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How to Evaluate Internet Security Reviews

On the internet lies a generous amount internet security reviews talking about how the described internet security software would be beneficial for you and anyone using the product. However, as the old adage which goes: “You should never trust something fully”, still holds some water as you could be misled by some overly zealous reviews on the web. The next few paragraphs would detail on the ways that you could evaluate and research on internet security reviews published on websites and the things that are very important to your computer security.

Firstly, be sure to look out for how the review rates the internet security software. As explicitly stated, an internet security software primary function would be to protect the computer against all types of viruses. The review should include details on how effective the software is in detecting harmful viruses, in terms of detection rates and disinfection success rates; so as to make sure that those viruses are stopped in their tracks before they infect the system. Thus, the utmost duty that a review should write about would be the quality of the virus protection in the software.

As good as an internet security software may be, it would not be able to cover everything. If you are a social media fanatic or a hardcore gamer, there would be many different types of software that would suit your needs. Thus, it would be wise for you to look through those reviews and find out if you are suited for it. For example, if you surf FaceBook frequently, it would be best for you to see an internet security software review and look for social media protection. Or if you like to download files through torrents, you should look out for file sharing protection.

Another important part of the reviews online would be the price of the software. A matter of fact, most online reviews hide the prices of the internet security software or would just leave them till the end where after all the hyping is done. Some consumers may be on a certain budget which would not allow them to purchase that particular internet security software; looking out for an optimal price in a review would not be too foolish. Also, if you are not using a powerful computer, it would be good if you would note the specifications of the internet security software as some would not function properly or lag unless paired with an optimal machine.

Never be fooled by overzealous reviews of security software. Some reviews may be too pompous and lack substance. For example, the reviews might only state out how the internet security software may offer near 100 percent virus detection. This is not necessarily true in all cases however, as the test may be done against a limited set of virus samples. Moreover, it may have been convenient for the reviewer to leave out other important features. Some reviews may also hoodwink the average buyer by exclaiming the software to be “lightning fast” or “not requiring much space”. Thus it would be prudent for the viewer to research more on the product.

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Breaking The Dead Stare

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May 13 2004 Rating: 3/5 Stars

If you've just heard about Scarlet and want to get an idea as to what they sound like, or how truly amazing they are. DO NOT GET THIS ALBUM. In it's own right this is a very good album, however it is nothing like what Scarlet sounds like now. If you do want to buy something from Scarlet get Cult Classic, it's a lot better than this. However if you're just looking to complete your Scarlet collection like myself, then by all means spend the money and finish your collection. It's not a bad hardcore album it's just not what you'd expect from Scarlet.

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Food of the Eighties, Tootsie Pop Drops
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Smaller versions of Tootsie Pops w/o the stick; similar to new mini Tootsie Pops, but again w/o the stick.
Links for more info

The following are links about Tootsie Pop Drops you may find interesting. Also check out the other pages.

  • sweet nostalgia - (report)
    Tootsie pop drops are back & they have them! Also a lot of other old time candy

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User Stories and Comments

The following are comments left about Tootsie Pop Drops from site visitors such as yourself. They are not spell checked or reviewed for accuracy.

kelly - August 21, 2007 - Report this comment
oh my god! I loved these things! i remember my grandpa always having them for me when i went to visit...they should still make these! i would buy them in bulk!
Lisa - January 18, 2008 - Report this comment
Can I still buy them anywhere?
Tim - February 04, 2008 - Report this comment
If anyone finds them, we're pals for life! :o) They were so convenient and easy to eat. Maybe the Food Network show "Unwrapped" could find them!?
tony godek - March 05, 2008 - Report this comment
Tootsie pop drops are back at
Charley - March 16, 2008 - Report this comment
YES!!!!! Found these at a 7-11 in the Detroit area on Friday. I used to love these as a kid. I about flipped when I saw these at the register at 7-11. I need to find a distributor and stockpile these.
Michael - April 04, 2008 - Report this comment
Awesome! I loved these when I was a kid. I was telling a co-worker about them, he's never seen them. I'm stoked they are coming back.
Alicia - April 13, 2008 - Report this comment
These are awesome. I found some in the gift shop at Children's Hospital in Detroit and at a store called Uncle Joe's in Wayne, MI in Merriman Rd. I too am going to stockpile them.
Dianna - May 07, 2008 - Report this comment
They were my favorite when I was a kid. I was so disappointed when they stopped making them. I was so excited when I saw them in a candy shop in Wisconsin Dells. I had to buy them. I feel pretty stupid for not stockpiling them then! I have been looking. Hope to find them again soon. Yummy!!!
Sheila - May 21, 2008 - Report this comment
They were also my favorite as a kid. I couldn't believe they stopped making them. I just bought some today. I was so excited to see them back in the store again! YEAH!!
Jennifer - May 22, 2008 - Report this comment
I just googled them and found several places to buy them from
Kim - July 07, 2008 - Report this comment
I just found them in a vending machine at a rest area just south of Litchfield, IL. I didn't know they'd brought them back but I'm going to have to buy a box online if I can't find them around here in a store. My children thought I was nuts. I bought two bags out of the machine.
Paula - September 24, 2008 - Report this comment
I saw (and immediately bought) these two weeks ago at a convenience store here in Queens, NY. Until I found this today, I thought they were brand new. And I grew up in the 80's. They are awesome!
Candice - November 24, 2008 - Report this comment
I saw some in a vending machine in Kansas City Missouri this past weekend. It cost $1.50 for a small pack but I bought three of them anyway. At first I wondered how long they must have been in that machine (20 years? Ha)I enjoyed every tasty sweet drop on my 350 mile mile drive home. I love these and hope to find them in stores here at home.***TOOTSIE POP DROPS*** Welcome back. Please don't leave me again!
Kim - January 23, 2009 - Report this comment
I have never heard of such a thing until i bought a bag of them the other day in a clayton candy store in missouri... they are the BEST! I have been looking for someplace closer to home to buy them... can't find them!
Erik - February 20, 2009 - Report this comment
You guts want a group on this? i can make one for you so you can all join it. :)
ashlyn - February 28, 2009 - Report this comment
o cool. hey do any of you guys know where i could find a book on the whole company Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc.?
Sheila - May 23, 2009 - Report this comment
I just got a shipment of these last week. For $18 you can get a 24 pack case.
illyssa - May 21, 2010 - Report this comment
they had these in our school vending machines
Lunameower - July 01, 2010 - Report this comment
I live in Michigan, too, I saw them at Gordon's foods, you had to buy like a huge thing of them, though.
Alana Cicchi - January 04, 2011 - Report this comment
Anyone looking for them,they are sold ALLOVER in Saint Paul and Minneapolis MN.At drugstores.In boxes.I can get them,in small amounts.

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• Archive for January, 2014

    • Häuserkämpfe: An Inside Look at Researching in DIY Archives

      January 29, 2014 | 9 comments

      In Brief: This article is an interview with Jake Smith, a PhD student at the University of Chicago who spent over a year in Germany conducting his dissertation research in archives. Many of the archives he visited in support of his project, “Häuserkämpfe: Squatting, Urban Renewal, and the Crisis of Dwelling in West Germany, 1970-1995,” […]

    • Editorial: Our Favorite Articles from 2013

      January 15, 2014 | 3 comments

      To kick off 2014, we’re looking back at 2013. In the Library with the Lead Pipe’s editors have chosen a few non-Lead Pipe articles, essays, speeches, or posts that we love from last year. Some of us chose pieces that were published in LIS journals or written by librarians, while others have chosen articles that […]

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Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Tracks Leading to Various Aspects of Existence That are Inaccessible by Any Other Means: Why I Teach Literature

"Aesthetic concepts only began to interest me when I first perceived their existential roots, when I came to understand them as existential concepts: people simple or refined, intelligent or stupid, are regularly faced in life with the beautiful, the ugly, the sublime, the comical, the tragic, the lyrical, the dramatic, with action, peripeteia, catharsis, or, to speak of less philosophical concepts, with agelasty or kitsch or vulgarity; all these concepts are tracks leading to various aspects of existence that are inaccessible by any other means." —Milan Kundera, from The Curtain: An Essay in Seven Parts

