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Monday, October 18, 2010

10/18/2010 - Back to Reality

This is officially my last post of this blog.  Today I was back at work and it really feels strange. I remember feeling like this when I returned from Chile after a couple years.  Many people have come up to me and asked, "So how was India?" and/or asked "How was the CSC program?".  It's hard to answer questions like these in a brief manner so I've kept my responses relatively short.  "Yes, I had a wonderful experience" and "India was great." I suppose the best thing I could do is give them the URL to this blog, right? :-).  Take care everyone and thanks for following!!
The Blue Tigers - IBM CSC India9
Left to Right (Top) Chris, Mario, Patricia, Randy, Wolf, Joanne, Mariana, Natalia
(Bottom) Kohichi, Dan, Katja

Saturday, October 16, 2010

10/16/2010 - My Travel Day

Well it's arrived.  My return trip home.  It will be a grueling haul. 19 hours of flight time and 13 hours of layover waits.  Oh goody.  I'm practically the last one at the hotel now and it's a strange feeling.  I'm so used to having the team around.  It's eerily quiet here.  I really, really miss home now and can't wait to get back.  So that's it .. if all goes well my next and last post on my trip will be done from home.  Until then.
See ya at home.

10/15/2010 - Farewell CSC Team

Today the team ran around preparing for travel.  Since I'm one of the last to leave (tomorrow) I basically provided assistance to anyone who needed it.  We had lunch together at a nice place called Mint Masala. It's a very good vegetarian buffet.  After that I accompanied a few of the team members on a final shopping trip.  I volunteered to be an official bag carrier.  No one took me up on the offer though.  We got back to the hotel, had a quick dinner and said our goodbyes.  It was sad and I don't want nor need to add further details  I'm going to miss you team!!!
A final good laugh

10/14/2010 - Farewell PSI

Today was our farewell to our NGO partner PSI.  We started the day by adding some finishing touches to our deliverable.  At around 1pm they took us to lunch at one of the biggest malls in Asia.  We had an excellent meal.  Afterward the attending senior manager gave a speech honoring Chris and I.  It was great and in fact there was a moment Chris and I almost choked up.  We are really going to miss the team.  They made us feel like family.  We'll never forget the experiences they provided us.

After we got back to the hotel we hosted our last farewell night party.  We did an Indian theme and all the men and women wore Indian attire.  The men coordinated a short Bollywood dance sequence and there is no way I'm posting that video.   It was a great night but the sadness is starting to sink in.  Tomorrow's going to be rough.
Our last lunch with PSI - We'll miss you!!!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

10/13/2010 – My First Cricket Match

What a way to start the work day.  Because PSI was so pleased with our work, they insisted we go to watch cricket for a couple hours before going to the office.  So that’s what we did.  And guess what? We got to see the national Indian team play Australia.  Chris and I were a little spooked walking around because we figured people thought we were Australian fans.  We remedied that quickly by purchasing some Indian flags and getting our face painted.   It was so cool and I actually have cricket semi-figured out.   We left the match at lunch time and as we were leaving a lot Indians thanked us for cheering for their team.  BTW .. The Indians blew away Australia.

Afterward we put in a solid day of work. We are just about finished with everything.  We are really, really going to miss the PSI team.  I told Chris if he starts crying on our last day I will too :-).

At night we went out with the gang to get some Bollywood dance lessons.  How did I do? Maybe a D+, C-.  Fun, but difficult.  Later.
Cheering for the Indians

10/12/2010 - A Day in Delhi

Today was by far the longest day of work for Chris and I.  We started our day at 4:30am.  Quick shower, no breakfast, pickup at the hotel at 5am and caught a 7am flight to Delhi.  We made it to the gate just in time, just like true Indians.

We arrived Delhi at 9:30am, grabbed a quick bite to eat and proceeded to PSI’s headquarters to chat with the managing director (president) and meet some other people.  Their headquarters were really nice.  They took an old mansion and converted it into office space.  We met a few other people and then around noon went on our field visit.

Our visit was an eye opening experience.  We visited a C-class neighborhood.  C-Class implies they are just above Indian poverty levels.  The streets were tiny and filled with people.  I didn’t get a sense that people were suffering.  On the contrary, people seemed to be generally happy.  I imagine a society based on the caste system will do that.   Anyway, PSI was teaching women about birth control (particularly IUD).  They put on a play that attracted quite the audience.  After the play they targeted a young Muslim woman for some 1 on 1 consoling.  PSI asked if we could join the discussion in their home and they said yes.  It was incredible.  Its experiences like these that can change a person for life.

After the field visit we went back to PSI headquarters and did our presentation again for the president and his direct staff.  Once again Chris and I did a great job.  We’re pretty confident PSI will be adopting our recommendations.  At 5pm we went back to the airport, grabbed a 6:45pm flight, and were in our hotel by 11pm.  A very long day.
Field visit with PSI - IUD education

Monday, October 11, 2010

10/11/2010 - Finishing Up and the Bangalore Palace

Today Chris and I spent the day working on the finishing touches of our final, main deliverable.  At around 12 pm we found out that our partner, PSI, wants to fly us out to Delhi to present once again to the managing director and his direct staff.  So guess what? Chris and I have to wake up tomorrow at 4am to catch an early flight.  We'll be returning at 11pm so it's going to be a long day for us.

After work we spent an hour at the Bangalore Palace.  Quite an amazing place.  We took an audio tour of the grounds and it was interesting to hear about all the history of the place.

After we got back to the hotel we met with the team at 7pm.   We stayed up at the terrace and each team presented his/her situation with their respective partner.  The meeting lasted until 12am....meaning I'm only going to get a few hours of sleep.  Because of the trip tomorrow I may not blog tomorrow.  We'll see.
In front of Bangalore Palace garden


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Chris Matthews: GOP debt ceiling stand is like apartheid-era South Africa

South Africa and apartheid, Custer’s Last Stand — those are not exactly great moments in world history. But Chris Matthews says that today’s Tea Party-influenced Republican Party fits in the same category.

On his Monday MSNBC program, Matthews asked the Huffington Post’s Howard Fineman why he thought the GOP was taking a tough stand on the debt ceiling negotiations. (h/t Ian Schwartz, Real Clear Politics video)

“What’s going on here as I see it is a kind of slow-motion secession,” Fineman said. “This is an ending of the social compact. This is two, three generations worth of agreement about Social Security, about Medicare, about the role of the federal government.”

“The Tea Party people are saying, ‘We want to secede from that society. And the way to do it is to draw the line on spending and taxes, to starve the federal government so that it loses power, so that we aren’t part of the social compact anymore.’ And that’s the real argument that’s going on, and the Congress as an institution is incapable of dealing with that kind of fundamental argument, which given the entitlement age and welfare state age, which is why you have the super committees and super-duper committees and the smaller and smaller ring of people attempting to decide something,” Fineman said.

That evokes images of South Africa during apartheid, Matthews said.

“This sounds like — I spent two years in southern Africa — [it] sounds like what the whites talked about doing,” Matthews said. “Eventually going into some circle, like Custer’s Last Stand against the United States.”

Fineman didn’t go along with the apartheid analogy, but he did say the pushback has materialized because some of the current plans on the table in Congress don’t go far enough in the Tea Party’s view.

“I wouldn’t put a racial tone on it, but I would say that the Congress is not dealing with the fundamental question here,” Fineman said. “They refuse to do it. And they’re not dealing with it now, because both bills, both plans — both the Boehner plan and the Reid plan don’t deal with either entitlements or taxes.”

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Mark Levin on Obama gun proposals: ‘This is 1930s stuff’ [VIDEO]

On Wednesday’s broadcast of Fox News Channel’s “Your World with Neil Cavuto,” conservative talk show host Mark Levin said President Barack Obama’s executive actions to curb gun violence, which were announced during a Wednesday press event, are as “un-American” and “fascistic” as they are unhelpful.

“What do any of these 23 [executive actions] have to do with what happened in Newtown? I’ve studied all 23 of them now. They have absolutely nothing to do with the mass murder that took place in Connecticut — zero. And the president won’t be asked about it. I have gone through these. It’s a weird collection of proposals. First of all, we have Obama ordering himself to order certain members of his administration to do things they should have been doing anyway, like enforcing existing laws, talking to each other, making sure they are trained up and everything. Why does the president have to issue an executive order and call in his Cabinet and say that? ”

“There is a lot of talk about training and educating, including first responders and local enforcement,” he continued. “Does the president know that the SWAT teams and these other teams of first responders are the best qualified, most experienced, most trained up of everybody to handle situations like this?”

