text:
Q: Problem with iphone/sqlite I am trying to update from internet my sqlite content.
I have copied the sqlite db to documents directory, and from there I use an ASIHTTPRequest to get the textual sqlite updates (ready sqlite statements with values and keys).
my sqlite statement is as follows:
INSERT OR REPLACE INTO items (id, name, parentid, orderme) VALUES (...);

The ids on the remote sqlite (the one I get the statements from) are 1:1 with those in my local project.
The update though, only occurs on the already found ids. When there is no Id found there is no insert happening. Is there a problem in the sqlite iphone version?
Now what is weird is that if I run the same command from inside the app (and not receiving from internet), it creates the required data. I have tried it with both fmdb and sqlite native commands so there must be something wrong with the inserting of the code. Do you have any insights on this?
(I don't use core data for some portability reasons).

A: So, actually the scripts were fine.
What SQLITE does not support is multiple commands in one line (like MySQL does). So once I broke them down to multiple lines everything worked fine.


This tutorial demonstrates how to use Set Flow Output Values	step. This step is introduced in Decisions 4.1	. It behaves just like Create Data	step but data created in it can be retrieved via API call even from the asynchronous Flow .
In this example we are going to create a simple Flow with assigned Form . Then we are going to call this Flow via API and see what data is exposed. Finally, we are going to use Set Flow Output Values	and test API call again.
In the Flow Designer we add Show Form	step located in the Favorite Steps.
To learn how to create form in Decisions please click here .
After our Form is designed, we connect Form outcome to the End Step.
Then, we are going to setup an Assignment for our Form .
To learn how to create and use Assigned Forms, please click here .
This completes our simple Flow . On the top panel of the Flow Debugger we click Integration Details.
On the Integration Details	page we can find information on how to call our Flow via Service call.
To learn more about Integration Details Page please click here .
Then, we use a URL	provided on Integration Details Page	to call our Flow via API .
We can see that our Flow is not completed because it wait the Assigned Form	to be completed.
At this point we get just Flow Tracking Id	data which is not very useful. We may want to know who is this Form assigned, or what is the process id or any other additional information from the Flow .
To accomplish this we need to useSet Flow Output Values	step. We go back to the Flow Designer locate this step in All Steps [Catalog] > Flow Management	category and add it before the Assigned Form in our Flow .
As mentioned in the beginning of this tutorial, Set Flow Output Values Step	has to be configured in the same manner as Create Data Step.
To learn more about Create Data Step please click here .
In the step configurations we locate Data Definitions	section and click Show Editor.
For the simplicity of this example we define a String	data with Constant value.
Note: we can define any kind of complex Data Type here and make the values dynamic depending on our Flow logic.
When finished we click Close	to save and continue.
Finally, we connect the outcome from Set Flow Output Values	to the Show Form	step.
If we make the same API	call to our Flow as we have made previously in this tutorial, we should be able to see Flow Outputs	data returning data defined in Set Flow Output Values	step.


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text:
Shadows in the Sun by Gayathri Ramprasad
It is quite a challenge to add anything original to the chorus of praise for Gayathri Ramprasad's book Shadows in the Sun: Healing from Depression and Finding the Light Within.
Full title: "Shadows in the Sun: Healing from Depression and Finding the Light Within"
Author: Gayathri Ramprasad
Published: 2014, Hazelden
Yet, as the book is a masterpiece which cultivates compassion and understanding, it simply must be reported on once again. Moreover, the book also shines a light on yet another issue which Transcendental Meditation practice can help solve.
Descent into terror and darkness
The tale starts with Ramprasad's memories of her happy childhood in India. The magic of that time and place is communicated by rich descriptions of the scents, tastes and sounds that coloured the years of the author's youth.
However, the cocoon of beliefs and customs which had sheltered her childhood became an unfortunate burden when Ramprasad first experienced the onset of depression while at university. On top of her illness, she had to deal with condemnation and lack of understanding. In her culture, a disease such as depression did not exist – it simply could not be diagnosed or treated.
She had to learn to hide the dark abyss she felt she had become, and put on a facade of normalcy.
Author Ramprasad explains why she decided to write the book
"What if I can't sit still? Will my eyes ever stop fluttering? As hard as I try, my mantra keeps floating in and out of my consciousness, and a million thoughts muddle my mind. Within minutes, I grow restless.
……."Don't worry, Gayathri," my teacher says, sensing me squirm. "With practice, you will experience a deep state of restful, alert consciousness."
…….Although I don't believe her at first, eventually, with daily practice, I learn to tap into the hitherto unexplored tranquility of my mind. Despite my mind's tendency to wander, much like a mother lovingly guides her child back to its task, I learn to gently guide my mind back to its still center.
…….Therein I discover a reservoir of energy, clarity, creativity, and restful calm. Meditation also offers me a sacred space to reflect and look back on my life, which in turn teaches me to become an observer of my thoughts and emotions instead of getting entangled in them."
— Gayathri Ramprasad, excerpt from Shadows in the Sun
Ramprasad's parents arranged a marriage for her with an Indian man living in the United States, and soon she had everything one could ask for: a loving husband, a healthy baby, financial security and home in the land of her and her parents' dreams.
Paradoxically, having such a picture-perfect life made it even harder for her to bear the fact that all she really wanted was to put an end to her existence. The gloom inside her dominated her more than ever.
The road to recovery: Finding the light within
Yet at one point, some light started to shine through the cracks.
While the individualistic society of her new homeland presented some challenges, Ramprasad for the first time encountered the idea that depression was a medical condition – not a curse, or just something in her own head – which could be treated like any other disease. She learnt to accept her condition and gained hope for recovery. Her path to health was not an easy one, but once she knew there was a way out, she was determined to undertake the journey.
She was in and out of hospitals and underwent treatments with different medications and forms of therapy and counselling. Finally she discovered a formula which worked best for her: a holistic wellness plan that attended to her emotional, social, spiritual, intellectual, physical, financial, occupational and environmental dimensions. It included breathing exercises, Transcendental Meditation practice, journaling, exercise, hydration, nutrition, meaningful work, social connectedness, spirituality, service, joyful hobbies and sleep.
As she states in the book, despite periodic setbacks, these practices help her thrive in life.
Ramprasad's triumph, however, did not end with that. She herself became a vehicle of change for others by founding ASHA International, a non-profit organization with a mission to raise awareness of mental health issues and offer information, inspiration, and tools to help people suffering from such conditions transform their lives.
Gayathri Ramprasad's personal transformation has thereby drastically improved the lives of thousands of people around the world — and will affect thousands more through this wonderful book and its inspiring message.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


BROOKFIELD, Conn. — Howard Lasser has had offices high up in a Manhattan skyscraper and in the back of a warehouse. But these days, you can find Lasser in a quaint office with old wood floors and exposed wood beams above the shop in the Brookfield Craft Center.
The enviable setting, though, doesn't mean as much to Lasser as the purpose of his work.
"The office isn't as important as what you're doing," he told the Daily Voice as he took a break from his spreadsheets and budgets.
Lasser, who served as a chief financial officer before he retired in 2013, is executive director at the Brookfield Craft Center.
A 34-year resident of Brookfield, Lasser first became involved in the center as a customer in the shop. But when it fell on hard times, officials approached him and asked whether he wanted to be a treasurer.
Lasser ended up taking the helm as the executive director. He had his eyes on getting the center on a sustainable business model, but he didn't know whether it was possible.
It appears the center has been turning in the right direction, he said.
"I think we've demonstrated that with this last year and the accomplishments that we've made," he said.
Not simply a numbers guy, Lasser studied history in college and has a deep appreciation for the past.
"I'm a big believer in learning, preserving and understanding history," he said.
Lasser said he hopes to renovate and expand portions of the center while retaining its historical character. Of many possible projects, he hopes to renovate the house where visiting artists used to stay. He also wants to foster an artistic community and be able to bring in artists from around the country to teach classes.
"We would love to have great teachers from all over," he said.
Lasser also hopes to engage a younger generation from artists. He wants to give them a chance to use their hands — and take a break from their digital devices.
He has his eyes on the forge, too, which sits atop a small hill overlooking the rest of the buildings in the center.
A plaque outside the building calls it "The Good Forge." But it can be even better: Lasser wants to double its size so more people can enjoy the experience.
"When we expand it, we'll call it, 'The Gooder Forge,'" he wryly remarked.


