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The Superficial - Because You're Ugly  -
12 hours and 26 minutes ago
 Anne Hathaway has been doing her best to
distance herself from her ex-boyfriend con man Raffaello Follieri. She's even changed her number,
and many believe she
helped the FBI arrest him. But now she's getting pulled into the investigation after her
private journals were confiscated during a raid of Raffaelo's apartment. I say around mid-afternoon
the Internet will be soaked with tales of pale sex next to a roaring fire of hundred dollar bills
while Bill Clinton watches. NY Daily News reports: The
agents confiscated the intimate diaries of the Devil Wears Prada star during another raid
on Follieri's $37,500-a-month Trump Tower pad, according to the sources. Seeking to bolster their
case against the dashing Italian, who has been charged with 11 counts of fraud and money
laundering, agents are also said to have seized photos of Follieri with Bill and Hillary Clinton,
Pope John Paul II, and John and Cindy McCain. January 21, 2007 Raffaello bought me
a yacht made of solid gold. We make love inside a Lamborghini then discard it like a used condom.
June 3, 2007 We take my yacht "The Why Don't I Question Where My Boyfriend Gets
His Money" out on the sea. We make love on top of a sea turtle then discard it like a used condom.
June 5, 2007 The sun fucking BURNS. Raffaello confuses me for a lobster woman then
attempts to seduce me. I now have doubts about our relationship. August 12, 2007
Raffaello buys me a diamond ring the size of a Buick. But not before stopping by a church and
running out with the collection plate. He's so romantic. November 23, 2007 Sorry I
haven't written in so long. Raffaello and I vacationed on the moon. I met presumptive presidential
candidate John McCain today. He tells me his secret recipe for barbecue, but I don't know wear to
find unicorn hearts and the bottled tears of children. December 25, 2007 Raffaello
manned a vast hunting expedition to track down the real Santa Claus. He brings me a blanket made of
his beard, carcass and coat. Love is made. Expensive items discarded like condoms. February
15, 2008 Approached by FBI agent today. Asked me if Raffaello knows the pope. I tell the
agent, "No, but he likes to dress like him." He laughs then pulls out duct tape and a wire tap. It
itches. Photo: Bauer-Griffin |
Le Monde.fr : A la une -
13 hours and 27 minutes ago
L'université de technologie de Troyes est l'une des 20 premières qui
accéderont à l'autonomie. Son président explique pourquoi elle s'est
portée candidate.  |
Silicon Alley Insider -
15 hours and 22 minutes ago
Thanks for joining us! Steve's late. IR head Colleen Healy is now laying out the day. Watch the
webcast live here.
This is a critical speech for Steve Ballmer, whose reputation has been damaged over the past six
months.
11:48ET: STEVE's ON
Boy, what a subdued entrance. No music, no applause, obviously no Monkey Boy.
Joke about auditorium bombs. Now standard blatter about innovation, competition, etc. Steve CARES
about financial performance (this bullet obviously designed to address concerns he couldn't care
less about stock price).
Finally getting warmed up... Good Steve gutturals. Today about SHAREHOLDERS. Cares DEEPLY about
financial success.
Our Mission: We've been moving beyond PC for 20 years. Server and enterprise. A
lot we had to learn. Using this as an example of ability to go beyond PC, be successful, despite
pooh-poohing of peanut gallery. [Here's the problem with this analysis: Microsoft's
server business is still tiny relative to Windows/Office]. We've only been at Internet
for 13 years. Phones/TVs same. Yes, still have a long way to go. We are coming on nicely. [Sorry,
just not buying this.]
Our Stock Price: We care. Employees complain out our P/E ratio. Steve explains:
we aren't growing that fast anymore. But still 18% compounded last 6 years. This is indeed
impressive, but multiple was sky-high to begin with.
WINDOWs is air we breathe. We need new releases. We're working on it. We're
being attacked by a single competitor (Apple). Windows PCs getting smaller, cheaper (not good for
MSFT financial performance until maintains unit price). PC engine healthier today than a year
ago.
Mobile and Online: This is where market value has been created. We're not where
we want to be.
PROFITS: We've done well. We are cash generating company that can continue to
return cash to sharheholders WHILE growing operating income [Translation: People, pay
more for our stock already]
Talking through FY09 numbers. Nothing new. Most of FY09 Operating Expense increase is
precommitted.
NOT changing stock comp policy. We are a GOOD payer, not a GREAT payer (total comp).
Enterprise vs Consumer
Lots of excitement around consumer. We see HUGE opportunities in enterprise. [Great: So
Please just focus on enterprise.]
