text:
Well, we missed out on Anthony Davis and the #1 pick but we did not drop, as we will be selecting 5th in this month's draft. Unless GP has a plan to trade the pick for a better price (for someone like...John Salmons...), we must assess the probable players that will be available when the Kings name is called on draft day. We have a young nucleus in DeMarcus Cousins, Marcus Thornton, Isaiah Thomas and Tyreke Evans, meaning we need either a Small Forward or a Power Forward to propel this team going forward. With players like Thomas Robinson, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Anthony Davis likely taken off the board by the time the Kings name is called, we must decide what player will be best for the Kings at #5.
Here are the players who could likely be in the running at #5:
- Andre Drummond
- Perry Jones III
- Bradley Beal
- Harrison Barnes
- Tyler Zeller
You might be thinking, "TYLER ZELLER!??!!!?! F%#K THAT" but I'll explain after the jump.
1. Andre Drummond
Measurements: 6'11 (Height) | 9'1 (Standing Reach) | 7'5 (Wingspan)
Stats: 10 pts | 7.6 reb | 2.7 blk | 2.2 foul per game| 54% FG | 30% FT
I have a sneaking suspicion that Andre Drummond will be picked by the Kings come draft day and surprisingly, I am okay with it. Drummond is raw by all means, but it doesn't mean that he isn't the ideal pick for the Kings moving forward. While his offensive game is horrible and needs to improve, there is no question that his defense is NBA ready. Defensively, Drummond can make an immediate impact for the Kings - altering shots at an excellent rate (6th in NCAA), is a monster on the glass (3.4 offensive rebounds a game), and has superior athleticism. Drummond could prove to be a great compliment to DeMarcus Cousins, especially on the defensive end. His high upside has NBA scouts believing his best case scenario is Dwight Howard or Andrew Bynum, but he must first develop an offensive game - as well as develop a better stroke at the free-throw line. He shot 30% for the season and 18% the last 12 games of the season. YIKES. His lack of offense could be helpful for a team with trigger happy players in Sacramento, as he won't be relied on to score OR to take away possessions from DeMarcus Cousins, but he needs to improve his free-throw shooting significantly to prevent being a liability in late game situations. The fact that he only averaged 2.2 fouls a game intrigues me, because he was able to be an impact defensively without being called for fouls. I believe that the Kings should make Drummond the 5th pick of the draft because he immediately addresses some of the Kings needs.
2. Perry Jones III
Measurements: 6'11 (Height) | 7'2 (Wingspan)
Stats: 13.5 pts | 7.6 reb | 0.6 stl | 50% FG | 30% 3PG | 70% FT
Perry Jones III has had a lot of hype here on Sactown Royalty and I see why. Standing at 6'11, Jones can play both the Small Forward and Power Forward positions, but I ask: Which position do you prefer he play? Assuming he takes over the Power Forward role I don't like the fit that he brings to the Kings, but if he can play the Small Forward then I will be more than happy to take him. He is long and lanky with great athleticism and could potentially be a capable defender. Offensively, Jones is a versatile scorer who won't demand many possessions; he will need to improve both his post game as well as his jump shot in order to be more effective. Perry Jones III won't have to worry about being the go to guy on this team, but he will need to knock down open shots at a consistent rate, which is something he struggled with in college. His ability to handle the ball and his quickness are important to note due to his size. Jones can finish the ball with either hand and has decent range for a guy his size; however he is not a great rebounder. I feel like he can be too passive at times and will be pushed around a lot by opposing big men. His inconsistency is the biggest concern in drafting him. While he did score 15+ in 15/33 games last season, he only scored single digits in 12/33 and 5 points or less in 5 of those 12. His inconsistency, as well as his lack of go-to moves should scare you a bit.
3. Bradley Beal
Measurements: 6'5 (Height) | 8'3 (Standing Reach) | 6'8 (Wingspan)
Stats: 14.8 pts | 6.7 reb | 1.4 stl| 45% FG | 34% 3PG | 77% FT
Drafting Beal would mean that either Marcus Thornton will be moved to the 6th man role, or Tyreke Evans is going to be traded - at least in my opinion. The Kings Point guards were not great last season, but selecting Beal at five means that GP picked the BPA rather than need, which is fine by me. Bradley Beal is rumored to have amazing work ethic and a three point shot similar to that of Ray Allen. Beal is a pure shooter and a combo guard with a high basketball IQ and is an amazing rebounder for the guard position. He has a solid frame and possesses an ability to create for both himself, as well as others easily. While he can be inconsistent at times, he possesses terrific time as well as an all-around approach to his game. He has very nice anticipation skills on defense, both in the passing lanes and blocking shots. I don't see Beal being available at #5 but if he is, GP needs to give him an honest look.
4. Harrison Barnes
Measurements: 6'8 (Height) | 8'7 (Standing Reach) | 6'11 (Wingspan)
Stats: 17.1 pts |5.2 reb | 1.1 ast| 44% FG | 36% 3PG | 72% FT
Harrison Barnes could have easily been the #1 pick of the draft had he declared last season, but now he is looking like a realistic prospect for the Kings at #5. Called "the next Kobe" coming out of high school, Barnes has shown to be a decent college basketball player. Known for his midrange game and jump shot, Barnes could be the catch and shoot player the Kings desperately need. He possesses a pump fake and puts it to good use, as it helps free him for jumpers and lanes to the basket. He has an extremely high basketball IQ and is extremely mature on and off the court. He can be a capable defensive player in the NBA, using his size, length and strength to his advantage. He does have many weaknesses that prevent me from wanting him in a Kings uniform. Harrison Barnes needs the ball in his hands to be effective - as noted in his 1.1 assist average. With a wide-eyed trigger happy team like the Kings, having a guy like Barnes could continue to Kings trend of stopping ball movement for long stretches of the game. Barnes is also a streaky shooter, especially from behind the arc and often settles for jumpers. This is often due to his lack of explosiveness, especially off his initial step. Overall, while Harrison Barnes could be a good draft choice for the Kings, it could easily be the most regrettable one too.
5. Tyler Zeller
Measurements: 7'0 (Height)
Stats: 16.3 pts | 9.6 reb | 1.5 blk | 55% FG | 80% FT
Okay, hear me out. I do not believe Zeller is worthy of being drafted #5, but if none of the other prospects work out, Zeller could be a helpful pickup for Sacramento in the event they move down in the draft...again. In a nutshell, Zeller is perhaps the quickest big man in the draft in transition and one of the best transition scorers - connecting on 79% of his shots. He has an exceptionally high motor and nice soft hand that enable him to be more effective. He is a solid midrange game and a soft touch to his free throws, connecting on 80% of them last season (topping this list), and can finish in the post with either hand. One part of the game where Zeller excels is his ability to seal off his man to establish position. While he isn't exactly going to ever be an imposing rim protector, Zeller has the ability to be more than a capable defender, due to his ability to establish position and willingness to take charges. He possesses the knowledge and instinct to be in the right position both on and off the ball, which could help out this Kings team. Zeller has shown the ability and willingness to improve his game, as he increased his FG, points, rebounds and blocks every season. Tyler Zeller isn't a good passer out of the post and lacks athleticism and size to guard bigger NBA bodies, so building strength is a must. I think a guy like Zeller could excel for this Kings team.


text:
Los Angeles Lakers
Kobe Bryant out 4-6 weeks with fractured tibial plateau
The Lakers said Thursday that an MRI showed Kobe Bryant has a fracture of the lateral tibial plateau of his knee.
Dwight Howard meets with Houston Rockets as NBA Free Agency beginsComment
With Hall of Famers Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler joining them, the Rockets pitched Dwight Howard on leaving Los Angeles and joining All-Star James Harden in Houston.
Jerry Buss dies: Los Angeles Lakers renowned owner dead at 80Comment
Jerry Buss, the Los Angeles Lakers' playboy owner who shepherded the NBA franchise to 10 championships, has died. He was 80.
Mike Brown fired as Los Angeles Lakers coachComment
The Los Angeles Lakers have fired coach Mike Brown after a 1-4 start to his second season in charge.
Dwight Howard traded to Lakers in four-team deal, reports sayComment
After numerous, public requests to be traded away, Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic have finally parted ways. The All-Star center was traded Friday to the Los Angeles Lakers.
RecommendedRecent Facebook Activity
Only On 7
The Queen Latifah Show Weekdays at 4pm on ABC7!Watch "The Queen Latifah Show" weekdays at 4pm followed by Leon Harris and Alison Starling on ABC7 News at 5. Click here to find out more about "The Queen Latifah Show!"

subset: commoncrawl


text:
One of the most interesting sessions on the last day of The Unbound Book conference, was the session on Future Publishing Industries. According to the program the session focused on … Continue reading →
After a previous guest post where he developed an interesting forecast related to academic publishing, Ronald Snijder is back with his thoughts on Open Access monographs. You can reach him … Continue reading →
Or better yet, who should own research? Last Thursday CRASSH―the Cambridge based institute for Cultural Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities―assembled an expert panel from the publishing and … Continue reading →
Blog at WordPress.com.
The Suburbia Theme.
Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.
Join 81 other followers


text:
- Mobile site
- E-Newsletters
- News feed
- Find us on Twitter
Follow us on Twitter
Follow Sutton deputy editor Nick Hitchens
Follow Sutton reporter Tom Gillespie
- Find us on Facebook
Sutton Guardian
Like us on Facebook
PICTURES: Wallington girl crowned May Queen as part of 111 year tradition (From Sutton Guardian)
Contact us: Got a photo? Text SLPICS to 80360, click to upload your story or call 020 8722 6355
PICTURES: Wallington girl crowned May Queen as part of 111 year tradition
5:00am Thursday 8th May 2014 in News By Tom Gillespie, Reporter
The annual crowning of the Wallington May Queen took place last weekend.
Annabel Jones, 9, became the 111th girl to receive the title at a ceremony on Saturday, May 3.
The tradition started in 1902 and begins with a procession through the town.
Girls join the group at 3-years-old as 'fairies', before graduating to 'attendants to the May Queen' a year later.
They then go on to become crown bearers before taking on a role as a banner bearer.
The girls then act as 'princes', and becoming eligible to be a May Queen at 9-years-old.
Annabel, who lives on Carew Road in Wallington and is a pupil at Bandon Hill Primary, lead a troop of 35 adults from Wallington Green to Wallington Town Hall.
Once she he arrived at the hall she was crowned by her grandfather Harry Jones.
Ladies day: Girls take a break from the procession to pose for the camera
Penny Jones, Annabel's mother, said: "Proud isn't the word.
"She did a brilliant job on the day and gave a lovely speech at the end.
"She looked beautiful, all the girls did."
The procession began at 12.30 and finished at 1pm.
Royal Wave: The May Queen leads a procession through Wallington
Procession: The group make their way to the town hall
Cutting the cake: Those who attended enjoyed some food after the ceremony
- View our full of table of this year's A-level results compared to 2013
- Worcester Park railway bridge looking miles better after a lick of paint
- Hackbridge lollipop lady allowed to stick around
- Missing 60-year-old Dr returns home safe and well
- 'Epsom should merge with a London borough like Sutton', says councillor
Comments are closed on this article.


