A mechanism that automatically expands all collapsed merges in a pushlog view. I don't care if it's a Firefox extension or modification to the pushloghtml source that adds an expand=1 parameter to the query string; I am tired of manually expanding each one.
Having just attended my last class of my university career (assuming exams go well), I have to say that this is one aspect of the past five years that I will miss dearly when I move to Toronto this summer.
Do you get frustrated about how long it takes to build Firefox after you've only made a small change to a single file? Have you heard the words "incremental build", or tried to only build one or two directories but can't figure out why your changes aren't showing up?
I released my smartmake tool last year to allow people to specify then directories they've changed, and in return the tool would perform a correct incremental build. No hassle, no sweat. The name was deceptive; it was a pretty dumb tool, but it got the job done with a little help from the user. However, there is a rule that any build system tool eventually reimplements the functionality of make, and so I am proud to release smartmake v2, which requires less work than ever before to produce correct incremental builds.
Thanks to the hard work of the illustrious Till Schneidereit (till on IRC), smartmake now finds every source file modified since the last time you performed an incremental build, and performs a (mostly) minimal rebuild. It will also complain if it comes across any modified files for which it doesn't have any dependency information, and suggest you perform a full build instead.
Go ahead, give it a shot! Tell me (or Till) what goes wrong so that we can fix it. I recommend doing a full build, then making a small change and running smartmake.py '5 minutes ago' to kick it off and get the timestamp caching happening.
A contributor recently asked a question in #introduction that I couldn't answer immediately, but I suspected that I could find the answer without too much work. I also decided to write down the steps I took and the reasons I took them, with the intent of creating a worked example of finding answers in the Firefox code.
The question: how do I determine if a given URI pointing to an RSS feed is subscribed as a live bookmark?
My first instinct when looking for code I have never touched before is to start with the visible strings in the Firefox interface. In this case, I went to slashdot.org and clicked on the RSS feed button to take me to the RSS feed viewer. Under the options for possible subscriptions, there is the "Live Bookmarks" choice. I'm going to find the code that handles subscribing a live bookmark, which should lead me to the way to find out if a feed is currently subscribed.
Strings are usually stored in special localized files, where the actual string is referred to by a unique name. In this case, we're looking at subscribe.properties, which shows us that some code should be using the name liveBookmarks to show the localized string in the feed viewer window.
We can see the definition of addToClientReader at http://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/browser/components/feeds/src/FeedConverter.js#390. Let's look at what else is defined here – this seems to be implementing the nsIFeedResultService interface, so we can look up the nsIFeedResultService.idl file in MXR: http://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/browser/components/feeds/public/nsIFeedResultService.idl.
Unfortunately, the service seems to be dealing with actual feed contents, and it doesn't look like there's a direct function to help us – let's step back and see how addToClientReader is implemented.
Searching for livemarks in this file, we find line 2234 which defines the livemarks object as the nsILivemarkService service. Let's look that up!
First the idl definition, to see if this service will be useful: http://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/toolkit/components/places/nsILivemarkService.idl. There's a method called getLivemarkIdForFeedURI (http://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/toolkit/components/places/nsILivemarkService.idl#107), which looks to be exactly what we want – it gives us a -1 result for a non-registered feed and another number for a registered one.
So, to sum up – we have found a service that will take a URI and return a value that can be used to determine whether a given feed is a subscribed livemark, and we have learned that livemarks are the internal name for Live Bookmarks. The only bit remaining now is to get access to this service, but we can either use PlacesUtils.livemarks for that (if we import PlacesUtils.jsm), or just use a normal getService call. These are just details; the hard part of answering the original question is complete!
A Firefox regression hunter VM!
I am happy to announce the first public unveiling of my Fox in a Box project. The enthusiasm for my idea of putting together a dev VM was loud and clear in my last post, mainly from testers who expressed interest in hunting regressions at a more granular level. The README in the first link hopefully contains enough details for anybody to get themselves set up with a minimal Ubuntu 11.04 VM with a preset clone of mozilla-central ready to build. I experienced clobber build times of 30-45 minutes in my tests; your mileage may vary. So please, run $ git clone git://github.com/jdm/foxinabox.git, follow the README and let me know how it goes for you!
I've been toying with the idea of creating a virtual machine that's ready to build mozilla-central out of the box. The original idea I had was that it would be really easy to get new contributors started, and it would allow us to set up finicky things like the hgrc correctly. However, it was pointed out to me that build times in VMs are pretty terrible, which does make it less attractive. However however, I have seen comments from technical people in bugs that they would like to help find regression ranges smaller than 24 hours, but they lack the time to figure out how to set up a build. Is it worth creating a VM for finding regression ranges? I can imagine it being really pleasant to start a VM, run a script, and check back in every 30 minutes to see if the next build is ready for testing. Alternatively, implementing Kyle Huey's proposed solution would also be a pretty big step to easing those pains.
In my work with new Mozilla contributors, I've seen a number of people get hung up on the whole .mozconfig voodoo madness. Yes, we made it possible to download the source and build it without having to even think about creating one, but as soon as you want to use a debug build, or build Fennec, the dream is over. Therefore, I've put together mozconfig.py which is designed to walk users through the process of creating a working .mozconfig file tailored to their needs.
This will send the generated file contents directly into the relevant .mozconfig, so all that's left is running make. I'd love to be able to programmatically determine whether the program is actually invoked this way, so it could give helpful instructions otherwise. However, I'm open for ways in which to improve it (keep in mind the target audience of "people who need to work on common tasks that require changing .mozconfig options"), and I'm really keen on ideas of how best to market this (wiki pages, etc.) so that it reaches the widest possible audience.
when you find a bug that's well-scoped and you have a fairly clear idea of how to fix it, add [mentor=yournickname] to the whiteboard.
when stating that a bug is good for someone else to work on, please please add a comment with relevant MXR links and information on how to fix it.
I'm absolutely thrilled to see people marking bugs as being good for other people to fix. That's what the "good first bug" and "mentor=" annotations are all about. It's a message from someone who understands the issue, and it indicates that the bug is fixable with a reasonable amount of effort on the part of someone who is not a core contributor.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that using [good first bug] is no longer desirable. The list of bugs with this annotation has grown beyond a manageable size (not in a good way), and it can appear like an impenetrable barrier for someone who shows up with the idea that they "want to work on Firefox." Now, I subscribe to the RSS feed of this list, so I see every new addition and will likely to ping the culprit on IRC and ask whether the bug in question would make a better mentored bug. What is a mentored bug, you might ask? Segue!
These are the absolute basics. Without these guarantees, a bug should not be assigned a mentor, and certainly shouldn't be proposed to a contributor looking for work.
Furthermore, I propose that bug mentorship be a social contract as well. When I was a volunteer contributor with a non-Mozilla day job, I found it difficult to get on IRC during work hours, so I wasn't able to have real-time conversations with my mentor. Moreover, the work I was doing was understood by very few people, so the folks on IRC in the evenings couldn't really help me either. Therefore, I recommend that bug mentors make the commitment to respond to emails from contributors regarding the bug in question, because that can significantly ease the burden for eager volunteers in situations like my own. I have carried on several long email conversations with people working on my mentored bugs, consisting of advice, links to documentation, and technical support, and they have resulted in patches for those bugs every single time.
Does it fulfill the basic requirements above?
Am I willing/able to answer questions about the proposed solution, or do I know who to point a contributor towards if I don't have the answers?
That's it! Bug mentorship is easiest when you have a complete understanding of a problem, but all that is truly necessary is enough knowledge to act as a willing guide for someone who knows less than you.
The final point that I want to emphasize – when you're marking a bug as being good for another person to work on, please take a few moments to dump your investigative work in the bug. Function names, MXR links, steps to reproduce, explanations of the problem and how it can be solved: these are the stepping stones that allow a contributor to start looking into how to solve the problem without waiting to get in contact with you. The less latency involved, the better. Remember, these bugs are often being approached by people with very little experience in the code in question – spell out the assumptions you make, and you'll make someone else's job easier.
Two years ago today I sent an email to Benjamin Smedberg saying that I wanted to help out with Electrolysis. I regret nothing except how quickly the intervening time has passed. Bring on two more years!
If you're a bzexport user, you'll want to pull the latest revision. It's recently been getting slower due to the number of http requests that need to be made (the tradeoff here is that it's also been getting more correct), but I've pushed three patches that have reversed that downward slide into the molasses. By sending more data than is strictly necessary, caching information such as user name to email translations, and avoiding fetching data that rarely changes, I've noticeably improved the running time of bzexport on my machine. Give it a shot!
If you're not a bzexport user, and you write patches that are submitted to bugzilla, you're missing out. Bzexport simplifies that process of getting a patch out of your local machine and into the hands of your reviewer, making you a happier and more productive person.


