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The Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) together with the Association of Greek Press Attaches hosted a conference on Foreign Media and Greece's country image in the economic crisis on May 31.
According to statistical figures presented, in 2010 only, foreign media from 28 countries reported on the Greek economic crisis publishing 34,000 news items, which represents 60% of the total amount of news items on Greece altogether for the year.
Britain was the country with the most copious reports on Greece in general and the London Financial Times was the newspaper, which covered the economic crisis more frequently and extensively, at a global level.
Filed under: Greece | Tagged: and, Association, Attaches, Conference, Country, crisis, Economic, Economy, ELIAMEP, Europe, European, for, foreign, Foundation, Greek, Hellenic, image, Media, news, of, Policy, Politics, Press, reports, statistical | Comments Off on 2010: 34.000 Foreign Media News Items on Greek Crisis


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If the $100+ price for a spun aluminum gas tank is a little pricey for your buggy, then you might want to check out a plastic fuel tank.
My current buggy has a plastic fuel tank and I've been really happy with it, but I need a larger capacity. I came across this website in my search. They have some nice fuel tanks in a variety of sizes. The tanks come in both white and black colors. The price seems fairly decent, also. They even have the fuel caps for the tanks!
You'll need to scroll down to see the list of fuel tanks. The top of the page lists a variety of carbon canisters, in the vain hope that off-road buggy builders are concerned about having their fuel system EPA compliant.
If you're looking for a real bargain, here's a 5-gallon plastic fuel tank with a gas cap for only $15. The same tank without a cap is only $10. It's posted on a Surplus Center website, so don't expect the deal to last. Still, that's incredibly cheap for a tank.
Check out both websites and see if the tank dimensions will work for your buggy.
Results 1 to 2 of 2
Nice find! Reminded of the type of tank that is commonly used in stand up jetskis. They can also be found for very cheap (or free) if you know where to look.
I've got a few that can be available if anyone is interested.Polaris RAGER 570/1000 S Hybrid
- Engine - 2016 RZR 1k XP
- Transmission - RZR 1k XP
- Chassis - 2012 RZR 570
- Suspension -
- Front: RZR 800S A-arms/Ranger 900 XP hubs
- Rear: Ranger 900 XP A-arm/hubs
"The grass isn't always greener, but the sun's always shining on the other side of the clouds."
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subset: commoncrawl


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My first week of student teaching, I sat down with my class to discuss a play we were about to rehearse. But what erupted that day was much more dramatic than any play. Eight or nine young men burst through the classroom door and began throwing books, overturning desks, and shouting obscenities.
The main teacher of the class had just distributed last term's grades, and a group of senior boys, who'd been skipping class before I arrived, were not happy about what they'd received.
For the weeks before my teaching assignment, I prayed about the classes I'd be instructing—asking God to help me see everyone I'd meet as He sees them. We are all His children, I heard angel messages tell me again and again. Each of His children is loving and lovable, blessing and blessed. I saw the one Father-Mother guiding each of us, and filling us with joy, integrity, goodness, and inspiration.
These angelic thoughts filled me with a sense of joyful peace. The first few days went swimmingly, with students who were eager to learn and respect each other. Even though the teaching was hard work, the hours were filled with the joy of seeing God's children reflecting all of His love and good qualities.
But this day, I was confronted by a disturbing picture—one depicting God's children gone haywire.
I was at my desk when the door opened, and found myself bowing my head in silent prayer as the drama played itself out. I asked God, "How do You see these children, Your children?" An answer came back immediately: "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God" (Matthew 5:9).
I'd never thought about it before, but this beatitude of Christ Jesus included all of the children of God as "peacemakers"—not "trouble-makers"! Therefore, the nature and job of these students was to express and promote peace.
These angelic thoughts filled me with a sense of joyful peace.
There was a tap on my shoulder. As I looked up, everyone was stuffed into a seat at a desk, and the boy who'd tapped my shoulder spoke for the class: "We want to know what you're thinking."
I said I had a vision of them as mature peacemakers, with the ability to communicate and use the tools God gave them. I expressed an interest in their concerns and knew we could find solutions. I invited the boys to join the class. All anger dissolved and they responded with a desire to help with the play.
Several weeks later, the play was performed for an audience, and every student had a part in its production. Each student made good and honest grades for our term together, and my fellow staff members were impressed with the progress made.
In the intervening decades, I've applied the lesson of that morning again and again in my prayers. Whether it be a contentious situation at work or during the election season, I'm grateful to look through the lens of this beatitude to see the way Christ Jesus saw others.
Blessed are the peacemakers! They shall be called the children of God. No matter what we appear to be, the innate identity of each and every child of God involves the talent of making peace. And that ability can be loved and encouraged into expression.
The Greek word translated as "peace" in the passage from Matthew's account of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount means more than peace between peoples. It has to do with expressing prosperity, quietness, rest, and oneness. In fact, the definition includes "to set at one again" (Strong's Concordance).
The peace we make comes with the discovery that outward circumstances cannot dictate our experience of prosperity and spiritual wholeness.
Whether we're in an out-of-control classroom or a world where things seem unsettled, we can let the angels remind us that we are the very children of God, able to see and make peace right where we are. The ripples of that peacemaking extend out and bless the world.
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Boston Marathon April 20, 2009
Pictures of the Boston Marathon taken near Natick on April 20, 2009. Thanks for stopping by my gallery of the Boston Marathon 2009. These images are smaller than the originals. If you find a picture you would like, please Email me with the image number and I can send you an original size version. Feel free to add comments, names and link to these photos.Read More


