Problems with Barco Graphics 801

Hi!
I have a Barco Graphics 801 which has been stored away for a few years, but now I decided to give it another try to repair it.
From the beginning the projector was set to ceiling mount. I'm not sure whether it had any problems, and I think it wasn't used much. Possibly it hadn't been used for years when we got it. If I remember correctly the stand-by counter was something like 18000 hours, but probably it was not actually on most of the time. The tubes look really fresh.
After switching the projector from ceiling mount to table mount (by changing the 4 switches, while the power was completely off) the projector was working for about 2 hours, and then R138 (4.7 ohms high power resistor) on the H-shift board (the one most to the left if you are behind the projector) burnt, literally; we could see smoke.
R138 is for the red channel. There are two more resistors of the same type (R128 and R118) for blue and green.

After replacing R138 the projector was working again. I only let the projector run for a couple of minutes, and then I shut it off to check the resistors. R138 was burning hot, while R128 and R118 were cool.
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I switched the projector to ceiling mount to see what would happen. When I started the projector scan fail was blinking (maybe around 2-3 blinks per second) for a few seconds during start-up, and there was some "scary" crackle sounds (the kind of sound you don't want to hear from electronics, because you think it's going to burn). After the initial seconds, the projector seemed to work fine, for about a minute. Then there was scan fail (and HTHD went out, as it should, to protect the tubes) and "scary" sounds. After a few seconds of constant scan fail I cut the power. To my surprise, R138 was quite cool this time. (R128 and R118 were also fine.)
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I tried to start the projector, which was still set to ceiling mount. Scan fail was blinking and there was "scary" sounds during start-up, just like the previous day. After the start-up I got picture, but now and then there was a scan fail (and "scary" sound), and the picture went blank for a second or so each time. After about a minute I cut the power. The three resistors were cool.
I switched the projector back to table mount (which is what I will probably use, if I get it to work). Now everything seemed to work just fine. There were no scan fails at all, neither during start-up nor later, and no "scary" sounds. All three tubes were on (I activated adjust mode). I shut the projector off after about a minute. R138 was hot, while R128 and R118 were quite cool. I guess R138 would burn within a couple of hours, if it would even last that long, which is what happened a few years ago with the original R138.
Any ideas about what could be wrong?
To summarize, I think the most important points are:with ceiling mount R138 is cool, but with table mount R138 gets burning hot, while R128 and R118 are still cool.
with ceiling mount there are scan fails, and "scary" sounds.
with table mount, the projector appears to be working fine (except for R138). No scan fails. The LEDs for each voltage are lit, as they should be.
That R138 gets burning hot must be a symptom of something else, not that there would be something wrong with the resistor, but what could it be? And why does it only happen at table mount?
Which components are used / stressed differently at table and ceiling mount respectively?
Are there any components that are used only for table or ceiling mount respectively?
Maybe I should mention that I'm very familiar with electronics, but except for this BG801 I have no experience in repairing projectors. Replacing components, soldering and metering is no problem for me, though I would prefer to not meter while the projector is running, and I don't have a raiser-board(?).
The problem is that I'm not sure what I should look for. Because of R138 I assume that the problem is something H-related on the red channel. At the same time I don't want to rule out that something else could be wrong as well, since the projector was acting in different ways depending on whether it was set to table mount or ceiling mount.
I'm very grateful for any suggestions about how I should proceed.

