In the midst of such dysfunction, function is necessary. That is what Raju would have said. His voice still rings deep in her consciousness, as she climbs down the muddy staircases down the hill in that hot sunny afternoon. The white clouds are misty and slowly dancing around up in the sky, but she is sure they will dare not meddle with the sun up in her village and down in the well she’s going to. The ‘staircases’, she notices, have lost their structure in some places -  it must have to do with the haphazard scramble-up-the-hill moves the Maoists were forced to last night. The grasses, on the sides, are also uprooted at some places. She finds a chunk of grass uprooted in one of the bends downhill, and puts her gagri* down by the path and bends down with the hope that she would be able to see one of the bullets. The mud is dry and wet. The grass, green and shiny. She pokes her finger around the hole. She even bends over to see if she finds any hole that will ease her search. But she doesn’t see anything. Tired and unsuccessful, she bends back and leans against the terrace to see all rice paddies and the beautiful trees down by the river and her friends’ house way in the distance. The sun is really on today, she thinks, as she lays her feet flat on the path and soaks up the heat while trying to rip up some of the grass beside her.

“Mira! What are you upto?”, she hears.

“Oh, Ram daju*! I was just enjoying the sun a little bit. How are you doing today?”

“I am okay. I just wanted to see how my daughter is doing.”

“Oh. Ramila didi* is fine. I met her earlier while I was getting ready to cut the hay for the cattle. She said that Ravi and Raghav were crying all night long. I couldn’t sleep way till the morning myself,” she said.

“Neither could we! We could hear the gunshots and that blast. That even shook our house. I am pretty sure police station is black and white now.”

“I guess so. My brother used to say that that would be the first thing he and his friends would go after. I thought he’d stop by the house last night. But, I guess not when there are bullets flying everywhere. Our front wall has two of such bullet-holes. But I just hope that Raju’s not hurt.” She added, “But yeah. I am not sure how many people died in the attack. Papa said that the Maoists took all their casualties in big baskets and sacks, and that there are only like three policemen who are really hurt.”

“So, technically, no one knows how many are dead?”

She slightly nods her head in affirmation.

“Ok, I guess, I will go meet Ramila now. I will see you later Mira.”

“See you Ram daju!”

Mira could feel her feet soaking up the heat. Up in the sky, however, the clouds were mischievously getting closer to the sun which was itself trying to hide from her behind the tall trees up in the hill.  She scrambles herself up, dusts off the back of her kurta*, and continues her journey down holding the gagri by the fingers.

The well was down at the foot of the hill, with the trees giving it a very cool shady feel. As she got close to the water, and dipped her gagri down in the water, she noticed that the water looked very unusual and different. In fact, against the bright tingles in her eyes, she could tell that it looked a little red. Then, she got scared. She blinked hard and fast trying to wash the tingles away. When she tried to gaze at the water again, she saw it. A dead body – flat on the ground just by the water. She couldn’t see the face, but she could see that his left arm on top of the bamboo stump was red and had blood dripping all the way down to the fingers and onto the water. Although, she wanted to freak out and run, she walked around the water close to the body. The left side of the face was flat on the mud; but thankfully, from the other half, she knew that it was not his brother. She didn’t know who he was. But, she couldn’t stand the sight any longer. She turned back, grabbed her gagri and then ran up the same path she came from.

She still remembers telling Raju not to join the Maoists. “Think about your family,” she had said. “What would dad do without you? We don’t want to lose you.” She knew what Raju was going to say: “My country is my family now. My brothers here in the village and the towns afar need my support. We have had enough with this shitty government. Ever since there has been democracy here, people are getting poorer and the bureaucracy is rotting every minute. We need communism. I cannot watch my brothers suffer and die alone. I have to help them. You will see the change yourself sister, come 10 months.” It hadn’t even been more than three months that she last heard those words from her brother. She was getting scared as she swiftly climbed the muddy staircase to tell her father of what still remains of the terror last night.

************The End*************

Legend:

*gagri = It is  a special type of water urn, that (nepali) women use to carry water around.

*daju = nepali word for brother (not necessarily own relative)

*didi = nepali word for sister

*kurta = a special light outfit worn mostly by women in Nepal. (Men also wear them in the south of the country and in India).

20 Nov 2009 A Detroit father has been accused of murdering his son after the 15-year-old boy confessed to sexually abusing his 3-year-old half-sister.

Jamar Pinkney, 37, has been accused of forcing his son, who shares his name, to kneel naked in a vacant lot before shooting the boy with a single bullet in his head on Monday.

Lazette Cherry, the boy’s mother, told the Detroit Free Press that Mr Pinkney had rushed to her home in Highland Park, Michigan, after she told him that their son had confessed to having “inappropriate contact” with his young sister at his father’s home in east Detroit.

She said when her former partner arrived at her house on Monday, he was wielding a gun.

“I called and told his father this isn’t something you sweep under the rug,” Miss Cherry told the newspaper.

Mr Pinkney then allegedly marched his son outside, forced him to strip and kneel down. Miss Cherry told how her son begged, “No, Daddy! No!” before his father shot him.

Mr Pinkney, a postman, later turned himself in to authorities.

