text:
Why the marvels we were promised haven't materialized.
Automatic Dog Translator
I would've bet a lot of money that by now we'd have a device that would let us talk to dogs. Perhaps a helmet that would immediately decode a dog's bark into "Hey!" or "Hungry!" or "Oh my God — cat!" But I guess maybe we just don't care enough about saving animals. Or the world.
*Coincidentally, our time-traveling host, Will Ferrell, is the star of The Other Guys, a buddy cop comedy coming out … in the future (August 6).
The Future That Never Happened
|Automatic Dog Translator
|Laser Guns
What We've Lost
Ray Gun That Brings Mannequins to Life
|Robot Servants
Director of Photography: Keith J. Leman; Gaffer: Mikie P.; Key Grip: Brian Elioff; AC/DIT: Bobby Hewitt; Production Design: Ed Murphy/OT Ashton for Art Works Hollywood, Inc.; Stylist: Amy Meyer; Groomer: Simone Almekias-Siegl for Jemma Kidd; Fembot Hair/Make-up: Darcy Gilmore; Fembot: Melanie Molnar/Bobby Ball Agency; Dogs: Performing Animal Troupe
Food in a Pill
Eating is so time-consuming. All that tedious mastication — couldn't we just cram the stuff we need for survival into a Tylenol-sized tablet and be done with it? Well, no. It turns out that a food pill, while the essence of convenience, would violate the laws of physics. The average person needs to ingest around 2,000 calories a day. Carbohydrates and proteins provide about 4 calories per gram; fat provides about 9 calories per gram. If you put 2,000 calories' worth of fat into pill form — the most efficient way to do it — you'd need to pop roughly half a pound of pills a day. That's almost 450 standard-sized capsules. And you still wouldn't be getting your other vital nutrients. But look, physics aside, dinner in a capsule is depressing; a burger is delicious. Think of it as a cheese-dripping, bacon-topped patty-sized pill in a bun. — Erin Biba
Self-Driving Cars: Safe Texting at 65 mph!!
To traffic-weary drivers, it sounded great: Let technology handle tedious tasks like accelerating, steering, and braking. Cars — linked to road sensors and controlled by computer — could drive closer together, increasing highway capacity and fuel efficiency while reducing accidents and the need for new roads. Home, Hal!
It's not hard to make individual vehicles at least partly automatic — luxury automakers have recently introduced adaptive cruise control, which adjusts a car's speed based on the position and speed of the vehicle ahead of it. But a completely driverless network requires pricey road sensors. Litigation risks are another concern — imagine the lawsuits that could stem from faulty autopilot systems.
Despite these drawbacks, Richard Bishop, a former federal researcher and now an industry consultant, says that "low-speed automation" systems, which control vehicles in heavy congestion, could be in high-end autos by 2015. Translation: Traffic jams will be with us for a while. — Daniel McGinn
Nuclear Spaceships
Well before Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon, scientists knew that chemical propellants could take us only so far — they just don't offer enough pop per pound. The obvious solution is nuclear energy. Yet we still don't have a working nuke ship.
The earliest attempt to develop such a craft was Project Orion, launched in 1958. The concept: Create a vessel that would eject small atomic bombs from its rear. These would explode near a "pusher plate" attached to the bottom of the ship, and the energy pulses from the detonations would propel the ship at incredible speeds — an Orion spacecraft could have achieved a top velocity of 5 percent the speed of light (more than 33 million miles per hour). A 258-day trip to Mars was scheduled for 1965. Why didn't it happen? In 1963, the Partial Test Ban Treaty outlawed nuclear explosions in space. Project Orion died on the spot.
An option that's more politically feasible than bomb-powered spaceflight is nuclear thermal propulsion. This approach involves an onboard fission reactor powered by highly enriched uranium-235. Once flicked on, the reactor would theoretically heat hydrogen up to 3,100 degrees Kelvin, then shunt superheated gas out the ship's tail. Such a craft would have more than twice the power of a chemical rocket.
The basic feasibility of nuclear thermal propulsion was proven during the 1960s, when a fission-powered engine called Nerva was tested successfully in the Nevada desert. But the Nerva program was killed in 1973, when a budget crunch forced NASA to abandon its expensive Mars-mission dreams in favor of the more cost-efficient space shuttle. The agency never got a chance to solve the remaining technical hurdles, like how to fire up the reactor again and again without catastrophic failure.
Some folks might be a wee bit resistant to the idea of a fission reactor flying overhead, but advocates of nuclear thermal propulsion insist it's safe, since the reactors wouldn't kick in until the ships were far from Earth. True, in the case of an accident in the atmosphere (as a ship made its way into space), some uranium would fall on the planet. The chief concern isn't contamination, though; it's the fact that the U-235 could be recovered by bad guys. It's great for making bombs. — Brendan I. Koerner
Edible Fake Beard
It's the year 2010: Why hasn't anyone designed an edible fake beard? I don't know how many times I've arrived late to some high-class function and the kitchen has just closed. Guess what? I'm starving, but there's nothing to eat. How many time have I thought to myself, "Boy, I wish I could eat my fake beard." I will admit that on a rare occasion, I have tasted fake beard. Take it from me: terrible. It's time for someone to invent a delicious, edible fake beard… and make millions.
And while we're at it, where's my dang … hot dog taco → vodka
water slide → implantable phone → implantable caffeine drip → Smell-O-Phone → Taste-O-Phone → Feel-O-Phone → Hear-O-Phone (oh wait, never mind) →
Illustrations: Nishant Choksi
Laser Guns
In the 50 years since Hughes Research Lab demonstrated the first laser, those concentrated light beams have been adapted to read DVDs, perform eye surgery, and point at things. But while the US military has sunk billions into developing directed-energy weapons, it has reaped only disappointment. Sure, lasers powerful enough to destroy missiles and planes have existed since the 1970s, but they have yet to be brought successfully to the battlefield, and they sure as hell aren't going to fit in a thigh holster.
Chemical lasers, long the Pentagon's favorite form of death ray, can generate titanically powerful beams, but you have to mix loads of dangerous substances to generate lots of energy, and that makes them potentially more dangerous to our own soldiers than to our adversaries. Solid-state electric lasers are smaller, easier to operate, and can fire more shots — but are much less potent. Only in the past year have prototypes delivered a weapons-grade 100 kilowatts of power — but the hardware is so bulky it takes a 747 to house it. So for now, when it comes to killing people, we're stuck with bullets. — Vince Beiser
Designer Babies
If Gattaca taught us anything, it was that the future will be full of Jude Law look-alikes who love nothing more than running and doing complex math. If only. In reality, the prospect of choosing your baby's genetic gifts like toppings on a Brave New World pizza is as remote as ever. The most science has come up with is screening for sex and a few diseases, like sickle cell anemia. Preselecting specific characteristics has so far proven impossible.
That's because our genetic makeup is as complicated as it is capricious, and very few traits are expressed by a single gene. Height, for example, is controlled by at least 20. And even then, these genes are only 5 percent of the reason people reach a particular height. The other 95 percent is a mystery. Traits like skin color, intelligence, and susceptibility to cancer and heart disease are even less well understood.
Then there's the matter of ethics. Genetic manipulation is frowned upon by the science community, not least because we'd be messing with stuff we don't understand. Instead, researchers are using their knowledge of the genome to try to cure life-threatening diseases. Besides, doesn't everyone think their baby is already perfect? — Erin Biba
The Singularity
Live Forever! (Under the Rule of Your Robot Overlords)
Some call it the Rapture of the Nerds; others fear it's the end of humanity. Either way, the Singularity — a term popularized by science fiction writer Vernor Vinge in 1993 — is due to hit right after we finally crack the problem of artificial intelligence. The idea is that once we create an entity that thinks faster than a human, it will design better hardware and software to run on, making itself even smarter. We'll finally be able to upload our consciousness to the cloud. Either that, or our world will come to be dominated by minds as far beyond ours as we're beyond fruit flies. Let's hope the machines are friendly!
There's no secret Pentagon committee making contingency plans just yet (as far as we know). And no wonder. The necessary first step — creating an artificial intelligence — is proving intractable. Scientists have assumed that unless there's some supernatural aspect to thought, we ought to be able to reverse-engineer this sucker. But so far, the mechanics of human cognition remain largely unknown.
Another problem is hardware. Machines still fall many orders of magnitude short of a mammalian brain in terms of computing power. But recent efforts in computational neuroscience — a field that attempts to replicate how the brain processes information — hold promise. Researchers at IBM say they've run a cortical simulator on a supercomputer; the simulator was able to run at the scale of a cat's brain. A Darpa-funded project aims to build hardware that mimics biological thinking. And early theoretical work on memristors — circuit elements with the ability to "remember" — opens tantalizing prospects.
The Singularity isn't going to happen tomorrow. But if you start seeing headlines about talkative brain simulations or overly imaginative software, you might want to rethink any long-term plans. — Charles Stross
Flying Cars — That Go 40 Feet
I don't think it's greedy to ask for a sensible car that can fly a very modest distance. Let's say 40 feet. With 40 feet, you could hop in and out of traffic. Or simply show off by hovering over your friends and colleagues. Then just watch: Someone will get motivated to get a car to fly 50 feet. Then 50 feet turns into 100 feet. Before you know it, we'll have flying cars and be saying to ourselves, "Wow, that was easy."
Not to mention … Six Million Dollar Man march → infinity-sided die → hands-free shampoo → boneless chickens → heart-healthy bacon → time-shifting alarm clock → sturdier toy lightsaber → laser beam contacts →
Illustrations: Nishant Choksi
Still waiting for WiMax — you know, the souped-up, next-gen Wi-Fi that surrounds you at all times and lets you access the Internet via a radio transmitter up to 30 miles away? Then you must reside in New York, Los Angeles, or San Francisco. If you live in most other cities in the US (or the world, for that matter — experts estimate that WiMax will cover 1 billion people by 2011), then you might already have the wireless technology on your smartphone or laptop. You just know it by another name: 4G. — Erin Biba
Everything we use — everything we are — is made of smaller stuff. The entire universe is just subatomic particles stuck together with wispy mysterious forces. So why not take command of that nanoscale world? Grab individual molecules and build tiny gears, wires, and even mechanical computers. Make wee robots out of simple, strong, engineered diamond. The result was to be a kind of magic "bottom- up" assembly that could generate anything from a steak to a couch to a car.
That all turns out to be exactly as hard as it sounds. Sure, molecular machines called ribosomes use genetic information to build the parts of every living thing — a process so robust that MIT computer scientist Tom Knight once called biology "the nanotechnology that works." But biology happens for the precise reason that utopian nanotech can't: The world of the ultrasmall is astonishingly violent. The surfaces of objects turn out to be seething frenzies of motion — atoms vibrating thousands of times a second, bonds forming and breaking. This energetic mess is what powers cellular machinery — but it blows apart anything humans engineer to do the same job.
Scanning tunneling microscopes — basically needles with tips about 100 angstroms wide — can spell out words with xenon atoms but not much else. DNA robots exist, but they can't do much more than scuttle. Beyond that? A nanotech-powered "diamond age" will have to wait. The upside: so will a world disassembled into "gray goo" by nanomachines. — Christopher Mims
Quantum Computing
Blame Richard Feynman. In 1982, the physicist proposed harnessing quantum weirdness — the behavioral quirks and paradoxes of matter at subatomic scales — for spooky-fast computation. It was just plausible enough to inspire a generation of PhD students to make a quantum leap for glory. It's hard to blame them — the idea sounds so … futurey.
That's unlikely to change any time soon. Theories on quantum computing abound, but despite minor advances, the most celebrated quantum computation yet achieved has been the factoring of the number 15 into 3×5 — or about what mathletes can do in the second grade.
Quantum computers were supposed to tackle the toughest calculations, like finding patterns in brain waves and predicting weather really well. They wouldn't just be exponentially faster than conventional computers; they would theoretically be able to run every possible permutation at the same time.
Theories aside, the biggest roadblock, says MIT computer scientist Scott Aaronson, is decoherence — the tendency of computational "qubits" (quantum bits) to lose their special properties when they interact with … anything. The result is a catch-22: "For quantum computation, it's necessary to keep the qubits almost fanatically isolated from their environment," Aaronson says. "But you also need to manipulate the qubits to carry out the computation." If only we had a quantum computer to help us. — Thomas Hayden
A Birthday Cake With a Burrito Inside
It's been like this for years: You slice into a birthday cake, hoping for a surprise, and instead you get, well, just plain cake. Wouldn't it be nice to cut open a birthday cake and find a delicious 2-pound burrito nestled in there? Then you could truly have your cake and eat it, too. Not to mention, it would solve the age-old problem of finishing off an entire birthday cake only to end up ordering out for burritos an hour later. Annoying, right? You know what I'm talking about?
Plus, what about … flaming sword → 1,000-story building → jet-powered surfboard → passive butt-toner → glow-in-the-dark cat → pocket barbecue → extrudable
claws → auto-regenerating pencil → retractable platform shoes → Coinstar couch → living, breathing, genetically engineered Cookie Monster →
Illustrations: Nishant Choksi
What We've Lost
The people, places, and things that were once the future—but vanished.
Personalized Medications
Weren't we supposed to have drugs tailored to our DNA by now? A gene scan would predict whether we'd respond to a treatment — and even what the dosage should be.
Those smarter drugs are coming, but very slowly. First, Big Pharma had to quit focusing on churning out sequels to blockbuster drugs and prioritize products that help smaller groups of patients. Even then, earning FDA approval for a new drug takes years, as does developing the tests to match people to pills.
For some people, however, the future is here: Variations in three genes determine how a person will metabolize a blood thinner called warfarin, and many docs now run genetic tests before writing a prescription. Cancer treatment in particular has benefited from pharmacogenomics. Herceptin can save the lives of breast cancer patients whose tumors over-express the HER2 gene. Two other drugs target genes expressed in certain colorectal tumors. What's more, in June several cancer centers formed an alliance to use DNA sequencing to help patients choose the right treatment. Medicine is getting more personal every day. — Steve Silberman
Supersonic Airlines
It was the next best thing to teleportation: Between 1977 and 2003, anyone with enough money could get from New York to London in a sound-barrier-smashing three and a half hours. But futuristic air travel became a thing of the past when British Airways and Air France grounded their famous Concorde jets seven years ago. The flights were pricey, and demand dwindled after a fiery crash in 2000 made travelers wary of the planes. But the allure of a day trip to Paris hasn't faded. Here are a few new ventures that are keeping the dream alive. — Erin Biba
Aerion Corporation
Proposal: Business jets similar to the Concorde but with a more advanced wing design will fly just under the speed of sound in populated areas. Over places like Siberia, where that pesky sonic boom won't bother anyone, top speeds will be up to Mach 1.6.
ETA: At least five years. The aircraft is still in development.
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
Proposal: Japan's version of NASA is working on a craft that would use a special low-drag frame. Its ultra-aerodynamic body shape will theoretically allow it to cross the sound barrier with little or no boom.
ETA: At least five years to surpass Mach 1 in silence, 10 years to hit Mach 5.
Service: Experience the supersonic travel of tomorrow, today, on a Lockheed F-104 Starfighter that will take you on high-speed flights to the edge of space.
Cost: Starts at $30,000 per ride.
Ray Gun That Brings Mannequins to Life
Just about every day I walk by window displays and wonder: What if those mannequins could talk? What are they thinking or feeling? What if one of those mannequins is secretly a great future leader or scientist or doctor? What if that mannequin has the cure for cancer but we will never know, because he or she is frozen … because they are a mannequin. Well, with a simple zap of this ray gun, we would have answers to all these nagging questions at long last. Or we would be murdered by an army of conscienceless mannequins.
Don't forget … force field → trampoline bed → padded ceiling → rocket shoes → hangover-free alcohol → tractor beam → car that transforms into thing that is not a car → self-cleaning house → self-cleaning Q-tips → in-home plastic surgery kit →
Illustrations: Nishant Choksi
Professional robot maker Colin Angle has some disappointing news for you: Don't expect to get your own wisecracking C-3PO anytime soon. "There's no good business model for a robot servant," says Angle, cofounder of iRobot, which makes military bots and the Roomba vacuum. The problem: Nobody wants to pay massive amounts of cash for the androids we are capable of making today.
Sure, Asimo wows convention-goers the world over, MIT's emotive Nexi is a YouTube hit, and a robot receptionist recently officiated at a Japanese couple's wedding. But they and their other experimental siblings cost as much as $1 million apiece, gobble lots of energy, and just aren't that smart. (Granted, that goes for some of your real-life companions, too.)
Even robotic pets, a simpler proposition, suffer from the drastic disconnect between cost and ability. Sony's AIBO mechanical dog won a cult following, but the $2,500 electromutt mostly failed to perform as instructed and so didn't sell well enough to stave off android euthanasia. And please forget about basic pleasure-model sexbots. The few that are on the market, like Japan's Honey Dolls, start at $5,580 and are more off-putting than on-turning with silicone skin, prerecorded cooings, and the regrettable need to be cleaned after use.
The truth is that almost any task can be done more cheaply and efficiently by (a) other humans or (b) inexpensive, single-purpose intelligent appliances that have more in common with a blender than Rosie the maid. That's why we already have bots that build cars, defuse bombs, and clean gutters, but none that make conversation and dinner at the same time. "You don't want a humanoid robot," insists Maja Mataric of the University of Southern California's Robotics Research Lab. "You want a bunch of machines that fill service niches." The good news: Since it's only $200, when your Roomba becomes self-aware and tries to enslave you, you can just get a new one. — Vince Beiser
Vat-Grown Meat
Imagine a hunk of pricey animal flesh — say, wagyu beef or jamón ibèrico — suspended in a tank of nutrients, perpetually expanding. Vat-grown meat — it's what's for dinner! Well, maybe someday. R&D in the young field of tissue engineering has so far focused mostly on conjuring flesh for medical transplants — scientists have successfully replicated human skin, blood vessels, and even a bladder. As for more delicious tissues, it turns out that many of the same things that make it hard to replicate a complex organ like a heart make it hard to replicate a prime cut of meat — that texture, that flavor, that perfect balance of muscle and fat. But we're still trying. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, for example, is offering $1 million to whoever can mass-produce the best cruelty- free chicken nuggets by June 30, 2012. A panel of judges will taste-test entries for authenticity — no fair drowning them in honey-mustard sauce. — Aaron Rowe
Clean Coal
Just Hide 6 Million Tons of CO2 a Day
As oxymorons go, "clean coal" is right up there with "Donner party." Never mind toxic sludge, coal-fired power plants also produce more Earth-warming CO2 per kilowatt-hour than plants running on any other fuel source. And wouldn't you know, both the US and China have enough coal in the ground to last at least 100 years. The good news is that we already have the technology to use it without melting the polar ice caps. It's called carbon capture and storage — sucking up the CO2 that results from burning fossil fuels, compressing it into liquid form, and pumping it into the ground.
So what's the hang-up? Well, first there's the matter of transporting and storing all that liquefied CO2. If every one of the nation's 1,500 or so coal-fired generators were retrofitted for capture, we'd have to dispose of some 6 million tons of CO2 a day. But the real devil is in the economics. Clean coal electricity is projected to cost at least 30 percent more than conventional coal power. Result: negligible private investment despite billions in government subsidies. The thing is, if we want to stop climate change, a 30 percent premium isn't too bad. Land-based wind energy costs about 50 percent more. But until we figure out how to make clean coal an attractive investment, we're stuck with the dirty stuff. — Lee Simmons
Chewbacca-Mask Weddings
When we saw Star Wars as kids, everyone in the neighborhood had the same reaction: Wow, what a great movie! And then: Chewbacca's the best! I'm pretty sure that in the future, people will get married looking like Chewbacca. I'm heartbroken that this is not already standard practice for a bride and groom. Sure, it's caught on in places like Portland and the isle of Crete, but it's not the same, and it makes me sad. Also very angry.
And another thing … watch projector → brain projector → Nerf Formula 1 cars → 62-gallon wineglass → sleep outsourcing → jelly-doughnut gun → waffle gun → Reddi-wip foie gras → Lego panopticon → Talking albino robot mini-monkey bartender
Illustrations: Nishant Choksi
There are lots of excuses for why we don't have jetpacks. For example, you're always hearing about how they need to be "controllable" and "stable." Or that they cost thousands of dollars but hold only 40 seconds of fuel, which isn't even enough to get you to safe parachute height. And that you can't use stronger fuels without the risk of "burning off your legs." Sometimes people point out how useless they are, calling them "unicycles in the sky, except at least you can juggle on a unicycle and it doesn't send you into a telephone wire at 70 miles per hour." But the real reason we don't have jetpacks? Because the engineers at Bell Aerospace, who initially developed one in 1961, insisted on calling it a rocketbelt. Rocketbelt? Who the hell wants a rocketbelt? Come on. That's just plain dangerous. — Robert Capps
If you want to make something invisible to an infrared or radio receiver, cloak the object in a plastic shell covered with a pattern of ultrafine copper or silver lines. Called a metamaterial, this surface acts like thousands of tiny repeating antennas. When that infrared beam or radio wave hits one "antenna," the signal gets passed to the next and then the next and so on, eventually getting seamlessly relayed around the object. The receiver never registers that the signal encountered interference. To it, the object in question is invisible. Now move along the electromagnetic spectrum from infrared to visible light and everything should work the same way, right? There's a catch: Our receivers — i.e., eyeballs — are pretty good at seeing stuff, so the slightest flaw in the metamaterial would reveal objects hidden beneath it, but they'd look fuzzy, like a bad hologram. So we'll have to wait until someone invents a way to produce absolutely uniform metamaterials. That could take 20 years or 200 — but at least we can see it coming. — Erin Biba
Fusion Power
Heat Plasma to 150 million Degrees Celsius and Contain It — Shouldn't Be a Big Deal.
Stars do it, so why can't we? That's the attitude of nuclear-fusion optimists, who believe that mankind can create almost unlimited energy by fusing atomic nuclei. It's how the sun and other celestial gasbags stay lit, by subjecting hydrogen to massive amounts of heat and pressure. Thermonuclear bombs rely on fusion, too, though in a notably uncontrolled fashion. The trick to harnessing the phenomenon for peaceful purposes is to keep it contained — and, of course, to make sure the reaction produces more energy than it consumes.
Physicists have declared imminent victory several times since the early 1950s, using such "bottles" as magnetic fields, lasers, and sound waves to contain ionized gases (also known as plasmas). But the most promising methods have invariably disappointed over the long run. "The problem is that plasmas are really creative at getting out of the bottle," says Barrett Rogers, a Dartmouth College physics professor who focuses on fusion. "Their behavior is so complex and varied that it's hard to invent a really effective bottle."
The bigger the bottle, however, the better its ability to corral plasma. At least, that's the theory behind ITER, fusion's next great hope. Currently under construction in southern France, ITER is a gargantuan machine in which plasmas will be heated to around 150 million degrees Celsius and contained between superconducting magnets in a vacuum chamber. The completed contraption will weigh a whopping 23,000 tons — as much as three Eiffel Towers — and cost more than $12 billion. But its goal is exceedingly modest: to produce 500 megawatts of power for several minutes. That's hardly the constant flow of thousands of megawatts that utility companies currently produce. And there's no telling whether ITER will be able to handle the physical stresses of its mission. These guys should really watch Spider-Man 2. — Brendan I. Koerner
Underwater City
I'm not crazy, I'm not asking for multiple underwater cities. I'm just asking for one. It could be called something ominous and scientific like Sector H12B or cute like Taylortown, named after the city's founding father, Garth Taylor. Who, of course and unfortunately, died before he ever saw his underwater city completed. There would be a tasteful statue in the middle of town dedicated to Taylor, wearing a scuba mask as he talks to children gathered at his feet.
Illustrations: Nishant ChoksiGo Back to Top. Skip To: Start of Article.


