text:
The present invention includes a system for enabling a user to download information displayed on a display screen of a television receiver. The system includes a device coupled to said television receiver to access information to be displayed on the display screen and a portable data device adapted to download the information from the device. The device includes a set-top box and the portable data device may be a smart card which may include an integrated circuit (IC) chip having information stored therein. The set-top box includes a back-channel for outputting information and the portable data device is coupled to the device by way of a smart card reader. The portable data device includes a display, a processor, a memory, navigation buttons and a remind button. The portable data device may communicate to the device using the ISO7816 Protocol, USB Protocol, a Serial Parallel Interface, Sony Memory Stick Protocol, etc.
1. A system for enabling a user to download information displayed on a display screen of a television receiver, said system comprising:
a device coupled to said television receiver to access information to be displayed on said display screen; and
a portable data device adapted to download said information from the device.
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19. A system for enabling a user to download information displayed on a display screen of a television receiver, said system comprising:
a set-top box having a back-channel and adapted to be coupled to first and second signal lines so as to receive television signals by way of the first signal line representative of a number of items offered for sale and provide the received television signals to said television receiver so as to enable the information to be displayed on said display screen; and
a portable data device adapted to download said information from the set-top box.
20. A method for enabling a user to download information displayed on a display screen of a television receiver, the method comprising the steps of:
receiving television signals at a receiving device representative of information and providing the received television signals to a television receiver so as to enable the information to be displayed on said display screen; and
downloading the information to a portable data device.
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[0001] The present invention relates generally to an information system and method and, more particularly, to such system and method for enabling a user to download information displayed on a display screen of a television receiver to a portable device.
[0002] Today, a customer may view information displayed on a television screen. While viewing such information, if a user sees information he or she wishes to take with them, the user must write down the information.
[0003] Some devices found in the home have network communication capability, e.g. Personal Computers (PCs) equipped with phone or cable modems, and now even appliances i.e. smart refrigerators or smart stoves, are expected to be connected to the network in a few years. But there are many devices without a network connection. Some devices typically need a more capable input means, such as a PC, to edit data that eventually gets �synced� or downloaded to the appliance, e.g. Palm Pilot. Set Top Boxes (STBs) currently contain powerful CPUs internally, e.g. 300 MIPs or more. Yet they are under-utilized in connecting to other non-TV or non-VCR type of devices. Also, STBs have a smart card slot which may interface with other electronic devices. Manufacturers are currently looking at ways to enhance the existing relationship with content devices with add-on goods and services to the STB. The STB is a gateway into the home. The STB may be used by the Head-end (HE) to display screens of data, options, and menus, as well as to interact with devices which a plugged into the STB, e.g. portable data viewer�used for TV schedules, personal calendar and reminder, games, etc.
[0004] It is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method in which a user may download displayed on a television screen to a portable device.
[0005] More specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method as aforesaid in which the user downloads or uploads information displayed on a television screen by using a portable data device to read the information.
[0006] An aspect of the present invention is to provide a system for enabling a user to download information displayed on a display screen of a television receiver. The system includes a device coupled to said television receiver to access information to be displayed on the display screen and a portable data device adapted to download the information from the device. The device includes a set-top box and the portable data device may be a smart card which may include an integrated circuit (IC) chip having information stored therein. The set-top box includes a back-channel for outputting information and the portable data device is coupled to the device by way of a smart card reader. The portable data device includes a display, a processor, a memory, navigation buttons and a remind button. The portable data device may communicate to the device using the ISO7816 Protocol, Universal Serial Bus (USB), a Serial Parallel Interface, Sony Memory Stick Protocol, etc.
[0007] The above and other objects, features and advantages according to the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the illustrated embodiments when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which corresponding components are identified by the same reference numerals.
[0008]FIG. 1 is a system block diagram of a system using a set-top box;
[0009]FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a digital set-top box suitable for use with the present invention;
[0010]FIG. 3 is a diagram of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention;
[0011]FIG. 4 is a diagram of a smart card according to an embodiment of the present invention;
[0012]FIG. 5 is a diagram of an introductory screen according to an embodiment of the present invention; and
[0013]FIG. 6 is a diagram of a screen according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0014] The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Referring to FIG. 1, a block diagram for an exemplary interactive cable or satellite television (TV) system 100 is shown. The system 100 includes, at a head end of the service provider 10, a media server 12 for providing, on demand, movies and other programming obtained from a media database 14. The media server 12 might also provide additional content such as interviews with the actors, games, advertisements, available merchandise, associated Web pages, interactive games and other related content. The system 100 also includes an electronic programming guide (EPG) server 16 and a program listing database 18 for generating an EPG. Set-top box 22 can generally provide for bi-directional communication over a transmission medium 20 in the case of a cable STB 22. In other embodiments, bi-directional communication can be effected using asymmetrical communication techniques possibly using dual communication media�one for the uplink and one for the downlink. In any event, the STB 22 can have its own Universal Resource Locator (URL) assigned thereto to provide for addressability by the head end and users of the Internet.
[0015] The media server 12 and EPG server 16 are coupled by transmission medium 20 to a set top box (STB) 22. The transmission medium 20 may include, for example, a conventional coaxial cable network, a fiber optic cable network, telephone system, twisted pair, a satellite communication system, a radio frequency (RF) system, a microwave system, other wireless systems, a combination of wired and wireless systems or any of a variety of known electronic transmission mediums. In the case of a cable television network, transmission medium 20 is commonly realized at the subscriber's premises as a coaxial cable that is connected to a suitable cable connector at the rear panel of the STB 22. In the case of a Direct Satellite System (DSS), the STB 22 is often referred to as an Integrated Receiver Decoder (IRD). In the case of a DSS system, the transmission medium is a satellite transmission at an appropriate microwave band. Such transmissions are typically received by a satellite dish antenna with an integral Low Noise Block (LNB) that serves as a down-converter to convert the signal to a lower frequency for processing by the STB.
[0016] The exemplary system 100 further includes a TV 24, such as a digital television, having a display 26 for displaying programming, an EPG, etc . . . The STB 22 may be coupled to the TV 24 and various other audio/visual devices 26 and Internet Appliances 28 by an appropriate interface 30, which can be any suitable analog or digital interface. In one embodiment, interface 30 conforms to an interface standard such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1394 standard. The STB 22 may include a central processing unit (CPU) and memory such as Random Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory (ROM), flash memory, mass storage such as a hard disc drive, floppy disc drive, optical disc drive or may accommodate other electronic storage media, etc . . . Such memory and storage media is suitable for storing data as well as instructions for programmed processes for execution on the CPU, as will be discussed later. Information and programs stored on the electronic storage media or memory may also be transported over any suitable transmission medium such as that illustrated as 20. STB 22 may include circuitry suitable for audio decoding and processing, the decoding of video data compressed in accordance with a compression standard such as the Motion Pictures Experts Group (MPEG) standard and other processing to form a controller or central hub. Alternatively, components of the STB 22 may be incorporated into the TV 24 itself, thus eliminating the STB 22. Further, a computer having a tuner device may be equivalently substituted for the TV 24 and STB 22.
[0017] By way of example, the STB 22 may be coupled to devices such as a personal computer, video cassette recorder, camcorder, digital camera, personal digital assistant and other audio/visual or Internet related devices. In addition, a data transport architecture, such as that set forth by an industry group which includes Sony Corporation and known as the Home Audio-Video Interoperability (HAVi) architecture may be utilized to enable interoperability among devices on a network regardless of the manufacturer of the device. This forms a home network system wherein electronic devices and Internet appliances are compatible with each other. The STB 22 runs an operating system suitable for a home network system such as Sony Corporation's Aperios� real time operating system. Other operating systems could also be used.
[0018] The STB 22 includes an infrared (IR) receiver 34 for receiving IR signals from an input device such as remote control 36. Alternatively, it is noted that many other control communication methods may be utilized besides IR, such as wired or wireless radio frequency, etc . . . In addition, it can be readily appreciated that the input device 36 may be any device suitable for controlling the STB 22 such as a remote control, personal digital assistant, laptop computer, keyboard or computer mouse. In addition, an input device in the form of a control panel located on the TV 24 or the STB 22 can be provided.
[0019] The STB 22 may also be coupled to an independent service provider (ISP) host 38 by a suitable connection including dial-up connections, DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) or the same transmission medium 20 described above (e.g. using a cable modem) to, thus, provide access to services and content from the ISP and the Internet. The ISP host 38 provides various content to the user that is obtained from a content database 42. STB 22 may also be used as an Internet access device to obtain information and content from remote servers such as remote server 48 via the Internet 44 using host 38 operating as an Internet portal, for example. In certain satellite STB environments, the data can be downloaded at very high speed from a satellite link, with asymmetrical upload speed from the set-top box provided via a dial-up or DSL connection.
