text:
My daughter-in-law
May 29, 2010 at 3:46 pm · Filed under Kronicle, Saga, Sports	·Tagged Lacrosse
Pumpkin's lacross team played their season finale, losing 5:8. They lost most draws and the opposing team would score. The visiting team's players are huge and they would run straight through you to score. Size does matter, everywhere.
At the party after the game, a pretty and bubbly sophomore came over to introduce herself and said Pumpkin is so cute. Later I learned that she actually proposed to King. Oh my god. I felt so lucky having such outgoing and beautiful daughter-in-law. But it seemed that King has commitment problem.
Upon hearing it, he demurred: said nothing.
So the future daughter-in-law asked him:
"DON'T you speak English?"
Hahaha .. she has humor too.
But .. but .. her motivation to marry my son is to be Pumpkin's sister-in-law .. hmmmmmm .. Remember the say that when something is too good to be true is probably not true.
USTA site map
May 27, 2010 at 10:28 pm · Filed under Tennis
The ground of NTC is in Flushing Meadow park. It has 12 indoor hard courts, 4 hartru indoor courts, 18 out door courts and 5 out door practice courts.
Court 2, April 24, 2011
Court 5, May 14, 2011 at Metro mixed 7.0 playoffs
Court 6, May 25, 2011; Women 3.5 singles début; lost 6-0, 6-2
Court #10, June 8, 2011; 3.5 double début
Court 13, May 2 2011; practice
Court 14, May 15, 2011 at Metro mixed 7.0 playoffs
The vigilante justice
May 25, 2010 at 10:32 am · Filed under Sports	·Tagged tennis, US Open, usta
US Open. Center Court. 1989. Ivan Lendl was playing (forgot his opponent's name). One bad line call resulted in Landl's favor. He didn't protest it by giving back the point. Then immediately after a point or two later, one of the linesmen called a controversy shot that favored his opponent, Lendl shouted in resignation, almost good naturally,
"Do you have to give it back so quickly?"
The whole stadium chuckled.
Back in Jan 2010, the big news in ice hockey was Vancouver Canucks forward Alexandre Burrows accusing referee Stephane Auger of slapping him with spiteful penalties, because Burrows faked an injury in a Dec game that Auger dished out a penalty to the player who 'injured' Burrows, causing Ref A feeling stupid and tricked into giving a penalty. Reportedly, Auger said to Burrows that he'll get him. And he did, the Canucks lost 3-2 at home: one goal was scored while the faker was in the penalty box.
The league fined Iverson $25,000 for his comments, but most of the league referees thought the punishment was too lenient and were upset he wasn't suspended. As a result, we collectively decided to dispense a little justice of our own, sticking it to Iverson whenever we could.
"Unfortunately that's part of the sport we're in. It's a team sport and those guys (officials) are part of the game."
There is vigilante justice in every aspect of life/sport. People think they know instinctively what's right and what's wrong.
During one of last weekend's playoffs, the deciding match against Manhattan, there was a bad call by our team. The Manhattan pair didn't protest at all but moments later, when it was their game point, the ball traveled from our court into theirs, landed deeply on the inside of the ad court but the Blue Jersey called it out as he was chasing it down (but couldn't get to it). We sat on the stand (on ad court side) and saw it clearly.
One of vets on my team muttered: "don't call it carelessly .. call the line smartly.. .. now they got the game."
So .. ..
Skills, luck plus timing, you win. Isn't this the right formula for life? On a good hair day when stars align one could do no wrong.
Also, you've got to learn the system.
Woody Allen narrated a perfect metaphor in Match Point that there are moment in a match when the ball hits the top of the net, and for a split second it can either go forward or fall back. With little luck, it goes forward and you win. Or maybe it doesn't, and you lose.
One of Golfer's four-some said he quit playing competitively was due to too much aggravation/cheating on court. But so far, I have only found mistakes but not intentional cheating. It's very hard to judge a player on a close call, was it blink moment or plain devious. I know I don't have excellent line calls and don't mind to be corrected. Have I faced a call that I already made up my mind before the ball landed? Of course. Am I a cheater? Absolutely not.
Lendl went on to win that match but Boris Becker beat him in the final, from the baseline, claimed his only US Open crown.
FedEx was bagled ..
May 23, 2010 at 11:23 pm · Filed under Sports	·Tagged tennis
My badminton group used to have Mr. Huang who worked at the premise – one of the churches in town. He would set up the net on the night that we have game (used to be two nights a week, then reduced to one night ..), and waiting patiently for us to arrive. There's only one court. Most of the time, we would have about 10 or so regulars who showed up for work religiously and took turn to play. But there were couple of times during his tenure (he had since left, and the church canceled the badminton night, well, since non of us converted..) the crowds was very thin, as just the two of us. Then we would play games after long warming up.
I dreaded it.
Because he's far better player, so the point would end very quickly.
How quickly?
One and two.
When it's my serve, he would return it, and the point was over.
When he served, on a luck I could return it (most time I couldn't ..) then he would kill it next.
We ended up spending most time picking up the birdie. I absolutely have no qualm of losing fairly in a competition but felt he could and should make the game more enjoyable by giving in a little. Just like I don't enjoy beating a kid – there isn't any enjoyment out of it. There was bit anger after the set point as I was wondering how much joy he'd get by beating a weaker player for it's a friendly game.
In general, I'm a firm believer that one shouldn't serve a bagel and I reminded my team of this too. (Few have retorted .. that they would) I thought to myself .. maybe just me thinking this way, cause I'm a loser. At last weekend playoffs, one of seasoned players on my team shared his feeling of bageling:
Don't do it.
We're only recreational players and there isn't any need to embarrass some one we may see/play often.
Hmmmm … apparently the pros feel the same way: Reto Schmidli, the guy who double bageled Roger Federer when he was 10 felt he should have done differently.
The second widowhood
May 19, 2010 at 8:23 pm · Filed under Ice hockey
Update: on Jan 3, 2011 Golfer scored a hat trick .. .. 3 goals in a game, becoming the most improved player out there.
Forgot how long I've been a golf widow. Getting used to it by now. Will I be ok with another widowhood? Too late, it's unavoidable: ice hockey widow. Since Golfer started his quest back in the winter, I've been getting deliveries of huge boxes on daily basis. Many of them dwarfed me into midget. The former maid's room is piled to the ceiling with ice hockey stuff. It used to store wine now I have dig deep to retrieve a bottle.
Not complaining but stating the fact and my plight.
It takes a long while to be ready: all those stuff need time to be put on. Think about it, man on skate travels fast and so does the little puck. You'd better have something that could block a shot ..
And it takes a long long while to take them off. And the time in the locker room was precious. Boys enjoy it very much. Perhaps beats out the drink after the 18th hole. The next shift crowd came and many had to do changing in the open: guess the locker room is too full with the departing crowd who had no desire to leave any time soon.
The Stanley Cup (French: La Coupe Stanley) is going on at the moment, so the fans are all acting up, excited and crazy.
The first layer of defense.
After winning the championship and trying to pretend to be a supportive wife, I went to his ice hockey game last Monday, at Syosset where the New York Islanders trains. Upon entrance, there is the artist's rendering of future Nassau Coliseum that Charles B. Wang (王嘉廉 Wang Jialian) had envisioned since 2003, long time ago. There are lots going on regarding this development, to a point that Mr. Wang is considering move away. I haven't been to Coliseum for a number of years because it felt yucky and depressing, like old Euorpa that every where you turn you see dilapidated corner, a beauty in her 80s and barely holding on. It's just too brutal.
What's stopping the county to grant Mr. Wang's wish? The Lighthouse Project's already nixed..
The rink is in a decent condition, could be better but it's ok. The large rink was being used by kids and the big men are using the side rink. I thought Golfer's game bag is huge, which I dab it as body bag. Really, it can fit me probably without being cut into half. But compare to his mates, his is really 小巫见大巫 pale into insignificance by comparison.
Ice hockey is a very graceful and elegant game, still don't understand why it isn't as popular as other major league sports. It has speed, force, violence, blood .. beat out basketball when men running around half naked any given day, IMHO.
Golfer and his mates warming up first, then little drill and games. They mostly are middle aged men. It was exciting. One of the guys came out, jokingly asked me if I knew how to skate and should join them .. .. ha ha ha … Couple of the mates are grandpas who couldn't skate the way the middle aged boys do but boy they could handle the puck. Although I saw no Alex Ovechkin nor Sidney Crosby (hahaha but again none of us are Pete Sampras or Agassi or Roger Federer) – actually both boys are already knocked out of .. so the NHL might need some replacements?
As we were driving home, Golfer thought out loud enthusiastically that should our home rink offers such program he would have played everyday. I was like, silently, thank lord or whoever lives above that our home rink is geared toward figure staking. A supoortive wife indeed.
When hotels fly
May 19, 2010 at 6:44 pm · Filed under Sports	·Tagged tennis, usta
After votes, my team opted out the official hotel Marriott in Albany that cost $114 per night (with discount) the league has designed and went with hotwire.com. We got Hilton that's 1.3 miles away instead, cost $56.
"Does breakfast included?"
No, it's an extra $11.95.
"Can we have 3 king-bed rooms and 3 double-bed rooms?"
We can't guarantee.
"Can we be next to each other or close by?"
The operator reminded me twice that I booked thro hotwire, as if it's dirtywire.
So what's the heck can you guarantee? Do you at least guarantee a bed?
There are only two kinds of rooms: king bed and double beds.
She said if they're sold out .. BUT you aren't sold out now right? Otherwise why would you ended up on dirtywire for me to book?
Here is an article about hotel cutting corners. I'm sure if hotels fly, they sure would do what airlines are doing. But before you learn to fly, you've got to learn how to walk. If you aren't happy with dirtywire, then don't put your property on its site.
.. Then We Take Brooklyn
May 18, 2010 at 10:36 pm · Filed under Musing, Tennis	·Tagged usta
First we took Manhattan, then we took Berlin Brooklyn.
During a chat with Yishi few weeks ago I casually asked about weekends now, if they have two days, 1.5 day or 1 day in China, Yishi replied: one to two days in China now, depending on the sectors; then went on to say that the Europeans and Americans commented that ..
"Chinese are greedy." when they saw how hard and long my fellow comrades work in China.
Well, I understand the accusation well:
One, without unions, the workers have to work harder. It's glass half full or empty. (China should have unions while USA should get ride of it.. let's not going there .. )
Two, coming from being poor and bullied for so long, Chinese nowadays are just began to taste how money could be earned and enjoyed, legally or illegally.
I joked to the coordinator for being cheap, tore the page into half? She retorted:
"We're nonprofit."
In fact, they would tap the two tore pages back together after the captains hand in the lineups .. oh well, what do I know.
When we began the season after forming the team at the last second, none of us had thought we would get this far. Actually most of us have no idea – at least me – as where we would go and what to achieve except play little tennis in the dead winter. But as winning piled in we grew greedy. When I suffered the first defeat after three shutout battles I felt miserable as if the sky had fall down.
One becomes grrreeeedy only when he sees the potential and opportunity.
As it turned out, we've a perfect season – and it is extending. As we were giddily prepare for the first level playoffs, the league served us two complains that rendered most strong 4.0 guys unable to compete since three girls got bumped up from 3.0 to 3.5. It was just few days shy of the playoffs. It felt unjustified.
Few comrades said .. forget it .. But most of us were fueled by the late development and fought back hard. And won.
Even with the limited resources – most 4.0 boys are handicapped due to no girls.
It's the same drive that we shared as we faced the regional championship.
We tasted the success and we wanted more.
It's me, a German sausage or Michel tires? It's recession, okay?
Sean and I have only played once and practiced few times in the past. We went to NTC early hoping to practice bit more on an open court but was being kicked out by our opposing team since they said they paid for it, from 2:30 to 3:30. Not sure it's coincidence or what for there are 18 courts. We did get to play a little on indoor court 12. As we were waiting by Court 13, Paul began to hit against the wall to warm up. We all shouted .. stop !! .. because that's the Wall of Doom or Defeat where the Blue Jersey also hit against yesterday .. who lost to Wai/Mary in a tight match. Paul ignored us and continued his warm up routine.
I walked onto Court 17, thinking it's a gorgeous day and let's just play. That's my plan A and B and C. Our opponents (great people – firm hand shake ..) won the spinning and opted to serve. Rafael was up 40:0 but we stayed relaxed and I was focused so we took the first game. I remembered Wah said that 'there's plenty time to prepare for a shot .. ' .. this finally sank in to my mind. I'm still trying to do .. like getting ready .. staying focused .. keeping my racket up, not glued to the ground, etc. I need a new Pentium 10.0 chip insert into my brain to remember all of those little big things, 🙂
Sean lost his serve but we broke Karen's. I then double faulted .. wonderful way to start serving. Two more errors I found myself 0:40. Didn't remember what we did for the next five points but we won the game. My concentration helped; kept telling myself .. don't go for winners, just cut down those unforced errors.
This is the wisdom for 3.0 and 3.5. Really.
Our last outing, we had 4:1 lead but ended up losing the match 4 and 1.
Hope it's not going to happened again ..
It didn't, thank lord. We took the match at 2 and 2. Don't ask me how we did it bec I don't know, don't remember .. had no clue.
Paul and Mary's court finished second. Having hit against the Wall of Defeat, they lost a closely contested match, 6:4 and 7:6.
For the playoffs, we won them all by a hair margin, two out of three courts. So again, the last court to finish decided the out come. Kai and Anna had won their first set at 3 but struggled in the second and lost it in tie break by fair large margin.
We were scratched our heads asking why did we have to ride the roller-coaster all the time?
Their opponents were tough: she's solid and experience and he's extremely athletic, cover the baseline corner to corner without breaking a sweat.
The super tie break ensured.
Anna is the only member who lives across the river, far from us, and plays two leagues in two states; 8.0 in her own home town state. As with Susan, they consistently taking drill classes and lessons and still join us for practice. If you think I'm a big bum, you haven't seen anything yet. I haven't taken lessons for a couple of years. After playing in the league, I do find myself improved a bit. Not sure what, but improved so the league rushed out to crown me the 3.5. I'm utterly flattered.
4.0 in the horizon?
Irene, get real, will you? I'm hearing Simon's sarcastic laughs ..
See, that's my problem, 得寸进尺 give me an inch and I'll take an ell.
Whatever .. never mind, let's just move on..
So, the super tie break .. not much drama .. they won it relatively easy.
So, we're heading to Schenectady in June.
Deborah-Rose Andrews, our Metro local league Coordinator with Duke. The bar tender Sean, a very versatile comrade on my team.
Cheers .. under the shadow of Arthur Ashe Stadium ..
Bill won't go due to family issue. Our prayer and best wishes Captain!! However he said that we're allowed to consult with the lineup wizard, but has to be before her bed time at 9pm thou.
After the match, I went to thank Deb-Rose, really meant it. It's a hard (tedious) and perhaps thankless job. I wasn't happy when she served me two belated complains – similar feeling when I received speeding ticket: you get hit from time to time. Hopefully my team didn't cause her too much problem or headache, for .. we only have 24 hours each day and I wish we could all spend them wisely, meaningfully and productively.
No B.S. please.
俱往矣,
数风流人物,
还看今朝。
This is the ending of one of Mao's poems – my favored. Is this picture 稍逊风骚 or 风骚过剩?
As we were drinking, the crews asked how the team was formed. I said Bill started.
Bill replied,
"I told you NO."
Ok. Then must be Paul.
"I said NO." Paul reminded me.
Ok, then .. I pointed to Irene Lum
"You did."
She laughed,
"You ASKED me to join, don't you remember?"
I did? Maybe they're right for once, because my knees are still swollen from begging.
Whatever .. .. we're here, still kicking. And the fact that all my kids are still talkin to me ..
I touched base with my LI cap .. also asked her if we could move to LI taking advantage of the year end rating should more members get bumped up ..
She shut back immediately:
Just enjoy it..
It further proves that Chinese are indeed hard working crazy tribe who not only greedy but also don't know when and how to enjoy life.
#1 Doubles 4-6, 6-7
#3 Doubles 6-3, 6-7, 1-0
First We Take Manhattan ..
View from US Tennis Center of 1964 New York World's Fair; May 15, 2010
I last heard First We Take Manhattan phrase was from the Polgar sisters when they were playing a tourney in the city.
My USTA league team's fairytale-like story line is getting extended despite the belated complains that prohibited half of the teammates to compete – yes, the perfect season is still going strong.
Toward end of the regular season, at least one experienced captain has predicted doubtlessly that ' … Manhattan will take it all …', meaning Manhattan will win the USTA/Eastern Metro Regional Championship. Because they have 6 players who are playing below their USTA rating: two 4.5 male playing as 4.0 and four 3.5 playing as 3.0. As a side note: I also learned, after all the dust has settled, that Manhattan team was so confident that they even booked hotels before the final was being played. .. And after more dust had settled, I found out a charge on my credit card: I forgot to cancel a hotel reservation after we used Hotwire to book for our trip. Oh well, consider it the tuition paid.
We gathered by the desk, listened for the brief instructions as how to play and behave 🙂 The Manhattan team has advantage.
We lost our appeals that were filed after our 7.0 Mixed Adults Flight Playoff (bumping four 3.0s to 3.5 – myself included; leaving only one 3.0 girl on the team with six seasoned 4.0 boys ..), hence we have to do with limited resources as we did in the division and regional's playoffs – rallying heavily on four Marquis players.
It was a very sunny and windy day for our Metro playoffs, crispy blue sky dotted with white clouds. At 3:30, each team handed in their lineups and by 4pm, the league coordinator Deb-Rose Andrews went over briefly about the rules and called players to court. During regular season, captains exchange lineups five minutes prior to the start of the match, which leaves a bit time to coach IF you knew the opposing players. During the playoffs, you won't know your opponents till the match time. So it's surprise, which made the match more exciting.
Wai and his partner are getting ready for their match.
Players immediately left for their courts and start 10 minutes warm up. Officials measured the nets and issued 5 minutes and 2 minutes warnings respectively. As it turned out, both teams were evenly matches in their peeking order – unfortunate for us, because we had hoped to capture a win by putting First, Third and Second in that order. In the past, many teams would put their strongest in the second to guarantee a court win. As the warm up progressed, we heard that their third double's lady was running late. Sorry to admit but we were looking at our watches closely. Reportedly the lady is a lioness – a great player who eventually showed 45 minutes late. I wondered how did she face her team? The league coordinator default the match and awarded us a win, without sweat. The male player wasn't charmed by this decision and argued, and argued, and argued with Deb-Rose loudly, saying she should only default them a set .. until she told him to be quiet other wise she would default the entire team for unsportsmanlike conduct.
The male player asking the coordinator to default them only a set was so absurd because the rule's so clearly stated. He seemed like 狗急跳墙 cornered dog to me. Perhaps this showed how desperate he was, trying to salvage the match. Human nature? Probably but by being on time could avoid all of these.
She and her boyfriend partner have a perfect season too ..
We sat by Court 13, watching our only 4/3 combo playing a boy/girl friend team that had never lost in the season. I've heard about the guy from my teammate who had played him before.
"He's solid 4.5 if not a 5.0 player, hard hitting and precise."
Hit to the girl. It's the rule of thumb.
"No, he controls the court so well, you just don't get that opportunity."
Indeed, he hits the ball so low and hard, it travels so fast that some times I couldn't tell it's in or out and frequently miss it altogether.
On his first or second serve – they elected to serve first – Mary called out. They both approached the net and questioned the call. He was about to go back to serve again but his partner won't let go. She pressed Wai for confirmation.
Wai shrugged: "I didn't see."
She said to Mary, "Ooh, he said he didn't know so it our point."
What? Putting word in people's mouth? How assertive .. .. but I liked her little tattoo!
Cheering section from the other side of the East River
Queen Mary simply raised her right hand ..
"I called it out."
[My advice: don't mess with my girls, especially QM .. it just makes her to be stronger and nastier ..]
The girl worn a low cut top who reminded me of this puny cute ball girl, so Mary kept reminding Wai to concentrate on the game in Cantonese. Throughout the match they jokes about it and other harmless stuff. Wai got passed left and right, from the LC. Oh lord .. the surplus from the defaulted court is vanishing fast.
When the LC was serving at 2:4, we felt pretty good: break her and take a 5:2 comfortable lead. Guess some one lost his concentration again, no? The first set ended up to a tie break.
More concentration was lost, and our pair found themselves deep in a hole: 0:6. It's a regular tie break, best of 7 by 2 points wins the set. Wondering if anyone had captured our facial expressions at that juncture?!
Kodak Moment, anyone?
Then 咸鱼翻身 (起死回生) back to life
Miracle or destiny, point by point our pair fought back. Some hard and some were given on a silver plate – unforced error by the opponents. It was nail biting and heart wrenching 6 points because every one of it had the potential to be the set point against us.
Mary and Wai won by 8:6 or 9:7. I couldn't remember.
thanks to wai for not telling me what the score was during the tiebreaker on the first set, i would have been nervous.
Sean is only a professional trainer/ball boy/bartender/tennis player/golfer and does law as his side job.. ..
Second set began.
There were close calls and there was a clear in but called out by the blue jersey that resulted winning that first game. Despite those patchy moments the match was fluid. Ok, except one moment when the BJ hit a shot so low and mean to Wai that caused Bill yelling out:
"He isn't a father yet!"
.. Then moment later our QM got a cramp, had to stop in the middle of the game. The girl in Low Cut said sarcastically,
"Is this a circus or what?"
She and her BJ partner went to their bench and sat down. Their teammate who's lady partner came in late resulting default went over started coaching her.
Bill went over, politely shoo him away like a dog. Tennis is really a gentlemen's game with etiquette. If coaching isn't allow, which was specifically covered at the briefing, and clearly stated in the rule book, then please don't do it.
As to the circus question, no, lady, it's for real and don't be too mean.
Don't we all see ourselves in her: brash, brassy, bossy and bally? The privilege of being young.
We handed our Queen the Gator, banana, and even Advil. The official came over questioning her. Not sure no eating allowed or drugs are not allow taken on court? But she took it anyway.
Sorry, no one can tell QM what to do or not to do.
One of my boys dabbed in as trainer, gave her cramping leg a good rub. Told you, my 4.0 boys all become the bench warmers who are operating the massage parlor 24/7 since they couldn't play.
Game resumed.
Then the Low Cut got cramp.
I kidded you not.
The game resumed soon after she took her time out.
Mary got a foot fault call by the official .. but they managed to broke the LC and Wai began to serve at 5:4.
Wai is type of guy who really could up a notch when facing a steep competition. Which he did. He and Mary played really well. Mary was unyielding when the BJ hit rocket at her at the net with all his might, she simply just blocked it. Although it sent the ball high in the air and ultimately went out, it sent a message that .. don't try it again.
The BJ – blue jersey .. he's really good ..
Actually in mixed doubles, the rule of thumb is hit to the girl because we are usually the weakest link. But all the guys I've played in this league during the season this far not many I can recall who did it. Yes many had hit at me, but not lethal. Gentleman's game? Not sure I really appreciated it or not. Ok, the not appreciate part is, I'd like to play really games, not water down ones.
Anyway, our match point came quickly.
By that time, our second doubles had lost 0 and 3. So this point would seal our fate, moving forward.
Just do it, Wai.
Yes, he did, netted.
The surging bubble immediately was deflected. And began to worry Mary's cramping leg. We all knew Wai didn't want to end it because of the LC across the net. Mary said so on the court too.
Two more match points were erased and Wai eventually lost the game. Forfeiting match point to be on court with the pretty woman .. .. some camp was really happy. As if Wai read our minds, he raised his hands, .. ..
"My fault, my fault .. .."
Eventually, we won the next two games. When they shock hand at the net, the LC said in perfect Cantonese to Wai ..
Sorry I don't kiss and tell ..
Contact me privately if you must know.
Yup, we took Manhattan, indeed.
The smiles didn't come easy
2010 Mixed Doubles Infomation Packet
2010 Mixed Doubles Section Championships
DATES: June 4-6; Schedule
LOCATION: Central Park, Schenectady, NY
SURFACE: Outdoor, Hard Courts
BALLS: Penn extra duty
ENTRY FEE: $125 per team.
AWARDS: 1st & 2nd place.
OFFICIAL HOTELS:
Albany Marriott
SPECIAL PLAYER RATE:
$114 (single or double)
Mention USTA Eastern Section when making your reservation.
Rooms are being held until May 26, 2010.
2010 Mixed Info Packet
5/15 or 5/22?
Mistakes are everywhere. My teammates began asking me if the playoffs are on 5/15 or 22: one part of the web page says 5/22 and inside it has the correct date.
P.S. they never bothered to change. After the playoffs dates have passed, it remains 5/22. Cute.