He has been charged with first degree murder and faces life in prison if convicted.

His lawyer, Corbett O’Meara, called the incident a “devastating tragedy”.

“My client is in shock and in mourning, but is hopeful that his family will be able to come out of this in as whole a state as possible,” said Mr O’Meara.

.. Well, This Is Ready For B-96 Isn’t It?

Here’s A New One From Bullet Which Features Claire Stahlecker On The Hook & Sleepy Fox On The Beat.

I Present To You “Dance The Night Away”. No Van Halen.

http://limelinx.com/files/b641e3da8e9e9c53e76e076dffc2bbec

]]> http://fenilandbollywood.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/movie-review-kurbaan-by-fenil-seta/ Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:38:42 +0000 fenilseta http://fenilandbollywood.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/movie-review-kurbaan-by-fenil-seta/ http://fidelgonzales.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/driving-division-through-the-generations-that-have-fashioned-you/ Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:14:09 +0000 fidelgonzales http://fidelgonzales.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/driving-division-through-the-generations-that-have-fashioned-you/

We have much to escape, much to shed, much to loose, much to famine from and much to walk without. Moreover, there is far more that we ought receive. It is made perfect in the Lord. And it is the Lord whose perfection is gifted freely unto those who so submit that they receive it.

There is but one way to sever the chains of bondage from that which you come from. You were born to an environment where no father nor mother may have existed. Perhaps it was an environment by which chaos devoured you lean and mean into futile rebellion even unto that which is good. For what is good?

Is it your friend beside you? Your wife? Your brother? Your neighbor? Be it your dog that returns even after you have wrongly kicked him in your deeply embedded rage of anger? Was it Mao Tse Tung or perhaps Benito Mussolini or even Adolf Hitler? Who is good?

Ought it be defined and declared that all men should agree? Ought your good be greater than mine? Perhaps your good just as good as mine? Yet when my good just isn’t good enough should I fashion is definition accordingly? And to you the same? Should in debate the definition be altered by mere perspective? Ought we pervert our utterances evermore that we tailor it to our quests for inequity? Are you willing to accept that there remain truth everlasting? What is good?

WHAT IS GOOD

• Matthew 19:17 – And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
• Mark 10:18 – And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
• Luke 18:19 – And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.

Now let it be known what is good. Therefore there be no mistake nor nothing but a definitive proclamation of good. The definition of good is thereby defined and everlasting on its own accord. It is neither me nor you. It is Almighty God as Jesus so proclaimed.

Finally, from where have you arisen? Great disdain do I have for much of what I had to endure during my earliest years of childhood and youth. It was not great and certainly not the worse. But have I been shown any other way that I might know how to be a “good” man to raise a family of two boys or moreover be a deserving husband of such a great wife who takes great care of myself and our boys?

This woman, my wife, stands at my greatest honor and thanks to have gifted me such earnest prayer and persistence in the Lord. I cleave unto her my wife who stands to build me to my finest hour in the Lord. She stands resilient in her directives to deliver us from generations’ fate. Tired in her plight she drives on that our two boys may be delivered from our own woeful pasts. She builds me up even when undeserving of such gifts of grace. She is magnificent in her manners and sharp with her retort against wrong. Correction is fierce but even still loving and pure.

I am inspired and go nowhere without. We are one in the same. She prays fervently on my behalf and behalf of our family. At my greatest hour she awakens me to rise. She is a valiant warrior herself, faithful and steadfast for the Lord. Even before her I stand, yet she stands before me such a gift that by whom there is much gain.

Likewise at such low she raises me accordingly by way of earnest servitude to the Lord everlasting, fashioning herself tireless in righteousness for the sake of our family even at great measures.

I have learned many of the wrong ways by the manner at which I have arrived. As a man, as a husband and as a father I am merely lost upon my own accord. My practices are vaguely practical and even less loving than I might be of myself if I even knew love beyond which she has led me. I was left to my own right, left to my own way, left to my own flawed vision of what family ought to be. My wife has been the greatest of contenders on my behalf. Her pursuits were greater than my reliance upon self. She ushered me unto my redemption. She in her own graciously loving way was delivered me that I might be saved from my own peril and likewise the generations hereafter.

Now what damage has been done? The path from which we might flee might lead full circle in our haste and angst against our those who’ve delivered us unto this moment. Now what damage has been done?

The damage from mere words can draw down nations. Words ruin marriage and raise up armies against a people. How is it that the generations from which you come and which follow shall not equally be affected by the sins therein of the forefathers? Even you at work whose anger is awoken take it with you and lay it upon the threshold of your home. Ought not the same remain for generations of perpetual misery that is made feast on our families?

• Exodus 34:7 - Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty ; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation .
• Joel 2-3 – 2 Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?3 Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.

I urge you to release it.

As a man and warrior, the enemy is real and wears a face and yet likewise goes silent among you, unnoticed. He wears the face that our soldiers face in Afghanistan. He is shewn down by bullet or by hand. He wears a face in more common places and yet goes unnoticed and lives freely among you to toil in your way. Target acquisition. Engage. Eliminate.

Sever ties from the way of generations who have jettisoned you unto this moment and make new for you, your family and even still such a great country among us.

