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Rocket propellant is either a high oxygen containing fuel or a compound of fuel plus oxidant, whose combustion takes place, in a definite and controlled manner with the evolution of a huge volume of gas. In the rocket engine, the propellant is burnt in the combustion chamber and the hot jet of gases (usually at very high pressures, with combustion temperatures approaching 3000K) escapes through the nozzle at very high velocity.
Rocket propellant is a material used by a rocket as, or to produce in a chemical reaction, the reaction volume (propulsive mass) that is ejected, typically with very high speed, from a rocket engine to produce thrust, and thus provide spacecraft propulsion. Each rocket type requires different kind of propellant: Chemical rockets require propellants capable of undergoing exothermic chemical reactions, which provide the energy to accelerate the resulting gases through the nozzle. Thermal rockets instead use inert propellants of low molecular weight that are chemically compatible with the heating mechanism at high temperatures, while cold gas thrusters use pressurized, easily stored inert gases. Electric propulsion requires propellants that are easily ionized or made into plasma, and in the extreme case of nuclear pulse propulsion the propellant consists of many small, non-weapon nuclear explosives of which the resulting shock wave propels the spacecraft away from the explosive, thereby creating propulsion. One such spacecraft was designed (but never built), being dubbed "Project Orion" (not to be confused with the NASA Orion spacecraft).
Rocket propellant is either a high oxygen containing fuel or a mixture of fuel plus oxidant, whose combustion takes place, in a definite and controlled manner with the evolution of a huge volume of gas. In the rocket engine, the propellant is burnt in the combustion chamber and the hot jet of gases (usually at a temperature of 3,000°C and a pressure of 300 kg/cm^2 ) escapes through the nozzle at very high velocity. Rockets create thrust by expelling mass backwards in a high-speed jet (see Newton's Third Law). Chemical rockets, the subject of this article, create thrust by reacting propellants within a combustion chamber into a very hot gas at high pressure, which is then expanded and accelerated by passage through a nozzle at the rear of the rocket. The amount of the resulting forward force, known as thrust, that is produced is the mass flow rate of the propellants multiplied by their exhaust velocity (relative to the rocket), as specified by Newton's third law of motion. Thrust is therefore the equal and opposite reaction that moves the rocket, and not by interaction of the exhaust stream with air around the rocket. Equivalently, one can think of a rocket being accelerated upwards by the pressure of the combusting gases against the combustion chamber and nozzle. This operational principle stands in contrast to the commonly-held assumption that a rocket "pushes" against the air behind or below it. Rockets in fact perform better in outer space (where there is nothing behind or beneath them to push against), because there is a reduction in air pressure on the outside of the engine, and because it is possible to fit a longer nozzle without suffering from flow separation, in addition to the lack of air drag.
The maximum velocity that a rocket can attain in the absence of any external forces is primarily a function of its mass ratio and its exhaust velocity. The relationship is described by the rocket equation: , where is the final velocity, is the exhaust velocity relative to the rocket, is the initial total mass, and is the mass after the propellant is burned. The mass ratio expresses what proportion of the rocket is propellant (fuel/oxidizer combination) prior to engine ignition. Typically, a single-stage rocket might have a mass fraction of 90% propellant, 10% structure, and hence a mass ratio of 9:1 . The impulse delivered by the motor to the rocket vehicle per weight of propellant consumed is the rocket propellant's specific impulse. A propellant with a higher specific impulse is said to be more efficient as more thrust is produced per unit of propellant.
Lower rocket stages usually use high-density (low volume per unit mass) propellants due to their lighter tankage to propellant weight ratios and because higher performance propellants require higher expansion ratios for maximum performance than can be attained when operated in atmosphere. Thus, the Saturn V first stage used kerosene-liquid oxygen rather than the liquid hydrogen-liquid oxygen used on its upper stages. Similarly, the Space Shuttle used high-thrust, high-density solid rocket boosters for its lift-off with the liquid hydrogen-liquid oxygen Space Shuttle Main Engines used partly for lift-off but primarily for orbital insertion.
Solid rocket propellant was first developed during the 13th century under the Chinese Song dynasty, at a time when bows, arrows, and catapult-based projectile launchers were state-of-the-art military technology in medieval Europe.[1] The Song Chinese first used solid propellant (gunpowder fuel) in 1232 during the military siege of Kaifeng.[2][3][4][5][6]
There are four main types of chemical rocket propellants: solid, storable liquid, cryogenic liquid and liquid monopropellant. Hybrid solid/liquid bi-propellant rocket engines are starting to see limited use as well.
Solid propellants are either "composites" composed mostly of large, distinct macroscopic particles or single-, double-, or triple-bases (depending on the number of primary ingredients), which are homogeneous mixtures of one or more primary ingredients. Composites typically consist of a mixture of granules of solid oxidizer (examples: ammonium nitrate, ammonium dinitramide, ammonium perchlorate, potassium nitrate) in a polymer binder (binding agent) with flakes or powders of energetic compounds (examples: RDX, HMX), metallic additives (examples: aluminium, beryllium), plasticizers, stabilizers, and/or burn rate modifiers (iron oxide, copper oxide). Single-, double-, or triple-bases are mixtures of the fuel, oxidizer, binders, and plasticizers that are macroscopically indistinguishable and often blended as liquids and cured in a single batch. Often, the ingredients of a double-base propellant have multiple roles. For example, RDX is both a fuel and oxidizer while nitrocellulose is a fuel, oxidizer, and plasticizer. Further complicating categorization, there are many propellants that contain elements of double-base and composite propellants, which often contain some amount of energetic additives homogeneously mixed into the binder. In the case of gunpowder (a pressed composite without a polymeric binder) the fuel is charcoal, the oxidizer is potassium nitrate, and sulphur serves as a catalyst. (Note: sulphur is not a true catalyst in gunpowder as it is consumed to a great extent into a variety of reaction products such as K2S.) During the 1950s and 60s researchers in the United States developed ammonium perchlorate composite propellant (APCP). This mixture is typically 69-70% finely ground ammonium perchlorate (an oxidizer), combined with 16-20% fine aluminium powder (a fuel), held together in a base of 11-14% polybutadiene acrylonitrile (PBAN) or Hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (polybutadiene rubber fuel). The mixture is formed as a thickened liquid and then cast into the correct shape and cured into a firm but flexible load-bearing solid. Historically the tally of APCP solid propellants is relatively small. The military, however, uses a wide variety of different types of solid propellants some of which exceed the performance of APCP. A comparison of the highest specific impulses achieved with the various solid and liquid propellant combinations used in current launch vehicles is given in the article on solid-fuel rockets.[7]
Solid propellant rockets are much easier to store and handle than liquid propellant rockets. High propellant density makes for compact size as well. These features plus simplicity and low cost make solid propellant rockets ideal for military applications. In the 1970s and 1980s the U.S. switched entirely to solid-fueled ICBMs: the LGM-30 Minuteman and LG-118A Peacekeeper (MX). In the 1980s and 1990s, the USSR/Russia also deployed solid-fueled ICBMs (RT-23, RT-2PM, and RT-2UTTH), but retains two liquid-fueled ICBMs (R-36 and UR-100N). All solid-fueled ICBMs on both sides had three initial solid stages, and those with multiple independently targeted warheads had a precision maneuverable bus used to fine tune the trajectory of the re-entry vehicles. U.S. Minuteman III ICBMs were reduced to a single warhead by 2011 in accordance with the START treaty leaving only the Navy's Trident sub-launched ICBMs with multiple warheads.
