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Matter/antimatter asymmetry

The big bang should have created equal amounts of matter and antimatter in the early universe. But today, everything we see from the smallest life forms on Earth to the largest stellar objects is made almost entirely of matter. Comparatively, there is not much antimatter to be found. Something must have happened to tip the balance. One of the greatest challenges in physics is to figure out what happened to the antimatter, or why we see matter/antimatter asymmetry.

Antimatter particles share the same mass as their matter counterparts, but qualities such as electric charge are opposite. The positively charged positron, for example, is the anti-particle to the negatively charged electron. Matter and antimatter particles are always produced as a pair and, if they come in contact, annihilate one another, leaving behind pure energy. During the first fractions of a second of the big bang, the hot and dense universe was buzzing with particle-antiparticle pairs popping in and out of existence.

If matter and antimatter are created and destroyed together, it seems the universe should contain nothing but leftover energy. Nevertheless, a tiny portion of matter – about one particle per billion – managed to survive. This is what we see today. In the preceding few decades, scientists have learned from particle physics experiments that the laws of nature do not apply equally to matter and antimatter. They are keen to discover the reasons why.

Researchers have observed particles spontaneously transforming, or oscillating, into their antiparticles at a rate of millions of times per second before decaying. Some unknown entity intervening in this process in the early universe could have caused oscillating particles to decay as matter more often than they decayed as antimatter.

Consider a coin spinning on a table. A spinning coin has the potential to land on heads or tails, but it cannot be defined as one or the other until it stops spinning and falls definitively to one side. A coin has a 50-50 chance of landing on heads or tails, so if enough coins are spun in exactly the same way, half should land on heads and the other half on tails. In the same way, half of the oscillating particles in the early universe should have decayed as matter and the other half as antimatter.

However, if a special kind of marble rolled across the table of spinning coins and caused every coin it hit to land on heads, it would disrupt the whole system. There would be more heads than tails. In the same way, scientists think some unknown mechanism interfered with the oscillating particles to cause a slight majority of them to decay as matter.

Scientists could find hints as to what this process might be by studying the subtle differences in the behaviour of matter and antimatter particles created in high-energy proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider. Studying this imbalance could help scientists paint a clearer picture of why our universe is matter-filled.

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President Obama picks the Lakers, and if you play with him avoid the hard foul

May 26, 2010, 8:22 AM EDT

Thumbnail image for obama.jpgBarack Obama still watches a lot of basketball, although it tends to be the West Coast games, because those are the games that are on when he is finally getting back to the residence. Makes sense, he’s got a job with some brutally long hours.

In his sit down interview with Marv Albert shown on TNT last night — which Obama made time for despite not having done a full, all issue press conference in over a year — it was clear he still follows the game he loves. As he said, it just tends to be late at night, with the West Coast games on in the background as he reads some paper you don’t have clearance for.

And he still picks the Lakers (although, that was before last night).

“Boston surprised me. They gelled in the playoffs in a way that they hadn’t all through the season. (Rajon) Rondo’s become one of the best point guards in the league in no time. I mean, when he gets a real jump shot, he’s going to be unstoppable.  But I’ve got to go with the Lakers again. I think (Pau) Gasol may be the best big man in the league right now. He’s different from Dwight Howard, but he’s (got) unbelievable footwork, speed, savvy, he’s playing magnificently. Kobe (Bryant) is the fiercest competitor in the league and they’ve got what I continue to believe is the best coach in the NBA right now in Phil Jackson, so their going to be formidable and I think it’ll be a tough series. Boston’s a veteran club, but the Lakers are looking pretty good.”

Of course, as seemingly is required by law, all basketball related interviews must include a question about LeBron James and what he should do.

“I think that the most important thing for LeBron (James) right now is actually to find a structure where he’s got a coach that he respects and is working hard with teammates who care about him and if that’s in Cleveland, then he should stay in Cleveland. If he doesn’t feel like he can get it there, then someplace else. The one thing I remember about the Bulls was it wasn’t until Michael (Jordan) had confidence in Phil Jackson, Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant, it wasn’t until you got that framework around you that you could be a champion. Same thing happened with Kobe (Bryant), first with Shaq (O’Neal) then later with (Pau) Gasol. He’s gotten that sense of a team around him and I think LeBron hasn’t quite been able to get that yet. That’s what he needs to find.”

Albert: “Could you, on behalf of the Bulls, throw in perhaps a night in the Lincoln Bedroom or a ride on Air Force One?”

Obama: “You know, like I said, I don’t want to meddle. I will say this, (Derrick) Rose, (Joakim) Noah…it’s a pretty good core. You know, you could see LeBron fitting in pretty well.”

Does the president still get time to play, now that the White House has a built in basketball court?

“Well, these days I probably play once every two to three weeks, not as often as I’d like. But during, say, the health care debate, when things are just going crazy over on Capitol Hill, a lot of times I’ll just come out here and shoot or I’ll play a game of HORSE and it takes an edge off things.”

Is it different playing as president?

“Well, it is true I usually have guys with guns around, so if somebody takes a real hard foul, they could get in trouble. Nobody ever lets me win because if you let me win, you’ll never hear the end of it. I’ll talk a little trash about you. I’ll make you feel bad about yourself if we beat you real bad.”

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Thursday And-1 links: Glen Davis drops his shorts

Jan 19, 2012, 11:27 AM EDT

Orlando Magic Getty Images

Welcome to our look around the NBA — links to stories worth reading and notes to check out (stuff that did not get its own post here at PBT).

Glen Davis, you need to keep your pants on when talking to the ref. It’s pretty much an automatic technical.

What are the Sixers doing right on defense? Giving you all the long two-pointers you want. (This is what the Spurs did so well at their peak.)

JaVale McGee’s five greatest failed dunks.

DeMar DeRozan is struggling to shoot right now and coach Dwane Casey says it is partially because he is not getting good position for his shots in the first place.

Roy Hibbert, on the other hand, is getting good position and making quick decisions.

Vanilla Ice will be performing at halftime of an upcoming Pistons game. In case you needed another reason to stay away.

Not many people are going to see the Pacers play, either, and it has far less to do with the halftime entertainment and much more to do with the cost.

Call it a hot seat, call it pressure, Vinny Del Negro is feeling it in Los Angeles.

J.R. Smith is still destroying people in China.

Bucks coach Scott Skiles said he benched Stephen Jackson Tuesday night because he “looked fatigued, I guess.”

Nazr Mohammed with both bad clock management and a terrible 55-foot shot, all in one.

Are the Utah Jazz serious contenders?

Vince Carter has a sprained foot and there is no timetable for his return.

Sean May is trying to find his way back to the NBA via Croatia.

Chris Kaman admits he is having a tough transition to the New Orleans Hornets.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas is working for the Cavaliers as a special assistant to the GM. Quality hire.

The Larry Bird/Magic Johnson play will debut in New York in April.

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Chris Paul’s half-court alley-oop to DeAndre Jordan (VIDEO)

Jan 6, 2013, 8:00 AM EDT

The Clippers lobs are getting ridiculous.

The Warriors decided to do some trapping of Chris Paul — maybe they watched the Lakers not trap and lay back on him on Friday night and he shredded them, but the result was the same. And this was the best example, it is CP3 with the half-court lob for the alley-oop.

Golden State got blown out by the Clippers on just a terrible night for them, but when the Clippers are making plays like this it does not matter.

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The Extra Pass Tuesday roundup: Doc Rivers talks Clippers defensive woes

Oct 30, 2013, 8:00 AM EDT

Doc Rivers, Chris Paul AP

LOS ANGELES — The long grind of the NBA season is about building habits, building sustainable ways to win that can carry a team through the playoffs.

For the Clippers this season, that building focus is on defense (their offense is going to score plenty). Before his team’s opening night game Tuesday the Clippers’ Doc Rivers said his team was a pretty good defensive team last season, they just needed to defend the three point line better and defend better in transition.

Well… the Lakers hit 14-of-29 from three (48 percent) and ran past the Lakers to get the win Tuesday.

“I thought we lost our compure a little bit, I thought we lost our discipline maybe more, so we got a lot of work to do,” Rivers said.

That much was painfully obvious to anyone who saw the game. But okay then, what kind of work builds a defense? Rivers called it the “boring process.”

“Just with repetition,” Rivers said. “It’s not that hard, it really isn’t. Trust first, then repetition. I thought we broke our trust early, I thought we dodged a ton of bullets in the first half… they were shooting 42 percent and our defense wasn’t very good. And I kept saying guys, every time we break down eventually they are going to make some of those shots and I think in the second half they did.”

As he has all preseason, Rivers was careful to prop up his pet project for this season — DeAndre Jordan — while taking a little shot at a Clipper star.

“I thought DJ was sensational, I thought him in particular. Blake, we have to get him better defensively, but everybody,” Rivers said. “But I thought DJ was sensational… I would love to say (the breakdowns) was the bigs, but it wasn’t a lot of times. Our guards pulled in at the wrong time, going for steals, gambling, breaking coverage. It’s just like in football, if you break coverage you better hope the quarterback doesn’t see it, and tonight I thought they passed the ball great and saw everything.”

