I'm not having great success finding an answer in google for this question.
I wanted to try to format a double into a percentage using the String.format() method (not the number format classes). I was trying to figure out a String which would work, and the closest I've gotten is this:
The problem, is that I am wanting it to treat my value as a percentage in decimal form, meaning the output I want to get is:0.75%
Is there a format which will treat it like a percentage? If not, is it possible to do math inside of the format String (multiply the value by 100)?75.42%


ATTN. Players: The Self-Promoting Musician and Project Management for Musicians Are Now Available from Berklee Press
(Published: November 21, 2013)
The latest edition of The Self-Promoting Musician lets you take charge of your music career with crucial do-it-yourself strategies. If you are an independent musician, producer, studio owner, or label, you should own this book.
Written by Peter Spellman, director of the Career Development Center at Berklee College of Music, this updated guide will teach you everything you need to know to become a success in the music business. It's filled with empowering tips and resources for self-managed musicians.
The Self-Promoting Musician will teach you to: create a goals-driven plan to help you fulfill your musical passions; multiply the power of every gig you play using 15 proven methods; turbo-charge your social media strategy; get radio airplay-online and offline; protect your creative works; keep your career organized and growing using the best low-cost practices; and much more!
Get organized, and take charge of your music projects with Project Management for Musicians! This book will help you harness your creativity into clear visions and effective work plans.
Whether you are producing a recording, going on tour, developing a studio, launching a business, running a marketing campaign, creating a music curriculum, or any other project in the music industry, these road-tested strategies will help you to succeed.
Music projects come in all sizes, budgets, and levels of complexity, but for any project, setting up a process for planning, executing, and monitoring your work is crucial in achieving your goals. This book will help you clarify your vision and understand the work required to complete it on time, within budget, and to your highest possible quality standard. It is a comprehensive approach, with hundreds of music industry-specific tools for keeping your work on track, mitigating risk, and reducing stress, so that you can complete your project successfully.
You will learn to: develop work strategies; delegate tasks; build and manage teams; organize your project office; develop production schedules; understand and organize contracts; analyze risk; and much more.
More Information: http://www.halleonard.com
Hal Leonard Corporation


Gene Ammons' Boss Tenor is arguably the tenor saxophonist's best known and most critically acclaimed album. With songs like Canadian Sunset, Close Your Eyes and Blue Ammons, the June 1960 album has enormous cohesion and creative aggression. But as rich as Boss Tenor is, I've always been more partial to Ammons' Up Tight! and its sister album, Boss Soul.
Recorded on October 17, 1961 for Prestige, Up Tight! featured Ammons with a sound that seemed bigger, fatter and more gospel-influenced than past outings. Joining Ammons on the date were pianist Walter Bishop, Jr., bassist Art Davis and drummer Art Taylor, with Ray Barretto on conga. The personnel remained the same on October 18, except for a switch at the piano: Patti Bown replaced Walter Bishop, Jr.
Up Tight! has a tough, sad history, which makes the recording that much more meaningful. Ammons recorded the album between prison terms. Addicted to heroin since the mid-'50s, Ammons was arrested in 1958 and charged with possession. After his conviction, Ammons was sentenced to Statesville Penitentiary near Joliet, Ill.
Shortly after his release in 1960, Ammons was re-arrested for violating the terms of his parole. Apparently playing in nightclubs was against the agreed-upon terms set by the parole board. When he was released the second time in 1961, Ammons began to record with a soul-jazz feel that was heavy on the blues and deeply introspective. Up Tight! is from this period.
Mindful of Ammons' continued addiction and risks the musician was taking with his health and the law, Prestige owner Bob Weinstock in 1961 decided to record Ammons as often as possible to build up a treasure chest of material to release in case the tenor saxophonist was re-arrested. Ammons agreed. So the day after Ammons recorded Up Tight!, he recorded another album's worth of material, which was placed on the shelf.
Weinstock's gut proved to be accurate. In late 1962, Ammons was arrested again for heroin possession, and this time he was sentenced to seven years at Joliet. Material from the session recorded a day after Up Tight! was released in 1966 as Boss Soul. In the liner notes to the second album, Bob Porter wrote:
"Perhaps a young jazz fan will hear Boss Soul by accident or out of curiosity and discover something. The something he gets from the LP will be hard to explain, perhaps just a feeling for the man and his music, but this is what Ammons wants and needs.
"In letters to Prestige president Bob Weinstock, Ammons continually hopes that the company has enough albums "to keep my name alive." Fortunately thus far it has had enough but the supply is dwindling. For those discovering Ammons for the first time, there is much to go back for, and for those who have passed him by, there is much to re-discover and re-evaluate. For those of us who have been there, we, like Gene Ammons, can only wait."
If you're like me, you'll be swept away by I Sold My Heart to the Junkman, Soft Summer Breeze and Don't Go to Strangers. Up Tight! and Boss Soul is Ammons at his very best.
JazzWax tracks: Up Tight! and Boss Soul together document two of Gene Ammons' most perfect recording sessions. Patti Bown's piano playing on the latter is deliciously bluesy and relentlessly interesting. You'll find both albums together on one glorious CD, called Up Tight!, at iTunes and here.
JazzWax clip: Here's The Party's Over, with Gene Ammons (ts), Patti Bown (p), George Duvivier (b) and Walter Perkins (d). Though this track does not appear on Up Tight! or Boss Soul, it is from the same period (1962)...


One of the most complex aspects of the divorce process can be dividing marital assets — and debts. When a court divides a divorcing couple’s debts, its goal is primarily to divide the debts in a way that is fair to both parties. In a simple world, this would mean allotting each side half of the marital debts, but this is much more complicated. Debts are often only in one party’s name and different types of debts have features which make them very difficult to divide.
To understand any of this, its important first to know that there are primarily, two kinds of debts: secured and unsecured.
In theory, the division of secured debts (a mortgage, car loan or student loan) is pretty simple: The party who takes the piece of property also takes the debt associated with it. This process is complicated when the secured property depreciates in value, or if a lender requires the now-single divorced spouse to show a second source of income in order to refinance the property.
The division of unsecured debts (things like credit cards and student loans), usually works the way the division of assets works — what is gained during marriage is deemed as part of the marriage and divided evenly. Problems arise, however, when one spouse is required to pay the debts that are solely in the other spouse’s name. Of course the problems are exacerbated if and when there is a default on any such debt.
In short, the issue of debt division in divorce is complicated. It is critical to understand the fine details of these issues before going to the negotiating table. Anyone considering divorce or in the middle of one should have an experienced divorce attorney by their side. Contact Boyer, Dawson & St. Pierre in Sterling Heights today at 888.559.4705.
Posted in Divorce and Custody


WhatsApp is an instant messaging service for smartphones that has over 450 million users, and it is growing globally at a rate of one million users every day.
How WhatsApp operates promises to influence Facebook as much as its mobile technology. Tweet this
That has lessons that can help your business ensure its relevancy moving forward.
#1 – Don’t Fall in Love with Your Business Model
Facebook’s business model is clearly driven by revenue from advertising. This enriches Facebook at the expense of advertisers and users. That’s right, the content that finds its way into your newsfeed is largely the result of advertising. We tend to forget that.
This is one reason why I have never liked this model, and have instead suggested a subscription model, much like the one that WhatsApp employs. They charge all of their users 99 cents per year, with the first year being free. I’m sure you can expect that to go up in the future.
Is there anything wrong with that? Keep reading to learn why some form of subscription model may prove to be beneficial for everyone concerned.
#2 – The User Experience Matters
Wouldn’t your business gladly pay a few hundred dollars/year to have all of its content delivered to 100% of its fans? Would you as a user pay fifty dollars/year to have an unfiltered Facebook experience? Would you pay one hundred to have no advertising at all?
Thankfully, WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum is an industry veteran who now has a seat on Facebook’s board of directors. If his voice is heard it will hopefully encourage more focus on earning revenue while respecting the user experience.
It’s doubtful Facebook will ever adopt a pure subscription model, but a hybrid incorporating some of its qualities is a possibility.
#3 – Partner with Relevant Businesses
From the beginning Facebook has encouraged it’s employees to “move fast and break things.” Breaking things will often get you into trouble, and over the years it has for Facebook, especially in regards to privacy. However, now that Facebook is a public company it is taking more prudent risks.
Facebook recognizes that it is not cool anymore, especially with the younger crowd that is gravitating towards applications like Instagram and WhatsApp. Thus, in order to ensure its future relevancy Facebook is buying relevancy.
While making acquisitions may not be a possibility for your business, it can partner with those in your industry that have different perspectives, approaches, and platforms. Many are lauding Facebook’s acquisition of WhatsApp, with some even beginning to compare Mark Zuckerberg’s forward thinking wisdom to that of Steve Jobs.
If this acquisition influences Facebook as suggested here, then count me in that camp too. Facebook has never been more profitable. That’s the best time to break things.
Is it time to reconsider your business model to provide a better customer experience?
About the Author: Jeff Korhan, MBA, is the author of Built-In Social: Essential Social Marketing Practices for Every Small Business – (Wiley 2013)