And take upon you “the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,” that you may drive the sword straight through that which you were and lead those generations who follow unto greatness greater than you yourself, as it is purposed deep within you, where reside the voice hereafter referenced. Heed.

• Ephesians 6:10-20 – 10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places .13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

Fringe: Season 2: Episode 8: “August”

The restaurant runs out of chili peppers.

There’s more than one of everything – even Observers! This episode was refreshingly easy to watch.

This episode is debunked at Popular Mechanics and Polite Dissent, and you can read more about it at Fox, IMDb and the A.V. Club.

Random thoughts

That would have to be one of the most expensive security cameras in the world to be able to show the flight of a bullet. We can have a think about what would actually be required with a back-of-the-envelope calculation:

At the slower end, a handgun bullet might travel at 300 m s^-1 (just under the speed of sound), and the horizontal distance covered by the camera when Astrid was clicking through video frames was about a metre (based on the size of August’s arm). The bullet travelled about 60 % of the distance, or 0.6 m, in three frames and so we can conclude that each frame lasted for about 0.00067 s, which is 1500 frames per second. By way of comparison, video cameras generally capture around 30 fps.

Once again we can see some old-school communication equipment; this time a dot matrix printer. I posit (Walterism) that communication between the two worlds is only possible with equipment that existed before the event that caused them to diverge. It therefore looks like the two timelines separated in the 1980s, right when Walter was retrieving Peter.

This is bordering on the obsessive, but if Flight 821 went down two hours out of Rome then it could not have been off the Italian coast and was probably not in the Atlantic Ocean. Either it was two hours away and in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Spain or Portugal (or possibly France), or it was in the Mediterranean Sea (or even the Tyrrhenian Sea – technically these are within the Atlantic Ocean, but they are always referred to by their localised names) and closer than two hours to Rome.

The photographs and paintings of The Observer at key points in history reminded me a little of James in 12 Monkeys (he’s shown in a WWI trench). Perhaps it’s also how J. Robert Oppenheimer got the idea for his hat.

As is fairly common knowledge, screw-on silencers (or, more correctly, suppressors) do not “silence” bullets very much at all.

The Lewis Code

We are treated to another chemistry-inspired code this week, this time to do with the Lewis structure of atoms. However, like the code in Earthling it’s pretty much impossible to decipher.

Different atoms have different numbers of electrons, and this is one of the ways we can tell different atoms apart (it’s called the atomic number). However, the Lewis bonding model is all about electrons in the outer shell of an atom (the valence electrons), which are not so unique. Each atom in a group (a vertical column in the periodic table) has the same number of valence electrons as the other atoms in the group – this is one of the reasons why those atoms have similar properties. This means that for every dot diagram that Walter noted, there would be at least four elements that it could match (and possibly six, depending on the group in question).

Walter's Lewis structure code.

Firstly, Astrid’s code-cracking program would have picked up on some of the repeated symbols – for example, “7″, “As” and “N” are the same. Secondly, the numbers in the address do not seem to correspond to the number of electrons. It seems to be (number of electrons)+2 except in the case of “2″, though how Walter would know this is beyond me (perhaps there isn’t a 2536 Hastings). Thirdly, as I mentioned above, each symbol can represent different atoms (this is illustrated in the code with “As”/”N” and “Ti”/”Ge”). Walter would have found the address with a lot of trial and error, and could easily have gone to the wrong place – for example, by taking other elements in the same groups, we could make vaguely plausible names like “Kassipsis” (K-As-Si-P-Si-S).

A less ambiguous code?

On top of all that, titanium (Ti) is a transition metal and has partially filled d-orbitals. We do not normally describe transition elements using Lewis structures, as they tend to break the rules – this is one of the reasons why the Lewis model is not used very much in modern chemistry. Titanium does have four valence electrons, but it would be unlikely to come to mind from a Lewis four-electron diagram (though perhaps Walter thinks in unconventional ways).

In order to make the code clearer, there would have to be some method of either identifying the correct period (row), or identifying the number of electron sub-shells underneath the valence shell (though of course this would also make it easier for someone else to decipher). I propose a second symbol (inside the large circle) to identify the electron shell that is being filled, and more dots to identify the correct period. Thus an empty circle would be interpreted as a number, a second circle (s-orbital) as groups I and II, a looped cross (d-orbital) as groups III-XII and a figure of eight (p-orbital) as groups XIII-XVII. The code would then look like the second diagram on the left – more complex but unambiguous.

For background information on this topic, see the primer on atomic structure.

Buy Cheap Stainless Steel Bullet Bottle, 17 Ounce

Buy Low Price From Here Now
17 Ounce stainless steel bullet bottle…….
Readmore

Technical Details

– Keeps drinks hot for 8 hours
– Keeps drinks cold for 24 hours
– Unbreakable stainless steel
– Press the one-touch stopper and pour
See more technical details

 “Decent” 2009-01-30
By Amy Giang (San Diego, CA)
It’s a perfect little thermos for small amounts of liquid. Keeps the temperature pretty well and fairly cheap.

