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National Park Service
News about National Park Service, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.
Chronology of Coverage
Jun. 30, 2015
Op-Ed article by Reed Watson and Scott Wilson highlights fact that National Park Service has extremely large backlog of deferred maintenance throughout national park system, cost of which has reached $11.5 billion; questions wisdom of Pres Obama adding more national parks and thereby stretching already strained maintenance budget; calls on Congress to pay deferred maintenance costs and to renew and expand federal agencies that take care of nation's parks. MORE
May. 19, 2015
Debate over management of indigenous tule elk population in California has cropped up again due to National Park Service survey finding that 250 elk living in penned-off reserve died between 2012 and 2014, while elk outside reserve have thrived; ranchers in Point Reyes peninsula complain that free-roaming elk are consuming drought-limited forage used by their herds, and question why elk within penned-off reserve do not have sufficient access to water. MORE
Aug. 25, 2014
Editorial praises National Park Service for imposing temporary ban on the use of airborne drones by visitors to national parks and monuments; holds proliferation of noisy devices, which are becoming increasingly affordable, had begun to impede on serenity of other visitors. MORE
Jun. 28, 2014
Officials at museum on Ellis Island express frustration at news from National Park Service that more than 21,000 objects and a million archives, moved to a storage center after Hurricane Sandy, will not be returned for nearly 18 months; museum has reopened some exhibit areas, but without many of Ellis Island's most evocative artifacts; new mechanical system that will keep objects dry and cool will not be completed until the end of 2015. MORE
May. 15, 2014
National Park Service sharpshooters cull 106 white-tailed deer in Washington's Rock Creek Park; 3,300 pounds of venison are donated to homeless shelters and other charities across capital; proliferating deer gorge on seedlings and threaten abundant vegetation in park. MORE
May. 12, 2014
National Mall's installation of expensive new turf creates identity crisis, setting off deeper debate about whether mall should remain utilitarian gathering place or more pristine landscape; National Park Service has established strict rules with arrival of new lawn, including limits on festivals and concerts, and even restrictions on activities like pickup softball games and Frisbee. MORE
Apr. 25, 2014
National Park Service and Yosemite Conservancy are teaming on $36 million project to improve lot of giant sequoias in Yosemite National Park; philanthropic organizations known for lending helping hand are funneling millions of dollars into nation's major national parks. MORE
Apr. 18, 2014
Timothy Egan Op-Ed column examines why Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who owes the fededral government about $1 million in fines and fees after grazing his cattle on National Park Service land for more than 20 years, has supporters on the far-right; contends Bundy is misusing a public resource, and criticizes his supporters, like Sen Rand Paul, for using the issue as a political tool. MORE
Nov. 26, 2013
National Park Service acknowledges contamination at Great Kills Park on Staten Island is more extensive than originally believed; 488-acre park was depository for 15 million cubic yards of fill in the 1940s and 1950s, including medical and sanitary waste, some of which contained radium; more than half the park has shown some degree of radioactivity; lengthy process now begins to map contamination and devise a cleanup plan. MORE
Nov. 9, 2013
National Park Service is looking for tenants to invest in and help save 35 historic buildings, including genteel quarters of lieutenants and captains, at Fort Hancock, former military base in Sandy Hook, NJ. MORE
Oct. 25, 2013
National Park Service announces that it will reopen Ellis Island to visitors, one year after it was swamped by Hurricane Sandy; much of damage remains unrepaired, but visitors will be able to tour main floor of immigration museum, despite fact that most of museum's artifacts remain in storage in Maryland. MORE
Oct. 14, 2013
Statue of Liberty reopens amidst federal government shutdown, under deal negotiated by Gov Andrew M Cuomo; New York State will pay National Park Service $61,600 per day to keep monument open. MORE
Oct. 3, 2013
Effects of the federal government shutdown are felt at Jacob Riis Park in Queens, where visitors hoping to get extra beach day during unseasonably warm weather are turned away; beach is run by National Park Service, meaning it is officially closed, with no lifeguards on duty. MORE
Sep. 6, 2013
National Park Service is scrambling to rethink and redefine itself to growing number of Americans from minority populations who do not use the parks in way that previous--mostly white--generations did; only about one in five visitors to national park site is nonwhite, and only about 1 in 10 is Hispanic. MORE
Jul. 29, 2013
National Park Service is proposing significant makeover of Yosemite National Park that would change how visitors experience the park, especially seven-mile-long Yosemite Valley at its heart; plan would restore more than 200 acres of meadows, reduce traffic congestion and close rental facilities for bicycling and other activities. MORE
Jun. 4, 2013
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announces that National Park Service will resume security monitoring for the Statue of Liberty in Battery Park, rather than move it to Ellis Island; New York City Police Commissioner Raymond W Kelly had long objected to the planned move, saying he was uncomfortable allowing tourists to board ferries to the statue without first being checked on land for weapons and explosives. MORE
May. 28, 2013
Sen Charles E Schumer calls on National Park Service to scrap what he says is a dangerous new security plan for Statue of Liberty that involves security checkpoints at central points on Liberty and Ellis islands; Schumer argues that screening visitors after they have arrived leaves tourists already on the islands, and on the ferries transporting them to sites, far more vulnerable to terrorist attacks. MORE
May. 9, 2013
Op-Ed article by wildlife and environmental experts John A Vucetich, Rolf O Peterson and Michael P Nelson on National Park Service decision on whether to save wolf population in Isle Royale National Park; holds not meddling with nature is central to America's modern wilderness tradition but urges agency to introduce new wolves to island to keep population of moose in check. MORE
Feb. 28, 2013
National Park Service reports that rangers will be patrolling the beaches of Fire Island over the upcoming summer season, enforcing a 1984 New York ban on public nudity; officials say reason for plan to begin enforcing ban is because crowds have grown larger in recent years and behavior coarser. MORE
Dec. 11, 2012
Gateway National Recreation Area remains mostly closed, six weeks after being pummeled by Hurricane Sandy, as the National Park Service continues to clean up and restore essential elements like drinking water and sewage treatment; several hundred federal employees have supplemented Gateway's staff for the effort, working in two-week shifts. MORE
Aug. 22, 2012
Renovation work that began in the 1990s on an Art Deco bathhouse at Jacob Riis Park in the Rockaways has never been finished, much to the frustration of the public; nearly $20 million was spent on the 40,000-square-foot bathhouse before the project was seemingly abandoned; Gateway National Recreation Area officials are hopeful that recent agreement between National Park Service and New York City to jointly manage city and federal parks could mean a source of funding to complete renovations. MORE
Jul. 18, 2012
New York City and the National Park Service formalize a partnership to jointly manage more than 10,000 acres of parkland in and around Jamaica Bay; joint venture will improve access, foster research, run education and recreation programs and plan restoration projects for the bay, an important estuary and migratory stopover for hundreds of species of birds. MORE
May. 4, 2012
Edward Rothstein Critic's Notebook on the Roosevelt Ride, a free shuttle bus run by the National Park Service that takes visitors to the Hyde Park, NY, sites where Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt lived and began transforming the way presidents interact with the public. MORE
Apr. 25, 2012
National Parks Service says the Veterans of Foreign Wars can restore a cross in the Mojave Desert under a settlement that ends a decade-old legal battle; Mojave National Preserve will give up the acre of land in exchange for five acres of privately owned property within the park's boundaries. MORE
Feb. 29, 2012
National Park Service says white-tailed deer are endangering Rock Creek Park in Washington, DC; they plan to thin the herd with sharpshooters, but proposal is contentious. MORE
Feb. 7, 2012
National Park Service agrees to let Grand Canyon National Park impose a ban on small, disposable water containers, which make up about 20 percent of the park's overall waste stream. MORE
Jan. 31, 2012
Demonstrators affiliated with the Occupy movement ignore the National Park Service's deadline to remove their gear or depart from two downtown parks in Washington, DC; despite the deadline, police keep a low profile and make no immediate effort to clamp down on the campers. MORE
Nov. 19, 2011
National Park Service decision to put a Grand Teton National Park dude ranch concession up for bid leads to lawsuit by John F Turner and his family, who have operated the Triangle X ranch there without competition since 1926; Turner claims that law violates contractual promises made when the family sold the property to John D Rockefeller's company in 1929. MORE
There are no additional abstracts to display.
A Deterrent at the White House for Fence Jumpers
The fence surrounding the White House has had sharp spikes added to it to deter people thinking of scaling it.
July 1, 2015, Wednesday
MORE ON NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AND: National Parks Service , Secret Service , National Parks, Monuments and Seashores , White House Building (Washington, DC)
Let's Fix Our National Parks, Not Add More
We need to address the $11.5 billion in deferred maintenance before spending money to acquire land.
June 30, 2015, Tuesday
MORE ON NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AND: Editorials , Obama, Barack , National Park Service , Federal Budget (US) , Interior Department , United States , Federal Lands , Parks and Other Recreation Areas , Conservation of Resources , National Parks, Monuments and Seashores
How to Get the Most Out of the National Parks This Summer
From Arizona to Wyoming, the latest developments and improvements at America's parks and historic sites.