text:
Ryanair Cuts Spanish Routes in Protest at Increased Charges
February 26th, 2013
Carrying out the threat they made in November last year, Irish airline, Ryanair, has announced that, in direct response to the increases in airport charges implemented by Aena both in 2012 and 2013, they are to reduce the number of flights they operate in Spain by 12%. In a press release, Ryanair warned that the measure will bring with it the loss of 5,400 jobs. The Irish company are to cease operating from the airports of Asturias and Bilbao, and will cut flights in all the other Spanish destinations in which they operate.
According to the airline run by Michael O'Leary, the biggest cutbacks will occur at the airports where AENA has imposed the highest increases: Madrid-Barajas; Barcelona-El Prat; Sevilla and Valladolid. The company claims that the route cancellations will result in the company transporting 5.4 million passengers less in 2013, to close the year at around 30.1 million passengers. According to the Ministry of Public Works, Ryanair is the airline which carried most passengers in Spain during 2011: 28.4 million, compared to the 17.9 million carried by the airline in second place, Iberia.
El Pais reported that, just like last November, the company, through its spokesman, Robin Kiely, reiterated that "these cuts in traffic and jobs could be reversible", but only if the Government takes action "in a manner that makes it possible to stimulate the tourism sector and the creation of jobs".
Aena sources responded to Ryanair stating that the legislation allows them to raise the rates to up to 5% above the GDP provided it serves to cover the costs. According to the airport operator, in 2013 the company will not deposit enough to cover even 75% of Aena's costs. These same sources have pointed out that Spain has invested 10,000 million euros in airports in the last 10 years, and that the airport rates in Spain are still below the European average.


text:
A trend appears to be emerging at eateries in New York City where patrons are upping the amount they tip for better service.
Consumer experts told the N.Y. Post that suggested gratuities that run 25-30 percent are becoming more common on restaurant bills.
Traditionally, a 20 percent tip on a bill is an indication of very good service.
Tip jars in places ranging from bodega cashiers to hardware clerk counters are also a growing trend.
Good Day New York spoke with a worker at La Luca Cafe on Manhattan's Upper East Side who said he sees more, higher tips.
"They do tip higher than 20 percent and I believe the recession has nothing to do with tipping," the man said.
When it comes to bar tabs-- once tip free-- an automatic 18 percent gratuity is sometimes added to the bill.


text:
The Nikon D90 comes with a built-in flash, and this built-in flash can be used as a wireless commander to trigger or fire off external flash guns (SpeedLites.) In this small demonstration, I used a Nikon SB-600 SpeedLite to demonstrate the results of the Nikon D90 built-in flash to fire off an external flash gun. Enjoy! Length: 00:00:45
|Tags: .
Wireless Flash Speedlight
Using The Nikon D90 Built-In Flash as a Wireless Commander.
How To Use The T3I Wireless Flash Settings
In this video I show you how to use your on board wireless flash setting for the Canon T3I. The setting are a little confusing at first so if you have any questions please ask. Canon T3i Flash Transmitter Tutorial | Custom Wireless Lesson www.youtube.com Email email@example.com Facebook www.facebook.com 500PX PAGE 500px.com FLICKR www.flickr.com MY WEB SITE www.daviddimages.com MY TWITTER twitter.com SKYPE DAVIDDIMAGE Length: 00:13:41
|Tags: .
Wireless Flash Trigger
AMAZON UK SPECIAL LINK www.amazon.co.uk Product Description Wireless Flash Trigger Pixel TF-372 Soldier uses 2.4GHz radio signal and has a good reliable operation range up to 100 meters. it is a professional reliable wireless flash & studio trigger with shutter remote control function, with flash wake up feature it can wake compatible flashes from sleep mode. the main feature is multiple flash groups A, B, and C, allowing you to quickly switch on and off each light (or group) from the camera, for fast set up etc. High Sync Speed, A lock down ring on the transmitter with locking pin, A lock down ring on the receiver, An On-Off switch on the Transmitter, An Accessible On-Off switch on the Receiver, Standard 2.5mm miniphone plug, Long battery life, the stand-by time for transmitter with a new CR-2 battery is up to 3 years and the stand-by time for receiver with 2 x AAA batteries is up to 400 hours. TF-372TX Transmitter compatible with Nikon D1 D1x D1H, D2X D2xs D2H D2Hx, D3 D3x D3S, D700, D300, D300s, D200, D80, D70s, D70, D3000, D3100, D90, D5000, D7000. TF-372RX Receiver compatible with Nikon SB-900, SB-800, SB-600, SB-400 flashgun. Included items: Transmitter x 1, Receiver x 3, AAA battery x 6, 2.5mm to 3.5mm cable: 3pc, 3.5mm to 6.35 adapter: 3pc, User manual x 1. Length: 00:00:45
|Tags: .
Canon EOS 600D first hands-on (Speedlite wireless remote demo)
First hands-on session with the new Canon EOS 600D SLR. Sorry for the poor sound quality, it was noisy and I didn't have an external mic with me. Length: 00:03:45
|Tags: .
Holiday Gifts: Vello FreeWave
This video covers the Vello FreeWave Fusion Wireless Flash Trigger & Remote Control for Canon cameras and speedlites. Vello FreeWave bhpho.to Learn more about Kelby Training bit.ly Length: 00:01:08
|Tags: .
Oloong Speedlight
Get a great deal here redirect.viglink.com?key=1f0527e04637dcdb26bf99b11836bfbf&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eamazon%2Ecom%2Fdp%2FB0088VZP6W Product Description Oloong Speedlight It has the following characteristics High Guide number: 50* Memory function* 22 Level light quantity output control* Manual zoom function(24-180mm)* Low recycle time:5s (AA alkaline cell used)* Compatible with Canon and Nikon wireless flash* Overheating protection* LCD digital display* Sound monitoring* Metal mounting footSoecification:* Type: On-camera,single contact flashlight* Guide NO.: GN50(at 180mm focal length,ISO100)* Flash coverage: Manual zoom 24-180mm* Wireless mode: Nikon wireless flash mode Canon wireless flash mode F1/F2 wireless flash mode* Voice: Beep* Display type: LCD display & LED Backlit* Protection type: Thermal Cut-out* Power supply: 4*AA size batteries(Alkaline & Ni-MH & Lion)* Flash time: 1/800 - 1/20000s* Recycle time: approx 2s(AA Ni-MH cell used) approx 5s(AA alkaline cell used)* Color Temperature: 5600K* Flash control: 22 Level Light quantity output control(1/1 - 1/128,14 levels of fine tuning* Power Saving: Auto power off after 3minutes in stand-by mode.* Vertical rotation angle: -7° - 90°* Horizontal rotation angle: 0° - 270°* Dimensions: 196.5mm(L)*77.5mm(W)*58.5mm(H)* Net weight: 425gpackage content 1x SP-660 II Speedlite 1x Mini Stand 1x Soft Case 1x User manual Length: 00:00:39
|Tags: .
Yongnuo YN-465 Speedlite Review
Here is my review of the Yongnuo YN-465 Speedlite for Canon. Intro song is from www.danosongs.com ------------------------------------------------------- If you have any questions please feel free to ask me in the comments section. Please Subscribe! Also feel free to check out my flickr account at http Length: 00:06:43
|Tags: .
Small Studio Flash Tips: Ep 208: Digital Photography 1 on 1: Adorama Photography TV
AdoramaTV Presents Digital Photography One on One. In this week's episode Mark responds to a couple's question about their home studio and how best to use speedlights in a small space. Join Mark as he walks you through the basics of shooting with speedlights in a 12' x 12' studio. For related articles and videos, and to buy the products used in this video, go here: www.adorama.com Watch Episode 17: Sync Speed: youtu.be Watch Episode 54: Speedlights vs. Studio Strobes: youtu.be Products used in this episode: Nikon D7000 Digital SLR Camera Body, 16.2 Megapixel, 1080HD Movie, USA Warranty www.adorama.com Nikon 18mm - 55mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX (VR) Vibration Reduction Wide Angle Autofocus Zoom Lens, USA Warranty www.adorama.com Canon Speedlite 580EX II, Shoe Mount Flash with Guide Number of 190 Feet / 58m at ISO 100, USA Warranty www.adorama.com Nikon SU-800 Replacement Wireless Speedlight Commander www.adorama.com Nikon SB-700 TTL AF Shoe Mount Speedlight www.adorama.com Canon EOS Rebel T3i Digital SLR Camera, 18 Megapixels, Full HD Movie Mode, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II Lens www.adorama.com Westcott 32" White Satin Umbrella with Removable Black Cover www.adorama.com HonlPhoto 8" Regular Speed Snoot www.adorama.com Gary Fong Lightsphere Collapsible - Half Cloud www.adorama.com Interfit Photographic Umbrella Holder with Hotshoe Adapter www.adorama.com Visit www.adorama.com for more photography videos! Send your questions to: firstname.lastname@example.com Length: 00:12:18
|Tags: .
Yongnuo Flash Speedlight
Buy from Amazon US redirect.viglink.com?key=f341fd9454fc162be8b38d504acbd4e1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eamazon%2Ecom%2Fexec%2Fobidos%2FASIN%2FB0078HXHYO%2Felectro%5Fhope%2D20 Product Description Yongnuo Flash Speedlight We are offering a brand new professional YN565EX flash speedlight for Nikon Camera. The YN565EX can be triggered by 580EX II, SB-900 7D/60D/600D, Nikon c-command and ST-E2, and flashes as TTL mode as well as M/Multi mode. Even with multiple YN565EXs, all of them can be controlled by the same way via wireless signal.You can create two or three slave groups to make shooting effect better meet your requirement, and set flash ratio for TTL autoflash shooting of master, as well as manual flash output, frequency flash etc. To enjoy wireless TTL lighting, ratio control, as well as remote control of output level, you may only take a camera with built-in commander mod and the YN565EX. YN565EX is a brand new flash specially designed for professional creative photography. YN565EX has some advanced applications. It has the fine tuning function of output power. The flash can realize the high-speed continuous shooting function. It has the rear-curtain sync function. Pull out the wide-angle diffusion board, push back the reflection board and arrange them, in such case, the flash scopes will extent to 18mm and the flash effect will be softer and more natural.Rear-Curtain Sync: You can use slow-speed shutter to produce trailing smear for the object and the flash light will ... Length: 00:00:42
|Tags: .
Why TTL is not always your friend in the studio
Why TTL is not always your friend in the studio, pre-flash does not play nice with optically triggered strobes If you want to use a speed-light in conjunction with studio strobes that your attempting to optically trigger, you will run in to an issue. The speed-light and camera will use TTL, and because TTL sends out a pre-flash burst of light to meeter the scene, that pre-flash will optically trigger your strobes, and they will not have enough time to recycle before the main flash fires. So, if you camera allows you to disabled the pre-flash ttl, do that... otherwise, like me, you will need to use a wireless radio trigger that does not support ttl and shoot in Manual mode. Length: 00:02:05
|Tags: .