Gifts

K, O, M tonight on the deck after dinnerLately I've been thinking about gifts. All sorts of gifts. Big gifts, little gifts, simple gifts, complex gifts, 'good' gifts, and gifts of challenge. The boys' birthday is coming up (something that looms large around here; something that Kyle and Owen-- Kyle especially-- remind us of many times each day). They'll receive lots of gifts from lots of people. As is our tradition, Braydon and I will give them each one gift. They've asked for remote control airplanes. They have been ordered. They will wake up on their birthday to open that special gift. They will get what they've wanted.For a long time now I have thought of Kyle and Owen as a gift. A gift to me in my life; a very special gift. Adopting them was the best thing I've ever done in my life. Adopting them is by far the best way I've ever used my life. They are such a gift in so many ways, ways that range from the most simple to the most complex. They've filled my life with such intense richness; they are everything --and more-- that I hoped for and longed for and wished for and asked for. But sometimes we receive gifts that we don't ask for. We didn't ask for Meera. And yet every single night, as I put her to bed, I rock her in the stillness of her bedroom and I think -- sometimes even whisper outloud -- "My God, what a gift this baby is." She is a pure joy; a sweet indulgence; an angel baby that makes me feel on top of the world. I wonder, 'how could I be so lucky? What a gift!' If I could have known to ask for her, I would have: she is the gift I never even knew I wanted.And sometimes gifts are received that we'd never ask for. Gifts can be questions that push us in new directions, experiences that deepen our souls, challenges that we'd never ever seek or that we actively try to avoid. A few days ago I found out that one of my students from a few years back killed himself. He did it in a gruesome way that turns my stomach to think about. This was a kid that I was very close with; a student I worked hard with; someone I put a lot into. On Thursday I'll teach my last class of this semester. And like every semester, I'll end that class telling my students what I always do: "Once a student of mine, always a student of mine." It is sincere for me, I really mean it. I am not a stereotypical professor, and I get very close with my students. This particular student of mine graduated in 2005 but I'd been in touch with him off and on since then. He was a beautiful, brilliant, complicated young black man with rippling muscles and glaring eyes and a rough, rough history. He was tough. He challenged me. And he will now, forever, challenge me in some of the most profound ways imaginable. This is a gift. A gift I would never ask for. And yet a gift still the same.I'm reeling from finding out that this student of mine took his life. And I still feel nauseous if I think about it too much (it does not help that this is now the second person in my life who, in the past six months, has committed suicide). But last night, sitting in the rocking chair with baby Meera, it suddenly was so clear to me: yes, what a gift she is. Right now, she's a simple, pure, joyful gift -- a gift of almost intoxicating sweetness. I am grateful for this gift that she is in my life. But I am grateful too, for the more challenging gifts that I have had the honor of receiving. The wild and crazy boys who we had to work so hard for to adopt, who push my buttons daily, and keep me on my toes and never let me rest and always make me question every single one of my parenting strategies. I would not want it any other way. The gift of Kyle and Owen is the truest miracle I've ever experienced. And as I near the end of the school year and begin to wrap up another year of being a Professor who actually cares... well... I am reminded that I wouldn't want every one of my students to be the stellar-make-the-Professor-proud-shiny-happy-straight-A-go-on-to-graduate-school-always-striving-to-please ones. Those ones are gifts, for sure (I've had the pleasure and privilege of calling many students like that my own). But there are other gits too. The students who push me and compel me to question everything I'm doing... those students are gifts. It is not a compare and contrast. It just is what it is. And Howard Ward, as hard as it is to see, is a gift to me.He is no longer on this earth but I can remember him well. I remember hugging his rigid body and working hard to look him right straight in his glaring eyes. I bought a painting of his-- the first piece of artwork he ever sold-- and it has had a home in our house ever since, and always will. I watched him on the football field many times as he aggressively slammed his hard body into the players of the other team. And more than once I watched him cry sitting on the couch in my office. I remember when he came to me to tell me that his girlfriend was pregnant and keeping the baby. And I remember when he emailed me to tell me that his first "real" art gallery show had been a huge success. I remember when he stood up and did a 'rap' once during a class discussion (and every other word was the 'f' word). What a gift all of those things have been. He never was one of the 'easy' ones; he always had a way of making me feel a bit uneasy, a bit unsure. But I am sure that is a good thing for me. To me, he was a student who pushed me to question and challenged me to rise to the occasion. He was tough. And still is. And what a gift.Gifts given, gifts received.So as the gift of spring is blooming all around me right now -- making me feel as if I'm living in some sort of fantasy land with blooming trees and birds of bright colors flying all around us (literally! it is that beautiful here!)... and as the school year is winding down again-- making me feel as if I'm being pushed to the max for this final crunch, yet again... and as we prepare to celebrate two boys turning five and one girl turning one and as I remember being pregnant a year ago and getting our adoption referral five years ago and as I watch my students get ready to graduate and remember the ones that have graduated in years past... and as I think about gifts given and gifts received... as I reel and spin in the vastness of it all... I am grounded by the gifts. And I take solace in the three in the photo above.

