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Metro Last Light Walkthrough Part 11 HD Gameplay - Bandits

NEW Metro Last Light Walkthrough Part 11 includes HD Gameplay for PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. This Metro Last Light Gameplay Walkthrough will include a Review and the Ending.

Metro: Last Light (formerly known as Metro 2034) is the sequel to Metro 2033 in development at 4A Games and will be published by Deep Silver.

The story takes place after Metro 2033, with a new story guided by Dmitry Glukhovsky but written in house at 4A-Games. The story will continue from the canonical ending of the previous game, in which Artyom presumably destroyed the dark ones. In this setting Artyom, Khan and many others Rangers will join forces once again to defend D6 from many foes including the Fourth Reich, communists and bandits. With this new installment 4A has promised a multitude of new weapons, such as a bolt-action rifle, a hand powered chain gun, a single-shot pistol and a homemade grenade launcher, and new locations to play in. Weapons from Metro 2033 will make a return, such as the Bastard, Kalash, VSV, Uboinik, and even a new hand-held flamethrower.

It is the year 2034. Beneath the ruins of post-apocalyptic Moscow, in the tunnels of the Metro, the remnants of mankind are besieged by deadly threats from outside -- and within. Mutants stalk the catacombs beneath the desolate surface, and hunt amidst the poisoned skies above. But rather than stand united, the station-cities of the Metro are locked in a struggle for the ultimate power, a doomsday device from the military vaults of D6. A civil war is stirring that could wipe humanity from the face of the earth forever. As Artyom, burdened by guilt but driven by hope, you hold the key to our survival -- the last light in our darkest hour...

Locations include: Introduction, Sparta, Ashes, Pavel, Reich, Separation, Facility, Torchlight, Echoes, Bolshoi, Korbut, Revolution, Regina, Bandits, Dark Water, Venice

Sundown, Nightfall, Undercity, Contagion, Quarantine, Khan, The Chase, The Crossing, Bridge, Depot, The Dead City, Red Square, The Garden, Polis, D6, Ending

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 Game Walkthrough. All the games © 2018


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Are You a Controlling or Controlled Leader?

“As long as you do everything exactly the way I want it when I want it, you can do it any way you want whenever you want.”

The Head Chef told me on my first day in his kitchen. There was to be no ambiguity, no doubt that there was one way of doing things, and it was his way.

I wasn’t there to express my creativity and brilliance. I was there to follow orders and comply with any and every demeaning request. With his first sentence, my new boss had stripped me of any personal control and all autonomy. Boy, did I feel motivated?!?

It was, however, the most efficient kitchen I had worked in.

We turned out surprisingly excellent food and you could, quite literally, eat off the floor. Rarely did anything go wrong, but should someone make a mistake, then Chef would be quick to bellow profanities and ensure that it was unlikely you would make that mistake again. Well, either that or you ran crying from the kitchen never to return.

Within a year, this chef was awarded his first Michelin Star. We celebrated by working harder than ever, scrubbing floors with more gusto and no-one ever dared to argue or question the Chef’s absolute authority in all matters.

Success it seems is maintaining control.

Maintaining absolute control over every team member requires the gentle art of micromanaging everything. Every single little thing.

Maintaining absolute control over every team member requires the gentle art of micromanaging everything. Every single little thing.

Absolute control. And using power to get what you wanted. Taking all control from team members and empowering them only insofar as they could comply with precise instructions barked often in close proximity so that you could enjoy a shower at the same time.

Most new managers quickly learn a similar lesson. That exerting power over others gets them to do things. Keeping tight control enables you to maintain discipline and authority. And, in the short term at least, be successful.

And as the team grows, and new people join, the controlling manager soon finds that no-one else can be trusted to get things right. Other people just don’t care enough to make everything perfect. So you micro-manage every tiny aspect of the operation. Stress levels increase and every team member fears making even a tiny mistake.

For the controlling leader, any time you turn away, someone will be undermining your authority.

Trying to steal some of your power over team members for themselves. You need to spot these interlopers early and either get them out or undermine any respect or authority they have gained. Belittling them in front of everyone can be very effective and if you can make them cry in public, so much the better.

Of course, you can trust no-one, even when you place family members in their “meritocratically” assigned roles (refusing to accept that nepotism has any place in your decisions). You rally your flunkeys to police on your behalf and alter the rules and policies to tip the balance firmly in your favour of maintaining absolute power, authority and control. Honesty becomes corrupt and whilst you demand transparency from others, you never practice it outside your inner circle.

The controlling leader lives in constant fear that someone else is trying to take away their power and control

The controlling leader lives in constant fear that someone else is trying to take away their power and control

Yet most controlling leaders often began their career with good intentions.

They became controlling leaders because it works. Well, it works in the beginning. When you are young (and perhaps foolish) your leadership approach is going to be about control and power. It seems to work. No scrub that, if you are big enough in some dimension, it works because others give in to your tantrums and belligerence and do your bidding.

Because this locus of control shows signs of being effective in the short term, it can quickly become the de-rigour standard by which the leader operates. And we know that power corrupts the soul and once you have tasted real power, its addictive properties mean that nothing else can get in the way of your fix.

But then there comes a point when your ego and pride get in the way of better decision making and micromanaging every single little tiny thing becomes utterly exhausting.

Controlling leaders lack diverse perspectives and disdain creative or challenging questions. Indeed, they shut them down with ridicule or resort to threats over personal liberty if pushed too far. The solution to any dissent or disagreement is to consolidate more power and greater control.

Where does that power come from? They have disempowered their team. And since autonomy is a top factor in driving motivation the controlling leader demotivates their team which causes resentment in those who remain and for some, the controlling leader’s greatest fear a deep desire for payback through a leadership coup.

It rapidly dives down into a spiral of a power play of lies, deceit, dishonesty and surrounding yourself with a cadre of protective sycophants over whom you wield some power of significant embarrassment or, failing that, friends in law enforcement to do your bidding.

Controlling leaders often become zealously self-righteous and paranoid about their closest allies. Fearing a coup by those who dare show a tiny element of dissent. Team members deal with increasing levels of stress

Controlling leaders are driven by fear, power, ego and pride.

They care nothing for the people they trample on, claiming that the ends justify the means, no matter what. They become lonely and fade from history being quickly forgotten once they lose their grip on power.

Instead of being driven by fear, power, ego and pride, controlled leaders are calm, confident and empowering.

Remaining controlled in stressful situations is a sign of a mature leader. Understanding your emotions and choosing how and when to express those emotions in a positive way takes far more discipline and internal power than the controlling leader possesses.

The controlled leader establishes an inspiring vision for the team and models how to make it a reality. Empowering the team and trusting them to deliver effectively.

The controlled leader knows that their job is to serve their team enabling and guiding them to be their very best and doing whatever it takes to make that happen.

Information is shared transparently and team members given agency to service the team’s goals.

The controlled leader proactively works to create and maintain a culture of honesty and integrity and true fairness. They don’t speak in platitudes like weaker controlling leaders trying to manipulate thinking and emotions. rather they build the infrastructure that allows and encourages every single team member to blossom, to fail and create new solutions.

Being controlled is largely a deliberate cognitive and conscious choice in the brain that overrides the baser, instinctive response of the unconscious or lizard brain that thrives on emotional roller coaster rides of the ego, pride and fear prevalent in the controlling leaders drives.

So what do you do if you suspect that you are now, or may be becoming a controlling leader?

To rid yourself of controlling behaviours means doing the hardest thing you can do: letting go!

To rid yourself of controlling behaviours means doing the hardest thing you can do: letting go!

Sadly, truly controlling leaders reading this, will genuinely believe that they are under control and that they are great leaders. But then they don’t ask for nor listen to honest feedback, rather shunning it in favour of the narrative that makes them the hero.

If you do realise that you are micromanaging, feel as though you are the only one who can be trusted and that your team need to be cajoled and bullied into action, you may be a controlling leader. Your job now is the most difficult one you have ever undertaken as a leader. Let go!

Loosen the reins a little, ease up on taking all tasks on yourself and dare to trust someone in your team. I have a terrifically popular podcast for you entitled “Let Go to Gain Control“. You will be astounded that you actually gain more real control (of yourself and others) by letting go.

What do you do when you report to a controlling leader?

This is a much more likely scenario. I suspect that few truly controlling leaders even began to listen let alone kept on listening until the end. No, you want to know how to deal with your controlling boss.

Well, most people quit in the end.

The longer a controlling leader remains in a position of power, the harder it is to get them to recognise it let alone change. Unless they face some life-changing moment that smacks them to sense. No, most controlling leaders stay on. In part, they find it very difficult to gain better employ elsewhere and it would be too daunting to build a new power base from nothing.

Does that mean that you should quit? I think that you should entertain the possibility that this is your best outcome and plan it effectively. Though it is entirely possible that your next boss will be as bad or worse. Remember, there are many more poor leaders than good ones.

You could, of course, become a flunkey.

Flattery and good ol’ brown-nosing does a remarkable job here. You might think that this is too obvious and smarmy and they will see right through it. If they do, they still love to be flattered… even if it sounds a little forced and false. Just witness Trumps TV broadcast cabinet meeting for some excellent examples of insincere, smarmy flattery and watch him smile in the mistaken belief that a single word of it was genuine.

So you mean play politics? Yes. Learn to play the game by doing these three things: Get inside their head, look for the good and make them look good.