[0020] Referring now to FIG. 2, a typical system configuration for a digital set-top box 22 is illustrated. In this exemplary set-top box, the transmission medium 20, such as a coaxial cable, is coupled by a suitable interface to a tuner 102. Tuner 102 may, for example, include a broadcast in-band tuner for receiving content, an out-of-band (0013) tuner for receiving data transmissions and a return path tuner for providing an OOB return path for outbound data (destined for example for the head end). A separate tuner (not shown) may be provided to receive conventional RF broadcast television channels. Modulated information formatted, for example, as MPEG-2 information is then demodulated at a demodulator 106. The demodulated information at the output of demodulator 106 is provided to a demultiplexer and descrambler circuit 110 where the information is separated into discrete channels of programming. The programming is divided into packets, each packet bearing an identifier called a Packet ID (PID) that identifies the packet as containing a particular type of data (e.g. audio, video, data). The demodulator and descrambler circuit 110 also decrypts encrypted information in accordance with a decryption algorithm to prevent unauthorized access to programming content, for example.
[0021] Audio packets from the demultiplexer 110 (those identified with an audio PID) are decrypted and forwarded to an audio decoder 114 where they may be converted to analog audio to drive a speaker system (e.g. stereo or home theater multiple channel audio systems) or other audio system 116 (e.g. stereo or home theater multiple channel amplifier and speaker systems) or may simply provide decoded audio out at 118. Video packets from the demultiplexer 110 (those identified with a video PID) are decrypted and forwarded to a video decoder 122. In a similar manner, data packets from the demultiplexer 110 (those identified with a data PID) are decrypted and forwarded to a data decoder 126.
[0022] Decoded data packets from data decoder 126 are sent to the set-top box's computer system via the system bus 130. A central processing unit (CPU) 132 can thus access the decoded data from data decoder 126 via the system bus 130. Video data decoded by video decoder 122 is passed to a graphics processor 136, which is a computer optimized to processes graphics information rapidly. Graphics processor 136 is particularly useful in processing graphics intensive data associated with Internet browsing, gaming and multimedia applications such as those associated with MHEG (Multimedia and Hypermedia information coding Experts Group) set-top box applications. It should be noted, however, that the function of graphics processor 136 may be unnecessary in some set-top box designs having lower capabilities, and the function of the graphics processor 136 may be handled by the CPU 132 in some applications where the decoded video is passed directly from the demultiplexer 110 to a video encoder. Graphics processor 136 is also coupled to the system bus 130 and operates under the control of CPU 132.
[0023] Many set-top boxes such as STB 22 may incorporate a smart card reader 140 for communicating with a so called �smart card�, often serving as a Conditional Access Module (CAM). The CAM typically includes a central processor unit (CPU) of its own along with associated RAM and ROM memory. Smart card reader 140 is used to couple the system bus of STB 22 to the smart card serving as a CAM (not shown). Such smart card based CAMs are conventionally utilized for authentication of the user and authentication of transactions carried out by the user as well as authorization of services and storage of authorized cryptography keys. For example, the CAM can be used to provide the key for decoding incoming cryptographic data for content that the CAM determines the user is authorized to receive.
[0024] STB 22 can operate in a bidirectional communication mode so that data and other information can be transmitted not only from the system's head end to the end user, or from a service provider to the end user of the STB 22, but also, from the end user upstream using an out-of-band channel. In one embodiment, such data passes through the system bus 130 to a modulator 144 through the tuner (operating as a return path OOB tuner) and out through the transmission medium 20. This capability is used to provide a mechanism for the STB 22 and/or its user to send information to the head end (e.g. service requests or changes, registration information, etc.) as well as to provide fast outbound communication with the Internet or other services provided at the head end to the end user.
[0025] Set-top box 22 may include any of a plurality of I/O (Input/Output) interfaces represented by I/O interfaces 146 that permit interconnection of I/O devices to the set-top box 22. By way of example, and not limitation, a serial RS-232 port 150 can be provided to enable interconnection to any suitable serial device supported by the STB 22's internal software. Similarly, communication with appropriately compatible devices can be provided via an Ethernet port 152, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) port 154, an IEEE 1394 (so-called firewire or i-link) or IEEE 1394 wide port 156, S-video port 158 or infrared port 160. Such interfaces can be utilized to interconnect the STB 22 with any of a variety of accessory devices such as storage devices, audio/visual devices 26, gaming devices (not shown), Internet Appliances 28, etc . . .
[0026] I/O interfaces 146 can include a modem (be it dial-up, cable, DSL or other technology modem) having a modem port 162 to facilitate high speed or alternative access to the Internet or other data communication functions. In one preferred embodiment, modem port 162 is that of a DOCSIS (Data Over Cable System Interface Specification) cable modem to facilitate high speed network access over a cable system, and port 162 is appropriately coupled to the transmission medium 20 embodied as a coaxial cable. Thus, the STB 22 can carry out bi-directional communication via the DOCSIS cable modem with the STB 22 being identified by an unique URL (Universal Resource Locator).
[0027] A PS/2 or other keyboard/mouse/joystick interface such as 164 can be provided to permit ease of data entry to the STB 22. Such inputs provide the user with the ability to easily enter data and/or navigate using pointing devices. Pointing devices such as a mouse or joystick may be used in gaming applications.
[0028] Of course, STB 22 also may incorporate basic video outputs 166 that can be used for direct connection to a television set such as 24 instead of (or in addition to) an IEEE 1394 connection such as that illustrated as 30. In one embodiment, video output 166 can provide composite video formatted as NTSC (National Television System Committee) video. In some embodiments, the video output 166 can be provided by a direct connection to the graphics processor 136 or the demultiplexer descrambler 110 rather than passing through the system bus 130 as illustrated in the exemplary block diagram. S-Video signals from output 158 can be similarly provided without passing through the system bus 130 if desired in other embodiments.
[0029] The infrared port 160 can be embodied as an infrared receiver 34 as illustrated in FIG. 1, to receive commands from an infrared remote control 36, infrared keyboard or other infrared control device. Although not explicitly shown, front panel controls may be used in some embodiments to directly control the operation of the STB 22 through a front panel control interface as one of interfaces 146. Selected interfaces such as those described above and others can be provided in STB 22 in various combinations as required or desired. STB 22 may include a disc drive interface 170 and disc drive mass storage 172 for user storage of content and data as well as providing storage of programs operating on CPU 132. STB 22 may also, include floppy disc drives, CD ROM drives, CD R/W drives, DVD drives, etc . . . CPU 132, in order to operate as a computer, is coupled through the system bus 130 to memory 176. Memory 178 may include a combination any suitable memory technology including Random Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory (ROM), Flash memory, Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM), etc.
[0030] While the above exemplary system including STB 22 is illustrative of the basic components of a digital set-top box suitable for use with the present invention, the architecture shown should not be considered limiting since many variations of the hardware configuration are possible without departing from the present invention.
[0031] In general during operation of the STB 22, an appropriate operating system 180 such as Sony Corporation's Aperios� real time operating system is loaded into, or is permanently stored in, active memory along with the appropriate drivers for communication with the various interfaces. Along with the operating system and associated drivers, the STB 22 usually operates using browser software 182 in active memory or may permanently reside in ROM or EEPROM. The browser software 182 typically operates as the mechanism for viewing not only web pages on the Internet, but also serves as the mechanism for viewing an Electronic Program Guide (EPG) formatted as an HTML document. The browser 182 can also provide the mechanism for viewing normal programming (wherein normal programming is viewed as an HTML video window�often occupying the entire area of screen 26).
[0032] STB software architectures vary depending upon the operating system. However, in general, all include at the lowest layer various hardware interface layers. Next is an operating system layer as previously described. The software architectures of modem STBs have generally evolved to include a next layer referred to as �middleware�. Such middleware permits applications to run on multiple platforms with little regard for the actual operating system in place. Middleware standards are still evolving at this writing, but are commonly based upon JavaScript and HTML (HyperText Markup Language) virtual machines. At the top layer is the application layer where user applications and the like reside (e.g. browsing, email, EPG, Video On Demand (VOD), rich multimedia applications, pay per view, etc.). The current invention can be utilized with any suitable set-top box software architecture.
[0033]FIG. 3 illustrates a system 200. As shown therein, such system may include television 24, STB 22, a media server 12, a transmission medium 20 and a portable data device 200. The portable data device 200 is adapted to fit into the smart card reader 140 of the STB 22. The portable data device 200 exchanges information with the STB 22 by way of an ISO7816 interface 220. The STB 22 may be coupled to transmission medium 20 which, in turn, may be coupled to service provider 10 so as to receive television programming therefrom, in a manner as previously described. The STB 22 may also be coupled to the television 24 by way of a cable or interface such as interface 30 and/or output 166 so as to provide received television programming thereto for display on display 26.