We are now arguably the world's largest enterprise software company. [YES! And this is is
where you should stay focused!]
Everything now remapping to world of Software PLUS Services. [No...it is largely
remapping to world of SERVICES. Client software will continue to exist, obviously. But if
Microsoft didn't have so much vested in Client software, it's unlikely that they would describe
the world this way. In new world, software supports the service, when necessary. In old Microsoft
world, service plugged into software.]
Rich client has different role. Must be easy, fun. [Got that right.]
Shift means risk? I say shift means OPPORTUNITY! [Love the energy, as always, but this
opportunity also coming with big risks]
Consumer...we're building off Windows and Office, which people already use. [Yes, this is
true. But still a challenge. And it's why it's so critical the company focus on this
business--which it still owns--instead of one it has already lost (search)]
ONLINE
Handles Kevin Johnson departure very well. Admits he wasn't supposed to give Online presentation.
Kevin gone, so you're stuck with me. Finally, some laughter. [Also confirms that Kevin left of
his own volition]
Why are we in search/online? Search a huge transformation in world's economy.
[YES]. It's also a huge SOFTWARE transformation. [YES, but not the way
Microsoft wants it to be, IMHO.] No paper in 10 years! [A stretch, but certainly
more will be digital.]
So WHY ARE WE PURSUING? Because there's a $1 trillion market being transformed. That is such a
huge opportunity, we have to seize it. Need opportunities that big given size of our business.
[Agree re size of oppty. But not the need to go after it.]
Online loss tiny relative to our business. So a good risk/return. How long will it go on? Not
sure. Will be investment mode until we get scale. [Unfortunately, we've been waiting 13
years already. Google is 8 years old.]
ALSO, search is RIPE for innovation. Still sucks: 10 blue links. 50% of searches don't solve
problem [But 50% do. And Google WAY better positioned to add incremental
innovation.]. Business model hasn't been changed. [Neither has Windows business
model...for a lot longer than search model.]
We will reinvent user model and business model. Harder for market leader to do this.
[Yes, this is true, when the change is DISRUPTIVE. When it's just incremental, market
leader can sit back and watch others innovate and then steal the good ideas. Microsoft used to be
great at this.]
Only two companies on planet have staying power and wherewithal to compete. [Only two BIG
companies, yes. In search. But Microsoft has yet to demonstrate that this staying power will ever
really lead to anything.]
Brian McAndrews takes over. Former CEO of aQuantive. A candidate to run Yahoo or
Microsoft's online business.
Uh oh, a classic Brian McAndrews Powerpoint chart. Might as well post a book on the screen.
Utterly inscrutable.
Apparently is a map of world of advertising. Search, exchanges, networks, publishers, etc.
Details on the thrilling remnant ad market. (Seriously low margin).
Many pieces:
Microsoft enterprise. Atlas. Doubleclick competitor.
Big ad network: competes with Ad.com
Search: AdCenter
Atlas Ad Manager, small relative to Doubleclick
AdECN: Exchange.
Have players in each space. [Guarantee 90% of audience completely lost. Bombardment of
brands, businesses, sell-side, buy-side, display, search, etc. Audience probably summarizing in
minds as: "Talking about Microsoft's ad business, which is running a distant third to Google and
Yahoo and lost $488 million in last quarter.]
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Need huge investment. This is scale game. [Everyone already sold on that one.]
Emerging media: We're in every one of these, too. Games, mobile, display, etc.
InGame advertising [Small market, has developed much more slowly than
expected.]
Mobile ads [Microscopic. Also developing much more slowly than expected.]
Video On Demand ads, partnerships with lots of big companies [Still small, slow to
develop]
IPTV: We have software platform
Other: supermarkets based on what is in cart [Microscopic.]
Advertisers want one-stop shop. [Yes, but again, Google much better positioned to deliver
it, and advertisers HAVE TO buy Google]
We will continue to invest in all media and platform. Lots of investment, but we're excited.
STEVE TAKES OVER AGAIN
Financials of Online: 4 Business Lines.
Windows Live: Lots of users, pulls folks in. A "community play." [Needs
to explain what "Windows Live" is, because no one knows.]. A "good story" despite
pricing pressure.
MSN: Expenses under control. Good contribution margin with leverage.
SEARCH: Revenue per searches should go up. Query volumes up 40% y/y. RD growing rapidly. Wildly
unprofitable.
ADVERTISING: Reflects "other" business. Static story.
So search is creaming financials of whole division, but it's mission critical. The starting
point. Great business. Only business where people value advertising as part of the result.
