Mount Archer is considered to be an under-utilised community asset that has enormous potential. To reach its potential a master plan for Mount Archer will be developed and implemented.
Stage 1: Create Draft Mount Archer Activation Master Plan. Timeframe: November 2014 - February 2015. Completed.
Stage 2 - Draft Mount Archer Activation Master Plan Community Consultation. Timeframe: March 2015-August 2015. Completed.
The consultation period for the Draft Mount Archer Master Plan has been completed and a report was prepared and delivered to the Council.
There is strong community support for the Draft Mount Archer Activation Master Plan.
The focus on initial projects/programs should be on walking tracks, Pilbeam walk, the environment and mountain bike trails.
The Eco Centre should focus on providing a destination and activities that reflect its environment.
Pilbeam walk and the car park proposed at the base of Pilbeam Drive were clearly favoured by Mount Archer and Frenchville residents.
Move the toilet identified for German Street Park well within the First Turkey Mountain Bike Reserve as a compost toilet for bike riders.
THAT the Mount Archer Activation Master Plan be endorsed by Council.
THAT an implementation plan for the Mount Archer Activation Master Plan be prepared for Council's consideration.


Pinup Beach 8x10 Print Framed & Signed - LIMITED ONLY 1!
Found a few prints signed and framed in my basement, this is for the PinUp beach one pictured. I will not be making more of these ever, from back in the day when I was a lot more amatuer.


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Other Watersheds 6
May 20, 2010 in Great Lakes, New York harbor, photos, ships | Tags: Bayshore Recycling, Brooklyn Navy Yard, GLT, Great Lakes, Great Lakes Towing, Grouper, J. W. Shelley, LaFarge, laker, laker Manistee, Massachusetts, Paul H. Townsend, Raritan River, St. Marys Challenger
Allen Baker has worked on four of the five Great Lakes in recent weeks and shares the next four fotos. Massachusetts has that low, upswept "laker look" that reminds me of Grouper, which I've not received updates on. Any guesses on location of the shot and launch date of Massachusetts?
For launch date, you were right if you said . . . 1928! She's 79′ x 20′ x 12′ and operates with Great Lakes Towing. And then there's Manistee, delivered in May 1943 to Reiss Steamship Company. Since then, her original triple expansion
steam power plant was replaced by a slightly-more powerful 2950 hp diesel engine and equipped with a 250′ self-unloader. By the way, Reiss once owned Grouper, also.
Like most lakers, Manistee is long and narrow (621′ x 60′ x 35′), with a bluff bow, maximizing cargo space, and a wheel house forward with a stern "island" over the power plant. The oldest laker operating on the "big lakes" is St. Marys Challenger, still hauling bulker cargo since its launch in February 1906!! It still uses a Skinner Uniflow 3500 hp steam engine.
I took the next two fotos in Muskegon, MI, in June 2008, where Paul H. Townsend has been idled since 2005. A fascinating detail about Townsend is its conversion: built in Wilmington, CA in 1945, it was lengthened from 339′ x 50′ to 447′ x 50′ in 1952 . . . in Hoboken, NJ. The wheelhouse was moved forward in a separate modification in 1958 on Lake Erie. If you click on the link above, you'll find before/after fotos.
When last sailing, she hauled gypsum or cement, now more frequently carried on barges pushed by the likes of Samuel de Champlain. Notice the same fleet colors. In this 2008 post, notice the second vessel (in a Lake Ontario port) down in the same colors as Townsend.
A "laker" moved into the sixth boro in the summer of 2005. Ocean and Coastal Consultants and Bayshore Recycling use Valgocen (ex-Algocen) in the dredged materials decontamination process (See p. 2 in this newsletter.). Valgocen currently lives along the Raritan River,
startling me every time I notice it. A laker . . . in an estuary. But there it is was, repurposed. The foto below–as the one above– shows it in the St. Lawrence on its way to the sixth boro towed by tugs from Atlantic Towing Limited. See important update at the end of this post.
Thanks to Allen Baker for the first four fotos, and to Kent Malo for the last two.
And if you hadn't felt totally confident, Allen's fotos were taken in the Calumet River, Chicago, an ocean port.
Unrelated . .. I've been reading DieselDuck's archives, not homing in on any particular post, just enjoying the sweep of their focus. Check them out here.
UPDATE: Jeff's comment got me looking and –sure enough–Valgocen is no more, having reborn as J W Shelley, back at work on the Great Lakes, as of this writing between Montreal and Lake Erie. Thanks, Jeff.
Whole Lotta Dredgin' 13
Barista Uno
I love the topmost photo of the red and black tug. She looks like a diva compared with the rusty, dilapitated tugs I see in Manila, Cebu and Mindanao. One of these days I might just take some photos and share them with readers of tugster: a water blog.
good morning barista uno– i'd love that. as for repainting your local tugs, maybe a contest in honor of IMO's year of the seafarer ( http://dieselduck.blogspot.com/2010/05/in-celebration-of-besieged-element-of.html ) or some such might motivate some paint therapy. Greetings from New York.
Soundbounder
Interesting how a lot of the Great Lakes boats have the pilot house forward.
In a resurrection of sorts, the VALGOCEN has left her digs in the Raritan. Re-flagged from Panama to St.Kitts/Nevis she was taken to Brooklyn Navy Yard and emerged as J W SHELLY ,Canadian flag….and is now working for Vanguard Shipping of Ridgeville, Ontario.
jeff– when did this happen? not that long ago i saw her in the raritan.
I believe that's a green hull.
I had the pleasure of using sisters to MASSACHUSETTS in Puerto Rico while stationed there as a Harbor Pilot. Puerto Rico Towing & Barge; a subsidiary of GL Towing stationed PUNTA TUNA (MISSOURI 1915, Later POLK 1983, MICHIGAN 1983) and PUNTA LIMA (W. L. MERCEREAU 1910, Later NEW MEXICO 1937) at U.S. Naval Station Roosevelt Roads, PR in 1998. Neat little boats. It was always fun telling ship captains that the tugs had cast iron hulls, additionally they had TILLERS in their wheelhouses. At 1200hp they were a wee underpowered for some of the ship assist work required of them but they crewed by some FIRST RATE boatmen.
Allen Baker
Thanks for posting those Will. Nice job!
That 3 weeks on the Lakes was possibly the best 3 weeks I have spent on a tugboat in my almost 30 years afloat.
jed–great to hear from you. interesting info on puntas tuna and lima. those are some old boats. i'm trying to figure out what became of grouper, the 1912 tug that was languishing in my old water of lock 28a on the erie canal. all long-lived great lakes/freshwater borne. hope things are working out with your maladies and new new job. cheers.
John van der Doe
The "ALGOSEN" became the "J.W.SHELLEY" on Aug. 30, 2008 and is owned by,
Vanguard Shipping (Great Lakes) Ltd.
Ingleside, ON.
John van der Doe.
I knew when they brought the grouper,They would never get it running,It needs alot of updates. So sad,It needs a ship yard to do the work.
Something Different »

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Home BUZZ TOPICS Unhackable Internet will be more secure for world
Unhackable Internet will be more secure for world
Why unhackable internet matters
The internet is increasingly vulnerable to hacking; a quantum network on the otherhand would be unhackable and less vulnerable.
Who are the Key Players in this field of work
Delft University of Technology, Quantum Internet Alliance, University of Science and Technology of China
Availability of technology
Technology not available till date but would be in next decade and so
Recent research on Unhackable Internet:
During a research this year, Dutch researchers will complete a quantum internet between Delft and the Hague.
An internet based on quantum physics will soon enable inherently secure communication. A team led by Stephanie Wehner, at Delft University of Technology, is building a network connecting four cities in the Netherlands entirely by means of quantum technology. Messages sent over this network will be unhackable.
Chinese technology in this matter:
In the last few years, scientists have learned to transmit pairs of photons across fiber-optic cables in a way that absolutely protects the information encoded in them.
Recently a team in China used a form of the technology to construct a 2,000-kilometer network backbone between Beijing and Shanghai—but that project relies partly on classical components that periodically break the quantum link before establishing a new one, introducing the risk of hacking.
Delft university technology on this matter:
On the other hand, Delft network will be the first to transmit information between cities using quantum techniques from end to end.
The technology used for this purpose is called entanglement. It relies on a quantum behavior of atomic particles. The science behind is that Entangled photons can't be covertly read without disrupting their content.
But entangled particles are difficult to create, and harder still to transmit over long distances.
Wehner's team has demonstrated it can send them more than 1.5 kilometers (0.93 miles), and they are confident they can set up a quantum link between Delft and the Hague by around the end of this year. Ensuring an unbroken connection over greater distances will require quantum repeaters that extend the network's capacity of transmission.
The repeaters which will work as network extenders are currently in design at Delft. The first one might be should be completed in the next five years time , says Wehner, with a global quantum network following by the end of the decade.
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China's smartphone brand Infinix about to Launch Android Smart TVs in India
Reliance-Future Deal on hold as Amazon Wins Arbitration Order
Magical range of TVs launched in India by itel ahead of festive season