text:
class MODEL_NAME < ActiveRecord::Base

  alias_attribute :id, :geoid10
  alias_attribute :name, :name10
  alias_attribute :region, :region10
  alias_attribute :division, :division10
  alias_attribute :state, :state10
  alias_attribute :statens, :statens10
  alias_attribute :statefp, :statefp10
  alias_attribute :countyfp, :countyfp10
  alias_attribute :tractce, :tractce10
  alias_attribute :blkgrpce, :blkgrpce10
  alias_attribute :stusps, :stusps10
  alias_attribute :lsad, :lsad10
  alias_attribute :mtcc10, :mtfcc10
  alias_attribute :funcstat, :funcstat10
  alias_attribute :land, :aland10
  alias_attribute :water, :awater10
  alias_attribute :lat, :intptlat10
  alias_attribute :lng, :intptlon10

  self.primary_key = :gid

  default_scope select("geoid10, name10, intptlat10, intptlon10, latlng, geom")

  def self.bbox(z,x,y)
    return false if z.nil? || x.nil? || y.nil?
    nw=coordinateLocation(z.to_i,x.to_i,y.to_i)
    se=coordinateLocation(z.to_i,x.to_i+1,y.to_i+1)
    return "#{nw[:lng]},#{se[:lat]},#{se[:lng]},#{nw[:lat]}"
  end

  def self.coordinateLocation(z,x,y)
    k = 45 / 2 ** (z - 3.001)
    return {:lng=> (k * x - 180).to_i,:lat=> y2lat(180 - k * y)}
  end

  def self.y2lat(y)
    return (360 / Math::PI * Math.atan(Math.exp(y * Math::PI / 180)) -90).round(2)
  end

  def self.features(options={})
    features = []; i =1;
    options[:detail]=0.01 if options[:detail].nil?
    model = options[:type].capitalize.constantize
    if !options[:detail].nil?
      geos = model.select("name10, geoid10, ST_AsGeoJson(ST_SimplifyPreserveTopology(geom,#{options[:detail]})) AS geojson");
    else
      geos = model.select("name10, geoid10, ST_AsGeoJson(geom) As geojson, geom, ST_Area(geom) AS area, ST_IsValid(geom) AS isvalid");
    end
    if(options[:bbox])
      b = options[:bbox].split(",")
      ids = model.select("geoid10").where("ST_Contains(ST_AsText(ST_Envelope('LINESTRING(#{b[0]} #{b[1]},#{b[2]} #{b[3]})'::geometry)), ST_AsText(latlng))").map{|id| id['geoid10']}
      if options[:grid]
        geobox = model.select("ST_AsGeoJson(ST_Envelope('LINESTRING(#{b[0]} #{b[1]},#{b[2]} #{b[3]})'::geometry)) AS geojson").first
        features <<  {:type => "Feature", :geometry=> JSON.parse(geobox['geojson']), :properties => {:id=> "1", :name => "Box", :class=> 'box'}}
      end
      if ids.empty?
        geos = []
      else
        geos = geos.where(:geoid10 => ids)
      end
    end
    if(options[:id])
       geos = geos.where(:geoid10=>options[:id].split(","))
    end
    for g in geos
      if g['isvalid'] != "t" && options[:fix_geom]
        new_g = g.fix_geometry
        msg = "Geometry invalid. Rebuilding. Original = #{g['isvalid'] == "t"}, Rebuilt Geometry = #{new_g['isvalid'] == "t"}, Old area (#{g['area']}) == New area (#{new_g['area']})"
        features <<  {:type => "Feature", :geometry=> JSON.parse(new_g['geojson']), :properties => {:id=> g.geoid10, :name => g.name10 }}
      else
        features <<  {:type => "Feature", :geometry=> JSON.parse(g['geojson']), :properties => {:id=> g.geoid10, :name => g.name10 }}
      end
      i=i+1
    end
    return features
  end

  def fix_geometry
    return self if self['isvalid'] == "t"
    rebuilt_g = MODEL_NAME.rebuild(self.polygons)
    return rebuilt_g if rebuilt_g['isvalid'] == "t"
    buffer_g = self.buffer
    return buffer_g if buffer_g['isvalid'] == "t"
    puts "ERROR GEOMETRY NOT FIXED"
    return false
  end

  def buffer
    return self.class.name.constantize.select("geoid10, ST_Buffer(geom,.000001) AS geo, ST_AsGeoJson(ST_Buffer(geom,.000001)) AS geojson, ST_IsValid(ST_Buffer(geom,.000001)) AS isvalid, ST_Area(ST_Buffer(geom,.000001)) AS area").where(:geoid10 => self.geoid10).first
  end

  def polygons
     return self.class.name.constantize.select("ST_AsText((ST_DumpRings(((ST_Dump(geom)).geom))).geom) AS g").where(:geoid10 => self.geoid10).map{|p| p['g'] }
  end

  def self.sort(polygons)
    return polygons.map{|p|
      pp = ActiveRecord::Base.connection.execute("SELECT ST_Area('#{p}'), ST_AsText('#{p}') AS geo").first
      [pp['st_area'].to_f, pp['geo'] ]}.sort {|a, b| a[0] <=> b[0]}.reverse.map{|p| p[1]
    }
  end

  def self.rebuild(polygons)
    polygons = MODEL_NAME.sort(polygons)
    polygons.reverse.each do |p1|
      polygons.each do |p2|
         if p1 != p2 && ActiveRecord::Base.connection.execute("SELECT ST_Contains('#{p1}', '#{p2}') AS contains").first['contains'] == "t"
          temp = ActiveRecord::Base.connection.execute("SELECT ST_AsText(ST_Difference('#{p1}', '#{p2}')) AS union")
          polygons.delete(p1); polygons.delete(p2)
          polygons << temp.first['union']
        end
      end
    end
    polygons = MODEL_NAME.merge(polygons)
    return polygons
  end

  def self.merge(polygons)
    if polygons.count == 1
      return polygons[0]
    else
      array = polygons.map { |p| "ST_GeomFromText('#{p}')" }
      geo = ActiveRecord::Base.connection.execute("SELECT ST_Collect(ARRAY[#{array.join(',')}]) AS geo").first['geo']
      sql = "SELECT '#{geo}' AS geo, ST_AsGeoJson('#{geo}') AS geojson, ST_Area('#{geo}') AS area, ST_IsValid('#{geo}') AS isvalid;"
      return ActiveRecord::Base.connection.execute(sql).first
    end
  end

  def self.available_shapes
    return @available_shapes if @available_shapes
    @available_shapes = CENSUS_SHAPES
    available_types = MODEL_NAME.unscoped.select("DISTINCT(type)").map{|k,v| k['type'].upcase}
    @available_shapes.each do |k,v|
      @available_shapes.delete(k) if !available_types.include?(k)
    end
    return @available_shapes
  end
end

class State < MODEL_NAME; end
class County < MODEL_NAME; end
class Cousub < MODEL_NAME; end
class Submcd < MODEL_NAME; end
class Block < MODEL_NAME; end
class Tract < MODEL_NAME; end
class BG < MODEL_NAME; end
class Place < MODEL_NAME; end
class Anrc < MODEL_NAME; end
class Aiannh < MODEL_NAME; end
class Aits < MODEL_NAME; end
class Cbsa < MODEL_NAME; end
class Metdiv < MODEL_NAME; end
class Csa < MODEL_NAME; end
class Cd < MODEL_NAME; end
class Sldu < MODEL_NAME; end
class Sldl < MODEL_NAME; end
class Vtd < MODEL_NAME; end
class Zcta5 < MODEL_NAME; end
class Elsd < MODEL_NAME; end
class Scsd < MODEL_NAME; end
class Unsd < MODEL_NAME; end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


