- Good holidays are back, including Christmas, Halloween, etc.
- Multiplayer is easier, allows microphone (and apparently, a USB keyboard).
- Visit people's towns even when they're not playing.
- You can directly mail and send items to friends in other villages without having to visit them.
- Take a bus, driven by Kapp'n, to the new city area with fashion boutique (owned by Gracie and employing a new Able Sister), auction house, salon, theater, Happy Room Academy, and more.
- Pointer controls and vastly improved user interface including features like a quick-switch for items without having to go into inventory.
- Animals are no longer stuck inside when you have friends visiting, they'll now wander outside freely.
- All four players can be in a house at once, and you can move furniture even when you have people visiting in your house.
- New giant furniture pieces -- a wrestling mat about 5x5 squares was demonstrated.
- Much higher texture res, faces are no longer blurry masses.
- Camera can be zoomed in and out even while outdoors, and you can switch between ACGC and WW camera styles.
- Camera icon may imply screenshots/photography feature.
- Varied topography, ACGC cliffs are back.
- Fish are in 3D.
- Improved animations, details, effects, etc. Less immediate but still noticeable visual changes. Characters animate more fluidly, ears bounce on villagers as they move, other small touches.
- More furniture, items, villagers, conversations, etc., more of all the basics.

Fonte » Animal Crossing Observer

The New York Times reported that John Bolton called the move a sign of "the Administration's complete intellectual collapse." This is exceptionally ironic as I think that most students of diplomacy, including the vast majority of conservative international relations experts, would consider these moves as signs of intellectual life.

The stance of not being involved in negotiations until after one has won the concessions one seeks is an interesting position to come from people who pride themselves on being bold, because it seems so cowardly. It is as if they don't believe that the US can hold its own in negotiations, but rather will be run roughshod over by the negotiators of Kim Jong Il or Ahmedinejad if they even enter into negotiations. An admittedly cynical way to view this neocon stance is that it is a way to ensure that progress not made. Some of these individuals may have been mortified when the Reagan Administration began negotiating with Gorbachev, and Gorbachev began giving way the farm. I would hate to think that there are people shaping policy who are influenced by stock positions in defense firms, but I find this fear of negotiations hard to explain. Perhaps we have not been cautious enough in following Eisenhower's admonition to guard against the influence of the Military-Industrial Complex in politics.

As the title of this post states, "you can't win if you don't play." International diplomacy is a game of strategy, and, as such, refusing to move does not create game-winning conditions but rather stagnation.  By "winning" I am just talking about achieving one's objective at a cost that is acceptable (at or below ones reservation price.) This is obviously counter to the common definition in which there is no possible overlap of acceptable outcomes, such that one side's "win" is inherently the other side's "loss." The point is, the opposition has no incentive to consider ones demands if one does not have a seat at the table. They can maintain their existing trajectory. After all, with no one at the table, there is no ability to offer anything for which they might find it worth altering their course. There is no company that would do business with a firm that said: "we won't negotiate a contract until you conceded to all these things that we want first." If a business did say such a thing, one might expect they had little to offer.

I sent a letter to the Observer, funnily enough not printed, pointing out that their claims weren't backed up by the survey data:

...If 42% of people think climate change might not be as bad as people say, they might still think it’s bad or even very bad. The 60% of people that agree that ‘many scientific experts’ question the causes of climate change could believe that these scientists are wrong. Indeed, does ‘many’ mean 10 scientists, 10% of the scientific community or most scientists? Respondents don’t know what the question means...Your poll, and its subsequent analysis, is bad social science.

For the 'fact' that 'Most Britons don't believe climate change is man-made' they asked the public to guess the state of play of the world scientific community, instead of asking them if they themselves thought humans were responsible.

As pointed out by those sceptical of climate change, the survey is used to show that the population don't believe in climate change, and therefore more needs to be done to ram it down people's throats (the sceptics arguing that it's already rammed down our throats enough, but that it's not true). But if you look at the data, and I don't think many people have, you'll find a story of most people (77%) being very or fairly concerned about climate change, most people thinking that something can and should be done, including most people saying invest in renewable energy. Just because people can't be cast-iron certain how bad climate change will be, and how many scientists agree and disagree, doesn't mean they believe it's a hoax. Remember, even when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says global warming is real, they still put out a range of scenarios (six in IPCC AR4) because scientists, individually and collectively can't know exactly how it will pan out.

And finally when asked 'what is reasonable to expect people to do to tackle climate change', only 6% of Britons chose 'There is no need to take any action - climate change is natural/humans are not having that much impact'. Not many sceptics there.

So, what is an instance?

Observer uses instances to capture network data. In some cases you may want to gather multiple perspectives from a specific location. For example, you may want to monitor wired and wireless traffic concurrently from the same location. Through instances you can collect, view, and analyze network data gathered by the probes.

In this case, it's easiest to think of the probe as an instance manager and Observer as the viewer. The instance is a separate area of memory where an Observer probe processes data from one of many sources. The Observer console manages multiple probes, and the probes can manage manage multiple instances. Further, multiple instances can be set up on a probe to publish information to more than one console.

Instances allow you to define specific monitoring views and users that have access. There are many different data and traffic types supported by instances including wired, wireless, NetFlow, sFlow, Ethernet, Fibre Channel, and WAN.