Get inside their head

Remember that controlling leaders likely began this favoured approach because it worked well early in their career. Indeed, for them, it is probably working very well now. That is, they perceive that this approach is effective and they are probably consistent in their approach.

Learn their patterns and find out how to predict them. One of my clients recently shared how her boss would pace around the office shortly before an explosive tirade. She could then spot this and choose whether to quickly leave the office on some errand or be mentally prepared to receive or witness the soon to come explosion.

She discovered many of the little “errors” that would precipitate such an event, and whilst these were insignificant and trivial to her mind, to her boss, they were the straw that broke the camels back.

Look for the good in them

Yes, I know this is tough, but it applies to every single person in your team and around you too. If there were just one thing that would make you happier and feel better, it would be being recognised or appreciated as an important person. As someone who matters.

The same is true for that controlling leader. Look for the good. They already know all the bad stuff, just as you know your own.

The chef I mentioned at the beginning was a fantastically good and creative cook. He was incredibly detailed oriented and artistic in the way he presented dishes. Sure he did not suffer even a parsley flake out of place, and whoa to you if you had even a smudge at your workstation. But his food tasted fantastic and looked supreme.

There is a positive in every negative behaviour. They usually have good intentions, it’s just the execution and relationship management that needs a little work. Recognise their strengths and focus more attention on those than their weaknesses.

Make your boss look good

Your job is to make your leader look good to his or her superiors, to their clients and customers, colleagues and so on. Become a valuable resource to them. Recognise their strengths and support those, and when appropriate compensate for their weaknesses.

But don’t do so in an attention seeking way. Keep it secret or the more paranoid controlling leader will suspect your motives and that you will take credit for their achievements, leave them or take their job.

Controlling leaders abound in organisations and even more so in civil service and government circles. Whilst being the bigger bully may be tempting, the wise new leader will learn how to manage their leader’s darker side. As you get older and more experienced, it is your own dark side you need to manage and keep controlled for true success.

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Missouri, United States Fine Dining Restaurants

LaBinnah Bistro

LaBinnah Bistro

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Casual fine dining, exceptional entrees, music, and service. Wine and beer, including Missouri wines. Intimate, 28-seat Bistro in 1870 Victorian ... more details   Contact This Business

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Defense CIO to leave post next month

Defense CIO to leave post next month

GCN Staff

MARCH 14—Arthur L. Money today confirmed rumors that he will soon leave his post as chief information officer and assistant Defense Department secretary for command, control, communications and intelligence, said Susan Hansen, a DOD spokeswoman.

Money, who will leave his post in mid-April, was a holdover from the Clinton administration and will be replaced by a Bush appointee, she said.

He has not announced further plans, Hansen said. Money became CIO in February 1998. He has more than 40 years of management and engineering experience with the defense electronics and intelligence industry.

He served as CIO and assistant secretary of the Air Force for research, development and acquisition from January 1996 to February 1998.

Money was president of ESL Inc., a subsidiary of TRW Inc. that develops electronics systems, from January 1990 to December 1994.

He has a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from San Jose State University and a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Santa Clara.

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IBM wants to make servers self-managing

IBM wants to make servers self-managing

Developing a 'living, breathing server' is the goal of IBM Corp.'s Project eLiza.

So says Irving Wladawsky-Berger, the company's vice president for technology and strategy. The enterprise information infrastructure needs software and hardware that are self-managing like the human autonomic nervous system, he said.

Wladawsky-Berger and other IBM officials spoke at a recent Washington briefing.

IBM officials are convinced that the Internet revolution is 'less than 5 percent complete,' said Michael R. Nelson, director of Internet strategy.

Within four years, Nelson said, users will pay the same money for 10 times as much computing power.

'Susan M. Menke

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NMCI will undergo independent tests

NMCI will undergo independent tests

The Navy can proceed on its massive Navy-Marine Corps Intranet outsourcing project without immediate, rigorous weapons system testing, according to a memorandum signed by Defense Department officials earlier this week.

The Sept. 5 memo spells out an agreement between Defense and the Navy over testing of the $6.9 billion project designed to bring 360,000 users on 200 networks into a single intranet. There has been an impasse in recent weeks as both sides wrangled over how and what to test.

Defense officials called for full weapons system testing. Navy officials, arguing that such a requirement would delay implementation, suggested less rigorous testing that could be observed and approved by DOD testers.

A strategic pause in NMCI's congressional funding called for DOD to limit the rollout to 42,000 seats until the network components are certified. The testing agreement lets the work continue.

Signed by Defense chief information officer John P. Stenbit and Michael W. Wynne, principal deputy undersecretary of Defense for acquisition technology and logistics, the memo raises the rollout limit to 60,000 seats and sets a testing schedule to be overseen by Stenbit's office. At a press briefing late last month, NMCI officials said prime contractor Electronic Data Systems Corp. had assumed responsibility for about 40,000 seats so far.

The agreement calls for DOD to set up a team of reviewers to ensure adequate testing of interoperability, security and reliability.

When 20,000 seats have been fully integrated into NMCI, Defense will conduct a senior-level review. If the network passes, the Navy can add 150,000 more seats.

A Defense spokesman said the department 'is in discussions with the Congress to gain their support for the new strategy and determine what changes, if any, are required.'

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Team pushes ahead on Entry-Exit Program

'We have been working on getting all the requirements developed' and refining the interfaces that will be needed with other systems.

'INS' Robert Mocny

Henrik G. DeGyor

As Immigration and Naturalization Service chiefs work to bring the agency under the aegis of the new Homeland Security Department, a systems team is scrambling to keep INS' premier antiterrorism effort'the Entry-Exit Program'on pace.

The agency has released a request for proposals for development efforts for the program, through which Homeland Security will build a database of information about aliens who cross U.S. borders.

INS already has awarded a contract to BearingPoint Inc. of McLean, Va., to help it with Entry-Exit program planning. That deal runs through 2005.

'The new RFP is a program support contract,' said Robert Mocny, director of the Entry-Exit Program. The winning vendor will help INS develop the solicitation for building the system, he said, adding that BearingPoint is eligible to submit a proposal.

INS received $362 million to spend on the project this year. Congress approved the administration's full request. For fiscal 2004, President Bush's proposal seeks an additional $480 million.

The more things change

Although there have been many changes since INS first conceived the border registration system, including the agency's absorption into Homeland Security, the goals of the program are essentially unchanged, Mocny said. INS already gathers some data on aliens; the new system will expand on those efforts.

The INS Data Management Improvement Act of 2000 outlined the Entry-Exit Program rollout schedule: Deploy it at all air and sea entry points by the end of this year, field it at the 50 largest land entry points by the end of next year, and launch it at all ports of entry by March 1, 2005.

'We have been working on getting all the requirements developed' and refining the interfaces that will be needed with other systems, he said.

INS officials and the HSD transition team have been shifting the project to one of the INS bureaus at the new department, the Border and Transportation Security Directorate.

INS has set a four-stage process for the system:
  • Pre-entry: State Department officials will access the system and run checks against their systems, such as the Consolidated Consular Database, and other screening data from airlines and cruise lines.

  • Entry: Border officers collect information as people enter the country.

  • Stay management: INS checks and, if necessary, changes the terms of someone's stay in the country.

  • Exit: The system closes out a record when someone leaves the country.
    'Another element would be analysis of the information,' Mocny said.

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GAO probes FBI's case file project

The General Accounting Office is investigating the FBI's Virtual Case File project at the request of House Judiciary Committee chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) and the committee's ranking minority member, John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.)

The two lawmakers told GAO to find out whether the bureau had taken to heart the lessons learned when traitorous FBI agent Robert Hanssen exploited the agency's systems to sell secrets to Moscow. The agency is building VCF as part of the larger Trilogy program to overhaul its information systems.

In a letter to Comptroller General David Walker in early October last year, Sensenbrenner and Conyers cited an August 2003 study of the Hanssen affair by the Justice Department's inspector general. Justice recommended security upgrades, among other measures, to detect improper computer use and prevent security feature overrides.

Sources inside and outside the FBI have confirmed that the Virtual Case File project now has exceeded its budget without achieving the intended goals.

Sources said today that FBI officials may approach Congress to request budget reprogramming. They also might deal with the overrun by attempting to compel the contracting team headed by Science Applications International Corp. of San Diego to pay for the work needed to complete VCF.

FBI spokesman Ed Cogswell today declined to comment on the SAIC contract, the VCF delay or the GAO investigation because, he said, the bureau is still negotiating with the company. An SAIC spokesman referred questions to the bureau.

A source familiar with the GAO investigation said the congressional audit agency has found that VCF costs rose after the program was overhauled in 2002. Although the VCF section of Trilogy had been under way since the late 1990s, the 2002 project re-evaluation called for re-engineering the case file project. 'But a lot of money was spent before that,' the source added.

The re-engineering effort included a major push to strengthen VCF file security. The case file project, already a major effort by 2002, became even larger after that.

The FBI has worked to pave the way for adoption of the new case file system by sending some of its special agents to conferences on how case file systems operate. That effort is intended to shift the bureau's culture so that special agents will more readily adopt the new case file system.

'The Virtual Case File project is not going well,' an IT manager inside the bureau said. 'It is costing too much and it is late.' When word of the delays and extra costs reached FBI leaders, the bureau IT manager said, 'The director [Robert S. Mueller III] was not a happy man.'

The bureau announced yesterday that it had accepted delivery of the infrastructure component of Trilogy from Computer Sciences Corp. under a separate contract.