Rivers other postgame message to his team? You better get used to this kind of effort to beat you.

“Good lesson for us. The good thing is we have 81 more games, the bad thing is everybody is going to play us that way,” Rivers said. “When you’re anointed before doing it people are going to attack you. And we’re going to have to get used to that type of energy every night. “

The Clippers need to fix their defensive trust issues quickly — they play Golden State Thursday. If you think the Lakers bench could knock down threes, get a load of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson.

Pacers 97, Orlando 87: Indiana’s defense did what you expect — Roy Hibbert blocked 7 shots, the Magic shot just 38.7 percent as a team (and 37.5 percent inside 8 feet) and Orlando ended up scoring just 84.1 points per 100 possessions. Still the Magic hung around in this one until a 15-1 ending the third quarter and opening the fourth by the improved Pacer bench put the game out of reach.

Heat 107, Bulls 95: That score makes this look a lot closer than it was — Miami took control of the game in the second quarter, led by 25 and while the Bulls tried to make it interesting with a late run there just wasn’t that much doubt how this would end. While the big three for was solid, it was the bench that really won this for Miami — Shane Battier was 4-of-4 from three on his way to 14, Mario Chalmers had 13, Ray Allen hit three from beyond the arc, Norris Cole was a team best +17.

Lakers 116, Clippers 103: The Lakers bench scored 76 points on the above-mentioned pourus Clippers defense and played like a Mike D’Antoni team — the ball found energy. Xavier Henry had a career high 22 points, Jordan Farmar had 16 and the Lakers got an improbably — but for them very satisfying — win.

  1. vikesdynasty - Oct 30, 2013 at 8:32 AM

    nice editing

    • zacksdad - Oct 30, 2013 at 11:36 AM

      What is wrong with the editing. I guess when he said the Lakers ran past the Lakers he was referring to to the Lakers bench ran past the Lakers starters on the bench.

      “Well… the Lakers hit 14-of-29 from three (48 percent) and ran past the Lakers to get the win Tuesday.”

  2. leearmon - Oct 30, 2013 at 10:14 AM

    Wait, DeAndre Jordan was “sensational” yet the Clippers defense was still M.I.A.?? hmmmm, and Doc specifically names Blake and the guards as reasons for the defensive breakdowns….

    Interesting, I could have sworn I heard that before… I must be watching too many Sportscenter highlights.

  3. jerdogthompson - Oct 30, 2013 at 2:24 PM

    Anytime you’re guard and forward can bank home shots you know its a good night. Lakers 2014 champs!

  4. spthegr8 - Oct 30, 2013 at 6:41 PM

    ^^^^^^^ Somebody is a little BITTER!!!^^^^^^^^^^

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I was hoping New England would get a little more credit for this from most of the authors involved (I am not a Patriots fan). Much like Bean in Oakland, they adopted this type of reasoning before anyone else ever began contemplation. Beane just had the ego to allow a book to be published chronicling his "genius". I think a lot of teams have fallen backward into this thought process. It is very difficult for teams in the top 3 to trade down even 1 spot anymore. The cost/benefit is extremely skewed and fueling discussion on a rookie pay scale much like the NBA employs. The perfect example of this concept is the Arizona Cardinals 2003 draft. They traded the 6th overall pick for, essentially, 2 other first round picks. With those two later picks they drafted Bryant Johnson WR and Calvin Pace DE. Both are no longer with the team after dismal performances for the first 3 years of their career. They did strike gold with their 2nd round pick in Anquan Boldin. It is perfect evidence of the theories presented.
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With mobile technologies becoming increasingly popular what is happening on the server-side with most of these apps when they need to communicate with a back end?

I'm used to the world of technology from 10 years ago when most resources were accessed by requesting a dynamic web page that behind the seen used a server-side language to get the information it needed from a relational database.

Is this still the case, and if not, what are the big changes?

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A lot of smaller apps rely on Google App Engine :). –  MrFox Sep 27 '12 at 13:52

5 Answers 5

up vote 7 down vote accepted

From top of my head:

  1. Use of webservices instead of direct access to DB from client.
  2. REST instead of SOAP. SOAP seems to be too heavy-weight for mobile communication with backend. REST using JSON is much simpler to set up and consume. Especially if you use different technologies on client and server.
  3. Focus on multiple views for webpages. One for desktop and one for mobile. It should be easy if someone uses MVC, but it is still quite problematic.

There are probably more. Mobile apps are mostly regarded as normal clients, that consume data and display them.

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  • RESTful API using JSON as serialization — Same API is used by native apps, hybrid apps and mobile web apps. Even in the former case client side templates are often used (see excellent example in "Leaving JSPs in the dust: moving LinkedIn to dust.js client-side templates")

  • Lightweight, asynchronous (event driven) servers — no more pre-fork Apache. Nginx, node.js, Twisted, Tornado etc. are used now.

  • OAuth / social login — Users expect not to have to register an account for each individual app. Thus most apps allow login with FB, TW and other providers. For FB both Android and iOS provide Single-Sign-On option.

Things to consider

  • Mobile networks have very high latencies;
  • It's normal for clients to loose connections;
  • It's normal for a client to change IP during session;
  • Mobiles are nowhere near as powerful as desktops/laptops;
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REST is half the story. The more interesting thing than lighter-weight protocols on the wire is lighter-weight web app servers and stacks -- the mass scale requests for small datagrams versus comparatively thick rendered HTML means you have different requirements. Some examples:

  • node.js is probably the cannonical example of this. Most folks get hung up on the javascript-on-the-server feature, but that is a red herring -- cool for the kids who can't progress beyond js but it don't matter. The really nifty part is the asynchronous nature making it scale insanely, especially while serving small, sharp RESTful services. Some other stacks with similarities would be twisted for python or manos de mono for .NET.

  • nginx uses alot of the same evented IO (libuv) that node.js does, and it is cleaning up the server market in some circles. Much more focused than apache and insanely fast.

  • Thin server stacks are popping up in environments which traditionally had thick frameworks that made lots of presumptions. IE, in ruby you've got sinatra to counterbalance rails. In python you've got flask [and others] to counterbalance django. In .NET you've got the WebAPI to counterbalance MVC and WebForms. All of the stacks I mentioned are very, very thin and are more (or totally) focused on serving datagrams and not web pages. None of the ones I mention feature the sorts of templating and ORMs one expects out of a typical web stack these days.

All that said, more often than not someone is serving their mobile app by hacking the existing 10 year old server-side web app to serve json on a different HTTP endpoint. World ain't changed that much -- management will still limp along on 2 wheels and a doughnut if they think they can get away with it.

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Most back-ends now support JSON and REST and not just SOAP. Other than that, there's not a lot of difference between a web front-end and a mobile app. I think most of the challenges for mobile apps are on the front end (how best to fit information onto a smaller screen). Some apps are starting to leverage mobile capabilities (like location reporting), but that's on both ends.

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Is this still the case, and if not, what are the big changes?

I think there are still applications that use the mentioned server-side or client-server architecture. However, in recent years there is a big move toward SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) . Thus, communication through secure services opens new capabilities to all client applications, and access/reuse of back-end business services at the same time.

With emerging markets of mobile and tablets, it is becoming even more important to use HTTP services as an important communication channel to provide extended service to the client applications.

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In visual programming, there are many events which support our application tasks. So, along with user defined processes, should these also be in flowchart or not?

What about the constructors of classes, are they supposed to be shown in flowchart or not?

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4 Answers 4

up vote 7 down vote accepted

In short, a flowchart is a type of diagram that represents an algorithm or process, showing the steps as boxes of various kinds, and their order by connecting these with arrows.

You may also think of a flow chart as a process flow of application logic while connecting components in some type of flow of events.

enter image description here

What about the constructors of classes, they supposed to be shown in flowchart or not ?

Well class design is not done by means of flow chart. Generally a UML diagram is created to present class diagram structure or high-level application design.

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Poor lamp . . . –  Robert Harvey Oct 12 '12 at 5:46
It was the simplest picture that i got from internet. –  Yusubov Oct 12 '12 at 5:47
@ElYusubov: Well, its good to make things easier because understanding always walks around easiness. Good Example. Thanks –  Itz.Irshad Oct 12 '12 at 5:50

The Wikipedia article covers this pretty well. Look under building blocks; if it's not there, a flowchart doesn't cover it.

Flowcharts are mostly meant to illustrate a process that embodies an algorithm (a recipe for solving a problem). The flowchart illustrates the procedural steps that the computer would take to solve the problem.

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Thanks for guideline –  Itz.Irshad Oct 12 '12 at 5:45

Generally speaking, all Inputs (via I/O box), Outputs (via I/O box), Processings(via Proceesing box) and Decisions (via Diamond box) should be reflected in your flowchart.

Talking about events, they can be depcited somewhat via the diamond box if you like. For example:

if (user/system does that) then

 do this

 do this

For constructors, you need to use Object Diagram. As constructors are class methods whose sole purpose is to keep the object in a valid state when instantiated.

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Not to intentionally be a contrary, but in answer to the question:

"What types of processes have to be reflected in flowchart?"

I think the answer is none of them.

