at the end we both forgot a prescription.
Old lenses: oldies but goodies?
Those results are amazing. Clearly the Super Takumar doesn't stand a chance at f/1.4, and even at f/8 it is not as good as the Summilux at f/1.4. The Zuiko is a little fuzzy at f/1.8, but is as good as the Summilux at f/8.
It took me over a year to note another detail: these are supposed to be the corner of the image, but the Super-Takumar is designed for full frame, so the crop is really only a little more than half way between centre and corner. Who knows what it would look like in the real corners.
And the Summilux doesn't seem to be any worse at f/1.4 than at f/8. That's better than I expected.
These are quick rough-and-ready photos; it's extremely difficult to align the camera exactly to fill the frame with the monitor, and to do things correctly I should have done it in total darkness. In addition, I should have tried the macro lenses as well. Maybe I will one day, but the difference are so amazing that I'm not sure there's anything to gain.
The other thing that surprised me was the difference in exposure. The Zuiko had slightly longer exposure than the Summilux, but the images are also slightly lighter. Both were done with centre-weighted automatic exposure. Why the difference?
In the past I had assumed that the f/1.4 of the Super Takumar was really closer to f/1.8, but both exposures were as good as the same (1/15 s at f/1.4, 2 s at f/1.8). The slight difference in EV in the metadata is because the shutter speed at f/1.4 was 1/15 s and not 1/16s. On the other hand, the background of the f/8 shot is lighter, so maybe there is a difference after all.
But that's 2 EV less than the Summilux at the same apertures. At full aperture, the Takumar was exposed for 1/15 s, while the Summilux was exposed for 1/60 s. What's causing that? It would suggest that the Takumar is really an f/2.8.
I can think of a couple of reasons: my assumptions of 50 years ago were correct, or the yellowing of the lens in that time led to a considerable decrease in the light transmission. Either way, the only thing it's good for is for comparisons, and maybe I'll do a few more of them.
Jörg Micheel is coming for the weekend, and we're preparing various food, in particular for Singapore-style nasi lemak, which involves revisiting my chicken wings for breakfast recipe. Last time I did them sous vide at 75°, and they didn't quite fall off the bone. So this time I've made them at 78°. Of course it won't be until tomorrow that we find out.
Back to the station and discovered that there was no train scheduled at 11:41. It was due at 12:04, and it arrived three minutes early. Jörg seemed to be positively impressed, quite differently from the last time I went by train in Victoria.
And then I discovered that that was what we served him last time. I really should consult this diary before planning meals.
So it seems that James Comey has suddenly become well-known after his decision to influence the US presidential election. God rest his soul if Donald Trump gets elected. And who will save his career if he doesn't?
But since Jörg was here, we discussed the technical details of the Hillary Clinton email controversy. I've never really understood the fuss. It's a security issue, right? Who writes about security from a technical point of view? Bruce Schneier is a good start. So I went Googling for schneier clinton server and came up with this interview. I didn't watch it, just found the transcript. And there's nothing there about security risks! His main concern was archiving the data. So it seems that whatever this server was, it was used as a repository for the data. And the other issue is that at the time the United States Department of State had a policy of deleting emails after 90 days. So maybe the idea wasn't that bad after all. In any case, I haven't seen any press reports of compromises of the server or loss of data.
But Google also gave me this page, which doesn't seem to refer to Schneier at all. I haven't finished reading it, but it seems that this wasn't a simple matter of mail routing, but that she had her own domain, clintonemail.com. Now isn't that stupid! The State Department IT people knew about and accommodated the external server; why didn't they just route officially addressed mail to it?
And then, it seems, she used the same email address for personal and public matters. What a stupid idea! It means, at the very least, than any analysis of the data includes her personal stuff as well. How difficult is it to create a second email address? On a real system it's as simple as adding a line to postfix/virtual, and even on the presumed Microsoft machine it can't have been that hard.
There are many more details I haven't seen yet. But so far it looks like boundless incompetence to me, not a specific security risk.
Maybe marginally high, but I think it's an improvement. Now for the mounting pegs.
About 20 minutes before Jörg left, we had a power failure. And I had a loaf of bread baking in the oven. It was nearly done, so it didn't make any difference. Jörg suggested connecting up the generator, but that doesn't work on the main UPS. It wasn't until I had shut down all the computers that it occurred to me that I always connect the office UPS to a generator. Somehow power failures always throw me out of balance.
The outage lasted 2½ hours. To be fair to Powercor, this is the first longer unscheduled outage in nearly a year. Last year we had a total of 20 hours of unscheduled outages between May (when we moved in) and the end of the year. This year it has been a total of 2 hours, 47 minutes of unscheduled outages, unfortunately worsened by the 7 hours, 22 minutes of scheduled outages. Still, this seems to be a marked improvement, and if the scheduled outages can reduce the number of unscheduled outages, they may have been worthwhile. And especially after all the bad weather we've been having, I'm relatively happy.
Time to make some baked beans again today. Somehow the herbs and Chorizo in the last version didn't seem to do it, so today I used Speck again, and no herbs. Here's the recipe, which will be modified; the definitive recipe is here.
Soften the beans by boiling in water and leaving to soak for 2 hours, or by soaking overnight.
Remove the fat from the Speck and bacon rind. Cut small and fry in the lard until almost crisp. Cut the rest of the Speck into cubes about 4 mm on a side.
Purée the onions. Remove the Speck fat and fry the onion until dry but not brown, adding the garlic (crushed) after a couple of minutes.
Transfer to a cooking pot, add all the remaining ingredients, including the Speck fat but not the salt, bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes.
Remove chorizo and cut into small pieces. Remove rind and discard. Replace chorizo, add salt and simmer until cooked, about 4 hours.
Some cookbooks I have use the term "green onions" to refer to "spring onions", one of those strange ingredients that seems to have a different name in every country. The US Americans call them scallions, and some misguided Australians call them shallots, which is a completely different kind of onion (which they call echalotte, almost the French name, to compound the confusion).
I pureed them in a blender, adding a little water to get it to mix well: after all, the next step is to fry them dry. But it seems that this water causes some chemical reaction, possibly relating to growth, and the things went green.
So don't do that then. But I have this method in numerous recipes. Now I need to find out how to purée onions without water. Oil is one option, but it wouldn't have worked here.
He didn't seem overly afraid of us. A lost pet? Yvonne	tried to approach him, but he flew off.
Sixty years ago I had a quite good camera for the time and for my age: 35 mm (in those days you didn't need to say "full frame") with a 45 mm f/2.8 lens. Nothing electronic in it, of course, and not even a rangefinder. Instead the distance indications on the lens were relatively detailed. But because of the lack of rangefinder and parallax, the closest focus distance was 90 cm. That was normal.
Then I got my Asahi Pentax SV with a 55 mm f/1.8 Super Takumar. Still no electronics, but with an SLR there's no parallax, and you get immediate visual feedback on the focus distance. So I could focus as close as 45 cm.
Nowadays that's still not very good. For the fun of it, I've checked what my current lenses can do. Most of this information is from this page.