GESTAPO (abb. Geheime Staats Polizei; "Secret State Police"), the secret police of Nazi Germany, their main tool of oppression and destruction, which persecuted Germans, opponents of the regime, as well as Jews at the outset of the Nazi regime and later played a central role in carrying out the "*Final Solution"; originally the Prussian domestic intelligence, which became a quasi-Federal Bureau of Investigation, though initially with much less power. The right-wing revolution in Prussia in late 1932 brought about a sweeping purge of "left-wing and Jewish elements" in its political police and paved the way for the changes of the Nazi era. After Hitler's ascent to power, he appointed Hermann Goering as the new Prussian minister of the interior and Goering completed the purge and gave the secret police executive powers, transforming it from a shadowing and information agency into a wide executive arm to persecute enemies of the Nazi regime. The head office of the secret state police – the Geheimes Staatspolizeiamt, or Gestapa – was given powers to shadow, arrest, interrogate, and intern; however, it had to struggle against the Nazi Party organizations, the SA (Storm Troops) and *SS, which also "fought" the regime's opponents, but without the supervision of traditional state bodies.
Simultaneously, with relatively few changes in the Prussian political police, the Reichsfuehrer of the SS, Heinrich *Himmler, achieved control over the Bavarian political police and established direct ties between the SS, the political police, and concentration camps. Thus Himmler snatched the secret police administration out of the hands of the state conservatives and in collaboration with the Bavarian minister of justice, Hans *Frank, and with Hitler's direct support, created an independent organization for shadowing, interrogation, arrest, imprisonment, and execution along the lines of the Nazi ideology (see SS and *SD, and *Hitler). The Bavarian political police under Reinhard *Heydrich's direction was able to evade the laws that still applied in Germany in order to influence individuals, disband political parties, and liquidate trade unions. It led campaigns through the newspapers and radio against political opponents, interrogated individual "enemies," and sent them to the central concentration camp *Dachau. The officials of the political police all remained civil servants but were simultaneously drafted into the SS and subordinated to Himmler, both through the civil service and Nazi Party. Many of the officials had never been members of the Nazi Party, as was the case of Heinrich *Mueller, an old Weimar secret police man who became Heydrich's assistant and eventually headed the Gestapo.
From the outset Heydrich's prisoners included many Jews, most of whom were intellectuals or active in left-wing parties. During 1933 the political police began shadowing and investigating Jewish organizations and Jewish community life and thus set up its own network for imprisonment and uniform repression of all the Jews of Bavaria, in the wake of the policy of isolating Jews that was part of the first stage and was followed by exerting pressure, openly and insidiously, on the Jews to emigrate.
Unification of the Political Police
From August 1933, Himmler managed to rise from his starting point in Bavaria to take over the political police of the various Laender, including Prussia. From the head office of the Prussian Gestapo in Berlin, which also became the headquarters of the SS, Himmler and Heydrich directed all the political police services in Germany. The Gestapo then became the authority that investigated, along with the SD, every aspect of life in Germany, and especially watched over the regime's "enemies of alien race." The Jews headed the list. Until the end of 1939, the Gestapo's Jewish Department was directed by Karl Haselbacher, a lawyer who was among those who drafted the first anti-Jewish laws. Until the outbreak of World War II, most of the murders in the camps were carried out on Gestapo orders under various cover-ups, such as "killed while attempting escape," but eventually these pretenses were dispensed with, especially where Jews were concerned.
As an institution in charge of shadowing, interrogating, arresting, and imprisoning "enemies of the Reich," the Gestapo became a massive authority employing thousands of government officials and SS men who together persecuted the regime's "enemies" or other opponents. Various groups in the population were turned over and left to the Gestapo's sole discretion; they were subjected to "neutralization" in camps without prior trial or forced to emigrate or face physical liquidation. From 1938 onward, the Gestapo began increasingly to deal with Jews who had previously been subject to other Nazi authorities. It had a hand in the *Kristallnacht and enforced Jewish emigration. In competitive cooperation with the SD, the Gestapo set up the Zentralstelle fuer juedische Auswanderung in annexed Austria, directed by Adolf *Eichmann and headed by Mueller. Other centers for forced emigration were set up in 1939 in the Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia and in Germany proper to accelerate the emigration of Jews by eviction and persecution, impoverishment, and degradation. When the Gestapo and part of the SD were joined under the *RSHA of the SS in November 1939, Office IV (Gestapo) of the new main office acquired sole authority over all Jews who were not yet imprisoned in camps.
During World War II the Gestapo, along with the SD and Security Police, constituted part of the Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units) in Poland and other occupied countries. These units dealt with the murder and internment of numerous Jews and especially with the expulsion of the inhabitants
After the invasion of Russia in 1941, the Einsatzgruppen, headed by Gestapo men and directly responsible to Heydrich and Mueller, renewed the massacres on an enormous scale. The Einsatzgruppen carried out executions of Jews in the Baltic states and in Belorussia and wiped out part of the Ukrainian Jews. Later in 1941, the decision was made to kill all the Jews of Europe in gas chambers and the Gestapo was to supervise the dispatch of the Jews to the camps specially adapted or constructed for the program of mass murder (see *Holocaust, General Survey). The Gestapo section headed by Eichmann was in charge of the dispatch of Jews to the camps, and it also directly supervised at least one camp, *Theresienstadt, in Czechoslovakia. The section also supplied some of the gas used in the chambers, negotiated with countries under German domination to accelerate the murder, and dealt with Jewish leaders, especially in Hungary (see *Kasztner) in an effort to smooth the process of the impending destruction of various Jewish communities (see *Judenrat). The local Gestapo offices in Germany supervised the dispatch of Jews to death trains and the confiscation of their property. The Gestapo was largely responsible for the actual implementation of the dispatch orders and could choose its victims. It especially held the fate of people of mixed parentage (Mischlinge) in its hands. It excelled in its unabated and premeditated cruelty, in its ability to delude its intended victims as to the fate that awaited them, and in the use of barbaric threats and torture to lead the victims to their death, all as part of the "Final Solution."
At the same time the Gestapo acted as the principal executive arm of the Nazi regime in all the campaigns of terror, liquidation, looting, starvation, confiscation of property, and theft of cultural treasures (see Desecration and Destruction of *Synagogues; *Poland) throughout Europe. The Gestapo also repressed the anti-Nazi partisan movement and stamped out resistance in the Western European countries. Thus the term Gestapo became an accepted synonym for horror. After the war, very few of the important members of the Gestapo were caught and brought to trial. The courts in the Federal German Republic from 1969 discussed the question of several principal contingents of the Gestapo.
G. Reitlinger, SS, Alibi of a Nation (1956); H. Hoehne, The Order of the Death's Head: The Story of Hitler's SS (1969); K.D. Bracher, W. Saver, and W. Schulz, Die Nationalsozialistische Machtergreifung (1968); S. Aronson, Reinhard Heydrich und die Fruehgeschichte von Gestapo und SD (1970); H. Krausnick et al., Anatomy of the SS State (1968); F. Zipfel, Gestapo und SD in Berlin (1961); R. Hilberg, Destruction of the European Jews (1961, 19852, 20033). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: R. Gellately, Gestapo and German Society: Enforcing Racial Policy (1991); E. Johnson, Nazis Terror: The Gestapo and Ordinary Germans (1999); G. Broder, Hitler's Enforcers: The Gestapo and SS Security Service in the Nazi Revolution (1996); S. Aronson, The Beginnings of the Gestapo System: The Bavarian Model (1970).
Source: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2008 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.


WASHINGTON (JTA) — Two Orthodox Jewish groups issued a joint statement opposing the legalization of same-sex marriage in New York state.
Agudath Israel of America and the Orthodox Union, which represent a broad spectrum of Orthodox Jews in New York state, said in a statement that "discarding the historical definition of marriage would pose a severe danger to society in a variety of ways."
"Moreover, we are deeply concerned that should any such redefinition occur, citizens of New York who are members of traditional communities like ours will incur moral opprobrium and risk legal sanction if they refuse to transgress their beliefs," the groups said. "That prospect is chilling, and should be unacceptable."
The groups said that they approach the issue "through the prism of the Jewish religious tradition, which forbids homosexual acts and sanctions only the union of a man and a woman in matrimony, the bedrock relationship of the human family."
The New York state assembly is scheduled to vote as early as next week on a bill that would extend marriage to same-sex couples.


Welcome to Jusr Answer:
It appears that you are experiencing dizziness associated with vertigo and double/blurred vision, which is seasonal. While your symptoms may be in part be related to seasonal allergy as a trigger, but it is likely there is an underlying susceptibility of your sinuses that make it easier for you experience this persisting seasonal problem. At the back of the nose, inside, there is a common meeting point between the nasal, ear and eye sinuses. With chronic or recurrent inflammation of these sinuses, any exacerabtion by seasonal allergy can cause imbalance of the fluid/pressure within and outside the sinuses, and so can cause vertigo and dizziness (ear sinus related) blurred/double vision (due to nystgamus-due to effect/pressure on the orbital sinuses).
Although you need to continue with your current medications focused on reducing your allergy and inflammation, I suggest that your doctor closely evaluate you with CT Scan and/or MRI of the sinuses to exclude any persisting chronic infection that needs to be treated with a more effective antibiotics. Augmentin, instead of amoxicillin, for a longer duration may be necessary.
Please, feel free to clarify any further question(s). I'm always here to assist you.
I hope this information is helpful. If agree, please press the ACCEPT button. Thank you so much.
A positive feedback and/or bonus is welcomed and appreciated.
This is for information only, and should not replace the recommendation of your doctor.
Thank you so much.


