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Goal Review

I set some intentions at the beginning of the year. I don’t set resolutions I set intentions. I intend to do things. To actually get thing done I will at the end of the year think about what I want to be different in the new year. The one thing I don’t consistently do is periodic reviews to see where I am. As I finish a major task I generally will look to see what is next however I don’t have a set action plan or time table for completion of any particular action. Also, I sometimes get sidetracked by new unexpected projects.

Today after working on my business for as long as I could today I turned to Flipboard to take my mind off my challenges. There in black and white was a post from 2010 written by Think and Grow Chick. What did it talk about? Where she was in her intentions for the year. It got me thinking. Where am I?

Oh in 2013 I intended to:

  • To strengthen my commitment to and walk with God.
  • To reduce our debt by 20%.
  • To complete my graduate degree.
  • To improve my health by increasing my fitness level and living a  more holistic lifestyle.
  • To establish and grow an online business
  • To lead a more organized life.
  • Let’s see…

  • I can honestly say I’m feeling a little detached
  • I’ll need to take a look but I’m pretty sure our debt has increased instead of decreased now that I’ve completed my degree and the Mr has started college
  • I did complete my graduate degree
  • I haven’t actually increased my fitness level with any consistency. Nor am I living a more holistic lifestyle
  • I am in the throws of establishing an online business although it is different from the business plan I completed in business school. Just acknowledging that sort of leads me to believe I should probably take the time to write a new plan for this business. I’ve been so busy in the doing I didn’t really take the time to establish a viable plan
  • That leads the the disorganization that has become my life. There are no words to even justify what is happening. I’m working way too many hours outside of my business.
  • It is already November. At this point I can only really make the decision to develop a plan to be implemented at the beginning of the year. If I make some steps toward the intentions does that count? I’m thinking personally, it doesn’t. What I really needed to do was to be better at setting the intentions. The should be measurable and have a time limit for completion. The timeline must be concrete. Right now I can acknowledge until this moment I didn’t realize how vague the intentions were. Nothing about that list is inspiring on its own. I need to bring the passion going forward. I can do that.


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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

2009: A Year in Review

It seems as if everyone else is reviewing this year in their own special way. I haven't been too happy with 2009. It hasn't been as heartbreaking as 2008 was but nothing special or exciting happened. It just happened.

January: I began school for what seemed like the second time, this time as a Journalism major. I was still busy on the job hunt. Dutch came into our lives and brightened every moment. The Dolphins went to the playoffs and lost in the first round to the Ravens. Obama was inaugurated. I got 2 blog comments on two separate blog posts and began discovering the world of blogging.

February: Just as I was discovering the world of blogging, my computer crashed. My mom and I hosted our fifth Superbowl and the Steelers won. I started working at a preschool, with infants. Since we had no money to fix our computer, much of my free time was spent at the library working on homework.

March: My mom and I tried out a new church, and ended up loving it. I caught a 24-hour bug that knocked me down for an entire day. We still were computer-less. One of my closest friends got married, and I was a bridesmaid for the very first time. I helped out in the two-year-old room at my work, and ended up loving it so much that the lead teacher in the room and I begged our director to keep me in there for good.

April: We bought a $117 plug for the computer, which ended up being the solution to the problem. I went to a Caregiver's Celebration at work. I spent over 6 hours working on a project for one of my classes, and ended up getting an A+ on it. Classes ended for the semester, and I received 2 A's in both classes. I moved from Wordpress to BlogSpot and started the blog, Classy and Sassy. I also joined Twitter.

May: I began working with the two's for good. I spent way too much money on my mother for Mother's Day. (But she deserved it.) I switched from my close-to-dead Motorazr with no Internet capabilities to a beautiful Samsung Instinct, a touchscreen with amazing Internet capabilities.

June: Our computer crashed again, this time for good. I had to switch to glasses for good, when I threw my last pair of contacts out and didn't have extra money to order new ones. I decided to keep the glasses.

July: My mom and I took my twin cousins to The Pier for the fireworks show on the Fourth of July. We gave my grandparents a 50th Anniversary party but ended up getting rained out. I also found out I would get a deferment until October 30th for my tuitio
n and my Bright Futures scholarship had been reinstated.

August: Mom and I had a 5-day staycation at the beginning of August. We relaxed at home, mainly, and took a day trip to Orlando to go to Sea World. My mom and I started apartment hunting. My hours at work changed from 11am-6pm to 7am-1pm. I spent one paycheck this month paying off my tuition and the other on a new computer. Registered for classes for fall. I started this blog. I started fall semester.

September: My mom and I moved into our new, much less expensive apartment. I learned there was no "free" Internet connection. I had a three-way phone conversation with two lovely blog friends. I battled with school stress. I started to take blogging much more seriously. My nephew turned 1. I scheduled more in-person interviews this month than I ever have before. (Two.) I tried to lose weight.

October: I joined Weight Watchers, again. My gra
ndma got a PET scan, which turned up clear, marking an entire year she's been cancer-free. I debated between glasses or contacts, long hair or short hair, Spark People or Weight Watchers. We got Internet installed.

November: I started blogging through my years in school. I tried my hand at NaNoWriMo, and failed miserably. I was offered an internship for the next semester. I lost my cell phone. I had my eyebrows waxed for the first time in my life. I lost 5 pounds. I managed to run/walk in a 10K on Thanksgiving. I turned 22. I got my hair cut and colored for this first time since March and July, respectively.

December: I finished classes for fall semester, ending with 3 A's and a B+. The internship I was offered was approved by my university. I decided to stop attending Weight Watchers until January. I bought tons of Christmas presents and actually had money to do it this year, as opposed to my jobless state last year.
My mom bought me an iPod Touch for Christmas, among tons of other fun "toys".

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Soldier Song (Digital Single) Copy

The Sky is Falling (Digital Single)

Steve Azar "The Sky is Falling" Deals With a Difficult Subject Masterfully

Human trafficking IS happening here. In the US. In our communities. We can ALL do something. We can ALL use our time, talents, resources, and gifts to combat human trafficking right now, right where we live. This song was created by:

ONE inspired and compassionate woman in South Dakota, Pat Lloyd, who made a decision to do something impactful;?

ONE national recording artist, Steve Azar, who took on writing, singing, and producing a powerful song to inspire a movement, raise awareness, and bring hope to the hopeless;

ONE 15-year-old singer, Sophie Young, who makes her singing debut as Steve Azar’s duet partner in this song;

ONE Detective Sergeant in South Portland, Maine, Steve Webster, who has experienced first hand the challenges in getting victims off the streets and into safe environments for healing and recovery, and who was instrumental in producing the video and keeping the talent involved well connected;

“The Sky is Falling (Patti Jo’s Prayer)” explores the emotional truth of the matter but ends on a triumphant note of survival.

The Sky is Falling
Released: January, 2015

1. The Sky is Falling 4:10
Item #: Digital-The Sky is Falling


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Friday, March 23, 2007

New Blogger Interface

Previously, wrote notes on the Blogger Interface. Was it ATOM? (Probably)

These are not meant to be instructions! They are notes on the process of using the API manually

New API doco:

"To get a feed of a blog's entries, you send the following HTTP request to Blogger" [Everything in XML!]
curl -o blog.1

"After you send the GET request, Blogger may return a redirect, depending on various factors. If so, send another GET request to the redirect URL." Curl takes care of this...

Posting: Client Login [URL encoding needs to be done in the POSTS]

Then authenticate the user. To do that, send a POST request to the following URL:

POST /accounts/ClientLogin HTTP/1.0
Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

[CAPTCHA example]
POST /accounts/ClientLogin HTTP/1.0
Content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

logintoken(optional) Token representing the specific CAPTCHA challenge. Google supplies this token and the CAPTCHA image URL in a login failed response with the error code "CaptchaRequired".
logincaptcha(optional) String entered by the user as an answer to a CAPTCHA challenge.

curl's POST doesn't work... This URL has a working example for calendar using wget...

$ wget --no-check-certificate -O blog.2 --post-data ''
$ grep Auth blog.2

To use the 'Auth' string:
wget -q -O- --header='Authorization: GoogleLogin auth=XXX' http://...

And this piece from the instructions is cracker-jack! You gotta go look at the
Now send the POST request to the appropriate Blogger URL:
Note: This URL is the same as the URL in the <link rel=""> tag that appears in the <head> section of the human-readable version of the blog.

It also appears in the XML downloaded:

And this is how you push it in :-)
In the body of the new POST request, place the Atom element you created above, using the application/atom+xml content type.

Final command:
a=$(grep Auth blog.2)
wget -q -O- --header="Authorization: GoogleLogin $a" --header 'content-type: application/atom+xml' --post-file=blog-entry.xml

List all Blogs owned by user

Save XML description of all users blogs & tags into file 'blog.4'
wget -q -Oblog.4 --header="Authorization: GoogleLogin $a"

neat. Something worked as advertised...

Query a Blog

Save XML of all blog entries made in March, 2007 (in blog.5)
wget -O blog.5 ''

Cute quote from doco (I wonder where to find *that* list?):
To query using other standard GData query parameters, just change the URL to use other parameters. (Note that Blogger doesn't support GData category queries or full-text search queries.)

Which might be here:

Deletes and Update/Edits

Too hard... Not clear. no examples of fully generated URI's. Tried to generate a URI for an item/article - failed.

here's the suggestions. untested...

Note the edit URI's of the events you'd like to delete:
wget ... | tidy -xml -wrap 999 | grep edit

Delete the event by using its edit URI; this is a two step process, because wget does not redirect correctly:

wget -nv -O- --header='Authorization: GoogleLogin auth=XXX' --header='X-HTTP-Method-Override: DELETE' --post-data='' 'URI'

Watch the output and note the redirect URI with gsessionid attached, then execute:

wget -nv -O- --header='Authorization: GoogleLogin auth=XXX' --header='X-HTTP-Method-Override: DELETE' --post-data='' 'URI?gsessionid=YYY'

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Demonacracy - Putting the Demons back into Democracy

In this posting on "Why all Monopolies become Corrupt", I was flying without a parachute - using a browser that didn't support Google's spell-checker.