"Whatever the art object does, it does not do it to us, actively, like a headmaster with his cane. . . . The art object does not teach, exhort, arouse, aid, and so forth. It does not ‘help us to see’ like an optometrist; it does not ‘make us realize’ like a therapist; it does not ‘open doors for us’ like a butler. . . . The art object does not do to us; rather, it presents to us." —Annie Dillard, Living By Fiction

[this post is a response to MKH’s “The Why I Teach Literature Meme”]

Like Mary Kate, I am also beginning to develop an “instinctual urge to cringe” when it comes to the subject of the so-called “value” or “use value” of the humanities, although, unlike Stanley Fish, I have not arrived at the conclusion that the use of the humanities is “none whatsoever.” At the same time, I can almost see the possibly admirable intentions behind Fish’s argument, for if every defense we’re likely to formulate [and God knows more than thousands have been formulated at this point, including by me] can ultimately be shown to ring philosophically hollow, or to be historically bankrupt, or to not be able to stand up to any kind of social-scientific test or analyzable “outcomes,” then why give critics of the humanities more ammunition to prove that we can’t “prove” our hypotheses? It really is, on one level, a zero-sum game, and so, there is a part of me that would love to embrace, as Fish does, the non-instrumentality of literary studies, and to claim the humanities as a sort of “beautiful” end in themselves, a haven for lovers of the pleasures of art for its own sake. After all, even in the pure sciences, there are practitioners who have a difficult time securing grants for work that is purely experimental, purely for its own sake [work in experimental physics often falls into this trap].

Nevertheless, the pursuit of seeking something novel that cannot be fully hypothesized in advance nor connected to a practical, real-world end, but which, nevertheless, counts as knowledge, counts as an addition to the storehouse of what humans know versus what they don’t know—this has, historically, been valued, if not always funded. At the end of the day, no one really wants to argue that a society can do without, or outright dispense, knowing certain things it is capable of reaching after [whether those “things” are the rate of acceleration of a particle hurtling through an underground tunnel or a satellite defense system or a cure for AIDS or the mind of God or the architecture of an anemone or Beethoven]. But that is also the rub, for when funding is not adequate to the end of each singular or collective desire to know something, and to practice a study of developing a particular knowledge or set of knowledges, then something has to give, and what is viewed as practical will always win out over what is seen as esoteric, and those given to a fatal love of the esoteric, the artistic, and the literary will find themselves working overtime to reframe what they do in pragmatic terms, and two things will happen: 1) some will start to really believe their own arguments, as a matter of self-protection [and this calls to mind a great line from a story by Amy Hempel: “Who cares whether or not it’s true? In my head there are bath towels swaddling this stuff. Nothing else seeps through.”]; and 2) some will choose, as a matter of survival, to navigate the cognitive dissonance between the non-utilitarian pleasures of what they do and how they explain their work in their tenure and promotion evaluations and in opinion essays in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

However, it is not really the uselessness of the humanities [or, the fine and literary arts] that I want to argue for. Rather, I want to say that I teach literature because I simply believe that it has meaning, and I do not think it is wise to argue for either the usefulness or uselessness of literature, when instead, we could simply argue for the meaningfulness of literature, or, following the thinking of Annie Dillard, for the ways in which the art object “presents to us, in a stilled and enduring context, a model of previously unarticulated or unavailable relationships among ideas and materials,” and “[i]nsofar as we attend to these art objects, these epistemologically absurd and mysterious hot-air balloons, we deepen our understanding” of the world [Living By Fiction, p. 184]. In this sense, paraphrasing Dillard, literature holds up the universe while also remaking it. While science will reduce the universe to a formula or a principle, literature will multiply the world into an infinite number of possible worlds—none of them real, but all of them, somehow, sustainable and sustaining in different ways. The study and teaching of literature has something to do with imaginative world-making, and committing a certain amount of one’s time and resources to consorting with fictional persons and traveling to imaginary places whose resemblance to real persons and real places is only ever tenuously tangential, but which nevertheless have real meaning, and real worth, all their own. To articulate what this meaning might be is the real work of the humanities, and its relation to reality—or what I prefer to call history—is that art has its own history, its own telos, and professors of literature are watching over that history, helping it to endure, and they should be very careful about giving up on the idea that the value of that endeavor cannot be articulated. But what we should likely aim for in our articulations is something like Stephen White’s “weak [or felicitous] ontology,” where our deepest commitments can be seen to be both “fundamentally important and contestable.” The idea, too, would not be to argue for the kinds of positive effects the study of literature might have on particular persons’ lives [which is not to say it has none; it does, but it’s never guaranteed], but rather to keep affirming that literature possesses ontological weight—it takes up real space in the world, has existence—and the job of literary interpretation is important because, again following Dillard, it helps us “to extend the boundaries of sense and meaning” [Living By Fiction, p. 132]. You see, it’s possible that the universe has no meaning whatsoever, or perhaps has too much of it, and literature professors are part of a diminishing tribe who are foolishly clinging to the ideas that: 1) meaning must be imparted; 2) some meanings are better than others and worth arguing over, endlessly even; and 3) the reservoir of any meaning or sense in a culture is in its arts.

I do not teach literature to make students better persons, or even to help them be better critical adjudicators of the various discourses that flow over and by them every day—of the world, which is all text, which is all around them—although I used to think this was a big part of what I was doing and I often make endless arguments to that effect. It may be that, in some ways, these things happen in direct proportion to something I do in a classroom, but I am no longer pinning my hopes there. I am also no longer certain that the study of literature aids students in developing certain capabilities of empathy and compassion [see Martha Nussbaum’s Poetic Justice: The Literary Imagination and Public Life for the most succinct and impassioned defense of this viewpoint]; if anything, empathy and compassion are prerequisites for the successful study of literature and no amount of reading “great” books will “fix” a student’s lack of feeling for others [I think this has more to do with brain circuitry and lived experience, affective contact with others in childhood, general well-being and happiness, etc.]. It may be that so many professors of literature want to argue that the study of literature helps us to develop a capacity for deep feeling because we were born with deep feelings! And we were drawn to literature out of a need to give those feelings a wider purchase and more expansive field of imaginative play, and our sensibilities—both aesthetic and more practical—were hopefully strengthened, in positive fashion, as a result [and in the worse-case scenarios, some of us became those sorts of persons who weep more over books and operas than other persons]. I teach literature because, for reasons I will never fully be able [or want] to explain to myself, it means something to me: it enlarges my sense of hope for what might be possible in any given world, and somehow it thickens the real world I walk and sleep through every day by adding to my life, paraphrasing Milan Kundera, the beauty of sudden densities. As a teacher [and I’ve had many years to think about this], I can only see that my job is to model for my students my wonder at this beauty and to hope that it’s infectious. It has something to do with happiness.

the rebel lettriste said...

thank you for this fantastic post, which spurred me to write my own, in some gesture of affiliation. In all the tendentious talk about whether literature matters, you are right, nobody has pointed out that the most pressing concern is that literature means. That literature persists in meaning, despite everything. And that we end up devoting our lives to it because it means, for us and to us and hopefully some day to somebody else.

Nicola Masciandaro said...

I think you have given us a wonderful account and defense of meaning's being in the world, the way it is always inside and outside of it, and of the value of that existential 'opening', beauty, which does not lead elsewhere but to the reality and actuality of things and beings. Sometimes I think the study of literature functions as a check or counter movement to modernity's de-worlding or aestheticization of art and that it can do this precisely because texts are not quite in the world the way other artifacts are but, since they must be spoken to be read, are like durable traces of the 'how' of the world which is as Agamben says outside the world ("How the world is -- this is outside the world").


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Featured Shops

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Socks again. Silver and Gold again. Saying that though, half socks for the spring? Nothing wrong there.

