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5 Reviews
Scarface: The World is Yours
Say hello to the most foul-mouthed game since Mario Strikers
Unsatisfied by movies where the main character dies at the end? Scarface: The World Is Yours gives you the chance to put things right, glossing over the finale in which murderous anti-hero Tony Montana is shot in the back in his palatial, drug-funded mansion.
Instead, Tony gets to blast his way out of the ambush, at the expense of everything he fought so hard to get. The mansion is impounded by the police, the money vanishes into thin air and his precious reputation is left in tatters.
Back from the nearly dead, Tony's mission is to win back what he lost, and with the help of old friends who are still intimidated enough to work with him, he sets out to rebuild his criminal empire.
You horse!
So what we've got is a GTA-style gangster game starring one of the most memorable - and sweariest - gangsters in movie history. You can shake the nunchuk to make him swear randomly as he walks down the street. It's ****ing ace!
Tony's Miami adventure isn't set out exactly like a GTA game, though. Instead of completing lots of unconnected missions for different people, spread all over the city, there's a more tightly focused narrative. The aim is simply to earn enough money to fund a return to Tony's former lifestyle, and the only way to do this is by selling drugs.
There are dealers all over the place. When you get hold of a new stash, you can sell it in 200g chunks. To get the best price you have to hold the A button while a little meter fills up, releasing it when it's at max strength. Too much or too little and you've blown the deal. The same system is used for talking your way out of trouble with the cops and intimidating rival gangsters.
Scarface is underpinned by a mini business sim, in which you take over territory, find the highest price for your merchandise and blow the profits on the luxury items needed to restore Tony's credibility.
Gangs and police can be paid off to reduce the two 'heat' meters that make your progress ever more difficult as they build up. Other than that, it's flashy cars, speedboats, guns and women all the way.
Red mist
When you get into a mission, the gunplay works swiftly and accurately with the Wii remote. There's a free aim function, which is more than adequate, or by holding Z you can lock on to a particular enemy and make small adjustments with the remote to target different areas. Aiming for the nuts (left or right) scores quite highly, as does blowing off a limb, head or kidney.
Once your foe is down, shaking the nunchuk gives him some final sweary disrespect. The point is to build up your Balls meter, which can be used to activate Blind Rage mode - ten seconds of first-person invincibility, which is very useful in a tight spot. In fact many missions are extremely difficult if you don't start them with maximum Balls.
The best thing about the game is that it manages to be laugh-out-loud funny even while remarkable amounts of crimson pixels spurt forth from those unfortunate enough to cross Tony Montana. Battles are punctuated by shakes of the nunchuk to deliver wittily foul-mouthed ripostes, and even random pedestrians have multiple levels of wisecracks when you start a conversation with them. Luckily Tony refuses to kill civilians, so you can only grin and bear it when a chat-up line goes humiliatingly wrong.
The worst thing about the game is the restrictive layout of the city. The visual promise of GTA-style freedom is dashed once you've done a complete circuit around the little islands that make up the map and found that many of the areas around the looping main road are nothing but sealed-off scenery. It's a big game but there are few alternative routes to different areas.
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Royal Wedding 'Too Boring' for AmericaS
Just when America's stricken media industry thought it finally caught a windfall in royal wedding hoopla—Collector's edition magazines! Bridezilla-bait TV specials! Ads for Rogaine!Page Six reports this:
Hasn't the media suffered enough already? How dare these inbred jerks wed without a single mental breakdown or sexting scandal between them! England, we will give back Piers Morgan, Skins, and Delaware if you can produce even one juicy tidbit from this mindnumblingly bland regal affair. (Sneak laxatives into the royal fruitcake, maybe?) You're the nation that produced Shakespeare and Amy Winehouse. We expect more engaging entertainment from you. [P6, photo via Getty Images]
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Thanks Kerry. I get it now. FWIW, in my non-analog capacity I shoot a lot of stitched panoramas so the importance of a level platform is understood.
When I asked earlier about it going under a tripod head, I was alluding to mounting either a panning base or a ball head with an incorporated panning base to the leveling head.
Are the ballheads' balls marked in any way so that the neutral, vertical position can be found quickly?
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The women of Monroe High
When Yvonne asks all the women who've been whistled at, beaten up by a man, or called a bitch, whore or slut to cross the line, every woman in the room takes a step forward.
"I've been in situations where I felt so vulnerable as a woman and I had no power," Lisa says. "Every woman has gone through it."
As the men and women face each other, Yvonne asks the men to look into the eyes of their classmates and imagine that these women are their mothers, grandmothers or sisters. Many of the men are surprised that catcalls and sexist "jokes" have had such an impact on the young women in their school.
"Watching people cry because they've been whistled at, they've been honked at...it's not funny," Charles says. "It's not fun and games."
Riley, a male student who has an older sister and was raised by a single mother, says he would never want to see his family members go through the same thing as his female classmates and teachers. "It was horrible," he says.
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Documentation Center
• Trials
• Product Updates
Plot Bode frequency response with additional plot customization options
h = bodeplot(sys)
bodeplot(..., plotoptions)
h = bodeplot(sys) plot the Bode magnitude and phase of the dynamic system model sys and returns the plot handle h to the plot. You can use this handle to customize the plot with the getoptions and setoptions commands.
bodeplot(sys) draws the Bode plot of the model sys. The frequency range and number of points are chosen automatically.
bodeplot(sys1,sys2,...) graphs the Bode response of multiple models sys1,sys2,... on a single plot. You can specify a color, line style, and marker for each model, as in
bodeplot(AX,...) plots into the axes with handle AX.
bodeplot(..., plotoptions) plots the Bode response with the options specified in plotoptions. Type
help bodeoptions
for a list of available plot options. See Example 2 for an example of phase matching using the PhaseMatchingFreq and PhaseMatchingValue options.
bodeplot(sys,w) draws the Bode plot for frequencies specified by w. When w = {wmin,wmax}, the Bode plot is drawn for frequencies between wmin and wmax (in rad/TimeUnit, where TimeUnit is the time units of the input dynamic system, specified in the TimeUnit property of sys.). When w is a user-supplied vector w of frequencies, in rad/TimeUnit, the Bode response is drawn for the specified frequencies.
See logspace to generate logarithmically spaced frequency vectors.
Example 1
Use the plot handle to change options in a Bode plot.
sys = rss(5);
h = bodeplot(sys);
% Change units to Hz and make phase plot invisible
Example 2
The properties PhaseMatchingFreq and PhaseMatchingValue are parameters you can use to specify the phase at a specified frequency. For example, enter the following commands.
sys = tf(1,[1 1]);
h = bodeplot(sys) % This displays a Bode plot.
Use this code to match a phase of 750 degrees to 1 rad/s.
p = getoptions(h);
p.PhaseMatching = 'on';
p.PhaseMatchingFreq = 1;
p.PhaseMatchingValue = 750; % Set the phase to 750 degrees at 1
% rad/s.
setoptions(h,p); % Update the Bode plot.
The first bode plot has a phase of -45 degrees at a frequency of 1 rad/s. Setting the phase matching options so that at 1 rad/s the phase is near 750 degrees yields the second Bode plot. Note that, however, the phase can only be -45 + N*360, where N is an integer, and so the plot is set to the nearest allowable phase, namely 675 degrees (or 2*360 - 45 = 675).
Example 3
Compare the frequency responses of identified state-space models of order 2 and 6 along with their 2 std confidence regions.
load iddata1
w = linspace(8,10*pi,256);
h = bodeplot(sys1,sys2,w);
setoptions(h, 'PhaseMatching', 'on', 'ConfidenceRegionNumberSD', 2);
Use the context menu by right-clicking Characteristics > Confidence Region to turn on the confidence region characteristic.
Example 4
Compare the frequency response of a parametric model, identified from input/output data, to a nonparametric model identified using the same data.
1. Identify parametric and non-parametric models based on data.
load iddata2 z2;
w = linspace(0,10*pi,128);
sys_np = spa(z2,[],w);
sys_p = tfest(z2,2);
spa and tfest require System Identification Toolbox™ software. sys_np is a non-parametric identified model. sys_p is a parametric identified model.
2. Create a Bode plot that includes both systems.
opt = bodeoptions; opt.PhaseMatching = 'on';
bodeplot(sys_np,sys_p,w, opt);
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3/30: Slow Motion Match Strike
Newer Older
With many thanks to Intellectual Ventures, for use of their Phantom V12, and to the various folks at Hackerbot Labs that helped me set up this shot, back in January of 2011.
Match was clamped in a vice, and my hand was holding the box.
(very clumsy) music by me, done in Garage Band. Someday, I'll get better tools for music creation, and learn how to use them. I hope.
New-to-me feature of note: variable speed playback.
Yer Photo Xpression, Miguel Vera, and 6 other people added this video to their favorites.
1. 3ricj 32 months ago | reply
ooOOoO, does this let you slowly ramp up or down the framerate?
2. lindes 32 months ago | reply
Yup. :) Pretty schnazzy, eh?
Alas, it has less control over the rate of ramping than I might like... or at least, it's clumsy to control that specific thing, but you can speed up and slow down with a great deal of control, and it does do a ramp in between. You can also reverse stuff, which I haven't actually tried just yet, but surely will. :)
FCP X is certainly less than "everything I could possibly want" (for one thing, I want more RAM now ;)), but I'm pretty happy with it, for the most part. It's definitely a VAST improvement over any video editing system I've used previously -- with the possible exception of the Sony RM 450. ;) (I'd love to have a modern version of something like that as a custom controller for FCPX... I know there are jog/shuttle wheels out there; I'll probably get myself one at some point.)
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Messages in this thread
SubjectRe: asm/unistd.h
On Thu, Apr 05, 2001 at 09:06:20AM -0400, Bart Trojanowski wrote:
> So you ask: "why not just use a { ... } to define a macro". I don't
> remember the case for this but I know it's there. It has to do with a
> complicated if/else structure where a simple {} breaks.
It's for eating the semi-colon after the macro invocation.
[unhandled content-type:application/pgp-signature]
\ /
©2003-2011 Jasper Spaans
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Was anybody around on RE boards during 2000-2003?
#1Vegeta1000Posted 10/4/2012 1:40:32 PM
I remember there were lots of complaints about the series getting stale and needing to move into a new direction so why are fans complaining about the new direction the series has taken?
#2SamA7XPosted 10/4/2012 1:43:57 PM
Because some people are born in this world just to complain.
(the "I" in "VII" is a capital "i" not a undercase "L")
#3Skurv7Posted 10/4/2012 1:47:27 PM
I made a topic about this yesterday, and I'll tell you what I said then. The people complaining are the people who would still be complaining if it was the same and Wesker was the main antagonist with pre-rendered backgrounds...all i can say is don't ask for something you don't want ;)
If you know wut i mean.
#4orphanjohnPosted 10/4/2012 1:48:06 PM
2 huge complaints I remember from I believe RE4 and 5 was that people wanted zombies back, and new controls that don't handle like a tank. Well they get that and still cry about it. It's called being spoiled. No matter what comes along it will never be good enough, and they just cry for something new and better all over again.
PSN: orphanjohn/OrphanFromdabloc
Currently playing: Dark Souls, UMvC3, Transformers: FoC, NCAA 13, Resident Evil 6
#5JStewVGMPosted 10/4/2012 1:50:17 PM
I don't even read those crap comments. Cry moar is all I say
#6Orochi_LedePosted 10/4/2012 1:50:51 PM
SamA7X posted...
Because some people are born in this world just to complain.
#7Duffy12323Posted 10/4/2012 1:54:58 PM
Well they did away with tense atmospheric environments. There's no suspense anymore, just running and shooting with no exploration at all.
#8Vegeta1000(Topic Creator)Posted 10/4/2012 2:18:41 PM
You guys may think that the old-school RE games were constantly praised, but this was not the case. It got plenty of hate as well:
- Terrible camera angles (fixed with RECV but came back with RE0).
- Tank controls
- Poor aiming
- Backtracking (worst examples was RECV and RE0)
- Fetch puzzles
- Terrible save system
- Poor voice acting (subjective, but the original RE1 was known to have terrible VA)
Most of those problems was fixed with RE4, but then fans complained that the series was no longer survival horror and just a TPS. I disagree. Even though RE4 had more action it still had tense moments, creepy atmosphere, creepy looking enemies, fetch puzzles, and backtracking. RE5 I'd admit, wasn't much like the old ones as far as gameplay goes. It's like it's a lose-lose situation for Capcom because fans are going to complain either way.
#9edward18Posted 10/4/2012 2:22:41 PM
and as I said I NEVER complained
Before you die you see the Tails Doll---Backdrop Observer of the Metroid: Other M board
Apparently Edward: Wise Old Sage of Korodai
#10Vegeta1000(Topic Creator)Posted 10/4/2012 2:24:50 PM
and as I said I NEVER complained
Well, you're in the minority.
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Take the 2-minute tour ×
When I put images on my blog and they get included in social sites like Google plus it seems Google just grabs the first image it finds to include in posts. However I want it to include a specific image on the page. Is there a specific attribute to set for this on the image tags?