'The completion of this phase of the FBI's information technology project, known as Trilogy, presents the FBI with the vehicle to deploy additional components for sharing information, deploying analytical capabilities and strengthening the security features,' a bureau statement said. 'The next phase to be developed and deployed is the Virtual Case File, which is intended to provide case management tools and information sharing capabilities' for special agents and analysts.

Last November, the bureau blamed CSC for delays in Trilogy deployment. Last month, Mueller told a Senate appropriations subcommittee that the FBI would hold contractors financially accountable for project delays.

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Software dividends

Thomas R. Temin

At about the same time Microsoft Corp. was announcing the largest shareholder dividend payout in corporate history, the Office of Management and Budget was trying to ensure rational policy on agency acquisition and use of open-source software.

Microsoft's three bucks a share is the dividend of rich, established companies'reminiscent of U.S. Steel or General Motors in the 1960s. The difference is that even as it matures, Microsoft is aware of new sources of competition it will have to deal with to retain its market dominance.

That mountain of cash upon which Microsoft was sitting was largely profits from its Windows operating systems. By virtue of its market dominance, Windows became a standard, in many ways enabling the revolution of computing ubiquity even while enriching Microsoft. But Windows is not open source, the yet-again new thing.

The maturing of Microsoft and the rise in use of open-source software shows how the regenerative qualities of the IT industry are still fresh. And it shows why neither vendors nor buyers of software can ever become complacent with today's technology.

Windows has a price tag. It's often part of the price of PCs and servers with which it is bundled. Open-source software may or may not have a price tag, depending on whether you buy a value-added version from a vendor such as Red Hat Inc. or simply go with freeware.

But all operating systems require on-going administration, maintenance and upgrading. A neighbor moving abroad gave me an old, high-end bicycle, custom-made in Italy. But it needs so many new parts and tweaks, it will end up costing me 75% of the price of a new one.

Like the bike, open source, whether free or nominally priced, isn't free in a lifecycle sense. It may have other technical advantages over proprietary software, but that is for each user organization to decide for itself, based on its requirements, and the terms and conditions under which it acquires the software.

Agencies' choices for technical solutions should not be based on abstract arguments over whether something is proprietary, open, commercial or divinely inspired, but rather on performance and lifecycle costs.

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DHS: Immigration Services IT plan execution lacking

According to a new report from the Homeland Security Department's Inspector General Richard L. Skinner, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency is faltering in carrying out its IT modernization goals.

For decades, the immigration benefits processing agency has relied on manual entries and paper-based, duplicative records. The inspector general recommended in September 2005 that agency officials develop an IT modernization strategy to improve efficiencies.

Since then, the USCIS has established a Transformation Program Office and a governance plan. In May 2006, the DHS acting chief financial officer authorized $25 million to complete the planning phase.

However, the agency has stumbled in executing the plan, the inspector general wrote.

'Because of repeated changes in focus and direction, USCIS has tended to duplicate previous modernization initiatives and has not demonstrated the ability to execute its planned strategy,' the inspector general's report said.

For example, while agency officials had developed an IT modernization strategy in April 2005, it was scrapped in October of that year and replaced with a broader business modernization strategy that did not use all the features of the IT plan, the report said.

In addition, the USCIS attempted, but then dropped, two pilot programs to test improvements in managing H-1b visas and to develop end-to-end electronic processing of immigration benefits.

Alice Lipowicz is a staff writer for Government Computer News' affiliate publication, Washington Technology.

About the Author

Alice Lipowicz is a staff writer covering government 2.0, homeland security and other IT policies for Federal Computer Week.

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Navy awards wireless contract to Pedigree

The Naval Air Systems Command awarded Pedigree Technologies an $8.4 million contract to deliver a solution integrating electro-optical radio frequency sensors, acoustic sensors and unmanned aerial vehicle technologies for remote wireless security and unmanned surveillance applications.

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NASA's new way of tracking battery life

A NASA-led team has shown how a novel statistical algorithm could be applied to better predict the life span of batteries.

"Batteries represent complex systems whose internal state variables are either inaccessible to sensors or hard to measure under operational conditions," the researchers wrote in an article published in the August 2008 issue of IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine.

Anyone who runs a laptop PC on battery power can certainly testify that this is the case. The software meter could indicate that hours of battery life remain but only minutes later indicate that the battery is almost completely drained.

"Estimating the remaining life of any process is difficult because you don't know exactly how the component will be used in the future," said Kai Goebel, the senior scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center who led the research.

Goebel is leader of the NASA Prognostics Center of Excellence, which focuses on better ways of predicting the health of components of complex systems.

"Depending on the load conditions and depending on the environment conditions, a component can last longer or not so long," he said.

NASA system builders know that trouble all too well. And they also know that it is doubly difficult to estimate the remaining life in batteries under unusual operating conditions, such as extreme cold or heat, or under highly variable workloads.

Goebel and his team tested how well a statistics-based method, called the particle filter (PF) model, would work for estimating remaining battery life. They also tested more traditional techniques. The various algorithms estimated the life span of a set of 18650-size lithium-ion cell batteries that were subjected to fluctuations in temperature and use. (The dataset can be found at the center's online repository.)

They found that the PF model predicted a battery's future life with the greatest accuracy. What's more, the model also asserts the uncertainty of its prediction. For example, it can say that there is a 90 percent certainty that the battery will last for another four days. Such predictions would help system planners make the most of the remaining life of a battery, Goebel said.

"If you have a remaining-life estimate but your uncertainty bounds are incredibly wide, then the estimates in the worst case could be almost useless depending on the risk tolerance that the user is willing to take," Goebel said.

Although used elsewhere in industry and academia, the PF model has not been widely applied to estimating remaining battery life, Goebel said.

The PF model was designed to predict the future state of dynamically changing systems based on all available performance data. It uses Bayesian inference and a series of Monte Carlo simulations to generate predictions about future baseline states.

In addition to the PF model, the team also tested a series of simple statistics- and probabilistic-based models, all using some form of regression analysis. Regression is the art of finding an underlying pattern of behavior in a given set of data. The other models were good at predicting battery lifetimes in cases in which use was steady, but they did not provide adequate results with more varied use and conditions.

The downside of the PF approach is that it is more computationally intensive than the other methods, Goebel said. If you do not need your predictions to be highly accurate or you are limited by the amount of processing power you have, one of the other approaches might be more suitable.

The PF model could be particularly useful in cases in which a battery will undergo variable, or nonlinear, operating conditions, Goebel said. For example, battery-operated electric cars could benefit from that form of estimation.

A car could be driven from San Francisco, which has a mild climate, through Sacramento, which can be quite hot, to Lake Tahoe, which can be cold. Batteries lose their power more quickly at higher temperatures and when the vehicle is climbing a hill. As a result, a driver along this route might not have a good estimate of how much longer the battery might last.

A PF model, which could be calculated by an onboard computer on an ongoing basis, could provide a more accurate prediction of how much driving time the battery could offer, Goebel said.

The researchers are now working on ways to narrow the uncertainty bounds of PF-based battery life estimations to increase their usefulness. They are also running additional tests to check the formulas against a wider set of conditions.

About the Author

Joab Jackson is the senior technology editor for Government Computer News.

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Google Apps for Government

Google Apps for gov a boon for teleworkers

Suite takes the 'labor' out of 'collaboration'

Every organization, no matter how small or large, needs its people to be able to coordinate with one another. That is especially true if users are in remote locations or are teleworking. Whether that means online group communications or simply keeping document versions straight, a collaboration platform is essential to any smooth operation.

Google Apps for Government lets you do just that. This ramped-up version of Google’s popular free application suite caters exclusively to government users, is more secure than what the public uses, and offers more tools for your organization.

We found the suite easy to launch. We just opened a Google Apps account and attached one of the GCN Lab’s test domains to it. At that point, Google makes it possible to prove you own that particular domain by one of several means. You can put a meta tag in the default page of that domain’s website, upload an HTML file to the root of your domain's Web server, or add a Domain Name System record to your domain. Each of these tasks, while possible to duplicate without actually owning the domain, would be extremely difficult.

Google Apps for Government

Pros: Easy to implement, no hardware required.
Cons: Price does not scale.
Performance: A-
Ease of Use: A
Features: A-
Value: A-
Reviewer’s Choice
Price: $50 per user (approximately $46 per government user)

Related coverage:

Google releases FISMA-compliant Apps for Government

Google Apps making inroads with state and local governments

After the domain was verified, we were shown the Google Apps dashboard, which gave us an overview of the status of various applications in the suite. Each application could be enabled or disabled, and we were able to tweak other settings for each so that it suited our purposes. In this way, you can use the tools your specific government organization would need but leave any that your people don’t need completely alone. Adding something later is easy if you suddenly develop a new need.

For users, we could add everyone by hand or in bulk by uploading a comma-separated values file that  most applications that keep user directories can generate. The CSV entry method is optimal for large organizations to get started, and you can always hand edit it after that as employees leave or join your agency. After users log in, they can use any of the applications for which they have permission to use.

The Gmail application provided is powerful and similar in many ways to Google’s popular free Web-based e-mail program. The major difference is you have a great deal more control over its security. Because many organizations already have e-mail, the app is inactive by default until you are ready to switch over. Many agencies probably won’t use it, but it could become a secure backup e-mail or even an internal system for people in your organization.