[0034] Additionally, the STB 22 may be adapted to receive information from the portable data device 200, such as by way of the ISO7816 interface. The information received and transmitted from the portable device 200 may be processed by CPU 132 (FIG. 2). Such processing may include formatting and packetizing of the information data in a predetermined manner. The processed information may be supplied to a respective destination by way of a out-of-band or back channel transmission through transmission medium 20. The back channel may be through the modem 162 (FIG. 2) coupled to a telephone line (such as a plain old telephone service (POTS) line), a cable modem coupled to a cable modem, a DSL modem coupled to a DSL connection, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) line, an Ethernet connection to a network, a wireless connection to a network, and so forth. The destination may be the head end 10, a server 12, an ISP host 38, another STB 22 and so forth. The television 24, STB 22, and smart card reader 140 may be separate units or, alternatively, two or more of them may be combined into a single unit. For example, the television 24, STB 22, and the smart card reader 140 may be arranged in a single unit. As another example, the television 24 and STB 22 may be arranged in a single unit and the smart card reader 140 may be arranged in another separate unit.
[0035] The STB 22 may act as a transcoder. When working in this manner, the STB 22 performs a transcoding function. The STB 22 takes IP data from the Head End 10 and translates that data into ISO7816 commands. These commands are then sent to the portable data device 200. Operating in the other direction, the STB 22 accepts data from the portable data device 200 via ISO7816 commands, and places the data in an IP packet for delivery to the Head End 10. An application runs at the head end 10 with the STB 22 only performing a transcoding function. A new application may be downloaded to a portable data device 200 from the Head end 10. The head end 10 can detect when a portable data device 200 is inserted into the smart card slot 140 and cause the appropriate information to be generated and downloaded, e.g. downloading a Web Page or other data.
[0036] The STB 22 may also operate with the head end 10 as a data source. When operating in this manner, the STB 22 is enabled to interface with the portable data device 200 through the smart card reader 140. An interface application may be downloaded to the STB 22. Then, the STB 22 can access the head end 10 for files to download on user request to the portable data device 200. Alternatively, the STB 22 can process data that has been broadcast to all STBs 22 on a given network. For example, the STB 22 can process Service Information (SI) required by the STB 22 to access subscription and Instant Pay per View (IPPV) programming and format it for the portable data device 200.
[0037] The smart card reader 140 is an ISO7816 smart card interface located on the front panel of the STB22. The smart card reader is an interface that can be clocked at various rates. At the present time, the maximum clock rate is limited by the C-Cube 9311 chip which limits the clock rate to 113.68 Kilobits per second. The smart card reader may use an ISO7816 interface or a Universal Serial Bus (USB) Protocol, or a Serial Parallel Interface (SPI) or a proprietary system such as Sony's Memory Stick Interface and Protocol. It must be understood that the physical interface, e.g. Smart Card, SPI, or Memory Stick Interface, could be used with Universal Serial Bus (USB) protocol. In such a case, for example with a Smart Card, the serial transfer would be megabits per second instead of kilabits per second. The Smart Card would have a USB Controller built in.
[0038] As shown in FIG. 4, the portable data device 200 may be an active type smart card. The portable data device 200 contains contacts a LCD display 230, a rechargeable battery 234, memory 246 and contacts 248. The user may interact with the portable data device 200 through keyboard buttons 236. These may be an on/off switch 238, a remind button 240, a down button 242 and an up button 244. Data may be transferred to the portable data device 200 through the contacts 248 and stored in the memory 246. The information stored in the portable data device 200 may be displayed on the LCD display 230.
[0039] There are many types of smart cards. First there are Straight Memory Cards. These cards just store data and have no data processing capabilities. These cards are the lowest cost per bit for user memory. They should be regarded as floppy disks of varying sizes without the lock mechanism. These cards cannot identify themselves to the reader, so your host system has to know what type of card is being inserted into a reader. Second, there are Protected/Segmented Memory Cards. These cards have built-in logic to control the access to the memory of the card. Sometimes referred to as Intelligent Memory cards these devices can be set to write protect some or the entire memory array. Some of these cards can be configured to restrict access to both reading and writing. This is usually done through a password or system key. Segmented memory cards can be divided into logical sections for planned multi-functionality. There are also CPU Multifunction Cards. These cards have on-card dynamic data processing capabilities. Multifunction smart cars allocate card memory into independent sections assigned to a specific function or application. These cards have a microprocessor or micro-controller chip that manages the memory allocation and file access
[0040] As shown in FIG. 5, in operation, the STB would display the introduction screen 250 on the television 24. The introduction screen 250 gives the user many options to show and then download to the portable data device 200. The options include, but are not limited to Television Schedule 252, Personal Calendars 254 for each member of the family, To Do Lists 256 for each member of the family, games 258 and Pocket Pets 260. The introduction screen also includes a Television Window 262 to show the chosen television channel while the user is viewing the introduction screen 250. The user then chooses an application, such as Television Schedule. Any number of applications may be supplied by way of the transmission medium 20 to the STB 22 whereupon the signals may be processed and supplied to the television 24 by way of the STB 22. This uses a combination of STB 22 and Head end 10 applications. This may be used for all types of downloads such as schedule, calendar, notes and game data. There is typically no further interaction after the download is made.
[0041] As shown in FIG. 6, a television schedule is displayed on the television 24. Upon viewing the television schedule, the user may click the download icon 254 to download the television schedule to a portable data device 200 through the smart card reader 140 of the STB 22. The received information is processed in a predetermined manner by the processor 232 (FIG. 4) so that it may be manipulated and displayed on the LCD display 230. The user may view TV Program Listings by scrolling using the up 244 and down 242 buttons and may press the remind 240 button to have the portable data device 200 remind the viewer when certain television programs are starting.
[0042] Furthermore, although in describing the present invention the portable data device 200 was described as being smart card, the present invention is not so limited. That is, other types of electronic gadget cards and credit card readers may be utilized. For example, the device may be a smart card such as a so-called SIM IC type card, a contactless integrated circuit (IC) type card having a contactless-type integrated circuit (IC) chip, an adaptor and so forth.
[0043] Although preferred embodiments of the present invention and modifications thereof have been described in detail herein, it is to be understood that this invention is not limited to these embodiments and modifications, and that other modifications and variations may be effected by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
Referenced by
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text:
Leicester v Northampton - Aviva Premiership final match preview
Last Updated: 25/05/13 2:38pm
Leicester have opted to keep changes to a minimum as they look to claim the Aviva Premiership title against Northampton at Twickenham on Saturday.
The Tigers have been regular visitors to the end-of-season showpiece, with this set to be their ninth successive appearance in the final.
However they have won just three times - and lost to Harlequins and Saracens in their last two appearances.
Richard Cockerill has opted to make just a solitary change to his squad following the semi-final win over Quins, with Ed Slater coming on to the bench in place of Thomas Waldrom.
Leicester have already beaten their East Midlands rivals twice this season, including a 36-8 rout at Franklin's Gardens in March, but Tigers hooker Tom Youngs said: "Form goes out of the window, previous games go out of the window.
"It's a final, a one-off game, and that is all you've got to focus on. A lot of Saints players are international players, so they will have played in big games."
The Saints have been forced into one change for their first trip to Twickenham.
Northampton, who shocked table-topping Saracens in the semi-final, have called in the vastly experienced Phil Dowson for the clash after Calum Clark was ruled out.
Clark, who is due to tour Argentina with England in the summer, picked up a knock in training so Dowsons starts and Ben Nutley comes in on the bench.
There is another change among the replacements, with George Pisi preferred to Tom May as cover for the three-quarters.
Northampton captain Dylan Hartley told SaintsTV: "We've been through heartache and disappointment in recent years, as well as our good times, and games like the Aviva Premiership semi-finals and at the Millennium Stadium are massive motivators for us.
"Fans and players alike all suffer the disappointments, so hopefully this weekend we can give ourselves something to celebrate instead."
Leicester: 15 Mathew Tait, 14 Niall Morris, 13 Manusamoa Tuilagi, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Vereniki Goneva, 10 Toby Flood (c), 9 Ben Youngs, 1 Logovi'i Mulipola, 2 Tom Youngs, 3 Dan Cole, 4 Graham Kitchener, 5 Geoff Parling, 6 Tom Croft, 7 Julian Salvi, 8 Jordan Crane.
Replacements: 16 Rob Hawkins, 17 Fraser Balmain, 18 Martin Castrogiovanni, 19 Ed Slater, 20 Steve Mafi, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 George Ford, 23 Matt Smith
Northampton: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Ken Pisi, 13 James Wilson, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 Jamie Elliott, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Lee Dickson, 1 Soane Tonga'uiha, 2 Dylan Hartley (capt), 3 Brian Mujati, 4 Courtney Lawes, 5 Christian Day, 6 Phil Dowson, 7 Tom Wood, 8 Samu Manoa.