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up vote 0 down vote accepted
First, make sure you set a "Featured Image" for your post. You don't even need to include it in the body of your post, just set the featured image via the "Add Media" button.
Then you can add the og:image meta property to the single post header to have other sites pick up this image automatically.
The easiest way to do this is to install an SEO plugin like WordPress SEO by Yoast, which will automatically create the "og:image" property along with a few others targeted at other social networks.
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Take the 2-minute tour ×
I'm trying to extract specific hard coded variables from C source code. My remaining problem is that I'd like to parse array initialisation, for example:
#define SOMEVAR { {T_X, {1, 2}}, {T_Y, {3, 4}} }
It's enough to parse this example into "{T_X, {1, 2}}" and "{T_Y, {3, 4}}", since it's then possible to recurse to get the full structure. However, it needs to be sufficiently general so as to be able to parse any user defined types.
Even better would be a list of regular expressions that can be used to extra values from general C code constructs like #define, enums and global variables.
The C code is provided to me, so I have no control over it. I'd rather not write a function that parses it a character at a time. However, it'd be OK to have a sequence of regular expressions.
This is not a problem of getting files into MATLAB or basic regular expressions. I'm after a specific regular expression that preserves groupings by brackets.
EDIT: Looks like regular expressions don't do recursion or arbitrarily deep matches. According to here and here.
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7 Answers
up vote 0 down vote accepted
EDIT: Now that the question has been updated, it appears that my previous answer missed the point. I don't know if you've already searched the other regular-expression-related questions on Stack Overflow. On the chance that you haven't, I came across two that may help give you guidance for your problem (which appears to be a problem, at least partially, of trying to match and keep track of opening and closing curly braces): this one and this one. Good luck!
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It's easy enough to write an expression that matches a specific case, but I'm after something general that preserves groupings while separating the list. Thanks anyway. – Nzbuu Feb 13 '09 at 15:36
Ah, I understand better now from your new edit of the question. The problem appears quite a bit more difficult than the example you gave. Unfortunately, no immediate solution springs to mind. – gnovice Feb 13 '09 at 15:50
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Have you looked at the following site which provides extensive tutorials and examples on regular expressions :-
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The formal language that defines brace matching is not a regular language. Therefore, you cannot use a regular expression to solve your problem.
The problem is that you need some way to count the number of opening braces you have already encountered. Some regular expression engines support extended features, such as peeking, which could be used to solve your problem, but these can be tough to deal with. You might be better off writing a simple parser for this task.
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Maybe vim's syntax file would help in this matter. I'm not sure whether it has those elements you seek (I don't do C), but it's got a whole lot of elements, so it's definitely a starting point. Download vim (www.vim.org), and in vim/syntax/c.vim look around a little.
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I don't think regexps will work on arbitrary C code. Clang allows you to build a syntax tree from C code and use it programatically.
That could be readily used for globals, but #defines are handled by the preprocessor so I'm not sure how they would work.
cristi:tmp diciu$ cat test.c
#define t 1
int m=5;
int fun(char * y)
float g;
return t;
int main()
int g=7;
return t;
cristi:tmp diciu$ ~/Downloads/checker-137/clang -ast-dump test.c
(CompoundStmt 0xc01ec0 <test.c:6:1, line:10:1>
(DeclStmt 0xc01e70 <line:7:2>
0xc01e30 "float g"
(ReturnStmt 0xc01eb0 <line:9:2, line:1:11>
(IntegerLiteral 0xc01e90 <col:11> 'int' 1)))
(CompoundStmt 0xc020a0 <test.c:13:1, line:16:1>
(DeclStmt 0xc02060 <line:14:2>
0xc02010 "int g =
(IntegerLiteral 0xc02040 <col:8> 'int' 7)"
(ReturnStmt 0xc01b50 <line:15:2, line:1:11>
(IntegerLiteral 0xc02080 <col:11> 'int' 1)))
typedef char *__builtin_va_list;
Read top-level variable decl: 'm'
int fun(char *y)
int main()
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No external tools, sorry. But I still don't see how that helps me. – Nzbuu Feb 13 '09 at 15:37
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I assume you have access to the C code in question. If so, then define two macros:
Wrap all the data you want to extract between these macros. When the C code is compiled, they expand to nothing, so they won't harm there.
Now you can use a very simple regexp to get the data.
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This regular expression:
seems reasonable, but I don't know if it's enough for you. It's littered with \s* to allow arbitrary whitespace between tokens, from C's point of view that's allowable. It will match stuff that looks more or less just your examples; some kind of identifier followed by exactly two digit strings.
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Do you mean this? \{\s*\w+\s*,\s*\{\s*\d+\s*,\s*\d+\s*\}\s*\}. That only matches this specific example. I'm looking for something more general. – Nzbuu Feb 13 '09 at 15:35
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potc-stills-023.jpg potc-stills-024.jpg potc-stills-025.jpg potc-stills-026.jpg potc-stills-027.jpg
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Take the 2-minute tour ×
i've saved my icon as a png-32, with transparency checked and tried saving for web but the black background is still there. i've also saved as a nornmal png and still no good. i fixed this about 6 months ago but for the life of me i can't remember now.
any help would be great thanks
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What device are you using? I've noticed the Galaxy Tab, for example, will add backgrounds to launchers, but seems to make exceptions. – Nathan Fig May 10 '11 at 12:27
You've set your alpha transparency correctly? – Monk May 15 '11 at 6:56
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1 Answer
up vote 1 down vote accepted
The actual technique will depend somewhat on the application you're using, but it's very easy to do in Gimp (free). You simply add a transparent layer, select the background and then delete it. Here's a link that explains the process: http://www.fabiovisentin.com/tutorial/GIMP_transparent_image/gimp_how_to_make_transparent_image.asp.
If you're using a different tool, such as Photoshop, the exact process will of course be slightly different. Hope this helps.
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i'm using 2 samsung galaxy europas for a bluetooth poker app. if anyone wants to try it out, let me know. i'd love some feedback. cheers for the response but it seems to have fixed itself. black background's gone. i did increase the file size again but that didn't work before so i don't think that's what fixed it. thanks. – jakedemus May 11 '11 at 17:23
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Pennsylvania school installs D-Link solutions
IP surveillance system provide school with wider and faster coverage, increased storage capacity
FOUNTAIN VALLEY, CA--(Marketwire - February 10, 2009) - When SUN Area Career & Technology Center was seeking to replace its unreliable, crash-prone analog video surveillance system, it turned to D-Link for sophisticated Internet Protocol (IP) based security cameras and network switches for improved functionality, reliability and clarity without breaking the bank.
"The old camera system recorded frames at four to five frames a second, which didn't capture detail very well. It only allowed us to record two weeks of video before archiving, because the drive for that system could store only 60MB," said Tom Gray, network administrator at SUN. "We'd often realize that data was missing because the cameras were down. And it was a proprietary system that took a lot of time and effort to manage."
Located in New Berlin, Penn., SUN Area Career & Technology Center offers adult education classes, vocational education, and technical career training to more than 1500 people each year. The facility is dedicated to providing students with the skills needed to compete in today's job market and receive consideration for advanced college placement.
When seeking a new security system, SUN took its cue from another school -- Central Penn Institute -- that had recently deployed D-Link cameras and was very happy with the results. "We were impressed with the quality of the network cameras, and we realized we could get the number of cameras we needed with D-Link's pricing," said Gray. "Cost alone made it very attractive for us, especially considering the benefits it provided."
SUN purchased 23 D-Link DCS-1110 Power over Ethernet (PoE) network cameras, and networked them using three D-Link DES-3828P PoE managed stackable switches. "The PoE switches allowed us to put the cameras anywhere without worrying about electrical connections," said Gray. The cameras are all high-quality color devices that SUN runs at 10 frames per second for image quality and storage optimization, which he says is "significantly faster" than the old analog system.
Gray evaluated network cameras from Sony and Axis Communications. "Budget was a big issue for us," said Gray, "and those options were just too expensive. We could have gone small with the other vendors, but then we wouldn't have been able to purchase the number of cameras we needed for appropriate coverage."
"The D-Link cameras are perfect for hallway coverage," said Gray. The school now has reliable, court-quality video as visual evidence for disciplinary infractions. The students know that the cameras are recording 24X7, which helps curb unwanted behavior.
With the D-Link system, SUN doesn't need to hire security personnel to monitor surveillance screens. They record everything to a 2TB server that includes five SATA drives in a RAID configuration. The storage can handle an entire school year of recordings. The MPEG files generated by the cameras are easy to copy onto CD or DVD, and can be immediately played back for court, parents or anyone else that has a Microsoft Media Player installed on their computer.
"Since we're already network specialists here in the IT department, the whole system is easy to manage," said Gray. "A network-friendly system like D-Link's helps us reduce the amount of time we spend managing equipment. There's really not much that we have to do. That's important when you have so much other work to do supporting the network and the users."
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Bill summaries are authored by CRS.
Shown Here:
Passed Senate without amendment (11/05/2009)
Recognizes the celebration of National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month during November 2009.
Honors the heritage and culture of American Indians and Alaska Natives and their contributions to the United States.
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Canadian tourist Doris Roberts blithely smoked a cigarette as she relaxed at a table under cloudy skies in Times Square on Monday, flicking ashes and scorn at the city's new law prohibiting smoking in pedestrian plazas, as well as in parks and at beaches.
A new outdoor smoking ban covers all of New York City's parks and public plazas, including Times Square. WSJ's Hilke Schellmann visited the iconic crossroads for tourists and office workers to see if smokers would take heed of the new law.
"It's ridiculous," said Ms. Roberts, 47 years old, of Montreal. "We're outside—we should be able to smoke."
Ninety days after Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed into law this most recent expansion of the city's smoking ban, it became illegal on Monday to smoke in the city's 1,700 parks and on its 14 miles of beaches. Smoking is now also prohibited along the city's boardwalks, marinas and pedestrian plazas, such as Times Square.
Parks Department officials are authorized to enforce the law and may issue fines of $50 per violation. But city officials say they're hopeful the new ban will be self-enforcing, with most people stubbing out their butts when alerted by passersby or city officials.
As of Monday evening, officials said no citations had been issued.
The new smoking ban—coming eight years after Mr. Bloomberg convinced the City Council to approve a ban in bars and restaurants and other indoor workplaces—drew a mix of praise and disdain from people in the city's parks and plazas.
At Times Square: Brittney Lawson, 20, smokes in the public plaza on Monday, the first day of the city's new smoking ban. She put out the cigarette upon being informed of the ban. Michael Nagle for The Wall Street Journal
Karin Almonte, a 31-year-old messenger from Washington Heights, bemoaned the ban as he watched a man wave a wand that spawned giant, translucent bubbles near the bandshell just south of Central Park's Bethesda Terrace. "I have to leave the park to smoke and then come back?" he said incredulously. "It's not fair."
"They're using people to make more money," he said, referring to the possibility of getting a ticket. "Maybe in the future, they will say you can't smoke in your own home."
Others said they were thankful they could enjoy smoke-free parks. "The smoke really bothers me," said Chris Goodwin, 73, a retired doorman who was resting on a bench near Central Park's Great Lawn. "Tobacco is harmful."
Thomas Farley, commissioner of the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, played a key role in convincing Mr. Bloomberg to support the expanded ban. He said New Yorkers deserve to enjoy public places free of smoke and cigarette butts.
"Smoke-free parks protect all those who visit from the dangers of secondhand smoke and our children can play without getting a lesson on how to smoke," Dr. Farley said. "It is our hope that smokers, most of whom want to quit, will use this as an opportunity make a quit attempt."
Mr. Bloomberg was initially hesitant to move forward with the latest ban, but after examining data about the dangers of second-hand smoke, he became convinced it was the right move for the city, according to aides.
A sign at the entrance to Bryant Park notifies visitors of a new smoking ban in New York City. Getty Images
During his first term in office, the mayor ignited a firestorm of criticism when he proposed and won council approval to ban smoking in bars and restaurants citywide. The measure has since gained widespread acceptance, and Mr. Bloomberg considers it one of the greatest achievements of his mayoralty. Over the years, he has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to encourage people world-wide to quit smoking.
The ban doesn't include the sidewalks immediately adjoining parks, squares and public places, officials said. A smoker could easily hop onto a sidewalk to evade a ticket or disapproving remark.
A spokeswoman for the city's parks department said the administration is in the process of erecting 3,000 to 4,000 permanent signs to alert people to the new law. The city is also launching a campaign highlighting the new law with ads on television, in the subway and in print media, officials said Monday.
In Times Square, where huge billboards catch the eye, few noticed the tiny signs that the city posted about the new smoking ban. One smoker, when asked his thoughts on the new law as he briskly walked through the pedestrian plaza, replied: "Didn't know it existed."
Once informed, he took another puff and kept walking.
But Debbie Eastwood, a 46-year-old tourist from Manchester, England, quickly stubbed out her smoke when a reporter told her about the new law. "It's probably best for everybody," she said with a laugh.
Ms. Eastwood, who is headed to Las Vegas at the end of the week, then asked, with a twinkle of mischievousness in her eye, "Is there a smoking ban there?"