Last evening, the most sought after and an innovative preschool offering concept based education, The Big Umbrella hosted an enlightening interactive evening for parents, led by the Sheriff of Mumbai and Chief Mentor, The Big Umbrella - Dr. Indu Shahani. Named as 'Chat & Snack', it is a parent-focused event held at the school every month. It is perceived as an excellent platform for parents to interact amongst each other and network on areas concentrating on parenting and how their efforts and the environment affect their children. This month's 'Chat & Snack' talked about the pressures a parent faces throughout their child's education.
Those present at the event were Dr. Indu Shahani, Ateet Sanghavi (Chairman, Purple Concierge Services Private Limited & The Big Umbrella Advisory Board member), Shreena Doshi (Director, The Big Umbrella), heads of the school, teachers and parents.
Dr. Indu Shahani, Principal of HR College and Chief Mentor, The Big Umbrella said, "Firstly, I congratulate Shreena to have taken up the initiative to enlighten young minds and make them responsible individuals by creating such a unique and an experimental space for children. As the Chief Mentor of The Big Umbrella and most importantly as an educator and a mother, it is my prime responsibility to address such issues and guide parents in the right direction because it is only them who can inspire their little ones to think and do things differently."
Partnered with New York's award winning children's activity centre - apple seeds, The Big Umbrella promotes the ideology of nature vs. nurture and how the culmination of both these factors result in comfortable and confident children through love and caring. Certain issues that were raised and discussed at the event centered around subjects like growing competition with new schools cropping up in the city, acceptance and adaptation to the international curriculum introduced by these schools, tedious interview processes and a couple of others.
Dr. Shahani addressed these issues by commenting on how vast is the gap between supply and demand because of which it gets difficult for parents to make a wise decision and they go through stress at various levels. There needs to be well defined criteria for schools to assess a child's skill set and capabilities in order to bridge this gap and ease out the pressures faced by parents. She further added saying that it is crucial for parents to make conscious efforts to bring up their kids with independent thinking, grounded lifestyle and most importantly adherence to family values and culture because these are the strengths of our nation which will eventually lead to having a futuristic generation with young responsible individuals.
Dr. Shahani's insights and ideas relieved parents from facing such pressures and helped them to counteract situations sensitively because according to her, nothing can be superior to a child's happiness, comfort and joy.
Led by Shreena Doshi and Nisaurg Doshi of The Doshi Group of Companies, The Big Umbrella is an innovative preschool for children 0 to 5 years where it introduces the concept of allowing children to learn and explore at their own pace with the right stimulus by opening its first proprietary location in South Mumbai. apple seeds, the award-winning all-in-one children's play space based in New York City is an intriguing feature of The Big Umbrella, both striving to help the toddlers achieve inner harmony as well as balance within their environment. With The Big Umbrella and apple seeds, the Doshi Group has made its foray in the field of education. The Big Umbrella is an excellent platform for education driven mothers and fathers to come together and recognize the value of concept based education, especially when there is a need for children to grow and develop their minds and personalities at that extremely impressionable age.
A premier and innovative children's destination and recreation facility, apple seeds, opened its doors March 1, 2007 in NYC's Chelsea. apple seeds is the creation of Craig Schlanger and Bobby Berna. Their mission was to open an indoor, interactive play space that provides families a sense of community and a modern, safe, clean environment where kids can play, learn and have fun in the city. An intriguing feature of The Big Umbrella: preschool and activity centre, apple seeds India has fun filled activities - semester with 8 innovative classes for toddlers of varying ages.
With high energy sports and movement activities as well as hands on science and exploration classes, kids can discover and learn at their own pace in a safe, sound and healthy environment. With activities ranging from interactive cooking classes to art for emerging artists, the apple seeds India activity centre promises to be a stimulating place for the young ones to get their creative juices flowing. Named Song for Seeds, this rocking music program has been rated as the Best Music Class by New York magazine. It encourages young children to sing, dance and play along with a live, three-piece band. Kids rock out with children's instruments as well as real drums, guitars, keyboards and instruments from around the world.
The Big Umbrella and apple seeds India, both offer an innovative space that promises to give children the freedom and comfort to express, grow and become all they want to be.