Levin also challenged Obama for emphasizing that no federal law prohibits doctors from reporting violent threats made by patients. (RELATED: Obama emphasizes family values while announcing gun curbs)

“There are certain things in his executive orders that are un-American. In some ways they are fascistic. Doctors are private citizens. Do we really want doctors reporting to the federal government if they think somebody might have violent tendencies? Do we really want to discourage people that have mental health issues to see their doctor because they may be part of a national law enforcement database? How is that going to prevent any crime? You know a tiny fraction of murders occur from mentally ill people? There is no connection between reality and this president is proposing.”

Half of Obama’s proposals are “absolute crap,” Levin concluded, adding that the executive action guiding the Centers for Disease Control “to research the causes and prevention of gun violence” is illegal.

“I think there are a couple things in it that are poison pills — the attempt to nationalize the medical profession and to have doctors reporting their clients to the federal government, this is 1930s stuff. The American people to rise up against that. The medical profession needs to say no. Also he clearly wants a national database where all innocent law-biding citizens that buy guns are in a database. Can I ask you a question — what does that do? I can understand a national database of criminals. Why do you need a national database of Americans that own guns? What is that for?”

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Miami Dolphins locker room committee still hasn’t met

2:18 pm Mar. 24, 2014

ORLANDO– When the Miami locker room harassment scandal was at its peak, team owner Stephen Ross formed a super committee of Dan Marino, Tony Dungy, Don Shula, Jason Taylor and Curtis Martin to try to clean up the Dolphins.

But four months later, the committee still hasn’t met as a group. Dolphins CEO Tom Garfinkel, speaking to reporters today at the NFL owners meetings in Orlando, said the team has spoken


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Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Cheney: fear-monger

Via Orwell's Grave

"This program has been an important part of that intelligence capability. And as I said, the tragedy is, now that it has become the subject of so much discussion in the press and in the public arena that there is a real danger here that we will lose our capabilities in this area and will not have the kind of intelligence going forward that we've had in the past that has made it possible for us to successfully defend the nation against terrorist attacks. It doesn't mean there won't be future attacks. There may well be." - V.P. Cheney on the NSA wiretapping
This is, quite frankly, despicable. All the evidence we have seen to date suggests the NSA program results in thousands of dead ends, signal noise if you will, that does not yield intelligence on terrorists. There is no indication that it has ever prevented a terrorist attack. And, as has been pointed out, it is ridiculous to assert that terrorists don't know the United States government has the capacity to spy on them.

Cheney also does not entertain the possibility that the public exposure of the NSA program is the fault of the administration for not acting in accordance with the FISA law; this is not surprising, as the modus operandi of this administration is to never take accountability. What he is doing is attempting to silence criticism and avoid defending a policy decision by denouncing critics for exposing the country to danger. That is a familiar and disturbing tactic.

"[V]oice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country." - Nazi Reichsmarshall Hermann Goering

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Women Celebrity Hairstyles

Credit: © Sara De Boer / Retna

Alyssa Milano (May 5th, 2005)

Alyssa Milanno’s pinned-back curls create a graceful style for a night on the town.

Styling Tip

Step 1: Combine a nickel-size amount of styling lotion with a few drops of shine serum and apply onto damp hair. Blow dry two-inch sections at time with a paddle brush to straighten out your hair. Create a slightly diagonal part.
Step 2: Mist a one-inch section with styling spray and then wrap it around a medium curling iron. Hold in place for a few seconds to set the curl and then release, and repeat, curling in the same direction until all sections are curled.
Step 3: Pin one side back behind your ear.

Try on celebrity hairstyles in the Makeover Studio!
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    • Charming Northridge House

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      Bring in your buyers and investors! This charming 4 bedroom house is nestled in a quite residential neighborhood in the heart of Northridge, only a block away from CSUN. Highlights include: New paint, RV access,...

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Marching On

The war in Iraq continues to makes news this weekend.  In Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, Denver and many other cities... thousands of Americans marched against the war.  In Iraq... there was more violence and death.  We have reports from NBC's John Yang in Washington... Jane Arraf in Baghdad... and we'll hear from the wife of an American soldier on his way to Iraq.

Senator Hillary Clinton is on the campaign trail today.  She spoke to a crowd in Iowa today... one of the key states in the 2008 race for the democratic nomination. Potential republican candidate Rudy Giuliani is in New Hampshire.  NBC's Chip Reid will have the story.

NBC's Charles Hadlock reports on the growing number of home foreclosures in this country... a nightmare for some... it may be an opportunity for others.

If you're planning a trip to Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean then you'll want to watch Kevin Tibbles' story tonight.  The U.S. has new rules for Americans returning from those places... and you're going to need to have your passport. And there are more rule changes coming.  We'll explain.

And from Florida an interesting story about alligators... and the problems they can pose from workers just trying to do their jobs.  NBC's Mark Potter reports.

It's all coming up tonight.  We hope to see you then.


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Luminate dietary supplement now on sale on Amazon

An early version of a Luminate bottle, submitted as part of the company's trademark application.

An early version of a Luminate bottle, submitted as part of the company's trademark application.

The dietary supplement Luminate Focus created by Hafiz Dhanani, originally a member of the Class of 2016 who is now taking time off from school, is now for sale on Amazon at a price of $46.95 per bottle of 60 capsules.

Marketed as a “non-addictive, safe and effective cognitive enhancement supplement supported by clinical research,” the product is formally a dietary supplement rather than a drug. Dietary supplements do not have to receive approval from the Food and Drug Administration in order to be sold.

Dhanani wrote in an email to Butler College late last week that the product had yet to be launched officially but that it is already available through Amazon.

In an interview, he said that he had multiple conversations with molecular biology professor Jeffry Stock regarding the biological effects of Luminate.

“He patented a novel way of extracting molecules from coffee beans that he thinks prevents neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s,” Dhanani said of Stock. “He thinks the [Luminate] idea is really interesting and we’ve met a couple of times.”

Dhanani added that he hopes to gain Stock as an advisor and wants to create more relationships with neuroscience professors to further legitimize his product.

Stock declined to comment for this article.

The originality of the Luminate formula has been questioned in the past. In February, the founders of the natural supplement company Natural Stacks accused Dhanani of inappropriately borrowing their formula.

Although the product is available on the Amazon website, it is not being sold directly by Amazon. Instead, Luminate is registered as a third-party seller on the website. The seller has yet to receive any reviews.

The product itself had received seven reviews with an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars, as of Wednesday evening. All but one of the reviewers have not reviewed any other Amazon products except for Luminate.

Dhanani explained that he did ask some of his early customers to write “unbiased reviews” of Luminate on Amazon as the product has not yet launched officially.

He was able to distribute his product through Amazon after completing the brand registry process. In order to sell on Amazon, Dhanani explained, he had to provide a barcode number, known as a Universal Product Code, and prove that he was the exclusive brand owner of Luminate. The approval process took a few days, and Luminate has been on sale for about a week, he said.

The word Luminate was registered as a trademark on Feb. 15 this year, according to documents filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The application included two pictures of the product “as used in commerce.” The bottle has an orange label that reads Luminate with the slogan “Focus is a Beautiful Thing.”

Luminate was registered by Luminate Labs LLC, a company formally established in the state of Delaware just a few days earlier on Feb. 10.

The trademark application lists a Frist Mailbox as the company’s address. Dhanani, who is Canadian, said that he used a friend’s address because he needed a mailing address in the US in order to receive company documents.

Opinions on the product from students appear to be mixed.

Andre Douglas ’16 expressed his doubts about the product, suggesting the University should do something to stop the proliferation of the dietary supplement.

“First and foremost not much is known about Luminate. It seems to be just a buzzword for… an academic performance-enhancing drug and not much has been divulged about its chemical composition, its potential side effects, and who are and are not at risk for its side effects if they exist. It seems to me a drug that’s too good to be true- it seems like a substitute for an even more well known drug like Adderall,” Douglas said.

Dhanani said Luminate Focus is a dietary supplement, not a drug, and the FDA does not regulate these types of products. However, he noted that FDA officials frequently visit the manufacturer that he collaborated with.

Unlike Douglas, some students who have taken Luminate Focus have stated the product helped them with their studies.