June 14, 2015, Sunday
MORE ON NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AND: National Parks, Monuments and Seashores , Shenandoah National Park (Va) , Arches National Park (Utah) , Glacier National Park (Mont) , Grand Canyon (Ariz) , Great Smoky Mountains National Park , Hawaii Volcanoes National Park , Lassen Volcanic National Park (Calif) , Mount Desert Island (Me) , Mount Rushmore National Memorial (SD) , Rock Creek Park (Washington, DC) , Travel and Vacations , States (US) , Historic Buildings and Sites , Parks and Other Recreation Areas , National Park Service , Alcatraz (San Francisco) , Capitol Reef National Park (Utah) , Rocky Mountain National Park (Colo) , Yosemite National Park (Calif)
Roaming Elk at Point Reyes Bedevil Ranchers in California
Tule elk in a refuge have been dying off while a thriving herd outside it has encroached on pastures, rekindling a dispute over the management of the creatures.
May 19, 2015, Tuesday
MORE ON NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AND: Elk , Point Reyes National Seashore (Calif) , California , Drought , Cattle , National Park Service , Agriculture and Farming , Animals
Bomb Threat Causes Evacuation of Statue of Liberty and Liberty Island
A late-morning call to the National Park Service warned of a package in a locker, and SWAT teams and bomb-sniffing dogs replaced tourists and other visitors at the site.
April 25, 2015, Saturday
MORE ON NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AND: Statue of Liberty , Threats and Threatening Messages , Ellis Island (NYC) , National Park Service
Wanted at the White House: A Fence That Says Halt! (With Curb Appeal)
As the White House fence is altered to boost security, the Secret Service must balance a design that thwarts intruders but that doesn't introduce a prison or Soviet style.
March 29, 2015, Sunday
MORE ON NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AND: Secret Service , Fences , White House Building (Washington, DC) , Historic Buildings and Sites , Security and Warning Systems , National Park Service , General Services Administration
Walkabout: For National Parks, an Older Crowd
A weekly capsule of travel news curated by our writers and editors.
March 23, 2015, Monday
MORE ON NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AND: United States , National Park Service , Eclipses , National Parks, Monuments and Seashores , Travel and Vacations
Protecting a Home Where the Puffer Fish Roam in Biscayne National Park
A dispute over the possibility of a no-fishing zone in Biscayne National Park off the coast of Florida has raised contrasts with hunting bans on federal land.
December 22, 2014, Monday
MORE ON NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AND: Biscayne National Park (Fla) , Fishing, Sport , Fishing, Commercial , National Parks, Monuments and Seashores , Fish and Other Marine Life , National Park Service , Florida , Parks and Other Recreation Areas , Boats and Boating
G.M. Tech Center Becomes National Historic Landmark
The National Park Service awarded the designation to G.M.'s research campus in Warren, Mich., as one of Eero Saarinen's most significant designs.
October 8, 2014, Wednesday
MORE ON NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AND: Architecture , United States , Historic Buildings and Sites , Automobiles , National Parks, Monuments and Seashores , National Park Service , General Motors , Cranbrook Academy of Art , Saarinen, Eero , Mies van der Rohe, Ludgwig , Michigan
9/11 Flag Is Destroyed in Fire at Memorial
The flag that flew over the United States Capitol on Sept. 11, 2001, was among several artifacts destroyed in a fire at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pa.
October 5, 2014, Sunday
MORE ON NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AND: September 11 (2001) , Fires and Firefighters , Monuments and Memorials (Structures) , Flags, Emblems and Insignia , National Park Service , Shanksville (PA)
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Stainless Steel Brake Line KitsFor your 2000 ford mustang
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Converse Chuck Taylor All Star Sneaker - Mens
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July 22, 2013
Links: Australian Glass and the Pacific Northwest at Museum of Glass
Wsu Master Gardeners of Pierce County at Master Gardener of Pierce County
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Drama, Suspense/Thriller
This is a true story. Consumed with self-loathing, nineteen year old Caroline covets, stalks, abducts then murders fifteen year old Rachel Barber whom she considers "perfect"; everything she is not: beautiful, self-assured, happy. Rachel's disappearance triggers an electric reaction from her parents and her boyfriend. Despite police indifference, they mount a very public campaign to find her. Ultimately they succeed. They "bring her home" to be buried.
Rated R for strong disturbing violence, some sexuality, nudity and language.
Visit the official site
Cast: Guy Pearce, Sam Neill, Miranda Otto, Kate Bell, Rebecca Gibney
Produced by:
Directed by: Simone North
Written by: Simone North
Running time: 1hr 40min
Opens: Feb 11, 2011 NY


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Late last year, the FIA announced a new race series called the FIA GT3 European Championship. Team VETTE attended the GT3 press conference at Monte Carlo, where a total of nine manufacturers expressed interest in fielding entries for the series. The teams would be required to enter three cars at each of the '06 season's five races.
According to GT3 Director Stephane Ratel, GT3 would be "a gentlemen's race series." This meant that no professional race drivers would be allowed to compete unless they were over the age of 55. All five events were to include two one-hour races, and teams would be required to perform a driver change during each race.
Callaway Competition, in Leingarten, Germany, was contracted by the Netherlands' Team GLPK Carsport to build six GT3-spec Z06 Corvettes. Connecticut-based Callaway Cars provided engineering and technical support. Work began in late November, and all six cars-dubbed Z06.Rs-were on the grid May 7 for the first race event at England's historic Silverstone circuit. (Three were purchased by France's Team Riverside, while the remaining three are campaigned by a joint effort known as Team Carsport/Callaway.)
Unfortunately, the Silverstone races did not go well for the Vettes, as rain and mechanical gremlins kept the cars out of the top finishing positions. With the season opener behind them, the teams could only hope for a better showing at the series' next round in Oschersleben, Germany.
Oschersleben is a small city located in the farmlands of the former East Germany. The 2.8-mile, nine-turn Oschersleben Motorsports Arena, which opened in 1997, is a tight, twisty course that requires drivers to run over high curbs in order to log quick lap times. Forty-one GT3 entries, including the six Z06.Rs, arrived at the track hoping to qualify for a top spot.
Prior to the race, the FIA had ruled the Z06.Rs were too fast and ordered that the cars run both 260 pounds of ballast and a 10mm inlet restrictor. Oschersleben would be the Corvettes' first race under these new restrictions.
When Carsport/Callaway driver Uli Martini's regular copilot, Klaus Ludwig, was unable to make the race, Berberich and the team offered the open seat to five-time SCCA T-1 National Champion John Heinricy. John, who is the director of GM's Performance Division, was in Germany working on a project and quickly accepted.
The FIA scheduled two 20-minute qualifying runs for the Saturday session-one for that afternoon's race and another for the Sunday morning event. For Race One, Team Riverside qualified 22nd, 23rd, and 24th, while Carsport/Callaway took the 28th and 34th spots. In Race Two qualifying, Riverside secured the first, third, and fifth starting spots, while Carsport/Callaway grabbed seventh and twenty-second.
Forty-one starters took the green flag for Saturday's race under clear skies. The first 20 minutes saw plenty of banging and spinning among the competitors, and the safety car was brought out to clear up the mess. Most cars, including the Corvettes, pitted during the caution and changed drivers. When the race resumed, the No. 19 Riverside car of Rabineau/Ruffier and the No. 16 Berberich/Heinricy Carsport/Callaway were running third and fourth, respectively, overall.
And that is how they finished, with only 2.24 seconds separating First and Fourth place. Martini and Heinricy were all smiles, and spectators were quick to congratulate the American driver on his impressive European debut.
Race Two was held Sunday morning before a record crowd. When the green flag fell, the pole-sitting No. 19 Corvette streaked out to an impressive lead. Heinricy moved from seventh into third place behind an Aston Martin and stayed in that position until he pitted for a driver change. During the driver change it was learned that the Z06.R had lost its clutch at the start. Incredibly, Heinricy had driven the first half of the race without a clutch!
Berberich managed to pull No. 16 to within eighth place before spinning on the last lap while avoiding another car. By the time he got restarted, he had fallen to 13th. The No. 19 Corvette, meanwhile, had pulled out to a 30-second lead, which it held through the end of the race. Unfortunately, the team's crew had to help start the car during the driver change, incurring a 30-second penalty. This dropped No. 19 from First to Third overall, 27 seconds behind the winning Aston Martin DBR9. Corvettes finished in the Third, Ninth, Thirteenth, Twenty-seventh, and Thirty-second places.
In spite of FIA's "performance adjustment" penalty, the Z06.Rs are showing themselves as formidable competitors against the world's best exotic cars. According to Heinricy, "The car has a lot of grip in mid- and high-speed corners. It tends to understeer in slow corners, but that can be easily controlled with the throttle. The weight penalty and the engine restrictor make the engine feel like a stock LS7 with a good aero package and slick tires. It was a blast to drive, and I am ready to do it again."


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Oct 29, 2010
NXT Checkout Scanner
This Checkout Scanner project I posted recently uses the NXT 2.0 Color Sensor in Light Sensor mode to scan simple "barcodes" made out of LEGO beams and imitate a laser barcode scanner. The interesting thing is how fast it is able to work (the standard light sensor would be as fast as well). Here is a video of the scanner in action:
This project was inspired a bit by one of the missions on the FLL board this year, the Medicine Dispenser, where teams might want to use a light sensor to count black lines on the mat to get the exact distance right. My team was doing this mission and driving very slowly to make sure the sensor was able to count the lines properly. As I was watching them, I was thinking this was one of those cases where your instincts as a human don't relate well to what a robot can do. I knew the sensor could work much faster (and therefore the motor response is the limiting factor, not the sensor), but I was curious how much faster. So I did some tests and then thought of this project.