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FLYING FISH & COU COU: Just not measuring up
BARBADOS NATION
THE TALK AROUND THE TOWN is about a political operative who is also a career officer now positioning for a top job.
Unfortunately, this loudmouth has highlighted that old adage that you can give a man a job but you cannot do the work for him.
This character, who has a long- standing professional connection with the immediate political boss, was surprisingly given a big promotion some time ago to the astonishment of many.
It was described as pushing the character also called "mop head" beyond the level of competence. But after years of defending the legacy of Errol the First and giving loyal support to not one but two rich Dicks, it was felt that just reward was due. But things have turned out to be nothing more than disastrous.
This bigwig was unable to resolve the problems as they cropped up whether on the long hauls from Speightstown to the Pine, indeed not even in handling the short courses from Belleville to Welches.
And the efforts to throw a curb ball at a senior comrade as a New year's gift did not work as the batter did not turn up and the ball came flying right back to the bowler.
Now that the batter has thrown away the bat and is playing a completely different game, the bowler has been found wanting. Reports are that they have their eyes on a monarch, unassuming and bright, overlooked previously, but a David one who could slay a Goliath.
Call the police
The Auditor General in his latest report highlighted many instances of illegality. In some instances the matters have been referred to prosecutors.
But a number of people familiar with one case are asking why the police have not been called in to investigate the incidents. They say it is more than coincidence that an averaged paid high flyer could talk all day about his time on the greens and the spanking lifestyle he lived which allowed his spouse to frequent the posh spas.
This man was known for buying the wrong things while in his political appointment.
Now he's gone and former colleagues are wondering whether anything will ever come of the matter other than another follow-up note again from the Auditor General next year.
But then again there's a lot in a name with its Scottish roots.
Doing the dog
Two brownlings, one male and the other female, from a country north of Barbados are doing dixie about here in this land which affords them the lifestyle as if they were in Norbrook or Cherry Gardens. To show their gratitude, these two guests have been treating Bajans with total disdain.
One who is in a position to employ people in big and small jobs has been doing their utmost best not to have any Barbadians working in his complex where employees get all sorts of sweet benefits.
The talk is the back-hand slap given to his hosts in preference to another island known for its high level of corruption. All fingers are pointing at this former prep school student who leaked a document on plans about soaring to new heights.
This sweet life big shot is now being called The Leak by his friends from Nelson's Dockyard to Mesopolamia to castle Bruce to Morgan lewis.
The silent man aint saying nutten.
Then the other house guest, who fires people who talk back or stand up for their rights, has now carried her brash behaviour one step further. With a big get-together planned for the original homeland, this temporary resident of the land of the flying fish has sought to invite the woman in white to be her special guest.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Stephen Tsoroti
Mbare, Shoes
He might not be in the same league as Mike Friton, the world famous Nike shoe designer, but Patrick Muchemwa is a shoe maker to note. His ground breaking achievement is his design of a size 16 shoe, 36 centimetres in length.
Speaking from his simple factory shop at the famous Siyaso Market in Mbare, he said that he could not believe that anyone would wear that size. "When I heard about it from the client I thought it was a joke but when I measured his foot I was amazed. This is the biggest size I have ever heard of, designed or made," he said with a chuckle.
Muchemwa's formal shoes made from various types of leather cost between $30 and $50. He is skilled in replicating different styles.
A sweets and cigarettes vendor and shoe polisher twenty years ago, the cobbler got his break in shoe design and manufacturing by accident. He recalls his early days saying, "When I first started, Siyaso Market had not grown to what it is today. I was selling sweets and cigarettes then. We were not allowed in the Central Business District then, so the safest place to do that kind of vending without attracting trouble from the municipal police was just after the fly-over bridge. Even at the bridge the police could give you anxious moments. As time went on, I started selling shoe accessories like rubber inners, sewing threads and glue," he narrated.
He got the break-through he wanted in 2000. "I used to see people milling around a nearby Indian shop by the name of Sonja at Magaba complex, and I decided to find what those people were queuing for. It happened that the Indian shop sold shoe soles and it was the only shop in the area that stocked them. People used to queue there for hours before the shop opened. I managed to trace where the shop got their soles from and found out that it was from a factory in Msasa. The next step was obtaining those shoe soles and those people queuing become my first customers," he said.
A marketing and public relations graduate from Harare Polytechnic, Muchemwa then teamed up with his elder brother to painstakingly build a shoe business that moved them away from vending. What has made his designs appealing is their local approach. Most interesting is the type of skins he uses for the shoes.
"I have designed shoes using some of the country's best skins – ostrich, crocodile, buffalo and elephant," he says, "These are the most sought after designs by international clients." He added that he is indebted to the old generation of cobblers at Magaba Siyaso Market and has always admired their talent and craftsmanship.
Perhaps the most daunting task of a shoe designer and manufacturer is to create a shoe that looks fashionable, feels comfortable and that supports a variety of activities. He says that shoe design and manufacturing takes ardent research and skill. It is his belief that if the economy improves he, and other designers and manufacturers, will be able to take advantage of the latest technology and design equipment to introduce new and exciting products that offer the best value to customers. In today's world every shoe designer recognises that his customer deserves to wear shoes that are both fashionable and comfortable. "The right shoe transforms an ordinary outfit into a special one," says Muchemwa.
Muchemwa (left) and his two assistants hope for better days when designers and craftsmen can flourish in their trade.
Besides making shoes for the local market, the cobbler has had special orders to supply sandals and leather belts to Namibia, Malawi and South Africa. He says his only misgiving is the closure of the leather companies that used to supply him. "It would be a more lucrative business if the leather companies were still operating at their full capacity."
Asked if size 16 will be his last extraordinary shoe size, Muchemwa beams, "Probably not. You never know who will come along asking for another size bigger than this."
Photos: Harry Davies
Patrick can be reached on 0772 362 140.
2 thoughts on "Serving Mr Bigfoot – Harare's cobbler for giants"
Haley on July 7, 2016 at 6:04 am said:
vreyro linomit on December 31, 2020 at 1:18 pm said:
Wow! Thank you! I continually wanted to write on my site something like that. Can I implement a part of your post to my blog?