So I banged it out and published - only to get pinged by a friend on this great typo: "Demoncracy".

I love the term - it does represent what many small-l liberals of both Left and Right think is happening these days with "machine men" politics feed by Big Money Political Parties.

In Australia, we are governed by under the 5% view. With ~10M voters, there are fewer members of the main political parties than your average good sports club. [Described with a little more colour in the last few years in Adelaide, South Australia.]

There are fewer than 500,000 - and probably under 100,000 - members of the main political parties.
The Parties represent themselves and the views of their members, the rest of us have the option of "take the full package - you'll love it" or not... It's often Hobson's Choice - neither is remotely close to what you might want if you had the choice. And professional politicians (an oxymoron?) consistently rank as more disliked/untrusted than any other profession.
Exactly the opposite applies to indepentents elected to Federal Parliment - they are seen are highly principled and ethical.

Australians being "very laid back" (what used to be called apathetic) just go along with this state of affairs. We're not lotus eaters nor univolved and uncaring - just wear the wrong clothes to a weekend football match!

We're mostly 'comfortable' and just getting on with our lives - Politics is often seen as an a three-yearly annonyance. A view I'm sure the people of Eastern Europe that recently put their lives on the line to have a Democracy don't share... We have bills to pay and places to go - and active lives to lead. Politics can take care of itself - it has done so all this time!

Our current Political Party Machine system is a direct result of the statistical work of George Horace Gallup in the 1930's that led to his correct prediction, against all other pundits, of the 1936 US Presidential election by Franklin Roosevelt.

For fascinating, first hand accounts of this, see Alistair Cookes' "Letter from America" of Monday, 7 October, 2002 - What the American people want and Monday, 17 July, 2000- Now read on...

The system of Polls driving elections, speeches and policy results in very little difference between parties. It looks like "Tweedle Dee and Dumber".

All Monoplies tend to become corrupt

This is not about I.T., but we have to work in the real world :-) It does affect us and our work.

That's a Big Statement: ALL Monoplies tend to become corrupt.
The codasyl is, given enought time.

The reasoning/explantion is very simpe - comes from feedback theory.
For any effective control system you need a controller, input and output sensors and two sets of actuators. These form a feedback system that attempts to maintain the system at a 'set-point'. There's the whole open/closed loop control thing. 'Open' means you do no control. 'Closed' systems are what I'm considering here.

The input and output sensors are needed to feed the model embedded in the controller.
- the output is the state you want near the 'set-point'. You have to know if you are on-target or not.
- input levels/rates/values are needed to drive the model the controller embodies.

The actuators adjust the controllable input - one set to increase, another to set decrease. There may be some inputs to the process that you can't control. Such environmental inputs - like air or water. You can't control their pressure, temperature, contaminants, ...

The key here is that you need two or more counter-opposing forces. If you have only one, then you can only hold a system where it is (if it's very stable) or drive it in one direction. The limiting case is the system fails or "max's out" - it goes to a maximum value and stays there. The stuck throttle problem - one that no driver wants to encounter.

Applying Control System Theory to Organisations

Management is supposed to be the internal control sytem for organisations. But who keeps them honest? Who checks the output/operations of any organisation?

The feedback system here is external to the organisation:
How do the behaviour and attitudes/thinking of organisations get held to acceptable values?

There has to be external one or more 'counter-vailing' forces that can enforce change - as well as transparent or obvious 'outputs' of the organisation.

Demoncratic Governments enshrine these principles with the "Separation of Powers". There are at least 3 opposing forces: the Parliment, the Executive and the Judicary. Within the Parliment, there are often two 'houses' - offering the possiblility of opposing forces. Within the process of Government, there are many 'checks and balances' - various bodies, such as the Audit Office, Way and Means committee and Productivity Commission, that can both observe the outputs of agencies and enforce changes.

Outside of both public and private sectors is the Media. Their role, beside pedalling 'shock and awe', is to make the 'outputs' of organisations transparent and visible/open. Democracies then rely on the sensitivity of politicians to 'the ballot box' to enforce change - eventually. Taking away/limiting 'free speech' by fiat or threat (of police/military action) or removing the effectiveness elections removes any consequences - short of armed rebellion/uprising.

Publicly held companies are required to report their financial results - and woe betide any executive that tries to lie about these. This provides some level of 'transparent outcomes' with regulatory control. The counter-vailing forces are the executives versus the regulators.

In a market with many suppliers, customers vote with their feet - they dump suppliers who's cost, quality or service are poor.
The counter-vailing forces are the supplier management versus the customer choice. The customer is free to withdraw from or got to a particular supplier. The management can manipulate the internals of the company to maximise performance against their goals in the context of market preferences and constraints.

In a business monopoly, customers are not free to choose another supplier. The external feedback system, the lose customers actuator, is removed. A commercial monopoly can do what it likes with impunity - until some natural limiter operates or another effect, such as government intervention, occurs.

But there are very large Public Sector monopolies as well:
- Police
- Military
- (public) Health
- (public) Education, primary, secondary, tertiary
- Local Councils
- 'Secret Squirrel' agencies - like Military Intelligence and other "National Interest Classified" organisations.
- Government bureaucrasies

These organisations are notionally audited ('opposed') by Ombudsmen and Auditors.

But the one essential management output is never reviewed independently - managerial decisions.

All these organisations tend to become overtly corrupt - money or power & influence - or covertly - lassitude, perverse behaviours, institutionalised bullying, harrasment and discrimination, structural inefficiences and ineffectiveness, and completely ignoring or disrepecting those whose service they are in (their ultimate employers) - the public.

For secret organisations, the lack of transparent outputs is even worse. The 'independent' reviewers are impossible to find - only people from within the closed community (they are 'cleared') are allowed to view the evidence and ask questions. A free-floating monoculture very different from the enclosing Society and the organisations commission, can and will develop.

Monopolies are bad.
Unrestrainted monopolies are worse - eventually becoming a Law unto Themselves - with either over or covert corruption.
Private Sector monopolies are the worst. There are no effective mechanisims to control them.

Effective, frequent independent external reviews of both managerial decisions and 'Corporate Culture' [the behaviour, values, morals and ethics shown, not espoused] are essential to prevent 'free floating monocultures'.

Ideally, three counter-vailing forces are needed, in case any one becomes too strong or one of the 'checkers' becomes too weak.

Then you are left with the problem of: "Who watches the Watchers?"
Us, via the media, transparent/open government and 'free speech'.

Friday, March 16, 2007

Memory Tags and JVM's

Came up with this talking to my mate Stanley over a coffee...

Why do Java Virtual Machines have a hard time finding/locating pointers? They need to do this as a precursor to doing a "Garbage Collection". At CMGA conference I talked to an admin from a bank (St George?) who said SUN talked about these "Stop The World" events. With more memory, they take longer - e.g. 2-5 seconds of clock time. And nothing can happen in the JVM while garbage collection is going on... The events may not be able to be scheduled, and their occurrence will be unpredictable.

One of the good points is that more CPU's get the job done faster.
Each n-byte block of memory is read to see if it couldbe a pointer, i.e. has the value in the range of the heap addresses. Then that block has to be examined to see if it's an object, and does it contain pointers, and so on. They are looking for objects that are no longer used and can be returned to the 'free pool'... It sounds a very hard way to get things done.

The Burroughs B5000 used Memory Tagsand descriptorsto describe to the hardware the contents/use of each 'word'. Descriptors allowed real Virtual Memory around a decade ahead of IBM 360/370.

And memory 'tags' eliminated a whole class of problems. The 'Mark Stack' tag prevented stack manipulation [negative stack offsets weren't allowed either] and accidental corruptions. A whole class of security problem and coding faults were avoided.

So my question: JVM's are in complete control of their environment. They know when an object is created. Why don't they 'tag' each object and pointers to objects? This makes the garbage problem simple. You know the location of all objects and pointers. I guess it could be extended to a 'reference count', but I don't know enough about implementing these things...

Won't it take memory space?
yes - this is a space/time tradeoff.

Because we don't have hardware memory tags, then we have to do it for ourselves...
Like the 'free block list' in some file systems, a bit-map of each "object sized" memory region need be kept. I'm thinking that objects can't be less than 64-bits and they'd be allocated on those boundaries.

And the same for pointers - when an object pointer is allocated/created, set the tag for it.

No idea if this has already been tried... Just seems like A Good Idea :-)

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Test Scan

This is a page scanned from my notebook today.
The image should be on the left. The text on the right. (default)

I orginally uploaded the image to another blog and have copied the HTML here.

They are stored on PIXCA I think.
Have seen mention of 300Mb total.

Some limits on size of individual image to upload. in the 50Kb or Mb range.


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Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Steven's Garden 2015

Who knew you started getting ready for your summer garden in January? But it's true. Steven and Brady have been hard at work plowing up the garden and already planting a few things. Steven loves gardening, I guess it's a therapeutic hobby for him. Last year, because of all the craziness of having the quints, he wasn't able to do one, so he's super excited about this year's garden. Steven learned his gardening skills from his grandfather, Bobby Mills, and he loved to talk to my grandfather about it too. Steven's seriously got an old soul trapped in a 33 year old body.
Brady loves to ride the tractor with Steven, and I foresee many fights over who gets to ride with daddy in the near future!

And a little disclaimer..... I don't help at all with the garden so I never say it's our garden. Steven & Brady do all the work!

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Flyfishing the Sierra Blog
Monday, 14 April 2014
Tenkara Fly Fishing
Topic: General Flyfishing
Tenkara Fishing with Yvon Chouinard

Yvon Chouinard, founder and owner of Patagonia, with his tenkara rod at Foster Park in Ventura, Calif.

Yvon Chouinard is a fellow Sespe Fly Fisher member and has presented us an introduction to Tenkara Fishing at a recent meeting. The following is an article written by Peter Bohler for the Wall Street Journal.