Flow charts have been around a long time. For developers, they are time consuming to produce, particularly in the quantity that would be needed for a commercial scope project. They also have the disadvantage of going stale pretty fast once developers start coding to them and integrating logic discovered during implementation and test.

In casual conversation with Dr. Bill Curtis, who was one of the authors of the SEI CMM 1.1 and a person with some background in software process and psychology (a PhD), he said to me and others that our diagrams depend on people being high-spatial to understand them, but people who were high-spatial could pretty easily form a mental picture from text representations of software like pseudo code.

Most of the object oriented methods advocate leaving behind flow charts and also data flow diagram as artifacts of structured programming and even pre-structured programming. More useful are techniques like use cases annotated with alternative flows. Use cases tend to start with a nominal flow that may describe some conditions, but not much branching of the control flow. Branching is covered in alternative cases, and typically references the nominal flow for brevity, accentuating only the differences. Another good reason to consider use cases instead of flow charts is that they can easily include as much text as is needed for clarity, although all but the shortest text can cause problems with gracefully sliding text into flow charts, and combined with routing and other manual manipulations, can eat up a lot of time, sometimes with good benefit, sometimes without.

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It seems that there is a whole mess around current JCP.

Quite of number of highly respected guys like Doug Lea, Tim Peierls had quit JCP.

Reference :

Is JCP dead? and Final results of the JSR Review Ballot for JSR #336

This put Java in an unfavorable future. As a Java developer, will you still consider using Java in your next project?

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Quitting the JCP != quitting the platform. –  luis.espinal Apr 12 '11 at 11:22

8 Answers 8

up vote 11 down vote accepted

The developer support will be around for a very long time. The language is mature, most JVMs are very stable and fast. I find little core necessary libraries or language features missing. I would still choose Java over most other languages and runtimes still due to its ability to sell into nearly any IT ecosystem.

I wait eagerly for a new cross-platform language and runtime that can support the widest customer base, but all things considered, Java still reigns supreme.

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I've been moving slowly away from "Java the language" anyway, but still relying on the JVM as a platform, by adopting Groovy, and starting to learn Scala and Clojure. The recent events with Oracle and the JCP make me a little less certain about the future of "Java as a platform," but not to the point of dropping it (yet). Regardless of what happens with the ASF and Harmony, OpenJDK is out there, under GPL+classpath exception license, and Harmony does still exist even if it never gets TCK certification. And with IBM and Apple seemingly on the OpenJDK bandwagon, I'm moderately optimistic that the JVM will live on in a suitable form.

For me, the only real action I'd take right now, is to "future proof" myself by starting to evaluate and learn some other platforms / languages... Erlang, Haskell, Lisp, Ocaml, whatever.

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Yes, I would. Java is one of the most widely spread programming languages so Java will exist for a long time.

I don't think it's many languages that can compete with Java as of today. It has a huge userbase and big libraries, both standard libraries and third party libraries. It has good performance with garbage collection. And it has static typing.

If you look at TIOBE Index and want a static typed object oriented language with managed memory, many good libraries and target multiple platforms. Then I think Java is still the best choice.

Java is that big so it will not die even if Oracle try to kill it very hard. I think that Google will release a similar and compatible language under a different name if it get worse. It's so big that it can't die.

And it is a good language compared to many alternatives. Oracle will just make it a more commercial language than before. And C#, the best alternative is also a commercial language, so it doesn't mean that the language will die, it will just be different.

share|improve this answer

I won't use it. I don't like monsters like Oracle.

share|improve this answer
But the problem is that there is not many alternatives. –  Jonas Dec 10 '10 at 20:22
@Jonas Depending what you are going to do. –  duros Dec 10 '10 at 20:25
@duros: Well, if you want a language with many of the features that Java has there isn't many alternatives. –  Jonas Dec 10 '10 at 20:33
If your goal is to limit yourself to one language, this might be true, but I have a hard time believing there are features only Java has. –  JeffO Dec 10 '10 at 23:07
@duros Do you prefer monsters like MSFT? –  Mahmoud Hossam Apr 15 '11 at 3:47

To be more specific: I'll be doing my next project in a mix of Java and Clojure. My logic:

  • The JVM is a great platform for development - fast, robust and cross-platform
  • Java provides an incredible wealth of open source libraries and tools. It's hard to ignore this advantage
  • Clojure is a great, modern language that is extremely productive and dynamic while also offering seamless interoperability with Java code
  • Hence I can write my application in 90% Clojure, and use Java where needed as a "portable assembler" for highly optimised pieces of code or where it is convenient to use Java libraries
share|improve this answer
+1 (+10 if I could): I think it would be wise to freeze Java as a language (which is a mature and clean enough OOP language), stop messing around with lambdas and other cool features that are already much better supported by languages like Scala (and probably Clojure which, unfortunately, I did not have the time to learn yet), and use Java (together with the JVM and the Java API) as a basis for developing cross-platform applications, possibly in combination with other JVM languages. –  Giorgio Nov 10 '12 at 10:11

As a pragmatist, yes I would consider using it in my next project.

However, I'd also consider other languages / platforms that had the right technical attributes AND a more open and community oriented approach to governance.

And I would also consider participating in a well organized effort to produce such a language and platform.

share|improve this answer

What Oracle does to Java won't matter in the short term. All current JVMs and compilers and libraries will still be available, as well as the community.

Oracle's actions are, I think, likely to harm Java in the long run.

So, I'd have no hesitation about using it for my next project, but if I depended on it I'd consider a long-term exit strategy just in case.

share|improve this answer

The "mess in the JCP" Reflects that Sun - as a company - could't decide upon if they should be a community driven open source project or a commercial product.

This was clearly shown when Apache Harmony could not get the TCK license.

Oracle - however - has very clearly shown they Will run this as a commercial product in the same way A's most other products. If you Can live with that, fine. If you cannot, well - Mono is strong ón most platforms.

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Having started programming as a teenager, I really appreciate the refactoring features of modern IDEs. Still I try to organize my code so that it can be easily modified. Design for change for life. I am currently working on my PhD thesis on automated termination checking. I work with Haskell and appreciate it for purity and its type system. But I hate a lot of Haskell code out there for being overwhelmingly abstract, needlessly unreadable and undocumented.

I give practical courses of in software engineering focusing on team work and design for BSc students. These courses use Java, the language I'm most familiar with. I worked as a professional Java developer for almost ten years.

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City of Gettysburg

109 E. Commercial, Gettysburg, South Dakota 57442

$0 Total Fines

Total inspections: 2

Last inspection: June 22, 2005

Classification: Sewerage Systems

2 Enforcement Actions

Last enforcement: Unknown

Formal enforcement: 0

Informal enforcement: 2

8 Violations

This facility has not been out of compliance in the past 12 quarters.

2 effluent violations
2 effluent violations
4 effluent violations

View detailed information from the Environmental Protection Agency. Note: There are no mandated limits for power plant discharges into waterways for many common chemicals such as arsenic, lead and mercury. However some facilities are monitored for these pollutants by state regulators and report the findings to the E.P.A.


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You are here: Home » Strikeforce » Vote for Strikeforce’s “Best of 2010″ Awards

Vote for Strikeforce’s “Best of 2010″ Awards

Fans can now vote in Strikeforce’s “Best of 2010″ Awards by going to

Here is how I will be voting. Let me know if you agree or disagree with my picks, as well as your on thoughts on who should win each category.

Rising Star of the Year: Absolutely this should go to Ovince St. Preux. Before 2010, most of the main stream MMA fans had no idea who this former University of Tennessee linebacker was and now he’s placed himself within title contention. He fought count ’em SIX times in 2010 and won every fight, four by first round knockout.  Three of those six bouts were in Strikeforce where he scored wins over Chris Hawk, Antwain Britt, and Benji Radach. He also had an 8-second knockout of UFC vet Jason Day this year in Canada’s Evolution Fighting Championships. Without a doubt, he deserves the award for Strikeforce’s “Rising Star of the Year”.

Submission of the Year: It won the World MMA Awards “Submission of the Year” and it should also win Strikeforce’s. I’m talking about Fabricio Werdum‘s first round armbar of “The Last Emperor” Fedor Emelianenko.

Knockout of the Year: Paul Daley over Scott Smith is my pick.  That was one of the most devastating KO’s we’ve ever seen — face first, he went down like he took a sniper shot to the head.

Upset of the Year: This has to go to Fabricio Werdum‘s first round submission of Fedor Emelianenko. Fedor was seen as the unbeatable legend and virtually no one was giving Werdum a chance, much a less a first round submission from a basic armbar. The whole MMA world went silent.

Fight of the Year: staff writer John Buhl prefers the Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva vs. Mike Kyle fight because of how Kyle almost finished it early then Silva came back to win it in spectacular fashion, but I’m going with the Waachiim Spiritwolf vs. Billy Evangelista fight. That fight went all three rounds and it was one of those fights where both guys put their whole body, mind and soul into it. The heart Spiritwolf showed in that fight is something they should teach kids in school. They should show videos of that fight to military men and women about to go into war to show them what the “heart of a warrior” looks like. Very memorable bout which will probably get my pick for the Pro MMA Now 2010 “Fight of the Year” as well as the Strikeforce “Fight of the Year”.