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Q: Is there a way to make feh fade in between transitions? I would like my desktop wallpaper to fade between transitions instead of a cut. Is there a way to do this with feh? Maybe using xcompmgr or compton?
If not is there a way of doing it without changing to a different wm? I am using awesome at the moment.

A: You can use a xscreensaver as a wallpaper, and glslideshow does what you want.
Although it has a -root option, you will usually need xwinwrap for it to work correctly:
xwinwrap -ov -fs -- \
    /usr/lib/xscreensaver/glslideshow -window-id WID -zoom 100
# location of xscreensavers may vary between distros

The -zoom option sets the images to fill the screen, so they don't pan around.
You can not manually select an image with this solution, but you can set a directory, from where glslideshow will take random images (it recurses into subdirectories). This can either be done on the "advanced" tab in xscreensaver-demo or by creating a file .xscreensaver in your home directory with the following content:
chooseRandomImages: True
imageDirectory: /your/wallpaper/path

See the manpage of glscreensaver for further options to customize.

Without xwinwrap, glslideshow may do strange things, like draw over all your windows, when using compositing (e.g. with xcompmgr). But when disabling compositing, the root image is only redrawn when it moves, so you either have to set glslideshow to do continuous image transformations or you will have black boxes where windows have been since the last redraw. Sometimes it works, but it is safer to use xwinwrap.

A: If you add imagemagick into the equation, then the answer to your question is yes. What follows is what could be a rather crude implemenation:
mv current.bg old.bg
imagemagick convert old.bg -fill black -colorize 50% transition.bg
feh --bg-scale transition.bg
imagemagick convert new.bg -fill black -colorize 50% transition.bg
feh --bg-scale transition.bg
feh --bg-scale new.bg
mv new.bg current.bg

Still, though, with imagemagick your options are pretty wide open.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
HomeUncategorizedThe crystal structure of Escheric
The crystal structure of Escheric
The myc oncogenes have ampicillin vs amoxicillin been implicated in the control of cell proliferation in both normal and neoplastic cells. Outcomes of passive-active immunoprophylaxis given to infants of mothers infected with hepatitis B virus in Babol, Iran.
We investigated the filter properties of the highly branched trunk lateral lines of the stichaeid Xiphister atropurpureus and compared them to the filter properties of simple lateral line canals. Recent experiments have shown that the presence of auxiliary, nondriving motors results in an enhanced processivity of the cargo, compared to the case amoxil 500 mg of a single active driving motor alone. Adhesion molecules may play an important role in the homing of T-cell subsets into allergen-exposed skin of atopic individuals.
Therefore we used side effects for amoxicillin the phosporamidite and the H-phosphonate chemistry. Few studies have investigated COX-2 expression as a biomarker for early cervical carcinogenesis.
Effects of neonatal dexamethasone or methylprednisolone on rat what is amoxicillin used for growth and neurodevelopment. Twenty-seven sera from cases and noncases were tested by three laboratories.
Aedes aegypti populations may experience changes in abundance and genetic diversity in addition to changes in their evolutionary capability to respond to vector control. We investigated the adenovirus-mediated Rb (Ad-Rb) gene transfect into human oral squamous cell carcinoma cell amoxicillina line (012) in both in vitro and in vivo models. It has been demonstrated that MCs play a role in IR injury, but the mechanisms are complex and need to be further studied.
In this research, the influence of addition of Fe(II) or Fe(III), alone or together with NO(2)(-) or NO(3)(-) on bench-scale activated sludge reactors was examined. Evidence for side effects of amoxicillin autonomous conserved type I and type II domain folds. In multicellular organisms, apoptosis, also known as programmed cell death, is an important physiological response to eliminate unnecessary, excess, or harmful cells.
Conferring Phosphorogenic Properties on Iridium(III)-Based Bioorthogonal Probes through Modification with a Nitrone Unit. In this paper we propose a concept of irregularly amoxil arrayed waveguide gratings (IAWGs). EEG data were generated by simulating multiple cortical sources (2-4) with the same strength or two sources with relative strength ratios of 1:1 to 4:1, and adding noise.
Techniques for delivering radiotherapy are then discussed and is amoxicillin a penicillin are followed by protocols detailing radiotherapy and chemotherapy doses for different clinical situations. In the minority of patients in whom AF cannot be adequately managed by pharmacological therapy, the most appropriate type of non-pharmacological therapy must be selected on an individualized basis. The discriminatory capacity of each model was assessed by calculating C-statistics for the models in their own data and in the cross-validation data.
abortus and other Brucella species reach their intracellular location inside the rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) of placental trophoblasts and other nonphagocytic epithelial cells. Different data amoxicilline 500 mg indicate that CD69 exerts an important immunoregulatory effect in vivo. Soft-tissue sarcomas in the Asia-Pacific region: a systematic review.
Improvements in appetite and growth in helminth-infected schoolboys three and seven weeks after a single dose of pyrantel pamoate. Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (intravascular bronchioloalveolar tumor) of the lung. We measured the quality of care is amoxicillin penicillin of physicians who used three predominating EHR documentation styles: dictation, structured documentation, and free text.
EFFECT OF ANGIOTENSIN AND METOPIRON ON GLUCOSE-6-PHOSPHATE-DEHYDROGENASE AND SUCCINATE DEHYDROGENASE IN THE GLOMERULAR ZONE OF THE ADRENAL CORTEX IN RATS Implications for practice are to what is amoxicillin include the reasons found for African American preference for hospice in public information sessions with the African American community. As compared with vehicle-treated controls, body weight and tibial epiphyseal width significantly increased in GH- and IGF-I-treated animals.
Infection resulted in significant changes in collagen metabolism during the early phase of colonic healing. We sought to reconstruct the biogeographical structure and dynamics of a hyperdiverse ant genus, Pheidole, and to test several predictions of the amoxicilline 1g taxon cycle hypothesis. The morphology, structure, and phase transition of the as-prepared samples were studied.
As the dipole is further shifted from the center, there is an increased tendency to assemble into small cyclic structures at intermediate temperatures. The effects of 17beta-estradiol (E2) warnings for amoxicillin are mediated through activation of estrogen receptors (ER): ERalpha and ERbeta.
The synergistic effects of hypoxia/reoxygenation or tissue acidosis and bacteria on intestinal epithelial cell apoptosis. Relative risks (RRs) were used to compare the prognosis of different intrinsic subtypes for pT1a-bN0M0 breast cancer. All the patients were side effects of amoxicillin 500 mg treated with lifelong anticoagulation with warfarin.
Hospital at home can deliver care at similar or lower cost than an equivalent admission to an acute hospital. Moreover, the key components of these pathways have potential as biomarkers and therapeutic target for ERG positive prostate tumors. As none of the cats bnfc amoxicillin developed signs of systemic illness, yet were chronically parasitemic, T.
This regimen showed encouraging results in phase I and II clinical trials, which led to an ongoing phase III clinical trial. Rho-associated, coiled-coil containing protein kinase 1 (ROCK1) is an important regulator of focal adhesion, actomyosin contraction and cell motility. However, binding assays and infection experiments using cell lines or human cord blood lymphocytes showed a clear fish antibiotics amoxicillin reduction in the viral mutant titers.
Tamoxifen and C(2)-ceramide interfere with the activation of protein kinase B, whereas myriocin relieved the inhibitory effect of tamoxifen. For fat and protein content, nearly no statistically significant amoxicillin/clavulanic acid crossbreeding effects were found.
This inhibition of reticulocyte response was associated with clustering of reticulocytes amoxicilline around the marrow sinuses which were packed with red cells. However, geopolitical, socioeconomical, and medical factors contributed to an increased TB incidence altering this lofty hope. Measurement of the cariogenicity of snacks using a radioisotope PAHA disc.
Extensive bench marking shows that ASPIC outperforms other existing methods in the detection of interactions for amoxicillin novel splicing isoforms and in the minimization of over-predictions. RBP2 is also a novel biomolecule for RCC diagnosis, and prognosis and may be a therapeutic target.
These results suggest fish mox amoxicillin that enterolactone suppresses proliferation and migration of prostate cancer cells, at least partially, through inhibition of IGF-1/IGF-1R signaling. We present a case of focal xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis (XGP) in a pediatric patient.
At the lower pH value (pH 2.0) only one kind of cargo was released from the MSNs, whereas at a higher pH value (pH 7.0) bnf amoxicillin only the other kind of cargo was released from the MSNs. IVM does not require ovarian stimulation and so can be offered to patients at risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. This model directly utilizes the reported interdonation intervals before a positive donation and reflects in this aspect the look-back procedures used in haemovigilance.
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http://polishseeing.site/using-these-measures-time-trends-of-outpatient/
http://pure.antibiotics365.com/in-these-cases-alternative-treatment-modality/


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Q: iOS itunes app modal on ipad: seperator above scroll view I am looking to implement a modal similar to the iTunes App on the ipad.  Here is a great screen from another post: iTunes style modal view controller chain (form sheet).
Notice the seperation of the 2 parts: the top(movie name/image/etc) and the bottom scroll view(summary/credits/etc).  I am wondering how to recreate that border, drop shadow, views or whatever that seperator is.  If you have an ipad load the itunes app and click on the title, you will see the modal draws that top frame first.  Can anyone point me in the right direction?  Thanks!