text:
Mísia, nome artístico de Susana Maria Alfonso de Aguiar (Porto, 18 de junho de 1955), é uma cantora portuguesa, considerada uma das mais importantes fadistas atuais.

Biografia
Nascida Susana Maria Alfonso de Aguiar, no Porto, filha de pai português e mãe catalã, a cantora deu uma nova roupagem à música tradicional lusitana. Cantando em português, francês, napolitano, catalão e espanhol, mistura tendências, diferentes culturas e sons.

O seu disco de estreia, "Mísia", é editado em 1991. O disco inclui canções de Joaquim Frederico de Brito, José Niza, José Carlos Ary dos Santos, Carlos Paião, entre outros.

Em 1993 regressa com "Fado" que foi produzido por Vitorino Salomé e contém canções como "Liberdades Poéticas", de Sérgio Godinho, "Nasci Para Morrer Contigo", de António Lobo Antunes e Vitorino, "Fado Adivinha" de José Saramago e António Vitorino de Almeida e ainda versões de "Velhos Amantes", de Jacques Brel, de "As Time Goes By" e de "Nome de Rua" de Amália Rodrigues.

Novo álbum, "Tanto menos, tanto mais" é editado em 1995 e onde canta nomes como António Lobo Antunes, Fernando Pessoa ou João Monge.

O disco "Garras dos Sentido" foi editado em 1998. Canta poemas de Fernando Pessoa, Mário de Sá Carneiro, Natália Correia e António Botto e ainda de contemporâneos como José Saramago, Mário Cláudio, Agustina Bessa-Luís e Lídia Jorge. O disco recebeu em França o prémio Charles Cros. Lança o álbum "Paixões Diagonais" que conta com a colaboração da pianista Maria João Pires.

Em 2001 é editado "Ritual". Com base em canções de Carlos Paredes e poemas de Vasco Graça Moura lança "Canto" em 2003.

O álbum "Drama Box", editado em 2005, contou com a participação de Fanny Ardant, Miranda Richardson, Ute Lemper, Carmen Maura, Maria de Medeiros e Sophia Calle.

A 19 de abril de 2005, foi agraciada com o grau de Comendador da Ordem do Mérito.

O disco "Ruas" (Lisboarium & Tourists) é editado em 2009.

Carreira

Discografia
1991 — Mísia
1993 — Fado
1995 — Tanto menos, tanto mais
1998 — Garras dos Sentidos
1999 — Paixões diagonais
2001 — Ritual
2003 — Canto
2005 — Drama box
2009 — Ruas (Lisboarium & Tourists)
2011 — Senhora da Noite
2013 — Delikatessen Café Concerto
2015 — Para Amália

Cinema
2010 — Passione, de John Turturro

Ligações externas

Página oficial

Naturais do Porto
Cantores de fado
Cantores do distrito do Porto
Portugueses de ascendência espanhola
Comendadores da Ordem do Mérito

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Who is the smart money backing at this year's Cheltenham Festival?
With New Year all but forgotten, the jump season is now well and truly underway, and horse racing enthusiasts and gamblers can now settle down and look forward to one of the biggest events on the National Hunt calendar. The Cheltenham Festival runs from 13th to 18th March, and with 28 races being run over four days, the action will come thick and fast.
Of course, the showpiece event will be the Cheltenham Gold Cup, which takes place at 15:20 on the final day of the festival. With a total purse of more than £625,000, the race has attracted some 38 entrants. The Gold Cup is one of those races that attracts bets from even those who are only occasional gamblers, so let's run through some of 2018's festival favourites to see where the smart money is being wagered this year.
The bookmakers' favourite at this early stage is Might Bite. The nine year old gelding, trained by the effusive Nicky Henderson, looked unbeatable at Kempton on Boxing Day, and rewarded the bookies' faith, winning by a length at 6/4 on. Henderson is full of confidence, but at the same time knows that Might Bite cannot afford any slip ups. The major bookmakers are currently quoting the horse at around 3/1, with the odds steadily shortening. So if Might Bite is the horse for you, it's better to get your bet down sooner than later.
Last year's winner will be back with a point to prove. Some say he won the 2017 Gold Cup by default, after the early leader and favourite came a cropper at the penultimate fence when well clear. Veteran trainer Jessica Harrington says the horse is fitter than ever. Can Sizing John be the first horse to win back to back Cheltenham Gold Cups since Best Mate in 2004? Bookmakers have him at 5/1 to do so.
While Might Bite and Sizing John have dominated the discussions among many pundits, bookmakers are looking increasingly interested in Coney Island. The impressive six year old, trained by Eddie Harty, took almost a full year out with a bruised foot, but returned to the action in style over Christmas, leaving all others in his wake at Leopardstown. Initially viewed as a fun choice for an each way bet, there is a growing wave of opinion that he could be a genuine contender, and bookmakers are now quoting him at 8/1.
There is a well-known rule that those betting on any sport should always use their head, not their heart. But for those who don't like to play by the rules, Coneygree is where the emotional money will be going. In 2015, the bay gelding became the first novice to win the Gold Cup in over 40 years. Injuries have prevented him from running in subsequent years, but despite undergoing an operation last month, he will at last take to this year's field. Could the 11 year old defy all the odds and hit the headlines again? The head says no, the bookmakers say 40/1, but the heart says it is worth a pound or two.


