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Now Twitter Efforts to Silence Trolls

Twitter on Tuesday announced yet another crackdown on abusers.

With the goal of making Twitter a safer place, it has come up with new ways to

  • Prevent the creation of new abusive accounts;
  • Make search safer; and
  • Collapse potentially abusive or low-quality tweets.

Twitter also pledged to persist in its anti-abuse endeavors, saying it would keep rolling out product changes, some more visible than others, and updating users on its progress every step of the way.

Twitter “is more vulnerable than other social media because people expect it to be their link to the world, and not just their friends,” noted Jim McGregor, a principal analyst at Tirias Research.

“People use it for news and for access to quick gossip,” he told TechNewsWorld, adding that its open-ended structure makes it an easier target for abuse.

Latest Offensive

Twitter will identify account owners it has suspended permanently and block them from creating new accounts.

That might be a reaction to the creation of multiple fake accounts last fall,

The Dozens of iOS Apps Vulnerable to WiFi

Dozens of applications for Apple’s mobile devices are vulnerable to WiFi snoopers, a security researcher reported this week.

Will Strafach, CEO of the Sudo Security Group, identified 76 popular iOS apps available at Apple’s App Store that were vulnerable to wireless eavesdroppers, even though the connections were supposed to be protected by encryption.

There have been 18 million downloads of the vulnerable apps, he said.

Strafach categorized 33 of the vulnerable apps as “low risk.” Potentially intercepted information included partially sensitive analytics data about a device and partially sensitive personal data, such as an email address or login credentials.

VivaVideo, Snap Upload for Snapchat, Volify, Loops Live, Private Browser, Aman Bank, FirstBank, VPN One Click Professional, and AutoLotto: Powerball, MegaMillions Lottery Tickets are some of the apps he assigned to the low-risk category.

Riskier Apps

Strafach categorized another 24 iOS apps as “medium risk.” Potentially intercepted information included service login credentials and session authentication tokens for users logged onto the network.

Strafach labeled the remaining apps “high risk” because potentially intercepted information included the snatching of financial or medical services login

Wow Gaming’s New Virtual Reality Frontier and Personal Cargo Robots

Welcome to Gadget Dreams and Nightmares, the column that occasionally stops gaping at contentious Senate confirmation hearings and votes to peruse the latest gadget announcements.

This time around, we’re looking at some of the gadgets that perhaps got a little lost in the noise after CES in January but caught our eye, for better or worse. Among them are a 4-D arcade machine and a robot designed to carry all the things you don’t want to.

As ever, dear readers, this is not a review column, in part because these products have yet to reach the public sphere, but mostly because the chances of my actually ever using said products are slim. The ratings relate only to how much I’d like to try them, should the stars align.

Regular readers will know that I’ve played games my entire life. I hold deep reverence for the care and attention that go into creating these experiences, and I’ve rarely met a game I didn’t want to conquer.

Info Anonymous Hacker Pulls Plug on Thousands of Dark Net Sites

Twenty percent of the Dark Net was taken offline last week, when a hacker compromised a server hosting some 10,000 websites on the Tor network.

Tor, designed to hide the identities of its users, is widely used on the Dark Web, which isn’t indexed by mainstream search engines and serves as a hub for illegal online activities.

Visitors to the affected pages were greeted with the message, “Hello, Freedom Hosting II, you’ve been hacked.” Freedom Hosting II is the server that hosted the Tor pages.

The attacker, who has claimed to be part of the hacker collective Anonymous, reportedly took Freedom Hosting II offline because 50 percent of its sites contained child pornography.

The original Freedom Hosting sites hosted as much as 50 percent of the Dark Web’s pages as of 2013, when it was taken down by law enforcement. A number of child porn prosecutions followed that action.

This incident supposedly was the first hack carried out by the attacker, who claimed responsibility in an interview with Motherboard. In addition to taking Freedom II offline, the person stole 74 gigabytes in files and a 2.3-GB database.

The database stolen from Freedom

Four Ways To Increase Your Mobile App Reviews

You might be wondering whether reviews really matter when it comes to your app … Let’s jump straight to the conclusion and say yes, it does matter (and much more than people realise). This article will guide you through tips to increase mobile app reviews.

Online reviews, in general, are extremely important; they can make or break a business. Reviews are part of a consumer’s online research efforts, and the opinions of others can directly affect your business. In other words, reviews play a major role in people’s purchasing decisions, whether the opinions are about restaurants, movies or apps.

  • 70 percent of people trust local businesses more as a result of positive online reviews.
  • 80 percent of consumers have changed their minds about a purchase based solely on the negative reviews they read.
  • 88 percent said they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
  • 57 percent of consumers visit a local business website after reading online reviews, and another 15 percent call the business.

With respect to apps, these opinions and reviews also affect how visible they will be in the app store search results. Users tend to download the first app that appears in their search result and app reviews are one of the factors that decide

Newest Technology Trends That Will Shape

In its State of UX in 2017 report, the uxdesign.cc team commented that phrases like “intuitive” and “human-centered” are disappearing from developers’ and designers’ vocabularies.

But I would argue that those UX traits aren’t disappearing; they’ve become requirements rather than perks. Saying that a product is “intuitive” shouldn’t be necessary because that should be a given property of its functionality.

If a user can’t intuitively utilize a particular function, it becomes irrelevant.

The merger of UX and functionality poses a tough problem for developers, especially those working on global consumer apps like Uber. Those developers have to cater to the needs of a group of users wildly diverse not only in age and ethnicity, but in terms of the languages they speak, the values they hold and the devices they use. Plus, developers must account for varying levels of connectivity and make design choices accordingly.

All of this means there is no magic bullet when it comes to advancing technology. Change isn’t going to appeal to everyone, but it’s still inevitable. Here are four technology trends that will define 2017 and how companies can use them to improve their UX:

1. Collective intelligence

As its name

Mark Zuckerberg Finally Tries Out Virtual Reality Gloves

Consumers are still getting to grips with virtual reality and trying to decide whether to jump on board yet. Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg is keeping a close eye on what the research arm of Oculus is up to, with the latest R&D project being virtual reality gloves.

Right now, there’s the Oculus Rift headset and Oculus Touch controllers, which allow six degrees of motion tracking for your hands. What the Oculus Research lab in Redmond, Wash., is working on is a pair of gloves that bring the full movement range of your hands and fingers into a virtual world. By wearing them, you’ll be able to type on a virtual keyboard and draw with a high degree of accuracy.

As the image above shows, these prototype gloves aren’t hooked up to the Oculus tracking system yet. Instead they rely on an array of trackers focused on the area where Zuckerberg is moving his glove-covered hands.

As TechCrunch points out, the VR gloves probably aren’t brand new tech Oculus developed internally. Oculus acquired Pebbles Interfaces last year, which already had a virtual reality hand tracking system in development. This is likely an extension of that tech.

Here Six Tips to Building a Stronger Brand Using New Media

Branding has always been important, but it’s never been as essential as it is now. Thanks to the internet, your potential customers are being flooded with dozens — if not hundreds — of different buying opportunities every hour.

While quality, cost and execution will all play a role in a customer’s decision, trust remains the key way to win the sale. Branding is one of the most important things you can do to win trust, so it’s important you do it right.

Here are five simple tips for marketing your brand with new media.

1. Spend moments on execution, but months in prep.

For your company’s branding to really work, it will need to be more than just a name. A logo, tag line, tone of approach and color scheme can be important.

Consistency in these choices is just as important as the choices themselves. A decision to change any element of your business brand can undermine a lot of hard work, so be willing to take your time — months, if needed — to decide exactly how you want to present your brand.

Actionable tip: Consider creating a comprehensive brand uniformity guide where your branding elements will

There FastComputer With Fussy but Fixable

FastComputer Linux is a disappointing experience that almost fails.

It is poorly designed, has little community support, and lacks its own home base and identity, all of which contribute to an identity crisis. Its home — on Sourceforge.com — lacks much in attractiveness, as does the distro.

The Linux OS offers developers and users choice among desktop options and OS standards. Linux’s greatest strength is its ability to provide customized distributions with a variety of features. Distros that offer users something new and more inviting are great finds. FastComputer is not one of them.

Linux distributions run the gamut — from very specialized and finely tuned to garden variety. Some are very innovative. Others are little more than look-alikes that offer no distinguishing features or benefits to set them apart from other options.

FastComputer Linux falls into the latter category. In its present iteration, this distro offers users an ordinary OS experience that leaves much to be desired. What should make it especially inviting is its ties to legendary Suse Linux developers. It falls far short of delivering, however.

Linux Heritage

FastComputer’s developer, Andrei Ionel, who is based in Romania, represents

Why Yahoo and the Year of Living Dangerously

If there is a lesson to be drawn from Internet search giant Yahoo’s hellish past year, it is a grimly illustrative one: Never assume a cybersecurity disaster can’t get worse.

Last September, the Internet portal disclosed that it had suffered the most damaging and far-reaching data breach in history — only to then announce in December the discovery of a second, earlier, and even larger hack.

Since the discovery, the sale of the company to Verizon has been put in jeopardy, as Yahoo — which recently announced its name would be changing to “Altaba” — began a probe into the hack that is expected to take several weeks. We may not know the full extent of these hacks’ effects for years; indeed, it took years for the breaches to even be discovered.

What is known is that these travails were a long time coming. The Yahoo hacks were not acts of God, falling from the sky and striking an unlucky victim; they were the direct result of the corporation’s continual neglect of information security as a vital priority for doing business.

Systemic Problem

The tragedy of Yahoo’s troubles is not merely that

Samsung Explains Note7 Failure and Promises will Do Better

In addition, Samsung will conduct a multilayer safety measures protocol on all its devices. It will cover the overall design and materials, as well as device hardware strength. Further, it will ensure that software algorithms are in place for safer battery charging temperatures.

“Samsung is doing the right thing. It took its time, but eventually it got enough instances of failed batteries in the lab to figure out what the technical issue was,” said Roger Kay, principal analyst at Endpoint Technologies Associates.

“At the same time, Samsung has been relatively forthcoming about the results and taking responsibility,” he told TechNewsWorld.

“The first thing Samsung had to do was make it clear that it understood the core of the Note7 fire, and it had to ensure that it won’t happen again,” noted Ian Fogg, senior director for mobile and telecoms at IHS Markit.

“It had to make creditable assurances to customers, vendors and retailers that this wouldn’t happen with future models,” he told TechNewsWorld. “The announcement today addressed both of those issues.”

Passing the Buck?

Although Samsung addressed what it will do to help avoid future

Asus Tinker Board Now Joins Raspberry Pi

Just when you thought Raspberry Pi couldn’t be knocked from its market-leading perch, along comes Asus with a rival device that may give the Pi a run for its relatively little money.

Asus just launched its own low-cost computer, the Tinker Board, which is being sold in the UK and continental Europe for about US$57. Its features could interest open source enthusiasts in doing a little comparison shopping before deciding on a new device.

The Tinker Board features a quad-core 1.8GHz ARM Cortex A-17 CPU with ARM Mali-T764 graphics.

The device includes four USB 2.0 ports, a 3.5 mm audio jack connection, CSI port for camera connection, a DSI port for HD resolution, a micro SD port and contact ports for PWM and S/PDIF signals.

The Tinker Board supports the Debian OS with Kodi.

A power supply is not included.

Rival or Response

“The Asus Tinker Board is not so much competition as extension of the Raspberry Pi ecosystem, and deeper it shows an extensible ARM ecosystem as well,” said Paul Teich, principal analyst at Tirias Research.

The Tinker Board runs

Here China Aims to Wash VPNs Out of Its Hair

China this week announced new measures to further restrict its citizens’ access to the Internet.

The 14-month campaign appears designed to crack down on the use of Web platforms and services unapproved by the government, and on virtual private networks, which can used to access those platforms and services covertly.

While China’s Internet network access services market is facing many development opportunities, there are signs of “disorderly development” that show the urgent need for regulation, the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology explained in a notice posted to a government website.

The coming “clean-up” of China’s network access services will standardize the market, strengthen network information security management, and promote the healthy and orderly development of the country’s Internet industry, the ministry noted.

In order to operate legally, Internet service providers, VPN providers, data centers and content delivery networks will have to obtain a license from the government and adhere to strict limitations.

Great Firewall

The clean-up also places severe new restrictions on cross-border business activities. It requires that government approval be obtained to create or lease lines, including VPN channels, to perform

Tools You Need To Customizing a Computer

There are plenty of reasons to build a custom computer. While custom computers may initially be more expensive than prepackaged desktops or laptops, they can provide you with nearly endless possibilities, whether you’re looking for a top-notch gaming machine, a system for mixing music, or the ideal choice for developing Web applications.

A custom computer is the way to go if you want both performance and flexibility. Upgrading individual parts often is less expensive than buying a new computer, which could save you money in the long run.

Following are the essential parts you’ll need.

Processor and Motherboard

The component to start with is the processor, which will dictate your selection of other necessary parts, like the motherboard. UserBenchmark’sexhaustive list of user-rated processors is a good resource to help you decide. AMD and Intel are the top manufacturers, but I prefer Intel.

Intel is the industry standard when it comes to processors, so you can’t go wrong if that’s your choice. Its Core series comes in three families: i3, i5 and i7. The i3 series is good for average computing needs, while the i5 offers a little more horsepower. The i7

Apple Now Formally Joins High-Powered AI Partnership

The Partnership on AI to Benefit People and Society on Friday announced that Apple, well known for its culture of secrecy, has joined the organization as a founding member.

The other founding members are Amazon, Facebook, Google/Deep Mind, IBM and Microsoft.

The group also announced the final composition of its inaugural board of trustees, naming six new independent members: Dario Amodel of Open AI, Subbarao Kambhampati of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, Deirdre Mulligan of UC Berkeley, Carol Rose of the American Civil Liberties Union, Eric Sears of the MacArthur Foundation, and Jason Furman of the Peterson Institute of International Economics.

They will join Greg Corrado of Google/DeepMind, Tom Gruber of Apple, Ralf Herbrich of Amazon, Eric Horvitz of Microsoft, Yann Lecun of Facebook, and Francesca Rossi of IBM.

Gradual Buildout

The group plans to announce additional details sometime after the board’s Feb. 3 meeting in San Francisco, including how other organizations and individuals can join. It also will address initial research programs and activities.

The board will oversee general activities of the Partnership on AI, and an executive steering committee

Now BlackBerry, Microsoft make the Ever-Smarter Connected Car

a couple of interesting briefings last week, BlackBerry announced that its turnaround was finished, and Microsoft finally provided some information on its new connected car deliverables.

One strange thing was that after CEO John Chen excitedly pointed out that BlackBerry had displaced Microsoft in Ford, he then announced a strategic initiative to work more closely with Microsoft’s Azure platform on BlackBerry’s own market-leading QNX car operating system. That showcased not only the massive changes in both companies, but also the really strange way this market is evolving.

I’ll close with my product of the week: a very low-cost wearable smartphone display that could get you through your next dentist appointment or boring sermon.

BlackBerry’s QNX

With all the focus on the coming autonomous car and on BlackBerry’s old phone business, most don’t know that QNX, the operating system that BlackBerry acquired, is dominant in the car market, largely for car operations. To give you an idea, it currently is in 60M — yes, that’s million — cars. It is ranked No. 1 in telematics and automotive software entertainment, and its main advantage is that it just

Three Teams Qualify for Tube Test

Elon Musk’s hyperloop dream began to take shape in reality last weekend as 27 teams, including six from outside the United States, participated in a competition to create the mass transit vehicle of the future.

The competition in Hawthorne, California, sponsored by SpaceX, which Musk founded, attracted teams made up mostly of students who created pods designed to run on hyperloop transportation systems.

In a hyperloop system, the vehicles, or pods, travel in a vacuum in tubes at speeds close to the speed of sound. To do that, the pods have to be suspended slightly off the ground, typically by riding on a magnetic field.

For its competition, SpaceX built a test chamber that was three-quarters of a mile long and six feet wide. The company capped the speed at which a pod could go at around 50 miles per hour.

In order to get to test its pod in the vacuum chamber, a team had to pass a rigorous 101-point review. Only three teams could do that: Delft University of Technology of The Netherlands; Technical University of Munich, Germany; and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Kind of a Drag

News Tech Industry make Reacts to Trump’s Immigration Order

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick on Thursday resigned from President Trump’s business advisory council amid fierce blowback against the president’s recent executive order on immigration, and in the wake of reports that several major Silicon Valley firms, including Facebook, Apple, Microsoft and Google, have been circulating a draft letter opposing Trump’s action.

Kalanick said he no longer would participate in the council after consumers railed against Uber for continuing to operate at John F. Kennedy International Airport over the weekend. The Taxi Workers Alliance in New York had gone on strike, refusing to pick up fares at the airport, to protest Trump’s executive order on refugee resettlement and travel from seven predominantly Muslim nations.

“Earlier today I spoke briefly with the President about the immigration executive order and its issues for our community,” Kalanick wrote in a memo to employees. “I also let him know that I would not be able to participate on his economic council. Joining the group was not meant to be an endorsement of the President or his agenda, but unfortunately it has been misinterpreted to be exactly that.”

In the memo, Kalanick said he was proud to work with Thuan

What do you think Apple’s Outstanding Q1 a Fluke?

Apple had a good quarter, but if you look under the numbers there is a ton of trouble. It just dropped behind Google in brand value, and some analysts have predicted valuation will crater in a few months.

The iPhone 7 did well, but that shouldn’t be a surprise, given that its biggest competitor, Samsung, saw its phone literally go up in flames last quarter. The Galaxy 8 is coming, though — maybe sooner than anyone expects — and it looks really impressive. This suggests Apple’s one-up quarter is not repeatable, unless Samsung decides burning phones is a feature. (Just think of the marshmallows you could roast right in your car! Or “the Samsung S8 Burns Faster, Better, Hotter!”)

Apple has moved aggressively to get suppliers to cut costs — even going to court in an effort to move some of Qualcomm’s profit to its own bottom line (this rarely ends well). Apple apparently hit a wall on top line growth, even though it is threatening to raise prices. (Good luck with that, because raising prices in a very competitive market ALWAYS ends well.)

Looking back, the Steve Jobs cycle really worked only once.

Linux Helped an Empowered Computer User

If you were to ask any of my friends, they could readily attest to my profound passion for Linux. That said, it might surprise you to know that hardly two years ago, I barely knew what Linux was, let alone had any earnest interest in switching to it from Windows.

Although a shift as dramatic as this may seem astonishing when considered in hindsight, analyzing my path from one push or influence to the next paints a more telling picture. It is with this approach that I want to share my story of how I came to not only use, but indeed champion, the Linux desktop.

My Security Awakening

Before embarking on my journey two years ago, I was just an ordinary Windows user. While I was basically competent and tried to keep abreast of mainstream tech news, I had an unremarkable knowledge of computers.

My attitude quickly began to change in light of the reporting on the intelligence programs of the National Security Agency in the summer of 2013. The breadth of the online monitoring Edward Snowden revealed was unsettling, but it also underscored just how little


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Thursday, April 30, 2009

30 April 2009

This month, the global stock market rebounded, though the economy is not out of the wood. Singapore Government said that the worst is for Singapore is probably over. There have been good news coming out from US as well. Just as people looked forward to a bottom out of the equity market, Swine Flu strikes! This, as what some experts say, give the world economy another dimension of risk.

Over the last few days, Swine flu has spread rapidly across the Globe. The next few weeks are crucial. If this develops to be a pandemic, then the stock market will suffer, just like during the SARS days.

However, the last 2 trading days of the month sees STI soaring to 1920. The performance on this last day was an impressive jump of 70.71 points.

I continue to buy in stocks of defensive nature and with good dividend payout. Starhub and Mapletree are the two additions in my portfolio. Well, as at today, they both do not do very well, but we are looking long term, aren't we? I also top up CitySpring.

As at 30 April, my portfolio stands at S$447,000. Compared with last month, this represents an increase of S$81,000, which includes S$31,000 of new fund injected.

Going forward, I look forward to the dividend payouts from quite a number of counters in May.

This month, I receive S$280 of dividend from DBS.

Below are the top 30 counters.

1. ComfortDelGro
2. OCBC Bk
3. SPH
4. Semb Corp
5. SP AusNet
6. ST Engineering
7. DBS
8. Starhub
9. F & N
10. CoscoCorp
11. S I A
12. SembMar
13. SingTel
14. CitySpring
15. Sp Ship
16. Raffles Edu
17. SAT Svcs
18. SMRT
19. FrasersCT
20. SPC
21. MapletreeLog
22. KS Energy
23. Kep Corp
24. Aztech
25. Celestial
26. MacqIntInfra
27. ASL Marine
28. CapitaComm
29. FraserComm
30. HG Metal
30. MetroHldg

Starhub and MapletreeLog are the new members in my portfolio. Celestial comes back due to price increase. The 3 counters replaces are MIDAS, Pteris and Pan United. They were the no.28-30 in last month.This shows that the market is less volatile this month. We have a tie on the 30th place between HG Metal and Metro Holding.

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Thursday, July 11, 2013

Roll Over, Emma Lazarus & Make Way For Regional Immigration?!

In a postscript to yesterday's fine essay by Oliver Sacks, a pair of the NY FIshwrap's Op-Ed columnists — The Kait (Gail Collins) and BoBo Boy (David Brooks) — engage in a colloquy about the Sacks essay. See it here.

Now, our lonely eye turns to... immigration. If House Speaker Thomas "Tip" O'Neill could sell "All politics is local" to St. Dutch, perhaps the time has come for "All immigration is regional" in the Land O'The Free and the Home O'The Brave. As things stand at present, the Dumbos in the House of Representative will prevent passage of the Senate's Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013. Gridlock will likely prevail and the hue and cry will continue unabated. The xenophobic states (e.g., Alabama, Arizona, and their ilk) will NEVER be cured of their fear of foreign-born hordes in their midst. The more cosmopolitan states should not be dragged into police-state immigrant harassment. As Abraham Lincoln advocated: "When you come to a stump in the field, plow around it." National immigration policy reform is a BIG STUMP and the best response is to plow around it. If this is (fair & balanced) political husbandry, so be it.

[x Boston Fishwrap]
The Case For Regional Immigration
By Leon Neyfakh

Tag Cloud of the following piece of writing

created at TagCrowd.com

The immigration bill just passed by the US Senate emerged from a long and difficult negotiation among legislators with very different ideas about how the country’s borders should work. Whenever Congress tinkers with immigration policy—and nearly everyone agrees our system needs a substantial overhaul—lawmakers from parts of America where immigrants are widely regarded as job-stealers must compromise with their colleagues from areas where they are welcomed with open arms.

But as the House of Representatives works on an immigration reform bill of its own, some thinkers are calling for a radically different approach—one they say could take some of the pressure off our elected officials to agree on a single way forward.

What they envision is a new class of “regional visas” that would open up additional slots for newcomers but limit them to specific destinations within the United States, while giving state and local officials a role in deciding how many immigrants—and which ones—to let in. Under this system, states that want to attract more foreign workers could do so, and perhaps even target people with the kinds of skills and training that local businesses are looking for. Meanwhile, states that don’t want to open the door to additional immigration could simply decline to participate.

“The idea is to accept that in a large country, local jurisdictions all have different needs, and they are highly specific,” said Demetrios Papademetriou, president of the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan DC think tank. That being the case, he explained, the federal government ought to “find a way for these jurisdictions... to do [some of] their own recruitment.”

For people used to thinking of immigration policy as a national issue, both in terms of protecting our country’s borders and deciding who gets to cross them, the notion of localizing immigration may sound like pure lunacy. And so far, aside from an informal endorsement by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the regional visa idea hasn’t made political inroads in the United States. But a similar program has been successfully adopted in Canada, where officials in each province are allowed to nominate a certain number of new immigrants for visas every year.

In the United States, advocates of a regional visa program say it would harness a global supply to meet clear domestic needs. Millions of people around the world want to move to the United States, and many parts of the country—especially depopulated cities like Detroit, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh—would love to welcome motivated new residents. Adding some immigration on a purely regional basis would loosen the restrictive system overseen by the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security, the argument goes, without forcing more newcomers on less welcoming states like Arizona.

“Right now immigrants aren’t directed to areas where they’re necessarily needed the most,” said Adam Ozimek, a widely read economics blogger and consultant. “Areas that have declining populations and vacant houses—they’ve got a stronger need for immigrants. So the hope is that the areas that need them more would be able to let more in.”

There was a time when pretty much anyone in the world could move to the United States without worrying about whether they had the right paperwork in hand. “We hold out to the people of other countries an invitation to come and settle among us as members of our rapidly growing family,” said President John Tyler in 1841, as the nation was experiencing its first massive immigration wave. Over the course of that decade, according to a history of American immigration policy by Roger Daniels, a total of 1.7 million people arrived on American shores; by the end of the next one, they’d been joined by 2.6 million more.

In 1921, the federal government passed restrictive new quotas placing country-by-country limits on the number of arrivals each year. The quotas, driven by nativist fears about the country’s demographic makeup, remained largely in place until 1965. That year, President Lyndon Johnson pushed through a law forming the basis of the system we’ve had ever since—a more open but labyrinthine one in which potential immigrants can apply for a wide range of different visas, each unique in terms of who is eligible and how many can be given out every year.

From the beginning, US immigration policy has been regulated in a highly centralized manner, even as the population has spread out and regional needs have shifted. This kind of one-size-fits-all approach means that a Chinese citizen who has been offered a programming job in Cambridge will enter the same visa pool as an Austrian linguist who has been hired to work in Silicon Valley. Most likely, both would apply for so-called H1Bs, which are aimed at skilled workers; the problem is there are only 85,000 of them available per year, meaning that once that national ceiling is hit—this year it took less than a week—people start getting turned away.

But what if that Chinese programmer who wasn’t lucky enough to get an H1B were willing to take a job somewhere else—say, in Baltimore—if it meant getting to stay in the United States? Wouldn’t it better for all involved if the state of Maryland could sponsor him for a visa, thereby gaining a valuable new resident and saving him from having to move back home? That’s the insight at the heart of the regional visa proposal: If state and local officials could sponsor the people they want living and working in their communities, we would have a system more finely tuned to the country’s needs.

The idea has recently been proposed in several blogs and and policy publications. In City Journal, a quarterly put out by a conservative think tank called the Manhattan Institute, Brandon Fuller of the Urbanization Project at the NYU Stern School of Business and Sean Rust, a graduate of the Temple University Beasley School of Law, proposed a system in which immigrants entering through a regional visa program would be required to purchase a home in the state that sponsored them. And Adam Ozimek, who has argued for the regional visa program on his blog at Forbes.com, suggests the visas could be auctioned off to the foreigners who want them most or distributed based on a state-specific points system that would reward people with certain skills. Utah, for instance, could give extra points to hospitality workers, because there’s a labor shortage in the service industry there.

Regional immigration programs have sprung up in several countries, including Australia and Canada. In Canada, all 10 of the country’s provinces are allowed to nominate a certain number of people for visas every year, and to distribute them in ways that reflect the hiring priorities of local employers. In oil-rich Alberta, visa nominations are available to tradesmen, like pipe fitters, welders, plumbers, and rig workers; in Manitoba, immigration officials recently teamed with employers and other local leaders on a recruitment mission in southern Europe, where they looked for people who could work in business, transportation, aerospace, construction, and service. According to Daniel Hiebert, a professor at the University of British Columbia who specializes in immigration, the so-called Provincial Nominee Program helps spread newcomers more evenly around the country and provides a much-needed counterpoint to Canada’s federal immigration system, which has historically privileged education attainment over specific skills, bringing in people whose advanced degrees didn’t necessarily match employers’ real needs.

Although the notion of regional visas has not gotten much of a hearing in American policy circles so far, it has been floated by a few local leaders. Michael Bloomberg suggested during a forum in Boston last summer that the government should “assign” immigrants to cities like Detroit, where they’ll have the biggest economic impact, and reward them with citizenship after they’ve lived there for seven years. And last month, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder proposed setting aside some visas for people willing to move to cities that have suffered population decline. It would probably also enjoy support in cities like Baltimore and Cleveland, which have gone to great lengths to make themselves more attractive to immigrants, in the belief that bringing in people from abroad would create jobs and improve the local economy.

To see immigration the way it’s seen in these cities is to take a growth-first view that not everyone in America shares. But the majority of economists who have waded into the debate over immigration policy regard the idea that more immigrants mean more jobs as an empirical truth. “When immigrants move into an area, they’re not only producers, they’re also consumers, and they expand the economy,” said Ozimek. Even outside economics, research suggests that fears of immigration’s harms are overblown: One exhaustive study recently suggested that immigrants, even when poorer than the area average, tend to be associated with a decrease in crime. Not everyone in America may believe that immigration is changing their area for the better, but the benefit of a regional approach, its advocates say, is that not everybody has to see it that way.

“It might be the most sensible way to tailor this massive issue, which can have really different effects in different states and different regional economies,” said Steve Tobocman, the head of an economic development initiative called Global Detroit designed to serve as a “welcome mat” for immigrants.

For now, implementing regional visas in the United States isn’t much more than a pipe dream: The idea won’t be part of the current immigration overhaul, if such a thing even passes. But in a recent report published by the Migration Policy Institute, “Thinking Regionally to Compete Globally,” Papademetriou suggests a way to stage a trial run: a pilot program in which the federal government would set aside a small number of visas in order to test the idea, without giving up any of its authority over the process.

“We’re opening up so much to additional immigration at all levels in the Senate bill that carving out a number of visas—10, 20,000 visas—and authorizing the federal government to reach an agreement [with a state], on a pilot basis, to see how this works, is a no brainer,” he said.

Even for supporters of immigration, a system that requires people to settle in a specific area can sound a little un-American: In a country that prizes freedom of choice, something just doesn’t feel right about telling people they can come over under the condition that they stay in one place. “We just don’t do that here,” said Audrey Singer, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who specializes in immigration policy. “If somebody moves somewhere, they are free to move anywhere they want, pretty much.”

But advocates of the regional approach argue that it would actually be an improvement over the existing system, in which work visas are tied to specific jobs, making people dependent on their employers.

“Under the current employment-based visa policy, you effectively limit where immigrants can live anyway,” said Rust.

Ozimek added in an e-mail, “There are often complaints of wage theft and abuse of H-2A agriculture workers because they are afraid to report the employers and risk getting sent home. Since regional visas only tie you to a region the potential for this is much lower.”

Then there’s the broader philosophical argument: that immigration policy is something a country must approach as one. But the patchwork of laws aimed at immigrants across the country—whether undocumented residents can get driver’s licenses, or whether police can ask for papers during routine stops—already betray the fact that the United States is anything but united when it comes to this issue. A regional visa program creates a path through the thicket by embracing the simple fact that, though there may be 50 states, when people move here, they’re only moving to one.

“What the voters of Arizona think is different than what the voters of Michigan think, and yet they both hold each other back from what they want to do,” said Rust. “The region-based visa is a way to balance these political economies.” Ω

[Leon Neyfakh is the staff writer for The Boston Globe's Ideas section in the Sunday edition. After graduation from Harvard in 2007, Neyfakh wrote about technology, society, and the feelings of 26-year-olds in the New York Observer. In November 2010, Neyfakh joined the staff of the New York Times-owned Boston paper.]

Copyright © 2013 The New York Times Company dba The Boston Globe

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Sapper's (Fair & Balanced) Rants & Raves by Neil Sapper is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Based on a work at sapper.blogspot.com. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available here.

Copyright © 2013 Sapper's (Fair & Balanced) Rants & Raves

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Monday, January 24, 2011

I'm Back~ Yeay!

Hello ladies~

It's been like two weeks I did not update my blog..

Pheww.. These two weeks like a roller coaster ride for me.. My schedule very tight even I could not sew any of my orders.. Very sorry dear for the delayed..

Now, I’m back on track and ready to take orders.. Happy shopping and have a nice day ahead..

Till then,

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Welcome to the Star Sword Chronicle page.
This is a very early placeholder sort of site.
It might be kind of hard to read sometimes. Sorry.

- - - [ I N F O R M A T I O N ] - - -
Star Sword Chronicle is a game that was not originally meant to be released.
It is a game about my innermost feelings over the past few years.
It is a game about my bonds and my struggles to be a better person.
But more than that, it's just a game that has some basis in reality.
There's really nothing to make it a game that can't be played by everyone.

Any resemblance to real people or places is half-intentional, half-coincidental.
Any people represented in this game are represented without permission.
This game does not claim to properly portray any real people or place.
It only contains people representing things within my mind.

- - - [ S T O R Y ] - - -
Sara Leen. Just an ordinary girl in a small town.
But one day, she found something that would send her on an adventure.
An adventure to save the world, but also an adventure in her own heart.
She'll have to overcome the ghosts of her past and recruit old friends to succeed...

- - - [ S C R E E N S H O T S ] - - -

- - - [ D O W N L O A D S ] - - -
Star Sword Chronicle (SVN Patcher Edition)
This is an SVN updater/downloader for SSC.
Unzip it wherever you want the game and run the "runfirst.bat" to download it.
Once downloaded, run the "update.bat" any time to check for updates.
After the download, "Game.exe" will let you play the game.
Requires the RPG Maker XP Runtime Package.


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Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Great Wall - Mutianyu

On Thursday, March 26th, Mom and I visited the Great Wall at the Mutianyu section. We went with my friend Jamie and Jamie's friend Carrie. Back in September, I hiked from the Simatai section to the Jingshanling section, but this was the first time I had been to Mutianyu.

The drive there was nice. We hired a driver to take us so we could relax and watch the scenery.

When we first arrived, we had to walk through a vendor section where you can buy "I climbed the Great Wall" t-shirts. We passed on the shirts, but we did buy a tasty Chinese pancake snack.

We decided to take the chairlift up.

At the top, we remembered.

We walked around on the wall until we got hungry for lunch.

Then, we climbed back down.

We decided to ride the toboggan down. When we got to the place where you get on, there was a small group of Russian guys who were also going to ride the toboggans. We expected them to go quickly, so we let them go ahead of us. Unfortunately, they were very slow. We had to keep stopping and waiting for them to get going again. In the picture below, you can see my shoe, then Carrie, then Mom.

We had lunch nearby at the Schoolhouse Restaurant.

After lunch, we all piled back into the car and fell asleep on the drive back into town. When we got back to town, we headed over to the Olympic area.

--Sarah & Mom--

Summer Palace

On Sunday, March 22nd, Mom and I went over to the Summer Palace. It was the summer resort for Empress Dowager Cixi. In 1998, the Summer Palace was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. UNESCO says that the Summer Palace is "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value."

In the next few weeks, all the trees will bloom and the place will be packed with visitors. The day we went was crowded but not nearly as crowded as it soon will be.

We saw some animal statues.

Here is the Seventeen-Arch Bridge. (We were on the far side of Kunming Lake.)

Yu Feng Pagoda in the distance.

We were going to walk up a tall hill. Mom thought we should take this path:

...but this one was nearby:

We minded the hilly road.

And saw the Palace.

We admired the stained-glass windows on the Marble Boat.

And we weren't quite sure if this sign was warning us or insulting us.

The day was beautiful and Mom and I had a great time walking around the grounds of the Summer Palace.

--Sarah and Mom--

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Silver Pagoda Hike

I picked up my mom from the airport a little after 6am on Saturday. We stopped by my apartment so she could get changed and then we headed down to the Starbucks in Lido. There, we met up with the Beijing Hikers group to go on a hike to the Silver Pagodas. It was only a few hours, but it was a pretty steep hike. The weather was great and the pagodas were interesting to see.

We started our hike by walking through an old village where we saw a few donkeys and lots of old buildings.

After we walked through the village, the hills began to look similar to the neighborhood by my dad's old house. I kept looking for Flying Rock, but we didn't see it.

We did see a this large rock.....or rather, it saw us!

Mom did a great job and kept hiking all the way to the top.

At the top, some Chinese men cheered for her and wanted to take her picture. Here she is getting her picture taken.

This kid also did the hike. Just kidding.

After we got to the top, we hiked down a little ways until we reached the Silver Pagodas. There were five large pagodas. The taller the pagoda, the higher the status of the monk who is buried beneath it.

We ate lunch near the pagodas before walking the rest of the way back to the bus. Because we were a bit early, we had time to do another short walk between two other villages. On this walk, mom found some goats.

After we returned to Beijing, we had dinner with some of our new hiker friends, had showers and later massages, and went to bed early.

Coming soon: Summer Palace, Great Wall, and our trip this coming weekend.

--Sarah & Mom--

Monday, March 16, 2009

CCTV Tower

Here are some pictures of the CCTV tower in the CBD area of Beijing. So far all my pictures are from taxis or airplanes of this building. I need to walk around down there.

On the last night of Chinese New Year, some fireworks from the CCTV tower landed on the TVCC tower (Mandarin building) and caught it on fire. Here is a picture of the aftermath. I'm not sure when they will tear down this building and what will be built in its place. Luckily, it was not quite finished so there weren't people inside.


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Thursday, March 19, 2009

Sanctity of Life

For someone who is not exactly a member of any particular religion, I follow some odd behaviors:

I never drink alcohol, dress modestly, believe in the ideal of doing unto others, occasionally quote from the Bible, partake willingly in the gender roles of a traditional marriage, and wish to create strong familial bonds and a lasting sense of family legacy in my daughter.

And recently, after many years of thinking, collecting arguments and counterarguments, bearing a child, and probing my emotional data, I have officially "outed" myself: I am a Pro-Lifer.

Declaring myself publically was as simple as joining a Facebook group a few minutes ago. Nevermind that the group's current members all believe in a religion that is not mine. Nevermind that as I was scrolling through my 416 Facebook friends looking for people to invite to the group, I became totally aware of how "uncool" I think many of those Facebook friends would think I am now. Nevermind that I also belong to the group of Californians ready to repeal Prop. 8---my views are actually not inconsistent.

Life---and the right to live it---is intrinsically valuable. Some argue that this intrinsic value comes from God, but it is enough to argue that Life itself is axiomatically valuable with or without the intercession of the divine.

As I make the statement above, I am fully aware that I have done nothing to argue for it at this moment. To do so, I would need to write for hours about my views on fate (yes, I am sure life is "fated" or, more to the point, I know that all time exists right now in one instance and the perception of free will is merely an illusion), the purpose of life in the Universe (my view: so that the Universe can understand itself through collective consciousness), luck (everything is technically "lucky" but not in the horseshoe sense; however, "luck" does not exclude meaning...luck and genetic combinations are part of the meaning), and so on... In short, I would need to argue for the meaning of life, and that that meaning should be valued.

I am ready and willing to take on the nihilists, but not in this post. ;-)

The other part of my argument is to assert that Life begins at conception. I have already structured that argument in my previous Xanga blog, and will at some point link to it here.

And so begins the life of an intellectual pariah. I used to bristle with anger at the pro-lifers who stood outside of my high school in 1998 and showed graphic posters to departing students. I mean, that was a bummer for senior year. I also used to feel that the pro-life agenda was to interfere in the private reproductive decisions of women outside of wedlock---and most of my political and social philosophies fall somewhere between libertarian and anarchist, all spiced up nicely with some nascent leanings toward utilitarianism.

Yet having reasoned my way to the idea that human life begins at conception, and believing that human beings have a right to their lives without enslavement, and believing that we must weigh our moral choices by what will hurt the Universe least and will perhaps even be good for it, and believing that we do not have the right to make other human beings suffer for our poor choices---the only logical position, for me, is to insist upon the protection of human life when that human being is too vulnerable, innocent, or voiceless to insist upon that protection for himself or herself.

Sure, doubts linger. Rape? Mother's life in danger? These are not easy topics. Those problems may not have ready solutions. But I have made a commitment in my mind to err on the side of preserving Life, and I will have to keep thinking.

So, a newly minted blog and this is the introductory post? A little heavy, I know. And even uncool in some circles. I know. Yet my whole blogging experiment has always had in mind the purpose of celebrating existence, celebrating life and all that is beautiful in it. Some of the beauty is examining complicated philosophy, to be sure. More to the point, though: how can I possibly have a blog that celebrates life without beginning to establish my definition of what constitutes Life?

I want to part with a quote from Dr. Manhattan, a quasi Ubermensch from The Watchmen:

"I don't think your life is meaningless....I changed my mind. Thermodynamic with odds against so astronomical they're effectively impossible, like oxygen spontaneously becoming gold. I long to observe such a thing. And yet, in each human coupling, a thousand sperm vie for single egg. Multiply those odds by countless generations against the odds of your ancestors being alive; meeting; siring this precise son; that exact daughter...until your mother loves a man....and of that union, of the thousand million children competing for fertilization, it was you, only you, that emerged. To distill so specific a form from that chaos of improbability, like turning air to gold...That is the crowning unlikelihood. The thermodynamic miracle."


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Friday Thanks

Categories Friday Thanks, Projects
Reading Time: 1 minute

Dear Q,

Thank you for bringing home wheat and dairy free bakewell tarts for me. It’s nice that you know they’re my favourites and that I miss them now I can’t eat any of those things. Bonus (soon to be) husband points for you! 🙂

Love Sarah

See other Friday Thanks here or visit the original inspiration for the project here.

I’m running a giveaway until August 14th. If you like books and money you should check it out since I’m giving away both :)

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Monday, May 10, 2010

And We Thought Montezuma's Revenge Was Just; pain, fever, and diarrhea.

I am seeing our country being taken over by Muslims, and Mexicans at the same time. Who would have ever thought that Americans would be ceding our laws to Islam? Who ever thought that American citizen high school students would told to strike our national colors, because they are offensive to Mexicans on Cinco-de-Mayo, a Mexican National Holiday. Is this not still the U.S. of A.? Perhaps not!!!

More and more, America is becoming less and less recognizable. We are being invaded by Muslims, and Mexicans at the same time, and our leaders in Washington, D.C. are accepting the invasion as though nothing is happening. As in the old sit-com "The Life of Riley" Riley would say; "What a revoltin' development!!!"

I wish I had solutions for this impending civil war. I can only predict, that it's not going to be pretty. We have invited our enemies into our home, treated them as friends, and now their true colors are coming to the surface. The Mexicans do not want to be Americans, neither do the Muslims. The Mexicans in the country are loyal to Mexico, and the Muslims are loyal only to Allah. The Mexicans are talking revolution right here in America, because they've been taught for the past thirty years that America stole the entire Southwest from New Mexico to California from Mexico. Now they want it back. I guess feeding these immigrants both legal and illegal is not enough. We now give them free health care, food stamps, social security benefits they never contributed too, and now they want us to give up the entire Southwest to them. Muslim's on the other hand, aren't going to assimilate because that was never their intention. They do however want to take over and rule the entire western world, and they are starting with America. Our President is ready, willing and able to pacify, and appease our enemies, he doesn't even call our enemies by their names. I find no solace, or faith in our government. I fear that the United States of America is no more. God Help Us.

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Saturday, May 22, 2010

A Sexy Sassy Saturday

Happy Saturday everyone.  Hope your all are having a wonderfully SASSY SATURDAY!  I have found an amazingly SASSY SISTAH to share with you today.  LisaC. from Stamped Art By Lisa has made this GORGEOUSLY SASSY creation.

I told you right, is that not AMAZING!  So, Lisa email me at and I’ll send your badge out to you.  If you’d like to be featured as our SASSY SATURDAY SISTAH, then please email me at the above email address.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

1 comment:

  1. Very nice Lisa! The martini glass charm is a great touch!


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Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Skydiving with a golden parachute

Almost as great as my love for the Gators is my hatred for Florida State (which goes way back and isn't just about football or sports). But I do sympathize with FSU fans and alums (like my sister) who have suffered at the hands of Jeff Bowden. But don't feel bad for Jeffy boy, he's getting a nice golden parachute. Please read the hilarious report at EDSBS. Orson even mentions Ron Zook, who he doesn't even dignify by calling by his name, and his generous package courtesy of the University of Florida:

Everyone has their price, though. We understand that [NAME REDACTED] still has his free Applebees’ Gator account card, and racks up riblets like you wouldn’t believe on Jeremy Foley’s tab in Champaign-Urbana. Hey, you think Arrelious Benn committed just for the opportunity to play immediately and the fun of doing bench press challenges with his coach? No way. Sweet riblets brought him to Illini, and we will hear nothing else.*

1 comment:

ALM said...

And she's holding you to it!!!


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15 May 2014

Virtual Smooches: Washi Tape + Feathers {post1}

Hello, friends:}

***Please click HERE for my Imagine Crafts post and video!
***After 6am EST- please click HERE for my Ribbon Carousel post!

Today's my day to share a video over on the  Paper Smooches video blog- Virtual Smooches

Today I'm sharing a card that I created for the Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking Gallery Idol challenge- EEEEEK! Isn't it every crafter's dream to be named the Gallery Idol!?!?!

The challenge: use washi tape
My take on this challenge: I used washi tape:) I also highlighted the washi tape as just a section on a white feather. ANNNNNND I stamped and embossed on my tape! I LOOOOOOOOVE my card!

Here's a sneak peek of my video:

THANKS so much for stopping by--- be sure to go HERE for my video! Be blessed:}

Julie Tucker-Wolek said...

Off to see more!!!!

Julie Tucker-Wolek said...

Hmmmmmmm ... it won't let me leave a comment over there .. I click on it and nothing happens :( I loveeeeeeeee your card!! LOVING the colors and the feather!!!!

Lisa said...

Heading over!

Samantha Mann said...

savannah...this card is STUNNING!!! i am SO much in love with it! and i just KNOW you can make it in the competition!! you're so talented and SOOOOO inspiring! this card has my whole heart! i LOOOVE the tiny bit of washi added to the feather, and the bright bright colors! wow! <3 <3 <3 GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!

Shannon J said...

WOWWWWWWW!!! SO awesome!! You are going to knock some serious socks off in the competition with this one!! I am SO glad you entered!!! Off to check out the video!

Lavanya D'cruz said...

I was looking for articles on uses of washi tape and I came across yours inspiring read. You indeed gave me some interesting ideas. Thanks man!


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Music Festival announces record year

The Savannah Music Festival issued its year-end report Tuesday indicating the final results of the 2006 festival. The report shows the $2.1 million operation had its most significant growth since current director Rob Gibson began his tenure in 2002.

Officials say the report paints a picture of a nonprofit organization at a turning point in its history, demonstrating a sound and sustainable business model, providing educational outreach to thousands of schoolchildren across the region and contributing millions of dollars to the local economy.

At the same time, officials say, the festival lowered ticket prices and ramped up educational outreach even as they elevated artistic excellence and diversity. This year's festival, for instance, featured the likes of Emmylou Harris, Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, the Bill Charlap Trio and the Emerson String Quartet. Some tickets cost as little as $5.

"We are unique among music festivals," Gibson said.

The report showed the festival with a $151,000 operating surplus for the fiscal year ending June 30. More than $1.4 million was raised in contributions, a 20 percent increase over 2005.

The festival also reduced its debt from more than $225,000 to less than $75,000, the lowest it's been since Gibson's arrival five years ago.

"It's important to show artistic achievement as well as fiscal responsibility," said S. Hart Williford, festival president. "If you can run a surplus like this every year, it makes your case stronger.

"We'll continue to grow."

Indeed, growing is exactly what the festival did. More than 23,000 tickets were purchased this year compared to 2004 when less than 14,000 were sold. During the same two years, ticket revenue climbed from $433,400 to nearly $600,000.

Since Gibson took over five years ago, attendance jumped from 11,400 to 48,000. The number of tourists also increased over that time, with 2,000 in 2002 and more than 14,000 in 2006.

More than half of attendees came from Chatham County, while 45 percent came from elsewhere. A third of the total number of concertgoers traveled more than 100 miles. The average number of overnight stays rose from two to four over three years. The total number of nights stayed during the 2006 festival was 17,300, up from 7,800 in 2004.

Festival officials estimate, using a formula used by advocacy group Americans for the Arts, that the impact on the local economy this year was nearly $10 million, up from $5 million two years ago.

At the same time, the number of students benefiting from free programming more than doubled between 2005 (7,000) and 2006 (more than 16,000). Ticket prices moreover fell over three years to an average of $26 in 2006 from $31 in 2004.

Despite the growth, the demand of being a nonprofit remains pressing, Gibson said.

"Meeting our ticket sales and fund-raising objectives last year was essential to the health of the organization," Gibson said. "While we are truly grateful to the community for support, the festival raises its budget annually, which means that we're now starting all over again."

Sun, 10/22/2017 - 10:11pm

Coast Guard medevacs 58-year-old man from vessel east of Tybee Island

The Coast Guard medevacked a 58-year-old man Sunday six miles east of Tybee Island.

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Sun, 10/22/2017 - 9:15pm

Savannah teen shot, killed in Southside McDonald’s is 30th homicide of the year

Savannah-Chatham police’s Violent Crimes detectives are investigating a fatal double shooting that occurred at the at a Southside McDonald’s late Saturday night.

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The Colours In My World

thoughts and myself.

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I just want to cry.
mad twin
Literally. I'm so frustrated with myself that I can't help but endlessly want to cry. Which brings me to contemplate whether I'm actually going insane right now or am I already over the brink? One minute I was laughing, and the next crying. It's just, I can't seem to control myself. I know I've got deadlines to meet and so much work to do but why? Why, can't I stop whatever this is that is distracting me so much and just get on with my work?

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Monday, 23 May 2011

   Something is missing. I know this feeling. But, I couldn't tell, what is it. Though the emptiness, it is there. Such a great void at one intersection of my life. I'm feeling it. Yet, I still couldn't tell, what is it. I'm disappearing in the void. An empty void. I smile, I laugh. But deep inside, my heart aches. It cries. For a reason, that only I know of. Empty. Silence.

  1. =( there there. hope things will b ok for u!

  2. RS: I'm feeling homesick actually and turn out that I can't go home this summer due to my dissertation =(


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Tuesday, March 4, 2014

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There’s lots of fun things to see and do in Puerto Galera!

Although scuba diving is the major attraction in Puerto Galera, there are many other activities to enjoy whilst on holiday here. Whether you are looking for excitement or relaxation, there is something for everyone!

this page in chinese这个页面用中文

Beach Hopping and Beach Picnics

There are dozens of deserted beaches and coves around the shores of Puerto Galera and the nearby islands; Picture-perfect beaches of untouched white sand where you can feel like the only people in the world!

We’ll arrange a boat to take you the best of these hidden gems, where you can enjoy swimming, snorkeling, suntanning and even a beach picnic.

Hidden Paradise, Tukuran Falls & Tamaraw Falls

For those who like to get outside and commune with nature, Puerto Galera offers the opportunity to trek amongst it’s rich tapestry of tropical flora and fauna. Hidden Paradise also gives you the option to do some of all of the journey along the river in a traditional Karibo (oxen) drawn cart; an experience you will not soon forget!

Don’t forget to pack your swimming gear, as the walk down the river ends in an idyllic natural pool and small waterfalls where you can cool off in the refreshing crystal clear waters.

Along the route to Hidden Paradise, you will pass Tamaraw Falls. Arguably the most popular day trip with tourists, the winding coastal road to Tamaraw falls overs some breathtaking elevated views across the ocean and Verde Island.

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Adventure Sports

The X-Treme Sports Philippines adventure park is perfect if you are looking for something to get your adrenaline going, and makes for a fun and exciting day out, especially good for large groups.

They offer Mud Kart and ATV rides on their jungle track, Go Kart racing, Paintball, and a Crossbow and Airgun range and the new craze, Archery Tag. All of the activities are very reasonably priced, so you’re guaranteed to get plenty of bang for your buck!

Motorbike & Scooter Rental

If you fancy the idea of exploring Puerto Galera by yourself, why not hire a scooter or motorbike and take a ride out to some of the other nearby towns and villages?

There are 125cc automatic scooters available (good for beginners) and more powerful 200cc Enduro style bikes for those looking for something with a bit more ‘go’

Just please keep your eyes open. Some of the roads are very narrow with tight corners, and you will often find chickens, dogs, goats and even cows venturing out into the road. Safety first!

Massage & Spa

Imagine a gentle massage for two or three hours on the sandy beach accompanied by the sound of waves breaking gently in the background.

You decide whether to get it on the sandy beach, your room, or wherever you want.

If you want several hours at one time the locals are also usually willing to bargain about an even better price.

Just ask one of the friendly Scandi Divers staff to arrange your personal massage in your room, on the beach or in a local spa.

The Spas offer a wide variety of services, including many different styles of massage, skin care treatments, manicures, pedicures and more. Perfect if you feel like being pampered!

beach massage puerto galera

Ponderosa Golf Club is tucked away high on the mountainside, about a 30 minute drive from Sabang.

The club features an unrivaled view of Puerto Galera and the surrounding islands, and you can even see clear across the channel to the mainland!

The 9 hole golf course is something unique, in the fact that it is surrounded by dense jungle, and has a reputation for being a fun challenge to your short game.

Clubs and equipment can be rented, and drinks and snacks are also available.

Don’t forget to take your camera to capture those incredible views!

ponderosa golf club puerto galera

There are miles of beautiful coastline near Puerto Galera that just beg to be explored by kayak. You can rent kayaks and go exploring for the day, and seek out your own little deserted beaches to rest on.

We can also take care of packing the kayaks with food and drinks so you can be self sufficient for your kayak trip. Remember the sunscreen!

kayaking puerto galera philippines

And what about the kids?

It’s also worth mentioning that the Philippine people are extremely child friendly, so children can have a great stay here. The unfamiliar surroundings invite them to explore the world at all levels.

Big La Laguna Beach, where our resort is situated, is one of the most child friendly beaches in the area. Away from the hustle and bustle of Sabang, our quiet beach gets little traffic, and the shallow waters along the shoreline are perfectly safe for your little ones to swim in.

It’s also easy to arrange for childcare if you need a little room to yourself, just ask one of our friendly staff to assist you.

kids activities puerto galera

Snorkeling (at least once!)

The waters directly outside our resort are rich with hard and soft corals, as well an abundance of marine creatures. Big La Laguna bay is regularly visited by turtles, so keep your eyes peeled!

If you would like to go further in your explorations, just ask us to arrange a small banka to take you around to some local snorkeling hotspots.

snorkeling puerto galera philippines

Discover The Culture Of The Mangyans

The Mangyans are the original inhabitants of Mindoro. They are nomadic, and they try to avoid outside influences as much as possible. As the years went by, they gradually moved away from other settlers; whereas they used to live by the sea, they have now settled in mountainous the areas.

You need a guide to visit their village so that you will be given a warm welcome. The Mangyans are very shy, but take them a simple gift of rice or other food stuffs and they will be delighted to share their culture with you.

mangyan village puerto galera

Ready to make the memories of a lifetime?


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Wednesday, November 30, 2005

So the newly watched movies for this past week were "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and "King Arthur." I had heard bad reviews of both, so I was a bit skeptical...

"Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" - Well, yeah, this one was not so good. It did make me want to get my own copy of the books, so I can see just where all they went wrong... because I know there was a whole lot of wrong... I seriously think there were parts in the movie that were NOT in the books... but maybe that's just cuz I haven't read them in four years or so...

"King Arthur" - This one, on the other hand, was rather good. Yes, there were historical inaccuracies that irked me (specifically the armor and weapons), but overall, it was a good story, and I like the idea of Arthur being at least partially Roman, because it makes sense, based on the evidence. Didn't know anything about the Sarmatians, so I'll have to do some research on them. But they seemed plausible, at least... :)

No movies on the agenda at present, though I ended up with a couple of free rentals, and J told me where the specific video store is located... so we shall see what there is to see... :)

In other news, I think I have an idea for music day (Wednesdays) next year. I will ponder it further, and reveal the plan when the time is right... :)

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The Supreme Court recently decided Bowles v. Russell—perhaps that Term’s most underrated case—which characterized the time to file a civil notice of appeal as jurisdictional and therefore not subject to equitable excuses for noncompliance. In so holding, the Court overstated the supporting precedent, inflated the jurisdictional importance of statutes, and undermined an important recent movement to clarify when a rule is jurisdictional and when it is not. This did not have to be. The Court missed a golden opportunity to chart a middle course—holding the rule mandatory but nonjurisdictional—that would have been more consistent with precedent while resolving the case on its narrowest grounds. This Article explains where Bowles went wrong, what it should have done, and how it may affect future questions on the jurisdictionality of rules and limits.

Document Type

Publication Information

43 Tulsa Law Review 631-650 (2008)


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Tag Archives: Chicago

Kids in Hoophouse

The following is a guest post from OneSeedChicago.com. If you are a Chicago gardener please vote, everyone else, take notes, perhaps you’ll be inspired to start a similar program in your city.

NeighborSpace’s One Seed Chicago project lets Chicago gardeners vote on their favorite seed then distributes the winning seed for free to encourage urban farming, healthy eating habits, and sitting down for meals with family and friends.

CHICAGO – Gardeners across Chicago started the New Year by voting for their favorite herb seed for One Seed Chicago and the winning seed will be mailed to them for free. This year’s candidates are basil, chamomile, and cilantro. As in previous years, One Seed Chicago will teach Chicagoans how to grow the winning seed in their garden. Local chefs and foodies are encouraged to submit original recipes for the community featuring any of this year’s candidates to demonstrate how easy it is to go from garden to plate.

“For the fifth year One Seed Chicago is uniting Chicago gardeners,” said Ben Helphand, NeighborSpace Executive Director. “By planting a common seed, backyards, windowsills, community gardens and balconies across the City will be linked together in a season-long celebration of urban gardening and local eating.”

The three candidates were selected at the annual GreenNet Potluck. Community gardeners from across the city took part in a One Seed Chicago primary election which narrowed the race to the three herb candidates. In addtion, this year One Seed Chicago is expanding voting even further, offering schools, offices, garden clubs and wherever gardeners gather the opportunity to host a polling station.

“This being an election year, we thought we’d celebrate our democracy by growing new voters along with seeds,” explains Helphand. “Gardeners who want to host a polling station can download a ballot, poster and Teacher’s activity guides from the One Seed Chicago website.”

Voting began on Sunday, January 1, 2012 and continues until April 1, 2012. The winning seed will be unveiled at GreenNet’s annual Green and Growing Fair at the Garfield Park Conservatory. To vote simply log onto www.OneSeedChicago.com.

Origins of One Seed Chicago
One Seed Chicago is a project of NeighborSpace, Chicago’s land trust for community gardens. Entering its fourth year One Seed Chicago aims to introduce more Chicagoans to the joys and benefits of gardening. Previous winners: Sunflower 2008. Blue Lake Pole bean 2009. Beebalm 2010. Swiss chard 2011. Since 2008 One Seed Chicago has distributed over one million seeds to Chicago residents.

About NeighborSpace
NeighborSpace is a nonprofit urban land trust dedicated to preserving and sustaining community managed open spaces in Chicago. Their growing network of gardens provide thousands of people the opportunity to grow fruits, vegetables and flowers; to restore habitats; and create unique gathering places in their own neighborhoods. NeighborSpace’s partners in the community can rest assured that the land will remain dedicated to conservation and their efforts will never be displaced. For more information, please visit www.neighbor-space.org.


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Idle posting

Been listening to a lot of Bauhaus, The Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees of late. Oh, and The Glove too. I love them. It's good stuff and I don't do it nearly enough. Finally got a silver for The Cure the other day. It was nice to see. Should get one for Siouxsie soon. And I'd like to eventually get a Bronze for Bauhaus.

James was looking at his recommendations and saw the Bauhaus. I pointed out all the many places he could start, though he never struck me as a Bauhaus type, he decided on Crackle I think, and decided it was good. Then I started going off about all the other bands he'll probably start getting recommendations for. It's a little bit of a joke how "we'll him goth yet."

Oh yeah, that reminds me.

I'm happy with it. Think it looks better because it's something different than the standard. Changed the front buttons too. So 50% of it is mine, and 50% is James', and if he ever needs to use it, for whatever reason, he can. And, as an added bonus, I have an extra battery in case one decides to fail.

Really should be going to bed earlier. Just can't seem to sleep during normal people sleeping hours.

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Nov. 16th, 2009 07:33 am (UTC)
Thanks, I am. :D
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Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Fake Review Contest Entries #9-12

Here are a few more "fake reviews" for the Fake Review Writing Contest:

9. ER

Dear Editor,

In the future please waste your own time.

10. YN (modified only slightly from a real review)

I'm suspicious of claims to categorize behavior in the vague terms of these authors, or as has been done in the past, using the very popular statistical framework X, which claims that the only way to rationality is to have a prior distribution on possible hypotheses for every problem. The experiments seem to be toys.

11. SW

I couldn’t help but noticed that my work is not cited in this paper on (a topic that has nothing to do with my work). If my work is not going to be cited, why would I spend time reviewing this work? If the authors add citations to my papers, if only the recent ones but perhaps also one of my classic papers and ideally my 2010 paper because I just need a few more cites on that one to raise my h-index by a point, I will be happy to read past the introduction and reference list.

12. NR

If the authors had high-quality data, interesting ideas, and an understandable discussion and conclusions, I would write a positive review. In the absence of those items, I regret that I must hate this paper.

Friday, December 27, 2013

Fake Review Contest Entries #5-8

Here are a few more 'fake' reviews (even though some are apparently word-for-word or only slightly modified from real reviews):

5. CF

Paper title: Graph analysis of System ABC shows differences in A-B connections during Condition X vs. Y

This paper uses a novel method to study ABC system dynamics. However, I don't know anything about graph analysis so I'm going to interpret the paper through the lens of a different analysis method I do know something about. Thus the only constructive feedback I can give is that this paper is a poorly written explanation of a structural equation model of XYZ - the conclusions drawn make little sense given the data, i.e. they frequently refer to "graphs" but all I see are these pictures of circles and arrows.

6. SS (modified slightly from a real review)

Since the author is a woman, I had lowered my expectations accordingly, but the author did not even meet those. Even though I have never done experiments in my life and have never used any of these techniques, the experimental results presented were completely misinterpreted in my distinguished opinion. The largest error was the omission of any background information; the authors did not cite enough of my papers or work in the background, specifically my articles in “Science” and “Nature”.

7. MC (verbatim real review)

Why is this result not loudly proclaimed as a triumph of predictive modeling? I can think of several reasons, such as (a) the authors are saving this for another paper, or (b) some one else has this result in press already and the authors don't want to deal with the politics, or (c) the one that worries me, the only explanations known are ones that cast serious doubt on the other analysis in the paper, so something is wrong somewhere.

8. EWH

There was no point in my reading the entire paper because in the introduction on page 2 the authors assert with no supporting evidence that the world is round. That the world is round is simply stated. What is the evidence for this? Without a detailed and convincing explanation, with compelling evidence, the rest of the paper is worthless.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Fake Review Contest Entries #1-4

The first entries in the reviewing writing-fest are fascinating because they are all apparently based on real reviews. In some cases, I think only a few identifying details have been changed. Perhaps there is no need to have a creative writing exercise to craft a fake review introduction; the real ones are strange enough to provide plenty of fodder.

There will likely be a vote on the entries at some point, so I am numbering the entries and adding an author pseudonym for each (in most cases at the request of the author):

1. kamikaze

Taking into account that this paper forms the basis of Ms HopefulAuthor's PhD thesis, I would have loved to love this paper. But I don't. I hate it so much I don't even want to read it properly. Therefore, I will reject it without any other argument than the fact that if this paper had been better, I would have read it and loved it. Ms HopefulAuthor had better hope I'm not on her committee.

2. mixedmetaphor

This paper is like a car-bomb headed for a building or a wall or something; it is difficult to be sure what or where it is going. Will it explode or will it be a dud? Neither has a good outcome, nor does this paper. It is filled with dangerous ideas crammed into a package with a mundane exterior.

3. JT

I have completed my review of the manuscript by XYZ et al.  This manuscript must be rejected on grounds of plagiarism - significant sections of the text were copied verbatim from a previously-published manuscript [ABC et al.].  I attached a PDF of ABC et al.'s paper and the XYZ et al. manuscript marked to indicate the plagiarized text (you will note that all but the first two paragraphs were copied).  I am very disappointed that the authors chose to represent another group's work as their own.

4. GR

Proposal Title:  Linear and Nonlinear Methods to solve XXX

Reviewer 3 (it's always reviewer 3):

"Why is the approach limited to linear methods, and the PI does not propose nonlinear methods?"

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Write This 2013

It has taken me a while to have 6.2 minutes of spare time to put together a post about an end-of-year FSP academic writing contest, but here it is, finally. You probably don't have much time either, so this year's contest has a brevity requirement.

To summarize the last five (5) contests:

I was just thinking about how I finally have some time to work on my own writing, but then I realized I have letters of reference and nomination to write and I have promised to comment on the proposals and manuscripts of some colleagues and I have some manuscript reviews to do. The latter is the inspiration for this year's writing contest: REVIEWS. Specifically, I refer to reviews of manuscripts and proposals.

Reviews can be quite lengthy. In fact, some are longer than the original manuscript (I have only done that a few times). No matter how long and detailed the review, however, some reviewers signal their overall opinion in a few introductory sentences that address the general issues raised in the rest of the review. Is this review going to be mostly positive, negative, or "mixed"?

It is those first few sentences that form the challenge of this year's writing contest.

In 2-4(ish) sentences, write the introduction of a review. Your review can be of any flavor that you wish -- you can write a few sentences of pure scathing venom, you can write a beautiful prose-poem of praise, or you can be passive-aggressive and compliment (faintly) whilst undermining the entire premise of the paper.

I prefer that these reviews be entirely fake, but you can of course use real reviews (that you have written or received) as inspiration, ideally suitably disguised so that no real individual is targeted for insult or humiliation. The point of this exercise is to have fun and entertain with creative writing of the academic sort.

Send your entries to femalescienceprofessor@gmail.com and I will post results intermittently whilst the FSP Family is traveling around an interesting part of the world for the next 2 weeks or so.

Friday, December 13, 2013

My Year of Meets

[Note: the title is a subtle reference to the book "My Year of Meats" by Ruth Ozeki, but not for any particular reason, though I did like the book.]

Somehow I ended up going to a lot of meetings again this year. What is "a lot"? This year, for me, "a lot" = 6. There might be some years in which 6 is a good number and other years in which 6 is excessive, so the concept of "a lot" is flexible.

I do not regret going to any of the 6 -- each one was interesting in its own way, and very useful for discussions with colleagues and prospective colleagues/postdocs/students. Some of the 6 meetings were large, some were small, one was less than 500 miles from my home, the others were more than 500 miles from my home.

As I was musing about my Year of Meet(ing)s, I decided to try to think of the Most Strange meeting-related experience that I had in 2013. It will not surprise any regular reader of this blog when I say that my Most Strange meeting-related experiences (MRE) involved gender-directed weirdness.

There were several contenders for Most Strange MRE.

There was the incident when a colleague I have seldom met in person (although we have corresponded extensively by e-mail for years and written several papers together) came up to me and gave me a startlingly emphatic and prolonged hug in the presence of his wife (who walked away). ick.

There was the potential postdoc who had corresponded with me and who had supposedly done extensive investigating of a large project I am directing and that he wanted to join but who somehow thought that one of my male colleagues must be the lead investigator despite massive documentary evidence to the contrary.

And there were numerous small incidents in which men went out of their way to explain to me that they supported women scientists -- some of them had even worked with women and the experience had been surprisingly good. etc.

But the "winner" was when a scientist with whom I have only a passing acquaintance came up to me after a session that I co-organized and congratulated me on putting together such a "diverse" session. I don't mean to be thick, but my first thought was that he was referring to the subjects covered in the talks.

He said, "You must have worked really hard to have such a diverse session."

I said, "No, the session easily fell into place, given the general theme. We were all very pleased that there was such a diversity of approaches." [note: we = my male co-organizers and I]

He said, "I meant diversity of the speakers."

I said, "Oh, right, yes, well, we did deliberately invite two early-career speakers and two more established speakers, but it was mostly good luck that the session ended up with such broad representation from across Europe, Asia, and North America."

He said, "No, I mean that there were so many women in your session. I congratulate you on finding so many women." (FSP note: "so many" in this case: ~ 35% of total speakers, 50% of invited speakers)

I said, "That was not deliberate." I paused and thought about it for a moment, then said, "but maybe this was a good example of how a session can easily be naturally diverse."

He said, "It made me think that we are spending too much time focusing on the problem of women in science."

I said, "That does not follow."

That was depressing. It seems that at least one person assumed that those women speakers were selected because they are women, not because they are doing interesting work (even the one who is a hot-shot professor at a Top-Two institution?).

What has been your Most Strange MRE of 2013? Please share.

Wednesday, December 04, 2013

If You Just

It seems like it has been a long time since I have done a poll in this blog. Perhaps that is because I am tired of doing surveys, including surveys on surveys, not to mention surveys for which I seem to be held personally responsible for making sure others do them even though I don't even want to do the survey myself? Perhaps, but today seems like a good day for a blog-poll anyway. The topic is the post from last week.

How would you describe your reaction (just based on what you know from my description of the incident in that post)? I have enabled the 'multiple response' feature so you can select more than one. I don't doubt that my list below is incomplete. If you are so inclined, please leave a comment if your response is not represented.

My response was..
pollcode.com free polls


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Different types of muscle

There are three main types of muscle in the human body.

These are:

Skeletal Muscle (voluntary muscle)

Cardiac Muscle

Smooth muscle (involuntary muscle)

Image supplied by Alila Medical Media. Click on the link to see other cells.

Skeletal Muscle.

This type of muscle is a voluntary muscle as its under conscious control. It is also striated (banded). The banding is caused by the actin and myosin. Where the actin and myosin overlap the banding is darker. If actin or myosin is on its own then the banding is lighter. The cells are multinucleate which means there are many nuclei. The purpose of skeletal muscle is to cause movement on limbs. Although skeletal muscle can contract very quickly, it tends to fatigue very quickly.

Cardiac Muscle.

Cardiac muscle is the muscle that makes up the heart. It is myogenic (self contracting). The cardiac muscle again is striated, but this time uninucleate. Also there are intercalated discs between the cells. These discs help to synchronise the muscle contraction. Cardiac muscle doesn’t tend to fatigue easily.

Smooth muscle.

Smooth muscle is present in the walls of arteries or in the walls of the bronchi. It has a slow contraction. Smooth muscle is unstriated. Like cardiac muscle it is also uninucleate.

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