Write to Michael Howard Saul at
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Take the 2-minute tour ×
I have a software that communicates with api of a website. How could I increase its functionality to connect to various other api's without touching the code in it? I think the easiest way is to write a proxy that resides between api and softwre translates incoming messages from other api to the base api that this software "understands". Where should I look for more information on implementing this proxy using c#? Thank you for help.
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1 Answer
Hmm sounds like one of the Software design patterns you come across every day. I think what fits best with your "proxy" is actually bridge.
From sourcemaking
- Decouple an abstraction from its implementation so that the two can vary independently.
- Publish interface in an inheritance hierarchy, and bury implementation in its own inheritance hierarchy.
- Beyond encapsulation, to insulation
“Hardening of the software arteries” has occurred by using subclassing of an abstract base class
The example in C# is http://sourcemaking.com/design_patterns/bridge/c%2523
However if you just want the proxy design pattern (which imho doesn't suit your problem) is listed here:
1. Proxy Pattern.
2. Proxy Pattern in C#.
EDIT: Ok, for a more generalised solution, go with Proxy pattern and look at existing implementations for proxies. You'll find quite a few answers to that answer question on this site:
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Hi, thanks for reply. I thought more of a real proxy server running on local machine to receive a communication from software (which I did not mention much about but is old and complicated, what makes it extremely time consuming to update) and translate these messages to other api and connect with the other api. I found this: codeproject.com/KB/IP/mywebserver.aspx, and thought this could be a base for this server ... am I correct in my reasoning? – Macin Jun 30 '11 at 22:09
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Radical ideas needed to outdo cameraphones
Started Jul 31, 2012 | Discussions thread
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Andrew Butterfield
Senior MemberPosts: 2,402Gear list
Radical ideas needed to outdo cameraphones
Jul 31, 2012
Some camera makers seem to be realising that they have to find ways to differentiate their consumer products from cameraphones.
But really, they're not thinking that hard if you ask me. Fast lenses and zoom lenses seem to be about the only things they've come up with so far. And now Nokia has shown you can use a huge sensor to provide zoom, things are looking even more precarious for the compact camera.
So I'm surprised we haven't seen some more radical thinking.
Camera makers are a bit stuck. They think they can't make a camera that doesn't have a huge LCD on the back, for instance. But who really needs that? Get rid of the LCD and the camera could be a more useful shape and size, and there would be more room for better controls. Many photographers would be happy to use just an EVF if it was good enough. A long-zoom camera with just an EVF could be a radically different shape that would be easier to transport.
Or you could have an EVF, and a mini projector for when you want to show your friends your photos.
Or let the camera communicate with your phone and use that as the LCD. Have a slot in the back of the camera for an iPhone.
Or what about having the EVF detachable, and wireless, so you could set your camera up on the bird table and use the EVF as a remote shutter release.
And why haven't we seen a compact camera with a super-wide-angle lens and a tilt-shift mechanism so we can take great architecture shots without converging verticals? I'd love a tilt-shift compact camera.
And of course there's the obvious opportunity to have apps on your camera like on your phone. How this hasn't happened yet is beyond me.
These are just off the top of my head, but it has to happen or camera makers (particularly ones like Casio whose range of cameras seems very vulnerable to the cameraphone) will find themselves out of the compact market altogether.
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Before the Lincoln High School prom last Saturday night, 16-year-old Sammi McCasland and seven of her friends -- a total of four couples -- decided to take photos with their smartphones at the Japanese Friendship Garden at Kelley Park.
Having duly paid the $6 per vehicle parking fee, the Lincoln students walked toward the bridges and ponds of the friendship garden in search of the right spot for a memory. That's when a San Jose park ranger told them no.
"We get there, and she says, 'Do you guys have a permit?' '' remembered Sammi. "We said 'no.' She said, 'No, you can't take pictures.' ''
The Lincoln kids, part of a wave of promgoers descending on the garden, waited until the park ranger had gone and then took their shots without benefit of the $100 permit.
Witnesses said other students were simply turned away flat. "People were mad,'' Sammi told me. "Everyone was really annoyed and frustrated.''
Is this really policy? Can the City of San Jose -- which, let's face it, takes in a fair amount of taxes from the students and their parents -- really be in the business of stopping kids from taking prom pictures with their cellphones at a public park?
Breaking the rules?
And if that's so, shouldn't the city's park rangers stop everyone from taking photos, even the tourists who pose on the bridge by the koi fish? Make room at Elmwood Correctional Center: We have massive lawbreaking at the Japanese Friendship Garden.
When I ran this episode past Steve Hammack, the deputy director of parks, recreation and neighborhood services, he said the city's policy was clear.
"We encourage photography in the park and only require a permit when conducted for the purposes of doing business,'' he wrote me by email.
"This situation as you outlined below does not require a permit. I am following up with staff to make sure we are not misrepresenting the requirements for obtaining a permit.''
And that's fair enough. San Francisco, for example, says that permits aren't needed unless the photographer is being paid -- a wedding videographer, for instance.
You can see the reasoning behind that: In a paid gig, the city's grounds are being used as a business backdrop.
Yet it may not be wholly fair to blame the park ranger here. When you look up the city's policies online ( the rules appear ambiguous.
Under the "Photo Permit'' section, the city says, "Photo permits are necessary for any type of photography or filming in all city of San Jose parks.''
Japanese Friendship Garden, Kelley Park
Japanese Friendship Garden, Kelley Park (Mercury News archive)
But an FAQ for photo permits has this question: "Do I have to have a permit for photos if I'm just visiting the park and snapping a few pictures?'' The answer is "No.''
So it appears that "snapping a few pictures,'' which is presumably what the promgoers were attempting, is not the same as the "any type of photography'' requiring a $100 permit from the city.
Now it might be that the park ranger saw a big group of kids arriving at the park and lumped it in with something like a lavish wedding or quinceañera.
If so, put up a few signs outlining the policy. It will help the rangers and picture-takers. And save the rest of us from going mad, in both senses.
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> So....my question is, is it always necessary to retrieve a record > before doing save() in order to make it update a record which > already exists? If so, would I do something like: No. Your could do the following. User user = new User(); data.getParameters().setProperties(user); // much easier user.setNew(false); user.save(); // save() UserPeer.doUpdate(user); // or use the peer Try that. Eric
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Does anyone know any specific or explicit example of a set of $256$ points so that no $10$ are the vertices of a convex $10$-gon? Thanks in advance.
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It seems that Erdos and Szekeres claimed an inductive construction for an example, but it is based on $g_{k,1}(1)=g_{1,l}=0$ and $g_{k,l}$ linearly depends on $g_{k,1}(1)$ and $g_{1,l}(1)$, which means all $g_{k,l}$'s are $0$. But then how would that become a valid example? Anyone knows? Thanks. – alicay Jan 10 '13 at 8:03
If the one who edited the question is the same as the OP, he should flag for moderator attention to request merging his two accounts. – Julian Kuelshammer Jan 10 '13 at 21:03
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Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.
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I have a database that has a table of Ingredients I and a table of Recipes R. The two tables have a many-to-many relationship, as one recipes uses many ingredients and one ingredient is used in many recipes. I have a third cross-reference table that uses the cross-reference validation pattern to enforce my many-to-many relationship, and is done using string foreign keys (instead of integers).
Assuming I have a collection of ingredients C outside of my database, how can I query Recipe table R for every recipe that can be made using ONLY the list of ingredients supplied in C?
Other things to consider
1) Speed will (of course) be a concern eventually, but correctness is what I'm stuck on at the moment.
2) The collection of ingredients C might be very large (~100 ingredients).
Any answers or even just pointers in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.
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What is the DB/Version? – Chandu Jul 25 '12 at 21:15
@Chandu, I haven't figured out any of that yet, I'm just working on this system as a hobby so I haven't laid out any specifications yet. For now, you can just assume the current stable MySQL 5.5.25 . But really, any answer you can provide I will try and port back to MySQL (or whatever DB I decide to use) – pghprogrammer4 Jul 25 '12 at 21:51
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up vote 5 down vote accepted
One way is to write:
select ...
from R
where ID not in
( select R_ID
from RI
where I_ID not in
( select I_ID
from C
That is: start with C. Select all recipe–ingredient cross-references where the ingredient is not in C. This gives you the set of all recipes that cannot be made using only ingredients in C. Then, select all recipes that aren't in that set.
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Good catch on my answer. I read the question to fast. I missed the point about only recipes that can be made with ONLY those ingredients. – RThomas Jul 25 '12 at 21:27
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KNOX, Ind. The Starke County Sheriff’s Department arrested 76 people Saturday morning after officers raided an animal fighting contest in Knox, police say.
Just before 11 a.m., police responded to an anonymous tip that 50 people were participating in an animal fighting contest west of Knox, at 100 W, south of State Road 8.
When police arrived, multiple people ran and abandoned fighting cock paraphernalia and several vehicles parked in the area.
Police arrested over 76 suspects after running through muddy fields, ice-covered ditches and wooded areas. Officers found other suspects hiding in ditches and hollowed-out trees. One juvenile that was harbored by an adult was found without shoes. The juvenile was taken to Starke Memorial Hospital and treated for frostbite.
Police say they arrested a person who was described as a Hispanic male for organizing the event, and many others were arrested for promoting animal fighting and attending. Twelve of them are facing felonies for bringing the roosters to the fight. The other 64 are facing misdemeanors. It is a class A misdemeanor to attend an animal fighting contest and it is a Class D felony to promote the use of animals or attendance at an animal fighting contest.
As of Monday morning, all but one of the people arrested have bonded out.
Only the suspects facing felonies were held at the Starke County Jail. The others were released with citations and court dates.
A school bus was called to the scene to transport the suspects to the jail.
145 fighting cocks were seized and transported to the Starke County Humane Society for euthanization.
Officers also obtained and served a search warrant seizing 13 firearms, 29 vehicles, drug paraphernalia, and cock fighting paraphernalia.
Police also say vendors were at the event selling food and drinks.
Those arrested traveled from various states including Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan.
In May, 2006, police raided a cock fight in the Grovertown area of Starke County. Police arrested 52 people and seized 60 roosters in that case.
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1 definition by bradcoop
Delfina (noun) Del-fina (from-fine)
1. Daughter of the Roman god Apollo and Daphne.
Delfina is the goddess ruler of the sun. In heathen theology; a cherisher and protector of the polite arts, Inherited Like Apollo she was the god of light, medicine, eloquence, music and beauty.
2 Essentially a female name (Latin) Spanish or European upper class
3. Delfina is from the finest, ultrafine, superfine, and emotionally stable. "Fina" fine in every aspect.
4. All that is good, classy, real and pure.
5. The modern day Delfina has an air of authority; it is an innate right that suits her completely.
6. Anything that comes from the very finest, of superior quality, of high regard
7. from the most precious of all things considered
8. A natural beauty illuminates her surroundings; she is from the finest stock.
9. Fine facial appearance, captivating eyes, long nose, great body, round tight behind, small waist.
It was obvious by the lavish clothes they wore that they lived a delfina lifestyle.
by bradcoop August 28, 2010
71 6
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Take the 2-minute tour ×
I am writing a script and started working with the install command (for copying files) and it is not working. CMake configure/generate does not show any errors (i.e. it does not stop and no warnings/errors show related to this command) and the command does not seem to be working because I don't see any files being copied.
Since I am new, I am wondering:
• How can I tell that install failed (perhaps the source directory was wrong, or the destination directory was wrong)? It appears to be failing silently
• Are there error codes I can check to see what went wrong?
• Ans lastly when is install called? When I click configure? Or when the project is built?
I am on Windows.
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When you add an install command to your CMakeLists.txt, you get a new target created called "install".
In order to actually install the chosen files/targets, you need to build this install target. It's not automatically built as part of the "ALL" target.
For example, if you're using Visual Studio, the "INSTALL" target should appear in the "CMakePredefinedTargets" folder of the Solution Explorer. Just selecting this target and building it will cause the solution to be built and the selected items installed.
If any part of the build or install process fails, the notifications should then be apparent.
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That makes a lot of sense. Either I am not looking hard enough or the documentation does a poor job at describing these details. – Samaursa Mar 24 '13 at 1:07
This tutorial might help a bit? – Fraser Mar 24 '13 at 2:19
It does! Thanks! – Samaursa Mar 24 '13 at 15:51
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I have an object $this->user which is of model User. This object is populated by $this->Auth->user in my app controller like so:
$this->user = ClassRegistry::init('User');
Works like a charm. If I print_r out $this->user in my controller it gives me:
User Object ( [validate] => Array ( blah blah blah
A typical object. Now I have a Group model which belongs to a User, and users have many groups. These variables are properly set in the models. Now I want to find all Groups for this particular user who is logged in. So I tried this:
$groups = $this->user->Group->find('list', array('fields'=>array('id', 'group_name')))
The key is that I want to use $this->user to automatically filter the Group query based on the owner_id in $this->user. It makes sense to me that if I've got a specific object representing a user and I do a Group query based on that user ... it should only return the relevant groups.
The problem is that $groups contains all of the entries in the Groups table, rather than obviously the ones I only want from the current user. I don't see why I would need to add a "conditions"=>"user_id"=$this->Auth->user('id') parameter to the find function because I've already specified what user I'm using via the model chain.