AN INTERNATIONAL dairy farming advocate from Jamberoo believes the Showgirl competition is suffering an identity crisis, and needs to be reinvented to better spread the message of agriculture.
Sixth generation dairy farmer Lynne Strong said a name change was integral to the competition's long-term survival.
Picture You in Agriculture is an entity which aims to provide professional and personal development for young people, including the Showgirl finalists for the Sydney Royal Easter Show.
Mrs Strong, the chief executive and national program director, said equipping young females with the necessary confidence, skills and knowledge was vital.
"It's an organisation which aims to get out there and tell the great story of agriculture," she said.
"Showgirls play a significant part of that, [telling the public] that rural and regional Australia is an exciting place to be.
"They don't know how to tell the story, so we want to give them the tools so they can do it in their own communities, and build those networks.
"We want them to be out there talking about Kiama, and agriculture just happens to be part of Kiama."
In recent years, she has been helping mentor Showgirl regional finalists from throughout NSW as part of The Land Sydney Royal Showgirl Competition, as well as interstate competitions.
The state final presentation will be at the Sydney Royal Easter Show on April 13.
For the past few years she has also advised the Kiama Showgirl winner.
Mrs Strong has also been associated with Art4Agriculture's Young Farming Champions program, which trains young farmers from regional Australia to actively engage with students in their area's schools, as part of the Archibull Prize.
She said Showgirls acted as vital ambassadors for rural and regional communities, and were the ideal vehicle to relay key messages.
"It's important to show the rest of the world that young people are excited about rural and regional Australia, and there are opportunities.
"One of the many challenges facing us today is the lack of comprehension of the complexities of how our food is produced. What is happening with that disconnect is people have begun to value price over quality.
"We want to see agriculture taking its story out there, so now people in the cities can make the best decision they can around food."
Mrs Strong said before she got involved she thought the Showgirl competition was a somewhat antiquated notion, but now hoped to help make it sustainable.
She believed it had some negative connotations, and that Showgirls taking ownership of its profile would help ensure its viability.
"It's always a pivotal competition. We just need to change the name, so people can point at this competition and know exactly what it represents.
"It would be good to see that the name actually reflected that you are an ambassador for your community. If we are to attract young women to the competition, it's important it has a name that sells itself."


Nasal deformities in children may be secondary to trauma or birth defects, the most common of which is cleft lip and cleft palate. Other less common birth abnormalities include Binder's syndrome, nasal bifidity, and nasal duplication. While discovering that your child has cleft lip or another nasal deformity may be discouraging, it's important to remember that treatment options are available.
If you're ready to take the next step, request a consultation online or call us at (469) 375-3838 for more information about nasal deformities.
Since the nose does not attain adult dimensions until mid to late adolescence, surgical treatment must be carefully weighed to make sure that permanent bridges are not being burned. Things that we avoid in the early treatment are the transfer of skin replacement flaps which fail to reach adult dimensions and thereby permanently limit the expected outcome. A good example of this is the use of forehead flap tissue which makes a near perfect replacement of nasal skin but which should ideally be used only one time to minimize forehead donor scarring. Rib grafts to replace underdeveloped or injured skeleton may be used on repeat occasions to keep up with growth as long as the donor source on the chest is not exhausted.
The nasal airway in children deserves special consideration as the adjoining sinus cavities are only partially developed. In our series of cleft lip and palate patients, less than 3% required work on the septum before their definitive rhinoplasty in adolescence. Though the airway is more restricted on the cleft side, the septum is seldom the sole cause of sinus blockage and infection. Almost all of our children requiring septoplasty have had concomitant allergies as a part of their disease. When airway work is required, we make a special effort to preserve septal cartilage. This is important since the septal cartilage is used as a very essential part of the definitive tip reconstruction in adolescence.
Complete or partial blockage of the airway may occur in infancy. Choanal atresia (complete blockage) may involve one or both sides. Bilateral choanal atresia is an airway emergency and is diagnosed soon after birth. Surgery to open the passages and nasal stinting to maintain the airway is required. Unilateral choanal atresia is more subtle and may simply present as a continuous "runny nose" on one side. Surgical treatment is required.
We routinely treat the nasal deformity of cleft lip and palate in infancy at the time of lip repair. Having followed these children to adulthood and performed over 1500 cases, we are certain that there is no interference of growth with this repair (Byrd et al., The Primary Correction of the Unilateral Cleft Nasal Deformity. Plast Reconstr Surg. 1985 Jun; 75(6):791-9). Our emphasis is on balancing the muscle forces on the lip and nose. We do not reposition the nasal septum. We do expect to perform a definitive rhinoplasty in the mid teen years (age 15 to 16 for girls; age 16 to 18 for boys).


\"Made in the USA\" Makes a Comeback
Whether it was General Motors’ cars or Procter & Gamble’s diapers, most products Americans bought through the late 1970s were made in the USA. From the end of World War II, manufacturing erupted into a major propellant of the U.S. economy. But as emerging economies started to manufacture products with cheaper labor, manufacturing moved from the U.S. to places such as China -- and so did many of the manufacturing jobs. A strong U.S. dollar didn’t help. Since the late 1970s, the manufacturing industry has been largely in decline. Until now.
Since the Great Recession ended, an increase in exports has helped fuel our economy’s recovery. But is this resurgence a short-term trend or the end of a decades-long decline? For insight, we spoke with Jim Paulsen, an economist and chief investment strategist of Wells Capital Management in Minneapolis, Minn ., who has been outspoken about manufacturing’s revival for some time. Here are some edited excerpts from our conversation.
KIPLINGER: After decades of lagging, the manufacturing sector seems to be on its way back. Is this the beginning of a longer renaissance?
PAULSEN: Yes. The manufacturing sector is leading this recovery for the first time since the 1970s and, despite recent short-term turmoil, I think it’s sustainable. The U.S. manufacturing sector is becoming more competitive again globally.
What makes the manufacturing sector more competitive now?
Two tough decades have forced manufacturers to cut costs and improve productivity, and they’re squeezing out more profit per job than at any time since World War II. In the last decade, virtually no new manufacturing plants were added and the number of manufacturing jobs has fallen from an average of around 18 million in the early 2000s to 12 million jobs now. It also helps that the gap between Chinese wages and U.S. wages is beginning to narrow as Chinese wages rise.
How does a weaker dollar help?
As the Chinese allow their currency to appreciate against the U.S. dollar, and other emerging markets allow their currencies to appreciate as well, the dollar is likely to continue a slow but steady decline against emerging world currencies over the next couple of decades. As emerging markets’ currencies appreciate, their economies will shift from exports toward consumption. The big prize for U.S. manufacturers will be winning new emerging-world consumers.
What does this trend mean for outsourcing?
You’ll see less outsourcing. As we become more competitive with emerging producers, companies will start building more factories in the U.S. than overseas. We won’t regain all of what we used to make, such as apparel or electronics. It’s more likely we’ll produce new things -- something we don’t even know yet. And we’ll regain leadership by using new manufacturing processes.
Will this mean more manufacturing jobs created?
Yes, we’ll see more jobs from the manufacturing sector than we have for decades. Wages will rise, too. But there’s not much of a trained workforce. We’re going to need more scientists and engineers in manufacturing.
What does this trend mean for consumers?
There is a chance that prices of goods may climb. But if we revive manufacturing, we may start to bring more blue-collar manufacturing workers back into the middle class and close the income gap that has been widening between the wealthy and the rest of the population. Selling goods to younger consumers in emerging markets also means more economic growth domestically and therefore jobs, which will help finance some Social Security and other programs consumers depend on.
President Obama wants to double exports over the next five years. Is that goal achievable?
Yes. But doubling exports isn’t the only key. The problem is also that our imports need to grow much more slowly. We have to sell to Chinese consumers, sure. But we also have to get U.S. consumers to buy U.S. As wages go up in developed markets and as the dollar weakens against those emerging market currencies, that can occur.
Are there investment opportunities?
Yes. Invest in stocks of materials and industrial companies. [We like Baker Hughes (BHI) and Caterpillar (CAT). For more, see 2011 Midyear Outlook: Stocks and the Economy Face Off.] The whole manufacturing sector is lean and mean -- because if you weren’t you’re gone. That means as demand picks up, profits will grow more quickly.
Do prices of manufacturing stocks have room to run?
Yes. In the early 1990s. the materials and industrial sectors together made up almost 20% of the market value of Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index. If you go back to the 1960s, it might have been closer to 50%. Today they make up only about 14%. If there’s just a little bit of recognition that investors want some exposure to the manufacturing industry, it could push the values of manufacturing stocks a lot higher.


