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Happy Scrapbooking Day! Getting Started with Supplies [7]
[Scrapbooking] (pretty paper. true stories. {and scrapbooking classes with cupcakes.})It started as National Scrapbook Day, and it’s recognised as NSD or maybe iNSD for those who embrace the international participation, but I’m just going to make it easy and call it Scrapbooking Day. Sound okay to you? It’s today, by the way. The first Saturday in May, each year. And to mark that special occasion of Scrapbooking Day 2011, there’s something special in store for you here at shimelle.com, all day long. Perhaps even all week long, depending on how you li ...
It started as National Scrapbook Day, and it’s recognised as NSD or maybe iNSD for those who embrace the international participation, but I’m just going to make it easy and call it Scrapbooking Day. Sound okay to you? It’s today, by the way. The first Saturday in May, each year.And to mark that special occasion of Scrapbooking Day 2011, there’s something special in store for you here at shimelle.com, all day long. Perhaps even all week long, depending on how you like to play!
Today I’m posting a series of challenges with new layouts, tips and tutorials, and each challenge has a prize up for grabs. Plus there are some bonus discounts and special offers coming up. But to get started, I’m all about getting some supplies ready.The projects I’m featuring today are all made from the same supplies that I chose at the beginning. You can do the same and create a set of supplies then use them for all the challenges OR you can approach any of the challenges on its own and not worry about the supplies for the whole stretch. Cool? That way if you’re wanting to stretch your supplies as far as they can go, we’ll do that. And if you would rather take part in lots of
NSDScrapbooking Day challenges around the web with whatever supplies you fancy, you can do that too.
When I limit my supplies for a batch of layouts, I tend to grab four things: patterned paper, special paper, embellishments and letters. I like to choose things that will mix and match and are not overly themed, so I look for a mix of bold patterns and small patterns so there will be a balance. I also tend to go overboard on paper because I love it the most! (Shhh – don’t tell my other supplies.) So for today’s projects, I’ve set aside:
15 sheets of patterned paper, including Cosmo Cricket Upcycle and Social Club, American Crafts Hello Sunshine and Campy Trails, Sassafras Starters and Paper Crush and Sweetly Smitten, Studio Calico Countryside and Jenni Bowlin Family Tree. Which means I picked lots of different designs and manufacturers, but if you find it easier to stick with one collection, then that works too!
4 sheets of special paper, which is a very official term I’ve given to those things that are generally paper but they aren’t just a plain 12×12 sheet. I’ve chosen two sheets of dot-embossed Core’dinations Cardstock, one die-cut label paper by Jenni Bowlin Studio and one screen-printed transparency by Hambly.
5 types of embellishments, with my love of stickers really showing here! Three of the things I selected are all from the same collection – the large and small sticker sheet plus the banner stickers all from the Sweetly Smitten collection by Sassafras. In typing this, I’m thinking I may go pull the Sweetly Smitten foldie sheet too, though it’s not counted in this picture. Those stickers are all quite vintage and soft, so then I picked some stickers that are quite clean and modern, by American Crafts. And my non-sticker item is a butterfly, of course! These are wooden and by Studio Calico.
3 sheets of letters, and again I’ve gone with stickers. Letter stickers are really my go-to item with titles, especially a mix of sizes and some including dimension, so I have a shiny new pack of these Thickers by American Crafts and a smaller, flat set of Mini Market stickers by October Afternoon. Then the third option cheats a little bit, because this sheet of letters by Bella Blvd actually has four different alphabets on one sheet. Makes it great for packing for crops or working in a series like this. I’ve chosen brown and white but it comes in brighter colours too.
Now obviously there are some things missing here! If I use full sheets of cardstock for the background, I don’t count that. In this case, most of these pages will be on kraft cardstock, and I will just pull those sheets as I go. If you’re packing to go somewhere else, then you’ll need to that that with you! I also don’t include tools – so punches, cutting dies, stamps, inks and paints I will just choose as I go. That can help to change up the look even if the supplies remain the same. And lastly, if I’m scrapping at home I don’t worry too much about adding little things. If there’s something in my scrap basket or bowl of die cuts and I suddenly thing that’s what the page needs – then fine. The idea of the starting supplies is to make things easier, not to make everything else prohibited. So you won’t see any other major elements, but I might add in a scrap of paper or ribbon here or there. That’s pretty much my process!
Oh, and I don’t really use many themed papers, but I do like to include some themed things that can be subtle. I’ve been using this stamp set by House of 3 for Pink Paislee on many of my travel pages, so it’s pretty much living on my desk right now. I will admit I pretty much bought it for the globe, but the whole set looks lovely, and it stamps especially well with Distress Ink.So there we go – that’s where I’m starting! But how about a GIVEAWAY to get Scrapbooking Day off to a great start? I have a pack of scrapbooking supplies to send to a lucky winner. Just comment on this post for a chance to win! (By the way, on some browsers, it helps to click the preview button when you’re leaving a comment.)
Happy Scrapbooking Day! See you soon with the first project challenge!
xlovesx
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Groupon... And The Difference Between Idea & Execution
[Tech] (Techdirt)About a month ago, the folks at Planet Money did a nice podcast on the economics of Groupon. There's no doubt that there's a bit of a "coupon" bubble going on these days, with tons of companies crowding into the space, and (as the Podcast notes) a bunch of ex-Wall St. types jumping into the space with talk of creating derivatives on coupons/deals. At the same time, plenty of people have mocked Groupon and insisted that its model isn't sustainable and others can easily come in and kill Groupon. ...
About a month ago, the folks at Planet Money did a nice podcast on the economics of Groupon. There's no doubt that there's a bit of a "coupon" bubble going on these days, with tons of companies crowding into the space, and (as the Podcast notes) a bunch of ex-Wall St. types jumping into the space with talk of creating derivatives on coupons/deals. At the same time, plenty of people have mocked Groupon and insisted that its model isn't sustainable and others can easily come in and kill Groupon. In fact, some of the Wall St. guys who stayed on Wall St. are saying that Groupon's value shouldn't be that high because anyone with a phone can copy them.
Lots of people are discussing Felix Salmon's excellent analysis of the economics of Groupon, which is really more about the fact that Groupon has dominated the space because it executes well. That is, it's not about the idea, it's about the execution. The fact that it has remained dominant despite so many copycats shows that just copying isn't enough. This doesn't mean that Groupon will always be the best at executing (in fact, I doubt it will be). But it's not so simple as just coming in and copying.
This is an issue that comes up all the time when we talk about business and intellectual property. People who haven't built up businesses like this assume that all you need is the idea -- and if an idea can be copied, then the company can't succeed. But that ignores just how important the execution element is. Salmon talks about how hard Groupon works to make sure its advertisers are happy with the results, to a level beyond most of its competitors. However, I think there's another element of Groupon's execution that hasn't received nearly enough attention: how enjoyable it makes the whole thing for consumers.
Groupon employs a bunch of writers who work hard to make sure all of the deals are compelling, enjoyable and fun. It always amazes me how much people underestimate the value of the quality of the writing in Groupon's offers. However, where it really struck me was a few months back, when I was researching some newer competitors to Groupon -- in particular, newspapers that were offering deals directly to compete with Groupon. In theory, newspapers should be able to absolutely destroy Groupon. If you're just standing on the mountain looking down, and seeing who has the advantages here, it's clearly the newspapers. Newspapers already rely on local advertising and deals, and have established long-term relationships in the market. On top of that, newspapers employ a ton of (mostly) high quality writers as well, so they should be able to create similarly compelling content.
And yet, when I was looking at various newspaper Groupon clones, what struck me was how boring and dull their offers were. Even if the deals themselves were comparable (and they often weren't), they just weren't that interesting or compelling to read. And that's because the newspapers -- like the Wall St. analyst above -- are engaging in cargo cult copying, where they think that all that matters is copying the superficial idea -- while missing the secret sauce that goes into the less obvious execution.
As a final aside, the quality of Groupon's content highlights another key point that we've raised many times before: how "infinite goods" like content make scarce goods more valuable. In this case, the "content" created by Groupon's writers (and, yes, this is also an example of how advertising is content) is valuable. But no one's selling the "content." What Groupon is doing is using that good content to make the scarcity of the deals more valuable, making more people willing to buy them.
In the end, I will admit that I have my doubts about the overall sustainability of Groupon itself, but it's not because "the idea" is easily copyable. I'm just not convinced that Groupon can continue to execute as well, and some aspects of what it's offering have some elements of a fad written all over them. But claiming that the company is overvalued because the "idea" is too easy makes little sense.
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NuGet Package of the Week #6 - Dynamic, Malleable, Enjoyable Expando Objects with Clay
[Programming] (Scott Hanselman)Hey, have you implemented the NuGet Action Plan? Get on it, it'll take only 5 minutes: NuGet Action Plan - Upgrade to 1.2, Setup Automatic Updates, Get NuGet Package Explorer. NuGet 1.3 is out, so make sure you're set to automatically update! The Backstory: I was thinking since the NuGet .NET package management site is starting to fill up that I should start looking for gems (no pun intended) in there. You know, really useful stuff that folks might otherwise not find. I'll look for mostly open ...
Hey, have you implemented the NuGet Action Plan? Get on it, it'll take only 5 minutes: NuGet Action Plan - Upgrade to 1.2, Setup Automatic Updates, Get NuGet Package Explorer. NuGet 1.3 is out, so make sure you're set to automatically update!
The Backstory: I was thinking since the NuGet .NET package management site is starting to fill up that I should start looking for gems (no pun intended) in there. You know, really useful stuff that folks might otherwise not find. I'll look for mostly open source projects, ones I think are really useful. I'll look at how they built their NuGet packages, if there's anything interesting about the way the designed the out of the box experience (and anything they could do to make it better) as well as what the package itself does.
This weeks Package of the Week is "Clay." It makes working with dynamic objects even more fun. It was written for the open source Orchard Project by Louis DeJardin with an assist from Bertrand LeRoy.
Enjoyable Dynamics in a Static Language
Here's a little copy/paste from a post two years ago I did on the dynamic keyword in C#. I thought it was good, so I'll include it again here.
So I asked this guy, what's up with the dynamic keyword, and what type was it exactly? I mean, C# isn't dynamic, right? He says:
"Oh, well it's statically-typed as a dynamic type."
Then my brain exploded and began to leak out my ears. Honestly, though, it took a second. Here's a good example from some of Anders' slides:
Calculator calc = GetCalculator();
int sum = calc.Add(10, 20);That's the creation of an object, invokation of a method, and the collection of a return value. This is the exact same code, as the "var" type is figured out at compile time.
var calc = GetCalculator();
int sum = calc.Add(10, 20);If you wanted to do the exact same thing, except with Reflection (like if it were some other class, maybe old-COM interop, or something where the compiler didn't know a priori that Add() was available, etc) you'd do this:
object calc = GetCalculator();
Type calcType = calc.GetType();
object res = calcType.InvokeMember("Add",
BindingFlags.InvokeMethod, null,
new object[] { 10, 20 });
int sum = Convert.ToInt32(res);It's pretty horrible to look at, of course. If the object is some dynamic thing (from any number of sources), we can do this:
dynamic calc = GetCalculator();
int sum = calc.Add(10, 20);And get the dynamic method invocation and conversion of the return type. Basically it looks just like we're calling any other object.
My buddy Rob Conery and I love dynamic languages, but we also love the .NET CLR. If we had our way, there'd be a lot more support for the Dynamic Language Runtime and the Iron.NET languages. We wrote the http://thisdeveloperslife.com website using ASP.NET Web Pages largely because it uses the Razor template engine - which feels very dynamic - and we used dynamics throughout the code.
Some folks think that static languages have no business dipping their toes into the dynamic pool, but I disagree. Successful compilation is just the first unit test, as they say, and I like the ability to pick and choose between static and dyanamic.
Expandos and Dynamic
In .NET, the Expando object is a dynamic type that lets you add and remove members to it, ahem, dynamically. It's great for dealing with dynamic data. You might do this:
dynamic myObject = new ExpandoObject();
myObject.WhateverMakesMeHappy = "Scott";And boom, I've got a new property. You can even "cast" Expandos as other types and start using them like that type. It's crazy. Play with it.
Anonymous objects via object initalizers are nice, but once you've made one, it's stuck that way. For example, from Bertrand Le Roy's blog
Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.CurrentUser, new {
title = "User Name",
style = "float:left;"
})See the object intializer? It makes an anonymous object, but it'll have that shape with title and style, forever.
Why is Clay needed?
In Bertrand's words:
In terms of API usability [ExpandoObject is] not very daring and in particular it does not do much to help you build deep dynamic object graphs. Its behavior is also fixed and can’t be extended.
Clay on the other hand is highly extensible and focuses on creation and consumption of deep graphs.
Clay has a clever naming convention (although you may hate it. Relax, it's a convention) where you name the ClayFactory instance "New." Yes, capital-N "New." *brain explodes again*
You can do the usual stuff with Clay that you can also do with Expando, of course. But, you can use several different techniques depending on the situation you're in, and that's where it gets interesting. Here's some examples from Bertrand and Lou, starting with the ClayFactory creation:
dynamic New = new ClayFactory();
Now this “New” object will help us create new Clay objects, as the name implies (although this name is just a convention). Then:
var person = New.Person(); person.FirstName = "Louis";
person.LastName = "Dejardin";For instance in Clay, indexer syntax and property accessors are equivalent, just as they are in JavaScript. This is very useful when you are writing code that accesses a property by name without knowing that name at compile-time:
var person = New.Person();
person["FirstName"] = "Louis";
person["LastName"] = "Dejardin";You can also use properties as chainable setters, jQuery-style:
var person = New.Person() .FirstName("Louis") .LastName("Dejardin");Or you can pass an anonymous object and it will become a Clay object:
var person = New.Person(new { FirstName = "Louis", LastName = "Dejardin" });Even better, Clay also understands named arguments, which enables us to write this:
var person = New.Person( FirstName: "Louis", LastName: "Dejardin" );Or even this as an array:
var people = New.Array(
New.Person().FirstName("Louis").LastName("Dejardin"),
New.Person().FirstName("Bertrand").LastName("Le Roy")
);All of this also means that these are all equivalent:
person.FirstName
person["FirstName"]
person.FirstName()To get started, rather than using NuGet to "install-package Clay," I'd recommend you install Clay.Sample. This is a common convention for open source projects to include sample packages that have a dependency on the project itself. Install the sample and you'll get both packages.
Here's some other cool samples that really give you an idea of how you can move like clay between the dynamic and static worlds:
public interface IPerson {
string FirstName { get; set; }
string LastName { get; set; }
}
public static void CastToCLRInterface() {
dynamic New = new ClayFactory();
var person = New.Person();
person.FirstName = "Louis";
person.LastName = "Dejardin";
// Concrete interface implementation gets magically created!
IPerson lou = person;
// You get intellisense and compile time check here
Console.WriteLine("{0} {1}", lou.FirstName, lou.LastName);
}I'd like the see folks in power *cough* Anders *cough* check out things like Clay and make them built in. Yum.
Related Links
- C# 4 and the dynamic keyword - Whirlwind Tour around .NET 4 (and Visual Studio 2010) Beta 1
- Improvements in C# around dynamism and PIAs as well as the COM Binder
- Back to Basics: C# 4 method overloading and dynamic types
- Bertrand Le Roy on "Clay"
© 2011 Scott Hanselman. All rights reserved.
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What Does Widening U.S. Income Gap Mean for Future of Economy, Americans?
[PBS] (PBS NewsHour | PBS)Listen to the Audio JIM LEHRER: The jobs numbers for April were released on the same day, today, as a new report that finds executive pay is soaring once again.Jeffrey Brown picks up that part of the story.JEFFREY BROWN: The Associated Press, which released the study on CEO compensation, put it this way: In the boardroom, it's as if the great recession never happened.CEO pay, including salaries, bonuses, and stock options, was up 24 percent last year, to a level higher than 2007, just before the ...
JIM LEHRER: The jobs numbers for April were released on the same day, today, as a new report that finds executive pay is soaring once again.
Jeffrey Brown picks up that part of the story.
JEFFREY BROWN: The Associated Press, which released the study on CEO compensation, put it this way: In the boardroom, it's as if the great recession never happened.
CEO pay, including salaries, bonuses, and stock options, was up 24 percent last year, to a level higher than 2007, just before the recession hit. The 10 highest-paid executives made a combined $440 million. Six of them came from the world of media and entertainment, including the heads of Viacom and CBS.
The study came a day after the Fortune 500 list was released, showing corporate profits increased by 81 percent last year, or more than $300 billion.
And we look more at pay, profits, and jobs now with Deborah Wince- Smith, president and CEO of the Council on Competitiveness, a nonpartisan group that works with business, universities and labor to enhance American competitiveness. And Vineeta Anand, she studies corporate governance and other issues as chief research analyst in the AFL-CIO Office of Investment.
Welcome to both of you.
VINEETA ANAND, AFL-CIO Office of Investment: Thank you.
RAY SUAREZ: Deborah Wince-Smith, I will start with you.
Start with the CEO pay issue. What explains the fast rise and quick return to pre-recession levels?
DEBORAH WINCE-SMITH, Council on Competitiveness: Well, I think one of the main issues is that we're seeing tremendous success of U.S. corporations, in terms of their profits, their revenue and their share value.
So, that is a good sign that shows that we are continuing to rebound from the recession and that we are really going to see increased productivity and standard of living that ultimately comes from this wealth generation.
JEFFREY BROWN: Vineeta Anand, a good sign to see these hikes in CEO pay?
VINEETA ANAND: Well, actually, as shareholders -- and we are shareholders representing workers through the pension plans -- we are very worried, because CEOs and the rich have gotten richer in the United States, whereas everybody else has been left behind.
The disparity has grown so that, in 1980, CEOs made about 42 times the pay of an average worker. And in 2010 it was 324 times. So, that's a huge jump. And it is as if the recession never happened.
You quoted the AP numbers. And our own database we launched earlier last month, Executive Pay Watch, showed that 299 of the S&P 500 CEOs made a collective $3.4 billion. And that could support 103,000 workers making average wages.
JEFFREY BROWN: Well, Deborah Wince-Smith, what -- that reflects what a lot of people wonder. And we just heard a segment where we talked about slower growth and a lot of people feeling pain for a long period of time. So, what's the other side of the -- the positive sign that you are seeing in CEO pay growth?
DEBORAH WINCE-SMITH: Well, putting aside CEO pay growth, I think what we really need to look about -- look at is the fact that what is going on in the global economy is a fundamental restructuring.
We have really left a 20th century non-high-skilled economy. The jobs of the future are requiring entirely different skill sets. So the disparity we're seeing in income is often directly linked to educational levels and skills levels.
You know, we can't in the United States compete on low wages or standardized products or services. We have to compete on this higher-value work. Now, the fact is the American worker is 10 times more productive than a worker in China. In the long run, that is fantastic.
But, of course, it means that automation, the use of all these new technological capabilities that drive this productivity does displace workers who don't have those skills and where we don't need those types of performance anymore in the workplace.
JEFFREY BROWN: And does -- and...
DEBORAH WINCE-SMITH: So, really, what we need to be focused on is, how do we transition to this new economy? How do we have the education, the skills and the training so we can really capitalize on our entrepreneurship, our innovation, our great research and development?
Because we can't really be looking back. We have to look forward.
JEFFREY BROWN: Vineeta Anand, a new economy?
VINEETA ANAND: Well, you know, Jeff, we have been talking about a new economy since the 1980s. We have been talking about how the United States left behind manufacturing and moved into service, and now into the information age in the 21st century.
But the fact of the matter remains that what you are seeing is almost 14 million people are still unemployed, as Judy said a little while ago, and, as David Leonhardt said a little earlier in the show, that if the jobs continue to grow at the rate they're growing, we're in a really troublesome spot.
So, it is not education. It's not that we lack the technical skills. It's the fact that companies are not hiring. In 2010, they had a record $1.89 trillion of cash on their balance sheets. They are not using it to create jobs.
JEFFREY BROWN: Well, that goes -- Deborah Wince-Smith, that also goes to this other study we cited, the Fortune 500, and the huge growth in corporate profits.
And, yet, there's still -- we have -- we heard it again just now. We have been hearing it for months. There's a -- it's better on jobs, but there's still a reluctance to hire.
DEBORAH WINCE-SMITH: Well, first of all, I want to say that we are really a great manufacturing nation. And there is a big recognition at the Council on Competitiveness -- we're working on this -- that we have to not only maintain our manufacturing prowess; we have to lead this whole new change in how things are designed, built, logistics, supply chain. This is a tremendous opportunity for our country.
But, you know, the issue of corporate profits, companies sitting on, you know, over $1.5 trillion, where are they investing it? Are they investing it in the United States? There is a global race for the best investment, the best high-value activity.
And, so, what is the environment for that capital? You know, we had some very powerful data at the council about three years ago that the value of profits U.S. companies make outside the United States is three times the value of all our exports.
But are they bringing that money back? Well, they are facing double taxation. We're facing the highest corporate tax rate in the world, a very tough regulatory environment. So are the jobs going to be here, or are these jobs going to be around the world, where there is tremendous demand and also where there's a growing middle class?
You know, 80 percent of all middle-class consumers will be outside the United States by 2020. So, we have to make sure that we are not hobbling our companies' determination of their investment by things that put us uncompetitive against the rest of the world.
Let's not compete on the cost of capital and on wage structure. Let's compete on invasion and high skills.
And one thing I want to add, we have a tremendous shortage of middle skills. Do you know a skilled welder in this country, without a college degree, but high technical skills, makes $100,000 a year, and we're begging for them.
JEFFREY BROWN: Well, I mean, it's interesting, Vineeta, and there's a lot of things you would agree on about the kinds of things that need to be done. But you're -- you're saying you're worried, in the meantime, that this is all -- this is all exacerbating income inequality.
VINEETA ANAND: Yes.
Actually, in 2009, income inequality rose to levels that we saw before the Depression. The top 20 percent of Americans controlled 90 percent of all wealth. In the meanwhile, the median household wealth fell to about $62,000.
So, what we're seeing is, the divide is continuing to grow. And the reason for that is, very largely, that the rich are getting richer. CEOs are continuing to make more money. Last year, as AP said, 24 -- a 24 percent increase -- we said 23 percent increase -- but the fact remains is, the average worker who had a job got a 3.3 percent raise, and many people didn't even get a raise.
So, while I agree with Deborah -- I think she's right in one sense. We need to bring jobs back to the United States. But we also need to have the government help. The government has to help create jobs. We have to invest in the infrastructure. We won't get up to the levels we saw in the Clinton administration otherwise. We had a 3.5 percent unemployment rate. Does anybody remember that?
JEFFREY BROWN: All right.
I don't know the answer to that, but we will continue this discussion.
Vineeta Anand, Deborah Wince-Smith, thank you both very much.
VINEETA ANAND: Thank you.
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MySQL 5.1.57 - Powerful open source database.. (Free)
[Macintosh] (MacUpdate: Recent Mac OS X)MySQL, the most popular Open Source SQL database, is provided by MySQL AB. MySQL AB is a commercial company that builds its business providing services around the MySQL database. Version 5.1.57: Functionality added or changed:When invoked with the --auto-generate-sql option, mysqlslap dropped the schema specified with the --create-schema option at the end of the test run, which may have been unexpected by the user. mysqlslap no longer drops the schema, but has a new --create-and-drop schema tha ...
MySQL, the most popular Open Source SQL database, is provided by MySQL AB. MySQL AB is a commercial company that builds its business providing services around the MySQL database.
Version 5.1.57:Functionality added or changed:
- When invoked with the --auto-generate-sql option, mysqlslap dropped the schema specified with the --create-schema option at the end of the test run, which may have been unexpected by the user. mysqlslap no longer drops the schema, but has a new --create-and-drop schema that both creates and drops a schema. (Bug #58090, Bug #11765157)
- A new system variable, max_long_data_size, now controls the maximum size of parameter values that can be sent with the mysql_stmt_send_long_data() C API function. If not set at server startup, the default is the value of the max_allowed_packet system variable. This variable is deprecated. In MySQL 5.6, it is removed and the maximum parameter size is controlled by max_allowed_packet.
- InnoDB Storage Engine: Replication: Trying to update a column, previously set to NULL, of an InnoDB table with no primary key caused replication to fail with Can't find record in 'table' on the slave. (Bug #11766865, Bug #60091)
- InnoDB Storage Engine: The server could halt if InnoDB interpreted a very heavy I/O load for 15 minutes or more as an indication that the server was hung. This change fixes the logic that measures how long InnoDB threads were waiting, which formerly could produce false positives. (Bug #11877216, Bug #11755413, Bug #47183)
- Replication: Using the --server-id option with mysqlbinlog could cause format description log events to be filtered out of the binary log, leaving mysqlbinlog unable to read the remainder of the log. Now such events are always read without regard to the value of this option.
- As part of the the fix for this problem, mysqlbinlog now also reads rotate log events without regard to the value of --server-id. (Bug #11766427, Bug #59530)
- Partitioning: A problem with a previous fix for poor performance of INSERT ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE statements on tables having many partitions caused the handler function for reading a row from a specific index to fail to store the ID of the partition last used. This caused some statements to fail with Can't find record errors. (Bug #59297, Bug #11766232)
- InnoDB invoked some zlib functions without proper initialization. (Bug #11849231)
- Selecting from a view for which the definition included a HAVING clause failed with an error:
- 1356: View '...' references invalid table(s) or column(s)or function(s) or definer/invoker of view lack rights to use them(Bug #60295, Bug #11829681)
- The server permitted max_allowed_packet to be set lower than net_buffer_length, which does not make sense because max_allowed_packet is the upper limit on net_buffer_length values. Now a warning occurs and the value remains unchanged. (Bug #59959, Bug #11766769)
- The server read one byte too many when trying to process an XML string lacking a closing quote (') or double quote (") character used as an argument for UpdateXML() or ExtractValue(). (Bug #59901, Bug #11766725)
- See also Bug #44332, Bug #11752979.
- Attempting to create a spatial index on a CHAR column longer than 31 bytes led to an assertion failure if the server was compiled with safemutex support. (Bug #59888, Bug #11766714)
- Aggregation followed by a subquery could produce an incorrect result. (Bug #59839, Bug #11766675)
- An incorrect character set pointer passed to my_strtoll10_mb2() caused an assertion to be raised. (Bug #59648, Bug #11766519)
- A missing variable initialization for Item_func_set_user_var objects could cause an assertion to be raised. (Bug #59527, Bug #11766424)
- mysqldump did not quote database names in ALTER DATABASE statements in its output, which could cause an error at reload time for database names containing a dash. (Bug #59398, Bug #11766310)
- In Item_func_month::val_str(), a Valgrind warning for a too-late NULL value check was corrected. (Bug #59166, Bug #11766126)
- In Item::get_date, a Valgrind warning for a missing NULL value check was corrected. (Bug #59164, Bug #11766124)
- In extract_date_time(), a Valgrind warning for a missing end-of-string check was corrected. (Bug #59151, Bug #11766112)
- In string context, the MIN() and MAX() functions did not take into account the unsignedness of a BIGINT UNSIGNED argument. (Bug #59132, Bug #11766094)
- In Item_func::val_decimal, a Valgrind warning for a missing NULL value check was corrected. (Bug #59125, Bug #11766087)
- In Item_func_str_to_date::val_str, a Valgrind warning for an uninitialized variable was corrected. (Bug #58154, Bug #11765216)
- The code for PROCEDURE ANALYSE() had a missing DBUG_RETURN statement, which could cause a server crash in debug builds. (Bug #58140, Bug #11765202)
- An assertion could be raised in Item_func_int_val::fix_num_length_and_dec() due to overflow for geometry functions. (Bug #57900, Bug #11764994)
- An assertion could be raised if a statement that required a name lock on a table (for example, DROP TRIGGER) executed concurrently with an INFORMATION_SCHEMA query that also used the table. (Bug #56541, Bug #11763784)
- For a client connected using SSL, the Ssl_cipher_list status variable was empty and did not show the possible cipher types. (Bug #52596, Bug #11760210)
- With lower_case_table_names=2, resolution of objects qualified by database names could fail. (Bug #50924, Bug #11758687)
- A potential invalid memory access discovered by Valgrind was fixed. (Bug #48053, Bug #11756169)
- Bitmap functions used in one thread could change bitmaps used by other threads, causing an assertion to be raised. (Bug #43152, Bug #11752069)
- SHOW EVENTS did not always show events from the correct database. (Bug #41907, Bug #11751148)
Mac OS X 10.4 or later
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Food Allergies for Mother's Day: Welcome to Mom's Diner!
[Allergies] (The Nut-Free Mom Blog)You'd think we'd get out of cooking one day a year, but if your child has severe food allergies, forget it. Actually, the traditional Mother's Day brunch, served buffet style, can be hazardous for many types of food allergies. In my family, we've never gone to big Mother's Day meals in a restaurant since so many breakfast foods have some type of tree nuts due to all of the baked goods and cross-contact. For those of you who deal with egg, dairy and/or wheat allergies, you know how difficult it i ...
You'd think we'd get out of cooking one day a year, but if your child has severe food allergies, forget it. Actually, the traditional Mother's Day brunch, served buffet style, can be hazardous for many types of food allergies. In my family, we've never gone to big Mother's Day meals in a restaurant since so many breakfast foods have some type of tree nuts due to all of the baked goods and cross-contact. For those of you who deal with egg, dairy and/or wheat allergies, you know how difficult it is to locate an allergy-friendly brunch.
For me, this state of affairs means a lot of cooking and/or baking at home. Often, I prefer it--personally it's not relaxing for me to bring my child to high-risk restaurant situations. I'd rather go eat with the family during a "safe" restaurants downtime when they are more likely to pay attention to special food requests.
Last year, I baked a coffee cake and brought it to a brunch. This year I plan to make the same cake because my family loves it and it looks impressive (streaked with two layers of cinnamon/brown sugar filling) even though it is relatively easy to make. I assume I will be cooking throughout the day even though my husband volunteered to grill at night, as he usually does on the weekends.
Somewhere along the line, I just accepted that I would be doing most of the cooking, when possible. That's been OK for the most part. I've had a lot more control over ingredients and my kids have enjoyed a pretty healthy diet. When I cook, I have the added pleasure of knowing that I am providing some love along with the meals. As my favorite food writer M.F.K. Fisher put it: "One of the pleasantest of all emotions is to know that I, I with my brain and my hands, have nourished my beloved few... to sustain them truly against the hungers of the world."
It is in this spirit that I once spent 6 hours making and decorating birthday cakes for my daughter's first big birthday party. She was in kindergarten and had invited every girl in her class plus a few more friends. She wanted a "Groovy Girl" theme -- if you have daughters you've probably seen these colorful, fashionable dolls -- and I needed to create orange, pink, black, purple and yellow frosting. This took me awhile. I also had trouble with the cake writing, since I'm not very good at it and the miniature Groovy Girl dolls I bought for the cake kept sinking into the frosting. Since they were not "true" cake toppers, they were too heavy.
I was exhausted and covered in frosting by the time I finished but I didn't think much about the time it had taken. I shared this story with one of my friends recently and she said "Wow, you must really love your daughter!"
I laughed because a) I guess I do and b) when a 6-hour cake prep doesn't faze you, that's when you know you've got a child with food allergies.
Last week I was reading a newspaper article in advance of Mother's Day that asked authors to chime in with their favorite advice from their mom. My favorite was this quote, taken from Baha'i writings: "When there is love, nothing is too much trouble and there is always time."
That's how I feel about being "forced" to cook on Mother's Day. Kids with food allergies have to be so careful of what they eat, all the time. If I can give my daughter something delicious, something safe so that she can be included with all of us, her happiness makes me happy. It's a gift that keeps on giving, not just on Mother's Day, but all year. -
Inventables
[Contests] (Boing Boing)You can buy hardware store materials of the future from these folks: Translucent concrete, rubber glass, unwetable sand, suction cup tape, etc. They primarily sell small quantities of very innovative stuff, but will work with you if you like what you tried and want it in bulk. The materials and devices are so amazing you'll invent things just to use them. -- KK I have used Inventables a lot. I have found them to be responsive and helpful when I have a question about a product, or when I want to ...
You can buy hardware store materials of the future from these folks: Translucent concrete, rubber glass, unwetable sand, suction cup tape, etc. They primarily sell small quantities of very innovative stuff, but will work with you if you like what you tried and want it in bulk. The materials and devices are so amazing you'll invent things just to use them. -- KK I have used Inventables a lot. I have found them to be responsive and helpful when I have a question about a product, or when I want to get larger quantities of a sampled product for a real application. For example, when I needed some Stretch Sensing Rubber in a different diameter for a toy I was designing, and they promptly got me the size and quantities that I needed for the prototypes. When we were designing a high-volume medical device that needed a piezoelectric actuator, they put me directly in contact with the manufacturer of the material. -- Danny Hillis Inventables Inventables.com
Sample Products
Talking tape
Talking tape makes it possible to mechanically create sound from various objects. With one hand, you hold the top of the tape. With the other, you slide your thumbnail down the ribbon against the grooves. Do this and you hear, "Congratulations!" The ribbon has grooves just like a traditional record. When your fingernail is pulled down the ribbon, it causes sound vibrations. The card works as the amplifier to make the sound louder. You can replace the card with a plastic cup, a balloon, a greeting card, or just about anything. The ribbons can be made to play any sound you can record; however, the manufacturer claims voices work better than music.
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Conductive thread
Incorporate this silver-plated nylon thread into fabric
This is a silver plated nylon thread that can conduct electricity. These types of threads are usually manufactured for anti-static electromagnetic shielding, intelligent textiles, wearable technology, and heating purposes. The particular type featured here is great for sewing resistors into fabric and for other general sewing applications.
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Bendable Wood
Allows for creative applications of solid wood
Bendable Wood is a cold-bendable compressed wood that enables the creation of dramatic and unique bentwood parts using thick, solid, quality hardwood lumber. The maximum radius for bending is in the range of five times the board thickness as long as the wood moisture content remains between 20 to 25%. The desired shape/form becomes fixed and stable upon drying to 6 to 8% moisture content. Available in more than ten of the most common North American hardwoods. This product should not merely replace steam bent, laminated, or kerfed components, but it should be employed to make your work easier and inspire much more dramatic and challenging bends that could not otherwise be fabricated using solid lumber. The unique properties of this wood enable a new world of ideas, experimentation, creative solutions, fast production environments, and performance. Choose to do it yourself, or let us do it for you.
Don't forget to comment over at Cool Tools. And remember to submit a tool!
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David Meerman Scott: Measurement, Press Releases, Social Media And Losing Control
[Small Business] (Business Insider)This week, I had the privilege of speaking with David Meerman Scott (@dmscott on Twitter) the author of the #1 bestselling book, The New Rules of Marketing and PR, as well as a number of others that have dispelled traditional notions about public relations and marketing. We talked about the fundamental shifts he’s witnessed over the past 25 years, examined some corollaries to the bond market’s shift to real-time communications and discussed how companies should leverage social a ...
This week, I had the privilege of speaking with David Meerman Scott (@dmscott on Twitter) the author of the #1 bestselling book, The New Rules of Marketing and PR, as well as a number of others that have dispelled traditional notions about public relations and marketing. We talked about the fundamental shifts he’s witnessed over the past 25 years, examined some corollaries to the bond market’s shift to real-time communications and discussed how companies should leverage social and online channels at a time when instant access to information drives news coverage. We also talked about the unraveling of control over corporate brands, and the best ways for companies to become part of online and real-time conversations.
Following is an edited version of our conversation.
BAM: In your 2010 book, Real Time: How Marketing & PR at Speed Drives Measurable Success, you discuss appropriate measurements for online communications and document some interesting findings, including the fact that, as you wrote, “on average the publicly traded Fortune 100 companies that engage in real-time communications beat the S&P 500 stock index while the others, on average, under- performed the index.” For lots of companies still though, online communications programs can have a “hidden value” as you describe it. What kind of measurement system do you recommend for smaller start-ups that frequently look to PR and social media as the first and only marketing expense?
DMS: If you’re using a form of measurement that was devised for an offline world, it will give you false data. For example, lead generation as a strict measurement was developed for things like trade shows and direct mail campaigns. Today, you can measure lots of things. For example, where do you appear in search results? How many people are reaching out to you? How many people follow you on Twitter or like you on Facebook? The most important metric though, is how is business? For startups that live and breathe how business is, you can see an immediate tie to growth and what you are doing online.
Scott’s World Wide Rave Measurement recommendations:
1. How many people are getting exposed to your ideas?
2. How many people are downloading your stuff?
3. How often are bloggers writing about you and your ideas?
4. (And what are those bloggers saying?)
5. Where are you appearing in search results for important phrases?
6. How many people are engaging with you and choosing to speak to you about your offerings?
BAM: It can be easier to convince big companies whose brands are already being discussed through social channels to participate because the conversations are happening with or without them. What do you recommend for smaller companies and startups that are looking to break through with a new idea and are essentially starting from scratch?
DMS: If someone doesn’t know the name of your company it’s harder to get traction in the beginning. But it’s only a small setback at the outset. After that, any organization can do well. In fact, it’s a lot easier for smaller companies to do well because there’s no baggage – no branding police. Bigger companies have something to lose, so it’s more of a risk. Smaller companies have no reason to play it safe, and a lot of incentive to go big with something more provocative. But be careful not to hang your entire company’s future on coming up with next Old Spice commercial. A viral video, in and of itself, is not a strategy.
BAM: How different is social media and customer outreach for business-to-business, business-to-consumer and other types of companies?
DMS: Online marketing and social networking work for every kind of organization. There isn’t any difference between B2C, B2B, B2G, B2E or nonprofits. The only differences are fear based.
Every time I give a speech, I ask the audience a series of questions regarding how they have researched information about a product or service within the last year. I ask, how many have answered a direct mail campaign? How many have gone to a trade show as an attendee? How many have used Google? How many have used social media? It’s always 10% or below for first two questions, 100% for Google and 90% for social networks. People are not doing the things they did 20 years ago. Now they go to the Web first.
BAM: In your rules of engagement for the world wide rave you say that, “no one cares about your products (except you).” Why is this so important today for connecting with audiences?
DMS: Nobody gives a sh*t about your products. They care about solving problems and care about themselves. People are selfish. To create great content that has the potential for people to share it – and create a world wide rave – you can’t be talking about your products. You need to think about the information you can create that will help solve the problem your audience cares about. This should be the basis for everything you do on the Web.
BAM: I’d like to hear more about your world wide rave principle of losing control. As you described it, “Make your information on the Web totally free for people to access, with absolutely no virtual strings attached: no electronic gates, no registration requirements, and no email address checking necessary.” Why is ease of access so important?
DMS: Losing control is the toughest principle. You have to let people talk about your organization in the way that they want to talk about it. You can’t complain that they didn’t use your key words. The second part is that you can’t insist on requiring registration for everything you create – that mentality is a hold over from the offline world. It’s wrong to provide an email address to get great content, and it severely limits the number of people who will download it.
BAM: What is the right balance between sharing information openly and divulging a company’s secret sauce?
DMS: So many people are afraid of giving stuff away. They feel like they can’t give you anything unless you’re engaged in the sales process. This mentality is a hold over from a day when sales people were the most powerful people in an organization. They controlled access to product information. Today, the best way to access product information is through the Web. If you’re looking to buy a product, for business or for personal use, and you cannot find information on it online, you will treat it as suspect. Keeping information under lock and key is a terrible way to get new business.
BAM: What is your view on the press release today? Should companies use them? Are there better tools?
DMS: Every company should be creating content. The press release as a form of content is pretty easy to execute. Companies should create news about what they are doing – whether the form is the press release or not. Releases are nice baby steps for companies that haven’t dived into the deep end of creating their own content – they don’t have a blog or aren’t creating videos. Once you’ve done press releases for a while, you realize there are some other things you should be doing. If you do use press releases, aim for ones that are actually written in English, and not gobbledygook. The term “innovate” is the worst one these days.
[BAM Note: see my InkHouse post on the buzzwords that should permanently be retired, which includes “best in breed,” “leading edge” and lots of other tired words that don’t mean anything anymore].
BAM: As you point out, real-time communications have been fueled by the ever-increasing pace of the media. As traditional newspapers look to new business models, how do you see the news industry shaking out over the next 5 to 10 years?
DMS: Journalism is undergoing the same change I witnessed in the bond markets 25 years ago. When computer technology and real-time information took off on the bond desk, Bloomberg, Reuters and Dow Jones real-time news feeds became important. Bloomberg pioneered ideas around real-time technical and charting analysis. At the time, I worked for a company doing real-time commentary, which looked very much like blogging. When something broke in the bond markets, Lou Crandall, the blogger, would get on the system and offer instant commentary about what just happened.