Any ideas why this is not working? The sql statment it runs is simply a SELECT on Groups WHERE 1 = 1 (so not filtering at all).
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up vote 0 down vote accepted
No, the object User really acts more like a class than a object. You can say Cake doesn't fully implement Active Record pattern (I think Cake 3.0 may fix that, not sure). So yes, you still need to set the condition for the find. And you don't have to set($this->Auth->user);
You are probably not very familiar with Cake: in Cake, you hardly ever have to instantiate Model objects at all. They are created for you based on the current controller and model relationships that you specify.
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OK thanks for your answer. I am still learning cake, yes. The only reason I had that variable instantiated is because I wanted to use it in this manner - as that is not possible then you're right - I have no use for it. – MikeMurko Aug 26 '11 at 19:21
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look up any word, like fuck:
Scapulation dumping refers to the process of dumping scapula’s. Little is known about Scapula’s (from the latin word Scapulaiincredabilous) except that they are found at incredible depths within the worlds oceans. It is within their home environment that they creep and crawl over the ocean floors gathering the bubbles from shark farts.
Deep sea trawlers net the scapulas, extract the shark farts and encapsulate them in a vat of spirits which are ultimately sold to the manufacturers of spirit levels and used for the bubbles found within those levels.
Extreme caution must be applied throughout the action to avoid the shark farts entering the seamen’s blood stream and causing “the bends”.
The Scapula’s are not harmed during the process and are dumped back into the sea once their valuable cargo’s are extracted hence the expression “scapulation dumping”.
Prof J.S. Miller
Scapulation Dumping refers to dumping scapula's and is associated with production of Pioneer Brickies Levels
by Ormbo January 22, 2008
2 3
Words related to Scapulation Dumping refers to dumping scapula's:
dumping farts levels scapula sharks
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This seems like an ideal place to ask a question that has been keeping me confused for a little while now. But I apologize if I've posted in the wrong area.
My question is that I don't seem to understand the temperature trend that I am seeing from my temperature sensors. I'll start of with my setup: Essentially, I have a metal box with two temperature sensors. 1) Is mounted right at the base of the box [Temp Sensor #1] 2) The second temperature sensor is mounted 2 inches from the top of the box [Temp Sensor #2]. The box is about 6 inches in height.
I've placed a heating pad at the base of the box (Temp Sensor #1 lies right in the center of this pad. A graphic showing my setup:
I've also implemented a simple on/off temperature controller, that senses when the temperature goes above a certain set-point and turns off (hence you see the highs/lows for Temp Sensor #1).
As you can see from the image, the lower sensor (blue) has the peaks/troughs corresponding to when the heater turns on/off. The heater gets triggered every time the sensing temperature goes below the set point. What I don't understand is why the top sensor (red) has a periodically decreasing trend (it doesn't have highs/lows similar to the bottom sensor)? It doesn't seem to be affected by the heater turning on at all? Even though it is merely 4" away from the heater inside the metal enclosure.
I understand that Sensor#1 is probably changing immediately due to the heater very quickly affecting the metal base temperature via conduction. Whereas the second sensor is probably measuring the air around the metal enclosure at the top, and since air is an insulator, it takes longer to heat up. But there should be at-least some highs and lows I'd imagine. The continuous decreasing trend doesn't make any sense ...
Then, I suspected that perhaps my second temperature sensor was damaged. But that wasn't the case. I've tested both sensors and they work fine. Also here is a graph of the temperature trend, when I place the enclosure (with the sensors) in the freezer with no heater action. Intuitively as you can imagine, there is merely a decreasing trend for both sensors (shown below) due to the effect of the freezer:
Any suggestions please as to why I notice no temperature variation at Sensor #2 location when the heater turns on/off?
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Here is the trend with no heater and the freezer merely cooling: i47.tinypic.com/2430vp2.png , I couldn't post it in the original post since I do not have sufficient rep points. The heater pad type, I am using is this: winemakersdepot.com/Brewers-and-Wine-Making-Heat-Pad-P700.aspx – c0d3rz Jan 31 '13 at 0:32
I see when the heater is turned on an off, but when is the cooling activated? – mdma Jan 31 '13 at 1:32
What temp are you trying to stabilize at and is this metal enclosure insulated? Especially the lid. – brewchez Feb 2 '13 at 22:19
You've also inappropriately applied a linear fit to data that isn't behaving that way. You state that its a continuous decreasing trend. But it isn't, it has stabilize half way through the data collection period. – brewchez Feb 2 '13 at 22:24
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up vote 1 down vote accepted
It's to do with thermal inertia. If you look closely at the graph you'll see there are highs and lows for sensor #2 also - just much smaller than sensor #1, and they have the same period (time interval) as sensor #1, indicating they stem from the same heating oscillation.
You're of course right when you say that air is a poor conductor, and so it will essentially dampen the effect of the heater - there are rises and falls, just over a smaller, dampened range.
I'm not entirely clear on when the freezer switches on and why it would be on when the heater is also on, but it seems that's the case from the graph. Another reason for the imbalance is that the freezer has a far greater cooling effect than the 25W heater can heat. Most freezers are in the order of 120W or more, and have a Coefficient of Performance (CoP) of 2 or more when chilling to beer temperature, so you're getting about 240W of real cooling power vs 25W of heating power (resistance heating has a CoP <= 1) - so a 10:1 difference.
I imagine the main reason you're seeing any fluctuation in sensor 2 at all is because of the box, which confines the convection of heated air to within the box. I imagine if you removed the box and did the same thing, you'd see very little change in sensor #2 because of the large volume of cooler air surrounding it.
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Hi mdma: The freezer is always switched on, it is never turned off. Also, I'm using a 120W heater instead, so the heating/cooling difference is not that large I think. If I go with the idea of thermal inertia, why is that the lower sensor (Sensor #1) changes so quickly then? Shouldn't it face the same problem? – c0d3rz Jan 31 '13 at 2:56
The lower sensor changes quickly because the rate of conduction through contact with #1 is much quicker than conduction through the air to #2. – mdma Jan 31 '13 at 2:59
Hmm, just one last question about this CoP. Why is that the CoP is greater than 1 in the case of cooling? – c0d3rz Jan 31 '13 at 20:59
The CoP for compressor/inverter systems like fridges and heating pumps because they are just moving heat from one place to another, so the net heat output can be higher than the energy consumed. With a resistance based heat pad, this turns electrical energy into heat, and so the amount of heat produced can never be more than the electricity consumed. – mdma Jan 31 '13 at 21:09
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• By
Rockstar Games
Image from L.A. Noire
Rockstar Games last week released L.A. Noire, a hypnotic detective thriller developed by Australian studio Team Bondi. The videogame has been called groundbreaking for the facial-recognition technology used to create its characters, and the resulting psychological dimensions of gameplay. In witness questioning and interrogation sequences, the player, as young detective Cole Phelps, tries to ascertain the truths and lies in what he’s told. Because L.A. Noire’s cast of characters feature the recorded facial performances of its actors, rather than hand-animated abstractions of feeling, the gameplay carries the emotional ambiguity and weight of a cop show or film noir. We spoke via email with Jeronimo Barrera, VP of product development at Rockstar, about the process of building the game.
Speakeasy: The team used maps from the Works Progress Administration, archival photographs from newspapers, and aerial photos as reference material for the environment. Can the eight-square-mile section of Los Angeles recreated in the game be considered documentary or used as research material in its own right?
Jeronimo Barrera: We went to a great deal of effort in every area, from the details of the interiors of certain key buildings, licensing classic billboards, and recreating former landmarks, but it’s not a block-for-block recreation—we are trying to make something that feels real, not that replicates reality. We have to make some concessions to game design, alongside more pedestrian things like building licensing. A great example of the lighter side of the issues involved is the fact that in 1947, all the palm trees in L.A. were still roughly head-high. But when they were designed that way in the game, they had the opposite effect to being realistic—they actually distracted players from the experience, so we designed them at full height. We also designed the game to be slightly less smoggy than L.A. was at the time.
Past games from Rockstar have featured antiheroes as main characters. In this game, the protagonist is a cop. What level of moral ambiguity is written into the character and the game as a whole?
L.A. Noire is very different from our other games in a lot of ways, and one of them is that Cole Phelps is a by-the-book detective, and so the game is designed with that in mind. He can only draw his weapon when fired upon, or to fire a warning shot, for example. That said, it wouldn’t be noir if there wasn’t some complexity to the character, but that’s part of the story arc of the game. We have tried, in the past, to ensure that our anti-heroes have some redeeming qualities, and equally in this game we have tried to give Phelps a few weaknesses so he is far from the whiter-than-white hero he presents himself as at the start of the game.
Actors were recorded in an environment akin to a high-tech science-fiction setting. How were they directed to deliver believable, and relatable, performances while sitting alone in a chair and soundproof room?
The MotionScan room houses a rig of 32 high-definition 2D cameras that shoot an actor’s head—and only the head—from every angle, and actors would focus their performances on a main bank of cameras set in front of them. It was definitely an alien process at first, but we discovered a way to help humanize the process and help the actors emote just by placing a small print of the Mona Lisa in front of them to act toward and provide a sight line. Using an external monitor and microphone, Brendan McNamara, the game’s writer and director, would feed the actors their lines and direct individual performances.
Soon, the actors were accustomed to the rig and delivered incredible performances. It was practically a second home.
What limitations does the system have?
Right now, the system can only capture facial performances, but there’s a potential for it to capture a lot more in the future.
Do you feel that you’ve conquered the uncanny valley?
There’s always more work to be done, but the work in L.A. Noire is a huge leap forward—there has never been a greater level of emotion and realism in a videogame. What’s incredible about this is that we didn’t achieve this simply by using CG characters in non-interactive cutscenes. Every character in the game—some 400 in all—was created with this technology, and it is present in every scene, whether you’re talking to your partner during a shootout or searching a crime scene for clues.
The character bodies use existing motion-capture technology. There’s thus a disconnect between how their faces and their bodies have been realized. Is this an issue for the believability of the world?
For both facial and body animations we have used the best available technology. The facial tech is newer, but we feel this only brings it close to the level of motion capture. Faces were where the great leap in detail is really needed. For years, developers have been able design characters that move realistically. We used modern motion-capture techniques to obtain the information on the bodies, and then connected the heads to them. The difference is, motion capture assembles data on the skeleton of a character—MotionScan is the literal transfer of a real actor’s performance into the world of the game.
How explicit is the game’s connection between police procedurals and cinematic or literary noir?
The game is designed to play out a lot like a classic police procedural, but styled and themed in the traditions of noir. The game takes place across five “desks” of the LAPD—Patrol, Traffic, Homicide, Vice and Arson. Each desk consists of three to six self-contained cases, each with their own unique challenges. The game itself references classic noir and neo-noir both literally and obliquely, but the key thread here is that almost everyone you meet is hiding something—and the Cole Phelps we meet at the beginning of the game is a very different man than he is when you finally finish.
More on L.A. Noire:
Dropping Bodies Into Computer-Generated Films
Gamer As Gumshoe
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Motorola atrix 2
The Motorola Atrix 2 is a powerful smartphone with a unique spin thanks to being able to alter its use through the accessories bundle and hi-res screen, and it's nice to review something that isn't identical to the rest of the market.
We liked
The Motorola Atrix 2 is certainly a top-end phone. There are several useful accessories such as a GPS car mount, a Lapdock for charging the phone and using a webtop operating system, and another docking station that enables you to connect to an HD TV using an HDMI cable.
The 8MP camera is outstanding - videos and photos turned out clear and colourful. The phone is light and portable, with a bright screen, good battery life and a fast processor.
We disliked
The Motorola Atrix 2 pales a bit in comparison to the lighter and thinner Samsung Galaxy S2, the faster Galaxy Nexus and the iPhone 4S (which runs a bit faster for games).
The Motorola Atrix 2 has an older 1GHz processor instead of a 1.2GHz processor, there's no NFC chip and the screen isn't as bright as the AMOLED screen on the Samsung Galaxy S2.
The chassis is also a little chunky too - with the slimline business of the iPhones and Galaxys of this world, we can't stand too much heft, although this may appeal to those looking for something other than a wafer thin device.
Final verdict
The Motorola Atrix 2 falls a bit short of the best Android phones, but is in the same league. The phone runs fast, has a bright screen and lasts all day. But if we had to pick an Android phone, we'd either choose the Samsung Galaxy S2 or wait for the Galaxy Nexus - and the Motorola Razr is probably the superior device coming from the Moto brand.
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FORT MEADE, Md. --Bradley Manning, the Army private who sent hundreds of thousands ofsecret U.S. government documents to WikiLeaks, was found not guilty onTuesday of the most serious charge against him -- aiding the enemy --but guilty of several other charges at a military trial in Fort Meade,Md.
Col.Denise Lind, the military judge in the case, made the ruling. Manninghad requested that a judge, not a jury, determine the verdict againsthim.
Lind found Manning guilty of five counts of theft, fivecounts of espionage, a computer fraud charge and other militaryinfractions.
Manning's sentencing hearing is set to beginWednesday. He still faces a potential 128 years in prison if he receivesthe maximum sentence for the charges on which he was convicted.