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Scott's jobs record key to next governor's race
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Rick Scott's chances to win re-election next year may well pivot on his ability to sell himself as the "jobs" governor to Florida voters.
A former business executive turned politician, Scott clearly believes his strategy of taking credit for the state's economic turnaround is working, bolstered by a new economic report on Friday that showed Florida's unemployment rate of 7.1 percent remains below the national average. The report also found that 34,500 private-sector jobs were created in July.
Having promised in his 2010 campaign to create 700,000 jobs in seven years, he called the report "great news." By his tally, the state has created 369,100 private-sector jobs since he took office, and he has spent considerable time over the last several months highlighting a series of small jobs gains.
"We are more than half-way to our goal of creating 700,000 jobs in seven years," Scott said. "In the four years before I took office, Florida lost 832,000 jobs and unemployment tripled to 11.1 percent."
The last statement was clearly a reference to his predecessor, Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican turned Democrat who is expected to challenge Scott's re-election bid next year.
Independent analysts say Scott, whose popularity numbers remain low, may be able to craft a successful campaign strategy around those economic numbers.
But Democrats note that in his first campaign, Scott promised to create far more than 700,000 jobs. They counter that whatever jobs growth Florida has experienced is due to President Barack Obama's policies, not Scott's, and argue that his policies have hindered, rather than helped the state's recovery from the Great Recession.
The tension over who is to blame — or credit — for Florida's economy is certain to continue for the next year.
A poll from Quinnipiac University in June showed more than eight out of 10 voters who thought Florida's economy was improving gave at least "a little credit" to Scott. Some six out of 10 gave it to President Barack Obama.
"That's the key to his electoral future," Quinnipiac pollster Peter Brown said. "He isn't going to get re-elected because he is Mr. Personality. He needs to essentially convince voters, 'You may not like me, but I'm the guy who is making things better.'"
During the past 2 1/2 years, Scott has cited several dozen businesses that have expanded or have come to Florida.
They range from the introduction of the Wawa convenience store chain last year to the Navy Federal Credit Union's $200 million expansion in Pensacola that is expected to yield 2,200 jobs.
In recent months, Scott has touted his support for the elimination of a sales tax for manufacturing equipment, which takes effect next year.
Despite his relentless advocacy — including nine foreign trade missions — Scott has not been able to claim a game-changing project such as a car manufacturing plant or the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which he tried to entice to leave Illinois.
In fact, Scott has irritated a number of governors in other states — with Massachusetts being the latest example — by trying to poach businesses from those states.
"He is tweeting to other states that business is open here and I have yet to hear of a single job that was created through one of those letters or tweets or frankly sophomoric attempts to claim credit where none should be given," said former state Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach.
Citing factors such as the rising stock market, federal monetary policy, the housing market and population growth, Gelber said the governor's office has little to do with the overall economic trends.
"It's the dumbest argument ever," Gelber said. "What rocked Florida was a national if not a global recession. After a recession there is generally an expansion. ... He's trying to take credit for something that had nothing to do with him."
Conversely, Gelber said Scott can be blamed for his rejection of federal funding for a high-speed rail system in 2011 and his failure this year to win legislative support for the expansion of Medicaid under the new federal health care law.
Advocates say both those initiatives would have added billions of dollars to Florida's economy and thousands of high-paying jobs.
"The only thing that Rick Scott has done really in terms of jobs is turn down billions of dollars," Gelber said.
Florida's economic recovery, like the national recovery, has plenty of caveats, including the fact that the labor force has shrunk — in other words the lower unemployment rate has been aided by the fact that fewer people are looking for work.
A report from state economists last month showed that although Florida's unemployment rate fell from 9.4 percent at the end of 2011 to 7.1 percent in May, 35 percent of that decline was attributable to the smaller workforce. If the same number of people were still looking for work, Florida's unemployment rate would have been 7.9 percent.
The lower labor participation rate is a problem nationally as well as in Florida, said Sean Snaith, an economist at the University of Central Florida.
The national rate has not been this low since 1979 and Florida's is lower than the national rate.
"We can't just hold up the declining unemployment as a sign that the labor market has returned to full health — that's not accurate," Snaith said.
Snaith said he expects more workers to look for jobs as the economy improves, which will actually make it harder to decrease the unemployment rate.
UCF's Institute for Economic Competitiveness annual Florida forecast last month projected a 6.9 percent unemployment rate next year, dropping to 6.5 percent by 2015 and below 6 percent by 2017.
But leaving no doubt that the debate over Florida's economy will be front and center in next year's governor's race, state Democratic and Republican Party leaders issued statements on Scott's latest jobs claims.
Democratic Party Chairman Allison Tant called Scott's assertions "a cheap re-election gimmick."
She also reminded Scott that he had once promised to create the 700,000 new jobs on top of normal economic growth — with Tant calculating that Scott's real goal should be 1.7 million new jobs.
"He's barely 20 percent of the way there," Tant said. "He has fallen so far short of his promises, his only choice is to take credit for jobs he didn't create."
GOP Chairman Lenny Curry said Tant's comments show Scott's opponents "have no positive agenda to share with voters."
Curry said Scott has been responsible for "the second-largest drop in unemployment" in the nation, while Tant "is desperately laying out the red carpet for Charlie Crist" who had the second-largest increase in unemployment in the nation while he was in office.


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Frank Atwater Skater Profile
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Raduno Porto Turistico – Pescara 17 Novembre 2019
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Coffee addict? Join the club
Number to Know
63 percent: Can't start your day without a cup of coffee? You're not alone: 63 percent of adult Americans drink coffee every day, according to the 2012 National Coffee Association's National Coffee Drinking Trends study.
— Brandpoint
Food Quiz
The macadamia plant was first discovered in what year?
Answer at bottom of rail.
Wise to the Word
delicata squash: Unlike their summer squash cousins, which are harvested when thin-skinned and immature, winter squash are left to mature late into the growing season (pumpkins are picked after the first frost). Some winter squash varieties to look for are butternut, buttercup, delicata, spaghetti squash and pumpkin.
— Cookthink
The Dish On...
"No Meat Athlete: Run on Plants and Discover Your Fittest, Fastest, Happiest Self," by Matt Frazier.
Combining the winning elements of proven training approaches, motivational stories and innovative recipes, "No Meat Athlete" is a unique healthy-living cookbook and nutrition primer for the athlete who wants to live a meatless lifestyle. Author and popular blogger Matt Frazier will show you that there are many benefits to embracing a meat-free athletic lifestyle.
— Amazon
Food Quiz answer
- B. (Allan Cunningham was the first European to discover the macadamia plant, which later was given its scientific name in 1857 by German-Australian botanist Ferdinand von Mueller.)


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Meeting a hero this winter…
When I was a little girl I was blessed with the best possible momma, sister, and daddy. I thought that they all walked on air from the time I was old enough to understand until today. What you don't realize as a child are all the little details we fixate on as adults. These are the things that make or break relationships in today's world, and yet, why must we concern ourselves with things that are mere trifles in the grand scheme of life and the world.
What I was blessed with the most was a house hold that valued reading.
I was read to from womb until I left the house at age eighteen.
My father told me stories of his childhood at bed time, he read to me from the chapter books I selected as a pre-teen and continually read every book I was reading into high school.
My mother fostered a love for literature from infancy. I loved being read to by both of my parents and my sister. Those were some of the most vivid memories I can still feel when I slip into my mind's eye today. The feeling of swinging in my mother's skirt while holding the pages of the book up so she could read to me about Peter Rabbit or Benjamin Bunny.
While covered in chicken pox, facing another round of bronchitis at the age of six my sister waltzed into our folks bedroom and presented from behind her back, "Rescue Rangers," the story of two brave little mice that save another fellow creature and jewel. I can still see her smile, tumbles of curls spilling over her shoulder while saying in a passing breath, "Here you can pass the time reading this with me, and you'll soon look like this, once again," as she passed my framed school photograph from the year before. Ha! Just what you want to be told when you feel like the creature from the blue lagoon.
Why share all of these strings of connectivity and literature?
Tonight I met a heroine of ours, my mom's, my sister's and mine. Patricia Polacco. Her book, "Mrs. Katz and Tush," was a beloved favorite that I chose often at bedtime. I remember reading it to my nephew upon a sleep over occasion. We'll have to revisit it sometime soon. Hearing her candid words about her youth, her learning disabilities, and her remarkable family, friends, and neighbors brought tears to my eyes this evening.
Happy tears.
Tears that made me smile, and nod, and spring forth a new well of emotions within me. Especially when she described her fourteenth year of life. The year that her deepest, darkest fear came to light, and a teacher reached out a hand to help guide her towards climbing a hurtle she had always felt was so formidable. The fear that she could not read.
She went on to describe Mr. Falker, who was really Mr. Felker in her junior high classroom in California.
I was brought back to my second grade year when my amazing mother said, "I've had enough of this not reading and not doing anything about it with your current school, we're doing something now." My mother researched, and read, and found a program at a private school that had major results for children with dyslexia.
I was the child in the classroom that had a keen ability to hear, see, and listen. I memorized text. I repeated it, I evaded being called upon. I stumbled through the sounding out of words. I was being educated in the "whole language" classroom environment, and nothing clicked with phonics and phonemic awareness. I saw shapes, and negative space when told to sound out the word. It was not until the moment when with repeated practice, isolation of words into boxed in shape I could recognize these shapes as letters, then digraphs, and vowel combinations. Finally the sounds and the letters connected.
Patricia spoke of the moment when she finally made sense of the negative spaces that surrounded these "letters," and the feeling of elation that followed. Realizing that a whole new world had opened up to her.
I can recall the first library chapter book I read that felt, I liken to climbing Everest. I had the best parents in the world. The most patient, supportive, and loving humans. They provided me with the tools for knowledge and they put in the work that needed to be done with me in order for my goals to be achieved. Without that reading program, Mrs. Lau, and my parents, I would not be a teacher today. I am not quite sure where I would be. But I do know that I wrote to my third grade teacher every year of my public school education. Every few years I send her a letter, and I receive a card in reply. When I graduated with my masters degree in teaching, the first person I wrote to after my sister, was Mrs. Lau, my third grade teacher. The woman who taught me how to read, and helped me make sense of the puzzle pieces that I finally knew where to place.
Thank you Patricia Polacco for sharing your stories all these years. I met you once in 1997 at the Lusac Public Library in Anchorage, Alaska. I can still see your face, your bun, and the back drop of the maroon curtains behind you in the basement hall. Life has a funny way of coming full circle. Tonight I showed you my book, signed by you in 1997, and I thanked you for doing what you do. Your stories have been read to every single class of mine every year. Each year before I read aloud her stories, especially in the winter months, I tell my students the following:
"I'm going to share with you one of my heroes. Now, this hero is an author. This author helped me feel like I was not alone. When I was a little girl I could not read, until third grade. Patricia Polacco's words, her family, and her stories are one of my greatest joys to share in life, and now, I will introduce you to her work."
You might wonder what the children think of her work? I'll leave you with one word: riveted.


