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  • marye
    Joined:
    so, anybody get any good eclipse pix?
    I took one look outside and decided the sun was hurting my eyes too much and I'd look at the pictures later... Some people got the full effect, of course.
  • Gr8fulTed
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    Large full moon
    Yes, CB, it is amazing. The full moon on 5/5 will be quite a "big" view, according to a meteorologist on the television. Hope clouds don't block the view!
  • cosmicbadger
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    we travel the spaceways from planet to planet
    Isn't it great that we are sharing the same night sky either side of the big pond that separates us. Of course our friends in the Southern Hemisphere have quite a different experience
  • Gr8fulTed
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    How about those Jayhawks!
    What an amazing semi-final basketball game in the Big Easy last night: Ohio State went to sleep offensively after leading by 9 at the half. There's one more hurdle for the University of Kansas >> the Kentucky Wildcats Monday. Rock chalk Jayhawks ! Getting back to the discussion regarding the night sky with planets, stars and the waxing moon tonight and tomorrow, the waxing gibbous moon swings close to a sparkling blue-white Royal Star and the red planet Mars. That Royal Star is Regulus, the brightest in the constellation Leo, the star depicting the Lion’s Heart. The moon will be closest to Regulus. Away from the moon, Venus and Jupiter still light up the western sky after sunset, with the brighter Venus above Jupiter.
  • cosmicbadger
    Joined:
    well thank your Mr Pid
    I knew we could rely on you! Sorry to mislead about passwords and ramp up the paranoia even more. I had an idea to mess up the spammers....put a block on any user posting more often than, say, every 5 or even ten minutes. If we knew about it it would not inconvenience too much (few are so prolific) , but it might mess up the productivity of the spammers, having to wait 10 minutes or create a new ID all the time. Just an idea....prolly won't work.
  • Mr. Pid
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    smeagol.com
    Silly Deadheads, they trackses us with the Precious.... Sorry, couldn't resist! I haven't the time to do a full Graham and Dodd on them, nor was I consulted in either their selection or implementation, but from what they claim they appear to be well-intentioned reasonably competent white hat types. I have chosen to view them as benign. As for what potentially personally identifying information they retain and for how long, they claim to anonymize content (ie separate what was posted from the identity that posted it) after two months. Further, the identity information (IP address, User ID, email address, time of posting) is only as identifying as the credentials the user creates on the site that uses the service. One special point I would make, since Brother Badger may have left some with an incorrect impression, is that one piece of data that is most certainly NOT being tracked is user passwords. This is because there is no way for this site to provide them as they don't have them stored in plain text. As with all unix-like systems, only the results of encrypting users passwords are actually stored. The unix password encryption algorithm design is a totally secure one way trapdoor. Actually kind of a thing of beauty, if design elegance does anything for you. Passwords encrypted with this technology cannot be decrypted, hence the term one way trap door. This is why on most sites if you forget your password they can't just give it to you but they can cheerfully reset it to something else anytime you want. I could go on at length about this but I'll spare you furthur dizzying detail unless you PM me begging for more because you just can't seem to get to sleep. Anyway, back to the new technotoy. The service analyzes all proposed new posts and initially classifies them as "Good," "Bad" or "Unsure." Items marked as "Good" get posted directly and items marked "Bad" get returned to the site's moderation queue. When something gets classified as "Unsure," the posting user is then confronted with our old pal, Captcha, and if the Captcha is satisfied correctly the item posts directly. I got confronted with one of those yesterday when I commented on the "What Would Be The Answer" thread. What I said didn't strike me as particularly spammy. Maybe a little snarky, but whatever. Obviously the thing is plugged in. As to how effective it may be, let's think about the social engineering involved. They have been using Captchas here for a while and that did thin out the purely Bot based spam, but we seem to be plagued by dedicated little Hormel subcontractors who aren't deterred by Captchas at all. I haven't read the specs for the API or the Drupal plugin code Mollom makes available, but I can't help wondering out loud if perhaps any items that get returned as "Unsure" should probably go to the moderation queue regardless of whether the user satisfies the Captcha or not. That approach may from time to time result in legitimate user posts being delayed in public release but will most assuredly curtail all the human generated spam. Once again, it simply becomes a question of how much freedom are we willing to sacrifice in order to obtain a perception of security, in this case security from being deluged with dreck. OK, I'll stop there before I have to cross-post in Life, The Universe and Everything.