Silverdale — If the preliminary results of a demographic study hold true, Central Kitsap School District will continue to face budget cuts — and might consider closing schools to save money.
An analyst studying local enrollment trends told school board members this week that the school district can expect to continue losing students through at least 2014. Enrollment at Central Kitsap schools already has dropped by nearly 1,000 students since 1997. Current enrollment is 12,114, still making it the largest school district in Kitsap.
Reed Hansen, an analyst based on Bainbridge Island, said the current population growth rate for Kitsap County is so low that there likely will be no enrollment gains over the next eight years.
Since state funding for education largely is based on enrollment, Central Kitsap School District likely will have to cut its expenses for the next few years. Administrators anticipate costs will exceed revenues by up to $3 million for the 2006-07 school year. The current budget is about $103 million.
Superintendent Greg Lynch says the district has enough of a financial cushion to cover the upcoming budget. But he warns that the long-range outlook could be painful.
It can become cost-inefficient for a district to maintain and operate a school that is well below capacity. The fixed costs don't decline just because enrollment does.
School boards are reluctant to close schools or lay off teachers because of public pressure. When Lynch mentioned the possibility of closing schools at Wednesday's meeting, he said it was the first time it had been publicly discussed since fall 2004.
Central Kitsap is hardly alone in this quandary. Aside from Bainbridge Island, each school district on the Kitsap Peninsula has either declining or stagnant enrollment.
Analysts say it's difficult to precisely say why enrollment at many Kitsap school districts is declining. The biggest factor is the declining birth rate, which peaked in 1992. Another possible explanation is that many new homes being built in Kitsap are so expensive that only "empty-nesters" and retirees can afford them.
Regardless of the reasons for the decline, Lynch says this summer the board likely will address the possibility of closing schools.
"Unfortunately, none of this is related to school performance," Lynch said. "This is just financial reality."
Hansen is expected to present the completed demographic study by early July.
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Ismailova Habibahon` Group
Habibahon is a farm worker who also owns some livestock. She has been in this business since the early 1990s. She started it after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when most government agricultural land was privatized. At the present time, her seasonal income from farming exceeds $1500 USD. Habibahon usually spends all her income in covering family expenses. Her business earnings have meant that her family could marry both children, build a house for her son, and increase the number of livestock. In the near future, Habibahon is planning to open a food market near her house. This is her first loan from Kiva partner, Mol Bulak Finance, and it will be used to buy potato seeds and 300 kilos of mineral fertilizers.
Hojiumar, 49, is a father of two married children. He is a farmer, and will use his loan to buy potato seeds and fertilizers. Hojiumar has a dream of building a pharmacy and barber shop in the village center because the local population has to go to the district center to buy drugs.
Adinahon, 41, is also a farmer. Her family has a total of 0.47 hectare of land. She cultivates potatoes and wheat there. She is requesting a loan to prepare for the spring sowing by plowing and buying potato seeds. Adinahon is married with two children. Her husband works in a cotton plant, and all her family members take an active role in the family business.
Gaznahan is 47 years old. She is a widow with four children, the eldest two of whom are married. The other two children are students. Gaznahan will use her loan to buy 500 kilos of potato seeds and 100 kilos of fertilizer. In the future, Gaznahan hopes that she will be able to build a house for her second son. For her, the most important thing is the happiness of her children.
About Mol Bulak Finance
This loan is brought to you by Mol Bulak Finance, a young and ambitious socially-focused MFI in Kyrgyzstan. Mol Bulak Finance is strongly committed to the principles of sustainable development on the basis of the 3-Ps concept - People (building human capital and taking care of its customers and the society as well), Profit (to be profitable in order to grow further) and the Planet (taking care of the environment). It is also the only MFI in Kyrgyzstan that delivers its services to customers 365 days a year. To learn more about Mol Bulak and view a video presentation about the organization, please visit: www.kiva.org/about/aboutPartner?id=135.
If you would like to support and learn more about Kyrgyzstan and micro-finance in Central Asia, please join our Lending Team - Supporters of Kyrgyzstan - at www.kiva.org/team/kyrgyzstan. Members will get special updates and news from the Kiva Fellows in Kyrgyzstan and from Mol Bulak staff.
This is a Group Loan
In a group loan, each member of the group receives an individual loan but is part of a larger group of individuals. The group is there to provide support to the members and to provide a system of peer pressure, but groups may or may not be formally bound by a group guarantee. In cases where there is a group guarantee, members of the group are responsible for paying back the loans of their fellow group members in the case of delinquency or default.
Kiva's Field Partners typically feature one borrower from a group. The loan description, sector, and other attributes for a group loan profile are determined by the featured borrower's loan. The other members of the group are not required to use their loans for the same purpose.
82View loans »
Success!! The loan was 100% repaid


Hilda is group president. She sells products she produces in her fields. Her wish is to continue making progress with Fundación Paraguaya and that the group continues to get stronger every day. She states that she feels very comfortable in her committee and expects to have many more of the benefits that the Fundación is offering.
She is asking for the loan to buy seeds, fertilizer and other supplies to continue working her fields and thus help to support her family. She is grateful for the opportunity she’s getting from Kiva and Fundación Paraguaya.
La sra Hilda, es Presidenta del grupo, ella se dedica a vender los producto que producen en su plantío de cultivo, su deseo es seguir progresando con la Fundación Paraguaya y que el grupo se vaya fortaleciendo cada día más, manifiesta que se siente muy a gusto en su comité y espera muchos beneficio más que la Fundación le están ofreciendo.
Ella solicita el crédito para la compra de semillas, fertilizantes y demás insumos para poder seguir trabajando en su campo y así ayudar a mantener a su familia. Agradece por la oportunidad que esta recibiendo de Kiva y fundación paraguaya.
About Fundación ParaguayaFundación Paraguaya is a financially self-sustaining social enterprise that promotes entrepreneurship in urban and rural areas through microfinance, education programs, and more. Its focus on agriculture has helped many farmers boost their crop yields. And a number of other borrowers have taken out loans to start and grow social businesses that have helped deliver eyeglasses, medicines and other helpful services in their local communities.
This is a Group Loan
In a group loan, each member of the group receives an individual loan but is part of a larger group of individuals. The group is there to provide support to the members and to provide a system of peer pressure, but groups may or may not be formally bound by a group guarantee. In cases where there is a group guarantee, members of the group are responsible for paying back the loans of their fellow group members in the case of delinquency or default.
Kiva's Field Partners typically feature one borrower from a group. The loan description, sector, and other attributes for a group loan profile are determined by the featured borrower's loan. The other members of the group are not required to use their loans for the same purpose.
122View loans »
Success!! The loan was 100% repaid


Janet K. is forty one years old. She is married and has four children who are currently in school. She is a very hardworking woman, who is able to combine numerous household demands with pressure from her business. She sells smoked fish in one of the busy local markets. Many homes enjoy her fish because it has a good taste and is moderately priced. She wants to use the loan to buy an increased stock of assorted fish to make increased sales and income to support her children’s education and business. She belongs to the community group called Shepherd Trust Group. Members guarantee one another as social collateral to access loans.


Meresi is 40 years old and lives in the town of Mbale in the Mbale region of Uganda. She is married and has three children with two of them currently in school. For the past three years, Meresi has been working hard to manage her shoe making business, which sells shoes for men, women and children.
To help expand her business, Meresi has requested a loan of 2,500,000 Ugandan Shillings from BRAC Uganda. The loan will be used to buy more shoes and materials, and will help Meresi to generate greater profits and increase the daily income. Meresi hopes that in the future she will be able to have more houses to rent.
Meresi is a member of BRAC's Small Enterprise Program (SEP). The program primarily serves small entrepreneurs like Meresi who do not have enough collateral for commercial loans, but have businesses that have grown too large for microloans.
About BRAC Uganda
This loan is administered by BRAC Uganda, a registered non-governmental organization (NGO) in Uganda that is also a part of the BRAC international network. BRAC Uganda attempts to address poverty through a holistic model, offering programs in education, health, water & sanitation, agriculture, and microfinance. BRAC Uganda’s microfinance program aims to provide the poor with easy, reliable, and efficient access to institutional financial services, and reaches over 150,000 families in Uganda. For more on BRAC Uganda, please see our partner page, and join our lending team, Friends of BRAC Uganda.


The kidnapping of a 9-year-old Pueblo girl has prompted response from people all over the state, including folks in her own neighborhood.
Missy Champlain is a mother of two small children. When she heard the news of the missing girl, she knew she had to help.
At first she just watched as the hours went by and still no word of the child. Then she decided to be proactive.
Champlain created a group on Facebook called "No Child Walks Home Alone." The purpose of the group is to ensure no child is left vulnerable walking to and from school, by using volunteers to accompany kids.
Champlain says anyone who has a child that walks home alone can call on her new group. She hopes this concept will spread throughout Colorado.
The group is getting a lot of feedback: a number of people from Pueblo and Colorado Springs schools have already agreed to help.
Members of the group hope that by having adults walking kids home, who would otherwise be walking home alone, will work as a deterrent for child predators.
For more information on "No Child Walks Home Alone," just click on Find It, or click here to go directly to the Facebook group.
KKTV firmly believes in freedom of speech for all and we are happy to provide this forum for the community to share opinions and facts. We ask that commenters keep it clean, keep it truthful, stay on topic and be responsible. Comments left here do not necessarily represent the viewpoint of KKTV 11 News.
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- March 10
The 2010 Census reveals a more ethnically diverse county than ever before. We've started to pour through the numbers and we'll have an early look at what they mean.
- March 8
The 2010 Census shows the White population dropped during the decade, while several minority groups made significant gains.
‹ Newer Stories Older Stories ›


[Bytes] creates a byte stream that can be used to work with binary data or to convert strings from one character set to another. The [Bytes] tag can be used to instantiate a new bytes object, or it can be used to cast string data types as bytes types. Only string data types may be cast as bytes data types.
The [Bytes] tag has two optional parameters. The first specifies the size of the memory buffer in bytes that should be allocated to hold the byte stream. The second specifies the number of bytes that should be added if the initial memory buffer is too small to hold the entire byte stream.
Note that the [Bytes] tag does not accept the data of the byte stream directly. The data is imported into the byte stream using the [Bytes->Append] or [Bytes->Import...] tags.
<?LassoScript Var: 'Bytes1' = (Bytes: 'String Value'); Var: 'Bytes2' = (Bytes: 1024, 256); ... ?>
|Buffer Size||The initial size of the buffer for the byte stream in bytes.|
|Grow Size||The increment in bytes to grow the byte stream buffer.|
See the Lasso 8 Language Guide for examples of how to use this tag. This tag is documented on page 92.
Please note that periodically LassoSoft will go through the notes and may incorporate information from them into the documentation. Any submission here gives LassoSoft a non-exclusive license and will be made available in various formats to the Lasso community.


Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone Review
"They should have been the band that went way beyond any of us who were influenced by them," says Primus' Les Claypool about groundbreaking African-American band Fishbone in the documentary Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone.
The film, co-directed by Lev Anderson and Chris Metzler, is a love letter to the group. Packed with fantastic performance footage, the film solidly makes the case that, throughout the 1980s and early '90s, Fishbone were one of rock's best live acts ever — furiously energetic, innovative, leaping multiple genres in a single song.
A slew of talking heads, from Vernon Reid to Gwen Stefani (who should pay Fishbone frontman Angelo Moore royalties), sings the group's praises, as Laurence Fishburne narrates a whiplash-inducing career ride: High school friends form a punk/ska/funk/fill-in-the-blanks band, create groundbreaking music, travel the world, influence countless other bands, but crash and burn before achieving the success they deserve. The reasons for liftoff failure are familiar: record-label ineptitude, the love/hate dynamics within the group that eventually gave way to alcoholism, mental breakdowns and bitterness.
Anderson and Metzler get it all down but are so enamored of the band that they don't shape their material as tightly as they could have, and it occasionally drifts into redundancy.
An unexpected upside to the film is its timeliness. As conversations about "post-blackness" drift from the art world and academia onto the op-ed pages — see: Touré's controversial new book Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness? — it's refreshing to hear group members repeatedly stress that their art was rooted in black culture and consciousness, as the film itself becomes a dialectic on black masculinity. —Ernest Hardy (Sunset 5)
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Stay up to date on the best new movies with our critics' latest reviews, interviews and trailers for the films coming to a theater near you each week.


What is a Key phrase?
What is a Key phrase? or Keyphrase?
For a website to be ranked higher in the eyes of the search engines and have its products and services located very easily on the worldwide web it should properly construct a key phrase. A key phrase is made up of many words but it can be arranged in different orders and sequences. It is highly vital for the company to think and emphasize the key phrases, which can be used to get to its website, products, and services through a search engine. For key phrases to work they should first be tested to see whether they can effectively link the searcher to the company or not. For example, a key phrase “power play” is used in several games but if we added, “cricket” to it that would only mean the power play in cricket.
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Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Lecture
Date: January 20, 2009 Location: Wood Hall, Room 7, Law School
Wood Hall, Room 7, Law School
Professor Gerald Torres of the University of Texas School of Law, one of the top civil rights scholars in the nation, will deliver a lecture to honor Dr. King. The lecture is titled “Transformative Thinking in the Domain of Civil Rights: President Obama and Extending the Vision of Dr. King.”
On the date of inauguration of the nation’s first African American President, Professor Torres will lead a celebration of the fruits of Dr. King’s work to advance civil rights.
The lecture will take place at Lewis & Clark Law School, Wood Hall Room 7. A reception will follow the event


ARTICLE VII. OPINION AND EXPERT TESTIMONY
RULE 702. TESTIMONY BY EXPERTS
If scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will
assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine
a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge,
skill, experience, training, or education may testify thereto in
the form of an opinion or otherwise.
[Effective February 1, 1985.]


Top Stories Security
- How To Skip The Line And Manually Update Your Nexus Device
- How To Block All The Companies Tracking You On Facebook
- What Windows 10's 'Privacy Nightmare' Settings Actually Do
- How To Survive A Browser Hijack
- Five Common Granny Scams (And How To Avoid Them)
- How To Configure Windows 10 To Protect Your Privacy
Android updates take forever. While that’s OK most of the time, it can be a problem when a new, terrible security vulnerability is found. Whether you want to protect your phone, or just can’t wait for new updates, here’s how to skip the line and update your Nexus phone (and occasionally other devices) manually.
Last month, a hacker collective known as The Impact Team stole 37 million users’ data from the infidelity “dating” site Ashley Madison. Today, that data was unleashed to the masses. Many consider this to be just deserts or even divine justice. But hang on a minute. Doesn’t everybody deserve the same rights to privacy?
Facebook is a great utility if you want to stay in touch with friends and family, share photos, and see what other people are up to in their lives. It’s free, of course, but that doesn’t mean it comes without a price. If you’re using Facebook, you’re giving the company a ton of information about yourself which it is selling to advertisers in one form or another.
Dear Lifehacker, I have bought an online digital code for Windows 10. Is there a website I can use to verify if it’s genuine? Obviously I know that when installing the software it asks for the code and if you pass that point it is valid, but I’m thinking of checking a code before installing to verify its authenticity.
The average user doesn’t give much thought to mobile operating system security, but with the number of threats increasing every day, the likes of Samsung and Apple are paying a lot more attention. The former even announced recently that it would be dramatically improving its Android update process to respond faster to vulnerabilities.
With all the noise regarding Windows 10 and its somewhat flexible definition of privacy, it might be worth giving the rest of your most-used applications the once over to make sure they’re not sending your information back home without your knowledge.
Dear Lifehacker, It was recently reported on the ABC that hundreds of Australian computers are being infected with ransomware, which I guess is a form of the cryptlocker virus. It seems that this problem is becoming more widespread. My question is: how can I prevent my computer from being targeted? And is there anything I can do if it’s already too late?
Android: Last month, we got news of a particularly nasty Android vulnerability called Stagefright that affects nearly every Android device. If you want to find out if you’re vulnerable, Stagefright Detector can let you know.


An intramuscular (IM) injection is a shot. The needle goes into the muscle to deliver medicine. This is usually done by a doctor or nurse. Sometimes, your doctor may teach you to inject yourself. IM injections are deeper than subcutaneous injections (given under the skin).
A needle passes through skin and fat layers into the muscle fibers to deliver medicine.
Copyright © Nucleus Medical Media, Inc.
Some medicines are better absorbed when given in the muscle; if taken by mouth, they may not work. Other medicines may be given in the muscle if you are unable to take them by mouth.
Some examples of medicines given using an IM injection:
Complications associated with IM injections are:
Depending on the medicine, there is usually some discomfort at the injection site. Soreness in the muscle is also common.
Tips for minimizing pain include:
for general care.
Contact your doctor if any of the following occurs:
In case of an emergency, call for medical help right away.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseaseshttp://www.niaid.nih.gov/
Canadian Diabetes Associationhttp://www.diabetes.ca/
Encyclopedia of Nursing and Allied Health: Intramuscular Injection
. BNet website. Available at:
. Accessed June 10, 2008.
Intramuscular injection (IM). Cincinnati Children's Hospital website. Available at:
. Updated September 2007. Accessed June 10, 2008.
Selecting, evaluating, and using sharps disposal containers website. US Health And Human Services website. Available at:
. Accessed October 14, 2005.
What are the different methods of drug delivery? Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center website. Available at:
Accessed June 10, 2008.


NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - More active men seem to have a rosier outlook on life, new research from Finland shows.
Dr. Maarit Valtonen of Kuopio University Hospital and colleagues found that men who spent less than one hour a week doing moderate to vigorous leisure-time physical activity were 37% more likely to report feeling hopeless than men who logged at least 2.5 hours weekly.
Feeling hopeless has been linked to worse heart health and greater risk of dying, the researchers note, independent of the effects of depression. To investigate whether physical exercise might influence hopelessness -- just as it has been shown to help reduce depression -- the researchers surveyed 2,428 men, 42 to 60 years old, about their mood and physical activity levels and tested their fitness.
The men reporting the highest levels of hopelessness had "more pronounced features" of the metabolic syndrome, a cluster of symptoms that boosts risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. They were also less active and less physically fit.
The men who got at least 2.5 hours of moderate activity each week were significantly less likely to be hopeless than men who were active for an hour or less weekly, and this association remained even after the researchers adjusted for age, socioeconomic status, smoking, and other relevant factors. Vigorous physical activity had a particularly strong effect.
When the researchers adjusted for depression, the link between hopelessness and activity remained. But while low levels of fitness were also tied to greater likelihood of feeling hopeless, further analysis found depression was the responsible factor.
Many people, including those who aren't depressed or otherwise mentally ill, feel hopeless, the researchers note. The current findings, they say, suggest that "hopelessness and depression are overlapping, but distinct entities."
The findings also suggest that being active can help "ameliorate or protect against feelings of hopelessness" even if a person's fitness levels don't improve.
SOURCE: BMC Public Health, online June 25, 2009.


North Carolina ranchers will have the opportunity to vote Thursday on whether to continue paying $1 per animal sold to fund community agricultural education programs, farm research and other needs for area agriculture.
The Lincoln County Cooperative Extension office will serve as the local election center for those interested in casting a vote for or against the N.C. Cattle Industry Assessment Referendum.
“The dollars will continue to allow the funding of educational programs, youth programs, judging contests, leadership programs,” said Libby Yarber, an area agriculture extension agent for Lincoln County as she talked with the Times-News on Thursday.
“There’s a huge statewide beef industry tour trip for youth (that it funds), too. And some of it is political — it helps inform legislature groups on what’s going on in the beef industry; the funds are divvied up equally between those things.”
For those who aren’t entirely in favor of the mandate, a refund of the $1 will be given 60 days after the sale of the animal if they choose, Yarber noted.
Though the money is coming out of the pockets of some local residents per animal, those in favor of the policy argue that the funding will be coming full circle to go back into programs that boost the cattle industry, and aren’t just dollars paid away in a tax never to be seen again.
Conservation Farm Family of the Year winner for 2012 Robert Kalmbacher has been raising and selling cattle in North Carolina for the last seven years — many of which he has taken part in voting on the matter.
Coming from a research-based background, working for the University of Florida’s Range Cattle Research and Education Center until his retirement in 2005, Kalmbacher stresses the importance of research and the need for funding to make it possible.
“There used to be a time when the state could fully fund the kind of research we need to be able to support producers,” Kalmbacher said, “but today, there is so much competition for state dollars that we need to have additional money to cover the cost of research that is so important for production agriculture.
“It supports the producers’ industry, and they need to get behind it and give support. A certain portion goes back for the nuts and bolts — things that help — and we need all the help we can get.”
Though this may seem like an issue that only affects ranchers, the general public has and can benefit from the funding raised through the mandate, Yarber assured, as she remembered four local children who participated in a beef judging contest — a type of event that is possible partially from the dollar bills their neighbors paid to sell their animals — who were able to attend the event and learn more about the industry.
President of the N.C. Cattlemen’s Association Bill Cameron said in a press release that the referendum will help assess the number of cattle sold and marketed in the state, with hopes of bettering the industry.
Cameron also mentioned the dairy farmers will see benefits of this mandate, too; it’s not beef exclusive.
Those who will be filling out ballots next week, keep in mind:
No one under the age of 18 will be eligible to vote.
Any resident who claims ownership of cattle may attend. An affidavit must be filled out to verify age,ownership and residency.
All eligible voters must vote in their county.
Absentee ballots may be obtained by contacting the N.C. Cooperative Extension office at (704)736-8452, and must be completed and received before 5 p.m. Oct. 4.
Voting hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.