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This is the second part of an adventure series where YOU determine the next step in the story. Read part one.
You stagger to your feet and the room spins. So does your stomach. As your body expels breakfast and blood onto the floor, you know something is very wrong. You crouch over your own vomit, hands on your knees, sweating and breathing heavily. You focus on the pink splatters of protein shake swirling around your boots. Even though you inhaled it this morning in the mess hall, you knew it tasted funny. Now you know you were drugged.
You wipe your mouth with the back of your hand and stand up straight. Your eyes lock on the workbench and you cross the room in three steps.
The bench has been repeatedly ransacked and the tools left behind are subpar for a maintenance shed, much less an armory. In a dirty pile you see a rusted hammer and various screwdrivers and wrenches, all heavy-duty. You grab the hammer and give it a swing. The balance is good and the claw is at least menacing. It will have to do.
You use the hammer to sift through the dirt. In the back right corner, the claw catches on something large under a tarp. You reach for it and pull it out. It's a flak jacket just like yours. Blood is caked everywhere and obscures half of the name tag. You scratch off some of the blood. Zuniga. You don't know a Zuniga. You pull off the name tag and slip it into your pocket. If you find your way back to base, you can report the missing soldier.
By moving the jacket you uncovered a few other items: a quart-sized paint can and brush, a small flat head screwdriver, and a full 9mm clip. No gun. Nearby is a thin chain. Instead of dog tags, it bears a crude symbol made of twisted paper clips. You lean closer for a better look. Three, possibly four religious symbols have been combined into one. You work on tangling the chain around the head of the hammer.
As you finish, a deafening boom fills your ears. The walls shake. Dirt showers from the ceiling. Terrified, you grab the hammer and whirl around. Another slam erupts from the right side of the room. A light fixture smashes to the floor just a foot away. Another slam now, from the left side. In the pause between, you hear wings.
You're being flushed out.
Doesn't matter. You're done here anyway. You pocket the clip, the small screwdriver, and the paint brush, and scoop the paint can into your arm. You run to the blood-splattered interior door. Raising the hammer, you open the door and rush outside. The door closes softly behind you, barely dampening the noise.
You're in a narrow hallway with thick gray carpet. To your right, the hallway is long and you see a light at the end. Blood covers the wall and cakes the carpet all the way down. To your left, the hallway is dark but may be just as long. It appears thoroughly clean. Directly across from you, on the wall, someone has left a message in blood.
"And when the thousand years are expired, the Beast shall be loosed from his prison."
What do you do?
A: Take the bloody hall to your right.
B: Take the dark hall to your left.
Vote in the comments or on Twitter. Voting ends Tuesday night. The highest vote will be the next step in the story, posted on Fridays.
Image courtesy of Sam Ley.
UPDATE: The voting is now closed. The A's have it. A final count has been added in the comment section, in case you're curious. The next step in the story will be posted Friday. Many thanks for everyone's participation.


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I love family history, I get to be the detective, I couldn't be in reality. I have been doing it with my son since he was about nine. He is now a grown up and does it without me as he is crazy about history and has got a deep interest in particular families he has discovered we are descended from. This isn't a post about how to do family history – there are many great books and articles out there to help. This is a post which explains a few of the reasons why it is good to share it with our children.
History becomes a reality. When our children do history at school, it is always other people's history. It might be about monarchy, political leaders or wars. It is nearly always about the folks who are known by many but actually connected to a few. When anything is covered about the ordinary folks it can seem as bland as my cooking. Growing up in Lancashire, we covered the cotton industry in history at school. I remember wishing aliens would come and cause chaos as Mr Hall droned on about the warp and the weft. Oh how that man knew how to kill any interest in The Industrial Revolution – that in itself was a talent. However, much as I would love to indulge myself in remembering Mr Hall's secret educational weapons, I won't. When we look at our ancestor's lives during these periods, we truly get a sense of reality, especially in periods which cover the censuses. For instance, finding out that your great grandmother shared one room with ten other people and had to go into the street to get drinking water, really makes us think about the reality and hardships of their lives. Family history brings history to life for children because it is about folks they are directly connected to, people whom they share DNA with. It doesn't get more personal than that.
Research skills. Whilst having lunch with a teacher friend of mine, we decided that one of the most important skills a child can learn is to be able to research well. Family history is a productive way of doing this. Children love to discover something about their ancestors and then grandly announce it to their parents. When my son discovered that he had a 10X great grandmother called Frances Poo, he adored breaking the news. Of course, I thought he was joking and had to check it. He was right, of course. The point is that family history makes children feel like real live detectives. The more they find, the deeper they wish to go. It is amazing how much this aids their research skills whilst having fun.
|Francis Poo
England, Marriages, 1538–1973
Bonding process. In this day and age, it is all too easy for families to be in the same house and yet not really be connecting with each other. A lot of the time, families are all doing their own thing, even watching television programmes is done in separate rooms these days. This is where family history really helps us bond with our children. There is something really powerful about the moment your child and yourself discover something fantastic or heart breaking about a shared relative. It is potent and strange and something which they could not get with friends, neighbours or anyone except the family. When I first discovered that a great grandfather of mine had spent the last twenty years of his life in a lunatic asylum –I was totally shocked. I was new to family history and it was the first of many sad or brilliant shocks which were to come. The only people I could share it with, initially, were my son and my mother – both of whom were from the same ancestor.
Days Out. Sometimes, it is hard to think of something new to do with our kids or even somewhere different to go. We often seem to do the same activities and visit the same places. We've had some great days out though visiting the places where our ancestors lived. It can be good fun to take photos of the children in front of the church where their ancestors got married two hundred years earlier or even just discovering a market town which your ancestors lived in but you haven't been to before. I found a fabulous pair of Punch and Judy doorstops for £5 in an antique shop whilst visiting one of the market towns my ancestors once lived. in Although saying that, it can sometimes backfire. We visited some record offices in Ashton Under Lyne in Lancashire – that was fine. We then planned to find an address where some of our ancestors had lived in the early 1800s. It had turned into a monstrously busy road with huge trucks zooming up and down it. It made me totally stressed so I really do not know what my 4X great grandfather and grandmother would have made of it if they had travelled forward in time.
Meeting Wonderful New Relatives. We all have an amazing number of ancestors, so logically that means we are related to an amazing number of people whom we have never met. We were lucky enough to be found by a wonderful Australian lady whose great grandmother was sister to my great grandmother. When she came to England, she brought her husband and children to meet us and we all had a rare old knees up together. My son found lovely new cousins whom he bonded with immediately. It makes family history become real for children when they get to meet the descendants of people who are simply names and numbers on family trees.
Logic and Maths. When children do family history, they have to do lots of mathematical calculations and estimates. It isn't the hardest maths in the world but it means lots of practise with basic maths in a productive way instead of filling in one maths worksheet after another. In the same way, they have to work in a logical manner. Finding out about our ancestors means working methodically backwards and making sure all the facts fit. We cannot start in the middle, we have to be systematic and it becomes a habit. Children who take part in family history projects become adept at careful note-taking and fact checking. They have to do the maths to make sure that what they have discovered is both logical and correct.
Happy hunting!
Related articles
- Family history through the alphabet – F is for Fecund Forebears (genealyn.wordpress.com)
- Tuesday's Tip – Read a Book (sortyourstory.wordpress.com)
- Michelle Obama's White Ancestors Revealed (theroot.com)
- KHOU Anchor Len Cannon does genealogy search to find lost family history (khou.com)
- My Interview with Nick Barratt (eogn.com)
- Need to Read: Has Jack Daniel's original recipe been found in Wales? (walesonline.co.uk)
- ireland ancestor search (augustinehuntle.typepad.com)
- Updated: My Family History (myprivatestory.wordpress.com)