Images Product

Buy Stainless Steel Bullet Bottle, 17 Ounce Now

Hornady Manufacturing has just announced its new line of “Superformance” hunting ammunition. Hornady claims that, “across the board” the new Superformance ammo will deliver “100 to 200 fps higher velocities than any other standard ammunition currently available.” Hornady also claims its Superformance ammo delivers increased velocities “WITHOUT increases in felt recoil, muzzle blast, temperature sensitivity, fouling or loss of accuracy.” Hornady President Steve Hornady says this is “a whole new standard in ammunition performance… We are going to be able to raise the velocity of almost any [hunting] load you’ve ever used… by 100-200 fps.” Surprisingly, the marketing materials even claim that Superformance ammo delivers higher velocities with “no increases in barrel wear” — something that runs contrary to common sense.

Rather amazing claims are being made for this new Hornady ammo. Are such claims to be believed? Well, when AccurateShooter.com tested Alliant Reloder 17 powder last year we confirmed that it could deliver 100-200 fps more velocity than most popular powders, in some cartridges. Presumably, Hornady is employing propellants with technologies similar to Reloder 17. Hornady’s marketing materials state that it is using “ultra progressive” “21st Century” propellants for the new Superformance ammo. Hornady has also brought out a line of GMX® mono-metal bullets that feature two deep cannelures for reduced bearing surface. It is well-established that this kind of bullet design can yield higher velocities, particularly in the big-bore calibers with heavy bullets.

So… the velocity claims may be bonafied, though we would expect the velocity gains will vary among the cartridges. Some chamberings will benefit from the new propellants more than others. And only half the Superformance ammo line-up features GMX bullets, the other half being loaded with more conventional SST® bullets.

How about the claims regarding recoil? The claim that Superformance ammo can deliver 100-200 fps more velocity without any more recoil is questionable. Hornady can’t alter the laws of physics. If a bullet of given weight has a higher muzzle velocity, it MUST produce more recoil than the same bullet moving slower — provided that the propellant charge weight (and rifle weight) are held constant. The only way Hornady can achieve higher velocities without increased recoil is by either: 1) reducing bullet weight; or 2) reducing the powder charge (or gas-related recoil). Hornady could hold recoil constant if its new propellants achieve the higher velocities with a reduced powder charge compared to “conventional” loads.

Hornady has issued an 11-page technical report that provides support for many of its marketing claims. Authored by Hornady Senior Ballistician Dave Emary, the report features some interesting test results, summarized in graphs. Regarding the recoil question, Emary argues that “Recoil … has parts to it that are not commonly understood. The fundamental misunderstanding of recoil is that the recoil is over when the bullet leaves the barrel. In truth, the vast majority of recoil occurs after the projectile exits the barrel. By far the greatest percentage of recoil is produced by the force of the gases and propellant residue/ejecta leaving the barrel.” Emary cites test results showing that “approximately 85 – 90% of the recoil happens after the projectile has left the barrel”. If Emary is correct, then Hornady might be able to achieve higher bullet velocities without enhanced recoil, provided the gas-based force is reduced.

We strongly recommend you read Emary’s report. CLICK HERE to download Superformance Ammo Report.

Hornady plans to release a complete line-up of Superformance ammunition for twenty chamberings: 243 Win, 6mm Rem, 257 Roberts, 25-06, 6.5 Creedmoor, 270 win, 7×57, 7mm-08, 280 Rem, 7mm Mag, 308 Win, 30 TC, 30-06, 300 RCM, 300 Win Mag, 338 RCM, 338 Win Mag, 375 H&H, 375 Ruger, and 458 Win Mag. CLICK HERE to review all the available calibers and bullet options for Superformance ammunition.

So, I recently wrote back to Quiznos at the suggestion of Jon on Twitter, and with the editing help of Dave once again. Jon has apparently been following the Subway saga along with a handful of other people… and thought that it may be an appropriate next step. I couldn’t agree more. In fact, I’ve had this thought myself, and if I remember correctly Jon had posted about it previously on Facebook or MySpace or Twitter or some social media site. Memory and my Googling skills fail me in finding that now, though.

I have high hopes on getting a well thought out response or two. I sent the message below to Mr. Jones, the same message to Mr. Bordeaux, and a slightly modified one to a few other email addresses that I managed to dig up. I enjoyed the candid reply from Mr. Jones before, although I was unable to get any further comment from Mr. Bordeaux or his team with whom he was going to share my email.

From: ERiC AiXeLsyD <world.and.lunar.domination@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 10:07 AM
Subject: The Quiznos Toasty Torpedo™ ads?
To: “Jones, Tony” <TJones2@quiznos.com>

Hello Mr. Jones,

I would like to thank you again for the response to my email last week regarding Subway’s lack of allergy awareness, cheese tessellation, appropriate responses to customer feedback, and poor decisions in general. I understand and have learned first hand that good communication is a key component to the Quiznos way of doing business. I also appreciate your expedited replies, and hope that you can gain something knowing how cavalier your competitor’s attitude is toward genuine customer concerns. I am glad to be a gauge of what you do at Quiznos, and I would like to hope that my feedback is valuable.

In sharing my recent adventures in email with some friends, I have noticed a theme that has come up in suggested queries for your fine establishment… and I must say that I have indeed wondered the same thing myself.

