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|January 10, 2013 11:00 AM EST
REDLANDS, Calif., Jan. 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Python Scripting for ArcGIS is a technical guide that provides a clear, step-by-step process for the creation of Python scripts to enhance ArcGIS 10.1 capabilities.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110425/LA88950LOGO)
"Python scripting is a fundamental tool for GIS professionals to extend the functionality of ArcGIS and automate workflows," says author Paul A. Zandbergen. "You can use it to modify the existing capabilities of ArcGIS and create new ones."
Python Scripting for ArcGIS is a guide for experienced users of ArcGIS and students that are interested in learning how to create Python scripts. No previous programming experience is necessary. Each chapter in the book has a corresponding exercise on the accompanying DVD, and a free 180-day trial of ArcGIS 10.1 for Desktop is included.
Python is the scripting language of choice for ArcGIS users because of these characteristics:
- Simple and easy to learn
- Free and open source
- Cross-platform compatible
- Interpreted, not compiled
- Object oriented
Zandbergen is an associate professor of geography at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque where he teaches classes in GIS and spatial analysis. His areas of expertise include GIS applications in criminology, economics, health, and ecology, as well as spatial and statistical analysis techniques using GIS.
Python Scripting for ArcGIS (ISBN: 978-1-58948-282-1, 368 pages, US$79.95) is available at online retailers worldwide, at esri.com/esripress, or by calling 1-800-447-9778. Outside the United States, visit esri.com/esripressorders for complete ordering options, or visit esri.com/distributors to contact your local Esri distributor. Interested retailers can contact Esri Press book distributor Ingram Publisher Services.
About Esri Press
Esri Press publishes books on GIS, cartography, and related topics. The complete selection of GIS titles from Esri Press can be found on the web at esri.com/esripress.
About Esri
Since 1969, Esri has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS, Esri software is used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of Web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. Esri is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at www.esri.com.
Esri, the Esri globe logo, GIS by Esri, ArcGIS, www.esri.com, and @esri.com are trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of Esri in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other companies and products mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective trademark owners.
SOURCE Esri
The 3rd International Internet of @ThingsExpo, co-located with the 16th International Cloud Expo - to be held June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY - announces that its Call for Papers is now open. The Internet of Things (IoT) is the biggest idea since the creation of the Worldwide Web more than 20 years ago.
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The security devil is always in the details of the attack: the ones you've endured, the ones you prepare yourself to fend off, and the ones that, you fear, will catch you completely unaware and defenseless. The Internet of Things (IoT) is nothing if not an endless proliferation of details. It's the vision of a world in which continuous Internet connectivity and addressability is embedded into a growing range of human artifacts, into the natural world, and even into our smartphones, appliances, and physical persons. In the IoT vision, every new "thing" - sensor, actuator, data source, data con...
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Cultural, regulatory, environmental, political and economic (CREPE) conditions over the past decade are creating cross-industry solution spaces that require processes and technologies from both the Internet of Things (IoT), and Data Management and Analytics (DMA). These solution spaces are evolving into Sensor Analytics Ecosystems (SAE) that represent significant new opportunities for organizations of all types. Public Utilities throughout the world, providing electricity, natural gas and water, are pursuing SmartGrid initiatives that represent one of the more mature examples of SAE. We have s...
Nov. 27, 2014 04:00 PM EST Reads: 1,372
How do APIs and IoT relate? The answer is not as simple as merely adding an API on top of a dumb device, but rather about understanding the architectural patterns for implementing an IoT fabric. There are typically two or three trends: Exposing the device to a management framework Exposing that management framework to a business centric logic Exposing that business layer and data to end users. This last trend is the IoT stack, which involves a new shift in the separation of what stuff happens, where data lives and where the interface lies. For instance, it's a mix of architectural styles ...
Nov. 27, 2014 03:00 PM EST Reads: 1,380
The Internet of Things is tied together with a thin strand that is known as time. Coincidentally, at the core of nearly all data analytics is a timestamp. When working with time series data there are a few core principles that everyone should consider, especially across datasets where time is the common boundary. In his session at Internet of @ThingsExpo, Jim Scott, Director of Enterprise Strategy & Architecture at MapR Technologies, discussed single-value, geo-spatial, and log time series data. By focusing on enterprise applications and the data center, he will use OpenTSDB as an example t...
Nov. 27, 2014 03:00 PM EST Reads: 1,522
An entirely new security model is needed for the Internet of Things, or is it? Can we save some old and tested controls for this new and different environment? In his session at @ThingsExpo, New York's at the Javits Center, Davi Ottenheimer, EMC Senior Director of Trust, reviewed hands-on lessons with IoT devices and reveal a new risk balance you might not expect. Davi Ottenheimer, EMC Senior Director of Trust, has more than nineteen years' experience managing global security operations and assessments, including a decade of leading incident response and digital forensics. He is co-author of t...
Nov. 27, 2014 01:00 PM EST Reads: 1,713
The Internet of Things will greatly expand the opportunities for data collection and new business models driven off of that data. In her session at @ThingsExpo, Esmeralda Swartz, CMO of MetraTech, discussed how for this to be effective you not only need to have infrastructure and operational models capable of utilizing this new phenomenon, but increasingly service providers will need to convince a skeptical public to participate. Get ready to show them the money!
Nov. 27, 2014 11:00 AM EST Reads: 1,329
The Internet of Things will put IT to its ultimate test by creating infinite new opportunities to digitize products and services, generate and analyze new data to improve customer satisfaction, and discover new ways to gain a competitive advantage across nearly every industry. In order to help corporate business units to capitalize on the rapidly evolving IoT opportunities, IT must stand up to a new set of challenges. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Jeff Kaplan, Managing Director of THINKstrategies, will examine why IT must finally fulfill its role in support of its SBUs or face a new round of...
Nov. 27, 2014 10:00 AM EST Reads: 1,266
One of the biggest challenges when developing connected devices is identifying user value and delivering it through successful user experiences. In his session at Internet of @ThingsExpo, Mike Kuniavsky, Principal Scientist, Innovation Services at PARC, described an IoT-specific approach to user experience design that combines approaches from interaction design, industrial design and service design to create experiences that go beyond simple connected gadgets to create lasting, multi-device experiences grounded in people's real needs and desires.
Nov. 27, 2014 08:00 AM EST Reads: 1,291
Enthusiasm for the Internet of Things has reached an all-time high. In 2013 alone, venture capitalists spent more than $1 billion dollars investing in the IoT space. With "smart" appliances and devices, IoT covers wearable smart devices, cloud services to hardware companies. Nest, a Google company, detects temperatures inside homes and automatically adjusts it by tracking its user's habit. These technologies are quickly developing and with it come challenges such as bridging infrastructure gaps, abiding by privacy concerns and making the concept a reality. These challenges can't be addressed w...
Nov. 27, 2014 07:45 AM EST Reads: 1,568
The Domain Name Service (DNS) is one of the most important components in networking infrastructure, enabling users and services to access applications by translating URLs (names) into IP addresses (numbers). Because every icon and URL and all embedded content on a website requires a DNS lookup loading complex sites necessitates hundreds of DNS queries. In addition, as more internet-enabled 'Things' get connected, people will rely on DNS to name and find their fridges, toasters and toilets. According to a recent IDG Research Services Survey this rate of traffic will only grow. What's driving t...
Nov. 27, 2014 07:00 AM EST Reads: 1,536
Connected devices and the Internet of Things are getting significant momentum in 2014. In his session at Internet of @ThingsExpo, Jim Hunter, Chief Scientist & Technology Evangelist at Greenwave Systems, examined three key elements that together will drive mass adoption of the IoT before the end of 2015. The first element is the recent advent of robust open source protocols (like AllJoyn and WebRTC) that facilitate M2M communication. The second is broad availability of flexible, cost-effective storage designed to handle the massive surge in back-end data in a world where timely analytics is e...
Nov. 27, 2014 06:45 AM EST Reads: 1,369
Scott Jenson leads a project called The Physical Web within the Chrome team at Google. Project members are working to take the scalability and openness of the web and use it to talk to the exponentially exploding range of smart devices. Nearly every company today working on the IoT comes up with the same basic solution: use my server and you'll be fine. But if we really believe there will be trillions of these devices, that just can't scale. We need a system that is open a scalable and by using the URL as a basic building block, we open this up and get the same resilience that the web enjoys.
Nov. 27, 2014 06:45 AM EST Reads: 1,433
We are reaching the end of the beginning with WebRTC, and real systems using this technology have begun to appear. One challenge that faces every WebRTC deployment (in some form or another) is identity management. For example, if you have an existing service – possibly built on a variety of different PaaS/SaaS offerings – and you want to add real-time communications you are faced with a challenge relating to user management, authentication, authorization, and validation. Service providers will want to use their existing identities, but these will have credentials already that are (hopefully) i...
Nov. 27, 2014 04:00 AM EST Reads: 1,279
"Matrix is an ambitious open standard and implementation that's set up to break down the fragmentation problems that exist in IP messaging and VoIP communication," explained John Woolf, Technical Evangelist at Matrix, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at @ThingsExpo, held Nov 4–6, 2014, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Nov. 27, 2014 04:00 AM EST Reads: 1,235
P2P RTC will impact the landscape of communications, shifting from traditional telephony style communications models to OTT (Over-The-Top) cloud assisted & PaaS (Platform as a Service) communication services. The P2P shift will impact many areas of our lives, from mobile communication, human interactive web services, RTC and telephony infrastructure, user federation, security and privacy implications, business costs, and scalability. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Robin Raymond, Chief Architect at Hookflash, will walk through the shifting landscape of traditional telephone and voice services ...
