Author: Serkadis

Robert R. “Bob” Augsburger, a former Stanford vice president, passed away Dec. 31 at his home in Portola Valley due to a brain tumor. He was 83.

Augsburger was educated as a lawyer and a businessman. He joined Stanford in 1971 as vice president of business and finance, supervising Stanford’s vast real estate holdings. According to Palo Alto Online, during his time in office, he worked to renovate and expand the Stanford Shopping Center. He also appreciated open spaces and enjoyed walking The Stanford Dish and Webb Ranch, and believed in condensing development in quasi-urban centers to preserve open spaces elsewhere.

In 1977, Augsburger founded Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST), a nonprofit organization coordinating the efforts of landowners, donors and government organizations toward the goal of land preservation.

Recently, Augsburger had lectured at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business (GSB), teaching courses on nonprofit management.

Palo Alto Online also reported that after retirement, he served on the advisory board of the GSB Oral History Program and as an officer of the Stanford Historical Society. Augsburger was particularly interested in the history of the Stanford endowment fund. Prior to his death, Augsburger was collecting material on important financial developments in the fund in hopes of writing a book on the subject.

The new Opel Meriva has been revealed in these leaked pics that seem to be official. The new Meriva look is similar to that of the Meriva Concept Car presented at the 2008 Geneva motor show, with book-opening doors and a glass roof. The engine line-up will range from 75 to 140 hp, with both turbo petrol and turbo diesel models. An efficient EcoFlex version will be available, and production of the new Meriva will kick off in March, after its official presentation at the 2010 Geneva motor show.

Source | AutoWeek.nl

American manufacturer Ford announced yesterday it has completed the transfer of the UAW retiree health care liabilities to the UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust (VEBA), in a move considered by the company as the culmination of years of work.

The transfer of these health care liabilities to the VEBA Trust is the culmination of several years of work and will significantly improve our competitiveness in the U.S., Lewis Booth, Ford’s chief financial officer said.

We h… (read more)

Homebrew coder Lino has release the first alpha version of fb4nds, a Facebook client application for the Nintendo DS. Read more after the jump.
 
 
Download: fb4nds (http://dl.qj.net/nintendo-ds/homebrew-applications/fb4nds.html)
 

What’s New in Papyrology

Counting the People in Hellenistic Egypt
Volume 1, Population Registers (P. Count)
Series: Cambridge Classical Studies
Willy Clarysse
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
Dorothy J. Thompson
University of Cambridge
Paperback
(ISBN-13: 9780521124874)
Also available in Hardback
Published December 2009

Counting the People in Hellenistic Egypt
Volume 2, Historical Studies
Series: Cambridge Classical Studies
Willy Clarysse
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
Dorothy J. Thompson
University of Cambridge
Paperback
(ISBN-13: 9780521124836)
Also available in Hardback
Published December 2009

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

The French government is likely to pass a bill banning psychological violence among married or cohabiting couples. Critics of the bill argue that psychological violence is difficult to prove while supporters warn that stopping psychological violence could prevent physical violence. If left unchecked, the person committing the psychological abuse may sometimes take it to the physical level.

Psychological violence occurs when a partner is insulted repeatedly. It’s verbal or emotional abuse that doesn’t stop. While psychological violence may leave no physical scars, it can damage people psychologically. It can also cause great harm to a person’s self-esteem.

What’s your opinion of this controversial French bill? Do you think it would be effective in helping to prevent physical violence?

You could ask why the abused person doesn’t just leave. However, it’s not always as simple, especially if the person doesn’t realize the abuse is taking place. Those who inflict mental abuse tend to downplay what they’re doing, saying it’s in the victim’s head or that they’re just joking. At times, economics may also play a role in an abused partner staying in a relationship. Both women and men suffer from emotional abuse at the hands of their partners. Yet, men may be more reluctant to seek help.