It turns out you can take light readings about 300 times per second, which is fast enough to do some pretty fast scanning. When you are working on data coming in this fast, it helps to visualize it in graph form, so also included in the programming instructions for this project are a program and some instructions on how to do some basic "data logging" on the NXT, to get sensor data from the sensor, transfer it to the PC, and graph it, as shown in this sample graph:
The data logging program and instructions are for doing it "manually", not using the built-in Data Logging feature of NXT-G 2.x from LEGO Education, which is not available in the retail software, and in any case is limited to only 25 samples per second, so it's not fast enough for this application.
5 comments:
- Claudio Di Tursi said...
Take a look to this page :
Take a look to this page
a project of the early 2006.
- Oct 29, 2010, 6:45:00 AM
- Andy Dannelley said...
Congrats! Terrific implementation as usual!
Your designs are always so simple and elegant and your documentation and build instructions are so easy to understand.
Thanks for all you do. Keep up the great work!
- Oct 30, 2010, 12:05:00 AM
- Matthias Paul Scholz said...
Great job. Did you encounter misreadings by the scanner?
- Oct 30, 2010, 2:55:00 AM
- Dave Parker said...
Thanks Guys. MP, I didn't encounter any real misreadings from the sensor that I remember, but there is the issue of ambient light, which I mention in the instructions.
Claudio, nice scanner vehicle! I suggested trying something like that in my "Challenges" section, and that looks like a fun way to do it.
- Oct 31, 2010, 4:12:00 AM
- Linuxgeocacher said...
Thanks for showing us this great implementation! The video is amazing!
Also did some work on this topic and implemented an EAN-13 barcode scanner with leJOS NXJ. You can find more infos at http://sites.google.com/site/ghoelzl/barcodescanner
- Nov 1, 2010, 7:06:00 AM


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Posted 21 April 2013 - 13:27
Posted 21 April 2013 - 21:36
If you've been looking for one more reason to stop smoking, you may have found it. Your instructor is correct: Secondhand smoke puts both people and pets at risk. Health authorities believe secondhand smoke kills thousands of nonsmokers every year, and though the number of pets affected isn't clear, the risk is.
* In cats, exposure to cigarette smoke produces higher than normal rates of mouth cancer and lymphoma.
* In dogs, being around secondhand smoke increases the odds of nasal cancer.
* In birds, lung cancer shows up more frequently with exposure to smoking in the home.
A study by the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University looked at the link between secondhand smoke and cancer in cats and found not only a strong link, but an even higher risk for pets exposed for five years or longer. For dogs, a study by the College of Veterinary Medicine at Colorado State University noted the higher risk of nasal tumors in dogs with longer muzzles and of lung cancer in dogs with shorter muzzles. The carcinogens were stopped in the noses of some dogs but went through to the lungs in others. Not a good situation in either case.
Posted 21 April 2013 - 22:57
Captain Obvious strikes again. I always have an urge to punch heads of all smokers in public so far down their throats they'd have to remove their pants next time they want to read. Unfortunately, my physique doesn't permit that sort of behavior.
Posted 22 April 2013 - 01:40


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Just before ecopop decided to exchange one city's "Keep It Weird" slogan for another and relocate from Portland to Austin, we were populating our upcoming store, Way Better Than Bad, with a tasty selection of curated lifestyle products, as well as a few of our own, including these awesomely organic cotton/P.E.T. tees.
If you can't wait for WBTB's July launch and would like to be one of the first to get your hands on one of these shirts, follow us on Instagram where you can find links to purchase for $30.00.


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Fundamentals of Electronic Resources Acquisitions
This four-week online course provides an overview of acquiring, providing access to, administering, supporting, and monitoring access to electronic resources. Gives a basic background in electronic resource acquisitions including product trials, licensing, purchasing methods, and pricing models and will provide an overview of the sometimes complex relationships between vendors, publishers, platform providers, and libraries. The course was developed by Dalene Hawthorne, Head of Systems and Technical Services, Emporia State University (Kan.).
2015 Sessions
- Session 1: March 2 – March 27 - SOLD OUT
- Session 2: April 13 – May 8
- Session 3: July 27– August 21
- Session 4: September 28– October 23
- Session 5: November 16– December 11
Learning Outcomes
Students will gain a basic background in electronic resource acquisitions including product trials, licensing, purchasing methods,
Who Should Attend
This is a fundamentals course that will appeal to anyone interested in the topic with no previous experience.
Taking a web course is different than taking a traditional course in a classroom. Read Are You Ready for Online Learning to make sure the web course structure is right for you.
- Jesse Holden is Account Services Manager, EBSCO Information Services.
- Xan Arch is Collection Development Librarian at Reed College.
- Elizabeth Winter is Electronic Resources Coordinator at Georgia Tech Library.
- Susan Davis is Acquisitions Librarian for Continuing Resources at SUNY Buffalo.
- Lisa MacKinder is Head of Acquisitions and Collections Services at Ohio University.
$109 ALCTS members; $139 nonmembers
How to Register
To register, complete the online form or register by mail for the session you would like to attend.
Registration Deadline
Registration for each course is limited to 20 people. For courses that are not sold out, online and fax registration ends at 12 noon CDT on the Monday before the course begins. Mailed registration forms must be postmarked by two Mondays prior to the course start date.
Cancelation & Change Policy
Any requests for cancelation or changes to registration must be received in writing by ALCTS or the ALA registration department (MACS) no later than 7 days prior to the start of the course and are subject to a $40 processing fee.
Tech Requirements
A Moodle-developed site is composed of self-paced modules with facilitated interaction led by the instructors. There are predetermined start and end dates and a suggested pace which include interaction with the instructors and your classmates. Students regularly use the forum and chat room functions to facilitate their class participation. Section quizzes are offered and feedback given, however, there is no final class grade.
The course website will be open for 1 week prior to the start date for students to have access to Moodle instructions and set their browser correctly. The course site will remain open 1 week after the end date for students to complete any sections and submit the course evaluation survey.
Certificates of completion are sent upon successful completion (passing score of 70% or higher) of the course.
For questions about registration, contact ALA Registration by calling 1-800-545-2433 and press 5 or email firstname.lastname@example.com.
For all other questions or comments related to the webinars, contact Julie Reese, ALCTS Events Manager at 1-800-545-2433, ext. 5034 or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Jun 12, 2007
Bridge-Building NXT
This NXT lays down a bridge, drives over it, retrieves the bridge and then lays it down again.
(Courtesy of nxtasy.org)
14 comments:
- David Levy said...
I saw that on nxtasy.org earlier today as well.
I think what's so striking about that robot is its simplicity. I'm tempted to have my students watch the video and try to recreate it.
- Jun 12, 2007, 6:33:00 AM
- Joshua Heinzl said...
Is this robot really accurate though? With so many dead reckoning movements I expect it wouldn't be able to do this over a wide range of battery conditions. Dust and other factors will also affect it.
Perhaps I missed it? Dual light sensors/another method would help, but not solve problems completely. I do see the ultrasonic sensor, but that won't keep the robot going straight along the same line the entire time.
- Jun 12, 2007, 4:46:00 PM
- Brian Davis said...
Well, from the video... yes, this robot really is this accurate (at least for one take of the video). Notice that the robot in question used very slow (i.e., non-skidding) turns for positioning. With the motor encoders, battery voltage isn't a factor - remember the robot knows exactly how far each tire has moved, not just ""how long have i been running them" like on the RCX. The US sensor appears to be for looking down to detect the presence (not the approach angle) of the gap to be bridged.
In general I don't trust dead-reckoning for much, for all the reason you suggest. But clearly it can work reasonably well in certain circumstances, and certainly far better under the NXT than for the RCX (as a lot of FLL teams found out this year... hey FLL, how about movable or randomly-placed challenges to require sensors? hinthint...).
Brian Davis
- Jun 13, 2007, 12:15:00 AM
- David Levy said...
Did you notice that the robot used the "swing-turn" technique ( 2nd motor stopped).
I usually encourage the "point-turn" technique ( 2nd motor rotates in opposite direction.
Has there been any studies as to which technique is more accurate(turn at exactly a 90 or 180 degree angle)?
Do both techniques tend to skid at the same speeds?
- Jun 13, 2007, 12:32:00 AM
- Joshua Heinzl said...
Brian - the one thing you're leaving out is backlash. While the NXT may have 1 degree of accuracy in the encoders, backlash brings this down several factors.
David - using a spin (both motors opposite directions) cuts your accuracy in half because you are registering half as many degrees. Why do you recommend this type of turn?
- Jun 13, 2007, 10:48:00 AM
- David Levy said...
"cuts your accuracy in half"
Is that really true or maybe just for very short vehicle turns?
I like the spin turn because it doesn't cause the vehicle to drift off it's last position. However that may not always be an issue if your only concern is that the vehicle should be accurately turned to its new angle.
- Jun 13, 2007, 10:56:00 PM
- Brian Davis said...
Well, first, I'm not leaving off backlash, but answering your original question - obviously it *is* accurate enough to execute this sort of solution to the problem, at least twice in a row., and I then pointed out that some of the factors you mentioned (battery state, for instance), are explicitly addressed by using encoders. Yep, backlash can be a problem... but it can also be compensated for by knowing how much there is and when (and when it does not) come into play. Not always, but it certainly can work often. Again, look at the number of teams that used dead reckoning (very successfully!) with the NXT in FLL this year. It's not a perfect method, and not the method I usually choose... but it clearly works in some cases, and as my mother used to say, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" :-).
