A small portion of a recent thrift haul.  The vintage card (unused) was .35 cents, the cheery hankie was $1, and the small oval frame underneath was $1.50.  (What is the use of sharing thrift finds if I don't regale you with the amazingness of the deals I scored?!)  These were found at a thrift store that can be overpriced, so even better.  Of course, by "overpriced" I really just mean that I expect to find dirt cheap prices and then discover that it also has a "1/2 off" color tag of the week.

Ovalprocess as an album wasn't really all that much of a stretch for me.  I know most of my writing here on Way Past College has concerned almost entirely guitar centric music but I'm also pretty into ambient, noise and drone, though my tendencies lean more toward bands like Growing, The Dead C and Eluvium.  So with all of that build-up I'll finally present my wishy-washy conclusion.  Ovalprocess is good, not great.   It's not really inspiring but it's also not at all unpleasant.  

I do have a theory as to why I was so underwhelmed by it, its pretty simple really, music of this type (call it glitch, ambient, whatever you want) has evolved so rapidly over the past few years and has become so much more prevalent of late that anything older than a few years is bound to look a little outdated by comparison.  Ovalprocess was made in 2000 and keeping that in mind this album is actually quite stupendous.  For instance the album I found myself thinking of while I was listening to OP was Black Dice's Broken Ear Record.  There's a similarity in tone there, some of the sounds, especially through tracks 3-6 of OP are nearly carried over on BER, but theres the rub.  Ovalprocess came first, it was out of the gate way before Black Dice were around, so there I was sitting on the trolley track of music appreciation, do I think of the album without the context of time and then freely compare it to everything else that sounds like it, or do I have to keep in mind that this came before a lot of the work I was going to be associating it with?   

I still haven't really figured that out, its a little chicken-egg situation that probably has no answer, but I will say a few things about this record.  It is gorgeous at times, track three (these tracks are untitled by the way and more or less seamlessly flow into one another)  being a real standout along with track 8.  It's a long record, though about twenty minutes of this run time  (74 min) is waiting for what I'm assuming was a hidden track in the original CD format, if the wait time were excised this may have actually made for a stunning conclusion to the record as track 11 opens up loud and messy with an undulating beat skipping in and out and then simply dies off abruptly leaves about 15 or more minutes of silence before wrapping things up in a nice, subdued little chunk of scribbles and hisses. 

Overall I am glad to have discovered and listened to Ovalprocess.  I can honestly say I probably wouldn't have done so without this challenge.  I will most likely listen to it again in the future whenever I go on one of my ambient jags that seem to come around every few weeks, and it has piqued my interest in the rest of Oval's catalogue.  Now I've got to start thinking up something for Gaunlet numero dos.

In this inaugural edition Mike will be listening to the Minutemen's classic 1984 double LP "Double Nickels On The Dime" and Brian will take on Oval's "Ovalprocess."

Brian's Notes on DNOTD - I love Double Nickels.  I honestly think its a near perfect record, from the Fogherty and Steely Dan covers to Mike Watt's loose rambling about his bathtub there isn't a misstep on it.  Do I think Mike will enjoy it?  Sort of, hopefully he can find something to like in it, this record is kind of like a puppy in that it's got a lot of love to give.  He'll at least laugh (or wince) when he recognizes the opening bars of "Corona".

Mike's Notes on Ovalprocess - Ovalprocess can be difficult at times, but I believe it's thought-provoking as well. For me, the most engaging features of this record are the way it decontextualizes "musical instruments," the perception of patterns in randomness, the character/quality of the sounds themselves, and the interplay of soothing and abrasive textures. Plus, this is one record where even if you don't love it, it makes for a great conversation topic later on.

Courtesy BBC

And BBC Sport understands Michael Vaughan may not be captain for The Oval after a poor run of form with the bat and three defeats in five series.

The 1300 announcement is certain to be significant. Usually, in the middle of a series, Oval are announced via a simple media release.

Vaughan may have chosen to resign his position after five years in the role.

It may be a permanent resignation, or he may seek to regain his form at domestic level with a view to being captain again for the winter tours.

The selectors are unlikely to have sacked him with one match to go in the series.

South Africa clinched a 2-0 series win with one to play with a five-wicket victory at Edgbaston on Saturday.

And England team managing director Hugh Morris did not guarantee the position of out-of-form captain Michael Vaughan.

We have an incredibly important 12 months ahead of us Hugh Morris Managing director, England team

Morris told BBC Radio 5 Live: "Later today we will have to consider the best way forward for the England team."