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Two Feet Ahead: prettier than Wigwam, but they age and lose their shape much sooner. I was a bit disappointed for the price. Ah, I love socks...
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The accumulation swing index (ASI) is a variation of Welles Wilder's swing index. It plots a running total of the swing index value of each bar. The swing index is a value from 0 to 100 for an up bar and 0 to -100 for a down bar. The swing index is calculated by using the current bar's open, high, low and close, as well as the previous bar's open and close. The swing index is a popular tool in the futures market. (To learn more about trading futures, see Are You Ready To Trade Futures?)

TUTORIAL: Exploring Oscillators And Indicators

The accumulative swing index is used to gain a better long-term picture than using the plain swing index, which uses data from only two bars. If the long-term trend is up, the accumulative swing index is a positive value. Conversely, if the long-term trend is down, the accumulative swing index is a negative value. If the long-term trend is sideways (non-trending), the accumulative swing index fluctuates between positive and negative values. This indicator is used to analyze futures but can be applied to stocks as well.

ASI will give the technician numerical price swings that are value quantified, and it will show short-term trend turnarounds. Metastock explains it best:

"A breakout is indicated when the accumulative swing index exceeds its value on the day when a previous significant high swing point was made. A downside breakout is indicated when the value of the accumulative swing index drops below its value on a day when a previous significant low swing point was made."

You can confirm trendline breakouts by comparing trendlines on the ASI to trendlines on the price chart. A false breakout is indicated when a trendline drawn on the price chart is penetrated, but a similar trendline drawn on the accumulative swing index is not. (To learn more about trendlines, see The Utility Of Trendlines)

Chart Created with Tradestation

This 2002 chart of Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL) shows a couple of trendlines which confirm the short-term trend witnessed in May, and the horizontal pattern that has developed over the summer and early fall. The ASI in this chart, indicates no buy signal, yet, each and every day, the sellers of this stock find buyers.

This indicator can be used on occasion to confirm a belief in a trend swing.

McClellan Oscillator
The McClellan Oscillator, developed by Sherman and Marian McClellan, in the late 1960s, calculates the difference between two exponential moving averages by using the advances and declines from the same day period.

Now, this may be the most important part to understand: the two moving averages are always 19 and 39 period exponential moving averages (EMAs), and represent 10 and 5% trend values, respectively. Professional charting software programs, like Tradestation and others, use 19 and 39-day EMAs as the default periods, but many chartists will experiment with other periods in an attempt to fine tune their studies. If you do use the 19/39 model, the McClellan is a good short-term indicator, anticipating positive and negative changes in the advance/decline stats for better market timing. (To learn how to calculate a metric that improves on simple variance, see Exploring The Exponentially Weighted Moving Average)

The McClellan Oscillator uses averages and differences based on this data to gauge market breadth. To plot the McClellan Oscillator accurately, the chart must contain both the advancing issues and the declining issues, and the inputs must specify the correct data number for each. Because the McClellan Oscillator uses exponential averages, the numeric value of the McClellan Oscillator will depend on the data available in the chart. If a stock market index is rallying but more issues are declining than advancing, then the rally is narrow and much of the stock market is not participating. (To acquaint yourself with two lesser-known time periods, see Discovering The Absolute Breadth Index And The Ulcer Index.)

Similar to the moving average convergence divergence, the McClellan Oscillator is a momentum indicator. When the short-term average moves above the long-term average, a positive value is recorded. As with most oscillators, the McClellan Oscillator shows an overbought issue when the indicator measures in the positive 70 to 100 range, and it shows an oversold issue in the negative 70 to 100 range. Buy signals are indicated when the oscillator advances from oversold levels to positive levels, and, conversely, sell signals are indicated by declines from overbought to negative territory. A rising trendline of troughs and peaks would be a positive sign to the trader while falling tops and bottoms would bring out the sellers. (For related reading, see Simple Moving Averages Make Trends Stand Out)

Chart Created with Tradestation

In the 2002 chart of Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), you can see at the bottom that the plot is 81.19, indicating a sell signal for the issue.

These indicators serve as confirmation indicators to those of us who need to double check our findings on a regular basis.

Remember, it's your money - invest it wisely.

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NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index

DEFINITION of 'NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index'

The equal-weighted version of the NASDAQ-100 Index, which consists of 100 of the largest, most actively traded non-financial U.S. companies listed on the Nasdaq. Each of the securities in this market-capitalization based index is initially set at a weight of 1%. The equal weighting means that the index's smaller companies contribute as much as its larger companies.

This equal-weighted index offers an alternative to market-capitalization weighting, which is a more common method of weighting index funds. The NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index is rebalanced quarterly and is reconstituted annually in December. There are several ETFs that track the movements of the index.

  1. Nasdaq

    A global electronic marketplace for buying and selling securities, ...
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    A market capitalization-weighted index made up of U.S.-based ...
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    A market-capitalization weighted index made up of the 100 largest ...
  4. NASDAQ Global Market Composite

    An index made up of stocks that represent the Nasdaq Global Market. ...
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How NOT to start barefoot running

Posted by | Posted in Barefoot Running, Running Sandals, Training for Running | Posted on 26-08-2011

I was recently on a panel discussion about barefoot running. At one point, someone in the audience asked “So how do I transition to barefoot running?”

Before I could respond, a well-respected physical therapist suggested the following:

“First, switch to a slightly lower heeled shoe than what you have. Run in that for a few months. Then add a racing flat, maybe one day a week for a while… then add an extra day every month, until you can run in those. Then maybe try something like Vibrams on a soft surface, like grass in a park. Work up to being able to run on the grass… then try a soft dirt path. Eventually you may be able to run on hard surfaces, but don’t do that too often. And I don’t recommend being totally barefoot because you could step on something.”

The only reason I didn’t interrupt him was that I was in shock. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. But then he tossed out this next line:

“Expect to spend about 2 to 3 years making the transition. That’s how long I’ve been doing it and I’m still not there.”

And that’s when the politeness stopped.

“Hold on,” I said, “this is completely upside down.”

Danny Abshire from Newton jumped in as well, “Right, that’s backwards.”

I’ll tell you what Danny and I proposed, instead, in just a moment. But first, let’s back up to the question that started it all.

“How do you transition!?”

The idea built into the question itself seems to make sense. If you’re wearing a motion-controlled shoe with a 3″ heel and a $400 orthotic, it seems logical that you need to slowly wean yourself from all that support. It seems clear that you would need to get comfortable in a lower and lower heel until you’re ready for barefoot.

But things are not always as they seem.

Here’s the bottom line: There is nothing that “prepares” you for being barefoot. Nothing.

Not “zero-drop” shoes (where your heel is at the same height as the ball of your foot. Not Vibrams. Not a thinner insole. Not even huaraches (more about those in a second).

Anything that you put on your feet will change either your stride and biomechanics or the amount of sensation you’re feeling in your feet (or both) compared to being barefoot. So once you take off your shoes, or fully feel the ground, you’ll need to learn to move differently.

Here’s where some people stop reading what I’m saying and respond with two arguments (to points I’m not making).

First, they’ll say, “Oh, so you’re some sort of barefoot purist! Who are you to tell me what to wear or not wear?”

To be clear, I’m not telling anyone what to wear and I’m not saying barefoot is the only way to be (the majority of my time I am in Invisible Shoes). This article is about the myth of “transitioning”, not about your footwear, or lack thereof.

Secondly, people will say, “Yes, but switching to a racing flat or zero-drop shoe will give your Achilles time to stretch and strengthen, and that better prepares you for being barefoot.”

To them I say, “Not always and, even if it were true, there’s a better way.”

Keep in mind that the biggest reason for going totally barefoot is that feeling the ground with your skin gives you the most feedback about your form. Feedback that, if you attend to it, can inspire you to change your gait to something more efficient, easy, and natural. Running in Invisible Shoes is, really, the same… if they covered everywhere you stepped in 4-6mm of flexible rubber.