Female Fighter of the Year: She won the World MMA Awards “Female Fighter of the Year” and of course she deserves to win Strikeforce’s. I’m talking about Mrs. Cyborg, Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos, the Strikeforce women’s 145-pound champion. She is seen as the very best female fighter in the world. She is like the female Fedor and no woman yet has appeared who people think could give her a realistic challenge. She sits atop the throne with not even a close second.

Male Fighter of the Year: And lastly, fans will get to vote on Strikeforce’s “Male Fighter of the Year”. Strikeforce may not have the deepest roster, but they do have some great talent. We just wish we could see them fight a little more often. This category is the hardest for me to pick, but I think it comes down to two people: Nick Diaz and Alistair Overeem.

If we are just looking at what they did in Strikeforce, then you have to give it to Nick Diaz. He is the only nominee to not only fight three times in 2010, but win all three fights. In January, he became the Strikeforce 170-pound champ with his first round stoppage of Marius Zaromskis.

In May, he scored a first round submission over Japanese legend Hayato Sakurai in a non-title bout. And then in October, Diaz had his first title defense winning a five-round unanimous decision over KJ Noons. He seems to be at the peak of his game and it was a very impressive year for the Stockton bawler.

However, if we consider all-around achievements, Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem would have to win “Male Fighter of the Year”. He only fought once in Strikeforce this year, but it was a first round massacre of a fighter, Brett Rogers, that was coming off an impressive performance against Fedor Emelianenko, in which he made him look very human.

But it was what Overeem did outside Strikeforce, and in fact outside MMA altogether, that makes him deserving of “Male Fighter of the Year”. Overeem fought five K-1 bouts in 2010, three on the same night, to win the 2010 K-1 World Grand Prix and become the first fighter in history to hold a major MMA title and K-1 title at the same time.

So there you have it, Nick Diaz and Alistair Overeem, take your pick. No, literally take your pick. Get over to and vote for who you think should win each category. Remember, if you don’t vote, you can’t complain about it later. The winners will be announced on Dec. 27–31.

  • RB

    I agree with St. Preux as Rising Star, Werdum for Submission of the year, & Cyborg as Female Fighter of the year.

    But as far as the rest KO of the Year should go to Lawler over Manhoef.
    Robbie was getting his you know what handed to him while he was limping around the cage then won the fight with a single shot crippling Melvin.

    Fight of the year was definitely Noons/Diaz 2.

    Male fighter of the Year should be Alistair Overeem.

    And upset of the year yeah most will say Werdum over Fedor that’s the easy pick but Werdum was a top 10 HW already with the best BJJ in the HW division who caught Fedor early on with a sub.

    Upset of the year should be Griggs over Lashley.
    Griggs was an absolute nobody brought in to be another tomato can to make Bobby look good and build him up.
    And Griggs won the fight. That’s the real upset of the year in SF.

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 Protect Your Hair

Hair Loss

Posted on: May 22nd, 2015

Normally, we lose about 100 hairs each day – old hairs fall out and are replaced with new ones. But with hair loss, hair thins at a rate that can’t be replaced. Falling hair not replaced by new ones can make a person bald or have bald patches. Hair loss can either be temporary or permanent. Changing hairstyle or shampoos used may ease the problem. But if that doesn’t help, a doctor may prescribe a drug to slow or stop hair loss and to aid hair growth. Hair is healthiest when we eat right, exercise, and protect it from too much sun.

Diabetes and Hair Loss

Posted on: May 15th, 2015

People suffering from diabetes do actually worry a lot not only because of the health risks of the disease, but also of its side effects and one of which is hair loss. It is important that you understand the main cause on why this happens so that you can find an effective treatment for this problem and only your most trusted physician can help you with that.

Hair loss and diabetes is actually a temporary problem that you can deal with. It can actually stop in a few months time or it can also worsen in the coming days. Don’t be afraid of your doctor to ask proper medication with your hair-related problem.

Hair Removal Options

Posted on: May 8th, 2015

leg waxWhile this blog is dedicated to finding better ways to protect your hair, we know first hand how irritating unwanted hair can be. Sure, we’ll do everything we can to protect our crowning glory, but when it comes to the hair on our armpits, legs, face, and bikini area we’d be more than happy to see the last of it. After all, shaving and plucking out all of that hair can feel like a part-time job with the rate at which they grow back.

If you’re tired of dealing with unwanted hair, you should realize that you have options aside from shaving and plucking. Waxing is a good option, although the hair will still grow back. Still, if you have your hair waxed at a salon, the whole process does not have to be as tedious as shaving; besides your hair will grow back a bit slower and with a finer texture. You can also opt for permanent hair removal which can be done in salons. The process takes several visits though, with the number of visits depending on the type of your hair.

Photo Credit

D-I-Y Hair Dying

Posted on: May 1st, 2015

Tired of your hair color? You can go to a salon and have your hair dyed by a professional colorist and pay tens of dollars or you can just buy a box of hair dye and color you hair at home. Coloring your hair at home can save you a lot of money. It is very simple, you just need to have all the materials needed in dying you hair and simply follow the step-by-step guide or instructions enclosed in the box of hair dye. A thing to remember is to dye your hair with a clean, dry, non-oily hair only. This is to ensure that the hair color or dye will stick to your hair and not be washed off easily. It’s important to wear gloves during the entire process to protect the hands from the chemicals. It is recommended to choose the color closest to your natural shade.

Alopecia (Hair Loss)

Posted on: April 24th, 2015

Losing up to 100,000 strands of hair every day is normal–old hairs do fall, and these are replaced by new ones. But not losing all! Losing all is an abnormal condition called alopecia. It becomes obvious when the rate of hair fall is more than the rate the hair is replaced. The person either becomes bald or have hair patches. When you see these happen, see a doctor immediately, before it is too late. The doctor may be able to prescribe drugs that could either prevent the condition, perhaps slow it down., or grow new hair. The hair is similar to the other parts of the bodies–one should have a healthy diet, if one wants to keep fit, and that includes your crowing glory–the hair. Also, keep your hair, as much away from the sun.

Diabetes and Hair Loss Treatments

Posted on: April 17th, 2015

When you follow the instructions given by your trusted physician, you have the ability to control diabetes and hair loss in a short span of time. Having a concrete understanding on how your body deals with its requirements is another way to assure that you can give your body the needed dose of medicines to take including minerals especially when you are suffering from hair loss and diabetes. Discipline is a must.

Having both hair loss and diabetes can really give one person a stressful moment that eventually leads to depression. Don’t lose hope we have some treatments available and don’t expect that everything will be fixed overnight. It takes a lot of time, effort and discipline.

Protein Helps in Hair Care

Posted on: April 10th, 2015

Our hair is composed of Kerotin, a type of protein. We can actually nourish our hair by eating foods that are somewhat high with protein. We do have a number of food available out there such as peanuts and almonds, eggs, oatmeal, lean meats, legumes, cottage cheese and whole grain bread.

All of the foods that I mentioned above have a big amount of protein. Unconsciously, the do contribute on avoiding future hair loss. It is also good to take supplements like Cod Liver Oil. It has fatty acids that are very helpful in the growth and strengthening of our hair.

Hair Extensions

Posted on: April 2nd, 2015

A woman’s hair is seen as a symbol of her beauty and personality. Women have been using hair extensions (weaves) to enhance the natural beauty and uniqueness of their hair. As more stars and celebrities begin to experiment with new hairstyles, hair weaves have become even more popular, as it is a relatively easy and noninvasive way to change your appearance. If you are considering adding a weave to your hair, it is important to look at your options and be aware of the different effects that certain hairstyles can have on your natural hair, and you take precautions to lessen the risks of damaging your hair and scalp.

Choosing the right shampoo and conditioner

Posted on: March 26th, 2015

Shampoos and conditioners are made up of varying chemicals which could instantly damage one’s hair. This is an important reminder that everyone should always take note together with the need of understanding the limitations in usage of a particular product. It is always a must for one to use the right shampoo and conditioner. How can these be known? Hair professionals can help you with knowing which fits your hair type. There are now numerous types of shampoo and conditioner that are made for a specific hair type. This is why it is a must to know which is most appropriate to your hair condition because using something that is not, could lead to damaging the health of your hair. Nevertheless, it is always recommended to use that shampoo and conditioner that contain the least chemicals, those that are considered to be natural products. These, as well, costs cheaper but are believed to be more effective.

Iron Straight

Posted on: March 19th, 2015

2.jpgTo achieve a sleek, straight hair the fast way, a straightening iron is used. But everyday use can cause too much damage in the hair that will be difficult to repair in the future.
To prevent damage caused by straightening iron, it is advisable not to use them everyday. Lessening and reducing the heat applied to the hair will greatly minimize the effects and damages.
Straightening irons sold in the market today usually have a heat control that will let you control the amount of heat to style your hair with.
Use hair products that will protect your hair from the damages caused by a straightening iron. Let yourself get used to using a vitamin enriched hair product before using the iron.


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Friday, April 28, 2006

Republican Hot Dogs

Maybe I should rethink my politics. If I join the GOP apparently I just need to hot dog it with the moral values and christian talk but get to hot dog it with a hooker all I want.