The Google Calendar is great for keeping everyone apprised of appointments. When you create an appointment, you have all of the expected options for date, time, place and repetition. You may also invite people by Google Groups user name or e-mail if they are outside your organization. Although this is nothing we haven’t seen before, it still does everything you’d expect and makes it about as simple to use as possible.

Google Docs is probably the most useful application of the suite and creates a very easy way to share files and keep revisions current among users. When users upload a file for the first time, they will get to choose exactly who can see or modify it. This can be anything from people within a domain to a list of specific people. These permissions can be changed at any time. Google Docs also has an in-house editor that works with almost every kind of standard document. We tested all the popular ones, and they all opened fine with the Google editing program.

Two of our testing staff members tried viewing the same shared document at the same time. Google Docs gave each of us a list of other users who were viewing the document at the same time. When one of us made a change, the other’s view would immediately reflect that change. It even showed the location of the other user’s cursor. Talk about true real-time collaboration.

We were also impressed by the ease with which a user can create a simple website with the Google Sites tool. We created a new website with literally one click and a little typing. From there, we could make basic Web pages that were linked to one another. Complicated websites or those with a highly specific purpose would still need to go the regular route of site creation, but for basic sites, this is a good, easy-to-use tool.

Google Apps has a new feature that is in beta: Google Contacts. It is a way for everyone in the organization to keep all their contacts online. When users add the same contact, there is a Find Duplicates function that will allow an admin to locate and eliminate extras. That is definitely a good way to keep everyone’s contacts up-to-date. We didn’t grade this feature because it’s still in beta, but it worked well and should provide yet another powerful collaboration tool for this suite when fully implemented. We might even start using this tool to keep all of our industry contacts for the lab straight from now on.

Google is offering Google Apps for Government at a price of $50 per user. With the government discount factored in, that goes down to $46 per user. Although that is a good value for smaller agencies, it doesn’t scale, so larger offices would need to shell out quite a bit. However, if you can get over not getting an extra discount, this would be a great suite of tools for even the largest government organizations.

Google, www.google.com/apps/government

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Wed, Mar 16, 2011

Why do we need Google Apps for Gov when we have the MAX Federal Community?

Wed, Mar 16, 2011 jim Earth

We're a tiny consultant company outside an air base, using Google Apps for a while now. Two problems we have: most of the folks here (some with engineering Ph.D's) can't/won't figure out how to use it and just don't get it. So they're still e-mailing documents back and forth....sigh. The other problem is that, being web-based, Docs sometimes screws up and you lose functions until you log out and back in again. This contributes to Problem #1. Outside of that, we have no problem with collaboration between mixed OS's (I'm on Linux).

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Product buying criteria a continuing source of concern

In theory, the purchase of commercial products should be straightforward. With the NetCents-2 products contracts, as with similar vehicles across government, buyers are encouraged to use the lowest price, technically acceptable (LPTA) criteria. Unfortunately, while the validity of that approach is not in question, it is not as simple to apply as it might seem.

LPTA is one of two ways in which NetCents-2 purchases will be decided. The other is a trade-off methodology that is seen as the best path for complex awards in which the bidder’s technical competence and ability can outweigh cost as a factor.

According to NetCents-2 contract guidelines, LTPA should be used “whenever a minimum acceptable level of technical ability and/or quality can be established, and clearly described, to meet the U.S. government’s requirements,” such as those that are closely related to commercially available supplies or services.

The problem is deciding what constitutes technical acceptability. When it comes to commercial products, such decisions will be based on measurable terms such as processor speed, memory size, hard drive size, standards supported and so on, and the difference between the best products along these lines is often small. Where does a buyer draw the line?

LPTA has both pros and cons for the Air Force, said Ashley Bergander, manager for federal information solutions at Deltek, Inc. It will certainly save them money at the end of the day, but it also could end up stunting technical advancement, if performance is sacrificed for price.

“LPTA is going to be providing for more of a basic product, and it’s not really allowing for something that may be more beneficial for Air Force users down the line,” she said. “Everybody will be trying to make the bare minimum, and that’s a huge negative for this.”

The dividing line, she said, comes with whatever it is that the government deems to be technically acceptable for each of the tasks it puts out for bid, and that “does put the burden on the government to make sure they have a good idea of what is technically acceptable.”

How a contracting officer defines technically acceptable will be the critical issue, agreed John Hanifan, vice president and general manager for DOD and VA (West) at Iron Bow Technologies.

Some buyers might take a hardware specification and say, “If you meet this, then the offer is technically acceptable.” Others, he said, might take a different approach, such as saying the solution simply needs to work. “And if they don’t write it correctly, then it’s very difficult to prove that you aren’t technically acceptable and lowest price,” Hanifan said.

Another potential problem is that there are 25 vendors on the products contract, he said, so potentially they will have to evaluate 25 bids at a time, and they won’t have the time or bandwidth to do that properly.

Bergander thinks there could be a lot of protests launched over what is or is not technically acceptable, and how well everyone is versed in the requirements.

“If there’s one little thing that enables [bidders] to get in there, then it’s very easy for them to launch a lot of protests against why certain people weren’t picked for awards,” she said. “It seems a very grey area and pretty much no-one likes it, and I would hope for a better definition of LPTA down the road.”


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The Silence of Saturday

“You liberate me from my own noise and my own chaos,
From the chains of a lesser law You set me free.

In the silence of the heart You speak,
In the silence of the heart You speak,
And it is there that I will know You
And You will know me” – Audrey Assad

“Communion with God in the silence of the heart is a God-given capacity, like the rhododendron’s capacity to flower, the fledgling’s for flight, and the child’s for self-forgetful abandon and joy.” – Martin Laird

A few months ago I lost my faith.

Not my faith in God. But my faith in words, in human language. My faith in my thoughts and my feelings. My faith in my experiences. I lost my faith.

God was still there in mysterious splendour, in gentle humility, in magnificent beauty, in peacefully constant faithfulness. I just couldn’t find the words to describe him. How do we describe the Infinitely Indescribable? How is it that the Great Unknowable makes himself known?

In this place you tend to question a lot of things. Why do I do this? Why do I believe this about God? Why does a church gathering look like this? Am I just going through the motions?

God was still there. Shining on like the sun. Patient.

I have spoken much about surrender on this blog. The importance of going all in no matter the cost. Publicly and privately I have cried and wept, I have danced and flailed, shouted and sung, laughed, knelt down, laid down. I have gone on that journey of opening my heart to the Lord. Choosing to surrender in any way that I can. In the loud or in the quiet. I wanted to give my all.

The problem with all of the above is that they involved me doing things. Tim choosing to dance. Tim choosing to sing. Tim choosing to lay down. Tim choosing to shout. Tim doing whatever he can to surrender himself before the Lord.

I’ve come to realise, maybe even in the last week, that there is an invitation to a deeper surrender. A surrender not so much focused on doing but a surrender of being. A surrender of silence.

There is not much that the Bible tells us about Holy Saturday in the Bible. Joseph of Arimathea asks Pilate for Jesus’ body and lays it in a garden tomb. Luke’s account states: “It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.” (Luke 23:54-56)

Everything stopped for the Sabbath. A holy pause. A silent moment where hope is seemingly dead. How did the disciples feel? How did they cope with the inner turmoil of the events that proceeded this silent Sabbath? The man they had followed for three years was dead. His body lay in a tomb. They had given everything – they had left all they had to follow him. They had believed when others doubted. They had become his friend. They knew him. They had seen the miracles, the signs, the wonders. Through him they had seen God. Yet now he was dead. Hope gone. Hope in the ground. Hope behind the stone. How did they feel? What grief did they experience? What questions ripped apart their very being?

And the response to their questions, their bitter pain, their devastating disappointment, their anguish and torment? Nothing. Not on Holy Saturday. Silence. Emptiness. Nothingness.

There’s not much the Bible tells us about this Sabbath because there is not much that the friends and followers of Jesus could have done. Sabbath… stop, rest, pause. Silence.

There is nothing that they could do.

There is a deeper place of surrender that does not revolve around what we can do. This is the surrender of silence. It is a surrender where we acknowledge that there is nothing that we can do. Instead we respond to the invitation to embrace the silence of Saturday. We acknowledge our questions, our doubts, our fears, our insecurities, our emotions but we are not defined by them. We let the confines of human language fall to the floor and we are simply still. Whereas my journey of surrender thus far has been dictated by internal thoughts and feelings, which have then led to external action, the surrender of silence simply stops and is still. The former is valid and important and I am not discounting what I have learnt and how I have grown to know God. He has loved my heart. However, the latter is beautiful.

The surrender of silence is a place where we learn to simply and profoundly be. The journey before was full of noise! Brash, bold and boisterous. What is more precious than sitting before Limitless Love and not needing to do anything other than silently be?

Have we truly learnt to surrender until we know how to be still? There is an inherent silence to surrender. A silence found in the deepest reaches of our hearts.

In this place we learn that there are no words, no thoughts, no feelings, no actions that can define us. There is only the love of the Infinite Father. This is a surrender that is no longer based on what I can do. It centres on who he is. Yes, I have my questions, my fears, my doubts, my insecurities, my frailties… but they are not my identity. They are not who I am. All that matters is him. Fix your eyes on the one who is Perfect Love.

There is a silence on this Saturday. Our precious Saviour lays dead and there are more questions than answers. Words cannot describe how we feel, the thoughts that rush through our heads, the pain we’ve experienced, the loneliness we’ve felt, the grief, the torment. We know not what to do.