Jessica Ma ’15, whose name was provided by Dhanani, said in an interview that she began to use the supplement in January and then two weeks later until she ran out of the product.

“Previously before using the supplement I’d been kind of struggling with school. … I kind of felt that I wasn’t able to focus that well,” Ma said. “When I started taking it consistently … I really felt that I was much, much better at processing information. … I think really for me the magic of Luminate is that unlike other pills, you really realize that when you take it it’s not the pills that are really making you able to focus, but the pills are able to make you discover your ability to focus.”

Ma is a former senior writer for the Street Section of The Daily Princetonian.

Correction: Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this article misstated the relationship between Jessica Ma ’15 and Luminate. Her name was provided to the ‘Prince’ by Luminate’s creator, Hafiz Dhanani. The ‘Prince’ regrets the error.

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President Obama’s administration just can’t leave well enough alone. First, it couldn’t manage to be respectful to Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, during his visit. When a State Department official responsible for planning the visit was questioned about this by the Sunday Telegraph, the official’s response was:

There’s nothing special about Britain. You’re just the same as the other 190 countries in the world. You shouldn’t expect special treatment.

Next, it was Russia’s turn. The “reset/overcharge” fiasco at least led to an internal apology by long-time Clinton aide Philippe Reines, which is more than Britain has received. Too bad the apology was as poorly-written as it was cringing. Then Poland got the Obama treatment, when its pleas for continued American support on missile defense were met with a stony mention of further discussions.

But Obama doesn’t give up easily: he’s an equal opportunity offender. French newspapers are reporting that Obama has written a reply to a letter from former French President Jacques Chirac, who’s now the head of the “Jacques Chirac Foundation for sustainable development and cultural dialogue.” In his reply, Obama states he is “certain that we will be able to work together, in the coming four years, in a spirit of peace and friendship to build a safer world.”

The left is now falling all over itself to explain that, of course, Obama knows Sarkozy, not Chirac, is the President of France. And we don’t doubt – well, at least not seriously – that he does. But you don’t see Gordon Brown writing to Bill Clinton to say that he looks forward to working with the Clinton Library.

There’s a good reason for that. The essence of international relations is that they are conducted between states, not between states and NGOs. It’s not appropriate for a foreign leader to subvert our sovereignty by bypassing our government and promising to work with an American NGO. American leaders should show the same respect for other states.

Good manners do dictate a civil response to such a letter, even if it does come from an NGO headed by a corrupt and disgraced former President of France, who when in office made no secret of his dislike of the United States, whether led by Bill Clinton or George W. Bush. But there are many ways to respond that do not state a desire to work together: finding the right words in these circumstances is what diplomats are for. Unfortunately, in the Obama administration, diplomats – especially diplomatic ones – are in very short supply.


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This week, all eyes are on South Carolina as the Palmetto State votes on Saturday in the next Republican presidential primary contest. Jobs and the economy are rightly being debated by the entire political spectrum.

It’s not the first time in the past year that South Carolina has been center stage when it comes to jobs in a country struggling to get back on its feet. Last year, the Obama Administration took aim at Boeing when the Seattle-based company sought to build a new assembly plant in Charleston, South Carolina, in order to produce the 787 Dreamliner. Enter the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which filed a complaint against Boeing alleging that the company decided to build the plant in South Carolina out of retaliation for union strikes at its Washington state facilities.

At the center of the issue was the fact that South Carolina is one of 22 right-to-work states, meaning that workers there have the freedom to decide whether to join a union or not. Right-to-work laws block companies from firing workers for not paying union dues, thereby protecting employees’ right to work regardless of their support for unions. In the case of Boeing, the Obama Administration — by way of the NLRB — sought to prevent the company from making fundamental decisions about where to do business, all because it wanted to open a plant in a right-to-work state. (Ultimately, the NLRB dropped the case after union negotiators reached a deal that benefited their members in a union state.)

Big labor, of course, abhors right-to-work laws because they threaten unions’ ironclad grip on employees — along with the dues they are forced to pay and the resulting political buying power the unions amass. (By some estimates, unions spent some $400 million in the last presidential election.) However, right-to-work laws have positive effects for states where they are adopted — in short, they bring much-needed jobs and investment. James Sherk, senior policy analyst in labor economics at The Heritage Foundation, explains:

Businesses want to know that, if they treat their workers well, unions will leave them alone. Right-to-work makes that more likely — and businesses notice. Studies show right-to-work laws are a major factor in business location decisions. It was no accident that Boeing built its new 787 assembly line in right-to-work South Carolina. Neither was it coincidence that most new auto plants have been built in right-to-work states. More investment means more jobs.

Consider two counties that border each other across a state line, one in a right-to-work state and the other not. These counties have similar economic conditions, similar demographics, and similar climates. But the county in the right-to-work state has an average of one-third more manufacturing jobs. Right-to-work laws encourage investment and job creation.

Not surprisingly, other states are looking to follow in South Carolina’s footsteps. Indiana’s legislature is debating whether to make its state right-to-work, and legislators in Maine and Michigan have introduced right-to-work bills. They undoubtedly see the benefit of making their states more competitive and freeing employees to make decisions about whether or not to support unions.

But that movement flies directly in the face of the Administration’s big labor agenda. Earlier this month, the President flagrantly ignored the Constitution by making three illegal appointments to the NLRB — an act that Heritage’s Edwin Meese III and Todd Gaziano described as a “tyrannical abuse of power.” Sherk explains that unions are looking to the NLRB to boost their ranks amid flagging support — just one in 10 nonunion workers wants to join a union.

Given unions’ decreasing power — and the political debt that is owed to them — it’s not surprising that the NLRB took aim at right-to-work South Carolina or that the President flouted the law in order to make pro-labor appointments. Instead of promoting job growth, the left is promoting its political allies. Meanwhile, America’s unemployed workers are suffering the consequences of a ruling class that is putting unions’ special interests ahead of laborers.

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In office only a week, the new foreign minister of Chile, Heraldo Muñoz, is already signaling the intention of the government of Socialist president Michelle Batchelet to weaken the pro-free-market Pacific Alliance in favor of its more statist competitor, Mercosur.

A move like this would seem to confirm rumors of a high-pressure campaign launched by Brazilian president Dilma Rouseff. Rouseff would rather see Chile in Mercosur, a grouping her country founded in the 1990s.

A move to align or combine the two agreements would ultimately pit the relatively economically free Pacific coast of South America against the unfree Atlantic coast. This would have serious consequences for Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru, members of the Pacific Alliance that benefited from the agreement. The alliance’s market-led approach—which has focused on enhancing transparency and efficiency and in the flows of capital, goods, and ideas; maximizing investor confidence in the rule of law with the enforcement of contracts; and the protection of intellectual and real property—has contributed to combined growth rates of over 4 percent since it was first established in 2012.

A move closer to Mercosur could undermine this agenda. Mercosur remains a protectionist and ideological grouping dominated by Brazil (and somewhat by Argentina) that, as a political and economic alliance, has consistently failed to deliver any of the benefits it promised to the people of the Southern Cone when it was established (with great fanfare) in the early 1990s.

In addition, since The Heritage Foundation began tracking economic freedom 20 years ago, trade freedom in the Pacific Alliance countries has grown at a quicker pace, on average, than in the Mercosur countries. Joining Mercosur or aligning the two trade blocs would likely not be beneficial. If Chile, Mexico, Colombia, and Peru could outpace Mercosur in trade freedom before the alliance was even formed, imagine what they can do now.

This week, Heritage analysts presented the findings of the 2014 Index of Economic Freedom in Chile and drove home the point that Chile has come too far down the road of economic freedom and prosperity to turn back now. With Chile’s economy slowing as the price of copper falls, now is the time to stick to the principles of economic freedom to encourage growth, not turn away from them.


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About Dallas Karting Complex

Racing action from the fastest kart racing track in Texas - Dallas Karting Complex

Karting is an emerging sport to the North Texas area and DKC is leading the way in building awareness and enthusiasm by premiering the first true go-kart track in the state of Texas.

The idea is not only to offer residents with a fun recreational sport but also offer devoted fans an avenue for actually competing in North Texas. As it stands now, the DKC team is forced to travel across the country with karts, trailers and gear to race. But this new track will allow racers and supporters alike the chance to enjoy the sport right here in the DFW area.

With their new development, DKC will offer a 25 acre racing facility hosting a 0.8 mile long race track that boasts 17 impressively sharp turns to keep the adrenalin moving. Mr. Adds explained that; “we’re introducing the sport to North Texas and even offering driver development programs at a world class racing facility. This will cater to everyone from the competitive racer out to win trophies to the corporate event designed for basic team building."