There are several warning signs that you may be in an abusive relationship. If you fear your partner and you’re humiliated or yelled at, you’re likely being abused. If you’re left feeling emotionally numb, your partner may be treating you as an object rather than a person. You may be in an abusive relationship if your partner ignores your opinions and leaves you believing that you deserve to be mistreated. (Source: helpguide.org)

Read more about the probable French bill banning psychological violence at BBC.

(Image via stock.xchng)

Post from: Blisstree

Banning Psychological Violence

Now that he has managed to secure himself a full drive in the World Rally Championship, Kimi Raikkonen doesn’t seem too keen at returning to the Great Circle any more. The fact that he already won multiple grands prix, as well as a world title in 2007, seems more than enough for the 30-year old Fin, who now considers rallying a lot less routine than Formula One.

Talking about the things that made him quit the Great Circle and turn to rallying, Raikkonen admitted that the latter pr… (read more)

Arts Museum Journal (Stan Parchin)

Making its majestic debut at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt (June 5, 2010-January 2, 2011). Touring five North American cities, the exhibition presents more than 250 artifacts that describe archaeologists’ recent attempts at locating the elusive tomb of the enigmatic Cleopatra VII (69-30 B.C.), Ptolemaic Egypt’s legendary last queen, and Roman general Mark Antony (83-30 B.C.), antiquity’s most famous pair of ill-fated and clandestine lovers.

Dennis Wint, President and CEO of the Franklin Institute, said, “We look forward to welcoming this magnificent queen to our halls, and to be the first in the world to share with visitors new discoveries from her life, which are being achieved with the help of advancing science and technology.”

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

One of the biggest Nissan dealers in the US filled a $250 million fraud and breach of contract lawsuit against Nissan Motor Co, Nissan North America, Inc and Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp.

According to the lawsuit, despite its prior promises and agreements to provide Kahn with the funding necessary to support the Dealerships through 2009 so Kahn could survive the economic crisis. Kahn believed Nissan, relied on its promises and was induced and deceived.

Nissan was su… (read more)

Scribd

By Michael Rice. 199.

Description

“Who’s Who in Ancient Egypt” is a book written by Michael Rice and published by Routledge in 1999.

Egyptology News Blog, Andie Byrnes

If you were thinking to buy yourself a 2010 Roush Mustang Stage 3 for Valentine’s Day or whatever other occasion sometimes in the near future, think again. Roush announced yesterday that the 103 units of the in-house bred Mustangs have been sold out. Or nearly…

"The ROUSH dealer base has officially ordered all 103 units and that they are selling quickly off the dealer lots," the builder says. "If you are interested in owning one of these 540 horsepower ‘Stangs now… (read more)

Following the confirmation of the CTS-V Coupe as one of the attendees to the 2010 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), American manufacturer GM released yesterday details and photos of what they call the result of the marriage between the "most potent and sophisticated technology with the most dramatic production design.

Simply put, the CTS-V packs a LSA 6.2l supercharged V8 engine, borrowed from the CTS-V Sport Sedan. The unit develops 556 horsepower and 747 Nm of… (read more)

Someone’s gotta help Palm out. After the somewhat lukewarm response to the Pixi and the Pre, it’s rather surprising that Verizon would decide to place a big order. Word is though, that’s exactly what they did.

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Is Dissidia Final Fantasy coming to the PS3 and Xbox 360? If a Japanese magazine scan is to be believed and understood correctly, the answer is a big YES.
 
 
 

In the advertising industry overall, revenues generated by direct and brand advertising are roughly split 50/50. But in the online world, where direct advertising is represented mostly by search and email ads and brand advertising by graphical display ads, the split is closer to 70/30 in favor of direct ads.