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Explosive growth in connected devices. Enormous amounts of data for collection and analysis. Critical use of data for split-second decision making and actionable information. All three are factors in making the Internet of Things a reality. Yet, any one factor would have an IT organization pondering its infrastructure strategy. How should your organization enhance its IT framework to enable an Internet of Things implementation? In his session at Internet of @ThingsExpo, James Kirkland, Chief Architect for the Internet of Things and Intelligent Systems at Red Hat, described how to revolutioniz...
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Cloud Expo 2014 TV commercials will feature @ThingsExpo, which was launched in June, 2014 at New York City's Javits Center as the largest 'Internet of Things' event in the world.
Nov. 24, 2014 09:00 AM EST Reads: 1,817


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A new ultrasonic method for measuring wall thickness and detecting material flaws in natural-gas pipelines, risers, and similar structures. The method is inherently suitable for the task, because it relies on the use of the natural gas as the coupling fluid for transmitting the probing ultrasonic signals into and out of the pipe wall. Furthermore, the method facilitates the operation of the inspection from the inside of the pipe. An experimental apparatus used to demonstrate the technical feasibility of this approach and provide experimental and theoretical evidence that support the claims is described. Significantly, it is shown that by the use of a diplexer, the same transducer can be used to generate and detect the probing ultrasonic signals. The same configuration is used in commercial ultrasonic inspection of oil pipelines where oil is the coupling fluid; but until now this method could not be used in natural gas pipelines due to the low specific acoustic impedance of natural gas.
1. A method for determining a pressure vessel wall thickness and detecting a flaw in the pressure vessel wall comprising the steps of:
generating a high power electrical pulse with a pulser;
transmitting the high power electrical pulse through a diplexer and then simultaneously to an ultrasonic transducer which is located inside the pressure vessel, and to an amplifier;
transmitting an ultrasonic pulse from the ultrasonic transducer through a pressurized gas couplant and then into an inside surface of the pressure vessel;
receiving through the ultrasonic transducer, the diplexer, and the amplifier a return signal from the inside surface of the pressure vessel and calculating the distance d1 from the transducer to the inside surface;
receiving through the ultrasonic transducer, the diplexer, and the amplifier a return signal from an outside surface of the pressure vessel;
calculating a thickness of the pressure vessel wall; detecting a flaw in the pressure vessel wall; choosing said pressure vessel from a group of gas pipelines having a gas pipeline wall and a composition of metal, plastic, and ceramic;
said combination of the amplifier and the diplexer forming a circuit having a large dynamic range, a fast response, and a fast recovery; and
selecting the diplexer to comprise a means for producing a saturation threshold matched to the input voltage limits of the amplifier.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of characterizing the flaw by processing multiple return signals from inside the gas pipeline wall.
3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:
mounting the ultrasonic transducer at a small incidence angle relative to a normal angle in reference to the wall of the pipeline, thereby creating an angle of refraction of the ultrasonic pulse inside the wall of the pipeline; and
using the ultrasonic pulse at the angle of refraction inside the wall of the pipeline to detect a flaw within the wall of the pipeline.
4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of mounting in a pig, the pulser, the diplexer, the ultrasonic transducer, and the amplifier.
5. An apparatus for determining a pressure vessel wall thickness and detecting a flaw in the pressure vessel wall comprising;
means for generating a high power electrical pulse;
means for transmitting the high power electrical pulse through a diplexer and then simultaneously to an ultrasonic transducer which is located inside the pressure vessel and to an amplifier;
means for transmitting an ultrasonic pulse from the ultrasonic transducer through a pressurized gas couplant and then into an inside surface of the pressure vessel;
means for receiving through the ultrasonic transducer, the diplexer, and the amplifier a return signal from the inside surface of the pressure vessel and calculating a distance d1 from the transducer to the inside surface;
means for receiving through the ultrasonic transducer, the diplexer, and the amplifier a return signal from an outside surface of the pressure vessel;
means for calculating a thickness of the pressure vessel wall;
means for detecting a flaw in the pressure vessel wall;
said pressure vessel is chosen from a group of metal, plastic, and ceramic pressure vessels;
said pressure vessel further comprises a gas pipeline having a gas pipeline wall;
said means for generating a high power electrical pulse further comprises a pulser; and
said diplexer further comprises a means for producing a saturation threshold matched to the input voltage limits of the amplifier.
6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the amplifier further comprises a large dynamic range, a fast response, and a fast recovery.
7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the means for calculating a thickness of a gas pipeline wall further comprises a power supply, a storage device, and a processing module.
8. The apparatus of claim 5 further comprising a means for detecting and characterizing the flaw by processing multiple return signals from inside the gas pipeline wall.
9. The apparatus of claim 5 further comprising:
means for mounting the ultrasonic transducer at a small incidence angle relative to a normal angle in reference to the wall of the pipeline, thereby creating an angle of refraction of the ultrasonic pulse inside the pipeline wall; and
means for using the ultrasonic pulse at the angle of refraction inside the gas pipeline wall to detect a flaw within the gas pipeline wall.
10. The apparatus of claim 5 further comprising a pig housing means for the pulser, the diplexer, the ultrasonic transducer, the amplifier, and the means for calculating.
11. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the flaw further comprises a location on the outside surface of the pressure vessel wall.
The present invention relates to the detection of wall thickness and flaws in natural gas pipelines. The device packages an ultrasonic transducer in a pipeline pig, and has an electronics component with a large dynamic range.
Ultrasonic inspection is a standard method to assess the integrity of large-diameter oil pipelines. However, similar methods applied to natural-gas pipelines present a considerably greater challenge. Gas is a poor coupling agent for the probing ultrasonic signals emanating from the transducer to the pipe wall. Natural gas exhibits a very low specific acoustic impedance (300 Rayls for methane at 1 bar) compared to oil (1.5 MRayls and higher). Consequently, large ultrasonic-signal transmission losses occur at the transducer/gas and pipe-wall interfaces. To circumvent this obstacle, past exploratory developments included the use of a liquid-filled wheel, electromagnetic-acoustic-transducer (EMAT), and liquid-slug technologies. While prototypes of high-speed, in-line inspection systems employing such principles exist, all exhibit serious operational shortcomings that prevent their wide spread commercial exploitation.
Experimental results demonstrate the technical feasibility of an alternative approach to the important problem of high-speed, in-line ultrasonic inspection of natural-gas pipelines. The present invention teaches the operation of a gas-coupled ultrasonic inspection system in the classic pulse-echo configuration to detect pipeline flaws and observe wall-thickness variations. Experimental results demonstrate good signal-to-noise characteristics. Therefore, the present invention provides the enabling technology for high-speed, in-line ultrasonic inspection systems for natural-gas pipelines, risers, and similar structures. A brief summary of the related prior art follows below.
U.S. Pat No. 3,409,897 (1968) to Bosselarr et al. discloses a method for detecting and locating leaks in pipelines--mainly oil pipelines. The device detects the ultrasonic noise generated by the escape of fluid from the pipeline. This device does not address wall thickness in pipelines.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,413,653 (1968) to Wood discloses a method of detecting leaks in pipelines. The device uses a geometry of seals to detect the noise of a pipeline breach via an ultrasonic detector upstream and downstream of the pig. This method also uses a magnetic detector to detect welds. Using the three detectors it is possible to differentiate leaks, welds, and background noise from each other.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,439,527 (1969) to Rohrer discloses an apparatus to test gas mains characterized by a high pressure chamber formed by seals on a pig like device. The high pressure chamber has a microphone connected to earphones at ground level. The earphones are used to listen for the noise of leaks in the gas main. This device is not used in pipelines, and does not address wall thickness.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,478,576 (1969) to Bogle discloses a pipeline pig having an upstream and downstream detector and a delaying means to synchronize the received signals. This method accentuates the signal generated from leaks and diminishes non-point source noise.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,592,967 (1971) to Harris discloses a leak detector to detect the ultrasonic signal generated by leaks. This device is passive, not oriented to gas pipelines, and does not address wall thickness.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,810,384 (1974) to Evans discloses a device for ultrasonically measuring the wall thickness of pipelines and detecting cracks in pipelines via a pig. This device is for pipelines containing a suitable coupling fluid. Typical of such coupling fluids are the hydrocarbons (i.e. gasoline, oil, liquefied petroleum gas, or water) which surrounds the transducer and interior of the pipe wall.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,151 (1983) to Muraviev et al. discloses an automatic fault locating apparatus. The apparatus detects the leading edge of a pressure drop wave generated by a breach of a pipeline. This device consists of a permanently connected sensor.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,145 (1983) to Goodman et al. discloses a leak detector for containers as well as mechanical faults (i.e. worn bearings). The device detects the ultrasonic signals from two sources. One is the frequency shift of the signal from an ultrasonic driver. The second is from the sound made by the bursting of bubbles created by a liquid which is applied over the surface of the container after it is pressurized.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,485,668 (1984) to Hudson et al. discloses a method to detect leaks in pressurized pipes by passing a transducer through the pipe to detect leaks. The leak is detected via an above-ground receiver.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,522,063 (1985) to Ver Nooy discloses a method of detecting inadequately supported sections or overloaded points in a pipeline including the steps of traversing the interior of the pipeline with an instrumentation pig, sequentially striking or vibrating the wall of the pipeline by means carried by the pig to introduce vibratory signals into the pipeline, receiving said signals from within the pipeline by listening to the sounds generated as a consequence of the striking of the interior wall, and detecting preselected characteristics of received sound which are indicative of unsupported sections or of points of load and stress concentration in the pipeline.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,987,769 (1991) to Peacock et al. discloses a device to permit ultrasonic leak detection, especially in internal combustion engines. An ultrasonic source is housed in a tubular body adapted for attachment to a spark plug aperture in an engine and ultrasonic signals are injected into the engine cylinders. A directional ultrasonic detector is used to detect leakage signals.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,501 (1994) to Okada etal. discloses an abnormality monitoring apparatus that has detectors spaced at locations along a pipeline to detect sound waves. The device locates the abnormality by the time of arrival of sounds from the abnormality.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,850,028 (1974) to Thompson et al. discloses an ultrasonic electro magnetic transducer having an alternating current conductor located in the field of a permanent magnet with said conductor defining a serpentine path lying parallel to the surface of a test object to induce eddy currents in the test object flowing in directions transverse to the field of the permanent magnet. Two such transducers are provided and are employed as a transmitter-receiver pair to generate and detect Rayleigh, Lamb, or other elastic waves within the object under test without requiring contact of the transducers with the object.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,104,922 (1978) to Alers et al. discloses an electromagnetic acoustic transducer is provided for ultrasonically inspecting conductive material as the material moves relative to the transducer. A coil is positioned in the field created by a magnet so that the conductors of the coil are transverse to the magnetic field. The coil is located predominantly near the leading side of the magnet where flux is concentrated as the magnet and material move toward each other.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,092,868 (1978) to Thompson et al. discloses an electromagnetic acoustic method and device which are suitable for the in-place inspection of pipelines. A completely self-contained, mobile inspection station is placed inside a pipeline. The station runs through the pipe and transmits Lamb waves within the pipe wall, receives reflected and transmitted portions of the waves, and records the amplitude and phase of the received waves. The recorded information is analyzed to determine the location and nature of discontinuities in the pipe. This method must be used with metal pipes.