In the news business today, practically everybody on the planet has access to real-time information, wherever they are. The bond market corollary is this: you can either be a first mover when there is a price change, or you can do thoughtful analysis and look at what’s going to happen in the future. With journalism, instantaneous news will always be here – the MSNBCs, FOXs and Huffington Posts are here to stay. That doesn’t mean that thoughtful analysis is going away – the Rolling Stones or Vanity Fairs of the world will always be there too.
However, marketers and PR people haven’t figured out the awesome competitive advantage that goes to people who are quick. It’s foreign to them. When you see something on Twitter, or on a blog, or in the news, or when there’s a regulatory change in your industry, or your biggest competitor is acquired – there is an incredible opportunity to be very very quick and do something instantaneously. There are almost no organizations that think that way right now.
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"The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings" / Masanobu Fukuoka on Do Nothing Farming
[Blacks] (The Liberator: Blog)In the pursuit of Knowledge, every day something is added. In the practice of the Way, every day something is dropped. Less and less do you need to force things, until finally you arrive at non-action. When nothing is done, nothing is left undone. -Lao Tzu Masanobu Fukuoka is a master gardener known as the father of "Natural Farming" or "Do Nothing Farming." Fukuoka, who passed away in 2008, lived on a small farm on the southern Japanese island of Shikoku. After having something of a revelatio ...
In the pursuit of Knowledge,
every day something is added.
In the practice of the Way,
every day something is dropped.
Less and less do you need to force things,
until finally you arrive at non-action.
When nothing is done,
nothing is left undone.
-Lao Tzu
Masanobu Fukuoka is a master gardener known as the father of "Natural Farming" or "Do Nothing Farming." Fukuoka, who passed away in 2008, lived on a small farm on the southern Japanese island of Shikoku. After having something of a revelation about the nature of human existence, he left his job as a microbiologist and returned home to work his father’s farm. He had been utilizing certain 'natural' farming methods since the 1940s, long before mainstream society’s inclination toward ‘organic’ or ‘natural’ food and lifestyle alternatives. His methods are fascinating not only because they go against most common practices of modern large scale agricultural operations, but also because he draws very critical linkages between nature, spirit and human activity. For many, these methods are not earth shattering, but rather an affirmation of the types of practices that have been successfully occurring and sustaining communities for years prior to the industrial age.
For Fukuoka, he employs 4 main methods (no tilling, no chemical fertilizer or prepared compost, no weeding and no pesticides) that are meant to allow the land to return to its original biological balance prior to massive human intervention. They are outlined in his book One Straw Revolution. Through these methods he has managed to minimize pollution, while still reaping similar yields as his neighbors using more 'modern' methods.
His methods are similar to what we could refer to permaculture or a similar cousin, integrated farming, which is also a very important aspect of the methods found at the Songhai Centre in Benin, West Africa. The idea of reaching for a natural balance and wholeness outside of industrially-formed intuitions is an important proposition.
A talk with Masanobu Fukuoka (1982)
(SOURCE: Mother Earth News)
Masanobu Fukuoka, with his grizzled white beard, subdued voice, and traditional Oriental working clothes, may not seem like an apt prototype of a successful innovative farmer. Nor does it, at first glance, appear possible that his rice fields—riotous jungles of tangled weeds, clover, and grain—are among the most productive pieces of land in Japan. But that's all part of the paradox that surrounds this man and his method of natural farming.
On a mountain overlooking Matsuyama Bay on the southern Japanese island of Shikoku, Fukuoka-san (son is the traditional Japanese form of respectful address) has—since the end of World War II—raised rice, winter grain, and citrus crops . . . using practices that some people might consider backward (or even foolish!). Yet his acres consistently produce harvests that equal or surpass those of his neighbors who use labor-intensive, chemical-dependent methods. Fukuoka's system of farming is amazing not only for its yields, but also for the fact that he has not plowed his fields for more than 30 years! Nor does he use prepared fertilizer—not even compost—on his land, or weed his rows, or flood his rice paddies.
Through painstaking experimentation, you see, this Japanese grower has come up with a method of agriculture that reflects the deep affinity he feels with nature. He believes that by expanding our intellect beyond the traditional confines of scientific knowledge—and by trusting the inherent wisdom of life processes—we can learn all we need to know about growing food crops. A farmer, he says, should carefully watch the cycles of nature and then work with those patterns, rather than try to conquer and "tame" them.
In keeping with that philosophy, Fukuoka-san's fields display the diversity and plant succession that is a natural part of any ecosystem. In the spring, he sows rice amidst his winter grain . . . then, late in the year, casts grain seed among the maturing rice plants. A ground cover of clover and straw underlies the crops, deterring weeds and enriching the soil. In addition, the master gardener grows vegetables "wild" beneath the unpruned trees in his mountainside orchard. Naturally, such unconventional plots might look positively disastrous to traditional agronomists, but as Fukuoka points out to skeptical visitors, "The proof of my techniques is ripening right before your eyes!"
For many years, the Oriental gentleman's unique ideas were known only to a few individuals in his own country. In 1975, however, he wrote a book entitled The One-Straw Revolution, which was later published in the United States. Since then, he has been in great demand by groups eager to know more about this strange "new" attitude toward farming. In 1979 Fukuoka-san undertook an extensive tour of the United States . . . and while he was in Amherst, Massachusetts for a series of university lectures, he talked for several hours with Larry Korn, a student of natural farming methods and the editor of The One-Straw Revolution. Their conversation was conducted entirely in Japanese and later translated into the edited version printed here.
Incidentally, if you're puzzled by several instances of apparent contradiction in the following comments, consider that Fukuoka-like the Oriental philosophers who deliberately present students with what seem to be illogical statements or paradoxes—is perhaps trying to help people break habitual patterns of thought and develop new perceptions. And because his natural farming does demand such an unaccustomed mode of thinking, Fukuoka-san warns that it is not for the timid or the lazy: "My method completely contradicts modern agricultural techniques. It throws scientific knowledge and traditional farming know-how right out the window." What's left in the wake of that revolutionary (and sometimes admittedly befuddling) upheaval, however, should excite—and challenge—anyone who'd like to see a simpler, more natural form a of agriculture take root.
PLOWBOY: Then successful natural farming is not simply a do-nothing technique?
FUKUOKA: No, it actually involves a process of bringing your mind as closely in line as possible with the natural functioning of the environment. However, you have to be careful: This method does not mean that we should suddenly throw away all the scientific knowledge about horticulture that we already have. That course of action is simply abandonment, because it ignores the cycle of dependence that humans have imposed upon an altered ecosystem. If a farmer does abandon his or her "tame" fields completely to nature, mistakes and destruction are inevitable. The real path to natural farming requires that a person know what unaltered nature is, so that he or she can instinctively understand what needs to be done—and what must not be done—to work in harmony with its processes.
PLOWBOY: For folks who may be unfamiliar with your book, The One-Straw Revolution, let's review the basic practices you follow in your natural system of growing grain, vegetables, and citrus.
FUKUOKA: First of all, I operate under four firm principles. The first is NO TILLING . . . that is, no turning or plowing of the soil. Instead, I let the earth cultivate itself by means of the penetration of plant roots and the digging activity of micro-organisms, earthworms, and small animals.
The second rule is NO CHEMICAL FERTILIZER OR PREPARED COMPOST. I've found that you can actually drain the soil of essential nutrients by careless use of such dressings! Left alone, the earth maintains its own fertility, in accordance with the orderly cycle of plant and animal life.
The third guideline I follow is NO WEEDING, either by cultivation or by herbicides. Weeds play an important part in building soil fertility and in balancing the biological community . . . so I make it a practice to control—rather than eliminate—the weeds in my fields. Straw mulch, a ground cover of white clover interplanted with the crops, and temporary flooding all provide effective weed control in my fields.
The final principle of natural farming is NO PESTICIDES. As I've emphasized before, nature is in perfect balance when left alone. Of course, harmful insects and diseases are always present, but normally not to such an extent that poisonous chemicals are required to correct the situation. The only sensible approach to disease and insect control, I think, is to grow sturdy crops in a healthy environment.
As far as my planting program goes, I simply broadcast rye and barley seed on separate fields in the fall . . . while the rice in those areas is still standing. A few weeks after that I harvest the rice, and then spread its straw back over the fields as mulch. The two winter grains are usually cut about the 20th of May . . . but two weeks or so before those crops have fully matured, I broadcast rice seed right over them. After the rye and barley have been harvested and threshed, I spread their straw back over the field to protect the rice seedlings. I also grow white clover and weeds in these same fields. The legume is sown among the rice plants in early fall. And the weeds I don't have to worry about . . . they reseed themselves quite easily!
In a 1-1/4-acre field like mine, one or two people can do all the work of growing rice and winter grain in a matter of a few days, without keeping the field flooded all season . . . without using compost, fertilizer, herbicides, or other chemicals . . . and without plowing one inch of the field! It seems unlikely to me that there could be a simpler way of raising grain.
As for citrus, I grow several varieties on the hillsides near my home. As I told you, I started natural farming after the war with just one small plot, but gradually I acquired additional acreage by taking over surrounding pieces of abandoned land and caring for them by hand. First, I had to recondition that red clay soil by planting clover as a ground cover and allowing the weeds to return. I also introduced a few hardy vegetables—such as the Japanese daikon radish—and allowed the natural predators to take care of insect pests. As a result of that thick weed/clover cover, the surface layer of the orchard soil has becomeover the past 30 years-loose, darkcolored, and rich with earthworms and organic matter. In my orchard there are now pines and cedar trees, a few pear trees, persimmons, loquats, Japanese cherries, and many other native varieties growing among the citrus trees. I also have the nitrogen-fixing acacia, which helps to enrich the soil deep in the ground. So by raising tall trees for windbreaks, citrus underneath, and a green manure cover down on the surface, I have found a way to take it easy and let the orchard manage itself!
PLOWBOY: Have you encountered any really serious problems with disease or insect pests over the decades that you've been practicing natural farming?
FUKUOKA: Since I turned the fields back to their natural state, I can't say I've had any really difficult problems with insects or disease. Even when it looked as if something had gone wrong and the crops would soon be devastated, nature always seemed to bail me out in the end!
Of course, I have made mistakes . . . just as every grower does. However, I never really think of them as mistakes! Back in the beginning, for example, when 70% of a field was overgrown and unproductive and 20 to 30% was extremely productive, I saw my limited harvest as a success. I figured that if a small percentage of the field did produce, I could eventually make the rest of the acreage do just as well. My neighbors would never have been satisfied with a field like that . . . but I just viewed the "mistake" as a hint or a lesson. One of the most important discoveries I made in those early years was that to succeed at natural farming, you have to get rid of your expectations. Such "products" of the mind are often incorrect or unrealistic . . . and can lead you to think you've made a mistake if they're not met.
PLOWBOY: Some people have noticed a spiritual, almost mystical quality to your theory of farming. Do you feel you're receiving insight and guidance from a divine source?
FUKUOKA: Although natural farming—since it can teach people to cultivate a deep understanding of nature—may lead to spiritual insight, it's not strictly a spiritual practice. Natural farming is just farming, nothing more. You don't have to be a spiritually oriented person to practice my methods. Anyone who can approach these concepts with a clear, open mind will be starting off well. In fact, the person who can most easily take up natural agriculture is the one who doesn't have any of the common adult obstructing blocks of desire, philosophy, or religion . . . the person who has the mind and heart of a child. One must simply know nature . . . real nature, not the one we think we know!
PLOWBOY: Can you be more specific about what that attitude should be?
FUKUOKA: Many people think that, when we practice agriculture, nature is helping us in our efforts to grow food. That is an exclusively human-centered viewpoint . . . we should, instead, realize that we are receiving that which nature decides to give us. A farmer does not grow something in the sense that he or she creates it. That human is only a small part of the whole process by which nature expresses its being. The farmer has very little influence over that process . . . other than being there and doing his or her small part.
People should relate to nature as birds do. Birds don't run around carefully preparing fields, planting seeds, and harvesting food. They don't create anything . . . they just receive what is there for them with a humble and grateful heart. We, too, receive our nourishment from the Mother Earth. So we should put our hands together in an attitude of prayer and say "please" and "thank you" when dealing with nature. (full interview / source) -
GOP's Job Plan
[Sex] (The Stranger, Seattle's Only Newspaper)The Nation: It’s been over three months since Republicans took control of the House of Representatives and strengthened their caucus in the Senate. The central premise of the GOP midterm campaign was that it could create badly needed jobs—the Republican National Committee drove a bus through the lower 48 states emblazoned with the slogan: “Need a Job? Fire Pelosi!” Now, after focusing its initial legislative efforts on repealing “ObamaCare,” pushing Tea Party- ...
It’s been over three months since Republicans took control of the House of Representatives and strengthened their caucus in the Senate. The central premise of the GOP midterm campaign was that it could create badly needed jobs—the Republican National Committee drove a bus through the lower 48 states emblazoned with the slogan: “Need a Job? Fire Pelosi!”
Now, after focusing its initial legislative efforts on repealing “ObamaCare,” pushing Tea Party-backed dreams like a balanced budget amendment, and fighting to strip regulatory agencies of their authority, the GOP has finally released a job plan…that consists of a balanced budget amendment, the repeal of Obamacare, and several assaults on regulatory authority.
What will the GOP's job plan do? Essentially put the breaks on this:
Job growth has been strong since the beginning of the year, with 768,000 jobs added since January. And Friday's report also showed that 46,000 more jobs were added in February and March than previously thought.
Seriously, read the whole Nation article. It is amazing how the GOP gets away with such rubbish as this: "The first part of the plan attempts to attack the federal deficit." It is amazing how the rural folk who keep them in power can't get a fucking clue. Without Obama's deficit spending, this economy would not be recovering at all. It would instead be like the night when all of your cows are black. Do you rural types understand that? Does this get through your thickness? These night cows? -
File formats of choice? Which is best
[Printing] (PrintPlanet.com)As a faculty member at a university, we have students taking our graphic communications courses from all over campus, many with backgrounds in web. Since we stress the area of print, I have pushed the following philosophy on file formats. For raster images: .jpg is acceptable, .tiff is better All flies should be flattened You should never place a native format (.psd) into a layout program that is designed for print. If you want to drop a background, you create a clipping path and save the file ...
As a faculty member at a university, we have students taking our graphic communications courses from all over campus, many with backgrounds in web. Since we stress the area of print, I have pushed the following philosophy on file formats. For raster images: .jpg is acceptable, .tiff is better All flies should be flattened You should never place a native format (.psd) into a layout program that is designed for print. If you want to drop a background, you create a clipping path and save the file as an .eps. For vector images: All placed file should be .eps, not ai. With the fluidity of CS products, Adobe allows for placement of many different types of file formats but I always felt that the statements above should be followed without exception. Does anyone have any general comments on these statements? thanks -
Boston Cool and Silicon Valley Cool: Which Do You Prefer?
[Patents] (The IPKat)This Kat is packing his bags and bracing himself for the 24-hour, door-to-door flight to San Francisco to participate in the 2011 INTA Annual Meeting. For those of you who may not recall, last year's INTA meeting took place in Boston. I thought about these antepodian locations, East Coast v West Coast, Atlantic v Pacific, in reading a piece that appeared this week on Boston.com. Entitled "The Road to Awesome" here, its author, Scott Kirsner, considers some reasons why Boston is playing an increa ...
This Kat is packing his bags and bracing himself for the 24-hour, door-to-door flight to San Francisco to participate in the 2011 INTA Annual Meeting. For those of you who may not recall, last year's INTA meeting took place in Boston. I thought about these antepodian locations, East Coast v West Coast, Atlantic v Pacific, in reading a piece that appeared this week on Boston.com. Entitled "The Road to Awesome" here, its author, Scott Kirsner, considers some reasons why Boston is playing an increasing second fiddle to Silicon Valley (and even New York City) as the leader in the innovation economy.
The problem, as Kirsner sees it, is as follows:
"Boston likes to see itself as a hive of innovation, and a fertile place for entrepeneurs with big ideas. But when it comes to young, first-time founders working on websites, mobile applications, and devices designed for consumers, the magnetic pull of San Francisco and [even] New York is strong."
The reason for Boston's relative decline can be summed up in one word--"coolness". As compared with Palo Alto and New York, Boston suffers from a "coolness deficit when it comes to retaining twentysomethings and newly minted college grads." When Kirsner says "coolness", that is what he wants it he means. Quoting one entrepreneur who moved his business from Boston to the Bay Area, "Boston doesn't have the star power or the glitterati." Intuitively, this Kat graps this: when the decide to do a "Big Brother-like" reality show following the every move of a budding innovator, the show will certainly take place in Silicon Valley and not on Route 128 in Boston.
Still, "coolness" is an atttribute that one identifies with the contents of People magazine and not with some young entrepeneur toling away on trying to create the next great high tech idea. How does "coolness" translate into a more fertile environment for innovation? The article lists several factors:
1. A critical mass of investors open to taking big gambles on seemingly wild notions.
2. Casual meeting places that just seem to attract both entrepeneurs and investors and which create an atmosphere that encourages "serendipitous meetings."
3. Enbdless office-launch and product-launch gatherings.
4. Products that your college classmates are likely use, or at least be familiar with.
5. CEOs with larger-than-life personalities.
6. Veteran entrepeneurs willing to mentor aspiring youngsters.
7. Skilled programmers and product designers.
8. An environment that enables one to enjoy an informal proximity with many other smart people also involved in trying to build successful start-ups.
[9. And though no one seems to have admitted, better weather.]
Significantly, issues more likely to attract attention in any discussion of policy considerations to encourage innovation are missing from the list, namely, (i) corporate tax rates (and tax policy in general); (ii) housing costs; (iii) traffic and (iv) California's increasingly dysfunctional public finances and services. The issues for the entrepreneur are much more focused and "here and now" in nature--develop the product and/or obtain necessary funding and/or create a self-propagating buzz about your innovation. The presence of a world-class marathon is equally irrelevant.
And what about IP? Interestingly, there is no mention of IP (or even lawyers) in the article's discussion of "innovation" and "cool." I think that there are a couple of reasons for this. First, as I have suggested elsewhere, social media is an underweight IP activity, where branding and matters of secrecy predominate. Second, the focus of the article, being on social media, downplays other types of innovative activity.
Take biotech, where Boston still seems to be equal to Silicon Valley (and certainly New York City) as a world-class hub. Freshly minted MBAs, and other other twentysomethings itching to establish a start-up, do not gravitate to biotech. There, you are more likely to find Ph.D. types grinding away on R&D and patent attorneys working hand-in-hand to protect their discoveries. But writing about biotech and alternative energy, as well as more traditional software and hardware, and the environments in which they flourish, would produce a much less cool article. -
Interview: The Art of Video Games at the Smithsonian
[Gadgets, Starter Kit] (Boing Boing).q{font-style:italic;color:#666;} .a{} .staff {color:#333} The Smithsonian has announced the selection of titles that will appear in its Art of Video Games exhibition next year. The set ranges from Nintendo classics to arty modern fare such as Sony's Shadow of the Colossus (above). I posed some questions to organizer Georgiana Goodlander and exhibition curator Chris Melissinos. Rob Beschizza: How have games influenced the arts? Georgina Goodlander: Video games have had a huge influence on the ar ...
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The Smithsonian has announced the selection of titles that will appear in its Art of Video Games exhibition next year. The set ranges from Nintendo classics to arty modern fare such as Sony's Shadow of the Colossus (above). I posed some questions to organizer Georgiana Goodlander and exhibition curator Chris Melissinos.Rob Beschizza: How have games influenced the arts?
Georgina Goodlander: Video games have had a huge influence on the arts! I should note that The Art of Video Games exhibition is not about art inspired by video games, It is about the video games themselves. We want to show people that video games are more than they might appear on the surface, that they can have incredible depth, beauty, and emotion. Yes, they provide rich fodder as inspiration for contemporary visual artists, but they can also stand alone as powerful works created by talented and creative people. One of my favorite quotes from the interviews that we are conducting with game designers and developers was from David Perry, CEO of Gaikai. At the very end of the interview we asked him what he hoped visitors would take away from the exhibition and he said "Video games aren't this trivial little form of entertainment. This is something that touches people deeply, it changes people's lives. It's going to change education profoundly, it's already started. And so if you don't play video games yet, we're going to get you. Trust me, we're going to find a way to get a game to you so you can understand just how powerful this medium is." I truly believe this! Games are becoming so incredible and pervasive that we're reaching the point where no one will be able to avoid them. And, more importantly, they won't want to.
Rob: Nostalgia seems to be a major inspiration here. Is there a broader reason for this? Has artistic value emerged from early games that wasn't clear at the time?
Chris Melissinos: Nostalgia certainly plays a part in the games we are experiencing today, but that is to be expected. As the children who grew up with video games are having children that start playing video games, there is renewed interest in latent gamers. This is the same cycle that we observe in any other form of media. One of the fantastic outgrowths of this is the rediscovery of games and mechanics that have held up over time, but were neglected due to the march of technology, changes in tastes, or accessibility of content.
'The Great Gatsby' by F. Scott Fitzgerald, released in 1925, was not considered to be a literary masterpiece until the 1960's and, in fact, was not as popular as Fitzgerald's other works during his lifetime. Time and perspective helps to illuminate the past in ways we can't foresee. The video games industry is at an age where it is now old enough that we can apply that perspective.
Rob: Is the art in the game or is the game itself the art?
Georgina: Definitely both! There are so many aspects of art involved in video games that it is quite overwhelming. Almost every element that makes up a video game can be considered art, from the initial sketches and concept art, to the finished graphics, music, and even the code. With this exhibition though, we're particularly interested in exploring the entire game experience as the artwork--the combination of the visual and audio effects with the player interaction.
Rob: What sort of art are video games? How important is creative flair and ingenuity -- the visuals, audio and technical accomplishment -- in the art of video games?
Georgina:: I don't think you can define video games with any of the existing language that we use to define art. I attended a great presentation by John Sharp at the 2010 Game Developers Conference titled "The Game Renaissance: Art History for Game Developers." He said (I'm paraphrasing) that we should stop worrying about whether or not video games are "Art," but instead think of them as the new medium for creative expression in the 21st century. I love this concept! Why should we try and fit video games into existing categories or genres? Art is constantly evolving, as is the language we use to talk about it, and I think we've only just started to explore how video games can and should be incorporated.
Rob: Games are designed to be played. How do games best resolve the tension between the artist's narrative control and the player's need for freedom?
Chris: This is one of the misconceptions about video games, that the voice of the author is lost due to interactivity. I believe there are three voices in games: that of the designer or artist, the game itself, and the player. By this I mean that the designer lays down the plot, visual framework, mechanics, rules, and arc that the game encompasses, the gameplay communicates this, and the player internalizes that message and, from it, emerges an experience that is unique to that player. Consider that, regardless of the path the player takes as Cloud in Final Fantasy VII, Aeris always dies. There is no way for the player to avoid this. However, on the road to that event, the player can laterally explore the narrative arc, crafting an experience that retains the intent of the author while allowing the player freedom. In Missile Command, you eventually hit the "The End" kill screen. This is why I believe that video games will become one of the most powerful storytelling mediums we have ever experienced. While the stories told in games today may seem immature or less refined compared to other forms of media, it is only due to the lack of time that video games have been with us. They will continue to evolve.
Rob: Like movies, game development is an extremely labor- and cash-intensive medium. And it's one where the cutting edge is always moving on. What can the exhibition teach game artists about how to express themselves on a budget?
Georgina: I hope that the exhibition will serve as inspiration for aspiring game artists and designers. We want to show people that this is an incredible field in which to work and that there are numerous different types of creative jobs involved. Interviews with the pioneers of the industry, such as Nolan Bushnell and Don Daglow, will serve as a reminder that in the 1970s and early 1980s, one person was responsible for every aspect of a game, from the code and visuals to the music and even the box art. It's interesting to compare the early days with what's happening now, as in some ways we have come full circle. Developments in online and mobile gaming have reached a point where it is possible again for a single person or small team to create and distribute entire games. By showing the progression of the medium over the last four decades the exhibition will, hopefully, give visitors an idea of where it might be going
The Art of Video Games at the Smithsonian American Art Museum will be opening March 16, 2012 and be on display until September 30, 2012.
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Multiply Your Content In Half The Time
[Hypeads] (10 Golden Rules Internet Marketing Strategy Blog)With the recent changes google has made to the way it conducts its website popularity contest, adaptingis important. Online businesses have to make sure that the information and services they offer comply, are fresh, and relevant to their site, in turn producing traffic. All the while they have to stay complient with Google's rules and content requirements. The problem is that it becomes difficult to come up with all the differesnt types of copywrite. Between sending out e-mail newsletters, p ...
With the recent changes google has made to the way it conducts its website popularity contest, adaptingis important. Online businesses have to make sure that the information and services they offer comply, are fresh, and relevant to their site, in turn producing traffic. All the while they have to stay complient with Google's rules and content requirements.
The problem is that it becomes difficult to come up with all the differesnt types of copywrite. Between sending out e-mail newsletters, posting articles, and optimizing page text, it gets a little taxing. Fortunately if you geta little creative with your methods you can kill two birds with one stone in half the time.
An article over at Search Engine Journal explains how you can take your email newsletters and offers, and adapt them to site content. By applying this content to your site, with a good navigating system for users, you can optimize for SEO with always fresh content. You can create a whole back log of information with fresh and relevant content that will help you move upwards with organic search. -
Dugan O'Neal talks about directing TVOTR's "Will Do" video
[San Francisco, San Francisco, CA] (San Francisco Bay Guardian)A few years back Dugan O’Neal was featured in the Guardian’s SCENE magazine to highlight Two Renegade Cops, the retro 70s pulp TV series he’d created with fellow Bay Area artist Leighton Kelly. O’Neal has since moved to LA to immerse himself in directing music videos and short films. It caught my eye that he’d recently directed the TV on the Radio video “Will Do.” The song is off their latest recording Nine Types of Light, an album that has a video attached to each song. The amalg ...
A few years back Dugan O’Neal was featured in the Guardian’s SCENE magazine to highlight Two Renegade Cops, the retro 70s pulp TV series he’d created with fellow Bay Area artist Leighton Kelly. O’Neal has since moved to LA to immerse himself in directing music videos and short films.
It caught my eye that he’d recently directed the TV on the Radio video “Will Do.” The song is off their latest recording Nine Types of Light, an album that has a video attached to each song. The amalgam of those videos has been pieced together as a Nine Types of Light film that you can watch here.
With the band poised to play two dates at the Independent next week it seemed high time to touch base with former SF local O’Neal to hear about his experience working with TVOTR and other projects he has on the burner. We caught up with him at his studio in Silverlake. <!--break-->
San Francisco Bay Guardian: When did you leave SF for LA?
Dugan O’Neal: Two years ago, though it feels like more. I was coming down here a lot after Two Renegade Cops. Leighton and I had a lot of meetings with our management company and every time I came down it made more and more sense for me to be here. And then he went traveling for a year...
SFBG: Are you still doing anything related to Two Renegade Cops?
DO: No, that was just a limited thing. Fuel TV owns it. But Leighton and I have a whole book of ideas that we want to do. He’s still traveling and has this amazing blog where he creates a piece of art every day. So it just made sense for me and Brandon [Hirzel] to move to LA. We were working a lot with David Myrick who was already down here... he shot that SCENE cover for the Guardian a few years ago he also shot the TV on the Radio “Will Do” video.
SFBG: Tell me more about working on TVOTR’s video. I hear my NYC friend Ivan Bess was on the project...
DO: Yeah, working with Ivan was great. We shot a bunch of stuff in New York and fortunately he was able to help out with that.
SFBG: Which parts were filmed in New York?
DO: Everything with the band. The shots that were narrative based with just lead singer Tunde [Adebimpe] and Joy [Bryant] were filmed here in Silverlake. Even the outdoors stuff was done in the neighborhood.
SFBG: Who designed the goggles?
DO: These twin brothers named Nikolai and Simon Haas. It was crazy because I turned in the treatment to the band on Friday, got the job on Saturday, and was on a plane to New York on Tuesday. Tunde had seen my "Eskmo" video and it resonated with him. And I’d wanted to use the virtual reality idea to create a narrative. But when I got the job we basically had a day and a half to figure out and make the virtual goggles. My rep Danielle had to fly with these crazy contraptions...
SFBG: Wow, with the wires everywhere they must have looked like a bomb...
DO: Yeah they totally looked like a bomb! I couldn’t believe that they didn't get checked... she just carried them on to the plane! That was kind of disturbing. I mean I got patted down like 40 times...
SFBG: Because of your beard...
DO: Yeah. But TVOTR killed. Most of the people who directed the other videos were friends of theirs. I was the only one who wasn’t already in their circle. But once I started working with them we realized that there were a lot of connections, especially through Kyp [Malone], to my Bay Area family... the Yard Dogs and the folks at Five and Diamond.
SFBG: How does the “Will Do” video fit into the larger picture of the film?
DO: It’s not like there’s one consistent story or plotline, but all the videos are saying a similar thing in different ways. There’s a cohesive vibe. There are interview parts that tie it all together. The second half feels more like a story because there are about 3-4 videos that lead into one another.
SFBG: Tell me about the other stuff you’re working on.
DO: I directed a video for a new artist on Rhymesayer named "Grieves".. it’s kind of atmosphere and underground hip-hop ish. It’s an awesome song and I got to work with Kyle Mooney of Good Neighbor Stuff. So I’ve been doing that and writing treatments. But any time there’s a lull I’ll make my own stuff.
SFBG: I saw one of your videos... the one where you’re at the window...
DO: Oh the "Happy Birthday" one... that was fun. But that’s the worst part of this kind of work. You’re always pitching things but then you’re stuck waiting. You have to make sure you’re still producing because that’s how you attract more work. I was really inspired by Leighton’s blog... so I started to created a video every week, just forced myself to hit that deadline. For me it was cool to see the progression, and to see how many times I hit a wall in the middle of producing a video... but finally I just learned to trust the process.
SFBG: And the move to LA has been good for you?
DO: Yeah. I love it down here. Living in San Francisco was super instrumental to finding out what I wanted to say as an artist and a filmmaker. There was such freedom there and less of a focus on commercial work. A lot of people there just want to create art and everyone’s down to participate. But I always knew I would come back to LA.
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Energy Effieciency Programs Research Manager / E Source / Boulder, CO
[Jobs, Jobs (not Steve)] (TreeHugger Jobs)E Source /Boulder, CO Description The role of the Manager of Energy Efficiency Programs is to provide engaging, high-quality, research content on utility energy efficiency programs. The audience is E Source members, consisting of more than 100 electric and gas utilities and large energy users across North America. These member organizations depend on E Source for unbiased, independent analysis of retail energy markets, services, and technologies. We serve as a high-value filter of the torrent ...
E Source /Boulder, CO
Description
The role of the Manager of Energy Efficiency Programs is to provide engaging, high-quality, research content on utility energy efficiency programs. The audience is E Source members, consisting of more than 100 electric and gas utilities and large energy users across North America. These member organizations depend on E Source for unbiased, independent analysis of retail energy markets, services, and technologies. We serve as a high-value filter of the torrent of information on developments in the energy services marketplace, sorting through the hype and providing our clients with concise strategic insights and in-depth program analyses.
You will gather research from primary and secondary sources, and critically analyze the information to create products and services useful to our clients. The topics you will cover include, but are not limited to, commercial and industrial efficiency program development, outreach, marketing, and evaluation. The ideal candidate will possess: a deep understanding of, or relevant industry or professional experience working with, commercial/industrial customers, knowledge of utility demand-side management (DSM) programs and the energy industry, as well as exceptional analytical skills and writing abilities.
Key areas of responsibility
Assess the quality of information resources in order to provide unbiased and clear answers to members' questions
Think critically to determine best practices and lessons learned from numerous types of DSM programs
Understand utility program evolution, including portfolio and program design, implementation, and evaluation.
Research and write responses to customer inquiries in formats ranging from short two-page documents to more in-depth benchmarking studies.
Present research findings via live web conferences and at in-person conferences
Work on consulting projects as required
Manage your own projects and workload. Occasionally lead a team of researchers during more in-depth research projects.
Adhere to E Source quality standards, budget, and timeliness
Collaborate with colleagues throughout the product creation process
Cultivate relationships with clients and sources
Develop expertise in the energy efficiency field that increases the effectiveness of our members' operations, programs and customer relationships.
Stay ahead of the curve on the types of DSM programs you cover
Learn and employ new business applications, such as systems for project management, customer-relationship management and document management
Qualifications
Bachelor's degree in energy, environment, public policy, political science or related fields preferred. Graduate degree a plus
3 or more years of relevant industry or professional experience
Demonstrated interest on research topics related to energy efficiency programs
Strong research, writing, and analytical skills
Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills
Proficient in standard business software
Public speaking experience
To apply, fill out one of our online applications at www.esource.com/public/careers. E Source is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Apply To Job -
My Book: Experimental Digital Photography Is Being Reprinted
[Lightroom] (Pixiq)Join me on Facebook. Become a 'fan' of my Facebook page on Experimental Digital Photography. Click on the 'like' button at the top of the Facebook page. My Book: Experimental Digital Photography Is Being Reprinted Almost exactly one year ago, May 4, 2010, my book, Experimental Digital Photography, was published by Lark Books (which is part of Sterling Publishing who owns this PIXIQ website). When I first proposed the idea for this book (my third book on digital photography), the editor and I w ...
Join me on Facebook. Become a 'fan' of my Facebook page on Experimental Digital Photography. Click on the 'like' button at the top of the Facebook page.
My Book:
Experimental Digital Photography
Is Being ReprintedAlmost exactly one year ago, May 4, 2010, my book, Experimental Digital Photography, was published by Lark Books (which is part of Sterling Publishing who owns this PIXIQ website). When I first proposed the idea for this book (my third book on digital photography), the editor and I were unsure if there was enough interest to justify a book. However, to our delight in just a year this book has sold out and is now in its second printing.
In addition 247 libraries in the US and around the world have a copy of my book. Click this library link to locate a library near you. It is also available for sale in 27 countries outside the US on every continent (except Antarctica :). Plus it is being used as a text book in college courses.
And since I started writing articles about experimental digital photography here at PIXIQ.com just a few months ago, over 23,000 people have read them and another 230+ people have become fans of my 'page' for this book on Facebook. Who would have thunk it?
Almost from the moment that I bought my first primitive digital camera in 1998, I started experimenting. After taking tens of thousands of pictures, I felt very strongly that because digital photography had new capabilities, it was the perfect medium for exploring very new ideas in photography. For creative and adventurous people, digital photography allows experimenting like never before -- and no special or expensive camera is required.
I was also concerned that photography had become too software oriented -- as every book, for example, that covered experimentation talked about software manipulation rather than photographic effects. I wanted to write a book that dealt almost entirely with photography as photography and then took photography to new heights.
My main insight has been to use slow shutter speeds, as this area of work was virtually ignored with film photography -- since although it was possible, it was time consuming, expensive and very unpredictable making pre-visualization almost impossible. Yet now with digital I can take candid photos, in unfamiliar situations and lighting, and within a few minutes be able to get usable shots -- which would have been impossible with film.
And there are so many areas for digital experimenting: light painting, camera painting, night photography, and the full range of slow shutter speeds from 1/4 of a second to 20 seconds -- the effect of each shutter speed setting quite different from the next. And to add icing to the cake: with practice almost all of this can be done handheld with digital -- adding another capability. [See my related articles here at PIXIQ about handholding and shooting at slow shutter speeds.]
And this kind of imagery has a depth to it. I make the additional point in the book, that this is not just an effect or an eye catching gimmick -- it relates to ideas that have been part of art and photography for a very long time: a quest to create pictures that depict motion and a sense of motion.
To my delight a seasoned long term photographer, Wayne Cosshall of Australia, gave my book the following review at the Digital Image Maker website:
Rick Doble’s Experimental Digital Photography is a timely and excellent book for loosening people up and helping them to break out. The book focuses on the more expressive and creative forms of photography, from using slow shutter speeds and creating extreme blur to night and low light photography.
Organised into nine chapters, it covers:
Getting Started: the technical side of experimental photography
Shooting at slow shutter speeds
Movement
Light and white balance
Night and low light photography
Experiments with light
Building your imagery
Saving and editing your images
Judging images and finding your voice
Filled with stunning images, mostly Rick’s but also including profiled work by others, the book is a feast for the eyes and so can be both read as a book and flicked through for inspiration at other times when you are feeling creatively constipated. The first chapter shows you how to use the camera controls for the most flexibility, as used in the later chapters. The book then gets into blur and movement and really pushing your ideas of what an image is.
The book does an excellent job of covering the types of experimental photography that Rick obviously enjoys. He is passionate about it and this comes across in the book and is contagious, making you want to go out and try things.
Come join the fun and the joy of experimental digital photography.
NOTE:See a list of my other articles here at PIXIQ. www.pixiq.com/contributors/rick-doble
See the listing for my book on Amazon:: Experimental Digital Photography.
Join me on Facebook. Become a 'fan' of my Facebook page on Experimental Digital Photography. Click on the 'like' button at the top of the Facebook page.
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Dugan O'Neal talks about directing TVOTR's "Will Do" video
[San Francisco, San Francisco, CA] (San Francisco Bay Guardian)A few years back Dugan O’Neal was featured in the Guardian’s SCENE magazine to highlight Two Renegade Cops, the retro 70s pulp TV series he’d created with fellow Bay Area artist Leighton Kelly. O’Neal has since moved to LA to immerse himself in directing music videos and short films. It caught my eye that he’d recently directed the TV on the Radio video “Will Do.” The song is off their latest recording “Nine Types of Light,” an album that has a video attached to each song. The ...
A few years back Dugan O’Neal was featured in the Guardian’s SCENE magazine to highlight Two Renegade Cops, the retro 70s pulp TV series he’d created with fellow Bay Area artist Leighton Kelly. O’Neal has since moved to LA to immerse himself in directing music videos and short films.
It caught my eye that he’d recently directed the TV on the Radio video “Will Do.” The song is off their latest recording “Nine Types of Light,” an album that has a video attached to each song. The amalgam of those videos has been pieced together as a “Nine Types of Light” film that you can watch here.
With the band poised to play two dates at the Independent next week it seemed high time to touch base with former SF local O’Neal to hear about his experience working with TVOTR and other projects he has on the burner. We caught up with him at his studio in Silverlake. (Mirissa Neff)<!--break-->
SFBG: When did you leave SF for LA?
Dugan O’Neal: Two years ago, though it feels like more. I was coming down here a lot after Two Renegade Cops. Leighton and I had a lot of meetings with our management company and every time I came down it made more and more sense for me to be here. And then he went traveling for a year...
SFBG: Are you still doing anything related to Two Renegade Cops?
DO: No, that was just a limited thing. Fuel TV owns it. But Leighton and I have a whole book of ideas that we want to do. He’s still traveling and has this amazing blog where he creates a piece of art every day. So it just made sense for me and Brandon [Hirzel] to move to LA. We were working a lot with David Myrick who was already down here... he shot that SCENE cover for the Guardian a few years ago he also shot the TV on the Radio “Will Do” video.
SFBG: Tell me more about working on TVOTR’s video. I hear my NYC friend Ivan Bess was on the project...
DO: Yeah, working with Ivan was great. We shot a bunch of stuff in New York and fortunately he was able to help out with that.
SFBG: Which parts were filmed in New York?
DO: Everything with the band. The shots that were narrative based with just lead singer Tunde [Adebimpe] and Joy [Bryant] were filmed here in Silverlake. Even the outdoors stuff was done in the neighborhood.
SFBG: Who designed the goggles?
DO: These twin brothers named Nikolai and Simon Haas. It was crazy because I turned in the treatment to the band on Friday, got the job on Saturday, and was on a plane to New York on Tuesday. Tunde had seen my Eskmo video and it resonated with him. And I’d wanted to use the virtual reality idea to create a narrative. But when I got the job we basically had a day and a half to figure out and make the virtual goggles. My rep Danielle had to fly with these crazy contraptions...
SFBG: Wow, with the wires everywhere they must have looked like a bomb...
DO: Yeah they totally looked like a bomb! I couldn’t believe that they didn't get checked... she just carried them on to the plane! That was kind of disturbing. I mean I got patted down like 40 times...
SFBG: Because of your beard...
