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Andy Cohen wrote:It is now about 3 weeks since i sent you guys a file that reliably choked V1 even with R3D filament. I have yet to hear that V2 successfully prints it using eSun or any other producers filament. As such I am getting a bit worried since in the past Raise3D has shipped products which did not perform as I was led to expect... i.e., any filament.
I sure hope V2 fixed the problems I have found. Problems that have now made my N2 useless for the kind of objects i have to produce with it..
Hi Andy,
I'm new here. Would you like to send it to firstname.lastname@example.com again? We can test it with V2 with 3rd party filament.


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Here's the TTM's newest Weapon of Mass Peace: the Barrage! Inspired by frame which I felt was too small. So I wanted to make something larger to better fit the 7p scale. Here's what I ended up with! Rocket pod was inspired by another member here... can't recall their name... if I find it I'll update this post.
The torso can pivot independent of the hips and legs. Also the torso can tilt up and down independent of the hips; you don't have to adjust the legs to tilt the torso. Plus the arms tilt as well so the full range of motion on this thing is pretty amazing. The sensor array on the crotch there allows the operator to still see what's going on in front of them even if they are tilted vertically.
I still may tweak this but overall it's complete. May add some studs to the travis bricks on the hips and maybe some more stuff on the back. It's supprisingly stable and sturdy. You can manipulate it easily without breaking parts off. Once you have the legs positioned correctly you can just set it down with out being very careful and she will stand no problem. Haven't really settled on the load out yet either. Right now it's just a show piece but I do intend on making it a game piece so I'll sort that out here soon.

subset: commoncrawl


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Hi again
I have a lot of eboots from when I was using my PSP to play PS1 games and was happy to find I could use them on FPSE. I was wondering if it is possible to run the multi disc eboots too. I am referring to the multi-disc games in 1 file and not separate eboots for each disc.
Now I know I should just try them, and I did. It gave me an error relating to memory and closed, but
1- I don't know if the game I tried works
2- I don't know if it copied correctly as I had the same issue with some other games and when I recopied them they worked.


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Professional Web 2.0 Fluor Style Pack #1
You can use it in all your works.
Collection of 5 Photoshop Silver Styles to enchance your text, also buttons or others..
Fonts (not needed) – Any font will work with these styles too.
We used Myriad Pro – Bold (example)
Need any help ? Just contact me on my homepage on Graphic River and ill do my best to answer any questions.
Total Package: 34,50Mb | R# Version 1.0 / Include• 6 Files
• Directory PSD (1 PSD High Resolution File 1600×3000px)
• Directory JPG (3 JPG Images)
• Directory ASL (1 ASL File)
• 1 PDF File (include instructions)
Check other works: http://graphicriver.net/user/gnosedzeign
Professional Business Cards Series #1:
Professional Buttons Series #1:
Professional Style Packs #1:
Have a nice day !


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Ninety or so minutes of soccer ago, Mario Balotelli was playing like the best player on the best team in the world. Now he's going to be a father. That's some consolation, right?
Balotelli's ex-girlfriend, Raffaella Fico, announced she's pregnant with his child. Which is some interesting timing, considering the two broke up back in April after Balotelli couldn't stop seeing prostitutes. (Including Wayne Rooney's sometimes girl. Two days after their first hookup, Balotelli scored a goal for Man City and lifted his jersey to show an "I love you Raffaella" shirt underneath. This is love, Premier League style.)
Fico reportedly told Balotelli she was pregnant the day before Italy's semifinal against Germany, in which Mario scored a pair of goals. His reaction? "You have given me the best news in the world." Aww.


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Backstage at the Daily Show
You are here
SECRETARY STEVEN CHU: I'm in the famous green room of the Jon Stewart show. If you look around, I have all these games: Monopoly, a Rubik's Cube, Pictureka!
Now if – this is to amuse myself, but in actual fact, the most famous part of this room is this. There's enough chocolate here to put you on a high that – (chuckles) – will really get you going.
This is my wife, Jean.
JEAN CHU: (Chuckles.) I'm – (chuckles) – edit this out!
(Begin recorded segment.)
STAFF: We do a quick peek from here. You get a bit of sense of it.
SEC. CHU: OK. So where do I sit?
STAFF: You're going to be sitting to his – see Jon – that's Jon's chair, right here.
SEC. CHU: Right.
STAFF: And your chair's going to be just to the right of that, to the desk. You know, you'll be at the side of the desk to the right.
SEC. CHU: Right. On the other side.
(End recorded segment.)
SEC. CHU: So I'm looking around here, and I – of course I'm – the hospitality here has been great.
But as secretary of energy, I have to comment. If I look at these light bulbs here and there and there, golly, all incandescents! But maybe we'll see if we can fix Jon Stewart with compact fluorescents. (Chuckles.)


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25 Sep 08
Look for the full details of my 1st trip to NYC in upcoming posts. I'll also be adding photos as I get them edited and captioned.
The Ziegfeld Theatre, built in 1969 just steps from the original Ziegfeld Theatre, is said to be one of the last real movie houses built in America. It's located on 54th street in Manhattan and has recently been the location of many movie premiers including Mama Mia, Dreamgirls, National Treasure – Book of Secrets, Made of Honor just to name a few. On Tuesday, 23 Sep 08, the Ziegfeld Theatre hosted the world premier of Nights of Rodanthe, starring Richard Gere and Diane Lane.
We arrived on site about 6pm, running late from our dinner at Carmines. There was a HUGE line and I was sort of freaking out thinking we would be late getting inside on time. My mom without skipping a beat walked up to the front to say "We are guests of Warner Bros" and we were quickly taken care of. Who knew!?? How strange to say "we are quests of WB??".
We walked by the red carpet, who my mom would later say, "what red carpet, I don't remember seeing any red carpet?" I told her, yes mom….you walked right by it! ha! Anyway, we entered the theater that was decorated in velvet red carpet and chandeliers. We were treated to complimentary popcorn, soda and water. The staff was so friendly and the New Yorkers in attendance were also friendly. We found our seats, row H. That is row 8 people. Row 8! Thank you Andrea!
We sat for sometime wondering just were the stars might be coming in or where they might sit. In the end we hear the crowd rustling and discovered they are sitting behind us about 3/4 of the way up. My pictures are pretty dark, so I won't post all of them here. Instead I'll link to the "professionals" here, here and here to let you get a good look at all the stars which included Richard Gere, whose hair was "white white" and Diane Lane, whose about as big around as my wrist and author Nicholas Sparks who surprisingly was wearing a button up shirt with a simple leather jacket.
When the lights dimmed everyone took their seats. There were no previews to watch or commercials, the movie just started. Something I thought different and unique; when an actors name came on screen the audience clapped for their favorites, including for the director and of course the author of the book the movie was based on. This also happened with Richard Gere came on screen, the audience went crazy.
I have to say going into this movie I was ready to be disappointed. I enjoyed the book, but I'm not the biggest fan of Richard Gere. Frankly, I was nervous on whether Diane Lane would keep her clothes on. I had seen Tuscan Sun and really liked that movie, so I tried to have an open mind.
Let me just say this movie really does sweep you away. I felt the entire audience was lost in the movie and at certain scenes there was not a dry eye in the house, classic Nicholas Sparks. How does he continue to tug at our heart strings and make us fall in love with the story and his characters….it's amazing really. I do have to say the not-so-nice part of this movie is that in fact Diane Lane's character is still married when she has this affair with Richard Gere's character. There is one scene where her wedding ring is clearly visable as they are cozying up to one another which I found awkward.
It's important to note, this is the fourth of Nicholas Sparks novels to be made into films. Message in a Bottle in 1999 (with Kevin Costner, Robin Wright Penn and Paul Newman), A Walk to Remember in 2002 (Mandy Moore), and The Notebook in 2004 (Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams).
Diane Lane does an amazing job and I think should be nominated for her performance.
This movie is so visually beautiful, it made me miss the coast even more than I already do!
I'm sure there were lots of things I missed so I plan on seeing it again this weekend.
Nights in Rodanthe is the next Notebook.
Hope you go to see it and let me know what you think!
Look for the latest Nicholas Sparks book The Lucky One to be released Tuesday, 30 Sep 08!
Filed under: A Day in the Life, Favorites, Nicholas Sparks, Nights in Rodanthe NYC World Premier, Wendy | Tagged: diane lane, movie premier, Nicholas Sparks, nights in rodanthe review, richard gere |


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Whitelee, which is Europe's largest wind farm, was closed down last week following the discovery that a blade had broken off at the hilt from a 2.3MW turbine in the early hours of March 19.
ScottishPower said so far around 120 of the 140 turbines are up and running after a "detailed examination" into each one by Siemens engineers. It said the investigation into why the blade fell off was still ongoing.
Siemens has also refused to comment on possible reasons behind the incident. A spokesman said: "We don't have the final conclusion. What we can say is that most of the turbines are back in operation."
He said this is the first blade break on a Siemens since it started manufacturing its own blades in 2000.
No one was hurt or endangered as a result of the incident, which happened around 2am. However, Whitelee wind farm contains an extensive network of trails for walking and cycling as part of its multi-million pound visitor centre.