Their simplicity also makes solid rockets a good choice whenever large amounts of thrust are needed and cost is an issue. The Space Shuttle and many other orbital launch vehicles use solid-fueled rockets in their boost stages (solid rocket boosters) for this reason.
Relative to liquid fuel rockets, solid fuel rockets have lower specific impulse, a measure of propellant efficiency. The propellant mass ratios of solid propellant upper stages is usually in the .91 to .93 range which is as good as or better than that of most liquid propellant upper stages but overall performance is less than for liquid stages because of the solids' lower exhaust velocities. The high mass ratios possible with (unsegmented) solids is a result of high propellant density and very high strength-to-weight ratio filament-wound motor casings. A drawback to solid rockets is that they cannot be throttled in real time, although a programmed thrust schedule can be created by adjusting the interior propellant geometry. Solid rockets can be vented to extinguish combustion or reverse thrust as a means of controlling range or accommodating warhead separation. Casting large amounts of propellant requires consistency and repeatability which is assured by computer control. Casting voids in propellant can adversely affect burn rate so the blending and casting takes place under vacuum and the propellant blend is spread thin and scanned to assure no large gas bubbles are introduced into the motor. Solid fuel rockets are intolerant to cracks and voids and often require post-processing such as x-ray scans to identify faults. Since the combustion process is dependent on the surface area of the fuel; voids and cracks represent local increases in burning surface area. This increases the local temperature, system pressure and radiative heat flux to the surface. This positive feedback loop further increases burn rate and can easily lead to catastrophic failure typically due to case failure or nozzle system damage.
The most common liquid propellants in use today:
These include propellants such as the letter-coded rocket propellants used by Germany in World War II used for the Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet's Walter HWK 109-509 motor and the V-2 pioneer SRBM missile, and the Soviet/Russian utilized syntin, which is synthetic cyclopropane, C10H16 which was used on Soyuz U2 until 1995.[citation needed] Syntin develops about 10 seconds greater specific impulse than kerosene.
Liquid-fueled rockets have higher specific impulse than solid rockets and are capable of being throttled, shut down, and restarted. Only the combustion chamber of a liquid-fueled rocket needs to withstand high combustion pressures and temperatures and they can be regeneratively cooled by the liquid propellant. On vehicles employing turbopumps, the propellant tanks are at very much lower pressure than the combustion chamber. For these reasons, most orbital launch vehicles use liquid propellants.
The primary performance advantage of liquid propellants is due to the oxidizer. Several practical liquid oxidizers (liquid oxygen, nitrogen tetroxide, and hydrogen peroxide) are available which have better specific impulse than the ammonium perchlorate used in most solid rockets, when paired with comparable fuels. These facts have led to the use of hybrid propellants: a storable oxidizer used with a solid fuel, which retain most virtues of both liquids (high ISP) and solids (simplicity).[citation needed] (The newest nitramine solid propellants based on CL-20 (HNIW) can match the performance of NTO/UDMH storable liquid propellants, but cannot be controlled as can the storable liquids.)
While liquid propellants are cheaper than solid propellants, for orbital launchers, the cost savings do not, and historically have not mattered; the cost of the propellant is a very small portion of the overall cost of the rocket.[citation needed] Some propellants, notably oxygen and nitrogen, may be able to be collected from the upper atmosphere, and transferred up to low-Earth orbit for use in propellant depots at substantially reduced cost.[8]
The main difficulties with liquid propellants are also with the oxidizers. These are generally at least moderately difficult to store and handle due to their high reactivity with common materials, may have extreme toxicity (nitric acid, nitrogen tetroxide), require moderately cryogenic storage (liquid oxygen), or both (FLOX, a fluorine/LOX mix).[9] Several exotic oxidizers have been proposed: liquid ozone (O3), ClF3, and ClF5, all of which are unstable, energetic, and toxic.
Liquid-fueled rockets also require potentially troublesome valves and seals and thermally stressed combustion chambers, which increase the cost of the rocket. Many employ specially designed turbopumps which raise the cost enormously due to difficult fluid flow patterns that exist within the casings.
A gas propellant usually involves some sort of compressed gas. However, due to the low density of the gas and high weight of the pressure vessel required to contain it, gases see little current use, but are sometimes used for vernier engines, particularly with inert propellants like nitrogen.[10]
GOX (gaseous oxygen) was used as the oxidizer for the Buran program's orbital maneuvering system.
A hybrid rocket usually has a solid fuel and a liquid or NEMA oxidizer. The fluid oxidizer can make it possible to throttle and restart the motor just like a liquid-fueled rocket. Hybrid rockets can also be environmentally safer than solid rockets since some high-performance solid-phase oxidizers contain chlorine (specifically composites with ammonium perchlorate), versus the more benign liquid oxygen or nitrous oxide often used in hybrids. This is only true for specific hybrid systems. There have been hybrids which have used chlorine or fluorine compounds as oxidizers and hazardous materials such as beryllium compounds mixed into the solid fuel grain. Because just one constituent is a fluid, hybrids can be simpler than liquid rockets depending motive force used to transport the fluid into the combustion chamber. Fewer fluids typically means fewer and smaller piping systems, valves and pumps (if utilized).
Hybrid motors suffer two major drawbacks. The first, shared with solid rocket motors, is that the casing around the fuel grain must be built to withstand full combustion pressure and often extreme temperatures as well. However, modern composite structures handle this problem well, and when used with nitrous oxide and a solid rubber propellant (HTPB), relatively small percentage of fuel is needed anyway, so the combustion chamber is not especially large.