This massive plot of land will also offer 10,000 square feet of space for meeting rooms, banquet rooms and food catering services onsite. DKC can customize a kart racing event that, as Mr. Jones said; “will absolutely be the most fun you can have on four wheels."

Customize your event for a birthday party, bachelorette party or a corporate team building exercise. Karting is a way to have some fun with family and friends, and even inspire a little bit of friendly competition. It also gives kids an alternative to the cut-throat competitive sports leagues that let you forget how to just have fun.

Now, for all you die-hard enthusiasts out there, there’s hope. DKC is turning up the heat with league racing nights that offer 30 drivers the chance to race in a fleet of rental karts on different track configurations and race formats that will keep your blood pumpin’!

One-on-one instruction can sharpen your skills and reduce lap times as you learn the art of kart racing from some of the most accomplished racers. Drivers as young as five years old can even start lessons, and begin mastering their talent. Karting emphasizes the fun of learning while perfecting the performance of driving.

As an importer and retailer of the finest Italian and French racing karts available, DKC stands behind their promise to offer the ultimate racing experience. With a full-service kart shop located directly off the track, you can find everything from Intrepid, Sodi and CRG lines of professional racing chassis to Rotax and Honda racing engines to Mojo and MG tires to safety equipment outfitting your every move. Whether you are a new comer or aficionado, DKC will have you driving like a pro in no time at all.

Where In The World Is DKC?

Dallas Karting Complex

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3/29/2012 - Pond-life

Thursday, March 29

4:00 - 5:00 PM

Grades 2 & 3

It’s spring and if listen carefully can hear in the What other of life are in pond? Learn and

then create your pond life scene clay, paper natural objects.

Seating is limited so register today.

Free. REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED at danburylibrary.org,
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On the Rise: Khori Petinaud

A sleek, dynamic triple threat in Aladdin

Photo by J. Medlock, Courtesy Steps on Broadway

Say Khori Petinaud’s last name fast enough and it sounds “pedigree.” That’s apt for this triple-threat dancer who will make her Broadway debut in the ensemble of Aladdin in March. Petinaud’s sleek lines and soaring jumps were refined at institutions like Dance Theatre of Harlem School and The Ailey School.

Born in Atlanta, Petinaud, 26, spent most of her childhood in Centerville, Virginia, near Washington, DC. At first interested in sports, she started dance classes late. When she was 12, she saw Dance Theatre of Harlem perform Firebird at the Kennedy Center, and it galvanized her. “The beautiful ballerinas looked like me,” she says. “I wanted to be in their company.” The next year she started classes at Russell’s School of Ballet in Chantilly.

With the encouragement of her teachers there, she attended a DTH summer program. The pointe-heavy schedule pushed her both technically and artistically. Yet despite her talent and the positive feedback she received, Petinaud remembers comments that made her feel self-conscious about her body. “I was already developing by the time I started dancing, and I had bigger thighs from playing sports as a kid,” she says. The next summer, she attended University of North Carolina School of the Arts’ summer dance program and was told “I could be something if I lost weight.” It put a sour taste in Petinaud’s mouth.

By her later teens, Petinaud knew she wanted to combine academics with her college dance studies. She took an Ailey summer program with an eye to Ailey/Fordham, but ultimately went to NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. There she finally found her artistic voice. “I understood storytelling from the more fluid modern dance perspective,” she says. “I finally saw dance as more than just a technique to master.”

When she graduated, the road became bumpier. “I didn’t want to be in modern or ballet companies anymore. I was depressed and confused,” Petinaud says. Strapped for money, she stopped taking class and worked at a hotel. She toyed with dropping dance altogether. Then on a whim, she decided to audition for The Lion King. She was immediately cut, but she had caught the Broadway bug. With persistence, she eventually made it as far as the final round for the Las Vegas company. “The casting director told me he loved me but I needed to lose weight,” Petinaud remembers. “I was destroyed, but that kicked me into gear. I fought hard to get back to dance class and into shape.”

She also started taking a musical theater career seriously. She continued auditioning, and in the meantime earned a slot in the Steps Repertory Ensemble, the resident contemporary dance company at Steps on Broadway. “I learned how to adapt to different aesthetics, choreographers and environments,” she says. “That’s handy in Aladdin: Casey Nicholaw, the choreographer, has assistants and each has a different approach.”

Then in 2011, Petinaud finally got her first shot in a musical, as a replacement on The Color Purple national tour. Returning to New York, she booked a regional production of Sweet Charity; she also worked with choreographer Josh Prince in his The Broadway Dance Lab. “Josh taught me that the girl who’s a strong actress making bold choices is more intriguing than the one with perfect technique,” says Petinaud. She added acting classes at the Jen Waldman Studio. “It opened me up to a new world of possibilities with using acting to enhance the choices made as a dancer.”

Richard J. Hinds also hired Petinaud for Evita at the Flatrock Playhouse. “I had already seen Khori in my class at Broadway Dance Center,” he says. “She would take the choreography and make it her own. For Evita, I told the dancers I was looking for grounded movement. With Khori’s strong modern background, I found many of the dancers looking to her to see how to interpret the steps.”

Before booking Evita, Petinaud had gone to the Aladdin audition, enticed by the large number of people of color slated to be in the ensemble. She was not chosen, but her agency resubmitted her after the initial audition. She was taken by surprise when they called to congratulate her a few days later: She had her first Great White Way gig.

Petinaud finds working on Aladdin with Nicholaw inspiring. “Casey never uses a meaningless step,” she says. “So as an actor, it’s almost like a cheat sheet. I’m overjoyed to be working with someone who understands subtlety.” She cites the number “Friend Like Me.” “We get to play a lot of different characters,” she explains. “I get to make so many choices that will be set as part of the show. Any reproductions will have my stamp, and it’s thrilling that’s now part of my path.”

Lauren Kay is a New York writer and dancer.


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Watch this meticulously edited ‘Star Trek’ fan video for William Shatner’s awesome Pulp cover
10:08 am

Star Trek
William Shatner

In 2004, Ben Folds produced William Shatner’s album Has Been which included a surprisingly great cover version of Pulp‘s hit song “Common People.” Folds enlisted ‘80s icon Joe Jackson to sing on the choruses of that cover. The Has Been album was surprisingly well received by critics, and many agreed that “Common People” was the “hit” on that record.

Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker even praised the cover version, stating, “I was very flattered by that because I was a massive Star Trek fan as a kid and so you know, Captain Kirk is singing my song! So that was amazing.”

A fan has created a video for Shatner’s “Common People” using clips from Star Trek: The Original Series.

What makes this edit truly incredible is the attention to detail in matching shots with the lyrical content, even nailing specific lines of the song to lines spoken by Kirk in the show. Check twenty-seven seconds in where “I want to live,” or forty-seven seconds in where “I’ll see what I can do” sync perfectly.  The amount of work that went into this is apparent and astounding.

You can’t say Trekkies aren’t a dedicated lot.

This is totally worth four minutes your time:

Posted by Christopher Bickel | Leave a comment
Bank of Canada urges ‘Star Trek’ fans to stop ‘Spocking’ their fivers
04:31 pm

Current Events

Star Trek
Leonard Nimoy

Bank of Canada is pleading with Star Trek fans to stop “Spocking” its five dollar bills. Since Leonard Nimoy’s death, Canadian folks have been “Spocking” the hell out of the five dollar bill that features a portrait of Canada’s seventh prime minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier.

Sir Wilfrid now sports, on certain bills at least, pointy ears, the signature Vulcan haircut and eyebrows and Spock’s mantra “Live long and prosper.”

According to Bank of Canada it’s not illegal to do this but:

“...However, there are important reasons why it should not be done. Writing on a bank note may interfere with the security features and reduces its lifespan. Markings on a note may also prevent it from being accepted in a transaction. Furthermore, the Bank of Canada feels that writing and markings on bank notes are inappropriate as they are a symbol of our country and a source of national pride.”

I say Spock the hell out of ‘em if it ain’t illegal. Sir Wilfrid Laurier’s face wasn’t that interesting, anyway. In fact, let’s just make this a permanent improvement to the Canadian five dollar bill.