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.... ashamed to say I never knew about:
Angel Island
The Journey to AmericaBetween the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, millions of people — in numbers which have not been seen since — came to America in pursuit of a better, freer life. On the east coast, most of the huddled masses were met by the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. On the west coast, between 1910 and 1940, most were met by the wooden buildings of Angel Island. These immigrants were Australians and New Zealanders, Canadians, Mexicans, Central and South Americans, Russians, and in particular, Asians. There, during this period of the great migrations, they would meet with a reception quite unlike that given to European immigrants on the East Coast. The reasons for this reception, and the story of this journey, as usual, have their roots in the past.
Around the middle of the 19th century, on the far western frontier of the continental United States, immigrants from Guangdong Province in southern China began arriving, fleeing from a land stricken by both natural and man-made disasters and a collapsing rural economy. Though initially welcomed, when the local economy took a downturn in the 1870s, economic problems were laid at the feet of this highly visible minority by organized labor, newspapers, and in short order, politicians.
Immigrants undertook a Pacific Ocean journey of three weeks, including stops in Honolulu, Manila, Yokohama, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Many passengers could barely afford steerage class travel, and bought their tickets only with the collective help of relatives and neighbors. These new immigrants believed that they could make that money back quickly in America. Other immigrants came from the Punjab, Russia, the Philippines, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, and Latin America as well. Their stories likewise, are not well documented and remain waiting to be uncovered.
On arrival at San Francisco, passengers would be separated by nationality. Europeans or travelers holding first or second class tickets would have their papers processed on board the ship and allowed to disembark. Asians and other immigrants, including Russians, Mexicans, and others, as well as those who needed to be quarantined for health reasons, would be ferried to Angel Island for processing.
A number of laws were passed at the local and state levels targeting the Chinese, soon attracting national attention. In order to secure the crucial western states' votes, both parties in Congress supported the first of several acts targeting immigration from Asia. With the passing of this first act, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, America had limited immigration on the basis of nationality or race for the first time, and it would not be the last, as subsequent acts severely curtailed each successive wave of immigration from Asia which came to replace Chinese immigrant workers.
From: http://www.aiisf.org/education/station-history
Please visit the above site to learn more


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ipass4sure.com HP ProCurve Mobility HP0-752 test prep training.With our HP0-752 ProCurve Mobility practice tests, no other vendor will be able to compare to quality HP0-752 study help. The true way for passing the HP0-752 exam is to get in-touch with the free pass4sure study guide, brain dumps and test answers that will lead to your certification success.HP0-752 Practice Questions are designed with questions, coupled with precise, logical and verified explanations.Our HP0-752 practice exam provides you with an examination experience like no other.Using ipass4sure Free Download crack, warez, password, serial numbers, torrent, keygen, registration codes, key generators is illegal. We do not host any torrent files or links of pass4sure on rapidshare.com, depositfiles.com, hotfile, megaupload.com etc. All pass4sure download links are direct passforsure full download from publisher site or their selected mirrors. Pass On Your First Try With ipass4sure.com. This package includes HP0-752 braindumps, free HP q&a, HP0-752 practice exams. Our lifetime membership includes more than 2200 certification tests and HP0-752 exam is part of this Membership.
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Avoid expensive auto body shop bills with the AutoPro Scratch Magic Eraser. This car scratch removal pen provides professional results in just a few easy steps and it won't damage your vehicle's finish. It works like MAGIC to remove scratches and small marks and works on any type of vehicle.
Whatever happens to your order, you can contact us freely via Emails sent to [email protected]. It will be highly appreciated if you can provide us with any order information for us to check the order details, such as order number, receiver's name, and tracking number.
Once we receive your order, we will process it in the same day and send out the item on the second day from Monday to Friday. Saturday's orders will be sent out together with Sunday's orders.
We use UPS ground, UPS surepost, USPS and truck to ship your order according to the size and quantity of the items that you have ordered.
The transit time depends not only on the distance between your location and our warehouse, but also the efficiency of the carrier. Generally, your order will arrive in 3-10 business days. If you want to know more information, please contact our customer service. We will settle your problem as soon as possible.
Please send the cancel request to [email protected] in the same day that the order is placed. We will cancel it for you freely. If the order has already been shipped out, you have to pay recall cost to stop the delivery if you still want to cancel the order.
Please contact the carrier to see if they have delivered the item to the right place. Meanwhile, please send us your contactable phone number so we are able to claim against the carrier to search for the package. Generally, we will get the search result one week later.
Please send the photos of the damaged item to [email protected] with any valid order information. Our customer service will respond to you within 24 hours and help you solve problems.
Once you are authorized to return an item back to us, please pay close attention to the return tracking number. Once the item is delivered to our warehouse, please send a request for a refund to [email protected] and we will issue you the refund in two business days.
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The circadian system keeps us in sync with the 24-hour day. Our body's internal clock sends signals to many different parts in the body, affecting things like digestion, the release of certain hormones, body temperature, and much more.
One of the main functions of the internal clock is to regulate when you feel alert and when you're ready to sleep. Scientists have seen, for example, that when people are kept indoors with no sunlight or clocks to tell them what time it is, they wake and sleep in a roughly 24-hour pattern. Plants do this too: Morning glories continue to bloom in the morning even when they're kept in darkness.
To stay completely in sync with day and night, however, the internal clock accesses external cues. We keep the internal clock in step with the 24-hour day through sunlight, eating, and other activity in the daytime, as well as darkness at night. This process of adjusting or cueing the internal clock with signals from the environment is called entrainment.
In other words, the internal clock is somewhat flexible—if you think about it, that's why our bodies can keep up with things like daylight savings time and seasonal light fluctuations. This is also why you can travel across time zones and know that your body will eventually come into sync with the local time.


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At the 2003 Tribal Feast, Jim Hogan, Sagamore Distant Murmuring Waterfalls, was named as the 74th Presiding Chieftain of the Tribe of Mic-O-Say.
Jim Hogan was a Boy Scout as a youth in the troop at 283 at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Raytown where he earned the Life Scout Award and the Ad Altare Dei. Jim was called as a Brave in 1961 and a Warrior in 1962. In 1991 he was called as a Sachem. In 1996 he was elevated to Keeper of the Wampum and in 2001, he was called as a Sagamore. He has two sons, both of whom are Eagle Scouts and tribesmen: Firebuilder Son of Distant Murmuring Waterfalls and Brave Little Distant Murmuring Waterfalls.
Jim has been involved with the Heart of America Council as an Executive Board member for the past five years. He has served as Council Chairman of the Training Committee and is currently the Chairman of the council's Membership Committee. He played a major role in the recent New Unit Teleconference that will create more than forty new units in the council.
In the Blue Elk District he has served as District Commissioner for four years, Cubmaster for four years for Pack 162 at Blue Hills school in Independence, MO, and Committee Member of Troop 221 at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Independence, MO for 20 years.
Jim has received the highest award that can be bestowed by the Heart of America Council, the Silver Beaver Award. He has also received the District Award of Merit from the Blue Elk District, the Bronze Pelican Award from the Diocese of Kansas City/St Joseph, and the St. George religious emblem from the National Catholic Committee on Scouting. He also served as Religious Emblems Chairman for the Catholic Committee on Scouting. He is a Fourth Degree Knight of Columbus.
Professionally, Jim is an accomplished business executive and civic leader in the Kansas City area. He is Vice President of Curry Investment Company and Charles F. Curry Real Estate Company. He is also active in several business and professional groups.


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be not rocket science
be not rocket science
To not be a pursuit, activity, or endeavor that requires extraordinary skill or intelligence. Look, all you need to do is reformat the hard drive on your computer. It isn't rocket science! Sure, it took a little bit of time to figure out, but reinstalling the modem wasn't rocket science or anything.
not rocket science
If you say that something isn't rocket science, you mean that it is easy or obvious. It isn't rocket science to figure out that you will sell more sweets if you put them where small children will see them. People should be able to fill in the forms themselves — this isn't rocket science. Note: You can use expressions such as it doesn't take or you don't have to be a rocket scientist to point out that something is very easy or obvious. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why he's so angry. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to work it out. Note: The expression rocket scientist, meaning `very clever person', is used in various other structures. Now I'm no rocket scientist, but even I could see those figures looked way too high.


text: !!! Old Version - Please scroll down for the latest !!!Version 0.64 with Mission 11 and big updates and fixes to the game overall. - Hope you enjoy!This version is just the file structure in a zip file. Just extract the folder and its contents to wherever you want and run the application (xb2-064.exe). I figured I'd save some time on this kinda surprise release and not bother with an installer.PS.: We offloaded 9.3 GB of data last month. Looks like people have been interested in our source code as well as installers.