text:
LSU QB Peter Parrish has been suspended by the Tigers
LSU QB Peter Parrish was suspended by the Tigers for a violation of team rules.
Peter Parrish the LSU gunslinger has been suspended by the team and according to the Baton Rouge Advocate, Parrish has not been with the team for a while.
Parrish was a former four star member of the 2019 recruiting class. He is an Alabama native who did not play a snap for the Tigers last year. He is still considered a redshirt freshman.
This is the second player from LSU that has been suspended by head coach Ed Orgeron. The first was Donte Starks who was arrested on a weapons charge in January.
Related TopicsLSU Tigersnfl draft prospect 2023nfl draft rumorsPeter Parrish

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


One of the largest hostage seizures ever ended with the death of 80 people, many of them foreign workers at Algeria's natural gas complex at In-Ameras, located nearly 1000 miles from the capitol, Algiers, and less than 70 miles from the Libyan border deep in the Sahara. In the end it was both a human and political fiasco, the regional implications of which are still evolving.
It was supposed to be an impressive show of force, `a message' of how efficiently the Algerian government could deal with terrorism within its own borders. If Algeria was unwilling to engage militarily in Mali, Algiers would at least show how well it could manage terrorist threats within its boundaries, especially where it counts – its petro-chemical sector. The world's oil and gas sector could rest easy. Algerian oil and gas is safe from terrorism.
Had it worked out according to plan, Algerian special forces of its fourth military district that includes large slices of the Sahara, would have saved the day. The message to the world in general, but to the United States and France in particular, would have been, should have been: Algeria can handle domestic terrorism; there is no need for Algeria to get embroiled in Mali by sending troops that would be coordinating with the French and American militaries.
But in ways to be discussed in later sections of the series, something went a-foul, the whole thing backfired terribly, and continues to.Keep in mind that although Algeria had a bloody civil war in the 1990s, called, appropriately enough `The Dirty War' by former Algerian security officer and author Habib Souaidia, never during that decade was an Algeria oil or natural gas facility ever attacked by guerrillas – a rather odd fact given the intensity of the warfare. It makes one wonder about the kind of radicals that would spare the petro-chemical sector from their attacks. The attack on In-Ameras, was thus, ` a first', for Algeria at least, that must send chills down the spines of oil producers and consumers everywhere.
To understand what was being played out in In Ameras, one has to dig deep, into Algerian history, the role of France, the emerging U.S. strategic-military role in Africa and first and foremost, the fate of the peoples of the region – Algerian Arab Moslems, Kabylie Berbers, Tuaregs of the Sahara, the people of Libya, Mali, Niger and Mauretania, among others. That is what I hope to do in this series of articles, the different threads of which will lead us to back to In-Amenas and the slaughter of innocents there.
The series begins elsewhere in Algeria, in the north, outside of a town called Seddat, in May of 2006. Of the course of several articles the thread will lead us back to In-Amenas and the events of last week, but for now we'll start the saga elsewhere.
Let's begin, not with the fiasco at the In-Amenas natural gas site on Algeria's eastern border with Libya, deep in the Sahara Desert, but with a seemingly unrelated incident that took place seven years ago at a place called Seddat in the Kabylie region of Algeria east of the capitol Algiers.
There, in May of 2006, with much fanfare, a major military operation was launched by the Algerian army to `neutralize' (which translates in plain language as `wipe out') a supposed Islamic terrorist cell holding out in a cave in the vicinity of Seddat. Despite the fact that the so-called war against Islamic terrorism had supposedly ended by 1998, the Algerian government had not been able to eliminate the last pockets of militant Islamic armed resistance. For nearly eight years Algiers had been repeatedly talking about "the last Islamic strongholds".
There was another problem which plagued the Algerian government, formally a parliamentary democracy, but informally and perhaps more accurately, a military dictatorship which had been run from the shadows since independence by a group of military officers, derisively referred to as the D.A.F. (which stands for Deserteurs de l'armee francaise, or deserters from the French Army. It refers to a group of Algerian officers in the French military during the Algerian War of Independence 1954-1962, who, six months before the end of the conflict, jumped ship from the French army and joined the Resistance and then quickly took power once independence came).
By 2006 the ruling Algerian military junta could not simply brush off the repeated accusations that many of the militant Islamic groups that it claimed to be fighting in the 1990s were both infiltrated by and run by the country's powerful intelligence service, the Departement de Renseignment et de la Securite otherwise known by its initials – the DRS – . It all cast a shadow over the bloodshed the 1990s and raised serious questions as to what the fighting was about in the first place.
Something else had happened that plays into the plot as well. By 2006, a new security cooperation relationship was being forged between Washington and Algier especially in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Despite a certain distrust on both sides which continues until today even, over the five years since `9-11′ it had flowered into the beginnings of a political partnership.
For different reasons, both the United States and Algeria were looking for new security partners. The United States needed a North African regional partner, a la the Shah of Iran, with a strong military to assist it in its growing "war on terrorism" in Africa. Then and now, it has been more about protecting U.S. strategic assets in oil, natural gas and strategic minerals than about fighting militant Muslims, a group of which there were precious few in North Africa at the time.
At a time when the United States had already started to shift its security concerns to Asia to meet a growing economic and political challenge of China, finding `reliable' security partners that could fill in the military vacuum had become essential. The United States hoped to partially extricate itself from Iraq and Afghanistan, at least `tone down' those conflict and emerge from the quagmires it had created in the Middle East and Central Asia to focus on the Far East.
Such a global strategy could not sustain a large scale U.S. military build up in Africa much beyond the present strength of AFRICOM. Finding others who might be willing to `partner' with Washington, be it through NATO or other arrangements became more pressing. Two countries, both unlikely in some ways, to step up to the plate, did exactly that – France and Algeria. The series will deal with France's role in Africa, past and present in the next part of this series and leave it aside for now.
As for Algeria, while it is looking for U.S. military technology, communication systems, etc. the main `asset' it hoped to gain from improved relations with Washington was political legitimacy, much of which had been lost during the country's civil war of the 1990s and without which, its ruling strata could not stay in power for long and its economic prospects (selling oil and natural gas to the world) would be hindered.
It was an unlikely ally in some ways. For half a century the U.S. media had dubbed it `the Cuba of the Mediterranean', supporting, at least verbally, national liberation struggles, criticizing U.S. imperialism, allied with the Palestine Liberation Organization, a strong opponent of Israel and finding itself taking positions opposed to Washington's on most issues at the United Nations. Diplomatic ties had even been severed for six years in the aftermath of the 1967 Middle East War.
Here again, things were not always what they seemed. Much of the so-called antagonism was little more than posturing on both sides. For example, even during the period when U.S. – Algerian official diplomacy was frozen, Algerian-U.S. economic relations actually flourished, especially where they concerned Algerian natural gas and oil production.
The United States was anxious to break into the Algerian energy sector and did so early on with companies like Halliburton (and others). For its part, Algeria had no qualms about allying itself in business with the most conservative, if not reactionary elements of the American political spectrum, and did so enthusiastically. The United States helped Algeria break the French stranglehold on Algerian energy when, in the early 1970s, El Paso Natural Gas of Texas engaged the Algerian government in a deal to buy its natural gas. It started a flood of contracts with other countries willing to sign agreements with Algiers; if Washington would, why not other countries?
While the Algerian – U.S. energy relations went through ups and downs, they became once again quite intense after the collapse of the Soviet Union when Algeria began to privatize big chunks of its petro-chemical industries. On the security front, Algeria was anxious to prove – and the United States was anxious to believe – it could be a `reliable ally' in the war on terrorism, that it could serve U.S. strategic interests in North Africa and the Sahara more or less in a similar fashion that Israel (and now Turkey, Saudi Arabia) are U.S. strategic partners elsewhere in the region.
Algeria's strategy here is based on both hard politics – ie, the U.S. emerging from the Cold War as the world's only superpower (at least militarily) and most probably watching the United States and its allies decimate Saddam Hussein's Iraq, Algiers preferred to befriend rather than alienate Washington, and to convince Washington that it could be `useful' to it. Of course, Algeria's neighbor, Muhammar Khadaffi efforts to implement more or less the same strategy resulted in the collapse of his regime and his assassination. Algeria hopes to avoid a similar fate.
