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In it, but not of it. TPM DC

Silver Lining: Why Dems' Big Loss Could Pave The Way For Obama Nominees

"Reid should concentrate Floor time on must pass bills, message and other votes that highlight differences and important matters that are or should be non-controversial, including confirming lifetime federal judges," Glenn Sugameli, an advocate for swift judicial confirmations, tells TPM. "All of Obama's nominees to circuit and district courts have had the support of their home-state Republican and Democratic senators and the vast majority have been non-controversial nominees who have been approved by the Judiciary Committee without objection and approved unanimously when they finally receive usually long-delayed Floor votes."

"If one or more Republican senators force cloture votes on consensus nominees, they will accurately be seen as mindlessly obstructionist," Sugameli says. If they do not, nominees will be confirmed quickly."

That's not to say that scores of judicial vacancies will be filled immediately, or that President Obama will (finally) see his executive branch fully staffed. Democrats will have a much smaller majority of 53 Senators, and any single Republican will be able to force Democrats to round up 60 votes and spend nearly a week of floor time to get a nominee confirmed.

"I would remind you that actions have consequences and we're going to have to deal with what the House sends us and, at the other end, it's three days plus [per filibuster] and all the days add up," says Reid spokesman Jim Manley.

But one of the biggest hurdles nominees faced this year was a thick legislative agenda: they were literally crowded out by the sheer volume of routine, emergency, and history-making legislation. Next year that won't be an issue. And that has some advocates seeing a silver lining around the midterm election results.

About The Author

Brian Beutler is TPM's senior congressional reporter. Since 2009, he's led coverage of health care reform, Wall Street reform, taxes, the GOP budget, the government shutdown fight and the debt limit fight. He can be reached at


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TPM Livewire

Ted Nugent Blames Jews For Gun Control In Anti-Semitic Facebook Rant

AP Photo / Gene J. Puskar

A meme shared Sunday on Nugent's Facebook page alleges that Jewish leaders, including Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, are behind a concerted effort to confiscate Americans’ guns. The meme showed a small Israeli flag stamped on each individual’s face below the title: “So who is really behind gun control?”

In his caption, Nugent refers to the Jewish politicians as "punks" who "hate freedom":

He later defended the meme, writing "What sort of racist prejudiced POS could possibly not know that Jews for guncontrol are nazis in disguise?"

The aging rocker's anti-Semitic kick didn't end there. On Monday, he posted a photo comparing anti-gun Americans to Holocaust victims, writing that both were “soulless sheep to slaughter.”

That meme showed Nazi officers rounding up Jewish families alongside text that says Hitler got “millions of people to follow along blindly and not fight back.” Nugent added his own two cents in a caption, saying he wouldn’t follow the same path of these “soulless sheep.”

Nugent, a National Rifle Association board member, is no stranger to Internet controversy. He's peppered his Facebook page with memes that called Rev. Al Sharpton a “mongrel” and suggested Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama be “hung” over the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya.

h/t Right Wing Watch

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Top Jukebox Joints In Tampa BayIt may have changed over the years, but the jukebox will always adapt and survive. Here are some great Tampa Bay joints in which to play your favorite tunes.
Best Mardi Gras Parties In Tampa

More From CBS Tampa

Best Holiday Volunteer Opportunities for the Family in Tampa BayGet the family together to make a difference in the Tampa Bay community this holiday season.
CBS Tampa’s Social Media LinksFollow us!
How To Get Through Airport Security As Quickly As PossibleWith more people flying than ever before, it’s not surprising to see reports of long lines of people waiting in airport security lines...

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TARDIS Index File

Death by fire extinguisher - Doctor Who - Inferno - BBC

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FMs of 28 EU countries to consider reducing aid to Egypt

August 21, 2013, 3:07 UTC+3
Discussion will refer, in particular, to a revision of European programmes for aid to Egypt in the 2012-2014 period
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BRUSSELS, August 21 (Itar-Tass) - The Foreign ministers of the European Union gather here on Wednesday for a special meeting on Egypt in order to fix the community's unified position on the situation in that country.

"The Ministers will consider possiblities for EU assistance in normalizing the situation in Egypt," poins out the European Commission's brief announcement circulated on Tuesday.

The forthcoming talks are expected to be no-easy ones, for EU countries concur only on their striving to promote an end to violence in Egypt. However, acute differences persist over estimates of the causes of the violence there and over plans for possible actions.

Discussion will refer, in particular, to a revision of European programmes for aid to Egypt in the 2012-2014 period. The aid programmes' aggregate amount totals 5 billion euros. Specifically, France with an active support of Denmark suggests freezing the programmes until the interim government of Egypt "returns to the road of democracy" and start direct preparations for a new election.

At the same time, a number of EU countries come out against reducing of freezing the aid programmes. Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, in particular, earlier stated that a suspension of European aid would only deliver a blow on the poorest sections of the population and would weaken the civil society organizations which the EU seeks to help.

Yet another possible option for actions -- to impose an embargo on the supply of weapons to Egypt -- was suggested by Germany which already introduced a one-sided moratorium on the delivery of weapons and special police equipment to Egypt. Similar temporary bans have been already imposed by now by France, Britain, and Italy. However, an all-European decision on that score is lacking so far.

According to Itar-Tass sources, the Ministers will consider "the possibility of a temporary ban on the deliveries of dual-use arms and hardware which can be used for internal repressions" there.

Many European diplomats do not rule it out that at the meeting no specific measures will be adopted and that only a "strong and unanimous statement will be made by all EU members expresssing condemnation of violence in Egypt". Their logic is that the very fact of the holding of an EU urgent ministerial meeting in August "is alreayd a sufficiently strong political signal to the authorities of Egypt". This is undoubtedly so to the Egyptian authorities because practically all European ministers and, consequently, most of subordinate diplomats have to interrupt their summer holidays in order to organize this meeting.

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Green Superfoods for Numerous Benefits

Home >> Food >> Food >> Green Superfoods for Numerous Benefits

Did you eat your vegetables today?

They provide antioxidants, folate, potassium, fiber, lutein, flavonoids, and other important nutrients. The darker the leaves, the more nutritious these veggies are.
But it takes time and effort to prepare and consume large amounts of these greens each day. That’s one reason a growing number of supplements contain alfalfa, barley grass, chlorella, green tea, kelp, spirulina, or wheatgrass—all of which are considered green superfoods because they’re nutrient-dense, energizing, nourishing, and pH-balancing.

A Variety of Greens

Alfalfa contains calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus along with vitamins A, C, thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin. Green tea is a powerful antioxidant and contains catechins, which may help prevent cancer and tumors. Like other sea vegetables, kelp is a rich source of vitamins and minerals, including iodine, which helps correct an underactive thyroid. Spirulina is high in protein and may help improve immunity, lower cholesterol, and stabilize blood sugar levels. Chlorella, another nutritional powerhouse, nourishes the body and helps protect it from damaging chemicals. Wheatgrass and other cereal grasses (such as barley) have similar properties.

What Makes Greens Super

Enzymes, the biological catalysts essential to life, and chlorophyll, the pigment that makes plants green, may be the heroes in green superfoods. Chlorophyll appears to help the growth and repair of tissues, mitigate the effects of pollution, deliver magnesium, oxygenate the blood, neutralize free radicals, deodorize the breath and body, interfere with the action of carcinogens, and treat infected wounds.
In Prescription for Natural Cures, James F. Balch, MD, recommends super green foods for antiaging, cancer prevention, detoxification, muscle aches and cramps, hemorrhoids, and psoriasis. While no long-term, comprehensive, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials have been conducted, the combination of anecdotal reports, laboratory studies, and small clinical trials has created enough loyal customers to support a huge international green superfoods industry.
Consider chlorella, the unicellular green algae that have been a popular food supplement in Japan for decades. It’s rich in protein, chlorophyll, and carotenoids. Chlorella extracts have been found to protect against gamma-radiation as well as the adverse effects of several drugs and toxic chemicals. In a recent clinical trial, some patients with moderately severe symptoms of fibromyalgia improved significantly on 10 g daily of chlorella tablets and 100 ml daily of a liquid chlorella supplement.
Additional research suggests that chlorella reduces dioxin levels in breast milk, improves overall health, supports detoxification, improves digestion, and helps treat hypertension. In one recent study, chlorella outperformed synthetic supplements in a test of their antioxidant properties. In another, Korean researchers suggest that lutein and zeaxanthin (best known for their vision benefits) in chlorella have a powerful antitumor effect, particularly in colon cancer.
Spirulina, a blue–green algae, has similar properties. Preliminary studies indicate that it’s antiviral, immune-supporting, and liver-protecting. It may also inhibit some allergic reactions and help lower cholesterol. Recent research suggests that spirulina may also have antidepressant properties, prevent inflammation, help treat diabetes, fight bacterial and viral infections, and support the growth of intestinal micro flora. The pigments in blue–green algae are also being tested for use as a safe, natural food coloring.
Ever since the late Ann Wigmore made wheatgrass a household name, enthusiasts around the world have been making their own wheatgrass juice, buying frozen juice in natural food stores, and taking powdered wheatgrass supplements. Thanks to Wigmore’s prolific writing and teaching, many consider wheatgrass a cure for cancer and chronic fatigue syndrome as well as a treatment for detoxifying the liver, purifying the blood, neutralizing pollutants, improving energy and circulation, slowing aging, and protecting against biological warfare.
Gloria Gilbère, ND, PhD, cites studies that show wheatgrass helps prevent the symptoms of aging, protects the body from the adverse effects of pollution, detoxifies the intestines, stimulates peristalsis, increases energy, cleanses the blood, improves skin tone and condition, supports mouth and gum health, eliminates body odors, and helps prevent cancer and heart disease.
Mayo Clinic dermatologist Lawrence Gibson, MD, reminds patients that a healthy diet promotes clear skin and that vegetables, especially green, leafy vegetables, do so because of their antioxidant properties. Many users of green food supplements report having more energy and younger looking skin.