Replacements: 16 Mike Haywood, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Tom Mercey, 19 Ben Nutley, 20 GJ Van Velze, 21 Martin Roberts, 22 Ryan Lamb, 23 George Pisi
Aviva Premiership
Fri 27th Mar
Northampton52 - 30Wasps
Sat 28th Mar
Leicester Tigers25 - 18Exeter
London Irish22 - 21Newcastle Falcons
Saracens42 - 14Harlequins
Sun 29th Mar
Sale Sharks23 - 6Gloucester
London Welsh14 - 29Bath
Fri 10th Apr
Newcastle Falcons0 - 0Bath
Sat 11th Apr
Harlequins0 - 0Gloucester
Saracens0 - 0Leicester Tigers
Sun 12th Apr
Exeter0 - 0Northampton
London Welsh0 - 0Wasps
London Irish0 - 0Sale Sharks
Fri 24th Apr
Bath0 - 0London Irish
Sat 25th Apr
Sale Sharks0 - 0Harlequins
Gloucester0 - 0Newcastle Falcons
Leicester Tigers0 - 0London Welsh
Northampton0 - 0Saracens
Sun 26th Apr
Wasps0 - 0Exeter
Fri 8th May
Harlequins0 - 0Bath
Sat 9th May
Sale Sharks0 - 0Newcastle Falcons
Gloucester0 - 0London Irish
Northampton0 - 0London Welsh
Wasps0 - 0Leicester Tigers
Sun 10th May
Saracens0 - 0Exeter
Sat 16th May
Bath0 - 0Gloucester
Exeter0 - 0Sale Sharks
Leicester Tigers0 - 0Northampton
London Irish0 - 0Wasps
London Welsh0 - 0Saracens
Newcastle Falcons0 - 0Harlequins
Aviva Premiership 2012/13 final
Cockerill hit with RFU charge
Leicester coach Richard Cockerill has been charged over his behaviour during the Aviva Premiership final.
Tuilagi estatic after victory
Manu Tuilagi says Leicester's Aviva Premiership victory against Northampton was a huge battle but well deserved.
Cockerill hails Tigers triumph
Richard Cockerill heaped praise on Leicester after the 37-17 win over Northampton in the Aviva Premiership final.

subset: commoncrawl


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Taxigirl Mash Ups
BT & JES Vs. Audien "Every Other Iris" [Taxigirl Mashup]
August 29th, 2013
For August JES took her hit collaboration with BT "Every Other Way," and mashed it up with Audien's "Iris."
C. Burns, JES & P. Oakenfold Vs. Tiesto & Dyro "As We Collide With Paradise" [Taxigirl Mashup]
August 29th, 2013
Taxigirl takes Christian Burns, JES, & Paul Oakenfold's "As We Collide" and mashes it up with Tiesto & Dyro's "Paradise" for a major electronic dance floor smash!
JES VS Showtek & Justin Prime "Glow Cannon" (Taxigirl Mashup)
April 13th, 2013
Taxigirl takes JES' remix by her very own"High Glow" and Showtek & Justin Prime's "Cannon. Giving EDM Fans a new dance floor favorite. GET THE DOWNLOAD BELOW!
JES Presents Taxigirl Mashups Volume One!
February 10th, 2013
In celebration of the Inagural year for her "Unleash The Beat" mix show, JES makes available for download the first six mashups under her Taxigirl monger. A special treat for UTB listeners, the mashups are debuted each month on her global mixshow. Starting February 5th, "Unleash The Beat," will move from a monthly […]
JES VS. Sebastian Ingrosso and Tommy Trash "People Will Reload" (Taxigirl Mashup)
November 10th, 2012
Taken from "Unleash The Beat" Show #10 Taxigirl takes JES' remix by Tiesto as Steve Forte Rio "People Will Go" and Sebastian Ingrosso & Tommy Trash's "Reload" to give EDM Fans a new dance floor favorite. GET THE DOWNLOAD BELOW!
JES Vs. Deadmau5 – Do You Love Griefers (Taxigirl Mashup)
October 23rd, 2012
Taxigirl takes JES' "Do You Love Me" from the album High Glow and mashes it up with Deadmau5's "Professional Griefers" SHARE THE LOVE FOR A FREE DOWNLOAD
JES vs Calvin Harris "Show Me So Close" (TaxiGirl Mashup)
August 16th, 2012
For UTB SHow #1, Taxigirl takes Tiesto Pres. Allure Feat JES "Show Me The Way" and mashes it up with Calvin Harris "Feel So Close." The Result- JES vs Calvin Harris "Show Me So Close." TO GET THE DOWNLOAD!!
Robbie Rivera & JES VS. Hardwell – Turn Around Three Triangles (Taxigirl Mashup)
July 5th, 2012
For UTB show #6, Taxigirl takes Hardwell's "Three Triangles" and mashes it up with JES' recent collab with Robbie Rivera "Turn It Around" [viral-download file1="http://www.mediafire.com/?iyg0nuw5ob3sfwl" name1="Free Download Robbie Rivera & JES VS. Hardwell – Turn Around Three Triangles (Taxigirl Mashup)" url="http://unleashthebeat.com/?p=834″ message="To get the DOWNLOAD […]
JES & CG VS Nicky Romero – Flying To Toulouse (Taxigirl Mashup)
June 4th, 2012
For UTB show #5, Taxigirl takes Nicky Romero's "Toulouse" and mashes it up with JES' recent hit collab with Cosmic Gate "Flying Blind." [viral-download file1="http://www.mediafire.com/?pp4yken2pg1j09i" name1="Flying To Toulouse Download" url="http://unleashthebeat.com/?p=813″ message="To get the DOWNLOAD of this Taxigirl Mashup Tweet, Like, or Google Plus to […]
JES vs Afrojack "Closer To The Lionheart" (Taxigirl Mashup)
May 13th, 2012
For UTB show #4, Taxigirl takes Afrojack's Lionheart and fuses it with JES' "Closer," from her hit Album "High Glow."


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Meridian Audio Names Memphis-Based Phoenix Unequaled Home Entertainment as New Dealer
Austell, Georgia, September, 2008âMeridian Audio, the British manufacturer of stunningly stylish yet technologically sophisticated digital audio and video systems, is pleased to announce that it has added Phoenix Unequaled Home Entertainment as its newest dealer in the Memphis area.
Meridian has become legendary for its stylish products that create breathtaking high-definition images and stunning surround-sound. The company is master of accurately reproducing the auditory and visual âcluesâ that help create images of sound and color with such purity and integrity that it is as if you hear them through the ears of the record producer or see them through the eyes of the film director. Beyond creating extraordinary sound and pictures, Meridian has always set new standards for elegant, iconic design, with, for example, the classic 1970âs Lecson on permanent display in the New York Museum of Modern Art. more
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Speak Truth To Power, a human-rights education curriculum offered by the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, has helped turn around the culture of an Ohio school, asserts Kerry Kennedy, president of the center established and named for her father after his 1968 assassination. Through the program, Kennedy writes in this commentary, students learn about the struggle for human rights and about human-rights heroes of the past. "Bullying is the first human rights violation millions of students in the United States will confront. As a human rights organization, it's not something we can ignore," she writes.
View Full Article in:Washington Post (tiered subscription model), The
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NeoPaint 5.2.0b
A full featured graphics studio for Windows that's easy-to-learn, powerful and affordable! The perfect tool for Artists, Photographers, Website & Graphic Designers, Desktop Publishers, PowerPoint Users, Bloggers, App Developers ... and home users to touch up photographs and create great looking graphics for desktop publishing, presentations and ...
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... photos to life through three specialized versions to create virtual hosts or animated actors. Simply import a ... features the same exclusive photo fitting wizard and 3D facial animation found in all versions of CrazyTalk; ...
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Scilab 5.5.1
... access to advanced data structures, 2-D and 3-D graphical functions. A large number of functionalities ... data analysis. * 2-D & 3-D Visualization Graphics functions to visualize, annotate and export data and ...
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Free Buttons helps you create 3D rollover web menus and buttons based on pure ... work with the program. You just change the graphic parameters of buttons such as 3D shape, lighting, ...
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Insofta Cover Commander 188.8.131.522
This is a typical designer's task: create an image of a product box, book, manual, ... can hardly edit them. Today, designers normally use 3D-rendering software. Synthetic images are perfectly clean. You can ...
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TurboCAD Deluxe 2D/3D 21.2 B59.1
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DX Studio 3.2.1
... a complete integrated development environment for creating interactive 3D graphics. The system comprises of both a real-time 3D engine and a suite of editing tools, and ... single IDE. The system includes both 2D & 3D layout editors, and allows full JavaScript control of ...
CAD Architecture PRO - Architectural Design Software Edition Professional
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Blender Portable 2.74
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AIDS Patients Slipping Through Safety Net
By GINA KOLATA
Published: September 15, 1996
William Krantz, a 29-year-old chef who lives in Indianapolis, has AIDS and no health insurance. Early this year, as his medical bills began to mount, he applied for a program that was supposed to help people like him get medications. He is still waiting.
The program, the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, or A.D.A.P., was established by Congress in 1990 to provide money to states to assist people with AIDS who fall through the cracks of the American health care system. They are not poor enough for Medicaid, the medical insurance program that pays for the drugs and other health care of low-income people. And they either have no insurance or insufficient insurance to buy drugs for themselves.
The problem is that more and more people are applying for the AIDS drug program, encouraged by the discoveries of drug combinations that seem to keep H.I.V., the AIDS virus, at bay. At the same time, the price of AIDS therapy has soared, with more and more drugs added to the arsenal. As a consequence, many states, and many people with AIDS, are having to make tough choices.