Search Financials:
This is a two horse race: Microsoft and Google. [Not yet]
Google still clobbering us. How do we fix?
Increase revenue per search.
Get more queries.
But to get more queries, need more advertisers. CATCH 22. This was where Yahoo came in.
[Yes, but it's not just about lots of advertisers. It's also about consumers equating
Google with Search. Most consumers don't know and don't care who is more relevant. They just
think Search=Google.]
Revenue per search will not go up as fast as we want. Have to fix queries first. [And
this, in our opinion, will take a lifetime.]
COGS not a variable expense. It's a fixed expense. We won't be as high as Google at $2.3 billion,
but to index largest volume, we need to spend almost that much.
R&D: Google spends $2.5 billion, 70% in core search (they say). We need to think about
$1.2-$1.5 just to stay competitive.
MARKETING: Google doesn't have to. We do. [Exactly]
So when people say how do you lose $1.2 billion in this business...I say that's how.
We are being smart and efficient with the numbers we put up. If we are going to be in this game
and pursue this opportunity, we're going to have to innovate, reinvent, and ante up.
[Agree with all this. Where I disagree is odds of success. This is not just a muscle
game.]
Will we succeed? YES! How?
-best and brightest
-We'll get outside box
-people galvanized
[This won't do it.]
But...Steve acknowledges big, risky gamble
YAHOO:
Nothing currently under discussion. Goes through whole schizophrenic
takeover/search saga.
At right price and speed, would have been good tactic. At wrong price and too long, dumb. So we
bolted.
Now people say "but you have to buy it." No we don't. It's a "tactic."
Now that we're not going to blow $44 billion, we have more flexibility. We can now lose a lot
more money on things like Live Cashback.
We can spend more on relevance [which won't help search share.]
Will we never talk to them again? Answer: no. Never is a long time, big world. [LEAVES
DOOR OPEN FOR MORE YAHOO CHATS]
Ends: It's a two horse race. [Between Microsoft with 9% share and Google with 70%
share... Never mind Yahoo's 20% share]
Hands off to Microsoft Search Guru, whose name escapes me.
MICROSOFT SEARCH GURU
Need to pony up to increase index, improve relevance. We think we're as good as Google in the US
(on relevance). [If so, evidence that relevance won't help gain share.]
Core innovation agenda: Simplifying tasks. Understand query intent as well as
documents. Get to semantic understanding, help with TASKs. We are focused on commercial intent.
High query volume, high interest.
Reinventing business model. Now it's a $20 billion market. We can reinvent economic model. Live
Search Cashback. [Like the aggressiveness and thinking here, but still no evidence it
will lead to sustainable share gains. Payouts are too small to change behavior of all but most
cost-conscious shoppers. That is, if they can remember to bother.]
Going through innovations... [Here's the problem. Google is watching this presentation.
And checking Microsoft's search 5X a day. What do you think Google will do if it sees something
it likes? Copy it. Immediately. Before user changes habit. These innovations are not disruptive.
They are incremental. And Google has some of the "best and brightest," too.]
         |
eve-online.com | devBlog -
15 hours and 48 minutes ago
Since my last blog entry, there has been some awesome work done in QA Engineering. This is the work
of many people at CCP, most in the Quality Assurance department, but we have also received great
assistance from the programmers and operations guys.
Empyrean Age introduced a large number of new objects and system changes. Some of these are huge
and would require a herculean effort to manually test. QA Engineering was asked to step in and
script as much as possible to allow the QA Testers to focus on testing functionality. CCP Atropos
took the lead in this and below are some of the cool new testing tools we have available as a
result of his work.
Many of our new tools were never previously needed, since the data they would test had been tested
by the Bug Hunters and the EVE player base; for example, how often do Stargates change where they
are going to? In earlier expansions, changes to these systems were made on a very small and limited
scale, so testing time was short and simple. With Empyrean Age, though, that was all changed.
Automatic Gate Verification. With the addition of Black Rise we encountered some
new testing issues that we had never faced on this scale. We added a large number of Stargates and
these had to be checked to make sure they went where we wanted them to go, and that they were
properly paired. How it works: the test would draw up a list of systems in the current region and
break them down into constellations. The test could then be invoked on a constellation or region
basis. Once a list of candidate systems was compiled, it would transfer itself into the first
system, then navigate to the first gate, and jump through. On the other side of the gate, it would
check to ensure that the destination system was correct and that it was within range of the correct
return gate. Once that returned a positive or negative result, it would log the response, transfer
back to the previous system, and proceed to check the next Stargate. And so on, and so forth,
loading systems up as needed, since many would be offline. This meant that we could get 6 testing
machines, assign each to test a different constellation in Black Rise, and complete the entire test
in about 45 minutes. This also meant that it was repeatable on demand. To manually test this would
have taken far too much time and would have meant that it was not easily repeatable.