Note: This is a somewhat simplified way to look at instances. For a more comprehensive view, please look at our online support manual. It will also explain which instance is most appropriate for achieving your monitoring goals.

the Observer design pattern define a one-to-many relationship between objects that when an object status changes the other dependent objects be notified.

the idea is : there is an object that has a peace of information, many other objects interested in knowing when its state changes.

the way to handle this is creating a way to allow dependent objects to register to be notified when the status changes. here is an imagination of how you can model this situation:

From the diagram you can see that we created to interfaces one for the subject object which will contains the information or status other objects needed to be aware about. the Subject interface has 3 methods registerObserver, deregisterObserver and notifyObservers.

registerObserver(): takes an Observer object as a argument and add this object to an internal arraylist or whatever you choose to keep all registered observers on it.

deregisterObserver(): takes an Observer object as a argument and and remove this object from the observers arraylist.

notifyObservers(): call the update() method on all observers exists on the observers arraylist and send the new status(s) as arguments.

The Observer Interface contains one method update()

update(): this method takes the status or information it interested in as argument(s).

so in pref. an subject object has information some observer objects interested in, so the observer objects register themselves on the subject object by calling the register method.

when the data in the subject object changed the notifyObservers method call and it send the new information by calling update method in all registered observers.

when an observer object decided to stop receiving updates it deregister himself from the subject object by calling deregister method() on the subject object.

Yes, today's Observer features a very long feature by food critic Jay Rayner entitled "Is it curtains for critics?" (geddit?) about an imagined battle between newspaper critics and bloggers.

Andrew is very proud indeed because the entire article was probably written with his pen which Jay Rayner still hasn't returned following their night out.

Phil was up slightly later and at the time of writing has not read it all although he has read the bit about the West End Whingers three times. This is only partly in order to satisfy himself that there is nothing in it which might alarm his mother.

Highlights of the piece include this lovely quote from Charles Spencer of the Telegraph on the West End Whingers:

'I don't think they're very helpful, Mildly entertaining, I suppose, but that brand of camp humour doesn't do it for me. They're not really critics. The last thing of theirs I read was them whingeing about squeaky seats at the Old Vic.'

We love you, Charlie!

The general view of the newspaper critics seems to be that to be a useful critic you have to be very old and have experienced a lot of whatever you are writing about - a theory instantly undermined by a cursory examination of Phil (whose "early rising days" are long behind him).

But there was nonetheless a highlight for Phil as the Whingers are described as being "middle-aged". For the record, Jay Rayner is "about the same age" as Andrew.

Phil feels he's found a new friend (and contemporary) in dance critic Clement Crisp (76) who says "I don't really understand the beastly internet". But is worried that Jay Rayner thought that there was "quite a lot of alcohol" the evening Jay accompanied them to the theatre. Phil thought they were being quite restrained, it seems the youth of today just can't take it.

We also greatly enjoyed meeting book reviewer and recent fellow Enid Bagnold convert Lynne Hatwell.

Lowlights include the photograph for which the Whingers were made to wear tragedy masks. Still, it was an improvement on the first photoshoot in which they were handed one comedy mask and one tragedy mask which led us to believe that no-one had actually bothered looking at the blog. Which says it all really.

• double checking to see if I was clear enough that 'Buffy' is fake

and

• taking time to let my readers know the tool belt I was wearing wasn't some kind of strap on device

But I just can't do that.  Seriously.  I had so much fun writing all of that down that I just don't care if it sounds like I was running up and down a residential street while wearing a 'device' and stopping only to sodomize some poor black sheep named 'Buffy' who is, for some reason, running up and down the same residential street.

Several years ago a friend and I attended a recovery meeting together where we ran into a old friend who had not been seen for months due to taking another trip around the block to discover if he'd magically become a 'chemical engineer'.

Our old friend had the typical 'haven't been to a meeting in months' look:

• Same clothing we'd seen him in months prior but
• having lost so much weight caused his pants to look as if he was
• doing a very bad M.C. Hammer pants imitation.
• Missing tooth.
• All new hair-do which
• very unfortunately for him meant
• a mullet

After the meeting we took our old friend to coffee in an attempt to...well...er...um...there's this really long list of what people in recovery are supposed to attempt to do during coffee after a meeting with someone who is in rough shape.

Such as:

• Remind them of recovery basics
• Help them remember they are not alone
• Listen
• Provide emotional support

That kind of stuff.

But out of that entire list the only thing I managed to do was listen.

I've always been a pretty good listener when it comes to addicts who are down on their luck because I was in my early 20's when I got clean and didn't have time to pull some of the whacked out crap those older than me did.

Call me a...

• Voyeur
• Peeping Tom
• Supercalifragilistic Observer

Whatever you want to call me, I fully admit always hoping those who were older than me when they got clean will take time to tell me their interesting stories of active addiction in their 30's, 40's, 50's and beyond.

Yes.  It's all sad. 

And yes...

our thirty-something friend with his M.C. Hammer pants and bad mullet hair told us the following story:

• He was loaded and
• woke up in his own bed due to
• pain
• and realized it was because some chick had
• stripped him down naked and
• was using a car buffer to try to
• get all of the hair off of one of his
• thighs
• but
• had only managed to buff away until
• his skin was raw and it
• brought him out of a nasty loaded stupor

And, even though I was supposed to be 

I hunched over the table at the coffee shoppe and laughed so hard that I was in pain for something like three days afterward.

So did he.

Right after he cried a little bit because he thought I was making fun of him.

Which I was.

And I've always been glad I just laughed because it got him to laugh as well.

And also because not laughing after hearing that story would have been one of the biggest lies I've ever told.

There have been so many times I've laughed at my recovery friends just after being told some story that has the teller of it looking

• amazed
• shocked
• stunned
• fragile and
• embarrassed

by the words tumbling out of their mouths.