A: A good tutorial for doing drop shadows & gradients was written by the esteemed Ray Wenderlich, here: http://www.raywenderlich.com/2079/core-graphics-101-shadows-and-gloss which I think should cover what you're looking to do, and then some.
Fair warning, diving into Core Graphics and its cousins, Core Animation and Quartz, is a bit of a rabbit hole. It's an extremely feature-complete framework, with functions to do nearly anything. Finding those functions though can be a real challenge.
Have fun :)


Return of Long Beach Comic & Horror Con!
On the main floor, Artist's Alley continues to be the centerpiece, both literally and figuratively. SDCC has been shoving the artist's tables off to one end of the insanely-long hall, Wizard tends to put them in the back, and I hear NYCC put them in a different hall entirely (not quite behind a door labeled "beware of the leopard"), but Long Beach has always made a point of putting them right in the center. Publishers at the front, fan groups at the back, dealers to the sides, all wrapped around the artists….
Read the whole post at K-Squared Ramblings!
This entry was posted in Fandom and tagged Cons, LBCC, LBCHC 2012, Long Beach, Star Wars on November 24, 2012 by Kelson.
Long Beach Comic and Horror Con 2011 – Yeah, Still Got It!
When I heard that Long Beach Comic Con was rebranding itself as Long Beach Comic and Horror Con this year, I was a little concerned. One of the things I liked most about it the first two years was the heavy emphasis on comics compared to San Diego (which has plenty of comics, but is so big that it's easy to miss them) or the Wizard conventions (which seem to have refocused around celebrities). As it turns out, the horror didn't drown out the comics at all. The front of the hall was still mainly comics publishers, with dealers (mostly comics and collectibles) behind them in a U shape, wrapped around the core: a gigantic Artist's Alley.
Of course, Halloween and horror did make their presence known, starting with the signs for zombie parking, and continuing with programming, guests and costumes.
Continue reading at K-Squared Ramblings, or jump straight to the photos.
This entry was posted in Fandom and tagged Cons, Cosplay, LBCC, LBCC 2011, Long Beach on November 3, 2011 by Kelson.
I had a lot of fun today at Long Beach Comic Con. Barring disaster, photos will be up on Flickr tonight [edit: they are], and my write-up should be ready by the end of the weekend [edit: it is now, a bit later than planned].
He also gave me a sneak peek at Flash #3, and I've got to say: it looks awesome! He says they figure this is the issue that will really win people over and convince them that the success of the first two issues is more than a fluke, and from what I've seen, I have to agree.
He mentioned that they have 25 issues planned out already, that the shift from Rogues with weapons to Rogues with powers will be explained in-story, and that we will see continuing consequences of the event at the end of this week's issue. And yes, we'll be seeing some of the Rogues very soon.
*Why Impulse? I got a Flash sketch when he did the signing at The Comic Bug last month, and I wanted another character, but one still Flash-related. And I miss Bart as Impulse. Funny story: While I was talking with him, someone else came up and asked for a sketch of the X-Men character of his choice. He went with Nightcrawler…and it turned out that Francis Manapul had also drawn him Nightcrawler in San Diego!
This entry was posted in Creators and tagged Art, Bart Allen, Brian Buccellato, Impulse, LBCC, LBCC 2011 on October 29, 2011 by Kelson.
I ended up going to four comic book conventions in 2010, mostly in Southern California (plus one in San Francisco). Based on this year's experience and past experiences, here are my thoughts on each show.
Comic-Con International in San Diego is the ultimate pop culture fan experience. They have everything you could possibly want to see, including comics, movies, video games and more. The downside: they have everything everyone else could possibly want to see, too. So it's crowded, hectic, and requires planning months ahead in order to make sure you have a ticket and (if you need one) a hotel room. Comics publishers have a major presence, as do movie and video game studios, collectibles manufacturers, etc. and there are so many events on the schedule that you'd need a group of 20 people to see everything. If you can, try to go more than one day. This is the con I'm most familiar with, having attended every year since 1990.
Comic-Con International's little sibling, WonderCon in San Francisco, is a nice balance of everything San Diego has to offer, but less crowded and less, well, insane. Comics take up a bigger part of the show, with the major publishers always well-represented, but movies and TV have a presence here as well. I've been to the last 3 cons.
Only in its second year, Long Beach Comic Con makes a great impression as a convention that's actually focused on comics and the people who make them. The artists and writers area is the central feature of the main floor. Programming is light, but the mid-level comics publishers have a strong presence. The emphasis on authors and the light crowds (this was only its second year) make it a good place to meet artists and writers without standing in incredibly long lines.
Wizard World's return to the LA/OC area, despite the name change, is more focused on pop culture than comics. There's little publisher presence, minimal programming, and a major emphasis on celebrities and dealers. Good for costume spotting. It's fun, but if I had to pick one or the other, I'd definitely go with Long Beach. Technically this was its first year, but I understand Wizard World is trying to make all of their shows the same type of experience.
There are a lot of smaller cons that I either haven't been to at all or haven't been to recently. The roughly-bimonthly Los Angeles Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention at the Shrine comes to mind, for instance, and the California Comic Con in Yorba Linda. And aside from WonderCon and APE, I'm not really familiar with the Northern California scene — or, for that matter, the Inland Empire here in Socal.
Are there any other California-based fans here? What cons do you like to attend?
This entry was posted in Fandom, Timely and tagged Anaheim, Anaheim 2010, Cons, LBCC, LBCC 2010, Long Beach, SDCC, SDCC 2010, WonderCon, WonderCon 2010 on December 27, 2010 by Kelson.
CBR has the transcript from Saturday's 50 Questions in 50 Minutes With Mark Waid at Long Beach Comic Con. Among those questions was someone asking about a story the writer has hinted at for a long time: something disastrous happened the first time Wally West tried to travel through time as Kid Flash, something traumatic enough that it made him extremely reluctant to use the ability at all.
Waid decided to answer the question.
Possible spoilers in the event that he ever writes the full story.
This entry was posted in Flash History and tagged Kid Flash, LBCC, LBCC 2010, Long Beach, Mark Waid, Time Travel, Wally West on November 2, 2010 by Kelson.


maybe the error is similar...did you solve this problem?..
Hi, I updated to iOS6 on my iPad 2 and when i tried to download all my of my earlier apps and moved them around they just disappeared leaving a black space between apps. I tried reseting but still the same problem. Please help.
I have created a disk image from one of my iDVD projects and its about 5.7Gb. I was wondering if there is a free program out there to compress the disk image so I can fit it on a single layer DVD-/+R? Thanks in advance for the help!


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Rice OT Justin Gooseberry draws interest from the Bolts
The former Rice tackle spent his first three seasons at the DII level
By Michael Peterson@ZoneTracks Apr 15, 2020, 12:53pm PDT
Share All sharing options for: Rice OT Justin Gooseberry draws interest from the Bolts
Photo by Daniel Dunn/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle has done a great job of breaking pre-draft meetings with prospects from the state of Texas and one of his most-recent reports has been a meeting between former Rice right tackle Justin Gooseberry and the Chargers.
Rice offensive tackle Justin Gooseberry @jgooseberry up to 297, draws interest from Texans, Rams, Falcons, Chargers, Dolphins, according to sources, on some NFL teams' draft boards as potential late-round selection, others rate him as priority free agent https://t.co/KLuMmvqaPF
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) April 14, 2020
Gooseberry has taken an uncommon path compared to the majority of NFL Draft prospects. he actually spent the first three seasons of his collegiate career at Ouachita Baptist University, a small Division II school in Arkansas. While at Ouachita, Gooseberry was a two-time First-Team All-Conference selection and a two-time First-Team All-American.
After a trio of impressive campaigns, Gooseberry took his talents to the state of Texas and immediately started 11 games for the Owls at right tackle. He earned Honorable Mention Conference USA honors for his efforts in 2019.
Gooseberry is rather small - actually, very small - by normal NFL offensive tackle standards. He stands at just 6'3 and weighs around 287 pounds. He allowed two sacks on 320 pass sets and was invited to the College Gridiron All-Star Showcase following his senior season.


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Q: What purpose of setViewControllers in the case I saw this lines in project, that I need to understand.
let mainControllers = self.storyboard!.instantiateViewControllerWithIdentifier("TabNavigation") as! UITabBarController
let controllers = Array(mainController.viewControllers![0..<3])
mainController.setViewControllers(controllers, animated: false)
self.presentViewController(mainController, animated: true, completion: nil)

What is the benefit of resetting view controllers? Thanks

A: The code is limiting mainController to only the first 3 view controllers originally defined in the storyboard.
This code:
mainController.viewControllers![0..<3]

returns the first three elements of the original array. Then the (possibly) smaller array is used to reset the view controllers of mainController.