text:
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
#import "SPTJSONDecoding.h"
#import "SPTRequest.h"
#import "SPTTrackProvider.h"
#import "SPTPartialAlbum.h"

@class SPTImage;
@class SPTPartialArtist;
@class SPTListPage;

/** This class represents an album on the Spotify service.

 API Docs: https://developer.spotify.com/web-api/get-album/

 API Console: https://developer.spotify.com/web-api/console/albums/

 API Model: https://developer.spotify.com/web-api/object-model/#album-object-full

 Example usage:

 ```
	[SPTAlbum albumWithURI:[NSURL URLWithString:@"spotify:album:58Dbqi6VBskSmnSsbXbgrs"]
		accessToken:accessToken
		market:@"UK"
		callback:^(NSError *error, id object) {
			if (error != nil) { handle error  }
			NSLog(@"Got album %@", object);
	}];
 ```
 */
@interface SPTAlbum : SPTPartialAlbum <SPTJSONObject, SPTTrackProvider>

///----------------------------
/// @name Properties
///----------------------------

/** Any external IDs of the album, such as the UPC code. */
@property (nonatomic, readonly, copy) NSDictionary *externalIds;

/** An array of artists for this album, as `SPTPartialArtist` objects. */
@property (nonatomic, readonly) NSArray *artists;