The primary remaining difficulty with hybrids is with mixing the propellants during the combustion process. In solid propellants, the oxidizer and fuel are mixed in a factory in carefully controlled conditions. Liquid propellants are generally mixed by the injector at the top of the combustion chamber, which directs many small swift-moving streams of fuel and oxidizer into one another. Liquid-fueled rocket injector design has been studied at great length and still resists reliable performance prediction. In a hybrid motor, the mixing happens at the melting or evaporating surface of the fuel. The mixing is not a well-controlled process and generally quite a lot of propellant is left unburned,[11] which limits the efficiency of the motor. The combustion rate of the fuel is largely determined by the oxidizer flux and exposed fuel surface area. This combustion rate is not usually sufficient for high power operations such as boost stages unless the surface area or oxidizer flux is high. Too high of oxidizer flux can lead to flooding and loss of flame holding that locally extinguishes the combustion. Surface area can be increased, typically by longer grains or multiple ports, but this can increase combustion chamber size, reduce grain strength and/or reduce volumetric loading. Additionally, as the burn continues, the hole down the center of the grain (the 'port') widens and the mixture ratio tends to become more oxidizer rich.
There has been much less development of hybrid motors than solid and liquid motors. For military use, ease of handling and maintenance have driven the use of solid rockets. For orbital work, liquid fuels are more efficient than hybrids and most development has concentrated there. There has recently been an increase in hybrid motor development for nonmilitary suborbital work:
Some work has been done on gelling liquid propellants to give a propellant with low vapor pressure to reduce the risk of an accidental fireball. Gelled propellant behaves like a solid propellant in storage and like a liquid propellant in use.
Some rocket designs have their propellants obtain their energy from non chemical or even external sources. For example, water rockets use the compressed gas, typically air, to force the water out of the rocket.
Solar thermal rockets and Nuclear thermal rockets typically propose to use liquid hydrogen for an Isp (Specific Impulse) of around 600–900 seconds, or in some cases water that is exhausted as steam for an Isp of about 190 seconds.
Additionally for low performance requirements such as attitude control jets, inert gases such as nitrogen have been employed.[13]
Nuclear thermal rockets pass a propellant over a central reactor, heating the propellant and causing it to expand rapidly out a rocket nozzle, pushing the craft forward. The propellant itself is not directly interacting with the interior of the reactor, so the propellant is not irradiated.
Solar thermal rockets use concentrated sunlight to heat a propellant, rather than using a nuclear reactor.
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The theoretical exhaust velocity of a given propellant chemistry is a function of the energy released per unit of propellant mass (specific energy). Unburned fuel or oxidizer drags down the specific energy. However, most rockets run fuel-rich mixtures.[citation needed]
The usual explanation for fuel-rich mixtures is that fuel-rich mixtures have lower molecular weight exhaust, which by reducing increases the ratio which is approximately equal to the theoretical exhaust velocity. Fuel-rich mixtures actually have lower theoretical exhaust velocities, because decreases as fast or faster than .[14]
The nozzle of the rocket converts the thermal energy of the propellants into directed kinetic energy. This conversion happens in a short time, on the order of one millisecond. During the conversion, energy must transfer very quickly from the rotational and vibrational states of the exhaust molecules into translation. Molecules with fewer atoms (like CO and H2) store less energy in vibration and rotation than molecules with more atoms (like CO2 and H2O). These smaller molecules transfer more of their rotational and vibrational energy to translation energy than larger molecules, and the resulting improvement in nozzle efficiency is large enough that real rocket engines improve their actual exhaust velocity by running rich mixtures with somewhat lower theoretical exhaust velocities.[14]
The effect of exhaust molecular weight on nozzle efficiency is most important for nozzles operating near sea level. High expansion rockets operating in a vacuum see a much smaller effect, and so are run less rich. The Saturn-II stage (a LOX/LH2 rocket) varied its mixture ratio during flight to optimize performance.
LOX/hydrocarbon rockets are run only somewhat rich (O/F mass ratio of 3 rather than stoichiometric of 3.4 to 4), because the energy release per unit mass drops off quickly as the mixture ratio deviates from stoichiometric. LOX/LH2 rockets are run very rich (O/F mass ratio of 4 rather than stoichiometric 8) because hydrogen is so light that the energy release per unit mass of propellant drops very slowly with extra hydrogen. In fact, LOX/LH2 rockets are generally limited in how rich they run by the performance penalty of the mass of the extra hydrogen tankage, rather than the mass of the hydrogen itself.[14]
Another reason for running rich is that off-stoichiometric mixtures burn cooler than stoichiometric mixtures, which makes engine cooling easier. Because fuel-rich combustion products are less chemically reactive (corrosive) than oxygenated products, vast majority of rocket engines are designed to run fuel-rich, with at least one exception for the Russian RD-180 preburner, which burns LOX and RP-1 at a ratio of 2.72.
Additionally, mixture ratios can be dynamic during launch. This can be exploited with designs that adjust the oxidizer to fuel ratio (along with overall thrust) during the flight to maximize overall system performance. For instance, during lift-off thrust is a premium while specific impulse is less so. As such, the system can be optimized by carefully adjusting the O/F ratio so the engine runs cooler at higher thrust levels. This also allows for the engine to be designed slightly more compactly, improving its overall thrust to weight performance.
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Although liquid hydrogen gives a high Isp, its low density is a significant disadvantage: hydrogen occupies about 7x more volume per kilogram than dense fuels such as kerosene. This not only penalises the tankage, but also the pipes and fuel pumps leading from the tank, which need to be 7x bigger and heavier. (The oxidiser side of the engine and tankage is of course unaffected.) This makes the vehicle's dry mass much higher, so the use of liquid hydrogen is not as advantageous as might be expected. Indeed, some dense hydrocarbon/LOX propellant combinations have higher performance when the dry mass penalties are included.
Due to lower Isp, dense propellant launch vehicles have a higher takeoff mass, but this does not mean a proportionately high cost; on the contrary, the vehicle may well end up cheaper. Liquid hydrogen is quite an expensive fuel to produce and store, and causes many practical difficulties with design and manufacture of the vehicle.
Because of the higher overall weight, a dense-fueled launch vehicle necessarily requires higher takeoff thrust, but it carries this thrust capability all the way to orbit. This, in combination with the better thrust/weight ratios, means that dense-fueled vehicles reach orbit earlier, thereby minimizing losses due to gravity drag. Thus, the effective delta-v requirement for these vehicles are reduced.
However, liquid hydrogen does give clear advantages when the overall mass needs to be minimised; for example the Saturn V vehicle used it on the upper stages; this reduced weight meant that the dense-fueled first stage could be made significantly smaller, saving quite a lot of money.
Tripropellant rockets designs often try to use an optimum mix of propellants for launch vehicles. These use mainly dense fuel while at low altitude and switch across to hydrogen at higher altitude. Studies by Robert Salkeld in the 1960s proposed SSTO using this technique.[15] The Space Shuttle approximated this by using dense solid rocket boosters for the majority of the thrust for the first 120 seconds, the main engines, burning a fuel-rich hydrogen and oxygen mixture operate continuously throughout the launch but only provide the majority of thrust at higher altitudes after SRB burnout.