  • Mr. Pid
    Joined:
    Guess what?
    I just got Captcha'd again! That's okay, it was a useful experience. Since the Captcha was unbranded (which I'm assuming means the Captcha bit itself did not identify that it was generated by Mollom) WMG is probably using a version of the Paid service rather than the Free service. Woohoo! This spam crap is annoying enough to them where they're actually willing to throw money at it! Nice to see it won't be another GagaLive solution. My post probably got snagged because it contained links. That's a good first step. However, those links refer to the site where the post was being made to begin with. Um, guys, think we can be a bit brighter about that? MMMkay?
  • fluffanutter
    Joined:
    Mollam - Golem
    The spam on this site is getting ridiculous. These people appear typically around 4-6am est with multiple user names. The Chinese spammers I find to be totally ridiculous. Are they so ethnocentric that they believe there are Chinese reading people on this site? Well, yes, I know there are a few but what in God's name do they hope to accomplish? Short of dead.net hiring a mod. 24 hours a day to monitor who is online there is no way to entirely stop the spammers. Especially the more clever spammers who start with a few words on topic and then go into their spiel. I vote for 4 hour shift mods. compensated at minimum wage as credits to be spent on the dead.net store. Giving away free product to keep this commercial site free of clutter is really cool way to go. Anybody who would volunteer to spend 4 hours with their finger on the nuke button for a $32 credit in the store is to be commended.
  • cosmicbadger
    Joined:
    furthermore
    ..Mollom don't seeem to work so well as the whole place has been spammed to hell again. Maybe it has to take time to learn to recognise the invaders. Very frustrating for us and for the mods and tech folks too I bet.
  • cosmicbadger
    Joined:
    So what's with this Mollom
    The Spam Captcha has gone and you will now see a notice at the bottom of the page that says: By submitting this form, you accept the Mollom privacy policy. Now check out the privacy policy. When you post here, your IP address, email address, password and other details are sent to this Mollom organisation who then use their machines to decide if you are a spammer or not. Well I am glad they are trying to eliminate the spammers, but I am not sure I like this. Or am I being paranoid. Can someone who knows about this kind of thing give an opinion.......that means you Mr Pid :-) pleeeease.
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The latest version of our beloved freeform topic!
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12 years 3 months
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I ran across this article about a week ago. This goes far beyond hybridization and shows our advancing mastery of manipulating genes. http://www.greenhousegrower.com/news/starlight-avatar-the-worlds-first-… the first plant in the world that produces its own visible light. The developers "inserted the genes responsible for causing marine bacteria to glow". Practical applications currently don't include a self-lit grow room :))))))
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fantastic Burning Man characterthanks, RL, love it! When I Grow Up, I Want To Be: the Ace of acid the All Time-All Star of alkalinity the Angel of angles the Anti-Moron of barbequed boron the Admiral of aeration the Ambassador of accretion the Captain of carbonation the Co-Creator of crystallization the Deacon of decantation the Duke of dissolution the Eminence of encapsulation the Envoy of evaporation the Executor of extraction the Figurehead of fermentation the Fourth-Shift Foreman of formulation the Lord of liquefaction the Nobleman of nucleation the Saint of saturation the Secretary of separation the Sultan of seltzer the Superintendent of supernatant the Superior of sparkles the Supervisor of solvents the Shaman of Shulgin the Assho' of oregano the Bigwig of bismol the Bob Barker of blotter the Beanball Bystander of byproducts the Capo dei Capi of copper the Caretaker of catalysts the Chancellor of choice the Chief-in-Charge of change the CEO of cheerios the Commander of chemical bonds the Colonel of coalescence the Czar of zinc the Dealer of minute detail the Earl of erlenmeyer the Emperor of enzymes the Founding Father of froth the Freak of flasks the Guru of greenhouse gas the Gigantic Ass of dichroic glass the Inspector of lye detectors the Head Honcho of hydrogen the Night Manager of nitrogen the Original Owner of oxygen the Oligarch of olefin the Pope of peptides the Preacher of peroxide il Duce of dioxide el Jefe of Hofmann the King of anything the Leader of laughing gas the Master of melting points the Magnate of magnetism the Magistrate of bicarbonate the Potentate of permanganate the Paranormal Pimp of pH the Purple Proprietor of pyrex the Righteous Ruler of reflux the Reigning Realtor of rainfall the Sole Source of sulfur the Vice-Virtuoso of vacuum the Baron of butane the Monarch of methane the High Priest of propane the Prince of pressurization Sir Ferdinand of Fizz... in the desert under a fire next to the moon wrapped in light on a comet ...with you and as I aged, "want" slowly and appropriately faded as I learned: about People in places of power and privilege about What to expect from expectations about What's in a name about Simplicity about Dreaming about Imagining about Reality about Gain about Loss about Need (all above positions are open; pays good money - $5 a day)... (%);-}
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It's nice to see someone producing original work here. For the most part, this place seems to have acquired the stench of Rhino. Nice work, slo...