The result of this was that we quickly identified 6 gates within Black Rise that were broken and
needed fixing. This fix was applied and then, rather than just test the 6 fixed gates, we reran the
entire test again. We also reran the entire set of tests on Tranquility while we had the server in
testing mode to confirm that the gates in Black Rise were all working correctly after deploying the
Empyrean Age updates.
Ice and Asteroid Belts. With the success of the Stargate testing, we wanted to
apply similarly simple scripted tests to check other stellar data. We wrote a new script to get a
ship to check the contents of a belt. This then gave us a report of what was in each belt and a
warning if an Asteroid Belt had Ice or Ice Belts had Asteroids. As a result, we found that there
were no Ice belts in any system in Black Rise, but there were several Asteroid Belts with Ice. The
actual fault was that the celestial record was wrong and needed to be fixed (Ice Belts being marked
as Asteroid Belts). We then reran the entire test to verify the fix.
Loot Table Changes. There were a lot of changes in Empyrean Age around the loot
tables; these needed testing. To do this manually would have been a huge job (there are almost
4,000 different entities in the database in various states of design and use), so the decision was
made to script a large amount, then select specific NPC entities for manual testing. A simple
script was created that would spawn a quantity of a particular NPC from the list, then destroy them
and check whether the wrecks did or did not contain loot, in line with the designed drop rate for
that NPC. Some entities were harder to test, such as Overseer Structures (since they are massive
and have rules determining how many can be deployed on a grid), but we could still check that we
were getting some results. It was also discovered that some NPCs simply had no loot
– they generated no wreck, no containers, no loot, nothing! After
checking these results with the EVE Game Design Group, we determined that this was as intended for
some but not all NPCs. On the other hand, some NPCs had no wreck type associated with them, meaning
that they simply spawned a cargo container with the corresponding loot inside it
– again, some by design, some not. This allowed us to identify a number
of issues that were fixed and then the entire test was rerun.
Capture Point Bunkers. Another new feature that was introduced with Empyrean Age
was the Capture Point Bunkers, and these not only needed to be tested for functionality, but to
make sure they were in the right solar systems and not in other systems. We had scripts jump to all
the Factional Warfare systems, test for the existence of a Bunker, and verify that it was within a
certain distance of the Sun. We also had a script that checked that there were no bunkers outside
of factional warfare systems. This test took so long to execute, we set the tests running and then
came back later to review the results.
These scripted tests allowed us to test positively, for the presence of a particular variable or
effect, and negatively, to ensure that something did not appear. This was the case with Capture
Points which should only exist in systems flagged as being part of Factional Warfare and nowhere
else.
Why do this through the client? All of the data we were testing was present in the database, but if
it was not being delivered to the user in the intended manner, then the data becomes. We decided to
test it through the client to confirm that a particular feature actually worked through the
client.
Log Server Changes. It was decided that use of the client side Log Server had gone
far beyond its original use as a debugging tool and was now being used to provide intelligence and
scripting hooks. After much debate it was decided that these tools outweighed the advantage gained
in testing from having complete client logs and changes were made to how the EVE client reports
information to Log Server. What this also means is that player supplied Logs are not as useful as
they once were and that the CCP QA members or the ISD Bug Hunters now have to spend extra time
duplicating an issue and collecting complete client logs. This will have an impact on resolution
time for these issues. We are not happy with this but it is a fact of the changes. Please note that
these changes only affect the logs captured client side, not server side, so this won’t
affect chat or combat logs. Once identified these changes were completed by the EVE Software Group,
specifically CCP Laurelle.
Startup Tests. You know those "Not Accepting Connections" and "Unknown Protocol"
messages that you received on occasion during downtime? The Deployment and Operations groups were
actually testing the deployment of the Empyrean Age code base onto Tranquility during the downtimes
before the update. This also highlighted some issues of scale and timing for the upgrades with
cluster startup which we could fix before the official deployment. This allowed us to better
calculate the needed downtime and allow proper time for any errors or issues that could arise. Most
things went to schedule and thus we opened the server early, which was rather nice to do! CCP
Mephysto and his team in QA Deployment took the lead on this and, with the help of Operations, got
the code up and running on the cluster. After that a number of people from different departments
(Software, QA and Operations) went over the resulting logs looking for errors and fixing them.