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In its resolve to put an end to the "colonial mindset" of elite clubs and others in banning entry of people wearing traditional attire "dhoti", Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday introduced a bill in the state assembly, which seeks to make such practices a cognisable offence.
Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa introduced the Tamil Nadu Entry into Public Places (Removal of Restriction on Dress) Act 2014, fulfilling her promise to enact a legislation to remove dress code restrictions imposed by recreation clubs, hotels and stadiums among other public places after recent denial of entry by a club to a dhoti-clad judge triggered an outrage.
Through this legislation the government seeks to declare as "null and void" any regulation or by-law made by any recreation club, association, trust, company or society denying entry to any person wearing a vesthi (dhoti), reflecting the Tamil Nadu culture or any other Indian traditional dress, the bill stated.
The bill comes against the backdrop of denial of entry to a judge of the Madras high court last month by the TNCA Club in the city which triggered off widespread condemnation with various political parties terming it as a colonial mindset and calling for ending such restrictions.
It envisaged that no dress code restrictions can be imposed for entry into public places -- recreation clubs, hotels, theatres, malls, halls, auditoriums, stadiums and such other places as may be notified by the government, where people including members congregate in connection with any function, event, entertainment, sports or other activity.
The bill provides for penal action against those who violates this law including cancellation of licence after notice, besides punishment with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year and with a fine up to Rs 25,000.
"In order to preserve our culture, custom and heritage, the government has decided to remove the restriction imposed on persons wearing vesthi (dothi) reflecting Tamil Culture or any Indian traditional dress for entry into public places", the provision of the legislation read.
The imposition of restriction on persons for entry into public places on the ground that their dress does not conform to Western culture would amount to continuation of the Colonial imperialistic attitude, the bill stated.

subset: commoncrawl


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Tonight in New York, Microsoft is hosting a massive launch party for the Xbox One. In a few short hours, the people in line will have their own new consoles to take home. Ah, but Kotaku already has an Xbox One. Maybe the folks in line would like to check ours out while they wait?
In the video up top, Kotaku Editor-in-Chief Stephen Totilo breaks out his Xbox One for people outside the event, the better to give them a sense of what the console's all about. As you can imagine, everyone was pretty psyched.
After that, something unexpected happened. Members of the media who were standing near the line became (understandably) curious as to why the heck this random guy was hanging around outside the launch event with an Xbox One, so they came over with their cameras and started asking Stephen how he got the console. Ha.
Jason Schreier caught the scene:


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March 30, 2011 marks the 4 year Anniversary of my blogging life with the creation of deansguide as the vehicle for publishing my messages and wrestling control away from the mass media stranglehold on information. Blogging has changed my life in many ways from providing a forum to prove my expertise to acting as common ground for my relationship with my girlfriend. It has opened up a world of knowledge and research, helped me network and connect with people throughout the world, and been the foundation for launching my writing and public speaking career. Yet with all of these wonderful developments there is still room for the fun, unusual, and bizarre occurrence .
Highlights and Lowlights on deansguide
- Ed Okun:deansguide was the leading blog on 1031 Tax Group con artist Ed Okun and recognized as a repository and meeting place for victims of Okun to tell their story
- US Attorney: deansguide was recognized by the US Attorney's office in Richmond, VA as one of a handful of blogs allowed to publish information about the Ed Okun Ponzi scheme that bilked over $160 million from investors nationwide
- Helping Victims:Elizabeth Callanan and 350 Okun "Train Wreck Victims" speak out on deansguide
- Forbes: Mike Maello associate editor for Forbes.com contacted and consulted with me on the Okun story
- Informant: I was contacted by "Mr. Miami" who was close to Okun's wife and fed me breaking news information throughout Okun's trial
- Mob Ties: I received numerous phone threats by associates of Okun or his representatives to "stay quiet" about the investigation
- Hell's Angels: my first blog article was about the 50th Anniversary of the Oakland Hell's Angels and the party planned for the occasion. I was contacted by a former Angel who approved of my writing and one man who claimed to be a member of the "81" who promised to make things "hard" if I didn't watch what I published
- 330,635 Views: the number of page views deansguide has garnered
- 1,062: top traffic day on deansguide. Not huge but satisfying considering the blog's many reiterations
- Reuters, Nielsen, Fox Business, Computer Shopper, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune and other media sites have republished deansguide articles
- 700 & 2,000: deansguide has published 698 posts and I have written over 2,000 blog articles since I began blogging
I have met Kings, Queens and paupers through my writing. I have been threatened, harassed, and bullied. I have been lauded as a savior and scoffed at as a quack. My subject matter has included the Hell's Angels, Real Estate, Social Media tips, wine, Mob figures, networking, Silicon Valley, business self help, and hundreds of other subjects. Throughout my writing experience one thing comes to mind- advice from one of my dearest friends "Chili Eye" Charles Henderson: "just let the bullets fly, write like you stole it. Write with a run and gun style." Without Charlie's encouragement I would have never started this blog- thank you my friend rest in peace brother!


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Shareology got a sneak peek at the new Verizon Destination Store at the Mall of America, near the old Bloomies on 2nd floor South. Check out the great store front! 9,715 square feet makes it 7 times as big as the previous Verizon MOA store! This new Destination Store format is the very first; next one opens in Chicago in 2014.
Marni Walden, EVP and COO of Verizon Wireless welcomed us to the store, the first ever of this new format. Check out the shoes Dorothy would have worn if she worked for Verizon!
One of the things I had complained about in the old store format was that there was nowhere to sit down; that problem has been beautifully solved!
I made a point to thank Sarah Christy, Solution Manager, for the great new seating and well-designed store. Sarah was there when I bought my Droid Razr Maxx, when I strongly noted that there was no seating in the previous store. I'm guessing the average purchase takes 30 minutes while they set up your phone; nice to now have a place to sit for a bit.
Sarah Christy and Cody Roos of Verison:
Overall, I'd say this new store fits in between Apple and Microsoft; I think you'll find a much broader selection at Verizon, though. The store has a grand opening celebration this evening, November 20, 7 – 9:30 pm, with the first full day November 21! Check it out at Mall of America, S280!


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The National Land Service (NLS) informs that, according to the data of April 1, 2019, the land, forest and water bodies held in rural areas were left to restore to 4.7 thousand citizens. 2 739 from the applicants cannot enforce the procedures for the restoration of the rights of ownership because of their own failure. Currently, the territorial divisions of the National Land Service are intensively searching for these passive applicants throughout Lithuania. In case those efforts failed, and the applicants do not appear, NLS intends to make decisions to restore ownership to land in cash in autumn.
The possibility of finalizing the restoration of the rights of ownership to a passive citizen, for which the procedure for the restoration of the rights of ownership has not yet been carried out, arose from the entry into force of article 21 of the Law on the Restoration of Immovable Property, on 1 January of this year of the rights of ownership of citizens of the Republic of Lithuania. On 1 January 2019 there were 3 110 passive applicants, but the NLS took active steps to contact former landowners or heirs.