In a recent survey, the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors found that some states had set up waiting lists for people who want to join the AIDS drug program. Others have closed their enrollments or limited how much they will pay for each patient. And nearly half of all states were limiting or expecting to limit access to a new class of drugs called protease inhibitors. These drugs, used in combination with older drugs, can knock the AIDS virus down to nearly undetectable levels in many patients and have restored the health of many who were severely debilitated, but they cost $10,000 to $20,000 a year.
The group found that the programs in New York and Connecticut paid for protease inhibitors and that New Jersey's program would start paying for them next month. None of the three states' programs had a waiting list.
The A.D.A.P. Working Group, a Washington group that lobbies for AIDS patients who need help paying for drugs, calculates that the $190 million that Congress and the states have appropriated for AIDS Drug Assistance Programs in the 1996 fiscal year is less than half the amount needed. In 1995, the programs served 70,030 people, a 20 percent increase from the previous year.
Mr. Krantz is one who fell victim to the cutbacks. ''Right now I can't get any of the drugs I need unless I pay out of pocket,'' he said. ''I had to get samples from my doctor for six drugs.'' He added that he could not afford the prescriptions. He started trying in Janauary to get into the AIDS Drug Assistance Program in Indiana. But he said, ''I don't think I'm any closer to being accepted now than I was then.'' And protease inhibitors, he added, are out of the question because of their cost.
Paul Chase, at the Indiana Community AIDS Action Network, said that 400 people were in Indiana's AIDS drug program and that 75 were on the waiting list.
Mr. Krantz's roommate, Ray Ford, has taken another tack, impoverishing himself so he qualified for Medicaid, which meant that all his drugs, including protease inhibitors, would be paid for. To qualify for Medicaid, he said, his income cannot exceed $482 a month. Mr. Krantz said he was not ruling out this solution, but, for now, he wants to work.
Dr. Uwe Reinhardt, a Princeton University health economist, said that tales like Mr. Krantz's were nothing new in American medicine. The very poor are covered by Medicaid, which pays for prescription drugs and medical care, he said. Many other Americans have health insurance plans supplemented by their salaries or savings. But, he said, that leaves ''the lower middle class, the gas station attendant, the taxi driver, the waiter.'' And these people, ''the silent sufferers of America,'' Dr. Reinhardt said, ''take all the abuse.''
Some people with some diseases, however, are provided for. The Federal Government pays the medical bills for all people whose kidneys have failed. The State of California pays for clotting factor, a $100,000-a-year drug, for all hemophiliacs.
''You've heard of the natural lottery?'' asks Dr. Norman Daniels, a philosophy professor at Tufts University who specializes in health care. ''You have to be lucky in the disease you get.
''When you have a system that doesn't have a fundamental commitment to helping people, what you have is politicians and lobbyists and activists who are trying to make headway. You end up with irrationalities. A favorite disease gets selected.''
All too often, the silent AIDS suffers are indeed silent, advocates say. Unwilling to go public, reticent about saying they have AIDS, many will speak only anonymously and make do as best they can.
A woman who lives in a Washington suburb, for example, who spoke only on the condition that her name not be used, explained that some people in her church did not know she had AIDS. Her insurance policy has a $3,000 annual cap for prescription drugs, which she quickly exceeded. She has begun taking protease inhibitors, which cost $900 a month, she said, and she cannot bear to give them up. ''I can actually feel the difference in my body,'' she said. ''I generally feel good.''


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An Artificial Leaf Process Makes Isopropyl Alcohol
February 18, 2015 | Leave a Comment
A Harvard University team from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard Medical School and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have created a system that uses bacteria to convert solar energy into the liquid fuel isopropanol (rubbing alcohol or the red bottle of gasoline line deicer). The work integrates an "artificial leaf," which […]
Fuel and Food In Just One Step
February 3, 2015 | Leave a Comment
A team at the National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences in Japan has developed an efficient production of both ethanol biofuel and animal feed from one crop. Using rice, the predominate grass and starch crop in Japan, the work can be done on a farm without the need for an off-site processor. The research has been […]
Two Fuels From One Algae
January 29, 2015 | Leave a Comment
Researchers Greg O'Neil of Western Washington University and Chris Reddy of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have found an unusual and untapped class of chemical compounds in an algae species to synthesize two different fuel products, in parallel, a from the single algae. The algae is a common algae commercially grown to make fish food that […]
New Catalyst Cracks Out Cellulose & Xylan 14 Times Faster
January 15, 2015 | 3 Comments
Scientists at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have developed an enzyme that could change the economics of biofuel conversion by converting biomass to sugars up to 14 times faster and much cheaper than competing catalysts in today's enzyme cocktails. This enzyme is called CelA, a cellulase from the bacterium Caldicellulosiruptor bescii. C. […]
A New Process to Make Use of Lignin
December 18, 2014 | 1 Comment
A new catalytic process from Purdue is able to convert the biomass waste lignin into lucrative chemical products that can be used to create high-octane fuel for racecars and jets or even in fragrances or flavorings. The Purdue team of researchers has developed a process that uses a chemical catalyst and heat to spur reactions […]


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What are your old fashioned tips?
I'm always fascinated by "over the fence gardening tips" that I get from people. You know...the kind of old fashioned/thrify tips that your grandmother told you and still works better than stuff you buy in the store.
What are yours?
If you grow carrots leave a few inground to overwinter so that they will bloom the following Spring. Carrot flowers are similar to Queen Anne's Lace (cousins) are just the right type to attact beneficial insects to the garden such as parasitic wasps and soldier beetles. Works for me, vgkg
Back to the the dried camomile. I buy it by the bag and crush it fine and then use a fine dusting of it on the surface of my seedlings. This way I don't have to keep reapplying.
One more. Never had the priviledge of grandparents or gardening relatives, but I am intrigued with using newpaper to garden, to smother new beds and to make paper cups for new seedlings that can then be planted directly into the soil without being removed. And they are cheap, cheap, cheap!
Tip from my Grandfather: Put a cinder block over tomato transplants (plant goes through the hole). Block shades the soil at base of plant, cutting watering needs in half. Provides some wind protection and releases heat at night to keep maters toasty on cool spring evenings. Really makes a difference.
Everybody seems to know all the tricks. This is a great site. Every day, we have something old,or something new.
The only tip left is to pick off Japanese Beetles from Hollyhocks and place them in your container,that has some gasoline. Many a summer, this was my job.
My mother-in-law (who is amazing with veggies and fruit) told me to plant food-bearing plants when the moon is waxing (increasing to a full moon) and ornamentals when the moon is waning (decreasing). It's an old superstition but if her garden has anything to say about it I would hazard to say it can't hurt!! ;)
My late mother-in-law always planted her veggies by the moon. It was always a full garden too. You can still find the Farmers Almanac she used at some stores.
As for the coffee grounds as mulch, that's a lot of coffee, huh? :-) I have been using egg shells & coffee grounds mixed into the soil around my roses. They've grown beautifully (this is the 2nd year), but my climbing peace still has blackspot. I'm having to spray all the time. But I know it doesn't have enough sun. Also, I've always poured pickle juice around gardenias, ferns and my cleyera...all acid loving plants.
For acid loving plants, you can`t get a better fertilizer than cottonseed meal. It has an NPK of 6.5/2/1.5...It is also high in minor elements..Roses and azaleas really love it. It wont burn, no matter how much you use. Just apply it to the soil and scratch it in. It is very slow release. Buy it at your farm or feed store. It`s not sold locally as fertilizer, but as animal feed.
If you pull catapillars off your tomatoes and throw them out of the garden the birds will not come eat them! They will come back and get right back on the tomatoes! If you pull them again and put them in the bird feeder..the birds will not eat them. They will crawl out and head for your flower bed! Solution..... throw them in the pond for the fish......they can't swim!
Marigolds - depends on variety. Go with the french marigolds. Shared this tidbit with my grandpa many years ago, and he said it was the worst bug year for his tomatoes in his 60 years of gardening. He used the yellow lemon variety. All my books say the french variety is the deterrent.
Use the permanent type of Elmer's white glue to seal pruning cuts on roses and shrubs that are prone to cane borers. The borers can't get through the stuff. No more holes at the ends of canes and subsequent dieback. Much easier than smearing the black stuff on. Cap twists shut and you can keep a small bottle in your pocket.
Dryer lint in the dirt? Really? I have tons of that stuff! What does it do?
Compost banana peels at base of rose bushes to prevent aphids.
Paint handles of gardening utensils with neon paint so you can find them in the garden.
Paint the trunk of young peach/apricot trees, from just above roots up to first limbs, with water base ceiling white paint. Serves two ways....prevents catapillers from laying their eggs just below soil level (no borers), and cuts sunscald in winter.
Old timers would burn a brush pile to warm/sterilize soil and prevent weeds so they could start late garden plants. Works equally well to prepare a spot for wildflowers.