Starbases. Previously Starbases have always seemed to cause issues after every
patch. This was noted and we conducted special tests avoid this. We actually copied some common
Starbase configurations onto a dedicated server and then performed a full Empyrean Age software
upgrade on the test server to verify that Starbase configurations, modules and functions worked as
intended. This gave us greater confidence that we would have no significant issues with
Starbases.
Unit Testing. We have developed a new unit testing framework based on pyUnit and
integrated this into our Walking in Stations (formerly Ambulation) code base, as Walking in
Stations is derived from the EVE code base. This is now being used to build up a set of unit tests
for the basic 'services' used in EVE in a controlled environment. When "Walking in Stations" is
integrated back into the main EVE code base this will integrate the unit test framework into our
main code base with a much lower risk of issues. CCP Atropos has been taking the lead in this
work.
Graphic Assets Testing. How do you test graphics assets? Well, we started with the
ship models and looked at the rules governing them. To start, we developed a test that ensured:
texture maps and specular maps are the correct size, the modules have 5 or more damage locators,
and the ship and turrets both have a shadow effect associated to them. We ran this test over all of
the ship model files and started looking for ships that did not meet the rules. Additionally, we
have now started to proto-type a new stripped-down testing framework into which we can add all
these tools and other tool ideas that have resulted from this work. Once this work is complete it
can be packaged and made into a tool for the Artists to use to check all new graphic assets before
entering them into the EVE code base. CCP Sputnik, with the assistance of CCP Redundancy, has
worked very hard on this.
Load Client. In my last blog I spoke about wanting to develop a light weight,
scriptable client that would enable us to run load and controlled testing on the test servers.
After Fanfest last year we completed a proof of concept of this project and got a number of clients
running on remote computers (up to 3 clients per computer) all following the commands from a
central computer doing some simple tasks. This was a nice validation that we could get this
working. We identified that, to make this truly successful, we needed to reduce the 'weight' of the
client and have been working on this since then. We have created stubbed version of our audio and
graphics engines so that we can now replace these in the client and significantly reduce the amount
of CPU and memory used by the client, allowing us to run more clients on a single machine. Now that
this has been done we are shifting our focus back to the control framework and the network control
systems. There is still much more to do here but, when complete, it will allow us to run very
controlled, repeatable tests so that we can exactly compare results on one code base versus another
and look and the differences.
API Testing. CCP Elerhino, over in EVE Software, has taken on the mantle of API
developer, fixing a number of bugs and standardizing the code and caching systems that the API
uses. These needed to be tested so QA Engineering scripted it and made it repeatable and automatic.
We now have a basic unit test framework for the API. In addition, we got the EVEMon code base and
added some testing options so we could point it to our internal API test server to test the API
changes. We then sent the EVEMon changes back to the developers and this is been integrated into
the code base (thanks again to Araan Sunn from the EVEMon team). If any other developer of tools
that uses the API wants to do something similar then please look at the changes in EVEMon as an
example. As a result of this we are also looking into the deployment of an API test server for the
developers to use. At this point it is still very much just an idea, but the concept is to point it
at SiSi and have reduced caching timers to make development and testing faster.
There isn’t a conclusion of any sort – this is not a critical
issue, but one wouldn’t hurt! In conclusion, we are building up a suite of tools that help us
test the individual components of EVE in an automated fashion. We have started to Automate some
common tasks so that they can be run on dedicated machines and free up the time of our testers to
focus on other testing work. Next we will be looking into the Load Client (as mentioned above) and
starting to string together the individual tests to trigger them automatically upon completion of a
build. All in all, some exciting developments that will help us continue to make EVE a better
product.
|
memeorandum -
17 hours and 11 minutes ago
 National Enquirer:
JOHN EDWARDS
LOVE CHILD — UPDATE: The NATIONAL ENQUIRER is revealing new
details about the political scoop we broke yesterday - the secret meeting between Vice
Presidential candidate John Edwards and Rielle Hunter. — A team of ENQUIRER
reporters caught the married ex-senator visiting …
|
Guardian Unlimited -
21 hours and 5 minutes ago
100,000 expected for 'Victory Column' rally as presidential candidate starts European leg of his
trip
|
paidContent.org -
1 days ago
Here at EconCeleb, Virginia Heffernan, a columnist for The New York
Times Magazine, kicked off our first panel of the day with executives from Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) Entertainment, E! Entertainment and Access Hollywood.