As of 1 April, the restoration of the rights of ownership of citizens to land, forest and water bodies in rural areas is largely complete, with the restoration of ownership rights to 99.94 percent of the land area claimed in the citizens ' requests. Currently the NLS is actively working on the restoration of ownership rights for 1970 thousand applicants (active citizens in 2.3 thousand Hectares of land, forest or water bodies.
From the beginning of the land reform in 1991, by 1 April 2019, the National Land Service received 787.9 thousand of citizens ' requests to restore property rights in rural areas to 4.02 million euro.
By 1 April 2019, decisions to restore ownership to 4.018 million hectares of land, forest and water bodies to 783 thousand citizens were taken.
National Land Service under the Ministry of Agriculture. Code 188704927Gedimino ave. 19, LT-01103 Vilnius. Phone (+370) 706 86666, Fax (+370) 706 86949, E-mail firstname.lastname@example.com Budgetary Institution. Data have been accumulated and stored in the Register of Legal Entities.


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Small and medium-sized businesses should suffer very little from any cuts to mail services from New Zealand Post, says the head of the country's largest business lobby group.
State-owned enterprise NZ post announced plans this week to reduce its letter deliveries to three-days-a-week and to replace some Postshops with self-service kiosks, as letter volumes drop.
Chief executive of BusinessNZ, Phil O'Reilly, said he had no concerns about the proposed changes because most business had not been relying on mail for ten years now.
"Small businesses, like every other business, have been sending less and less physical mail for some time now.
"The fact that it's going from five or six days down to three or four, I don't think it will have any impact on businesses."
If the proposed changes go ahead, business owners will simply save mail up to send in bulk on mail delivery days, O'Reilly said.
When a business did need to communicate urgently these days, it was highly unlikely to do so by post.
"I can't think why you'd use the post if the matter is time-sensitive," he said.
"And if it was a bill or statement, how many customers actually pay that as soon as they get it in the post anyway? One or two day's delay won't make a big difference."
O'Reilly said it was essential that a post system existed and if cutting days down meant NZ Post could stay afloat, that was a better option.
"It's better that it's fewer days in the week than nothing at all."
But Terry Hoskins, a trustee of the Independent Business Foundation (IBF), said he had "great concerns" about the proposals.
"Anything like this is going to slow the world of commerce down in New Zealand. This is a bad move."
Hoskins said he did not think NZ Post had thought the plan through.
"They've realised they need to save money and I think they're doing that for themselves rather than fulfilling their brief. They owe the country more than just being profitable themselves."
IBF will be making a submission on the changes, he added.
Any problems small and medium-sized businesses might face were "absolutely a consideration of NZ Post", said spokesman John Tulloch.
"We are aware of the issues and when we get to that point we'd be looking to engage with SMEs."
Tulloch said NZ Post would be working with SMEs to help them adapt, especially where a company had regular periodic statements to issue and pay.
"It will be a case of 'let's assist you to redesign your billing cycles," he said.


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The Washington Post
A year after her daughter's stomach problems began, Margaret Kaplow began having pains of her own.
When she sat down to dinner with her family, Kaplow's gut would clench involuntarily as she waited to see if this was one of the nights Madeline would eat a few bites before putting down her fork, pushing away from the table and announcing, "I don't feel good."
For nearly six years, Maddie Kaplow's severe, recurrent abdominal pain, which began shortly before her 13th birthday, was attributed to a host of ailments. Specialists in the District, Maryland and Virginia decided at various times that she had a gluten intolerance, a ruptured ovarian cyst, a diseased appendix or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Some were convinced that her problem was psychological and that she was a high-strung teenaged girl seeking attention.
"It was a freaking nightmare," Kaplow recalled of those years. She said she never believed her daughter was exaggerating or faking her symptoms. And each time a new diagnosis was made, Kaplow said, she felt elated that a doctor had figured out the cause of Maddie's pain, which would turn into crushing disappointment when it recurred.
It was only after she landed in a college infirmary 400 miles from her Northern Virginia home that doctors finally determined what was wrong and treated Maddie for the illness that dominated her adolescence.
"It was years of total frustration," said Maddie, now a 22-year-old college senior. "It got to the point that I almost felt at times that I was making it up."
Shooting pains
Maddie remembers when the episodes started: in February 2003 during French class at a Fairfax County middle school. The sharp pain, often accompanied by nausea, was concentrated on the upper right quadrant of her abdomen, close to her rib cage, and extended to her back between her shoulder blades. When it didn't go away, her mother took her to the pediatrician.
"She couldn't find anything," recalled Kaplow, the education services manager of The Post. The pain disappeared after a few days, then recurred about six weeks later. The pediatrician suggested that Maddie keep a food log to see what might be triggering it. When that didn't reveal anything, she referred her to a pediatric gynecologist in the District. The gynecologist found nothing and sent Maddie to a pediatric gastroenterologist, whom she saw that May.
The gastroenterologist decided her problem was constipation and gave her a diet to follow, along with a recommendation to avoid wheat in case she had a sensitivity to gluten. Although the constipation cleared up, the pain, which was sometimes accompanied by diarrhea and chills, did not. Avoiding gluten didn't seem to make a difference.
The gastroenterologist then recommended an endoscopy and colonoscopy, procedures for inspecting her upper and lower intestines. The colonoscopy found nothing, but the endoscopy revealed duodenal ulcers in the spot where the pain seemed concentrated. Maddie began taking medicines, including Nexium, a drug that blocks the production of excess stomach acid, but they did little to affect the pain, which seemed to be triggered by eating.When the pain became too severe and needed to be treated with narcotic painkillers, Maddie would wind up in a Northern Virginia emergency room, an event that would occur about 18 times over a six-year period. Kaplow said Maddie's pediatrician didn't seem overly concerned, because she wasn't losing weight. "The doctors kept saying, 'Well, it's not like she's wasting away.' "
During one visit, an ER doctor thought he had found the culprit: A CT scan showed a possible ruptured ovarian cyst. No treatment was required, and the hope was that once it went away, so would her pain.
By May 2004, a surgeon consulted at the suggestion of Maddie's gastroenterologist decided to remove her appendix. If nothing else, the doctor told her mother, removal of the organ would enable doctors to rule out appendicitis as the cause of any future episodes. "I just don't know what else to do," Kaplow said he told her.
Initially, it looked like a good call: Although the surgeon thought the appendix looked healthy, a pathologist said it showed early signs of disease. "We were thinking, 'Okay, now we've got it,' " Kaplow recalled.