text:
Most Popular Articles
Products & Newsletters
Lectrosonics SM-Shaque
Wireless mic battery eliminator
A new key accessory for the SM Series dual-battery transmitters, the SM-Shaque ("SM Shake") is installed in the SMDB or SMQV transmitters as a battery eliminator and incorporates a small generator that is operated simply by shaking the unit. The SM-Shaque's tiny generator uses a finely wound wire coil and a powerful Neodymium rare earth magnet to take advantage of Faraday's principal of generating electric current by passing a moving magnet through a coil. The rarity and supply challenges of these magnet materials have already pushed back the originally planned delivery from Oct. 1, 2011 to April 1, 2012.
The principal application for this accessory is sports broadcasting, since more and more, players are being required to wear wireless transmitters to capture play-by-play audio. Theater users are also likely to benefit from this new technology. However, any wireless microphone users that jump around excessively can benefit from use of the SM-Shaque.
The SM-Shaque only works with dual-battery Lectrosonics SM series transmitters since the batteries are in parallel and the Shaque unit charges the single NiMh battery in the remaining compartment directly. Competitor's units with dual-AA batteries in series will not work with this accessory. Transmitter RF transmission power settings of 250mW are not recommended when using the SM-Shaque unless there is a whole lot of shaking going on.
According to Lectrosonics' president, Larry Fisher, "Battery life has always been a concern when it comes to wireless microphone transmitters. This is especially true in sports and theater where the transmitters must be buried within costumes or padding. Athletes and actors are also sometimes either inaccessible or touchy about having audio techs reaching under their clothing all the time to change batteries. The SM-Shaque solves that."
Yes, check the date of this article before you believe it.
Acceptable Use Policy blog comments powered by Disqus
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
Today in Radio History
Milestones From Radio's Past
The history of radio broadcasting extends beyond the work of a few famous inventors.
EAS Information More on EAS
NWS XML/Atom Feed for CAP Messages
The feed provides feeds for all US states and territories.
Wallpaper Calendar
Radio 2014 Calendar Wallpaper
Need a calendar for your computer desktop? Use one of ours.
The Wire
A virtual press conference
Information from manufacturers and associations about industry news, products, technology and business announcements.
Current Issue
Northern Community Radio Expands: An Engineer's Perspective
When Northern Community Radio set out to build a new community radio station in rural northern Minnesota 38 years ago, naysayers said that it would be broadcasting "only to a bunch of gophers
Browse Back Issues[an error occurred while processing this directive]
Also in the July Issue
- Trends in Technology: Robust IP STL
- LPFM on The March
- RF Engineering: Modern Modulation Techniques
- Field Report: Tascam TH-2000 Headphones
- Battery Maintenance: Testing and Charging


text:
Margaret Hill
Name: Margaret Hill, D.M.D.
Title: Associate Professor
Current Position: Associate Dean for Postgraduate Education
Phone: (502)852-1302
Fax: (502)852-1317
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
Educated at the University of Eastern Kentucky University (undergraduate) with a B.S. in Biology with a minor in Chemistry. Dr. Hill subsequently attended the University of Louisville School of Dentistry, earning DMD in 1987. She then earned a certificate in General Practice Residency at the University of Louisville School of Dentistry in 1988. At the University of Kentucky, Dr. Hill completed her residency program in Periodontics in 1990.
Faculty Practice Location
U of L Healthcare Outpatient Center
401 East Chestnut St., Suite 550
Louisville, KY 40202
Research Interests
Clinical Periodontal Research
Teaching Activities
- Course Directorships
- Periodontics 800 – First Year DMD
- Periodontics 819 – Advanced Periodontics Fourth Year DMD
- Advanced Periodontics – Second Year Dental Hygiene
- Clinical Periodontics – Third/Fourth Year DMD
- Clinical Preventive Dentistry - Third/Fourth Year DMD
- IV Sedation Course – Graduate Periodontics
- Course Participation
- Sophomore Preclinical Periodontics – Second Year DMD
- Sophomore Periodontics – Second Year DMD
- Junior Periodontics – Third Year DMD
- Periodontics – First Year Dental Hygiene
- Ethics in Dentistry – Seminar Leader – Fourth Year DMD
- Introduction to Clinical Dentistry I – First Year DMD
- Introduction to Clinical Dentistry II – Second Year DMD
- Occlusion – Graduate Periodontics
- Preview to Dentistry – Undergraduate Biology 390
Current Project
"A Multicenter Single Blind Study of the Laser Assisted New Attachment Procedure compared to scaling and root planning alone, Modified Widman Flap Surgery, or Coronal Debridement alone in the treatment of Chronic Periodontitis.
Women's Liaison to ADEA; Assessment and Effectiveness Committee (Chair); Student Review Council (Chair)
Support Staff
Linda Klump (502-852-6928)
- Hill M, Moore RL: Locally Acting Oral Chemotherapeutic Agents. Contemporary Periodontics, Robert Genco, Editor, 2004.
- Drisko C, Hill M: The Role of Dental Hygienists in Periodontal Therapy. Contemporary Periodontics, Robert Genco, editor, 2004.
- Hill M, Moore RL: Oral Health Management in Chronically Ill Patients in Home Health Care, ed. John Sprat, M.D., St. Lucie Press, 1997.
Journal Articles
- Johnson GK, Hill M. Smoking and the Periodontal Patient. A state of the art review. J Periodontol 2004;75:196-209
- Iasella JM, Greenwell H, Miller RL, Hill M, Drisko CL, Bohra AA, Scheetz JP. Ridge preservation with freeze-dried bone allograft and a collagen membrane compared to extraction alone for implant site development: a clinical and histologic study in humans.
- J Periodontol. 2003 Jul;74(7):990-9.
- Woodyard JG, Greenwell, H, Hill M, Drisko C, Iasella JM, Sheetz JP. The clinical effect of acellular dermal matrix on gingival thickness and root coverage compared to coronally positioned flap alone.
- J Periodontol. 2004 Jan;75(1):44-56.
- Vidal R, Greenwell H, Hill M, Papageorgakopoulos G, Scheetz JP: Success Rate of Immediate Implants Placed and Restored by Novice Operators. Implant Dentistry: Accepted for publication - 2009.
- Shepherd N, Greenwell H, Hill M, Vidal R, Scheetz JP: Root Coverage Utilizing Acellular Dermal Matrix and Comparing a Coronally Positioned Tunnel with and without Platelet Rich Plasma: A Pilot Study in Humans. J Periodontol: 2009, Vol. 80, No. 3: 397-404.


text:
University pays tribute to plane crash victim
Rebecca Newton, who died when the light aircraft she was flying in came down in Leicestershire, has been described today as "promising" and "popular" by her tutor at Brunel University.
The 21-year-old from Gunthorpe in Nottinghamshire had been due to return to university to complete the final year of her BSc Biomedical Sciences degree next month.
– Dr Anthony Tsolaki, Brunel University tutor
Rebecca was bright, vivacious and passionate about her studies. Her career was full of promise and her passion for biological science was apparent in every aspect of her work. She aspired to a career in science and showed a great deal of potential.....
......In class, Rebecca was a pleasure to teach as she was a hardworking and conscientious student.


text:
Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.
Pablo Picasso , 1881-1973
Read More
"Companies who understand the creative mind have always been rare but, in our 50 years of publishing, it is hard to remember a time when they have been more scarce. Changing technologies and tightening economics are creating dislocations, established brands are disappearing faster than Twinkies, and many companies who once embraced our magnificent market have lost their focus." – Gordon Kaye, GDUSA Publisher
Every year GDUSA compiles a list of Designer-Friendly Companies and it seems to me that each year the list gets a little shorter. I hail the companies that have continued their commitment to the design industry but as I pore over old issues of GDUSA what sticks with me the most is the number of industries within the design world that have simply disappeared. Photo retouching studios, annual report companies and pre-press production department have all fallen to the wayside.Read More
Let's not pretend for a second that spec contests are good for designers.
Spec contests have worked out pretty well for transatlantic flight and mapping the human genome, but are more or less a poison for emerging designers. Those businesses who source their design work to internet-based spec contests are promoting a cynical race to the bottom and need to cut it out.
But just as the Bubonic Plague produced some neat triptychs and World War I some readable classic novels, there was once a spec contest that produced an icon of great design, and created the curious case of Gary Anderson. But the takeaway isn't as simple as it may seem.Read More


text:
Wasabi Lyrics - Lee Harding
Review The Song (1)
verse 1
She's like a wasabi
Looks like a barbie
She's just too hot for me
She's like a tsunami
Can wipe out an army
With a blink of an eye, she can part the red sea
Drives a yellow ferrari
Wears Nike & Amarni
Her jewellery's all Tiffany's
She hangs out with Arni
Sips champagne in Paris
But all she ever wants,
Is to do it with me
sponsored linksshe's so damn hot
Yeah, my head's gonna blow
She's on eleven
She can go go go
verse 2
She's organic, Vegan
Eats tofu, no bacon
Every creature's so cute you see
Won't tolerate hate an'
No furs an' no pagans
Quotes every God, every guru schwarmi
She's wise as Kenobi
Listens to Moby
Every day on her plasma TV
Speaks French and Malaysian
Scores 100's and a's an'
All she ever wants, is to do it with me
verse 1
Flys jets cross the canyon
Sky dives with the band, ain't
your average adrenaline freak
Tightropes Niagra
Don't need no viagra
Cause all she really wants is to do it with me
Click here to submit the Corrections of Wasabi Lyrics
Thanks to email@example.com for submitting Wasabi Lyrics.
hahaha | Reviewer: Anonymous | 5/7/2007
Don't need no viagra
Cause all she really wants is to do it with me
Is this review helpful to you? Yes No
The following area is only for review, if you want to submit the lyrics or the corrections of the lyrics, please click the link at the end of Wasabi Lyrics.