Topical Uses

Green foods can even be applied topically, as compresses or poultices that speed the healing of cuts, wounds, burns, bee stings, and abrasions. Also look for them as ingredients in wheatgrass shampoos, spirulina hair conditioners and facial masks, or skin care products containing chlorella. A chlorella extract tested in France improved the appearance of spider veins, undereye circles, skin elasticity, and stretch marks while increasing lymphatic drainage and protecting the skin against free radicals.


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How to Thrive Through the Holidays – {Guest Post by Well: Integrative Health & Healing}

by Beth @ Tasty Yummies

A Very Tasty Thanksgiving

I am so excited for today’s post from my very good friend, April. April and I have been friends for a very long time, I think we met some time when I was in college, through our mutual friends Kris and Tim. Although April and I never get together as often as we’d both like, we are so fortunate that whenever we do have time for each other, we can always pick right up where we left off and the conversation is so amazing, time just falls away. I always walk away feeling so warm and cozy. Last year when I “threw my back out”, I drove out to Lewiston to see April to get some energy healing and quantum touch work done from her. It was incredible, something I had never experienced before and I felt instant relief. It is amazing what love and energy can do for our bodies on a variety of levels. Even in just 5 minutes spent with April you will feel her intuitive healing energy and nature. Beyond all of the usual friend conversations, we can always get together and talk about food and our believes. I really hope you enjoy this great post from April and look for more like it in the future, as well. April and I have been discussing at length, having her create an ongoing series of health coaching guest posts, so please leave your feedback below so we know there is an interest. Enjoy!

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

How to Thrive through the Holidays
(Photo Source)

 It’s an honor to be featured on Tasty Yummies today! Beth and I have been friends for a long time and we share a love of clean, healthy eating and cooking. I admire what she’s done with her blog and often find myself referring clients to it for ideas and recipes. To give you a little background about me, I am have been working as an Energy Healing Facilitator for the past five years am also a Holistic Health Coach. I truly believe that we all have an immeasurable healing ability within us and it is my goal to guide people to harness this capacity to create abundant health so that they can Thrive in their lives. By using energy and food along with aligning other factors in our life such as career, relationships, spirituality and exercise we are able to tap into our true selves and live lives we love.

As the holidays approach and the seasons change they bring a barrage of mixed emotions, responsibilities, excitement and our body, mind and spirit respond accordingly. I’d like to offer a bit of a toolkit for the season to navigate these changes and make the most of these special times and stick to your health goals too!

With all of the parties approaching, we often look forward to indulging. Be sure to make veggies the star of your plate and respect your body’s subtle messages. It’s ok to indulge a bit but try to steer free of the overeat/guilt/repeat cycle that many of us seem to experience, especially at the holidays.

For some of you there is fear or worry about what to eat at parties if you have a food sensitivity. If this is the case, be sure to bring something to share that you know you can eat! Believe it or not, people show up to Thanksgiving at our house every year excited about roasted Brussels Sprouts!! (Brussels sprouts and other cruciferous vegetables contain unique phytochemicals that detoxify and strengthen immunity.)

Along with the excitement comes stress. Pay attention to where you feel or hold stress in your body. Do you hold your breath? Are your shoulders tight? Are you up worrying at night? Observe. Simple breathing exercises can help to calm your nervous system and release stress. Try breathing in to the count of 5 or 6 and then exhaling for the same count. Repeat for 5 minutes or more. Visualize white light coming through the crown of your head emanating from within. Use a mantra. Feel gratitude. These added practices help you to tap into more subtle energy and raise your vibration (i.e. energy level).

I recently read an Anne Lamott quote that referred to a man who “built a cathedral inside himself”. By creating such a sanctuary within, using breath, awareness, stillness to access this place – we will have a space to return to when stress levels rise.

Stress and season change can also take a toll on our immune system.
Here are some of my staples for the season:

At the onset of a cold or if you are experiencing ear pain:
Garlic Ear oil (or Wally’s Ear oil) – heat a few tbsp of extra virgin olive oil in a small pan. Add one garlic clove and warm until it sizzles, turn off heat. Remove garlic and store oil in a small glass bottle with a dropper. Apply 3 drops, warm to ears, preferably at night.

Add turmeric to your food! It builds immunity, has amazing antioxidant capacity and helps to reduce inflammation, to name a few!

Try Turmeric Tea:

• Bring four cups of water to a boil.
• Add one teaspoon of ground turmeric and reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes.

Strain the tea through a fine sieve into a cup, add honey and/or lemon to taste (borrowed from www.drweil.com)

Indian ginseng – Ashwaghanda – strengthens immune system

Oil of Wild Oregano – a powerful natural antibiotic.

A good probiotic – strengthens gastrointestinal tract and increases immunity.

Drink warm water with lemon and/or ginger. This helps to drain your lymphatic system, detoxify and ginger strengthens immunity and digestion.

Finally, listen to your body. Your intuition is always subtly guiding you toward balance and wholeness. Trust your hunches, listen to your cravings. Rest, journal, celebrate, be thankful.

I’d love to hear from you! Please let me know your thoughts or if I can support you in your health goals!

* Please note that April Martino/Well Integrative Health & Healing do not replace the advice of a physician or other medical professional recommends checking with your physician before following the above suggestions or changing any medication or making dramatic lifestyle changes. April is a Certified Holistic Health Coach and has been trained to offer dietary and lifestyle modifications to improve health.

You can find April on her website and on Facebook, where you can contact her for Holistic Health Coaching, speaking engagements, etc.

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

1 Ashlae November 20, 2012 at 9:54 am

I needed this post, as I’ve been stressing out about hosting our first Thanksgiving meal (Will there be enough dessert? Are people going to like the sides?) But! I’m particularly excited about the little tidbit on Brussels – I’ve been going back and forth between them and green beans, worrying that some people might not like Brussels. But Brussels sprouts, it is 😉

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Children's Splash Park

Open April through September

The Children’s Splash Park, a Seaplane Themed Venue

Hours of Operation

                                                                                2017 Seasonal Schedule

                                                         April 10 - May 24, 2017 - WEEKENDS ONLY, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
                                                         May 25 - August 9, 2017 - 7 Days a Week, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
                                                         August 10 - September 30, 2017 - WEEKENDS ONLY, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
                                                         Closed October through March for Winter Season

General Admission

$2 for anyone entering the Splash Pad fenced areas.
$15 for each Seasonal Pass for bona fide City residents.
Seasonal passes are available for purchase at City Hall, Customer Service Desk, 1st Floor.
Covered picnic gazebos and the Wooton Wonderland playground are located adjacent to the Splash Park.

The Splash Park may be closed due to thunderstorms or other weather conditions.
Maximum capacity is 59 people. First come first served.

We are sorry, but due to the extreme popularity of our Splash Park,
we will not longer be offering Daycare Days. All entry is first come, first served.

Proper Bathing Suit Attire is Required

Swim diapers are required for children under 4 years old.
Female (mandatory): One piece or two piece bathing suit
Female (optional): Trunks, board shorts, T-Shirt or rash guard
Male (mandatory): Swim suit with a liner & string; board shorts extending no lower than the knee
Male (optional): T-Shirt or rash guard worn in conjunction with proper swim suit or board shorts
worn in conjunction with one or two piece bathing suit
Not permitted: Denim; cutoffs; leotards; gym shorts; biking shorts; undergarments;
or other street clothes
Anyone entering the Splash Park wet zone (to supervise a child or otherwise)
must wear proper bathing suit attire.

Splash Park operations - call 352.742.6267 or

Spring Time at Wooten Park
Spring time at Wooton Park


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Wednesday, 29 February 2012

Author Q&A with Mark Chisnell

Mark Chisnell is a writer, broadcaster and sometime professional sportsman. He's published eleven works of award winning fiction and non-fiction, written for some of the world’s leading magazines and newspapers, including Esquire and the Guardian, and blogged and commentated on everything from the Volvo Ocean Race to the World Match Racing Tour. On the way, he has also won three offshore sailing world championships, and sailed as navigator with five America’s Cup teams. Mark currently lives on the south coast of England.

When did you first think of becoming a writer and who or what got you interested in writing?

I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was about 12; I still have a school exercise book with a chapter in it from my first attempt at a novel! The interest came from all the reading I did as a child, I just loved books and always had a pile on the go from the library.

The Fulcrum FilesHow would you describe your books and style?

aim to write the kind of stories that keep you turning the pages on holiday, and still thinking about them when you get back to work... They are mainstream action thrillers in the mould of John le Carre or Robert Ludlum, and they all have some sort of moral centre to them, something that will make you wonder about the values and principles that bound your own life. I hope people are left thinking about the characters and their decisions. And perhaps thinking about what they might have done in that same situation – the extreme choices in the books do still reflect on things we do every single day.

What do you find the most difficult part of writing a book?

There are two tough bits; the first is the middle 50,000 to 60,000 words of the first draft – this is when you’ve lost the thrill of beginning, but can’t yet even imagine the finish line, yet alone see it. The other tough part is the final check of the final draft, when you know that any mistakes or errors that you miss will be seen by the readers - that knowledge always makes me stressed!

Do you start a book knowing what the beginning, middle and end will be or does it take on a life of it's own as you write?

My first book, The Defector, started with an idea for the final scene, and it took me eight drafts to write a story that properly set-up that ending. I wouldn’t choose to do it that way again, but when you have a story that you want to tell, you have to get it done any way you can

Fortunately, the idea for my next book, The Wrecking Crew came much more fully realised, and I was able to write a complete synopsis before I started. I used a mix of these for the latest, The Fulcrum Files, where I had the set-up but had to work out the ending when I got there. I think that’s probably my favourite method, leaving the story to work out some of its twists and turns as you go along is more fun.

Are you self-published or traditionally published, and what has been the best and worst thing about the route you have taken?