Understanding well, that `fighting Communism' was now a thing of the past, and partnering with Washington in "the war on terrorism" was the `only show in town' (`the town' being the world), Algeria moved to to prove it could be useful in a number of ways. Fro example, just after 9-11 the Algerian authorities presented their American counterparts with a list of 500 Islamic terrorists as a friendly gesture.
Military exchanges followed as did visits by high level State Department and Military representatives from the USA. They continue. While the Algerians vociferously deny it, there is much evidence that until the Algerians discovered that the United States was using its facilities to spy on Algeria itself, that the U.S. special forces had established a military base in Tamanrasset, in the heart of the Algerian Sahara.
Evidence has yet to be presented that Algeria, like so many other countries in the region, participated in the C.I.A. rendition efforts, but then, neither has their participation been dis-proven. Regardless, U.S. – Algerian security ties enjoyed a level of unprecedented cooperation in the decade since 9-11, relations that despite strains, particularly over Mali, continue.
But despite these improved relations, the Algerians were not sure of the relationship. Access to Algerian intelligence and security matters remained limited. Algeria most often refused to participate in joint military maneuvres which would have permitted the United States to evaluate its military strengths and weaknesses. U.S. efforts to involve Algeria in the Sahel akin to American success at pressing Ethiopia and Uganda to send troops to Somalia proved fruitless.
Although Algeria had proven its ability to both manipulate, divide and destroy the Islamic based opposition movement which challenged the Algerian generals for power in the 1990s, the junta still felt a need to `prove itself' to Washington. Prove what? – that it could still be used to crush opposition movements.
Which brings us back to the Seddat operation.
There were a number of curious, if not downright bizarre aspects to it.
For one thing, it was a massive, lopsided operation, one that pitted the Algerian military and security forces, numbering in the hundreds of thousands all tolled, against a few dozen poorly equipped Islamic guerrilla fighters in hiding in Kabylie caves with their women and children. Reminds one of the U.S. invasion of Grenada in the early 1980s.
Algiers seemed to be eager to prove that when "necessary" it was willing – as it had done in the 1990s – to use the full power of its military machine against its own people.The Algerian assault team, led and personally directed by Algerian General Ahmed Gaid Salah, major general of the Algerian National Army, was several thousand strong with communications and logistical support from the entire Algerian state apparatus. It was heavily armed with tanks, armored cars, attack helicopters, perhaps chemical weapons and all those military toys that so please military dictators from Algiers to Guatemala.
Seddat was an exercise in overkill of gargantuan proportions to counter what was at best a lilleputian threat. Most anti-guerrilla operations are done in secret but the Seddat operation was publicly announced several months before in the Algerian press as something approaching a sporting event and followed closely by the Algerian media from beginning to end. It was all a show of sorts, with the Algerian military asserting its overwhelming strength to the world at large, and to the United States and France in particular.
It is a fact of no little significance that the U.S. military attache to the Algiers embassy at the time was `invited' to accompany General Gaid Salah on this mission and to watch the slaughter unfold from up close. Indeed, one could make a persuasive case that the whole affair was stage managed down to the last detail to impress the Americans Washington should take note!
To insure the operation's success, the Algerian authorities set up a situation that would insure that the government's casualties would be few, while the rebels would die in large numbers. The government's own statistics stated that there were no more than 75-100 militants holed up in caves near Seddat at the most. Even this proved to be an exaggeration. If Seddat had been a purely military or counter-insurgency operations, certainly, the rebels could have been flushed out and neutralized with a much smaller force and much less publicity. Nor was all that communication and military hardware necessary as the group's location was already pinpointed.
Unlike in In-Amenas, where the Algerian special forces lost control of the script, (more on that in a latter segment), at Seddat, everything went as planned. The guerrilla base was wiped out. Obviously it was not a particularly difficult task. The American military was duly impressed. The show was apparently worth the effort as shortly after Seddat cooperation between the U.S. and Algerian militaries ratched up considerably.
Still, news reports of the contrived confrontation, even coming from Algeria's controlled media, were unsettling. As the details of the operation found their way here and there in the Algerian press, a more cynical picture of what had actually happened began to take shape. For example, the 75 to 100 `guerrilla fighters' turned out to be only six. The rest were women and children killed in the assault, `collateral damage' which the Algerian security forces didn't hesitate to inflict. Never one to be too concerned about collateral damage, Washington was impressed.
There were few local witnesses to the aftermath. At least one claimed to have seen the bodies of a woman breast-feeding her baby, both frozen in death. There is some speculation that the only way people die frozen in their last life activity like that, is if they are the victims of poison gas attack which kills instantly. The allegation, will, like the mother and children, be frozen in uncertainty because the day after burying the victims' bodies were, according to witnesses, disinterred by the military and cremated, thus eliminating the possible evidence. But it is suggestive, isn't it, that when deemed necessary, the Algerian military has no compunctions about gassing its own people?
At least once before in the Middle East, the United States was greatly impressed by the military prowess of a regional player, by its military superiority over its neighbors. I speak of Israel's victory over Egypt and Syria in the June, 1967 War. Thus began a strategic alliance, couched in the false language of `common values', `defense of the only democracy in the Middle East' and other pretexts.
What impressed Washington in 1967 more than `common values' was the power of the Israeli air force and the devastating blow Israel could inflict on Syria, Egypt and the West Bank in six short days; in so doing, secular Arab nationalism to which Washington was adamantly opposed suffered a blow from which it never entirely recovered. Thus began a well known strategic love affair that continues until today. Israel had impressed Washington that it could serve U.S. regional interests.
Something like that is now happening in North Africa with Algeria, an unlikely U.S. ally given its half century of anti-U.S., anti-imperialist rhetoric. Algeria has spent the decade since 9-11 trying to impress Washington that it could play a role in North Africa for the United States similar to what Israel plays in the Eastern Mediterranean. The Seddat Massacre – and that is essentially what it was, a massacre – was orchestrated with such a future for Algerian-U.S. relations in mind. It was a part of the overall effort to attract American attention.
In fact, Washington was impressed, so impressed that in 2012, the Obama Administration through AFRICOM General Carter Ham and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spent a good deal of political energy trying to get Algeria to intervene militarily in neighboring Mali, to no avail. But however closely the Algerian Junta hopes to snuggle up to Washington, it was still not ready to be its military cat's paw in the Sahara.
At a recent talk at the University of Denver that I attended, General Ham, who impressed his audience of students that AFRICOM was more like the Peace Corps than a military special forces attack unit, noted that he had visited Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to send a military contingent to Mali. French President Hollande visited Algiers and did likewise, to no avail. On this critical issue, Algeria has balked.
In the end, for reasons I will develop in the proceeding sections of this series, the Algerian government, having led on the United States, refused to pick up the military baton and send its troops into the Malian fray, one of the smarter decisions it has made in a long time. The Algerian generals might crush their own insurgencies and do so by whatever means necessary, but even this dictatorship has been careful not to involve itself, militarily at least, the affairs with its neighbors. The one time it did, by supporting the POLISARIO movement in the Western Sahara, it got a pretty bloody nose.
After reading all this, one might wonder logically, what does all this have to do with the In-Ameras fiasco? The answer is everything, to be elaborated upon as the series unfolds.
I also want to credit Habib Souaidia, author of La sale guerre (The Dirty War) – Editions Decouverte. 2001. It was in conversations with Souaidia that I first was made aware of the Seddat Massacre.
Jeremy Keenan. How Washington Helped Foster the Islamic Uprising In Mali.
John Schindler. Algeria's Hidden Hand.
Immanuel Wallerstein. Mali: The Next Afghanistan (note – Although Wallerstein predicts there would be no French intervention, and I guess misjudged that part of the situation, his discussion of the internal Malian and regional forces at work, is a la Wallerstein, very good, as his explanation of the dynamics prior to the Frenchy military incursion.