Keep on “Spocking.”

via Toronto Sun

Posted by Tara McGinley | Leave a comment
The marvelous cover art of the early ‘Star Trek’ comic books

Poor Gold Key Comics. Despite their stewardship of tons of familiar titles, they always ranked a tier (or three) below the A-list. While Marvel and DC had all the high-octane superhero star power, Gold Key largely got by on licensing properties from other media. They did comic book tie-ins with Hanna-Barbera, Warner Brothers, and Disney cartoons, and brought TV shows like The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Twilight Zone, H.R. Pufnstuf (!!!), Dark Shadows and Star Trek to the comics racks. Amusingly, some of their tie-in comics outlived by years the original TV series’ upon which they were based, but the company’s fortunes waned throughout the 1970s, and after they lost the lucrative Trek license to Marvel in 1979—just months before that franchise’s cinema revival—their days were numbered. Gold Key was done for by the mid 1980s.

But though they were never the heaviest hitters, Gold Key weren’t wanting for talent. A young Frank Miller’s first pro gig was illustrating a story in The Twilight Zone, and ‘60s-‘80s sitcom deity Garry Marshall wrote scripts for some of their titles. And they had cover painter George Wilson. It’s is beyond frustrating how difficult biographical data on Wilson is to come by. Despite being as prolific as he was accomplished, he has no Wikipedia entry, and searches for his work are complicated by the existence of a pulp novel cover illustrator by the same extremely common name. But his obscurity—and I get that he was basically a jobber, but still—does nothing to diminish his gifts, and it’s just all kindsa wrong that as yet there’s been no big, lavish, coffee-table book collecting his work. He produced incredible numbers of vivid, exciting, superbly designed, impeccably rendered, ridiculously fun cover paintings for Gold Key’s sci-fi, adventure, and horror titles, including many for Star Trek. A lot of the covers that weren’t by Wilson were thrown-together photo illustrations. We suspect you’ll agree that these are far preferable.

More after the jump…

Posted by Ron Kretsch | Leave a comment
Music for Spaceports: Wil Wheaton is making ambient cut-up music, and it’s actually pretty good

Not unlike Star Trek TOS’ George Takei, The Next Generation‘s Wil Wheaton has forged a thriving Trek afterlife as an internet presence. But while Takei has flourished as Planet Earth’s living avatar of goofy online ephemera, Wheaton has gone from playing the single most hated character in the entire Star Trek franchise to being a worthy ambassador for geek culture.

Wheaton has blogged a lot about gaming, sci-fi, and cosplay, and he’s also made a point of expressing his love for ambient music. And recently, he’s made the laudable transition from appreciator to creator.

I made a thing, which I believe is best experienced as ambient background noise, projected onto a bare brick wall. This is not something that you sit down and watch, the way you’d watch a movie or a TV show.

This work was created by combining audio and visual works obtained from the Internet Archive, at The visuals are from Panorama Ephemera, which was found in the Prelinger Archives. The audio was remixed and processed in Audacity, and comes from several different sources, also originally found at the Internet Archive.

Everything used to make this video is in the public domain, or is licensed for remix and reuse.

And I’ll be damned if it ain’t half bad! Sure, there’s better out there, but there’s plenty worse, too. I look forward to hearing more, and if there’s ever a Wil Wheaton ambient LP, I’ll be among the first in line to pick it up.

Posted by Ron Kretsch | Leave a comment
Great moments in ‘Star Trek’: Captain Kirk and the stalagmite dildo weapon
11:10 am

Star Trek

In a classic scene from the Star Trek episode titled “What are Little Girls Made Of” (season one, episode seven, which aired on October 20th, 1966) we are treated to a skirmish involving Captain Kirk, a stalactite strongly resembling a huge dildo and a giant alien named “Ruk,” played by actor Ted Cassidy (who portrayed “Lurch” on the The Addams Family). Thirty-five minutes into the episode, Kirk is chased by Ruk into the caves of the alien planet he teleported to. To defend himself, Kirk pulls a huge piece of stalactite from the ceiling of the cave and after a quick edit, we get to see Captain Kirk holding what looks inexplicably like a gigantic marital aid. Kirk smacks Ruk around with it and you get to wonder how hard the production crew was laughing when this one slipped by the censors over at NBC.

In case you are short on time, someone has kindly put together a 25-second video summary of the episode that is posted below for your perusal. The full episode is currently streaming on Vimeo

Posted by Cherrybomb | Leave a comment
Watch every episode of your cult TV favorites playing at the same time

Why? How? Who cares! This is just rather awesome!

YouTube user Omni Verse has put together ten minute packages of your favorite cult TV shows in an intense “videoggedon,” where all the episodes are played at the same time!

From Star Trek and The Twilight Zone, to Kolchak—The Night Stalker, Planet of the Apes and Doctor Who. This is like a ten minute sugar rush of cult TV heaven!

‘Star Trek’ all 80 episodes played at same time.

The Twilight Zone’ all 156 episodes at the same time.

‘Kolchak—The Night Stalker’ 20 eps all at once.

‘Doctor Who’ all 178 Tom Baker episodes.
More cult TV all at once, after the jump…

Posted by Paul Gallagher | Leave a comment
Weird celebrity endorsements: The entire cast of ‘Star Trek’ uses MCI long distance calling
06:51 am

Star Trek

I barely remember being conscious of long distance providers. It was before I had to worry about bills and I’ve never had a land line—at this point, I think even my grandparents have seen the light of texting. I do vaguely remember the rabid flurry of phone company commercials, desperately trying to one-up each other and corner the market. As a Trekkie-by-birth however (thanks mom!), I would have totally remembered the weirdness of this 1990 MCI commercial, had I ever witnessed it.

Don’t get me wrong, I cast no stones at product endorsement, not even by my beloved science fiction heroes. I mean, Shatner’s a great spokesmen for Priceline—he has the smarm and the charm to make it work. George Takei appeared in commercials for television, and George Takei can pretty much do whatever he damn well pleases because he is a gift to all mankind. But it is weird to see the entire crew of The Enterprise promoting something as mundane and anachronistic as a long distance service.

Speaking of mundane, I like how they portrayed the MCI offices as a dynamic, mission control kind of atmosphere, instead of the fields of cubicles we know to be the call center.

Posted by Amber Frost | Leave a comment
Star Trek: The Middle School Musical

“To boldly go…”

Now, this I would go and see.

Star Trek: The Middle School Musical—a segment from The Mythical Show.

I hope Cameron MacKintosh is watching…

Posted by Paul Gallagher | Leave a comment
Impressive lifelike sculpture of Mr. Spock
12:45 pm

Star Trek

There’s really not that much to say about this, but, uh, holy crap you can actually see the five o’clock shadow setting in! It’s all in the details…

“Spock” by Schell Sculpture Studio. Damn this is good!

Below, a medley of notable Spock quotes from all 80 original episodes of Star Trek:

Via Ian Brooks

Posted by Tara McGinley | Leave a comment
The IRS’ ‘Star Trek’ training video that doesn’t appear to train (or amuse) anyone…
07:20 am

Star Trek

Let it be known that I am the very first person, ever, to point out that the rhetoric of “government waste” is almost always a political tool, a red herring, distracting the public from focusing on rampant wealth inequality and America’s real bottomless money-pit, our absurdly gratuitous military spending. The resultant alarmism is used to incite a panic so that the wealthy can promote debilitating austerity measures as necessary belt-tightening.

Moreover, the $60,000 the IRS spent on this video (and, to be fair, another unreleased one that parodies Gilligan’s Island), adds up to such a pittance to taxpayers, it barely means anything. Plus, I’m pretty sure working for the IRS sucks, so I don’t mind shelling out a couple extra pennies to bring a little levity to the lives of the folks auditing my taxes—I want them to be in a good mood.

That being said… $60,000?!? I guess I just feel like the production values or writing should have been better. It can’t even decide if it’s the original Star Trek or The Next Generation! The IRS has apologized for the poorly thought-out project, but I have yet to hear an apology to the canon!

As a tax-payer, I’m kind of “meh” about this. As a science fiction fan, I am incensed!

Via Associated Press

Posted by Amber Frost | Leave a comment
Fine literature on the set of Star Trek (‘What us worry?’)
07:02 am

Pop Culture

Star Trek

Shatner and Nimoy
That’s a Mad magazine they’re holding up, if you can’t tell. It doesn’t surprise me that Leonard Nimoy reads Mad, but the “Shakespearean” actor William Shatner taking a break with a little “low culture” humor mag? I am unnerved!