But their relief was short-lived. Three months later, Maddie was back in an ER with intense pain. This time, an ER doctor, citing her extensive work-up and recent appendectomy, proposed that Maddie's illness was psychological.
Kaplow said she was furious at the suggestion that her daughter's problem "was all in her head. I thought the pain was causing her anxiety, not the other way around."
In 2005, Maddie began seeing a new gastroenterologist. He seemed attentive and concerned and decided she had IBS, a common but ill-defined malady characterized by bouts of abdominal pain, nausea and diarrhea. He switched medications and performed a second endoscopy and colonoscopy: Both were normal, and her ulcers had healed.
"We were hopeful that maybe IBS was the problem" her mother recalled.
A fresh perspective
But over the next few years, Maddie's condition worsened as the episodes became more frequent and the pain sometimes grew unbearable. The family alternated between two emergency rooms. "Each time, we kept hoping that a new set of eyes would get to the bottom of it," Kaplow recalled.
Maddie flatly refused to see the pediatrician who had repeatedly made it clear she thought the teenager was exaggerating. "She was so skeptical, she would say in this singsong voice, like a kindergarten teacher, 'What is it today, Maddie?' " her mother said.
The pain became something she just learned to live with. "It was odd, because I was hungry but nauseous," Maddie recalled. "And if I pushed my stomach out, it felt better." Somehow she got through a demanding curriculum in high school, despite frequent absences due to illness.
In April 2008, while a freshman at the University of Rhode Island, Maddie had an episode while she was home on break and decided to seek help at an urgent care center in McLean. A doctor there suggested her problem might be related to her gallbladder and recommended further testing.
Kaplow said that when she told the pediatrician about the recommendation, the doctor was unimpressed. Kaplow had previously told the pediatrician and other doctors that she and her three sisters had all had their gallbladders removed before they were 40 because they had gallbladder disease, which can run in families. The pediatrician said that Maddie's tests showed no gallstones and that gallbladder problems would be rare in a teenager. She declined to order a gallbladder scan and instead recommended a third colonoscopy and endoscopy, both of which were normal.
In January 2009, Maddie experienced her most severe attack two days before she was due to fly back to Rhode Island from home. Earlier that week, she had seen a prominent gastroenterologist in Baltimore, hoping he could provide an answer. The doctor prescribed an anti-anxiety drug but decided a gallbladder scan could wait until summer. He ordered a test for celiac disease, which produces abdominal pain and diarrhea and is caused by an inability to digest gluten, although a previous wheat-free diet hadn't helped.
"I thought, 'Hey, maybe it's celiac,' " Kaplow recalled.
Panicked by the severity of the episode — Maddie was in so much pain that she was unable to get out of bed — Kaplow made a flurry of frantic phone calls over the Martin Luther King holiday weekend. A Northern Virginia gastroenterologist prescribed pain medication, and "somehow she got on that plane," her mother recalled.
Two days later, still in intense pain and unable to eat, Maddie went to the university's student health center. A doctor there ordered a HIDA scan, an imaging test that uses radioactive dye to track the flow of bile through the digestive system and is used to detect gallbladder diseases.
A definitive result
The result left little doubt about what was wrong and what needed to be done. The scan showed that Maddie had profound biliary dyskinesia, also called acalculous cholecystopathy; the condition, which is marked by pain in the upper right quadrant of the abdomen and the absence of gallstones, is uncommon.
The test measured the ejection fraction of her gallbladder, an assessment of how well the organ is squeezing out bile; at 3 percent, it was abnormally low. People with an ejection fraction below about 40 percent are candidates for surgery to remove the gallbladder, according to the American Pediatric Surgical Association, which notes that biliary dyskinesia occurs mostly in older children and adults.
Although surgery does not guarantee that the pain will disappear, it appears to be effective in 70 to 80 percent of cases.
"We don't understand much about this entity," said Umberto Capuano, the general surgeon in Wakefield, R.I., who made the diagnosis. Once thought to be rare, particularly in children, doctors are seeing more cases, he said.
"She's just one of a number of young ladies who've struggled for years" whom Capuano has treated, he said. "Every one of them got better after surgery."
The surgeon said he is not sure why nearly all of the many doctors who treated Maddie failed to consider that her gallbladder might be the problem.
"There are regional differences in health care," he said. But her significant family history of gallbladder disease "would certainly alert you."
When Kaplow heard about the scan results and the plan to remove her daughter's gallbladder, she burst into tears. "I thought, 'Oh, my God, there's going to maybe finally be an end to this.' "
Although laparascopic surgery was scheduled for late February, Capuano operated several weeks earlier, soon after Maddie was hospitalized with another severe gallbladder attack.
For Maddie, who has since transferred to Tulane University, the operation ended her pain. "I haven't missed a class, and I can eat whatever I want," she said.
Her mother said the experience has made them both wary of doctors and angry that Maddie was too often regarded as a hysterical teenager.
"As stupid as this sounds," Kaplow said, "I was raised that if a doctor tells you something, it's gospel, like the priests: They know better than we do. Now if I suspect something, I'm definitely more proactive."
When she told Maddie's former pediatrician what had happened, she said the response was not what Kaplow had hoped. "She said, 'I'm so glad it's been taken care of,' " Kaplow said, "not, 'I'm sorry for all those years.' "
Have a medical mystery that's been solved? E-mail email@example.com.


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Coonelly: Time for Pirates to build on success
Club president discusses team's future, upcoming season in Q&A with MLB.com
MLB.com: If you were the president, taking the podium, how would your opening remarks go?
Frank Coonelly: I'm really excited to get the 2014 season going. I couldn't be more excited about where this organization is and where we can go. We broke through some barriers in 2013 and are looking forward to competing for the ultimate prize.
The entire organization had a bad taste in its mouth leaving St. Louis [following the loss in Game 5 of the National League Division Series]. We have a strong feeling of having unfinished business to take care of. And now is the time to take care of that unfinished business.
We feel good about where we are, with a young core moving into its prime. They learned some tough lessons the last three years, and that additional seasoning will be critical, as we try to get to the next level. As fun as 2013 was, we did not accomplish our objective -- to put up a sixth World Series championship banner at PNC Park. We intend on doing everything we can to accomplish that goal, which is now within our reach.
MLB.com: Like the president, you would have your dissenters. Not across party lines -- but across the bottom line.
Coonelly: We are not in the battle to win the highest payroll, but to win a World Series championship. Those are two different things. Our plan always is to be a championship-caliber team, built through the Draft.
MLB.com: There will always be critics. But did the level of criticism -- for the offseason inactivity -- surprise you?
Coonelly: No. But I know our fans are also excited for the 2014 season. We have that core of players in their prime, and in the opinion of many, including respected outsiders, a very solid farm system that we have worked very hard to build. Those young players are prepared to take the next steps to the Major League club, and can have a major impact.