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How to build a Smarter City: 23 design principles for digital urbanism
June 17, 2013 16 Comments
At the same time that cities everywhere are seeking funds for Smarter City initiatives, and often relying on central government or research grants to do so, I know of literally billions of Pounds, Euros, and Dollars that are being spent on relatively conventional development and infrastructure projects that aren't particularly "smart".
Why is that?
One reason is that we have yet to turn our experience to date into prescriptive, re-usable guidance. Many examples of "Smarter City" projects have demonstrated that in principle technologies such as social media, information marketplaces and the "internet of things" can support city-level objectives such as wellbeing, social mobility, economic growth and infrastructure resilience. But these individual results do not yet constitute a normalised evidence base to indicate which approaches apply in which situations, and to predict in quantitative terms what the outcomes will be.
And whilst a handful of cities such as Portland and Dublin have implemented information platforms on which sophisticated research can be carried out to predict the effect that technology and other interventions will have on a specific city, elsewhere we are in the early stages of considering the strategic role that technology should play in the overall design, planning and governance of cities.
We have been in this position before. In her seminal 1961 work "The Death and Life of Great American Cities", Jane Jacobs wrote of the extant planning regime that in her opinion was impeding, or even destroying, the growth of healthy, urban cities in favour of a misguided faith in the suburban "Garden City" vision and its derivatives:
"Private investment shapes cities, but social ideas (and laws) shape private investment. First comes the image of what we want, then the machinery is adapted to turn out that image. The financial machinery has been adjusted to create anti-city images because, and only because, we as a society thought this would be good for us. If and when we think that lively, diversified city, capable of continual, close- grained improvement and change, is desirable, then we will adjust the financial machinery to get that."
Similarly, today's planning and procurement practises do not explicitly recognise the value of the Smart City vision, and therefore are not shaping the financial instruments to deliver it.
This is not because those practises are at fault; it is because technologists, urbanists, architects, procurement officers, policy-makers and planners need to work together to evolve those practises to take account of the new possibilities available to cities through technology.
I was recently asked by a city that I work closely with to contribute suggestions for how their next planning strategy could reflect the impact of the technology agenda. Drawing on experiences and conversations with cities, Universities, government bodies and professional organisations over the last year, including the "Digital Urbanism" workshop help at the Academy of Urbanism Congress 2013 in Bradford, UK on 16th May, I put together a set of intentionally provocative candidate "design principles" for them to consider.
I've reproduced those principles in this article. They will not be universally accepted, and it is not possible yet to provide a mature body of evidence to support them. Whilst some will seem obvious, some may be controversial – or simply naive. Many will change or be discarded in time; some will be found to be misguided or unworkable. Because the outcomes we are seeking are often qualitative – "vibrant communities", for example – and because research into city systems and the work of standards bodies is still ongoing, many of them are aspirational and subjective. But by presenting active principles rather than passive observations, my hope is to stimulate a useful debate.
A final caveat: my profession is technology, not the architecture of buildings and structures, urban design or town-planning. I therefore lack the depth of background in urban thinking that will be shared by many of those who I hope to engage in this debate; and as a consequence, some of this material may duplicate well-established thinking; be unsophisticated in content or expression; or just plain wrong. I hope that you will forgive and accept the attempts of a passionate newcomer to contribute thinking from a new domain into one that is well established; and help me to improve on this first attempt.
Candidate Design Principles for Digital Urbanism
The importance of "place" in town planning and urban design has come to encapsulate experience from a variety of domains about what makes urban environments successful from the perspective of the people, businesses and communities who use them. It was summarised by Copenhagen's City Architect, Tina Saaby, in her address to the Academy of Urbanism Congress 2013 as "Consider urban life before urban space; consider urban space before buildings".
In identifying "urban life" as the starting point, I think Tina was reminding us to begin always by considering the needs and behaviour of individual people, and then their interactions with each other. This was the basis of Jane Jacobs' understanding of cities and systems such as their economies and governments; and more recently it has been used by Professor Geoffrey West of the Sante Fe Institute to perform detailed, quantitative analyses of the performance of city systems.
It's equally important to use urban life and "place" as our starting points when guiding the application of technology in city systems, and so by analogy, a candidate principle for the digital agenda in cities could be:
Principle 1: Consider urban life before urban place; consider urban place before technology.
Recent scientific work has shown that the rate of change is increasing in modern society – and specifically in cities as they grow. For example, Geoffrey West's work shows that larger cities create more wealth, more efficiently, than smaller cities. In doing so, they attract residents, grow bigger still, and accelerate wealth creation further. This self-reinforcing process results in an ever-increasing demand for resources. It powered the growth of cities in the developed world through the Industrial Revolution; it is powering the growth of cities in emerging markets today; and it is driving the overall growth in global population. Professor Ian Robertson of Trinity College Dublin has even shown that as cities get bigger, people in them walk faster.
So in the many cities which are growing both organically and by continuing to attract immigration, two further candidate principles could be:
Principle 2: Demonstrate sustainability, scalability and resilience over an extended timeframe.
Principle 3: Demonstrate flexibility over an extended timeframe.
Physical Infrastructures and Construction
A difficulty in most existing buildings is to adapt them to support new technology infrastructures – to update wiring, or to add cabling for new network technologies, for example. Any specific prediction concerning our needs for such infrastructures in the future will likely be wrong; but it is certain that those needs will be different from today; and so:
Principle 4: New or renovated buildings should be built to contain sufficient space for current and anticipated future needs for technology infrastructure such as broadband cables; and of materials and structures that do not impede wireless networks. Spaces for the support of fixed cabling and other infrastructures should be easily accessible in order to facilitate future changes in use.
Furthermore, broader trends that are influenced by technology – such as mobile working, collaborative working spaces, pop-up shops and the demise of some traditional retail enterprises – are evidence that the rate of change in the uses to which we want to put buildings and urban spaces is increasing. This leads to another candidate principle:
Principle 5: New or renovated buildings should be constructed so as to be as functionally flexible as possible, especially in respect to their access, infrastructure and the configuration of interior space; in order to facilitate future changes in use.
Connectivity and Information Accessibility
Sources as respected as McKinsey and Imperial College have asserted that we are entering an age in which economic value will be created through the use of the digital information that is increasingly ubiquitous not just in our online activities but in the systems that operate physical services such as transport, utilities and buildings.
A fundamental requirement to participate in the information economy is to be connected to digital networks, leading to candidate design principle six:
Principle 6: Any development should ensure wired and wireless connectivity is available throughout it, to the highest standards of current bandwidth, and with the capacity to expand to any foreseeable growth in that standard.
Organisations of all types and sizes are competing for the new markets and opportunities that digital information creates – that is simply the natural consequence of the emergence of a new resource in a competitive economy. Much of that information results from data created by the actions and activities of all of us as individuals; so we are the ultimate stakeholders in the information economy, and should seek to establish an equitable consensus for how our data is used.
However, in most cases converting the data that is created by our actions into useful information with a business value requires either a computing infrastructure to process the data or human expertise to assess it. Both of those have a cost associated with them that must be borne by some individual or organisation.
Those forces of the information economy may only ever be resolved in specific contexts rather than in universal principle. But any new development or supporting technology system that adds to the cost of allowing data associated with it to be openly exploited in principle adds a potential impediment to future economic and social productivity. So, even if the means to bear the costs associated with providing useful information are not agreed initially:
Principle 7: Any new development should demonstrate that all reasonable steps have been taken to ensure that information from its technology systems can be made openly available without additional expenditure. Whether or not information is actually available will be dependent on commercial and legal agreement, but it should not be additionally subject to unreasonable expenditure. And where there is no compelling commercial or legal reason to keep data closed, it should actually be made open.
A central tenet of the Smarter Cities movement is to create value by integrating systems. The integration of technology systems is made simpler and less expensive when those systems conform to standards for the format, meaning, encoding and interchange of data. However, standards for interoperability for Smarter City systems are in the early stages of development, including contributions from initiatives such as the British Standards Institute's Smarter Cities Strategy, the City Protocol Society, and IBM's SCRIBE Research project into city information models. Candidate principle eight therefore states that:
Principle 8: The information systems of any new development should conform to the best available current standards for interoperability between IT systems in general; and for interoperability in the built environment, physical infrastructures and Smarter Cities specifically.
There is much debate as to whether, beyond basic network connectivity, higher-level digital services should form part of a national or civic infrastructure to support businesses and communities in creating growth through digital technologies. The EU "Future Internet" project FI-WARE and Imperial College's "Digital Cities Exchange" research programme are both investigating the specific digital services that could be provided as enabling infrastructure to support this growth; and the British Standards Institute is exploring related standards to encourage growth amongst SMEs.
A further candidate principle expresses the potential importance of this research to the economic competitiveness of cities in the information economy:
Principle 9: New developments should demonstrate that they have considered the commercial viability of providing the digital civic infrastructure services recommended by credible research sources.
Sustainable Consumerism
The price of energy is expected to rise in the long term until new energy sources are scalably commercialised; and the UK specifically is expected to experience power shortfalls by 2015. Many urban areas are already short of power, limited simply by the capacity of existing delivery subsystems.
Overall it is clear that it is economically and environmentally sensible to reduce our use of energy. One way to do so is to make better use of the information from city systems and buildings that describe energy usage. Property developers in Amsterdam used such information to lower the cost of energy infrastructure for new developments by collaborating to create an investment case for smart grid infrastructure.
Candidate principle ten is therefore:
Principle 10: Any data concerning a new development that could be used to reduce energy consumption within that development, or in related areas of a city, should be made open.
As consumer awareness of energy costs and sustainability has increased, developers of residential communities that have provided state-of-the-art technologies for sustainable living have reported strong demand, leading to a further candidate principle:
Principle 11: Property development proposals should indicate how they will attract business and residential tenants through providing up-to-date sustainable infrastructures for heat and power such as CHP, smart metering, local energy grids and solar energy.
Urban Communities
Developments carried out according to plans developed in collaboration with existing residents have provided some of the most interesting examples of successful placemaking. Social media, virtual reality and other digital technologies offer the opportunity to enable richer, more widespread consultations and explorations of planned developments by the communities that they will effect. Candidate principles twelve and thirteen express the possibility for these technologies to contribute to placemaking and successful urban developments:
Principle 12: Consultations on plans for new developments should fully exploit the capabilities of social media, virtual worlds and other technologies to ensure that communities affected by them are given the widest, most immersive opportunity possible to contribute to their design.
Principle 13: Management companies, local authorities and developers should have a genuinely engaging presence in social media so that they are approachable informally.
City communities are not passive observers to the Smarter City phenomenon. They may be crowd-sourcing mapping information for OpenStreetMap; running or participating in hacking events such as the Government Open Hackday in Birmingham last year; or they may be creating new social enterprises or regional technology startups, such as the many city currencies and trading schemes that are appearing.
But access to and familiarity with social media is far from ubiquitous; the potential for new communities to adopt and benefit from such technology is enormous, and need not be expensive. Informal programmes to spread awareness and provide education, such as the social media surgeries started by Podnosh in Birmingham, can have a powerful effect helping communities to exploit social technology to uncover hidden synergies and connections.
Principle 14: Local authorities should support awareness and enablement programmes for social media and related technologies, particularly "grass roots" initiatives within local communities.
Local food initiatives – in which local food processing is more important than local food growing in cities with limited open space but plentiful manufacturing space – have the potential to strengthen community ties; provide employment opportunities; promote healthier diets; and reduce the carbon impact of food supply systems. They can be supported by measures such as the provision of generous gardens, allotments or public space in the physical environment; and by the use of technology to enable online food markets or related distribution systems.
Such initiatives are generally operated by private sector organisations – often small-scale entrepreneurial or social enterprises; but their formation may be facilitated by local authorities or developers during the course of development or regeneration programmes. Candidate principle fifteen is therefore:
Principle 15: Urban development and regeneration programmes should support the formation, activity and success of local food initiatives by cooperating with local community and business support programmes to support the infrastructures they need to succeed and grow.
Demographic and economic trends indicate that we are living longer and needing to support ourselves later in life. A variety of technologies can provide or contribute to that support:
Principle 16: Residential accommodation should incorporate space for environmental monitoring, interactive portals, and connectivity to enable remote support, telehealth systems and homeworking.
Economic Development and Vitality
In his address to the Academy of Urbanism Congress, economist Michael Ward, Chair of the Centre for Local Economic Strategies, asserted that:
"The key task facing civic leaders in the 21st Century is this: how, in a period of profound and continuing economic changes, will our citizens earn a living and prosper?"
For cities to provide jobs, they need successful businesses; and technology will have a dramatic effect on what it means to be a successful business in the 21st Century.
Over the last two decades, the internet, mobile phone and social media have redefined the boundaries of the communications, technology, media, publishing and technology industries. The companies that thrived through those changes were those who best understood how to use technology to merge capabilities from across those industries into new business models. In the coming decade as digitisation extends to industries such as manufacturing through technologies such as 3D printing and smart materials, more and more industry sectors will be redefined by similar levels of disruption and convergence.
So how are the economies of our cities placed to be successful in that world of change?
Many have the mix of technology, creative and industrial capabilities to be successful in future economies in principle; but in practise those capabilities are in separate geographical locations, between which it is difficult for serendipitous interactions to create new innovations – I discussed these issues in the context of Birmingham, my home city, in an article a few weeks ago.
Spatial modelling techniques can predict the impact of planned developments on these characteristics of the cities surrounding them – i.e. whether they will improve or worsen connectivity between value-creating districts in different economic sectors. Candidate principles seventeen and eighteen express how these techniques could be used:
Principle 17: New developments should demonstrate through the use of the latest urban modelling techniques that they will increase connectivity – particularly by walking and cycling – between important value-creating districts and economic priority zones that are adjacent or near to them.
Principle 18: Developments should offer the opportunity of serendipitous interaction and innovation between stakeholders from different occupations.
The nature of work, business and employment in many industries is changing, driven by technology. Whilst these changes may not take place at the same speed in all businesses, in all industries, in all places; it will become increasingly important over time that cities and districts provide the facilities that future enterprises will require:
Principle 19: Developments should provide, or should be adaptable to provide, facilities to enable the location and success of future ways of working including remote and mobile working, "fab labs" (3d printing facilities), "pop-up" establishments and collaborative working spaces.
Most urban spaces and developments do not succeed immediately; time is required for them to attract and adapt to the uses that they will eventually successfully support. That condition of success will be more rapidly achieved or new developments, and will be sustained for longer, if it is possible to easily adapt them. Such adaptability is particularly important given the speed of change and innovation that digital technology can enable, leading to candidate principle twenty:
Principle 20: Planning, usage and other policies governing the use of urban space and structures should facilitate innovation and changes of use, including temporary changes of use.
Privacy and Public Safety
Privacy and security are perhaps the greatest current challenges of the digital age; but that is simply a reflection of their importance in all aspects of our lives. Jane Jacobs' description of urban systems in terms of human and community behaviour was based on those concepts, and is still regarded as the basis of our understanding of cities.
But new technologies are changing the relationship between physical and digital environments with the consequence that a failure in privacy or security digital systems could affect community vitality or public safety in cities. So candidate principle twenty-one is:
Principle 21: Any information system in a city development should provide a clear policy for the use of personal information. Any use of that information should be with the consent of the individual.
There is a truth about social media, information marketplaces and related "Smarter City" technologies that is far too rarely explored, but that has serious implications. It is that rather than removing the need to travel and transport things, these technologies can dramatically increase our requirements to do so. Candidate principle twenty-two expresses the need for transport plans to take account of this potential:
Principle 22: Transport plans supporting new developments should demonstrate that they have not only provided for traditional transport demand, but also that which might be created by online business models and other social technologies.
This article is an early attempt to express candidate design principles for Smarter Cities; and I have not attempted to systematically address all of the potential domains of city systems where technology may have a role to play. Such an exercise would undoubtably yield further candidate principles. In addition, many other efforts are underway to encode emerging knowledge about the successful use of technology in city systems through organisations such as the City Protocol Society and the British Standards Institute or research programmes such as Imperial College's Digital Cities Exchange. And so a final candidate principle encourages continuous awareness of the progress of such initiatives:
Principle 23: New developments should demonstrate that their design takes account of the latest best and emerging practises and patterns from Smarter Cities, smart urbanism, digital urbanism and placemaking.
When I first began to extract candidate design principles from my workshop and meeting notes, I doubted whether I would identify more than a handful; I was certainly not expecting to identify more than twenty. I think that it is encouraging to observe that there is so much that can be stated positively about the potential of technology to create value in cities.
My sense, though, is that an overarching set of five to ten principles would be much more useful in defining an approach to Smarter Cities that could be broadly adopted. In order to identify what those principles should be, I will need to more clearly define their audience and purpose. Such an exercise will probably form the basis of a subsequent article for this blog.
But in the meantime, I hope that I have offered food for thought; and I look forward to hearing your views.
My thanks to those who have commented on the principles I shared on twitter ahead of posting this: Leo Hollis, Tony Smith, We Make Good, Ian Owen, Osvaldo, Fred Bartels and Frederico Muñoz.