—Mmm, said the darling husband biting into the lovingly prepared snack, —this is what I call luxurious living.
—Does it taste good? asked the darling wife, anxious to do everything she could for her darling hubby.
—Just right, exquisitely perfect, said her darling husband, wanting more than anything to please his darling wife and keep her happy.
She smiled for she knew what her hubby didn't know. His hot buttered toast wasn't buttered at all. It was spread with new Golden Gunk, the wonder spread from Chemical Foods. She'd seen it advertised on TV, so it must be good, and as it was on offer, she thought she'd try some.
—Isn't it the best buttered toast you've ever tasted? she asked.
—I think it probably is, he replied.
Her smile fell as her husband turned sallow and beige.
—I can only eat butter, he gurgled. —I'm allergic to any spread except butter and, as his eyes melted into vegetable oil and trickled down his cheeks, his teeth turned to dough and his fingers crumbled, he snarled, —But you knew that didn't you.
—Well, soon after we married you said, put only butter on my toast, but I didn't realise it was such an important issue.
—My family had a curse put on it by an ancient margarine manufacturer who was taken to court by my great grandfather for stating the colouring was saffron when, in fact, as my ancestor discovered, it was curcumin. Ever since that time any member of my family who ingests margarine turns into a digestive biscuit and crumbles into crumbs.
—Oh dear, said his wife, —I didn't realise it would be like that, and, as she saw her darling husband, crumble into crumbs on the carpet, she realised that, as she had opened the tub, she couldn't return it for a refund.
Mariela Josefina Acosta Cozar de Coronado lives in London. She has been writing for four years. Her story The Smuggler was published by Atlas and Alice. This is her second publication.
The last line is awesome.


There are some books that when you're reading it something magical happens and when you smile, every part of your body has got a buzzes with happiness. When there's a sad part, you become low for the rest of the day. This is that book. This is that book that creates a world for you above your head. This is that book that leaves you completely satisfied and amazed. This is one of the best book I've ever read (i repeat this line many times in this review).
In the first book Stargirl Caraway enchanted me. In this book, well she continued to do the same. I fell in love with every part of her as i read on.
I was fascinated by Stargirl in the prequel, and this book made me further fascinated. She is truly beautiful. She has the hugest heart. She has a place for everybody in her heart.Nobody is insignificant. She sees something in everybody. Also she isn't proud or arrogant or stuck up. She treats everybody as equal. She believes they are like her. She sees people not only at the surface, but deeper and sometimes better than one sees them-self.
This book is from Stargirl's POV. And while in the prequel we were all wonders at who this creature might be,in this book we meet her a a fellow human, a teenager even. Definitely a more special kind and better person than the better lot of us, but a real human who has bad days, who mopes for her ex and deals with real life. It makes us connect with her so much more.
Apart from being all about Stargirl, this book has many other wonderful characters who seem so real. This book is every one's story. From the man who lives in the past to the woman who is afraid of living and everyone in between.
Dootsie is my one of my favorite character. She is just so cute. I love how that huge head of her sees everything in a completely new light and how she is so vibrant and colorful and adorable. It is impossible not smile in every part of the book she is in.
Till now you probably have figured that i am incapable to write a proper review for this book. Mostly its because I'm so smitten with it that i can't move ahead of the fact that this book is beyond amazing!
After i read this book i had the Stargirl girl spell on me, when i just looked out ad smiled so stupidly but i was also so darn devastated that this book was over and i felt so sad and my heart felt like it was going to burst.The ending of this book is magical and beautiful and that feeling is just blows you away.
This beautiful story is about the life of Stargirl after she moves and leaves Leo. Stargirl is heart broken and does her fair share of moping and fights her demons.She meets new and amazing people and goes around spreading the Stargirl magic around her. She discovers the place she now lives in and finds enchanted places. She goes back to being home schooled by her mom. She takes up new projects and completely fascinates us by her uniqueness. With some of the best and amazingly thoughtful quotes this book is one of a kind.
Its taken the place of my current favorite book.
Truthfully, this book touched me deeply. There is so much truth and realness in this book and its written amazingly. There are parts in this book that will make you smile through tears. In this big bad world, there are people like Stargirl that make it worth living, restores our faith in humanity. Its the small things. Its when somebody in the world notices you, Stargirl does that. Not without hardship. Stargirl has her own life and heart break too, but she has time for the world too.
This world desperately needs Stargirl.
This being said, this is one of the best books i've every read and i'm going to recommend it to every person out there. If this book fails to touch you and enrapture you with its wonderfulness, there is something seriously wrong with you. You should also know that if you read this book, and don't like it, I don't like you.
Normally for such an amazing book, I'd rant on and on that you have to read it. But this book is different and special and if my review touched you at all, then you shall read it and love it.
"She laughed when there was no joke. She danced when there was no music.
She had no friends, yet she was the friendliest person in school.
P.S. I love you Jerry Spinelli for writing such a story.
Read this after you've read the book. Sad but true.
Summary: To save her mother's life, Clary must travel to the City of Glass, the ancestral home of the Shadowhunters - never mind that entering the city without permission is against the Law, and breaking the Law could mean death. To make things worse, she learns that Jace does not want her there, and Simon has been thrown in prison by the Shadowhunters, who are deeply suspicious of a vampire who can withstand sunlight.
Clary needs to revive her mother from whatever spell she's under and to do so she needs to find the Warlock-Ragnor Fell. The Warlock resides in Alicante (The City of Glass) and Clary decides to go there with the Lightwood family and Jace through a portal, and that's where things go terribly wrong.
Instead of Clary, Simon ends up in Alicante and Simon being a Downworlder and all. Yeah, he was not so welcome.
Jace and Clary find out more about their past, some good and some bad secrets bob up to the surface.
Valentine has declared war over Alicante. He with his Demon army plans to control all of the Shadowhunters and obviously destroy all Downworlders. Shadowhunters don't stand a chance against Valentines army but maybe if they join hands with the Downworlders, they might just win. But will they?
Valentine is so ruthless and wicked in this book, that I have fallen in love with his iniquitous ways (Call me psych, but it's true) He just seems like a royal arse who just flaunts his evilness. I love it.
Valentines true aim from the first book has been to acquire the three mortal instruments. After having already gotten The Mortal Cup and The Mortal Sword, all he needs now is The Mortal Mirror.
I have mixed feelings about this book. Sure it had some great moments but way too many cheesy lines for me to digest. Many so-called-suspense had obvious outcomes and I didn't like the way the characters reacted to some of the situations. For example, Isabelle just goes through a huge emotional instability after attending a funeral and what makes her feel better? Intimacy. I had felt absolutely disgusted at this point.
This is a book about a girl named Stargirl.
If i had to choose one word to describe Stargirl it would be magical.
She is fascinating, different, unique, mesmerizing and beautiful.
She waltz in like a breeze of fresh air and leaves them speechless.
She has a totally different way of looking at the world around her. She is completely fascinating.
She completely captured my heart as she did Leo.
There is a boy, Leo. From the first day Stargirl comes he is too mesmerized like all of the others. He has never seen anyone as her, no one so vibrant and fascinating.
Every next thing she does makes him more and more hooked to her.
Every day he waits for her and wonders what she will do that day. Like everyone else he is intrigued.
Further more, the things she does not only stuns him but also creates questions in his mind and enraptures him. He wonders and is puzzled. He is also terrified of her. He wonders what is she. He tries to identify or give her some sort of word, but with Stargirl that never works out.
In fact I'm going to be reading it again and note down all the amazing lines even though there might be quite a lot.
Its such a shame there are hardly any Stargirl's left in this world. This world needs Stargirl.
I applaud Jerry Spinelli. He has written this book artfully. And this type of book takes courage to write.
I feel like i shouldn't give u a summary of this book. I feel that every person should experience it without any pre thoughts or something. Also every stage fascinates you and if i tell u what fun will it be? Discovering Stargirl and her antics are so much fun and adds such a lightness and wonder to this book. I felt every part of this book was good. It was quite real. And as for leo, though i felt he was useless i don't quite blame him. We might think we would have choosen otherwise but it makes us wonder what is really important. Would we be brave enough to choose Stargirl?
This is not a love story or anything dramatically teenager. Its about being yourself.
Stargirl is plain magic, the way she enraptures the people and stuns them, not caring even a little what they think.
Finding out Stargirl through Leo's eyes was brilliant. The way this story progresses is brilliant. This is a unique book.i think everyone should read it.
No one is as brave as Stargirl. It takes real courage to be her.
I don't believe anyone cant like this book. This is not like other books, its a different and special book.
As for the ending, i have to say this is one of the best books worth that sort of an ending. It might not be amazing but its wonderful in its own sense.
Stargirl might be gone, but she is forever.
Now toodles cause i gotta go read the sequel.