MLB.com: Building up the farm system was the stated mission from the very beginning of your "administration," Mr. President. To now be recognized for having one of the top farm systems, an elite player-development program -- how satisfying is that?
Coonelly: In a way, it's nice to see other respected voices in the industry come out and rank our system high. There were some tough decisions that [general manager] Neal Huntington and his team have had to make the last several years as we approached the Trade Deadline and the team was competitive and there was a lot of pressure on them to do whatever it took to get us over the top. When Neal and his men were involved in those discussions, the players that were sought by the other teams are the same ones who are making an impact now and make us one of the top farm systems -- the Gerrit Cole's, Jameson Taillon's, Gregory Polanco's.
Those were the names other clubs were interested in. So we had some tough decisions to make, but ultimately we decided those types of deals we were not going to make -- as tempting as they were. Now I am excited to ultimately see those players at PNC Park. I couldn't give our player development staff any more credit for developing these young men into players who'll come to Pittsburgh prepared to play championship baseball the Pirates way.
MLB.com: How do you feel at the dawn of another season having to deal with something you perhaps had not had to before: high -- definitely higher -- expectations?
Coonelly: It's absolutely a responsibility I welcome. For us, though, it's no different. We have had those high expectations from the outset. We welcome them. If you have any expectations lower than a championship-caliber team, you're not in the right business. Our fans have a right to expect a championship team. We welcome it. We're ready for the fire.
MLB.com: You had your own high expectations, at the box office, as it relates to season-ticket sales. Are your expectations being met?
Coonelly: We did set a high forecast for what we expected in the offseason, and we are in the process of exceeding those high expectations. The reaction from our fans to the success we had last year has been even greater than expected. There is a tremendous amount of excitement.
MLB.com: That ties in to another of your stated goals, does it not?
Coonelly: Yes, I have publicly said that we need to break the franchise's all-time attendance record, and we're well on our way to doing that. No question, just as in that Wild Card Game against Cincinnati, the Pittsburgh Pirates fans have again shown up for us.
Now it's incumbent on us to show up for them.
MLB.com: Does any flag come with a Wild Card berth? Will you get to raise anything on Opening Day -- besides a Jolly Roger?
Coonelly: We did receive a nice plaque from the league office for winning the Wild Card Game, but no flag. But we will be raising the Jolly Roger in a very special way -- definitely something to look forward to.


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Dell's Talks Said to Break Up a Few Times Over PricingSerena Saitto and Jeffrey McCracken
Dell's Talks Said to Break Up a Few Times Over PricingSerena Saitto and Jeffrey McCracken
Last August Michael Dell approached the board of the computer company he had founded in 1984. He had a proposition: He wanted to take Dell Inc. private and told the board he was the right person to do so, according to people familiar with the matter.
Soon after, serious talks began, moving from Round Rock, Texas, where Dell is based, to California to New York. The code name for the potential deal: Mr. Denali. The discussions broke up several times over price, especially in the final weeks of the deal, according to the people. The price ranged from an initial offer of $12 a share to the final price of $13.65.
After six months of negotiations, Dell and private-equity firm Silver Lake Management LLC agreed yesterday to buy the computer company for $24.4 billion in the biggest leveraged buyout since 2007. While other leveraged buyouts are often initiated by LBO firms, this was Michael Dell's deal from the start, an effort to ensure his legacy and reinvent the struggling company he founded in a University of Texas dormitory almost three decades ago.
Michael Dell is committed to his job as chairman and chief executive officer, said Dell Chief Financial Officer Brian Gladden.
"Financially, he's putting a lot of capital into this process," Gladden said.
Dell advanced 0.1 percent to $13.43 at 10:45 a.m. in New York trading. In the last 52 weeks the stock traded between $8.69 and $18.36, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Under the deal, Dell will contribute his 14 percent stake, valued at about $3.4 billion, as well as $700 million, a person familiar with the matter said, giving him a majority stake in the company. Silver Lake will invest about $1.4 billion in the buyout and Microsoft Corp. will invest about $2 billion, one of the people said. Another $13 billion will be financed by banks.
Industry Shift
Going private will enable CEO Dell, 47, to reposition the company amid shrinking personal computer sales and the industry's shift to mobile and cloud computing without the scrutiny and stock fluctuations that come with being publicly traded.
The deal took several twists as board members tried to ensure that shareholders were protected in a buyout that was being led by management. Dell recused himself from the board to let it work independently on the potential deal, according to people familiar with the situation.
Alex Mandl, the board's lead director, formed a special committee with three directors, Laura Conigliaro, Ken Duberstein and Janet Clark. The committee hired as financial advisers three of JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s top dealmakers -- James B. Lee, vice chairman, Jim Woolery, co-head of North America M&A, and Kurt Simon, head of technology, media & telecommunications. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. also advised Dell.
'Independent' Bank
JPMorgan didn't advise Dell on any of its recent deals, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, avoiding a potential conflict of interest with management.
"The independent directors will usually pick a bank that is independent, which means it didn't have a great deal of contact with the management that is participating in the buyout," Mort Pierce, partner in the M&A group of law firm White & Case LLP in New York.
Jennifer Zuccarelli, a spokeswoman for JPMorgan, and David Frink, a spokesman for Dell, declined to comment.
One of the first moves by the board was to make Dell agree he would work with any and all potential partners, said one of these people. Whether it was Silver Lake or TPG Capital or another private-equity firm, Michael Dell would have to negotiate with them in good faith if they made the best offer, said this person.
Possible Alternatives
Meanwhile, the board had hired Boston Consulting Group Inc. to consider alternatives, according to people familiar with the matter. One idea discussed by BCG and Dell executives: Break the company in two, splitting off the personal computer business from units that focused on data-center hardware and software, the people said.
The board and advisers at JPMorgan also explored a dividend recapitalization as a way to boost shareholder value. The board decided a buyout of the entire company was the best deal for investors, said the people.
The special committee later invited Silver Lake to join the buyout talks, said the people. Silver Lake, the world's largest private equity fund focused on technology investment, was a natural candidate to be Dell's financial partner.
Egon Durban, a managing partner at Menlo Park, California-based Silver Lake who led the deal, is a neighbor of Michael Dell's in Hawaii, and Dell was an early investor in Silver Lake. A spokesman for Silver Lake declined to comment.
The special committee and its advisers also invited other funds, such as TPG and KKR & Co., which later dropped out of the talks, according to the same people.
Microsoft Ties
There was also a tie between Durban and Microsoft. Durban, who joined Silver Lake in 1999, had led the firm's buyout of Skype Technologies SA, which Microsoft later bought. Microsoft joined the Dell talks and agreed to contribute a $2 billion loan to help finance the deal.
That loan was discussed by Dell and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, according to two people familiar with the negotiations. The loan is intended to bolster one of the largest makers of computers using Windows software.