DO: Yeah. But TVOTR killed. Most of the people who directed the other videos were friends of theirs. I was the only one who wasn’t already in their circle. But once I started working with them we realized that there were a lot of connections, especially through Kyp [Malone], to my Bay Area family... the Yard Dogs and the folks at Five and Diamond.
SFBG: How does the “Will Do” video fit into the larger picture of the film?
DO: It’s not like there’s one consistent story or plotline, but all the videos are saying a similar thing in different ways. There’s a cohesive vibe. There are interview parts that tie it all together. The second half feels more like a story because there are about 3-4 videos that lead into one another.
SFBG: Tell me about the other stuff you’re working on.
DO: I directed a video for a new artist on Rhymesayer named Grieves.. it’s kind of atmosphere and underground hip-hop ish. It’s an awesome song and I got to work with Kyle Mooney of Good Neighbor Stuff. So I’ve been doing that and writing treatments. But any time there’s a lull I’ll make my own stuff.
SFBG: I saw one of your videos... the one where you’re at the window...
DO: Oh the Happy Birthday one... that was fun. But that’s the worst part of this kind of work. You’re always pitching things but then you’re stuck waiting. You have to make sure you’re still producing because that’s how you attract more work. I was really inspired by Leighton’s blog... so I started to created a video every week, just forced myself to hit that deadline. For me it was cool to see the progression, and to see how many times I hit a wall in the middle of producing a video... but finally I just learned to trust the process.
SFBG: And the move to LA has been good for you?
DO: Yeah. I love it down here. Living in San Francisco was super instrumental to finding out what I wanted to say as an artist and a filmmaker. There was such freedom there and less of a focus on commercial work. A lot of people there just want to create art and everyone’s down to participate. But I always knew I would come back to LA.
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Blog Post: Can you develop the next Gates or Zuckerberg in high school? Combining computer science and entrepreneurship
[Geography] (Site Home)I think almost any high school kid you meet is interested in making money. Though I bet most are thinking about it more in the context of the new Xbox game they want, or maybe buying a car or some other more immediate gratification. Doug Bergman, a computer science educator from Porter-Gaud High School in Charleston, South Carolina decided to harness this natural drive with a much more forward thinking approach. Why not build entrepreneurial skills into his computer science course? There are p ...
I think almost any high school kid you meet is interested in making money. Though I bet most are thinking about it more in the context of the new Xbox game they want, or maybe buying a car or some other more immediate gratification. Doug Bergman, a computer science educator from Porter-Gaud High School in Charleston, South Carolina decided to harness this natural drive with a much more forward thinking approach. Why not build entrepreneurial skills into his computer science course?
There are plenty of good coders out there, but when you mix savvy software development with business acumen – well that’s what books, movies and Silicone Valley/Redmond lure is all about. The super-smart savvy software developer, hatches a great piece of software and uses their business skills to shift the technology landscape [insert your favorite story here].
Doug submitted his application in Round 1 of the Microsoft Partners in Learning 2011 U.S. Innovative Education Forum (IEF) and it was a fascinating and inspiring read. The story begins with a goal of wanting to retain kids through a multi-year computer science curriculum (i.e., he needed a hook) and for this 11th grade course offering I believe he found just that. He challenged kids to develop a game or a simulation for the Xbox based on a subject area they were passionate about, which could be an extra-curricular area, or an idea that helps makes the world a better place. Then over the course of the semester students take that idea and create a game or simulation that teaches, demonstrates, and generates interest in the area they have chosen. He takes this one step further by placing equal emphasis within the course on the entrepreneurism. Taking advantage of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurism (NFTE) Mr. Bergman weaves in the fundamentals of what it takes to build a successful business, including researching the marketplace, working together in teams, and finally, experimenting with and utilizing advanced programming skills to try to produce the highest possible quality product they can.
So to briefly summarize: 11th graders are collaborating together, developing business plans and creating a video game for one of the most popular gaming platforms in the world based on a subject they are passionate about. How’s that for 21st century learning in the classroom?
Like any good teacher Doug is already reflecting on what he learned from the project (pardon my paraphrasing):
- He was surprised that the concepts that they struggled with the most were not the complex programming code that their games required, but more so the entrepreneurial material. He found that many students have never really had to "sell" something, so the skills such as market research, marketing, financial analysis, and promotion are not concepts that they have a lot of experience with and it was crucial for students to understand how they can take Computer Science skills that they have developed in the classroom and use them to create and market something in the real world.
- The XNA Game Studio and C# language are very powerful and complex. There are ample guides, tutorials, and other help available, but there is really no way a student can get far before having to ask another student for help. As students work together learning new skills, they also give each other ideas that they can bring into their own games and simulations. In fact, Doug notes that numerous times students who had all been working together to help one person would all celebrate when the student would finally get something to work.
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And perhaps the most telling reflection is best left in Doug’s own words: “What I love about programming projects like this is that we encourage mistakes; in fact they are crucial to success. Whereas in another subject a student might get -5 points for making a mistake, students in Computer Science fail 20 or 30 times each class period, and they see those failures leading to their successes right in front of their eyes.”
In the final steps of this semester long endeavor, Doug makes this all very real. As students develop their business plans he places the added challenge of requiring them to present these plans to local business and academic leaders, parents, teachers and their peers effectively having them combine their semester’s work into a “product launch presentation.” Now he doesn’t leave them in the dark on how to get there. Over the course of the semester he arranged to have professionals ranging from game creators, marketing experts and programmers speak to his class to share their experiences, prompting one his students to presciently note: ‘Mr. Bergman, I am noticing it is not so much about the technology, it is about the people.’
Attention Mr. Bergman’s students, if you are reading this post, you can find job postings for Microsoft here though perhaps we are getting a bit ahead of ourselves, but our college internship program is good too.
Seriously though, these are the types of projects employers want to see as do college admissions counselors. This is the real-world (albeit with a techie slant).
Doug worked across subject areas and within his school building to make this project a success. He credits a close partnership with his IT Director, Phil Zaubi, in helping him create this class and further he consulted his college counseling department for input as to how the project could best help his students in their college application process.
It is hard not to be inspired by an educator like Doug Bergman. Doug’s application along with the others I’ve highlighted in a previous post are incredible examples of how teachers are taking their profession to a new level.Teachers are innovating in their classrooms striving to engage students with real-world, authentic challenges that are directly relevant to students today, and to their futures.
We still have a little over a week left and we continue to receive amazing applications for the 2011 U.S. Innovative Education Forum. The final deadline to apply is May 15th. We would love to hear what you are doing in your classroom.
If you’d like to see a few pictures of Doug’s students at work, checkout TeachTec’s SkyDrive.
Regards,
Rob
(aka putting the “Teach” in TeachTec)
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Fighting Games To Play: Fighting Games To Play
[Sailing] (SailBlogs)Online gaming has turned into a big craze among the children and the youth of today's world. The huge collection of fighting games to play are available on the internet has attracted many people towards them. Several types of car games like extreme cars, car chaos are liked by many people. The fighting games create a strong decision powers in kids and make them strong to face the hurdles in the life. These games have not only developed as a favorite pastime of people but many people also take th ...
Online gaming has turned into a big craze among the children and the youth of today's world. The huge collection of fighting games to play are available on the internet has attracted many people towards them. Several types of car games like extreme cars, car chaos are liked by many people. The fighting games create a strong decision powers in kids and make them strong to face the hurdles in the life. These games have not only developed as a favorite pastime of people but many people also take these gaming as their profession and become professionals in it. -
Dugan O'Neal talks about directing TVOTR's "Will Do" video
[San Francisco, San Francisco, CA] (San Francisco Bay Guardian)A few years back Dugan O’Neal was featured in the Guardian’s SCENE magazine to highlight Two Renegade Cops, the retro 70s pulp TV series he’d created with fellow Bay Area artist Leighton Kelly. O’Neal has since moved to LA to immerse himself in directing music videos and short films. It caught my eye that he’d recently directed the TV on the Radio video “Will Do.” The song is off their latest recording “Nine Types of Light,” an album that has a video attached to each song. The ...
A few years back Dugan O’Neal was featured in the Guardian’s SCENE magazine to highlight Two Renegade Cops, the retro 70s pulp TV series he’d created with fellow Bay Area artist Leighton Kelly. O’Neal has since moved to LA to immerse himself in directing music videos and short films.
It caught my eye that he’d recently directed the TV on the Radio video “Will Do.” The song is off their latest recording “Nine Types of Light,” an album that has a video attached to each song. The amalgam of those videos has been pieced together as a “Nine Types of Light” film that you can watch here.
With the band poised to play two dates at the Independent next week it seemed high time to touch base with former SF local O’Neal to hear about his experience working with TVOTR and other projects he has on the burner. We caught up with him at his studio in Silverlake. (Mirissa Neff)<!--break-->
SFBG: When did you leave SF for LA?
Dugan O’Neal: Two years ago, though it feels like more. I was coming down here a lot after Two Renegade Cops. Leighton and I had a lot of meetings with our management company and every time I came down it made more and more sense for me to be here. And then he went traveling for a year...
SFBG: Are you still doing anything related to Two Renegade Cops?
DO: No, that was just a limited thing. Fuel TV owns it. But Leighton and I have a whole book of ideas that we want to do. He’s still traveling and has this amazing blog where he creates a piece of art every day. So it just made sense for me and Brandon [Hirzel] to move to LA. We were working a lot with David Myrick who was already down here... he shot that SCENE cover for the Guardian a few years ago he also shot the TV on the Radio “Will Do” video.
SFBG: Tell me more about working on TVOTR’s video. I hear my NYC friend Ivan Bess was on the project...
DO: Yeah, working with Ivan was great. We shot a bunch of stuff in New York and fortunately he was able to help out with that.
SFBG: Which parts were filmed in New York?
DO: Everything with the band. The shots that were narrative based with just lead singer Tunde [Adebimpe] and Joy [Bryant] were filmed here in Silverlake. Even the outdoors stuff was done in the neighborhood.
SFBG: Who designed the goggles?
DO: These twin brothers named Nikolai and Simon Haas. It was crazy because I turned in the treatment to the band on Friday, got the job on Saturday, and was on a plane to New York on Tuesday. Tunde had seen my Eskmo video and it resonated with him. And I’d wanted to use the virtual reality idea to create a narrative. But when I got the job we basically had a day and a half to figure out and make the virtual goggles. My rep Danielle had to fly with these crazy contraptions...
SFBG: Wow, with the wires everywhere they must have looked like a bomb...
DO: Yeah they totally looked like a bomb! I couldn’t believe that they didn't get checked... she just carried them on to the plane! That was kind of disturbing. I mean I got patted down like 40 times...
SFBG: Because of your beard...
DO: Yeah. But TVOTR killed. Most of the people who directed the other videos were friends of theirs. I was the only one who wasn’t already in their circle. But once I started working with them we realized that there were a lot of connections, especially through Kyp [Malone], to my Bay Area family... the Yard Dogs and the folks at Five and Diamond.
SFBG: How does the “Will Do” video fit into the larger picture of the film?
DO: It’s not like there’s one consistent story or plotline, but all the videos are saying a similar thing in different ways. There’s a cohesive vibe. There are interview parts that tie it all together. The second half feels more like a story because there are about 3-4 videos that lead into one another.
SFBG: Tell me about the other stuff you’re working on.
DO: I directed a video for a new artist on Rhymesayer named Grieves.. it’s kind of atmosphere and underground hip-hop ish. It’s an awesome song and I got to work with Kyle Mooney of Good Neighbor Stuff. So I’ve been doing that and writing treatments. But any time there’s a lull I’ll make my own stuff.
SFBG: I saw one of your videos... the one where you’re at the window...
DO: Oh the Happy Birthday one... that was fun. But that’s the worst part of this kind of work. You’re always pitching things but then you’re stuck waiting. You have to make sure you’re still producing because that’s how you attract more work. I was really inspired by Leighton’s blog... so I started to created a video every week, just forced myself to hit that deadline. For me it was cool to see the progression, and to see how many times I hit a wall in the middle of producing a video... but finally I just learned to trust the process.
SFBG: And the move to LA has been good for you?
DO: Yeah. I love it down here. Living in San Francisco was super instrumental to finding out what I wanted to say as an artist and a filmmaker. There was such freedom there and less of a focus on commercial work. A lot of people there just want to create art and everyone’s down to participate. But I always knew I would come back to LA.
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MOUNT DIABLO & MOUNT TAMALPAIS: A Natural History in Praise of the Bay Area’s Two Sacred Mountains
[Outdoors] (Gambolin' Man)High above from an airplane window, thrilling views unfold of an inspiring landscape – a glittering vision of steely skyscrapers surrounded by forested greenbelt, impressive rocky ridges, rolling hills, hidden valleys, shimmering blue lakes, and endless miles of bay and ocean shoreline. From a bird's eye perspective, the incomparable metropolitan Bay Area and its abundant natural beauty offer up a spectacular panorama made all the more notable by the presence of two imposing landmarks standing ...
High above from an airplane window, thrilling views unfold of an inspiring landscape – a glittering vision of steely skyscrapers surrounded by forested greenbelt, impressive rocky ridges, rolling hills, hidden valleys, shimmering blue lakes, and endless miles of bay and ocean shoreline. From a bird's eye perspective, the incomparable metropolitan Bay Area and its abundant natural beauty offer up a spectacular panorama made all the more notable by the presence of two imposing landmarks standing above and apart from lesser topographical features.
These are the twin “holy eyes” – the peaks of Mount Diablo and Mount Tamalpais. Together, but separated by 37 miles, they loom on the curv
ature of earth, anchoring opposite ends of this slice of Turtle Island like geodetic monuments to creation. The former, a double massif rising to 3849 ft., dominates eastern Contra Costa County and much of Northern California. The Mount Diablo Interpretative Society has proclaimed the heralded feature “one of California's most significant historical, cultural, and geological treasures.” The latter is Marin County's highest point, a pyramidal mass of earth rising 2571 ft. out of San Francisco Bay, just off the San Andreas Fault at the continent’s geologically unstable western boundar
y. Of this iconic piece of real estate, Robert Louis Stevenson gushed, "There is no place on earth so beautiful as Tamalpais."
Five to ten thousand years in the past, up until a relatively short time ago, humans lived alongside grizzly bears, mountain lions, elk, condors and bald eagles in an alt-universe we can only hope to replicate or imagine in today’s virtual reality / CGI world. Various Ohlone and Miwok tribes revered this earthly bounty and worshipped the prominent peak
s as holy mounts for their cosmological significance and animist power. Both mountains were the Valhalla of prehistoric Bay Area, the ancestral dwelling places of the Creator Gods. Mount Diablo was where the divine personages of Coyote, Eagle, Condor, Falcon, and Hummingbird reigned. These Supernatural Beings created the world after some catastrophic Diluvian event (sound familiar?) and spawned the races of humankind – the First People – providing them with “everything, everywhere, so they can live.” After their act of genesis, they departed mysteriously, but in his Top100 Books of the American West classic, The Ohlone Way, Malcolm Margolin notes, "The animal-gods of Sacred Time still pervaded the eve
ryday life of the world."
Despite centuries of oppression, disease, enslavement and the sad litany of abuse and cultural debasement at the hands of terrorizing Spanish colonizers and the Church, today’s ancestors of the First People, although few in number, are strong survivors and carry on the traditional totemic belief system of worshipping the mountains and their spirit entities and protectors. Mount Diablo has always been well known for its religious significance, a place where “the dead must cross or enter for purification before going to the land of the dead.” John Pe
abody Harrington, an ethnologist and early expert on California’s native peoples, recounts in his 1929 field notes Chochenyo (Ohlone) consultants revering the mountain as "a very powerful place that could mysteriously hide things, where large snakes were seen but could not be caught, and where spirits still danced and whistled in cemeteries." In 1985, Mabel McKay, tribal elder, scholar and last of the “basketweaver dreamers” of the Pomo Indians (1907 – 1993), was quoted, “I would listen as Jim [Cooper, an herb doctor who was born in the Diablo area] told my grandmother abou
t how sacred Mount Diablo is. He said that as long as the mountain stands it will be a sacred mountain. He said that the entire mountain is sacred. He called it the Medicine Mountain. In his language it was called Kinchiiwi.”
The history of Mount Tamalpais is also steeped in legend and mystery, dating to a time when “men and animals spoke one language.” Various Miwok legends, handed down orally through the generations, recount stories of the mountain’s creation. One speaks of the “Great White Spirit” who off
ered the “Gift of Healing” to the beautiful Tamalpa, who sleeps on the mountaintop eternally. Another tells of the daughter of a Miwok chief, beautiful beyond compare, who was courted by the Sun God. They married and while journeying toward the heavens, carrying her, he tripped over Mount Diablo and she fell to the ground. The Sun God, in his everlasting grief, turned her into a mountain – the Sleeping Princess – each night draping her in a cloak of fog as he moves across the sky.
Both "Medicine Mountains" have been known by vario
us indigenous names, depending on the dialect spoken, and many namesake etymologies remain a mystery. Mount Tamalpais, it is said, comes from “Tamal payis”, Tamal being a generic name for the Indians of the area. It has also been referred to, without reference, as “Pa-le-mus”. Mount Diablo, on the other hand, is a veritable gazetteer - the Chochenyo called it “Tuyshtak”; “the Northern Sierra Miwok knew it as "Oj-ompil-e"; the Central Sierra Miwok christened it “Supemenenu”; while the Southern Maidu (Nisenan) referred to it as “Sukku Jaman” or Dog Mountain.
The mountains have had various historic appellations bestowed as well. Mount Diablo has been known as San Juan Bautista, Cerro Alto de los Bolbones, and Monte del Diablo. Mount Tamalpais has several hard to pin down monikers - Pico y Cerro de Reyes, Picacho Prieto, La Sierra de Nuestro Padre de San Francisco, and Table Hill. (The “Sleeping Princess” of alleged native myth is actually a contrivance of nineteenth century German immigrant hikers to the area.)
Besides rooted in peculiar creation mythologies, the mountain sentinels share a somewhat common geological heritage, even though Mount Tamalpais is born of the North Coast range - wetter, foggier and more humid - while Mount Diablo basks in the notoriously hot and arid Diablo range of inland Central California. Both appear to be of volcanic origin, but they owe their existence to faulting deep within the earth. Unimaginable events - contorting, buckling, folding, uplifting – occurred over millions of years and have w
rit in the layering and depositing of rocks the story of these mountains’ creation born of severe plate tectonic upheaval.
On Mount Diablo, evidence of the ancient manifests in its quarter billion year old rocks, and when you happen to see a Paleozoic era dragonfly landing on the tip of a Devonian period horsetail, the earliest land plant, you are bearing witness to a 350 million year old relationship. But, geologically, the mountain itself is a mere tyke. Somewhere between one and two million years old, it came into existence eight million years after volcanic eruptions tore through the East Bay. Hard as it is to imagine such fire and brimstone convulsions, the tectonic forc
es involved in uplifting a 4000 ft. mountain must have rent and shook the earth something fierce. Was this great mountain born in a single tumultuous day of orogenic ecstasy, or did it take eons to produce the familiar form we see today? However long its catastrophic birth took for the mountain to assume its present shape, it is still alive and growing to the tune of a few millimeters each year.
Mount Tamalpais similarly owes its existence to tectonic activity deep within the earth when the North Coast range began uplifting some fifty million years ago as the North American and Pacific plates collided and pressurized tension forced subterranean crust to burst through the core with mountain-making fanfare. With its sweeping ridges and rollicking slopes falling away to the ocean, and its twin East and West peaks flirting in cerulean realms, Mount Tamalpais stood fully formed, tall and isolated at the c
oast range’s southern terminus, long before Mount Diablo was ever a gleam in Coyote-God’s eye.
Both mountains’ inner core is composed of Franciscan rock - chert, sandstone, shale and serpentine. The rocks on the slopes and summit of Mount Diablo were formed on the bottom of a shallow sea that once covered the Bay Area. Domengine sandstone formations (tafoni), occurring at lower elevations, were laid down when the sea receded in the Eocene. Today, eerie and intriguing wind and water caves lend a desert Southwest feel or Alabama Hills ambience to places like Rock City and Castle Rocks. Mount Tamalpais also claims its share of fantastical outcrops, often taking on whimsical “Indian face” features and other anthropom
orphic resemblances. It’s easy to imagine why and how the mountains became so personified and imbued with animist power, such is the magical nature of rocks, the bones of the old mother, to borrow a phrase from Robinson Jeffers.
Serpentine outcrops characterize both mountains. Their geo-chemical make-up (rich in iron, magnesium and nickel, and lacking in calcium, molybdenum, sodium and potassium silicates) has contributed to depleted soils lacking essential nutrients, allowing for only a handful of certain plants, found nowhere else on earth but their incubator habitats on some remote hillside or shady canyon, to adapt and flourish. These rare species include native perennial grasses and wildflowers, and on Mount Tamalpais, a unique thistle, and the endangered Jewelflower of the mustard family, with fewer than a dozen occurrences noted. Over on Mount Diablo, en
demic flora include the yellow fairy-lantern (a delicate lily), the diminutive Mount Diablo sunflower, and the “Holy Grail” of flower chasers, the Mount Diablo buckwheat, rediscovered in 2005 after a 70-year absence by UC Berkeley grad student Michael Park. Today, the buckwheat is safely propagated and continues to grow in secret spots on the edges of the mountain’s chaparral zones.
The “island mountain” environments, responsible for endemic flora and fauna, naturally host classic California low elevation habitat such as chaparral, grasslands, oak woodlands, vernal pools, and riparian, enabling shared biodiversity with particular localized adaptations. Each mountain lays claim to
its own special (and rare) variety of manzanita – not surprisingly, named Mount Diablo Manzanita (Arctostaphylos auriculata) and Mount Tamalpais Manzanita (Arctostaphylos hookeri ssp. Montana). The Mount Diablo variety has pinker blossoms than other varieties. Botanists believe that the characteristic stripping away in ribbony tatters of the creamy chocolate colored bark is a defense mechanism to shed parasites and mold. No matter its cagey survival strategies, all manzanitas have found a way to adapt in the rocky, rugged soils of the two mountains. Often, seemingly dead specimens, skeletal like sculptures 
with scraggly branches poking up, perished in fire or claimed by old age, refuse to relinquish the gift of life and provide a grafting base for another one to sprout. Death - and life! - intertwined, co-existing, one and the same. . .
Also found in abundance and much appreciated by human observers and the many animals, birds and insects who symbiotically depend on each other for survival and adaptation, are California buckeye and stream bank loving red and white alders and bigleaf maples; parasitic Pacific mistletoe; the bright red berry
bush, toyon; pungent smelling California bay laurel; multiple species of pines and oaks; and the minty-smelling coastal scrub plant communities of chamise, chinquapin, artemesia, coyote brush, blue witch and black sage.
Mount Tamalpais supports a unique species of dwarf cypress, a delicate orchid (Calypso), and, famously, boasts extensive preserves of old growth Sequoias at Muir Woods National Monument. If Mount Diablo could, it would, too, but it sits just outside the climactic zone conducive to supporting Coast Redwood and so must be content with its more pedestrian (no
t!) arboreal line-up - gray (Digger) pine, dwarf Western juniper, California nutmeg, madrone, manzanita, Douglas Fir and venerable blue, coast live, black, valley and other oak species.
Droves of photographers and admirers flock to the mountains’ slopes and meadows in anticipation of seeing profusions of wildflowers in season. After spring rains, abetted by a few days of that famed California sunshine, colorful explosions of fiery orange poppies, bright red Indian paintbrush, pink checkerbloom, golden monkeyflower, bluedick, daisies, mariposa
lilies and purple lupine light up the hillsides and meadows. Throughout their short life span, dozens of species of butterflies (many rare) and bees are attracted to the sweet smelling flowers laden with succulent nectar which they gather up in the process of helping them propagate.
While it’s not uncommon to see many types of insects, a few reptiles (watch out for rattlers!), amphibians, mammals and avifauna - ground squirrels, Steller’s and blue jays, hawks, quail, hares, vultures, lizard, frog, deer, any of the thirteen species of bats hanging arou
nd cliff faces, or the occasional gopher snake or coyote - most of the animals roaming the back country of both mountains are unseen and elusive – who among us has seen (more than once or twice) a bobcat, cougar, fox, badger, skunk, jackrabbit, Coast horned lizard, shrew, long-tailed weasel, tarantula, opossum, kingsnake, and the endangered Alameda whipsnake? If you happen to espy any of these animals, you are extraordinarily patient, invisible of presence, non-perfumed smelling in laundry or personal hygiene products, light of foot, slow-going and nearly immobile, or maybe you’re just plain lucky to be in the right p
lace at the right time. Most of these animals are very weary of humans, and so remain out of sight, hidden, venturing forth only at the crepuscular hour to prowl around.
Both mountains enjoy a world-class reputation for birding - herons, egrets, shorebirds, woodpeckers, swallows, swifts, flycatchers, wrens, warblers, hummingbirds, quail, owls, larks, wild turkeys, turkey vultures, along with many easy to spot raptors such as red-tailed and Cooper’s hawks, northern harriers, falcons, kites, and golden eagles, ever on the prowl for a tasty meal of vole, mole, rat, mouse and pock
et gopher. Birdsong enlivens everything along the trail!
Mount Tamalpais has a flourishing steelhead / rainbow trout migration spawning history. Originating high up on Mount Tamalpais, these streams – Lagunitas Creek being the most famous - speak to a greater preservation of pristine conditions and more successful restoration efforts in Marin County. Mount Diablo cannot lay claim to a spawning migration today. A 2005 report by Oakland-based Center for Ecosystem Management and Restoration determined that
the watersheds of Marsh Creek and Mount Diablo Creek, with their creeks originating on the spring-fed north slopes of Mount Diablo draining to Suisun Bay – Marsh Creek, Donner Creek, Mount Diablo Creek, Irish Canyon Creek – are pitiful to poor habitat, but assesses that evidence exists “for the historical use of Mt. Diablo Creek by anadromous O. mykiss as a migratory corridor.” Mount Diablo’s other drainage system, Walnut Creek Watershed, the largest in Contra Costa County, once supported large spawning migrations, and a few still manage to stra
ggle up into lower Walnut Creek. So, there is hope for the steelhead / rainbow trout coalition, but not much.
There is no greater reward for the hiker or biker than attaining the hard-earned summits for the ultimate payoff - world-class panoramas of California and the West Coast. The breathtaking views from cloud’s rest offer unique perspectives on the wild and urban landscapes of the Bay Area – and far beyond. Since the earliest of times, through historic settlement days, people have been drawn to the mountains as though by magnetic allure, for it is the closest we can get to experiencin
g heaven on earth or a return to our “Buddha nature,” connecting with our primal selves, for mountains, their mere presence and existence, beckons us to climb them to “get their good tidings” - “the mountains are calling and I must go,” John Muir urged. Even Dr. Suess exhorts us one and all - “Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So…get on your way.”
From atop Olympian Mount Diablo, on a (rare) clear day it is possible to see 35 of California's 58 counties, encompassing an area 40,000 square miles the size of six New England states. Far-f
lung views with the naked eye can be had of the snow-capped Sierra Nevada crest, and, 200 miles distant, the 10,462 ft. Lassen Peak in the Cascade range is visible. With radiating 360 degree views, every reference point and natural feature in the 9-county, 7000-square mile Bay Area is telescoped in the thinnish air. Etched in minute precision, details are laid bare and stark beneath the behemoth mountain’s purview, revealing an intimate topography of finger-splayed estuary systems, the sinuous San Joaquin River delta, sprawling ridges and voluptuous hills; even that “insignificant” little blip on the southeast horizon, 1702 ft. tall Brushy Peak, stands 
out at the edge of Morgan Territory as a prehistoric beacon, a gathering place at the juncture of the San Francisco Bay Area, the California Delta, and the Central Valley for dozens of passer-by tribes coming to trade, socialize, gamble, and share stories and laughter.
To the north/northwest, an impressive phalanx of dozens of 2000+ ft. tall peaks, between 90 and 126 miles distant, serrate the horizon in a single unbroken ridge system; the biggest of these in
clude the Mayacamas (3250 ft.); Mount St. Helena (4343 ft.); Mount Konocti (4299 ft.); Hull Mount (6873 ft.); Cold Spring Mount (3587 ft.); and pinpointing high above the others, Mendocino’s Snow Mountain topping out at 7056 ft.
To the south/southeast/southwest, the cloud-poking peaks of the Diablo Range and the Santa Cruz Mountains come into view - Mount Hamilton (4213 ft.); Junipero Serra (5862 ft.), 123 miles away; Mission Peak (2658 ft.); and Loma Prieta (3791 ft.). Across the expanse of East Bay hill lands, the volcanic remnant of Round Top at Sibley Volcani
c Regional Preserve stands out at 1763 ft. with nearby Grizzly Peak at 1754 ft., and Vollmer, the highest point in the Berkeley Hills, at 1905 ft. Rocky Ridge’s 2000+ ft. spine at Las Trampas Regional Wilderness is a revelation of modest grandeur in the near foreground. And there in the glittering distance, across the bay, lies the Golden Gate Bridge, and the silvery city of San Francisco, with Mount Tamalpais shining eternally and resplendently across the strait.
From the empyrean vantage of this coastal promontory, gazing out beyond the
rugged Headlands, the prevailing views are striking of blue ridge sylvan slopes angling to the sea, the mirage of San Francisco floating on a cushion of low-roaming clouds, the Farallones 30 miles outside the Golden Gate, the inland flanks of the mountain harboring several hidden lakes (reservoirs), the summit of Mount Burdell (1555 ft.), to the dim wilds of Mendocino National Forest. Beyond, naturally – impossible not to notice – sits the crowning jewel, the twin peaked silhouette of Mount Diablo, emblazoning the horizon in purple mountain’s majesty. The "little mountain" might not look like much from here, but it is nearly forty miles distant, and 
so proportionately, it looms with an unusual grace and presence.
During the changing seasons, the mountains take on personalities suited to their whimsical natures. Though rare, winter storms can bring freezing temperatures and dustings of snow to the higher elevations, 2000 ft and above. Occasionally, three feet of snow can dump on either mountain. When this happens, the picturesque backdrop of snow-capped mountains in the Mediterranean climate of the Bay Area is an incongruous sight, a magnet for draw
ing people to the mountain who otherwise might not give it a second glimpse. Add snow, though, and suddenly you’ve got something exotic and dramatic to crow about and play in.
Springtime on the mountains is earthly paradise (don’t let the ticks and poison oak deter you) - wildflowers grace the hillsides and meadows, and a sense of renewal and freshness pervades the air as the hills are transformed by rain falling to soak the parched earth. Creeks are recharged and burble merrily along, waterfalls boom in the canyons. When the water’s flowing, expect magic and miracles around every bend. Sunlit dappled pools, rushing cascades, water swirling through carved chutes, towering redwood trees, fern-cloaked stream banks, mouthfuls of sweet edible Miner's lettuce.
Summers on both mountains are wicked hot. Mount Tamalpais offers shadier woodlands and, with its lakes and perennial streams, shelter from the day’s blazing temperatur
es is never far away. A sweat drenching hike leads to a place of solitude and peace, with small wading pools here and there to soak your feet in and while away a lazy day at Steep Ravine, Cataract Falls, or Cascade Canyon. The shady, cool retreat of Muir Woods offers respite as well from hot temperatures. Plenty of places to escape to, relax, enjoy a picnic, and revel in the day's languor.
Over on Mount Diablo – its name now hinting at the hellishness it can turn into on a blistering summer day – the 20,000 acre park is often closed due to extreme fire danger from tinderbox conditions. There are not too many places to h
ide. Coyotes hunker down in the tall grass. Hawks and vultures lazily circle; even the ground squirrels stay in their burrows. You can die on this mountain if you venture too far without enough water or let the hubris of your bravura overdo it and heat stroke claims you halfway up the mountain trail. For the goddesses of Diablo will surely exact their price for the privilege of sharing her natural wonders, splendors and secrets. Venture with caution – and respect - always.
Mount Tamalpais is a gigantic bulwark of a ridge system whose high point culminates in the 2571 ft. East Peak. Its 6300 acres abound in natural w
onders, cultural resources, and recreational opportunities, with over 60 miles of hiking trails, towering redwoods, booming waterfalls, rustic cabins and environmental camp sites. This wild land serves as sanctuary and get-away to millions of people. Zen poet and circumambulator of the mountain, Gary Snyder, notes that “Tam is a model for appreciating nature close at hand and not needing a total icon of pristine wilderness to get your attention.” I second the sentiment, but consider more importantly what Galen and Barbara Rowell, in their fly-over reconnai
ssance missions, revealed to be “unbroken forest. . .more than over the national parks of Costa Rica.” Roadless or not, I decree “Tam” to be a slice of veritable wilderness in our back yard! Same goes for ol' Dog Mountain.
Kingly Mount Diablo stands alone on the horizon, an irregular topographical feature, a conspicuous presence unmatched by nearby smaller formations. In 1860, J.M. Hutchings, who wrote Scenes of Wonder and Curiosity in California, declared, “almost every Californian has seen Monte Diablo. It is the great central landmark of the state. Whether we are walking in
the streets of San Francisco, or sailing on any of our bays and navigable rivers, or riding on any of the roads in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys, or standing on the elevated ridges of the mining districts before us – in lonely boldness, and almost every turn, we see Monte Diablo.”
John Muir, who eventually settled down and became a gentleman farmer in Martinez, was rather silent about Bay Area beauty in his rhapsodic nature writings, but he did comment, after a visit to the mountain in 1895: "Clear and cool. Be
autiful silvery haze on Mount Diablo this morning, on it and over it – outlines melting, wonderfully luminous." Nobel Prize Winner Eugene O’Neill, a resident of Danville, swooned, "Mt Diablo, a mass of purple in the morning. Nature is always lovely. . .” Gambolin’ Man himself wrote of the mountain a while back, “It’s no wonder that Ohlone peoples north south east and west all turned to Tuyshtak for spiritual renewal and sacred cosmological allegory as the birth place of the universe. Or that it was later plotted as the fixed meridian for surveying vast portions of California land. And there it sits, the dominant Bay Area landmark. . .known and loved by many, but ignored and taken for granted by the vast majority.”
The idea that these mountains, because they are at sea level, are not “real” mountains is a misconception to be dispelled if you believe that they don’t rank right up there with Sierra mountains in she
er presence, bulk and grandeur. Mount Diablo's broad contours especially compare to a “real” Sierra mountain. Take Mount Tallac (from the Washo Indian, “Dala-ak”, great mountain), which rises majestically near Lake Tahoe to a sky-kissing height of 9735 ft., and subtract the lake’s surface elevation of 6335 ft., which leaves a mountain 3475 ft. tall - just about the same size as Mount Diablo using the same formula of subtracting its height from its base elevation above sea level. The point being – and no further need to defend – Diablo and Tam are legitimate mountains, complete with distinct topographical and ecological zones at varying altitudes, hosting endemic flora, exposing vestiges of a violent geological past, harboring creatures grea
t and small, hiding charming hollows and intriguing nooks and crannies, and whose deep wellsprings create beautiful water plunging, flowing, pooling, and, finally, everyone's criterion, offering up stellar views in all directions. What more can you ask of a mountain?
Like Orion or the Big Dipper in the night sky, these readily identifiable Bay Area peaks are hard to miss, and for the homesick and wayward, they serve as reassuring monuments of familiarity and sanctuary. Self-contained, amidst unmitigated urban surroundings, the mountains seem to exist solely for the weary and overly citified, beckoning us from our artificial enclosures to come explore and seek respite from the harried day in the shady nooks of the mountains' welcoming bosom, to enjoy the opportunities they provide for unlimited recreational opportunities, and to gravitate to their summits for incomparable views and memorable outings. The mountains offer some diversion for everyone, whether i
t's hiking, biking, hang gliding, horseback riding, or simply strolling leisurely to photograph wildflowers or bird watch. No agenda is a fine agenda. Time ceases to exist on the mountain redoubts, or takes on a different meaning, a vague construct of less urgency and importance. On the mountain, you're able to forget about petty trifles and mean concerns. There is nothing to remind you of the things you cannot have. There is nothing or no one to be but your joyous self, in the sanctity of the mountain setting. The mountain gives freely of its generous spirit. The base existence of “carnal incrustations” of which John Muir always sought to shed, and the world “late and soon” which Wordsworth thought was “too much with us’, f
ades below, out of sight and mind, when lost in meditative reverie or intoxicated on the drunken glee imbued by nature’s distilled spirits. Yes, the unfettered pursuit of fun and adventure is what captivates and draws us to these special mountains, but there is something more. We seek what our ancestors have always sought in retreating to places of eternal power – personal enlightenment, spiritual renewal, the replenishment of our drained souls.
Check out more of Gambolin' Man's posts on the mountains:
Mount Diablo:
http://gambolinman.blogspot.com/2007/03/mt-diablo-st-park-traipsing-and.html
http://gambolinman.blogspot.com/2005/06/mt-diablo-state-park-eagle-peaks.html
http://gambolinman.blogspot.com/2006/03/mt-diablos-western-foothills-casual.html
Mount Tamalpais:
http://gambolinman.blogspot.com/2006/06/marin-county-california-day-hiking-mt.html
http://gambolinman.blogspot.com/2006/12/muir-woods-national-monument-humbled.html
http://gambolinman.blogspot.com/2009/02/marin-municipal-water-district.html
BONUS! - Photo Perspectives Identified:
Note: these photos were taken between 2006 and the present, from many vantage points and during the changing seasons.
#1: Mount Tamalpais from Marin Headlands, Coyote Ridge Trail
#2: Ditto
#3: California Quail, posing for me on Coyote Ridge Trail
#4: Redwoods, Muir Woods National Monument at Mount Tamalpais
#5: Telescoped view of Mount Diablo, from Pine Mountain, Marin County
#6: Mount Tamalpais summit, 2571 ft., from Railroad Grade trail
#7: Rugged ridge of Mount Diablo massif, from Donner Falls Trail
#8: Mount Tamalpais from Tennessee Valley, Marin Headlands
#9: View looking northwest from Mount Tamalpais summit
#10: Black-tailed deer browsing in early evening, common site on either mountain
#11: View looking south from Mount Tamalpais summit
#12: Water flowing, Mount Diablo
#13: Rattlesnake hissing at me, Mount Diablo
#14: Southeast perspective of The Sleeping Princess, from single-track bike trail at Camp Tamarancho
#15: East view from Mount Tamalpais' rocky summit - Mount Diablo can barely be seen in the far distance
#16: Alligator lizard, Mount Tamalpais
#17: Looking northwest, from behind Mount Diablo, at Morgan Territory, near Livermore
#18: Eastward vision of Mount Diablo, from Briones Crest, Briones Regional Park
#19: Another view toward San Francisco from summit of Mount Tamalpais
#20: Mount Tamalpais as viewed from 1250 footer Wildcat Peak in the Berkeley Hills
#21: The big mountain, Tuyshtak, seen from ridge top at nearby Las Trampas Regional Wilderness
#22: View of Mount Tamalpais from Berkeley
#23: Mount Tamalpais from Pine Mountain to the northwest
#24: Mount Diablo from Wildcat Peak in the Berkeley Hills
#25: Rugged landscape, Mount Diablo
#26: Rugged landscape, Mount Diablo
#27: Rugged landscape, Mount Diablo
#28: Mount Tamalpais, from shores of Kent Lake, Marin County
#29: Rugged landscape, Mount Diablo
#30: Furry trees, Mount Tamalpais State Park
#31: Dog Mountain from Donner Creek Trail
#32: Pesky blue jay, Mount Diablo
#33: Peeling manzanita bark, Mount Diablo
#34: Mount Diablo from Wildcat Peak, Berkeley Hills
#35: Steep Ravine Creek, Mount Tamalpais
#36: Rugged Mount Diablo landscape below East Peak
#37: Valley oak, Mount Diablo State Park
#38: Mount Diablo Manzanita
#39: Outcrop with California poppies, Mount Diablo, Falls Trail
#40: The Sleeping Princess from Marin Headlands
#41: Water flowing, Mount Diablo
#42 & 43: Mount Diablo sandstone formations at Rock City
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May 5, 2011, iPhone, iPad and iPod touch new releases
[Apple, Macintosh] (Appletell)Section: iPhone / iPod touch / iPad, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, iDevice AppsNew iPhone, iPod touch and iPad product announcements for May 5, 2011: New iPhone, iPad and iPod touch apps JamKit is a community-driven drumming game and rhythm training tool. Players refine their drumming skills by playing “challenges” made by users across the world as they rank up, unlock VIP features, and compete to be in the JamKit hall of fame. Exposure to the unique drumming techniques of others prov ...