Roy Wilkins, (born Aug. 30, 1901, St. Louis, Mo., U.S.—died Sept. 8, 1981, New York, N.Y.), black American civil-rights leader who served as the executive director (1955–77) of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He was often referred to as the senior statesman of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement.
After graduation from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (1923), Wilkins became a reporter and later managing editor of the Kansas City Call, a newspaper serving the black community. Joining the staff of the NAACP in 1931, he edited its official publication, The Crisis, between 1934 and 1949 and simultaneously directed the NAACP antidiscrimination program across the United States. In 1949–50 he was chairman of the National Emergency Civil Rights Mobilization, an organization composed of more than 100 local and national groups.
Appointed to the NAACP's highest administrative post during the early stage of the Civil Rights Movement, Wilkins directed the organization on a course that sought equal rights for blacks through legal redress. In August 1963 he helped organize and later addressed the historic civil rights March on Washington. Devoted to the principle of nonviolence, he rejected racism in all its forms, including black separatism. Nevertheless, the pressure of black activist groups prompted the NAACP, under his leadership, to diversify its activities to include nonviolent direct action and to extend legal aid to other, frequently more militant, groups.
In 1968 Wilkins served as chairman of the U.S. delegation to the International Conference on Human Rights. He was made director emeritus of the NAACP in 1977.


John's most recent credits include a guest spot on the Starz! Network's hit show, "Survivor's Remorse" as well as playing a corrupt detective in the soon-to-be-released film "The Lost One." He is perhaps best known for his recurring role as Stanley Deeks on ABC's "The Practice". He was nominated for the Best Actor Award at the Midwest Film Festival in Chicago for his role as Al in the film, "Train Town." He played The Narrator in the film, "The Raftman's Razor", which won awards for Best Film at the South X Southwest Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, Seattle International Film Festival, and others. The film was also inducted into the permanent film collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He has performed in over 50 national television commercials.


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The original recipe for Oysters Rockefeller, created at the New Orleans restaurant Antoine's in 1899 remains a secret to this day. The appetizer, oysters topped with a mixture of finely chopped greens and copious amounts of butter and then baked in their shells, was considered so rich it had to be named after the richest man of the day: John D. Rockefeller.
While the original recipe will forever remain a mystery, Celia Metz perfected her own version of the dish. The Metz families own secret recipe for this classic dish makes it our top selling and favorite appetizer!


This paper presents an acquisition system and a procedure to capture 3D scenes in different spectral bands. The acquisition system is formed by a monochrome camera, and a Liquid Crystal Tunable Filter (LCTF) that allows to acquire images at different spectral bands in the [480, 680]nm wavelength interval. The Synthetic Aperture Integral Imaging acquisition technique is used to obtain the elemental images for each wavelength. These elemental images are used to computationally obtain the reconstruction planes of the 3D scene at different depth planes. The 3D profile of the acquired scene is also obtained using a minimization of the variance of the contribution of the elemental images at each image pixel. Experimental results show the viability to recover the 3D multispectral information of the scene. Integration of 3D and multispectral information could have important benefits in different areas, including skin cancer detection, remote sensing and pattern recognition, among others.
J.-Y. Son, W.-H. Son, S.-K. Kim, K.-H. Lee, and B. Javidi, "Three-dimensional imaging for creating real-world-like environments," Proc. IEEE, doc. ID 6145598, to be published (2012).
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G. P. Asner and R. E. Martin, "Airborne spectranomics: mapping canopy chemical and taxonomic diversity in tropical forests," Front. Ecol. Environ. 7, 269–276 (2009).
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I. Kuzmina, I. Diebele, D. Jakovels, J. Spigulis, L. Valeine, J. Kapostinsh, and A. Berzina, "Towards noncontact skin melanoma selection by multispectral imaging analysis," J. Biom. Opt. 16, 0605021 (2011).
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M. Cho and B. Javidi, "Three-dimensional visualization of objects in turbid water using integral imaging," J. Disp. Technol. 6, 544–547 (2010).
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A. Wallace, C. Nichol, and I. Woodhouse, "Recovery of forest canopy parameters by inversion of multispectral LiDAR data," Remote Sens. 4, 509–531 (2012).
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Fig. 1 Integral Imaging data acquisition system setup.
Fig. 3 Image acquisition using the Integral Imaging technique.
Fig. 4 Elemental images corresponding to positions: (2, 1), (2, 6), (2, 11), (6, 1), (6, 6), (6, 11), (9, 1), (9, 6), and (9, 11), for λ = 650nm.
Fig. 5 False colour RGB reconstructed images at planes corresponding to z = 230, z = 249 and z = 267mm. The colour images were created using the spectral assumption: 480nm ← B, 550nm ← G and 650nm ← R.
Fig. 6 (a) 3D profile of the 3 dice scene for λ = 650nm. (b) Elemental image corresponding to position (6, 5).