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Philosophers' Café
Diversity and inclusion: is participating in or emulating another group's practices a form of socio-cultural appropriation or a show of respect?
Randall MacKinnon, the SENIORSage for MackINNOVATION, has served in various roles and positions for a diverse range of innovative local, national and international service organizations since 1970. He has extensive volunteer and professional experience in the fields of mental health, innovation and training. As a social entrepreneur, he initiated ThoughtLeadersDigest.com. He has moderated over 300 cafés in 18 venues since 2003, including youth cafés, seniors cafés, documentary cafés and book salons.
Randall holds bachelor's degrees in both psychology and community organization development from the University of Calgary and a master's degree in social policy and planning from UBC. His particular areas of interest include idea generation, innovation, dialogue, appreciative inquiry, problem-solving, creative living and learning, and governance. He is a member of the board of 411 Seniors and a past board member of SFU's Seniors' Lifelong Learners Society.
About the Philosophers' Café
Philosophers' Café is a series of informal public discussions in libraries, cafés and restaurants throughout Metro Vancouver. The cafés, which are open to everyone, have brought dialogue and discussion to thousands of people who are interested in exploring issues from the absurd to the sublime. To learn more about the Philosophers' Café, please visit their website.


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Barnes & Noble might be struggling to stay afloat in this increasingly digital age, but at least one person sees value in the troubled booksellers: John C. Malone.
Malone's Liberty Media has offered to buy Barnes & Noble for $1.02 billion dollars, the bookseller announced on Thursday. Liberty — which holds interest in the Atlanta Braves, Starz and QVC — has offered Barnes & Noble $17 per share to acquire the company.
Barnes & Noble put itself up for sale in August 2010. It currently has more than 700 locations, as well as a number of stores on college campuses.
Barnes & Noble's board of directors is currently evaluating Liberty's offer.


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This is not a new difference, but we, the users, need to remember a couple of things.
Within Family Tree Maker, we have File Names, Descriptions, and Caption fields to uses, as well as categories. File Names are not important in the Ancestry Member Tree (AMT). Within FTM2012, we can sort by Filename or Caption.
Here is FTM2012 view:
The Filename is at the very top of the screen, Caption, Date, and Description are fields to be edited. (FTM2011 screen capture, but should be the same in FTM2012)
Here is the same image in the AMT.
Picture Name in AMT is the Description in FTM2012
Description is the same in both
Date is the same in both
ATM has a Location Field, FTM2012 does not
The Type in AMT is similar in the Category of FTM2012.
For further details of the Differences between Family Tree Maker 2012 and an Ancestry Member Tree, please visit the Knowledge Base article #5359 What are the differences between the Family Tree Maker and Ancestry.com trees when using TreeSync™?
Copyright © 2011 by H R Worthington


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A sort of evil Plastic Man. Fought Spider-Girl.
About us
Writeups.org is an encyclopaedia of characters in genre fiction — comic books, video games, action movies, etc. It offers illustrated, researched profiles. These also include technical data for role-players. If you need a robust understanding of a character's abilities, personality, history, etc. this is *the* place to be.


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Become a Master Recycler
Become a Master Recycler
Learn from the experts. Share with your neighbors. Save our natural resources.
Take an eight-week course on the latest information on waste prevention and recycling, including classroom instruction and site tours. Then, volunteer 30 hours to share what you learned with neighbors, coworkers and community.
Class begins January 8, 2014 and includes eight consecutive Wednesdays 6:30 - 9:30 p.m., plus two Saturdays -- January 11 and February 15, 2014 -- 8 a.m. - 2 p.m. (A commitment to attend all ten dates is required for the application to be accepted.)
Washington Street Conference Center, 225 S. First Ave. (in downtown Hillsboro)
$50 fee to cover course materials. Limited scholarships are available.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: December 18, 2013 at noon.
Please visit www.masterrecycler.org for details and to apply.
About the Master Recycler Class
Course structure
The popular eight-week course includes two field trips and instruction in topics such as thoughtful consumption, recycling processes, alternatives to hazardous household products, composting and deconstruction and green building. The course is a blend of presentations by professionals in the field, peer group discussion and project development.
Participant responsibilities
Participants agree to attend all classes and field trips. After completing the course, graduates put their skills to work to help others make choices to conserve natural resources. It's what makes the Master Recycler Program so special: participants agree to volunteer 30 hours of public outreach. Master Recyclers staff information booths at community events, provide presentations, and work on personal projects. They also work to inspire their own neighbors and co-workers.
Attendance at all classes and tours and an agreement to complete the 30 volunteer hours is required to be considered for the Master Recycler Certification.
The Master Recycler program is brought to you by Metro, the City of Portland, Clackamas County, Washington County, Department of Environmental Quality and Recycling Advocates.


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The Adobe Developer Connection is excited to announce that the brand new Adobe Cookbooks application is now live! This uber Adobe Cookbook application replaces the individual, product-specific cookbook applications that we previously had in place for Flex, AIR and Mobile. The new application will still support those technologies, in addition to a dozen or so additional technologies, all within a single application. For those new to the cookbook applications, they are a searchable repository for community-generated code samples.
You can read more about the new application in this Logged In article on the Adobe Developer Connection.
The new application has an updated design in addition to several new features:
- Many more products/technologies supported
- Improved navigation and search
- Recipe requests – for developers who can't find the code sample they are looking for
- Related recipes – that appear in a side bar of all recipe pages
- Cookbook Explorer – a visual display of top cookbook recipes and contributors
- New contributor recognition features – profile pics, links to blogs, links to community profiles
Community participation is the backbone of the cookbook application, so whether you are coming to contribute, request or locate a recipe, or comment on and rate existing content, your participation in this community application is greatly appreciated. Contributors should be sure to have their Adobe.com community profiles filled out before publishing any recipes as that is where the application will pull in a lot of the author recognition features. To fill out your community profile, login here and click "View your profile."
We will be updating the Adobe Cookbook after the initial launch with new features and new functionality. We would love to hear your thoughts and ideas, so after you check out the new Cookbook, please feel free post your comments and suggestions in our Cookbook Feedback Forum.
Additionally, be sure to watch this blog going forward as this is where we will be announcing Cookbook contests and promotions from time to time.
Enjoy the new cookbook application!!