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When Intel announced Ultrabooks a year ago, the chip maker predicted that these thin and light laptops would account for 40 percent of the consumer market by the end of 2012. But according to Gartner, Ultrabooks have hardly made a dent in the now-stagnant PC market.
Overall, PC sales in the second quarter of 2012 fell by 0.1 percent year-over-year. U.S. computer makers HP and Dell took the biggest hit, with shipments dropping by 12.1 percent and 11.5 percent, respectively. Asian PC makers Lenovo, Acer and Asus fared better, but not enough to pick up the slack.
Although Gartner didn't offer any specific figures for Ultrabook sales, the firm described shipment volumes as "small" and having "little impact on overall shipment growth."
"This segment is still in an early adopter's stage," Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa said in a press release.
It's no surprise that the first wave of Ultrabooks hasn't saved the PC market from slumping sales. Early models were expensive, with the best Ultrabooks priced well over $1,000, and the cheapest ones priced around $900.
Keep in mind that Apple traditionally dominates the premium PC market. In 2009, the company had 91 percent market share for PCs priced at more than $1,000, according to NPD. With expensive Ultrabooks, PC makers were trying to invade Apple's turf. That wasn't going to happen.
But now, I think the worst days for Ultrabook sales have come to pass. As my colleague Melanie Pinola recently noted, cheaper Ultrabooks are hitting the market, with starting prices between $600 and $800. Vizio is also about to enter the PC business with sub-$1,000 Ultrabooks whose specs rival the MacBook Air at much lower prices.
And of course, the October launch of Windows 8 will bring a new lineup of Ultrabook-tablet hybrids. It's possible that many PC buyers are waiting for Windows 8, especially the early adopters who might otherwise be buying Ultrabooks. (I'm personally holding off on a new laptop with the intent of getting a hybrid Windows 8 PC later this year.)
For Ultrabooks to take off, they simply need to account for a larger swath of the Windows PC market. Intel might get closer to its 40 percent market share estimate when thin, light, power-efficient PCs are the norm, not just a privilege for the upper crust of consumers.
Follow Jared on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ for even more tech news and commentary.