FOR SOMEONE WITH a vested interest in selling goods for exploring the great outdoors, Yvon Chouinard, the owner and founder of the outdoor-apparel company Patagonia, takes a surprisingly stripped-down approach to one of his favorite pastimes. "Heaven knows we fly fishers are suckers for every new gizmo we think will give us a leg up on catching fish," he writes in "Simple Fly Fishing: Techniques for Tenkara and Rod & Reel," to be published by Patagonia Books on Monday. With what could safely be described as ornery skepticism, Mr. Chouinard, along with his co-authors, Craig Mathews and Mauro Mazzo, questions the rise of $1,000 fishing rods and tackle boxes overflowing with flies. "I would offer," Mr. Chouinard continues, "that this proliferation of gear is supported by busy people who lack for nothing in their lives except time."

Therein lies the book's charm. Part straightforward how-to, part back-to-basics manifesto, the volume is also a bit of a sermon that seeks to spread the good word about a centuries-old Japanese technique known as "tenkara"—which calls for a long, flexible, reel-free rod—that Mr. Chouinard believes is the hands-down easiest and most pleasurable way to fish.

"Some people say, 'I don't fish because I don't have patience,' " Mr. Chouinard said by telephone from Patagonia's headquarters in Ventura, Calif. "Well, it takes no patience whatsoever to fly fish. It's not like sitting in a boat and dangling a worm down below and waiting for a bite," he said. "It's proactive. It's like dragging a toy mouse across the floor for your cat. If you just drag it, the cat just looks at it. But you stop it and give it a little twist, the cat pounces on it."

Granted, Patagonia does stand to profit from a surge of interest in tenkara; the book is part of a kit they're selling—complete with a rod, lines and flies. But a portion of the proceeds from the book, which can be purchased separately, will be donated to various conservation organizations. And Patagonia stores around the U.S. will offer free clinics on the technique. We asked Mr. Chouinard to highlight beginner-friendly techniques from the book.

The Gear

 The Tenkara Rod

One problem with a traditional fishing rod, explained Mr. Chouinard, is that it's stiff: "It's just a dead stick." Giving movement to the fly is essential, he said, which is where a tenkara rod excels. Long, thin and flexible, tenkara rods are traditionally used by market fishers in Japan. Mr. Chouinard's favorite is a telescopic 10½-foot soft-hackle model from Temple Fork Outfitters (shown collapsed at left; ). Using a tenkara rod also makes it harder to cast your fly too far past the fish's actual location, he said. "Everyone's been making fly rods as if you need to cast 100 feet to catch a trout, when in reality the trout are at your feet, practically."

The Essential Fly

"If I was to use only one fly for trout fishing for the rest of my life, it would be a 'partridge and pheasant-tail' soft hackle," said Mr. Chouinard, specifying a size 14. Known as a "wet" fly because it's intended to float beneath the surface of the water, the partridge and pheasant-tail imitates insects that are part of the trout's diet. "It's an all-purpose fly," he said. "You could probably go out with this one fly and outfish anybody."

The Beginner's Knot

To secure the fly, Mr. Chouinard's go-to knot is the nonslip loop. Here's how to tie it.

The Beginner's Knot

1. Start by forming a basic overhand knot.

2. Thread one end of the line through the fly, then send the end back through the loop of the overhand knot.

3. Wind the end around the line four or five times, then thread it back through the overhand knot again. Pull to tighten.

The Basic Cast

For beginners, the technique known as the Belgian Cast is the easiest to master, according to Mr. Chouinard. The key is not to bend your wrist; otherwise "you lose all your power in the stroke," he said.

The Basic Cast

1. Stand a bit sideways to your target and throw the rod behind you, keeping the rod tilted at a 35-degree angle from the vertical.

2. Throw the rod forward, keeping the rod at a 10-degree angle from the vertical.

3. On the back cast, the rod goes to about a 2 o'clock position; on the forward cast, about 10 o'clock.

4. The line should make a small oval as it travels; there are no abrupt stops.

Fishing Technique

Trout are masters at expending as little energy as possible to gather food, Mr. Chouinard explains in the book. It doesn't pay for fish to swim up to the water's surface from four feet down to nab a tiny fly. When feeding on small insects, they need a large quantity (a hatch) to make it worth their while, but a trout can be enticed to fall for an artificial fly if the fly is close enough that the trout only has to move a little and open its mouth.

Fishing Technique

1. Cast the line at about a 45-degree angle downstream.

2. As soon as the fly is in the water, lift the loose part of your line and place it across your body. This mending upstream slows down the drift of the fly and prevents the loose line from getting caught in the current and swinging your fly at an unnaturally fast speed.

3. When the line comes tight, twitch the tip of the rod by squeezing the bottom fingers of the hand holding the rod. (Your goal is to imitate the emerging and swimming stages of the caddiefly and mayfly.) The rod itself should hardly move. Almost everyone who tries this overdoes it at first. Here's the rule: If you think you're not moving the fly enough, move it less.

Posted by stevenojai at 9:21 AM EDT
Saturday, 1 June 2013
Marshall caught his first fish
Topic: General Flyfishing

My grandson, Marshall, has just turned 3 years in March. He's all boy with a sense of adventure and inquisitive of his surroundings. I bought him a picture book of Construction Equipment for his birthday and, based upon the cover, he identified "Excavator" rather than "Tractor". Then, he proceeded to show me the "Backhoe" and the "Loader". Coming from a family of contractors, I should have knowned that he had all that figured out.

We got the family together for Memorial Day at our cabin in the Southern Sierra. As with any cabin, there are the work details to complete like sweeping pine needles and clearing the underbrush. With the light snowpack this year, we got an early start. However, every work detail has to be followed by a little recreation and we figured that it was just the time for Marshall to experience catching his first trout on a fly rod.

We live at just over 7000' elevation near the headwaters of the Little Kern River and there are a number of Forest roads available to head for small creeks. Since these are the headwaters of the Little Kern River, our choice of trout would be the Little Kern Golden.

We parked the truck near the trailhead and walked about a 1/4 mile to a meadow. Within this meadow was a small tributary about 2 feet wide and 2-3 feet deep. The banks are lush with grass and the bottom structure is dark with woody material mixed into the gravel. This is the home of the Little Kern Golden and here was the last vestage of hope from extinction when invasive species were allowed into their sanctuary during most of the 1900's within the waters downstream.  In the 1980's, Calif. Fish and Game personnel were able to eliminate these invasive species above the natural waterfall barrier on the Little Kern and repopulate those waters with these fish. Fortunately, there is a shift away from widescale planting of hatchery trout and an appreciation of our native trout to continue to flourish within the waters that they have inhabited for over 20,000 years.

  These streams are deceptively deep, even for a bird dog like, Star. The banks are undercut and there is no foothold, so he needs an assist. Point out these dangers to your kids as well.

Small Goldens are much like small kids, they are eager and active. We have to walk quietly and not get too close to the bank. Once they make your presence, they head for cover and remain. If they don't make your precence, you will have non-stop action with a dry fly. I tied on a size 18 BWO with a barbless hook and used a 7' 3 wt rod. It would have a 7 foot 5x leader with a 2 foot section of 7x tippet. We brought the kids up to the stream's amazing how the kid's understand quiet when they want to. We positioned ourselves so that we could reach the water surface by extending the rod tip and allowing the wind to cast for us. Dropping the rod tip brought the fly to the surface and then the action would begin.

Most of the time, there would be a flash of water and nothing on the hook. Learning a proper hook set might take some time. But the kids are totally tuned-in. After 10 or more "hits", you finally get that "take". Forget the fish, take a look at the expression of the kid. Total concentration and exhilliration of something alive pulling on the line. Keeping tension on the line is the only hope of keeping that fish attached and this doesn't happen often. But when it does, you have your first trout.

 The next lesson is to appreciate catch and release. We enjoy eating trout but we only keep those trout that we intend to feast upon that day. On most days, we never keep our catch. When you are in a lovely meadow as we are and you recognize that this is the home of a living creature that has given you the opportunity to enjoy an exhilirating experience, it is easy to understand the release of that trout will allow you and many other families to experience the same feelings in the future.

The beauty of the Golden trout is not only it's coloration but the delicate features it has. It is small, eager, and loves it's surroundings. Much like my grandson, Marshall

Posted by stevenojai at 7:22 AM EDT
Saturday, 9 March 2013
lower kings blown out
i went to fish the lower kings and found the river was blown out so i vant fish it. i should have checked the flows.

Posted by garypullings at 11:03 AM EST
Thursday, 4 August 2011
Hike to Big McGee Lake
Topic: Destination Hikes

Just above Lake Crowley is a road along McGee Creek. This road will take you up to the McGee Creek campground, past the McGee Creek Pack Station, and end at the McGee Creek Trailhead. The trailhead has a main trail that used to be a road to the Scheelore Tungsten mine. So, for the first 4 miles it's an easy grade along the creek with ample areas to fish for brookies and rainbows. The trail goes onto Big McGee Lake which lays within a glacial cirque bowl at the end of the canyon. The trail runs past Little McGee Lake and reaches McGee Pass which drops you across the Sierra crest into Fish Creek and Cascade Valley.

During the 2011 season in early August, McGee Creek was still raging and was unfishable with a flyrod. The wildflowers were in full blossom and I knew there would be fishable water up at the headwaters, so I decided to take a day hike to Big McGee Lake and enjoy the 65 degree weather. I've numbered the locations on the map where certain photos were taken.

It's about 7 miles to Big McGee Lake, so I started early at 7:00am. The Trail starts due west directly in front of Mt. Aggie (11,561') with Mt. Morrison (12,268') just to the right. These peaks contain some of the oldest rocks in the Sierra dating to Pre-Cambrian. The summit of Mt. Morrison, a pendant, is comprised of Dolomite and Marble, a metamorphoism of limestone.