I’m both – The Defector was first published by Random House UK, and The Wrecking Crew was first published by HarperCollins ANZ. Once they had gone out of print, I republished both of them myself as eBooks and that’s gone really well – I love the control that you get over covers and blurb and all the other details and so far, I don’t really see a downside, other than the workload! So I’ve gone it alone with my latest, The Fulcrum Files, which is a completely independent effort.

I also write traditionally published non-fiction books as well – I think it’s good to have your eggs in a few baskets. And it is nice to have someone else do some of the work with these projects.

If this isn't too much like asking a dad which of his children he likes best, which of your characters is your favourite?

It’s actually the protagonist of my next novel – Powder Burn – perhaps because that’s the one I’m thinking about at the moment. Her name is Sam Blackett and I’d describe the book as Romancing the Stone meets Stephanie Plum. I’m intending to make it a series, as I love her so much!

The Fulcrum Files is based on a little known true story, how did you come across it and what about it caught your attention?

I was originally researching a documentary about Thomas Sopwith and his 1934 America’s Cup Challenge – famous because he sacked the professional crew just before the event, took a team of amateurs, went 2-0 up and then lost the plot and the Cup. It’s still the closest Britain has ever come to winning the America’s Cup, and the fact that it pivoted on poor labour relations intrigued me – especially as this was the era of the General Strike and the Great Depression.

Part of the research involved reading Sopwith’s biography ‘Pure Luck’ and I found the story that inspired The Fulcrum Files in there. What fascinated me was this larger-than-life character - a billionaire of his era – who was wrapped up in sailing, but took a decision that may have won the Second World War for Britain. I won’t say any more for fear of a spoiler!

What do you like to read and do you have any other passions?

I love to read the kind of books that I write – thrillers. I’m a big fan of Lee Childs and Janet Evanovich – those are the crack cocaine of the literary world as far as I’m concerned. But I love non-fiction as well, particularly Michael Lewis’ books with their mix of sports and business

Outside of books, I grew up on the Norfolk Broads and in a fishing port, so I’ve always had a fascination with the sea. I was a professional racing sailor for a long while, and still do some writing and tv commentary for that sport – and I even get to race myself sometimes! But these days surfing is my ocean-based passion, I’m always happy at the beach.

Sailing is a theme that runs through your books, do you find it hard to write about something you know so much about in a way that is accessible for those of us who know almost nothing about it?

Yes! But I think that working as a race commentator for the sport has given me a much clearer idea of what’s understood and what isn’t – but I’m slowly easing the sailing out of the books too, which solves the problem completely. There’s very little of the action aboard boats in The Fulcrum Files and none at all in the next one, which is set in the Himalayas!

And finally, when you read is it tree book, e-book or both?

It’s both – but mostly because I have a backlog of dead tree books to get through! I prefer to read on the Kindle, I think that once you’ve tried it you quickly realise how much better the reading experience is compared to paper – but I’m going to wade my way through that TBR pile of trees nevertheless!

Thanks to Mark for taking the time out to do this Q&A. You can find him online at:

and my reviews of The Fulcrum Files here and The Defector here.

Available in all eBook formats, and second-hand in print:
The Defector
The Wrecking Crew

Currently only available for Kindle:
The Fulcrum Files

Available in all eBook formats, and second-hand in print:
Risk to Gain
Spanish Castle to White Night

Available only in all eBook formats:
Pressure Falling – Short Stories of Stormy Seas


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Download Android L (Lollipop) Wallpapers

Android L Was announced two days ago by Google an everyone was expecting Android LimePie, however, the L stood for Lollipop and now it is the era of Android Lollipop, that reminds me of the game, Chainsaw Lollipop, where a simple and Burger type girl is killing everyone with a Chainsaw. The Official Firmware will be seen in the Nexus 6 only, which is on hold till the 29th of October, but we already have the developer preview of Android L on both Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 with the updated API Changes. Android L also features some of the new wallpapers too, though they are not that unique, but they are the part of Android L and if you want your device OS to look like Android L, Wallpapers are the first thing that will do that.

As far as the Official update is concern, it will take quite a time, first we have to wait for Nexus 6 and Nexus 9, then it will be rolled out for other devices. The First one to receive this update is sure to be the Nexus 5 and Nexus 4, then we will see it on other OEMs Android devices. However, the element of surprise is still there, who know who will get it first. The Download link is given below, download the Official Wallpapers of Android L and enjoy them on your device.

Download Android 5.0 (LolliPop) Wallpapers

© 2016 TechBeasts. All rights reserved.· Entries RSS · Comments RSS is not associated with Google, Samsung or any other OS provider and smartphone manufacturer. We are an unofficial fan site.


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This Is Probably The Fastest Way To Take Screenshots And Share Them Online

greenshot_2011-01-27_22-40-03[Windows Only] If you’re a regular on sites like Reddit, Digg or 4Chan, chances are high that you’ve heard of Imgur. Imgur is a free image hosting site, developed by Alan Schaaf, who was tired of the cluttered interfaces of other image hosting sites, and decided to create one of his own. Among various features of the site are galleries, on-site basic photo editing, anonymous uploads (you can also register), and a liberal photo retaining limit. A recent update also included a drag-and-drop feature for uploading pictures, following competition from new websites like

Imgur is awesome for screenshots. Well say, why? Because it provides a direct link to the image file, and the loading time is quick. Also, the service is free and there are no limits to how many images you can upload.

Last year, the screenshot application en vogue for its simplicity was tinygrab. Its working was simple. Install application. Press hotkey. Screenshot is taken, uploadeded to tinygrab’s server and a short url to the image is copied to the clipboard. But the catch was, tinygrab allowed only 10 screengrabs a day in its free plan.

Well, if there’s a problem, there’s probably an app for unsolving that problem. This time, that app happens to be Hyperdesktop. There’s no website, there’s no fee and there’s no quotas. The application works just like last year’s tinygrab, except for the fact that Hyperdesktop uploads to Imgur, and therefore, there are no limits to how many screenshots you take in a day.

Press the hotkey. Select the region (or go full screen). You’re done. Image link is on your clipboard.

Download Hyperdesktop from Imgur’s tools page.

Published by

Keshav Khera

Keshav Khera is a young freelance writer from India. Alongside writing for the web, he also attends school and tries not to bunk classes. He keeps interest in music, table tennis, reading and of course, twitter (@keshav)

  • Nouman

    Nice. I will be using this a lot.Imgur is full of win!


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Samsung today unveiled a new Galaxy series handset, the Galaxy S III Mini. The S III Mini is a budget-oriented handset from company, aiming to bring a Jelly Bean filled experience to the consumers.

As the leaked specs of the handset had earlier indicated, the S III Mini packs in a 4-inch WVGA (800×480) display, a 1GHz dual-core ST-Ericsson SoC, 1GB of RAM, a microSD card slot and the other usual goodies such as GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC and Wi-Fi. At the back of S III Mini is a 5MP snapper with an LED flash, with a VGA camera in the front for all your skyping needs.

On the software side, the Galaxy S III Mini runs on Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean with TouchWIZ on top of it. The nature inspired version of TouchWIZ contains some of the software goodies that Samsung included in the Galaxy S3 and the Note II including S-Beam, Direct Call and Smart Stay. The latter ensures that the screen of the phone does not turn-off when the user is reading some content on the phone. The S III Mini will pack in a 1500mAh battery and will launch sometime later this year at an unknown price.

While the Galaxy S III Mini packs in decent specs for a budget oriented Android handset, it does not do proper justice to the ‘Galaxy S’ branding. Samsung really needs to stop diluting its Galaxy S brand.

Samsung Galaxy S III Mini Specs Leak; Not Much Of A Power House After All

Just a day before Samsung is going to announce the Galaxy S III Mini, the specs of the handset have leaked online. While the name of the handset will lead many people to believe that the Mini is just a smaller version of the S3, that is not the case according to the leaked specs.

The Galaxy S III Mini will sport a smaller 4-inch Super-AMOLED display with WVGA (800×480) resolution, 1GB of RAM, Bluetooth, GPS, 16GB of internal memory, NFC, microSD card slot, and a 5MP camera at the back aided by an LED flash. Sadly, the S III Mini will be powered by a dual-core 1GHz ST-Ericsson NovaThor U8420 SoC coupled with an ARM Mali-400 GPU.

From the specs of the handset, it is clear that Samsung will be positioning the S III Mini a notch below the Galaxy S2. Even then, the name of the handset might just mislead people into thinking that the S III Mini is just a smaller variant of the Galaxy S III when it actually is a pretty huge downgrade, specs wise.

Also, releasing a mid-tier handset with Jelly Bean while your previous flagship handset is still running Ice Cream Sandwich? Not cool, Samsung!

Via- MobileGeeks


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Articles tagged with: game show

Get Ready For Halo 4, Due Next Year

Well, what do you know? I was nearly certain that the Halo franchise had ended. Not only was Halo destined to be a trilogy, but its latest game, Halo Reach was a prequel to the trilogy. I remember thinking it was kind of funny how the prequel to the trilogy turned out, in fact to be the best game of the entire franchise.

Fortunately, for Halo fanatics around the world, they’ll be able to rejoice to the news of Halo 4’s release. Assuming your Xbox360 hasn’t had a Red Ring of Death yet, you’ll be able to get more shoot-em-up action and be able to embark on new heroic missions.


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Thursday, May 11, 2006

Your console speaks

(via The Guardian). Big Brother is watching you. Actually, Microsoft is watching your Xbox 360, and getting all sort of gaming stats from their users about the amount of time they spend online, what games they are using and how much do they spend in each one. This information is then relayed to Microsoft in XML format as a "Gamer Card". Privacy rights advocates can pause here to have a heart attack.

What is perhaps scarier is that some people are using an online service to show this information to the world. is a blog created by the Xbox, telling the world what their owner has been up to. It can be sort of cute. Some Xbox posts:
- Overburdened didn't play any games yesterday... big loser...