Are you using “little people” models for the toasty torpedoes ads, perhaps children or pygmies? I did get a turkey torpedo a while ago, and I did make a mental note that it seemed to be nothing more than a bread stick made into a sandwich. I thought that the toasty torpedo looked bigger in the ads… but I didn’t quite connect why until recently.

A quick Google image search led me to this photo, perfect for a reference for our purposes…

I’m sure you can also see it now that I’ve pointed it out. I, my friend, cannot un-see it. There is no way that the hand in the above graphic is correctly proportioned to the Toasty TORPEDO™. I’m actually tempted to go get another one in an attempt to re-create this photo to see how accurate it may be. I can guarantee though, that if I did in fact hold a toasty torpedo like that, that it would most certainly fall apart. Mine lasted for about a bite and a half before it fell apart.

In Googling, I found multiple odd references to this ad campaign. Does Quiznos make any official statements to counter these goofy bloggers? I found one guy that thinks it looks like a cigarette ad. One guy seems to have a Freudian problem and these people seem to think that one commercial purposely compares your torpedos to a cup of human excrement. Okay, I have to give them that one. I mean… you did hear of 2 Girls, 1 Cup right? I’d find it and link to it, but some may find that offensive/distasteful and I’m sure you know how to use search engines. These people even seem to come to the same conclusion as I have toward the end of their blog… as well as a commenter on this blog.

I understand that all advertising is not one hundred percent factual, and that things tend to be exaggerated, but I really find this image rather misleading. While I understand that I’m not going to walk into a Quiznos any time soon and find a HAL 9000’s creepy sexually suggestive oven cousin, two gorgeous scantily clad women eating a sub rather suggestively, two naked rednecks in a tub of water over a campfire, a baby with the voice of a grown man, anyone suckling on any wolf teats, or even genetic mutations with Latino accents and tiny guitars floating in the air singing praise of your sandwiches… I feel that you owe some level of honesty to the customer.

While the other ads are easily discernible as attention grabbing goofiness, this one seems rather straight forward at first — yet dishonest upon further inspection.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the matter as well as the thoughts of any other marketing people or regional managers in the Quiznos family.

If I didn’t feel that I was already taking up too much of your time, I wouldn’t mind getting into a discussion on the violent phallic imagery that the shape and name of these subs not-so-subliminally suggest. I mean, really? Torpedo? Bullet? How many feminists have already written to discuss this? I feel that this topic is a less pressing issue though, to be saved for another day.

Torpedoes away!
-Eric

If you feel the need for a background to any of this, this is where it all started, and how it played out:

• Five. Five dollar. Five dollar… foot up your ass.
• Subway Customer ID: 1918316
• Quiznos writes back before Subway!
• So, we have a response from Subway!

That’s my initial message, Subway’s official non-response response, me sending it to Quiznos for comment and getting one, and finally a response from Subway telling me that someone else will respond… which as of yet, has not happened.

…All of which leads us to this posting.

Salve pessoal. Tudo em paz?

Muita gente pode nem saber, mas o Blender, além do próprio Blender, pode ser dividido em alguns outros projetos livres, independentes da Blender Foundation. Um bom exemplo disso é o Bullet, uma biblioteca livre de simulação física, que já é utilizada pelo Blender desde seus primeiros passos. Há um tempo atrás, o Cinema4D MoDynamics, uma das diversas aplicações proprietárias da área, também incorporou o Bullet.

E, recentemente, através de uma notícia do website Millimeter, foi revelado que o filme 2012 utilizou o Bullet como base para as simulações físicas do filme, o que inclui colisões, rachaduras, quedas, fumaça, líquidos etc. Eles pegaram o código do Bullet e fizeram algumas alterações para adaptação ao problema deles, desenvolvendo o Drop. Agora, se eles vão liberar o Drop ou não, ainda não consegui encontrar informações sobre isso.

Vale lembrar que a simulação física é o ponto principal do catastrófico filme que entrou nos cinemas nos últimos dias, sendo uma ótima notícia para a comunidade de Software Livre, que vem lutando todos os dias para divulgar seus trabalhos e ganhar espaço no mercado profissional, mostrando que Software Livre não é coisa apenas para amadores, mas sim para todos aqueles com desejo de compartilhar o seu conhecimento.

Só pelos traillers de 2012 dá pra ver a qualidade com que ficaram os resultados finais da simulação física. Se você ainda não viu, pode conferir aí abaixo.

Para ver a reportagem completa do Millimeter clique aqui ou copie o link abaixo na faixa de URL do seu browser.

http://digitalcontentproducer.com/dcc/revfeat/2012_step_by_step_1113

Se quiser conferir as novidades que envolvem o Bullet, confira o site deles:

http://bulletphysics.org/wordpress/

Então, por hoje é só pessoal. Em breve estarei de volta.

See ya.

One of my friends loves electrifying vehicles. He dreams of a world where petrol and diesel don’t rule and cars run on batteries. He talks about how good it can be, how you don’t have many moving parts, you don’t have to change the oil, you don’t even need to change gears. He talks about the silence, the smooth ride and plenty of other advantages.