This westerly walk goes for about 3/4 of a mile along a fairly level terrain. The silvery gray shrubs along the trail are Artemisia tridentata aka Sagebrush. These shrubs are very common on the eastside Sierra.  The colorful rock face below Mt Aggie and Mt Morrison is the result of volcanic intrusions over the original sedimentary layers that existed when the Sierra was a sea bottom. Pressures folded these layers resulting in metamorphic formations with different colorations coming from these variable layers. Most of these rocks could be referred to as limestone.  Usually McGee Creek, which is just to the left, is very fishable within this area but not today.

As you reach the end of the westerly stretch, you start to view the valley as it wraps towards the south. Mt Baldwin (12,592') starts to show itself from behind an unnamed peak. The Tungsten Mine is just behind Mt. Baldwin.

3/4 mile from the Trailhead you reach the boundary of the John Muir Wilderness.

Along the next 1/4 mile you will be within a Sierran Meadow filled with a number of wildflowers such as Mule Ears (Wyethia) which is related to the Sunflower.

And a few Cow Parsnips.

Just about to enter a timber stand, you look down the southerly valley and see Mt Crocker (12,458') which forms one of the back walls of this glacial cirque valley.

Before leaving this meadow, there were a couple more wildflower shots that had to taken. The Indian Paintbrush... these tended to be a distinct pink coloration.

and Sulphur Buckwheat.

Next in view was Horsetail Falls flowing from the eastern slopes of Mt. Baldwin.

The stream from Horsetail Falls crosses the trail for the first stream crossing at 1.5 miles from the trailhead.

Looking down the slope through the Aspen Trees, you can see that McGee Creek is still a raging torrent....very difficult to fish.

The trail follows the western side of the creek through a number of Aspen Groves and other hardwoods.  From a clearing, you can look down the McGee Creek Valley southerly and see a saddle which is about halfway between Mt. Crocker and Mt. Stanford.  Below this saddle is Steelhead Lake.

A couple clearings provide the sunlight for some addtional wildfowers, Indian Paintbrush and Coyote Mint.

As well as Indian Paint Brush and Lavender Gilia (Ipomopsis tenuituba).

Reached the second stream crossing 2.3 miles from the Trailhead where the pack animals cross. Difficult crossing since water was up to my mid-thighs (breaking my wading stick mid-stream did not help, either!). The bridge above the crossing was busted but I took it instead on the trek back.

Walking along the eastern side of McGee Creek, the trail remains wide from the road that was built to the Tungsten Mine. The valley levels out and the creek meanders through this area, 3.0 miles from the trailhead. This is a good area to flyfish, however, the beavers flooded the valley to the extent that reaching the creek channels was not possible.

Still on the eastern side of McGee Creek, the signs of Winter avalanches were evident on a grove of Aspen.

At 3.4 miles you make your third stream crossing ( the second across McGee Creek). This one is not too bad and there are some nearby logs to walk across for the dexterious. Once on the western side the trail goes through some timber stands and brings you into a clearing of Lodgepole Pine that were downed by another avalanche.

Lightning Fires have also destroyed some of the trees, with winds leaning the dead trees against alive trees.  Definitely a hazard to look out for.

The woody material that does fall to the ground provides a nice organic matter for the Red Penstemons.

At 3.5 miles, the trail starts to gain some altitude with a series of switchbacks up a rock fall slope.

Then, at 3.6 miles the trail splits to a higher elevation route or a route along the creek. Since the water was raging, I chose the higher route.

The two trails meet once again at the end of a large brushy meadow about 4.3 miles from the trailhead.

At 4.7 miles from the trailhead, the trail gradually turns towards the west. You can see McGee Creek downslope to the left and focus on the nearby granite rockcropping that the trail will traverse on the right side.

5.3 miles from the trailhead, the trail approaches the creek once again with some small meadows with meandering brooks. It has the feeling of Alpine, so fishable water will be close-by.

When you reach 10,000 feet elevation, one of the indicator species for this region is the Mountain Hemlock. To recognize this tree, look for the drooping tops and short needles.

It's the 4th of August and I'm still dealing with snow at 10,000 feet. Take care when crossing these snow banks. Streams can flow under them and they will not support your weight.

At 5.7 miles from the trailhead, I can tell I'm getting close to Big McGee Lake. From here I can see the westerly side of this glacial cirque. Big McGee Lake will be at the base of that slope.

Nearby was a stand of Shooting Star wildflowers. These tend to grow in very wet, moist places. My dog is actually named after these, "Dodecatheon of Bishop Creek" but I just call him "Star".

Numerous small ponds are found near the trail. McGee Creek is just below me to the left.

McGee Creek below Big McGee Lake. Now....that's fishable water!

And it was....plenty of brookies taking the dries.

My last little meadow prior to reaching the lake. Shortly after this photo was taken, the McGee Packers came up with a scouting team. They left the pack at this snow bank while they scouted an impassible icefield that blocked access to Little McGee Lake and McGee Pass.

We reached the lake just in time for lunch. The lake was a light blue color with snow and ice along most of it's edges. There were no sign of rising trout.

My dog, Star, found this spot to his liking.

After lunch, we decided to fish just below the lake. A waterfall from an adjacent stream fed into McGee Creek about 1/2 mile below the lake. I wanted to try that area.

Wow!  What a place.  Caught a dozen brookies and had a hoot.

It was a Thursday. Outside of the packers, I only saw two others come into the canyon around the same time as me. On they way out, I encountered 6 more. All geared for overnight stays.  I reached trailhead by 5:30 pm. The fun thing about day hikes is you can travel light and enjoy your surroundings. Get away from the crowds and seek fishable water. There's not much better than McGee Creek.

Posted by stevenojai at 12:30 PM EDT
Updated: Tuesday, 23 August 2011 10:26 AM EDT
Thursday, 12 May 2011
June Lake 2011
Topic: Spring Openers

Spring Opener in the Eastern Sierra is the last Saturday of April. This is the "general" opening day that has many exceptions. For instance, the Owens River and Hot Creek is open year-round. Inyo County opens their creeks about a month earlier stocking trout within creeks such as Big Pine Creek, Taboose Creek, Lone Pine Creek, and Diaz Lake. Locals like to fish the "Sand Traps where the creeks are intercepted by the L.A. Aquaduct that flows to the City of Los Angeles.

The opener was a cold, windy day. Snow levels were down to 8000 feet elevation. The upper elevation lakes such as Virginia Lake, Rock Creek Lake, and Sabrina Lake still had 2 feet of ice on their surface. Crowley Lake and Bridgeport Resevoir were open but the lake operators were draining the lakes in anticipation of the Spring run-off. This scattered the resident trout and fishing these areas was slow. A temperate condition occurred prior to "opener' for about a 2 week period and stimulated the resident rainbows of many lakes to migrate into the tributaries for spawning.

The "opener" is also a time when Fly Fishermen, Bait Fishermen, and Spinner Fishermen all have an equal chance at the same water. Often, it's like mixing Democrats. Libertarians, and Republicans. It can get ugly! Fortunately, there's plenty of water to get away and do your thing without being "offensive".

DFG (Dept of Fish and Game) have designated many tributary areas for "No Fishing" and this gives the trout an opportunity to get away also. Some of these areas are a great scene to see large rainbows, up to 11 lbs, doing their spawning within the gravel beds. This also gives us a good indication of what the trout are doing and where they might be. Large Browns will also follow the Rainbow trout upstream in hopes to feed on dislodged eggs and prey on some smaller rainbows.

We started our "opener" a day after, arriving on Sunday. It was windy and cool but the weather outlook was for milder days and much less wind. We had days in the mid-70's allowing us to wear shorts and T-shirts. Our destination was a lodge within June Lake. This gave us a resonable access to the East Walker River, Robinson Creek, Rush Creek, Lee Vining Creek, Convict Creek, McGee Creek, Upper Owens River and Hot Creek.

Rush Creek was a 5 minute drive and had some of the best fishing we've had in years. Large Rainbows migrated up from Grant Lake, followed by large Browns. Fishing pressure was marginal and we could spend the day catching trout on streamers, nymphs, and dries.

 We fished a couple of days around the confluence of McGee Creek and Convict Creek above Crowley Lake. A lot more fishermen were there, as well as guides with clients. With more fishing pressure, proper fishing "etiquette" becomes quite important. Remember, that this is an important area for the Rainbows to do their spawn. Keep out of the gravel beds. Fish the undercut banks and deep pools. Give your fellow fishermen some space and do not disturb the water that they are working towards.

Posted by stevenojai at 12:13 AM EDT
Updated: Thursday, 12 May 2011 1:08 AM EDT
Sunday, 3 April 2011
Pacific Fisher
Topic: Wildlife

Last Summer (2010), my friend Roger and I were driving out of the Forks of the Kern on Forest Road 22S82. It was low light and as we looked ahead a rather large animal with a long bushy tail came scrambling down the embankment to the road. It turned to look at us and we starred at each other for a few moments. The animal turned around and headed back into the brush. It looked like a weasel but so much larger. The body was about 3 feet long as was the tail. And, the body appeared to stand about 15 inches high.

Roger recognized it immediately, "That's a Pacific Fisher!!". I replied, "It looks like a giant weasel." Roger said, "It's related to the Pine Martin and it's the largest species within the weasel family. Let's look it up when we get back to the cabin."

So, we went on the internet and found out that the Pacific Fisher  has a resident population within the Southern Sierra. It has also been the subject to a great debate over the last few years concerning Endangered Species protection, the Calif. Dept of Fish and Game, and Forest Management concerns.

The Pacific Fisher once inhabited an area from the Southern Sierra to British Columbia. The animal were so heavily trapped during the 1800's and early 1900's that a major study undertaken by UC Berkeley researchers, Grinnel et al., in 1937, helped to prohibit all trapping of these animals after 1946. Grinnel had inferred that most of the reduction in Pacific Fisher numbers were due to trapping but that loss of habitat through logging had also played a role.

Today, the Pacific Fisher is found within two distinct groups, a Northern California population and a Southern Sierra population. There is a 270 mile separation between these two groups. This distribution has not changed since the 1920's and natural recolonization of their historic range has not occurred.

The Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Forest Legacy and other groups first petitioned to have the Pacific Fisher protected under the Endangered Species Act in 2001. In 2004, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined that the Pacific Fisher warrants protection as a threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) but refused to finalize such protection.  On March 2010, The California Fish and Game denied an endangered designation of the species as being "unwarranted". Based upon the study conducted in 2008 by the California Dept of Fish and Game, the California Fish and Game Commission voted 3-1 on June 23, 2010 in favor of California DFG's decision not to list the Pacific Fisher. The States of Oregon and Washington did put the Pacific Fisher on their Endangered List as the actual numbers of Fishers is very small.

The Pacific Fisher prefers late succession Forests, sometimes referred to as Old Growth Forests. They feed on birds, snowshoe hares, squirrels, mice, shrews, voles, porcupines, reptiles, insects, carrion, vegetation, and fruit. They are solitary mammals with a low reproductive capacity. They will roam an area of 50-150 sq. miles and will live to about ten years of age.

Recent studies have shown that the population of Pacific Fishers has remained stable, yet at risk, within the Southern Sierra but that the rest of the Sierra has become devoid of the animal. Trapping remains prohibited but development of the Sierra through roads, housing, and human activity have kept the Fisher from repopulating these areas. The Southern Sierra is unique in that development has been very restricted due to terrain. It's a wild area that allows a wonderful animal such as the Pacific Fisher to find a home. If you're flyfishing the Southern Sierra, keep your eye out for an elusive bushy tail.

Posted by stevenojai at 2:13 PM EDT
Updated: Sunday, 3 April 2011 6:15 PM EDT
Thursday, 25 November 2010
Get Your Kids Started Young!
Topic: General Flyfishing

I was fishing the Truckee River just before season end. My daughter, Petra, joined me and brought my Grandson, Marshall, along. It wasn't long before Petra put a fly rod into Marshall's hand which is kind of a feat in itself since Marshall is only 8 months hold. However, he handled that rod like a Pro with a smile on his face.

I've got four kids and they have all been introduced to flyfishing. Petra got her start on Hat Creek when she was about 9 yrs old. As I recall she had as much fun out-fishing her brother as she had hooking the trout. She offered to show her brother, Eric, how it's done but Eric got a little obstinate at her suggestions and doggedly worked that stream without getting the same results. She still kids him about that.

Petra is married to a great son-in-law, Steve. They met in Junior College within a group of students that enjoyed lunch together. Steve overheard Petra talk about her recent Flyfishing trip with Dad (We fished Eagle Lake in the Mineral King area) and immediately took interest. Petra phoned me shortly afterwards to tell me about the great guy she just met and how flyfishing was a common interest. Eight years later, they got married and are both structural engineers. My grandson, Marshall, is a result of that marriage and I think he's going to be a superb flyfisher.

Posted by stevenojai at 12:41 PM EST
Updated: Thursday, 25 November 2010 1:18 PM EST
Saturday, 26 June 2010
Long Valley Caldera
Topic: Geology

Late in the Spring, I was camping at McGee Campground above Crowley Lake. I like this campground since it does not have the crowds of Convict Lake and the sites are wider. There's a nearby trailhead that takes you to McGee Pass and drops into Fish Creek and Cascade Valley. It's great scenery as well as great fishing. A caravan of white vans came into the campground, filled with students from Pomona College. The instructor had the group gathered around for a lecture on the geology of the area as he pointed to distant features of the mountains nearby. I recalled being with a similar group of botanists from UCSB when we toured California many, many moons ago.

Fortunately, I found a site on the internet that details the field trip  I encountered.

This entire area is the basin of a giant volcano, known as the Long Valley Caldera. Within this caldera are many of the volcanic features that we see as we fish but never knew the background information as to how it came to pass. We do know that there are more fish per mile on Hot Creek than any other stream in California. And volcanism plays a major role in creating the conditions for the weed growth and organisms that inhabit that stream, as well as provide food and shelter for a great number of fish. Crowley Lake is another powerhouse for fish growth, often attributed to the alkaline soils that surround the lake which provide nourishment for Chironomids, scuds, and other trout forage. The Upper Owens River is another destination spot for many of us to fish in "Spring Creek" conditions, year-round. The river originates from the waters that spring forth from the lava layers at Big Springs and run continuously throughout the year. The deep undercut banks holding large Browns often will collapse huge sections of ash-laden banks into the water during the Spring run-off as it meanders through Long Valley. All of these great fishing areas are within the Long Valley Caldera.

This caldera was formed about 760,000 years ago when an eruption that was 2,500 times larger than Mt. St. Helens took place. (I was at St. Helens when it erupted and it's very difficult to imagine something 2,500 times greater than that!). The eruption partially emptied the magna chamber within Long Valley and it collapsed on itself creating a caldera 10 miles long and 20 miles wide.

Posted by stevenojai at 12:03 AM EDT
Updated: Monday, 4 April 2011 9:17 PM EDT
Saturday, 12 June 2010
Murphy Group
Topic: Spring Openers

I belong to a group of Flyfishermen known as the Murphy Group. It's a group that has been around for about 40 years. Murphy, the originator of the group, died many years ago and is buried on Bald Mountain overlooking the old Alpers Owens River Ranch. We always get together on the Tuesday after the Saturday opener and fish together until the following Sunday. It's always understood by the Alpers that we would return at this date, so we never had need to make reservations or submit a deposit. Most of the group can't wait, so they end up fishing the 3-4 days prior to Tuesday by tent camping along some of the local streams. However, on Tuesday, at 2:00pm, we could move our gear into Cabin 7 on Alpers Ranch.

This was an old log cabin situated right on the Owens River. The cabin had no heat, except for a wood stove, no phone, no cable, and no internet. It did have a wonderful gas burner stove in the kitchen that Tim's dad bought from a defunct restaurant in Bishop. We could sleep about nine people with beds along the walls of the great room. There were few rules for the group: No women, poker every night, and mandatory attendance. If you couldn't make it one year, you are out of the group! Needless to say, everyone always showed up. Fishing was always excellent on the ranch. The Owens River had large numbers of Rainbows that would come upriver from Crowley Lake to spawn. There would also be the resident Rainbows and Browns that inhabited the cut banks. Sometime around 2002, Crowley Lake was taking Lahonton Cutthroat plants about 12". By 2006, these Lahontans were getting to 18-20" and coming upriver to the ranch during the spawn. A dam that was constructed on the river, at a time when you could do such as thing. A hydroelectric generator was installed to generate electricity for the ranch as it did not have any from an outside source. Fortunately, the dam was only about 7 feet high and had a ledge about halfway up that fish would reach. It might take about 10 attempts but by the tenth leap the trout would reach that ledge and then make another leap for the upper pool. Once, they got to the upper pool, it was an easy swim up to Big Springs and beyond. Big Springs is considered the headwaters of the Owens River but there is a small amount of water that connects to Deadman Creek above it. At Big Springs, there could be as many as 50 large trout congregating within the waters for the spawn. They were so intent on mating, you could take underwater pics of them without any spooking. If you went further upstream into Deadman Creek, you could find many more spawners that did not have the fishing pressure of the areas downstream. It was trout heaven. Currently, there is a discussion going on within Mammoth and Inyo County to procure much of the water of Deadman Creek to alleviate water needs due to their recent expansion. This might compromise the water that is available to make this fish migration from Big Springs  into Deadman Creek, many additional miles of a prime spawning stream.

Posted by stevenojai at 4:54 PM EDT
Updated: Saturday, 26 June 2010 1:26 AM EDT

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Cool - make your own picture mosaic

Many new technologies in enterpriseA software help you see the bigger picture that is hiding in various bits of information and data scattered across the organization. One option to visualize this in a presentation is through impressionism (painters such as Monet).
Another one is through a photo mosaic. This ancient post on Engadget still holds. You can download the software AndreaMosaic here. It's freeware, as you as you give it credit when you use it. Hereby. Installation and use instructions can be found on the site.


text:
Monday, February 23, 2015

Miles on Monday: Sketches of Spain as classical music; unheard recordings of Davis' "first great quintet"; and more

For this week's "Miles on Monday," some recent news items about the iconic trumpeter:

* As the Miles Davis Memorial Project gets closer to their goal of putting up a statue of the trumpeter in the town where he was born, March 1 is the deadline to purchase an inscribed brick or granite block to be placed around the statue, which will be located on a plaza on West Third Street in Alton’s downtown business district.

Preston Jackson, the artist creating the statue of Davis, currently is finishing preparations to cast the bronze statue, and construction on the site will begin this spring as soon as the weather permits. Memorial bricks are $75 and granite blocks are $400, and can be ordered online, by calling Pride Incorporated at 618-467-2375, or in person at the Alton Convention & Visitors Bureau, 200 Piasa Street in Alton.

* A DJ at Colorado Public Radio wonders if Davis' album Sketches of Spain should be considered classical music.

* DownBeat has republished on their website an interview Davis did with Nat Hentoff back in 1955.

* Also re-released on the web this week: The pubic radio program Studio 360's "American Icons" episode from 2007 about Davis' Kind of Blue.

* Courtesy of the bigO audio archive, you can download recordings of some radio broadcasts of performances by Davis' quintet in the 1950s at NYC's Cafe Bohemia that are previously unreleased in the USA.

The airchecks from 1956 and 1957 feature Davis' "first great quintet," with John Coltrane on tenor sax, Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums.

Another broadcast from 1958 features the same group. except with Bill Evans in for Garland. There's also a 1953 version of "A Night in Tunisia" and a 1958 jam session version of "What Is This Thing Called Love?' All the tracks are purported to be in the public domain thanks to copyright laws in Europe, where the recordings originally were issued.

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Our Group

St. Mark’s Education Group companies cover a cross section of education domains and are constantly evolving. The group companies encompass the complete gamut of education starting from thought to process to training to execution. In this way, The St. Mark’s Group provides a “Single Umbrella” approach to education thereby ensuring Holistic Enhancement to the industry.