Ok that was stretched.

But seriously, how can anyone defend these guys? While I doubt any super conservatives read this sight, keep in mind that I am a moderate. To the extent I come off like a partisan democrat it's because I think the GOP is literally fascist and I've accepted that a vote for moderate or liberal republicans is wasted since they vote party line. As the bumper sticker said "W made me a Democrat".

Rest Week

No blog talk about cycling until Wednesday.. I am on my rest week!

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Leaks and the NeoCons

eBay problems.. or reading is fundamental

Got an irate email this morning from an eBay bidder who, god love him, can't read.

He bought Crotchity's putter. Cool. Sent payment. Unverified paypal account. So I send him an email to the effect of "congrats. thanks for payment, but before I can ship it I need you to confirm that address".

So he emails back with some reason he can't. Since he's local I suggest a hand delivery.. I'll refund the paypay, he gives me cash all good.

He says no, but adds he reread my listing and it doesn't say anything about needing a verfied or confirmed account. So I respond, "uhh yah it does right there in payment instructions". No response. Then Friday I get another email. Hey, he says, I got my address verified can you ship now. Well, I was at this point in Walla Walla. So I email him saying sure, as soon as I get back to Seattle. So yesterday (72 hours later including a Sunday) I get an email asking where the heck the putter is and accusing me of trying to rip him off.

Maybe it's a scam on his part.. I don't know. But he seems to be a tad disconnected. Doesn't read the listing, read the emails and gets in my grill over it.

Oh well. Just had to shake my head.

Monday, April 24, 2006

Tour of Walla Walla

What a great weekend at Walla Walla. J-Cat and I drove out Friday and engaged in 5 hours of trully sophmoric humor. The hotel was nice, even if it was in Oregon (not as close as we were led to believe). The racing was good (if small) and the dinner/breakfast at the 26 Brix ruled. I used to work with Davis back at the BUCKS and now I sponsor his team, Clif Bar Midwest. I think his Dad owns the restaurant.. anyway thank you thank you thank you for the food. If you go to Walla Walla, stop in a get some of their excellent food.

And of course, we got 2nd on GC (Emde), 2nd on the road race (Emde) and 2nd (J-Cat) in the Crit. If you are going to lose, it might as well be to the Mighty Ian Tubbs. He won the road race and the overall for about the 5678th year in a row. I like everyone, but I really, really like Ian. I remember when he was the super strong guy who didn't win cause he got outsmarted and the day (I at least thought) it clicked (State Omnium 2000) and he turned into the real NW Tom Boonen (Sorry Anton). And how can you not love Leslie? Great job Ian.

I managed to attack Anton again after he flatted (hey man, I didn't know you were still chasing), but that was a bluff. I knew 10 miles into the race I was screwed. I don't think I've had legs that bad since I started racing again. I was hurting up the mildest grades at 12mph. Hopefully it's an abberation and I'll be back on form for States.

Again I was super impressed with Stangeland. Broadmark had him against a wall and credit the kid for not only coming out swinging, but attacking the guys in blue and yellow. He won the crit from a group of Jonny and Andrew.

The garage came up empty handed, but they took responsibility a couple times to chase and I think that they will be a very good team next year once a couple of their newer upgrades get experienced.

Not sure any of this is interesting to anyone who wasn't there.

Friday, April 21, 2006

Pot Science

It would appear the politicos are trying to obscure Science again.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Feeling Blah, Boonen and Controversy.

Well, so much for my sprinting career :) PR came and went. So did I, right off Jonny's wheel in the finish. Sadly in the wrong direction. Just didn't have it in the finish. WoW had about 100 guys in the field (for about 560% of the total). Props to Joltin' Joe for telling them to attack and chase regardless of who was or wasn't up the road.. in otherwords no 2005 style sittin' in the break or breaking up chases. Cool.

I felt pretty slow all race. Just didn't have any pop. I guess that happens. Jonny gave me a lot of good feedback after the race though and with a little bit of tactical savvy I could have done a lot better. But it's PR, and it's for learnin'

Cree is trying to stir-up some controversy at Cycling Soup. I am not sure what is funnier, the idea that I might actually believe I am like Boonen (I don't, I just think his mental approach is worth emulating) or that of 1 vote cast I see to be leading. Boo Yaa! If II resemble anyone, it's Robert Wright. Go see blogging heads to see the similarities.

But as Floyd Landis said, a little drama is a good thing. So let me toss this out to really get the fire fanned:

"Contacted at his home, Pruitt noted that if anything Boonen is like Pruitt. 'Hey look at our birthdates, the guy is clearly copying me'. I've won a round of PR, what has he ever done? (other than the Ronde, Roubaix, World Champs, ...............)"

But wait, by the transitive property would that make Anton my body double? This train of thought is disturbing my fragile mind.......

Sunday, April 16, 2006

It's snowing Dog's on Rob

T-S-T: it F*&^in snowed. The race can be summed up in one word: miserable. And Rob got eaten by a Dog. Or at least bit by one. That sucked. I missed the split on Anderson (I think it was Anderson) and got caught in the bus. That sucked too because I was strong enough but didn't know the climbs, started at the back when it started paced myself to cover the gap and then ended up caught out on the top of Holly cause I thought there was a nother k on climbing. I should have just jumped on the back of the wheel car to pace up. I didn't, but I saw Holland do it. Need to be more ruthless I guess.

Friday, April 14, 2006

A Good Craftsman Never Blames His Tools

I can't remember ever being as sketchy thought the corner as I was last night at Seward. Everytime through my front wheel slipped. It got better as the night went on; and as much as I'd love to blame my tires I suspect someone (me) was tapping that front brake a wee too much and weighting a bit too far forward.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Wait! No, companies shouldn't have a voice

Bryon York is wrong. I have no problem with individuals donating money. But companies *are not* people and should not be afforded the same rights as people. I think this is a major difference between left and right. I am not anti-corporation *but* I am also not naive.. corporations are amoral entities. They act in accordance with the various players that have interests.. stock holders, managers, ceo's, etc. By affording them the rights of people in general and especially rights equal to their aggragate employee count (as York implies with his seemingly offhanded comment about being responsible for the interests of it's employees) is wrong.

No More Frozen Flatlands For Me.

Stab me once, and I am out.

I have previously written about my irritation with Baddlands for changing the GC rules after the race was over. The rules stated that all riders had to start each stage to qualify. This was repeated over and over again before each stage. After the race, they decided to give GC based on points regardless of whether riders had started or not.

They don't appear to understand why this is important. I should have gotten 10th on GC. Instead I got 12th. It may not sound like much, but it is. WSBA rider ranking points only go 10 deep so holding that 10th spot was a very very calculated effort on my part. I rode exactly as much as I needed to to hold that spot while also helping Glenn and Michael who were higher on GC.

It even led me to work with Anton in a break. That break ended up with Derik winning, and lost a lot of Broadmark guys their GC spot. I should not have worked in that break at all.. and probably would not have if I wasn't thinking of GC in the back of my mind.

I also waited for Glenn when I easily could have gone in with Shneipp to actaully move up to 8th or 9th on GC.

It makes a difference. Our team brought 5 guys over and I am the one who stood up at the WSBA meeting to make sure their race did not get scheduled over the top of another race. Well forget that. I am out. I don't need to spend a couple hundred bucks to support a race that changed to the rules to benefit local riders who don't start every stage.

And, without the support of someone over here to look out for their interests I suspect attendance will drop back to previous levels at the Cat 1/2 level.

Good Words From Little Tommy Boonen

From Procycling:
“Every time I take the race into my own hands and take responsibility, I succeed. Every time I look at another guy, I fail. The best example is Petacchi. He’s the only guy who gets me in a situation like that and every time I lose I say to myself: ‘You dumb ass,’,” explained Boonen in his usual frank manner. No wonder he’s popular - and not only for his incredible riding skills.

I won't say I am anywhere near Boonen's level, but in terms of racing results in general these are words that ring true for me.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Sarcasm: it may be the lowest form of humor but also the most satisfying

The Show Goes On.

Everyone seemed a bit better today after Sunday's tragedy. The vigil Monday night went a long way to helping the community heal. I wasn't sure what to expect at PR (FKA SIR) but turnout was good and the weather was nice despite some early sprinkles.

Stangleland rolled away at the start and prompty beat us into submission. Actually, he rolled off with Andrew Martin and a team mate (I should know the guys name, he races all the time.. bad PDog bad PDog). I wanna say one of the BRI guys bridged with me, it may have been Robert (Valley). Anyway we got a good gap but then the WoW guys started working us. I saw jamie go and went after him but then started playing games with Martin... I think we both realized too late that Jamie actually was going to go for it. So we stopped screwing around and started chasing in a 2-man TT...

I think after a lap it got comical as Andrew was yelling at Jamie to wait and I was driving and Jamie was still going away from us like we were sipping Banana Daqueri's on the beach. Oh well... a bad tactical decision but I guess one that worked since he stayed out all day and won by hours.

I knew we were hosed because 2 of the 4 or 5 strongest guys were on the same team and one was upt he road. I later foudn out Richter didn't know Jamie was still gone...