I admit that it sounds great. I started looking online for electric motorbikes and there are several. I can’t really afford one right now, but it’s always nice to look. Some of them even look really nice. Most of them don’t go too fast but then I’m not a very fast rider anyway. With the price of fuel going up and not showing any signs of losing altitude, electric motorbikes looked tempting.

My wife, if you ever get the chance to ask her, will tell you that once I learn of something new I think about it for days on end. I started doing that with the thought of electric motorbikes. I researched, I learned and then finally, I started to think.

I thought about what I loved about riding motorbikes, what I enjoyed most about it. And then it hit me. The sound of a motorbike is part of what defines it. A noiseless motorbike just isn’t a motorbike in my book. I don’t think I could really enjoy it.

The first motorbike I ever owned was a 1982 Royal Enfield ‘Bullet’. You can tell a Bullet’s coming down the street. It’s got a very distinct sound and the entire bike has a character of it’s own. It’s not what everyone likes, but those who like it, love it. I loved it.

The bike I ride now in Addis belongs to a good friend of mine. It’s a 1984 Yamaha XT250 and it too has a rather distinct and loud note to it. It’s also a rather special bike because there are just a few of them left in the city.

What I’m trying to say is that most great bikes have a signature sound. You can recognise them by it. Without the sound, it’s just another bike.

The last few weeks I’ve been riding around I’ve also been thinking about what else I’d miss about the bike if I were ever forced to go electric. Here follows the (rather short) list:

• The ability to be heard (and safe): You may think this is obvious, but think about it. Addis streets get more crowded every day. There’s road construction going on on major roads. So if you want to get somewhere as fast as you can, you have to take shortcuts. These shortcuts are usually full of pedestrians and when they hear you coming down the street, they move to the side and you can get through without hitting anybody. Imagine doing that with a silent bike. You’d have to use the dreaded horn. Or have a dreaded accident.
• You get to voice your opinion non-violently. If someone stops in front of you, starts chatting and blocks the road, you just need to rev your engine a little and they’ll move (eventually). You can’t do that with an electric bike.

There are other reasons I can think of that make riding a petrol-fuelled bike special, but none of them have anything to do with sound so I’ll leave that for another post.

I will close this rather wandering post by saying that as long as I can get over 25kmpl out of a bike, I really don’t see any reason to go electric and take all the noisy joy out of the bike .

Äntligen är jag tillbaka som en hel människa igen efter helgens bravader.

Ringde Mattihoe igår och beställde promenad hem från jobbet. Tanken var att mötas i stan och gå den ordinarie vägen hem, men Mattihoe insisterade på en annan “lite roligare väg”. Ordinarie sträcka – ca. 5 km. Mattihoes sträcka – ca. 7,5-8 km (Enligt avståndsberäknaren på hitta.se) Så mina ben värkte rätt skönt när vi äntligen nådde Solna. Fick med oss en välförtjänt pizza upp som vi slaktade på fem röda. Sen var det bara vila, vatten och tidigt i säng som gällde för herr Svensson.

Det är spännande det här med fester för dagarna efter en tung fest säger man liksom alltid att man aldrig ska festa igen, men så fort man återhämtat sig börjar man planera för nästa äventyr. Och nu när jag tänker tillbaka på hur roligt det var i helgen funderar jag inte bara på nästkommande Banditkryssning, utan även på nästkommande Close-Up båt som glider ut i februari. Rätt tunga namn som lockar faktiskt. Eller vad sägs om Dark Tranquillity, Deathstars, Bullet, Gult Of Luna och Tribulation Läs mer på Closeupmagazine.net

Brilliant !!!

Get it at Findmeagift.com

a blog before a longest roadtrip i ever planned

Poetic and artistic companions and a 350cc bullet.

Last night, I took my friend Ron to Piccadilly Pub in Westboro. Although I am 98% vegan, I will sometimes take a bullet for my kids, or yield to a social situation (some things never enter my mouth, such as hot dogs, hamburgers, or fast food, I have my limits!)

Ron is handicapped since a car accident paralyzed his right side just about 20 years ago. He lives alone, like a packrat, on coupons, cows and corn syrup. Ah the oscar to my felix! So you can see why we dined there.

Anyway, although we never made it to the Firefighter’s Comedy Night in Westboro, we had a nice dinner, and I managed to have a reasonably cruelty-free, non-acid-forming dinner. Had I not ordered the GardenBurger™, I would have been out of luck, although the beer was excellent and good for me.

But my point is, it was a low-stress event, because I cared mostly about Ron being comfortable, and not making waves. Lisa our waitress was very nice, humoring Ron by conversing with him, and even letting us in on her private life a little. It showed me something that she had compassion for him.

I’m very concerned that (nearly) every single patron besides me was eating meat and dairy and salt and sugar and corn syrup and chemicals to the point where their bodies are in rough shape, and they need drugs to get through their days. Can it be that I am deceived and these people are just fine, and not worried about what they eat, so better off?