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13 years 9 months
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I agree with Mike there. As for the Dead Covers project my favorites so far have been China Doll and Eyes of the World, followed by Valerie and Franklins Tower. kudos to all.
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17 years 3 months
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...to all the ladies, and especially those who twirl. Let's hope there will be more Furthur to see and meet up at.
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13 years 3 months
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Dang! Weir sharing the stage with Kimock and Wasserman?! That's a line-up to die for. No west coast shows? :(
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12 years 3 months
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"...this one time, we shot up a sleeping hobo full of novocaine, then we'd yell, "Pie on the windowsill!" And they'd wake up all numb and poor and we'd laugh. But that's just the kind of stuff you do when your growing up in Midland, when you're a young, precocious little thirty-year-old." - George W. Bush
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12 years 2 months
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I have sat there and seen the winter days finish their short-spanned lives; and all the globes of light crimson, emerald, and pallid yellow start, one by one, out of the russet fog that creeps up the river. But i like the place best on these hot summer nights, when the sky hangs thick with stifled colour, and the stars shine small and shyly. Then the pulse of the city is hushed, and the scales of the water flicker golden and oily under the watching regiment of lamps. The bridge clasps its gaunt arms tight from bank to bank, and the shuffle of a retreating figure sounds loud and alone in the quiet. There, if you wait long enough, you will hear the long wail of the siren, that seems to tell of the anguish of London till a train hurries to throttle its dying note, roaring and rushing, thundering and blazing through the night, tossing its white crests of smoke, charging across the bridge into the dark country beyond. In the wan, lingering light of the winter afternoon, the parks stood all deserted, sluggishly drowsing, so it seemed, with their spacious distances muffled in greyness: colourless, fabulous, blurred. One by one, through the damp misty air, looked the tall, stark, lifeless elms. Overhead there lowered a turbid sky, heavy-charged with an unclean yellow, and amid their ugly patches of dank and rotting bracken, a little mare picked her way noiselessly. The rumour of life seemed hushed. There was only the vague listless rhythm of the creaking saddle. The daylight faded. A shroud of ghostly mist enveloped the earth, and up from the vaporous distance crept slowly the evening darkness. A sullen glow throbs overhead: golden will-o'-the wisps are threading their shadowy ribbons above golden trees, and the dull, distant rumour of feverish London waits on the still night air. The lights of Hyde Park Corner blaze like some monster, gilded constellation, shaming the dingy stars. And across the east, there flares a sky-sign, a gaudy crimson arabesque. And all the air draped in the mysterious sumptuous splendour of a murky London night. - Hubert Montague Crackanthorpe from 'Vignettes: A Miniature Journal of Whim and Sentiment'.
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12 years 3 months
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"You know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror." - George W. Bush's interview with CBS News' Katie Couric, Sep. 6, 2006
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12 years 3 months
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"You work three jobs?....Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that." - George W. Bush to a divorced mother of three, Omaha, Nebraska, Feb. 4, 2005
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12 years 3 months
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"Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter." - the parting words to world leaders at his final G-8 summit, punching the air and grinning widely at those who looked on in shock, Rusutsu, Japan, July 10, 2008 - George W. Bush
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12 years 3 months
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"Do you have blacks, too?" - George W. Bush to Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso, Wash. D. C., Nov. 8, 2001.
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12 years 3 months
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"Look, when I was a kid, I inhaled frequently. That was the point." - Barack Obama
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17 years 3 months
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Team USA is about to take the ice vs the Canadian men: hope the U.S. grabs the gold in this match. The USA women gave away their hockey gold yesterday in a heartbreaking loss .