I’ve seen hundreds of people in VFFs or racing flats who still heel strike or have some other gait pattern where they aren’t getting much if any extra “Achilles strengthening and stretching”.

So, what’s the better way to “transition” that Danny and I chimed in with?

Take off your shoes (or put on your Invisible Shoes), find the hardest and smoothest surface you can find (like a bike path or street) and run.

But only do it for about 200 yards.

Then see how you feel the next day.

You may be sore, you may be fine. If you’re sore, wait until you’re not. Then go try again, and add 100 or 200 yards. Repeat.

I think of this as the “Shampoo method” of barefoot running. Instead of “Lather, Rinse, Repeat,” it’s run a little, rest, repeat (and run a little more).

Keep in mind, there are two types of soreness. One is from using muscles you haven’t used in a while, or using them in a way you haven’t used in a while (if ever), or using them a bit more than usual.

The other is from doing something wrong. Like doing way too much distance (which part of 200 yards was confusing to you?), or trying to stay on your toes without letting your heels ever touch the ground (Not necessary… land mid- or forefoot, but your heel can touch down. No need to do 200 yards of calf raises).

In other words, a little soreness is probably normal. A lot of soreness is telling you to try something different.

And this idea that you need to be on soft surfaces. Completely wrong. And wrong for the same reason that you don’t want to be in cushy running shoes.

Give yourself a soft surface and the odds are good you’ll heel-strike. Plus, soft surfaces don’t give you the feedback you want, the kind that can help you quickly learn a new and better way to run. I’ve seen barefoot runners who’ve only run on grass, and they usually look like shod runners who lost their shoes.

Instead of thinking that you can work your way to barefoot or huaraches slowly, go there immediately. But work your way up in time/distance slowly.

All the strengthening that you want to do before you run barefoot, you’ll get that faster by running barefoot.

To misquote Yoda’s famous “There is no try. Only do.” There is no transition, only run.

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There are (16) Comments for the How NOT to start barefoot running

  1. [...] let Stephen Sashen from enlighten us on the issue of transitioning (source): I was recently on a panel discussion about barefoot running. At one point, someone in the [...]

  2. As a child I was barefooted from middle June to early September. I remember people asking my mother about me being barefooted and she always told them that the Dr. said that it would be very good for me to be barefooted – and I did enjoy it. I lived by a lake all year long. As I got older I turned to shoes all year long. In my years as an adult I abandoned shoes and socks and wore burkenstocks (about 28 years ago). I have shoes that I wear to funerals, marriages, and when the temperature drops below 20 degrees. I am smart – about avoiding walking in deep snow (2 inches or more. I have been looking at your barefoot running sandals. I’m now retired and am looking for a light comfortable sandal. How the heck do you keep the barefooted sandal on your foot? I’m very interested in the barefoot sandal and I’m also ready to transition to shoes when the temperature reaches 32 degrees with snow.

  3. Hi Rich,
    All of the ways of tying running sandals shown at hold our sandals securely on your feet. I’ve never had one slip off my foot and I must have put on 4-5,000 miles by now. Regarding the cold — check out this link: barefoot running in the cold

  4. Steven,

    I’ve been transitioning to barefoot/minimalist for about 20 months. I’ve done it the slow way, as I was training for marathons and a couple ultras during that time. And I didn’t know better at the time…that what you are saying is correct, albeit counterintuitive to most of us who have been “brainwashed” by the shoe industry and society our whole lives.

    Your method is in fact the best way. Run completely barefoot on a smooth, hard surface. Start slow. Build up.

    It’s just that simple, only it’s not. Unless you already have really good running form, which few people do. Even many teenagers who run cross country have sloppy technique and lame posture.

    What’s working for me are two key things. I wish I’d have gotten them done in the proper order.

    First, use Pete Egoscue’s book, Pain Free, to work out any chronic aches, postural weakness, muscle imabalances etc.

    Second, work on running technique, as proper running technique gets you to run from the core, tall and strong from the gut, which lets your feet and legs come along for the ride with less stress. I’ve had wonderful results with Danny Dreyer’s Chi Running book. Both of these books are low cost in paperback.

    Then go barefoot or as close as possible, as often as possible!

    Via this ongoing process, I’ve changed the way I eat, sit, stand, breath, walk, run, etc. Measurable results have been amazing so far and I love the way I feel now.

  5. Hi Steven, I hate to be that guy but the quote is “Do or do not, there is no try.” which would make yours “Run or run not, there is no transition.”

    Love the post, very good advice about transitioning. The hard part is just getting the technique down. As always, thanks for a great product!

  6. Hi,

    I fully agree with Steven. I started running barefoot (plus) on asphalt hilly roads just because I have no other choice. Was I injured? Yes, I had to give up running for 2 weeks because of my Achilles. Why? Because I ignored the pain. That was the lesson of patience for me. It’s incredible how you can improve the awareness of your body and understand the messages that it sends you. I’d say – do it slowly but DO IT!

  7. I started running barefoot in the Spring of 2010. As of today, I have run 1,324 miles barefoot. I started by cooling down, walking in the parking lot barefoot. The next week, I ran within a quarter mile of my house, then finished barefoot; the next week a half a mile; the next week 3/4 mile; the next week a mile; then I added a mile a week until I was completely running barefooted until the tempature dropped below 35. I have missed no days because of pain. I have run several 10Ks and a half marathon in March. My time was better on the last 10K than it was more than a decade ago in shoes. I am 67 years old and enjoying it. I have minimal shoes from Soft Star that I wear daily.

  8. Good thoughts as I just begin barefootish running!
    I would add that Yoda said, “Do or do not. There is no try.” This might lead us to something like, “Barefoot run or run not. There is no _________.” Fill blank with least favorite transitional shoe.

  9. Steven,
    Nice to see that you espouse the concept that actually learning barefoot is the way to learn, even though you are selling a product that is not. But it does make for damn-near when just out doing errands or what-not. I am in my huaraches most the day when not at work. I walk my dog the 1.5 km round the block (inspection!) then take my run barefoot as I am still learning/correcting form.
    Listen to Ken Bob and other proponents, and now Steven folks…start necked (feet that is!). Oh and follow the starting-out advice. Your feet get so elated and tingling with pleasure…its almost impossible not to go further (lots) than you should have right out the gate. Trust me…been there, didn’t listen. Do now. lol

  10. So assuming that you don’t get injured can you just keep adding 100 yards(meters) a day? so in 10 days you could be running 1k? 30 days 3k? and marathoning in just over a year? could i keep doing my ordinary running alongside this or would i have to go right back to scratch with my running? i currently run 60-70 miles a week

  11. While your math is correct, Dom, it’s out of sync with reality ;-)

    In other words, you probably wouldn’t run every day. Some days you wouldn’t add distance (if you find that your form breaks down at 3k, for example, you would keep doing that distance until it doesn’t). Some days you may add more. Even if you could, hypothetically, run a marathon, not everybody wants to, or has the time to.

    I’m saying the above mostly for other people reading this than for you.

    For you, since you already do what most consider very high mileage, I have 3 thoughts:

    1) Yes, you can intersperse your new barefoot training with your existing training
    2) You’ll probably find that you only want to run barefoot 2-3 days per week, tops, until you feel that you’ve mastered the form changes that most runners discover are part of running barefoot.
    3) It’s possible, given your current mileage, that you would advance at a faster pace than 300 yards/week

    Oh, one last thought:

    Some people make the change to barefoot almost instantly. Others take quite a while until it feels natural. Either way, there’s no bonus points for speed, and no problem if it takes longer. In other words, running barefoot is as much about learning to trust yourself, to be your own coach, as it is about taking off your shoes. And one aspect of good coaching is to NOT stick to a rigid schedule, but to make adjustments according to the trainee’s (your) actual needs and progress.