Proceedings of the 12th World Conference on Non-Destructive Testing (1989) by Boogaard et al., "Evaluation of The Techniques Implemented In Commercially Available On-Stream Pipeline Inspection Tools", summarizes the results of evaluation tests of pipeline inspection tools. This paper considers the capabilities and limitations of the available pipeline inspection techniques. The paper covers the use of ultrasonic pigs and states that "ultrasonic devices function only when a liquid surrounds the sensors". Additionally, the performance deteriorates significantly in crudes containing wax, water, or gas. This reference summarizes the state of the art in 1989.
"Gas Coupled Ultrasonics For The Inspection Of Pipes In Natural Gas Delivery Systems", (1991) a proposal to the Gas Research Institute, describes using a laser coupled transducer to generate an ultrasonic wave as practical with a gas-coupled transducer used to detect the signal. However, the proposal concluded that it would not be possible to use the same gas coupled transducer to generate and receive signals.
"Gas-Coupled Acoustic Microscopy In The Pulse-Echo Mode", (1993), C. M. Fortunko et al. demonstrates the technical feasibility of a gas coupled scanning acoustic microscope operating in the pulse-echo mode. A high pressure nitrogen or argon environment is used for this microscope. In this experiment coins encapsulated in polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) were used as subjects. At present, 0.25 mm sub-surface lateral resolutions are attainable at 3 MHz in PMMA and even better performance should be possible at higher frequencies.
"Assessment of Technology for Detection of Stress Corrosion Cracking in Gas Pipelines" (1994), prepared for The Gas Research Institute, is an assessment of non-destructive evaluation technology that can be applied to in-line detection of stress-corrosion cracking in natural gas pipelines. The assessment revealed that no single technology has demonstrated that it meets the industry goals for such inspection, but both ultrasonics and electromagnetic methods were found to be candidates for further development. Also assessed were methods of data analysis that may be used to improve signal discrimination. Comparison tables rate the different techniques within each method and a complete bibliography is appended for related reference material.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide a method to be used in natural gas pipelines to measure the wall thickness of the pipeline.
Another object of this invention is to provide a method to detect flaws--such as cracks, delamination, scaling, and corrosion--in natural gas pipelines.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide the above advantages by the use of a low cost, fast recovery, large dynamic range amplifier. The amplifier achieves the wide dynamic range by the use of a diplexer.
Still yet another object of the invention is to provide ultrasonic probing signals in the natural gas pipeline wall that are normal to the wall (transverse) and that are at a 45� angle to the normal (longitudinal) to the natural gas pipeline wall.
Other objects of this invention will appear from the following description and appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views.
The ultrasonic-component technologies used in this invention are similar to those employed earlier to demonstrate the technical feasibility of a gas-coupled, pulse-echo scanning acoustic microscope (G-SAM), using argon and nitrogen as the coupling gases. Prior work published less than a year from the filing date herein showed only surface-mapping and through-transmission using a high-pressure, gas-coupled ultrasonic system with focused transducers. See "Gas Coupled Acoustic Microscopy In The Pulse Echo Mode" (1993), Fortunko et al.
In contrast to the pulse-echo G-SAM with a focused ultrasonic transducer, this in-line gas pipeline inspection concept uses flat ultrasonic transducers. This is an important distinction. The successful demonstration of the focused ultrasonic transducer does not imply that a flat transducer will be successful. To detect vertical cracks in steel plates and large-radius shells, the present invention aligns the circular-symmetry axis of the transducer at a slight angle θi with respect to the plate-surface normal. Typically an incident angle θi of 4.5� will launch shear waves in steel plates at a refraction angle θr of 45� with respect to the surface normal when nitrogen is the coupling gas. Correspondingly, an incident angle θi of 2.5� would generate and detect longitudinal waves in steel propagating at a refraction angle θr of 45� using nitrogen as the coupling gas. Because sound propagates faster in natural gas than in nitrogen, 460 m/s vs. 330 m/s, the incidence angles would be somewhat larger in natural gas. To measure wall thickness, the transducer symmetry axis is aligned along the normal to the plate or pipe wall.
Until recently, the general belief was that a gas-coupled, pulse-echo ultrasonic inspection concept would not be feasible because signal losses would be unacceptably large due to high absorption in the gas at MHz frequencies and very high signal-reflection losses at the gas-solid interfaces as a result of the specific impedance mismatch there. However, experimental results show that the use of wide-band, well-dampened ceramic transducers, and high-dynamic-range receiver amplifiers can overcome such effects.
The experimental results of this invention also show that high ultrasonic absorption is not among the major obstacles to overcome when designing gas-coupled, pulse-echo ultrasonic systems at MHz frequencies. In fact, the ultrasonic absorption in nitrogen is only 0.72 dB/mm at 2.25 MHz at 0.1 MPa (15 psi) and decreases inversely with pressure. Ultrasonic absorption in natural gas is unknown because of its variable composition. However, methane is the major component of all natural gases, ranging from 79 to 97 mole percent. Ultrasonic absorption constants of pure methane are well known, both experimentally and theoretically. At 2.25 MHz and 1 bar, the absorption coefficient in pure methane is approximately 0.62 dB/mm. However, actual losses may be significantly greater because of excess absorption caused by molecular-relaxation effects in other constituents.
FIG. 1 is a schematic of a cross sectional view of an ultrasonic inspection system mounted on a pig traveling in a natural gas pipeline.
FIG. 2 is a schematic of a feasibility demonstration inside a pressure vessel.
FIG. 3 is a more detailed view of the diplexer and associated electronics of FIG. 2.
FIG. 4 is an orthogonal view of two specimens used in the feasibility demonstration of FIG. 2.
FIG. 5a is an oscilloscope trace of the return from the pulse-echo sensor of FIG. 2 illustrating the effect of atmospheric air pressure on the signal to noise performance of the sensor.
FIG. 5b is an oscilloscope trace of the return from the pulse-echo sensor of FIG. 2 illustrating the effect of increasing the density, by increasing the pressure, of the gas couplant on the signal to noise performance of the sensor. The environment is nitrogen at a pressure of 6.9 MPa (1000 psi).
FIG. 6a is an oscilloscope scan from the back face sensor of FIG. 2. The scan is of the ultrasonic signal passing through the sample plate with the transmitter at a normal angle.
FIG. 6b is an oscilloscope scan from the back face sensor of FIG. 2. The scan is of the ultrasonic signal passing through the plate with the transmitter at 2.5� which produces a longitudinal wave at 45� and a shear wave at 23� inside the steel plate.
FIG. 7 is an oscilloscope trace of an echo return from the pulse echo sensor of FIG. 2. The trace shows the reflection from the front face of the steel plate, and two longitudinal wave reverberations within the steel plate.
FIG. 8 is an oscilloscope trace of an echo return from the pulse echo sensor of FIG. 2. The trace shows the reflection from front surface of the plate and a 45� shear wave reflection from an EDM notch that is 40% of the thickness of the plate.
FIG. 9a is a trace array scan from the pulse echo sensor of FIG. 2. The scan is of a specimen of steel plate with a notch that is 20% of the plate thickness on the back surface of the plate.
FIG. 9b is a trace array scan from the pulse echo sensor of FIG. 2. The scan is of a specimen of steel plate with a notch that is 40% of the plate thickness.
FIG. 10 is a cross section of a natural gas pipeline containing a schematic representation of an instrumentation pig utilizing the method of this invention.