Philip Withnall: libgdata

It’s about time to announce something I’ve been working on for about three months now: libgdata. It’s a GLib-, libsoup- and libxml2-based library for accessing GData APIs, as used by most Google services. There already exist several such libraries in a variety of languages, but as far as I’m aware this is the first one written in C — and thus the first which is widely accessible to the GNOME stack. So far it has decent support for YouTube video queries, and the beginnings of Google Calendar support. Having ported the Totem YouTube plugin to use libgdata, my next plan is to port the evolution-data-server Google Calendar backend as well. With that done, libgdata will hopefully be stable and fully-featured enough for people to get to work on starting to fulfil Rob Bradford’s dream of tighter desktop integration with web services.

The Social Side to the SharePoint Conference

Beyond the 10 or so customer meetings I had, 6 or so partner meetings, and 2 analyst meetings, I did find some time to attend some social events that were a lot of fun. If you're looking for my decks or notes on the keynote and announcements I posted them in a recap. You can also see the SharePoint Conference press pass PR content and keynote announcements. If you were at the conference you may have seen me with Paul Graham a SharePoint newbie from Portland. He's so passionate about SharePoint he's willing to drop everything, and is planning on working for in an "internship" if he can't find something fulltime. I introduced him to plenty of SharePoint folks who are looking for SharePoint people and who might be willing to give him on the job training. I'd like to give him a boost if there is someone looking for people with passion and lacking deep skills. (Ping me through this blog if you have ideas, or openings, he is willing to relocate.) He's been to Shane Young's Advanced Admin class in December, and since has been running MOSS on his home machine. His background in IT, network & desk side support and troubleshooting is a good start. One big background social theme throughout the conference was... it's hard to get good SharePoint talent. The talent pool on SharePoint is a small elite group. One quote I over heard in passing was, "why miss a week where I can make 10K for a week at the SharePoint conference where it covers what I already know?" I'll tell you... Because the sum of this social network of MVPs is of more value than the parts. Hence what I consider a big SharePoint reunion and tight social network. Sorry if you didn't make it or tried and it was sold out. Many a scalper was turned away. The first night, Monday night, there were 4 concurrent events. From the Ted Pattison and Ascentium social to the HP dinner, MVP dinner, and Syntergy appreciation party. It was tough determining where to go. The MVP dinner was so well attended I ended up taking a decent contingency (Chandima, Todd, Matt, Ivan and a few of his Auzzie buddies, Mike, Paul, and a few others to Mortons. The was some count that there were ~35 SharePoint MVPs at the conference, but there were 60 who showed up. I had a group of about 10 MVPs with me. The steak was great. The Ascentium/TPG party was pretty good as well, it's advantage of starting earlier I saw a few MVPs like AC and Shane Young who were trying to fit in both. When I first arrived I ran into Brian Cook and Brett Campbell from Nintex. Brian and I walked through our deck and decided on some slight changes and arrangements. He's got such a dynamic and great personality that grows on anybody. They keynote went off with very little concern. The customer deployments and simply having Bill talk about his passion for SharePoint is always fun. I saw the keynote from building 16, Rob Silver, Rob Lefferts, Dustin Fr, and Derek Burney were there as well, so I was definitely in good company. It was fun to watch their faces during the Q & A and with the solution accelerator demos by Tom Rizzo. Michael Herman's unified storage question for example brought a few eyebrow raises, but Billg handled it well. SQL08 makes some major steps in the right direction with the new data types. Tuesday night, the Museum of Flight party was the official one. Heather Solomon's Ruth Chris spontaneous dinner really hit the spot, great food, great company. There were 20 of us with the SharePoint Experts crew. It was good meeting Matt from SP Experts for the first time. I can see he's very passionate about the IT Pro and ensuring SharePoint deployments are successful. His focus on planning and working with the business and not against it... he's got something. Sitting next to Matt I could feel his passion. It was fun to watch Shane's reactions to his stories. Welcome Matt Passannante to the SharePoint community. Hanging out with Shane Young, AC, Todd, Nicola, Dustin, Todd (x2), Chris, Medero, and Heather (amongst others) is one of my favorite things to do at Conferences. Dustin Miller has his new challenge... Integrate guitar hero into his session, not just the words, but the actual game. After the dinner we went back to the Crown, where most of the gang was hanging out. Adam Buenz, Bob Fox and cronies, Jason Medero, AC, Chris Regan, Steve Smith, Ben Curry, Ted Pattison, Nick Swan, Todd Klindt, Darrin Bishop, Todd Baginsky, Spence, Steve Smith, and more. Wednesday started off seeing most of the biker keynote. Then Bob and my session. SharePoint Jokes I made up especially for the WS08/SQL08 Bob Fox and Joel Oleson session: 1. What does SharePoint and Paintball have in common? A. The more experience you have, the more likely you'll be to miss the zingers. (It pays off to learn or to work with experienced MOSS architects or experts.) 