Microsoft opted for a loan rather than an equity investment to avoid rankling other PC that use Windows, said one of the people, who asked not to be named because the matter isn't public.
With the financing lined up, the two sides were still debating price as recently as last week, said a person familiar with the matter.
Price Talk
When Bloomberg News broke news of Dell going private on Jan. 14, the parties were considering a deal priced at around $12 to $12.50 a share, said one person. Dell shares, which traded around $10.99 at the time of the story, jumped 18 percent to $12.83 that day, before closing at $12.29. The final price was $13.65, representing a 25 percent premium to Dell's closing price Jan. 11, the last trading day before the talks were reported.
Dell's board and Silver Lake also battled over restrictions Dell wanted to place on the firm, such as a larger-than-normal fee of $750 million if Silver Lake tried to back out and the ability to sue Silver Lake to follow through on the deal if it got cold feet, said one of these people.
Dell's board and its advisers also wanted to limit the ability of Silver Lake to match any new bid to just once, said these people. The restrictions, intended to protect shareholder interests, were later included in the deal's terms, according to people familiar with the matter.
Evercore Partners Inc., which is advising the special committee, has 45 days to seek higher bids, known as a go-shop period. The task might be impossible, said Pierce of White & Case.
"Go-shops are very infrequently successful because other private equity firms are reluctant to compete against each other," he said.
(Updates with stock trading level in sixth paragraph.)


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December 11, 2012—A National Geographic Explorer makes a surprising nighttime discovery about lemurs, using camera traps.
A daytime animal gets caught on camera out and about ... after dark.
Hi I'm Lucie McNeil and this is National Geographic On Assignment-your link to thousands of Nat Geo explorers out in the field.
Today, we're off to Southwestern Madagascar where National Geographic's Marni Lefleur studies the social structure of ring-tailed lemurs.
Marni and her team hid motion-activated cameras to capture photos of lemur's nighttime predators.
The images revealed a huge surprise to the scientists....lemurs, once thought to be active primarily during the day, also have a robust nightlife.
Since previous studies of the animals were daytime, these photos open a new window into our understanding of ring-tailed lemurs.
That's National Geographic On Assignment-your link to our Explorers.


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Garden fencing ideas are necessary, but can quickly get super expensive, which is why we thought it might be good to show you a variety of cost-effective alternatives to standard hardwood panels. Ask any professional gardener and they'll tell you that you really can get a balance between beauty, privacy, light flow AND value, but if you're still doubting, just come and look at these 23 ideas and start planning your boundary upgrade!
For more garden inspiration, take a look at this Ideabook: 6 easy ways to shape your garden.


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If you've never had the pleasure of reading Alan Moore's Saga of The Swamp Thing, this week's a good place to start. A new edition of the Bearded One's run is on the shelves, and it's creepy as all get-out.
This week. DC/Vertigo releases a reprint of Saga Of The Swamp Thing: Book 3. I'm going to go on record and say that Moore's Swamp Thing is my favorite thing he's ever done. Why is this particular volume noteworthy? First off, it's pure gonzo 1980s horror. Swampy fights a brood of absolutely disgusting aquatic vampires (the vampire queen is an obese, gag-inducing horror), and John Constantine makes his first ever chain-smoking appearance. On a whole, Moore's run is leavened with a sweetness you wouldn't expect from the cantankerous master. Even though Swamp Thing's a nature elemental/sentient hunk of moss, he's an immensely endearing everyman — he's just as confused about his powers as the reader is.
With Swamp Thing coming back to the mainstream DCU, now's as good a time as ever to catch up with his past exploits. Plus, he battles Batman's buzzsaw tank, but you'll have to wait until Volume 5 to see that duel.
Let's take a look at some individual issues hitting the stands:
Batman: Return Of Bruce Wayne 3 (DC): Two words: Pirate Batman.
The Tick: New Series 4 (New England Comics): Benito Cereno (the author, not the Melville character) continues his bi-monthly run on the ongoing tales of the big, befuddled blue one. Plus, a Mike Oeming back-up story. Spooon!
Fringe: Tales From The Fringe 1 (DC/Wildstorm): A new six-issue miniseries that delves into the history of a different character each issue. In this installment, Peter must stop a suicide bomber.
Jurassic Park Redemption 1 (IDW): In this series, Tim and Lex (a.k.a. the screaming kids who hung out with Sam Neill) reopen Jurassic Park. But will there be Jeff Goldblum?
Sea Bear & Grizzly Shark 1 (Image): This comic is exactly what the title advertises — death on land, death in the sea!
Hulk 23 (Marvel): After a solid decade, this issue finally explains the Red Hulk's origin story. I always assumed Rulk was just Hulk from the Bizarro Planet.
Superman 700 (DC): A 56-page anniversary issue! Also, according to solicits, "The exciting new Superman ongoing creative team as J. Michael Straczynski and Eddy Barrows provide a story that sets the stage for an explosive, all-new direction for The Man of Steel! (Seriously! Wait till you read this!)" Comics We Crave's prediction? Return of Internet Superman.
How about the trades? Notable releases this week include new printings of volumes 3 and 9 of Girl Genius (Airship Entertainment) from famed husband-and-wife team Kaja and Phil Foglio; the whopping 600-page collected edition of every one of Frank Miller and Dave Gibbons' Martha Washington tales, The Life And Times Of Martha Washington In The Twenty-First Century (Dark Horse); and the Fallen Angel Omnibus (IDW), which collects the entire run of Peter David and David Lopez's DC-and-then-IDW supernatural series.
What's MY PICK OF THE WEEK? The trade paperback of X-Men: S.W.O.R.D.— No Time To Breathe (Marvel) from Kieron Gillen and Steve Sanders. Gillen is one of my favorite new talents Marvel's brought to their fold (along with Jason Aaron — PunisherMAX is brawny!), and S.W.O.R.D. was a fun (if immediately canceled) experiment. What's the series premise? Astonishing X-Men regulars Abigail Brand and Hank McCoy (and Lockheed) work on a space station, investigate aliens, and exchange sexy banter. It also costars — of all people — fricking Death's Head. Death's Head! Kooky, yes? Anyway, this was an enjoyably weird-ass ongoing that was canned right out the gate. Bah!
You can find the rest of the week's releases here and your neighborhood comic store here. Happy reading, gang!


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Didier Stevens presented a nice little demo of using Process Explorer and Procmon to perform dynamic analysis of malware. Here is the process of analysis recorded on video:
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We bring you a cute, micro-crocheted collection of miniature animals lovingly created by Su Ami, a talented family of artists based in Vietnam. They have created a range of micro-crocheted animals from lions to cats and dogs available for sale though their Etsy store.
We want to buy them all! See more examples of micro-crocheted animals here.