Section: iPhone / iPod touch / iPad, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, iDevice Apps
New iPhone, iPod touch and iPad product announcements for May 5, 2011:
New iPhone, iPad and iPod touch apps
- JamKit is a community-driven drumming game and rhythm training tool. Players refine their drumming skills by playing “challenges” made by users across the world as they rank up, unlock VIP features, and compete to be in the JamKit hall of fame. Exposure to the unique drumming techniques of others provides inspiration for users to develop their own distinctive style that they can show off by creating original challenges of their own and contributing to the ever evolving world challenge library that provides fresh, unique content for users everywhere to experience every day.
- In Spelunk, ancient Element Village has five Books of Elements, which record the secrets of integration of things. One day, the Monster Gate in underground city struck village and robbed the Book of Elements to integrate powerful troops to conquer the world. While our brave collin will enter the underground cavern alone and recapture the Book of Elements to save the world.
- PAN Vision and Fabrication Games have announced the launch of Piclings, a new platform game for iOS devices that turns photos into playable worlds. Snap pics of fancy buildings, beautiful natural landscapes or even your weird uncle’s mangy dog, and the game engine takes care of the rest, converting them into levels populated with enemy Huffies and Puffies standing in the way of collectible treasures. Bring your very own Picling named Picazzo to life through photos limited only by your imagination. Piclings is now available for download from the App Store for $0.99.
- Playlithium is pleased to announce that Super Ball Escape HD is available now for free on the App Store. The happy owners of iPad and iPad 2 can now discover, in a version especially dedicated to them, this unique action game playable with the tilt control. Super Ball Escape HD will challenge your skills. Take control of a robot ball and try getting free through numerous mazes. Action, stealth and balance will be part of the game.
- Mooee has updated GolfSites to version 2.0, one of the most advanced Golf GPS App for the iPhone. Designed by golfers for golfers, GolfSites has all the bells and whistles of similar Golf GPS Apps plus it has something others don’t: Ball Path Tracking. By pressing your stroke button every time you hit a ball, GolfSites will remember where you’ve hit, and will show you your ball paths at the end of the game. All your scores will be recorded, statistics and location captured.
- Finncodex has released Neon Geoms 1.1 for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad users. Neon Geoms is a unique new physics game that requires a mixture of logic, skill and co-ordination to win. Players move a neon ball through various levels, collecting stars for points as they go. Something that sets Neon Geom apart from the rest is its level editor, which allows players to custom create, edit and share their very own levels. Users are also able to play custom levels created by others.
- Thinking Drone, LLC has announced the release of Dash of Color Free for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad users. This free photography app lets users apply selective coloring to black and white images, or transform color images to black and white. Dash Of Color Free offers users many of the same tools and effects used by professionals, so they can get dramatic results with a few taps of the screen.
- Urban Anomaly today released Seattle HitList, a tool that identifies the best free sites and informal landmarks within the geographical boundaries of Seattle, Washington. The guide features over 80 MB of high resolution photos, narrative, and geo-mapping of dozens of locations that meet the HitList criteria: suitably hip, local or artistic, free or mostly free, and photogenic. The app is built around an intuitive interface that provides three different types of media browsing.
- Astro Ape Studios has awakened its latest creation, Monsterz’ Revenge, an eerie new social game for iOS that pits a cast of ghouls against evil fast-food restaurants. The graveyard is overrun by fast-food joints crashing the Monsterz’ cookout, and they’re striking back with a spooky skirmish. Players will challenge the junk-food giants by hitting the drive-thru in their customizable battle car, leaving each joint in crumbles.
- Bare Reef has launched its rebranded line of stock market portfolio tracking apps for the iPad, iPhone and Mac. Portfolio Mobile offers the most comprehensive set of features found in any iPad, iPhone or Mac stock portfolio monitoring app. The launch also includes a new web portal that simplifies the process of entering and editing trade history. The new Mac version is available as a 30 day demo exclusively at Portfolio Mobile.
- CGMatic Co., Ltd has announced they are reducing the price of Grove Keeper and Grove Keeper HD for a limited time to celebrate the release of the new versions. Grove Keeper is a casual physics based action puzzle set in a beautiful fantasy world. Taking control of the Grove Keeper, the master of magic, accompanied by likable friends during his journey. Simple and easy to play, outlast the enemies using skillful control and witful strategy.
- That Can Be My Next Tweet generates your future tweets based on the DNA of your existing messages. NEW: combine your future tweets together with someone else to create bizarre mix-ups and profoundly strange combinations!
- Jack woke up with one thing on his mind: food! In Spider Jack, help Jack swing through 75 stages of peril-filled puzzles to reach his dinner. Tap “hook points” to cast Jack’s web through obstacle courses and nimbly avoid dangers. To keep the itsy-bitsy spider climbing, cut previous webs so Jack can cast new lines in his pursuit of delicious bugs.
- TouchGEN has announced their new iPad magazine, devoted to gaming on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices. This pilot edition features 15 reviews from 2008-2010 that earned our editor’s choice seal of approval. A full, first issue of the magazine is in the pipeline for release soon. Issue 1 will feature all the things you’d expect from a news-stand gaming magazine, such as news, reviews, features, commentaries and the like, but in an interactive format.
- Rapid Turtle Games has announced that Charlie In Trouble - Returning Home, the final chapter in the Charlie In Trouble series is now available for the iPhone and iPod touch on the App Store! The game features 8 huge levels divided into 21 stages, with many new puzzles and arcade platform jumping. Help Charlie once more to find his way back to home in the final chapter of this adventure game. He has defied the King’s orders, and traveled through a magical portal only to become trapped on the other side. In order to return home, Charlie must make it through 8 levels in this strange new realm filled with puzzles and enemies.
- INTERSOG Mobile has introduced Cam Capture 1.0, their new imaging utility for iPhone 4. Cam Capture allows users to make quick snapshots for important documents straight from their mobile devices, and additionally can organize and save them. Geared to be both practical and flexible enough to cater to even the most industrious users, Cam Capture simplifies the task of getting personal official photos of oneself made down to an easy seconds-long process.
- Nemo Games has introduced Enduro 1.0, their new driving game for iPhone and iPad. This fantastic game has been faithfully recreated for all retro lovers out there. Enduro consists of maneuvering a race car in the National Enduro, a long-distance endurance race. The object of the race is to pass a certain amount of cars each day. The driver must avoid other racers and pass 180 cars on the first day, and 280 cars with each following day.
- Synqua Games Ltd. has announced the successful release of Chillingham Manor for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This devilishly entertaining matching puzzle game treats players to a delightfully macabre atmosphere and dynamic competitive gameplay against a vibrant variety of diverse villains. The game is complete with a lengthy, endlessly re-playable campaign that throws gamers into the shoes of a rookie cartoon exorcist through Chillingham Manor.
- RB Apps, LLC has announced the global availability of the Doggy Diva app for the iPhone and iPod touch. It is an entertaining game designed especially for little fashionistas as well as for dog owners who adore playing and dressing up their doggies. Doggy Diva offers all the quality from the finely-detailed characters and accessories till the smooth and clean interface that is easy enough to use even for the little users.
- Neon Play has released Pro Football Touchdown 1.0 for iOS. The game has three different game modes, each requiring the player to catch footballs to score touchdowns. The game features live global leaderboards and scores can also be posted to Twitter and Facebook to obtain bragging rights amongst friends. There are also over 20 achievements to complete using Game Center.
- 8coupons has announced its iPhone application is available for free download today at the Apple App Store. Relative to other deal aggregation apps, 8coupons is the most comprehensive, equipped with over 500K live deals within every zip code in the U.S.
- Appsules LLC has introduced Elapsed 1.0, their first product for iPhone and iPod touch. Elapsed is a free timer application that allows tracking of multiple timers simultaneously. Frequently used timers can be saved for easy reuse. Elapsed uniquely allows modification of running timers, thereby making it ideal for dealing with unexpected changes. Possible uses include metered parking, baking, grilling, doing laundry, exercising and any other tasks busy people need to monitor.
- RedLynx and Chillingo, leading independent games publisher and division of Electronic Arts, are teaming up to redefine touch-based racing on iOS devices with the announcement of DrawRace 2: Racing Evolved for the iPhone and iPad.
- ab2labs has announced that the update of their photography app, Effects 3.0, is now available exclusively for iPhone and iPod touch. Effects is a stylish and creative way to create unique photos. In Effects, the user can manipulate pictures in multiple ways thanks to many innovative features. The features include filters, layers, live preview, sharing with social media and email, upgradeable export resolution and custom frames.
- Readdle has released Printer Pro 1.5, a new version of popular application for printing email attachments, annotated documents, web pages, photos and other types of content from iOS devices. The new version of Printer Pro enhances printing experience for iPhone and iPad owners by delivering an excellent performance and advanced feature set. Also, Printer Pro 1.5 lets iOS owners to print PDF documents with mark-ups, hand drawn notes, signatures and even embedded forms right from Mail or PDF.
- Out of the Park Developments has announced the release of iOOTP Baseball 2011, an exciting new iOS game for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad that puts players in control of a major league baseball team. It’s driven by OOTP’s Out of the Park Baseball engine, which has provided stunningly realistic baseball simulations on PC, Mac, and Linux for over a decade. In addition, it’s the only game of its kind currently available at the App Store.
- Thanks to iPromDress 3.0, well-dressed girls will be heading to the prom in a perfect dress. Designed for easy, intuitive use, with iPromDress you can find the closest prom dress shop, store pictures of your dresses to compare them, and share your dress details and photos through email or Facebook. Your favorites are stored in an easy-to-navigate list, from which you can view the details, pictures, and even get directions back to the boutique. Shop, compare and share with iPromDress for iPhone.
- WhiskIT has announced the release of Spingredients 1.01 for iOS. Challenge yourself to cook whatever it suggests, or use it for inspiration when creating new dishes or menus. The app suggests which ingredients best complement not only your chosen ingredient, but also each other. This gives experienced cooks four key ingredients with which to create that perfect dish. For those in need of a little more inspiration, a built-in Google search helps you to find recipes.
- Thinknao software has announced its latest iOS game, Quoth 1.0 for iOS. Quoth is an exciting new twist to the word puzzles you’ve seen before. Use your knowledge and skills to fill in missing letters of famous quotes, sayings and anecdotes. Earn awards along the way and pass on your favorite sayings to friends and family. Quoth challenges you to fill-in missing letters of famous quotes, sayings and anecdotes within a set time limit. It’s so simple that anyone can play.
- Elite Gudz has announced a major expansion of its Retro-Pop Techno Kitten Adventure game. Previously exclusive to the Xbox Indies marketplace, a platform showcasing games developed by independent boutique studios. Techno Kitten Adventure is a single-button game in which players pilot a jetpack-powered kitten through an obstacle-laden world of rainbows, stars and other sparkly distractions, all set to upbeat techno music.
- It’s late at night. You can’t get hold of your husband. Or maybe your kid hasn’t come home yet. You try and call, but there’s no answer. You start to worry. You could start driving around to places you think they might be. Or, you could use the newly launched application for iPhone and iPad: Footprints. Footprints is a location-sharing app which displays the current whereabouts of your family and friends on a map. Utilizing its optimized Location Tracker, Footprints tracks and shares locations in the background, in real-time, all the time, without draining the battery like some other GPS trackers do.
- Thanks to Openfeint, My Brute is going free for a day. My Brute is a crazy, off-the-wall game of combat that gives you the chance to challenge fighters from all over the world. You simply take on a series of challenges, gain experience, unlock new skills and crush your enemies with ever-greater speed.
- Super Boise Studios is proud to announce the release of Political Fury: Primary 2012 Edition for the iPhone and iPad. Political Fury is about bringing people of various political beliefs together and letting them show off what they know about politics and current events. With this major update they can now share their knowledge in amazing new ways. The developers have added a custom-built forum, an in-game social network, a Primary 2012 Center, a newsfeed that’s updated daily, more community polls, and hundreds of new trivia questions. They’ve also expanded The Knowledge Battle to include the 2012 Presidential candidates so now players can help establish both their party and their candidate as the smartest in the land.
- Villain announced today the release Archetype Cadet and Archetype Cadet HD, free new versions of Archetype, its top-selling and critically acclaimed online first-person shooter game for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Archetype Cadet gives players a free training ground to experience the best, most intense online FPS action from the world of Archetype. Both versions of Archetype Cadet are now available as a free download in the iTunes App Store, and a free new 1.5.1 update of the core Archetype game with memory optimization updates is also available from iTunes.
- iMotion HD is an intuitive and powerful time-lapse and stop-motion app for iOS. Take pictures, edit your movie and export HD 720p videos to your device or directly to Youtube. Time-lapse is a cinematography technique which accelerates movement. It can be used to photograph cloudscapes and celestial motion, plants growing and flowers blooming, evolution of a building project, crowds… Stop motion is an animation technique which make a physically manipulated object look like it’s moving on its own.
New apps for iPad only
- Golden Hammer Software has introduced Scribble Worm 1.0, a revolutionary new puzzle game for the iPad. Use your finger to draw patterns on notebook paper. These patterns come to life as cutesy worms scribbled in crayon, wriggling their way across the paper. The goal is to reach an apple elsewhere on the page by drawing a pattern and anticipating the path of the resulting worm. With a unique game mechanic, Scribble Worm offers lots of challenging puzzles and Game Center support.
- 955 Dreams Inc. has introduced On the Way to Woodstock 1.0.6 for Apple’s iPad. This immersive, interactive timeline explores the phenomenon of how a generation evolved from sock hops to Woodstock. Enjoy over 100 hours of narrative, photography, videos and music from the 1950s, the 1960s and each of the artists that performed at the 1969 Woodstock Art & Music Fair. Over 100 rare color photos of Woodstock from award-winning photographer, Barry Levine.
- iNetwallpaper Limited has announced 3D Wallpaper Pro 1.0, their flagship iPad Wallpaper App. With sleek and stylish design, 3D Wallpaper Pro delivers unique and exclusive iPad Wallpaper, raising the bar in iPad and iPad 2 wallpaper apps. 3D Wallpaper Pro redefines what people should expect from iPad wallpaper apps; this new iPad-only app gives users unique and exclusive HD images with stunning levels of detail and depth.
- ComboApp today announces the recent release of the Pocket MBA Full Course: Part 4 app bundle for the iPad. Created specifically for mobile learning on Apple’s powerful tablet platforms and structured to be a fully self sufficient mobile learning experience, Part 4 of the Pocket MBA Full Course app bundle series represents the latest expansion of the publisher’s well rounded “Full Course” mobile business education solutions franchise.
- APPinspect has announced Hazard Manager 3.1, the map-based workplace inspection app. Upload jpeg floorplans via iTunes for many buildings, using scanned sketches or graphic files. Navigate from Group to Inspection Floorplan Folder to carry out a new Inspection. Choose Inspection Layer to add HazardPoints to map. Edit, push and shove HazardPoints. View all Layers. Flip through all inspections in a folder. Email inspection in .hzp format so another HazMan user can share the inspection.
New accessories
- Urbanears has announced the release of Plattan Plus—a version of the Plattan headphone featuring an Apple certified microphone and remote, with the additional functionality of volume control. The Plattan Plus comes in Dark Grey, Purple, Pool and Cerise and is available for purchase now. The Plattan is designed to be the perfect classic headphone with all the additional features that make it above and beyond what a static headphone would offer. Because you can fold it down to the size of your fist, the Plattan is extremely mobile, allowing for better protection when not in use.
Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »
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Tine 2.0 Maischa (2011/05) Beta 1
[Tech, Linux, Shareware] (freshmeat.net Releases)Tine 2.0 is a Web-based groupware solution that focuses on usability and correctness. To achieve these goals, the project uses usability experts and covers most of the code by unit tests. It contains support for contacts, tasks, calendar, email, CRM, VoIP integration, a time tracker, ActiveSync, and a flexible rights management system.Changes: This release further improves the usability and performance of Tine 2.0. You can create all data types from any application without switching to the speci ...
Tine 2.0 is a Web-based groupware solution that focuses on usability and correctness. To achieve these goals, the project uses usability experts and covers most of the code by unit tests. It contains support for contacts, tasks, calendar, email, CRM, VoIP integration, a time tracker, ActiveSync, and a flexible rights management system.Changes: This release further improves the usability and performance of Tine 2.0. You can create all data types from any application without switching to the specific application. Additionally, you can create new events and leads directly from the address book. Administrators can manage permissions to folders in a central place. The session and cache backend supports Redis (in memory cache) now, and the SQL backend was reworked for better performance.
Release Tags: Unstable, addressbook, Calendar, Major feature enhancements
Tags: Office/Business, CRM, groupware, Internet, Web, Communications, Calendar, Web 2.0, OpenID, Address Book, Email, time tracking
Licenses: AGPL
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10 of the best pâtisseries in Paris
[Guardian] (Life and style | guardian.co.uk)Forget haute couture and designer boutiques, some of the most inspirational shops in Paris are the amazing pâtisseries. Food blogger Clotilde Dusoulier selects the true classicsWithout a doubt, world-famous pastry chef Pierre Hermé can be credited for revolutionising the art of French pâtisserie. Over the past decade, shrugging off the weight of tradition, he has created super-modern confections that rely on new ideas, techniques and flavour combinations, and his success has inspired a genera ...
Forget haute couture and designer boutiques, some of the most inspirational shops in Paris are the amazing pâtisseries. Food blogger Clotilde Dusoulier selects the true classics
Without a doubt, world-famous pastry chef Pierre Hermé can be credited for revolutionising the art of French pâtisserie. Over the past decade, shrugging off the weight of tradition, he has created super-modern confections that rely on new ideas, techniques and flavour combinations, and his success has inspired a generation of pastry chefs.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, a new wave of chefs is pursuing another idea entirely: what they want to do is to recapture childhood emotions by revisiting the classics of French pastry and applying their contemporary knowledge to create modern versions of traditional dishes.
Whether your inclination is classic or modern, these artisans offer fresh and vibrantly flavourful pastries that are sure to hit your sweet spot.
Pierre Hermé
A relentless alchemist of flavours, Pierre Hermé produces luxurious and whimsical creations that impress the eye as well as the taste buds. He is perhaps best-known for his macaroons, which come in a rainbow of quirky flavours, but you would do well not to ignore his take on traditional confections, such as the vanilla flan (€5) and his outstanding croissant and pain au chocolat. The sleek boutique on rue de Bonaparte can feel intimidating, but the staff are, in fact, quite helpful.
• 72 rue Bonaparte, 6th, +33 1 43 54 47 77. Métro: Saint-Sulpice. Open Mon-Fri, Sun 10am-7pm, Sat 10am-7.30pm. 185 rue de Vaugirard, 15th, +33 1 47 83 89 96. Métro: Pasteur. Open Tue, Wed, 10am-7pm, Thu-Sat, 10am-7.30pm, Sun 10am-6pm. pierreherme.comPain de Sucre
Behind Pain de Sucre (literally, "sugarloaf") is a happily married couple, Nathalie Robert and Didier Mathray, who first met back when they were working in the pastry kitchen at Pierre Gagnaire's three-star restaurant. It is rare that two creative types manage to cohabit in this kind of venture but it is a complete success in this case, as demonstrated by their high-flying pastries, which boast subtle flavours and perfect execution. Try the chocolate mint eclair or the baba au rhum, which comes with an extra pipette of rum so you can adjust its booziness to your preference.
• 14 rue Rambuteau, 3rd, +33 1 45 74 68 92, patisseriepaindesucre.com. Métro: Rambuteau. Open Tue-Sat, 10am-8pmJacques Genin
After years of working out of his tiny private lab, and providing his chocolate and caramels exclusively to restaurants and hotels, self-taught chocolate whiz Jacques Genin opened his first public store in the upper Marais. The gorgeously designed, loft-like space houses a comfortable tea salon where you can enjoy classic French pastries, served fresh from the upstairs lab. Try the made-to-order mille-feuille (napoleon, €8), or the chocolate tartlet.
• 133 rue de Turenne, 3rd, +33 1 45 77 29 01. Métro: République. Open Mon-Sat, 11am-9pmSadaharu Aoki
Having trained in the art of pastry making both in Japan and in France, Sadaharu Aoki was inspired to combine the two sensibilities, slipping Japanese ingredients into French confections – a green tea opéra, a black sesame eclair, an acidulated yuzu tartlet – and applying the Japanese eye for detail to the presentation and packaging. But Aoki is just as good with unadulterated French classics, a point well made by his caramel tart, or his chubby chou à la crème (cream puff).
• 56 boulevard du Port-Royal, 5th, +33 1 45 35 36 80. Métro: Les Gobelins. Open Tue-Sat, 11am-7pm, Sun 10am-6pm. 35 rue de Vaugirard, 6th, +33 1 45 44 48 90. Métro: Rennes or Saint-Sulpice. Open Tue-Sat, 11am-7pm, Mon 10am-6pm. 25 rue Pérignon, 15th, +33 (0)1 43 06 02 71. Métro: Ségur. Open Tue-Sat, 11am-7pm. sadaharuaoki.comCarl Marletti
A true gourmand who loves to discuss his pastries with his customers when he mans the sales counter on Sundays, Carl Marletti is adamant about the freshness and quality of the ingredients he uses. Indeed, his pistachio religieuse (€3.70) is made with a brightly-flavoured pistachio paste from Sicily, and he makes small batches of mille-feuille throughout the day, for optimal crunch.
• 51 rue Censier, 5th, +33 1 43 31 68 12, carlmarletti.com. Métro: Censier-Daubenton.Open Tue-Sat 10am-8pm, Sun 10am-1.30pmJean-Paul Hévin
Jean-Paul Hévin is a Meilleur Ouvrier de France – the highest distinction an artisan can aspire to – who's primarily known for his work as a chocolatier, and his purist's approach to the craft. But he also offers a range of all-chocolate pastries that would make a chocoholic dizzy – the chocolate tartlet and chocolate macaroons are especially well done. The rue Saint-Honoré boutique has a salon de thé upstairs, where you can enjoy a cup of hot chocolate and a pastry.
• 231 rue Saint-Honoré, 1st, +33 1 55 35 35 96. Métro: Concorde, Tuileries. Open Mon-Sat 10am-7.30pm. 3 rue Vavin, 6th, +33 1 43 54 09 85. Métro: Notre-Dame des Champs, Vavin. Open Tue-Sat 10am-7pm. 23 bis avenue de la Motte Picquet, 7th, +33 1 45 51 77 48. Métro: Ecole Militaire. Open Tue-Sat 10am-7.30pm. jphevin.comLa Pâtisserie des Rêves
The poetically named "pastry shop of dreams" is the joint creation of Philippe Conticini, one of the most celebrated pastry chefs in France, and Thierry Teyssier, who owns boutique hotels in Morocco and Portugal. While Teyssier designed the colourful shops, Conticini and his right-hand man Angelo Musa – a world pastry champion – took charge of the edible R&D.; The result is a beautiful line of classics that includes a daisy-shaped Paris-Brest with hidden pockets of liquid praline (€4.80). The location in the 16th features a very pleasant salon de thé .
• 93 rue du Bac, 7th, +33 1 42 84 00 82. Métro: Rue du Bac. Open Tue-Sat 9am-8pm, Sun 9am-4pm. 111 rue de Longchamp, 16th, +33 1 47 04 00 24. Métro: Rue de la Pompe. Open Mon, Tue 8am-8pm. lapatisseriedesreves.comLa Bague de Kenza
For a nice change of pace, head over to La Bague de Kenza, the ideal place to get acquainted with Algerian-style pastries. These aromatic delights are filled with nuts, figs or dates and flavoured with honey, rose water, orange blossom, mint, citrus or vanilla. Gazelle horns, skandriates, almond cones, baklavas … Don't worry if you don't know the names, simply point or ask for an assortment. The rue Saint-Maur branch is attached to a salon de thé, where you can sample some of the pastries with a glass of piping hot mint tea.
• 106 rue Saint-Maur, 11th, +33 1 43 14 93 15. Métro: Parmentier. 136, Rue Saint Honoré, 1st, +33 1 42 86 85 23. Métro: Châtelet-Les Halles. 70 rue de Turbigo, 3rd, +33 1 44 61 06 39. Métro: Temple. 31 rue Linné, 5th, +33 1 45 87 02 04. Metro: Jussieu. 173 rue du faubourg St-Antoine, 11th, +33 1 43 41 47 02. Métro: Ledru-Rollin. 233 rue de la Convention, 15th, +33 1 42 50 02 97. Métro: Convention. labaguedekenza.comBlé Sucré
Fabrice Le Bourdat spent years honing his skills at prestigious palace hotels before he and his wife decided to open a pastry shop of their own in the charming Ledru-Rollin neighbourhood, not far from Bastille. In their small and unpretentious shop, his confections are sold at very moderate prices, and his thinly-glazed madeleines (€3.20 for four) have garnered a cult following.
• 7 rue Antoine Vollon, 12th, +33 1 43 40 77 73. Métro: Ledru-Rollin. Open Tue-Sat 7am-7.30pm, Sun 7am-1.30pmDes Gâteaux et du Pain
It is rare to find a woman at the helm of a pastry shop, but Claire Damon is a lot more than the token female chef in this selection. Damon's creations demonstrate haute-pastry skills and cleverly injected doses of creativity, capturing the spirit of classics and casting a contemporary light on them. The pastry case reveals an eye-catching procession that passes taste tests with flying colours, including her now-signature violet and blackcurrant Saint-Honoré in its mauve dress (€5.40).
• 63 boulevard Pasteur, 15th, +33 1 45 38 94 16, desgateauxetdupain.com. Métro: Pasteur. Open Mon, Wed-Sun 8am-8pm• Read Clotilde Dusoulier's food blog, Chocolate & Zucchini
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How to Make a Decision with Swayable
[Geeks] ("LockerGnome.com Blogs" via lockergnome in Google Reader)Making decisions can be hard. Which shoes do you buy? Which shirt looks better? Which cute guy or girl at the bar should you talk to? Up until now, we have all likely crowdsourced these and other types of answers by taking pictures and sending them via email or SMS while standing in dressing rooms, at the grocery store or from across the room (if you are so stealthy). Getting an answer to a necessary decision this way can be clunky or confusing, not to mention time consuming. Now there’s an ea ...
Making decisions can be hard. Which shoes do you buy? Which shirt looks better? Which cute guy or girl at the bar should you talk to? Up until now, we have all likely crowdsourced these and other types of answers by taking pictures and sending them via email or SMS while standing in dressing rooms, at the grocery store or from across the room (if you are so stealthy). Getting an answer to a necessary decision this way can be clunky or confusing, not to mention time consuming.
Now there’s an easy way to make decisions. With Swayable, a free iPhone app, with companion Web site that also offers integration for bloggers, you can easily present your dilemma to your friends and community, who can then easily vote on which choice to make. Simply log in to Swayable with your Facebook or Twitter on your iPhone and create a Swayable that asks your friends are followers to weigh in their opinion between two pictures, along with a short question explaining your choice or question at hand. You can then share the Swayable with your Twitter followers, Facebook friends, or via email. Swayable allows you to choose whether you want your Swayable to be listed publicly for anyone to vote — or sway — on, or just shared between your friends. Users who want to offer their opinion and help their friends make a decision can then “sway” their vote, and leave a comment with their thoughts.
Swayables can also be created and managed at Swayable.com, where thousands of other Swayables are listed. Additionally, bloggers can visit Swayable.com to get an embed code for their Swayable, allowing their readers or community to “sway” their thoughts and help you make your decision without your readers ever leaving the blog. Results are automatically sent back to the creator of the Swayable each time someone votes, or “sways.” Creators of a Swayable can even opt to get each result as a push notification to their iPhone, helping you make a decision as you get opinions ion real-time.
Swayable was created by Lindsey Harper after she needed her husband to help her make a decision about which car-top cargo box to choose at REI in 2010. After realizing the process of sending two separate photos in two separate emails was “clunky,” the idea of Swayable was born. Harper realizes people need help to make decisions like this often — especially teenagers. She has even developed a slightly separate version of Swayable targeted just for Justin Bieber fans, as we all know that specific demographic can be just slightly indecisive. Though the target audience may have less important decisions to make than the best car-top cargo box to buy, Swayable can be useful to almost anyone needing help making a decision.
What decisions could Swayable help you make? Try out Swayable at Swayable.com, or download the app for the iTunes app store. Let us know what you think in the comments.
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Blog Post: Federated SAML Authentication with SharePoint 2010 and Azure Access Control Service Part 1
[Windows] (Site Home)NOTE: As usual the formatting on this site sucks. I recommend you download the Word document attachment with this posting for better reading. I had been looking at Windows Azure Access Control Service (ACS) with an interesting eye recently, thinking about some of the different integration options. There’s always lots of chatter about claims authentication with SharePoint 2010, and how to integrate ADFS, Windows Live, Facebook, etc. ACS (also known as AppFabric ACS to you Azure purists ...
NOTE: As usual the formatting on this site sucks. I recommend you download the Word document attachment with this posting for better reading.
I had been looking at Windows Azure Access Control Service (ACS) with an interesting eye recently, thinking about some of the different integration options. There’s always lots of chatter about claims authentication with SharePoint 2010, and how to integrate ADFS, Windows Live, Facebook, etc. ACS (also known as AppFabric ACS to you Azure purists / marketing people) is rather cool because it includes “connectors” for these common identity providers out of the box. When you set up an ACS namespace (think of it like an account with connectors and configuration settings), you have simplified and streamlined connectivity to ADFS 2.0, Windows Live, Yahoo, Google and Facebook. The lazy programmer in me thinks hey, there must be something goin’ on there so I decided to look into it from a couple of different angles. I’m going to describe the first one in this post.
For this scenario I really just wanted to establish a trust directly between SharePoint 2010 and ACS. I wanted to be able to use ADFS, Windows Live, Yahoo and Google accounts to authenticate and get into my SharePoint site. I didn’t include Facebook because social computing is really not my thing (this blog’s as close as I get) so I don’t have a Facebook or Twitter account because I’m really not interested in frequently sharing pointless information with the world at large (“Puffy just had 3 kittens – Adorable!!”). I will NOT be explaining how to get a Windows Azure account, create an Access Control Service namespace, how to manage ACS, etc. – there should be reams of info out there from the Windows Azure folks so I’m not going to try and reinvent that.
What I am going to describe is the process of setting up the various trusts, certificates, and configuration necessary to get all this stuff working together. At the end I’ll include some screenshots of me logged in with identities from each of those providers. Here are the steps to get connected:
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Open the Access Control Management Page
- Log into your Windows Azure management portal. Click on the Service Bus, Access Control and Caching menu in the left pane. Click on Access Control at the top of the left pane (under AppFabric), click on your namespace in the right pane, and click on the Access Control Service button in the Manage portion of the ribbon. That will bring up the Access Control Management page.
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Add An Identity Provider for ADFS
- Click on Identity providers in the Trust relationships menu in the left pane.
- Click on the Add link
- The WS-Federation identity provider radio button should be selected by default; check it if it is not. It is what’s used for ADFS 2.0. Click the Next button.
- Fill out the Identity Provider Settings section
- Fill out the Display name, such as “My ADFS Server”
- For the WS-Federation metadata, if your ADFS server is exposed via the Internet then you just put in the Url to the federation metadata endpoint. By default it’s at https://yourAdfsServer.com/FederationMetadata/2007-06/FederationMetadata.xml. If your ADFS server is not exposed to the Internet, then open the Url to the endpoint in your local browser. Go to your browser and save the page to the local file system as an .XML file. Then in the Identity Provider Settings in ACS click the radio button next to the File edit box and use the Browse button to find the federation metadata xml file you just saved.
That’s pretty much all you need to do to create your Identity Provider in ACS.
3. Add A Relying Party for SharePoint
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- Now you need to add SharePoint as a relying party of ACS, just like you do when you configure SharePoint and ADFS together. Start by clicking the Relying party applications link under the Trust relationships menu in the left pane
- Click on the Add link.
- Fill out the Relying Party Application Settings section
- Enter a display name, like “SharePoint 2010”
- Use the default Mode of Enter settings manually
- In the Realm edit box enter a realm, and save that because you will use it again when you create your SPTrustedIdentityTokenIssuer in SharePoint. For purposes of this example let’s say the realm is “urn:sharepoint:acs”.
- For the return Url use the same format as you do when setting up SharePoint as a relying party in ADFS: https://yourSiteName/_trust/.
- The Token format drop down should be SAML 1.1
- You can set the Token lifetime (secs) to whatever you want. It’s 10 minutes by default; I set mine to 3600 which means 1 hour.
- Fill out the Authentication Settings section
- Check every box under the Identity providers; it should show you the ADFS identity provider you created in the previous step
- Under Rule groups leave the default checked, which is Create new rule group.
- In the Token Signing Settings you can leave the default option selected, which is Use service namespace certificate (standard).
- Click the Save button to save your changes and create the relying party
4. Create the rules for the Relying Party
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- I’m assuming here that you have not already created a set of rules in ACS before so we’re creating a new group of them. If you had a group you wanted to reuse then in the previous step you would have just placed a check next to the group(s) you want to use with the relying party instead of taking the default of Create new rule group. But since we’re creating a new one, click on the Rule groups link under the Trust relationships menu in the left pane
- You should see a rule group that has a name like “Default Rule Group for whatever your relying party name was”. Click on that link for that rule group name
- Really the easiest thing to do at this point is just to click on the Generate link. It will automatically create a set of rules for you that basically enumerates all of the claims you’ll be getting from each identity provider, and then creates a rule for each one that passes through that claim value with the same claim type to the relying party
- On the Generate Rules page, just check the box next to each identity provider and click the Generate button. This creates the rules as I’ve described previously. When it’s complete you are redirected to the Edit Rule Group page, where you will see all the rules listed. In many cases this would be enough, but we have one anomaly here that we need to account for. In SharePoint, we’re going to use the email address as the identity claim. Ironically, all the identity providers send the email address along (and have rules created for them to do so) except for Windows Live. So for now, for this example, I am faking the Windows Live piece of it. What I mean by that is that I am going to take the one claim it does provide – nameidentifier – and I’m going to create a rule that passes that back, but it’s going to pass it back as an email claim. This is not the time to hate on Steve, this is just a way to get this demo environment running with the fewest moving parts (and there are several already). Now we’ll add this final rule
- Click on the Add link
- In the Identity Provider drop down, select Windows Live I
- In the Input claim type section, click the radio button next to Select type:. There’s only one claim type that Windows Live ID supports so it is already selected (nameidentifier)
- Scroll down to the Output claim type section and click the radio button next to Select type:
- In the drop down list find http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/emailaddress and select it
- Enter a description if you’d like, then click the Save button to save your changes and create the rule
- You’ll be redirected to the Edit Rule Group page, then click the Save button to save all your changes. You’re now done with the ACS configuration, but don’t close the browser yet because you will need to get some additional information from there when you create and configure the other components.
5. Create a Relying Party for ACS in ADFS
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- While ADFS is an identity provider to ACS, ACS is a relying party to ADFS. That means we need to configure a relying party in ADFS so that when ACS redirects an authentication request to ADFS a trust has been established that allows ADFS to respond. Begin by going to your ADFS server and opening up the AD FS 2.0 Management console
- Go into the AD FS 2.0…Trust Relationships…Relying Party Trusts node and click on the Add Relying Party Trust… link in the right pane
- Click the Start button to begin the wizard
- Use the default option to import data about the relying party published online. The Url you need to use is in the ACS management portal. Go back to your browser that has the portal open, and click on the Application Integration link under the Trust relationships menu in the left pane
- Copy the Url it shows for the WS-Federation Metadata, and paste that into the Federation metadata address (host name or URL): edit box in the ADFS wizard, then click the Next button
- Type in a Display name and optionally some Notes then click the Next button
- Leave the default option of permitting all users to access the relying party and click the Next button
- Click the Next button so it creates the relying party
- Once the relying party is created, you and open the Rules Editor in ADFS to create new rules for passing claim values to ACS
- With the Issuance Transform Rules tab selected, click on the Add Rule… button
- Leave the default template of Send LDAP Attributes as Claims selected and click the Next button.
- Fill out the rest of the rule details:
- Type in a claim rule name
- From the Attribute store: drop down select Active Director
- In the Mapping of LDAP attributes section, map
- LDAP attribute E-Mail-Addresses to Outgoing Claim Type E-Mail Address
- LDAP attribute Token-Groups – Unqualified Names to Outgoing Claim Type Role
- Click the Finish button to save your rule. ADFS configuration is now complete.
6. Configure the SharePoint Trust with ACS
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- This is a multi-step process that begins with getting the token signing certificate from ACS. Fortunately the certificate is included in the FederationMetadata.xml file, so we will retrieve it from there and save it locally to the SharePoint server. On the SharePoint Server, open a browser and open the Access Control Management page as described above
- Click on the Application Integration link under the Trust relationships menu in the left pane, copy the Url it shows for the WS-Federation Metadata and paste it into your browser. The ACS FederationMetadata.xml file will be displayed in the browser.
- Find the section that looks like this (it's about the second major section down from the top of the page):
<RoleDescriptor xsi:type="fed:SecurityTokenServiceType" protocolSupportEnumeration="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wsfed/federation/200706" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:fed="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wsfed/federation/200706">
<KeyDescriptor use="signing">
<KeyInfo xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#">
<X509Data>
<X509Certificate>MIIDEDCCAfiblahblahblah</X509Certificate>
</X509Data>
Copy the data out of the X509Certificate element and paste it into notepad. Save it with a .CER file extension (the encoding should be ANSI); for purposes of this post let’s assume you call the file C:\AcsTokenSigning.cer. This is the token signing certificate for ACS.
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- Add the ACS token signing certificate to the list of trusted root authorities in SharePoint. You can do that as described at http://blogs.technet.com/b/speschka/archive/2010/07/07/managing-trusted-root-authorities-for-claims-authentication-in-sharepoint-2010-central-admin.aspx or you can add it with PowerShell like this:
$cert = New-Object System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Certificate2("c:\AcsTokenSigning.cer")
New-SPTrustedRootAuthority -Name "ACS Token Signing" -Certificate $cert
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- The next step is to create your new SPTrustedIdentityTokenIssuer. I've described this in various places; you can use http://blogs.technet.com/b/speschka/archive/2010/07/30/configuring-sharepoint-2010-and-adfs-v2-end-to-end.aspx as a starting point (just scroll down to the information that comes AFTER setting up ADFS). Some things to remember:
- Both name and nameidentifier are reserved claim types in SharePoint, so even though nameidentifier is the only common claim across the standard identity providers in ACS it isn't an option for your identity claim. Instead I recommend for now just falling back on email address and adding the appropriate rules in ACS as I’ve described above
- The SignInUrl parameter for the New-SPTrustedIdentityTokenIssuer should point to your ACS instance. For example, https://myAcsNamespace.accesscontrol.windows.net:443/v2/wsfederation. You can find this by looking at the Relying Party you set up in ADFS for ACS. Open up the Relying Party properties dialog, click on the Endpoints tab, and use the Url it displays for the WS-Federation Passive Endpoint for the POST binding (it should be the only one there).
- The last step is just to create your web application, configure it to use claims authentication and the SPTrustedIdentityTokenIssuer you created for ACS, and finally create a site collection in the web application and begin testing.
- The next step is to create your new SPTrustedIdentityTokenIssuer. I've described this in various places; you can use http://blogs.technet.com/b/speschka/archive/2010/07/30/configuring-sharepoint-2010-and-adfs-v2-end-to-end.aspx as a starting point (just scroll down to the information that comes AFTER setting up ADFS). Some things to remember:
At this point you should be ready to hit the site and give it a try. Remember that you’ll need to configure the site collection administrator to be one of the email addresses that one of the identity providers will return so you can log into the site. Once in there you can add email addresses or role claims from providers to SharePoint groups just as you would normally expect to do.
The one caveat to remember again, for now, is Windows Live ID. As stated previously in this post, you won’t really have a valid email address for Windows Live so you will need to add what they call the PUID to your SharePoint group. For testing purposes, the easiest way to get this is to log in using Windows Live ID, and then you will reach the page in SharePoint that says you are logged in as “foo” and access is denied. From there you can copy the PUID, login as an admin user, add the PUID to a SharePoint group and you should be good to go. I haven’t even looked at what kind of directory options, if any, are available for Windows Live ID (I’m guessing probably none). But it’s a start so we can move this proof of concept along. Now that we’ve done that, here’s what it looks like logging into my site using each of these identity providers:
Login Page
ADFS
Google
Yahoo
Windows Live ID
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Open the Access Control Management Page
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Swing in a better world: Generics and arrays
[Java] (java.blogs Recent Entries)Java.net blogsGenerics doesn't work well with arrays. Everybody knows that you can't create a generified array, but not many people really know what it was done this way. A nice article from Brian Goetz helped me to understand the problem when I studied the new features of JDK 5. The arrays in java are covariant when generics are not. The following code clearly shows it: String stringArray[] = new String[1]; // compiles ok Object objectArray[] = stringArray; // ...