Mainstream press will ignore this story or botch it by repeating unfounded and misleading allegations against the group.
In the latest of a slew of actions exonerating ACORN of wrongdoing, yesterday U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon granted a permanent order against the United States government for withholding funds from ACORN. In its decision, the court found that the U.S. Congress singled ACORN out for punishment in the absence of any judicial or administrative process adjudicating guilt. The judge declared the act of Congress was an unconstitutional bill of attainder.
ACORN had sued the federal government in November 2009 arguing that Congress violated the Constitution by illegally targeting the group. Yesterday the judge upheld her earlier December 12, 2009 decision, which temporarily blocked U.S. officials from enforcing the funding ban on ACORN as well as a ban on ACORN's right to enter future contracts with the federal government. The judge said it was "unmistakable that Congress determined ACORN's guilt before defunding it."
In her thirty-three page opinion, Gershon said Congress had relied on unsubstantiated accusations to cut off ACORN's funds. Republican conservatives claimed Congress had to act to protect the taxpayer's money. Gershon countered saying, Congress can't "rely on the negative results of a congressional or executive report as a rationale to impose a broad, punitive funding ban on a specific, named organization." The judge also noted that federal contractors could be suspended or debarred, but agencies needed to follow the federal rules in the Code of Federal Regulations. "[T]he existence of [these regulations] militates against the need for draconian, emergency action by Congress," she added.
The judge said relief in this action would make clear that Congress was wrong to pass judgment on ACORN and wrong to single it out for punishment on the basis of that judgment. Moreover, according to the judge, the record establishes that Congress damaged ACORN's reputation. Gershon held the harm to ACORN's reputation persists because the OMB and other government agencies never canceled their instructions to stop funding after it notified "hundreds, if not thousands, of recipients." The judge said this well publicized action by Congress has damaged ACORN's ability to obtain funds not only from the federal government, but also from foundations and individual donors who are fearful of being tainted as an affiliate of ACORN. Foundations such as Ford and Mott Foundation cut off ACORN's funds.
As my upcoming book SEEDS OF CHANGE, The Story of ACORN, America's Most Controversial Anti-Poverty Community Organizing Group documents, for 40 years ACORN has been the most effective national anti-poverty organization in the country. Since its founding in Arkansas ACORN has been criticized by business leaders, Democrats and Republicans for its direct action tactics and its populist anti-poverty agenda.
It has long worked on the forefront to protect homebuyers from unjust foreclosures fueled by reckless lending practices and inadequate government regulation. In many cities and states, ACORN pioneered campaigns to increase workers wages and prevent unnecessary foreclosures by organizing homeowners and tenants, and pressuring lawmakers to enact laws protecting consumers from foreclosure scams. By the fall of 2009 ACORN and its sister organization ACORN Housing had helped prevent housing foreclosures for eight thousand homeowners by obtaining favorable mortgage changes, It rescinded sales, restored titles to owners, and negotiated new, affordable mortgages. In California, ACORN sponsored a bill to protect consumers from rip-offs by mortgage brokers--for example, by prohibiting brokers from steering borrowers toward loans that are most costly rather than loans they qualify for. ACORN worked for two years to ensure the bill's passage in December 2009, despite the opposition of the powerful bankers and brokers.
Its organizing, self-help and empowerment strategies dispel the conservative myth that we can only help the poor through private soup kitchens and charity and the liberal myth that the solution rests simply with more government services.
Beginning in 2008, it has come under a ferocious attack for voter registration fraud and claims it violated the tax-exempt status of some of its affiliates by engaging in partisan political activities.
But the attacks on ACORN are not really about bogus names on voter registration forms or staff members providing bad advice to a phony prostitute with a video camera. ACORN has long faced harassment from certain businesses, conservative activists, and intellectuals who attack it for ideological reasons, calling the group "socialist," "left-wing," and "opponents of the free market." Businesses that pay low wages have long opposed ACORN's efforts to raise wages for the working poor. Banks, private mortgage companies, and payday lenders have fought ACORN's campaigns to strengthen government regulations on the financial services industry on behalf of consumers.
For years conservative politicians have opposed ACORN's success at registering low-income, mostly minority voters, who they fear are more likely to vote for Democrats than GOP candidates. What most Americans know about ACORN is based on recent controversies manufactured by the group's long-term enemies.
Many defense contractors have committed crimes and drug companies have pled guilty to criminal fraud under the federal false claims act stealing billions from the taxpayers by ripping off Medicaid and Medicare yet Congress never passed a bill debarring them from federal contracts.
Criticism soared after two right wing activists James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, who despised and feared ACORN, lured a few ACORN staff in three offices into providing questionable, even outrageous advice on tax evasion, human smuggling and child prostitution. Fox, the New York Post, CNN, and other mainstream media picked up on the story. Even though the employees did not create client files or bills, file tax returns, sign or submit loan documents, or arrange bank loans, the doctored and misleading videos were shown around the clock by Fox, CNN and on the blogosphere. The Washington Post contributed to a feeding frenzy with a September 20 headline blaring, "For ACORN, Video Is Only Latest Crisis," which read like an indictment prepared by the Republican Party.
This led to a rush to judgment by the U.S. Congress to strip federal funding from ACORN, and block future grants. ACORN was unprepared to deal with the relentless, mostly unfounded daily attacks on its credibility by the right-wing media and conservative politicians, and the mainstream media's general acceptance of the right wing's demonizing and ridiculing of ACORN. UPI, Reuters stories and even the New York Times repeatedly reported incorrectly that O'Keefe went into ACORN office dressed as a pimp, when in fact as Hannah Giles admitted the images of O'Keefe in an outlandish pimp outfit--a top hat, cane, huge sunglasses, white fur coat--were edited in later. Besides Congress cutting off funds to ACORN, the cartoonish pimp costume cost ACORN its reputation. It was aimed to implant in the public's eye that ACORN's African-American intake staff were buffoons.
In December the truth started catching up with the slurs on ACORN's reputation.
"While some of the advice and counsel given by ACORN employees and volunteers was clearly inappropriate and unprofessional, we did not find a pattern of intentional, illegal conduct by ACORN staff; in fact, there is no evidence that action, illegal or otherwise, was taken by any ACORN employee on behalf of the videographers."
His report also noted that the videos were doctored and misleading.
"The videos that have been released appear to have been edited, in some cases substantially, including the insertion of a substitute voiceover for significant portions of Mr. O'Keefe's and Ms. Giles's comments, which makes it difficult to determine the questions to which ACORN employees are responding. A comparison of the publicly available transcripts to the released videos confirms that large portions of the original video have been omitted from the released versions."
"Although Mr. O'Keefe appeared in all videos dressed as a pimp, in fact, when he appeared at each and every office, he was dressed like a college student - in slacks and a button down."
The report also acknowledged that ACORN had already begun to implement many of the management and oversight reforms urged by Harshbarger. The report reinforced criticism of the mainstream media's handling of the story, including the way CNN played the "prostitution scandal" videotapes over and over again. As Joe Conason reported, "... the ACORN videotapes were an exercise in propaganda not journalism."
The mainstream press continued to botch the ACORN story. For example, the Associated Press story of the Harshbarger Report published in the Washington Post didn't mention that the conservative videographers rebuffed attempts by Harshbarger to interview them and refused to permit him to review the unedited tapes so he could compare the raw footage with versions that were released. Most major news outlets did not even mention the report. The Harshbarger report, which came on the heels of a successful ACORN lawsuit in Ohio that brought the state into compliance with the public agency vote registration provisions of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), brought some hope to ACORN's members that public opinion might shift in ACORN's favor.
Soon after Harshbarger refuted the charges of financial wrongdoing and voter fraud against ACORN, a nonpartisan Congressional Research Service report (CRS) released on December 22, 2009 found no evidence of voter fraud associated with ACORN and "no instances in which ACORN violated the terms of federal funding in the last five years." Moreover, the report found that the two conservative activists who secretly videotaped conversations with ACORN workers and distributed those recordings on the Web without their consent violated laws in Maryland and California. CRS also noted that as of October 2009, ACORN had been subjected to at least 46 federal, state, and local investigations with only 11 still outstanding. Only one state, Nevada, actually brought charges against ACORN and those were based an ambiguous law that prohibited paying staff to register voters.
Despite the fact that the CSR report was a comprehensive source for fact-checking the allegations aimed at ACORN, the New York Times buried the story in a short article on page 15, and USA Today noted it in a seven-sentence news brief. CNN took just a few seconds to mention the report, again playing a clip of the infamous undercover video. Most of the major news outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, ignored the CRS report. Time magazine and U.S. News & World Report used their end of the year round up spinning the ACORN story as a scandal.
Last week, the New York District Attorney for Brooklyn, Joe Hynes, cleared ACORN of any criminality. Since September 2009 Hynes' office investigated three ACORN employees who had been secretly videotaped by the phony pimp and prostitute, who came to ACORN'S Brooklyn office, seeking advice about how to purchase a house with money generated by their 'business.' The DA's investigation found no criminality and an official with the prosecutor's office said, an unedited version they reviewed showed that the truth had been sliced and diced.
But the damage has already been done. In Brooklyn, ACORN has been forced to regroup and re-brand under a new name: NY Communities For Change. And the group is facing a serious ability to function in various chapters around the country as funding sources dried up.
ACORN had been defamed and the positive news failed to undo the damage. The rush to judgment against ACORN threatens its very existence. By any measure, the barrage of subpoenas, investigations, castigations, and hasty official actions of questionable legality are far out of proportion to ACORN's lapses and ignore the enormous good that the organization has done. The onslaught recalls the voter fraud claims against ACORN in Florida and New Mexico in 2004. Only later, in 2007, did the public learn that all charges against ACORN in 2004 had been dropped and that U.S. attorneys had been fired for resisting White House pressure to prosecute ACORN on trumped-up charges of voter fraud.
In addition, as Katrina Vanden Heuvel said what happened to ACORN was "...reminiscent of the McCarthy era when individuals and organizations were ruined by allegations that ran as front page news, while later evidence that vindicated them was relegated to the back pages. There was little accountability for the false accusations, little redemption for those whose lives had been shattered."
Three events are sure to follow this decision. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and other right wing Republicans will attack Gershon's decision and note that Bill Clinton appointed her. They will also repeat their talking points against ACORN-- unfounded statements criticizing ACORN--and the mainstream press will merely regurgitate the criticisms of ACORN without investigating the truth of these statements. And Democrats and the Obama administration will once again fail to come to ACORN's defense.
According to an Associated Press, the government planned to review the judge's ruling and consider whether to appeal.
"The judge's ruling is a complete rebuke to the right wing's smear tactics that unfortunately Congress fell for. This is why we have a system of checks and balances."


For a column, a UNIQUE constraint specifies that the values in the column must be unique. For a table, the UNIQUE constraint identifies one or more columns that identify unique rows in the table. No two rows in the table can have the same values in all the named column(s). A table can have more than one UNIQUE constraint.


text:
Man Paid To Have Wife Killed & Was Shocked When She Showed Up At Her Own Funeral
By Cee Cee
Noela Rukundo sat in a car outside her home, watching as the last few mourners filed out. They were leaving a funeral — her funeral.
Finally, she spotted the man she'd been waiting for. She stepped out of her car, and her husband put his hands on his head in horror.
"Is it my eyes?" she recalled him saying. "Is it a ghost?"
"Surprise! I'm still alive!" she replied.
Far from being elated, the man looked terrified. Five days earlier, he had ordered a team of hit men to kill Rukundo, his partner of 10 years. And they did — well, they told him they did. They even got him to pay an extra few thousand dollars for carrying out the crime.
Now here was his wife, standing before him. In an interview with the BBC on Thursday, Rukundo recalled how he touched her shoulder to find it unnervingly solid. He jumped. Then he started screaming.
"I'm sorry for everything," he wailed.
But it was far too late for apologies; Rukundo called the police. The husband, Balenga Kalala, ultimately pleaded guilty and was sentenced to nine years in prison for incitement to murder, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corp. (the ABC).
The happy ending — or as happy as can be expected to a saga in which a man tries to have his wife killed — was made possible by three unusually principled hit men, a helpful pastor and one incredibly gutsy woman: Rukundo.
Here is how she pulled it off.
Rukundo's ordeal began almost exactly a year ago, when she flew from her home in Melbourne with her husband, Kalala, to attend a funeral in her native Burundi. Her stepmother had died and the service left her saddened and stressed. She retreated to her hotel room in Bujumbura, the capital, early in the evening; despondent after the events of the day, she lay down in bed. Then her husband called.
"He told me to go outside for fresh air," she told the BBC.
But the minute Rukundo stepped out of her hotel, a man charged forward, pointing a gun right at her.
"Don't scream," she recalled him saying. "If you start screaming, I will shoot you. They're going to catch me, but you? You will already be dead."
Rukundo, terrified, did as she was told. She was ushered into a car and blindfolded so she couldn't see where she was being taken. After 30 or 40 minutes, the car came to a stop, and Rukundo was pushed into a building and tied to a chair.
She could hear male voices, she told the ABC. One asked her, "You woman, what did you do for this man to pay us to kill you?"
"What are you talking about?" Rukundo demanded.
"Balenga sent us to kill you."
They were lying. She told them so. And they laughed.
"You're a fool," they told her.
There was the sound of a dial tone, and a male voice coming through a speakerphone. It was her husband's voice.
"Kill her," he said.
And Rukundo fainted.
Rukundo had met her husband 11 years earlier, right after she arrived in Australia from Burundi, according to the BBC. He was a recent refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and they had the same social worker at the resettlement agency that helped them get on their feet. Since Kalala already knew English, their social worker often recruited him to translate for Rukundo, who spoke Swahili.
They fell in love, moved in together in the Melbourne suburb of Kings Park, and had three children (Rukundo also had five kids from a previous relationship). She learned more about her husband's past — he had fled a rebel army that had ransacked his village, killing his wife and young son. She also learned more about his character.
"I knew he was a violent man," Rukundo told the BBC. "But I didn't believe he can kill me."
But, it appeared, he could.
Rukundo came to in the strange building somewhere near Bujumbura. The kidnappers were still there, she told the ABC.
They weren't going to kill her, the men then explained — they didn't believe in killing women, and they knew her brother. But they would keep her husband's money and tell him that she was dead. After two days, they set her free on the side of a road, but not before giving her a cellphone, recordings of their phone conversations with Kalala, and receipts for the $7,000 in Australian dollars they allegedly received in payment, according to Australia'sThe Age.
"We just want you to go back, to tell other stupid women like you what happened," Rukundo said she was told before the gang members drove away.
See More- The Washington Post
Ear Hustle & Share:
Related Items:Balenga Kalala, Earhustle411, Funeral, Hitman, Murder For Hire, Noela Rukundo
Woman Ditches Her Own Mothers Funeral To Rob Her Home
Relatives Mourn The Loss Of A Family Member Only To Have Another Killed At The Repast