I learned that from being distracted by the hysterical laughter of two people I knew early in my recovery who had gone off in a corner of the room where we were having a

'Serious Business Meeting'

and reading through one of their own 4th Steps.

I walked over and said,

What's goin' on?

One of them said,

We're reading his 4th Step.

I said,

Why's it so funny?

The other one said,

Because when I was writing this some of this shit seemed like the worst things in the world and now I'm sitting here thinking about how fucked up I was when I did those things and how even more fucked up I was when I was writing it down and acting as if I was the worst person in the world.

I said,

Sounds to me like you aren't taking recovery too seriously.

One of them said,

OK newcomer.  What step are you on?

I said,

One.

They started laughing again and I walked away as I heard one of them say,

She's only been clean for about 4 months.  Everything is serious.

And now I'm sitting here wondering when it is that I decided a bunch of stuff about me and my life and everyone else's life is actually quite hysterical.

I'm also thinking that I don't really care because it sure does make a difference to my stress level no matter when it happened.

Especially the fact I think laughing at myself has put a stop to things that seemed like they were always happening in my life such as:

• Getting out of my car at stop lights to 'teach somebody a lesson'
• Floating checks
• Dancing on tables that are not located in my own home
• Calling my purse my 'grocery cart' because I've packed so many things out of the Shop-n-Save in there
• Thinking I would look good in a mullet and ending up looking like a terrible imitation of Michael Jackson when he was 14

So, no...I don't think I will make anything clear about the fact that 'Buffy' is a fake sheep or that my tool belt on the night I was humping her wasn't some sort of device. 

I think I will just love that memory as it is just like I will always get a kick out of my friend who was getting his 'scratches buffed out' last time he relapsed.

Ever since I started reading "I never promised you a rose garden", I have become more and more aware of the connection between Greenberg and myself. Supposedly, in spite of the book being a self-admission to schizophrenia, it's currently believed that she only had depression, with schizophrenia being a trashcan diagnosis. Although I only know her from this one book, I don't believe that she was merely depressed. The book ends with her leaving Yr, to live in the "real world", but I think that was just closure on her part. She never really left, she just compromised. To live in the real world, she learned to accept lies, adapt to things, force Yr into the background, and most importantly, exercise inhibition. Perhaps I'm just "believe[ing] what [I] want to believe" (quote from Matrix), but it seems to me that Joanne still senses the world of Yr, but sets it aside in favor of the semblance of sanity.

To better understand the connection between us, I made use of metaphors to illustrate our independent relationships to "the world":

spiritual vs. physical: spiritual=me; physical=her.

I can't imagine anything for more than a few milliseconds. Although a great amount of concentration can yield the semblance of imagination, I know that in the sessions I have done this, I have produced the equivalent of a 3 fps (frames per second) video clip. On the other hand, I'd say I'm a prodigy when it comes to "imagining audio" (I can't think of the right terminology for it- if someone could please comment filling in the blank- "imagination is to visual as ________________ is to auditory). If I were to re-learn how to read music, I could probably improvise the audio and lyrics of most Linkin Park songs currently released (though I wouldn't- it would be a waste of effort.)

Although this theory still need a lot of fine-tuning, it goes like this: Greenberg had an incredible imagination, which was materialized with Yr. I have no imagination- our difference in this regard is worth noting. the physical-spiritual comparison is, the more I think about it, inappropriate, but it was where these thoughts started out. What I was trying to illustrate with this comparison was that it was "different ways of looking at the same thing" In all truth, the fact that I used "physical" and "spiritual" for this comparison, is because my insights were influenced by Spinozan pantheism. Actually, after looking up the wikipedia article on it, I realized that "physical" should be replaced with "natural", or rather, the comparison should be "spirit vs. nature", in accordance with Spinoza's theory- as well as being more appropriate for my own.

Different ways of looking at the same thing (i.e. the glass is half-empty=pessimism; the glass is half-full=optimism) are pure in form, and are mirrored in reality, many times radically (i.e. crime vs. justice). What I find most interesting is the startling connection between

(a) "nature"--> and evil, witchcraft, idols, human/animal sacrifice, fantasy, etc.

(b) "spirit"--> and good, "white magic", psychics, prophets, etc.

It's important to note a few things: the latter (b) is very compatible with modern morality, and even Christianity itself. Again, it's just different ways at looking the same thing (a dualism within a dualism!)- If we set aside all bias and preconceptions, it's quite easy to see the resemblance. Christians just use words like that to denote that "they didn't do it our way". (just a little IMHO)

This dualism was utilized in the production of Stargate SG-1, in the form of the Alterans, who adopted a more scientific/rational outlook, and the Ori, who fervently pursued religious belief. Both started out with good intentions, but both ended up being controlled by their desires. On one hand, the Alteran civilization was destroyed partially due to their nonchalant nature, as they were completely taken off-guard. Even as ascended beings, they allowed much turmoil to devastate the physical world, and eventually risked their own devastation for the sake of maintaining balance, keeping to the code, and non-interference. The Ori, on the other hand, had what the Alterans lacked- desire, but what they received in power, they paid in integrity, and they lost even the the semblance of satisfaction. Their followers also paid the same price they did, if only at smaller scale.

In addition to serving as a worthy illustration those concepts further discussed below, the Alteran-Ori allegory also illustrates the conflict between science and faith.