2. Three guys go into a bar to play a game. The first guy leaves on a stretcher, the second guy passes out. The last guy wins. It's Bob and it was a drinking game. Their did happen to be a fourth guy watching the game drinking pineapple juice. That was Joel. 3. What do SharePoint and Beer have in Common? A. You have a little bit, and things start to not seem so bad. Todd Klindt said he'd had a 50% chance that he might have a SQL 2008 CTP VPC with him the night before the session. I said bring it. I'd like to show off the backup compression and transparent encryption options. Sure enough he had it, and he said he had looked at these settings, so I invited him to show it off during the session. He really nailed it, and the crowd loved it. They wanted more SQL 2008. In the shower that morning I was thinking... hmmm what can I do to ensure that the session isn't super serious. If anyone had been to the SQL 2008 or WS08 sessions at the various launch events, or possibly any events since last TechEd, they might have seen most of our material, but I really wanted to put a SharePoint focus to the session. Wednesday night was the game night. Snacks, drinks, and XBOX games with your top favorites. After chatting with folks at the game night, we split up and I ended up at the Dell and AMD social at Ruths Chris. It was good to see some of the Dell IT folks who visited recently and those working on AMD.com. Dino, Doron, and Mike were all enjoying themselves as well. Also had a chance to connect with Matt from Catalysis and connected with a few MS folks from the field. After we were all very hungry and on our way to AC and Bob's SharePint party at Kells, we couldn't find a good place to eat (little did we know Kells had Shepherds pie!) I suggested Wild Ginger, but the 15-20 minute wait was too much for Shane. He bowed out and took a portion of the crew (Todd and Nicola) with him to MCDs and then Kells and back to the hotel. We didn't see them after that. We did meet up with Woody and David Solomon. We even ran into Rob Bogue. Good chats with him about TechEd and the state of things in the midwest. Steve Carvajal had been chatting with Shane and ended up eating with us and following us to Kells. Kells is definitely where the party was. AC, Bob Fox, Fitz, Kimmo, the HP SharePoint experts like Kevin Laahs, Daniel McPherson (and gang), some Mindsharp folks, Keith Richie, Maurice Prather, Ted Pattison, Gayan, Patrick Tisseghem, Eric Shupps, Auzzies, Irish and Scots and on and on were there. AC and Bob did very well, it was a good time. I told AC that we need to definitely do this for TechEd. Note we are looking for sponsors, and now that we have proof we can throw a party, I expect them to line up. You can start by contacting Andrew Connell via his blog. This is isn't his first such party, but we have a challenge... we need to beat Palermo's TechEd party. When we get more details we'll reach out more substantially. [Picture left from Kells] I was dressed for the occasion. I was wearing the Bamboo Solutions "Revlolution" garb with the SharePoint Experts dog tags. I looked pretty mean. Meeting up with Mike Watson there, he and I followed the lead of the Avepoint folks. They suggested the real party was up on capitol hill and we found a local dance music venue as Kells was closing down. We'll leave it as "dance venue," but you can imagine it was a whole lot more than that. As the night went on as we shut the place down, someone suggested Five Points for cheesy tots. That was awesome! Very impressive local dive that lived up to the reputation. It is impressive that you can find cheesy tots at 3am. After a round of hot chocolate Mike and I caught a taxi to the W. It would be an early morning starting at 8am with an analyst meeting. Tony and the awesome group of Avepoint folks were a lot of fun. There's no doubt I'll be trying to hook up with them some night at an upcoming conference. His cousin has tight connections with Spongebob. Being only 3 steps removed from Spongebob is unreal. Thursday night started off with a good visit with Fitz and Brian and a good chat with Steve Smith about his whitepapers. We all ended up at an interesting French cuisine place with the SharePoint Experts and the Ted Pattison group folks. It was good seeing Dustin, Heather, Shane, Nicola, AC, Ted, Penny, and a follow up chat with Matt about his session. We were also joined by some cool SharePoint Auzzies. We accidentally left AC in the back of the tiny SUV. As we walked off, he called Shane. By far the funniest thing of the day! Although watching AC eat the bone marrow was pretty funny as well. Shane's immediate reaction to the food brought back memories of France. Flashbacks. [Photos courtesy Chandima SharePoint MVP] Technorati Tags: SharePoint Conference,MVP Social,Parties

Flying Pig!