text:
EEOC Issues Final Regulations for RFOA Defense Under ADEA
Last week, we reported that several senators had introduced new amendments to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA") to make it easier for plaintiffs in age discrimination cases to prove their claims. U.S. Senators aren't the only ones busy refining federal age discrimination laws - on March 30, 2012, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) published its final rule on the "reasonable factors other than age" (RFOA) defense under the ADEA. Acting in response to two U.S. Supreme Court cases, Smith v. City of Jackson in 2005 and Meacham v. Knolls Atomic Power Laboratories in 2008, the rule bring the EEOC regulations in line with Supreme Court precedent and clarifies the scope of the RFOA defense.
In Smith, the Supreme Court held that disparate impact claims are cognizable under the ADEA. The Court further held that a practice having a disparate impact on older workers need only be justified by "reasonable" factors other than age; an employer need not satisfy the more rigorous "business necessity" defense applicable to Title VII claims. In Meacham, the Court held that the employer bears the burden of production and persuasion on the RFOA defense.
The regulation points out that the EEOC believes that "reasonable" factors other than age reflects a higher standard than a simple "rational basis" standard. According to the EEOC, equating the RFOA defense with a rational-basis standard would improperly conflate ADEA disparate-treatment and disparate-impact standards of proof: "If an employer attempting to establish the RFOA defense were only required to show that it had acted rationally, then the employer would merely be required to show that it had not engaged in intentional age discrimination."
The rule provides a non-exhaustive list of factors to be considered in determining whether an employment practice is based on RFOA:
- The extent to which the factor is related to the employer's stated business purpose;
- The extent to which the employer defined the factor accurately and applied the factor fairly and accurately, including the extent to which managers and supervisors were given guidance or training bout how to apply the factor and avoid discrimination;
- The extent to which the employer limited supervisors' discretion to assess employees subjectively, particularly where the criteria that the supervisors were asked to evaluate are known to be subject to negative age-based stereotypes;
- The extent to which the employer assessed the adverse impact of its employment practice on older workers; and
- The degree of the harm to individuals within the protected age group, in terms of both the extent of injury and the numbers of persons adversely affected, and the extent to which the employer took steps to reduce the harm, in light of the burden of undertaking such steps.
The final rule makes clear that the EEOC will take a very dim view of an employer's RFOA defense where supervisors are given broad discretion to make subjective decisions. Accordingly, prudent employers will take steps to ensure that decisions are made consistent with business purpose, that supervisors are properly trained, and that supervisors exercise their discretion in a way that does not violate the ADEA.
For more information, visit EEOC's Questions and Answers page. The rule will take effect on April 30, 2012.
Senators Propose Amendments To ADEA
On March 12, several senators introduced Senate Bill 2189, known as the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act, which would overturn a 2009 U.S. Supreme Court case, Gross v. FBL Financial Services Inc, that had made it more difficult for older workers to prove claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act ("ADEA"). Under the new bill, it would be much easier for employees to prove age discrimination in many cases.
In the Gross case, the Supreme Court held, by a 5-4 margin, that the "mixed motive" analysis of discrimination claims was not available under the ADEA, and that plaintiffs asserting age discrimination must prove that age was the "but for" cause of the adverse employment action. The Supreme Court reasoned that the Civil Rights Act of 1991, which codified the mixed motive analysis in cases of race, sex, and other protected statuses, only applied to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and not the ADEA, which is a separate statutory scheme. Under Gross, in ADEA cases the plaintiff was required to prove that age was the "but for" cause of the employment action, not simply a motivating factor.
This bill is sponsored by Senators from both parties (Sen. Harkin [D-IA], Sen. Grassley [R-IA], and Sen. Leahy [D-VA]), but exactly how much support it has remains to be seen. Similar bills were introduced in both the House and Senate in 2009, but neither were voted on. It remains to be seen whether this bill will gain traction or suffer a similar fate.