Last year, with the economy down, the display portion of the U.S. online advertising industry had a particularly rough time. Total revenues in 2009 were down 5.2 percent to $7.5 billion, estimates JPMorgan analyst Imran Khan in a new Internet industry report. But he forecasts that in 2010 U.S. display advertising will rebound 10.5 percent to $8.3 billion, buoyed by a rising economy and actions to reduce the glut of display ad inventory for higher quality sites and content.  For instance, both AOL and CBS are making moves to remove their premium ad inventory from ad networks where prices get beaten down to the lowest common denominator.

As the industry moves away from plain-vanilla CPM ads—which lead to banner blindness—and towards a variety of better-performing ad formats (including sponsorships, behavioral targeting, and more timely display ads), that should help lift revenues as well.

Khan expects U.S. search advertising to grow an even brisker 13.2 percent pace in 2010 to $16.6 billion, after virtually flat 0.8 percent growth in 2009.  To get a sense of the disparity in the economics between display and search advertising look at JPMorgan’s estimates of display RPM (revenue per 1,000 impressions) and search RPS (revenue per 1,000 searches).  The average display RPM is forecast to be $1.92 this year, while the average RPS is forecast to be $70.14.  Which side of that equation would you rather be on? Which has the most upside?

In mobile advertising, both display and search are puny compared to text messaging ads.  Total U.S. mobile advertising for 2009 is estimated at $2.6 billion, up 62 percent.  But $2.3 billion of that was from text messaging.  Only 178 million was mobile search, and $140 million was display (both up 80 percent last year).  In 2010, mobile advertising is forecast to grow 45 percent to $3.8 billion, with the breakdown being $3.2 billion SMS advertising, $253 million mobile display, and $321 million mobile search.

One of the biggest reasons to be hopeful about the outlook for the continued growth of the Internet advertising industry is that when you look at the time U.S. consumers spend on the Internet versus the amount of ad dollars which go there, the proportions are out of whack.  As recently as 2008, U.S. consumers spent 38 percent of their media consumption time on the Internet (29 percent if you exclude teens and young adults), but it attracted only 8 percent of advertising dollars.  Whereas consumers spent 37 percent of their media consumption time on TV, which captured 32 percent of advertising dollars.  If you believe that time is money, advertising dollars should continue to flow towards the Internet.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

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Well we haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of CES related content and so far the most exciting items have been creative new ways for using USB Flash Drives. The latest is myDitto from Dane-Elec a new device that allows users to remotely access their home or office Servers – using a USB key. myDitto enables users to remotely access their home or business myDitto Servers through a direct peer-to-peer connection – simply by inserting an easy-to-use, lightweight USB key into any PC or laptop. All you need to do is Connect the myDitto Server to a router, create and authenticate up to 30 personalized myDitto Keys for all users, and then simply insert their myDitto Keys into a laptop or PC for instant access to their critical data files, music, videos and photos located on their servers. Through a software application smart phone users, including those with an iPhone can also enjoy access to their myDitto Server. Dane-Elec also designed the myDitto Server as a one-step, plug ‘n play network server for the home or small business.  With no technical knowledge required, users can easily transfer digital files to the myDitto Server from both wired and wireless devices (including PCs, laptops, PDAs and smart phones).  Everyone in the home or office can then share and access all of their data from the centralized myDitto Server. This is perfect for an alternate solution to VPN or for others it offers rapid remote access to an entire home network through a small and lightweight USB key. Pricing and availability to be announced soon.

The Bender Room mimics a living room with its bright lighting, plush couches and coffee tables

Circa 5 p.m., about twenty students dot the room, scattered about one-person cubicles, large circular tables and armchair-surrounded coffee tables. Silence fills the space, interrupted by the occasional cough, creaking chairs and the constant patter of fingers typing. The bells of Hoover Tower and the voices of children playing outside are faintly audible.

Accessible only by an old, slow moving elevator and a hidden staircase, the Bing Wing’s Albert M. Bender Room–more commonly referred to simply as the Bender Room–is Green Library’s tucked away, fifth floor treasure.