Posted by Amber Frost | Leave a comment
‘Star Trek’ cast at space shuttle viewing, in glorious 1976 fashions
06:28 am

Star Trek

After a flood of letters from Star Trek fans, NASA named its first Space Shuttle Orbiter “Enterprise”. On September 17, 1976, Enterprise made its’ media debut at the Rockwell’s plant in Palmdale, California, as the Air Force band fired up the Star Trek theme music. The show’s cast was naturally invited, although somehow William Shatner missed it.

Surely he owned a fabulous leisure suit? He’s Bill Shatner!

From left: James Fletcher; NASA administrator, DeForest Kelley; George Takei; James Doohan; Nichelle Nichols; Leonard Nimoy; Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, George Low; NASA deputy administrator, and Walter Koenig;

Below, Leonard Nimoy recounts the events that led to the Space Shuttle’s name.

Posted by Amber Frost | Leave a comment
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Trekkie!

Actress Nichelle Nichols tells the lovely story of how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. convinced her to remain on Star Trek after she had decided to leave the series for Broadway:

I was going to leave “Star Trek,” and [creator] Gene Roddenberry says, “You can’t do that. Don’t you understand what I’m trying to achieve? Take the weekend and think about it.” He took the resignation and stuck it in his desk drawer….

As fate would have it, I was to be a celebrity guest at, I believe, it was an NAACP fundraiser in Beverly Hills. I had just been taken to the dais, when the organizer came over and said, “Ms. Nichols, there’s someone here who said he is your biggest fan and he really wants to meet you.”

I stand up and turn and I’m looking for a young “Star Trek” fan. Instead, is this face the world knows. I remember thinking, “Whoever that fan is, is going to have to wait because Dr. Martin Luther King, my leader, is walking toward me, with a beautiful smile on his face.” Then this man says “Yes, Ms. Nichols, I am that fan. I am your best fan, your greatest fan, and my family are your greatest fans…. We admire you greatly ….And the manner in which you’ve created this role has dignity….”

I said “Dr. King, thank you so much. I really am going to miss my co-stars.” He said, dead serious, “What are you talking about?” I said, “I’m leaving Star Trek,” He said, “You cannot. You cannot!”

I was taken aback. He said, “Don’t you understand what this man has achieved? For the first time on television we will be seen as we should be seen every day – as intelligent, quality, beautiful people who can sing, dance, but who can also go into space, who can be lawyers, who can be teachers, who can be professors, and yet you don’t see it on television – until now….”

I could say nothing, I just stood there realizing every word that he was saying was the truth. He said, “Gene Roddenberry has opened a door for the world to see us. If you leave, that door can be closed because, you see, your role is not a Black role, and it’s not a female role, he can fill it with anything, including an alien.”

At that moment, the world tilted for me. I knew then that I was something else and that the world was not the same. That’s all I could think of, everything that Dr. King had said:  The world sees us for the first time as we should be seen.

Come Monday morning, I went to Gene. He’s sitting behind that same dang desk. I told him what happened, and I said, “If you still want me to stay, I’ll stay. I have to.” He looked at me, and said, “God bless Dr. Martin Luther King, somebody knows where I am coming from.” I said, “That’s what he said.” And my life’s never been the same since, and I’ve never looked back. I never regretted it, because I understood the universe, that universal mind, had somehow put me there, and we have choices. Are we going to walk down this road or the other? It was the right road for me.

TV’s first interracial kiss—between Nichols and William Shatner—also occurred on Star Trek. America celebrates Martin Luther King Day on January 21.

Below, an excerpt from a much longer interview with Nichelle Nichols—who also toured with Duke Ellington as a vocalist—in the archive of The TV Academy Foundation’s Archive of American Television, on YouTube

Via Media Post

Posted by Richard Metzger | Leave a comment
Lynchian test footage of ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’
12:40 pm

Star Trek

Oh gawd, this late 80s behind-the-scenes test footage of the hair, makeup and wardrobe from Star Trek: The Next Generation just made my day!

Imagine the possibilites of adding your own soundtrack to this!?

Via Neatorama

Posted by Tara McGinley | Leave a comment
The Beatles Meet Star Trek: The first pop mash-up?

I wonder if anyone has ever seen this film, The Beatles Meet Star Trek, which opened November 5th, 1976 at the Uniondale Mini Cinema in Uniondale, N.Y. From what l can gather, over at Temple of Schlock, this was either a mix of Star Trek bloopers and Beatles’ performances; or a cartoon fest of clips from the Trekkies and Fab Four’s separate animated series. Whichever, it would be good to find out if anyone has seen The Beatles Meet Star Trek, whether it was any good? and was it the first pop cultural mash-up?
Bonus: fan made slash clips of Beatles and Star Trek, after the jump…

Posted by Paul Gallagher | Leave a comment
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Monday, January 19, 2009

Giveaway - "EON: Dragoneye Reborn"

Well it looks like Dark Wolf’s Fantasy Reviews reached another milestone, the 200th post. When I’ve start my blog I didn’t set any goals for it and I was doing for fun. Well, I am still having fun and as long as I keep having a wonderful time I will try to blog about my passion. Still, I had a lot of help along the way and I like to thank all of you, my friends for helping me start and keep going, readers for coming here and making all even more worthwhile and publishers and authors for all their help and reading and reviewing material. And if I am late in reviewing some of the books received, please accept my apologies and let me assure you that sooner or later I will get to them :)

Also a big thank you goes to the nice people of Penguin and their marketing campaign. With their help I am able to associate my milestone with the first giveaway of my blog (hopefully it will not be the last as well). So, with this occasion you have a chance to win a copy of Alison Goodman’s novel “EON: Dragoneye Reborn”, an EON poster and an EON pin. “EON: Dragoneye Reborn” was released on December, 26th, 2008 and here is a synopsis of Alison Goodman’s novel:

Under the harsh regime of an ambitious master, young Eon is training to become a Dragoneye, the human link to an energy dragon's power. His intensive study of Dragon Magic, which is based on the Chinese zodiac, involves two kinds of skills: sword-work and magical aptitude. Eon is lamed, and lacks the physical strength of his fellow trainees, but his unnaturally strong connection to the energy dragons helps him rise above the rest.

In a spectacular sequence of events, Eon is thrust into the heart of a lethal struggle for the Imperial throne. In this new, treacherous world of hidden identities and uneasy alliances, Eon faces a vicious enemy who covets the young Dragoneye's astounding power, and will stop at nothing to make it his own. But Eon is playing a dangerous game: he is in fact Eona, a young woman whose true identity must remain hidden, for discovery would mean instant death.

Inspired by the rich myths and traditions of Ancient China, shimmering with energy dragons, filled with dazzling swordplay and fraught with tension, this is a fast-paced, exhilarating page-turner.

But that’s not all, the lucky winner will find that the prize includes two other books, Frank Beddor’s “The Looking Glass Wars” and Robin McKinley’s “Chalice”. To enter in the competition send me an e-mail at MihaiTheDarkWolf AT gmail DOT com (please replace the AT and DOT with the proper symbols) until Sunday, January 25th, with your name and adress, only one entry per person. The competition is open worldwide. I’ll announce the winner on Monday, January 26th.

Good luck to all!

Mulluane said...

....Cashes in all of her good karma....

Mine! All Mine!

....Runs off clutching her new books, cackling gleefully....

Hagelrat said...

Buna Seara Mihai,
I shall be emailing you soon to enter this competition.

kyodnb said...

noooo, the precios book shall be mine...evil hahahaha :)
Nice contest Mihai, i will send you the e-mail, thank you and thanks to the publisher for this oportunity. I heard good things about this book.

ediFanoB said...

Dear Dark Wolf,

first of a all CONGRATULATIONS !!
Your first giveaway.

Good luck to all participants.

Dark Wolf said...

Mulluane, I know exactly what you mean "evil grin"

Adele, good luck :)

Bogdan & Michael, thank you very much and good luck :)

Dave said...

Mulluane, Adele, Edi, Kyo, I'm so sorry to tell you this but that copy has my name all over it (in the fine-print, you see), so you all may as well give up. :-)

My entry's in your mailbox, Mihai! :-)

Dark Wolf said...