Most popular programming for each outlet: Sibyl Goldman, GM of
Yahoo Entertainment: For us it was interesting to see what worked once all the Paris Hilton-mania
faded last summer. "A year ago, Miley Cyrus certainly wasn't on my radar," but Cyrus outperformed
Britney Spears recently on their site following her Vanity Fair photo shoot. "That was a
scandal made out of what I thought was a non-scandal." Beyond that it's the "new up-and-coming
people," and country stars have been performing well for us.
-- Suzanne Kolb, CMO, E! Entertainment and The Style Network; GM, E! Online:
Romance and fashion is particularly strong. The latest plots and story lines from TV shows are
particularly important to TV fans that check their site. Online is "a different take on
celebrity, a different way in." On air, it's the usual celebrities. Sending the audience into a
short burst of laughter, she threw in: "A lot of our talent have gone to jail and we've been very
clear on that."
More from Silverstein and targeting the male demographic after the jump...
-- Rob Silverstein, executive producer, Access Hollywood: "A year ago
it was a tsunami of news that really hit everybody." They decided to begin skewing the show and
online property to a younger audience following that. "We're specifically targeting that so the
kids and the parents might tune in together to watch the show." Most recently, an interview with
presidential candidate Barack Obama's kids was a huge hit. Comprising eight pieces total that
aired over a four-day span, the Obama kids' first-ever interview drove the show's ratings
up 25 percent, but they still weren't at the level they were at a year ago.
-- How to target a male audience: E! Entertainment doesn't get as many
advertisers trying to reach men online and rarely get advertisers pushing for a purely male
perspective. Typically anything that's targeted to adults will reach both genders well, Kolb
said. Yahoo does a lot of work with partners in the entertainment business. For example, they
recently ran a promotion for Iron Man online and put galleries up on the site that were sponsored
by Paramount surrounding the film's theatrical release.
-- Weighing the pressure to break news while maintaining accuracy: "Access
Hollywood follows the same guidelines that NBC News follows when it comes to
reporting any news story," Silverstein said, literally waving the NBC policy guide around. "You
can't go with a story that big and not really know and then blow it off like you never reported
it." He said they had the Alex Rodriguez-Madonna story before the competition last week, but
decided to hold the story because it came from only one source. Despite their own adherence to
accuracy, Silverstein said "people who are into celebrity news, a lot of them at the end of the
day don't care if it's accurate ... They just want to live through it, it's not that important
... it's important to us because we're going to report on it." Yahoo's Goldman backed that up:
they see a tremendous amount of traffic on stories that turned out to be false, with many
visitors seemingly more interested in reading retractions than the story itself. Access
is even considering a regular feature on gossip that isn't true.
-- International traffic: "For us, it's all about who clicks," Goldman said.
Yahoo tries to follow stories that have an international flavor and are interested in covering
international stars in Latin America and Canada, for example. E! Entertainment gets a few million
visits from abroad while Silverstein said Access Hollywood proudly bends entirely toward
an American-centric approach.
-- Internet celebrities: Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian are two celebrities
that made their name on sex tapes and then went off and did their thing, Silverstein said. Anyone
that's young generates interest and because of that you'll see Access Hollywood cover
anything related to The Hills and Gossip Girl. Kolb noted how "people can truly
become celebrities from any number of places" now. Goldman added that although some people
criticize internet-born stars for getting famous for doing nothing, they don't hold that view too
high at Yahoo.
Related
     |
John H Armstrong -
1 days and 3 hours ago
 I have told many friends, over many years, that
nothing sobers and strengthens my soul like leading a funeral service. I remember many funny,
unusual and delightful moments about scores of weddings I have conducted but I remember almost
every funeral in a much more powerful way. I have preached a funeral service for friends of all
sorts and for both my parents. I always know, as I stand by a grave, "Someday they will
bring your body to such a place. Are you ready?" Nothing moves the mind and heart so
powerfully.
I have conducted several funerals this summer. A recent service was for a dear friend whose
husband I wrote an entire article about four and a half years ago. This appeared in one of my
weekly articles. Her husband's legacy marked my life profoundly. He was a mentor figure who
helped me time and time again. He taught me how to get involved in the lives of men and
thus how to make a one-on-one difference in doing so. His name was John Shoop.
On July 16 I led the funeral for his widow, Ardella Shoop. The service consisted of about 15
people, almost all family. This allowed me to say and do some things reserved for such private
moments. And it also allowed me to reflect upon the life of this godly woman who lived and died
so very well.
When I came to Wheaton as a pastor in 1976 John and Ardella Shoop were really the reason I took
the call from my church. I did not want to come really. I saw nothing but problems on the horizon
and time proved that my judgment would be correct. I took John and Ardella aside during the
candidate process and said, "I will take this call if you will stand by me." John was, at that
time, the executive director of the Christian Business Men's Committee (CBMC), based in Illinois.