The group companies cater to internal group requirements as well as providing services and direction to other external entities in the education space.

We welcome you to click on each logo to know more about the group companies.


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Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Update (finally)

I've been very busy on both work and personal ends. My wife gave birth to our first child - a cute little baby girl (I'll post her picture later, I promise). We've decided to name her Jyotsna, which means "moonlight". She's already lit up my world.

Work-wise, I'm in the US for a month, doing some requirement gathering and getting a design ready for the next set of changes required by SBC in @Road's GeoManager application.

That's it for now, stay tuned.

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Been busy last few weeks. I will update this blog when I can :(


text:
International Rescue gets very animated

  • Advertising
  • September 21, 2010
  • StopPress Team
International Rescue gets very animated

Auckland-based artist agency International Rescue is now representing animators in addition to its list of photographers and illustrators. And co-director Rob Finn says the move will not only allow clients to save costs and time by working directly with animators, but it will also offer access to a wider range of animation styles because the work of the 17 existing illustrators can also be animated.

“We are different to animation companies because we are agents; we provide a fold of animators and take our commission from them, not the client,” he says. “With technology being so accessible, it's now possible to work directly with the animator in their home studio for offline work, which means the client doesnʼt have to pay for the high overheads of a production company.”

Under this new process pre-production storyboarding and production can be achieved with the animator working from their studio with updates and approvals being finalised via email if desired. Online post-production of sound and final client approvals can be outsourced to any post-production facility according to budget. And all production is overseen by experienced producers/agents, similar to the service on offer for photography and illustration jobs.

“The pool of talent that we have access to is tenfold to anything currently on offer... We are now in a position to completely tailor according to the brief,” says Finn. “Our illustrators often work with animation companies, collaborating on special briefs that require unique visual styles. Being multi-disciplinary, weʼre not solely reliant on animators due to our sheer number of diverse illustrators, which means we have the ability to offer more left of centre, avant-garde and incredibly varied art, as well as covering all the basics.”

International Rescueʼs original fold of photographers and illustrators has now increased to 30 artists, and it can cover many facets of 2D animation for commercials, TV series, web and online, applications, video clips, title sequences and films. 3D and stop frame is in the pipeline.

Among the new animators are Karl Wills, who has worked closely with Yukfoo, Mukpuddy, the trio of master crafters behind many of New Zealandʼs children TV series, Kieran Rynhart, who animates video clips in a home-grown illustrative style as shown in the Fly My Pretties tour animation, Mofresh, who have been behind the scenes of New Zealandʼs most prominent musicians having animated video clips for the likes of Kora, Isaac Aesili, GND, Recloose and The Black Seeds, and Mardo El-Noor, a photorealistic animator with a Parisian, Arabesque-style who recently had his film ʻRock Paper Scissorsʼ playing as part of NZ Film Festival.

“We aim to inspire connection and collaboration, so having animators on board adds to that goal. These guys are some of the best animators in Australasia and are certainly world class. Theyʼre keen and passionate to collaborate in the commercial realm on projects that are fresh, innovative and exciting. So naturally, weʼre looking forward to clients realising their talent too.”

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Movings/Shakings: 23 March

  • Movings/Shakings, brought to you by Marsden Inch
  • March 23, 2018
  • StopPress Team
Movings/Shakings: 23 March

Industry happenings at Commercial Communications Council, the Marketing Association, Stuff and Bauer.

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Product Release - Valve
Sep 24, 2013
Timelines: Assault on America is Now Available on Steam

July 20, 1942,
Berlin, Germany

The United States’ Office of Strategic Services (OSS) take advantage of information provided to them by the underground German resistance against the Third Reich. The OSS launch operation ‘Wolf’s Head’, where top marksmen hide among a rally given in honor of Adolf Hitler.

Thousands of onlookers salute and cheer as the blue Mercedes convertible carrying the Third Reich leader makes its way through the downtown Berlin rally. Gun shots are heard, and the crowd screams. In a panic, several German officers run towards the convertible. There, they see Adolf Hitler with two bullets in the head. One man shouts out ‘He is dead!’

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Product Update - Valve
28 ABR 2011
Version 1.12

  • A brand new Cooperative game mode:
    • Allies can donate sectors to the team partner.
    • Allies can send resources and goods to the team partner.
    • Allies share technologies with the team partner.
    • Allies share tradeposts with the team partner.
    • Allies share victory points and all calculations, that count towards gaining victory points.
  • Allies can mark locations on the map by holding CTRL while pressing the left mouse button. Marking a neutral or hostile sector this way will increase the likeliness that an allied AI will attack that sector. This effect can be increased by setting more markers.
  • New AI Player: Fieldmarshal Ludowig (Military/Church/Trade).
  • Slight performance improvements for multi-player matches.
  • More reliable ranking in empire mode.
  • Sound notification before an empire game starts.
  • Recently started multi-player games are now displayed in the multi-player game list for a while.

Bug Fixes
  • Fixed an UI bug were 2 Generals blocked each other.
  • Fixed a bug on Eternal city where the player is captured in the middle sector if he chooses to play after victory.
  • Fixed a bug where the maps for two and three players were incorrectly displayed as unlocked if the players filter is changed.
  • Fixed a bug with the camera barrier at the map border on the skirmish map Monhaim Valley.
  • Fixed a bug due to which the teammates didn't see the "Free Pass" sign.

New Content
  • Enjoy the tenth and twelfth campaign map, optimized for skirmish and multiplayer
    • On the icy coast of Seenbach, three rulers fight for domination. It may be beneficial to choose your strategy wisely depending on your starting position. Ports and a marketplace offer rich trades to complement your economy. Utilize the Cannon Foundries to supply your armies. The ruler who conquers the central town sector will be awarded with a victory point. Visit the White Castle on the coastal cliffs or the Laboratory inside the meteorite crater to gain an advantage over your competitors.
    • Four Kings fight for domination. Once upon a time Drakenau was a fertile and friendly realm. But now it is a devastated land, dominated by numerous volcanoes surrounding the barren plains and hills. There are no fish and only limited fertile soil. Adapt your strategy. To overcome your opponents it may be helpful to visit the gigantic Volcano, the Field of Mandrakes, the Ancient Library, the Dark Fortress or the Enchanted Tower. There are two large towns which offer a victory point each when conquered. Expand to the Cannon Foundry to support your army. Several marketplaces can be found, which may help to complement your economy with trading.

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Dec 31, 2010
L4D Blog

Flu Season, Mutation Poll, Secondary Weapon, Next Year

The zombies are here! The zombies are here!

Earlier this month we pointed out that Left 4 Dead 2-styled Hunter and Tank plushies were joining the adorably-engorged Boomer in the Valve store, but that they wouldn't start shipping until Dec. 27.

Well, they're shipping now and we've got our hands on them, along with some wonderful Team Fortress 2 plushie sticky bombs.

Check out our little video tour and the pics we snapped. These have officially beaten out my plush Giant Microbes as my favorite plushies in the house.

Two New Left 4 Dead Plushies Hit Valve's StoreLeft 4 Dead 2-styled Hunter and Tank plushies are now available through the Valve store, where they are 10 percent off for a limited time.

Unfortunately, they won't be delivered in time for Christmas, if you're looking for a last minute idea. They're scheduled to ship Dec. 27. Both require 3 AAA batteries and include 10 sound samples from Left 4 Dead 2. The Hunter is $26.95, the Tank is $31.45. (Those are the discounted prices).

Pre-orders Open for Two New Left 4 Dead 2 Plushes [GameSwag]

Product Update - Valve
Updates to Left 4 Dead 2 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Left 4 Dead 2
  • Community Mutation: Special Delivery
  • Added protection against servers executing restricted commands on clients
  • Fixed clients sometimes not getting disconnected from the server after getting a consistency error
  • Fixed an exploit that could cause players to fall through the elevator in No Mercy
  • Fixed the still-crownable witch in Realism Versus
Dec 17, 2010
L4D Blog

Special Delivery, The Walking Dead, The Next Mutation
L4D Blog
No Mutation or poll update today but plenty going on.

L4D Blog
Dec 3, 2010
Community Announcements - the gish
Hard Eight, Do you compete? Mutation Madness, The Road Ahead

Hard Eight!!
Double the specials, quadruple the fun!
Face eight Special Infected at one time, this is double the standard number! And if that wasn’t trouble enough, we also increase the spawning frequency so it is raining Specials.
Why aren’t you going to give it a try? Scared?

Do You Compete?
We asked if you competed in Left 4 Dead 1 or 2 Tournaments. That both platforms tied with Play competitive games but not in tourneys and where am I? is a little scary. Here are the numbers by platform:

Xbox 360
30% Play competitive games but not in tourneys
30% Where am I?
15% No, But I do compete in other games
13% Played in tourneys
12% Don’t play competitive modes

26% Play competitive games but not in tourneys
26% Where am I?
19% Don’t play competitive modes
17% Played in tourneys
12% No, But I do compete in other games

With 13-17% of you responding you do play in Tourneys – which ones? Where? Because that response rate dwarfs the numbers I see in online Tourneys. Do you have a tournament you are running or do you know about one? Let us know! We have been known to kick in prizes and who doesn't want to win one of these?

Mutation Madness!
The next Mutation will be a community created Mutation. We have been talking with Raymond Nondorf about his Mutation mod that he posted in the forums. We are going to be pulling the next Mutation from his mod and then after that the question becomes – can you create a better Mutation? Raymond, not content with just releasing his own Mutations, has also created a tutorial for others to create their own. You can check it out here. Nice work Raymond!

As we continue to update bi-weekly, we will be incorporating some of these community Mutations. To make a Mutation, you will need to build and test your mutation on the PC but we will release them on both PC and Xbox 360. So user created content is beginning to see itself on the Xbox 360!

The Walking Dead
This season's final episode of The Walking Dead is this Sunday. Have you been watching it? Use the in-game poll to let us know.