text:
Current Prizes
Lifetime Achievement Award 2016: Judith Kerr
Lifetime Achievement Award 2016
The BookTrust Lifetime Achievement Award is given to a children's writer or illustrator whose body of work, in the opinion of the panel of judges, merits recognition for a lifetime's achievement in children's literature.
Judith Kerr: winner in 2016
Judith Kerr, the celebrated children's author and illustrator, was awarded the BookTrust Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.
When she was a child Judith escaped 1940's Germany, which was the inspiration for her Out of the Hitler Time trilogy. The books, including When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, tell of her family's escape from Germany through Switzerland and France before settling in England.
Judith shot to fame in 1968 when The Tiger Who Came to Tea was published, becoming one of the best-selling children's books of all time.
As well as The Tiger Who Came to Tea, Judith also created the beloved Mog books. This series of books chronicled the life of a family tabby cat, Mog as she experiences new babies, getting lost and more.
The BookTrust Lifetime Achievement Award was set up in 2015 to celebrate an author or illustrator's outstanding contribution to children's books.
Judith was presented with her award at London Zoo by BookTrust President Michael Morpurgo.
Nicolette Jones
Writer, critic and broadcaster
Nicolette Jones is a writer, critic and broadcaster specialising in literary and arts journalism. She has been the Children's Books Reviewer of The Sunday Times for more than two decades, and in 2012 was shortlisted for the Eleanor Farjeon Award for distinguished service to the world of children's books.
Cressida Cowell wrote and illustrated the popular How to Train Your Dragon series, which has sold over 7 million copies worldwide and is published in 38 languages. How to Train Your Dragon is also an award-winning DreamWorks film series and a TV series shown on Netflix.
Chris Riddell
Author, illustrator and former Children's Laureate
Chris Riddell is a prolific writer and illustrator whose work is familiar to both children and adults, and who served as Waterstones Children's Laureate 2015-2017. He has won the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal twice, in 2002 and 2004, and his solo work includes the Goth Girl and Ottoline series.
John Agard
John Agard is one of the most exciting poets writing in the English language, and in 2013 he was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. He has also written verse plays and librettos and has been a writer-in-residence at the BBC, the South Bank and the National Maritime Museum.
Shami Chakrabarti
Shami Chakrabarti CBE is Britain's leading human rights campaigner and Liberty's former director. A lawyer, she is Chancellor of the University of Essex, Honorary Professor of Law at the University of Manchester, Honorary Fellow of Mansfield College, Oxford and a Master of the Bench of Middle Temple.
Diana Gerald
BookTrust CEO
Diana Gerald joined BookTrust as Chief Executive in March 2015 and works closely with partners in Government, the Arts Council, publishing, libraries, children's centres, school and local authorities. She is also a trustee of SA-YES, a South African charity which mentors young people leaving care homes in Cape Town.
Lifetime Achievement Award 2018: John Burningham and Helen Oxenbury
Lifetime Achievement Award 2017: Raymond Briggs
Lifetime Achievement Award 2015: Shirley Hughes
Judith Kerr booklist
Our favourite Judith Kerr stories
Celebrate the Lifetime Achievement Award 2016 winner by revisiting some of her best-loved books, from Mog to The Tiger Who Came To Tea.
Find the books
Waterstones Children's Laureate
Find out about Cressida Cowell
Find out everything that's going on with the 11th Waterstones Children's Laureate, Cressida Cowell, as she takes on the job from 2019-21.
Find your next book
Use the Bookfinder to find the perfect book for you, your family and friends.


"Unique never seen before design to give your girl those angle wings! Our I can Fly backpack features erect 3D design and wings which can be taken out and flaunted! Can be zipped back into the two side pockets when not in use. Unique 3D designs to flaunt when your kids wear this Bag. Use them as School Bag or Activity Bag. Let your kids flaunt them on a trip to the beach or a picnic! Attractive Jungle, Ocean, World of Wonder Themes to choose from!
"I can Fly series is designed for those lovely girls who love to fly! Attached unique beutiful wavy wings which your little one can Flaunt!


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A.M. (Sire/Reprise) 1995
Being There (Reprise) 1996
Summerteeth (Reprise) 1999
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Nonesuch) 2002 (Sundazed) 2002
A Ghost Is Born (Nonesuch) 2004
Kicking Television: Live in Chicago (Nonesuch) 2005
Sky Blue Sky (Nonesuch) 2007
Billy Bragg & Wilco
Mermaid Avenue (Elektra) 1998
Mermaid Avenue Vol. 2 (Elektra) 2000
Chelsea Walls (Rykodisc) 2002
Jay Bennett and Edward Burch
The Palace at 4 A.M. (Part 1) (Undertow) 2002
Loose Fur
Loose Fur (Drag City) 2003
Fans of Uncle Tupelo liked Jeff Tweedy but considered Jay Farrar the band's real talent. In that context, the debut by Wilco is a surprisingly substantive exposition of smart songcraft, the work of a determined and confident creative force. Backed on A.M. by remnants of Tupelo (drummer Ken Coomer, bassist John Stirratt and multi-instrumentalist Max Johnston) and using Bottle Rockets leader (and former Tupelo guitar tech) Brian Henneman as lead guitarist (plus future Dixie Chicks' mastermind and dad Lloyd Maines on pedal steel), Tweedy delivers a pair of tuneful wonders — the blithe "I Must Be High" and "Box Full of Letters," a farewell and olive branch offering to Farrar — that take the Uncle Tupelo country-rock fusion further into the realm of pop. But that's evidently not his only idea for Wilco. While dry and dusty in spots and sweetly intimate in others, the album betrays Tweedy's familiarity with both Paul Westerberg and the Rolling Stones' twangy era from Let It Bleed to Exile on Main Street, making for a blur of intentions and loyalties that has only increased geometrically as Wilco has repeatedly defied expectations placed in its path.
A.M. was only the dawn of a saga that has taken Tweedy — and his increasingly subordinate band — to an exalted position at the forefront of "no depression" roots rock Americana and the center of a farcical label fiasco. At times, the actual content of Wilco's records has been all but buried in unquestioning critical acclamation and unrealistic enthusiasm for what the group appears to be. Paradoxically, Wilco is both seriously talented and wildly over-rated.
Tweedy revealed the scale of his ambition on the band's self-produced two-disc Being There — 18 new originals, about half of which could easily have not been there. The addition of permanent guitarist-keyboardist Jay Bennett (ex-Titanic Love Affair) in place of Henneman expanded Wilco's sonic palette here. So horns and honking slide guitar spark up "Monday," the bitchy "Misunderstood" ends in blasts of rhythmic noise, "Someday Soon" goes honkytonkin' and the wonderful "Outta Mind (Outta Sight)" — the disc-two rendering of a tune called "Outtasite (Outta Mind)" on the first — glows with modestly Spectorized Beach Boys production extravagance. The rollicking "I Got You (At the End of the Century)" puts all the pieces together perfectly, but the raucous finale, "Dreamer in My Dreams," is a virtual rewrite of the Stones' "Country Honk" and too much of Being There has been done before and better by others — solemn acoustic (or rote country) ballads with generic melodies and no distinguishing features.
Johnston's departure left Wilco a compact quartet on Summerteeth, another eclectic defense against pigenonholing. Any remaining debt to alt-country is left behind as Tweedy picks up Westerberg's hair shirt and John Lennon's househusbandry to the accompaniment of Bennett's kitchen sink of synthesizers, timpani, bells, baritone guitar, banjo, e-bow, etc. The songs are generally well formed, although Tweedy remains a middling tunesmith only occasionally able to whip up an enduring hook. (In light of Being There, less is definitely more here.) Since he's also not much of a singer, the most enticing aspect of Summerteeth is his lyrics, which swing poetically and affectingly at love — romantic, parental, failed, absent, untended, hopeful, happy. The highlights of a modestly solid collection are "She's a Jar," "I'm Always in Love," the Beatlesque "Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway (again)" and "ELT," which is an acronym for "every little thing" and undoubtedly a joke on Michael Jackson's "PYT."
What came next was Wilco's unexpected (and unexpectedly redemptive) Waterloo at the hands of Reprise Records, whose attempt to interrupt a creative lifeforce with crass commercial concerns led them to another Warner Music division, which belatedly released the album Reprise rejected, much to the band's fiscal and public-relations benefit. (The Sundazed issue is on vinyl.) Wilco began the self-produced Yankee Hotel Foxtrot as a quintet with newly added guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Leroy Bach (and drummer Glenn Kotche taking over for Coomer) but completed it as a quartet when Tweedy pushed Bennett out of the fold. As detailed in a nicely shot but half-baked documentary film, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, the group's goal for the album was to extend the sonic experimentation of Summerteeth. They eventually enlisted producer and Sonic Youth adjunct Jim O'Rourke to aid in the mixdown of this self-conscious assemblage of strings, horns and surprising rhythms to feedback, noise and synthesizers. To the band's credit, the audio novelties threaded into Yankee Hotel Foxtrot sound far less gimmicky or intrusive than they might have, but neither does the window dressing completely disguise the essential ordinariness of another set of acoustic guitar plaints that either lay there inert or all but disappear into the shifting audio landscape. "Ashes of American Flags" combines the band's impulses toward sensitive lyricism and oddball accompaniment to the best effect here, and "Reservations" is an aptly elegiac finale. But the catchy "Kamera" and "I'm the Man Who Loves You" (which ends badly) both need more seasoning; conversely, aping Pavement (on "Heavy Metal Drummer") is an amusing but worthless parlor trick. Although handsomely rendered, "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart," the self-critical love song that begins the disc, suffers from arrhythmic lines like "What was I thinking when I let go of you" and doesn't so much end as give way to mild cacophony. More time spent in the songwriting lab might have yielded material more suitable to the evident studio effort invested and brought Wilco closer to making a truly great album.
The two Mermaid Avenue albums are Wilco's spirited collaboration with Billy Bragg in the righteous effort to bring some of Woody Guthrie's unreleased compositions to recorded light, a task which actually involved writing music for a cache of lyrics the late folksinger left behind. Chelsea Walls is Tweedy's score (plus a couple of Wilco songs, a John Lennon cover by Jimmy Scott and a few other items) to the 2001 Ethan Hawke film of the same name.
To escape the Tweedy vs. Bennett stress of the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot sessions, Tweedy, Kotche and O'Rourke began work on a side project. Loose Fur, a shaggy dog affair split between gently eccentric pop songs and low-key experimentation, is a minor item but not without its charms. The two extended cuts which open the album, Tweedy's "Laminated Cat" and O'Rourke's "Elegant Transaction," are the best things here. The two songs take their time unfolding into intricate, mildly enchanting grooves which combine krautrock, soft jazz and alt-country. Nothing else on the album is as striking, and too much of it fades into an unmemorable jumble.
On A Ghost Is Born, Tweedy buys into his own hype. Whatever its flaws, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot sounded like a band honestly trying to expand its horizons and try some new things. A Ghost Is Born sounds like a small town kid desperate to live up to his newfound status as the Major Artist of His Generation attempting to create a Major Work of Art. The lurking self-indulgence reaches its nadir on the infamous 15 minutes of droning noise which closes out "Less Than You Think." Tweedy must have imaginged that the piece made some sort of grand statement, but there's no guessing what that statement might be, except that adulation has its pitfalls. The very long "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" sounds awesome and innovative to anyone who's never heard of NEU!, derivative (but still enjoyable) to anyone who has. In light of Tweedy's obvious artistic aspirations on the "experimental" tracks, the shorter, more straightforward songs which make up the majority of the album feel like inconsequential filler, although several — most notably "Hummingbird" — are quite good. A Ghost Is Born is a textbook example of an album created to fulfill expectations the band doesn't necessarily share. Waiting for the backlash…
[Bill Wyman / Ira Robbins / Brad Reno]
See also: Mavericks, Uncle Tupelo