text:
World's first ever sex shop chain goes bankrupt
Beate Rotermund-Uhse, founder of Europe's largest sex merchandise firm, poses with two models. REUTERS/Kai Pfafenbach
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on December 16, 2017, on page 11.
Beate Uhse
Beate Uhse Rotermund
Hans Dieter Thomsen
Michael Specht
Institute of Marital Hygiene
Beate Uhse ag
Germany's pioneering sex shop chain Beate Uhse said Friday that it has filed for insolvency, as the empire started by a female World War II pilot fails to rise to the challenge posed by erotic e-commerce.
The group, which sold lingerie, erotic films and sex products, was no longer able to service its debt – 30 million euros of which were due for repayment in 2019 .
Named Institute of Marital Hygiene, the store selling lingerie and contraceptives became the world's first sex shop.
After Germany relaxed its anti-pornography laws in the '70s, Uhse's business flourished.
The group also attempted to expand its market by distributing a line of halal sex products in 2014 .


text:
Home›Newsroom›Fifth anniversary of the biggest civil protest in Macedonian history (May 17, 2015)
Fifth anniversary of the biggest civil protest in Macedonian history (May 17, 2015)
by Maja Ivanovska
Exactly five years ago, the biggest civil protest against Nikola Gruevski's regime was held on May 17, 2015. According to estimations of foreign media, between 70 to 100 thousand citizens took to the streets to protest. With the slogan "#We are coming!", the citizens announced a fierce fight for freedom and democracy, and the only way to free the state from the regime was for it to fall.
CIVIL as a human rights organization was part of the initiative "The Citizens for Macedonia". On the stage in front of the huge number of citizens spoke human rights activists, among which also the President of CIVIL, Xhabir Deralla, long-term CIVIL member Petrit Saracini, CIVIL Media columnist Mirjana Najcevska. Many flags and banners could be seen at the protest, but not a single sign of political parties.
"Today we have come after our freedom! The path is clear: resignation, fair trial, confiscation and prison", ", said Deralla from the platform in front of the protestors.
After the protest, several thousands of protestors remained in front of the government building and started the Camp of Freedom, which functioned for sixty days, but the fight against Gruevski's regime continued on.
And today, five years later, CIVIL further remains at the forefront and is uncompromisingly fighting for a free and democratic society. In the meanwhile, the government has changed, but justice has still not reached those most responsible for the decades of crimes. Gruevski received asylum in Budapest, and even the right to vote, while some of the criminals are again in power using the technical government, but also postponing the decision on a date for the elections.
VMRO-DPMNE although formally has a new president, Gruevski's influence is crucial and can be felt from a distance. We remain dedicated to our fight to the end!
CIVIL Communication team
This post is also available in: Macedonian
One year from CIVIL's demand for cancellation ...
CIVIL strongly condemns the hate speech by ...
Newsroom, Uncategorized
Disinformation in the focus of CIVIL
Newsroom, SOCIETY
Civic Lenses closer to the citizens
One more successful seminar in Veles
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A 27-year-old man died on Sunday after he fell off a two-storey building while flying a kite in Hyderabad's Warasiguda area, the police said.
The incident occurred this afternoon when the man, a scrap dealer by profession, lost his balance and fell on the compound wall of the building.
He was rushed to a nearby hospital with head injuries, they said, adding that he died in the evening during treatment.


LACWAP was formed to provide a forum for the sharing of ideas and experience between Louisiana Public School personnel who are responsible to the public to insure that children attending public schools meet the legal attendance requirements, and that students are provided a safe, non-threatening learning environment.
Louisiana Department of Education has released a Bullying Tool Kit that addresses components of Act 861. Below is access to the lastest guidance on bullying.


Have you ever wondered how the world might look like in absence of all of the hair salons in the world? Yeah, we get it, it is quite horrible correct? That is the great need of hair salons on earth that we are in. Though do not give which big considered to a beauty and hair salon and just visit them wanting a hairstyle, they have a essential role to play in the culture.
In number of works that we do there is a clear alteration in professionals dealing with them along with a mediocre managing them. Locks designing is but one such activity. Just with a review of the hair style people know who have worked on your hair. So it will be necessary to search for a professional hair designing hair salon to get your head of hair done. baton rouge hair salon in the locality are quite famous for their professionalism and their artistic hair dressers.
How ugly might the world appear?
Just imagine the planet without beauty salons. How unappealing the world can be? The world will be full of people carrying their particular over developed beards and locks on their arms and neck. Even if they find a way to get themselves clipped there will not be that perfection in their head of hair design that certain would achieve with a home hands of your professional hair dresser. They planet would be a unsightly place to end up being, such is the importance of any hair salon.
When you wish to change your hairstyle or if you desire to color nice hair to get in to some new look it's important to go to a professional salon containing trained and licensed hair desks to give you a glance that you desire. It is only impossible to get this done by ourselves.


Perth Airport is situated east of Perth city. Terminals 1 and 2 are located on Horrie Miller Drive, accessed via Tonkin Highway approximately 35 minutes from the CBD. Terminals 3 and 4 are located on Brearley Avenue, accessed via Great Eastern Highway approximately 25 minutes from the CBD. A free transfer bus service operates between the terminals and between the airport car parks, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Shuttle buses, public transport buses, hire cars and taxis operate to and from the Perth city centre.
Transperth bus route 37 operates daily between Kings Park and the airport's T3 and T4, via the Esplanade Bus Port, Victoria Park Transfer Station and Belmont Forum shopping centre. The journey takes approximately 55 minutes. Transperth Bus 40 operates daily between the Esplanade Bus Port and T3 and T4, via the Victoria Park Transfer Station and Great Eastern Highway. The journey takes approximately 40 minutes. Transperth does not operate bus services to Perth Airport's current International Terminal 1 (T1) or Domestic Terminal 2 (T2).
Taxis are available at the international and domestic airports. Transfer time from the international airport to the city is 30 minutes and 20 minutes from the domestic airport. The fare is around $35-$40 and $25-$30 respectively. Silver service taxis, people movers and chauffeur-driven limousine services are also available for airport transfers.
A special taxi services for passengers with disabilities can be booked on 9422 2240. This service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is recommended that you book 24 hours in advance for this service.
Fremantle Ports' Passenger Terminal is located on the Victoria Quay waterfront (see map page 52). The heritage-listed terminal building was constructed to cater for the large number of passenger ships bringing migrants to Australia. The passenger terminal is easily reached from the Fremantle railway station; it is about a 250 metre walk. Long-term parking is not available outside the passenger terminal, but you may park in one of the carparks in the City of Fremantle.
Phone 9432 9860 for more information.
The Indian-Pacific, Australia's famous transcontinental rail journey, arrives and departs regularly from the Rail Terminal in East Perth. Transwa operates regional rail and coach services to approximately 275 destinations in WA arriving and departing from either the East Perth Terminal or the Perth Railway Station.
Bayswater Car Rental are confident they can save you money on your car hire with rates that are consistently cheaper than the airport car rental companies' rates. No hidden fees or charges, visit their website to get details of current rates and specials.
Jetta Express can send your excess baggage overseas cheaply and more conveniently. Luggage can be sent prior to or after departure. Jetta are Australia's leading national excess baggage service with many experience. They will pick up from your door and deliver to your destination airport. All baggage is totally secure; payment by cash, credit card or EFTPOS.


8685 Koolish Rd, Minocqua, WI 54548 - KOOLISH ROAD HOME - Completely remodeled and meticulously maintained two bedroom Minocqua Ranch home. The open kitchen/dining area features hardwood and laminate flooring along with oak cabinets and trim. The country flavor flows throughout the living area with hardwood floors, oak wainscoting and warm painted walls. The master bedroom is open and airy with a walk in closet that will please anyone. There is plenty of storage along with a 1 car garage. This home sits on a pretty lot in a convenient location being close to town, yet allowing decent privacy.