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Coming together and pulling apart.
American race relations appear to be moving in both directions at once as the nation hurtles through its greatest demographic transformation since the melting-pot era a century ago.
That's the overriding message of the initial University of Phoenix/National Journal Next America Poll, the first in a series of surveys of attitudes toward the demographic change that has swelled the minority share of the population past 36 percent (up from about 20 percent in 1980) and reshaped communities, schools, and workplaces around the country.
From one direction, the poll captures widespread daily interaction among Americans of different races and ethnicities. In the survey, a majority of whites, African-Americans, and Hispanics say that either "a lot" or "some" of their neighbors are from different racial or ethnic backgrounds than their own. Majorities in each group say the same thing about their friends. Among young people, the change is even more pronounced: Only a third of adults under 30 say they have "just a few" or "no" friends of other races.
Two-thirds of Americans with interracial friendships say they have more friends of different races than their parents did; that includes solid majorities of whites, African-Americans, and Hispanics. "Racial prejudice was just pounded into me growing up," said Henry Jones, a retired electrician in Oklahoma City who is white and responded to the survey. "These kids today, they don't see race." Cecil Moore, an African-American public employee in Stone Mountain, Ga., agrees. "I grew up in the rural South; opportunities were very limited," he said. "I never knew an African-American lawyer or doctor. The most successful black person I knew was a teacher…. There's a long way to go, but it's definitely better than it used to be."
The survey found other points of convergence. Among whites and Hispanics, more people think that race relations are improving than deteriorating, and African-Americans tilt only relatively narrowly in the opposite direction. With one important exception, the three groups largely agree on the causes of the economic gaps between whites and minorities, and also on what can be done to close them. All three groups even generally agree that whites and minorities don't receive equal treatment from law enforcement (although that belief is more broadly shared among minorities than whites).
The poll also pinpoints enduring fissures, however. On many issues, whites and African-Americans, in particular, express conflicting views, with the rapidly growing Hispanic population often taking positions in between but usually closer to blacks than to whites. These gaps are deepest on questions relating to the persistence of racial prejudice; the role of government in protecting rights for minorities and providing a safety net for the needy; and the opportunities available for the next generation.
As other surveys have done, the Next America Poll found whites much more unsure than minorities about whether the demographic transformation will improve or diminish American life.
Whites and nonwhites hold sharply contrasting views about President Obama's performance and the choice this November between the Democratic incumbent and Mitt Romney, the presumptive GOP nominee. Indeed, the poll points toward another election likely to divide the nation on racial lines. In 2008, Obama became the first nominee in either party ever to lose white voters by double digits and still win the White House, after capturing 80 percent of the nonwhite vote.
The Next America Poll, like a succession of other public surveys this year, suggests that Obama could again lose whites by a resounding margin—and still win a second term because of overwhelming support from the growing minority population. Such a stark divergence between the political preferences of most whites and most minorities could itself become a heightening source of social strain in the years ahead. "There is tension with older generations," said Donna Matthews, an African-American sales and marketing executive in Willingboro, N.J., who responded to the survey. "I think it's sparked by Obama. Caucasians are used to being in power. I think it scares people."
The University of Phoenix/National Journal Next America Poll, conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates from April 5-11, interviewed 1,308 adults on landlines and cell phones in both English and Spanish. The survey over-sampled African-American and Hispanic adults to allow for more-detailed explanation of their views. In calculating the overall results, the poll used a weighting procedure to correct for this over-sampling and ensure that these groups represent their proper proportions of the population. The margin of sampling error for the complete set of weighted data is plus or minus 3.6 percentage points. The sampling error is plus or minus 4.7 percentage points for non-Hispanic whites, 7.8 percentage points for African-Americans, and 8.3 percentage points for Hispanics.
In the months ahead, the Next America polls will measure the responses of whites and minorities to many dimensions of the economic, cultural, and political changes unleashed by the rapid demographic change under way.
In recent years, one characteristic of this change has been that diversity has not only deepened in the urban areas already accustomed to it but also diffused into new places. The imprint of these changes emerges from the respondents' reports about their daily interactions with people of other races and ethnic backgrounds. African-Americans and Hispanics were more likely than whites in the survey to report a substantial number of neighbors and friends from other races, but interracial friendship was common among all three groups.
In the poll, 45 percent of African-Americans said they had "a lot" of neighbors from other racial or ethnic groups, and another 20 percent said they had "some"; only 35 percent said they had "just a few" or none. For Hispanics, the combined share with either a lot (34 percent) or some (28 percent) neighbors of other races was similar. Perhaps not surprisingly, more African-Americans and Hispanics with at least some college experience reported a substantial number of interracial neighbors than did those without such college experience. Just over one-quarter of both African-Americans and Hispanics said they spent time with a lot of friends from other races; a roughly equal number reported some such friends. Minorities with and without college experience gave similar responses to this question.
Whites were less likely—but not vastly so—to report meaningful interaction across racial lines. Just over one-fourth of whites said they have many neighbors of other races; approximately an equal number said they had some. About half of whites said they had a lot (15 percent) or some (36 percent) friends of other races. Education didn't meaningfully divide whites on these questions, but age did. Fully 60 percent of whites under 34 said they had at least some neighbors of other races; only about 40 percent of white seniors said so. Two-thirds of younger whites said they had at least some interracial friends; only about one-third of white seniors concurred.
Bridget Wentworth, a young white woman who works in a children's store in San Francisco, was typical of several younger whites who said that having friends of other races "was just not a big deal." She cited her education in public schools that were definitely diverse. "I think the reason [for my interracial friendships] is because I'm exposed to a lot more people of different ethnicities," she added. "My parents grew up in the suburbs, and they just weren't around people of different backgrounds as much as me."
When asked to place their experience in a broader framework, majorities of all groups saw a trajectory toward greater intermingling. Among those who reported any interracial acquaintances, 70 percent of whites, 63 percent of African-Americans, and 56 percent of Hispanics said they had more friends of other races than their parents did.
But although the poll documents increasing interaction between Americans of different racial backgrounds, it offers a mixed verdict on whether understanding is also increasing. When asked about the direction of race relations, whites and Hispanics offered broadly similar answers that were more positive than negative: 36 percent of whites and 30 percent of Hispanics said that relations are getting better; 41 percent of whites and 42 percent of Hispanics said that they are staying about the same. Only about one-fifth of whites and one-fourth of Hispanics said that race relations are getting worse. African-Americans were more pessimistic, but again, not vastly so. About three in 10 said that race relations are deteriorating; about half said they are staying about the same, and just over one-fifth said they see improvement.
Almost half of Hispanics and blacks said that America will benefit when minorities become a majority of the population.
Donna Matthews, who moved to New York City from Jamaica in 1968, is among those who believe that trends are improving. When she joined a medical publishing firm around that time, she recalled, "I was the only minority among the good ol' boys. And I did well because I did my homework to get past the stereotype…. If a young person has good exposure, and is well-read, then they can have a good conversation … and break down that wall." Others see more-enduring barriers. "I think they just swept the prejudice under the rug during the civil-rights era," said Daisy Robertson, an African-American furniture builder in Silver Creek, Miss., who is unemployed. "It's still there."
It's telling that African-Americans and Hispanics with college experience were no more likely than those without it to see an improvement in race relations. That suggests that class does not inherently trump race, and that economic ascent can create different opportunities for racial strain.
Similarly, college-attending African-Americans are as likely as those without degrees to say that whites and blacks do not have an equal "opportunity for fair treatment by the police." Overall, 84 percent of blacks said that treatment is unequal; just 13 percent believe it is equal. Among Hispanics, 63 percent see unequal treatment for African-Americans. Fewer whites see prejudice, but a majority, 51 percent, said that police treat African-Americans unfairly.
Interestingly, a higher percentage of African-Americans (81 percent) than Hispanics (63 percent) believe that police treat Hispanics unfairly. (Just 46 percent of whites believe the Hispanics are treated unfairly.) African-Americans are also much more likely than the other two groups to believe that police treat Asians unfairly, although less than a majority of blacks see prejudice toward that group.
The gap between white and minority perceptions about prejudice persists on another important front. In separate questions, the poll noted that the average income for Hispanics and African-Americans is well below the level for whites and asked respondents why that is so. To a striking extent, whites, Hispanics, and African-Americans offered similar explanations. Sixty-two percent of whites, 63 percent of Hispanics, and 66 percent of African-Americans said that a major reason for the income gap between blacks and whites is that "poverty, crime, and poor schools in neighborhoods where many African-Americans live make it hard for people to get ahead." Whites, blacks, and Hispanics also clustered closely in agreeing that a major reason for the gap is that "too many African-Americans grow up in families without a father present."
Likewise, almost identical proportions of whites and Hispanics agreed that a major reason for the income gulf between those two groups is that "too many immigrants without skills come to the U.S.," and "too many Hispanics don't speak English well." (African-Americans were slightly less likely to blame either factor.) Marie Holcomb, an unemployed Hispanic teacher in Conroe, Texas, expressed the stern by-your-own-bootstraps inclinations of many Hispanics in the survey. "They should learn English," she said of newly arriving immigrants. "There's too much free education out there not to learn it."
On one front, though, the poll captured a wide divergence between whites and minorities. Whether considering the income disparity between whites and African-Americans, or that between whites and Hispanics, fewer than half as many whites as African-Americans or Hispanics identified racial prejudice as a major factor. When assessing either gap, more than half of African-Americans and Hispanics considered discrimination a big cause. In each case, only about one-fourth of whites agreed.
Like a leak that spreads from a small crack, other differences multiplied from that initial departure. When asked whether "our country has made the changes needed to give racial minorities equal rights with whites," whites split almost exactly in half: 46 percent said yes, and 44 percent said that "our country needs to continue making changes to give racial minorities equal rights." But 76 percent of African-Americans, and 74 percent of Hispanics said that the nation needs to continue making changes to ensure equality.
That contrast shaped the racial differences on a follow-up question about what single approach would do the most to narrow the income difference between whites and minorities. All three groups largely agreed on one remedy: Almost two-fifths of whites and African-Americans and about one-third of Hispanics said that graduating more minority young people from high school and college would do the most good. But nearly one-fourth of both African-Americans and Hispanics said that the most effective strategy would be "more efforts to combat racial discrimination in the workplace." Fewer than one in 12 whites agreed. African-Americans and Hispanics were also slightly more likely than whites to believe that increasing integration of housing and schools was crucial.
Whites, in turn, were far more likely to respond that the key to closing the income gaps was more personal responsibility in minority communities. Significant numbers of Hispanics (about one-fourth) and African-Americans (about one-fifth) also endorsed that sentiment, but among whites it was the most common answer, chosen by more than two in five. "I don't think it's a race issue," said John Brissette, a white computer technician in Cumberland, R.I., who is now on disability leave. "It's more of a personal-responsibility issue. I think it's a lot of the parents' faults. I don't think it has to do with the economy. Every race has a lot of opportunities."
The roles somewhat reversed on responses to a question that explored educational gaps between the races. On this issue, whites were less likely to cite personal responsibility than minorities were. When asked why smaller percentages of African-Americans and Hispanics than whites obtain high school diplomas and college degrees, more Hispanics (63 percent) and African-Americans (53 percent) than whites (49 percent) said that the difference resulted from minority young people not valuing education as much as whites or Asians. Whites were also less likely than minorities to cite economic factors such as inadequate school funding or crimped family budgets that force young people to quit school. The most common answer among whites was that poverty and crime in minority neighborhoods make it tougher for young people there to learn.
But even though minority respondents were tougher on young people's motivations, they were also more optimistic about their long-term prospects. Continuing a head-turning pattern evident in otherNational Journal and Pew Research Center surveys, the Next America Poll found that African-Americans and Hispanics, by ratios well over 2-to-1, believe that "today's children" will have more, rather than less, opportunity to get ahead than they do. Among whites, the proportions are inverted: more than twice as many whites believe that the next generation will have fewer, rather than more, opportunities than they do. College-educated whites—arguably the group at the apex of the economic pyramid—are even more pessimistic than whites without degrees. "The future doesn't hold a great promise for the young," said Peter Zanardi, a white advertising executive in Brentwood, N.Y. "Wages aren't going up as necessary. And now they're facing college debt as well."
On the broadest measure of long-term expectations, minorities are again more optimistic than whites. One question reminded respondents of Census Bureau projections that "sometime in the next 40 years, racial minorities … will become a majority of the American population." Almost half of Hispanics and African-Americans said that this will mostly "benefit America because these groups will bring new ideas and diverse perspectives to the nation's values and traditions." But only 22 percent of whites agreed. The largest group of whites (44 percent) said that the change won't have much effect (34 percent of African-Americans and 27 percent of Hispanics agreed). But 29 percent of whites said that the change will mostly "hurt America because these racial minorities won't uphold the nation's values and traditions." The negative sentiment was especially pronounced among the overlapping groups of white seniors, white men without a college degree, and white Republicans. Only 11 percent of African-Americans and 20 percent of Hispanics shared that attitude.
All of these differences among racial groups come together in attitudes about government and the 2012 election. Three-fifths of African-Americans said that government doesn't "provide enough of a safety net for people who need help to get by," but only two-fifths of whites agreed. Half of whites (but less than one-third of blacks) said that "government taxes workers too much to fund programs for people who could get by without help." Hispanics divided more closely but tilted toward worry about the safety net. Asked what would do the most to create economic opportunity for people like them, African-Americans decisively endorsed a Democratic-leaning agenda of public investment over a Republican-styled plan centered on tax cuts and deregulation; whites and Hispanics split much more narrowly toward the Democratic approach.
Overall, those polled approved of Obama's performance, 48 percent to 40 percent. But while 90 percent of African-Americans and 58 percent of Hispanics gave him positive marks, just 39 percent of whites concurred. (Only about one-third of whites without college degrees or white seniors approved.)
A chasm separated the races as well in a 2012 matchup between Obama and Romney. The poll found Obama leading among all registered voters by 50 percent to 42 percent. But the president attracted only 42 percent support among white voters, compared with 76 percent from all nonwhites, including 91 percent from African-Americans and 65 percent from Hispanics. Romney attracted just 17 percent of nonwhites, but 51 percent of whites.
Obama won nearly three-fifths of whites who said that the long-term demographic change would benefit America, and Romney won two-thirds of those who said it would hurt. Those results are another signal that as the Next America takes shape, attitudes about the nation's changing racial composition are reinforcing the familiar ideological differences that divide the two parties—and fuel their intensely polarized competition.