/** The tracks contained by this album, as a page of `SPTPartialTrack` objects. */
@property (nonatomic, readonly) SPTListPage *firstTrackPage;

/** The release year of the album if known, otherwise `0`. */
@property (nonatomic, readonly) NSInteger releaseYear;

/** Day-accurate release date of the track if known, otherwise `nil`. */
@property (nonatomic, readonly) NSDate *releaseDate;

/** Returns a list of genre strings for the album. */
@property (nonatomic, readonly, copy) NSArray *genres;

/** The popularity of the album as a value between 0.0 (least popular) to 100.0 (most popular). */
@property (nonatomic, readonly) double popularity;

///----------------------------
/// @name API Request Factories
///----------------------------

/** Create a request for getting an album.

 API Docs: https://developer.spotify.com/web-api/get-album/

 Try it: https://developer.spotify.com/web-api/console/get-album/

 @note This method takes Spotify URIs in the form `spotify:*`, NOT HTTP URLs.

 @param uri The Spotify URI of the album to request.
 @param accessToken An optional access token. Can be `nil`.
 @param market An optional market parameter. Can be `nil`.
 @param error An optional `NSError` that will be set if an error occured.
 @return A `NSURLRequest` for requesting the album
 */
+ (NSURLRequest*)createRequestForAlbum:(NSURL *)uri
					   withAccessToken:(NSString *)accessToken
								market:(NSString *)market
								 error:(NSError **)error;

/** Create a request for getting multiple albums.

 API Docs: https://developer.spotify.com/web-api/get-several-albums/

 Try it: https://developer.spotify.com/web-api/console/get-several-albums/

 @note This method takes Spotify URIs in the form `spotify:*`, NOT HTTP URLs.

 @param uris An array of Spotify URIs. A maxiumum of 20 URIs can be supplied per request.
 @param accessToken An optional access token. Can be `nil`.
 @param market An optional market parameter. Can be `nil`.
 @param error An optional `NSError` that will be set if an error occured.
 @return A `NSURLRequest` for requesting the albums
 */
+ (NSURLRequest*)createRequestForAlbums:(NSArray *)uris
						withAccessToken:(NSString *)accessToken
								 market:(NSString *)market
								  error:(NSError **)error;

///---------------------------
/// @name API Response Parsers
///---------------------------

/** Parse an API Response into an `SPTAlbum` object.

 @param data The API response data
 @param response The API response object
 @param error An optional `NSError` that will be set if an error occured when parsing the data.
 @return an `SPTAlbum` object, or nil if the parsing failed.
 */
+ (instancetype)albumFromData:(NSData *)data
				 withResponse:(NSURLResponse *)response
						error:(NSError **)error;

/** Parse an JSON object structure into an `SPTAlbum` object.

 @param decodedObject The decoded JSON structure to parse.
 @param error An optional `NSError` that will be set if an error occured when parsing the data.
 @return an `SPTAlbum` object, or nil if the parsing failed.
 */
+ (instancetype)albumFromDecodedJSON:(id)decodedObject
							   error:(NSError **)error;

/** Parse an JSON object structure into an array of `SPTAlbum` object.

 @param decodedObject The decoded JSON structure to parse.
 @param error An optional `NSError` that will be set if an error occured when parsing the data.
 @return an `SPTAlbum` object, or nil if the parsing failed.
 */
+ (NSArray*)albumsFromDecodedJSON:(id)decodedObject
							error:(NSError **)error;

///--------------------------
/// @name Convenience Methods
///--------------------------

/** Request the album at the given Spotify URI.

 This is a convenience method on top of the [SPTAlbum createRequestForAlbum:withAccessToken:market:error:] and the shared SPTRequest handler.

 @note This method takes Spotify URIs in the form `spotify:*`, NOT HTTP URLs.

 @param uri The Spotify URI of the album to request.
 @param accessToken An optional access token. Can be `nil`.
 @param market An optional market parameter. Can be `nil`.
 @param block The block to be called when the operation is complete. The block will pass a SPTAlbum object on success, otherwise an error.
 */
+ (void)albumWithURI:(NSURL *)uri
		 accessToken:(NSString *)accessToken
			  market:(NSString *)market
			callback:(SPTRequestCallback)block;

/** Request multiple albums given an array of Spotify URIs.