Met up with an amazing group of women from all over the country in Cincinnati tonight. We'll conquer the flying pig in full pig regalia tomorrow morning, thanks to Lisa Knight who created sparkly pig ears and corkscrew pink pipe cleaner tails for our hats. Oh my lord, it makes me laugh.What also made me laugh was finding out that the Awards Ceremony for the Half-Marathon is at 9:00 a.m. (Imagine me bent over completely double, laughing, since at 9:00 a.m., I will be just around Mile #4.)Prayers, good thoughts, and honey buns are all welcomed. See you on the other side.By the way, since I'll be going about 1 mile an hour, I'll be tweeting the race, so if you're interested, you can follow along at www.twitter.com/pattidigh).{Big laughs when I received this image of a flying pig in full Life is a Verb t-shirt regalia, thanks to Kathryn Ruth Schuth.}

Thin keyboard

Earthrise devs explain interplay of shields, stamina, and energy game mechanics

Earthrise is a post-apocalyptic MMO that's quite a departure from the 'Mad Max' view of a post-civilization world. Rather, the game is one where Earth's technocratic elite survive the global apocalypse via genetic immortality through cloning, and seek to rebuild the world according to utopian ideals. Schisms divide society which leads to outright hostilities and faction struggles, giving Earthrise's players the opportunity to play some very different sorts of characters. The lore of Earthrise is steadily being fleshed out, but we're hoping that the gameplay will live up to expectations. Given that the title is still in early beta testing, we're always looking to get our questions about the game answered. Masthead Studios has been doing just that with their "Question of the Week" forum for Earthrise in which the game's developers answer questions posed to them by the fans. The latest question of the week deals with Earthrise's three major pools: shields, stamina, and energy. Gallery: Earthrise galleryContinue reading Earthrise devs explain interplay of shields, stamina, and energy game mechanics

Gucci's devotion

Greetings. I got a glimpse into Gucci's devotion today. I'm sure she's shown me other signs, but this was one of the few that have been noticeable by me, for whatever reason. It happened during my horseback riding lesson, after I had dismounted and was collecting the horse's lead rope and her leash and tryign to get things organized. I was still feeling a little dizzy. (Refer to the entry on today's lesson for more on this). And I didn't have a good grip on her leash. Sure enough, it slipped from my fingers. Other dogs, when the pressure from the leash lessened like that, might have darted away to have some personal sniffing time. Thinking back, I'm not sure that Gucci did this. I just remember calling her name in a slight panic, since as a blind guy and guide dog owner, you never let go of the leash or release the dog from the leash, unless you want something unpredictable to happen that is. In reality, Gucci might have just turned slightly to look around, but when I called her name, she turned back and took a step toward me, well within my space. I had a hand on her instantly and then one of the riding volunteers handed me her leash. I can't help but think back to that moment of panic for me though and hear Gucci saying in her own doggie way, "I'm here, don't worry." She likes being near me in my apartment, likes being in the same room and not too far away. She'll even follow me if I go from one room to the other in her attempts. She enjoys being near me in my parent's house, after she's done a patrol that is and determined the house to be safe. But this morning's experience was just another indication to me, even more so upon reflection, of that good old German Shepherd loyalty. Or, perhaps it has nothing to do with her breed. All that matters to me is that she was right there and had this attitude of, "I'm here, don't worry," verses running off like other dogs might have done. Thanks Gooch, I can't tell you how much that meant to me.