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By Erin Thompson, USA TODAY
More than half of nurses who work in emergency departments report they've been physically assaulted on the job, according to an online survey of more than 3,000 ER nurses by the Emergency Nurses Association.
Responding to the 69-question survey, the nurses said they have been spit on, hit, pushed, shoved, scratched or kicked by patients while on duty.
The incidents are partly a result of the nature of the job and the fact that emergency rooms accept all comers, association president Bill Briggs says.
"It's the safety net when you can't get help anywhere else," Briggs says. "Every type of patient comes to the emergency department.
"We accept patients under the influence of drugs and alcohol, (and) psychiatric patients. … It's very unpredictable."
Other precipitating factors: a shortage of ER nurses, patient crowding and prolonged wait times. One in four nurses reported experiencing assaults more than 20 times in the past three years, and one in five said they had experienced verbal abuse more than 200 times during the same period.
The incidents have led one in three nurses to consider leaving their department.
"The public wants a safe place to go and get help in an emergency, and that's what we want," Briggs says. "The Emergency Nurses Association wants to promote a safe working environment … safe for patients and visitors and staff members, and we're looking for ways to do that."
Laws protecting emergency department nurses vary widely by state, and some states have no laws. The nurses association plans to work with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to make safety precautions a requirement in all states.
"Every emergency department should have its own plan in place," Briggs says. To start, he says, hospitals should have more security available, alarm buttons and a security committee to assess the ER and create a plan for a safe environment.
"I've had bumps and bruises and, certainly, it has an emotional impact," says Briggs, a nurse for 30 years. "I've wondered, do I want to stay? How often do I want this to happen?
"Most people enter the profession to help people, not to get beat up and not to see your co-workers get beat up."
The survey's findings are reported in the current issue of the Journal of Nursing Administration.
SOURCE: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-08-04-nurses-assault_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip
Article copyright NurseReview.org - #1 source of information to update nurses all over the world. All rights reserved. No part of an article may be reproduced without the prior permission.


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Time to start looking at the Senior Circuit, beginning with the 5 teams in the East…
- Braves – This one has to be Chipper Jones as of right now. He's easily the longest tenured Brave, has been with the team his entire career, and has been an excellent player throughout. I could see this role going to either Brian McCann or Jason Heyward when Chipper finally decides to hang them up.
- Marlins – For better or worse, it's definitely Hanley Ramirez for the Marlins. The largest contract in the history of the team was given to Hanley, and was well deserved based on his performance. The only thing I can remember even remotely being negative around him was when his previous manager called him out for a lack of hustle.
- Mets – David Wright and Jose Reyes really stand out to me for the Mets. I'd be more inclined to give the nod to Wright since he has not been injured nearly as often as Reyes in recent years, and it could continue that way with Reyes potentially being a free agent after this season.
- Phillies – This one's actually a lot more difficult than I would have thought it would be. There are so many big name players on the Phillies now that picking one by themselves is very difficult. Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, and Roy Halladay could all vie for this role, but I think for now it has to be Ryan Howard. The former MVP seems to be out front for the organization more than any other player, including Halladay.
- Nationals – Last year, I would have said it had to be Stephen Strasburg. But with his injury, and the gigantic contract given to Jayson Werth, Werth has to be the de facto face of the franchise. It remains to be seen whether or not he can live up to the expectations that come with a contract that size, but for now it's definitely on him to try.


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When we planted the first vines in the 80's, we chose a unique place for its "terroir", just 3km from the Mediterranean Sea. A vineyard with a long history, having in mind the remains of what was once the Via Augusta, the Roman road that connected Rome with the most important cities of the Mediterranean.That's why we wanted to pay tribute to this singular Roman road, giving our winery and our wines, the name of Avgvstvs.
Wines with history and Mediterranean flavor, Avgvstvs wines are a reference for lovers of the best cuisine.More Info
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Discover thousands of recipes that chefs have prepared with vinegar Forvm and dare to add yours!More Info
Come and enjoy the pleasures of wine and high expression vinegars in a unique and idyllic spot overlooking the Mediterranean Sea!


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In the event that you want to see how Flight 2 stacked up against the other graphic novel orders in the month of April, comicbookresources.com has the numbers:
Miller's Sin City rereleases are doing MONSTER sales. This was the third month running that some (or all) of his trades sold in the top ten (no final estimated quantities from ICv2's site yet, though).
Diamond Market Share for April 2005 [top 100 GN's]
Talks with Flight artists, as well as reviews of related books...
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ICv2's numbers are in. Flight 2 comes in ranked at #28 in the graphic novel department (via the direct market, anyway).
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Google will now require that users log into their Google+ accounts to comment on offerings.
While some believe that this is an attempt to "civilize" the Web and rid Google Play of rude, anonymous comments, it's also likely part of Google's plan of creating identity.
It's a social contract to shut down trolls, according to AllThingsD, but it's likely a lot more complex. Google Play has considerably more than just Android apps, and the new policies would affect TV shows, films and songs -- all things Google (and Android) have little to do with. Instead Google is attempting to consolidate its brand and identity.
While Google+ is nowhere near Facebook's behemoth status, it's attempting to get its users into the social network fold. What better PR than showing how many people are using Google+? It's also a way to connect all the Google properties together, including YouTube -- which has been asking users to use their Google+ identities for the last few months. It seems likely that soon it could be a requirement.