Good luck, Dave :)


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Database Consolidation onto Private Clouds

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Consolidating databases onto a private cloud is a new model for the delivery of database services. Private clouds consolidate servers, storage, operating systems, databases and mixed workloads onto a shared hardware and software infrastructure. Deploying databases on a consolidated private cloud enables IT departments to improve quality of service levels and reduce capital and operating costs. Consolidation can be achieved through server, operating system and database consolidation, and the higher the consolidation density achieved, the greater the return on investment (ROI). This white paper describes how to successfully consolidate your database onto a private cloud through several deployment models.

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Beginner Gardening: Best Gardening Resolutions?

Communities > Forums > Beginner Gardening
Forum: Beginner GardeningReplies: 2, Views: 61
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Murfreesboro, TN
(Zone 7a)

December 20, 2010
1:58 PM

Post #8269463

What's the best or most interesting gardening resolution you've ever heard of? What do you plan to do differently in 2011?

It's right around the corner, and we would love to showcase some resolutions in an upcoming article, so please post your best, most bizarre, or resolution you really hope to keep in the upcoming year.
south central, WI
(Zone 5a)

January 7, 2011
1:38 PM

Post #8297662

Only buy enough plants that I have room for (like that will work)
Get some order/style into the garden..more apt to work as the one plant per square inch really gets some neat plants lost in the shuffle (sometimes permanently)

Baltimore, MD
(Zone 7a)

January 11, 2011
6:49 PM

Post #8305691

Plants are like children.

If you cannot take proper care of them--don't have so many.
AND--STOP propagating every slip and cutting and seed to have more...

It becomes incurable obsession for which there is no cure.

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Tomatoes & Peppers: Fruit engineering for specific traits queey

Communities > Forums > Tomatoes & Peppers
Forum: Tomatoes & PeppersReplies: 7, Views: 54
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Magnolia, TX
(Zone 8b)

June 24, 2012
6:41 PM

Post #9179189

Ok, I need a consensus, if tomato traits have been engineered for pest and disease resistance, is it also possible to have varieties which have a longer 'shelf life' ? Reason I am asking is because as a driver the speed that a tomato ripens or stays green is a simple 1* on the reefer setting, but so many of thes tomatoes I am hearing abt are maturing really slow in spite of the high heats right now? One of my friends got tired of waiting on his Jetstars to ripen and fried em green. Says the taste was great - really great! But why wouldn't they turn red? And I wondered if breeding for a better - longer marketing tomato was possible.
Vista, CA

June 24, 2012
10:41 PM

Post #9179385

Yes, it is very possible. UC Davis is famous for breeding an indestructible tomato that all ripen at the same time and harvested by a machine that throws them in to open semi trailers. Apples have been bred with skins so tough they will not bruise and even sharp teeth have trouble biting into them. Farm papers often discuss "Shipping traits" and Shelf Life, which is the reason so much fruit is inedible. Seldom do you hear anything about tenderness or flavor.

That is the basic reason i am learning late in life how to grow a tender good tasting tomato, which were the only kind before the Engineers took over.

Durhamville, NY
(Zone 5b)

June 25, 2012
4:51 AM

Post #9179546

The way I view it is how would a candy bar taste if you had to eat it wrapper and all.

Charlotte, NC
(Zone 7b)

June 25, 2012
5:50 AM

Post #9179617

The way to get fruits and vegetables that suit your own taste is to start with heirlooms, and save seeds from the ones you really, really like.

Magnolia, TX
(Zone 8b)

June 25, 2012
9:02 AM

Post #9179984

If the plants (not seeds, mind you) we are picking up as sets from feed stores, hardware stores, nurseries, etc are these plants, I wonder how we would know, and Heirloom doesn't always mean before engineering to ship and store...
Salem, NY
(Zone 4b)

June 25, 2012
6:24 PM

Post #9180909

and Heirloom doesn't always mean before engineering to ship and store...

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by the above, but if it means what I think it means, It does to me.

When talking about heirloom tomatoes, one could be talking about family heirlooms, about ones that are commercial varieties that were bred before 1940 and I don't know of one of them that has been genetically engineered, actually there aren't any.

Several years there was one that was introduced, not an heirloom, that had a fish gene inserted that supposedly gave it a long shelf life and another one bred that I called SummerSpringWinterFall, I forget its real name but I called it that b'c after harvesting it just never was edible, sat there are the counter for several months, didn't shrivel, didn't do anything. LOL

But there is a category of tomnatoes called longkeeper types and here's a list of some of the them from Tania's excellent tomato base. The one that starts with a Z is usually known as Giraffe, I'm sure she included that alternative name, and I didn't think it was all bad.

My own opinion about long shelf life varieties, excluding the many varieties bred for stores that are rock hard and tasteless,, ugghh, is that for everything there really is a season so I like to eat what's in season so when my tomatoes go down that's it for me, although I will buy some grape tomatoes, usually Santa Sweets since I know about them, and that's that.

Carolyn, btw, you used the word "engineering" above to speak to diseases tolerances in general, but most folks would interpret that as referring to GMO's or genetically modified tomatoes, which they aren't. A GMO is a tomato that has been altered by insertion of a gene other than a tomato gene, which would refer to the blue tomato developed in England where a snapdragon gene has been inserted, or even the fish gene I mentioned above.
Vista, CA

June 25, 2012
9:39 PM

Post #9181248

I believe we were using "engineering" in a broader sense than just "Genetic Engineering", as a lot of the good shipping qualities, or other changes that benefit the growers and shippers more than the consumer, are done more by breeding and selection than by actually altering the genes.

I should have used Plant Scientist or Plant Breeder, instead of engineers, in my comment.

But, with so many commercial growers producing Heirloom plants, i am sure they select seeds of whatever variety they propagate, from their fastest growing most profitable plants, and who is to say those stronger plants do not produce a stronger skin, or a stronger flavor, or staying green longer, or whatever? I see many comments regarding how the Heirloom varieties give different results from grower to grower or year to year. So i would suspect there are many differences in plants with the same name.

And Carolyn is undoubtedly correct in saying that they are probably not Genetically Engineered, as she is by far the most knowledgeable person about tomatoes.

So, no dispute here, just careless terminology.

Magnolia, TX
(Zone 8b)

June 26, 2012
12:15 AM

Post #9181318

Mine to start with for lack of a better term, broad sense answers tend to confirm a suspicion I was getting. And OMG fish gene? Shake head, long name for a paperweight tomato- I like it. Thanx for the link, I will check it out.

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But somewhere between creating the idea and presenting it, Ed attended one of my courses on building engaging and powerful presentations. During the session, Ed had what he calls an “aha moment”. “When I went to the first session, the dissection slide that took one slide and broke it into many, showing that more slides is okay, that was the first ‘aha’. Then the structure of the ‘what is, what could be’ followed by the slide examples that were nothing but pictures – it was like ‘wow!’ And then I looked at all the videos in the reference section.” And it wasn’t just my program, but also a storytelling session with storytelling consultant Geoffrey Berwind, highlighting the power of stories in the workplace.

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Even though Ed’s project was not chosen, he received much more than he expected, “The whole thing was probably one of the most exciting and enjoyable work assignments I’ve ever had. It was a blast! I can’t wait to do something like this again.” Sometimes the most amazing outcomes are those that we don’t expect.

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Darkness: The World In Which Christ Was Born

The Darkness

While we think of Christmas as a season of light, the truth is, the birth story of Jesus Christ is filled with darkness.  Anticipating the birth of the Christ child centuries before Mary was great with child, Isaiah writes that the light that was coming into the world, came to a people shrouded in darkness (9:1-7).  Gloom, anguish, and contempt were just some of the adjectives used to describe this darkness.

Thus, in order understand the full revelation of the light which came into the world when Christ was born, we need to recognize the darkness into which our Christ was born.  Today, we will consider seven aspects of the darkness, aspects not out of God’s control, but rather sovereignly ordained such that Christ’s light would radiate all the more brilliantly.

First, when Christ was born, the word of God had not been heard for four centuries.  Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament, written in the fifth century BC.  It concludes with the statement that God would send Elijah the prophet as a forerunner for the Messiah.  But since that last pregnant statement, which would eventually be fulfilled in John the Baptist, God had been silent.  And everyone knew it.  Listen to some of the Jewish writers of the day.

Babylonian Talmud, Yomah 9b:After the latter prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi had died, the Holy Spirit departed from Israel, but they still availed themselves of the voice from heaven’

Josephus, Against Apion: From Artaxerxes to our own times a complete history has been written, but has not been deemed worthy of equal credit with the earlier records, because of the failure of the exact succession of the prophets’

1 Maccabees: So they tore down the altar and stored the stones in a convenient place on the temple hill until there should come a prophet to tell what to do with them.’