Upon exiting the elevator, one is greeted by an austere hallway and a nondescript plaque that reads “500: Albert M. Bender Room.” Indistinguishable outside from room 510 just across the hall, the Bender Room is easily bypassed by an unknowing visitor.

Claire Woodard ’12, a self-proclaimed Green Library and Bender Room enthusiast, still recalls her first exposure to what has become one of her favorite paper-writing getaways.

“I was on a library tour during New Student Orientation, and our tour guide took us to the Bender Room,” she recounted. “She prefaced this part of the tour by saying, ‘This is one of the lesser known study spots in the library. It’s a magnificent room.’ She kind of played it off like it was a secret.”

“It was love at first sight,” Woodard recalled. “It just seemed like such a homey place. The couches are lovely, the view is amazing and I love the variety of books! Sometimes when I’m studying there I take a break and go browse the shelves.”

One step through its heavy wooden door and it is evident that the Bender Room is a far cry from Old Union, dorm lounges or any other spot on campus.

Sunlight pours in through the wide, diamond-patterned windows, illuminating the room’s cheerful golden walls and smooth wooden floorboards. The airy space is comfortably decorated in warm browns, with plush velvet chairs, floral-printed rugs and abundant tables and lamps.

With Bender’s idyllic setting and ample workspace, the room appears conducive to intense study sessions–but is it? Amidst the seemingly serious workers, many Bender Room inhabitants are actually browsing random Web sites, appear completely lost in thought or have fallen asleep.

“There’s always people asleep on the couches,” Woodard laughed. “Sometimes drooling. Often drooling, actually.”

In one corner of the room, a girl is slumped face down, her Chemical Principles and Chemistry: Science of Change texts unopened as she dozes soundlessly. A boy in a green sweatshirt sits at a cubicle by the door, an assortment of papers and an open laptop spread out before him. His head nods forward and back for a moment before he straightens up, looks around and dejectedly glares down at his work.

“How cute is this?” a girl sitting on the floor whispers to her friend. She turns her computer screen, displaying a black and white striped mini dress from American Apparel on her Macbook Air. Her friend smiles and gives a nod of approval.

A set of wooden cupboards with glass windows at one end of the room display various prints, paintings, drawings and other Stanford depictions and paraphernalia, some of which dates back to the late 1800s. A boy wearing gray Vans and a bulky backpack stops to gaze into the display cases for a few minutes on his way out the door.

A boy wearing glasses and a checkered shirt stands up and wanders toward a set of large framed prints of impressive world libraries on the wall. He stops beside an image of Biblioteca Alexandria in Egypt, then the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. He glances around the room before returning to his cubicle.

The room’s door creaks open and a girl in a Stanford sweatshirt walks purposefully toward a table in the opposite corner of the room. She sits and unwinds her Apple charger before standing and relocating to the next chair over. She sips from her disposable coffee cup and takes a granola bar out of her North Face backpack.

“People always eat in there because there’s no librarian to tell you not to,” Woodard said. “One time I was eating snap peas and carrots in there really loudly and everyone stared at me. I guess that was, like, crossing the line.”

Shelves of books bearing works ranging from a thick copy of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand to Amy Tan’s Joy Luck Club encircle the space. The Bender Room, with its impressive literary collection, is even enshrined in Stanford folklore.

“According to general wisdom, the Bender Room contains the best books selected by the heads of every department–say whatever 20 to 50 books represent that field of study best,” explained Kyle Wulff ’10. “There’s a sort of urban legend or Stanford myth of the Bender Room major.”

The idea behind the supposed major is that someone throughout his or her four years will make it a task to read every book in the Bender room.

“Theoretically, he or she will have the most complete, well rounded major that Stanford can provide,” Wulff said.

Major or not, many are at their most productive within the walls of the Bender Room, or at the least, they appreciate its aesthetic charm.

“The Bender Room is the crown jewel of the Stanford libraries,” Woodard sighed. “Maybe I’ll get married in the Bender Room.”