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A little hallo-history to get us in the Halloween spirit. Halloween, derived from "All Hallows Eve," is a combination of ancient Celtic, Roman and Catholic origins, with European folklore traditions thrown into the mix.
Dating back to the ancient Celtic festival, Samhain, which celebrated the Celtic New Year every November 1, it was believed that spirits would attempt to inhabit the living, as the boundaries between the two were blurred around this time of year. In order to keep the spirits from wreaking havoc, crops were burned and animals were sacrificed into bonfires built by the Druids (Celtic priests), with the skins used as costumes as they told each others' fortunes.
When the Romans conquered the Celtic territory in the first century, they adopted the traditions of Samhain and combined it with two Roman festivals: Feralia, a day which honored the deceased, and another festival honoring Pomona, the goddess of fruit and trees. Symbolized by the apple, it is believed that Pomona's inclusion in Samhain led to the modern day tradition of bobbing for apples.
By the turn of the ninth century, Christianity had spread throughout the Celtic territory. Pope Boniface IV had declared November 1 as All Saint's Day—a time to honor saints and martyrs—two centuries prior. It was believed the Pope wished to eradicate the Celtic festivals, substituting them with a church-sanctioned observance instead.
When Europeans immigrated to America, many brought with them the various customs and celebrations, although they were not practiced evenly throughout the colonies. Frowned upon by the strict Protestants in the New England area, traditions were mostly carried out in the more southern colonies. Mixed with American Indian beliefs, The American update of Halloween began to blossom. Harvest celebrations, fortune-telling, singing and dancing, as well as stories of the dead took root. Jack-o-lanterns, of Celtic folklore using turnips in their legend, became pumpkins once the Irish came to America and noticed the abundance of pumpkins instead.
As the centuries progressed, Halloween became more of a secular, community-oriented holiday whose religious origins had faded. Celebrated by both children and adults in the early to mid-twentieth century, vandalism became commonplace around Halloween. In an effort to make celebrations in the streets safer, community leaders quashed vandalism attempts and children became the focus of the October holiday. The "spookiness" factor also subsided, as parents wanted to make Halloween safer and less frightening for young children. Trick-or-treating, an old Irish custom of going door-to-door for money and food, transformed into children seeking sweet treats.
Although sanitized for the younger set, Halloween is rich in tradition and textured in custom, with a blend of celebrations mixed from many parts of the world over millennia. The religious rituals of this nighttime celebration may have escaped modern participants, but historians will undoubtedly recall what marked the occasion and keep its spirit alive.
Happy Halloween!


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Real-World Aero: Wind Tunnel Testing For the Weekend Racer
Ever wonder how information gleaned from wind tunnel tests performed on Nextel Cup cars actually applies to you?
Wonder no moreYou hear the advice all the time from the "know-it-alls" in racing (yes, that applies to us, too): No matter how small your track or how slow your car, good aerodynamic practices can help improve your lap times.
Yes, that advice is true. As a general rule, if you have to apply the brakes anywhere on the racetrack, you need more downforce. When that downforce is achieved aerodynamically (as opposed to achieving it by weight), it is doubly beneficial because it is gained without the disadvantage of inertia trying to push you into the wall as the car turns. The problem is that wind tunnel testing is expensive, so the information provided to Saturday night racers is too often based on tests done on Nextel Cup cars or theory with no real-world numbers to back it up-until now, that is.
Noted aerodynamicist Gary Eaker has been operating his own private wind tunnel, AeroDyn, in Mooresville, North Carolina, for a few years now. AeroDyn has been quite successful with its Nextel Cup clientele because it is one of the most affordable wind tunnels in the country. That all changed with Eaker's newest innovation, affectionately known as A2. A2 is the little brother to the AeroDyn wind tunnel, and was designed for the express purpose of making wind tunnel testing accessible to race teams that may not have the support of big-money sponsorships. A2 doesn't have all the bells and whistles that AeroDyn offers, such as a simulated rolling road and yaw control, but it does offer solid, repeatable aero testing that can be greatly beneficial to a race team.
We've always wanted to get a real-world short-track car into a wind tunnel to see how it performed, but as experienced by most race teams, the cost was too prohibitive. When Eaker opened the A2 facility, we finally had our opportunity. We joined drivers Freddie Query and Preston Peltier at A2 as they ran Query's Super Late Model asphalt car through a series of tests. Query and Peltier are both savvy veterans and came prepared to make the most of their time in the tunnel with a complete list of all the tests they wanted to perform and all the hardware they needed to get it done quickly. We followed along to see what worked and what didn't. Over the course of approximately five hours, Query, Peltier, and a handful of volunteers were about to pull off 33 tests. The following are some of the most interesting tests we witnessed.
Spoiler AngleAfter making a few baseline runs, the first test with the car fully taped in qualifying trim and sitting at inspection ride height involved raising the spoiler angle from 50 to 70 degrees. This was done to see how it affected front versus rear downforce balance, but the surprise was how little it actually helped downforce at all. Downforce improved by 11 counts in the front and only 8 in the rear, while drag increased dramatically. Normally, a team testing a downforce car in a wind tunnel cares very little about drag numbers. In this instance, it shows that the spoiler was already approaching its stall angle closer to 50 degrees and wasn't helping appreciably at 70.
Because the spoiler is behind the rear axle, downforce here has a mechanical cantilever effect on the car, which reduces load at the front. Raising the spoiler angle (as long as it isn't stalled) will increase rear downforce and mechanically decrease load on the front tires. Lowering the spoiler will have the opposit effect. For reference, one count in a wind tunnel is equal to 1 pound of downforce on the track at 135 mph. It does not change with the weight of the car, only speed. The second interesting thing to note from this test is that by moving the spoiler, the downforce improved more over the front wheels than the rear. Aero, it should be noted, is as much about creating pressure differentials above and below the body sheetmetal as it is about air actually hitting a surface and pushing it down. The spoiler actually causes air to dam up in front of it, and the high-pressure zone created by the spoiler can reach all the way to the hood. The car responded as much as it did at the front because the chassis is remarkably open. There is no front or rear firewall to speak of. The Super Late Model has an offset chassis, and the only area boxed off with sheetmetal is the driver's compartment. Because the area underneath the body is so open, the front and rear wheels are easily able to "talk" to each other, so a change at the rear of the car will affect front downforce much more than a car with a full firewall.
TapeAs you might expect, taping up the grille and brake ducts is one of the most effective things you can do when it comes to legally adding downforce. On our ARP-bodied car, taping up the nose was worth over 100 points of front downforce. At 135 mph, that's 100 pounds of extra pressure adding grip to the front tires.
Peltier took things a little farther to see if taping all the body seams to seal them off would further improve the aero. This, as you might expect, had no noticeable effect.
Finally, we experimented to see how a partially taped grille opening affected the car. Adding two strips of tape over the bottom portion of the 28.5x5.75-inch grille added approximately 25 counts of downforce over an untaped grille, while two strips across the top of the opening added approximately 31 counts. This is probably because the tape at the top of the grille created a solid surface for the air to move across that was unbroken all the way to the windshield.
Inspection Height versus Actual HeightIt is common knowledge that your race car is rarely at inspection height when it's at speed on the racetrack. Of course, that's fine on the setup plate because you can set such things as camber gain to account for suspension movement. Conversely, testing a car's aerodynamics at ride height or inspection height is a little more problematic. The car's attitude can significantly affect its aerodynamic performance.
If the front end drops because of aerodynamic downforce or simply because the driver applied the brakes, that increases the car's rake, or body height from front to back, which will increase downforce. If the car rolls over on its right side through the turns and lifts the left-front fender, that will allow more air underneath the car, raising the pressure and reducing downforce. Before testing in a wind tunnel, you need to track your car's attitude through a turn and try to mimic that in the tunnel. The easiest way to do this is simply to record your bump stop locations on the shocks after a set of hot laps.
In the wind tunnel, the car needs to be off of its springs and locked at the height you choose. You can do this by fabricating a set of solid struts out of metal tubing that will replace the shocks and springs. If the body moves once the air hits it, it will throw off your findings.
Query and Peltier brought two sets of struts to set the car both at ride height and at the attitude the car will normally be in through the turns. We won't give away those heights because they have worked really hard to develop their shock and spring packages, but we'll say the effect was dramatic. It also changed many of the things we had already tested. As you can imagine, the nose was significantly lower than ride height when the car was set at racing attitude. This not only dropped the front valence closer to the ground, reducing pressure under the car and raising downforce, but it also raised the rear spoiler angle.
If you remember, the spoiler was already reaching stall above 50 degrees on this particular car, so a taller spoiler did no good. Query and Peltier were forced to deviate from the planned test schedule slightly to find the best spoiler angle when the car was raked forward.
Another example is a false radiator box floor the team had tested. The bottom of the radiator box on this car is flush with the bottom of the grille opening. In an effort to build-in a deep gurney lip of sorts (racers may also know it as a belly pan), the team fabricated a piece of sheetmetal that ran from the bottom of the radiator forward to the bottom of the valence. When the car was at ride height, the sheetmetal actually ran downhill from the valence to the radiator. The difference in height was minimal-less than half an inch-but it was enough to hurt downforce. However, when the car was reset at racing attitude, the increased rake indicated that the false floor was closer to the ground at the valence than it was at the radiator, and it helped downforce.
Go TestingIf you are still trying to understand the difference between kingpin angle and caster, then you might not be ready to test in a wind tunnel. On the other hand, if you are confident in your setup skills and are looking to take your team to the next level, starting an aero program may be just what you need to do. The A2 wind tunnel was designed to be affordable for touring and even serious Saturday night teams. First-time customers can get two hours of testing for $690, and the price stays reasonable for longer test sessions.
Gary Eaker, the owner of A2, understands most teams using his wind tunnel won't have an engineer on staff, much less a trained aerodynamicist, and may need a little help making the most of their time. Because his staff is adamant about not sharing secrets learned by another team, they cannot coach you on what to do. Fortunately, he has written a workbook that can help a team prepare for and make the most of a test. He says there are also local engineers who can be hired to help a team if they prefer that option.
Here are some tips Eaker says should help a team make the most of its time under the fan:-When you are at the wind tunnel, you aren't learning anything unless the fan is blowing. Do all the prep work you can at your shop beforehand. Plan in advance all the changes you wish to make and prefabricate anything necessary to minimize time between "blows."
-Aero is notorious for interactions between seemingly "independent" mods. This means that virtually everything in aerodynamics affects something else. Be prepared to be surprised by something you didn't expect. Build time into your testing plan to deviate and test an idea that may have popped up from the previous test.
-You should have a goal for your test. Do you want to try a bunch of different things just to see how they affect the car? Are you trying to correct specific handling problems? Maybe you are looking at different aero packages for different applications or tracks.
-A2 has anemometers to measure airflow through ducting. Don't concentrate only on downforce. You can also test to see which duct routing method gets you the most airflow to your brakes, or which radiator box design allows the smallest grille opening while still maximizing flow to the radiator.
-If you are testing things such as fender shape, begin with the minimum volume (a convex fender versus flat). This will allow you to build up the area or surface with panels or filler materials.
-During a test in the A2 tunnel, the wind speed is 85 mph. This is enough to blow things off the car. The leading edges of applied pieces should fit well and be securely fastened to the car (pop rivets work well). Don't depend on tape to hold everything in place.