The DAC market is clearly exploding. Seems like every week or so we hear of a new model being launched. Many of them look quite nice, with good specs and plenty of features. Some of them come from established brands like Benchmark, NuForce, Parasound, and PS Audio. Others come from relatively new, smaller (but growing!) companies like Matrix, Schiit, Yulong, and Resonessence Labs. Lots and lots of good choices can be had these days, and it's a great time to be in the market for new gear.
These new DACs tend to fall into certain categories. There's a big demand for "budget" gear, with numerous brands vying for your money in the $250-400 range, give or take a few hundred. There's even the little Schiit Modi for $99. On the other end of the spectrum, lots of new high-end models have launched within the past year, from the Auralic Vega to the Metrum Hex to the MSB Analog to Calyx Femto... I could go on and on. These multi-thousand-dollar units tend to be well received (for the most part). My attitude is that they had better be, considering the price.
Lately, my favorite market segment is the "mid-priced" range, which I define as being above five or six hundred dollars but below $2,000. In fact I might say $1,500 is a better cutoff point though it's hard to choose a specific number. Either way, I've been very pleased with this category. Performance here comes very close to the true high-end DACs for a fraction of their prices, and features are often very comprehensive in this range. I've recently reviewed the NuForce DAC-100 and the Matrix X-Sabre and really enjoyed both of them. Older models, still very good and worth attention, come from Anedio, Yulong, and Violectric among others. And I've not even scratched the surface of this category - I have yet to hear the Mytek Stereo192 DSD, Teac UD-501, Schiit Gugnir, or any number of other candidates. But here I am bringing up another one.
The subject of this review is the Firestone Audio Tobby which, at $1100, fits squarely into that "mid-priced" category. You may recall Firestone from their line of compact devices such as the Fubar and Spitfire. In the past they seemed to focus on small headphone amps and DACs, though they did have a few other things such as the Big Joe integrated amp, Mass preamp, Supplier PSU, and Bravo reclocker. All of these little units fit squarely in the budget category, and many of them were well respected around here. Recently Firestone seems to be moving upscale - this Tobby DAC, along with the matching Bobby balanced headphone amp ($799), are a whole different class of equipment.
As viewed from the front panel, the Tobby is very obviously a DAC. It's got no headphone jack or volume knob - this is a pure DAC with no added functionality. The unit measures roughly 9 inches wide, 8 inches deep, and 2.5 inches tall, and weighs approximately 5 pounds give or take. Build quality is on the high side and brings to mind the Yulong Audio D100, with the brushed aluminum enclosure in black and a thick silver faceplate. It's not quite as substantial as the solid CNC machined Matrix X-Sabre, but it's definitely on par with others in this price class.
The front panel is dominated by small buttons and LED lights. On the right side is a bank of four buttons - Source, Resample, Bit, and Pass. Source obviously toggles from one input to the next. Resample is interesting as it engages the upsampling feature but doesn't require integer multiples like nearly all other DACs do. I'll discuss that more later. Bit engages word length padding to 24-bits. Pass is short for passthrough which is just like it sounds, allowing the signal to pass through at its native rate. The left side of the panel has LED indicators keeping track of what the machine is doing. It's all pretty self explanatory. The left side LEDs help you keep track of which options are being used, in a rather bright fashion.
Around back we find a good amount of connectivity: USB, coaxial, Toslink, and AES/EBU inputs all support up to 24-bit/192kHz signals. Outputs come in RCA as well as XLR for balanced operation. There is a standard IEC cable receptacle and the unit is marked for 115V operation though it looks as if that can easily be switched inside the case.
But all this explaining is boring for you to read, and frankly, it's not very fun to write either. So let's go on a journey with pictures to examine the rest of the design.
Internally there's a decent amount going on here. The USB section uses the XMOS chipset in what appears to be a proprietary implementation - it looks very different from the Stello U3 or Matrix X-Sabre or several other XMOS-based designs I have here. But it does still use the SMSC USB3343 USB transceiver which is called for in the XMOS reference board. SPDIF inputs are handled by the AKM4113 and all inputs pass through an SRC4193 asynchronous sample rate converter. Firestone must have preferred using the AKM digital receiver paired with the stand-alone ASRC chip rather than using the SRC4392 which is a combined ASRC and DIR package.
Also on board is a TI PLL1707 which uses a 27MHz reference clock and generates up to four independent system clocks as needed by the system. This is fairly different - I've never seen it used before in any of my audio gear. The datasheet indicates a 50ps RMS jitter figure which is slightly lower than that of the AKM DIR (70ps), but nowhere near as low as the better oscillators from Crystek and others. Those tend to be rated in the single digits or fractions of a digit. How does this affect the overall jitter spec of the system? I don't know, as Firestone doesn't release that info. To make matters even more confusing there's also a Xilinx FPGA which is probably used for further jitter reduction among other things.
The Tobby is a fully balanced, dual-mono design. That means aside from the input stage, it essentially has two of everything: dual PCM1794 DACs, mirrored sets of capacitors, separate stages for I/V conversion and LPF each using a trio of socketed OPA2604 opamps, a relay on each XLR jack, etc. Both channels share a single largish toroidal transformer but have separate regulation stages from there on out. Conversion from balanced to single ended is done at the very last stage, handled by another OPA2604 and a separate relay.
Can you spot the parallel dual-mono signal path?
One last interesting bit - the power supply has an AC to DC converter which puts out a 5Vdc signal. I'm not quite sure about the implications. Firestone tells me it is used to power the various microcontroller chips on board, and allows for extremely low power consumption in standby mode. I thought it might also be used to power the USB section but Firestone seemed to indicate that was not the case. Yet due to the slight language barrier when it comes to technical discussions, I can't be sure either way.
On DSD - I asked Firestone about DSD playback and they advised it was something they are looking in to. I'm not sure if that means this unit could be updated down the line to accept DSD signals, or if they would need to release an updated model. From what I can tell, the Tobby is theoretically capable of handling DSD. All the pieces are in place - the XMOS USB input can definitely handle it, and the PCM1794 DAC chips may or may not be capable as well - the PCM1794 is simply the hardware controlled version of the PCM1792, but the spec sheet doesn't list DSD while the PCM1792 does. Interesting. The real limiting factor could be the ASRC reclocking stage which definitely isn't equipped to handle DSD streams, but it may be possible to configure a true "pass through" for DSD signals. In any case, this is all speculation at the moment. I wouldn't buy the Tobby expecting DSD to come in the near future. But it would be a nice bonus if it did show up.
I let the Tobby burn in for well over 100 hours prior to doing any serious listening.
The Tobby immediately stuck me as a neutral yet slightly analytical DAC. And I mean that in the nicest possible way. Clarity was excellent, leading edges were very defined, and the whole presentation seemed nicely detailed and transparent. After months of listening and rigorous A/B comparisons with other high quality DACs, that general description still applies.
First off - let's be perfectly clear: this is not a bright DAC. It's not thin either. Sure, compared to some warmer and more lush sounding designs, the Tobby might come off as being a bit light in the deeper bass regions, or as having a detail oriented sound as opposed to a more flowing and breezy presentation. But I wouldn't characterize the Tobby as being objectively bright by itself. It's largely neutral overall with just a slight focus on speed and accuracy.