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Whatever Happened to Evangelism?
He asked the question in all sincerity.
"What is the best program or methodology for evangelism in the local church today?" he began. "Is it a certain program or memorized approach? Or is it simply encouraging members to develop relationships with unchurched people? Or is it an incarnational approach, where Christians live and work and play among non-Christians with an intentional desire to share the Gospel with them?"
My answer was yes.
Some who knew me at that speaking engagement began to laugh with hesitation. I could tell that they thought it was another Rainer attempt at humor. A weak attempt.
But my response came with no smile. I was serious.
"Any prayerful approach to evangelism," I began, "is better than what most churches are doing, because most churches are doing little or nothing."
The Curious But Sad Trajectory
Because I have consulted with churches for over twenty years, I have been able to observe the pattern up close. Each year it seems that local churches are devoting less time, less funding, and less emphasis on equipping, encouraging, and sending people to share the good news of Christ, particularly within their own immediate communities.
At one point, I could see theological distinctions. As a rule, the more theologically conservative churches were more likely to emphasize evangelism as a critical component of the church's life. Such is not the case any more. The conservative churches are almost as anemic in evangelism as others.
And the even more troubling news is that the trajectory gets worse every year.
More Evidence of the Disappearance of Evangelism
If my anecdotal consultation observations are insufficient evidence, our recent studies support our thesis. In one study we asked senior or lead pastors how many times they had intentionally shared their faith with someone, or just developed a relationship with a non-Christian with the hope of sharing the good news. In this survey where anonymity was protected, over half of the pastors, 53% to be precise, said "zero" in the previous six months.
You read that correctly. The majority of pastors aren't doing evangelism.
Before we criticize these leaders too harshly, we see even less evidence of evangelistic efforts among the laity. And in some churches, the laity will get angry if the pastor doesn't visit them when they have a minor illness. But they have no problem if no one in the church makes an effort to tell a lost person about Jesus.
"Meet my needs," they cry. "Who cares if those people spend eternity in hell?"
I'm sorry. My cynicism is not always healthy.
Decreasing Evangelism, Greater Receptivity
The sad irony is that our evangelistic efforts are diminishing while a significant number of non-Christians are more receptive to hear about Jesus from a Christian. In one study we conducted, we found that nearly four out of ten (38%) of non-Christians would either be highly receptive or receptive to hear from Christians about their beliefs. And only five percent indicated an antagonistic attitude toward hearing the Good News.
Tens of millions of lost persons in America are waiting to hear from Christians.
The silence is deafening.
A Beginning of One
Whatever happened to evangelism? I have my thoughts and my research, but for now the question is unanswered.
I can whine. I can lament. I can point to what others are not doing.
Or I can do something myself.
I admit that I could do more. A lot more. I could specifically pray each day that the Lord would put someone in my path where I could at least begin the Gospel conversation. I could pray for more spiritually sensitive eyes to those around me. I could be consistently accountable to someone about consistently sharing my faith. And I could encourage others to join me.
It's time to do less analysis, less complaining, and less finger pointing. It's time for action.
And for me, it has to begin in my heart.