I got 4th in the field sprint behind Richter, Martin and Joltin' Joe. I should have done better but as Joe noted I waited too long to launch. Actually, the much maligned WoW team did it exactly right and the lead out train was amazing, right there with BRI of 2 years ago. I stayed too long because the leadout man (who I had gotten on the wheel of) took it so close to the line I got greedy.

I'd say both Andrew and James are solid, solid riders. I hope that this means WoW will move up into a strong local team (and I mean team, not 2 strong guys and a bunch of guys in teh same jersey) for weekend races as well. They certainly rode better last night than I've ever seen and it's the first time I think you can say the entire team made their other guys better.

Good job.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Hitchens a Nut: I was there first!

Wonkette asks the question I asked 4 months ago.

Sunday, April 09, 2006

Brad Lewis

F*&^. Brad Lewis crashed hard at Boat Street today. He hit his head on the curb. I gather it doesn't look good. I've known Brad via cycling for a long time. We weren't friends but we knew each other and I'd like to think he thought well of me. I thought well of him. It's a helpless feeling seeing someone in your community, someone you know lying there with medics and police giving CPR and not being able to do anything.

Anyway, I hope he makes it.

Updated: Brad did not pull through. Cause of death is cardiac arrest. I am not sure how to react, what to do. There's nothing I can do; but it just feels so crappy to know that.

Hincapie: No Lucky for you

I guess the new Trek didn't work out so well. From CyclingNews Live

16:00 CEST 214km/45km to go
Hincapie does an amazing move. His handlebars or stem or forks broke and he ended up in a ditch. He's out, for sure.

Belgian television reports that it was Hincapie's fork steerer that broke before, forcing him to ride no hands on a cobbled sector...with the obvious result. It's bad luck for the American, who was looking great today.

Update: Stopped by a train?????

16:53 CEST
Hoste's group is 32 seconds behind the leader, as Boonen's group is stopped by a train!! Oh dear. That's the end of their race.

16:53 CEST
Boonen's trio is back again, with a 30 second penalty. It's over for them. Hoste's group only just got through...

16:54 CEST 250km/9km to go
You could hear the disappointment in the velodrome when Boonen's group was stopped by the train. Well, that's bike racing.

That's bike racing????????

17:26 CEST
There has been a sensational change to the results! Leif Hoste, Vladimir Gussev and Peter van Petegem have *all* been disqualified for going through that level crossing in the last 10 km. That means Tom Boonen is actually second today, with Ballan third. Remarkable!

I say what??????

Updated: Well, on the plus side Discovery & PVP should get lots of publicity for this BS DQ. Kinda like GWG last year... a year of review. And no one will remember Boonen got 2nd but will talk about how Hoste and PVP got screwed.

Updated Again: Hey, no fair. Over at Velonews there's a picture of Boonen's group goign around the gate to race as the train passes... why didn't they get DQ'd???

Saturday, April 08, 2006

Were's the hell is my Lucky???

No one else showed up to Elma. Just me. OK, other riders did, but no one from my team. No problem. Ride smart I thought. That lasted 5 miles when I started covering every move and generally did too much work. I settled down though after a big break got clear and just said, screw it. Don't chase everything. Pick the one you like and bridge.

On lap 2 a nice group went on the climb. I thought it was good and waited until the screws after the start finish to jump across in the crosswind taking Joe Holmes with me.

The break was hauling but pretty disorganized.. mostly guys attacking. Tom Harriet got pissed and motored off with Derik. After that we got organized. I worked with the group, taking some pulls off and mentally debating whether I should work at all. My inclination is to work my ass off. So I have to really stop myself and think. There were 2 Broadmarks and 2 Recycled in the break along with Tom Peterson so I was thinking that working wasn't the smartest idea; Peterson would attack as soon as we got to the climb and I needed that energy. But, I worked anyway, taking about 75% off my pulls. Enough rest to save up some energy, enough work to not aggravate anyone. With 2 laps to go.. boom. Rear flat. Anton's Karma Gods came to punish me for Flatlands. And so I ended up waiting for the field, which turned out to be 11 guys. I ended up 14th, chapped, out of 19 finishers.

So bad luck, but I thought I road well and didn't crack like I did at Flatlands.

Leaderless in Elma

I will be leaving for the Elma Road Race in about 30 minutes. We will be missing both Michael and Jonny (seen hear giving Holland the stick eye) so our team leaders are absent... leaving me as defacto team leader. Hopefully I go well. I have not traditionally performed well under that kind of pressure.. I am more in the Jacky Durand/Jens Voigt type... attack and crack or win. Being a team leader requires a little more self control and shrewd tactical savvy than I usually have. But we'll see.

Either way, it should be the same course as states so it'll be a good dress rehearsal.

Friday, April 07, 2006

Plame Affair: Whether it's legal isn't the point

I've been reading a lot of analysis on the revelation that Bush authorized the Plame leak. Of course the neo-con response is that it's ok cause Bush decided what's classified and therefore can't leak unclassified info. So it's legal.

The focus on whether it was legal or not misses the central point. The Bush Administration used it's position to attack a political opponent by revealing his wife as a CIA agent. The reason they did it was because *they knew* it would ruin her career. The intent was to send a message to Joe Wilson and others that if you want to take on the administration they would be willing to destroy your life.

Regardless of whether it was legal or not, this was the issue. Do we support this type of government (and political party), one that will not hesitate to win by any means necessary.

And regardless of whether it was legal or not, Bush denied knowledge. He lied.

Any legal ramifacations are merely icing if it turned out that the Bush administration was guilty of dirty tricks (which I think it's pretty safe to infer). Don't let the focus on law distract you.

Updated: I think the Austin Bay posting demonstrates my favorite Bugga-Boo. The use of Bullshit by the NeoCons. Example:

UPDATE: CNN is exploring another angle: that the White House is “hypocritical” because it has come down hard on leaks. But a word is missing in this accusation: “unauthorized.” The White House has indeed come down hard on anyone leaking classified information. The White House has also been tough on executive branch employees who pass information via unauthorized leaks. The president wants to control the dissemination of information and has made that clear. The information released today said that what Libby leaked as declassified and authorized — but try getting that clear on atv squawk show where the game is gotcha. The hypocrisy allegation, unlike the criminal innuendo, is certainly within rational bounds.

This statement is bullshit. Why? It focuses on whether or not the leaks were authorized and even throughs out that this is at least a legitimate debate. But in doing so it subtly lays down an utterly false assertion: that the question was more specific than it was. It implies that the parsing of his words was relevent in the context it was made.

The question Bush was asked was this: Did someone in the administration leak Valerie Plame's identity. His answer was, to paraphrase: "no, and I hate leaks and if I find someone leaked this information they'll get it".

He did qualify his statement, but these types of qualifications are only meaningful if you know you are misleading someone and want to be able to say you weren't technically lying. The answer was designed to mean something different then than it does now. It was CYA.

And if we are going to try to parser words, at least be correct. I've heard the 2 clips in question and he did not mention "authorized" leaks. The parsing was "classified", as in "the are too many leaks of classified information". The "legal" parsing is not on authorization but on whether the President automagically declassifies information if he leaks it.

Update 2: I think this post underestimates the problem. It's not Bush, it's the NeoCon Movement. InstaPundit, AustinBay... completely disconected intellectually from their words.

Frozen Flatland Results: Say What?

The results from Frozen Flatlands are in.

Before I begin complaining I want to say that FF has been one of my favorite races. tactical controversy, wind, fun.

As an omnium, the race had a GC which was decided by points. In the flyer, website and race announcements prior to each stage it was stated that riders had to start each stage for their points to count on GC. But apparently sometime after the race finished and results were posted, the organizers decided to change the rules.

This is relevent as it cost me 10th on GC and perhaps a higher spot as I might have ridden differently during the race. The tactics of a single day and a GC event are different. In fact, had it not been for the "start every stage requirement" I wouldn't have raced Saturday. I only came to ride for the team on GC. That 10th is relevent because WSBA Rankings only go 10 deep. So by finishing 12th, I get no points.

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Still Pissed

Just in case you thought I was over it. I am not.

Bush: An Honest President

Oops. Guess not. Kos reported this awhile ago; but I guess this means it's public. Impeach Bush. Impeach him now.

Busted: Aaron Coker caught on film

Awesome. One guy who made a complete Jack-ass of himself at Independence Valley was Aaron Coker. The guy was over the centerline all day, and kept going over then sniping wheels. The officials didn't DQ him because they didn't see it (although they told me they could tell it looked like he was). I DQ'd him from the Cup because I am the official there. Well, it looks like Amara caught him on film. Not much denying it now Aaron. You are a cheater.

Webmasters Gone Bad: The Gift that Keeps on Giving

When we bought distribution of Axley eyewear we inherited a few things. One was a webhosting service which seemed ok at first. But as things went along and we learned more we found that the webmaster had a tendency to... well do stuff he thought was best without asking. Sometimes in violation of what we asked.

We fired him last fall. But every once in awhile get bit by something he did. So today we get a cease and desist from using Stephano Baldini's image on our website. That's odd I thought, we don't use Stephano's image. He isn't under contract; we knew this because we asked to use it. Axley Italy said no. We had to destroy a stack load of catalogue's because of it. So of course we aren't using his picture. So I go to the sponsorship page and low and behold there it is. And how did it get there? Well, I know Verio didn't put it there. I didn't put it there. So who did? Only one person can tell.