  12. Thanks Steven for the advice. First off, I want to say I love my huraches and wear them everywhere I go, walking of course. My first time running I did exactly what you are saying not to do and I paid the price. I did 800m thinking, just 2 laps around the track, that’s not much. My first issue was the slapping. The only way I found to correct it was to land on the ball of my foot. So yes, I ended up doing 800m of calve raises, OUCH!!! Honestly, after I recovered, I gave up. I am now inspired to try again with the 200m and seeing if I can bring my heel down without the slap. I am currently running in the Skechers go-run shoe that is made for mid-foot strike with no heel support, love them.

    Thanks again,

  13. Hi Dana,

    Take a look at … And just because you LAND on the ball of the foot, doesn’t mean you STAY there. Let your heel relax to the ground. And, I’ll bet that even though you’re forefoot striking you’re overstriding a bit (the #1 cause of “slapping”).

    Experiment. Relax. Have FUN!

  14. Spot on!

    After a year of fussing and failing with a “migration” plan, I am successfully there within 3-months of using the approach you’ve outlined, Steven.

    Btw, Yoda said, “Do or do not. There is no try.” Just sayin …

  15. +1 on working through the Egoscue book first.

    I had the opportunity to use the ramps on a 10 story parking garage to get used to going barefoot again. Great opportunity to reawaken foot ‘feel’.

    +1 on smooth concrete. Intervals of jogging and walking on smooth concrete sidewalks is a pleasure.

  16. If you want to learn to run barefoot, read this first:
    Post questions there if you have any.

Post a Comment


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Hungary arrests ex-minister for war crimes

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IOL pic aug 14 justice scales gavel nu Independent Newspapers Three customary wives have taken their tussle over the body and burial of their dead husband to a Pretoria court.

Budapest - Hungarian police arrested on Monday a former top Communist official for “war crimes” connected to the 1956 uprising against the Soviet Union, the prosecutor's office in Budapest said.

“Bela Biszku was arrested for war crimes related to two shootings that caused the deaths of several people during the events following the 1956 uprising,” chief prosecutor Tibor Ibolya told journalists.

If found guilty, Biszku faces life in prison.

Biszku, who turns 91 on Thursday, was interior minister from 1957 to 1961 and a party hardliner under the Communist regime in Hungary.

According to the prosecution, he is the last living member of the then government who could be held responsible for actions committed during the October 1956 uprising, which was quickly crushed by Soviet tanks.

Last year, the current Hungarian government amended the law to allow the prosecution of people suspected of taking part in the reprisals that followed the uprising.

During that time, some 300 people were executed, over 20 000 jailed and 200 000 fled the country.

In a television interview in 2010, Biszku defended all his actions during that period, adding that prime minister Imre Nagy, one of the key leaders of the uprising who was executed by the Communists in 1958, “had got what he deserved.”

Biszku will not be detained pending trial but will remain under house arrest, the prosecution said. - Sapa-AFP

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Jimmie Stroud

Jimmie Lee Stroud, 64, Moran, passed away on Saturday, Aug. 24, 2013, at his home.
He was born Dec. 30, 1948, in Gross, the son of Joe and Lovena (Nicholles) Stroud. He graduated from Girard High School and attended one year of welding school in Fort Scott.
In Jim’s words, “as growing up, I loved to play fast pitch softball; there wasn’t anyone anywhere that could play short-stop like me. I was always an all-star ’til I threw my shoulder out in 1967.”
Jim married Marilyn Baker on Feb. 28, 1968, in Walnut. This union was blessed with two children, Rob and Traci Stroud.
In 1977, he was offered a position in Iowa, at Sohigro as a manager to get the plant up and running. This expanded to a position in Iola at Sohigro in 1980. Through the years, the name changed to Terra, which is now owned by AgChoice, owned by MFA. Jim and Marilyn made their home on a farm in Moran, raising their family.
He loved to hunt and fish. Jim’s life was his children and grandchildren, along with his two girls, Lilly Mae and Littlebit. He always had his family with him showing them the passion and respect of the outdoors. Jim enjoyed gardening and mowing the yard.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Joe and Lovena Stroud; daughter Traci Stroud Krouse; and brother, Bill Stroud.
Jim is survived by his wife, Marilyn; son, Rob and wife Angela, Moran; mother-in-law, Cleta Jean Baker, Hepler; son-in-law, Tim Krouse, Gardner; three grandchildren, Alisa Stroud and Kaleb Stroud, Moran; and Steffen Krouse, Gardner; great-granddaughter, Taygen Stroud; sister, Shirley Weber and husband Jim, Joplin, Mo., two brothers, John Stroud and wife Dianne, Hepler, and Danny Stroud and wife Loretta, Arkansas.
Funeral services will be at 10 a.m., Wednesday, at the Feuerborn Family Funeral Service Chapel in Moran. Burial will follow in Hepler Cemetery. Visitation will be from 6 to 8 o’clock tonight at the funeral home. Memorial contributions may be made to the Shriner’s Children’s Hospital.
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  • IPFW’S New Degree Completion Program Offers Convenient, One Night Per Week Attendance
For Immediate Release
June 17, 2013

IPFW’S New Degree Completion Program Offers Convenient, One Night Per Week Attendance

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  • Open House Tuesday, July 16, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. or 5 to 7 p.m.

FORT WAYNE, Ind.—A new degree completion program has been developed by the Division of Continuing Studies (DCS) at Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) to provide maximum convenience to working adults with busy schedules. The new degree completion program, called General Studies Advantage, offers a hybrid classroom approach so that students only have to come to campus one night per week. Student applications currently are being accepted for fall 2013, which is the inaugural semester for the new program. To be admitted into the new hybrid program, applicants must have completed 60 credit hours of college studies.

The new program was developed to serve a growing population of area adults who want to pursue a college degree but are limited by work schedules or family obligations. “IPFW knows that there are more than 140,000 northeast Indiana residents without a bachelor’s degree but have some college credits or have received an associate’s degree. Many think coming back to school is impossible due to their busy schedule or the age of their college credits,” according to Deb Conklin, executive director of the IPFW Division of Continuing Studies. “General Studies is a popular and flexible program for many of these adults. The degree can be customized to fit career and personal goals with options for generous transfer of credits from accredited institutions, prior learning assessment, military service, and approved training programs through the American Council on Education (ACE),” she said.

The Advantage program will complement IPFW’s traditional General Studies degree program that for more than 40 years has catered to students wishing to customize their own degree by taking courses in a broad range of subjects. In addition to welcoming credits previously acquired from accredited post-secondary learning, General Studies allows for students to specialize their course work through an interdisciplinary approach based on their interests.

While the Advantage degree program schedule is similar to programs offered by a couple of the area’s other universities, IPFW graduates will receive a greater value, as the Bachelor of General Studies (B.G.S.) degree is awarded under the auspices of Indiana University, a world leader in professional, medical, and technological education, and the IPFW tuition rate is lower than most other area universities.

An added bonus of the new Advantage program is that students can complete their bachelor’s degree at their own pace. “The General Studies Advantage program organizes the schedule so that someone with 60 hours or an associate’s degree can graduate in 18 to 24 months with minimal time on campus,” according to Conklin. “In addition, it provides orientation and support for learning with technology, skills that are useful in today’s work and home environment,” she said.

While majoring in General Students and concentrating their course work on specialized subjects in the areas of arts and humanities, science and mathematics, or social and behavioral sciences, these students may also incorporate minors into their program to match their interests. Popular minors to complement the General Studies degree are in business, communication, organizational leadership and supervision, psychology, and sociology. Certificate options are also available in Advanced Manufacturing, Supervisory Leadership, and Small Business Management.

Students enrolling in the new IPFW General Studies Advantage program this fall will attend courses one night a week. They can combine their certificate course work with other on-campus and online courses, working at their own pace in a part-time or full-time study schedule to fit their careers and personal or family schedules. In addition to offering weekday and weeknight courses on campus and online courses, IPFW also offers classroom courses on Saturdays to accommodate working adults.