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Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. saw its profit grow 33 percent in the third quarter as political campaigns and automakers ramped up spending on advertising, the Hunt Valley-based company said Thursday.
The broadcaster earned $26.2 million in the three months that ended Sept. 30, or 32 cents per share, compared with $19.2 million during the same months last year, or 24 cents per share.
Boosted by political and automotive advertising, sales from continuing operations jumped 49 percent to $226.4 million, from $151.9 million in the third quarter of 2011. Political revenues totaled $27.8 million in the third quarter, up from $2.4 million in comparable period in 2011.
Higher retransmission revenues — the fees cable companies pay to use Sinclair's television content — also helped, the company said.
"Despite increased demand for air-time by politicians and political action groups, the core business showed solid growth" as well, said Sinclair CEO David Smith in a statement. Net broadcast revenue grew nearly 7 percent excluding political ads.
The demand by political candidates, political action committees and issue-related groups crowded out some of the regular categories, such as services, schools and fast food, Sinclair said.
"We expect this trend to continue through the November 6, 2012, Election Day as political advertising reaches historic levels," the company said in a statement.
The company is investing in its long-term growth, Smith said, recently agreeing to buy the assets of KBTV, the Fox affiliate in the Beaumont/Port Arthur, Texas, market, where Sinclair also owns the CBS station. The company has agreed to sell its ABC station in Lansing, Mich., after identifying it as a non-strategic market.
Anticipating an increase in dividend tax rates in 2013, Sinclair's board has approved returning about $81.2 million to shareholders in the form of a $1 per share special cash dividend, in addition to the regular 15 cents per share quarterly dividend, the company said.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
by Theresa Rebhorn and Lisa Küpper
NICHCY | National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities
December 2007
July 2016 Editor's Note: Module 13 has been updated. Please find the newest version of this module in CPIR's Webinars, at:
**Este módulo está disponible en español: El Contenido del IEP
Module 13 looks in detail at the information that must be included in the IEP of every child with a disability receiving special education and related services under IDEA. This is critical knowledge for families and school personnel to have!
The module is available in English and Spanish, as you'll see below. It includes:
- a slideshow presentation in English;
- a slideshow presentation in Spanish;
- a Trainer's Guide to the content;
- handouts for participants in English and in Spanish; and
- supplemental resources for trainers.
Please help yourself below, and download the components you need to learn on your own and/or to train others regarding the contents of the IEP under IDEA 2004.
Looking for just a quick summary?
If you're merely looking for a quick summary of the IEP, not the lengthy and detailed explanation that Module 13 offers, we are pleased to direct you to just such a summary!
Component #1: The Slideshows | Las Diapositivas
In English and in Spanish
The 33 slides in this presentation will help you frame discussion of what IDEA requires be included in a child's IEP, component by component.
English Slideshow
(Stored in a ZIP folder)
Spanish Slideshow **
(Saved as a Powerpoint Show. If you don't have Powerpoint, download the free Viewer.)
PDF for Spanish Trainers | This file shows trainers how the slideshows in Spanish work. (Be sure to download the trainer's guide to the content—immediately below—which explains the content of each slide.)
Component #2: Trainer's Guide to the Content
This guide to Module 13 is in English but should also be downloaded if you're training in Spanish. That's because here is where you'll find the full explanation of each slide's content. It also offers much additional info so that trainers can adapt training sessions to a length or detail suitable to the given audience.
Word | Complete Guide (Accessible Word file)
Component #3: Handouts for Participants | Folletos para Participants
In English and in Spanish
The handouts for Module 13 are included in a packet of handouts designed to cover the entire umbrella topic of Theme D, the Individualized Education Program. If you've downloaded the handouts for Theme D already (for example, as part of training on Modules 12 or 14, 15, or 16), you have the handouts you need for Module 13. If you haven't downloaded any handouts for Theme Dyet, here they are in 2 different formats and 2 different languages.
Handouts in English
PDF | English Handouts for Theme D
Word | English Handouts for Theme D (Accessible Word file)
Handouts in Spanish | Folletos en Español **
Word | Los Folletos para Tema D (en archivo accesible)
Note about the Spanish Translations:
In preparing the handouts in Spanish, we chose to use a certain vocabulary set for the terminology most frequently used in IDEA. IDEA itself is extremely and purposefully consistent about its terminology, and we felt it critical to do the same in Spanish. However, we fully recognize that there are many ways to say the same thing, and Spanish is rich with alternatives from country to country, region to region. So we've also prepared a glossary of the terminology used in IDEA, how we've rendered that terminology in Spanish, and other ways of rendering it that families may also hear. Share this with participants as you see fit or use it to guide your own translations. The glossary of terminology is available in two formats, PDF and Word:
Component #4: Resources for Trainers
English only
The Resources for Trainers for Theme D are intended to accompany:
- Module 13 (Content of the IEP),
- Module 14 (Meetings of the IEP Team), and
- Module 16 (Children Enrolled by Their Parents in Private Schools).
If you're working with any of these modules, you'll want to download these resources of additional information. Again, choose between downloading a PDF file or an accessible Word file (or both, if you like).
There! You're all set to go for Module 13.
Please remember that these materials are designed to be a thorough and authoritative source of info on the contents of the IEP, as required by IDEA 2004. That's why they are so detailed. As a trainer, you are free to adapt the info we've offered to serve the purposes and needs of your audiences and the amount of time you have to spend with them.
Quick-Jump Menu to Other Modules
1: Top 10 Basics of Special Education
2: Key Changes in IDEA
5: Disproportionality and Overrepresentation
6: Early Intervening Services and Response to Intervention
7: Highly Qualified Teachers (withdrawn with the reauthorization of NCLB as the ESSA in 2015)
9: Introduction to Evaluation under IDEA
10: Initial Evaluation and Reevaluation
11: Identification of Children with Specific Learning Disabilities
12: The IEP Team
13: Content of the IEP (you're already here)
14: Meetings of the IEP Team
15: LRE Decision Making
16: Children Enrolled by Their Parents in Private Schools
17: Introduction to Procedural Safeguards
18: Options for Dispute Resolution
19: Key Issues in Discipline