Inhis closing argument last week, military prosecutor Maj. Ashden Fein,told the court Manning was a traitor who joined the Army to stealgovernment documents, turn them over to the anti-secrecy organizationand enjoy adulation as a whistle blower.
Manning's lawyer, DavidCoombs, portrayed him as a soldier troubled by what he saw whiledeployed to Iraq and struggling as a gay man to serve before the repealof Don't Ask, Don't Tell, the policy that resulted in more than 14,000gay troops being discharged.
Manning, 25, had faced 21 charges,including the most serious - aiding the enemy, which carries a possiblesentence of up to life in prison. Manning has acknowledged givingWikiLeaks some 700,000 battlefield reports, diplomatic cables andvideos. But he says he didn't believe the information would harm troopsin Afghanistan and Iraq or threaten national security.
Theprosecution argued that Manning knew a- Qaeda terrorists could benefitfrom the leaks. Some of the information turned up in the search of Osamabin Laden's compound in Pakistan, they said.
Manning pleadedguilty in February to charges that he had misused classifiedinformation. Those charges carry a maximum term of 20 years in prison.
Manningwas a low-level intelligence analyst, working at a forward operatingbase in Iraq when he gained access to the files. He used his computersavvy to gain access to sensitive government documents andcommunications.
The material he released included footage of aU.S. Army helicopter attack in Iraq in 2007 that killed at least ninemen, including a Reuters journalist. Other documents revealed tepid for the government in Tunisia. Manning's supporters say thathelped bring about the revolution there that sparked the Arab Springmovement.
The verdict and sentence will be reviewed by thecommander of the Military District of Washington. A hearing on hissentence is set to begin Wednesday.
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MATHEMATICA BOHEMICA, Vol. 121, No. 1, pp. 41-54, 1996
Two solutions for a nonlinear Dirichlet problem with positive forcing
J. Matos, L. Sanchez
J. Matos, L. Sanchez, Universidade de Lisboa, Centro de Matematica e Aplicac oes Fundamentais, Avenida Professor Gama Pinto, 2, 1699 - Lisboa Codex, Portugal
Abstract: Given a semilinear elliptic boundary value problem having the zero solution and where the nonlinearity crosses the first eigenvalue, we perturb it by a positive forcing term; we show the existence of two solutions under certain conditions that can be weakened in the onedimensional case.
Keywords: semilinear elliptic equations, multiple solutions, shooting method, variational methods
Classification (MSC91): 34B15, 35J25
Full text of the article:
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Officials of several religious organizations, including the Presbyterian, Lutheran and Episcopal churches, sent an open letter to Congress yesterday opposing the proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
''Although we have differing opinions on rights for same-sex couples, we believe the Federal Marriage Amendment reflects a fundamental disregard for individual civil rights and ignores differences among our nation's many religious traditions,'' the letter said. The United Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalist Association, which recognize same-sex marriages, also signed the letter. So did representatives of the Anti-Defamation League, the Union for Reform Judaism, the liberal Alliance of Baptists and the Quakers.
The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, helped orchestrate the letter. As United Church of Christ minister, he said, ''I am disturbed that even though I can perform a religious ritual to unite a same-gender couple, the state won't recognize it because some different religious group thinks I am theologically wrong.''
But Diane L. Knippers, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, a group that seeks to push the liberal Protestant denominations in a more conservative direction, called the letter ''a blatant attempt by left-leaning religious leaders to undercut and intimidate other religious voices.'' She said the amendment would define marriage in civil law, not religious ritual.
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Frogger Decades
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Recent posts about Frogger Decades
Frogger Decades Review
Just like Pac-Man, Frogger is a game that’s been remade and rebooted countless times. There have been sequels and spin-offs, but few that match the simple joy of the original. Frogger Decades is an attempt to celebrate the game’s 30th anniversary, and it does so surprisingly well. Decades takes what was great about the original and expands on it, making for a much more substantial experience.
There’s actually a story in the game, though it’s really just there to provide an excuse for Frogger to go on his adventure. It works though, and is in keeping with the anniversary theme. A cartoony Frogger– who looks a lot like Kermit the frog– is off to find his birthday surprise when a villainous crocodile rearranges his map, forcing him to take the more scenic, and dangerous, route.
At its most basic, the gameplay is the same as in the original Frogger. You can move one space at a time and the goal is to reach the end of the stage while avoiding a host of obstacles. Unlike the original, which had you crossing just a road and a river, Decades spans a total of 10 levels spread across five differently themed worlds. That may not sound like a lot, but completing each stage will likely take some time because Decades is decidedly difficult. As the game so helpfully pointed out, we died more than 70 times in one stage alone.
To get to the other side.
This is because the number of obstacles thrown Frogger’s way have increased substantially. There are enemies prowling about and moving platforms to deal with, in addition to the steady stream of traffic to navigate. The levels are also quite large but, thankfully, checkpoints are placed rather liberally throughout each. Even still, getting from one red flag to the next is almost always a difficult challenge.
To deal with this extended range of obstacles, Frogger’s own abilities have been increased as well. He can jump across gaps, leap high into the air, and even use his tongue to move boxes and crates. These abilities make Decades feel somewhat like a cross between the original Frogger and a more traditional platform game like Super Mario.
Unfortunately, while in theory controlling Frogger is quite simple, he doesn’t always do exactly what you want. To jump across gaps, for instance, you need to hold your finger for a moment and then swipe in the direction you wish to move. But sometimes Frogger would leap before we even swiped and in a seemingly random direction. The level design can also make the game harder than it needs to be, as occasionally things like bridges or train tracks will obscure parts of the screen. It’s not so bad when it’s simply hiding a fly, but when an enemy lurks about unseen it can be quite frustrating.
With its modern presentation and expanded gameplay, Frogger Decades is a Frogger sequel that’s actually worth playing. But just be sure you’re ready for a challenge, as the titular frog will get squished many, many times before you manage to find his birthday surprise.
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Microsoft's $1 Billion Xbox 360 Recall Problems Caused By Chip Cheapness
Microsoft's red ring Xbox 360 problems have cost the company about a billion dollars in warranty repairs, but the research vice president and chief analyst at Gartner said that the hardware problems were caused because Microsoft wanted to be cheap. Instead of using an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) vender to make a graphics chip for the 360, Microsoft decided to design it themselves and have Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing create it. This saved "tens of millions of dollars" in design costs. Yes, only tens of millions.
The good news is that when Microsoft said that their red ring problems are fixed on newer units, they were probably right. They went to "an unnamed ASIC vendor based in the United States and redesigned the chip." Probably ATI, is what EETimes thinks. Moral of the story is to not skimp on chip design so you can save tens of millions, because that may come back and bite you in the ass down the road. [EETimes]
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Air TV vol. 1
ADV Films // Unrated // $29.98 // August 14, 2007
Review by Todd Douglass Jr. | posted September 3, 2007
E - M A I L
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Graphical Version
The Show:
Air is a show with a rich background which includes visual novel games and manga. Consisting of 13 episodes the series began air-ing (pun intended) in 2005 and went on to receive a movie around the same time. I heard about the show shortly after it was released but I do have to say I wasn't expecting to see the amount of hype surrounding it. It would seem that quite the fan base has been formed within the American audience and though I hadn't seen any of the show I had plenty of expectations when it came time to watch it.
Yukito Kunisaki doesn't have much in the way of possessions or wealth. He has the shirt on his back, the dirty puppet in his pocket, and a story about a girl with wings, as told to him by his dead mother. The series begins unsuspectingly enough with Yukito traveling from town to town attempting to make money with his bizarre puppet show. You see, he has a small-ish telekinetic ability that allows him to control inanimate objects and make them walk around or dance. You'd think he'd make a killing with this skill but more often than not he's scoffed at by onlookers. One day Yukito wanders into a seaside town and finds more than he bargained for.
While gazing blearily at the sky and bemoaning his lack of food a girl happens by and startles him out of a daydream. The girl's name is Misuzu and she takes a liking to Yukito rather quickly. She offers to buy him something to snack on and even brings him home so that he can sleep beneath a roof for the night. At first he's opposed to it but she seems so genuine and her mother eventually warms up to the idea so he decides to be a freeloader.
Misuzu is a strange duck indeed. She has a tendency to make dinosaur noises, behaves much younger than she is, and has virtually no relationship with her mother whatsoever. Through circumstances Yukito basically becomes Misuzu's babysitter and makes sure that she doesn't get into trouble. While she's in school he spends his time trying to earn money with his puppet show, which is less than successful to say the least. Fortunately he manages to meet another strange young girl, her dog Potato, and through these events lands a job with the local doctor.
It is quite obvious early on that some things are not all that they seem to be. The latest young girl he has met wears a ribbon on her wrist and merely says that it is there to keep her from using magic. When Yukito and Misuzu stumble upon her at the town's shrine enrobed in light with visions of grassy fields dancing around her we know right away that something is amiss. In between the daily insanity of Yukito's life this is merely another unsolved mystery that continues throughout this introductory volume.
As things progress we meet several other characters as well. More of Misuzu's classmates show up and some of the adults in town have their own way of doing things and rewarding people. Throughout the four episodes here you'll get the sensation that something is amiss in this seaside village. There is something beneath the surface that defies explanation and as Yukito spends more time with these people this becomes evident.
Air definitely skirts many issues as it tells its serene and somewhat bizarre tale. Things are peculiar, yet comforting, and the world surrounding Yukito is certainly robust enough to draw you in. So far some of the characters are fairly stereotypical but the story is intriguing enough to allow for that. Overall my expectations were met but not exceeded in the case of Air. I'm interested in seeing where the series goes from here since this volume was a great launching point but with such a limited perspective on the show it's hard to gauge the quality at this juncture.
The DVD:
Air originally aired in 2005 and features a very up to date presentation with pristine artwork and an impressive technical side to things. ADV has released the show on DVD with an anamorphic widescreen presentation and the image is practically flawless. This is one of the most vibrant shows I have ever seen with a color palette that titillates the senses. Quite honestly there are few shows out there as rich looking as Air and from the ground up the design here is marvelous. Technically speaking the video quality suffers slightly from some softness and grain here and there but neither really detracts from the experience.
Considering Air is a dialogue driven show devoid of action of any variety I was very surprised to see 5.1 surround sound being available for both English and Japanese. A show like this could have gotten by with a 2.0 stereo track just fine but it seems that the producers wanted to make this project a labor of love. The extra attention to the sound pays off with a well-crafted sound field that draws you in with ambient noise and keeps dialogue and music separated nicely. The sense of immersion isn't the greatest but it's certainly better than I was expecting when going into the show.
Clean animations and some trailers for other ADV products are all that you're going to find on the first volume of Air.
Final Thoughts:
Air is a highly unusual show that capitalizes on its detailed atmosphere and level of intrigue. So many aspects of the first four episodes are minimal in terms of how they are presented, yet somehow they all come together to craft an interesting and somewhat evasive story. The slow pacing and seeming lack of direction gives the world and characters the time they need to grow beyond their stereotypes but nothing satisfactory happens in this installment. I'm certain that every little detail is leading up to something much grander in scope by until we get there Air has the potential to merely string you along with a certain amount of frustration. For now this is a promising looking series with a strong start so we're going to recommend it.
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Baptism By Lre
J.H. Patel's airbus ministry steadies after a turbulent take-off
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WHEN Chief Minister J.H. Patel announced his 45-member cabinet, he thought he had pulled off the ultimate balancing act. Every third party MLA was now a minister, and this was the biggest cabinet in Karnataka's history after Veerappa Moily's 46-member circus. But Patel couldn't have been more wrong.
Barely hours after the swearing-in on June 5, four dejected aspirants sent in their resignation letters to Speaker Ramesh Kumar.
Rebel MLAs may get plum state posts. Bigger carrots are being dangled in front of Manjunath and the Patils.
The next morning the number had swollen to 10. By evening, there were 17, including three incumbent ministers and three MLAs who were ministers under H.D. Deve Gowda. Crisis had struck the six-day-old Patel Government and the jubilation of having a Kannadiga prime minister paled.
"I'm not protesting because I wasn't reinducted. My grouse is: the party image has suffered because of the way the jumbo cabinet was constituted," says D. Manjunath, a Dalit leader who was minister for higher education under Gowda. Former ministers A.B. Patil and Vaijyanath Patil latched on to the ruse and said that they were unhappy about the severe regional imbalances caused by the unilateral choices Patel had made. "This council is the result of four paley -gars (chieftains)," quips Manjunath, who is not among those who resigned but is still their rallying point.
Though the number of rebellion-minded MLAs who took the cue was surprising, the reaction of Manjunath and Patil was predictable. For, goaded on by pressure groups in the party, Patel had turned things around a bit drastically—dropping nine ministers from Gowda's council of 31 and inducting 23 new faces.
Trouble had started brewing the morning before Patel was sworn in. A hurried debate was held to throw up some names to be sworn in alongside him, but in vain. Next morning, Patel and deputy Siddaramaiah flew to Delhi and returned with a list of 35 names, including nominees of Gowda and Hegde. At the swearing-in that evening, the list had swelled to 43.