As to "which turn is better", again, I suspect it's kind of like programming - it depends on what the problem is and what your solution is. For instance, a pivot turn (my name for "running one wheel while the other is held stationary") does offer twice the angular resolution for a turn... because the radius of the turn is effectively doubled. You could get the same thing by making the axle length twice as large and executing a "spin turn" (one wheel one way, the other opposite). Spin turns have the advantage of keeping the motion of the robot nearly in a "pure rotation" mode, so you don't have to account for the physical displacement of the robot during the turn (as David said). Also, pivot turns can be subject to greater inaccuracy on certain surfaces, because you are depending on the "locked" tire to act as a good pivot... which is not true on carpet, where it may slip, or if you don't consider backlash.
Just my opinion, but the perfect solution usually only exist in a perfectly artificial problem - the real world often accomodates a lot of different approaches to the problem, each with advantages and disadvantages, and understanding those differences is probably a valuable skill.
Brian David
- Jun 14, 2007, 5:33:00 AM
- TooMuchCaffeine said...
Hello. Just wanted to respond to some of your comments on Madison.
Question on reliability: she picks the bridge up after a crossing with about a 90% success rate. The video was shot first-take. Of course, I then tried again for a backup vid and she promptly fell through the gap. Needless to say, I wasn't going to put that one on YouTube!
I found the 'pivot turn' was much more accurate than the spin, especially at slow speed. Getting those turns right was the most time-consuming part of the whole project.
- Jun 14, 2007, 9:47:00 PM
- Brian Davis said...
Excellent. Thank you for the update and details. Do you have any plans for what to do next with this? Perhaps more sensors so it can more actively align with the gaps?
Brian Davis
- Jun 15, 2007, 5:59:00 AM
- Joshua Heinzl said...
Yes, how about 2 ultrasonic sensors farther out (one on each side), so you should have minimal accuracy loss when both dropping the bridge and picking it up!
- Jun 15, 2007, 2:02:00 PM
- TooMuchCaffeine said...
Currently concentrating efforts on the nxtlog quad-walker challenge. Trying to do a simple walker with an interesting step-by-step nxtlog - the sort of thing my son could use to build the robot.
Will build a Madison 2 at some point in future. Priorities for me on that would be gearing it properly to be able to lift a longer bridge, and sorting out the pick-up accuracy so it's not just about dead-reckoned turns.
Like the twin US sensor idea, would make for a better laydown and pickup, but won't they interfere with each other?
- Jun 15, 2007, 5:34:00 PM
- Brian Davis said...
TooMuchCaffine has posted the program over on NXTlog for anyone who is interested:
Brian Davis
- Jun 16, 2007, 2:00:00 AM
- mooney said...
when is a swing turn more useful than a point turn? And the oppositre when is a point turn more useful than a swing turn?
- Nov 6, 2007, 11:06:00 AM
In general I find that the nxt move blocks are quite accurate, and my FLL team used them to perform spin turns and longer arcs that were completely reproducible.
Okay, yes that was sort of a lie. The above is true if and only if you have magic batteries that are always at the same power level. As the batteries drop the arcs get wildly tighter.
So, what's next? The firmware clearly can't handle controlled medium arc turns. I'm looking for alternate approaches. I suspect that the answer will lie in platform designs that totally isolate drive and steering.
Any other approaches?
- Jan 17, 2009, 10:34:00 AM


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Studly Adventurer
Joined: Jun 2010
Location: Bucharest or RTW
Oddometer: 621
Into The World - 2Up around Africa, 2 bikes along the Silk Road
Hello advriders!John (Ionut) and Ana, a Romanian couple, both architects. We love good design, exploring the countryside, experimenting with food, a good challenge and sharing a laugh or a tear with true friends. More about us on our website: www.intotheworld.eu
We are
I was born in a car, so I love everything about horse power :)
Ana went for her first ride at 5 months old :)
About our journey Into The World[CENTER]
This is an on-going adventure. The first part was the tour of Africa: from June 2011 to August 2012 totalling 14 months and 55,000km across 29 countries. The gods of travel made it so that we became the first Romanians to tour Africa by a motorbike. We did it 2up on a 660 Tenere.
Today we are riding on 2 bikes, along the Sill Road. I have became an off-road fanatic and Ana a rookie on two wheels. For us it's a new challenge.
To help us process the intense experience of Africa, we have started writing a book. Please download from here a teaser - the first 120 pages with plenty of pics and vids.
This is the route we followed in Africa:
Here is the scoop of what you can find on our thread:
We hope that you'll find in our story a little inspiration for your own adventures, just like we did in many great threads of others (tsiklonaut aka From Estonia with love and metaljockey among them). Thank you all for taking this journey with us.
The making of an expedition
The beginning was not easy.
First I get the idea while recovering from an an Achilles tendon rupture.
Ana thinks it is a great plan, and she starts packing our previous life in cardboard boxes. But, as the expedition is primed to take off, in October 2010, on the very departure day, I am hit by a car, just a few yards from my house. The bike is destroyed and I have surgery, and our plans are postponed by 9 months. So I find a second Tenere and I start working in the garage all over again.
On the 11th of June we finally load our Yamaha Tenere motorbike in a van and leave Bucharest. A car broken down and a two-day "cruise" by ferry from Livorno to Tanger later, we begin our trans-Africa biking adventure with a warm up month in Morocco. Fuelled by Sir David Attenborough's documentaries and past travels to Sri Lanka, Hong Kong and South-East Asia, here we are, daring ourselves to make a dream come true. We've been thinking about this trip for two years and preparing for it for one. Africa, which until now has been just a word, has become a reality.
With over 6 years of riding under my belt, mostly on street bikes, this time I have chosen the Tenere for our 2-up RTW trip, knowing that there is no perfect bike, only the will do do something like this. The soul of my first totaled Tenere is alive in the current motorbike, after I did an engine swap to a newer, but with higher mileage 2010 machine.
The first Tenere had just arrived.
GPS mount and weather proof case.
Kev Mod - from xt660.com
First Tenere outside our garage. Custom Leo Cans just mounted.
Supersporx. Scottoiler injector. In the meantime the new bike has a touring Scottoiler and a custom dual-injector.
Custom sidecase rack.
Upgrading the suspension to Hyperpro Combo kit. Thanks to HYPERPRO
Alu short brake and clutch lever.
Unifilter foam filter.
The CRASH.
The second Tenere just arrived. The soul of the crashed Tenere in the back, days from being transplanted to the new one.
The bike has the following mods/ upgrades:
- front + rear steel braided brake hose
- high Givi windshield
- GPS mount + direct battery charger with backup system
- custom-made radiator protection
- G-IT aluminum engine shield + crashbar combo (from AdventureSpec)
- MK3 pivot pegs
- Unifilter foam air filter
- Kev mod (from xt660.com)
- Renthal Dakar fatbar with KTM plastic handguards, alu short brake and clutch lever and rallyride foam grips
- Hein Greike tankbag
- custom made dual Leo Vince SBK exhausts (with custom dB killer)
- 14 tooth JT front sprocket
- touring Scottoiler
- custom rack for aluTech 41l cases
- Hepko & Becker Gobi topcase
- 150W inverter for gizmo charging
- Hyperpro suspension upgrade (front progressive springs with 15W oil and rear progressive spring)
Also we carry loads of tools and parts, along with a change of knobbies for later. Fitness preparation aside, we are geared up with these essentials and geeky things:
- The North Face Roadrunner 3 seasons lightweight tent
- The North Face Twin Peaks -7 degrees resistant 2 person sleeping bag + MSR silk liner + Mammoth self-inflating mats
- MSR stove for cooking, stainless steel pot, knife, 2x petzl + extra torchlight, binoculars, machete, compass, MSR pactowels, compression + dry sacks, water filter + purifying tablets
- foto: 5DMKII + 20D bodies, 24 f/1.4, 70-200 f/2.8, Sigma 10-20 F/4-5.6; Polaroid Pogo printer; 13" Macbook; GPS
- first aid kit (sterile bandage, scissors, sterile needles + anesthetic, bethadine, Baneocin, Clartec antihistaminic, Malarone, diarrhea pills, calcium, rehydratable powder, antibacterial gel, Siddhaleppa ayurvedic balm for pains/flu/insect bites, thermometer, 50% DDET mosquito repellant, 50+ sunscreen, eye drops, antibiotics, aspirin, Ibuprofen, talc, medical tape); moto wear: Arai Tour X3 + Shoei XR1100 helmets, Rev'It Offtrack jacket + Sand pants and Turbine ladies combo with Gaerne boots; other stuff: 3 tshirts each, swimming suit, moto socks + gloves, cotton Thai pants, slippers, 1 pair shorts each, 3 pairs knickers each, scarf, 1 bed sheet (very useful for picnics and as sun/wind shield), sunglasses, spare of clear visor for rider, lots of GPS maps, PDF books and guides.
In Mauritania we started carrying a 5l jerrycan with gas and a 5l raffia-insulated plastic can with water (hint from locals). Usually we bushcamp, or stay in campings when in cities, from time to time stopping for a refreshing night or two in a auberge. We eat where the locals do, in markets and street food stalls and restaurants, but we love to cook when fresh produce is available. 7000km into the trip, we had little maintenance and servicing to do: a change of oil, change of chain (freak thing, a fairly new one, it got stiffer and stiffer with o-rings falling off), replacing the chain safetypin (fish-pin fell possibly due to offroading).