Fast Track to a 5 helps prepare students for the AP® Computer Science Principles Examination. Practice questions, and full-length practice exams come with detailed answer explanations and course Learning Objective and Essential Knowledge references, so students can study and review independently. This test prep supplement can help students organize their preparation and review for both the through-course Performance Tasks and the AP® Exam.
Fast Track to a 5: Preparing for the AP® Computer Science Principles Examination provides review chapters and practice exams completely aligned to the College Board's concept outline for this new AP® course. With these materials, students can gain valuable practice around the Learning Objectives that are the assessment focus for AP® Computer Science Principles, and also apply their understanding of the computational thinking practices that are central to the course.


text:
#include "tensorflow/contrib/lite/toco/graph_transformations/graph_transformations.h"

#include <algorithm>
#include <memory>
#include <string>
#include <unordered_map>
#include <utility>
#include <vector>

#include "tensorflow/contrib/lite/toco/toco_port.h"
#include "tensorflow/contrib/lite/toco/tooling_util.h"
#include "tensorflow/core/platform/logging.h"

namespace toco {

namespace {

void PrintModelStats(const string& label, const Model& model) {
  int quantized_arrays = 0;
  for (const auto& array : model.arrays) {
    if (array.second->quantization_params) {
      quantized_arrays++;
    }
  }
  LOG(INFO) << label << ": " << model.operators.size() << " operators, "
            << model.arrays.size() << " arrays (" << quantized_arrays
            << " quantized)";
}

bool GraphTransformationsPass(int increment, Model* model,
                              const GraphTransformationsSet& transformations) {
  CHECK(increment == 1 || increment == -1);
  bool changed = false;
  CHECK(!model->operators.empty());
  int op_index = increment == 1 ? 0 : model->operators.size() - 1;
  while (true) {
    bool changed_now = false;
    // Loop over all transformations at the current position in the graph.
    for (const auto& transformation : transformations) {
      CHECK(!changed_now);
      CHECK(transformation->Messages().empty());
      changed_now = transformation->Run(model, op_index);
      if (changed_now) {
        DumpGraphvizVideoFrame(*model);
        CHECK(!model->operators.empty());
        op_index = std::min<int>(op_index, model->operators.size() - 1);
        // Uncomment for debugging
        // CheckInvariants(*model);
      }
      const char* made_a_change_msg =
          changed_now ? "made a change" : "did NOT make a change";
      const int log_level =
          changed_now ? kLogLevelModelChanged : kLogLevelModelUnchanged;
      for (const string& message : transformation->Messages()) {
        VLOG(log_level) << transformation->Name() << " " << made_a_change_msg
                        << " at op_index=" << op_index << "/"
                        << model->operators.size() - 1 << ": " << message;
      }
      transformation->ClearMessages();
      if (changed_now) {
        break;
      }
    }
    if (changed_now) {
      changed = true;
    } else {
      const int op_index_last =
          increment == 1 ? model->operators.size() - 1 : 0;
      if (op_index == op_index_last) {
        break;
      }
      op_index += increment;
    }
  }
  return changed;
}

}  // namespace

void RunGraphTransformations(Model* model, const string& msg,
                             const GraphTransformationsSet& transformations) {
  PrintModelStats(toco::port::StringF("Before %s", msg), *model);
  int pass_index = 0;
  while (GraphTransformationsPass((pass_index % 2) ? -1 : 1, model,
                                  transformations)) {
    pass_index++;
    const auto& label =
        toco::port::StringF("After %s pass %d", msg, pass_index);
    PrintModelStats(label, *model);
    CheckInvariants(*model);
  }
}

}  // namespace toco

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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The Partition Name Plate Holder can be customised to cater for your individual requirements. Please specify the thickness of your partition so that we can provide the correct holder.
Just add your own paper insert!


text:
// File: Utility.cpp
// Description: Miscellaneous helper functions
// Authors: mikecarruth, zexspectrum
// Date:

//  #include "stdafx.h"
#include "utility.h"
#include "strconv.h"

CString Utility::getAppName() {
  TCHAR szFileName[_MAX_PATH];
  GetModuleFileName(NULL, szFileName, _MAX_FNAME);

  CString sAppName; // Extract from last '\' to '.'
  sAppName = szFileName;
  sAppName = sAppName.Mid(sAppName.ReverseFind(_T('\\')) + 1) .SpanExcluding(
      _T("."));

  return sAppName;
}

CString Utility::GetModuleName(HMODULE hModule) {
  CString string;
  LPTSTR buf = string.GetBuffer(_MAX_PATH);
  GetModuleFileName(hModule, buf, _MAX_PATH);
  string.ReleaseBuffer();
  return string;
}

CString Utility::GetModulePath(HMODULE hModule) {
  CString string;
  LPTSTR buf = string.GetBuffer(_MAX_PATH);
  GetModuleFileName(hModule, buf, _MAX_PATH);
  TCHAR* ptr = _tcsrchr(buf, '\\');
  if (ptr != NULL)
    *(ptr) = 0; // remove executable name
  string.ReleaseBuffer();
  return string;
}

std::set<CString> Utility::GetModulePathCandidates(CString sModuleName) {
  std::set<CString> list;

  HANDLE hProcess = GetCurrentProcess();
  DWORD dwNeeded = 0;
  EnumProcessModules(hProcess, NULL, 0, &dwNeeded);
  if (dwNeeded != 0) {
    HMODULE* ahModules = (HMODULE*) new BYTE[dwNeeded];
    EnumProcessModules(hProcess, ahModules, dwNeeded, &dwNeeded);

    int i;
    for (i = 0; i < (int) (dwNeeded / sizeof(HMODULE)); i++) {
      CString sModulePath = Utility::GetModulePath(ahModules[i]);
      sModulePath.MakeLower();
      list.insert(sModulePath);
    }

    delete[] ahModules;
  }

  return list;
}

int Utility::getTempDirectory(CString& strTemp) {
  TCHAR* pszTempVar = NULL;

#if _MSC_VER<1400
  pszTempVar = _tgetenv(_T("TEMP"));
  strTemp = CString(pszTempVar);
#else
  size_t len = 0;
  errno_t err = _tdupenv_s(&pszTempVar, &len, _T("TEMP"));
  if(err!=0)
  {
    // Couldn't get environment variable TEMP
    return 1;
  }
  strTemp = CString(pszTempVar);
  free(pszTempVar);
#endif

  return 0;
}

CString Utility::getTempFileName() {
  TCHAR szTempDir[MAX_PATH - 14] = _T("");
  TCHAR szTempFile[MAX_PATH] = _T("");

  if (GetTempPath(MAX_PATH - 14, szTempDir))
    GetTempFileName(szTempDir, getAppName(), 0, szTempFile);

  return szTempFile;
}

int Utility::GetSystemTimeUTC(CString& sTime) {
  sTime.Empty();

  // Get system time in UTC format

  time_t cur_time;
  time(&cur_time);
  char szDateTime[64];

#if _MSC_VER<1400
  struct tm* timeinfo = gmtime(&cur_time);
  strftime(szDateTime, 64, "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ", timeinfo);
#else
  struct tm timeinfo;
  gmtime_s(&timeinfo, &cur_time);
  strftime(szDateTime, 64, "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ", &timeinfo);
#endif

  sTime = szDateTime;

  return 0;
}

void Utility::UTC2SystemTime(CString sUTC, SYSTEMTIME& st) {
  CString sYear = sUTC.Mid(0, 4);
  CString sMonth = sUTC.Mid(5, 2);
  CString sDay = sUTC.Mid(8, 2);
  CString sHour = sUTC.Mid(11, 2);
  CString sMin = sUTC.Mid(14, 2);
  CString sSec = sUTC.Mid(17, 2);

  SYSTEMTIME UtcTime;
  memset(&UtcTime, 0, sizeof(SYSTEMTIME));
  UtcTime.wYear = (WORD) _ttoi(sYear);
  UtcTime.wMonth = (WORD) _ttoi(sMonth);
  UtcTime.wDay = (WORD) _ttoi(sDay);
  UtcTime.wHour = (WORD) _ttoi(sHour);
  UtcTime.wMinute = (WORD) _ttoi(sMin);
  UtcTime.wSecond = (WORD) _ttoi(sSec);

  // Convert to local time
  SystemTimeToTzSpecificLocalTime(NULL, &UtcTime, &st);
}

int Utility::GenerateGUID(CString& sGUID) {
  int status = 1;
  sGUID.Empty();

  strconv_t strconv;

  // Create GUID

  UCHAR *pszUuid = 0;
  GUID *pguid = NULL;
  pguid = new GUID;
  if (pguid != NULL) {
    HRESULT hr = CoCreateGuid(pguid);
    if (SUCCEEDED(hr)) {
      // Convert the GUID to a string
      hr = UuidToStringA(pguid, &pszUuid);
      if (SUCCEEDED(hr) && pszUuid != NULL) {
        status = 0;
        sGUID = strconv.a2t((char*) pszUuid);
        RpcStringFreeA(&pszUuid);
      }
    }
    delete pguid;
  }

  return status;
}

int Utility::GetOSFriendlyName(CString& sOSName) {
  sOSName.Empty();
  CRegKey regKey;
  LONG lResult = regKey.Open(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, _T(
      "SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion"), KEY_READ);
  if (lResult == ERROR_SUCCESS) {
    TCHAR buf[1024];
    ULONG buf_size = 0;

    TCHAR* PRODUCT_NAME = _T("ProductName");
    TCHAR* CURRENT_BUILD_NUMBER = _T("CurrentBuildNumber");
    TCHAR* CSD_VERSION = _T("CSDVersion");

#pragma warning(disable:4996)

    buf_size = 1023;
    if (ERROR_SUCCESS == regKey.QueryValue(buf, PRODUCT_NAME, &buf_size)) {
      sOSName += buf;
    }

    buf_size = 1023;
    if (ERROR_SUCCESS
        == regKey.QueryValue(buf, CURRENT_BUILD_NUMBER, &buf_size)) {
      sOSName += _T(" Build ");
      sOSName += buf;
    }

    buf_size = 1023;
    if (ERROR_SUCCESS == regKey.QueryValue(buf, CSD_VERSION, &buf_size)) {
      sOSName += _T(" ");
      sOSName += buf;
    }