CairoPlot Makes Pretty Python Plotting a Possibility
Intro to CairoPlot
Data aficionados constantly on the lookout for better ways to display charts and graphs will appreciate CairoPlot. ServerWatch looks at this Python-based plotting software that is pretty enough to impress even the most jaded Mac user.
As a data junkie, I'm forever looking for better ways to display charts and graphs, especially from Python. There are lots of Python plotting packages available, but if you want output that's pretty enough that even your Mac friends will be impressed, consider using CairoPlot.
CairoPlot isn't packaged for most distros, but it's an easy install. The current release is version 1.1 at the CairoPlot Launchpad page. You can download the cairoplot-1.1.tar.gz from there, or check it out with bzr if you prefer. (Once 1.2 is ready the project may move to Sourceforge.)
First, extract the tarball:
then, copy one file, cairoplot-1.1/CairoPlot.py, to the directory where you'll be developing your Python script.
Pie Charts: Who's Sending Spam?
When playing with plotting, finding a good source of data is always the first step. For this project, let's analyze a Postfix log file, /var/log/mail.info to look at the sources of one class of spam.
A casual glimpse through the file reveals we're getting a lot of mail delivery attempts where the sender claims an address that doesn't really exist, like this one:
Read the rest of "Pretty Python Plotting With CairoPlot" at ServerWatch
Solid state disks (SSDs) made a splash in consumer technology, and now the technology has its eyes on the enterprise storage market. Download this eBook to see what SSDs can do for your infrastructure and review the pros and cons of this potentially game-changing storage technology.


Geeks404.com: Introduction to PythonMay 30, 2000, 19:07 (1 Talkback[s])
(Other stories by David Booss)
[ Thanks to BeOpen for this link. ]
"You've probably heard about Python, whether it's been a brief glimpse at an online article or browsing through a book, Python is gaining popularity rapidly. More developers are switching from other languages, such as Perl and Tcl, to Python. What is all the fuss about? Object oriented programming (OOP). Primarily, OOP lets programmers create reusable modules giving them greater flexibility and efficiency. One of the main attractions to Python is it's ability to deal with object oriented code, similar to C++ and Java. Whether you're coming from a heavy Unix C/C++ programming background, or you're new to programming, Python is a great choice for a wide variety of applications. Its syntax is clear and precise, and while similar to Perl, Python is simpler. If you're looking for a powerful yet easy solution to any kind of task, Python will soon be your native tongue."
"The Python interpreter is available for many operating systems, including most Unix flavors, GNU/Linux, Windows 95/98 and NT (Intel), Macintosh, OS/2, Amiga, BeOs, QNX, VMS, Psion, Windows CE, RISC OS, VxWorks, and finally Windows NT for Alpha processors. Some of these ports are still under development, but most major operating systems have stable releases at this time. For all other operating systems, you should check the Python web site, and see if someone is porting Python to your OS and then download a copy of Python."
0 Talkback[s] (click to add your comment)


In successful nanny care situations, the nanny has full authority over the child while the child is in the nanny’s care. This allows for the healthy development of the child and a strong and secure bond between the child and the caregiver. However, when the parents send the message that the nanny isn’t in charge or the nanny is unsure of her role and the rules she is supposed to be implementing, the children often sense that uncertainty and challenge the nanny’s authority. This is not only frustrating for the nanny, but can also put the child’s well-being at risk. Here are some of the common ways this plays out.
“You’re not the boss of me!” Some children don’t easily accept the authority of a nanny. They see the nanny as a person who’s there to care for them and to play with them, but not as someone who can stand in their way when it comes to what they want. Of course, this attitude can also be a natural part of a developmental stage where the child questions the authority of every adult in her life.
The nanny can’t enforce rules she doesn’t know about. For nannies that are new to a job, it’s impossible to know about the countless rules that govern a house and a child. While the parent and caregiver can cover the big “what if…?” questions that the nanny will likely have to make an educated guess about, there are many other questions that come up throughout the day. Can he eat his snack in the living room? Can she talk on the phone for as long as she wants? Does he have to eat his carrots before getting up from the table? Kids know when a nanny is unclear about what is allowed and not allowed, and they will attempt to push the envelope as far as possible in these types of situations. The refrain, “But Mom lets me do it!” is well known to new nannies. Only time on the job and lots of checking in with the parents will overcome this challenge.
“I’m going to tell mom on you!” In situations where the parents and the nanny don’t work as a team and instead work as leaders and a follower, children quickly hone in on the hierarchy of the relationship. While they may not fully understand the dynamics of the relationship, they pick up on the idea that one party has a lot more power than the other. In these cases, the nanny is often fearful of making a mistake, of failing to live up to the parents’ expectations, or of stepping outside of her role. Children often sense this fear and use it to challenge or even manipulate the nanny.
Kids know when the nanny doesn’t have the power to allow for natural consequences. Often the parents and the nanny have different perspectives when it comes to natural consequences. The nanny is often focused on allowing the child to learn by letting events take their natural course. If you dawdle through breakfast, you’ll be late for school. If you don’t pick up your toys now, you can’t go to your friend’s birthday party until you do. If you don’t put your dirty clothes in the hamper, your favorite shirt won’t be clean for the school picture at the end of the week.
While the parents may like the idea of natural consequences in theory, they often feel that natural consequences are too harsh, and kids with rescuing parents know it. The child who dawdles through breakfast knows he won’t be late for school because Mom will ask the nanny to just give him a breakfast bar in the car. The child who refuses to pick up his toys knows he won’t miss his friend’s birthday party because Dad will tell the nanny to make him pick up the toys when he gets home. And the child who regularly throws her clothes anywhere but the hamper knows she won’t get her picture taken in anything but her favorite shirt because a quick phone call to mom at work will result in the nanny spot cleaning and pressing the shirt before school.
Kids with parents that don’t allow natural consequences to happen often don’t even have to involve the parents in the conversation with the nanny. The nanny is well aware of how the parent feels and won’t jeopardize her job by allowing the child to experience the consequence of his choice.
In the best case scenario, children respect and recognize the authority of the nanny entrusted to care for them. However there are a lot of factors that affect a child’s understanding of a nanny’s role. When a child challenges a nanny’s authority, it’s an issue that the nanny, the parents and the child must work on together.


LLU procures collection of rare Sanitarium menus
This menu from Christmas, 1913, is just one example from the collection of menus that was procured last month.
It’s been said that anything under the sun can be found on eBay. Michael Campbell, MA, interim chair of the department of archives & special collections of the Loma Linda University Libraries, certainly found this to be true last month. While searching through the infamous online auction site, Mr. Campbell discovered a rare collection of Loma Linda Sanitarium menus.
Previously, the University had a series of menus dating back to 1919, but this new collection of 25 menus dates from as early as 1913—thus helping to push the department’s collection of historic menus back to within the first decade of this institution’s history.
“While these ephemera do not shed light on any major historical event or person, it does give a glimpse about what life was like during the first 50 years of this institution’s history or at least what you might have had to eat,” says Mr. Campbell. “They also give insight about the simple elegance early Sanitarium workers took in the care and preparation of campus events.”
According to Mr. Campbell, the menus also illustrate the fine work of those who printed the programs at the College Press.
Patients partake in a meal in the Sanitarium dining hall in 1913.
uo;Christmas Menu” for 1913, the earliest in the collection, is illustrative of the rest of the menus. It has several verses such as: “May your days be as fair as the sunlit sky, and your heart free from care as the pumpkin pie!” In addition to dessert, for those who partook of this meal, they had a choice of two soups (cream tomato or vegetable consommé), several relishes, and entrees that included cereal nut roast with cranberry sauce and pecan nut croquettes.
“From these menus, it’s clear that a vegetarian diet could be far from bland!” says Mr. Campbell.
Desserts included a variety of fruits, and a choice of loaf cake, pumpkin pie, apple pie, plum pudding, and ice cream. On other parts of the program important values are prominently placed: grace, a clear conscience, kindness, good cheer, charity served with discretion, peace, love, and truth.
The newly acquired menus will be on display on the third floor of the Del E. Webb Memorial Library through April 13. Historic pictures of early meals and original Loma Linda Sanitarium dishes will also be on display.
By Dustin Jones