text:
Centauri Dreams: To Build the Ultimate Telescope
Paul Gilster posts:
In interstellar terms, a 'fast' mission is one that is measured in decades rather than millennia. Say for the sake of argument that we achieve this capability some time within the next 200 years. Can you imagine where we'll be in terms of telescope technology by that time? It's an intriguing question, because telescopes capable of not just imaging exoplanets but seeing them in great detail would allow us to choose our destinations wisely even while giving us voluminous data on the myriad worlds we choose not to visit. Will they also reduce our urge to make the trip?
Former NASA administrator Dan Goldin described the effects of a telescope something like this back in 1999 at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society. Although he didn't have a specific telescope technology in mind, he was sure that by the mid-point of the 21st Century, we would be seeing exoplanets up close, an educational opportunity unlike any ever offered. Goldin's classroom of this future era is one I'd like to visit, if his description is anywhere near the truth:
"When you look on the walls, you see a dozen maps detailing the features of Earth-like planets orbiting neighboring stars. Schoolchildren can study the geography, oceans, and continents of other planets and imagine their exotic environments, just as we studied the Earth and wondered about exotic sounding places like Banghok and Istanbul … or, in my case growing up in the Bronx, exotic far-away places like Brooklyn."
Webster Cash, an astronomer whose Aragoscope concept recently won a Phase I award from the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program (see 'Aragoscope' Offers High Resolution Optics in Space), has also been deeply involved in starshades, in which a large occulter works with a telescope-bearing spacecraft tens of thousands of kilometers away. With the occulter blocking light from the parent star, direct imaging of exoplanets down to Earth size and below becomes possible, allowing us to make spectroscopic analyses of their atmospheres. Pool data from fifty such systems using interferometry and spectacular close-up images may one day be possible.
Image: The basic occulter concept, with telescope trailing the occulter and using it to separate planet light from the light of the parent star. Credit: Webster Cash.
Have a look at Cash's New Worlds pages at the University of Colorado for more. And imagine what we might do with the ability to look at an exoplanet through a view as close as a hundred kilometers, studying its oceans and continents, its weather systems, the patterns of its vegetation and, who knows, its city lights. Our one limitation would be the orbital inclination of the planet, which would prevent us from mapping every area on the surface, but given the benefits, this seems like a small issue. We would have achieved what Dan Goldin described.
Seth Shostak, whose ideas we looked at yesterday in the context of SETI and political will, has also recently written on what large — maybe I should say 'extreme' — telescopes can do for us. In Forget Space Travel: Build This Telescope, which ran in the Huffington Post, Shostak talks about a telescope that could map exoplanets with the same kind of detail you get with Google Earth. To study planets within 100 light years, the instrument would require capabilities that outstrip those of Cash's cluster of interferometrically communicating space telescopes:
At 100 light-years, something the size of a Honda Accord — which I propose as a standard imaging test object — subtends an angle of a half-trillionth of a second of arc. In case that number doesn't speak to you, it's roughly the apparent size of a cell nucleus on Pluto, as viewed from Earth.
You will not be stunned to hear that resolving something that minuscule requires a telescope with a honking size. At ordinary optical wavelengths, "honking" works out to a mirror 100 million miles across. You could nicely fit a reflector that large between the orbits of Mercury and Mars. Big, yes, but it would permit you to examine exoplanets in incredible detail.
Or, of course, you can do what Shostak is really getting at, which is to use interferometry to pool data from thousands of small mirrors in space spread out over 100 million miles, an array of the sort we are already building for radio observations and learning how to improve for optical and infrared work on Earth. Shostak discusses a system like this, which again is conceivable within the time-frame we are talking about for developing an actual interstellar probe, as a way to vanquish what he calls 'the tyranny of distance.' And, he adds, 'You can forget deep space probes.'
I doubt we would do that, however, because we can hope that among the many worlds such a space-based array would reveal to us would be some that fire our imaginations and demand much closer study. The impulse to send robotic if not human crews will doubtless be fired by many of the exotic scenes we will observe. I wouldn't consider this mammoth space array our only way of interacting with the galaxy, then, but an indispensable adjunct to our expansion into it.
Of course Shostak takes the long, sensor derived view of exploring the Universe, his life's work is radio telescopes.
Gilster is correct that interferometry will be an adjunct to sending robotic probes to distant interstellar worlds, you can't make money by just gawking at places.
Or can you?
Did Voyager 1 Leave The Solar System?
From nytimes.com:
For about three hours on Wednesday, Voyager 1 had left the solar system — before a rewritten news release headline pulled it back in. Voyager 1, one of two spacecraft NASA launched in 1977 on a grand tour of the outer planets, is now nearly 11.5 billion miles from the Sun, speeding away at 38,000 miles per hour. In a paper accepted by the journal Geophysical Review Letters, William R. Webber of New Mexico State University and Frank B. McDonald of the University of Maryland reported that on Aug. 25 last year, the spacecraft observed a sudden change in the mix of cosmic rays hitting it.
Cosmic rays are high-speed charged particles, mostly protons. Voyager 1's instruments recorded nearly a doubling of cosmic rays from outside the solar system, while the intensity of cosmic rays that had been trapped in the outer solar system dropped by 90 percent.
The American Geophysical Union, publisher of the journal, sent out the news Wednesday morning: "Voyager 1 has left the solar system." NASA officials, surprised, countered with a contrary statement from Edward C. Stone, the Voyager project scientist. "It is the consensus of the Voyager science team that Voyager 1 has not yet left the solar system or reached interstellar space," Dr. Stone said. He said that the critical indicator would be a change in the direction of the magnetic field, not cosmic rays, for marking the outermost boundary of the solar system. In their paper, Dr. Webber and Dr. McDonald (who died only six days after Voyager observed the shift in cosmic rays) did not claim that Voyager 1 was in interstellar space, but had entered a part of the solar system they called the "heliocliff." The geophysical union then sent out another e-mail with the same article but a milder headline: "Voyager 1 has entered a new region of space."
Eventually Voyager 1 will leave the Solar System and there will be no dispute about it.
In the meantime, mainstream science will learn and post about the outer edges of the Solar System as Voyager 1 creeps along at .00002 lightspeed ( 37,500 mph ) .
Of course there are those in mainstream media and science who believe that mankind will never leave the Solar System because they proclaim that spacecraft will never be built that go faster than that.
Already the Pluto probe New Horizon traveling at 54,500 mph is breaking Voyager's speed record and will probably leave the Solar System before Voyager does!
I'm certain in 100 years star probes will be launched toward Alpha Centauri and Tau Ceti that reach appreciable percentages of lightspeed bypassing all of our old interplanetary probes and perhaps in several centuries, mankind's interstellar colonies will be picking up these old probes to study them, like old time capsules!
Where's Voyager 1? That Depends.
Hat tip to the Daily Grail.
Of NERVA and the Solar System
From Centauri Dreams:
Tim Folger and Les Johnson (NASA MSFC) stood last summer in front of a nuclear rocket at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Johnson's work in advanced propulsion concepts is well known to Centauri Dreams readers, but what he was talking to Folger about in an article for National Geographic was an older technology. NERVA, once conceived as part of the propulsion package that would send astronauts to Mars, had in its day the mantle of the next logical step beyond chemical propulsion. A snip from the story:
Johnson looks wistfully at the 40,000-pound engine in front of us… "If we're going to send people to Mars, this should be considered again," Johnson says. "You would only need half the propellant of a conventional rocket." NASA is now designing a conventional rocket to replace the Saturn V, which was retired in 1973, not long after the last manned moon landing. It hasn't decided where the new rocket will go. The NERVA project ended in 1973 too, without a flight test. Since then, during the space shuttle era, humans haven't ventured more than 400 miles from Earth.
I'm looking forward to getting back to Huntsville and seeing Les, as well as a number of other friends in the interstellar community, at the 2nd Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop, coming up this February, where it may be that NERVA will have a place in the discussion of how we go about building a system-spanning civilization. You'll want to give Folger's article a look for comments not only from Les but Freeman Dyson and Andreas Tziolas (from the Icarus team), as well as Elon Musk, the 100 Year Starship's Mae Jemison, and NASA's Mason Peck.
Image: NERVA nuclear rocket being tested. (Smithsonian Institution Photo No. 75-13750).
In fact, there are a number of issues presented here that I'll want to get back to later, but I can't cover the rest of the story today. I'm all but out the door for a brief but intense period of Tau Zero work that will leave me no time to keep up regular posts here or even to moderate comments. More about this later, and more about Folger's essay as well, and please bear with me through the temporary slowdown. Things should get back to normal by mid-day Thursday.
Speaking of NERVA, though, I'll leave you with an interesting petition Gregory Benford alerted me to with regard to the development of nuclear thermal rockets, one that calls for an effort to:
Harness the full intellectual and industrial strength of our universities, national laboratories and private enterprise to rapidly develop and deploy a nuclear thermal rocket (NTR) adaptable to both manned and un-manned space missions. A NTR (which would only operate in outer space) will jump-start our manned space exploration program by reducing inner solar system flight times from months to weeks. This is not new technology; NTRs were tested in the 1960s (President Kennedy was a guest at one test). The physics and engineering are sound. In addition to inspiring young Americans to careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, a working NTR will herald a speedy and economical expansion of the human presence in the cosmos.
Going significantly beyond the Moon demands advances in propulsion of the kind that nuclear thermal rockets can deliver. Getting NERVA concepts out of mothballs and updating them with modern materials are necessary steps as we push out into the Solar System.
Going to Mars does require a serious upgrade to nuclear rocket technology, but somehow I don't think the taxpaying public will go for funding research by the government, especially in this era of deficits and flat budgets.
This kind of research will probably be taken up by the private sector, perhaps with some seed money from the government, but only if there's an economic need to exploit the resources of the Solar System, including planetary bodies like Mars.
It would be nice for such research like NERVA could be funded for the future of Mankind, but unfortunately that's not how the world is set up now.
One can only hope.
Future Interstellar Voyages
From Centauri Dreams:
Stretch out your time horizons and interstellar travel gets a bit easier. If 4.3 light years seems too immense a distance to reach Alpha Centauri, we can wait about 28,000 years, when the distance between us will have closed to 3.2 light years. As it turns out, Alpha Centauri is moving in a galactic orbit far different from the Sun's. As we weave through the Milky Way in coming millennia, we're in the midst of a close pass from a stellar system that will never be this close again. A few million years ago Alpha Centauri would not have been visible to the naked eye.
The great galactic pinball machine is in constant motion. Epsilon Indi, a slightly orange star about an eighth as luminous as the Sun and orbited by a pair of brown dwarfs, is currently 11.8 light years out, but it's moving 90 kilometers per second relative to the Sun. In about 17,000 years, it will close to 10.6 light years before beginning to recede. Project Ozma target Tau Ceti, now 11.9 light years from our system, has a highly eccentric galactic orbit that, on its current inbound leg, will take it to within the same 10.6 light years if we can wait the necessary 43,000 years.
And here's an interesting one I almost forgot to list, though its close pass may be the most intriguing of all. Gliese 710 is currently 64 light years away in the constellation Serpens. We have to wait a bit on this one, but the orange star, now at magnitude 9.7, will in 1.4 million years move within 50,000 AU of the Sun. That puts it close enough that it should interact with the Oort Cloud, perhaps perturbing comets there or sending comets from its own cometary cloud into our system. In any case, what a close-in target for future interstellar explorers!
I'm pulling all this from Erik Anderson's new book Vistas of Many Worlds, whose subtitle — 'A Journey Through Space and Time' — is a bit deceptive, for the book actually contains four journeys. The first takes us on a tour of ten stars within 20 light years of the Sun, with full-page artwork on every other page and finder charts that diagram the stars in each illustration. The second tour moves through time and traces the stars of an evolving Earth through text and images. Itinerary three is a montage of scenes from known exoplanets, while the fourth tour takes us through a sequence of young Earth-like worlds as they develop.
Anderson's text is absorbing — he's a good writer with a knack for hitting the right note — but the artwork steals the show on many of these pages, for he's been meticulous at recreating the sky as it would appear from other star systems. It becomes easy to track the Sun against the background of alien constellations. Thus a spectacular view of the pulsar planet PSR B1257+12 C shows our Sun lost among the brighter stars Canopus and Spica, with Rigel and Betelgeuse also prominent. The gorgeous sky above an icy ocean on a planet circling Delta Pavonis shows the Sun between Alpha Centauri and Eta Cassiopeiae. Stellar motion over time and the perspectives thus created from worlds much like our own are a major theme of this book.
From Epsilon Eridani, as seen in the image below, the Sun is a bright orb seen through the protoplanetary disk at about the 4 o'clock position below the bright central star.
Image: The nearby orange dwarf star Epsilon Eridani reveals its circumstellar debris disks in this close-up perspective. Epsilon Eridani is only several hundred million years old and perhaps resembles the state of our own solar system during its early, formative years. Credit: Erik Anderson.
Vistas of Many Worlds assumes a basic background in astronomical concepts, but I think even younger readers will be caught up in the wonder of imagined scenes around planets we're now discovering, which is why I'm buying a copy for my star-crazed grandson for Christmas. He'll enjoy the movement through time as well as space. In one memorable scene, Anderson depicts a flock of ancient birds flying through a mountain pass 4.8 million years ago. At that time, the star Theta Columbae, today 720 light years away, was just seven light years out, outshining Venus and dominating the sunset skies of Anderson's imagined landscape.
And what mysteries does the future hold? The end of the interglacial period is depicted in a scene Anderson sets 50,000 years from now, showing a futuristic observation station on the west coast of an ice-choked Canada. The frigid landscape and starfield above set the author speculating on how our descendants will see their options:
Will the inhabitants of a re-glaciating Earth seek refuge elsewhere? Alpha Centauri, our nearest celestial neighbor, has in all this time migrated out of the southern skies to the celestial equator, where it can be sighted from locations throughout the entire globe. It seems to beckon humanity to the stars.
And there, tagged by the star-finder chart and brightly shining on the facing image, is the Alpha Centauri system, now moving inexorably farther from our Sun but still a major marker in the night sky. Planet hunter Greg Laughlin has often commented on how satisfying it is that we have this intriguing stellar duo with accompanying red dwarf so relatively near to us as we begin the great exoplanet detection effort. We're beginning to answer the question of planets around Alpha Centauri, though much work lies ahead. Perhaps some of that work will be accomplished by scientists who, in their younger years, were energized by the text and images of books like this one.
What I find facinating is a comment by a reader ( kzb ) of this post concerning the Fermi Paradox:
One frequently-seen explanation of the Fermi paradox is that interstellar travel is just too difficult: the distances are so great that no intelligent species has ever cracked the problem.
This article highlights an argument against this outlook. One scale-length towards the galactic centre, and the space density of stellar systems is 2.7 times what it is around here. Two scale lengths in and the density is 7.4 times greater. The scale-length of our galaxy is around only 2.1-3kpc according to recent literature.
Intelligent species that evolve in the inner galactic disk will not have the same problem that we have. Over galactic timescales, encounters between stellar systems within 1 light-year will not be uncommon.
I think you can see what I am saying, and I think this is one aspect of the FP discussion that is poorly represented currently.
And Erik Anderson's response:
@ kzb: I give an overview of the Fermi Paradox on page 110 and I didn't miss your point. It was definitely articulated by Edward Teller, whom I explicitly quote: "…as far as our Galaxy is concerned, we are living somewhere in the sticks, far removed from the metropolitan area of the Galactic center."
Of course this precludes the explanations that there is no such thing as speedy interstellar travel ( be they anti-matter or warp drives ) and UFOs are really just mass hallucinations.
However Anderson's book is novel in its' treatment of interstellar exploration over vast timescales and that closer to the Galactic Center, possible advanced civilizations could have stellar cultures due to faster stellar movements and much shorter distances between stars. And I find that novel in an Olaf Stapledon kind of way!
That and the fact as we are discovering using the Kepler and HARP interstellar telescopes multiple star systems that have their own solar systems and many of them could have intelligent life lends credence to Mr. Anderson's themes.
So I might treat myself to an early Christmas present by purchasing Anderson's book!
Artificial Life-Form Inventer Venter To Build Martian DNA Teleporter
From Technology Review:
Two high-profile entrepreneurs say they want to put a DNA sequencing machine on the surface of Mars in a bid to prove the existence of extraterrestrial life.