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Dendrobium deflexilobum är en orkidéart som beskrevs av Jeffrey James Wood och Anthony L. Lamb. Dendrobium deflexilobum ingår i släktet Dendrobium, och familjen orkidéer. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Orkidéer
deflexilobum


From the skyscrapers in Taipei to the farms in Tainan, there are numerous similarities between Taiwan and the United States. Where things tend to diverge are in little day to day details that, otherwise, might go unnoticed.
The concept of a line can sometimes be a bit blurred. It was curious to see these stanchions at this otherwise busy night market stand denoting where people should stand to order food.
As much as we pride ourselves as a country of religious freedom, Muslim people often get the short end of the stick. It was refreshing to see these signs at the Taiwan High Speed Rail station in Taichung.
The whiteness of the teeth that "black people" have is lauded via this toothpaste.
Speaking of which, here's a toothpaste dispenser.
Choose your size meal (in grams no less)!
There are a lot of stray dogs (犬 / quan) with black dogs being like black cats (unlucky). Maybe that's why someone gave this dog a bee costume.
Here's an envelope used as a water cup.
Luggage is neatly uprighted if it's not taken the first time around.
This hair salon had stylists moving their bags of styling items around.
Because of the the high price of land, raised freeways are quite a common sight.
DIY leather-crafting while you shop.
Water tanks are placed above many older structures to keep water pressure consistent.
Walk signals can show when to hurry up without the use of numbers.
You can get mulberry or custard apple popsicles.
There are different mail slots depending on your needs.
For meals at more upscale places, don't be surprised if you receive an after-meal survey.
Because of a lack of space, much of the larger cities has to build up. Many apartments consequently are smaller and look like this from the outside.
It's not uncommon to find these eye scanners for the right people to gain access to buildings.
We received this huge flier while waiting at an intersection, waiting for the light to turn green.
Because of the limit on space, sliding doors are pretty common here. Just push the button and the door slides open.
Razors in a hotel?! Who would have imagined?
What are your thoughts about these differences? How would Taiwanese people view US culture?


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Q: AS400.validateSignon() does not reset the failed signon attempts to 0 When I use com.ibm.as400.access.AS400.validateSignon() to authenticate a user's credentials and they pass the validation, and have successfully connected, it does not reset the "failed signon attempts" to 0.
When entering an incorrect password the field "failed signon attempts" is incremented; when successfully signing on the "failed signon attempts" still maintains that there were invalid signons. Strangely enough the "previous sign-on" is updated with the correct date & time.
Here is a dump of DSPUSRPRF on the as400:
User profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : BOB
Previous sign-on . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 12/12/05 21:34:08
Password verifications not valid . . . . . : 4
Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : *ENABLED

The only was I have managed to get the "failed signon attempts" to reset was by disabling and re-enabling the user using the toolbox. This is not a viable solution as this updates the change date & time on the user profile.
This behaviour is contradictory to the way that our green screen telnet session is handled, when a user logs into the as400 the "failed signon attempts" are zeroised.
Any suggestions and/or resolutions are gratefully accepted.

A: Can you use the QSYGETPH API instead? According to the documentation there it says "Resets the signon attempts not valid count to zero."

A: This behaviour is fixed with the following PTF:
V6R1 SI48759
V7R1 SI48761

A: JT400 doesn't use the normal signon mechanism when it connects ... so the behavior isn't something that surprises me.  JT400 doesn't 'sign on' per-se ... it connects.  Slightly different behavior.
The question I have is: Why is it important to reset the valid signon count when you connect via JT400?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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<?php

namespace AC\Transcoding\Tests\Mock;

class InvalidDummyPreset extends \AC\Transcoding\Preset {}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


2) Pick an exercise that's kind of like the above. Dumbbell press helps with bench, straight leg deadlift helps with Deads, Lunges help with squats etc. Do a bunch of these. It doesn't matter in what order as long as you do more than 30 and less than 50 in 3 to 5 sets.
3) Do something that does the opposite of what you did in 1). If you pushed (bench), then pull (row).
4) Do something that holds your core in place for a few sets. Like planks or holds.
5) Do something that twists or bends your core, and try to weight it in some way. weighted sit ups or Russian twists.
6) Do almost anything else that doesn't hurt you. It really doesn't matter what it is. You can pump your arms, do box jumps, walk on the treadmill, have a coffee.
Here's my saying that everyone I train knows.
"If you haven't done it within 45 minutes, then it's not worth doing".
Keep your intensity and concentration high and you're already doing better than 90% of gym-goers.