Before explaining the disclosed embodiment of the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of the particular arrangement shown, since the invention is capable of other embodiments. Also, the terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.
Previously electromagnetic acoustic transducers were proposed to excite and detect the probing ultrasonic signals in pipelines. Such transducers require small separations, typically 1 mm, between the transducer face and pipe wall. This invention enables the transducer pipe wall separation distance to be increased to greater than 10 mm. This is a big advantage due to pipeline roughness, steps and weld beads. Additionally, the electromagnetic acoustic transducer requires the pipe wall be metal. The present invention is compatible with pipe walls of metal, plastic, or ceramic. The present invention is compatible with the power supply requirements and signal processing schemes presently used in liquid coupled ultrasonic inspection systems.
FIG. 1 illustrates the best mode for the practical implementation of the method of this invention.
The instrumentation 31 is on an inspection pig 35 that moves through a pipeline 30 in the direction of flow Y of the gas G. The ultrasonic inspection signals 34 from transducers T1, T2 measure the thickness dl of the pipeline 30 and any flaws (not shown) which may be present in the pipeline 30. To maintain internal spacing and to propel the inspection pig 35 down the pipeline 30, the inspection pig 35 is equipped with seals 32 and 33.
FIG. 2 shows the block diagram of the experimental setup developed at NIST to study ultrasonic-wave propagation phenomena in high-pressure gases. The evaluation of various inspection ultrasonic Non-destructive Testing (NDT) concepts is also disclosed. The setup uses a cylindrical pressure vessel 10, 305 mm (12 in) in diameter and 610 mm (24 in) in length. The pressure vessel 10 can accommodate a variety of gases at pressures up to 10 MPa (1500 psi) and has appropriate feed-throughs for sample and transducer-motion control, signal handling, and pressure and temperature monitoring. Inside the vessel 10, translation stages 14 with multiple degrees of freedom manipulates both the transducer 15 and sample 16. Four position-adjustment motors are located in the translation stages 14 to manipulate the Z coordinate of the sample and X, Y, and θi, coordinates of the pulse-echo transducer 15. The X coordinate (not shown) is into the plane of the drawing. The coordinate θi is the angle in the sagittal plane between the transducer symmetry axis and plate-surface normal.
A commercial piezoelectric-ceramic transducer 15, 13 mm (0.5 in) in diameter, generates and receives the probing ultrasonic signals Si, Sr. The transducer used in this experiment was the Parametrics V306. However, other transducers may be used. The pulse echo transducer 15, mounted at an angle θi, transmits an ultrasonic signal Si into the gas couplant. When the ultrasonic signal Si reaches the steel plate 16 it is reflected inside the steel plate 16 as ultrasonic signal Sr at an angle θr. To detect vertical cracks in steel plates and large radius shells, the present invention aligns the incidence angle θi of the sensor 15 with respect to the plate 16 surface normal NP such that the angle of refraction θr inside the plate 15 is 45�. To measure wall thickness d2 the ultrasonic signal Si is aligned along the normal NP of the plate 16 and θi =θr =0�. The transducer 15 exhibits a center frequency of 2.25 MHz when operated in water. However, in gas the center frequency is somewhat lower. This may be caused by the frequency-dependent attenuation of sound in the gas. To generate, detect, and condition the ultrasonic signals, the following components are used: a commercial square-wave pulser 17 with 8 kW available peak power at 400 V, a special magnetic diplexer circuit 18, and a high-input-impedance receiver amplifier 19 with 64 dB dynamic range and 60 MHz bandwidth. For the purpose of this feasibility demonstration commercial devices from Ritec, Inc. were used. The amplifier 19 is the Ritec Broadband Receiver Model BR-640. The pulser 17 is the Ritec Square Wave Pulser Model SP-801. The diplexer 18 is the Ritec Diplexer RD-H. It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the above devices. Manual, stepped attenuators (not shown) control the output pulse available-power levels of pulser 17 and receiver-amplifier gains of amplifier 19. A 400-Ms/s, 8-bit digital storage oscilloscope (DSO) 20 is used to record the signal waveforms. A dedicated personal computer 21 controls the feasibility demonstration.
FIG. 3 shows a more detailed block diagram of the pulser 17, diplexer 18, amplifier 19, and transducer 15 of FIG. 2. The topology of FIG. 3 forms a particularly effective pulse echo circuit.
The square-wave ultrasonic pulser 17 is implemented using a large storage capacitor C and two semiconductor switches S1 and S2. In addition the series resistors RL1 and RL2 are employed to establish the output impedance. The storage capacitor C is charged from the high voltage input HV through the resistors RC, RL2, and switch S2 to ground GND. Switch S2 is then opened. The electrical pulse which drives the transducer 15 is now generated by first closing switch S1, then closing switch S2. The switch S2 remains in the closed position until the next ultrasonic pulse. This unique feature of the circuit shown in FIG. 3 permits the utilization of a particularly effective diplexer 18 [transmit/receive (T/R) switch] design and helps to reduce the transducer 15 ringdown time. The diplexer 18 is implemented using a broadband transformer 5 which increases the transducer input-impedance level. This feature is helpful in minimizing the noise factor (NF) of the receiver amplifier 19 circuit.
The function of the diplexer 18 is to allow the large ultrasonic pulse to drive the transducer 15. The core of the transformer 5 in the diplexer 18 saturates with the large signal thus protecting the amplifier 19 from harm. Then, when the echo of the ultrasonic pulse returns through the transducer 15, the transformer 5 is out of saturation and allows the small echo signal to return through the amplifier 19 to the output 7.
Although the circuit topology illustrated in FIG. 3 is not efficient in terms of energy utilization, it provides a significant improvement over traditional designs in terms of S/N performance and transducer/preamplifier recovery characteristics.
As shown in FIG. 2, there is a back face transducer 24, directly coupled to the back surface of the flat-plate specimen 16. This is a commercial pin transducer, 1.4 mm in diameter, to provide ultrasonic-beam diagnostics and aid in alignment. Because transducers of this type inherently exhibit very small capacitances (typically 20 pF) compared to the total capacitance of the coaxial cable (nearly 300 pF here) it has a special very-low-noise, voltage-mode preamplifier 25 attached. Another amplifier 23 and preamplifier 22 are in line with the back face transducer 24 to get a signal level suitable for the digital oscilloscope 20.
FIG. 4 shows the two surface-ground flat plates A, B used in the feasibility demonstration. Each is 114 mm (4.5 in) long L, 44 mm (1.75 in) wide W, and 13 mm (0.5 in thick T. In the experiment, the two specimens are arranged side-by-side as in FIG. 4. The two plates are identical except that they contain thin, surface-breaking notches N made by standard electro-discharge machining (EDM) procedures. The notch depths are 20% and 40% of the nominal plate thickness T (i.e., 2.5 mm (0.1 in) and 5.1 mm (0.2 in)).
The notches N have 0.3 mm (0.01 in.) mouth widths and traverse the entire width W of the plates A&B (i.e. 44 mm (1.75 in)). The probing ultrasonic signal Su is induced into the plate A or B at an incidence angle θii relative to the plate normal PN. The ultrasonic signal SP in the plate will then be at an angle θrr relative to plate normal PN according to "Snell's Law" for shear wave signals. To achieve the test results to follow the ultrasonic signal SP was scanned over the shear range SR shown in FIG. 4.
The following discussions of FIGS. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 refer to the data from the experiment of FIG. 2. Therefore, the following discussions will contain references to FIG. 2 as well as FIGS. 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9.
In principle, the experimental arrangement shown in FIG. 2 is useful for measuring the thickness of the plate 16, finding delaminations in the plane of the plate 16, and detecting vertical cracks in the plate 16. Plate-thickness d2 measurements and delamination detection are best made using longitudinal-wave signals that propagate along the plate-surface normal NP. Such signals result from compressional-wave signals in the gas that propagate in the plate-surface NP normal direction. On the other hand, vertical-crack detection is best accomplished with longitudinal or shear-wave signals that propagate at an angle θr with respect to the plate-surface normal NP. To generate such signals, the symmetry axis of the pulse-echo transducer 15 must rotate in the sagittal plane to satisfy Snell's Law for either longitudinal or shear-wave signals. Because sound propagates much more slowly in a gas than in water, 300-500 m/s vs. 1500 m/s, the incidence angle θi of the ultrasonic probe 15 is correspondingly smaller. Furthermore, sensitivity to misalignment is greater for a gas-coupled system. Therefore, achieving proper initial transducer alignment with respect to the plate-surface normal NP becomes very important.
To prepare the system for experimental work, we typically first align the transducer 15 symmetry axis along the plate-surface normal NP at atmospheric pressure. The gas GG pressure is then increased to the desired working level, typically 6.9 MPa (1000 psi). (Increasing the gas GG pressure greatly improves the signal-to-noise (S/N) performance of the experimental system, making further adjustments very easy.) Next, we probe the spatial characteristics of the ultrasonic signals in the plate 16 using the small pin transducer, 24 as shown in FIG. 2. Finally, we align the transducer 15 symmetry axis to maximize the level of the front-surface reflection signal.
FIG. 5a is an oscilloscope 20 trace of an ultrasonic signal observed using atmospheric air (1500 m above sea level). The transducer 15 symmetry axis, of the experiment in FIG. 2, is along the plate-surface normal NP. Here, the front surfaces of the transducer 15 and the plate 16 are approximately 34 mm (1.3 in) apart. In FIG. 5a, a triangular marker Δ points to the location of the front-surface reflection signal, at 185 μs.