Asked whether or not that included a future with Vaughan as captain, Morris replied: "Michael has been the most successful Test captain England have ever had.

"The critical thing is that will be sitting down with Michael and the selectors to plot the way forward. It was a significant blow to lose the series to South Africa."

Morris desribed the series defeat as "desperately disappointing".

He added: "We had high hopes after two wins in two previous Tests against New Zealand so clearly the selectors will be talking this through.

"We have an incredibly important 12 months ahead of us."

That period incorporates tours of India and West Indies, before England host the ICC World Twenty20 in June 2009 and then attempt to win back the Ashes later that summer.

BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew had earlier said he did not think Vaughan - given assurances about his immediate future by coach Peter Moores on Saturday - would be dropped.

But he added that England might seek to add another potential captain to the squad for The Oval, with one eye on the future, and suggested Kent skipper Rob Key getting a possible recall.

That would inevitably put pressure on another member of the top three, presumably Andrew Strauss, while there might also be a new wicketkeeper and some bowling reinforcement.

Agnew said: "England have now lost to three of their last four opponents, so perhaps it is a good thing that this dead game presents itself as an opportunity for the selectors to take proper stock of the situation.

"If no changes are made there will again be accusations of a closed shop but I sense the mood for a shake-up and the time is right."

This is the PERFECT bassinet (Too bad I already have all of my furniture! I think my husband would be mad if I purchased ANOTHER bassinet! LOL) To me, it screams "Princess" or "Prince" I have been spending my days of maternity leave searching the internet. Believe it or not, I get a ton of questions from people asking about some of the things that I have found so I figured I would blog about this too! I really appreciate the fact that it is oval (Because it's rather unique) and it also comes with the bedding set (Which includes the skirt, dust ruffle, fitted sheet and drape material)

Who can beat $5 shipping?

Badger Basket Elite Oval Bassinet, Cherry with White Eyelet Bedding at Bellacroft

Una de las grandes compensaciones de los viajes son los descubrimientos. Un castillo idéntico al que imaginábamos cuando éramos niños, un templo grandioso que refleja el poder de otro Dios invisible, ropa tradicional que te gusta pero no te atreverías a llevar en tu ciudad, un pájaro con más colores que el arco iris, una leona persiguiendo una jirafa aterrorizada, una catarata blanca escondida en un bosque verde, una muralla de barro, dos ojos que te miran con ternura, frutas de formas extrañas y sabores nuevos en un mercado de la selva.

Uno nunca sabe por dónde llegará la próxima sorpresa.

AGUAJE

El aguaje tiene forma ovalada y el tamaño de un huevo extra. Su piel es escamada, parecida al caparazón de una tortuga, pero blandita. Se pela fácilmente con los dedos quitando las placas de la pequeña coraza. Por dentro su pulpa es anaranjada y mantecosa. Tiene una semilla grande y su sabor es neutro, apagado, con un bouquet que permanece a palta pasada.

No se come, se bebe: se pela y separa la pulpa con una cuchara; luego se pone en un vaso y se mezcla con agua fría y azúcar. Y lista. Puaajjjjj!!! La verdad, la gente lo bebe, pero no sabe demasiado bien.

CARAMBOLA

La carambola es de color amarillo, con forma de abanico de aletas, como si multiplicaras la cola de un avión. Su piel es fina como la de un pimiento y la pulpa suave y jugosa. Se consume preferentemente como jugo y, antes de servir, es mejor colar las semillas.

GRANADILLA 

La granadilla es de la misma familia que el maracuyá, pero un poco más pequeña. Es de color anaranjado y lo más importante, todo el dulce que se le negó a su hermana, lo tiene ella. La pulpa, llena de semillas que también se comen, es de color verde.

LUCUMA

La Lúcuma tiene el tamaño de una mandarina, de piel verde, suave pero algo rugosa. Tiene dos semillas del tamaño de canicas y su pulpa, espesa, es de color anaranjado. Se pela y se come, su textura en la boca es suave y recuerda al boniato o la batata hervida.

MAMEY

El mamey es algo mayor que una pelota de tenis. Su piel es gruesa, áspera, dura y de color marrón. La pulpa es poco jugosa y de color anaranjado. Es rico, su textura y sabor recuerdan a los melocotones o albaricoques secos. Tiene una semilla grande. Se abre por la mitad, de polo a polo, se separa la piel gruesa de la pulpa con la mano y se come como si fuera una rodaja de pan.