I myself have heavy tendencies towards the path of the Alterans- I too have a lack of concern for the state of things, a need to protect balance, and am indeed one who prefers to think and not act. In fact, I am just as satisfied with thinking of doing it as I would be with doing it, so I would have no problem with the suggestion, "let's not and say we did". I have the intention of getting a girlfriend/etc. who is either very occult or very religious- the reason being to (a) balance out my opposite tendencies, and (b) to initiate a "spiritual" connection between "nature" and "spirit", spawning balance, fidelity, and a nexus between the two.

Another point of interest: natural (black) magic puts and emphasis on carnal desire, impulse, immediate gratification, and lust. Partly for this reason, I initially wanted to merge [what was the beginning of] the contents of this post with Id versus Ego:

In other words, [black magic, etc.] exists to please the Id, and [white magic, etc.] exists to please the Ego. As quoted in a 1933 newspaper article, Crowley said "Black magic is not a myth. It is a totally unscientific and emotional form of magic, but it does get results — of an extremely temporary nature.
It is like looking for an escape of gas with a lighted candle. As far as the search goes, there is little fear of failure! To practice black magic you have to violate every principle of science, decency, and intelligence. You must be obsessed with an insane idea of the importance of the petty object of your wretched and selfish desires. I have been accused of being a "black magician." No more foolish statement was ever made about me. I despise the thing to such an extent that I can hardly believe in the existence of people so debased and idiotic as to practice it." The recoil upon those who practice it is terrific." Crowley's thoughts on black magic perfectly illustrate the connection between the Id and "nature", and it also manages to merge with Schopenhauer's chaotic will-to-life world.

Thus, the reason why we find happiness in the Id, and torment in the Ego, is because the Ego mirrors the agony of the soul- or, as Spinoza put it, "spirit". Now it's time to get the primary focus of this post, which, would you believe it (?!) has not even been addressed in the ~1300 words thus far.

That point being, "naturally"(!) that I am "in the world, but not of it"- so, what do I mean by that?

In I never promised you a rose garden, Blau explains how, after discovering Yr, the Censor appears to act in her stead whenever she was drawn into the world of Yr. The Censor's name is self-descriptive- its job is to provide the semblance of sanity, by [my interpretation:] using knowledge of "norms", "habits", and "common sense". Thus, the world never actually knew Deborah Blau, they only knew the Censor. As I wrote in Maria, who I appear to be in person, or any type of direct interaction, is a shallow reflection of who I truly am. All my real memories are in this blog- this blog is my real life. After thinking about the purpose of the Censor, I realized that I too, have a Censor- giving the semblance of sanity- or in more conservative wording, normality. This blog is my Yr.

There are many things that baffled me before that this insight make sense of: Why am I so detached? Why can't I remember my emotions in the past? Why do I lack friends, despite having a great desire to socialize? Essentially everything I do that involves interaction- I don't know why I do it, I just do. It's as if it's not even me that's doing it. I don't know why I do any of the interactions I do, either in conversation or action, until after I do them, and yet I approve of all of them. This can't be a coincidence. Why do I approve all of them? It's because I am not the slave, I am the master. My Censor acts in my name, I only oversee as the Observer. Where my true self lies, and that which is reflected more accurately in this blog, is elsewhere, which for lack of a better word, I dub "the spiritual realm"

So if you ever meet me, talk to me, befriend me, remember that it's not "me" that you know, but a zombie! :p

Update: I just realized another interesting thing: Christianity was (no matter how you look at it) originally a cult of Judaism. Now, Judaism is strikingly similar to black magic (temples, rites, rituals, animal sacrifice, etc.) with some white magic elements (prophesy, "miracles", etc.) So it's relatively likely that Christianity evolved out of a Jewish sect that felt the more "black magic" practiced were "old-fashioned", and should be "phased out" in favor of more "white magic" oriented practices. Modern Christianity has predominantly "white magic" practices, although, presumably due to its heritage, it still retains some "black magic". So if that was the plan, they definitely suceeded! :-)

And I have only recently stopped laughing. This is Clovis in rare form, and the result is absolutely hysterical.  Similarly there was this piece below yesterday, regarding Robert Mugabe and the failure of the African Union to step up to the plate and demand free-and-fair elections in Zimbabwe. Note the ability to criticize Mugabe and the AU without resorting to racist-typecasting of Africans as apes. The other interesting thing to note about both these cartoons, is that Clovis is not attempting to deride an entire group in them, even if he still feels like partisan-bashing with 'black man time.'

There are a couple of stories right now that are having a worldwide impact, that are simply impossible to imagine happening in Jamaica. The first is a story about Madonna, and the New York Yankees player Alex Rodriguez.  This is a story that broke out around the same time the Gleaner gossip column was publishing the blind item about a JLP politician who traveled to New York with a mistress.  There is a distinct difference in the willingness  of the Jamaican media to cover public figures critically.  Which is an odd position for a newspaper, or news broadcast, to find itself in. But it is not just an unwillingness to cover public figures critically that is lacking in Jamaican media, there is an unwillingness to cover other media houses critically -- see how no-one in either the Gleaner or Observer raised any question about the depiction of Africans as apes.It is this lack of checks and balances that creates many of the problems that we're experiencing in Jamaica.

The second story, which it is hard to imagine unfolding in Jamaica, involves Jesse Jackson and his whispered comments on FoxNews.