Generics doesn't work well with arrays. Everybody knows that you can't create a generified array, but not many people really know what it was done this way. A nice article from Brian Goetz helped me to understand the problem when I studied the new features of JDK 5. The arrays in java are covariant when generics are not. The following code clearly shows it:String stringArray[] = new String[1]; // compiles ok Object objectArray[] = stringArray; // throws ArrayStoreException objectArray[0] = new Object(); ArrayList<String> stringList = new ArrayList<String>(); // doesn't compile - incompatible types ArrayList<Object> objectList = stringList;
If a generfied program is compiled without a warning you can safely add an Object to your ArrayList of Objects. However when there is an array of Objects passed to your method as a parameter, there is no way to understand an object of what type you can put there (I am not sure if you can find it out via reflection).
So it is known that arrays and generics don't do well together. It means that it is not recommended to use two features of JDK 5 together, I am talking about generics and varargs. This reminds me one old bug found by Rémi Forax, which was fixed by changingprotected void process(V... chunks) { }
toprotected void process(List<V> chunks) { }
in the SwingWorker class, which did look awkward at the first glance.An alternative implementation
I would be happy if I could create and safely use generified arrays in java, at the same time I can hardly remember if I ever saw a snippet of code that really benefited from the fact that arrays are covariant. This feature of java arrays doesn't look attractive to me and I don't mind "deprecating" it, I don't feel it is correct that I can't create a generifed array when I never cast an array of one particular type to an array of its supertype.
Certainly all java code must be backward compatible with any new version of JDK, I am thinking about a new warning produced by the compiler when covariant arrays are in use. If there is no such a warning in your code it should be pretty acceptable to create a generified array, otherwise you are warned just like when you use a raw type of a generifed class. Something to discuss for the next JDKs?
This was an entry from the Swing in a better world series Your comments are welcome!
Thanks
alexp -
The Ironies of History in the Age of Obama: When White Folks Yell "U.S.A.!" Black and Brown Folks Used to Best Run Away...Not Anymore It Seems
[Blacks] (We are respectable negroes)What a difference ten years makes? On September 11, 2001 America was attacked by Al-Qaeda. In that moment Bin Laden succeeded in initiating a series of events that would eventually kick over the delicate house of cards that was the American Empire. On September 14, 2001 President Bush would stand triumphantly over the rubble of the World Trade Center where he would proceed to beat the drums of war and blow the trumpets of patriotism. A fews later, speaking to the best impulses of Americans as ci ...
What a difference ten years makes? On September 11, 2001 America was attacked by Al-Qaeda. In that moment Bin Laden succeeded in initiating a series of events that would eventually kick over the delicate house of cards that was the American Empire. On September 14, 2001 President Bush would stand triumphantly over the rubble of the World Trade Center where he would proceed to beat the drums of war and blow the trumpets of patriotism. A fews later, speaking to the best impulses of Americans as citizen-consumers, Bush told us that to defy the terrorists that we should all go shopping.
Ten years later, President Barack Obama would return to the site of the World Trade Center and bring some closure to the events of that horrific day. Obama put the hit on Osama. The bogeyman was dead. Now we can move forward as a nation. The symbolic politics are powerful here: The President is our national cheerleader, an informal Head of State, and the embodiment of America's hopes and dreams. Thus, the fixation by the Birthers and the New Right in denying America's first Black President the legitimacy of his position as Commander in Chief precisely because the white racial frame cannot accept a person of color as Chief Executive.
The President's return to the hallowed grounds of 9-11 is also pregnant with no small amount of irony in how the politics of race are punctuated by occasional deviations from the script in the Age of Obama. Black folks have always been loyal patriots. We loved a country that did not love us back.
However, our patriotism is also sophisticated and qualified for we are suspicious of power and are keen to the lies (both big and small) that leaders tell--and how American democracy was exclusive of people of color. Moreover, the flag waving drums of war moments that accompany America's call to battle and triumphalism are often moments of violence, where white Americans renew the brotherhood of citizenship by shedding the blood of black and brown folk.
The Zoot Suit Riots, the lynching of African American GI's while still in their uniforms, the Bloody Summer of 1919, and the acts of discrimination both subtle and gross by the Greatest Generation against black and brown folk in the Age of Jim Crow are testimonies to this ugly history. History is not dead. It lingers in our collective consciousness. For a Blues People, history's echoes run deep. By comparison, one of the historical advantages of Whiteness is the ability to be ahistorical--a people without roots, origins or responsibility.
Thus, when black and brown folks hear chants of "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!" we are right to be suspicious and fearful, for those nationalist orgasmic utterances have often accompanied a trip to the lynching tree or a bloodied blow to the head as the imagined fraternity of white men was reinscribed and renewed at our expense. The Birthers, White Populism and the Tea Bag GOP's embrace of real American White Nationalism is one more reminder of this exclusive club's continued existence into the 21st century. But for a moment, Obama's trip to Ground Zero has--for a few days--upset this dynamic.
Here is one from the archives (wow, four years have gone by?). Today, we have quite a few new visitors curious of the kind people at Crooks and Liars, so it always fun to reach back and bring out a classic piece. The following post is on John Horn's shooting of two burglars in Texas a few years back. This essay remains one of my favorite pieces of all time for a variety of reasons.
There is a nice synergy here: the post speaks to the noxious brew of racialized Patriotism and nationalism that is channeled through those old howls of "U.S.A.!"; the coveted shit-huffer award was introduced here; and there is no small dose of ghetto nerdness on display. Good stuff...at least in my opinion.
****
We are a Nation of Liars, Crooks, Fools, Thieves, and Idiots
A few months back, a story circulated regarding a drug called, "jenkem." Apparently, this "new" drug, a product of Africa of course--where those poor natives do nothing but fight famine, suffer under genocide, live in failed States, and huff shit--consists of human feces and urine in a bong. Here, the "user" would take a "hit" by inhaling the noxious fumes generated by this ungodly concoction:
Apparently, jenkem has now been debunked. But, the idea rang true for a basic reason--people are lazy, stupid, and will try anything once. Moreover, this idea of huffing shit stuck with me because it seemed the perfect metaphor for these good ol' United States.
We are a nation of among other things, former slaves, tax evaders, and cast-off immigrants. More or less, all of us, myself included, have drunk the Kool-Aid, eaten that shit sandwich, and smelled those fumes generated by the American mythos of freedom, equality, and opportunity (or at least the hope that the American creed can one day be made real). More broadly, human beings believe what we want to believe, in a way, and at a time, that is most convenient to us.
As a respectable negro, I focus much of my attention on those black and white shit-huffers who hit that jenkem bong, and spend their time on high-profile issues, issues that are ultimately of little concern, but that nevertheless cause harm to our life-long crusade for human justice, dignity, and black progress. Now to offer a qualifier, shit-huffers are not restricted to those purveyors of race-based hysteria and other nonsense. Those Bill O'Reilly-Rush Limbaugh neo-cons who supported premier Bush in his Iraq misadventures, despite all evidence to the contrary, are a bunch of shit-huffers. Those idiots who follow good ol' Al Sharpton and Shakedown Jesse around on any damn fool idealistic crusade are also shit-huffers.
The shit-huffers of the moment are those knuckleheads in Pasadena, Florida who are defending the white homeowner (a gentleman by the name of Mr. Joe Horn) that shot dead those ignt's robbing his neighbors. These idiots are joined by The New Black Panther Party and other victomologists who are dedicated to valorizing stupidity in the search of a black "hero" (Brother Gartrelle has one percolating on this issue as we speak). Interestingly, this case reminds me of the Duke rape case where everyone involved is an asshole, but where outside forces make the participants emblematic of all the fissures and tensions in our society.
The Horn case, and the one in California where a white homeowner blasted two criminals who beat his son into a coma, are lightening rods for victimologists, right-wingers, and shit-huffers of all stripes because it is great political theater. As depicted by the following video of the Pasadena protest where The New Black Panthers clashed with those white "defenders" of "justice" and "responsible" home ownership, everyone involved is an idiot (thank God there isn't a token negro in the background supporting the protesters...there is always one, and if you find him, please point the fool out..it's sort of like a game of "Where's Waldo"):
It is instructive to watch the above video with the help of my handy viewing guide.
1. 0.01: "that's it?"---sort of sums it up
2. .09: the New Black Panthers make their appearance. Doesn't their leadership look like something out of Reverend Slick's, "Jive Soul Bro' Video?"
3. .11: "You are a disgrace to your race, get a job"--white symbolic racism in action
4. 1:02: "U.S.A., U.S.A."--Uhh ohh, the "White Power," oops I mean "U.S.A." chants have begun. Frankly, I prefer the honesty of Seig Heil and those honest skinhead types who advertise their bigotry and don't hide behind slogans of "equality" or "freedom"
5. 1:17 to 3:07: motorcycle's revving their engines and more U.S.A. chants--You know motorcycles scare off black radicals. Note to any white racists reading this post: motorcycles are more effective than water when it comes to scaring away black people.
6. 3:56-7:40: More U.S.A. chants
7. 8;37-8:51: More rebel yells, motorcycles revving, and The New Black Panthers beat a hasty retreat
As documented by the following footage (doesn't Fox News seem to be everywhere folks are acting stupid?) The New Black Panthers return in full force with the "victims," i.e the family members of those ignt's shot dead by Mr. Horn. Here, we have some wonderfully articulate white meth-heads and angry, marching, black fools. Plus, we all know that whenever someone says it isn't about race, it always is:
This is shit-huffing at its finest. On one side we have the New Black Panthers and Quanell X (you know that was the name of our ancestors and it was stolen from us). Of note, Quanell comes equipped with his own G.I. Joe bodyguard. Be honest, doesn't "Bro Joe," the character in the red beret and black camouflage, look like one of those horrible G.I. Joe figures from the early 1990's?
The data card on the back of his action figure would have probably read:
Member of Cobra
Code Name: Revolution
Real Name: Ty Jackson
Bio: Recruited from the legendary rap group Public Enemy's cadre of elite bodyguards, The S1W's, Revolution is an expert in political theater and all manner of clowning and cooning. Although only 5 feet tall, Revolution has spent time in the Army National Guard where he received a dishonorable discharge for drug use and insubordination. Revolution, later went to prison where he was recruited by Cobra. Following his formal training on Cobra Island, Revolution was tasked with corrupting black radical organizations. As a member of the "Ebony Guards," Revolution worked in parallel with The Crimson Guard. While the latter was tasked with infiltrating suburban communities, corporations, and industry, the Ebony Guards were tasked with urban "renewal" and ghetto "pacification."
Weapons specialties: Saturday night specials; zip guns; Molotov cocktails; spoken word poetry; bad fashion; revolutionary fury; instant recall of conspiracy theories; and knowledge of self.
Regardless, one cannot deny the amazing greatness that was G.I. Joe The Movie:
I could care less about the toothless wonders and the PWT opposing the New Black Panthers. But, I really suggest that The New Black Panthers, if they are going to claim that honorable lineage, at least try to live up to it:
Hell, I would be happy if Quannel and his posse read some classic G.I. Joe comic books (or even the new GI Joe comics where Destro has a child by a black woman--he was creepin' on the Baroness) . At least, this would have improved their strategy and tactics--rushing into the heart of your enemy with insufficient forces to exploit any gap you may create in their lines is a no-no because it inevitably leads to encirclement and the destruction of your forces.
So many shit-huffers, so little time. Here is a thought experiment for you: imagine if instead of The New Black Panthers, that Ghostface, Styles P, and Beanie Siegel stepped up and through that group of white "defenders" of "justice?"..Now that would have been a protest worthy of Fox News:
Yo Joe!!!!! -
Sunscreen: A Mixed Blessing?
[Women, Health] (EmpowHer.com - Site Activity Feed)Sunscreens come in many forms. They can be applied as creams, gel, lotion, ointments and sprays. They can be smoothed onto your eyelids, lips, neck and nose, with a salve or with a stick. Putting a barrier between you and the sun's rays can create a sense of security that is, unfortunately, partly illusion. Only broad-spectrum sunscreens can prevent both sunburn and other kinds of damage. And higher-SPF sunscreens are no guarantee of higher levels of protection. The United States Food and Drug ...
Sunscreens come in many forms. They can be applied as creams, gel, lotion, ointments and sprays. They can be smoothed onto your eyelids, lips, neck and nose, with a salve or with a stick.
Putting a barrier between you and the sun's rays can create a sense of security that is, unfortunately, partly illusion.
Only broad-spectrum sunscreens can prevent both sunburn and other kinds of damage. And higher-SPF sunscreens are no guarantee of higher levels of protection. The United States Food and Drug Administration recommends SPF between 15 and 50+.
The American Academy of Dermatology recommends products that have an SPF of 30 or higher. Keep in mind that an SPF number refer only to UVB protection, and not protection from UVA rays, unless you are using broad-spectrum sunscreen. These types of sunscreen are not subject to any standard system of measurement of protection offered.
Some sunscreens contain chemicals that can be harmful. Oxybenzone for instance is a synthetic form of estrogen that can cause hormonal problems. And para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) can actually increase the risk of sunburn.
Instead, choose active ingredients such as avobenzone, titanium dioxide or zinc oxide. They can protect against some UVB rays and most UVA rays. According to medicine.net, zinc oxide more effectively blocks UV radiation than titanium dioxide can.
According to the Environmental Working Group, government research suggests that vitamin A, called retinyl palmitate in some sunscreens, may encourage the development of lesions and tumors.
Creams, lotions and ointments are more effective and less potentially harmful than powders or sprays. Both of these forms can fill the air with sunscreen particles that can end up in your lungs.
When you use sunscreen, make sure you are using enough to afford real protection. Filling your palm will give you about an ounce, which is about the right amount to spread over all exposed skin.
Put on sunscreen 20 to 30 minutes before going out. Do it again every two hours or so.
If you are swimming or if you've been sweating heavily, you'll need to apply more frequently. If you are in and out of the water, you'll want to re-apply after each dip.
If you have sensitive skin it's a good precaution to do a test on a small area of skin. If you have a reaction to this sunscreen, you'll want to find another.
In general, sunscreen can be used by anyone over the age of six months. Babies younger than this should be kept out of the sun instead, to protect them from any adverse reaction to the chemicals in the sunscreen.
Resources:
How do I protect myself from UV rays?
http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/sunanduvexposure/skincancerpre...Top Sun Safety Tips
http://www.ewg.org/2010sunscreen/top-sunscreen-tips/Sun Protection and Sunscreens
http://www.medicinenet.com/sun_protection_and_sunscreens/article.htmProtecting Your Skin From the Sun - Topic Overview
http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/tc/protecting-your-ski...Sun Protection and Sunscreens
http://www.medicinenet.com/sun_protection_and_sunscreens/article.htmVisit Jody's website and blog at http://www.ncubator.ca and http://ncubator.ca/blogger
Image:
Image Caption:Photo: Getty Images -
Verbatim Store 'n' Go SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive
[Gadgets] (Digital Home Thoughts.com)Product Category: Portable Disk DriveManufacturer: VerbatimWhere to Buy: Amazon [Affiliate]Price: $75.24 USDSystem Requirements: USB 3.0 portSpecifications: Available in 500GB, 750GB, and 1TB capacities. Size 121mm x 80mm x 15mm. Weight: 115g. Supplied cable: 62cm.Pros:Small and light.Good value.Great warranty (seven years)Cons:Not close to "transfer speed up to 10x faster than USB 2.0"Supplied cable is rather short.Summary: At last, USB 3.0 devices are becoming widely available and at prices cl ...
Product Category: Portable Disk Drive
Manufacturer: Verbatim
Where to Buy: Amazon [Affiliate]
Price: $75.24 USD
System Requirements: USB 3.0 port
Specifications: Available in 500GB, 750GB, and 1TB capacities. Size 121mm x 80mm x 15mm. Weight: 115g. Supplied cable: 62cm.
Pros:
- Small and light.
- Good value.
- Great warranty (seven years)
Cons:
- Not close to "transfer speed up to 10x faster than USB 2.0"
- Supplied cable is rather short.
Summary: At last, USB 3.0 devices are becoming widely available and at prices close to 2.0 disks. With transfer rates theoretically 10X as fast as USB 2.0, should you consider a USB 3.0 disk for backups and data transfer? Yes, but don't get your hopes too high. Your backups won't be going 10 times faster.
Do You Need a USB 3.0 Portable Drive?
Removable disk storage is all about convenience—both speed and ease of use. Whether you are moving large media files from one system to another or making image backups or archiving your music and video collection, speed and ease-of-use are paramount. This is not a fun chore! Many choices of portable disks with USB and/or Firewire interfaces have been available for a long time. But Firewire needs a power supply, and some of the USB 2.0 disks need a second USB connection or an external power supply to get enough juice. Usually that isn’t a problem but it just makes the backup or copying that much more inconvenient.
Now comes the SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface specification, which was completed in 2008. With a maximum transfer rate of 5GB/s, or over 10 times the USB 2.0 rate 480 MB/s, and full duplex (can transfer data in both directions at the same time), it is what a lot of computer users have been waiting for. But it has taken a while for products to come to market, with the first ones showing up around January 2010. Motherboard makers have also been slow to put USB 3.0 chipsets in their products, but now the ports are becoming common on new laptops and desktops.
SuperSpeed USB 3.0 is “plug-compatible” with 2.0, meaning you can plug a 2.0 device into a 3.0 port and vice versa. But there are actually 5 more pins in a 3.0 plug that only come in contact with a 3.0 jack, and so you need a 3.0 cable for the high speed. Just like plugging a USB 2.0 device into a 1.1 port, you’ll get a message telling you the device would run faster on a SuperSpeed USB 3.0 device when you plug it into a 2.0 port.
Other than a blue plastic tab in the end of plug instead of the usual white, and a thicker cable, they look the same (Figure 1). Yes, you still have a 50/50 chance of orienting the plug the right way. I seem to have a knack for trying the wrong way 85% of the time; I'd like to know who has my other 35%.
Figure 1. USB 3.0 connectors (left 2) and USB 2.0 (right two). See also this diagram.
So do you need USB 3.0 disk drive? Of course you do!
First Look
This disk drive is packaged in an appropriately sized retail box that is easily opened to reveal a corrugated cardboard insert (Figure 2). Thankfully, there is no excessive hard plastic or foam, just cardboard configured in a way to support the drive away from the exterior. The drive, a short cable, and a small instruction booklet are securely placed inside.
Figure 2: Modest, eco-friendly packaging is easy to open.
It is a good-looking, compact, shiny black device (Figure 3). It feels fairly solid for plastic. In just a few minutes, it is covered with my finger prints, but I’m resigned to frequently wiping off my many glossy black devices and have micro-fiber clothes everywhere, so that doesn't bother me much.
Figure 3: The Verbatim Store 'n' Go SuperSpeed USB 3.0 is only about 50% larger than a smart phone, so it is easy to take your media files or backups wherever you go. [Photo courtesy of Verbatim]
The drive-end if the cable is a Type-B USB 3.0 connector - that's the second one from the left in Figure 1. It is a bit difficult to insert. I plugged the other end it into my laptop’s 2.0 port to take a quick look; it came right on and Windows 7 did not need to find a driver, or found one on it's own without bothering me. There is a single blue LED that is on steadily when there is power, and blinks when the drive is accessed. It is behind the semi-transparent end of the case which makes the light very diffuse, making me think I forgot to put my glasses on. It is on the end with the cable, which make sense when it is being used with a laptop, but when plugged into the back of a desktop with the very short cable, the disk cannot be positioned in a way that the activity light is visible. On top would have been better.
The supplied software is on the disk rather than a CD. You better make a backup of those before using the disk - I don't see the software available for download from Verbatim. Files include a PDF user’s guide, Nero “BackItUp & Burn Essentials”, a "Norton Online Backup" installer, and some kind of “Formatter” utility. It is formatted FAT32, I guess so Mac’s can read it, but you may wish to reformat it as NTFS when you copy the software off it. More about the software later.
Side Note on Add-In Adapters
Many new computers have USB 3.0 built in; soon all will. Until then, a number of inexpensive add-in PCI Express adapters are available. For laptops, there is at least one ExpressCard adapter at about $35; to me, that would be more awkward and expensive than the value. But for a desktop or tower system a PCI Express card is reasonable.
I obtained a StarTech PEXUSB3S2, about $30, then saw a Syba SD-PEX20047 on MeritLine for $15, so I have two to compare. They are about the same, except the StarTech included a half-height bracket, which would be important if your computer took only half-height cards. I was surprised both had an internal L4 molex power connector. The StarTech instructions said to simply connect this to your computer's internal power supply, but mine has none. The Syba instructions said this is optional for devices needing more power (and implied a Y-connect was supplied; it was not). On starting, Windows 7 did not find a driver for the Syba card, but one was easily installed from the provided mini-CD . . . after (reluctantly) reading the printed instructions to find it. I tried the benchmark programs described below on both adapters, and did not find any differences, so only the results for the Syba card are shown.
If you go this route, buy an extension cable so you don't drive yourself nuts reaching around to the back of computer to find the ports. I saw a 3ft "Type A male/female" one for $2 online ($6 shipping). Get a blue one so you can keep it separate from your USB 2.0 cables.
Speed Tests -- Let the Race Begin!
Benchmark Methods
To get a good idea of the relative performance of USB 3.0 vs. 2.0, and of the Verbatim disk, I used two disk benchmark programs, devised some file copy tests and did several disk image backups. A summary of these methods is:
- ATTO Disk BenchMark. The default options were used (particularly Direct I/O).
- CrystalDiskMark (version 3.0.1). Reports sequential and random reads and writes, and takes a long time to run, so it must be good (:-)). The default settings of 5 runs for each test and a test size of 1000MB were used.
- Small File Copy: to test copying many small files, a subset of photos was copied to and from the target disk with the ROBOCOPY command. The data consisted of 6,341 files in 218 folders for a total of 6.42 GB. This replicates a common task I do often to mirror media files between systems and make backups to store elsewhere. To test reading and writing at the same time, which is something USB 3.0 can do but 2.0 cannot, the same files were written to a second location on the target disk while a second process was launched to read the first copy from the target disk to a different drive on the test computer. I’m not sure how often you will do something like this in real life, but since USB 3.0 is full duplex I thought it would be an interesting test. These tests were repeated 3 times and the average times calculated, then converted to MB/s. The system’s file cache of 2GB is much less than the amount of data copied, and copying was to and from a different location than the previous run, so caching effects should have been minimal.
- Large File Copy: here two HD recordings, one 3.90GB and one 7.94 GB were copied to and from the target disk. This is also something real-world and a common thing to do, such as when my little brother was on CNN recently and I wanted to cut the segment out of the 2 hour WTV recording made on my media center (hey, I have to brag about it . . . plus I really do wish I had had a USB 3.0 device when I moved the file!)
- Image backup: Macrium Reflect Free Edition was used to make a backup image of the test computer’s C: drive. This is something I do often. On this test system the C: drive is pretty large because there are other things besides the OS, and the resulting image file was about 63GB.
All reported tests were done on a modest Dell Inspiron 518 with a Pentium E2220 with 2 cores at 2.4GHz and 3GB of memory running Windows 7 Ultimate (32bit). The ATTO and CrystalDiskMark were also run on the Verbatim disk drive connected to a high-end workstation, to see if the small memory, low-end CPU, and 32-bit-ness of the test system made any difference; no difference was seen.
Comparison Devices
Here at the Thoughts Media Product Testing Center Annex #42, we don’t have many USB 3.0 devices to compare with the Verbatim drive. I like to use old internal SATA disks in a docking station for backups, and one day Meritline had a special on a MyGica USB 3.0 SATA docking station for $20 which was too good to pass up. I put a Western Digital 10,000RPM 80 GB SATA drive in that to use for testing. Besides that, I borrowed a Super-Talent USB 3.0 Express DUO 16GB flash drive (about $30), and also compared some USB 2.0 devices, in particular a trusty old Pocketec DataStor SATA USB 2.0 180GB disk that at one time was one of the fastest portable disks available.
So these comparison don’t tell us how the Verbatim disk drive fairs against direct competitors, but they are still informative in helping you decide if a USB 3.0 portable disk drive is worth investing in, and, in general, what to expect with USB 3.0.
Results
ATTO Disk Benchmark
Figure 4 shows the results from the ATTO Disk Benchmarks, where I wanted to see if there was any difference between the two PCIx cards and between FAT32 and NTFS formatting. There was no performance difference between the StarTech and Syba card, so in further tests the Syba was always used. I then formatted the Verbatim disk as an NTFS file system (unchecking the “Quick Format” option); this took a long time, but that’s not surprising for 500GB.
Figure 4. ATTO Disk Benchmark Results comparing FAT32 vs. NTFS formats, and some USB 2.0 devices.
There were some interesting things from this first round of benchmarks:
- The Verbatim disk drive did better when connected to a USB 2.0 port when formatted as FAT32 than NTFS, so maybe you should leave it formatted as FAT32 if you will use it with 2.0 ports often.
- USB 3.0 sure doesn't look like it is going to 10x faster than 2.0.
- The MyGica SATA dock really took a hit when connected to a 2.0 port; the Verbatim faired better in that it ran the same as the dock whereas it wasn't as fast on the 3.0 port.
- A USB 3.0 flash drive, like that Super-Talent, can be very slow to write to.
So there are some puzzling things there. Let's move on.
CrystalDiskMark Benchmarks
This program does 4 kinds of tests:
- Seq : Sequential Read/Write Test (Block Size = 1024KB)
- 512K : Random Read/Write Test (Block Size = 512KB)
- 4K : Random Read/Write Test (Block Size = 4KB)
- 4K QD32 : Random Read/Write Test (Block Size = 4KB, Queue Depth = 32)
I, frankly, don't quite understand the implications of the 3 different random tests, which are labeled R1, R2, and R3 in the chart in Figure 5, but the numbers sure came out differently.
Figure 5. CrystalDiskMark results for the test devices.
Now things are getting interesting.
The SATA dock does much better than the Verbatim disk for all the tests, but both are "off the chart" for most of the random tests. Why the R1 write was OK I don't know, but I checked the results and re-ran the tests. Because the Super-Talent 3.0 flash drive behaved so much differently in the ATTO benchmark, I added a Verbatim 16GB flash drive to the mix. Note how slow the R2 Write and R3 Write test were for both flash drives.
I'm still not seeing anything close to 10X USB 2.0 but, enough benchmarks, let's move on to some real-world tests.
Small File Copy Tests
In this test, the files were first copied to the target disk to have a set for the read test, then copied again to a different directory. The first set was then read back to a different disk on the test computer. So there would be some effect from the OS file cache as well as hardware cache, but each run was repeated 3 times and done exactly the same way for each device. The numbers were close across each run. This took hours and hours, by the way. Let's take a look at Figure 6. The "S-Write" and "S-Read" columns are where two process were started at the same time, one writing to the device and one reading from it (both to and from different directories).
Figure 6. Small File Copy results for writing and reading 6,000 photos, and doing the write and read at the same times (S-Write and S-Read).
Now the Verbatim disk is looking better against the SATA dock, and it is even a little faster when reading. But it falls short in the simultaneous read and write, where the read speed falls to nearly half the speed of the SATA dock. I suspect this is due to the nature of the disk hardware. The SATA dock had a relatively large and heavy 2.5" disk drive with an external power supply and running at 10,000 rpm. It probably has much better seek times and internal transfer rates that the low power and light-weight drive inside the Verbatim.
Some more interesting things:
- Write is 10 times slower to the Super-Talent than reading, but "only" 5 times slower with the Verbatim 2.0 flash drive. Reading during the slow writing doesn't seem to make the writing much worse.
- The Verbatim disk, when plugged into a 2.0 port, does as well as the Pocketec Datastor, so if some of your computers still have 2.0 ports, you won't be penalized for using this 3.0 disk.
- The full-duplex ability of the USB 3.0 connection seems only useful if the disk hardware can keep up.
But it still doesn't look like USB 3.0 is going to be 10 times as fast as 2.0. Maybe twice as fast for reading, on a good day. But a couple more tests are in order, even though I promised the review would be done last week.
Large File Copy and Image Backup
The results from copying the two large HDTV files (3.9GB and 7.94GB) and the Macrium image backup are combined in the chart in Figure 7. The file copies were done in a way similar to the small file copy, repeated 3 times, etc., but the image backup was done only once per device because it was time consuming.
Figure 7. Large file (1=3.9GB, 2=7.94GB) and Image Backup results.
Here the MyGica SATA Dock edges out the Verbatim disk drive a little bit, but now we really see some fast speeds, with the reads of the 3.9GB file exceeding 120MB/s. I didn't believe the "Read 1" numbers so I repeated the tests the next day and in a different order and the times came out identical, and I don't know why the Pocketec on the 2.0 port did better in "Read 1" than the Verbatim on the same port when their write speeds were identical.
Still nothing close to the advertised transfer rate of 480MB/s, but "transfer rate" doesn't necessarily mean "how fast it will actually backup or copy data".
What we can say is the Verbatim SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Store'n'Go disk keeps up with a much larger, bulkier, and uglier SATA disk in a dock and, on average, is going to move your data about twice as fast as a USB 2.0 disk drive.
Included Software
Lastly, let's take a quick look at the software included on the disk. These things are usually worth what you paid for them, but I suppose they do help sell the product in a retail setting.
Verbatim Hard Drive Formatter
I'm not sure what this is for. After installation the installer could not launch the program ("requires elevated privileges") but it did run by launching the desktop icon. Then it said a newer version of Adobe Flash Player for Internet Explorer was required. What? Groan. Well, OK.
The program finds your Verbatim disk and gives you the choice of NTFS for FAT32, then it does a quick format. I'm not sure what use this is, other than it is slightly easier to use than the Windows 7 formatting utility.
Nero BackItUp & Burn Essentials
I installed the Nero software next (again, you'd be out of luck if you ran the formatter from the disk first!) The installer says it requires a reboot...grr! On restart, several more things were installed, plus...what a surprise...a free browser toolbar! How delightful! The program actually looks pretty good (Figure 8) and has functions to backup files and drives manually or automatically, synchronize files, and create an image recovery disk. It also offers encryption options, which is a very good thing for portable media.
Figure 8. Nero BackItUp & Burn Essentials is fairly easy to use and comprehensive, and you even have the opportunity to pay for an upgrade to a better version.
I ran the drive backup on the test computer's C: drive, which is a similar task to the Macrium image backup benchmarked above. Macrium took about 22 minutes and made a 63GB file. The Nero tool took an incredible 2 hours and 39 minutes and made 41 files taking up 70.5GB. Unlike Macrium image files, you cannot restore individual files from the drive backup. It does support encryption while the Macrium Free Edition does not, but you can use BitLocker to secure removable disk drives if your version of Windows 7 includes that feature. Due to the glacial speed if the image backup, I was not inspired to look at other features in Nero BackItUp Essentials at this time.
Norton Online Backup
The disk drive includes a free trial of Norton Online Backup, one of many backup services that store your data for you. If you feel you really should have a copy of your irreplaceable media such as family photos and videos stored outside your house - and you should - an online service is an attractive option. However, most home Internet connections have rather slow upload speeds, and some have limits on total uploads and downloads.
The basic Norton Online service is $50 for "1 year protection for up to 5 PCs", and a limit of 25GB. That might be enough for most households' pictures and documents, but adding music and home videos would easily exceed that. Additional storage has been reported at an additional $50 for 10GB and $240 for 100GB. Dropbox is similar at $20/month for 100GB. For that kind of money you could have 3 or 4 Verbatim 500GB disk drives . . . but you'll still have to remember to routinely take one to a remote location for safe keeping.
The free 60-day trial includes 5GB of space. Launching the provided "Norton Online Backup.exe" simply sends you to their download page where you can download the real installer (5MB). The application is all browser based. I accepted the defaults (various file types in my C:UsersChris folder) and added my large C:mediapicturesphotos directory. It was quick to calculate the total number of files (7239) and size (6.07GB) and tell me it was too large. I removed the photos directory and it recalculated 1227 files and 51.26MB. I then selected "Manual (Use Back Up Now only") under the "When" tab. Once I found the Back Up Now button, it took about 4 minutes. The common usage would be to schedule that for night time. You can schedule an approximate time and it picks the exact time, so now I have one scheduled for daily at 3am. It would be interesting to see if I'm not logged on, or if the computer is asleep, whether the backup runs or not. Regardless, this kind of "trial ware" is not much of a reason to buy the Verbatim disk; anyone can download the Norton Online Backup 60-day trial.
Conclusion
If you need a small, light portable disk drive for backups or moving files, a Verbatim Store'N'Go SuperSpeed USB 3.0 is a good choice, even if you don't have USB 3.0 ports in any of your computers now. With an amazing 7 year warranty, you would have this disk for a long time and would no doubt have USB 3.0 in the near future. But don't expect 10 times the speed of a USB 2.0 disk drive; count on about twice as fast. Maybe the "10" in "10x" on the package is binary! The USB 3.0 protocol will be with us for a long time, and backup speeds will pick up as disk drives, memory, bus speeds, and processor speeds all get faster.
Chris Sacksteder is a systems developer living in central Pennsylvania. Hobbies include keeping automatic commercial skipping working on Windows 7 Media Center and doing backups, lots of backups, of the numerous computers in the house.
Do you enjoy using new hardware, software and accessories, then sharing your experience with others? Then join us on the Thoughts Media Review Team! We're looking for individuals who find it fun to test new gear and give their honest opinions about the experience. It's a volunteer role with some great perks. Interested? Then click here for more information.
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Yeast Water & Other Wee Beastie Bubbles (No Math)
[Baking, Food] (The Fresh Loaf)Yeast Water & Other Wee Beastie Bubbles (No Math) There is a Chinese proverb, of which, I am very fond: The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names. a Highly Active Culture of Apple Yeast Water Having no delusions of being wise, I often go ahead and refer to things, for which, I have never found a proper name. However, I do try to state the meaning that I think they may deserve. *** Some terms and the meanings I place on them when I use them. Yeast Water (YW) a ...
Yeast Water & Other Wee Beastie Bubbles (No Math)
There is a Chinese proverb, of which, I am very fond:
The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names.
a Highly Active Culture of Apple Yeast Water
Having no delusions of being wise, I often go ahead and refer to things, for which, I have never found a proper name. However, I do try to state the meaning that I think they may deserve.
*** Some terms and the meanings I place on them when I use them.
Yeast Water (YW)... a specific instance of:
A quantity of nearly total water, which contains an active culture of microscopic life forms that will consume various nutrients and release carbon dioxide while doing so.Yeast Water, Yeast Water Levain (YWL)... in general, intended, or already mixed with a gluten type flour:
A culture started from any type of YW that is mixed with flour and used in the same way as Sourdough Levain or Commercial yeast.AYW, RYW, PYW, CYW, GYW, etc.... abbreviations for what is used to maintain the YW culture, such as:
Apple YW, Raisin YW, Prune YW, Clementine YW, Grape YW, etc. Used where the 1st letter's meaning should be clear to anyone.Dust, as in apple dust, raisin dust, etc....
The accumulation of particles on the bottom of a YW culture, resulting from small parts that the culture has reduced to separate "dust" parts.Highly Active Culture... general usage.
A Yeast Water culture that shows large amounts of activity - CO2 creation - can be in the form of bubbles rising in the actual water of a YW jar, or in a levain, which would be judged exactly as one would judge a sourdough levain.Strong YW... general usage
Only measurable by testing growth when mixed with at least a A-P flour level gluten. This would apply to most YW that is being stored in a fridge, although, if returned to room temperature, the indications of a Highly Active Culture may re-manifest themselves.Wild Yeast... general usage:
Any of the countless species of eukaryotic micro-organisms (over 1,500 species currently described, according to Wikipedia [1]) excluding those used in Commercial Yeast and known as Baker's Yeast, as well as Brewer's Yeast - both of which are Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and have been used for thousands of years (See Wikipedia [1, 2] ) There is no earthly reason, that I can think of, which would justify your needing to remember any of those technical terms...Wee Bonnie Beasties (WBBs)... my personal usage
Any of the Wild Yeast that I might find useful. Sorry, but as the writer, I do have some prerogatives.*** General Thoughts about Sourdough and Yeast Water - as far as our usage here.
All I need to know, and therefore, all I care to touch upon here, is how do I understand the cultivation, care, and usage of Yeast Water (YW) to the extent that I get the levains that will aid me in making foods I bake, &or eat - I do eat banana levain without the baking step and occasionally drink some fermented beverages..
Think of these Wild Yeast, for a moment, as if they were humans. You can find different groups that like different music, or different foods, different climates, etc. There are different groups of Wild Yeast that like wheat, others rye, others apples, grapes, etc. I think you see the point. But, they all need a source of the foods that they can eat, or that their companions can convert into foods that they can eat, and in hard times, they will eat things that they would probably not prefer to eat.
Unlike humans, Wild Yeast and their companions don't normally have drilling equipment, and while they often can be transported by air currents, they do not have wings to pick and choose locations. So, if chance places them where there are the sugars, starches and whatever that is needed for these Wee Bonnie Beasties (WBBs) to survive and multiply, then there is a very good chance that they will do just that.
Those great survival places are, more often than not, on the outer surface of commonly grown food sources. The same ones that humans often like, and for the same reasons that the WBBs like them - they are good sources of sugars, starches, and flavors - and low sources of deadly compounds (the latter consideration does not necessarily apply to humans).
Now, let us consider where these few fanciful premises can take us:
1/ The world is full of concentrated sources of these WBBs.
2/ They are there for your finding and taking.
3/ With some trial and (perhaps,) error, you should be able provide a home and diet that will keep both you and your WBBs happy.
4/ They will rise your doughs, and uncomplaining will die so that you may bake your daily bread.
5/ It is not too likely that they will remain that happy, if you force them to change their ways.
6/ Your WBBs are happy and healthiest on their original diets, and if you shift the diet, there is a very good chance the new WBBs - that come in with the new food you provide - will take over and the originals will diminish, even disappear completely.The last item - "6/" - means that Apple Yeast Water (AYW) can shifted into a sourdough (SD) and that SD into a banana levain (BL) and the BL into a sour-rye levain (SRL) and even converted back into an AYW... Assuming you had strange tastes in what you liked to spend your time doing.
*** The Skin Game...
None of this is new., and the methods of starting a sourdough culture are filled with examples of people using the facts - without necessarily connecting the dots. Nancy Silverton has pushed using grapes to start a sourdough culture [3]. Dan Lepard says to use raisins, currants, and whey. [4] In an hour you could no doubt find any number of other examples of "Helpers to get a sourdough started".
What most of these have in common is that they start a YW culture long enough to establish an environment to foster the growth of the WBBs found in wheat flour. In my first Apple YW culture [5] I used a ¼ tsp of potato YW to jump-start the apple YW fermentation.
You do not need to be a "health nut" to realize that the skins of most commercially sold fruit have been treated
with chemicals to kill "everything except humans" ( not sure about the "except' part of that statement ). So, if you feel you must start from scratch, and use the skins of your source item, and then I would say buy from a source of untreated fruits or vegetables. Once you have any Wild Yeast culture - Sourdough, or Yeast Water, you never need to use skins again, and there are other benefits, I find, to using only the pure flesh of the fruits. Although, I will admit the "garbage disposal" approach of skin, cores, and table scraps, etc. will work to create a YW culture.*** Do Not Be Afraid to Experiment ...
If you do not try things, you will only have "book learning". I would think, that anyone, which only had book learning would be much the poorer for the lack of the real life complement . Book learning is great, but not to the exclusion of life's lessons.
*** Why Not Just Use a Sourdough Culture and Be Done With It?
Well, I don't know. Why do anything different? Why use Sourdough and not just commercial yeast? Perhaps to learn how to do new things, perhaps, of the increase the range of options that new methods might offer you. These types of decisions are personal choices - choices each of us have to make for ourselves.
For me, there is also the fact that the general absence of the "Sour", as in sourdough, is desired at times. The fragrance from various YW levains is a worthy addition to the palette that I can use to paint the flavor of a bread, and the colors of different YW can add visual appeal to the baked goods - bread, or any other items.