Migrate exisiting ASP.Net application in WCSF

First, like pbolduc says, make sure you understand why you want to migrate and what you will get out of it. Once you make the decision, you can do what is posted above (which should work) and/or refer to some blog posts I did a long, long time ago on hacking an exisiting web site to be WCSF friendly: Using the WCSF with existing web site projects and Using the WCSF with an existing Web Application Project. I wrote those posts after working with a big customer who wanted to migrate (over a couple of years) a web site with over 10,000 distinct web pages to WCSF. After the hacking, the site worked as expected, and pages could be migrated to use WCSF one by one. These articles are waaaay out of date. However, the concepts should still apply, even if the details are different. You may need to create a new WCSF app and pull out WinDiff and look at what you have and what WCSF puts in config, solution files, project files, etc. Good luck, Michael Puleio -- patterns & practices http://blogs.msdn.com/mpuleio

Chewing gum for fighting tooth decay?

Wrigleys's Orbit chewing gum comes with the chemical which helps fight tooth decay as the package states.It is also sugar free.Some of the variety helps in tooth whitening as well!I am not a regular consumer of chewing gums. But when i buy one i consciously or unconsciously go for Orbit as it is sugarfree and fights tooth decay.

REALLY?

Buy a Florida Foreclosure?

Tiny House via Re-NestRead Real Estate News updated daily.Visit our website @ www.flhotproperties.com On the left sidebar, find links to useful local and industry sites.Find out what's happening in real estate!According to the Miami Herald, in the last three months of 2008, one in five Florida home loans were one month or more past due, the highest delinquency rate among the 50 states. Of those, 8.95 percent were in foreclosure, or 320,315 homes.Nationally, 12 percent of loans were past due, with 3.3 percent of those in foreclosure, representing 1.9 million properties. For a compelling graphic, USA provides Foreclosures on the rise, providing a state-by state breakdown of foreclosure numbers with percentages of change from 07-08.Needless to say, the sad situation is that our Florida housing market is saturated with vacant foreclosures. If you are in the market for one, Fannie Mae just instituted an intriguing program for purchasing REO's. The benefits include: Low down payment and flexible mortgage terms (fixed-rate, adjustable-rate, or interest-only) You may qualify even if your credit is less than perfect Available to both owner occupiers and investors Down payment (at least 3 percent) can be funded by your own savings; a gift; a grant; or a loan from a nonprofit organization, state or local government, or employer No mortgage insurance* No appraisal feesAlso eligible for HomePath® Renovation Mortgage Financing HomePath Mortgage financing is available from a variety of lenders - both local and national. More details on this program are available at Homepath.com

The G20 and the world economy

Despite unprecedented stimulus, the biggest risk is still that governments overall do too littleRARELY has a gathering of the worlds most important politicians been surrounded by so much hype. The leaders of the G20 group of rich and emerging economieswho were meeting in London on April 2nd as The Economist went to presscame with lofty aspirations to rewrite the rules of global finance and reshape the worlds financial institutions. The summit marked Barack Obamas international debut and, for added tension, was accompanied by loud and colourful anti-capitalist protests (see article). But, for all the political drama, the posturing, the preening and the outsize ambitions, history will judge the G20 leaders by a cruder criterion. Are these people, who between them run around 90% of the world economy, doing what it takes to combat the worst global recession in 80 years?It is hard to overstate what is at stake. Since the G20 leaders had their inaugural gathering in Washington, DC, last November, the global economy has fallen off a cliff. Consumers have cut back their spending. Companies have slashed production, postponed investment and laid off workers in their millions. The financial system remains dysfunctional. Trade flows are shrinking at the fastest rates since the second world war, felling export-dependent economies from Germany to Japan (see article). Private capital flows are collapsing, devastating those emerging economies, especially in eastern Europe, that rely on foreign borrowing. ...

Starfruit tree

The starfruit tree (Averrhoa carambola) grows wild in Java and possibly in Borneo and the Philippines. However, there are people who believe that it originated from tropical America. Whatever its origin, the tree has been in cultivation for centuries and it has been grown in Singapore for a very long time.This bushy, 15 metres tall tree is grown for its fruits that may be sweet or sour, depending on the cultivar (left). The tree flowers and fruits regularly throughout the year. The lilac flowers are small and borne in loose bunches (below). The fruit has five deep wings along its length and in cross-section appears star-shaped, thus the common name. It ripens golden yellow.I have the tree growing in my garden for years now. The ripe fruits have always been attacked by fruit flies, falling on the ground to rot. It was some years ago that I noticed green, unripe fruits littering the ground below, always partley eaten. And then I noticed the visits of the noisy, white Tanimbar Corella (Cacatua goffini), an exotic species (below). These corella prefer the green, unripe fruits to the succulent ripe ones. They are wasteful eaters, pecking out pieces and leaving the many partly eaten fruits to rot below the tree. It would appear that this corella has exploited a food niche that other species of birds have been avoiding. It has similarly taking to eating the green pong pong fruits (Cerbera odollam) that no animals had previously been eating (see 1 and 2). The flowers of the starfruit tree attract ants, bees, moths and others (above), and these insects in turn attract birds. But I have so far failed to see many birds on this tree besides the corella. Except the smallish Common Tailorbird (Orthotomus sutorius) that regularly visits the tree, quietly gleaning for insects. The bird in the photo below is a male in breeding plumage, with long central tail feather and blackish sides to the neck. Now who says exotic plants do not attract wildlife?If any birders have observed other birds visiting this tree, please leave your input here. Thanks.Input and images by YC.