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There is much more to explore in our calendar. Find other important events in literary history, authors' birthdays, and a variety of holidays, each with related lessons and resources.
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May 18
Raymond Carver was inducted into the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1988.
|7 – 12
|Calendar Activity Type
|Author & Text
Raymond Carver, author of numerous short stories and books of poetry, is known for the minimalist style of his writing. He published his first story, The Furious Seasons, in 1960. In 1983 Carver won the O. Henry Award for the story A Small, Good Thing. In 1988, the year of Carver's death from cancer at age 50, he was inducted into the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
Explore literary minimalism by studying Carver's works. Begin by selecting titles for your classroom library, assigning a selection or providing a booklist for students. Then try the following writing activity after students have read several of Carver's works:
- In groups, have students identify characteristics of Carver's work. How does his writing compare to that of other authors they have studied? How does this style affect their understanding of the text? Then discuss group responses as a whole class.
- Review the characteristics of literary minimalism ("slice of life" stories; ordinary characters; simple, bare facts).
- Finally, have students write original poems or short stories in a minimalist style. Have students share their pieces and then compare them to other works they have written during the year.
- Raymond Carver - Life Stories, Books, and Links
This page dedicated to Carver features a bibliography, brief biography, audio and video interviews with Carver, and more.
- Poetry Foundation: Raymond Carver
This resource, from the Poetry Foundation, includes a Carver biography and chronology of his life. Also featured are family photographs, a complete bibliography, and more.
- Two Interviews with Raymond Carver
Read two interviews with Raymond Carver, on this page from James Plath, Professor of English at Illinois Wesleyan University. Carver discusses his writing, the writing process, and more.
- Community Reconsidered: Raymond Carver
Wired for Books offers an online community for discussion of Raymond Carver's works. Included is an academic discussion of Carver's works and an audio question and answer session.
Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
So What Do You Think? Writing a Review
Writing a review of an author's work challenges students to develop their critical thinking skills. It provides an opportunity for students to speak their mindsand to enjoy being heard.
Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Developing Characterization in Raymond Carver's "A Small, Good Thing"
Students read Raymond Carver's story "A Small, Good Thing," focusing on characterization in order to develop one of the static charactersthe hit-and-run driver who causes Scotty's deathmore fully.
Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Put That on the List: Independently Writing a Catalog Poem
In this follow-up to writing collaborative catalog poems, students write individual catalog poems about what really matters in their lives, based on Carver's poem "The Car."
Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
When Less IS MoreUnderstanding Minimalist Fiction
This lesson pairs Ernest Hemingway's short story "Cat in the Rain' with Raymond Carver's "Little Things" to guide students to an understanding of the characteristics of minimalist fiction.