Individuals wanting to learn more about IPFW’s new General Studies Advantage program are invited to attend an Open House on Tuesday, July 16, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. or from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The events will meet at the Steel Dynamics Keith E. Busse IPFW Alumni Center, 1528 East California Road in Fort Wayne, Ind., located to the west of and directly across the river from the main IPFW Campus at 2101 East Coliseum Blvd. More details on the new program are also available at the website, or by calling Angela Williams, assistant director of DCS credit programs, at 260-481-5449, or Julie Fellers Hook, director of general studies, at 260-481-6828.


text:
iPhone Life magazine

iView: The iPhone’s Remarkable Rise to the Top

In only two years, the iPhone has emerged as an industry standard for smartphones

In the beginning—the niche PDA market

For a quarter of a century our publishing company has written about the practicality and fun of carrying a personal computer wherever you go. We started by writing about the original laptop from HP. Then in the 90’s we changed our focus to handhelds (miniature laptops), and then in the 2000s to PDAs (Pocket PCs).

From 1990 to 2005 HP, Microsoft, Palm, Psion, Apple (Newton), and others continually reinvented the pocket-sized computer. Throughout those years a relatively small but loyal group of consumer and business visionaries loved the productivity and entertainment possibilities of any time, any place computing. However, pioneering giants like HP, Microsoft, and Palm remained frustrated despite their many technological and marketing innovations: the PDA continued to be a niche market product.

Enter wireless—everybody can use a phone

When Wi-Fi and cellular radio were added as features to handheld computers, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) became communication devices. That is, PDAs became “smart” phones that could not only call, but e-mail, text message, and browse the Internet. Suddenly, these niche devices had mass market appeal. It seems that communicating with others by voice and electronically is a far more universal human activity than stand-alone personal computing.

Consumers began to enjoy smarter phones from a variety of manufacturers, and they gradually became comfortable using the PDA features on their phones, such as e-mail, calendar, music playing, photography, and the Internet. Professionals and more recently the U.S. president became addicted to their Blackberry for e-mail. Large organizations with sophisticated needs adopted Windows Mobile smartphones.

iPhone launches and becomes market leader

Remarkably, in the two years since it was introduced, the iPhone has emerged as a market leader in the smartphone arena, with the competition now in catch-up mode. To understand this success, let’s first define what the iPhone is.

The iPhone and iPod touch are user oriented, Apple controlled, open platform, entertainment and communication handheld computers.

Understanding each adjective is key to understanding the iPhone’s ascendency. To explain the iPhone’s success, I will contrast Microsoft’s approach to its mobile operating system development, which we chronicled for 11 years in our magazine, Smartphone & Pocket PC.

“User oriented”

Apple designed the iPhone with the number one goal of creating a great user experience. On the other hand, Microsoft focused on enriching the feature set and power of its Pocket PCs and Smartphones.

For years Windows Mobile touch screen devices have been able to do almost everything the iPhone can do now, and more. However, Apple made the iPhone’s built-in features much more intuitive and accessible to the every day consumer. Apple’s user interface innovations can be summarized in a word: simplicity. For example, the iPhone touch screen is for touching (no stylus); there is one button (rather than a plethora of keys and buttons); there is a flat menu scheme, rather than a hierarchical and complex one; a single application runs at a time; plus there are other simplifications that are mentioned below.

“Apple controlled”

Microsoft and Apple both needed partners to create success. Each chose a different philosophy. Microsoft created standards and then opened the environment up to software developers, hardware manufacturers, and cellular service providers. This means that any company or organization can create and distribute Windows Mobile software for any Windows Mobile device. Any hardware company can develop a Windows Mobile phone, which can run on any cellular network throughout the world. This open approach results in plenty of hardware and software innovation, and a wide distribution and great variety of Windows Mobile devices.

On the other hand, Apple built the hardware and chose the network (AT&T in the U.S.). It selects and sells all third-party software through its own iTunes store. For the user this tighter control means a more uniform experience, less compatibility problems, and automatic operating system updates. Apple’s approach means less flexibility and market penetration, but greater over-all end-user satisfaction.

“Open platform”

For over 10 years Windows Mobile developers have been using Windows tools to create great mobile applications. (For the past eight years our company, Thaddeus Computing, orchestrated Best Software Awards for Windows Mobile software (Smartphone Mag.com/awards). Last year we brought together 90 expert judges who nominated 900 programs from a database of 18,000 pieces of software in 150 categories and then voted for the winners. We are considering doing the same for Apple App Store software. E-mail me if you are interested in participating.)

In less than a year, Apple has inspired almost as many applications as are available for Windows Mobile. From a user’s point of view, it is incredibly convenient to have all software available in one place. Thanks to iTunes software on the iPhone and desktop, iPhone software installation is fast, easy, and uniform. Furthermore, due to competition and a single focal point, the iPhone software prices are considerably lower then Windows Mobile prices. At the same time, it is advantageous to developers to have one distribution point. With volume, some developers have done extraordinarily well in a short time even with $ .99 apps.

Apple married the iPod with phone technology, thus designing the iPhone as an entertainment machine from the ground up. That fact gives Apple a huge advantage in the consumer market over Microsoft and other competitors. The iPhone has universal appeal thanks to music, movies, YouTube, photography, the Internet, and now games, all on a gorgeous screen on a fun and easy to use device.

Further, the iPhone has become a focal point for games. Game development on every computing platform represents the cutting edge of technical and user interface innovation. These advances will open up the iPhone platform to other non-gaming uses, further expanding the iPhone’s appeal.

As CEO’s and other professionals within an organization enjoy the power and fun of the iPhone, they naturally will put pressure on the IT department to adopt the platform. Interestingly, Microsoft’s original strategy when it launched the Pocket PC was to encourage consumers to embrace the Pocket PC and then use it at work.

The ability to talk, easily set up and use e-mail, and browse the We with the fully-functional Safari all make the iPhone a winner as a communication device. Again, these features can be found on Windows Mobile devices. However, communicating is just easier and more obvious on an iPhone.

People get attached to powerful computing and communication devices that are always with them. The fact that the iPhone is fun, cool, and addicting increases that attachment.

The future

As can be seen in this issue Microsoft, Palm, RIM, Nokia and other smartphone vendors are not standing still. But neither is Apple. It will be fun to watch future developments, especially since we will be the beneficiaries of this competition


text:
Integrated Crop Management

Two-year summary of corn rootworm insecticides and YieldGard® Rootworm

Two integrated pest management strategies are commonly used to protect corn roots from corn rootworm injury: crop rotation and insecticides. If corn is not rotated, or if extended diapause northern corn rootworms occur in a field, a soil insecticide might be necessary to protect the roots in 2005. The reason we say it might be necessary is because many fields do not have a rootworm population of a sufficient size to cause economic damage. There are thousands of continuous cornfields across Iowa in which a rootworm insecticide is not used and is not necessary. But without field scouting information from the summer of 2004, it is difficult to know whether you will need a soil insecticide next spring. If an insecticide is used next year, protection of corn roots and yield should be two of the major considerations when selecting a product.

Unprotected corn roots (left) showing a Node-Injury-Scale [2] rating of 3.0 and protected roots (right) from a YieldGard® Rootworm hybrid.

During the past two summers, corn rootworm insecticides and YieldGard Rootworm corn were evaluated in side-by-side trials at several locations across the state. These field trials measure performance in protecting corn roots under a wide range of environmental conditions. Performance is then measured in several ways. Roots are rated for corn rootworm injury and then the product is evaluated for its consistency, which is the percentage of times it adequately protected corn roots from economically damaging injury.

Roots are evaluated using the new Iowa State Node-Injury Scale, which rates roots from 0 to 3 nodes eaten. The Node-Injury Scale more accurately reflects the relationship of injury from the low end to the high end of the scale, compared with the old (and archaic) Iowa 1-6 scale. We use a node-injury score of 0.25 (1/4 node eaten back to within 11/2 inches of the stalk) or less to establish whether a product provided good root protection. We encourage you to view the interactive root rating page [3] to better understand this root-injury rating system.