To help clarify, I'll throw out some words that do apply to the Tobby - Airy. Effortless. Fast. Clean. Spacious. Tonally Accurate (OK that's two words, sorry!). Some words that don't apply to the Tobby - Brittle. Shrill. Harsh. Cold. Again, I can't stress enough how this is a mild flavor rather than a huge coloration. Consider it a bit of character in an otherwise neutral DAC. And while this flavor may be the deciding factor for some people choosing (or not choosing) the Tobby over a competing model, it isn't an overwhelming characteristic.
It's probably best to get into some musical examples and direct comparisons. I really love guitars through this DAC - from John Fahey to Sungha Jung, I'd say the Tobby is perfect for this type of music. The transients are strikingly clear, and it really feels like it couldn't get much better - assuming of course that the rest of the chain is up to the task. When I use my Icon Audio HP8 single ended triode amp and the Sennheiser HD800, it seemingly goes beyond a "clear window" situation and is more like "they are in the same room as me". Pretty nice for an $1100 unit - that's certainly not cheap, but in the grand scheme of things it isn't super expensive either.
I also really dig the Tobby with classical music. The soundstage is expansive, the imaging tight and accurate, the micro-details plentiful. It's pretty much everything you could ask for in a DAC at this price. I played a wide variety of music from Aaron Copland to Zoe Keating and everyone in between - Hayden and Shostakovich, Holst and Wagner, it all sounded very immersive. Some potentially bright recordings like the XRCD release of Albaniz: Suite Espanola come across as being just shy of too bright at times. It wouldn't be a stretch to push it over the edge with the wrong amp and/or headphones. But in most cases it stayed well controlled and sounded very convincing.
Switching to other types of music, I found that I enjoy some rock and metal more than others. The Tobby excels with technical metal and that sort of thing. I'm not a fan of the ultra-specific labels for each sub-genre - sludge metal versus doom metal versus post-thrash groove metal - but I am a fan of metal in general, and the Tobby seems well suited for a good portion of it. Bands with a more technical sound and reasonably high recording quality (think Meshuggah for example) sound excellent with a Tobby-based system. Older Metallica and Slayer and Megadeath sounds great as well. The Tobby gives special insight into details like cymbal decay without over-analyzing, and still maintains a good sense of rhythm and drive. On the other hand, it's ruthless on some recordings. For example, I have a hard time with Mastodon's Leviathan, which is an album I love but find requires a more sympathetic pairing. Also some older metal such as King Diamond is a bit cold sounding and the Tobby certainly doesn't warm it up. That same experience translates to a lot of classic rock as well - it sounds very accurate and clean, but could maybe use a little more drive. Or maybe not, depending on your preferences.
While assembling a system, I probably wouldn't want to use more than two components off this list. So for example if I used the Yulong D100 DAC paired with the Gilmore GS-1 - both excellent products on their own - I'd rather round out the system with my LCD-2 or Thunderpants or HE-500 rather than anything off the above headphone list. Or when I play CDs with the Cambridge 740C and listen with the HD800 or T1, I prefer a warmer amp in the chain, be it tube or solid state. Hopefully you get the picture. The Firestone Tobby would fit in to the list above - not as the worst offender mind you, but I still don't love it with the Yulong A100 and the HD800 - there really can be too much of a good thing, and that combo just focuses too much on details rather than musical flow. But when I pair it with my slightly warm Violectric V200, or the Yulong Sabre A18, or the Icon Audio HP8, or the matching Firestone Bobby balanced amp, good things happen. Spoiler alert - the Bobby is a very nice sounding and neutral amp, review coming soon at InnerFidelity.
I listened on my speaker setup as outlined above. It's a nice system but my (untreated) room is clearly the biggest limitation. Still, I really liked what the Tobby did for it. Before inserting the Tobby into the chain, I had been using the analog outs of my JF Digitial HDM-03S music server. That device is no slouch - overbuilt power supply, dual Wolfson WM8741 DACs, adjustable digital filters, quality opamps in a well-designed output stage. But using it as a transport to feed the Tobby DAC brought a more lively, focused presentation, with no loss in dynamics. My Sjofn speakers have a really smooth top end but are still very capable of revealing fine details and the Tobby really brought them to life in that area. Midrange seemed to blossom too, and soundstage was equally large but became more precise. And with no real downsides to speak of.
In terms of inputs and outputs: based on the design, I was worried the RCA outputs would be very compromised in comparison to the balanced outs. The extra stage for single-ended conversion seems to have been well implemented, so it's not a major downgrade. While I do still find balanced mode brings out the most of this unit, the RCA connection is not far behind. There's a small penalty to be paid in terms of transparency, but the general sound signature doesn't change. I've heard units like this where single-ended mode takes a hit in low frequency extension and thus causes the unit to sound brighter overall. The Tobby would not do well if that were the case - thankfully it isn't. Ultimately I'd say users limited to RCA inputs on their amp should still find Tobby to be a compelling choice. If they later upgrade to a balanced amp, it will just be that much better.
For inputs, I felt like USB was generally superior to the other options. It didn't seem to care if I used a basic laptop, or my Auraliti PK90 with the high-end SOtM USB card, it always sounded the same to me. This shows the Tobby as being very non-source dependent - at least in terms of USB - which is a good thing for a lot of users. Less jumping through hoops to extract the best sound. I tried my Audiophilleo AP1 with PurePower on the coaxial input and was able to just match native USB performance, but not exceed it. Using a Cambridge 740C as transport netted a slight loss of dynamics and flattened out the soundstage for a less engaging performance. Apparently there's still a bit of source dependence when it comes to non-USB inputs. Toslink and AES/EBU sounded fine but I don't have a lot of devices to try those with so I can't comment further. Bottom line is that most users will connect over USB and Firestone rewards them with the best sound this DAC is capable of.
Lastly, we should talk about the resampling options. Most DACs automatically apply their upsampling, bringing the sample rate up to whatever frequency they feel is best in their particular design (it's usually somewhere between 90kHz and 192kHz, though not always). Occasionally we get the option of bypassing that upsampling. Rarer still, but sometimes available, is the option to choose upsampling - a 48kHz signal can stay native or else go to 96kHz or 192kHz. The Tobby goes a step further to become the most "configurable" DAC I've yet experienced. It allows basically any signal to be brought to nearly any sample rate or bit depth. Have a 16-bit/48kHz track and want to use the "traditional" rate of 24-bit/192kHz? You certainly can. But you can also keep it at 16-bit if you want, or use a non-integer sample rate like 88.2kHz. Want to downsample a 96kHz track to 48kHz or even 44.1kHz? No problem. The sonic differences between all of these are surprisingly small. Though my brain was telling me these wacky non-standard upsamples or downsamples should sound bad, my ears had a hard time telling them apart. Apparently the FPGA plus ASRC plus multiclock generator makes this less of an issue than I would have anticipated. Sometimes I thought I had figured out a pattern where certain sample rates sound this way or that way.... but then a counter example would present itself and I'd be back to square one. In the end I mostly used the "typical" options just so I could relax, stop focusing on any possible issues, and enjoy the music. Perhaps more time spent with the Tobby as my only DAC would help me get to the bottom of this phenomenon.
Keep in mind that I used the stock OPA2604 opamps for this evaluation. Firestone had the insight to make all seven opamps socketed which means they can be swapped out at your leisure. Due to the balanced design you would always want the left and right side to mirror one another, so at least six of the same opamps should probably be used. That last opamp, used for single ended output, could probably be different without causing any trouble. I very briefly auditioned the Tobby with a few other opamps - the usual suspects like AD797, LM4562, and LME49720, and it did hint at being susceptible to changes in the sound. I thought I heard some things I liked and some other areas that I didn't. But I didn't have time to explore this in depth - even if I had time, I mostly have just a few of each opamp rather than six. This again is one of those areas where a long term owner would be a better judge than even the most thorough reviewer. All I can do is point out how the OPA2604 is generally considered a quality opamp, and leaving the door open to further rolling is a wise move on the part of Firestone.