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15 years 3 months
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I feel you're pain....I really do. We have had our share of heartbraaking losses also ( see World Juniors the last few years). But really...? Was there any doubt which team would win the these two games. I don't wanna sound like a cocky canuck, but we really are the greatest and most decorated hockey nation. Yes we love Baseball ( go Jays!) and Football. But hockey...? It's in our hearts and minds...and imbedded in our souls. Anything less than Olympic Gold is completely unacceptable. I am really happy that both games were very, very good. The women"s had just about everything you could ask for in a Gold medal game, eh? Mens too...but a little less dramatic. Any ways...on a side note... being a big Toronto Maple Leafs fan I was really hoping Kessel and JVR would do well and I really thought the U.S were gonna win this game, going on how the two teams looked going into it. I doubted myself.....it'll never happen again. peace
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17 years 3 months
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I've noticed countries that enjoy longer winters do better in the Winter Olympics. USA men played a close hockey game, but were shutout. They must've been worn out, because Finland spanked them 5-0 for the Bronze. Host Russia is sitting on top of the medal count. NHL hockey resumes soon: Ducks might do it this year, though I like the success the Blues have had so far. Your Maple Leafs need to catch up to the Bruins.
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15 years 2 months
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...so far. The road to the Stanley Cup will almost definitely run through Anaheim or Chi-Town. But in the East well...who knows. Boston and Pittsburgh look like obvious favourites. As far as my beloved TML's are concerned, they not only have to make the playoffs, but home ice is paramount. Leafs Nation knows all too well that there is still lots of time to "shit the bed". I ALMOST put my fist through my 60" plazma at the end of game 7 last year. That loss still stings and will continue for some time. But at least they have shown that they compete against the Bruins the last couple of years.
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17 years 3 months
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Habs goalie Price was very effective and the key to Canada's gold medal. I'd like to see Toronto get past the Bruins & Penquins.
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12 years 3 months
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have a wonderful day :))))))))))))
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17 years 4 months
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I'm writing to let you know that I think our relationship needs to end, but not to worry; it's me, not you. I've stayed much the same while you have grown and grown and grown. At the start, our relationship was all about romance, but things have changed and I feel like I'm holding you back, and since I truly love you, I now find myself willing to let you go. I don't think you'll miss me for very long, if you even notice that I'm gone at all; you have store receipts to tally and orders to fulfill and products to promote. But I did want to stop by here one last time to drop a post and remember what might have been. I'll always love you. We've just grown apart; that's all. The Dead Dot Net Community
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17 years 4 months
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TETO! Going to miss you guy...
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17 years 5 months
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Dude, do what you gotta do, but we'll miss you when you're gone.
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12 years 3 months
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"When the Internet first came into public use, it was hailed as a liberation from conformity, a floating world ruled by passion, creativity, innovation and freedom of information. When it was hijacked first by advertising and then by commerce, it seemed like it had been fully co-opted and brought into line with human greed and ambition." - Neil Strauss
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12 years 2 months
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Slo, that first paragraph still stands.The second only registers if one chooses to acknowledge it. Boredom is one thing. Scapegoats are another.
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17 years 3 months
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Best wishes to Mike Edwards. Spinning free has happened a bunch on this site: Has AnnaRxia left us too, or is she snowed in down east?
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headed to the final four in Dallas against fried chicken
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71 years ago today, the genie was officially let out of the bottle in Basel, Switzerland. And, as if in celestial celebration, the Lyrid meteor shower is underway, peaking the night of 4/21 - 22.
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17 years 4 months
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...you had to post that at exactly 4:20 pm? Happy bike day to you, too. Sheesh. By the way, happy 4:20 eve everyone.
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17 years 4 months
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"I've got a bike. You can ride it if you like. It's got a basket, a bell that rings and things to make it look good. I'd give it to you if I could, but I borrowed it." -Syd Barrett Great back to back holidays to celebrate if you have the mind (and the resources).