- WhitePhantom87 likes to game, I like to game, this is a match made in heaven! It takes a gamer score like 4361 to be as cool as him. He played G.R.A.W., PGR 3, DEAD OR ALIVE 4, and almost cried with joy. I have that affect on people.

- Good thing I have access to Major Nelson's entire MP3 collection streamed off his computer. It keeps me busy on days like yesterday when he never shows up to game.

- Pick it, pack it fire it up, come along, lets get Karl89's gaming on! Gamer score is 2338. He played Battlefield 2: MC, and laughed with joy and glee the whole time. I like making people happy.
Weird? Creepy? The surveillance society gone mad? You decide.

UPDATE: The Xbox360 does have privacy settings.

Zoltak said...

All of the online presence from Gamerscore to games played and such can be turned off from public view.

I know that means that MS probably still has a way to track that information, but it is not public knowledge at that point.

I think that this is innocent enough though and I actually use as well as

Andres Guadamuz said...

I still haven't taken the 360 plunge, I still use my old trusty Xbox.

I will probably not buy the 360 yet, but I will probably turn off the gamer card when I do.


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Friday, April 24, 2009

TechnoLlama has moved!

TechnoLlama Blog has re-located to its own domain.

While I spent a long time in Blogspot, and had a great time here, I have decided that it is time to move on and host my own Wordpress blog. The features and powerful customisation opportunities offered by Wordpress make it very appealing for someone who wants to take their blog “to the next level”.

The feed has now been updated, so the stories should redirect you to the proper location. Update your links.

The end of piracy?

(via ORG-discuss list) Pirates, pirates, pirates. it's all there is in the news lately. Pirates in Somalia, pirates in Sweden, pirates online, pirates in culture. We have pirates jumping out of our breakfast cereals it seems. Last week saw the pinnacle of hyperbolic coverage of piracy of the Internet sort when the Pirate Bay operators were sentenced to a year in jail. We were promised by talking heads on TV that the ruling would be the beginning of the end of internet piracy, and that a new and happy future where everyone respects copyright law is finally within reach.

But then reality got on the way again. First it was a report from Norway that informed us of something we already knew anecdotally, and that is that teenagers who download music (legally or illegally) are 10 times more likely to pay for music than those who do not. In other words, the next generation of music consumers is downloading. This is the market, deal with it.

Then Bram Cohen gave an interview to The Register (I know, I know), where I think he gave the most insightful view of why there will always be a surplus in music production:

"Music has a bigger problem, it's that people want to make it. It's the peacocks tail. The reason guys make music is that they want to get laid. So men are usually willing to pay a lot of money in the hope of getting laid. Anything that helps you get laid with amazing regularity is something you would expect a tremendous oversupply of. So we have unbelievable amounts of music. People pay a lot to learn how to play music and it's ridiculous to expect people to make money off it. Normally if you want to make money you do something no one wants to do."
Must learn to play an instrument... but I digress. So, there will always be an offer surplus, and those who consume the most are also the ones you have been fighting during the last 10 years. Moreover, another study shows that users view P2P subscription services favourably, particularly if it comes with their ISP. This at the same time as yet another effort to try to sneak in three-strikes into European regulations have been unsuccessful.

A picture is starting to emerge, so here is some free advice for the music industry. Instead of spending an inordinate amount of money in pursuing a failed business model, why not look for other avenues? Copyright owners have been pursuing P2P providers for too long, and there is no indication whatsoever that they will be able to eliminate file-sharing through the courts, as another service will simply take the place of the previous one. This is why copyright industries have been pushing for the unpopular "three-strikes-and-you're out" strategy, because it leaves enforcement in the hands of the intermediaries. However, why not make them partners in your business and allow some form of blanket licensing scheme by which ISPs charge a higher broadband premium service with a download package. The artist gets the money, the ISPs geta cut (and do not have to enforce a nightmarish policy), and the user gets what they want.

Too much of a happy ending? Unrealistic utopian wishful thinking? To quote a great man, you may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

User-Generated Gaming

Old-time favourite game City of Heroes has made a giant innovative leap by being the first massively multiplayer online game to implement user-generated gaming. While other games and virtual worlds offer user-generated content, what makes City of Heroes unique is that it has created a system that allows players to design their own missions and story-arcs within the game, and to offer those to other users (see the video here). The best-rated and most downloaded missions give "influence" to the player (the in-game currencies). An interesting feature of the new content-creation system is that it has been implemented as a "game-within-a-game" concept. A new in-game company in the Paragon Isles called Architect Entertainment sells heroes and villains virtual world subscriptions so that they can create their own missions. Simulations making simulations, Baudrillard would be proud.

The second thing that crossed my mind when I read about this innovation was to consider the many legal angles that this development unleashes (the first thought was that perhaps it was time to dust-off the spandex suit and don the cape once more, but I digress). City of Heroes, like most other MMOGs, claims ownership over all content created by users, and this is no exception. The CoH end user agreement states:

"(c) Customer content. Customers can upload to and create content on the Publisher’s servers in various forms, such as in selections he makes and avatars and items he creates for the Game, and in bulletin boards and similar user-to-user areas ("Customer content"). By submitting Customer content to or creating Customer content on any area of the Service, the Customer acknowledges and agrees that such Customer content is the sole property of the Publisher. To the extent that the Publisher cannot claim exclusive rights in Customer content by operation of law, the Customer hereby grants (or warrants that the owner of such Customer content has expressly granted) to the Publisher and its related Game Content Providers a non-exclusive, universal, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, sublicenseable right to exercise all rights of any kind or nature associated with such Customer content, and all ancillary and subsidiary rights thereto, in any languages and media now known or not currently known. The Customer shall indemnify and hold the Publisher harmless from and against any claims by third parties that the Customer content infringes upon, violates or misappropriates any of their intellectual property or proprietary rights. "
As I said, this is typical of most MMOGs. All rights to content remain with publisher NCSoft, if the user has any rights by law (such as moral rights I guess), the publisher is given a licence to those rights, and the user is liable for any breach or harm arising from the created content. Typically one-sided affair that accumulates all the benefits and washes its hands off any pitfalls. However, something else has struck me when reading through the legal documents. The patch notes for the new release have updated the Code of Conduct to forbid users from making parodies! These now state that "Parodies and derivative works are not allowed." How interesting, given the fact that parodies are allowed in most copyright legislation. However, because this is a user agreement, they seem to be relying on contractual pre-emption of copyright law.

Having said that, NCSoft have been brave in allowing such a change to the game mechanics, and it seems that they were well aware of how difficult it would be to draft policies that would be both fair and would discourage trolling, griefing and abuse. In an interesting article, developer Joe Morrissey admitted as much. How can you avoid people creating obscene and/or objectionable content? If you give power to users to remove content themselves, how do you avoid "grief removals", where players intentionally flag content as inappropriate when it is not. And most importantly, how can you filter out the word "penis"? The most interesting aspect of the game self-regulation process is that NCSoft has implemented a data mining policy that tries to find out patterns. This is interesting, as it seems logical that people prone to create objectionable content will do it repeatedly, while griefers will also be re-offenders. Morrissey says:
"In MMOs you datamine. That's the only real way to know what's going on with your game once it has gone live. So for Architect, we wanted to track as much as we could. We need to see what content is getting flagged. Who is flagging it? Who is being flagged? Has the person ever been banned? If so, how often and for how long? What's a person's overall rating? Has he ever flagged content as inappropriate and been wrong? How often and what content? That last bit helps track down the grief voters."
This is both ingenious and practical; it also serves as a possible regulatory lesson to be learnt outside virtual worlds. Data mining for regulatory purposes is not a new idea, but it is a powerful tool for keeping a lid on user-generated content abuses. Although I still do not like the City of Heroes' copyright policy, I think that they are headed in the right direction when it comes to governance and self-regulation.

Before anyone interjects and mentions Second Life, no, Second Life it is not a game! Besides, it is impossible to write SL content because of the lag (/scratch).

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Pirate Bay 4 to serve criminal sentence

The decision on the controversial Pirate Bay case has been made public, and it is generating quite a stir. The Pirate Bay lost their case, which was not really a surprise, what struck me, and I am sure many others, is the severity of the decision. Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, Carl Lundstrom and Peter Sunde have to pay :-30 million SEK (€2.7 million EUR, or $133,399,889,832,933 Zimbabwean dollars). But most importantly, the four have to spend a year in jail for assisting copyright infringement. While I have not been able to find a translation of the ruling, press reports claim that the court declared that Pirate Bay was guilty of providing a site with "sophisticated search functions, easy upload and storage, and a website linked to the tracker".

Without having access to the full decision it is difficult to give a proper legal analysis. However, the legal issue behind torrent file sharing remains the same. Tracker sites such as Pirate Bay do not host any of the shared content, but they facilitate the file exchange by making available tracker files which informs the internet who is sharing content at any given time. While no content is hosted, it is clear that the raison d'etre of this and other sites is to facilitate copyright infringement. It is for this reason alone that Pirate Bay would always be on the losing end of litigation, as it is quite clear that they do indeed facilitate the making available of infringing copies to the public.

As with the Grokster case, Pirate Bay's downfall seems to have been one of intent. It is one thing to make clear statements about not holding copies of a work, but it is certain that tracker sites facilitate widespread copyright infringement. Research has shown that most torrent traffic goes through Pirate Bay, which makes their argument much weaker. Their unashamed brashness may have also played against them when it came to sentencing. "Assisting making available copyrighted content" is still an offence carrying a jail sentence. The four defendants have vowed to appeal, but it seems like they might suspect that they could lose that, I find it telling that Pirate Bay has moved its servers to Thailand, and some of the defendants have left Sweden.