Embrace the silence.

Acknowledge the questions, the doubts, the thoughts and feelings and move on into the realm of silent peace where we can gaze into the eyes of our heavenly Dad.

Holy Saturday is an invitation to surrender. It is an invitation to be still. It is an invitation to peaceful, beautiful silence.

“You can have it all Lord,
every part of my world.” – Brian Johnson

Thank you to Richard Rohr and Martin Laird who, through their writings, have provided words and inspiration for this journey when I had no framework or words for myself.


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October 19, 2011- Issue 5

Bengals may not return to train at GC

Features Editor

For the past 10 years, the Cincinnati Bengals have held their summer training camp on Georgetown Col- lege’s East Campus Athletic Complex. Now the future is not so certain thanks to a new labor agreement that will only allow them to prac- tice once a day and the possibility of an 18-game season.

Bengals’ President Mike Brown told the Cincinnati Enquirer and Bengals.com that the main reason for using Georgetown College for summer training camp was the ability to rest in the East Campus apartments between practices.

Dean of Students and Vice President for Student Life Dr. Todd Gambill, the primary contact in negoti- ations between Georgetown College and the Bengals, said, “We want them to return and it has been a good partnership. We under- stand that they are evaluat- ing their options.”

One option being eval- uated is moving summer practices home to Paul Brown Stadium. While a nal decision has yet to be reached, the Bengals have already signed an agree- ment with UC to use their facilities during inclement weather.

If the Bengals do not host their training camp at Georgetown College next year, a loss of revenue will undoubtedly occur, but the possible loss was accounted for in this year’s budget. Georgetown College was aware of the possibility of the Bengals not returning and as such, the school’s budget does not count on them returning to campus.

While no final decison has been reached, the college is weighing other options for if the Bengals do not return. Dr. Gambill expects to be able to recoup some of the revenue lost by hosting additional camps which would be drawn by the addition of articial turf at Toyota Stadium. If the artificial turf is added, it will be paid for in part by an 11-year, $544,00 deal with the Scott County Board of Education that would let the county host a certain number of events on the field. A contract is still in the works.

Dr. Gambill expects a final decision regarding summer training camp to be made in the next 30 days.

GC student charged with drug trafficking

Copy Editor

Georgetown College junior Michael Syrett was arrested for drug trafficking on Friday, Oct. 14 at 4:37 p.m., according to the Georgetown Police Department.

The police were con- tacted by the United States Postal Inspector, who noticed a suspicious pack- age addressed to Syrett at his Georgetown College address. Syrett signed for the package.

Local newspapers and news stations, including WKYT, say that inside the package were 1,100 pills of the prescription pain killer Percoset, worth approxi- mately $33,000 on the street.

Syrett, who plays short- stop for the Georgetown College baseball team, has been released from jail on a $2,000 bond but is still under investigation. The Georgetown Police are charging him with trafck- ing a controlled substance, and he may be under federal investigation as well. The

22-year-old from Hunting- ton Beach, Calif. is sched- uled to appear in court next week.

Syrett’s status as a stu- dent will depend on the investigation results. The Georgetown College student handbook states “the stor- age, possession, or use of illegal drugs may result in immediate suspension of those involved and may result in prosecution by civil authorities.”

According to the hand- book, students who are accused of violating the stu- dent code of conduct will appear either in an adminis- trative hearing or a Campus Accountability Board hear- ing. Sanctions will be determined based on the hearing.

According to the annual crime statistics report recently released by George- town College’s Campus Safety Department, there were two arrests related to drug abuse violations on campus property in 2008. No such drug-related arrests occurred in 2009 or 2010.

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GRIFF noticed that this year, he didn’t see a lot of black folk out on Black Friday. He wonders if this is the year we collectively got smarter about our money, in effort to not overspend and be broke in January.

Or, as GRIFF puts it “is this the year that black people got some sense during the holidays?” Check out this exclusive video to hear more in this clip from “Get Up! Mornings With Erica Campbell.”

Listen to “Get Up! Mornings With Erica Campbell” LIVE every weekday from 6/5am C.

RELATED: GRIFF Prays That Gray Hairs Never Go Inside His Ear [EXCLUSIVE VIDEO]

RELATED:  Mr. Griffin: Is Your Love Tank Full For The Lord? [EXCLUSIVE VIDEO]


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GETDipped: Hublot Chukker Bang

“Chukker Bang is a 44mm Big Bang watch, equipped with a titanium grill, affixed to its bezel, in order to further protect the sapphire crystal. The grill can beremoved though and put back on when needed. Only 500 numbered pieces of the watch will be produced and it also comes in a version with a diamond encrusted grill.”  See more pics of this awesome timepiece after the jump

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Jacs Dining and Taphouse

I find some of the spam I get on this blog funny. Who comments ‘first’ on a post that is a week old?

Jacs Dining and Taphouse
I’m not sure why this place hasn’t gotten more (any) mention in the gluten free dining world of Madison. We wanted to go out for dinner Friday night and I had narrowed it down to Jacs Dining and Taphouse on Monroe St and Coopers Tavern on the Square. In a fit of new behavior, I actually called each place to see how well they could handle me. Normally I just wing it and hope for the best. Jacs had the single best answer I could hope for. When I asked the woman who answered the phone how well they handled gluten free food she told me ‘Oh! There are only three things on the menu we CAN’T make gluten free. We have gluten free bread. And a dedicated gluten free fryer.’ I was sold. We’ll hit Coopers Tavern another night (they can handle gluten free, but weren’t nearly as enthusiastic about it).

It ended up being three friends and the ManBeast and I. While we’d aimed to get there for 7, the place was packed and we were told it could be 45 min until we got a table for 5. The place is pretty small, so it was understandable. They’ve got a decent bar area, but the place isn’t that big, so there aren’t all that many tables you can shove in a small place. We made ourselves cozy at the bar and were served by bar tenders that were actually *nice* and *smiled* at us. Gasp! I don’t know how long it actually was until we were seated, but it didn’t feel like all too long.

Our waiter was knowledgeable about their gluten free menu and was able to rattle it off without needing to refer to anything. Somehow, all 5 of us ended up with one version or another of their 2 burger selections. Their bread comes from the Silly Yak Bakery, which is decent, but quickly becoming nothing special. Unlike Monty’s Blue Plate though, Jacs toasts their bread a bit, which meant that it didn’t fall apart as I was eating my burger. The burger itself tasted like it could have used a bit more flavoring to the meat. However, the rest of what was on it made up for that, as their aioli was quite tasty. Their fries were also quite tasty. Nice and crisp with a fair bit of some mysterious flavor. Even compared to the ones we make at home, they were quite good.

Overall, we gave the place a solid B. The food was good, but nothing out of this world. The drinks were reasonable and the ManBeast was pleased with their beer selection. We did feel their prices were a bit high for the quality of food. That said, we’re still planning to go back to try some of their other dishes. We liked the atmosphere and all the staff we interacted with were some of the more friendly we’ve come across. And I can’t help but want to support local establishments that are HAPPY to accommodate and welcome gluten free diners.

Caveat: While I was fine Fri night, I’ve been off and not feeling the greatest this weekend. I’m showing some mild glutening symptoms, but I have no clue from what. It could have been Jacs, but it could just be something else entirely going on. So as with anywhere, if you’re gluten free and eating out, eat at your own risk and make sure you ask the questions you need to.

Asian inspired herb roasted pork

The was good, and is likely on our make again list. But I’ll probably tweek it further next time. I couldn’t really taste the sage over the glaze, though I LOVED the glaze. In fact, the glaze is pretty damn close to the recipe we use for our sesame chicken (which I still need to get the ManBeast to dictate to me so it can be documented). So you might want to either up the sage, or try some other herb combination.

Asian inspired herb roasted pork
1. Set a 3 lb pork sirloin roast, bone in, in a appropriate sized glass baking dish. Ideally yours should be thawed fully.
2. Preheat oven to 350F.
3. Combine: 1 tsp dried sage, 2 cloves garlic, 1/2 t salt, 1/4 t pepper, and mash together. Add 2 T grapeseed oil and combine.
4. With the roast fat side down, slather some of the herb/oil mix onto the roast and rub it in. Turn the roast over and rub in the rest of the herb mix.
5. Bake for 1/2 an hour.
6. Meanwhile, in a small pan combine: 1/2 c brown sugar, 2 T cornstarch, 1/2 c balsamic vinegar, 1/2 c water
1/4 c soy sauce, 1 clove garlic minced, 1/4 tsp cayenne, 1 T sesame oil. Heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture begins to bubble and thicken slightly. If yours in anything like mine, it will look like nothing is happening, until all of a sudden it does. If you don’t like spicy hot of any kind, omit the cayenne, if you love it and can tolerate it, you might want to double the cayenne.
7. After the first half hour of roasting, brush some glaze over the roast every 10-15 min, to finish up a full hour of roasting.
8. At an hour, you should start checking the roast for doneness with a meat thermometer. Some will tell you to take it out at 145, others will insist upon 170. Use your discretion.
9. Slice the roast. I left the extra glaze separate so that we could flavor to our liking.

I’d probably just sit and eat the meat and glaze if left to my own devices. I served this with brussel sprouts.

If you’re using a different size roast, the suggestion I saw was that you should give it 20 min for every pound of meat. Ours was right on 3lb, hence an hour cooking time. In hindsight, this timing likely doesn’t include a bone, nor the roast not being fully thawed. It ended up taking closer to 1.5 hours. Glazing should be done in the last half hour, adjusted for how big your roast is.