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The Sovini Group named one of Europe's best workplaces
The Sovini Group has been recognised as one of the best places to work in Europe.
The Group were ranked as Europe's 9th best workplace at a special ceremony in Paris on Thursday, 8th June.
Microsoft, Ferrari and 3M number among the previous winners of European Great Workplaces.
In May The Sovini Group, which formed in 2011, was named as one of the UK's best workplaces, placing ahead of companies such as McDonald's, Hilton Worldwide, Mars and MBNA.
The award ranked The Sovini Group as the best organisation to work for in its sector and the UK's best workplace outside London.
Tom O'Byrne, Great Place to Work CEO, said: "We know that there's a real sense of pride and belonging across the business; employees tell us they feel valued and that they get a buzz from making a difference to the people and communities they serve. The fact they have a caring workplace culture with a family feel, where people will go out of their way to support each other, is a key element in creating a positive, engaged and successful workforce which is obviously driving The Group's success. We look forward to their continued success as a Best Workplace."
Roy Williams, Chief Executive of The Sovini Group, said: "I'm proud that we've built a successful business that feels like a family, where people care about what they do and support each other to achieve it."


The following information will guide you on retrieving and saving your analytics v2 data.
All customers will have access to reprocessed data starting from January 1, 2014.
You will continue to have access to the old v2 Analytics API until June 30, 2016.
This means that if you need access to more than 1 year of historical analytics data, you need to export the data using the v2 APIs while they are still active.
To retrieve analytics results from a specific date range you simply need to define the type of result you need with the api call /v2/analytics/reports/, either in a terminal emulator such as Terminal on a Mac or in the Ooyala Scratchpad.
In computer programming. API (Application Programming Interface) is the name of a set of routines and protocols for software applications. An API expresses a software component in terms of its operations and results.
Where can I locate my API Credentials?
You can locate your API Key and Secret in the Backlot UI. Please use your API v2 credentials located in Backlot under the ACCOUNT>Developers tab.
An Ooyala API call requires 4 basic elements: API Key, API Secret, a Signature and an Expiration time.
API calls are made via HTTP methods. The GET API call is used to retrieve data without directly modifying it and allows you to get a typed JSON document response based on the id of the object.
What are the Available Results I can Retrieve with the Ooyala v2 Analytics API?
asset_id: This value is referred to by different names depending on where you look for it. In the Backlot API, asset_id is the identifier for a specific asset. asset_id has the same value as the content ID found in the Backlot UI that represents a piece of content. The value is the same for all scenarios. asset_id can be used if you want to retrieve results for a specific asset. Alternatively, you can retrieve results for your account, which would include all of your assets.
date_range: Defines the date range for this report. Analytics is based on dates. You can define the date following the format (YYYY-MM-DD) or you can define a date range with (YYYY-MM-DD...YYYY-MM-DD).
Report Request: Defines the type of report you want to retrieve. Valid values include performance, sharing, engagement, and delivery.
Dimension: Dimensions are common criteria that are used to aggregate data, such as the date when the user activity occurred or the country where the users were located. Every Dimension also has "Drilldowns", which allow you to filter your results by specific values for each dimension.
Common query string parameters and attributes can be found at Common Attributes and Query String Parameters (Deprecated).
What is the API Call Format?
The v2 Analytics API follows a specific order on the body of the API.
How Can I Use the Scratchpad to Save Reports?
The Scratchpad is a tool created by Ooyala that allows you to make API queries in your browser.
Go to Ooyala API Scratchpad.
Select "Your Account" in the Credentials section in the upper right corner of the page.
Enter your v2 API credentials (API Key and Secret) in the Credentials section in the upper right corner of the page.
Note: Your response appears in the response field.
If you prefer to see your results in a larger browser window, copy the API URL shown in green above the Submit button into your browser. In this case, the URL would be https://api.ooyala.com/v2/analytics/reports/account/performance/total/2011-01-01...2014-01-01?api_key=yourApiKey&signature=yourSignature&expires=1418771221.
Note: To retrieve all data for a report type for your account, use the "total" query string parameter. You can find examples using "total" in each of the query example links mentioned above. "total" is used to retrieve all data for that particular report type for your account.
For example, the following query retrieves all performance data for the account over the date range 2011-08-01...2011-08-02.
How can I Create my own API Report?
You should only create your own API script if you are comfortable with the Ooyala API and have created scripts before or if you have the technical resources available who can modify the pre-made query to retrieve the data for you.
If you check the following snippet from our sample code that shows a terminal, you will be able to identify that we send the request of the API call using cURL. cURL makes http request where you can modify the parameters and the headers.
Note: For more script examples, please check our support site documentation at Sample Code for Signing Requests.


I have been working with Precision European for almost 15 years now, and needless to say I am extremely satisfied with their expertise and level of service. They have guided and advised me whenever I needed it and are always upfront about whether I need a new transmission or not. It has truly been a pleasure working with them. Highly Recommended!
My Benz barely made it home and I called my garage who recommended I call these guys for a transmission. Herman had heard about a recent recall which extended the warranty and he suggested I call the dealership. In fact, he took down the VIN # and called himself. Sure enough there was a recall, they replaced the transmission and we saved $4,500. Thanks!
Precision European is great! I feel comfortable knowing that I am getting expertly rebuilt transmissions. Everyone is really nice, they are always available for questions and they know exactly which components are needed on each model! Whenever a car on my lot needs a transmission, I call PEI.


We currently have Built To Last Pilsner, Sweet Revenge Pale, New Speedway IPA, Oktoberfest, PeterPaul Coconut Porter, After Midnight Mild on Nitro and Captain Trips American Wheat on tap. Upcoming we have Breakfast in America Oatmeal Stout and Harvest Moon Autumn Ale along with a Hoppy Red.
Friday night, 9/12 8pm - Eric Lambert is playing. Eric plays in and around Chicagoland and he brings his flatpickin tle to CWBC.
On Saturday, 9/13 8pm - The Half Step Sisters are playing.
Below is the information on our fall seasonal to be released on Monday, 9/15.
deFallt is our autumn seasonal rendition of the Belgian Bière de Garde style, brewed as "beer to keep" over the summer for fall release. Smooth and spicy French oak flavors blend with cinnamon and Indiana Hunter's Farm wildflower honey to create your 'deFallt' choice of the season.
- French oak provides a warm, silky spice note with vanilla tones - less obvious and 'woody' than American oak. Beer is autumn amber in color and on style.
Sept. 18th - 1st MashCraft Family Night - Starting on Sept. 18th, we will open every Thursday night to all ages with food provided by a nearby restaurant. Join us on the 18th as we team up with the folks from City Barbeque, who are bringing pulled pork and pulled chicken for your enjoyment with our beers.
A rich, malty, nuclear flavor bomb, our Barleywine is a well-balanced interpretation of the American Barleywine style. A deep ruby color and sticky, cream colored head make for an enticing visual. Smells of raisin and toffee, with hints of caramel, dominate the nose, while the flavor tends to be a delectable blend of strong raisin and robust maltiness. This focus on sweetness is beautifully balanced by the generous use of Galena hops, creating an earthy bitterness across the palate to balance the cloying qualities found in such a big beer. The alcohol warmth is present, yet not overpowering, which makes this beer an excellent choice for pairing with rich dishes like our Beef Manhattan or Cheesecake Du Jour.
Saturday, September 13th at 12:30pm - 5th Annual Hoosier Hops and Harvest Festival at the Story Inn in Nashville, IN.
Saturday, September 13th at 8pm - Oranje Beer Garden at Indiana State Fair Grounds in Indianapolis.
Joe Brahma Coffee Brown Ale - A Brown Ale/Milk Stout hybrid with a dose of java from Stone Cutter Cafe and Roastery.
- Smooth and easy going down just like your favorite morning cup of Joe.
Rocketship Comedy w/ Stewart Huff HI-Larious!
Indy 11 v FC Edmonton: Tailgate/Kroger Craft Beer Night We'll be there, BYB Pale Ale in tow.
Indy JazzFest - Pub Creep Joel Tucker Band performs.
NEW Scotty's Brewhouse Menu! - Tuesday, September 9th All Scotty's Brewhouse Locations launched a new menu. Make sure to stop by and try our several new favorites - Mexican Fiesta Salad, Bar-b-q pulled pork slaw sandwich, or the Totchos (Yep tater tot nachos)!
We tapped our first Oktoberfest Keg (Left Hand) & will be dedicating a line to it until early October.
On 10/22 at 4:00pm -We are hosting an all ages Pumpkin Carving evening on our patio sponsored by Lexington Brewing Company. $10 gets you a carving pumpkin & a glass of their Bourbon Barrel Pumpkin Ale, must pre-register via email by 10/17 (shoeflyindy@gmail.com) so we know how many pumpkins to get, runs from 4 pm until it's too dark to carve.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