MAUSHAN

Es una fruta parecida a la carambola, aunque algo más pequeña. Sirve para preparar mermeladas. Es todo lo que sé. Un grupo de campesinos que desfilaba en el Raymillacta de los Chachapoya, en el departamento de Amazonas, Perú, los lanzaba a la gente.

PEPINO MELON

El pepino melón es una fruta amarilla con algunas estrías de color violeta y algo más pequeña que un meloncito. Su piel es suave y delgada y su aroma dulce. Al abrirlo al medio, presenta una hilera de semillas muy pequeñas, en una disposición similar a las del melón. Su pulpa es acuosa y su sabor fresco recuerda al pepino.

PITAJAYA

La pitajaya es de color amarillo y forma ovalada con aristas. Es relativamente cara ya que es difícil de recolectar: crece en una planta trepadora tipo cactus y de cada uno de sus ángulos salen tres espinas. Eso sí, su interior es dulce y fácil de comer con una cuchara. Sin duda, la fruta más rica de toda la lista.

PURPURO

Tiene forma alargada y piel parecida a la del damasco, pero más gruesa. Contiene semillas parecidas a las de la granadilla o el maracuyá recubiertas por una pulpa espesa y anaranjada. Su sabor es ácido, pero tiene tantas semillas que comerlo se vuelve incómodo. Es más práctico preparar un jugo.

Si te gustan las historias de la Vuelta al Mundo puedes conseguir un libro que editamos sobre el cruce del continente africano. Se llama La Vuelta al Mundo en 10 Años: Africa. Encuentra más información en http://viajeros4x4x4.wordpress.com/2007/02/03/la-vuelta-al-mundo-en-10-anos-africa/

And there are so many more shapes to choose from if you dare!  Pictured below are the many different shapes that are made by just one of our fine lampshade vendors.  We have lots of these shapes in stock for you to try.  Find the perfect shape for your lamp, in the right size and fabric, and you'll transform your lamp and the whole room as well!

Come see us soon at The Lamp Shade, 990 N. High St., Columbus, OH 43201.  Our phone number is 614.299.6442.   And remember to bring your lamps to find it's best shape.  

Pre Conditions

OVal has three interesting ways of expressing preconditions; Single annotations, script statements and evaluating methods.
I would recommend (with no prior experience) single annotations, because they are simpler and easily readable. Several annotations can be placed on parameters, and all are evaluated before a ConstraintsViolatedException is thrown.

public void specificClass(@NotNull @InstanceOfAny(value = List.class) Object o) {

Preconditions can be written as scripts, where Groovy is my personal favorite. The scripts can be expressive, at the cost of readability, complexity and compilation time checking.

@Pre(expr = "_this.amount!=null && amount2add>_this.amount", lang = "groovy")
public void increase(int amount2add) {


OVal has annotations for calling Evaluating methods, which can be complex methods that can do the evaluating. They work similarly to scripts, but are written as normal java methods, and hence get the benefits of compilation time checking.

Post Conditions

Post conditions can check the returning objects or the state of the object.
From what I've read, postconditions can only be written as scripts, although I can't see why they cannot be written as evaluating methods.


@Post(expr = "_this.amount >= 0", lang = "groovy")
public int withdraw(int amount2withdraw) {
amount -= amount2withdraw;
return amount;
}

What's different when using OVal?

Code syntax
One thing that is quite apparent is that OVal is a different way of expressing constraints and validation, moving it outside of the main codeblock. Whether writing moving code into annotations is a good thing is a subject for much dispute.

Timing
If annotation based validation is utilized in a client-server environment, where the methods that contain the validation requirements are located on the server, and the client has access to the requirements, I believe that one can run the validation without making an expensive call to the server side. And why not at the same time create a validating framework that uses the validation to generate code for javascript validation in the web browser?

NullPointerCheck
Allthough it's not rocket science, much nullpointerchecks can be avoided if the input is validated with @NotNull checks.

Conclusion

OVal is simple and powerful, and may prove to be something to check out for your next project. Setting up aspectJ to weave in pre and post conditions may be cumbersome, but the project which I created should take care getting started, which could hinder adoptation.

The code can be downloaded here.

This post is regarding solving an issue you may get when trying to use IntelliJ's AspectJ plugin. When running the test I've added here from IntelliJ, You get the message:

Error: ExactAnnotationTypePattern was written by a newer version of AspectJ

But, if I run Maven2 with "mvn clean install", and then run the test again in IntelliJ, everything is ok.