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|Welcome to the official website of Jiangsu Zhonglian Electric Co., Ltd.!
|Homepage | Contact Us
About China United / about us
Jiangsu Zhonglian Electric Co., Ltd. is specialized in producing mine explosion-proof The manufacturer of substation and mine explosion-proof transformers has two series of 146 specifications of coal mine safety sign certificate, explosion-proof certificate and production license, and is also a wire and cable manufacturer.
The main products of the company"s substation and transformer series are: KBSGZY series mine partition Explosive mobile substation, KBSG series mine explosion-proof transformer, KBSGZY mine explosion-proof load center and SG10 series open dry type transformer, power transformer, special transformer, etc. Among them, the 8000kVA ultra-large capacity intelligent mine explosion-proof mobile substation is a domestic large-capacity substation, which has reached the international advanced level, filled the domestic gap, fully realized the substitution of imports, and obtained the ��Jiangsu Province SME Patent New Product�� and ��Jiangsu High-tech Products��. ", Jiangsu Province, the first prize for coal science and technology progress" and so on.
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Fax: 0515-88449688 Contact: Mr. Chen Su ICP No.11040907


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Marketo – Zoho CRMDev Chidipi2018-11-01T11:37:07+00:00
Purpose of this Template
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Last updated: November 20, 2012
Gather for a family health portrait this Thanksgiving
Gather for a family health portrait this Thanksgiving
Join in a Family History Twitter Chat on Nov. 20
Every year since 2004, the U.S. Surgeon General has declared Thanksgiving to be National Family Health History Day. Over the holiday, or at other times when families gather, the Surgeon General encourages Americans to talk about and write down the health problems that seem to run in their family. Learning about your family's health history may help ensure a longer, healthier future together.
U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, M.D., M.B.A., started the conversation this year by co-hosting a National Family Health History Twitter chat with the March of Dimes on Tuesday. Read the one-hour Twitter chat here, or continue the discussion on Twitter at #familyhealthhistory.
To help record and share your health history with family members, the Surgeon General's office, developed, initially with support from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), a free, online tool called, "My Family Health Portrait" at https://familyhistory.hhs.gov. The tool helps you organize your family health information, print it out, and share it with health care professionals, who can then help determine whether you are at higher risk for certain diseases.
"Knowing your family health history provides a powerful view into your own genome without even having its sequence," said NHGRI Director Eric D. Green, M.D., Ph.D. "The U.S. Surgeon General's Family History Initiative was first proposed just as the Human Genome Project was being completed but before the dramatic drop in genome-sequencing costs made it economically feasible to sequence individuals' genomes for medical reasons. The web-based tool helps organize meaningful health information into patterns that family doctors can use to heighten surveillance for early disease detection or even to develop medical interventions to prevent disease from occurring."
It takes less than 20 minutes to enter each family member's health history information about common diseases. The tool also allows users to save their information to their own computers, return and enter additional information as it becomes available, and does not require that the information be complete for every family member. To ensure privacy, no user information is saved on any computer of the U.S. federal government.
If you prefer to use a paper version of the tool to gather and record your family's information, a printable PDF of the Surgeon General's tool is available in several languages at My Family Health Portrait Tool - Printable Versions [hhs.gov].
To learn more about the U.S. Surgeon General's online family history tool, see The U.S. Surgeon General's Family History Initiative: My Family Health Portrait.
There's also a wealth of information at the NIH Senior Health website, at Creating a Family Health History [nihseniorhealth.gov].
The Genetic Alliance hosts a variety of health history tools, including a webinar produced in partnership with NHGRI's Genomics Healthcare Branch, at Family Health History Collection Tools: Start Building Your Family Tree [geneticalliance.org].
To view the PDF document(s) on this page, you will need Adobe Reader.


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Werewolves and Silver Bullets Presents: Kohl Crecelius of Krochet Kids intl.
Thursday, November 14, 2013 from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM (PST)
Join us for an exciting evening of community, inspiration and action as we feature Kohl Crecelius and his work at Krochet Kids. Learn from a panel of experts about international development and women's empowerment while hanging out with like-minded Angelenos.
21+ - Must Register to Attend - Drinks Provided
Street Parking Available
Join millions of people on Eventbrite.
In order to purchase these tickets in installments, you'll need an Eventbrite account. Log in or sign up for a free account to continue.


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Fifty-two days after the initial announcement of a deal, the Red Sox will finalize their 5/70 contract with right fielder J.D. Drew this afternoon.
Edes, Globe:
[S]ources with direct knowledge of the negotiations said all parties have signed off on an agreement ... giving the team the right to void either of the last two years of the deal, or both, should Drew's right shoulder render him unable to play. ...
[I]f Drew goes on the disabled list in his third year for issues related to the shoulder for a proscribed length of time, the Sox have the option to void the final two years. If he winds up on the disabled list in his fourth year, the Sox have the option of voiding the final year.


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New York City. Photograph by Teju Cole, via Flickr.
On the morning of January 8th, Teju Cole published a fiction in the form of 33 tweets, each posted from the account of a different "collaborator," and then retweeted sequentially by Cole. Titled "Hafiz," it took three hours and fifteen minutes to be published. Like most of Cole's experiments in Twitter publishing, it generated much more social media heat than actual critique. (There are a few notable exceptions.) But "Hafiz," both as a story and presentation, is worth examining, as it is both the closest @tejucole has come to Teju Cole's fiction and a singular commentary on it.


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Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling (30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936 / Bombay)
» Click to list general statistics » OR, select a date :
Kaa's Hunting
His spots are the joy of the Leopard: his horns are the Buffalo's pride.
Be clean, for the strength of the hunter is known by the gloss
read more >>
- Hits: Number of visitors who read the poem on the given date.
- Posts: Number of visitors who posted the poem to a friend (via e-mail) on the given date.
- Dates that have "0" hits may not be shown on the list.
- Dates, poems and poets that have "0" hits may not be shown on the list. Statistics are generated daily.