The gift that keeps on giving.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

It sucks to be the majority

Damn us non-Christians for our persecuting ways. At a mere 90% of the American population I don't know how they survive

Race Ethics Cont'd..

Although I am still undecided about the ethics of not waiting when a rider gets a flat in general I do think that the ethics of waiting at a race like Rainier Roubaix are pretty clear. While I applaud Anton for suggesting the field wait for Rob, the correct answer is you don't.

Equipement selection, bike handling and field position are a major part of these type of races. They are meant to be a determining factor, full stop.

That of course forces me to rethink whether or not I should have even considered Rainier Roubaix when we didn't wait for Anton.....

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Were the hell is my Ethics Handbook?

So Anton is annoyed that we didn't wait for him when he flatted at Frozen Flatlands. Apparently there were some heated comments that were deleted; I wish I had seen them.

First off I am going to say that I don't blame Anton for being pissed. Honestly I was uncomfortable with the situation. My gut was to sit up and wait. There was much discussion amongst the 3 of us and we decided to motor. Even while motoring I hoped he would get up to us.

If I wasn't comfortable with it, why did I work? Well.. the factors that made it 51-49 were these:

Anton was 4th on GC behind Michael who was behind. By working in the break as it was I was endangering Michael's 3rd on GC (as Anton points out). So by dropping Anton out of the break, that got me off the hook of having to sit on (which Anton knows I had to do once I knew Michael wasn't coming up). Which I despise doing (although I popped on the right hand turn once I started working). Keep in mind, I told Anton I wouldn't contest the sprint since I wasn't working.

But, that said, I still would have waited if I thought Anton would have waited for one of our GC riders in the same situation. I believe him now when he says he would have, but at the time my reference was both Sequim and Rainier Roubaix where we were told by a Broadmark rider point blank that they had upped the pace to get rid of Jonny when he flatted. My other reference was have Kiel and a Broadmark rider attack at Market Street when Derik crashed. I helped chase because I thought that was wrong even though it hurt our break which was legit and farther up the road. Broadmark helped at first and then stopped. So at the time, it just seemed like returning the favor.

I still don't feel good about what happened. And knowing what I know now, I would wait for Anton because he'd do the same. I would not extend the same courtesy to other riders if I felt they wouldn't to me. But had I to do it over again I'd also not have worked in the break at all since that was a tactical mistake and helped Anton.

Anyway, that's the story from my point of view. As Derik said when we were debating what to do it would have been nice to have an ethical handbook. I guess it still bugs me 2 days later because I am not 100% sure what is right here. My experience has been that the ethics tend to be situational.. if it happens to you it's dirty pool if it's someone else "that's just racing". I am not refering to Anton, I take him at his word that he wouldn't do that and that Sequim and RR were misunderstandings.

Personally, that's the first time I've been in that situation in 5 years so I am happy I can even be in a position that someone is pissed at me.


text:
Myles645's Hustle Kings PlayStation Trophies

Viewing Myles645's Hustle Kings trophies. Remove Sort by XMB/Type/Alphabetical
Hustle King!
Earn 100 million HKC hustling online.

Career Complete
Complete career mode.

Luck is an Art
Beat someone else who has this trophy.

Speed Freak
8-Ball clearance in under 45 seconds.

Online King
Win 100 online games.

Skill Player!
Pot a ball using each of the 4 different skill shots: jump shots, swerve shots, bank shots and plant shots.

Online Hustler
Hustle a player online.

Trick Shot Wizard
Complete all trick shots.

License to Hustle
Complete training mode.

Career Victory
Win a career mode game.

Skill Shot!
Swerve or Jump to pot a ball.

Maximum Break
Get a 147 maximum break in snooker.

Century Break
Make a break of 100 or more in snooker.

Snooker Champion
Win the snooker tournament.

Beat the Fish
Beat someone at snooker who already has this trophy.

Snooker King
Win 10 online snooker matches.

Snooker Loopy
Snooker your opponent 5 times in a single frame of snooker.


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A Corporate Strategy for AIROD Sendirian Berhad (1988 - 1994)

Taib, Muhamed Ghazali (1988) A Corporate Strategy for AIROD Sendirian Berhad (1988 - 1994). Masters project report, Universiti Pertanian Malaysia.

[img] PDF

AIROD Sendirian Berhad (ASB) was incorporated in early 1985 as a business firm, being the first Government project to be privatized. Its principal activities range from providing overhaul and repair services of military and commercial aircrafts and its related equipment and components. ASB clearly set its short-term and long-term goals and are made known to all its employees. Its organization structure is based on seven formal departments under the overall direction of the Managing Director, an expatriate from Lockheed Aircraft Services International (LASI). The main problems faced by this company are: its inability to penetrate open market; high overhead costs; and inadequate skill and expertise to keep in pace with the rapidly changing environment of aircraft maintenance services. The case is analyzed using the framework suggested by Leslie Rue and Phyllls Holland. Thus, the following are analyzed: mission, strategies and objectives, strategic capabilities, the broad environment, the competitive environment, and the SWOT analysis. The alternative options/ solutions to overcome the stated problems are presented in two-fold: the improvement of current capabilities, and the search for new capabilities. In the former, the options available are to: redefine mission statement, restructure the organization, set functional area standard refine corporate goals, adopt strategic management, of excellence, improve marketing and financial management, develop human resource, and acquire civil work certification. In the latter alternative, the options available are to: upgrade A-4 aircraft, and add new lines of business which include manufacturing aircraft parts and flight data recorders, developing capability in ground communication systems, servicing of cathodic protection device, undertaking subcontract work, negotiating with aircraft manufacturers to become the licensed assembler and/ or manufacturer of aircraft and aircraft parts, and establishing the Aeronautical Training School. In recommendation, the summary of strategies to be adopted are presented according to short-term and long-term implementation. Then the impact of these strategies are summarized by proposing the two management key goals: to expand sales at a growth rate of 10% per year, and to achieve an annual net profit margin of 10%. Then the projected sales and profit f or the period 1988 to 1994 is proposed based on the actual results of the past three years of operations. The implementation plan and review and control method are then presented to allow the company to translate the strategies into plan and action; and to review the plan when environmental changes affect the attainment of goals. The three types of control techniques proposed are: strategic control, management control, and operational control. The newly formulated corporate goals for the next seven years (1988 - 1994) will hopefully bring ASB towards another phase of organizational development.

Item Type:Project Report
Subject:Business planning
Subject:Strategic planning
Chairman Supervisor:Zainal Abidin Kidam
Call Number:FEP 1988 1
Faculty or Institute:Faculty of Economics and Management
ID Code:8010
Deposited By: Nurul Hayatie Hashim
Deposited On:07 Oct 2010 15:37
Last Modified:10 Aug 2011 14:33

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Fluoride varnish helps prevent tooth decay in very young children

Children's first dental visit should come soon after their first teeth sprout, says UCSF researcher

Fluoride varnish, a dental preventive treatment, reduces the incidence of early childhood tooth decay in combination with dental health counseling for parents, according to a study by investigators at the UCSF School of Dentistry.

The investigators examined cavity-free infants and young children, primarily from low-income Chinese or Hispanic families in San Francisco. All families received counseling on dental health, and children were randomized into three groups: those receiving fluoride varnish twice per year, those receiving it once per year, and those not receiving it at all. Of the initial 376 children enrolled, 280 completed the study.

According to study findings, children who did not receive any fluoride varnish were more than twice as likely to develop tooth decay as the children who were assigned to the annual fluoride varnish group. Children who did not receive fluoride varnish were nearly four times more likely to develop tooth decay than those assigned to receive it twice per year (four treatments over two years).

Study results are published in the February issue of the Journal of Dental Research, the journal of the International Association of Dental Research. The results are posted online at http://jdr.iadrjournals.org.

There are two important points that parents should be aware of as a result of this study, said Jane Weintraub, DDS, MPH, Lee Hysan Professor at the UCSF School of Dentistry and principal investigator of the study. "First, the results support the use of fluoride varnish to prevent tooth decay in very young children. Second, the results support parents bringing children for their first dental visit at age one when they are getting their first teeth."

"Fluoride varnish is relatively inexpensive, easy to brush onto a child's teeth, and can be part of a positive first dental visit to help prevent tooth decay," Weintraub said. "In contrast, when very young children get cavities, it is difficult for them to sit still for dental treatment. Often, young children needing many fillings receive care in the operating room, at great expense to their family and with the additional risks posed by general anesthesia. We now have an easy, low-cost way to keep teeth healthy."

Fluoride varnish is a resin containing concentrate fluoride that is brushed on teeth the same way that nail polish is painted onto nails. "Nail polish makes nails look good; fluoride varnish helps keep teeth looking good by preventing cavities," Weintraub said. It is meant to enhance the potential therapeutic benefit of fluoride by keeping the tooth enamel in contact with it.