No product was 100 percent consistent in providing total root protection during 2003-2004 (see table). From a statistical standpoint, YieldGard Rootworm, Force 3G (in-furrow), Aztec 2.1G (in-furrow), and Aztec 4.67G (T-band SmartBox) had the best consistency in root protection. All products were equal in protecting against lodging except Cruiser seed treatment. There were no differences in plant populations across products.

Yields were similar, statistically speaking, across a number of products. As an example, the average YieldGard Rootworm yield was 171 bushels, yet it was not significantly different from Poncho seed treatment with 162 bushels, or any other yield followed by the small letter "a." Although there are no significant differences among some of these average yields, this does not prove that some of the products had no effect. There is always the possibility that there was a real treatment effect, but the experiments were not sensitive enough to detect differences at the 5 percent level of probability. As stated in the statistical book, Agricultural Experimentation, the conclusions you make concerning an experiment should be your own and should be based on more than statistical evidence. Another way of evaluating the information is to consider the percent of time that the yield was significantly larger than the untreated check yield (last column).

There is an abundance of data to consider when selecting a corn rootworm product this winter. Other factors worthy of consideration might be cost, pounds of active ingredient being applied per acre, ease of handling, application equipment needed, other pests controlled, restricted use labeling, potential hazards to surface water, or spray drift.

Two-year summary of corn rootworm products. Iowa State University, 2003-2004.

Insecticide Placement1 Node-

% Times Yield

> Check11
Aztec 2.1G Furrow 0.24 ab 82 ab 0 a 28.15 161 ab 20%
Aztec 2.1G T-band 0.33 b 70 b 0 a 27.71 155 bc 20%
Aztec 4.67G Furrow SB 0.29 ab 74 b 1 a 28.03 157 abc 20%
Aztec 4.67G T-band SB 0.27 ab 81 ab 0 a 27.70 157 abc 20%
Capture 2EC T-band 0.72 d 42 de 2 a 27.62 155 bc 20%
Cruiser ST ST 1.34 e 10 fg 20 b 27.68 158 abc 20%
Force 3G Furrow 0.26 ab 82 ab 0 a 27.50 164 ab 20%
Force 3G T-band 0.26 ab 79 b 0 a 27.29 164 ab 40%
Fortress 2.5G Furrow 0.38 bc 71 b 1 a 27.73 157 abc 20%
Fortress 5G Furrow SB 0.61 cd 63 bc 2 a 27.68 158 abc 20%
Lorsban 15G T-band 0.70 d 51 cd 2 a 28.09 156 bc 20%
Poncho 1250 ST 0.84 d 25 ef 3 a 27.24 162 ab 40%
YieldGard RW12 -- 0.03 a 98 a 1 a 27.35 171 a 80%
CHECK -- 1.69 f 2 g 26 c 27.18 145 c --

1 T-band and Furrow = insecticide applied at planting time; SB = SmartBox application; ST = seed treatment.

2 Means based on 170 root injury observations; replications with insufficient larval feeding pressure to challenge a product's performance (UTC rep mean < 0.75 of a node injured) were deleted from the analysis (19 of 20 replications analyzed).

3 Iowa State Node-Injury Scale (0-3). Number of full or partial nodes completely eaten.

4 Means sharing a common letter do not differ significantly according to Ryan's Q Test (P £ 0.05).

5 Product consistency = percentage of times nodal injury was 0.25 (1/4 node eaten) or less.

6 Means based on 170 root injury observations.

7 Means based on 34 observations (plants lodged in 17.5 row-ft).

8 Means based on 34 observations (number of plants in 17.5 row-ft).

9 No significant differences between means (ANOVA, P £ 0.05).

10 Means based on 19 observations.

11 Percent of time that yield was statistically different from the untreated check for individual trials.

12 Corn hybrid DKC60-12 used in all YieldGard trials. DKC60-15 used in all insecticide treatment trials.

This article originally appeared on pages 130-131 of the IC-492(22) -- November 15, 2004 issue.

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text:
Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica ) on wine grape (Vitis vinifera ) - 0660088

Japanese beetle
Popillia japonica Newman, 1841

Host: wine grape (Vitis vinifera L.)
Descriptor: Damage
Description: damage to grapevine.
Image type: Field
Image location: United States

Specimen Information

Specimen in collection: No
Specimen Condition:
Identification Method:

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Name: USDA Agricultural Research Service Archive
Organization: USDA Agricultural Research Service
Country: United States

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Image Number: 0660088

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Image Use:(?) You must attribute the work in the manner specified (but not in any way that suggests endorsement). You may not use this work for commercial purposes unless permission is granted by the photographer or copyright owner.

Image Citation:(?) USDA Agricultural Research Service Archive, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Bugwood.org

Node Affiliation: Bugwood - UGA

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Image uploaded on Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Image Information last updated on Friday, December 17, 2010


text:
London Feis

35,000 crowd turn out for Irish music festival in London

London Feis

Around 35,000 people showed up in London this past weekend for the return of the Irish Feis music festival.

The new Feis Festival replaced the annual Fleadh that ran for 14 years at Finsbury Park in north London, which ran from 1990 until 2004.

The headline acts of the two-day festival included Van Morrison and Bob Dylan. More than 50 acts took part in the multi-stage festival including Cranberries, the Undertones, the Waterboys,
Thin Lizzy and the Saw Doctors.

Renowned Irish folk artists including Christy Moore, Clannad and Shane McGowan also took to the stage.

Commenting on the large volume of Irish now immigrating to the UK, Feis promoter Vince Power said it was a “nice bonus”.

“The Irish people who come to the UK now are not the same as 21 years ago,” Power told the Irish Times. “This is a special anniversary and there is also a fresh appetite for an Irish music festival in Britain.”

“The market in Europe is quite fragmented and there is a great opportunity there,” he said.

“Small independent companies like us can be more creative and that’s what we want to do with the Feis for years to come.”

Read more:

Top ten Irish rock n’ roll songs of all time

The Cranberries to reunite

Photos: Great Irish musicians and singers


text:
Bill O'Reilly appears on the Fox News show, "The O'Reilly Factor," Photo by: Jeff Christensen/ AP

Bill O'Reilly praises CNN's Don Lemon as courageous, claims Al Sharpton's 'day is done'

Bill O'Reilly appears on the Fox News show, "The O'Reilly Factor," Photo by: Jeff Christensen/ AP

Fox News pundit Bill O'Reilly tackled the aftermath of the George Zimmerman verdict again on The O'Reilly Factor on Monday. The problem, he said, is that so many people in positions of leadership and on the cable networks simply don't want to have an honest discussion about race matters.

Instead, O'Reilly claimed, the whole 'grievance industry' does its best to prevent considered examinations of the complex issues.
O'Reilly then contrasted the words of CNN anchor Don Lemon, who he called honest and courageous for insisting the Fox News pundit was not racist for insisting that many young black men embrace self-destructive habits and attitudes that are encouraged by the rap music industry.

'One of the big reasons Trayvon Martin lost his life was that George Zimmerman feared the image he projected that night in Florida,' O'Reilly said, suggesting that Martin's hoodie and general appearance contributed to his death.

O'Reilly insisted Martin's clothing and demeanor contributed to Zimmerman's decision to shoot.

O'Reilly called on 'the civil rights folks to stop maligning the country and face up to a huge problem that is directly harming millions, primarily in the African-American community.'

According to NewsBusters, O'Reilly listed the collapse of the African-American family unit and the entertainment industry's cynical promotion of 'gangster culture' in rap music as the two most destabilizing forces at work.

O'Reilly then tackled Al Sharpton,  host of the weekday afternoon PoliticsNation program on MSNBC, 'for attacking the messenger and implying I am a racist.'

Why is MSNBC and Sharpton attacking O'Reilly, he asked? His answer was 'because I am a threat to them.'

O'Reilly was heartened to hear Lemon defend his comments, calling the anchor 'one of those honest people on CNN.'