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Get Your Free Audiobook
There is something about Mark Boyett's voice that made him the narrator of choice for two nonfiction audiobooks published in close succession: The Good Soldiers by David Finkel and Methland by Nick Reding. The common factors of these books are authors who worked at the sites of their stories for protracted periods of time and developed personal relationships with the people caught in the terrible circumstances their stories depict, and the important issues for America the books represent. The Good Soldiers is a deeply moving, tragic, and heroic story of American soldiers fighting in Iraq. Methland is an American tragedy of engulfing, systemic, and tragic dimensions. Set in Oelwein, Iowa, Methland documents the destructive effects of methamphetamine on this small town, and, by extension, all of rural America and the rest of the country.
Boyett is an actor relatively new to audiobooks. His talents and skills are exceptional, and his voice has unique and impressive signature qualities. Boyett's narrative voice ranges from a baritone of dramatic tonal solidity to the mid-to-high registries where he is expansive in more nuanced ways. Boyett has exceptional timing. And what is perhaps his strongest talent is the way he creates and shapes the book's timing with his frequent and fluent shifts in intonation, stress, phrasings, emphases, and pitch — all the vocal gifts in the narrator's quiver. In short, Boyett's voice is actively expressive in quite an impressive way, and what is behind the voice is the narrator's highly disciplined and methodical approach. Boyett does what the great narrators do: he greatly enhances and enriches the book's contents.
Methland is a book of extreme contrasts. In its largest sense it is investigative journalism, objective reportage of the history and growth and destructive effects of methamphetamine. It is upfront and personal in its depictions of the people involved in the drama, and in many places it is down-home and personal. For instance, we become closely acquainted with the life stories of two upstanding and impressive young men central to the story: Nathan Lein, assistant prosecutor for Fayette County, and Clay Hallberg, the town's doctor.
And then there is Roland Jarvis. "On a cold winter night in 2001, Roland Jarvis looked out the window of his mother's house and saw that the Oelwein police had hung live human heads in the trees of the yard… Then the heads, satisfied that Jarvis was in fact cooking meth in the basement, conveyed the message to a black helicopter hovering over the house." This hallucination has horrific, dreadful consequences, and Reding's depictions of Jarvis living with these consequences are shocking, startling, and moving. The something about Boyett's voice is his meticulously timed and constructed narration, his expressive fluency, and his ability to shift with ease within the existential extremes of normality and abnormality in nonfiction. — David Chasey
Publisher's Summary
The dramatic story of the methamphetamine epidemic as it sweeps the American heartland a timely, moving, very human account of one community s attempt to battle its way to a brighter future.
Crystal methamphetamine is widely considered to be the most dangerous drug in the world, and nowhere is that more true than in the small towns of the American heartland. Methland tells the story of Oelwein, Iowa (pop. 6,159), which, like thousands of other small towns across the country, has been left in the dust by the consolidation of the agricultural industry, a depressed local economy, and an out-migration of people. As if this weren't enough to deal with, an incredibly cheap, long lasting, and highly addictive drug has rolled into town.
Over a period of four years, journalist Nick Reding brings us into the heart of Oelwein through a cast of intimately drawn characters, including: Clay Hallburg, the town doctor, who fights meth even as he struggles with his own alcoholism; Nathan Lein, the town prosecutor, whose caseload is filled almost exclusively with meth-related crime; and Jeff Rohrick, a meth addict, still trying to kick the habit after 20 years. Tracing the connections between the lives touched by the drug and the global forces that set the stage for the epidemic, Methland offers a vital and unique perspective on a pressing contemporary tragedy.
Critic Reviews
What listeners say about Methland
- Veronica
- 02-08-10
Compelling & terrifying
For someone who was "familiar with the drug scene" meth is and was a truly scary drug. What this substance does to people and communities is terrible but this book goes FAR beyond the obvious. The effects of government policy and blatant corporate irresponsibility do damage individuals and the author does an excellent job of making connections. I could not stop listening to this (much to the annoyance of my family). Don't miss this one!
8 people found this helpful
- Reading Reney
- 29-07-10
Fascinating Story
Nick Reding obviously put a lot of hard work and research into writing this book. The characters are real and they are unforgettable. Also, lots of great background on the impact of business, agriculture, the economy, immigration, politics and big pharma on America's struggle with this easily attainable, highly-addictive drug. Definitely worth a listen - keep an open mind. Not everything is as you think and understanding the complexities is the first step to reaching a solution.
8 people found this helpful
- Steve
- 25-11-10
A series of essays more than a book about anything
I'm from Iowa and I really wanted to like this one. Interesting subject(s) but it's not a riveting read. I struggled to find a beginning a middle and and end. When it was over I felt I had only read a first draft, I think the editor failed on this one. Instead of a book, I heard several essays, about a small town, about meth, about the drug trade but in the end, they were not tied together in a meaningful way. To make matters worse the essays were not well realized either. Each one had a few interesting pages but there is not enough to each to be compelling. What was the point about writing a whole book about methland? There's a book there but this wasn't quite it.
5 people found this helpful
- Ryan
- 27-10-11
Absorbing view of a tragedy in progress
Even though the subject matter is profoundly depressing, Methland is an absorbing read. Looking at the rural meth epidemic through the lens of Oelwein, a quintessential midwestern small town in Iowa, Reding tells a story that's both personal and national. He makes a compelling case for his thesis is that the meth problem isn't simply a matter of addiction, but is strongly tied up in the working class history of the drug, weak regulation to control it (thanks to pharmaceutical lobbyists), and the continuing economic decline of rural America, where cooking meth in one's sink promised many people a steadier future than being a farmer or meat packer.
While the book's writing and analysis are a bit fragmentary, the personal stories paint a stirring picture of an epidemic in progress. The anecdote about the drug dealer who has started hallucinating living human heads in trees, and severely disfigures himself in a lab explosion, reads like a passage from a Stephen King novel. Other stories, while they sometimes wander from the book's primary focus, perhaps make a better point than pages of statistics. It's not hard to visualize broken families, grim, boarded-up store fronts, police forces and social services that lack the resources to do very much, and a cold, midwestern wind howling across a middle America whose fabric is steadily unraveling.
4 people found this helpful
- Sean
- 12-08-10
Interesting, then not.
An interesting subject that attempts to chronicle the effects of Meth on a small town.
Then it's about the loss of union jobs. Then the Mexican cartels. Then the town again. Then Big Agra. Then the prosecutor's inability to settle down with the love of his life. Then illegal immigrants.
Great subject material in dire need of a good editor.
9 people found this helpful
- Joshua Kim
- 10-06-12
Breaking Good
Methland should be read as a companion piece to Caught in the Middle: America's Heartland in the Age of Globalism - the micro results of the macro trends that have decimated once thriving agricultural and manufacturing towns in the midwest. As Reding tells the story, meth is a symptom of a larger economic and social story rather than a cause.
True, meth addiction and the meth economy feeds the beast of social decline and dysfunction, but the roots of meth's rise as the working class drug of choice, and the states inability to deal with either the producers or the addicts is structural. Reding's reporting strategy is personal and visual. We meet the people on all sides of the meth epidemic as full drawn and realized personalities. Anyone who reads Methland will have a hard time thinking about crystal addiction, manufacture or distribution as one only of personal failure.
3 people found this helpful
- LillyO
- 27-07-10
Informative without judgement...
I really really liked this this guy tackled this topic. I learned so much all the while feeling as if he truly cared about his subjects. Perhaps because he was telling a story so close to where he grew up? Informative yet reverent!
3 people found this helpful
- Deborah
- 01-07-10
Terrifying Yet True
This book is totally frightening because it is true. The examples of decent people gone terribly bad are just shocking. I couldn't stop listening, even when the book bogs down into back history/meth production details. Yes it does bog down, but reading those passages is absolutely critical to understanding the depth and pervasiveness of meth addiction. So many wasted lives and hurt and heartache.
This was really a thought-provoking read.
7 people found this helpful
- Guillermo
- 18-06-10
Enjoyable Ramble
I enjoyed listening to this tale. Last year I actually took a train to some of the towns mentioned in this story (towns so rural my gps listed 15 of the top 25 points of interest as cemetaries). The narration was perfect, and I estimate that 85% of the writing was perfect, too. But approximately 15% of it digressed pointlessly, and that's why I only give this 4 out of 5 stars. Still, the tale was entertaining and sometimes educational.
6 people found this helpful
- Flavius Krakdaddius
- 10-02-10
Beautifully written, but insubstantial
I listened to this book in just a few days, much more quickly than I would an audiobook of comperable length. This is because the story is engrossing from the start, abetted by Reding's skillful writing.
In the end, though, the writing is all I took from the book. It's a beautifully-rendered portrait of a small town in Iowa, and to a lesser degree, the entire American Midwest.
Reding attempts to view the methamphetamine problem in America as a metaphor, and in this he is unsuccessful. However, I would recommend the book for the beautiful writing and for the loving depiction of a part of America that is rapidly disappearing.
12 people found this helpful