How To Improve Lone Worker Protection And Workplace Safety?
This year's LONE WORKER SAFETY 2015 Conference & Exhibition is taking place on Tuesday 24th November 2015 at London's great Olympia Conference Centre... and it is once again all about improving the protection of lone workers.
We have to accept the fact that local government employees, such as parking enforcement, environmental health, housing officers, as well as and social workers, security guards, civil enforcement officers, and others working for utility, insurance or other private firms can be at risk.
It's easy to come up with examples of workers who spend time on their own and whose work is likely to bring them face to face with irate or aggressive members of the public. But to the list of vulnerable lone workers we now have to add paramedics, public transport employees, market researchers, even community nurses; people whose jobs are either innocuous or should put them on the side of the angels.
There is no agreement on the reasons for increased violence against public-facing workers, but what is clear is that employers have to take seriously their legal duty to protect their employees under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007. When sending their lone workers out into this increasingly hostile environment, these health & safety professionals now must be sure the protection and security of their workforce has been given plenty of consideration, and everything appropriate is done to ensure their safety.
More and more organisations are adopting lone worker policies and lone worker safety training, backed up in some cases by new lone worker protection technology and monitoring devices to raise the alarm when they run into trouble.
So what are the key elements that can help you to effectively improve lone worker lone worker protection? I will just highlight VERY briefly what I think are the most important elements you want to have covered (however, I am of course more than happy to put you in contact with professionals specialised in any of the below fields)
Lone Worker Protection Policies
The intention of a lone worker policy is to ensure the protection and safety of lone workers or staff who sometimes work alone, by minimising the risks that they face and putting in place appropriate measures to improve their safety.
- Legal requirements
- Applicable Laws
- Places of Work
- Personal responsibility
- Working outside normal hours
- Risk Assessment
- Health & Safety
- Safe System of Work
- Organisational responsibilities
This year's LONE WORKER SAFETY 2013 Conference & Exhibition will have an entire 40 minutes speaker slot to cover this so very important subject. I would like you to come and see us in case this subject is of interest or in case you are charged with designing and completing a lone worker safety policy.
Lone Worker Protection Training
Statistics suggest it would be wise to train vulnerable staff working alone to deal with aggression when they are faced with it. Self defence training is a very controversial option since many experts argue that it can send staff the wrong message, which would be to stay and fight... and subsequently this might get them into even more trouble... when their best defence actually would be to run away. I am very unsure about such argument. I would rather equip lone workers with all available tools to survive in case things get out of hand. Not allowing lone workers to have 'all access' to all available tools is something I seem to struggle with?
But conflict resolution training, aimed at helping employees diffuse aggression before it escalates, is becoming more and more popular... and righty so. However, please make sure you pick a trainer who knows what he/she is talking about. There are so so so many trainers out there who really should not be doing this job!
A number of years ago I was speaking with the NCP (one of the largest employer of parking enforcement officers) and it became know that every single of their lone workers had to receive at least a full week's counter-aggression training, reflecting the hazardous nature of their work.
But their Director of Communications at that time Tim Cowen says the company also used other means to protect its staff. "They also carry radios, and can radio back to supervisors in their depot, so someone can get to them within a couple of minutes," says Cowen. Having a computerised ticketing system also offers staff protection, he adds: "Once they press that button, it is recorded in the system, which helps to reduce pressure on parking attendants to tear up a ticket."
There is no question about it effective lone worker protection training can make a massive difference to the person working alone.
Lone Worker Protection Devices
The arrival of 'mobile technology' has been a massive advance for lone worker protection. But we need to understand thatsimply providing a phone and relying on employees to call if they are in trouble is not always enough, since violent situations do not always offer such opportunities.
However, ensuring your lone workers benefit from the same levels of protection and safety as your office-based employees is critical, and there is a rapidly growing number of suppliers keen to offer devices and services to meet those needs.
The problem now is in choosing what you really need, rather than what you might have been told you need; and it's compounded by the range of products on the market, all of which claim to be 'The Best In The Whole Wide World'.
If you are currently looking for lone worker devices in order to help protect your staff more effectively you really have to do your homework properly. There are clear British Standards a very good lone worker device needs to best tested against and comply with, and there are of course a couple of rather important features that can make a real difference for your lone workers.
If you have all the answers then that's great... if you have not, then please drop me a line and I will do my utmost to redirect you to experts I feel I can trust whole heartedly.
I know (based on many years of operational frontline experience) that a person who is either intoxicated, simply has a serious dislike for the organisation you represent or aggressively disagrees with any decision you are about to make can overreact to anything you say or do.
A lightweight stab resistant vest or body armour will protect you in such case from any impulsive physical assault such person might commit (and possibly deeply regret the following day for the rest of his/her life).
Truly outrageous physical attacks on traffic wardens, licensing enforcement, housing, community safety, anti social behaviour and trading standards teams, have been revealed in data released by local authorities across the UK and many other countries.
To make it very clear, I am of course not saying everyone working for a local council or ambulance service is at risk of getting stabbed or brutally assaulted... of course not. This is of course depending on a number of factors e.g. are you working alone, time of work, location of work, and job responsibilities. However I feel strongly that body armour can help improve lone worker protection effectively.
Dynamic Risk Assessments
A great article about this so very important subject has been written by Nicole Vazquez of Worthwhile Training. I can only suggest you give this article a good read.
Behavioural Based Safety
For me personally one of the most fascinating subjects out there... I personally LOVE this subject!
Behavioural Based Safety is a process that can help improve lone worker protection by reducing unsafe behaviours that can lead to incidents occurring in the workplace. The process works by reinforcing safe behaviour and identifying the causes of unsafe behaviour.
The Three Generic Types of Approach:
A behavioural safety process can be introduced in numerous ways but can be categorised into one of three generic types, these are:
A management driven process that typically has supervisors measuring behaviour and providing one to one feedback and relaying recommendations for improvement to the management team.
An employee driven process which encourages front line participation in safety. This works on the basis of using peer-to-peer observations which are fed back to a workforce run behavioural safety team who then conduct analysis to develop recommendations for managers to implement.
A collective approach is where both managers and front line personnel conduct observations. Analysis is then conducted by a behavioural safety team (represented by both managers and front line personnel) to identify the root causes of unsafe practises. Recommendations are then identified and implemented to improve safety performance.
It should be noted that whilst organisations may initially be considering either a Top Down or Bottom Up approach, all organisations should eventually aim towards adopting a collective approach!
Having worked with Dr Tim Marsh (BSc MSc PhD C.Psychol, FIOSH) of Ryder Marsh Safety at previous LONE WORKER SAFETY Conferences... I can clearly say that 'he is the man' you want to speak with in case you are keen to lean more.
Behavioural Based Safety is a process that reduces unsafe behaviours that can lead to incidents occurring in the workplace. The process works by reinforcing safe behaviour and identifying the causes of unsafe behaviour.
Book your ticket now and learn how to stay safe when working alone


In the continuing battle against crimes of "hitism", let me take a gentle swipe at an otherwise excellent piece on the cultural implications of the peer production age by music critic John Pareles in today's NYT. He writes:
"The open question is whether those new, quirky, homemade filters will find better art than the old, crassly commercial ones. The most-played songs from unsigned bands on MySpace — some played two million or three million times — tend to be as sappy as anything on the radio; the most-viewed videos on YouTube are novelty bits, and proudly dorky. Mouse-clicking individuals can be as tasteless, in the aggregate, as entertainment professionals.
The key word there is "aggregate". Popularity is simply a place where many roads--each one a single consumer's path through culture--intersect. Each road is different, but for a brief moment many crossed that point. Hits are products that reflect the coincidence of our collective tastes, and the reality is that most of the things that we agree on are relatively banal (that's why they call it the lowest common denominator).
Individually we may have excellent taste, but collectively we're as low-brow as they come. This is simply an artifact of the statistics of the Long Tail--when demand is spread over a huge number of products, most things won't be popular. And the things that are popular won't necessarily define their consumers.
T'was ever thus: Yogi Berra's quote in the title reflects the reality of minority taste. We're as likely to avoid doing what everyone else is doing as were are to join them. For the discriminating, popularity is often a curse, even if it was their early embrace that kick-started that popularity in the first place.
Once the most popular fare defined our culture. Now a million niches define our culture and the few blockbusters are the exceptions that define none of us, even through many of us brush by them.
David Foster Wallace, writing about television, said it best:
"TV is not vulgar and prurient and dumb because the people who compose the audience are vulgar and dumb. Television is the way it is simply because people tend to be extremely similar in their vulgar and prurient and dumb interests and wildly different in their refined and aesthetic and noble interests."
(Image taken from our photo shoot this month for our cover story on LonelyGirl15, an example used in the NYT.)


Things are heating up a little, aren’t they? Settlement – forced or “chosen” – was tantamount to giving up Romani identity. Children were often forcibly taken away from their families and made to speak the local language exclusively – a cultural death sentence. Adults were often forced to live in conditions that went utterly against their strict purity laws. (In many Rom cultures the lower half of the body is considered very impure – to the extent that living in the bottom floor of a house could be considered unclean because of the lower parts of the people walking above.) Ancient family trades dating back to life on the Indian subcontinent would have to be abandoned in favor of subsistence living.
Many families who did concede to settlement (rather than being forced by local law enforcement efforts) had virtually no choice in the matter; losing your horses or wagons or being cut off from a traditional trade route could be a crippling blow. This particular family has had a rough year for its patriarch to be giving thought to the matter.