He was also the best elder in the leadership of the church. Within a year CBMC would move their
national office to Chattanooga and I would thus lose my best elder and dearest friend in the
church. This loss was huge. But John and Ardella stuck by me and prayed for me for many decades.
They also refused to listen to my critics without also listening to my side of a story
and they offered wise and thoughtful counsel to me without simply telling me: "You are OK."
I reflected on their lives this week at Ardella's grave site and remembered that they had met
both my parents before my dad died and the Shoops moved on to Tennessee. Eventually John would
leave the national position of CBMC. He much preferred to disciple men, not run a
national organization! He moved to the Dallas area and took up a city ministry for CBMC once
again. When he retired, so to speak, he just kept doing the same things he had always
done. He met men all the time. He asked them great questions about their walk with God. He
insisted they stay in the Word and pray regularly. He would ask you, point blank, if you were
doing these things and get very specific so you were not too comfortable if things were not
right.
John could not have done all that he did without a godly, supportive and very spiritually mature
wife. Ardella and John both lost they mates when they were around forty years of age, give or
take. They were in the same congregation in Elgin, Illinois, and then later were married. This is
a case where a second marriage, following two tragedies, produced great blessing for so many
people. When I met them in 1976 they were beginning to "hit their stride" and their maturity and
ministry were deep at that point.
Ardella devoted her life to John but more than this she devoted it to Christ. She had many gifts
in her own right and used them widely. She was not only a loving mother to children from two
marriages but she had her own ministry as a counselor, confidant, mentor and "mom" to students
and young adults. Her gifts of mercy, comfort, discernment and hospitality stand out to me. Her
home was always warm, charming and inviting. I could relax there and share my heart.
At the funeral, which we held at the grave site, I used Ardella's own Bible. Her daughter Marsha,
who cared for her over the last four-plus years in New York, loaned it to me. I read inscriptions
and notes from her worn out Bible that revealed where she got her depth and power. It was deeply
moving for me to hold and use her own Bible. Several from her family shared stories and we
concluded with the Lord's Prayer. It was a blessed season of praise, and a commitment to the
earth of her remains, in the sure hope of the resurrection to come.
I learn again and again, at such times as these, one simple lesson: If you want to
really be prepared for the end of life then live each day well and put your life in his hands and
your heart into his Word day-by-day. There is no other way to live well and finish
well.
|
Media Matters for America -
1 days and 5 hours ago
In his July 21 podcast, Focus on the Family founder and chairman James Dobson revealed his "moral
dilemma" about the 2008 presidential campaign. Though he has repeatedly criticized presumptive
Republican nominee Sen. John McCain -- once
claiming that McCain "has at times sounded like a member of the other party" -- Dobson said
he has become "very concerned" about McCain's presumed opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, whom he
called "more liberal and more extreme than most Democrats in the Senate." Dobson further said
that while "neither of the candidates is consistent with my views," McCain "seems to understand
the Muslim threat."
From Dobson's July 21
podcast, which featured guest Albert Mohler, radio host and president of the Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary, and was released through Dobson's "cultural action organization," Focus on the
Family Action:
MOHLER: I have to tell you, I find Barack Obama to be a very attractive person, a very attractive
candidate. I would want to vote for him. But the closer I look at his positions, the more alarmed
I become. He is the candidate who bills himself as a candidate of change, and in an odd way he
is, just not the kind of change that I think most Americans now understand. So, Doctor, when I
look at this, I have to say we're looking at the most liberal candidate, I think, to gain a party
nomination probably in the history of this country. And on so many of the issues, far beyond even
where a Bill Clinton was. That's what I think most Americans don't understand. Many evangelicals
don't understand, particularly younger evangelicals. This is a man who has staked out his
positions for the last 20 years in a way that is markedly beyond where most Americans believe he
is.
DOBSON: I think he's more liberal and more extreme than most Democrats in the Senate.
[...]
DOBSON: That, and the fact that I'm so very concerned about Senator Obama and what he believes
and stands for, as well as the need to rethink some of my views regarding Senator McCain, and
that thinking has taken place and continues to do so. This is been the most difficult moral
dilemma for me. It's why you haven't heard me say much about it, because I have struggled on this
issue. And there's some concerns here that matter to me more than my own life, and neither of the
candidates is consistent with my views in that regard. But Senator McCain is certainly closer to
them than Senator Obama by a wide margin, and there's no doubt about -- at least no doubt in my
mind -- about whose policies will result in more babies being killed or who will do the greatest
damage to the institution of marriage and the family. I'm convinced that Senator McCain comes
closer to what I believe.