Lamb chops with Balsamic sauce

I’m a fan of lamb. I like the general texture of it. I like the taste. But I’m not fond of the price tag in the grocery store. Thankfully Bucky Butchery usually has various cuts of lamb, all reasonably priced. So I get to have my lamb fix on my graduate student stipend. Weeee!!!

Lamb chops with balsamic sauce
I used lamb arm chops for this recipe. Honestly, I don’t suggest them. They were incredibly fatty, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but for how much fat there was, there wasn’t much meat. I made two large chops with this recipe, and ate both of them myself. So if you’re going to try this, I suggest some other chop version. I’m sure this would also work well with pork.

1. In a small bowl or cup, combine 3/4 t dried rosemary, 1/4 t dried basil, 1/2 t dried thyme, and salt and pepper to taste.
2. Rub this mixture all over 2 thick cut lamb chops and set them aside to marinate for a bit.
3. Chop up half a small onion.
4. Heat some bacon fat in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the chops for about 3-4 minutes per side, slightly longer if you want your meat more well done, slightly less if you want them more rare. Remove and set aside, covered with aluminum foil to keep them warm.
5. Add the onion to the skillet and cook for a few minutes, until they are slightly browned.
6. Stir in 1/3 c balsamic vinegar, scraping up bits from the bottom of the pan.
7. Stir in 3/4 c chicken broth and cook over medium high heat for about 5 minutes, until the sauce is reduced by half. Or longer, if need be.
8. Remove from heat, and stir in 1 T butter. Pour over the lamb chops and consume.

Hot slaw – no mayo!

The ManBeast is not a fan of mayonnaise, so when we decided to have slaw with dinner tonight, I had to search for a non-mayo based recipe. I also wasn’t fond of the idea of cold slaw, it is only 4F outside after all. I really liked the idea of the slaw recipe from Purely Primal, so I made do with what I had on hand, and changed it to fit what I thought might be good. Here’s what I ended up with.

Hot slaw
1. Chop up a half a head of cabbage, 1 red bell pepper and shred one carrot. Mix together.
2. Slice in half moons, one small onion.
3. Mix together 2 T vinegar (I used rice vinegar and apple cider vinegar) and 2 T honey.
4. Melt 2 T bacon grease in a large pot, saute the onion until it is slightly soft.
5. Add half the cabbage mixture, and saute stirring regularly, cooking for maybe 3 or so minutes, more if you want it softer, less if you want it crunchier.
6. Add about half the honey/vinegar mixture, stirring well.
7. Transfer the cooked mixture to a bowl and set aside.
8. Melt another 1 T bacon grease and saute the remaining cabbage mixture for a few minutes.
9. Combine the two batches of cabbage mixture and add the remaining honey/vinegar mixture. Add in about a 1/2 tsp salt.

Next time I’ll probably add a touch more salt, and some sort of herb, though I’m not sure which one.

Gluten Free in Des Moines, IA

While we don’t own a TV, the ManBeast has become a fan of Man vs. Food (thank you internet TV!). Sometime shortly after Thanksgiving he mentioned wanting to travel down to Iowa to go to Jethro’s to have an Adam Emmenecker sandwich. Des Moines is the closest place the show has visited, and as it was only a 5 hour drive from Madison; we decided it was doable. While Jethro’s didn’t exactly fit my gluten free dining needs, who am I to deny the ManBeast the chance to eat a crazy big sandwich? He’s changed his eating habits a great deal so that I can eat safely, and I compromise by being okay (and supportive!) with his beer hoarding tendencies and his desire to try new foods.

Our plan was to drive down last Friday morning, arriving for lunch at Jethro’s, check into our hotel, and then have a gluten free dinner for me. I found us a great last minute deal at Extended Stay that only cost us $40 for the night. Not only the cheapest I could find advertised for Des Moines, but also pretty decent thanks to a small kitchenette and a quiet/warm/clean place to sleep.

Our drive did indeed take 5 hours; there was absolutely no traffic. But there were a bizarre number of cars wrecked on the side of the highway, including one tractor trailer on it’s side in the middle of the median. We stopped at a HyVee in Altoona to buy a camera. I wasn’t able to find mine before we left and the ManBeast wanted pictures. Being the people we are, the ManBeast checked out their beer selection, and I checked out their gluten free section. Now I know, if I ever find myself in Altoona, I could live quite comfortably, as their gluten free section rivals many even here in Madison (though Woodman’s on the west side still has them beat).

We found ourselves at Jethro’s right at the tail end of the lunch crowd. The ManBeast’s comment about his sandwich was that the food itself wasn’t anything special, though the buffalo chicken tenders on it were quite tasty. He was able to finish about 2/3 of the sandwich, which is pretty impressive. He’s requested we return during biking season so he can do the actual challenge. I had some sort of salad, which wasn’t anything special, but I didn’t get glutened, so I guess that’s a plus.

For dinner, I picked out Shane’s Rib Shack from the options available on Urban Spoon. I knew going in that Shane’s was a chain, but it had such great reviews and a gluten free menu. And I LOVE ribs. What I didn’t know was that this is the sort of place you walk in, place your order at the counter, and they bring the food out to you. I was a bit disappointed, as I wanted a more sit down, waiter/waitress, order food sort of place. But my ribs were damn tasty and I didn’t get glutened. The ManBeast didn’t order anything, as he was still full from lunch, but he concurred that the bite of my ribs he had was good.

So, one can be gluten free in Des Moines, Iowa, and live a decent life. If our budgets were a bit more, there were other restaurants I would have loved to try, but considering I wasn’t the focus of this food adventure, I was quite pleased with the foods available to me. And quite pleased that I didn’t get glutened.

500 Fruits: update #6

As I put up my 2011 to do list the other day, I thought it might be helpful to also update my fruit list here, as one of the things I’d like to do is try 100 new fruits this year. The hard thing though, is that I lost my printed out fruit list. When I do a major update to my spreadsheet, I print out a new version, fold it up nice, and stick it in the little card holder on my key chain. This way I can remember what I’ve had when I’m standing in the store, and I have a place to hand write new fruits. Thankfully I only ‘lost’ 9 fruits. Well, 8 of them because I can’t remember 8 of the 9 I know I had hand written on my list. For whatever reason I remember having the meyer lemon. I have a feeling a few of them were pear and apple variants. Oh well, it just means I get to have them again. Just in case. So I ended 2010 at 79 (quince was the last one). And I’m off to a good start in 2011, as I’ve already had four more, and I’ve got kumquats sitting in the fridge. Here’s my up to date list. I also added that #1 started May 2010. And #80 starts 2011.

39 Africot, Black Velvet
82 apple, arkansas black
67 apple, cortland
64 apple, crab
81 apple, haralson
72 apple, honey crisp
80 apple, northern spy (2011)
65 apple, paula red
61 apple, WI gala
14 Apricot
26 Asian pear
17 Avocado
6 Banana
44 banana, red
31 Blackberries
18 Blueberries
58 cactus fruit
29 Cantaloupe
46 cherries, dark sweet
28 cherries, Rainier
38 cherries, sweet red
37 Clementine
77 cranberry
70 date, medjool
51 eggplant
56 gooseberries
32 Grapefruit
50 grapes, black
55 grapes, concord
20 grapes, green seedless
10 Grapes, seedless red
5 Guanabana
7 kiwifruit
52 lemon
78 lemon, meyer
34 lime
42 lychee nuts
62 mandarin, daisy
2 Mango
60 mango-nectarine
53 melon, horn
47 melon, sprite
36 mulberries
15 Nectarine
41 nectarine, white
83 orange, blood
12 orange, navel
4 Papaya
9 passion fruit
11 Peach
54 peach, donut
43 pear, bartlett
24 pear, D’anjou
76 pear, Harrow’s delight
30 pear, Packham’s Triumph
27 Pear, red Anjou
73 pear, seckel
63 pear, star krimson
71 pear, tosca
25 pepper, bell (red)
33 pepper, jalapeno
74 persimmon
35 pineapple
22 plum, black
48 plum, dapple dandy
66 plum, egg
3 Plum, purple
21 Plum, red
45 plum, yellow
23 Pluot
40 Pluot, Red Velvet
75 pomegranate
59 prune plum
79 quince
13 Raspberries
57 star fruit
8 strawberries
19 tomato, grape
69 tomato, heirloom
68 tomato, roma
16 tomato, vine on
1 Watermelon (May, 2010)
49 zucchini

2011 to do list

Every year for the past 7 years I’ve made a yearly to do list. This isn’t resolutions. Rather, if there is something I think I’d like to change, rather than resolving to change it, I think of something I can actually do to get to that end, and then that item gets added to my list. I also include things that I generally think I would like to, or think I should, do over the coming year. I’ve gotten better at making the items on my to do list achievable, if I actually aim to get them done. I usually hit around 50% completion, and that’s good enough for me.

So here is this years to do list. There are a few items you’ll see a number for, but no item. These are things that I don’t feel comfortable making completely public. This year I’m also experimenting with dividing my list into things that I think should be easy for me to complete, somewhat challenging, and a few things that I think will be hard to do.