 This is a convenience method on top of the [SPTAlbum createRequestForAlbums:withAccessToken:market:error:] and the shared SPTRequest handler.

 @note This method takes Spotify URIs in the form `spotify:*`, NOT HTTP URLs.

 @param uris An array of Spotify URIs.
 @param accessToken An optional access token. Can be `nil`.
 @param market An optional market parameter. Can be `nil`.
 @param block The block to be called when the operation is complete. The block will pass an array of SPTAlbum objects on success, otherwise an error.
 */
+ (void)albumsWithURIs:(NSArray *)uris
		   accessToken:(NSString *)accessToken
				market:(NSString *)market
			  callback:(SPTRequestCallback)block;

///--------------------
/// @name Miscellaneous
///--------------------

/** Checks if the Spotify URI is a valid Spotify Album URI.

 @note This method takes Spotify URIs in the form `spotify:*`, NOT HTTP URLs.

 @param uri The Spotify URI to check.
 */
+ (BOOL)isAlbumURI:(NSURL*)uri;

@end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
"Succession" Season 3 Premieres This October
By The Credits
HBO has teased the third season of their hit series Succession via Twitter, revealing that the nest of vipers known as the Roy family is returning in October.
Things were looking very dire for the billionaire bad boys and girls of the Roy family when we last left them in season two's cliffhanger for a finale. The long tortured firstborn son Kendall (Jeremy Strong) had turned the screws on his father, Logan (Brian Cox) once again, this time in a way far more significant than merely trying to wrest control of Waystar RoyCo from his old man. Kendall held a press conference where not only did he reveal his plans to take over the family company, but to blame his father for the criminality and culture of abuse that has plagued the massive company for decades. This was hardly the "blood sacrifice" that Logan had demanded of his son—Kendall was supposed to take the fall for the company's misdeeds, which were all laid bare after a series of disastrous congressional hearings in season two revealed to the world just how venal Waystar RoyCoy is. "This is the day his reign ends," Kendall said in front of the cameras. Logan, watching this all unfold live from his yacht, had the hint of a smile at the edge of his lips—his son had finally become a man. Which means that now Logan can destroy him.
The returning cast members joining Strong and Cox are Sarah Snook (Shiv Roy), Kieran Culkin (Roman Roy), Alan Ruck (Connor Roy), Nicholas Braun (Cousin Greg), Matthew Macfadyen (Tom Wambsgans) and J. Smith-Cameron (Gerri Kellman). New cast members include Adrien Brody, Alexander Skarsgård, Sanaa Lathan, Linda Emond, Jihae Kim, Hope Davis, Dasha Nekrasova and Ella Rumpf.
October. pic.twitter.com/1kNnfr13Wa
— Succession (@succession) August 23, 2021
Here's season 3's longline:
"Ambushed by his rebellious son Kendall at the end of season two, Logan Roy begins season three in a perilous position, scrambling to secure familial, political, and financial alliances. Tensions rise as a bitter corporate battle threatens to turn into a family civil war."
For more on Warner Bros., HBO, and HBO Max, check out these stories:
Denis Villeneuve Writing Script For "Dune 2" & Zendaya Will Star
An Iconic Batman Returns: Michael Keaton on Picking Up The Cape & Cowl
Chloé Zhao Has Seen "Dune" And Was "Blown Away"
"The Suicide Squad" Production Designer Beth Mickle on Creating Gonzo Sets
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II to Star in Dystopian Thriller "By All"
Featured image: Brian Cox is Logan Roy in "Succession." Courtesy HBO.
TAGSHBO Succession Warner Bros.
The Credits is an online magazine that tells the story behind the story to celebrate our large and diverse creative community. Focusing on profiles of below-the-line filmmakers, The Credits celebrates the often uncelebrated individuals who are indispensable to the films and TV shows we love.
Robert Pattinson Hints His Batman Isn't Straight-Up Heroic
"Batgirl" HBO Max Movie Adds More Stars to Join Lead Leslie Grace
Featured Story, Television