In what could become a race for the first extraterrestrial genome, researcher J. Craig Venter said Tuesday that his Maryland academic institute and his company, Synthetic Genomics, would develop a machine capable of sequencing and beaming back DNA data from the planet.
Separately, Jonathan Rothberg, founder of Ion Torrent, a DNA sequencing company, is collaborating on an effort to equip his company's "Personal Genome Machine" for a similar task.
"We want to make sure an Ion Torrent goes to Mars," Rothberg told Technology Review.
Although neither team yet has a berth on Mars rocket, their plans reflect the belief that the simplest way to prove there is life on Mars is to send a DNA sequencing machine.
"There will be DNA life forms there," Venter predicted Tuesday in New York, where he was speaking at the Wired Health Conference.
Venter said researchers working with him have already begun tests at a Mars-like site in the Mojave Desert. Their goal, he said, is to demonstrate a machine capable of autonomously isolating microbes from soil, sequencing their DNA, and then transmitting the information to a remote computer, as would be required on an unmanned Mars mission. (Hear his comments in this video, starting at 00:11:01.) Heather Kowalski, a spokeswoman for Venter, confirmed the existence of the project but said the prototype system was "not yet 100 percent robotic."
Meanwhile, Rothberg's Personal Genome Machine is being adapted for Martian conditions as part of a NASA-funded project at Harvard and MIT called SET-G, or "the search for extraterrestrial genomes."
Christopher Carr, an MIT research scientist involved in the effort, says his lab is working to shrink Ion Torrent's machine from 30 kilograms down to just three kilograms so that it can fit on a NASA rover. Other tests, already conducted, have determined how well the device can withstand the heavy radiation it would encounter on the way to Mars.
NASA, whose Curiosity rover landed on Mars in August, won't send another rover mission to the planet before at least 2018 (see "The Mars Rover Curiosity Marks a Technological Triumph"), and there's no guarantee a DNA sequencing device would go aboard. "The hard thing about getting to Mars is hitting the NASA specifications," says George Church, a Harvard University researcher and a senior member of the SET-G team. "[Venter] isn't ahead of anyone else."
Venter has a great idea here, but it reminds me of a certain movie in which sequencing alien DNA wasn't such a great plan.
Species !
Baumgartner Breaks Sound Barrier
From Sky.com:
A skydiver has made history by smashing the world record for the highest skydive after leaping from 128,097ft.
Daredevil Felix Baumgartner ascended to the edge of space in a pressurised capsule suspended beneath a giant helium balloon. He then jumped out, freefalling for four minutes and 19 seconds before opening his parachute.
The 43-year-old Austrian also broke the record for the highest manned balloon flight after riding with the capsule 24 miles above New Mexico.
He also achieved the fastest freefall after reaching a top speed of 834mph (1,342km/h) and broke the sound barrier, according to mission spokeswoman Sarah Anderson.
The speed – revealed at a news conference a few hours after the leap – was significantly higher than that given earlier by a spokeswoman, who had put his maximum speed as 706mph (1,136km/h).
A minor problem had developed as Baumgartner's capsule ascended when a heater failed on his helmet faceplate, which meant his visor became fogged when he exhaled. However, it was not enough to stop him jumping.
In a nail-biting event watched live around the world, Baumgartner stepped to the edge of the capsule and saluted the camera, before saying: "Sometimes you have to go up really high to realise how small you are."
The biggest risk Baumgartner faced was spinning out of control, which could have exerted enough G-forces to make him lose consciousness.
At one point he appeared to have become unstable, but he managed to get himself into a flat, controlled position for the rest of the skydive.
Temperatures of -68C (-90 Fahrenheit) could also have had unpredictable consequences if his suit had failed.
He had been due to jump from 120,000ft, but the balloon went higher than expected, to just under 128,000ft.
The previous record for the highest jump was held by Colonel Joe Kittinger, who jumped at an altitude of 102,800ft (31,333m) in 1960.
Bamgartner's leap was watched by Baumgartner's tearful mother Eva and by Col Kittinger, who co-ordinated the jump from mission control.
Col Kittinger told the man who went on to break his record for the highest jump: "Our guardian angel will take care of you."
However, the Austrian was unable to break Col Kittinger's record for the longest time spent in freefall. Baumgartner's total of four minutes and 19 seconds fell 17 seconds short.
The reason for the shorter-than-expected freefall was not immediately clear, although live commentary during the leap suggested he opened his parachute at an altitude above the 5,000ft level that had been announced in advance.
The Red Bull Stratos mission was the second attempt for the skydiver. An initial bid last week was aborted at the last minute due to the wind.
Some folks dismiss this as a corporate shill act just to sell an "energy" drink that's full of sugar and caffeine. And they'd only be partially correct.
The fact is that Baumgartner and Red Bull Stratos had to design the "spacesuit" from scratch, and with no help from NASA.
There is no doubt in my mind that private launch companies like Virgin Galactic, XCOR, Bigelow and probably even SpaceX will show interest in the modern design of the suit with it's emergency egress capabilities.
Kudos to Felix and Red Bull!
Famed UFO Investigator's Research is donated to MUFON
The late UFO investigator Leonard Stringfield ( 1920 – 1994 ) looked mainly into UFO crashes, but had his own close crash experience near the end of WWII which probably prompted his interest in the subject and influenced the rest of his life:
[...]"I was shocked to see three teardrop-shaped objects from my starboard-side window," Stringfield wrote. "They were brilliantly white, like burning magnesium, and closing in on a parallel course to our C-46. Suddenly our left engine feathered, and I was later to learn that the magnetic navigation-instrument needles went wild. As the C-46 lost altitude, with oil spurting from the troubled engine, the pilot sounded an alert; crew and passengers were told to prepare for a ditch! I do not recall my thoughts or actions during the next, horrifying moments, but my last glimpse of the three bogies placed them about 20 degrees above the level of our transport. Flying in the same, tight formation, they faded into a cloud bank. Instantly our craft's engine revved up, and we picked up altitude and flew a steady course to land safely at Iwo Jima."
Stringfield walked away from the event frightened about what he had seen, and later heard independent reports from other witnesses that caused him to take a more serious look at UFOs.
He created Civilian Research, Interplanetary Flying Objects (CRIFO) and published the monthly newsletter, ORBIT. The newsletter caught the media's attention and soon his paid subscribers swelled to 2,500, becoming the world's largest civilian UFO research group of its day.
Then on September 9, 1955, the Air Defense Command (ADC), Columbus, OH, called on him for cooperation in passing along current UFO reports. The Ground Observer Corps (GOC) in southwestern Ohio was asked to call Stringfield with UFO activity and he was asked to call the ADC to report the better sightings.
In 1957, Stringfield became the public relations adviser for the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), a new civilian UFO reporting group operated by Donald Keyhoe – a position he held until 1972.
In the 1970s he began collecting witness accounts of crashed UFOs that included accounts of alien bodies. He went on to publish seven reports on this material until his death in 1994. He served as director of public relations and as a board member for MUFON. He was a regional director for the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies. He was an advisor to Grenada Prime Minister Sir Eric Gairy during efforts to establish a UFO research agency within the United Nations.
He published his first UFO book, "Inside Saucer Post 3-0 Blue" in 1957. Other books followed. His most famous, "Situation Red: The UFO Siege" was published in 1977 and subsequently translated into several languages. Later, he published seven reports on UFO Crash/Retrievals. The latest, "Status Report VII: Search for Proof in a Hall of Mirrors," was published in February 1994.
In his private life, Stringfield worked for DuBois Chemicals, a division of Chemed Corporation, Cincinnati. He died on December 18, 1994, in his sleep one day after his 74th birthday after a long battle with lung cancer.
I often call modern ufology "ufoology" because all of the infighting of the various groups ( metallic ufo supporters, paranormal ufo and disclosure people ).
These folks will never see eye-to-eye and meetings are usually a Circus Vargus.
But Leornard represents a dying group of researchers that includes greats like Dr. James MacDonald, who actually performed meticulous recording, observations and scientific research. Going to Disclosure Conferences were not part of their repetoire.
I don't know if MUFON is any better, but maybe some good use will come of it.
UFO crash investigator: Leonard Stringfield's research goes public
Hat tip to The Anomalist .
NASA Gets Left Over Spy Satellites
From the Washington Post:
The U.S. government's secret space program has decided to give NASA two telescopes as big as, and even more powerful than, the Hubble Space Telescope.
Designed for surveillance, the telescopes from the National Reconnaissance Office were no longer needed for spy missions and can now be used to study the heavens.
They have 2.4-meter (7.9 feet) mirrors, just like the Hubble. They also have an additional feature that the civilian space telescopes lack: A maneuverable secondary mirror that makes it possible to obtain more focused images. These telescopes will have 100 times the field of view of the Hubble, according to David Spergel, a Princeton astrophysicist and co-chair of the National Academies advisory panel on astronomy and astrophysics.
The surprise announcement Monday is a reminder that NASA isn't the only space enterprise in the government — and isn't even the best funded. NASA official Michael Moore gave some hint of what a Hubble-class space telescope might do if used for national security:
"With a Hubble here you could see a dime sitting on top of the Washington Monument."
NASA officials stressed that they do not have a program to launch even one telescope at the moment, and that at the very earliest, under reasonable budgets, it would be 2020 before one of the two gifted telescopes could be in order. Asked whether anyone at NASA was popping champagne, the agency's head of science, John Grunsfeld, answered, "We never pop champagne here; our budgets are too tight."
But this is definitely a game-changer for NASA's space science program. The unexpected gift offers NASA an opportunity to resurrect a plan to launch a new telescope to study the mysterious "dark energy" that is causing the universe's expansion to accelerate.
The scientific community had made the dark energy telescope its top priority in the latest "decadal survey" of goals in astronomy and astrophysics.
But the hoped-for telescope has been blocked by a lack of funding, in large part because of cost overruns on the James Webb Space Telescope, which is still being readied for a possible launch later this decade. A new space telescope could also serve as a kind of scout for the Webb, Spergel said.
"It would be a great discovery telescope for where Webb should look in addition to doing the work on dark energy," Spergel said.
The two new telescopes — which so far don't even have names, other than Telescope One and Telescope Two — would be ready to go into space but for two hitches. First, they don't have instruments. There are no cameras, spectrographs or other instruments that a space telescope typically needs. Second, they don't have a program, a mission or a staff behind them. They're just hardware.
"The hardware is a significant cost item and it's a significant schedule item. The thing that takes the longest to build is the telescope," Spergel said. He added, however, "A big cost of any mission is always just people. One of the reason that James Webb has cost so much is that when it takes longer to complete any piece of it, you keep paying the engineers working on it, and you have these big marching-army costs."
NASA's windfall takes the pain out of the planned demise of the Hubble, which has been repaired in orbit five times. NASA does not plan any more repair missions, and the Hubble will gradually lose the ability to maintain its position and focus. At some point NASA will de-orbit the Hubble and it will crash into the Pacific.
"Instead of losing a terrific telescope, you now have two telescopes even better to replace it with," Spergel said.
Hmmph…makes you wonder what the NRO has so they can just give away their left-overs to NASA?
Not that NASA can do anything with them anyway…
NASA gets two military spy telescopes for astronomy
Hat tip to NASA Watch.
"More. Always more…"
The above is a direct quote from Billy Cox in a comment he made to another commenter in his blog he posted last Thursday concerning a posting he made about Anderson Cooper's April 24th show on UFOs.
Now when it comes to UFOs and the mainstream media, no matter how good some amounts of physical evidence can be obtained around the incidents, disinformation and crack-pot debunking muddy up the waters so that nothing comes of the matter, confusing the issue:
After taking a look at the unedited version (thanks, Giuliano Marinkovic) of Anderson Cooper's half-hour "Do You Believe in Space Aliens?" bilge from two weeks ago, it's even worse than I feared.
Again, given the number of guests and the segment's lack of focus, it was clear from the get-go that not a photon of light could've escaped from this sucking black hole. But it could have, because the producers actually had a hook to work with. And that's what makes this strikeout especially regrettable.
Will one of you primates please just take a look at a couple of freakin' leaves, please?/CREDIT: ppjg.me
Pennsylvanians were reporting a spike in UFO sightings in 2008, many emanating from the skies over Bucks County outside Philadelphia. It drew a little local media attention, the usual stuff, you know, with talking heads using the usual lame-o "out of this world" segues. And as these things usually go, nobody ever got to the bottom of it. So the flap stayed confined to local quarters.
Suddenly, from out of the blue, on April 24, Cooper resuscitated the mystery by inviting an eyewitness named Denise to tell national audiences about how she was awakened by her growling dog in the middle of the night to discover glowing lights above her house. The UFO(s) proceeded to sprinkle metallic-looking glitter on her tree, making her think "it was snowing in July." Cooper then introduced Pennsylvania state Mutual UFO Network director John Ventre to talk about what happened to the tree.
Ventre said MUFON sent leaves from the affected tree to two different labs, both of which reported "high levels of magnesium and boron," two to three times higher than controlled samples detected on neighboring trees. Furthermore, the leaves had produced anthocyanin, which Ventre accurately described as a plant's natural defense from heat and radiation. But were those levels of anthocyanin excessive or unnatural? And what gives with the elevated magnesium and boron? This is the part where you bring in one of the lab analysts, right? Or a botanist, maybe?
Nope. Not on Anderson Cooper. This is the part where you immediately shift gears and bring in a couple of UFO abductees. Then you bring on the designated debunker, in this case Joe Nickell, to dismiss it all in a few short sentences. Nickell informed Denise she'd only seen Jupiter. "So Jupiter dumped stuff on my tree," Denise wondered, "is that what you're saying?" No, Nickell countered, "I expect the stuff on your tree was probably, you saw some sand or something in the light." Bottom line: no additional chatter on the boron or the magnesium or the anthocyanin, because AC needed to get a psychic medium to talk about star families.
Cooper, whose CNN promo is all about "keeping them honest" and "accountability," allowed Nickell to get away with unchallenged inaccuracies. Nickell attributed the 2006 Chicago O'Hare Airport incident to a "hole-punch cloud," even though National Weather Service meteorologists confirmed the temperature at the incursion's estimated altitude of 1,900 feet was 53 degrees. (Hole punch clouds need freezing temperatures to occur.) Nickell said the 1997 Phoenix Lights UFO was a misidentified military flare drop. That massive object was sighted traveling along a 200-mile southbound corridor by hundreds of eyewitnesses from 8:15 to 9:30 p.m.; the Air National Guard admitted to dropping flares at 10 p.m. along the Barry Goldwater Range near Luke AFB. Even former Arizona guv Fife Symington said the flare explanation was bogus. So it looks like Cooper's daytime show is going the "Fair & Balanced/We Report You Decide" route.
Anyhow, the Bucks County leaf samples sounded interesting. Maybe someday another network will actually put MUFON's investigation to the test.
Naaaah …
I wonder if the samples from these trees were saved and technicians who tested the samples could be persuaded to come forward and post the results online in the ArX (?) academic peer review archives ?
At least the results could be retested if samples were saved and other papers could be written about so the hypotheses could be confirmed or rejected scientifically.
But I'm certain the old CIA tricks of media and skeptic debunking are the orders of the day still and no amount of physical trace evidence will ever be taken seriously.
To quote Billy Cox, "More. Always more…".
Hat tip to The Daily Grail.
NASA Launches Sounding Rockets
From GeekDad:
In a stunning display this morning, NASA successfully launched all 5 of the rockets for the ATREX experiment. I provided some information about the ATREX mission last week.
ATREX stands for Anomalous Transport Rocket Experiment and consisted of 5 sounding rockets all launched within 5 minutes from the NASA Wallops Flight Facility on the Virginia coast. The rockets released an environmentally safe chemical tracer into the far edge of the upper atmosphere, at the interface to space, to study a jet-stream that exists at those altitudes. The amazing part of this experiment was the visibility of the tracer clouds: I could see them, clearly, from my house between Washington, DC and Baltimore this morning, and they may have been visible as far west as West Virginia. It isn't often I get to report firsthand on missions, and to see an atmospheric experiment of that magnitude was thrilling. I had to remind myself that I wasn't looking at clouds in the normal cloud layer but at a man-made cloud 80 kilometers above the normal cloud layers — a visualization of the edge of space.
As I write this, the launches have just happened
so pictures from the experiment and launches are not available yetand video has become available as I write and NASA is reporting some information via Facebook and Twitter as fast as they can and I am sure some more impressive photos and videos will be available soon.
From all of us at GeekDad, Congratulations to the ATREX team!
Has sharing this with your Geeklings made them a little more interested in rockets? Take the opportunity and build a rocket with them! A simple search on the Make: Projects site for "rocket" yields numerous types of rocket you can build. You can also purchase some great model rocket kits on Amazon! If you're in the Washington, DC area you can bring your rocket to the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center on the first Sunday of the month. This monthly event is run by the local National Association or Rocketry group. Get out there and get launching!
Hmm..maybe future work for Virgin Galactic or XCOR?