Without the word of God present among them, the people walked in spiritual darkness.

Second, the people of God were under the oppressive rule of Rome.  This is evident in the birth story of Jesus.  Luke 2:1 records the census taken up by Caesar Augustus.  It was a blatant reminder that the people of Israel were owned by another.  Likewise, Herod, a descedent of Edom, ruled in Jerusalem.  Long gone were the days of a Davidic king. Much like today, soldiers walked the streets of Jerusalem.  Only they were not 19-year old Israelis with M-16’s.  They were Roman guards, called to police the city of David.

In some ways, Israel had escaped exile.  No longer did they live in Babylon.  But in many ways, they were exiles in their own country.  Even their own temple was built by a foreigner—Herod the Great was a descendent of a rival nation.  Political darkness reigned!

Third, the nation of Israel was fracturing.  Four groups in Israel sought and fought to lead the people.  (1) The Pharisees resided in Jerusalem.  They attempted to shape religious life in Israel through their traditions.  Jesus had many run-ins with these legalistic Jews, who led astray the people of God (cf. Matt 23). (2) Sadducees opposed the strict legalism of the Pharisees, and only embraced Moses law (Gen-Deut).  They rejected the resurrection, belief in angels, but still had a influential place in the temple and law courts.  (3) The Essenes, who lived in a commune near Qumran–they were the scribes who penned and preserved theDead Sea Scrolls–lived an especially pure life.  They devoted themselves to God, and prayed for God’s overthrow of Rome. (4) The Zealots were a band of brothers who did not pray for change so much as they sought violent means of overthrowing Roman rule.

The result of these four competing sects in Judaism led to constant friction, only increased by the oppressive rule of Rome.  Riots were common.  Tension was unceasing. Darkness permeated Judaism.

Fourth, the birth of Jesus came through a virgin.  Now, in our day, we celebrate Mary as an example of devotion and faith.  We send Christmas cards with creche scenes on them and sing songs praising God for this humble servant.  But it was not so then.  Matthew 1 records that Joseph, who was a righteous man, one who loved Mary, sought to divorce her quietly.  Why?  Because everyone knows how a child is conceived!  Mary’s child would grow up ridiculed as the son of an unchaste women (cf John 8:41).  A virgin birth was not a celebrated event in ancient Israel.  Darkness surrounded it!

Fifth, the census was a considerable imposition.  Living in Nazareth, Mary and Joseph lived more than 100 miles North of Bethlehem.  Yet, there was no way around it.  They were forced by legal constraint to make the arduous trip.  Without a highway, a car, a cushioned seat, or a suspension system; the teenage couple were forced to walk over hills and through streams.  While we celebrate the pilgrimmage today with illumined festivity.  This was a dark walk.

Sixth, the poverty of Mary and Joseph did not fit the royal son they had.  Not only were the conditions leading up to Christ’s birth dark, so too was his birth.  Luke 2:7 records that there was “no place for them in the inn.”  This is probably because it was filled up with travelers coming for the census; but it may also be the case that Joseph, a carpenter by trade, did not have the means to pay for or to pay extra for a room.  Money talks, right?  But it is clear, that Joseph had no bargaining power.  Mary and Joseph went to the stable, where Jesus was born and laid in a manger.  Without family or hospitality, darkness surrounded them.

Seventh, through the hostile forces of Herod, Satan tried to kill Jesus.  Poverty was not the only source of darkness; persecution followed Jesus’ birth, so that he was constantly under threat.  Matthew 2 records the details.

Matt 2:1-8. Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.'” Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.”

 Herod, so paranoid for his own position and power that he had multiple family members executed, attempts to use the wisemen to lead him to the Christ child—not to worship, but to exterminate. When he learns that the wisemen have not complied with his scheming, he orders the execution of all the children in and around Bethlehem.

Matt 2:16. Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.

The Good News of Great Darkness

Darkness is everywhere in Christ’s birth, which should not come as a surprise when we think of the prophecies in the Old Testament and the conditions of the world that God created.  As John 1 says, “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world, . . . yet the world did not know him.”

The reality of Christ’s darkness is not in itself comforting, but when we consider that Christ came into the darkness in order to bring light, the truth is staggering beautiful.  For we all face seasons of darkness, and God in the flesh knows exactly what that looks like and feels like.

Remembering that the light of Christ came in the darkness of night gives us hope that God can still pour light into our hearts and shine light into our lives.  No matter how dark it may be, no matter where the darkness comes from, God is the light who enlightens everyone, and has come to take up residence in the lives of those who look to Christ.

Soli Deo Gloria, dss

One thought on “Darkness: The World In Which Christ Was Born

  1. Pingback: Christmas in Dark Places | Via Emmaus

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Although this infographic is a little dated (Voyager 1 is now officially in interstellar space) it conveys a lot of cool info about what the Voyager 1 is and what instruments this probe contains. In 1977, this little guy was launched from Earth. It studied Jupiter and Saturn and has since been on a trajectory of no certain destination ever since. Its mission now is to just keep exploring farther and farther away from us in interstellar space; the space between stars. It is now the farthest man-made object from us (12 billion miles!). It’s pretty insane to think about, really.

Just a few days ago NASA officially announced that the probe has actually left our solar system. It will be centuries until it reaches another star. So what defines being outside of our solar system? Well, Voyager has an instrument on it that measures ions emitted from the sun. Even though there is no sound in space, the density of ions is read as an acoustic wave via the vibrating plasma around the probe (which you can listen to here). By measuring this data, it is now believed that this density at which it is currently located is outside the gravitational pull of the sun!

So bon voyage, Voyager! Keep rocking out with your golden vinyl and ion-waves!

If you’d like to learn more about the Voyager 1, Radiolab did a great spot on it (listen here)

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Post tags: acoustic waves, Carl Sagan, golden record, gravitational pull, heliosphere, interstellar space, ions, left, NASA, probe, radiation, solar system, sound, space, vibration, Voyager 1

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Behind the front page: We must resist complacency to preserve freedom
Nov 15, 2012 | 1923 views | 0 0 comments | 5 5 recommendations | email to a friend | print
Rebecca Palmer, Clipper Editor
Rebecca Palmer, Clipper Editor

Salt Lake County politicos are abuzz this week after Democratic County Mayor Peter Corroon released a proposed budget that included a 17.5-percent property tax hike. The controversy arose because he waited until after his replacement was elected to release the figures, possibly upsetting the exceptionally close race between the Democratic winner, Ben McAdams and his Republican challenger, Mark Crockett.

I praise the Davis County Commission for averting such a scandal by releasing its tentative budget well before the election. That budget does not include a property tax increase, but is about $3 million higher than the 2012 budget due to tourism growth and an improving economy, county staff reports.

However, I believe that many residents here are overly complacent about county government. I hear protests about the federal government and its budget on a regular basis from our readers, but I heard surprisingly little about the race between incumbent County Commissioner John Petroff, a Republican, and his Democratic challenger Steve Andersen.

As almost everyone predicted, Petroff won in a landslide victory, with more than 68 percent of the vote.

Considering Andersen’s campaign platform criticizing the county’s decision to take on debt for public buildings compared to growing national concern over the federal deficit, I would have expected closer results.

I also consider that Davis County has elected very few Democrats to the commission over the decades, and I believe that many residents here never even consider voting for a Democrat, regardless of his or her merits.

I support Petroff and other county leaders, and I don’t think their decision to take out bonds was reckless or irresponsible. However, Davis County  issues such as these should see more debate.

As I have asserted before, we must participate in local politics. Our city and county elected officials are easier to reach and closer to home, thereby allowing us greater opportunity to effect the governing of ourselves. Furthermore, the decisions of local leaders have much greater effect on shaping our community values and boosting our own jobs and the local economy. We cannot rest on our laurels. Complacency, over time, will certainly result in a loss of the freedoms we so highly prize.

It may make Salt Lake County look bad to be embroiled in controversy over when the budget should have been released, but it’s heartening that our neighbors to the south are paying attention. Even if it increases the level of conflict in our own county, I encourage all our readers to do the same.

On that note, we have seen fewer letters to the editor since the elections earlier this month. We appreciate the letters we get from some of our most loyal readers, but want to represent multiple sides of important issues. please write to us by sending your letters to or 1350 S. 500 West, Bountiful, UT 84010. Address them to “Editor” if they are intended for publication.

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