Without an agenda, I believe comments like this would never have been broadcast in Jamaica. For that matter, since this was released by FoxNews- I'm not sure it would have been published in America without that agenda. Similarly, the Jamaica Observer had a good editorial today about the lack of labor-intensive foreign investment in Jamaica. With one notable exception, it still didn't note that the RIU hotels compete with Observer Chairman Butch Stewart's hotels & resorts. And that omission makes all the difference; I still don't understand the sloppy and shameful refusal of the Observer to making this disclosure, which would not detract from the "facts" they have laid out. Thankfully the Observer was able to contain its agenda to the opinion section and not masquerade their self-interests as news this time.

The third and final story that I have difficulty imagining being published or being true in Jamaica concerns Esmin Green.

To begin let me state my personal disappointment at the abhorrent absence of care meted out to this Jamaican woman. The inaction of the hospital staff was cruel and inhumane; I'm sad that she died, and shamed that it happened in New York, as this is my city.

Yet, let us look at the base facts behind this case as I have difficulty imagining this playing out the same way in Jamaica.

1) The chief executive, Mayor Bloomberg, of the government unit responsible for regulating the hospital spoke out against it.

2) The City of New York picked up the cost of her funeral. A real estate development firm, in a philanthropic act (and a tangential political objective), agreed to pick up the costs for her relatives to come from Jamaica.

3) There is a multi-million dollar civil suit filed by her survivors. This is in a city with a court system that is fast and relatively efficient. And if you watch the AP clip you see the hospital has already conceded some liability. I think this lawsuit will be successful or successfully settled for millions.

4) There are already specific reforms put in place to prevent a similar future occurence, as broadcast in the ABC News clip, and I am confident if these reforms are flouted there will be follow-up coverage in the media to point that out.

5) Half-a-dozen workers at Kings County have been fired or suspended, according to the ABC News clip, because a poor and poorly-connected Jamaican woman (who was mentally ill) died in their care. Who would have been held accountable in Jamaica? According to the NYTimes, three people lost their job and had to go explain to family and friends why; and three were suspended and are wondering how thin the ice will be when they return to work. I could be wrong but I don't see that level of accountability happening in Jamaica, and it truly makes me sad to make that statement.

6) Finally there is a high likelihood of criminal prosecution in this case. Not just for the death of Esmin Green - though that security guard and others could possibly be targeted - but also due to an apparent cover-up attempt by staff at the hospital who wanted to make it appear she got treatment before she died. A whole bunch of people may be prosecuted for that crime now. And in America they tend to actually have trials following high fanfare perp-walks.

The Jamaican Ambassador to America, Anthony Johnson, was in attendance at her funeral. And I cannot source, but distinctly remember news that "Jamaican community leaders" pressured Mayor Bloomberg to pay for the funeral and to get the family here for the funeral. So in response to Ms. Gloudon's column, the community was involved.

Regarding the media coverage of this item, would the Jamaican media have covered the story with this degree of emphasis, especially since she was "of unsound mind"? In the often cynical parlance of broadcasters, the existence of the video of her death made this a sexy story in America. And it is likely the video would have also made it an attractive story in Jamaica. But certain aspects of the coverage here are hard to imagine being replicated there. Like the fact that the NY Times covered her funeral. [Sign-up required to view link.]

I stay away from making comparisons between Jamaica and America as in many ways it will be an unflattering comparison and being the one making the comparison, I could be misinterpreted as Jamaica-bashing. People resent that kind of Jamaica-bashing, as do I. When I am with them and we pass a flooded intersection or patch of potholes, I still make fun of relatives who used to visit Jamaica and pretend America was perfect and such things as potholes were unimaginable. However, in the last week some of the coverage in Jamaica about this tragedy was a little one-sided, as if America not being perfect allowed us to take solace in the short-comings of the Jamaican health-care system. I think we should be very careful of that logic.

First of all, he didn't represent the everyday guy. How many black guys do you know who act like that? Hispanic guys? Not many I know. He was an arrogant, pompous, hypocritical jackass, just like a lot of the local sports talk show hosts in this market.

They sit on their self-appointed perch & look down their noses at these athletes, jealous because they wished they had a milligram of the talent & a fraction of the money of the athletes they butcher. When he ripped Rashard Lewis in the 1999 NBA Draft because he slid to the 2nd round after being projected as a top 10 pick, I was through. Criticizing a kid who did nothing wrong simply because he skipped college & went pro, the same thing he would've done if he had the chance, & saying how glad he was when he saw that kid almost crying in that green room was absolute sorryness. Then came all of his mess on Michael Irvin. Believe me, I wouldn't wish drug addiction on my worst enemy, but to see him fall in the same snare that he pummeled Irvin about, saying he didn't understand how Irvin could throw all that away & he did the exact same thing, let's me know that God's Word is true.

This should be a warning to all of the sports talk jocks who sit behind those mics & throw stone after stone at these athletes & coaches/managers. Our society always paints athletes as the most arrogant people in our society but I know one group that's worse, the sports media. I think sports talk radio is the gutter of sports journalism. It requires no qualifications, it has no morals.

They sit around & wait for something bad to happen to an athlete & pounce on them but when something happens to them or one of their own, they hide & don't say anything, the very thing that they rip athletes for doing. How can he possibly get back on the radio & do what he used to do given what he did at The Ticket? He'd be the biggest fraud in radio. 103.3 would be crazy to hire the biggest hypocrite in sports talk radio.

It's one thing to make mistakes in life, we all do. But it's something else to be a hypocrite. Comment by Dee Tee Gee on Jul 10th, 2008, 13:51 pm It is Ticket "Schtick" to make fun of celebrities and athletes about their problems, but to kick a friend when he's so down is ridiculous.