I know deep inside we can transform our health through:

1) Understanding the state of our eating and lifestyle

2) Making significant changes to improve our mood, health and energy, then choosing a diet and lifestyle to support our dreams

3) Living our dreams in a happier, cleaner, safer world

If you want this in your life, and don’t have the vaguest notion of how to get it, please go to my web site, at http://www.DavidsOrganic.com

I would like to understand why The United States intends to try a bunch of mental, psychotic, blood thirsty terrorists in New-York?  Is it right to put on some P.C . courtroom-reality trial for the world to see and hear?  A lot of the evidence will never be allowed in.

Who benefits from this ridiculous travesty?  Is it Justice for the memory of 3000 murdered innocent Americans, their surviving family and friends,  to relive all the horror?  A guilty verdict will of course be reached. How will  it help for the families to have closure knowing that those monstrous hateful beings will at the end of the day live out their lives  in the comfort of a liberal penitentiary that provides halal food, cable tv, and a forum for them to spew out their propaganda?  Real Smart…….

Would it not be more beneficial to show some self-respect and dignity, love of country and loyalty to avenge the memories of those departed, and those remaining, to  keep those animals locked up until a military trial can be underway, and when found guilty the prisoners will just be shot the good old-fashioned way: Up against the wall, a bullet in the head.

In China they send the bill for the execution and bullet to the family. This radical Marxist loving administration can follow the example and tell the military to do the same by sending the bill to the terrorist’s family.  Now that shows an effort in Governmental Fiscal Responsibility.

Andrea

After spending a sleepless night in half a sleeping bag each, I think we were all too pooped to even wake up in the morning. But we had to…kyon ki…Mission was incomplete. Early morning dew combined with some rain made it a cold and wet morning. We pulled ourselves out of the tent and starting packing up to leave for our next leg of the journey which was also supposed to be our last leg. We had 160Km to go, out of which the toughest leg was supposed to be crossing the Lachulang La Pass at 16,466 Ft above sea level. Before hitting Lachulang La Pass we had to traverse Nakeela at 15,550 Ft. But since we had already done Baralacha La at around the same level we weren’t too worried. Now, as we were packing up, someone looked up at the sky and spotted the spoiler for the day….big dark clouds far away..almost on top of the passes. Damn..this kinda messed up our heads and didn’t do any good to our morale. Sleepy, tired, hungry with 2 potentially unwell riders, groping with wet weather which threatened to get worse – this was gonna be some ride.

Finally, after some effort of kick starting the bikes, we started on the last 160 KM of our journey hoping to make it to Leh before evening. As we started up the hill again, the landscape changed from being dry, and beautiful to wet and dark. We were riding into the rains and it got worse with the water hitting our faces and making it quite cold. Before we started, we decided we don’t really need to eat anything because there was supposed to be a small village right across that mountain, where we were very confident of getting some good breakfast. As we rode into the bad weather, with our stomachs growling, me and Aj started getting a bit worried. With our previous horrible experience of bad weather screwing up things, we were very worried of a repeat this time. We kept talking on how to counter this bad weather, and what is our backup plan if it gets worse. We decided that we will have to cross Lachulang La in any case, since the weather is likely to get better the other side. But what we forgot, was that Nakeela Pass had to be crossed before Lachulang La. The road to Nakeela was winding and beautiful. Had the weather not played spoil sport, we would have stopped for a lot of pictures. Crossing Nakeela seemed more difficult and for a while we thought this was actually Lachulang La. Later, we were disappointed to see the sign board saying we were on top of Nakeela and not Lachulang La, with no hotels/dhabba or even a tea stall in sight. Here in our tired state, we met a young lad who was riding alone. He seemed very happy and cheerful and we helped him click a few pictures.

We wanted to descend Lachalung La before the weather got worse. So we quickly left Nakeela and started descending to get across the next mountain. Between these 2 mountains are 2 small valleys called Brandy and Whiskey Nulla. I wonder how these valleys got their names, cos these valleys didn’t really live up to their names!!Whiskey apart, there was not even a decent tea stall there. As we were getting down Nakeela, Barad’s bike behaved funny. It stopped suddenly. We got off and tried to fix it. Suddenly, the young lad who we had met at Nakeela was passing by and he decided to help us with it. But then we managed to fix it on our own. Continuing on our journey, we realized this path through Whiskey Valley had a lot of heavy vehicles traffic. The road was also quite bad with a lot of gravel etc. on it. On one of the turnings uphill, Chavan’s bike skidded and he lost his balance and fell down. Luckily Aj and me were right behind him, and we helped him up. He didn’t seem to have any injuries and that was another good thing. Up further ahead, Barad’s bike had stopped again. We tried everything in the book (our book had just a few pages of bullet know how ) but still we couldn’t manage to fix it on our own. Enter man Friday…the lad from Nakeela. This time around we found out his name..he was Anand. He was from Coimbatore and was glad to know that I come from Chennai. Anand seemed to have done a PhD in bullets and knew exactly what the problem was. Since we were on a higher altitude the setting on the air, fuel combustible mixture had to be changed, cos the air up there was quite thin. So that’s what we did and there…Barad’s bike started peacefully. From this point on, Anand a lone rider was not alone any more. He decided to ride with us, he got company, and we got a reliable guy who could help us fix the bikes. The partnership was indeed memorable, read along and you will know why 