Really? I put wood ash around my lilacs 4 or 5 years ago, and one finally gave up the hard battle this year and died, and the other is bravely hanging on, with a few measly blooms a year, and not a single inch of up growth. Perhaps I put on too much, the ash turned into a hard cement-like mulch that would not absorb water. How much did you sprinkle on, maine-gardener?
In the fall, I plant garlic around the outside edges of the garden areas. It seems to keep quite a few of the "negative bugs" out of the area. Doesn't stop 'em all, but it helps a LOT!
Marigolds, Pyrethrum, and Basil help too. (Especially near the tomatoes....didn't have ONE tomato hornworm last year and had over 20 tomato plants.)
I'v just gotta jump in here! Mom uses (so do I now) household ammonia as plant food....works great! 1/4 cup to a gallon of water...works on flowers and veggies....not sure about using on your africian violets...better do a test from the watering saucer on this one...but everything else that i have used it on loved a slow "over the top" watering.
Warning....be careful of those wood ashes...can be very caustic to human skin and do not store in a metal container....work with gloves only and wear eye protection!
Ammonia = nitrogen ( pee= it too ).
Drier lint is probably mostly cotton = compost OR nesting material for birds. Birds also love animal fur and human hair.
Sweeper bag dirt is great soil additive ( in fact bury the whole bag ).
I use my 4 lb.dog's (Tic) peepee-poo papers as a mulch around my tomatoes ( please....no lecture on disease )
Soapy wash water (dishes,clothes,etc..) is great to water houseplants (fights bugs ).
A few drops of oil-any kind- applied to standing water will kill skeeter larve. (they come to surface for air and get oiled = dead )
WOW. I've nothing to add, just wanted to say thanks for all the great posts.
Dryer lint! My gosh, I'd never have thought of that! I'm so excited about composting, that everything in my house should begin to be very afraid. LOL.
Bury the whole vaccuum bag?? I confess, using the vaccuum bag NEVER occurred to me. Lots of flea eggs probably, massive dirt; what is in in it that is necessarily healthy? Just curious.
I don't drink coffee -- love the smell, hate the taste -- but as much as people rave about coffee grounds in the garden I'm beginning to wish I did! :-)
Warning - The drier lint only works if you don't wear a lot of clothes with synthetic fibers.
palyne - You don't have to drink coffee to get te grounds. Most starbucks give them away if you ask nicely. I also snatch up all the grounds from coffee at work.
I always put epsom salt with tomatoes and peppers at planting time also water all my flowers with it they bloom like crazy. sprinkle cornmeal on your roses for blackspots.soak bannas in a quart jaar sealed leave outside a couple of days to ferment then pour at base of roses they will really thrive, eggshells crushed around tomatoes for calcium to prevent blossom rot.i plant all my tomatoes and peppers in coffee cans just cut out bottom and push in to garden dirt right after plantin, makes it easier to water and protects the plant.
I work from home so I can't steal 'em, and there's no starbucks nearby, but I did actually BUY some starbucks coffee. I find if I add brown sugar and international-delight "southern butter pecan" creamer, I really like it.
LOL. It's a dessert, not a coffee. :-) But now I am on occasion drinking coffee! Wow. A real "vice". This is even better than my guilt over Dr. Pepper.
(It's hard to be so straight.)
Please use caution when using coffee grounds, they can be a bane around alkaline loving plants. Coffee grounds are great around Azaleas. Dry banana peels on screens during the winter months. In the spring grind them in a blender, or food chopper, then use them as mulch.
What about snails? I have millions, appart from plans for some geese when the pond is dug I've found that those nasty plastic handing pots with the really large turned down lip work very well. Not hung up! but with the bottoms cut out pushed a bit into the ground, some mulch and the plant inside- very cosy so far survival 100% Before I'd arrive to sticks!
Just pour the coffee after you have percked it around the plants after it cools. Left over coffee and the grounds never see the garbage disposal at our home. I perk coffee to use as a spry adding other things such as molasses, Extra virgin olive oil and a letter constrated dish detergant. It is a good foliar spry and prevents lots of disease.
If you take a sharp spade or shovel and cut a 12" deep perimeter in the soil around your wisteria (cutting through the root system) you can cause it to flower. Be your own judge as to how far away from the trunk you should cut. Just don't cut too close.
Anybody else ever tried this? Maybe with other plants?
When the ground is parched, and the water just runs away from plants, up-end a wine bottle of water in a hole next to the plant. When water seeps into the ground, another bubble of air gets in, releasing another glug of water. Or, put any bottle over a short supporting stake, in a little depression for the regulating puddle. ( Something like the old self-tending chicken waterers.)
Put ribbons of surveyer's flagging tape, orange mason's twine, or flourescent cloth on garden tools and pruners; helps spot them when dropped by kids or you in the tall grass, the "what weeds?", leaf piles, or evening dusk. Tie or tape on where it's not in the way of your grip.
Or spray with flourescent orange - over white paint for added brightness. Even glows thru a little snow! I put it at the balance point of heavy prybars.
Teach the kids - and yourself - to Always leave the snow shovels standing up; but Never stick the garden fork or crowbar in the ground when freeze-up is near.
Stack 1 to 4 tires ( can be over sod or weeds.) Fill with dirt and compost or leaves. Plant even leggy tomatoes or sprouted potatoes as you fill the tires. Sun warms tires before ground is warm; simplifies (may require) watering. Keeps tomatoes off ground. Sharp sand or ashes on ground around outside might keep slugs from climbing. Push in stakes, when you get around to it, without a piledriver. Let the Supersweet 100s grow down as well as up.
Keep adding to compost, as pile settles.
In fall, help kids knock over the pile to "dig" the potatoes.
Leaves a rich weed-free spot for next year's whatever.
And there was less mosquito water.
Regarding coffee grounds, which I have an embarrassing and endless supply of, do they make the soil more acid? Would my blueberries like them?
My grandmother had an amazing postage-sized garden in Brooklyn NY. She had a very sophisticated method of enriching the soil and introducing new cultivars. When she was done making a salad, cutting up a melon, etc., she'd take the peels, seeds, etc. out onto her porch and simply hurl it into the garden. Darwin would do his work. The strong would survive and the weak would be fertilizer.
I can't begin to tell you how productive that place was. And there was always something new.
If you have a problem with racoons getting your sweet corn and you're tired of putting up the electric fence, plant your sweet corn 2 weeks later than everyone else does. You won't get to brag about being the first to eat sweet corn, but you won't have racoons. The racoons are spending all their time searching out the early stuff. My dad did the electric fence every year bacause the coons were terrible. When he started waiting, he hasn't had to put up an electric fence in 15 years.
No, the coffee grounds don't make your soil more acidic. I thought for years that you should only use them on acid-loving plants. Turns out the *used* coffee grounds are just about pH neutral. What they do is provide a good nitrogen boost.
About that dryer lint and vacuum cleaner bag...I have to mention the synthetics, too. I used to put all that stuff into my compost pile, until I realized that my carpet is synthetic and my son wears nothing but polartec all winter...yuk! It *never* breaks down.
Burying those banana peels has another benefit; buried near aphid-prone plants, it seems to keep the aphids away.
And another aphid tip--foil around the base of the plant. It keeps the ants who farm the aphids away.
You should check out the organic forum. gardengrl; there are *tons* of these kinds of tips.
Sort of strange but it really works. An older farmer that I ran into while I was buying mole repellant at the feed store said the best thing to use was Ex-lax. Just drop a little piece in any mole holes and you will get rid of them. i tried it and sure enough it worked great!!
Ammonia about a quarter cup in a 20 gallon hose end sprayer, mix it with about the same amount of baby shampoo or dish soap and fill the rest with water. Spray your lawn and plants to the point of run-off. The ammonia is a ready source of nitrogen for green leafy growth. The baby shampoo or dish soap rinses the pollution, dirt etc from leaves so photosynthesis can occur better.
Try one of Jerry Baker's books for many tips. Including the one above.
Am trying an experiment with moon sign planting this year. Next good day to plant is May 14-15 in the sign of Scorpio.
What great tips!
My recent gardening club newsletter says that coffee at X3 strength has been found by researchers to kill slugs. I'm not sure whether you have to pour it on them directly or just penetrating the soil around vulnerable plants is good enough. I've been watering my hostas with it anyway.
My favorite though: Burying my (non-meat or dairy) garbage in holes in my yard. Our soil was nothing but heavy impenetrable clay until I began burying table scraps sometimes mixed with a little shredded newspaper. I include coffee grounds and filters, tea bags, egg shells also. I just keep them in a large air-tight container under my sink until full.
I have also been told that a solution of water and Murphy's oil soap sprayed on leaves of hosta will discourage slugs. Anyone tried this one?
Not old fashioned, but, I used this technique for my garden and planted 60 seedlings (10 six packs from the garden department) in about an hour.