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Home Events Staging the Revolution in the East: Theatre in the Caucasus
Staging the Revolution in the East: Theatre in the Caucasus
Leah Feldman (University of Chicago)
Wednesday, March 15, 2017 - 4:30pm
Pigott Hall room 216
The Caucasus is often introduced as the site of a nineteenth-century Russian orientalist imaginary, caught between Europe and Asia and the intelligentsia's oppositional imperialist nationalism. However, a period of revolutionary upheaval and civil war, and the Soviet annexation of the former imperial territories, made the Caucasus once again a critical geopolitical zone for Soviet eastern expansion. In the words of the Azerbaijani Soviet politician Nariman Narimanov, this process involved an opening of the Soviet "window onto the East." This talk takes up this period of Soviet imperial returns through the construction of a Muslim communist aesthetic and political commitment, and examines its role in forming of a vision of an Eastern International. Discussing Azeri and Russian theatre, Feldman focuses in particular on Jalil Memmedquluzade's reinterpretation of Gogol's classic The Government Inspector in his 1909 play The Dead, as well as essays on politics and art that frame this image of a revolutionary Soviet East.
Leah Feldman is Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Chicago. Her research explores the poetics and the politics of global literary networks, focusing on critical approaches to translation theory, semiotics, postcolonial theory, and Marxist aesthetics. Her current book project, On the Threshold of Eurasia: Orientalism and Revolutionary Aesthetics in the Caucasus, 1905-1929 exposes the ways in which the idea of a revolutionary Eurasia informed the interplay between orientalist and anti-colonial discourses in Russian and Azeri poetry and prose. Tracing translations and intertextual engagements across Russia, the Caucasus, and western Europe, it offers an alternative vision of empire, modernity, and anti-imperialism from the vantage point of cosmopolitan centers in the Russian empire and Soviet Union.


After six days racing and five days in the desert, the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, third round of the FIA Cross Country World Cup, is over. During the last especially five days we could see dramatic fights in the gigantic dunes of the United Arab Emirates, the great Comeback of Luc Alphand, the start of Cyril Despres in a SMG Buggy, the dramas in the Nissan Navara crews and the surprisingly mixed results of the totally differing X-raid Mini-Crews. And yes, also again a drama for the last year´s winner Sheik Al Qassimi, who finally had to retire in the last day with his former factory Peugeot 3008 DKR.
The big winners in the cars are the Czech Martin Prokop and David Pabiska, who could hold their overall leading position since SS02 and win the race in 17:06:57 hours. After his 2nd place in the Baja Russia Northern Forest and 4th place in the Dubai Baja his first win in this year´s FIA World Cup! Finally the Czech crew was 13:30 minutes faster than Jakub Przygonski and Tom Colsoul (POL/BEL, X-raid Mini) and 46:29 minutes than the third Vladimir Vasilyev / Konstantin Zhiltsov (Russia, X-raid Mini).
"I´m very happy to win and to be in the finish in total," Martin Prokop said after the last stage. "This is really amazing! It´s the result of three years hard work. I was coming very often here to Abu Dhabi for training. In the beginning I was struggling and my codriver was shouting to me all the time ´don´t get stuck, don´t get stuck´ and I answered `I know but what should I do´ - but we got experience and finally we could win here in this very important race."
The Top 5 were completed with the SMG Buggy debut of the former Peugeot factory driver and Dakar winner in the Bikes Cyril Despres from France together with his Swiss navigator Steve Ravussin (normally in the sailing sport) with +01:31:38 hours and - sensationally - the X-raid Mini of the German "Gentleman" and former KS-Tools Boss Stephan Schott together with the well experienced navigator Paulo Fiuza from Portugal (+03:17:18).
In the T2-production cars, Ahmed Al Shegawi from Saudi Arabia and French navigator Laurent Lichtleuchter from France are the winners with their Nissan Patrol in 23:17:25 hours, followed by the Qataris Adel Abdulla / Nasser Alkuwari (Nissan Patrol, 24:03:19) and the Russian lady Yulia Migunova-Khegay together with her Latvian codriver Aldis Vilcans (Toyota Land Cruiser 200, 44:59:12).
In the SSV, Jose Luis Pena Campo and Rafael Tornabell could win the Rally with their Polaris RZR 1000 (22:11:03 hours), second are Vincent Gonzalez / Stephane Duple (Switzerland/France, Polaris RZR 1000, 23:09:47), third the French Patrice Garrouste and Loic Minaudier with their Polaris RZR 1000 in 23:12:21 hours.


Great Britain and the Euro zone fundamental news reports out yesterday can only be described as atrocious. The German ZEW (Consumer Confidence) result (-3.8 points) wiped out any Monday Euro gains and now German growth forecasts have been cut. The Euro suffered appropriately. How many traders and investors bought the British Pound after the Scottish Independence vote was decided, thinking, wow, now the Pound will really strengthen? Great Britain's inflation data missed expectations annihilating the Sterling currency by a whopping 200 pips against the US Dollar. Other currencies to get hit were the Swedish Krona and how about the Norway's NOK. Norway's economy has relied upon their tremendous Oil reserves but as prices in Oil have declined it has placed Norway in GDP trouble, as the Krona has slid in value over the past 6 months which relates directly to when the price of Oil started dropping.
According to AT Partnerships, both the New Zealand Kiwi and the Aussie Dollar did not fare well yesterday and gave up all Monday gains. The general theme with the Aussie is that it is still overvalued and with an investing "risk off" environment, further weakness is to be expected, also, the RBA not too concerned as a weak Dollar is good for exports.
The Canadian Dollar, the CAD, is also a commodity currency with huge developing Oil reserves (Alberta – tar sands) which cost a lot more money to extract and separate the Oil from the sand than standard drilling. Now with Oil dropping so much in price, it puts many companies in jeopardy as their profit margin dwindles. July 01 was the day the CAD started it spiral down against the US Dollar losing a value of 7 dollars over the next four months. Other OIL shale companies, especially in the US, will start feeling the fear as another 3 Dollar OIL price drop yesterday will intensify debate around oil Company board meetings no doubt!
So when it looked like the mighty US Dollar was showing some cracks, it has quickly and efficiently silenced any doom-sayers, so far this week anyway. The Dollar was stronger against most all currencies yesterday and upon Asian open is not slowing down.
September and October have really increased the importance of news releases and its affect on price surges and volatility. This is not a surprise to investors as seasonality plays a large part in their strategies. Today will be no exception, as ECB's Draghi speaks, unemployment changes out of Great Britain, retail and Inflation data from the United States will all surely rock the currency markets to and fro.