So, I am not endorsing Senator McCain today. I don't even know who his vice presidential
candidate will be. You know, he could very well choose a pro-abortion candidate, and it would not
be unlike him to do that because he seems to enjoy frustrating conservatives on occasions. But as
of this moment, I have to take into account the fact that Senator John McCain has voted pro-life
consistently, and that's a fact. That he says he favors marriage between a man and a woman; I
believe that. He opposes homosexual adoption. He favors smaller government and lower taxes, and
he seems to understand the Muslim threat, which matters a lot to me. I'm very concerned about
that. Therefore -- therefore -- I have considered the fact that elections always involved
imperfect candidates. There are no perfect human beings, and you always have to choose between
two flawed individuals. That's the way we're all made. So, it comes down to this, and I never
thought I would hear myself saying this, but it's where I am -- that while I am not endorsing
Senator John McCain, the possibility is there that I might, and that's all I can say at this
time.
 |
Media Matters for America -
1 days and 5 hours ago
In his July 21 podcast, Focus on the Family founder and chairman James Dobson revealed his "moral
dilemma" about the 2008 presidential campaign. Though he has repeatedly criticized presumptive
Republican nominee Sen. John McCain -- once
claiming that McCain "has at times sounded like a member of the other party" -- Dobson said
he has become "very concerned" about McCain's presumed opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, whom he
called "more liberal and more extreme than most Democrats in the Senate." Dobson further said
that while "neither of the candidates is consistent with my views," McCain "seems to understand
the Muslim threat."
From Dobson's July 21
podcast, which featured guest Albert Mohler, radio host and president of the Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary, and was released through Dobson's "cultural action organization," Focus on the
Family Action:
MOHLER: I have to tell you, I find Barack Obama to be a very attractive person, a very attractive
candidate. I would want to vote for him. But the closer I look at his positions, the more alarmed
I become. He is the candidate who bills himself as a candidate of change, and in an odd way he
is, just not the kind of change that I think most Americans now understand. So, Doctor, when I
look at this, I have to say we're looking at the most liberal candidate, I think, to gain a party
nomination probably in the history of this country. And on so many of the issues, far beyond even
where a Bill Clinton was. That's what I think most Americans don't understand. Many evangelicals
don't understand, particularly younger evangelicals. This is a man who has staked out his
positions for the last 20 years in a way that is markedly beyond where most Americans believe he
is.
DOBSON: I think he's more liberal and more extreme than most Democrats in the Senate.
[...]
DOBSON: That, and the fact that I'm so very concerned about Senator Obama and what he believes
and stands for, as well as the need to rethink some of my views regarding Senator McCain, and
that thinking has taken place and continues to do so. This is been the most difficult moral
dilemma for me. It's why you haven't heard me say much about it, because I have struggled on this
issue. And there's some concerns here that matter to me more than my own life, and neither of the
candidates is consistent with my views in that regard. But Senator McCain is certainly closer to
them than Senator Obama by a wide margin, and there's no doubt about -- at least no doubt in my
mind -- about whose policies will result in more babies being killed or who will do the greatest
damage to the institution of marriage and the family. I'm convinced that Senator McCain comes
closer to what I believe.
So, I am not endorsing Senator McCain today. I don't even know who his vice presidential
candidate will be. You know, he could very well choose a pro-abortion candidate, and it would not
be unlike him to do that because he seems to enjoy frustrating conservatives on occasions. But as
of this moment, I have to take into account the fact that Senator John McCain has voted pro-life
consistently, and that's a fact. That he says he favors marriage between a man and a woman; I
believe that. He opposes homosexual adoption. He favors smaller government and lower taxes, and
he seems to understand the Muslim threat, which matters a lot to me. I'm very concerned about
that. Therefore -- therefore -- I have considered the fact that elections always involved
imperfect candidates. There are no perfect human beings, and you always have to choose between
two flawed individuals. That's the way we're all made. So, it comes down to this, and I never
thought I would hear myself saying this, but it's where I am -- that while I am not endorsing
Senator John McCain, the possibility is there that I might, and that's all I can say at this
time.
 |
memeorandum -
1 days and 6 hours ago
Reuters:
Obama politically and physically fit: Merkel — BERLIN (Reuters) -
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is an admirer of U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama —
even though she has not yet met him in person. — Asked at a news conference on
Wednesday what she thought of Obama, Merkel responded …
|
|
FRANCE_24