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Designer Sarah English of Pattern State will be taking her work to Surtex this year as a pop-up artist for Zoe Jo Print Studio. Pattern State designs will be available for licensing in booth 3326, alongside Zoe Jo founder Jen Gassiraro who will be showing collections by her artists for outright sales. Both Jen and Sara share a love of hand drawn lines, brushstrokes, and the beauty of imperfection.
19 May 2017
SURTEX 2017 - pattern state
Posted by bowie style at 7:59 am
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Editor's Note: This story was originally published Dec. 14, 2012. It has been updated to reflect current events.
In the United States, it's another day, another shooting.
This time a gunman, or possibly gunmen, opened fire at a US Navy Yard in Washington, DC. Details of the shooting — how many were hurt or killed, who was responsible, and the motive — remain scarce. You can get live updates here.
The United States is no stranger to deadly shooting massacres. Here's a look at some of the most tragic.
11) 12 KILLED (Aurora, Colo., Aug 20, 2012)
RJ SANGOSTI/Pool-Getty Images.
James Eagan Homes, 24, set off gas canisters and opened fire during a midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises."
10) 13 KILLED (Camden, NJ, Sept. 6, 1949)
KEVORK DJANSEZIAN/Getty Images.
In a 20-minute neighborhood stroll, Army veteran Howard Unruh killed 13 people, three of them children. Unruh died in 2009 after 60 years of confinement.
9) 13 KILLED (Fort Hood, Texas, Nov. 5, 2009)
JOE RAEDLE/Getty Images.
Former army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan killed 13 when he fired into a group of soldiers destined for Iraq and Afghanistan. A US military court sentenced Hasan to death.
8) 13 KILLED + GUNMAN (Binghamton, New Yor, April 3, 2009)
SPENCER PLATT/Getty Images.
Jiverly Wong, 41, entered the front of the immigration services center where he was an ESL student and opened fire, killing 13 and himself. It is still unclear as to why Wong carried out the killings though some suspected he felt degraded due to his poor English skills and difficulty finding good work.
7) 13 KILLED + 2 GUNMEN (Columbine High School, April 20, 1999)
MARK LEFFINGWELL/AFP/Getty Images.
Perhaps the most widely known US school shooting in history, teens Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 13 people at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. Many Americans and media wrongfully concluded the two shooters were social outcasts until the FBI concluded Harris was a psychopath and Klebold, a depressive.
6) 14 KILLED + GUNMAN (Edmon, Oklahoma, Aug. 20, 1986)
TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images.
Patrick Sherrill, 44, killed 15 of his co-workers. He was expecting his bosses to fire him from his job as a letter carrier.
5) 16 KILLED + GUNMAN (University of Texas at Austin, Aug. 1, 1966)
TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images.
Ex-Marine sniper Charles Whitman, 25, killed 16 from an observation deck of a campus tower until police eventually killed him.
4) 21 KILLED + GUNMAN (San Ysidro, Calif., July 18, 1984)
TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images.
James Oliver Huberty, 41, shot and killed 21 people at a McDonald's until a police sniper managed to kill him.
3) 23 KILLED + GUNMAN (Killeen, Texas, Oct. 16, 1991)
DARREN MCCOLLESTER/Newsmakers
George Hennard, 35, slammed his truck through the window of Luby's Cafeteria and then proceeded to shoot 23 people before taking his own life.
2) 27 KILLED + GUNMAN (Newtown, Conn., Dec. 14, 2012)
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/Newsmakers
Adam Lanza, 20, walked into Sandy Hook Elementary school and opened fire, killing 20 children and six adults. Before driving to the school, he also shot and killed his own mother.
1) 32 KILLED + GUNMAN (Virginia Tech, April 16, 2007)
CHIP SOMODOVEILLA/Getty Images.
Student Seung Hui Cho, 23, went through multiple buildings of the college campus, ultimately killing 32 people before killing himself. Cho was a South Korean native and senior at the time of the shootings. He had previously been diagnosed with depression.


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SSE Celebrates Recipients of Virginia and Kevin Ruesterholz Award
Award sponsors Kevin and Virginia Ruesterholz with current and past award recipients - (from L to R) Kevin Ruesterholz; Richard Delos Reyes, 2012 award recipient; Lauren Gallart, 2009 award recipient; Joseph Manfredonia, 2011 award recipient and Virginia Ruesterholz.
The 2012 Virginia and Kevin Ruesterholz Award was presented to School of Systems and Enterprises, Engineering Management, student, Richard Delos Reyes on September 5, at Stevens' 124th Convocation Ceremony. Delos Reyes, the fourth recipient of the Ruesterholz Award, holds a 3.7 GPA and is concurrently pursuing a Bachelor of Engineering along with a Master of Engineering in Engineering Management both of which will be conferred in May 2013.
The $10,000 scholarship which recognizes and rewards outstanding leadership and achievement in Engineering Management among the undergraduate student population at Stevens Institute of Technology was established in 2009 by Stevens' alum, Virginia and Kevin Ruesterholz. This yearly award is granted to a senior in Engineering Management with a 3.3 GPA or higher, who is an active participant of a student organization or professional society program and who best exemplifies the value of an Engineering Management education.
"Supporting the growth of young minds is one of the most important things we can do," said EM undergraduate award sponsors Kevin and Virginia Ruesterholz. "Sparks of brilliance are ignited every day on this campus and we are thrilled to encourage the brilliant students at Stevens."
The School of Systems & Enterprises hosted a dinner to celebrate the Reyes and past winners of the Ruesterholz Award and provided an opportunity for the award donors, Virginia and Kevin Ruesterholz, who were also in attendance an opportunity to meet the awardees'. The event was held on Wednesday September 5th at 7pm on the 5th floor of the Babbio Center.
Past winners of the Ruesterholz Award in attendance included, 2009 recipient, Lauren Gallart, who currently works as an Associate Project Manager at Jones Lang LaSalle, NY, NY; and 2011 recipient, Joseph Manfredonia, a ITLDP Associate Analyst at Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, NJ (2010 recipient, Anthony Shehab who works for BMW was unable to attend). Dean Dinesh Verma, School of Systems and Enterprises, Professor Jose Ramirez-Marquez, Program Director, graduate Engineering Management, Professor Kate Abel, Program Director, undergraduate Engineering Management and Dr. William Rouse, Alexander Crombie Humphreys Chair in Economics of Engineering with SSE also attended the event.
Virginia P. Ruesterholz is President & EVP of Verizon Services Operations (VSO), a global, shared-services business group that operates Verizon's wireline network and wholesale business, as well as the finance operations, real estate and supply chain services that support all Verizon companies. Prior to her current assignment, Ruesterholz served as president of Verizon Telecom, where she was responsible for sales, customer service, operations and IT for the consumer, general business and domestic wholesale markets.
Ms. Rusterholz serves as Trustee & Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees, Stevens Institute of Technology and the Chair of the Advisory Board of the School of Systems and Enterprises. She graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology with a degree in chemical engineering in 1983, and earned an M.S. in Telecommunications Management from Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute in 1991.
Kevin Ruesterholz, attorney at law, heads Ruesterholz Law LLC in Morristown, NJ. Mr. Ruesterholz has a unique and distinguished background with over twenty-five years of corporate experience with AT&T and Lucent Technologies in international business development, contract negotiations, partnership development, and business management. He graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology with a degree in chemical engineering in 1983, earned a J.D. from Seton Hall University Law School and earned an MBA in Finance from Rutgers the State University of New Jersey-Newark.


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Saturday, December 19, 2009
Winter Vacation, Day 1, 7:09 a.m.
21 comments:
- Julie said...
hehehe .. i can SO identify .. BUT we've got 7 weeks or so of school holidays to get through ... at least life will return somewhat to normal in a couple of weeks for you guys.
- December 19, 2009 at 10:23 AM
add a few more toys and this could be my house... of course, I just have an insane 2-year-old. And since I am on bed rest, I have to wait for my husband to clean it up!
- December 19, 2009 at 10:28 AM
- nRT said...
You should rev up the Vacuum and see the lil Grumpy's run to collect they precious lego and other foot cripplers.
- December 19, 2009 at 10:49 AM
LOL! Isn't that my house???
- December 19, 2009 at 11:23 AM
- Nurse K said...
Whoever the culprit was just wanted some color in that room---too much beige. Accessorizing, if you will.
- December 19, 2009 at 11:27 AM
- Doris said...
You have three children and three dogs (one of them black), and you have a WHITE RUG?
You need to see a neurolo...oh wait!
- December 19, 2009 at 11:41 AM
- vicki said...
love the blue and white tree. :)
which grumpy is jewish?
- December 19, 2009 at 12:18 PM
I agree with Nurse K, that room looks way to....sterile. I think they were just trying to add a bit of personality.
- December 19, 2009 at 12:26 PM
Doris beat me to it- I saw the picture and immediately thought: white rug, white furniture, wow!! You guys are either brave, extremely controlling, or naive!! ;-)
word verification: butranc
- December 19, 2009 at 2:07 PM
- Suzanne said...
Look at your floor and pristine rug!
I have two children -- 2 and 6 -- and my poor antique hardwood floors look like an ice rink just after a game. Ugh.
- December 19, 2009 at 2:10 PM
I[m jealous of all that floor space! However, I agree with Doris --- 3 kids, 3 dogs, and a white rug??? Are you nuts?
Donk (no kids, 3 dogs, 2 of them long haired and all of them BIG)
- December 19, 2009 at 2:21 PM
- Grumpy, M.D. said...
Doris & Lilorfnannie:
House was all white when we bought it. Walls, tile, carpet, etc.
Between kids and dogs it's been so damaged (and it continues) that it's not worth putting money into redecorating. No matter what we do, they will trash it. So no point in wasting the money.
- December 19, 2009 at 2:53 PM
- Helen said...
Playmobil! Good taste, those kids.
Good luck, Dr. G.
- December 19, 2009 at 4:11 PM
- The Good Cook said...
Um.. white on white. The addition of color is actually a plus.
- December 19, 2009 at 6:07 PM
- Theresa said...
Okay,have fun stepping on those sharp plastic "lego-type" things all over your floor!!
- December 19, 2009 at 6:27 PM
- Ron said...
LEGOS. A child's version of the punji stick.
- December 19, 2009 at 6:39 PM
If this scene was at my parents about 15 years ago, my mom would have had a hairy fit, lol. She's anal about cleanliness - even cleaning before the housekeeper arrives, lmao!
- December 19, 2009 at 7:37 PM
About not redecorating. Oh, do I ever hear THAT one. I figure I'll get nice furniture *someday*- maybe when the kids move out. Till then, I don't buy nothin' that needs to be polished or can't take heavy abuse. Preferably stuff that cost under $25/free.
- December 19, 2009 at 8:42 PM
Well, Dr. G. At least the kids are following the rules about no colored liquids... . But, really, it does look like some kids were amused and exercising major mental and skeletal muscle groups; real homey.
- December 19, 2009 at 11:06 PM
- ER's Mom said...
What IS it about homes having white carpeting? My house did too when we moved in, and I'm using the same logic to not redecorate until the rugrats are older.
The white carpet now has pee stains from a dog with chronic UTIs, barf stains from a kid who was running to the bathroom but didn't make it, and red nail polish (grumble).
- December 20, 2009 at 9:42 AM
- Loren Pechtel said...
The solution to handling Lego is simple: A big sheet. Play on that, when it's time to put it away you only need to worry about strays, otherwise you just grab the corners and fold it up. Or you can be even fancier and do what my mother did: Drawstrings.
- March 2, 2011 at 3:15 PM