The revolt was obviously unplanned. The rebels had neither a common platform nor an action plan. Even their resignation letters were flawed, leading to doubts about their seriousness. Says the Speaker: "I received 10 resignation letters and four others conveyed their resignation on the phone. But none has given a letter in the prescribed form. Technically, I haven't received a single resignation letter." Instead of a one-line saying that they were quitting their assembly seats, the MLAs had written a page or two about how they had been mistreated.
Patel, on his part, waxes belligerent: "Those who want to resign can resign. I won't succumb to blackmail." He even hints at disciplinary action. All this has left the rebels stumped. The Janata Dal, after all, has just a wafer-thin majority of 116 in a House of 224 and the rebels had expected Patel to go on the defensive.
Ramakrishna Hegde, still sulking over the 'snub' he received when arch-rival Gowda was elevated, chose to distance himself from the goings-on though Gowda's men accuse him of instigating the crisis to unsettle the prime minister. Says he: "It's a storm in a teacup, it will blow over." Gowda decided on a more hands-on approach. He contacted the Speaker and asked him not to act till he (Gowda) talked to the MLAs. Gowda then assured the rebels that he would hear their case after passing the June 11 vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha. Gowda, says a senior JD leader, offered Manjunath the state party chief's post, and even governorship. Though he declined both, he agreed to wait till June 11 and talk to Gowda.
Gowda's headache didn't end here. He had to assuage ministers like Roshan Baig, Leeladevi Prasad and B.A. Mohideen. The first two, ministers of state, were hoping to be promoted and Mohideen, of cabinet rank, was peeved with the small scale industries portfolio, which was manned by a minister of state under Gowda.
But that's an aside. The main plot: dissenting MLAs will be mollified with the vacant top posts in the various boards and corporations. And Manjunath and the Patils will be told that their actions would be to the party's detriment. There's also the vacant state party chief's post as C.M.Ibrahim has moved to Delhi.
With such feelers, the rebellion began to peter out over the weekend. Says a state minister: "None of the MLAs is prepared to lose his membership for the remainder of the term and risk an election after this charade. All they wanted to do was get Gowda to take Patel to task. In the process, they ended up exposing themselves."
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• n. Mutual exchange of food between adults and larvae of certain social insects such as bees or wasps.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
• n. The mutual exchange of food between individuals, especially in social insects
troph(o)- + Greek allaxis, exchange (from allassein, to exchange, from allos, other; see al-1 in Indo-European roots).
• The species displays unusual and in one or two cases possibly even unique social behaviours, including the consumption and sharing of infrabuccal pellets, the apparent absence of adult transport, a primarily or exclusively mechanical form of colony defence, and a remarkable form of abdominal trophallaxis.
ScienceBlogs Channel : Life Science
• Placing a food item would lead to mostly the same behavior as they'd eat enough to bring back to the nest, where they could transfer food through trophallaxis to the nursery workers, but when they realized the fact that they were not getting home soon, they'd instead give mouth-to-mouth to the other members of the spiral until all were fed, regardless of who ate the food originally. what's new online!
• Thank you for playing, the game, that is. trophallaxis, merdiverous, hive bottom feeders. the lot.
LA Weekly | Complete Issue
• The bait is distributed to other members of the colony through the exchange of food known as trophallaxis.
MachineMachine (formerly 'The Huge Entity')
• As the adults deny the giving of predigested food to their young, so do they deny it to one another, and thus there is absent one of the strongest bonds which maintains intact the structure of the higher colonies - the bond of trophallaxis. It is indeed questionable whether the body structure of this lowly, semisocial ant would permit of such procedure, for its crop, or "social stomach," which enables the higher ants to distribute ingluvial food to their nest mates by regurgitation, is not well developed.
- Caryl P. Haskins, Of Ants and Men, 1939, p. 32
December 4, 2008
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Veteran airline captain and GA legend Barry Schiff enters the paper versus electronic chart debate with Senior Editor Dave Hirschman.
November 1, 2013
Getting perspective
You can’t see that on a screen
By Barry Schiff
When I accepted Dave Hirschman’s challenge to defend paper charts in a debate against digital charts, I knew that I would be pitching him a softball. The economics and convenience of digital charts make it difficult—but not impossible—to argue against them.
Paper VFR charts obviously are best for spreading on the floor to gain a perspective of a planned cross-country flight. Yes, you can squish and expand a chart on your iPad, but detail and perspective are lost. The beauty of paper charts is that they don’t break when dropped or fail when you spill something on them. They don’t fade to black or get hung up for inexplicable reasons. I shiver just thinking about a tablet failure when in the clouds and about to begin an unfamiliar instrument approach. This is why airline pilots using them are required to have backups.
A paper chart doesn’t create glare in sunlight, doesn’t need batteries, is easier to use in turbulence, and often has a larger “screen.” It also cannot change function or switch programs by inadvertently touching something on its face. A paper chart is infinitely more reliable than anything electronic. (Notice that Hirschman prints approach plates before departing on an IFR flight. If I’m not mistaken, he prints them on paper.)
Another problem with electronic charts is that downloading revisions makes it difficult to detect changes made on commonly used approach charts. Nor can you easily compare charts that seem identical but are not (such as the Yankee and Zulu approaches to San Carlos, California). Also, you can’t use an iPad to swat flies. Well, I suppose you could, but it might be an expensive swat. Nor can it be used as a sun shield or an improvised instrument hood, as can a paper chart. The good thing about a failed iPad is that you can glue mileage scales along its edges and use it to measure distances and draw lines on a paper chart.
Tablets can be heavy to hold for long or even short periods, and mounting them in small cockpits is challenging. A chart can be conveniently tucked anywhere. I like writing and making notes on paper charts. You should have seen Hirschman’s face when I wrote on the face of his iPad with a black Sharpie. It wasn’t pretty.
Every pilot should have a Plan B, and “B” means “back to basics,” which to me means having paper charts in the cockpit.
Someday, though, none of this will matter. Paper charts eventually will be unavailable, another step off the cliff of excessive technological reliance—and I will miss them.
Visit the author’s website (
Paper is passé
Take a memo (electronically)
By Dave Hirschman
In case you haven’t seen the memo, the era of navigating with paper charts is over. Sure, aeronautical charts are astonishingly accurate and beautifully drawn wonders of cartography. The hand-painted silk maps they replaced are even more sublime, and a few treasured examples adorn my office wall. But in actual airplanes, electronic charts are far more useful, and they’re getting better and cheaper at a rapid rate. A single tablet computer today can easily store every VFR chart and IFR procedure for the entire country, and digital subscriptions are painless to keep current. Add an ADS-B receiver and tablet computers get even more miraculous with free weather, traffic, pireps, and synthetic vision.
Like other aviators of my generation, I learned to fly cross-country with a thumb held to my position on a VFR sectional. That was an interesting and perhaps character-building exercise, but cockpit chart-reading and folding skills are as useless today as typewriter ribbon. Open any aviation app and the blue dot shows your position (as well as heading, altitude, and groundspeed) with updates coming 10 times a second. I’m a pretty decent map reader, but not that good. Also, digital charts are one of those rare anomalies in aviation in which prices are actually falling, and dramatically so. A paper subscription for VFR and IFR charts used to cost in excess of $1,200 a year. Flight bags full of heavy approach plates meant job security for chiropractors, and countless trees paid the price. The same information is available in electronic form for $100 or less per year, weighs nothing, and never gets lost in the mail.
No technology is perfect, and tablet computers can stop working when they get too hot, or too cold, or run out of power. But paper charts are no panacea. They get ripped or smudged, lost, attract spilled coffee, and float away from open-cockpit airplanes. (I lost a New York sectional from a Waco somewhere over Saratoga Springs, and an Atlanta terminal chart near Stone Mountain.)
Today, tablet computers are our EFBs; handheld and panel-mount avionics contain their own moving maps and navigation databases; and we can print approach plates at just about any FBO for our destination airports, alternate airports, and any number of others. We can even get them in large print if desired. Paper charts had a good run, and they will live on as colorful keepsakes, conversation pieces, and gift wrapping. If Captain James Cook, the greatest cartographer and explorer of them all, were with us today, he’d carry an iPad.
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Huffpost Comedy
Shira Lazar Headshot
Gilbert Gottfried Does Walter White's "Breaking Bad" Monologue (WATCH)
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After the Samuel L. Jackson version of Walter White's famous "Breaking Bad" monologue went viral last week, comedy legend Gilbert Gottfried took a go at delivering his own rendition of the crazy rant.
Who did it better?
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Step 1: Apply Brakes
While approaching a given corner on a track, take your right foot off the gas and rapidly apply the brakes to the desired pressure, while moving your right hand onto the shifter.
-This should be as quick as possible, so time lost transferring from throttle to brakes is minimized.
-Your left hand should still be firmly placed on the steering wheel.
-The instructions here are given for a left hand drive car, so hand movements in a right hand drive car will be opposite of these instructions.
-Place your left foot onto the clutch pedal if it is resting off to the side so you are ready for the next step.
*Note: Avoid stomping on or mashing the brake pedal, as you do not want to lock the brakes of the car up. Locking the brakes will cause the car to become unresponsive, uncontrollable, and not stop quickly enough (i.e. lost time on track).
I know I'm way late but if somebody could help me out that'd be awesome.
Man, I have been doing what you described. Haven't experienced any issue. Also wondering why there is a need to put to neutral. Let me know if you have found out the answer.
Why do you shift the car into neutral before changing gear? Couldn't you just keep the clutch down, blip the throttle, and go right into the next gear without having to put the shifter into the neutral position?
No it's not the same as "American" anything - it is the same as WRX driving! <br> <br>
I use the Heel-Toe shifting when drifting :-D
Ohh i get it. Thanks! Does engine braking put added wear on the engine? In other words does the benefit of saving brake pads due to engine braking(block, transmission, clutch wear) saves money in the long run. provided you have perfect rev matches.<br>Also, is it better to downshift from 4th gear to 2nd at 6000 rpm or 3rd at 3000rpm(im guessing gear ratios)?<br>@kriley0, I've read somewhere that the ideal(fastest) line for a corner is a somewhat late apex, due to braking power is greater than acceleration power. is this true? its kinda hard to find info online because of noobs in forums.<br>I know that drifting/handbrake turn is better than grip if the corner is too tight, is there any exceptions for this?<br>Thanks a bunch!!!! I cant w8 to get a miata!
You downshift when you need more speed to keep the car in line when in a curve.When you feel you don't have enough power to keep it in line it's already too late : the car is already skidding off the road…<br><br>I drive my car using downshift capability every day (I'm in Europe and most of us drive manual cars, so I'm nothing of a hero when saying this !!…).<br><br>What this Inst' doesn't say is that in a tight curve the car will tend to skid : if you control it with you hand brake you can get out of the curve much faster and gain precious seconds by controlling the skid… But then this is car racing at a higher lever than this Inst' and just another matter. DON'T USE YOUR HAND BRAKE ON THE ROAD : YOUR LIABLE TO RUIN YOUR CAR, YOUR HEALTH AND OTHER PEOPLE LIVES !…<br>Also this Inst' is on heel-toe downshifting : this also is for car racing, DON'T DO IT ON THE ROAD, as you may well loose the control of your car by getting mixed up with clutch, brake, speed, etc !…<br><br>This said, downshifting is very handy on daily driving because of 4 reasons why.<br>1) You are always on the good speed / engine rpm ratio : your car will live longer and your mechanic will like you less as he won't see you so often ; <br>2) you have a good use of your engine brake : which is a true benefit as it helps to slow down the car in a very smooth and effective way … plus your brakes will last longer …<br>3) In a curve, when you downshift at the exact moment your car will "engine brake" while coming into the curve and just a spilt second after will gain speed at the crucial moment in the curve when it is needed to keep the car in line and not skid off the road in an uncontrolled manner… <br>Remember speed keeps you in line when in a curve.<br>4) It makes for comfortable driving for passengers : when the driver only uses his foot brake he has to constantly adjust his / her speed in the curve giving small pulses to the brakes which results with a sensation of being constantly jerked… <br>Not so when downshifting a regular car (or with and automatic car !…)<br><br>Downshifting comes naturally to any driver who drives a regular car. You may try it without qualms.<br>Don't worry too much, don't ask too many questions ; just do it (but skip the heel-toe combination : which is meant to keep constant power to the engine in order to gain milliseconds in a curve, you don't need this to drive kids at school…).<br>Practice in curvy back roads, driving slowly (using 3rd and 2nd gear for instance) then you'll gain confidence and it will become second nature.<br>When I taught my daughter how to drive, she could do it the third time she was at the wheel, and she mastered it pretty fast. She was 15 at the time and it was just a taste of how a complex machine as a car could be mastered… Now she's like most Europeans and she uses it moderately I guess … and for the benefit of all !… (But no heel-toe !…) <br><br>Don't rush, don't race… use this as an extra tool that will give you more confidence with your car and your driving abilities.<br><br>Maybe you'll want to do more : at this point this will become heel-toe, and hand brake skidding, car racing and having pleasure on a dedicated circuit. But that is an entirely different matter.<br><br>A personal example, to show you how natural downshifting can become. Last May I rented a car at the Albuquerque N.M. Airport. T'was years I didn't drive an automatic car. At the 1st stop my left foot searched frantically for the clutch as I had the reflex to downshift and engine brake !!!… Resulted in coming too fast at the stop and had to crush the brake pedal and almost stalled the car. No harm done : it was 11:30pm and the road was empty as a dried arroyo in august. Rest of the ride was uneventful … but for a while I remained somewhat uncomfortable with my automatic car !!… <br>So it's all a matter of habit and practice. <br>And practice is mainly common sense !!!!…<br>Best wishes<br>:D
I think the "double-clutching" technique is used primarily in drag racing. I'm not really familiar with it and have never understood it....I also am pretty unfamiliar with drag racing.