text:
Last-minute confession of two murders
January 31, 2012 by UPI - United Press International, Inc.
Rodrigo Hernandez died Jan. 26 by lethal injection in Huntsville (Texas) for the 1994 rape and murder of a San Antonio woman, Susan Verstegen. While he was on death row, it was determined his DNA matched evidence from the 1991 homicide of Muriel Stoepker in Michigan, the San Antonio Express-News reported.
He denied killing either woman, but spoke with a Texas Ranger assigned to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice immediately before his own death, and admitted accidentally shooting and killing Stoepker and "admitted to his involvement in the 1994 homicide of Susan Verstegen in San Antonio," WZZM-TV, Grand Rapids, Mich., reporting, citing a news release from the Kent County (Mich.) Metropolitan Police Cold Case Team.
Although the Texas Rangers did not verify the confession, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said Hernandez did speak with a Ranger before his execution.


text:
by Mike Griffiths, 29 August 2013 | The Agile Blogosphere
This post is from LeadingAnswers: Leadership and Agile Project Management Blog by Mike Griffiths. Click here to see the original post in full.
It may not always be apparent but the goals
of the Project Management Office (PMO) and agile teams are well aligned. Both
groups want to get to the same destination: namely successful projects and
happy stakeholders. However, things often come adrift as soon as the best
direction to travel in to get there is discussed. The PMO might expect lots of
planning and some documentation to confirm everyone understands the approach. An agile project team might want to build some
proof-of-concept models to test feasibility and get confirmation of
understanding. So, very quickly the two groups can disengage and have
difficulty generating alignment again.
This is one reason agile teams don't always
see the Project Management Office (PMO) as a source of assistance. All too