Some other details about how we travel.
Bushcamping in Rabat.
We miss our kitchen.
Changing the oil.
Our mule heavily loaded.
Thank you all who supported us thru our African odyssey and who continue to do so. We couldn't be luckier. Enjoy browsing... :)
mrwwwhite screwed with this post 05-18-2013 at 02:46 AM Reason: Donation requests not permitted.
Gnarly Adventurer
Joined: Feb 2010
Location: Galatzi,Ro
Oddometer: 101
Salut Brazii!
Happy to see some of us got the bull by the horns and start doing what others just dream about!Hope you fullfill your journey and have the best time.Never been there but I read and heard enough about Africa to know that is a wonderfull destination and the mother of all conquests.Be cool, be tough and never leave the smile behind! I'll be watching you...every step you take, every move you make!Ride safe!
A kick in the ass is a step ahead!
Joined: Sep 2010
Location: Bucharest, Romania
Oddometer: 2
Multa bafta!!!
Seattle to ??
Joined: Aug 2009
Location: Casa Grande, Arizona
Oddometer: 78
Wow....for many reasons. Good luck and safe travels
Joined: May 2011
Location: Medellin, Colombia
Oddometer: 56
Te felicito, muy buenas fotos y muy buen viaje, esperamos mas fotos e historias.
Congratulations, very nice pictures and very good trip, expect more photos and stories.
Joined: Aug 2009
Location: Melbourne
Oddometer: 40
Subscribed, looking forward to your journey.
Are you travelling the West coastline of Africa all the way?
Keep the pics coming.
There are no snakes in Ireland, only Tigers!
Joined: Dec 2002
Location: Calgary, Canada
Oddometer: 286
That's a proper first post, and welcome to Asylum!
Joined: Jun 2011
Location: Earth
Oddometer: 5
Tot norocul din lume
Studly Adventurer
Joined: Jun 2010
Location: Bucharest or RTW
Oddometer: 621
Morocco - A Warm Up
After loading our Tenere in a van that broke down 300 km from Livorno (where we were to catch the ferry to Morocco), we began our trans-Africa riding adventure with a bang. It's crazy how the 2008 VW Transporter timing belt gave up at merely 50K!
EU citizens are allowed a 90 days stay in Morocco without a visa. We entered via the newly launched Tanger Med port, where the border formalities are a breeze; its a one-stop-shop, you get your passport stamped, then checked by the gendarmerie, then the duane officer issues for free a Declaration d'admission temporaire de moyens de transport (temporary import permit).
For the customs you can apply online, using this form. The International Motor Insurance Card (green card) from your country of origin may also cover Morocco, you want to check this with your insurer (that is the case for Romania). Otherwise you can purchase insurance at the border. The Moroccan infrastructure is quite developed, with over 1145km of autoroute and good tarred roads even in countryside. Morocco is an offroad paradise, with adrenaline-pumping pistes zig-zagging the ever changing landscape. The gas (essence) is about 1 Euro/liter and widely available at gas stations or at hole-in-the-walls in small villages. There are ATM machines everywhere, but obviously the food stalls are cash only.
Morocco boasts a diverse landscape, ranging from wild Atlantic coasts to 4K High Atlas peaks, from sterile desert to lush oases, from Sahara dunes to mudbrick villages. We rode through the north (Tanger, Larache) which is feeling the crunch of the real estate bubble, with ghost towns and suburbs that nobody can afford built in the middle of nowhere. We stayed in and around Rabat for a week, waiting for the Mali and Mauritania visas, camping on beaches and getting to know the local way of life.
While Rabat has an european feel, the shanty towns that line the coast and the lively fresh food markets are intensely moroccan, so is charming Mahommedia. East from Rabat we used Meknes as our base camp for a few days, visiting the Imperial cities (Fez, Meknes), the sacred town of Moulay Idriss and the ancient ruins of Volubilis.
The Medina, (the medieval centre of Fez) has not changed for centuries: a maze of narrow alleys housing hundreds of merchants and craftsmen, stalls with spices, dried fruits and nuts, fish, handmade copper items, carpets and musical instruments. A seat of Arab learning, a Holy City and a place of pilgrimage (when the route to Mecca was obstructed), Fez was a place of considerable importance until recently, being the depot for the caravan trade from the south and east of the African continent. A must see in Fez is the Leather Souq with the oldest leather tannery in the world, Chouwara.
Even if Fez has a more intricate architecture in the beautifully preserved UNESCO World Heritage Medina, we found that Meknes has a more authentic feel, with few to no tourists and touts and a Medina where people seem to actually live and work (not just for show). Moulay Idriss is a little gem, a fairytale town on top of a mountain among olive tree hills, where life has a slower pace.
Studly Adventurer
Joined: Jun 2010
Location: Bucharest or RTW
Oddometer: 621
Morocco - A Warm Up
Later we rode through Casablanca, heading inland toward the High Atlas. After sleeping in a millet field and after a villager gave us fresh cow milk in the morning, we climbed to the 100m high Ouzoud falls (in full swing at this time of year). You can pass the touts and faux-guides and ride your bike close to the pools where you can take a cold plunge or enjoy the free spectacle of nature; just take the right gravel road before the bridge for 5-600m.
In the afternoon we stopped again in Azilal for a tagine, then continued on a breathtaking route among peaks ranging from 2K to 4K. The landscape kept changing every hour, from lifeless valleys, to cactus infested walls, from reddish soil and rocky forests to fragrant cedars and green canyons punctuated by magenta wild flowers. When the road appeared to end, we suddenly found ourselves at 2750m altitude, from where 50km of tarmac interrupted by gravel brought in by spring floods led us to Imilchil.
We slept a charmed night at the Gite d'etape run by a Berber family. Aziz has built the beautiful house himself and is a licensed guide. He also has a shop in the village, selling carpets hadmade by his wife, Fatma.
After eating some freshly baked bread in the morning, we left behind the Bhutan-like atmosphere of beautifully camouflaged Imilchil behind, heading to Gorges Dades via Agoudal. Enter the most thrilling piste so far: after Agoudal the tarmac turns to gravel, then just traces in the dust. For 5 km we rode through a riverbed that had erased the piste during the recent floods. Offroading with a heavily loaded bike proved difficult and we took a few tumbles, managing to cover only 100km in more than 4 hours. Apart from the riverbed crossings, the piste is a fun ride, climbing to 2700m then going down in hairpins and thrilling turns, with alternating gravel, rocky patches, sand and dirt. The piste ends with a 30cm deep river crossing, from where the road is all tarmac, interrupted by landslides that are easy to manage. As if the whole day ride wasn't enough, we crossed the canyon of Dades back to another famous set of spaghetti-like road.
The public demonstrations cheering the king's peace oriented decision to promulgate a new constitution (giving more executive power to the elected government) arrived from Meknes where we last seen them in Boulmaine de Dades. We bushcamped outside the town, then left at sunrise to see the place where Sahara starts. You can see the mighty sand dunes in two places in Morocco: the golden ones of M'Hamid or the psychedelic pink Erg Chebbi in Merzouga, which is where we arrived in a blazing hot weather. A weird afternoon rain in the Sahara and a pool plunge later, we woke up to see the sun rising behind the glistening foot-trace swallowing mirage that is Erg Chebbi, a dune 160m high, bordered by the village of Hassi Labied.
The beauty of the desert is magical, and we left the second day still reveling in it. As a technical problem that has been aggravating for a while become urgent, we rushed the 400km through desertificated Draa Valley from Merzouga to Ouarzazate, where after a few days and with the help of Peter at BikersHome, we managed to change our defective chain.
Marrakech was like a punch in the face: crazy, hot, bursting with energy. It's instant love or hate, and we left our bike in the parking behind the Koutoubia mosque, then dove into the UNESCO World Heritage show that is Djemma el-Fna, with its storytellers, musicians, artisans and food stalls selling Michelin star worthy plates of tangia, sheep brain and seafood. The next day visit to Ali Ben Youssef medersa was followed by a protein load in Mechoui Alley, then a cool walk in the Jardin Majorelle.
At 5pm when we exit town, the roadside thermometer read 53 degrees Celsius, but 200 km further, in Essaouira, the wind capital of Africa, we felt chilly at 22. We didn't stay long to enjoy the white and blue spanish influenced colonial architecture of the medina, as our GPS got stollen in the fish market, only to be retrieved later against a 30 Euro ransom. That's why we ate quickly our delicious sardines, fresh fish and squid grilled at the public grillades de poisson with possibly the best bread in Morocco, then camped some 200km later, near Agadir.
Studly Adventurer
Joined: Jun 2010
Location: Bucharest or RTW
Oddometer: 621
Morocco - A Warm Up
South of this package tourism oriented town, we rode a 3 day marathon through Western Sahara, ending up in Dakhla. Along the almost featureless landscape we bushcamped on a nice beach near Sidi Ifni and on a golden dune near Tarfaya.
We couldn't get to close to the soul of this country rich in natural resources (phosphate, fish abundant waters and oil) but with a difficult history, where the traditionally nomadic Saharawi herders are bribed with tout-compris homes to leave their identity behind (or are forced to live in refugee camps called ironically villages de peche), and where towns resemble M.A.S.H. movie sets, with their population of military personnel and UN workers.