Your both right. Clutching once into neutral and then again into the next gear is a double de-clutch.<br> <br> Using the right foot to press the throttle whilst also applying the brake is a heel-toe. This technique can be used while single and double de-clutching.<br> <br> Shifting without the clutch is skip shifting, which also often uses the heel-toe to rev match. Coincidentally this one of the more preferred drag racing techniques as you only ever upshift.<br> <br> People argue A LOT about double de-clutching in racing, for me personally it boils down to whether you want to put more wear on your synchros (Single) or your clutch assembly (Double). But its a pretty moot point either way, modern drivetrains can take a lot of abuse on both of these components and come rebuild time you'll replace both of them anyway. I prefer single clutching with a rev match as it's the fastest option.
Exactly, it is all about staying in the engine's power band. Nothing like coming out of a corner with no power because you are not at correct gear/rpm combination.<br><br>If you want difficult, take a look at the motorcycle road racers who have to do this with the brake and gas on the same hand!
love your miata what year is it<br>
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More by kriley0: High Performance Driving: Heel-Toe Downshifting
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Time to get over my current lover and move on to my next victim. It turns out that I’m not in the market for a noncommital relationship. I want to be with someone who could potentially love me.
(I somehow manage to be cynical and ridiculously tender-hearted at the same time.)
About Jessica Smith
8 Responses to Romantic
1. François says:
I am mildly confused …
2. Jessica Smith says:
just venting… the guy i’ve been “seeing” (ehem) is emotionally unavailable, and that bothers me.
3. François says:
Ah, yes … Even though I’ve been often on the other side (“emotionally unavailable,” that is), I can kinda see why it could be annoying.
4. Jessica Smith says:
I tend to eventually want the whole person, even if it began as a purely physical relationship. It’s annoying when they don’t feel the same way.
5. François says:
Go slowly. Otherwise, you might end up very very bored of the person in question.
6. Jessica Smith says:
True. I do go through people passionately and quickly. But I’m not really bored with this one yet; in fact, I find him quite interesting, that’s why I want more out of him.
7. François says:
As a usually emotionally unavailable person (wow, that was a mouthful), I tend to resist when people want too much (out) of me. But that’s just me. I’m not sure it’s relevant with your boy.
8. Jessica Smith says:
Granted, a little resistance is better than being completely open. But eventually I want in those walls.
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DIY Avocado Foot Scrub Recipe
Are your feet rough and calloused? Try this easy DIY avocado foot scrub recipe to soften dead skin and gently exfoliate so your feet are ready for sandal season!
The avocado is truly amazing for your skin: The pit exfoliates, the flesh moisturizes, and the peel contains skin healthy oils.
DIY Avocado Foot Scrub Recipe
What You Need
1 avocado pit
1/2 an avocado
1/4 cup cornmeal
1 tablespoon sea salt
Spice mill or coffee grinder
Foot basin
1. Let the pit sit for two days until dry. Break in to small pieces.
2. Grind the pit with a spice mill or coffee grinder until it is gritty.
3. Scoop the fruit out of the avocado half, but save the skin and set aside.
4. Mash the avocado and cornmeal. Add 1/4 cup avocado pit powder and sea salt..
5. Use a foot basin to gently massage the mixture on to your feet and toes. Rise with warm water.
6. Rub any calloused areas with the avocado peel with the inside of the peel next to your skin. The oil will moisturize your skin. Do not rinse off. Your skin may turn green, but keep rubbing and it will go away.
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juliasecunho's picture
financial and kids
Hi everybody,
My name is Julia and I have 2 kids age 7 and 9. My kids are now starting to ask me for extra money, I always give some money for them to take to school, but now that their friends have an allowance, they want it too. At what age do you think they should start to manage their own money? Can you give some advices on that?
mayamay's picture
If they want extra money, they can do extra work. Taking care of their own stuff doesn't get extra money, but cleaning and vacuuming the car or doing other chores that benefit the whole family could be on a pay schedule.
aupair4U's picture
It's definitely time for your kids to learn about earning money and the value of the work ethic. It's also a good time to teach them to save some of their earnings. Saving is such an important lesson to include in teaching your children about earning money.
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Thursday, December 10, 2009
What Causes Economic Growth?
. Thursday, December 10, 2009
Nothing. And everything. William Easterly reviews an important new article:
Despite Climategate, even a superficial reading seems to indicate that there is enough evidence for effects of man-made activity on the climate.
Surprisingly, there is a lot less evidence for effects of man-made activity on something that actually is completely man-made: the rate of economic growth in each country.
I had this frustrating thought as I was reading an important new paper, “Determinants of Economic Growth: Will Data Tell?” [1]
The paper gives a conclusive and resounding answer to the question in the title: no.
It has taken economists a lot of hard work to attain this level of sublime ignorance. There were three steps in the the great History of Evolving Cluelessness:
1. Economists spent the past two decades trying every possible growth determinant in sight. They found evidence for 145 different variables (according to an article published in 2005). That was a bit too many in a sample of only about one hundred countries. What was happening is there would be evidence for Determinants A, B, C, and D when tried one at a time to explain growth. But the evidence for A disappeared when you also controlled for some combination of B, C, and D, and/or vice versa. (Interestingly enough, foreign aid never even merited inclusion in the list of 145 variables.)
2. The Columbia economist Xavier Sala-i-Martin and co-authors ran millions of regressions on all possible combinations of 7 variables out of the many possible determinants of growth. Skipping a lot of technical detail, they essentially averaged out the millions of regressions to see which determinants had evidence for them in most regressions. There was hope: some were robust! For example, the idea that malaria prevalence hinders growth found consistent support.
3. This new paper by Ciccone and Jarocinski found that every time the growth data are revised, or if the sample is changed to another equally plausible one, the results vanish on the “robust” variables and new “robust” variables appear. Goodbye, malaria, hello, democracy. Except the new “robust” determinants are no longer believable if minor differences between equally plausible samples changes what is robust. So nothing is robust.
There is more at the link, including whether we should think of the growth literature as GrowthGate.
What Causes Economic Growth?
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Monday, April 14, 2014
Fine Finishings Boot Camp: Test your Product
by Staci Louise Smith
No matter what you purchase, chances are, it went through some sort of testing before it was put on the market.
I love this picture- the ultimate phone testers, kids!
Why should the arts be any different?
We as artists want to stand out, to be respected. We ask that people buy handmade, and support small business.
If we don't offer them a quality product, then why would they want to?
No matter what your medium is, you need to test your product. If you make ceramics for food, you need to test your glazes to ensure they are food safe. If you do mixed media, you want to make sure your papers, your sealers, and whatever else you use, will stand the test of time and not fade or fall apart down the road.
And if you make jewelry, testing should be a normal part of your creative process.
People wear jewelry. I mean, they WEAR it. Some people wear it harder then others. I learned so much the hard way- using too thin of wire, not securing crimps well, or crimping too tight. I had things returned to me to re-make. There is nothing worse then that. Let me say that again, there is nothing worse then someone returning a broken product.
My point is, that, if you plan to sell your product, make sure you really know and understand your medium. You should know all about it, whether it be metal or polymer, ceramic or fibers. You should know what it is made of, how it reacts with other products, and how it wears in the long term. Knowing all this is a great start, so you know what you should be testing for.
I remember when I learned to solder from a friend. We painstakingly took time to solder two things together, and after it was done, she said, "now try to break it". and I was like, "are you kidding me???" And she so wisely replied, "do you want it to break for you now so you can fix it right, or break for your customer?" And she was right. (solder needs to flow just right or it will break, even if it feels like it has a hold, if it didn't' flow just right, its not a solid bond. sometimes you don't have a good connection to the metal either...ect)
So I try to break my soldered pieces. I also yank my crimp beads after I am done (I have a hate hate relationship with them). I have a long list of things I do, to ensure to the best of my abilities, that things won't come back to me.
When I use patina, I seal and seal and seal and wax my metal. And I still found out the hard way that it will wear off if worn against suntan lotion.
With the internet, and so much access to new mediums and information on them, many people are branching out and trying new mediums, and that is wonderful.
However, if you are trying something new, please educate yourself, before you sell it. You will be happy you did down the road. It will help you to make the best quality product you can. It will help you to know what to test for.
Test things, wear them, test them in the environments that they may encounter. I will even give other people samples to try out sometimes, just because everyone wears jewelry different, everyone has different body chemistry.
Here are some questions you can ask yourself so you can properly test your product.
1. How and wear is it worn, and does it work well for that part of the body?
For example: ankle bracelets, my nemesis. I found that no matter what I did, a crimped, strung ankle bracelet will not hold up for everybody. I have never broken one, but it seemed that everyone else did. So i had to switch to heavy gauge wire and chain, AND make them adjustable so that they can be worn at just the right place on each persons ankle where they won't have stress on them.
Another example: Earrings- are they too light, sometimes if they are too light, they catch in the hair and hang sideways.
Do they have wild wire frills or things sticking out that will catch in someones hair if it is long or curly? Are they too heavy and unwearable?
I could go on and on. So consider your piece of jewelry, and how it will be worn, and how that will look on a variety of people.
2. Does my product need to be sealed? And if so, what is the best sealer to use for longevity, skin sensitivity, and that will NOT react with my product down the road?
Certain things like, patina metal, and polymer clay (if it is painted or has a surface treatment added), need to be sealed. In both cases, there are products that are great for this, and products you should never use. In the case of polymer clay, you should stick with water based products. Other finishes can eat away at the clay over time. So it may look good for a week or so, but down the road get gummy.
3. Can I wear it comfortably?
This is a big one. WEAR your jewelry every time you make something. even if it is only for a few hours. Wear it, rub your fingers all over it. Make sure there are no wires sticking up, nothing poking, no rough spots. Make sure connections are secure, things hang properly.
These are just a few things you can ask yourself, so you can begin to test your product. This is YOU that you are selling. Your art, is a little piece of you. It is more then vision, it is execution. It is tangible. So make it well, make sure it will last, and your business will continue to grow, because people are happy to come back, and buy new jewelry, because they know it is a good investment.
I hope you can learn from some of my fails! I will be sharing in the weeks to come some little tid bits and tricks I have learned to avoid these kinds of issues in your work!
Is there anything YOU learned the hard way, that you wish you had tested for?
What would be your best advice for those just starting to sell their work?
Kathleen Lange Klik said...
Great article! You touched on a lot of good points that are really important for a designer. I too give my pieces, especially the chunky bold ones, a test run to make sure they lay flat and are comfortable to wear. I also yank at my delicate chain necklaces to make sure the clasps are secure!
Thanks for sharing your thought process, it was very educational!
Erika said...
This is a great post, Staci!
lindalandig said...
Good post. I used to use thinner stringing wire, than I do now. Some of those older pieces broke. :(
Jenny said...
What would I tell a new jewelry maker?
1. Not everyone has a lovely long neck. Longer earrings are easier to design and look fantastic on some women, but if it's over 2", it looks strange on me and often catches in my clothing.
2. Not only do I not have a skinny neck, I also have a variety of necklines, so I need every necklace to be adjustable. A necklace that looks great with a v-neck sweater or shirt, is hidden when I wear a shirt with a collar. I get tired of always having to ask to have necklaces lengthened, and often will just pass them by rather than mess with it.
stacilouise said...
Jenny- GREAT points! I make almost everything adjustable for that very reason. I know that for me personally, if I love a necklace, I want to be able to wear it with many different outfits. It is more worth my money that way as well. Thank you for sharing!
Shirley Moore said...
Great post Staci! As a matter of fact, I was wearing a favorite bracelet yesterday, and noticed that the beads surrounding the clasp loop were pulling away from the body of the bracelet. As it is a flat peyote weave, it is rather noticeable. I am a 'hard' style of person on my jewelry, so it may not be an issue for others, but it was a good learning moment for me.
Artisan Beads Plus said...
Great advice! One thing that I ALWAYS do is wear a new bracelet or a necklace. There have been times that I have found something scratches me or it doesn't hang right,etc. It is worth it! The problem with that, however, is sometimes I don't want to give them up and end up keeping them for myself!!! lol!
Joy Allford said...
Thanks for a great article, do you suggest trying each piece or each design type? Thanks, Joy
Liz-Anna said...
Such good information and advice! Thank you for sharing.
Shel said...