text:
Thursday Morning State News Summary
Thu, 07 Feb 2013 01:18:33 EST
Governor Rick Snyder today (Thurs) unveils his third state budget proposal, expected to total about 48 (b) billion dollars, including federal funds.
He's expected to ask for what reportedly is an "additional investment" in education spending, although supporters of education funding doubt it will be anywhere near what they're looking for.
In the meantime, he'll also include new federal funding for medicaid, which is part of the Affordable Care Act. The new funding will bring more than a half (m) million uninsured into health care coverage.
Significant spending increases are not likely, as state economists meeting last month at a revenue estimating conference in Lansing said they found nothing to indicate the kind of revenue that would allow for such spending.
The Governor today (thurs) is expected to repeat his recent call for a significant increase in transportation funding.
They're trying again.
Retailers in Michigan locked arms with some State House Republicans in Lansing, to take another stab at requiring out-of-state, online retailers like Amazon to start collecting sales taxes on items they sell to Michigan residents.
Similar efforts in earlier years have gained a certain amount of momentum, but failed to reach final approval in the legislature.
Supporters of the new legislation note that during the recent holiday shopping season, online sales rose 11 percent in the U-S, compared to a three percent increase in sales at regular 'brick and mortar' retailers in the state.
They say those 'brick and mortar' retailers in Michigan can't compete with retailers who don't have to charge a sales tax.
The proposed bills will be heard in a legislative committee soon.
(Snyder-Medicaid Expansion)
Governor Rick Snyder has thrown his support behing the expansion of the Medicaid health insurance program to those with incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level.
Snyder says his fiscal year 2014 budget recommendation includes an expansion of Michigan's Medicaid program, benefitting about 320,000 residents in the first year alone. More than 470,000 will be covered by 2021, reducing the amount of Michigan's uninsured by about 46 percent.
The expansion is allowed under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and would be funded by the federal government through 2017 with the federal government's share gradually declining to 90 percent beginning in 2020.
Snyder says failure to go through with the expansion would mean that Michigan tax dollars will go to cover health care costs for other states that do take part.
He says the expansion will create more access to primary care providers, reduce the burden on hospitals and small businesses, and save taxpayer dollars. A recent study estimates that Michigan will save $351 million by 2022.
The governor's budget recommendation calls for a deposit of 50 percent of the savings achieved from the expansion to be deposited into a special health savings account for the first seven years to help cover the increased share of the costs when the federal government scales back its funding.
(MI-Mega Millions Winner)
Someone in the western Upper Peninsula could be walking around with $19 million in their pocket.
Michigan Lottery officials say one ticket that matched all six numbers for Tuesday evening's multi-state Mega Millions drawing was sold at Festival Foods in Houghton.
The winning numbers drawn were two, five, 10, 26 and 44. The Mega Ball number was 46.
Officials say the winner must contact the Lottery's Public Relations Division at (517) 373-1237 to set up an appointment to claim the prize.
Mega Millions is played in 41 other states plus the District of Columbia and the U. S. Virgin Islands.
(Detroit-I-75 Crashes Probe)
Michigan State Police are now saying there were a total of 43 vehicles involved in 12 separate crashes over a mile-long stretch of I-75 last week as a snow squall produced white out and icy road conditions.
The "nightmare" pileup that happened last Thursday is responsible for claiming the lives of three people: a 7-year-old boy and 9-year-old girl from Canada, and 54-year-old Larry Manolis of Allen Park. The children are believed to be brother and sister, although their identities have not been released.
Twelve or more people were transported to area hospitals, most with back, neck and head injuries. At least two of those hospitalized were reported in critical condition.
Multiple cars were seen crushed up against the median and some motorists, at one point, were trapped in their cars. Several vehicles were overturned and twisted metal littered the freeway.
A stretch of southbound I-75 was shut down for several hours while police tried to figure out exactly what led to the massive series of crashes.
Troopers say that they have now completed all of the investigations, except for inquiries into the two fatal crashes - for which they are awaiting autopsy and toxicology results and vehicle inspections.
(WWJ, Detroit)
(Detroit-Kilpatrick Defense Rests)
The federal corruption trial of ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, his father and a city contractor will be going to the jury.
The defense rested their case Wednesday without any of the defendants taking the witness stand. The jury will likely hear closing arguments on Monday and could begin deliberations later in the day.
Kilpatrick, his father Bernard Kilpatrick and Bobby Ferguson are accused in what prosecutors have framed as a sweeping conspiracy to fix city contracts and shake down businesses. The government said the then-mayor pocketed bribes and also used a nonprofit fund as a slush fund for his personal use.
The two Kilpatricks and Ferguson each face up to 20 years in prison if convicted on racketeering, bribery and tax charges.
Kwame Kilpatrick resigned from office in 2008 and pleaded guilty to obstructing justice by lying in a civil case about having sex with an aide. He subsequently served 14 months in prison for violating his probation in that case.
(Help from: WWJ, Detroit)
(Ann Arbor-UM Pensions Study)
The proportion of working Americans with pensions of any kind has steadily decreased since 2001, according to a University of Michigan analysis that suggests trouble ahead for U.S. seniors.
U-M economist Frank Stafford said the decline in the percent of employed workers with defined benefit pensions was actually expected.
He says everyone knows pensions are a thing of the past. But, he says, they also found that participation in defined contribution plans declined, going from 33 percent of employed men in 1999-2001 to 30 percent in 2007-2009. The opposite of what they expected.
Stafford is the co-author of a paper which analyzes data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, a survey of a nationally representative sample of U.S. households conducted by the U-M Institute for Social Research since 1968.
During the period studied, researchers interviewed the same families every two years, obtaining a continuous look at how changes in the U.S. economy, notably the economic declines after 9/11 and the Great Recession of 2008, affected how families handled their IRAs, annuities, 401(k)s and other financial sources of defined contribution pensions.
They found that many families treat these retirement accounts as sources of ready cash for current needs and discretionary spending rather than as sources of income in retirement. About six percent of young adults ages 25 to 44 reported cashing in some of their pension money. And at age 59˝ - when early withdrawal penalties are removed - about 15 percent withdrew from their accounts, a proportion about equal to the rate of withdrawal those ages 65 and 66.
(WWJ, Detroit)
(MI-George Hart Obit)
Former State Senator George Hart, who was also known as the "Singing Senator" has died at the age of eighty-eight.
Hart, who was first elected to the Michigan Senate in 1978 to represent Dearborn and served through 2002, died on January 31st, according to a family member.
Gongwer news service reports that Hart gained his reputation both for his local appearances at Dearborn events and his eagerness to break into song on the Senate floor. He routinely led rousing choruses of Happy Birthday, sang to commemorate holidays such as St. Patrick's Day and Christmas, and would often sign a hymn when leading the Senate invocation.
Hart died while vacationing in New Mexico. He has been cremated. No details on a memorial service have been listed.
(Alger Co-Inmate Assault)
A sheriff deputy in the Upper Peninsula is on administrative leave facing possible assault charges.
The Alger County Sheriff told the Marquette Mining Journal that the deputy, whose name has not been released, is accused of assaulting a 55-year-old jail inmate in December.
The inmate is facing fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct charges using force or coercion for molesting women during their treatment at the HealthQuest chiropractic clinic in Munising. The deputy was the husband of an alleged victim.
The incident is being investigated by the Michigan Sheriffs Special Investigation Operations Network team.
(Jackson-School Theat Hoax)
A Jackson County school was on "soft lockdown" Wednesday as authorities investigated a threat that a gun was at the school.
Jackson County Emergency Dispatch received a call at 9:30 a.m. about a gun being on the premises at Vandercook Lake High School. The call prompted a "soft lockdown" meaning the building was secured, not letting anyone in or out.
Jackson County Sheriff's Office determined the threat to be a hoax, but continues to investigate.
Undersheriff Christopher Kuhl says detectives are reviewing surveillance video from around the building to see if any students can be seen on their phone during the time the 911 call was made.
Kuhl asks that any students with information regarding the call should contact the Jackson County Tip Line at 517-787-0212 or contact school officials.
(UM-Peace Corps Volunteers)
The idea for the Peace Corps was first launched at the University of Michigan and, more than 50 years later, the school continues to be one of the top producers of volunteers.
This year 93 U-M graduates are serving as Peace Corps volunteers, making the school the fourth largest producer of corp volunteers up one spot from last year. U-M is tied with the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Since the agency was created in 1961, 2,515 Michigan graduates have served overseas, making U-M the number 4 all-time producer of Peace Corps volunteers.
The history of the Peace Corps can be traced back to U-M. In an October 14, 1960, speech outside the Michigan Union, presidential candidate John F. Kennedy challenged students to volunteer two years of their lives to help people in developing countries. In March 1961, shortly after assuming office, he signed the executive order creating the Peace Corps.
(Washtenaw Co-Murder Suspect)
A 21-year old man was arraigned at the Washtenaw County Jail Wednesday in the shooting death of an Ypsilanti Township man last week.
Avantis Parker faces one charge each of open murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, being a felon in possession of a firearm and carrying a concealed weapon. He's being held without bond.
28-year old Brandon Charles was found dead in the driver's seat of a car January 29 in an Ypsilanti Township neighborhood. He died of multiple gunshot wounds to his torso just hours before he was scheduled to testify in a criminal case in Detroit.
(Detroit-Stuck In Wall)
A prisoner who attempted to escape custody while in a Detroit hospital was captured after getting stuck in a wall.
The sex crimes suspect had been shot by police Tuesday night before during a sting operation.
He was being treated at St. John Hospital Wednesday morning when he tried to escape through the ceiling of the bathroom in his room. Instead he ended up trapped in the wall between the bathroom and his hospital room.
(Metro Source)
(East Lansing-MSU Coal Plant)
Students and clean energy advocates have called on Michigan State University to retire its coal plant and properly dispose of toxic coal ash that was buried on campus.
According to the group Clean Energy Now, the coal ash was first discovered in 2007 during an excavation of what is now called Recycling Drive. Some of the material was moved to a local landfill, but the group says more than 92,782 cubic yards of coal ash was "relocated" to MSU Police Firearms and Canine Training Facility on the south side of the East Lansing campus.
Coal ash is a byproduct of burning coal, and contains toxic materials like mercury, lead and arsenic.
MSU professor of medicine Kenneth Rosenman says the continued burning of coal on campus is a public health problem.
The university's T. B. Simon Power Plant is the largest on-campus coal plant in the nation. It houses boilers installed between 1965 and 2006 that provide essentially all of the heat and electricity for the campus.
(Wed lottery)
There were no winning tickets sold in Wednesday's Classic Lotto 47 game.
That means Saturday's jackpot will be worth five-point-six-five (5,650,000) (m) million dollars.
The numbers drawn Wednesday were: 08, 18, 22, 23, 28, and 34.
The Powerball numbers from last night: 05-27-36-38-41.
The power ball was 12.
The winning numbers for the Midday 3 lottery on Wednesday were: 5-4-0.
The winning numbers for the Midday 4 lottery were: 6-6-5-8.
The winning numbers for the Evening 3 lottery were: 2-4-4.
The winning numbers for the Evening 4 lottery were: 2-9-7-0.
The winning numbers for the Fantasy 5 lottery were: 03-06-10-17-31.
The winning numbers for the Keno lottery were: 02, 10, 12, 13, 20, 21, 23, 29, 32, 37, 39, 41, 46, 47, 51, 56, 62, 64, 69, 70, 78, 79.
Friday's Mega Millions jackpot will be worth at least $12 (m) million dollars.
Saturday's Powerball jackpot will be worth $40 (m) million dollars.


text:
Shipping Hazardous Materials
Contact List for Guidance on Shipping Hazardous Materials (Dangerous Goods)
Shipment of Hazardous Materials (Dangerous Goods) is highly regulated. Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) is available to assist faculty, staff, and students who make hazardous material shipments. EHS can provide training, guidance and support services that will help ensure hazardous material shipments arrive at their destination in the safest way possible.
|Hazardous Materials (Dangerous Goods)
|EHS Contact Person
|Can be shipped by?
|Hazardous Chemicals1
|Adam Peters
email, 434-982-4911
|EHS personnel only
Dry Ice only1
(shipping guide) (printable labels doc or pdf)4
|Adam Peters
email, 434-982-4911
|EHS personnel upon request
EHS trained shipper
|Radiological materials1
|Mike Cohen
email, 434-982-4911
Trevor Thomas
email, 434-982-4911
|EHS personnel only
Infectious Substances or other biological materials2,3
For more information see:
|Ericka Pearce
email, 434-982-4911
|Trained shipper in lab or department
Online training is available, here.
1All shipments of chemical or radiological materials MUST be shipped by EHS personnel. Additionally, unregulated materials on dry ice will also be shipped by EHS upon request. Materials will be picked up and taken back to the EHS office where they will be properly packaged, marked, labeled and documented for shipment. The lab will provide a PTAO to EHS to pay for shipping costs, which will be recovered from the lab of origin via cost transfer (a FedEx account number will be requested for radiological packages).
2Shipments of Infectious Substances (including those on dry ice) will continue to be the responsibility of the certified shipper and personnel must complete training every 2 years. Online training is available, here.
3Biologicals Checklists - FedEx Biologicals Worksheet (doc or pdf) and FedEx Pointers on Shipping Biologicals can provide assistance in determining how to prepare a shipment of biologicals. Note that you MUST still complete training and be certified by UVa before offering any Dangerous Good for Shipment.
4You may print and affix to your shipment using packing tape.


text:
Hostal Rosalia
Real Reviews
Real reviews from fellow travellers
These are trusted reviews from guests who have actually stayed here. We hope you find them helpful.
Note: we only give a property a rating once it has received a minimum of 3 reviews.
- Page:1/1
- " Clean and safe and a great location right next to a very nice beach and a short walk to the port "
- 03 Sep 2013 Anonymous France