1Alfred E. Kahn, "Deregulation and Vested Interests: The Case of Airlines," in Roger G. Noll and Bruce M. Owen, editors, The Political Economy of Deregulation (Washington, D. C.: The American Enterprise Institute, 1983), p. 140.
2David B. Kopel, Access to the Internet: Regulation or Markets?, Policy Study No. 92, The Heartland Institute, September 24, 1999, p. 3 (hereinafter referred to as Heartland Policy Study).
3Broadband Today, A Staff Report to William E. Kennard, Chairman, FCC, On Industry Monitoring Sessions convened by Cable Services Bureau, October 1999, p. 9.
4"Cable Modem Market Stats & Projections," Cable Datacom News, accessible via Internet at http://www.cabledatacomnews/cmic/cmic16.html.
5These data are estimated from the "Breakdown of Online Universe" chart in the FCC Broadband Today report.
6See NetAction, "Broadband Cable: The Open-Access Debate," accessible via Internet at http://www.netaction.org/broadband/cable/current.html.
7See Broadband Today for some background on the OpenNet coaltion's position.
8See Broadband Today, pp. 14-15, for more details.
9Senate Bill No. 667, June 17, 1999.
10A portal is the first page the user sees when a connection is made. This page typically offers users many features like email, news, information organized by specific categories, and so forth.
12This distinction, which is based on access speed, is arbitrary and likely to change as current technologies improve and new and faster technologies emerge in the marketplace.
13Federal Communications Commission, Trends In Telephone Service, September 1999, "Household Telephone Subscribership in the United States," 17-3 (hereinafter referred to as Trends In Telephone Service report).
14Heartland Policy Study, p. 22. A brief survey of prices charged in several Michigan cities reveals that the price for broadband access is generally around $39.95. See Cable Datacom News at http://www.cabledatacomnews.com.
15See Broadband Today, p. 19.
16Heartland Policy Study, p. 22.
17The bandwidth capacity is also shared with the transmission of video programming.
18Nonetheless, cable firms are likely to address these problems as this technology becomes used more widely to provide access.
19Heartland Policy Study, p. 45.
20For example, AT&T/TCI's affiliate ISP is @Home and Time Warner's affiliate is RoadRunner.
21Cable firms are currently developing a new type of modem that can be easily installed by consumers. For more details, see Broadband Today.
22See Broadband Today for more detail.
23See "In a Race to the Web, Phone Upstarts Grab Turf," Wall Street Journal, October 18, 1999, p. B1.
24See United States Internet Council, "The Explosion of High-Speed Internet Competition," for some examples.
25Heartland Policy Study, p. 44.
26Economists refer to this phenomenon as "opportunistic behavior."
27Benjamin Klein, Robert A. Crawford, and Armen A. Alchian, "Vertical Integration, Appropriable Rents, and the Competitive Contracting Process," Journal of Law and Economics, 21 (October 1978): pp. 297-326.
28Telecommunications Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-104, 110 Stat. 56 (1996).
29Report to the Michigan Governor and Legislature on Public Act 1991 as Amended Section 353, Report on Local Telephone Interconnection, February 1998.
30See Trends in Telephone Service, 9-1, for more details.
31For an example of how firms can voluntarily cooperate in a market setting similar to the Internet access market, see Paul A. Cunningham and Robert M. Jenkins III, "Railing at 'Open Access,' " Regulation, Spring 1997.
32In this context, rent-seeking behavior refers to activities that reduce society's welfare, but improve the chances of the ISPs competing in the marketplace with assistance from the government.
33This quote by the NTIA is taken from Thomas W. Hazlett and Matthew L. Spitzer, Public Policy Toward Cable Television: The Economics of Rate Controls (The MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 1997), p. 39.
34See Donald L. Alexander, "Laying Cable and Competition," Michigan Privatization Report, Summer 1999, Mackinac Center for Public Policy.


Alvin Valenton sits on his living room couch surrounded by four of his five children as he explains what kind of father he doesn’t want to be: He doesn’t want to be like those here in the Philippines who, while their spouse is working abroad to support the family, turns to alcohol due to feelings of inadequacy over not being the breadwinner. And he doesn’t want his young children—grinning as they play with their colouring books—to feel neglected, or worse, abandoned. He’s seen it happen too many times.
In the Philippines, 10 per cent of the labour force now works abroad, and almost half of them are young women like Valenton’s wife, Erna. Two years ago, she left to work as a domestic helper in Macau after her husband went blind in one eye and temporarily lost his job as a tricycle taxi driver. For the first time in his life, the 37-year-old had to run the household. He needed help. “Taking care of the kids, doing the household chores, looking for food, everything was a challenge,” he says.
So last year Valenton joined a new two-month program in Mabalacat City, roughly 90 km north of Manila: a school for stay-at-home dads. The program, called AMMA (an acronym that, translated, stands for “A father that excels in nurturing his child”) teaches everything from how to communicate and bond with children to financial management for Filipino fathers whose wives are working abroad.
In recent years, the Philippines has experienced dramatic growth in overseas migration. As of 2012, more than four million Filipinos are working abroad as temporary labourers, making the Philippines one of the top 10 emigration countries in the world. (Canada consistently ranks among the top 10 destinations.) Last year, they contributed close to US$23 billion in cash remittances—a record high—accounting for more than eight per cent of the country’s GDP. Each day, thousands of female workers leave to become caregivers and domestic helpers, earning money that has become a lifeline to the Philippine economy.
Meanwhile, their husbands are in the Philippines, exploring new territory in a conservative, predominantly Catholic country, which still believes that a real man financially supports his family. “There’s a strong machismo here,” says Honey Carandang, a clinical psychologist who spearheaded AMMA. Many of the fathers she’s met nurse a bruised ego when their wives become the breadwinners. “The men are at a loss when it comes to parenting. How do I discipline my child? How do I divide the household chores?”
In the Philippines, men rarely raise kids alone. Often times, when mothers leave to work abroad, female relatives take over. Aurora Javate de Dios, chair of the migration studies department at Miriam College, just outside Manila, describes extended families as a buffer, but also points out that their presence can complicate an already difficult situation. “By asking other people to take care of your children, they have a claim to your remittances,” she says. “Then they start meddling in your finances.”
Valenton was one of the program’s first 10 participants. For the longest time his daily routine had been simple: wake up at lunchtime, eat and go to work. After his injury his life was turned upside down. Mornings now begin at 5 a.m.—cooking breakfast, bathing the kids and dealing with the occasional tantrum before school. He says that before his wife left, he didn’t talk to the kids much. Now, the program’s instructors and his fellow stay-at-home fathers have encouraged him to take more of an active interest in his children’s lives. “I ask them questions like, ‘Where’s your assignment?’ ” says Valenton. “When I wash the clothes, I hear the kids singing, then we sing together.”
Soon the stay-at-home dads at AMMA will undergo training to take over the program from Carandang and her staff. The men insisted. Their plan is to go to other areas of the city, hold the same kinds of sessions, and become a support group for other fathers coping with the challenges of having a wife abroad. “I want to show other families what they can do even if the wife is away,” says Valenton. The city’s mayor has volunteered to issue an ordinance that would give the stay-at-home fathers who join AMMA formal recognition, making it easier for them to apply for government funding.
Back at his home, Valenton turns to his nine-year-old daughter, still in her school uniform, and asks, “Baby, what do you want to be?” “Teacher,” Alena exclaims. “I want to be a stewardess,” says his other daughter, six-year-old Angeline. Aljon, his 11-year-old, peeps out from behind his book and offers a wide smile. Valenton smiles back and proclaims, “Butcher.” For one of the first times in his life, he can proudly boast: “I’ve started dreaming for the children.”


Click any word in a definition or example to find the entry for that word
if something that you do pays off, it brings you some benefit
to have a good result
something has features that make it useful or attractive
to be useful in a particular situation
if it is worth your while to do something, you can get some benefit or advantage from doing it even though it may take some time or effort
to be extremely useful or valuable
to bring you a lot of benefit
to be helpful or useful
a start-up … whose value has reached more than one billion US dollars
to ask people to vote in order to decide an issue
an afternoon full of crafts
A must for anyone with an interest in the changing face of language. The Macmillan Dictionary blog explores English as it is spoken around the world today.
Free thesaurus definition of to be advantageous and yield benefits from the Macmillan English Dictionary - a free English dictionary online with thesaurus and with pronunciation from Macmillan Publishers Limited.


updated 07:55 pm EDT, Thu September 27, 2012
New York address does not exist according to USPO
An advertisement for a Motorola smartphone showing Google Maps as better than Apple's Maps app came under criticism itself today. The ad, promoting the Droid Razr M compared both versions of the Maps app, with the Razr M appearing to have found a fictitious location correctly while the iPhone 5 seemed to complete the same task with the wrong result -- with the only problem being that the address doesn't actually exist.
The location, 315 East 15th Street in Manhattan, does not currently exist when checked with the US Postal Service, as no odd-number addresses are listed there -- the area is in fact a public park, with the only buildings or residences nearby having even-numbered addresses. While the iPhone shows the "wrong" location on a plain-looking map, the Razr M shows a map using satellite imagery -- but is also the wrong location.
The iPhone reports the fake address as being on a part of Marlborough Road, which is actually correct -- since there is no such place as 315 East 15th Street in Manhattan, the iPhone located the only "real" 315 E 15th Street in New York City -- in Brooklyn, where Marlborough Road was formerly named E 15th Street. The ad taunts the iPhone 5's Maps by asking readers "Looking for 315 E 15th in Manhattan? Google Maps on Droid Razr M will get you there & not #iLost," but in fact users would not be looking for a public park through a non-existant mail address, making the Google Maps response incorrect as well.
Searches for nearby locations that do exist come up with correct listings in Apple's Maps, and it has been suggested that Motorola could have used a real location that Maps gets wrong instead of faking it. Screenshots (seen below) show that if users attempt to enter in a real address -- 314 E 15th Street address in "NY" -- it will offer two options, both correct (the correct even-numbered Manhattan address, or the same address but in Brooklyn), both with impressive "Flyover" imagery. If users attempt to put in 315 E 15th Street in Manhattan, Apple's Maps drops the pin in the public park -- something Google's maps did not do, instead dropping the pin on the street corner.
The Maps app from iOS 6 received a considerable amount of complaints relating to its location data in the days after the iPhone 5's release. Satellite photos for locations have been found to have issues ranging from black and white imagery, low resolution stills, and cloud covering some places, while some addresses have been found to be in completely incorrect locations. Apple is now searching for people with experience in Google Maps to help fix the errors.
Nokia also came under marketing-related fire earlier this month, for misrepresenting photos and video it said were created by the Lumia 920. Marketing materials for the phone, including stills and video, were found not to have come from the camera, but instead from a professional-grade DSLR lens. Nokia has since apologized for the error. [via AppleInsider]