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12 years 3 months
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so I'm watching Independent Lens tonight on PBS and it's about Rick Hall's Fame Recording Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Eventually they start talking about Percy Sledge and the ever so beautiful DJG comes on in an interview and states that she got her big break when she was hired as one of the backup vocals in Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman". Never knew that and I'll probably never hear that song the same again. Didn't know she was born and raised in Florence, AL. either and apparently she's still active in the Muscle Shoals music scene. Great show..... **How fitting, she ends up being the very last image as the show ends. Catch it when you can. "Now Muscle Shoals has got the swampers and they've been known to pick a song or two"...
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12 years 3 months
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I've got some '73 cranked right now with DS>Eyes going and I look out the front window and there's two does (deer) laying down underneath a cedar tree not 15 ft from the window with their ears pointed at the window. Honest to goodness truth. Gonna turn it up a little more for us. :)))))))))
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12 years 3 months
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they don't seem to mind this aging biped. Although, anthropomorphism may be more deeply rooted while perception is properly adjusted ;-)
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12 years 2 months
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When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see,For all the day they view things unrespected; But when I sleep, in dreams they look on thee, And darkly bright are bright in dark directed. Then thou, whose shadow shadows doth make bright, How would thy shadow's form form happy show To the clear day with thy much clearer light, When to useeing eyes thy shade shines so! How would, I say, mine eyes be blessed made By looking on thee in the living day, When in dead night thy fair imperfect shade Through heavy sleep on sightless eyes doth stay! All days are nights to see till I see thee, And nights bright days when dreams do show thee me. - Shakespeare, Sonnet XLIII
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Congrats Gr8ful Ted! Your Royals are on a hot streak...18 of 22 Wow! Finally the Royals are doing well again. It's nice to see them on top of the heap so late in the season. Good Luck for the rest of the season!
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Congratulations to Maryam Mirzakhani on being the first woman to win the Fields Medal prize in mathematics. Mirzakhani, 37, is of Iranian descent and completed her PhD at Harvard in 2004. Her thesis showed how to compute the Weil-Petersson volumes of moduli spaces of bordered Riemann surfaces. Her research interests include Teichmüller theory, hyperbolic geometry, ergodic theory, and symplectic geometry. She is currently professor of mathematics at Stanford University, and predominantly works on geometric structures on surfaces and their deformations. http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/aug/13/interview-maryam-mirzakh…
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17 years 3 months
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Let's check back in a month... Although I'm originally from Cleveland, I am a Kansas City fan, having lived in the area for 33 years. I'm happy with KC baseball right now, a game up over Detroit! Keep an eye on the Tribe....

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I'm still wondering till now why I'm not allowed to post new topic, then I ask my myself. If I'm allowed to post new topic, what will topic it will be?..........I don't know either.
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17 years 5 months
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You can't start a new topic. It's not set up that way, as a matter of chaos management. If there's some topic you think is lacking, send me a PM and I can either send you to the existing venue or start a new one. Thanks!
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17 years 4 months
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What's up with the character on the box of Boo Berry cereal? Does that ghost look ripped or what? Happy Halloween folks. :)
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10 years 1 month
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On behalf of counsel for the esteemed corporate American icon General Mills, I'd like to announce application in the federal district courts for an injunction against dead.net poster WTJ to preclude further spurious allegations of intoxicating conduct vis-à-vis monster-themed breakfast cereal standard bearer, Boo-Berry. Close examination of the following stock publicity photo clearly establishes that Mr. Berry - a beloved apparition among children the world over - lives a lifestyle free of any vice that might result in his "ripped" condition. So, please resume your usual practice of mainlining truckloads of sugar into your children at breakfast, as we at GM also own significant holdings in the dental services and Ritalin production sectors.
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this is the healthy adult version of the esteemed GM cereal that was introduced in '73. No refined sugars; plenty of delicious nutritious greens :)))) At only $150/box, it's a deal.
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10 years 1 month
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Neat. Also, it's snowing here in the SE Appy Mts and, despite the warm early season ground temps, we've got a firm dusting at altitude. Though I can't wait to run the trails with pup, I've waited a couple hrs to accommodate the Post Office, which is only open from 9-11 this a.m., because tracking info tells me that not only DiP12, but the ABB 71 and Cream "Those/Days" boxes, await my lavish attention :) It may seem like heresy, but I'll likely shelve The Twelve for a few days while drowning in Statesboro Blues and sitting down to tea with Jack, Eric, and Ginger! /K P.S.: GO OLE MISS!