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I was absolutely delighted with the service you provided – you were all straightforward, polite, punctual and a huge pleasure to work with. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend KFH Brook Green and, should I ever think of moving back to the area, you would be my first port of call.
Graeme G - Seller


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Educators demand removal of Keystone Exam graduation requirement
By ACL
Legislators from across southeastern Pennsylvania respond to questions regarding the Keystone Exams graduation requirement.
Key educational stakeholders from across southeastern Pennsylvania came together to denounce the educational and financial impact of Keystone Exams, the end-of-year assessments which could prevent some high school seniors from receiving their diplomas three years from now. The consensus among attendees of the April 24 Keystone Impact Briefing is that the Keystone Exams must be removed as a graduation requirement for Pennsylvania students.
The new regulations that went into effect March 1, 2014 require every public high school student in Pennsylvania, beginning with the Class of 2017, to pass the Keystone Exams in Language Arts, Algebra 1 and Biology in order to receive a high school diploma from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Keystone Impact Briefing featured a stakeholder panel discussion followed by an open question period for Pennsylvania state legislators, including Senator Andy Dinniman, Representative Dan Truitt and Representative Chris Ross.
"The sad fact of the matter is that the vast majority of parents, students and the community are completely unaware of the impact of the new Chapter 4 regulations," said Dr. Joseph O'Brien, CCIU executive director. "While on the surface this regulation may seem to make sense, when you peel back the layers, you quickly realize the financial, academic and social consequences of these new regulations."
The controversy surrounding the Keystone Exams is quickly building to what opponents call a perfect storm. "When the Class of 2017 entered our buildings this year, the stakes changed," said Dr. Amy Meisinger, principal of Conestoga High School in Chester County's Tredyffrin/Easttown School District. "The stress is now palpable. It's real for the students, it's real for the teachers and it's starting to become real for the parents."
One of the chief drawbacks is their one size fits all nature. The Keystone Exams are a primary roadblock to what many panelists emphasized as the lifeblood of education: meeting the needs of individual learners. "How can one test be reflective of all educational efforts and capabilities over 12 years?" asked William LaCoff, Board Director of Owen J. Roberts School District and President-Elect of PSBA. The bottom line, he said, is that the Keystone Exams have become destructive, rather than instructive, for Pennsylvania's students.
It was not a far stretch for Dr. Jim Scanlon of the West Chester Area School District (WCASD) to draw a parallel to the No Child Left Behind law. In fact, 2014 is the year by which 100 percent proficiency in reading and math was to be achieved. "It was an impossible task, but for 14 years we stifled creativity in the classroom to focus on a goal that we weren't going to be able to meet anyway," said Dr. Scanlon. "We are about to do the same thing with the Keystone Exams, and now is the time to make a change."
Noting its 62 percent pass rate, Dr. Scanlon offered several profiles of otherwise bright WCASD students who failed the Biology Keystone Exam. For their counterparts in the Class of 2017, failing that exam would result in remediation efforts that will severely curb access to elective courses that so often serve as the spark for future careers.
For West Chester Henderson senior Max Kneis, it was a high school business elective that solidified his desire to study finance at the University of Pittsburgh. "If I had failed the Keystone Exam the previous year, I would never been given the opportunity to take that elective and I wouldn't have discovered what I want to do with my life," he said.
According to Dr. William Keilbaugh, superintendent of the School District of Haverford Township in Delaware County, the Keystone Exams are also robbing schools of time and energy that should be focused on classroom instruction. In his district, the number of calendars days devoted to high-stakes testing has jumped from 45 days in 2011-12 to 120 days in 2013-14 associated with the implementation of Keystone Exams.
"We have an anarchy of regulation right now," said Dr. Keilbaugh. "The policymakers have tunnel-vision and they don't see what it looks like on the ground."
Meanwhile, the superintendent of Bucks County's Council Rock School District, spoke to the "onerous at best" financial toll. For this year alone, Dr. Mark Klein's district allocated nearly $250,000 to creating a system to implement the exams. He noted that costs extend far beyond the staffing and alternative scheduling related to the exam sessions themselves, into the remediation that will come afterwards for students who do not pass the exam the first time.
Legislators acknowledged the drawbacks to the Keystone Exams but emphasized the absolute necessity of ensuring students are prepared for the modern world.
"I agree the Keystone exams are a bad idea but if I introduce this bill, it's dead on arrival in the House Education Committee if we don't have some alternative to pitch," Representative Dan Truitt, in response to a request to uncouple Keystone Exams from the graduation requirement.
Senator Andy Dinniman encouraged superintendents, teachers and parents to stand as one. "Legislators will listen when the local citizens who elected them start to talk," said Senator Dinniman. "You have that power if only you are willing to step forward. Your parents are waiting, and your students are waiting."
"What my colleagues will soon find out in the legislature is that opposition is more widespread and deeply felt than we realized," he concluded.


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If you are on the Creative Cloud then there is some amazing news! From today you should have have access to Creative Cloud Desktop File & Desktop Font Sync.
What does this mean.
- You can sync and save files from your Desktop into your creative cloud storage area (it's ok you won't loose anything, as it will be on your computer already)
- If anything that is added in the browser version of Creative Cloud Files, then they will appear on your desktop.
- If you are running CC single Edition, Creative Cloud for Teams or Creative Cloud full then you will also get your selected Typekit fonts synced to your desktop as well.
You should be on the current version of Creative Cloud and have the following options available. This application will keep a track of how much storage you have available, as well as making sure that your desktop folder and the Creative Cloud folder on the web are in sync. You can access your web storage here (http://creative.adobe.com).
There are some configuration options that you can set up. Navigate to Preferences (click on the cog in the top right hand corner)
On the preferences menu there are options for Fonts and Files. On the Files tab, you can see the ability to turn on/off just the files sync (marked Red), as well as the change local folder location (marked Purple). You can also control the transfer speed (both up and down).
File sync can be paused independently as well, by choosing the Pause option directly from the Fly out menu.
On the Font tab you are able to control the individual sync.


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Paul Walker, a star of "The Fast and the Furious" film franchise, has died after a car crash.
According to the Associated Press, a publicist said Walker passed away after a car crash in California. A publicist confirmed the actor's death to the Journal. Walker was 40 years old.
The actor's Twitter account posted a link to the following note: "It is with a truly heavy heart that we must confirm that Paul Walker passed away today in a tragic car accident while attending a charity event for his organization Reach Out Worldwide. He was a passenger in a friend's car, in which both lost their lives. We appreciate your patience as we too are stunned and saddened beyond belief by this news. Thank you for keeping his family and friends in your prayers during this very difficult time. We will do our best to keep you apprised on where to send condolences. – #TeamPW"
Born Paul William Walker IV in Glendale, Calif., Walker starred in such films as "Varsity Blues," "Into the Blue" and "Takers," but it was "The Fast and the Furious" in 2001 that won him his greatest fame. The movie, which spawned several sequels, featured high-powered vehicles, car chases and street-racing scenes.
"Fast & Furious 6″ has taken in $238,679,850 at the box office so far, according to Box Office Mojo.
The news that Walker had died after a car crash spurred stunned tributes to him on Twitter from friends and fellow actors.
"Paul Walker is the reason I wanted to drive a car in the first place," one tweet said.