Especially someone who has been a "friend" for 20 years. I quit listening years ago, when I got tired of thier ruthless bs. It is funny for a short period of time, but gets old quick.

Rhyner and Corby should be really proud to be such great friends. No wonder the thoughts of suicide.

Estimation article: click

o jornal observer resolveu fazer sua lista das 50 pessoas mais descoladas de 2008. ao contrário da lista da nme que vai mais de acordo com o hype do momento e fica só na área musical, a lista do observer engloba vários ramos. tem fotógrafos, artistas plásticos, escritores e até uma drag queen (!?). duas queridinhas deste blog integram a seleção. a camille pegou o 5º lugar e a laura marling aparece na 15º posição. ainda botaram a isobel campbell - ex-belle & sebastian - em 13º, feist em 23º, o diretor de video clipes (descrito como o novo michel gondry) Saam farahmand em 33º e... a lovefoxx em 46º lugar. a primeira posiçào ficou para alexa chung, modelo, apresentadora na tv britânica e atual namorada do alex turner, vocalista do arctic monkeys. essa tetéia da foto acima. entra pra galeria de musas deste blog, por sinal. vai ser bonita assim aqui em casa. pelamordeus.

L'evento, all'interno del Wireless4Business Forum, ha visto un'affollatissima platea di delegati, che ha dimostrato (qualora ve ne fosse stata la necessità ... )
un concreto e significativo interesse per gli argomenti e la tematica trattata dal Politecnico di Milano, la cui Business School ha dedicato un specifico Osservatorio: Mobile Finance & Payment.

Devo personalmente affermare che, un'attenzione così alta e preziosa rivolta ad una materia per la quale (gli amici lo ricorderanno ), mi sono "speso" negli ultimi dieci anni, non può lasciarmi insensibile.
Ancora una volta, osservo come il mondo dei Sistemi di Pagamento Elettronico, eserciti un fascino discreto che, declinato lungo le direttrici del New Business, incontra nel Mobile Payment una risposta all'altezza delle aspettative: di mercato, degli operatori e dei consumatori.

L'Ing. Filippo Renga (responsabile dell'Osservatorio), nella presentazione dei dati della ricerca condotta dal Politecnico, ha messo chiaramente in luce quali sono le risultanti dello studio condotto, suffragando le ipotesi di sviluppo che, un'interpretazione anche cauta dei trend, indica potenzialmente molto alte.

Ad appannaggio di tali proiezioni, l'eccezionale lavoro svolto dal Dott. Paolo Barberino di CommStrategy (a mio avviso una tra le più attente e puntuali società di Digital Business Strategy), conferma le stime previsionali, in particolare ove calate in uno studio di Market Segmentation molto vicino alle attese degli utenti (che, mai come in questo caso, mi ostino a chiamare "consumatori di un Sistema di Pagamento").

La grande rilevanza economico-finanziaria e socio-culturale che riveste l'ambito applicativo del Mobile Finance & Payment, si è potuta misurare anche grazie al confronto con benchmark internazionali.
All'uopo, una Best Practice presentata dall'Ing. Ludovico Ciferri, Deputy Director Mobile Consumer Lab International dell'Università del Giappone, ha dimostrato come un paese tecnologicamente avanzato e "culturalmente educato" quale quello del Sol Levante, ha saputo investire sulle leve dei pagamenti in mobilità (e più in generale dei servizi attuabili con un mobile handset), conseguendo nel breve termine importati risultati che hanno modificato gli usi ed i costumi di un'intera nazione.
Dal mio punto di vista, credo che sia utile far osservare come in Giappone, si sia investito (soprattutto inizialmente) sulla nascita e crescita di un ecosistema, che ha reso pervasiva la richiesta di un valore nuovo da parte degli utilizzatori finali.
L'accenno all'ecosistema venutosi a creare, è qui inteso non solo ed unicamente nell'accezione prettamente tecnologica, bensì in quella a più ampio spettro, che include la sfera socio-culturale e che ha reso possibile permeare con un'offerta a valore aggiunto, quei servizi che io chiamo consumer enabler.

Il contesto Italiano, per come ci è stato descritto da soggetti istituzionali di enorme rilievo, che vedono nel panorama bancario i propri referenti (ABI, Ing. Alessandro Zollo Responsabile settore monetica e nuovi canali ABI, e Banca D'Italia, Dott. Massimo Doria Responsabile dell'Area Servizi e Strumenti di Pagamento Ufficio Sorveglianza sul Sistema dei Pagamenti), si presenta ricco di opportunità che è necessario saper cogliere.

Come ho già più volte avuto modo di asserire, se da un lato, la crescente domanda di valore nuovo obbliga (o perlomeno suggerisce ...) un cambio di paradigma per i fornitori "istituzionali" (ovvero i gatekeepers), dall'altro un quadro normativo particolarmente coraggioso, detta le norme per un'attesa apertura verso newcomers che qualificheranno l'arena competitiva.

Ciò che usualmente chiamo "quadro normativo recepente", nasce in un contesto comunitario che vede l'Europa sancire alcuni dictat regolatori, cui i paesi membri si dovranno adeguare (e in parte già lo hanno fatto).
SEPA, con la nascita del Mercato Unico dei Pagamenti, e la PSD Payment Service Directive, orientano condizionatamente gli sviluppi di operatori (bancari e non), creando i presupposti per una convergenza cross-industry, di cui beneficerà il mercato nella propria globalità (corporate, banking, consumer).