Previously it has been shown to help prevent tooth decay for older school-age children who have their permanent teeth. According to the investigators, this was the first randomized study of children as young as six months of age, and it shows the efficacy of fluoride varnish to prevent tooth decay in young children's primary (baby) teeth.

The study was conducted at the San Francisco General Hospital Family Dental Center and the San Francisco Department of Public Health's Chinatown Public Health Center. The average age of the children enrolled in the study was 1.8 years old, with ages ranging from six months to 44 months at the start of the study. In addition to dental-health counseling, treatment with fluoride varnish and examinations for tooth decay, at each visit the children's parents were asked about adverse events or safety concerns; none associated with the fluoride varnish treatment were discovered.

The children who participated in the study were primarily from low-income, dentally underserved backgrounds. This made them well suited as participants for the study, according to Weintraub. "Statewide studies have shown that children from low-income Hispanic and Asian populations in California are at high risk for tooth decay," Weintraub said.

The study was supported by the UCSF Comprehensive Oral Health Research Center of Discovery, UCSF Center to Address Disparities in Children's Oral Health, National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities, and NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research.

UCSF is a leading university that consistently defines health care worldwide by conducting advanced biomedical research, educating graduate and professional students in the life sciences, and providing complex patient care.

Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 21 Feb 2009
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.


text:
Researchers report initial success in promising approach to prevent tooth decay

Preventing cavities could one day involve the dental equivalent of a military surgical strike. A team of researchers supported by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research report they have created a new smart anti-microbial treatment that can be chemically programmed in the laboratory to seek out and kill a specific cavity-causing species of bacteria, leaving the good bacteria untouched.

The experimental treatment, reported online in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, is called a STAMP. The acronym stands for "specifically targeted antimicrobial peptides" and, like its postal namesake, STAMPs have a two-sided structure. The first is the short homing sequence of a pheromone, a signaling chemical that can be as unique as a fingerprint to a bacterium and assures the STAMP will find its target. The second is a small anti-microbial bomb that is chemically linked to the homing sequence and kills the bacterium upon delivery.

While scientists have succeeded in the past in targeting specific bacteria in the laboratory, this report is unique because of the STAMPs themselves. They generally consist of less than 25 amino acids, a relative pipsqueak compared to the bulky, bacteria-seeking antibodies that have fascinated scientists for years. Because of their streamlined design, STAMPs also can be efficiently and rapidly produced on automated solid-phase chemistry machines designed to synthesize small molecules under 100 amino acids, called peptides.

The first-generation STAMPs also proved extremely effective in the initial laboratory work. As reported in this month's paper, the scientists found they could eliminate the cavity-associated oral bacterium Steptococcus mutans within 30 seconds from an oral biofilm without any collateral damage to related but non pathogenic species attached nearby. Biofilms are complex, multi-layered microbial communities that routinely form on our teeth and organs throughout the body. According to one estimate, biofilms may be involved to varying degrees in up to 80 percent of human infections.

"We've already moved the S. mutans STAMP into human studies, where it can be applied as part of a paste or mouthrinse," said Dr. Wenyuan Shi, senior author on the paper and a scientist at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Dentistry. "We're also developing other dental STAMPs that target the specific oral microbes involved in periodontal disease and possibly even halitosis. Thereafter, we hope to pursue possible medical applications of this technology."

Shi said his group's work on a targeted dental therapy began about eight years ago with the recognition that everyday dental care had reached a crossroads. "The standard way to combat bacterial infections is through vaccination, antibiotics, and/or hygienic care," said Shi. "They represent three of the greatest public-health discoveries of the 20th century, but each has its limitations in the mouth. Take vaccination. We can generate antibodies in the blood against S. mutans. But in the mouth, where S. mutans lives and our innate immunity is much weaker, generating a strong immune response has been challenging."

According to Shi, a major limitation of antibiotics and standard dental hygiene is their lack of selectivity. "At least 700 bacterial species are now known to inhabit the mouth," said Shi. "The good bacteria are mixed in with the bad ones, and our current treatments simply clear everything away. That can be a problem because we have data to show that the pathogens grow back first. They're extremely competitive, and that's what makes them pathogenic."

To illustrate this point, Shi offered an analogy. "Think of a lawn infested with dandelions," he said. "If you use a general herbicide and kill everything there, the dandelions will come back first. But if you use a dandelion-specific killer and let the grass fill in the lawn, the dandelions won't come back."

Hoping to solve the selectivity issue, Shi and his colleagues began attaching toxins to the homing region of antibodies. They borrowed the concept from immunotherapy, an area of cancer research in which toxin-toting antibodies are programmed to kill tumor cells and leave the nearby normal cells alone.

Despite some success in killing specific bacteria in the oral biofilm, Shi said his group soon encountered the same technical difficulty that cancer researchers initially ran into with immunotherapy. Their targeting antibodies were large and bulky, making them unstable, therapeutically inefficient, and expensive to produce. "That's when we decided to get higher tech," said Dr. Randal Eckert, a UCLA scientist and lead author on the study.

Or, as Eckert noted, that's when they turned to the "power of genomics," or the comparative study of DNA among species. Eckert and colleagues clicked onto an online database that contains the complete DNA sequence of S. mutans. They identified a 21-peptide pheromone called "competence stimulating peptide," or CSP, that was specific to the bacterium. From there, they typed instructions into an automated solid-phase chemistry machine to synthesize at once the full-length CSP and a 16-peptide anti-microbial sequence, and out came their first batch of STAMPs.

After some trial and error, Eckert said he and his colleagues decided "to get even shorter." They ultimately generated a STAMP with the same anti-microbial agent but with a signature eight-peptide CSP sequence to target S. mutans. "We pooled saliva from five people and created an oral biofilm in the laboratory that included a couple hundred species of bacteria," said Eckert. "We applied the STAMP, and it took only about 30 seconds to eliminate the S. mutans in the mixture, while leaving the other bacteria in tact."

As dentists sometimes wonder, what would happen if S. mutans is eliminated from the oral biofilm? Does another equally or more destructive species fill its void, creating a new set of oral problems? Shi said nature already provides a good answer. "About 10 to 15 percent of people don't have S. mutans in their biofilms, and they do just fine without it," he said. "Besides, S. mutans is not a dominant species in the biofilm. It only becomes a problem when we eat a lot of carbohydrates."

Looking to the future, Shi said new STAMPs that seek out other potentially harmful bacterial species could be generated in a matter of days. He said all that is needed is the full DNA sequence of a microbe, a unique homing sequence from a pheromone, and an appropriate anti-microbial peptide. "We have a collection of anti-microbial peptides that we usually screen the bacterium through first in the laboratory," said Shi. "We can employ the anti-microbial equivalent of either a 2,000-ton bomb or a 200-pound bomb. Our choice is usually somewhere in the middle. If the anti-microbial peptide is too strong, it will also kill the surrounding bacteria, so we have to be very careful."

This research also was supported by a University of California Discovery Grant, Delta Dental of Washington, Delta Dental of Wisconsin, and C3 Jian Corporation. The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research is the nation's leading funder of research on oral, dental, and craniofacial health.

Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 21 Feb 2009
    Published on All rights reserved.


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Title: Emissions of Gases and Particles from Biomass Burning During the 20th Century Using Satellite Data and an Historical Reconstruction
Citation: ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENT vol. 44 no. 11 p. 1469-1477
Publication Year: 2010
JRC N°: JRC51659
ISSN: 1352-2310
URI: www.elsevier.com/locate/atmosenv
DOI: 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2010.01.011
Type: Articles in periodicals and books
Abstract: An inventory of emissions of trace gases and particles resulting from biomass burning has been developed for the 1900-2005 period. The inventory is developed in two steps: first, fire emissions are estimated for the 1997-2005 period using several satellite products: GBA2000 burnt areas, ATSR active fires, and a vegetation distribution map. Emissions are first estimated for the year 2000, using the GBA2000 product, and for different vegetation categories. The temporal and spatial distribution of the CO2 emissions for the 1997-2005 period is then derived through a scaling of the number of active fires. The scaling is performed for each vegetation class and for three latitude bands. Emissions ratios are used to derive the emissions of all other chemical species. The historical inventory, which covers the 1900-2000 period with a decadal time resolution and a spatial resolution of 1x1°, is then derived from an historical reconstruction of burned areas. A scaling factor is applied to burned areas in forest and savanna ecosystems, in order to ensure consistency between historical and recent emissions. Monthly emissions are derived using the average seasonal variation of the recent inventory. The methodology used for calculating the fire emissions is discussed, together with the time evolution of biomass burning emissions during the 20th century, first at the global scale and then for specific regions. The results are compared with the distributions provided by other inventories and results of inverse modeling studies.
JRC Institute:Institute for Environment and Sustainability

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Local & Regional
10:45 am
Tue August 28, 2012

Atheist to Give Council Invocation

The opening prayer will be delivered by an atheist at Thursday night’s Tulsa City Council meeting. Dan Nerren, a founder of the Humanist Association of Tulsa, says it’s a ‘first’ as far as he knows. He says he will not be praying to a deity, but instead will address the invocation to the councilors themselves.

He says several groups for years have attempted to get the council to halt sectarian prayers. Failing that, Nerren says councilors have agreed to allow an invocation from his non-theist group.