Good Memories

When I was eight-years-old, I entered my first placement. The foster parents were an old couple. They had adopted girl who was a year younger than me. At the time, they also had a sixteen-year-old foster daughter in their home.Since I have highlighted a lot of negative things, I decided it would be good to focus on some positives. I remember a lot of positive things about that first foster family. These are the highlights:I had my own room for the first time ever. This was both awesome & scary.If I had bad dreams, my foster mom would sit with me until I fell back asleep.We had french toast a lot. I was allowed to use honey & syrup & peanut butter on my french toast.We went to Canada for a camper rally. The foster parents brought along myself, their adopted daughter & three of their granddaughters.They had two aquariums. I loved to watch the fish.They had a big backyard. Because I was young it seemed ENORMOUS. I am sure it was just a bit bigger than average.They had grand kids my age & they would come over to play a lot.My foster sister had more Barbie dolls than anyone I had ever met. They were all named Christina. So was her fish.We had a huge box full of dress up clothes & had more fun with those than anything else in the house.We went to church every Sunday & got donuts during "Fellowship," which fell between Sunday school & church.

The High Priests of Deception

George Washingtons Blog The Church lost a lot of its power during the plague. The clergy not only failed to stop the pandemic, but they tried to suppress its severity. In other words, many people saw that the clergy were both impotent and dishonest. So people lost faith in the medieval Church. Bernanke, Geithner and Summers are the high priests of high-leverage speculative finance. They pretend that they can stop the worldwide depression with their oracular powers, and that the financial plague is not that bad. But the facts say otherwise: Paul Krugman notes that even during the Great Depression, there were occasional upturns, which people touted (incorrectly) as the beginning of a recovery Krugman also calls the bank stress tests a mere self-esteem class for banks that no bank will be allowed to actually fail Former labor secretary Robert Reich blasts the whole notion that the crisis is over: But were not at the beginning of the end. Im not even sure were at the end of the beginning. All of these pieces of upbeat news are connected by one fact: the flood of money the Fed has been releasing into the economy&So much money is sloshing around the economy that [mortgage prices are] bound to drop. And cheap money is bound to induce some borrowing. The real question is whether this means an economic turnaround. The answer is it doesnt. Cheap money, you may remember, got us into this mess. Six years ago, the Fed (Alan Greenspan et al) lowered interest rates to 1 percent. Adjusted for inflation, this made money essentially free to large lenders. The large lenders did exactly what they could be expected to do with free money  get as much of it as possible and then lent it out to anyone who could stand up straight (and many who couldnt). With no regulators looking over their shoulders, they got away with the financial equivalent of murder& Some of the big banks will claim to be profitable, but dont bank on it. Neither they nor anyone else knows what their assets are really worth. Besides, the big banks are sitting on over $500 billion over taxpayer equity and loans. Who knows how theyre calculating profits? Most importantly, theres still a yawning gap between the economys productive capacity and what its now producing, and absolutely nothing will turn the economy around until that gap begins to close. Tyler Durden points out that Americans are rapidly being divided into 2 separate worldviews - investors versus taxpayers - in the same way that the plague divided the world into true believers and those who saw that things were getting worse and that the Church could not do anything to stop it: The taxpayers are becoming angrier and angrier at the net present value destruction of future opportunities of being a U.S. citizen, while investors cheer every piece of information (whether or not supported by facts) that provides a push to their current net worth, ignorant of what this may mean for the future. There will come a point where this schism reaches a boiling point, in the meantime, the paradox is that so many of the taxpayers are also investors, who are caught in a tug of war with themselves on what the proper response to the crisis should be: happy as a result of bear market rallies, or sad when they put the facts into perspective& The disinformation rift between the American taxpayers and investors will keep growing until inevitably, one day, it will escalate to the point where empty promises on prime time TV by the administrations photogenic representatives will not suffice, and real actions that benefit future American generations will be demanded& Just as the clergy were able - during the initial stages of the plague - to reassure people that everything was normal, Bernanke, Geithner and Summers might be able - for a short while - to reassure gullible investors that the stock market and the economy as a whole is starting to bounce back. Indeed, the trillions of dollars they have thrown at the financial giants are partially intended to do just that - make things seem okay for a short while.In reality, as leading trend forecaster Gerald Calente puts it, the main accomplishment of the governments response to the economic crisis has been to enable the wealthiest and most powerful to secure their own personal life rafts. But the government is doing nothing to plug the hole that is sinking the ship which the rest of us are on. Note: I am not anti-faith or anti-spirituality (I am only talking about the medieval church). I am simply anti-lies and anti-ignorance.