In addition, there are differences in how individual types of YW levains behave. Some people have observed much faster rises with raisin YW (RYW) in certain cases, I find differences in the temperature effects on AYW, as compared to SD levains.
I also find there is the greater ease in the maintenance requirements for my AYW than there is for my SD culture. I love SD, and would never knowingly give it up. However, SD gives me one family of flavors and crumb colors, YW gives me a wider range of everything. I also have had what I consider as great results using a mixture of SD and AYW to create a bread with superior flavor, tang, color, and moistness - all based on my taste, of course, not necessarily to your taste.
But, I am not using my time writing this to play salesman. I could care less if you use Yeast Water, but two things have brought me to try to write this: First, I find - perhaps well intended - postings that are full of statements based upon fantasies (at best), and information that is only creating more "Baker's Legends" and secondly, I find more and more of my personal time being spent answering the same questions over and over. While this is a time consuming task, to the extent that I can write down these answers in a referenceable posting, the less future time that will be spent on those same answers.
*** How Does One Start a Yeast Water culture...
Well that depends on several things, but in general:
1/ Choose the type of YW you want initially. I would suggest picking one that others have had good results at starting. For that, I would say try one of these three types: Grape, Raisin, or Apple, although, feel free to try anything that turns you on.
2/ You will need to start from scratch only if you have no source of existing Sourdough, or Yeast Water cultures. Since all you need to jump-start a culture is a very small amount of any existing culture, I am sure anyone you know that has a culture could give you a part of teaspoonful of their culture to get you started.
3/ Starting with, or without, a jump-start culture:
a/ Take a clean glass jar that has a lid. I find short squat a POOR choice, and jars taller than wide a BETTER choice.
b/ Fill about one fourth of the jar's height with your raisins, or crushed grapes, or your apple slices.
c/ Add water that is chemical free. Fill that jar about half full. I find having the fruit filling only half the volume of water is convenient for the following reasons. Raisins initially sink and as the YW starts developing, raisins will start to form bubbles and then rise, grapes tend to be a mixed bag as to floating initially, while apple slices float initially, but when really depleted they often become "waterlogged" sink to the bottom. In any case, having a section that is more or less a clear water area offers greater opportunity to notice changes that start to occur in your YW culture. This is even more true when it is a fully mature and active culture.
d/ If you wish, you can add a small amount (½ tsp.) of honey, or sugar, but it is not necessary with sweet fruit at first, but would be with vegetables.
e/ IF Jump-starting ONLY:
e-1/ Using an existing YW: add a teaspoon full of the active existing YW to your new starting YW jar,
e-2/ Using an existing SD: ½ teaspoon of SD to cup of water, stir to dissolve the SD in the water and wait for half hour to get some settlement in the mixture. Then, extract a teaspoon of the top portion of the water mixture and add it to your new starting YW jar.f/ Place a lid on the jar, and leave the jar out of direct sunlight, at room temperature (RT), or up to about 82ºF (27.8º C)
g/ Once a day (more often will not hurt) remove the lid, and stir to release any CO2 and to add oxygen to the solution. Some people find a vigorous shaking of the jar helps. It may, I have never tried it.
h/ If after 4 or 5 days, you do not see bubbles starting to forming, raisins or grapes floating, add another sugar or honey treat. If after 7 days you see nothing, throw everything out and find a new source for your fruit purchases. Start over.
*** After the Bubbles Flow...
Once you have convincing evidence of the YW becoming active, you can make your first proofing test. After all, the only proof of a worthwhile leavening culture is in the rising of the dough. So make your first YWL (YW levain). I would do it something like this:
1/ Find a small glass container, something very much like a typical morning fruit juice glass, with close to vertical sides. The straighter the container's sides, the easier it is to judge how much the levain has risen.
2/ If you weigh the empty glass and record the weight for future reference, it might come in handy. Use your tap water to see about how much a quarter of a glass of water weighs. If it is about 40 to 50 ml (grams), or about 1½ ounces, that would seem a good enough amount. Empty the glass.
3/ Measure out something close to that weight in the YW from your culture (replace the same amount of water back into the culture) and also measure an equal weight of A-P flour. Combine the YW and flour in your "test beaker", mix the two ingredients and place a rubber band around the glass at the level of the mixture's top surface. Place it in a warm location where you can check for activity and place anything - like a piece of light cardboard on the top to cover the opening - to keep anything from falling in and to minimize evaporation from the mixture.
4/ check the level, as compared to the rubber band's location to see if it is rising. If it raises to a level equal to the twice as high as the rubber band in 4 or 5 hours you have a very active levain (and YW culture) if it has not risen at least half that much in 24 hours, then your culture is not ready to use yet. In between those extremes, you make your own judgment calls.
*** After Your Proof of Life on Mars...
Okay, you now are the proud owner of a Yeast Water culture. You have the information needed you make new types of YW, should you wish to. You should realize that the characteristics of your YW will take some time to know well, and that changing the way you feed it, or adding different types of materials into the culture will all change anything you have learned about it - just as switching the A-P flour in a White Sourdough levain to a diet of rye will make it radically different in its behavior, so to will switching from apples to prunes change the characteristics of your YW. Using certain fruits will make any YW worthless for use in bread making - these are a few: kiwi, pineapple, mango and papaya.
I strongly recommend you read the materials on TFL and elsewhere before making any changes in your culture's feeding and care. Here are a few places to start such readings [6, 7, 8, 9].*** Apple Yeast Water (AYW)...
From here on, nearly everything is specifically meant to apply only to my AYW and SD cultures, although, I will touch on some of my observations that I made with other YW types. However, as I have said above, different YW types may have different characteristics, and often do.
So, for example, if you want specifics on RYW, search TFL on "teketeke" or "daisya". If you want info on AYW, search TFL on "hanseata" or on "RonRay" and if on a wider range, search TFL on "yeast water", &or the references listed at the end of this writing.
Of course, if you are looking for deep information on the nature of SD, search TFL of "Debra Wink", who knows more facts about sourdough WBBs than anyone I ever encountered.
*** Some Q & A that have been posed in the past...
= Q
...Now that I have my RYW proofed , should I just keep that and use it like I do my SD?
= A
...No, keep your yeast water away from flour, until you want to use it for baking...= Q
...Okay, but why?
= A
...It appears that anything the grows and offers nutrients on its skin/surface/husk/etc. will attract wild yeasts, Labs, and who knows what else. different wee beasties will find different nutrient sources preferable to others. So, your raisin yeast water (RYW) will get competition from the beasties that love flour, and soon you will not have sweet RYW, but sourdough.= Q
...You said you use 3 builds to make your YW levain. My SD works fine with one or two. Why use more.
= A
...I used the straight method on one of wao's YW breads and it took 16 hours to rise. With SD, generally, you've done refreshes and have a good feel for just how active the SD is. If, like many people, you keep YW in the fridge, until you want to use it; you have a very poor basis to know just how active it is. It is simple for me to take a small amount (10 to 20g) of highly active YW from my active culture and add it to an equal amount of A-P flour and in a few hours have proof positive of strong growth. Using that when it is between 60% to 80% risen and moving to Build #2 gives a strong growth and guarantees that the Build #3 will provide exactly what I planned for in rise times and volume of my breads. No 16 hour surprises anymore.= Q
...Can I get a sour YW by keeping it in the fridge too long?
= A
...I can only tell you what I have experienced:
1/ If I start with my AYW & Flour, and use AYW (not tap Water) in all builds, I have never gotten a sour levain - even after a week in the fridge.2/ If I start with my AYW & Flour, and use tap Water (not AYW) in all builds, I have never gotten a sour levain after 3-builds - even after a week in the fridge.
3/ If I start with my AYW & Flour, and use tap water (not AYW) in all builds, and then retain some of that levain to back slope a new series of builds (built on the old levain) I have started to get a sour by the 6th build. All 6 builds being built largely at 51ºF/10.6ºC in a wine bottle fridge.
In other words: One can convert an AYW Levain into a normal WSD by maintaining an initial YW Levain in the same manor as a sourdough culture is maintained. My guess is that the continuing refreshments of wild yeast in the flour, without any fresh YW allows the flour-loving wild yeast to take over the culture.
4/ If I start WSD (White Sourdough) Levain, and use my surplus AYW from the fridge, instead of tap water, in my builds, I can build a SD-AYW Levain that is both sour and has a beautiful fragrance and makes a sweeter, more moist loaf. It has become a favored method of mine.
5/ I have never found a condition where the sourness decreased with increased time - either in, or out of a fridge.
6/ THIS MAY BE of relevance... All of the above is with Apple Yeast Water and KAF A-P flour. Since we know that each type of flour is likely to have a different group of "favorite" wild yeast living off of it, all of these results might very well be different if the flour type changed. For instance, if you used Rye flour, I would not be at all surprised if you had different results. Thus, with your different formulae, you may well be creating different conditions than those that I have been dealing with.= Q
...How do you know your AYW is slowing down, or needs food, and such?
= A
...I use the bubbles as a measure of the activity. A slow down, usually is for one of these reasons:
1/ The pressure got too high (because I tighten jar the lid too tight). If so, there will be swishing with foaming when the pressure is reduced by removing the lid.
2/ The water has gotten too alcoholic (I do not consider that "sour", but you might) and that water goes into the fridge to use in levain builds - other than the first build. If you cannot tell alcohol by smell, taste it.
3/ The WBBs want their sugar cube "fix" (I give one cube about every 4 to 7 days, and whenever I change water).
4/ The apple slices have little left to give. (depending upon the apple type, 8 to 10 days).
BTW I have 2 jars that have been maintained this way for at least five months, and never cooled, nor refrigerated.
5/ When the apple slices sink, you know the activity is very low. The slices float, when fresh, but as time passes they become more waterlogged, and need the bubbles to hold them up !!!
Now, I was talking about my AYW (apple yeast water in those points. But it should provide a background for any wild yeast culturing - with adjustments for the oddities by "beastie types"
Here is an image of the bubbles rising in my AYW culture. They are difficult to photograph, and often I need to use a magnifying glass to see them clearly. The streams of bubbles can be very small, fine, bubbles, but they start in the apple dust at the bottom and stream to the apple slices at the top. Of course, when a sugar cube is dropped in, it sinks into the apple dust at the bottom. So, there is a lot of sugars in the material at the bottom.
= Q
...What IS your favorite fruit water? Why is it your favorite?
= A
...Well, I would call it Yeast water, not fruit water - vegetables work well, too. When I was fairly new with YW experiments, I thought I liked Clementine YW best. But Apple YW was a close second choice.Clementine lost out more for practical considerations: I crushed the sections and only added those parts and the juice. (I found the skins of citrus, if used in YW made tastes I distinctly dislike).
Of course, any source that is highly seasonal, is not a good choice for one's "standby" YW. Grapes, raisins, and Zante Currants are all reliable year round sources, as is/are potato flakes (instant potato). Some sources must be avoided, if it is bread you wish to use the YW in - such as the warning I posted elsewhere: "Certain fruits should not be used for yeast waters intended for leavening bread. They are those fruits (or vegetables) that contain Actinidain (or actinidin) kiwi, pineapple, mango and papaya. This protease enzyme breaks down protein. If you make a yeast water from these fruits, you can still use it as a meat tenderize, but NOT in your bread dough."
I discovered that prune juice worked well to make a YW, but turned out making a dense crumb that I didn't care for very much. It did make a bread that visually could pass for a very dark rye.
Which brings up the coloring agent aspect that YW can play. Clementine and apple give a very nice soft golden tint, as well as a nice fragrance.
For me, AYW won.
Before I give the final considerations, why apple won for me, let me shift to another consideration, and that is Starting vs. maintaining a Wild Yeast Culture.
In nature, it is the skins that usually hold the highest concentrations of wild yeast. The dusty film on the skins of grapes and blueberries are wild yeast. In the modern day world, fewer and fewer skins of fruit and vegetables that one buys in the market have not been treated in one way or another to kill or remove anything on the skins. So, it becomes a bit harder to start a YW from scratch, and potentially, much less healthy to add unwashed skins to the YW. Fortunately, the skins are not necessary in maintaining an established culture, nor are they necessary if you have any type culture existing.
Since, if you have any Wild Yeast Culture, you can start a different one by jump-starting the new one. Just as feeding a pure banana purée to SD can create a pure Banana levain, or feeding rye flour to SD can get a Sour Rye, likewise, adding a small amount of raisin YW (RYW) to a jar of skinned apple slices covered with water, will get you an AYW from a RYW in about 1, or 2 days.
Of course, if you once have an AYW culture, you have no need to ever use any skins. The WBBs will slowly build "apple dust" on the bottom of the jar's clear gold-tinted water in the middle area and floating apple slices on the top. The "apple dust" seems to be that greatest concentration of the wee beasties and while I maintain some always in the culture, it adds an extended moistness to a bread. I enjoy using the "discard" apple slices (when replaced by fresh ones in the culture) mixed with raisins, honey, brown sugar as a baked apple desert - much like my Banana levain gets used as a treat.
= Q
...How can you keep from dumping your apple dust when you change water, or use the AYW for levain?
= A
...I use a baster, just a common supermarket type, but the top squeeze bulb is smaller than most. Cleaning is not a problem, since it is only used for the AYW, and I fill a quart plastic container in the sink before using the baster to extract the AYW. As soon as the extraction is complete, I simple suck the baster full of clean water from the plastic pail, shake well and squirt it into the sink drain. Repeating that 3 or 4 times is all the cleaning required and the baster is allowed to drain/dry vertically in the rack at the sink's edge.Surplus AYW is saved in tall jars that were once olive jars and kept in the fridge's door, and used it in Build #2s and #3s of levain builds. Thus, normally, this only requires me to need 10 to 20g of fresh AYW from the active culture's water - which is replaced at once with fresh water out of the same baster that had just extracted the used amount. That AYW, of course, is what I use to make the Build #1 of any new levain build.
There is no water loss from the active culture, except what I remove - as in the above use for new levain starts. Other than that, what gets removed is nearly all water when the water gets too high in alcohol, and that is what I use to form the fridge maintained surplus.
= Q
...So simple and it sounds like you really only have to attend to it once a week....or do you toss in a sugar cube sometime before you do what you have just done?
= A
...I enjoy watching the small streams of bubbles raising from the "apple dust" and racing up to the undersides of the floating apple slices. Several times a day, I generally pause to watch them for a second, or two. It is good to open the jar one or more times a day, and just mildly stir the apple slices - the parts exposed to the air are effected differently than those that are not. Stirring also ensures that the lid was not too tight - would not want too much pressure to build up in the jar.Of course, to stir, is to shake off bits that become the "apple dust", as well as mixing the existing dust, thus, reducing the clarity of the AYW, so I generally do this as the last act of the day. This way the AYW has overnight to regain its clarity back before I see it in the morning.
I mentioned earlier, the signs of reduced activity in a culture, and when no other basis for the decline in activeness is found, I generally add a sugar cube. This addition, generally isn't more often than once, or twice a week, but that changes, depending on how active the culture is, and how fresh the apple slices are.
*** Some Concluding Thoughts...
Yeast Water is "just another leavening agent" It offers alternatives that can be used in baking leavened doughs. Potentially, every vegetable, or fruit could be used to create a Yeast Water, and each would have its own, often subtle, differences, but sometimes very marked effects on the baked goods. I strongly suggest you compare what you have known from your use of SD and commercial yeast to your new culture. Learn the differences, and how to use them. If you do not like what you find, shift to a different food source and ,thus, shift the type of YW you have, Do not assume they are all the same.
I hope to come back and offer links to more of the specific types of Yeast Water on TFL postings. But for now, I think this should help some of those interested in more information on the subject of Yeast Water Levains.
Enjoy, and do not let your buns get burned.
RonRay
NOTE: A PDF of this document can be found at Google Docs by using the link below:
*** Footnotes...
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeast
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baker%27s_yeast
3. http://www.food.com/recipe/nancy-silverton-s-grape-sourdough-starter-316306
4. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Handmade-Loaf-Dan-Lepard/dp/1845333896/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277986711&sr=1-2
5. http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/20460/banana-saga-%E9%95%B7%E7%AF%87%E6%95%85%E4%BA%8B#comment-143439
6. http://originalyeast.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_archive.html
7. http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/6012/baking-natural-wild-yeast-water-not-sourdough
8. http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/20693/culturing-growing-and-baking-range-wild-yeasts
9. http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/20460/banana-saga-%E9%95%B7%E7%AF%87%E6%95%85%E4%BA%8B
10. http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/20693/culturing-growing-and-baking-range-wild-yeasts#comment-143857 -
Want to be Essential and Memorable? Teach Your Prospects!
[Content Marketing] (Savvy B2B Marketing - Latest Blog Entries)I have always been someone who leaped before I looked. Impulsive, I believe is the word my teachers wrote on my report cards. Then in 6thgrade I had a wise but gruff old science teacher who made me slow down and watch experiments. He let me fail by trying to rush them but never got angry. He would just hand me a new set of supplies and tell me to start over. On a field trip he assigned each of us to find a plant species and record it. I spent the whole day searching for my plant only to fi ...
I have always been someone who leaped before I looked. Impulsive, I believe is the word my teachers wrote on my report cards. Then in 6thgrade I had a wise but gruff old science teacher who made me slow down and watch experiments. He let me fail by trying to rush them but never got angry. He would just hand me a new set of supplies and tell me to start over. On a field trip he assigned each of us to find a plant species and record it. I spent the whole day searching for my plant only to find out at the end of the day it wasn’t native to our area. When I questioned why he had sent me on this fruitless journey only “your search often needs to be wider than your own back yard and your plant is report will be to teach your classmates to seek what they can’t yet find”. I am pretty certain my 12 year old self rolled her eyes but I never forgot that lesson. So today in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week and Mr Reynolds who taught 6thgrade science at Columbus Middle School let’s talk about the value of teaching through sales and marketing.
In B2B our sales cycle is one that tends to be long and often requires educating customers on the ROI and value at many levels of the organization and in various departments. Being an excellent teacher who is willing to adapt to different learning styles is practically a requirement to weave the maze of customer engagement that is required to close most deals. Let’s think of our prospects not as potential customer for a moment but as current students and identify their learning styles.
1. The Subject Matter Expert
Every company has someone internally who is already known as the expert on your product type before vendors ever walk in the door. Sometimes because he/she previously worked for a vendor or has developed street cred in the organizations as the go to resource.
Lesson Plan: If your SME worked for a competing vendor or with your own product some time ago then the goal is just to bring their knowledge up to date and provide side by side comparisons either of your product vs competitors or the enhancements made to show the product benefits since the SME last used it. Case studies will be of use only if they are with companies in the same industry and company size. The SME already has a firm grasp on their perceived business problem but will want to know how their competitors’ are approaching it.
2. The Short Attention Span Roadblock
We have all been engaged in the sales process where there is that one person who seems to have amnesia and needs to be “reminded” before each step in the process why you are meeting and what you are trying to accomplish.
Lesson Plan: Develop short easily digestible highly customized “refreshers” for this person that you can send 24-48 hours before each meeting that reviews where you have been and what step in the process you are now in. Brainshark is amazing for this! If you haven’t used it please look into it now. It is a great way to create voice over powerpoints to bring back up to speed your Roadblock as well as keep in the loop key players who missed your meeting.
3. The Researcher
Want to find out if your prospect is a researcher? Mention casually that you shopped for a car or a major appliance over the weekend before your meeting. If they offer to loan or email you the last 3 years reviews in that category from Consumer Reports then you know what kind of student you are dealing with!
Lesson Plan: Case Studies, White Papers, Analyst reports are all ways to sway your researcher. They feed off of information overload and won’t make a decision until they feel they have done an adequate job of looking at the problem from all angles. Don’t hide from the competition. Acknowledge them and differentiate. This is a situation where knowing your competitions collateral as well as your own can pay huge dividends. Offer to send them your competitors white paper with your own margin notes added. To the researcher you want to appear consultative and not competitive!
I also want to point out that Researchers and SME’s are not the same thing but are often hard to differentiate in early meetings. The SME has preconceived ideas about you and your competitors from the onset. They don’t want to be convinced by having you dump your collateral in their lap. They won’t read it anyway. SME’s need to be sold on new features and upcoming enhancements to tip the scale in your favor.
Once you know what kind of student you are dealing with you can, like my science teacher Mr. Reynolds, implement the correct lesson plan to open your students eyes in a whole new way!
Can you run across other prospect "students" beside these three types? What lesson plans did you use on them?
About the Author: Heather has spent the past 15 years advocating for the customer perspective in her approach to software development and product marketing. Her penchant for collaboration is what drew her to the Savvy B2B team. Read more of Heather's posts here or contact her directly at heather@idea2paper.com.
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Rice Paper Scissors Brings Vietnamese Tradition of "Pop-Up Cafes" to the Streets of San Francisco
[San Francisco, San Francisco, CA] (7x7 - Insider's Guide to the Best of San Francisco)At first glance, the two 20-somethings talking excitedly in a Mission District coffee shop may not look like renegades at the vanguard of a new food revolution, but that's exactly who they are. Local food bloggers Katie Kwan and Valerie Luu will be taking their Vietnamese pop-up cafe, Rice Paper Scissors, to the streets for the third time this spring, on Friday night, May13th, at an as-yet undisclosed location. In order to find out where they will break out their signature little red stools and ...
At first glance, the two 20-somethings talking excitedly in a Mission District coffee shop may not look like renegades at the vanguard of a new food revolution, but that's exactly who they are.
Local food bloggers Katie Kwan and Valerie Luu will be taking their Vietnamese pop-up cafe, Rice Paper Scissors, to the streets for the third time this spring, on Friday night, May13th, at an as-yet undisclosed location.
In order to find out where they will break out their signature little red stools and spontaneously start serving their savory dishes, you'll have to follow them on Twitter or plug into one of local foodie blogs in the know.
When it comes to grassroots innovation in San Francisco, however, there's no better example than Rice Paper Scissors, which has no investors, angels or even a fixed office address.
The two friends favor the MoJo cafe near Alamo Square as their unofficial company headquarters, although they also show up at the Summit cafe or Ritual Coffee along the bustling Valencia Street corridor -- which is also where they stage their pop-up events.
As for their technology choices, they rely on Google Docs, Mailchimp, and the San Francisco-based Evernote mobile app, which serves as their institutional memory as they move about town, buying ingredients, scouting locations for future events, and keeping track of their expenses.
"Evernote helps me remember all that stuff," says Luu. "It's how I deal with my anal-OCD-ness. This way I don't lose our ideas."
The dishes Kwan and Luu cook come straight out of the street vendor tradition in Southeast Asia, particularly Vietnam. Things you're not going to easily find, like 1000-year-old egg, handmade pate, chacuterie banh mi, snail pho, duck confit, as well as fresh green papaya salad and home-made imperial rolls. Or -- if you are willing to pre-order, a speciality dish like sticky rice stuffed quail.
Kwan's favorite place to gather the fresh herbs and other ingredients in her dishes is May Wah on Clement Street. Luu's is the Manila Market in the Excelsior. They also pick up special items like the three distinct types of palm sugar at the Vietnamese shops in the Tenderloin.
The women share a set of common passions and perspectives that have led to the creation of their minimalist, street-focused movement.
They are part of the larger underground food community in the city, which has partly arisen due to the persistent recession that has largely locked their generation of college graduates out of jobs or more traditional careers. The center of this community is the SF Underground Market, which now attracts over 40 vendors and some 3,000 customers to its occasional night gatherings, also in the Mission.
These are vendors without the requisite city permits or expensive liability insurance policies that make breaking into the sanctioned food industry prohibitively expensive for young entrepreneurs. "These days you can't just wait around, says Kwan. You have to create your own opportunities."
"It's a recession, man," adds Luu. "Just do it!"
For their part, city officials have chosen (wisely) to look the other way and allow this promising new movement to flourish free of bureaucratic harassment -- so far.
Both of the pop-up cafe guerrillas are first-generation immigrants -- Kwan's family came from China, via Hong Kong and Taiwan; Luu's from Vietnam. The tradition of preparing and serving food is deeply ingrained in their family and cultural traditions.
"In Asian cultures, food is 90 percent of life," says Kwan, who is 26. "My Dad has always really been the one in our family who's into food. It's amazing how he can bring everything back to food, for instance to just one shop in Chinatown with octopus hanging in its window. If the economy is good, he says the shopowner has three of them; if it's average he has two; and when the economy is bad, like now, he has just one."
Kwan took an extended trip to Vietnam last year, traveling the entire country to visit nine different cities in order to experience the many regional differences in that country's cuisine. One elderly woman she encountered in an alley in Saigon introduced her to the authentic local version of the 1000-year-old egg dish that was a highlight of Rice Paper Scissors' second pop-up event at the end of March.
"We do this the way we do because we don't just want to cook and then sell people food and have them go away," says Kwan. "We want them to stay and make it fun. Cooking can be very lonely otherwise."
The 23-year-old Luu grew up surrounded by at least a dozen cousins at huge family gatherings in the South Bay that always centered around food. She is a journalist by choice and one who hopes to capture her immigrant family's unwritten history through food.
"Food is the way to get into our story. It's also the way my family can understand what I'm doing. They don't get social media, they don't really get journalism, but they get food -- I've never seen them get as excited about anything as they do about food."
Luu learned how to cook at her grandmother's side, and a big part of her current direction is an attempt to rediscover and integrate her Vietnamese identity with that of a modern American woman.
"I think that a lot of Vietnamese-Americans -- a lot of Asian-Americans generally -- tend to push away their culture as we're growing up, and in the process we lose a sense of ourselves. I'm documenting my family's story and sharing it through our food."
Both women feel a keen sense of the value that comes from people gathering on the street. "In almost any other country, people spend a lot more time on the street," says Kwan.
"The pop-up cafes are a way for people to just kick it, hang out, live the life," adds Luu. "There is a sense of discovery, it's fleeting, here and then gone, once we pack up the stools and go."
She's also clearing seeking a deeper connection, one tinged with an ineffable nostalgia familiar to every immigrant. "I yearn for a sense of home that isn't home, but still is, in a new way. I hope that whenever people see those little red stools they will think of us."
Valerie Luu's blog is at Little Knock and Katie Kwan's at Kitchen Sidecar. Their Twitter feeds are @littleknock or @kitchensidecar.
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Daily News Digest 05/05/2011
[RIA (Rich Internet Apps)] (SilverlightShow: Silverlight Community)Here is a list with all new content posted on SilverlightShow.net on May 5th: New SilverlightShow Article: Simulating rain in Silverlight Part 2 - Optimization Silverlight 5 Beta Rough Notes – The Third Dimension How to Create a To-Do App for Windows Phone 7 IListExtensions adds easy sorting to .NET list types - enabling faster search and removal, too! Silverlight Validation: Resource File Create a reflection of an object on the artboard in Expression Blend ...
Here is a list with all new content posted on SilverlightShow.net on May 5th:
- New SilverlightShow Article: Simulating rain in Silverlight Part 2 - Optimization
- Silverlight 5 Beta Rough Notes – The Third Dimension
- How to Create a To-Do App for Windows Phone 7
- IListExtensions adds easy sorting to .NET list types - enabling faster search and removal, too!
- Silverlight Validation: Resource File
- Create a reflection of an object on the artboard in Expression Blend
- All Updated Windows Phones Are Not Alike
- Supporting copy 'n paste in your Windows Phone app
- Silverlight 4 and Prism: Communication between Two Views of Different Modules using IEventAggregator
- Step-by-Step Using ImplicitDataType in Silverlight 5 Beta
- The Reactive Snake for Windows Phone 7
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New Silverlight Video Tutorial (10 minutes): How to create a fake Window Control that can be dragged, Expended and Collapsed
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Research Associate, Efficiency Programs / E Source / Boulder, CO
[Jobs, Jobs (not Steve)] (TreeHugger Jobs)E Source /Boulder, CO Description E Source is looking for a Research Associate is to provide engaging, high-quality, research content on utility energy efficiency programs. The target audience is E Source members, consisting of more than 100 electric and gas utilities and large energy users across North America. These member organizations depend on E Source for unbiased, independent analysis of retail energy markets, services, and technologies. We are a high-value filter for the large volume o ...
E Source /Boulder, CO
Description
E Source is looking for a Research Associate is to provide engaging, high-quality, research content on utility energy efficiency programs. The target audience is E Source members, consisting of more than 100 electric and gas utilities and large energy users across North America. These member organizations depend on E Source for unbiased, independent analysis of retail energy markets, services, and technologies. We are a high-value filter for the large volume of information flooding the energy services marketplace. We sort through the hype and provide our clients with concise strategic insights and in-depth program analyses.
You will gather research from primary and secondary sources, and critically analyze the information to create products and services useful to our clients. The topics you will cover include energy efficiency, demand response and renewable energy programs, education and behavior change programs, community outreach, and program measurement and evaluation. The ideal candidate will possess knowledge of utility demand-side management (DSM) programs and the energy industry as well as exceptional analytical skills and writing abilities.
Key areas of responsibility
Identify key information resources to provide unbiased and clear answers to members' questions
Acquire information from utility websites to populate our database of DSM programs
Interview utility staff and people in related organizations and industries to glean insights from those working “on the groundâ€
Apply critical analysis to determine best practices and lessons learned from numerous types of DSM programs
Research and write responses to customer inquiries in formats ranging from short two-page documents to more in-depth benchmarking studies
Work on consulting projects as required
Manage your own projects and workload
Adhere to E Source quality standards, budget, and timeliness
Collaborate effectively with colleagues throughout the product creation process
Cultivate relationships with clients and sources
Develop expertise in the energy efficiency field that increases the effectiveness of our members' operations, programs and customer relationships
Stay ahead of the curve on the types of DSM programs and their relative effectiveness
Learn and employ business software applications, such as systems for project management, customer-relationship management and document management
Qualifications
Bachelor's degree in energy, environment, public policy, political science or related fields preferred. Graduate degree a plus
2 or more years of relevant industry or professional experience
Demonstrated interest on research topics related to energy efficiency programs
Strong research, writing, and analytical skills
Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills
Proficient in standard business software such as Microsoft Office Suite
Public speaking experience
To apply, fill out one of our on-line applications at www.esource.com/public/careers. E Source is an Equal Opportunity Employer
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Coders, UI/UX, Project Managers, etc. / Supertouch / New York, NY
[Jobs, Jobs (not Steve)] (NextNY Jobs)Supertouch/New York, NY The Supertouch Group is a fast growing company which focuses on generating wonder through technology for large and small brands, individuals and artists. Founded by programmer, hacker and visual artist Alpay Kasal and creative marketer Sam Ewen, Supertouch has been creating, executing and traveling a wide variety of interactive projects around the world for our clients. Based in NYC, we are looking to add some great people to our team. If you have interest, or know anyo ...
Supertouch/New York, NY
The Supertouch Group is a fast growing company which focuses on generating wonder through technology for large and small brands, individuals and artists. Founded by programmer, hacker and visual artist Alpay Kasal and creative marketer Sam Ewen, Supertouch has been creating, executing and traveling a wide variety of interactive projects around the world for our clients. Based in NYC, we are looking to add some great people to our team. If you have interest, or know anyone you want to refer, we would love to talk.
The types we are looking for:
Coders: Flash/Flex/Actionscript 3, .NET/C#/WPF, Python, Java, C++ (or others). Experience with Computer Vision and/or microcontrollers (arduino or similar) and working with sensors all the better. Proficiency with OF, processing, max/msp, or pd.
Project or FT employment opportunities available.
UI/UX: Up and coming UI/UX masters who want to create front end experiences for touch apps, interactive surfaces, projection mapping, gesture/motion based interaction, distributed computing and who are generally passionate about creating beautiful and functional design.
Project and PT/FT employment
Technical Project Managers: Maybe you do not love coding anymore, but you know how to talk to and manage programmers, engineers, builds, and tech focused projects. Have experience? We want to talk to you.
FT Opportunity
Builders: We are trying to build our stable of go-to builders to help build, manage and service the projects we get. Experience in fabrication, soldering, electronics, and lab testing, test and assess hardware for fabrication and to assemble working prototypes. Experience in interactive or touch technology with an emphasis in multi-touch computing a plus.
Freelance/Project based
If interested, send a note with your details, CV and/or related experience
Apply To Job -
Updates
[Digital Forensics] (Windows Incident Response)NoVA Forensics Meetup Last night's meetup went pretty wellthere's nothing wrong with humble beginnings. We had about 16 people show up, and a nice mix of folkssome vets, some new to the communitybut it's all good. Sometimes having new folks ask questions in front of those who've done it for a while gets the vets to think about/question their assumptions. Overall, the evening went wellwe had some good interaction, good questions, and we gave away a couple of books. I think that we'd like to ...
NoVA Forensics Meetup
Last night's meetup went pretty well...there's nothing wrong with humble beginnings. We had about 16 people show up, and a nice mix of folks...some vets, some new to the community...but it's all good. Sometimes having new folks ask questions in front of those who've done it for a while gets the vets to think about/question their assumptions. Overall, the evening went well...we had some good interaction, good questions, and we gave away a couple of books.
I think that we'd like to keep this on a Wed or Thu evening, perhaps once a month...maybe spread it out over the summer due to vacations, etc. (we'll see). What we do need now is a facility with presentation capability. Also, I don't think that we want to have the presentations fall on just one person...we can do a couple of quick talks of a half hour each, or just have someone start a discussion by posing a question to the group.
Besides just basic information sharing, these can be good networking events for the folks who show up. Looking to add to your team? Looking for a job? Looking for advice on how to "break in" to the business? Just come on by and talk to folks.
So, thanks to everyone who showed up and made this first event a success. For them, and for those who couldn't make it, we'll be having more of these meetups...so keep your eyes out and don't hold back on the thoughts, comments, or questions.
Volatility
Most folks familiar with memory analysis know about the simply awesome work provided through the Volatility project. For those who don't know, this is an open source project, written in Python, for conducting memory analysis.
Volatility now has a Python implementation of RegRipper built-in, thanks to lg, and you can read a bit more about the RegListPlugin. Gleeda's got an excellent blog post regarding the use of the UserAssist plugin.
I've talked a bit in my blog, books, and presentations about finding alternate sources of forensic data when the sources we're looking for (or at) may be insufficient. I've talked about XP System Restore Points, and I've pulled together some really good material on Volume Shadow Copies for my next book. I've also talked about carving Event Log event records from unallocated space, as well as parsing information regarding HTTP requests from the pagefile. Volatility provides an unprecedented level of access to yet another excellent resource...memory. And not just memory extracted from a live running system...you can also use Volatility to parse data from a hibernation file, which you may find within an (laptop) image. Let's say that you're interested in finding out how long that system has been compromised; i.e., you're trying to determine the window of exposure. One of the sources I've turned to is crash dump logs...these are appended (the actual crash dump file is overwritten) with information about each crash, and include a pslist-like listing of processes. Sometimes you may find references to the malware in these listings, or in the specific details regarding the crashing process. Now, assume that you're looking at a laptop, and find a hibernation file...you know when the file was created, and using Volatility, you can parse that file and find specifics about what processes were running at the time that the system went into hibernation mode.
And that's not all you can use Volatility for...Andre posted to the SemperSecurus blog about using Volatility to study a Flash 0-day vulnerability.
If you haven't looked at Volatility, and you do have access to memory, you should really consider diving in and giving it a shot.
Best Tool
Lance posted to his blog, asking readers what they consider to be the best imaging and analysis tools. As of the time that I'm writing this post, there are seven comments (several are pretty much just "agree" posts), and even reading through some of the thoughts and comments, I keep coming back to the same thought...that the best tool available to an analyst is that grey matter between their ears.
This brings to mind a number of thoughts, particularly due to the fact that last week I had two opportunities to consider some things for topics of analyst training, education and experience...during one of these opportunities, I was considering the fact that when I (like many other analysts) "came up through the ranks", there were no formal schools available to non-LE analysts, aside from vendor-specific training. Some went that route, but there were others who couldn't afford it. For myself, I took the EnCase v.3.0 Introductory course in 1999...I was so fascinated by the approach taken to file signature analysis that I went home and wrote my own Perl code for this; not to create a tool, per se, but more to really understand what was happening "under the hood". Over the years, knowing how things work and knowing what I needed to look for really helped me a lot...it wasn't a matter of having to have a specific tool as much as it was knowing the process and being able to justify the purchase of a product, if need be.
Breaches
If the recent spate of breaches hasn't yet convinced you that no one is safe from computer security incidents, take a look at this story from The State Worker which talks about the PII/PCI data of 2000 LE retirees being compromised. I know, 2000 seems like such a small number, but hey...regardless of whether its 77 million or 2000, if you're one of those people who's data was compromised, it's everything.
While the story is light on details (i.e., how the breach was identified, when the IT staff reacted in relation to when the incident actually occurred, etc.), if you read through the story, you see a statement that's common throughout these types of announcements; specifically, "...taken steps to enhance security and strengthen [the] infrastructure...". The sequence of events for incidents like this (and keep in mind, these are only the ones that are reported) is, breach, time passes, someone is notified of the breach, then steps are taken to "enhance security". We find ourselves coming to this dance far too often.
Incident Preparedness
Not long ago, I talked about incident preparation and proactive IR...recently, CERT Societe Generale (French CERT) posted a 6 Step IRM Worm Infection cheat sheet. I think that things like this are very important, particularly when the basic steps necessarily assume certain things about your infrastructure. For example, look at step 1 of PDF includes several of the basic components of a CSIRP...if you have all of the stuff outlined in the PDF already covered, then you're almost to a complete CSIRP, so why not just finish it off and formalize the entire thing?
Step 3, Containment, mentions neutralizing propagation vectors...incident responders need to understand malware characteristics in order to respond effectively to these sorts of incidents.
One note about this, and these sorts of incidents...worms can be especially virulent strains of malware, so this applies to malware in general...relying on your AV vendor to be your IR team is a mistake. Incident responders have seen this time and again, and it's especially difficult for folks who do what I do, because we often get called after response efforts via the AV vendor have been ineffective, and have exhausted the local IT staff. I'm not saying that AV vendors can't be effective...what I am saying is that in my experience, throwing signature files at an infrastructure based on samples provided by on-site staff doesn't work. AV vendors are generally good at what they do, but AV is only part of the overall security solution. Malware infections need to be responded to with an IR mindset, not through an AV business model.
Firefighters don't learn about putting out a fire during a fire. Surgeons don't learn their craft during surgery. Organizations shouldn't hope to learn IR during an incident...and the model of turning your response over to an external third party clearly doesn't work. You need to be ready for that big incident...as you can see just from the media, it's a wave on the horizon headed for your organization. -
How to create a privacy law | Hugh Tomlinson QC
[Journalism, Guardian] (Media news, UK and world media comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk)If we want a law of privacy, what should happen next? There are four possibilitiesThere are at least four possible "ways forward" for the new law of privacy which has been developed by the courts over the past decade and which has, at least from the point of view of sections of the media, been very controversial. These four possibilities are as follows:(1) Active steps could be taken to abolish the law of privacy and return to the pre-Human Rights Act position.(2) The current "judge made" la ...
If we want a law of privacy, what should happen next? There are four possibilities
There are at least four possible "ways forward" for the new law of privacy which has been developed by the courts over the past decade and which has, at least from the point of view of sections of the media, been very controversial. These four possibilities are as follows:
(1) Active steps could be taken to abolish the law of privacy and return to the pre-Human Rights Act position.
(2) The current "judge made" law of privacy could be replaced by a new "statutory tort" of invasion of privacy.
(3) A special "privacy regime" for the media could be established under a statutory regulator.
(4) "Steady as she goes" – the law of privacy could be left to develop in the current way – by the judges on the basis of the Article 8 and Article 10 case law.
Each of these possibilities gives rise to different issues and potential difficulties.
Abolition of the Law of Privacy
The law of privacy has been developed by the judges as part of the common law and the common law can be replaced by statute. A simple one clause Abolition of Privacy Bill: "The tort of misuse of private information is hereby abolished" might be thought to be sufficient.
Unfortunately, things are a bit more complicated than that. The new law of privacy has been developed as a result of duty placed on the courts to act compatibly with convention rights imposed by section 6 of the Human Rights Act. So it would be necessary to amend that section as well – perhaps by the introduction of Lord Wakeham's almost forgotten proposal (which involved excluding the application of section 6 in disputes between two private parties).
However, these steps would, in turn, risk placing the United Kingdom in breach of its positive obligations under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights to protect privacy against media intrusion. It would, in turn, lead to adverse findings in Strasbourg and place the United Kingdom under an obligation in international law to re-introduce a law of privacy. In order to escape from this obligation it would be necessary to denounce the Convention and withdraw from the Council of Europe. As adherence to the Convention is a condition of EU membership it would also be necessary to leave the EU. These extreme steps may be popular with certain sections of the media but are unlikely to be practical politics in the foreseeable future and I will not consider them further. Outright abrogation of the law of privacy is not practical.