In the last year and a half I've gone through several project milestones on a non-fiction project–completing the manuscript, wading through final edits, poring over proofs, and waiting for it to be published. The milestones came with tight deadlines which were additional workloads on top of the usual day job and family schedule. Getting it all done was exhausting but surprisingly energizing. I had to work at an intense pace, with extreme focus. I got Efficient (Capital E intended) at getting through the daily requirements so I would have time for the manuscript. I jettisoned unnecessary commitments. I let my spouse take on more of the daily chores. As I immersed myself into the writing, inspiration seemed to come hand in hand with the overload. I saw more and more connections, reached better insights. And then, after each deadline passed, I was euphoric, hopeful, excited, . . . sad.
What? Sad? What was wrong with me? I had no reason, no excuse, no justification to be sad. And yet there was no denying it. After each deadline, instead of getting up early to write I was sleeping past the alarm. Instead of being efficient at getting through the day's requirements so I could have time to write in the evening, nothing got done. Not even the day's basic non-writing requirements. It was a low almost equivalent to the writer's high I had been on.
My initial response was to invalidate the sadness. To tell myself how lucky I was and that I should get over it and on with life. Not surprisingly, that approach was an utter failure. It simply added guilt to the lethargy.
It took only a little research to discover I was not alone in my experience. In fact, according to a 1987 New York Times article by Charles Salzberg, I was in exalted company. Writers including Jack Kerouac, Joseph Heller, Larry McMurtry, and Joyce Carol Oates (among others) experienced versions of what Salzberg termed 'postwritum depression.' Allison Winn Scotch wrote about it on our very own Writer Unboxed. A google search for 'post-publication depression' offered a host of other articles–some satirical, many serious. This brought me to a very helpful realization. Post-project depression is NORMAL. It might even be necessary, a way to replenish the batteries before tackling the next project, the next deadline.
What would change if I called my experiences a post-project recovery instead of post-project depression? It would shift the focus off what I wasn't doing, and onto the true problem–figuring out how to transition between the 'not-normal' life pre-deadline and the 'normal' life post-deadline. Each of the authors mentioned in the New York Times article had different strategies to get through the weeks immediately following the completion of a large project. I needed to develop my own.
For months, I had lived and breathed writing. That focus had given my days a purposeful intensity. After the deadline, the mundane demands of my 'normal' life just felt so darn small, and well, purposeless. I missed the project and the clarity of what did and didn't matter in the daily schedule. If I could immerse myself in another project, I could regain some of that purpose. But I needed a project of a more manageable scale. One that could fit in the bounds of normal rather than requiring every spare waking moment. It was a good idea, but it didn't work. Every time I tried to flesh out a new project idea, I got nowhere. I would stare at the blank screen, or clean out the office, or start surfing the internet. This was certainly not returning a sense of purpose to my days.
I decided I needed self-care before getting back to work. Perhaps I was just exhausted, my creativity at an all-time low. I needed to recharge the creative spirit and the energy needed to direct it. I had just spent more than a year of my life doing little other than work, family and writing. I could afford some time to rediscover my favorite pastimes. I picked up neglected hobbies, added exercise and recreation back into the schedule. Watched movies. Read books. Painted. I enjoyed it, but it didn't make me want to jump out of bed before the alarm with renewed purpose. And after a week or two of it, self-care started to feel a lot like self-indulgence.
Both of those strategies had been extremes–either a return to a big project or an aimless passing of time on pleasurable nothings. Over the last few weeks, I've been trying to find a middle ground–a place between deadline and drifting. I'm making progress, but it is a daily battle of discovery and self-control.
I've had the most success when I carve out some writing time but limit myself to working on exercises or short pieces rather than starting the 'next big project.' I've also felt better when I allow myself guilt-free self-care time but put limits on it. Watching one movie makes me feel better. Binge-watching a whole series makes me feel worse.
My hope is that after a while I will have both the energy (from self-care) to start the next big project and well-honed ideas and writing skills (from daily writing) ready to go when they are needed.
How about you? Do you experience post-project depression? How do you turn it into recovery? How do you transition between deadline and normal?
Congratulations on the end of the project! And I'm with you on the post-project depression. I miss my characters when I am no longer writing about them everyday, and I'm relieved to see I'm not the only one who feels this way. And when I read this I realized I'm approaching the end of another project (I'm in revisions), and I need to prepare myself. For me, it helps to be excited about the next big thing, so I try to do some research toward new projects while I'm working on the current. Great post, Jeanne!
Julia–How exciting that you are close to the end of a project! I'm in awe that you can look ahead and see the next project while finishing the current one. Apparently, I just don't have multi-tasking genes.
The corollary to this, I find, is feeling underwhelmed by, and unexcited, about the next project. Jumping into a new piece ought to renew energy, yet at first the new piece feels thin. Is there enough to it? Why does it lack the oomph of the last one?
There's enough oomph, I just haven't spent enough time with it yet. I haven't invested enough. Serendipity isn't yet happening. I'm not yet working at peak creativity.
Having been through this a few times, I know that it's just a matter of time. The old excitement will be there again. I'll once again be staying up late and stealing time to write. Everything in the universe will start to relate to and reinforce the new story.
It's all part of the process and that's why I value WU so much. I'm reminded here often that writing is not only craft and industry, it's the journey, the ups, downs, doubts, breakthroughs, loneliness and sharing.
It's all okay. It's all part of writing. It's all normal, just as you say. Nice post, thanks.
You are not alone, Jeanne. you are not alone.
Dee how do you always know just the right thing to say?
Thanks for your honest and engaging share. People don't realize the pain we writers must endure when we cross the finish line. The agony of achievement!
Greg– Thanks for the nice comment. Your blog was lovely and your timing couldn't have been better. You describe the transition from one project to the next as a series of relationships–leaving one love which has reached closure and moving on to the next. I like the idea that this makes writers the equivalent of serial literary monogamists. I just want to speed up the transition from mourning the end of the first relationship and finding the next true love.
I agree with Brinks, that it's all part of writing or completing any demanding project. I just accept the slump for the most part and move on. Bouts of depression are normal in the creative arts. Writer Anais Nin is another author who struggled with depression. I kind of like as you say "drifting" between my novels; letting go, being still and quiet can be refreshing. We are more than writers after all, right?
Hey Jeanne. During the months leading up to finishing up my last project, my wife and I actually made a list of home projects that I could turn to afterward. And some of them were things I was actually looking forward to doing. I love working with my hands, and in the past I've found it to be a balm to the post-writing feelings you so aptly describe here. But this time something just wasn't clicking. I was just going through the motions on my hands-on projects.
It hit me like a ton of bricks. I'm not sure why I'd been resisting it. But I instantly knew this was what I should be doing, and what I should've been doing for a couple of weeks of going through the motions. I'm not sure, but I think this is where series work is a real bonus. In contrast to Julia's and to Benjamin's points, I was basically diving back into the same story, with the same characters. It was like being reunited, catching up with, and making new plans with, old friends. And I've been on a fairly productive tear since. I'm about 15K into the new story, and I've got a page of notes in front of me right now for the upcoming chapter work I'll be starting today.
I guess it's sort of like having a condition that's both a blessing and a curse. It can be a roller-coaster ride, and even though I'm back in the swing, I still experience highs and lows. Some days I think I'm nuts to be working so hard on book two of a series when book one has yet to sell. But believing in it feels right somehow. It might sound strange, but it feels right even if nothing were to come of it. Like it's work that I *must* do, regardless of the rest of the world's turnings.
Vaughn – Your wife is very wise, and you are very lucky! In the last months on this project, I compiled a list of undone household tasks so I'd be ready to get to work on them when I finished this last deadline. Just like you, I found myself doing anything but fixing the broken threshold that everyone has been tripping over (including me) for months. Current events definitely contributed to the extent of my nosedive (there are definitely better weeks to have a book come out than inauguration week 2017). But you are right. It's not the times or the household projects that were the problem, it was that I really am longing for the next big project.
Thanks for the nudge. It's good to be reminded that it's normal to dance around a little before settling into something. I'm glad you are letting yourself keep working on the series. That built-in continuity makes for a less abrupt stop and start between projects. And thanks for the reminder that I already do have another big (unfinished) project, waiting in the wings.
You could try writing past the conclusion of your project. I was in the process of concluding a novel last August and began to dread the editing process. I kept writing on another book. It had a similar protagonist. Writing on the new project while editing the older one has kept me going with a smile on my face. Hope this helps.
Ray-I wish I could keep two projects going at the same time, but every time I've tried, one or the other has stalled out and I've had to focus on a single one at a time. I'm glad the strategy is working for you, though it sounds like a good way to maintain a steadier calmer pace.
Carol–thanks for the link. That was a really great show. I love that Norman Lear puts a hammock between over and next, and calls it living in the now.
Jeanne, you have rattle a cage all artists need to look into. Post-project depression is an interesting label, and one I recognize from life in the theatre. As an actress, I'd be in rehearsals for two to six weeks, and then the run or tour would follow. Six days a week, eight performances a week, I'd pour all my energy and focus into the role I was playing. Eventually, the show would close, and until the next role came around I was unmoored. Lost.
Early on, I sunk into the "depression" you speak of, then I realized my experience was actually something else. What I was really feeling was grief. I was grieving over the loss of the person/role I had grown so close to. Grief doesn't vanish; it is a state of being we must move through. The length of time will vary, but there is always light and energy and creative life on the other side.
Once I realized I was grieving— missing the connection that was no longer possible— I discovered I was less frustrated and no longer felt lost after a show closed. My experiences with those roles would always be with me, inform me and color and shape the roles to come. Recognizing this allowed that "downtime/grieving or as you named "depression" to shorten in length and simply become part of the ebb and flow of creative life. All good, necessary and part of my journey upward!
Jocosa — Theatre is a whole different level of crazy immersion in a project. I agree that what I'm describing could be as easily termed grief as depression. I think the difficult part of that for me, is that it feels 'wrong' to be grieving for a completed project. But I'm not grieving for the completion, but for the emptiness it left behind. I'm betting I'm going to be a basket case when my child leaves the nest.
I'm kind of there now, I finished two books, an edited collection in September, with all the editing and proofing deadlines that came after, and a nonfiction book of my own. And my dear mother in law died about 3 weeks before the deadline of the last one, so we were in the throes of that as well but I really wanted to make my deadline–so I was writing and grieving and dealing with family and grieving (I also teach and had just started the semester). After I met the deadline, I just collapsed–and also got sick. I felt exhausted and didn't know how to go back to another project I had been working on. So right now I am doing some primary source reading I had been wanting to do for that other project, trying to take care of myself, and just see where that reading goes. Taking it slow and filling the well, I guess. Besides, the edits will come back soon enough.
Stephanie — What you went through was more than a project. It was a project, a life-changing event, a grieving period, and a day job all hitting you simultaneously. Congratulations on getting things done through what would have been tough times even without deadlines. You have earned a rest, and from what you describe, refilling the well is probably the best strategy you can take right now. Reading has been a highlight of my recharging strategies as well.
I often miss my characters – even now, I miss the ones for whom that work is "over and done." It's like friends I've come to know who suddenly move away – far far away.
Congrats on completing your project and onward to the next! Whoohooo!
Boy, did this ever resonate with me, Jeanne.
In my case, I think it is (partly) the fact that the completion means I can no longer justify hours and hours with these characters whom I have come to love as much as I love the real people in my life. So it's kind of a loss … and there's then the idea of having to start over with a whole new crew of companions, and that trust-building and emotional connection takes me years!
We are a weird and wonderful bunch, we writers. HUGE congrats on your beautiful book. Here's a huge hug!
Sarah- we are definitely a weird and wonderful bunch, and for right now I'm happy that the wonderful has been showing up in all the comments. There really is some relief in knowing I am not alone in my crazy sadness over missing the made-up people who shared, even took over, my life for a little while. Sending a huge hug back your way!
Charles – I loved your article and it really helped me think about the post-project sadness as part of the writing process. Thanks for the insight into the writing of the article. Your descriptions of what the other authors went through was helpful because they were so personal. I can only imagine what the stories that you left out must have been like. Thanks for reading and commenting! And for writing that article in the first place.
You're very welcome. My favorite little tidbit was when Joyce Carol Oates said a friend of hers goes out "and kills small animals" when he finishes a book. She swore me to secrecy but now thirty years later you can figure out who she was referring to in the essay.
Jeanne — I felt so many thing while reading this post, because it feels very much like the place I'm in, a place I haven't been able to understand or name—until finding your post.
After 4 years, my MS is finally in the hands of an editor.
I'm proud of the work and know there are many more steps to go before the project is truly complete, but my drive to do ANYTHING has completely left me.
Jocosa above suggested it's a grieving process. The lethargy and lack of mental focus I've been experiencing does suggest grieving. Considering all the time and energy spent on writing a book, once the project is finished, falling into a state of torpor makes sense to me.
Maybe we just need to allow ourselves that time to let the feelings run their course. Take our mornings slow, mediate, dive into a really good book or two. Reading always inspires me to write.
We'll get back to writing. We always do.
Suzanne- congratulations on getting your manuscript complete and to the hands of an editor! Now you know you are far from alone with the struggle after finishing the project. Whether grieving, exhaustion, depression, or just creative emptiness, it is a temporary state because as you say, "We'll get back to writing. We always do." May your return be soon and rewarding!
Good post Jeanne. When we finish a project it's like letting go of our children as they leave for college. It's a happy/sad event that shakes up our insides. We have no choice but acknowledge the change, happy for the success, yet uncertain of how we will move forward. Then life happens and we move ahead. Congratulations.
Elisabeth – it is a lot like sending the children off into their own lives, their own future. We lose the ability to influence their development, but then there is the hope that they will fly on their own.