Anand was cast in a different mould. This guy knew everything about bikes, was always cheerful, and extremely helpful with everything. The best thing is…he carried garam chai in his flask which he was more than willing to share with us. Getting up and beyond Lachalung La was getting tougher and tougher especially with the weather being stubborn and stormy. But we overcame it. We beat the stubborn weather and got past the mountain. Down the other side, as we were beginning to celebrate the good weather, we realized that the clouds didn’t give up on us. They chased us across the mountain and continued to be with us for quite sometime. There again, we had to stop because of bike problems. This time it was a really long break because the fuel was leaking from the mouth of the tube and it took sometime to get it fixed. Chavan was really tired and unwell and slept on the road, occasionally giving way to trucks and bikes. Soon it was afternoon and we realized we hadn’t eaten anything since morning and still had to go another 100 Kms to Leh. Suddenly, the bike related problems, the hunger, the exhaustion and ill health cast a gloomy shadow on the whole idea of making it to Leh that day. All we wanted to do was get to Pang (a small village settlement before Moree Plains) and have something to eat. So there, we fixed our bikes and decided we wont stop now till we hit Pang. The weather was playing good cop bad cop with us. But there was this patch of bright sunshine on the way down from Lachalung La. There was a frozen water body in a valley surrounded by mountains. It almost looked like a huge skating rink. We decided to get down and test it out ourselves. Barad demonstrated his long flying jump skate stunt, but all he could do was land with a thud and get stuck in the ice. We spent some good 15 mins playing in the ice before getting back on the road again. Finally we managed to reach Pang. We got into a small tent and were glad to have some hot roti, dal, aloo and rice. As soon as Chavan parked his bike, he rushed into the tent and hit the sack. He didn’t wake up till that night!

As we finished our lunch, we had another casualty in Barad. With 2 of us down, 4 hrs of sunlight remaining and a good 80kms of ride to go which included crossing another 16000 ft pass, we were not sure how the rest of the day was gonna shape up. While most of us wanted to chill out, take it easy and were not in a hurry to get there, the thin air up there screwed up my mind. Like I said before, getting to Leh was more of mission to me than anything else. Suddenly I lost sight of a lot of things and the only thing playing on my mind was that we are not going to make it to Leh today. This upset me a lot. I started getting demoralized and wanted to literally force everyone to get back on the road. I was afraid we might not make it to Leh at all…I was afraid, the weather might again get the better of us and we will be forced to return without getting to Leh. I was afraid we would come this close to Leh and not get there. There was too much playing on my mind. I must confess that I pretty much screwed up everyone’s mood that evening by brooding about it. Poor Aj got the worst of me. I must apologize to everyone for my eccentric behavior.

Soon, I pulled myself up. We spent the rest of the evening, chatting up with our tentman, Dorjee. He came from a village on the Indo China border and was telling us stories of those times, when things were better. Old Monk, an upset soul, some good food, chatty Dorjee and my friends next to me…this is how I fell asleep on the 3rd most eventful night of the trip.

Nothing really special here just some particles made in Fusion 6. I tried to account for the momentum in the sparks generated by the car moving by having the sparks kind of skate after they hit the ground.

Camera track provided by Matt B.

Let’s just say it: the crossed muskets front and center really make me think the name of this county is Bullet, but the flag designer misspelled it because he or she is from Kentucky.  It’s not very nice of me to revert to a yokel stereotype, but I’m sure 90% of readers would agree. First impressions are a bitch.

Once we get past that, the symbolism is kinda janky. The white background represents salt, which was an important natural resource in Bullitt County 200 years ago. The green in the text represents the fertile land and prolific game from 200 years ago. The muskets represent the fact that 200 years ago, people shot other people a bunch to get their land. The 20 stars refer to Bullitt being the 20th county in Kentucky (in 1796, naturally.)

Adair Tishler Bullet Hop
Adair Tishler Bullet Hop

Adair Tishler Bullet Hop Game
Adair Tishler Bullet Hop Game Description : Jump off of Bullet Bills from the Mario universe as you try to get as high as possible without dying.
How to Play Adair Tishler Bullet Hop Game? Left / Right Arrow Keys – Move.
Up / Down Arrow Keys – Look.
Z – Jump.

Japan television is showing a mad scene at Tokyo Station tonight with the night-time arrival of the country’s most notorious killer, Ichihashi (市橋) from Osaka. Only in Japan are criminals transported across the country by high speed rail. I cannot imagine what it would be like to share a public rail car with a violent criminal. For Japanese the speed and efficiency of the rails make it a natural way to transport even the worst criminals. The police transported him from Tokyo Station to Chiba by car. This is the end of a two year search, with the suspect hiding through cross-dressing and plastic surgery.

Japan television is showing a mad scene at Tokyo Station on the midnight news with the night-time arrival of the country’s most notorious killer, Ichihashi (市橋) from Osaka. Only in Japan are criminals transported across the country by high speed rail. I cannot imagine what it would be like to share a public rail car with a violent criminal.

For Japanese, the speed and efficiency of the rails make it a natural way to transport even the worst criminals. The police took him by car from Tokyo Station to Chiba. This is the end of a two year search, with the suspect hiding through cross-dressing and plastic surgery.