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allotment, DIY, Flowers, Garden, gardening
Tag: allotment
25 Posts
allotment, Flowers, Greenhouse
25 Posts
allotment, DIY, Flowers, Garden, gardening
allotment, Flowers, Greenhouse
It started when I gave up smoking and went from there!
Educating forward thinking veterinary professionals to be the change they want
feminine soul from the heart of greece
Plants, veg and chickens: a cottage garden on the edge of Brussels
By Sandra Js Photography - Make the rest of your life the best of your life.
The adventures during middle age. Life, days out and everything in between.
Allotment | Food | Lifestyle | Sustainability |Travel
Make It, Fix It, Recreate It - Multi-Crafter, Seamstress and Upcycler
Welcome to Larry Hodgson's world
Garden fresh, flowers, perennials, vegetables, fruit, preserves, baking, recipes, vegan and omnivorous
Growing our own, recipes, natural living, remembering Matthew, Foods for health
Mommy blogger, who loves to share what she loves!
I'm Becs, and I have a garlic intolerance. This causes hell in modern cuisine and recipes. This blog is all about how I adapt food around my intolerance, all the while attempting to cook through an entire recipe book!
Taken over a new allotment. Sharing my experiences, learning from my mistakes and from others
A blog about growing stuff.
Telling stories through global comfort food
Elements and Transformations
Always Learning • Always Growing
Growing Your Own Produce and Remedies
Just another WordPress.com site
Author, teacher, consultant. Plan your future in uncertain times with 'The Resilience Handbook - how to survive in the 21st century'. Find out more....
Sharing our experiences of growing plants in the South of England
A craft loving vintage Gal and her allotment
Allotment Gardening Blog
Yann Gourvennec
An inner city allotment
At the intersection of plant care and self care.


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From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there's a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at firstname.lastname@example.com.
The box: 2017 Bowman Chrome MLB (hobby box)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com
Packs per box: 12 (six per mini box)
Cards per pack: 5
Cards in this box: 60
Base set completion: 23 of 100 (23 percent)
Duplicates: 0
Prospect set completion: 24 of 100 (24 percent)
Duplicates: 0
Notable players on base cards – Ichiro Suzuki, Kris Bryant, Francisco Lindor, Mookie Betts, Jose Abreu
Rookie Cards (9) – Andrew Benintendi, Yoan Moncada, Orlando Arcia, Hunter Renfroe, Yulieski Gurriel, Jordan Montgomery, Robert Gsellman, Jharel Cotton, Tyler Glasnow
First Bowman Cards (8) – Chris Paddack, Austin Hays, Miguelangel Sierra, Tomas Nido, Jorge Ona, Jameson Fisher, Jazz Chisholm, Luis Alexander Basabe


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A "DisasterCam" for the ISS
June 27, 2012: Of all the hundreds of spacecraft and satellites in Earth orbit, few can match the International Space Station for its view of the big blue marble below. Scientists would like to put that spectacular view to good use – by having the ISS photograph disasters, both natural and manmade, in progress on the Earth below.
Thanks to a collaboration between the NASA/USAID program known as SERVIR within NASA's Applied Sciences Program, and NASA's ISS program, the station will be outfitted with a new instrument – part of a system called ISERV1 – and equipped with a prototype automated camera which could image areas threatened by floods, landslides, forest fires, or other disasters.
At this point, ISERV is specifically intended to help scientists gain the experience and expertise to deploy an operational system in the future, and to inform its design. Ideally, a future operational system, and perhaps ISERV Pathfinder itself, will be able to monitor Earthly disasters.
"Let's assume an earthen dam gives way in Bhutan," says Burgess Howell, a science lead for SERVIR. "With an instrument like Pathfinder, we could show disaster officials where the bridge is out, for example, or the hospital is gone, the road washed out, or the power substation inundated. We could also estimate the number and location of structures destroyed and the amount of agricultural land affected. All of this information is critical to focus and speed rescue efforts."
ISERV's Pathfinder camera will be installed this summer in the ISS Destiny module, with a view through its 20-inch Earth-facing window. Pathfinder's special software knows where the space station is at each moment as well as its attitude, direction, and path. With this information it calculates the next chance to view a particular area. If there's a good viewing opportunity, the SERVIR team will send instructions to the camera. Pathfinder will take a series of high-resolution photographs of the area at 7 frames per second for 6 to 8 seconds, totaling 40-60 images per pass.
"The camera's nominal resolution is 2.8 meters. That's about the size of a cow, although we may be able to sense the presence of smaller targets, down to the size of a person."
An operational system with Pathfinder's optical characteristics could, in many cases, acquire near-real-time images of areas on the ground and transmit them within hours of the event.
"In ideal conditions, the party requesting the data could receive them within 3 hours," says Howell. "But in some cases, because of the station's varying orbit, it might be 3 days before a viewing opportunity arises. Even then the data could be used to analyze environmental changes the disaster causes, and this is vital information."
SERVIR is a Spanish acronym meaning "to serve." Also known as the Regional Visualization and Monitoring System, the program serves by providing satellite data and tools to environmental decision makers in developing countries. ISERV, short for ISS SERVIR Environmental Research and Visualization System, is the program's first exclusive space asset.
Howell expects to acquire valuable information about how a more capable future system2 might operate –a system that would be mounted outside the space station and equipped with more and better instruments.
"By going outdoors and removing the physical and optical constraints of looking through a window, the sensors would be able to 'see' all the way to edge of the Earth, and with much greater spectral range. The glass in Destiny's window can diminish the incoming energy and is opaque to some of the wavelengths of energy of primary interest to Earth science."
Once its primary mission is satisfied, the current system could be used to acquire image data for general use. At first, these data would be used only by SERVIR and its hubs in East Africa and the Hindu Kush-Himalaya region. After proving itself, ISERV could then be made available for the entire NASA science community and possibly other entities.
The SERVIR team is excited about ISERV's potential to help people on Earth. Howell is eager to learn, through ISERV, more about how to use this kind of system so they can do it even better in the future.
ISERV is targeted to launch to the space station in July and will be one of the least expensive long-term operating payloads ever to ride on the space station.
But the return, in the long run, could be priceless.
Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville manages the program for NASA.
Author: Dauna Coulter | Production Editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA
|More information
See www.servirglobal.netfor more information about SERVIR.
(1) The system will go in the Window Observational Research Facility (WORF) adjacent to the Destiny module window. WORF is the modified EXPRESS rack that facilitates access to the window. It provides an enclosed light-safe volume, a payload support shelf, access to the controller for the external Destiny window shutter, and access to ISS power and communication systems. Before WORF was installed, astronauts' favorite perch for Earth-gazing was this optical quality window, which boasts the highest quality optics ever flown on a human-occupied spacecraft. Astronauts Tom Jones and Marsha Ivins said it was so clear on orbit they felt they could fall through it like it wasn't there.(2) "First, we would like to have a better imager that could be substituted into the present system. We want an instrument that would give us access to the near infrared so we can see changes in vegetation – this could tell volumes about the state of vegetation such as forests, crops, and even near-surface vegetation in bodies of water. Ultimately, I'd like to see an external array consisting of three instruments -- two collocated hyperspectral pushbroom sensors (one for visible/near infrared; one for mid infrared) on a pointable mount, and a passive microwave array. Together, these three instruments could, for instance, facilitate estimates of biomass quantity and moisture content, which would allow us to determine available fuel loads for forest fires. They would also let us examine atmospheric aerosols and particulates, and even estimate hurricane wind speeds over water."