There are wider questions about the case. Will the music industry take it as encouragement and start suing other tracker sites? Roger Wallis, a visiting professor at the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology, and a witness at the trial (and subject to a flower online campaign), declared that “This will cause a flood of court cases. Against all the ISPs. Because if these guys assisted in copyright infringements, then the ISPs also did. This will have huge consequences. The entire development of broadband may be stalled.” While I am not sure about the accuracy of the statement from a legal standpoint, Dr Wallis may be right about the ISP implications. It has become clear in recent months that the copyright industries are starting to wage a war against ISPs and their role in copyright infringement. Their tireless pursuit of the 3-strikes policy is just one of the fronts in which this battle is being fought. This is a tricky strategy, as the 3-strikes policy is very unpopular, and as proved recently by France, one that politicians may be unwilling to back up (with the exception of South Korea).

Whatever the larger repercussions for future litigation may be, one thing is clear. The Pirate Bay will continue to operate for longer. Words like genie, bottle, Pandora and box keep popping into to my head.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

SCRIPTed April 2009

  • After Marper: Two Readings,
    Two Responses

    Roger Brownsword , pp.1-3| HTML |
Reviewed Articles
  • Virtual Worlds As A New Game Theoretic Model For
    International Law: The Case Of Bilateral Investment Treaties
    Peter S Jenkins, pp.4-32| HTML |
  • New Technology and Researchers’ Access to Court and
    Tribunal Information: the need for European analysis

    Philip Leith and Maeve McDonagh, pp.33-56| HTML|
  • Patent Protection for Second and Further Medical Uses Under
    the European Patent Convention

    Eddy D Ventose, pp.57-74 | HTML |
  • The APEC Asia-Pacific Privacy Initiative – A New Route To
    Effective Data Protection Or A Trojan Horse For Self-Regulation?

    Nigel Waters, pp.75-89 | HTML |
  • Social Contract for the Internet Community? Historical and
    Philosophical Theories as Basis for the Inclusion of Civil
    Society in Internet Governance?

    Rolf H. Weber and Romana Weber, pp.90-105| HTML |
  • The German Constitutional Court on the Right in
    Confidentiality and Integrity of Information Technology Systems
    – a case report on BVerfG, NJW 2008, 822
    Wiebke Abel and Burkhard Schafer, pp.106-123 | HTML |
    Conquering the Tower of e-Discovery Babel: New Age
    Discovery for the 21st Century
    Daniel B. Garrie and Maureen Duffy-Lewis, pp.124-131 | HTML |
  • The Fog over the Grimpen Mire: Cloud Computing and the

    Miranda Mowbray, pp.132-146 | HTML |
  • Nanotechnology – New Challenges for Patent Law?
    Herbert Zech, pp.147-154 | HTML |
  • So What are Sports’ Legal Rights and Wrongs? Report of
    the AHRC SCRIPT Murrayfield Discussions
    Abbe E. L. Brown, pp.155-159| HTML |
  • Governance of New Technologies: The Transformation of
    Medicine, Information Technology and Intellectual Property.
    Final Conference Report
    Shawn H.E. Harmon and Wiebke Abel, pp.160-170 | HTML |
Book Reviews
  • Parallel Trade in Europe: Intellectual Property, Competition and
    Regulatory Law
    By Christopher Stothers
    Reviewed by Colm Brannigan
    , pp.171-174 | HTML |
  • Governance And Information Technology: From Electronic Government To
    Information Government

    By Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and David Lazer (eds)
    Reviewed by Catherine Heeney
    , 175-178 | HTML |
  • Gringras On The Laws Of The Internet
    By Clive Gringras and Elle Todd; and
    Jurisdiction And The Internet: Regulatory Competence Over Online Activity
    By Uta Kohl
    Both reviewed by Daithí Mac Síthigh
    , pp.179-181 | HTML |
  • International Domain Name Law: ICANN And The UDRP
    By David Lindsay
    Reviewed by Cédric Manara
    , pp.181-183 | HTML |

  • Self-Regulation In Cyberspace
    By Jeanne Pia Mifsud Bonnici
    Reviewed by Thomas J. McIntyre
    , 184-187 | HTML |

  • Information Technology Law
    By Ian J. Lloyd
    Reviewed by Shefalika Ghosh Samaddar
    , 188-193 | HTML |

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Amazonfail: cyber-censorship, cyber-hype, or YHBT?

What better way to kick-start the internet after Easter break than a good old cyber-censorship row? All the ingredients are there: giant e-commerce company with large share of the market, gays, religion, porn, erotica, geeks, twitter... mix and watch the blogosphere and the twitterverse go "Kablooey!"

During the weekend I started picking up the #amazonfail tag on Twitter, as well as noticing a large spike on the discussion of Amazon in Twitscoop, a site that trends what people on Twitter are talking about. The story seemed both compelling and outrageous. Amazon changed its book-ranking system so that it would filter out adult content. In their words:

"In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude "adult" material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature."
The problem was that there seemed to be some confusion over what constitutes "adult" content, and it soon became clear that it was mostly gay and lesbian literature that was getting the axe, while straight erotica was largely left untouched. The response was a flurry of Tweets bearing the #amazonfail tag, and a number ofblog posts from people angered at the situation. My favourite (taken from this article in The Guardian) is: "THE ANARCHIST COOKBOOK is ranked; THE JOY OF SEX is unranked. In other words, Amazon would rather you make napalm than get laid."

However, things are starting to settle down, and the picture does not seem as straighforward as it did on Sunday. Firstly, Amazon has finally made an unambiguous apology for what it calls a glitch. Secondly, Amazon has started fixing the error, and titles are regaining their sales rank. Thirdly, there is a theory that this might have been caused by trolls looking for lulz, or in this case, mega-lulz. In other words, the glitch was either caused or noticed by a troll or a hacker, and they chose Easter weekend to let it be known through Twitter. Perhaps knowing that anything having to do with religion, books and gays would replicate like microbial beings in a syrupy concoction, these trolls bid their time knowing that Amazon would be slow to respond. Sit back, watch, and enjoy. YHVT.

The most plausible explanation at the moment seems to be a combination of bad coding and bad PR. Lilith Saintcrow posted this from an insider at Amazon:
"Well, this is the real story: a guy from Amazon France got confused on how he was editing the site, and mixed up “adult”, which is the term they use for porn, with stuff like “erotic” and “sexuality”. That browse node editor is universal, so by doing that there he affected ALL of Amazon. The CS rep thought the porn question as a standard porn question about how searches work."
Several things stand out about this story. Firstly, if it was Amazon's idea to sanitise their searches, they should learn that their customer base is both sophisticated and interconnected, so any hint of censorship or foul play will send them running to Twitter. PR and development departments everywhere should have a picture of Barbara Streisand hanging from each meeting room to remind them of how wrong things can go. Secondly, I am not sure whether the whole Amazonfail debacle paints Twitter in a positive or negative light. True, the information about the glitch was widely publicised, and it prompted a reaction from Amazon, but the shrillness of some commentary was jarring and over-the-top. It was almost as if every person on Twitter was trying to outdo the previous one with displays of faux outrage.

As useful as these tools are, we still need to be reminded that sometimes looking closely before jumping to conclusions is a prudent course of action, even in the age of instant information. I have been reading an excellent book by Cass Sunstein called Infotopia, where he warns about the dangers of closely knit cyber-enclousures. Surprisingly, the internet seems to be fostering mono-cultures of little or no diversity, where people with similar opinions tend to stay together and reinforce each other's views and preconceptions; a communal confirmation bias if you will. Certain memes are repeated and enhanced in a form of feedback loop that turns rumour into fact, and innuendo into established truth.

I'm off to find something else to get worked-up about.

Update: When one looks at a search result for the word bouncy, it is not difficult to argue that Amazon may have a point in wanting some sort of filter for adult content. Pingu the Bouncy Penguin and Bouncy Boobs 3 do not belong in the same search page.

Monday, April 13, 2009

GikII Call for Papers

GikII Comes to Amsterdam!
17-18 September 2009
Institute for Information Law (IViR)
University of Amsterdam

GikII 4th Edition, a two day workshop on the intersections between law, technology and popular culture, will be held on September 17-18th, 2009 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

The chairs of the event are Joris van Hoboken, Doctoral Researcher at the Institute for Information Law, Ian Brown, Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute, Andres Guadamuz, Co-Director, SCRIPT Law and Technology Centre at the University of Edinburgh and Lilian Edwards, Professor of Internet Law, Sheffield University. IViR is hosting GikII in partnership with Creative Commons Netherlands.

There will be no workshop fee. Lunch, coffee and a conference dinner will be arranged free of charge. We will limit registration to 40 participants, so register early!! Preference will be given to attendees who are providing a paper.

GikII - Not for the Lulz!?

GikII is a forum for the intersection of law, technology and popular culture. After previous editions in London, Edinburgh and Oxford, GikII has gained enough steam to hit the continent. Topics covered at the last editions included killer robots, virtual property, copyright online, the many lives and deaths of privacy, fandom, avatar culture, Roman slaves and knitted Daleks. Last year’s presentations can be viewed here <>.

We invite all of you that have a paper on any aspect of law AND technology, science, geek culture, blogging, creative commons, wikis, science fiction or fantasy, computer games, digital culture, gender on-line, virtual worlds, series of tubes, or deep packet inspectors, to come to GikII 4 and join us for two inspiring days of cutting edge collisions of the worlds of law, tech and popular culture. LOLcats, robot scientists and cheezburgers are especially welcome.

The call for papers

If you would like to participate, email your abstract of no more than 500 words. This should be sent to by July 1 2009. We will confirm acceptances by August 1.

Thursday, April 09, 2009

If Bill Gates was on Facebook...

His page would look like this:

Some absolute gold in there. "Bill Gates just bought Azerbaijan". The Wall-to-Wall between Bill and Steve. And I love the gift from Linux on the bottom-left corner.

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Phorm launch in the horizon

Phorm (also known as Webwise) has declared that it is finally set to launch its service in the UK with BT's ISP service. Phorm is a service that allocates web users a unique number, it then monitors websites that the user has visited and looks for recurring keywords related to its advertisers. It then associates those keywords with the user's number, so that when the user visits a site containing a web advert, it will display relevant commercials. For a more detailed explanation, read Richard Clayton's excellent report.