FIG. 5b is the same ultrasonic signal appearing in FIG. 5a after increasing the pressure of the coupling gas GG (nitrogen) to approximately 6.9 MPa (1000 psi). The gain of the receiver amplifier 19 is decreased for the increased pressure of the coupling gas by 52 dB. The first signal 50, corresponds to the direct front-surface reflection. A second signal 51, corresponds to the second reverberation between the transducer 15 and plate 16, is apparent at 370 μs. The two signals emerge clearly from the noise. The signal-to-noise performance of the feasibility demonstration improves very rapidly with increased gas pressure and the second reverberation becomes clearly observable even at 0.3 MPa (40 psi). At this point, the final alignment of the transducer 15 symmetry axis with the plate-surface normal NP is possible.
To generate longitudinal and shear-wave signals at an angle with respect to the plate-surface normal NP, we rotate the symmetry axis of the pulse-echo transducer 15 in the sagittal plane. We then use the pin transducer 24 to learn the spatial and signal-to-noise characteristics of the resultant ultrasonic beams.
FIG. 6a and FIG. 6b are a pixel array found by probing the ultrasonic signals from the back side of the steel plate 16 of FIG. 2. The signal is transmitted through 8 mm of atmospheric air and 13 mm of steel plate 15. Each scan region is 20 mm on a side. The scan region is made up of an array of pixels 0.5 mm square. The "6-dB-down" points are about 5 mm from beam center.
FIG. 6a shows the ultrasonic signal 60 directed through the steel plate 15 on the axis normal NP to the plate 15.
FIG. 6b shows the signal detected at the back of the steel plate 15 when the angle of incidence θi is 2.5� producing a 45� longitudinal signal 62 and a 23� shear wave signal 61 inside the plate 15.
FIG. 7 is a typical result of the experiment of FIG. 2 wherein the gage pressure is 6.9 MPa (1000 psi), the gas path is 38 mm (1.5 in), the plate 15 thickness d2 is 12.7 mm (0.5 in) and the amplifier 19 gain is 64 dB.
FIG. 7 is the oscilloscope trace from the pulse echo transducer 15. The direct reflection off the front surface of the plate 15 is shown at a. The following signals are multiple reverberations within the plate 15 b and c. The separation between the ultrasonic reverberations in the flat plate b and c is approximately 4 μs, consistent with the nominal plate thickness d2 of 13 mm (0.5 in). Measurement of the time separation between successive reverberations indicates the thickness of the plate and the presence of delaminations.
In principle, both longitudinal and shear-wave signals are useful in a pulse-echo configuration for flaw detection. In water-coupled systems, longitudinal-wave signals are preferable. Although, in our experiments, we observed both longitudinal and shear-wave flaw signals, we found that the shear-wave signals clearly separate from the front-surface reflection signals. The oscilloscope 20 trace in FIG. 8 is an illustration of this effect. The longitudinal-wave flaw signal 81 occurs at only 6 μs after the first observable front-surface reflection 80. Although we can detect the presence of the vertical crack (40% of wall thickness) by monitoring the behavior of the interferences between the two signals, the process is not reliable. On the other hand, the shear-wave reflections 82 arrive at approximately 11 μs following the beginning of the front-surface reflection and are clearly discernible.
FIG. 9a and FIG. 9b are a scan of a notch 26 in the steel plate 16 of FIG. 2 using a shear wave signal refracted at an angle of refraction θr of 45� in the plate. The notch 26 is positioned in the middle of the 20 mm scan. The scan step size was 0.5 mm, the gage pressure for the nitrogen atmosphere was 6.8 MPa (980 psi). The distance between the transducer face and the front surface of the steel plate was 38 mm.
FIG. 9a and FIG. 9b are two scans obtained by moving the pulse-echo transducer 15 in the sagittal plane of the plate 16 of FIG. 2. These show the shear-wave reflections from vertical notches 26 with depths of 20% in FIG. 9a and 40% in FIG. 9b of the wall thickness. Waveform averaging (8 times) improved the signal-to-noise characteristics of the displayed signals. The data in FIGS. 8, 9a and 9b demonstrate the feasibility of using a gas-coupled, pulse-echo approach to detect flaws 26 and measure wall thickness d2 in plate geometries.
FIG. 10 shows a block diagram of the invention implemented on an inspection pig 110 or robot 110 equipped with seals 132, 133 to propel the pig 110 or robot 110 through the pressurized natural gas pipeline 116 or pressure vessel 116 in the direction of flow Yp. The pulser 117 operates through the diplexer 118 to project a high power ultrasonic pulse P into the steel pipeline 116 through the natural gas G3. The ultrasonic pulse P is projected from the pulse-echo transducer 115 at an angle of incidence θip to the pipeline normal N. The angle of incidence θip can be 0� for measuring the pipeline 116 wall thickness d3 and for detecting delamination or scaling flaws (not shown). For detecting cracks 126 or flaws 126 normal to the pipeline 116 the angle of incidence θip of the ultrasonic pulse P will be such that the angle of refraction θrp in the steel pipeline 116 is 45� to the pipeline normal N. The small echo reflected off of the outside diameter OD of the steel pipeline 116 or off of flaws 126 in the pipeline 116 will be directed back to the pulse-echo transducer 115. The small electrical signal from the pulse echo will go from the pulse-echo transducer 115 through the diplexer 118 to the amplifier 119. The combination of the diplexer 118 and the amplifier 119 form a circuit with an extremely large dynamic range. Whereby the amplifier 119 can survive the large electrical pulse P going to the pulse-echo transducer 115, recover from saturation, receive the small echo signal, and amplify it to a level suitable for use by the next stage.
The above approach will also allow the use of this method to be used on oil pipelines that have large gas bubbles (i.e. at the top of a hill). This method would continue to get good data when the gas is encountered.
The output of the amplifier now goes to the pig electronics package 121 for signal processing and storage. The pig electronics package 121 contains the processing, storage, and power required to maintain the pig during its travel through the pipeline 116.
The invention as shown in FIG. 10 can also be used on a robot 110 in a plastic, ceramic, or steel (including stainless steel) pipeline or pressure vessel 116.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, numerous modifications and variations can be made and still the result will come within the scope of the invention. No limitation with respect to the specific embodiments disclosed herein is intended or should be inferred.
Patent Citations
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Young Money's Drake has no plans of collaborating or even seeing music rival Chris Brown face-to-face in the near future, revealing he has no time to waste concerning himself with Breezy in the new GQ magazine.
Based on an excerpt from the feature, Drizzy admits as much as he would like to iron things out with Brown, the reality is it will never go down.
"I hear he has everything he could want now. I don't want my name to be synonymous with that guy's name. I really don't. I wish we could sit down just like you and me are right now, and talk it out man-to-man. But that's not going to happen. I'm not confrontational, but if someone challenges, I'm not going to back down. If I think about it too much, I feel it wrapping around my foot, like I get a feeling it could end really badly…Like, it gets really dark." (GQ)
Coincidentally, recent footage showed Chris Breezy dancing to Drake's "Started From the Bottom" hit at a New York City club.
Chris Brown might despise Drake with a passion, but even CB can't resist dancing when one of his songs comes on at the club. Brown and Drake have been beefing for a while now — peaking last June with a massive club fight, reportedly over Rihanna. CB was hosting a party at Stage 48 in NYC earlier this month and apparently the DJ had no fear at all … and played a Drake song, "Started From the Bottom." Rather than react (how do we say this nicely?) poorly … CB simply got down like it was his favorite jam in the world. Clearly he can let bygones be bygones when it comes to music … or he had no idea it was a Drake song. (TMZ)
The clip came just days after his girlfriend ex-girlfriend Rihanna was busted following Drake on Instagram.
My, my, what have we here? Last night Robyn Fenty got on some ol' f**k a Chris s#!t" and hit "follow" on Drake's Instagram page. Chris Brown has made it very clear that he doesn't have any love for Aubrey Graham. He's probably blowing her text messages UP right now. Apparently Rih-Rih likes what she sees. God save Drake the day Chris sees a flirty comment he left on Rihanna's Instagram. Laugh if you want to, but social media will get a ninja invited to a fade nowadays. (Bossip)
A few weeks prior, Chris showed no remorse for going at Drizzy on records.
"Man, y'all can't take me serious, I'm not a rapper," Chris said in an interview. "Nah, f*ck that, it's all good. It's rap, man, it's hip-hop. It's not going to escalate. It's like kiddy rap right now. So as far as what I'm doing — I put my frustrations out in my music 'cause I know ain't nothin' finna happen. I say whatever I want. Rebuttals are going to be stupid, I'm not a rapper so you're going to be stupid rapping back to a singer. But I'm gonna keep coming, n*gga. I don't care. [laughs] It's all good." ("Sway In The Morning")
Prior to those comments, Brown said he did not have any ill will toward the Toronto emcee.
"People can coexist. It's not entertainment for me. It's just more of me being real, saying what I gotta say. I ain't out here trying to go at him, I ain't got n*ggas after him. I ain't got 'people' after him. We just chilling. I have my differences and he has his — his music's still hot. … I'm not gonna put myself in a situation to mess up my career. Focus on what it is. Focus on your music." (Power 106)


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The haircut made popular by Pennslyvania mom, Kate Gosselin. Business in the back, party in the front
That soccer mom has an amazing Pennslyvania Waterfall!