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A bartender says the Florida nightclub shooter stalked her nearly a decade ago, sending her so many uncomfortable messages on Facebook that she blocked him on the social network.
"He was one of those guys who wouldn't leave me alone," Heather LaSalla of Fort Pierce, Florida, told an Associated Press reporter in an interview Friday at the doorway of her home. She worked at a bar in Port St. Lucie at the time, and Omar Mateen had started coming there, mostly by himself.
"He was always like a loner," LaSalla said.
U.S. & World
The tone of Mateen's messages made LaSalla uncomfortable, she said, but she never filed a criminal complaint.
She ran into him again at a park in November while she was with her young son and Mateen was with his, she said.
"He still had that weird vibe to him," LaSalla said, but she didn't feel in danger as Mateen told her he had a wife and talked about his son's soccer league.
Then, in the aftermath of the shooting, she said she recognized Mateen immediately from his picture on television. Early Sunday, he opened fire at the Pulse nightclub, leaving 49 victims dead.
"It's just weird that he snapped like that," LaSalla said.
Mateen's father has suggested he had anti-gay feelings and that he recently had become angry after seeing two men kiss. But others have said he was a regular at the gay club in Orlando and that he tried to pick up men there.
When asked whether she believed Mateen was gay, LaSalla said, "I've been a bartender for 10 years, and I never noticed he was gay." She said he never propositioned her, exactly, in his Facebook messages.
A senior law enforcement official told NBC News Friday that no gay dating apps were found on Mateen's cell phone.
Some men in Orlando said they received messages from Mateen on different apps, but investigators believed it may be a case of mistaken identity.
Other details have emerged about Mateen's early life, including new details that the security firm that employed him didn't give Mateen a psychological exam after three FBI inquiries into his claims of terror ties, according to NBC News.
Mateen claimed to colleagues that he had ties to al-Qaida and Hezbollah terror groups. He also told others that he was associated with the Tsarnaev brothers, who were responsible for the 2013 Boston bombings.
Mateen admitted to making some of the comments, but said they were in anger because of harrassment from colleagues because of his "Middle Eastern" background.
A G4S spokesman said the company believed Mateen posed no risk.
Public records show he issued a deed to his house to his older sister and brother-in-law for $10, according to NBC News.
Lawyers say it is a common way to transfer property ownership to family members. This deed would effectively have assigned the deed and rights from Mateen to Sabrina and Mustafa Abasin.
According to school records, Mateen talked frequently about sex and violence as early as the third grade and was suspended for a total of 48 days.
At least some of the suspensions were for fighting that involved injuries; others were for unspecified rules violations, according to records from Martin County, Florida. Mateen attended high school and part of middle school there, spending time on three campuses in all, including one alternative facility. He withdrew from Martin County High School in 2003 and eventually graduated from Stuart Adult Community High School with a standard diploma, the records show.
He attended elementary and early middle school in neighboring St. Lucie County, where teachers regularly found him disruptive and struggling academically because of a lack of focus.
A third-grade teacher wrote that Mateen was "very active ... constantly moving, verbally abusive, rude, aggressive." The teacher describes "much talk about violence & sex" with Mateen's "hands all over the place — on other children, in his mouth."
The same teacher wrote that Mateen and another student sang the words "marijuana, marijuana" rather than the school's song, "mariposa, mariposa."
In seventh grade, school administrators moved Mateen to another class to "avoid conflicts with other students." That same report said Mateen was doing poorly in several subjects because of "many instances of behavioral problems."
In a 1999 letter to Mateen's father, one of his middle school teachers wrote that the boy's "attitude and inability to show self-control in the classroom create distractions and become a main source of difficulty for him."
"Unfortunately, Omar has great difficulty focusing on his classwork since he often seeks the attention of his classmates through some sort of noise, disruption or distraction," the letter says.


text:
WEATHER: Mercifully better (which is to say, 93 degrees).
WHERE TO: Georgetown, Cleveland Park, Glover Park, etc.
MOOD: Woop!
Jessica released from the kiss of true love and looked deeply into Ryan's eyes. She thought that he might be The One.
"I should let you know," he said, "I'm a physical therapist AND a trained masseuse aside from this job, so really I'll only be home at night to rub your shoulders, make sure you never get injured, and sleep with you. That's about it."
He was, indeed, The One.
Jessica's cell phone buzzed in her pocket. She answered, only to hear Zuckerman's assistant in an absolute frenzy.
"Mr. Zuckerman was ambushed by a bunch of angry hipsters wielding banana creme pies and sharp pointy sticks and is now in a humiliation-induced seclusion for the rest of his life! Can you take over his column indefinitely?"
"Absolutely!" chirped Jessica.
Just then, a truck crashed through the plate glass windows on the front of the store. Jessica and Ryan raised their forearms, blocking the spray of glass. A few shards scraped Jessica's hand.
The truck driver, unharmed, came charging in. "I'm so sorry I smashed the store with my Diet Coke truck and injured you! Please accept a lifetime supply of Diet Coke as compensation!"
"OK!" said Jessica.
An elderly-but-healthful-looking yellow lab then scampered in through where the windows until recently had been.
"Buford!" yelled Jessica, recognizing the dog she had lost at 10 years of age.
A paperboy ran through the streets. "Extra! Extra! Eating excess amounts of peanut butter with a spoon cures cancer and all other afflictions! Also works with raw cookie dough!"
Jessica grew weak in the knees.
Her phone buzzed again. "Hello, Ms. Boudoir!" said the voice on the other end of the line. "Boston Athletic Association here, letting you know that you are just so damn talented that we will give you automatic entry for the rest of your life. Entry fees waived, of course. Cheers!"
Jessica giggled giddily.
"Did I mention that I hate it when women wear brassieres?" said Ryan. "You should probably just never wear one."
Jessica died of happiness (metaphorically speaking, of course, for she was still alive enough to live happily ever and ever after).
<lights post-coital post-romance-novel cigarette>
Don't act like you're not impressed.


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Which Is the Bigger Baseball Story — Perfect Game or Steroid Use? — Sports Survey of the Day
Yesterday saw two big stories break in the sports world. Another perfect game was thrown, and another player was caught juicing. These two polar opposites represent a great story for Major League Baseball and a terrible one. Seattle's Felix Hernandez threw the first perfect game in Mariners history, while San Francisco's Melky Cabrera made baseball's black eye even darker.
You would think we would be past the 'steroid era', but players continue to try and beat the system. Melky Cabrera got himself a 50-game suspension for a positive test.
On the other hand, you have Felix Hernandez, who performed a career feat. He threw a perfect game in a 1-0 win over Tampa Bay. So, which is the bigger story for baseball? History being made, or history being tainted?


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Marco Sighted in ChiTown
Sightings of Elvis have doubtless been on the rise this week, it being the thirtieth anniversary of his putative death, but The King isn't the only one being spotted in unexpected places. Marco Codenotti, the former Ray School chess star who returned to his native Italy two years ago, has been seen in Chicago, where he is spending the summer. He is of course active in chess, training with local GM Dmitry Gurevich and playing in the odd tournament, most recently the August 12 Third Coast Challenge by Renaissance Knights in Northbrook.
Marco with his co-winners in Dubai
Marco, you may recall, made headlines in the chess world a few months ago when he beat an International Master in a tournament on the island of Elba. Since then he's been quite the globetrotter. His father reports that he played in a major international youth tournament in Dubai, finishing first in the U10 division and second in the tournament overall. He finished right behind FM (FIDE Master) Srinath Narayanan of India and ahead of another FM, Ulvi Bajarani of Azerbajian, who came in third. Meanwhile, the Italian blogger Mida, himself a FIDE Master, spotted Marco playing in a major tournament in Bergamo. Marco's World Chess Federation rating is now 1969. Not bad for a ten-year-old.
Speaking of last Sunday's Third Coast tournament, congratulations to Chicago FM Aleksandar Stamnov for winning it, which he did against stiff competition, including the remarkable Brian Luo of Wisconsin, who's about Marco's age and rated over 2000 USCF; and Indiana IM Emory Tate, about whom we have discoursed before.


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The Progressive assault on the Constitution of limited government and divided powers succeeded in the creation of the apparatus of the administrative state. In the administrative state, executive branch agencies exercise judicial and legislative powers. The assumption of royal or dictatorial powers by the president has grown up along with the administrative state. President Obama has accelerated the process and aggravated the phenomenon. We have previously quoted Professor Jean Yarbrough:
We need an updated online primer in American government and political thought. We all learn about the separation of powers and federalism, but don't understand that these restraints do not operate in the administrative universe. Indeed, the administrative state was designed to overcome these obstacles. Our mission should be to educate Americans on the real effects of this turn toward administrative regulations and rules.
In the age of Obama Professor Yarbrough sees the arrival "not [of] soft despotism, but hidden and rather hard despotism for those who fall into the maw of the administrative state."
In his column today George Will touches on these issues. Citing a forthcoming law review article by Professor Zachary Price, Will elaborates on Obama's assumption of royal powers to suspend statutes or make them inapplicable to certain individuals or groups. He argues that Obama's assumption of these powers is inconsistent with his constitutional obligation to take care that the laws be faithfully executed:
It is, says Price, part of America's "deeply rooted constitutional tradition" that "presidents, unlike English kings, lack authority to suspend statutes" or make them inapplicable to certain individuals or groups. Indeed, the take care clause may have been intended to codify the Framers' repudiation of royal suspending prerogatives. Hence the absence of an anti-suspension provision in the Bill of Rights.
In his conclusion Will alludes to the constitutional anomalies implicit in the administrative state:
The sprawl of the modern administrative state requires vast delegations of powers, often indistinguishable from legislative powers, to an executive branch whose scale defies even adequate congressional oversight. Fortunately, in the Newtonian physics of our constitutional system, wherein rivalries among the three branches are supposed to trend toward equilibrium, actions often produce equal and opposite reactions. Obama's aggressive assertions of executive discretion are provoking countervailing attention to constitutional proprieties. His departures from the norms proper to the take care clause may yet cause Congress to take better care of its prerogatives.
Ascribing the source of the problem the "sprawl" of the administrative state is confused and confusing. Though Will's column raises important issues that bear on the current controversies over Obamacare, we nevertheless remain in need of the updated primer on American government for which Professor Yarbrough calls.
UPDATE: Professor Price has posted related thoughts here.


text:
hammer (something) into (one's) thick skull(redirected from hammer (something) into (one's/someone's) thick skull)
hammer (something) into (one's) thick skull
To commit some piece of information into one's or someone else's long-term memory, especially through intense repetition. How many times do I have to hammer it into your thick skull? Do not drive my car unless I give you permission first! I've just been trying to hammer these formulas into my thick skull for the big test tomorrow!


text:
Habitat: Donate that old door
Heading to Lowe's? You may want to make one quick stop before hitting that building supply behemoth. The new Habitat Store, a fundraising arm of the international nonprofit Habitat for Humanity, opened at the end of May in the Preston Avenue building adjacent to Reid's Market (in the former Focus Flea Market space). Store manager Ryan Jacoby says donations are booming.
And while he hopes those donations keep coming, he says do-it-yourselfers who haven't yet heard of the Habitat Store are missing out on some sweet deals.
Home supplies including salvaged doors, windows, lighting, plumbing, and more are on sale for as much as 75 percent off full retail price.
"We're a true retail store," Jacoby explains. The architectural recycling store is open only on Thursday and Friday from noon to 6pm and on Saturday from 9am to 5pm.
Habitat for Humanity built eight homes in Charlottesville last year, and all proceeds from the store will fund future Habitat projects. The store also serves another noble purpose.
"It extends Habitat's mission," Jacoby explains, "by making home maintenance more affordable."