As a founding supporter of ORG, I do not like Phorm. I understand their claims of anonymity and security, but I am still not convinced that this level of surveillance is either useful or necessary. Phorm seems to add an unwanted layer of interception to the internet, and I am not sure that users will like to have such records made of their browsing habits. Phorm claims that it destroys those records, but I am still uneasy. Who is to say that in this difficult financial climate, they won't change their data retention practices to sell more information about web users?

Something that is perhaps unsurprising, yet still disappointing, is that Phorm seems intent in misrepresenting and hiding what it does to the public. There was a public outcry when they conducted a series of test runs with unsuspecting BT customers. BT is also intent in claiming that Phorm's main function is to "increase protection against online fraud". They also seem to brush all consumer concerns under the rug. They claim:

"That being said, what we did not take into account was the fact there would be a very small number of very determined people who would do their very best to make it appear in the worst popular light. I am surprised by the fact, after it has been repeatedly explained how the technology works, they seem to be very keen on misunderstanding what it does."
No, thanks to people like Richard Clayton, we do understand how it works quite well, and we are still very concerned about it. As a BT customer I won't be opting in of the system, as the Information Commissioner has declared that Phorm can only operate with the consent of the user.

If you don't like Phorm, join the Facebook campaign. Phew, I managed to reach the end of the post without any clever "eph" replacement, ephing well done. Doh!


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Google Awards Bug Hunting Duo $5,000 for Discovering a Windows Flaw

Maximum PC: Bug collecting can be quite the lucrative hobby, provided they're of the software variety. Google routinely pays out three-, four-, and sometimes five-figure bounties to bug hunters who find and report vulnerabilities in the company's Chrome browser, but yesterday, it took the unusual step of paying a pair of software gurus $5,000 for reporting an issue in Windows.

Read Full Story >>
The story is too old to be commented.
justinbkerr1535d ago

It helps now that they have upped the ante.

newsguy1534d ago

That's a pretty good strategy on google's part


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26 February, 2016, Wahington: After taking down the citizens of USA, UK and many other countries, terrorist group of Islamic State (ISIS) now shifts its radar to social media giants Facebook and Twitter. In a recent incident, the group has released a video in which they have threatened the CEOs of both the companies to not to take down the pro-IS accounts.

According to the report presented by Engadget, the video posted by “Sons Caliphate Army” and authenticated by Storyful, a news agency that verifies content online, has images of Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey riddled with bullet holes.

Apart from that, the video also displays a banner right at the end of it which states, “To Mark and Jack, founders of Twitter and Facebook and to their Crusader government. You announce daily that you suspended many of your accounts, and to you we say: Is that all you can do? You are not in our league.”

Informing about the future action of the group, the video elaborates that the group is actively working on its plan and it will take down 10 accounts for every one that Facebook or Twitter shuts down. With this, it plans to totally rub of these sites from the online page.

“Like most people around the world, we are horrified by the atrocities perpetrated by extremist groups. We condemn the use of Twitter to promote terrorism and the Twitter Rules make it clear that this type of behaviour, or any violent threat, is not permitted on our service,” Twitter said in a blog post.

Also Read-

Facebook To Launch Its Instant Articles Program

Facebook Gets 3 Months Notification From France

Time For Algorithmic Timeline; Twitter Releases Its New Face Today

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The 10x20 white tent top is one of our most durable styles. This vinyl frame tent top is manufactured with our best quality 16 ounce block-out, flame resistant vinyl. All our seams are heat sealed and overlap by at least 1 inch. Your west coast frame top comes with a 7/32 inch sidewall hanging line that is held up by a 1 inch webbed strap and is installed approximately every 15 inches around the inside perimeter of the tent top.
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    UPC 750022636645
    Shipping Dimensions 24" x 20" x 9"
    Weight 53 lbs
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    • Our Best Quality 16oz block-out vinyl material
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    Safety: Tent and Table, LLC manufactures all of their tents using a fire resistant vinyl that meets or exceeds the National Fire Protection Association fire resistant standards.
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Welcome to Thai Villa Restaurant, a family-owned and operated restaurant serving
Brunswick for over 10 years.

Thai cuisine has a wide variety of tastes ranging from the spice of native chilies to
the subtle sweetness of rich coconut milk and the tartness of fresh lime juice.

We hope you enjoy your visit and our cooking.  We look forward to your comments
and suggestions.   Thank-You!!!

-Please click on this link, Facebook, for unexpected closings, and holiday hours
Thai Villa Restaurant
—The Taste Of Thailand—
Find us on Facebook, or  www.thaivillarestaurant.com
207 Pleasant Street, Brunswick, ME 04011
(207) 725-5959


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The Compass Rose Campaign

Compass rose

Find all of your campaign background info, game updates and character sheets here…

Feel free to post your game comments too. I am open to suggestions about house rules, running the game, and making the campaign more interesting. And I encourage player content!

The main goal is to have fun!

Campaign Primer

Adventuring in Ardia
Calendar and Holidays
History of Ashtar
Mythos of Ardia
The Islands

Journey to the New World

Maps will be uploaded to the Maps tab.

See the Adventure Log tab for game updates.

The Compass Rose

hypericum Campaign banner cropped 2 Yousna Rathburn Claxtor


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Shed a little extra light on the subject with the Pocket Reflector

Smart phones seem to be the camera most frequently used these days.  Many of them have weak flashes that don’t do as good a job illuminating your subject as you’d like.  The Pocket Reflector, available from Photojojo, is a portable light reflector that directs extra light onto your subject for a better photo.  It folds up into a 5″ pouch that’s small enough to fit in a pocket or bag, and it unfurls into a 12″ circle.  One side is silver, to reflect bright, concentrated light for a spotlight effect; the other side is white, for a a more diffuse, natural looking effect.  It’s $15 at Photojojo.

Posted in: Camera Gear, News
{ 2 comments… add one }
  • joel perlish October 2, 2013, 8:08 am

    as a person who makes a living taking pictures, i’d like to add that the item you mention is even MORE useful blocking the sunlight over someone – putting the face in full shade – to reduce the shadows on the face.

  • Janet Cloninger October 2, 2013, 8:58 am

    @joel perlish Thanks for the useful tip!

Leave a Comment


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Wednesday, March 17, 2010

A Look Back: Award Season 2010

A Look Back: Award Season 2010
The Oscars are less than a week away which will wrap up award season 2010. A few months ago, I asked the ever talented Joanna Schlip, Physicians Formula celebrity makeup artist, for the top 5 red carpet color trends we could expect to see this season, and here's what she had to say:

1) Faye Dunaway – very finished brow, nude lip, glowy cheek, big lashes

2) Neutral face with very powerful colored lip – anything from red to fuchsia (will go the full gamut)

3) Healthy glowy skin all over the body – skin will be glowing on arms and legs

4) Everyone will be sporting lashes very flirty and sexy lashes

5) Blushes will be more of deeper peaches, corals and pinks – not so vibrant, but toned down and muted with a matte t-zone – only certain areas will be highlighted, such as the cheekbone, brow bone or bridge of nose.

Joanna Schlip has painted the faces of celebrities including Christina Applegate, Eva Longoria, Scarlett Johansson, Ellen Pompeo, Laura Linney, Hilary Duff, Sheryl Crow and Jessica Simpson. She is also author of Glamour Gurlz: The Ultimate Step-by-Step Guide to Great Make-up and Gurl Smarts.

Was Joanna right? Were these the trends we saw this award season? And what do you think we'll see come Sunday night?

Discuss below!

Jhud and Olivia Wilde both rocking the lashes du jour.

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Monday, February 17, 2014

מאמר ד"ה "ותכתוב אסתר" מספר "מגן אבות" מכ"ק אדמו"ר הר' שלמה זלמן זצוקללה"ה נבג"מ זי"ע שניאורסאהן מקאפוסט - שמיני בסדרה

Please find the attached Maamar of Chassidus Metzuyenes Magen Avos 8 Vatichtov Esther on Purim. The last paragraph of this Maamar is clearly based on the Magen Avos' Shitah that the Tzimtzum impacted the Reshimu and consequently the Reshimu needs an Aliyah. The Hagah of the Maharash on Parshas Noach in Likutei Torah LeGimmel Parshiyos that Tzimtzum did not impact the Reshimu is well known, as well as the many Maamorim of the Rashab, so in the next few weeks, IY"H I will share a compilation on the Reshimu from the both sides, starting from the Alter Rebbe.

Wishing you Kol Tuv and a Freilichen Purim,
Scribd Link link with download(!) option

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Stephen Jackson, Caught in a Few Lies About that Skirmish Outside of a Strip Club

Stephen Jackson, Caught in a Few Lies About that Skirmish Outside of a Strip Club

Stephen Jackson, Caught in a Few Lies About that Skirmish Outside of a Strip Club

It appears as if John Wayne, er, Stephen Jackson kind of, sort of, fabricated some of the facts about last week’s bizarre late-night incident in which he was punched and run over during an altercation with some thugs in front of a strip club in Indianapolis.