Super Bowl Hangover

Yay folks, this is our two year anniversary. This was the first post I ever wrote for GoWF. It's not very good and I actually didn't even drink a single beer yesterday. We've come a long way!I hope you find joy in knowing that I will be fighting off vomit all day today. Already this morning, I nearly went into the bathroom on the Metro North train to throw up, which as you may or may not know, is arguably the most disgusting environment on the planet. Now I am faced with a lousy team meeting in 35 minutes in which various people will discuss action items for the week. Meanwhile, I will concentrate on not breathing through my mouth, so nobody will smell the gross scent of a random mixture of flavors, most notably stale beer, chicken wings, prosciutto, Chinese dumplings, and cheese. If you can’t already tell, I am really angry right now.This happens every year and I’m so fed up. Sure, I could learn my lesson, but I rather not and it’s time to put a stop to the pure stupidity of this my greatest grievance. Why does the blasted Super Bowl have to be on a Sunday?If you can tell me one single good reason why this is a good idea, then I will give up on my annual tirade, but I have thought this through in depth and there is not even one. Let’s think about it. Perhaps you are worried about the ratings? Dumb. It’s Super Bowl. Do you really think if you put it on Saturday night, people would actually decide not to watch it? On the contrary, this would likely increase viewing as religious weirdos across the globe could tune in, who might otherwise be doing some weird religious crap on Sundays.Or maybe it’s that Super Bowl Sunday is a time honored tradition? Dumb again. You A-holes do not have any problem ripping down historic stadiums to replace them with random monstrosities that look like bike helmets. Or my personal favorite, you put futuristic robots all over the TV (who do nothing but loosen up the whole game) during the games.I’m guessing the reason behind the Sunday Super Bowl is a thoughtless result of regular season games being played on Sunday. Granted, it seems logical that if regular season games are played on Sunday, why shouldn’t the Super Bowl? Let me explain why. It is a wholly unselfish cause I assure you. The world economy suffers a tremendous shock, as its entire workforce is utterly dysfunctional as they suffer through the day in sheer agony. The result over the Sunday Super Bowl is amazing when you think about it. There are literally hundreds of millions of people all over the world pretending to work right now. Every single one of them is staring at a computer screen just wishing the lights were lower and typing emails to other hungover friends.Maybe you are worried about interfering with the important Saturday night programming? I guess the thought of interrupting the most annoying ass clown on TV, Jimmy Fallon, on Saturday Night Live would be a devastating blow. I actually just brought this point up simply because I hate Jimmy Fallon and wanted to ridicule him. Ever since I watched Fever Pitch, I cringe at the sight of him and I hate how he does that cutesy voice where he acts nervous and runs his words together. Holy crap that movie sucked. Saturday Night Live is suffering from a blatant lack of drug abuse. Anyway, I’ll get back to the point. TV on Saturday night is bad; TV on Sunday night is good. Therefore, that’s another piece of ammunition in my fight against Sunday.I think I made my point loud and clear and it should be obvious that there is no good reason for the Super Bowl to be on Sunday. Good, I’m glad we got that sorted out. By the way, now it is Tuesday and I am really depressed, because I am realizing now that the sports abyss that is late winter is upon us.