It is also difficult to see how a new "British Bill of Rights" would assist those who wish to abrogate the law of privacy. There are two points. First, simple repeal of the Human Rights Act would not, of itself, undo the developments in the common law which it inspired. It has been repeatedly emphasised that the basic values of the European Convention are the same of those of the common law. The common law has developed a law of privacy without a Human Rights Act in New Zealand, some Australian states and parts of Canada. It is unlikely to turn back in England without statutory intervention. Second, if the United Kingdom is to act consistently with its obligations under the European Convention Rights any British Bill of Rights could remove rights from the Convention: in the jargon, it cannot be "Convention minus" it must either replicate the Convention or be "Convention plus".
Critics of the new law of privacy sometimes talk of a "recalibration" of the Human Rights Act in favour of the media. This would involve an attempt to give Article 10 priority over Article 8 in media cases. It would, however, be inconsistent with the approach of the Strasbourg court. A statutory amendment which gave actual priority to freedom of expression in certain situations would be incompatible with Convention rights and would be likely to constitute a violation of Article 8 when applied in specific cases. Once again, the only way in which such a "recalibration" could effectively be carried out is if the United Kingdom were to renounce the Convention.
A Statutory Tort
The second possibility is the introduction of a statutory tort – a course favoured by a number of official inquiries bodies in the 1990s and the early 2000s (see the second post in this series) – presents no such practical difficulties. This approach has been taken in a number of different common law jurisdictions. Statutory torts of privacy have been introduced in four provinces of Canada. The Australian Law Commission has recommended the introduction of a statutory cause of action for a serious invasion of privacy containing a non-exhaustive list of the types of invasion which fall within the cause of action. It was suggested that in order to establish liability a claim would have to show:
(a) A reasonable expectation of privacy; and
(b) The act or conduct complained of is highly offensive to a reasonable person of ordinary sensibilities (See Australian Law Reform Commission, "For Your Information: Australian Privacy Law and Practice", Report 108, May 2008, Recommendations 74-1 and 74-2, p.2584).
The Hong Kong Law Reform Commission proposed the introduction of a tort of invasion of privacy in the following terms:
"any person who, without justification, intrudes upon the solitude or seclusion of another or into his private affairs or concerns in circumstances where the latter has a reasonable expectation of privacy should be liable under the law of tort if the intrusion is seriously offensive or objectionable to a reasonable person." (HKLRC Report, Civil Liability for Invasion of Privacy, 9 December 2004).
A statutory tort of this form would be unlikely to cause difficulties with Article 8 and the Convention. The United Kingdom's positive obligation would be discharged by its introduction. The Article 8 rights of private parties would be protected by means of civil claims under this tort. The advantages of a new statutory tort are that it would enable clearer boundaries to be defined (although some flexibility would, of course, have to be retained). It would also give the privacy law the democratic legitimacy which the new judge made law of privacy is said to lack. It would, however, not alter the essential rules of the game: the courts would still be required to balance privacy against freedom of expression on the basis of "public interest" considerations.
However, as noted in Part 2, the Home Affairs Select Committee on Culture Media and Sport in its 2010 report, reached the conclusion that "for now" matters relating to privacy should be determined by the common law rather than set out in a statute. This was also the view of the government and – certainly until recently – of a substantial proportion (although not all) of the media. Despite David Cameron's recent comments it seems unlikely that there will be any political will to take this course and it is unlikely that such a tort will be enacted in the near future.
A Statutory Regulator
The third option – the establishment of a statutory regulator – is potentially the most radical. Such a regulator could take a wide variety of forms. The most cautious would simply be to replace the PCC with a statutory body – Ofpress – performing functions similar to those performed by Ofcom in relation to the broadcast media. This may or may not command greater public confidence but would not, of itself, affect the application of the new law of privacy to the press.
More radically, the new body could be given an "exclusive jurisdiction" – subject to appropriate appeal rights – to deal with privacy complaints against the press. It could be given powers to award compensation, order the publication of apologies or corrections and grant injunctions. Such a body could form part of the statutory tribunal system – with members from a list nominated by the media and other groups and a legally qualified chair. Tribunals have more informal procedures than the ordinary courts and less draconian costs regimes. The potential attractions for the media are obvious: less cost and a specialist tribunal. However, there are also obvious disadvantages – it seems likely that more people would be encouraged to make complaints. The "privacy code" imposed by a statutory regulator would have to be complied with – the "naming and shaming" by the PCC would be replaced by effective sanctions.
"Steady as she goes"
The most straightforward approach is, of course, do nothing. In other words, let the judges continue the development of the law of privacy on the basis of Articles 8 and 10. This course has the advantage of requiring no Parliamentary time or difficult drafting. It is nevertheless unsatisfactory because it means that the issues arising will not be the subject of proper public debate. The "democratic deficit" will remain.
Furthermore, the potential developments based on the Strasbourg case law under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights are radical in nature. This case law is developing at a rapid pace and, on the basis of the current approach of the English Courts, it will have to be "integrated" into the new law of privacy. Let me give three examples. First, the Court of Human Rights has, consistently, over recent years held that the publication of photographs taken in public places is an interference with Article 8 rights which requires "public interest" justification. Although in Von Hannover v Germany ((2004) 40 EHRR 1) there was an element of harassment, a series of subsequent cases have found violations resulting from the publication of single photographs, often in the context of criminal investigations or charges (see eg Gourgenidze v Georgia Judgment of 17 October 2006). The fact that a photograph has been previously published will not, of itself, justify its republication (Hachette Filipacchi v France Judgment of 14 June 2007). Second, the Court has extended the protection of Article 8 to the mere taking of photographs – without their publication (Reklos v Greece Judgment of 15 January 2009). Third, it is now clear that the positive obligation to protect private life under Article 8 includes an obligation to provide appropriate levels of compensation for "outrageous abuses of press freedom" in publishing private information such that the victim's distress is properly compensated and the press are deterred from future breaches (Armonienė v. Lithuania, Judgment of 25 November 2008).
In the absence of clearly defined domestic statutory rules and on the basis of the current approach to Strasbourg case law, the English Courts will be obliged to "absorb" these developments in the new law of privacy. Whether or not such developments of the law of privacy are thought to be desirable – doubtless there are radical differences of view on this subject – it is disturbing if they become part of domestic law without public debate via Strasbourg.
It is not necessary to adopt Lord Hoffmann's contention that human rights are national in application (in his April 2009 lecture The Universality of Human Rights) to feel disquiet about the abdication of responsibility for a key area of domestic law to judges from 47 different legal traditions, deciding issues which arise in very different contexts from that faced in the English media. Unfortunately, if Parliament will not legislate and the Supreme Court will not take on the responsibility of developing a "domestic human rights law" distinct from that of the Strasbourg court this is the only remaining alternative.
Conclusion
The new law of privacy has come a long way in a short time. Many issues remain unresolved or only partially clear. What is clear is that kissing and telling and "public photography" have become a lot more legally hazardous. The law of privacy is slowly having an impact on the staple fare of the British tabloid reader. We are gradually moving from a position where anything can be published unless it is forbidden to the opposite – a position where nothing about an identifiable individual can be published unless it can be justified. Under the influence of human rights case law from Strasbourg we are moving slowly but inescapably towards the stricter privacy protection of French or Italian law.
I made similar observations to those in the last paragraph in a lecture in 2009. Paul Dacre quoted them in his 2009 "Society of Editors" lecture and said that they "should chill us all". Chilling or not, they are I believe accurate. Furthermore, such developments are not out of line with the views of the majority of the public which approves of clear rules being imposed on the media in relation to the publication of private information (see the 2010 Reuters report, "Privacy Probity and the Public Interest", discussed by us here).
The alternatives are stark. Assuming that the United Kingdom remains party to the European Convention on Human Rights, the only alternative to abdicating responsibility for the development of privacy law to the Strasbourg judges is for the press and Parliament finally to accept that privacy is a proper subject for legislation. A statutory tort of privacy would enable parliament, after due public debate, to give guidance to the courts on how the balance between privacy and expression should be resolved. A statutory regulator would have the legitimacy and the powers which the PCC lacks and would serve the interest of both public and media by providing quick and effective resolution of complaints. The public, through its democratic institutions, needs to act to provide proper and effective protection for both privacy and freedom of expression. This is, I believe, the only principled "way ahead" for the new law of privacy.
Hugh Tomlinson QC is a member of Matrix Chambers and of the Inforrm Committee. He is also a founding editor of the UKSC Blog.
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Duncan Cragg: Minted Media Types are Usually Less RESTful Than JSON
[Programming] (Planet TW)This post is a response to a question that came up on an internal ThoughtWorks list. The question was, in summary: "Is using JSON more RESTful than minting our own Media Types as required, given that using raw JSON means reading inside the content in order to know what type is being transferred?" TL;DR: Yes, use a common Media Type and switch on the internal data type; create a new Media Type only when something generic and broad and new and useful settles out. Seems controversial to you? Rea ...
This post is a response to a question that came up on an internal ThoughtWorks list. The question was, in summary: "Is using JSON more RESTful than minting our own Media Types as required, given that using raw JSON means reading inside the content in order to know what type is being transferred?"
TL;DR: Yes, use a common Media Type and switch on the internal data type; create a new Media Type only when something generic and broad and new and useful settles out.
Seems controversial to you? Read on...
Use a Common Media Type
REST works best when you have a truly "uniform interface" that maximises interoperability. You know: HTML that all browsers can understand, not just IE5.5. This is about "self descriptiveness" of your on-the-wire data.
REST (or ROA) is a "dual" of SOA in many ways. One way is that in SOA you can blithely create new schemas, new interfaces, but only have one endpoint "URL". In REST you can blithely create new URLs, but never create new Media Types unless you really have to, and understand the trade-off of this reducing the uniformity of your interface - the self-descriptiveness of your interactions outside of your little world.
Clearly, types and standards evolve, and are never constant, so inevitably Media Types is a grey area in REST, where using a standard - or a non-standard but widely understood type - is indeed, "more RESTful" than using your own; but being "less RESTful" can still be RESTful, as long as you know your audience and are happy with the trade-off. Here is Fielding on the subject.
Switch on the Internal Data Type
So, yes, you have to use the Media Type as a very broad switch to your processing logic, and make finer switches based on what you see in the payload. This is the bit that even Roy seems to be a little hesitant on - see my interaction with him in that thread I just mentioned - Roy wants intermediaries to know what's going on without digging into the payload.
But clearly this depends on the level of understanding needed. There is a scale of understanding, even from TCP and octets on the wire, up to UTF-8, up to XML, up to XHTML, up to Microformats, up to your application of all that, and all the layers of understanding possible in your own application. At some point on that stack, you decide to plonk a stake in the ground and declare a level of understanding - a standard, a Media Type - for your HTTP uniform interface and thus for any intermediaries along the path.
I'm not convinced by the intermediaries argument. I want my intermediaries to be pretty dumb, not making decisions for me based on too much understanding, but not full enough understanding. "They know just enough to be dangerous", the saying goes... Bah. Let them know about the difference between HTML and images. That's enough. Even then they mess things up for me, by compressing images for my mobile device when they don't need to.
Create a New Media Type only when Something Generic and Broad and New and Useful Settles Out
So we're all gagging for something more intelligent than JSON - at least give us links! But the nature of things is that the next level above JSON will be something that has settled out of "rough consensus and running code" - which means it won't be your application's Media Type! Unless you are lucky enough to have hit on a winner, and were intending for it to be standardised all along.
The "x-*", "*+xml" and "vnd.*" approaches are putting the understanding of the type at the wrong level, and try to side-step the "want to create a standard if we can all agree" intention that the Internet works by. It's like there's a need to be back creating an SOA, or object classes all your own, to fiddle with at a whim.
At least "*+xml" allows the XML level of understanding as a fallback. But what sort of things are in that "*"? Why, nothing less generic than XHTML - "application/xhtml+xml"!
And do you really want to end up in the situation that gave us "application/x-www-form-urlencoded" as one of the most universal Media Types on the planet? Yuk!
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TFR243 - 4 Way HeadXplode Split
[Streaming Music] (Internet Archive - Collection: netlabels)4 Way HeadXplode Split Featuring: Unborn Suffer 1. Madness, Chaos, Betrayal (Intro) 2. All Hope Abandoned 3. Chains Of Nothingness (Rotten Womb) 4. The Gift Giver 5. Collision 6. An Impulse To Create Zlosliwy Pomruk Odbytnicy 7.This item belongs to: audio/tornfleshrecords.This item has files of the following types: Item Image, JPEG, Metadata, VBR MP3, ZIP ...
4 Way HeadXplode Split Featuring: Unborn Suffer 1. Madness, Chaos, Betrayal (Intro) 2. All Hope Abandoned 3. Chains Of Nothingness (Rotten Womb) 4. The Gift Giver 5. Collision 6. An Impulse To Create Zlosliwy Pomruk Odbytnicy 7....
This item belongs to: audio/tornfleshrecords.
This item has files of the following types: Item Image, JPEG, Metadata, VBR MP3, ZIP
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How To Make Graphene Paper
[Tech, Physics, Science] (Technology Review Feed - arXiv blog)A new model predicts the properties of paper made from graphene sheets Carbon fibres were developed in the 1950s and have since helped to revolutionise the design, manufacture and performance of everything from yachts and planes to cars and bicycles. Now, 60 years later, a new material looks set to have a similar impact: graphene paper. For the moment, it's only possible to make graphene in tiny scraps. So the trick in scaling it up is to find ways to stack these sheets and bond them together ...
A new model predicts the properties of paper made from graphene sheets
Carbon fibres were developed in the 1950s and have since helped to revolutionise the design, manufacture and performance of everything from yachts and planes to cars and bicycles.
Now, 60 years later, a new material looks set to have a similar impact: graphene paper.
For the moment, it's only possible to make graphene in tiny scraps. So the trick in scaling it up is to find ways to stack these sheets and bond them together to make something larger. Trouble is nobody has yet managed this feat.
Today, Yilun Liu and pals at Tsinghua University in Beijing, calculate from first principles what such a material might be like.
The trick in making graphene paper strong is to find ways to bind small sheets of graphene together end-to-end to make a larger sheet but also to bind layers together using bonds between them. Many biological materials use the same trick to increase their strength, materials such as bone, teeth and nacre.
Of course, these materials are only as strong as their weakest link. So Yilun and co have calculated what sort of strength we can expect from graphene paper.
Their answer is that it depends on the types of cross-links, their strength, number and whether they reform quickly after they are broken as epoxy and hydroxyl groups do.
This approach allows engineers to design the material accordingly. In fact, the new model can be used to design other papers too so it may be possible to improve the properties of all kinds of thin, layered sheets.
Yilun and co's model makes a number of interesting predictions. For example, it says the links between graphene layers will increase the distance between them, thereby reducing the density to about half that of graphite. So graphene paper is not only going to be strong but also very light.
All it needs now is somebody to go ahead and create a sheet of this stuff. And if it can one day be made cheaply and easily enough we'll see it everywhere--both inside and outside our bodies.
Ref: arxiv.org/abs/1105.0138: Mechanical Properties of Graphene Papers
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Blog Post: Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 LDF Schema Extensions
[Microsoft Office] (Site Home)Windows Server 2003 R2 extended the Windows Server 2003 schema from schema version 30 to 31. The update from 30 to 31 was schema file sch31.ldf which included support for DFS Replication (DFSr). An upgrade from Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2008 schema transitions the schema to schema version 44. This includes sch32.ldf through sch44.ldf. If an upgrade is performed from a domain that is currently schema version 30, the Windows Server 2008 ADPREP /forestprep command will include sch ...
Windows Server 2003 R2 extended the Windows Server 2003 schema from schema version 30 to 31. The update from 30 to 31 was schema file sch31.ldf which included support for DFS Replication (DFSr). An upgrade from Windows Server 2003 to Windows Server 2008 schema transitions the schema to schema version 44. This includes sch32.ldf through sch44.ldf.
If an upgrade is performed from a domain that is currently schema version 30, the Windows Server 2008 ADPREP /forestprep command will include sch31.ldf in the schema update process.
Note: Windows Server 2008 R2 transitions the Active Directory Schema to schema version 47.
The updates to the Active Directory schema are:
Sch32.ldf
This adds new attributes of:
- msDS-KrbTgtLink: Used with RODCs to define which krbtgt_XXXX account corresponds to each RODC
- msDS-RevealedUsers: Used with RODCs to identify the user objects whose secrets have been disclosed to that RODC
- msDS-RevealedList: Identifies security principals whose current computer account passwords have been replicated to the RODC
- msDS-hasFullReplicaNCs: Identifies the partitions held as full replicas
- msDS-NeverRevealGroup: Used with RODCs to define which users, computers, and groups are not allowed to have their passwords cached on a RODC
- msDS-RevealOnDemandGroup: Used with RODCs to define which users, computers, and groups are allowed to have their passwords cached on a RODC
- msDS-SecondaryKrbTgtNumber: Identifies the protocol identification number associated with the secondary domain
- msDS-RevealedDSAs: Backlink For ms-DS-Revealed-Users and identifies which RODC holds that user's secret
- msDS-KrbTgtLinkBl: Backlink for the KrbTgtLink attribute
- msDS-IsDomainFor: Backlink for ms-DS-Has-Domain-NCs and identifies which DCs hold that partition as their primary domain
- msDS-IsFullReplicaFor: Backlink for ms-Ds-Has-Full-Replica-NCs and identifies which DCs hold that partition as a full replica
- msDS-IsPartialReplicaFor: Backlink for has-Partial-Replica-NCs and identifies which DCs hold that partition as a partial replica
After the addition of these attributes, Sch32.ldf then modifies the systemMayContain values of certain objects that may contain any or all of these new attributes.
The schema version is then increased to schema version 32.
Sch33.ldf
This adds new attributes of:
- msDS-isGC: Identifies the state of the Global Catalog on the DC
- msDS-isRODC: Shows whether a DC is a RODC
- msDS-SiteName: Lists the site name that corresponds to the DC
- msDS-AuthenticatedAtDC: Forwardlink for ms-DS-AuthenticatedTo-Accountlist and identifies which DC a user has authenticated to
- msDS-PromotionSettings: For a Computer, contains a XML string to be used for delegated DSA promotion
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msDS-SupportedEncryptionTypes: The encryption algorithms supported by user, computer or trust accounts
- Note: The KDC uses this information while generating a service ticket for this account. Services/Computers may automatically update this attribute on their respective accounts in Active Directory, and therefore need write access to this attribute.
- msDS-AuthenticatedToAccountlist: Backlink for ms-DS-AuthenticatedAt-DC and identifies which users have authenticated to this Computer
After the addition of these attributes, Sch33.ldf then modifies the msDS-Never-Reveal-Group and the msDS-Reveal-OnDemand-Group attributes and marks them as multi-valued. It then modifies the systemMayContain values of certain objects that may contain any or all of these new attributes.
The schema version is then increased to schema version 33.
Sch34.ldf
Sch34.ldf adds the following attributes to the Schema:
- msDFSR-ReadOnly: Specifies whether the content is read-only or read-write
- msDFSR-Priority: Priority level
- msDS-AzObjectGuid: The unique and portable identifier of AzMan objects
- msDS-AzGenericData: AzMan specific generic data
- msDFSR-CachePolicy: On-demand cache policy options
- msDFSR-DeletedPath: Full path of the Deleted directory
- msFVE-RecoveryGuid: Contains the GUID associated with a Full Volume Encryption (FVE) recovery password
- msDS-SeniorityIndex: Contains the seniority index as applied by the organization where the person works
- msTPM-OwnerInformation: This attribute contains the owner information of a particular TPM
- msPKIDPAPIMasterKeys: Storage of encrypted DPAPI Master Keys for user
- msDS-PhoneticLastName: Contains the phonetic last name of the person
- msPKIRoamingTimeStamp: Time stamp for last change to roaming tokens
- msDFSR-DeletedSizeInMb: Size of the Deleted directory in MB
- msDS-PhoneticFirstName: Contains the phonetic given name or first name of the person
- msFVE-RecoveryPassword: Contains the password required to recover a Full Volume Encryption (FVE) volume
- msDS-PhoneticDepartment: Contains the phonetic department name where the person works
- msPKIAccountCredentials: Storage of encrypted user credential token blobs for roaming
- msRADIUS-FramedIpv6Route: Provides routing information to be configured for the user on the NAS
- msDS-PhoneticDisplayName: The phonetic display name of an object. In the absence of a phonetic display name the existing display name is used
- msDS-PhoneticCompanyName: Contains the phonetic company name where the person works
- ms-net-ieee-8023-GP-PolicyData: Contains all of the settings and data which comprise a Group Policy configuration for 802.3 wired networks
- ms-net-ieee-8023-GP-PolicyGUID: Contains a GUID which identifies a specific 802.3 Group Policy object on the domain
- msDFSR-MaxAgeInCacheInMin: Maximum time in minutes to keep files in full form
- ms-net-ieee-80211-GP-PolicyData: Contains all of the settings and data which comprise a Group Policy configuration for 802.11 wireless networks
- msRADIUS-FramedIpv6Prefix: Indicates an IPv6 prefix (and corresponding route) to be configured for the user
- ms-net-ieee-80211-GP-PolicyGUID: Contains a GUID which identifies a specific 802.11 Group Policy object on the domain
- msRADIUS-FramedInterfaceId: Indicates the IPv6 interface identifier to be configured for the user
- msDS-NC-RO-Replica-Locations: A linked attribute on a cross ref object for a partition and lists the DC which should host the partition in a readonly manner
- msDS-NC-RO-Replica-Locations-BL: Backlink attribute for ms-DS-NC-RO-Replica-Locations
- msDFSR-MinDurationCacheInMin: Minimum time in minutes before truncating files
- ms-net-ieee-8023-GP-PolicyReserved: Reserved for future use
- msRADIUS-SavedFramedIpv6Route: Provides routing information to be configured for the user on the NAS
- ms-net-ieee-80211-GP-PolicyReserved: Reserved for future use
- msRADIUS-SavedFramedIpv6Prefix: Indicates an IPv6 prefix (and corresponding route) to be configured for the user
- msRADIUS-SavedFramedInterfaceId: Indicates the IPv6 interface identifier to be configured for the user
- samDomainUpdates: Contains a bitmask of performed SAM operations on active directory
Sch34.ldf then adds the following classes to the Active Directory Schema:
- ms-net-ieee-8023-GroupPolicy: This class represents an 802.3 wired network Group Policy object. This class contains identifiers and configuration data relevant to an 802.3 wired network
- ms-net-ieee-80211-GroupPolicy: This class represents an 802.11 wireless network Group Policy object. This class contains identifiers and configuration data relevant to an 802.11 wireless network
- msFVE-RecoveryInformation: This class contains a Full Volume Encryption recovery password with its associated GUID
- nTDSDSARO: A subclass of Directory Service Agent which is distinguished by its reduced privilege level
After the addition of these attributes and classes, Sch34.ldf then modifies the systemMayContain values of certain objects that may contain any or all of these new attributes.
The schema version is then increased to schema version 34.
Sch35.ldf
Sch35.ldf adds the following attributes to the Schema:
- msDS-LastSuccessfulInteractiveLogonTime: The time that the correct password was presented during a Ctrl+Alt+Delete logon
- msDS-FailedInteractiveLogonCountAtLastSuccessfulLogon: The total number of failed interactive logons up until the last successful Ctrl+Alt+Delete logon
- msDS-FailedInteractiveLogonCount: The total number of failed interactive logons since this feature was turned on
- msDS-LastFailedInteractiveLogonTime: The time that an incorrect password was presented during a Ctrl+Alt+Delete logon
After the addition of these attributes, Sch35.ldf then modifies the systemMayContain values of the object CN=User,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X (where DC=x is the Distinguished Name of the forest root domain) to include these new attributes.
The schema version is then increased to schema version 35.
Sch36.ldf
Then Sch36.ldf makes the following addition to the Schema:
- msDS-RevealedListBL: Backlink attribute for ms-DS-Revealed-List
After the addition of this one attribute, Sch36.ldf modifies the Search Flags value of the following attributes:
- CN=From-Server,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X
- CN=msNPAllowDialin,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X
- CN=msNPCallingStationID,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X
- CN=msNPSavedCallingStationID,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X
- CN=msRADIUSCallbackNumber,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X
- CN=msRADIUSFramedIPAddress,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X
- CN=msRADIUSFramedRoute,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X
- CN=msRADIUSServiceType,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X
- CN=msRASSavedCallbackNumber,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X
- CN=msRASSavedFramedIPAddress,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X
- CN=msRASSavedFramedRoute,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X
- CN=ms-RADIUS-FramedInterfaceId,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X
- CN=ms-RADIUS-SavedFramedInterfaceId,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X
- CN=ms-RADIUS-FramedIpv6Prefix,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X
- CN=ms-RADIUS-SavedFramedIpv6Prefix,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X
- CN=ms-RADIUS-FramedIpv6Route,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X
- CN=ms-RADIUS-SavedFramedIpv6Route,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X
- CN=ms-FVE-RecoveryPassword,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X
- CN=ms-FVE-RecoveryGuid,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X
- CN=ms-TPM-OwnerInformation,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X
The schema version is then increased to schema version 36.
Sch37.ldf
The LDF file Sch37.ldf modifies adds the following attributes to the schema:
- msDS-UserPasswordExpiryTimeComputed: Contains the expiry time for the user's current password
- msDS-PrincipalName: Account name for the security principal (constructed)
- msDFSR-OnDemandExclusionDirectoryFilter: Filter string applied to on demand replication directories
- msDFSR-DefaultCompressionExclusionFilter: Filter string containing extensions of file types not to be compressed
- msTSHomeDrive: Terminal Services Home Drive specifies a Home drive for the user
- msTSProperty01: Placeholder Terminal Server Property 01
- msTSProperty02: Placeholder Terminal Server Property 02
- msTSAllowLogon: Specifies whether the user is allowed to log on to the Terminal Server. The value is 1 if logon is allowed, and 0 if logon is not allowed.
- msTSExpireDate: TS Expiration Date
- msTSManagingLS: TS Managing License Server
- msDFSR-Options2: Object Options2
- msTSProfilePath: Terminal Services Profile Path specifies a roaming or mandatory profile path to use when the user logs on to the Terminal Server. The profile path is in the following network path format: \servername\profiles folder name\username
- msTSMaxIdleTime: Terminal Services Session Maximum Idle Time is maximum amount of time, in minutes, that the Terminal Services session can remain idle
- msTSHomeDirectory: Terminal Services Home Directory specifies the Home directory for the user
- msTSRemoteControl: Terminal Services Remote Control specifies the whether to allow remote observation or remote control of the user's Terminal Services session
- msTSWorkDirectory: Terminal Services Session Work Directory specifies the working directory path for the user
- msTSInitialProgram: Terminal Services Session Initial Program specifies the Path and file name of the application that the user wants to start automatically when the user logs on to the Terminal Server
- msTSLicenseVersion: TS License Version
- msTSMaxConnectionTime: Terminal Services Session maximum Connection Time is Maximum duration, in minutes, of the Terminal Services session
- msTSReconnectionAction: Terminal Services Session Reconnection Action specifies whether to allow reconnection to a disconnected Terminal Services session from any client computer
- msTSConnectClientDrives: Terminal Services Session Connect Client Drives At Logon specifies whether to reconnect to mapped client drives at logon
- msDFSR-CommonStagingPath: Full path of the common staging directory
- msTSMaxDisconnectionTime: Terminal Services Session Maximum Disconnection Time is maximum amount of time, in minutes, that a disconnected Terminal Services session remains active on the Terminal Server
- msTSDefaultToMainPrinter: Terminal Services Default To Main Printer specifies whether to print automatically to the client's default printer
- msTSConnectPrinterDrives: Terminal Services Session Connect Printer Drives At Logon specifies whether to reconnect to mapped client printers at logon
- msTSBrokenConnectionAction: Terminal Services Session Broken Connection Action specifies the action to take when a Terminal Services session limit is reached
- msDFSR-DisablePacketPrivacy: Disable packet privacy on a connection
- msDFSR-CommonStagingSizeInMb: Size of the common staging directory in MB
- msDFSR-OnDemandExclusionFileFilter: Filter string applied to on demand replication files
- msDFSR-StagingCleanupTriggerInPercent: Staging cleanup trigger in percent of free disk space
After these attributes have been added, Sch37.ldf modifies security on Terminal Services objects and then updates the mayContain values of Terminal Services and DFSr objects.
The schema version is then increased to schema version 37.
Sch38.ldf
Sch38.ldf only makes one change. This change is to the CN=ms-DS-AuthenticatedAt-DC,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X attribute. The modification that is made to this attribute is to mark this attribute as systemOnly.
After this change, the schema version is still increased to version 38.
Sch39.ldf
Sch39.ldf begins by modifying the following attributes:
- msFVE-KeyPackage: Contains a volume's BitLocker encryption key secured by the corresponding recovery password
- msFVE-VolumeGuid: Contains the GUID associated with a BitLocker-supported disk volume
- msDS-HABSeniorityIndex: Contains the seniority index as applied by the organization where the person works
Sch39.ldf then modifies the adminDescription, searchFlags, and rangeUppper of the attributes:
- CN=ms-FVE-RecoveryPassword,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X
- CN=ms-FVE-RecoveryGuid,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X
- CN=ms-TPM-OwnerInformation,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X
- CN=ms-FVE-RecoveryInformation,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X
- CN=msSFU-30-Posix-Member,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X
Lastly, Sch39.ldf also updates the systemMayContain and mayContain values of additional objects in the Schema which could contain any of these attributes.
The schema version is then increased to schema version 39.
Sch40.ldf
The LDF file Sch40.ldf adds many attributes to the schema. Half of these attributes are used with Fine Grained Password policies and the other half are used with Terminal Server Licensing. This list is all of the attributes that are added to the Active Directory schema:
- msDS-PasswordReversibleEncryptionEnabled: Password reversible encryption status for user accounts
- msDS-NcType: A bit field that maintains information about aspects of a NC replica that are relevant to replication
- msDS-PSOAppliesTo: Links to objects that this password settings object applies to
- msDS-PSOApplied: Password settings object applied to this object
- msDS-ResultantPSO: Resultant password settings object applied to this object
- msDS-LockoutDuration: Lockout duration for locked out user accounts
- msDS-LockoutThreshold: Lockout threshold for lockout of user accounts
- msDS-MinimumPasswordAge: Minimum Password Age for user accounts
- msDS-MaximumPasswordAge: Maximum Password Age for user accounts
- msDS-MinimumPasswordLength: Minimum Password Length for user accounts
- msDS-PasswordHistoryLength: Password History Length for user accounts
- msDS-LockoutObservationWindow: Observation Window for lockout of user accounts
- msDS-PasswordComplexityEnabled: Password complexity status for user accounts
- msDS-PasswordSettingsPrecedence: Password Settings Precedence
- msTSManagingLS2: Issuer name of the second TS per user CAL
- msTSManagingLS3: Issuer name of the third TS per user CAL
- msTSManagingLS4: Issuer name of the fourth TS per user CAL
- msTSExpireDate2: Expiration date of the second TS per user CAL
- msTSExpireDate3: Expiration date of the third TS per user CAL
- msTSExpireDate4: Expiration date of the fourth TS per user CAL
- msTSLSProperty01: Placeholder Terminal Server License Server Property 01
- msTSLSProperty02: Placeholder Terminal Server License Server Property 02
- msTSLicenseVersion2: Version of the second TS per user CAL
- msTSLicenseVersion3: Version of the third TS per user CAL
- msTSLicenseVersion4: Version of the fourth TS per user CAL
- msDS-IsUserCachableAtRodc: For a Read-Only Domain Controller (RODC), Identifies whether the specified user's secrets are cacheable
It is important to note that these password policy related attributes (i.e. msDS-LockoutDuration, msDS-LockoutThreshold, msDS-MinimumPasswordAge, etc.) are not simply an update to the existing Lockout Duration, Lockout Threshold, Minimum Password Age, etc. settings that administrators are used to see in a Password Policy. Password Policy settings on a Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 domain controller are contained in the registry of the domain controller, not as attributes held within Active Directory.
Windows Server 2008 in Domain Functional Level 2008 allows for multiple Fine Grained Password Policies per domain. For this to exist, attributes that correspond to each setting needed to be introduced to the schema.
Sch40.ldf then modifies attributes that have been created during the schema update and also updates various objects in the schema. These modifications are searchFlags, mayContain, systemMayContain, and possPosition values.
After these changes, sch40.ldf then creates two new classes that pertain to Fine Grained Password Policies. These classes are:
- msDS-PasswordSettingsContainer: Container for password settings objects
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msDS-PasswordSettings: Password settings object for accounts
- Note: This classSchema object is created with a list of systemMustContain OIDs. This is a list of attributes that a Password Settings Object (PSO) must contain or else the creation of the PSO will fail.
After the classes are created, the sch40.ldf file then modifies more systemMayContain values of other objects.
The schema version is then increased to schema version 40.
Sch41.ldf
Sch41.ldf makes only a few changes to objects that exist in the schema. First, modifications are made to the systemMayContain values of the objects:
- CN=NTDS-DSA,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X
- CN=NTDS-DSA,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X
- CN=NTDS-DSA,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X
- CN=ms-DS-PSO-Applied,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X
- CN=ms-DS-Resultant-PSO,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X
Second, modifications are made to the rightsGUID values of the objects:
- CN=MS-TS-GatewayAccess,CN=Extended-Rights,CN=Configuration,DC=X
- CN=Terminal-Server-License-Server,CN=Extended-Rights,CN=Configuration,DC=X
The schema version is then increased to schema version 41.
Sch42.ldf
Schema update 42 makes modifications to over 360 objects in the schema. The modifications that are made to these objects are adding the schemaFlagsEx attribute to each object and setting a value of 1. The code for each modification looks like this:
changetype: ntdsSchemaModify
add: schemaFlagsEx
schemaFlagsEx: 1
Only the operating system can modify the SchemaFlagsEX value and this value specifies whether an attribute can be part of the filtered attribute set.
After the update to all 360+ attributes, the schema version is increased to schema version 42.
Sch43.ldf
Sch43.ldf adds the following attributes to the Active Directory Schema:
- msDFS-SchemaMajorVersion: Major version of schema of DFS metadata
- msDFS-SchemaMinorVersion: Minor version of schema of DFS metadata
- msDFS-GenerationGUIDv2: To be updated each time the entry containing this attribute is modified
- msDFS-NamespaceIdentityGUIDv2: To be set only when the namespace is created. Stable across rename/move as long as namespace is not replaced by another namespace having same name
- msDFS-LastModifiedv2: To be updated on each write to the entry containing the attribute
- msDFS-Ttlv2: TTL associated with DFS root/link. For use at DFS referral time
- msDFS-Commentv2: Comment associated with DFS root/link
- msDFS-Propertiesv2: Properties associated with DFS root/link
- msDFS-TargetListv2: Targets corresponding to DFS root/link
- msDFS-LinkPathv2: DFS link path relative to the DFS root target share (i.e. without the server/domain and DFS namespace name components). Use forward slashes (/) instead of backslashes so that LDAP searches can be done without having to use escapes
- msDFS-LinkSecurityDescriptorv2: Security descriptor of the DFS links's reparse point on the filesystem
- msDFS-LinkIdentityGUIDv2: To be set only when the link is created. Stable across rename/move as long as link is not replaced by another link having same name
- msDFS-ShortNameLinkPathv2: Shortname DFS link path relative to the DFS root target share (i.e. without the server/domain and DFS namespace name components). Use forward slashes (/) instead of backslashes so that LDAP searches can be done without having to use escapes
- msDFS-NamespaceAnchor: DFS namespace anchor
- msDFS-Namespacev2: DFS namespace
- msDFS-Linkv2: DFS Link in DFS namespace
- msDFS-DeletedLinkv2: Deleted DFS Link in DFS namespace
- addressBookRoots2: Used by Exchange. Exchange configures trees of address book containers to show up in the MAPI address book. This attribute on the Exchange Config object lists the roots of the address book container trees
- globalAddressList2: This attribute is used on a Microsoft Exchange container to store the distinguished name of a newly created global address list (GAL)
- templateRoots2: This attribute is used on the Exchange config container to indicate where the template containers are stored. This information is used by the Active Directory MAPI provider
Once these attributes have been created the schema version is incremented to schema version 43.
Sch44.ldf
Schema Update 44 only does modifications to some objects that already exist. These modifications are changing systemMayContain, showInAdvancedViewOnly, searchFlags, and adminDescription. Once this is complete, the schema version is incremented to schema version 44. At this point, the Windows Server 2008 ADPREP /forestprep is complete
Additional LDF files for Windows Server 2008 R2 ADPREP /forestprepSch45.ldf
Sch45.ldf adds the following attributes to the Active Directory schema:
- msDS-USNLastSyncSuccess: The USN at which the last successful replication synchronization occurred
- isRecycled: Is the object recycled (for use with AD Recycle Bin)
- msDS-OptionalFeatureGUID: GUID of an optional feature
- msDS-EnabledFeature: Enabled optional features
- msImaging-PSPString: Schema Attribute that contains the XML sequence for this PostScan Process
- msDS-OIDToGroupLink: For an OID, identifies the group object corresponding to the issuance policy represented by this OID
- msDS-OIDToGroupLinkBl: Backlink for ms-DS-OIDToGroup-Link; identifies the issuance policy, represented by an OID object, which is mapped to this group
- msImaging-PSPIdentifier: Schema Attribute that contains the unique identifier for this PostScan Process
- msDS-HostServiceAccount: Service Accounts configured to run on this computer
- msDS-HostServiceAccountBL: Service Accounts Back Link for linking machines associated with the service account
- msDS-RequiredDomainBehaviorVersion: Required domain function level for this feature
- msDS-RequiredForestBehaviorVersion: Required forest function level for this feature
- msPKI-CredentialRoamingTokens: Storage of encrypted user credential token blobs for roaming
- msDS-LocalEffectiveRecycleTime: Recycle time of the object in the local DIT
- msDS-LocalEffectiveDeletionTime: Deletion time of the object in the local DIT
- msDS-LastKnownRDN: Holds original RDN of a deleted object
- msDS-EnabledFeatureBL: Scopes where this optional feature is enabled
- msDS-DeletedObjectLifetime: Lifetime of a deleted object
- msDS-OptionalFeatureFlags: An integer value that contains flags that define behavior of an optional feature in Active Directory
- msPKI-Enrollment-Servers: Priority, authentication type, and URI of each certificate enrollment web service
- msPKI-Site-Name: Active Directory site to which the CA machine belongs
- msTSEndpointData: This attribute represents the VM Name for machine in TSV deployment.
- msTSEndpointType: This attribute defines if the machine is a physical machine or a virtual machine.
- msTSEndpointPlugin: This attribute represents the name of the plugin which handles the orchestration.
- msTSPrimaryDesktop: This attribute represents the forward link to user's primary desktop.
- msTSSecondaryDesktops: This attribute represents the array of forward links to user's secondary desktops.
- msTSPrimaryDesktopBL: This attribute represents the backward link to user.
- msTSSecondaryDesktopBL: This attribute represents the backward link to user.
- msImaging-PSPs: Container for all Enterprise Scan Post Scan Process objects.
- msDS-OptionalFeature: Configuration for an optional DS feature.
- msImaging-PostScanProcess: Enterprise Scan Post Scan Process object.
- msDS-ManagedServiceAccount: Service account class is used to create accounts that are used for running Windows services.
Then, modifications are made to various objects in the schema which contain values such as systemMayContain and appliesTo. Lastly, the objects CN=Optional Features,CN=Directory Service,CN=Windows NT,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=X and CN=Recycle Bin Feature,CN=Optional Features,CN=Directory Service,CN=Windows NT,CN=Services,CN=Configuration,DC=X are created as optional features that can be enabled with Windows Server 2008 R2.
When this is complete the schema version is incremented to 45.
Sch46.ldf
The LDF file Sch46.ldf makes one change to the object CN=ms-DS-Managed-Service-Account,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X. The change that is made is to modify the defaultHidingValue and configure it with a value of FALSE.
When this is complete the schema version is incremented to 46.
Sch47.ldf
Sch47.ldf modifies only two objects in the schema. These objects are CN=NTDS-DSA,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X and CN=ms-DS-Managed-Service-Account,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=X. The modification to the first is a modification to the systemMayContain value. The modification to the second object is a deletion of the systemPossSuperiors value.