1. Ride my bike to campus when the weather is nice.
2. Visit a state I’ve never been to before.
3. Go to Picnic Point.
4. Go to a concert on the square.
5. Go to a hockey game.
6. Go to a women’s basketball game.
7. See the butterfly exhibit at the Botanical Garden.
8. Get Rascal to the vet.
9. Get Thor to the vet.
10. Make an educated vote in a local election.
11. Get my license switched to Wisconsin.
12. Read 12 books.
13. At least 3 books should come from the banned book list.
14. At least 2 should be science books.
15. One should be in Spanish (can be a kids book).
17. Continue my savings plans. (Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec)
18. Donate $ every month. (automated for the year)
19. Finish the edges on the bed frame.
20. Put the last coat of finish on the end table I built.
21. Write to two of my elected officials.
22. Learn to build a fire and actually build a fire.
23. Take a dance course (not one class, but a 5-6 week series).

24. Be able to do 30 sun salutations.
25. Complete the 100 push ups program.
26. Get my weight back below 150.
27. Do an East Coast trip #3.
28. See my parents at least once.
29. Finish putting my pictures in the album I started.
30. Go to the dentist.
31. Celebrate my birthday.
32. Host an actual dinner party, Thanksgiving can’t count this year!
33. Get no parking tickets.
34. Get no speeding tickets.
35. Get two new stamps in my parks book, one local, one out of the area.
36. Only charge to my credit card what can immediately be paid off.
37. Pay off $3500 of my student loans.
38. Try at least 100 new fruits.
39. Make a list of things to do when I’m depressed that might help me feel better.
40. Do the ten things ten days of gratitude.
41. Be able to carry on a decent conversation in Spanish.
42. Do something for at least 12 friends birthdays that lets them know they are important to me.
43. Build a liquor cabinet.
44. Roll over my traditional IRA into a Roth IRA.
45. Start a CD ladder AND/OR contribute some of that money to my Roth IRA.
46. Learn how to swim under water without holding my nose.

47. Stop picking my skin.
48. Run a 5k.
49. Make one new friend.
50. Discover one new thing that brings me joy.
51. Let my parents know what I want done with my body if/when I die.


text:
Ablynx Receives Milestone Payment as Novartis Receives IND Approval for a Nanobody in Oncology

GHENT, Belgium - Ablynx [Euronext Brussels: ABLX] today announced that it has received a €400,000 milestone payment from its collaboration with Novartis. The payment was triggered by the approval of an Investigational New Drug (IND) application from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the Phase I clinical trial for a Nanobody® licensed to Novartis. This is the first development candidate emerging from the licensing agreement between Ablynx and Novartis.
Ablynx and Novartis entered into a commercial licensing agreement in July 2010, under which Novartis obtained licenses to develop and commercialise Nanobodies against two targets (including this one for which an IND has been approved), which originated from the research agreement between the parties, entered into in 2005. Since July 2010, Novartis has full responsibility for the continued progress of both programmes and Ablynx is eligible to receive development-based milestone payments and royalties on sales following commercialisation of the products.
Dr Edwin Moses, CEO and Chairman of Ablynx, commented:

"We are excited that Novartis has obtained IND approval and that they will bring this first Nanobody into clinical development in an oncology setting. This development candidate demonstrates the power of the Nanobody platform in addressing complex target classes that are challenging to address with conventional antibodies."

About Investigational New Drug Application (IND)
An IND is an application that a drug sponsor must submit to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before beginning tests of a new drug on humans. The IND package contains the plan for the study and is supposed to give a complete picture of the drug, including its structural formula, animal test results and manufacturing information. The equivalent in Europe is called an Investigational Medicinal Product Dossier (IMPD).
About Ablynx
Ablynx is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of Nanobodies®, a novel class of therapeutic proteins based on single-domain antibody fragments, for a range of serious and life-threatening human diseases, including inflammation, haematology, oncology and pulmonary disease. Today, the Company has over 25 programmes in the pipeline and seven Nanobodies at clinical development stage. Ablynx has ongoing research collaborations and significant partnerships with major pharmaceutical companies, including Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck Serono and Novartis. The Company is headquartered in Ghent, Belgium. More information can be found on www.ablynx.com.


text:
Example Spring Boot examples for a separated OAuth authentication and resource server
Java HTML Shell
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Spring Boot OAuth Authorization & Resource server

I present to you an example on how to use Spring Boot together with Spring Security OAuth2 to implement an authorization server and a resource server.

Also included are some example client applications for the resource server.

It's a pretty modern application, using Spring Boot, gradle, thymeleaf and only JavaConfig. In my opinion it's also a good example of how Java applications aren't big bloated "enterprisy" things anymore. The current sloccount is 519. 178 of that are just the SQLite dialect for hibernate which I had to include because it's not in the official packages.

Just tell me how to run it

  • Clone the repository

  • If you have gradle installed, run

      gradle build

    in the main directory. Otherwise run

      ./gradlew build

    It will download a local gradle. On Windows use gradlew.bat.

  • Start the authorization server with

      java -jar oauth-server/build/libs/oauth-server.jar

    And the resource server with

      java -jar resource-server/build/libs/resource-server.jar

    The authorization server runs under http://localhost:8081 and the resource server under http://localhost:8080.

  • Additionally you can start a http server in example-clients/html, e.g. like this

      cd example-clients/html/read-only
      ruby -run -e httpd . -p 9090

    It will be reachable under http://localhost:9090.

Starting from within a IDE

If you want to play around with the java code it's more practicable to start from within your IDE. Just run either OAuthServerMain or ResourceServerMain. The working directory to execute in should be the directory in which you cloned into because the database files are expected there.

What to do when it is running?

The OAuth server is fairly self explanatory. Just open http://localhost:8081 in a browser. You can login as

  • an OAuth admin to administrate clients
  • an resource admin or normal user to see what clients you have granted access. The login credentials should be displayed on the login page.

The URL to get a new access token for a client is

If the call to this URL is valid and you are logged in it will redirect to some_uri with an access token attached to the location hash. If you want to call this with cURL you have to set the cookie header to include the session id.

curl .../oauth/authorize?... -H "Cookie: JSESSIONID=..."

which you can find in your browser development console.

The resource server exposes a (very simple) REST API. You can use the example clients to access them or cURL after receiving an access token.

curl -v localhost:8080/todos -H "Authorization: Bearer $token"
curl -v localhost:8080/todos/1 -H "Authorization: Bearer $token"
curl -v -X DELETE localhost:8080/todos/1 -H "Authorization: Bearer $token"
curl -v -X POST localhost:8080/tokens localhost:8080/todos/1 -H "Authorization: Bearer $token" -d "{ \"message\": \"Do stuff\", \"done\": false }"

I wrote this because I had to get into OAuth with Spring and found it actually quite hard to find good examples and documentation. I hope others can learn from this.

Caveats & Disclaimer

I am not a security expert, far from it. I implemented this with my best knowledge on OAuth and Spring Security but I take no guarantee that it is usable in a productive application.

I used sqlite for the database because most people will have sqlite on their system and can easily look into the database like this.

It goes without saying that in any production environment all HTTP traffic must be HTTPS, otherwise your tokens and client secrets are sniffable.


text:
Pre-Crisis Conditions

Corporate Raiders Gamble Hard

ARCHIV - ILLUSTRATION - Das Logo der TUI AG, aufgenommen am 09.06.2013 an der Platja de Muro im Norden der Mittelmeerinsel Mallorca (Spanien). Foto: Julian Stratenschulte/dpa (zu dpa "Reisekonzern Tui macht Türkei-Einbruch bei Sommerurlauben wett" vom 31.03.2016) +++(c) dpa - Bildfunk+++
TUI resport in Malaga.
  • Why it matters

    Why it matters

    Company takeover prices have reached new highs, prompting some to warn of similarities with the inflated prices leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. Despite the risks, financial investors have a lot of available cash that needs investing.

  • Facts

    • The ratio of purchase prices to operating profits has increased, with some buyers paying 10 times operating profits for companies.
    • There is also growing interest from Chinese investors to acquire companies in the West.
    • It’s a sellers’ market for high-quality companies.
  • Audio

  • Pdf

In 2009, a year after the financial crisis began, David Rubenstein admitted that he’d gotten carried away.

“I compare it to sex,” the co-founder of private equity giant The Carlyle Group said at the time, at a conference at Harvard Business School. “You realize that there are certain things you shouldn’t do. But the need is there, and you can’t resist it.”

Seven years later, the markets have once again reached a fever pitch, with exaggerations that alarm investment bankers.

“Financial investors are once again paying maximum prices in corporate takeovers, prices that have reached the level of 2007 or are even higher,” said Rainer Langel, head of the German division of Macquarie Capital Advisers. This has him worried.

“The exaggerations cannot go well in the long term,” he said ahead of the private equity conference in Munich sponsored by Handelsblatt, which began on Wednesday. The industry is at the end of a cycle that usually lasts seven to eight years, he said.

Want to keep reading?

Subscribe now or log in to read our coverage of Europe’s leading economy.


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Standards Store

BS 7076-2

1990 Edition, January 31, 1990

Complete Document

Dimensions of gaskets for flanges to BS 1560 - Part 2: Specification for metallic ring-joint gaskets for use with steel flanges

Includes all amendments and changes through Amendment 1, June 15, 1995

View Abstract
Product Details
Document History

Detail Summary

Superseded By: BS EN 12560-5

Additional Comments:
W/D S/S BY BS EN 12560-5
Price (USD)
Secure PDF
Single User
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Product Details:

Description / Abstract:

Dimensions and marking of gaskets for use with flanges to BS 1560-3.1 with Class designations 150, 300, 600, 900 and 1500 in sizes up to and including 24 and for Class 2500 for sizes up to and including 12.