The Road Ahead
First up, Realism Versus. While the really short respawn interval was interesting, it removed our ability to increase difficulty in other ways. Today's update includes one of those other ways, the uncrownable Witch. Not only is she deadly in Realism but now she is also uncrownable. Good luck with that.

We will have more gameplay changes and bug fixes coming and not just in Realism Versus and Versus.

What else can you expect? We have some longer term projects that we are working on that have been taking our time. The biggest project is working custom content back into the core game on our official dedicated servers. There are complications to how that works and how we insure against cheating, so you will not see the results instantly but we are working on it.

Past that, we should have some news for you early next year (it really isn't that far away) on any new content we might have in the works.

Dec 3, 2010
L4D Blog

Hard Eight, Do you compete? Mutation Madness, The Road Ahead

Product Update - Valve
Updates to Left 4 Dead 2 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Left 4 Dead 2
  • Encore mutation: Hard Eight
  • Fixed dedicated servers not launching if "hl2" was in the installation path
  • Allow m60s to spawn on original campaigns for mod use.
  • Fixed edge case to prevent Infected Players from cycling to survivors whose glows have nearly faded.
  • Tweaks to survivor health glow settings to make states easier to recognize.
  • Fixed a glow color transition point that was off by one.
  • Added cvars to control the behavior of survivor health glows
    • cl_glow_survivor_health_bleed_pulse
    • cl_glow_survivor_health_bleed_pulse_speed
    • cl_glow_survivor_health_bleed_pulse_amount
    • cl_glow_survivor_health_include_buffer
  • Gameplay
    • Increased spawn times slightly for special infected in Realism Versus.
    • Removed ability to crown witches in realism game modes

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Shacknews - Jeff Mattas

Developer Terry Cavanagh is at it again. And this time, he's made a social multiplayer game starring cats.

With highly-respected titles like VVVVVV, At a Distance, and Donât Look Back already under his belt, Cavanagh's name is already synonymous with great indie games. His latest release is a free browser-based Flash multiplayer game called ChatChat. It's distinctly unique, on top of being adorable.

ChatChat's only instructions to the player are "be a cat." Players quickly name their randomly-generated feline avatar and then run around the world doing all sorts of cute cat-tivities.

As with much of Cavanagh's work, ChatChat is much better experienced than described. A lot of this is because much of the game's charm comes from discovering its various systems and the possible actions to take. Some might interpret the game's humorous construction, delivery, and subject matter as a subtly backhanded commentary on the current state of mainstream MMOs, but for me, ChatChat's brilliance is in its simplicity. The game basically boils down some of the traditional pillars of an MMO into their core essences, and then wraps them in a framework that most folks can immediately understand. It also lends more weight to the notion that you can have an entertaining multiplayer experience that doesn't revolve around killing things. Except mice, that is.

ChatChat is deeper than one might expect, but don't necessarily expect multiple hours of entertainment. In fairness, however, that doesn't really seem to be the point. What the game does do quite well is get the player attached to their avatar, while posing the question: "What would I do if I were a cat?" There's no combat to speak of, and the game instead allows players to find and explore their inner kitties. It's social, it's strange, and you should probably check it out.

Cavanagh also indicates tentative plans to add a few extra things to ChatChat with the help of fellow developer Hayden Scott-Baron who made the game's crude but charming graphics. "There are a few small things I'd like to add to ChatChat, if @docky is up for doing more artwork. Will have a go tomorrow at CB2 :)," Cavanagh tweeted earlier today.

You can play ChatChat for free on web-based gaming portal Kongregate.

Shacknews - Steve Watts

The charming indie platformer VVVVVV will make it to the 3DS just in time for your New Year's Eve party. You can distract yourself from Ryan Seacrest and the Black Eyed Peas with some gravity-swapping puzzles. The game is scheduled for release on the eShop this Thursday, December 29, at a price of $7.99.

Nintendo (via Joystiq) gave word of the release. The game has already been around for a while in PC and Mac for $4.99 and a free Flash incarnation, but the 3DS version adds a few features to warrant the new price tag. You'll get new featured levels, a real-time map on the second screen, and "surprisingly nice" 3D support according to fellow indie dev Robert Meyer.

Here's what it looked like at IndieCade:

Shacknews - Alice O'Connor

Indie developer Terry Cavanagh's stonking gravity-flipping platformer VVVVVV is coming to Nintendo 3DS as an eShop download, publisher Nicalis has announced. It'll come with shiny 3D support and a smattering of new features and content.

The 3DS VVVVVVersion boasts "full 3D awesomeness," which has been described as "subtle, but surprisingly nice" by indie dev Robert Meyer, who got to play it. It also has a real-time map on the second screen, new featured levels, and the promise of more content down the line.

VVVVVV was originally released for PC in January 2010, and was later featured in the Humble Indie Bundle 3.

There's no word on the price or release date yet.

Nicalis is also working working on an eShop port of physics-based indie platformer NightSky, and a retail 3DS version of the much-loved Cave Story.

If you're at the IndieCade festival in Los Angeles this weekend, Nicalis says you can have a go: "Just find Terry Cavanagh or [Nicalis head] Tyrone Rodriguez and ask them to play!" Terry's the delightful tall Irish chap who'll be politely informing very confused people that no, he is not Notch.

Shacknews - Alice O'Connor

Sales for the "pay what you want" Humble Indie Bundle 3 have passed the $2,000,000 mark, an impressive factoid which also provides a handy reminder that today is the last day you can snap up the mega-bargain. If you haven't yet, do so!

The Humble Indie Bundle 3 is now the most successful of the four Humble Bundles so far (1, 2, the Frozenbyte Bundle, and 3), comfortably passing #2's record of $1.8 million. And it's not over yet: you have until 4pm Pacific today to buy the Bundle. If you already have it yourself, you can always buy more Bundles as gifts, to give away now or save for later.

For the very reasonable price of 'as much or as little as you jolly well please,' The Humble Indie Bundle 3 gives you And Yet It Moves, Atom Zombie Smasher, Cogs, Crayon Physics Deluxe, Hammerfight, Steel Storm, and VVVVVV. All games come DRM-free for Windows, Mac, and Linux, and can be activated on Steam and Desura too.

If you pay more than the average price (currently $5.81), you'll also receive the five games from the second Humble Indie Bundle: Braid, Cortex Command, Machinarium, Osmos, Revenge of the Titans. These can also be activated on Steam and Desura. Ultra-bargain!

By default, the Humble Bundle money is split between the HIB 2 and 3 developers (27.5% each), the EFF and Child's Play (15% each), and the Bundle's organiser, Wolfire Games (15%), though buyers can adjust the shares. Assuming people don't tinker with the percentages too much, well, that's a whole heap of money for everyone involved and for charity.

Shacknews - Jeff Mattas

Given the dearth of high-profile releases this time of year, it can be particularly challenging to find something new to tide you over until the next Deus Ex, or Madden (or whatever AAA title will next float your boat) shows up. This week, I came across a new (free) DigiPen student project called "It Belongs in an Ancient Ruin!" My review sums up how I felt about the experience, and Indiana Jones fans will find it hard not to enjoy the adventures of Pennsylvania Smith, a fedora-wearing archaeologist who steals artifacts from museums and returns them to ancient ruins. Honestly, I'm so in love with the concept that I really hope developer Back Table Productions banks it into a larger project.

Serious Sam Double D

I've also been having fun with a relatively new game for Android (and iOS) called Burn the Rope by Big Blue Bubble. The control-scheme is quite cool. Fire only burns upward, requiring users to physically rotate their mobile device to burn as much of each stages' rope pattern as possible. There's a free, lite version available, but it's well worth the $3 price tag for the full version.

Indie Games Channel's own Ozzie Mejia has been hard at work gathering interviews with the developers participating in the Xbox Live Indie Games channel's upcoming Indie Games Summer Uprising. They all provide some good insight into how some top-tier XBLIG developers approached their latest games. This week, we have interviews with the creative minds behind Cute Things Dying Violently, Take Arms, and Raventhorne.

Alex Jordan of ApathyWorks on Cute Things Dying Violently

James Petruzzi of Discord Games talks about Take Arms

Milkstone Studios' Alejandro GonzÃ¡lez on Raventhorne

Explosionade developer Mommy's Best Games also dropped their first official trailer for the Croteam-sanctioned spin-off, Serious Sam Double D, which is headed for PC and XBLIG this August (also shown in the screens above). In short, the gun-stacking mechanic looks pretty awesome, and probably makes a certain Mr. Nukem a little jealous.

Shacknews - Alice O'Connor

Out of the blue, another stonking 'pay what you want' Humble Indie Bundle launched this morning. The Humble Indie Bundle 3 packs DRM-free versions of VVVVVV, Hammerfight, Crayon Physics Deluxe, Cogs, and And Yet It Moves, bristling with new features and coming to new platforms.

As with the three previous splendid Humble Indie Bundles--the original two and the Frozenbyte Bundle--you can pay as much or as little as you please for the bundle of indie loveliness. You also get to choose how your payment is divided up between the developers, charity Child's Play, the EFF, and Humble Indie Bundle organiser Wolfire Games.

The Bundle includes Windows, Mac and Linux versions of all the games, which are new for several and debut here. You can also redeem the games on Steam and Desura, which is awfully handy.

As if that weren't all wonderful enough, new features for several games debut in the Bundle too. VVVVVV scores a level editor and some third-party levels, including one made by Minecraft creator 'Notch.' And Yet It Moves has new achievements and bonus content, plus Hammerfight scores a new survival mode.

Wolfire's Humble Indie Bundle series has proved hugely successful. The first made a touch under $1.3 million, the second raked over over $1.8m, and the Frozenbyte bundle earned a very respectable $909k. Across the three, they've raised over a million dollars for charity.

You only have two weeks to snap up the Humble Indie Bundle 3, so hop to it, head on over to the HIB 3 site to buy video games.