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Regular Price:
Special Price
archival giclee of original work
printed with archival pigment inks on cotton rag paper
22 x 22 inches
signed & numbered edition of 50
Timothy J. Karpinski grew up near the Appalachian Trail in the woods of New Jersey. As a child he was obsessed with building forts and damming streams. As time passed, skateboarding and art entered the picture. To this day, Karpinski still spends much of his time building forts, damming streams, skateboarding and making art. Inspiration also comes from his love of music, outer space, typography, yoga, gardening, children's books, graffiti, and his love of nature and science. All of these elements are reflected in his work. Karpinski is that rare combo of 'dreamer' and 'doer'. Many encompass one of these traits, seldom both. He is a master of wit, a lover of folk and owner of one of the finest art reference libraries this side of the Mississippi. Karpinski is currently living the dream in Portland, OR where he runs Together Gallery, holds down both a fort and a sailboat... and somehow still finds time to make some art and dam some streams.
Karpinski's work has shown with White Walls (San Francisco), Stumptown Gallery (Portland), Suite 100 Gallery (Seattle), Together Gallery (Portland), and Lab 101 (Los Angeles) to name but a few and has also been profiled in such high profile events as Brave Art 2007 (Whistler, BC) and at art fairs including GenArt Vanguard 2008 in Miami with Thinkspace and this December's Aqua Art Miami with White Walls and Shooting Gallery.


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Published on Aug 09, 2013


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Born in Palo Alto, CA Egyptian-American actor Amin El Gamal is a young inspiration to many. Amin, who most recently appeared on HBO's 'The Newsroom,' sits down and gets personal with Splash Magazines.
The following has been edited for continuity and print purposes.
Sargent: How'd you get involved in acting? And when was it that you knew you wanted to pursue a career in acting?
Amin: I've been acting for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I never felt like I fit in and I was bullied a lot, so I would create crazy fantasy worlds as a refuge. Those worlds eventually become ambitious plays that I put on in my garage--with cardboard sets and bed sheets for curtains. Acting started off as a way to express myself and now I see it as a tangible way to change the world through stories. I like to think of acting as an act of activism. I became serious about acting professionally in college. My parents were really worried about it, and for good reason. They're immigrants who came here from Egypt for a better life, so when they saw me taking a tougher path, they couldn't help but not approve. That said, in the last few years they've been very supportive.
Sargent: That's amazing that you stayed strong and kept pursuing something you're passionate about.
Amin: Thanks. I was always a theatre kid through high school. I did countless shows in my undergrad at Stanford University, and then I went into a professional training program at USC. This is my first year not being a student--so I've been in for all sort of life surprises! The training at USC was extraordinary--so I felt as prepared as one can feel going into such a wild profession.
Sargent: Very prepared to say the least! You've been out of school, for about a year and you have managed to land a role on the HBO hit television show, 'The Newsroom'.
Amin: Yes, I've been really lucky and I've also worked really hard!
Sargent: Being in Los Angeles, I'd imagine being an aspiring actor would be terrifying. Why do you think so many people give up on their dream at becoming an actor and what made you not give up and stick it out.
Amin: It's never occurred to me to give up. I have always had a deep desire to tell stories that haven't been told, to open minds and hearts, and to help move society forward. Issues of representation are also extremely important to me. How we portray certain types of people on TV can impact millions of lives. There has always been somewhat of a dormant activist with me and it definitely wakes up in my work. 'The Newsroom' was actually a great example of that.
Sargent:I read that originally you were given a name that originated in Swahili. How did you feel about this?
Amin: Yes, the original name for my character was of Sawhili origin instead of Arabic--which would have been really inaccurate for an Egyptian. I was terrified to say anything to Aaron Sorkin, but I had a hard time keeping my mouth shut because it bothered me so much! I mentioned it to the costume designer during my fitting and together we drated an email to Sorkin. He responded right away and was very open to changing the name. Eventually we collaborated and came up with the name that we used in the show. I was so moved by Sorkin's commitment to integrity and story-telling. Personally, I felt a responsibility to get it right because Arab characters are so rarely portrayed in a positive or even human way in Hollywood. I wanted to make sure my character did justice to brave people who risked their lives during the Arab Spring and helped, in a small way, to re-humanize Arab people in the eyes of the world.
Sargent: That's great! Obviously integrity and not losing sight of your views are important to you.
Amin: Totally. Diversity and accuracy on television can really change peoples' perception of others. It was really important to me to have a name that accurately reflected who I am and where I came from. The first time my face is revealed is a big moment on the episode and I was thinking about all the little Arab-American kids watching television who might find a role model in that heroic moment. It may be idealistic, but i sincerely hope that some day my episode reaches a young, awkward brown kid with identity issues and a similarly weird sounding name, and let's them know it's ok to be who they are.
Sargent: I see that you have a theater background, do you prefer tv and film or theater?
Amin: Theater is my religion and has helped me grow as a person and an artist. It's also an incredible builder of community. Acting-wise, it requires the most stamina and skill, and ultimately I find it the most thrilling and direct way to connect to an audience. At the moment though, I'm finding the writing on television far more compelling than much of the professional theatre world and the world of studio films. Also, TV is the leader in diversity right now. So, I'm heading more in that direction.
Sargent: What are a few names that you would like to work with in the future?
Amin: I'm really loving Michelle Williams' work right now. She has this sort of anti-acting sort of thing going on. It's very real and seamless. Mandy Patinkin is another actor I admire--he's had several very differenct careers: singing his heart out on Broadway, building hilarious characters in films, and doing the procedural thing on TV. I'm a fan. Miranda July also makes my heart sing.
Sargent: Do you have any words of wisdom for anyone that is wanting to pursue a career in acting?
Amin: Just keep going, there are so many ups and downs. You have to hook up to a bigger cause to keep your focus outward. Don't be to critical and always support your fellow actors. You should also do some volunteer work and just put yourself out there. I find that a lot of people are to scared to do that, just know that it will literally lead you to the next best thing. Stay true to yourself and never forget what you are in it for-you.
Great advice from a young inspiration! Take it from me, Amin El Gamal is quickly on the radar and a force to be reckoned with. I can't wait to see him in other productions soon!
For more information on Amin and to stay up to date with his progress, please visit: http://www.aminelgamal.com/