The Firestone Tobby, at $1100, is priced right in the middle of some very strong competition. Let's take a look at a few to see how it compares.
Yulong Sabre D18 ($699): The D18 is kind of similar to the Tobby in that it has a mild coloration to it. But they go in opposite directions, with the D18 being on the warm and smooth side while Tobby is slightly on the quick and detailed side. I feel like the Tobby extracts more fine detail, while the D18 better captures the flow of the music. Both are quite good and I could happily live with either - the difference comes down to system synergy. With a potentially edgy system, using a neutral or brighter amp with the beyer T1 or an Audio Technica W1000X or Etymotic ER4S, I might prefer the D18 to smooth things over a bit. But if I had an LCD-2 or HE-400 or Heir 8.A, all on the warmer side, I would rather have the Tobby in there digging out the maximum amount of detail.
Both of these DACs sound better from the balanced outputs than the RCA outs, but the difference is smaller with the Tobby. Interestingly, both DACs present a similarly large soundstage, despite their differences in character. The Yulong initially seems to have a major price advantage, but that gets reduced to some degree when you factor in a high quality USB to SPDIF solution (D18 has no USB input). Tobby already has USB covered - quite well in fact. Ultimately these are both very nice DACs that reach for very different sound signatures. The one that you like best will be determined by your system and your preferences.
Matrix X-Sabre ($1100): The X-Sabre is a beast of a DAC. It's got all the playback capabilities you could ever ask for with DSD and DXD support over USB. It's got extreme build quality that frankly puts most competitors to shame. And those cool blue front panel LEDs are so much more well done than the blazing lights on the Tobby. In terms of sound though, the Tobby again offers a fresh perspective that's different enough to be worthwhile. I end up liking the Tobby more when used in my speaker rig, and the X-Sabre more when used with most (but not all) of my headphone gear.
The X-Sabre has a beguiling midrange presentation that makes the Tobby seem a little lifeless in comparison. It's one of those A/B things where you don't hear any deficiency until you make the direct comparison. After the comparison, going back to normal listening, the deficiency disappears. Weird. As a counterpunch, the Tobby makes the X-Sabre seem a little slow and veiled in the upper registers, again only during direct comparisons. This is not a problem - and actually sometimes welcome - with lesser recordings, but with "audiophile" quality music it becomes a clear benefit for the Firestone unit. And again, after A/B comparisons, the X-Sabre doesn't sound veiled in the least. Funny how that works.
Both units share their USB superiority compared to other inputs. Clearly both companies recognize their core audience and the likelihood that USB will be the primary source for these DACs. While the Tobby sounds best via XLR output, the X-Sabre is equally adept through its RCA outs. So that's something to consider. Ultimately, and I realize this sounds like a cop out: these units will each appeal to a different user... my preferences lean more toward the X-Sabre type signature in general but I recognize that a large contingency of folks exist who would be happier with the Tobby instead.
NuForce DAC-100 ($1,095): The DAC-100 is very different animal. While the Tobby, like the X-Sabre, is a pure DAC, the NuForce is a DAC, preamp with remote, and headphone amp all rolled into one compact box. So in terms of functionality it has a big lead. The DAC-100 is limited to single-ended outputs though, which could be a disadvantage for some users.
The Tobby and the DAC-100 both have a lively top end that manages to not overdo it. But they go about their presentation in different ways. The Tobby is more elegant, sophisticated, "pretty" sounding for lack of a better word. It's got clean, tight bass that always maintains composure no matter how hard it hits. One gets the sense that Firestone engineers value a clean sound with a sense of restraint, and deliberately made sure their device would never give loose, sloppy bass. The DAC-100 is more muscular, with more drive and gusto. It's got a sense of excitement and dynamics, and it certainly doesn't hold back when it comes to low frequencies. The old school audiophile in me says this difference in bass presentation is predictable by glancing at the power supplies, and simply adding up the capacitance. But I've heard my little Violectric V800 equal or surpass the Audio GD Reference 7 in this area, the latter having a massively overbuild power supply, so I no longer think that approach is always the correct one. Regardless, once again the two units appeal to different users. In cheesy audiophile terms, the Tobby is more "effervescent", the DAC-100 more "bold". They compete well with one another and make it that much hard to choose a clear winner.
PS Audio NuWave ($999): To my ears, the Tobby is everything the NuWave tries to be, but fails. It's got a similar tonality overall but with less sharpness in the upper mids and highs, more believable top-end extension and air, and far more satisfying low frequency extension. I'm starting to think the NuWave I have on hand might be faulty.... but I've chatted with a few other users who hear it just the way I do. Some people on the forums really enjoy it but to me it seems less a case of sound signature preference and more a case of general capabilities. The Tobby just sounds better, cleaner, more accurate, more focused, without being annoying. If I was Firestone Audio I'd bring a NuWave to every show and meet I attended, and allow people to A/B them directly.
I could go on and on, but I don't think it's necessary. Hopefully you get the point by now - Firestone clearly had a specific sound in mind for this unit, and I think they've achieved what they set out to do. As a result they end up with a great sounding DAC that has enough broad appeal where most people should like it well enough, but enough of a specific character where some people will really love it.
Has Firestone Audio shown themselves worthy of selling gear in the ~$1k price range? Based on my observations of the Tobby DAC and Bobby amp, I'd say yes. Rather enthusiastically at that. The Tobby is well designed, smartly executed, and ultimately sounds great. It doesn't blow away fellow competitors in the price range but neither is it blown away, instead offering a worthwhile counterpoint to some of those smoother, warmer models which give less focus on detail. For me, the Tobby brings back memories of the Benchmark DAC 1 - the good memories, which at the time were always tempered by fatigue. The Tobby manages similar levels of detail but to my ears sounds less grating in the process.
This is a truly enjoyable DAC no matter how you slice it. Even in a worst case scenario, using the "inferior" SPDIF inputs and RCA outputs, it still manages to sound pretty good. When paired with the right music and the right equipment though, it approaches reference quality for a fraction of what that normally would cost. I've got an Esoteric D-07x sitting here right next to the Tobby and at $5,000 I'm struggling to find it superior in any category. Obviously it looks quite nice, and has more brand name appeal, but that's about the extent of it. I'd say this reflects somewhat poorly on Esoteric, but also rather favorably on Firestone Audio. If this type of signature gets you going, the Tobby DAC is absolutely worth a listen.
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1. NAME OR DESIGNATION OF PROGRAM: AIRGAMMA.
AIRGAMMA calculates quickly the external exposure to gamma rays from a radioactive cloud.
The external exposure is calculated by interpolating the normalized doses providing on the basis of the Gaussian plume model.
5. RESTRICTIONS ON THE COMPLEXITY OF THE PROBLEM: Memory requirement is 30 Kbytes.
About 1.6 seconds are required to calculate the sample case on FACOM-M380.
NEA-DB ran the test cases included in this package on an IBM 3083 computer. The following CPU times (in seconds) were required: 1.3 (case 1); 26.6 (case 2); 169.5 (case 3).
Doses due to Accidental Releases of Radioactive Materials.
Main storage: 700 Kbytes on FACOM-M380.
To run the test cases on IBM 3083, 656K bytes of main storage are required.
Keywords: gamma radiation, plumes, radioactive release.


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