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Lily James Looks Damn Good Naked, Plus Emilia Clarke And Canadian Lesbian Loving

This week on the Mr. Skin Minute we have amazing nudity from Cinderella herself, Lily James, in The Exception, now on demand! Emilia Clarke's first non- Game of Thrones nudity comes in Voice from the Stone, also on demand. Finally, picture Blue is the Warmest Colour (2013), but in Canadian form, and you have the insane lesbian sex featured in Below Her Mouth

Make sure to check back each and every week for all of your nudity news right here on the Mr. Skin Minute.

Tagged in: mr. skin minute

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2NEB 100.3 is a commercial radio station playing music to Armidale, Guyra, Walcha, Uralla and surrounding areas.

Armidale - New South Wales, Australia - English

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Hick Hop Music - Atlanta, GA

This Is Hick Hop Music

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World's first all Country Rap, AKA Hick Hop music station, featuring groups and artists like Colt Ford, Jawga Boyz, The Lacs, , Bubba Sparxxx and ... See more more.

Atlanta - Georgia, United States - English

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detector fm - Back to the subject. Sophisticated pop music journalism and hand-picked. They report on topics from politics in Germany

Leipzig - Sachsen, Germany - German

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In other languages

See this page in French: Ecouter | Wort-Stream en ligne

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Press On-Selah

Posted by Tiffany

Living for God One Step at a Time

Posted by Tiffany

The world says that greatness is wealth, beauty, smarts, fame, etc. It says that in order for women to succeed we must be independent, get our degrees, be financially successful to do whatever we please. A woman who nurtures her children, keeps order in her household, blesses those around her by her gentleness and submissive spirit to her husband (Proverbs 31; Titus 2), is neither praised nor valued by society. And sometimes, because Christ isn't at the center of our lives, the grass starts to look greener on the other side. The world's ways start looking more appealing, and our focus gets lost. It might be a time of complaining and griping about how little we can accomplish and it seems like nothing ever happens. Or maybe it might be more drastic, like running away from our problems by pretending they aren't there and don't affect us. So it may seem, that when we get to these points, hope fades away. How is it possible to turn back to the truth when we've rejected it so much? But there is always hope, because of a Friend and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Becoming a woman of God is a slow and long process that takes time, patience, mistakes, getting back up and starting again; it's a process that is painful yet amazing, ugly yet beautiful, and it's a process that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world. May we be continually reminded that God's way is best no matter how green the grass looks on the other side. . .

She sits at her desk

As she thinks of her tasks.

The monotony, the drudgery,

Is this all life asks?

What of the dishes?

What of the clothes?

Shopping and meals,

“Do we need more of those?”

The life-changing things

Is what I want, she says.

The challenge, the adventure,

Living life on the edge.

How long must she stay here?

What must she do?

To end this path mundane,

And start life anew?

So she starts her seeking,

And looking around.

But then something hits her,

And its message resounds.

Bold are the words

As they run through her mind

“Why aren't you seeking Me instead?”

Rang like a chime.

“You waste so much effort

On plans that aren't Mine.

Be still and listen.

And then you will find...

That all the monotony and drudgery

Is exactly the thing I want you to do.

Be patient,

Take joy in all tasks that I give you.

Learn to be virtuous,

Learn to be pure.

Learn obedience,

While I give strength to endure.

The girl could now see

What her problem had been.

She now was contrite,

And ashamed of her sin.

But the Lord saw her sorrow,

And gently reminded;

His grace was sufficient,

And His love was not blinded.

She renewed her commitment

And learned to obey.

The years passed on,

And now today?

Her husband and children

Can't thank God enough

For the blessing He's given them

Once a diamond in the rough.

She lives as a light.

Silently, gloriously

As the threads of her life,

Leave their mark upon history.

Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. ~Proverbs 31:10

And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. ~1 John 2:17


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Accident Attorneys in Houston: Avoiding huge mistakes

10814 Readers 13 Feedbacks
Accident Attorney

Houston is the most dense city of Texas. Currently, it has 71.7 % of lonely drivers moving towards to their destinations. Here, 71.7 % is really a big number of people driving around in the Houston Freeway, which is 739.3 miles long. And car accidents are not anything that shocks the people today. But before getting to step of hiring an accident attorney, let’s deal with the facts first.

Houston Car Accident Statistics

Let’s take a look at the amount of car accidents happened in Houston from 2011 to 2013. The info are referring to Texas Department of Transportation:

  • 183 deaths from car accident in Houston and 5885 people injured in 2011
  • Number of lives taken enlarged to 193, with 5387 fatal injuries in 2012
  • Number of deaths reduced to 188 people in 2013, but still it’s a huge number.
  • Overall 7314 fatal car crashes.

And the list continues.

If You Face An Accident…

We often say things like: “I drive like a turtle, what accident may occur to me?”, but you must keep in mind that it may not at all times be your fault if a road accident take place. However, you may be held with serious charges if you do not take the right decisions. So what would you do and what have to be avoided when it come to that?

  1. Whether you are guilty or clean you are after being involved in a car accident, stop your vehicle immediately. Otherwise you may be charged with hit and run infraction and the hearing may overlook anything else you say.
  2. Even if the law enforcement workers are friendly, you may still be scared to notify them, supposing them to charge you with anyway. But in reality, it will just make it even worse. So don’t be afraid to call 911, and describe your current situation in details.
  3. You may feel in shock in these types of situation. However, here are few important things to do: you must stay away from the damaged vehicle, in case it catches fire. Help the injured people unless you are not seriously injured yourself. When the ambulance and paramedics arrive, do your best to help them.
  4. Don’t hide any evidences from the spot. If you have any reason to belie that you may face charges about the accident, than you can take pictures as evidences.
  5. Most significantly, get a Houston car accident lawyer. And don’t talk over your position with someone else, particularly in public.

In a few words, misfortunes occur from time to time. Afterwards a misfortune, you may think of a sentence Jennifer Lawrence expressed: “There I am, washed up and powerless to protect myself”. But you have to stay cool and keep an eye on the steps we pointed out, and the law will be at your side.

Author: Stephen Zee (Houston Car Accident Attorney)

  1. Blades

    September 1, 2015 at 11:16 pm

    Unfortunately, at some time in our lives, most of us will experience an automobile accident. When you are in a car accident, even if you are not injured, there are certain things that you should and should not do.

  2. Troyy

    September 2, 2015 at 2:27 pm

    If you are involved in an accident involving injury, or substantial damage to property, stay at the accident scene until the police tell you that you can leave. If you have any question about whether the damage caused by the accident is substantial, err on the side of caution — when the law requires you to wait for the police, leaving the scene of an accident can result in driver’s license sanctions and even criminal charges.

  3. Boyyd

    September 3, 2015 at 7:41 pm

    Do not make statements to anybody at the accident scene, except for the police. When you speak to the police, tell them only the facts of what happened. Let the officers draw their own conclusion from the facts.

  4. Earnest

    September 4, 2015 at 11:51 pm

    Even if you think you are at fault, do not admit liability. There may be factors which you don’t know, which played a role in the accident, and it may turn out that the other driver was more at fault than you.

  5. Comer

    September 5, 2015 at 2:32 pm

    Litigation can take a very long time. Sometimes, cases drag on for years. While cases are pending, even where an injured person’s attorney is paying all of the legal expenses associated with the litigation, the injured person has to have enough money to get by. If the injured person is unable to work, has reduced income, or has expenses associated with care or disability, it may not be possible to wait until the end of the lawsuit before obtaining funds.

  6. Burton

    September 6, 2015 at 7:25 pm

    A question that perhaps seems obvious is, why can’t injured people simply borrow money from their lawyers? The answer is that state bar associations recognize that when a lawyer becomes a creditor to a client, a conflict of interest is created that may interfere with the attorney-client relationship.

  7. Chessy

    September 7, 2015 at 5:14 pm

    Hey thanks it really helped me a lot :) :)

  8. Fredro

    September 8, 2015 at 3:48 pm

    Sometimes an attorney won’t want to sign any contract with a settlement financing company, and some states prohibit lawyers from signing onto liens of the type necessary to secure this type of funding. As a result, typically companies require that the injured person sign the contract, and that the attorney sign an acknowledgement of the client’s instruction that the loan and associated fees be repaid from any eventual verdict or settlement.

  9. Reed

    September 9, 2015 at 2:19 pm

    At least one state (Florida) prohibits lawyers from participating in the settlement funding company’s evalaution process. Absent lawyer invovlement, it is unlikely that a finance company would be able to obtain enough information about a case to risk issuing non-recourse funding.

  10. Roberto NBeil

    September 10, 2015 at 1:14 pm

    Also, the “adrenaline rush” from the accident can mask your symptoms — a physical examination may reveal an injury that you do not yet feel. :)

  11. AmmieGThangavelu

    September 15, 2015 at 7:07 pm

    What’s up everyone, it’s my first visit at this website & thx to you I am aware of how settlements works now.

      September 15, 2015 at 5:22 pm

      Hello AmmieGT, welcome to our site. We hope you have a good time being around.

  12. Engelo

    September 19, 2015 at 5:31 pm

    I jus got from an accident lawsuit in houston, and with an attorney it really was easy…..

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About This Project

About Shore Point Residence

This home is located on Lake Washington with sweeping views of the Mt Rainier and the Seattle skyline. Our clients came to us with a clear and unwavering dream: to build a home that captured their cherished childhood memories of summers growing up in seaside communities in Maryland and Connecticut. Their associations with those relaxing summers is intertwined with the architecture found in those communities and the rambling shingled homes that inhabit them. Their love and appreciation for this beloved uniquely American architectural form was coined simply “American Shingle Style” by Vincent Scully in his important book which bears the same name. Deep is our experience with this form. Stuart grew up on the Connecticut shore and experienced firsthand these remarkable homes and has studied them his entire adult life. SSA was honored and delighted to be approached and accepted the commission immediately.

The Team

Landscape Architecture: Sander Groves
Construction: Toth Construction
Photography: John Granen

Residential, Traditional