Per quanto attiene la PSD e gli sviluppi che dall'adozione della direttiva in uno schema domestico si genereranno (PSD Transposition), il tempo a disposizione dei relatori e dei tavolorotondisti non è stato evidentemente sufficiente (a parte qualche cenno scientemente portato da Massimo Doria).
Sarà mia cura offrire un contributo di competence & strategy, che senza velleità alcuna, vorrà condividere con i lavori dell'Osservatorio un'analisi della materia normativa e delle opportunità di business, che dall'interpretazione della medesima potranno (o dovranno ...) scaturire.

La Tavola rotonda che ha concluso l'evento, si è impreziosita degli interventi di altri due importati keynote speakers: Paolo Baldriga, Responsabile Marketing VAS e Servizi di Supporto PosteMobile
e Pietro Guindani, nella veste di Presidente Asstel.

Il Dott. Baldriga ha portato la testimonianza del solo ed unico (alla data) Operatore di Rete Mobile Virtuale, che vede nel marketing mix della propria offerta, una precisa strategia rivolta alle operazioni di pagamento in mobilità.
PosteMobile gode attualmente di un vantaggio competitivo notevole, che la porta ad essere l'unico player in grado di operare funzioni di m-Payments ed m-Commerce, grazie all'associazione (possibile ma non obbligatoria) della SIM PosteMobile al Conto BancoPosta o alla Carta PostePay.
Tale posizione, anticipa notevolmente quella di altri operatori che, in assenza di accordi specifici con un Istituto Bancario, potranno orientarsi verso l'abilitazione di Payment Institutions a PSD recepita (entro il 1 Novembre 2009).

A onor del vero, va fatta una precisazione per Noverca, l'unico
MVNO che,alla data,in forza di un accordo con IntesaSanpaolo
potrebbe operare servizi analoghi (vedremo quando avvierà
in concreto la propria proposition, che per ora sappiamo
dover avvenire entro l'anno).

L'Ing. Guindani, dulcis in fundo, nella sua presentazione degli scenari evolutivi del Mobile Payment e delle convergenze che possono individuarsi lungo i percorsi che potrebbero portare un Operatore di Rete infrastrutturato (MNO) ad operare servizi di m-Payments (MNO -> IMEL), o che potrebbero condurre una Banca a diventare un MVNO per abilitare servizi di pagamento in mobilità, ha simbolicamente "lanciato un sasso", che personalmente ritengo di fondamentale importanza: trovare un accordo su TSM Trusted Service Management.
Chi può configurarsi come Trusted 3rd Party ? e, soprattutto, vi può essere un comune accordo su tale modello ?
(in altri post cercherò di spiegare cosa significano questi termini e quanto potrà essere determinante l'adozione del modello cui Guindani si è voluto riferire).

Un plauso all'Ing. Guindani, che, seppur (nel caso specifico) non paladino di innovazione tecnologica (di TSM e del modello TTP si parla ormai già da un bel po'), ha avuto senza ombra di dubbio il coraggio e la determinazione di porre sul tavolo (in termini intelligentemente provocatori) una questione fino ad oggi solo "chiacchierata".

Staremo a vedere chi coglierà il guanto di sfida di Guindani (se riterrà "sfidante" il gesto del Presidente di Asstel), o chi invece "lavorerà ai fianchi", considerando le parole dell'Ingegnere una mera buttade provocatoria.

Alla prossima, sempre su CloseToPay.

When R. Buckminster Fuller attempted to find the smallest solids that could fill space he made an interesting discovery.  He rejected cubes as unstable and found that not one solid, but two were required:  the tetrahedron and the octahedron.  The product of his work was the octet truss which he patented.

When we look at classical and quantum physics we deal with not one but two versions of reality.  The unobserved reality and the observed reality.  Unobserved reality is a tetrahedron composed of four unities:

1. Energy
2. Mass
3. Space
4. Time

Observed reality is an octahedron composed of six unities:

1. Cause
2. Observer
3. Energy
4. Mass
5. Space
6. Time

Each unity is composed of three dimensions.  Therefore, the unobserved universe is twelve dimensional and the observed universe is eighteen dimensional.  At least, that is my hypothesis.  The unobserved and observed universe join like the equilateral faces of a tetrahedron and an octahedron to create the universe as it behaves in an infinite matrix of octet space.

]]> http://closetopay.wordpress.com/?p=83 Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:17:51 +0000 Roberto Garavaglia http://closetopay.wordpress.com/?p=83 Lo so, la notizia ha già un paio di settimane (qui il link alla notizia del Corriere della Sera ) , credo tuttavia che (ironia del destino) possa essere in questi giorni veicolata, a dispetto di qualsivoglia polemica (o a beneficio dei tecnologi ...).

Personalmente non prendo alcuna posizione, ne a favore ne contro; la notizia in sé non è neanche poi così sconvolgente, se si pensa (al netto di un mio eventuale deficit di memoria) che anche in Cina, la pratica di fare la spesa e consolidare il processo di acquisto con un sistema di pagamento elettronico basato sulla rilevazione delle impronte digitali, è operativa da tempo.

Ritengo interessante osservare invece che, la società incaricata di gestire le technicalities del progetto Tip2Pay (per conto di "Albert Heijn", la catena di supermercati Olandesi che ha avviato il pilota per una durata prevista di 6 mesi), è Equens, uno dei maggiori Payment Processor a livello Europeo, che nel Settembre dello scorso anno ha annunciato un accordo di collaborazione con l'italiana Seceti (ai tempi controllata dal Gruppo ICBPI, oggi fusasi per incorporazione nella holding), cha ha dato, fra i primi frutti "concreti" , l'8 Aprile 2008 il primo scambio transazionale SEPA compliant basato sul framework per l'interoperabilità definito in ambito EACHA, tra Seceti ed Iberpay.