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Lady Antebellum Make Live Debut of 'Compass' on 'Ellen'
Lady Antebellum showed off their perfect harmonies and love for the stage on Tuesday (Oct. 22) when they performed their new single 'Compass' for the first time on 'Ellen.'
Lady Antebellum showed off their perfect harmonies and love for the stage on Tuesday (Oct. 22) when they performed their new single 'Compass' for the first time on 'Ellen.'
Luke Bryan invited Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood from Lady Antebellum (who, up until this week, have been without third member Hillary Scott, who was on maternity leave) onto the stage to join him on his hit "Do I", which Charles and Dave co-wrote with Luke back in 2008. Ironically, Lady A and Bryan, nearly six years later, are two of the hottest acts in country music.
Would you have your baby wear this?
The members of Lady Antebellum got the chance to bring smiles to some kids who really need them when they performed recently in the oncology unit at UCSF's Benioff Children's Hospital. The 'Need You Now' hitmakers chronicled the visit in a new webisode of Lady A TV that aired Wednesday (Sept. 26).
Finally! New mom Hillary Scott of Lady Antebellum has shared the first true photo of her precious baby girl Eisele Kaye, who was born over the summer.
Lady Antebellum still plan to take their fans downtown on the Take Me Downtown Tour, but the entire run of dates has been postponed, with a new start date in early 2014.
Celebs get on Twitter to better connect to their fans and let them know what's going on in their lives. Sometimes, people think they can tweet mean or rude tweets to celebrities because they're not going to get punched.
You wont catch this song on 'Golden', but you can grab it on iTunes or on the special-edition reissue 'Golden Deluxe' that's out on November 12.
Lady Antebellum have found a new direction for their blend of pop-flavored harmonies. 'Compass' walks into the forest of alt-bluegrass that's quickly growing in popularity. Heavy banjo and mandolin drive a foot-stomping beat as the group sings about staying true to one's heart.
A shooting at the Washington, D.C. Navy Yard has Americans and the world looking on in shock and concern on Monday (Sept. 16).
Lady Antebellum and Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks may be in two different genres of music, but when their talent is combined onstage, it melds into something pretty amazing.
Lady Antebellum have announced their early 2014 touring plans. The Take Me Downtown Tour with Kip Moore and Kacey Musgraves will continue through April, but the way the group broke the news is what fans are talking about today. Charles Kelley called on celebrities to help him with the announcement, but something about Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga and company seems off...


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School District of Philadelphia
Ken Trujillo Announces Run For Philadelphia Mayor
His top issue: returning the Philadelphia school district to local governance.
Kids Help Grownups Make A Point About Preschools in Philadelphia
Kids sang and danced and drew pictures as the grownups pushed for funding for quality pre-kindergarten programs.
Kidnap Victim's Family Presses Lawsuit Against Philadelphia School District
The family of the little girl who was abducted from her West Philadelphia kindergarten class continues to pursue legal action against the Philadelphia school district.
Phila. Parents Sue Pa. Dept. of Education Over Uninvestigated Deficiency Claims
Seven Philadelphia parents say the Pennsylvania Department of Education has violated its duty to look into allegations of "curriculum deficiencies" in Philadelphia schools.
Phila. Public School Advocates Keep Pressure on Corbett For School Funding
Laurie Friedman, who lives in West Philadlephia, had tears in her eyes as she read letters written by students begging state lawmakers to increase funding for the city's schools.
Phila. School District Will Keep 1½-Mile Radius For Student Transpasses
An agreement is now in place to preserve Septa transportation for thousands of Philadelphia high school students.
Teachers' Union Boss Hits Sidewalk Outside Phila. School HQ To Hear Teacher Issues
With the governor and the School Reform Commission calling on teachers to make concessions, Philadelphia Federation of Teachers' president Jerry Jordan was hearing directly from members about their working conditions.
In Announcing Classes Would Begin On Time, Phila. School Officials Repeat Their Call For Concessions From Teachers Union
Cigarette tax money, if it comes, would fill about half of the budget hole. The district is still pushing its teachers union for concessions. Superintendent William Hite says the district is no longer seeking across the board wage cuts.
I-Team Exclusive: How Will Local School Districts Handle Increase In Undocumented Students?
Pennsylvania schools will have to make room for almost 400 undocumented children this fall. In Delaware more than 100 and in new Jersey, more than 1,500. In all, that's enough to fill nearly 70 classrooms.
Corbett Releases Funds Early For Phila. Schools; Hite, Nutter Say More Must Be Done
Schools superintendent William Hite, standing next to the governor for the announcement, stressed that this early disbursement does not resolve the $81-million funding gap the school district needs to close to avoid layoffs and other serious cuts.
Nutter Furious Over Lack Of School Funding
Governor Corbett on Monday failed to convince leaders in the House to meet this month and to vote on a two-dollar-a-pack tax on cigarettes.
Pa. House Cancels Vote on Cigarette Tax To Help Philadelphia Schools
The $2-per-pack tax, if passed by the state legislature, was expected to provide about $45 million in funding for the School District of Philadelphia.
Philadelphia School District Hoping For Viable School Makeover Plans
The district is inviting principals and teachers to present their own instructional ideas to overhaul Philadelphia schools.
Philadelphia School District Trimming Hundreds of Jobs Through Layoffs
In all, 342 layoff notices are going out. A school district spokeswoman says this is unrelated to the cigarette tax standoff in Harrisburg.
If No Cigarette Tax By Aug. 15, Phila. School District Says Layoffs Will Begin
Philadelphia's schools superintendent says if the state legislature doesn't authorize a cigarette tax by the middle of next month, he'll begin sending out pink slips.


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George Dobell
February 14, 2013
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News : Australia and Hampshire strike academy deal
Players/Officials: Ashton Agar | William Bosisto | Travis Head | Scott Henry | Alex Keath | Ashton Turner
Series/Tournaments: England Domestic Season
Whatever the reluctance of the BCCI to accommodate the developing players of other countries, Hampshire have no such qualms. The club have announced the inaugural draft of players into the Ageas Bowl International Cricket Academy and will host six young Australians throughout the summer of 2013.
The deal between Cricket Australia and Hampshire will see the players - Scott Henry, Travis Head, William Bosisto, Alex Keath, Ashton Turner and Ashton Agar - benefiting from the staff and facilities at the Ageas Bowl during their training as well as appearing in league cricket in the south of England. While the players will gain exposure to English conditions, Hampshire hope that the deal will enhance their reputation as a ground with outstanding facilities and an ideal venue for international sides. The scheme, which is funded by the Kerry Packer Foundation, is also financially profitable to Hampshire, though the club intend to plough the proceeds back into enhancing facilities at their ground.
Some may find it incongruous that Hampshire, like all first-class clubs a beneficiary of ECB funding, should offer such assistance to England's oldest rivals. Certainly it contrasts with the BCCI's recent decision to veto the plans of a number of young England players to train in India and the inclusion of Agar in the Hampshire scheme may prove especially vexing to some.
Agar, 19, a left-arm spinner, was added to Australia's touring part to India in a developmental role, playing against an Indian Board President's XI, and could force his way into the Test team over the next few months. Bosisto, meanwhile, captained an Australia team also featuring Head and Turner at last year's Under-19 World Cup and 24-year-old New South Wales opener Henry made headlines with a double-hundred against the Sri Lankans in December. Hampshire's hospitality could come back to haunt England.
English players have benefited from such opportunities for decades, however. Generations of young players have travelled to Australia, in particular, to play Grade cricket and take advantage of the climate and facilities and Rod Bransgrove, Hampshire's chairman, hopes that the new scheme will be viewed in a similarly "high-minded" manner.
"We have sent cricketers all over the world as part of their development process for years," Bransgrove told ESPNcricinfo. "This is just the same. I'd like to think this will be seen as for the benefit of the game as a whole. I've never done anything in cricket just for the benefit of me or my parish and I'd like to think this is a win-win situation for everyone.
"Every country seeking to develop players wants to use the facilities of other countries in the offseason. For England players not to have the chance to go abroad would be disastrous and it is only right that we reciprocate. I would like to think that cricket can be more high-minded about the development of young cricketers."
Young Australians at Hampshire
There are important distinctions between the plans of the Hampshire academy and the proposed visit of developing English players to India blocked by the BCCI. Central to the Hampshire scheme is the idea that the visiting players will make a positive contribution to the local game: not only will they appear in local league cricket, without cost to the clubs, but they also all have coaching qualifications that should enable them to provide a mentoring role to developing players in the region. The ECB has confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that they will not make any attempt to block the Australian players' trip.
"I've never been keen on recreational clubs spending money on professional cricketers," Bransgrove said. "This will allow the clubs to benefit from these players without spending a pound and not only raise the standard of the leagues in which they play, but see them performing a mentoring role to developing English players."
The players will each be allocated a club via a draw to take place at the Ageas Bowl on Friday. The participating clubs are Bournemouth CC, Lymington CC, Totton & Eling CC, Ventnor CC (all from the Southern Electric Premier League), Henley CC (Thames Valley Premier League) and Chichester Priory Park CC (Sussex Cricket League). The launch of the International Cricket Academy is the latest development in the progress of Hampshire cricket. A club that was insolvent at the turn of the century now boasts a stadium that hosts international cricket, some of the finest facilities in the country, a viable business plan and a side that won the limited-overs double in 2012.