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Whitehead Develops Dox-Inducible iPS Cells For Library Screens, Reprogramming Studies
Scientists at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have generated genetically homogeneous populations of secondary somatic cells that can be used for genetic or chemical screening to improve reprogramming, according to a Whitehead Institute researcher.
Their work was recently published online in Nature Biotechnology.
The ability to generate large numbers of genetically homogeneous cells with identical proviral integrations could eventually lead researchers to a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in cellular reprogramming.
"That, I think, is the real interest here," Rudolph Jaenisch, a member of the Whitehead Institute and a professor of biology at MIT, told CBA News last week.
The method uses genetically homogeneous secondary somatic cells to carry the reprogramming factors Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc as defined doxycycline-inducible transgenes.
He said the approach can also be used to screen for small molecules that replace each of the four factors by genetically deleting one particular factor in the reprogrammed, pluripotent fibroblasts.
Furthermore, this technique is not limited to fibroblast cultures, but can in principle be applied to other somatic cell types that are difficult to transfect with retroviruses, such as lymphocytes or intestinal epithelium, Jaenisch said.
The cellular and genetic heterogeneity of randomly infected fibroblasts complicates the exploration of important molecular events that occur during reprogramming, and limits the scalability required for high-throughput analyses, Jaenisch said.
In addition, it is sometimes tricky to infect or culture cells such as fibroblasts, skin cells, nerve cells, bone marrow stem cells, hematopoietic cells, immune cells, and intestinal cells.
"Our work seeks to overcome these limitations," said Jaenisch. He explained that his group tried to do this by using drug-inducible viruses.
"[Generating cells that are] appropriate for genetic or chemical screening to improve reprogramming … I think is the real interest here."
To generate cell populations that were homogeneous with respect to the number and location of proviral integrations, the researchers constructed doxycycline-inducible lentiviral vectors encoding the four reprogramming factors.
Mouse embryonic fibroblasts comprising both a reverse tetracycline transactivator and a phosphoglycerate kinase promoter-driven puromycin resistance gene targeted to the ROSA26 locus and a green fluorescent protein gene targeted to the endogenous Nanog locus were infected with the four lentiviruses.
The investigators also infected ROSA26 MEFs comprising the Oct4 cDNA under control of the tetracycline operator targeted to the type I collagen locus, and a neomycin resistance gene in the endogenous Nanog locus with dox-inducible lentiviruses encoding Klf4, Sox2, and c-Myc.
After viral transduction, the scientists added doxycycline to the culture medium to activate the transgenes and initiate the reprogramming process. As they expected, clonal iPS cell lines were established. To generate somatic tissues comprising genetically homogeneous cells carrying identical proviral insertions, they injected several of these clonal primary iPS cell lines into blastocysts.
The resulting dox-inducible iPS cell chimeras were allowed to gestate for 13 days, at which point MEFs were isolated, and from those, iPS cell-derived cells were isolated.
These so-called 'secondary' MEFs were isolated from chimeric iPS cell embryos generated from three distinct, clonal primary iPS cell lines (one Nanog-neo and two Nanog-GFP lines), and were cultured in the presence of doxycycline to see if the integrated lentiviral vectors retained competence to mediate epigenetic reprogramming after differentiation in the developing embryo.
The researchers found that the addition of doxycycline to these cultures initiated dramatic morphological changes, and 'secondary' iPS cell lines were efficiently isolated from these cultures by neomycin selection or GFP expression and subsequently propagated in the absence of doxycycline.
They also found that cells derived from the chimeras reprogram upon exposure to doxycycline with efficiencies 25- to 50-fold greater than those derived using direct infection and drug selection for pluripotency marker reactivation.
The scientists confirmed the pluripotency of these cell lines by their ability to form cells of endodermal, ectodermal, and mesodermal lineages in teratoma formation assays, and by their ability to contribute to adult chimeric mice upon blastocyst injection.
The researchers also sought to determine the range of tissue types amenable to reprogramming by isolating secondary cells from 3- to 4-month-old iPS-cell chimeras generated from the NNeo and one of the NGFP cell lines, and examining the reprogramming ability of multiple cell types derived from these chimeras.
They found that iPS cells could be derived from many other tissues, including brain, epidermis, intestinal epithelium, mesenchymal stem cells, tail tip fibroblasts, kidney, muscle, and adrenal gland through exposure to doxycycline, indicating that the proviruses were appropriately activated in cell types other than MEFs.
In terms of the next step in this work, Jaenisch said his team will probably make secondary cells lacking a virus encoding one of the four reprogramming factors, and then try to replace the virus with a small compound.
"I do not think it will be long before secondary iPS cells generated using this technique are used in drug discovery, because in principle, I think we are almost there," Jaenisch concluded.