After a month in Morocco where we rode over 6000km, the motorbike is in great shape and we experienced no technical issues, except for the chain problem. We took a few low-speed falls due to deep sandy patches and rocky pistes, the battery was drained two times while charging our laptop with the engine off and we had to send home a few spares and personal stuff in order to lose some 6,5 kg off the bike (which do make a sizable difference). So our first advice (not that is a huge novelty) is pack light, cause every gram counts.
People in Morocco are friendly, sometimes aggressively trying to sell you something or guide you, are not easy to trust, which is a shame, because up in the mountains you will meet genuinely sweet villagers and generous men. Moroccans nurture close family ties and friendships, and we witnessed how they warmly greet each other for minutes. The caffe culture is a big deal here, with solo men filling up terraces from morning to dawn, at a chat over coffee with friends. Women are harder to meet, but they are highly educated and almost all speak fluent French. Some Arab and Berber will come a long way here; in Merzouga area English is largely spoken and understood. We bought a Meditel modem for Internet, but discovered that IAM has a better 3G coverage, so we suggest you get that one instead.
Food is a reason to be here in itself. Produce is mostly organic and very regional: in Fez you have the famous fassi cousine with treats like b'sara (a soup made of fava beans served with a fragrant garlic olive oil), pigeon pastilla (a pastry spiced with cinnamon) and very spicy and hot sausage made of mutton and offal; in Meknes you can eat the freshest figs and delicious flat bread with thin crust and cumin spiced crumble; pure eucalyptus, almond or cactus honey is produced high in the Atlas; in Erfoud you will eat the best dates with the extraordinary sweet and creamy Medjool reigning supreme; Marrakech is home to sheep meat and offal delicacies like tangia (mutton or beef cooked slowly with cumin, ras-el-hanout, preserved lemons and olives in a dough-sealed clay pot), sheep brains and tongue and mechoui (whole sheep baked with spices in a vertical clay oven); the freshest fish is in Essaouira and other coastal cities - here you can follow our example, and buy your fish from the fihermen, then have it cooked for 5Dh/plate at the public grill, next to the market; in the Banana Village just before Agadir you can taste the local varieties of banana and suculent cactus fruits. All over the country you can find tasty veggies, mutton and beef kafta, gorgeous watermelons and melons, dried fruits and nuts, along with top quality spices like saffron, paprika, cumin and ras-el-hanout. The breakfast is usually bread with the best local olive oil or served with honey sweetened leben (local yoghurt), or couscous with cold sourmilk from streetside vendors. Bread is sold freshly baked along moroccan pancakes, which in Fez have a sweet spongy texture. At lunch people usually eat a tagine (a typical stew of meat or fish, slowly cooked on charcoal in a signature clay pot). Dinner is protein based: kafta or harira (bean soup with aromatic herbs, which in Agadir is served with a local twist - with dates, a boiled egg and a piece of hard caramel). Other signature Morocco treats available countrywide are freshly squeezed orange juice and green/black tea perfumed with fresh mint (called whisky marocain). Tap water is safe to drink and wild camping is possible in most unmarked places, even if locals may try to discourage you from doing so.
Also, it will be difficult to leave the country without buying some good quality shit.
Beastly Adventurer
Joined: Jan 2009
Location: Columbia, SC
Oddometer: 1,294
Very nice ride report. Please post more.
Ride to Fly
Joined: Jun 2006
Location: Dahlonega
Oddometer: 275
Amazing, thank you for sharing.
"God does not deduct from one's time on Earth, that which is spent in the air"
Joined: Aug 2009
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Oddometer: 567
Simply outstanding.
Joined: Jul 2011
Oddometer: 2
great report and great pics . Have a safe travel
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59 comments :
- MarissaApril 9, 2011 at 4:18 AM
these are lovely! Thank YouReplyDelete
TYVM for the great tag shapes! Love them!ReplyDelete
Thanks for the Shapes! I love getting new shapes. They are such an easy way to customize a layout!ReplyDelete
Great shapes! Thanks so much.ReplyDelete
You always have the nicest things on your blog! These are awesome! Thank you very much!ReplyDelete
These are great! Thanks so much! :)ReplyDelete
Thank you so much.Very generous!ReplyDelete
Thanks for sharing your time and talent on theReplyDelete
New CU Freebies Only Forum!!!
All Good Things!
Laura Lee
Thanks so much for sharing!ReplyDelete
These are gorgeous. I've been looking for shapes like this for a while thank you so much!ReplyDelete
My little cousins will like it for sure. They love designs which always have a connection with princesses.ReplyDelete
Great shapes! I've been looking for this type of shapes for a while now... Thank you for giving them for free!!!ReplyDelete
LOVE LOVE LOVE these. Thanks for simplifying psd life for me. :)ReplyDelete
YAY! I've been looking all over for these!!! THANK YOU!ReplyDelete
- robotsuxAugust 27, 2011 at 9:16 AM
I've searched the whole web for these, thank you so much!ReplyDelete
Can you please upload those files to another file sharing sites, 4shared not working in Turkey... so I couldn't download those lovely shapes. Thanks alot if you can do that.ReplyDelete
@Bahar There is another link that points to windows live sky drive. Did that one work for you? Just click on the folder: https://skydrive.live.com/embedicon.aspx/.Public/SSFS%5E_CU%5E_SHAPES%5E_2.zip?cid=ce5dcb9308c4dbe9&sc=documentsReplyDeleteReplies
There's a new download link.Delete
StarSunFlower Thank you very much, you're really awesome... I really liked your tags!ReplyDelete
Last question, this custom shape tag isn't it working with photoshop CS4?ReplyDelete
Yes yes ok I tried and it is working sure.. yesterday I was tired and forget to Append to shape but later remembered!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousOctober 19, 2011 at 11:03 PM
thank you for sharing :)ReplyDelete
just what I was looking for! Thanks so very much!!!ReplyDelete
Thanks for these great shapes!ReplyDelete
Thank you! I love these shapes and have been searching for something just like them. It is SO VERY APPRECIATED that you share your talents with others. :)ReplyDelete
yw everybody! :) Your comments really mean a lot to me. <3ReplyDelete
Hi! Thank you! i love love :)ReplyDelete
- aprilincaDecember 25, 2011 at 10:59 PM
Thank you so much. These are wonderful. So glad I found this page.ReplyDelete
Wow thank you, this is exactly what I needed, Beautiful!!ReplyDelete
Thank you so much for sharing these. I'm new to your site and very happy I found you! Also, I love the fact that you are with PunchTab. :)ReplyDelete
- AnonymousFebruary 10, 2012 at 10:59 AM
Thanks AgainReplyDelete
It is such a pleasure to visit and I don't take your hard work on this site for granted.
Thanks again and hope to use your resources soon
From Kent England
Wow!! Thank you SO MUCH for these! I've been searching high and low for some tag vector shapes... these are fantastic!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousApril 29, 2012 at 12:33 AM
Thanks for these very useful shapes.ReplyDelete
thank you so muchReplyDelete
Thank you so much for this! I've been wanting something like this for so long and just thought about downloading Photoshop shapes to get the effect. I had no idea how to describe what I wanted in words but somehow I was led to your site anyway! Thanks again; it's perfect! :)ReplyDelete
Hi Susan! I grew up in Detroit!ReplyDelete
I think you've been to my site too! This is me here: http://pixelberrypie.com. Thank you so much for these shapes, they were just what I needed!
Thank you very much!ReplyDelete
This is exactly what I was looking for! Thanks so much!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousApril 9, 2013 at 5:25 AM
Thanks for These photoshop shapes.ReplyDelete
Thank you so much, they are LOVELY! I used one of them in a timeline cover:ReplyDelete
And, off course, linked back to your site :)
Nice. Thank you :)ReplyDelete
HI thereReplyDelete
I love these shapes But I use GIMP and was wondering if there is a conversion so I can use them?
@ Odette There is a PNG download which can be used in gimp.ReplyDelete
Thanks Susan!ReplyDelete
Hi - love these shapes! Although I can't seem to fill them with a pattern, they only come out as black? Is it because I don't have Photoshop?ReplyDelete
What program are you using Sweet Bee Studio??? It definitely helps to have photoshop.Delete
totally dumb question.. I have just bought PSE11 and cannot seem to install these brushes, despite serious googling. Are you able to give me some pointers? Thankyou sooo much! I am actually trying to use these shapes to make a birthday invite to my Daughters 'Fluro Disco Sleepover" party (not sure what that is, but the invite is the first step!) THANKYOU!ReplyDelete
Thank you, thank you, thank you, these are exactly what I need and want for my Christmas card this year.ReplyDelete
Thank you, thank you, thank you, these are exactly what I need for my Christmas cards this year!ReplyDelete
Hello, I love these, thank you so much! I need one of the shapes. I can download the png but the photoshop ones come up an empty zip folder. Any way else I can get them? Thank you so much!ReplyDeleteReplies
I re-uploaded the photoshop files!!Delete
Hello, thank you so much for these! I was able to download the png files but the photoshop zips are empty. Any other way I can get them. Thank you again!ReplyDeleteReplies
Ok I re-uploaded the file. Let me know how that works for you! Cheers, SüDelete
Muito obrigada! ♥ReplyDelete
Thank u so much! u are amazing..ReplyDelete
Soooooo many thanks!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJanuary 31, 2015 at 12:14 PM
These are awesome! Thank-you so much for sharing your talent :)ReplyDelete


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This might be the cutest quilt ever. I'm trying to think of a good reason to buy a whole bolt of that blue flowered Hunky Dory fabric. I actually finished this one up with the other two last week, but I felt like you might think I was sewing instead of feeding my children if I posted three finished quilts in a week. Its actually amazing how much faster I can finish quilts if I baste and quilt a few at once (it took me two hours of the boys naptime to baste and quilt all three). I think it must take me longer to get the machine ready and all the supplies out then it takes to actually quilt them.