"I'm overwhelmed with pride as I watch the ground and the club develop," Bransgrove said. "The facilities here just get better and better and, as I witness the scale of our development, it really is watching a dream come true right in front of my eyes. We have a wonderful stadium, and more and more good young players who will be challenging for England places. This club has turned a massive corner and the International Cricket Academy is another step in our progression."
Hampshire hope to extend the scheme in future years and have already opened a dialogue with Sri Lanka Cricket.
George Dobell is a senior correspondent at ESPNcricinfoFeeds: George Dobell
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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Pakistan should not welcome Amir back (177)
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Dhoni's absence a guide to India's future (72)
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Shorter tours don't allow you time to get into form, and domestic cricket isn't demanding enough
A crisis that defines the age (33)
Never mind cricket's absence from free-to-air TV - changes in social attitudes, the demands of work, and an individualistic age are all contributing to a decline in participation


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November 3: Author - Sara Avant Stover, The Way of the Happy Women: Living the Best Year of Your Life
Sara Avant Stover
To purchase a copy of the book:
The Way of the Happy Women: Living the Best Year of Your Life
Friday, November 4
7:00 p.m.
Heaven Meets Earth Yoga Studio
Saturday, November 5
2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Living in Accordance with Nature Workshop
Heaven Meets Earth Yoga Studio
2646 Central Street
Sara's Tips:
Be Selfish
Every morning when you wake up ask yourself, "What can I do just for me today?" As women we're virtuosic "givers," but happiness requires us to also strengthen our receiving muscles. Start by putting yourself first. Throughout the day ask, "What would bring harmony and balance now?" or "What do I really need in this moment?" Then respond accordingly. Take a bubble bath. Eat a big bowl of oatmeal. Get a pedicure. Go for a walk in the sun. Find ways to nurture yourself and you'll have so much more to give others.
Play with Dirt
As women we are intricately linked to the cycles and rhythms of the Earth. The more we recognize and synch up with these, the healthier and happier we become. Before you hole yourself up in an air-conditioned office or go for a run on the first day of your menstrual cycle, do yourself a favor. Notice what's happening inside of you. Notice what's happening outside of you. Then feel into how you can reconcile the two. Rest and be quiet on the new moon; and dance and throw a dinner party for your girlfriends on the full moon. Eat salads in the summer and hearty stews in the winter; be kind to your body when you're menstruating, and push its edges when you're feeling frisky and active.
Let Love Trump All
I've had times in my life where my heart hurts so much that it literally feels like it's breaking; and I know you've had these moments, too. They usually come in the midst of great loss (a death, break-up, big life change, or watching a loved one suffer), or when you witness something magical and precious (a child being born or a beautiful rainbow). These are important moments to stay present for. These are the moments in which your heart can truly open and you can taste who you truly are -- beyond emotions, thoughts, and circumstances. Breathe deeply into your heart and feel your feet on the ground. Stay present to the moment and what it brings, even if it's colored with the pain of sorrow. Sadness often opens the door into compassion and love -- first for yourself, and then for others. This is a beautiful and wondrous thing. Even when it hurts, open yourself to the truth of each moment.
Dance, Sister, Dance!
As women we're wired to experience and express pleasure; and the more we consciously create circumstances for bliss and delight regularly, the healthier and happier we will become. Dance is without a doubt one of the best way to do this. Don't let a day go by without dancing--even if it's just swinging your hips as you wash the dishes or snaking your shoulders while driving your car. Sometimes do it fully by going out for a night of dancing with your lover or girlfriends or taking a Nia, Salsa, or Tango class. Dissolve into the ecstasy of rhythm and movement and enjoy how it lights you up from deep inside.
Fake It 'til You Make It!
When you're in a funk, if all else fails resist your resistance. Smiling (even a simple "Buddha smile") can elicit the secretion of feel good hormones in your body. Don a toothy grin while you take a shower. Answer the phone with a more enthusiastic "Hello!" than you're used to. Watch a slapstick comedy when all you feel like doing is complaining and crawling into a dark hole. Wear a really sexy matching bra and panty set when you're tired and bloated. Cultivate the skill of laughing at yourself and not taking life so seriously!


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Community Forums › Forums › Design Tips and Tricks › Close Gap Between Entry And Sidebar
This topic contains 3 replies, has 2 voices, and was last updated by Lauren @ OnceCoupled 5 months ago.
June 19, 2014 at 7:10 am #110551
PorterMemberPost count: 219
I have a blank space between my entry and my sidebar, which is desired. I'm wondering what the proper way to close the gap between the two is. I simply want it to be the same size as the gap between my navigation and my entry (vertical).
I'm using the Genesis Sample theme as my foundation, so all code is the same as seen there. I tried adding:
.site-inner { clear: both; padding-top: 40px; padding-top: 2.4rem; padding-left: 2.4rem; //* Added this }
That closed the gap, but I'm quite new to css, and I'd prefer to do these edits as proper as possible, and learn something along the way. Also, if anyone could explain the relationship between px and rem (when is rem used, should I have both px and rem, etc), that would be excellent.
I gladly accept beer donations – email@example.com 19, 2014 at 7:35 am #110557
Lauren @ OnceCoupledMemberPost count: 641
.sidebar, so adding padding to it is going to throw off your design. Instead, since these are floated left and right respectively, to bring them closer to together we need to increase one of their widths. We know the spacing in the sample theme is
40px, so if we want to decrease that to
24pxwe need to add
16pxsomewhere. For example, we could change
width: 360pxto
width: 376px.
(Also, when specifying rem dimensions, you want to have a fall-back px for browsers that can't handle the rem. And likewise when you change a dimension in rem, do the same in px. So for
.site-inneryou should have
padding-top: 24px.)
I do custom WordPress work! http://oncecoupled.com
Contact me directly: firstname.lastname@example.com 19, 2014 at 7:41 am #110559
PorterMemberPost count: 219
Excellent response, thanks a lot!
While it's probably obvious, I'm awake way too early to think too deeply and must ask – what is the value relationship between rem and px? 1rem = 10px?
I gladly accept beer donations – firstname.lastname@example.com 19, 2014 at 11:10 am #110581
Lauren @ OnceCoupledMemberPost count: 641
It depends on your root element. To make everything easy, we use
body { font-size:62.5%; }to create the relationship 1rem = 10px.
I do custom WordPress work! http://oncecoupled.com
Contact me directly: email@example.com
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.


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Environment: The alarmists want to place the world in servitude to the models that are predicting global warming. But those models can't even reconstruct the past.
A researcher at Sweden's University of Gothenburg analyzed climate models to see how closely their predictions fit with history, in this case, precipitation in China from 1961 to 2000. What Tinghai Ou found should crimp the alarmists' plans to establish regimes that punish and limit man's use of fossil fuels.
"Only a few climate models were able to reproduce the observed changes in extreme precipitation in China over the last 50 years," says the university's Department of Earth Sciences.
Ou himself said that the "results show that climate models give a poor reflection of the actual changes in extreme precipitation events that took place in China" during the period he examined.
"Only half of the 21 analyzed climate models were able to reproduce the changes in some regions of China," he said. "Few models can well reproduce the nationwide change."
Ou's work is important. If the models can't get the past right, how can they be trusted to predict future climate?
Seems more like guesswork than solid science to us.
Further evidence of the climate models' flaws was offered on March 16 by the London Daily Mail, which published a chart that "reveals how (the United Nations') '95% certain' estimates of the earth heating up were a spectacular miscalculation."
The Daily Mail charted the earth's actual temperatures against the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projections of both 75% and 95% certainty. The lines track closely until recent years, at which point the line representing the observed temperatures "is about to crash out of" the boundaries of the lowest projections.
In other words, while the forecasts — to a supposed 95% certainty, which covers a lot of variation — show global temperatures climbing rather sharply from 1990 on, real temperatures haven't followed the rise.
That the climate models have defects and are severely limited shouldn't be a surprise. Four years ago NASA climate modeler Gavin Schmidt acknowledged that the "chaotic component of the climate system ... is not predictable beyond two weeks, even theoretically."
Despite the sobriety of Schmidt and many others, the alarmists keep coming with their predictions of a grim future caused by man's use of fossil fuels. Pay no further attention to them.
Regulation: Funny how this always happens: Right before a big holiday weekend, when almost no one is paying attention, the Obama administration announces hundreds, sometimes thousands, of new regulations.Early Christmas Season Surprise: 3,000 New Federal Regulations Earlier this week, news broke ...
Media Bias: The lens through which the dominant media present events in Ferguson, Mo., projects a distorted, hall-of-mirrors image to the public. Report reality, not alternate reality filtered through ideology.NBC's idea of legal commentary Tuesday on the Michael Brown killing was to have Hollywood ...
Starting Over: A black woman who sold cake at flea markets to save enough money to open her own shop saw it vandalized and looted by those who claim white cops are the major problem facing black America.Natalie Dubose's Ferguson, Mo., business, Cakes & More, barely survived the arson, rioting ...
War On Terror: As violence in Afghanistan intensifies, including a suicide bombing at a volleyball tournament that killed 50, the president has wisely, if quietly, extended the U.S. combat role there through 2015.President Obama had announced the withdrawal of American combat troops by the end of ...
Before the tryptophan in the turkey induces somnolence, give thanks for living in such an entertaining country. This year, for example, we learned that California's Legislature includes 93 persons who seem never to have had sex. They enacted the "affirmative consent" law directing college ...