SUMMARY: The NASA/ESA SOHO spacecraft, which observes the Sun, is having problems pointing its high-gain antenna, which it uses to transmit data back to Earth. The cause of the problem hasn't been figured out yet, but experts think there's something wrong with its motor or in the gear assembly that steers the antenna - fortunately, its low-gain antenna is still working, so they can still communicate with the spacecraft. If they can't figure out the problem, SOHO isn't going to be able to transmit data back as quickly, so there will be blackout periods.


text:
"If one were ever able to make a good case for a trial deployment of a neutron bomb – the kind that gets rid of people but leaves the buildings standing – last Saturday's Rally Against the War in Iraq on The Ellipse in Washington, D.C., would probably have been it."
-- Barrett Kalellis, Sept. 26 NewsMax column
The MSMatrix
The Poorman tells us all about the MSMatrix.
WorldNetDaily's David Kupelian, you may recall, did the exact same thing last year, except that unlike the Poorman, he wasn't joking. (ConWebWatch responded to it here.)
At Last, A Little Disclosure
It appears they do read ConWebWatch at WorldNetDaily after all.
The bio at the end of a Sept. 26 column by Craig Smith now notes that Smith is CEO of Swiss America -- a designation it failed to provide in previous columns, as ConWebWatch previously noted. WND apparently has column bios such as Smith's set up as separate editable files, so that changes made there immediately show up in all columns, no matter how old.
The bio doesn't say what Swiss America does or that Swiss America is a major WND advertiser, but this little disclosure is a start.
Criticizing the President
In a Sept. 19 article, NewsMax leaves the false impression that George H.W. Bush has never said a bad thing about Bill Clinton.
The article noted that in an appearance on Monday Night Football (which, of course, is the ideal venue to discuss political issues), "Bush Sr. declined to say a single negative word about his successor" even though Clinton "bashed and trashed his son on everything from his handling of the Hurricane Katrina crisis to the Iraq war."
Nowhere does NewsMax note that the elder Bush did indeed repeatedly attack Clinton while Clinton was in office.
Anti-Bush = Anti-American
NewsMax is trying to get a new meme started: If you oppose the Iraq war, you're anti-American.
A Sept. 22 article called Cindy Sheehan an "anti-American war protester," a description approved by Rush Limbaugh. A Sept. 25 article on anti-war protests in Washington described what it called "the distinct anti-American attitude and unbridled hatred that emanated from much of the crowd."
But the examples NewsMax cites of "anti-American" statements by Sheehan and other protesters are, in fact, merely anti-Bush statements. It also quotes Sheehan as saying "This country is not worth dying for" and suggesting she was talking about America, when there is evidence Sheehan was talking about Iraq.
If criticizing the president is "anti-American," what does that make NewsMax, which poured forth a constant barrage of criticism of President Clinton (which continues to this day)?
Logic Deficiency Watch
A Sept. 24 NewsMax article takes issue with a Washington Post story
NewsMax's stinging retort:
The paper declined, however, to dispute the authenticity of a videotape showing a copy of the Able Danger chart, which was displayed by Rep. Curt Weldon during a May 2002 speech to the Heritage Foundation.
It's not until later in the article that NewsMax quietly admits that its claim that a 2002 video is proof that something happened in 2000 is "circumstantial."
The Lie Spreads
The latest conservative to repeat the "2,000 buses" lie: WorldNetDaily's Kevin McCullough in a Sept. 23 column.
Style Violation
In a Sept. 22 CNSNews.com article on the Senate Judiciary Committee's vote on John Roberts' Supreme Court nomination, Melanie Hunter departs from CNS style of using negative terms like "pro-abortion" to describe liberal groups and refers to the National Abortion Federation as an "abortion rights group."
Will Hunter be disciplined for her use of accurate language?
NewsBust-A-Gut
Topic: Media Research Center
Some bonus NewsBusters silliness, from a Sept. 21 post by "Mithridate Ombud":
While the Publisher and Editor of The New York Times earn $2 million and $650,000 respectively, for entry level journalists they pay below the poverty level (should the worker have a family of five.)
While newspapers are notorious for the meager pay of their journalists (a trend I was on the receiving end of), Ombud's "family of five" disclaimer illustrates the hilarious extremes that some will go to attack journalists. I defy Ombud to come up with an example of an "entry level" journalist at the Times with a non-working wife and three children.
When it's not being unintentionally funny, Ombud seems to be calling for more unionization of newsrooms. Why is that appearing on a anti-union conservative website?
Another Missing Fact At CNS
In a Republican-fluffing Sept. 22 CNSNews.com article, Randy Hall once again fails to include pertinent facts in his story.
Reporting Rep. Tom Davis' remarks regarding the joint House-Senate committee to investigate the response to Hurricane Katrina, Hall devotes nine paragraphs to Davis' defense of the commission but just part of one paragraph to Democratic criticism of it -- quoting House minority leader Nancy Pelosi calling it "a partisan 'whitewash' and a 'sham'" -- and, more importantly, no explanation of why exactly Democrats oppose the commission.
Nowhere in his article does Hall note that the committee will be controlled by Republicans and that Democrats will have no subpoena power. Nor does he note that, unlike the Republicans, Democrats have sought an independent commission to investigate.
New Article: NewsBusted
The Media Research Center starts a blog -- which is just as biased and questionably sourced as the regular MRC stuff. Read more.
Bogus Poll Watch
WorldNetDaily's man on the meaningless-poll beat, Joe Kovacs, trumpets the results of yet another silly opt-in poll as important news.
Of course, if the results didn't make President Bush look good, Kovacs wouldn't be doing this article.
The Daily Les, 9/21
Topic: The Daily Les
After another long break, Les Kinsolving returns to the White House briefing room. For some reason, he has stopped copying-and-pasting from the transcript; his WorldNetDaily article is written like a regular story (or, at least, what passes for one at WND). Which is too bad, because he actually asked a good question: "Scott, a two-part. First, do you recall when the last time the President vetoed any bill?"
The second part of that question, alas, is vintage Kinsolving; Apparently, even he was so ashamed for asking it that there is no mention of it in his WND article:
KINSOLVING: Publisher Pinch Sulzberger, of The New York Times, which is now laying off 500 more people after laying off 200 more people earlier this year announced that they "will continue to provide journalism of the highest quality." And my question: What does the President believe that claim says about the 700 they're getting rid of? And wouldn't it be better to get rid of Sulzberger, who tried for so long to save two editors who refused to fire that monumental liar, Jayson Blair, from Maryland?
McCLELLAN: They're not decisions the President of the United States makes.
Why make a big deal about Jayson Blair being from Maryland? Is Kinsolving subliminally telling us that like Blair, he too is a "monumental liar from Maryland"?
Wonkette vs. WND
Wonkette notes WorldNetDaily's obsession with gays, in particular, its need to name today's meaningless poll question on the subject of "Corporate America's move to become 'gay'-friendly": "Bending Over Backwards."
We'll let Wonkette handle this one.
An Eyebrow-Raiser
In a Sept. 21 CNSNews.com article, Randy Hall leaves out one important fact regarding New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.
While Hall accurately notes that Nagin "was a vice president and general manager at Cox Communications before leaving the cable company to join the New Orleans mayoral race in 2002," Hall failed to note that Nagin was also a Republican until just before entering the New Orleans mayoral race.
That missing fact undermines Hall's claim later in the article that "Nagin raised eyebrows across the state" when, in the 2003 governor's race, he endorsed Republican Bobby Jindal over Democrat Kathleen Blanco. Given that Nagin had been a Democrat for only a year or so before that endorsement, we suspect that fewer eyebrows were raised than Hall thinks.


What does he emerged from the bathroom, towel-drying his CREW CUT mean?
So he was drying his hair and his hairstyle happened to be a crew cut.
What is the difference between bathroom and restroom ?
I've been keeping using the bath... does this sound natural?


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When you follow your step by step garden shed plans carefully, when compared with can be that easy to build your ownoutside storage shed.


text:
Q: SQL CONTAINSTABLE does not return all the expected results I have a table with just 2 columns Id (identity) and lastname(nvarchar). I applied a fulltextIndex WITH ACCENT_SENSITIVITY = OFF for dutch --> 1043 on lastname with an empty stop words list and added 2 records:
insert into  [UserProfile] values  ('hoopman')
insert into  [UserProfile] values  ('koopmans')
when i do:
SELECT *
from CONTAINSTABLE(UserProfile, Lastname, '"man*"',  LANGUAGE 1043)
I only get koopmans.
but if I do
SELECT *
from CONTAINSTABLE(UserProfile, Lastname, '"hoopman*"',  LANGUAGE 1043)
I do get hoopman.
Here is the script to reproduce the scenario
USE [master]
GO
/****** Object:  Database [Tests]   Script Date: 11/01/2023 13:43:25 ******/
CREATE DATABASE [Tests]
 WITH CATALOG_COLLATION = DATABASE_DEFAULT
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET COMPATIBILITY_LEVEL = 150
GO
IF (1 = FULLTEXTSERVICEPROPERTY('IsFullTextInstalled'))
begin
EXEC [Tests].[dbo].[sp_fulltext_database] @action = 'enable'
end
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET ANSI_NULL_DEFAULT OFF
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET ANSI_NULLS OFF
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET ANSI_PADDING OFF
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET ANSI_WARNINGS OFF
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET ARITHABORT OFF
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET AUTO_CLOSE OFF
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET AUTO_SHRINK OFF
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET AUTO_UPDATE_STATISTICS ON
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET CURSOR_CLOSE_ON_COMMIT OFF
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET CURSOR_DEFAULT  GLOBAL
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET CONCAT_NULL_YIELDS_NULL OFF
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET NUMERIC_ROUNDABORT OFF
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER OFF
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET RECURSIVE_TRIGGERS OFF
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET  DISABLE_BROKER
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET AUTO_UPDATE_STATISTICS_ASYNC OFF
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET DATE_CORRELATION_OPTIMIZATION OFF
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET TRUSTWORTHY OFF
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET ALLOW_SNAPSHOT_ISOLATION OFF
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET PARAMETERIZATION SIMPLE
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT OFF
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET HONOR_BROKER_PRIORITY OFF
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET RECOVERY FULL
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET  MULTI_USER
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET PAGE_VERIFY CHECKSUM
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET DB_CHAINING OFF
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET FILESTREAM( NON_TRANSACTED_ACCESS = OFF )
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET TARGET_RECOVERY_TIME = 60 SECONDS
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET DELAYED_DURABILITY = DISABLED
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET ACCELERATED_DATABASE_RECOVERY = OFF
GO
EXEC sys.sp_db_vardecimal_storage_format N'Tests', N'ON'
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests] SET QUERY_STORE = OFF
GO
USE [Tests]
GO
/****** Object:  FullTextCatalog   Script Date: 11/01/2023 13:43:25 ******/
CREATE FULLTEXT CATALOG [MyCatalog] WITH ACCENT_SENSITIVITY = OFF
AS DEFAULT
GO
/****** Object:  Table [dbo].[UserProfile]    Script Date: 11/01/2023 13:43:25 ******/
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[UserProfile](
    [Id] [int] IDENTITY(1000000,1) NOT NULL,
    [Lastname] [nvarchar](255) NULL,
 CONSTRAINT [PK_UserProfile] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED
(
    [Id] ASC
)WITH (PAD_INDEX = OFF, STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS = ON, OPTIMIZE_FOR_SEQUENTIAL_KEY = OFF) ON [PRIMARY]
) ON [PRIMARY]
GO
ALTER DATABASE [Tests]SET  READ_WRITE
GO
CREATE FULLTEXT INDEX ON  dbo.UserProfile (
    lastname LANGUAGE 1043
) KEY INDEX [PK_UserProfile]
WITH
    CHANGE_TRACKING = AUTO,
    STOPLIST=OFF
;
GO