The real story, which is an absolute must-read, will surely send any Indiana Pacers fan to the bathroom for a good preseason hurl. Here’s a brief breakdown of the events, courtesy of the Indianapolis Star:

* Jackson, three Pacers, and “friends” go into a strip club named “Rio,” which has some decidedly mediocre talent as this NSFW link will show
* Pacers and “friends” are heckled by a group – let’s call them “street toughs”, but claim to “ignore” them
* Pacers and “friends” leave the strip club, and are followed outside by “street toughs”
* Standard, Materazzi-like trash talk ensues; Jackson lifts his shirt to reveal a gun tucked into his waistband (leading us to believe that he rolls into a strip club packing heat. Who does this guy think he is, Bruce Willis in The Last Boyscout?)
* According to Jackson, a man with a deformed arm from the “street toughs” starts the fight [Ed. Right. Because guys with deformed arms always pick fights with 6-foot-8 NBA players.]
* Jackson kicks the man with the deformed arm in said deformed arm
* Someone yells “Dump” (there’s some new slang for us), which apparently means “shoot”
* Deformed arm guy manages to get to his car, and drives it at Jackson; Pacers guard rolls up on the hood and off, resulting in a fat lip and various cuts and bruises

Two last vital pieces of information: Remember that small bag of weed found in the car of Jamaal Tinsley? Of course it wasn’t his – it belonged to one of their “friends.” That friend is someone named Ramel Mattox. In addition, Mattox is being charged with a bunch of shit, including starting the fight. Anyone else feel like this Mattox fellow is about to be Shyne to Jackson’s Puff Daddy?

And here’s the other one: The other three Pacers told police they heard gunshots, but weren’t sure who was shooting. Playing dumb. Always works. Deny, deny, deny.

(Aside: You have to figure Michael Irvin really wishes he could run with the Pacers… then, the crack pipe under the Playmaker’s seat could actually belong to someone else!)

Lastly, we have Pacers boss Larry Bird checking in: “He knows it’s a major embarrassment for the franchise,” Bird said. “This is a big blow for Stephen. He didn’t expect this.”

Pacers’ Jackson charged in strip club fight (Indy Star)
Pacers’ Jackson charged with criminal recklessness (

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Friday, November 7, 2008

More... On No on 8

I need to tell a very personal story here. I received several responses to my entry a couple of days ago about my dismay at the passage of Proposition 8, one of them from a proponent of the initiative who asserted that "Gays are living a lifestyle which is contrary to nature." (A nice referral from Cardozo, by the way, by way of rebuttal: same-sex sexual activity is, um, "natural"!) To support his point, the correspondent from Lion's Share told his story: "I remember back in junior high, changing in the locker room with a bunch of other guys, and I had certain feelings towards a few of them. Did that mean I was gay? NO! It meant that I was going through a change that I needed to sort out, and left to myself, I did." His suggestion was that, had a teacher spoken an approving word or two--or had he acted on his feelings--he might have embraced homosexuality for the rest of his life.

Okay. Now I'd like him to hear MY story. Like many other boys of my generation growing up in England during and after World War II, I was sent to a boys' boarding school. Two of them, as a matter of fact. At the first, ages six to twelve, I was molested by a pederast teacher. From age twelve on, when I was going through those necessary adolescent awakenings to which Lion's Share alludes, I was surrounded exclusively by boys. We all have our share of early sexual experiences. Lion's Share apparently had his own in the locker room at junior high. Let him imagine living in that locker room for his entire teenage. He might, then, as I did, have succumbed to the "natural" hormonal drives and found outlet for them with the only living human flesh within reach: other boys. And of course we attach emotions to our physical needs and contacts. For a teenager, that's what we call puppy love.

In short, after twelve years of boarding school education, I was convinced, by age eighteen, that I could love only other members of my own sex. I had become, it might have seemed, Lion's Share's worst nightmare--a boy conditioned by his environment to become a lifetime subscriber to the dreaded "gay lifestyle"! And then... and then: leaving school for the last time as my eighteenth birthday approached--miracle of miracles! My parents arrived to pick me up from school with a French au pair girl in the car with them, planning to drive her back after a stay in England to the home of her own parents in Paris...

Do you believe in love at first sight? I fell in love with that French girl before I was even a mile from the place of my long confinement. I pined after her passionately and with inordinate sexual desire--I regret to report that the love was unrequited: that was to come later--for two years, before the distance between Paris, where she lived, and Cambridge, where I was rapidly falling in love with a succession of other girls, took its toll.

All this to assure Lion's Share that, despite his fears, in this one living-proof instance at least, no teacher's approval or disapproval could have changed the course of "nature." I am what I am, and am glad to have come to that acceptance of myself. I will confess that I actually enjoyed my early sex life quite a good deal--though with the usual agonies of the adolescent, whether homo- or heterosexual. Had Lion's Share succumbed to his locker-room temptation, perhaps the same thing would have happened to him. Or maybe not. Maybe, gasp, gulp, just maybe, heaven forbid, he would have discovered some different truth about himself.

Lion's Share is who he is, I gladly acknowledge that. But I submit that it's none of his business to decide for others who they should or should not be, nor how they should or should not live out the experience of their humanity. We are learning painfully slowly, as a society and more broadly as a species, to experience our own freedom and allow the same to others. The election of a "different" President of the United States is a triumphant token of how far we have come along one particular path; the passage of Proposition 8 is a token of how far we have yet to go along another.

mandt said...

A great story p.---reminds me a bit of "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles,' or for that matter the atmosphere in Salinger's 'The Catcher in the Rye." Also evocative of E M Forester's writings. Well done! Peace MandT

PeterAtLarge said...

Thanks, both. A nice tribute! I'm grateful.

PeterAtLarge said...

... and, I should add, from a respected source!

They call him James Ure said...

(sigh) I've been just really (probably overly) worked up on this issue. Especially as it involves Mormons, which is the church that I grew up with.

I suffered a lot of abuse by that church and I'll leave it at that. So I've been trying for years and years to put out those coals of anger toward them and then they go and do THIS in California!!!

I have to laugh about the "unnatural" argument too because of something someone told me once. First of all it was in response to the claim that a man's sexual organ doesn't fit as well into a certain man's orifice than with a woman's sexual organ. I'm trying to be as tactful as I can here.

Anyway, this guy then said, "Well I like to clean my ears out with my fingers and they don't exactly fit perfectly but it gets the job done. So does that mean cleaning your ears out with your fingers is "unnatural?'"

heartinsanfrancisco said...

I wonder why the Mormon church believes that gay marriage is so terrible but considers it perfectly normal for a man to have multiple wives.

citizen of the world said...

I had to catch up by reading the original post first and also Lion's Share's comment. There is an abundance of research showing physiological differences between straght and gay people - in dimensions of different parts of the brain, in pheremones, and so on. So it makes me crazy to hear people suggest that it is all about early sexual experiences. Such a display of ignorance on that commenter's part. So he got a little aroused at the sight of some naked boys but remianed heterosexual? Big deal. That is in no way comparable to an adolescent's dawning awareness and then later adult certainty that he or she is homosexual. Boy parts and girl parts? What??? The "parts" of your body do not dictate who you are attracted to, or who you can or should love. A good percentage of the human population (along with many other species) is homosexual in orientation. This country needs to just wrap pur minds around that fact of biology and stop discriminating.

heartinsanfrancisco said...

I also had to play catch-up and read Lion's Share's comment in your earlier post.

I think maybe a lot of people were confused by the wording of Prop 8 and thought they were voting for the right of gay people to marry. It's hard to believe, otherwise, that so many Californians intentionally set back equality under the law.

It's common knowledge that sexuality is determined genetically like eye color and height. To discriminate against homosexuals makes about as much sense as to discriminate against the green-eyed or short, like me.

Dharma Momma said...

I haven't read your blog in a while, but as always, you do not disappoint. Excellent rebuttal to what I can only understand to be willful ignorance.

I'm glad I stopped by, and thank you for sharing such a personal story.

(aka the livingmandala, dharmamomma)

PeterAtLarge said...

Thanks, Manda, good to hear from you again!

Thanks, too, to Citizen and Heart for chiming in on this one. Clearly, as usual, we're not dealing with rational thought, but with fearful emotional responses that cloak themselves in the guise of reason.


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Friday, December 19, 2008

Slumdog: A Film Review

We went to see "Slumdog Millionaire," the new Danny Boyle movie that has caused such a stir and proved such a surprise hit in the theaters.

Deservedly so. I had heard only the light part of the story--the poor boy from the slums of Mumbai winning millions on a television game show. I had read no reviews, so I was unprepared for the dark side: the police brutality, the slum children eking out a living in the filth of garbage dumps, their exploitation as beggars and prostitutes by unscrupulous men, the murderous underworld of mafia-like gangs... At this level, the movie is a story of survival against all odds, the street smarts of bright young "artful dodgers" who learn how to trick the system. It's also the Cain and Abel story of two brothers, themselves the reflection of the dark and the light--the one who from desperation turns to crime, the other incorruptible. And on a more sentimental level, it's about the triumph of impossibly romantic love.

The movie is intricately constructed out of several interwoven threads: the television show, with its scheming, ego-driven host; the police headquarters, where officials try to wring out from the hero a confession of cheating, first with torture, then beatings, and finally with the slowly dawning realization that he had earned the knowledge of his answers through the experience of his life; and the story behind each of those answers with flashbacks to his childhood and young teenage years. The scenes of the game show itself, as the young man moves from lucky naive to idolized folk here, are actually gripping; while we know in advance that his answers will be the right ones, we're held at the edge of our seats with the suspense of waiting.

We know, too, that our hero will get his girl in the end. How could he not? They have been "meant for each other" since childhood, when violence and brutality brought their lives together with all the strange inevitability of randomly clashing forces. The sentimentality of the lovers' eventual, improbable reunion in the movie's closing scene, despite all obstacles along the way, is tempered by the unexpected explosion of a credits sequence in which Hollywood transmutes magically into Bollywood in a scene of wildly choreographed ecstatic dance on the platform of the Mumbai train station--ah yes, alas, that same one where gunmen came a few weeks back to randomly unload their assault weapons into crowds of commuters... But that's another story. Or is it?

A finely-constructed narrative, great parts played by a terrific cast of actors... (take a look at these beautiful young people!)

along with action and suspense, all freighted with a serious undertow of social criticism and personal inner conflict--these make for a rare and rewarding experience at the cinema. I say, go see, if you haven't done already.

citizen of the world said...

I am thinking about it, but have such a low tolerance for violence in movies - how violent is it?

PeterAtLarge said...