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Alfred Hitchcock: The great pretender
As the BFI begins an epic season celebrating his work, Jonathan Romney recalls how this strange and droll genius changed film forever
Sunday 24 June 2012
It's been a long time since anyone claimed that Alfred Hitchcock was simply a man who made thrillers. Now a comprehensive BFI season aims to put Hitchcock properly on his plinth as a modern great. A three-month retrospective covers his entire oeuvre, including "the Hitchcock 9" – restored prints of nine of his seminal silent films. Here, then, are a few of the many things that the protean, portly genius was – and some of the reasons why film-watching could never be the same after him.
1. Master of espionage
Look at any modern spy film and you'll see Hitchcock's stamp. He defined the espionage premise: people chasing after an all-important but often nebulous object of desire – the "MacGuffin", as he called it. Hitchcock was the father of the modern spy film, but not its inventor: that would be Fritz Lang, who made Spione in 1928, and whose early work was closely watched by the English director. But Hitchcock went on to make a host of espionage-themed films of various colours – from the John Buchan yarn of The 39 Steps (1935) to the downbeat Cold War drama Topaz (1969). He declined approaches to make the first James Bond film, but he'd already created a template for the 007 series in his quintessential sex-and-travel thriller North By Northwest (1959).
2. The silent artist
It's often forgotten that Hitchcock made classics in the silent years too – which is partly the point of the BFI season, to highlight early achievements such as Blackmail (1929), which Hitchcock made both as a silent and as a ground-breaking sound film. Another early landmark is The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog – a 1926 film that looks back to Jack the Ripper, and forward to the chills and apprehensions that would provide suspense cinema's basic language for decades after. As for The Mountain Eagle, it's still missing, and top of the BFI's Most Wanted list: you might call it the Hitchcockians' ultimate MacGuffin.
3. The Englishman
Perhaps it's not true that Hitchcock's dark humour could only have come from an English background; after all, his French acolyte Claude Chabrol had a similar streak. But what seems quintessentially English about Hitchcock's absurdism is the love of extracting strangeness and menace from the mundane – something he inherited from writers such as G K Chesterton. Take the sound version of Blackmail, in which the word "knife" keeps jumping hysterically out of idle breakfast chatter. Or take the counterpointing of high drama against the blathering of two Englishmen worried about the Test match scores in The Lady Vanishes.
4. The Svengali
Hitchcock created one of cinema's enduring female archetypes in the elegant, composed but inwardly simmering "Hitchcock blondes" of the 1950s and 1960s – although arguably the first was the rather larkier Czech actress Anny Ondra in the 1920s. Among the classic Hitchcock femmes were the already established Grace Kelly and Eva Marie Saint – while Tippi Hedren (The Birds, Marnie) appeared to have sprung fully formed from the master's libido. Hitchcock liked to act the admiring gent – "A woman of elegance," he declared, "will never cease to surprise you." But the darker, more brutal resonances of the master/ muse relationship were dramatised in Vertigo, in which a deranged James Stewart re-moulds Kim Novak as the star of his personal cinema of obsession.
5. The director as brand
"I'd put my arse on the poster if it made people see the film," Claude Chabrol once told me about an ad in which he owlishly puffed a pipe. Chabrol learned a lot from Hitchcock, including the art of imposing your own auteur stamp. Few directors perfected their identity as a "brand" as thoroughly as Hitchcock did – it comprised a clownish, drily jesting persona on and off screen, in interviews, and on television, as well as an instantly identifiable cartoon silhouette, even a theme tune. His appearance in trailers for his later work was a way of branding the films with his authority, ensuring that viewers would see them the way he wanted them to.
6. The joker
There's no surer way to make people take you seriously than to make the odd joke – the darker the better. Among Hitchcock's grimmest and juiciest gags is the bickering between Norman Bates and his "mother" in Psycho: "No, I will not hide in the fruit cellar! You think I'm fruity, huh?" But Hitchcock was his own best joke, notably in his signature cameos. His self-mockery went furthest in his intros to the television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents, in which no hat was too silly for him to wear, and in which he even played himself as loser in a Hitch lookalike contest. Johan Grimonprez's 2005 docu-essay Looking For Alfred contains a treasury of such appearances, proving that Hitchcock's favourite disguise was as himself.
7. The conceptualist
Hitchcock liked to set himself steep technical and imaginative challenges – an entire film set in a small vessel bobbing at sea (Lifeboat, 1944), or telling a story in what seemed to be one single extended take (Rope, 1948). The success of Psycho (1960) was so dependent on keeping punters in the dark about what they could expect to see – Hitchcock engineered a public relations and exhibition campaign to keep the secret – that the whole film was a sort of conceptual project, in which the act of conditioning viewer perceptions was the artwork as much as the film itself.
8. The anti-typecaster
Hitchcock liked to use stars in ways that must have startled their fans – and given their publicists conniptions. He liked to cast perennial nice guys in dark roles – like ever-affable Joseph Cotten, an avuncular killer in Shadow of a Doubt (1943). Hitchcock was even capable of making a sunny Doris Day performance crackle with narrative tension ("Que Sera Sera" in 1956's The Man Who Knew Too Much). Casting against type was an Alfred Hitchcock game right from the start – ever since he cast the 1920s matinee idol Ivor Novello as a fog-skulking murder suspect in The Lodger.
9. The student of obsession
One actor that Hitchcock cast brilliantly against type was much-loved drawler James Stewart; he'd already played desperate men in Anthony Mann's Westerns, but Hitchcock took him further still in Rear Window and Vertigo. Both films are about morbid erotic fascination, and have been a boon to psychoanalytic film criticism. In fact, Hitchcock introduced Hollywood to Freud – and to Salvador Dali – in Spellbound (1945). The cycle of films about mental aberrations also included Marnie, Psycho and Frenzy. Hitchcock was supremely aware of cinema as a psychic process: in interviews he talked less about what his films were about, than about their effect on the viewer's mind.
10. The artist as entertainer – and vice versa
Another inescapable Englishman, Graham Greene, labelled some of his novels "Entertainments" – so diverting attention from the fact that, while the themes were lighter and the tone seemingly casual, deep down the resonances were just as formidable. Hitchcock too blurred the distinctions between what appeared to be "just" entertainment and complex art. He often pretended to offer the cheapest of thrills, so as to disarm the audience: thinking we were just getting an efficient scare was the only thing that made the seismic experience of Psycho bearable. Little wonder that Hitchcock's oeuvre offered prime evidence for the French critics' case that it was when cinema seemed most innocent that its deepest poetry was really at work.
"The Genius of Hitchcock" runs till October: bfi.org.uk/Hitchcock. The book '39 Steps to The Genius of Hitchcock' is published by the BFI
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By Mark Plotkin - 02/25/14 05:53 PM EST
On Jan. 24, 2013, Sen. Tom Carper (D) of Delaware introduced a bill that would make Washington, D.C., the 51st state.
More than year later and nothing has happened! This is very difficult to understand.
At last year's dedication ceremony for the placing of the D.C. Frederick Douglass statue on Capitol Hill, his office said hearings would be held in the fall of 2013. No hearing has yet occurred.
The last time the issue of D.C. statehood had any visibility or movement at all was 21 years ago. Democrats controlled both houses, and then-President Clinton had come out for D.C. statehood as a candidate. There was a vote in the House in November 1993, but it fell short with only 153 votes.
In the Senate, the bill went nowhere.
There was a hearing held in the spring of 1994. It was a charade. Titled "Informational Hearing," it was a lame cosmetic attempt to do something to satisfy statehood advocates. Because this was not a hearing on the statehood bill itself, it is no surprise the bill died.
More than two decades later, things are quite different.
First and foremost, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is a strong and fervent supporter. (In 1993, then-Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine, said or did nothing on the issue.)
At the Frederick Douglass statue ceremony, Reid used the occasion to sign onto the bill as a co-sponsor. With great enthusiasm and conviction — looking straight at Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) — he said the citizens of D.C. "deserve the same rights as those of Ohio and Kentucky."
All lawmakers in the Senate Democratic leadership, with the exception of Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), are co-sponsors of the bill. Members of Carper's committee who will vote for the bill are Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Mark Begich (D-Alaska). Both are huge GOP targets this election year.
The others, Democratic Sens. Carl Levin (Mich.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Jon Tester (Mont.), Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), Mark Pryor (Ark.) and Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), have not taken a position or have not responded to inquiries.
It is understandable that Carper would not hold hearings unless he has the Democratic votes to report the bill out. But the legitimate question is: Is he talking to these undecided or uncommitted senators? Is he lobbying for his own bill so that it will move?
When I last asked Reid if he would bring the bill up for a vote if it comes favorably out of committee, he said, "We will make it happen."
One major problem is D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D). She should be talking to and lobbying uncommitted senators on the committee. Maybe she doesn't want D.C. to actually become a state.
If it were to become a state, her safe seat would no longer be safe. Someone else might seek it, and Norton would become vulnerable.
I have no illusions about the Republican-controlled House bringing up the bill. But it also doesn't help when Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.), the head of the Democratic National Committee, is not championing the legislation.
Last year when I pressed her, she said D.C. voting rights are "not a national issue."
The bottom line is that a vote in the Senate would dramatically raise the visibility.
A vote in the Senate should be the goal. It is doable and could and should be done this year. The only ones who are holding D.C. back are not our enemies, but our friends.
Plotkin has worked as a political analyst for WAMU radio, WTOP radio and Fox 5 WTTG. He is presently a contributor to the BBC on American politics.