then

insert into  [UserProfile] values  ('hoopman')
insert into  [UserProfile] values  ('koopmans')

SELECT *
from CONTAINSTABLE(UserProfile, Lastname, '"man*"',  LANGUAGE 1043)

thx a lot!
expecting hoopman and koopmans and gettign only koopmans when doing
SELECT *
from CONTAINSTABLE(UserProfile, Lastname, '"man*"',  LANGUAGE 1043)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Kevin Hillstrom: MineThatData: Omnichannel Fans: Read This Immediately, You'll Love It!!
Omnichannel Fans: Read This Immediately, You'll Love It!!
Click on this story right now ... seriously, drop everything you are doing if you are an omnichannel fan, and see your dreams validated (click here).
This strategy, of course, is modern and exciting and synergistic and ... oh ... wait ... it's from the 1950s?
This is what the omnichannel community is arguing for, when it comes right down to it ... and it makes perfect sense!
Notice that the "brands" in the story are common across each box ... but the purpose of each box is fundamentally different. Comic Strips are different than Disneyland ... a fundamentally unique experience. Same brand, completely unique experiences.
The modern omnichannel approach is same brand, same experience.
Therein lies the problem with the omnichannel thesis.
But executed in a manner with same brand / unique experiences, yes, you can get me to buy into the theory.
Notice that this is one big, bubbling ecosystem, with gains in music feeding into theatrical films, which feed into Disneyland, which feed into Merchandise Licensing and so forth. Dollars keep flowing into different boxes, for different reasons. That's the secret. Modern omnichannel theory wants dollars flowing into different boxes for the same reasons, and that just isn't working.


The Parkway Panthers held their annual Winter Homecoming Ceremony last weekend during the pregame of the Ft. Recovery game.
Crowned Homecoming Queen was was Senior Laura Barrett. Her court included Freshman McKenna Schumm; Senior Haley Hawk; Queen Laura; Senior Sydney Crouch; Junior Alyssa Miller and Sophomore Lily Hipply.
Queen Laura was crowned by 2017 Queen Klista Hellwarth.


On December 1, 2017, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have begun their first joint official public engagement. Prince Harry and his fiancee, Meghan Markle visited the Nottingham Contemporary Exhibition Centre. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced their engagement on Monday 27th November 2017 and will marry at St George's Chapel, Windsor in May 2018.
Will she become a princess?
She will technically be HRH Princess Henry of Wales so yes, she will be a princess. However, Harry will probably be given a royal dukedom by the Queen when they marry, so Meghan might be known as Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of Sussex. (No one knows for sure which Dukedom the Queen will bestow yet.) Catherine is the Duchess of Cambridge but was also identified on her children's birth certificates as a "Princess of the United Kingdom".
Megan looks lovely today. A truly beautiful lady who will make a wonderful addition to the Royal Family.
She looks lovely but I don't understand the boots in the one picture, they are either falling down or that is the way they are supposed to look.
That's the style of these particular boots. They are very soft and flexible.
I can already see we will have the same hair issues with Meghan, as with Kate. Meghan is actually wearing an aids ribbon too but you can't see it because her hair is covering it.
It is not becoming, for her anymore than for Kate, to always shove the hair out of the face.
She could have done better. I dont like this outfit at all.
I can't wait for a show stopper appearance as well but I find this appropriate and a safe bet for her first engagement with the prince.
Adoro como Meghan se veste :). Belo casal!
I think we should give Meghan a chance. You may find her coat long and heavy but remember she just moved to the UK. That's a Canadian coat. In Canada we wear long heavy coats because we have very cold weather. I'm sure that soon the Prince of Wales will be paying for her wardrobe and then you will see lighter weight sleek coats. She is obviously still wearing her Canadian which she purchased.
Very good point, Mimi. The long wool coat is a staple for many women in Northeastern cities in the US and Canada. New York, Boston, Montreal, Toronto--that wind comes off of the cold North Atlantic and Lake Ontario and you want to be covered way down your legs!!
The prince of Wales (Charles) paying for her wardrobe? Don't you mean Harry?
Agree. I will give her a chance :) She will have more opportunities.
Sorry, but where do you see a long coat? Am I missing photos? (But yes, anyway, we do need long coats in eastern Canada!).
And I think she looks great. It's a fairly classic look and is a good choice for her first day on the job.
The Prince of Wales pays for much of Catherine's wardrobe so I would imagine he will also pay for hew new daughter-in-laws wardrobe too, especially because Prince Harry will not inherit the income from the Duchy of Cornwall.
When the Duchess started her 'engagement tour' she wore her own clothes with less taste than Meghan does it now. Maybe the royal family don't wanna start with a shopping spree and it makes sense. I think the Duchess of Cambridge is going to have some serious competition. And Meghan can stand straight!!!!
Mimi5, what a kind remark and an excellent explanation to what Meghan is wearing. I do agree that we should give Meghan a chance, she is who she is, and because she does remind us of Kate, let's resist the temptation to put them on the pedestal and compare them. There will be days we rave about what they wear, there will be days we just cannot understand how they could wear what they wore. It is ok to say what you find of that outfit, but in a kind way, and what you would prefer to have. I personally enjoy reading what others have constructively put forward. It reminds me that one's own culture plays a big role on how we view things.
Meghan has done a spectacular first engagement. She's endearing and approachable, with a modern and tasteful sense of style. Can't wait to see more of her, and hope she does substantive charity work on behalf of the BRF.
Gosh... I'm a straight woman and I'm in love with her :D she seems so natural and relaxed.
She was lovely! She just hit the stage on Monday. Barely anytime to prepare a wardrobe. She looks great. She will get there...or maybe she will always be a bit more relaxed. I actually don't want a carbon copy of Catherine. Boring. Meaning I love Kates style but I also love that Meghan is modern and fresh. Kate has restraints. I cannot wait to see them in action. I just thing she needs an assistant to carry her purse and take all the flowers. One of Harrys aides helped in the end but she needs one. I think that this first engagement came too fast to prepare. It will come. Meanwhile watching all the video today made me happily weepy as they are so wonderful as a couple. Almost magical sparks. Wonderful to see Harry so happy.
She is/was an actress so it's easier for her. She is use to be approached by people compared to Kate.
Her look seems more casual than DoC but it's her personal style and it's nice to see. I am not a fan of the loose hair which needs pushing off the face, it just seem unprofessional and like it's drawing attention to the mane of hair. They very much like a couple in love and that's the nicest thing to see.
( being previously married, older, American Catholic). I think she is winning her critics over. Her outfit was just right and I love the way she displayed her bag, which I understand was sold out within minutes. This will give a huge boost to a struggling Scottish company.
I also loved her bag and the subtle coordination of its 3 colors with her coat, skirt and Harry's scarf. But, just a note that Meghan is not Catholic. It is common in the US for all religions to attend private Catholic schools because these schools offer a good education. Meghan is Protestant, but was not baptized. Her mother is Protestant. Her Father is Episcopalian--a religion closely linked to the Anglican Church in England and from his Mother, Meghan's Grandmother, who was of English descent. That is why it's a natural step for Meghan to be baptized into the Anglican Church in England and to be married there.
Thank you Pine. That's interesting.
You're welcome, Christine 😊. Meghan's family is fascinating. Her mother was from the American South. Many African Americans in the South are Baptist or African Methodist Episcopal (AME). But there are many other faiths, as well. I have no idea what, if any, church her Mother may be a part of now in California.
I find her super chic and modern, and hope that she continues with her own personal style.
I agree. That might have been the best part.
Love the skirt, and I think Meghan's outfit is very nice. She seems like a lovely person and I would imagine her winter wardrobe would be suited to the very chilly Canadian climate, nevertheless she looks lovely in my opinion, she is very pretty, lovely, unique, very much her own person. I wish both Prince Harry and Meghan every happiness.


The Poker Knights Poker Chips are 13.5 gram heavy clay poker chip. The unique mold of a sword striking through the spade is a signature of this new style. The design of a knight and horse gives it a royal theme that any poker player would want his game room to mimic. The Poker Knights chips inlay is compressed onto the chip and then coated with a vinyl like the casinos.