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We've already had a string of exceptionally hot, humid days here in NYC, so the need for something refreshing and delicious that isn't necessarily boozy is especially acute. Limeade is just different enough that it seems like an impressive addition to a summer picnic lunch or dinner party, but is still ridiculously easy to make from scratch. Here are three fresh takes on limeade that are just as good as the original.
Black Peppercorn Limeade
The humble black peppercorn is totally transformed when steeped in a simple syrup. The taste of the finished product completely caught me off-guard: it's much more spicy than I expected and seriously complex. It may be the summer of black pepper cocktails for me because this stuff goes great with warm-weather fruits like berries and watermelon. Here, in a simple limeade, fresh-squeezed lime juice brings out the bright citrusy notes of the pepper and adds a nice kick.
Watermelon Limeade
Although spitting seeds and having juice run down your forearms are definitive parts of consuming watermelon, I'd argue that drinking it is a pretty satisfying alternative. Blending chunks of watermelon and giving it a quick strain through cheesecloth yields a sweet liquid that is a perfect foil for tart lime juice. Plus, it's darn pretty, so it makes an easy, but impressive pitcher drink for summer entertaining.
Panela Limeade
Panela, unrefined cane sugar that is often sold in solid discs, has a much more full-bodied flavor than refined sugars. It is similar to molasses, but not quite as robust. It needs to be chopped up and dissolved in hot water before being used in a drink like this limeade so it's just a bit more labor intensive, but the resulting deep, caramely flavor is totally worth it.


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I started this blog back in July when I had just begun training for the FitOne Boise Half-Marathon. There are quite a few of my blogging friends who have followed me through this journey from the beginning, and a few of you have come along at a later time, but I really want to thank all of you for the encouragement and keeping me going at even the worst of times!! This past Saturday was the day that I had been working towards for 12 long and trying weeks, and it was worth every minute of it!
I hadn't got much sleep the night before, but I'm not sure anyone sleeps well the night before a race, do they! We got to the start line without a hitch. There were 4 of us running it… my husband James, my father-in-law Rick who just turned 70 four days before, his running partner Roberta, and me. This was Rick's very first half-marathon, and having just turned 70, what a fabulous way to celebrate!! Anyway, we were all lined up at the start line, I was doing my normal freaking out (per usual) and eating my Shot Bloks, but when I bit down on my Shot Blok, it completely lifted a crown off one of my back molars. Thankfully I wasn't in any pain. I was more shocked that it happened than anything… and really kind of irritated. Ten minutes before the gun was to go off! Are you freaking kidding me?!!
No worries. I sucked it up and put my crown in my belt to deal with later. We all managed to cross the start line together, said our goodbyes, and off everyone went. James was leading the pack, then Rick and Roberta, and I followed up from behind. I've never really said how slow I actually run, but my goal was to get this done in 3-1/2 hours.
The race was fabulous as I knew it would be. The scenery was gorgeous. We started off in downtown Boise, ran through a few beautiful neighborhoods of big historic houses, through the Old Idaho Penitentiary Site, across the Boise River down to the Greenbelt (which I had run back in July), up through downtown Boise a different way near the capitol building, up a mother of a hill, and down on into Ann Morrison Park to finish it off. Okay, so I'm not the best at details, but if you ever want to see the heart of a city, run a race to get a close look at the beauty.
Jamesy finished in 1:47:57, a screaming finish and a great confidence boost for Chicago! My father-in-law and Roberta, so proud, finished it in 2:22:03!! And I came close to my 3-1/2 hour goal at 3:32:18. I was only 2 minutes off, but I consider this race a huge success!! First and foremost, I finished and got my bling!! I've also knocked off another state in my "50 in 50" quest (James still needs Idaho for his marathon).
I know I still have some things I want and need to improve. My breathing for one… I need to increase my VO2 max so I can become a more efficient runner. That is one of my downfalls, my breathing. My legs are strong, but my breathing gets me in the end. And I also need to work on getting stronger with hills. But don't we all, hehe!
Next up is Maui in January with a goal for me of 3:15:00! And that's going to be one helluva runcation!! Bling, family time, and snorkeling all in the same trip! I just don't think life could be any better!


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Back-end technology that AT&T implemented partly for VoLTE (voice over LTE) will help make the Apple Watch and other connected devices useful.
The IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) platform that is helping AT&T carry packet-based voice calls will play a crucial role in the growing IoT (Internet of Things), especially wearables and home gadgets, by letting more than one device use the same identity on the network, said Kris Rinne, AT&T's senior vice president of network technologies. She spoke in an interview at the CTIA show in Las Vegas.
That's how, for example, consumers can wear just a smart watch out on a run and receive their text messages as if they were carrying the phone they've left at home, she said. IMS also makes it possible to link numerous locally connected home devices, such as thermostats and health sensors, to the cellular network via a smartphone or gateway device.
There are already smart watches on AT&T's network, including the Filip locator and communicator for children, which talks directly to the cellular network. The carrier announced a new version of the Filip in Las Vegas on Monday. It also announced an in-home monitoring service for elderly and disabled people, Digital Life Care, that's based on its Digital Life connected-home platform. Digital Life Care is scheduled to come to consumers next year.
At one time, cellular carriers simply served each subscriber with one phone, but in the past several years carriers have been bringing other types of clients online, both for enterprises and for consumers. The IMS architecture was AT&T's solution to handle device authentication and validation, identity and session management for those devices. IMS has been around in some form for several years and was designed in part to make it easier to introduce new services on both wired and wireless networks.
The types of issues that AT&T's IMS architecture is starting to solve will be crucial for the growth of IoT, Rinne said. Connected devices are nothing new -- AT&T started its Emerging Devices Organization eight years ago -- but work continues as IoT grows. The just-emerging 5G technology, successor to 4G that's expected to arrive around 2020, should also help by fostering a "network of networks," Rinne said. "It's a constant evolution of solving."
Though the spotlight Tuesday was on Apple and its new hardware, carriers can bring more than just bits and coverage to the equation, according to Rinne. AT&T expects to add to consumers' wearables experience through cloud-based services and location capabilities, she said.
AT&T introduced VoLTE in four states in May.
Stephen Lawson covers mobile, storage and networking technologies for The IDG News Service. Follow Stephen on Twitter at @sdlawsonmedia. Stephen's e-mail address is email@example.com


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I have been so extremely blessed to work with Authentique Paper products for the past months.
If you have not gotten a chance to play around with their products then you need to get on over and take part in the Scrapbook Steals, steal today.
To add to the excitement, Scrapbook Steals has a sketch up for MONDAY CARD MADNESS.
Here is the sketch:
Since Scrapbook Steals is featuring the JOURNEY COLLECTION today, I have made a card with this sketch to show you how gorgeous the JOURNEY COLLECTION is.
Here is what I came up with:
The blues and browns in this collection are so versatile.
I hope you get on over to Scrapbook Steals and get in on this steal!
When we first got the sketch assignment, I thought we were supposed to use the GENUINE COLLECTION and I made this card for the sketch challenge.
I ADORE this line, I would say it is my favorite, but truth be told, all the Collections are my favorite!
So, there you have it, you get 2 inspirational cards from me to tempt you into joining in on the challenge over at the Scrapbook Steals Blog.
I invite you to visit the Scrapbook Steals Blog and see what the other DT members came up with for this sketch! We have such a crazy talented team, I promise you will get some great inspiration over there.
I hope you have enjoyed my post today!
Go and have yourself a GREAT week!