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Van Morrison touring through Las Vegas might involve performances at T-Mobile Arena, Caesars Palace Hotel and Casino or MGM Grand Garden Arena. T-Mobile Arena seats up to 17500 concertgoers, so it'll probably be very lively if Van Morrison is making a stop there. You can browse upcoming events at the venues mentioned above by visiting one of their pages: T-Mobile Arena, Caesars Palace Hotel and Casino or MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Avid Van Morrison fans may have already seen them in concert in Las Vegas. The first time SeatGeek had tickets to see Van Morrison perform in Las Vegas was for a show on 1/13/17 that took place at Caesars Palace Hotel and Casino.
Las Vegas has a strong live music scene, according to SeatGeek's data, the most popular acts in Las Vegas have been George Strait, Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga. You can also take a look at other Las Vegas concerts by visiting our concerts in Las Vegas page.


text:
DQSC
Celebrating 90 years of DQSC
Richard Ede
I became a member of Dell Quay sailing club in 1959/60, although my association with the area began long before that, as I was fortunate enough to be born in Appledram Lane, and spent my childhood playing and exploring the area around Dell Quay and the reed beds to the north. There were discarded fuel tanks from the wartime aircraft to be found lying around the creeks, with which we made rafts, which were fun, but not very seaworthy. My father, who was one of the founder members of the local wildfowlers, taught me many of the old country skills, including 'groping' for flounders and 'quadding' for eels. An uncle who lived locally, had a punt gun kept near the old mill at Fishbourne, which was a really scary thing to see in action, the recoil of which had to be seen to be believed.
My first 'proper' boat was a canoe, a PBK26 (one of the old Percy Blandford designs) built from a kit in our kitchen. With this, I was able to extend my explorations, and ventured as far as East Head, and all of the creeks in between, although after a year or so, I became interested in sailing, and contrived a rig for the canoe, complete with leeboards. Needless to say, it was hopeless. When I was 16, I bought a Snipe sailing dinghy from the boatyard at the Quay. This was an old wooden boat with cotton sails, and lived on a mooring close to where the boatyard jetty is now. It leaked badly, and sailed even worse, but I spent hours teaching myself to sail with it, no doubt learning many bad habits which are probably still evident today. It was not too long after, that I met a chap called Ron Chadwick, a member of DQSC, who suggested that I go for a sail with him at the weekend. I duly arrived at the club, where I was introduced to Dick Tomsett the owner of the Enterprise that Ron was crew for. That first sail down to Longmore started the addiction both to sailing and the club, as I became a member shortly after, proposed by Dick himself.
I badly wanted a better boat, so I sold the Snipe, and bought a National 12, N669, which was kept in the old shed where the education building is now situated. In those days, the changing rooms were up in the sail loft where the office is now. With a variety of crews, I raced every weekend, on courses which today would be classed as long distance, as it was always Longmore twice, and often down to Deep End or Park. By far the most impressive boats at that time were the 12sqm Sharpies, which left us all far behind with their speed through the water. After a couple of years, I sold the National, and bought a Cherub, which was an amazing boat with its huge spinnaker and terrific off wind speed. The trouble was that I was unable to keep a crew, perhaps because I was in the habit of shouting at them and being too competitive! The Cherub was eventually sold, to be replaced by an International Moth, which lasted a year or so, before I bought Solo 1909 from Dick Whyche, and have sailed Solos ever since.
During this period, much else was happening around the club. Roger Fauchon had built the prototype Fireball with Peter Milne, a very radical design at the time, and as I was on good terms with Roger, was able to watch the build in detail. At the club, the old starting box on the roof was disposed of, and a new one installed in the sail loft. Colin Taylor was in charge of operations, which entailed fitting the new large window, not an easy job, and cutting holes for the north and south portholes, a job which largely fell to me with hammer and chisel — very thick walls and many blisters. I can't remember the exact timing, but the jetty was also built around this time under the supervision of Fred Taylor, with the help of club members, much of the dirty work being done by me as one of younger members. Fred Taylor also raced a Zenith dinghy, an Ian Proctor design, which sported a trapeze. I crewed for Fred on many occasions, my abiding memory being his trapeze 'harness', fashioned from an old army belt which was the most uncomfortable, painful thing to wear. He also sailed a Felicity cruiser, in which we sailed around the Solent when there was no racing scheduled.
A couple of years after marrying Carole in 1965, Chris came along, followed by Steve. They were introduced to sailing in a Mirror dinghy when Chris was 6, and Steve was 4 years old. Both wore one piece sailing suits made for them by Carole, as they could not be bought small enough. They learnt very quickly, and were soon sailing by themselves, even managing the spinnaker, but the problem was that they both wanted to be helm, and could be heard shouting at each other from as far away as Copperas. It soon became evident that they would be better by themselves, so we found a Laser for Chris and a Topper for Steve. They both proved to be highly successful in these, winning many trophies both at Dell Quay and at regattas and open meetings elsewhere. In due course, Steve acquired Solo No2290 from Richard Willets at Maidenhead, and soon started winning club races with it. Steve has continued with the Solo, winning numerous open meetings, many regional championships together with being highly placed in both National and International championships. He was also president of the National Solo Class Association for some years. Chris meanwhile continued to race the Laser until a knee injury forced an early retirement. Eventually he re-joined the club, and raced a Laser for a while, until moving on to the Solo. He won many club races and series during this time, and was also elected Rear Commodore sailing. However a move to New Zealand put an end to his sailing career at DQ, until his brief return in 2014, when he raced Solo No4986 with some success, until he returned to New Zealand where he now resides.
While the boys were small, I had another foray into kayaking, gaining the BCU senior instructor qualification. Together with a friend, Rick Knight, we built many fibreglass kayaks, several for the youth wing at the Chi. High school, and surf kayaks for us. My routine was to race at Dell Quay in the summer, and surf during the winter. With a few experienced friends, we also kayaked to France, taking the short crossing from Dover, an interesting experience with the huge number of ships using the channel. When the boys were older, and with a view to family sailing, I bought a Vivacity 650 cruiser which was a failed experiment, as inevitably, Steve and I ended up trying to race every other cruiser we met, so it had to go.
That just about sums things up. Many changes have happened at the club during my years as a member, and those mentioned may not be in the correct chronological order. I have failed to mention the development of the clubhouse from the original brick building, which I believe was the brainchild of Eric Pascal, and probably many more important facts which have escaped my memory. During my time, I have been Class Captain for Solos on three occasions, Class Captain for Lasers, Sailing Sec twice, and Rear Commodore Sailing for two years. It is, and always has been a great club to belong to, and one to which I am proud to be a member.
Richard Ede December 2014


I just came back from a biz trip to Cincinnati. I will be brief – quick flight from Philly, maybe an hour and fifteen minutes. Typical regional jet, cramped, uncomfortable for all on board. The woman that sat next to me was 280 (I'm being serious) maybe 300 lbs. I can deal with it, overweight people have all kinds of struggles and I am an empathetic human being. Here's the problem – while I was in crammed against the window trying to read, I suffered while this beast downed a large Philly cheesesteak, a large candy bar, a cookie, and 40 oz. of Coke, spilling garbage and crumbs all over me. Keep in mind – this is a one hour flight, and she ate through the duration. Hey fatty – I hope you're reading this – thanks for making an unpleasant experience into an unbearable one – you're a disgusting excuse for a human. ONE HOUR!!! STOP EATING!!!!
If she had been 100 lbs and eating all that would you have even noticed?
I hope posters who are offended when obese people are taken to task for their lack of self control read this. Like you said, there are obese people that are the result of non behavioral issues. Then there are those like you mention as well as a few other posters have over the past few days. I've also been subject to the same disgusting behavior. Thanks for posting. Let's see what the defenders of corpulence have to say.
Jodi-you're missing the point. She was a large woman and making a choice to be fat therefore inconveniencing people who actually watch what they eat. If a 100 person were eating the same thing and not causing problems for anyone, there is no issue. I think this situation would be different if the fat woman was eating a salad and drinking water. At least people around her would know she was making an effort. I think if we saw fat people making an honest effort to not be fat, then we'd have a little more sympathy for them. I have a hard time feeling sympathy for people who destroy themselves by choice and then expect us to be accomodating.
This person is likely someone with an eating disorder. Heavy people who eat like that have some serious issues.
Now – that said – I've got family members who have just such eating disorders. BUT… I've flown with them, and they have the self control to NOT behave as your seat-mate did.
As uncomfortable as you are crushed against the window, it's actually not much more comfortable for the heavy person for a plethora of other reasons. With that in mind, I can't for the life of me figure out WHY someone would make their own life even more difficult by eating? At 200-300 pounds, the tray table isn't usable, so eating becomes damed near impossible to do neatly.
What I will ask though, is that although you justified in being irritated by this behavior (and without a tray table, I'll guess there was a lot of excess motion up against your body too), please do try to keep the cruel words, and abusive language away from your posts.
Hmm. I guess you can't deal with it and you're not an empathetic person.
You clearly are not a sympathetic human being if you expect her to not take in 4000 calories/hr for 1 hour…….
Wow, good thing you're empathetic. Those crumbs can be PAINFUL.


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If you've been in an accident or experienced a breakdown, you may have called a towing company for help. While most of us are honest, hard-working people, there are always a few who will try to take advantage of you when you're at your most vulnerable. These horror stories make us angry!
If you've had to call for an emergency tow, you've got enough on your plate. Our 8 safe towing tips will teach you what to look for in order to avoid towing scams, fraudulent practices, and inflated costs, so you can have the peace of mind to focus on the real issue at hand.
1. Does your warranty cover roadside service?
If you have a new(er) vehicle (typically one made in the last 4 years) roadside service may be included as part of your purchase or warranty. If you are unsure, contact your local dealership to see what, if anything, is included with your vehicle. You may be covered and not know it.
2. Understand what insurance will cover.
Insurance policies can vary greatly, so it's important for you to know whether yours includes roadside assistance coverage. Don't wait until you are in an accident —contact your insurance agent to determine the policy limits.
Additionally, find out how your insurance company handles towing in the event that you are in an accident that requires a professional tow, and how much insurance will cover.
3. Be weary if a tow truck arrives when you never contacted them for help.
It's tempting to feel as if this person was a miraculous godsend. Although many of us do stop out of kindness, you are better off airing on the side of caution.
4. When the tow truck arrives, make sure the name on the truck matches who was called, and matches all documentation to come.
5. Don't give too much personal information.
Your first name may be one thing, but a towing company shouldn't need your social security number or your first-born child.
6. Don't give out too much insurance information.
There have been instances in which shady companies will use your personal information and insurance information to pretend to be your insurance company. It's not common, but it's best to protect yourself from the start.
Make sure you have your own copy of the invoice or cost of breakdown of all services. This includes all towing fees, daily storage rates if applicable, as well as any additional charges.
Make sure you know where your vehicle is being towed, address and phone number included.
8. If you encounter a driver who refuses to leave, or in the event that you suspect fraud, contact law enforcement.
The majority of us are good people who want to help you when you need us most. If you have been in an accident, need a tow in Salt Lake, or want more information on towing services in Utah, please contact us today. We're at your service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Well, the engine is peneanmrtly destroyed in the process that others have pointed out.The thing is, the car scrappers, they need the engine more than the other parts, so they are being given all of these dead cars with the most valuable part of the car being destroyed. It is one thing to take an individual car off the road, but since they are destroying the engine, they are making it very hard for people to get parts for their cars. This has a way of not only getting rid of the scrapped vehicle but other vehicles that use the same parts. Way to go, government! Make things harder for the poor in the midst of the worst recession in most of our lifetimes.
Thanks for sharing this with us, now we know to avoid them.
Thank you so much for sharing these insider tips about the towing industry. I really need to take your second piece of advice to heart. My car routinely breaks down, and I am pretty sure that my insurance plan will cover the towing service. I have always just paid out of my own pocket because I am not sure.
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Sussex County, NJ — June 21, 2016 — The Orthopedic Institute of New Jersey (OINJ) is pleased to announce that the practice earned the distinction of winning the New Jersey Herald Gold Readers' Choice Award in the category of Best Orthopedic Office.
The popular and competitive annual Readers' Choice poll, now in its eleventh year, allows the public to cast votes for their favorite businesses in 69 categories online and through an in-paper ballot. Readers select businesses and services they believe deserve to be recognized as outstanding.
Another OINJ physician, Dr. Stephen Koss, agrees. "Simply put, we value our patients. It is very nice to know that we are valued in return." Dr. Stephen Koss, an OINJ board certified orthopedic surgeon, is fellowship-trained in sports medicine and has been recognized as one of America's Top Physicians in Orthopedic Surgery for many years.
There are two Sussex County offices of the Orthopedic Institute of New Jersey: one in Newton, located at 222 High Street, Suite 202; the other in Sparta, at 380 Lafayette Road, Route 15, Suites 203/204. To make an appointment, please call (908) 684-3005.