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jccardinals.com | The Official Site of the Johnson City Cardinals
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Cardinals Lose Opener to Royals
By Matt Davis | Johnson City Cardinals Broadcaster / Johnson City Cardinals | August 21, 2018 11:25 PM
JOHNSON CITY, TN - After falling to the Elizabethton Twins 3-1 in their four-game series, the Cardinals were set to get back in the win column against the Burlington Royals. Johnson City had the lead heading to the top of the fourth, but Burlington ran away with it scoring five runs over the next three innings and would end up winning 13-5.
The Royals drew first blood scoring two in the top of the first. Johnson City answered with two runs in the bottom of the second. Donivan Williams led off with a double (7). Zach Jackson doubled (12) to score Williams to put the Cardinals on the board, they trailed 2-1. Liam Sabino then doubled (2) to score Jackson which tied the game at two.
The Cardinals took the lead in the bottom of the third after scoring one run. Jonatan Machado reached on a throwing error to lead off the inning. He then reached second on a Leandro Cedeno groundout. Dariel Gomez then singled and Machado scored to give the Cardinals the 3-2 lead.
Cole Aker got the start for Johnson City, his fifth with the team. Aker pitched 4.2 innings, surrendering seven hits, six earned runs, four walks, and notching four strikeouts. Unfortunately Aker took the loss, his second of the season.
After the Cardinals took the 3-2 lead, the Royals answered and regained the lead, scoring three runs in the fourth, one in the fifth, and one in the sixth to take a 7-3 lead. The Cardinals responded with one run in the bottom of the sixth. Zach Jackson led off the inning with a single and Liam Sabino doubled (3) to score Jackson to cut the deficit 7-4.
The Royals did not slow down as they put six runs on the scoreboard in the final two innings, while Johnson City put one up in the bottom of the ninth on a Leandro Cedeno solo homerun (11).
The Cardinals used two pitchers after Cole Aker. Junior Gonzalez was used first out of the bullpen. Gonzalez pitched 2.2 innings, allowing four hits, two earned runs, one walk, and had four strikeouts. Juan Alvarez was the final reliever used. Alvarez went 1.2 innings, surrendering six hits, five earned runs, two walks, and had two strikeouts.
Game two between the Cardinals and Royals is slated for 7:00 p.m. tomorrow.
You can listen all season long to Johnson City Cardinals baseball on the MiLB First Pitch App, or via TuneIn Radio on the Johnson City Cardinals Radio Network.
The full schedule for the season and information regarding tickets, and promotion days can be found at jccardinals.com or by calling the Cardinals Office at (423) 461- 4866.
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.


The agent for Montavious Stanley said the defensive tackle agreed to terms with the Miami Dolphins.
Stanley played in 15 games as a reserve for the Jaguars last season. Drafted in the sixth round by Dallas in 2006, he has also played for New Orleans and Atlanta.
He's expected to compete for a job as a reserve with the Dolphins, who begin training camp Friday.


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IBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – JUNE 16: Head coach Ime Udoka of the Boston Celtics reacts against the Golden State Warriors during the third quarter in Game Six of the 2022 NBA Finals at TD Garden on June 16, 2022 in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
by UInterviewDecember 9, 2022, 10:46 pmDecember 9, 2022, 10:46 pmDecember 9, 2022, 10:46 pm >
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – JUNE 16: Head coach Ime Udoka of the Boston Celtics reacts against the Golden State Warriors during the third quarter in Game Six of the 2022 NBA Finals at TD Garden on June 16, 2022 in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)