Super great article. Putting your designs through the 'research and development' phase is a natural part of customer service, but one of the hardest I believe. My sister is my 'tester'. She wears everything in the shower, the sea water, while washing dishes, puts lotion on over them, etc. Yes, even her leather, cord or ribbon pieces, which is just horrible, but it helps me decide if I want a piece to have any fibers or base metals in it or not. The advice I would give new designers is 'know your clientele'. If they are hard on their pieces or want to keep them for years, or possibly decades to pass down to family members, go for only the highest quality materials available in the market. Also, find out if your clients are up for taking care of base metals vs. fine metals - because the care of each one can be different through the years and if they know in advance, they tend to treat things a little 'nicer' and thus, their jewelry looks better and lasts longer. :-)
13 said...
The best thing I did was getting my own ears pierced. It really helped me understand weight and movement issues, as well as sensitivity issues. Bracelets too...try taking a cardigan off whilst wearing one, it's a great test for clasps.
Genevieve said...
Very good advice! Like Shel my sister is my tester.
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Saudi prince proposes oil war with Iran
June 30, 2011 at 11:52 AM
| License Photo
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, June 30 (UPI) -- Underlining the escalating cold war between Saudi Arabia and its rival Iran, former intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal proposes the kingdom use its oil power to drive down prices to batter the Islamic Republic's sanctions-hit economy.
That would ratchet up tensions in the Persian Gulf and the wider Middle East at a time of unprecedented political upheaval.
Iran and other hawks in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries blocked Saudi-led efforts to boost oil production to bring down prices, driven up sharply by the region-wide turmoil, at the cartel's summit in Vienna June 8.
But the Saudis have already boosted their production, and industry analysts say Riyadh is likely to reach 9.5 million barrels per day, the highest level in three decades and near the kingdom's maximum capability.
Prices have slipped back from $127 a barrel earlier this year to around $100 a barrel.
That was due to the Saudi action, and also to the decision by the Paris-based International Energy Agency to release up to 60 million barrels over the coming month from strategic stockpiles.
But the effort by the IEA, the West's energy watchdog, is likely to be limited, and it will be up to OPEC moderates like Saudi Arabia to ensure prices remain at a manageable level.
The Financial Times said the IEA release of strategic reserves was a stopgap measure until "the oil from the Gulf arrives, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates will still find a market for their extra oil."
Turki stressed Saudi Arabia was prepared to replace Iran in the global market, thus depriving Tehran of vital revenues to keep its sagging economy functioning -- and funding its nuclear and long-range missile programs.
"To put this into perspective, Saudi Arabia has so much (spare) production capacity -- 4 million bpd -- that we could almost instantly replace all if Iran's production." That currently stands at 4.2 million bpd.
Iran invariably favors high prices, but it wants to push them up as high as it can these days to counter the growing impact of U.N. sanctions imposed in June 2010, reinforced by U.S. and European Union sanctions, on its oil-dependent economy.
The friction between Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran -- one the recognized leader of the Muslim world, the other a fundamentalist challenger -- goes way back to a 7th century religious schism in Islam's early years between mainstream Sunnis and breakaway Shiites.
But the two Islamic titans facing each other across the gulf are now locked in a new phase of this struggle that could result in a nuclear arms race in a region that sits on around 40 percent of the planet's known oil reserves.
The Wall Street Journal said Turki warned U.S. and British military commanders meeting outside London earlier this month that if Tehran does not curtail its contentious nuclear program, Riyadh will seek to cripple Iran's economy through its oil weapon and will seek nuclear weapons of its own.
"Iran is very vulnerable in the oil sector and it is there that more could be done to squeeze the current government," he reportedly told the gathering at an air base outside the British capital on the same day Saudi Arabia butted heads with Iran in Vienna.
Iranian acquisition of nuclear arms, the prince said, would compel Saudi Arabia "to pursue policies which could lead to untold and possibly dramatic consequences."
Turki did not spell out what those consequences might be, but a senior official in Riyadh said, "We cannot live in a situation where Iran has nuclear weapons and we don't."
While most analysts agree Iran is currently vulnerable because of sanctions, some doubt the action outlined by Turki would paralyze Iran's economy.
Iran's response to an oil war with the Saudis would probably be to stir up trouble with the Shiite majority in the kingdom's Eastern province, its oil hub.
Tehran could also seek to interfere with Saudi oil exports moving through the chokepoint Strait of Hormuz at the southern end of the gulf.
Turki, son of the late King Faisal, has no formal government position, but he's often used to float trial balloons regarding Saudi foreign policy.
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Tuesday, August 14, 2007
George Cardenas! Drink Our Water - the Best in America! Tax Bottled Water!
'What are you drinking?'
'What you pay for it?'
'Three Dollars'
'There's a fountain over there - the water's all paid for.'
'This is better; it's in a bottle.'
That was a conversation that I had with each of my three children. They, each one of them, believe that McDonald's is haute cuisine because it is packaged and marketed by suits who get obscene salaries and shilledby a Clown right out of Michael Jackson's wildest dreams - that clown really creeps me out!
Enter Chicago Alderman George Cardenas. A guy with His head locked on it's swivel! NO GOOSE GUTS - NO NANNY STATE GOOFBALL IDEAS - COMMON SENSE. Tax bottled water. Bring in some revenue without costing the tax-payers a lung! We paid for the water already. Now, we need to bottle it ourselves - horrors for some delicate souls no doubt.
Chicago has the best and cleanest water in the nation thanks to the Jardin Water Filtration Plant. It keeps up with the toxins tossed into our Lake by the Brits of BP Oil. Great corporate citizens those beauties. This tax makes sense and it will make solid dollars out the two-bit tax. Too bad it missed LaLaPalooza - plenty of Green Tree Huggers drinking redundant water out of petroleum based by-product toxic vessels! How many empties to make Mt. Vrdolyak even higher along the Bishop Ford? There is so only so much room in that land-fill and with all the disposable diapers, six-pack rings, Pringles Packs, and old polyester suits and softball jerseys - Mt. Vrodolyak is getting tighter than pockets on a fat man's pants. Tax them water bottles. 'Three Bucks A Bottle!???!!!' We, Chicagoans, have perfectly good Lake Michigan Straight!
Call it the vain idiot tax -for paying a lung for water in the first place: 'I drink only Aqua Snob!' That certainly makes you smarter, taller and thinner! Gee, where can I toss my hard-earned dollars away like you, Cuthbert? Do Eskimos purchase vanity ice cubes? No doubt the would, if they had an Inuit Idiot like Joe Moore in the Frozen North! Tax Plastic Bottled Water! Alderman Cardenas, you are on!
Bottled water - bottled by whom? - comes in petroleum waste products - landfill fuel that tax-salaried employees must haul away. Let's help pay those folks - Tax Bottled Water! We got plenty of the best drinking water in the world, tight here in Chicago. Alderman Cardenas, you are great example of why Mexican Americans deserve their growing leadership position in American Political Life: effective, smart and public spirited ideas that can and should be implemented! Well done, Sir!
Now watch all of the nitwits League and Coalition up against you! You'll do fine , Alderman!
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View Full Version : Cthulhu-ish?
Soft Serve
12-10-2008, 02:35 AM
I don't believe in internet piracy. I just take what I know and add my own systems to it. What I know about Call of Cthulhu (RPG) is practically nothing. BUT I do know that H.P. Lovecraft wrote amazing stories which I am still in the process of reading...rephrase that...enjoying.:biggrin:
What I did for this campaign was take recent inspirations and mash them into something beautiful. A 1920's setting, where (seemingly) random cult activities are growing ever more popular all around the world. I have almost completely done away with magic, and the d20 system altogether. On top of that your character will have no statistics such as Strength, Dexterity, Wisdom, etc. No skills, no feats, no nothing.
Now for my reasoning behind it. Because to me it seemed unrealistic that a man beat over the head with a lead pipe didn't instantly hit the ground just because the cheerleader who hit him doesn't have a high strength score. Tell your little sister to beat you in the head with a pipe and tell me it doesn't hurt because your bigger than her...And on that note, (remember it's 1923) why must I roll to hit a cultist who is standing in front of me, not wearing armor, when if I have a pistol I have most likely received training on how to use that pistol? And why does the bullet no matter where it hits him, not slow him down in any way, shape or form? Because it only did 1d6 damage? oh ok...
My goal was to create a realistic game, where character didn't "level up" and a bullet to the dome is still a bullet to the dome. Your able to take damage just as easily as any of the creatures or people your fighting, and all odds are against you. If this seems unfair, or un balanced, or your too scared to pick it up and try.
Then welcome to my redesigned horror genre.:laugh:
12-10-2008, 09:42 AM
Very interesting. If you need some suggested resources for helping put together a basic rules formula to run under your game, let me know. I know a few (very) rules lite systems that might be of use to you and which are actually quite awesome in and of themselves.
Soft Serve
12-10-2008, 11:13 PM
I pretty much set a number you have to beat for everything based on the way everything is developing around it. The creature running straight for the players that's human shaped and sized isn't hard to hit and basically doesn't require a roll unless your aiming for specific parts of it. The kraken which is rocking your boat while swinging you around like a ragdoll in the grasp of one of it's tentacles, which is also partially underwater and hard to judge the distance...that's a harder target.
I pretty much have the system down, and there haven't been any flaws in the way I'm running it except the occasional two players trying to do the same thing at once, or them jumping the gun and poofing themselves to the destination instead of anouncing that they are walking to the destination. Little things like that are as easy to correct as a typo though.
12-14-2008, 04:00 AM
Sounds interesting. What times are you playing?
Soft Serve
12-15-2008, 08:58 AM
When we can on Saturday Sunday and Wednesday unless people make schedule changes.
Soft Serve
12-17-2008, 07:52 PM
Soft Serve
12-21-2008, 06:36 PM
haha another bump. I don't want to let this thread die!!
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Netanyahu in silent protest at UN over Iran deal
2015-10-01 22:55
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has savaged the nuclear deal with Iran and has gone on a silent protest at the United Nations General Assembly.
President Abbas raises Palestinian flag for first time at UN
2015-10-01 08:05
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Abbas out of synch, options
2015-09-28 16:32
At the UN summit, Abbas finds himself out of options and out of synch with an angry Palestinian public.
Abbas heats up Palestinian politics
2015-08-27 17:32
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2015-08-18 19:35
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Leaked Palestinian documents raise anger
2015-08-12 18:42
Leaked Palestinian government documents have sparked anger online over corruption among its leaders.
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2015-05-22 15:21
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he is committed to a two-state solution and blames Israel for standing in the way of any peace deal.
Nzimande visa refusal insult to SA government - grouping
2015-04-27 20:29
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2014-11-26 20:40
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he supports Israeli members of parliament who oppose the plan to formalise Israel's status as a Jewish state.
SA ready to help Middle East two-state solution
2014-11-26 16:28
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2015-10-01 16:24
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says that the Palestinians are no longer bound by the 1993 Oslo interim peace accords with Israel.
Netanyahu: Abbas speech encourages incitement
2015-09-30 21:15
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' speech to the General Assembly "is false and encourages incitement and unrest in the Middle East", Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office says.
Netanyahu rejects call to take in Syrian refugees
2015-09-06 14:28
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected a call by Israel's opposition leader to provide refuge to Syrian refugees, saying the country is too small to take them in.
Abbas to resign, briefly, from PLO post
2015-08-23 20:55
The official Palestinian news agency is quoting President Mahmoud Abbas as saying he is resigning from the Palestine Liberation Organisation's top leadership body - a move seen as an attempt to tighten his grip on power.
Palestinian stabs Israeli trooper, shot
2015-08-15 22:18
A Palestinian has been shot dead after stabbing an Israeli paramilitary policeman patrolling a road in the occupied West Bank.
In phone call, Netanyahu, Abbas express peace wishes
2015-07-18 14:00
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have spoken by phone, a rare exchange amid years of paralysed peace efforts.
Vatican recognises state of Palestine
2015-05-13 19:52
The Vatican has officially recognised the state of Palestine in a new treaty.
Israel 'satisfied' as Palestinian resolution fails
2014-12-31 11:37
Israel expressed satisfaction after the UN Security Council failed to adopt a controversial resolution on Palestinian statehood setting a 12-month deadline for reaching a final peace deal.
Zuma urges halt to Israeli settlements as Abbas visits
2014-11-26 17:54
Israel's settlements policy is "undermining" prospects for a two state solution, President Jacob Zuma says as he welcomed Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas on a state visit.
Zuma to receive Palestinian president
2014-11-21 17:04
President Jacob Zuma will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
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This dataset was created using reservoir sampling, a statistically unbiased random sampling algorithm that guarantees each sample from the source dataset has an equal probability of being included. This ensures the 100M token sample is representative of the full dataset's characteristics.
Source Dataset: mlfoundations/dclm-baseline-1.0 Sample Size: 100M tokens Content: Filtered, diverse web content
Reservoir sampling enables rapid experimentation and ablation studies without processing the entire source dataset, while maintaining statistical validity of results.
For details on how this dataset was used in optimal pre-training data composition research, see the blog post.
If you use this model/dataset, please cite:
@article{sharma2025billion,
title={The 1 Billion Token Challenge: Finding the Perfect Pre-training Mix},
author={Sharma, Asankhaya},
year={2025},
url={https://huggingface.co/blog/codelion/optimal-dataset-mixing/}
}
For more details, see the blog post.