text:
Home > Journals > Zoosystema > 30 (3) > Aleocharinae (Insecta, Coleoptera, Staphylinidae) de Madagascar
Aleocharinae (Insecta, Coleoptera, Staphylinidae) de Madagascar
Roberto PACE
Zoosystema 30 (3)	- Pages 555-577
This article is a part of the thematic issue Hommage à Renaud Paulian (1913-2003)
Aleocharinae (Insecta, Coleoptera, Staphylinidae) from Madagascar
The subfamily Aleocharinae is a large group of Staphylinidae beetles represented by many genera and a large number of species in all zoogeographical regions. The taxonomy of this group is rather difficult and relies heavily on the characters of the male copulatory organ and of the spermatheca. In the present study, additional new data for several Malagasy Aleocharinae and new species are presented. The material studied comes from the Jarrige collection. Eight tribes (Corotocini, Hypocyphtini, Leucocraspedini, Pronomaeini, Gyrophaenini, Homalotini, Diestotini and Oxypodinini), 16 genera (Millotoca, Oligota, Leucocraspedum, Myllaena, Tomoxelia, Nopromaea, Bryothinusa, Gyrophaena, Brachida, Neobrachida, Placusa, Homalota, Neosilusa, Coenonica, Diestota and Heterotaxus) and 45 species are recognized. Nineteen species are described as new to science, seven of the genus Myllaena (M. anjavidilavensis n. sp., M. microptera n. sp., M. imaitsensis n. sp., M. maroantsetrensis n. sp., M. muscicola n. sp., M. lemuriana n. sp. and M. terricola n. sp.), one of the genus Nopromaea (N. andringitrensis n. sp.), one of the genus Tomoxelia (T. ambrensis n. sp.), one of the genus Bryothinusa (B. madecassa n. sp.), one of the genus Gyrophaena (G. insularis n. sp.), one of the genus Brachida (B. hova n. sp.), three of the genus Placusa (P. malgascia n. sp., P. madecassa n. sp. and P. convexa n. sp.), one of the genus Homalota (H. antongilicola n. sp.) one of the genus Coenonica (C. incisa n. sp.) and two of the genus Heterotaxus (H. pauliani n. sp. and H. malgascius n. sp.). The genus Oligusa Wasmann, 1897 is placed in synonymy with Oligota Mannerheim, 1831. New combination is proposed for Oligusa crematogastris Wasmann, 1897. The genus Bryothinusa is recorded from Madagascar for the first time. The female has been recovered, first unknown, for one species (Tomoxelia andohahela Pace, 1999) and here for the first time the spermatheca is illustrated. Each new species is described and illustrated. All available distributional data are presented. With the present study the number of the Aleocharinae species from Madagascar is of 494 of which 474 are endemic.
Insecta, Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Aleocharinae, new species, Madagascar.
https://sciencepress.mnhn.fr/en/periodiques/zoosystema/30/3/aleocharinae-insecta-coleoptera-staphylinidae-de-madagascar
PACE R. 2008. — Aleocharinae (Insecta, Coleoptera, Staphylinidae) de Madagascar, in ABERLENC H.-P. (ed.), Hommage à Renaud Paulian (1913-2003). Zoosystema 30 (3): 555-577.


text:
Man shot in Pomona
By News service reports | |
May 11, 2013 at 12:00 a.m.
POMONA — Pomona police are searching for the person who shot and wounded a man in Pomona Friday night, officials said.
Shortly before midnight, police received a 9-1-1 call stating a man had been shot in the area of Pearl Street and Park Avenue, according to a news release.
Paramedics found the 22-year-old shooting victim lying on the sidewalk with several gunshot wounds to his legs, officials said.
Los Angeles County Fire personnel transported the man to a local hospital where he is expected to survive.
There were no arrests made and there is currently so suspect description.
Anyone with information on this shooting is asked to contact the Pomona Police Detective Bureau at 909-620-2085.
News service reports