#pragma warning(default:4996)

    regKey.Close();
    return 0;
  }

  return 1;
}

BOOL Utility::IsOS64Bit() {
#ifdef _WIN64
  // 64-bit applications always run under 64-bit Windows
  return TRUE;
#endif

  // Check for 32-bit applications

  typedef BOOL (WINAPI *PFNISWOW64PROCESS)(HANDLE, PBOOL);

  HMODULE hKernel32 = LoadLibrary(_T("kernel32.dll"));
  PFNISWOW64PROCESS pfnIsWow64Process = (PFNISWOW64PROCESS) GetProcAddress(
      hKernel32, "IsWow64Process");
  if (pfnIsWow64Process == NULL) {
    // If there is no IsWow64Process() API, than Windows is 32-bit for sure
    FreeLibrary(hKernel32);
    return FALSE;
  }

  BOOL b64Bit = FALSE;
  pfnIsWow64Process(GetCurrentProcess(), &b64Bit);
  FreeLibrary(hKernel32);

  return b64Bit;
}

int Utility::GetGeoLocation(CString& sGeoLocation) {
  sGeoLocation = _T("");

  typedef GEOID (WINAPI *PFNGETUSERGEOID)(GEOCLASS);
  typedef int (WINAPI *PFNGETGEOINFOW)(GEOID, GEOTYPE, LPWSTR, int, LANGID);

  HMODULE hKernel32 = LoadLibrary(_T("kernel32.dll"));
  PFNGETUSERGEOID pfnGetUserGeoID = (PFNGETUSERGEOID) GetProcAddress(hKernel32,
      "GetUserGeoID");
  PFNGETGEOINFOW pfnGetGeoInfoW = (PFNGETGEOINFOW) GetProcAddress(hKernel32,
      "GetGeoInfoW");
  if (pfnGetUserGeoID == NULL || pfnGetGeoInfoW == NULL)
    return -1;

  GEOID GeoLocation = pfnGetUserGeoID(GEOCLASS_NATION);
  if (GeoLocation != GEOID_NOT_AVAILABLE) {
    WCHAR szGeoInfo[1024] = _T("");
    int n = pfnGetGeoInfoW(GeoLocation, GEO_RFC1766, szGeoInfo, 1024, 0);
    if (n != 0) {
      sGeoLocation = szGeoInfo;
      FreeLibrary(hKernel32);
      return 0;
    }
  }

  FreeLibrary(hKernel32);
  return -1;
}

int Utility::GetSpecialFolder(int csidl, CString& sFolderPath) {
  sFolderPath.Empty();

  TCHAR szPath[_MAX_PATH];
  BOOL bResult = SHGetSpecialFolderPath(NULL, szPath, csidl, TRUE);
  if (!bResult)
    return 1;

  sFolderPath = CString(szPath);

  return 0;
}

CString Utility::ReplaceInvalidCharsInFileName(CString sFileName) {
  sFileName.Replace(_T("*"), _T("_"));
  sFileName.Replace(_T("|"), _T("_"));
  sFileName.Replace(_T("/"), _T("_"));
  sFileName.Replace(_T("?"), _T("_"));
  sFileName.Replace(_T("<"), _T("_"));
  sFileName.Replace(_T(">"), _T("_"));
  return sFileName;
}

int Utility::RecycleFile(CString sFilePath, bool bPermanentDelete) {
  SHFILEOPSTRUCT fop;
  memset(&fop, 0, sizeof(SHFILEOPSTRUCT));

  TCHAR szFrom[_MAX_PATH];
  memset(szFrom, 0, sizeof(TCHAR) * (_MAX_PATH));
  _TCSCPY_S(szFrom, _MAX_PATH, sFilePath.GetBuffer(0));
  szFrom[sFilePath.GetLength() + 1] = 0;

  fop.fFlags |= FOF_SILENT; // don't report progress
  fop.fFlags |= FOF_NOERRORUI; // don't report errors
  fop.fFlags |= FOF_NOCONFIRMATION; // don't confirm delete
  fop.wFunc = FO_DELETE; // REQUIRED: delete operation
  fop.pFrom = szFrom; // REQUIRED: which file(s)
  fop.pTo = NULL; // MUST be NULL
  if (bPermanentDelete) {
    // if delete requested..
    fop.fFlags &= ~FOF_ALLOWUNDO; // ..don't use Recycle Bin
  } else { // otherwise..
    fop.fFlags |= FOF_ALLOWUNDO; // ..send to Recycle Bin
  }

  return SHFileOperation(&fop); // do it!
}

CString Utility::GetINIString(LPCTSTR pszFile, LPCTSTR pszSection,
    LPCTSTR pszName) {
  TCHAR szBuffer[1024] = _T("");
  GetPrivateProfileString(pszSection, pszName, _T(""), szBuffer, 1024, pszFile);

  CString sResult = szBuffer;
  sResult.Replace(_T("\\n"), _T("\n"));

  return sResult;
}

void Utility::SetINIString(LPCTSTR pszFile, LPCTSTR pszSection,
    LPCTSTR pszName, LPCTSTR pszValue) {
  WritePrivateProfileString(pszSection, pszName, pszValue, pszFile);
}

void Utility::SetLayoutRTL(HWND hWnd) {
  DWORD dwExStyle = GetWindowLong(hWnd, GWL_EXSTYLE);
  dwExStyle |= WS_EX_LAYOUTRTL;
  SetWindowLong(hWnd, GWL_EXSTYLE, dwExStyle);

  SetLayout(GetDC(hWnd), LAYOUT_RTL);

  CRect rcWnd;
  ::GetClientRect(hWnd, &rcWnd);

  HWND hWndChild = GetWindow(hWnd, GW_CHILD);
  while (hWndChild != NULL) {
    SetLayoutRTL(hWndChild);

    CRect rc;
    ::GetWindowRect(hWndChild, &rc);
    ::MapWindowPoints(0, hWnd, (LPPOINT) & rc, 2);
    ::MoveWindow(hWndChild, rcWnd.Width() - rc.right, rc.top, rc.Width(),
        rc.Height(), TRUE);

    SetLayout(GetDC(hWndChild), LAYOUT_RTL);

    hWndChild = GetWindow(hWndChild, GW_HWNDNEXT);
  }
}

CString Utility::FormatErrorMsg(DWORD dwErrorCode) {
  LPTSTR msg = 0;
  FormatMessage(FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM | FORMAT_MESSAGE_ALLOCATE_BUFFER,
      NULL, dwErrorCode, MAKELANGID(LANG_NEUTRAL, SUBLANG_DEFAULT),
      (LPTSTR)& msg, 0, NULL);
  CString str = msg;
  str.Replace(_T("\r\n"), _T(""));
  GlobalFree(msg);
  return str;
}

// GetBaseFileName
// This helper function returns file name without extension
CString Utility::GetFileName(CString sPath) {
  CString sBase = sPath;
  int pos1 = sPath.ReverseFind('\\');
  if (pos1 >= 0)
    sBase = sBase.Mid(pos1 + 1);

  return sBase;
}

// GetBaseFileName
// This helper function returns file name without extension
CString Utility::GetBaseFileName(CString sFileName) {
  CString sBase = sFileName;
  int pos1 = sFileName.ReverseFind('\\');
  if (pos1 >= 0)
    sBase = sBase.Mid(pos1 + 1);

  int pos2 = sBase.ReverseFind('.');
  if (pos2 >= 0) {
    sBase = sFileName.Mid(0, pos2);
  }
  return sBase;
}

// GetFileExtension
// This helper function returns file extension by file name
CString Utility::GetFileExtension(CString sFileName) {
  CString sExt;
  int pos = sFileName.ReverseFind('.');
  if (pos >= 0) {
    sExt = sFileName.Mid(pos + 1);
  }
  return sExt;
}

CString Utility::GetProductVersion(CString sModuleName) {
  CString sProductVer;

  DWORD dwBuffSize = GetFileVersionInfoSize(sModuleName, 0);
  LPBYTE pBuff = (LPBYTE) GlobalAlloc(GPTR, dwBuffSize);

  if (0 != GetFileVersionInfo(sModuleName, 0, dwBuffSize, pBuff)) {
    VS_FIXEDFILEINFO* fi = NULL;
    UINT uLen = 0;
    VerQueryValue(pBuff, _T("\\"), (LPVOID*) &fi, &uLen);

    WORD dwVerMajor = HIWORD(fi->dwProductVersionMS);
    WORD dwVerMinor = LOWORD(fi->dwProductVersionMS);
    WORD dwPatchLevel = HIWORD(fi->dwProductVersionLS);
    WORD dwVerBuild = LOWORD(fi->dwProductVersionLS);

    sProductVer.Format(_T("%u.%u.%u.%u"), dwVerMajor, dwVerMinor, dwPatchLevel,
        dwVerBuild);
  }

  GlobalFree((HGLOBAL) pBuff);

  return sProductVer;
}

// Creates a folder. If some intermediate folders in the path do not exist,
// it creates them.
BOOL Utility::CreateFolder(CString sFolderName) {
  CString sIntermediateFolder;

  // Skip disc drive name "X:\" if presents
  int start = sFolderName.Find(':', 0);
  if (start >= 0)
    start += 2;

  int pos = start;
  for (;;) {
    pos = sFolderName.Find('\\', pos);
    if (pos < 0) {
      sIntermediateFolder = sFolderName;
    } else {
      sIntermediateFolder = sFolderName.Left(pos);
    }

    BOOL bCreate = CreateDirectory(sIntermediateFolder, NULL);
    if (!bCreate && GetLastError() != ERROR_ALREADY_EXISTS)
      return FALSE;

    if (pos == -1)
      break;

    pos++;
  }

  return TRUE;
}

ULONG64 Utility::SystemTimeToULONG64(const SYSTEMTIME& st) {
  FILETIME ft;
  SystemTimeToFileTime(&st, &ft);
  ULARGE_INTEGER integer;
  integer.LowPart = ft.dwLowDateTime;
  integer.HighPart = ft.dwHighDateTime;
  return integer.QuadPart;
}

CString Utility::FileSizeToStr(ULONG64 uFileSize) {
  CString sFileSize;

  if (uFileSize == 0) {
    sFileSize = _T("0 KB");
  } else if (uFileSize < 1024) {
    float fSizeKbytes = (float) uFileSize / (float) 1024;
    TCHAR szStr[64];
#if _MSC_VER<1400
    _stprintf(szStr, _T("%0.1f KB"), fSizeKbytes);
#else
    _stprintf_s(szStr, 64, _T("%0.1f KB"), fSizeKbytes);
#endif
    sFileSize = szStr;
  } else if (uFileSize < 1024 * 1024) {
    sFileSize.Format(_T("%I64u KB"), uFileSize / 1024);
  } else {
    float fSizeMbytes = (float) uFileSize / (float) (1024 * 1024);
    TCHAR szStr[64];
#if _MSC_VER<1400
    _stprintf(szStr, _T("%0.1f MB"), fSizeMbytes);
#else
    _stprintf_s(szStr, 64, _T("%0.1f MB"), fSizeMbytes);
#endif
    sFileSize = szStr;
  }

  return sFileSize;
}


text:
Apicia olivata är en fjärilsart som beskrevs av Paul Dognin 1907. Apicia olivata ingår i släktet Apicia och familjen mätare. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Mätare
olivata

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia