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This Jaw Dropping Place In Alaska Will Blow You Away

The Mendenhall Glacier in Alaska is more than a big frozen block of snow and ice; it is an ever-changing natural phenomenon riddled with pockets and caves that, at first glance, seem to be filled with cool blue crystals. The melting of the snow and ice creates caves that are filled with shockingly blue ice. These caves are sought out by both the tourists and by locals, and the fact that they are so dangerous to get to makes the appeal that much greater. If you ever get an opportunity to visit one of the Mendenhall Ice Caves you will walk away slack-jawed and dazzled. Make sure you bring a camera because this trip will be a once in a lifetime experience!

So, though the famous western ice cave has already collapsed, there still exist many other entrancing ice caves in the Mendenhall Glacier. If you plan a trip, please use a guide, and remember safety is your number one priority.

Casea Peterson
Casea Peterson grew up archery hunting, fishing, and camping throughout the Pacific Northwest. Motivated by her love for the outdoors she moved to Alaska to attend school and to spend time exploring the last frontier. If she doesn’t have a pen in hand or her nose in a book, she can be found out on a lake or up in the woods around a fire with friends.

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    Who the heck would pay $400 for a flash game?

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    Games made within 24hrs are craps, not to mention.
    It's WNxPyrZern. Pleased to meet you. My 3D Character Artist Folio

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My Tim Wise Experience

Onyx Truth Contributor:  Natalina (@ruggerbabe19)

I sat in my normal seat, the one I sit in every day, not too close, for fear of being called on or viewed as a gunner, but not so far back that I can’t hear what the lecturer has to say.  But this was not a normal day of class.  I was taking a break from studying anatomy by coming here to listen to Tim Wise speak.  As I waited for the event to start, I studied the faces around me, what can I say, my mind was still stuck on anatomy of the head and neck.  I was struck by the number of races I didn’t recognize, I knew that it had been opened up to the community and had a feeling that much of the audience weren’t members of our college of medicine, or even the law school down the street.  Students in professional schools tend to keep their heads in books and focused on computer screens, too focused on passing their next exam to learn things that they will actually use in everyday practice.  But of course, the lecture was recorded, and I can’t help but wonder how many of my classmates listened to the lecture at 2 times speed later, like I do with biochemistry or anatomy.  But I digress, and the lecture was about to start.

First our President, a distinguished looking black woman, got up and talked about the importance our school places on diversity, and its addition in our mission statement.  I looked up and scanned the room, noticing neither of the two black guys in my class were present.  But fine, I know it’s something she cares about, and there is probably stuff that goes on behind the scenes that I’m not aware of.  Then our multicultural affairs director spoke and my mind was starting to drift.  How many speakers do we need to introduce one guy?  To my surprise, the next speaker was someone from my class.  A tall, blonde, WASP-y looking white man took to the podium, looking nervous, but determined.  In a past life he was a teacher and spoke with pose that obviously came from years of practice.  He told of how Tim Wise had directly influenced his life, how hearing him speaking and reading his books had helped him not only understand more about racial politics in this country, but helped motivate him to want to take action to do anti-racism work.  Truthfully, I was rather touched, as it’s rare to see a white man in my age group express those feelings and want to do something about it.  But finally we had come to the main event, and Tim Wise began stood at the front, and started to address the crowd.

The first thing I noticed was his height.  Standing at 5’8 he hardly had a commanding presence.  Honestly he just looked like some guy, someone you would see walking down the street and not think twice, with greying hair and a tie that was tied too tightly.  But then he started to speak.  His voice was animated and powerful, full of confidence but also a willingness to engage in self-deprecation.  A bit of a talking paradox, but I suppose that’s par for the course with a white anti-racism speaker, isn’t it?  His topic had two main focuses, history and color-blindness.  I got the concept of color-blindness, but I will come back to that.  What I was thrown by was history.  What in the world does history have to do with treating patients?  We had just finished our course on medical history which I had loathed as it took away from other classes I felt were more important.  Also the fact that I’m not exactly stoked to read about a bunch of dead white guys.  But that wasn’t exactly the type of history Mr. Wise was referring to.  No, he was talking about a cultural sense of history, specifically the type of history black folks have with medicine (and the law as well).  In behavioral medicine we had learned that a difficulty often faced with patients who have chronic health conditions is that they have an extensive history with the healthcare system.  They have seen many doctors, nurses, PAs, PTs, et cetera.  And because of that they have probably had some bad experiences.  And every time they see a new provider they bring those bad experiences with them, they might be more cynical or cautious, out of fear of being hurt again.  We all agreed that this was a valid and understandable reaction.  Well what does that have to do with black folks and healthcare?  Well, the collective consciousness of black patients includes a lot of historical bad experiences.  Tuskegee was not an isolated incidence of black people being treated like garbage by the medical industry.  Ask the family of Henrietta Lacks or the 7,600 mostly black and brown women and girls who were sterilized in North Carolina from 1929 to 1974.  So is it frustrating for a provider who does have their patient’s best interest in a mind to be mistrusted?  Of course.  But is it unreasonable, or irrational for the black community be distrustful?  Absolutely not.  It’s not like the idea that white doctors might not have the best interests of black folks in mind is this crazy notion that has never happened before.  That’s not the world we live in.

But on to color-blindness.  Mr. Wise brought up the idea of “wanting to treat all patients the same”.  Now that’s a phrase I’ve heard over and over when discussing the healthcare needs of the LGBTQ community.  Specifically, when I bring up the need to teach medical students about the community at least one person will always chime in, usually in the most condescending way possible, that why should we spend any extra time on learning how to treat queer patients, because after all they are just people right?  Shouldn’t we just treat them like everyone else? *Insert face-palm here*  It’s always amazing me how anyone could be so ignorant.  First of all, we don’t treat every patient the same.  You don’t give the same advice to an obese patient that you do to an anorexic patient.  That would be stupid.  So why would you treat a gay patient like a straight patient?  Why would you treat a black patient like a white patient?  Why would you not take into account that person as a whole, and go from there?  White providers shouldn’t just ignore the life experience of a patient of color because they are uncomfortable with race.  We are supposed to provide holistic care, to consider the context surrounding the person we are treating instead of just considering them as a list of symptoms.  Logically, wouldn’t that person’s race or sexual orientation be a valuable part of their context?  We shouldn’t treat everyone like they are a 70 kg white male because not everyone is a 70kg white male!  I mean that seems obvious, no?  But instead it’s the revolutionary idea that many of our population has never even considered.  But of course that ties in white privilege, and just assuming that your life experiences are the default or standard.

Throughout the speech I was enthralled and in agreement with almost all that he said.  But it was the questions at the end that really caused me to think about my own life and my role in anti-racism.  Someone specifically asked about the school to prison pipeline, using a statistic that shocked me.  The statistic was that Iowa uses the number of 3rd graders who are below expected grade reading level in order to determine how many beds they need in new prisons.  Now this stat didn’t surprise me because I didn’t know that, it surprised me because I did.  As a member of a sorority whose philanthropy was literacy I had used that statistic every semester during recruitment.  Along with other smiling (mostly white) faces I had this factoid in my back-pocket as a selling point for the importance of getting kids reading early.  I had literally never considered that it could be evidence for anything else.  I sat stunned as there was an audible gasp in the audience over that fact I had used gleefully over and over.  I felt sick.  Why had I not thought about this further?  Of course it was showing how pervasive the school to prison pipeline is, but my white liberal brain never took that into account.  Continuing on, Mr. Wise talked about racism in Iowa and my home state of Minnesota.  He mentioned the extreme gap between the number of black students who have been expelled vs. white students, and that carried on to whites vs. blacks in trouble with the law.  He even threw out a jab at my former college, which shall we say, is known both for high academic achievement and high drug usage.  Again, things I had never considered.  I realized how easy it is for me just to say that racism is a southern thing, that it has little impact on life here.  He mentioned that in the south whites don’t care how close blacks get, as long as they don’t get too high, but in the north we don’t care how high blacks get, as long as they aren’t too close.  And again, of course this is true.  I thought of the public elementary school I went to and the two black kids in my class.  In my private high school I could count the number of people of color on 2 hands.  Shit, I don’t think I had ever talked to an Indian person until I had an Indian roommate my 1st year in college.  The distance clouds us, makes us unaware, we never are confronted with our own privilege.  Mr. Wise brought up an exercise he has had where he has white people list stereotypes about other races.  After the talk I asked him if he ever has white people list stereotypes about themselves.  He said yeah of course.  But when I thought about it, I had a hard time coming up with ones.  I realized that white people tend not to make self-deprecating jokes about their race.  It rarely happens, and if you don’t have any exposure to races other than your own, you might not know any white people stereotypes.  And I’m not trying to say that stereotypes are particularly helpful, but shit, we never have to look at ourselves in a critical manner if we don’t want to.  It’s sad, and I think it contributes to a lot of fucked up ideas that white folks have about race.

At the very end a man in the back asked Mr. Wise about what he thinks we can do about racism.  That it’s not enough just to talk or write about stuff, what are we supposed to do about all these horrible things.  The response was basically encouraging self awareness.  That we should look at ourselves and decide why we give a shit, and that just quoting Ghandi or any other liberal catchphrase isn’t good enough.  Since then I’ve been trying to consider why I care.  Why is this really important to me, beyond the bullshit that I’d like to hide behind.  I suppose the best I’ve come up with is that a lot of my really important life experiences as a teen had to do with race.  I was the white girl who hung out with the black kids in high school and was ostracized for it by many of my white peers.  I saw that as a form of racism, and it taught me that racism isn’t just something that’s in a history textbook, and that isn’t not just something that hurts people of color, it’s something that hurts everyone.  Perhaps that’s a silly reason, or just another form of white guilt.  But I realize how small and insignificant my experience with racism is in the grand scheme of things, and if my experience was hurtful, the experiences of people of color who have to deal with this shit every damn day must be horrific.  At the end of the day, I’m just not okay with that and I can’t just stand back and let that happen without saying something.

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Photos and videos look incredibly detailed and text is razor sharp on the stunning Retina display, which features over 3.1 million pixels — a million more than an HDTV.

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15 January 2011

Should I Open my Toy?

"Should I open my toy?"

It's funny how one would ask this question. To answer that question, let's start from the definition of what is a toy.

According to Online Dictionary, a Toy is an object designed to be played with. The keyword here is Play. If you play with something in amusement, that object is your toy.

In that same definition, it is interesting to note in the olden usage, a Toy is classified as "any small thing of little value; trifle" because it has little value, one can throw away anything and anyhow he/she likes.

* Credit to eclectorama

For the two points above, it somehow contradict with toy collectors today. Firstly most of the toys now are quite costly and neither did many toy collectors actually play with it. Many collectors keep the toys mint in package and store or display it in some cabinets or some places which they deem safe.

Not forgetting there are other collectors who open one of the toy to play while keeping another set mint in package hoping in the near future the value of that toy will increase.

Toy collecting as a hobby on the whole is still new or at least for this century. Mostly, these toy collectors missed much on the toys they desire during their childhood. This desire was never satisfy and when they enter a time of economic power, they decided to buy back that satisfaction.

Value was the keyword here for toy collectors and here are 3 trains of thoughts I can think of with regarding some of the reasons why toy collector collect certain toys.

1. I like that toy and I want to play or display it
2. I like that toy because it is popular and I am growing to like it because of that.
3. I like that toy because it is popular and the value on the market will increase in time to come.

If you identify yourself into any one of the category above, the answer to your question to open or not to open your toy is clear.

Before I proceed further, I would like to point out that the following are my personal sharing and in no way saying otherwise is err.

Personally I felt the Golden age of toy collecting may have past. If you feel it has not, then you will likely to feel that within a decade of your toy collection. Here are some signs that you may encounter.

1. You buy so much and you never get to enjoy or play with the toy.
2. You buy toys but you are never satisfy with what you have
3. You looked at some toys and you asked yourself why on earth at that point of time you buy that toy and now you are starting to regret it when it is no longer popular as before.
4. If you treat buying toys as an investment, you will likely felt it is never a right time to sell it off or the return is just too little that you continue to keep it for later hoping for a miracle...

Isn't it funny that somewhere in your growing up days you missed out on some toys while you only have a handful and had a good time with it that time? Now you can get as many as you like but you are never able to be happy as you thought you were even when you have the full collection? What is wrong here?

Why I open my toy
Allow me to share with you why I choose to open my toy

1. Toys are made to play
Although most toy now are made good in display, the fun of the toy is still in playing. Now some may think playing toy is childish but personally I felt playing with toys is a form of exercising your ability to imagine and be creative. Sadly as we get older, we kind lost that touch mostly for the fear of being labeled childish.

To Childishness, I would like to quote something for C.S.Lewis
"Critics who treat 'adult' as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."
- "On Three Ways of Writing for Children" (1952)

2. Toys do not last forever
Like everything on earth, nothing last forever including you and me. However things just renew and refresh. I cannot say that I am right but I have witness some toy line get refresh and re-released. Because of that some toy value go up while a number of those also went down in "market" value. It is only a matter of time.

3. You can't take it with you
Think about what you owed right now and in ten or twenty or even forty years time, what will happen to the toys you owned? Are they still going to be a display in mint box. Now that they (the toys) also started to deteriorate? Are you going to pass it to your children and will they enjoy it and treasure it? Maybe they still hold on to your toys for the sake of memory of you when you are gone. Won't that be a burden to them?

Now that is something that is up to each individual to think about. Everyone is entitle to his/her own opinion and the choice is strictly on you. Since this is my blog it is right for me to share my thoughts.

To open or not is up to you but enjoy your toy you must. :)

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Imperial College/Courses/Spring2008/Synthetic Biology/Team 5

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This page may be used to host the write-up of a mini-iGEM project being undertaken by Team 5 of the Imperial College London Synthetic Biology course 2008 - the project being to academically investigate a theoretical iGEM proposal and present it to a mock 'funding committee'.

If this is not allowed/isn't acceptable, please email me at taa104 at and I'll find somewhere else to host this!

Our proposal for an iGEM project was originally based on an interface between electrical and biological systems. It has since evolved to be an attempt to construct a bio-implant - a synthetic gland, as it were - that can administer drugs, release hormones or perform other functions when triggered to do so by an external stimulus. Instead of an electrical stimulus we have opted to utilise an optical fiber implanted through the skin to transmit light pulses to the bio-implant and trigger expression of a target molecule. We have extended our criteria to include an 'on' signal and an 'off' signal, each encoded by different wavelengths and controlled by the duration of the pulse.

The Sensor Array

Blue light inhibits - BLUF
Red light activates -

Applications for this system are near limitless, as the gene that is transcribed upon activation by light is interchangeable. Specifically, one might imagine release of a hormone could be triggered in hormone replacement therapies, or insulin could be produced in diabetics with the system replacing the need for injections (dosage variable with duration of light pulse)

While in testing, however, we need an easily-detectable reporter. GFP as a candidate was swiftly dismissed, as using a fluorescent protein to report on the activity of light-sensitive bacteria would undoubtedly lead to interference and skewed results! Antibiotic expression in concert with antibiotic resistance could be relevant as antibiotic-producing bacteria may be a useful bio-implant and would also be an accurate reporter - the complexity of this system may impose on our timetable, however, so we have decided ultimately to use the well-characterised lacZ reporter construct. In this system, bacteria that produce the protein exhibit a blue colouration as opposed to a standard white colour for negative results.

Thus if we tack on a lacZ reporter to the construct the system could be tested using plated cells exposed to light patterns and examined later for distribution of blue colonies vs. white ones.

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Forza Horizon News Post

If you can't view the embedded video, click here.

Check out some of the new Forza Horizon screenshots, right here.

Season Pass makes a return in Forza Horizon. Just like in Forza Motorsport 4, the Season Pass will allow you to download monthly DLC's. If you're not a fan of the Season Pass, you can always download the packs separately. The first expansion pack will be available on December 18th.

Forza Horizon Hands-On Previews From Around the Web

Game: Forza HorizonReader Score: 8/10 - Vote Now
Platform: Xbox 360Votes for game: 7 - View All
Forza Horizon Videos
Member Comments
# 1 lnin0 @ 09/19/12 08:24 PM
Horizon Festival...stupid name. A story....bleh. Starter VW for everyone...boo. Still can't wait even though this preview focused on a few design choices I would never request in a racer.

I was just reading through the Eurogamer preview,

Funny, then, that when the series turns to the big, wide American landscape for the open world racer Forza Horizon it does so with the British inflections of Playground, a studio formed from veterans of Codemasters, Black Rock and Bizarre. Be thankful that it does.
Did not know this. That is a fine heritage of racing game developers. It also explain some of the influences. While Eurogamer said, "The festival that frames the campaign feels like it's drifted in from the likes of Dirt and Grid, as do the slightly self-conscious youth culture trappings." it seemed like all the great influences and gameplay overwhelm these small miscues.
# 2 DIRRTY30 @ 09/19/12 09:24 PM
I am so pumped to play an open world Forza game. I also like the idea of the Horizon Festival. It will give more life to the game and make it actually feel like you are existing in a real world and racing for a purpose.
# 3 pk500 @ 09/19/12 09:26 PM
I'm 47 years old, far from the demographic this game is targeting.

Yet the entire concept of Forza Horizon still intrigues the hell out of me because I love cars and because I think Microsoft will do the open-world concept right.

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NCAA Football 07 REVIEW

NCAA Football 07 Review (Xbox)

"If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mousetrap, than his neighbor, though he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door." – Ralph Waldo Emerson (attributed)

I’ve always been fascinated by this quote, catchphrase, theory, whatever you choose to call it. Most of you have probably heard it in the simpler more condensed version that simply says, "Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door." It’s a concept that has captured the attention of American industry for well over a century, yet, at its core, there are a thousand holes in the theory.

Now we could get into the debate that people have been having for years about whether or not people are willing to “beat” said path. We could argue about why people would be interested if they don’t mind mice running around. Or, perhaps at a simplistic level, what if people don’t have a mouse problem at all?

The question that has always stuck with me is slightly more basic than that. Why do we need a better mousetrap?

The standard old-school mousetrap works. It’s effective. It’s quiet. It’s inexpensive. I’m not trying to say that it’s not important to advance, but sometimes the mantra “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” really makes sense.

When EA Sports officially kicked off the 2006 football release season with their new NCAA 2007, they were breaking new ground in this franchise. They would release their debut college football effort on the Next Next-Gen systems – the Xbox 360. Literally, this is a new title being built on the heels of their successful series that has rocked the current-gen for years. They’d put a whole team of developers on the new project. But, where would that leave the people who have yet to plunked down the fat scoots for a 360?

NCAA 06 on the Xbox, despite a few quirks, was one of the best football titles of all-time. Like so many of its predecessors in this collegiate franchise, I literally was playing this game until the day before NCAA 2007 hit stores. I’ll admit, I was more excited about the 360 version, because it’s new. But, I’m a loyal dog. NCAA 2007 would get multi-platform love from me this year and, most likely, every year that they release multiple versions.

Before we get into my two cents on what I found on the big black box, I do think it’s important to mention that I was playing NCAA 2007 on the slightly smaller off-white box for about a week before I received my copy for the Xbox. I'm not going to directly compare the two because they are both football games, which would be like comparing a Dodge Stratus to a Corvette because they’re both cars. Obviously, the Xbox 360 just has more power under the hood. But, I do think it’s important to use the 360 version as a reference point, because, in the end, I am going to recommend that you own both.

Most people scored NCAA 06, on a mental 10-point must system, somewhere in the high 8’s to a perfect 10. It was an amazing title. So, needless to say, the Xbox team of developers was fighting both high expectations for a great follow-up as well as the Next Next-Gen version’s debut release.

Let’s get this out of the way right away for those who have hit their word limit already and don’t want to sift through the details. If you liked NCAA 06, you’re going to love NCAA 2007. If you loved NCAA 06, you may just wet your pants with excitement.

The team at EA Sports did what seems so simple in concept, but so often overlooked in reality. They took what worked and expanded on it. Then they took what didn’t and fixed it. What more can you ask for?

So what worked last year?

The gameplay was fantastic last year. Sure, there were a few minor hiccups; like the deep pass being a little too simple to complete. I understand that a lot of the gamers plunking down the $49.99 like to try to put up 700 yards passing per game, but even they had to be thinking it was a little easy. In NCAA 2007, the gameplay is smooth. It flows naturally and really seems to move at the perfect speed for the game. All the great AI tendencies from last year were given a fresh coat of paint and, thankfully, the few suspect areas were cleaned up. And since gameplay fell pretty squarely in the “it ain’t broke” column, they decided to simply sweeten the pot.

The first new addition you’ll notice right off is the new implementation of momentum. "Big Mo", as I like to call it. Make big plays at big times and momentum will swing to your side. The more the momentum swings, the more you will feel it in the way your team does or doesn’t execute on the field, depending on which side of the momentum slide you’re on. Running backs will get an extra shimmy in their step. Make that extra move. Break that last tackle. Receivers will make that tough grab on the sidelines. Linebackers will hit those gaps harder and faster. I know it sounds like it might be over the top, but it really isn’t. It’s so much better then the Matrix-esque “in the zone” moments in last year’s release.

Regardless of which side of the momentum meter you’re on, you’ll also find some nice additions to the gameplay on both sides of the ball. Offensively, NCAA 2007 scraps the Truck Stick in exchange for the Impact Stick. I was not a huge fan of the Truck Stick, but definitely conceded its place in the game. There are a lot of big backs in the NCAA that bowl over the opposition, especially in major mismatches. But, it did not properly account for the little backs. The speedsters. The lightning to the Truck Stick’s thunder. The Impact Stick, which further moves sports gaming into the dual-analog stick era, is almost more akin to the Trick Sticks you find in games like NBA Street or, some would argue, more like EA’s dearly departed football competitor. Timing is really the key to using the Impact Stick and learning what the stick is going to do in certain situations. It adds a depth to running with the ball, and certainly trumps the "lower your head and charge" mentality of the Truck Stick.

The Hit Stick is still there on defense, but the newest feature you’ll find is called “Jump The Snap.” I know this control had a lot of people worried about its implementation. You could almost smell the online cheese. Fortunately, it’s really well done. Much like real football, it works well if your opponent allows it. But savvy competitors, including the AI, will mix up snap counts and throw in hard counts to burn you. Once you commit to your jump, if your timing is off, just start marching back the five yards. Oh, and did I mention that those dumb penalties will swing the momentum? Risk and reward, my friends, risk and reward.

Also new this year is the inclusion of team-specific playbooks with unique formations to fit. Although these were not quite as deep as I had hoped from hearing all the hype, it was nice to see teams who are famous for certain unique formations actually running out of them. It’s a nice added element to the game and would really excel if future releases could fine-tune the packages.

But, wait, the fun and features are not relegated to just offense and defense anymore. Special teams is an extremely important facet to every good team. NCAA 2007 is finally addressing that by spending some time adding some flash and fun to these moments in the game.

The new kicking system will jump out at you right away. Again, the right stick is put to work now that it is actually mapped to kicking in a very similar system to what you find in most current golf games. Actually, more accurately, it uses the last two generations of golf games. It still uses a power meter for timing, but it also adds the element of showing off your thumb coordination by forcing you to pull the stick straight back and push straight forward (while staying in time) in order to get off a straight kick.

The yin to the yang of the new kicking system is a new interface for defending/blocking kicks. You actually change the view of the field during these special play moments in an attempt to find the right route or gap to hit to make it to the kicker or punter in time for a block. Blocks are a huge momentum swing and add a nice element gameplay. Plus, to those who are already playing the 360 version, not only will this view be new to you, but the number of successful blocks is considerably lower than the next-gen version.

Presentation in the game remains solid in the Xbox version of NCAA 2007. Few would argue that the three-man both featured in this title is one of the best around and hands down the best in any EA Sports title. Brad Nessler, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit still provide play-by-play and commentary that flows smoothly with the action on the field. It does seem to be a little bit more recycled then in years past. There isn’t a lot new here and the game still lacks front-end presentation. With the ESPN license, EA Sports would be foolish not to be working on a virtual "College Gameday" segment to run in the front of each game or week of a Dynasty. It’s been done and done well by other companies. People love it. It would really spice this title up.

Back to the original topic, most would agree that the Race For The Heisman mode was just short of useless last year. Yes, I know, the Operation Sports community is not necessarily on the pulse of the average sports gamer, but it was a pretty weak mode. But, instead of scrapping it altogether, EA once again took it, stripped it down, tweaked it, and repainted it with the title of Campus Legend.

Campus Legend mode actually tries to take the perspective more from the student-athlete angle. It’s more about being the big man on campus then winning the Heisman. Because, let’s face it, if you’re the strong safety at Western Michigan University, the chances of you winning the Heisman are thinner than the lovechild of Nicole Richie and Jenny Craig. However, being the BMOC in Kalamazoo is a different story.

This year, after creating your player and accepting your scholarship, you’ll actually have to choose a major. You’ll study, take tests, go to practice, pop quizzes, and be forced to decide how you want your player to behave in your free time. Party or study? There’s a tough choice. If you’re going to play this mode, you do want to take those tests seriously. Your attributes are directly related to your major and your success on the field.

It’s not radically different then Race For The Heisman, but it does a couple of things right. More importantly, I think it’s at least a small next step to what a mode like this can be. I know that we’ll likely never get to a point where we have a true NCAA student-athlete mode (cough…Rhett Bomar….cough), but I respect the fact that they didn’t give up on the concept and are at least trying to improve it.

The meat and potatoes, as always, will still be found in the world famous NCAA Dynasty Mode. Simply put, it’s still the champion. No other career, season, franchise, or whatever mode compares to the Dynasty Mode in NCAA 2007. And, just like the rest of the title, they did nothing to change that. They only made it better. All the same great tasks and abilities from previous Dynasty Modes are there, with only one minor change and one nice upgrade.

The minor change was inevitable. During your Dynasty mode, instead of the Sports Illustrated covers handling your week-to-week interface in your Dynasty, it’s been replaced by ESPN Magazine. They paid the big bucks for the contract; you knew they were going to use it. Sad thing is, this is really the only place they are using the ESPN license to any extent.

The upgrade is one that gamers have been clamoring for since the original NCAA days. NCAA 2007 has finally brought that missing piece between the recruiting phase and the start of the season to life – Spring practice. You now get to take your team through various position drills to get them into playing shape and ready for the new season. You’ll finally have some control over how they grow in the off-season. The practice phase culminated in the Spring Game. You’ll get two five minutes halves to run your first and second teams out on the field to get a feel for who your players are going to be this season.

Online play on Xbox Live is there and reliable. In my opinion, EA still needs to embrace the online gaming community more than they do. It’s getting a little stale with the same old limited options. Online gaming is only growing.

So the question has to be asked, do we need a better mousetrap?

NCAA 2007 on the Xbox has the best parts of last year’s version and it's improved. No, it’s not as pretty as the Xbox 360 version. But it’s deep. It’s smooth. And, most importantly, it’s fun.

If you’re an Xbox owner who loves football, well, you’re likely not reading this; you’ve already bought the game and are playing as we speak. If you’re an Xbox 360 owner who already owns that version of the game, but you’ve been hemming and hawing about spending the other $50, it’s the best thing that’s been released on the Xbox since the 360 launched. Period.

As much as I hate scoring these reviews, I’m going to save you some posts and nasty emails. I would give NCAA 2007 a perfect 10/10 based on the gameplay and the amount of fun I had with it. However, I’m knocking a point off for the lack of ESPN integration, the status quo on online play, and for not adding to the pre-game intros.

There you go, EA. The perfect 10 will be the mouse. What will you do to trap it next year?

NCAA Football 07 Score
out of 10


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Bad News for Obama and the Middle Class

| by Institute for Policy Innovation

More bad economic news for President Obama—and for the middle class.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that the U.S. average weekly wagedecreased by 1.7 percent to $955 between the fourth quarter of 2010 and the fourth quarter of 2011. This is only the fifth time wages have declined in the past 33 years, according to BLS. And the only time they have declined while the number of jobs is growing.
Maybe there really is a war on the middle class, and Obama’s policies declared it.
While politicians and the public see a wage decline as ominous, from an economic standpoint, it could be both reasonable and beneficial.

The demand for economic inputs, of which labor is one, declines in an economic downturn.
 When demand for some product or service falls, a falling price usually isn’t far behind. And that falling price, including the price of labor, often spurs people to buy (or hire) again.
The recent fall in the price of oil had everyone cheering; falling wages, by contrast, usually produce a different response: panic.
Both President Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt tried to fight falling wages during the Great Depression by keeping wages artificially high. That was the worst thing they could do. By forcing employers to pay more than the market could bear when the economy was tanking, they ensured that more people would remain unemployed—which only exacerbated the Depression.
So economists can make a good case for falling wages in a recession. However, as BLS points out, we are not in a recession (at least not officially, yet). The economy has been growing, albeit very slowly. And declining wages in a growing economy is unique, says the BLS.
Had Obama given the economy some breathing room it might be roaring back by now—and along with it jobs and wages. But he thought he had a better idea: suffocating the economy with massive new taxes and regulations.
The president wants to blame the “rich” and tax policy for what he sees as a decline of the middle class, but no one has done more to hurt the middle class than the president’s policies.


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Press Room

Press Release: April 20, 2009

You are invited to a free, live webcast: What's New in Windows Server 2008 R2 Active Directory

Bring your Active Directory questions and come learn what's new in Active Directory for Windows Server 2008 R2. Active Directory MVPs and authors Brian Desmond (Active Directory, 4th Edition) and Laura Hunter (Active Directory Cookbook, 3rd Edition) will discuss exciting new features in R2 for AD including the AD Recycle Bin, AD PowerShell, the Active Directory Administrative Center, Managed Service Accounts, and more. They will reserve half of the event time to answer questions about the presentation and Active Directory in general.

Attendance is limited, so register now. We'll send you a reminder before the webcast. And please feel free to share this invitation with others.

Date: Friday, April 24 at 10 am PT
Price: Free
Duration: Approximately 90 minutes
To register:
Questions? Please send email to

webcast lead graphic

About Brian Desmond
Brian Desmond spends his days focused on Active Directory for some of the world's largest companies. A Microsoft MVP since 2004, Brian brings extensive knowledge of how Active Directory works and how to succesfully run Active Directory deployments large and small.

About Laura E. Hunter
Laura E. Hunter is an Architect with the Oxford Computer Group, specializing in Microsoft Identity and Access Management technologies. Her specialties include Active Directory design and implementation, troubleshooting, and security topics. Laura is a Microsoft MVP for Windows Server-Networking.

Laura's previous experience includes a position as an AD Architect for a global engineering firm, IT Project Leader with the University of Pennsylvania, and the Director of Computer Services for the Salvation Army.

She also operates as an independent technical speaker and writer. Laura has a Bachelor's Degree in American History and a Master's Degree in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania.

About O’Reilly

O’Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O’Reilly Media has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying “faint signals” from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.

Return to: O’Reilly Press Room

Press Contacts

Sara Winge
1-800-998-9938 x7109

Media Relations – North America & Conferences

Maureen Jennings
1-800-998-9938 x7083

Media Relations – Japan

Fumi Yamakawa
+81 3-3356-5227

Media Relations – United Kingdom

Helen Coding
+44 (0) 1252 721284


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About Organics

Organic agriculture is a holistic approach to production which promotes and enhances biodiversity, protects long-term soil health and respects ecological balance through the use of environmentally and ecologically sustainable practices.

In Canada, organic practices are regulated by the Canadian Organic Standards, and producers or processors who use the Canada Organic Logo must meet these standards.

Organic production is designed to:

  • respect the environment through the responsible usage of soil, water and air, minimizing agricultural pollution
  • protect the long-term health of the soil, encouraging soil biological activity and minimizing soil degradation and erosion
  • provide livestock with humane living conditions for their health and well-being
  • recycle materials and resources whenever possible and reduce the use of non-renewable resources

Organic production does not permit the use of:

  • synthetic pesticides
  • synthetic fertilizers
  • sewage sludge
  • genetically modified organisms
  • ionizing radiation
  • no growth hormones for animals that produce meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products

Our organic standards page

Organic Means:

No synthetic pesticides or synthetic fertilizers
Organic production does not permit the use of synthetic pesticides or synthetic fertilizers, reducing the amounts of toxins on organic food and in the environment

Organic agriculture respects ecological balance, aiming to reduce the use of non-renewable resources and create more sustainable systems

Protection of water quality
Organic growers and processors use practices that reduce chemical runoff and preserve ground water quality

Organic practices aim to preserve biodiversity through use of traditional seed varieties, crop rotation, and respect for the natural diversity of the local environment

Many organic farms are small, independently run farms which aim to produce food for their local communities. The organic philosophy of sustainability encourages consumers to buy local organic produce whenever possible

Animal welfare
Organic production requires that farmers use humane animal husbandry practices, including giving livestock access to open-air runs. The use of synthetic growth hormones is not permitted.

No genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
Organic certification standards do not permit the use of genetic engineering in organic production. Eating organic is a good way to avoid consuming genetically modified foods.

Certification standards assure consumers that organic foods and products have been grown and handled in accordance with sustainable procedures without the use of synthetic pesticides or synthetic fertilizers.

Taste is indeed a matter of personal opinion. However, many consumers of organic product insist that organics simply taste better, with intense flavours unmasked by pesticide residues or wax. Not a believer? Try organic for yourself!

Watch Sustain Ontario’s Good Food Idea’s Video to lean what organic means to Ontario organic farmers

Organic Council of Ontario – Organic Food Production in Ontario from Sustain Ontario on Vimeo.

10 Reaons to Go Organic SMALL

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Left ProductsProducts divider ServicesServices divider technologyTechnology divider researchResearch divider TechsupportTechSupport divider AboutAbout Right
Home TrueClone CCNE1 Clone

CCNE1 (NM_057182) Human cDNA Clone

Specifications Citations Clones of Other Species Product Documents
SKU Description Price Availibility*
SC305751 CCNE1 (untagged)-Human cyclin E1 (CCNE1), transcript variant 2, NM_057182.1, 10ug $700 In Stock
TF81001 TurboFectin, High performance Transfection reagent (1ml/vial) $420 In Stock
TA300577 Rabbit Monoclonal Antibody against CCNE1 (Clone EP435E), 100ul $325 3-7 Days
Add to Shopping Cart
OriGene Data
Vector: pCMV6-Entry QM Insert Size: 1200 Restriction Site:
Sequence Data: Fully Sequenced ORF          CHROMATOGRAMS Chromatogram
OTI Annotation: This TrueClone is provided through our Custom Cloning Process that includes sub-cloning into OriGene's pCMV6 vector and full sequencing to provide a non-variant match to the expected reference without frameshifts, and is delivered as lyophilized plasmid DNA
OTI Disclaimer: Our molecular clone sequence data has been matched to the reference identifier above as a point of reference. Note that the complete sequence of our molecular clones may differ from the sequence published for this corresponding reference, e.g., by representing an alternative RNA splicing form or single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP).
Product Components: The cDNA clone is shipped in a 2-D bar-coded Matrix tube as dried plasmid DNA. The package also includes 100 pmols of both the corresponding 5' and 3' vector primers in separate vials. Every lot of primer is tested to provide clean sequencing of OriGene TrueClones.
Protein Families: Stem cell relevant signaling - DSL/Notch pathwayStem cell - PluripotencyTranscription FactorsDruggable Genome
Protein Pathways: Cell cycleOocyte meiosisp53 signaling pathwayPathways in cancerProstate cancerSmall cell lung cancer
Reference Data
RefSeq Explanation: NM_057182.1, NP_476530
RefSeq Size: 1787 RefSeq ORF: 1188
Synonyms : CCNE
LocusID: 898 Cytogenetic: 19q12
Gene Summary: The protein encoded by this gene belongs to the highly conserved cyclin family, whose members are characterized by a dramatic periodicity in protein abundance through the cell cycle. Cyclins function as regulators of CDK kinases. Different cyclins exhibit distinct expression and degradation patterns which contribute to the temporal coordination of each mitotic event. This cyclin forms a complex with and functions as a regulatory subunit of CDK2, whose activity is required for cell cycle G1/S transition. This protein accumulates at the G1-S phase boundary and is degraded as cells progress through S phase. Overexpression of this gene has been observed in many tumors, which results in chromosome instability, and thus may contribute to tumorigenesis. This protein was found to associate with, and be involved in, the phosphorylation of NPAT protein (nuclear protein mapped to the ATM locus), which participates in cell-cycle regulated histone gene expression and plays a critical role in promoting cell-cycle progression in the absence of pRB. [provided by RefSeq, Apr 2016].

Transcript Variant: This variant (2) contains an alternate 5' end region. Translation begins at a down stream start codon, compared to variant 1, and results in an N-terminal truncated protein, as compared to isoform 1.

* Delivery time is an estimate in business days. Occasional delays may occur due to unforeseen complexities in the preparation of your construct. International customers may expect an additional 1-2 weeks in shipping

Inc 5000 Healthcare Company

Notice to Non-US Customers

ExclaimationWeb price and delivery time are for direct sales only.

Non-US customers are encouraged to contact our dedicated distributor network for quotes and streamlined ordering/delivery support.


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Skip to main content

Dialogue with stakeholders

A good dialogue with stakeholders is important to ensure that Orkla fulfills its responsibility towards different stakeholder groups and adapts to changes in society and to create confidence in its operations.

Orkla conducts a close dialogue with customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders, authorities and social actors, and attaches importance to understanding their viewpoints. The Orkla companies seek to ensure that complaints and inquiries are handled promptly and effectively. By collaborating with others, Orkla can achieve greater progress in its efforts to ensure a sustainable value chain.

  • The Norwegian Minister of agriculture and food, Sylvi Listhaug, visited Orkla's Grandiosa factory in Stranda, Norway on 19 February 2015. To the right: Group Director Håkon Mageli.

    Dialogue with authorities and politicians

    Orkla is engaged in dialogue with authorities and politicians at national level and in the EU regarding trade policy framework conditions, nutrition and health and other matters that call for cooperation between business a...
  • Dialogue with organisations

    Dialogue with organisations

    Orkla is a member of the UN Global Compact and participates in the Global Compact’s Nordic Countries network, which supports the exchange of experience and accumulation of expertise relating to relevant corporate responsib...
  • Magnus Ekholm at Orkla Foods Sverige's consumer service

    Dialogue with customers

    The work of developing new products and solutions must be based on a thorough understanding of customer needs. At the same time, Orkla companies seek to pave the way for optimal handling of complaints and other inquiries f...
  • Håkon Mageli

    Håkon Mageli

    Group Director, Corporate Communications and Corporate Affairs

    + 47 928 45 828

    Send email

Orkla's main stakeholders

  • Customers and consumers
  • Investors
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News & Information: REALTOR® News

ORRA member headed toward MFRMLS presidency

Friday, April 20, 2012
Share |

ORRA's three seats on the 2012 - 2013 My Florida Regional Multiple Listing Service (MFRMLS) were officially filled when installation ceremonies took place on May 2.

Now charged with representing the interests of ORRA and its members with the organization that administers MLXchange is:

  • Steve Amburgy, Realty Executives Central Florida;
  • Sean Ferguson, Real Living Classic Homes Realty; and
  • Gary Williams, Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate.

Steve Amburgey has been installed as president-elect of MFRMLS; he will automatically ascend to president next year.

ORRA Partners
ORRA would like to thank our Partners for their continuing support.
View the full list of ORRA Partners.


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Planning a vacation? Check out the best travel deals and destinations
News Alert

Kansas City Royals

High school baseball season preview 2017

High school baseball season preview 2017

All eyes are on West Orange and Lake Brantley entering the 2017 high school baseball season.

The overwhelming choices as the top teams in Orange and Seminole counties, respectively, field high expectations this spring.

The Warriors and Patriots face off in a two-game district series during the first week of April. The perennial powers became district foes last season.

West Orange finished 27-3 in 2016 after losing by one run in a Class 9A state semifinal.

East Carolina signee Cole Beavin and left-handed Ole Miss commit Doug Nikhazy return to lead the way on the mound. The Warriors bring back 10 players, including UCF signee...


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Gnome The problem with just about every virtual desktop implementation is just that - they're virtual. This means that beyond the ability to move windows to specific desktops, you're still looking at exactly the same desktop, no matter what virtual desktop number you switched to. A mockup for GNOME Shell is trying to take the virtual out of virtual desktop.
Permalink for comment 424729
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
RE[2]: Multiple vs Virtual
by sorpigal on Sat 15th May 2010 21:20 UTC in reply to "RE: Multiple vs Virtual"
Member since:

The described difference is just for identification and doesn't cover all actual differences. It's a vastly different implementation to get a similar effect. I don't have a 'disgust' for multiple desktops, they just don't work the way I work and therefore are not for me. To insult me as somehow unreasonable for wanting particular behavior out of my computer is not very reasonable or logical of you!

Any feature for which users fail to express an appreciation is in danger of being casually dropped or ignored in the future. I prefer working in a big workspace that's subdivided rather than a lot of tiny ones that don't connect and I don't want the distinction forgotten as we march forward.

Reply Parent Score: 2


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Discussions By Condition: Ears, Nose, Mouth & Throat conditions

Nostril Swelling and Pain

  • Posted By: deamicl
  • November 3, 2006
  • 07:59 PM

here is a little background on what's been going on. For the past 2 weeks i have been waking up with a dry nose and throat which i think directly contributed to my nose bleeding. My nose bleeds were not freeflowing but more of a small amount of blood quickly drying up in my nose and mixing with the mucus.

Now. The bleeding is gone but, this morning, my right nostril was swollen and firm and and painful. The best way for me to describe it is like having a pimple under the skin that doesn't surface. I don't think too much about it but now my left nostril is doing the same thing but it started swelling and becoming firm a coulpe hours ago. The funny thing is that it is strictly the nostril openings near the tip of the nose but the front/middle of my nose is not experiencing any of these symptoms.

Should I be worried?
Thanks for the help eveyrone.

Reply Flag this Discussion

2 Replies:

  • I read your post and the same thing is happening to me. My nose is swollen and very painful, especially at night. There is some sort of ulcer inside of it, I tried putting some Neosporin inside but that made me sick to my stomach-I am very worried and will see a specialist as soon as possible. This started in my right nostril and that cleared up only to be severe in my right nostril. Your post was in Nov. let me know what happened.
    Anonymous 42789 Replies
    • February 16, 2007
    • 03:11 PM
    • 0
    Flag this Response
  • Hi, the same thing seems to happen to me. Tip of the nostril is firm and pains.. i can see blood now and then drying up and causing pain. Its been passing from right to left over a few days. Any suggestions greatly appreciated.Thanks
    Anonymous 42789 Replies Flag this Response
Thanks! A moderator will review your post and it will be live within the next 24 hours.


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LDS Young Women Survey

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Interesting results from a survey on gender and sex in the LDS church:

These are the results so far of a totally anonymous survey about women’s experience in the LDS YW program.  The aim of this survey is to assist leaders in understanding the experience of women in the LDS YW program.

See LDS Young Women Survey for the results of this ongoing survey.

Published by

Kim Siever

I just finished my BA degree in drama and French at the University of Lethbridge. It took me 15 years to do it. I have been married 21 years and we have 6 children.


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Science TV Shows

Check Out the Trailer for Bill Nye’s New Netflix Show, "Bill Nye Saves the World"

Bill Nye is back, and he’s out to save the world! If you, like many modern grown-ups, owe your love of science and critical...

Matthew Loffhagen
Wednesday, 08 February 2017 - 12:18PM

BBC Wants Planet Earth III Within the Next Decade

The heads of BBC are already getting excited about a third series of Planet Earth- and the deadline is sometime before the amazing Sir...

Noelle Phansalkar
Wednesday, 21 December 2016 - 4:38PM

SpaceX and Elon Musk Featured on NatGeo's MARS

National Geographic's new hit mini-series 'MARS' just premiered last week, and the stunning mash-up of science and science fiction is...

Noelle Phansalkar
Monday, 21 November 2016 - 4:31PM

The M7 Build Team From MythBusters is Getting Their Own Netflix Series

The M7 Build Team from the hit TV show MythBusters is getting ready for an onscreen comeback in a very big way. It was officially...

Zain Charkawi
Sunday, 04 September 2016 - 4:56PM

Netflix's "Bill Nye Saves the World" Will Take On Science Deniers

Bill Nye the Science Guy is getting a "gritty reboot" from Netflix, in a great way. Bill Nye is getting his own science talk show on...

Janey Tracey
Wednesday, 31 August 2016 - 1:02PM

Edward Snowden Thinks We Haven't Heard from Aliens Because Their Communications are Encrypted

On the latest episode of Star Talk, the NSA whistleblower discussed alien life with Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

Janey Tracey
Monday, 21 September 2015 - 3:43PM

Neil deGrasse Tyson on the Most Scientifically Accurate Superhero, the Science of Superman, and More

Neil deGrasse Tyson admits that he’s not a comics expert, but he certainly isn’t a stranger to the world of superheroes either. He...

Zain Charkawi
Monday, 03 August 2015 - 2:39PM

Watch: A Brief History of Everything Written and Narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson

Neil deGrasse Tyson explains in simplest terms why anything exists.

Janey Tracey
Wednesday, 22 July 2015 - 1:22PM

Chris Hadfield to Make Free Educational YouTube Series: 'It's Not Rocket Science'

Sometimes, it actually is rocket science.

Janey Tracey
Tuesday, 21 July 2015 - 11:43AM

Neil deGrasse Tyson's 'Star Talk' Show Renewed for Season 2 Before First Episode Airs

The National Geographic channel has renewed Neil deGrasse Tyson's late night talk show, "Star Talk," for another season.

Janey Tracey
Wednesday, 15 April 2015 - 3:17PM

Neil deGrasse Tyson Gets Late Night Talk Show Based on His Star Talk Podcast

The star power of Astrophysicist, Neil deGrasse Tyson knows no bounds. After Tyson wowed audiences in 2014 with Fox's Cosmos: A...

Kieran Dickson
Thursday, 08 January 2015 - 10:20AM

New Trailer For Fox's 'Cosmos' Featuring Neil deGrasse Tyson

Oh boy! Fox's latest trailer for their reboot of Carl Sagan's Cosmos just looks incredible. For a start, we get a closer look at some...

Kieran Dickson
Thursday, 30 January 2014 - 2:51PM

Neil deGrasse Tyson's 'Cosmos' Premieres On Fox March 9th

Fox have announced the premiere date for their reboot of Carl Sagan's legendary science show, Cosmos. Narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson...

Kieran Dickson
Tuesday, 14 January 2014 - 4:45PM

Reality TV Series Will Send Celebrities To Space

A new reality show is about to break into the final frontier by pitting celebrities against one another for a chance to be sent into...

Kieran Dickson
Wednesday, 25 September 2013 - 4:47PM

Fox Goes Big With First Trailer For 'Cosmos'

It looks like Fox want to turn Neil deGrasse Tyson into the rock star of the scientific world. The network unleashed their first...

Kieran Dickson
Monday, 22 July 2013 - 2:55PM

Neil deGrasse Tyson's Cosmos Reboot To Air in 2014

Fox announced yesterday that the reboot of Carl Sagan's Cosmos, featuring Neil deGrasse Tyson, will finally air sometime in 2014.  ...

Kieran Dickson
Wednesday, 15 May 2013 - 7:46AM


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over50feeling40: Oh Yes...These Work Just Fine!
Fashion and Lifestyle Blog for women over 50 to help achieve strength, confidence, joy, inspiration, and, of course, head-turning personal style!

Oct 22, 2013

Oh Yes...These Work Just Fine!

There have been several pricey versions of these shoes I have eyed since August, so when I saw the R2 style at Ross, I thought...OH YES, THESE WILL WORK JUST FINE!  At $15, they are a perfect fit for my budget!

  I have plans for these guys!  Hopefully,  you will see them again soon!

Happy Wednesday, everyone!  Enjoy!

  1. Heck Yeah! Is that too strong?;) I love a bargain and these fill the bill perfectly. Good for you and this is definitely a shoe 'score'!!
    xx, Heather

  2. yes, these are just right. Great find, Pam - I always find something good at Ross, too.

  3. So cute! I love when something is cute and a deal!!! Win win! xo

  4. They are sooooooooooooooo fabulous.
    Still waiting for Adam, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

  5. Did you happen to see a size 9?? Put my name on them!

  6. I LOVE these, slipper shapes and brogues are my best re-discoveries over the last year.

  7. <3 leopard anything! These are a great find at a great price!! :)

  8. such cute shoes and such a great price
    I know we will be seeing them a lot

Thanks so much for joining in our conversation today! I appreciate your time and love hearing from you!


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Why Refuse To Debate

In my debate with Bryan Caplan (vid here), his position was a strong audience favorite before, and less so after.  When I heard that Tyler Cowen just had the same experience in his debate, I suggested to the lunch crowd that maybe in general debates move audiences toward a 50/50 opinion split.  The org that sponsored Tyler’s debate has done 27 of them so far, so I typed that data in and it is easy to see that their data supports my hypothesis:

The initially disfavored side almost always gains a lot (vs. the zero gain red line).  Alex Tabarrok weighs theories to explain this; my guess is that hearing half of a long hi-profile argument time devoted to something makes it seem more equally plausible.

But whatever the cause, one implication seems clear: if your side is currently favored, you don’t want to debate the other side!  At least you don’t if your refusal to debate can’t be too easily made public to be held against you.  If we could somehow overcome this problem, we could get a lot more debates, and substantially improve public opinion.  Any ideas?

Here is the analogous before/after chart for the favorite side:

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  • http://dfranke.us Daniel Franke

    I conjecture that the audience’s pre-debate opinion is an artifact of how the debate is marketed. In your case, the tagline for the debate was “liberty vs. efficiency”. The former is an applause light; the latter is not.

    Personally, I haven’t watched the debate yet. After attempting to de-bias against the above, I’m still more favorable to what I currently understand as Bryan’s position; I’ll let you know how my opinion changes after seeing it.

  • http://profile.typepad.com/jefallbright jefallbright

    If there were an obvious truth of a particular debate topic, then it’s unlikely that there would be a debate. Also, hardly any real-world opinion is unidimensional, as if standing on a line diametrically opposite its competitor. Thus the space of likely adjusted viewpoints lies mostly closer between the opposing views. Think of it as regression to the mean, central tendency, law of large numbers, even a reflection of the principle of least action, all examples of entropy.

    But why would you expect anything different, unless you hold a transparent belief in the efficacy of context-narrowing (as practiced in debate) for finding the truth? Is it the apparent crispness of the decision-making that appeals? Bear in mind that prediction markets exploit quite quite the opposite dynamic, harnessing an increased context selected for its winning, versus selecting from a reduced context in order to win.

    To promote progress in the social domain, we don’t need more context-narrowing debates, but rather more context-expanding explorations, where we discover, not “the truer position”, but the more encompassing context containing the smaller “truths” of the competing positions.

    I risk being perceived as less than scientific, verging on the postmodernist Far be it from that; I’m trying to convey that science has never dealt in Truth, but only increasing coherence over increasing context, and that is also the direction of increasing good.

  • http://profile.typepad.com/jefallbright jefallbright

    Nudged by an online friend, I see I may have been unclear with regard to the distribution of likely adjusted opinions tending to be closer to the center of agreement. In case it wasn’t obvious, this is because an opinion does not stand alone, but may be considered as the centroid of a high-dimensional cluster of beliefs, which more often than not, tend to be shared.

  • http://profile.typepad.com/riemannzeta Michael F. Martin

    How did you get the fit in the top figure? The slope looks approximately right, but the y-axis seems shifted down.

  • http://yudkowsky.net/ Eliezer Yudkowsky

    Would it be mad to ask about the actual list of debates, or, say, the first five topics (along with who was in the minority)? I suspect a The Majority is Always Wrong-like effect, where, conditioning on the fact that both sides were willing to take part in the debate at all, the minority expected to win because of better logic, while the majoritarian party was overconfident because they were in the majority. Minorities will avoid most debates unless they think they can win, and their spokespeople are likely to better trained; the majority side spokesperson may just be going along with the majority. It’s even possible that the majority of minority positions that are eager for debate, are superior to the corresponding majority positions – though obviously there will be exceptions to this rule even if it is true.

  • Stephen

    On a continuum from “Where should we eat dinner?” to “Gordian knot” your topics of debate tend toward the latter. On top of that, there is no real incentive to reach consensus in your forums.

    In most “real” decisions, problems are simple and consensus is either necessary or preferred. In those cases I’d bet you see trends favoring the initial majority.

    I would also take a look at the sample: is it representative of the public or is it representative of the type of people who read sites like OB? I think the second of those groups is way more likely to be composed of people who are able to abandon beliefs in light of new evidence. Given two beliefs with no known objectively correct answer and approximately the same amount of evidence for each, an initial minority should always expect to gain ground in debates among such people.

  • http://macroethics.blogspot.com nazgulnarsil

    wait, if audiences move towards 50-50 then more debates isn’t necessarily a good thing. You could engineer a series of debates that lead an audience further and further from the truth stepwise.

  • Jeremy

    If Alex is correct, debates will not improve public opinion. It will move opinions toward a 50-50 split regardless of the relative merits of the positions.

  • Acinonys

    I don’t really understand the charts.

    Shouldn’t the two plots be the same data from different view points? But then there wouldn’t be just one data point below the neutral line in the first and many in the second.

    You speak about 27 debates but there are 26 points in the first and 25 in the second chart, if i did count right.

    What do you mean by favourite? I thought ” >50% percent for his position before”, but most points in the second graph have a x-value < 50 And why don't the axis have the same scale? What did I miss?

  • Jef Allbright

    Consider how cheap is a binary choice, even with regard to a complex high-dimensional issue. Consider how easy it is to say “you’re either with us or against us” when in the bigger picture it’s clear we have much more in common than not. Consider the tendency toward bifurcation along political lines, right and wrong, good and evil, god and devil…Why do the branches of a tree bifurcate rather than something more complex?

    Consider a simple electronic feedback loop, controlling for only a single variable such as voltage. As it becomes “locked”, it will tend toward bipolar symmetrical variation about its set point.

    A more complex system, dancing in many dimensions, may be considered not “locked” but adapted, such that its dynamical nature tends to mirror that of its environment. Is it surprising that studies of twins, in regard to traits of adaptation, often show variation correlated roughly 50% nature, 50% environment?

    What does this imply for prediction of preferences in general, as we move from the common root of our evolved nature, to the tips of our leaves exploring their adjacent possible?

  • Stephen

    But also consider how cheap it is to dismiss choices as false dichotomies.

    When a living thing kills another living thing, in some way it subsumes its useful material and leaves the rest. It’s the same with sides in a debate: the victor is not categorically right, even if he gets a consensus victory. If he is smart he will adopt the better points of his opponents argument.

    The implication is that anyone who commits to a belief is committed to being wrong. The truth-promoting strategy is “strong opinions, loosely held.” The upshot is that preference is only an arrow in the direction of the more probably correct answer and to refine our answers we must gather new data and find new patterns in old data.

  • http://profile.typepad.com/jefallbright jefallbright

    @Stephen: Yes, you’ve reinforced my point. And to say “an arrow in the direction of the more probably correct answer” rather than “…the more likely correct answer” were it intentional, is the distinction I’ve been trying to impress on our dear Archimedes.

  • prase

    Acinonys, there were probably a couple of people being neutral both before and after the debate, so the sum doesn’t give 100% and favourite can have less than 50%.

    Nevertheless, did the audience know whether they are on the favourite or contrarian side? Are there any data about strength of their beliefs before and after the debate? Has the audience consisted of people who are aware of cognitive biases or it has been a typical sample of general public?

  • blink

    Robin, are the results of the pre-debate votes know to the audience? Your explanation would predict an equalizing effect even if the audience did not know or were mistaken about which view was initially most popular, while Alex’s preferred explanation depends on the audience knowing which position is the “underdog.” (On Alex’s view, the audience should instead switch toward the favorite if they mislead about which is the favorite initially.)

    Also, it looks like the source data includes percent undecided. Does your analysis change if you consider these percents? (If the only effect of the debate were to cause undecided people to commit randomly, then that would increase the percentage for the underdog position, but probably should not be interpreted as an increase in support.)

  • http://denisbider.blogspot.com denis bider

    My guess is that the post-debate opinion needs to be measured at a later time.

    I would expect a debate between two qualified opponents to present a mutually comparable number of arguments that the presenters have researched and understand, to an audience who does not. As a result, the real state of people’s minds after a debate is not a changed opinion, it is confusion. When asked what opinion they now lean to, people will respond as if they were asked the question “which side’s arguments do you recall the most right now”. If the debaters were equally good, this is probably a linear function of how much time each debater got to speak.

    Weighing the merits of substantive arguments is a bit like compiling code. It requires time, attention and precision, and cannot be done on the fly during a debate.

    Measure people’s opinions a week or a month after the debate, and you will know how much they were really affected.

  • http://profile.typepad.com/halfinney Hal Finney

    I was confused by the charts at first, too, but I think I’ve figured it out.

    Each debate reports the polling results before and after, as percent favoring, percent opposed, and percent undecided. The “contrarian” position is whichever has the smaller percentage supporting it initially, and the “favorite” position is the one with the larger percentage. Because the percent undecided changes before and after, contrarian and favorite positions do not move the same amount or even necessarily the same direction. So we see rather different effects in the two charts.

    The red lines are not fits, they are the X=Y lines; if people’s positions did not change at all, all of the points would be on a red line.

    One thing I saw (not shown in the charts) is that undecided seems to (at least, almost) always decrease. People feel that they are becoming more certain in their views. That argues against interpretations where people get confused by being exposed to both sides.

    It seems plausible that much of the change in position comes from undecided people adopting one of the two sides. That wouldn’t explain all of it but it could explain a lot. Taborek argues that the before-undecided are lying, and were not really undecided. (Maybe they are following a social convention of adopting an unbiased stance before hearing the arguments.) Then you have to assume that these pseudo-undecideds have more moderate views than those who are willing to admit to having made up their minds beforehand.

    Visually, the effect looks stronger with the contrarian than the favorite position. That would mean (in this interpretation) that people with the unpopular view are more likely to lie and claim to be undecided beforehand. That could make sense if people are used to hiding unpopular views.

  • http://timtyler.org/ Tim Tyler

    Great video – shouldn’t it have had its own thread, though?

    …and where is *your* “economist’s hat”? Please provide pictures! 😉

  • Gary

    Robin, I second Eliezer’s desire to see a list of topics. If counterintuitive positions tend to be behind at first and ahead at the end, it may be a sign that debates are valuable.

    About the idea that it’s easier to steal votes from the other side if they have a large initial lead: shouldn’t the arguments of a position with, for example, 90% support be good enough to convince 9 people for every 1 the other side convinces? If they’re not, why does the position deserve to have 90% support?

  • http://profile.typepad.com/robinhanson Robin Hanson

    Hal is right about the details, for anyone else who was confused.

    Eliezer and Gary, follow the link for the titles.

    blink, watch or listen to a debate to find out what folks were told.

  • James Andrix

    Perhaps the solution is to simply debate to audiences that are overwhelmingly composed of the opposition. If the before verdict is unanimous, then conversion can only go one way.

    Perhaps it’s better to view debates as providing social evidence in both directions, rather than anything actually persuasive.

  • http://entitledtoanopinion.wordpress.com TGGP

    The link to Tyler Cowen’s debate no longer works, the current url is this.

  • Pingback: Overcoming Bias : Debating Yudkowsky

  • Pingback: Overcoming Bias : Seduced by Tech


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With a lot of conversations evolving around MPEG-DASH during NAB this year, including the joint Adobe / Akamai MPEG-DASH streaming demo, the question prevails: is MPEG-DASH more than a science project, and has true potential to become a future streaming standard?

What appears to be clear is the consensus that HLS has deficiencies, but are the differences important enough to motivate the industry to migrate from established HLS support on devices to MPEG-DASH?

Mike Downey, Principal Evangelist, Media Platform at Microsoft, provided some interesting comments on HLS on my previous PHDS blog post, with a different perspective – potential HLS licensing complications.

The much larger problem with HLS is a legal one. Any software that decodes/unpacks/creates an M2TS file must pay a $0.25 royalty per application to MPEG-LA. This is steep because MPEG2 licensing was designed during the DVD playback era – not Internet streaming.

The only major platforms that cover this license fee for the developer (that I know of) are iOS, Mac OSX, and Windows (you can view all licensee info on the MPEG-LA site). And those licenses are only valid if the actually decoding is being done by the built-in decoders for that platform. That means any support for HLS playback in the Flash Player (decoding done via ActionScript) or on Android are not covered (As far as I can tell, Google does not pay this license for Android licensees and the only licensee that pays it is Samsung) and require $0.25 per end-user application to be paid to MPEG-LA. So every time a unique user watches an HLS stream in Flash Player the provider of that application is required to pay the royalty for that user – which would be astronomical.

It’s probably just one time per user, per app, but I’m not a lawyer so I’d suggest you consult one for clarification if this matter interests you.

The fact that so many content providers either don’t know about this (irresponsible due diligence) or don’t care (irresponsible business people) bewilders me.

So, if your company has bet the farm on Apple’s HLS you’d better ask your legal team to make sure you’re clear. Otherwise use of streaming technologies that rely upon fMP4 are likely covered by the built-in decoders, which most platforms already have. Consult your legal counsel on that as well.

This is a dirty little secret, by the way. It’s why you see very few popular free and commercial video players (JWPlayer, for example) making a big deal out of their HLS support. The burden to pay the license is on the company that delivers the final app so the players aren’t directly responsible but they know that understanding this requirement would make the solution impractical so it’s not worth pursuing.

Apple understands this whole licensing problem. But it doesn’t affect them at all because they pay the royalties for the server and client. As long as you deliver HLS to an Apple client you’re good. Think about that for a minute…

If I were responsible for streaming media to anyone I would avoid HLS at all costs, other than doing a to M2TS from fMP4 on the server for actual iOS clients – which both Adobe’s FMS and Microsoft’s IIS Media Services provide for free. Plus all of the other reasons that Jens points out above. [via Mike’s previous blog post comment]

Without providing any legal comments (I am clearly not qualified, but MPEG-LA does mention a $0.25 per unit licensing fee in their MPEG-2 FAQ), what are your thoughts on the licensing side of M2TS/HLS playback? Could this eventually be a driver for MPEG-DASH adoption?


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Review: Voyager by Diana Gabaldon

VoyagerThis book was a personal purchase.

(Description nicked from B&

“Their passionate encounter happened long ago by whatever measurement Claire Randall took. Two decades before, she had traveled back in time and into the arms of a gallant eighteenth-century Scot named Jamie Fraser. Then she returned to her own century to bear his child, believing him dead in the tragic battle of Culloden. Yet his memory has never lessened its hold on her… and her body still cries out for him in her dreams.

Then Claire discovers that Jamie survived. Torn between returning to him and staying with their daughter in her own era, Claire must choose her destiny. And as time and space come full circle, she must find the courage to face the passion and pain awaiting her…the deadly intrigues raging in a divided Scotland… and the daring voyage into the dark unknown that can reunite—or forever doom—her timeless love.

Gabaldon mesmerized readers with a love story that spanned two centuries in Outlander and Dragonfly in Amber. This new novel in Gabaldon’s highly acclaimed time-travel saga again features intrepid time traveler Claire Randall and Jamie Fraser, the gallant 18th-century Scottish clansman who stole Claire’s heart and whose memory will not loosen its hold on her, even across the chasm of centuries.”

Okay, I admit it: this series is a guilty pleasure, and one that I’ve recently rediscovered.  You see, I read the first two books in the series a long time ago, and then didn’t continue (mostly because the books are so darn long).  With the new TV series out on Starz, though, I picked up the series again, starting with re-reading the first two books and progressing onto those that are new to me.

Of the first three, I think this one is the weakest.  It’s not that it’s bad–like I said, it’s a guilty pleasure–but it doesn’t have the driving force of the first two.  Outlander focused on Claire’s attempts to return home to her own time through the standing stones, and Dragonfly in Amber dealt with Jaime and Claire’s doomed bid to stop the 1745 Jacobite uprising.  Voyager had that same drive, that same firm goal, throughout the initial third of the novel: Claire discovers that Jaime didn’t die at Culloden Field as she’d thought, and she tracks him through history to find out if he survived long enough for her jump back in time to seek him out.  It’s paralleled by Jaime’s own story, filling in the gaps of the sparse facts dug up by Claire.

Once Claire gets back to 1700s Scotland, though, the narrative wavers.  For most of the book’s middle section, there is no main plot.  Claire and Jaime’s reunion is something any reader will want to see, of course, but you can’t look at events and see where the book as a whole is going.  It continues somewhat even past the point where a goal presents itself, because achieving that goal becomes so convoluted.

Said goal also involves some pretty outlandish (pardon the pun) events.  Pirates, sweeping disease on the high seas, shipwrecks, hurricanes, voodoo rituals–that’s just a taste of what you’re in store for.  Although I have to say that in the middle of all this preposterous upheaval, there were some great moments.  Specifically, a character believed to be dead returns in fine fashion and brings certain events hinted at during the book’s opening chapters full circle.  My fangirlishness was pleased at some of the images and events near the end, and I’m not afraid to admit that.  I do love a good plot twist!

Wandering plot aside, I did enjoy this book thoroughly.  Gabaldon’s research is exhaustive and meticulous, and she knows how to give readers a real sense of the time period.  And now, on to Drums of Autumn!

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According to Genesis 9.20–27, Ham saw his father Noah lying drunk and naked in his tent, and Noah later cursed Ham's son Canaan, pronouncing him a slave to his brothers. Ham's precise offense has been interpreted as castration, sexual assault, and incest. But the simplest explanation seems best: in failing to cover his naked father, Ham was disrespectful. Still, it is not Ham but his son Canaan whom Noah cursed, almost certainly because the story served to legitimate Israel's conquest of Canaan and the destruction of its inhabitants.

This passage has more recently been used to support another kind of racism. Because some of Ham's descendants, notably Cush, are black (see Gen. 10.6–14), the “curse on Ham” has been interpreted as black (Negroid) skin color and features in order to legitimate slavery and oppression of people of African origin. This interpretation occurs first in the Talmud and has persisted in certain circles. It is also reflected in the postbiblical Christian tradition of three Magi, one of whom is black, in parallel to Noah's three sons. Yet it was neither Ham nor Cush who was cursed, but Canaan, the “brother” of Cush and the “son” of Ham.

Steven L. McKenzie


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Definition of Perry Mason from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

Perry Mason

; NAmE
jump to other results
a character created by the US writer Erle Stanley Gardner. He is a lawyer who appeared in 82 novels about court cases, none of which he ever lost. The first was The Case of the Velvet Claws (1933). Raymond Burr played the character in the popular television series Perry Mason (1957-66) on NBC.


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Oxford City Council’s money could soon only be invested in banks and companies deemed ethical.

The council is considering introducing an ethical investment policy to dictate where it is right to put its funds.

But members have been warned that the authority might not earn as much from interest and investments if it is too picky.

The scrutiny finance panel has asked officers to look into the idea after a meeting at Oxford Town Hall last week.

Panel chairman Craig Simmons, the Green Party group leader on the council, said after the meeting: “We don’t currently have an ethical investment strategy and I think that’s quite shocking when the council makes great claims to be socially responsible.”

Oxford Mail:

  • Craig Simmons

He added: “This is a substantial first step in the right direction.”

The council’s funds are mostly invested in banks, building societies, money market funds and other local authorities.

In the current financial year, the council has made average investments of about £70m.

A report by finance officers ahead of the meeting said that members would need to clearly define what “ethical” meant.

It added that avoiding investment in gambling, tobacco, alcohol, oil, gas, mining and armament firms would rule out 31 per cent of the UK Stock Market.

The report warned restrictions on investments could have a significant effect on investment income.

But Jean Fooks, the Liberal Democrat group leader on the council, said she thought that there should be a policy in place.

She said: “I don’t accept that investing in ethical companies would mean we won’t do as well.”

Speaking after the meeting, she added that she would not want to see the council put money into industries like tobacco, armaments and gambling. She said: “Anything that harms people or the planet, we obviously should not be keen on investing in.”

Oxfordshire County Council, and Cherwell, South Oxfordshire, Vale of White Horse, and West Oxfordshire district councils do not have such a policy.

Ed Turner, the city council’s executive board member for finance, said the council did not directly invest in any companies considered unethical.

Oxford Mail:

  • Ed Turner

But the Labour councillor said there was a shortage of banks considered ethical.

He said: “We are very open minded to whatever suggestions the panel comes up with. As a council we want to act as ethically as we can.”