When this is complete the schema version is incremented to schema version 47 and the ADPREP /forestprep for Windows Server 2008 R2 is complete.
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May 4, 2011, iPhone, iPad and iPod touch new releases
[Apple, Macintosh] (Appletell)Section: iPhone / iPod touch / iPad, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, iDevice AppsNew iPhone, iPod touch and iPad product announcements for May 4, 2011: New iPhone, iPad and iPod touch apps Christian Kienle has introduced Store News for iOS 1.0, his free application, now available in the App Store. Store News for iOS is the quickest way of finding out the best deals in the App Store. An app that cost real money yesterday could be totally free today. Sporting easy-to-use interface, Store News shows b ...
Section: iPhone / iPod touch / iPad, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, iDevice Apps
New iPhone, iPod touch and iPad product announcements for May 4, 2011:
New iPhone, iPad and iPod touch apps
- Christian Kienle has introduced Store News for iOS 1.0, his free application, now available in the App Store. Store News for iOS is the quickest way of finding out the best deals in the App Store. An app that cost real money yesterday could be totally free today. Sporting easy-to-use interface, Store News shows both categories of apps that are totally free and apps that still cost a little bit of money.
- Big Ideas Digital has announced Say What You See 2.0, an update to its popular puzzle game for iPhone and iPad. The Say What You See franchise is a fresh take on the hidden object genre, challenging players to pick out the popular bands, movies and TV shows hidden in intricately detailed, hand-painted scenes. Version 2.0 contains a host of new features, including a built-in hints system and a whole new look. We’ve even got a new mascot, Rebus, a guy with an eye for puzzling fun.
- ExactCODE GmbH released the next updates of the Mac version of OCRKit as well as the relating equivalent OCRKit Mobile for iPhone. ExactCODE continues commitment to the development and research of advanced recognition and digital image processing. The update vastly improves OCR recognition, accuracy and stability and improves layout recognition as well as the output of special characters to PDF and RTF. The Mac OS X version includes several user interface improvements.
- Kismetech LLC has announced Wheel of Destiny 1.0, its latest inspirational app for iPhone and iPad. Designed for people who are looking to turn their lives into an adventure, full of self-discovery and meaning. Wheel of Destiny combines the principles of dream analysis with mythical settings to give users a tool for problem solving, intuitive insight, and spiritual advice. Users can choose from a Daily Archetype reading, a Past, Present, and Future reading, and more.
- Zed Worldwide has announced the Animal Planet Quiz App for iPhone and iPod touch is now available for $1.99 on the App Store. Prices vary by territory. The Animal Planet Quiz App is an interactive quiz based on the hit network featuring thousands of questions, pictures and video clips from numerous Animal Planet series. The App captures the cool, edgy and unexpected nature of the network and tests players’ knowledge of the animal kingdom from wildlife to domestic pets.
- Search Ninja, which is now available on the App Store, makes it easier and faster to search the web using different search engines on your iPhone and iPod touch. Unlike other search apps, it’s lightweight and launches fast. It opens with the keyboard out so that you can immediately start typing to search and does many other such little things to save you those precious seconds. It is simple to use and at the same time highly customizable in allowing you to use your favorite and multiple search engines for search.
- ATO has announced BounceBounce 1.0, their new game for iPhone and iPod touch. Quite distinct from common ball rollers, BounceBounce is motivated by bouncing a ball on the racket as much as possible. In this game, the ball bounces on the various types of panels. The aim is the ball must be driven from a start panel to a goal panel passing by several obstacle panels. BounceBounce features 80 standard stages with up to 50 user stages which can be generated randomly and more.
- Niles Technology Group has announced the release of its College Prep application for high school students. College applications essays are the most important essays that a college-bound student writes. These essays are reviewed and judged based on many factors; miss one factor, and the essay is not as strong as it could be. Niles Technology Group understands the imperative that college application essays are written correctly, and College Prep is the answer.
- X2 Games has launched First Touch Soccer (FTS), the most comprehensive, realistic and addictive portable soccer game ever released. FTS is one of the most advanced mobile soccer games ever released, with intuitive controls, retina graphics (iPhone 4, iPod Touch 3rd Generation only), YouTube goal uploads and Wi-Fi/Bluetooth multiplayer. Players can star as one of 250 club teams, create their own dream team and play in 30 different competitions. They can even rise to soccer stardom in Star Player mode. First Touch Soccer uses a console-esque floating 360-degree analog stick – X2 Games’ proprietary “Freedom Control” mechanics to precisely place the ball in the back of the net or at another player’s feet. The new and improved Dream Team mode also lets players build a squad from the greatest names of the past and the present, design their own kit and take on other teams.
- Adrenaline Monki Game studio has announced the release of Mooniz, their color matching action-puzzle game for the whole family. With an endless number of levels in Classic and Rush modes, Mooniz is challenging enough to keep gamers engaged for many hours. Varying degrees of difficulty and dynamic game play that includes bonuses and power-ups make this a fun game for casual players and hardcore gamers alike. As an added bonus, Mooniz players can share their high scores with friends and other players on Facebook.
- Raaza Limited today has launched the new UK Terror Alert iPhone app, ensuring users always know the latest terrorism threat level as issued by the UK’s MI5 Security Service and the UK Home Office. UK Terror Alert is the only iPhone app that gives you access to the UK’s national terrorism threat levels. This makes it the most important iPhone utility for combating the threat from terrorism. Osama bin Laden may be dead, but the threat from extremists still exists.
- Ascii Studios has introduced Annoying Talking Orange 1.0, the worldwide release of their hilarious entertainment app for iOS devices. Annoying Talking Orange is a fully interactive talking orange with speech recognition, entertaining animations, realistic actions, video making and social networking functions. He will listen to you and repeat everything you say in a funny voice. Poke him, slap him, talk to him, have him stick out his tongue or say a funny phrase.
- For the first time ever, Smule is launching a new application for free. Magic Piano for the iPhone/iPod touch represents an experimental shift toward the freemium business model. It also embodies Smule’s vision of bringing the joy of creating music to everyone, everywhere, regardless of age ability and previous musical knowledge. From pop to classical and everything in-between, the new Magic Piano offers the largest song catalog of any piano app available. Users can easily play the songs they love, simply by following beams of light. And Magic Piano will continually deliver more new songs—with hot new hits releasing every week and a different free song available every Wednesday.
- SizeMyBike.com has released SizeMyBike 2.0 for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad users. SizeMyBike is the first iPhone bike fitting app. Essential to choose the right bike size and improve your position. Define your morphology with 6 body measures and SizeMyBike will compute the optimal geometry of your road bike or your mountain bike. Getting the correct fit on your bike is an important step to prevent pain and injury, increase comfort and achieve your best performance.
- Software artist Rumi Humphrey has announced his new app Slewpi 1.0 for iOS. Slewpi is an amazing new way to explore painting, music, and animation. It’s super easy to use, just paint on the screen with one or more fingers and choose different colors and brushes to change the way the strokes look and sound. Slewpi records what you do and plays it back in a loop. Never before has creating music and animation together been so easy.
New apps for iPad only
- TappyTaps has introduced Bubbling Math 1.0, their new iPad education game for children. For Children 1st to 4th grades, Bubbling Math helps kids practice elementary math operations. It is a real game, complete with levels, music, sounds, and awards. It also contains a module that allows parents to choose which types of tasks they want their children to practice, and to review wrong answers afterward. The game has been developed with the help of teachers and children.
- Kuzmycz Software today introduces Number Attack 1.0 for iPad, their new game that challenges one or two players to test their basic math skills, and enter answers by writing them directly on the screen where they are read by the game’s built-in handwriting recognition capabilities. The game features: three levels of difficulty, five categories of math problems, six multiplayer modes, achievements, leaderboards, and high scores. Players will soon notice improvement in their basic math skills.
New accessories
- TRTL BOT has announced the availability of their highly acclaimed iPhone 4 cases in colors to reflect individuality while encouraging environmental awareness and social responsibility. Manufactured in the Los Angeles area, the TRTL STAND 4 and Minimalist 4 blend simplicity and functionality while protecting your iPhone 4 without adding bulk. In addition, each iPhone 4 case contains at least one recycled plastic water bottle and the proprietary ability to multifunction as either an iPhone 4 stand or a card holder.
- The long awaited white iPhone 4 is here, and as you may have noticed, it’s chunky. The .2 millimeter difference in width between the new white iPhone and its black predecessor might not seem like much, but between the increased thickness and a slightly different hardware configuration, many early adopters are finding that accessories and cases manufactured for the black Iphone 4 don’t fit the new, white iPhones. Enter Wrapsol, which announced that its uber-strong line of protective smartphone films is available specifically for the white iPhone 4 on pre-order now, and will ship next week.
Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »
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StemCells, Inc. To Reduce Workforce By 30%–What’s Wrong With Investors Today-Opinion
[Healthcare IT] (The Medical Quack)Well I guess it’s time to ask this question. When I see a company that is working on clinical trials for spinal cord injuries and macular degeneration for curing and treating diseases as such, why do we see millions and millions just thrown at algorithmic social software? Here’s a company who is working on some very important research and beginning clinical trials on crippling diseases and treatments for helping people not go blind. It is a publicly owned company and being used as an examp ...
Well I guess it’s time to ask this question. When I see a company that is working on clinical trials for spinal cord injuries and macular degeneration for curing and treating
diseases as such, why do we see millions and millions just thrown at algorithmic social software? Here’s a company who is working on some very important research and beginning clinical trials on crippling diseases and treatments for helping people not go blind. It is a publicly owned company and being used as an example here of what types of companies we should take seriously.
I read in the news all the time about social network companies (new algorithms aggregating web data) getting millions just almost by walking in the door and when you see research like this struggling and working hard to keep a lid on every penny, not to mention job losses, what gives here? I could live without a few more social network programs but if I had spinal cord problems or macular degeneration I would certainly be a lot more interested in what these folks are doing, and you I guess even without either of those afflictions I’m still more interested in what they are doing versus having to look at another algorithm that aggregates more social information on the web. The one that even investors have talked about is one called Color, who received $40 million and last I read from a review from Mike Arrington it’s out in beta and has not done much, user interface is hard to use and people can’t figure it out, so again this doesn’t make sense.
Mike Arrington asks how many Mulligans does the company get?
I like technology and sure I’m not saying stop all the tech innovations by any means but can we get some balance here? Only 1 out of 100 funded succeed and then all the people hired for those companies that don’t make it are out looking for jobs again. With a long term investment like research for cures, unless they are having to watch pennies like here, have the potential of a longer lasting job too. Tech does create new jobs but in the start up area it’s a gamble and those jobs come and go so thus we don’t seem to make a big enough dent that way.
Sure there are biotechs that take a dump too but nowhere near the number of tech companies that fly in the wind. Actually for start ups in healthcare with consumer products we could use a few less of them and a bit more collaborating as we end up with a bunch of stuff that does one thing or runs one type of query and consumers don’t use it. We have so much of this and code-a-thons which create a simple program that everyone cheers and then it dies and goes away. Some of the code written on those days might have some value and I hope it does get used but the applications die a quick death.
Innovation Without Collaboration Is Fouling Up The US Healthcare IT System–We Need Both As We Can’t Stand on Innovation Alone
Also too with new social network programs I have to take a hard look and see what data they are scraping out there too as we know the data selling game is huge. I would just like to see some balance here and perhaps see some of the money squandered on the tech side maybe fall over to science for some research and development as when I see especially stem cell companies stretching out their funds that hold the answers to cures, I just don’t get the fascination with web based algorithms and actually am growing of a lot of it. Sure they belong in the world but when you see nothing but “algorithms” for communicating out there with their only tangibles being a lot of servers to hold and distribute information, don’t you want to scratch your head and ask what’s up with this?
We have hospitals struggling to stay in business and find money, doctors who’s income is going down and with all the tech being dumped at them today as far as administrators drill down, they are not happy and in the tech of a technological boom we have to have “scribes” to help them.
Doctors Have Become One of the Largest Software Beta Testing Groups–”Magpie Healthcare” Unfortunately Still Thrives
This is a good post below that has a lot of detail on the subject. In a few years are the tech folks going to look around and ask about what happened to all the doctors and hospitals that used to be around? Why don’t' some of these folks crack code for genomics as there’s tons of need in Life Sciences right now. Take a look at the link below and look what a doctor goes through to admit you to the hospital and what treatment error might come up with coding errors, they can kill you accidentally.
The Hospitalists Have Become The Gatekeepers for Effective Hospital Coding & Sometimes Bear the Burden Alone
I would like to see these folks get some serious help as they too are an issue that needs to be addresses before we all suck eggs.
Use of IBMWatson Technology in Congress Would Allow For Smarter Laws and Decision Processes With Bonus Points For Lowering Over All Impact of Lobbyists
Back over on the healthcare side we have experts that do these extensive reports as to why patients and consumers don’t jump on the mobile health bandwagon and I can bet that nobody on the tech side has any interest here either as it’s not fun either. So we have our lost souls over hear that keep digging around for the same old answers over and over. If the tech folks could share a bit of ingenuity with the healthcare folks, perhaps they could learn what drives consumers as again the non participant leaders in healthcare have no clue, and these are not the biotech folks, this is specific to those trying to grab the consumer with all the applications dumped out in groves that nobody wants. Below is a good post where I have my suggestion to provide some value here. It gets ignored by luddites pretty much.
New Report on Engaging Patients–Still Misses the Boat With Failure to Create Value for Consumers - “Magpie Healthcare” Paradigms
Again all I am asking for is maybe a little balance here so as country we don’t end up on a real short end of a stick. We still need to invest in tangibles and the technology that gets us there, like drugs. If I am sick, I need to go get a pill normally to cure an infection for a simple example, not run to a social network as I won’t find what I need there. So just give this some thought, do you want to throw millions at social algorithms as they appear or do you maybe want a cure for macular degeneration that would also allow for more stability in the job market? I have been wanting to pose some of these questions for a while and I guess today was the day it happened. We have lost our balance and can’t seem to get it back and I don’t know if it is entirely greed running all of it or perhaps we have just flat out forgotten what is important and what builds stable wealth.
Algorithms alone for intelligence are not the entire answer and inflated values I’m afraid are going to deflate one day and as you can see the economy outside of Wall Street is no better off because of this. The
connection built between Wall Street investors and the algorithms too are growing dangerously into areas not explored before and we saw what happened in 2008 when formulas fell flat without wealth behind them with mortgages and I hope I don’t have to sit in a theater some day and watch a sequel to “Inside Job” as it scares me to death and just as I was finishing off here the White House puts out a notice about selling off their excess property to save money, so again what’s more important today? Think about it. BD
PALO ALTO, Calif., May 4, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- StemCells, Inc. (Nasdaq:STEM - News), a leading stem cell company developing and commercializing novel cell-based therapeutics and tools for use in stem cell-based research and drug discovery, today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2011. The Company also announced it is reducing its US-based workforce by 30 percent to reduce its cash burn rate and extend its financial resources in order to focus on advancing the clinical development of its lead product candidate HuCNS-SC(R) cells (purified human neural stem cells) as a potential treatment for spinal cord injury, myelination disorders, age-related macular degeneration, and other central nervous system disorders.
"While decisions of this nature are never easy, we believe we are taking the necessary and appropriate steps to execute our clinical agenda and thereby maximize shareholder value," said Martin McGlynn, President and CEO of StemCells, Inc. "For the past several years, we have been investing significant resources to conduct the extensive research and preclinical studies needed to advance our HuCNS-SC neural stem cells into human clinical testing, and to manufacture a sufficient number of cGMP compliant cell banks to conduct those clinical trials.
<\/param><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt="" />Stem Cells Spinal CordNow, with multiple clinical trials underway and others soon to begin, we will be generating clinical data regarding the therapeutic potential of our HuCNS-SC cells as these trials run their course. We anticipate that this reduction in force, combined with other initiatives to reduce our infrastructure and overhead costs, will put our burn rate on a downward trajectory for the next several years as we reap the rewards of those earlier investments."
The Company has completed patient enrollment in a Phase I trial in Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease (PMD), a fatal myelination disorder in children, and results of this trial are expected to be reported in early 2012. In addition, the Company plans to file an IND in the fourth quarter of this year to initiate a Phase I/II clinical trial of HuCNS-SC cells in age-related macular degeneration, which is the leading cause of vision loss in people over the age of 55.
Technorati Tags: Stem Cells,Stem Cells Inc,Color,Arrington,healthcare,research and development,tech,software,social networks,clinical trials
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Blog Post: Minister for School Education puts Australia’s imagination to the test
[SharePoint] (Site Home)Australia is selected to become host nation in 2012 to the world championships of innovation: The Microsoft Imagine Cup 2012 Worldwide Finals. It’s part of the Aussie national spirit, attitude and way of life; it’s seen as vital to our nation’s health, wealth and wellbeing; but Australians believe it’s not harnessed or rewarded in our society enough1. It’s our imagination. But what if our imagination had the power to change the world for good? This was the opport ...
Australia is selected to become host nation in 2012 to the world championships of innovation: The Microsoft Imagine Cup 2012 Worldwide Finals.
It’s part of the Aussie national spirit, attitude and way of life; it’s seen as vital to our nation’s health, wealth and wellbeing; but Australians believe it’s not harnessed or rewarded in our society enough1. It’s our imagination. But what if our imagination had the power to change the world for good?
This was the opportunity outlined by The Hon. Peter Garrett, Minister for Schools Education, Early Childhood & Youth, today as he announced Australia will become an “Imagi-nation” by taking centre stage as host for the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2012 Worldwide Finals.
Australia’s winning bid for 2012 represents its first time hosting the worldwide finals of Microsoft’s annual global student innovation competition, once described by Bill Gates as ‘the Olympics of the software world’, which celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2012. The Imagine Cup 2012 will challenge students to come up with ideas to help solve the world’s toughest problems – inspired in part by the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals - and to use the power of software and technology to help bring those ideas to life. This year, the Imagine Cup has attracted over 300,000 student registrants from more than 100 countries. The worldwide finals will take place in Sydney in July 2012 where more than 400 student finalists will compete.
Mr Garrett delivered the address this morning (May 5) at Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum to an audience that included Imagine Cup ambassador, young Australian of the Year and youngest person to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around the world, Jessica Watson; 2005 Australian of the Year, Dr Fiona Wood; industry bodies including Australian Computer Society Foundation; The University of Melbourne’s Institute for a Broadband-Enable Society (IBES), and Business Events Sydney. Mr Garrett praised the competition’s ambition to harness the collective and magical power of imagination and technology through collaboration, and all that this can achieve. Mr Garrett said the 2012 Imagine Cup is a fantastic learning opportunity for students from right around Australia.
“I encourage Australian students to get involved in Microsoft’s Imagine Cup 2012, using software and technology to help improve the world we live in,” Mr Garrett said. “The Australian Government is committed to revolutionising Australia’s education system through greater student access to information and communication technologies.”
Jessica Watson applauded the nation’s progressive and diverse culture, and said: “Imagination forms the backbone of our Aussie spirit, pride and determination – the Imagine Cup provides our youth with the ideal opportunity to dream and achieve.“To me, the Imagine Cup is important because it sends a clear message to young people and students that anything is possible and that we can be the spark that makes great things happen,” Watson continued.
Pip Marlow, managing director, Microsoft Australia said, “The Imagine Cup is all about harnessing the power of ‘what if’. Every discovery, every invention and all exploration is based on a willingness to imagine and a unwavering desire to seek out answers.
“Imagination and ideas have the power to solve problems but, in a modern, digital society, technology is now a great enabler. Australia is a natural choice for the worldwide finals – it lives and breathes the values of the Imagine Cup – innovation and inventiveness; collaborative citizenship and entrepreneurialism; optimism and a strong belief in a better future enabled by technology.
“We have the brightest and smartest talent in Australia, and in hosting the worldwide finals here next year, we hope to help inspire a new generation of student inventors and imagine-makers,” Marlow continued.
Imagine Cup ambassador, Professor Fiona Wood, who is world-renowned for her patented invention of spray-on-skin for burns victims, and was the 2005 Australian of the Year, said Australia’s hosting of the Imagine Cup 2012 Worldwide Finals is a real opportunity to celebrate the country’s significant contributions to science and technology and harness its future innovation: “We owe it to our next generation of innovators to support them in any way we can, giving them the means and the access they need to create the breakthroughs of tomorrow,” said Professor Wood.
The University of Melbourne’s Institute for a Broadband-Enabled Society (IBES) said having Australia host the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2012 Worldwide Finals was a timely opportunity for students to begin thinking about what a broadband-enabled future looked like.
“High speed broadband networks offer an incredible platform for innovation. The Imagine Cup will help spur innovation by bringing together the best and brightest students from around the world to work on the types of broadband applications and services that super-fast broadband networks of the future will deliver,” said Dr. Kate Cornick, Executive Director, IBES.
Mr Garrett’s address led today’s opening of Australia’s Imagine Cup 2011 national finals, which will see five teams battle each other in the bid to represent Australia at the Imagine Cup 2011 Worldwide Finals in New York on 8-13 July. Entries include the Brain Speller, a tool to aid communication between patients and carers; Mum2Be, a program designed to improve infant and maternal health and safety; Global Aid, a tool to educate people in developing countries about medicines and vaccines that promote public health; the m-Safeguard, a mobile phone application that integrates communications and resources to aid people in the midst of a disaster zone; and Social Alert, a mobile application that works to manage two-way information coming from people within or near disaster zones.
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How to Use Software to Plan and Prioritize Projects
[Startups, Small Business, AOL] (Inc.com)That’s one reason the demand for project and portfolio management (PPM) solutions has been strong in the face of the weakened economy. PPM software is a term covering many types of software to help in project management—including scheduling, cost control and budget management, resource allocation, collaboration software, etc., that help companies deal with the complexity of large projects.Many businesses are choosing to implement PPM solutions in order to get an organization-wide vie ...
That’s one reason the demand for project and portfolio management (PPM) solutions has been strong in the face of the weakened economy. PPM software is a term covering many types of software to help in project management—including scheduling, cost control and budget management, resource allocation, collaboration software, etc., that help companies deal with the complexity of large projects.
Many businesses are choosing to implement PPM solutions in order to get an organization-wide view of projects and identify which are mission-critical for the business and to help execute those projects as efficiently as possible.
“You can think of a project portfolio the same way you think of a financial portfolio. Most people use the portfolio concept to see what different kinds of investments they have and they’re usually familiar with some being riskier than others and some being safer than others,” says Sandra Richardson, chief marketing officer and co-founder of Métier. “It’s the same thing with a portfolio of various projects. You want to see them together to compare and contrast them in the same kind of visualization you want to see in a financial portfolio.”
PPM software used to be in a class of enterprise software products—such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) or customer resource management (CRM)—that were the purview of only large businesses. But, for small and mid-sized businesses, this category of software tools has become more affordable because many vendors now offer PPM solutions offered as software-as-a-service (SaaS), which can be paid for on a monthly basis and often is maintained and updated by the provider so the business customer doesn’t have to add IT staff to support the applications.
This article will review what type of businesses should consider project and portfolio management software, the benefits of PPM solutions, and how to use it and what functionality to expect.
Dig Deeper: The Value of Enterprise Project Management
Businesses That Need Project and Portfolio ManagementWhile businesses across a wide variety of industries can benefit from PPM software and solutions, there are definitely certain types of firms that juggle many different projects that are the best candidates. In general, architecture and construction firms could use these tools to better assign business resources to different customer projects and to determine which are most profitable for the company. In addition, other types of businesses, from educational institutions to non-profits to retail manufacturers, can also use PPM to make sure they are making the best investment decisions and doing the best possible job.
Outside of firms that juggle projects for customers, any business that has an information technology staff or a list of IT projects could potentially use PPM software to best prioritize those projects to determine which are most important to business goals and then manage them to ensure they are delivered on time and on budget. “Once you start dealing with organizations that are larger than 100 people, typically spreadsheets get out of hand,” says Patrick Tickle, executive vice president for Planview, a PPM software vendor. “You can’t maintain them because there are too many cooks in the kitchen.”
PPM products can help bring structure to an organization so that executives and managers can have a higher degree of confidence that the business is working on the right projects and that the right people are working on those projects. It can also help ensure that a business achieves a return on investment from its limited resources. “That’s even more critical in a small or medium-sized business than in a large enterprise,” Tickle says.
While investments in PPM products can climb to six-figures, these small and mid-sized businesses can get access to sophisticated tools for the lower five-figures—often less than $50,000 per year—by purchasing SaaS services. That delivery model tends to be attractive to businesses that don’t have the IT staff to deploy the software, want a lower cost of ownership, and need to deploy the solution rapidly.
Dig Deeper: Project Management Software Coordinates Timelines
Benefits of Project and Portfolio Management ToolsIn business, it pays to develop a strategy—either annually or on a bi-annual basis—and communicate it to staff. But how do you know that your company is actually on the right path or that you’re meeting your goals with regard to strategy or what investments to make in order to reach your strategic goals?
Metrics to help measure what projects you should undertake in house and what you should outsourceThe integration of the business so that executives can view projects throughout the enterprise, instead of allowing different departments to create “silos,” which can lead to duplication and wasted resourcesThe execution of business goals by standardizationBetter understanding of talent management (people) and project management (processes)
That’s where PPM software can help, vendors say. “In our software, we have the project management component so that your project managers can track the tasks and resource management and risks and financials,” Richardson says. “It’s that tie-in from the strategy to the execution.”
“If you have people doing really great projects but they’re not aligned with strategic goals, what good does that ultimately do for your business? PPM can help an organization determine what projects are essential to meeting those business goals so that they can fund projects that deliver value and then watch the execution of those projects to make sure they are being correctly managed,” Richardson says.
In a nutshell, here are some of the benefits experts say businesses can gain from PPM solutions:Dig Deeper: Ok, Everybody, Let’s Do This!
How to Use PPM SolutionsOne example of how a business might use PPM software is in launching a new product or service, Tickle says. In such a case, the implementation of PPM to this process would be broken down into three categories.
Ideas
At the front end of the process, staff could use the software to submit ideas on what products or services could be developed, why they would be profitable, and how they would be manufactured or sold. “In small companies, it’s important to harness every piece of intellectual capital,” Tickle says. “You can literally allow employees to submit ideas and say, ‘Here is a new market.’”
Planning
Next, the PPM tools can be used to move from ideation to more structured planning so that you can look at those ideas and evaluate market potential and determine the amount of investment needed to bring those ideas to market. “In the planning phase, you can look at all those ideas in the software and score them and take a structured approach to measure the investment potential of those ideas: the cost of the idea, revenue impact, what is the execution risk, do we have people who can do this project, and so on,” Tickle says. The software can help decision-makers look across the business and across business metrics and evaluate ideas on a common set of metrics.
Execution
Lastly, the PPM solution can be used to keep track of project execution. In this sense, it is used as a project management solution, including balancing resource management, staffing, budgets, and setting milestones. “You can see what your people are doing and I can take it all the way down to the most granular depth…you can literally track hours of what people are working on,” Tickle says.
The ultimate payoff comes when a business has integrated the PPM product throughout the business and executives can track an idea all the way through execution. “Then you can track the projected revenue against the actual ROI,” Tickle says. “You can measure the output of that investment decision.”-----
Recommended Resources
Taming Change: A Book about Harnessing the Power of Portfolio Management
Project Management Institute
Product Portfolio Management LinkedIn Group
PPM Industry Blog: Jerry Manas
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A Visual Guide to Creating an Embeddable Framework for Mac OSX
[Ruby] (Intridea - Company Blog)When building a shared library for an iOS application, we have no choice but to either provide the source files or a static library that developers can link to. But when building a library for Mac OSX applications we have the option of providing that functionality in the form of a framework. Specific to Mac OSX, frameworks are similar to a dynamic library but provide several key advantages. From the Framework Programming Guide Frameworks group related, but separate, resources together. This ...
When building a shared library for an iOS application, we have no choice but to either provide the source files or a static library that developers can link to. But when building a library for Mac OSX applications we have the option of providing that functionality in the form of a framework. Specific to Mac OSX, frameworks are similar to a dynamic library but provide several key advantages.
From the Framework Programming Guide
- Frameworks group related, but separate, resources together. This grouping makes it easier to install, uninstall, and locate those resources.
- Frameworks can include a wider variety of resource types than libraries. For example, a framework can include any relevant header files and documentation.
- Multiple versions of a framework can be included in the same bundle. This makes it possible to be backward compatible with older programs.
- Only one copy of a framework’s read-only resources reside physically in-memory at any given time, regardless of how many processes are using those resources. This sharing of resources reduces the memory footprint of the system and helps improve performance.
Now that we've got a handle on what frameworks are let's set about building one. Open up Xcode and create a new project. We'll use the "Cocoa Framework" template which can be found under the "Mac OSX" group.
Our framework will return a random Cary Grant movie quote so we're going to name it "CaryGrantQuotes". This framework will have only one method which is defined in
Quotes.m. Since it's such a simple framework, we can remove all of the frameworks listed under "Linked Frameworks" and "Other Frameworks" save forFoundation.framework.Next, expand the "Targets" group located in the sidebar and expand "CaryGrantQuotes". Drag
Foundation.frameworkto the group labeled "Link Binary With Libraries".Header files are important because they tell an application what methods they can access. Headers that will not be directly accessible can be marked as "Project" but any header files that can be imported by an application need to be set to "Public". Since our project has only one header file, we'll need to set it to "Public". Under the group labeled "Copy Headers", right-click on the header files, select "Set role" → "Public".
We'll need to modify our build settings so that the framework can be loaded properly by the enclosing application. Without getting into the gritty details of Xcode-specific environment details, the only ones you need to know about for getting this to work are
@rpathand@loader_path. These will expand with the framework being loaded to point to the location on disk where the framework is located relative to the binary. Right-click on the CaryGrantQuotes item under "Targets" and select "Get Info". Adjust your settings to match those shown below.
Your CaryGrantQuotes project should now match the image below.
Let's quickly build a Mac OSX application to embed our new framework in. We'll call it "MyProject" and all it will do is output a random quote to the debug console.
In the root of the newly-created MyProject directory, create a directory called "Frameworks" and open that directory using Finder. Tab back to the CaryGrantQuotes project in Xcode and build it.
Underneath the "Products" group, there should now be a "CaryGrantQuotes.framework" item listed. Right-click on that item and select "Reveal in Finder". Drag the newly-created framework into "MyProject/Frameworks" as shown in the image below.
We still have a few more tasks to perform before we can use this awesome new functionality. Under "MyProject", expand the "Frameworks" → "Linked Frameworks" groups. Right-click on "Linked Frameworks", select "Add" → "Existing Framework". This will take a few seconds to load as by default Mac OSX apps recursively search for all frameworks.
Since we are using our own framework, click on "Add Other…" on the bottom of the dialog, browse to the "MyProject/Frameworks" directory and select "CaryGrantQuotes.framework".
Next, expand "Targets" and right-click on "MyProject", select "Add" → "New Build Phase" → "New Copy Files Build Phase". Select "Frameworks" from the dropdown and close the dialog.
Now drag
CaryGrantQuotes.frameworkfrom the "Linked Frameworks" group into this newly-created group which should be labeled "Copy Files". Then take this same group and drag it to a spot above "Link Binary With Libraries" (which should now contain theCaryGrantQuotes.frameworkitem too).
Nearly there! Now we need to let "MyProject" know where it can find this new framework. We do that by modifying the "Runtime search paths" value which will expand into
@rpathwhen the binary is built.
Now all that remains is to add
#import <CaryGrantQuotes/Quotes.h>to the top ofMyProjectAppDelegate.mand we can use it how we see fit. To output a random quote to the debug console, stick this statement inapplicationDidFinishLaunching:.NSLog(@"Quote: %@", [Quotes randomQuote]);Your debug console should now output a random Cary Grant movie quote, quite a useful feature. If, however, you receive the dreaded "Library not loaded; image not found" error, I suggest you get familiar with the command-line utility
otool. Run the following command from the root of the "MyProjects" directory.otool -l Frameworks/CaryGrantQuotes.framework/CaryGrantQuotesThe
-loption shows you what libraries the framework is linked to as well as the path settings. The value ofnameunderLC_ID_DYLIBshould be@rpath/CaryGrantQuotes.framework/Versions/A/CaryGrantQuotes.The entirety of the CaryGrantQuotes project can be found on github. Additional links and resources on embedding your own framework are listed below.
- Using @rpath: Why and How
- Linking and Install Names
- Demonstration of using @rpath in a framework's install path
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30 Free Good Quality Leather Textures
[Design] (Naldz Graphics)Textures are commonly used in web design because it can create a look that roughens the sharpness and crispness of the background to make it catchy to look at. In today’s post, we will be showcasing different types of leather textures that are free and ready to be used into your next design project. Leather is a texture that is very pleasing to the eye and could really intensify the beauty of the design. It is a material mostly used in making high-quality bags, shoes and jackets. Here is our ...
Textures are commonly used in web design because it can create a look that roughens the sharpness and crispness of the background to make it catchy to look at. In today’s post, we will be showcasing different types of leather textures that are free and ready to be used into your next design project. Leather is a texture that is very pleasing to the eye and could really intensify the beauty of the design. It is a material mostly used in making high-quality bags, shoes and jackets. Here is our collection of 30 Good Quality Leather Textures that we would like to share with you. Each image of the stunning leather textures is linked to the sources for you to download them easily. It’s for free guys so start on browsing right now and enjoy!
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Beauty Tips – Detangling The Hair Styling Product Confusion
[Africa] (Afrigator)Beauty Tips – Detangling The Hair Styling Product Confusion Beauty Tips – Detangling The Hair Styling Product Confusion ]]> Back in the day you didn’t have much of a choice when it came to hair styles, sure they were many types of hair styles back then but if you had for instance straight hair you could only do so much, and get a hair style that suited straight hair. However today you have almost endless possibilities, if you have straight hair you can cha ...
Beauty Tips – Detangling The Hair Styling Product Confusion Beauty Tips – Detangling The Hair Styling Product Confusion ]]> Back in the day you didn’t have much of a choice when it came to hair styles, sure they were many types of hair styles back then but if you had for instance straight hair you could only do so much, and get a hair style that suited straight hair. However today you have almost endless possibilities, if you have straight hair you can change it to wavy or curly hair and get a curly hairstyle. This means that you can change the way your hair looks any number of times. With the styling products available on the market today you are spoilt for choice, however selecting the right product is imperative. Sifting through the nearly hundreds of products can be a task. This guide should help you sort through the various commercial product categories. Which hair styling products do you use? You have your choice of probably hundreds of different kinds of products, not to mention brands. It can be a mass of confusion just trying to figure out which styling products you should be using for your hair. When you go to the store, no matter what kind of store it is, you will notice that hair care products are endless, or so it seems. Can you remember when hair spray was just hair spray? It seemed you had your choice of two strengths of hold. Now, you have your choice of different types of hair sprays, mousse, and gels. You have products that will make your hair literally stand on end! You also have your choice of products that will take the frizz right of your hair. Then, on the opposite end of the spectrum, if you have straight hair but want it curly, why not choose a curl booster gel or spray? Or go the other way and straighten that curly hair? There are so many more options of hair styles with the hair styling products and hair accessories available to us. Well, to really get down to the “root” of the styling product chaos, you have to ask yourself a few questions, you have to find out what your real goal is with your styling products. So, ask yourself some questions. What kind of hold do I want? Do I want a light spray, that is non-sticky, minimal hold or do I need a super hold that will not budge even if the wind is blowing 50 miles per hour outside or you go down the highway in a convertible? If it is the latter, good luck! Will you use many products to achieve your styling goal or do you just want one? You should think to yourself, am I trying to straighten my hair? Am I trying to make it curly? Do I want the product to protect my hair from the weather elements? Do I need it to work well with my hair coloring? What formula do I need? Do I need a gel? Do I need a spray? Do I need something solid? If you thought you were done, think again, we are just hitting the top of iceberg in styling products. You can choose a variety of products for different types of hair achievements. For example, use a spray, gel, or mousse, if you are trying to add body or volume. If you want to create texture within your hair or make the current texture prominent, you will want to use pomade, balm, wax, or creams. Regardless of how you want to style your hair, you no longer have to accept your hair for what it is. Using hair accessories and styling products, you can pretty much achieve any look you are going for! Retrieved from “http://www.articlesbase.com/womens-issues-articles/beauty-tips-detangling-the-hair-styling-product-confusion-587622.html” (ArticlesBase SC #587622) Liked this article? Click here to publish it on your website or blog, it’s free and easy! Debrah Dragon - About the Author: Debrah Dragon is a writer for Beauty Items, a website about everything beauty-related – beauty tips, Orlando hair salons, beauty products, etc. Debrah is also a featured author at www.ArticleKing.com ]]> Questions and Answers Ask our experts your Women’s Issues related questions here…200Characters left What are the different types of hair styles ? What is the best natural product for thinning hair? How important are organic products, will you pay extra for the benefits they offer? Rate this Article 1 2 3 4 5 vote(s) 0 vote(s) Feedback RSS Print Email Re-Publish Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/womens-issues-articles/beauty-tips-detangling-the-hair-styling-product-confusion-587622.html Article Tags: beauty, beauty tips, beauty advice, stylling, orlando, hair salon Related Videos Latest Women’s Issues Articles More from Debrah Dragon How to Arrange a Harajuku Hair Style Learn how to arrange a harajuku hair style in this video from makeup artist Marie Webb. (01:18) How to Create Fun New hair Styles This hair beauty video shows you three great hair designs and then gives you the hair tips to create them. (02:11) Get the Most from Hair Conditioner Want shiny, healthy-looking hair? The secret is in your moisturizer. Learn how to get the most from your conditioner. (01:01) How to prepare your hair for styling Learn how to prepare your hair for styling with a flat iron hair straightener. Learn about: blonde hair, brown hair, red celebrity hair, curly hair, emo hair, hair braiding, hair care, hair color, hair cuts, hair design, hair do and hair extensions. (01:48) How to Style Naturally Textured Hair Style your tresses in 15 minutes! Celebrity hairstylist Ken Paves shows how to work your natural textured hair. (01:00) JOHN PATSTON Beware of the love rat John Patston, computer programmer, 60s, who is seeking a girlfriend through dating agencies By: carmelbrulezl News and Society> Women’s Issuesl Dec 27, 2010 Mali Sex Slaves: Land of Sex Slaves and Prostitutions Is It? I am wondering is it because, since, Mali has legalized prostitution, sex slavery is not a significant issue to it. If this true Nigeria, the United Nations and the rest of the world cannot rescue the thousands of sex slaves legally or by diplomacy. 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By: Mr. Prathaml News and Society> Women’s Issuesl Dec 18, 2010 Picking The Right Fancy dress outfits For Weddings Once the month of 06 rolls around, many brides have sent out invitations, obtained a flowing white beaded wedding gown, ordered muffins, and chosen luscious flowers. As an invited guest, choosing the right fancy dress attire can be challenging for men and women. By: Dyan Petersl News and Society> Women’s Issuesl Dec 18, 2010 Sonakshi Sinha Bikini Sonakshi Sinha in Bikini: Sonakshi Sinha (born June 2, 1987) is an Indian actress and model. She is the daughter of actor and politician Shatrughan Sinha. By: funlahorel News and Society> Women’s Issuesl Dec 16, 2010 lViews: 445 Under Islamic law, why is a woman’s share of the inherited wealth only half that of a man? The Glorious Qur’an contains specific and detailed guidance regarding the division of the inherited wealth, among the rightful beneficiaries. 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They are generally… By: Debrah Dragonl News and Society> Women’s Issuesl Oct 09, 2008 Add new Comment Your Name: * Your Email: Comment Body: * Verification code:* * Required fields Submit Your Articles Here It’s Free and easy Sign Up Today Author Navigation My Home Publish Article View/Edit Articles View/Edit Q&A Edit your Account Manage Authors Statistics Page Personal RSS Builder My Home Edit your Account Update Profile View/Edit Q&A Publish Article Author Box Debrah Dragon has 90 articles online Contact Author Subscribe to RSS Print article Send to friend Re-Publish article Articles Categories All Categories Advertising Arts & Entertainment Automotive Beauty Business Careers Computers Education Finance Food and Beverage Health Hobbies Home and Family Home Improvement Internet Law Marketing News and Society Relationships Self Improvement Shopping Spirituality Sports and Fitness Technology Travel Writing News and Society Causes & Organizations Culture Economics Environment Free Journalism Men’s Issues Nature Philosophy Politics Recycling Weather Women’s Issues ]]> Need Help? 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