text:
"Lost's" Daniel Dae Kim will continue to work in the Aloha state – the actor has been reportedly cast in CBS' "Hawaii Five-0" remake.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Kim will play Detective Chin Ho Kelly, which was first played by Kam Fong in the original series.
The role of Detective Steve McGarrett is currently up in the air, but "Moonlight" star Alex O'Loughlin is reportedly in talks to play the part.
"Fringe" co-creators Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and "CSI: NY" executive producer/co-showrunner Peter Lenkov will be at the helm of the remake.
Kim, best known for his role as Jin Kwon on "Lost," is the first lead from the ABC series to land a new project.
Like his hit ABC series, which ends its six-season run in May, "Hawaii Five-0" will film in Hawaii.
The original "Hawaii Five-0" ran for 12 seasons from 1968-1980.
Related Content from AccessHollywood.com:
VIEW THE PHOTOS: 'Lost' - Scenes From Season Five
PLAY IT NOW: Terry O'Quinn & Michael Emerson On The Final Season Of 'Lost'
PLAY IT NOW: Josh Holloway & Evangeline Lilly On Final Season Of 'Lost': We'll Miss Our 'Lost' Family
MORE ACCESS ON THESE TOPICS: Lost - News - Alex O'Loughlin - ABC - CBS


text:
Welcome Dr. Jaime Brown Price
Lexington Medical Center is pleased to welcome Jaime Brown Price, MD, to the hospital's network of care. Dr. Brown Price will practice obstetrics and gynecology at Lexington Women's Care, a Lexington Medical Center physician practice.
A Lexington native, Dr. Brown Price graduated with a bachelor's degree from the University of South Carolina Honors College. She received her medical degree from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine and completed an OB/GYN residency at Palmetto Health Richland in Columbia.
"I look forward to serving women in our community and providing compassionate care," said Dr. Brown Price. "One of the most exciting aspects of obstetrics and gynecology is that I am able to establish life long relationships with my patients as I care for them from their teenage years through childbirth and menopause."
Dr. Brown Price is a Junior Fellow of the American Congress of Obstetrics and Gynecology and a member of the South Carolina OB/GYN Society. She is proud to work in the community she calls home.
Dr. Jaime Brown Price is accepting new patients. Call Lexington Women's Care at 803-936-8100 for an appointment.


text:
|Feb 24, 2014
Nanotracer tester tells about wells
|(Nanowerk News) A tabletop device invented at Rice University can tell how efficiently a nanoparticle would travel through a well and may provide a wealth of information for oil and gas producers.
|The device gathers data on how tracers microscopic particles that can be pumped into and recovered from wells move through deep rock formations that have been opened by hydraulic fracturing.
|Drilling companies use fracturing to pump oil and gas from previously unreachable reservoirs. Fluids are pumped into a wellbore under high pressure to fracture rocks, and materials called "proppants," like sand or ceramic, hold the fractures open. "They're basically making a crack in the rock and filling it with little beads," said Rice chemist Andrew Barron, whose lab produced the device detailed in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Environmental Science Processes and Impacts (" Automated method for determining the flow of surface functionalized nanoparticles through a hydraulically fractured mineral formation using plasmonic silver nanoparticles ").
|But the companies struggle to know which insertion wells -- where fluids are pumped in -- are connected to the production wells where oil and gas are pumped out. "They may be pumping down three wells and producing from six, but they have very little idea of which well is connected to which," he said.
|Tracer or sensor particles added to fracturing fluids help solve that problem, but there's plenty of room for optimization, especially in minimizing the volume of nanoparticles used now, he said. "Ideally, we would take a very small amount of a particle that does not interact with proppant, rock or the gunk that's been pumped downhole, inject it in one well and collect it at the production well. The time it takes to go from one to the other will tell you about the connectivity underground."
|Barron explained the proppant itself accounts for most of the surface area the nanoparticles encounter, so it's important to tune the tracers to the type of proppant used.
|He said the industry lacks a uniform method to test and optimize custom-designed nanoparticles for particular formations and fluids. The ultimate goal is to optimize the particles so they don't clump together or stick to the rock or proppant and can be reliably identified when they exit the production well.
|The automated device by Barron, Rice alumnus Samuel Maguire-Boyle and their colleagues allows them to run nanotracers through a small model of a geological formation and quickly analyze what comes out the other side.
|The device sends a tiny amount of silver nanoparticle tracers in rapid pulses through a solid column, simulating the much longer path the particles would travel in a well. That gives the researchers an accurate look at both how sticky and how robust the particles are.
|"We chose silver nanoparticles for their plasmon resonance," Barron said. "They're very easy to see (with a spectroscope) making for high-quality data." He said silver nanoparticles would be impractical in a real well, but because they're easy to modify with other useful chemicals, they are good models for custom nanoparticles.
|"The process is simple enough that our undergraduates make different nanoparticles and very quickly test them to find out how they behave," Barron said.
|The method also shows promise for tracking water from source to destination, which could be valuable for government agencies that want to understand how aquifers are linked or want to trace the flow of elements like pollutants in a water supply, he said.
|Barron said the Rice lab won't oversee production of the test rig, but it doesn't have to. "We just published the paper, but if companies want to make their own, it includes the instructions. The supplementary material is basically a manual for how to do this," he said.
|Source: Rice University
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text:
About The Author
I was a jobbing journalist, writing on women's issues in women's magazines, determined to prove that anything boys could do, we could do better. And then I came to time of life when you feel you'd like to do something the boys can't do. I wanted to continue the career and I wanted to go play with my baby. The then-editor of Family Circle, for whom I wrote articles and a page as an "Agony Aunt" offered me the perfect compromise – a monthly column called "Mum's the Word", which ran in the once best-selling magazine that shared space at the checkout tills of supermarkets with razor blades and mints.
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As of October 2018, we have launched our own all-new, custom-built 'WPX Cloud' CDN service for all WPX customers, as part of our growing list of free, inclusive services.
So what exactly is this 'WPX Cloud'?
Essentially, the WPX Cloud is our own superfast, hand-built Content Delivery Network (CDN) with 20+ 'end points' (and growing!) around the world.
Not sure what a CDN is?
Put simply, using a CDN is like having a mini-server near any of your site visitors to help load and run your website faster and more efficiently for them, even for visitors from the other side of the world.
For example, let's say that you're a nature photography blogger based in Montana, and your website is hosted with WPX in our Chicago datacentre.
That site will load well across North America but nature-lovers visiting your blog from Australia, Europe, Asia, and Africa will find that your website is slower to load for them.
This is because your blog's content (images and text mainly) is being retrieved from one of our Chicago servers and sent all the way across the world to visitors outside the USA.
Instead, our CDN has already copied your popular content to servers around the world to benefit your far-away site visitors.
So whether your visitors are from Berlin, Sydney, Johannesburg, or Tokyo, they'll see your blog content from a fast local server and not from the other side of the world.
Using our Cloud CDN, the speed increase for site visitors around the world is dramatic.
But isn't this Cloud just like any other CDN?
Actually no.
Unlike most CDNs, our Cloud was custom-built from the ground up BY us (a hosting company!) specifically FOR high-performance WordPress hosting.
Over the coming months, many additional features will also be added to our WPX Cloud.
More on that soon!
Plus, we test and tweak our Cloud CDN constantly for maximum WordPress performance and that's something that conventional CDN companies (who are not hosting companies) can't or simply won't do.
That's why speed tests show how sites hosted on the WPX Cloud completely surpass other CDN-powered hosting companies when it comes to raw speed! You can see just how fast our CEO, Terry Kyle's, image-heavy site runs on the WPX Cloud;
How do I activate the WPX Cloud on my websites?
All WPX customers prior to 24th Oct 2018 will have the new WPX Cloud turned OFF by default, while new WPX customers on or after that same date will have the WPX Cloud turned ON by default.
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To turn ON your WPX Cloud service, log in to your WPX Control Panel. From here, choose WordPress Hosting (1) → Service Management (2);
Then choose the correct hosting account by main domain URL (if you have more than one) and click on Manage All Sites In This Account;
Now click on the WPX Cloud link in the bottom left menu;
From the listed sites/domains here, just click the Toggle button for each site that you want running on the WPX Cloud CDN;
IMPORTANT: after activating your Cloud, it will take approximately 1 hour for your website's contents to be copied and distributed throughout the WPX Cloud network.
If you're not sure what to do, you can always ask our friendly Support Team and they will enable the WPX Cloud on your websites fast and free!
The reason that we have not automatically enabled the WPX Cloud for all customers prior to 24th October 2018 is simply to ensure the compatibility and functionality of all sites with the new service.
Will the WPX Cloud work with every kind of website?
Yes but some sites benefit much more from a CDN than others.
For instance, if you have a typical WordPress blog with images, text, and optin forms, or even a portfolio site (for photographers or artists), then the WPX Cloud will massively accelerate your page's loading speed.
However, if you have a website with bespoke or dynamic elements, like an eCommerce site with individual shopping carts, then the WPX Cloud won't help quite as much because those dynamic elements can't be cached by our CDN.
Long-time WPX customers will know that we have been recommending W3 Total Cache with our custom settings to improve the performance of websites. With the WPX Cloud, the W3TC plugin IS still recommended, using our optimal settings.
Is the WPX Cloud free for WPX customers?
From the date of its launch, our Cloud CDN has been freely available for all WPX Hosting customers across all plans: Business,
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Quality CDNs normally incur considerable extra expense for an online entrepreneur like you, such as Cloudflare below;
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