Certo, l'accordo succitato (ed i primi risultati), è finalizzato a gestire la compensazione dei pagamenti in ambito SEPA (parliamo di Credit Transfer, e, in prospettiva, di Direct Debit), e quindi in alcun modo lambisce altri ambiti quali quelli indirizzati dai pagamenti al dettaglio con carte; in ogni caso, chissà se la lunga mano degli Olandesi (ma qui forse sarebbe meglio dire "il lungo dito") potrà un giorno accarezzare anche qualche nostra GDO ?

Nel frattempo, per dovere di cronaca, riporto anche il link fonte Equens dell'annuncio Tip2Pay.

Feel free to put in touch ...sorry, to "tip" in touch !

All that you experience in the world is a condensation of energy. It is all an energetic sea of consciousness. The relative vibration of your environment, which includes all of your perceptions and beliefs about lack and limitation, is kept in motion by the thoughts and mindset you habitually hold onto.

The mind normally coasts along in a dream zone that maintains certain thoughts and beliefs. It does so out of habit. If you desire to break out of the straight jacket of narrowness, all that is necessary is to drop identification with the egoic mind, but of course, this is a tricky thing to do, as all of humanity and the fiery dramas through history has shown.

The consciousness of the stream of thoughts and the sense of "I-ness" that you entertain in relation to thoughts and desires is an ongoing dream identity that has fairly narrow and strict parameters as far as what is required or desired by the body and ego identity.

The desires of ego are like barbs that thrash you because you do not yet know how to effectively use thoughts and feelings to drop into the frequencies of Spirit, which is unlimited and all-abundant.

The energy of abundance is all around you. The imprint of this frequency can be felt now and there are infinite ways to do this. It can start with imagination, thoughts, or affirmations, but the most important aspect is to feel the vibration of that power, and then to merge into that consciousness, into that river of feeling.

Use the power of rhythm and sound to create the energetic sculpture of abundance that is born through vibration. This "sculpture" may take on many different forms and can instruct you regarding the consciousness of wealth.

Use activities that you enjoy doing as a way to generate momentum and magnetism. For example, your love of playing or listening to music can be used as a way to take you into deep states of focused and relaxed concentration wherein you are close to the creative energies.

Use the power of relaxed concentration! All that you wish for in life is so close at hand if you would use the precious gifts that are already yours. Go to the center of Being and observe thoughts as they come and go. Soon you will realize the Grand Observer behind all that you behold and experience.

Release your worries! Energy can be converted into whatever you focus your attention upon - even money – when you open up to what is freely given. Your power has its foundation in the bedrock of Being! Fall to your center. Feel the movement of energy within. Listen and expand your awareness to receive now!

Struggle happens only when you lose yourself to the dreams of limitation. From the consciousness of Being, from the power of Presence, create and manifest everyday so that what now seems impossible or too difficult to do becomes your natural state of Being!

Thankfully I'm not affected by this, nor any of my fellow allotmenteers on our site. But, it seems to be a pretty widespread problem and very upsetting for those affected.

How could this product be allowed to be used?

This article repays reading in full, especially as so much nonsense is pushed these days by a vocal and fundamentalist element in society.

Darwin through his work has enabled all to have a much clearer understanding of the world and the place of man therein. Truly his work did change the world.

Adam turned his mind to Darwin after reading earlier in the day this article at Stuff on how a creationist group is promoting it's viewpoint to schools in NZ.

Average June rents for non-doorman studios were below $2,000 on the Upper East Side ($1,831), the Upper West Side ($1,968), Harlem ($1,287), and Midtown West ($1,984).

Overall, Harlem remained the cheapest place to rent in June, with average prices ranging from $1,287 for non-doorman studios to $2,636 for full-service, two-bedroom apartments. (That’s around $300 less than the average studio rents in Tribeca and Soho on the opposite end of the price spectrum.) But after declining steadily since February, Harlem doorman rents started to go up this month.

The Real Estate Group's report tracks neighborhoods south of Washington Heights.

Sadly, rents continued to climb where the cool kids live in June (with a few exceptions).

Ed. Note: For the record, I take offense to that last line.

Related: So A Real Estate Agent and A Snake Oil Salesman.... [NYCtheBlog] :: Gothamist

With a question mark, here I am.  I took this photo to create a drapery I could draw à l'Ingres.  My being present technically makes this a self-portrait.  But I'm really just along for the ride.  The drapery is the star.  Beginning artists should make lots of drapery studies.  The old masters started the idea, and it holds more weight than at first one supposes.  Drapery in portraiture defines the figure.  Of course, times were better for artists when flowing robes were the fashion!  Ever since the decline of Athens, artists have fallen on hard times.  Praxiteles, we miss you!  I jest, of course.

Drapery is also this very pliable thing.  Look what crazy Gothic artists did with drapery.  Drapery is an inanimate subject whose amorphous forms can adapt very readily to whatever subliminal messages an artist -- or a whole society-- is trying to express.  It is very "true" and "realistic" and yet it is thoroughly "abstract" and sometimes conventional.

Drawing drapery leads one naturally into landscape or figure or still life.  It's an artistic Rorschach test, a mirror of the psyche.  You draw the drapery and reveal -- yikes! -- the self.

Meanwhile, I'll have to get back to you when I've done my drawings from this photo. 

[Top of the post:  Drapery study, by Aletha Kuschan, digital photo]