Ellie is much like you. She says she covered her eyes at moments, briefly, but remained much engaged in the action. There are a few scenes where you'd likely want to do the same. Not sure, otherwise, how to quantify the violence!


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The Cardinal Nation blog

Brian Walton's news and commentary on the St. Louis Cardinals (TM) and their minor league system

Greenwood absorbs odd double-whammy on Monday

St. Louis Cardinals minor league left-handed pitcher Nick Greenwood absorbed a double-whammy on Monday, with losses at two different levels of play, in two different roles.

Here is how it came about.

The 25-year-old started for the Double-A Springfield Cardinals on Monday afternoon at Tulsa. Greenwood went five innings, allowing three runs, two earned, on five hits and two walks. Down 3-2 when he departed, the Texas League Cards went on to lose by a 5-3 score (link to box score). Greenwood fell to 1-4, 4.94 with Springfield.

Formerly a reliever and spot starter with Triple-A Memphis, Greenwood had been sent down to Double-A on May 4 and was moved into the rotation shortly afterward.

Almost all of the actual damage in Greenwood’s second Monday defeat technically occurred exactly two months ago, back on April 10. Pitching in relief for Memphis that night versus New Orleans, Greenwood took the AutoZone Park mound in the top of the 12th inning. The game was tied at two all.

After just one out was recorded but with four Zephyrs runs already in, the game had to be suspended in mid at-bat due to rain. With the score 6-2, a runner was on third base and the batter had a 3-2 count – both Greenwood’s responsibility.

This Monday night, the final five outs of the April 10 suspended game were completed before the two clubs played their regularly-scheduled game at AutoZone Park.

Just off the disabled list, Eric Fornataro took over after the two-month delay. A sacrifice fly brought home the fifth New Orleans run of the inning.  In the bottom of the frame, Memphis was retired in order to conclude the 7-2 defeat.

As the game officially went on the books, Greenwood was saddled with the defeat, his second of the “day”.

In some interesting side tidbits, John Gast started the April 10 game and went six shutout innings, The lefty is currently on St. Louis’ disabled list. Right-handed reliever Eduardo Sanchez, now with the Chicago Cubs’ Iowa Triple-A affiliate, recorded zeroes in the 10th and 11th innings for the Redbirds.

They all threw to catcher J.R. Towles, who was behind the plate for the first 11 1/3 innings. Since released and now with Albuquerque, Towles hit the first of his five Redbirds home runs that night.

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Ritual of Re-Membering

ritual_of_rememberingCommemorating the Montreal Massacre and all victims who have suffered from gender violence.
This ritual always takes place at noon on December 6, the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women

Tuesday 6 December 2016
Noon, Brescia Auditorium
Free Parking in all Brescia lots

On December 6th, 1989 a young man, enraged by hatred and a misguided idea of a women’s place in the world, entered L’Ecole Polytechnique and massacred fourteen women students. It was an event that awoke many Canadians to the ongoing reality of violence against women in our society.  The Ritual of Re-Membering seeks to honour the loss of their young lives, as well as all women who have lost their lives to or suffered from gender-based violence. This commemoration is also an opportunity to acknowledge and support front-line workers (counsellors, shelter workers, social workers, emergency services, women’s advocates, etc.) whose efforts to protect, comfort or find justice for victims are critical in this ongoing struggle. And lastly, we honour those policy makers who serve our communities, our province and our country by applying their effort to transforming the systemic structures that prevent women from living lives of safety and equality.  The ritual moves us into grief and sadness and then lifts us out into hope and power for transformation and change.

Posters from Previous Years

Dec. 6th poster.pub  Dec. 6th poster2.pub  2007 Ritual_of_Re-Membering_2008re_membering_poster_noroses.ai

postere  2011   ror_poster_2012


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Friday, Dec. 9, 2016    Login | Register

Qualifying starts Monday for 2 Tyrone council seats

The qualifying period for the Post 3 and 4 seats of the Tyrone Town Council will be held next week. Voting in the November election is at-large.

Post 3 Councilman Ken Matthews and Post 4 Councilwoman Gloria Furr said they will be seeking re-election.

The qualifying period will run from Monday, Aug. 26 through Wednesday, Aug. 30. from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. at Town Hall. The qualifying fee is $144.

Qualifying requires continuous residence in the town for the past 12 months.

The deadline for registration for the November election is Oct. 7.

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Friday, February 4, 2011

A Giveaway for the Heart!

Since I already had a Valentine's Day giveaway of something more traditional-cute kids' valentine cards, I thought I'd do something completely different this month. With February comes the warm and  fuzzy feelings of love,  lots of pink and red, hearts and chocolates. I know that for many (myself included) it is a fun, festive time to show the one you love how much you care about them and vice versa. For some though, Valentine's day can feel like a lonely time of year if their heart is hurting.

More than a box of chocolates, pretty cupcakes or a dozen red roses can offer, I wanted this giveaway to offering something that nourish the soul and heal the heart. My sponsor (and love of my life) is Author and Life Coach Paul F. Davis who will be providing 2 copies of one of his best selling books, 'Breakthrough for a Broken Heart: Overcome Your Disappointments and Blossom into your Dreams'!

In his book, he shares the many different kinds of 'hearts' we experience, everything from the lonely heart to the hard heart and how to overcome them. Paul also shares some of his own personal stories. On the back cover he asks: Are you going through life without feeling? Are you having difficulty connecting well with others? Are you fixated on your past pain and unable to boldly move into your future? If so, learn how to mend a broken heart and move on to attracting love and lasting relationships.

This is a great book for anyone, male or female and it's only 75 pages so it's a quick and powerful read that everyone can get through without setting aside hours of time to do so. It's particularly helpful for anyone who has experienced a breakup, divorce, infidelity, the loss of a loved one or even betrayal or abandonment. If you or anyone you know could benefit from this book, enter for the chance  to win 1 of 2 copies!

*To enter, let me know that you're a public follower of Classy & Fabulous. Please leave your e-mail address if you don't have a blog so I can get in touch with you if you win.

For a second entry: Facebook, Tweet or Blog about this giveaway! (link to this post's url and provide your Twitter/FB name in comment if applicable)

For a third entry: Grab my blog button and add it to your sidebar.

GIVEAWAY CLOSES: Tuesday, Feb. 8th @11pm EST.

PRIZE: One 'Breatkthrough for a Broken Heart' book which includes shipping.

RULES: The winners will be selected using and announced on 02/09

OPEN TO: Worldwide (finally!)   :)

Good luck and thank you for participating. Happy Weekend!

*images: (1)(2)(3)

  1. Sounds like a good read. I am a fairly new follower.

  2. I'm a public follower! And, thanks so much for a chance to win this! I could benefit and I know someone else who would benefit after I would read it!

  3. So cute! I'm a follower!

Thanks for stopping by, your comments make my day! I read every single one and will answer any questions you have. I hope you'll visit again soon! :)

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Register on The Constructor to ask questions, answer other questions, to add questions and answers to your favorites and refer them later, track latest answers, receive email alerts, build your profile and connect with other civil engineers.

Types of Fixings of Precast Cladding:

Load bearing fixings are designed to transfer the weight of the cladding units together with any services or secondary fixings, such as doors or windows that may be present, to the building structure and are usually designed as pin-jointed supports. These fixings generally take the form of concrete nibs or metal (usually stainless steel) angles.

Types of Fixings of Precast Cladding

Restraint fixings are designed to hold panels back and transfer all horizontal forces (such as wind pressure or suction) to the structure. They need to be fully adjustable to facilitate the leveling and alignment of the panel.

Types of Fixings of Precast Cladding

These fixings must also be able to accommodate any differential movement between structure and cladding.

Design of fixings in precast cladding:

The basic requirement in any cladding design is that support and restraint to the main structure to be provided. It is important to realize that with any cladding system, once in position and the building complete, access to the fixings is not readily possible and therefore complete integrity of design and material workmanship has to be provided.

The majority of support fixings are formed from bent angel sections. Angels as single elements are basically simple to design. The outstanding leg is designed as a cantilever section.

Design of fixings in precast cladding

The design of bolts is one of the most important aspects of fixing design. In load bearing situations a bolt has a number of forces to resist. The downward load produces a shear force, the bending moment on a bracket produces a couple which imposes a tensile pull on the bolt in some circumstances. If there is a large amount of shimming, a moment stress in the bolt can also be induced.

Fixing selection for precast cladding:

The initial selection of fixings is important and several factors should be considered.

  • The fixing material must be corrosion resistant.
  • The metal should be non-staining when used in direct contact with the cladding material.
  • The metal should have sufficient strength to resist the applied loads.
  • The metal should normally be specified from standard widths and thickness. Non standard materials are difficult to purchase and also very expensive.
  • The metal should have good workability but also keep its strength during fabrication.

Fixing positioning for precast cladding:

Below is a layout of support and restraint fixings on a bottom supported cladding panel.

Green part in the drawing represent restraint fixing and blue part as load bearing fixing.

Fixing positioning for precast cladding

Restraint fixing: Each panel should have four positioned near the corners, tying the panel back to the structure and transferring any wind forces.

Load bearing fixings: Each panel should have two support positions through which its weight is transferred to the structure.

Now ask any questions to Civil Engineers around the world.

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Articles on Nuclear medicine

Displaying all articles

For years, Australia has been looking at remote Indigenous land to store its nuclear waste. But now that Muckaty is off the table, it’s time to consider big city locations. Caddie Brain/Flickr

Nuclear waste is safe to store in our suburbs, not just the bush

Right now, radioactive material is stored at more than 100 locations in cities and suburbs across Australia. Yet after the withdrawal of a proposed remote site for a “nuclear waste dump” at Muckaty Station…
Through the looking glass: nuclear medicine gives us a unique perspective. Myohan

Supply of medical isotopes has dangerously decayed

Technetium-99m is the world’s most commonly used medical isotope, used for over 30 million medical diagnostic procedures annually. But recent years have seen severe worldwide shortages and price spikes…