Crowdfunding is a popular method used by startups to acquire financial backing for a company or even specific product, but it is not often thought of as a tool for established businesses.
Is crowdfunding just for startups?
Daryl Hatton: Not at all. Crowdfunding helps a lot of successful startups, but it's not at all required that it be a startup. We're seeing lots of new applications from local businesses that have been there a while, but want to launch a new product or service, or from enterprises that are looking at it to help them validate whether or not there's a market for a new product that they're interested in.
What models of crowdfunding are available to established businesses now, and coming up?
DH: There are a couple of different models, but let's start with the first one, which is the all-or-nothing funding model, where you set a goal and only if you achieve that goal do you actually receive the funds. You can use that model to test whether your product is interesting to a marketplace. By allowing people to order a copy of the product ahead of it actually being produced, if you get enough orders you say, 'Okay, there's enough demand,' and will actually go and create the product. So large companies started to experiment with that, including companies like IBM. They were running internal programs where they were crowdfunding within the company to see which kinds of products would most likely succeed based on the responses of staff.
CA: There are two other points: The first one is using crowdfunding as a feeder system to acquire new innovation. While enterprise companies have research-and-development divisions, they are more expensive to operate and aren't structured like startups, where grassroots innovation can happen in unexpected ways, sometimes from a tiny basement apartment. Enterprise companies, which source new innovations from these dynamic markets, benefit by acquiring early-stage technologies at a great price. I think it's an interesting trend. Google is a good example of a large company using 'intrapreneurship' to crowdsource innovation from their employees. Google encourages employees to spend one day a week, or approximately 20 per cent of their work day, focusing on developing their own ideas, which is like running their own startup. If they come up with a brilliant idea, Google has the right to participate and owns a portion of the intellectual property, but as a model, I think it's an amazing approach to how large enterprises can crowdsource innovation.


text:
using System;
using VkNet.Model;
using VkNet.Utils;

namespace VkNet.Exception;

/// <summary>
/// Исключение, которое выбрасывается при превышении лимита однотипных действий
/// Нужно сократить число однотипных обращений. Для более эффективной работы Вы
/// можете использовать execute или JSONP.
/// Код ошибки - 9
/// </summary>
[Serializable]
[VkError(VkErrorCode.TooMuchOfTheSameTypeOfAction)]
public sealed class TooMuchOfTheSameTypeOfActionException : VkApiMethodInvokeException
{
	/// <inheritdoc />
	public TooMuchOfTheSameTypeOfActionException(VkError response) : base(response)
	{
	}
}


text:
Browsing the archives for the Randall Munroe tag.
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Why We're So Politically Divided and How We Can Fix It
If You're Feeling Despair
10,000 Hours of Practice? Would That 'Twere So Simple
WillpowerEngine.com Now Pointing Back Where It Should
Read free on Daily SF: Failed Interview with the International Convocation of the Damned
The Six Approaches to Time Travel Stories
Things You Will Probably Not Say on Your Deathbed
Top 12 Reasons Bernie Sanders Can't Possibly Be Elected President or Even Win the Democratic Primary Because for the Love of Pete, Didn't We Already Agree It Was Going to Be Hillary?
Fiction Critique Hand Signals
New story free on Daily Science Fiction: When a Bunch of People, Including Raymond, Got Superpowers
Luc's Family Skulls (available on Kindle for $2.99) is a novel of curses, set in his native Vermont. Click here for more.
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Useful Books for Insight into Self-Motivation
Free eBook -- The Writing Engine: A Practical Guide to Writing Motivation
Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High
Deeper Than Reason: Emotion and Its Role in Literature, Music, and Art
The Definitive Book of Body Language
Emotional Alchemy: How the Mind Can Heal the Heart
The Feeling Good Handbook
A Guide to Rational Living
Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life
Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else
Randall Munroe Tells You Whether or Not It's Worth the Time
It's no secret that I think Randall Munroe often presents things through his XKCD comic that are not only well worth knowing, but that pertain specifically to living a better life. His most recent (as of this writing) is an especially practical example.
Is it worth the time?
A couple of useful things we can do with this chart:
Consider areas in our lives where it might be worth some time thinking about improvements.
Consider things we're doing to make life more efficient that might not be worth the trouble.
efficiency, productivity, Randall Munroe, tasks, time, xkcd
XKCD: Internal Monologue
Today's XKCD cartoon shows that internal commentary I talk about, and (as usual) manages to be really entertaining to boot (at least, to me, having experienced situations like this):
My favorite line in there is "I hope he doesn't ask me what his name is." It's taken a real effort over the past ten years or so for me to get comfortable with admitting I don't remember someone's name. I'm mostly there now, though. Mostly.
Anyone wanting to do something about this kind of experience might be interested in the page on this site about Broken Ideas and Idea Repair.
broken ideas, humor, idea repair, internal monologue, Randall Munroe, self-talk, xkcd
Sudden perspective shifts
One of the things that fascinates me and that I continue to try to fully understand is the sudden perspective shift that changes everything. For instance, if you've ever read Les Miserables (or seen the musical or a movie of the story, even), you'll remember the moment when Jean Valjean, an escaped convict, has been caught by the authorities while is was fleeing the home of a bishop who sheltered him and is in possession of valuables he stole from the bishop. The bishop, instead of accusing Valjean, tells the authorities that the stolen goods are gifts, and even adds to them. This utterly unexpected turn changes Valjean's perspective for the rest of his life–much for the better, I might add.
But Valjean is fictional, and while the example is fascinating, though there's much to think about in the debate that plays out in the rest of the story (what I read of it–while I know it's not considered respectable to purposely put aside a classic, Hugo's novel wanders too much to keep me engaged. He lost me after the whole Napoleon interlude).
Cartoonist Randall Munroe, whose work I often find absolutely brilliant (for instance, see my post on his Zombie Marie Curie comic from about a year ago), recently posted a cartoon that illustrated, literally and dramatically, what a real perspective shift is like, with plenty of dark humor. Here is that comic:
You may be worried to know that this cartoon is based on life, but Munroe, who is usually pretty private, kindly shares with us that "She's doing well."
change, changes, jean valjean, les miserables, perspective, perspective shift, Randall Munroe, victor hugo, xkcd
Reframing: An Instructive Example
I've made no secret of how brilliant I think Randall Munroe, author and artist of the webcomic XKCD, is (see "Randall Munroe and Zombie Marie Curie on Greatness," "Off-topic: Does Wanting Something Make It Real?," and "Some Common Misconceptions"). A few days ago, he offered a really, really good example of reframing. Reframing is looking at something in a different way, and when I talk about it on this site, I'm usually talking about looking at a situation in a more constructive way. Here's Munroe's comic, in which he offers a means of looking at cancer that in a weird way is almost joyful.
(Sorry for the shrinking: it's a limitation of my blog's design. You can click on the comic to see it full size on XKCD.)
There aren't many perks I know of to being a cancer patient, but cancer patients go through experiences more harrowing than anything most of us have ever experienced. Coming through that kind of trouble without crumpling is a feat worth some serious respect, especially considering it's more or less impossible to know for sure whether you've survived cancer or not (as Munroe explains in this comic).
It's not unlike the massive outpouring of goodwill that greeted congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords when she appeared in Washington earlier in the week to vote on the debt ceiling bill (on which subject please don't get me started). One not-very-politically-correct thought that crossed my mind is "does she like being applauded for getting shot in the head?" Fortunately I caught up after a minute or two and realized that it was not getting shot in the head she was getting applause for, but for months of struggle to get back to her job and for showing up at a vote despite enormous hardships. In the same way, cancer patients aren't laudable for having cancer; they're laudable when they show courage and perseverance in carrying on despite it.
We all get visited with trouble sometimes. We get fired, lose friends and family to illness or accident, have money troubles, have romantic troubles, get hurt … and none of that is really very encouraging to think about. It's nothing to celebrate. Yet our responses to those situations when we persevere or overcome, even if we're not doing anything particularly out of the ordinary, are definitely something to celebrate–and making celebration out of hardship can turn your whole outlook around.
cancer, gabrielle giffords, perseverence, perspective, Randall Munroe, reframing, tattoos, xkcd
Randall Munroe and Zombie Marie Curie on Greatness
You already may know about my preoccupation with the remarkably clever and heartfelt stick figure comic series XKCD by cartoonist and former NASA scientist Randall Munroe. Today's installment of XKCD, "Marie Curie," makes a key point about greatness, a topic that's easy to drop into conversation but about which not much practical advice is usually available. Munroe has a little bit of just that kind of practical advice to offer:
It's that point Zombie Marie Curie makes about greatness that grabs me particularly: "You don't become great by trying to be great. You become great by wanting to do something, and then doing it so hard that you become great in the process."
Among other ways this connects to what we know about self-motivation is its relationship to psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's concept of "flow," the process of losing yourself in a task and thereby realizing your greatest possible skill at it (see "Flow: What It Feels Like to Be Perfectly Motivated" and "Some Steps for Getting into a State of Flow"). It also reminds us of the importance of caring more about the process than to how other people might respond to the result.
flow, focus, greatness, marie curie, Randall Munroe, scientists, women, xkcd
Off-topic: Does Wanting Something Make It Real?
Just generally interesting
I admit, my math and science chops are not good enough that I always understand former NASA scientist and full-time web comic artist Randall Munroe's xkcd–but as fiction, I love this installment:
And I love that it made this happen:
http://thephoenix.com/Boston/News/48208-wisdom-of-crowds/
And I love that there were pictures:
Photos by atbash and kernelslacker.
Randall Munroe, wanting, web comics, xkcd
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