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GF Buttermilk Biscuits

I hardly know where to start! In the last two weeks we have had chicken pox, colds and the flu in our house. This means I haven’t had a lot of time to write, but I HAVE had a lot of time to cook, so there will be a lot of posts in the upcoming days!

We recently made homemade butter and were THRILLED with the results. One of the by products from butter is fresh buttermilk. Many years ago I liked buttermilk biscuits but we haven’t had any in years. I was inspired by the fresh buttermilk though so I altered and fussed and came up with these. They were very good! Denser than I remember buttermilk biscuits to be, but they rose, they were fluffy and they were gone in the blink of an eye!

Fresh GF Buttermilk Biscuits

2 cups gluten free flour4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

12 turns freshly ground salt, it ends up being about 1/2 tsp
4 TBSP cold (we used fresh) butter , chopped
1/2 cup fresh buttermilk
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl. Add in butter and mix until flour has a grainy texture.

Beat eggs in a separate bowl, mix in milk.

Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Form into biscuit shapes and bake for 15 – 20 minutes.

Butter and Dry ingredients

Form into biscuit shapes with your hands.

Bake until golden, yummy....

Garlicky Mashy Potatoes

I like garlic. Luckily it’s good for me cause I really do eat a LOT of it. Take these potatoes for example, there are 13 cloves.

I sadly did not get pictures of these but I am working on the whole photograph thing. I get so focused on the cooking that I completely forget to take pictures until later. I am working on it though I promise.

8-10 medium sized red potatoes, quartered

13-15 cloves garlic, peeled and halved

salt and pepper

Put potatoes and garlic in a pot, cover with water. Boil until soft.

Drain, mash and season.

Steak Diane

There are some recipes that you hesitate trying because they are such a classic that you KNOW you will screw it up. Besides, it has to be complicated. Steak Diane was one of those recipes to me. It is last meal ever kind of good so I was sure it was complicated and I would be extremely disappointed. NOT SO.

I have to admit that there was a little bit of processed goodness in this meal. The one thing we can find at both grocery stores here is Lundgren Farms Risotto. It is ummy. We eat it a lot. Okay, maybe not a lot but a couple times a month. That’s a lot. And it goes REALLY well with Steak Diane. I highly recommend it as a side dish.

Steak Diane

Steak, as much as you need. Tenderloin is best but we used Sirloin Tips.

Salt and Pepper

1/2 onion, minced

3 cups sliced mushrooms

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup brandy

2 TBLSP dijon mustard

2 TBSP Worcestershire Sauce

1/2 cup dry red wine

2 TBSP butter

Heat the oil in a pan. Meanwhile salt and pepper one side of each steak. Place the steaks season side down in the pan and season the other side. Sear on each side about 3 minutes.

Remove steaks to a plate and cover with foil.

Put onions and mushrooms in the pan and saute 2-3 minutes stirring FREQUENTLY.

Add the garlic, stir a few times then add Brandy. They say it may ignite so be careful. It didn’t ignite on me but still. Add mustard and Worcestershire. Stir well. I warn you it looks sooo good already. Simmer a couple minutes.

Add wine. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes.

Add steaks back to the pan. Cook until desired doneness.

Remove the steaks to their plates. Resist. Let them rest. They are tired.

Stir the butter into the sauce and pour on top of steaks.

Now. Devour.

Still cooking...

Resolutions, Beer Bacon Bok Bok

It’s a new year! I made a resolution this year. To post here a MINIMUM of three times a week. In our household I can’t promise more than that since you probably don’t want to read about how I made cheese quesadillas or cereal for dinner on the worst days.

I got a new cookbook for Christmas. It’s a Guy Fieri cookbook. I looked through it and definitely see a few recipes to try but the Beer Can chicken had to start. I have, sadly, never actually made it, and this recipe looked awesome. In true Jen fashion, I of course had to change it though. Hubby says it needs to be called Beer Bacon Bok Bok cause it’s made with beer, bacon and chicken. I think it just needs to be called yummy but here we go! 🙂

Beer Bacon Bok Bok

1 chicken, whole

1 can GF beer, see note

4 garlic cloves, smashed

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp garlic pepper

1 Tblsp onion flakes

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp ground sage

1 tsp salt

`1 tsp fresh ground pepper

7-9 slices bacon

1 potato per person

Preheat oven to 450.

Mix all the spices in a small bowl.

Rub half the seasoning under the skin, directly on the meat.

Rub the other half all over the outside of the chicken.

Pour 1/2 cup beer out, preferably into your glass.

Put the garlic in the can.

Nestle the chicken butt over the can (as Hubby puts it, shove the can up it’s butt)

Shove a couple pieces of bacon down it’s throat and drape the rest over the chicken.

Place, can as chicken holder, in a roasting pan.

Put in the oven for about 15 minutes, then REDUCE the heat to 350 and bake another hour or so

Until the internal temp reaches 165.

Let it rest for about 10-15 minutes.

I put the potatoes in an hour before it was done cooking.

Serve, enjoy, savor.

I used Bard’s but I prefer New Planet. I don’t know how easy it is to find GF beer where you are, but there is only place within an hour of here that sells it and that is hit and miss….which is why you see a bottle, not a can in the picture. Here’s what we did. Wash and dry an empty can of regular beer. Hubby drinks the regular stuff so this was easy for us. Pour half a cup of the GF bottled beer into your glass, or drink it out of the measuring cup. Pour the rest of the beer into the can. Wala. GF beer in a can.

Busy Night Dinner

Tuesdays are really hectic for us. With dance classes at 4 and 7, Awanas at 6:30, school pick ups for the daycare kids and more, finding time to cook dinner is a challenge. For those days I rely on standby’s.

Sorry about the quality. I had to use my phone :)
I may have mentioned my serious thing for pork these days. Risotto is another favorite of mine and all the kids. So I combine them in an easy, no fuss dinner.
Lundberg Family Farms makes fabulous boxed gluten free risotto. I usually use two boxes, one garlic and one parmesan. You can, however just use rice and broth instead of the risotto and water. Just use two cups of rice to 4 1/2 cups of broth.

Baked Pork Chops and Risotto

  • 4 center cut pork chops
  • 2 boxes Lundberg risotto (or rice… see above)
  • 4 1/2 cups water (and broth)
  • 2 Tbsp garlic pepper
  • 2 Tbsp dehydrated onion flakes
  • 2 Tbsp freshly ground pepper

Preheat your oven to 350.

Pour risotto and seasoning packets  into a glass 9 x 13 casserole followed by the water. Put the pork chops on top (they will sink a bit) and sprinkle the remaining ingredients evenly over top.

Cover with foil and bake about an hour.

Serve with any vegetable. We made garlic green beans.

A New Home with Garlic Sage Pork Roast

Out of the oven and ready to be sliced....

I didn’t move much when I was growing up but I did move once.  When I was 11 we moved from the suburbs of Portland, OR to the suburbs of Salt Lake City, UT.  It was a big move and put the bug in me.  I like the promise and potential of a new house.  I am,  however, tired of moving.  Packing, and unpacking, are no longer full of promise but just a lot of work.  I am ready for our forever home but in the meantime, since we can’t yet go where we want to be but really needed another bathroom, we have bought a new house and are in the process of unpacking our new home.

It seemed fitting that the blog got a new home as well. Tell me what you think! What would you like to see in this new home? It truly is full of promise and potential! Speaking of…..I have a new stove!

We finally got one (the most important) appliance! We have an itty bitty little mini fridge but we had no stove. Now that I have one I have wasted NO time in getting back into the swing of cooking! I (prego as I am) have been craving pork roast. Don’t ask. With the oldest I couldn’t come anywhere NEAR pork but this one is the solid opposite. I pride myself on my indoor garden and use the fresh herbs whenever possible. I also have a thing for garlic so here is tonight’s to-die-for dinner. Buy the roast when it’s on sale and freeze the leftovers or use for other meals to keep it frugal. Growing your own herbs and garlic helps keep it frugal as well … not to mention the fabulous taste!

Garlic Sage Pork Roast

  • Pork Roast, split lengthwise and tied at intervals around (ours was 5 pounds)
  • 1/4 cup fresh sage leaves
  • 3 TBLSP Olive Oil
  • 1 tsp freshly ground sea salt
  • 8-10 garlic cloves

Combine the sage, olive oil and salt in a mortar and pestle then grind it to a paste. Peel the garlic and smash it a little to release it’s oils. Insert a clove into the center in each opening between twine all the way around. Insert two in each end. Spread the sage paste all over the top and sides of roast, rubbing it in with your hands.

Bake at 325 for about 40 minutes per pound which means this cooked at 3 1/2 hours. Let rest for 15 – 20 minutes to save juices.

We really like garlic so I served this with Garlic Mashed Potatoes and a salad. ENJOY!


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Bradley Manning Supporters and Veterans to Rally Throughout West Coast

via (title unknown) by jacob on 8/15/12

Advocates for PFC Bradley Manning, led by Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans including Scott Olsen, will demonstrate for the Nobel Peace Prize nominee throughout the West Coast on Thursday, August 16, at 5:00 PM. Actions are planned at Oscar Grant Grant Plaza in Oakland, CA, at Army recruitment offices in Portland, OR, and at Syd Kronenthal in Los Angeles, CA.

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