With this quilt I pre-soaked and dried my batting, but I honestly couldn't tell any difference between the shrinkage of this quilt vs. the pez quilt that I didn't pre-soak. I soaked the batting for an hour in hot/warm water, then put it in the washer for a spin cycle, then into the dryer until dry. Have any of you pre-soaked and still had shrinkage? I love the crinkly look so I don't mind that it shrunk up, it was just an experiment.
The backing is a light pink on pink dot. This one is in the shop.


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Moderators: Tonyblack, Jason, Toothy
Jan Van Quirm wrote::idea:
A thought inspired by pooh's genius and generosity...
We have other writers and artists on here who do fantasy poetry or prose (like the Gloob not necessarily Discworld, but for example Cheery, Beth, Keith and mspanners and Bogieman too, spring instantly to mind as directly inspired by Terry) so would it be possible perhaps to collaborate and do an illustrated loosely fantasy-oriented anthology as a fund-raiser? Perhaps include the CA bods as well (although we have some on here anyway, but spread the net as it were ) as both sites are Random House supported?
Afterthought edit: I still have a full set of licensed print design software so can donate typesetting skills and keep initial compilation and layout costs down and if Cheery wants to chip in with that (would be a very interesting semi-pro project to be involved for formal pro qualifications ) then fantastic as time is something I'm not so 'rich' in these days
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Just copied this from New Statesman Terry interview via twitter.
Run by Pratchett's new production company, Narrativia, The Watch will continue the well-loved City Watch saga where the books left off, and Rhianna will be an important member of the writing team. The author tells me that he will be happy for her to continue writing the Discworld books when he is no longer able to do so. "The Discworld is safe in my daughter's hands," Pratchett assures me.
If you want to read the full thing.
http://www.newstatesman.com//culture/20 ... en-im-gone


text: Hello, Recently I have run into an issue with Starcraft 2 and Borderlands 2 on my pc crashing or reducing the graphics below their already-low threshold to make up for a Paged Pool Memory issue. I am looking for a straightforward way to increase my XP Paged Pool limit. Ive got the maximum allowed ram, a GT 520 Nvidia video card with the 310.70 driver, all XP updates, and a current custom page file of 3500 Inital size and 3870 maximum size. Im pretty much at a loss on what to do and the only "solution" I seem to come across is doing a bunch of command scripts to "add" the paged pool entry on the performance monitoring tab and using a registry file to up it. Id be all for this, but ive also read that for some people it did not increase the limit and Id hate to go through the trouble only for it to not work. Does anybody know of a way that this can be somewhat easily fixed? Thanks


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HURLBURT FIELD — An advocacy group plans to file a complaint next week against the Air Force's use of live animals to train airmen how to respond to traumatic injuries.
Read a copy of the complaint. >>
The Air Force Special Operations Command at Hurlburt Field will use about a dozen pigs over two days next week to train about 30 special tactics medics and pararescuers, AFSOC spokeswoman Capt. Kristen Duncan said.
The pigs will be subjected to critical wounds and the airmen will train on how to keep them alive during the first few hours after the injury.
The pigs are euthanized after the training, Duncan said.
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, an advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., has drafted a complaint it plans to file with the Air Force next week asking for an end to the live animal training.
William Morris, a neurosurgeon from Tacoma, Wash., who served as a doctor in the Army for 20 years, helped draft the complaint.
He said animal cruelty is certainly an issue, but he feels it is secondary to the fact that training on pigs is inaccurate because of differences in their anatomy and that better alternatives exist, such as human simulators.
"If you train them on something that looks and acts like a human being, that is much more preferable to going through the motions with a pig," he said.
He said that the training often is conducted in groups, so while the first person gets the hands-on experience, those that follow just repeat what the first person already has done.
"The actual learning is flawed," Morris said.
Duncan said the live animal training is critical for special tactics airmen who must perform highly dangerous rescue and combat operations, and that it has saved thousands of lives.
For several combat trauma procedures, no simulator or alternative has provided the complete training, she said.
"Until there are validated alternatives, the experience and confidence gained by the use of live animals in teaching life-saving procedures must remain a viable training method," she said.
Whenever possible, the Air Force uses an alternative to live animals, and when it can it always ensures that the animals are treated humanely, Duncan said. Veterinarians are on hand to keep the pigs under general anesthesia for the entire training before they are euthanized without regaining consciousness.
According to the physicians' group complaint, during a recent AFSOC training near Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Ariz., some pigs' limbs were amputated, they were subjected to blast injuries and burned, and were wounded to cause severe bleeding or hemorrhaging.
Morris, who now works at a civilian trauma center, said the military is one of the last groups that continue to use live animals for that type of trauma training.
Ninety-eight percent of civilian hospitals and most universities use non-animal methods to teach similar life-saving skills, according to Dania DePas with the physicians group.
Morris said a simulator suit has been developed that can be laid on top of a real person, with simulated organs inside, and can be cut into while the real person underneath wiggles or talks.
"It's more realistic and more applicable to what people are actually going to see," he said.
The group's complaint says that with the availability of the simulators, the use of live animals appears to violate a Department of Defense regulation passed in 2010. It requires methods other than animals be used whenever possible.
Mark Kennedy, director of legal affairs for the physicians group, said the argument for using alternative models is pretty strong.
"Your own policies say you must do this, so why would you violate your own rules?" he said.
After the group filed a similar complaint about the Army's use of monkeys in chemical weapons' training last year, the Army agreed to end the practice, he said.
The group has two other pending complaints filed against the military for the use of live animals in training.
Morris said that while in the Army he attended a similar training during the 1980s with live animals.
"Using live animals is just a holdover from years ago," he said. "Everything else has progressed quite a bit since then. The lessons taught to medical personnel should improve with time as well."


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Are you certain? DX11 is backwards compatible with DX10/10.1. The only features that don't work are hardware-specific ones like tessellation (hull and domain shaders), BC6H/BC7 texture compression, shader model 5.0, and dynamic shader linkage. One of the features that supports DX10/10.1 hardware is improved multi-threaded rendering. It's possible that Criterion are taking advantage of that to limit the performance disparity between DX11 and DX10/10.1.
It won't. Neither did Need for Speed: The Run.
I doubt EA has any more DX9 games in them, though I wasn't expecting Mass Effect 3 to be so we'll see.


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Why Madisonian Democracy Still Can't Have It All
This hasn't been a good month for fans of Madisonian democracy.
One thing that most parliamentary systems are exceptionally good at avoiding is the kind of deadlock over policy that stilled our democratic government's heart and has left us two weeks deep in a shutdown.
As a result, those who are skeptical of our separate institutions sharing powers are out in full force. It's no surprise; liberal preference for the British system over what the Framers concocted goes back at least to Woodrow Wilson. Not all of the current anti-Madisonians agree on exactly what they would prefer, but there's a general critique they share: not only does the U.S. system yield gridlock and risk collapse, but it doesn't really have any advantages in terms of democracy to justify that inefficiency. I've argued against the efficacy claims recently—the problem is a broken Republican Party, not the structure of government—but I think the democracy claims are wrong as well.
Dylan Matthews, for example, quotes Max Weber for what Matthews says is his "favorite theory of democracy":
In a democracy the people choose a leader in whom they trust. Then the chosen leader says, 'Now shut up and obey me.' "People and party are then no longer free to interfere in his business. … Later the people can sit in judgment. If the leader has made mistakes — to the gallows with him!
But as Matthews admits, how people approach elections, in the aggregate, isn't much better than rewarding and punishing the government based on how the economy is doing. It's worse—it's not even how the economy is doing since the last election, but only how it's been doing lately. There's a bit more to it, as votes will punish governments that engage in costly wars or perhaps major scandals; indeed, on the margins, voters will punish governments for things such as bad weather that are beyond the reach of those governments.
Still, while punishing politicians because they happen to be in office when a bad storm shows up or the local sports team loses (yup, voters might punish incumbents for that, too), might be unfair to particular politicians, it's good overall because it sets incentives correctly: I agree with Matthews that it's good, all else equal, if elected officials try to produce things that voters like.
While Matthews is correct about elections and voters, the good news is that there's potentially a lot more to democracy than what he sees.
It's true that voters, in the aggregate, don't do much more than reward and punish the big stuff. That's in large part because most of us are partisans who will vote for our party no matter what. It's also true that, in the aggregate, most of us don't care very much about most issues of public policy. But that masks something important: many of us—probably most of us —do care about bits and pieces of public policy. A proper democracy should find some way for that to matter. On top of that, many of us may want to participate meaningfully in self-government ourselves. That, too, should be possible in a proper democracy.
What the Madisonian system of separated institutions sharing powers does is it allows for—encourages—that richer, deeper version of democracy.