'After his remarks, Lemon was attacked by the race hustlers,' O'Reilly stated, but 'his courage stands in stark contrast to their ignorance and corruption.'

The Fox News host concluded the segment by calling Sharpton's charges against him 'ridiculous' adding: 'Your day is done.'

Meanwhile on Fox talk radio host Alan Colmes also defended Lemon during Fox News Channel's Happening Now program on Monday, stating: 'We’ll have true equality in this country when someone like Don Lemon or any other person of color can make a statement that doesn't conform with what the so-called majority believes without being called names, without being called an Uncle Tom.'

Sherri Shepherd, one of the hosts on ABC's The View, had her own take on O'Reilly's pronouncements: 'I don't want to give Bill O'Reilly a license to say anything because he's never been a young black man growing up in the situations that a lot of them grow up in.'


text:
Pay to play: how to lose friends and alienate people

Sat, Jul 28, 2012, 01:00

The company behind FarmVille and Mafia Wars used to be valued at $1 billion, but profits are down and game players are moving elsewhere. As its woes begin to hurt Facebook, is it game over for Zynga?

YOU’D HAVE TO WONDER if the people who ploughed money into casual gaming – the type of entertainment you buy as a smartphone app or play on a website – will feel embarrassed in years to come. The computer-game company Zynga, which went public last December with a $1 billion valuation, now looks like an unwise investment: this week it reported a second quarterly drop in earnings, prompting its share price to slump by 40 per cent. Facebook, the platform where Zynga’s key games live, lost 18 per cent of its value on Thursday, and is now down 37 per cent over two months.

The problem with casual gamers is that they are just that: casual. They don’t queue to buy the latest release, like Call of Duty fans. They don’t invite their friends around to play Paper Toss. And they have little loyalty to games companies, unlike aficionados who will automatically pick up a new game just because Rockstar made it. Casual gaming is designed to fill moments at the bus stop or during an ad break.

Casual gaming comes in three forms: the quick-hit game that goes viral, such as Bejeweled, Cut the Rope and Angry Birds; a more cumulative hit that sucks you in time and again, such as Zynga’s FarmVille and Mafia Wars; and modern takes on classic games, such as Words with Friends and Draw Something.

There’s also a fourth category that Zynga is looking to in order to make gaming more compulsive: gambling. Poker and bingo (and Slingo, a slot machine-bingo combination) are already popular Zynga applications. The idea of the company’s becoming a gigantic casual-gambling force seems unlikely in the short term given that it lacks the infrastructure to change course completely, but by the middle of next year it will probably begin to turn a lot of its output in that direction.

Zynga has built its success on Facebook, which is the perfect platform for a company that needs to reach a wide audience willing to spend time (and money) on playing. Although Zynga blames its fall in revenue in part on changes on Facebook that make it harder to find games, Facebook is also suffering because of Zynga’s decline. Twelve per cent of Facebook’s revenue comes from the games company. You might imagine it would be smarter to base more than a 10th of a multibillion-dollar company’s earnings on something other than virtual sheep, but that’s the situation, and a huge chunk of Facebook’s disastrous week has to do with Zynga’s decline and unclear future.

The largest group of online gamers is made up, perhaps surprisingly, of women over the age of 35. They’re prepared to do two things that games companies need: spend more time playing and spend real cash buying virtual goods and add-ons. But, with games going in and out of fashion, it can be hard for companies to hang on to their players.

Other gaming fads, such as the Sims series, which began in 1989 with SimCity and progressed to The Sims in 2000, becoming the most successful PC game ever, have had longevity because the revenue was upfront: players had to buy the game. Online and on smartphones, it’s harder to hold on to players when their custom is as virtual as the guns they’re buying in Mafia Wars.

Zynga still has a hold. Its recently launched bingo has proved a success, and its version of Texas hold’em poker is still extremely popular. When the New York gaming company OMGPOP took over Zynga’s top spot on Facebook with Draw Something, beating Words with Friends, Zynga bought the game and the company for $180 million.

Zynga has more than 300 million players, with about 72 playing every day thanks to its games’ presence on smartphones and their integration with social networks.

The company’s woes would have been part of the gossip in Seattle this week, when thousands of developers gathered at Casual Connect, a key industry conference – lectures included Why Tweens Aren’t Playing Your Games; Newbie to Big Spender: Understanding the Player Lifecycle; and The Secret to Longevity: How to Build a Gaming Company for the Long-Haul.

Over all of this industry looms the F-word: fad. Damien Mulley of Mulley Communications equates casual-gaming companies with the likes of Simon Cowell. “I almost see Zynga and companies like the pop-music industry trying to create hit after hit. Zynga only had two hits, really – FarmVille and Mafia Wars – and they squeezed them for all they were worth. But, like in pop music, you lose your chart position, the hits fades away and fans move on to something else.

“It’s remarkable that a company that IPO’d at $1 billion is now struggling,” Mulley says. “When Zynga bought Draw Something I just thought, That’s crazy money. It smacked of desperation to me. A lot of people who were using it stopped when all of the new add-ons started. They have a couple of problems: users mightn’t be spending as much, and they’re irritating those who aren’t playing with all that spamming stuff. People get annoyed with invites and notifications, so people just block apps . . . You’re talking about an audience that’s very easily distracted by something new.”

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Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken

Fri, Feb 22, 2013, 00:00

12 cert, Ratloope Asia, PS Vita ****

Here’s a pleasant surprise, and not just because chickens are unlikely action heroes. A product of indie developers Ratloope Asia, Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken is an eccentric and fun little shooter. Under the (ahem) yoke of oppression, you play a rebellious commando chicken who’s caught behind enemy lines. The villains are other breeds of birds, training a penguin army. This is a 2D plat- form-puzzle affair that echoes Shank and retroclassic Contra. As well as shooting and jumping, you can duck in and out of hiding places and even use some nifty gadgets (rocket packs, mind-control grenades).The character design looks hand-drawn and cute, while the posters, uniforms and story suggest communist Russia. It is all complemented by a funky indie soundtrack from New World Revolution. Originally on PS3, the Vita version has more co-operative multiplayer options, added characters and extra Vita controls.

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The Gathering was a good example of innovative thinking that harnessed, at relatively low cost, a latent pool of energy and goodwill in Irish communities. Photograph: Frank Miller/The Irish Times

In the 1960s Ireland was a recognised ground-breaker in tourism development, creating renowned innovations from duty-free shopping to medieval banquet(...)

 Glendalough: “Next Easter there is an opportunity for the people of Ireland to heed the age-old siren call of our ancient paths and reconnect with our common Christian heritage.”  Photograph: Fáilte Ireland

Last summer, in this column, I recounted a penitential journey I completed from Slemish Mountain to Skellig Michael when researching my book, Pilgrim (...)

Holy Cross: the abbey on the banks of the Suir, in the village of Holycross. Photograph: IIC/Axiom/Getty

It is one of Ireland’s most visited attractions, yet the surrounding area has, so far, gained little from tourist spend. Recent Fáilte Ireland figures(...)

Imagine celebrating our national feast day, not in March, but in high summer. Hard to visualise the occasion with bikinis, barbecues and beach badmint(...)

Go Walk: the lake district, UK

A ll the Celtic nations have one: a knife edge arête sufficiently knee-knocking to make its completion a covete(...)


text: I hurt my back a long time ago doing smith machine squats...(didn't realize at the time how much of a bind it was putting my lower back in) I eventually recovered after a little time off and staying away from squats in general...But now it seems like every time I do free squats or hacks I get a nasty lactic acid burn in my lower back, which will be gone before I leave the gym that day...but I did deadlifts for the first time in a while this past week (I LOVE deads) and I've had that same burning sensation all week long...like picking up my room and dumb shit like that...I guess it's safe to assume that I shouldn't deadlift anymore....but what advice can anyone offer me?? Has anyone else experienced this before or know what it is?? Should I take this lightly or exercise extreme caution in the future??