My beds were already turned, raked, and prepped. I covered them with black horticulture plastic (4 mil thick plastic mulch) to warm the soil and to keep the weeds out...I won't be weeding at all this year! I put down soaker hoses (under the sheeting) for the watering which will be hooked to my timer box. I have a fertilizer resevoir at the automatic valve for nourishment thru the soaker hose. This can be used with drip irrigation as well.
I marked the plant spacing with ground marking paint right on the plastic (just a small spot). Once properly spaced, I then cut an "X" across each spot about 2 1/2" by 2 1/2" with a razor blade.
Last year, I used a small narrow trowel to scoop out the dirt for each seedling and planted them one at a time. It took a long time and I had to hover over each hole to carefully scoop out the dirt which wasn't good for my back. The depth of the holes was all over the place, and the plastic was abused a bit.
This was the inovative part. This year I used my bulb planting device (whatever you call it...) and the plugs came out with a breeze and I put the soil (from the plugs) into a 5 gallon bucket. I cut all the holes at once before I even planted the first plant. The bulb thingy has depth markings on it already up to 8" deep.
Then in went the seedlings. A bit of back fill outta the bucket and a light firming around the seedling and an hour later (with a couple beer breaks) it was looking good. I then watered each "X" and that was it.
My back loved the idea and since then I've planted about 70 more seedlings in my various flower beds. It's quick and easy! Just a twist and the hole is there. You don't disturb the surrounding area as the bulb hole cutter (thing-a-ma-jig/do-ba-higgitz) goes straight in and out without any prying out the soil and the resulting disturbance to the adjacent areas.
Make sure you water the seedlings well first and water the ground before you put down the plastic. And of course don't forget to water the plants after they're in the ground...
You don't need to use plastic as the bulb holer (etc...) can be used in any existing planting bed.
I hope this tip helps all you 6 pack gardeners! I use the empty 6 packs for my next years seedlings so now I just buy seed packets. I have now got to set up a greenhouse to start seeds in the end of Janurary for my March plantings (I love California...) so my tomatos are ready in May
Sticking a nail into the soil next to a gardenia bush, helps reduce yellow. Misting the ground before you water makes soil more porous which helps with run off. Black pepper sprinkled in pot (for houeplants and outdoor containters) keeps cats from digging (repeat frequently). Small hand-held vacuum for cleaning electronics (computer keyboards etc) to suck up mealies and other bugs (this is quite fun and I didn't learn it from grandma :). For cut flowers, use luke warm to warm water, never cold, in vases and let it sit for awhile to reduce air bubbles which clog stems. I think that's it!
Dryer softener sheets, tied around stakes at each corner of you garden (or around the base of targeted plants) will totally repulse munching critters.Haven't seen them in years!
My pest control spray: capful each, brown Listerine, lemon dishsoap, household ammonia, ordinary brown tea and plantfood 1\2 strength. Kills/repulses undesirable insects while boosting plants.
Someone mentioned cigarette butts in water. As cigarettes contain a gazillion other things besides tobacco, I would strongly suggest using REAL tobacco leaves, 2 or 3 of them soaked in a 5-gallon jug. Most farmers still grow some or know someone who does.
To ward off skunks who have chosen under your porch or shed as a condo, simply light up the area with a strong light source for a few days. Skunks like only dark areas to nestle into. (really works!)
A little baking soda in a spray bottle works wonders against mildew and white spots on flowering plants.
To get rid of moles, put a clump of human hair (from any reliable --i.e. understanding!-- hairdresser mixed with a TBlspoon of cooking oil at the entrance of a couple of their entrance/exit holes. The gooey hair clings to their body and drives them away.
After your dog has peed on the lawn, simply water the 'affected' area thoroughly and the bleached spot will disappear in a couple of days with new grass growth.
The pantyhose trik works very well. Just cut up old pantyhose and knee-highs into strips to tie up vines or floppy plants.
What to do with all those containers for rolls of film? Easy! Use them to store your seeds. You can easily identify and store seeds. I just add a thumbnail piece of paper towel to soak up any lasting moisture. Any local pharmacy who develops film will be ECSTATIC to give them to you, as most times they just throw them away without even recycling! Works for me!
Got an aphid infestation? Two solutions. #1 Give the affected plant a good stong shower with the garden hose. Most of the aphids will be blown away. Will not harm plants. #2 Ladybugs ladybugs ladybugs. Nowadays, you can even BUY a bunch of them at your local garden centre or nursery.
Keep those tips coming!
good for you, bullnettle. i've about picked my weeping willow clean but noticed the bark was peeling off the old guy. it makes real dark tea! used it for 30 years for its hormone that encourages rooting, then had to be told that's it's also a root stimulator. duh. should have figured that out myself. now i use it on all transplants
while i'm at it. a tea made with chewing tobacco did kill the spider mites on my tomato that was dying in august. it procuced clear into november. am told a 1:9 solution of detergent:water will get them too like it does aphids.
the solution that will kill that milky mould on crepe myrtles early in the year is 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda to a quart of water. why use stronger? if you have a lot to do, use 1/2 cup in 5 gallons on your hose sprayer.
thanks for all the ideas i'm getting.
regards, dick
As suggested, willows have a natural rooting hormone. Cut up trimmings (about pencil thickness) into 1" lengths, smash with a hammer or mallet (in a bag, of course) then dump them into a pot of boiling water. Let cool. Use water for rooting cutting or for transplants.
I keep a plastic juice bottle with rusty nails and water in it, I call it my rusty nail bottle. Plants need iron, so the rusty nail water is the cheapest way to get it to them. I just go grab it and water all the plants with the water and just keep filling it up over and over again!
Got this tip from a sweet English woman, who knows gardening better than the Brits? She also gave me the tips about crushed egg shells (calcium) and banana peels (potassium).
I also use my aquarium water when I do a water change to water the plants and potted garden plants. Aquarium water usually has a ton of phosphates in it as well as some nitrogen.
My family were subsistance farmers. They had excess space for growing food and fuel but being in a remote location had limited opportunity to work for money or sell many food products for money. We were cash poor, no money for chemicals etc.
So. They grew an excesses of everything. They grew ten times as many potatoes as needed. If bugs got 90% of them they broke even. If the excess survived and thrived it was fed to the pigs which were easier to sell for money.
Beans, peas, corn and potatoes were often grown in rediculous excess. Pigs loved them all.
Osage oranges in corners of your house will keep spiders away
Coffee grounds always went by roses. They also look very pretty and smell fresh too
Old farm guy told me how to keep grass from growing over stepping stones in garden. I was cutting it away which is not only hard, but over the years the stones will sink as plant roots (and ants etc) pull nutrients from under the stones. Instead insert a shovel under one edge of the stone. Step on the shovel to lift the stone up on one side, and then drop it. The lifted edge will fall on top of the overgrowth. Do this all around. The stone will be on top of the weeds instead of buried by them, it won't sink, and it only took your body weight. I never forget his look at that dang fool cityperson trying to cut weeds off stepping stones by hand!
Likewise when planting shrubs or seedling trees if you clear the area, and dig a big hole for it. the plant won't fare as well as if you just a slit trench. To use a slit trench put shovel into sod where you want to plant. Step down on the shovel until it goes in deep enough for your bush. Then grab shovel handle with both hands, step up onto the shovel with both feet if needed, and lean your weight back until the slit opens wide enough to insert the shrub. Slide the plant into the opening, and remove the shovel to close the slit.
Every bush I planted by clearing and digging a big hole either got choked with weeds that moved into the cleared soil, or got dryed out by having bare soil around it. The slit trench plants have done much much better and needed less watering. Of course that is the way the old guy would do it. They didnt have time to fool around with fancy mulches and doo dads on the farm
I was going to read every post here, so I wouldn't repeat anything. But I gave up after about 20!
Some comments, then some tips of my own.
First, you have to be careful not to jump to conclusions, to connect two things that might not have any relation.
Example: You put epsom salt in my soil, and you get great tomatoes. Epsom salt contains magnesium, which plants do need in the chlorophyll molecule.(Just like we need an iron atom in our hemoglobin molecule.) But mangesium is rarely scarce in soil- if it was, nature would have picked something else to make chloropyll with!) Good gardeners shower so much love and attention on their plants that almost anything they did would produce great results.
Second, as someone mentioned, wood ashes are very caustic- alkaline. If you apply too many in one area, they could affect availabilty of nutrients. They especially wouldn't be a good idea around rose bushes, which like acidic soil.
And last comment, dryer lint is not a good thing to toss in the garden- unless it was all from clothes made only from natural fibers. Most clothes today include some percentage of things like nylon or rayon. Those will not decopose in soil in your lifetime. But when thigns like Cotton socks, T-shirts, and towels wear out, and you don't need them for rags, you can put them right in the garden. Cover tghem with some grass clippings, and in six months, you won't find a trace of them. Same for Leather gloves or belts.
Now for a few tips I've come up with in the 34 years I've been gardening. I prefer to use Free things, items most peopole see only as waste materials.