It does that through the kind of meaningful representation facilitated by individual elected officials who have meaningful influence as individuals. That's the advantage of the transformative Congress. In typical parliamentary systems, the parliament itself only approves of what the government (the Prime Minister and the rest of the cabinet) does. At best, if that's the case, then all a constituent can hope for is that she will agree with what the representative does. But representatives in Congress can and do initiate bills (and just as important, amend bills) totally outside of whatever the White House might want. That allows a far deeper form of representation; constituents are able to press their representatives and their senators to become involved in specific areas of public policy and take specific substantive actions.
Or, to think of it from the point of view of the politician, there are a wide variety of representative styles available to those serving in Congress, as the political scientist Richard Fenno has described in detail in his studies of politicians. They can promise to focus on national issues; on narrower local issues; they can offer mainly symbolic representation or substantive accomplishments; they can promise Burkean independence or strict adherence to the wishes of the district. In a typical parliamentary system, none of that is really available because the job of MPs (at least those who are not cabinet ministers) is mostly to just vote with their party.
The separations between the House, the Senate, the presidency, and state governments also encourage less ideological, more permeable political parties. Now, it's certainly true that the Democratic Party of the mid-20th century, with a liberal northern wing and a very conservative southern wing, was a historical oddity. But less dramatic regional differences between parties are common throughout U.S. history (Republicans had their old split between a mostly-Midwestern conservative faction and the Eastern Establishment of moderates and liberals); our current sharply polarized parties are in some ways as historically unusual as the old Dixiecrats were—and may not last, either.
Even now, individual senators break with their parties all the time. Differences emerge between presidents and their congressional parties, or between same-party governors in different states, or governors and their same-party state legislators. That's by design; it's exactly what Madison discusses in Federalist 51 when he talks about setting ambition against ambition.1 1. "But the great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department, consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others. The provision for defense must in this, as in all other cases, be made commensurate to the danger of attack. Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place … A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions."
Those within-party differences are important, again, because they mean that the representative relationship between each individual politician and her constituents really matters. Of course, most voters, most of the time, with most of their (many, many) elected officials, don't get involved enough for that relationship to mean much to them. But because all those politicians matter individually, and not simply as members of a party, the distance between voters-as-voters and a more active participation in democracy is very small.
I think it's no coincidence, either that a polity which encourages individual politicians to compete for influence has generally given its government bureaucracy a relatively small and constrained role. That, too, is a more democratic outcome. Indeed, the dangers to self-government from bureaucracy was one of the great worries of 20th century political theorists, Weber very much included. If bureaucratic organization was simply more efficient than any other form, then the realm of pure administration would encroach more and more into the realm of political decisions, leading to a rule not of the people and their representatives, but to a kind of rule of no one: a rule of procedures and forms and processes. It's safe to say that the United States has less of that than most comparable large democracies.
Is the Madisonian system flat-out more democratic? I'm tempted to conclude it is, but one should probably be careful about it. There are massive differences between various different parliamentary systems; there are also all sorts of norms which can make all the difference. The details matter, too. The Senate's malapportionment has no democratic justification, for example, although (as can be seen in state governments, which nowadays must be one person, one vote) that's a defect not inherent in the overall system.
Overall, however, there's nothing democratically deficient about separated institutions sharing powers. To the contrary: it's exactly the kind of system which allows for a richer, more substantive, and more participatory democracy—for at least the closest that anyone has figured out how to get to Lincoln's government of the people, by the people, for the people.
Mon, 2013-10-14 13:02
"a kind of rule of no one: a rule of procedures and forms and processes. It's safe to say that the United States has less of that than most comparable large democracies."
As a US citizen who has lived for several years in Europe, I think that this common stereotype is simply not true. Yes, there are certainly bureaucracies here, but its a cultural norm that bureaucracies are competent and customer focused. The people who enter government service here are the ones who would work for Goldman Sachs in the US.
Relative to, say, the New Jersey DMV, there is a lot more common sense and a lot less reliance on set procedures. A lot more "how can we make this work for you?" and a lot less "sorry, but that's just the way the system works."
Mon, 2013-10-14 19:04
Start working at home with Google! Its by-far the best job Ive had. Last Wednesday I got a brand new BMW since getting a check for $6474. I began this 8-months ago and immediately was bringing home at least $77 per hour. Useful Reference Pow6.com
Mon, 2013-10-14 16:16
The New Jersey DMV (and equivalents in every state and the federal government) would be much more customer oriented if not for two factors: first, bureaucrats in governments (and in corporations also) are punished for making "mistakes" but not rewarded for successful outcomes that RESULT from breaking a rule; and second, government workers are paid less, and less respected, than those in private industry. There's a joke that military attorneys are called JAG's (Judge Advocate General) because that's what they could drive if they worked for a private law firm!
Mon, 2013-10-14 16:30
One of the distortions in our political system is that, particularly in the South (because of tradition, I suppose), the heads of departments are ELECTED officials, even though their VALID job descriptions are to do things efficiently and correctly, rather than to take up a partisan agenda. For example, in New York there is a Chief of Police appointed by the Mayor; in most Southern counties there is an elected Sheriff, who does not need to work together with the Mayor of any of the county's cities, or with the county commissioners. Likewise, an elected Supervisor of Elections (combined with an elected Secretary of State with jurisdiction over elections) is an open invitation to cheating! In 2000, Florida's Secretary of State was also serving OPENLY AND UNAPOLOGETICALLY as the Republican candidate's state campaign manager, and we know how that turned out (well, we may never know how it REALLY turned out). And most Southern counties have elected Tax Collectors, who run the local offices for driver licenses, tags, and real estate taxes. And the checks are made out to "Joe Blow, Tax Collector" rather than "X County." Why should a top level supervisor of a PURELY bureaucratic department be the subject of a political campaign? Do college students "vote for" a math professor?
Tue, 2013-10-15 18:39
Look up "Demarchy" on Wiki for a better solution. The Greeks of Classical Athens dumped elective democracy for the selection via lottery of representatives under demarchy. They did this because the political corruption that came with elective democracy. Under demarchy the representatives who are selected via a lottery are far more likely to be representative of the people as a whole. Check the occupational makeup of Congress, both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Do these people represent in any way the the occupational makeup of the rest of us? The licensed professions are vastly over represented for one thing in number vastly far in excess in number compared to the rest of us. Also, our badly designed government was created by men who wanted as little government as possible. According to the writings of our "Founding Fathers", what they wanted was a government that would "protect" wealth and private property. As for the non-wealthy and those without income producing property, they were not allowed to vote. This is also "why" Senators" were to be "selected" by state governments, not the people as such. The actual design of the "America" created by these men was an "aristocratic plutocracy"...
Wed, 2013-10-16 17:41
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Diesel 'be stupid' by Anomaly
Anomaly is launching its first work for Diesel, a campaign that encourages consumers to "be stupid". Diesel consolidated its global advertising account into Anomaly in September.
The campaign, entitled be stupid, was devised in collaboration with Diesel's creative team, and encompasses press, outdoor, digital and viral activity.


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4 more officers may face charges in DUI detective case
A drunk-driving case against a San Diego police detective has mushroomed into an investigation of four other officers who were called to the scene before an official investigation was launched.
The broader probe came to light at a court hearing on Tuesday regarding the case of Det. Jeffrey Blackford. Prosecutors are asking Judge Peter C. Deddeh to compel the San Diego Police Department to turn over internal-affairs files.
Blackford, an 11-year veteran assigned to the gang unit, was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving after he crashed his city-owned car into a roadside utility box early in the morning of Dec. 7. He pleaded not guilty to all charges and a hearing is scheduled March 27.
Blackford crashed his unmarked sedan along Princess View Drive in the Allied Gardens section of San Diego about 12:52 a.m.
Video obtained by U-T Watchdog shows the vehicle spinning out of control before ramming the AT&T utility box, and Blackford emerging from the car moments later, followed by the arrival of other police personnel.
According to a filing by city prosecutors, Blackford did not immediately report the accident. Instead he called two off-duty friends, Sgt. John Iammarino and Det. Daniel Caropreso, and they came to the scene.
Iammarino later called two other sergeants, William Brown and Christopher Tivanian, the motion states, and asked Tivanian to bring with him a preliminary alcohol screening device.
The formal investigation was not opened until sometime after 2:50 a.m., when another officer was summoned to the scene to initiate the DUI probe, court papers say.
According to Deputy City Attorney Steven Hansen, who was seeking evidence from police investigators, the four officers first called to the scene are under investigation related to the Blackford case.
"We have reason to believe those specific officers are potential criminal defendants," Hansen told the judge.
The Watchdog later asked police spokesman Lt. Kevin Mayer about the statements in court, and he said the department recently sent prosecutors additional cases for criminal review.
"As a result of the Blackford incident, another criminal investigation surfaced and that investigation has been turned over to the City Attorney for prosecutorial review," Mayer said. "Being that it's a case that is under review, it would be inappropriate for us to give out any other information on it."
Gina Coburn, a spokeswoman for City Attorney Jan Goldsmith, declined to discuss if or when charges may be filed against additional personnel.
"We received that report on Friday, March 15," she said. "The matter is under review as stated in court today and we cannot place a time on how long that review might take."
Court records also show Blackford had a blood-alcohol level of 0.09 — just over the legal limit of 0.08 — when it was tested at the scene more than three hours after the crash.
The City Attorney's Office has been seeking information about the earlier screening.
"If they recorded the value of the PAS, that's information that we want," Hansen argued in court.
He said prosecutors were told earlier screenings came back at 0.152 and 0.125.