I've posted a message to the owner of the plugin, so I'll keep you informed on that progress. Until then, here's the sample code which should be a breeze to browse.

Stats:
IntelliJ 7.0.3 build 7782
AspectJ weaver plugin v1.11
AspectJ 1.6.0

Update - issue solved

I contacted the maintainer of the IntelliJ AspectJWeaver plugin, Mattias Jiderhamn, and presented the issue.
I'm pleased to announce that the issue is now solved, and I can happily code aspectJ stuff from within IntelliJ. Hoorah!

surfing around, found the highlights of the dramatic final over between england and new zealand. must have been quite a game, that...

Leticia Dolera

Nuria March

Monica Cruz

Marta Sanchez

Vicky Martin Berrocal

Elettra Rossellini

Amber Valletta

Edurne

Eugenia Silva

Maria Leon

Laura Sanchez

Helen Swedin

Ariadne Artiles

Natalia Verbeke

Judith Masco

Martina Klein

Dieser Läufer hat eine Abmessung von ca. 45 x 79 cm. Der Preis beträgt 15,00 EUR.

Dieser Läufer hat eine Abmessung von ca. 36 x 67 cm. Der Preis beträgt 10,00 EUR

Das große Deckchen ist ca. 55 cm lang und ca. 27 cm breit, der Preis beträgt einzeln 15,00 EUR. Die kleinen sternförmigen Deckchen haben einen Durchmesser von ca. 25 cm, der Preis beträgt einzeln 7,50 EUR.

Im 3-er Set kosten diese Deckchen 25,00 EUR

Sandollar Silver Earrings $22

www.jenniferbirge.etsy.com

Dit jaar heeft IndyCar reeds de succesvolle ex Champ Car stratenraces van Long Beach, Edmonton en Surfers Paradise aan zijn kalender toegevoegd, en in 2009 komt daar allicht nog Toronto bij. Een evolutie die duidelijk niet in het kraam past van oval-haviken als Gossage: "Along with all the good this merger brings, the IRL also had to absorb some bad from Champ Car". Gevestigde IndyCar rijders als Tony Kanaan en Scott Dixon lieten al weten niet opgezet te zijn met de uitspraken van de conservatieve Texaan.

Vier maanden na de hereniging van het Amerikaanse open wheel racing kan nog geen positieve balans worden voorgelegd. TV-ratings en toeschouwersaantallen op de circuits zijn slechts lichtjes gestegen. IndyCar loopt nog steeds mijlenver achter op de immens populaire Nascar races. Er is een duidelijk gebrek aan kwaliteit en identiteit. De IndyCar Series staan voor een belangrijke keuze: ofwel laat men het oval racing de bovenhand halen en wordt IndyCar een soort open-wheel Nascar, ofwel wordt een meer Europees georiënteerde weg ingeslagen met een klemtoon op stratencircuits en permanente circuits.

Some new stuffs just arrived and they are in my shop (www.mykonos.etsy.com) now!!  Pop in to have a look!!  They are fabulous and I just love the ledger ovals!!

I know, the title is a plagiarism!!!! But, I like the movie. So, this photo is dedicated to the oval structures! Can you see one?!

Walked from Herne Hill to Kennington Oval (in 55 minutes), met up with Mike Jeremiah on the occasion of his 40th birthday.

Had lunch: chicken and mushroom pie and chips.

General geekery, followed by drink and dinner (curry) with lovely Rachel Foulds then walked back to Herne Hill in 40 minutes.

We had dinner at a restaurant at Kennington called Gandhi ... it may or may not have had a definite article. Mike kept singing a song from Not The Nine O'Clock News off the telly. From about twenty years ago.

What a lovely, lovely day.

Street cuddle

On the way back to Herne Hill, at Brixton town I got stopped by a black guy asking for 70p for the bus. Seventy pence became two pounds became ... well, he kept his palm open as I shovelled money into it.

"How much is a single fare?" he asked.

"I don't know."

"Is it a bank holiday on Monday?" he asked again.

What is this Twenty Questions?!

I explained that I was from Scotland and wasn't certain about the answers to these London-centric questions.

He then gave me a hug and his afro hairstyle brushed my face. It was really soft, and smelled quite nice.

He was going to Clapham Junction, he claimed. And then lifted his shirt to show me his belt. "Am I too thin?" he asked me.

I wasn't sure that was an issue in the Clapham region.

Sadly I didn't meet anyone else on the rest of my walk home.