To make harvesting blackberries, cherry tomatoes, green beans or other small things you have a lot of, easier and faster, I use a gallon milk bottle. Slip the handle through your belt so it hangs from your waist. It leaves both hands free for picking, and you don't have to make trips back to some container on the ground. Speeds up harvesting considerably. Oh, enlarge the opening a bit to make it easier to drop things in.
To virtually elminate "transplant shock," simply cover transplants with a cardboard box- open on too to let hot air out. Keep them covered from 3 to 5 days, depending on the weather. Transplant shock is virtualy entirely due to the destruction of microscopic root hairs, the only parts of roots that absorb water. They begin to regenerate right after transplanting, but for a few days the plant can't absorb all the water it neeeds. Shading it with the box significantly reduces transpiration- plant "sweating"- and your transplants won't even wilt.
And finally, many gardeners have trouble getting carrot seeds to sprout. The basic problem is they are so small, so you can't put them very deep in the soil. That in turn means you'd have to water them 3 to 5 times a day, like you have to lawn seed. Most working people can't do that. But if you cover the seeds with some clear plastic- like the "trays" chocolate chip cookies come in!- you create a kind of "terrarium." The soil will stay much moister under there, letting you water only twice a day, morning and evening. It greatly increases germination rates.
There's also my wire-shelf trellis, which lets you grow 8-foot tomatoes (in the right climate zone), but that'll have to wait for another day.
When I am trimming my lavender back after it has flowered, I use the clippings as mulch, helps keep the bugs out. Also, I take last years bunches of dried lavender that I have hanging in the house, crumble it all over the carpet and then vacuume. The vacuume will smell great every time you use it after that. I know that isn't really a garden tip, but a good way to reuse the lavender.
Plant marigolds (normal looking french kind-nothin too fancy) by your tomatoes, better to plant them before and turnem under, this gets the nemotodes which are bad in FL soil.
Water fresh cut roses and X-mas trees with boiling water (maybe only 1" of boiling water for the roses and then cool on top). Seems to open em up or something. Works great for X-mas trees, just add boiling water every time.
Dryer lint would have been great in the 60's, so old fashioned tips can go out of style, back then fabrics were mostly natural (ok except for double knit polyester ugh), nowadays, we wear a lot of synthetics.
Can't get much older than native american three sisters planting: corn, pole beans, squash together. The pole beans grow up the corn stalk and the beans give nitrogen to the corn and the shade of the squash helped trap moisture for the crop.
Some of these posts are great and some I know better than to ever try. About the willow tree, you could just as well use asprin to put on cut flowers or new seedling transplants, might even help to soak seeds in before planting.
My grandmother had the most beautiful hydrangas I have ever seen. When asked by people what she did to acheive such beautiful blooms she said she used nails in the soil. Whenever she had a stray nail she'd just toss it in the soil by her hydranga bushes. When she died and the ground was dug up where her hydrangas had been we found gobs of rusty nails, there were quite alot, but apparently it was a perfect recipe for gorgeous blooms.
I put used dryer sheets or cheap coffee filters in the bottoms of pots so the soil won't leak out of the holes.
When I find good tips, like in this post, I cut and paste them into an e-mail to myself. Send it to myself then print it out so I have the tips to put in my gardening notebook.
I go to www.half.com to look for garden books at cheap prices. After I select the ones that interest me I check those titles out at the public library. If I like them enough I go back to the site and buy them.
If you don't have small children around and plan to leave your hostas in the same area forever I have the most permanent slug preventions. There are two ways to do this. #1. Take old glass jars and carefully break them up. Scatter the glass fragments at the base of your hostas. Slugs can't crawl on ground glass. #2 Save all the tin can lids from your kitchen (I have other people save them for me too). With heavy leather gloves on push the lids half way into the soil around your hostas. Slugs can't crawl over the sharp edges.
I have lovely hosta beds, not a single slug nibble.
This tip isn't original, I read it somewhere and it worked for me. When planting my cucumber seeds I put a shake of Sevin in the hole under each seed. No bugs on the cucumbers.
This tip was accidental. Last season I thought I had dug all of my Dahlia tubers. Moved around some round stepping stones. This spring a moved the stones again and to my surprize one had kept the ground warm enough to protect the missed tuber. A beautiful surprise Dahlia is still blooming in my yard. I am going to leave that tuber in the ground and put the stepping stone on the top for the winter. We'll see if I get another Dahlia or if it dies over the winter.
This I also found out by accident. I used plastic detergent bottles to water plants I over winter in the garage under lights. The little bit of detergent left in the bottles seemed to kill the insect eggs that always get laid in the soil before I bring the plants into the garage. Years before that I was fighting bugs all the time. This year I will add a bit of laundry detergent to all the water I use on my garage plants.
Hope these tips will help some of you. I enjoyed reading your ideas (and cutting and pasting the ones I don't want to forget).
Sticking a long nail or twig into the ground along the stem of a plant tomato when planting it will prevent damage from cut worms and picking off the 'suckers'(those little branches that pop up between the main tomato plant body and the strong off shoot branches ) will improve fruit production .
Put the heads of your garden tools into a bucket of sand to keep them sharp and also to keep them from rusting.
Bury short lengths of PVC pipe beside your plants and water through them. It will go straight to the roots and carry the water and fertilizer if you add it to the water.
Sprinkle a cup of epson salt around your roses and scratch it in to make them stronger and larger.
I have a three year old bell pepper plant in planter box on my front porch, i plant french marigold sometimes in the same box with it, and sage at other times never had a problem with any bugs or diseases, it also provides many a good bell pepper year round.
I have 3-6 inch sunflower seedlings all over my lawn. To prevent the lawn guy from mowing them down, I use this cheap trick. It's butchers twine and BBQ skewers (or chopsticks).From 2007 sunflowe...
Used dryer sheets work great at the bottom of pots to stop soil running out..
For recurring doggy spots on lawn - plant clover instead of grass - dogs can't kill it, never needs feeding, drought-resistant too! If you don't like the flowers (or the bees they attract) just mow it low...
Hurry on Spring!! :-)
To prevent amphids and other little critters, sprinkle some Tenacious Earth (white powder (looks like flower) often used in filter of pool pumps) they are microscopic sharp shards so little insects crawl and cut themselves. It really helped to recover my evergreen bushes that I though I would have to replace since they were mostly brown when we bought our house. Now they are green and thriving. Reapply once a year.
Another name which I have heard Tenacious Earth called is "Dio Tenacious Earth" or "Di Tenacious Earth" and should be found in your local farm supply store.
For dog owners - When applied to the skin of say a dog, the microscopic pieces of the Tenacious Earth cut and shred the fleas and mites on the skin of the dog. But does not harm the dog since its skin is strong enough to take the microscopic blades of the Tenacious Earth.
I think this is what you're referring to - Diatomaceous earth. "Tenacious Earth " sounds like a trade name. You can look it up at the link provided.
Here is a link that might be useful: referrence link
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Based on the British series of the same name, Showtime's Queer as Folk presents the American version. Following the lives of five gay men in Pittsburgh, 'Queer as Folk' is a riveting drama full of sex, drugs, adventure, friendship and love. Although the creators of 'Queer as Folk' wanted to present an honest depiction of gay life, it is by no means a comprehensive depiction. In addition to the usual sexual escapades and relationships of the five friends, the show explores critical gay political and health issues...
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Just a note "Dio Tenaceous" earth is actually "diatomaceous earth" (aka "DE"), as it is made of diatoms. :)
When you use it either for garden or pet, there are some cautions to take. First, always use "food grade" DE. Pool-grade DE is too sharp and can be harmful; it is not meant to be ingested or used on pets or plants where humans or pets could ingest (or lick). Fresh-water food-grade is best, but most organic gardening places and many online shops sell food-grade DE.
Second, as with ALL dusts, please do not use so much that you can really see it or breathe it, and always make sure either to not breathe it and use eye protection if there is a wind (and cover your pets' eyes), or use a dust mask, etc. One way of distributing it is by using a pizza cheese sprinkler.
Planting tomatoes: When you plant them, pick the leggier plants. Pick off the lower branches of your transplants, and plant the tomato at an angle / Various: Look up "companion planting" there are many plants that grow well together. If you plant companion plants at the base of taller plants, you will have to do less weeding, and you will water more efficiently. One example is planting greens between onions, or basil at the feet of tomatoes.
Strawberries. Plant radish patches near your strawberry patches. The radishes will draw the lygus bugs away from your strawberry blooms. You can them vacuum them off of the radishes or use your organic chemicals there without hurting your delicate berries.
1)Plant your tomato stakes before you plant your tomatoes, Less distubance/ shock to the plants!
2)Plant your leeks in a pre-dug row a bit deeper than normal( a bit like potatoes), during the second planting. This way you can build up and easily push soil to cover the base as it grows, thus resulting in more white sections vs green.
I read everyone of these tips today and I'm going to try the epsom salts around my roses. This post is excellent so I think it would be great if we could keep it going. Read through it so we don't post the same tip three or four times. Thanks for sharing all your wonderful tips.
Curious about the bananas in the garden? I'm wondering if they might encourage rodents ie rats, mice?