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DRAFT & FA
This secondary is awful.
This offseason, the Rams need a completely revamped secondary. The only player that deserves to stay and start is Oshiomogho Atogwe. James Butler has looked very mediocre all year when he's not committing safeties or tackling Atogwe on interceptions. And obviously, Ron Bartell, I don't care if he's injured, is not getting it down. Bradley Fletcher was okay, Jonathon Wade is bad, Quincy Butler and Danny Gorrer are possibly the worst players I've ever seen. We better get some good CB's and a strong safety.
So I ask ClanRam, what good cornerbacks are there to be had in the draft second day (rounds 3-7) and what CB's could we get in free agency? We better not raid any more practice squads looking for jewels.
Bralidore(RAMMODE)
Re: This secondary is awful.
craig dahl is a great tackler and an average cover guy. Hes done well in his starts. I think you definetely keep him, OJ depending on his money demands, fletcher, bartell if hes willing to take a significant pay cut. the other guys are expendable.
TAKE SUH, and some how some way someone get a Quarterback in here...
The Rammer
Originally posted by Bralidore(RAMMODE) View Post
C. McCoy should be available second round.
I think we need to go this route with the free agency. Adding a CB in the draft is ideal too, but we need two or three new guys.
Let's see...
Bartell in 2008 had the best stats of any CB in the division in terms allowing completions/big plays, etc.
In 2009, he's played hurt most of the year and had no pass rush to help him, so his play has diminished.
That's what you call a lost cause?
Bartell, Atogwe and Butler are keepers. Dahl is fine as a backup. Ideally, they'll get an upgrade at the #2 CB spot, but I'd worry more about the pass rush than anything else.
dvbear55
you're right. danny gorrer needs to pack his bags..
HUbison
Fix the pass rush and the secondary will automatically look better.
And looking bad against the Cards passing attack is no more an indictment than looking bad against the GSOT back-in-da-day.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Dominating D
Rounds 3-7 probably will not give you the upgrade you seem to think the Rams need. Some of the guys you mention were drafted in those rounds. Give some of these guys time to adjust to the NFL and learn the Rams D system. As mentioned above these players will look alot better with some kind of pass rush and maybe a offense that will take some time of the clock so the guys can come off the field and get the rest needed to chase all of these WR up and down the field.
Go Rams
Strong Secondary a Top Priority
evil disco man
by evil disco man
By Nick Wagoner
A simple glance at what the Rams did in this offseason is all it takes to know that they have made the secondary one of their first priorities.
Consider for a moment that in this most recent free agent market, the Rams placed the franchise tag on safety Oshiomogho Atogwe, forked over $28 million to keep cornerback Ron Bartell and inked safety James Butler to a lucrative four-year contract.
If nothing else, it sent a clear message that new coach Steve Spagnuolo, who has spent plenty of time in the league as a defensive backs coach, places a premium on strong secondary play.
And while those financial commitments show plenty of confidence in the players filling out the defensive backfield, the players are showing plenty of confidence that they could be the leaders of this defense well into the future.
"We are the backbone," Butler said. "We're young, we all had to work hard to get where we are and I think that's a good thing. Guys are hungry, guys are working hard to be the best and I think these guys will go out and do a great job this year."
With the 2009 season still months away, it's evident from the happenings on the practice field that the Rams are putting a lot more than money into developing the secondary into one of the team's greatest strengths.
Soon after Spagnuolo was hired, the Rams made it clear that retaining the services of Atogwe and Bartell was at the top of the team's laundry list.
After some lengthy negotiations, the Rams decided to put the franchise tag on Atogwe, one of the league's emerging defensive players and the team's Most Valuable Player in 2008.
Last season, Atogwe posted 109 tackles, five interceptions, eight forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries. In the process, he established himself as one of the league's best ball hawks and the preferred last line of defense for the Rams.
With Spagnuolo at the helm and a new defensive system in place, Atogwe is still feeling his way through the defense but has made it a point to stay in St. Louis and do everything possible to acquaint himself with the scheme.
That process includes gaining a better understanding of making calls in the secondary and an increased focus on communicating with his fellow defensive backs.
"I am still figuring it out," Atogwe said. "I am still learning the defense and figuring out where I fit in the defense and how I am best utilized in the defense and how the defense can best utilize me and my skill set. It's a learning phase."
Helping Atogwe and the rest of the secondary through that learning phase is Butler. After spending two seasons as the starting strong safety in Spagnuolo's New York defenses, Butler came to St. Louis with an intimate knowledge of the defensive scheme....
Free Agent Preview: Defensive Backs (Nick Wagoner - Team Site)
For the better part of the past two weeks, Rams Chief Operating Officer Kevin Demoff has spent the majority of his time in contract negotiations for the team's top two in-house free agent priorities.
Those two players just so happen to be the key cogs in the Rams' young secondary. Free safety Oshiomogho Atogwe and cornerback Ron Bartell were clearly the team's best defensive backs in 2008 and quite possibly the best players on the entire defense.
In their efforts to keep Atogwe and Bartell, the team slapped the franchise tag on Atogwe, ensuring that he can't go to a different team without the Rams getting a boat load in compensation.
Of course, the franchise tag for the safety who posted 109 tackles, five interceptions, eight forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries comes at a hefty salary cap number of more than $6 million.
That number could be reduced some by a long term contract, something Demoff and Kenneth Landphere, Atogwe's agent, continue to work on. Both sides are optimistic that something can be done after meeting at the NFL scouting combine last weekend.
Bartell's situation, on the other hand, is a bit more complicated. Bartell doesn't have the three years of production put forth by Atogwe and only really came into his own as a starter in 2008.
There's no arguing, though, that Bartell had a breakout season last year. Bartell's opponent passer rating on balls thrown to the receiver he was covering was just 60.2 in 2008. The next closest among corners in the NFC West Division was San Francisco's Walt Harris at 79.8.
Bartell also allowed just 1.5 touchdowns last season and finished with three interceptions, a sack, two forced fumbles and 20 passes defended.
Along the way, he proved to be one of the few corners with the size and athletic ability to match up with Arizona's Larry Fitzgerald. The Cardinals threw five fade routes to Fitzgerald and completed none because of Bartell's ability to go up in the air with Fitzgerald.
While Bartell has yet to do it over the long haul, he's the type of emerging player the Rams would like to keep around. That objective is made more difficult by a rapidly decreasing in players but increasing in price free agent market for cornerbacks.
Oakland's Nnamdi Asomugha got $45 million over three years from the Raiders and Houston placed the franchise tag on Dunta Robinson.
Those players have lengthier resumes and might not directly affect Bartell's price other than the fact that it moved Bartell up the pecking order of players available.
Perhaps more concerning is the contract Kelvin Hayden, a solid if unspectacular corner for the Colts, received. Hayden got a five-year contract from Indianapolis worth $43 million with more than $22 million of it guaranteed.
Bartell hasn't produced at Hayden's level (and in much different systems) but as one of the top two or three corners who will...
Channel: DRAFT & FA
Bradley Fletcher / DB question
Does anyone know when he is expected to return? Do they expect him at training camp or workouts, or beginning of the season?
Also what do you guys think about our DBs should we draft a CB and if so what round would you suggest.
Quincy Butler, could he start?
GO RAMS!!!
Rams DB's Bartell, Atogwe Held Out Of Practice
Rams DBs Bartell, Atogwe held out of practice
ST. LOUIS (AP)—St. Louis Rams cornerback Ron Bartell and safety O.J. Atogwe did not practice Wednesday while nursing shoulder injuries. Two other members of the secondary, cornerback Justin King and safety Craig Dahl, were limited with shoulder and knee woes.
Bartell sustained a stinger in the first half Sunday at Arizona and was uncertain Wednesday whether he'd be able to play this weekend at New Orleans. Bartell, the Rams' top coverage cornerback, said his injury would probably be a factor the rest of the season but said he felt better.
"It's one of those things, if you take a hit the wrong way or tackle somebody the wrong way it's something that just may happen," Bartell said. "It's not something I'm going to concern myself with. If I'm able to get my strength back I'll be out there on Sunday."
Atogwe said his shoulder was a little sore but he would be ready for the Saints. Coach Steve Spagnuolo said King aggravated an earlier injury.
Atogwe is second on the team with 69 tackles with two interceptions and has been a big factor on the blitz with two sacks and five quarterback hits.
Another cornerback, rookie Jerome Murphy, was limited with a hamstring injury. Murphy did not play last week.
Rams secondary takes shape
RamWraith
by RamWraith
By Bill Coats
Sunday, Mar. 15 2009
In mid-February, the Rams' secondary was in a state of flux. Strong safety
Corey Chavous had been released, cornerback Fakhir Brown had been removed from
the team's plans, and free safety Oshiomogho "O.J." Atogwe and cornerback Ron
Bartell were about to become free agents.
Less than a month and more than $50 million later, the new regime at Rams Park
has solidified most of its defensive backfield:
Feb. 19 — Atogwe, 27, is assigned the team's franchise tag, assuring his
presence in 2009 and earning him a one-year salary of $6.34 million.
March 2 — After a visit to New Orleans and a contract offer from the Saints,
Bartell, 27, re-signs with the Rams. His four-year deal could max out at $28
March 10 — Strong safety James Butler, 27, a free agent who spent the previous
four seasons with the New York Giants, signs for four years and, if certain
incentives are met, about $17 million.
"It's very exciting," Butler said. "O.J.'s been having a lot of interceptions
the past two years, and Ron Bartell's arrow is definitely going up."
With a laugh, Butler added, "We've got a lot of young players, and they're fast
— I might be the slowest one out of the bunch. I might have to start working on
my 40s."
Atogwe, a 5-foot-11, 210-pound third-round draft pick in 2005, is a three-year
starter who has developed into one of the NFL's top ball-hawking defenders. He
led the NFC with eight interceptions two years ago and picked off five more
passes in 2008. He also finished second on the team in tackles this past
season, with 109.
Bartell, a 6-1, 209-pounder drafted in the second round in 2005, cobbled
together a breakout season in '08. After shuttling between safety and
cornerback his first three seasons, Bartell became a full-time starter. He was
the team's best defender in coverage, compiling one of the league's best "burn"
rates (percentage of passes completed against him), and his three interceptions
were second to Atogwe.
Butler, a 6-3, 215-pound Georgia Tech product, wasn't drafted after his senior
season in 2005, which shocked the two-time all-Atlantic Coast Conference
honoree.
"It was very tough. I was like, 'Man, these guys aren't better than me,'"
Butler said. "But I think every player has things he has to go through, and I
went through that. You just have to roll with the punches."
The snub amped up his determination to prove the skeptics wrong, Butler
stressed.
"Every player has a motivation. ... that was my motivation," he said.


text:
Steve Scalise Tells Illinois GOP It Can Recover by Rebuilding
Scalise was the featured speaker at Republican Day at the Illinois State Fair
Published August 15, 2019 • Updated on August 15, 2019 at 8:14 pm
The No. 2 Republican in the U.S. House has a hopeful message for the beleaguered Illinois GOP.
Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana was the featured speaker at Thursday's Republican Day at the Illinois State Fair.
Illinois Republicans lost the governorship last year. Democrats hold every statewide office and extraordinary majorities in the General Assembly.
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Scalise, the U.S. House Minority Whip, says his home state was dominated by Democrats when he started his political career.
But he says Republicans built strong local party organizations to make GOP majorities in the Louisiana statehouse today.
Scalise was severely wounded in 2017 when a gunman fired on a congressional baseball game. U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis of Illinois introduced him Thursday and says Scalise is the GOP's "story of redemption. He's our story of recovery."
Rodney DavisSteve Scalise